THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 207: 207. IN A BIND

”Kill them all!!” Sagiri said, and Nokai answered. It always followed its master’s call, let alone his instructions.

”Sagiri!! Noo!!” A familiar voice tore through the commotion.

Sagiri turned his head swiftly to look for the source. Somehow, N’varu was standing near the tunnel entry gate wearing the healing wing overall. Lotaga was holding him back from moving. He looked pale from the poison. It seemed he had not been given an antidote yet. Sagiri could also perceive nine more people watching him in awe instead of fear, like everyone running away from the arena or hiding and watching in terror. They must have been the southerners Kiuga was talking about. Sagiri had asked Kiuga, together with them, not to stand in his way and not to do anything reckless. His refusal to meet them and know them was perhaps his way of protecting them. He did not want any southerner to die in the north, even if it was for him.

Sagiri raised his hand, and Nokai paused mid-air. Its silver blades were glowing dangerously with every touch of the sun, making their glare more deadly. He could hear the nine move from all directions to join him in the middle of the arena. He did not need that, and he was grateful Lotaga was holding back N’varu. It seemed Lotaga understood the weight of the situation, and N’varu didn’t. If he joined him and the nine with him did the same, then they would be branded enemies too. With a wave of his hand, Nokai moved. Not with a killing intent but with its master’s will to protect.

Its glare did not relent, however, as it hit them with the butt of its blade and sent them back behind the crowd of cadets, who did not seem to understand what was happening. N’varu was the last, and he did not leave him out. Lotaga moved to block the attack, but even with the butt of its blade, Nokai’s hitting force did not relent. Nokai sent him and N’varu flying back a few yards. He did not hit them hard enough to break bones, but it was enough to keep them down. Even so, he needed to get out of there and find somewhere silent so he could go through the memories of the girl. It did not matter how much main she was in, he needed to know who sent her and where they were so he could find his parents.

Nokai returned to his hand, and its blades snapped back the moment they made contact with Sagiri’s hand. It was time to move, or he could not get anything done while hundreds of warriors were still making a move on him.

Even with his wound still bleeding, Sagiri turned his attention back to the girl, who had now stopped screaming and instead she was staring into nothingness with a haunted expression. It was a pity she had to live with a past she did not remember, but Sagiri did not have it in himself to care past her parents’ kidnapping. He pushed his senses out and his archive even further, absorbing the terrain’s structure with it. He still remembered the cave close to the grave scale’s nest, and just as more arrows were launched at him, he pulled the girl into the archive with him, and the next second, they were at the mouth of the cave.

He should not have listened to N’varu not to kill the bastards because after they had been bought a moment of life, they still dared to launch arrows at him.

He had always moved within the archive alone, but he did not imagine pulling another person with him could tire him that much. It was as if his energy had been depleted in half.

”Move,” he said to the girl who was still silent. She stood up and walked robotically into the cave ahead. She found a spot and sat down without uttering a word. Her posture was that of defeat and shock. Sagiri stood opposite her and retracted his senses. After a moment or a minute of pin-drop silence, the girl’s eyes suddenly focused, and she went berserk again. It was as if she had been reliving her worst memories in silence, and she had finally woken from the bad reality dream. A scream tore through her throat louder than the last Sagiri had heard from her. She started screaming in agony and rolling herself on the ground, clutching her head.

Sagiri could only perceive pain, agony, and confusion from her. The feelings were so thick that they filled the cave with a foul taste of them. Sagiri let her roll around for a few moments before she finally stopped. There was nothing he could have done while she was being tortured by her pain.

”Make it stop. Please make it stop,” she crawled to him, holding onto his feet.

”Those are your memories. I can’t make them stop,” Sagiri said, and the girl flinched but continued begging.

”I don’t want to remember. I don’t want them...” tears streamed down her face. It was the most expressions Sagiri had ever seen on her. She always wore a robotic expression and moved around like a machine with no emotion. No feelings and nonsense of self. Now that he was looking at her, he could not help but notice how fragile she looked. Her small, round face was riddled with pain, and her eyes were filled with sorrow. She did not look like the girl who had stabbed him twice with no emotion. She now looked like a child who had just gained her consciousness for the first time.

She looked at her hands as if she were seeing them for the first time. There was no doubt she was remembering the things her hands had done. The battles she had fought to the death with the other children in that place.

”What am I?” She suddenly asked. The question was not directed to Sagiri but more to herself. She had sunk back to the haunted calmness yet again. The question was something Sagiri had asked himself for a long time, too. Who was he? Was he himself? Was he the archives holder? Was he the Echo Archives vessel? Perhaps that was a question he might never be able to answer.

”Who sent you to kill me?” Sagiri asked suddenly. He would have loved to sit and play listener and nurturer, but he did not have the time to do that. The girl paused as if she could not understand the question, then, as if the word meant something to her, she reverted to her former self. The emotionless self.

”I have to kill you,” she said in a cold tone. After she said those words, she paused for a long moment, her eyes furrowing again, her face softened, and her hands trembled. She looked even more confused at what she had just said, and her breathing became laboured.

”Why do you have to kill me?” Sagiri said, crouching in front of her.