It's alright... She seems to have held back.

Leon sneaked a glance at the shell earrings out of the corner of his eye, seeing that the mermaid beauty hadn't stepped forward to expose him. Instantly, he couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief. He then gripped the staff from the [Baseline] set tightly, wearing an expression of "I've definitely won," and spoke condescendingly:

"Not continuing? What if I was just bluffing earlier?"

"..."

Faced with Leon's deliberate provocation, sensing the genuine lack of follow-up vigor in him, the Green and Red Kings hesitated slightly, seemingly tempted to move, but ultimately dared not continue the confrontation.

The key to not going head-to-head wasn't whether the Food God was bluffing but rather the unknown effects of the trump card in his hand—a set of strange artifacts crafted from materials left by the Sea Abyss Dominator, which must have horrifying effects.

If, before the Food God uses this trump card, one exhausts their accumulated energy due to continuous confrontation with him, they might be unable to resist due to lack of resources and be instantly taken down by those three strange artifacts...

Damn it! Food God! Is this also a part of your plan?

Eying the set of strange artifacts on Leon's person—the crown, staff, and belt—filled with growing apprehension, the Green and Red Kings quickly exchanged a glance and chose for the "Green King" to step up. With both eyes turning green, "Evangelin" smiled and spoke:

"Lord Food God…"

"Change players."

"?"

Raising the bone staff that, apart from resurrecting the entire mermaid beauty clan, had no lethal capabilities and pointing it distantly, Leon spoke coldly.

"I haven't settled accounts with you for what happened at Heavenly Mountain, and I don't want to hear your noise now. Bring out the Crimson King to speak, or else let's continue fighting!"

"..."

Understanding that Leon was deliberately maneuvering and simultaneously testing the confidence on their side, but indeed the situation was overwhelmingly in favor of the opponent, Omnia Cicada fell silent momentarily before reluctantly stepping back, replacing themselves with the Crimson King.

"Lord Food God."

With both eyes turning crimson, "Evangelin" gazed at Leon and spoke:

"We just had a confrontation and confirmed that neither side can easily take down the other. So... shall we leave it at that, perhaps?"

"No, perhaps."

Despite the meticulously prepared "high-caliber cannon" being only suitable for hitting mosquitoes, the baseline set in hand being less than impressive, and having less than a fifty percent chance of winning the confrontation, Leon firmly maintained the demeanor of the dominant party, slightly squinting his eyes and retorted:

"Although I'm not sure if I can keep you all here, catching one of you is no problem. Why should I agree to leave it at that?"

Not good!

Hearing Leon's words and seeing the sharp glint that appeared in his eyes, Omnia Cicada's heart couldn't help but tighten fiercely.

No matter if the Food God has this assurance or not, with the animosity between them and the attitude the Food God just showed, if it really comes to a situation where one is taken away, he will surely latch onto them without letting go!

"Lord Food God, it might be better not to speak too assuredly."

Faced with a survival probability suddenly dropping from fifty percent each to practically zero for them, Omnia Cicada couldn't help but temporarily take control of the body, eyes switching from blue to red, and spoke actively:

"If you're so sure, then why haven't you acted yet?"

Upon hearing Omnia Cicada's words, Leon's pupils couldn't help but slightly contract, then he "unconsciously" tightened his grip on the bone staff, his eyes inadvertently flashing a hint of hesitation.

Keenly noticing even this minor change, Omnia Cicada couldn't help but rejoice inwardly, seizing the opportunity of Leon showing a "flaw" to initiate an offensive:

"If I'm not mistaken, even though these three strange artifacts of yours are immensely powerful, the cost to use them is accordingly enormous, isn't it?"

"Naturally so."

Raising a hand to steady the crown atop his head, Leon held the staff in one hand and the crown with the other, partially concealing the essence of the two strange artifacts—not allowing their effects to be discerned—and then coldly snorted:

"I admit you guessed correctly. At first, I didn't expect the situation to turn out like this, so I sought too much power from these strange artifacts, leading to…"

As he spoke, Leon paused slightly, "involuntarily" glancing in the direction of the shell earrings, then continued:

"Causing the cost to be rather high, but if it merely requires some sacrifice to take down one of the Supreme Four-Pillar Gods, then it's not impossible!"

"Probably much more than that, right?"

Seeing through Leon's "bluff," finding a glimmer of hope amidst inevitable death, Omnia Cicada squinted slightly and—with a smile—retorted:

"Lord Food God, from what I know of you, you're even more unscrupulous than we are.

Aimed at being forced by the Sea Abyss Dominator, these three specially crafted powerful strange artifacts might carry effects that are unscrupulous and could cause irrevocable harm to her, don't they?"

"?!!"

Exactly right!

Seeing Leon's outwardly calm yet actually tightened grip on the staff, Omnia Cicada, having discerned the "truth," couldn't help but laugh heartily in his heart, then with a smiling nod said: 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Lord Food God, you need not attempt to hide any further; I have already seen through your plan.

You haven't used these three strange artifacts not because of their cost, but because they would cause severe harm to the Sea Abyss Dominator, even leaving her in a fate worse than death, hence your reluctance!"

"Even before when you didn't have the advantage in core strength, you preferred taking risks and battling continually rather than using these three strange artifacts; likely, it's for this reason too.

You aren't afraid of confrontation but intended to leverage high-intensity clashes, depleting as many resources we hold as possible, then deploy your trump card to strike a fatal blow, swiftly ending the battle to minimize harm to the Sea Abyss Dominator, isn't that correct?"

"Indeed!"

After slightly closing his eyes, Leon—whose "plan" was exposed—grit his teeth, cheek muscles tensing as he replied:

"But you're not the only ones to see through it! Evangelin hasn't spoken yet, indicating she has already agreed to my plan, prepared to go down with you all!"

"Perhaps."

After sensing the shell earrings on his ears silent for a long time, Omnia Cicada nodded slightly in agreement, saying:

"Setting up such a massive kill scheme with oneself as bait shows remarkable valor on the part of the Sea Abyss Dominator, indeed lacking not the courage to perish together with us, however…"

Seeing Leon slightly disordered in breath after having his intention exposed, Omnia Cicada felt as though he was back during the Heavenly Mountain battle, leveraging Melanie's safety to force Leon to yield the [Longevity], once more grasping the sense of controlling the situation.

"How about you?"

Gazing at Leon, whose whole body unconsciously tensed in refusal, Omnia Cicada smiled and spoke:

"The Sea Abyss Dominator is ready for sacrifice, but can you truly steel your heart to do this?"