He needed to make the boy a puppet before his army destroyed the boys.
What Dante didn't know was that the boy was thinking the same thing. Mitchel on the opposite side sat down and if you looked closely you could see faint sweat falling down his face.
Mitchels face was sullen as he watched Dantes forces obliterate him. No one knows this but he had received a rare item from the treasury of the Antique.
As long as it is provided with enough spiritual materials it can create ghosts. That's right, Ghosts!
Ghosts are naturally a spiritual entity barely able to apply any real power, however they have one advantage. They are able to occupy any corpse at their level.
Unfortunately the machine can only produce ghosts at the body refining realm. And their loyalty was questionable.
Each has their own opinions in life and would be unwilling to follow just anyone. So Mitchel took a lot of work to produce priests that can barely control them.
Mitchel originally thought that with the help of the ghosts, he had developed quick enough to easily win the competition. After the win he would be able to return to his family as a hero.
After all, his family is a powerful Saint Family with many saints in charge. There are naturally many powerful descendants and Mitchel is just one of them.
He had a powerful Rank 3 Ghost Physique however he lost his backing a long time ago within the clan. The Ghost Physique is only mediocre within the Rank 3 as well. It gave the cultivator a special relation to the Ghost clan.
The only real benefit is a slightly extended longevity and the option to become a fully functional ghost after death.
But Mitchel found a better use of the ability. He is able to increase his cultivation speed when surrounded by ghosts. The stronger and more plentiful the ghosts the quicker his cultivation speed!
But they naturally come with drawbacks. The more Mitchel cultivated, he found he was slowly starting to become a ghost.
So Mitchel struggled massively to obtain the chance to fight for this inheritance, using almost all of his valuables to bribe the elders of his family.
If he managed to win, he would have the chance to occupy the patriarch position in the family. Then who would care if he does become a ghost.
But his plan was destroyed when Dante showed up. Ghosts can indeed cultivate, however they take hundreds of years to complete what might take others a year.
Naturally Mitchel had no chance to wait until all the ghosts had grown up, in order to create high level forces.
So his only option was to try to eliminate Dante. Of course he doesn't know that the one sitting opposite him was the Heir to the Armstrong Family.
Even if he was confident that he could fly high in the future with the help of the World Seed and the Ghost Temple, he had no confidence to fight against the Armstrong Family.
Unfortunately for him, Dante was wearing a mask and was presenting the Core Building Cultivation of his secondary Cultivation Base.
So he believed that he would be able to quickly defeat Dante and therefore win the inheritance.
At this very moment Mitchel decided to take action, so Did Dante.
They both spun towards each other and pushed forward at their fastest speeds. Dante didn't try to hide his main cultivation base, bursting out with incredible power.
Mitchel also didn't wait pushing himself to the limit, using the remaining spiritual weapon left by his Saint Father.
And at the same time a powerful fluctuation flew towards the two of them. The power was like an ancient beast waking up from its sleep, as if all time was nothing in front of it.
It was the power of an Antique.
Dante sensed this power and stretched out a hand holding a decrepit scroll. An equally powerful breath pressed out smashing against the attacking power.
Fluctuations echoed in the air pressing down even the troops down below. As gods fight the mortals will suffer.
Some unlucky tribesmen below were crushed by the power.
At the same time Mitchel pushed his power even faster. Lucky for him Dantes scroll stopped the power attacking him as well. Otherwise there was no guarantee he would still be alive.
Dante quickly reached Mitchel pressing a palm against the sleek black sword Mitchel was holding.
Dante didn't dare use a weapon in case he accidently killed him.
But the battle was anticlimactic, how could a core building cultivator be an opponent against Dante, who has strength comparable to an ancient?
Mitchel was launched backwards after one exchange causing ripples against a barrier at the edge of the cloud. The sword in his hand showed faint cracks under the pressure.
Dante didn't waste his advantage as he leapt forward and implanted his spiritual energy into the boy's head.
This time was even more difficult than making Alice a Puppet. The powerful Aura of Earth seemed to digest the golden robes that Dante was trying to forge.
Sweat poured down Dantes pudgy face as his hands started to shake. His spiritual energy, no matter how abundant it was, started to run dry.
This tug of war battle went back and forth for hours or was it days? Dante couldn't tell anymore.
All his focus was on the war between him and the Aura of Earth.
If it wasn't for his multiple Cultivation bases then he would have long since failed. However he could see the faint light of hope as the aura of earth was slowly digested into the golden rope.
And just like that, the battle between them ended. Dantes Puppet Technique opened up like a hungry whale engulfing all of the Aura of Earth.
The Aura of Earth flowed through Dantes body causing imperceptible changes, but the biggest changes were with Dantes puppets.