"The power… it's unreal."
Elric landed on the scorched floor, breathing heavily as he stared at the pool of molten red sludge before him. The hallway was filled with smoke and the faint hiss of cooling magma.
The mutant spider—once a three-meter monster that had terrorized the survivors—was gone. Nothing remained but bubbling liquid and charred fragments of exoskeleton.
He exhaled slowly."This fruit… really lives up to its reputation."
The Magma Fruit—a power he barely understood—had just proven its might. A single punch had turned a creature of nightmares into ash.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, something glimmered in the crimson mess.
"Huh?"
Elric crouched down. Beneath the slime lay a small blood-red crystal, pulsing faintly with energy.
"Not bad." He picked it up, the surface warm against his palm. "Just like the blue one from that bird last time… but stronger."
He could already sense the same energy signature—mutant essence. If absorbed, it would likely increase his fruit's experience points.
But now wasn't the time. Too many people were watching.
He pocketed the crystal, his gaze sweeping across the trembling survivors.
That's when he noticed a girl lying motionless nearby—the one the spider had nearly devoured. She was still breathing, though unconscious.
Elric knelt beside her, brushing a strand of hair from her face. She was young, maybe twenty-four, with delicate features and fair skin streaked with dirt.
"Let's see…" he murmured, and the faint holographic grid of his system flickered into view before his eyes.
Name: Emily SandersAge: 24Appearance: 81Figure: 80Character Quality: 97 (Occasional Communication)Overall System Score: 83Reward Status: NoneEvaluation:Does not meet survivor adoption standards. The Devil Fruit Tree will not grow.
Elric frowned slightly."Doesn't meet the standard? That's surprising."
She was beautiful enough, and in another world, maybe he'd have thought differently. But the system was absolute.
He sighed, stood, and turned his attention to the rest of the group.
"The spider's dead!"
"It's really dead!"
"Oh my God, we're saved!"
The corridor erupted with voices as the girls, who had moments ago been trapped and screaming, now rushed toward him with tears of relief.
One of them—a brunette wearing a torn college sweatshirt—pointed at him, eyes wide."I saw it! He killed that thing with one punch! Is he from the military? Maybe part of the national rescue unit?"
Another girl shook her head. "No, no—he's one of us! He used to go to New Haven Tech too! His name's… Elric, right?"
"Elric?! Wait—that Elric? The guy who kept posting in the campus survival chat, saying he was taking in people if they were… you know, 'qualified'?"
The moment the name spread through the crowd, the tone changed.
Voices rose in a mix of awe, disbelief, and sudden realization.
"No way. Before all this, he was just some broke engineering student, right? Quiet, kinda weird?"
"Yeah, that's him! Guess he's not so ordinary now."
"He's a superpowered! You saw what he did! One punch and the thing melted! Sister and the others can barely burn a zombie, and he vaporized a mutant!"
Their fear slowly turned to admiration—and calculation.
Someone whispered, "Didn't he say he'd give food and clean water to any girl who joined his group?"
"I thought that was a scam."
"Well, it's not! Look at him! You think someone that strong needs to scam anyone?"
"God, if that's true, staying with him means safety… real safety."
The girls exchanged glances—hungry, desperate, hopeful. The apocalypse had stripped away pride and pretense.
"Do you think he'd take more people?"
"I mean, I'm not bad-looking…" one said, brushing ash from her face.
"Not bad-looking?" another girl snorted. "Honey, you'd scare off a mirror, but hey—if he's desperate, maybe you've got a shot."
A ripple of uneasy laughter passed through them.
But all eyes were on Elric now.
He could feel it—the shift. A few days ago, they'd have ignored or mocked him. Now, in this broken world, power spoke louder than anything.
A brunette finally stepped forward, clutching her torn sleeve nervously."Elric," she said softly, "what you said in the chat before… about protection, and food, and safety… was that real?"
Elric looked at her, his eyes unreadable.
The faint glow of magma still shimmered beneath his skin, casting faint orange light across his face.
"It was," he said. His tone was calm, but there was weight behind it. "And it still is."
The hallway went silent.
For a long moment, the only sound was the crackle of the smoldering corpse behind him.
Then one by one, the girls began to move closer.
Not out of love. Not out of faith.
But because in a dying world, survival was the only thing that mattered—and Elric had just proven he could make that possible.
There is 40 chapter Advance with 2 chapters every day, in my patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
patreon.com/B_A_3439