MIGHT AS WELL BE OP-Chapter 966: Heavenly

Kingsley felt... heavenly. He couldn’t exactly describe what he felt; it was as though he had entered a perfect state, as though he were now a flawless and complete being, as though he stood above while everything else existed far below him. He felt the colorless glow cloak his fist as he met Anthony’s attack, the air shattering around him like fragile glass, splintering and cracking with a soundless tremor that seemed to ripple through the space itself, as though reality had briefly forgotten how to remain whole in the presence of his strike.

He didn’t move, neither did Anthony. Kingsley stayed unmoving as though he was still processing everything that had happened, his thoughts drifting yet sharply aware at the same time, suspended between comprehension and disbelief.

The next moment, Martial Rhythm flowed from his hands, snaking upwards as he successfully covered his entire body in it, the energy moving like living silk, coiling and wrapping around his limbs with deliberate elegance. The world seemed to blur out for a moment before it returned, but within that brief moment, he felt as though he could hear the heartbeat of the world, as though he could feel the breath of the world against his own skin, warm and steady, as though the frame of reality itself acknowledged his presence.

Anthony didn’t attack, he simply blurred backward as he put a distance of a few meters between him and Kingsley, a wide smile on his face as he came to a stop, relaxed and almost proud. Kingsley had successfully awakened the Martial Rhythm, their goal had been attained, honestly, Anthony had expected it to take longer and a greater deal of pain, which was why he kept attacking and dealing damage no matter how close to death Kingsley was each time, forcing his body toward evolution through sheer brutality.

But since Kingsley’s Physique’s breakthrough, the man’s body had immediately seemed to awaken the Martial Rhythm on the first strike and the first true pain, as though it had simply been waiting for permission to cross the threshold.

Anthony stood with his back straight, with his hand behind his back like a master who was happy to see a student finally answer correctly to a lesson he had taught, his posture dignified, calm, and quietly satisfied, the faint breeze tugging at his clothes as though even the air respected him.

Kingsley felt his entire body scream, his cells seeming to rejoice as the entire Martial Rhythm cloaked his body in a colorless glow. His heartbeat seemed to increase, his muscles seemed to contract then relax, his blood vessels dilating in and out as though the Physique itself was screaming in maddening happiness because of the Martial Rhythm, as though every fiber of his existence had finally been granted what it had been craving since birth. Every breath felt deeper, heavier, fuller, like he was inhaling not air but life itself, dense and nourishing.

’Beautiful’ Kingsley thought to himself as he wondered if this was what Enlightenment felt like, as he was feeling transcendent at this moment, weightless yet anchored, detached yet hyper-aware. After a moment, the entire Martial Rhythm cloaking his body vanished as though his control had slipped from his grasp, the glow fading like mist under sunlight, leaving only a faint warmth behind as proof that it had ever existed.

Kingsley’s senses snapped back to their normal state, his mind returning to the current reality as his golden-colored eyelashes fluttered open, revealing his golden eyes. He raised both of his hands as he stared at them in awe, as though he had reached the absolute peak of martial arts, as though these same hands had been reborn into something greater, stronger, and impossibly refined.

"Congratulations, again," Anthony’s voice came from ahead, snapping him out of his thoughts and reverence, "I guess your Physique is more ridiculous than even you seem to know, after all, you adapted to the pain and achieved the next level of your Physique, then awakened the Martial Rhythm the next moment, a back-to-back achievement." A small smile appeared on his lips as he spoke, as he was genuinely happy for Kingsley, the pride in his tone unmistakable.

Kingsley stayed silent for a moment before his lips parted as he spoke, "Thank you, Brother," his words and voice filled with gratitude and sincerity, raw and unfiltered, if he were still an innocent child he might have broken into tears at this moment. Even now, something warm pressed against his chest, threatening to overflow, a foreign emotion he had long since forgotten how to process.

Even now, he didn’t know what the Martial Rhythm truly entailed, but he wasn’t bothered. Throughout his life, he had always been his own teacher, nobody had taken him in or suddenly given him a secret forbidden technique or anything like that. He had experimented on his own, failed, tried again, failed, tried yet again, and eventually succeeded. Each success had been paid for with blood, each improvement carved from suffering, every step forward earned through stubborn persistence rather than guidance.

His Concept of Destruction, his martial arts skills, his abilities, and all of it were developed by him alone. Throughout his life he had always been himself, by himself, and... alone, walking a path no one else could see, let alone understand, a solitary road paved with broken bones and silent victories. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

He was grateful to no one but the Universe which had blessed him the day he had died, which was over a century ago, and now, he was extremely grateful to Anthony. His own heart seemed to beat out of rhythm for the first time in ages because of the genuine care he was receiving for the first time from someone else, and that simple warmth felt more unfamiliar than any battlefield or enemy he had ever faced.

Anthony didn’t speak, he stayed silent, his All Seeing Eyes seeing through Kingsley’s emotions, a small smile on his lips yet again. He knew Kingsley carried a huge burden, the man sometimes seeming to have a black presence cloaking him, not that he was evil or anything, but because of how he had shut himself off from everyone, isolating himself behind invisible walls thicker than steel.

But now, the black presence that had been receding ever so slowly since he met Kingsley seemed to disappear almost totally as an invisible golden glow cloaked Kingsley, invisible to all but his own eyes, gentle and warm, like the first sunrise after an endless night.

Anthony was hardly a man that cared about others, he simply cared about his own friends, his family, and no one else, which was why he stepped forward to help a friend who seemed to be in need, an action that, for him, spoke louder than any grand declaration.

"You are welcome," he replied calmly without moving forward or backward as he remained where he stood, staring at Kingsley’s transformation, observing every subtle change with quiet interest.

Although it was minute to the point that Kingsley himself didn’t notice it, the moment Kingsley had awakened the Martial Rhythm, his body seemed to enter another state of metamorphosis just like before when he had a physical breakthrough. But this time, it was too subtle to notice as even Anthony himself felt he would have missed it if not for his All Seeing Eyes and his Sense Dome, the changes occurring deep within the marrow and muscle, hidden beneath the surface like the slow shifting of tectonic plates.

Normally, this wasn’t supposed to happen, nobody was supposed to receive any form of permanent boost upon awakening the Martial Rhythm immediately, but Kingsley’s Physique seemed to be undergoing a permanent change slowly in real time, evolving, refining, and strengthening as though it possessed a will of its own.

That was simply how special his Physique truly was, an existence that quietly defied common sense and natural law, a body that refused to follow the rules of the world it inhabited.