A house with freshly painted walls in calm tones stood out in a residential area that narrowly escaped the sinkhole in Songpa-gu.

Inside the spacious living room, visible through the large windows, moving boxes were neatly stacked, waiting to be unpacked.

It was the home of two sisters who had moved from Seoul Forest.

Perhaps because it was so close to the Songpa-gu sinkhole, their new house was surprisingly cheap and spacious, and in its generous living room, the two sisters were relaxing together.

The older sister, covered in tattoos, sat upright on a soft but slightly worn-out couch, staring blankly at the TV screen, while the light from the TV cast a soft shadow over the living room.

The woman marveled at the device every time she watched TV.

How could something that wasn't alchemy or a magic tome do such things?

But whether she enjoyed watching it was a different matter.

The TV flickered with endless news, rapidly shifting scenes, and the frantic voices of reporters, but it was unclear if she was actually enjoying this flood of information.

It felt less like she was watching for fun and more out of a sense of obligation.

She was watching only because her younger sister had insisted she come out of her room and at least watch the news.

Her younger sister, with a relaxed expression, was lying on the couch, stretching out along its length, resting her head lightly on her sister's knee.

She didn’t even glance at the flickering light from the TV, instead gazing up at her sister’s face.

"You said you wanted to watch TV so much when we were in Seoul Forest, so why are you acting like this now?"

The woman casually asked, noticing that the one who had called her out to watch the news wasn't even looking at the TV.

"I'm just relaxing."

The younger sister grinned, looking up at her sister as if she found something amusing.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the gaze, the woman covered her sister’s eyes with her palm.

[The death of the Director of Trinity Research Institute No. 3 has been officially confirmed.]

"!"

Just then, an unbelievable announcement came from the TV.

That man was dead?

"The director of Trinity Research Institute No. 3 is dead? Who killed him? No Object could have killed him!"

"Seems like you didn’t know, huh? It’s been on TV a lot. They say the Gray Reaper killed him."

The Gray Reaper?

It couldn’t be possible for an Object to overcome the black liquid…

Hearing her sister’s words, the woman thought it had to be one of two things: either the Gray Reaper was something special, or the fact that the Gray Reaper had killed him was a lie.

That arrogant man wouldn't have faked his death, so he must truly be dead.

He had practically been the primary force that brought the world to ruin, and now, to die so pathetically like this.

Even now, if she closed her eyes, it felt like she could still smell the black liquid that had contaminated the entire world…

"Are you okay, sis?"

The younger sister looked at her older sister with a worried expression, seeing that she seemed to be in a daze.

Crossing the crack in the barrier, an unimaginable sight unfolded before my eyes.

It was so astonishing that I momentarily forgot about my quest for revenge for Yerin.

The entire world within my perception was moving for me.

As my gaze swept across the path, it felt as though the creator of this world was filling the chaos with a painting just for me.

Everything was vague, and the world was filled with mist, but the moment my eyes reached something, it took on a more defined shape.

The misty fog receded beyond the horizon.

The chaotic world was being reassembled.

Yet, even this reconstructed world looked incredibly unstable.

The ground and sky were forcibly stitched together.

It would be strange if such a world were stable.

I took a slow step forward, heading towards the faintly visible tree.

"!"

In that instant.

One of my feet was swept into the swirling space, severed completely without leaving a trace.

Startled by the pain I hadn’t felt in a while, I quickly retreated.

I had enough firewood to heal this kind of wound in an instant, but it still hurt so much.

The spatial severing was far too powerful when experienced firsthand.

To think it so easily bypassed the physical immunity that had always protected me!

I grew reluctant to cross that twisted space, so I checked the conditions for destroying the tree and the navy-blue moon.

The tree's condition was: Place your hand on the surface and convey the intention, 'You’ve done well. You can rest now.'

As for the navy-blue moon: Destruction of the tree.

Fortunately, the destruction conditions were clear despite their powerful appearance.

Honestly, I had expected much more complicated conditions, so it was a relief they were so straightforward.

It would have been better if I didn’t have to get close!

This space seemed to be under the influence of the navy-blue moon, and it was troubling since even the Mini Reaper Garden couldn’t unfold properly here.

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to take a step forward while trying my best to grip the space.

Since I was holding onto the space, I didn’t get foolishly torn apart by it, but flames flowed from my body like blood.

One step forward, and my right hand was completely severed.

Another step, and my left ankle twisted and vanished like it had been put through a blender.

If I could have made a sound, I would have screamed loudly.

The wounds healed instantly, but the pain lingered like an afterimage, tormenting me.

My ability to manipulate space was a poor imitation, clumsy and inadequate.

With each step I took, at least one part of my body couldn’t be properly held, and it was severed.

One step, and a twisted space pierced through one of my eyes like a drill.

Another step, and the sole of my foot was severed as if I had stepped on a sharp blade.

Why am I even doing this?

Because it’s something I must do.

If I compromise when saving humanity, I’ll eventually lose all my firewood to an Object disaster.

I can’t give in, ever.

Almost starving to death once was more than enough.

Every piece of firewood on Earth is mine.

Thinking of Yerin, I gritted my teeth and took another step.

But the tree was still far away, and my steps were getting slower.

And the firewood was running low.

The Deputy Mayor was able to escape from the state of drifting endlessly between reality and a dream.

That was because something immense had entered this space.

In the world where the chaos had subsided and things became clear, the Deputy Mayor discovered an uncontrollable Object—the Gray Reaper.

From the Deputy Mayor’s perspective, it was an infuriating situation.

‘Ha, James. You’ve finally lost your mind. Failing to control an Object in an emergency like this?’

Yet, there was also a faint sense of hope.

Perhaps the Gray Reaper, which had eradicated countless Objects, could resolve this catastrophe.

But that hope vanished the moment the Gray Reaper took a step and sustained a serious injury.

The Gray Reaper that he had studied was extremely individualistic, capable of saving humans on a whim but never acting if it involved a personal loss.

But the following situation was unexpected.

Even as its skin tore and limbs flew off, the Gray Reaper continued moving forward.

Gritting its teeth, enduring the pain.

‘Could it be, is it doing this to save James City?’

Even the Deputy Mayor, who had spent almost his entire life dealing with Objects, had never seen such a selfless act from one.

The Gray Reaper’s every step was stirring a profound change within the Deputy Mayor.

After experiencing so many Object-related disasters, the Deputy Mayor had come to view the essence of Objects as evil.

Monsters meant to deceive, destroy, and cast humanity into despair.

But witnessing the Gray Reaper’s struggle began to shake that prejudice.

Could it be that the Gray Reaper, at least, was a selfless Object like an angel?

This thought grew stronger as the Gray Reaper sustained more injuries.

When it collapsed, its ankle severed, it was pitiful.

When it bled golden flames from a punctured wound, he felt like crying.

Before he knew it, the Deputy Mayor was rooting for the Gray Reaper.

After the long journey stained with blood and pain, I finally stood before the tree.

Upon reaching the tree, the spatial distortions that had threatened to tear me apart disappeared.

In their place, a sweet and unusual fragrance filled the air.

It was a scent I had never smelled before, yet somehow, it felt familiar.

Finally, it’s over.

As I placed my hand on the tree, it felt as though the tree trembled like a small dog.

You’ve done well. You can rest now.

As I conveyed my intention to the tree, a scene I had never seen before unfolded.

Under the vast, dark night sky, the air was filled with the sweet aroma of ripe fruit.

But that fragrance was gradually being overtaken by the smell of black liquid, creeping in like oil from the distance.

In the middle of an orchard with the navy-blue moon rising, stood a girl with mysterious blue hair.

Among the trees, one stood particularly tall and large.

The girl with the blue hair placed her hand on the tree, as if reaching for the stars, and spoke.

"I’m sorry. Just a little longer."

Her voice was filled with regret as she spoke to the tree, and when she turned around, our eyes met.

The girl’s eyes widened in surprise, but then she smiled as if she had come to an understanding, looking down at me.

As the girl smiled, the scene in the orchard began to break apart like shattered glass.

The sky stitched together like patchwork, the ground interlocked like a puzzle, and even the fragments of space that had drifted like leaves all began to dissolve into light and scatter into pieces.

The world filled with the fragments of light, as though the entire world had become bathed in white.

Just as everything around me felt distant, as though muted, the light that filled the world gradually began to fade.

As the light diminished, familiar shapes and colors returned, and the world around me came back into focus.

The distorted world had disappeared, and the familiar night sky reappeared, though slightly changed.

There was a large moon, a red moon, a blue moon, and the navy-blue moon.

The moonlight poured onto the ground, coloring the landscape in a slightly different hue than before.

Under that moonlight, countless shards of debris were scattered as if carelessly sliced apart with sharp blades.

Shards of unfamiliar architecture and unknown objects lay scattered, sharply severed.

And encircling the debris-covered land was the wall of James City, curving like a horizon.