The plot of the TV series progressed rapidly.
While King used the overwhelming pressure of the King Engine to suppress several Dragon-Level Monsters, on the other side of the battlefield, several S-Class heroes who had lost their physical strength, but had not yet fainted, were quietly devising a plan.
The S-Class hero Child Emperor even sent the communication-type mechanical insects he had created flying to each hero's ear, issuing commands in a low voice.
"All heroes must strike together. Pressure their positioning and force the monsters to line up in as straight an area as possible…"
Emi froze and stopped smiling.
Wait, there's another expert?
"Are you planning to annihilate these Dragon-Level Monsters with the satellite laser?"
Zombieman asked quietly into the communicator.
On screen, Child Emperor answered with complete confidence.
"We have a weapon far more powerful and effective than any artificial satellite laser… and that weapon is King."
At that moment, all the S-Class heroes still standing at the center of the battlefield turned their gazes toward King.
Genos. Atomic Samurai. Child Emperor. Zombieman. Puri-Puri Prisoner.
"We'll draw all the monsters into a straight zone," Child Emperor continued, clearly proud of the plan.
"Then King will use his ultimate secret technique, the Ultimate Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon to instantly kill all of them."
The moment the name Ultimate Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon was spoken, confidence filled every S-Class hero's eyes.
No one in this world had ever seen King take action.
But no one doubted the power of his move.
No one.
Except King himself.
In the animation, the pounding sound of the King Engine, his fearful heartbeat, grew louder and louder.
King's expression remained calm and composed.
But from Emi's point of view, she was absolutely certain of one thing.
King was hearing about this so-called ultimate move, Ultimate Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon, for the very first time in his life.
The episode ended right there.
Just as the S-Class heroes believed victory was already assured and began celebrating prematurely, sweat slowly formed on King's forehead.
How could he possibly know any cannon?
He was just an ordinary person!
The moment the ending theme song began to play, Emi's smile froze.
She slapped her thigh without thinking.
"Hiss! That hurts…"
She held up her bright red palm, but inside her heart, she was screaming.
'How can it end here?! Is this a cliffhanger a human being could come up with?!'
This episode could easily be called the most exciting installment since the start of One-Punch Man Season 4.
King, a key supporting character who had been carefully built up since Season 2, had finally reached his biggest meme-worthy and highlight moment in the entire work.
And yet;
After the episode aired, what followed wasn't praise.
It was resentment.
Countless animation fans across Japan poured their frustration directly onto Rei.
"So Shirogane-sensei did this on purpose, didn't he?"
"I'd rather he ended the episode two minutes earlier. What am I supposed to do now? Suffer for another whole week?"
"The more happily I laughed during the episode, the more miserable I felt at the end. This cliffhanger is downright cruel!"
"So this is the cliffhanger style of the number-one genius in Japan's animation world? I'm impressed."
"It's too painful. Can any employee at Illumination Production please leak a spoiler about how King fires the Ultimate Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon next episode? The buildup's gone this far, there's no way the monsters just scare themselves away!"
"Is he really going to summon Saitama-sensei?"
"No, no, no! King's most charming moment is when he's the strongest man on Earth. If the truth comes out, both King's and Saitama's characterizations collapse, and so does the anime!"
"Then what's the solution? If Saitama doesn't step in, how can King possibly clean up this mess and deal with those Dragon-Level Monsters?"
"I'm willing to call this the funniest and most captivating anime episode I've seen in years. It's just way too short!"
"Needless to say, the Monster Association Arc has officially reached god-tier status here. If it finishes at this quality, I'll buy any merchandise it releases!"
"Honestly, with Season 4 produced up to this point, the rest of the plot should already be finished, right? Shirogane-sensei, just release all the episodes next week. Stop torturing us. And while you're at it, put up all the preorder links, I'll buy everything. All of it!"
After the sixth episode aired, almost the entire One-Punch Man fanbase was dragged out into the open.
Forum activity surged far beyond normal levels.
In fact, even in ONE's original manga, the plot of Saitama fighting Garou might not have been as emotionally turbulent or eye-catching to readers as this section of the story.
And the next day, the ratings were announced.
One-Punch Man Season 4, Episode 6, 6.97%.
Compared with the previous week, the increase was dramatic.
More importantly, the viewership data itself was extremely subtle.
It stood just one step away from breaking the 7% threshold.
Once this result was made public, the entire Japanese animation industry seemed to fall into collective silence.
If one looked only at television animation, the last work to exceed a 7% rating had aired more than twelve years ago. And in the internet era, television ratings became more valuable the higher they climbed.
Twelve years ago, entertainment options were limited. For most people, leisure meant television, novels, manga, little else.
Today, with streaming platforms, short-video apps, games, and social media fragmenting attention, achieving the same rating carried vastly different weight.
A 7% rating in this era was worth far more than a 7% rating in the past.
And this wasn't limited to Japan alone.
In the thirty-one overseas countries that imported One-Punch Man, the opening ratings ranked near the top as well, drawing widespread praise from foreign audiences.
In some ways, the series' hero-and-monster framework aligned even more closely with overseas aesthetics than with domestic tastes.
After nearly a year of continuous broadcasting, One-Punch Man had undeniably become a global phenomenon.
Within Japan, its reputation among core anime fans still lagged slightly behind Hunter × Hunter.
But thanks to its theme and accessibility, One-Punch Man far surpassed Hunter in worldwide popularity.
That said, with the launch of the Hunter × Hunter anime, this gap was steadily narrowing.
In Rei's previous life, One-Punch Man had maintained a slight edge globally.
In this world, however, even Rei couldn't predict how things would ultimately unfold.
After all, One-Punch Man's rise had been almost entirely organic, no major capital backing, no aggressive corporate push. It relied purely on content quality and an endless wave of memes spreading across the world.
Hunter × Hunter, on the other hand, stood on a very different foundation.
Behind it was the Hoshimori Group, a publishing giant with a market value in the tens of billions, ranked second nationwide. If such a conglomerate fully mobilized its resources, how far could it propel Hunter?
Over the next two days, the latest episodes of Echoes of the End and Hunter × Hunter aired in succession.
Yet because One-Punch Man fans were extraordinarily active, and because a significant portion of them also chose to follow Hunter × Hunter that week out of trust and support for Rei.
When the final weekend ratings were released on Monday, the results stunned the industry.
Hunter × Hunter: 6.13%
Echoes of the End: 6.07%
The two series temporarily claimed second and third place in weekly animation ratings.
Within the Japanese animation industry, a strange tension settled in.
Something felt… wrong.
Under normal circumstances, the early arcs of Hunter × Hunter should never have achieved such numbers.
At that stage, the worldbuilding was incomplete, the cast not fully established. The story was engaging, but only engaging. How could it suppress a six-season juggernaut like Echoes of the End by such a margin?
The answer was obvious.
It was the spillover.
One-Punch Man fans had poured into Hunter × Hunter en masse under the bundled promotion orchestrated by Rei and the Hoshimori Group.
Some media outlets and Echoes of the End fans cried foul online, calling the situation unfair.
Those complaints only fueled more mockery.
What, exactly, was unfair?
If they weren't satisfied, they were free to have Echoes of the End's author create a second or third hit anime and link their IPs together.
But reality was reality.
At this rate, Echoes of the End was clearly sliding toward third place for the season.
Losing to One-Punch Man was understandable.
But losing to Hunter × Hunter as well?