Phainon stretched, his joints emitting a series of faint, crisp cracks.
His snow-white hair trembled slightly, almost imperceptibly.
He turned down his collar, revealing an exquisite cat-shaped coin hanging quietly around his neck.
He took off the coin, his fingertips caressing the cold metallic patterns, then tossed it lightly into the air.
Clink.
The coin flipped in the air.
The next instant, his figure faded from their original spot, leaving behind only a barely perceptible afterimage.
He vanished.
No.
It wasn't a disappearance.
More accurately, a frame was forcibly removed from the world's canvas.
Huang Quan's perception was infinitely stretched, the dreamscape drained of all color, plunging into absolute silence and grayscale.
Then, she witnessed a magic trick that thoroughly defied causality.
A pure golden bolt of lightning brazenly tore through this static, grayscale world!
That figure moved along a trajectory impossible for mortal vision to capture, swiftly traversing through a solidified golden meteor shower.
His movements carried the unique elegance and playfulness of a feline predator.
He wasn't avoiding.
He was dancing.
He reached out, his fingertips lightly touching the edge of a massive, giant chip.
The terrifying "mass", capable of smashing through the earth, was instantly siphoned away.
It transformed into an ordinary golden coin, which he casually tossed into his pocket.
Clink.
A soft sound, spreading out in the silent world with incredibly clear ripples.
His figure leaped amidst countless mirror-like reflections, and with each flicker, large swathes of golden catastrophe were silently "confiscated."
This wasn't a battle.
This was the authority of "Trickery" conducting a grand, unreasonable theft!
He stole the "mass" of the chips.
He plundered the "definition" of disaster.
He packed this all-in gamble, along with Aventurine's so-called "certain victory" and "outcome," into his pocket!
All of this happened in the blink of Huang Quan's heart.
Not even a full heartbeat was completed.
When that golden flash returned before Huang Quan, Phainon playfully winked his ice-blue eyes at her.
The next instant.
The world returned their colors and sounds.
Time began to flow.
March 7th, Welt Yang... everyone still maintained their upward gaze, their faces frozen in determination and tension.
However.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds... nothing happened.
The expected cataclysm, powerful enough to crush the theme park to dust, did not arrive.
The night sky remained brilliant.
Penacony still shimmered with light.
That world-destroying golden apocalypse was like an absurd collective illusion experienced by everyone.
Everyone was stunned.
Himeko and Welt Yang couldn't help but exclaim in unison: "Huh?"
March 7th scratched her head, "What happened?"
March 7th blinked, "Didn't Aventurine just prepare to toss the chips? How did it turn out like this?"
They slowly, stiffly lowered their heads, their gazes converging on the center of the stage.
Phainon had returned to his original spot at some unknown time.
However, his posture now was completely different from his previous aloofness.
One hand was casually in his pocket, while the other was idly tossing a glittering golden chip upwards.
"Clap."
He caught the chip steadily, skillfully gripping it with his knuckles.
Then, he looked up, and playfully stuck out his tongue towards the sky.
"Hey, Mr. Gambler up there."
"Is that all your chips? I don't think... I've had enough fun yet."
Above the sky.
Aventurine's confident, frenzied, and certain-to-win expression completely froze.
He stared blankly at the empty sky, then fixed his gaze on the figure below with a playful smile.
What... happened?
My all-in gamble... my trump card that could overturn the entire dream... my absolute, certain-to-win trump card?
Where did it go?!
Aventurine's pupils trembled violently, and for the first time, a single emotion completely filled his mind.
It wasn't anger, nor unwillingness.
It was the confused of a soul emptied.
"I... lost?"
—
At the same time.
At an unnoticed spire of Clockwork Studios Theme Park.
The real Phainon leaned against the railing, quietly watching everything unfolding on the stage.
Before him, a light screen was broadcasting the stage scene in real-time, the protagonist of the image being the "Jazz Cat" wearing his face.
"Well acted, Cipher," Phainon commented softly.
The audience of the entire theme park had indeed been cleared out.
But, Penacony's dream never lacked an audience.
Just now, Phainon had simultaneously broadcast this grand performance to every corner of Penacony.
A live broadcast that no one knew about, yet everyone knew.
Now, all of Penacony remembered one image.
A cloaked figure, with an almost absurd elegance, stole an apocalypse.
His name—was Phainon.
Phainon looked at the light screen, a slight smile curving his lips.
"Now, it's my turn... to open the curtain."