MIGHT AS WELL BE OP - Chapter 348

Chapter 348: Master Vs Student-2
Noticing the almost imperceptible shift in the atmosphere around Anthony, their expressions darkened with concern.

Evelyn reacted without hesitation, her instincts overriding prior warnings.

Though Anthony had explicitly instructed the girls to remain uninvolved because his mastery over mana and elemental control far surpassed theirs, she refused to stand idle.

[Light Magic: Feather Weight]

A pulse of mana radiated from her being, rippling through the air like a silent command.

Ethereal light particles quivered in response, drawn to her presence as if answering an unspoken call.

Her long golden hair danced in the wind, luminous strands reflecting the radiance of her magic.

Beneath the shifting glow, her golden eyes gleamed with unwavering resolve.

Then, all at once, an uncanny sensation swept over them.

It wasn’t merely a feeling of lightness, no, it was as if their very weight had vanished entirely.

Muscles tensed, fibers tightened, bodies instinctively adjusting to the surreal lack of resistance.

And then—boom!

The ground cracked beneath them as they propelled forward, moving with unprecedented speed.

There was no hesitation, no moment spared for deliberation.

They would not wait for Anthony to strike first.

They would seize the initiative.

Elements ignited into existence, roaring to life around each combatant.

Lightning arced, Fire blazed, Wind howled, Earth rumbled, Darkness coiled, and Metal gleamed.

Raw energies crackled and surged, intertwining in a chaotic yet deadly harmony.

Weapons leveled, their sharpened edges gleaming with intent.

All forces aligned, all trajectories converging.

On a single point.

On a single target.

Anthony.

Anthony watched, his smile unwavering.

Their speed was impressive, blistering, even.

Far beyond their usual limits, accelerated to unnatural levels by Evelyn’s magic.

Yet, to Anthony, it was meaningless.

To his eyes, they moved sluggishly, their attacks telegraphed, their movements riddled with flaws.

Too many openings.

Too many gaps to exploit.

‘Maybe I should test that skill’

Anthony mused absentmindedly.

Their attacks bore down upon him, a storm of elemental fury converging from all sides.

Then, his voice.

Barely a whisper.

Yet to them, it rang like a thunderclap.

[Aegis Pulse]

For the briefest fraction of a second, Anthony seemed to glow, an ephemeral shimmer, gone almost as soon as it appeared.

Then it happened.

The glow erupted from his body in an overwhelming burst, an expanding dome of pure, unrelenting force.

And then—

Detonation.

The ground heaved, ripped from its foundation.

The air shrieked as it fractured, then shattered.

Space itself trembled, momentarily distorting under the sheer weight of the blast.

Trees, once rooted in defiance, were not merely uprooted, they were reduced to nothingness, erased from existence by the cataclysmic wave.

Every incoming attack was violently repelled, their combined energies flung backward in chaotic disarray.

But rather than dissipating, they twisted and fused, melding into something even more monstrous, birthing new destruction in the wake of their failure.

Above, the sky darkened, as though recoiling in fear, as if the heavens themselves bore witness to an unspeakable force.

The attackers transitioned seamlessly from offense to defense, their reactions almost instinctive, swift, precise, and executed with ridiculous ease.

But—

It didn’t matter.

Their defenses crumbled like brittle twigs before an unstoppable tempest.

The sheer force sent their bodies hurtling backward, tossed like ragdolls caught in a hurricane.

They crashed through everything in their path, shattering trees, splitting boulders, gouging trenches into the earth.

Dust roared to life, rising in thick clouds, obscuring the battlefield in a suffocating veil.

Hills buckled and collapsed.

Ravines tore open, carved anew by the sheer magnitude of destruction.

Pain laced their bodies, skin torn, bones fractured, marks of devastation marring their forms.

Yet, even as blood stained the broken earth, their wounds began to mend.

They possessed a regeneration skill.

And with unnatural speed, their bodies healed, flesh knitting, bones resetting, vitality surging once more.

With pained grunts, they rose to their feet, bodies still aching from the sheer force of the impact.

Their eyes flickered across the battlefield, scanning, searching, where was he?

Then they felt it.

A presence.

Above.

Their gazes snapped upward.

Anthony hovered effortlessly, suspended in the sky, his long hair flowing in harmony with the wind’s whispers.

The sun rested at his back, casting him in a resplendent glow, a fusion of gold and crimson that painted him in an almost divine radiance.

And then, his eyes.

Those gem like blue irises, glacial and unreadable, bore down upon them.

Not with anger.

Not with amusement.

But with an undeniable detachment.

Like a god gazing down upon ants.

Aegis Pulse was a skill he had stolen from Lucian.

Even Lucian hadn’t caused this much damage when he used it.

“There is still much to learn”

Anthony’s voice resonated from above, vast and unwavering, like a divine decree.

“But I can’t teach you. I can only show you once”

The words hung in the air, weighty and absolute.

Below, Spectre watched in awe, his black eyes widening, a rare light flickering within them.

This.

This was the kind of strength he sought.

But his thoughts shattered like glass at the sudden intrusion of a voice.

“Lightning destroys all without obstruction. Do not limit its use. Broaden your imagination”

The words struck his eardrums like a thunderclap, reverberating through his very core.

Anthony’s voice.

But, from beside him?

His breath hitched.

His instincts screamed.

His gaze shot back toward the sky.

And in that instant, the Anthony hovering above vanished.

Nothing more than an afterimage.

Before Spectre could react.

A hand clamped down on his skull.

Anthony’s fingers dug into his head, firm, immovable, like the grasp of an inescapable force.

“Feel its potential”

The words were spoken with eerie calm.

Then—lightning.

Blinding, searing, absolute.

A storm of white dazzling lightning erupted from Anthony’s hand, swallowing Spectre whole.

The lightning was not merely external; it invaded, racing through his veins, tearing through every nerve, every organ.

Every artery.

Every bone.

It crackled.

It seared.

It destroyed.

Spectre’s body convulsed violently.

A guttural, primal scream ripped from his throat.

But it was shortlived.

His vocal cords burned away in an instant, silencing him before the agony could even be fully expressed.

His regeneration, his lifeline, failed.

It couldn’t keep up.

It was outmatched.

It was outclassed.

As Anthony dealt with Spectre, Clement moved.

Silent. Invisible.

A ghost among men.

His presence erased, his existence seemingly canceled from reality itself.

His daggers glided through the air like whispers, precise, deadly, death given form.

Yet, to Anthony’s eyes, he was more like a firefly flickering in the night.

Before the daggers could reach their mark, Anthony’s other hand shot out, faster than thought, beyond comprehension.

He didn’t turn.

He didn’t need to.

His fingers clamped around Clement’s throat, stopping him mid strike with chilling ease.

At that moment—thud.

Spectre’s lifeless body collapsed to the ground.

Only then did Anthony turn, his piercing blue gaze now resting upon Clement.

“Darkness is meant to devour. It consumes. It takes. It demands. It is the Abyss”

Anthony’s voice was steady, absolute, an undeniable truth woven into his words.

Then—darkness.

It did not explode outward like fire or crackle like lightning.

It crawled.

A seething, insidious force slithered from Anthony’s palm, weaving its way into every fiber of Clement’s being.

His breath hitched. His body trembled.

Something was being taken.

His vitality drained.

His youth stolen.

His skin withered, shriveling as deep wrinkles carved their way across his once-pristine face.

His hair paled, strands bleaching into brittle white.

His limbs grew frail.

His body weakened.

His own existence was being swallowed.

Then, Anthony let go.

And Clement fell.

Then, Anthony turned his gaze to the rest.

Their bodies stood rigid, frozen in shock.

Fear crept into their eyes, uncertainty clawing at their resolve.

“Not moving?”

His voice carried an unmistakable amusement.

“Then I shall move”

And he did.

There was no blur.

No flicker.

No trace of motion.

One moment, he stood at a distance.

The next, he was before them.

As if the very concept of distance had been erased.

Anthony’s hand clamped onto Ross’s shoulder, ironclad, inflexible.

Ross, too, wielded lightning.

So Anthony granted him the same spa treatment he had bestowed upon Spectre.

Blinding white lightning surged from his palm, cascading into Ross’s body like an unrelenting storm.

It tore through him.

Every Tendon.

Every Ligament.

Every Tissue.

Every Gland.

Searing, scorching, destroying.

Ross barely had time to scream before his throat seized, his voice stolen by the sheer magnitude of the agony.

He was turned into a human shaped charcoal.

The others tried to move, desperate to act, but they couldn’t.

At that exact moment, Anthony’s aura descended.

It wasn’t an explosion, nor a visible force, it simply was.

A crushing weight, an unseen hand pressing down upon their very existence.

Their knees buckled.

The earth beneath them trembled, then shattered.

Cracks splintered outward as their knees slammed into the ground, bodies trembling under the suffocating pressure.

“Fire doesn’t just burn. It incinerates. It does not spare. Even ashes are incinerated”

Anthony’s words carried the weight of absolute truth, his voice calm, too calm

Then blue flames bloomed.

They did not surge violently like ordinary fire.

No, they were refined, elegant in their destruction.

Mike barely had time to react before the azure inferno devoured him.

His flesh crisped, then vanished.

His muscles, his bones, all turned to charcoal within seconds.

There were no screams.

No sound.

Only the sizzling of flames consuming him whole.

At a distance, Evelyn, Vivian, and Donna could only watch.

Their bodies remained rigid, but their shock bled into every trembling breath, every widened eye.

They had come to fight.

Instead, they were being educated.

And Anthony was the teacher.

Arnold and Marcus soon joined the lesson.

Their resistance meant nothing.

Their abilities, meaningless.

They too fell under Anthony’s crushing control.

His elemental mastery was not just overwhelming.

It was absolute.

“You might be powerful and possess a wide range of skill. But under the hands of someone weaker yet more experienced, you will fall”

Anthony’s voice echoed in their barely flickering consciousness, sinking into the very depths of their battered minds.

Then, a pause.

A breath.

“I hope you’ve learned a lot from this. The world is about to shift”

His words were not a warning.

They were a statement of fact.

Then, his gaze lifted, settling on Evelyn, Vivian, and Donna.

Still floating at a distance.

Still untouched.

Their expressions were unreadable, a mixture of caution and something else.

Amusement danced in Anthony’s gem like blue eyes.

His lips curved into a teasing smile.

Then he was gone.

No sound.

No trace.

As if everything that had just happened had nothing to do with him.