With a flick of his hand, the Giga Battlenizer materialized in Yu Zhou's grip. Without hesitation, he swung it high above his head and brought it down with full force onto the head of the King of Darkness.
BAM!!!
This time, the blow landed solidly. The impact rang out like thunder as the massive creature reeled backward, its octopus-like head snapping to the side from the sheer power of the strike.
As expected of a divine weapon—the hit had actually made the King of Darkness dizzy for a moment. The behemoth staggered, shook its head violently, and its tentacle "beard" flailed about as it regained its senses.
"Impressive… you actually managed to hurt me," it rumbled.
The sound reverberated strangely—coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. Yu Zhou frowned. The creature's head had no visible mouth, no obvious throat, and no sound-producing organ at all.
"Wait a minute…" he muttered. "If the sound isn't coming from the head or the body, then—"
A grim suspicion crossed his mind. The only unobserved area was… below the waist.
Don't tell me… its voice comes from down there?!
Before Yu Zhou could ponder that disturbing thought, the King of Darkness beat its tattered, dragon-like wings and rose into the air. Purple energy began to gather in its eyes, drawing darkness from every direction.
Then, without warning—
ZAAAH!!!
A thick beam of violet energy shot forth straight at Yu Zhou.
"What the—!?"
The moment Yu Zhou saw it; he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity. That energy… that texture… he had seen something like it before.
But now wasn't the time to think. With a powerful leap, he took to the sky, narrowly evading the attack.
The beam struck the barren ground below. There was no explosion—no sound at all. Instead, the earth where it hit turned into solid black rock.
Yu Zhou's eyes widened. "A petrification beam!"
Now he remembered why it felt familiar. It was the same type of attack used by Gatanothor—that same deadly purple light!
Only this time, the petrified surface wasn't grey stone—it became the same black rock found all over this island.
"Wait… don't tell me… this whole island was made by this thing's petrification beam?!"
The thought alone was horrifying.
The King of Darkness, unfazed by its missed shot, began gathering even more energy between its eyes.
"This isn't good," Yu Zhou muttered. "If it fires that one, I'm done for!"
He could see it—an enormous sphere of violet light forming before the creature's head. It was the same as before… but ten times larger.
"Then I'll end this first!"
Yu Zhou's eyes flared with dark light. Crossing his arms, he pulled them back, channelling the energy toward his chest where the blue timer pulsed furiously.
"Dark Zeperion Beam!"
He thrust both arms forward, hands forming an L-shape, unleashing a surge of black energy threaded with streaks of white. The beam roared across the wasteland, colliding head-on with the King of Darkness's growing orb.
The monster tried to defend itself, swinging several tentacles forward as a shield.
But the moment Yu Zhou's beam struck—
SNAP! SNAP!
Two of the massive tentacles were blown clean off, tumbling down like severed trees and crashing onto the ground below, leaking thick streams of black mist instead of blood.
BOOM!!!
The Dark Zeperion Beam then slammed into the energy sphere itself, triggering a massive explosion. Fire and light swallowed the air.
Yu Zhou shielded his eyes as the blast wave rolled past him.
When the smoke cleared, the King of Darkness was still standing—but its green hide had been scorched into a deep, ashen black. Patches of its scales had flaked off, and several more tentacles hung limp or half-burned.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Yu Zhou muttered. "You're still fine after that?!"
The explosion had gone off right in the monster's face. Even Yu Zhou, if hit directly like that, would've taken some damage—at least a minor one.
He frowned, analysing quickly.
"So that's how it is. If the energy blast detonates outside its body, it only causes superficial damage. The real weak point must be direct contact."
Before he could finish that thought, the King of Darkness let out a chilling, echoing laugh.
"You celebrate too soon."
Beneath its thrashing tentacles, a new, massive orb of violet energy suddenly glowed to life.
"What?! Another one?!" Yu Zhou gaped. "Didn't I already blow up the last one? When the hell did it make this?!"
He realized with horror—it had been forming another energy sphere under its tentacles the whole time.
"You sneaky old bastard! You've got no sense of honour!"
Cursing under his breath, Yu Zhou thrust his arms forward again. "Ultra Barrier!"
A massive shimmering shield of light unfolded before him just as the King of Darkness unleashed its next barrage.
But this time, it wasn't a single beam.
SHHHHH!!!
Dozens of violet rays rained down like arrows, streaking toward Yu Zhou from every angle.
Some shot past him harmlessly—but several struck his barrier head-on, bursting into ripples of purple flame.
Yu Zhou barely had time to react when he noticed something strange—some of those beams were curving back around.
"What the—wait, those things can turn?!"
Panic flickered across his face. Quickly, he anchored the front barrier in place, turned, and summoned another behind him.
"Fine! Two can play that game!"
He set up another shield to his left, and another to his right, sealing himself inside a protective cocoon of four shimmering Ultra Barriers.
"Let's see you curve through this, you overgrown calamari!"
Yu Zhou smirked in satisfaction at his handiwork.
Then he sensed it—energy rising from below.
He looked down just in time to see a new purple beam shooting straight up from the ground beneath him.
"…You've gotta be kidding me."