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The night sky of Seodaemun District was filled with golden light.

Unlike the usual quiet darkness, the sky was overflowing with a dazzling display of light that seemed to breathe.

The spectacle created by the much larger pile of firewood soaring into the sky was reminiscent of the sun rising at midnight.

Perhaps because this golden aurora was made from firewood, the beams of light flickered and danced like living flames.

As the curtain of light covered the sky, the ruins below became enveloped in its shadow.

The shadows swayed and moved like the waves of the sea, almost making the collapsed buildings seem as if they were breathing.

Even the stars and moons that had adorned the night sky not long ago were obscured by this intense golden light.

I teleported to the center of the aurora and grabbed hold of the golden-horned reaper, who seemed to be the source of this phenomenon.

“It’s been a while.”

I pressed down on the soft horn of the delinquent golden reaper, savoring its texture after a long time.

It looked hard from the outside, but it was soft and addictive, like jelly.

As I squeezed the horn, the golden-horned reaper shrank back, giggling as if it were ticklish.

“Did you do that firewood aurora?”

When I asked about the golden aurora that filled the sky and boasted its presence, the golden-horned reaper nodded with a laugh.

After playfully tapping the reaper’s head, I placed it gently on top of my head.

Then, the two reapers on my head grabbed my antennae as if they were handles on a ride, sharing the moment together.

“Then let’s go. With this much firewood, we can really do anything.”

I said, glancing at the man resembling the ‘old god’ who appeared flustered as he looked up at the sky, and began to walk.

*

Late at night, at the Sehee Research Institute.

Yerin was intently watching TV while hugging a bunch of golden reapers.

The golden reapers stared blankly at the sky beyond the ceiling, creating a gentle golden glow from their bodies.

Unlike their usual subtle golden light, this glow spread out like cotton candy.

Some of the golden reapers were playing with their hair.

They pointed their heads toward the sky as if trying to create horns, twisting and shaping them.

Finally, they fixed the shapes with their hair movement and poked Yerin’s cheeks.

The golden reapers pointed at their horns and giggled, as if asking if they looked good together.

“They suit you well. So cute.”

Yerin smiled at the sight and took out star-shaped candies she always carried to praise the golden reapers, feeding them one by one.

On the TV, a live broadcast from Seodaemun District was being shown.

The screen displayed a scene reminiscent of a movie, with space bending here and there as shockwaves surged.

“The reaper looks so pained… Will it be okay?”

The continuous scenes made even Yerin, who thought of the gray reaper as invulnerable, feel uneasy.

At that moment, the broadcast screen began to fill with golden light.

[The golden aurora has risen, centered around Seodaemun District.]

[It is reported that the aurora quickly expanded its domain, filling the sky over the entire city of Seoul.]

As the anchor spoke, the camera of a filming drone pointed at the sky.

The magnificent aurora, covering the sky, filled the screen.

“Wow.”

Yerin gasped in admiration at the scene, then suddenly thought of the golden reaper and lifted it to view it alongside the TV.

“It’s the same.”

“The light spreading from the golden reaper is exactly like that aurora!”

The wave-like, shimmering light around the golden reaper looked just like the aurora to Yerin.

She looked around to compare but found no windows in the isolation room.

Even if the Sehee Research Institute was a mess, they likely wouldn’t have installed windows in the isolation room.

Yerin hurriedly piled the golden reapers on her head and hugged the remaining ones in her arms as she exited the isolation room.

Upon arriving in the courtyard of the Sehee Research Institute, the aurora filling the sky came into view.

It felt oddly familiar.

The eyes of the gray reaper, or the essence of the golden reaper.

As Yerin looked up at the sky, the staff of the Sehee Research Institute began to appear one by one in the courtyard.

With expressions of wonder, the staff looked up at the sky, holding one golden reaper each.

The golden reapers clung to their attached humans, gazing blankly upward.

*

The man with a halo gazed up at the golden aurora, as if entranced.

To him, it resembled a wish, but it was something infinitely different.

Compared to a wish, it was an energy that was light and weak.

“Is that what he meant by the ‘other’ wish…?”

The man recalled an old conversation he had with her.

A very old conversation about positive and negative emotions.

The desires that stem from lack were fueled by negative thoughts from men and alchemists.

And the blue-haired girl, who endlessly opposed that notion.

At that moment, seeing the gray reaper hurtling toward him, the man spoke softly and fed his wish to the fragment of divinity.

[Yes, a byproduct.]

[Let’s continue the long-ago discussion. I will show you what true desire is.]

With those words, waves radiated from the brightly burning halo. But the result was quite different.

The spatial cuts filled with golden light did not vanish even under the halo’s interference; they cleanly sliced through space.

Of course, that golden spatial cut could not pierce the infinitely overlapping space, but just defeating the halo left the man in shock.

“The divine fragment… lost to a wish?”

He was taken aback, but the battle-hardened man did not halt his actions. He swiftly attempted to counterstrike.

Raising his arms, which hung like they were about to touch the ground, he began to manipulate space.

The space around the gray reaper was partitioned into cubes and twisted in a spiral.

But just as the spiraled space twisted, golden flames surged up, and the sound of glasscraft shattering echoed as it broke apart.

[This is… absurd….]

As the divine fragment, the halo of space illuminated, the space twisted, but the golden flames consumed everything.

And the process repeated countless times.

[How could a force that desires nothing and has no direction…?]

It was like the man’s entire world was collapsing under this profound shock.

At that moment, a blinding flash suddenly filled the man’s view.

*

Looking up at the sky, a flow of firewood sent from mini reapers worldwide was abundantly pouring down.

Ordinarily, firewood dispersed and vanished like a cologne sprayed in the air if left alone, so it felt odd to see it clustering and flowing like that.

“Now it feels like a fair fight.”

The opponent was using a wish flowing at a planetary scale, while I was only using the firewood stored in my body, which felt terribly unfair.

Once I started shoving in firewood, fighting became quite viable.

“By the way, I still can’t break through that man’s protective barrier….”

Not even the space slash filled with firewood could break it, which was somewhat troubling.

Is there no answer?
Will I really need to summon the black giant?

After incinerating the enemy’s attack with firewood, just as I was about to call out the black giant, the golden-cloaked reaper on my antenna began pulling on it.

“Mom, I have a solution!”

“Really?”

But the golden reaper’s solutions were usually things that were either incomprehensible or impossible to execute, much like the lessons of the 1st sword.

So, I listened with skepticism, but it turned out to be a method so simple and easy that even I could do it.

“Pack as much firewood into your fist as possible, and punch!”

It required no sensitive senses or athletic skills, which I really appreciated.
Especially since I was the only one skilled in handling firewood more than the mini reapers.

“I gather firewood.”

With all my might, I clenched my fist and packed the firewood in my body.

As I did so, my body gradually turned golden, and a brilliant sun began to form in my fist.

The sheer amount of firewood I gathered made the surrounding firewood swirl around, creating a blaze.

The golden reapers holding my antenna were swept off by the ensuing wind.

“I pack the firewood into my fist.”

I slowly pulled my fist back.

The man with the halo used space manipulation to try to stop me, but all the firewood that leaked out was swept away and burned.

“Keep going, keep going. Gather until I hit my limit.”

Now the aurora in the sky began to get sucked into my fist.

It was as if the sky itself was swirling around, rushing toward me.

Once I absorbed all the auroras, the once bright daylight sky was now contained within my fist.

Slowly swinging the fist filled with energy forward, the firewood transformed into a streak of light accompanying a tempest.

It pierced through the enemy.

*

It was a flash of brilliance.

At that moment, the man clearly felt his defeat.

The orb that drew in wishes.

A large orb in his core developed a crack and slowly began to shatter.

Thus, the wishes that obeyed his command lost their control.

The grasp of those wishes began to act on their own.

The hands that had tightly supported him and infused him with wishes now began to tear him apart and drag him down to the ground.

They were truly greedy hands.

And this was something the man had never seen before.

“My body feels heavy.”

So heavy he couldn’t even look up at the sky.

“I just wanted to glance at the heavens one last time…”

As he was ripped apart and dragged into the flow of wishes, he recalled a memory of a girl.

A very old memory, from a time long ago.

The days spent together before the academy was on the verge of closure.

“That time wasn’t like this…”

And while he chewed on his regrets, he was completely swallowed by the flow of wishes.