Chapter 1058: Discussion-1
At Beru’s words, it finally dawned on Bryan, Rider, Tiara, and Bringer that the shadow soldier standing before them was literally an Angel, a realization that sent a ripple of disbelief through their minds. They couldn’t believe their eyes; an Angel was actually serving Anthony, standing there as though such a thing was completely normal and expected.
"Anthony, how does your summoning work?" Tiara asked, simply amazed, her curiosity overtaking her composure as she tried to understand the mechanics behind such an overwhelming ability.
Anthony didn’t hide anything; at his level of power, there was simply no need to conceal anything to begin with, so he calmly explained the process in a straightforward manner.
"Doesn’t that mean you could potentially have billions and trillions of armies?" Bryan asked as he processed the fact that Anthony could summon without limits, the sheer scale of such a possibility almost incomprehensible to him.
"Yes, I can, but it’s too bothersome; it’s been over a year since I summoned any shadow soldier," Anthony replied with a calm expression, his tone casual, as though commanding such an army was more of an inconvenience than an advantage.
Tiara couldn’t help but imagine what would have happened if she had that ability; as a Vampire, she had control over shadows, and with this ability, she could dominate anything alone. According to Anthony, the only downside was spending mana to heal or summon shadow soldiers, and as a Vampire possessing a Royal-grade bloodline, mana was the least of her worries. They could also train and grow stronger, which was an unbelievable advantage, something that could easily be considered a jackpot... too bad that the ability wasn’t hers.
"But how powerful does an Ant have to be for Anthony to turn him into a shadow soldier?" Rider couldn’t help but ask, still trying to wrap his mind around the situation, as he was simply amazed that an Ant was part of Anthony’s army. Of course, he didn’t dare to speak too disrespectfully, as he could feel and see the power rippling from Beru’s body alone, an overwhelming presence that commanded instinctive caution.
An Ant killing a Dragon would make quite the headline in the news and across online platforms.
"I’ve had these three even before I came to the Omni Peak Academy," Anthony simply replied with a smile, not exactly answering Rider’s question, yet dropping a piece of information that was even more shocking.
But his words made everyone pause, their thoughts halting abruptly. "I thought our Galaxy just came into contact with Angels recently. How come you had an Angel as a summon at that time?" Tiara asked, her brows slightly furrowed as she tried to reconcile this contradiction.
Anthony simply shook his head as he replied, "Now that’s confidential," a smile appearing on his lips as he spoke, clearly uninterested in elaborating further. It wasn’t as if he could just say ??? gave it to him and that he got it from an anime-verse, a truth that would only complicate things further.
Hearing Anthony’s words, they couldn’t help but entertain various possibilities of him encountering an Angel early on, but that went against all the information they had. Still, Anthony needed a corpse to gain a shadow, and he had been fifteen or less at the time, so there was no logical way he could have come into contact with an Angel. To them, everything seemed to contradict itself in ways that made no sense.
’Unless the Military has always known about Angels, and somehow Anthony got his hands on it through his parents,’ Bryan reasoned internally, trying to piece together a logical explanation. He could only shake his head as he felt a headache coming from all the thinking, the contradictions piling up without resolution.
"How powerful are they?" Bringer asked as he stared at Igris, who stood sharply like a sword waiting to be drawn, his presence calm yet dangerously refined.
"They all possess Planetary-level combat power," Anthony replied with a smirk, his words delivered as though stating something completely ordinary.
Hearing Anthony’s words, Rider, Bryan, and the rest nearly fell off their seats in shock; to them, planetary-level power was simply insane, something far beyond their current understanding, and they could hardly believe their ears.
Seeing their expressions and shock, Anthony simply cancelled the summons, and every shadow vanished instantly, the oppressive presence disappearing as though it had never existed. The shadows beneath everyone’s feet returned to normal, losing all signs of movement or distortion. Everyone’s eyes turned downward as though they were trying to see through the shadows below, especially Tiara, who possessed Shadow and Darkness affinities, but she sensed nothing at all, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.
"You know, with what I’ve just seen, I can’t help but ask, how strong were you in school? Knowing you, you were probably hiding your powers," Tiara couldn’t help but ask as she met Anthony’s gaze, her curiosity now shifting toward his past.
At Tiara’s question, their eyes snapped to Anthony; he had shown so many extraordinary things that surely he had been just as extraordinary back in school, if not more.
"I was already at the SSS Rank before I even joined the Omni Peak Academy," he stated with a flat expression, offering no emphasis as though it were a trivial detail.
His words exploded like a bomb in their minds. Before they joined the Omni Peak Academy, they had been at A Rank at the time, and now they were hearing that Anthony had been at SSS Rank before he even joined, a gap so vast it felt almost unreal.
"I’m sure whenever we challenged you, you probably looked at us like idiots," Bryan couldn’t help but comment as he gave a self-deprecating laugh, the absurdity of it all sinking in. The rest also shook their heads as they sighed, coming to terms with the difference between them.
"What rank were you when we graduated?" Bringer asked, as he wanted to know how many ranks Anthony had jumped in a single year while in school, his curiosity now fully piqued.
"Why bother asking? He was probably at the Emperor Rank or something," Bryan stated as he shook his head, already expecting an outrageous answer.
"Well, give or take," Anthony replied with a smile, neither confirming nor denying in a straightforward manner, yet making the implication clear enough.
"Urgh, I feel like punching your handsome face," Bringer couldn’t help but comment, as he, who had just broken through a few minutes ago, suddenly felt dissatisfied and somewhat annoyed.
"I think this is the first time I’m about to be envious of someone’s life," Bryan stated, his tone carrying a mixture of disbelief and reluctant admiration.
"I mean, we are rich, handsome, powerful, royal, with powerful backing and backgrounds too, but we all pale compared to this guy," Rider commented from the side, his words blunt yet undeniably accurate.
"The earlier you stop comparing yourself to him, the better," Tiara stated as a weak smile appeared on her lips. She... or rather, they were all at the King Mana Rank, just to hear that Anthony had already been above that realm before he even graduated, a reality that was difficult to accept.
’Is this how other Vampires feel when they compare their talent to mine?’ she couldn’t help but think to herself, a brief moment of introspection crossing her mind, but she simply shook her head with a sigh, choosing to forget about it for now.
"If you were already at the SSS Rank, why even bother attending the Academy at all? Why not just stay home and train?" Bringer asked, genuinely puzzled, as if he were in Anthony’s shoes, he wouldn’t have bothered with the Omni Peak Academy at all.
"Well, my parents wanted me to attend, and also, I loved the concept of the Academy," Anthony stated, his tone casual yet sincere, as though that alone was reason enough.
Although in his past life he wasn’t really a fan of school, which reincarnator or transmigrator wouldn’t want to attend a fantasy Academy filled with students from various races, experiencing something straight out of imagination and legend?