Kaelan woke with his heart racing.

  He didn’t scream.

  He didn’t sit up abruptly.

  He stayed still, staring at the ceiling, counting breaths.

  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  The memory was there.

  Intact.

  Too sharp to be a dream.

  The Resonance wasn’t screaming.

  It was confirming.

  This already happened.

  He sat up slowly.

  “No… it wasn’t a dream…”

  He looked at the clock.

  The same time. Before everything.

  His stomach tightened.

  “I’m repeating the day…”

  The word repeating made him nauseous.

  He didn’t understand how.

  He didn’t know why.

  But he knew something worse:

  If he doesn’t do something different, everyone dies again.

  He arrived early.

  Too early.

  Sona wasn’t there yet.

  Tsubaki was reviewing tablets.

  Reya was adjusting her detection.

  Momo was yawning.

  Yura was training silently with her sword still sheathed.

  Kaelan looked at them as if they were fragile.

  They’re still alive.

  Saji arrived later, already complaining.

  “I swear, if today’s another long meeting—”

  Sona entered.

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  The scene aligned.

  Cold sweat ran down Kaelan’s spine.

  Everything was the same.

  Sona spoke.

  “As you already know, today marks the Gremory–Phenex wedding—”

  Kaelan stepped forward without thinking.

  “Sona-sama.”

  All eyes turned to him.

  Sona frowned slightly.

  “Arverth. Wait until I’m finished.”

  Kaelan bit his tongue.

  She continued.

  The same orders.

  The same words.

  When she finished, Kaelan spoke again.

  “We need to change the patrol.”

  Silence.

  Saji blinked.

  “Sorry?”

  Tsubaki studied him with clinical focus.

  “Explain.”

  Kaelan took a deep breath.

  “The standard perimeter won’t work today. There are… anomalies that don’t follow the usual pattern.”

  Reya tilted her head.

  “I haven’t detected anything out of range.”

  Kaelan looked at her, almost pleading.

  “Not yet.”

  That was a mistake.

  Sona crossed her arms.

  “‘Not yet’?”

  Her tone wasn’t hostile.

  It was evaluative.

  “Arverth,” she continued, “I understand that the underground incident affected you. But we can’t reorganize territorial defense based on feelings.”

  Kaelan clenched his fists.

  “It’s not a feeling.”

  Momo stepped in carefully.

  “Kaelan… are you okay?”

  Yura said nothing, but watched him like she was measuring a fracture.

  Sona sighed, just slightly.

  “We’ll maintain the plan. If we detect something, we react.”

  Kaelan felt the floor drop an inch beneath him.

  “Sona-sama… if we wait, it’ll be too late.”

  The silence turned uncomfortable.

  Saji broke it.

  “Hey, let’s not exaggerate. Kuoh isn’t going to explode for no reason.”

  Kaelan looked at him.

  In his head, Saji died first.

  He looked away.

  “Understood,” he said, voice tight. “I’ll follow orders.”

  But inside, something began to crack.

  They don’t believe me.

  Kaelan walked with his teeth clenched.

  The Resonance was completely open.

  Nothing filtered through.

  He felt:

  – Anxiety

  – Irritation

  – Sadness

  – Ritual expectation

  – Collective fear with no clear cause

  It was like hundreds of hands pulling at his chest.

  “You’re weird today,” Saji muttered. “Even more than usual.”

  Kaelan stopped.

  “Do you feel that?”

  “The rain? Yeah.”

  “No.”

  Kaelan closed his eyes.

  There it was.

  The pattern.

  Still weak.

  “It’s coming.”

  Saji sighed.

  “Not this again…”

  The bracelet vibrated.

  Once.

  Then again.

  Then several times—irregular.

  Reya’s voice came through the channel, confused.

  “I’m detecting spikes… but they’re not consolidating. It’s strange.”

  Kaelan felt the air grow thick.

  “They’re not consolidating because NOT YET!” he shouted. “IT’S A PROCESS!”

  Silence on the channel.

  Saji looked at him with real concern for the first time.

  “Arverth… calm down.”

  Kaelan ran a hand through his hair, breathing fast.

  “You don’t understand… you don’t understand anything…”

  The Resonance began to hurt.

  Not physically.

  Emotionally.

  Too many emotions at once.

  “We have to evacuate,” he said. “Now.”

  “That’s not our call,” Saji replied. “We need confirmation.”

  Kaelan opened his mouth to scream.

  And then—

  The sky tore open.

  Not like before.

  Sharper.

  More violent.

  “No…” Kaelan whispered.

  The dragon emerged faster.

  More complete.

  “FORMATION!” Tsubaki ordered over the channel—too late.

  The roar shook Kuoh.

  Kaelan felt the city’s terror slam into his chest like a wave.

  “I TOLD YOU!” he screamed. “I TOLD YOU!”

  No one answered.

  Because they were already fighting to survive.

  Kaelan fought.

  He didn’t run.

  The Resonance burned red-hot.

  He buffed Yura.

  Held Momo steady.

  Marked openings for Saji.

  Every second was emotional hell.

  He felt everyone’s fear.

  The dragon advanced anyway.

  One by one, they fell.

  Not quickly.

  Worse.

  Kaelan was left alone.

  On his knees.

  The world in ruins.

  “I knew it…” he gasped. “I knew it…”

  The claw descended.

  This time, he didn’t scream.

  He only thought:

  Next time… I’ll make them listen. Even if they hate me.

  And he died.

  Kaelan doesn’t fail because he’s weak — he fails because no one is ready to believe him yet.

  And next time, he won’t be asking.