MIGHT AS WELL BE OP Chapter 979: Checkmate

Lucian, a wide grin splitting his features, activated his subsequent bewildering power. Reality twisted chaotically around him, space quaking fiercely as he uttered his words, the core of all things trembling as if steeling against an unavoidable edict it was powerless to resist.

In the instant that followed, a surge of golden energy burst from his form, expanding across the whole isolated realm like celestial brilliance cascading down from the skies. This glow held no softness or warmth; it radiated pure dominance, an unyielding force that compelled total surrender from all it enveloped.

Aaaninja fixed his gaze on the golden radiance, his Eyes Of Genesis analyzing it live to unravel Lucian's latest move, yet the harder he probed, the less progress he made, as if the power lay utterly beyond any form of measurement.

A few fleeting instants ticked by in utter quiet, with no assault ripping into existence, then a complete second elapsed, and finally... Lucian's voice rang out.

"No time-based ability or skill shall work, be it innate, be it learned, be it physical. As long as it is related to time, it shall be obsolete."

Those words boomed like thunder in Aaaninja's ears, laden with finality and unyielding power, bearing the force of an ironclad directive. Right after, his heart, which had pulsed in flawless rhythm all through the fight, faltered into chaos, pounding savagely against his ribs with terrifying force as a strange wave swept over him.

This wasn't the typical terror of skirting death, nor the icy shiver that slithers along veins and bones in the face of overwhelming might.

It was an entirely different sensation... far graver, something primal and devastating, akin to the agony of one’s core essence being ripped away by force.

Then he sensed it clearly, beginning with his eyes. For the first time ever, Aaaninja's link to the Eyes Of Genesis severed completely. His vibrant, timepiece-like irises dulled to plain white, their captivating patterns dissolving into lifeless voids.

Yet the loss didn't end there.

Aaaninja experienced his profound, inborn bond with time evaporate in full. The time particles that once swirled joyfully around him, unbidden and eager, now scattered from him like they rejected him outright, treating him as an intruder.

Realization dawned in his mind, the impact total and irrefutable; every power and technique tied to the time element had been stripped from him. It was all gone.

For a figure like Aaaninja Chronisynth Eternos, born solely with Time affinity and no other gifts, this stripped away more than an edge—it was a utter calamity that uprooted the bedrock of his power.

Lucian flashed a maniacal grin while eyeing Aaaninja with gleeful malice, relishing the raw astonishment and denial etched on his foe's face, drinking in every bit of that wordless agony like the finest prize.

Through Law Imposition, Lucian Darkheart could etch rules into the fabric of reality at his whim, provided his mana sustained the decree. Right now, he had forged a rule nullifying all time-linked powers in every possible way. In effect, Aaaninja lay helpless like a fish awaiting the knife, robbed of the core force that shaped him.

Instantly, he blurred from sight in a swift dash, his velocity maxing out as he bridged the gap in under an eyeblink, his katana whistling toward Aaaninja's neck in a fatal streak aimed straight for a clean beheading. Even without his eyes, Aaaninja wasn't rendered helpless.

Vision remained his, and he tracked Lucian's strike effortlessly, for with his planet-shattering might, his senses operated at absurd heights regardless of the Eyes Of Genesis' aid.

He lifted his sword in response, his Sword Intent surging alive to envelop both himself and the blade. A deafening crash erupted as the weapons clashed, unleashing a colossal blast that surged with wild fury and crushing power, shockwaves gouging the earth and heavens in equal measure.

Noticing Aaaninja's shift to Sword Intent, Lucian activated his version without delay, but went further. Dark lightning raged through his frame as he morphed into a tempest of shadow, resembling a thunderbolt cleaving the darkness, wild and horrifying.

Lucian's words resounded as his power anchored Aaaninja rigidly in space, holding him fast like a bug preserved in resin. He surged forward in a haze, his katana lancing out in a killing stab meant to shatter Aaaninja's mind in a single, ruthless blow.

Yet Aaaninja's restraint was merely bodily. With one mental command, his Sword Intent erupted, shredding space like flimsy cloth. Freed in that heartbeat, he blinked away via teleportation, evading the threat.

Lucian's blade sliced through empty air once more, the void crumpling where it struck. He felt no shock at Aaaninja's teleport dodge. Though lacking space affinity, masters who honed Sword Intent to its pinnacle could warp away like this.

This mirrored how Null Michael, the Sword Saint, zipped to any spot he chose. Destroy space with Sword Intent, slip through the rift it formed, or leap to prior-marked Sword Intent traces elsewhere.

Even so, Lucian couldn't suppress a headshake at Aaaninja's cunning. The guy always scraped by, carving escape routes from dead ends. Still, Lucian aimed to wrap this fight swiftly. The Law Imposition guzzled his mana nonstop, and pairing it with Event Rewriting to restore his reserves wasn't viable.

A smirk tugged at Lucian's lips as a prior skill of Aaaninja's came to mind, prompting him to declare anew.

Mana throbbed as he etched his intent straight into the world's weave, and suddenly Aaaninja's movement seized up. His body stuttered backward through space in reversed flow, as if events rewound him to the instant of Lucian's initial Dimensional Lock.

Aaaninja's eyes bulged in recognition. This was his Time Displacement move.

But Lucian had mimicked its outcome via Event Rewriting, sidestepping time control altogether, now forbidden by Law Imposition.

Abruptly, Aaaninja rematerialized at his escape point from moments ago, facing Lucian whose katana already arced forward, a broad grin dominating his expression.

"Checkmate," Lucian Darkheart whispered with a smirk as his katana streaked in a silvery flash, the rip of meat resounding as a severed head arced skyward in a spray of red.

Aaaninja Chronisynth Eternos lay beheaded.

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