The Demon Lord’s Nemesis and the Business of Shipping

“You have been slain.”

“09, I swear I’ll turn your skull into a bowl!”

In the game, Xiyue seemed like a completely different person. Not only were his maneuvers more precise, but his combat power had also surged tenfold. Faced with my relentless taunts and disruptive tactics, he uncharacteristically responded with a single message in the public announcement.

My character felt as flimsy as paper before him. Despite us both having identical equipment, I simply couldn’t defeat him.

Ling Chen, who had just finished showering and was now seated beside me, watched my gameplay and couldn’t help but scoff.

“Sister, you’re truly terrible. You’re getting thrashed even with stream-sniping.”

“He’s a legendary player, after all. Even the major guilds can’t recruit him. I used to rely on his guides to clear maps, so it’s perfectly normal that I can’t beat him.”

“Then why did you challenge him so presumptuously, Sister?”

“It’s all because I’m broke. If I win, great. If not, at least it’s good publicity for myself, a way to generate some traffic and earn money.”

I continued to furiously pound on my keyboard, deploying disruptive tactics to rattle his composure.

Fortunately, my Chinese literature skills were decent; there were countless ways to insult someone without using vulgarities. Even blocking and reporting would prove useless.

“My moonlit strolls and intimate moments with your mother, a fleeting dream of joy and bliss…”

As I typed, I couldn’t help but hum a poem, a surge of excitement coursing through me.

The purest form of verbal abuse, the ultimate enjoyment.

Xiyue’s streams were silent and faceless, as if he were mute. Yet, he didn’t mimic appearance-based streamers, relying solely on his skill, which garnered him an incredibly high viewership.

However, today, Xiyue, who typically maintained a cool, aloof persona, began to seriously contend with me. I could distinctly feel the rising fury of that fellow.

But could your skill truly outpace my hand speed?

I transformed into a keyboard warrior, my fingers flying across the keys faster than a sword’s thrust.

“Curse you! Curse you!”

Normally, I was a harmless shut-in, but online, I became a raging mob.

As the Caliph once said, “Being a lowlife is humanity’s deepest desire. Even the most impeccably dressed person secretly wants to flip a middle finger and scream obscenities when no one is around.”

In reality, I was timid and compliant; online, I struck with full force.

This feeling of unrestrained verbal assault was truly exhilarating. Moreover, my top-tier Undead Mage account, while not exceptionally strong, was masterful at annoying people. Once it latched onto someone, they couldn’t shake it off.

I could almost picture Xiyue’s exasperated expression. Though people claimed he was handsome, I found the probability of him being a good-looking man extremely low. Anyone who didn’t show their face was automatically a ‘Qiao Biluo’ in my book.

That guy was definitely a fat otaku. Getting a fat otaku angry was no big deal; after all, fat otaku had no human rights in this world.

If he were to use voice chat, he’d surely cry, “Stop it, please stop! My family is watching my stream, my female fans are watching my stream! Just stop!”

It felt so good. Even if I couldn’t defeat him, it didn’t matter. I had a backup plan!

Ling Chen yawned.

“So, Sister, how do you plan to win against him?”

“Hehe, as a Demon Lord, how can I not have subordinates?”

“Come forth, my Four Heavenly Kings!”

The pre-arranged teleportation array activated, and suddenly, five burly figures appeared before Xiyue.

Xiyue downed a health potion, his voice filled with rage. “09, you truly are shameless. You even brought helpers.”

“Hehehehe! All’s fair in love and war!”

The stream’s bullet comments instantly surged.

“I knew this would happen.”

“Let’s go, we’ll form a party to save our male god!”

“But we can’t beat 09!”

“This shameless Demon Lord!”

“Go, male god!”

The plan was progressing smoothly. Xiyue was a solo player, not affiliated with any guild, so he couldn’t receive organized support. His fans lacked the ability to participate in such a battle. Now, he was isolated and helpless, left to await the moment I would loot his equipment.

Furthermore, my goal of generating buzz had been achieved.

Among the villainous Chaos faction players, while I wasn’t the strongest, I was undeniably the most adept at stirring up trouble.

Since the Chaos faction was the last one to be introduced in the game, it had a smaller player base, weaker overall strength, and lacked high-level players and major guilds.

However, this faction possessed a natural advantage: in the narrative of this expansion pack, the Chaos faction was superior to all other factions.

After successfully maxing out my favor with the Chaos faction’s final boss, I managed to obtain the title of Demon Lord by completing a hidden quest. This bestowed upon me the authority to command Chaos faction NPCs to invade the main world.

And because no major guilds were vying for power with me, the Chaos faction players nominally obeyed my commands as well.

With the power to command Chaos NPCs, of course I would indulge in some mischievous fun!

From then on, my infamy spread from the player-guarded main world to the demons’ homeland, the Abyss. Everyone knew my name.

Under my schemes, the Chaos faction NPCs successfully destroyed a major empire and, incidentally, sent the Order faction players retreating repeatedly. I even used divisive tactics to cripple several guilds, weakening the Order faction’s strength.

Had Xiyue not sealed me, the Demon Lord, during the national war—with the aid of countless major guilds and Order faction NPC forces—leaving the Chaos faction soldiers leaderless, I might have already achieved world destruction in this expansion.

I strongly suspected the game developers secretly assisted Xiyue.

Although the game developers consistently claimed that the MMORPG, ‘Tales of Tyrosia’, featured a world map, quests, equipment, data, and NPCs all generated by a super AI, and that they were only responsible for server operations and game promotion, I didn’t believe it for a second.

If a super AI could construct such a complete world, it would imply their AI had reached strong AI levels. If strong AI emerged, it would be strange if humanity wasn’t replaced. Therefore, it was highly probable that the officials provided Xiyue with some assistance.

But I digress. In any case, ever since Xiyue sealed my main Demon Lord account and obtained the Hero title, he became my arch-nemesis.

Unbeknownst to us, our complex relationship of love and hate inexplicably turned us into a popular ship among other players: the chaotic Demon Lord x the ice-cold Hero.

While Xiyue found this utterly irritating, I saw a business opportunity.

I secretly joined Xiyue’s fan group and discovered some artists creating fanfiction about me and Xiyue.

This was all business potential. Even though I believed Xiyue was a fat otaku, I didn’t mind creating a fake couple dynamic with him for commercial operations.

Anyway, Chaos faction characters were primarily undead, demons, and other races with essentially no gender distinctions. Thus, the artists’ fanworks depicted my character as non-human, and my in-game avatar never revealed its true face, providing ample creative space for talented artists.

This way, there was no suspicion of ‘shipping male characters for profit,’ and I comfortably embraced the CP pairing of me and Xiyue.

Creating this buzz was the result of a behind-the-scenes deal between me and the artists. Why wouldn’t I be happy when there was money to be made?

The immersion in this game was truly powerful. Essentially, the AI assigned every player a unique quest chain and narrative participation method, leading many players to treat this game as a second reality. Many players who met during in-game adventures even ended up getting married.

In this highly popular game, Xiyue, as a high-level player, was almost the most popular character. Coupled with his humble demeanor and frequent help to other players, he garnered an immense fanbase.

As for me, with my Demon Lord persona, I attracted many chuunibyou teenagers. However, my rise to popularity was largely thanks to Xiyue’s fans.

Our fated rivalry stemmed from the previous storyline where he sealed my main Demon Lord account, forcing me to play on alt accounts. Only when the next world event occurred could I learn from the plot development if my main account would be unsealed.

The game’s setting, where your character’s in-game story directly led to account ‘character deletion’ was utterly brain-dead. If a player accidentally died in the story and wasn’t resurrected, they truly had to start over with a new character. The only consolation was being able to inherit previous equipment.

Yet, such a hardcore game managed to attract a massive global player base. Were all players masochists?

Xiyue essentially ‘deleted’ the Demon Lord character I had painstakingly created, but he also boosted my notoriety. So, I both loved and hated this guy.

“Sister, get some sleep soon. I’m going to bed first.”

Ling Chen was overcome with drowsiness, but I was wide awake and energetic. As a night owl, sleeping before 3 AM was an absolute disgrace.

“Are you sleeping in my bed tonight?”

“No, I’ll sleep on the couch tonight. There’s another bedroom that hasn’t been tidied up yet. I’ll get to it tomorrow.”

“Why not just sleep next to me? It’s fine.”

Ling Chen rolled his eyes at me. “Sister, do you think by hugging me to sleep tonight, you’ll feel like you’ve turned into a man? You’re overthinking it.”

My intentions were exposed so quickly, I grumbled. “The couch is too small. Just sleep in my bed.”

“Sister, what exactly is your motive? Didn’t you just say we should avoid suspicion?”

“But you’re my younger brother. Shouldn’t you be by my side? Besides, I want to treat you better.”

“…”

Ling Chen seemed to concede, nodding his head. “Since it’s Sister’s request, I humbly accept. Today’s circumstances are special, so I can indulge you in staying up late to play games tonight. But please don’t disturb me.”

“Wait, I can’t stay up late in the future?”

Ling Chen didn’t answer, instead pointing at the screen. “Sister, you seem to have been instantly killed again. Wow, and this time you even dropped equipment.”

“Damn you, Xiyue, I’m not done with you!”