Through the harsh cold of the Arctic, James sat inside the research vehicle, in front of a monitor.

On the screen, videos captured by dozens of drones belonging to the James Institute were streaming live.

The screen displayed the scene of San Francisco, now engulfed by the Objects.

Golden flames were burning both the sky and the ground of San Francisco.

In the middle of such San Francisco, a massive worm-like sphere, as large as the buildings, suddenly split in half.

At the same time, the charred remains of the worms that had covered the sky began to vanish.

Then, the blue sky and golden sun began to emerge.

As the morning sun cast its light over the empty city, the city's true landscape started to be revealed.

Broken buildings.

The shattered Golden Gate Bridge.

Damaged roads and cars.

"Haah."

A long sigh escaped James' lips.

It was a sigh of relief, seeing that the damage was far less than expected.

"When I heard that the gray reaper wasn’t watching TV, I even considered abandoning the West Coast, but… I’m really… really relieved."

At his words, the new research assistant standing behind him nodded in agreement.

Her face also reflected a sense of relief.

"Yes, sir. It's truly a relief. However, the reconstruction efforts won't be easy."

"Indeed. And the Alexander Group won’t just sit idle either."

As James slowly turned his head, his gaze fell upon a transparent glass cup sitting on the monitor table.

Inside the cup of clear water, the Golden Reaper was floating.

With a slightly bored expression, the Golden Reaper was flailing its arms and legs as if swimming in the water. When it caught James’ gaze, it smiled mischievously.

Seeing this, James smiled lightly, then picked up the plastic lid sitting on the table.

Without a word, he placed the lid on top of the cup.

"Ah!"

The Golden Reaper was startled.

Clearly taken aback by James' unexpected action, it struggled inside the cup before swimming up energetically toward the lid.

Using its small hands, it desperately tried to push the lid off, but James' firm palm kept the lid securely in place.

"Nooo!"

The Golden Reaper's expression shifted to one of increasing confusion.

"I’m trapped!"

After giving up on escaping, the Golden Reaper began to act as if playing a theatrical game, exaggerating its expressions and gestures.

It made a face as if saying "Grr!" and then started floating motionlessly in the water like a corpse.

Occasionally, it would open its eyes just slightly and glance at James.

While James and the Golden Reaper were playing, the new research assistant spoke up in a small voice, voicing her doubts.

"By the way, sir, when you heard that the gray reaper wasn't watching TV, why didn't we take any further action? There must have been other ways to expose information…?"

"No, that wouldn't have been a good idea. We should only expose information in the most natural way possible."

James shifted his attention from the cup and pulled out an old report, handing it to the assistant.

The cover of the report read, "Gray Reaper Behavior Pattern Report."

"You haven’t read this report, have you? Under no circumstances should we brief the gray reaper directly or provide information in any forced manner."

He added in a quieter voice, "Our survival as humans is largely thanks to the whims of the ‘new god’—the gray reaper."

Ding-ding-ding.

At that moment, James' emergency cell phone began to ring.

"What is it?"

The news delivered through the emergency network contained shocking details.

[All upper management of the Alexander Group dead.]

[A giant butterfly causing time distortions still appears around the world.]

After receiving these updates and giving instructions, time passed quickly.

James let out a breath of relief and turned his head. The Golden Reaper, who had been waiting for him in the cup, had fallen asleep.

James carefully took the sleeping Golden Reaper out of the water and gently dried it off with a towel.

In a soft voice, he whispered, "Goodnight," before placing the Golden Reaper onto its own special bed.

Click.

The lights inside the research vehicle turned off, and a comfortable darkness settled in.

The worm foreign entity crisis had ended, and the morning light had arrived in San Francisco.

Warm sunlight gently poured down over the broken Golden Gate Bridge and the collapsed buildings.

The golden morning sky was peaceful, as if the chaos of the previous day had never happened.

However, the city's appearance was in stark contrast to this calm.

Broken windows, twisted steel beams, and debris scattered everywhere vividly testified to the fierce battles of the previous night.

I stood on the giant black reaper’s palm, looking down at the entire scene.

At that moment, the First Sword and the Cloak Reaper, now split in two, came running toward me.

The evolved golden reapers rarely showed their expressions, but the faces of these two reapers displayed both fatigue and a sense of victory.

"Well done."

I smiled softly and embraced the two reapers, gently patting them.

The First Sword and the Cloak Reaper closed their eyes and sat quietly in my arms.

"Hug!"

At that moment, a familiar will spoke to me, and the Hug Reaper leapt into my arms from my shoulder, as if wanting praise for itself.

"Yes, yes. You did well too."

I smiled and hugged the Hug Reaper as well.

Although the worm foreign entities seemed weaker than others, it was still remarkable that the mini reapers alone had managed to handle the foreign entity.

Of course, it wasn’t perfect yet.

I still had to blow firewood nearby and check the destruction conditions.

But this was almost close to automated hunting, wasn't it?

And with the addition of the Golden Horn Reaper, who could remotely send firewood!

Hehe.

Then, the best automated hunting system available could be achieved.

But there was still work left to do.

The "eyes" to see the destruction conditions.

That was something that couldn’t be replaced by mini reapers.

I sighed and looked up at the sky.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't come up with a way to replace the "eyes."

Until the First Sword reached a rank high enough to ignore the destruction conditions like a giant black being, I would have to settle for what I had.

Just as the peaceful moment was about to settle in, a loud noise shattered the calm.

Whoooosh.

I looked up at the sky and saw a swarm of drones flying above the city like a mechanical bee hive.

Their camera lenses gleamed as they captured the scenes below.

And in the distance, broadcast vans and helicopters were rapidly approaching.

The crisis had passed, and people were starting to return.

Now that the disaster that had suddenly engulfed the city was gone, curiosity and the thirst for news had led them here.

"It’s time to head back."

I smiled and looked around at the reapers.

The Hug Reaper, staring up at me.

The First Sword and the Cloak Reaper, sitting with weary expressions.

The Orange Crown Reaper, sleeping blissfully unaware of the world.

The Giant Black Reaper, looking down at me.

I tapped the head of the Orange Crown Reaper to wake it up.

"Alright, let’s go back."

As soon as my will touched the world, a passageway leading to the mini reaper garden opened in the air.

I slowly walked toward the passage, enjoying the last steps of a walk.

Behind me, the First Sword and the Cloak Reaper followed silently.

The Hug Reaper still circled around me, excitedly following.

Lastly, the Orange Crown Reaper, still sleepy, floated into the garden.

When I turned my gaze back, I saw the Orange Crown Reaper looking at the Hug Reaper.

A meaningful smile was on its lips.

It was a smile full of curiosity, as if it had discovered something interesting.

At the outskirts of Songpa District, James Tower.

In one of the rooms inside, a silver-haired girl woke up from her sleep.

"Another one of those dreams…"

The girl mumbled.

The silver-haired girl had dreamt again.

Just like the dream she had seen at the facility, it was the same recurring dream.

But the difference was, she had no idea what this dream truly meant.

The dream she had was like a scene from a monster movie, depicting the war between the Objects.

Countless black monsters swarmed across the barren land, and the sky was filled with giant butterflies.

The situation on the ground seemed unfavorable for the monsters.

Long arms and sharp teeth were all they had to fight with.

But the giant butterflies flew, distorting time as they moved.

If the black monsters didn't have the ability to merge and become giant, they would have been defeated long ago.

The silver-haired girl sighed as she got out of bed.

Her face showed the fatigue from the restless sleep caused by the repeating dreams.

"Yawn..."

She yawned widely and opened the bedroom door.

In the shared living room, a brown-haired girl was already watching TV.

When she noticed the silver-haired girl, she smiled brightly.

"Sleeping in again? Are you still having that dream?"

"Yeah."

The silver-haired girl nodded and answered.

"I’ll take a shower."

She said with a sleepy voice and was about to head to the bathroom.

At that moment, the image on the TV caught her attention.

"!!!!"

The silver-haired girl’s eyes widened in surprise.

The monster on the screen looked exactly like the one in her dream.

Black skin, long arms, and legs that seemed to be rooted in the earth.

The monster from her dream was right there on the screen.