THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 208: 208. PINNED DOWN

The girl had fallen silent again at Sagiri’s question. It was as if she were trying to remember her reason for having to kill Sagiri, but she could not come up with any, and the more she tried to remember, the more Sagiri could perceive confusion from her.

”Why do I have to kill you?” She said to herself again, more tears flowing down her face. Her usually sharp eyes were red from how much she had been wailing.

”You have to die. You are my target. I must eliminate you,” her voice came again, and it was colder than the last. She went to retrieve her blades, but sagiri moved quickly and pinned her to the ground. The moment her back hit the floor of the cave, she froze again, reverting to her normal self. Her brows knitted together, and fear was prominent, oozing from her. Sagiri lifted his hand to place it on her forehead and learn whatever he wanted by himself, but her fear turned into terror, and he could feel her bones quaking. It was clear she did not want to remember anymore.

”P-please, I don’t want to remember,” her voice quacked. It was as if she had forgotten to fight anymore, and she did not want to fight anymore. Her terror was hard to ignore. She was the reason Sagiri had remembered the painful memories of his clan, and for a moment, he did not want to hold back, whether she begged, but as his hand moved lower and her breathing became laboured, he stooped and withdrew his hand. He still held it in the air, however.

”If you tell me who sent you and why you have to kill me. I will stop,” Sagiri said. She breathed a sigh of relief. She shut her eyes in an attempt to remember, but again, Sagiri could feel her confusion. She could not remember who sent her. Her memories were in fragments, even when Sagiri went through them. Someone must have purposefully messed up with them, and sagiri did not know whether he could see who sent her, even if he gained access to them.

”I don’t remember...” she said finally in a small voice, and Sagiri sighed. Perhaps all he had to do was lend her unconscious and go through her memories. Perhaps she could not remember all of it when it got dark. Sagiri raised his hand to smack her unconscious, but she spoke before the blade hand landed on her acupoints.

”I will take you there,” she said, breathing rapidly. She must have known what he was planning to do. She was the number one cadet in Yalami in both combat, weaponry, and bookwork, and even though her memories and body were altered in a lab to make her stronger and smarter, it was still impressive.

”Take me where?” sagiri asked. Withdrawing his hand back entirely this time. He stripped her blades from her and clasped them to his straps before he pulled back and off of her. ”If you try to kill me again, I will not hesitate to go through your memories and then kill you,” sagiri warned before he put distance between them. She nodded slightly before she sat up. She was still trembling, but another look had taken over. Determination.

”I know where I was before I went to the exam council that day,” she said, and sagiri could remember that day. That was, after all, the first day they had met, even if it was in passing.

”Is the one who sent you there?” sagiri asked, and the girl tried to remember, but obviously couldn’t.

”I guess,” she said, and Sagiri sighed. What a bother. He could just go through her memories, but her taking him to the place was still a good deal. Now the only question was how they were supposed to get out of that place with the outer pentagon terrain crawling with hundreds of warriors. He had been pushing out his senses in intervals, and in the past few minutes, they had been holed up in the cave. The place had gone up in flames. Warriors, warrior instructors, and even cadets must have been sent out to look for him. The cadets must have been the group at the far back following the elite warriors.

Even with his abilities, it would still be a pain to get out of Galka Academy without having to kill his way out. Not that he cared much, but that would only waste his time, and if a group made contact and fired a flare, then it would turn into a suicide mission for both sides. The wound on his side had healed halfway, but the black rot residue was a pain, too. Even just a residue of the damned poison couldn’t allow him to heal any quicker. He could teleport out of the walls with the girl, but he had spent more than half his strength in just one move, and if he used it again, it would be suicide. They would make it outside the wall, then what? Then he might just collapse, and the girl could kill him and run. She might have agreed to work with him, but it was only because she was scared of him and terrified of remembering.

Sagiri clutched the wound on his side, which had not stopped bleeding. He had lost a lot of blood, too, and the odds stacked against him were beginning to stack even higher. He sank to a sitting position and pulled the sash hanging on his neck. He knew it could not offer much help in stopping the blood, but it’s not like he had that many choices. Now that he was bleeding and could not teleport within the archive, his chances of being caught were even higher. Poisoned, wounded, energy depleted, and a girl with him. The odds were not looking good at all.

”Here,” the girl suddenly said, and in her hand she was clutching her sash. Sagiri looked at her skeptically before he snatched the sash from her hand and joined it with his. With warrior hunters like Lotaga and many from the west inside the terrain, he was basically pinned. Many were prone to let their beast free to search, and blood was the most attractive thing to any hunting beast.

”How did you make me remember?” the girl suddenly asked. She was now looking at Sagiri weirdly. Sagir ignored her and continued to tie the sashes twice around his torso.

”How are we going to get out of here?” the girl asked after a long moment of silence, and sagiri still kept quiet. This time, he was not keeping the answer to himself, but he did not have the answer to the question. The only option he had was killing his way out, and at the moment, he did not know the probability of it working or how long he was going to be able to hold on until the blackrot residue pushed back.

He did not know how they were going to get out.