MIGHT AS WELL BE OP-Chapter 1007: A Flash

Aura Nova was in yet another unimaginable wave of agony. She felt as though she were being devoured from within, as if some evolved species of piranhas were tearing mercilessly through her flesh and drinking deeply from her veins. Every nerve ending burned. Every fragment of her being screamed. But she could only endure.

Gritting her teeth with trembling resolve, she forcefully severed the flow of her own mana, and the instant she did, the Void Portal collapsed and vanished. Consequently, the raging lightning construct that had been tearing through her body dissipated immediately.

But the damage had already been inflicted.

She resembled nothing more than a charred corpse suspended in the air. The stench of burnt flesh drifted outward, thick and nauseating. Her once flawless skin had turned brittle and blackened, like a humanoid sculpture carved from charcoal. Her immense beauty and ethereal hair had vanished entirely. She floated weakly, as though existence itself was barely tolerating her continued presence.

The pain was overwhelming beyond measure. Her lungs burned. Her liver felt ruptured. Her heart spasmed erratically. Even her brain throbbed with searing torment. Every single part of her body screamed in unison. She was not at the Apexus Mana Rank, where physical damage and pain became trivial and only essence-level harm held significance. No, she had not reached that transcendent threshold. At her current level, every injury mattered. Every wound was real. Every second of suffering was excruciating.

Omniedit: Command: Logic Hijack: Perfect State

Her mana ignited once more, blazing outward in a controlled eruption. In less than an instant, every injury vanished as though it had never existed. Her flesh was restored. Her organs stabilized. Her charred exterior dissolved into pristine perfection. It was as if reality itself had been corrected.

Her gaze shifted toward Anthony, who floated calmly in the distance with that same faint, infuriating smile upon his face. Though she remained silent, her mind raced furiously.

She remembered Lucian’s warning with absolute clarity. He had told her there was a lag between each Command she issued through her innate ability. A fractional delay. A microscopic vulnerability. And now, it was undeniable, Anthony was exploiting that gap mercilessly. If there were no delay between her Commands, she would have been able to maintain equilibrium in this battle. But that infinitesimal pause was enough for someone like him.

’Quantum Manipulation... she thought inwardly, ’it seems I still have much to refine and improve on.’

Fixing her gaze firmly upon Anthony, she spoke again, her mana flowing outward like an endless ocean pressing against the boundaries of the separate plane.

Omniedit: Command: Logic Hijack: Temporal Halt

Mana and Time particles detonated outward simultaneously, rippling across the entire separate plane as they bent to her authority. In the next instant, everything froze.

Time stopped. The flow of mana ceased. Light rays halted mid-travel. Even the wind was suspended in stillness. The entire plane became a silent, unmoving painting.

Omniedit: Command: Overwrite Cascade: Erasing Beam

Radiance condensed around Aura Nova, intensifying with each passing fraction of a second. Her form glowed brighter and brighter as a colossal beam of pure, concentrated erasure formed before her. It pulsed with silent finality.

Without hesitation, she released it.

The beam tore forward through the frozen world and pierced directly into Anthony’s chest with astronomical force. Yet there was no explosion. No shockwave. No destruction of terrain. It was never meant to produce spectacle. It was designed for absolute erasure.

Its purpose was singular: erase the target from existence.

And with that contact, Anthony vanished, there was no body. No residue. No distortion. He simply ceased to be. Aura Nova observed the empty space where he had once floated. Yet she felt no triumph. No relief. She was not naive. There was no conceivable reality in which Anthony could be defeated so easily. If that were the case, Lucian and Aaaninja would have overwhelmed him long ago without difficulty.

’An illusion,’ the realization struck instantly.

Omniedit: Command: Overwrite Cascade: True Vision

Reality inverted within her perception. Layers peeled away. Falsehoods dissolved. Illusions fractured.

She saw through everything, but her understanding came a fraction too late. What now filled her vision was the gleam of a katana already slicing toward her neck.

Her reflexes activated instinctively. Space bent violently around her, and with a thought, she vanished from her position. But escape came at a cost.

She reappeared in the distance, and blood sprayed from her neck. It had already been half cleanly severed from her shoulders. Had she delayed by even a heartbeat longer, she would have been completely decapitated.

This time, she did not invoke Perfect State. Her innate regeneration surged forward, knitting flesh and sinew together swiftly as the wound closed.

She stared at Anthony from afar. The longer this battle continued, the clearer the truth became: this was hopeless.

At this point, she had only one option remaining, her final and most powerful Command. She believed that even Anthony would not be able to resist it. She had used it during her battle with Kingsley and had emerged victorious. During her clash with Lucian, she had been moments away from activating it before she was abruptly decapitated. Had she succeeded then, she believed she would have won.

Now, she would not hesitate.

Omniedit: Command: Root Access Mode

The moment she activated it, everything changed.

She entered Root Access Mode. A transcendent, trance-like heavenly state enveloped her. Her eyes became ethereal, luminous beyond mortal comprehension, as though they perceived every layer of existence simultaneously. She ascended higher into the air. Mana screamed and roared around her as though she were its originator. Her hair transformed, strands shifting into every color imaginable, shimmering with impossible brilliance.

Her gaze descended upon Anthony. When she spoke, her voice carried supreme authority, the kind that could command even those who dared call themselves Gods.

"Decapitate yourself, Null Anthony."

Her words were law. Reality bent to obey. Existence adjusted. Order reshaped itself to fulfill the command.

But... nothing happened.

Anthony remained exactly where he was, floating effortlessly in the air. His expression did not change. It was as though her command had been nothing more than a casual suggestion whispered into the wind.

Aura Nova frowned. Though she had used this ability only once before in her lifetime, she understood the magnitude of power it granted. It was not meant to be resisted. No being should have been capable of ignoring it. Yet he stood there untouched. Before she could issue another command, a voice drifted into her ears.

"It was nice sparring with you, Aura Nova. After your True Awakening, I will be waiting for your real challenge." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Her eyes widened in raw, unfiltered shock; Anthony’s voice, he was behind her. She had not sensed him move. She had not perceived any displacement. Within Root Access Mode, she was meant to exist at the pinnacle, something akin to the strongest state attainable. And yet, she had failed to detect a single motion.

Before her head could even turn, before her thoughts could fully process the impossibility,

A flash.

Her neck was severed cleanly from her shoulders with such incomprehensible speed that she never saw the blade. And with that, Aura Nova lost to Null Anthony by decapitation.