THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 365: 365: SAGIRI VS RIKA

The moment Rika entered the formation, the battlefield erupted into chaos. Crimson blades descended from every direction, moving so fast that they became streaks of red light.

Sagiri vanished from the spot where he had been standing a heartbeat earlier. The stone exploded beneath him as multiple weapons struck the ground. He reappeared several paces away only to immediately twist sideways as Rika’s black blade swept past his throat.

The edge missed him by less than an inch.

A cold sensation crawled down his spine. He did not need the Archive to tell him that allowing that weapon to touch him would be a mistake. Something about it felt wrong. The weapon felt familiar but twisted now. Dangerously so, as though the blade itself hungered for him.

Rika pressed forward relentlessly. Every strike carried murderous intent. Every movement was designed to kill. Sagiri avoided another slash, ducked beneath a second, and drove a kick toward her ribs. Rika blocked and slid backward before instantly lunging again.

The formation pulsed around them. Thirteen pillars of crimson light roared brighter with every passing second. Sagiri could feel the effect now. The Archive was being strangled. Normally, darkness would have flooded the battlefield the moment he decided a fight was serious. Instead, whenever traces of the Archive leaked from him, the formation immediately drank it away.

Black tendrils emerged for only a moment before being swallowed by crimson light. The pressure inside the formation continued to increase. It was not merely trapping him. It was suffocating him. Choking the very power that had carried him this far.

Rika must have noticed it too. Her smile widened.

”Do you feel it?” she laughed as her blade crashed against Nokai. Sparks exploded between black and crimson steel. ”The same formation that once protected the Archive now devours it.” Sagiri dodged yet another attack, moving with ease. Even with the archive chock-full and him trapped, he was not yet cornered.

She spun and launched a kick toward his head. Sagiri raised an arm to block. The impact sent him sliding several meters across the stone. Before he could recover, the floating blades attacked again. He dodged left. Right. Forward. Backward. One crimson weapon sliced through his sleeve.

Another cut several strands of hair from his head. A third struck the ground where his chest had been an instant before. Rika never stopped advancing. She moved like a woman possessed, attacking with a ferocity that bordered on madness.

Sagiri’s expression remained calm, but inside, he was rapidly calculating. He could still match her speed. He could still match her skill. But the longer the battle continued, the stronger the formation became, while the weaker he grew. This place had been designed specifically to kill him. Rika was not trying to defeat him. She was trying to keep him trapped until the formation finished the job for her.

Such a foolishly cunning woman. She was the type that could not stop at nothing to further her ends.

Another slash came. Sagiri bent backward just enough for the jagged blade to pass over his face. The weapon screamed through the air. For a brief moment, he saw strange crimson veins pulsing beneath its surface. Then instinct exploded inside him. He twisted violently.

The blade changed direction mid-swing and stabbed toward his heart. It should have been impossible. Rika’s grin widened as the weapon seemed to move on its own. Sagiri barely avoided it. The tip scraped across his chest and carved a shallow line through his clothes.

Pain immediately shot through his body. Not ordinary pain. Something darker. Something invasive. It was almost like the time eating poison Lira had pumped into him back then. Only now, he had been constantly in pain, but the current pain did not. His eyes widened. Even the smallest touch had affected him. Rika laughed.

”Now you’re beginning to understand.” She raised the blade again, crimson light dancing along its edge. Around them, the thirteen pillars roared louder. The formation tightened. The Archive weakened even further and rapidly. And for the first time since arriving, Sagiri realized he might actually be in danger.

Sagiri exhaled slowly and opened his hand. It was about time he got serious now. If that blade had cut him any deeper. The archive could have been crippled.

”Nokai.” The response was immediate. The black blade appeared in his grasp with a violent shriek that echoed throughout the formation. Darkness exploded from the weapon, only for most of it to be swallowed almost instantly by the crimson pillars surrounding them.

Normally, the battlefield would have disappeared beneath an ocean of shadows, but here, however, only fragments remained.

Thin ribbons of darkness curled around the blade before being devoured by the formation. Sagiri clicked his tongue. He hated fighting like this. Across from him, Rika laughed.

”What’s wrong? Can’t use your precious Archive?” Then she attacked again. Nokai collided with the jagged crimson weapon. The impact sent shockwaves through the stone beneath them. Rika’s floating blades joined the assault immediately, forcing Sagiri into constant motion.

He parried one strike, ducked beneath another, twisted around a third, and drove Nokai toward her throat. She narrowly avoided it and retaliated with a slash aimed at his stomach. The battle became a blur of steel and movement.

Both vanished and reappeared across the formation in bursts of speed that ordinary warriors could never follow.

Even without the archive at its full strength, Sagiri had still been trained by the best of the best, and he was sure that if Salk was trapped in the formation, the man could still win against the raging woman.

Sparks erupted whenever their weapons collided. Cracks spread across the battlefield. Stone shattered beneath their feet. Yet as the fight continued, Sagiri began noticing something unsettling.

Rika seemed faster than before. Stronger. Her attacks grew heavier with each exchange.

The floating blades moved more aggressively.

The crimson glow in her eye brightened. At first, he thought the formation was empowering her somehow. Then realization settled over him. It wasn’t that she was becoming stronger.

He was becoming weaker.

The formation was draining him piece by piece. Every second spent inside it chipped away at the Archive. Every movement felt slightly heavier than before. Every breath required more effort. Rika noticed the change too. Her smile widened into something vicious.

”You see it now, don’t you?” she hissed as her blade slammed against Nokai hard enough to send him skidding backward.

”This formation was built to protect the Archive. Nobody understood it better than our people. Reverse its flow...” She raised her weapon. ”...and it becomes the perfect cage.” She taunted.

Sagiri steadied himself and wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.

Around him, the thirteen pillars continued to roar. Crimson light flooded the battlefield. The Archive inside him felt increasingly distant, like a voice being drowned beneath crashing waves.

Despite that, his expression remained calm. His crimson eyes never left Rika. She mistook his silence for desperation and charged again with a triumphant scream. Sagiri simply tightened his grip on Nokai. If the Archive could not win this fight, then he would. The old-fashioned way.

Steel against steel.

Perhaps he could toy with her a little longer.