The upbeat music and the festive atmosphere filled the air.

Dazzling holograms mesmerized the eyes, while joyful laughter and singing filled the ears.

It was truly a festival!

But amidst all the merriment, I suddenly felt a sense of foreboding and looked up at the sky.

The golden reapers, who had been happily dancing, also sensed something was off, their expressions turning serious as they too looked up.

However, all that was visible was the blinding light of the holograms.

The sky wasn’t visible at all.

The holograms completely covered the sky above the city, like a massive ceiling.

There had always been plenty of holograms, but not to this extent...

As I continued to look up, the hologram Tyrannosaurs started flying around with jetpacks.

It caught my attention, and while it was a little funny, the whole thing started to look even more suspicious.

So, I sharpened my fingers and swiped them across the sky.

Zuuuaak!

The sky and the holograms tore apart in the shape of my five fingers.

'!'

Beyond the rift, I saw a large, radiant orange moon.

As the orange moonlight bathed the city, the festival atmosphere vanished in an instant.

The laughing people froze, standing expressionless like puppets who had lost their strings.

The lively music stopped, replaced by an overwhelming silence.

Machines that had been scattering marshmallows across the streets halted and turned their heads toward me.

Silence.

The festival grounds, which had been bustling moments before, now fell into an eerie stillness that was hard to believe.

But that silence did not last long.

The festival-goers bared their teeth and began charging at the mecha Tyranno.

As they surged forward, Tyranno displayed its enhanced combat prowess.

Flames shot from its mouth, lasers fired from its eyes.

Missiles launched from its back, tearing through the swarming enemies.

Despite Tyranno’s valiant efforts, the number of enemies was overwhelming.

I knew how this was going to end.

If I didn’t intervene, Tyranno would soon be overwhelmed.

The two golden reapers weren’t enough to protect Tyranno.

It would eventually break down from the endless fighting and be destroyed.

“I’m sorry, Tyranno.”

I wanted to help, but the Orange Scion was in danger.

In order to trigger such a powerful phenomenon, the mini reaper had to put its very existence on the line.

There was no time to summon the mini reaper garden. I had to leave immediately.

But even in the heat of battle, Tyranno turned toward me, baring its teeth in what seemed like a brief smile.

Seeing its magnificent fangs, I leaped through space, following the traces of the Orange Scion.

At the top floor of the Central Tower.

The blood-filled room disappeared, and a landscape resembling a tranquil sky began to appear.

An endless sea of clouds stretched out, bathed in the light of a warm orange moon.

Despite not being the sun, the moonlight had a soothing warmth to it.

Cheong was shouting amidst this sea of clouds.

“Please. Please.”

Cheong was cradling the steadily shrinking Orange Scion, her tears falling uncontrollably.

She didn’t understand the sudden appearance of the cloud sea, but she could clearly feel that the Orange Scion was overexerting itself.

Did her emotions reach the Orange Scion?

Its color was slowly becoming more vibrant.

Sensing this, the Orange Scion smiled inwardly with its eyes closed.

'As expected, my cherished human.'

As Cheong’s emotional energy strengthened, the Orange Scion was gradually escaping its life-threatening situation.

But the Orange Scion, trembling slightly, opened its eyes just a sliver and reached a shaky hand toward Cheong’s face.

The moment Cheong took its hand, it deliberately went limp, as if dead.

“No!”

As Cheong’s cries echoed, the Colossus, caught in the Orange Scion’s control over space, began to rise.

“Amazing. To think that a mere derivative of the Gray Reaper could create a moon.”

The Colossus gazed at the wavering orange moon reflected on the surface of the clouds, smiling victoriously.

“But it’s not perfect. It looks like it could fall apart at any moment.”

Clenching its massive fist, the Colossus slowly approached the defenseless Cheong.

“I will absorb your blood and become a complete Object.”

With that, it swung its fist down at the weeping Cheong.

Boom!

However, the strike was blocked by a mass of cloud creatures that surged endlessly around them.

The creatures gathered like a school of sardines forming the shape of a massive orange Scion.

'Complete? A complete Object?'

The massive orange Scion, formed from the clouds, exuded a mocking presence toward the Colossus.

At that moment, one of the Colossus’s legs began to disassemble slowly, like a toy falling apart.

“What... what is happening?”

The Colossus tried to use its “probability control” to stop the disintegration of its leg, but it wasn’t enough.

Creak. Creak.

With a hideous noise, the clash of abilities caused the Colossus’s “probability control” to crumble like a mirage.

As the Colossus’s bewildered voice rang out, the giant cloud Scion floated closer.

'Compared to my mother’s ability, it’s pitiful.'

As the Orange Scion’s scornful presence spread, the Colossus’s remaining leg collapsed.

'How helpless it is without proper probability manipulation!'

When the cloud Scion prodded the Colossus’s shoulder, its giant arm crumbled like a building being demolished by a wrecking ball.

'It can’t even hold itself together!'

A second prod, and the Colossus’s other arm crumbled as well.

With its arms and legs disintegrating, the remaining torso swayed, on the verge of collapsing entirely.

As the metal that had once protected its entire body fell away, the last remnants of the Colossus’s human parts were exposed and torn apart.

The heart, which had been half-replaced with golden horns to handle human desires.

The brain, already riddled with holes from the finger Objects.

These fragile remnants couldn’t hold the Colossus’s collapsing body together.

And so, like an orange being squeezed inside a machine, the Colossus’s brain and heart were crushed, turning into a mess of juice.

I jumped through space urgently to save the Orange Scion.

But by the time I reached it, the situation was already over.

The dangerous Object that had been the metallic mass was already dead, with its brain and blood seeping out.

In the corner of the room, the Orange Scion and its cherished human were sitting together.

The human, endlessly crying, tears streaming down her face.

The Orange Scion, lying in her arms, eyes closed as if dead.

As expected of a clever Orange Scion, its cherished human was special too.

She wasn’t quite on the level of Ye-rin, but she was a girl brimming with immense emotion.

Thanks to that, the Orange Scion’s skin was glowing with energy, and its face had become a bit fuller.

Aside from the fact that its size had slightly decreased from using too much of its existence to summon the moon, it was otherwise fine.

‘Phew, I thought the mini reaper was going to die.’

Just as I was feeling relieved that everything had worked out, I suddenly thought of the mecha Tyranno.

So, I smashed through the wall to look outside, but the city was already in chaos.

People who had partially replaced their brains with Objects had turned into zombies, mindlessly attacking those around them.

The number of these people was higher than expected, and the city had devolved into utter chaos.

‘Where is it?’

The presence of the mecha Tyranno had already disappeared.

But I couldn’t give up hope.

It had to be alive.

It was fighting well.

It had to be alive.

However, when I found the mecha Tyranno, it was already torn to pieces.

“No!!”

The anger over Tyranno’s death filled my heart.

But that anger had nowhere to go.

Roaaaar!

I screamed inwardly, like Tyranno, letting the rage from my emotional energy consume me.

Deep underground in the Free City Alliance.

There, three massive finger worms that had rarely moved began to stir.

These finger worms, which symbolized the three ruling families and effectively controlled the city, were now on the move.

The monitors attached to the worms displayed the current state of the city.

On the screen, a giant water titan, large enough to touch the Central Tower, was spinning like a windmill.

Meanwhile, an equally massive black reaper swung a colossal sword, leading the city toward its doom.

[Evacuate! Evacuate! Evacuate!]

[We must escape before the Gray Reaper finds this place.]

[Adjust the Gray Reaper variable. We must not experience this failure again.]

The grotesque worms, covered in wires, began digging into the ground with their massive bodies, leaving the tank behind.

Flash.

At that moment, from above ground, a blood-red bolt of lightning shot into the underground, striking the blood-stained tank.

Found you.

The monster whose very presence made the air tremble with sheer will.

The Gray Reaper.

Carrying a golden, glowing “eye,” it stood, expressionless, but with a fury that burned hotter than the sun.