"Who the hell are you—You think you're worthy of calling yourself part of the family—"
Jack was halfway through his venomous curse when his pupils suddenly shrank with dawning recognition.
"…Wait a moment."
His voice faltered completely.
"…You—are you—?"
Recognition finally struck like lightning.
"You... why the hell would you dare come back NOW of all times?!"
His voice rose with panic masquerading as anger.
"You're nothing but a worthless adopted—"
Buzz.
Before Jack could finish his hateful sentence, thousands of thin, translucent threads burst explosively out of the empty air around him.
In a single instant, they wrapped with surgical precision around all ten of his fingers—and critically, around the most vulnerable, sensitive place beneath his waist.
Elric flicked his fingers with casual cruelty.
The parasitic threads tightened immediately.
Then—slowly, deliberately, savoring every moment—they began to twist systematically.
Crack! Bone fractured audibly. Flesh tore with wet sounds.
"AAAAHHHH—!!!"
The excruciating pain from his mangled fingers alone would have been utterly unbearable for any normal person.
But the focused agony from below—from his most private violation—made Jack's scream break into something genuinely inhuman, animalistic.
He collapsed violently to the floor, rolling wildly and uncontrollably, foaming at the mouth as his mind struggled to process the overwhelming sensory input.
Elric stepped closer with measured calm, squatted casually in front of the writhing figure, and asked with exaggerated gentleness—almost kindly:
"So, little brother Jack."
His smile was pleasant, warm even.
"Do you think I'm qualified to be considered a true member of the family now?"
"Q-Qualified! Completely qualified!!"
"Brother—no wait—Big Brother! Elder Brother!"
Jack's voice cracked desperately.
"You're my real brother! My only brother!"
"Please—please have mercy and spare me!"
His words dissolved into incoherent begging.
Elric's smile somehow widened even further.
"Good. Very good answer."
"Then, my dear loving brother..."
His tone remained sickeningly pleasant.
"I have a simple request. I want to see our dear parents."
"And of course our lovely eldest brother Leon and big sister Susan."
"Where exactly are they all staying now?"
"They're—in The big villa!"
Jack gasped out between sobs.
"After my big brother Leon awakened his supernatural powers, he moved the entire family there forcibly!"
"There's abundant food! Stockpiled supplies! Safety!"
"I told you everything you wanted to know!"
"Please—I'm begging you—please just let me go!"
Jack's voice cracked completely as desperate begging overtook pain.
Elric stood up slowly, brushing invisible dust from his clothes.
He didn't answer the plea.
Instead, without warning—
A thick thread shot upward with terrible speed, wrapping around Jack's torso and hoisting his entire body violently into the air like a slaughtered animal being prepared for butchering.
The thread secured him to a ceiling beam, leaving him dangling helplessly.
Then, with deliberate malice—
A second thread appeared. Pale, needle-thin, almost invisible.
Slowly. Methodically. Cruelly.
It began to sink directly into Jack's exposed skin.
Not to heal. Not to save. Not even to kill quickly.
But to invade. To violate. To torture.
The parasitic thread burrowed inward millimeter by millimeter, weaving itself intimately around his internal organs—heart, lungs, intestines—like a living infection.
This wasn't mercy or justice.
This wasn't even simple execution.
This was prolonged, systematic torture—a precise mirror of the psychological suffering Elric had endured throughout his childhood in this family, now returned with compounded interest.
"Please—Big Brother—I was wrong about everything—"
Jack's voice dissolved into inhuman screams as the invading thread reached his chest cavity and began constricting.
Elric didn't look back even once.
For people like this—people who had casually inflicted cruelty for years without remorse—
There was absolutely no forgiveness available.
Only repayment in kind.
"Brother Elric..."
Ruby had finally calmed down somewhat under Ivy's reassuring presence and gentle words.
She stared at the tall, composed man standing before her—the boy she'd known transformed beyond recognition.
His face still carried faint traces of the quiet teenager she remembered from years ago—
But his height, his overwhelming presence, his cold eyes that had seen genuine horror—
They belonged to someone completely different. Someone dangerous.
"You really... genuinely awakened supernatural powers somehow?"
Her voice was small, almost afraid of the answer.
"Yes," Elric replied with perfect calm. "I did. The apocalypse changed many things about me."
As he looked at Ruby properly for the first time in years, the familiar translucent system panel appeared unbidden in his vision.
Name: Ruby
Age: 22
Appearance: 93
Figure: 92
Quality: 100 (Pure)
Overall Rating: 92
Monthly Exchange Reward: 21
System Evaluation: Meets all adoption requirements.
Elric nodded inwardly with satisfaction at the confirmation.
Then he asked the critical question:
"Where's your second sister Daisy? Is she here as well?"
"She's... not home right now."
Ruby shook her head quickly, worry evident.
"Daisy went out early this morning before dawn."
"She said she heard people were gathering and distributing supplies near the villa compound area."
Elric's expression turned noticeably colder.
"The villa..."
He already knew with perfect clarity exactly what kind of place that location had become—a stronghold of petty tyranny.
Activating his Clairvoyance ability, Elric systematically swept his supernatural perception through the entire building and surrounding blocks.
No Daisy anywhere within range.
But he smiled anyway—not with warmth, but with predatory certainty.
"Good then."
"We'll go there together."
His voice dropped to something darker.
"Tonight—this family will learn exactly what it truly means to lose everything they value."
After thoroughly scanning with Clairvoyance and finding no trace of Daisy in the immediate area, Elric turned his full attention toward Ruby.
"Where exactly did your second sister go? Be specific."
Before Ruby could formulate an answer, Ivy spoke up anxiously as well, maternal concern evident.
"Yes, Ruby—where is Daisy now?"
"She was still with you just two days ago when I last saw you both!"
"All the food stockpiled in our house was forcibly taken by the them."
Ruby's eyes reddened noticeably as traumatic memory surfaced.
"We were literally starving... so Daisy volunteered to go out searching for any supplies she could scavenge."
"She promised she wouldn't be gone long—just a quick search."
"But it's already been a full day and night with no word..."
Her voice trembled with barely suppressed fear.
"What?!"
Ivy's face turned pale instantly with horrified understanding.
"It's incredibly dangerous outside right now—going out alone is practically suicide! Why didn't you stop her?!"
Elric had already reactivated his Clairvoyance, expanding the range and sweeping systematically through surrounding districts with methodical precision.
Within his current maximum perception range—nothing.
No trace of Daisy's presence anywhere.
"Do you know which specific direction she went?" Elric asked with forced calm.
Ruby wiped tears from her eyes and nodded quickly.
"She went toward the High School—that's where she teaches literature."
"She said maybe the cafeteria or storage rooms there might still have preserved food that looters missed."
"I understand."
Elric nodded once, decision made.
"She's probably just outside my current scanning range—farther than I initially checked."
"As long as she's still alive somewhere in this city, I will find her. That's a promise."
"Thank you... thank you so much, Elric."
Ivy's voice shook with profound gratitude and relief.
"The three of us... we don't even know how we could possibly repay this kindness."
"Don't thank me prematurely."
Elric's eyes turned cold as winter ice.
"We're changing locations first before the search."
He snapped his fingers once.
The world blurred violently.
Reality twisted and compressed.
The next second—
They appeared directly inside the villa's spacious courtyard, hundreds of meters from their previous location.
Ruby and Ivy both staggered slightly from the disorienting spatial teleportation.
Jack was still hanging from a tree branch, screaming hoarsely and incoherently as the parasitic threads continued tightening systematically around his internal organs.
Elric flicked his hand dismissively.
Jack's suspended body flew backward like a discarded rag doll.
BOOM!
He smashed completely through the villa's expensive glass window and crashed onto the polished floor inside with bone-breaking impact.
The previously peaceful villa erupted instantly into absolute chaos.
"My son!! My precious son!!"
"Who dares do this?!"
"Which god-forsaken bastard dares touch my boy?!"
Four figures rushed out through the broken window in various states of panic and rage.
At the front charged a corpulent middle-aged woman with a sharp, vicious face—Mrs. Will, widely known as the most verbally abusive and cruel member of the entire family.
Behind her stumbled Mr. Will—tall, thin, perpetually cowardly and pathologically selfish.
Next came Susan Will—buck-toothed, wearing garish heavy makeup, eyes burning with instinctive malice toward everyone.
Last emerged Leon—heavily muscular, buzz-cut hair, tattooed arms, entire demeanor reeking of arrogance and barely contained violence.
"So it's you two?! Ivy?! Ruby?!"
Susan shrieked immediately upon recognition.
"…Wait just a moment—"
Her eyes widened almost comically as fuller comprehension struck.
"YOU—Elric?! The adopted brat?!"
"You worthless little bastard—why the hell would you dare come back NOW?!"
Mrs. Will immediately exploded into full hysterical fury.
"Get out of here immediately!"
"You're not even real blood from our family!"
"Who knows whose illegitimate seed you actually are!"
"Trying to crawl back now that Leon awakened powers and we have status?!"
"Dream on, you parasite!"
Her voice was pure venom, years of casual cruelty distilled into seconds.
Then Leon finally properly noticed Jack's mutilated, barely-living body bleeding on the floor inside.
"…Did you do that to my brother?"
His face twisted with rage rather than concern.
"I've been sick of you for years anyway, you worthless adopted trash."
"But I'm a superpower user now—a real awakened."
"I'll crush your scrawny neck with my bare hands!"
Leon's left arm suddenly expanded grotesquely, swelling to several times its normal size as enhanced muscle mass erupted outward.
He lunged forward with superhuman speed.
Elric didn't even blink or shift his stance.
Emerald dragon scales flashed briefly across his hand.
A single claw formed—razor sharp, impossibly strong.
Rip.
Leon's monstrously enlarged arm was torn completely off at the shoulder joint.
Blood sprayed in arterial gouts across the courtyard.
Leon collapsed immediately, screaming incoherently.
At that precise moment, Elric lost all remaining interest in speeches or explanations.
Looking at these people—his supposed "family"—
He felt nothing but disgust.
No dramatic monologues. No lectures about karma. No philosophical discussions.
Only punishment. Cold. Systematic. Deserved.
"Thread Fruit—activate."
Invisible parasitic lines erupted from his body and wrapped instantly around every single member of the Will family.
Their bodies jerked violently against their will.
Possessed completely, they picked up chairs, kitchen knives, broken glass, heavy debris—
And mechanically turned on each other with horrifying precision.
Bones broke with wet cracks.
Blood splattered across expensive furniture.
Agonized screams echoed through the violated villa.
Minutes of systematic violence later—
They were all hanging suspended like Jack had been.
Five bodies. Five living corpses.
"Elr... we're family..." Mrs. Will sobbed hoarsely, using his childhood name desperately.
"We adopted you when no one else wanted you..."
"You can't do this to us..."
Elric didn't answer or acknowledge the plea.
The thin threads sank deeper into each of them.