MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

Anthony's expression remained unchanged even as Aaaninja's attack struck him.

Possessing an extraordinary ability did not make him arrogant or conceited; he remained composed, his face devoid of emotion.

As his Thought Acceleration skill activated, his mind raced to analyze how Aaaninja had managed to execute such a precise maneuver.

If the initial strike had been a feint, he would have recognized it instantly, but it wasn't.

A cascade of thoughts surged through his mind.

Yet, even as Anthony vanished, Aaaninja did not afford him a moment's reprieve.

No, he pressed forward.

He relentlessly pursued his advantage.

In less than a split second, Aaaninja was already upon Anthony, his sword flashing toward his neck like the fang of a serpent.

This time, Anthony chose not to block.

Instead, he sidestepped, attempting to evade the strike.

Yet, the blade did not simply slice past him, it curved unnaturally, biting into his flesh.

Blood once again stained the battlefield.

But the wound was fleeting.

His Infinite Regeneration ability restored the damage in less than the blink of an eye.

As Aaaninja pressed forward, relentless in his assault, Anthony's thoughts raced.

And then, an answer.

A theory he needed to test.

As the sword streaked toward Anthony's head, he moved to intercept.

Yet, just as before, Aaaninja altered his trajectory mid-strike.

But this time, Anthony's katana followed.

With a resounding clang, steel met steel, the force of the impact reverberating through the air.

He had blocked the attack.

Anthony's piercing blue gaze locked onto Aaaninja, a faint smile curling his lips.

For the briefest moment, a flicker of surprise crossed Aaaninja's face, only to vanish instantly, as if it had never been there.

He hadn't expected Anthony to keep up so soon.

Anthony had sustained injuries not due to a lack of skill, but because Aaaninja was peering into the future as they fought.

Each time Anthony moved to block, Aaaninja had already foreseen it, adjusting the trajectory of his attacks accordingly.

This was one of Aaaninja's abilities: [Future Sight].

It granted him the power to glimpse a few seconds ahead, allowing him to react preemptively with almost no mana consumption.

Ordinarily, gazing into the future would demand an immense amount of mana.

Aaaninja was a man born of time itself.

He possessed no abilities or affinities beyond the domain of Time, yet within it, he reigned supreme.

But now, this raised a crucial question, how had Anthony blocked the third strike if Aaaninja was already looking beyond the present?

During Anthony's battle with Hariko, his All Seeing Eyes had activated on its own for the first time, revealing a glimpse of his impending death.

A vision of his severed head, moments before reality caught up.

(If you don't recall, read Chapter 35 again)

Though the system had introduced this ability long ago, Anthony had never actively used it.

It had remained an unspoken power, its existence noted but unexplored.

It was also stated that the limits of the All Seeing Eyes depended entirely on the user.

Yet Anthony had never given this future sight aspect a name.

After all, his eyes could already do so much, what was one more ability among many?

But now, a far more pressing question loomed.

What would happen in a battle between two beings who could both peer into the future?

In a flash of blinding light, they vanished once more, their swords singing through the air.

Steel clashed in rapid succession, each collision reverberating across the battlefield like a relentless war drum.

Both combatants glimpsed different futures, yet, paradoxically, they arrived at the same moment in the present.

Aaaninja, realizing that his Future Sight was being countered, wasted no time.

Without hesitation, he activated another ability.

The change was immediate.

As Anthony moved, his speed faltered.

His katana, once fluid and precise, now dragged sluggishly through the air.

The world around him crawled, as if time itself had thickened.

[Time Slow]

Aaaninja had ensnared the battlefield in temporal stagnation, reducing everything within its range to a crawl.

Then, his blade flashed forward, aiming to cleave Anthony in two.

The sword sliced cleanly through Anthony's waist.

Yet, no blood spilled.

Aaaninja's eyes flickered.

Anthony had phased through the attack, using a spatial ability at the last possible moment.

He had seen the strike coming and shifted his presence beyond the physical plane.

And in the same instant, he vanished.

By teleporting out of the area, he had escaped the effects of [Time Slow] entirely.

Aaaninja deactivated Time Slow, ready to move, but before he could react, a sharp tear ripped through his chest.

Blood poured from the wound, searing pain flooding his body.

'How?'

The thought flashed through Aaaninja's mind.

He hadn't sensed Anthony move.

He hadn't seen him move.

Then, realization struck.

'Where is he?'

Anthony had vanished.

Aaaninja's eyes narrowed.

He wasted no time.

[Temporal Rewind]

Time unraveled in an instant, reversing the flow of reality.

The deep gash in his chest sealed shut, his flesh knitting together as if the injury had never existed.

But the moment his injury vanished, agony struck anew.

His left arm was severed at the shoulder, the flesh cleaving apart in an instant.

A hundred slashes carved into his body, each stroke imbued with ruthless precision.

Sword Intent surged through him like a raging storm, infiltrating his very core, ravaging his organs from within.

Aaaninja gritted his teeth, suppressing the pain as his mind raced.

Without hesitation, he activated Temporal Rewind once more.

And just like that, everything vanished.

The wounds, the blood, the devastation, it was as if they had never existed.

Time had erased all traces of the assault, restoring him to his unscathed state.

But clarity struck him like a hammer.

'He's concealing himself… even my Future Sight can't see him coming'

And he was right.

Anthony had vanished into obscurity, shrouding himself completely, beyond even the gaze of time itself.

The moment Anthony teleported out of Aaaninja's Time Slow, he activated another skill.

[Concealment]

This ability allowed Anthony to erase his presence entirely, his existence, his aura, even the very concept of him, vanishing almost so completely that, to the world, he had never been there at all.

(If you don't recall, refer to Chapter 7)

It was this very skill that rendered Aaaninja's Future Sight useless.

He couldn't predict what did not exist in the future.

But Aaaninja was no fool.

He quickly pieced together the truth.

'This isn't ordinary concealment. Normal stealth techniques don't hide attacks, only the user… but his does'

Aaaninja's mind raced.

Then, Aaaninja activated a countermeasure.

His lips parted, voice resonating with an undeniable force.

[Time Fracture]

Mana erupted from his core, surging like a broken dam.

The very fabric of time convulsed, unstable, erratic, indecisive.

Then it happened.

A dome of pure time particles exploded outward, expanding like a tidal wave of temporal distortion.

Everything within a ten kilometer radius trembled at its core.

Mountains crumbled into dust as centuries passed in an instant.

Trees rewound, regressing to saplings, then to seeds, before blinking out of existence.

Structures flickered chaotically, aging forward a second, then backward the next, only to revert to their original state, then loop endlessly in an infinite cycle of time's wrath.

Time Fracture created a battlefield of chaos, unstable zones where time warped uncontrollably, some areas accelerating, others slowing to a crawl, while certain places spiraled into endless loops.

Even Anthony, despite his overwhelming power, wasn't entirely unaffected.

Had it not been for his absurd bloodline and the resilience granted by his physique, his body would have aged countless times over.

As it was, he felt over two hundred years of his lifespan siphoned away in mere moments.

Yet Anthony remained unfazed.

Two hundred years?

That's nothing.

Then, he raised his hand as he snapped his fingers and uttered four words.

[Quantum Manipulation: Particle Disintegration]

A brilliant explosion of light engulfed the battlefield, a whiteness so absolute it devoured everything.

The rampant time particles, so volatile and uncontrollable, ceased.

No delay.

No resistance.

They simply vanished.

The fractured time zones stabilized, the looping structures freed from their infinite cycles.

However, the damage had already been done.

Those that had been eroded by time, mountains reduced to dust, trees erased from existence, were not restored.

What was lost to time… remained lost forever.

Aaaninja stared at Anthony, a slow smile spreading across his face.

Though surprised by the sudden disappearance of the time particles, he remained silent.

He understood the weight of what had just happened, erasing time particles wasn't something that could be done easily.

More importantly, he hadn't even felt the movement of mana.

That meant Anthony had accomplished this without using mana at all.

Yet, Aaaninja didn't ask.

He didn't demand answers.

He simply observed, silent and intrigued.

This… this was exactly what he wanted.

An opponent who could counter him.

He despised the ease with which he crushed most adversaries, how all it took was a simple pause in time, and they would crumble without resistance. Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire

But this battle was different.

He knew Anthony was beyond such tricks.

Even if he froze time completely, Anthony would still move.

Then, with a smile, Aaaninja moved.

But it wasn't just any movement.

It was subtle, almost imperceptible.

A single muscle, his eyelid.

Softly, slowly, it fluttered.

And in that moment…

Aaaninja opened his EYES.