Chapter 973: Infinitesimal Instant
Aaaninja’s figure appeared a few kilotres away as he had crossed such an imnse distance in a single split second, the ground beneath his feet cracking faintly from the abrupt displacent. His eyes snapped sharply toward Lucian’s location, who simply stood there with a wide, unrestrained smile resting upon his face as he stared back with calm confidence.
Lucian stood with the silent ease of soone who was genuinely enjoying himself, and indeed he was. He was unleashing everything he possessed in reverence to the sword, every ounce of skill, intent, and instinct laid bare without reservation, and Aaaninja had t it all head-on without faltering, without retreating even once, and Lucian could not help but admit it to himself, he was truly enjoying this battle more than any he had experienced in years, perhaps even decades, the thrill of clashing against an equal igniting sothing primal within him.
Aaaninja did not disappoint him, and he had clearly improved since their last encounter, his movents sharper, his timing cleaner, his intent far more refined than before, but regardless of that improvent, regardless of how much sharper he had beco, Lucian could already see the faint outline of his own victory etched into the inevitable flow of the fight.
With a re thought, his own Sword Intent manifested.
It bood and coursed through his body like a raging torrent, flooding him and his katana like an unstoppable tidal wave, saturating every muscle fiber and every nerve with overwhelming might, his Sword Intent black in colour like an abyss without light while Aaaninja’s was pure white like freshly fallen snow, the two forces standing as stark opposites, night and day made manifest.
The air scread as both n stood in absolute silence, their Sword Intents not clashing midair, not yet, no sparks or collisions forming between them, instead they simply stared at one another from a distance as though two ancient monarchs asuring the worth of the other, their presence alone enough to make the world tremble.
Aaaninja did not speak, not a single word leaving his lips, yet his gaze sharpened as he suddenly decided to raise the tempo and rhythm of the battle as though he wished to end it quickly and move on to face Anthony already, his impatience faint but undeniable.
The next instant, Ti particles began to dance around him as they responded to his will and call like children running toward their creator, gathering and swirling around his body in shimring distortions that bent perception.
Lucian, who had now copied an affinity for Ti itself through his usual thods and ways sensed the sudden shift instantly, and he did not hesitate even for a heartbeat. The next mont black lightning burst through his body, flickering across his form in maddening thunderous arcs. It rumbled violently through the air and sky, the sound deep and oppressive, as the wind itself seed to crack apart like fragile glass.
Lucian’s Sword Intent strengthened the force of his Lightning elent even further as he now resembled a black lightning god descended upon the battlefield, power, speed, and destructive force pouring into him endlessly, his presence alone distorting the environnt around him as though nature itself feared proximity.
Neither he nor Aaaninja spoke, both of them having silently altered the tempo and rhythm of the battle, both understanding that the next exchange would no longer be simple swordplay but sothing far beyond, and now they would resu.
Reality seed to blink, but within that split microsecond they were already gone, slipping through layers of reality itself like phantoms beyond mortal perception.
With a world sundering roar and an apocalyptic shockwave, they tore into one another with absolute madness, their blades colliding with such overwhelming force that the separate plane they fought upon seed on the very verge of erasure, cracks spreading across the sky like broken glass, yet it sohow held firm.
At their first titanic collision, Aaaninja’s body was hurled backward, Lucian’s attack pushing him across the battlefield with unstoppable montum as Lucian’s force of attack had clearly touched another threshold entirely.
Aaaninja’s feet imdiately dug into the earth below, trenches tearing open behind him until he finally ca to a halt. Lucian did not speak, he simply pressed his advantage without rcy, appearing before Aaaninja in a blur of lightning bolts, his katana already descending through the air like divine judgnt.
This ti, Aaaninja did not et the attack head-on, because although the Ti elent had increased his base speed, perception, and reaction speed drastically, it had not increased his raw strength or physical output, while Lucian’s Lightning elent enhanced all of those aspects simultaneously, covering every possible weakness and amplifying his entire being.
Aaaninja sidestepped swiftly as he moved to dodge the attack, but despite his blurring and remarkable speed Lucian saw through it and kept pace effortlessly, his own perception equally sharp, his katana already singing toward Aaaninja’s neck as the distance between them vanished yet again.
Aaaninja imdiately activated Temporal Acceleration, ti itself slowing around him as everything seed to reduce to a crawl, Lucian’s speed dropping drastically, the lightning that once appeared terrifying now seeming slower than a drifting leaf within Aaaninja’s perception, his Sword Intent boosting the skill far beyond its original limits.
With this heightened awareness, Aaaninja’s blade flashed in a blurring silver arc, and with a resounding clash he parried Lucian’s attack to the side. With Temporal Acceleration active, he moved, his speed faster than anything Lucian’s Lightning and Sword Intent could hope to match under normal circumstances.
His blade blitzed toward Lucian’s neck as he aid to end it once and for all, and with a sharp silver line his sword sliced cleanly through Lucian’s neck. But the mont it did, Aaaninja frowned faintly as he felt no resistance, no sensation of carving through flesh or bone. His head imdiately snapped to the side, and all his eyes caught was the blurred image of Lucian’s katana already moving.
Lucian had reacted to Aaaninja’s strike at the very last mont by simply phasing through the attack itself, slipping through space as though his body were intangible, thus preserving his head entirely.
But this ti, Lucian had increased his speed yet again, manipulating gravity to erase its influence on his own body weight, granting himself the weight of a feather, and furthermore boosting his speed even further as he beca nearly weightless, each step lighter than air itself.
Aaaninja’s instincts flared violently, because normally he should have been able to dodge or parry through Temporal Acceleration alone, but with Lucian’s newly attained speed he could no longer rely solely on that advantage, as Lucian had now reached a realm where he could match Temporal Acceleration directly.
But still, he had more skills hidden up his sleeve, he was a manipulator of ti after all, and surrender was never an option.
In the next instant he activated another ability, Temporal Deceleration, and imdiately the Ti particles within the separate plane slowed everything around him drastically, Lucian’s attack losing speed with every passing millisecond, the entire battlefield sinking into a sluggish crawl.
Aaaninja imdiately capitalized, his Temporal Acceleration and Temporal Deceleration working in perfect tandem, one amplifying his speed and perception to absurd levels while the other suppressed everything around him, creating an overwhelming disparity that only he could exploit.
His sword flashed with wicked force and rciless precision as he moved to cleave through Lucian’s head once again, imdiately the feeling of a blade biting into flesh erupted as the sickening sound of tearing echoed through the air, blood splattering outward in violent arcs as an arm soared skyward, severed cleanly at the shoulder.
It was Aaaninja’s own hand.
Confusingly and impossibly, Lucian Darkheart had reversed the situation in that infinitesimal instant and had drawn first blood.
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