Transmigrated as a Ghost

While Marcus wanted to completely deny the demon's words, he found that he could not.

There was no denying that he had broken one of the taboos of forging, and unlike the first time when he did it accidentally, for his current scythe he had done so knowingly.

Whether he was truly a monster was a matter up to debate, since he was also a great spirit, but he was not going to argue that point with a demon. Especially with it being clear that the fiendish creature was simply trying to unnerve him.

'At the very least he is not with them.'

Marcus had been fearing the worst, but it seemed that the demon forgemaster that had been the principal creator of the Ghost King's undead weapon was not working with another group he was wary of.

Nevertheless, that did not change the fact that he posed a major threat.

Alone Arriba was not particularly threatening to Marcus thanks to his lack of combat experience. Certainly, he was powerful, but his fighting style was simplistic and relied almost entirely on brute force.

The demon that had interrupted their fight, however, was undoubtedly the crafty type. His interference had already caused Marcus to take a powerful attack from the Ghost King that he normally would have had little issue avoiding.

'The others still seem busy with their respective opponents. I'll just have to take these two on by myself.' Marcus thought with a grimace.

He then prepared to continue fighting, but the body of the many the demon was controlling raised its hand and smiled at him amicably.

"Come now, there is no need for hostilities. We're both skilled forgemaster. I believe that we could learn a great deal from each other. Why don't we let bygones be bygones and work together? I'm sure that it would be a mutually beneficial partnership for both of us."

Marcus scoffed at this offer and was about to refuse it, when he was cut off by Arriba.

"Zorot, what sort of nonsense are you spouting? That man is the leader of a band of insurgents intent on taking my life and bring my kingdom to ruin. You have been an invaluable servant, but if you are in league with them, I will have to deal with you in the same manner."

The Ghost King then backed away from the demon named Zorot and directed some of his hostility towards his perceived ally.

For just a second there was a flash of irritation on the face of the demon's puppet, but it quickly shifted into a subservient grin.

"Of course not my liege, I was just hoping to bring him to your side since he appears to be quite talented. But if you feel so strongly about it, I suppose that it will not be possible. Allow me to assist you in disposing of him then."

Watching this farce, Marcus wanted to yell at Arriba that he was being played like a fiddle, but he held his tongue. After spending centuries as an undead specter, the once proud king was a shell of his former self and devoid of sanity. He perceived things the way he wanted to, and it would be nearly impossible to change his point of view.

Zorot seemed more than happy to play along with Arriba's delusions. He swiftly reverted back to acting like the Ghost King's subordinate and prepared to fight Marcus alongside him. It was evident that whatever interest he had in teaming up with Marcus was of a lower priority compared to a scheme he had been working on for more than three hundred years.

Though perhaps if Marcus had seemed more receptive to a partnership, he would have switched his allegiance.

"I'll just have to collect your soul after defeating you and devour your expertise. I'll lose out on your skills and some of your knowledge, but it should still be quite the treat." Zorot said, wearing an ecstatic smile and licking his lips. In this moment he looked every bit the demon that he was.

Marcus did not wait for the two of them to continue attacking him.

While they had been conversing, he had been gathering mana and preparing to cast one of his strongest spells.

"Last Light."

Channeling the immense amount of power of his tier eight light magic spell through his scythe and focusing lens, he empowered the already monstrous spell to even greater heights.

Aiming at Zorot, Marcus released the spell. He had determined that the demon was more dangerous than Arriba even though the latter was likely more powerful.

Unfortunately, he had not been the only one preparing a deadly attack.

From out of the mouth of the man he was possessing, Zorot's true body appeared and released a monstrous beam of dark green energy.

The spell and beam met each other, and an enormous explosion engulfed the area around them. Destroying everything in the vicinity.

Hastily Marcus leapt backwards to avoid being caught up in the blast, but he found Arriba flying towards him to cut him off.

The sinewy strands of decaying muscle that sprouted out of the undead scepter rushed towards him and at the same time, sixty black hands erupted from the Ghost Kings back and began closing in to cover any escape routes.

Without much time to think, Marcus determined the safest place nearby to retreat to and used his Light Speed Movement unique skill to escape Arriba's attempt to ensnare him.

Except, when he reappeared his danger sense began blaring in his head.

Sadly, it was already too late. The demon had predicted his movements and had already preemptively launched his giant mace directly towards where Marcus was most likely to flee.

Just barely he twisted his body around and received the strike with his scythe. Still the heavy impact knocked him off his feet and sent him flying.

In an attempt to create some room to recover, Marcus launched several spells at his foes. He used only tier four or lower spells since he could cast them quickly and did not consume too much mana which he was beginning to run out of after using several high tier spells and powerful attack skills. Discover worlds on m-v le-mpyr

'Damn it! How is their coordination so good?' Marcus thought as his spells were easily repelled.

During his battle against only Arriba, things had been going well for him, but now the Ghost King was fighting like a different person.

He was focusing less on devastating attacks and devoting all of his strength to cutting off Marcus' movements.

This created several openings for Zorot to strike and their teamwork left Marcus almost no room to counterattack while the two of them were slowly beating him down.

'Ultimate Refresh.'

Beginning to run out of energy, Marcus was forced to employ another use of his Supreme Skill. He wanted to save as many resources as he could just in case, but fighting two high level opponents was draining his strength quickly.

Thankfully he was able to bring himself back up to peak power and catch Arriba and Zorot off guard for a moment.

'Eclipse Meteor.'

Coalescing the energy of his Embodiment of eclipse around his form, Marcus turned himself into a destructive projectile.

With immense speed he headed directly towards Zorot. Hoping to eliminate the demon or at least take him out of the fight.

The explosion following the impact of his attack shook the earth and caused another wave of devastation for everything in the surroundings. At this point the castle and surrounding city that had stood for centuries was now reduced to less than rubble from the high-level battles occurring in the vicinity.

Yet, even one of Marcus' best attacks proved insufficient to bring down his target.

The moment before he made contact with Zorot, the demonic forgemaster had deployed several powerful magic items to protect himself.

Most of them had been destroyed in the process, but he had protected himself from most of the power behind Marcus' Eclipse Meteor.

'It took me over a century to create all of those charms. You really are something else. How about it, I will offer an alliance between us one last time. Accept and I'll assist you in taking down Arriba. Oh, but stop trying to destroy my masterpiece.

I'm not done with it yet and having it broken would be a major inconvenience to me.' Zorot said, contacting Marcus with telepathy so that the Ghost King would not overhear him.

Marcus could not help but role his eyes at this offer. Even if Zorot did help him, making a deal with a demon never ended well. He had already seen plenty of examples of what happened to those that did. Even when they obtained what they wanted it came at a horrible price.

Letting his actions serve as a response, Marcus pointed towards Zorot and fired a laser spell at him.

The attack failed to actually reach the demon, but it got the message across.

"So be it. When I drag your soul into the Abyss, you will wish that you took me up on my offer." Zorot shouted in response.

After this reply, there was no other communication between the two of them. The fierce battle continued between the three of them, with Marcus slowly losing ground.

He had been attempting to hold out long enough for one of his companions to finish their fights and join him, but it seemed that Arriba's ghostly followers were giving them some trouble.

'I didn't want to have to reveal this if I could help it, but I'm going to lose at this rate.'

Wearing a reluctant expression, Marcus stood in place and encompassed himself with several defensive barriers from skills, spells, and magic items.

This protection would not last him long, but he needed only a moment to use one of his race abilities for the first time to turn things around.

With his hand reached out, a rift in space formed in front of him, but it was far different from his Dark Portal unique skill.

Cracks formed in the air and what looked like an iridescent doorway began expanding.

"Alyna, I need you. This is an order, come to my side and lend me your power."