THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 229. THE VOTE II

The next to take to the stage was the head of the ten council, Sissara Kano. He took his time to get to the stage. He looked tired and ready to get it over with and go to sleep.

"The council of the ten schools, after much consideration, the odds stack against the boy and the many assassinations he has faced and the many testimonies from his teammates, captains, and instructors. The boy was pushed to this point by someone, and I do not wish to sentence a person to death because they have been pushed for a long time and snapped. So I vote that he is put under my care for rehabilitation, after which he can decide if he wants to remain in the north that raised him or the south whose blood runs in his veins," Sissara said in a long, bored statement before he turned to leave.

"Sissara, you can be so endearing. If I weren’t already married and now a widow, I would have loved to challenge you," Nakia said with a sick smile, looking at the tall, handsome yet unreadable man that was Sissara. Sissara indeed carried an air of mystery. He did whatever he saw fit, and his opinion was always of what he thought and never allowed to be tainted by anyone’s opinion. He looked at sagiri with a conflicted expression before he turned to leave.

"I have no desire to die young," Sissara said, not even sparing Nakia a glance before he dragged his body back to his seat. Nakia scoffed, but she did not say anything more.

"One vote to rehabilitate the boy!!" Tsaka announced before giving way to the next vote.

The guild master was the next to take to the platform to cast his vote, and he did say a lot of nothing.

"The guild is very pained by the loss of many warriors. We mourn for their death and grieve with their families," he started, and sagiri almost burst out laughing. The man did not elude any form of grief. It could even be said that he did not care at all about the diseased. "We of the guild care for the warriors’ lives, and no life of a warrior should be lost, especially in a time of peace. Sagiri, whether from the south, had been raised in the north, and he was so close to becoming a warrior. I have to say that he is a protege, and I happened to be in the arena when he did the six-blade dances. I have not seen such ever since the last guild master. It pains me that the boy distrusts the north because of some misguidance. The guild deems all three judgments worthy of his sin, but killing him after many warriors have just been lost will fill me with so much grief. Sending him south after he has trained in the north and become stronger because of the north will be a fate for him even worse than death. I hereby agree with my council vote that the boy be given to the guild for rehabilitation, and if he fails, then we can grant him death." Bakizize finished, and sagiri did not know whether to stand in awe or be outraged by the man’s greed and selfishness.

"Two votes for the rehabilitation of the boy!!" Tsaka announced.

There was now visible tension in the hall. The votes had tied at two, and only two council members had still to vote. Counting the supreme mandra’s vote that could make it three. His vote was meant to break the tie, and if things kept going like this, then there was a chance that even with his vote, the vote could stand at a tie.

Chief Zaka Asakana was the seventh council to take the stage. His face gave nothing away, apart from the aggressiveness he always carried.

"The boy seems to have a lot of anger and hate. Yet he shares a squad with my son, and my son spoke highly of him. It takes a lot for a man like my son to acknowledge the strength of another. That said, I wish to punish him myself and shape him into a weapon fit for the north. So I vote that I rehabilitate him, and if he doesn’t change, I’ll kill him myself." Typical Zaka. No sugarcoating or hiding his words behind many phrases and fables like the guild master.

"Three votes to rehabilitate the boy!!" Tsaka announced.

At this point, Felunka was pacing in his chair. He could not wait for his turn. Everyone knew what he wanted to vote for anyway, but they could not assume.

"Our last vote!!" Tsaka announced, and Felunka almost jumped from his seat. The last to take to the stage was Felunka, and there was a leap in his steps. It looked like he had been waiting for this moment since the beginning of the night.

"The war council has suffered the most losses. First, my two warriors were killed in a time of peace. Second, a warrior was killed up north when someone came to get the boy. Perhaps a person in bed with the boy to destroy the north," Felunka started, still sticking to his delusion, but no one cared to correct him anymore. Did whatever he said even matter? It did not matter if it was the truth or not. Felunka wanted sagiri dead, and everyone knew his vote before he cast it. "I have decided... The war councils have decided that the sin he has committed is too grave. The boy slaughtered a hundred and twenty warriors of Tagayia, who were all honourable men. Perhaps the South is made of beasts like him, and after he dies here, the North should take the step to wipe out the South!! Perhaps his clan was eliminated because they are all just like him...!!"

Sagiri had been unable to bear all the other words of others because they did not really touch him that much, but Felunka had done it. He had taken his worst memory and used it to twist the knife the north had launched in his heart. Whatever felunka had snapped something inside of him, and his pupils turned black. The restraints against him hummed even more violently.

The pain caused by the power taming threads, however, could match the pain in his heart, and sagiri let a roar of rage and pain from deep inside of him. The sound was so disturbing and so wrong, even Felunka paused in his pause sentence. He had started to say something along the lines of "death to the south!"

Felunka had finally crossed the line.

"Nokai!!"