Beyond the room with the rippling black liquid lay a dead-end room with no connecting doors.

Unlike the other sections of the building with white walls, this room was decorated with beige walls.

In one corner of the square room were numerous frames piled up haphazardly, as if they had once been displayed.

Instead, the walls of this room were covered with depictions of Maws in various colors.

Red Maw, Blue Maw, Green Maw—Maws of all colors.

The drawings exaggerated the Maws’ small differences in a cartoonish way.

In this strange space, a Maw dressed in a uniform held a white orb in one hand, turning to face the pink-haired girl and the Blue Reaper.

[Finally, I can carry out my last mission.]

The uniformed Maw sent a telepathic message with a slightly anxious tone.

Its expression appeared as neutral as possible, but its face was slowly contorting with nervousness.

“A mission? What’s that?”

The pink-haired girl, unaware of the Maw’s tension, had an innocent expression.

However, sensing something amiss, the Blue Reaper gripped his staff tightly with a look of unease.

[My last mission is to show certain records to any human who visits this place.]

[Would you like to see them?]

“Yes. Show me.”

The uniformed Maw approached the blocked wall and tapped it in a unique rhythm.

Grrrrk.

The enormous wall opened entirely, revealing a hidden room.

Inside was a room filled with moving mirrors, similar to the display room in the Academy model.

“More mirrors here too.”

Following the Maw inside, the pink-haired girl glanced around.

In the mirrors, people with serious expressions were shouting, screaming, and talking intensely.

[For two years now, no life has been born in the tower. What’s causing this?]

[Alchemy isn’t eternal. Neither is the tower. I wish the evolutionary fluid had been like that too….]

[Seeds aren’t sprouting in the fields. There’s plenty of light, nutrients, and water!]

[But I still hope the students can eat plentifully….]

[The tower has lost its self-sustaining power. We need to find a way outside.]

[It’s daylight. The sun is cursing us.]

[What went wrong? Are we no longer human?]

[Spider, devour the sun.]

[The tower is collapsing.]

[The spider is broken.]

[Why?]

[We must bring in matter from outside, from another space.]

[The experiment succeeded. It’s just a piece of metal, but success is success.]

[Gather all alchemists in the tower. This steel tower will lead us to hope.]

The people in the mirrors were all speaking at once in different voices, making it difficult to understand.

But one feeling was clear.

It was the desperate emotions of humans trying to survive.

The Blue Reaper wore a sad expression, trying to memorize each of their faces with sympathy.

However, unlike the Blue Reaper, the pink-haired girl couldn’t make out the cacophony of mixed voices from the mirrors.

With the murmuring as background noise, she simply walked behind the Maw, following his lead.

The Maw stopped beside a mirror located in the deepest part of the room.

The mirror displayed a distant view of the tower, as if taken from afar.

The video began with a giant disc-shaped structure gradually collapsing and compressing.

An eerie sound, chilling to hear.

It was as though the enormous yet fragile “Tower of Ends” was screaming in pain.

The upper part of the tower, which had been collapsing endlessly, had by now compressed into a massive steel rod.

Flash.

At the same time, a flash of light erupted from the top of the tower, filling the screen with white.

When the flash subsided, what remained was a half-destroyed tower, the collapsed part now completely gone.

[With this mirror, my explanation is complete. Do you have any questions?]

The uniformed Maw spoke, his hand holding the orb trembling slightly.

Something’s strange. Very strange.

The Blue Reaper felt a foreboding aura emanating from the Maw.

“It’s hard to understand the contents of these mirrors. Can you explain them?”

[My mission ends with guiding humans to the mirrors.]

“Then, how many people live above this level?”

The Maw seemed both anxious and expectant.

The pink-haired girl, oblivious to his emotions, continued her questioning.

[I have no knowledge of other levels.]

The Maw’s face gradually twisted, resembling the rough surface of a walnut.

The hand holding the orb began trembling even more.

“What is the statue with long arms and no legs?”

[That’s an impossible statue. I wouldn’t know.]

The Maw’s mouth opened and closed involuntarily, as if chewing on something.

“What about all the Maw corpses outside the building?”

[Maws? Ah, you’re referring to guardians like myself. An interesting term.]

[They were all Maws that ate the Core. I took care of them all.]

[Handling Maws that ate the Core is also part of my “mission.”]

The pink-haired girl didn’t notice, but muscles were bulging under the Maw’s skin.

“Who wrote the messages in that room? And what is that black liquid?”

The pink-haired girl pointed back toward the room they had left.

[Those refer to beings whose names can never be spoken.]

The Maw’s face, now fully deformed, took on a grotesque, walnut-like appearance.

But the pink-haired girl, having little experience with humans, didn’t sense anything amiss and continued to ask questions.

“Lastly, what is the ‘Black Maw with Long Legs’?”

Sensing danger, the Blue Reaper slapped her cheek gently, trying to stop her, but the pink-haired girl had already spoken.

[That, too, cannot be answered.]

Now with a red-tinted face, the Maw replied as he raised the orb toward his mouth.

[One last note: there is no “Black Guardian” in this tower.]

With those final words, he swallowed the white orb.

[My mission is complete.]

[At last!]

Then, the Maw’s body began to twist and contort.

Crack. Crack.

Despite the excruciating pain his contortions seemed to inflict, the Maw radiated a sense of relief.

[I’ve wanted to consume this so badly.]

He looked up with a wide grin.

His mouth was packed with countless rows of white teeth.

On the outskirts of Songpa District, at James Tower.

I spent my time stacking the Golden Reapers I’d turned into “substitutes” into a tower.

Round and round.

Squishy, squishy.

The squishy Golden Reaper tower.

After building a soft Golden Reaper tower, I rolled them around like bowling balls.

Until the effect of being “substitutes” wore off.

Once the Golden Reapers returned to their original form, I lay on the floor and let out a relieved sigh.

Well, there was nothing I could do about the fact that the Golden-Mecha-Tyranno Armor was already gone.

As I chuckled softly at the thought, the Golden Reapers gathered around and started jumping on my belly.

Mom’s all better!

Mom’s a substitute!

I deliberately puffed out my belly, letting the Golden Reapers bounce even higher.

They giggled with delight, even though they’d jumped from high places many times before.

While we spent time this way, I suddenly thought of Tyranno.

It would probably take James ages to make another dinosaur armor.

I’m too impatient to wait.

Now that I think about it, didn’t I manage to connect with the space the Blue Reaper entered?

It seemed connected to the Steel Tower, and the space-loss phenomenon also appeared related to it.

In that case, Tyranno’s head might be where the Blue Reaper is!

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I sprang up.

Wah!

The Golden Reapers who had been playing on my belly fell sprawled out on the floor.

Stretching out my senses, I locked onto the Blue Reaper’s location and teleported there.

Splash.

As I tugged hard on the string connecting me to the Blue Reaper, I was transported to a completely different world.

Did I teleport too far? I feel so dizzy.

Where am I?

The first thing that hit me was the smell of evolutionary fluid, so strong it wrinkled my nose involuntarily.

Well, it was a mess of a world where just opening a small portal would pour out evolutionary fluid.

And the first sight to greet me was a beautiful night sky above.

It was indeed a stunning night sky, but I didn’t like the fact that it was covered by haphazardly woven canopies, with no moon in sight.

Looking down, I saw buildings made of smooth white stone.

Pools resembling swimming areas and round, cute buildings.

The place gave off the feel of a resort.

At first, I even thought, Could the Blue Reaper be happily playing in a place like this?

But the resort was crawling with powerful statue-like objects.

With long arms and rooted legs.

Objects that resembled the “Old Gods” form that the Black Reaper took.

Grkkk. Grkkk.

So many statues had gathered that the heavy sound of their crawling filled the surroundings.

To shake off my dizziness, I shook my head side to side and clenched my hands, preparing for battle.

Then I began to hear the chaotic voices of the statues.

Is she… back?

She’s returned?

Hungry.

Where are you?

Can’t see.

Lies!

The voices were messy and disorganized.

But then, gradually, they began to align, forming a single word.

Mom?