MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

In an instant, another surge of chaos energy erupted from Lilithra's core, spiraling outward in a violent torrent, as if determined to drain every last drop it contained.

Gate Of The Devoted

The chaotic torrents collided, folding and twisting into themselves in a bizarre, almost hypnotic rhythm, like a dance of shadows and void.

The swirling mass condensed, taking form, until a colossal, square-shaped black gate materialized in the emptiness. A deep, resonant creak echoed through the void as the gate began to open.

From its widening maw, shapes emerged, first in singles, then in droves. Skeletal warriors with hollow, burning eyes. Horned demons wreathed in smoke. Humans in archaic armor whose souls seemed long departed. Dragons whose scales shimmered with alien stars.

Even the apex races of the galaxy strode forth unspared, Aetherians cloaked in light, Voidwalkers trailing shadows that swallowed reality, Eclipseians radiating lunar death, Celestials blazing with divine wrath.

Their numbers swelled with terrifying speed, millions in moments, then tens of millions, and still climbing, a tide without end. The void groaned beneath the weight of their combined presence.

Anthony said nothing. He simply observed, his expression unreadable. Yet as the endless horde poured forth, he felt it, an unmistakable presence threading through them all. A familiar, insidious pull.

He recognized it instantly. It was the same power Lilithra had attempted to use on him the very first time they met: Charming Gaze.

With nothing more than a look, one brief meeting of eyes, Lilithra could overwrite a person's will, reshaping their mind until they became her loyal servant… or pet, as she preferred to call them.

It was her innate ability.

The requirement was deceptively simple: direct eye contact. But if the target's mental strength exceeded hers, or if they possessed a superior mind-based ability, the effect would fail.

That limitation, however, only underscored how terrifying her innate ability truly was. From the very beginning, she had possessed the means to bend even the strongest to her will, all she needed was a stronger mind or will.

In perfect unison, Lilithra's loyal pets dropped to their knees in the void, their heads bowed in absolute silence, as if even breathing without permission would be a sin.

Lilithra herself said nothing. Her gaze locked on Anthony, brimming with pure killing intent. Instantly, the heads of her servants snapped toward him.

Without a word, they surged forward, streaking through space like a storm of living meteors.

Anthony's eyes flicked back to Lilithra, who hovered behind them. His lips curved into a faint smile.

His hand moved, slow and deliberate, as the steel whisper of his katana sliding free from its scabbard split the silence. Authority of Severance flared to life, shifting his perception entirely, threads of reality spiraling into view all around him.

With a single thought, he tugged one.

The world folded. No ripple. No distortion.

And in the next instant, Anthony stood beside Lilithra, his katana already mid-arc, a lethal swing driving straight for her neck.

Her instincts screamed, a piercing death omen flooding every nerve. In a breath, she cast Phantom Phase once more, her body turning ghostlike, translucent.

Anthony's blade sliced through her, tearing apart both space and matter with overwhelming force, yet finding no flesh to cut.

Lilithra didn't hesitate. She casted Spatial Exchange, vanishing in a blink, replaced instantly by a towering Cryonid.

The creature barely had time to register the shift before Anthony's katana blurred again. Its head spun free in the air, the kill completed in a single, merciless stroke.

Lilithra frowned. She had summoned millions of her loyal pets, not to win outright, but to wear Anthony down.

Every strike they forced him to block, every moment they kept him engaged, would bleed away his mana, drain his physical strength, and exhaust his body. Then, when the time was right, she would replenish her chaos reserves and end him.

But Anthony had ignored them entirely. He came straight for her, as if he had read her strategy before she'd even formed it.

His gaze shifted to the horde as they wheeled around, streaking toward him once more.

"Although it's said that even the smallest creatures, when united, can topple giants… I'm sorry to say, that proverb does not apply to me."

His tone was flat, his expression unreadable.

His muscles coiled like compressed steel, then released.

The void shattered under his acceleration as he launched forward, a blinding blur that plunged headlong into their ranks. His katana carved through flesh, bone, and organ alike, each stroke clean, decisive, final.

Blood burst into the air in glittering arcs. Heads spun weightless through the void. Necks split open in sprays of crimson and darker ichors. Screams erupted, but most died half-formed, severed along with their owners' lives.

A storm of retaliation surged toward him, elemental torrents, cursed hexes, savage innate abilities, raw physical strikes. Anthony didn't even bother to block.

Infinity unfurled, seamless and absolute, while Sense Dome fed him every thread of the battlefield. The two worked in flawless tandem, turning him into an untouchable force.

Wherever a heart beat, he was there like an ancient reaper whose scythe was steel.

Wherever life lingered, he came like the shadow of death.

For three full seconds, he froze them all in place. Then he vanished again, a streak of silver slicing through torsos like a blade through silk, through armor like paper beneath a razor.

He did not pause. He did not blink. He did not hesitate.

With every heartbeat, the death toll rose. Even Lilithra's most fanatically loyal pets faltered in disbelief, their minds struggling to comprehend the slaughter.

To them, there was no warning, only the flash of a katana before darkness claimed them.

Blood of countless hues gathered in the void, pooling into a vast ocean fit for a Demon God's summoning.

Anthony's Mental Calculation skill calculated trajectories, movements, and angles with inhuman flawlessness in every mind compartment.

Before his enemies could even think to evade, his blade was already waiting in their path, as if he had foreseen their every move.

Lilithra stared, her expression frozen in disbelief.

Yes, she had intended to use her loyal servants as a wall, to slow him, to buy herself time, but she had not imagined they would be torn apart so effortlessly.

Many among them were Monarchs in their own right, each capable of slaughtering armies, yet they had fallen to a single sweep of his blade.

She didn't linger on the shock; her loyal pets could be replenished. Her focus shifted to her space ring as her fingers twitched, ready to draw an artifact or chaos energy potion.

But nothing answered.

Her frown deepened. The ring remained inert, refusing to respond no matter how much chaos energy she willed into it.

Her blood-red eyes snapped toward Anthony.

He was still tearing through her forces, each swing of his katana cutting swaths through them like a scythe through ripe grain, yet his gaze never left her, a faint smile etched on his face.

She didn't need an explanation. The truth was obvious to her. Anthony had used space magic to seal her ring completely, severing her from her own space ring.