THE LAST KEEPER

”Again!” Matasi announced. He was the formation instructor, and he was really brutal. ”That was the most careless attack I have ever seen. ” Moving like that, you will kill all your teammates before you even kill the enemy,” he said, shaking his head. Teams had been broken into twos. sagiri had conveniently ended up with Kaka as an inside joke for Team Ten, and their teamwork was impeccably terrible.

Kaka hit all the targets, and before sagiri could even pull out his blades, he had conveniently thrown sagiri to the ground and cursed him to get out of the way. They really were the worst march up, and Matasi had to break it up before one blade could go in between sagiri’s eyes. The only one to match Kaka was kiuga, and it was still a terrible matchup because of their different personalities, but they managed to work like a bad case of madness.

The teams have been failing badly. Matasi had started teaching them how to fend off and attack three opponents of almost the same strength as the two. sagiri had finally been paired with nvaru and he had fared so badly, too. Their teamwork in an attack was terrible.

”i cant believe you killed a muddy water scorpion by yourself, and you have almost stabbed your teammate in the back six times,” Matasi cursed. Other teams of two were starting to fit in, and yet sagiri could not. ”If you can’t work in a team of two, how are you going to work in a squad of ten. Matasi continued, but after he said the first sentence, the whole arena went silent, and even Kaka wheeled around to look at him. Everyone turned to look at him as if he were now interesting.

The mission with Salka squad was a secret, or it wasn’t, but sagiri did not think it was supposed to be public knowledge. He could feel different unfiltered emotions flooding the air, and they pressed onto him like a wall of bricks.

”I did that on instinct. I was only thinking of protecting myself,” Sagiri answered in a low voice, but with a lack of movement in the arena, everyone heard it loud and clear. It was as if he couldn’t escape the spotlight, and he had given up on trying to.

”That is the same way you will be attacking your opponent. attack like your life depends on it. the only difference this time is that you have to coordinate with your teammates,” Matasi said, ignoring the blatant curiosity from everyone.

”What are you looking at. Get back to your training. yes the recruit’s senses can not be rivaled, and he is more vicious than he looks. you better work hard before he surpasses you,” Matasi said, and the tensions rose in the arena, and hostility came with it. Did Matasi want him dead? well it was too late to hide what he was capable of, and it was time he lived up to it. There was nothing to his anymore since his benefactor came for him, and he was sure the hypnotized girl and manboy escaped. The two already witnessed him in action, and he only tried to hide his capabilities so his benefactor wouldn’t know, but there was no reason to hide it anymore.

”Sagiri the blind, I did not know you were that skilled. you have to tell me everything,” Kiuga cheered and pulled sagiri under his armpit. ”Kaka i think our sagiri here has finally surpassed you,” Kiuga said, and Kaka drew his weapons. It was as if Kiuga and Matasi were working together to finish him off.

”I was just lucky,” kiuga said.

”At least own it with pride and give the creature the honour of dying by your blade,” Kaka snapped, and sagiri moved away instinctively from Kaka. The man was always irritated, and he could not understand sagiri at all.

”kiuga, bukata zazarie, get into position,” Matasi said. ”All three of you attack me, and maybe everyone can see what moving as a team means,” Matasi continued. Just like always, the three always complemented each other’s skills.

The three sank into position there small blades drawn in front of them. There was no signal ordered, but after three heartbeats, the three boys charged. Zazarie went for Matasi’s feet right away, slashing. While Kiuga, the blade, aimed at Matasi’s middle body. Matasi evaded both attacks by jumping back and up, and one of his blades connected with the incoming blade effortlessly.

Bukata followed with a kick to the head, but he was deterred with a back elbow from Matasi, which sent him back a few feet. Even in his absence, the two continued their combined attack before Bukata finally joined. Even though the boys were still far below matasi in in skills, he still had to move as fast to fend off the three boys. Their teamwork was so impeccable that they almost appeared to be cornering Matasi. The attacks finally stopped when Matasi announced an end.

”These three are the closest thing to a team we have. They almost have no loopholes, and they know each other’s movements so much so that even with one gone, they still held on without colliding,” Matasi explained what everyone had already seen.

”Now in teams of two, now, in your individual squads i want you to train together and merge your skills so much so when I come again in the next class next week, i don’t want to see those terrible moves,” Matasi said before walking out of the arena, and immediately he stepped away, squad 25 swarmed sagiri demanding to know what had happened on his day away.

sagiri did not expect the sudden attention, and even the other teams close to them were listening.

”They just needed me for my senses to locate a nest of tree snakes. Something was wrong, however. The snakes were held hostage, so Salka’s squad had to eliminate the scorpions fast before the nest. I was only there to perceive the number,” sagiri said, trying to reduce his achievement in the battle as much as possible.

”Matasi said you killed one,” Maita said.

”It came for me out of the water, and I took a blind hit,” Sagiri lied again. he had always lied to hide his weird abilities, so it was not hard. ”It had already been wounded by Salka,” he said, trying to downplay his achievement. It was for the best. Rivalry was good, but too much achievement could breed hostility.

”still you got to join squad Salka,” Ulekai said with envy.

”Only because their tracker was hurt during the attack,” sagiri said, and everyone nodded.

After a few more questions, they finally let him go. Unlike the other fourth-year students, who had to continue perfecting their skills. sagiri had to train in the basics of bow and arrow handling and the art of the sword. He was excited to finally be able to start his training in the two.

The next two months will be spent training with the weapons, and after that, in three months, they will be evaluated again before they start on squad missions for a month, then spend the remaining two months preparing for the finals.

The final examination would take place in the Galka War Academy since it was the biggest of all schools and had big enough terrains to hold even entire villages. The exams were so complex and famous across the country of Tagayia that even dignitaries came to watch. Generals of various military guilds would be there to scale out raw talent. Two batch grand marshals of the four colleges would also be there. Nginkas and kuns also attended. Grand zoraths would also be in attendance, and sometimes even the supreme ruler of Tagayia could show up.

That is how famous warriors were made, and their fame could spread before they even joined a college for two years, and perhaps jumpstart their careers. sagiri knew for sure his benefactor must have been one of those dignitaries, and his only hope was that the man was not too powerful. Powerful enough to alter his fate. He had finally figured out how to merge with the archive during training and even send out his senses while he trained to increase his perception radius, just as Kolu had said, yet he still knew he was not strong enough.

To the others, the six months might have been a time for them to prepare for an exam to get into college, but for him, it was a time he only had to get strong enough to be able to fight the man pulling strings and even protect his friends if it came to that. He hated to admit it, but his strength alone was not enough. No matter how good he could get in weaponry in the coming six months or how tall he could grow since he had not stopped growing each day, he knew it was not enough. He needed the archive inside of him. he needed to borrow its power to protect them both.

To do that, he needed to break the barrier that was blocking his archive. He had to get strong in six months. Something inside him could not help but think that the six months remaining till the final exam, cutting across the ten schools, was the only peaceful time he could ever have.

He planned to asl senraki to allow him into the central Pentagon, too, so he could widen his studying pool. He was going to train harder than ever now. Even if his skills might never get as good as Kaka Asakana’s, he still needed to rise in skill, not to depend on the archive entirely. When they finally merged, it needed to be a combined strength.

These three months were going to be where he pushed himself the hardest in every area. It was necessary.