The alarms didn't stop.
Across Veyra, emergency signals echoed between buildings like warning bells from an older age.
Kai stood in the ruined plaza watching the sky.
The fracture pulsed again.
Longer this time.
The shadow behind it had thickened, like dark water moving behind glass.
The silver-haired man spoke quietly beside him.
"It has begun."
Kai didn't look at him.
"It already began."
"No," the man replied calmly.
"That was only observation."
Kai frowned slightly.
"And this?"
The man's eyes lifted toward the sky.
"This is selection."
---
Serah's voice echoed through the city again.
"All Archive units respond to fracture points immediately."
Screens across Veyra displayed a city map.
Red markers spread across it.
Twenty seams.
Then twenty-two.
Then twenty-six.
Lira stared at the numbers appearing on the public display.
"That's impossible," she whispered.
Kai nodded.
"Yes."
"It is."
---
The first report came seconds later.
Sector Five.
Two entities emerged from a seam near the transit tunnels.
Archive agents engaged.
The creatures dissolved after heavy alignment interference.
Then another message appeared.
Sector Three.
Five entities.
Then Sector Eleven.
Seven.
Lira slowly closed her notebook.
"They're not testing anymore."
"No," Kai said quietly.
"They're escalating."
---
Aris turned toward the silver-haired man.
"You knew this stage would happen."
"Yes."
"And you're still standing here instead of helping?"
The man met her gaze evenly.
"I am helping."
"That's not what it looks like."
"It will."
Kai finally looked at him.
"You said the longer the cycle continues, the more realities collapse."
"Yes."
Kai gestured toward the city.
"And now they're bleeding into ours."
"Yes."
"So tell me something."
The man tilted his head.
"What?"
Kai's voice hardened.
"When does it stop?"
The man's answer was simple.
"When the decision is made."
---
Another seam tore open above the plaza.
Not small.
Not subtle.
A jagged crack hanging three meters in the air.
The crowd that had started returning scattered again.
Kai stepped forward immediately.
Aris followed.
But this time—
More than creatures appeared.
Inside the seam, an entire street from the dead world was visible.
Collapsed buildings.
Dust storms.
Dark sky.
Then shapes began moving inside it.
Dozens of them.
Not three.
Not five.
Dozens.
Lira's voice trembled.
"…That's an army."
Kai exhaled slowly.
"Yes."
Aris tightened her grip on the metal rod.
"You can't stabilize that many."
"No," Kai said.
"I can't."
The silver-haired man finally stepped forward.
"Which means," he said calmly,
"the city must fight."
---
Across Veyra, Archive units mobilized.
Armored vehicles moved through the streets.
Containment teams set up alignment generators near major seams.
Serah watched the operation from the command room.
"Containment probability?"
"Thirty-eight percent," a technician answered.
Serah clenched her jaw.
"Not good enough."
Marrow stood beside her watching the fracture.
"No," he agreed.
"It isn't."
---
Back in the plaza, the seam widened further.
The creatures began crossing.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then more.
Kai stepped into the center of the square.
The warmth in his chest surged again.
The fracture above responded violently.
Light rippled across the sky.
Reality tightened around the plaza.
The first creatures froze mid-step.
Aris swung the metal rod again.
The fight had begun again.
But this time—
It wasn't just survival.
It was war.
---
High above the city, the fracture pulsed again.
Slow.
Curious.
As if watching how this version of the world would respond.
---
— End of Chapter 37 —
---