Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

An Even Deeper Impression

Livestreamers had experienced a spike in viewership early in the year. Viewers came in many forms, including even those who got angry at the streamers, bearing grudges as they revisited and attended every consecutive stream after that. This was proof that streaming could grant viewers a good time. Some might think that watching streams would be fun. Some got to place themselves in the shoes of exceptionally skilled streamers. How fun was that?

Some games were also nothing short of insanity, and playing it was only suicidal. Watching a streamer would relieve oneself of that strain. You could even have some popcorn while watching another struggle to within half an inch of their lives.

As "Tales of Wuxia 3" took to the headlines, famous League of Legends streamer PDD [1] had given a shot at it, only to be slaughtered by the very first boss multiple times. He had started questioning if the game was even beatable.

Depression Pig [2] lived up to his name as he got slaughtered, providing his viewers with much entertainment. At one point, he got eaten up by a mimic trap, and a great deal of humor it provided his viewers.

He praised the game for its marvelous graphics and art, but criticized its merciless nature.

Viewers jumped from streamer to streamer, all to see them getting their cherries popped by Zha Feng. The early instances of falling into his traps were the best.

Entertainment-based streams provided entertainment. Skilled-based streams like Ah Yu's granted viewers a joyride. Watching her play as the Holy Monk, they would feel as if they had been placed in his shoes, where "Killing was a self-defense, and slay but do not slay humans" - words of Ah Guang, the "Sword of Buddha."

They watched her playthrough with more gusto, not to be turned away by depression. They have already gotten to know the true Su Shi, so the pain of losing her again would sting less.

Also, Wu Shun had barely interacted with Su Shi. As a result, he did not progress much on her story. Having been thoroughly misdirected, he had placed all of his focus on his number one waifu, Yan Qingmeng. Nobody could blame him for it, the twist in the DLC had blindsided just about everyone. At the end of it, players finally learned of the truth and that they were actually that of the opposition. The more they helped Su Hu, the sooner they heralded the destruction of the Anonymous City.

It had been most depressing. Even the iron-willed Wu Shun himself admitted that he had not been prepared for such powerful mental assaults by Zha Feng. It had shaken him so badly that he was absent from streaming for three days straight.

Viewers recovered sooner than he did and moved on to watch Ah Yu's stream, witnessing her might with the staff. In the dark and cruel world of "Tales of Wuxia 3", a pro took the leaderboard by storm - the Holy Monk, Ah Guang.

In Ah Yu's playthrough, she pumped Su Shi with so much love that it should have been banned! As they got closer than ever, viewers would only feel the bitterness of loss and separation all the more.

As Ah Guang fought to save the nameless maiden Su Shi, viewers had cheered him on, their hopes and spirits rising in tandem with the battles. In the hands of Ah Yu's skill, it seemed highly possible that this end might actually spare her. It was at the peak of their emotions when Su Shi still ended up dying to save the player's life. She had thrown herself into the thick of things without a moment's hesitation, and that made matters even worse.

Every viewer on Zhao Youyue's stream lost their hearts there and then. They probably felt even more sorrow than the Holy Monk.

As Zhao Youyue had prepared her heart for such an ending. Anyway, her heart had ran out of sadness to mourn for this latest death. On the other hand, viewers abandoned the last vestiges of their hope. If not even Ah Yu could succeed, how would others be able to catch the moment?

Reality had struck them like a mack truck over their skulls. Ah Yu may have succeeded in saving Su Shi multiple times, and they may have almost maxed out their relationships, but she actually died when their bond points were at its peak!

Apparently, a maxed bond would only unlock an additional CG cutscene where Su Shi gave her life for the player's. Having no power over their own characters, they could only watch Su Shi take the heart-wrenching, fatal blow.

Let's say you prevented your bond points from reaching that amount. Su Shi would still die at an earlier point of the game by some other means. Of course, these deaths could have been prevented, but the player needed to be as skilled as Ah Yu, at the very least.

In Ah Yu's stream, Su Shi's death had struck like a gigantic wave. Compared to Wu Shun's wave, hers was a Tsunami.

Ah Yu's streams had more active viewers compared to Wu Shun, as she had managed to draw out far more reactions from Su Shi, and all that Ah Yu did for her had touched the hearts of viewers. More than ever did they hope that Su Shi survives.

Apparently, Su Shi only ended up dying again. How could the viewers not react severely to that? At that point, Su Shi was already their waifus. Zha Feng basically killed off their waifu before smashing the last of their hopes.

Even if Zhao Youyue was to continue playing and work hard during her daily grinds of sidequests while helping others in their co-op missions or even hunt other players without completing the mission, she could still receive points that could be used to rerun a route or turn a fallen character into a Heroic Spirit [1] who would fight for them.

Of course, Zhao Youyue chose Su Shi as her heroic spirit, giving her the opportunity to complete her revenge by her own hands. This might be the best of ends, who knows.

Zhao Youyue believed that she had completed the DLC at long last, while also boosting the nameless maiden's popularity.

Little did she expect the community to go up in flames!

Translation Note:

[1] Heroic Spirit: A Fate reference. In the Fate series, heroic heroes will be turned into Heroic spirits to fight in a war called the Holy Grail War.