Episode 12

Defense and Bonds is the final episode of the first season of the BOFURI anime series. of the BOFURI anime series.

Summary
Due to minimal health, Maple uses a risky counter move to deal with Payne's damage back at him. Payne manages to withstand the attack, forcing Maple to bring out her Atrocity form to defeat him along with the rest of Holy Swords Guild members.

Once that was settled, both Iz and Kanade returned to the base. Sally decides that since their trump cards with Maple have all been played and they've learned just how dangerous both Flame Emperors and Holy Sword are. It's decided that the best move is to stay in the top ten by eliminating all the weaker guilds, preventing other guilds from racking up points and shrinking the number of guilds to ten. Since Maple doesn't want to waste her use of Atrocity, they decide to use it and split up to take out the guilds. Seeing Flame Emperor in trouble, Maple laser breaths the enemies around them away, leaving Mii horrified and confused. Sally and Kanade clone Atrocity Maple into seven entities and have them attack the other guilds. The move perplexes Holy Sword and Flame Emperors, but both guilds decide to follow the idea.

By the end of the third day, only six guilds are left. The admins end the event early as a result. They reflect on the effect Maple has on the other players, deciding to leave her alone; since she's drawing in more new players to level grind (and make them a profit for all the copies of NewWorld Online sold). They ponder what silly thing Maple is up to, finding that she had combined Machine Lord and Wooly to become a ball for the twins to bounce.

In the real world, Kaede talks with Risa about how they achieved 3rd place in the Guild Orb war. Noting that they exceeded her expectations, Risa mentions that they'll be major targets in the next event. Not letting that damper her mood, Kaede thanked Risa for recommending the game to her, claiming it changed her for the better. Although Risa appreciates the sentiment, she claims that Kaede better keep up with her school studies, or else she'll be grounded and unable to play. Realizing her English test the next day, Kaede claims she better study for it.

The following day, Maple Tree holds a party for winning third place and invites the top members of the Flame Emperor and Holy Sword guilds to join them. Some members came out of fear Maple would retaliate if they declined her invitation.

Mii and Payne reflect on almost beating Maple, promising to get stronger to beat her. However, Chrome says she'll get another crazy power-up even if they do. Pouting, Maple tells them she's just playing the game normally like them. Everyone, INCLUDING Maple Tree, collectively shouts in exasperation, "As if!" which astounds Maple.

Characters

 * Maple
 * Sally
 * Chrome
 * Kasumi
 * Kanade
 * Iz
 * Mai
 * Yui
 * Syrup
 * Oboro
 * Payne
 * Frederica
 * Dred
 * Drag
 * Mii
 * Marx
 * Misery
 * Shin
 * Dorazou

Trivia & Notes

 * Maple getting shadow cloned while in Atrocity to create seven monsters is THE craziest thing she's ever done.
 * The resulting battle looked like something you'd see during an apocalypse, something Holy Swords comments. "The more I look at this, the more my brain melts."
 * The event is pretty much over before the time limit is up. Maple Tree, Congregation of the Holy Swords, and Kingdom of the Flame Emperor all decide to go all out and take out the weaker guilds, seeing no point in further playing out the idea of stealing each other's orbs.
 * So Maple invites the top members of each guild to join Maple Tree for a party after the event.
 * Maple's vitality is now in quintuple digits, explaining why the suicide explosion attack last episode did not work against her; her defense was just too high.
 * The developers finally give up on stopping Maple from getting stronger; nerfing her abilities again will not do anything but temporarily hinder Maple until she finds ANOTHER crazy power-up.
 * They also realize that her achievements out of sheer stupidity are drawing in more players, thus making them more profitable as well; since they all want to fight the seemingly invincible Maple.
 * The ending title card shows Maple's shield splitting into two, signifying the next season.