Seeing Adrian Vale like this, the entire world trembled.
"This… this is like a demon crawling out of hell…"
"My god—what even is that?!"
"Is Eat-Stream Adrian Vale finally showing his real power?!"
"I KNEW he wasn't normal—HAHA!"
"Bro, it's not 'not normal' anymore… what even is he?! Is he still human?!"
Not just Dragon Nation—viewers from every country were shaken by what they were seeing.
But none of that mattered to Adrian Vale.
He looked at Nolan Mercer—who had completely fallen into madness—and said flatly:
"Alright. Last time. What's 1000–7?"
Nolan Mercer no longer had even a trace of his earlier smugness.
He roared like a rabid animal, words spilling out without logic:
"You bastard!! I won't let you go! Not just you—everyone you care about! Your friends! Your family! If I make it back to Blue Star, I'll butcher them all! Every last one! Every last one!! EVERY LAST ONE!!!"
Family?
Friends?
Someone precious?
Adrian Vale's gaze didn't change.
If anything, it sharpened—quietly.
He almost wanted to laugh.
He didn't have those things.
Not anymore.
Not on this world.
Not now.
Not ever.
Nolan's Desperation
SHNK—!
Right after his rant, Nolan Mercer moved.
So fast that the audience didn't even register it—
the Rustscar Dagger flashed straight toward Adrian Vale's left eye.
He couldn't break Adrian Vale's "armor."
He couldn't hurt him with blunt force.
So he went for the softest targets a human has:
eyes.
throat.
a clean kill.
A wet sound should've followed.
A scream should've followed.
Instead—
a piercing sound came from somewhere else.
Not Adrian Vale.
From Nolan Mercer.
"…Huh?"
Nolan Mercer froze, confused by the sudden wrongness in his body.
Then he lowered his head.
And saw it.
At some point—so fast he didn't even notice—
one of Adrian Vale's dark-red Rinkaku had already punched through his left thigh like a spear.
Only then did the pain reach his brain.
And when it did—
it arrived like a tsunami.
"AAAAAAH—!! MY LEG!! MY LEG!!! AAAAAAHHH!!"
Adrian Vale watched him scream with the boredom of someone watching a mosquito die.
The Rustscar Dagger slipped from Nolan Mercer's hand—lost somewhere in the grass during the convulsions.
The viewers went dead silent for half a second.
Then the chat detonated.
"So it's real? Those 'tentacles' are REAL?!"
"You're only realizing now? Donate your brain—oh wait, nobody would take it."
"Holy—Adrian Vale is insane. That was clean."
"Okay but… can we talk about what the hell those things ARE?"
Global Panic
The most stunned people weren't the viewers.
It was the Eastern Isles leadership.
A chubby, balding official jolted to his feet, face drained.
"How—how is that possible?!"
Others followed, staring like they'd just seen a ghost.
"This isn't a human ability!"
"That thing is a monster!"
"Is Dragon Nation running inhumane experiments?!"
"Monster… he's a monster!!"
Even Miracle Nation's high-level officials—watching from their own war rooms—went pale.
"Dragon Nation started first?"
"That's impossible. With their tech level, how could they—"
"Our No. 10001 test subject—how long until activation?!"
"Sir, final tuning is almost complete. It won't be long—"
"If we haven't succeeded yet, how could Dragon Nation?!"
Across the world, every major power turned their eyes to Adrian Vale's stream.
Speculation sharpened into accusation.
The target, inevitably, became Dragon Nation.
But the funniest part—
Dragon Nation's own top brass were the most confused of all.
Because they didn't know either.
They'd just confirmed one thing:
This wasn't a "fear effect."
It wasn't an illusion.
Adrian Vale'sRinkaku had physically pierced Nolan Mercer's leg.
So the question returned—heavier than ever:
How did Adrian Vale get this power?
Someone in the meeting room finally asked, voice tight:
"Mr. Zhou… this is…"
Mr. Zhou's face turned pitch-black.
"I don't know. What do you want from me—turn me into a god?"
Everyone looked at him with the same expression.
So you're useless too.
Mr. Zhou sighed, then forced out the only thing he could say with certainty:
"All I can tell you is—this is not something a human should be able to do."
Meanwhile — Raven Shaw vs. the Devourer Beast
While Adrian Vale's stream was shaking the planet—
Raven Shaw's battlefield had already become a disaster zone.
The Devourer Beast—now fully berserk—came crashing toward her with apocalyptic force.
Yet Raven Shaw's face stayed calm.
Cold.
Almost identical to Adrian Vale's indifference.
Then, in full view of the world—
she did something that made everyone's brains short-circuit.
She sheathed her combat saber.
The chat screamed.
"RAVEN SHAW—ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"
"It's a B-rank monster! Give it some respect!"
"It's literally in your face and you put your sword away?!"
"Devourer Beast: …thanks??"
BOOM—!
The beast's strike arrived.
Raven Shaw slipped it easily.
And the Devourer Beast—its eyes bloodshot—howled again.
Its body swelled.
Those black, writhing veins surged like they'd been pumped full of fire.
HISS—HISS—HISS—
White vapor rose off its hide, as if its whole body was burning.
It grew.
Bigger.
Wider.
From five or six meters… to nearly seven or eight.
Then the Will of Blue Star broadcast flashed across the world:
[Congratulations! Dragon Nation'scompetitorRaven Shaw'sB-rankDivine Domain: Forbidden Zone creature—Devourer Beast—has evolved!]
[Analysis complete!]
[Name: Devourer Beast (B+)]
[Traits: A B+Divine Domain: Forbidden Zone creature. After fully losing reason, it becomes the nightmare of all opponents. Low intelligence is its only weakness—yet in exchange, it gains power, speed, and near-impossible regeneration, becoming a true killing machine… a top-tier existence rarely born even among hundreds of B-rank beasts!]
The world collectively swore.
"It can evolve?!"
"B+?! We're finished!"
"Hundreds of B-ranks to get one?! Raven Shaw's 'luck' is cursed!"
"It was already unkillable—now it's upgraded?!"
"GG."
The evolved beast lunged.
Its massive claw slammed toward Raven Shaw—
and Raven Shaw gently placed a hand on its arm like she was brushing dust off a sleeve.
The monster tried to outsmart her.
Its other arm shot in—
a "guaranteed hit," aimed at her blind spot.
People held their breath.
But then—
the beast suddenly lifted off the ground.
And when everyone blinked—
it was on its back.
BOOM!
Earth trembled.
The chat went insane.
"Four ounces moving a thousand pounds?! That's… Tai Chi?!"
"Raven Shaw knows Tai Chi?!"
"That's actually so cool—"
"Bro… Tai Chi doesn't explain that kind of strength…"
And somewhere in Dragon Nation, on Wudang Mountain—
a lazy-looking young Taoist watching the stream twitched at the corner of his mouth.
"…Huh. Grandma White. Still the same, even after all these years."
He watched Raven Shaw's movements carefully, then muttered:
"That's Tai Chi, yeah… but it's not orthodox."
Orthodox Tai Chi is softness within hardness.
Hardness within softness.
But Raven Shaw?
She practiced the form—then bulldozed the philosophy.
Only hard. No soft.
So her Tai Chi wasn't making her strong.
She was just… strong.
Raven's "Cultivator" Method
Raven Shaw kept dominating the fight.
The Devourer Beast couldn't touch her.
Her kicks landed again and again.
But the Devourer Beast's regeneration was absurd.
It kept getting back up, roaring like it refused to accept reality.
The chat grew anxious.
"She can beat it up, but how does she kill it?"
"That regen is disgusting!"
"If this drags out, won't Raven Shaw eventually tire out?!"
Raven Shaw seemed to reach the same conclusion.
Her eyes cooled.
SHNK—!
Her combat saber flashed out.
A blue, misty glow surged as she thrust—
not at the beast's throat—
but at its palm as it slammed down.
CRACK—CRACK—CRACK!
The blade punched through flesh and bone and into the ground.
The beast shrieked.
Then the combat saber erupted with blue light, forming a translucent blue sphere around the pinned hand—like a sealing talisman.
No matter how violently it struggled…
it couldn't pull free.
The stream lost its mind.
"What is that?!"
"A seal?! A technique?!"
"This is getting unscientific—"
"Divine Domain: Forbidden Zone opened two days ago and you're still talking about science?"
Then someone typed what everyone was thinking:
"When a cheater meets a cultivator…"
Cupping
The pinned beast kept lashing out.
Raven Shaw dodged casually.
Then she stepped back, reached into her cloak—
and pulled out a strange tool.
A transparent glass dome on top.
A compact device beneath.
She popped the cap off a thin stick with her teeth and spat it aside.
The chat instantly derailed.
"How much stuff is in her cloak? A four-dimensional pocket?!"
"Hi guys, I'm the cap."
"Brother, you need help."
Raven Shaw didn't care.
She struck the stick against her shoe—
FSSSH—
A tiny flame appeared.
Not orange.
A cold, eerie blue.
Then she pressed it to the glass dome and traced circles along the surface.
At the same time, she stepped onto the beast's back, walking forward along the row of dorsal hooks like she was strolling through her own courtyard.
The monster bucked and thrashed—
Raven Shaw moved like she was on flat ground.
Elegant. Unshaken.
Some viewers finally realized what they were seeing.
"WAIT… that hand motion…"
"…Is that a cupping jar?"
"No way—she's actually going to cup a Devourer Beast?!"
"Raven Shaw said 'cupping' earlier—SHE MEANT IT?!"
And in a dark room in the Eastern Isles—
an elderly man watching the stream snapped upright.
His entire body started trembling.
His voice came out hoarse and cracking, like he'd seen the most terrifying thing in his life.
"…Her?!"
"…It's HER?!"
"She's… still alive?!"
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