MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

'It seems the time for games has passed'

Zephyra mused, her gaze unwavering as it settled upon him.

Despite having heightened her speed to an extraordinary level, Aaaninja effortlessly evaded her.

The realization dawned upon her, this was no longer a battle for amusement, but a true confrontation.

The onlookers sat in stunned silence, unable to comprehend the sheer velocity at play.

Their eyes could scarcely track the movements of the combatants.

This was understandable in Zephyra's case, given her lineage and exceptional abilities.

But witnessing someone who could not only keep pace but match her in every way was something else entirely.

Aaaninja was no ordinary opponent; he was a being with dominion over time itself.

His mastery was unchallenged, an absolute command over the flow of moments.

Attempting to overpower him with mere speed was a futile endeavor from the start.

There were myriad ways to counter speed through the manipulation of time, yet Aaaninja had made no effort to do so.

He saw no need.

The reason Aaaninja could vanish and reappear at will lay in one of his least most formidable skills:

[Temporal Shift]

This skill granted Aaaninja the ability to manipulate isolated fragments of time, shifting moments either forward or backward.

Unlike mere teleportation, which only alters space, Temporal Shift intertwined both time and space, bending them in unison.

By pinpointing a specific moment, the user could effortlessly transport themselves to that instance, bypassing the stretch of time in between.

It was this ability that made Aaaninja's movements appear as if he were teleporting, a phenomenon that confounded Zephyra.

In truth, he was not simply shifting space; he was navigating through the very fabric of time itself.

And yet, despite her incredible speed, Zephyra's abilities could not transcend time just yet.

Her racial gifts, while formidable in their own right, proved utterly ineffective against an opponent who commanded time itself.

But she was unaware of this critical truth.

Aura and mana surged in perfect harmony around Zephyra's form, signaling the shift to absolute seriousness in her approach.

Her aura enveloped her sword in a radiant cloak, while the winds howled fiercely, bending to her will as they converged upon the blade.

Then, in a flash, she moved.

Her speed was no longer merely fast; it became more than a blur, so inhumanly swift that any onlooker would be forgiven for thinking she had teleported.

In an instant, her sword slashed through the air with a ferocity that threatened to cleave Aaaninja in two.

The world seemed to hold its breath, the air thick with anticipation, as if it too waited for Aaaninja's response.

With an air of effortless grace, Aaaninja met the challenge.

Aura enveloped his body, his expression as calm as ever, as he resolved to mirror his opponent's intensity.

With a fluid motion, his sword shot upwards like a rocket, his body moving seamlessly into a defensive posture.

In the blink of an eye, their weapons collided midair.

For a moment, an oppressive silence descended, heavy and suffocating.

Then, as if the very air itself had been shattered, a cataclysmic eruption detonated from the single clash.

The force unleashed was unparalleled.

Within a twenty-kilometer radius, the world was reduced to nothingness, obliterated in an instant.

Energies of unimaginable magnitude clashed in the very fabric of space, their collision triggering a cascade of destruction, as if the universe itself had been commanded to unravel.

Aaaninja and Zephyra locked eyes, each poised in a moment of fierce equilibrium, one an offense, the other a defense, yet neither yielding an inch.

The winds howled violently, a reflection of their power as they both cut through the remnants of existence in their path.

Aaaninja swiftly retracted his sword, raising his arm over his shoulder and positioning it beside his neck.

In a single, fluid motion, he slashed.

The strike was not just a cut; it was a rending of reality itself.

An arc of aura exploded from his blade, tearing through the air with devastating force.

Zephyra, however, made no attempt to block or even evade.

With unyielding resolve, she plunged directly into the oncoming assault, and in a stunning display of her race's capabilities, the attack passed harmlessly through her form.

It was a sub-ability granted by the Omni-speed of her bloodline.

By vibrating her body at an incredibly high frequency, she phased through the attack without a trace.

In the next heartbeat, her figure materialized beside Aaaninja.
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Without hesitation, she tapped into the deepest reserves of her mana, summoning her might for the counterstrike.

[Zephyra Sword Technique: Gale Waver]

The attack was executed point-blank, and in that fleeting moment, Zephyra believed there was no escape for Aaaninja, not unless he wielded a technique of his own.

Yet, as the strike surged toward him, it ceased to exist.

Aaaninja, with the merest flick of his will, had simply erased the attack from the very fabric of reality.

Zephyra stood momentarily stunned, her attack vanishing into nothingness, before she could even comprehend what had occurred.

In the blink of an eye, Aaaninja was already upon her.

His fist shot upward with the speed of a bullet, a blur of raw power.

With a sickening bang, his fist collided squarely with Zephyra's jaw.

Her head snapped back violently, the impact so forceful that her entire body was dragged along in the motion, her neck straining under the force.

'Impossible'

The thought echoed through Zephyra's mind, her body soaring through the air as her consciousness wavered.

The disbelief that flooded her was not merely from the suddenness of the attack, but from her utter inability to evade Aaaninja's impossible speed.

It was as though he had pierced the very fabric of time itself.

Swiftly, she regained control, her focus sharpening as she steadied herself in midair.

Determination flared within her as she prepared to retaliate with another technique.

She raised her sword high into the sky, her mana pulsing with intense power, the energy crackling around her as she invoked her next move.

[Zephyra Sword Technique: Impaling Wave]

The winds shifted, bending to her will as they coalesced into over a thousand ethereal swords.

Aura intertwined with the wind, infusing each blade with an overwhelming destructive force.

With a decisive motion, Zephyra brought her sword crashing down, and as she did, the storm of wind swords followed in a deadly cascade.

Aaaninja's feet dug into the ground, his stance rooted as if he were prepared to face a storm. His body tensed, primed for the next moment.

The storm of wind blades closed in, their power crushing the air around them, each one aimed with precision toward him.

Then, in a blur of motion, Aaaninja moved.

His sword gleamed with intense brilliance, the wind blades catching reflections of his weapon's sharp edge.

His hands moved with such speed they seemed to be moments ahead in time, intercepting every single blade with seamless precision, not a flicker of hesitation to be seen.

As his sword met each wind blade, they shattered into nothingness, their energy particles dissipating in the wake of his flawless strikes.

It was as though his hands were moving through a fast-forwarded timeline, intercepting each attack with the grace of an inevitability.

There was no slowing, no lapse in coordination, only fluid perfection.

The very ground beneath him buckled under the sheer force of the confrontation.

Shattered debris was pulverized further, sinking into a state of total ruination.

An earthquake reverberated across the land, the earth groaning under the weight of the conflict.

Windstorms whipped up, clouds of dust spiraling into chaotic gusts, as the very air trembled with the aftermath of destruction.

Yet, in the midst of this chaos, Aaaninja's breathing remained unchanged.

His steady inhalations and exhalations were calm, measured, almost detached, in stark contrast to the devastation around him.

His eyes remained closed, his expression tranquil and unperturbed by the storm he had created.

Then, slowly, he raised his head, his gaze shifting toward Zephyra.

His closed eyes still closed, and with a quiet yet piercing focus, they landed squarely on her.

Zephyra's instincts flared with an intensity that demanded immediate action.

There was no time for thought, only movement driven by pure, primal reflex.

Yet, even her exceptional speed was not enough.

Aaaninja's blade descended with the weight of inevitability, as if it carried the authority of a universal law.

The strike was swift, absolute.

In an instant, Zephyra's arm was severed.

A spray of crimson painted the air, droplets scattering like a macabre rain as her severed limb fell from the sky to the ground with a dull thud.

Despite the pain, her expression remained unflinching.

She was no stranger to agony, it was a companion she had long since learned to endure.

Her feet found solid ground, her body steady despite the loss.

Her remaining hand tightened its grip on her sword, the weapon becoming an extension of her will.

Every fiber of her being strained as her senses were pushed to their absolute limits, desperate to detect the next move, to anticipate the next strike.

But before her sharpened awareness could even register a threat, Aaaninja was there again, his presence overwhelming.

He stood before her, an unrelenting force, his movements so swift and seamless that they defied comprehension.

Aaaninja's leg was already in motion before Zephyra could react.

She hadn't even sensed him appear, his movements were beyond the scope of her perception.

His kick connected with her jaw, a devastating strike carrying the weight of an unstoppable force, akin to the charge of an elephant.

The sheer impact lifted her off the ground, her body moments away from being hurled skyward like a broken kite caught in a violent gale.

But then, time itself faltered.

Zephyra froze mid air, suspended in an eerie stillness as Aaaninja manipulated the flow of time around her for just a fraction of a second, hereby halting her ascent into the sky.

The world resumed its motion in an instant, and before she could process what had occurred, Aaaninja's hand coiled tightly around her face.

With ruthless precision, he dragged her body downward and slammed her into the earth with terrifying force.

The ground beneath them gave way as spiderweb cracks spiraled outward from the point of impact, carving deep fissures into the earth.

The sheer force of the attack transformed the surrounding area into a gaping sinkhole, debris and dust erupting into the air like an unyielding tempest.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE.