THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 297. A CHOICE

The canyon went still.

Several soldiers visibly reacted at the name alone, eyes narrowing as murmurs spread across the upper defenses. The commander’s expression hardened immediately, though uncertainty flickered across it just as fast. His gaze dropped again toward Sagiri’s side before returning upward to the figures standing beside him in the canyon below.

"A chief of the N’folu? N’folu doesn’t have a chief," the man answered sharply.

Sagiri tilted his head slightly.

"And yet," he said, "here I am standing in front of you."

"A rogue masquerading as king. An outsider claiming to be the chief!! You won’t be the first," The man snickered. It seemed there had been many masquerading as him, yet that still did not give the man the right to doubt him.

"You are not qualified to question me. Now inform the council that I am finally here, and I am not a patient man."

Above them, more movement spread through the fortifications as soldiers exchanged uneasy looks. Hands stayed on weapons, but the certainty from earlier had weakened. Because if the man below truly was N’folu, then they would not take him lightly.

"You are the one not qualified to stand and lie on the name of an honourable tribe." The man insisted. His voice carried a hint of controlled anger and scorn.

Sagiri’s eyes lifted slightly beneath the mask, cold now.

"You think I would lie about carrying N’folu blood in my veins?" He asked quietly.

"You are not qualified to even speak that name carelessly." The man sneered. The pressure in the canyon changed instantly. Several soldiers tightened their grip on their weapons while the commander’s expression darkened above the gate. "Careful how you speak here," the man warned.

Sagiri lost patience.

"Nokai!"

The blade answered before the word fully left his mouth.

A violent flash split through the canyon as Nokai burst from the archive pocket. The sound was sharp enough to silence the entire passage in an instant. Light carved across the darkness as the blade crossed the distance between them faster than the eye could follow, deadly intent flooding the canyon so heavily that several soldiers visibly froze where they stood. Just as fast as the blade moved, it stopped.

Stillness.

Nokai stopped a whisper from the commander’s face. The edge hovered so close to his skin that the man could feel the cold pressure of the blade against him without being touched. One more inch

Nobody moved.

Even the men beside him froze. It was clear they had never seen such a blade.

The canyon became deathly silent beneath the glow of Nokai hanging in the air before the man in charge’s face, its edge humming faintly in the night while Sagiri stood motionless far below with one hand still lowered at his side.

"You were saying?" Sagiri asked calmly.

"I thought you said the welcome was warm," Kiuga said, behind Sagiri.

"Looks warm to me," N’varu said.

The shock lasted only a second. Then the canyon erupted. A command came from somewhere else.

"FIRE!"

The command roared across the cliffs, and the defenses of Thazir answered instantly. Massive launch canons built into the canyon walls released with deafening force while rows of archers above the fortifications unleashed at the same time, turning the night sky black with arrows. Hundreds tore downward into the canyon in violent waves, their metal tips glinting beneath the firelight as they screamed toward Sagiri’s squad from every direction.

Unlike the last time, the squad did not look fazed this time, and Kiuga yawned.

"I wonder why everyone even provokes him. People never learn," he said

The Archive reacted violently to the attack, and Zaira finally stirred and opened its eyes.

Pressure exploded outward from Sagiri so violently that the ground beneath him cracked apart. Dark currents burst through the canyon air in twisting waves while his coat snapped sharply behind him with the force. Several members of the squad staggered from the sudden force as the Archive expanded around them like a storm.

Sagiri stepped forward and thrust one hand outward.

Everything stopped. The arrows froze mid-air.

Hundreds of them.

The entire rain halted only feet from the squad, suspended across the canyon in impossible stillness while the air trembled violently around Sagiri’s outstretched hand. Arrows hung above them, beside them, directly before their faces, their momentum completely crushed by the pressure flooding from the Archive. Even the heavier bolts launched from the canyon canons groaned against the force holding them motionless in the air.

Silence slammed into the place.

The soldiers above stared down in horror when the arrows started moving again, again.

Slowly at first. Then all at once, every suspended projectile turned in the air. metal tips rotating away from Sagiri’s squad and back toward the canyon defenses above.

Sagiri raised his second hand and pushed them out, not enough to hit the target, but to stop inches from everyone standing above the canyons.

The arrows remained suspended above the canyon like a frozen storm, hundreds of steel points hanging motionless in the night while the Archive trembled violently around Sagiri. Dust and loose stone lifted from the ground beneath the pressure pouring from him, dark currents twisting through the air around his outstretched hands. Above the cliffs, nobody moved. Nobody even seemed to breathe.

Sagiri slowly looked up toward the man in charge, or the commander of the gate.

"You have ten minutes," he said coldly. His voice carried through the entire canyon.

"Ten minutes to get permission to open those gates."

The suspended arrows began vibrating faintly in the air.

"Or I, Sagiri... son of the South..." His eyes hardened, and the right one glowed violently

"Chief and last of N’folu..." The pressure intensified sharply enough that cracks spread through sections of the canyon walls.

"...will kill everyone in this canyon and enter Thazir by force." Sagiri finished in a growl, his anger carrying forward. How dare they dare to even stop him for over a year, as if he did not have the right?

Silence followed immediately after. Absolute silence. Because nobody above the canyon thought he was bluffing anymore.

"Now, commander... of course, if you want to die right now, my blade will not hesitate. Your men can join you, and I will still tear the gates and go in anyway. But I am an honorable man, you see. I only wish to honour my invitation. What will it be?" Sagiri said.

He did not plan to kill Southerners. yet. So it was up to how eager they were to die.

"You grow cruel each day," Kiuga said. "At least act like you mean it."

"I do mean it." Sagiri taunted.