WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Season 1, Episode 13 of The God of High School, "GOD/GOD," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Season 1 of The God of High School has wrapped up with the kind of explosive action you'd expect from a show centered on martial arts, magic and battling gods. As the season finale's title, "GOD/GOD" indicates, the last showdown is between two opponents of cosmic might. One of them is the power-hungry Taek Jegal, empowered by both the Greed charyeok that mutated Jeon Jugok, and, as of the penultimate episode, Park Ilpyo's Key.
As we saw in Ilpyo when his Nine-Tailed Fox form was stirred, Jegal consuming the mystical artifact triggered a transformation, turning him into some kind of horned, white-haired angel. Now, in Episode 13, Jegal is more unstoppable than ever; quickly dispensing with Jin Mori, Han Daewi and Yoo Mira as they attempt to "consume all and return to nothingness." But Jegal isn't the only one to receive a late-game power-up. Here's how this climactic battle, and the season as a whole, concludes.
Jegal Awakens Mori's True Form
When Daewi takes a substantial hit from Jegal to protect Mira and Mori, the latter slips into unconsciousness. In this dream state, he has his most fully-formed flashback yet. In fact, the memory is powerful enough to bring this past version of himself to the surface. His eyes turn blue, his sleep mask is replaced by a crown-like headband, and he summons a huge column of earth to erupt from the ground: "Grow, Riyu Jingu!" This is the final confirmation we needed that yes, Jin Mori is Sun Wukong, the Monkey King.
Just like antihero of Chinese myth, Mori/Sun Wukong can shorten the column to be wielded like a staff and grow it again at will, which he uses to take Jegal by surprise in their lightning-fast battle across the Holy Realm that they've been teleported to. For his finishing move, he calls forth another of the Monkey King's signature tools: his Kinto-un cloud, and strikes Jegal into submission with lightning bolts.
However, this isn't quite the end of the teal-haired heir. Separated from the Key, he loses his Sephiroth form and, as Greed and madness grip him, his body instead deconstructs itself into something out of Akira: a fleshy melting pot of mouths and eyes. With Mori also drained of energy, it takes the combined efforts of him, Ilpyo, Daewi and Mira to put the final nail in the coffin. As what's left of Jegal's body is eaten away by Greed, Ilpyo offers him one last chance at redemption. But Jegal, of course, refuses to accept help from "trash." Unable to let go of his unending pursuit of power, he dissipates, leaving fragments of the Key to flutter away like butterflies through Ilpyo's fingers.
The God of High School Winners Are Announced
Despite Mujin calling off his tournament to deal with the more pressing concern of an impending apocalypse, the six remaining participants of The God of High School (Mori, Ilpyo, Mira, Daewi and Ilpyo's teammates, Seungah and Hyonbok) are crowned the joint winners by Kim Ungnyeo. Ungnyeo, an ancient being who secretly organized the tournament alongside Mujin, appears before them as the dust settles after the Jegal fight. Telling the group that she's the progenitor of the human race, she agrees to grant them one wish -- as per the tournament's rules. The only constraint is bringing the dead back to life. Mira is content to revive her family's Moon Light Sword style herself and Daewi also shrugs off the opportunity, leaving Mori to do the selfless thing and wish for any injuries his friends have suffered (chiefly, lost limbs) to be restored.
It's a very Goku thing to do, which tracks given that the two characters share Sun Wukong as a common ancestor.
The Key's Backstory is Revealed
Sought after by both Mujin and Nox's Sang Mandeok, The God of High School anime has been a little vague as to what it is the Key specifically does. The season finale finally gives us a clear explanation. As the person whose body unknowingly housed the item, Ilpyo tells Ungnyeo that he will be its guardian going forward and is tasked with retrieving its fragments that have now been dispersed around the world (a bit like a particular set of wish-granting balls...)
The Key is "a power bestowed upon humans that allows them to break the taboo," Ungnyeo explains. "Humans cannot kill gods. That is the restriction imposed by the gods, who feared the humans' power. But when the Key’s power is unleashed, that taboo is destroyed. It makes a human capable of pulling gods out of the holy realm and killing them."
The World of The God of High School Will Never Be the Same
The energy Mori expelled by going full Monkey King mode forces him into a three-month slumber. By the time he stirs, Seoul is still reeling from the battle between Mandeok's God and The Six's Jeon Jaeson and Ilpyo is long-gone on his Key quest. Mori's memory of any of his time as Sun Wukong is hazy, and we never find out from Ungnyeo, when asked by Mira, whether or not Mori possesses the same God-beating power as the Key. In order to unlock the riddle of his identity, he'll need to travel to Sun Wukong's homeland, with Mira and Daewi pledging to accompany him.
What we do know is that with the lid lifted off the world of gods and our heroes scattering to travel far-off lands, The God of High School's next season will be very different from its first.