The industrial district was a graveyard of commerce.
Warehouses with collapsed roofs lined the streets, their contents long since scavenged or destroyed. Factories stood silent, their smokestacks cold, their purpose forgotten. The apocalypse had killed industry as surely as it had killed millions of people.
The trucks navigated carefully through debris-strewn roads. Chen Wei directed from the passenger seat with a map salvaged from a petrol station.
"Half a kilometer," he said. "The signal originated somewhere in this area."
Sarnav extended his senses, pushing his awareness outward. He felt the familiar void signatures immediately. Not creatures this time. Something else. Residual energy, the aftermath of violence.
And underneath that, life. Multiple signatures, some strong, some fading.
"There are survivors," he said. "But also casualties. We need to move fast."
The trucks accelerated, caution giving way to urgency. They rounded a corner and found the source of the distress call.
It was a warehouse, larger than its neighbors, with reinforced walls and a makeshift watchtower. Someone had tried to turn it into a defensible position.
They'd failed.
The front gate was smashed open, the watchtower toppled. Bodies lay scattered across the courtyard. Some wore civilian clothes. Others wore the mismatched gear of raiders. A battle had been fought here, brutal and bloody.
And it was still ongoing.
Inside the warehouse, Sarnav could hear fighting. Shouts, gunshots, the crackling discharge of awakened abilities. The survivors were still holding out, but barely.
"Everyone out," he ordered. "Chen Wei, take half the team around back. Find another entrance. The rest, with me through the front."
They split up, moving with practiced efficiency. Sarnav led his group through the shattered gate, Nisha close behind him, her hands already glowing with green energy.
The courtyard was a charnel house. At least a dozen bodies, most of them raiders, but several civilians among them. The survivors had fought hard before being pushed back.
"Movement ahead," Hafiz warned, electricity crackling around his fists.
Sarnav saw them. Three raiders emerging from behind an overturned truck, weapons raised. They saw the rescue team at the same moment and opened fire.
Bullets sparked off the concrete as Sarnav's team scattered for cover. He didn't bother hiding. His Foundation realm body could take small arms fire without serious injury. Instead, he charged.
The raiders' eyes went wide as he closed the distance in a blur of speed. The first one died before he could adjust his aim, Sarnav's fist crushing his skull. The second managed a wild shot that grazed Sarnav's shoulder before a spinning kick shattered his ribs.
The third tried to run. Sarnav caught him by the throat and slammed him against the truck.
"How many of you are inside?"
"F-fuck you."
Sarnav squeezed. Not enough to kill, but enough to make breathing difficult.
"I'll ask once more. How many?"
"Fifteen! Maybe twenty! We weren't expecting a fight. They had awakened."
"Where's your leader?"
"Inside! With the woman. The one with light powers. Boss wanted her alive."
Sarnav's blood ran cold. Wanted her alive. He knew what that meant. What raiders did to women they wanted alive.
He snapped the man's neck and let the body fall.
"Sarnav." Nisha's voice was strained. She'd watched the interrogation, watched the execution, her expression conflicted. "Was that necessary?"
"Yes."
He didn't elaborate. There wasn't time. He moved toward the warehouse entrance, his team falling in behind him.
The inside was chaos.
Makeshift barricades had been erected, then overrun. Survivors huddled in corners, wounded and terrified. Raiders prowled among them. Some were looting. Others were doing worse.
And at the center of it all, a woman made of light.
She stood atop a pile of crates, her entire body glowing with golden radiance. Beams of concentrated light lanced from her hands, cutting down raiders who got too close. She was surrounded. Outnumbered. Clearly exhausted. But she hadn't stopped fighting.
She was beautiful.
Even from across the warehouse, even covered in blood and grime, even in the middle of a desperate battle, Sarnav could see it. Tall and curved, with features that belonged on magazine covers rather than battlefields.
[AWAKENED DETECTED]
[ISHANI SUPPIAH - AGE 26 - E+ RANK]
[ABILITY: LIGHT MANIPULATION]
[STATUS: EXHAUSTED, INJURED, ESSENCE NEARLY DEPLETED]
[COMPATIBILITY RATING: 94%]
The notification flashed through his awareness, but there was no time to process it. Raiders were converging on the woman from all sides. Her light was flickering, her power fading. She had minutes left, maybe less.
"Hafiz, Nisha, clear the right flank," Sarnav ordered. "Everyone else, follow me."
He launched himself into the fray.
The first raider didn't see him coming. One moment he was advancing on the light woman, the next he was flying across the warehouse with a caved-in chest. The second raider managed to turn before Sarnav's elbow crushed his throat.
The others noticed. Guns swiveled toward this new threat, away from the exhausted woman on the crates.
Exactly as planned.
Sarnav became a whirlwind of violence. He moved through the raiders like a scythe through wheat, his Foundation realm strength turning every blow into a killing strike. Bullets pinged off his reinforced body. Blades shattered against his skin. Nothing they had could stop him.
On the right flank, Hafiz's lightning crackled through a group of raiders, dropping three in a single discharge. Nisha's vines erupted from cracks in the concrete floor, entangling legs, dragging men down to where she could finish them.
The tide was turning.
"Boss!" one of the raiders shouted. "Boss, we've got awakened, multiple hostiles!"
A door at the back of the warehouse burst open. A massive man emerged, easily two meters tall, his body rippling with unnatural muscle. His eyes glowed with a sickly green light, and when he opened his mouth, his teeth were filed to points.
"What the fuck is this?" His voice was a gravelly rumble. "Who's interrupting my fun?"
[AWAKENED DETECTED]
[UNKNOWN - D-RANK]
[ABILITY: BODY ENHANCEMENT]
[THREAT LEVEL: MODERATE]
A D-rank. Same realm as Sarnav. This one wouldn't go down as easily as the fodder.
The raider boss spotted Sarnav and grinned, showing those pointed teeth. "Another strong one. Good. The light bitch was getting boring."
He charged.
The impact when they collided shook the warehouse. Sarnav blocked the boss's haymaker, feeling the force reverberate through his bones. Strong. Very strong. Maybe stronger than him in raw power.
But strength wasn't everything.
Sarnav redirected the next punch, using the boss's momentum against him. A knee to the gut doubled the larger man over. An elbow to the back of the head drove him to his knees.
The boss roared and surged upward, catching Sarnav around the waist, lifting him off his feet. He slammed Sarnav into a concrete pillar hard enough to crack it.
Pain flared through Sarnav's back. He ignored it, bringing both fists down on the boss's shoulders. The grip loosened. He dropped, rolled, came up swinging.
They traded blows, neither able to gain clear advantage. The boss was tougher, more durable. Sarnav was faster, more skilled. Every hit Sarnav landed was answered by a counter. Every opening he created was filled by brute force.
"Not bad," the boss grunted, blood streaming from a cut above his eye. "You're the first one to last more than ten seconds. Maybe I'll keep you too. Train you like a dog."
"You talk too much."
Sarnav feinted left, then went right. The boss fell for it, his guard shifting the wrong direction. Sarnav's fist found his solar plexus with every ounce of Foundation realm strength behind it.
The boss's eyes bulged. He staggered back, gasping, his enhanced muscles suddenly struggling to draw breath.
Sarnav didn't let up. A kick to the knee buckled the leg. An uppercut snapped the head back. A final devastating punch to the temple ended it.
The raider boss collapsed, unconscious or dead, Sarnav didn't care which.
He looked around the warehouse. The fighting was over. Chen Wei's team had come through the back entrance, catching the remaining raiders in a crossfire. Bodies littered the floor, none of them moving.
"Clear," Chen Wei called out.
"Clear," Hafiz confirmed from the right flank.
Sarnav turned toward the pile of crates where the light woman had been fighting.
She was on her knees now, her glow completely faded, her body trembling with exhaustion. Blood seeped from a wound on her arm, and her breathing came in ragged gasps.
But she was alive.
He walked toward her, stepping over bodies, his footsteps echoing in the sudden silence.
She looked up as he approached. Dark eyes, fierce despite the exhaustion. A face that was familiar in a way he couldn't quite place.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice hoarse but steady.
"Sarnav Kish. Harmony Sect. We received your distress call."
"Harmony Sect?" She laughed weakly. "Never heard of it. But I'm not complaining." She tried to stand and faltered, her legs giving out beneath her.
Sarnav caught her before she could fall, one arm around her waist, supporting her weight. She was warm against him, her body soft despite the lean muscle. Up close, she was even more striking. High cheekbones, full lips, eyes that seemed to hold secrets.
"Easy," he said. "You're hurt. Let me help."
"I can take care of myself."
"You can barely stand."
"I said I can take care of myself." But she didn't pull away from his support. "What happened to the others? My people?"
Sarnav looked around the warehouse. Survivors were emerging from hiding places, shell-shocked but alive. Maybe two dozen, including several children.
"Some made it. We'll know more once we do a headcount."
"Thirty-seven." Her voice cracked. "We had thirty-seven when the attack started."
Sarnav didn't say anything. The math was obvious. The bodies in the courtyard, the ones inside. They'd lost at least a third of their group, probably more.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"Don't be. You came. Most people wouldn't have." She finally looked at him properly, studying his face. "You're awakened. Strong. D-rank?"
"Yes."
"Me too. Well, almost. E-plus." She grimaced. "Not that it helped much. There were too many of them."
"You held them off until we arrived. That counts for a lot."
"Counts for dead friends and a warehouse full of bodies." She closed her eyes, swaying slightly. "Sorry. I'm being an ungrateful bitch. You saved my life. Thank you."
"You can thank me later. Right now, we need to get your wounded treated and figure out next steps."
She nodded weakly. "There's a first aid station in the back. Supplies might still be intact."
Sarnav turned to call for Nisha, and found her already approaching. Her eyes moved between him and the woman he was supporting, her expression unreadable.
"The perimeter is secure," Nisha said. "Hafiz is organizing the survivors. Chen Wei is checking for stragglers."
"Good. This is..." He realized he didn't know the woman's name.
"Ishani," the woman supplied. "Ishani Suppiah."
"Ishani. She's injured. Can you help her to the first aid station?"
Nisha's gaze lingered on Ishani for a moment longer than necessary. Something flickered in her eyes. Recognition, maybe. Or something else.
"Of course." She moved to take Ishani's other arm, helping support her weight. "Come on. Let's get you patched up."
Ishani let herself be led away, casting one last glance back at Sarnav.
"Thank you again," she said. "I won't forget this."
Then she was gone, leaning on Nisha, disappearing toward the back of the warehouse.
Sarnav stood alone among the bodies, his mind churning.
Ninety-four percent compatibility. Bond potential. Wife number six.
The system had flagged her the moment he saw her. Another woman who could become part of his path, another bond that could fuel his cultivation.
But Nisha was right there. Watching. Already attached, already possessive, already his in every way that mattered.
This was going to get complicated.
They spent two hours securing the warehouse and tending to the wounded.
Of the original thirty-seven survivors in Ishani's group, nineteen remained alive. Eight were seriously injured. The rest were traumatized but functional.
Sarnav oversaw the logistics while trying not to think about the woman in the first aid station. He assigned guards to the perimeter, organized supply distribution, coordinated with Chen Wei on transporting everyone back to the school.
Nisha was conspicuously absent, still helping with medical treatment in the back.
"She's something, isn't she?"
Sarnav turned. Hafiz had appeared beside him, following his gaze toward the back of the warehouse.
"Who?"
"The light woman. Ishani." Hafiz grinned. "Don't pretend you didn't notice. Everyone noticed. She looks like a movie star."
"I was a bit busy fighting for my life."
"Sure you were." Hafiz's grin widened. "She was looking at you too, you know. After the fight. Like you were some kind of hero."
"I was just doing what needed to be done."
"Uh-huh. Well, whatever you were doing, it made an impression." He clapped Sarnav on the shoulder. "Just be careful, boss. Your girlfriend was watching too."
He walked away before Sarnav could respond.
Girlfriend. Nisha. The woman he loved, the woman he'd just spent the night with, the woman who'd explicitly said she didn't want to share him.
And now another woman, one the system had marked as highly compatible, who looked at him like he'd hung the moon.
Sarnav rubbed his temples. The apocalypse was easier than this.
Nisha found him an hour later.
The sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and red. The trucks were loaded with survivors and supplies, ready for the journey back to the school.
She stood beside him silently for a moment, watching the preparations.
"How is she?" Sarnav asked.
"Ishani? She'll be fine. The arm wound wasn't deep. Mostly just exhaustion and essence depletion." Nisha paused. "She's strong. Held off two dozen raiders with almost no support. That's impressive."
"It is."
"She's also beautiful."
Sarnav said nothing.
"I saw the way she looked at you." Nisha's voice was carefully neutral. "And the way you looked at her."
"I was assessing her condition. She was injured."
"You were assessing more than her condition."
He turned to face her. Her expression was calm, but he could see the tension beneath it. The slight tightness around her eyes, the stiffness in her shoulders.
"Nisha."
"I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm just... noticing." She took a breath. "You said your cultivation requires bonds. Romantic bonds. Is she one of them? Someone your system flagged?"
He could lie. It would be easy. Tell her Ishani was just another survivor, nothing special, nothing to worry about.
But he'd promised himself he wouldn't lie to Nisha. Not about this. Not about anything.
"Yes," he said quietly. "The system flagged her as compatible."
Nisha closed her eyes. "I see."
"That doesn't mean anything has to happen. I'm not going to pursue anyone without talking to you first. I promised you that."
"I know you did." She opened her eyes, and there was pain there. Pain she was trying very hard to hide. "I just wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. We've been together for three days, Sarnav. And already there's another woman."
"There's no other woman. There's a survivor we rescued who happens to be compatible with my system. That's all."
"For now."
He had no response to that. She wasn't wrong. The system would keep pushing, keep flagging potential bonds, keep demanding that he build the harem it required.
Ishani might be the second. But she wouldn't be the last.
"I need time," Nisha said. "To think about this. To figure out how I feel."
"Take all the time you need."
"And you need to be honest with me. About everything. If you're feeling attraction to her, if you're thinking about pursuing her, I need to know. I can't handle secrets."
"No secrets. I promise."
She nodded slowly. "Okay. Then let's get these people home. We can figure out the rest later."
She walked toward the trucks, her back straight, her shoulders tense.
Sarnav watched her go, his heart heavy.
This was only the beginning. The system required thirty-two bonds. Thirty-two women. Each one would bring this same conversation, this same pain, this same impossible balancing act.
Could Nisha really accept that? Could anyone?
He didn't know. But he'd figure it out. He had to.
Because losing Nisha wasn't an option. Not now. Not ever.
[DAILY CULTIVATION SUMMARY]
[COMBAT ESSENCE GAINED: +1,500]
[D-RANK ENEMY DEFEATED: +500]
[CURRENT PROGRESS: 29,200 / 50,000 TO CORE FORMATION]
[BOND STATUS - NISHA RAMACHANDRAN]
[RELATIONSHIP: SOULBOUND]
[CURRENT EMOTIONAL STATE: CONFLICTED]
[LOYALTY: ABSOLUTE]
[NEW CONTACT - ISHANI SUPPIAH]
[COMPATIBILITY: 94%]
[STATUS: PROSPECTIVE]
[RELATIONSHIP: NEUTRAL (GRATEFUL)]