THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 363: 363: WOMAN IN RED

The meeting took place among broken cliffs far from any road or settlement, deep in the west and rocky wasteland of Tagayia.

The wind carried dust through the stone formations as Sagiri stood alone, his crimson eyes fixed on the woman dressed in red. The cloak swept in the wind, making her fragile form look more fragile. For several moments, neither moved. Then Sagiri spoke.

"So we meet again." His voice was cold. "Supreme Chief of the South..." A faint smile appeared on his face. "...or should I say, imposter?" Sagiri said in a cold voice. The woman’s expression did not change and remained cold as it was still set on Sagiri.

"So what if I am an imposter. You are stupid for coming here." Her answer was immediate.

"Perhaps," Sagiri replied. "But not as stupid as someone who thought they could hide from me forever." The woman’s eyes narrowed. The air grew tense. Then Sagiri sighed. A heartbeat later, he struck the ground with the end of Nokai. Darkness erupted from the stone. The Archive answered instantly.

Black tendrils exploded upward and wrapped around the woman before she could react. The surrounding rock groaned as the pressure intensified. The disguise shattered. Not physically, but as though the darkness itself peeled away the lies she had hidden behind. The woman stumbled forward as the Archive released her. She hit one knee, coughing violently.

Blood stained her lips. For a moment, she remained there breathing hard. Then she began laughing. Softly at first. Then harder. Louder. The sound echoed through the cliffs. Sagiri watched her without expression. The laughter continued until tears appeared in her eyes. Finally, she looked up at him.

The woman immediately tried to force herself upright the moment the disguise was stripped away. Muscles bulged in her neck and shoulders as she fought against the black restraints pinning her down, but the Archive answered her resistance with merciless force. The darkness wrapped tighter around her limbs and shoulders, forcing her back onto her knees.

Stone beneath her cracked from the effort. Sagiri watched the struggle in silence for several moments before finally speaking.

"I rather like you on your knees," Sagiri said. "You seem to have a problem admitting that I am now the Mfalu of the south and you are nothing you have always been," Sagiri said

The words were soft, almost casual, but they struck harder than a slap. The woman’s face twisted with fury. Her entire body trembled with the effort of standing again. She managed to rise a few inches before the darkness dragged her back down. Sagiri took a slow step forward, his crimson eyes studying her face now that the lies had been stripped away.

"Now then," he said quietly, tilting his head slightly, "should I call you the former Supreme Chief of the South..." His gaze hardened. "...or Rika, the last woman of the N’folu Clan?" Sagiri snarled.

For the first time since the confrontation began, something flashed across her face. The name had landed exactly where he intended. Rika’s breathing became ragged. She struggled once more against the restraints before finally giving up and remaining on her knees, not out of surrender but because she understood she could not overpower the Archive.

Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Then suddenly she laughed. It started as a low chuckle before growing into something uglier. Something broken. The laughter echoed through the rocks around them until it sounded almost inhuman. When she finally looked up at him, her eyes were filled with hatred so old it seemed fossilized.

"There he is." She grinned through the blood. "I was beginning to wonder if the little boy survived." Her eyes burned with a strange mixture of hatred and amusement. "Tell me, Sagiri... did the memories break you?" The wind howled between the rocks as the two stared at one another.

Sagiri restrained himself. He had known this truth since he entered the hell pool. This is the truth he had struggled with the most, but now, looking at the woman in front of him, all he could feel was a lot of nothing.

Sagiri remained silent in the face of her clear provocations.

"You are going to die," she hissed. Her voice dripped venom. "Just like Rina." A cruel smile stretched across her blood-stained lips. "Your whore mother." The words hung in the air between them.

He did not blink. He simply stared down at her. Then something inside his eyes changed. The murderous intent that leaked from him became so dense that the air itself felt heavy. For the first time since she began laughing, Rika’s smile faltered.

Sagiri stared at her for a few moments longer before slowly cocking his head to the side. The motion was almost curious. Almost thoughtful. Yet there was something deeply unsettling about it.

"If I’m going to die," he said quietly, "then you’re going to die here for sure." His voice held no anger. Rika’s jaw tightened. She tried once more to rise, and the Archive immediately forced her back down, black tendrils tightening around her shoulders and arms until the stone beneath her knees groaned. Sagiri watched her struggle with detached interest.

"What I wonder," he continued, taking another slow step forward, "is why." The wind stirred his crimson hair.

"I have seen the memories. I have seen enough to know this wasn’t something that happened overnight." His eyes narrowed slightly. "You destroyed your own people. Helped destroy them." A pause followed.

"Why?" Sagiri asked. After all, even with the memories of the archive, he could read people’s hearts. A man’s heart is a treacherous thing.

Rika remained silent. The hatred in her eyes only deepened. Sagiri sighed.

"Don’t tell me it was something pathetic." His gaze hardened. "Don’t tell me you were simply jealous because the Archive didn’t choose you." The reaction was immediate. Rika’s entire body went rigid. The laughter lines vanished from her face. Her breathing sharpened. Even the hatred twisted into something uglier. Something wounded. Sagiri noticed it instantly.

"Ah." A faint smile touched his lips. "So I touched the right nerve." The darkness around them seemed to pulse in response to his mood.

"All this death. All this betrayal. Entire generations wiped out." He looked down at her. "And somewhere in the middle of it sits a woman angry because something wasn’t hers." Rika’s teeth clenched so hard that blood appeared where she bit into her own lip.

"You know nothing," she snarled. The words emerged almost as a growl. "Nothing." Sagiri’s expression didn’t change. "Then explain it to me." He spread his hands slightly.

"Because from where I’m standing, it looks very much like the Archive looked at you..." His crimson eyes locked onto hers. "...and chose someone else because you were never worthy."

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