Chapter 410: Flash Candy

Chapter 410: Chapter 410: Flash Candy

Dex wanted to flee, to fight back.

But his feet felt as if they’d taken root, welded to the ground by that damn pink syrup!

He wanted to use [Blast Flash] to blind his opponent.

But Seraphina was already upon him.

He tried to activate his [Nightmare Messenger] Ability, hoping to summon a more powerful nightmare entity, but it was no use.

In his desperation, Dex could only place his final hope in the being he served!

He whipped his head around.

His gaze fell upon the dark-haired man who had been standing at the edge of the battlefield the entire time, watching as if it were all a show.

"My lord! Please... please help your faithful believer! Save me!!"

Dex’s voice was hoarse with fear and desperation, filled with pleading.

However, in response to Dex’s cry for help, the dark-haired man merely tilted his head slightly.

He glanced at Dex with deep, cold eyes, his face showing no trace of sympathy or anger—only undisguised... disgust.

"Utterly... useless." The dark-haired man’s thin lips parted as he uttered the two cold, heartless words.

He spoke as if evaluating a tool that had lost its value.

He did seem to intend to intervene, as the black mist around him began to churn.

But the moment his Aura wavered, a soft yet unyielding golden light, like an invisible barrier, instantly materialized between him and Seraphina.

The blond Eureka had appeared at some point, standing just ahead and to the side of the dark-haired man.

He wore that same perfect, detached smile, his voice gentle yet allowing no room for argument.

"A deal is a deal, my dear.

If you were to personally interfere with the outcome... well, that would be breaking the rules of our little game, wouldn’t it?"

He tilted his head slightly, glancing at Seraphina as she closed in on Dex.

His smile widened as he took in the "dessert battlefield" covering the floor.

"It seems that in this contest... my little ones have once again come out on top."

A cold glint flashed in the dark-haired man’s eyes.

His gaze clashed with Eureka’s in midair, and the very void between them seemed to tremble.

But in the end, the black mist around him slowly subsided. He merely let out a cold snort and said nothing more.

It was a tacit acknowledgment of Eureka’s intervention.

Evidently, some higher-level pact or restriction existed between them, preventing a direct conflict over the life and death of a single Chess Piece.

Although Seraphina’s attention was mostly focused on Dex, she had spared a sliver of her focus for the two powerhouses.

When she saw that Eureka had stopped the dark-haired man, preventing him from acting against her directly, the weight in her heart finally lifted a little.

’Against a being of that level, my current Power is still far from enough.’

Freed from that concern, Seraphina walked up to Dex with even greater impunity.

Staring at the cold, scarlet eyes so close to him—eyes that seemed capable of sucking out his very soul—Dex’s mental defenses completely crumbled.

All traces of his previous arrogance and haughtiness vanished from his face, replaced by the most primal will to survive and raw fear.

"I was wrong! I was so wrong! Spare me! I’m begging you, spare me!

I surrender! I’ll let you win! You can have all the quest rewards! We... we don’t have to fight to the death!"

He pleaded incoherently, his voice thick with tears.

However, Seraphina merely looked down on him, the corner of her mouth twisting into a cold, mirthless smile as she scoffed.

"You’re not begging for mercy because you truly believe you were wrong."

"You just... know that you’re about to die."

With that, she wasted no more words. She reached out, a faint light once again glowing at her fingertip.

She gently tapped Dex, whose face was contorted in terror!

Dex was a Beloved of the Nightmare God.

His body contained a relatively pure form of the Nightmare God’s divinity and fragments of its laws.

A bold idea suddenly surfaced in Seraphina’s mind.

’Since the God of Cuisine could refine the Demon God Will into a candy that granted her the [Demon Eyes] Talent... could she, a "half-baked" Beloved, perhaps imitate him?’

’Could she transform the Power of this Nightmare Kin into some kind of special, usable "candy"?’

Once the thought took root, it spread like wildfire.

She focused all of her spiritual power, pushing her [Magic Cuisine] Talent to its absolute limit.

Simultaneously, she funneled her [Pastry Chef] Profession and the faint Perception of an ingredient’s essence—a gift from being a Beloved of the God of Cuisine—into that single point of light!

"AAAAAAHHHHHH—!!!!!"

Dex let out a bloodcurdling scream, far more piercing and desperate than any before!

He felt his body, his soul, even his very connection to the Nightmare God, being forcibly torn apart, analyzed, and reassembled by a domineering, yet bizarre Power!

His body began to twist and contort uncontrollably, the pitch-black color rapidly draining away.

In its place, he began to emit an unstable, strange light that flickered between blindingly bright and eerily dim.

It was as if countless tiny sparks were crackling and bursting within him.

Dex’s body was also shrinking, condensing.

The entire process lasted for about five or six seconds, accompanied by Dex’s screams, which grew fainter and fainter until they vanished completely.

Finally, when Seraphina withdrew her finger, Dex was gone.

All that remained was a strange piece of candy about the size of a pigeon’s egg. It hovered silently in midair, completely translucent. Sealed inside was a small, flickering cluster of light that pulsed with a faint but pure Energy.

[Flash Candy]

Although she couldn’t use her [Analysis Glasses] in this item-restricted Dream World, Seraphina could still vaguely sense the complex, violent Energy contained within the candy, as well as its intense volatility.

She carefully enveloped it with her spiritual power and stored it in her Scavenger’s Farm Space, planning to study it more closely later.

With the deaths of Dex and the opposing Players...

...the battle was over, ending in a way no one could have predicted.

In the distance, the dark-haired man watched Seraphina collect the candy.

His expression was terrifyingly grim as he surveyed the utterly routed nightmare faction.

He gave Seraphina a long, hard look, then turned to the smiling Eureka and left them with a final, cold remark:

"I never expected... that a Beloved of another Divine would be hiding in this tiny Beautiful Dream Fragment... Hmph. The God of Cuisine... certainly has good timing.

Eureka, don’t celebrate too soon.

This war between dreams and nightmares is far from over.

One day, I will drag this illusory paradise into the eternal abyss of nightmare!"

With that said, he lingered no longer. His entire body faded and dissolved like a drop of ink in water.

He vanished without a trace, along with the tear in the starry sky, leaving behind only a faint, unsettling chill in the air. Even that was quickly dispelled by the lingering, joyous Energy of the banquet hall.

Only then did Ironhide, Clayton Quinn, Joy Hughes, and even Lamb—who had just recovered from his "roast lamb" terror—finally breathe a true sigh of relief.

They felt the tension that had gripped them finally begin to ease.