MIGHT AS WELL BE OP Chapter 917: Battle Experience

Aura Nova’s blade sliced toward Kingsley’s heart, driven by a smile of pure malice and joy. She showed no mercy in her strike. However, Kingsley remained unbothered by her lethal intent, for his own resolve was just as cold. With a blur of motion, his hands rose to intercept the weapon, trapping the blade between his palms and halting it with terrifying accuracy.

Kingsley didn't give Aura Nova time to react; he pivoted instantly, dragging her along with his movement. In a seamless transition, he leaped into the air, driving the sole of his foot toward her chest with brutal force. To him, gender was irrelevant; an enemy was simply an enemy, and he treated them accordingly.

Quickly, Aura Nova raised her forearm to shield herself. The collision was like two asteroids smashing together, causing the air to detonate outward with a deafening roar. An overwhelming, maddening pressure slammed into her, surpassing any force she had ever felt. The sheer momentum sent her hurtling backward, gripped by unrestrained inertia.

Just as she was about to smash into a tree, Aura Nova regained her composure at the final second. She planted her feet against the bark with effortless grace before pushing off and landing softly on the ground. Looking down at her arm, she saw it had already swollen, the skin bruised with deep shades of purple and brown. When she looked at her other hand, she realized it was broken.

Kingsley had managed to injure the hand holding her blade in that tiny window between the impact and her being blown away. Aura Nova didn't flinch at the pain. Instead, her body began to mend itself instantly; flesh and bone knit back together without the slightest delay, as if the damage had never occurred.

’I can't recall the last time I was actually hurt,’ she mused, her eyes moving from her restored hands to the man across from her. Kingsley stood there, calm and collected. He didn't rush his next move, appearing entirely untroubled, as if their intense exchange was of little consequence.

She struggled to remember the last time she had even bled—or if she ever had. Due to her extraordinary talent, she had always dispatched her rivals with ease. Even the Dusk Planet had served as nothing more than a playground for her, a world incapable of containing her power.

Yet here, on a much grander stage, Aura Nova had been wounded. Even before this exchange, Kingsley had landed several blows while remaining completely untouched himself, making it seem as though she were a mere student facing a master.

’He is truly a master of his craft,’ Aura Nova thought. But she knew that his specialization wasn't the only reason she was the one taking damage.

’It’s battle experience,’ she realized after a moment of thought. She possessed raw, overwhelming power, but she lacked the seasoned instincts Kingsley Sky had cultivated. His history of combat completely overshadowed her own.

While Aura Nova’s time had been spent in training and refining her natural gifts, Kingsley’s life had been forged in the fires of real war. As a soldier from the Blue Planet, he moved from one gruesome battlefield to the next, a constant cycle of bloodshed with barely any rest between deployments. His combat experience was immeasurable. Combined with his Martial Art talent, Aura Nova knew she stood little chance of victory unless she used her Omniedit innate ability.

A typical person would have relied on their Omniedit ability immediately, but Aura Nova was far from ordinary. Having identified a weakness in herself, she was determined to fix it. This was a spar—a friendly bout that could still prove fatal—and she intended to treat it as a lesson. With Kingsley representing the pinnacle of combat, there was no better instructor available.

With this shift in mindset, her aura changed. Her gaze sharpened as she prepared to accelerate the pace of the fight. For the first time since the duel began, a new force entered the fray.

Sword Intent.

Aura Nova’s Sword Intent manifested as a calm, profound blue light. It flowed into her twin short swords and through her veins, boosting her physical capabilities to new heights. She wasn't blind; she had noticed how effortlessly Kingsley parried her full-speed attacks. He hadn't even begun to take the fight seriously yet.

Even though she recognized her lack of experience, she didn't plan on swinging her blades aimlessly. That would be futile. Instead, she chose to utilize Sword Intent, an energy she had mastered to a near-perfect degree.

Kingsley’s expression flickered for the first time, a subtle change that vanished as quickly as it appeared, returning to its usual stoicism.

Aura Nova noticed the shift but said nothing. The only thing that mattered was the combat and the growth she would achieve before she eventually used her Omniedit ability. She took a single step forward, and in that instant, the gap between them disappeared. She moved with a speed that far eclipsed everything she had shown previously.

Her blade swept toward the heavens before descending in a strike meant to cleave through Kingsley’s shoulders. For a heartbeat, Kingsley remained still, as if caught off guard. His perception flared, expanding to match the increased speed and power Aura Nova now wielded.

This time, Kingsley didn't attempt to block. He moved just enough, diving to the left to narrowly escape the edge. Aura Nova’s blade slammed into the ground, tearing open a massive chasm that stretched for kilometers, looking like a rift to the abyss itself.

Aura Nova didn't pause to admire the destruction.

Before Kingsley could even finish his next thought, she was on him again, her blade whistling toward his heart with absolute ruthlessness.