The countdown didn't feel real until it crossed that number.
24 hours.
Rian felt it the moment he woke up.
The pressure in the air had doubled overnight—not crushing, not painful, but impossible to ignore. Like gravity had decided to remind humanity that it was optional.
He sat up slowly, letting his breathing stabilize before he moved.
Outside, the city sounded wrong.
⸻
A World on Edge
Sirens had become background noise.
Not emergency sirens—police, ambulances—but warning systems. Short, clipped alerts that no one had bothered to explain yet.
Phones buzzed constantly.
Government advisories.
Emergency preparedness notices.
Contradictory statements from different agencies.
"Remain calm."
"Avoid unnecessary travel."
"Shelter in place if possible."
Rian deleted them all.
In his past life, this was the day society fractured—not with explosions, but with uncertainty. People didn't know what to do, so they did everything at once.
Panic buying.
Road congestion.
Fights over nothing.
The weak points were already forming.
⸻
System Check – Final Countdown
The interface appeared without him calling it.
⸻
Primordial Bloodline System
Global State: Unstable
Bloodline Lock: Active
Absorption: Restricted
Techniques: Unavailable
Time Remaining: 24:00:00
⸻
No encouragement.
No rewards.
Just a clock.
"Figures," Rian muttered.
The system wasn't designed to save him.
It was designed to measure what survived.
⸻
Observation, Not Intervention
Rian spent the day watching—not absorbing, not training.
He moved through the city quietly, hood up, senses open.
Animals were gone.
No birds.
No stray cats.
No insects.
The spiritual energy in the air pulsed in irregular waves, like a heartbeat with skipped beats. Each surge made normal people flinch—headaches, vertigo, sudden anxiety.
Rian felt it too.
But where others felt fear, he felt recognition.
"This is earlier than last time," he realized.
The timeline had shifted.
Something had changed.
And that scared him more than the apocalypse itself.
⸻
The First Cracks in Authority
By afternoon, official control began to slip.
Traffic lights failed.
Emergency services stopped responding to non-critical calls.
Military vehicles appeared on highways, not moving—just parked.
A silent show of force.
Rian passed a crowd arguing with a store owner over bottled water. Someone threw a punch. Someone screamed.
He didn't stop.
Heroes died first.
⸻
Nightfall
As darkness fell, the sky changed.
Not dramatically.
Subtly.
Stars flickered in and out of visibility, as if something unseen passed in front of them. The moon looked... closer.
He felt the ground hum beneath his feet.
Then the system spoke again.
⸻
Notice
Planetary Threshold Approaching.
Spiritual Veil Integrity: 12%
Final synchronization imminent.
Time Remaining: 06:00:00
⸻
Six hours.
Rian returned to his apartment and sealed the door—not physically, but mentally. Everything was in place. Nothing left to prepare.
He sat cross-legged on the floor.
Not to cultivate.
To wait.
⸻
Acceptance
For the first time since his return, Rian allowed himself to remember how he died last time.
Not the pain.
The regret.
This time, he wouldn't hesitate.
This time, he wouldn't react late.
This time, he would choose where the world broke around him.
Outside, the city trembled again—stronger than before.
Rian opened his eyes.
"Come on," he whispered.
"I'm ready."