The day truly began soon afterward.
Kaidenâs group pushed into a zone they hadnât touched yet, a wide alpine basin carved between two ridgelines where the monster density was supposed to be excellent and the kill-to-point ratio even better. The associationâs intel had flagged it overnight as one of the highest-value areas still available at their engagement tier.
What the intel had not flagged was the group already farming it.
"Oh," Luna said flatly, stopping mid-step. "Wonderful."
Ashbound.
The guild occupied the western half of the basin in what could generously be described as a combat formation. Ash stood at the center, an S-tier awakened with the build of someone who spent as much time in the gym as on the battlefield, flanked by his three A-tier companions: Brittany, Stacy, and Trisha.
All sporting heavy makeup. All busty. All wearing combat gear that prioritized visibility over protection, because when your business model was streaming explicit content on every platform simultaneously, you dressed for the camera first and the monsters second.
Their rotation was sloppy. The spacing between their damage dealers was inconsistent, their pulls were messy, and Brittany nearly ate a Ridgehowlerâs claw to the face because she was adjusting her chest plate mid-fight.
But they were here first.
Kaiden assessed the situation in about two seconds, then shrugged. "East sideâs open. Weâll work that."
They moved without discussion.
Within minutes, the contrast was visible to anyone watching both streams.
Ashboundâs kills came in bursts, messy and loud, punctuated by Ash posturing for the camera after every big hit. Runewovenâs kills came in waves, clean, efficient, Nyx funneling monsters into Bastetâs pressure zones while Luna and Aria cleaned the edges and Calypso carved through anything that got too close.
Alice hovered above Kaidenâs head in Conduit form, her mismatched eyes scanning the basin with the focus of an air traffic controller. <Big brother, Ashboundâs viewers are switching to our stream. A lot of them.>
<Good for them.>
<But the loser is talking smack about you... Heâs telling the viewers to spam your chat.>
Kaiden glanced toward the western side of the basin.
Ash had stopped fighting.
He was facing his stream setup, arms crossed, that performative grin plastered across his face. His voice carried across the basin, amplified by the streaming artifact, clearly intended to be heard by more than just his audience.
"âand look, Iâm not saying the guyâs bad. Iâm saying his girls are carrying him. You strip away the harem gimmick, and what do you have? A dude who got famous because he is the worldâs biggest weirdo." Ash laughed, the sound rehearsed. "His women are solid, Iâll give him that. But âsolidâ is generous when youâre comparing them to my girls. Brittany alone could-"
"Babe, letâs focus..." Brittany interjected on cue, pressing herself against his arm. The timing was so mechanical it couldâve been scripted.
It was.
"-could take any two of his girls in a straight fight, maybe all of them?" Ash finished, winking at the camera.
"And letâs be real, their business model is disgusting. Exclusive platform? Female-only access for the spicy stuff? Thatâs not exclusivity, thatâs bad marketing. We give the people what they want. All of it. Everywhere. No gates, no paywalls, no pretending youâre too good for the audience that made you."
He tilted his head toward the eastern side of the basin, where Kaidenâs group was methodically dismantling a pack of Ridgehowlers.
"Amateurs playing soldier," Ash said with a smirk.
Ashboundâs chat ate it up.
â BigAshEnergy: LMAOOO he said what we were all thinking!!
â StacyRider: ash keeps it real. kaidenâs girls are MID
â RealTalk99: exclusive platform = scared of internet comments. simple as
â TrishaSimp: ashbound gives us EVERYTHING. sinners give us crumbs and expect us to beg
Kaidenâs chat had a different opinion.
â MoonlitHeart: did this discount pornstar just call OUR girls mid??????
â NyxWife4Life: sir your women nearly died to a monster because they were fixing their boobs on camera. Sit your ass down.
â AriaBestGirl: his girls are literally npcs with breast implants
â 44xStorm: LMAOOO "cute outfits though" brother your girls are wearing lingerie in a COMBAT ZONE
â BastetâsThrone: the pharaoh hasnât even looked in his direction. thatâs the review.
â SinnerDevotee: kaiden doesnât even care this man exists and it shows
â LunaRage: imagine talking shit while your teammate nearly lost a titty to a level 60 monster
Meanwhile, some viewers who clearly came in from Ashâs stream to âset the record straightâ had thoughts of their own.
â TruthBomber: ngl ash has a point. kaidenâs girls are mid compared to ashboundâs three
â AlphaViewer: imagine being so insecure you only let women watch your porn lmaooo
â GigaAsh: kaidenâs whole brand is "look at me I respect women" while having 5 girlfriends. at least ash is honest about what he is
â CuckWatch: bro literally hides his content behind a female-only wall because he knows men would roast him đ
The fangirls descended on them like wolves.
â MoonlitHeart: @TruthBomber mid? MID???? aria could end your bloodline with a look
â NyxWife: @AlphaViewer he doesnât let you watch because youâre not worthy
â CalypsoMommy: @GigaAsh "honest about what he is" yeah a clout chaser with a knockoff brand name
â SinnerDevotee: @CuckWatch the paywall exists because kaiden respects his content and knows his groupâs worth. something your manchild streamer wouldnât understand since he streams his girls getting railed on tiktok
â 44xStorm: the way they came to OUR stream to defend their man. thatâs called insecurity babes đ
Alice watched the chat scroll with the intensity of a general studying enemy troop movements.
<Big brother.>
<Mm.>
<The cuck is still talking. I want to kill him.>
Kaiden split a Ridgehowler down the middle without breaking stride.
<Who taught you such a word?>
<Hah? Iâm not a little girl anymore! And also, why is me calling him a cuck your main concern?!>
<Because Iâm your big brother.>
<But!!>
<He can say whatever he wants.>
Why would Kaiden care if someone thought his girls were mid? Especially if it was another guy?
They were his, and they were the most wonderful girls in the whole universe. That was the truth, the only truth that mattered.
He couldnât care less of random men didnât like how they looked or behaved. All it meant that their taste was absolute garbage.
<...>
<Alice. Focus.>
The girl huffed in his mind, and the sheer force of her indignation was almost physical. <Fine! But I want it on the record that I have a very strong desire to end his life, and I might lash out at any moment without further notice!>
<Noted.>
Kaiden kept farming.
Until Ash stepped closer.