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On the Soft Marshmallow Plains, the Mini Reaper Garden was spread out.

The sky was draped gently like a giant bed canopy, and beneath it, the peaceful scenery breathed quietly.

But in the midst of this tranquil sight, an incongruous black sphere floated aimlessly.

[The Unchanging Black Sphere.]

It created such a stark contrast to the soft hues around it that it seemed to forcibly draw the gaze of anyone looking.

“Ma-aa.”

The Discolored Reaper stood in the same spot every day, looking up at the Unchanging Sphere.

Although the Discolored Reaper had only recently been born and didn’t know what the Unchanging Sphere truly was, it inspected the ominous sphere every single day.

‘….’
‘….’

On the surface, the Unchanging Sphere showed no change, but it felt as if someone was continuously whispering from within its deep darkness.

Like a mother calling her children.

And claiming that they would definitely need them.

This peculiar calling was not something the Discolored Reaper alone felt.

Soon enough, Black Reapers with confused expressions began gathering around the Unchanging Sphere.

‘Who?’
‘Is someone calling?’

The Black Reapers whispered among themselves as they approached the Unchanging Sphere step by step.

In their resolve, an air of unease lingered, yet they couldn’t halt their steps.

As if they were possessed by something.

‘Mama?’
‘Not Mama!’

Doubt and wariness were evident in the voices of the Black Reapers, but their feet moved toward the Unchanging Sphere relentlessly, like puppets tied to strings.

“Ma-aa!”

In that moment, the Discolored Reaper blocked the path of the Black Reapers.

Though it couldn’t exude much will, its expression and gaze were resolute like a hero.

‘You mustn’t get close!’ its expression seemed to shout, surprising the Black Reapers into halting their steps.

‘!!!’

At that moment, it was as if the Black Reapers awakened from a dream.

Looking down at the Discolored Reaper, they acknowledged, “Bee-!” in gratitude for bringing them back to reality.

“Ma-aa.”

The Discolored Reaper also cried with a happy expression, following the Black Reapers’ lead.

Then the Black Reapers began to create a fence out of marshmallows.

It was a fence denoting the no-go zone for Mini Reapers designated by the Golden Reaper Conference Hall.

‘Harmful Mama?’
‘Harmful Object!’

As the Black Reapers creating the fence scattered into the corners of the garden, the Discolored Reaper felt a gaze behind it.

It felt like someone was watching from a deep darkness far away.

But when the Discolored Reaper turned around in surprise, there was nothing there.

Only the Unchanging Sphere still floating in that spot.

*

The Situation Room in James Tower, located on the outskirts of Songpa District, was filled with tension.

Normally a calm and quiet place, it now resembled a battlefield.

Employees were bustling about, transporting documents, and the incessant ringing of telephones heightened the urgency of the situation.

On one wall of the Situation Room, a gigantic world map was displayed for everyone entering to see clearly.

On the world map, a large red area was drawn, curling around the Pacific Ocean, nearly covering the entire expanse of the ocean.

James and the Alchemist stood before the map, silently gazing at it with serious expressions.

Some Golden Reapers brought by the employees also appeared to be swept up in the tense atmosphere, looking quite serious with their arms crossed, just like humans.

In this atmosphere, the Alchemist let out a sigh and spoke.

“I came to inform that the east is suspicious, but it seems like the situation is already quite serious.”

“True. The situation is far more serious than we expected.”

James picked up a prepared report and handed it to the Alchemist as he began to speak.

“It’s so hopeless that there’s virtually no method to deal with anything except for the Gray Reapers. I hope you can provide at least a hint of help with your insights as an Alchemist after looking at this report.”

The Alchemist gradually began to flip through the report.

Her eyes moved quickly as she skimmed the contents.

Then, a shout that further heightened the tension in the conference room echoed.

“Research Institute in California, USA, is suspected of erosion!”
“Currently, most research institutes along the western coast of the USA are experiencing information lapses!”

With the reports from the employees, the red markings on the map began to spread.

The once vast red area almost engulfing the Pacific Ocean was now devouring the western coastline of the USA.

The Alchemist felt the seriousness of the situation as she alternated her gaze between the scene unfolding before her and the report in her hand.

The content of the report exceeded her expectations tremendously.

[All current types of mental pollution countermeasures are being instantly breached by mental pollution.]
[Including reality distortions that cannot be observed externally.]
[The situation in the currently polluted areas cannot even be verified.]

And the sentence emphasized in red on the last page caught her eye.

[Those who have experienced Pacific erosion commonly mention the blue sea, writhing clouds, and underwater cities.]

As she read that, the Alchemist recalled an ancient book.

The remnants of ancient alchemy made from jade.

Surely there had been a magical book related to the sea among the beings worshipped by ancient alchemists, the Jade people.

As her mind raced to recall that old memory, she began to squeeze her head for thoughts.

*

At that moment, the world shook.

Just as he was about to take a step between his long-time female friend and his younger sister, the ground trembled beneath the man’s feet.

The sky warped, and space itself began to twist.

It was as though the flimsy curtain of an imperfect illusion was tearing away.

The man’s vision became blurry.

In that distant haze, a faintly blue, spiderweb-like form flitted by.

“!”

It was a moment.

However, in that brief instant, the man’s mind seemed to clear.

Confused thoughts disappeared in an instant, replaced by a sharp question.

‘Why am I doing this?’

Only then did he realize.

The man didn’t know that woman at all.

A friend from his days as a contractor, you say?

Such memories didn’t exist.

Everything was a lie.

Instinctively, he drew his gun, aiming it at the suspicious woman.

In that moment, a meaningful smile spread across the woman’s lips.

“Are you really going to aim it like that?”

At that remark, the man looked down at his hand.

He couldn’t help but be horrified.

The hand he had intended to use to grip the gun was already consumed by the web, melding into it, rendering it unable to move even a finger.

‘!!!!!’

The instant he realized this, all illusions shattered.

The once tranquil shack disappeared, revealing a nest of spider webs endlessly sprawling before them.

Spider webs creeping in from all directions advanced toward the man like parasite tentacles.

Where the woman had stood, a giant mass of spider webs in the shape of a person had settled.

Small eyes twitched and roamed among the mass, each one fixated on the man.

“!!!!!!”

The man attempted to evade, but his entire body was buried in webs, leaving him immobilized.

‘Where is this?’

At the same time, the man began to swiftly assess his surroundings.

Webs gnawing at his body without pain.

Bound by webs, he was utterly unable to move.

In the spot where the bed used to be were his younger sister and Cheong, buried within the webs.

‘What a stroke of luck. They still seem to be alive.’

While thinking that, the man turned his gaze to search for someone.

‘Where are the Purple Reaper and the Crowned Reaper?’

Before that thought finished, a purple shadow of flames sliced through the air, burning the web that was constricting the man’s body.

‘Human!’

‘You finally woke up!’

At that moment, the Purple Reaper landed beside the man.

Though fatigue was evident on her face, joy radiated from the Purple Reaper.

This was the first time seeing an expression other than her usual cold and serious demeanor.

Beside her stood the Crowned Reaper, pale-faced.

As the man freed himself from the webs, he scanned the surroundings.

His sister and Cheong, who had lost consciousness.

And the very weary Purple Reaper and Crowned Reaper.

‘I can’t just give up like this.’

Though the situation was dire, he steeled his resolve as he observed the energy flowing within his aura.

*

Bounding along the spider web-filled horizon, I grasped at the void with a ‘kkyuk.’

A massive black sphere appeared, shredding and swallowing everything in its path.

The spider webs then swept towards the void, covering the space’s crack with a giant spherical shape, eradicating the emptiness.

Like bees confronting a wasp.

As if they were all very used to ‘kkyuk.’

Though much of the spider web had been consumed, it was still insufficient to process the nearly infinite web.

As the webs began to gradually fill around me again, I gritted my teeth and summoned the halo.

‘Ability Nullification Halo.’

The white flames melted and burned away the webs, yet they couldn’t eliminate the entirety of the webs across the Pacific.

Other halos were no different.

Among them, the most effective was the ‘Halo of Space,’ but these webs deftly responded to space abilities, barely sustaining serious damage.

Sometimes, it felt like the webs understood space abilities even better than I did.

Of course, ‘kkyuk’ and the halos inflicted meaningful damage to the webs, but incinerating all of them would require almost infinite time.

That meant my defeat was inevitable.

Even though I had amassed plenty of firewood to lightly use the halo, battling infinitely wasn’t an option.

Being an External Being, the ability to see death wouldn’t work either.

Viewing these webs through my eyes, they just appeared as <■ ■ ■ ■ ■> like red external beings.

Even if I were to summon Mini Reapers and use the halos simultaneously, there likely wouldn’t be a significant difference.

‘There’s no answer.’

It was simply too gigantic for my abilities to handle this external being.

If I were as large as the Black Giant, I could have created an incredibly vast ‘kkyuk’…

When fighting external beings, it seems like using external powers like the Unchanging Sphere is a must.

But invoking the Unchanging Sphere felt strangely unsettling.

Especially after gathering all the moons, that feeling surged a thousandfold, causing me to be utterly unable to summon it.

‘What to do?’

‘It seems like Mini Reapers are beneath those spider webs…’

‘It must be dangerous…’

Surely it would be better to pull out the Black Giant rather than risking harm to the children?

I wanted to simply ‘thrust’ and pierce through my heart to pull out the ‘Death-Seeing Halo’ within me.

As I pondered with irritation for the children, I jabbed into my heart, and my right hand sunk in.

‘?!’

Surprised, and reflexively pulling my hand back, I found a golden twisted halo pulsating like a heart within my grasp.

Kyaaa!

At that exact moment, the surrounding webs writhed in agony, transforming into cotton candy and flying apart.

Thump. Thump.

With the weighty pulse of the halo, the nearby spider webs morphed into all sorts of treats.

It felt as if invisible waves expanded in sync with the pulsating heartbeat of the halo.