Boom!!!
Without a hint of hesitation, Yuzhou's fist—charged with an overwhelming surge of dark energy—smashed straight into Cthulhu's octopus-like head.
Even though the Dark King reacted instantly, throwing up his tentacles as a shield, it wasn't enough. The impact shattered them like brittle glass, scattering fragments across the floor as his massive body was hurled backward, slamming into the wall of the passage before crashing down hard.
"Impossible!" Cthulhu's deep voice trembled with disbelief. "I am the Lord of Darkness, the former ruler of Earth—and I was struck down by a single punch?"
He pushed himself up, brushing off the dust clinging to his charred skin. His crimson eyes burned with fury as he glared at Yuzhou.
"I underestimated you…" he hissed.
He had thought a bit of his own dark energy would be enough to make Tiga's body collapse under the strain.
But instead, the human had absorbed it all—and grown even stronger.
Now, for the first time, Cthulhu realized… he might not win.
Yuzhou's eyes flickered a deep, blood-red hue as he stepped forward.
In his hands, two spiralling currents of darkness twisted together, merging into a single, seething orb of black energy.
With every step he took, the orb pulsed—drawing in more darkness from every direction.
Not only from the air and his surroundings, but even from Cthulhu's body… and from the lingering shadows within Camearra, Hudra, and Darramb. All of it was being pulled toward Yuzhou's grasp.
"What kind of technique is this?!" Cthulhu roared, feeling his own power draining away. "He's stealing the essence of my darkness!"
Panic crept into his voice.
"No… I must retreat!"
But before he could finish the thought, the black energy sphere shot forward like a cannonball. By now, it had swollen into a colossal orb—its surface writhing with power so dense that even Cthulhu, lord of the abyss, felt genuine fear.
"Damn it!"
He slashed open the space before him and dove through the dimensional rift—
Just as the orb detonated.
BOOOOM—!!!
The explosion ripped through the entire temple.
The corridors crumbled under the shockwave, and a storm of burning black fire roared outward, swallowing everything in its path.
Yuzhou raised one hand calmly, summoning a black barrier that absorbed the searing blast. Behind him, Camearra, Hudra, and Darramb were shielded from the destruction.
"Tch. He ran," Yuzhou muttered, sensing the faint distortion in space where Cthulhu had escaped.
For a brief moment, he reached out through the crack—peering into a distant, crimson dimension beyond. But the signature vanished.
He waved his hand, sealing the rift shut.
When the shockwaves finally faded, the ruined temple fell silent once more.
Deep within the crimson dimension, Cthulhu staggered out from the void. His once-grand wings were torn and burnt, his tentacles seared black, his skin cracked with glowing scars.
"This… this human actually forced me to this point," he growled, voice dripping with venom.
The Star-Seal binding the temple made escape impossible; even this dimension was part of the same cursed space.
Had he not been desperate, he never would have invoked it.
Once inside, the dimensional space locked itself—treating its own exit as another sealed gate of the temple.
Cthulhu couldn't leave.
But he could still influence the outside world.
"Foolish Tiga," he muttered, a cruel grin curling across his mouth. "By absorbing my essence, you are bound to the same Star-Seal as I am."
He laughed softly.
"When thirty million years pass and this seal finally breaks… that will be your death."
A dark throne formed behind him, and he sank into it, regaining his composure.
"Since Tiga cannot leave, then let my kin finish what I cannot. Let them drown this annoying civilization in darkness."
A spear of black light erupted from his hand—shooting across the dimensional boundary and streaking toward the outer world.
In the ruined hall, Yuzhou noticed the streak of darkness darting away, but neither he nor the others could leave this sealed space.
Cthulhu was trapped just as they were.
For now… that was enough.
He sank into a vast, black throne beside Camearra and looked down at his chest.
The crystal in his timer gleamed with a faint, amethyst glow.
"From this day forth," Yuzhou murmured, voice low and resonant, "darkness is me… and I am darkness."
He sat upon the throne like a monarch born of shadow, the weight of power pulsing through him.
His mind—slowly, inevitably—was being swallowed by it.
Thus, the King of Darkness was reborn.
Camearra, Hudra, and Darramb, too, had been tainted by Cthulhu's origin power during the dark storm.
Their consciousnesses, once wavering, now sank completely into the abyss.
For the world outside, it was a blessing in disguise.
Because this newly crowned Dark King and his servants could not leave the sealed temple, peace would linger a little longer.
But that peace…
would not last.
R'lyeh.
From the deep-sea trench beside the island, a black streak of light shot upward, piercing the sky.
The shockwave sent the R'lyeh guards into chaos.
Yuzare instantly noticed the disturbance and mobilized the defence corps—sending some to trace the light's path, and others to dive into the trench itself.
Their findings stunned them all.
Beneath R'lyeh, hidden within the ocean's abyss, was a gateway—
a path to the Dark Domain.
The realm of darkness had been lying beneath their waters all along.
They had only just discovered it.
As for the black light, it was moving far too fast for them to track.
High above, the light split in two.
One beam streaked toward an ancient plateau ruin—
the other soared into space.
Beneath the plateau, within the earth, a massive flower bud stirred as if awakened by a familiar presence.
Its petals shivered, then slowly began to open—revealing a maw lined with sharp fangs.
The black light dove straight into it.
Immediately, black roots burst from the ground, spreading rapidly in all directions—
feeding on the darkness, feeding on life.
The second beam, meanwhile, pierced the void—
and plunged into a shadowed galaxy.
The planet Zoth.
A deep, monstrous roar echoed through the vacuum, defying the silence of space itself—
a bellow that announced the awakening of something vast…
and ancient.