MIGHT AS WELL BE OP - Chapter 366

Chapter 366: A first [Ko-Fi Bonus Chapter]
The very air tore asunder as they vanished in unison, the ground beneath them quaking violently in the wake of their movement.

In an instant, their blades surged toward each other, cutting through the space between them without hesitation.

Then, with a resounding clash, their swords collided.

Time seemed to freeze in that brief moment.

And then, the world erupted in chaos.

A cataclysmic shockwave tore through the air, shattering the earth itself with a deafening roar.

At the point of impact, Anthony was violently propelled backward, his body flung through the air like a shattered doll.

‘Damn. His physical strength surpasses mine’

He realized, the realization sharpening his focus.

The force of the blow rippled through his muscles, every fiber of his being protesting against the strain as he fought to regain control.

With surprising poise, he managed to steady himself, his feet scraping against the earth, leaving a trail of disruption in his wake.

‘Well, this is a first’

Anthony mused inwardly, acknowledging, for the first time, that he had encountered someone capable of overpowering him in a direct clash of strength.

Anthony’s thoughts were abruptly interrupted as a figure materialized before him, a sword raised high toward the heavens before descending with relentless precision.

Reacting swiftly, Anthony twisted his body, narrowly evading the deadly strike by a hairsbreadth.

With a deafening roar, the demon’s sword cleaved the earth beneath them, the impact leaving a scar that stretched a full kilometer in length.

The very cavern trembled, its foundations rattling under the sheer force of the blow.

Anthony transitioned effortlessly from evasion to offense, his strike flashing forward with lethal precision, aiming for the heart of his opponent.

Yet, the demon showed no surprise at the incoming assault.

With a calm, almost predatory grace, he raised his left hand, his claws extending with unnatural speed, effortlessly snaring Anthony’s attack mid flight.

The demon’s right hand snapped back, the hilt of his sword hurtling toward Anthony’s stomach with blinding speed.

But Anthony reacted with swift precision.

In a single fluid motion, his leg shot upward, intercepting the hilt mid motion, halting its deadly advance.

The air around them exploded with force as they locked into a tense standoff.

‘SS-ranked speed and strength, without a doubt’

Anthony mused, his gaze locked on the demon’s cold eyes.

‘If only my physical strength hadn’t been diminished a second time… I could have overpowered him without relying on any enhancements’

From their earlier exchange, Anthony had already deduced that, with only half of his usual D+ rank stats, he could still overpower his opponent.

However, with just a quarter of his strength, not so much.

Though his senses were currently diminished, it didn’t faze him.

His All Seeing Eyes were beyond the reach of the restriction bracelets; even if the bracelets could suppress his eyes, the Sense Dome remained untouched.

As both combatants locked eyes, an unspoken understanding passed between them, a silent exchange that spoke volumes.

Then, a surge of energy erupted from both of them, overwhelming the air around them.

Aura.

It enveloped their bodies and weapons, a visible manifestation of their rising power.

In the blink of an eye, they moved.

Their weapons collided once more, but this time with a force that shattered the very earth beneath them, forming a deep ravine where their blades met.

The demon’s expression tightened, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth as he sensed a drastic shift in the intensity of Anthony’s strikes.

Anthony’s katana was already in motion again, faster and sharper than before, its edge honed with ruthless precision.

He struck without hesitation, the timing of his attack flawless, as if in sync with the very rhythm of his heart.

The demon reacted with remarkable swiftness, his sword raised to parry.

But as their blades collided, the demon was sent sprawling, thrown off his feet by the sheer force of the blow.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Anthony launched another strike, his katana cutting through the air, aiming directly for the demon’s neck.

The demon, sensing the lethal blow, made no move to defend himself.

There was an eerie calm in his stance, as if he had already resigned himself to his fate.

He had accepted his death.

But instead of meeting its mark, Anthony’s katana simply sliced through the air, brushing past the empty space where the demon’s neck had been, the swish of its passage the only sound that followed.

Anthony’s gaze flicked to the side, his focus sharpening.

There, standing with a wicked smile, was the demon, unscathed, watching him intently.

The demon had teleported, his mastery over space evident in the sudden shift.

But Anthony wasn’t surprised.

He remained unfazed.

From the very moment their eyes had first met, his All Seeing Eyes had already detected the subtle dance of space particles surrounding the demon, a sign of his affinity.

‘Two more minutes’

Anthony thought, his mind calculating the remaining time.

With a smile, Anthony vanished in an instant.

He was gone before his opponent even realized he had moved.

Anthony’s katana flashed toward the demon’s waist, its edge cutting through the air with deadly precision.

The demon’s instincts screamed at him, and in a split second, he disappeared once more.

Anthony’s aura exploded, carving a path of destruction through the earth beneath him.

But this time, the demon didn’t teleport to another distant location.

Instead, he reappeared directly above Anthony.

The demon’s sword, now coated in a fierce aura, seemed to burn brighter as black flames spiraled around the blade, intertwining with the energy.

Without warning, the sword slashed downward toward Anthony’s head, a lethal strike from above.

Anthony made no move to block or parry.

Instead, with the fluid grace of a seasoned fighter, he shifted his weight, his center of gravity adjusting with the simplest of movements.

The demon’s attack collided with the earth, the black flames raging as they devoured everything in their path, turning the ground to ash.

But Anthony didn’t flinch.

He didn’t need to shield himself.

Flame based attacks held no threat for him.

His mastery over aura far surpassed the demon’s, making the flames nothing more than a passing inconvenience.

‘One minute left’

Anthony thought, a smile curling at the corners of his lips.

His sword flashed forward once again, aimed directly at the demon’s heart.

He cut through the very air, his strikes unnervingly silent amidst the chaos of battle.

But the demon reacted as though he hadn’t even noticed the attack.

Rather than defending, he struck instead, his blade cleaving toward Anthony’s neck with lethal intent.

Neither fighter flinched.

Neither retracted their assault.

There was a chilling silence between them, a shared understanding that neither would retreat.

As Anthony’s strike neared the demon’s chest, the very space around the demon trembled under his control.

In an instant, he phased through the attack, evading the blow with an eerie fluidity.

Meanwhile, Anthony raised his free hand with unnerving calm and caught the demon’s sword between his index and middle fingers.

The black flames that licked the blade didn’t affect him.

The aura that radiated from the sword couldn’t touch him.

Both combatants realized, in that fleeting moment, that their attacks had missed.

The demon, frustrated, attempted to retract his sword from Anthony’s grasp, but the blade refused to budge.

With a quiet confidence, Anthony spoke.

“It’s time to fulfill your wish”

At those words, the demon made a split-second decision, his instincts kicking in.

He relinquished the sword, knowing it could no longer serve him.

Then, with a swift thought, he controlled the space particles, intending to teleport.

But to his shock, the element refused to respond.

His body, too, was frozen in place.

“You aren’t the only one who can control space”

Anthony spoke softly, his voice barely above a whisper.

His sword moved with fluid grace, a streak of precision through the air.

The strike was a form of poetry, written in the ink of his enemy’s blood.

As the demon’s head rolled to the ground, Anthony shook his head, the battle’s conclusion now inescapable.

He could have ended the fight at any moment, but the boredom of those three minutes spent waiting had worn on him.

So, he had chosen to let the demon entertain him for the remaining five minutes at least.

His gaze drifted to the timer on his restriction bracelet.

‘Twenty seconds’

Anthony closed his eyes, allowing the seconds to slip away in silence, as the countdown ticked toward its end.

And when it finally did, the cavern disappeared, and Anthony was teleported away.