The animation continued.
Platinum Sperm and King stood facing each other.
At last, after what felt like an eternity, King slowly unfolded his crossed arms.
"Is Mr. King about to begin? His arms, they've opened."
All the S-Class heroes present stared at him with anticipation.
"King!"
"King!"
"King!"
Almost every hero who still had the strength to speak shouted his name in unison.
King looked at Platinum Sperm, hesitated for a split second, then moved as if preparing to kneel.
"Ah, is it too late for me to kneel and surrender now?"
Before he could finish the motion, another legendary line was born.
"Does everyone, really want to watch me die that badly?"
The moment the words left his mouth, a blinding white flash erupted.
Every S-Class hero who had still been cheering was instantly blasted away and knocked unconscious.
Platinum Sperm stepped forward calmly.
"King… it's quiet now. I know what you're thinking. You want to duel me in my perfect form, don't you?"
He smiled faintly.
"Come. Use your Ultimate Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon."
Emi was already kneeling on the floor in front of the TV.
She didn't dare touch the dinner she had brought home, terrified she might inhale food and spray it out of her nose from laughing too hard.
"Why?! What on earth are these heroes and monsters imagining?"
"Can't you tell that King has the physical fitness of an ordinary person? Or did you notice, and just assume he's deliberately hiding his strength?"
At that moment, the perspective of One-Punch Man suddenly shifted.
The scene moved to the other side of the battlefield.
Garou, who had been absent for three full episodes, had undergone monsterization, and lost consciousness to become a killing machine, had just finished his battle.
His master Bang and senior apprentice Bomb stood battered and exhausted.
Just as Ugly Fuhrer prepared to strike them while Bang was heavily injured.
Garou let out a long, inhuman howl.
Something deep within him stirred.
Cracks spread across his monstrous mask, a fragment shattering away as his power surged even higher.
In an instant, Ugly Fuhrer was obliterated.
Then, guided by some instinct he himself couldn't understand, Garou charged straight toward the battlefield where King and Platinum Sperm stood.
The perspective shifted back.
King's hands were now fully spread apart.
From the outside, it looked like he was about to unleash a devastating technique.
In reality, he was bracing himself to kneel.
Words of surrender swirled frantically through his mind.
'Ultimate Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon, what a joke. I don't know any such move. I'm just an ordinary person. I'm really sorry.'
He had just opened his mouth;
"Ultimate Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon..."
An invisible force tore through the battlefield.
The ground overturned. Airwaves exploded outward.
It was Garou, who had just arrived, launching indiscriminate attacks with his newly awakened power.
But the timing, combined with King's posture and his shouted words, made it look as though King himself had activated the technique.
In an instant, every remaining monster on the battlefield was wiped out.
The nearby heroes had already been knocked unconscious by Platinum Sperm earlier.
From a distance, the remaining heroes saw only this:
The moment King shouted the name of his ultimate move, Platinum Sperm's body was hurled skyward, as if blown away by a single overwhelming strike.
Evil Natural Water vanished in less than 0.01 seconds.
Light and shockwaves danced chaotically across the battlefield.
In truth, it was all Garou.
After three seasons of buildup and countless battles, he had finally evolved into an existence surpassing the Dragon-Level.
Platinum Sperm was smashed into the ground, his fate unknown.
The episode ended on a surreal image.
King's knees were bent, but had not yet touched the ground.
His arms were spread wide.
One second earlier, he had been shouting the name of his ultimate technique.
The next, Homeless Emperor was dead. Evil Natural Water was dead. Platinum Sperm lay motionless.
In the distance, the eyes of the surviving heroes sparkled with awe.
Up close, King's face was filled with nothing but confusion.
The ending theme began to play.
Emi stared blankly at the screen.
It took her a long moment to process what she had just witnessed.
"Damn it, Shirogane," she muttered. "You're doing this again?"
"Cutting it off here again?"
She took a deep breath.
At least King's storyline had finally come full circle.
From now on, even if King claimed he didn't know what the Ultimate Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon was, no one in the Hero Association would believe him.
Sending Platinum Sperm flying.
Killing Evil Natural Water.
All of it had happened right in front of everyone's eyes.
This was;
Emi couldn't help herself.
How could there possibly be a plot this ridiculous.
Late at night, major anime forums erupted with even louder complaints and rants about Rei's cliffhangers than after the previous week's broadcast.
And after this episode aired, the fourth season of One-Punch Man could be said to have truly reached its climax.
That same night, Rei sat quietly, scrolling through messages left by fans online. After thinking for a moment, he would occasionally reply to one or two of them.
In truth, in ONE's original version of the manga, the battle between Saitama and Garou hadn't been filled with so many twists and turns. In terms of difficulty, it wasn't even necessarily more intense than Saitama's fight with Boros.
But Murata's remake was a completely different story.
It had made fans genuinely break out in cold sweats for Saitama.
Rei, of course, wouldn't let Garou steal that much spotlight in the upcoming plot.
Still, Murata's version wasn't without merit.
At the very least, before Saitama and Garou truly faced off, Murata's remake had introduced two top-tier monsters in the Monster Association Arc: Sage Centipede, whose strength surpassed Dragon-level, and Evil Natural Sea, whose power also exceeded Dragon-level and was classified as an unknown rank.
Never mind how controversial Murata's portrayal of the protagonist might have been in the original storyline.
Those side characters and monsters were undeniably cool, oppressive, overwhelming, and visually unforgettable.
Rei had no intention of changing the core battle between Saitama and Garou, which would strictly follow ONE's original version.
But he also wouldn't go so far as to cut away all those side plots.
Thus, from Episode 8 through Episode 12, One-Punch Man would enter a phase of nonstop combat, with the production budget pushed to its absolute limit.
Scenes such as Saitama punching a massive crater into the ocean, exposing the seabed…
Or Evil Natural Sea collapsing after its defeat, its body transforming into a world-scale tsunami that threatened a nearby human aircraft carrier.
And Saitama, in order to save the people aboard, casually stepping onto the carrier and using it as a surfboard, riding atop the apocalyptic wave.
All of these iconic moments would be fully realized on screen.
Then, the Monster Association Arc would finally come to an end.
Garou, having evolved into his final form, an existence that could be called the ultimate lifeform, would face the only being in the universe he could never defeat.
Saitama.
After that, the anime serialization of One-Punch Man would temporarily pause.
"I really am a little reluctant to let go," Rei let out a soft sigh.
In truth, a work like One-Punch Man was much like Gintama.
As long as the creator could think of interesting ideas, it could continue indefinitely. And if inspiration ever dried up, stopping at almost any point wouldn't feel abrupt at all.
So even if the anime was placed on hold after the Monster Association Arc, it wouldn't feel like a loss.
Every viewer already knew the ending of this story in their hearts.
The so-called ending of One-Punch Man would surely be nothing more than an ordinary, peaceful day for Saitama.
No sudden crisis. No destruction of humanity.
And certainly no defeat for Saitama.
Of course, Rei also planned to periodically collaborate with copyright partners to release special OVA episodes.
For example, King attempting to become stronger by asking Bang to take him as a disciple, only to be flatly rejected.
Or, after the Monster Association Arc, a swordsmanship "match" between King and Atomic Samurai.
These would be produced as OVA content and released on Blu-ray.
"Five more weeks."
Closing his laptop, Rei took a deep breath, his thoughts drifting.
The temporary suspension of the anime didn't mean One-Punch Man was finished.
He still needed to coordinate with various partners to maintain the IP's popularity, and prepare for the game's launch.
"Now, I'll leave the rest to time."
Rei glanced at the sales report for the latest volume of Hunter.
Single-week sales: 6.95 million copies.
In terms of first-week sales alone, Hunter had already surpassed Echoes of the End.
By the time the One-Punch Man anime concluded, the battle for the number-one manga spot in Japan between Hunter and Echoes of the End would almost certainly reach a fever pitch.
...
Read 55 chapters ahead @[email protected]/Ashnoir