MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

Chapter 926: Fifteen Minutes

Kingsley Sky remained kneeling on the floor, his knees pressed firmly against the surface as his golden eyes remained fixed on Aura Nova, who floated above as though she were the creator, the architect, and the final authority of all creation itself.

She hovered effortlessly, her presence alone warping the atmosphere, making it feel as though the world existed only because she allowed it to. Kingsley did not know exactly how he was supposed to feel after this spar. Confusion, frustration, awe, disbelief, everything churned together within him, yet none of them fully surfaced.

Throughout his life, he had always been strong... or rather, ever since receiving his Universal Blessing, strength had become an unquestionable constant in his existence. No one had ever truly been his match. Every mission he completed during his time in the military had been carried out with ridiculous ease and near-perfect efficiency.

Enemies fell before they could adapt, threats were erased before they could escalate, and battles ended before they could even begin. It had reached a point where combat itself became monotonous, a repetitive exercise devoid of challenge. Only his ceaseless martial training had managed to keep him occupied, giving him something, anything, to refine.

But now, all of that had changed.

It had begun roughly two years ago, when he met a boy named Null Anthony.

Ever since meeting Anthony, something within Kingsley had shifted. He, who had always felt unshakable and absolute, began to feel... different. For the first time, he had encountered someone truly powerful, someone genuinely strong, someone who could stand on the same level as him without being overwhelmed.

On their very first mission together, they had encountered the Executioner, a being from a higher galaxy whose mere presence made Kingsley’s Concept of Destruction seem laughable by comparison. That encounter had shattered his confidence in a way nothing else ever had.

After that day, Kingsley threw himself into another brutal cycle of training, pushing himself harder and fiercer than ever before. He trained not because he was ordered to, nor because he enjoyed it, but because he refused to remain stagnant in a universe that had suddenly revealed how vast and unforgiving it truly was.

Then came his spar with Anthony.

Kingsley had wanted to see the gap between them, to measure how far apart they truly were. Yet during that spar, reality struck him with merciless clarity. He could not even keep up. He could not follow Anthony’s flow. He could not perceive his movements. In the end, Kingsley was rendered unconscious by a single, decisive blow, one that carried no hesitation, no excess force, only overwhelming superiority.

Those back-to-back losses had changed him.

Not in a negative way, but in a profoundly positive one.

He began creating techniques, techniques he had never bothered to conceptualize before, simply because his enemies had never survived long enough to warrant them. He developed variations, refinements, and entire systems of combat that went beyond brute force. He created the Universal Technique and went even further, crafting a method that lifted his own universal limitations. Every single one of these creations had been forged with one purpose in mind.

Anthony.

He had prepared for the day he would face him again.

Yet now, looking at the current situation, it all seemed almost comical. All those techniques, all those innate skills, all that preparation, and he had still lost. Lost to someone who, like him, had only just stepped onto the Galactical stage. He never even had the chance to use those techniques against Anthony, yet here they were, already proven ineffective against Aura Nova.

Kingsley wondered if he should even bother sparring with Anthony again when the time came. What would be the point?

He exhaled slowly, remaining kneeling as Aura Nova’s words continued to pin him in place, both physically and mentally. ’What exactly is her ability?’ he asked himself. Yes, he understood the fundamentals, her power allowed her to manipulate reality itself, but what she had just done went far beyond that simple explanation.

From his End Of All technique, Aura Nova was supposed to be obliterated. She was meant to be erased completely, stripped from existence, incapable of defending herself in any form. After all, the technique had been deployed in tandem with his Concept of Destruction. To Kingsley, that combination was absolute. No matter how Aura Nova warped reality, his Concept of Destruction should have torn straight through it without exception.

Yet she survived.

She returned.

As if that alone were not enough, his Concept Erasure, the technique that erased the very Concept of Fighting from his opponent, had failed to end her resistance. Or rather, it had worked... but she had overcome it. How she managed to do so, Kingsley did not know. The logic behind it escaped him entirely.

’Three losses,’ he thought as he knelt there in silence. ’Will there be more?’

His golden eyes shifted toward Lucian Darkheart and Aaaninja Chronisynth Eternos. Neither of them had even made a move, yet the mere thought of them stirred unease within him. He wondered, quietly and honestly, whether he would lose against them as well.

His first loss had been against the Executioner.

The second had been against Anthony.

And now, the third belonged to Aura Nova.

’It seems I might be a frog in a well,’ he mused inwardly.

As that realization settled, his mind steadied. His presence subtly shifted, as though something deep within the depths of his consciousness had unlocked, something long dormant finally stirred, or perhaps something sealed had been set free.

’It doesn’t matter how strong Anthony says Aaaninja and Lucian are,’ he concluded calmly. ’I will fight them. And if I lose, then I will simply train again.’

There was no bitterness in that thought, no frustration, no despair. Only resolve.

’But first... I hope I regain my abilities,’ he thought, his gaze returning to Aura Nova, who still floated serenely in the sky. He did not understand how she had erased every single ability, skill, and technique he possessed. Even now, Kingsley felt as though, no matter how hard he tried, he would be unable to deploy anything at all.

’Maybe her words are law in this state,’ he reasoned. ’But will they work against Anthony?’

He did not consider Aaaninja or Lucian further, simply because he had never witnessed them in action.

”Aura Nova wins.”

Klaus’s voice cut through the air from above, declaring the result as Kingsley forfeited under Aura Nova’s orders. The sound of Klaus’s announcement snapped Kingsley out of his thoughts entirely.

The moment those words echoed across the space, Kingsley felt the invisible force holding him to his knees vanish. In the next instant, his connection to his abilities, skills, and techniques snapped back into place as though they had never been severed. Without a word, he rose to his feet. As he did, a smile slowly appeared on his lips, one that made it seem as though he were the victor rather than the one who had lost.

Though he never voiced it aloud, he had enjoyed the battle.

Both he and Aura Nova had stepped onto the cosmic stage, and both of them had immense room for improvement ahead. That realization alone filled him with anticipation rather than dread.

Kingsley stretched his body, every muscle screaming with excitement as they recovered from being pushed to their absolute limits for the first time in what felt like forever. Even as he stretched, he knew he would return to his peak condition in roughly fifteen minutes. That was all the time he needed to fully regain his stamina.

After all, he had no injuries to heal, and no mana to replenish.