The faint blue light of dawn softly illuminated the streets.

The Ashen Girl smiled gently at the Yellow Reaper as they continued walking towards their destination.

Inside, her heart swirled with complex emotions.

“This might be the last day we get to talk like this.”

A sorrowful feeling settled within her, as if today might be the last day she would spend with Yellow Reaper.

Though she was on her way to “restore everything back to normal”...

To shake off these sad thoughts, she started chatting about lighthearted things.

Talking seriously now would make it feel even more like the end.

She spoke of her family, school, and the joyful times she shared with Yellow Reaper, but a lingering sadness tinged her words.

“Come to think of it, I feel like I can now understand the intent behind Yellow Reaper’s gestures.”

Was she becoming more like an object?

The thought of this change unsettled her.

“It’s okay.”

Perhaps sensing her anxiety, Yellow Reaper patted her cheek, conveying reassurance.

The ever-nervous expression on Yellow Reaper’s face was as familiar as ever, but to the Ashen Girl, it was clear.

This was his best attempt at looking confident.

As they neared the apartment complex, the Ashen Girl’s heart grew heavier.

Clutching the “doll” that Yellow Reaper had insisted she never lose, she tried to hold back the surge of sadness rising within her.

Though it was just an ordinary doll, the gift from Yellow Reaper was precious to her.

“I’ll never, ever let go of it.”

She continued to feel as if this was her final moment with Yellow Reaper.

And paradoxically, as though this moment was when everything would return to “normal.”

Walking through the dawn-stained blue streets, the Ashen Girl etched her final memories with Yellow Reaper deep within her heart.

An ancient being was dreaming—a dream as old as the time he had endured.

It was an age when strange phenomena, unknown to humans, swept them to their deaths.

An age when “alchemists” who sought unity with these phenomena through jade existed.

And finally, an age ended by a black giant descending from the sky.

At that time, one man began to have an earnest desire.

A grand wish of a man who neither became one of the vanished “alchemists” nor worshipped the black giant as a god.

“I want to be like the black giant, a god.”

To consume human aspirations.

To crush space with a mere gesture.

To freely twist the fate of the world.

To manifest his every wish into reality.

The man researched how to become such a god.

Even if the world crumbled, he continued.

To his eyes, it seemed as if he could still see it—

The shadow of the black giant’s hand reaching out towards him.

[…]

Then, the ancient man opened his eyes in endless darkness.

“A dream…”

He thought he had long lost the need for dreams…

At that moment, he sensed the Yellow Reaper and a plaster doll approaching his realm.

He could feel every detail of what had occurred in the apartment complex.

The doll, recounting the scenes from her dream to Yellow Reaper, was making her way toward the center of the complex.

“Just a little further, and we’ll be at the place I saw in the dream.”

Thus, the doll was unknowingly guiding Yellow Reaper closer to the ancient man’s side, as intended.

Soon, the Yellow Reaper and the doll arrived at their destination, the central building.

“Alright, I’m going in.”

With a feeling of deep nervousness, the doll slowly pushed open the building’s glass door.

Creaaak.

The door emitted an eerie sound, as if it hadn’t been oiled.

Inside, the building contained an endless expanse of gleaming white sand.

“This is it. I came here in my dream.”

The doll murmured, as if entranced, and began walking forward.

Crunch, crunch.

The sound of footsteps echoed as she stepped on the white sand.

In the white sand lay numerous rectangular pits.

They looked like graves dug to hold coffins.

And inside each pit was a person, dried up like a mummy.

The Yellow Reaper and the doll examined each pit as they made their way deeper into the sands.

[This should suffice.]

With a flick of his finger, the ancient man caused countless plaster dolls to rise from the sand.

The dolls, made of haphazardly woven wire and plaster, charged at the Yellow Reaper in unison.

But the attack posed no threat to Yellow Reaper.

With a wave of his hand, a horde of Mini Reaper costumes appeared.

Although lacking the actual Mini Reapers inside, the costumes moved on their own.

They weren’t as powerful as the originals, but they were still formidable enough.

[It seems this won’t be enough to capture you.]

Murmuring this, the man moved, only to find himself already standing on the sand near Yellow Reaper.

As Yellow Reaper dispatched the oncoming plaster dolls, an unsettling voice echoed.

[It seems this won’t be enough to capture you.]

The Ashen Girl turned her head and saw a pale, red-streaked figure towering over her.

[At last, the final puzzle piece toward divinity is in my grasp.]

A worn white robe.

Where his face should be, red stains flowed like blood.

Two arms darkened to black.

And a broken halo resting atop his head.

Despite the bright sand, his eerie figure appeared cloaked in darkness.

“A powerful object!”

Yellow Reaper emitted a fierce intent, summoning an army of costumes.

An army that filled the white sands.

[…]

Seeing this, the white object silently raised one hand, causing the surrounding air to shiver slightly.

It was as if invisible energy was swirling around his hand.

Then, as he clenched his hand tightly, a black sphere formed in midair.

What began as a tiny dot quickly expanded, swallowing everything around it.

It seemed to draw in not only the air but even the light, like a bottomless abyss.

The space around the black sphere twisted and compressed.

Crack.

The costumes struggled, as if ships caught in a storm, and were sucked into the black sphere.

Each tried to escape using its abilities, but they couldn’t break free from the distorted space.

In an instant, everything was gone, leaving only an empty void.

“????”

Yellow Reaper wore a deeply confused expression.

“Fake!”

Furious, Yellow Reaper summoned more costumes…

But at that moment, the broken black halo atop the white object began to pulse, scattering intense light.

The fractured edges of the halo oscillated erratically, disturbing the air around it.

When the fragments reassembled into the shape of a complete halo, a column of black light shot into the sky.

The black flash expanded rapidly, filling the surroundings.

An icy chill that cut to the bone.

A vibration that twisted space.

A shadow that threatened to trap the world in darkness.

When the flash faded, all the costumes had vanished without a trace.

“Is that… Mother’s beam?”

Yellow Reaper stared blankly at the beam from the halo.

Then, the white object slowly extended his hand toward Yellow Reaper.

Just as he had created the black sphere, he emanated an overwhelming aura, beginning to dominate the space around him.

The space quivered, gradually distorting, and finally spiraled inwards, engulfing Yellow Reaper.

Silence settled over the area.

Then, the white object turned to the Ashen Girl, who looked at him in shock, and spoke.

[Well done. Now, continue dreaming as you wished.]

At that moment, the Ashen Girl’s consciousness faded, like a TV screen turning off.

In the early dawn, when the Golden Reapers were still asleep.

For no particular reason, I suddenly awoke.

Looking around, I saw Golden Reapers softly flickering, and Black Reapers making small beeping sounds as they slept.

“Hmmm.”

It felt as though I had woken up because there was something I absolutely had to do.

But what could it be?

I racked my brain, trying to think.

Make a “Mini Rabbit Skewer” while the Golden Reapers are asleep?

Tempting, but probably not it.

Look for that golden comet I’d seen shoot across the sky a long time ago?

I’d forgotten about that, but it didn’t feel right either.

“Ah!”

A thought popped into my mind.

I needed to ask Yellow Reaper to make a Mini Reaper Tyranno costume.

Clearly, waking up early today was a sign from the gods to witness Mini Reapers toddling around dressed as dinosaurs.

And it’d be even better if I could play a game where they tore into Triceratops White Maws.

With my purpose settled, I got out of bed and began walking.