The war for the soul of the universe was not fought with swords or spells.
It was fought with content.
Li Wei's livestream, once the undisputed king of cosmic entertainment, was bleeding viewers.
And the cause was DevilTok.
The Demon Realm's new streaming platform was a masterpiece of trashy, addictive, and deeply unethical entertainment.
Sexy succubi offered makeup tutorials that also happened to drain your willpower.
Edgy, brooding demons reviewed the suffering of mortals with the cynical detachment of a film critic.
Their production values were high. Their morals were low.
And they were winning.
**
The live chat on Li Wei's stream was a bloodbath.
[USER: WaterNymph_69 has left the channel.]
[USER: MinorGod_Steve has left the channel.]
[USER: DemonicOverlord_Dave]
Sry bro, the succubus ASMR channel is just better content. No hard feelings.
[USER: DemonicOverlord_Dave has left the channel.]
Li Wei watched his viewer count, once in the millions, plummet into the low thousands.
He was no longer a divine influencer.
He was a washed-up has-been.
And it had only been an hour.
**
"This is a crisis of brand engagement," a cold voice stated.
Yang Mode was online.
He stood in their celestial command center, which was really just the university's server room, surrounded by holographic screens displaying terrifyingly steep downward trends.
"Our key demographic, 'Beings Who Enjoy Unpredictable Chaos,' is being poached by their demographic of 'Beings Who Are Just Horny'," he analyzed, his golden eyes scanning the data. "We need to pivot. We need a new content strategy."
Yin Mode, who was currently stress-eating a bag of celestial potato chips, was not handling the pressure well.
"We could do a stunt!" he suggested, his mouth full. "Like, I could try to juggle black holes! Or see how many spicy ghost peppers I can eat before I accidentally achieve a new form of consciousness!"
He was panicking.
He was chasing views.
And he was getting desperate.
**
The desperation was a tangible thing in the room.
Even Feng Yue, who had tried to remain above the petty squabbles of internet fame, was starting to look worried.
"Their top influencer," she said, pointing to a screen showing a terrifyingly beautiful succubus with over ten million followers, "is 'Lilith666'."
"She's getting more engagement than the Jade Emperor's last three divine decrees combined."
"We need to do something drastic," Xiao Qian, the fox spirit, said, her tails twitching nervously. "We need... a collaboration."
The room went silent.
"A collab stream," Xiao Qian continued, her eyes gleaming with a producer's ruthless logic. "You, Feng Yue, and Lilith666. The ultimate crossover event. The thirst from that alone could power a small star."
Feng Yue looked horrified.
"Absolutely not," she snarled. "I will not lower myself to collaborating with a... a vapid, soul-sucking demon influencer."
"Our viewer count is in freefall," Yang Mode stated, his voice a cold, hard line of pure data. "A collaboration stream with a high-engagement asset like Lilith666 has a 92.7% probability of reversing the trend."
Feng Yue looked at Li Wei.
At the panicked, desperate look on his face.
At the very real possibility that his entire, chaotic, and somehow important existence was about to be cancelled.
She let out a long, suffering sigh that seemed to carry the weight of all the bad decisions she had ever made for this stupid, beautiful boy.
"Fine," she gritted out. "Set it up."
**
But before they could schedule the crossover event of the century, DevilTok made its next move.
And it was a game-changer.
A new, premium subscription tier appeared on their platform.
[SUBSCRIBE AT THE ARCHDEMON TIER!]
[BENEFITS INCLUDE: Exclusive behind-the-scenes content, a personal shout-out from Lilith666, and...]
The final line item made the entire cosmos gasp.
[...the immortal soul of one (1) minor, emotionally tortured poet from the 17th century. (Limited time offer. All sales are final. Soul may or may not be haunted.)]
They weren't just offering content anymore.
They were offering people.
They had commodified damnation.
**
The fun and games were over.
This was no longer a platform war.
It was a moral crisis.
The pressure in the command center was suffocating.
"We have to counter!" the old Jade Emperor, who was now their unpaid intern, yelled. "Offer a blessing! A minor miracle! Two-for-one karma coupons!"
Everyone looked at Li Wei.
The new Supreme Deity.
The leader of the revolution.
What was his move?
How would he compete with the literal sale of human souls?
Li Wei looked at the screen.
He saw the desperate, bidding war in DevilTok's chat for the poet's soul.
He saw the gleeful, triumphant face of Lilith666 as she announced the winner.
And he felt... sick.
He thought of his own journey. Of being a product. A project. A character in someone else's story.
He had fought so hard for his own authenticity. For the right to be real.
And now, they wanted him to do the same thing to others?
To turn his divine power, his blessings, his very being, into just another subscription perk?
**
He walked to the main broadcast camera.
He looked directly into the lens, his expression quiet, sad, and utterly, completely, done.
"Hey, everyone," he said, his voice no longer the booming command of a god, but the tired, quiet voice of a boy who had been through too much.
The few thousand viewers still left in his chat fell silent.
"I know we're losing," he said, a small, sad smile on his face. "And I know I'm supposed to do something crazy right now. Something to get you all to stay."
"But I can't."
"I'm not going to sell blessings," he said, his voice firm. "I'm not going to offer up miracles for a few more subscribers. And I am sure as hell not going to sell anyone's soul."
He took a deep breath.
"My life, my chaos, my stupid, messy story... it's not a product. And neither are you."
"So," he said, his voice cracking with a painful, beautiful honesty. "If you want to go watch the other channel... that's okay. I get it."
"I'd rather have a hundred viewers who are here because they want to be," he whispered, "than a million who are just here for the perks."
"So... yeah. Thanks for watching, I guess."
He reached out to end the stream.
To end his reign as the Chaos God of the internet.
To choose his own, authentic failure.
**
And as his finger was about to hit the button, a frantic, panicked scream erupted from every speaker in the command center.
It was coming from DevilTok.
On their main screen, Lilith666, the terrifyingly sexy succubus, was in the middle of her seductive victory speech.
And then, her glamour spell flickered.
A technical glitch.
A single, dropped frame.
But it was enough.
For one, glorious, split second, her true form was revealed to the entire cosmos.
She was not a sexy succubus.
She was a nervous, balding, middle-aged demon in a cheap, ill-fitting suit, sweating profusely under the hot studio lights.
His name tag, clearly visible for a fraction of a second, read: "KEVIN - ACCOUNTS PAYABLE."
He—she—panicked.
"Oh, crap," a very masculine, very nerdy voice yelped. "Is this thing on? Did they see? I'm not supposed to be on camera! My contract specifically forbids it!"
He fumbled with the controls, his face a mask of pure, bureaucratic terror.
The DevilTok stream went dead.
**
Silence.
A profound, universe-wide, "did we all just see that" silence.
Then, Li Wei's chat, which had been a quiet, sad trickle of goodbyes, exploded.
[USER: WaterNymph_69 has joined the channel.]
[USER: DemonicOverlord_Dave has joined the channel.]
[USER: MinorGod_Steve has joined the channel.]
His viewer count, which had been in the low thousands, shot up.
A hundred thousand.
Five hundred thousand.
A million.
The viewers were flooding back, a tidal wave of returning fans.
And the chat was a single, unified, beautiful message.
[LOL, DevilTok was fake AF. At least you're authentically chaotic!]
📣 [SYSTEM NOTICE: AUTHOR SUPPORT INTERFACE]
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