'Why can't I cut him?!'
Sato wore a grim expression as he fought intensely against Marcus.
Things had been seemingly going well from the start. The ambush he launched with his party members and his demon allies appeared to go off without a hitch.
He had opened up with his One-Stroke Kill, the attack skill that he had earned his epithet from.
Marcus' head looked to have been severed from his neck, but that had only been a ruse.
When Sato and his companions had approached what they assumed to be a dead body and the mysterious woman that had been accompanying Marcus, they thought that they were still in control.
However, things quickly took a turn for the worse.
The target that Sato thought he had eliminated rose back up and unleashed two powerful attack spells with almost no warning.
Along with his two party members, Sato managed to escape mostly unscathed but only one of the demons had survived the surprise attack.
After that, things went from bad to worse.
Sato had never met them before, but he recognized the recently promoted adamantine party Intrepid, led by the famed huntress Fianna. Their sudden appearance had been wholly unexpected and turned what should have been a successful ambush into a fierce struggle.
Now Sato was alone battling it out with his fellow transmigration. His party members Lisa and Adonis locked in combat with Intrepid and the woman that called herself Marcus' adjutant.
So far, he had tried to slice through his opponent's neck five times, but each one of his attacks just passed through harmlessly.
'Creature Appraisal says that he's human. Is this some sort of unique skill? But if that was the case, I should be able to reach him with my own unique skills. Is it maybe a Supreme Skill? But almost no one has one of those. They're mostly talked about like some sort of myth.'
In a sudden flash of remembrance, Sato recalled seeing one of the demons that had been accompanying his party sliced in half by Marcus' scythe while it was out of its wielder's hands.
Thanks to his correct observation, Sato noticed when the weapon suddenly appeared behind him.
Its strike came down fast, aimed at the back of his left knee where there was a gap in his armor.
Twisting around he deflected the scythe with his sword before leaping backwards to avoid a spell that came flying at him in tandem with the phantom weapon's attack.
Even in his slightly more than two centuries being on Mirrion, Sato had never faced an opponent like Marcus. His fellow transmigration was absurdly strong and had a deep bag of tricks that would give any opponent a hard time.
'How is it moving like that?!'
Sato found himself being persistently pursued by Marcus' scythe.
He had seen a few weapons capable of autonomously attacking before, but nothing like this.
Normally such weapons could only move in set patterns and were easy enough to figure out.
However, Marcus' scythe moved as if it had a mind of its own. It was able to feint, abruptly break away before flying around and attacking at another angle, and even use attack skills. All things that should have been impossible.
Sato could not even block the scythe with his sword, since it seemed to have the same ability to become incorporeal, just like its master. He could only keep dodging it while also avoiding Marcus' magic.
'It feels like I'm dancing in the palm of his hand. Why hasn't anything I've tried worked on him?' Sato thought as his frustration as reaching its peak.
It was not long before the answer to all of his questions was answered. Though learning the truth did not bring him any solace.
"You can't use spiritual energy, can you? I thought you might be trying to lure me into a sense of false security to catch me off guard, but after this long, I think it is safe to say that you really don't have any means to harm a spiritual entity."