MIGHT AS WELL BE OP
Chapter 576 - 576: Codes

Four more years and a few months had passed since Anthony resumed his training, bringing the total to nine long, grueling years. But now, he had only a few hours left within the Divine Realm.

Rising slowly from the ground, Anthony stretched his limbs, savoring every second of the motion as if it might be his last within this realm.

"No matter how many times I do this, I can't get used to it," Anthony murmured to himself as he vanished from his training chamber and reappeared in a bedroom. He intended to take a bath and let the water cascade over his body.

During his intense training, he never wasted time on mundane things like bathing or eating unless it was absolutely necessary.

After a satisfying and refreshing bath, he stepped outside his building, basking in the gentle glow of the sun, feeling the warmth of its rays kiss his skin softly.

'I thought she would have at least come to disturb me once or twice, but she didn't,' Anthony mused as he turned his gaze toward Vega's building. From where he stood, he could sense a ridiculous amount of mana flowing into her residence like a dam that had burst, unleashing an uncontrollable tide.

Anthony's eyes gleamed as he peered deeper, instantly seeing through the illusion. 'Is this her ability? Using a clone to cultivate? That's outright cheating,' he thought with amusement.

If he had such an ability, he would have locked a clone inside the Divine Realm and spent his own time relaxing, eating snacks, and doing absolutely nothing of value.

'Where is she then?' Anthony wondered silently.

Activating his Authority of Severance, numerous threads materialized before his eyes, some of them drifting from the clone located inside Vega's building. With a calm expression, he traced one of the more significant threads and pinpointed the real Vega's location.

With a single thought, he severed the distance between himself and Vega. The next instant, Anthony vanished. There was no flash of light, no dramatic explosion of energy or spatial rupture. It was as though reality had casually erased him from one point in existence.

His figure reappeared high above Vega, suspended in the sky. He instantly activated concealment, his presence vanishing like smoke in the wind.

'The more I use this Authority of Severance, the more I fall in love with it,' Anthony thought with a small smile. This was the first time he was truly utilizing this particular function in a practical scenario.

Being able to track and teleport to anyone he desired required no mastery at all. All he needed was someone who had a connection, however faint, with the person he was searching for.

'Too bad I can't trace Romulus' threads. If I could, I would've teleported to ??? in a single breath,' he thought, letting out an exasperated sigh.

His piercing blue eyes turned downward as he observed Vega sparring with her training robot. Anthony didn't interfere; he simply watched in silence, making sure his presence remained hidden so as not to disturb her.

From the intensity in her movements, the fluid precision of her attacks, and the fierce concentration that radiated from her being, Anthony could feel her deep focus. Yet the robot matched her, move for move, speed for speed, finesse for finesse.

'She's cute when she trains,' Anthony noted with a fond smile.

Then, another idea sparked in his mind, something he hadn't considered before.

Because of his far greater experience in hand to hand combat, Anthony could spot a few openings and flaws in Vega's form, gaps in her posture, delays in transitions, slight weaknesses in her counters.

What if he used his Authority of Severance to sever those gaps? Would Vega's experience and proficiency surge instantly in real-time?

Anthony smiled to himself at the thought. It was a possibility worth exploring. If successful, it might eliminate the need for prolonged physical training, or at the very least, drastically reduce the time required.

But even if he wanted to test such a theory, he could never do it with Vega as the subject, not without her full knowledge and consent. Even if he perfected the method, he would never impose it on her.

Anthony could already imagine her turning down the idea, even if he explained all the benefits. After all, she had her pride. Though she enjoyed gifts, affection, and the occasional indulgence, Vega was fiercely confident in her own ability.

She wouldn't ride a man's coattails to the top, no matter how tempting the offer or how powerful the man was.

The sparring session below continued in full force as Vega and the robot moved back and forth like blurs, colliding with increasing ferocity. At this point, the robot's mechanical thrusters were roaring with intense heat, allowing it to keep up with Vega's acceleration seamlessly. Every time she increased her speed, the robot instantly recalibrated and matched her stride.

Streams of complex codes flashed across the robot's artificial eyes as it moved.

Knees. Elbows. Fingers. Wrists. Palms.

Every part of the body was weaponized as they clashed. Craters formed beneath their feet only to seal up instantly. Trees that were uprooted by the aftershocks were swiftly replaced as if the Divine Realm itself was repairing and restoring everything in real time.

Realizing this anomaly, Vega and the robot launched themselves forward like enraged beasts. Previously, they had restrained their strength, uncertain about the realm's durability and unsure how valuable it might be to Anthony.

But now, seeing it mend itself effortlessly, all restraints were cast aside. Chaos erupted as sound barriers shattered in repeated bursts. Afterimages blurred the earth below, leaving scorched trenches and displaced terrain in their wake.

'She's losing,' Anthony observed quietly.

Though Vega was clearly on the defensive, Anthony could feel the lethal power behind her every strike. Her attacks weren't light, they were deadly.

'She's on par with Kingsley when it comes to hand to hand combat,' he assessed, his eyes narrowing slightly.

The thought alone was mind-boggling. To be comparable to Kingsley, the so-called Universe's Favorite Child, was outrageous in itself.

And yet, this wasn't even Vega's specialty. Hand to hand combat was arguably her weakest field, and still, she was nearly matching that overpowered monster in pure martial arts skill.

Despite her incredible talent, however, she was gradually being overwhelmed by a mere training robot.

Anthony didn't comment aloud. Instead, he smiled to himself. The fact that Vega could contend with Kingsley in any capacity, even in his area of expertise, filled Anthony with a deep sense of joy and pride. Kingsley was broken by design, cheat-level powerful. And Vega was not a step behind.

BAM. BAM. BAM. BAM. BAM. BAM.

Rapid collisions thundered through the air as Vega's feet gouged deep trenches into the earth with every retreat. The robot, however, was relentless, its mechanical thrusters blazed behind it like the tail of a meteor, closing the gap in a blur of motion.

Its toes arced toward Vega's temples with air-shattering velocity. But Vega, ever intuitive, leaned backward. Her body hovered mid-air in an impossible position, her back parallel to the earth, narrowly avoiding the incoming strike.

But the robot seemed to have anticipated this very move. Its leg halted abruptly mid-swing; the force behind it dispersed momentarily before instantly recalibrating. The energy reformed and redirected, precise, calculated.

In a streak of black, its heel slammed downward, streaking toward Vega's head like a flash of annihilation.

Vega could only watch, her mind kept up, but her body did not.