Ore-sama

Smack!

Li Duoyu hit pause, looking completely dumbfounded.

What the hell was that?

The first eleven episodes had all been goofy and fun. The protagonist had looked cool for a bit in episode six, but otherwise acted like an idiot. And now he was spouting a whole speech that sounded so profound—what the hell was that about?

But... that was what Li Duoyu was thinking to himself. Even so, after watching the protagonist deliver those final lines like a martyr, accompanied by the sudden explosion of sound and visuals, he felt so hyped...

No, not hyped. Fired up.

He was suddenly burning with excitement.

He took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and, thinking, You're not fooling me, hit play again.

"Hey, everyone! Ore-sama is here." The protagonist wore the same stupid grin he'd had during the poorly drawn scenes, but in this moment, in the section Gu Xue had animated, he didn't look stupid at all. He exuded a wild arrogance, and was even kind of cool...

The Four Heavenly Kings tensed, each making small movements that betrayed their nerves.

Only the Demon King stood behind them, calm and unruffled.

That was also why Gu Xue had taken on these two cuts.

The two sides held their standoff for two seconds.

"You're asking for death!" A-Da, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, finally couldn't hold back. He raised and straightened his hand, chanted briefly, then crouched low and charged at the protagonist.

A-Da rushed closer, his figure growing larger in the frame. Then he stopped abruptly in front of the camera, drew back his outstretched arm, and swung a fist at the protagonist. Hand-drawn dust effects burst up in an instant and swept toward him.

The force of the punch and the dust blew the protagonist's hair back. He jerked his head aside to dodge, then grabbed A-Da's arm with both hands, one over and one under. He bent down, turned, lifted the punching A-Da, and hurled him to the side. Then he bent his right leg and drove a powerful knee into A-Da's stomach, knocking him off his feet and doubling him over as a ring of air burst behind his back.

"Urgh..." A-Da spat out a huge mouthful of saliva. The protagonist let go, and he went flying.

The protagonist turned sideways, then vanished with a whoosh. A second later, the ground where he'd been standing split apart.

The scene changed.

A wide shot.

A-Da flew forward, doubled over. The protagonist's legs pumped rapidly as he tried to catch up and finish him off.

But halfway there, A-Er, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, suddenly sprang out. He leaped into the air and kicked at the protagonist's face.

Whoosh.

The protagonist, who had been sprinting just a moment ago, abruptly stopped and leaned back slightly.

The shoe swept past the bridge of his nose.

First came the lightning-fast kick, then the slow motion.

A-Er and the protagonist stared into each other's eyes.

The protagonist caught A-Er's head and slammed him into the ground, burying him in the dirt.

It was as smooth as flowing water. The animation and the protagonist's movements were equally seamless.

In the next shot, the protagonist had been forced to stop. With his back to the camera, he stood beside A-Er and abruptly turned his head. A blade of wind skimmed past his ear, cutting off a lock of hair.

The scene changed again.

"How coul—" A-San, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, was caught in the pose of throwing something forward. Before he could finish, the protagonist appeared in front of him with a whoosh, grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him up.

Just as the protagonist was about to repeat his earlier move and slam A-San into the ground, A-Si, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, appeared and unleashed a flurry of straight punches at his face.

The protagonist shifted his feet slightly and swayed his upper body from side to side. His movements looked slow, yet he dodged every punch perfectly. Most impressive of all, he was still holding someone, but the scene didn't look awkward in the slightest—not the protagonist's dodging, nor A-San's body twisting as he struggled with a hand around his throat.

"How coul—" A-Si looked terrified too. He still hadn't finished his words when the protagonist took a big step forward and twisted his waist, flinging the struggling A-San behind him before slamming him into A-Si's face.

The two smashed into each other face-first,

then tumbled away.

Then, somehow, A-Da had gotten back up. He flew at the protagonist and drove a knee toward his stomach.

The protagonist crossed his arms in front of his abdomen and blocked the knee. He shoved A-Da down, making him stumble, then raised his right leg again and bent the knee—this time aiming for his face.

Then came A-Er again...

One scene after another.

The fight was full of sweeping, powerful movements, with close-quarters brawling alongside superpowered combat that defied the laws of physics.

In short, it looked amazing.

Li Duoyu could no longer contain his racing pulse.

He had to admit, the impact of the animation now formed a stark contrast with the protagonist's earlier speech, which had sounded profound but was actually a load of crap. Especially that line about being some country bumpkin...

What the hell, country bumpkin? You've been beating the crap out of them—you know that, right?

Damn, this was suddenly so hype.

As the fight sequence Gu Xue had worked on played, the comments were now full of things like "??? Country bumpkin?" "Sacrificing the overall quality of the show for a few minutes..." and "Budget explosion!"

Never mind the first two.

Gu Xue probably wouldn't be happy to see that "Budget explosion" comment.

What budget? They hadn't even paid her yet...

But the audience didn't need to know about that, and there was no reason they should. They just needed to enjoy the show.

Meanwhile, the protagonist was still beating the Four Heavenly Kings to a pulp.

In the latest scene,

the protagonist held A-Da, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, by the head and dragged him across the ground, charging straight toward the Demon King.

The other Four Heavenly Kings were already sprawled on the ground.

The protagonist released A-Da, whose face was a bloody mess, then raised his foot and crushed his head. At the same time, he leaned toward the Demon King and asked with wild arrogance, "Is that enough?"

Their faces were barely a handspan apart.

Setting aside all the comments yelling "Kiss already!" and "Head-pushing squad!" and other such nonsense,

Gu Xue had done an incredible job with this sequence. So incredible that even Li Duoyu could tell. Seeing the protagonist's wild expression now, he'd already forgotten what the protagonist had been like before.

What would happen next?

After watching the protagonist fight the Four Heavenly Kings, Li Duoyu's anticipation had reached its peak.

And the next scene didn't disappoint.

The Demon King raised a hand and pressed it against the protagonist's chest.

Thud.

A second passed.

The protagonist, who had seemed invincible until now, doubled over like a shrimp and was sent flying.

He rolled across the ground several times, pathetic as a beaten old dog.

The Demon King stepped forward, his foot landing in A-Da's brains, and said, "That's enough."

"Now this is interesting." The protagonist slowly got up and wiped the corner of his mouth.

The BGM started.

A male singer with a remarkably clear voice sang a blazing insert song.

The Demon King and the protagonist each charged toward the other.

The camera cut to the sky, looking down. They each became a streak of light, traced a Z-shaped path, and collided. The instant they struck, a gale swept through. The ground all around them peeled back, leaving only the spots where they stood untouched.

"Still interesting?"

The camera cut to a close-up. The Demon King and the protagonist each held a sword, their blades scraping against each other with a grating screech.

"Of course."

The protagonist smiled, gripped his sword with both hands, and shoved the Demon King away. Then he swung his sword, lowered his body, and charged at him again.

Clang, clang, clang.

The two began a sword fight.

They darted and weaved around each other. They were only animated, yet their movements looked unbelievably real. This sequence, later hailed as one of the year's best-animated scenes, kept assaulting the audience's senses.

It was explosively fluid.

Their sword fight lasted nearly four whole minutes. Just as the audience was about to tire of watching, the protagonist lost by a narrow margin. A slash caught him in the chest, sending him flying.

"Not bad." The long sword vanished from the Demon King's hand. He glanced at the slash on his own abdomen, and two horns slowly sprouted from his head.

The protagonist plunged his sword into the ground as he flew back, barely managing to stop himself. Ignoring the wound in his chest that was still pouring blood, he slowly rose to his feet.

He gripped his sword in one hand and tore off all his clothes with the other.

Bare-chested, he raised the so-called Holy Sword with his blood-covered hand, pointed it at the Demon King, and laughed. "Of course! Who do you think I am? I'm the Hero! Even my toes are Holy Swords!"

"Then I'll look forward to seeing what you can do, Hero!" The Demon King bent his knees. The horns on his head grew longer and longer, and a blood-red mist began to billow from his body.

"Then you'd better look forward to it!" The protagonist crouched slightly and lowered his stance. Mist burst from his body too.

"Ah!"

"Oh!"

The two took fighting stances and shouted. The camera cut rapidly between their faces.

Finally, they crashed into each other again.

At first, there was only silence.

Then flames appeared and exploded outward, centered on the two of them.

BOOM!

Sorry you had to read such an ugly chapter. I'm sorry.