MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

Chapter 985: It Was

Lucian was not a fool; he knew the backlash was coming from using his Fourth Wall Breaking ability. He had touched upon something even ???, Romulus, and the likes could never reach or comprehend. One could not graze that echelon of authority and be left unscathed; there had to be a price. And his price was everything. He had lost it all.

Of course, Lucian had not known that such a backlash existed beforehand; after all, he had not even known the intricate details of the skill that had led to this very moment, let alone the consequences hidden beneath its activation. His soul had only conveyed to him that he possessed an insanely powerful last-card ability, a trump card beyond measure, and that had been all the knowledge granted.

But now that he had used it, he understood. He comprehended the full breadth of its nature and the absolute severity of its consequence. He had to pay for touching something that existed outside of the unbound, beyond frameworks, beyond causality, beyond even the metaphysical hierarchies that governed Existence, Reality, Law, Order and Creation.

But this now begged the question: if he had been aware of the backlash prior to the moment he used the ability, would he still have used it? The answer was yes. Lucian was a man who went all the way with any decision he made; hesitation was foreign to him. If he died, then so be it. If the cost was annihilation, then he would pay it without regret.

At his final moments, his thoughts shifted toward his family, toward his mother, Vespera, who had tried convincing him not to leave their home planet at the age of twenty because their world was already dangerous enough, let alone the unfathomable perils that lurked within the greater Galaxy.

Then his father, Riven, who had supported him instead and told him to explore, declaring that real men did not fear death. Lucian loved his family dearly; he loved them far too much for words to sufficiently express.

’Can’t they see I’m dying? They should be rushing here, screaming and crying over my dying body,’ Lucian joked to himself, as even certain and True Death could not strip him of his irreverent humor. But unknown to him, they were indeed supposed to be here trying to save him; even Klaus and everyone else should have been present. Why they were not was a mystery for now, one he did not bother to contemplate in his final moments, as speculation would not alter fate.

His thoughts shifted to Veronica. He remembered the day he met her at the cafe; it had begun with nothing more than a single glance exchanged between strangers, a fleeting moment of curiosity, and then coincidences, too many to dismiss, had led them repeatedly into each other’s orbit until affection had bloomed into something undeniable, and now they were lovers.

Although he had had many women in his past up until now, Lucian had never truly loved any of them, for even upon his dying moment, he remembered none of them and thought only of Veronica.

’Sigh... what a pitiful girl. Her ex-boyfriend died at the hands of demons during a mission, and now her current boyfriend is about to die at the hands of a backlash from an ability,’ he mused inwardly, joking yet again, though he could already imagine the emotional turmoil she would inevitably endure.

If this were Earth, the planet he had reincarnated from, if someone had two boyfriends and both had died during the course of their relationship, people would obviously suspect that the partner herself was the common denominator.

’Even in death, I will always love you, Vero,’ he thought to himself as he remained kneeling, his body far too weak to rise, his vitality nearly extinguished.

’I wonder if that was the thought her last boyfriend had before he died,’ he joked again, laughing at the face of death, completely unbothered like a madman who had already transcended fear.

He raised his eyes toward the sky, his life flashing before his fading vision. He remembered his family back on Earth prior to his reincarnation. He remembered scrolling through thousands of books on the ReadNovelFull app before he found; Might As Well Be OP.

He remembered pouring coins into it obsessively. He remembered his rivalry with Aaaninja, the man who had been his rival in the Milky Way Galaxy and now again in the Acarnis Galaxy. Lucian could not help but dwell on another irony: he, Lucian, had been the one dying. In his former life, his name had been Alex, and he had died then within the Milky Way Galaxy; now, as Lucian, he was dying again within the Acarnis Galaxy.

’How ironic,’ he mused to himself, finding dark amusement even in repetition.

His gaze shifted toward the endlessly stretching void of the Acarnis Galaxy as his thoughts moved from one memory to another, reliving each in joy, in humor, in warmth, as though flipping through treasured pages.

’I truly lived a perfect and happy life,’ he thought to himself. ’Too bad I didn’t get to see the ending of the book, but hey, at least I got to touch the hardcopy of the book, and I’m sure I’m the first person to ever do that,’ he continued inwardly, pride flickering even as consciousness dimmed.

Although he was looking at the sky, Lucian was losing his vision; darkness crept in from the edges, and he could barely see anything now.

’I wonder if Aaaninja suffered any backlash,’ he thought as his mind drifted once more to his eternal rival, a rivalry that had spanned two lifetimes, two races, two realities, two Galaxies. He smiled faintly at the grandeur of that thought.

[It seems we’ve come to the end of our journey, Host]

The mechanical voice of the System echoed within his mind, the steadfast companion that had been with him since his awakening until now.

’It seems so,’ Lucian replied with a faint smile.

[I will be there with you, even in death, Host]

The System chimed again, yet this time its mechanical tone seemed slightly diminished, as though something within it, too, was weakening.

’I know,’ Lucian replied softly, wondering what death truly had in store for him. If this were Earth, he might have pondered heaven and hell, but now he understood that gods were merely beings with higher cultivation, not absolutes.

’Although I’ve never said this throughout the century we’ve been together, and it might be late, but... thank you,’ Lucian thought sincerely, offering gratitude to the System that had guided and accompanied him.

[...]

The System remained silent, as though it did not know what to say, as though saddened that it could only observe while its Host died before it. But just like every skill and ability Lucian possessed, it too had been restricted and could do nothing but communicate faintly.

Suddenly, Aaaninja’s corpse, which lay upon the moon in its own pool of blood, flickered, then glitched as though reality itself had encountered an error. The next moment, the body vanished entirely. But Lucian was not surprised; he had already been waiting for this, wondering why Aaaninja had not resurrected yet.

The next moment, time particles trembled in what felt like joy as Aaaninja appeared as though he had never been decapitated to begin with. His rainbow-colored, clock-like, mesmerizing eyes fluttered open, then shifted toward Lucian, who remained kneeling and had become little more than a husk, an empty shell of his former self.

No one who had known Lucian would have believed this was the same man.

Aaaninja stared at his friend, absorbing his condition without any change in expression, not because he was cold or harbored hatred toward Lucian Darkheart, but because he remained calm in every conceivable situation, regardless of its gravity.

His lips finally parted as he spoke, ”Was it worth it?” he asked.

Lucian, hearing Aaaninja’s words, wanted to speak, but he could not. He did not even possess the strength to move his lips, let alone form coherent speech. But it did not matter; he pushed through with nothing but blazing willpower to answer his rival before death claimed him completely.

”It was,” he answered, his voice weak, faint, and hoarse.

With that reply, he closed his eyes and allowed death to claim him whole.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: When am I getting my Valentine’s gift?