Chapter 170: The Villainous Theater Heats Up

"Oh, so if the root cause leads back to the Villain, the gauge still fills up."

It all started when a gas tank, blown away by a random explosion, rolled off and violently detonated a few minutes later, causing Pencilgon's Villainic Gauge to spike. The sheer, unadulterated evil that twisted her face at that exact moment was absolutely atrocious. Not just "terrible", but entirely inhumane.
Even if you don't pull the trigger directly, secondary disasters still fill the gauge. This single revelation led to Pencilgon formulating the utterly deranged strategy of "Manned Building Jenga," but I never imagined it would enable a level of atrocity even beyond that.

That being said, it wasn't actually an endlessly busted exploit. Because the location, situation, and setup all heavily relied on the RNG of the area generation, it was technically a trash strat that shouldn't have left the realm of a meme. As expected, RNG is trash... wait, in this case, did the RNG actually prevent the game from turning into a Trash Game? Is the RNG the MVP? I suppose it's just a deeply karmic chaos encompassing both the pure and the corrupt.

"The building collapses, and its massive weight violently obliterates the evacuation zone... The sheer scale of the evil deed continuously feeds the gauge to the point of overflowing. The root cause is probably that Clockfire's Super is mechanically treated as 'fully activated' the exact frame the clown bomb spawns, but still..."

Those crushed directly, those swallowed by the shattered debris, and the myriad of despairs cascading outward from there—all of it filled Clockfire's gauge at a terrifying velocity.
If it were any other character, the activation frames of their Super would have naturally prevented this kind of rapid-fire spam. But Clockfire is highly unique among the entire roster for having a "Trap-Type Super." Which basically means the exact millisecond the bomb is placed, you can fire off the next Super.

Precisely because she was a character with that highly specific type of trap Super, the utterly psychotic spectacle of mass-producing Super bombs at an insane rate was more than enough to leave everyone here—myself and Natsume included—completely dumbstruck. The sheer despair of the playboy currently trapped inside that encirclement of madness was entirely beyond imagination.

"Actually, that idiot totally prioritized her own fun..."

True, this strategy wasn't exactly something you could just save for later, and considering the activator, Clockfire, had to be in a very specific location, it couldn't be helped, but still.

"Total time... twenty-one minutes and thirty-three seconds..."

Surrounded by a massive horde of expanding clown bombs, the dark-hero-leaning doctor in the white coat was completely annihilated, stopping the timer. Compared to the 1st and 2nd rounds, the match ended so absurdly fast it made me want to clutch my head.

"Ahahaha, ahhh, that was so much fun!"

<<Hey, that's definitely a bug! What the hell is going on?!>>

The one whose evil schemes had worked flawlessly, and the one who took the full brunt of those evil schemes head-on. A truly contrasting awakening.

"I mean, with a location that absolutely perfect, I just couldn't resist the temptation... Nfufu, it was amazing, right?"

"It was so amazing that every single person here is entirely creeped out, you idiot."

"No seriously, that was like some kind of cartoonish watermelon splitting! I really want the VOD for that, think they'll give it to me later?"

Even if it's just a game, this psycho just committed literal genocide and passed it off as a joke! Natsume has this indescribable look on her face like an octopus is doing the robot dance inside her mouth... Dammit, am I the only sane person here?!

<<Calm down, Lucas, that wasn't a bug.>>

<<Huh?! No matter how you look at it, that gauge was completely busted!>>

<<The collapsing buildings completely demolished the stadium full of NPCs. That's the reason the gauge spiked so fast.>>

<<Are you kidding me...>>

It seemed the other side had finally calmed down as well; upon hearing the explanation, Lucas slumped limply back into his chair as if all the strength had left his body. Naturally, if anyone with zero context heard about "using building dominoes to play watermelon-splitter with a stadium to secure infinite gauge for Super spam," they'd instantly assume it was a bug.

"And? Do you have anything to say for yourself, Madam Strategist who prioritized her own fun and ended the 3rd round faster than it takes to boil instant noodles?"

"Well, we'll figure something out."

"That doesn't even have a shred of logic to it."

Riding a donkey and charging at windmills seems like it'd have better odds of winning.
Even so, seeing how triumphantly she was answering Sasakama's interview questions, she was probably just stalling for time here. In this exact moment, the person drawing the most eyes was undoubtedly Pencilgon; that sheer, effortless ability to command attention might honestly be an even more valuable talent than her gaming skills.
Seriously, if she'd been born in a different era, she'd have become a major threat to society, wouldn't she? Thank god for modern times, thank god for video games. The world was truly saved by entertainment and the current era.

"Natsume, who's the next opponent again?"

"Alex Taylor... Up until Sylvia Goldberg showed up, he was the strongest player in Star Rain... no, in its predecessor 'Atlas'."

"...Uhhh."

"...Codename 'Long-Distance Relationship'."

Ahhh! That guy! Yeah, yeah, I remember now, so please stop looking at me like you're staring at a zero-point test score.

"Hm, but wait, wasn't he the guy..."

The one Pencilgon so confidently declared, "He's gonna be a total pushover"?

<<Ahahahahahaha! You're really prioritizing punching me, fellow Villain?! Even if it means tearing apart the beautiful bonds of lovers?!>>

<<N-Gwooooohhh?!>>

<<Is it really okay to show such a pathetic display? Hmm? Come on, come on!>>

<<Nwoooooaaaaahhhh!>>

Today, I learned for the very first time that once you push past absolute speechlessness, you just default to a deadpan stare, and when you push past even that, an incredibly genuine wave of secondhand embarrassment comes rushing back.

"How do I even put this... it's like suddenly pulling out a baseball bat during a chess match..."

"I really should have registered anonymously too... Hey, it's not too late, so give me that helmet..."

"Are you aware you just said something incredibly atrocious?"

Trying to sacrifice my privacy like that is an act of villainy on par with Pencilgon! Well, maybe it's slightly better than that, but still... Argh, this is all that damn bastard's fault!

"I mean, seriously, to launch an attack straight at his real life with a line like 'Are you really okay showing such a pathetic side to your girlfriend watching this?'..."

Perhaps having completely stopped caring since she was just using a disposable anonymous account, the way she mercilessly battered Alex's real-life circumstances to torture him was undeniably the work of a villain, but compared to her gameplay as an absolute grand-scale mastermind just a moment ago, this was just... yeah, incredibly petty.

"She's literally on the same level as a mob thug..."

"The problem is that the thug in question is completely controlling the match from start to finish..."

Exactly. Just like how an actor who played the lead in a mafia movie might play a low-level thug in their next film, there was a difference in her roleplay, but no drop in her actual skill.
No matter how cheap and thug-like her hostage tactics seemed, the person inside was still Pencilgon. Her ability to skillfully assassinate anyone who lost their cool from her nerve-grating trashtalk hadn't changed one bit.

According to my research, Mr. Normie Alex's main was supposed to be a Hero character, but he likely determined from the previous match that challenging Pencilgon with a Hero was too dangerous.
Opting for a Villain so they could both go wild without worrying about collateral damage was definitely the optimal counter-strategy. However, there was a fatal gap in just how completely they were willing to throw away their shame when it came to roleplaying—that was all.

Regarding Alex's counter-strategy, Pencilgon had a brutally simple answer prepared.

"Do you really think a guy trying to look cool for his girlfriend is going to bully the weak, even if they're just NPCs?"

Pretty sure even a single guy wouldn't actively go out of his way to genocide NPCs... At least not in a game where that isn't the main objective.

"Wow, the exact second he tried to go save them, she blew up the entire building along with them... Ahh, her gauge is filling up..."

How many times has that clown bomb shown up today? Apparently, they can be freely moved around to some extent before they fully set into the ground, and right now, the entire world was watching a broadcast of Clockfire kicking an expanding clown bomb straight into a collapsing building like she was playing soccer.

"Right, of course... I'm gonna get lumped into the exact same category as her, aren't I..."

"I feel like this is actively going to damage my future career as a pro gamer..."

"Let's just dump the blame for all of this squarely on Bakatzo's shoulders. He's the one who dragged that morality-deficient extraterrestrial into this, after all."

Premium sushi or A5 Wagyu sirloin isn't gonna cut it as an apology this time, Katzo... You're paying for a full-course Imperial feast.

"It doesn't matter anyway, because right after this, the physics-defying extraterrestrial is going to go on a rampage. I just know it..."

"Wha— Phys— Physics-defying, hey now! Compared to those villains who strap people to the barrel of a tank with a smile on their faces, I'm completely normal!"

Talking about me like I'm some tentacled alien. The decisive battle against Ctarrnid is still a ways off, and I am a perfectly average human being. Getting placed in the same category as a psychological eldritch horror is extremely regrettable!
By the way, the story behind how I ended up strapped to a tank barrel is way too long, so I'll skip it, but if I have to say one thing in my defense: all I did was pump gas into the enemy base from the outside the exact moment Katzo and Pencilgon breached it.

"How do I say this... I feel like I finally understand why Kei is so weirdly resistant to trash talk..."

Did you know? In games with profanity filters, the key is how deeply poetic and literary you can make your insults. Honestly, rather than being told straight up "I hate you," being told "Every single second I spend interacting with you is a greater agony than marrying a sewer rat in a puddle of sludge" deals astronomically more psychological damage.

Natsume looked back and forth between me and the screen—where Pencilgon was currently laughing while holding an NPC mother and daughter hostage—with the eyes of someone who had reached enlightenment.

Oh hey, that mother and daughter are the exact same NPCs she blew up turn one in the match against Lucas. Getting caught by Pencilgon again, how tragic.

Author's Afterword
Alex's girlfriend is a young woman helping out at her parents' ranch in Hokkaido.
Writing out the story of how Alex and his girlfriend met is a hassle, so I only ever thought up the prologue for it.