51: Chapter 51 Animation Premiere

The storm from the Magic City Pan-Entertainment Exhibition swept across the entire Blue Planet with an unstoppable force.

In just three days, the three-minute teaser PV for "Absolute Demonic Beast Front" surpassed a terrifying ten million views across the entire internet.

The 2D camera tension that crushed the era and the budget-burning lighting rendering sent countless anime enthusiasts and gamers into a state of total frenzy.

The executives of major mainstream video platforms were seeing red with envy.

If they could secure the exclusive broadcasting rights for such a phenomenal, god-tier masterpiece that came with its own traffic of tens of millions of die-hard game fans, it would definitely cause their platform's financial reports to multiply several times over!

For a time, the business email of Chaldea Studio was nearly bursting with sky-high quotes from major streaming platforms. The video website under Tianpeng Interactive Entertainment even offered a staggering copyright fee of "ten million per episode," attempting to smash open Chaldea's door with money.

However, on the fourth day after the exhibition ended, the official Chaldea account released a nonchalant announcement under the watchful eyes of the entire world.

["Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Beast Front Babylonia" Broadcast Decision!]

"To all Masters: Thank you for waiting. This long-form animation, produced with an investment of hundreds of millions, will not be authorized to any external platforms."

"The full series will have its sole exclusive global premiere this Friday at 8:00 PM on Chaldea's exclusive streaming matrix—[Chaldea Station (formerly Station C)]!"

"We hereby solemnly promise: No VIP membership required, no pay-per-view for individual episodes. As long as you are a registered player of 'FGO' and bind your game account, you can watch the entire animation series in the highest quality within the platform [Free Forever]!"

"Furthermore, the [Seventh Singularity] main storyline chapter in the game will be unlocked simultaneously with the animation premiere. Masters, please enjoy this double feast of vision and tactics to your heart's content."

As soon as this announcement came out, the entire pan-entertainment industry of the Blue Planet seemed to erupt in an unprecedented magnitude-12 earthquake.

"Holy crap holy crap holy crap!!! Exclusive broadcast for free forever?!"

"You can watch a god-tier anime for free just by playing the game? Is Father Gu doing charity?!"

"This is insane! This is an animation made with hundreds of millions; they're not making a single cent and just giving it to players for free?!"

"I'm tearing up, brothers! Other game companies can't wait to squeeze your bone marrow dry, but Chaldea is great—they used the money we topped up to make a god-tier blockbuster and then invited us to watch it for free!"

"Quick, quick, quick! Brothers, go download and register for [Chaldea Station]! Bind your accounts immediately!"

Within just twenty-four hours after the announcement, the download volume of the [Chaldea Station] app shot straight to the top of major application stores on the Blue Planet, and the servers were nearly crashed by the frantic influx of players and anime fans.

With an animation that hadn't even aired its main episodes yet, Gu Yi established the Blue Planet's largest exclusive ACG cultural stronghold without shedding a drop of blood.

...

Friday, 8:00 PM.

The exciting moment of the dual-track launch finally arrived.

On the Shark Streaming Platform, PD had set up a dual-screen display early on.

The left screen showed the animation playback page of [Chaldea Station], while the right screen was connected to the VR headset's game footage.

"Brothers! It's like New Year's! It's truly like New Year's!"

PD rubbed his hands excitedly, "Deploying formations in the game during the day, and relishing the plot with god-tier animation on Station C at night! This move by Father Gu has completely occupied all my free time!"

At exactly eight o'clock, the first episode of the animation began broadcasting on time.

To accommodate those casual viewers who were attracted by the god-tier PV but had never played "FGO," the animation didn't awkwardly cut straight into battle. Instead, it used a grand buildup with a cinematic texture as the opening.

Accompanied by melodious yet heavy orchestral music, the scene slowly cut from the snow-covered Chaldea base to the Central Control Room.

In front of the holographic screens, the expressions of Dr. Roman and Da Vinci were extremely solemn.

With concise dialogue, they conveyed the suffocating pressure of this mission to the protagonist Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash, as well as to the audience across the internet:

"Ritsuka, Mash. This is the final Singularity. Once we repair this place, we will obtain the final qualification to face the mastermind behind the 'Incineration of Humanity' and save human history."

"But the coordinates this time are unlike any before. 2655 BC, Mesopotamia."

"That is not an era of humans, but the [Age of Gods] where gods still walk the earth! It is the Absolute Singularity where the foundation of human history is at its weakest and most perilous!"

The brief two-minute narrative buildup instantly pushed the sense of epic scale and crisis on the eve of the grand finale to the maximum.

Non-player audiences, who were originally worried they wouldn't understand the setting, were instantly captivated by this grand and desperate worldview. The bullet comments were full of amazement:

"This worldview setting is way too grand! Traveling back in time to change the past just to save human history?"

"The final Singularity! That means this is the last battle before the final showdown! So hype!"

"The production team understands it too well; this narrative pacing is perfect. Casuals can dive in with zero obstacles!"

After explaining the heavy background, the plot's pace suddenly accelerated.

Accompanied by the mechanical female voice of the system saying "Rayshift," the moment the screen lit up, it was a heart-pounding first-person perspective of a high-altitude fall.

The protagonists Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash passed through a dazzling light and fell heavily into a vast, boundless ancient Mesopotamian wilderness.

The movie-level lighting rendering and the magnificent ancient landscape made the originally noisy bullet comment section go silent for a second, before being filled with exclamation marks across the screen:

"Holy crap, this background art! Every frame can be screenshotted and used as a wallpaper!"

"The smell of burning budget! Father Gu really poured all the money he earned into the animation!"

However, the audience wasn't given any time to marvel before a crisis descended.

Accompanied by a violent tremor of the earth, at the end of the horizon, a dark tide of demonic beasts surged forward like a bursting tsunami.

Those massive demonic beasts with lion bodies and snake tails let out earth-shaking roars, exuding a savage pressure of the Age of Gods even through the screen.

Mash gritted her teeth and raised her cross shield, but she appeared precarious in the face of that endless tide of demonic beasts.

"Oh my god! Starting on Hell difficulty?!"

"There are too many of them; Kouhai-chan can't block them all by herself!"

The viewers in the livestream couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.

Just as a hideous demonic beast opened its bloody maw and was about to pounce on the Master at the critical moment...

The sky-shattering orchestral soundtrack roared to life!

In the sky, accompanied by the crisp sound of clashing metal, a beautiful figure with emerald-green long hair and an ambiguous gender descended from the heavens like a savior.