THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 141: 141. TIME

Sagiri understood the intensity of kiuga’s plan. The only person now standing in his way was Yugo. He needed to get rid of him. He had not been able to sleep or eat well during the day. Apart from his teammate, the call had gotten more desperate if that was possible, and it was making it hard for him to function. Nokai was restless, and at some point in his day, the markings on his body had started to crawl under his skin, drawing symbols.

One hour after their patrol on the sixth wing began was when Loku could go to eat, and in that one hour, he needed to be gone and back without being detected. Tonight they would be watching the wall in front of the fifth wing, and that was the only good thing. The distance to the fourth wing had shortened, but it was still a twenty-minute jog, give or take, before he was at the fourth wing gate.

”You seem unusually silent today. Contemplating how to be less of an eyesore?” Yugo said, and sagiri did not even turn around to look. Sagiri had always been silent on their patrols, and he guessed Yugo was still happy from watching him get beaten that he could not contain himself.

”I need to go relieve myself,” sagiri said, turning around.

”You know that is not possible, a warrior can not abandon his watch. You do learn that in the academy, don’t you?” Yugo said, sounding beside himself with joy at having to torture him.

”A warrior shouldn’t let his feelings take over and beat his juniors too,” Sagiri shot back, and rage flashed in Yugo’s eyes, and he pulled away from the back wall where he was resting his back.

”Listen to me, brat, if you lied to the captain just to hold it over my head, then you are mistaken. You already lied, and there is no way to get out of it. If you come out with the truth, we will both get punished.” Yugo ground his teeth, pointing a finger into sagiri’s eye.

”All I need is to wait for a minute. You are letting your personal feelings take over, eh, Yugo.” Sagiri taunted the cold darkness within him, swirling deep down from being stimulated by the archive for days on end.

”You conniving brat! Do you think I’m scared of you?” Yugo asked, moving even closer.

”Are you getting emotional again?” Sagiri threw back his question. He was no longer short. He was still shorter than Yugo, but he was tall enough to stand nose to nose when Yugo stooped down.

”You know what, you can go, and I will tell the captain you tried to kill me like you did Chera’s man,” Yugo said, and sagiri should have been shocked, but he was beginning to understand human nature more and more. A little laugh escaped his throat. How predictable? It seemed no good deed could go unpunished. He had saved the man from punishment, but he was not willing to turn a blind eye even for a few minutes. It also became clear to sagiri that there was no changing the mind of a man who already hated you. You could die for them, and they’d still hate you for it.

”Seems you leave me no choice,” Sagiri said calmly. He did not have time to waste. It was almost time for Loku to leave the containment wing, and he needed to be in and out before the beast came back. Yugo’s eyebrows furrowed, suddenly becoming aware of the dangerous calmness surrounding sagiri. sagiri however, did not give him time to step away. In that moment of realization, he had let himself merge with the archive and stopped fighting with it for the last three days.

His fingers moved fast, and he hit the pressure point at the base of the neck with both his middle finger and index finger. Yugo staggered back a few steps before his back widened. With the archive powering him, he did not have to use too much strength, but it had done its work. Yugo’s eyes widened.

”Next time, you shouldn’t be too predictable. You should return a good deed with a good one. Now go to sleep, I’ll be back.” Sagiri said calmly, looking past the wall to the fortress. He moved his eyes back to Yugo, who was struggling to breathe and scream to call for help at the same time, but it all came out like a choking strangled wheeze.

”If you say I killed a man I didn’t kill again, I will kill you next time.” Sagiri squatted before Yugo, who was panicking and emitting fear like the coward he was. Sagiri used his fingers to hit three acupoints that could put the gut to sleep and out of misery for a long while until he was back. If he was going to make it back, that is. ”Now go sleep,” Sagiri said as he watched Yugo’s eyes roll back into his head.

He could not perceive anyone’s presence around him, and he lifted himself to his full height carefully. He pulled the hood of his combat suit lower and his mask higher. outside the wall was well lit, but with dark corners, and he was going to stick to them.

He hopped to the ledge of the backside of the wall facing the fortress. His right eye looked at the dark corners, and he listened for a while, letting his senses run wild at full capacity and as far as he could go than ever before. What he was planning to do did not require any mistake, or he could not even make it to the fourth wing to begin with. To add to his tight situation, he was also under watch.

After listening for a while, he stood to his full height and let himself fall. The wall was higher than the building he had jumped from to go for eight’s killer, but he planned to land soundlessly this time.

He let himself fall as the ground rushed to meet him. He let himself fall on his back half the distance before he turned around. A few feet from the ground, he twisted his body, letting the archive expand to prepare for his landing, so that he could feel its fire burn in his veins. He landed gracefully this time without the depression he had made on the ground the last time. Even so, he knew the more of the archive power he used, the quicker he could get exhausted. He did not know his limit yet, but he was not willing to find out when he was supposed to be fighting for his life.

Here goes nothing.