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Late at night, the Seodaemun District was shrouded in darkness.

The night sky in Seodaemun District, where I had arrived while chasing the missing Golden Reaper, was covered in clouds.

It was supposed to be a time when colorful moons like the Mini Reaper should be floating, but the moon was obscured by thick black clouds.

Strangely, the streets were extremely dark, and even the streetlights shone dimly.

If I hadn’t been emitting light from my eyes, I probably wouldn’t be able to examine the street scene so closely.

I had rushed to Seodaemun District urgently after just seeing a TV show, abandoning even the thought of making Swirling White Hungry Ghost Roast, but the presence of the missing Golden Reaper was nowhere to be felt.

“Where on earth did it go?”

I could certainly feel that the Golden Reaper had been here.

It was a presence distinctly different from the others, the Golden Reaper soaked in firewood.

It was a presence I hadn’t even felt in the Mini Reaper Garden.

“Has it been avoiding me? Or did I just miss it by chance?”

As I pondered, I followed the trace of the Firewood Pig Golden Reaper, continuing to move forward.

Finally, when I arrived at the last place where the Golden Reaper’s trail had ended, emptiness greeted me.

An old bench in the park.

On it was a solitary paper cup.

The Golden Reaper wouldn’t be seen sipping from a cup of coffee as dark and thick as the night sky.

The faint bitter scent of coffee still lingering tickled my nose before dissipating into the night air.

And in the corner of the bench where the coffee cup rested, cookie crumbs were scattered about.

“It definitely was here.”

Organizing my thoughts, I diverted my gaze from the traces of coffee and cookies.

As I looked around Seodaemun District, it appeared as if it were a sleeping ruin.

Empty buildings and people hurriedly leaving even now.

Despite it being late at night, the streets were bustling.

Cars lined up to exit Seodaemun District, and people hurried with their belongings.

Occasionally, a vehicle displaying the James Research Institute mark passed by, indicating that the institute was providing evacuation support.

The sound of engines from cars leaving the city echoed through the quiet town.

The atmosphere was dramatically different from before.

In the past, even with accidents happening daily, only a handful of people would evacuate….

Only with buildings collapsing like a herd of hungry ghosts would it be alarm enough to flee.

With the Golden Reaper reducing Object-related accidents, it felt as if people were beginning to fear Object accidents all the more.

If I had run away and been scared every time an accident happened back then, I would have spent all 365 days fleeing.

No wonder there were hardly any signs of humans near Seodaemun District now.

“It must still be somewhere not too far away.”

I glanced around once more.

My eyes, shining like a flashlight in the darkness, scanned the streets.

But there was no trace of the Firewood Pig Golden Reaper to be found anywhere.

I grew anxious for no reason, clenching my hands tightly and tearing the sky apart.

The Spatial Cut ripped through the clouds and sky, leaving ten crossing scars in the heavens.

“Hmm.”

Then, colored moonlight began to pour down from the sky.

“Wait. I’ll save you soon.”

I gazed at the moonlight, transforming my determination into words.

*

“Ouch….”

But I won’t give up.

The Golden Armored Reaper crawled slowly along the ground with its severed arm.

“I can’t see any way to win.”

But I absolutely won’t give up.

Wood, flowing like blood, continually seeped from its wounds.

The Attached Human, who had been crying, looked at itself in surprise.

But the broken ear of the Golden Armored Reaper couldn’t hear it.

I wanted to hear the Attached Human’s voice more….

Up ahead, the Man with a Halo looked down and seemed to be saying something, but the broken ear of the Golden Armored Reaper couldn’t catch any of it.

It must be mocking me.

Calling me foolish, saying I don’t know when to give up.

But the Golden Armored Reaper could never give up.

“I absolutely cannot give up.”

The Golden Armored Reaper fought less fiercely than the 1st Sword.

It couldn’t do various things like the other Mini Reapers either.

It struggled with abilities, wasn’t clever, wasn’t quick, nor had good senses.

So.

I won’t give up.

“It’s the only thing I can do well.”

Then, as if to respond to that thought, the firewood burst into flames.

Before long, its severed limbs began to regenerate, slowly setting foot on the ground and starting to run.

One step.

Another step.

Even if it’s slow, it keeps moving forward.

And at the end of that path, like a light comet!

The steps of the Golden Armored Reaper, struggling over the crumbled ruins, gradually quickened and transformed into a brilliant light, becoming a comet.

The most talentless Golden Reaper.

The only thing it could do: strong and swift headbutts.

Just clenching its fists filled with willpower and charging forward toward the enemy.

BANG!

But it did not reach.

Yet it kept repeating.

Faster and stronger each time.

Even if its body, immune to the physical, fractured.

*

Under the grid-patterned sky that looked as if it might collapse at any moment.

A golden comet crashed down toward the man.

[Not giving up, huh? That looks very much like that woman.]

But the light-traced trajectory failed to break through the barrier surrounding the man and bounced off.

Simultaneously, the armor covering the Golden Reaper shattered and scattered into the air.

Still, the Golden Reaper gritted its teeth and regained its stance in the air.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Watching the Golden Reaper continuously collide and fly, the man spoke.

[This transparent wall is a barrier made by overlapping spaces infinitely.]

[A barrier formed by compressing infinite space can never be broken that way.]

Believing that a sufficient understanding of the situation would prevent such foolishness, his words slipped out habitually.

And he thought if it was recklessness born from not comprehending the gap, he could make them understand through explanation.

But the Golden Armored Reaper didn’t respond.

It merely kept its mouth shut and soared like a comet.

[Knowing it’s not her, I ended up saying too much absentmindedly.]

The man muttered, recalling the blue-haired girl who, despite knowing the impossibility, was constantly searching for a way.

[In that case.]

Snap.

As the man snapped his fingers, space around the Golden Reaper began to twist and turn wildly.

The space capturing the ruins of Seodaemun District rose like a pillar, and in the sky, the ruins appeared like a mirror image.

And it began to layer around the Golden Reaper in a cubical shape.

An infinite prison made of endlessly glued spaces.

[Letting you witness the achievement of great deeds from there.]

And when the man spread his palm toward the sky, space shattered apart, revealing a new expanse behind it.

A world where a massive light ring spread light.

A world where a temple soared into the sky to serve a new god beneath that halo.

And a world designed to swallow everything like an antlion.

As that world appeared, radiant orbs began to gather around the man in the sky.

“Ah!”

The orb that the short-haired girl had held precious was also among them.

*

BANG. BANG. BANG.

The Golden Armored Reaper kept throwing punches at the prison surrounding it.

But it was useless.

It was a prison that the Golden Armored Reaper’s abilities could never break.

[It won’t break.]

Turning its gaze outside, the enormous world twisted like a funnel.

And wisps of wishes flowing from the orbs gathered and coalesced into a giant stream.

That enormous stream of wishes flowed into the Harmful Object, gradually filling its insides.

[This is bad.]

The Golden Armored Reaper didn’t quite understand what was happening, but felt that if left as is, something terrible would occur.

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

But the shining-plated Golden Armored Reaper’s punches couldn’t break the space imprisoning it.

[I can break the space, but I can’t.]

If it were an ordinary isolating space, it could have broken through like when it went to rescue the Attached Human.

[There’s no time.]

The Golden Armored Reaper, punching toward the prison of space, looked a bit anxious.

It wasn’t because the firewood within the Golden Reaper’s body was gradually disappearing.

The Golden Armored Reaper turned its gaze with worry.

There lay the Attached Human, collapsed and unconscious, with the white thread being slowly pulled away.

[The Attached Human is going to die.]

The Golden Armored Reaper suppressed its anxious feelings and tightly closed its eyes.

[All I can do is gather my strength and swing my fist.]

The Golden Armored Reaper began to concentrate all the firewood within it into its fist.

Then the fist began to emit light like the sun.

And one by one, the pieces of armor of the Golden Armored Reaper began to transform into firewood, gathering into its fist.

[It hurts.]

Forcing an enormous amount of firewood to be retained within its body felt like it might explode at any moment.

[But it’s okay. Not giving up is my strength.]

As all that firewood coalesced into the small fist of the Golden Armored Reaper, radiant light gathered to the point of blinding the surroundings.

And the Golden Armored Reaper slowly began to lift its fist high into the sky.

As if that fist were weighty as a thousand pounds, it gritted its teeth and lifted it slowly.

All I can do.

Is just gather my strength.

And swing my fist.

So the Golden Armored Reaper stretched its fist out, as if trying to strike the heavens.

Just doing that, it felt utterly exhausted, as if about to collapse.

Just before the Golden Armored Reaper fell, it murmured a tiny resolve.

“Doo-shee.”

Then, the firewood gathered in its fist soared up toward the sky like a beam of light.