The sound of shattering glass cut through the air like a scream, violent and sudden.
From outside, something long and slick whipped through the window—a tentacle, glistening with mucus or blood, moving with inhuman speed that defied its size.
It was as thick as a tree trunk, covered in what looked like suction cups but with teeth, pulsing with bioluminescent veins.
It went straight for Natasha, who was standing nearest the window.
Her face went white as paper, blood draining completely. She froze—pure prey response, every muscle locking up. For one terrible second, Grace thought it was over, thought she'd just watched another person die.
Then—flash!
Natasha vanished from where she stood. A smooth gray stone—clattered to the floor where she'd been standing.
Elric appeared beside them in a blink of blue light, his eyes sharp and cold, already assessing threats and solutions.
"Let's move," he ordered, his voice cutting through the panic. "Grab the supplies and get out—now. This place isn't safe anymore."
Outside, visible through the broken window, the cocoon's tendrils writhed in the darkness like a nest of serpents, reaching for new prey with terrible purpose.
And inside the flickering room, survival was no longer just a choice—it was a countdown.
The night sky over Hudson State University was painted crimson by the fires raging across campus, dozens of blazes consuming buildings that had stood for decades.
The fog outside shimmered faintly—alive, pulsing, like it had a heartbeat of its own that matched some massive creature's rhythm.
Inside the science building, Elric adjusted the cuffs of his blood-stained shirt with casual precision, ignoring the screams echoing from the hallways below. He looked perfectly calm, even elegant, while chaos reigned outside.
He didn't care about anyone out there beyond his immediate circle.
He wasn't a savior—not the hero these teachers or students prayed for in their desperate moments. He'd never even spoken to most of them, didn't know their names or stories.
The only reason he was still on campus at all was because Natasha was here, and now Grace.
Getting rid of the creatures chasing them was enough. The rest could burn for all he cared.
"Elric," Natasha panted, her pale face illuminated by the dim red emergency light that bathed everything in bloody hues. "Professor Grace… she agreed to your terms. Please, help her too."
Another recruit, another resource. This was escalating faster than he'd planned.
Elric exhaled softly, brushing a hand through his hair in mild annoyance. "Alright."
He lifted his hand—his spatial sense expanding. "Position Swap," he said flatly.
A surge of energy burst through the air with that distinctive crackling sound. In an instant, Professor Grace, trapped several corridors away and surrounded by tentacles, appeared beside them in a flash of blue light.
She collapsed immediately, gasping for breath.
"Let's move," Elric ordered without pause.
The four of them—Elric, Natasha, Jenna, and Professor Grace—sprinted out of the lab, their footsteps echoing in the emergency-lit corridors.
Behind them, the monster's tentacles lashed through the broken windows with terrible persistence. They slithered across the floor like massive snakes, bone-white and glistening with that same mucus, each one hunting for its next victim with disturbing intelligence.
Screams filled the air from all directions—a chorus of death. One tentacle wrapped around a woman's waist with crushing force, and before she could even complete her cry, her skeleton was ripped out of her body in a spray of red mist.
The flesh simply dissolved or was absorbed, leaving only bones that clattered to the floor.
The survivors fled in panic—but two teachers stayed frozen in the corner, too terrified to move, sobbing hysterically.
The buck-toothed man with glasses—Professor Martin, the philosophy teacher—began to curse between cries of terror.
"Those bastards! Running away like cowards! You'll die out there! You'll all die horribly! The monsters will get you!"
The obese woman beside him—Helen, who'd just been begging to join Elric moments ago—screamed, "Monsters! You only care about yourselves! What about us?!"
Elric paused mid-run. His enhanced hearing had caught every word despite the chaos.
His eyes narrowed dangerously.
He turned his head slightly, voice cold as winter steel. "Oh?"
He raised his hand with casual menace. "Then trade places with someone who wants to live."
Swift Justice
A soft pulse of spatial energy—and the two teachers swapped positions with people who'd been running ahead.
They materialized directly in the path of multiple tentacles, their expressions still frozen in that moment of cursing.
They didn't even have time to scream before the tentacles slammed into them, draining them instantly, turning both into piles of white bones that clattered across the floor.
"Let's go," Elric said flatly, already moving again.
They reached Elric's dorm—the "Pink Room," a nickname Natasha had teasingly given it because of its warm-hued lights and strange sense of comfort that seemed impossible in the apocalypse.
Once they were inside, Elric locked the door and immediately activated his Thousand Eyes, scanning the entire building for threats.
"Move the furniture," he ordered sharply. "Block the doors and windows. No gaps. Stack everything."
Natasha, Jenna, and Professor Grace immediately obeyed without question.
They stacked everything they could move—tables, wardrobes, desks, chairs, mattresses—against the entrances. Sweat ran down their faces, their muscles screaming with exertion, but no one dared stop. The sound of something scraping outside made their blood run cold.
Through his enhanced sight, Elric could still see the nightmare outside—the tentacles slithering across the buildings, searching for life signs, hunting with terrible purpose.
He clenched his jaw, ready to swap positions and teleport them out instantly if one came their way.
Screams echoed in the distance, followed by sickening crunches of bone and wet sounds of dissolution.
The minutes dragged on like hours, each second an eternity of tension.
Finally, after about twenty minutes that felt like days, the sounds began to fade gradually. The massive cocoon-like structure in the center of campus—the creature's nest—dimmed, its eerie glow dying out like a setting sun.
The tentacles slowly retracted back inside, withdrawing into that massive maw.
Only silence remained—oppressive and complete.
Elric waited another eight minutes before lowering his guard, making sure it wasn't a trick. His body relaxed slightly, though his expression remained emotionless.
"It's over," Natasha whispered, slumping against the wall in exhaustion.
"For now," Elric replied quietly, his voice carrying certainty. "That thing's resting. It'll be back."
He pulled out his phone, scrolling through the Hudson State Student Network group chat. The screen was filled with desperate messages:
[Someone help! The fog came back! My roommate's gone—her bones were sucked out!]
[Where's the military? Why isn't anyone coming? Are we just going to die here?]
[Please, anyone with food or water, I'll do anything]
Elric's thumb hovered over the screen, completely indifferent to the pleas.
He muttered to himself, "If any of the ones who meet the System's criteria survive, that'll be enough."
Then—silence in the room.
A low growl broke it.
"...Grk."
Everyone turned. The sound came from Professor Grace, her face reddening with embarrassment. Her stomach let out another loud, prolonged growl.
Elric raised an eyebrow. "Hungry already?"
Professor Grace smiled awkwardly, trying to maintain some dignity. "Sorry… adrenaline's gone, I guess. And, uh… we've been running for hours."
Elric leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes briefly to assess their situation. "Fine. Natasha, check the emergency rations. Jenna, keep your eyes on the window. If you see the fog move even slightly—wake me immediately."
"Yes, sir," they both said in unison.
As they obeyed, moving to their assigned tasks, the faint glow from Elric's System interface flickered again.
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