The Villainess VTuber Tears People Apart

Chel was crying.

[We will protect our daily lives! We will protect our freedom!]

[Awoouuuuu!!!!]

“Hic…”

Tears blurred Chel’s vision, making it difficult for her to read the text properly.

The game Blue Record, which she had started from the beginning of her debut—shortened to BlueReco.

It was a game she began by chance, but it turned out to be more fun than expected.

As Chel was approaching her second month since debuting, she continued her BlueReco streams. She figured she would probably keep playing it in the future, too.

She had been too busy with the tournament to stream BlueReco recently.

Now that the tournament was over, she finally had time to stream BlueReco, and she was so moved that she couldn’t stop crying.

‘I need… to tell everyone about this.’

It was truly unfortunate that so many people didn’t know about something this good.

Chel stood up from her seat.

***

A desolate wasteland. Far in the distance, a man stood.

An X-shaped scar marked his cheek.

In his left hand, he held a sword, and in his right, he held a sword made of light.

A Dual Swordsman.

I stood across from him, unarmed.

No weapons in my hands.

The Dual Swordsman and I locked eyes, sizing each other up for a moment.

The first to move was the Dual Swordsman.

Without holding back, he used his charging skill, , to rapidly close the distance.

The Dual Swordsman first swung his left arm, slashing at me with his sword, and I caught the blade in my hand.

.

With a quick twist and a sharp yank, I wrenched the sword from his hand.

However, as if he had anticipated this, the Dual Swordsman immediately swung the light sword in his other hand.

With no choice, I pushed the sword I was holding forward.

-Clang!

The sound of two swords clashing.

The blade I held vibrated strongly in my hands.

Thanks to the passive skill that prevented injuries from bladed weapons, I wasn’t hurt for now.

But if this deadlock continued, I’d be in trouble.

I was gripping the middle of the sword, essentially using it like a dagger.

No, it was worse than a dagger. The blade was short, but the handle was too long.

Not to mention, I wasn’t even holding the handle, making it difficult to exert proper force.

On the other hand, the Dual Swordsman, even after losing one of his swords, was still in full control of the remaining one. He had the upper hand in terms of strength.

If this strength contest continued, I would be the one to lose.

Quickly assessing the situation, I kicked up my leg.

-Hyah!

The Dual Swordsman moved to defend, as if expecting a kick, but my kick wasn’t meant to attack.

Dust from the barren ground rose up to his face, and I quickly shut my eyes and held my breath.

Cough cough.

The Dual Swordsman, caught off guard, began to cough.

Seizing the moment, I circled behind him and drove the sword into his back.

-Squelch!

Blood splattered, and the Dual Swordsman collapsed.

Soon, I heard a faint sigh,

“…Wasn’t that a bit of a cheat?”

Rinco’s voice echoed.

The Dual Swordsman’s form wavered for a moment before returning to Rinco’s avatar.

“Oh, come on, cheat? I just used the map’s features for an attack.”

“Still, isn’t it meaningless to win like that? …It was just a practice match.”

Rinco stood up, looking dumbfounded.

“You should try to win using only the character’s abilities. Plus, that tactic might work once, but not twice.”

“You’re right.”

I nodded honestly.

Rinco and I were currently sparring.

The goal of this training was to expand my character pool.

Following Dark Knight and Berserker, I was now practicing the ‘Phantom Thief’ character.

—“Isn’t it better to have at least one more character in mind? You know solo ranked has three bans, right?”

—“What will you do if both Dark Knight and Berserker get banned?”

That’s what Rinco had said.

Though both Dark Knight and Berserker had never been banned at the same time, Rinco’s point wasn’t wrong. In fact, it made sense.

‘Even if it doesn’t happen in solo ranked, it’s a different story in tournaments.’

The recent EYEAI-sponsored Labyrinthos tournament.

I figured I would participate in more *Labyrinthos* tournaments in the future as part of my VTuber activities.

Even if not tournaments, there might be friendly matches, internal competitions, or collaborations with seniors in Labyrinthos.

In internal competitions especially, sniper bans were quite effective, so there was a high chance both Dark Knight and Berserker could get banned, as Rinco pointed out.

‘It’s not like I don’t have other characters I can use.’

I can play characters like Technomancer, Alchemist, and Swordmage. But none of them felt quite right in my hands.

—“Then how about trying Phantom Thief?”

—“It’s kind of similar to Dark Knight.”

And so Rinco recommended the Phantom Thief.

Phantom Thief.

Honestly, it wasn’t a character I was particularly fond of. It felt more like a petty thief, to be honest.

‘For a noblewoman like me to play a petty thief…’

Nobles value their honor more than their lives. In that sense, Phantom Thief had never really appealed to me.

Still, after Rinco’s strong recommendation, I gave it a shot, and sure enough, it had some similarities to Dark Knight.

Phantom Thief had a skill called .

It allows you to take the opponent’s weapon and use it for yourself.

Naturally, the opponent would lose their advantage after having their weapon stolen.

In that sense, Phantom Thief shared some similarities with Dark Knight.

And I have to admit, it did feel pretty satisfying.

“I was once the most noble in the Empire, and now I’ve fallen this far.”

“Stop exaggerating. Besides, it’s not like you’ll be playing Phantom Thief often. It’s strictly for last-pick scenarios.”

Rinco said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Since we had shared a bowl of *gukbap* together last time, Rinco had occasionally dragged me into *Labyrinthos* training like this.

It was part of Rinco’s recovery from her long hiatus, and at the same time, I was preparing for Fantasy League.

“Think of it as more of a joker pick than a main one. Teams probably won’t bother banning Phantom Thief, but just knowing you can play it will make them hesitant to pick weapon-dependent characters.”

“That makes sense.”

I nodded a few times, taking Rinco’s experienced advice to heart.

But there was something I hadn’t told her.

I hadn’t submitted my application yet.

Rinco seemed to think I was planning to participate in *Fantasy League*.

‘To be honest, I’m not really sure.’

Of course, I knew I could gain a lot by joining the league—more subscribers, networking opportunities, sponsorship deals, fame, and fun.

I was especially tempted by the grand prize.

Not only would I get an exclusive title and emblem, but they also said they’d create a commemorative skin for one of your characters.

‘Hmm… I wonder if I could get the Ducal Noblewoman outfit for Dark Knight or Berserker.’

It probably wouldn’t suit them very well, though.

Anyway, while I was interested, I wasn’t sure if joining the tournament was that appealing.

Subscribers and networking? Honestly, I was already pretty content with what I had.

So, I felt like I needed something more decisive to push me toward it.

Maybe that’s why I found myself more curious about the *Fantasy League* participants than what I could gain from it.

There was MadMask, who had reportedly given Rinco nightmares.

Anna, who was aiming for the Fantasy League, and Hanabane Rui, who had been her inspiration.

Son Narin, who had been treated like a traitor and constantly compared to Rinco, and who had already declared her participation in this year’s league.

And then there was Navie, the professional female gamer, along with the VTubers from Horizon Air who had announced their participation.

[Unnie, are you busy right now?]

As I was lost in thought, a voice suddenly rang in my head.

“Rion?”

“Laura, what’s going on?”

“It sounds like Rion is calling me.”

I told Rinco, who had been overseeing my training, to wait a moment and took Rion’s call. Rion was working from home today, so she was at the house.

“What is it, Rion?”

[A guest suddenly came by, and I think you need to come out.]

A guest?

***

“Play BlueReco.”

The unexpected visitor—Chel Sumeragi—said.

“What on earth are you talking about, suddenly showing up like this?”

“It’s a god-tier game.”

“A god-tier game, huh…”

Whether BlueReco was a god-tier game or not, first, we’d need to define what ‘god-tier’ meant.

Some people claimed that BlueReco lacked good gameplay.

But to be fair, BlueReco wasn’t exactly designed to be a game where all players could equally enjoy its mechanics. That’s something to keep in mind.

So, I wouldn’t harshly criticize its gameplay.

But one thing was clear: BlueReco was more about its story than its gameplay.

“Setting aside whether it’s god-tier or not, why did you come here?”

“Because you need to play BlueReco.”

Chel said.

It was hard to believe that this was the same person who was usually so quiet.

“So why, exactly?”

“Because it’s a god-tier game.”

“Hm, I see.”

I realized.

I now knew how to handle Chel and what I needed to do.

I sipped the tea Rion had brewed for me.

“Rion, you talk to Chel.”

“…What?”

“You’re my manager.”

That’s what I said.

Hi, Rion.

Please translate what Chel is saying.