MIGHT AS WELL BE OP-Chapter 316: Past and Future Stare

In a dimly lit chamber, a figure materialized out of thin air, collapsing onto the floor with a dull thud.

The figure belonged to Aaaninja.

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Devoid of any visible wounds, there was nothing requiring immediate healing.

Thus, the Overseer dispatched him directly to his quarters.

Moments later, Aaaninja’s consciousness returned.

His gaze swept across the unfamiliar surroundings, taking in the strange environment.

Yet, rather than lingering on the peculiarity of his arrival, he simply shook his head and rose to his feet, a quiet sigh slipping past his lips.

He turned to the window, his gaze distant as his mind raced, dissecting every moment that led to his downfall, how he had lost, how he had fallen unconscious.

Yet, no answers emerged.

Aaaninja was intimately aware of his own weaknesses, always refining himself, adapting, eliminating any flaw the moment it surfaced.

And yet, despite his relentless pursuit of perfection, he had been defeated. Again.

His thoughts shifted to Anthony, to the inexplicable way his Omniscient View had been rendered useless, a skill so absolute that even he had never conceived a countermeasure against it.

The sheer absurdity of those eyes should have made resistance impossible.

And yet, Anthony had not only negated the ability but utterly crushed him in their second clash.

Aaaninja exhaled slowly, his resolve hardening.

He had to uncover the method behind Anthony’s victory.

Only then could he dismantle it and ensure that it never happened again.

His eyelids fluttered briefly before slowly lifting.

Once more, the Eyes Of Genesis had awakened.

By all rights, they should have remained sealed for an entire week, a forced dormancy imposed by the sheer strain of Omniscient View.

But after his recent Enlightenment, the cooldown had lessened, shortening from seven days to five.

He had deliberately withheld their power against Lucian, reserving them for his inevitable clash with Anthony.

Yet fate, ever unpredictable, had intervened.

In the decisive moment, he hadn’t even been granted the chance to use them.

But this time, Aaaninja opened his eyes for a different reason.

If he wished to uncover the truth behind his defeat, he had to return to that precise moment.

However, unlike his previous journey, where he physically traversed seventeen years into the past, this time, he would take a different approach.

Then, in a calm yet resolute voice, he spoke.

[Temporal Projection]

Instantly, a spectral figure emerged from his seated form, its presence ethereal yet unmistakably his own.

Meanwhile, his physical body settled into a meditative lotus position, unmoving.

The apparition resembled his very essence, a projection of his consciousness, untethered by the constraints of the material world.

Temporal Projection granted Aaaninja the ability to extend his awareness anywhere in the present without detection.

He had used this ability countless times to spy, slipping through barriers unseen, gathering secrets from the shadows.

But this time, he wasn’t hunting information from others.

This time, he was hunting for the truth of his own failure.

Harnessing the power of Chronoportation, a rare ability granted by the Eyes Of Genesis, Aaaninja prepared to send his consciousness back in time, back to the exact moment before his defeat.

Unlike Temporal Projection, which allowed him to observe the present undetected, Chronoportation enabled him to peer into the past, reliving events through his own perspective.

However, such a feat came at a cost, his very lifespan.

Yet to Aaaninja, the price was insignificant.

He was only going back mere minutes.

And with the vast lifespan he possessed, the sacrifice was negligible.

He exhaled calmly, then whispered the words:

[Chronoportation]

A soft ripple spread through the air, and in an instant, his consciousness dissolved, vanishing into the flow of time, rewinding to the moment of his downfall.

When his senses returned, he saw.

He was back on the battlefield, mere moments before his defeat.

Anthony stood before him, but something was wrong.

He was frozen in place.

No, not just him

Everything was frozen.

Aaaninja’s eyes narrowed as he tried to make sense of the anomaly.

He had expected to relive the moment, to study every detail, but instead, he found himself in a realm beyond comprehension, where even time particles were motionless, as if existence itself had been suspended.

Then, he saw it.

Anthony’s lips moved.

He spoke.

Aaaninja heard his voice, yet his ears registered nothing.

The words bypassed sound itself, resonating on a deeper level.

Then, in an instant, his body collapsed, unconscious, just as it had before.

Aaaninja remained still, absorbing what he had just witnessed.

He had not caught Anthony’s words, but it no longer mattered.

He had found the answer he sought.

The Soul.

Just as Aaaninja prepared to return to his present, he felt it.

A gaze.

His senses notified him.

Someone had seen him.

Someone who should not have been able to.

Slowly, he turned.

And then, his rainbow colored eyes met a pair of gem like brilliant blue eyes.

His breath hitched.

His mind reeled.

Shock flickered across his face, raw, unguarded.

This was impossible.

He had deliberately refrained from bringing his physical body into the past, using Temporal Projection to ensure absolute undetectability.

Even the most powerful Celestials on his home planet couldn’t perceive him like this.

Yet here he was.

Exposed.

Seen.

But what Aaaninja didn’t know was that no amount of concealment could escape the All Seeing Eyes and the Sense Dome.

The ’Past’ Anthony gazed directly at the ’Future’ Aaaninja, his expression unreadable.

He didn’t speak.

He didn’t react.

He simply smiled, as if it didn’t matter.

Aaaninja’s rainbow colored eyes remained locked with Anthony’s gem like blue ones.

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A single second stretched between them, thick with unspoken understanding.

Then, without a word, Aaaninja willed himself away.

His consciousness faded from the ’Past’, dissolving into nothingness.

In the ’Present’, his eyes snapped open.

A flicker of shock passed over his face, quickly replaced by a deep frown.

Shock, because Anthony had sensed him, even across time.

Frown, because he still couldn’t grasp how Anthony had frozen him in place… nor how the soul attack had worked.

His mind drifted back to Anthony’s so called speech, the one he had given just before everything unfolded.

A speech about granting only one chance.

Aaaninja’s thoughts churned, replaying every word, every nuance.

’How far does your ability go?’

That question echoed in his mind, looping endlessly as he processed everything he had witnessed.

His thoughts spun like a vortex, each revelation deepening the weight of his realization.

His abilities couldn’t defend against that soul attack.

The truth settled uncomfortably within him.

No matter how powerful he was, no matter how refined his techniques, Anthony had struck him at a level beyond his reach.

’It seems he possesses more knowledge of souls than I do… But how is that possible?’

Aaaninja’s brow furrowed as he fell into deep contemplation, the mystery gnawing at him.

It wasn’t arrogance—just a fact.

As a Celestial, he possessed knowledge far beyond the reach of most beings.

Few could even fathom the depths of his understanding.

And being the son of Zarynth Zachary Zorynthar and Elyndra Voryss Nyxaria had granted him unrestricted access to knowledge that others could only dream of.

Yet despite all of this, he had been bested.

Twice.

Aaaninja exhaled, forcing himself to let go of the frustration.

Obsessing over it would yield nothing, for now.

But in his eyes, determination burned like an unquenchable flame.

He had seen the wall before him.

A wall he had failed to scale not once, but twice.

And more than that, he had seen someone his own age… no, younger than him… stand at a height he had yet to reach.

That fact alone should have been disheartening.

Yet, instead…

A smile curved Aaaninja’s lips.

The thought of overcoming Anthony thrilled him.