MIGHT AS WELL BE OP-Chapter 973: Infinitesimal Instant
Aaaninja’s figure appeared a few kilometres away as he had crossed such an immense distance in a single split second, the ground beneath his feet cracking faintly from the abrupt displacement. His eyes snapped sharply toward Lucian’s location, who simply stood there with a wide, unrestrained smile resting upon his face as he stared back with calm confidence.
Lucian stood with the silent ease of someone who was genuinely enjoying himself, and indeed he was. He was unleashing everything he possessed in reverence to the sword, every ounce of skill, intent, and instinct laid bare without reservation, and Aaaninja had met it all head-on without faltering, without retreating even once, and Lucian could not help but admit it to himself, he was truly enjoying this battle more than any he had experienced in years, perhaps even decades, the thrill of clashing against an equal igniting something primal within him.
Aaaninja did not disappoint him, and he had clearly improved since their last encounter, his movements sharper, his timing cleaner, his intent far more refined than before, but regardless of that improvement, regardless of how much sharper he had become, Lucian could already see the faint outline of his own victory etched into the inevitable flow of the fight.
With a mere thought, his own Sword Intent manifested.
It boomed and coursed through his body like a raging torrent, flooding him and his katana like an unstoppable tidal wave, saturating every muscle fiber and every nerve with overwhelming might, his Sword Intent black in colour like an abyss without light while Aaaninja’s was pure white like freshly fallen snow, the two forces standing as stark opposites, night and day made manifest.
The air screamed as both men stood in absolute silence, their Sword Intents not clashing midair, not yet, no sparks or collisions forming between them, instead they simply stared at one another from a distance as though two ancient monarchs measuring the worth of the other, their presence alone enough to make the world tremble.
Aaaninja did not speak, not a single word leaving his lips, yet his gaze sharpened as he suddenly decided to raise the tempo and rhythm of the battle as though he wished to end it quickly and move on to face Anthony already, his impatience faint but undeniable.
The next instant, Time particles began to dance around him as they responded to his will and call like children running toward their creator, gathering and swirling around his body in shimmering distortions that bent perception.
Lucian, who had now copied an affinity for Time itself through his usual methods and ways sensed the sudden shift instantly, and he did not hesitate even for a heartbeat. The next moment black lightning burst through his body, flickering across his form in maddening thunderous arcs. It rumbled violently through the air and sky, the sound deep and oppressive, as the wind itself seemed to crack apart like fragile glass.
Lucian’s Sword Intent strengthened the force of his Lightning element even further as he now resembled a black lightning god descended upon the battlefield, power, speed, and destructive force pouring into him endlessly, his presence alone distorting the environment around him as though nature itself feared proximity.
Neither he nor Aaaninja spoke, both of them having silently altered the tempo and rhythm of the battle, both understanding that the next exchange would no longer be simple swordplay but something far beyond, and now they would resume.
Reality seemed to blink, but within that split microsecond they were already gone, slipping through layers of reality itself like phantoms beyond mortal perception.
With a world sundering roar and an apocalyptic shockwave, they tore into one another with absolute madness, their blades colliding with such overwhelming force that the separate plane they fought upon seemed on the very verge of erasure, cracks spreading across the sky like broken glass, yet it somehow held firm.
At their first titanic collision, Aaaninja’s body was hurled backward, Lucian’s attack pushing him across the battlefield with unstoppable momentum as Lucian’s force of attack had clearly touched another threshold entirely.
Aaaninja’s feet immediately dug into the earth below, trenches tearing open behind him until he finally came to a halt. Lucian did not speak, he simply pressed his advantage without mercy, appearing before Aaaninja in a blur of lightning bolts, his katana already descending through the air like divine judgment.
This time, Aaaninja did not meet the attack head-on, because although the Time element had increased his base speed, perception, and reaction speed drastically, it had not increased his raw strength or physical output, while Lucian’s Lightning element enhanced all of those aspects simultaneously, covering every possible weakness and amplifying his entire being.
Aaaninja sidestepped swiftly as he moved to dodge the attack, but despite his blurring and remarkable speed Lucian saw through it and kept pace effortlessly, his own perception equally sharp, his katana already singing toward Aaaninja’s neck as the distance between them vanished yet again.
Aaaninja immediately activated Temporal Acceleration, time itself slowing around him as everything seemed to reduce to a crawl, Lucian’s speed dropping drastically, the lightning that once appeared terrifying now seeming slower than a drifting leaf within Aaaninja’s perception, his Sword Intent boosting the skill far beyond its original limits.
With this heightened awareness, Aaaninja’s blade flashed in a blurring silver arc, and with a resounding clash he parried Lucian’s attack to the side. With Temporal Acceleration active, he moved, his speed faster than anything Lucian’s Lightning and Sword Intent could hope to match under normal circumstances.
His blade blitzed toward Lucian’s neck as he aimed to end it once and for all, and with a sharp silver line his sword sliced cleanly through Lucian’s neck. But the moment it did, Aaaninja frowned faintly as he felt no resistance, no sensation of carving through flesh or bone. His head immediately snapped to the side, and all his eyes caught was the blurred image of Lucian’s katana already moving.
Lucian had reacted to Aaaninja’s strike at the very last moment by simply phasing through the attack itself, slipping through space as though his body were intangible, thus preserving his head entirely.
But this time, Lucian had increased his speed yet again, manipulating gravity to erase its influence on his own body weight, granting himself the weight of a feather, and furthermore boosting his speed even further as he became nearly weightless, each step lighter than air itself.
Aaaninja’s instincts flared violently, because normally he should have been able to dodge or parry through Temporal Acceleration alone, but with Lucian’s newly attained speed he could no longer rely solely on that advantage, as Lucian had now reached a realm where he could match Temporal Acceleration directly.
But still, he had more skills hidden up his sleeve, he was a manipulator of time after all, and surrender was never an option.
In the next instant he activated another ability, Temporal Deceleration, and immediately the Time particles within the separate plane slowed everything around him drastically, Lucian’s attack losing speed with every passing millisecond, the entire battlefield sinking into a sluggish crawl.
Aaaninja immediately capitalized, his Temporal Acceleration and Temporal Deceleration working in perfect tandem, one amplifying his speed and perception to absurd levels while the other suppressed everything around him, creating an overwhelming disparity that only he could exploit.
His sword flashed with wicked force and merciless precision as he moved to cleave through Lucian’s head once again, immediately the feeling of a blade biting into flesh erupted as the sickening sound of tearing echoed through the air, blood splattering outward in violent arcs as an arm soared skyward, severed cleanly at the shoulder.
It was Aaaninja’s own hand.
Confusingly and impossibly, Lucian Darkheart had reversed the situation in that infinitesimal instant and had drawn first blood.
