That's right.
At this point, the character players were controlling… was none other than the Herrscher of Corruption.
The moment this was realized, the livestream chat was instantly flooded with question marks.
[???]
[???]
[???]
What was going on?
They were actually being made to control the Herrscher of Corruption in combat??
[Why are we suddenly playing as the Herrscher of Corruption? I've got a really bad feeling about this.]
[MiHoYo! Are you seriously going to make us control the villain… and destroy the world with our own hands?! You monsters!!]
[Controlling the Herrscher of Corruption to destroy Elysian Realm… please, no!]
[Wait, I just remembered that poll about playable male characters on the forums… and how the devs were watching it. Most people weren't on board… Could this be related?]
[Probably not… right?]
[...]N
"'Otto'... don't tell me what's coming next is…"
Elysia thought back to the script she saw during voice recording and had a vague guess about what would happen.
But she didn't expect that some scenes would play out in this form.
Even if it were something like Sakura fighting the Herrscher of Corruption before—anything but this.
Asking the players to do it themselves… was far too cruel.
Hokuto: "..."
Hokuto, for once, fell silent. He didn't respond.
But in a way, that silence was an answer in itself.
Elysia instantly hesitated to continue controlling the in-game character.
"'Otto'... I think I might need to…" She trailed off.
Although Elysia didn't finish her sentence, Hokuto already understood.
"If you don't want to keep going, Elysia... take a break. Everyone's here—we can have someone else play."
He was genuinely a bit worried that forcing Elysia to play through the next scene might emotionally wreck her.
Might as well swap in someone more emotionally resilient.
That might be for the best.
"Swap with someone?"
Elysia debated with herself for a while, torn between continuing and passing it on.
In the end, she chickened out—no wait, she followed her heart.
"Then… 'Otto,' can you hold the stream for a bit? I'll go ask around?"
"Sure."
Hokuto nodded, turning back to the livestream chat to chat with the viewers about their thoughts on the current plot.
Casual conversation. The mood seemed "peaceful."
"Is everyone satisfied with the content in Chapter 31 so far?"
"Absolutely! I'm dragging my friends into the story right now!"
See? All good. Still a pleasant vibe, right?
Meanwhile, Elysia left the streaming area and stepped outside.
"Elysia? Why'd you suddenly come out?"
Mobius, who had been quietly squinting at the screen while watching the stream, turned her head to glance at her.
"It's just…"
"Tired? Hah. Bet you were scrolling videos on your phone in bed last night again and didn't get enough rest."
Mobius quickly kept going without waiting for a reply. "Guess this is Hokuto's fault—if they swapped hosts, with your work ethic, you'd…"
"Alright, alright, Mobius," Eden interjected, her tone soft with a polite smile.
"Sure, Elysia does enjoy watching a few videos before bed, but I'm surprised you knew that little habit of hers."
"But I can vouch for her—she went to bed early last night."
"So if Elysia isn't tired…"
Mobius didn't press Eden about how she knew Elysia's sleep schedule, nor did she question if it was true.
She simply shifted her gaze back to Elysia.
"Why did you come out? A lot of people are still waiting for you to finish streaming the main story."
"I… Mobius, you look like you're very interested in what happens next?"
Elysia suddenly flipped the question around.
"..."
"Well then, since I was just thinking of finding someone to take over the stream… how about you, Mobius?"
"Take over your stream?" Mobius echoed in confusion.
"Yup~~" Elysia flashed a sweet smile.
"Hmph, and why would I do something like that?" Mobius huffed.
"Ummm… because I'm cute like a flower? Is that a good enough reason?"
Elysia even made an exaggeratedly adorable face.
Mobius: "..."
She was used to this.
"That's not good enough? Then… how about this: help me out, and I'll go buy milk tea for Klein?"
"Elysia, why are you buying it for Klein?" Eden asked curiously. "Shouldn't it be for Mobius?"
"Ah, Eden, you don't know the full story…"
"Ahem."
Just as Elysia was about to spill something juicy, Mobius cut her off with a cough.
"Fine."
She let out a deliberate sigh. "If I don't agree, you'll just pester me forever. So annoying… I'll reluctantly accept."
"Oh… mm-hmm." Elysia paused in surprise, then smiled and nodded.
Mobius rolled her eyes in mock resignation and stepped into the streaming zone.
Inside, Hokuto was chatting with the audience when she walked in, looking a little surprised.
"Didn't expect you'd be the one to take over for Elysia."
"Is there a problem?" Mobius replied coolly.
"Not at all."
Hokuto shook his head and glanced at the barrage of comments flying through the chat.
The moment Mobius entered the livestream area—
The chat exploded with lines like:
[It's Snake-sis!]
[They switched?!]
[Snake-sis, what do you think about the Herrscher of Corruption?]
"The audience seems pretty happy to see you."
"Mn."
Mobius gave a simple response and picked up the controller. "Shall we begin?"
"Just be sure you're ready," Hokuto reminded her.
"Ready? What could you possibly throw at me that I'd need to prepare for?"
Mobius snarked, then turned her eyes to the screen and tapped it lightly.
The main story resumed.
From this point forward, the story was told entirely from the Herrscher of Corruption's point of view.
Her voice echoed in everyone's ears:
"Alright, playing the villain all the time does get tiring. Just for once… let me try playing the heroine."
With that, the Herrscher of Corruption activated a teleportation anchor.
She was going after the kidnapped Mei.
After all, she had previously said that Mei's actions genuinely posed a threat to her.
And since the Herrscher of Corruption wanted to exist eternally, of course she had to stop Mei. Letting her act freely was out of the question.
But before she could step into the anchor, a swarm of monsters appeared around her.
"Hmm… the Elysian Realm defense system is still active? What a pity. I don't have time to teach you all a lesson right now."
As her words fell, the game prompted the player to press the attack key.
Mobius, controlling the game now, raised an eyebrow and didn't press the key.
But.
Even if the player didn't press anything, the Herrscher of Corruption would auto-attack—and each hit would deal massive damage.
If the current playable character wasn't the Herrscher of Corruption, this cutscene battle might've felt like a cool power trip.
But… there were no "ifs."
Because the character going on this murder spree was the Herrscher of Corruption, it absolutely wasn't satisfying.
No one wanted to play as the Herrscher of Corruption wearing Elysia's face.
Every time she struck with Elysia's exact same moves…
It made them feel EX-hausted.
And because… the Herrscher of Corruption now had godlike strength—
Those enemies appearing to halt her (the defense mechanisms of Elysian Realm) were all swiftly and effortlessly annihilated.
Clearly, Elysian Realm's defense systems alone weren't enough to slow the Herrscher's advance.
If time was to be bought—others would have to step in.
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