Nightfall - Joint Stream (1)
Not long after, notices went up simultaneously on Winter’s channel and Ecclesia’s.
The content was simple: Yujin had accepted Ecclesia’s one-on-one duel proposal, and they were currently coordinating the stream time!
The moment those notices dropped, the people who had been watching Yujin—starting with the Powell Gallery—could barely contain their excitement.
Just like that, the Powell Gallery and every related community exploded into a full-blown “who’s gonna win” debate.
Across every community site, fierce arguments raged over who would win the upcoming duel.
Or, to be more precise, the vast majority were predicting Yujin’s victory while a small minority of Ecclesia’s fans desperately tried to push back.
It was only natural.
Objectively comparing their skill, Ecclesia simply didn’t measure up to Yujin.
But she hadn’t just failed to beat Ariandel—for years she had been grinding Powell Software’s games as a specialist and was still called the absolute peak of that scene.
Even if her raw skill fell short, if she pushed the in-game systems and every technique to the absolute limit, no one could completely rule out the possibility of her winning.
While people tore into every possible angle of the one-on-one, time flew by.
Before anyone knew it, the long-awaited joint stream between Yujin and Ecclesia was finally about to begin.
The moment the clock hit the hour, Winter appeared in the center of the screen and cheerfully greeted the viewers.
“Tw-hi! Hello everyone! It’s Winter!”
The second Winter appeared on screen, the chat flooded with question marks.
Even though she had just logged into her own stream, the vast majority of viewers weren’t exactly thrilled to see her. Winter let out a quiet internal sigh.
“Alright, alright. Don’t look so disappointed, everyone. The real stars haven’t shown up yet. The only reason I’m here is one thing—I’ve been asked to provide commentary for today’s duel between my big brother and Ecclesia!”
The viewers mercilessly teased her, but Winter pressed on without flinching.
“Hey now, just because you can’t play soccer that well doesn’t mean you can’t succeed as a soccer coach, right? When it comes to pure physical talent I’m pretty confident I can hold my own anywhere. That’s why both my brother and Ecclesia happily agreed to let me commentate today’s duel!”
“Alright then, let me introduce today’s two main stars! On one side, my big brother who’s only been playing VR games for three days—Soma-jwa! And on the other, Korea’s top Nightfall specialist streamer, Ecclesia!”
As Winter finished the introduction, the screen spun and switched to the duel arena.
Standing in the center of the arena, today’s protagonists—Yujin and Ecclesia—faced each other.
Ecclesia stared at Yujin with a cold, wordless expression.
Yujin, meanwhile, looked completely free of tension as he casually looked Ecclesia up and down.
Hmm.
After sizing her up, Yujin gave a small nod.
At the very least, she had enough qualifications to say those things to me.
A sharp fighting spirit radiated from Ecclesia’s entire body, like a perfectly forged blade.
That kind of aura wasn’t something you built overnight.
It was the kind of presence that only came from people who had polished themselves without missing a single day.
Just as Yujin was considering whether he needed to revise his evaluation of her upward—
“…Hey.”
Ecclesia parted her lips while looking at him.
What now? Is she trying to pick another fight?
Yujin was about to furrow his brow when she spoke.
“I’m sorry. Before we begin the duel, I first want to offer Soma a deep apology.”
She bowed her head politely toward him.
“I’m apologizing for publicly challenging Soma to a duel and taunting him on stream the other day. Honestly, that wasn’t polite behavior at all.”
The way she kept her head lowered made it clear she was completely sincere.
“But if I have to make an excuse… I really had no other choice. I wanted to duel Soma no matter what, so I sent Winter multiple emails, but she never replied.”
“Huh? Ah, no. I don’t remember receiving any emails like that—”
“…Ah.”
There it was. Now that she thought about it, she remembered.
It had just arrived in the middle of a flood of collab proposals from other streamers and endless emails from companies, so she had naturally forgotten about it afterward.
“I… I’m so sorry! There’s no excuse for this! It’s completely my fault!”
Even she had to admit this one was on her.
If she had just politely replied from the start saying a collab wasn’t possible right now, things never would have escalated like this.
“There’s one thing I’m curious about, though.”
Yujin looked at Ecclesia with genuine interest as he spoke.
“Why did you want a duel with me this badly? Even if you reveal the hidden route entry method, I don’t think there’s a reason to go that far just to fight me.”
“…No. For me, there is a reason.”
The first time Ecclesia watched Yujin’s stream, she had been hit with a massive shock.
Until then she had believed that among Korean streamers, she stood at the absolute peak of Nightfall.
And she had poured endless personal effort into protecting that position.
But Yujin’s appearance had shattered her confidence into pieces.
Yujin was a genius.
A monster of talent who casually accomplished things that people like Ecclesia could never even dream of.
“But I couldn’t just sit still and do nothing.”
She admitted it.
Yujin was a streamer with talent and skill far superior to her own.
But that fact alone wasn’t enough of a reason for her to quietly step down from the throne she had held until now.
Even if it looked pathetic to others, even if it seemed pointless—
Ecclesia wanted to put up the strongest resistance she possibly could against Yujin.
Her chances of winning this duel… objectively speaking, weren’t high.
She had prepared a “trump card” of sorts, but even she had no idea how well it would work against him.
But at this point, victory or defeat no longer mattered.
Proving herself right here, right now.
That was everything the current Ecclesia wanted.
“So I’m going all out. Because more than anyone else, I want to beat you, Soma—no matter what it takes.”
Click—!
With those words, Ecclesia drew a weapon from her coat and aimed it at Yujin.
“I’ll give you one free shot as a service, Soma. That much is necessary to make this duel fair.”
Right now Yujin and Ecclesia were still in the pre-duel state, so the system had them both in invincible mode.
In other words, even if you attacked the other person, you couldn’t reduce their HP at all.
This was Ecclesia’s consideration.
Her own way of being considerate toward Yujin, who had never experienced a magic gun in Nightfall before!
Bang!
The gunshot rang out across the arena.
Clatter-roll.
The bullet that missed its mark tumbled pathetically across the ground.
But Ecclesia hadn’t missed her aim. The bullet’s trajectory had been aimed perfectly at Yujin’s heart.
The trajectory hadn’t gone wrong—it simply never reached him.
And before anyone realized it, Yujin was already holding a sword in his hand.
There was only one thing those facts could mean.
In a half-dazed voice, Ecclesia stammered out the words.
“…Don’t tell me you… deflected the bullet with your sword?”