Chapter 514
As consciousness slowly returned, the last memories came rushing in like a wave.
The image of the child she had tried to protect, and the desperate wish she had at the moment of death.
‘I hope that child can survive…’
‘I hope one day… they will be able to speak…’
The thoughts that had lingered at the edge of consciousness became clearer, and her heavy eyelids slowly began to lift.
She wondered if this was the afterlife, but soon realized it was not.
“The stone human is awake!”
“He’s awake!”
Unexpected, excited voices rang in her ears.
When she opened her eyes, she was met with a scene she never could have imagined.
Colorful magical books, about the size of a palm, were chattering excitedly as they floated around her.
Their faces were full of innocent smiles, and their pure energy brightened the surroundings.
She looked up and saw the White Guardian looking down at her, smiling with a bright grin.
Next to it was a White Magic Book, also smiling warmly.
The entire scene was so surreal that the statue could only stare at it, dumbfounded.
‘Am I not dead?’
In her confused state, she looked around.
She had definitely been dead.
The memory of that moment was too clear.
But now, she was clearly alive, and her consciousness was sharp.
As she retraced her memories, the small magical books flying around her seemed to be the ones that had attacked the amusement park.
Upon confirming the presence of the magical books, things began to make sense.
‘This seems to be a different world where these magical books primarily live.’
The statue, after drawing a conclusion, looked down at its own body to assess the situation.
The resurrected body was completely different from before.
It was no longer a mannequin made of wires and plaster, nor was it the body it had as a human.
Instead, it had a strange, unique form made entirely of pure plaster.
The most fascinating part of this body was its functionality.
Though it looked like it was made of rigid plaster, it could move freely, much like human joints.
Aside from the faint sweet scent that emanated from it, it was a body that, like a stone guardian, was both solid and flexible.
‘I don’t understand.’
With his limited knowledge of alchemy, the statue could not explain the situation.
The tiny magical books that surrounded him, greeting him as though they were meeting an old friend, kept floating around excitedly.
‘Huge!’
‘Giant stone human!’
Their will was filled with pure curiosity and joy.
Strangely, despite possessing such immense power, they seemed unable to use telepathy.
Instead, these little magical books expressed their intentions by radiating pure emotions.
The statue recalled its first encounter with these magical books.
Even though they had destroyed the amusement park and toppled many mannequins, strangely, the statue didn’t feel any fear toward them.
On the contrary, their actions felt somewhat righteous.
All the beings they had attacked were evil, after all.
‘No being with such a pure, innocent smile could be evil.’
But just then, an unexpected sound echoed in its ears.
Qui-hing-hing…
Turning its head toward the cry, the statue witnessed an unbelievable sight.
The White Guardian, who had been by its side just moments ago, was being shoved into a cannon by a Red Magic Book.
Except for the red color, it was a perfectly ordinary cannon, like one taken from a large ship.
The White Guardian desperately resisted.
It struggled with its short legs, trying to avoid being forced into the cannon, but the Red Magic Book mercilessly burned its legs.
As the statue watched in shock, the Red Magic Book used a long rod to push the White Guardian into the cannon.
And the next moment, the cannon was fired.
Qui-hing—hing!
A long, stretched-out sound came from the fast-moving object.
The White Guardian’s scream soared high into the sky, its cry echoing for a long time.
As the severed limbs of the White Guardian flew toward the highest trajectory,
Boom! The explosion sounded.
Burning white flesh filled the sky, creating red fire patterns in the air.
‘The good magical books must be right…?’
As doubt started to shake his confidence, the statue tried to steady his mind.
But as he saw a giant golem carrying the White Guardian behind the cheerful magical books, his eyes trembled uncontrollably.
The journey to find the Black Giant was endless.
I hurried my steps, following a quiet forest path.
Thump, thump.
With every step, the sound of my footsteps echoed, causing the surrounding leaves to tremble faintly.
“Mom, do you remember?”
Suddenly, the Golden Reaper spoke to me.
A special one that had come to me without warning.
One of the first Golden Reapers.
“At first, you ran away from us.”
I stopped for a moment and pondered those words.
Though not much time had passed, it felt like a distant memory from a long time ago.
‘Did I?’
This Golden Reaper was unusual in many ways.
Perhaps because it was one of the first to be born and had experienced so much, or maybe because it was currently staying at the James Institute, it was very intelligent.
It hadn’t had an Attachment Human up until now, and it was so eager to travel with me that it even pressed its body against my belly.
Well, considering that I was busy finding the Black Giant, I might have thrown it aside if it had been sitting on my shoulder or head.
The Golden Reaper chattered happily, recounting things I didn’t quite remember.
From the time we dealt with the bad humans at the Object Expo, to retaking the pudding factory.
And even the time we danced on top of a red skull, a memory I didn’t particularly want to recall.
As we continued walking, chatting away, we soon arrived at a cliff overlooking the ocean.
Before the vast, endless blue sea, I hesitated for a moment.
‘Which way should I go now?’
As I looked around, unsure, the Golden Reaper’s voice reached me.
“Mom! Hurry up!”
It was the signal from the Golden Reaper that had given me the most important task.
After receiving the signal, I gently lifted the Golden Reaper from my belly, and it looked at me with a slightly sad expression, sending me its will.
“Do I have to go?”
“Yes.”
The voice of the Golden Reaper was filled with a sense of reluctance, as if it knew we were about to part.
Although I could meet it again anytime at the Mini Reaper Garden, it was still such a strange one.
With a brief answer, I placed the Golden Reaper on the ground and then teleported without hesitation.
Left behind in the place where Mom had disappeared, the Golden Reaper stared up at the sky for a while, motionless.
What it saw wasn’t the sky, but the place where I had been.
The sky reflected in the Golden Reaper’s eyes seemed a little lonelier than usual.
‘Mom…’
The will, carried by the wind, drifted into the air.
At the edge of time and space, where infinite darkness reigned, a faint hum echoed.
The sound cut through the cold, silent void like a beam of light, gently parting the emptiness.
“Hmm, hmm.”
The source of the sound was a white marble round table, seemingly emerging from the pitch-black darkness.
Suspended in mid-air, the table radiated a mysterious presence, starkly contrasting with the surrounding darkness.
Around the table were nine seats, placed at regular intervals.
In front of each seat was a golden candlestick, but all but one of the candles were extinguished, casting only a faint golden outline in the dark.
Sitting in one of the seats was a blue-haired girl, gazing eagerly into the air as if waiting for an old friend.
Her eyes held both anticipation and some deeper meaning.
How much time had passed?
Suddenly, a golden flame erupted from the candlestick in front of the blue-haired girl.
The flame, faint and weak, flickered as if it were the last remnants of a nearly burned-down candle.
The blue-haired girl slowly turned her gaze toward it.
In the seat that had been empty just moments ago, a man had appeared.
As naturally as if he had always been there.
He was dressed in elegant clothes, reminiscent of an ancient noble.
But in his hand, he held a completely broken steel lamp, and his face was obscured by thick, swirling smoke, as though alive.
In the deep darkness, separated by the white marble table, the blue-haired girl and the man with the lamp faced each other.
