THE LAST KEEPER

They were perfecting just another formation with three working together and and sagiri standing at the centre of the formation. It had been almost three months of training, and the team was beginning to look like a team. Kaka still thought that it was a waste of time, and it had earned him a journey to the suspension chamber a few times before he finally decided to even try to cooperate.

In this current formation, it was three, and the setting could be in the dark, where they could not see and needed sagiri’s sensory. All he had to do was stand at the centre and give instructions. Or just squat and yell instructions. They had even come up with code numbers for each person. kiuga wanted to give him the number bone, but King Bami said one would always belong to him. Sagiri ended up with number six. he could not have the enemies understand their movements, so he could just yell a number and yell a direction and let the guys use their perception abilities and their limited sight to maximize their output. It’s not as if they were blind and could not help themselves. They had also been taught to fight without their six senses. It’s just that sagiri was better at sensory, and he acted as a catalyst.

Even if it was just practice. Matasi always invited junior or senior instructors who wanted to take part, and being a war school, the instructors were just bored since there were no more classes for the fourth-year cadets, except for

Always training in the outer pentagon district in the natural training fields like rocky climbing ridges, sand pits, manmade lakes for water drills, long distance running routes, ambush and stealth fields, for weapon and combat training. sagiri had spent quite some time in the archery lines, spear-throwing courts, and obstacle arenas. His hands had hardened and scraped from how hard he had been pushed and pushed himself. Salka was right when he said that the place is where students prove their physical and mental endurance.

Beast Combat Grounds were also a thing, and students, especially from bami tribe, battled against big cats in strength, like in a game of tag where a rope could be put in the mouth of a beast, and a student could pull to see who could budge first. Kaka had been the only one to rival a big cat, and he was being trained especially under Captain Salka, who was the instructor for that.

For Sagiri, it was futile to try. he had grown a few inches tall in the past three months, and now stood at the same height with Bukata Zazarie and zoliath who were neither too tall nor too short. His build had also become more athletic, and Kaka no longer gave him trouble because he could now eat ten. Yet he could still not compare in strength to Kaka, who was the one who loved to play the game of tag and even spar with the big cats sometimes.

sagiri had finally understood what Salka’s pets were. The man kept all types of big cuts, and turns out they ate a lot, and that is why he always hunted a lot in the outer nonagon. It turns out that pet duty involved cleaning their kennels and seeing how much he fed them sagiri could only imagine the waste and smell. No wonder Lotaga begged every time he was put on pet duty as punishment. Turns out the Galka War Academy logo descended from the Bami tribe; their love for keeping big cats like a lion, and for a man to be respectable, he either had to battle one and win or bring it to total obedience and tame it. Salka had kept his big cats since they were pups. He had lions, tigers, jaguas and even some leopards.

He had even acquired a secret tribe arts zone where he tried to train with his weapon. It had taken him over two months to finally make progress, and even so, the blades had only responded twice during his time training. He had started to learn how to merge his will and the archive, even so, and even that always dwindles fast. he could not understand the reason, so he just worked on getting stronger in other ways. He was given the deep brown sash after the midterm exam and a month later, a forest green sash after he perfected the spear dances and scored eighty point sin small blade handling. Of course, only him was tasted alone on this.

A month later, after his skill with the sword improved again and he was able to hit just outside the bull’s eye after many failures and long nights of training, he was given the forest green sash, and every step of this required him to earn initiation punches from his teammates. They had said it was only required in the first exam, and he guessed they were doing it for fun, but he just let them. He had grown to get fond of the nine boys, even Banga, who talked the least and always looked at him as if he were some equation he was trying to figure out. well he was one of the best innovators of Galka War Academy, and it was only natural for him to be curious since he was from the central plains, and Sagiri was someone who made him curious because he couldn’t figure out how he worked. he wanted to figure out his mechanisms just like a machine.

The team had also been doing patrols on the outer walls for patrol training, but always under a senior instructor. It seemed Salka was not taking any chances after the attack on Galka War Academy and after the intruder made it in. The instructor, of course, tried to remain invisible and just watch, and only get involved if it was necessary or fire a red flare for backup.

sagiri had earned quite some respect in the last few months for himself, and he did not get any scornful glares anymore. He had to admit it felt good to finally rise in the hierarchy and be seen as a rival and not a nuisance. his emotions growth had not progressed any further, however, as if everything triggered by the archive had stagnated again, and he couldn’t quite break the code of why.

Kaka 1 kiuga 2 bukata 3 zazarie 4 maita 5 ulekai 7 zoliath 8 banga 9 nvaru 10. That was their code numbers. They each had their sash tied around their eyes, even sagiri. They were all standing in the middle of the combat arena in three-man defensive positions, with sagiri at the centre with his forest green sash across his eyes. he had his hands folded across his chest, his oru seals tightly on his ears. he did not need to use both his hearing and eyes to know where each of his teammates was. The other teams were now gathered around to watch, and even Salka and Senraki stood at the highest point looking down. Sometimes the captain and the grand marshal came to see the progress of the students themselves.

Six junior instructors surrounded them on each of the three sides. sagiri pushed his senses out. He had gotten better at that, and he could not only perceive his team but the whole team. He concentrated harder on his team, however. In front of him was Kaka’s team with ulekai and banga right behind him, both in a low defensive stance, forming a triangle with banga at the back and the other two at the front. The three always worked well because they were not as competitive as Kaka, and they could let him do almost all the work while they watched his back.

The other three, sagiris, right, and back were kiuga bukata, Zazarie, Bukata, and Zazarie at the front and kiuga at the back. His position will be to protect sagiri if necessary and still watch the backs of the two in front. To Sagiri’s left and back were Maita, N’varu, and Zoliath, and the three were a powerhouse. Maita and N’varu were front with Zoliath at the back of the triangle. the three triangles formed a shape like a hexagon on the outside and a triangle on the inside around sagiri as if to protect him if necessary, because if he moved in such a situation, then the whole team could crash.

”Ready?” maita announced, and the nine unsheathed their blades finally. Of course. The sound of small blades filled the arena that had now gone silent. The other cadets had seen this formation a hundred times, but they still came to see sagiri in action. He had become quite the talk of the Pentagon after the first time they tried it out.

”The tamelku can see in the dark with their eyes open, but he doesn’t even need to use his eyes.” A whisper reached his ears as always.

”yes sir!” Both the cadets and the junior instructors got into position.

”Start!” his voice announced, echoing in the whole arena.

There was a momentary pause before there was motion, ands sagiri’s mouth moved.