"Elric… what are you doing!?"
"You're still young, don't throw your life away on crime!"
"I'm sorry, Professor Natasha, but I really don't have a choice."
"Ah—don't come closer, don't! Stay away!"
"Don't… don't take my stockings!"
"Stop!"
"Ahh!"
...…
Columbia State University, Faculty Housing.
Natasha Morgan, an academic advisor for Civil Engineering Class 213, was staring in horror as one of her male students kept advancing toward her.
Her normally calm, professional face was pale with terror.
Seated on the edge of the table, Natasha's long legs—covered in sheer black stockings and capped with polished high heels—kicked desperately, trying to resist the young man's approach.
But Elric caught them quickly.
Her designer heels were pulled off, and soon the stockings she wore were stripped away as well.
"Ahh!" Natasha cried out, eyes trembling in disbelief. She was about to scream louder when something soft and suffocating pressed against her lips.
Her own stockings—stuffed into her mouth—silenced her. The second pair was tied around her wrists, binding her hands tightly against the headboard.
"Mmphhh!" Natasha tried to scream, her muffled voice coming out as a desperate hum.
But Elric, standing in front of her, wasn't paying attention to her terrified protests.
He looked nervous, even restless, as he hurried to the window and yanked the blinds shut.
Then, dragging a chair close, he sat down and muttered quietly.
"System, how long until the Demon Tree's activation condition is met?"
"Ding. Host, twenty minutes remain until activation is complete."
That's right—Elric hadn't tied up Professor Natasha out of lust or impulse.
This wasn't the work of some perverted fantasy—it was desperation.
Because earlier that afternoon, Elric had bound himself to a mysterious plug-in, a system that would either save him or doom him.
Its name: The Doomsday Devil Fruit System.
Bound within his body was an infinite space, and in that space grew a small, fragile sapling less than a meter high.
This sapling was the Demon Tree—the heart of his system.
By absorbing high-value offerings, it could grow. As it grew, it would bear the fruit of unimaginable powers—fruits not unlike the Devil Fruits Elric had read about in One Piece.
At first, Elric was ecstatic. A system like this meant everything he'd ever dreamed of—power, freedom, survival.
But his joy was crushed by the system's cold warning: the apocalypse would arrive in just one hour.
And the Demon Tree wasn't yet activated.
To awaken it, Elric had to complete the conditions: he needed to find a beautiful woman who matched the system's requirements—and remain alone in a room with her for one full hour.
An possible task for someone like him—handsome, impressive college student known mostly for being the "campus charmer."
But unfortunately there is no time
So he chose the only option he had left.
His advisor.
Natasha Morgan. Thirty-one years old. Intelligent, elegant, and stunning—her beauty could rival any student at Columbia State.
And now, bound and gagged before him, she was his unwilling key to survival.
Moreover, as his class advisor, Professor Natasha was also the person most likely to be alone with him in a room without raising suspicion.
That was why Elric had deliberately come to her faculty apartment with various excuses, managing to linger for over forty minutes.
But eventually, Natasha began to sense that something was off. Her sharp instincts as a counselor told her Elric wasn't acting like himself. She was just about to order him to leave when Elric made his move.
He had no choice.
That was why Natasha now found herself tied up, helpless, as Elric glanced nervously at the clock.
"There are only two hours left…" he whispered.
"The end of the world is coming."
"I don't even know what it will look like when it begins."
The timing was merciless. According to the system, the activation of the Demon Tree and the final countdown to the apocalypse nearly coincided—separated only by a handful of seconds.
That meant that within moments of the apocalypse beginning, the Demon Tree inside him would awaken.
Only two hours remained.
Elric walked back to the window and pulled the blinds open. At this point, he no longer cared if anyone saw Natasha bound to the bed.
When the apocalypse arrived, who would care about a tied-up professor? Everyone would be struggling just to survive.
From his vantage point, he could see most of the campus below. It was dinnertime, and the university grounds were buzzing with life.
Students laughed as they walked across the quad.
...
"Babe, what should we grab for dinner?"
"Let's hit that spicy place by the gate, it's so good."
"Perfect. How about we do it seven nights in a row?"
"Oh, stop! You're ridiculous!"
...
"Hey man, Valorant five-stack tonight?"
"Sorry, my girl texted me. Her boyfriend's sick, so she asked me to make soup for him."
"Bro… do you even hear yourself? That's peak simp behavior."
"I don't care. If my Weiwei's happy, that's all that matters."
...
The campus was overflowing with youth and energy. None of them knew that in just a short while, everything would change.
This peaceful scene would be shattered.
Snap.
"It's time."
The clock struck 6 p.m.—the exact hour the system had foretold as the world's end.
Elric stared at the watch on his wrist, his eyes fixed on the second hand.
Tick.
Tick.
Each second dragged out endlessly. And yet… nothing happened.
The campus outside was unchanged. Students were still laughing, walking, living.
No screams. No destruction.
Elric's throat went dry. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
"No… what's going on? Did the system make a mistake? Was it lying to me?"
Panic began to claw at him.
And then—
RUMBLE!
The ground beneath him trembled violently.
The walls shook, books toppled from the shelves, and Natasha's muffled scream tore through the air as the entire earth seemed to convulse in fury.
The apocalypse had arrived.