When the Gray Reaper stomped his foot three times, flames suddenly erupted from the drainage ditches around the clearing.

Did the gasoline from the wrecked sports car seep into the drainage system?

The fact that the gasoline spread so evenly must have been due to the Reaper's abilities.

The heat suddenly intensified.

The clearing where the Gray Reaper and the Agwi subspecies were battling transformed into an arena surrounded by flames.

Rumble.

Then, the ground began to shake violently.

"Is the underground tunnel collapsing? There's no way it would collapse from such a shock," James muttered, his expression showing disbelief at what he was witnessing.

"The Reaper can do anything! If he wanted to, he might even be able to destroy the Earth," Yerin boasted with a broad smile, proudly extolling the Reaper's capabilities.

Boom!

With a sudden explosion, the ground beneath Agwi caved in unnaturally.

During the battle in Songpa-gu, a massive sinkhole had appeared.

This time, however, the sinkhole was smaller and more modest, almost as if it had been tailored specifically for Agwi.

It was like a scaled-down version of what had happened in Songpa-gu.

As the dust settled, Agwi had already been sucked into the hole.

But the outcome was different from Songpa-gu.

Thud. Thud.

A massive hand burst out from the edge of the sinkhole with a loud crash.

The sinkhole wasn't enough to trap the Agwi subspecies.

Pop.

The sound of Agwi's body bursting apart echoed through the air.

The hand that had firmly gripped the ground vanished with that sound.

And then there was the resounding crash as the Agwi subspecies was slammed back down into the sinkhole.

A Golden Reaper, who had appeared out of nowhere, had leaped in and severed Agwi’s hand.

Suddenly, the area around the Gray Reaper was filled with Golden Reapers.

As the Gray Reaper stretched out his hand, the Golden Reapers rushed toward the sinkhole in a wave, leaping into it one by one.

Each time a Golden Reaper dove in, there was the sound of something bursting, as Agwi's body parts were obliterated.

Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.

The continuous popping noises from the Golden Reapers diving into the sinkhole sounded like popcorn popping.

Roar!

Agwi's agonized scream echoed from within the sinkhole.

The confident swagger it had shown earlier was gone, replaced by sheer terror in its voice.

Boom!

With a tremendous noise, the Agwi subspecies launched itself out of the sinkhole in a desperate leap.

As it soared through the air, its body was in tatters, riddled with holes shaped like the Golden Reapers.

It looked like a piece of paper that had been shredded by a hole punch.

But the trajectory of the Agwi subspecies as it fell was strange.

It wasn't aiming for the Gray Reaper?

The Agwi subspecies was targeting us, the observers standing on the outskirts of the clearing.

Despite its battered state, it was still a massive body with enough weight to crush a few people into pulp.

But why all of a sudden?

"Get out of the way!"

Hearing the sudden shout, I turned to see James frantically fleeing with the unconscious man slung over his shoulder.

But it was already too late to escape.

Thinking back to the battle in Songpa-gu, I tried creating a sinkhole, but it was useless again.

Why didn't Agwi escape from the Songpa-gu sinkhole? Did someone smear honey underground?

Recreating the fight with Agwi made me realize just how much stronger I’ve become.

This level of combat and regeneration doesn’t strain the firewood much anymore.

Since the experiment is over, I might as well get a bit more serious.

When I summoned the Golden Reapers, a multitude of them swarmed out of the Golden Reaper Garden.

Already, a few Golden Reapers had charged at the harmful Agwi subspecies and severed its arm.

I reached out toward the sinkhole.

Commanding the Golden Reapers:

"There’s a harmful Object to humans over there! Take it down!"

Thud, thud.

Bounce, bounce.

The Golden Reapers, each at their own speed, swarmed toward the sinkhole.

Without hesitation, they jumped in.

Pop. Pop, pop.

The irregular popping sounds were satisfying to hear.

As expected, the Golden Reapers were much more efficient.

Since the Golden Reaper Garden was created, I hardly needed any firewood for resurrection.

I could sense the Agwi subspecies’ regeneration slowing down.

I thought we were going to handle this smoothly, but the Agwi subspecies made one final desperate move.

For some reason, it launched an attack toward Yerin.

Does it not know?

I would never let Yerin be in danger.

I spread my arms wide and summoned the Golden Reaper Garden into reality.

As I unleashed the full power of the garden, the surrounding factory area instantly vanished.

And what filled the area was…

A landscape of bed-like earth, a sea of hot chocolate, and a paradise of cookies and pudding.

"What? It’s suddenly the Golden Reaper’s home?"

Yerin’s voice was startled and surprised.

Thud.

The Agwi subspecies landed far from where Yerin had been standing.

It seemed confused by the sudden change in environment and why its jump had missed its target.

But it didn’t give up and started running toward Yerin again.

What a pointless effort.

"Wow!"

As the Reaper spread his arms, the entire landscape transformed into the Golden Reaper’s home.

"Can Objects do something like this? What should I call this? Spatial displacement? Teleportation?"

James looked worried, something clearly troubling him.

Grrr.

Despite the bizarre phenomenon, the Agwi subspecies stubbornly continued to charge at us.

I was surprised by how persistent it was, but something even more surprising happened next.

With a stomp of one foot, the Reaper caused the space to fold in on itself, creating a barrier between us and the Agwi subspecies.

Then, as the Reaper extended his hands and brought them together in a circular motion, the space around Agwi began to curl inward.

Inside the curling space, the Agwi subspecies appeared distorted and stretched, like something trapped in a fisheye lens.

When the Reaper suddenly clenched his hands tightly, the spherical section of space collapsed inward and vanished without a trace.

The Reaper calmly turned to look at us.

"This is… almost god-like."

James’s expression had shifted from concern to sheer disbelief.

"Reaper, are you okay?"

The Reaper seemed as calm and composed as ever, with his usual blank expression.

But somehow, I felt that he might be tired, so I ran over and hugged him.

The Reaper often felt better when I hugged him, so hopefully, this time would be no different.

Fortunately, when I looked down, his expression seemed a bit more relaxed.

I don't think I'll ever forget what happened today.

At one point, America, and humanity at large, firmly believed that they could catch up to and conquer the Objects.

But after witnessing today’s events, I’m not so sure.

Can humanity ever replicate what I just saw?

The only solace is that causing such phenomena seemed to tire even the Gray Reaper.

His expression was hard to read, but he looked so exhausted that even I could tell.

The mysterious space that had engulfed reality had vanished as quickly as it had appeared, dissolving like a soap bubble.

"Now that the last obstacle blocking our path is gone, let’s go and reclaim the factory."

I forced a bright smile and said this in a cheerful voice.

After passing through the shattered door, we reunited with the Object responsible for pudding production that Agwi had taken over.

"Restarting production will be difficult."

The pudding-producing Object was in complete disarray.

Many of the production facilities were destroyed.

And most importantly, the rabbit dolls had all been either destroyed or escaped.

It looked like it would take a long time to restore the factory to full operation.

In the deepest part of the factory, where the Agwi subspecies had been guarding, there was an Object that looked entirely different from what I expected.

"Is this the Object that produces pudding? When I heard it was a pudding factory, I imagined something more like large-scale equipment…."

It looked more like a toy kitchen set than a factory.

The tiny kitchen, complete with a counter and cooking utensils, was scaled to the size of the rabbit dolls that had attacked us.

Despite the surrounding structures being chewed up and smashed, a few of the mini kitchens were in surprisingly good condition.

"This looks functional enough. Why can’t production resume?"

"It’s difficult because the most important part, the rabbit dolls, are missing. It takes quite a while to produce them, so it will be some time before the factory is back to normal. Sorry about that—you came all this way to purchase pudding."

While James and I were talking, the Reaper slowly walked over to the mini kitchen.

Was he planning to do it himself?

The kitchen was far too small for the Reaper to fit inside.

But when he stretched out his hand, some oddly shaped Golden Reapers popped out from his palm.

These were adorable Golden Reapers wearing chef hats and sporting rabbit ears.

With expert movements, the Golden Reapers entered the mini kitchen and took their positions.

"Could they possibly replace the rabbit dolls?"

James looked both surprised and unsure.

I was a bit shocked too.

The Reaper seemed to be capable of anything!

The Reaper looked at us with an expression that clearly said he was confident in his abilities.

"Well then, let’s give it a try."

James placed his cherished book onto a device, and golden flames flared up from the book, lighting up the mini kitchen.

And then, the tiny cooking began.

The cooking process was divided into stages, but what was strange was that time inside the mini kitchen seemed to be moving at ten times the normal speed.

The pudding was completed in an instant and sent up through a chimney attached to the mini kitchen. From there, it floated upward, wrapped in bubbles.

"Wow, the pudding is coming out so quickly."

"It’s because time is accelerated inside that kitchen. Once we repair the factory and get the other mini kitchens running, production will ramp up even more."

I imagined the Reaper would be happy to see the pudding, but when I turned to look at him, he seemed dissatisfied.

Why is he upset this time?

The Reaper walked over, picked up the book, and threw it at James.

Then, with a meaningful expression, the Reaper placed his hand on the device where the book had been.

Suddenly, golden flames erupted from the Reaper’s body and were drawn into the machine.

"What? Wait, what’s happening?"

The mini kitchen began to speed up even more.

Ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times.

The Golden Reapers inside moved so fast that they left no afterimages, their speed beyond comprehension.

James shouted, "Stop!" but it was too late.

And then, puddings wrapped in bubbles were fired out of the chimney like cannonballs.

A torrent of bubble pudding surged through the factory!!

Boom!

The torrent of pudding smashed through the factory’s ceiling, spilling out into the sky and scattering in all directions.

Wow, the world is filled with pudding.

What are we going to do? Seo-a Unnie is going to be so mad at us.