"Second fighter's here—wonder how strong he is."
"However bad, he can't be worse than that 'office worker.' Seriously, how did this guy win his national selection? Are Blue Star's Eight Wonders about to become Nine?"
"Maybe he hid and survived to the end?"
"If you can hide in a crowd until everyone's gone and nobody finds you, that is impressive… but the Divine Domain doesn't need masterminds. In the Divine Domain, only hard strength keeps you alive."
"Yeah—can you hide from Divine Domain monsters?"
"More importantly, can you hide from Eat-Stream Adrian Vale's nose when he's hungry?"
"Bro above… you're not right."
"Still, facts. If Adrian Vale starts carpet-bombing an area, I don't see anyone hiding from that."
"So I'm rooting for Adrian."
"Wait, what? Adrian isn't even in this match—he's still treasure-hunting in the Forbidden Zone!"
"And? My heart still roots for Adrian."
The chat was chaotic as always—half watching the Blue Star Deathmatch, half obsessed with whatever Adrian and Boss Raven were doing in the Divine Domain.
God-Nation Alliance — Conference Room
On a massive screen, Will of Blue Star's Deathmatch feed played in crisp detail.
The second contestant still hadn't fully appeared, but Li Dapu was already furious.
"Are you kidding me?!" He slammed the table. Cups rattled and tipped.
This time, though, the room wasn't silent. A few leaders actually had to bite back smiles.
Because on the Deathmatch feed, the first contestant genuinely looked… harmless.
Not weak enough to be laughable.
But "ordinary" enough that one of their bodyguards could probably drop him in two moves.
Li Dapu's secretary rushed in, already looking doomed.
Smack.
Li Dapu backhanded him without even letting him speak.
"Explain. Now."
The secretary swallowed his pain and did what he was trained to do—handed over a tablet with trembling hands.
"Sir… please watch this."
Li Dapu frowned, snatched it, tapped once.
A short clip began to play.
He put in his earbuds.
His face shifted—slowly, then sharply—like someone watching a nightmare through a keyhole and deciding it was beautiful.
A grin spread across his mouth.
"Good. Good." His shoulders relaxed. "That's my Miracle Nation contestant."
Then he laughed—loud and satisfied—like he'd just cashed a winning ticket.
"Perfect. This match is ours."
Around the table, several leaders exchanged confused looks.
A moment ago he was pounding the table like the world was ending.
Now he was smiling like he owned it.
Their eyes dropped to the tablet screen.
It was paused on a frame so violent and grotesque that even hardened men flinched—limbs suspended midair, a black shape with a mouth split too wide, teeth like a butcher's rack.
Li Dapu calmly shut the tablet and waved a hand.
"You don't need to see that," he said pleasantly. "I'm saving you from not sleeping tonight."
He pointed at the big screen again.
"Just watch the Deathmatch. It'll be… similar."
Blue Star Deathmatch — Arena
The pillar of light on the far side of the platform finally faded.
A giant of a man stepped out—well over two and a half meters tall, shoulders like a wall, arms thick enough to make a normal person feel insulted for even having bones.
The livestream chat instantly drowned in question marks.
"WHAT is that?! That's not a person!"
"That's a monster. Tell me that's a monster."
"Isn't he from some small nation? How does a poor country produce a walking skyscraper?"
"I'm convinced the whole country is poor because this guy ate the GDP."
"I feel like one punch from him would cave Miracle Nation's contestant in."
"I'm already feeling bad for the Miracle Nation guy."
On the platform, the giant looked down at the "office worker" in the wrinkled suit and sneered.
"Hey, little guy—did you finish drinking milk before you came to fight? Pathetic."
The arena's translation rendered the insult perfectly.
The man in the suit—Eddie Brock—spread his hands, expression lazy.
"Or your eyesight's just bad. I'm not fresh off milk."
His tone was so casual it didn't even sound like trash talk.
It sounded like he genuinely couldn't be bothered.
Inside Eddie, something shifted.
A voice—deep, hungry, furious—rumbled through him like a beast scraping the inside of a cage.
"Eddie. I'm ripping his mouth off. I'm eating this guy."
Eddie's eyebrows twitched. He sighed like a tired babysitter.
"No. We talked about this. Kids are watching. If it gets too bloody, people will freak out."
"Then I'll chew less. Less blood."
"No."
"One bite?"
"No."
"One swallow?"
Eddie pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Why do you want to eat everything you see? Like last time with Mrs. Chen—"
"Mrs. Chen didn't give us the chocolate she promised. That's different."
"It's not different. It's the same impulse."
Across from him, the giant's face twisted.
To him, Eddie looked like he was arguing with thin air.
Then he caught one word—eat—and his pride exploded.
"You little rat. Did you just say you'll eat me?"
Eddie waved both hands quickly.
"No, no—misunderstanding."
He paused, glanced downward like he was arguing with himself in silence, then shrugged.
"…Actually, yeah. That was him. Which is also me. Long story."
The giant's veins bulged.
"You're playing with me?!"
He flexed so hard his muscles rose like cables. He stomped once—stone cracked beneath his foot.
Inside Eddie, the voice purred, delighted now.
"Eddie. I want to eat him even more."
Eddie deadpanned.
"No, you don't."
The giant took it as total disrespect.
He leaned forward, grin turning vicious.
"Fine. I'll smash your head first."
As if Will of Blue Star had gotten tired of listening to the pre-fight comedy, the announcement rang out:
[Both combatants, prepare.]
[FIGHT!]
The third match began.
The giant launched like a cannonball.
BOOM!
The platform cratered under his first step, cracks racing outward.
He raised a fist the size of a brick and brought it down toward Eddie's face like a wrecking ball.
The livestream screamed.
"He's done! He can't block that!"
"That punch looks like a literal shell!"
"I can already picture his head popping—"
"My brain just imagined tofu pudding with chili powder and I hate myself."
"What kind of psycho eats sweet tofu pudding?"
"Sweet party detected!"
"Tofu pudding is savory!"
"Zongzi is sweet!"
"Zongzi is meat!"
The chat instantly derailed into the sacred war of sweet vs savory—right up until—
Eddie muttered, bored:
"Mask."
"Finally."
Black liquid erupted out of him like oil given life.
It wrapped his body in a heartbeat—slick, crawling, hungry—forming an armored shape that wasn't armor so much as a living suit.
The giant's fist hit.
A dull thud rang out.
Not bone.
Not flesh.
More like punching a thick rubber wall that swallowed force and refused to break.
The giant's eyes widened.
His right fist… was stuck.
Not trapped by a grip.
Trapped by the substance itself—clinging like tar, holding like muscle.
He tried to yank free.
His biceps strained. Blood welled.
Still—his fist wouldn't budge.
In horror, he watched the black liquid rise, expand, and sculpt itself into something taller than him.
Not a man.
A monster.
Pale, narrow eyes opened in the darkness.
A mouth split wide—too wide.
Teeth surfaced—jagged, long, wrong.
The giant's voice cracked.
"What… what are you?"
The living suit shifted, and Eddie's half-face appeared briefly beneath the mask—eyes rolling like he was done with the whole situation.
Two voices spoke at once, layered:
"We are Venom."
The giant forced himself calm—he'd survived national selection for a reason. He snapped his free left fist up and slammed it toward Eddie's exposed face.
"Doesn't matter what 'liquid' you are—die!"
A smart move: take out the human inside.
But the punch stopped midair.
A tendril snapped up from nowhere, binding his left wrist like a living chain.
The fist froze—millimeters from Eddie's cheek.
Eddie sighed.
"Nice idea."
Venom's voice sharpened with amusement.
"But you don't get the chance."
The giant panicked.
He fought like a beast, wrenching both arms even as muscles tore and blood slicked his forearms.
Venom leaned in, inhaling the scent, tongue flicking out—a long, wet blade.
"Careful," Venom murmured. "If you ruin my food, you're responsible."
He licked the blood.
"Delicious."
Then it happened so fast most people didn't process it until it was over—
Venom seized the giant with one hand and hurled him upward like tossing a sack of flour.
The giant rose, screaming—
and fell straight down into a mouth that opened wider than logic allowed.
One swallow.
Gone.
Eddie's voice was flat with disgust.
"You're revolting."
Venom sounded pleased.
"You're fragile."
The livestream froze.
Then erupted.
"WAIT—WHAT?! I blinked and he got eaten!"
"He just got one-swallowed!"
"Isn't this… even worse than Adrian eating heads?!"
"Adrian at least looks like a gourmet. Venom is just 'chug.'"
"Shotgunning a human. Awesome."
"Family-friendly too—no blood on screen! Put it on kids' TV!"
"You're all demons."
I Watch the Divine Domain — Studio
In the I Watch the Divine Domain studio, the panel sat in stunned silence for a beat.
Sienna Blake forced her smile back into place, but her voice came out slightly strained.
"Um… as everyone can see… Miracle Nation's contestant is… extremely strong. He ended the fight very quickly."
Professor Luo coughed gently and stepped in to steady the segment with calm analysis.
"What's clear is this: Miracle Nation's contestant appears to contain two separate consciousnesses. You can interpret it as a bonded entity—almost like two 'people' sharing one body."
Captain Cole leaned forward, eyes sharp.
"Or, bluntly—severe dissociative phenomena." He paused, then added dryly, "But that mouth? That's not psychology."
A few people laughed despite themselves, and the tension finally loosened.
Sienna recovered her professional tone.
"Either way—Miracle Nation has advanced. But I still have full confidence in Dragon Nation's overall strength."
On Blue Star, different nations reacted in different ways.
Some went silent—furious, humiliated, but too wary to bark.
Not when the victor was Miracle Nation.
Over in the God-Nation Alliance conference room, Li Dapu couldn't stop smiling.
He leaned back like a king on a comfortable throne, tossing comments at the other leaders as if he were savoring every second.
Their faces stayed polite.
Inside, every one of them was cursing him.
Because now their nightmare had two names:
Avoid Dragon Nation.
Avoid Miracle Nation.
Or die.
Divine Domain: Forbidden Zone — Second Point
As the third Deathmatch ended, the broadcast feed smoothly shifted back to the Divine Domain.
Dragon Nation's stream surged again—viewers piling in, running dual screens, even triple screens:
one for the Deathmatch,
one for the Forbidden Zone,
and one more tab open just to start fights in foreign chats.
"Okay that match was insane—ANYWAY—back to treasure hunting!"
"I'm still haunted by the one-swallow."
"If I walk alone at night, I'm gonna imagine Venom behind me."
"Just be skinny. Nobody eats skinny people."
"Bro what if someone prefers lean meat?"
"Enough! Look—Adrian and Boss Raven reached the second tree!"
The camera showed it clearly now.
Following the updated treasure map, Adrian Vale and Raven Shaw had arrived at the second marked point.
And there it was—
another Divine Tree.
This one felt even heavier than the first.
Its trunk looked thick enough for ten people to hug—maybe more. It rose out of the forest like a pillar holding up the sky.
Above, faint seven-colored motes drifted and floated through the canopy like slow fireworks.
Vines crawled across the bark in braided lattices, and seven-color light pulsed through them like veins.
It was beautiful.
It was wrong.
It was absolutely not something that belonged on Blue Star.
"Holy… it's another Divine Tree."
"Still gorgeous, even the second time."
"Does anyone know what species that is? I want to plant one in my yard."
"Plant a Divine Tree? You're insane."
"Even if Blue Star had something like this, it'd be guarded like a national treasure. You'd only see it in photos."
"I'm suddenly jealous of Adrian and Boss Raven. If I got another chance, I'd sign up instantly."
"If you got another chance, you still wouldn't get picked."
In the Forbidden Zone, Adrian and Raven didn't gush.
They didn't smile.
They didn't relax.
They simply stood before the tree—quiet, alert, reading the air.
Then—right as they stepped closer—
the entire tree shuddered.
BOOM—!! BOOM—!!
The trunk trembled violently, leaves whipping so hard they blurred, as if an invisible giant had grabbed the Divine Tree and was trying to wrench it out of the earth.
And the ground—
the ground began to quake with it.
The livestream's jokes died instantly.
Because everyone felt the same thing at once—
Whatever guarded the first tree might have been a warning.
But this?
This felt like a door opening to something worse.
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