Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

The Best, yet most Infuriating End

No matter what happened, the game would always end badly for the Nameless Swordswoman. By some means, she dying in the hands of Li Xiye was already the best ending possible, of all the bad endings. In other endings, she either died in the hands of some youkai, or gets shredded to pieces by Zhao Kingdom’s army. There was even an end where she was betrayed by her own anonymous city.

The last of the endings was possibly the worst of all outcomes. Either way, the Nameless Swordswoman may have well been a fish out of water. The world did not accept her, and vice versa.

It was understandable, as she had never received any lessons since young. Her mother was just a mere dancer, with what little insight of the outside world she had giving her the slightest glimpse of events.

The most her mother taught her was to remain composed no matter what, and the fact that running away might be embarrassing yet useful.

The Nameless Swordswoman may have been given little to work with, but her simple ideals gave her the strength for one thing, which was to protect the weak. It was where her limits found themselves.

Sadly, such ideals were not shared by others, and that solitude bore its weight upon her like a smothering smog.

Lacking influence, betrayal would be inevitable if she were to form an organization, which was what she did. On some routes, the player would accompany her all along the way, lending her a helping hand when needed.

At the end of those routes, players would feel nothing but disgust towards the kind of person Zha Feng was.

They had done all they could, hoping to save the nameless maiden, even trying their best to convince her to stay out of trouble, yet their attempt would only end in failure. She would still stand against Li Xiye for the sake of her organization, bringing up the forbidden battle.

It was another duel of the century, only that it would not take place in the Forbidden City. One thing would still be certain. The differing paths of swords would still converge, and one would have to yield. Before going to the fight, Su Shi would hand everything over to the player and unleash herself against Li Xiye, who she acknowledged to be her equal in the sword.

Talents among the netizens had already made the move, writing Li Xiye – Su Shi ships in fanfiction. They had been pretty well written too, all to warn players – that these two should never meet, or a heartwrenching battle would unfold.

This was just like playing the “Daily Life of Cao Cao,” where Xiaohou Yuan and Huang Zhong must never meet, or some calamity would occur.

Players could try their best to prevent this battle from happening, but the Nameless Swordswoman never ran out of new methods of dying.

Not unless they were the popular woman gamer – Ah Yu. She had by some means found a “Noble Soul of the Nameless Maiden” ending.

Ah Yu came upon a very different ending, earning it a high view count and popularity.

She met the same sure-death events, but with raw skills, Ah Yu, or rather, the holy monk Ah Guang, overcame them and prevented Su Shi’s death again and again, maxing out their relationship points to the highest it could possibly go. She steadfastedly stood by the nameless maiden, even when going up against the entire Kingdom of Zhao, making an enemy of the Chun Yang school. They even nearly managed to kill Yan Qingmeng, if not for her contracted youkai minion.

This youkai turned out to be Zhao King Su Hu. Holy Monk Ah Guang managed to strip it of its human flesh, and it acted as the last boss of Ah Yu’s playthrough. He had trained himself in the demon arts, which was one of the reasons why he fed on humans.

Confirmed death scenes also included the fight between Su Shi and Li Xiye, but at that moment, Ah Guang had intercepted the battle, thus saving Su Shi, but having to fight Li Xiye himself. It was then revealed here that Ah Guang had found his own path of the sword. Wielding his “Sword of the Buddha’, he challenged Li Xiye in Su Shi’s place.

This had caused an uproar on the internet. The fight scene itself did not disappoint either. Most of all, the complexity of the battle had been enough to dissuade most from even attempting it.

The difficulty had been overwhelming, nigh-impossible, even.

On her first attempt, Ah Guang died once due to a slip-up, and also because Ah Yu had decided not to use any recovery potions in the fight.

Even after Li Xiye unleashed his trump cards like “Myth of the Sword God,” the “Legend of the Unfallen King” reached its end, as Ah Guang finally prevailed. Of course, as Li Xiye had plot armor, his life was never in danger.

Ah Yu had forcefully fought Li Xiye off to prevent Su Shi’s death, making sure that she does not die, shining a bleak ray of hope upon her viewers.

Ah Yu had successfully saved Su Shi from many sure-death events and even crossed swords with Li Xiye for her sake. The DLC had changed from “The Law of Humane Justice” to “The Law of Saving a Nameless Maiden from the Grasps of The Grim Reaper.” Players cheered in unison. If only this route had been more accessible, players might just have find it in their hearts to forgive Zha Feng. As things were, this route had been riddled with such a ridiculous amount of sure-death events.

Just as Ah Yu believed that she had done all she could to prevent Su Shi’s death, she was quickly proven wrong. Even being completely bonded to a player who could defeat the mighty Li Xiye, Su Shi was killed in a frame-locked CG attempting save Holy Monk Ah Guang. Unless you modded or hacked the game, you could only watch helplessly as she died tragically yet again.

It was at this point when even Zhao Youyue lost hope. She also knew why Zha Feng was so well known. To put things optimistically, all that grinding for bond points had not been put to waste as Su Shi had been willing to sacrifice her life for the players without being told.

Fortunately, Zhao Youyue came prepared – she had died so many times in the virtual world that it became a daily occurrence to her.

Those who died in the hands of a member of the Samsara Palace could join them and perform missions to save up points. If enough points were saved up, they would be able to be summoned by the player as Holy Spirits. This was exactly what Su Shi wanted, to be reborn as a Holy Spirit and take down the final boss Su Hu alongside the player, while attaining her own revenge.

Zhao Youyue had tried her best to create an ending that was not exactly bad, but viewers were still unable to accept it. They continued to rage at Zha Feng.

The key point was that Zhao Youyue’s playthrough had demonstrated all of the nameless maiden’s cuteness. It had been demonstrated in its entirety on her stream, providing viewers with a feeling of ease.

Most infuriating was the CG-locked death that occurred when players and viewers alike had their hopes at their highest. It was wonderfully done, therefore it was also tragically heartbreaking.

Who then, could still restrain themselves at that point?