The spring breeze swept through the forest, carrying the fresh scent of nature.

The weather was just right. A nap on a lush green lawn would be pretty nice.

Pretty nice, huh...

“Ah, Eileen, hold it a little higher! I can’t see!”

“Ah... Okay...”

Her reply was completely lacking in energy.

Thup-thup-thup-thup-thup-thup-thup-thup!!!!

The sharp sound of Bone Blades cutting through the air rang in my ears.

【Data collection is going smoothly】

【Current supported flight time: 23 minutes】

【Please increase rotation speed by 0.3x】

[Oh!]

At Paper-chan’s words, I issued a command in my mind.

A hundred meters away, a white flying object noticeably picked up speed, shifting from hovering to a slow ascent.

“Ooh!! Have I finally found the balance point?!”

“Um... Mr. Ojer...”

“Yeah, just a second, Eileen! We’re at a crucial step!”

[What’s the ascent speed?]

【Currently 12. Recommend increasing the multiplier by another 0.2】

[OK!]

With that, the white flying machine climbed even faster!

“Ooh!! At this rate, we’ll reach 132 meters in no time!”

“Mr. Ojer!!”

Eileen’s sudden shout startled me.

“What is it, Eileen? Oh, and keep holding me like that. Don’t turn me around, or I won’t be able to see.”

“Isn’t this weird, though?!”

“Ah...”

Hearing her say that, I tried to turn around and look.

But I couldn’t move at all.

After all, right now I...

...was nothing but a skull.

Ten minutes earlier...

After discussing it last night, we returned to the mission site that morning.

“Hmm...”

I looked up at the hundred-meter cliff, still shaken by what had happened.

“I mean... even if the flight goes smoothly this time, if my head’s spinning around at high speed, I still won’t be able to see anything...”

【Why not just hold your head still?】

[No, it’s not a matter of holding it still or not...]

Huh...?

Hold it still?

I’ve got it!

“Eileen!!”

The girl quickly set down what she was carrying, clutched her staff, and hurried over to me.

I placed my hands on her shoulders, making her jump.

“W-what is it...?”

I fell silent for two seconds, lowered my head, then dejectedly took off my helmet.

Seeing that, Eileen thought something terrible had happened to me and hurried to comfort me.

“Eileen...”

“Y-yes!”

But my tone was so earnest, as if I’d committed some unforgivable crime.

“In my short life as a skeleton... I’ve learned something...”

“Something...?”

“Yeah... That is... a skeleton’s power has its limits...”

“The more I try to gain greater power, the more I realize that a skeleton’s power has its limits...”

“Unless I go beyond being a skeleton.”

Eileen looked utterly confused, but she could tell something big was about to happen. She swallowed, her expression turning serious.

“W-what exactly are you trying to say...?”

I took two steps back, formed Bone Blades in both hands, and laughed wildly!

“Hahahahaha!!!”

“I!!”

“Am done being a skeleton!!”

“Eileen!!”

Then I chopped off my own head!!

The moment my head was severed, my enormous body crashed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, while my head rolled away with a clatter.

“W-w-w-w-whaaaaaaa?!!!!”

Eileen was horrified. She stumbled back several steps, staring in disbelief at the skull that had rolled to her feet.

“W-why...?”

“Big brother... I...”

“Ah, I’m not dead.”

I said it in a perfectly calm voice.

Eileen: “......”

“Ah, now that I’m like this, I can’t move at all...”

“Hup! (Straining)”

“Hmm... Nope, I can’t move. Eileen, could you pick me up?”

Eileen: “......”

“Eileen?”

The girl wiped her nose, then crouched beside my head with a smile.

“Thanks. I can’t see anything with my eyes facing the ground like this.”

She picked me up and turned my face toward her.

“Oh, there we go. Hey, Eileen, what’s with that look? Did you think I was dead?”

“Aw, I was just testing something out. Don’t worry, as long as my head’s still here, I’m not dead. Ahaha...”

But...

All I got in response was silence.

“......”

I had a bad feeling about this...

“Um... Eileen... I, uh... should’ve told you beforehand...”

“Ojer...”

She lowered her little face and muttered something under her breath.

“Eileen? Eileen, move me up a little. I can’t see your expression.”

“Mr. Ojer, you...”

“Hmm...?”

Then she suddenly lifted her head, her face twisted with anger, shock, and some other emotion I couldn’t quite identify.

Anyway, she looked terrifying!!

“Eileen?!”

“You big idiot, Mr. Ojer!!!”

Then she started shaking my head violently!

“Aaaah! Don’t shake me! I’m gonna throw up!!!”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?! I thought you’d suddenly killed yourself!”

“Aaaah! It’s my fault, it’s my fault! Just put me down and stop shaking me!!!”

“Idiot!!”

Then she kicked me away!

“Huh?!”

The white skull traced a graceful arc through the air.

The scenery spun endlessly before my eyes: green grass, a deep blue sky, and a blazing white sun.

It felt like I was looking through a kaleidoscope.

Ah, that reminded me of when I was with Karina before...

“Kha!”

Before I could finish imagining it, I slammed into the ground, bounced twice, and rolled into a thicket.

“Hmph! I’m not talking to you anymore!”

I couldn’t see, but I heard Eileen give a cold snort and walk away.

I was absolutely terrified!

“Eileen, I’m sorry! Come pick me up already!!”

“Aaaaaah! Bugs! There’s a bug crawling toward my eye!!!”

The leaves rustled...

“What the hell was that sound...?”

The next second, I nearly choked to death!

“EILEEN!!!!”

I screamed at the top of my lungs!

“What kind of animal is that?! Hey, don’t touch me!”

Some little animal whose name I didn’t know came closer. I was so scared I nearly puked up my soul.

“Aaaah! Don’t lick me! Hey... what are you doing...?”

It looked at me, then...

turned its butt toward me.

“Oh crap... wait... buddy...”

“Don’t pee on meeeee!!!”

All hell broke loose.

And that brings us to the present...

“Well... it’s not that weird. Actually, I should’ve seen it coming.”

Eileen pouted, looking a little unhappy.

But then again, it was pretty weird for a girl to be holding a skull while a headless skeleton flew around in the distance.

You had to admit, it was bizarre...

I tugged at my jawbone.

“My soul fire is inside my head, and my body should be no different from an ordinary skeleton soldier.”

“And yesterday’s experiment already proved that using Corpse Manipulation to control myself is completely doable.”

“So taking my head off and controlling just my body is way more efficient than trying to fly with my head attached!”

“And most importantly! There’s no delay!”

After listening to me explain all that, Eileen sighed, took out a handkerchief, and wiped the yellow liquid from around my eye sockets.

“Ahaha, thanks for putting up with me, Eileen...”

Once she was done wiping me off, she simply held me against her chest.

“......”

Hmm...

I felt the faint softness against the back of my skull...

So flat...

Eileen still had some growing to do...

I swallowed those words instead of saying them out loud.

“Ah, Mr. Ojer! It’s reached the flowers!”

She adjusted the angle of my skull so I could see how my body was doing.

【Target altitude reached. Reduce power by 0.2】

[Oh, yeah]

I did as instructed.

Thup-thup-thup-thup-thup-thup-thup-thup!!

The headless skeleton helicopter stopped climbing and hovered in midair instead.

Right beside it was an entire clump of silversteel flowers!

“All right, now we just need to pick them... pick them...”

Uh...

“Mr. Ojer?”

Eileen looked puzzled when I stopped halfway through my sentence.

I’d just realized there was a major problem.

“How am I supposed to pick them...? I don’t have any hands...”

“......”

【Even if you detach your head, your body’s strength won’t change】

Paper-chan’s voice drifted over, cold and quiet.

【When your settings were initialized, your entire body was strengthened by default】

I paused for a second.

[So I can just use Bone Blades to cut them...?]

【No. At your current rotation speed, your body isn’t sturdy enough. If you touch silversteel flowers, whose hardness is no less than steel, you’ll be smashed to pieces】

[Then...]

【Just have your body stop on the cliff face】

[What?!]

Stop on the cliff face?!

How am I supposed to do that?! It’s vertical! There isn’t even anywhere to stand!!

【Have you seen Transformers? You know Black Widow, right?】

[...Huh?]

【Like that. Change from helicopter mode into humanoid mode, then change back into helicopter mode】

[......]

【You’ll have to learn this skill sooner or later. The system will guide you in real time and run the calculations for you.】

【Don’t worry.】

I tugged at my jawbone and gave a wry smile.

I issued the command in my mind!

Shoot straight up at high speed! Then stop abruptly half a second later!

Then drive the Bone Blade into the cliff!!

Brrrrrrrr!!!

Almost at once, my body shot upward! But in less than half a second, the spinning stopped. Carried by inertia, my body came to a halt in midair.

And while I was hanging there in midair, the Bone Blade jammed hard into a crack in the rock!!

Seeing it hanging securely from the cliff face left me with mixed feelings.

“I can’t help feeling...”

“like I’m playing with a transforming skeleton figurine...”