The God of High School: [SPOILER] Is Defeated - But Not by Who You'd Expect

The God of High School summons an apocalyptic battle for its penultimate episode. But South Korea's saviour isn't who you'd expect.

The God of High School's penultimate episode brings the season's cosmic action to its peak with the summoning of Nox's God. After failing to kill Park Mujin in Episode 10 -- who stands in the way of His apocalyptic path -- the wrathful being is brought fully out of his heavenly cage in Episode 12 by Nox's Sang Mandeok, proclaiming that "Now is the beginning of the end!" But Mandeok's celebrations prove to be premature: both he and the God who seeks the destruction of all other gods are defeated by the episode's end.

Which of our heroes steps up and saves the world? Is it Park Ilpyo, the vessel of the Nine-Tailed Fox whom God fears? Park Mujin, the God of High School organizer and member of The Six, who vowed to stop God? Or is it our main protagonist, Jin Mori, who may or may not be the fabled Sun Wukong, the Monkey King? Surprisingly, it's none of them. In fact, it's a character we've barely spent any time with at all throughout The God of High School Season 1. The God-buster is none other than Jeon Jugok's grandfather, Jeon Jaeson.

The Jeons specialize in charyeok that use magic. Jugok's Mage charyeok allowed him to create spell circles that could summon elements like fire and lightning -- he even used a wand, like a conductor's baton, to add to his Harry Potter aesthetic. However, after being defeated horribly fast by the merciless Taek Jegal in the tournament, Jugok lost access to his charyeok. Instead, he became a man possessed when the Greed charyeok took over his body as he recuperated in hospital. After he transformed into a cannibalistic monster, it was left to Jegal to end his rampage, which he did in characteristically bloody fashion -- leaving nothing left of the unfortunate Jugok.

This was all Sang Mandeok's doing, and a furious Jaeson vows to avenge his beloved grandson's death at the start of this episode. Like Mujin, Jaeson is a member of The Six, along with Seo Sallyang, who helped Mujin escape God's punishment recently, and Bongchim Nah, the "Doctor" who gave Mori's some chi-blocking tips. Known as The Great Magician, Jaeson is also regarded as a living National Treasure and, as we get to see when he arrives to confront Mandeok, his summoning powers are substantial. In an effort to kill Mandeok and defeat his deity, Jaeson makes use of the nuclear missiles that the U.S has launched at South Korea in an effort to suppress the magical destruction with a scientific one.

Teleporting the entire population of Seoul out of harm's way -- save for Mandeok -- Jaeson amalgamates the missiles into one mass, covered in faces, and points it directly at his target. The missile mass hits a spell shield but Jaeson has another trick up his sorcerer's sleeves. Opening up another summoning circle above, he manifests a meteor through it, which knocks the missile with enough force to smash through Mandeok's shield. The resulting collision sends up a ginormous mushroom cloud, obliterating the ominous figure that was hanging over the country.

Jaeson's self-sacrifice averts the apocalypse and Mandeok, though somehow still standing, is completely shaken up by the devastating event. Though the battle is a satisfying spectacle to watch, there is a touch of deus ex machina about it. Had we spent as much time with the mage as we have with other more prominent characters, and had Jaeson's incredible abilities been teased over the course of the season, this could have been the culmination of an interesting arc. Instead, Jaeson's role in the anime has merely been to show up, manipulate some nukes and die a fiery death one episode before the finale. Hopefully, The God of High School's actual ending for Season 1 can deliver something more meaningful.