When the day's schedule finally ended, the graduation ceremony for the Brown-haired Girl began.

It was difficult to think of it as a gathering to send off someone committed to humanity's protection; the ceremony was sloppy and brief.

"This is suspicious."

To the Silver-haired Girl, who had begun feeling uneasy about the "facility," the graduation ceremony seemed utterly dubious.

There was something unsettling about the sporadic nature of selecting graduates, as well as the simplicity of the ceremony itself.

"Really, this is ridiculous. Why didn’t I notice anything strange before? And why am I only now starting to feel it?"

As these thoughts circled her mind, the Silver-haired Girl raised her head, following the gaze of the other trainees.

She saw the Brown-haired Girl walking along an elevated pathway, like a bridge.

Their eyes met, and the Brown-haired Girl waved at her, smiling.

With a look that seemed to say, "You can do it," the Silver-haired Girl found herself solidifying her resolve once more.

"I’ll definitely save you."

At that moment, blurry visions began overlapping with reality.

"What?"

What was this?

Upon closer inspection, she realized it was an illusion showing scenes from her dream.

Like the afterimage of something moving at high speed, a series of translucent forms appeared, spaced at one-second intervals.

Illusions stretching from ten seconds in the past to ten seconds into the future.

When she turned her gaze, she saw herself from the dream, creeping up onto the walkway above.

Lowering her body as much as possible, and glancing around as though to avoid being seen.

"I have to go fast. There's no time."

She had to be much faster than the illusion if she were to save the Brown-haired Girl.

Though she wanted to enter the passageway as quickly as possible, it was impossible.

She had to avoid everyone’s watchful eyes.

Even in her dream, she chased as fast as she could, but she couldn’t catch up.

"Faster, even faster."

She gritted her teeth and moved swiftly through the winding, unsettling passageway.

The corridor was messy, hazy, and faintly smelled of blood.

The scent of blood made the Silver-haired Girl even more anxious.

With no need to worry about other people's gazes anymore, she pushed her speed ability to its limit and started running.

But this was still no faster than the illusions; she moved in the same way and at the same pace as them.

"I have to run faster!"

However, suddenly becoming stronger was out of the question.

At this rate...

Images of the Brown-haired Girl, spilling blood and entrails, flickered before her eyes.

"No. I can’t let that happen."

"Please, just a little faster."

She gritted her teeth, but so did the illusions.

"No, no, no."

As her impatience filled her chest, a voice whispered near her ear.

[Human! Eat the fruit!]

It was a small voice but strangely familiar and persuasive.

In desperation, she took the fruit and swallowed it whole.

In that moment, an intense pain burned atop her head, and she felt something sprouting.

"??!"

Despite the dire situation, the Silver-haired Girl reached up to her head, startled by the sudden sharp pain.

While running, she checked and felt something soft and trembling growing atop her head.

Just as she was about to tear it off in panic,

[Human, run!]

the voice sounded again.

The startled Silver-haired Girl snapped back to the situation, gritted her teeth, and started running again.

Time accelerated tenfold.

"My ability has grown stronger!"

"At this speed!"

The Silver-haired Girl surpassed the illusions in an instant, sprinting forward.

Warm sunlight streamed through the large windows of the Vice Director's Office at the Sehee Research Institute.

A mere turn of her head would reveal the courtyard through the big window, where the Mini Reapers joyfully frolicked. But Seo-ah only frowned slightly as she focused on the computer.

She was reviewing a report on the strange behavior of Mini Reapers near the Pacific coast of Japan.

Photos filled the report, showing Mini Reapers of various colors staring at the ocean.

A Golden Reaper raising its arms toward the early morning sun reflected off the sea.

A Black Reaper gazing toward the ocean, hands held up like binoculars.

A Purple Reaper, back turned to the sea, hiding in the elongated shadows cast by the low-angle sun.

A Red Reaper perched atop a person’s head, staring lazily at the sunrise.

The sheer number of photos made Seo-ah sigh in exasperation.

"This is an overload of unnecessary photos."

She muttered absent-mindedly, wondering if she was reading a report or flipping through a Mini Reaper photo album.

She glanced at the report's cover page and saw the expected name.

Author: Sehee Research Institute Researcher, Oh Yerin.

But how did she manage to gather such a collection without even traveling to Japan?

As competent as she was, Oh Yerin was also known for this kind of eccentricity.

The more she read the report, the more a headache seemed to creep up on Seo-ah, who sighed deeply and pulled her gaze away from the monitor.

Then she noticed a Golden Reaper waddling in through the "Mini Reaper Door" on her office door.

It grinned cheerfully, carrying a large loaf of bread as it approached the guest table with a plop.

As it settled on the table, the Sprout Reaper that had been resting on Seo-ah’s shoulder jumped down toward the Golden Reaper.

They scampered toward each other and hugged tightly, rubbing their cheeks together as they laughed.

Was this how Mini Reapers greeted each other?

Once their adorable greeting ended, the Golden Reaper looked at Seo-ah and began hopping excitedly on the spot.

"Let’s eat bread together!"

Seeing its eager invitation, Seo-ah nodded slightly, rose from her seat, and made her way to the table with the bread.

"Alright, let’s take a break."

As she sat down, the rich aroma of freshly baked bread wafted up.

The bread was golden-brown and looked as though it had come from a high-quality bakery.

"Even though it looks like store-bought bread, there's no way it actually is."

Seo-ah had tasted this bread brought by the Golden Reaper about once a month, and she knew its truth.

It was so sweet that you could almost believe it was just sugar shaped into bread.

Honestly, it was too sweet for her taste, but she couldn’t refuse it.

If she didn’t eat it, the Golden Reaper would cry so hard it would break her heart.

The Golden Reaper rarely imposed on humans unless it was a warning against danger, so this was an unusual insistence.

What kind of bread was this?

Could something dangerous happen if she didn’t eat it?

Light-heartedly pondering these questions, Seo-ah tore off pieces and nibbled on the bread.

The Mini Reaper Garden, Marshmallow Plains.

Mini Reapers started gathering there in droves.

At the center stood the First Blade of the Golden Reapers and the Maw Reaper.

"I wonder who’ll win?"

Watching closely, I munched on some popcorn.

The gathered Mini Reapers, on the other hand, seemed bewildered about the reason behind the showdown.

"Why are they fighting?"

"No idea!"

"Is it a pudding bet?"

This random battle began with a Halo compatibility test for the special Mini Reapers.

Since summoning all at once might inconvenience the busy ones, I decided to call the ones who had free time.

"Anyone free, come to me."

That’s when the First Blade of the Golden Reapers and the Maw Reaper arrived at the same time.

When I saw them both, a curious thought occurred to me.

"Who would win if they fought?"

Both were highly skilled swordsmen and stood apart from the other Mini Reapers, making it hard to predict.

The Maw Reaper had displayed formidable strength from the start!

Though the First Blade had trained under the Maw Reaper, it had unlocked a whole new skill level.

Once it looked like enough Mini Reapers had gathered, I clapped to signal the start of the match.

As the Maw Reaper swung its sword, flame-shaped embers scattered around like petals carried on the wind.

"Whoa."

Its technique was fearsome, enough to send my immune body flying at that instant.

I watched, focused on how the First Blade would respond.

The First Blade lacked a good area attack, so it would have to work hard to clear those embers.

But the response of the First Blade surprised me.

It raised its sword horizontally, whispering a low intent.

"Void Slash."

As it swung, a black void followed the sword's trajectory, sucking in the flame-shaped embers.

A few moments later, the Maw Reaper's ultimate flame attack was neutralized.

With a small sigh, the Maw Reaper returned its sword-formed hand to its original shape and let out a small sound.

"Coo."

It sounded almost like, "I admit my defeat."

At that, the watching Mini Reapers erupted into cheers.

"Amazing!"

"Strong!"

They clapped, jumped around, rolled, and made a ruckus.

I watched the delighted Mini Reapers with amusement, feeling equally excited inside.

"If the First Blade gets a little stronger, could it even take on an Outsider?"

It would be perfect for automatic battles!

I'll have to treat the First Blade well from now on.

"Grow strong!"

Hehe.

A hallway with a faint scent of blood.

The girl was running faster than ever before.

"At this speed!"

And at the end of the hallway, the Silver-haired Girl spotted a door.

The familiar, large door from her dreams.

The door she had always seen, where the Brown-haired Girl lay in a horrid state.

Despite her fear of what lay beyond, the Silver-haired Girl gritted her teeth and burst through the door.

Inside, she saw two things.

A man about to stab the Brown-haired Girl in the neck.

And her friend, still alive!

Without a second thought, the Silver-haired Girl launched herself at the man, kicking him with all her might.

A gruesome crunch sounded, but she ignored it, rushing to the Brown-haired Girl’s side.

"Are you okay?"

Seeing her worried face, the Brown-haired Girl’s pale expression stiffened as she spoke.

"Why did you come here? This is against the rules. They probably haven’t noticed yet, so go back quickly."

Shaking her head in frustration, the Silver-haired Girl replied.

"Are you in your right mind? You almost died just now!"

But the Brown-haired Girl, still resolute, replied.

"Rules must be followed, no matter what. Do you want to be a traitor to humanity?"

"How can you still say that after what just happened? The facility tricked us!"

The Brown-haired Girl, with a troubled expression, muttered in confusion.

"The facility tricked us? That can’t be... then right now..."

At that moment, the corpse of the man, his neck broken and dangling, slowly began to rise.

"Look behind you!"

"!!!!"

Hearing the Brown-haired Girl’s warning, the Silver-haired Girl jumped back in alarm.

Crrrack.

The man twisted his broken neck as if trying to reset it, but turned it the wrong way, causing his head to fall cleanly off.

"Damn it."

Swearing flowed from the man’s severed head as it hit the ground.

A severed head speaking?

It was like a scene out of a horror movie.

And before she could process it, his body started swelling grotesquely, transforming into something inhuman.

[How dare you.]

[A mere livestock.]

As the monster opened its mouth, a thick stench of sulfur wafted out.