It had been days since the world went to hell. Not that Osiris was keeping count. The skies still hung like bruised flesh—dark, sickly purples and pulsing reds. The wind tasted like rust. And no matter where he went, he saw no humans. Just beasts—mutated, freakish shadows of what used to be rabbits, birds, or dogs. Some now walked like men. Some didn't walk at all. All of them had mana. All of them wanted to kill him.
But Osiris kept moving.
He had learned the rhythm of the apocalypse—how to stay quiet, how to listen to the wind when it changed, how to fight when he had to. He didn't talk much. He didn't need to. Delythera talked enough for both of them.
"hey!" she called from the top of an abandoned SUV she was pirouetting on, her bare feet somehow not catching a single speck of dust. "You smell that?"
Osiris blinked up at her, then sniffed. There it was—a thick sweetness, like overripe fruit soaked in honey and magic.
"It's coming from the drive," she said, floating off the roof and hovering beside him, eyes sparkling. "Let's check it out."
He frowned. "Could just walk around it."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Delythera floated in front of him, arms stretched wide like a barricade of pink and curves. "Don't you smell that? That tree's got mana dripping off it. Something's up."
"I don't care," he grumbled. "That many beasts in one spot? I'm not stupid."
She pouted—adorably, to his frustration—and placed a soft finger on his chest. "Come on, just take a look. One peek and if you don't like it, we go. Promise."
He sighed. "Fine."
Despite himself, he veered toward the scent.
---
The drive led to a clearing strangled by vines and scattered bones. In the center, towering almost three stories high, was a tree—if you could call it that. Its trunk was a mass of coiled bark, twisted like rotted muscle, with thorns jutting from the sides and blood-colored sap dripping down.
All around it, low-level creatures circled and hissed—grotesque half-mutants with scales, cracked shells, warped limbs. Nine of them. One had the snout of a boar and six insectoid legs. Another dragged itself with tentacles where arms should be. All of them were focused on the tree.
And at the very top, dangling like a glowing heart, was a single fruit. Purple. Pulsing. Oozing mana like a heartbeat.
"What in the hell is that?" Osiris muttered.
"A mana fruit," Del breathed, hovering beside him with wide eyes. "Earth's full of surprises. Didn't think it'd be able to birth one this soon."
He raised a brow. "You wanna run that back?"
"Mana fruit," she said slowly, like he was slow. "They're the rarest things in any realm. Condensed blobs of destructive mana. When a tree drinks too much chaotic mana and can't handle it anymore, boom—one of these is born. That fruit could power a city. Or destroy one."
Osiris stared up at it, eyes narrowing. "Let me guess. You want me to grab it."
"Obviously."
He glanced at the growling mutants below it. "Those things won't just hand it over."
Del smirked. "Since when do you ask permission?"
He gave her a look. "It's high. Like... nine-men-stacked-on-top-of-each-other high."
She grinned and flicked his forehead. He winced. It felt like a lightning bolt tapped his skull. He had the fleeting thought that she could flick his head of his body if she wanted to.
"Oi—"
"You can literally control energy, you potato," she scolded. "Mana is energy. Use that big brain of yours. Form it into a tentacle or a whip. Reach up and snatch it."
He exhaled through his nose. "Fine."
---
He took a step forward, hands low, and concentrated. A blue shimmer started to form at his palm—soft, then vibrant, like flames trying to take shape. He focused, bending it to his will. The energy curled into a tendril, stretching upward.
The moment the mana shimmered, the creatures froze.
Then all nine turned to him, eyes glowing with madness.
"Welp. They smelled you," Del said cheerfully, floating backward.
"Yeah, no kidding," Osiris muttered.
The first one—a giant rat with a centipede tail—charged. Osiris sidestepped, snapped his hand forward, and slammed a burst of compressed energy into its ribcage. It flew back into the tree's roots, screeching.
Another lunged—a lizard with wings and no eyes. He ducked, spun, and with a wave of his hand, erected a wall of energy behind him. The creature slammed into it and exploded in purple mist.
"Nice," Del sang.
"I'm working here."
He created another tendril of mana, this one snapping like a whip. He caught a snake-bodied freak around the neck and yanked, dragging it close before impaling it with a spike of condensed force.
Three down.
Then the real fun started.
Two of them teamed up—a spider-dog hybrid and a cockroach the size of a pony. The spider-dog jumped, fangs first. Osiris threw himself backward, slid on one knee, and fired a pulse of shockwave into the ground beneath it. The blast launched the thing upward—right into Del's path.
She kicked it without a second glance. It exploded.
The cockroach screeched and charged, its carapace glowing.
Osiris smirked. "Bad move."
He leapt forward, using his own energy like a trampoline. He vaulted over it, landed behind it, and shoved a ball of dense mana into its back. The pressure built—then detonated.
Four down.
---
He didn't stop. His brain ticked, watching, analyzing.
The sixth creature had wings. He waited until it dove. He bent light energy around himself, creating a blur clone—a shimmer. The creature hit the shimmer instead of him and lost balance. Osiris cut it in two.
Seventh creature spat acid. He used kinetic energy to redirect it—let it melt its own ally.
The eighth and ninth came together. One was a two-headed wolf; the other looked like a walking mushroom.
Osiris summoned a field around them both—thin at first, then compressing like a vice. He forced all the energy into a single point.
It detonated.
All was silent.
Del clapped slowly from above. "Hot damn. That was sexy."
He didn't answer. His focus was already back on the tree. He stretched his mana tentacle again, this time with no interruptions, and snatched the glowing fruit.
The moment it left the tree's branch...
The tree screamed.
Literally.
Roots tore out of the earth. Branches twisted into arms. It came alive—like a pissed-off god waking from a nap.
Osiris backpedaled. "Time to go, princess!"
He ran. Del laughed and zipped after him, twirling in the air as the monster-tree lashed out with thorned vines, skewering the ground where they'd been standing.
Everything that remained in the clearing was slaughtered.
---
They found a distorted house a few streets down—its windows shattered, roof caved, but the kitchen counter still miraculously intact. Osiris dropped the fruit onto it. It pulsed.
"So," he asked, catching his breath, "do I just eat the damn thing?"
Del gasped. "Are you crazy? You wanna die?"
He gave her a deadpan look. "Then why the hell did I almost get turned into tree mulch for it?"
She huffed. "You can eat it. Just not right now. Or you'll explode. Like, violently."
He raised a brow. "Explain."
"You're still pre-evolution," she said. "You've awakened, yeah. But your body hasn't adapted. That fruit would overload you in a heartbeat. The mana would rip your soul apart."
He was quiet. Then said, "Show me."
Del blinked. Then grinned. "Gladly."
She floated over to a tiny ant crawling across the cracked sink. She didn't touch it, just let mana flow from her finger.
The ant grew.
Its body twisted, warped. Legs lengthened. It screeched in pain as it evolved—and then she condensed a ball of mana and shoved it into it.
It exploded.
Goo hit the walls. Not a drop touched her.
"That would be you," she said.
Osiris nodded. "Cool. Very vivid."
He looked at the fruit. "I can't just keep this in my bag. I'll be a walking monster magnet."
Del offered sweetly, "Want me to keep it for you?"
He didn't hesitate. "Sure."
She blinked. "Really? No drama?"
"Why would I carry a bomb if I've got a portable vault?"
She beamed, and the fruit floated to her hand, disappearing in a ripple of light.
Osiris finally sat down.
Then—crackle.
The old emergency radio in the room stuttered to life, spitting static. Then a voice:
"...any survivors... A-Nine sector point... main city still standing... holding refugees... find shelter... repeat..."
Osiris' mood darkened.
Human survivors.
He clenched his jaw.
"Guess the rats aren't all dead yet."
Del watched him curiously, floating upside down.
She didn't speak. Not yet.
Something in his eyes had changed.