MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

Chapter 859: Pillar Of Corruption

With a mind-bending blast, two elbows tore into one another, their metallic armour layered thickly around their joints, sending off bursts of sparks that scattered into the vast cosmic sky. In a screaming velocity, they crashed into each other yet again, but this time with an even madder and more devastating impact.

The air detonated outward at their point of contact. In this moment, wind resistance was no longer a concept, space resistance was no longer a concept. Nothing dared to slow or limit their blistering speed; even the Galaxy itself seemed reluctant to intervene.

PA! PA! PA! PA! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sounds exploded outward in a massive, titanic melody as they moved, each part of their body transformed into a lethal weapon.

Hammers? Useless. Swords? Insignificant.

Every inch of their body was the deadliest weapon they possessed at this moment, each limb enhanced, each bone sharpened by intent, and each strike an extinction-level attempt to end the other.

Fist. Leg. Elbow. Palm. Knee. Head. Knuckle.

It all became part of the most deadly dance, a terrifying choreography that fused instinct with brutality in their hand-to-hand combat. One towered over the other, a giant framed in celestial steel, but the smaller figure had absolutely no difficulty keeping up with the massive titanic Angel before him.

Heart. Eyes. Shoulders. Lungs. Kidney. Gut.

Every fatal organ, and even the normal, less vital ones, became a target in these fleeting moments. Their fists transformed into blurs as they streaked through space like ancient enemies who had transcended both time and space simply to destroy the other.

Anthony’s fist tore forward toward the Angel’s stomach, igniting streaks of warped space across his knuckles. But the Angel’s wide white wings flapped with divine sharpness, boosting his speed as he stepped to the side with a twist of elegant precision. A devouring impact fused with chaos energy burst outward from Anthony’s missed strike, the force ripping through the moon’s surface in a rampaging surge as it met nothing but empty air.

The Angel replied with a deadlier motion. He twisted, his elbow shooting toward Anthony’s temples with the force of an exploding sun. Anthony’s blue eyes shone with a sharp calculative gleam as he reacted with precise finesse; his palm shot upward, instantly blocking the incoming elbow. The air exploded outward upon impact, yet neither of them took a step back. Both refused to retreat.

There was no hesitation. They resumed their martial dance of death without pause.

Anthony’s body recalibrated as he adjusted to face the Angel fully. His black, evil wings flapped once, boosting his twist and correcting his trajectory. The instant he completed the motion, he punched outward in a fluid, unbroken chain of movement, not missing a beat nor faltering for even a fraction of a heartbeat. Space shattered as his fist rocketed toward the Angel’s face, but the Angel was ready. He twisted aside, caught Anthony’s forearm, and with a swift pivot he flipped Anthony over his shoulder.

For a brief moment, Anthony’s body left his own control as the Angel hurled him over like a comet. As Anthony’s back was about to slam into the moon’s surface with a devastating impact, his body twisted, and he landed on three limbs like an agile feline, while the Angel still held the fourth.

Anthony did not hesitate. He dove headfirst, driving his skull toward the Angel’s gut like a planet shattering on impact. But the Angel had anticipated this. His knee tore forward like a divine rocket aimed directly at Anthony’s skull.

As the knee and head were about to collide, Anthony’s wide black wings flapped once more, shifting his position and altering his speed. He twisted out of the way, having predicted the Angel’s prediction. The moment he rose to his feet, the side of his palm streaked straight toward the Angel’s neck, one of the few gaps within his otherwise perfect divine armor.

The Angel’s forearm rose in a golden blur, his vambrace slamming into Anthony’s wrist and halting the strike. The power of the collision, however, threw the Angel backward as he had been balanced precariously on one leg.

While airborne, he flapped his wings, steadying himself effortlessly upon the moon’s surface once more. Without a hint of hesitation, he dropped into a divine combat stance, golden faith energy coiling hungrily around his fist. Then, with blinding speed and obliterating force, his fist erupted outward in a ruinous dance of motion.

Holy Martial Fist.

Cosmic air mixed with concentrated faith energy thundered outward in heavy spherical waves of pressure. Their numbers multiplied with every passing millisecond as the Angel’s fist blurred forward in an unending stream of divine aggression.

Anthony didn’t bother to block. His black wings flapped once, and he tore forward. His movements became the perfect mixture of feline fluidity and avian sharpness as he slipped between attacks that should have been unavoidable. He dodged every incoming strike with insulting ease, weaving through them like an evil immune to divinity. The moment he closed the distance, his counterattack began.

Endless Technique: Martial Type: Falling Star.

Anthony’s leg blurred upward, chaos energy thickening and straining violently under his command as his leg burst outward in blinding speed, faster than light, faster than sight, faster than intuition. The Angel, committed fully to his previous attack, had no time to block or dodge.

Anthony’s leg crashed into the Angel’s temple. Instantly, the helmet on his head exploded outward, shattering like a fragile shell. The Angel’s golden eyes immediately burned more golden as his blood flooded them. His ear burst in a violent eruption of flesh and golden blood. His teeth shattered and sprayed outward before his body streaked sideways like a cannonball launched by the universe itself.

His helmet had once mitigated an attack from Anthony’s hammer, but it could do nothing now.

The Angel gritted his toothless gum, desperately clinging to consciousness while simultaneously trying to purge the chaos energy corrupting his body. He summoned his faith, roaring:

Pillar Of Purification.

A colossal pillar of incandescent holy energy tore downward from the cosmic sky, its blinding radiance burning both space and perception. Its target: Anthony. It aimed to purify him, to strip him of chaos, to erase him completely.

But Anthony welcomed the divine fury. For this exact moment, he created a new skill on the spot.

Pillar Of Corruption.

His voice echoed across the galaxy. An overwhelming torrent of rampaging chaos energy erupted from above, screaming madness, screaming corruption, screaming ancient evil. Without hesitation, it dropped down toward the Angel.

In the same instant, the Pillar of Purification descended upon Anthony in divine wrath, while the Pillar of Corruption collapsed upon the Angel in malevolent fury.

Who would prevail? Would the Angel purify Anthony first, or would Anthony corrupt the Angel first? The galaxy turned blinding as the two pillars clashed, holy versus chaotic, purity versus corruption, salvation versus doom.

Within their respective pillars, they stared into each other’s eyes.

Anthony did not budge. Faith energy slammed into his chaos energy based form, yet it did nothing. Instead, something outrageous occurred. Anthony’s chaos energy surged upward, overwhelming its surroundings. Slowly, impossibly, the blinding Pillar of Purification began to darken. Bit by bit, it turned black.

Anthony was corrupting the Pillar of Purification in real time.

The Angel watched in horror. He was barely holding on against the Pillar of Corruption striking him relentlessly, and yet, before his golden eyes, this demon did the unthinkable. Before he could form a word, the Pillar of Purification falling upon Anthony turned fully black, then shattered in a burst of chaos energy. Anthony had completely overtaken the skill, then casually deactivated it.

Without hesitation, Anthony walked calmly and deliberately toward the struggling Angel, who attempted to move but remained bound by the Pillar of Corruption.

Stopping before him, Anthony spoke slowly, ”it seems evil wins this time... oh fake believer.”

Before the Angel could utter even a single word, Anthony’s fingers shot forward like a spear, tearing effortlessly into the Angel’s forehead and bursting through the back of his skull in a spray of golden blood. The Pillar of Corruption vanished instantly as the Angel’s eight-foot body collapsed onto the moon’s surface with a heavy, echoing thud.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: Another two Chapters will be coming today, a replacement for yesterday’s.