After being forced to swear an oath, Yu Zhou finally let the old man go.
It wasn't because he trusted him. The old man had told the truth—after that fierce battle, he was nearly drained of power. Even if Yu Zhou tried to absorb the scraps of energy left in him, it would amount to almost nothing.
Better to let him leave.
After all, as the King of Darkness, if he really chose to break his vow, Yu Zhou couldn't stop him anyway.
"Ah, young people these days… so impatient," the old man muttered while jogging across the desolate wasteland.
As a mere projection, he couldn't draw strength from the surrounding darkness; he had to return to his true body to recover.
He ran endlessly—mechanical, steady, tireless.
Monsters prowled everywhere, yet none dared attack him.
He didn't know how long he'd been running.
Eventually, he looked up—still the same lightless sky.
Well, what else could he expect?
In the Realm of Darkness, seeing sunlight would be the strangest thing of all.
"Hmm? What's that?"
A disc-shaped craft glided through the air.
Using his eye-power, the old man focused—and saw several heads poking out, waving and cheering.
They were… cheering for him?
"Tiga, are you sure that old man is really the King of Darkness?"
Inside the ship, Achilles stared down in disbelief. Beside him, Herau also frowned as the old man kept jogging across the wastes.
"If Tiga says he is, then he is," Darramb snorted. "Why question it?"
"Exactly," Hudra said, folding his arms. "Can't you two trust our friend?"
Yu Zhou chuckled. "That old man? I fought him while you were all resting."
"You fought him?" Herau, ever eager for a match, lit up. "You? Against that grandpa?"
"Don't judge by looks," Yu Zhou replied with a faint smile. "His strength is nearly equal to mine." He paused. "Actually… he's stronger."
"Seriously? Now I really want to fight him!"
Herau cracked his knuckles, eyes gleaming as he peered down.
"If it's a fight you want, fight me instead!" Darramb said, pounding his chest. "I've been bored for ages, and Hudra can't match me in raw power."
"Ha! Fine by me! Once we land, we'll have a proper duel!"
The two immediately launched into an excited talk about combat moves.
Achilles and Hudra exchanged weary looks. Fighters—always the same: fists first, thoughts later.
Meanwhile, Camearra had no interest in watching an old man's marathon.
She sat quietly inside the cabin, studying how to control the light energy that once belonged to Tiga.
Yu Zhou wanted to help, but all of Degel's light energy he'd carried was already given to Cain.
Now, only darkness flowed within him.
"Ugh, young people—no respect for their elders!"
The old man muttered under his breath as he ran, shaking his fists at the sky.
They had a perfectly good ship up there, yet they made him—an old man—run across endless wasteland? Outrageous! His poor legs were about to give out!
Still, he didn't resent Yu Zhou's group for following.
The Dark Temple had been silent for tens of millions of years; having guests, even loud ones, was almost refreshing.
Every now and then, dark monsters swooped toward the ship—
Zoiger, Dark Melba, and others of the same breed.
Their numbers were small, though.
Yu Zhou didn't even bother transforming. Achilles, Herau, Hudra, and Darramb handled them easily with their new weapons.
The only nuisance was the debris raining down from exploding monsters—some of which nearly hit the old man below.
The ship's speed was leisurely compared to the old man's relentless jog.
Boredom soon crept in.
Seeing this, Yu Zhou took out a deck of cards and introduced a simple Earth game—Landlord.
The rules were easy. Soon, everyone was shouting and laughing.
"Three of a kind!"
"Bomb!"
"Are you kidding me?!"
"You're on my team! Why would you bomb me?!"
"…Seriously?"
The air filled with noise and laughter as time slipped by.
Eventually, the old man reached a vast abyss.
It wasn't that he didn't want to continue—he simply couldn't.
Without energy, he had no way to fly across.
From the ship above came faint echoes: "Double! Super Landlord!"
The old man's face darkened.
"Young man!" he shouted, cupping his hands to his mouth.
"Do you understand what it means to respect your elders?!"
"Eh?"
Yu Zhou, who had been playing Go with Camearra, paused.
"One sec," he said to her, then opened the window and looked down.
There stood the old man, hands on his hips, glaring furiously up at the ship.
In front of him yawned the bottomless abyss.
Ah, so that was it—he had no energy to cross.
"You guys keep playing," Yu Zhou told the others. "I'll go check."
He stepped out, activated his flight device, and descended slowly.
The old man clasped his hands behind his back, ready to lecture this "disrespectful youth."
Yu Zhou landed lightly, holding out a small device.
"Here," he said. "Use this."
The old man blinked. "You're lending me your flyer?"
"Yeah. Think of it as showing respect to your elders," Yu Zhou said, smiling faintly.
"Well… at least you've got some manners left," the old man grumbled, taking the flyer. He'd been about to scold Yu Zhou, but thought better of it—no point angering the one offering transport.
"Don't worry," the old man declared proudly, thumping his chest. "I never go back on my word. Once I return, I'll gift you the Dark Power as promised!"
"I'm sure you will," Yu Zhou replied with an easy grin.
If not, well… Yu Zhou would simply devour the Dark Source itself.
If he could endure the power of the Plasma Spark,
then the Dark Source shouldn't be beyond him either.
And with Tiga's innate ability to absorb darkness,
he could probably merge with it perfectly.
"Come on, I'll show you how to work it."
The old man had never used a flyer before, so Yu Zhou spent a few minutes teaching him.
Before long, the old man wobbled unsteadily into the air—
slow, shaky, but airborne at last—
gliding toward the endless dark horizon.