Chapter 437
The golden flash tore through the darkness, stitching the sky with brilliant light.
A radiant beam, filling the horizon with light, was a flash imbued with the wishes of the Mini Grim Reapers.
The strike cleaved through the foggy barrier, a wall the Mini Grim Reapers bound by the contract could never surpass, and it advanced beyond.
The sound of space being torn could be heard as the sword sliced through the air.
The strike was so threatening that even the Lamp Man, who had calmly taken the Gray Grim Reaper’s attacks, twisted his body to avoid it.
[….]
However, at an unexpected moment, the strike veered off in an unexpected direction.
The sword, missing the Lamp Man by a small margin, flew directly toward the crack in space behind him.
A flicker of surprise passed across his face, hidden behind the smoke.
It was the moment when the true purpose of the Golden Grim Reaper fusion was revealed.
The Golden Grim Reapers hadn’t been aiming at the Lamp Man from the start.
From the beginning, their goal had been to eliminate the rift in space, not to attack him.
It was simply a matter of stalling for time until “Mom” returned.
A subtle expression crossed the Lamp Man’s face.
Creating the rift in space was something that only took a few seconds—an easy task for him.
‘Such a reckless challenge, just to buy a few seconds…’
The Lamp Man thought as he watched the Golden Grim Reapers falling from the sky, their fusion unraveling.
For this one attack, the Mini Grim Reapers had risked everything.
At that moment, the air around them became heavy, and the presence of a massive entity could be felt.
It was as though it was against the laws of the world, yet at the same time, it felt like the world was welcoming it—a paradoxical sensation.
It was the signal announcing the return of the Gray Grim Reaper.
[This…]
A small sigh escaped the Lamp Man’s lips.
Thud.
As I returned to the battlefield where the Golden Horn Grim Reaper had been, wearing the body of the Blue Girl, a great pulse reverberated through me, one that only I could hear.
It felt like something important was happening in the world.
But despite this, there was no change on the battlefield.
The ground was too hard, and my uncomfortable shoes dug into it as I slowly cut through the fog.
When I finally reached the open space beyond the fog, I was greeted by the sight of Mini Grim Reapers scattered across the floor, looking up at me.
‘Mom!’
‘Mom!’
The willful cries of the Mini Grim Reapers, scattered on the ground, held a sense of accomplishment as though they had achieved something.
The Mini Grim Reapers, too weak to jump, awkwardly rose and tried to leap, only to fall back to the ground.
Their feet slipped, sending them tumbling, their heads hitting the ground with a comical thud.
I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.
I approached the fallen Golden Grim Reaper, helped them to their feet, and brushed the dirt off.
‘Strange.’
The Blue Girl and the Gray Grim Reaper.
Though they appeared somewhat similar at first glance, their heights, clothes, and skin tones were all different. It was always surprising how the Mini Grim Reapers easily recognized me.
Turning my head, I stared directly at the Lamp Man and slowly approached him.
[….]
At that moment, when my eyes met the Lamp Man’s, he muttered something as if realizing something.
Then, he slowly began to walk toward somewhere.
I followed him, walking through the brief ruins.
Feeling a light, I looked up, and a blue light was shining from far above.
At the same time, the smoke that had lost its strength began to dissipate.
It was as if the morning mist was scattering in the sunlight.
The place we reached was the edge of a cliff, where the sun was beginning to set.
[This kind of ending is unsatisfying… but not bad.]
The Lamp Man reached the edge of the cliff and turned to face me, speaking.
[The inevitable end of the world is near. The Last Alchemist.]
It seemed as though he was speaking to me, but his gaze appeared to be directed elsewhere.
I remained silent, but he seemed to come to some sort of understanding.
Then, the intangible chains that had bound the Lamp Man’s form began to break, piece by piece.
At the same time, a dark, abyss-like smoke began to pour out of his body.
As the Lamp Man lost his form, the amount of black smoke pouring out only increased.
The “shape-binding frame” that had vanished seemed to resemble the contracts that had restricted the Lamp Man.
When the Lamp Man completely disappeared, the black smoke that replaced him showed no sign of stopping, spreading endlessly.
It covered the ground and stained the sky, yet it continued to spread without cease.
The sight was nothing short of a disaster-level object, overtaking the earth and filling the sky.
The black smoke had long since consumed the lamps that the Lamp Man had carried with him, and it began to grow in intensity.
The black smoke, which had only been short by a step, soon reached the outer world.
But strangely, there was no sense of tension.
In fact, the Lamp Man, though his status was immense, felt much stronger compared to the Contract, which could not kill him, due to his intelligence at the human level.
< ■ ■ ■ ■ >
Although the destruction conditions were invisible, I smiled faintly and used the ability engraved in the Blue Girl’s body.
‘The first object. The golden flame imbued with hope.’
I summoned a White Goby and raised it into the sky.
‘Lastly, the pure white guardian protecting humanity.’
At that moment, the alchemy of the Blue Girl, surpassing even the elite objects, manifested.
“Alchemist’s Sun!”
Kyu!
In an instant, the White Goby gleamed brightly and transformed into a massive sun.
The White Goby, glowing like the sun, began to burn away the black smoke.
It was a marshmallow sun that devoured the outer world like the real sun.
“….”
As the last of the black smoke vanished, all that remained was the barren cliff that resembled the place where the contract had been made in my dream.
And the only thing left was a single book.
I picked it up and gazed down at it.
It was an object I had never seen before, but the Blue Girl recognized it as a magical book.
The first of its kind, the book that caused countless anomalies in the world of alchemists.
The book of contracts that grants wishes.
I gazed down at the book that had lost its outer world status.
< Burned with golden firewood. >
Without hesitation, I lit the golden firewood in my hand and set the book on fire, erasing it.
Thus, the tale of the Lamp Man and the book of contracts came to an end.
Junior 2, amidst the endless black smoke, embraced the White Goby and the Golden Horn Grim Reaper.
The darkness, where not even an inch ahead could be seen.
The Mini Grim Reapers, exhausted and barely able to stand, crawled across the floor, diligently approaching to protect Junior 2 and her team.
At that moment, a flash of white light pierced the darkness, tearing through the smoke.
The black smoke that filled the surroundings began to slowly dissipate.
The first thing to catch the eye was the sky.
Through the fading smoke, clear blue light began to leak through.
It was as if a heavy curtain was lifting, and the blue sky was gradually revealing itself.
At the same time, the sunlight that had been hidden by the black smoke began to filter through.
Like sunlight breaking through after a sudden rainstorm.
The rays grew stronger and began to brightly illuminate the ruins where the battle had ended.
The scene revealed beneath the light was nothing but desolation.
The temple ruins, shattered by bombardment, were now unrecognizable due to the battle between the Lamp Man and the Mini Grim Reapers.
All that remained were the traces of the battle.
The ground melted like glass under extreme heat.
Cracks as deep as if a giant serpent had slithered by.
Trees charred to a blackened death.
A Saint Doll with a broken eye gently caressed the fragments of the stones that had once formed the temple.
‘Uang!’
‘It’s okay! Mom will fix it!’
Around the Saint Doll, Mini Grim Reapers, who seemed far more sorrowful than the Saint Doll itself, gathered and patted her gently.
To Junior 2, it reminded her greatly of Oyerin from Sehee Institute.
“It’s finally over.”
At that moment, the Yellow Detective rose from his seat and said quietly.
He looked light, as if he had cast something off.
The Detective had spent a very long time trying to break free from the Lamp Man’s bindings.
He had even managed to break into the secret isolation facility where the central institute director was trapped with just three ordinary people.
The thick chains that had bound the Detective’s hands, the gas lamp Watson, were crumbling into dust.
The smoke that had made up Watson was slowly losing its strength and dissipating.
Could it be because the smoke couldn’t take shape properly?
The smoke, strangely, seemed to take on the form of someone resembling the Detective.
Come to think of it, the Yellow Detective had mentioned that several people had changed roles.
But the seniors had never mentioned anything related to it.
Could it be connected?
Within that smoke, besides the form resembling the Detective, there were traces of many others.
Men and women alike, the shapes were varied.
But as Junior 2 blinked, the faint traces of smoke vanished without a trace.
At that moment, the Golden Horn Grim Reaper, who had been drowsily nodding off, suddenly opened his eyes, stretching his head like a meerkat and started staring at something.
Turning her gaze, Junior 2 saw that all the Mini Grim Reapers, scattered across the ground, were looking in the same direction.
‘Mom!’
‘Mommmm!’
And from the direction the Mini Grim Reapers were looking, a figure resembling a human-painted Gray Grim Reaper emerged.
‘Let’s go, everyone.’
The blue-haired girl that appeared looked extremely tired.
