"Holy crap!"
Yu Zhou cried out as a violet beam of light suddenly shot upward from beneath him.
Reacting instantly, he summoned the dark power within his body and channelled it downward through his feet.
A surge of energy burst out from under him, forming a barrier.
It wasn't as refined as the ones he created with his hands, but it managed to block the beam that came from below.
He let out a sigh of relief, then quickly raised another Ultra barrier above his head.
As expected, several more violet beams came shooting down from above, but they were all stopped by the barrier.
The barrier held firm for quite a while before it finally shattered — but by then, the Dark King's purple light beams had already ceased.
"As expected of the King of Darkness… the ruler who once dominated the entire Earth."
After taking that round of attacks, Yu Zhou became even more cautious.
This opponent wasn't just anyone — it was the Dark King himself, the ancient dominator of old!
Though it had slept beneath the sea for countless years, its power was immense — far beyond ordinary imagination.
"Still… if I remember correctly, both Gatanozoa and its brother were huge. The Dark King shouldn't be this small, right?"
Yu Zhou frowned as he looked at the creature before him, puzzled.
The Dark King was indeed large — even taller than him by a head — but in truth, it was only about sixty meters tall.
And Gatanozoa's size had far exceeded that.
"Wait… don't tell me this thing's a fake?"
The more Yu Zhou thought about it, the more it made sense.
How could such a legendary being, a leader of darkness itself, end up looking like a hunched, slimy old man?
But when he recalled what he had read online — the Cthulhu Mythos — the Dark King's current form did match that description:
an octopus-like head, tentacles sprouting like whiskers, a slimy dark-green body, and two massive wings unfurling behind it.
That was one of Cthulhu's known appearances.
Whether it had others, Yu Zhou didn't know — but he figured it probably did.
A being that powerful having a few hundred or even a thousand forms weren't impossible.
Without him noticing, several dark-green, sticky tentacles had crept close again.
The Dark King seemed to realize that the best way to subdue Yu Zhou was the same as before — binding him.
"Another sneak attack, huh?"
Yu Zhou reacted swiftly, slashing out two light blades in quick succession.
They sliced across the slimy tentacles, sparks flying — but instead of being cut off, the tentacles only scorched slightly and went limp.
He'd already learned from close combat — that was exactly when the Dark King's tentacles were most dangerous.
So, this time, Yu Zhou had no intention of fighting empty-handed.
As a warrior who had mastered countless skills, he of course knew how to use weapons!
He stretched out his hand, and the Giga Battlenizer materialized once again.
Raising it high, Yu Zhou summoned Zoiger, releasing her from within to join the aerial battle above.
If one-on-one didn't work — then it was time for a group fight!
A flock of Zoigers appeared across the sky, crying out with ear-piercing screeches.
Under Yu Zhou's command, they dove toward the Dark King.
Even though their target was a being far above their level, Zoiger would never defy the one wielding the Giga Battlenizer.
The Dark King noticed Yu Zhou's move.
Indeed — he hadn't expected this young man to play so dirty as to summon monsters as backup.
However… if it was Zoiger that Yu Zhou had chosen, then he had made the wrong choice.
No one knew from which part of its body the sound emerged, but a strange vibration emanated from the Dark King —
powerful waves of sound that passed straight through the Zoiger swarm.
In an instant, Yu Zhou's summoned creatures froze mid-flight, right before reaching the Dark King.
The inertia, however, was unstoppable —
and if Newton had seen it, he would've smiled proudly from his grave.
The Zoigers crashed straight into the Dark King's body one after another —
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The impacts weren't enough to injure the Dark King…
but what came next was completely unexpected.
The Zoigers began devouring the Dark King's tentacles like worms attacking a tree!
Enraged, the Dark King let out a furious roar.
These damned birds didn't even realize the tentacles were part of his own body?
Still, it seemed the creatures were now firmly within Yu Zhou's control — or at least, they had been.
Because in the next instant…
a surge of far denser, far darker energy erupted from the Dark King's body, engulfing the Zoigers in a storm of darkness.
Yu Zhou's eyes widened as he suddenly felt his connection with the Zoiger swarm vanish.
And then — those very same Zoigers turned their crimson eyes toward him.
"They switched sides?!"
Yu Zhou was stunned.
The Zoigers he had summoned — had been corrupted that easily?
Now under the Dark King's command, the Zoigers opened their beaks and unleashed a barrage of fireballs.
The sky filled with fiery streaks, raining down on Yu Zhou like a storm of meteors.
This time, Yu Zhou didn't summon another Ultra Barrier.
Instead, he stretched out one clawed hand toward the storm above.
A massive shadowy claw formed from darkness, exuding tremendous suction.
Every single fireball in the sky was drawn toward it, clumping together in its grasp.
The claw was far larger than Yu Zhou's body, yet the fireballs didn't explode —
they simply churned and merged in its grip.
Yu Zhou clenched his real hand into a fist —
and the shadowy claw mirrored him, fusing the fireballs together as black energy seeped into them.
As darkness consumed the flames, their red glow turned pitch black.
The claw dissolved — leaving behind a single massive, swirling orb of black energy.
With a gentle push, Yu Zhou sent it drifting toward the Dark King.
It floated slowly, almost like a fragile black bubble —
but inside, arcs of black lightning raged violently within its depths.
"This power…"
The Dark King's eyes narrowed.
That seemingly delicate sphere radiated an energy so destructive, it could easily blow a crater into the wasteland below.
"Well… this might be fun."
With a dark laugh, the King's tentacles lashed out wildly, snatching the corrupted Zoigers from the air.
Wrapping them in dark energy, it crushed them — their pained cries echoing through the sky.
From their broken bodies, another sphere of energy began to form —
roughly the same size as Yu Zhou's black orb.
Yu Zhou could feel it immediately — this energy carried the same dark might, but infused with something else…
a trace of destruction.
An attack born from the blood and flesh of Zoiger, mixed with their hatred and sorrow —
an unholy weapon of wrath.
And now, two forces of annihilation — one black, one darker still — were about to collide.