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The countless glowing bodies embedded in the black rock emitted a gentle light, transforming the cave into a star-filled night sky.

The silver-haired girl encountered a man of immense presence at the very last moment.

He felt like a man shrouded in endless darkness, devoid of even a single point of light.

The instant the silver-haired girl laid eyes on him, she knew he was the root cause of all these events.

There was no evidence to support it, yet everything about him felt that way.

His posture, his cold gaze, and the oppressive atmosphere surrounding him.

The silver-haired girl slowly rose to her feet.

Her whole body ached with fatigue, but she gathered her last ounce of strength to lift the sword.

The blade and hilt were both stained with blood, exuding a foreboding aura.

However, the man acted as if he couldn’t see the silver-haired girl at all.

As if no one were there.

Even a wild dog barking would typically draw attention, yet he ignored her right in front of him….

‘!!’

But before she could finish that thought, the man’s figure vanished.

As the silver-haired girl was about to glance around in confusion, a voice came from behind her.

“You fought quite well.”

It was the man’s voice, but his words were not directed at the girl.

He was looking at the corpse lying on the ground as he spoke.

The corpse of a man with a hunched back.

The opponent the girl had desperately battled and defeated just moments ago.

Though his words sounded like a compliment for the fight, there was no trace of regret in the man’s tone.

What was felt was merely endless nonchalance and a slight annoyance.

At the moment the man spoke, something began to writhe violently within the corpse.

Blorp.

Then, with the sound of flesh being forcibly torn, the corpse exploded.

Flesh and bone fragments scattered everywhere, but there was something even more horrifying.

In the blood gushing from the corpse, countless worms squirmed.

The worms moved in unison as if commanded.

Their singular target was none other than the man’s feet.

And the moment the worms reached the man’s feet, they were absorbed into his body.

The process was so natural that it appeared as if they were returning to their original place.

And in the next moment, the man had instantly moved in front of the silver-haired girl, gazing intently into her eyes.

*

In a world where everything had come to a halt, a dark smile spread across the man’s lips.

His eyes shone with the thrill of victory, and overwhelming confidence radiated from his entire being.

Only he knew how long he had prepared for this moment.

“Finally.”

He murmured in a low, deep voice.

“The moment I have dreamed of has come.”

Eternal stasis.

True dominion over the world.

The moment the man had longed for was right before him.

He slowly raised his head and gazed at the sky.

In the place his sight reached, stood a mysterious indigo tree visible only to him who could seize time.

In this serene world where time had frozen, that tree was always by his side.

To the man, it was truly a peculiar tree.

When approaching it, it seemed to retreat further away, and attempting to take it into his central view would push it out of sight.

When he distanced himself, it would slowly drift back into view, and if he tried not to look at it, it would inch back into the center of his vision.

No matter how close he got, he could never touch it, and no matter how far he moved away, he could never push it out of sight.

However, by consuming the flesh of livestock and growing stronger, it became increasingly distinct and nearer.

“Very soon, I will grasp that tree in my hands.”

It was a ‘facility’ for that purpose.

It was a time of endurance for that aim.

As the man murmured and approached the tree, it seemed to have gotten further away.

But his steps were leisurely.

There was no need to rush.

After all, everything was already within his grasp.

He wandered slowly, surveying his surroundings.

A stopped world, a perfect playground he could manipulate at his whim.

In truth, while he wanted to snap the neck of the livestock girl and feast upon her blood and flesh right away, he refrained.

“Always with leisure.”

That would contradict his aesthetic.

As he strolled and observed the area, he suddenly halted at a spot.

The corpse of his subordinate lying on the ground caught his eye.

He looked down at him for a moment, then released the flow of time.

“You fought quite well.”

With his cold gaze intact, he spoke quietly.

After a brief moment of mourning for his subordinate, he halted time once more.

As he gracefully turned, his gaze fixated on a girl.

The expression on the girl’s face, frozen in surprise, brought a smile to his lips.

It was truly a face befitting an inferior.

The man took a deep breath, savoring the moment of victory, and reached out toward the silver-haired girl.

“With this, the final piece falls into place!”

His voice, brimming with joy, echoed through the frozen time.

But at that moment, something unexpected occurred.

The object above the girl’s head began to move slowly.

The golden eyes of the indigo sprout object wiggled towards the man.

“!!!!”

The man’s face instantly lost color.

His eyes widened in horror, and his body stiffened.

As if he had seen a ghost, he leaped back.

The absolute safety he had been so sure of shattered, and the true face hidden behind the mask of ‘always with leisure’ was revealed.

“Did I… Did I just flee?”

The man muttered as he slowly backpedaled.

His voice held no trace of arrogance or leisure now.

*

In the darkness, the consciousness of the Sprout Reaper stirred.

From the depths of a deep sleep, fragments of memory bubbled up like foam.

Each of those bubbles contained moments spent with the Attached Human.

“Who exactly are you?”

The voice of the Attached Human was filled with curiosity and questions.

Then, another memory bubble burst forth.

“Were you the one who enhanced my abilities?”

A voice mingled with gratitude and surprise.

“Want to try this? Can you eat it?”

A voice imbued with warm kindness.

Lastly, a voice filled with laughter echoed.

“The name ‘Sprout Reaper’? That’s such a mismatched name.”

Though it had been a difficult journey, those were precious fragments of memory shared with the Attached Human.

Then, suddenly, the consciousness of the Sprout Reaper began to rise to the surface.

But even as the Sprout Reaper woke, there was nothing there.

Nothing was visible.

Nothing was audible.

Nothing was felt.

In this silent, black world, only the perception of time by the Sprout Reaper flowed unceasingly.

In such endless darkness, the Sprout Reaper felt something akin to itself.

A massive tree that rooted itself in space and branched out toward time.

A powerful object that sliced and reattached space, twisting time itself.

Before long, the towering indigo tree stood tall in the Sprout Reaper’s black world.

‘It’s already dead.’

That powerful object was in a state of being already dead.

But it was not a corpse.

It was the form that once existed in the past, visible only in this jumbled realm of time.

‘Could it be the starlight of a star that is already dead?’

Recalling the perplexing words of the Blue Reaper, the Sprout Reaper placed a hand on the massive indigo tree.

In that moment, the Sprout Reaper understood.

Time, and the arrangements of a certain alchemist.

The sprout of the Sprout Reaper blossomed, yielding the Flower of Time.

Thus, the Sprout Reaper opened its eyes in a world where time had stopped.

Light began to seep into the world filled with darkness.

The head of the Attached Human sprouting with a sprout.

The cave ceiling made of black rock and the glowing bodies shining above it.

A gentle uphill path that opened into a white exit at its end.

A vast city unfolding as one descends the slope.

In the distance, the ‘facility’ where the Attached Human had spent so much time was still visible.

And a harmful object, retreating with a face twisted in fear.

As the Sprout Reaper began to burn firewood, the trees started to grow in the world where time had frozen.

A gigantic tree that rooted itself in space and extended branches toward time.

Within this frozen realm of time, it wielded god-like power.

But it couldn’t last long.

The firewood was consuming at an astonishing rate.

Using the little firewood available to him, the Sprout Reaper employed the ultimate technique to repel the harmful object.

The tree morphed into a sharp spear, rising as if to pierce the sky.

And at the moment it broke through the cave ceiling, tearing apart the space beyond.

The Sprout Reaper poured all its will into unleashing magic.

[Mom!!!!!!]

*

In the midst of the Pacific Ocean, there I stood at the center of a lonely island, gazing at the scene unfolding before me.

The entrance to a giant cave seemed to swallow all light like a black hole of the universe.

‘Should I go in?’

It was a question that echoed continuously in my mind.

From the moment I spotted that abyss-like cave, it felt like I had to enter.

But actually stepping inside was a big hassle.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck me.

‘Right, I don’t necessarily have to go in myself.’

Looking around, I saw numerous Golden Reapers struck by lightning.

Hehe.

But the moment I reached out to grab a couple of Golden Reapers, the entire island shook with a thunderous roar.

As the smoke from the explosion cleared, an unbelievable sight unfolded before my eyes.

From where the cave had been, a massive indigo tree was soaring upward.

Crash!

With the sound of shattering glass, the branches of the tree extended in all directions.

Those branches tore and shredded through the surrounding space.

The sky shattered like a broken mirror, revealing glimpses of unknown dimensions through the cracks in reality.

‘A giant tree!’

‘A sprout tree!’

The Mini Reapers seemed to be having a great time.

“Why is that tree here?”

“It’s dangerous!”

“Everyone, run away!”

“Is there any issue with the space-time distortion readings?”

Due to the suddenly appeared indigo tree, the majority of the researchers from James Research Institute were thrown into a panic.

‘Why is it here?’

Having had limbs severed in the past, just seeing it made me feel ill.

So, the moment I tried to smash it to bits, I heard magic from between the shattered spaces.

[Mom!!!!!!]

As soon as I heard that, I threw my body into the broken space.

The enormous underground chamber welcomed me.

The ceiling, mimicking a star-filled night sky.

The vast underground city spread out beneath the fake night sky.

The indigo tree, rising as if to pierce the heavens.

The Sprout Reaper, beaming with a bright smile while looking at me.

And the ‘harmful object’ glaring at me with a fierce expression.