THE LAST KEEPER-Chapter 184. FINAL DECISION
Right after Bekuro held onto Sagiri, the silence in the arena passed. The place suddenly fell into chaos. The examiners had not been prepared for the situation, and so they could not rank sagiri or give him a mark until a meeting was called. Sagiri could not help but afford a cold smile at how the place was going up in flames with cadets and instructors from different schools going at each other, split by those who envied him and those who were in awe. He might have outdone himself in being the center of attention. Sagiri did not have the strength to wait up because he passed out. His body had not been put through enough torture. He might have been carrying the echo archive inside of him, but he was still a human, and there was only so much a body could take.
When he woke up, he was in the healing wing. The first thing he felt when he woke up was crippling hunger. He could eat a whole cow and more. He, however, did not get his wish because the moment the nurse announced his awake state. The room was suddenly filled with a dozen people. First, it was his teammates. They must have been allowed in the wing to wait on him because it was only they and the highest-ranking members of Galka War Academy who knew he had disappeared.
"Where were you?" was the first thing N’varu asked, being the first to come into the room.
"Man, you need to stop disappearing like that," Kiuga said.
"Where did you learn that dance?" Kaka was the one to ask this time, and for the first time, there was no pride in his tone. He was genuinely curious.
Before the three could get an answer, Salka, Senraki, and Lotaga poured into the room. The room he had been put in was far from the other one, and it was large. But it soon looked narrow now with the addition of the three men.
"You know, are the six dances of the blade?" Salka asked as soon as he stepped into the room.
"You saw it?" Sagiri dared to ask.
"Almost everyone saw it," Lotaga said with excitement. "I only just mastered that sixth dance last year. How did you do it?" Lotaga went on and on.
"Shut up. It’s not the time," Salka said. His eyes were set in hard lines. The other cadets had moved back to let the grand marshal, his marshal, and his marshal’s troubled son take the front space.
"I had to catch the attention of everyone. They want me in the spotlight. So I put myself there," Sagiri answered. Salka looked like he wanted to say something, but held his tongue. What could he possibly say?
"Where were you? We searched for you all day and night." Senraki was the one to ask this time.
"Dying," Sagiri said, his eyes hardening. He knew all in the room were worried about him, each in their own way, but he did not need it anymore.
"The nurse said there was a residual wound on your heart," Lotaga said. "You got stabbed again?"
"Yes," was all sagiri said.
"Why could you let yourself get stabbed? With how strong you are, how many were they?" It was Kaka who asked, and the question had never seemed so rational. Perhaps he had let himself get stabbed because he knew he would heal anyway. Perhaps his ability to heal had made him careless. Sagiri gritted his teeth, and the cold in his heart began to turn icy. He did not have time to lie down. He had people to equal the scale with.
"One." Sagiri gritted the answer.
"One?" Lotaga mattered in disbelief
"I bet you know who stabbed you then," Salka said. It was a statement.
"Who was it?" Senraki asked. Sagiri remained quiet. He did not want to talk about what had happened. If he told them who had stabbed him, then she could just be apprehended, and he would lose his chance to tear her skin from limb.
"You will see her when I tear her skin from limb," Sagiri said after a moment. His voice was colder than anyone had ever heard. They could tell the shift in his personality ever since he stepped into the arena to dance. Something had indeed happened. He had finally remembered. The archive had broken half the seal, but that was enough for him to remember what he needed to know.
"Her?" N’varu was the one who asked this time, moving closer to the bed. "Could it be the girl from Yalami?" She must have been injured, too, if they found her.
"Yes," Sagiri did not hesitate to answer. He could not mistake the left-handed girl who had almost ended his life. It was the closest he had come to death. Not even being stabbed by the Tamelku twins had brought him so close to death.
"That girl? She must have been planted here by the person seeking you. I knew something was odd that was near the place, broken pillars and shadow arena, yet she did not say a word till her school’s instructors came for her." Salka said as if finally piecing all the pieces together
"You can’t kill her." Kiuga finally spoke for the first time. Sagiri turned his head slowly and let his cold eyes settle on him.
"Do you plan on stopping me?" Sagiri’s voice took on a dangerous tone, and everyone was beginning to realise something had shifted with him.
"I could never think of doing such a careless thing. But if she was planted by your benefactor, don’t you think killing her will be like taking out the only thing that could lead you to him?" Kiuga said not at all fazed by the icy glare sagiri was giving him.
"I have to agree with the Tinega boy again," Senraki said, folding his hands on his chest. "If you kill a student, not even the ten schools can keep you safe this time. Let alone the war council and the warriors’ guild, who have been dying to get their hands on you. The supreme mandra will hear of it," Senraki said. Even he had realized that something was wrong with sagiri.
"Then I will kill them all. I will kill anyone who stands in my way." Sagiri said his voice was falling and octave. He meant everything he said. "Every northerner who stands in my way, I will not forgive," Sagiri said, the words slowly. N’varu’s eyes widened at that moment, and Sagiri could perceive his feelings. A mixture of pride and relief, but a little fear. The only explanation could be that he had remembered.
Northerner?
The word must have caught the attention of everyone in the room because everyone furrowed their eyebrows.
"And what have we northerners done to die by your hand? I did not stab you," Kaka said in an irritable tone. Sagiri might have meant the northern tribes of Tagayia because he now knew he was from the south, but it somehow sounded like he was threatening the whole tribes of the north. Even so, he could tell Salka and Senraki knew what he meant. They, after all, knew he could be from the south.
"Sagiri, think rationally, don’t say such things out of anger," N’varu said in a pleading tone, and sagiri shut his eyes.
"I advise you to listen to your friend, cadet. Northerners don’t take threats lightly. A man should not say things carelessly." Salka said, and his warning was clear.
"If you don’t calm down, I will not allow you to participate in the last week of exams," Senraki suddenly said, and Sagiri snapped his eyes open. He planned to tear the girl to shreds in the fourth week.
"That won’t stop me from killing them," Sagiri said. He does not even care about exams anymore. He had found out what he was looking for in the academy. He did not care about going to college anymore. He wanted to go south as soon as he found his benefactor and killed him. There was a sharp intake of breath from those present in the room. It was clear there was no reasoning with the boy. His mind was made up.
"You don’t care about catching the man behind her?" Kiuga asked.
"She will take me to him, and then I will kill them both," Sagiri said. There was another sharp intake of breath from half the room. He had expected to get angry with Senraki, but what Senraki said next had him pause.
"So you are planning to go to war with the entire Tagayia." It was a statement.
"They will fight with me at some point, even if I don’t fight back. I have no choice," Sagiri said.
"Well then, everyone is excused," Senraki said, and all the cadets left the room. When they had all gone, Senraki finally spoke.
"Your mind is already made," it was not a question.
"Yes," there was no hesitation in sagiri’s voice.
"Are you prepared for the consequences of going against the entire Tagayia if you kill a student in front of everyone?" Salka asked. The two must have figured out where he planned to start his war.
"Yes. I can not keep waiting. If they are going to come for me, I will take the fight to them," Sagiri said.
"Well then," Senraki said. "I suppose it’s time. I already knew this day would come, you afterrall will be a student of this academy for only one more week. I hate to admit it, but perhaps your opponent is not someone even me and Salka can beat."
