Transmigrated as a Ghost

For several seconds Marcus conversed with the individual that had reached out to him telepathically. 

During that time, he kept on attacking the mysterious man without a status with ranged attacks, but with part of his attention on telepathic communications, he could not deliver the same fierceness to his blows.

Thankfully the man was content with simply avoiding the spells Marcus was firing at him and did not go on the offensive. He knew that time was on his side, and every second brought Marcus' inevitable limit closer.

'Fine. If I can't change your mind, then get ready. I only have a little more than half a minute before my Soul Burst ends. Once it does, I won't be able to stand up to this guy anymore, so we are only going to have one-shot at this.' Marcus said to the person that had contacted him with telepathy.

They had gotten into a bit of an argument, but in the end, Marcus was the one that lost. 

'I just have to make sure that we kill this guy. As long as he dies, everything else should work itself out.'

With a new plan ready and his conversation over, Marcus turned his full focus back towards his opponent and rushed towards him. He did not have long before he would run out of steam and needed to create an opening to finish the man off soon.

Once he got close, he created several Dark Portals around them and used his Crescent Moon Strikes attack skill to rapidly unleash a flurry of attacks from dozens of different angles.

Of course, he already knew that this would be far from enough to bring the man that had appeared from within the Tower of Heaven down. Even when Marcus managed to do some damage, the wounds healed up quickly and no matter how much lifeforce Marcus sapped from the man, he did not grow any weaker.

'It's like he has an unlimited tank of energy. Just how strong is this guy's soul.' Marcus thought as he traded thousands of blows with his enemy.

Still, all he could do was grit his teeth and continue to press the attack and lead the man into exposing an opening.

Finally, when Marcus only had around ten seconds left on his Soul Burst, he raised his scythe up high and channeled all of the energy from his Embodiment of Eclipse into it. For his last strike he was going to once again use his Eclipse Reaper attack.

"I can tell that you are getting desperate, but you should not leave such a glaring opening." The man said as he sent a sweeping kick at Marcus' exposed torso.

'Got him.' Marcus thought, a smile forming on his face.

This was exactly the sort of reaction he had been aiming to bait. With one leg off the ground the man's position would make it difficult for him to dodge the finishing attack Marcus had planned.

Naturally the man figured that Marcus would try to split his body again to dodge the blow, so he had spread out his spiritual energy around his leg so that it encompassed a far larger area. The only way Marcus could avoid being hit was to cease his own attack and move out of the way. Or so the man without a status thought.

Yet, just as his kick was about to connect, Marcus' entire body disappeared. 

This left a befuddled expression on the man's face since he knew that even if Marcus had reverted to his ghost form, the spiritual energy of his attack would have still connected.

No, Marcus had not gone ethereal or moved away, instead he had coalesced his entire soul into his scythe that still hung in the air.

Attempting this technique for the first time in the middle of a battle was a bit of a risk, but Marcus figured that since a fragment of his soul had already merged with his scythe, it would be possible to unify his entire soul within it for at least a few moments.

Thankfully his gamble had paid off and he was able to enter his scythe without any issues.

Then with his spectral arm, he gripped the weapon imbued with the entirety of his exitance and swung down with the strongest attack he had ever created. 

His blade sunk into the man's left shoulder with little resistance and Marcus pushed with all his might as he carved deeper into his enemy's body towards his heart.

Eyes wide with panic, the man reached out and gripped the handle of Marcus' scythe, attempting force it back. With the immense strength the man had, he was able to slow Marcus' strike down, though he was unable to fully stop it with one hand.

However, as he was about to reach out with his other hand, a fast-moving projectile caught the man's eyes. The gleaming weapon was heading right for his neck, and with only a single glance the man knew it had enough power behind it to cause him a grievous wound.

Halting his move to grab Marcus' scythe, he swung his right arm at the incoming projectile and swatted it away.

The impact of the powerful amethros saber left a deep gash in his hand, but the man did not care much. He had already concluded that he was in too disadvantageous a situation and moved his now free hand to once again pluck on the golden string that would activate his power and turn everything in his favor.

Except, before he could, another attack came at him from behind the thrown sword.

In her draconic form and teeming with the power of her Supreme Skill, Mrazivý charged in with Cassius' Excalibur raised and ready to strike. The visage of a golden dragon surrounded her, sending a shudder down the man's back as he felt another attack that could threaten his life coming towards him.

He truly wanted to reach out and pluck the golden string, but he could tell that if he did so he would be too late to block Mrazivý' imminent attack.

"Dragon Strike!"

Mrazivý swung Excalibur with everything she had and aimed to carve into the man's head. Of course, he did not just let her inflict a fatal wound and reached out with his right hand to catch her sword.

But unlike when he caught Marcus' first attack, Mrazivý's Dragon Strike that was being channeled through Cassius' named weapon was too much for him to stop. The blade sliced through his hand and easily cleaved through his bone and muscle.

Having unleashed attacks with the entirety of their hearts and souls, Marcus and Mrazivý pushed themselves beyond their limits to deliver two different fatal attacks.

The man without a status struggled to use his monumental strength to push back against them, but he was unable to hold back both of their strikes at the same time. 

"You annoying little shits!" The man roared in fury.

Along with the eruption of the man's anger, an unfathomable amount of magical energy burst out from within him.

Both Marcus' and Mrazivý's attacks came to abrupt stops when the man that did not have a status suddenly exploded with power that he had kept hidden this entire time. Even as they pushed with all their might, neither of their blades moved another millimeter.

Then, before they could register what was happening, the man struck both of them with devastating attacks.

For Mrazivý he brought up his right knee and slammed it directly into her stomach where he had hit her earlier. This reopened the wounds she had only just recently healed, and she went flying high into the air like a limp doll.

Marcus on the other hand felt the man momentarily release the handle of his scythe before punching it with a strike that contained far more force than Marcus had ever felt.

The handle made out of a Thunder Behemoth's bone and reinforced with adamantine could not hold up to the impact. Cracks formed through the handle until it shattered into hundreds of pieces.

Feeling the sudden shock, Marcus was violently forced out of his now broken scythe. Still in his ghost form he did not go flying very far, but his Soul Burst Unfortunately ended just a moment later.

Immediately Marcus felt an intense backlash from both his Soul Burst and Soul Devour unique skills ending.

His form that had remained mostly intact began to break apart and he was racked with pain and confusion worse than he had ever experienced before. He had truly gone beyond his limits and was now paying the price for it.

With the last bit of rationality, he could muster, Marcus activated his Ultimate Refresh and used its last charge to restore himself. Yet even the Supreme Skill that was supposed to be able to recover any sort of damage was not quite enough to fully fix his injured soul. Marcus went too far this time with his Soul Devour and had caused damage that was beyond his abilities to correct. At the very least though, he was no longer in danger of fading away. A small miracle considering how broken he was.

'Damn it! Why can't I move? I have to get back up.' Marcus thought as he struggled to force himself to continue fighting.

Sadly, no matter how hard he tried, it was pointless. He had expended everything he had and more in order to fight against the monstrously powerful man that had attacked the expedition squad. There was nothing else he could do but wait to be finished off by his overwhelming enemy.