Celia woke up drenched in sweat.
She gasped for air and tried to steady herself, but her hands were trembling.
"What was that dream..." she muttered.
She looked around the room and saw that it was already empty.
"Looks like everyone is up and preparing for the morning already."
She rubbed her brows and stared at her shaking hands.
"Should I tell the others about the dreams?" she whispered.
They were only dreams.
Celia had no skill that allowed her to see the future, and her bloodline was not related to anything like that.
Still, something uneasy pressed against her heart.
She got up, freshened herself quickly, and left the room.
On the way to the dining hall, she spotted Leora walking in the same direction.
Leora was the disguise of the Sword Empress.
Celia still wasn’t sure who was stronger between the current Isaac and the Sword Empress, but Leora was definitely the more knowledgeable one.
"Good morning," Celia said as she approached her.
Leora stopped and gave a small nod. "Good morning."
"How are you feeling? You went on patrol last night. I’m sure that must have tired you out," Celia said.
"It was nothing," Leora replied in a calm voice.
They continued walking side by side.
Leora noticed Celia’s nervousness almost instantly.
The small changes in her muscles and the way her eyes moved made it obvious.
"You don’t need to worry about the Red Rain. We are fully prepared, and our forces are ready. The nagas are here too, and their numbers will help a lot," Leora said.
Celia nodded slowly.
After a moment, she said, "Yes, I know everything will be handled. It’s just... I had a bad dream today."
Leora frowned.
’Is Catherine playing around again?’ she wondered.
’I told her not to mess with people during important moments... but she never listens.’
"What kind of dream was it?" Leora asked. She wanted to calm Celia down before the morning meeting.
"It was about the Red Rain. I don’t remember everything. But there was a giant dragon in the clouds. It had seven wings and six eyes," Celia said.
Leora stopped walking.
Her head turned sharply toward Celia.
"Seven wings and six eyes?"
"Yes."
Leora’s heart dropped.
’This can’t be a joke. Catherine wouldn’t go this far,’ she thought.
Her chest tightened.
Celia should not have known about that monster.
No one here should know.
And the fact she dreamed about it... even if Leora had no idea how that happened, the chance that it was real was far too high.
This meant something terrible.
"Hurry to the dining hall," Leora said, and then she vanished, sprinting ahead at full speed.
Celia blinked in shock and rushed after her.
When she arrived, she saw Leora already standing at the center of the room, and everyone’s attention was fixed on her.
"What is it, Leora?" Isaac asked.
"We have to evacuate the city," Leora said, her voice firm and without hesitation.
"What?" Isaac frowned deeply.
"A Catastrophe is coming. The Crimson Sky Wyrm," she said.
Isaac froze.
He remembered the special lesson Professor Catherine had given him.
Catastrophes were not a normal subject taught at the university, so Selene and Celia had no idea what that term meant.
Vale, hearing the name, felt his whole body stiffen.
Leora continued quickly, "A Catastrophe is a boss monster that appears during Red Rain. Normally, no Catastrophe shows up during the Lord’s First Trial. This situation might be... no, the reason doesn’t matter anymore. The important part is that it is coming. We cannot defeat it."
Celia listened quietly, her face pale.
Isaac’s expression grew darker.
He remembered how the ’weak’ Sinkhole Worms turned into frightening creatures after being corrupted.
Monsters like that, attacking in huge groups during Red Rain, were already dangerous.
But a Catastrophe...
Leora’s face was the most serious in the room.
She knew exactly what a Catastrophe meant.
The Blood Lord—the one who destroyed Emily’s parents and their entire kingdom—had been a Catastrophe.
Of course, the Blood Lord was one of the stronger ones, and the Crimson Sky Wyrm was known as one of the weakest Catastrophes.
But "weak" only meant it was weaker than the other Catastrophe.
By itself, the Crimson Sky Wyrm could destroy Fortified City 22 without effort.
It was famous for wiping out Lord Cities that had just passed their First Lord Trial and were beginning to grow.
"Our only way to survive is leaving this city. It’s regretful to abandon everything we’ve built, but staying means death. Survival comes first."
She took a breath before continuing.
"It’s good that we have Fortified City 89 to fall back on."
During the nagas attack, she had only been able to unseal her sword partially.
That was why the battle against the N’theris Serpent had been so difficult.
After that fight, she spent almost all her free time trying to remove the seal completely.
It helped that Isaac had grown stronger, so she did not need to watch him as closely.
And since she could barely sleep at night, she had even more time to train.
She had finally unsealed her sword fully.
Her strength had risen to shocking levels.
But it still wasn’t enough to fight the Crimson Sky Wyrm.
She wondered if she should have focused on reaching Overlord rank instead of rebuilding her foundation.
But it was pointless to think about it now.
She would not reach Overlord rank in time, no matter what she tried.
She had to focus on the bigger problem.
"I just checked. We have a problem. The teleporters are no longer doing intercity teleportation," Catherine said as she suddenly appeared in the hall.
"It must be one of the Crimson Sky Wyrm’s skills to block teleportation," Isaac said.
With the teleporters unable to connect to other cities, escaping became impossible.
"If the Crimson Sky Wyrm can already block teleportation, then it must have arrived," Catherine added.
Isaac glanced toward the windows and saw the dark clouds gathering above the city.
The Crimson Sky Wyrm was somewhere above those clouds.
"Can’t we attack it before it starts attacking us?" Isaac asked.
"We can’t. Its body can dissolve into clouds. We have to wait for precise openings during the battle if we want to do real damage," Leora said.
Leora had already accepted that they could not run.
So the only choice was to fight.
Celia’s teleportation was helpful, but it could not move people between cities.
The distance was too far.
And being only person, she would not able to teleport everyone on time.
"How much time do you think we have?" Isaac asked. He did not ask how she knew the creature was here. That could wait.
"Three hours before the rain begins. That is when the Crimson Sky Wyrm will show itself," Leora answered.
"Alright. Please go ahead and brief the Awakeners about this. I will help Emily break through," Isaac said.
Leora nodded and left.
Emily’s Talent made her a one-person army.
Whatever skills her Class would give her, they would help her even more.
And with the entire city now in danger, the Awakeners needed to be ready to protect every corner of it while also fighting the Crimson Sky Wyrm and the corrupted monsters hordes.
This meant the forces had to be divided into three main groups.
One group would watch the walls and defend them.
One group would be spread through the city to stop flying monsters from breaking in or dropping attacks.
The last group would fight the Crimson Sky Wyrm itself.
The second group was the biggest concern.
Flying monsters—or even their corpses or long-range attacks—could pass through the Sky Dome depending on how strong they were or if the Crimson Sky Wyrm supported them.
The Sky Dome’s main job was to block the Red Rain and its corruption.
Without it, even if people stayed indoors, the corrupted air would kill them.
So Awakeners had to spread across the entire city to intercept the flying monsters.
Naturally, those monsters would be strong.
Human Awakeners were weak compared to them.
Their numbers were also too low to cover such a large area, especially after the city had expanded recently.
Only Emily’s summons could help hold everything together.
As for the nagas, they were supposed to be placed with the forces defending the walls.
"Celia, make a short clip and tell the people to remain calm. Say that our Awakeners and we can handle this easily," Isaac said.
"On it," Celia replied with a nod.
She left the room to record the video.
Thanks to Isaac’s photo going viral earlier, she and Isaac had become the number one topic on social media.
A message from her at a time like this would spread fast.
Even if only three hours remained before the Catastrophe attacked, the clip would reach every citizen in time.
"Selene, Chairman Lucius, please use your people to set up a chain of command for rescue and healing. And also have them help calm the crowd," Isaac said.
"We will do that," Chairman Lucius replied and pulled out his device immediately.
Isaac would have preferred Awakeners to help with rescue operations.
But there were too few Awakeners in the city. Every single one of them would be needed for battle.
Rescue work had to be handled by civilians like firefighters, police, and other emergency workers.
"Vale, get everyone to come to the meeting chamber in the City Hall now," Isaac said finally.
The meeting was originally scheduled for an hour later, and people were busy making last-minute adjustments for their own forces.
But now it had to be pushed forward.
Vale nodded and took out his device to contact everyone.
"Emily, come with me. Alice, go to the meeting chamber and start the meeting. I’ll be there as soon as Emily’s advancement is completed," Isaac said.
Alice nodded and left.
Isaac and Emily headed to a training room below the Calloway family estate.