When the white glow finally vanished, New York seemed to return to normal. Neon lights still flickered, and the city still roared with nightlife.
But the people were not the same.
One by one, citizens discovered strange anomalies.
A man's palm began to glow with searing heat.
Another's eyes lit up like high-beams.
A third found his body stretching like noodles.
Mutants were no secret in this world. Ordinary people knew of them—and feared them.
Now, panic erupted.
The realization spread quickly: the white light had turned countless New Yorkers into mutants.
Some screamed in terror. Others trembled. But among the youth, many grinned with excitement, thrilled to wield power at last.
Fenric walked calmly through the chaos, observing with a faint smile.
This was the moment he had been waiting for.
But first, time to test it.
If the system recognized these machine-made mutants as valid targets, then the entire city had become his hunting ground. Millions of potential kills. Enough for him to secure a god-tier evaluation.
And if not… then all of his effort would have been wasted.
His musings ended abruptly when a burly man collided with him shoulder-first.
"Fuck! Damn monkey! Apologize!"
The man's voice dripped with arrogance, his muscles bulging unnaturally. He had clearly just awakened a strength-based ability.
Fenric regarded him with cold calm.
"Delivered straight to me? Perfect test subject."
He extended a single finger and tapped the man's forehead.
Puff!
A neat hole appeared in the man's skull. He dropped instantly, lifeless.
"You have killed a mutant. Current task progress: 4/1!"
The system prompt rang.
"!!!"
Fenric froze for a heartbeat—then broke into laughter.
First a chuckle. Then louder. Until it echoed like madness in the night.
His plan had worked.
The system counted them.
These newly-made mutants were valid kills.
It hadn't been in vain.
"Good. Very good. Now…" Fenric's eyes burned with bloodlust. "The slaughter begins."
He didn't waste time killing one by one. That would be far too slow.
To kill en masse, he needed disaster.
And of all his weapons, none had wider range than Poseidon's Trident.
New York was a coastal city. The sea was close.
But instead of summoning a tsunami immediately, Fenric moved first toward the city's power grid.
In a matter of minutes, he destroyed the main line.
Darkness fell over New York.
The city drowned in shadow.
Late at night, without power, sight itself was crippled. Millions were blind.
When the tsunami was about to rise, no official warnings could be issued. The power grid was crippled, communications dead. Citizens who had just awakened to their mutant abilities had no idea of the doom approaching.
Taking advantage of the cover of night, Fenric made his way toward the coast.
On the way, he passed chaos incarnate.
Newly mutated citizens ran wild, testing their powers in the most depraved ways—robbery, assault, even outright murder. Fires burned, people screamed, and the streets descended into madness.
Fenric ignored them all. His goal lay elsewhere.
At last, he reached the shoreline.
There, he summoned the Trident of Poseidon, closing his eyes to steady his breath.
When he opened them again, his gaze was cold, resolute.
"Trident… dance."
Om! Om—! Om—!!
The ocean answered.
What had been calm waters churned violently, surging like a beast awakened. Waves heaved upward, clawing at the sky.
Whooosh!
From the horizon, a wall of water rose, towering a hundred meters high, roaring toward New York City with the power to annihilate all.
The tsunami had begun.
—----
Along the coast, in a luxury five-star hotel, backup generators flickered on, restoring light. Guests crowded before floor-to-ceiling windows—only to freeze in horror at the sight outside.
An oceanic wall, blotting out the horizon, bore down on them.
"IT'S… IT'S A TSUNAMI!"
"NO—!"
"HELP!!"
Screams rang out. Women stumbled, shrieking. Men stood paralyzed, their minds blank. Against a force of nature like this, resistance was meaningless.
The next instant, the wave struck.
Boom—!
The entire hotel was swept away as if it had never existed. The elegant guests inside perished without a trace.
And that hotel was only one of countless buildings lining the coast.
In the darkness, no one could see far. By the time the tsunami revealed itself, it was already too late.
Ding—!
"You have killed a mutant. Task progress: 4/1!"
"You have killed a mutant. Task progress: 5/1!"
"You have killed a mutant. Task progress: 1627/1!"
The system prompts rang endlessly in Fenric's ears as the death toll skyrocketed.
He smiled.
Then raised the Trident again.
Another tsunami surged. Then another. And another.
Each wave dwarfed the last, crashing onto the city ceaselessly.
The task counter spun out of control.
Ten thousand.
One hundred thousand.
One million.
The numbers rose like wildfire.
Innocents may have been among them, but Fenric did not care.
To those who died here, it would be nothing more than a nightmare after they wake up once Storm and Blink reset the timeline. Or maybe they won't even remember it.
For now, their blood would pave his path to power.
Within ten minutes, half of New York lay beneath the waves.
But Fenric wasn't done.
For his evaluation to reach the highest tier, the slaughter had to continue.
And though much of the city was already underwater, he had other methods at his disposal.
Closing his eyes, Fenric shifted the currents, forming a monstrous whirlpool offshore. The spiraling vortex tore into the skies, birthing a tornado.
The storm descended upon the city.
Skyscrapers splintered. Entire blocks were ripped apart. Men, women, and children alike were shredded and hurled into the air, their bodies scattered like leaves in the wind.
New York—once the proud heart of the country—was reduced to a vision of hell.
—--
"This…"
At the Statue of Liberty, Magneto stared, aghast.
He had seen tsunamis, hurricanes, disasters of nature—but never like this.
How could such destruction manifest on a calm night without warning?
And then he saw them—his people.
Mutants, countless fresh-born comrades, drowning and dying by the thousands. His chest clenched painfully.
"What… what is happening!?" Magneto muttered, his voice breaking.
Toad's voice shook as he pointed. "It's him… That man. He's the one! He caused this!"
Toad's eyesight far surpassed human limits. Where Magneto's eyes saw only chaos, Toad clearly discerned Fenric in the distance—standing tall, divine, commanding the seas and storms like a god of calamity.
The realization sent a shudder through him.
That man wasn't just dangerous. He was a walking apocalypse!
"WHAT!?"
Magneto's breath caught. He had never imagined such devastation could be wrought by human hands.
And just as despair settled over him, a scream echoed from within the statue.
"Scott! NO!!!"
The voice cracked with grief—and power.
A force unlike anything before erupted outward, shaking the very air.