MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

At a speed that defied comprehension, swifter than light itself, Lilithra was suddenly upon Anthony, her leg lashing out in a lethal arc, intent on ending his life in a single, decisive strike.

Yet, without so much as raising a guard, Anthony vanished in a shimmer of displacement, his form flickering away from danger.

In a brilliant flash, he shot upward, breaking through the clouds and surging toward the boundless expanse of outer space.

He had no desire to battle upon the Blue Planet. Monarchs wielded strength on a planetary scale, were he and Lilithra to unleash their full might here, the very world beneath them would crumble into ruin.

Lilithra's eyes snapped toward him, sharp with understanding. She knew precisely what he intended, but bore no objection.

It had been far too long since she had indulged herself in such a dance of destruction. With a predatory smirk, her form blurred and vanished.

Anthony responded in kind, his speed surging ever higher as he sensed her rapidly closing the distance, the gap between them shrinking to nothing within the span of a heartbeat.

With a resonant boom, he shattered the Blue Planet's atmospheric barrier, the echo rippling through the void. Only after covering vast stretches of empty space did he halt, standing suspended in the silent expanse, waiting for her arrival.

Within the span of a heartbeat, Lilithra arrived in a blinding flash, a faint smile curling upon her lips. She uttered no words, her finger simply lunged forward, a spear of intent aimed directly for Anthony's throat.

Anthony caught her wrist with an almost serene composure, his posture unshaken. But Lilithra was far from finished. Her knee snapped upward with blinding speed, streaking toward his jaw with a force that could rival the birth of a star.

His other hand moved just as swiftly, palm intercepting her knee mid-ascent, halting the strike before it could connect.

He had not once called upon his mental calculation ability, nor his infinity ability, such powers would defeat the purpose of this test.

Then, in the blink of an eye, both Anthony and Lilithra vanished into streaks of searing light.

Their bodies collided again and again in the empty void, each impact ringing like the tolling of celestial war drums. Their hand to hand combat unfolded in pure, unrestrained madness, an unending exchange of perfectly executed strikes.

Kicks. Punches. Elbow strikes. Knee strikes. Headbutts. Crushing forearms. Hammer fists. Palms and open-hand blows.

Each strike met the other in violent harmony, collapsing against its counterpart with such force that space itself seemed to bend around them, as though the very galaxy was caught in their orbit.

Their fists clashed like colliding meteors, shockwaves rippling outward in titanic waves, making the silent void tremble beneath their fury.

They moved in a primal rhythm, limbs flashing like serpents in the dark, every blow precise, every strike born of a predator's instinct sharpened to perfection.

Blurred silhouettes danced and wove through arcs of pure force, their battle a symphony of destruction and grace, the deadly elegance of warriors forged in the crucible of blood and chaos.

A faint smile played upon Anthony's lips as he moved, his eyes tracking every nuance, his mind shifting seamlessly with each exchange. He fought now with nothing but his body,

No mana. No aura. No techniques.

No intent. No abilities. No skills.

Only the raw strength of flesh and bone, sharpened by a lifetime of battle-hardened experience.

And he relished every heartbeat of it.

The speed. The razor-edge reaction time.

The heightened senses.

The panoramic clarity of the void around them.

He loved it. He savored it.

In this moment, it felt as though a single sweep of his palm could unmake planets and snuff out stars.

After the Starborn Tournament, he had been unable to keep pace with the battle that unfolded during their return to the Blue Planet.

Back then, he had been forced to rely on Time Magic, along with countless other techniques and abilities, merely to catch the faintest glimpse of what transpired.

But now… now it was different.

Glancing at Lilithra, who remained untouched and without the faintest sheen of sweat upon her skin, he abruptly escalated the tempo of their dance. In an instant, their speed blurred beyond mortal sight.

Every strike he delivered, fists, elbows, knees, was brushed aside with effortless precision, Lilithra's palms meeting them as if swatting away the playful jabs of a child.

Her eyes carried that quiet, unshakable condescension, watching him as one might watch a newborn stumble in its first steps.

But Anthony neither faltered nor cared for her gaze. He had no interest in her thoughts, her smirk, or her unspoken judgment.

Today, a Monarch would fall by his hands... too bad the Second Supreme Monarch would not be the first.

They circled each other, the void between them alive with the unspoken promise of violence, every step a drumbeat of mounting tension.

When they clashed, the sound was like timber splintering under a storm's fury, raw strength meeting raw strength. Each strike was punctuation in a sentence written in blood, every blow a statement of lethal intent.

They moved so swiftly their attacks blurred into a singular tempest, a storm given form in flesh and bone.

A backfist cracked through the air like a whip, snapping toward Anthony's head with ruthless precision.

But Anthony was ready, his blue eyes drank in the attack with crystalline clarity, his body shifting back in perfect time to evade.

Lilithra did not pause.

Her pattern shifted instantly, as if testing her newest prey. A downward elbow descended toward his shoulder, a strike that could shatter his stance like a splitting tree trunk.

Anthony met it with an upward elbow of his own, their collision detonating the surrounding space in a thunderless explosion.

In a blur, their feet found purchase upon the blazing surface of a massive protostar. Gravity surged around them, multiplying until it threatened to drag them to their knees.

But they ignored its crushing pull, streaking forward once more, wild and destructive, like wild cats fighting for a territory in the heart of a Jungle.

Every movement carried the weight of deadly purpose, each attack sharpened to pierce, break, or utterly destroy.

Anthony's foot snapped toward Lilithra's ribs, a strike that rang with the promise of shattering bone, like a gong tolling through flesh.

But her hand shot out, catching his ankle mid-flight. With a smooth, merciless motion, she pivoted and spun, hurling him toward the blazing surface of the protostar, a smile curling on her lips.

Anthony's reaction was instantaneous.

Battle honed reflexes ignited, his palm slammed against the star's surface, halting his momentum in a single, controlled motion.

His head lifted sharply, blue eyes locking with her crimson gaze. A faint smile formed as his second leg whipped toward her ankle in a flash of calculated speed.

But Lilithra didn't release him. Her foot shifted, intercepting the attack before it could complete its arc, her grin widening in playful defiance.

That was all the opening Anthony needed. Using the star beneath his palms as leverage, he pushed himself upward, his body twisting in midair. His fingers darted forward like a spear, aimed unerringly for her red eyes.

Lilithra's smile didn't change, but she was forced into action. She released his legs, her form dissolving into a blur, slipping back in a phantom's retreat.

Anthony twisted through the void, landing lightly upon his feet, graceful and poised like a hunting cat.

Then, for the briefest heartbeat, they grinned at one another, each recognizing the other as prey.

The star beneath them groaned, a spiderweb crack spreading across its searing surface, as if the celestial body itself could no longer endure their presence.

In the next instant, they vanished in twin blurs, hurtling toward each other with lethal intent.