Inside the building with the giant statue.

The pink-haired girl read the ominous inscription beneath the statue and touched it thoughtfully, her expression serious.

"Doesn’t it seem like this was carved recently?"

She turned toward the blue reaper, rubbing her fingertips together.

"The edges are sharp, and there’s still a lot of stone dust left."

<?>

The blue reaper looked up at her, quietly watching as she excitedly examined the inscription.

"Looks like people were here not too long ago. They must’ve gone up to the next layer, right?"

The girl murmured, her face showing a hint of confusion.

"But…what should I do?"

"What if I meet people? I’ve never met anyone other than Grandfather, so I don’t know what to do."

Seeing her mix of excitement and nervousness, the blue reaper offered a reassuring smile.

<It’ll be alright!>

The reaper raised both fists in a gesture of encouragement, just as the golden reapers often did, sending out words of reassurance.

The pink-haired girl chuckled at the awkward gesture, then lifted the blue reaper onto her shoulder and continued walking down the long corridor leading to the tower connecting to the next layer.

Step, step.

Her footsteps echoed through the empty white corridor.

It was a wide, empty hall, seemingly built to accommodate a bustling crowd, much like a park back on Earth.

With only the two of them walking through it, the blue reaper felt a strange sense of loneliness in the vast space.

While glancing around, the blue reaper suddenly noticed something moving out of the corner of its eye.

Swish.

One of the many statues decorating the hall turned its eyes silently to stare directly at them.

<!!!>

Startled, the blue reaper began frantically tapping the girl’s cheek and pointed at the statue.

The pink-haired girl turned to look where the blue reaper was pointing, only to see the statue rolling its eyes to gaze at her.

"!!!"

In shock, she clutched the blue reaper tightly and sprinted down the corridor.

Through a seemingly endless passage of white walls and black statues, they finally burst out onto the building’s rooftop.

By now, the sky had grown dark, and they could see the water-filled expanse of the layer stretching below.

The girl collapsed onto the rooftop, catching her breath.

"What was that? It didn’t follow us, so maybe it wasn’t dangerous after all."

She laughed, slightly out of breath, and turned her gaze toward the view from the rooftop.

Above, stars filled the sky through gaps in the sky curtain.

Buildings shrouded in the color of night stood without a single light.

Calm water flowed between the buildings, reflecting a sky full of stars.

"It looks like there are two skies."

The starlight mirrored in the water made it feel like they were sitting in the middle of a sky filled with stars.

Splash.

Just then, something fell into the water below.

The object looked familiar to the blue reaper—a glint of gold, sharp teeth, and a massive jaw.

It looked like the head of the beloved Golden-Mecha-Tyranno, a favorite of their “Mom.”

<Look over there!>

Following the blue reaper’s pointing finger, the girl saw black statues slowly creeping over to the dinosaur head, crushing and devouring it.

"So, those statues really do move. I half-thought it was my imagination…."

As the statues moved, the sturdy metal dinosaur head disappeared in no time.

"Ah, so that’s why there was no trash here."

The girl looked strangely satisfied.

In contrast, the blue reaper wore a deeply worried expression.

<Mom’s going to be furious….>

The beloved Tyranno toy, arguably more precious than even the mini reapers, had been destroyed, and it felt as if the entire tower could come crashing down in rage.

Let Mom arrive as late as possible!

Let this journey with my beloved human last even a bit longer!

The blue reaper silently wished with all its heart.

Late at night, in the middle of Seoul Forest.

I looked up at a distant planet in the sky that seemed oddly familiar.

"Where have I seen that before?"

I tend to forget even the most important things if I don’t think about them for three months, so recalling it was tough.

"I know I’ve seen it somewhere. Was it in a documentary?"

"No, definitely not."

Struggling to remember, I grabbed a nearby golden reaper patrolling the area, fiddling with it as I thought.

I swung its limbs around like a doll.

Waaah, Mom’s being mean!

After making the golden reaper punch another one nearby, a very old memory finally surfaced.

"Right! I saw it when Yerin and I went to America."

The black planet in the sky was the same one I had seen through omniscient senses the first time I encountered a black corpse.

Releasing the golden reaper, I reached toward the sky.

The blue reaper was likely on that planet.

For some reason, I just felt it.

If I know where it is, and there’s a mini reaper there, I should be able to reach it, even if I can’t directly sense it.

Extending my awareness endlessly forward, I faintly sensed the blue reaper’s presence.

Found it!

Though the connection was weak, it was still a connection.

The blue reaper’s life force was burning brightly, with no signs of worry.

Thank goodness.

Just as I thought that, a heartfelt message started coming through from the blue reaper.

Let Mom arrive as late as possible!

Let this journey with my beloved human last even a bit longer!

….

While the golden reapers were panicking over the missing blue reaper, it seemed like the blue reaper itself was perfectly happy….

Well, as long as it’s happy.

Calling the mini reapers to gather around, I sent out a reassuring message.

I found the blue reaper. It looks fine.

At those words, the golden reapers began hopping around excitedly.

Hurray!

Thank goodness!

Some golden reapers stared blankly at the sky, broadcasting the news through the mini reaper network.

Just as I was about to consider what to do about the runaway blue reaper, a stream of evolutionary fluid rained down from the sky, following the beam of light from my connection.

Reeling at the stench, I sent out a startled message.

Ew, what’s this all of a sudden?

Sensing the strange smell, the mini reapers quickly scattered.

Wait!

Mom smells!

The instant I heard that, I scattered the evolutionary fluid in all directions.

Waaaah!

Mom’s gone crazy!

Covered in evolutionary fluid, I chased after the mini reapers, who immediately ran off.

The chase of doom had begun.

The upper layers of the tower’s end.

The pink-haired girl and the blue reaper, after crossing a beautiful, serene layer, arrived at a level with a much stranger atmosphere.

Houses made of metal.

Roads with exposed pipes.

It was very different from any of the layers they had encountered before.

"The houses look weird."

The buildings, constructed with interwoven pipes, seemed oddly dysfunctional.

Some had no entrance.

Others had ceilings that were too low.

Some had crushed walls.

And others had no interior space at all.

There weren’t even usable facilities to be seen.

Disappointed, the girl, who had hoped to encounter people, looked a little crestfallen.

<The next layer will be a proper place!>

But despite the blue reaper’s encouragement, the next layer, and the one after that, were both in complete disarray.

One layer even had no buildings or roads left—just a broad, empty disk.

"…."

The pink-haired girl and the blue reaper passed through the barren layers, heading toward the next platform.

Sigh.

Inside the tower between layers.

As the temperature felt slightly colder, the girl let out a visible breath.

<Please keep everyone warm!>

Seeing her shiver, the blue reaper wrote out comforting words, and a warm aura settled around her.

"Thank you."

She expressed her gratitude, moving toward the tower’s exit.

Though she expected yet another empty layer, the sight beyond the bright light was different than anticipated.

Unlike the entrance to the tower, this disk layer was noticeably lower.

Below, a massive city filled with traces of human life sprawled out.

Though it was entirely made of pipes and metal, the city unmistakably resembled buildings.

"Wow."

The pink-haired girl’s mouth fell open as she took in the vast scene from the tower.

Tree-like pipes twisted and bent in all directions.

A main street stretched cleanly ahead, flanked by pipes.

Pipe-hammered horses and carriages lined the street.

It was a grand city made entirely from pipes.

The city was populated with countless statues shaped like people made of pipes.

Pedestrian-like pipes strolling down the street.

A lady in a fancy dress holding an umbrella, made of pipes.

Children, molded from pipes, running through the streets.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Descending the grand staircase from the tower, they walked along the wide boulevard.

"It almost feels alive."

The girl murmured as she touched the neck of a pipe-made horse.

The buildings lining the boulevard were decorated with intricate details inside and out.

All of it, crafted from pipes.

"I’ve never seen this many people before."

The girl looked at the pipe statues, which seemed almost frozen in life.

"I didn’t know it was possible to have so many people."

After walking further down the street, they reached a massive gate connected to the boulevard.

Royal Alchemist Academy.

The girl looked up at the writing on the gate, tilting her head.

"An Alchemist Academy? What’s that?"

<….>

The blue reaper found something about the inscription deeply melancholic.

In the layer with clear water and black statues.

An unusual phenomenon was occurring in the place the pink-haired girl and the blue reaper had left.

All the black statues were extending their necks, gazing upward.

They seemed to be looking for something invisible.

With faint white light emitting from their eyes, they looked up.

It seemed as if the shadow of a massive blue star was reflected in their gaze.