"You're up this time Marcus." Mrazivý said, pushing him forward and standing at the back of the ring.
It was now time for their second match in the tournament and just as Mrazivý took on both of their opponents in the first match, Marcus was going to be fighting on his own in this one.
Their opponents this time were from Mahir Clan, who in an upset beat the Sulb Clan members they had been up against in the first match.
This broke the chain of participants from the Sulb Clan that were going to be fighting against Marcus and Mrazivý.
'The man on the left named Eyad is level sixty-four and the woman on the right named Chardae is level sixty-two.' Marcus thought, having appraised his opponents.
At first, he was wondering how they had made it to the second round. Their levels were lower than the pair that Mrazivý had beaten in the first round.
But when Mrazivý informed him that these two possessed two unique skills a piece and had achieved evolutions that were above average it made sense.
Still, even after Mrazivý told him what they were capable of he did not feel any sense of danger. Marcus had fought plenty of more dangerous people and creatures before.
As the announcer rattled off his usual speech about the two teams about to face off against each other, Eyad and Chardae warily watched Marcus.
Unlike in the last fight when their opponents had gotten offended that Mrazivý would be facing them alone, these two knew that taking Marcus lightly even if he was going to be fighting alone would be a huge mistake.
The moment that the announcer started the match Eyad and Chardae used both of their unique skills and attacked Marcus with everything they had.
It was a sound strategy to try and overwhelm him all at once before he could get his bearings.
Luckily neither one of Marcus' opponents had unique skills with tricky effects to deal with like Fasil's Victory Field giving him greater luck. All Eyad's and Chardae's unique skills did was boost their base abilities.
The two attacks reached Marcus at the same time, with Eyad bringing down his adamantine greatsword towards Marcus' right shoulder, while Chardae was bent low and attacking Marcus from below with two stiletto knives on his left side.
Their attacks were well coordinated and had a great deal of power behind them that would make it difficult to block both attacks.
Of course, Marcus did not feel any threat at all and simply stood in the exact place he had started the match in without moving a muscle. He had no need to take any action.
At the same instant Eyad's greatsword cleaved cleanly through Marcus and Chardae's stilettos pierced into him. Or at least that was what it looked like at first.
Eyad's weapon passed all the way through Marcus without connection with anything solid and Chardae's hands seemed to be pierced all the way through Marcus' body and had come out the other side without any resistance.
This completely stunned the two attackers and neither understood what had happened or realized an unforeseen consequence of Marcus having become intangible.
Eyad's blade had not been slowed down at all and he was momentarily dazed by what had happened. Causing him to not notice that his weapon's current trajectory was going to connect with his partner.
Chardae's arms were still pashed through Marcus' body and Eyad's greatsword was just an instant away from literally disarming her, when she was suddenly flung back.
Right before Eyad's blade had caused irreparable damage to his partner, Marcus had kicked Chardae back. This was not a fight to the death and just a competitive match. He was not going to have one of his opponents accidentally dismember the other one.
Marcus then punched towards Eyad who was standing their stunned and connected with his face, launching the large man back as well.
'I would say that was a pretty good showing of what I can do.' Marcus thought looking at his two opponents who were sprawled out on the stage.
Naturally neither of them could truly process what had just happened, and they were not eh only ones.
The audience had seen Marcus get run through by three weapons without offering any resistance, but in the next instant his attackers who looked to have been completely successful were blown back.
Very few individuals watching realized what had happened, and even then, none of them could guess that Marcus was a spirit. At least not just from that single interaction.
Without taking a single step or drawing a weapon, Marcus had undoubtedly won the opening exchange of the bout and after getting back to their feet, Eyad and Chardae did not try attacking again. Both of them just stared at Marcus in confusion and fear.
"I suppose if you are not going to come to me, I will come to you." Marcus said after having a stare off with his opponents for a little over a minute.
For the first time since the match had started, he took a step forward and opened up his item box.
He languidly moved forward and slowly dragged his recently forged adamantine scythe out of his item box to give off a menacing effect.
When Eyad and Chardae saw Marcus' weapon they shuddered uncontrollably as they could sense just how dangerous Marcus had become with his favored type of weapon in hand.
Without any sense of urgency Marcus continued to walk forward towards Eyad and Chardae as if he was going on a leisurely stroll rather than moving closer to the people that he was fighting.
Eventually Eyad seemed to snap and let his frustration and anger take over. He felt that if he did not give into an almost mindless assault made in a rage that he would back down and run away. Something that would go against his pride as a warrior.
Of course, this meant that his earlier coordination with his partner was nowhere to be seen and Chardae was a second behind him.
Eyad unleashed a flurry of blows against Marcus, but not a single one connected.
Marcus expertly phased out the parts of his body that were in the greatsword's path.
He then swung the butt of his scythe's handle towards Eyad's chin without minding the great sword that was pierced through his head.
Eyad brough up his left arm to block the attack with his armor, but Marcus' scythe passed right through his arm and the butt of the handle smashed into his chin.
Once more Eyad went flying without knowing what had just happened to him.
Chardae, who was closing in, abruptly stopped and ran after her partner instead to help him. And also, because she was not going to fight Marcus on her own.
'I can safely say after that interaction that neither of them can use spiritual energy.' Marcus thought.
Thanks to his mastery over switching between a solid and intangible form, those that were not well versed in manipulating spiritual energy were pretty much helpless against him.
Even the Doomsday Worm, despite being a monster over level ninety, had been unable to harm him since he could just go into his ghost form to avoid its attacks.
After Chardae had helped Eyad up, the two turned their attention back towards Marcus. A hint of terror in their eyes.
The unknown was a scarry thing and neither of them could figure out Marcus' power.
Their next attempt was to fire a wide range mana attack that completely engulfed Marcus. At this point they were simply testing out their options to see what worked.
But when the attack had cleared Marcus was completely unharmed. Having allowed the mana attack to pass through him harmlessly.
For a single moment Eyad and Chardae looked towards Mrazivý, wondering if there was some way they could catch Marcus off guard by attacking her.
However, Mrazivý was not some damsel in distress that Marcus needed to protect. She was just as dangerous as him.
Seeing that he was very close to completely breaking his opponent's spirits, Marcus decided to finally end the match. He figured he had shown off his powers enough.
"Death Dance."
One instant Eyad and Chardae were standing about as far away as they could from Marcus and trying to come up with their next plan of attack, and the next, blood was spraying out of their bodies in multiple places.
Marcus had seamlessly appeared between the two of them without them being able to react and used one of his strongest attack skills to inflict several debilitating wounds.
Both Eyad and Chardae dropped their weapons with the muscles in their wrists slashed and they fell to the floor just a moment later.
Quickly pools of their own blood began forming under them and the two of them could only lay unmoving without being able to comprehend how they been beaten.