MIGHT AS WELL BE OP Chapter 1010: Kneel

Upon hearing Klaus’s words, Anthony and Aaaninja didn’t charge at one another like fierce rivals. Instead, they just remained in place, quietly gazing at each other with entirely contrasting looks. Anthony maintained his slight, assured grin that appeared permanent on his features, exuding a serene assurance as if the result of this showdown was predetermined ages ago.

In contrast, Aaaninja’s face showed something entirely opposite. Indifferent. Blank. Nearly vacant. He gently shut his eyes for a short while, breathing in softly before reopening them. For three full years, he had anticipated this instant. Three years filled with nonstop practice, three years of ongoing contemplation, three years of repeatedly revisiting that one loss in his thoughts.

He had pondered it. He had dreamed of it. He had prepared for it. And now... it had arrived at last.

While Anthony clashed with Aura Nova, Aaaninja hadn’t paid close attention to the duel. As others watched the confrontation with wonder and eagerness, Aaaninja turned his focus inward, experiencing his personal evolution. His combat abilities had advanced, his technique mastery had become keener, his expertise had become finer, and his pure strength had climbed to levels he once believed distant.

’This time... victory will be mine,’ he mused inwardly, his determination solidifying like forged iron.

Though he realized the battle wouldn’t be simple—after all, both he and Anthony had attained the Apexus rank—he held firm belief that he would prevail in the end. Even without access to his River Of Time Personification ability anymore, since it was a single-use power, it held no importance now. That ability had fulfilled its role before. What counted presently was all that he had developed since then.

Aaaninja’s hand darted to the blade at his hip as he readied himself to advance. His posture adjusted faintly, his sinews coiling as he geared up to surge ahead.

Yet before he could make a move, Anthony’s voice broke the silence, steady and relaxed, "Do you recall what I said to you during our previous encounter, Aaaninja Chronisynth Eternos?" Anthony inquired, using Aaaninja’s complete name without pause.

For an instant, Aaaninja’s forehead creased faintly before his neutral look resurfaced. He offered no reply, staying mute, as if the query hadn’t been aimed at him at all.

Naturally, he remembered. How could he forget the final words that reached him before blacking out under Anthony’s Soul skill? That instant had been carved profoundly into his recollections.

"I mentioned that I offer everyone just one opportunity. Only one," Anthony went on evenly. "And what leads you to believe that’s altered, Aaaninja Chronisynth Eternos?"

He halted for a second, the inquiry obviously meant to provoke thought, "Do you suppose your enhanced combat skills and powers have leveled the field between us, or maybe even surpassed me?" Anthony pressed further, his tone remaining composed and deliberate. "They haven’t, Aaaninja. Not due to disdain for your efforts. Not due to scorn for your gifts. Not due to underestimating you. But purely because... that’s the reality."

Aaaninja stayed silent. His grip strengthened on his sword’s handle while he absorbed the words. He had nothing to say to Anthony. No counters. No defenses.

But he possessed a response, and that response took the form of an assault. In a fraction of a second, he disappeared from his spot. The following moment, his blade hurtled down toward Anthony’s skull, slicing the atmosphere with immense power in a flawless curve designed to bisect Anthony from crown to sole.

Anthony regarded the approaching strike with composure. Aaaninja’s velocity had grown. His might had grown. His unrefined force had grown. Even his basic sword forms had achieved greater polish.

Nevertheless... it remained insufficient.

With an effortless, somewhat indolent gesture, Anthony lifted one finger, as if he possessed endless time to counter, as if the River Of Time had decelerated to match his pace. Then, with a devastating roar like thunder, Aaaninja’s sword collided against Anthony’s fingertip.

The atmosphere burst outward upon impact. A massive shockwave burst from the clash, the gusts howling in ferocious bursts as circles of dense air ripped through the arena. The terrain shuddered under the raw intensity of the blow.

Still, Anthony didn’t retreat a single inch. He held his ground perfectly. Steady. Unruffled. Unaffected. The soil under his boots didn’t even crater from the colossal shockwave of the assault. Anthony had absorbed the full blow with merely his physical form.

Aaaninja’s gaze sharpened a touch as he noted the occurrence. Without a sound, he blurred out of sight once more, his form streaking in a haze of speed surpassing any prior displays in the fight. In a flash, he rematerialized a few meters back, resuming his original stance.

"I get that you won’t believe it without witnessing the real gap separating us, Aaaninja," Anthony stated evenly while dropping his elevated hand to his side, "so for the moment... I’ll reveal just a portion of it."

Before Aaaninja could respond, an immense aura exploded from Anthony’s frame. It rocketed skyward with the rage of a tempest, its weight rattling the essence of the isolated realm they occupied. The whole dimension around them shook fiercely, as if on the brink of disintegration.

The previously vibrant azure heavens shifted to a crimson hue under Anthony’s dominating aura. The overhead clouds detonated outward like hit by an unseen blow. Even prior to any precipitation, the clouds were utterly annihilated from being.

Forests. Peaks. Streams. Ponds. All in the vicinity vanished into utter void merely from sharing the realm with Anthony’s aura. The isolated dimension frantically sought to rebuild the obliterated landscape, its principles striving to revive the lost elements. Yet before a single thing could reform, it was eradicated anew by Anthony’s overpowering aura.

Aaaninja remained rooted, astonished, his face finally showing a faint fracture as his Eyes Of Genesis triggered on reflex. Via those fractured orbs, he discerned what normal perception missed.

Anthony’s aura wasn’t aimed at him. Anthony had merely released it toward the heavens and nearby void.

Even thus, Aaaninja sensed it, merely a sliver of it. And that mere sliver disclosed a horrifying fact; The divide between them was boundless. A span so immense it resembled cosmic distances.

In the sight of his Eyes Of Genesis, Anthony’s aura appeared as a gigantic, spectral likeness of Anthony, a huge soul projection that loomed over reality like a heavenly mass.

The silhouette rivaled a star’s scale. It looked down at him with serene, azure orbs. Aaaninja Chronisynth Eternos could merely stand and gape, trapped between reverence and incredulity.

’Is this... merely a fraction?’ he pondered wordlessly.

Prior to another idea solidifying in his head, the enormous spectral Anthony uttered;

That lone term bore the force of unbreakable decree. And right then, Aaaninja’s legs buckled forcefully into the soil beneath with cataclysmic might, the surface caving under the immense weight of the order.