MARVEL: I CAN ADAPT TO ANYTHING EVEN DEATH

Chapter 12: Ashes Beneath the Earth*

*Year: 3820 BC – Deep Eastern Mountains*

The sky above the Eastern mountains was blackened with volcanic ash. Rivers had run dry, and what once was a thriving region of green was now choked in silence. What remained of the world here was buried—burnt into layers of stone, hidden beneath the earth's molten veins.

Pluto moved through this ruined land in silence. No tracks. No presence. His long cloak fluttered behind him in slow rhythm with the wind. Beneath his hood, those silver eyes glowed faintly—an eternal light that had not dimmed in over six hundred years of wandering.

He didn't age.

He didn't forget.

But he watched everything around him die or evolve. And he adapted.

In these mountains, he was called *"The Watcher of Fire."* Though no one had truly seen him. Legends whispered of a pale man walking through lava, unburned. Entire tribes fled when the smoke curled in strange shapes. Only ruins remained to confirm he had passed.

But Pluto wasn't here for stories. He felt something stir beneath the crust of this land—something not Deviant… but not mortal either.

He knelt beside a crater's edge, his hand pressing into blackened stone. His system responded instantly.

*[System Sync Complete]*

- Name: Pluto

- World: Marvel Universe

- Age: 25 (Biological) | 1445 (Actual)

- Power Traits: Immortality, Adaptation, Energy Absorption, Vitality Core

- System Modules: Status Panel | Skill Evolution | Music Player [Online]

- Adaptive Core: Active

- Vitality Output: Stable

- Combat Efficiency: 97%

*- Detection: Unknown heat source… subterranean movement… scanning…*

Pluto stood.

Without warning, the earth beneath him cracked.

It began with a tremor. Then the mountain roared as if something deep inside had awoken after centuries of sleep.

And from the earth—*it rose*.

A colossal creature, scaled in obsidian, with glowing orange veins, emerged like a god from myth. It stood on four limbs, nearly thirty feet tall. Its maw released no sound, only pressure—immense and crushing. Its form was vaguely humanoid but twisted, warped—like a failed design of nature itself.

*Deviant?* No. Something else.

Pluto's eyes narrowed. He didn't move.

The beast lunged.

He stood still until the last second, letting it come within inches before vanishing—appearing again on its back. He drove his palm into the spine. A pulse of silver energy erupted, forcing the creature to collapse. But it wasn't dead.

It rolled, tail whipping around and knocking Pluto deep into the cliff face.

*[Damage Detected – Adaptation Engaged]*

*New Resistance: Magma Compression*

*Vitality Surge Activated*

Pluto emerged from the rubble unharmed, eyes glowing brighter. His veins now pulsed with a faint heat—he had adapted to the creature's force.

"Not Deviant," he muttered.

The beast roared again, lava pouring from its jaws.

But this time, Pluto didn't dodge.

He let it hit him.

His body stood in the fire for a full ten seconds.

Then he walked through it.

And with one simple gesture—he raised a hand, clenched it—and the beast convulsed violently.

Silver threads of energy erupted from its body as Pluto's system extracted its core essence.

*[Foreign Life Signature Absorbed]*

- New Trait: Volcanic Vitality (Energy Reservoir increased)

- Partial Genetic Map: "Pre-Deviant Titaniform"

- Threat Level: Class A Alpha-Prime (extinct line)

He stepped over its steaming corpse.

Buried in its chest, protected by hardened bone, was a stone—shaped like a pyramid, glowing with deep violet light.

He reached for it—

—And the moment his fingers touched it, *time fractured*.

His surroundings melted away.

He stood in a void. Floating. Alone.

And then, a presence.

Not a body. Not a voice. Just… awareness.

*"You adapt,"* the presence said. "But do you *endure*?"

Pluto did not answer.

"You walk a world built by forgotten gods. You tear apart the failed creations. But your form… still clings to origin."

A shape appeared before him. A shadow… humanoid, taller than a skyscraper, featureless—only its eyes burned white like stars.

*"You are not yet sovereign of your existence. But I will give you a piece."*

And the void imploded into his chest.

*[System Update: Trait Unlocked – Self-Existence Core]*

- Immunity to all reality-altering effects

- Mental tampering: ineffective

- Temporal shifts: irrelevant

- Dimensional phase-lock initiated

- Pain reception: Null

- Emotional perception: Enhanced

- Damage response: Triggered Power Evolution

- Physical limitations: Removed

Pluto gasped—but no air came. He didn't need it.

The void faded, and he was back in the crater—stone pyramid in hand, which now dissolved into data within his system.

The sky had turned crimson.

And something was watching.

---

From across the distant horizon, hidden in the mountain fog, a *Deviant Lord* observed. This one was intelligent—humanoid, regal, ancient. Its horns curved back like a crown. Its black eyes narrowed as it watched Pluto absorb the fragment of forbidden power.

Behind it, armies stirred.

And above them… the stars began to shift, ever so slightly. A subtle ripple across the cosmos.

Change had begun.

A/N: don't forget my power stone

Also if you have any suggestions tell me I would try my best to integrate it with my novel just drop your suggestions in the comments section