"You're strong," Saitama said calmly.
"To be able to fight me, after I've unleashed my full power, and still hold a stalemate…" Boros laughed.
Outside the spaceship, members of the Hero Association were fighting the remaining Monsters aboard the vessel.
Inside the spaceship, however, the battle between Saitama and Boros remained unseen by anyone else.
Yet throughout the entire episode, the flames, special effects, art style, combat choreography, and background detail;
Genji could clearly feel that none of it was inferior to many animated films released in theaters.
What's more, the fight was extraordinarily long and immensely satisfying to watch.
When the battle shifted from inside the spaceship to its outer surface.
When Boros unleashed his full power, shattering city-sized structures on the ship's exterior with a single punch.
Genji's thoughts stopped entirely. His eyes simply followed the animation, immersed in the visual spectacle and the unfolding story of this One-punch Man episode.
Then came the most iconic scene of the episode.
Unable to defeat Saitama even then, Boros removed the final seals on his body.
Another extended battle followed, lasting over a minute. This time, the clash ended with Saitama being blasted straight off Earth, crashing onto the Moon.
Saitama lightly pushed off the moon surface, returning to earth.
Back to the spaceship.
Back to Boros.
When Boros's wide, stunned eyes appeared on screen, Genji couldn't hold back.
"You've never met someone like Saitama before, have you?"
"You will be defeated by me!" Boros roared, unleashing every last ounce of his power.
Saitama responded with a single punch.
This time, however, there was a faint seriousness in his eyes.
Boros's body was blown apart.
Then, from a single drop of blood, Boros regenerated once more and charged forward, his face filled with fury and resolve.
Genji picked up his glass of water and took a nervous sip.
The background music was overwhelming.
His heart was already shouting.
'Go, Boros!'
But after two minutes of what Genji considered the coolest fight scene he had seen this year, no, in the last five years;
"Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon!"
"Serious Punch!"
Their voices overlapped.
Under the force of Saitama's Serious Punch, Boros lost all remaining vitality.
Regeneration was no longer possible.
The shockwave split the clouds of earth apart, carving a visible path through the sky.
"You really were strong," Saitama said, looking back at Boros, who lay on the ground with only a faint breath remaining.
"As the prophecy foretold… this was an equal battle."
"Yeah. It was," Saitama replied, turning his back.
Genji felt a sudden ache in his chest.
Even though Boros was a villain, he couldn't help but feel sympathy.
"You're lying," Boros said weakly. "You still had strength left. This doesn't even count as a real fight. You're just too strong."
Boros died.
The massive spaceship began to fall from the sky.
As Saitama's solitary figure turned and walked away, a line of text appeared on the screen.
The Strongest Hero
It was both the official confirmation of Saitama's power and the title of the episode.
Without realizing it, Genji's eyes grew moist.
To ordinary people, Boros was a godlike existence.
But compared to Saitama, the gap between them was even greater than that between a god and a human.
Empathizing with Boros, Genji felt an unexpected sadness.
One-punch Man Episode 12 ended as the ending theme played, showing scenes of captured aliens and brief appearances of various key characters.
"Is it really over?" Genji murmured.
Not just the episode.
But Boros as well.
For reasons he couldn't explain, One-punch Man always made him want to cry without realizing it.
After the ending song finished, Genji closed his eyes and replayed the episode in his mind again and again.
"Amazing, Teacher Shirogane."
Both the story and the production were top-tier.
And the title of the final episode, The Strongest Hero, perfectly captured its theme: the strongest hero defeating the strongest Monster.
Until Boros was defeated and Saitama quietly left, human society knew nothing about what had truly happened. The civilians below the spaceship, and even the heroes themselves, were completely unaware.
One person had not only saved the city's residents, but had also saved the entire world, heroes included.
Of course, the most important thing was that the fight scenes were genuinely breathtaking.
In fact, the epic battle between Saitama and Boros sparked an enormous amount of discussion that very night.
"Boros is just gone like that? Can Teacher Shirogane revive him later?"
"It made me tear up."
"Episode 12 is simply divine. That continuous battle sequence is absolutely the most iconic animated scene of this year."
"Incredible. I'm speechless. The production quality of this episode is basically the ceiling for television animation."
"This is torture. I have to wait another week for One-punch Man Season 2. What am I supposed to watch next week? Don't tell me Burning Sin Episode 13."
"It's over. Confetti time!"
"It's not over yet, why are you throwing confetti?"
"Celebrating the end of Season 1!"
Friday night, ten o'clock.
Large numbers of fans flooded the forums to discuss the final episode of One-punch Man.
As the finale of the most popular anime of the season, Episode 12 was under intense scrutiny. The result was a complete triumph.
Those who had been waiting for One-punch Man to stumble, who had even prepared negative drafts in advance, hoping to seize on the slightest flaw the moment the episode aired, vanished without a trace.
At this point, the entire Japanese animation industry was focused on one question.
What would the ratings for One-punch Man Episode 12 be?
Would they match last week?
Would they fall?
Or would everyone's boldest expectation come true and break the 6% mark?
The next morning, Rei woke early and headed straight to Illumination Animation Company.
Himari had arrived even earlier and was already waiting in the chairman's office.
"You're early, Rei," she greeted him with a smile.
"So are you."
"We were both too eager to know the ratings to sleep, weren't we?" Himari laughed, taking a deep breath.
Rei didn't answer, his eyes fixed on the clock.
"By the way," Himari asked, "if One-punch Man really breaks 6%, what do you plan to do?"
"If it really breaks 6%…" Rei paused, then smiled.
"That would only mean the pressure on Season 2 will be even greater."
"It'll be very difficult to surpass this record again. But…" he looked at her calmly, "I think both you and I are the type who enjoy challenging difficult things."
Minute by minute, time passed.
Finally, at ten o'clock sharp, a document from Capital TV Station arrived in Himari's inbox.
She opened it.
Her expression froze for a moment, then slowly relaxed as she spoke.
"One-punch Man Episode 12. Ratings: 6.18%."
"Winning by a margin of 0.02%, and breaking the highest animation ratings record in Japan over the past five years."
...
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