Following the voice, the audience saw a face they never wanted to see in Adrian Vale's stream—
a man casually rolling a dagger across his fingers, wearing a mocking grin, eyes fever-bright with barely contained delight as he stared at Adrian Vale.
The moment viewers recognized him, scalps went numb.
"Oh hell—WHY is it him?!"
"How is that animal here?!"
"I'm finished… why does Eat-Stream Adrian Vale have to run into him?"
"Is this… starting a nation war?!"
"Nation war my ass—this is torture! One-sided slaughter!"
"Yeah, 'war'? He's already dead just from meeting him!"
"Eat-Stream Adrian Vale—RUN! This guy's insanely cruel!"
"Touch him and I'll twist your skull off!"
Yes.
The newcomer was none other than the Eastern Islescompetitor who had sparked a global uproar—
Nolan Mercer.
Dragon Nation's panic made perfect sense.
In their eyes, Adrian Vale had opened two chests and somehow gotten zero direct combat boosts.
No All Attributes.
No weapon.
Just a suit and a mask.
A cooler outfit… and something that "inspires fear."
And that's supposed to help against Nolan Mercer?
Meanwhile, Nolan Mercer had opened two chests too.
And his luck looked grotesquely better.
His F-rank Chest had given him All Attributes +15—already enough to smash past ordinary human limits.
Back in the real world, without firearms, even elite soldiers wouldn't want to meet that head-on.
Then his D-rank Chest gave him a real killing tool: the Rustscar Dagger.
Strength. Weapon. And the calm familiarity of someone who hurts people for pleasure.
Compared to that… Adrian Vale looked like a lamb wrapped in black cloth.
Even worse—
Kieran Mercer wasn't with him right now.
Maybe the same spatial distortion that split Adrian Vale and Raven Shaw had separated the brothers too.
But even alone, Nolan Mercer was terrifying.
And to Dragon Nation's viewers, this wasn't "competition" anymore.
Adrian Vale was tied to Dragon Nation's fate.
And even if he weren't—
watching one of theirs get tortured to death by a psychopath was something Dragon Nation wouldn't swallow.
They were famously protective.
You can be arrogant. You can be loud.
Fine.
But hurt one of theirs?
Dragon Nation bites back.
Inside the Divine Domain: Forbidden Zone
The instant Nolan Mercer saw Adrian Vale, a thin, involuntary thread of fear slid across his nerves.
That was the Ghoul-Eye Oni Mask at work.
For most people, one look at Adrian Vale in that mask would've been enough to crush their courage.
But Nolan Mercer wasn't "most people."
Years of rot had ground fear down until it barely functioned.
So the moment he realized a "mere student" was making him feel anything at all—
humiliation flared into rage.
A piece of trash like you… making me feel fear?
He'd "taught lessons" to boys like Adrian Vale more times than he could remember.
That thought only made him want to break Adrian Vale slower.
He rolled the dagger in his fingers, voice low and gleefully poisonous.
"Heh. Kid… I don't know what's going on with you—"
"—but running into me means you're out of luck."
The threat was obvious.
The intent was worse.
"..."
Adrian Vale didn't react.
His visible left eye was calm. Flat. Unbothered.
As if Nolan Mercer were nothing more than noise.
As if he hadn't even registered the danger.
And that indifference—
that total dismissal—
snapped something in Nolan Mercer.
His voice exploded.
"DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION YOU'RE IN?!"
He ripped the katana from his waist and hurled it like a spear.
WHOOOSH—!
With All Attributes +15, the force was vicious.
Even the blade looked wrong—cold light crawling along the edge, sharp enough to make the air feel thin.
That throw would've killed any normal person on impact.
But—
Nolan Mercer didn't aim for Adrian Vale's body.
The katana slammed into the earth right in front of Adrian Vale, quivering violently.
A warning.
A declaration.
A promise.
Back at I Watch the Divine Domain, Sienna Blake clutched her chest.
"T-That scared me to death… I thought Adrian Vale was just… gone."
Derek Vaughn, pale, spoke with ugly certainty.
"Honestly? Dying right away would be kinder. If he doesn't die now… he won't get to die easily later."
No one even had the energy to argue with him anymore.
Because Nolan Mercer was already moving.
He began walking forward—slowly, deliberately—wearing a grin that didn't belong on a human face.
"Kehehehe…"
That laugh crawled through the stream like insects under skin.
Dragon Nation's chat went frantic.
"He's coming—he's coming! There's no escape now!"
"Eat-Stream Adrian Vale—NO—he's going to die!"
"My husband's going to get tortured… Eastern Isles bastard, take one more step and I'll—"
Nolan Mercer kept approaching.
Step by step.
Like he had all the time in the world.
Like Adrian Vale already belonged to him.
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