THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 378: 378: THE STRONGEST KNEEL

Zaka attacked with more discipline after the first cat fell, keeping his body between Sagiri and the wounded beast while every exchange carried the animal toward safer ground.

Grief had not made the Grand Chief careless, since it had stripped away the political performance and left a warrior who understood exactly what the remaining companion meant to him.

The surviving cat limped once before correcting its gait, its eyes fixed on Sagiri while the smallest shift in Zaka’s weight guided the creature toward the next charge.

Zaka cut low toward the ribs Sagiri had already injured, forcing Sagiri to jump over the blade before the cat’s shoulder struck his side and sent him across the ash.

He rolled before Zaka’s follow-up could pin him beneath the weapon, then raised Nokai as the Grand Chief stepped in and the cat circled behind him.

Their timing was no longer driven by anger, since Zaka had learned from the earlier failures and now protected the weakness the wounded beast could no longer hide.

The adjustment made each exchange more expensive for Sagiri, because Zaka no longer offered a predictable command or allowed the cat to drift outside his reach. The Grand Chief was using his injury as a boundary, forcing Sagiri to choose between attacking the man and exposing the animal to another fatal opening.

Sagiri measured the distance through his feet and Nokai’s pressure, tracking the cat’s breathing whenever it shifted weight from the injured leg. He could not overpower the pair without opening the Archive, yet doing so would erase the distinction between defeating Zaka and becoming the disaster the North already expected.

Sagiri took the second strike against Nokai’s flat, allowing the impact to carry him away from his injured side before shifting one step and cutting Zaka’s forearm.

The cut opened skin without reaching the bone, forcing Zaka to withdraw while the cat filled the space he had left and waited for the next command.

The creature stopped before committing, its gaze flicking toward Zaka as though the first duty remained his protection rather than the destruction of the enemy.

That hesitation gave Sagiri the answer he needed, revealing which life the creature would protect first and which movement could force it into the blade.

Sagiri stepped toward Zaka with the opening exposed, expecting the cat to cross the distance and turn its injured side away from Nokai.

The beast moved as he expected, leaping across the clearing while the Grand Chief prepared a killing strike through the space its body created.

Sagiri did not meet Zaka’s weapon, choosing the cat as the immediate target while Nokai entered below its jaw and passed through the muscle behind it.

The impact traveled through Sagiri’s arm as the creature’s momentum carried it forward, so he guided the body away from Zaka and kept it from falling across his legs.

The great cat struck the ground on its side, scraping one claw through the ash before settling beside the first animal, while Zaka’s blade stopped near Sagiri’s throat.

His eyes had followed the creature instead of the target, leaving his arm extended and his balance open as Sagiri pushed the weapon aside with Nokai’s guard.

Sagiri struck Zaka’s elbow, forcing the joint to bend while the weapon slipped from his fingers, then caught the back of his knee before he could reclaim it.

The Grand Chief dropped to one hand and reached for the blade, but the surviving cat dragged itself toward him with a dark trail marking every movement.

Zaka turned toward the creature, extending his hand as its claws searched for soil that could no longer provide the strength needed to pull its body forward.

He said, ”Stay with me,” reaching toward the cat as the command left him without the authority he had used against armies.

The beast raised its head and touched its nose to his hand before settling beside the first cat, leaving Zaka’s shoulders lowered when its final breath left the body.

Sagiri watched the two animals become still, then faced the Grand Chief while warriors stopped advancing and Salka’s squad held the line, with no one daring to move before the decision became public.

Zaka rose without his weapon, steadying himself with one hand before he said, ”You killed them,” in a voice that carried through the watching ranks.

Sagiri kept Nokai at his side and opened his mouth to reply.

”You trained them to fight like you. It was only a matter of time before they died.”

The Grand Chief approached with empty hands raised, refusing to move like a man surrendering and trying to force Sagiri to prove that the duel had never concerned the cats and he was just capable of his own. The two moved again and met him in crushing contact at the center of the clearing.

Zaka struck with his left hand and followed with his shoulder before driving a knee toward Sagiri’s damaged ribs.

Sagiri absorbed the contact through his stance, answered with Nokai’s pommel against Zaka’s wrist, then shifted before the next strike and cut the outside of his thigh.

The blade did not cut deep, and Zaka continued forward, trying to seize him while Sagiri turned beneath the grip and struck the nerve beneath his jaw.

The man’s legs faltered without giving way, so Sagiri struck his ankle and removed the last support beneath the stance that had carried him through the North.

Zaka dropped to one knee as the northern ranks reacted together, but Salka ordered, ”Hold your line,” standing before his squad, ”the duel is not finished until Sagiri says it is.”

Zaka pushed against the ground with his good hand while Sagiri placed Nokai beneath his chin, leaving every soldier to watch the Grand Chief fight for a position his body could no longer hold.

Sagiri could have killed him with the position and the blade, but death would end the lesson before Zaka understood what his creed had demanded from everyone beneath him.

He pressed the point closer, giving the Grand Chief one final chance to recognize the difference between defeat and judgment before the North decided what his title meant.

Across the northern line, several warriors lowered their weapons when they understood that Sagiri was not claiming Zaka’s authority for himself, so Salka kept them still with one raised hand and watched Sagiri’s blade. The next choice would decide whether the forest received a prisoner, a corpse, or another battle while every witness waited for a ruling no soldier wanted to make for either ruler.

Zaka’s knee struck the earth again, and this time he remained there while the two great cats carrying his anger lay dead among the trees.

Sagiri looked toward the northern soldiers, then said, ”You wanted me to fight like the monster you named, but I fought you as a man, and you still could not remain standing.”

Zaka tightened his mouth and asked, ”Then finish it,” while Sagiri lowered the blade until its shadow crossed the Grand Chief’s face.

Sagiri answered, ”No, death would be mercy,” and held the position as the strongest ruler in the North finally knelt before the man he had treated as an enemy for the North.