Creating Anime In A Fantasy World

“Today is the final day of filming. Let’s all give it our best!”

With Edward’s command after everyone had assembled, the scheduled final scene of the showdown with the Headless Horseman in “KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World” was about to begin. Prior to this, Edward had already arranged with Winry and the upper echelons of the Adventurer Guild, and bribed the guards, ensuring that only the ordinary adventurers were kept in the dark. Naturally, all of this was done to facilitate smooth filming.

Moreover, the reason the Adventurer Guild agreed so easily was because Edward had used his title as Baron Durin and his status as a Grand Mage to deceive the guild’s managers, making them believe that all of this was merely a routine magical experiment.

Any opportunity to establish a good relationship with a Grand Mage would not be missed by anyone.

Apart from this, as expected, Viz arrived at the scene with a large number of summoned spirits. At first, this startled the other staff members who didn’t know she was undead.

However, once they learned that it was all for the sake of the film, everything proceeded smoothly.

Therefore, seeing that preparations from all aspects had been completed, Edward reviewed his arrangements once more.

Finally, the filming of the last scene of this theatrical version officially began.

…

The design of this final scene was quite complex. If it weren’t for Edward’s extensive preparations and the use of suggestion magic on most mentally weaker adventurers, it would have been impossible to film under such circumstances.

However, precisely because of Edward’s preparations, although the process was a bit rough, the plot progressed smoothly.

During this time, although Edward had the responsibility of a cameraman, he also secretly assisted Aya in releasing her holy spells, helped Viz guide the undead to behave, released hurricanes to assist Helena in casting explosion magic…

Although Edward is the director, he also completely handles all aspects of special effects work. For example, right now, the ground beneath the Headless Horseman’s feet is a Fifth-level Holy Light Array that he spent all night setting up. Once activated, even the strongest undead would at least lose a layer of skin.

The reason he set it up like this, of course, is for the sake of the performance. Otherwise, Edward really wouldn’t trust Belldia to act out the scene properly. To maintain the high standard of the final plot, he spared no effort.

Of course, even a Fifth-level Holy Light Array isn’t fatal to top-tier undead like the Headless Horseman, who surpasses the sixth order. It’s merely an inconvenience for him, preventing him from going out in the sun for a few days.

during the process, Belldia, portraying the Headless Horseman, also showcased her swordsmanship at Edward’s request. From their previous knowledge that Belldia was once a top knight of the Empire, they knew her sword skills were formidable. However, witnessing it firsthand, they realized just how terrifying her strength was.

Even when facing multiple adventurers attacking him, with a casual swing of his greatsword, he knocked out everyone surrounding him. Upon closer observation, one could even notice that none of the adventurers near him were injured. They were simply knocked out by the pressure and aura generated by his sword swing.

This level of swordsmanship had long surpassed the fifth order. If Belldia were to be recognized by the Empire with his current strength, he would likely be promoted directly to the sixth order.

What surprised Edward during this time was that the actress portraying Darkness, Daknis, seemed to have a swordsmanship level far beyond his expectations. Because of the character requirements, Edward asked her not to hit her opponents. However, to miss the opponent at such close range, her own strength must be quite formidable. It’s like when you take an exam, if you were to deliberately answer all the math multiple-choice questions incorrectly, you would need to know most of the correct answers to do so; otherwise, you would at least get a few right by guessing.

By this calculation, the swordsmanship of this girl, whose name Edward hadn’t even asked, was at least third order, surpassing the standards of most adventurers in the South.

Similarly, the Headless Horseman had also noticed this. Therefore, his attacks became more fierce. After all, this was a performance; if he held back too much, it wouldn’t have any dramatic effect. But undoubtedly, the splendid swordsmanship displayed by Belldia, which reached inhuman levels, didn’t actually injure the actress portraying Darkness (Daknis). It just made her look a bit disheveled.

Meanwhile, after Darkness (Daknis) and the Headless Horseman engaged in intense combat, adding a lot to the performance, the plot continued. Zat successfully discovered that the Headless Horseman’s weakness was water, so all the adventurers capable of using water magic were called upon for assistance. However, due to the lack of mages in the South, they couldn’t find anyone capable of casting water magic.

Finally, Aqua (Aya), who had finally realized that she was actually a water goddess, directly unleashed a divine-level water generation magic.

Of course, this water magic was also sponsored by Edward. To be honest, his continuous use of grand magic almost drained him completely. When this Fifth-level surge struck down, he felt dizzy and almost couldn’t stand.

But the effect of such a fully exerted grand magic was undeniable. The flood-level water magic directly washed away the Headless Horseman, Darkness (Daknis), and the adventurers, including the main characters standing farther away. Of course, this was all part of the planned plot.

….

“This is the share of those who were killed by you, protecting me! I don’t intend to strike a few more times! Take it together with me, please!!”

The giant sword decisively swung down, shattering the black armor of the Headless Horseman and leaving a huge wound on his chest.

Without the protection of the demon king, the Headless Horseman couldn’t resist Aya’s judgment upon the undead. As Edward’s prepared large-scale Holy Light Array began to shine on the ground, a weakened Headless Horseman extended his hand as a part of his armor shattered from Aya’s attack.

“W-Wait—! Aaahhh–!”

Watching Belldia, who was genuinely struggling on the ground under the holy light, Edward continued filming without any hesitation, despite the apologetic smile on his face.

Although Belldia, an undead whose strength surpassed the sixth order, endured a Fifth-level Grand Holy Light Magic, she wouldn’t die directly because of it. However, to ensure the smooth progress of the plot, Edward had her activate another teleportation magic he had prepared in advance at the same time as the holy light eruption.

“It worked?!”

“Oh my god! The Headless Horseman was actually destroyed?!”

“So amazing!!!”

As the ‘extras’ realized belatedly what had happened and erupted into cheers after breaking free from the suggestion magic, the final segment of the scene, where the adventurers killed by the Headless Horseman were successfully resurrected by Aya, marked the end of the filming.

Though there was still a storyline about owing 40 million due to the town’s destruction, it could be easily resolved with a discussion with the adventurers’ guild.

“So, congratulations on the perfect completion of the world’s first film! Well done, everyone. I announce that the first live-action theater version of [KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World] is officially wrapped!”