"He's definitely the supervillain for the whole series!"
Amid the discussion in the scrolling comments, Qiji appeared high above and faced Kamishiro Seigen head-on.
Faced with this formidable enemy who was clearly on another level, the commenters broke into a cold sweat for the seemingly "outnumbered and alone" Qiji:
"Hajiqi, will you win?"
"I'll win!"
On screen, Kamishiro Seigen looked at Qiji as if he were already dead.
He instructed Liuli, "Liuli, attack."
"Wait, what? Why is Liuli helping the villain?"
"This villain's already so strong, and now it's two against one???"
"No honor at all!"
"Bad woman! No! Prisoner Ji is on our side!"
"Liuli! If you attack Prisoner Ji, I'll never believe in love again!"
"Guys, trust Liuli!"
This time, Liuli didn't betray the viewers' trust.
Between Kamishiro Seigen and Qiji, she chose the latter! Without a moment's hesitation!
The Echo the girl threw at Qiji was only a feint!
Her real target, from beginning to end, was Kamishiro Seigen!
Kamishiro Seigen hadn't expected Liuli's betrayal at all. Caught off guard, he took a hit and flew into a rage:
"Liuli, have you gone mad? You're actually helping an outsider fight your own brother?!"
"You bitch, aren't you afraid to die?!"
"Good woman! Now that's a good woman!"
"Lock in the Liuli and Qiji ship!"
The story continued, and the scene shifted. Then Liuli's words rang out from the screen-
"Why... should I be afraid to die? Is the reason you live that you're afraid to die? Is there any benefit to being alive?
I can't think of a single one.
All the years I've been alive, I've never once felt happy to be alive-
Not for a single moment!"
Watching the flashbacks of the girl's memories, some commenters empathized:
"Prisoner Li's had such a miserable life all these years!"
"My poor Liuli!"
The story continued, and soon it reached the scene where Kamishiro Seigen unleashed his ultimate move:
"This sword is called-"
"Final Form."
"You can be proud to die by this sword of mine."
Seeing this, Liuli cried out in terror and shouted a desperate warning: "Qiji, run!"
"Holy shit, what kind of insanely awesome ultimate move is that? Prisoner Ji doesn't look like he can stand up to it at all!"
"Going by how the story's been developing, Prisoner Ji will definitely get crushed here and then be saved by his teacher, right?"
"Although Hajiqi is already really strong among his peers, his opponent is picking on someone younger. There's no honor in winning like that!"
"Exactly!"
Just as everyone had braced themselves for Qiji's crushing defeat, Qiji unexpectedly delivered a round of trash talk so devastating that Kamishiro Seigen instantly lost his composure:
"In case you didn't know, I suppose I should tell you."
"Compared to crushing an ant to death, it's pretty hard to judge how much force it takes to step on one without killing it."
"And that's exactly what I've been doing while playing with you."
"All right, playtime... is over."
"I'm crying! Prisoner Ji! Even though you know you're bound to lose, you're still trying to win back a point with trash talk?"
"Hajiqi, I admit it. When it comes to talking trash, you've won!"
"Even so... Brother Ji, you've really gone and made him hate you now! He's probably going to beat you so badly your own mother won't recognize you..."
Just as the comments said, Kamishiro Seigen was completely enraged.
He let out a roar and swung his sword.
Wherever the blade passed, the air let out a piercing shriek, and invisible sword qi plowed deep furrows into the ground.
At the same time, the production team emblazoned the anime's screen with conspicuous words in a striking font!
[Final Form!]
[Kamishiro Seigen's strongest strike!]
Then the picture abruptly froze!
It froze on Kamishiro Seigen's sword strike, man and blade as one, its might reaching the heavens!
It froze on Qiji Jing standing motionless, looking helpless, as though he hadn't had time to react!
It froze on the final frame before that terrifying flash of sword light, seemingly capable of cutting through anything, swallowed Qiji whole!
In the center of the screen, huge words crashed down with crushing force:
[The outcome is decided!]
"So... Prisoner Ji lost?"
"No-!"
"Hajiqi! You bastard! (sobbing)"
Just as the commenters had begun mourning Qiji-
The next moment, the screen went dark!
What followed wasn't the expected ending, with the dust settling, but...
Kamishiro Seigen's life flashing before his eyes.
Black-and-white images, accompanied by a dark soundtrack.
At the center of the picture was Kamishiro Seigen as a boy.
He envied Liuli's talent.
He trained in swordsmanship with everything he had.
He killed Liuli's mother.
With the sword in his hand, Kamishiro Seigen earned the Kamishiro Family's regard and climbed step by step to the pinnacle of his life.
He threw back his head and laughed wildly, his face twisted.
And at that moment, the flashback came to an abrupt halt!
What appeared before the viewers next-
Was actually...
Kamishiro Seigen's defeat!
Qiji killed him with a single elbow strike!
A huge, extreme, absurd contrast!
One second it was "strongest strike" and "the outcome is decided," and the next, the boss had been one-shot and his life had already flashed before his eyes!
After several long seconds of utter silence, the comments exploded-
"?????"
"Holy shit!!!!!"
"What the hell? Where's my Prisoner Ji defeat CG?"
"So you're the one called Kamishiro Seigen???"
"Huh? I thought he'd at least be a speed bump!"
"That's it? That's it? That's it?"
"Hahahaha, I'm dying! Everyone who doubted Brother Ji earlier, speak up!!!"
"The production team really knows how to put on a show! That twist left me dumbfounded!"
As Kamishiro Seigen lay dying, his unfocused eyes were full of bewilderment.
He... had lost?
He had actually... lost?
Qiji merely brushed the nonexistent dust from his clothes, walked over to him, and slowly crouched down.
It was time for more trash talk, adding insult to injury-
"So you... were this weak?"
"I thought you'd be a little stronger than I imagined."
"How dull... I'll probably forget you by tomorrow."
All that trash talk, combined with his utterly dominant performance in battle, quickly won Qiji the hearts of a large number of power-scaling fans.
Powerful, handsome, full of trash talk, and overflowing with style-
Qiji satisfied nearly everything they imagined a "perfect genius" to be.
With his performance in the third episode, an episode focused on him, viewers gradually began calling Qiji the "king of swagger."
And at the end of the third episode, the production team had another trick up its sleeve-
To everyone's surprise, Liuli mutilated her brother's corpse.
Blood splattered all over the girl as she stabbed him with her sword, again and again.
Her expression was calm, but her eyes were frighteningly empty.
On the surface, she was a well-behaved girl and a top student, but behind the scenes, she was a tool of her family with her heart sealed away, an unhinged beauty who longed for death to end it all...
That extreme contrast and her broken beauty made Liuli even more popular.
In just three episodes, "Echo" had successfully created several highly distinctive characters.
Add to that the production quality, which the commenters had praised until they ran out of words, and a flood of positive reviews poured in!
Qiji's name appeared more and more often in the scrolling comments, and his personal channel's follower count and real-time views skyrocketed after the anime aired!
The three episodes aired back-to-back like three blockbuster bombs, setting off an unprecedentedly enthusiastic response among viewers.
"Echo" was certain to become a massive hit!
Chapter 25: Monthly task
[Ding!] [Ding!]
Pleasant system notification chimes rang out in Qiji's mind one after another.
["Echo" episode 2 (main feature) has finished airing. Overall tally complete!]