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In the middle of the dark alley, the gray moonlight pierced through a convoluted array of structures.

On the stage illuminated by the moonlight, like a spotlight on a theatrical set, stood a tiny but strangely reassuring golden object.

It bore the scent of the sun, which felt out of place on a moonlit night.

With a confident posture as if blessed by the gray moonlight, it gazed up at the student.

This object was also familiar to the student from their memories.

It was the “Golden Reaper,” an object that looked endlessly like the Gray Reaper.

The student was mesmerized by the appearance of the Golden Reaper.

And the headache that always troubled them seemed to vanish with its arrival.

“Ah!”

Now that they think about it, didn’t it feel like their heart was pierced?

But now, there was no pain whatsoever—was it just an illusion?

The student reached behind their back where the wound was and checked it.

But what they felt at their fingertips was merely the hole in their school uniform and the grotesque wound beneath it.

Sticky blood.

As they looked at their fingertips that had touched the wound, they saw red blood and golden flames stuck to them.

Seeing the student touching the wound, the Golden Reaper dashed over in surprise.

Tap, tap.

With an expression as if to scold them for not being healed yet, it gently patted with its palm.

Then, the Golden Reaper thought for a moment and stared seriously into the air, slowly swinging its sword toward the void.

Slow, but drawing a beautiful trajectory, the moment the sword met the space—

Boom.

Ripples gently spread across the space like a stone thrown into a lake.

And around that center, the space tore apart, filling the alley with a sweet chocolate scent.

As the Golden Reaper’s trajectory halted, a hole the size of the Golden Reaper itself had formed in the air.

Instead, the brilliant glow of the lightsaber that lit up the surroundings disappeared.

The flames that had been shining from the Golden Reaper’s heart had dimmed to the point of being invisible.

With a very exhausted expression, the Golden Reaper looked at the student and smiled faintly.

‘It’s okay now!’

The Golden Reaper looked as if everything had been solved, yet it seemed about to stagger and fall, so the student hurriedly reached out and embraced the Golden Reaper.

With the Golden Reaper, who looked as if it might disappear at any moment, nestled in the student’s grasp, the student wore a worried expression.

“Are you okay?”

The Golden Reaper didn’t respond but instead pulled the student’s finger and placed it atop its head.

It was an act that seemed to ask for a pat, leaving the student perplexed but they gently stroked the Golden Reaper’s head with their finger.

At that, the Golden Reaper closed its eyes and smiled contentedly.

At the same moment, the golden flames that had faded began to regain their vigor.

The moment the Golden Reaper’s flames regained their brilliant glow, it stood up from the student’s palm and raised its arms in triumph.

The student couldn’t help but smile at the adorable gesture, as if the Golden Reaper was exclaiming “Golden Reaper revival!”

Then, the Golden Reaper hurriedly rushed into the rift in space and emerged with a transparent mini reaper resembling blue water.

The bewildered blue reaper, seeing the student, gasped in surprise and began to weave strings in the air.

[Heal my wounds, all of them.]

The string in an incomprehensible language transformed into fog and seeped into the student’s wound as soon as it was completed.

As the student reached out to touch the wound, it had vanished without a trace.

To heal a fatal wound in an instant!

“That’s amazing!”

With memories of nearly dying still vivid, the student admired it and reached out to pet the blue reaper just like the Golden Reaper.

But just before the student’s hand could touch it, the blue reaper pulled its hat down shyly and vanished without a trace.

The Golden Reaper, looking up at the student with a smile that seemed to say, ‘Now the wound is healed, it’s okay!’, turned its head as if it sensed something and began to glare at the moonlight.

At the Golden Reaper’s sudden behavior, the student also turned to look up at the gray moon.

The gray moonlight pouring down consistently from the sky.

Right, the moonlight was originally that color.

Why had they only thought of the full moon, coloring the world a sinister yellow until just a moment ago?

At that moment, a throbbing headache suddenly began, and the yellow full moon began to swallow the sky.

A huge full moon that filled their view.

The ordinary alley stretched out left and right, transforming into a complicated maze with no end in sight.

The ominous moonlight draped over the dark alley.

From the end of that alley, a familiar silhouette appeared, backlit by that moonlight.

“No matter how strong you are, you can’t defeat me under the moonlight.”

A high school girl with a grotesque grin on her lips was looking down at the student and the Golden Reaper.

*

The lightsaber, in desperate need of repair, was handed to the Golden Reaper.

Though I wanted to play with the lightsaber right away, breaking it would make things even more troublesome, so I passed it to the Golden Reaper.

My self-control was something I couldn’t even trust myself with, better to hand it over for a quick fix.

I hoped the repair would be done quickly.

Using the lightsaber, I felt I could fight and win against the mini reapers.

After all, the size difference between the mini reapers and me was massive!

From emotional absorption to firewood capacity, there was such a huge difference that it almost felt unfair to compare.

I looked at the owners of the Golden Reaper’s lightsaber and, suddenly curious, asked.

‘What’s your rank?’

Since everyone just yelled “Hero!” without any indication of rank, I suddenly became curious about it.

‘2nd!’ ‘3rd!’ ‘4th!’ ‘5th!’

Then, the Golden Reapers raised their hands one by one and shouted their ranks with determination.

Huh, no 1st place?

Out of the five heroes, there was only one large sword and four small swords….

Could it be that the 1st is me?

But when I asked, “Could it be that the 1st is me?” the Golden Reapers looked at me as if I had asked something strange.

Aw.

I felt a bit hurt.

There was no need for them to look at me with expressions that said what nonsense.

I had planned to have a little fun once the lightsaber was repaired, but now, it wouldn’t do.

I must hit back with full power.

Cursing my enemies in my heart, I continued to ask my curious questions.

‘Then who is the 1st? Where are they?’

The Golden Reapers hopped around proudly bragging about their older sister, sharing bits and pieces of information.

‘Golden Reaper’s No. 1 Sword!’

‘Spatial Cut!’

‘Overwhelmingly the strongest!’

The bragging of the Golden Reapers continued without end.

It was so impressive that I thought, ‘Isn’t there some exaggeration or bluster mixed in?’

Since the Golden Reaper wouldn’t lie to me about such things, the 1st Golden Reaper must indeed be something special.

I thought it might be amusing to see it someday if the opportunity arises.

If they praise it that much, could it give the Hungry Ghost Reaper a good fight?

*

Golden light flashed brilliantly.

“Wow….”

The student couldn’t help but marvel at it.

Even with a sword, it felt like fighting with such a small body and a tiny blade would be unfavorable, yet the Golden Reaper’s combat power was overwhelming.

The Golden Reaper was using the walls of the narrow alley as if they were the ground, bouncing around in the air and against the walls.

It was true three-dimensional movement!

With such speed, even a short sword was no disadvantage while shooting itself like a bullet.

The murderer charging recklessly couldn’t properly clash swords with the Golden Reaper, disintegrating into dust instead.

With every flash of light centering around the student, one of the yellow moon’s murderers vanished into thin air.

Yet, even though the Golden Reaper was overwhelmingly strong throughout, the situation didn’t seem favorable.

The murderers did not die at all.

Even if they were cut in half or chopped into pieces, they would not perish.

After turning into dust, they would appear again, good as new.

And the situation began to worsen.

“Amazing. Really amazing. But how long can you keep fighting like that?”

The girl who had been charging all this time sat atop the debris where she could look down into the alley, clapping.

And as soon as she finished her words, multiple people began to flood into the alley.

From classmates to the homeroom teacher and even the principal.

All sorts of familiar faces from wandering around this street appeared, draped in illusions of the murderers.

Before long, the murderers began to rush into the alley, becoming so numerous it was hard to count them all.

*

The Golden Reaper was darting around the alley like a pinball, slicing through the bad objects.

But no matter how much it slashed, no matter how many it killed, the objects were never-ending.

They were objects that couldn’t be killed with swords.

That was deeply frustrating for the Golden Reaper.

Trying to focus on the firewood like Mother used to, it saw nothing.

Even trying to call for Mom, it felt as if its will was blocked and couldn’t reach out.

If it were to cut the space and create a pathway to the Mini Reaper Garden like last time, it could call for Mom, but there was no moment to focus on making such a cut.

And there was little time left to fight like this.

The lightsaber, which seemed ready to cut through everything, flickered like a faulty fluorescent light.

Strange sounds came from within the treasured sword.

It was the sound as if a younger brother was crunching hard snacks.

“I’m sorry.”

With a sad face, the Golden Reaper turned to look at its Attached Human and weakly released its will.

If the sword broke, it couldn’t protect the Attached Human.

Those bad objects were ‘physically immune.’

“I’m sorry.”

After repeatedly apologizing, the Golden Reaper swung the last decapitating blow with a solid face at maximum output.

With the shining flash, the lightsaber erased all the enemies, making a sound as if something shattered and fell completely silent.

But the bad objects began to slither back into view endlessly.

Two arms, one leg, and finally one life.

Just four bad objects at most.

If that’s all, the Attached Human would die.

Wiping away flowing tears with effort, the Golden Reaper glared at the enemies.

Since Mom couldn’t come, it had to do something somehow.

In that desperate moment, the splendid flames of the Hungry Ghost Reaper flickered in the Golden Reaper’s mind.

The swordsmanship that transformed formless flames into something sharp and defined.

It came to mind.

“I need to create a sword!”

But doubt arose within—’Could I do it?’

The Golden Reaper shook its head violently in denial.

It had to be done.

The Attached Human would die.

The Attached Human wouldn’t come back to life.

If the Attached Human died, then I’d rather die in their place!

Even if it meant burning my entire soul!

At that moment, golden flames erupted from the Golden Reaper’s entire body.

It was the most brilliant flame it had ever emitted.

At the same time, the Golden Reaper’s body began to blur.

The flame of life created by burning its own body.

And from the empty palm spread forth a beautiful blade glittering with radiant starlight.

Gazing at that blade, the Golden Reaper smiled with a truly happy expression.