Transmigrated as a Ghost

As Marcus' latest specter power engulfed the land, it became an area tainted by the power of death. All the remaining greenery shriveled up and withered, while the earth itself lost its luster. Within this Deathly Dominion the living were weakened and snuffed out, while the undead gained greater power.

For obvious reasons Marcus had never utilized this specter power since it would harm his allies just as much as his enemies. But now that he was fighting alone against a single opponent, there was no need to hold it back any longer.

"You certainly are chalked full of a bunch of nasty abilities." The man said a disgusted look on his face.

Marcus could only agree with this statement. While he had always managed to keep himself under control, there was no doubt he had the capacity to be a horrible monster with the skillset he had acquired. Nevertheless, in this movement, against his current opponent, he did not care if he had to become monstrous in order to win.

With his mind focused on a single thing, he charged towards the man that had earned his ire and attacked with every ounce of ferocity he could.

'Death Dance.'

Turning into a whirling storm, Marcus launched himself at the mysterious man that had appeared from the Tower of Heaven. 

His scythe whirled through the air and attacked in an unceasing barrage that pushed his previously dominant opponent onto the defensive.

'He's no longer trying to win by overpowering me. I can tell that he thinks he will come out victorious so long as he holds me off until I run out of energy. But I won't let him off that easily.' Marcus thought as he pushed himself even further.

Already he was focusing on multiple actions, but he shook off the pain that was mounting in his head and forced himself to bring out more power.

Suddenly the thin layer of black liquid that was almost like sludge trembled and several shadowy tendrils burst from it. Rarely did Marcus have the opportunity to use his Tendrils of Shadows specter power since it could not be utilized in areas that were brightly lit, but within his Deathly Dominion this restriction was null and void.

An innumerable number of tendrils that sapped lifeforce and stamina whipped towards the man while Marcus continued his brutal assault.

For the first time, the man that did not have a status was clearly on the backfoot and he grimaced as Marcus continued to come at him.

However, while he was still keeping up with Marcus' attack, things were about to take another turn.

'Ravenous Abyss.'

'Gloom Titan.'

During his flurry of attacks Marcus had been weaving spells and the first two he had prioritized were cast at the same time.

A great deal of mana left Marcus' body and coalesced into two gigantic figures of darkness.

One had a spherical body and a wide, ominous slit in the center of its body that served as its ghastly mouth.

The other was a several meters tall humanoid monster with four arms and wielding a dark whip in each one.

These were Marcus' tier five and tier eight dark magic spells that conjured powerful monsters to fight alongside him.

Of course, being beings of darkness that were not truly alive, they were not negatively affected by his Deathly Dominion specter power and could still fight at full strength.

Joined by his two monsters of darkness, Marcus pressed the attack even more viciously.

Within just a few seconds Marcus had managed to inflict dozens of scratches on the previously indomitable man and was undoubtedly slowly wearing his adversary down.

"Rending Void."

When the man stuck a big step back to try and put some distance between them, Marcus fired off the spell he had been saving and sent a giant sphere of darkness flying that destroyed everything in its path.

The man could only click his tongue in annoyance and dodge to the side as the sphere passed by him.

Though he avoided being consumed by Marcus' tier six spell, the Ravenous Abyss and Gloom Titan were waiting for him just as Marcus had planned.

Several giant black hands erupted from the Ravenous Abyss' bulbous body and the Gloom Titan's whips moved like striking snakes that had a mind of their own.

"Enough."

Showing a hint of genuine anger and frustration, the man without a status clapped his hands together. 

Due to the sheer strength that he had, the simple act of bringing his hands together in one forceful motion generated a powerful shockwave the blew away the attacks coming his way.

Unfortunately, for him, this maneuver forced him to stop moving for an instant and tied up his hands.

Jumping through a Dark Portal, Marcus appeared right behind the man. His scythe held at his side, he slashed it with incredible speed and aimed to lop off the man's head.

Without a moment to spare, the man's only means of dodging the attack, was to bend his torso down and let the scythe pass over him.

Yet, as Marcus' swing went by, he let go of his scythe with his hands and caught it with his Spectral Arm so as to abruptly change the direction of his swing.

Knowing he could not avoid this attack; the man positioned his left arm in front of his face and caught the blade with his forearm.

Far from when his fist attack was easily blocked and only caused the man without a status a shallow cut, Marcus' scythe dug into the man's arm and did not stop until it reached bone.

A small function of silver blood burst from the wound and Marcus' opponent wore a truly pained expression for the first time.

He then attempted to push Marcus away and leap away, but his legs were wrapped up by Marcus' Tendrils of Shadows and the hand he had used to shove Marcus away passed through his stomach which now unnaturally had a hole all the way through it.

"Last Light."

A small ball of light like a miniature sun appeared on the tip of Marcus' pointer finger as he cast his tier eight light magic spell.

The area of darkness he had created vanished in an instant along with the Tendrils of Shadows that were restraining the man.

Immediately he moved to get away, but Marcus was not going to let him. He had cast this spell knowing that it would hit its mark.

The small ball of light flew from Marcus' finger and impacted against the man, engulfing him in a shining sphere of searing light.

Marcus smiled now that he had his opponent where he wanted him, but he did not rest on his laurels. Instead, he lifted up his scythe and prepared for his next attack.

Light and darkness from his Supreme skill burst out in greater quantities than before and expanded around him.

For his finishing move he planned to use his Eclipse Meteor attack the instant the man broke free from his Last Light spell.

Except what happened next was far beyond anything Marcus could have expected.

A beautiful sound echoed through the area like the string of a violin being plucked by a master. Then before he could understand what was going on, the power of his Last Light spell had vanished along with the man it had consumed.

"Die."

From his left side Marcus heard this single word before a powerful impact hit against the side of his head.

Without being able to understand what was going on, he went flying from the force of the attack and felt his head cracking apart.

He had not only been hit by a tremendous amount of physical force, but he could tell that a great deal of spiritual energy had been put into the blow.

His only saving grace was that he was currently far studier than he had been compared to when he had first gotten hit and his entire head was blown off in one blow. This time he managed to keep his head intact, but the damage was still severe.

Having no other option Marcus resorted to using the second to last charge on his Ultimate Refresh Supreme Skill.

Bathed in silver light, all of the wounds Marcus had incurred from that single hit disappeared and he was back to peak condition.

Still, things were not looking good for him. While he had been dominating the fight since he went all-out, the man that did not have a status turned everything around in one single unexplainable move. 

'If I had unlimited time I could continue fighting until I figured out what he did, but I am about to slip past less than a minute before Soul Burst runs out. If I don't finish things up by then, I'll be screwed.'

Marcus glowered at his opponent who had suddenly pulled a complete reversal on their situations. All of the damage Marcus had inflicted on the man had vanished and he looked just as he had when he first appeared from inside the tower. Even the clothes he was wearing had miraculously been restored.

Without a doubt he had some power that worked similar to Marcus' Supreme Skill, though likely it brought about its effect in a different manner.

Hurriedly Marcus racked his brain for a way around his enemy's inexplicable recovery, but he could only think up one possible solution.

It would come at no small risk to him, and he was certain his chances of success were low, but it was all he could think of.

However, before he enacted his risky plan, a sudden telepathic message stopped him in his tracks.