Watcher

This was an Island.

Or rather, Sonia's limited vocabulary simply couldn't find a more suitable noun. After all, this was only a palm-sized patch of land abruptly jutting out from the sea, as though slightly larger waves could swallow it whole.

But the sea was calm, utterly calm, without the faintest breeze. Sonia stood with her legs submerged in the seawater, her feet on wet sand, and looked around.

Milky-white fog surrounded her, filling every inch of space. The sky resembled a blot of spreading ink, dim and heavy.

I'm dreaming, Sonia thought.

She clearly remembered falling asleep in the female Dormitory of Sword and Rose Sorcerer University. There was no way she could have suddenly appeared on an Island.

Once she realized it was a dream, Sonia relaxed considerably. Curious, she crouched down and tasted the seawater. It tasted just like the water she usually drank, even carrying a hint of sweetness. It was nothing like the salty bitterness described in online education courses.

Sonia became even more certain that she was dreaming. She had never been to the seaside or tasted seawater, so she had no idea what seawater was supposed to taste like.

"But if I'm dreaming..." Sonia looked toward the center of the Island. "Why would I dream of a corpse I've never seen before?"

At the center of the Island, an unfamiliar corpse knelt halfway in the sand.

He wore a pitch-black trench coat and a hood. His face was indistinct, and his heavy clothing made it impossible to tell whether he was male or female.

A Longsword had pierced his chest, but he had not fallen. Instead, he remained on one knee. His left hand rested on the Sword Sheath at his waist, while his right gripped the hilt of a sword that had never left its sheath, as though his heart had been pierced before he could draw it.

Other than the corpse and the sand, there was nothing else on the Island. Sonia could not swim, but since she believed she was dreaming and felt no fear toward the corpse, she boldly walked over to inspect it.

She discovered that the Longsword piercing the corpse was still dripping blood. The blood flowed along the beautiful engravings on the blade, against gravity, toward the dark-red gem embedded in the guard. It made the entire sword seem alive. It was simply too beautiful...

By the time Sonia came back to herself, she was already gripping the Longsword tightly.

The hilt fit her palm perfectly. The dazzling blade patterns struck directly at her aesthetic tastes, and the sensation was like an extension of her limbs. This sword seemed...

...as though it had been forged specifically for her.

Without thinking, Sonia pulled the Longsword from the corpse.

She had assumed the corpse would collapse, so the moment she pulled out the sword, she stepped back to avoid being crushed beneath it.

However, the corpse did not fall.

Instead, he stood up.

Tap, tap. Accompanied by the sound of Steel-Bottomed Long Boots stepping on the sand, the corpse slowly straightened beneath Sonia's terrified gaze and drew a cold, sharp Longsword.

With a sharp swish, the blade cut through the air, its tip pointing directly at Sonia. Though she could not see his eyes at all, Sonia felt an utterly emotionless, icy gaze!

"Don't worry, Sword Maiden. This time, I am not your enemy."

The corpse's voice was neither male nor female, like the grating sound of interlocking machinery. "I will merely kill you."

Your definition of an enemy seems pretty far removed from a normal person's... Sonia gripped the dazzling Longsword tightly, as though it could give her a little sense of security.

"Who are you?" Her voice trembled slightly.

"My name is Doomsday Watcher. You may call me Watcher," Watcher said. "For the next seventy-two hours, you may only leave after defeating me. Otherwise, you may only leave after staying for the full seventy-two hours."

"Isn't this a dream?" Sonia's eyes widened.

"The difference between dreams and reality lies only in the fact that reality is a Dream Realm woven by everyone, while dreams..."

"Are prisons you build for yourself."

The moment he finished speaking, Watcher stomped the sand and lunged forward with a slashing strike. Though Sonia retreated as far as she could, she still could not evade that gleaming Sword Light—

"You have ten seconds of rest time."

Sonia knelt on the ground, both hands clamped tightly around her throat, her face filled with terror.

The pain of being torn apart was incomparably real, as though that inexplicable monster had truly cut off her head just now.

If this were a dream, then the instant she suffered such pain, she should have woken up in her warm, comfortable bed.

However—

"Ten seconds have passed. I advise you to hold your sword tightly. Only then can you..."

Sonia raised her head and saw Watcher grip his hilt and draw it back to his waist, assuming a Sheathed Sword Stance. He kicked off from the sand and charged at her!

Sonia hurriedly raised her Longsword and retreated, but Watcher's step was like a sudden lateral shift, crossing more than ten paces in an instant. By the time she saw the Sword Light he left behind, Watcher's voice was already sounding from behind her—

"...die with a little more dignity."

"You have ten seconds of rest time."

The instant Sonia recovered from the pain of decapitation, she did not hesitate. She turned and leaped into the sea, not caring that she could not swim!

Perhaps her fear of death had awakened her potential. Sonia practically taught herself how to swim, and although it was an ugly, splash-filled dog paddle, all that mattered was getting away from that terrifying Island with the monster on it!

If her stomach had not been empty in the dream, Sonia might even have tried the fart-propulsion method from jokes.

Amid the sound of splashing water, Sonia clearly heard Watcher's voice. "Running away is shameful."

"And useless."

Suddenly, the back of her neck turned cold. Sonia lowered her head and saw an icy sword tip protruding through her throat.

Before wave-like pain drowned her, Sonia discovered that she had returned to the Island.

"You have ten seconds of rest time."

This time, she did not run. Instead, she looked at Watcher's hands.

"You seem to be expecting me to have no weapon after I throw my sword away?" Watcher leisurely sheathed his sword. "After experiencing death several times already, why are you still so Innocence?"

"You're being way too unreasonable," Sonia said with a bitter smile.

"Reason exists only upon the tip of a sword. If you wish to reason with me, your mouth is useless. Use your sword to convince me."

Before Watcher had finished speaking, Sonia splashed into the sea again. This time, however, she did not swim. She dived beneath the surface, attempting to avoid Watcher's attack.

You can't possibly cut apart the sea, can you!? she thought.

And indeed, that was the case. Five seconds, ten seconds, thirty seconds... A Minute passed, and Sonia suffered no attack.

However, unable to breathe, she felt as though she were about to faint.

This was clearly a dream, so why was her brain still being starved of oxygen!?

The pain of holding her breath was no less severe than decapitation. Sonia could not endure it any longer. She picked a random spot and surfaced, intending to take a breath before diving again, clinging to a lucky hope. I'll only breathe for one or two seconds. There's no way he'll find me that quickly, right!?

Several Seconds later, Sonia sat on the Island, covering the mouth that had just been pierced. She repeatedly licked her teeth with her tongue to make sure it had not been severed by the flying sword.

"You have ten seconds of rest time."

"Watcher!"

Sonia shouted, her face full of Anger. Gritting her teeth, she gripped the Longsword with both hands and gathered her Courage as she walked toward Watcher. Watcher gave an oh, stroking the hilt with his right hand. "If you wish to end your rest early, I have no objections."

Smack!

Sonia dropped to her knees before Watcher.

"Great, merciful, benevolent Unknown Sovereign, Sonia is willing to pray to You day and night, listen to Your holy words, follow Your Miracles, sing Your will... Please, stop tormenting me like this. Just tell me what You want me to do. I'm very obedient, very well-behaved. I'll do anything You command, sob sob sob..."

"Really anything?" Watcher asked.

Sonia looked up. Her tear-streaked face was especially alluring. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, a blush appearing on her cheeks. Then she gritted her teeth and nodded. "Anything."

"Very well, then I command you—" Watcher gripped his hilt and assumed a Sheathed Sword Stance. "Defeat me."

Clang!

"You have ten seconds of rest time."

Sonia lay on the sand, staring blankly at the ink-black sky. Then she sprang to her feet with a kip-up and asked in confusion:

"No, I've never offended you before, so why are you Wasting Time on a small fry like me? There are so many heinous criminals in this world. If you want to punish evil, I can recommend a few candidates for you. If you're a major villain, I can also recommend some high-ranking, sanctimonious big shots."

"I'm just a very ordinary Female Student. I'm not worth all this effort to deal with me. What you're doing now is like using a Spiral Light Cannon to kill a mosquito, making a Swordsman chop firewood. It's an enormous waste of resources, don't you think?"

"Whatever you want me to do, just say so. You can tell at a glance that I'm a delicate rose, helplessly at others' mercy, born only to drift with the tide..."

Just as Sonia tried to persuade him through both emotion and reason, Watcher shook his head. "You are wrong."

Sonia immediately said, "Where was I wrong? Tell me, and I'll definitely change."

"You were wrong from your first sentence."

"The first sentence?"

"How can you be certain," Watcher gripped his hilt and assumed a Sheathed Sword Stance, "that you have never offended me before?"

Clang!

"You have ten seconds of rest time."

Perhaps because she had died too frequently, Sonia even felt that decapitation was not all that bad. Once you got used to the pain, it was nothing much.

She looked up at Watcher. "As long as I remain here for seventy-two hours, I can leave this damned dream?"

"Yes." Watcher nodded. "However, there is no clock here. Compared to a human life, seventy-two hours is not long. But compared to death, seventy-two hours is not short either."

"Can you truly endure seventy-two hours amid unending death?"

"And why would you believe the words of someone who keeps killing you in a dream? What if I am lying?"

"Even taking ten thousand steps back, even if you truly escape the Dream Realm tonight, what about tomorrow night? The night after that?"

Watcher assumed a Sheathed Sword Stance. "Since you have witnessed death, you should not place your hopes in Miracles."

Clang!

Watcher stepped forward. As he drew his sword in a horizontal sweep, his entire body spun once. In an instant, he crossed more than ten paces, his Longsword carrying immense rotational momentum as it once again beheaded Sonia like a hot knife through butter—

Clang!

For the first time, Sonia's blade blocked Watcher's edge!

At this moment, Sonia's face held no expression. No fear, no Anger, no killing intent, no pleading—only the coldest silence. In her ruby-like eyes was reflected Watcher's indistinct figure, as though she intended to brand him deep into her heart!

"You have left me no choice."