MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

The sand beneath Lucian's feet trembled with unsettling force as monstrous shapes began to emerge the moment the timer reached its mark.

A katana materialized effortlessly in Lucian's grip, its polished blade gleaming in the dim light as he readied himself for the oncoming horde.

Having witnessed Anthony's mastery of the katana throughout the pages of the novel, Lucian had resolved, upon his reincarnation, to wield the blade himself, a choice born of both reverence and necessity.

From the boundless desert sands, the monsters began to unfurl in staggering numbers.

Though their presence seemed endless, Lucian remained unfazed, his focus unwavering.

Suddenly, a tremor beneath his feet caught his attention.

His gaze snapped downward, instinctively aware of the shift in the earth.

'Sand Wyrm'

The thought flashed swiftly across his mind as he beheld the monstrous, serpentine forms emerging from the depths, their colossal bodies writhing from the sand's unforgiving grasp.

Mana flowed beneath Lucian's precise command as he advanced, launching his first assault with seamless fluidity.

[Sand Magic: Mana Zone: Dune Spikes]

The sand shifted violently, and towering spires, each more than eight feet high, burst forth from the earth, impaling every monster within a ten kilometer radius.

In an instant, over a thousand creatures met their untimely end.

A river of blood poured across the sands, spilling out from the grotesque wounds of the fallen, painting the desert with a grim hue as the lifeblood of the beasts flowed unchecked.

Yet the battle was far from over.

The next wave of monsters surged forward, trampling over their fallen kin as they advanced with deadly intent.

From the depths of the horde, immense fireballs hurtled towards Lucian, their scorching heat propelled from the blazing tails of numerous Cinderhorn Nanticore.

Lucian, unfazed by the oncoming assault, stood poised, his gaze unwavering.

The flames drew nearer, but before they could reach him, they halted midair, frozen as though time itself had stilled. Stay updated via empire

Without warning, the fireballs reversed course, hurtling back toward their creators.

A resounding explosion shattered the silence, followed by the acrid scent of burning flesh that quickly filled the air.

Lucian stood, untouched, his mastery over the flames evident as he effortlessly seized control of the fiery barrage, redirecting their deadly force back to its origin.

A thick, toxic cloud of poison began to spread swiftly, blanketing the air with its lethal presence.

Another breed of monsters had emerged: the Ash Scorpios.

These vile creatures exhaled clouds of gas that transformed into a deadly poison upon exposure to the open air.

One by one, the monsters began to collapse, their bodies succumbing to paralysis as the poison took hold.

As the toxic mist inched closer, Lucian raised his hand, channeling his mana to cast yet another spell.

[Sand Magic: Desert Absorption]

At his command, the sands responded eagerly, the earth shifting to absorb the noxious clouds.

In an instant, the poison was consumed and buried deep beneath the desert floor, locked away in the depths of the shifting dunes.

But Lucian was not yet finished.

Though he had nearly forgotten the sand affinity he had copied from a distant race on another planet, it surged to the forefront of his mind now, as the environment around him seemed to call for it.

In this desert, he would rely on the power of sand magic, his weapon would remain untouched unless an adversary forced him to wield it.

[Sand Magic: Mana Zone: Desert Oblivion]

The sands quivered violently beneath his control, rising like an immense tidal wave, reaching high into the sky, threatening to swallow everything in its path.

With a fluid motion, Lucian unleashed the storm, a swirling sand tempest that surged forward, devouring every living creature within a twenty kilometer radius.

The monsters were crushed beneath the weight of the desert's wrath, their bodies reduced to mere remnants as the sands churned violently around them.

The stench of blood thickened in the air, every drop of crimson absorbed by the insatiable sands, causing the once golden desert to darken, shifting to a sickly reddish-brown hue.

A small smile tugged at the corner of Lucian's lips as his thoughts wandered to a certain anime character.

____________________

Utter darkness enveloped Anthony's vision, yet he could perceive the faintest outlines, a clarity beyond sight.

He did not adjust his focus, for his eyes were unnecessary to perceive his surroundings.

"Having trained for so long, I might as well stretch my body"

Anthony mused quietly to himself, his thoughts calm and focused.

In an instant, the ring on his finger transformed, shifting effortlessly into his katana as he took his usual nonchalant stance, waiting for the first movement from the monsters that lurked in the shadows.

Emerging from the obscurity, humanoid creatures stepped into view—phantom rippers, their forms barely discernible in the dim void.

Their claws elongated with a sinister gleam, glowing a vibrant purple in the stifling darkness.

With a single, almost imperceptible glance, Anthony saw the terrifying number of them, hundreds, lined up and ready for battle.

Then, with staggering precision and lightning speed, they surged forward, their movements a blur of unnatural agility.

The first phantom ripper lunged, its claws slicing through the air in a deadly arc aimed at Anthony's flawless face.

Yet the strike only tore through the empty darkness, for Anthony had already vanished from sight.

His katana flashed in a blur, moving with an elegance that required neither mana nor aura.

In a series of swift, precise movements, heads were severed cleanly as Anthony flickered around the battlefield, a specter of death.

But the ripper clan was far from defeated.

Their hollow, green eyes glowed with a malevolent intensity, flickering like small flames in the oppressive gloom.

The gaze of the creatures locked onto Anthony, their focus unwavering as they moved in unison.

[Dark Rush]

It was a racial skill, one that heightened both their speed and strength within the shadows.

In an instant, their bodies surged forward, shadows themselves as they closed in on Anthony with alarming speed and deadly precision.

But Anthony remained unfazed, weaving effortlessly through the advancing horde.

His katana cut through the air, each slash tearing through their bodies with flawless precision.

In less than five seconds since their arrival, the entire phantom ripper clan lay in ruins, their forms collapsing to the ground, their dark existence snuffed out.

Before Anthony could even catch his breath, another claw flashed towards his head with lethal intent.

But the strike was halted mid air, suspended under the unyielding force of Infinity's control.

Anthony turned toward the new threat with a calm resolve.

A gargoyle.

The monstrous creature had moved swiftly while he had dealt with the rippers, its hulking form now looming before him.

Without hesitation, Anthony launched a devastating punch directly at the gargoyle's head.

The impact was explosive.

The creature's skull shattered in an instant, rocks and debris scattering outward.

But that was not all.

As the gargoyle crumpled, a surge of dark energy erupted from its body, detonating violently upon receiving damage.

A thick cloud of smoke enveloped the area, momentarily obscuring Anthony from view.

Yet, mere seconds later, the mist dissipated, revealing Anthony unscathed, proof that the monster had been far too weak to even leave a scratch on him.

Anthony's piercing gaze swept over the battlefield, his senses heightened.

Without a moment's hesitation, he slashed through the air multiple times with a flick of his katana.

Each swing unleashed a powerful wave of wind pressure that tore through the air, crushing every gargoyle in sight, their rocky forms pulverized beneath the force of his raw strength, neither mana or aura was even used.

___________________

Aaaninja floated effortlessly within the dense expanse of the forest, his form a perfect silhouette amidst the chaos, untouched and unyielding.

From the distant Horizon of Ember, the first wave of adversaries emerged, beasts of grotesque, unnatural design.

Their massive, muscular bodies rippled with raw power, their claws gleaming with a metallic sheen in the faint light that filtered through the thick canopy above.

At the forefront of the charge was a towering, bipedal reptilian, its body encased in rough, jagged scales, and a row of spines that ran down its back like the jagged edge of a broken blade.

With a primal roar that reverberated through the forest, it charged forward, the earth itself trembling beneath the force of its steps.

In its wake came others of its kind, equally formidable, each exuding an overwhelming ferocity.

Their eyes blazed with a relentless intent, an intent to crush, to annihilate, to overwhelm.

The first creature breached the five-hundred-meter radius encircling Aaaninja.

As it did, the very fabric of time itself seemed to bend and ripple in response to its presence.

The beast's movements faltered, its once unstoppable charge grinding to a halt.

Time itself seemed to stretch and slow, its body suspended in mid air as if ensnared by an invisible force.

In mere moments, the creature began to wither before Aaaninja's gaze, aging at an unnatural pace.

Its once robust scales, once shimmering with vitality, dulled and cracked, crumbling into dust with every passing second.

The stench of decay filled the air, thick and pungent, as the beast was stripped of its strength, its form disintegrating until all that remained was a pile of ashen remnants, scattered on the wind.

Simultaneously, from the shadowed expanse of the Twilight Verge, a swarm of smaller creatures emerged, their forms cloaked in dark, jagged fur.

They moved with a combination of speed and stealth, their fangs bared in anticipation, and their claws dripping with venom as they closed in on Aaaninja.

Their heightened senses guided them ever closer, seeking to encircle their prey, but they too became ensnared in the inescapable grasp of time itself.

As they crossed the threshold of his influence, their bodies began to warp.

One of the creatures was twisted beyond recognition, its limbs elongating and snapping like brittle twigs, caught in a violent stretch of the very continuum.

Another simply ceased to exist, its form dissolving into an ethereal vapor, as if time had decided it was no longer worthy of being.

The last attempted to pounce, its body frozen mid air, only to fracture into countless shards, shattered by an irreversible disruption in its timeline.

From the distant Duskfall, a hulking beast lumbered forward, its massive form armored with thick plating and crowned with large, spiked horns.

Its footsteps sent tremors through the earth as it charged toward Aaaninja, its bloodlust palpable in the air.

But as it crossed the boundary of the temporal zone, time itself recoiled and folded around the creature.

The beast's immense form began to collapse inward, its size shrinking at an alarming rate, as though the very essence of its being was being compressed into a singularity.

In a mere heartbeat, it imploded, leaving not a trace behind, as if it had never existed at all.

From every corner, whether the Ashen Wilds, the Horizon of Ember, or the Duskfall, Aaaninja's ability to manipulation time had reduced each assault to a swift, final conclusion.

No matter the size, ferocity, or intent of the monster, all had been undone by forces beyond their understanding.

Each fell victim to the timeless power that Aaaninja wielded effortlessly, a power that had been within him since his very birth.

It was not through sheer force or skill that he prevailed, but through an intrinsic ability, the ability to command time itself.