MIGHT AS WELL BE OP-Chapter 1010: Kneel

At Klaus’s words, neither Anthony nor Aaaninja rushed toward each other like mortal enemies. No, both of them simply stood there in silence, staring at each other with vastly different expressions. Anthony wore the same small, confident smile that seemed as though it would never leave his face, a calm certainty radiating from him as if the outcome of this confrontation had already been decided long ago.

Aaaninja’s expression, on the other hand, was completely different. Apathetic. Expressionless. Almost empty. He slowly closed his eyes for a brief moment, inhaling quietly before opening them again. He had been waiting for this moment for three whole years. Three years of endless training, three years of constant reflection, three years of replaying that single defeat in his mind over and over again.

He had thought about it. He had dreamt about it. He had trained for it. And now... it was finally here.

During Anthony’s battle against Aura Nova, Aaaninja had not even bothered to watch the fight in detail. While everyone else observed the clash with awe and anticipation, Aaaninja had been focusing inward instead, undergoing his own transformation. His battle prowess had grown, his skill control had sharpened, his proficiency had refined, and his raw power had reached heights that even he himself had once thought far away.

’This time... I will win,’ he thought to himself, his resolve hardening like tempered steel.

Although he knew the fight would not be easy, after all, both he and Anthony had now reached the Apexus rank, he had no doubt that he would ultimately come out on top. Although he could no longer use his River Of Time Personification ability, since it was a one time use type of ability, it didn’t matter anymore. That power had served its purpose in the past. What mattered now was everything he had become afterward.

Aaaninja’s hand flashed toward the sword hanging on his waist as he prepared to move. His body subtly shifted, his muscles tightening as he prepared to launch forward. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

But before he could even take a step, Anthony spoke, his tone was calm and casual, "do you remember what I told you the last time we fought, Aaaninja Chronisynth Eternos?" Anthony asked, calling Aaaninja’s full name without hesitation.

For a brief moment, Aaaninja’s brow furrowed slightly before his apathetic expression returned once more. He didn’t answer, he remained silent, as though the question had never been directed toward him in the first place.

And of course he remembered. Why wouldn’t he remember the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness beneath Anthony’s Soul skill? That moment had been etched deeply into his memory.

"I told you that I give everyone a single chance. Just one," Anthony continued calmly. "And what makes you think that has changed, Aaaninja Chronisynth Eternos?"

He paused briefly, the question clearly rhetorical in nature, "do you think that your new battle prowess and abilities suddenly put us on equal terms, or perhaps even above me?" Anthony asked again, his voice still calm and measured. "It doesn’t, Aaaninja. Not because I look down on your hard work. Not because I look down on your talent. Not because I look down on you. But simply because... it is the truth."

Aaaninja didn’t speak. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword as he listened. He had no words for Anthony. No arguments. No rebuttals.

But he did have an answer, and his answer was an attack. In less than a blink, he vanished from where he stood. The next instant, his sword came screaming downward toward Anthony’s head, cleaving through the air with terrifying force as it descended in a perfect arc meant to split Anthony cleanly in half from head to toe.

Anthony stared at the incoming attack calmly. Aaaninja’s speed had increased. His strength had increased. His raw power had increased. Even his fundamental sword techniques had reached a new level of refinement.

But even so... it still wasn’t enough.

Anthony simply raised a single finger with a casual, almost lazy motion, as though he had all the time in the world to react, as though the River Of Time itself had slowed to accommodate his movement. Then with a cataclysmic thunderous impact Aaaninja’s sword struck Anthony’s fingertip.

The air exploded outward the moment the two made contact. A titanic shockwave erupted from the collision, the wind screaming outward in violent waves as rings of compressed air tore across the battlefield. The ground trembled beneath the sheer force of the impact.

And yet, Anthony didn’t take even a single step backward..He remained exactly where he stood. Flawless. Unshaken. Unbothered. The earth beneath his feet didn’t even sink inward despite the tremendous shockwave released by the attack. Anthony had tanked the entire strike using nothing but his bare body.

Aaaninja’s eyes narrowed slightly as he observed what had just happened. Without uttering a word, he vanished once again, his body moving in a blur of motion that eclipsed anything anyone present had displayed in battle before this moment. In the blink of an eye, he reappeared several meters away, returning to his previous position.

"I understand that you might not accept it until you have seen the true difference between us, Aaaninja," Anthony said calmly as he lowered his raised hand back to his side, "so for now... I will show you a small part of it."

Before Aaaninja could even react, an overwhelming presence erupted from Anthony’s body. It surged upward toward the sky with the fury of a raging storm, its pressure shaking the very fabric of the separate plane they stood within. The entire separate around them began to quake violently as though the plane itself was on the verge of collapsing.

The once-beautiful blue sky instantly turned blood red beneath Anthony’s overwhelming presence. The clouds above exploded outward as though they had been struck by an invisible force. Even before rain could begin to fall, the clouds themselves were completely wiped out of existence.

Trees. Mountains. Rivers. Lakes. Everything within the surrounding area was erased into pure nothingness simply by existing within the same plane as Anthony’s presence. The separate plane desperately attempted to regenerate the destroyed environment, its laws trying to restore what had been erased. But before anything could even reappear, it was wiped out again by Anthony’s overwhelming presence.

Aaaninja stood there, stunned, his expression finally cracking slightly as his Eyes Of Genesis activated instinctively. Through those broken eyes, he could perceive what ordinary senses could not.

Anthony’s presence was not even directed toward him. Anthony had simply unleashed it into the sky and surrounding space.

Yet even so, Aaaninja could still feel it, just a fraction of it. And even that tiny fraction revealed a terrifying truth; The chasm between them was immeasurable. A distance so vast it could only be described in terms of light-years.

Within the vision of his Eyes Of Genesis, Anthony’s presence manifested as a colossal, ethereal form of Anthony himself, an enormous spiritual projection that towered over existence like a celestial body.

The figure was as massive as a star. It gazed down upon him with calm, sky-blue eyes. Aaaninja Chronisynth Eternos could only stand there and stare, caught between awe and disbelief.

’Is this... only a bit?’ he wondered silently.

Before another thought could even fully form in his mind, the titanic ethereal Anthony spoke; "Kneel."

The single word carried the weight of absolute law. And in the very next instant, Aaaninja’s knees slammed violently into the earth below with apocalyptic force, the ground collapsing inward beneath the sheer pressure of the command.