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‘!’

The moment the golden blade pierced my chest, I was taken aback.

I had been admiring the crystal butterflies surrounding me when suddenly, one flew up from behind and stabbed me.

But when I confirmed that it was the Ghost Reaper who stabbed me, my shock quickly subsided.

“Ghost Reaper, you just stabbed me without permission again.”

It was more absurd than anger.

I had specifically asked for permission before being stabbed.

I’ll have to torment it later.

Hehe.

The Ghost Reaper probably thought this situation was a crisis.

But in reality, it wasn’t.

After all, I had fought and won against countless externals, and this external butterfly wasn’t particularly strong.

It was just that the little object had suddenly become powerful, which was curious.

The landscape created by the crystal butterflies was dazzling.

And the reality that transformed in my 360-degree view was bizarre.

I was just watching a bit, and then it suddenly stabbed me…

I thought about the translucent golden blade protruding from my chest as I poked it with my finger.

“Seeing this blade sticking out, it’s more shocking visually than I expected. Yerin would have been startled.”

Just then, a force began to flow into the ‘thief’ glowing in gold.

“Is the enhancement finally beginning?”

I envisioned the Golden Reaper soaring through the skies in a magnificent manner, flames in my eyes, brimming with anticipation.

“If the Golden Reaper became that strong, I should be able to get stronger too!”

In that moment, a minuscule amount of firewood flowed from the ‘thief.’

And I felt an additional level of elevation, but it was so minimal.

To put it in perspective, it was about the amount equivalent to a normal Golden Reaper.

No, even less than that.

It might mean something to the Golden Reaper, but for me, it was almost meaningless.

“Hmm…”

In response to that disappointing result, I decided to double the intensity of the punishment I would inflict upon the Ghost Reaper.

The so-called double whipping punishment!

That was when it happened.

Thump.

I felt an unexpected pulse.

The firewood within me began to squirm.

At first, I thought it was just a temporary pulsation.

Compared to my massive level, the level granted by the ‘thief’ was indeed very minimal.

It was like dropping a single droplet from a mini Reaper’s dropper into a beer mug meant for a Black Giant.

But that little droplet changed the fate of the beer mug.

A drop fell into the mug, filled to the brim with firewood.

At that moment, the mug began to overflow.

My existence, overflowing, began to erode the world.

“What is happening?”

Golden flames enveloped my entire body.

And those flames blazed fiercely, starting to burn away the distorted space around me.

The fantastical landscape created by the crystal butterflies slowly melted away in the golden flames.

As if an ice sculpture were melting under the hot sun.

And my reflection in the mirror no longer tore or distorted.

Instead, it shone even more intensely within those golden flames.

I intuitively realized.

“This is the external being…”

It wasn’t about using the halo to take a step into the external being or reaching it indirectly using the corpse of a Black Giant.

It was the true level of the external being.

Wherever the golden flames passed, it became a Mini Reaper Garden.

A White Marshmallow Plain emerged.

A Sea of Hot Chocolate emerged.

A Snowfield of Milk Bingsu emerged.

The world beneath my feet had permanently distorted, changing its nature.

And I was everywhere in that world and nowhere at all.

“This is the real external being.”

I looked up at the external being butterfly, smiling.

No, I looked down at it.

Right now, I felt like I could tear the butterfly apart like a Black Giant.

Hehehe.

*

The moment the golden blade pierced my mother’s chest, the world began to change.

Golden flames erupted explosively from my mother’s body, swirling in all directions.

The sight was so overwhelming that even the Black Hooded Reaper could only stare in a daze.

The flames weren’t merely burning the surroundings.

They were made of firewood, beginning to heal the Mini Reapers who had been suffering in the distorted crystal butterfly space.

The Mini Reapers, whose limbs had been severed, started to regain their forms one by one.

“Mom, amazing!”

“Mom is strong!”

As the Mini Reapers fell to the ground, freed from their suspended state in the distorted space, the will filled with admiration spread out.

At that moment, an astonishing spectacle unfolded.

As my mother’s strength grew, the space around began to change.

Unlike the temporary Mini Reaper Garden my mother had always used, this time a permanent erosion was occurring.

It was a fundamental transformation of the world, just like the other externals.

That transformation dragged the external being butterflies embedded in the world back into the material realm.

And as the Mini Reaper Garden expanded, even more diverse Mini Reapers poured into that space.

Many Golden Reapers gathered around the weary Black Hooded Reaper lying on the ground.

“Is my brother okay?”

“Younger brother looks hurt.”

At that moment, a powerful energy was sensed from a corner of the Mini Reaper Garden.

An Hungry Ghost Reaper wrapped in white flames revealed itself.

A powerful Hungry Ghost Reaper with a ghost attached to its legs.

The Hungry Ghost Reaper spun around and flew through the sky, tearing apart the crystal butterflies and burning them with white flames.

Its appearance had become slightly odd, but the results of the fused powers were destructive.

As the focus shifted to the Hungry Ghost Reaper, the will of the Mini Reapers burst forth.

“Mom!”

“Mom is huge!”

My mother’s body began to grow.

As big as the strong mom looking down upon all things!

The Mini Reapers fell into a complete frenzy.

Mom is getting bigger!

To the Mini Reapers, the existence of a giant mom was the most joyous and happy thing imaginable.

The giant mom became indistinct, and before they knew it, she was standing in front of the external being butterfly.

Now, mom was everywhere in the Mini Reaper Garden.

Bam!

Mom’s powerful kick sent the external being butterfly soaring into the air.

The external being butterfly, dominated by space, couldn’t even offer resistance.

In that moment, my mother’s figure vanished and suddenly appeared in front of the flying butterfly.

With a slightly awkward yet powerful motion, mom kicked the butterfly back down to the ground.

“Mom is strong!”

“Mom’s kick!”

The will of the Mini Reapers resonated.

To the Mini Reapers, all of this felt like watching an iconic scene from a magnificent movie.

The Mini Reapers applauded enthusiastically, cheering for mom.

And the frenzy deepened.

But in the midst of it all, the Black Hooded Reaper wore a troubled expression.

In the eyes of the significantly more powerful Black Hooded Reaper, mom’s form appeared increasingly vague.

As if she might vanish at any moment.

And mom, who was everywhere, was nowhere to be found.

*

I kicked the massive external being butterfly around like a toy, tearing it to shreds with Spatial Cuts.

And in the final moment.

[I'll chop you up.]

The moment my spatial cut met the ever-changing destruction criteria, the battlefield was filled with the will of the Mini Reapers.

“Mom won!”

“Mom is strong!”

The Mini Reapers’ “Hooray!” echoed through the sky, and I chuckled happily at that sound.

In the form of a massive external being, I savored a comfort I had never felt before.

Everything felt trivial, and it was like I became one with the world itself.

Though it wasn’t as satisfying as dealing with the corpse of a Black Giant, there was a freedom different from that.

As the Mini Reaper Garden expanded more and more, my satisfaction grew.

This feeling, this sensation…

It felt like I had become an existence encompassing everything.

I began to sink deeper and deeper into that sensation.

Yerin’s face, memories from the Sehee Research Institute, and the Mini Reapers, all of these things were fading into the fog.

Yet strangely, I didn’t try to stop it.

[All of those things are trivial compared to expanding my garden.]

But at that moment, the intense will of the Black Hooded Reaper pierced through my consciousness.

“Mom!”

Only then did I hear the children’s voices.

“Mom, where are you going?”

“Mom, where are you?”

I jolted in surprise.

What was I trying to do?

I had nearly completely scattered my existence within the Mini Reaper Garden.

The wills of the children pulled me back to reality.

‘!!!’

In my startled state, I swiftly pulled out the ‘thief’ embedded in my chest and threw it away.

And just like that, I returned to the form of a small gray reaper.

‘…’

I stood there for a moment, dazed.

Entering the realm of the true external being was more dangerous than I anticipated.

It was just a matter of using power slightly stronger and freer than that of a halo, but the price was far too steep.

Although I had already ceased to be human, I didn’t want to let go of my sense of self.

“I almost forgot Yerin, the Sehee Research Institute, and the children.”

At that moment, I caught sight of the Ghost Reaper hovering nearby with an expression that seemed to say, “Did I do well?”

It was a more dangerous situation than I had thought, but its smug appearance irritated me, so I decided to inflict punishment.

The punishment of a maximum force punishment!

Seeing the Ghost Reaper’s round eyes that seemed to ask, “Why?” gave me a peculiar thrill.

The earlier annoyance had completely dissolved.

Hehe.