MIGHT AS WELL BE OP Chapter 934: First Blood

With a titanic impact, their blades collided once more, producing a shrill screech that tore through the atmosphere. Space itself seemed to fold as they remained locked at a single point, motionless, while the earth beneath them trembled violently under the sheer pressure and intensity of their opposing forces. Cracks spider-webbed across the ground, spreading outward as if the world were struggling to endure their presence. Yet, neither of them retreated an inch.

They stayed frozen for a fleeting moment, as though acknowledging the equal standing of the opponent before them. Then, in a blur that defied all perception, they blitzed from their positions, their bodies tearing through the air like living streaks of destruction.

Anthony’s katana descended from above, cleaving through air and space as if they were nothing more than wet paper. The strike carried an apocalyptic intent, its trajectory both absolute and merciless. But Lucian was prepared. His own katana moved the instant Anthony launched his assault, his crimson eyes narrowing as they tracked and calculated the incoming arc. With a sundering burst that shook the heavens, metal met metal, sending sparks exploding outward in violent cascades.

But Anthony was far from finished. Without pause, he chained one attack into another, the space and wind screaming as he slashed relentlessly. Each movement of his blade left faint distortions in reality.

Lucian’s body moved with the fluidity of an agile panther, lethal and precise. His hands blurred in and out of reality while he parried every strike aimed at his vitals, his speed peaking without slowing for even a fraction of a second. Neither he nor Anthony understood the concept of exhaustion. Fatigue was a foreign notion to them, something reserved only for lesser beings. Stamina held no meaning in this realm. They moved because they willed it, stopping only when they chose to, not because their biology demanded it.

Lucian suddenly thrust forward, his katana piercing the air with lethal precision as the crimson blade carved a deadly path toward Anthony’s sky-blue eyes. Anthony’s hand blurred upward, meeting the attack with the flat of his blade and deflecting it aside as if it were a child’s plaything. He did not stop there. In one seamless motion, he countered, linking defense and offense so perfectly that the two became indistinguishable. There was no separation and no wasted movement—only pure execution.

Anthony’s katana flashed diagonally, tearing upward to carve through Lucian’s ribs, the blade tracing a lethal path from waist to shoulder. Lucian sensed the danger instantly. His reaction was explosive; his feet slammed into the ground with such force that the earth shattered beneath him. He parried the strike at the final moment, the impact releasing a concussive shockwave. Before Lucian could follow up, Anthony was already moving again, his katana sweeping in from the side with merciless velocity. Lucian deflected it once more, the steel screaming as the blades collided yet again.

Anthony’s sky-blue eyes lit up with life as Lucian countered, his katana singing toward Anthony’s ribcage with killing intent. But Anthony did not panic. Instead, he welcomed the assault, a wide grin spreading across his face as madness and joy burned within his gaze. The moment their blades clashed again, an apocalyptic weight descended upon the battlefield. Shockwaves tore outward in all directions, annihilating everything within several kilometers. Forests were erased and mountains flattened, the land reduced to nothing but rubble under the overwhelming mastery of their swordsmanship.

They vanished once more, their bodies ripping through the separate plane itself, leaving behind streaks of light—one pure white, the other pitch black. In the next instant, they leaped into the air, their blades still intertwined as they pushed upward toward the clouds without hesitation. The laws of physics lost all meaning before their monstrous physiques, gravity bending and breaking under their sheer will.

Like panthers that had ruled the jungle for eons, they landed upon the clouds with effortless precision. The weightless vapor paradoxically supported their immense mass, such was the outrageous level of control they possessed over their own bodies. Lucian’s katana flashed through the air, a burning crimson blur, and with a deafening boom, the clouds shattered and parted. They dissipated violently, rain pouring down from the sky as though the separate plane itself were weeping in anguish.

Anthony did not even blink. He shifted his body slightly, blocking the attack with utter ease and tanking its full force while ensuring the cloud beneath his feet remained stable. With matching grins etched onto their faces, they tore forward again, their forms becoming blurs as they ripped through the sky as though it were solid earth. Each shattered cloud sent torrents of rain cascading downward, drenching the world below.

In the next moment, Anthony’s katana slashed upward, and the sky immediately cracked. Its blue hue tore apart violently as a massive crimson sword mark ripped through it like a wall of sand. But Lucian paid it no mind. His own katana flashed in response, carving an enormous downward arc through the heavens. Instantly, the land below split in half as a colossal chasm tore open, stretching endlessly across the horizon. A heartbeat later, it erupted in a blinding explosion that swallowed everything in its path.

Anthony and Lucian fell from the sky as every remaining cloud disintegrated around them. Their bodies plummeted freely, yet neither attacked. They simply stood upright as gravity claimed them, katanas gripped firmly in their hands. The next instant, they struck the surface—not earth this time, but the sea.

The moment their feet touched the water, the ocean geysered upward in a maddening explosion of force. Waves towered like mountains as they shot toward each other like bullets. With another world-rending clash, they slammed into one another, the impact tearing the sea open entirely. Sword marks carved deep into the seabed, splitting it apart. The ocean trembled, and the distant shores shattered, seawater flooding outward in catastrophic torrents.

But Anthony and Lucian did not care.

They became nothing more than flickers of sword and body, beings made solely for devastation, and devastation was exactly what they wrought upon the world. In the next instant, they appeared within a forest. Lucian’s katana sang toward Anthony’s chest as he moved to tear his heart apart with lethal precision. As always, Anthony met the attack head-on, deflecting it to the side effortlessly. Lucian followed up immediately, his strikes growing faster and heavier, his strength rising in perfect tandem.

Anthony entered a defensive state, his body weaving between trees as he parried attack after attack. It did not matter how many strikes came his way. He saw them all. He read them all. He understood them all. And with a ridiculous grace that bordered on insulting, he deflected every single one.

He had matched Lucian’s sudden rise in strength and speed completely. But could Lucian match his?

Suddenly, Anthony’s blade flashed—faster than the eye, faster than thought, faster than light itself. Lucian could not follow it. He could not see it. He could not sense it. Only his instincts, honed over countless years of battle, screamed a warning. But even those instincts spoke too late.

A tearing sound split the air as Anthony’s katana carved diagonally across Lucian’s chest, slicing clean through flesh.

For the first time since the battle began, Lucian bled.

Anthony had drawn first blood.