'Looks like you finally awake. You've really kept us waiting.' Roxene said over telepathy.
Turning around, Marcus saw her standing still and releasing a tremendous amount of mana.
"I guess that this barrier is your doing then?"
'Obviously! Now do something about those stupid worms already. We've been protecting you for nearly three days now while those things try to get a piece of you. Pretty much the moment you began evolving they arrived in droves through portals of some kind. I wouldn't be surprised if every single one of them in existence has come here.'
From her tone and general demeanor, Marcus could tell that Roxene was in a particularly foul mood. Of course, this was only natural seeing as how she had been fighting nonstop for several days now.
"Okay, I'll see what I can do. But first..."
Holding out his hand, Marcus conjured a small glowing silver sphere and shot it towards Roxene.
A moment later she was enveloped by the gentle light of Marcus' Ultimate Refresh.
With all of the fatigue she had built up vanishing in an instant Roxene's tense expression softened.
'You have my gratitude for that.'
"It was no big deal. You've been guarding me during my time of vulnerability. Plus, I'd do that for any of my companions." Marcus replied.
He then asked Roxene to gather the others and pull them back. There was something that he wanted to try, but did not want anyone to get caught up in
'Just don't get in over your head. If you need us, just call us back. It would be regrettable if you perished because of overconfidence. Don't forget that your still my caretaker and need to keep me safe until I grow strong enough to rejoin my parents.'
With these parting words, Roxene rushed off in a blur to inform Lilia, Blitz, and Inten of Marcus' awakening and plan.
"There really are a lot of them." Marcus muttered.
However, a moment later, he collapsed to his knees. Keeping up Howl of the Damned for as long as he did had drained more than half of his spiritual energy at once.
While it was an unbelievably powerful ability, it took a heavy toll on the user.
And while Marcus had killed or incapacitated around fifty percent of the Spirit Eaters, those that had been behind him and out of the path of his new Specter Power were very much alive.
'I suppose I won't be using that one again anytime soon.' Marcus thought as he rose to his feet.
While he had exhausted most of his spiritual energy, he still had nearly all of his mana.
"It feels a bit weird skipping a tier, but what I need right now is overwhelming offensive power. Dark Matter."
His right hand outstretched, Marcus channel more mana than he ever had before through his body.
The instant he had finished his evolution, several pieces of information had been transferred directly into his mind. One of those being the names of new spells from his magic skills leveling up.
Pressure unlike anything Marcus had experienced before assailed him.
Without ever having cast a tier nine spell, he skipped straight to the tier ten darkness magic spell.
Cracks began to form through his arm, but he refused to stop. He had reached the point that he could cast the highest tier of magic, and nothing was going to stop him.
Eventually, every last drop of mana inside of him had gathered into one place, and the Dark Matter spell was completed.
A tremendous black flash erupted from his hand, and everything in front of him was unilaterally erased.
It was all over so quickly that Marcus could hardly process what had occurred. One moment there was a swarm of Spirit Eater bearing down on him, and the next there was nothing.
The spell Marcus had just cast left nothing in its wake. Surrounded by a blue sky, was any inky blot of darkness that nothing could penetrate. Almost as if the space itself had been erased for existence.