LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 6
Inside the gigantic palace, two figures were facing each other.
On the right stood a beautiful woman.
Her hair, redder than blood, accentuated her pale skin, and her ruby-like red eyes sparkled with brilliance.
The woman licked her lips slightly and smiled.
Across from her stood a cute girl.
Her ashy, frizzy hair evoked images of a wolf. The emotionless pink eyes made her opponent feel an unknown fear.
The girl tilted her head and glared at the woman.
The chime signaling the start of a blood duel rang out, and the first to move was the red-haired woman.
As she waved her hand in the air, sticky blood began to rain down from the sky.
With a pop sound, a hand emerged from the blood pool that had gathered on the ground.
It was a small doll.
Dressed in armor like a knight, its appearance was so bizarre that it elicited a snicker from its opponent.
But that moment wouldn’t last long.
The doll shone with a bright light and revealed its true form.
Clad in pitch-black armor, it was a sight that could only be described as a Black Knight.
“…!!!”
With a scream that could tear the ears apart, the Black Knight stepped towards the girl, and an enormous greatsword came crashing down toward her.
The merciless blow of the greatsword seemed impossible for the fragile girl to withstand.
However.
“Hmm.”
With a small grunt, the girl lightly touched the greatsword with her hand.
As a silver glow enveloped her hand, the Black Knight’s greatsword was pushed back as if it were a feather.
The Black Knight retreated and vanished into dust.
The silver-haired girl still wore an expressionless face.
Of course, the red-haired woman was still smiling.
“….”
“Haha!”
A dazzling radiance illuminated the palace.
Puddles of blood surged forth in numbers so great that counting them seemed pointless.
The atmosphere trembled. The girl’s body and the surrounding terrain began to float in the air.
A tremendous sound echoed from the ground. Dolls solely for slaughter were being born.
What could they possibly want to fight for?
If one were to ask this, both would answer without hesitation.
It was for just one small piece floating above the palace.
Fighting to claim the queen’s crown was already underway.
★
“Ah, I did it again!”
– Why does your voice get louder and annoying?
– You too?
– So freaking annoying, lol.
– You really have a talent for making people mad.
– Just look at that smirk; it pisses me off, doesn’t it?
The chatroom was ablaze.
The first opponent in the top ten was a beginner ranked E with almost no experience in ranked battles.
Of course, my rank with this ID was also E.
But who am I?
A ranked player who hit A at the launch of TLQ long ago.
The Owner with the reincarnated memories that could be called a cheat in web novels.
Sure, TS internet broadcasts typically don’t involve reincarnation, nor do VTubers have that either.
But who cares?
What’s important right now is that I’m overwhelmingly winning, right?
I wasn’t concerned about the chatroom being on fire.
– You really have some talent.
– Did you see the guard cancel from earlier?
– Seriously, you seem like a veteran.
– For an E rank, that’s no joke.
– Considering the opponent is also E rank, it’s too much.
– You still wiped the floor with them, even when you were at a disadvantage.
Because I had started to see glimpses of my skills being praised in the chat.
I perfectly won the first game of the top ten without a single loss, establishing that flow as mainstream.
“Hey, I’m sorry for winning consecutively like this, Flame of Love.”
– It’s okay. I’ll do my best until the end!
“Yay! I’ll do my best until the end!”
– Look at that deception, lol.
– Please have a comeback, I beg you.
I’m sorry, but please become my first victory sacrifice!
After exchanging pleasantries, I selected my ninth character.
The character I chose was the alchemist of flames, Scarlet.
The opponent selected a mercenary, Iris.
The matchup was decidedly in the opponent’s favor.
But that was fine.
I had already won every time the opponent had the advantage.
[3, 2, 1.]
[Usurp The Last Crown!]
As the battle announcement appeared, I immediately used a long-range zoning skill.
As Scarlet extended her arm, a red flash dashed towards the enemy.
Iris quickly raised her shield to defend against the attack, but when it was thwarted, she lowered her guard and attempted to approach me.
But I swiftly created distance again and used another zoning skill.
“If we keep going like this, I can win…”
– Seriously, how cheap is that? Lol.
– Fight fairly.
– Is this supposed to be a mood maker?
“Uh, I can’t help it! To win in this matchup, I have to do this!”
Specializing in zoning, Scarlet met her end the moment the mid-range specialized Iris got close.
Of course, TLQ was ultimately a fighting game.
I couldn’t possibly resolve everything with zoning alone.
But with the disparity between my skills and my opponent’s, maintaining distance should still be feasible.
That confidence, or rather, the arrogance had taken root in my mind, and it had rewarded me with my ninth victory.
“Wow, even among beginners, a nine-win streak. I might actually be pretty good!”
– Look at how confidently you speak now that you’re winning.
– Typical loser behavior. Acting all high and mighty when they’re ahead…
– This person is ‘real’, I tell you!
– Didn’t you see the stream yesterday? Still not getting it?
– Those self-proclaimed losers should really learn from this.
– This is what it means to be a gamer in their room, lol.
Ah, feel free to mock all you want!
Such words mean nothing to me, having achieved a 9-win streak.
If you want to say something, then come and win against me!
“What should I do for the last match? I’m honestly considering that since I could lose…”
– You don’t seem to be thinking about it at all.
Of course, even as I said that, I already had my character decided.
It was the character I had played the most yesterday, and my main character when I’d played TLQ in the past.
The blood doll lord, Leticia.
And the character that Flame of Love selected was.
“Oh?”
Just like the beginning, the silver-haired witch, Shiro.
Leticia and Shiro had an obvious matchup.
Shiro was a beginner-recommended character with good hitboxes, particularly excelling in defense, whereas Leticia was pretty difficult to combo with and had poor hitboxes but was optimized for guard breaking.
Since we had fought with Leticia and Shiro in the first three rounds out of ten, Flame of Love should know this well.
“Did you maybe make a mistake?”
– Right?
– Did they give up?
The chatroom was questioning the choice of Shiro.
Besides, they picked Shiro later than I did.
…Could it be that they wanted to serve me a clean 10-win finish?
If that’s the case, then it’s only polite to accept that wish.
“For now, I’ll just proceed. Even if it’s a mistake, the world of the top ten is harsh…”
– By what you just said, you really sound like a fighting game expert, lol.
– Based on your stats and guard cancel usage, you might really be one.
– You may be a veteran in fighting games, but you’re a newbie in TLQ, huh? D:
[3, 2, 1.]
[Usurp The Last Crown!]
As the game began, I immediately summoned the Black Knight, Leticia’s combo starter.
Summoning the Black Knight and closing the distance allowed me to create a two-option attack with the Black Knight’s close-range attack or Leticia’s long-range zoning.
Typically, you would try to counter-attack using the Black Knight’s unique slow speed, but Shiro was incredibly slow to the extent that it felt like a comparison was an insult.
Thus, while Shiro had excellent hitboxes and guard performance, as mentioned before, Leticia was optimized for guard breaks.
To put it simply, once Shiro was caught in this two-option situation, you could safely say the game was over…
“…Huh?”
For some reason, it was my Leticia lying on the ground.
And the Black Knight had vanished, having somehow disappeared during Leticia’s down state.
“Oh?”
What on earth just happened?
In that fleeting moment filled with such thoughts, Shiro closed the distance and lightly lifted Leticia into the air.
Ah, this is bad.
Shiro’s advantage. Excellent hitboxes.
To rephrase, this meant that once the engine started, a myriad of bizarre techniques would follow.
Thus, I was utterly destroyed without even landing a single hit.
“It’s… okay! This is just the first round!”
Yeah. It’s just the first round, after all.
– Lmao, so aggressive yet landed not a single hit, huh?
– Right after losing a round, you just shrink away, lol.
– A noob lost to a perfectly executed matchup, haha.
The chatroom mocked me as if it were my just desserts, but it was fine.
I only needed to win one round, and they needed to win nine more in a row.
I wasn’t, not at all flustered, was I?!
– You got really lucky there! Knowing it’s just one round, your hands are trembling…
Why was it, though?
Why did Flame of Love’s words in the chat feel like a taunt with a k?
I absolutely cannot lose.
With that conviction in mind, I quietly selected my next character.
“W-what happened?!”
– Lmao, this is happening, haha.
– Oh my god, this is funny!
– Lol.
This is strange.
This is strange.
This is strange?!
The record displayed on the top left of the screen read, 9W 9L.
The chatroom was already filled with laughter.
– It’s the last round now! Let’s do our best!
Flame of Love still spoke politely.
“Uh, let’s do our best.”
– I can hear you trembling all the way here, lol.
– Right before the stream ends, too, haha.
– Someone mentioned the typical loser behavior, and now that you’re at a disadvantage, you’re back to being your usual self, huh?
– Couldn’t it be said that’s what happens when one gets even slightly disadvantaged? Lol.
Focus.
Don’t mind those kinds of chats.
When I was winning, I had overwhelmingly won.
The only time I lost perfectly was that once.
The rest had all been neck and neck, right?
I could win, very much so.
I quietly composed myself and chose Leticia for the last time.
And Flame of Love seemed to be laughing at me as they selected Shiro.
– Shiro makes an appearance, lol.
– You’re really determined to have the last laugh.
– If I lose this, I swear I won’t sleep tonight, haha.
– I hope you lose…
– Praying for your loss, haha.
Look at the reactions in the chatroom.
I cannot, must not lose.
With that resolve, I prepared myself.
Right before victory, I completely turned the tide against them.
“AAAHHHH??!!!”
– Hahaha.
– Oh, lmao!
– Stream ending here, haha.
– B2 lol.
– Your voice is so loud, lol.
– The number one scream of the season, haha.
The streaming screen shifted to the end credits.
Probably, the manager had remotely cut the stream.
Without even time to say goodbye, the broadcast ended.
What was initially titled a 10-win streak broadcast turned out to be an ultra-short stream that lasted just over an hour.
And the opponent was the lowest tier, E rank.
This is absurd.
The person I had practiced against earlier had told me I could probably even reach A rank.
Could it be that my opponent, like me, was an Owner with reincarnated memories…?
At the moment I fell into those thoughts.
Ding, the TLQ chat alert rang.
Oh right, I hadn’t quit the game yet. When I looked at the screen,
Flame of Love’s character was still in the lobby.
– Thanks for your efforts.
– It was truly an intense match, gripping until the end.
– By the way, could you check this link out?
– Ah, I’ll keep enjoying your broadcasts ☆=(ゝω･)/
That was the last thing he typed before leaving the lobby.
“…What’s this?”
Copying the link he posted in the chat, I slowly pasted it into the address bar.
What appeared on the screen was.
“Flame of Affection?”
A name I had never seen before, alongside the letters SS.
When I glanced slightly upwards, it was easy to understand that this site was the TLQ ranking site.
And SS rank proved one was in the top 0.1% of TLQ.
In other words.
“…Aaaahhh!! He had a smurf account!!! Damn!!!!”
For a while, my scream echoed throughout the room.
Ding.
[Manager: The mic is still on!]