The Aftermath of the Second Stream (2)
The moment Winter saw Hayao Misaka's interview video on Mutube, only one thought filled her head.
"Insane… is this for real…?"
She rewound the video over and over, unable to believe what she was seeing—but the content never changed.
Hayao Misaka, Vice President of Powell Software and total director of Nightfall, had mentioned Yujin during the interview.
No—calling what he had just done a mere "mention" didn't come close to covering it.
He had hyped Yujin up as the undisputed owner of a physique the world would never see again, and then, on top of that, he had come right out and said he wanted to use Yujin's combat data to build a boss monster.
…Well, even so, that was probably just lip service…
But even if it was just lip service, the fact that Hayao Misaka himself had said it meant the impact would be enormous.
After all, Nightfall was more popular overseas than it was domestically, and every word from its total director, Hayao Misaka, had a way of spreading across foreign sites faster than light.
She didn't know for sure, but by now there probably wasn't a single overseas Nightfall player who hadn't heard of Yujin.
"Especially… that last part. He meant that for real, right?"
The claim that he wanted to take Yujin's combat data and build a boss for an upcoming DLC out of it was absurdity itself.
Objectively speaking, that had been nothing more than a private remark tossed out on air by total director Hayao Misaka. Nothing had been decided. Powell Software hadn't issued any formal proposal, and no discussions with the relevant staff had taken place.
From the start, Misaka himself had only used vague phrasing like "I'd like to" and "I want to."
In other words: he had put the idea on the table for now, but he could reverse course any time the situation called for it.
But the public watching that interview video knew nothing of those behind-the-scenes details.
All they were focused on was a single fact—that someone as high up as the total director of Nightfall wanted to use Yujin's data for a boss monster, which meant Yujin's skill level was on an entirely different plane.
She couldn't say for certain, but if they went live tomorrow, the flood of new viewers would punch clean through the ceiling, wouldn't it?
"Heh heh heh…!"
Winter kept looping Hayao Misaka's interview video, a dark little smile on her face—until a certain possibility she couldn't quite dismiss kept flickering through her mind.
"…Nah. No way. He was joking. Common sense says that can't be real, right?"
Even so, just in case, she closed Mutube and checked her email—
> [Inbox]
> You have 1 unread message.
> From: POWELL SOFTWARE, Hayao Misaka
"…You've got to be kidding me."
There really was an email.
The sender was the total director of Powell Software himself—Hayao Misaka.
Meanwhile, most people watching the total director's video were focused on something different from Winter.
Of course, the director's remarks about Yujin—and about wanting to use his data for a boss monster—were the kind of thing that left jaws on the floor.
But over on the Powell Gallery, at least, the reaction to those same remarks was pure indifference.
They did react with a "it'd be incredible if a boss built from Yujin's combat data actually dropped," but that was as far as it went.
They weren't nosy enough to sit around theorizing about a DLC boss that might not even appear anytime soon.
More importantly, right now their interest and curiosity were locked onto something else entirely.
So at least one thing was clear: the brutal condition of killing Ariandel in the tutorial was not the intended gateway into the hidden route.
Otherwise the total director would never have described Yujin's entry into the hidden route as "a situation we never accounted for."
Then what had the developers originally designed as the method for entering the hidden route?
What had everyone been missing this whole time—and what condition had Yujin fulfilled to get in?
As an avalanche of related posts flooded the Powell Gallery and every other major gaming site, streamers immediately recognized the opportunity of a lifetime.
Right now, thanks to Yujin's stream and Hayao Misaka's interview, massive public attention was locked onto Nightfall and its hidden route.
So if, in the middle of all that heat, someone figured out the entry conditions before anyone else and dropped the reveal live on stream…
That streamer might just absorb every last drop of that attention straight into their own viewer count!
Unfortunately for them, their ambitions were shattered before they even properly began.
Ecclesia—widely regarded as the top craftsman streamer not just for Nightfall but for every Powell Software title—had gone live on short notice.
And the news she brought with her was this: she had found a definitive method for entering the hidden route!
"Hello, everyone. First of all, I want to apologize for going live so suddenly without any advance notice. But I had no choice. For me, this was a matter that couldn't wait even a moment."
The second Ecclesia went live, viewers who had heard the news poured in and her numbers exploded.
"First of all, as I said in the notice, I went live in a hurry because of information related to entering the hidden route. And to cut straight to the conclusion… I found it. A definitive method for entering the hidden route."
At Ecclesia's surprise declaration, the viewers watching her stream erupted.
Most of the people tuned in right now wanted exactly what Yujin had done—to clear the hidden route themselves and face a Ruler.
"However… before I reveal that method, there's one thing I need to say first. I… do not intend to reveal the method for entering the hidden route on today's stream."
The second she finished speaking, raw abuse poured in from the chat—but Ecclesia's expression never changed.
It wasn't that she didn't know this decision would earn her a mountain of hate. She simply had a goal she was determined to achieve, even if it meant getting flamed for it.
"I think my explanation was a little incomplete. I didn't say I would never reveal the method for entering the hidden route. I said I would reveal it on a different stream—not today's. To be more specific: on a collab stream with Soma, the older brother of streamer Winter."
"No. Nothing has been discussed in advance regarding a collab with Soma. Right now I'm the only one bringing this up."
"So, taking this opportunity, I'd like to make a proposal to Soma."
With that, Ecclesia put up several game screenshots along the side of the screen.
In the shots, Ecclesia was mid-battle against a Ruler, wielding the holy sword that Yuria had transformed into.
That alone was ironclad proof that Ecclesia had truly discovered a method for entering the hidden route!
Ecclesia bowed her head with genuine formality.
"And this may be a little shameless of me to say, but if we really do end up collabing, there's one piece of content I absolutely want to run with Soma."
"A one-on-one duel. Just Soma and me—the two of us alone."
In that instant, a fierce light flashed in Ecclesia's eyes.
As if this had been her real goal from the very beginning.