Chapter 181: The Watcher’s Memory

The crimson eye opened above the empty city.

Noah stood beneath it, Shadowfang already in his hand.

The blade’s fractured edge glowed crimson.

Dead Zone’s presence stirred inside his mind.

It’s stronger.

Noah watched the sky.

How much?

Enough.

The Archivist had vanished.

The fountain lay shattered across the plaza.

Laura, Sophia, Luna, Eric, Damien, and Roana stood behind Noah, weapons ready.

Then the second eye appeared.

A third.

The sky darkened.

Crimson light poured between the buildings, forming a massive silhouette above the city.

The Watcher.

Its body was incomplete.

Its limbs flickered between solid crimson energy and empty darkness. The damage from their previous battle was still visible across its form.

But it had changed.

Three eyes burned across its chest.

And dozens of smaller eyes covered its arms.

[WATCHER SIGNATURE DETECTED.]

Noah’s system flickered.

[ANALYSIS...]

[ERROR.]

The Watcher descended.

Its feet touched the plaza.

The stone beneath it cracked.

Roana immediately stepped forward.

"Watcher."

The creature tilted its head.

Its three eyes focused on her.

Then Noah.

Then Dead Zone’s presence inside him.

"Observation incomplete."

Its voice echoed through the empty city.

Noah raised Shadowfang.

"You’ve had plenty of time to observe."

The Watcher’s eyes narrowed.

"You changed."

Noah’s golden eye brightened.

"So did you."

The Watcher extended one hand.

Crimson threads shot toward Noah.

Dead Zone took over Noah’s arm instantly.

Shadowfang swept upward.

The threads were severed.

Noah’s arm returned to his control.

Nice timing.

You’re welcome.

The Watcher attacked.

Its entire body vanished.

Noah barely sensed it.

A crimson fist struck his abdomen.

He flew backward.

Laura caught him with a barrier before he crashed into the fountain ruins.

"Noah!"

He pushed himself away.

"I’m fine."

Dead Zone’s voice sharpened.

Liar.

"Not helping."

The Watcher appeared again.

This time, six crimson copies surrounded them.

Sophia immediately attacked one.

Her strike passed through it.

"It isn’t solid!"

Luna fired.

The copy dissolved.

Then reappeared behind her.

Damien intercepted it.

Eric joined him.

The plaza erupted into battle.

Noah focused on the original.

Three eyes watched him.

The Watcher was no longer analyzing his movements.

It already knew them.

Instead, its attention remained fixed on Noah’s chest.

On the golden seal.

Noah realized what it wanted.

"You’re not trying to kill me."

The Watcher stopped.

Noah raised Shadowfang.

"You’re trying to open me."

Its three eyes widened.

"Correct."

The Watcher raised both hands.

The empty Hildgard began changing.

Buildings cracked.

Streets folded.

The three moons above them shifted position.

Golden symbols appeared across every surface.

Roana stared upward.

"No..."

Noah looked at her.

"What?"

She pointed toward the sky.

"The city isn’t Hildgard."

The buildings continued transforming.

The fountain disappeared.

The academy towers twisted into enormous pillars.

The streets became circular pathways.

The entire city was becoming something else.

Roana’s voice trembled.

"It’s the Watcher’s memory."

Noah’s golden eye narrowed.

"Then let’s make it remember losing."

Dead Zone’s crimson aura surged through his body.

Shadowfang roared with energy.

The Watcher opened its three eyes.

And the entire false city attacked.

The false city moved.

Not physically.

Its entire structure seemed to rearrange itself according to some forgotten memory.

Buildings stretched upward, becoming enormous pillars. Streets curled into circular paths. The three moons above Hildgard shifted until they formed a perfect triangle.

Noah looked around.

"This isn’t a city anymore."

Roana shook her head.

"It never was."

The Watcher stood at the center of the transformed plaza.

Its three crimson eyes remained fixed on Noah.

"Memory reconstructed."

The words echoed across the false Hildgard.

"Observation resumed."

Noah tightened his grip on Shadowfang.

"Then observe this."

He vanished.

Dead Zone surged through his body.

Noah crossed the plaza in an instant, Shadowfang cutting toward the Watcher’s chest.

The Watcher raised its arm.

CLANG!

Blade struck crimson armor.

The Watcher immediately countered.

Noah ducked.

A crimson blade passed over his head and carved through the pillar behind him.

He twisted and kicked the Watcher’s knee.

The creature staggered.

Dead Zone spoke inside his mind.

Left.

Noah moved left.

A second blade missed his throat by centimeters.

Down.

Noah dropped.

Another weapon swept over him.

Now.

Noah drove Shadowfang upward.

The blade pierced the Watcher’s chest.

Crimson light erupted.

The Watcher screamed.

Its body split apart.

Six copies emerged from the explosion.

Noah stepped backward.

"Again?"

Dead Zone answered.

Not copies.

Noah’s golden eye narrowed.

The six figures moved independently.

One attacked Laura.

Two charged Sophia and Luna.

Another went toward Eric and Damien.

The final one remained facing Noah.

They’re fragments of its memory, Dead Zone said.

Noah understood.

"It’s dividing its memories."

The Watcher fragment in front of him tilted its head.

"Correct."

Noah’s expression hardened.

"Then every fragment should have a weakness."

The fragment raised its weapon.

"And every memory has a wound."

It attacked.

Noah blocked.

The impact drove him backward.

Across the plaza, Laura’s barrier shattered under the assault of her Watcher fragment.

Sophia fired a concentrated blast.

The creature absorbed it.

Luna struck from behind.

Nothing.

Eric and Damien were forced against a pillar.

Roana stood frozen.

She wasn’t fighting.

She was staring at the Watcher’s fragments.

"No..."

Noah heard her.

"Roana!"

She didn’t respond.

One of the fragments turned toward her.

Its crimson eyes dimmed.

For a moment, its body became transparent.

Inside it was a memory.

A young Roana.

Standing inside the white room.

A figure was speaking to her.

Noah couldn’t hear the words.

But Roana could.

Her face drained of color.

"That day..."

She took a step backward.

The fragment repeated the memory.

The younger Roana raised her hand.

A golden symbol appeared in her palm.

The same symbol she carried now.

Noah looked at her.

"What happened?"

Roana’s voice trembled.

"I wasn’t sent to observe you."

The Watcher fragment turned toward her.

Roana finally understood.

"I was sent to find the door."

The memory shifted.

A younger Roana stood before a sealed doorway.

Behind it was a small boy.

Noah.

She was holding his hand.

Noah’s expression changed.

"That memory..."

Roana looked at him.

"I remember now."

The Watcher’s fragment stepped closer.

"You brought him to the door."

Roana’s eyes widened.

"I didn’t know what was behind it."

The fragment’s crimson eye opened.

"But you opened it."

Roana shook her head.

"No."

The memory showed her younger self placing her hand against the door.

Golden light spread across the seal.

The door opened.

Inside stood the White-Eyed Figure.

And behind it, barely visible in the darkness...

Two black eyes.

Roana covered her mouth.

Noah stared.

Dead Zone went completely silent.

The Watcher fragment whispered:

"That was the beginning."

Noah raised Shadowfang.

His voice was quiet.

"Then we’re going back to the beginning."

The golden seal inside his chest ignited.

The false city trembled.

And the Watcher’s memory finally began breaking apart.