Chapter 209: Against the Dark

Ryzek did not give them time to surround him again.

He moved the moment the new set of bloodshot eyes appeared in the blackness, closing the distance before the nearest Colossus could fully commit to a charge. His fist, coated in compressed amber energy, struck the gap beneath the beast’s left arm. Bone plating cracked. The creature staggered, and Ryzek followed with a second strike to the same point, driving the force deeper until the joint gave way. The Colossus dropped to one knee. He finished it with a downward blow through the neck plating before the others could close.

The darkness swallowed the body at once.

Two more came from the right.

Ryzek turned and met the first with a short, controlled burst that forced it to raise its guard. The second tried to take him from the flank. He stepped in rather than back, using the first beast as partial cover, and drove an energy spear into the second one’s knee joint. Silver armor split. The leg buckled. Before the creature could recover, he closed the remaining distance and struck upward under the jaw plating. The impact snapped the head back with a heavy crack. The body fell.

Pain flared along his left side where an earlier scrape had opened again. He ignored it.

The remaining Colossi adjusted.

They stopped committing one or two at a time. Instead they pressed in a loose group, striking from multiple angles in short, heavy exchanges meant to break his timing. In the pitch black, the pattern was harder to read. Ryzek’s senses gave him pressure and displacement, but not full shape. Each clash became a calculation of distance and force with almost no margin for error.

A thick limb slammed across his guard and drove him back three steps. He answered with a wide, low burst of amber energy that lit the immediate area for less than a second. In that flash he saw five active forms within striking range and at least three more further out. Then the light died and the darkness returned.

They used the brief illumination against him.

The moment the energy faded, two Colossi charged from opposite sides. Ryzek took the first impact on a reinforced forearm and redirected part of the force, but the second hit landed clean against his ribs. The crystalline structures under his skin absorbed the worst of it. What remained still forced the air from his lungs and sent him sliding across broken ground.

He rose at once.

Stopping was death. The test had already proven that.

Ryzek compressed his energy tighter, reducing the glow along his arms to the minimum needed for impact. Wide flashes were costing him more than they were worth. He switched to shorter, denser strikes — precise, close-range, aimed at joints and gaps rather than broad surfaces. The method demanded better positioning and left less room for recovery after each exchange, but it conserved strength.

A Colossus came in high. He ducked under the sweep, stepped inside its reach, and drove both energy-coated hands into the plating over its midsection. The armor cracked but did not fully break. The beast tried to crush him against its chest. Ryzek twisted free, took a scraping blow across the shoulder, and answered with a rising strike that forced the creature’s head back. A second impact to the same line dropped it.

Three down in this sequence. More still coming.

Blood ran freely down his side now. His left arm answered half a beat slower than it should. The cumulative damage was building. The Colossi did not slow. They did not show caution beyond the minimum needed to avoid easy kills. They simply pressed, wave after wave, using the darkness and their numbers to strip away his advantages one exchange at a time.

Ryzek killed another that overextended, then took a heavy hit across the back that drove him to one knee. He rolled clear of the follow-up strike and forced himself upright again. Amber energy flared along his arms in a tight, controlled sheath. The glow was small, but it was enough to mark his position and his readiness.

More silver eyes opened in the black ahead of him.

He exhaled once, steady, and moved to meet them.

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