Magma Energy

Magma energy is an energy source that humanity uses in DARLING in the FRANXX.

Overview
Magma energy appears as it does in real life. It is a yellow-orange substance that is retrieved from the Earth’s core and used as an energy/power source to operate the mechanisms of the plantations and cultivate food and medicine. Although humanity believed it to be part of Earth’ natural resources, it is actually the quantitative physical property of the Klaxo Sapiens, who converted their weak bodies into energy

History
After the invasion of VIRM and the war against them that last for several hundreds of years, the Klaxo Sapiens dove into Earth’s core to recuperate and prepare for the inevitable return of VIRM. The stronger Klaxo Sapiens converted into Klaxosaurs in male-female pairs. Whereas the weaker Klaxo Sapiens converted their bodies into energy as a source of nourishment for the stronger one. In 2025, APE introduced magma energy as a low-cost and all-encompassing energy source to society through highly advanced drilling technology and gained excessive political and economic privileges via the international government. Dr. FRANXX was hired to conduct a study in human immortality and he theorized immortality was possible if one was injected with magma energy, which proved to be successful but it caused those injected with magma energy to lose their ability to procreate. Initially, only the wealthy could afford the procedure but this later became universally available.

By 2036, 70% of humanity became immortal and the rest were expected to complete their procedures in two years. All of the humans abandoned traditional customs and naturalistic instincts in exchange for relying on magma energy on anything trivial. This increased the drilling of magma energy and led to an international crisis when the southern part of North America, and later the rest of the planet, began to suffer from desertification. Scientists identified the mining of magma energy as the cause bit APE ignored these findings. This global crisis coincided with the attack of the klaxosaurs in 2037 and led to the formation of the Plantations, which later became exclusively dependent on magma energy to operate. According to Hiro, without magma energy, humanity would never be able to survive. In Episode 10, during Squad 13's trip to the Inner City, they saw a Magma Energy plant in real life. Zorome climbed up to get a better look, but in doing so got separated from the rest of the group.

After a century of relying on magma energy, the remnant of humanity eventually came to realize that magma energy is the symbolic bond the klaxosaurs share with the planet. The Parasites, realizing how APE has abused the use of magma energy and nearly caused the destruction of the planet, vowed to never use magma energy again and resorted to cultivating a self-sufficient lifestyle, gradually allowing the planet to heal and thrive.