Arthur didn't stand there despite having his strength weakening. He retrieved the Griffin's body from his storage and possessed it, leaving not even enough time for the old man to witness what happened.

He just saw a griffin body made of only bones appear before him and Arthur disappear right after.

Alerted and a bit speechless, he stared at the griffin which glared at him menacingly, he knew that Arthur must be controlling it, which increased his dread of this strange Dark Magic User.

Contrary to Arthur's expectation, the old man didn't start attacking again, he contemplated the large body of the Griffin then said

"If you're willing to surrender right now. I can guarantee your safety if you cooperate and can even help you become part of the Holy Echelon as long as the Dark Magic is purged from your body. Your abilities are top-tier and you would become a prominent figure with such power and talent."

Although not everything he spouted was a truth, some of it was, which startled Arthur as he didn't think the enemy will propose such a thing. Nonetheless, it's not like he's going to surrender, winning is practically impossible against a Sovereign who didn't even summon his God Spirit.

There are only two results to this fight, either he comes out alive and victorious, with the old man dead, or he ends up dying, there is no cooperation or peaceful surrender, such a thing rarely occurs in a fight between Gods and the old man was aware of that yet he still attempted finishing it in a diplomatic way.

Arthur gave no response to the old man, informing the latter of his intent without the need for useless words.

"Dealing with this Sovereign is possible if you sign the contract with me, I can assure you that."

From deep within his consciousness, the Earth Spirit spoke to Arthur again, urging him to accept the contract but Arthur turned a deaf ear to the knight, still not wanting to give up the Dimensional Stone he had gotten from the Kang Treasury.

The griffin's large mouth opened wide, showing its sharp teeth, Arthur spat several detonators at the old man, each with half the size of the Griffin.

The illusory hands appeared yet again and deflected the detonators, pushing them in a different direction. Clearly, the old man was still wary of Arthur's flames and didn't want to have direct contact with them.

The detonators crashed into the nearby forest, exploding and destroying a huge part of the greenery and bringing with it loud noises. Dark red flames and a bit of Dark Magic lingered where the collisions occurred, this place could no longer be called a forest as trees were burned to ashes, the land was scorched from the fire and the earth was corrupted from the Dark Magic.

Even the old man didn't expect the detonators to do such damage, he looked at the still burning flames, which didn't seem that they'll be extinguished by the raging winds anytime soon, even the pouring rain had no effect on them.

'This is an S-class target, I need to end this quickly!'

Arthur continued unleashing numerous detonators coupled with Void Bombs that contained countless small void mouths that ate everything in their way.

He also flew at the old man, ready to engage in melee combat while using his skills to pressure the Sovereign.

Explosions rang every second due to the exploding detonators that never ceased coming out of Arthur's mouth, even the two illusory hands couldn't deflect them all, which pushed the old man to personally act.

He waved his scepter, drawing a circle on the air, which fired a pillar of light, extinguishing all the flying detonators, the Void Bombs weren't spared from the damage as they vanished completely, which surprised Arthur as never had been a case where any Void related skill was overpowered by other technique or skills.

Making good use of [Faster Than Death], Arthur appeared inches away from the old man and used the griffin long claws to slash at his target, activating [Dark Burst] to maximize the damage.

Unfortunately, the old man was a Sovereign and landing such an attack on him isn't an easy feat, the scepter became a white shield that protected its master from the incoming claws.

The illusory hands joined the fight, each forming into a fist and flying at Arthur from two directions.

[Faster Than Death] was used yet again, teleporting Arthur in front of the old man this time, he opened his mouth wide as if he wants to devour the elder, then from within the bottomless mouth a grey orb appeared. It started expanding in size at an alarming speed until it reached a considerable size.

The old man snorted and did a quick hand seal in the air

"Hmpf! Insolence! Holy Arts third chapter: Radiance Seal!"

A runic symbol pulsating with Holy Light appeared where the hand seal was written, it was only the size of the old man's hand but the Holy Light was too pure, to the point of burning the bones of the Griffin, turning them into particles of light that dispersed into nothingness.

This grey orb was a trump card he only used against Meyzu, it's made purely from accumulated Death Energy. This energy is hard to obtain so Arthur only uses it in emergency situations, such as this one.

The grey orb's speed was unimaginable, it struck the Radiance Seal, shaking it heavily and even causing blood to leak out of the old man's lips.

This, however, was but the beginning, Death Energy, or all negative types of Energies were the total opposite Holy Energy, so its effect was stronger, making some cracks appear on the white seal.

Seeing this, the old man grabbed his scepter and pressed its tip on the white

"Holy Arts, first Chapter: Holy Enforcement!"

The light emanating from the seal magnified, it pushed the grey orb away, trying to deflect it away. The griffin's still opened mouth spat grey fog with an ominous aura similar to the orb, the fog transformed into a whirlpool that engulfed both the seal and the orb, along with the old man with them.

As for Arthur, he quickly retreated since he wasn't immune to Death Energy, it's hard to control and could cause harm to its user, just like the Void Attribute.

The grey whirlpool expanded in size while the old man was still inside, flashes of white light were seen inside of it but these lights were insignificant and couldn't disturb the flow of the whirlpool.

The bones of the Griffin shattered and turned into dust so Arthur left it and used his main body again.

His left eyes pulsated with grey light and his hair became deep grey, different from the usual, the white seal didn't even touch him but its effect was horrifying.

Some of his Vitality and lifespan were eaten away without his notice, if not for possessing another body, he would have suffered the full attack and it would've been a fatal strike. His face was as pale a sheet of paper and he couldn't perfectly control it, it was shaking from the accumulated stress.

If not for his high recovery, he would have been defeated a long time ago, this reassured Arthur but he still had no solutions, he knew that the grey whirlpool isn't enough to kill a Sovereign.

As he breathing heavily and looking at the rotating whirlpool, the sky shook and the ground shattered, a golden figure appeared out of the grey whirlpool, with a bloodied robe, a half-broken scepter, and an enraged expression, the old man looked miserable with dust on his face, a not so healthy skin and a broken weapon.

The white seal had eaten some of Arthur's lifespan but unlike the seal, Death Energy was more direct, it brought its target closer to his imminent death. Fast aging and destabilizing the body, similar to an old mortal that could barely move, that's what the whirlpool did.

It didn't attack physically or mentally, but its effect is dangerous and almost unavoidable, especially if the target is confident enough in being able to resist it instead of dodging.

"What did you do to me!"

The old man felt strange energy invade his body and even with the help of the Holy Arts he still wasn't able to drive it out, it circulated through his veins, meridians, and even his Dantian, making him feel uncomfortable and greatly weakened.

His body turned golden as he was forced to summon his God Spirit and fuse with it, which was something only a Sovereign could do, yet despite obtaining the great power of his God Spirit, the energy was still plaguing him.

Seeing that his attack was successful, Arthur smirked back at the infuriated old man and coldly said

"You feel it, right? Death is coming and I'm here to deliver you to its door."