The End Tower, where everything had finally concluded.

When the spider was pulverized by the "Gray Reaper Beam" I had fired, the Black Reapers clinging to me began to stir.

"We won!"

"Mom's victory!"

At first, they wiggled joyfully, celebrating the victory.

As time passed, the Black Reapers started transforming from their fluid, amorphous shapes into mini reaper forms.

Their black heads popped up on their smooth, shiny surfaces, and their thoughts shifted from celebrating victory to expressing happiness at being with me.

"Mom is warm."

"I like Mom."

The ones clinging closest to me nibbled gently with sharp little teeth or licked me.

I caught one of the Black Reapers nibbling on my cheek with my fingers.

“Eep!”

It wriggled in surprise, trying to escape my grasp.

"What kind of punishment should I give to Black Reapers who keep biting?"

As I pondered this, the struggling Black Reaper looked up at me with a gentle smile, now calm.

"Mom is kind!"

When I didn’t make any further move, it hugged my finger tightly, exuding its thoughts.

Cute.

And this one even let me use the "Gray Reaper Beam" this time.

"…."

But since it bit me, I’ll have to bite its head!

Heh heh.

With that, I popped the head of the Black Reaper into my mouth.

"Nooo!"

"Mom ate it!"

Seeing this, the other Black Reapers scattered in shock.

"Aah!"

"It's falling apart!"

Even the Black Reapers maintaining the giant doll form began to flee, causing the massive structure to rapidly crumble.

Thud. Thud.

The squishy sound of the Black Reapers hitting the ground filled the air as I too fell onto the soft mass of Black Reapers.

Lying there, gazing up at the sky, I saw a halo flickering above.

When I reached out for it, the halo was pulled swiftly into my hand.

It felt like it was naturally meant to come to me.

I held the halo in my hand and inspected it slowly.

"This must be the Halo of Incantation."

I imagined all the tricks I could pull with it, grinning.

As I twirled the halo around my finger, I noticed a bright light emerging from the distant black horizon.

It was the sun.

At first, faint beams of light cut through the darkness, then a strong, golden glow began to bathe the ruins.

As the sun's warm rays touched the desolate landscape, small flowers began to bloom everywhere.

Between broken stones, amidst scattered and shattered pipes.

Yellow, purple, white, pink—colors of every hue adorned the once bleak ruins.

The sunrise, replacing the lost stars, appeared like a constellation across the ruins.

The gentle breeze swayed the small flowers, creating a ripple of life over the desolation.

"Not bad at all."

It was a view that even I, who usually had no interest in flowers, found myself admiring.

The Black Reapers didn’t seem particularly interested in the sparkling morning sunlight, but they observed the fragile flowers as if seeing something rare.

Tap, tap.

Gently, they poked at the dew-laden petals with curious fascination.

"Flowers are blooming…."

The pink-haired girl, who had looked rather timid among the Black Reapers, was also holding the Blue Reaper close and murmuring as she gazed down at the flowers.

Watching the Blue Reaper look up at her with a soft smile, I suddenly thought, "Ah, I miss Yerin."

Creak. Creak.

Just then, a loud noise began to echo from the massive structure beneath my feet, like a rooster crowing at dawn.

It sounded precarious, as if it might collapse at any moment.

It was probably the aftermath of the fight with the spider and the spatial tearing.

Though the structure was sturdy enough to withstand wild objects, it seemed time to bid farewell to this world and return to Yerin.

"Alright! Gather up! Time to go home!"

With that thought projected, the Mini Reapers began to squirm and gather around me.

The pink-haired girl looked a bit confused but approached, her pinky finger clasped by the Blue Reaper.

Sensing the distant Earth connected to me, I began to draw it closer.

And in the next moment, with the Mini Reapers, the precious human, and myself, I crossed through space.

Warm sunlight bathed the top of the End Tower where the Gray Reaper had disappeared.

With that, the ancient "End Tower" began to weather and crumble.

The pipe-constructed city scattered into dust.

The roads once walked by academy students, the large shops, and even the grand academy buildings all faded away, piece by piece.

The massive layered tower that connected the levels also disintegrated.

The pipe surfaces, which had always looked as new as ever, quickly rusted and began to crumble.

Everything on the End Tower disintegrated.

All traces of fields, the remains of an empty village, and the small town from which the pink-haired girl had departed—all were gone.

Every remnant turned into rust-colored dust, coloring the wind as it scattered.

In the final moments, the End Tower slowly sank into the thick liquid below.

And there wasn’t a single trace left behind.

As if nothing had ever happened.

For the first time in a long while, the Sun-Eating Spider dreamed a peaceful dream.

There was no relentless pain burning its body, nor the creaking aches felt from its worn frame.

The spider's current dream was an ancient one, from so long ago that it was before its master had even started building the tower, far older than what its broken eyes could recall.

"Look at this. I made a new companion to work with you."

In the spider's dream, its master, with short brown hair like a well-baked loaf of bread, held up a massive tome before the giant spider.

"Isn’t it cute?"

The large tome, introduced by the smiling master, was a gigantic, wrinkled, and even airborne mole.

"This one can help us with things we can’t handle thanks to its 'ghosting' ability."

The master had always seemed to be smiling.

The spreading decay had led to food shortages and rendered even habitable land scarce….

"Then let’s build a massive tower where everyone in the kingdom can live!"

"Sooner or later, we’ll be able to solve everything. That’s what alchemists do—they make the impossible possible!"

He was always smiling as he said such things.

The dream ended with the master looking fondly at the ugly face of the giant mole.

Blink.

When the dream ended, the Sun-Eating Spider found itself opening its eyes.

"Did I survive?"

But it quickly realized that was not the case.

Its size had diminished.

Its body was soft.

Its eight legs had shortened.

The spider had died and been reborn as something entirely different.

In the Mini Reaper Garden, by the Sea of Hot Chocolate.

A beautiful, transparent structure was being built on top of the sea.

"A crystal slide!"

It was a playground-like wonder made of jewel-like sugar that wouldn’t melt.

At the top of the sugary structure, a giant bread-spider, nearly as large as the White Maw itself, was spraying sugar threads from its mouth.

The bread-spider had become immensely popular in the Mini Reaper Garden, where the Gray Reaper had yet to return.

"Amazing!"

The Golden Reapers laughed, smiling at the sight.

Some Golden Reapers ran up to the bread-spider as it sprayed sugar threads, getting covered in sugar lumps.

It was popular even among the other Mini Reapers.

Only the Blue Reaper, who seemed worried, continued to anxiously await the Gray Reaper’s return, missing his companion.

The White Maw watched the giant structure with a look of indignation.

"Mew…"

The White Maw was tied up, slowly roasting over a bonfire.

Even the Red Reaper, who had been roasting the White Maw, had long since left for the sugar structure.

Forgotten and overcooked, the White Maw had turned pitch black.

"Mew… mew…"

The White Maw whimpered sadly, feeling the gap in treatment compared to the bread-spider.

Tap, tap.

A Golden Reaper, walking somewhere, suddenly turned around.

But no one was behind it.

"?"

Tilting its head in puzzlement, the Golden Reaper resumed walking forward, only for a Black Reaper to pop out of the shadows.

Matching the Golden Reaper's steps, it started walking along.

Tap, tap. Tap, tap.

Curious about where so many Golden Reapers disappeared to every morning, the Black Reaper had been secretly following them.

"What could it be?"

The Black Reaper trailed carefully behind, sneaking from shadow to shadow.

Eventually, it arrived at what seemed to be a normal apartment door.

"It doesn’t look special."

The Black Reaper examined the door intently but saw nothing unusual.

Just as it tried to turn into liquid and seep through the gap, the door suddenly opened.

Beep!

Startled, the sneaky Black Reaper let out a little "beep" sound upon seeing who had opened the door.

"Mom?"

A lead doll with golden eyes shining walked out, with equally startled Golden Reapers behind it.

"What do we do?"

"This is serious!"

"Mom's precious human will scold us!"

The lead doll, now outside, began walking in the direction of the Sehee Research Institute.