It's an Honor to Meet You

The shockwave from the explosion spread in every direction, carrying dirt, gravel, and dust.

It soon reached everyone in the hero party.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked toward the hero, facing the shockwave.

At that moment, Li Duoyu finally experienced what it felt like to have his blood rush to his head. It wasn't just because of the animation; it was the overall presentation, too. Combined with what the hero had said at the start, it really felt like watching a martyr march to his death.

The shockwave slowly faded, and Li Duoyu's blood began to cool as he prepared for the ending.

It wasn't strange that he'd thought that. They'd been fighting for almost half an episode already, and as someone who knew a little about animation production, he could imagine how difficult those fight scenes had been to animate. Now that the explosion had ended the battle, the hero could emerge from the smoke and explain what happened afterward. That would make perfect sense.

But if that was all there was to it, Gu Xue wouldn't have complained that Misawa Hiroshi had gone too far.

As the audience all thought, "If you could do this well, then what the hell were you doing for the first eleven episodes?!", a figure burst through the smoke and was sent flying, his back slamming into a small mound.

One of the Demon King's horns had broken off, and his entire back was embedded in the mound. He looked utterly wretched.

Then the hero, bare-chested and now unarmed, slowly emerged from the smoke. He shook out his arms, rolled his neck, then bent forward and charged straight at the Demon King. When he got close, he leaped into the air, used the momentum to slide along the ground for a short distance, then landed on both feet and stopped in front of the Demon King. He twisted his upper body back, raised his right fist, and aimed it at the Demon King's face.

...Bam.

The mound behind the Demon King suddenly burst apart into chunks of different sizes, and the Demon King himself went flying.

The hero paused for a second, then vanished in a flash and chased after him.

The camera, which had been following behind the hero, shifted sideways as he sprinted.

The hero caught up with the Demon King as he flew backward.

The Demon King, curled up like a shrimp, had just managed to lift the long sword in his right hand to strike back when the hero grabbed his wrist.

Crack.

The Demon King's right arm was twisted into a knot. The hero gripped his wrist with one hand and seized him by the throat with the other. In midair, he bent both legs and drove his knees into the Demon King's chest.

A ring of air exploded where his knees met the Demon King's chest, and the Demon King, still flying backward, was slammed into the ground.

The dust settled.

Panting heavily, the hero knelt on the Demon King's chest, seized the long sword from his hand, and without a word, raised it, reversed his grip, and pointed it at the Demon King's throat.

The blade flashed.

Squelch.

Blood splattered across the hero's face.

"You're not..." The Demon King made a few strangled sounds, his eyes wide as he raised a hand, as if he wanted to say something.

"Your Hero is pretty awesome, huh?"

The hero smiled and cut him off. He twisted the wrist holding the sword, completely mangling the Demon King's throat.

The Demon King made a few more strangled sounds, then breathed his last.

A breeze blew past.

The blood-soaked hero knelt there for a while before wiping his face. Leaning on the sword hilt, he slowly stood up and turned to walk toward the camera.

Behind him, the Demon King's corpse began to disintegrate, turning into black fragments that vanished into the air.

With his back to the Demon King's corpse, the hero staggered over to the heroine.

The heroine's eyes were brimming with tears. She wanted to go to him, but seemed hesitant, and in the end, she stayed where she was.

"Norse, it's done. I'm awesome, right? I look like a Hero, don't I?"

The hero asked softly. The breeze stirred his hair. Though he looked utterly battered, there was something indescribably handsome about him at that moment.

The heroine bit her lip and said nothing.

"Oh, that's right. Perhaps I should call you by your real name and properly introduce myself."

The hero smiled as if he'd just remembered something. He lifted the long sword in his hand, planted it in the ground, then stepped back and placed his left hand over his chest. He bowed in an exceedingly gentlemanly greeting.

"It's an honor to meet you, Norse Sin Constance, my esteemed... Hero!"

The heroine looked at the hero and fell silent for a long while.

She clenched her right hand into a fist.

Whoosh.

With a particle effect, her dowdy long dress disappeared, replaced by a gorgeous suit of silver armor.

Holding the real Holy Sword, she looked at the bowing hero.

The hero stood bare-chested, looking at the ground.

They stood facing each other.

The camera pulled back, then...

The screen went black, and the episode title appeared.

[It's an Honor to Meet You.]

Li Duoyu: "..."

Huh?????? (rising intonation)

You've gotta be kidding me! After showing more than ten clips of *** over the first eleven episodes and giving us fanservice every day, you're telling me the heroine is some kind of Hero???

Are you serious?!

Even if that's not a mistake, at least explain what happens next!!!

At the same time, the comments were all turning into question marks.

But no matter how confused the audience was, the anime kept playing.

The black screen faded, the ending theme started, and the credits appeared.

But instead of continuing from where the episode had left off, the screen showed still images of ordinary people living peaceful, happy lives.

At the same time, the narration began.

"The Demon King was destroyed."

"The king was overjoyed. He even wanted to marry his beloved eldest princess to the Hero, but the Hero firmly refused and soon disappeared from public view. It's been a long time since anyone heard of his deeds."

"Some say he retired after accomplishing his mission and went into seclusion. Others say he was fatally wounded while vanquishing the Demon King and died in the palace. They say the king hid the news to spare the people grief."

"There are all kinds of rumors, but they're just hearsay and shouldn't be taken seriously. The one thing we can be sure of is that he brought us a peaceful life. We thank him."

After delivering that final line, the narration disappeared, too.

All that remained was the lilting female voice humming the ending theme.

The progress bar crept forward as the credits rolled. This time, Gu Xue was listed separately under "Key Animation," making her name stand out.

Just as the progress bar was about to run out and everyone thought the episode was over, the narrator suddenly spoke again, his words laden with meaning:

"Oh, by the way, of all the many rumors about the Hero, there's one that has drawn the most attention. Even the king, who always kept his emotions hidden, looked horrified when he heard it. That rumor says..."

"The Hero crossed the Wall of Retreat, stood before the Goddess, and sat down with her on the ground."

The question marks in the comments began multiplying at an incredible rate, but the anime ended, and the scrolling comments stopped dead.

Now, on the video player, there were only two little girls and a floating pop-up.

"If you liked this anime, you can support it with a coin~"

"..."

Li Duoyu stared at the video player for a while, then said:

"Fuck you."

After seeing the visuals and sound design bring out the anime's charm so perfectly, he really wanted to know what happened next...

The anticipation was practically spilling over.

He'd even forgotten that the first eleven episodes of the anime had been a complete disaster.

But the latest episode of Ore-sama's anime clearly said "The End." It was really over.

It was over...

Was this the kind of thing people were supposed to do...?

Li Duoyu sat there in a daze for a long time before finally suppressing the urge to find out what happened next and curse out the production team.

He watched the screen, and at some point, he suddenly felt at peace. He let out a little laugh, found his mood had improved quite a bit, leaned back, and flopped onto his bed.

He hadn't felt this way in a long time.

Maybe he'd go buy the original novel tomorrow...

He should stop worrying about what other people thought. If he liked something, and it wasn't against the law, didn't bother anyone, and caused no one any trouble, then no one had the right to criticize or blame him.

As for the anime—

Li Duoyu tossed in two coins and gave it a five-star rating.

Sure, the anime had this flaw and that flaw. It had been a complete disaster, and most of the time, its chuunibyou dialogue was unbearably awkward.

Maybe if he watched it again later, he'd wonder, "Why the hell did I think this anime was good back then?" But at least for now, his feelings after watching it were real.

He couldn't afford the discs or the merchandise. The only way he could show his support was by tossing in a coin.

I like it, so I'll support it. It's all I can do, and that's that.

After taking care of everything, Li Duoyu put down his phone and suddenly felt a little empty. He wanted a cola.

The craving kept getting stronger.

In the end, he couldn't hold back. He sat up and went out to buy a cola.

He'd leave worrying about murder or whatever to his middle-aged self.

While Li Duoyu was out buying a cola, more and more people on the video site finished watching the final episode of Ore-sama's anime.

By the time Li Duoyu got back, he'd witness a small miracle.

Ore-sama's anime, which had originally been rated just over 7, shot straight up to a 9.5 in only an hour.

Thanks to Nishengmeng for the 2,000-reward! Huo Reimu for the 100-reward! Zzzzofd for the 500-reward! WINTERWOLF for the 500-reward! Xuelu for the 100-reward! Xingkong Sheng for the 100-reward! Cangmang Bomu Ku Zanghua for the 100-reward! Xunlu Jun for the 100-reward! And Mingxin Jianxiu for the 10,000-reward!

Thank you. I really, truly thank you.