The Villainess VTuber Tears People Apart

‘Wow… She’s really beautiful…’

If a rose were to become a person, wouldn’t it look like this? Anna was thinking just that.

Her features were as distinct as a well-crafted work of art.

Her skin was so white it seemed untouchable.

Her flowing hair was like the night sky itself, and her deep crimson eyes seemed endlessly profound, as if they could draw you in.

She had never been particularly moved by beauty before. Even when she saw people who were known to be beautiful, it never really resonated with her.

Anna had felt more connected to characters in animations.

But now, seeing this in person was different.

She could finally understand the psychology of otakus who get excited over pretty cosplayers.

She wanted to see this person insult someone.

It would suit her so well.

It would look so perfect…!

“Sorry to ask this right off the bat, but could you insult me?”

-Slap!

“Haa…”

I got smacked on the back.

When I looked to the side, I saw the face of my senior, looking like she wanted to sigh.

“Sorry, unnie… She tends to speak without filtering through her brain…”

“It’s fine. That was quite amusing.”

Still wearing a relaxed smile, Laura took a seat.

“Shall we have a conversation first?”

***

“As I mentioned over the phone, this girl is my high school junior. Her name is Jeon Sojin, and… she’s a streamer now.”

“Nice to meet you.”

I realized it as I watched Jeon Sojin bow her head.

‘So, she’s Shiroki Anna.’

As I sipped my tea, I thought about it.

Here’s the surprising truth:

The identity of the VTuber ‘Nekozuka Rion’ was none other than my cousin, Orion…!

…No, wouldn’t it be stranger not to know?

Did she think changing her name slightly to a Japanese style would make her unrecognizable? The name was exactly the same, and she didn’t even disguise her voice.

Anyway, it seemed Rion was secretly working as a VTuber without her family knowing, and I had discovered her secret when I accidentally peeked at her email inbox.

‘Then what was that talk about becoming a video editor?’

Isn’t Rion already working as a VTuber?

So why did she take my replay footage, saying she was going to get a job as a video editor? Was she planning to work two jobs?

There were still some unanswered questions, but it wasn’t the most pressing issue right now, so I decided to move on.

In any case, this Jeon Sojin person whom Rion had brought along was definitely ‘Shiroki Anna,’ the 5th generation VTuber from EYEAI.

Once I realized Rion was ‘Nekozuka Rion,’ the rest was simple. A quick search for Nekozuka Rion brought up the EYEAI agency’s website.

There, ‘Nekozuka Rion’ was listed as a 4th generation member. And it seemed EYEAI only had up to the 5th generation so far.

If Rion was bringing a streamer she called her high school junior, it was highly likely she was a 5th generation member.

There were four members in the 5th generation, so I had listened to their voices beforehand. Among them, the VTuber ‘Shiroki Anna’ had a particularly indifferent tone, which left an impression.

“You said you wanted to participate in the tournament, right?”

“Ah, yes… You can drop the formal speech, Teacher.”

“Then I’ll speak casually. First, I’d like to see your Labyrinthos gameplay.”

“I brought the replay footage as you asked. But, your way of speaking is quite unique, Teacher. I mean that in a good way.”

Anna said this as she handed over a tablet PC.

From the brief time I had watched Anna’s stream, I had felt that she was an honest person. But as Rion mentioned, it seemed like she spoke directly without thinking.

Anyway, I took the tablet PC and played a few of the replay videos.

‘The characters she plays are… a Saint and a Bard. Mainly support roles, huh.’

Labyrinthos has a total of six positions: Outrider, Tank, Frontline Dealer, Nuker, Sustained Dealer, and Support.

Among them, the Support role isn’t much different from Support roles in other games. They are characters who assist their allies.

The support methods vary slightly from character to character.

Healing the wounds of allies, protecting them, enhancing their strengths with buffs, or compensating for their lack of crowd control.

But I see all these actions ultimately converge into one thing: ‘combat sustainability.’

Healing to make allies fight longer, blocking incoming enemies, thwarting enemy strategies to prevent ally deaths.

Strengthening allies and initiating attacks could also be considered combat sustainability. Although, in this case, it’s a very aggressive approach where ‘if you cause more losses to the enemy than to your own team, that’s also combat sustainability.’

“Hmm.”

Watching the video, I let out a small groan.

A typical support.

And I mean that in a bad way.

When enemies approach, she abandons the dealer and retreats.

She ignores the Tank who needs healing the most and mindlessly heals the dealer in front of her.

“Rion, do you have a VR device at your place?”

“Huh? I do, but…”

“Then lend it to her. She needs to experience a sword fight in VR.”

I made Anna log into Labyrinthos.

It just so happened that my own login restriction of three hours had just ended. If the restriction hadn’t ended, I would have sent Rion instead, but since I had the chance, I decided to check things out myself and logged into Labyrinthos.

After friending Anna, I launched the practice mode.

[Teacher, which character should I pick?]

“Pick a Paladin.”

[A Paladin? Alright.]

Anna sounded a bit puzzled but obediently picked a Paladin.

I did the same. Instead of my usual main, the Dark Knight, I picked a Paladin this time.

Standing in an empty white space, I faced Anna.

“Have you ever learned any swordsmanship?”

“No. Never…”

“It doesn’t matter if you haven’t. Just swing as you want. But you have to do it with the resolve to take me down.”

“Huh?”

Instead of replying, I responded with action. I raised my greatsword and swung it at her.

Of course, if I went all out, Anna wouldn’t be able to react.

So I deliberately made big, slow movements to give her time to see and respond.

Though Anna looked flustered.

“Ugh?!”

Anna flinched and retreated with her eyes tightly shut.

I immediately stepped forward.

Closing the distance, I made another large movement.

I intentionally left openings.

Normally, I would swing the greatsword in sync with its center of gravity, but since I wasn’t doing that, there was no follow-up attack.

I was basically telling her to hit me if she could.

This wasn’t a life-or-death duel; it was a process to see what kind of person Anna was.

“Hii, hiiik…”

-Clang!

The sound of metal clashing.

Even though I was attacking slowly, Anna was focused on defending instead of exploiting my openings.

Just two attacks.

And the tense look on Anna’s face.

I felt like I had figured out what kind of person Anna was.

“You’re quite scared, aren’t you?”

“Yes…”

Anna immediately admitted it.

I didn’t know what kind of person Anna was.

Whether she was smart or not, whether she had good judgment, whether she had decent situational awareness.

None of that mattered right now because it wasn’t worth finding out.

Even if someone is highly intelligent, if they’re consumed by fear, they can’t fully use their brain.

And since Anna was fundamentally a fearful person, she made poor decisions in-game, like abandoning the dealer and running away.

“Honestly, it’s scary, isn’t it? When a sword comes right at you, it’s only natural to be scared.”

“You’re right. It is natural.”

This game is excessively realistic. The depiction of blood, the sensation of cutting through flesh.

It’s this vividness that makes the game so immersive.

The thrilling sense of risking your life is what makes this game so powerful, but it seems Anna perceives it as fear.

“It’s a natural feeling, but you can’t win the game like that.”

“I figured as much…”

“Three.”

I held up three fingers.

“You should aim to master three characters──the Technomancer, Alchemist, and Swordmage.”

“…Master?”

“You want to participate in the tournament, don’t you? Then you need to be able to handle at least three characters.”

Before starting a game in Labyrinthos, there’s a ban-pick phase.

And the basic strategy of the ban-pick phase is ‘ban the characters the enemy is good at that we’re not.’

If you’re a one-trick player who can only handle one character, you’re bound to be banned out.

So, I believe you should be able to handle at least three characters.

Ideally, four.

“I get what you’re saying, but… why the Technomancer, Alchemist, and Swordmage? I’ve never played those characters before.”

“I think this way. If you only train alone, you won’t realize anything. But if you jump into practice without a solid foundation, you won’t internalize anything either.”

Building up fundamentals in training and then applying what you’ve learned in practice would be the ideal approach.

Of course, it’s easier said than done.

Especially since Anna’s biggest problem is that she’s easily frightened.

Even if I teach her various techniques, if she freezes up in fear during a real match, she won’t get the chance to use them.

“So, in practice, focus on playing the Technomancer and Alchemist.”

“I don’t really understand the reason, but I’ll give it a try. What about the Swordmage?”

“The Swordmage is the character you’ll use in personal training from now on. Bring out the Swordmage.”

Anna switched her character from Paladin to Swordmage.

While the Paladin was a sturdy character, the Swordmage was a bit younger and more agile in appearance.

The only armor was a wrist guard. The weapon was a one-handed sword, and her other hand was empty.

Overall, she looked lightweight.

Even though she’s a melee dealer, she has the advantage of being able to perform ranged attacks, though her low defense balances her out.

“In personal training, we’ll build the basics. And the first fundamental you need to build──is to die a lot.”

“…Excuse me?”

“They say that human fear comes from the unknown.”

I slung my greatsword over my shoulder.

“If you’re a streamer, you’ve probably heard this before, right? Horror games are scary at first, but over time, you get used to them, and they’re not so scary anymore.”

“Ah, that’s not true…! They’re still scary even later on…!”

“Really? Then you probably haven’t died enough yet.”

-Shing!

I slashed Anna’s arm.

“Kyaaah?!”

“First, you’ll experience various deaths, but don’t worry too much. I’ll guide you through it all.”

“S-Spare me…! Hiiik?!”

I thrust my sword into Anna’s mouth.

Later, Rion scolded me for being too harsh.