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A giant mechanical giant stood on the snowfield where the cold wind howled.

In the giant’s metallic grip, a mangled heap of scrap metal was tightly clenched.

That was the brass-colored scrap piece that had just moments ago felt the last breath of the Red Reaper.

Screeeech.

Suddenly, a strange sound began to echo across the snowfield.

It sounded like steam escaping from a boiling kettle and like metal scraping—a bizarre sound.

At the same time, the scrap in the giant’s grip slowly began to glow red and started to emit an intensifying light.

As the glowing red scrap melted away like iron flowing from a furnace, flames started to seep out from the loosened crevices.

At first, it was a thin stream.

Then it became two streams, and soon three streams burst forth.

The more the scrap melted, the fiercer the flames grew.

In an instant, flames ignited with a fierce intensity, threatening to consume everything around.

And when the flames grew strong enough that the scrap couldn’t contain them, it exploded, scattering intense heat in every direction.

The mechanical giant holding the scrap melted under that heat.

And where the giant had melted into molten metal, red flames danced as if they were alive.

On the pure white snowfield, there were red traces that looked as if painted with a brush.

And as the red ink gathered into a point, it formed a human shape.

The Red Reaper floated gently where the scrap had been.

Behind the Red Reaper, flames like the sun flickered, and her yellow burning eyes were filled with a strong will.

‘I’ve come back to life…’

The Red Sun Reaper looked down at her newly born body.

Hair and body that seemed to be ablaze.

A sudden rise in energy.

A mechanical heart pulsing within her chest.

Really just a few firewood left.

There were various changes and problems, but none mattered much to the Red Sun Reaper.

‘Human…!’

The only thing that was important was her attached human.

The Red Sun Reaper soared high into the sky and began to form a huge fireball in the air.

A gigantic fireball burning fiercely like her own burning body—a false sun.

As the sun-like fireball took shape, the Red Sun Reaper closed her eyes and raised her hands to the sky.

In that moment, heat erupted from the giant fireball, starting to melt the mechanical giants.

One after another, the mechanical giants closest to the fake sun melted away.

The mechanical giants melted quickly like ice cream before a heater.

It was as if the heat was targeting only the mechanical giants as the surrounding snow barely melted while only the giants did.

At the same time, the temperature of the snowfield began to rise slowly.

The snow slowly melted, revealing the ground that had been covered in snow.

As the temperature increased, the regeneration speed of the mechanical giants slowed down, and their restored forms began to warp.

And when the temperature rose beyond a certain point due to the fake sun, the number of mechanical giants that stopped regenerating began to increase exponentially.

[No…!]

Then, with the final sigh of the superconductive frog, which lost its superconductivity due to the rising heat, all the mechanical giants ceased to regenerate.

It was a futile end for the hidden superconductive frog.

At the same time, the grand Ice Throne that had been standing tall also began to melt.

‘I won!’

The Red Sun Reaper, having completed her role, let out a tired smile and began to slowly fly towards the shelter.

Perhaps due to using firewood almost to the limit, the body of the Red Sun Reaper, which seemed to be blazing, could no longer shine brightly, only embers remained.

At that moment.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Heavy footsteps began to echo from the faraway snowfield.

A massive army of mechanical giants filled the horizon.

Not just one, but dozens of Ice Thrones.

An army of despair was approaching.

‘No….’

The Red Sun Reaper sat down on the ground with a lost expression.

The relentless army of mechanical giants was merely the vanguard…

At that moment, the Purple Blindfolded Reaper and five Purple Reapers descended, cloaked in shadows, beside the seated Red Sun Reaper.

When the Red Sun Reaper lifted her head to look back, a pinwheel made of shadows had been completed.

With a flicker.

As the blackened pinwheel began to rotate slowly, countless Mini Reapers that had been waiting in the Mini Reaper Garden began to descend to assist the Red Reaper.

‘Younger brother!’

‘We came to help!’

‘Ah! Who bit me!’

And finally, a golden flash cut through the sky of the city.

The source of that light was the intangible golden sword held by the 1st Sword of the Golden Reaper.

The 1st Sword slowly took a step forward onto the ground of the city.

And as she watched the approaching mechanical giants from afar, she raised her sword horizontally.

The golden sword sliced through the air.

With a neat and ordinary speed, naturally.

Then, every space visible to the horizon abruptly misaligned as if it had been sharply cut, and began to slide slowly.

With that single motion, every mechanical giant in sight was split in half.

Thus, the enhanced Void Slash of the 1st Sword began to chop up the mechanical giants and the advance of the Mini Reapers commenced.

‘Charge!’

‘Bad Object!’

Seeing that, the Red Sun Reaper smiled softly with a relieved expression.

*

On the towering barrier that soared to cut through the sky.

Beyond the towering barrier, armies of Mini Reapers and mechanical giants clashed.

An endless cycle of regeneration and resurrection, a drawn-out battle.

Mechanical giants continuously poured in from beyond the horizon, and Mini Reapers soared in with the Black Reaper Ballista to rapidly join the battlefield.

Beside that battlefield, a massive Emperor Frog flew toward me, holding ice blades in its hands.

As the Emperor Frog flew in, it was repeatedly sliced apart by my spatial cut.

‘….’

The Emperor Frog had been significantly diminished due to the repeated activation of its crown.

Just a little more chopping, and I could defeat it, but a little wrinkle had formed between my brows.

‘I’m uneasy.’

If I let time pass like this, I had a feeling I would face great suffering.

Was it because it seemed connected to the external being that I had become anxious without reason?

I felt irritated for no reason, and I sat on the White Hungry Ghost, swinging my legs.

Then, I grabbed a Golden Reaper that was wandering around on the barrier and shot it at the Emperor Frog with the Black Reaper Ballista.

‘No way!’

Due to a slight misalignment in aim, the Golden Reaper flew far away, piercing through the clouds.

Hehe.

Seeing the Golden Reaper go flying off in a completely different direction put me in a slightly better mood.

‘!’

But just as I was internally laughing, I looked up at the sky with a serious expression.

Because through the gap in the clouds, something very ominous came into view.

An abnormally thick cloud and a colorful sky.

And beyond that colorful universe, an external being was getting closer to the Earth.

The gap in the clouds was quickly sealing, but I had clearly spotted it.

It looked as if an innumerable number of frog heads were sprouting in the air.

At the same time, it appeared as if I had inserted a frog’s head into a dodecahedron mirror.

If I were to name the external being approaching now, it would be called the kaleidoscope frog.

‘So that crown was indeed working as an anchor to attract external beings.’

What if the Golden Reapers fail to find the “Mechanical Heart” on time?

Should I try another method?

‘Hmm…’

At that moment, the small crease in my brow deepened as someone grabbed my ankle.

‘Now’s not the time for playing around; I’m busy.’

I thought the Golden Reaper was messing around again, so I shook my foot vigorously to shake it off.

‘Hug.’

Then, from my twitching ankle, a unique will was heard.

It was the will of the Hug Reaper, who was clinging to my ankle and getting dizzy.

‘Ah!’

And the moment I spotted the Hug Reaper, a Halo that I had forgotten about popped into my mind.

Halo of Fusion!

*

As the external being’s descent seemed imminent, the Emperor Frog occasionally appeared as if reflected in a mirror.

It mostly looked as if its lower half had vanished, becoming a reflection with two heads.

‘This is bad.’

I gazed at the destruction conditions and ruminated.

< Melting the Halo with the steam of the Mechanical Heart. >

The destruction conditions aren’t singular.

Even if it says that a human dies when the heart bursts, it’s like dying when the neck is sliced.

Yet, ‘the eye’ has shown me the easiest way.

Perhaps there may be a Mini Reaper somewhere that possesses the “Mechanical Heart.”

But I was now a little uneasy about waiting aimlessly for the Golden Reaper.

Because the Emperor Frog was now flying toward me with three heads and six arms like a shuriken frog.

Fortunately, there was still one Halo that I could attempt before the Golden Reaper arrived.

‘Steam, then heat. So, I can fuse the Red Reaper.’

As I called upon the Red Reaper as much as possible, the Red Reapers began to gather huddled on the barrier.

‘Revolution!’

The ever-joyful First Red Reaper.

“Where is this?”

A flustered voice flowed from the ‘Big Red Reaper,’ who was larger than me.

And the Red Reapers, who resembled clones in some way.

I looked at the Red Reapers and put the Halo of Fusion above my head.

‘Gather everyone!’

As I exuded my will, the Red Reapers began to gather around the blonde girl.

And I fused the gathered children to the limit with firewood.

A giant red sphere floated in the air.

It was a sphere so enormous that one could hardly imagine it was made of tiny Red Reapers.

Boom.

And as the red sphere shattered, a swirling inferno erupted, and the fused Red Reaper revealed herself.