chapter 4:The Watcher
1905 Words
This was a small island. But that was only because Sonia’s impoverished vocabulary couldn’t find a more fitting noun. After all, this place could only be considered a palm-sized patch jutting out of the sea, as if another big wave could submerge it.
Yet the sea was calm—extremely calm, not a breath of wind. Sonia’s legs were submerged in seawater, her feet stepping on wet sand as she looked up at her surroundings.
All around was thick, milky-white fog filling every inch of space. The sky was like a blot of spilled ink—murky and heavy.
I’m dreaming, Sonia thought.
She clearly remembered falling asleep in the girls’ dormitory of Sword and Rose Spellcaster University. There was no way she could suddenly appear on a tiny island.
Realizing it was a dream relaxed her. Curious, she squatted down and tasted the seawater. It was just like the water she drank every day—even slightly sweet, nothing like the salty bitterness described in online education courses.
This only confirmed she was dreaming. She had never been to the ocean or tasted seawater, so how could she know what it tasted like?
“But if I’m dreaming…” Sonia looked toward the center of the island. “Why am I dreaming of a corpse I’ve never seen before?”
In the middle of the island, an unfamiliar corpse knelt halfway into the sand.
He wore a pitch-black trench coat with a hood, his face blurred, clothing thick and heavy—impossible to tell if male or female from appearance alone.
A greatsword pierced his chest, yet he hadn’t fallen. Instead, he knelt on one knee. His left hand rested on the scabbard at his waist, right hand gripping the hilt of the still-sheathed blade—as if his heart had been run through just before he could draw.
Besides the corpse and the sand, the island held nothing else. Sonia couldn’t swim, and since she believed this was a dream, she felt no fear of the body. Boldly, she walked over to examine it.
She noticed the greatsword piercing the corpse was still dripping blood. The blood flowed along the sword’s beautiful engravings, defying gravity to reach the dark red gem embedded in the guard, making the entire blade seem alive. It was… breathtakingly beautiful.
When Sonia snapped out of it, she was already gripping the greatsword tightly.
The scabbard fit her palm perfectly, the dazzling engravings struck her aesthetic perfectly, and the sensation was like an extension of her own limb. This sword…
…was as if custom-made for her.
Without thinking, Sonia pulled the greatsword from the corpse.
She had expected the body to collapse, so she stepped back to avoid being hit.
But the corpse did not fall.
Instead, it stood up.
Tap, tap. With the sound of steel-heeled boots on sand, under Sonia’s horrified gaze, the corpse slowly straightened its back and drew the cold, sharp greatsword.
Shing! The blade rent the air, its tip pointing straight at Sonia. Though she couldn’t see his eyes, Sonia felt a pair of emotionless, icy stares!
“Don’t worry, Swordmaiden. This time, I am not your enemy.”
The corpse’s voice was neither male nor female, like gears grinding together. “I’m only going to kill you.”
Your definition of ‘enemy’ seems wildly different from what a normal person would think, hey! Sonia clutched the ornate greatsword in her hands, as if it could give her some sense of security.
“Who are you?” Her voice trembled.
“I am called the End Watcher. You may call me Watcher.” The Watcher said, “In the next seventy-two hours, you can only leave by defeating me. Otherwise, you must stay the full seventy-two hours to leave.”
“Isn’t this a dream?” Sonia’s eyes widened.
“The difference between dream and reality is that reality is a dream woven together by everyone, while a dream…”
“…is a cage you build for yourself.”
The moment the words ended, the Watcher stomped the sand and lunged with a slashing strike. Even though Sonia retreated as far as possible, she couldn’t dodge the gleaming sword light—
“You have ten seconds of rest.”
Sonia knelt on the ground, hands clamped over her throat, face full of terror.
The tearing pain was utterly real—as if her neck had just been severed by this inexplicable monster.
If this were a dream, the instant she felt such pain, she should have woken up in her warm, comfortable bed.
Yet—
“Ten seconds are up. I suggest you grip your sword tightly. Only then can you…”
Sonia looked up to see the Watcher sheathe his sword at his waist, assuming a drawing stance, legs coiling before charging at her!
Sonia frantically raised her greatsword and backed away, but the Watcher’s step crossed over a dozen paces as if teleporting. By the time she saw the trailing sword light, the Watcher’s voice came from behind her—
“…die with a little dignity.”
“You have ten seconds of rest.”
The moment Sonia recovered from the decapitation pain, without hesitation, she turned and leapt into the sea—even if she couldn’t swim, she didn’t care!
As if fear of death unlocked her potential, Sonia instinctively learned to swim. It was an ugly, splashing doggy paddle, but as long as it got her away from that terrifying island and its monster, it was enough!
If her stomach weren’t empty in this dream, Sonia might even have tried the fart-propulsion method from jokes.
Amid the splashing, Sonia clearly heard the Watcher’s voice: “Running away is shameful.”
“And pointless.”
Suddenly, a chill at the back of her neck. Sonia looked down to see a cold sword tip protruding from her throat.
Before wave-like pain engulfed her, Sonia found herself back on the island.
“You have ten seconds of rest.”
This time she didn’t run. Instead, she stared at the Watcher’s hands.
“You seem to expect that if I throw away my sword, I’ll be unarmed?” The Watcher leisurely sheathed his blade. “After experiencing death multiple times, why are you still so naive?”
“You’re being completely unreasonable,” Sonia said with a bitter smile.
“Reason exists only at the tip of a sword. If you want to reason, words are useless—convince me with your blade.”
Before the Watcher finished, Sonia splash—dived into the sea. But this time she didn’t swim; she submerged, trying to evade attack.
You can’t cut the entire ocean, can you?! she thought.
And indeed—five seconds, ten seconds, thirty seconds… a minute passed without attack.
But unable to breathe, she felt herself on the verge of passing out.
It’s a dream—why am I suffering from oxygen deprivation and cerebral hypoxia?!
The agony of suffocation was no less than decapitation. Sonia couldn’t hold it anymore. She surfaced in a random spot to take a breath before diving again, clinging to a sliver of hope: Just one or two seconds—he can’t possibly find me that fast, right?!
A few seconds later, Sonia sat on the island, clutching her mouth that had just been pierced, repeatedly l*****g her teeth with her tongue to confirm it hadn’t been sliced off by a flying sword.
“You have ten seconds of rest.”
“Watcher!”
Sonia shouted, face full of fury, teeth clenched, hands gripping the greatsword tightly as she mustered courage and walked toward the Watcher. The Watcher let out an “oh,” lightly caressing his sword hilt. “If you want to end the rest early, I have no objection.”
Smack!
Sonia thud—dropped to her knees before the Watcher.
“Great, merciful, benevolent unknown lord, Sonia is willing to pray to You day and night, listen to Your holy words, follow Your miracles, and sing Your will… Please stop tormenting me like this. Just tell me what You want—I’m very obedient, I’ll do anything You command, boo-hoo-hoo…”
“Anything?” the Watcher asked.
Sonia looked up, tears streaming down her face in a way that was particularly alluring. She seemed to hesitate, a blush creeping onto her cheeks before she gritted her teeth and nodded. “Anything.”
“Very well. I command you—” The Watcher gripped his sword hilt, assuming a drawing stance. “Defeat me.”
Shing!
“You have ten seconds of rest.”
Sonia lay on the sand, staring blankly at the inky black sky, then performed a carp-like flip to stand up, asking in confusion:
“Wait, I’ve never offended you before—why waste time on a nobody like me? There are so many truly evil people in the world. If you want to punish the wicked, I can recommend a few; if you’re the villain, I can recommend some high-ranking, sanctimonious hypocrites.”
“I’m just an ordinary female student—not worth all this effort. What you’re doing is like using a spiral photon cannon to swat a mosquito, or sending a swordmaster to chop firewood. It’s a massive waste of resources, don’t you think?”
“Whatever you want me to do, just say it. I’m clearly a fragile rose meant to be trampled, born only to drift with the tide…”
As Sonia tried to reason with emotion and logic, the Watcher shook his head. “You’re wrong.”
Sonia immediately replied, “Tell me where I’m wrong—I’ll change.”
“Your very first sentence was wrong.”
“First sentence?”
“How can you be sure,” the Watcher gripped his sword hilt, assuming a drawing stance, “that you never offended me before?”
Shing!
“You have ten seconds of rest.”
Perhaps because she had died too many times, Sonia even felt that decapitation wasn’t so bad once you got used to the pain.
She looked up at the Watcher. “As long as I endure seventy-two hours, I can leave this damn dream?”
“Yes.” The Watcher nodded. “But there’s no clock here. Compared to a lifetime, seventy-two hours isn’t long—but for death, seventy-two hours is quite a while.”
“Can you really endure seventy-two hours of constant death?”
“And why would you trust the words of someone who keeps killing you in a dream? What if I’m lying?”
“Even if you do escape tonight—what about tomorrow night? The night after?”
The Watcher assumed a drawing stance. “Since you’ve experienced death, you shouldn’t pin your hopes on miracles.”
Shing!
The Watcher stepped forward, unsheathing with a horizontal sweep, spinning his entire body in a full circle. In an instant, he crossed over a dozen paces. The greatsword, carried by massive rotational momentum, sliced through Sonia’s neck like a hot knife through butter—
Clang!
For the first time, Sonia’s blade blocked the Watcher’s edge!
At that moment, Sonia’s face showed no expression—no fear, no anger, no killing intent, no pleading—only the coldest stillness. In her ruby-like pupils reflected the Watcher’s blurred figure, as if etching him deeply into her mind!
“You leave me no choice.”
- Writer
