"The popularity and reputation of genius creator Shirogane's new anime are both inferior to his previous work, One-Punch Man. Does this mark the beginning of the genius's decline?"
Mika glanced at the most discussed post on Ion TV Station's forum today and curled her lip into a sneer.
'Here we go again…'
Ever since she first encountered Shirogane's debut manga, 5 Centimeters per Second, four years ago, this kind of rhetoric had surfaced every single time he released a new work.
This time was no exception.
Arcane had only been on air for two weeks, yet talk of "decline" was already spreading.
Honestly, it was absurd.
For most studios, an anime breaking 5% viewership would be hailed as a massive success.
But when Shirogane's shows failed to cross 6%, they were suddenly labeled disappointments?
The standards applied to Shirogane were downright unreasonable.
Clicking into the thread, Mika saw hundreds of comments tearing into the original poster. Of course, there were also dissenting voices, people claiming that Arcane was only holding its numbers because One-Punch Man's popularity hadn't fully cooled off yet.
"If the pacing stays slow after episode three," some argued, "ratings will drop straight into the 4% range."
Mika stared at the screen for a moment, the urge to angrily type a rebuttal slowly fading.
Annoyingly, they weren't entirely wrong.
"If episode three is still all setup like the first two," she muttered, "then yeah, both the reputation and the ratings could take a hit."
She checked the time.
7:54 p.m.
On TV, Ion Station was airing behind-the-scenes interview footage from the production of Arcane, the familiar Q&A format with Shirogane himself.
Mika wasn't particularly knowledgeable about animation production, but one question from the host caught her attention.
"Why did you choose to invest over 1 billion yen into Arcane?"
Shirogane's answer was simple:
"Because I only have 1 billion yen available right now."
On screen, he wore a relaxed smile, but his confidence in the project was unmistakable.
The host followed up.
"Do you believe this anime will surpass One-Punch Man after it airs?"
Shirogane paused briefly before answering.
"The market is unpredictable. All I can say is this, Arcane has a lot of groundwork in its early episodes, and some viewers may lose patience with episodes one and two. But if they can hold on through episode three, they'll get a viewing experience equal to, or even better than, One-Punch Man."
"As for the results…"
He smiled. "Let's wait and see."
The footage ended.
The screen transitioned smoothly into the opening theme of Arcane's third episode.
"Enemy."
Mika straightened in her seat.
This is it.
This was the third episode Shirogane had just talked about.
The powerful opening ended, and the story picked up exactly where the previous episodes left off.
Episodes one and two had focused on the chain reaction caused by the explosion in the Upper City, how it rippled outward, affecting both Jayce and Powder.
Episode three split into two parallel storylines.
On one side: Piltover's Enforcers demanded that Vander hand over the culprit.
On the other: Vi made her decision, to turn herself in and take responsibility for everything.
Vander looked at her and said quietly,
"You have a good heart. Never forget that. No matter how the world beats you down, protect your family."
He cupped Vi's cheek, then shoved her into the basement and locked the door.
Behind him, the Piltover Enforcers watched coldly.
They didn't care who took the fall.
They just needed someone.
Mika understood immediately.
Vander had decided to sacrifice himself for his daughters.
He could have rallied his people and gone to war with Piltover, but a war they couldn't win would only mean meaningless deaths. And Vander had never been the kind of man who used others as shields for his own sake.
If Piltover demanded a price, he would pay it himself.
Through a narrow gap beneath the basement door, Vi saw everything.
She saw Vander preparing to return to the Upper City in surrender.
Then, Silco appeared.
Alongside him came the bio-enhanced monster injected with Shimmer.
Silco slaughtered the Enforcers meant to escort Vander, leaving alive only the corrupt officer who had always accepted his bribes.
Benzo, Ekko's father, was killed by Silco's men.
Vander, already bound, was overwhelmed and dragged away.
Mika's eyes widened.
"What?"
'Where is this going?'
Silco killed the Enforcers with terrifying ease.
Did he truly intend to ignite a full-scale war between Zaun and Piltover?
The perspective shifted.
Jayce and Viktor were discussing the fate of the hextech crystal.
When Viktor learned that Jayce's experimental equipment, and the crystal itself, were scheduled for destruction the very next day, he finally made his decision. If they could recover the crystal and prove its value, prove that it could bring immense benefit to Piltover, then everything would change.
Jayce would no longer be a disgraced student accused of creating dangerous contraband.
Viktor would no longer be an invisible assistant trapped at the bottom of the academic hierarchy.
Fame. Status. A future.
They would seize it together.
The story cut back to Zaun.
Vander, now captured and beaten, was dragged before Silco.
The two men, once brothers-in-arms who had led Zaun's resistance against Piltover, now stood on opposite sides, fists turned against each other.
Everything traced back to that failed rebellion.
Vander had chosen restraint, unwilling to sacrifice more lives for a war he knew Zaun could not win.
Silco refused to accept defeat, even if persistence meant dragging Zaun into complete ruin.
"You betrayed our ideals, Vander," Silco said coldly.
"Do you remember how much I once believed in you?"
Though brief, the exchange made one thing painfully clear: Silco's hatred was born from shattered faith.
Meanwhile, under the tacit approval of Councilor Mel, Jayce and Viktor infiltrated Heimerdinger's laboratory. For the first time, they successfully stabilized the hextech crystal, and witnessed its true power.
At the same time, in Zaun…
Vi, freed from the basement by Ekko, prepared to rescue her father. Mylo and Claggor stood beside her.
But when Powder insisted on coming along, Vi refused.
"I can't lose you, Powder…"
That single sentence explained everything.
By now, Mika was completely absorbed.
Then came the moment she, and countless other viewers, had been waiting for.
Vi stormed the stronghold.
Iron gauntlets clenched around her fists, she smashed through Silco's men at the entrance, striking them down one after another. The animation was raw, fluid, and brutal, every movement heavy with force.
Mika found herself clenching her fists unconsciously.
Vi fought with everything she had.
She was so close. Just one step away from reaching Vander.
And then Powder appeared.
Small, but brilliant.
She had already figured out how to activate the crystal she had stolen from Jayce.
She wanted to help.
She needed to help.
Lacking physical strength, she placed her faith in invention.
From the shadows, she released a wind-up toy fitted with the hextech crystal.
The toy waddled forward, absurd and almost comical.
Mika's eyes narrowed.
What was this supposed to...
The explosion tore through the room.
The crystal shattered, its fragments triggering a cascading chain reaction.
Claggor was the first to be thrown violently into a wall, blood pouring from his wounds.
Mylo was impaled by a steel pipe.
Silco's men were obliterated.
But the bio-monster survived.
Silco escaped.
Vi was crushed beneath rubble, gravely injured.
And Vander, already near death, suffered fatal wounds.
Ignoring his own condition, Vander forced himself upright to protect Vi.
Silco struck him from behind.
The former brother's betrayal sent Vander crashing into crates of Shimmer.
With his final strength, Vander drank a vial of the potion.
Transformed, burning away what remained of his life, he tore through the monster, freed Vi from the rubble, and carried her out of the inferno.
Then, in the rain-soaked street, he fell.
Dead.
Mika's mouth fell open.
"What?"
They were supposed to escape.
Powder's explosion had wiped out her own family.
Now Mika understood.
Before, she had felt sympathy for Powder, small, insecure, living in her sister's shadow.
Now rage surged up instead.
"Damn it, Powder, how can someone be this unbearable?"
She had caused the Piltover explosion.
And now she had done it again.
Twice.
Vander had been willing to die peacefully to protect his daughters.
Instead, he died because of his own child's mistake.
Mylo and Claggor, who risked everything to save him, were killed not by enemies, but by their partner's bomb.
And then came the final blow.
Powder ran in, eyes shining.
"Did you see that?" she said excitedly.
"My monkey bomb worked!"
Mika froze.
Vi knelt beside Vander's corpse.
Mylo and Claggor lay dead nearby.
Smoke, rain, silence.
Only then did Powder finally understand what she had done.
Mika felt hollow.
Vander had been portrayed so powerfully, so humanly, that his death felt suffocating.
This wasn't just tragic.
It was cruel.
"This is too much," Mika whispered.
...
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