"What do you *cough* want?"

The black-haired Marshall coughed blood as he faced Arthur, who was possessing the body of the dead Overgod.

"Revenge, sweet revenge."

The old man flashed an ugly smile at the distressed Marshall, whose sword skills were countered by Arthur. He stealthily retrieved a Dimensional Stone, planning to leave this area before he get fatally injured by the rampaging Dark Magic.

Using the overgod's body, Arthur dashed at the middle-aged man and attacked with his palm, emitting a blinding golden light followed by a large illusory palm that twice his size. The Marshall swung his invisible sword, unleashing a silver beam which clashed with Arthur's palm attack. 

The beam emerged victorious and headed toward Arthur, striking his body and causing a lot of blood to gush out, nevertheless, the parasite continued his charge, uncaring about the damage dealt with his body. He neither felt pain nor threatened because, as a Soul Parasite, Physical attacks can't kill him. Moreover, his stats were now outrageous to the point that even an Exalted God's attacks do very little damage.

With the acquisition of the Celestial Body, a higher cultivation and his incredibly physical body, a fresh Exalted God like this gloomy Marshall can't really defeat him. 

Although his charge was slowed, Arthur still managed to reach his target and raise both of his hands, releasing a formless energy that shattered the space and locked the enemy in place. This was followed by a sprayed deadly acid, three exploding detonators and a large black whirlpool which hit the man's face, completely disfiguring him and consuming all the sword essence he planned to use to resist.

In the end, the Marshall was sent flying two hundred meters away and before he could stabilize his body, Arthur was already upon him, shackling him with the use of tiny black threads that wrapped around his limbs. 

Arthur also activated his eye ability, slowing time around him and the enemy, rendering him unable to crush the dimensional stone and getaway. 

Very calmly, he snatched the stone from the Marshall's hand, pocketed it then mockingly said:

"This trick has been used so many times… did you really think I would let anyone else escape?"

Then he put his hand over the Marshall's head and used Dark Magic, corrupting the man and causing him to die a very painful and miserable death. 

Once he was done with the enemy, Arthur looked around before focusing his gaze on a solitary man wearing an armor that had the Cloud Sea emblem. He was a God Monarch who accompanied the Marshall, his strength was weak and after witnessing what happened to his superior, he didn't dare act arrogantly or even try to run away.

"This is only the beginning. Tell your sect, empire, or whatever, that I'll come back."

Arthur then looked at the crowd of experts, all looking at him, and spoke with a more domineering tone:

"The Thousand Buddha Sect, the Heavenly Snake Clan, and the Cloud Sea Sect, I'll uproot every single of them. Please help me relay this message to them."

He did a slight bow before adding: "Now then, I'm off."

He was enveloped in a green lightning then flew away, leaving a black fog in his path. All the onlookers remained surprised for some time before they came back to their senses when the sky-piercing mountain started heavily shaking then crumbling into literal dust.

*****

"We received an urgent message from the scout. The target will pass through here in an hour."

A man covered in a thick silver armor talked to his superior, an old woman wearing a normal white robe.

In response, the old woman nodded her head, turned to face an army of a hundred experienced Holy Knights, and spoke with a loud and crisp voice, contrary to what one might expect from a sack of old bones like her:

"Prepare the shield and solidify the formation!"

The knights shouted in union, all energetic and ready to battle the incoming enemy. It was actually a Dark Magic user and a parasite, an existence that is absolutely evil, or so it was deemed by the Holy Dominion.

The news about Arthur traveled far and wide in just two days and, of course, the Holy Dominion learned of his reappearance. They mobilized an army of experts to capture him, or kill him if the first option was possible.

It wasn't that hard to guess his destination, which was the Red Tower, so the Holy Dominion blocked the one and only route. They won't be relying on ambush but on a frontal clash with the use of a strong army.

The old woman was a High Cardinal and someone who had fought Zodiak in the past so she's quite knowledgeable about Dark Magic. Unfortunately, when the time came and the parasite showed, it didn't go as they had expected.

They raised a humongous magical white shield which blocked both the ground and the air, allowing no soul to pass through. The hundred Holy Knights raised their shield and unsheathed their blades, ready to initiate the attack. Sadly, Arthur didn't care about them, he was like a meteor, destroying everything in his way.

The hundred Holy Knights were instantly pushed away before they could do anything. As for the white shield, it actually halted Arthur's flight, locking him into place for a couple of seconds.

Just as the old woman, the High Cardinal, was about to cast a spell, two wings appeared on Arthur's back, increasing his aura even further.

With the use of the wings conjured by [Angel of Death], Arthur was able to crack the shield and open a hole big enough for him to fit through. Without looking back, he continued straight ahead, his body becoming a thin lightning bolt which traversed the space at an unreasonable speed.

Even if they wanted to chase, the Holy Knights were didn't have the needed speed to catch up. Even the highest grade Spirit Boat isn't able pale in comparison to Arthur's speed.

[Angel of Death] and [Transmutation] boosted his already sky-high Agility, which is, currently, slightly above 50 billion points. So, like that, the Holy Dominion suffered a loss by having their shield cracked and several of their knights injured, though, thankfully, none died.

****

"To all contestants, the Red Tower competition will begin in 50 minutes 57 seconds, please remain close so you can be teleported inside once the countdown ends."

Arthur could hear the robotic voice speak every ten minutes, warning the contestants to remain near the tower. 

Actually, the Red Tower was situated in the System Universe, more precisely, in a solitary planet in the Andromeda Galaxy. Apart from the Red Tower, there was nothing in this place, no forests, mountains, or living beings.

Out of the thousand who received the invitation, 988 arrived and are ready to begin. Some people decided to ally with each other but they remained oblivious to how the tower works. They didn't know if they'll be pitted against each other or will have to cooperate to climb to higher floors.

Arthur activated [Eternium], further accelerating his flight as he went through a self-created Spatial Tunnel leading directly to SPX-48, the name of the planet where the Red Tower was.

"To all contestants, the Red Tower competition will begin in 9 minutes 50 seconds, please remain close so you can be teleported inside once the countdown ends."

At this point in time, Arthur finally reached the end of the tunnel and appeared on the outer region of the planet, a yellow fog blocking his way. He possessed a bird covered in purple spikes then started spinning in the air, pushing away the fog and entering the planet's hemisphere. He could already see the unshakable glowing tower, which had cards symbols engraved on its four sides.

The bird was like a beam of light as descended from up above and madly flew at the Red Tower. When there was only one minute remaining, Arthur was able to reach the needed distance to be able to teleport inside so he landed on the ground and scanned his surroundings, sensing no soul nearby.

"Please ready yourself, the competition will begin in 10 seconds."

"9"

"8"

"7"

"6"

"5"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Lo, seekers in days unborn, god-bladed bearers. Know this, this tower challenges the sky. Ware the watcher, the peak awaits, soul-hungry, unsated!"