Chapter 208: Pitch Black

Ryzek stepped through the gate first.

The moment both boots crossed the threshold, the line of force slammed shut behind him. The sound was heavy and final. Whatever light had come from the ocean platform vanished at once. Pitch black closed in from every direction. No residual glow. No outline of walls. No sense of distance. Even the air felt thick and still, as if sound itself had been suppressed.

Ryzek stopped moving.

He spread his senses carefully, crystalline ridges along his arms faintly active as he tested the space. Nothing returned. No energy signatures. No airflow. No vibration through the ground. The darkness was not ordinary absence of light. It was deliberate, layered over the area to strip away every ordinary advantage.

He adjusted his stance and kept his breathing controlled.

The blow came without warning.

Something massive struck him square in the back with crushing force. The impact drove the air from his lungs and launched him forward through the dark. He hit the ground hard, rolled once, and skidded across rough stone before forcing himself back to his feet. Pain flared along his spine and ribs. The crystalline structures under his skin absorbed part of the force, but not enough to make the hit trivial.

He turned toward the direction of the attack, amber energy already gathering along both arms.

Nothing was visible.

The second strike came from the left. Ryzek twisted and caught part of it on a raised forearm. The force still drove him sideways several meters. Silver flashed once in the dark — the edge of bone plating — before the attacker pulled back into the blackness. The shape was familiar. Heavy frame. Layered silver armor. The same species they had faced near the living gate.

An Argent Colossus.

In this darkness it was worse.

Ryzek released a short burst of amber energy in a wide arc, forcing the light to cut through the black for a fraction of a second. In that brief flash he saw more than one. Several large silver forms stood at different distances, bloodshot eyes reflecting the energy light before the darkness swallowed everything again.

They were already around him.

A third impact slammed into his shoulder before he could fully reset. He went down on one knee, caught himself, and answered with a concentrated spear of energy aimed at the source of the blow. The attack connected. He heard the sharp crack of bone plating under force, followed by a heavy, grinding snarl. The creature did not fall. It only shifted position in the dark and prepared for the next exchange.

Ryzek rose fully and tightened his control.

Blind fighting against multiple Star-level beasts was a losing pattern if he allowed them to dictate the pace. He compressed his energy closer to his body, reducing the light he produced, and moved with shorter, more deliberate steps. Each time he sensed displacement in the air or pressure through the ground, he responded with tight, efficient bursts rather than wide displays.

The Colossi adapted quickly.

They stopped charging in straight lines. Instead they struck from alternating angles, using the darkness to break his timing. One came low. Another followed high. A third waited until he committed to a block before driving in from behind. Ryzek killed the first one that overextended — a full-power strike through a joint gap in the silver plating — but the effort cost him. The remaining beasts pressed harder the moment one of their number fell.

Blood ran down his side from a deep scrape along the ribs. His left arm answered a fraction slower than it should have after repeated heavy impacts. The crystalline ridges were still intact, but the strain was building.

He forced another brief flash of energy outward to reorient.

In that instant he counted at least eight active signatures close enough to strike, with more shifting further out in the dark. The test had not started with a gradual wave. It had dropped him directly into an active kill zone.

Ryzek exhaled once, steady and controlled, and moved again.

A heavy limb swept through the space where his head had been a moment earlier. He stepped inside the reach, drove an energy-coated elbow into the exposed joint under the arm plating, and felt the structure crack. The Colossus staggered. He followed with a second strike to the same point and forced the beast down. Before he could finish it, two more closed from opposite sides.

The darkness swallowed the details of the exchange.

Impact. Counter. Movement. Pain.

Ryzek killed the second Colossus with a precise thrust through the thinner plating at the base of the neck, then took a glancing blow across the back that sent him sliding over broken stone. He rose immediately. Stopping meant death. The test had already made that clear.

Power Scale / Cultivation Realms (Quick Reminder)

Foundation Realm (Layers 1–9): Body forging, no external Qi.

Circuit Awakening Realm (Early–Peak): First Qi loop, internal bursts.

Core Condensation Realm (Early–Peak): External Qi release, short flight.

Stellar Circuit Realm (1–9 Stars): True flight, Qi armor, energy projection.

Nebula Dominion Realm and higher: Domain control, galaxy-level power, etc

Power Scale Reminder

Lian Yu: Stellar Circuit Star 1.

Elara Voss: Core Condensation Peak

Keep it as reminders