Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Ronin Warriors: Dragon's Wrath ❯ Demon of Cruelty ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Rwdrw4


From within his enormous throne room, the evil Lord Ceiphied sat,
contemplating. So far, his efforts to reduce the Earth to nothing
were going well. Sure, there had been a few casualties here and there,
but nothing enough for him to give up completely. His current foes,
calling themselves the Ronin Warriors, proved to be as weak to him as the
Armor of Darkness they were spawned from, that of the one called Talpa.
The interesting times had changed their form to something very different,
but he was not afraid. He knew no fear of these teenagers...and he
had several centuries of experience that they lacked to aid him.
His thoughts were interrupted as one of his soldiers informed him that
Gekidoku had returned.
"Send him in immediately." Ceiphied said.
The chamber doors opened and Gekidoku stumbled in, weak and injured.
His body was riddled with more scars than Gene Starwind, no thanks to Ryo's
sacrificial self-detonate and the long scar down his back from Anubis'
desperation strike. He slowly walked towards his master and kowtowed.
"Where is Wildfire?" Ceiphied asked calmly.
"Master...he blew himself up. I weakened him severely and then
he tricked me...he was completely vaporized." Gekidoku explained.
"I am disappointed. I told you to bring him back alive."
Ceiphied said, starting to rise from his throne.
"I shall try again master...I can bring you the one called Anubis,
he in my opinion would be a fine consolation..."
Before Gekidoku could finish Ceiphied whacked him across the face, sending
him reeling backward.
"When I want your opinion I shall ask for it! But if you say that
this Anubis will be a good catch, then I suggest you go bring him to me.
But first, we need to repair your armor." Ceiphied said.
Gekidoku removed the heavy cuirass that he as an Elite was privileged
to wear. Several of Ceiphied's attendants took it off to be repaired.
"Thank you Lord Ceiphied, for giving me another chance." Gekidoku
said.
Suddenly Ceiphied thrust his fist into Gekidoku's chest, and ripped
out his energist, causing Gekidoku to scream in pain!
"What are you doing master...?" Gekidoku said as he began to bleed.
"It's quite simple really. You failed me, just as the previous
Gekidoku failed to stop Navcase those eons ago. And you know quite
well the punishment for failure."
Smashing Gekidoku's energist in one hand, the warrior attempted to run
for cover. Ceiphied began gathering his energy and his eyes glowed
with energy. His body began to change slightly. He glowed white
and the light reshaped itself into an enormous snake-like dragon.
His mouth shot out like a snake's, grabbing onto Gekidoku.
The base resounded with the crunching of bone, evil bestial roaring
and screams of excruciating pain.



(OP: SURREAL by AYUMI HAMASAKI)
Ronin Warriors: Dragon's Wrath
Chapter 4: Demon of Cruelty

Back at the mansion, the mood was not much different. The heroes
were still sad over the death of Ryo. They had calmed down some,
but not by much. They had a very hard task before them; who
was going to lead now that Ryo was gone.
"Well...since Ryo gave the rifle to Anubis, it must mean that he wants
him to lead." Sai said.
"I don't think we should bother him right now...he's taking this pretty
hard." Mia said.
It was true. Ever since Ryo's sacrifice the previous night, Anubis
had basically disappeared. He had not come downstairs in the morning,
and anyone who knocked on his door could have been killed within a matter
of seconds. One way or another, Anubis had made it perfectly clear
that he did not want to be disturbed.
"No offense meant to Anubis, but I think that Rowen should lead.
In his current condition, Anubis is too dangerous to lead the team."
Dais said.
"TOO DANGEROUS?" a voice said from the bottom of the stairs.
The group whirled around to find Anubis standing there, still crying.
"TOO DANGEROUS AM I, TO LEAD THE TEAM? THIS COMING FROM THE ONE
WARLORD WHO ACTUALLY SUPPORTS ME!!!!" Anubis shouted.
"Anubis, I didn't mean it that way..." Dais started to say.
"AND WHERE WERE YOU WHEN RYO DIED? WHY DIDN'T YOU DO ANYTHING
TO HELP, LEAVING ME TO BE THE SOLE THING STANDING BETWEEN HIM AND DEATH!
IF YOU HAD HELPED, HE MIGHT STILL BE ALIVE!" Anubis shouted,
storming up stairs.
They heard footsteps in the hall, and heard a door slam.
"So, anyone else opposed to Anubis NOT leading?" Sage joked.
The others looked at him angrily.
"I know I know..." Sage said. "I miss Ryo too."
"What about what Rowen thinks?" Sai asked. "Rowen, do you
think you can do it?"
"I don't know...Ryo threw the rifle to Anubis, meaning that's who he
wanted to take over for him. I don't want to go against Ryo's decision."
Rowen said.
"I nominate Rowen as well." Kale began. "He is wise and
has saved us on several occasions. I say he should lead us until
Anubis is fit to lead." he finished, making sure that Anubis could
not hear the last part.
"Yeah, Rowen should be in charge until Anubis has calmed down or Ryo
somehow comes back to life." Kento said.
All eyes were on Sekhmet.
"What? That Red-Topped Kid has lost his mind. Rowen should
lead." Sekhmet said.
"Okay, it's settled. Rowen's in charge until Anubis regains his
senses." Mia said.
Rowen took the twin buster rifle in hand. It seemed heavier than
it did usually. Perhaps due to the exceptional weight that was now
on his shoulders. He had to be the leader. The others were
counting on him to lead them to victory. He wished it was not Ryo
he had to live up to. Ryo was his friend; Ryo led the Ronins
well. Could he live up to him?
"Okay, here's the plan guys." Rowen said. "We go find these
draconian bastards and put a stop to them...it's what Ryo would want us
to do."
"What? So soon?" Kento asked.
"Hardrock, you are forgetting the twin laws of revenge: Ensure
it never happens again...after you make whomever caused your pain suffer
eternally for what they did." Dais explained.
With that the remaining heroes save Anubis headed out in search of the
Draconai.
Up in his room, Anubis was asleep, tossing and turning. He appeared
to be having some sort of nightmare. His armor was standing up near
his bed, watching over him like some sort of sentinel. Suddenly its
eyes glowed and it began to slowly step towards Anubis.
"Where am I? Am I still in Toyama?" Anubis wondered.
Taking a look around, Anubis noticed he was at the docks where Ryo had
perished. He looked over to see Gekidoku charging at Ryo, who was
dripping, sparking, and weak.
"NOT AGAIN!!! RYO!!!! I'M COMING!!!!" he shouted, running
in almost slow motion towards Ryo once again. Anubis saw himself
also running after Ryo to try and save him. He watched as the memory
replayed in his mind; Ryo going skyward...Ryo throwing the Buster
Rifle to him...Ryo exploding and himself being knocked backward.
"NO!!!!!" Anubis screamed, watching the horror once again, closing
his eyes so that he would not have watch this horrible replay. Even
through his closed eyes he saw an incredible light, he opened them to see
Ryo. He appeared to be glowing, and he had wings that seemed to erupt
with flame. He beckoned to Anubis to follow him down a dark corridor.
Anubis could not believe the light. Since when did Ryo become
an angel? He did not have the halo, or any other characteristics
that would set him off, except for the wings of course. They were
glowing with flame...no, wait, they WERE pure flame! Anubis reached
out to touch them. As his hands got close to them, there was heat
as he expected. When he actually made contact, he pulled his hand
back quickly! HOT!!!! VERY HOT!!!! Ryo seemed to have
a purple aura around him like the ones the Saiyans had when they went Super
Saiya-jin. He could not figure out why Ryo suddenly had an aura,
nor why it was purple.
As the two got closer and closer to the end of the corridor, Anubis
could make something out. It appeared to be an armor of some sort.
It had evil looking shoulder guards, batlike wings, and was holding a large
scythe. The corridor began to rumble as Anubis got closer.
When he was almost there, Ryo vanished and the corridor disappeared into
white space, with a huge evil looking bat-winged demon standing over him,
reaching out for him. But a large machine appeared from behind Anubis,
it looked somewhat like his old armor except it had a shield-like cloak
and a twin scythe. The two things went at it. The machine seemed
to have the upper hand as it pushed back the demon, but soon the demon
got dominion and knocked the machine down, picking up Anubis. The
machine recovered and also grabbed Anubis, trying to pull him back, but
the demon fought hard. It pulled him free of the machine, threw him
into the air and swallowed Anubis, kicking and screaming until he woke
up.
"HOW DID I GET UP HERE?" Anubis wondered.
From what Anubis could gather, he was hovering in mid-air, wearing some
sort of strange new armor! It was like the one in his dream, only
now he was wearing it! Looking down below, he saw several people
being harassed by what looked like Draconai! Anubis dove down to
investigate.
"Ha ha! These humans are tasty creatures!" one of the Draconai
said.
Their victims, which happened to be Japanese schoolgirls, screamed and
huddled in terror against a wall.
"Let us dine..." the other Draconai said.
"I beg to differ." Anubis said.
He punched one of them, slamming it into the opposite wall of the alley.
As it got up, he roundhoused it, sending it flying even farther.
As he got up and charged, Anubis uppercutted it away, sending it flying
back. The other fired, but Anubis' shields descended, protecting
him from harm.
"My turn. Head Vulcans, command line. Maximum firepower."
Anubis opened fire, riddling the opponent with hundreds of bullets,
but he still survived. He looked over and saw the other one coming
from the opposite direction. The wings opened up and his thrusters
kicked in as he rocketed skyward, causing the two to crash into each other.
As they got up, angry, Anubis descended and once again closed his wing
shield. As they approached, he grabbed them both and threw them like
missiles into a wall, which they pried themselves free of before going
for Anubis again. Reaching around back, he found an object which
to his surprise extended into a twin beam scythe. He slashed at one,
cutting him in half, then grabbed the other one and slammed him into the
wall with his left arm.
"WHERE ARE THE RONINS!!!" Anubis shouted, angrily.
"I..I'm not sure..."
Anubis shoved harder.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU'RE NOT SURE?" Anubis shouted again.
"They might be looking for us...the master sent Koureha out to destroy
them..."
"WHERE IS KOUREHA NOW?" Anubis shouted.
"Th...that...way." the soldier said, pointing in that direction.
Anubis dropped him and began to walk away. After heading a few
feet, he stopped.
"Oh, don't go anywhere. I'm not finished with you yet."
Anubis aimed his buster shield and let it fly, slamming the soldier
into the back wall, smashing his spine, before igniting the energy blade,
killing him. Anubis held out his arm, and the weapon flew back and
reattached itself. He then turned to the still frightened students,
who seemed more terrified of him than they were of the Draconai.
"Go home." Anubis said sternly. The girls nodded and ran
off.
Anubis then rocketed into the air, trying to figure out what was wrong
with him.
"Why was I so aggressive against those soldiers? That is unlike
me or my usual style. What is wrong with me? When did I become
so angry and destructive?"
Through his mind, a thought rang out. "You must destroy all the
Draconai...it is the only way Ryo will be avenged..."
Anubis smiled evilly and took off towards Koureha's location.
Meanwhile...
"SANADA!!!!!!!!!" A voice rang out.
Ryo snapped to attention.
"SANADA RYO!!!!" the voice shouted again.
"That's me! I'm coming!" Ryo said.
"GOOD. It's about time you heard me." a voice said.
Ryo looked up. He appeared to be standing before a gigantic desk,
which seemed to be seating a large gentleman who had horns.
"Now, Sanada-san. It says here that you died fighting the Draconai
through self-sacrifice, is that correct?" the large gentleman shouted.
"Yes. May I ask who you are?" Ryo said.
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHO I AM? I AM KING YAMA, AND THIS IS MY CHECK-IN
STATION! EVERYONE WHO DIES IN THE MORTAL REALM COMES HERE WHEN THEY
DIE, SO THAT I CAN TELL THEM WHERE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO GO. FOR EXAMPLE,
THOSE THREE GUYS,"
King Yama pointed to three gentleman. One wore glasses and wore
a yellow business suit. The second had red hair and was dressed somewhere
between casual and business and wore red sunglasses. The third had
blue hair and an eyepatch.
"ARE BY ORDER OF LORD DESTONUS TO GO STRAIGHT TO HELL!" King Yama
boomed.
The three men were dragged off by armed guards, and struggled to break
free.
"Oh, don't worry young man, you're not going there. According
to this, you are to..."
"Go down Snake Way for special training with King Kai?" Ryo asked.
"NO!" King Yama boomed, causing Ryo to cower before him.
"It says here that you are to report for special training at the Palace
of the Heavens with Amaterasu and her five daughters. I have an express
order from the Sun Goddess herself to send you off to her Palace immediately,
and even if you wanted to train with King Kai, you couldn't. He's
on sabbatical."
"What?" Ryo asked, confused.
"He's training with some completely lost girl named Izumi Maki, makes
no sense, like him." King Yama explained. "Now off you go!"
A large door opened up, which revealed clouds and a long flight of stairs
which seemed to go on forever.
"Now get going!" King Yama shouted. "You're holding up the
line!"
Ryo turned around and found several hundred people waiting in line after
him. One of them appeared to be dressed colonially and aristocratic,
another wore a strange hat and was with him. There was another there
who was wearing blue armor and had long blonde hair, who was currently
making out with a young woman with reddish purple hair. There was
also a blue-haired man who was wearing a black cloak, who had a mechanical
arm. There also appeared to be a very energetic man, who went on
and on about some old anime show, from before Ryo's time. Nonetheless,
the line was quite long. Ryo ran towards the stairs and began to
slowly climb them.
"By the way, did this guy named Shuki Levy come through here?"
Ryo asked.
"Yeah, he did. I found a really nice spot in hell for him.
TAKATORI? TAKATORI REIJI?" King Yama shouted.
Ryo sort of smiled and continued up the steps.
Meanwhile...
Up at the Palace, in a meeting chamber, Kaosu paced impatiently.
"I hope that Ryo gets here soon dear. We need an edge in this
war." he said.
"Yes. Sakura will be so happy to find out he's coming to visit."
Amaterasu said. "Though I am worried for Anubis. He cannot
face his destiny until his current problem is solved."
"You mean the demon that possessed his armor." Kaosu said.
Amaterasu nodded.
"We must hope Ryo gets here soon, so we may teach him the proper way
to kill those monsters." Kaosu said.
"I hope the others can hold out until Ryo's training is complete..."
Amaterasu said.
Back on Earth...
"This guy is tough!" Kento said as the remaining warriors got
to their feet and prepared to attack again.
"We've got to be careful. We don't know what this Elite can do
yet."
"Ha ha ha Ronins. You are still quite weak. Perhaps I can
give you some warriors, more your level of experience."
Several warriors, whose clothing had no accent to it, split up and charged
at the heroes, one going for each of them.
The first one charged at Kento. He swiped his claws at Kento,
but he blocked with his shield, before launching his dragon fang at him,
slamming him into a wall and torching him to death.
One headed for Rowen, who blocked with his staff again and again.
He swiped again, but Rowen used his armor's wings to shield him before
heading skyward and locking on overhead, transforming his weapon back into
a bow.
"This is too easy...ARROW SHOCKWAVE!!!!" he shouted.
The blast shot from bow, slamming into the warrior, causing a huge explosion.
When the dust cleared there was a small crater, but no Draconai.
"Piece of cake." Rowen said.
Sage was skillfully parrying off the unsuccessful attempts to hit him.
When one missed, Sage took the advantage and rammed his sword into his
chest, backflipping with the sword still in him, killing him.
Sai had managed to get a hold of one of them, slamming him over his
shoulder straight into the pavement. When he tried to get up, Sai
stabbed him with the blade of his trident, and closed the claws on him,
searing him with the heat his blades generated. He tossed him over
his shoulder, where he was cleanly sliced and diced to death by Sekhmet
and his many swords. One of them tried to go after Kale, but with
two quick lashes from his heat rod, he knocked off his arms. Taking
the hilt of his sword, he shoved it into the soldiers' chest, before extending
the metal blade, impaling him.
"Hey! You can't hit me!" a soldier shouted to Kale from
15 feet away.
Kale ignited his beam saber and cranked the blade up a bit, and swung
it at the still taunting moron, who was now sliced in two. There
was now silence. Kale returned the blade to its normal length.
Dais was having his own problems with another Draconai, whom he slammed
into the ground repeatedly with his claw beam cannons. He kneeled
down and extended the claws, suspending him in the air, then opening up
the triple Megasonic gun, let the soldier have it before retracting back
to normal length and closing it up.
"So, you fools think that was easy. Now try me on for size."
Koureha said.
"I've got him!" Sekhmet shouted, charging at him with his swords
ready to chop him up. Koureha fired, the blast nailing Sekhmet, and
causing him to fall over like an ice sculpture, frozen solid.
"I am Koureha, Ceiphied's master of Ice."
"YOU'RE GOING DOWN IN RYO'S NAME!!! AHHH!!!" Sage shouted, charging
at this warrior with his sword drawn.
"No Sage!" Rowen shouted.
Koureha fired a blast from both hands, at the ground before him.
Sage slipped and slid right to his hands, before uppercutting him skyward,
crash landing on top of Kale.
"We should double team him." Sage said.
"No, we can't, we need our other armor, and to summon that would be
too dangerous." Kale explained.
"I call upon the powers of cold and ice...let snow fall to cover my
location!" Koureha shouted.
Almost instantly, a snow flurry began over the area.
"Everyone go to infrared. We'll find that bastard by his heat."
Rowen said.
The group slowly groped around in the snow for Koureha. Several
blasts were fired. The second statue to be made was that of Sage.
"Sage!" Rowen shouted as he dodged a blast meant for him, which
hit Dais.
"Where is this guy?" Kento wondered.
"Maybe if we hit him the storm will end." Sai said.
"Let's keep moving." Kale said. The next thing he knew
he was also a statue.
"Damn, where is this guy?" Kento shouted again.
Suddenly through the flurry, Rowen spotted his heat signature.
"Over there. Kento, I'm guessing where this guy likes to freeze
people, he doesn't like heat too much. Toast him." Rowen said.
Kento extended his dragon fang and let Koureha have it, breaking his
concentration and causing the snow flurry to vanish. Slightly weakened,
Kento let him have it again, causing Koureha to scream in pain.
"Yeah! Take that!" Kento shouted, having fun with this.
"Sai, use your heat shorters and see if you can thaw the others out
while Kento keeps him busy." Rowen said.
"Yeah, burn baby burn!" Kento shouted, keeping the flame going.
But suddenly, it went out!
Koureha was steaming mad. He began to growl angrily, still smoking
from the repeated torchings.
"Uh oh...Heheh...sorry?" Kento said.
Koureha charged at him, furious. When Kento tried to grab him
with the dragon fang, he used his ice beam breath on it, then punched it
with his claw, causing it to shatter. He then went ballistic on Kento,
knocking him all over the place, before going skyward and bombarding him
with energy bolts Vegeta style, slowly but surely tearing away his armor
plating. His shield was decimated in a short time, and next to go
were his shoulder guards and torso plating. Kento brought out his
beam glaive and charged at him while in mid air, but Koureha caught it
with both hands, and tore it out of Kento's hands, crushing the beam mechanism
with his brute strength and tossing the useless weapon away, then grabbing
onto Kento, and making several consecutive loops in the air, then driving
straight downward at incredible speed and dropping Kento like a bomb in
a Seismic Toss. Kento started to get up, then fell unconscious.
He then caught a glimpse of Sai, trying to thaw out his ice sculptures.
He charged at the water warrior from a blind spot in his vision, but Sai
barely caught it in time, grabbing him in his mancatcher and trying to
burn him to a crisp with its heated blades. With his raw strength
he pried himself free, and grabbed onto the weapon, and whirled Sai around
360 degrees horizontally before letting go of the weapon and causing him
to slam into a wall. Before Sai could recover, he fired several Ice
blasts that shackled him to the wall. He was about to finish him
off, but then he spotted Rowen, taking a shot at him with his bow!
He put up his AT Field to block, and prepared to backhand Rowen several
feet, but his fist was stopped in midair!
Rowen stood there, unsure of what was going on, as Koureha seemed to
be punched by the air, only to skid across the still unmelted snow.
As he got up, he was backhanded to the ground in a similar manner.
Koureha then appeared to be grabbed by the throat, lifted skyward, and
choke slammed into the ground. As he got up, gasping for air, a form
appeared. Rowen gasped at the sight. It had a series of black
panels which were closed around it like some sort of cloak. Its legs
were the normal color of their Gundam armors. It simply looked evil.
Then he heard a familiar voice.
"I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO RYO!" Anubis shouted.
As Koureha proceeded to swipe at Anubis, Anubis blocked with incredible
speed. Anubis connected again and again, wailing on Koureha as he
failed to parry or block any of Anubis' assault. He punched with
one fist, and ran him through with his buster shield before slamming him
back first into a wall at high speed. He retracted his weapon and
it returned to him. He pulled him away from the wall and smashed
him on his knee after opening up his wings. He then grabbed again
with both hands, shot straight up into the air, spun him around and pile
drived him into the ground. As he lay on the ground, badly injured,
Anubis brought out his beam scythe and ignited the blade, driving the staff
through the pavement with the blade sticking up. Rowen then watched
in horror as he slowly strode over to Koureha, lifted him over his head,
and slowly walked over to his scythe. Then he remembered...the buster
rifle! Rowen pulled the weapon out and aimed it at Anubis' chest.
"Those shield plates must protect his chest so he can't even get hurt
there." Rowen thought. "Maybe if they're open I can do some
damage with a normal shot from this thing."
Rowen took aim, wondering if he should shoot. Anubis, after all,
was their ally. But this was gruesome, even for Anubis. He
had to be stopped. He had completely lost it. As Anubis went
for his death by impalement, he was tackled by a blur of platinum, causing
him to drop Koureha, was carried several feet and then dropped, while the
thing that caused it looped over and landed in front of him.
"Anubis, you've got to stop this. Go on home." Navcase said.
"How dare you keep me from carrying out my justice!" Anubis roared,
punching Navcase and sending him flying back. He then closed his
cloak and vernier tackled Navcase, flying past his weapon, recovering it,
and bringing out the blade, and charging at Navcase with a rocket powered
slash which he blocked with his fan shield. He fired an emerald blast
from his shoulders, knocking Anubis back, but did not stop him from charging
again. Navcase brought out his sword and parried the weapon, knocking
it and Anubis back. Anubis swung again, this time straight down,
but Navcase dodged and whacked him in the back of the neck, taking him
down quickly with Ryu Kan Sen. He sheathed his sword and stood over
Anubis, who got to his feet.
"You're all weaklings." Anubis said. "The way you're fighting,
you'll never win. I refuse to work with such pathetic fools.
I'm going solo."
With that Anubis opened his cloak up, fired up his thrusters, and rocketed
off into the distance.
"Navcase, what did you do to your armor?" Rowen asked.
"I went to see Kinjiro. Due to the way the armor was originally
constructed, there was not much he could modify, but he was able to install
vernier thrusters in the legs and microscopic ones on the shoulders and
helmet to help me maneuver better in the air. He also managed to
environmentally seal it."
"But how are you able to use the armor?" Rowen asked.
"I told you, that answer will come in time. Until then, we must
meet like this." he said.
Converting his cape back into his wings, he rocketed into the sky, heading
off in the other direction.
Just then, the ice around Kale melted, allowing him to get free.
"Kale! How did you?" Rowen said.
"I used my heat rod. The armor's air supply managed to keep me
going long enough to use my heat rod to melt through the ice. Did
I miss anything?" he asked.
"Not much, Koureha got his ass kicked by Anubis, and now he's working
alone. But it seems Navcase is on our side now." Rowen said.
"Good. We should probably get Hariel. He's the only thing
I can think of that can thaw them out." Kale suggested.
Later, back at the mansion, Rowen recounted the fight between Koureha
and Anubis, and Navcase's having to stop him.
"That does not sound like Anubis." Dais said, attempting to warm
up after being frozen solid.
"Anubis always wants a glorious battle, killing them like that is not
his style." Sekhmet said.
"And just when we thought things were bad enough with the Draconai,
now we've got to worry about when and where Anubis will strike."
Sage added.
"I told Hariel to see if he could track him using Dark Inferno's sensors,
but we can't find him anywhere." Rowen said.
"He must be using his hyperjammers to hide from us." Kale concluded.
Rowen got up and started to pace the room.
"Guys, we've already faced several of Ceiphied's warriors, two of his
Elite, and every time we've just barely managed to scrape by. We
need an overhaul." Rowen said.
"Maybe we could combine both our armors and make ourselves even more
powerful." Sai suggested.
"Good idea. Dais, you work with Mia and see if there's any way
to do that. In the meantime, I think it's time to pay Kinjiro a little
visit." Rowen said.
"Yeah. My armor needs it." Kento said.
"Let's get some rest. We'll need it."
At Kinjiro's...
"How did the modifications work?" Kinjiro asked as Navcase returned.
"Excellent. Though Anubis seems to have changed as well, and
is twice as dangerous as the Draconai. I'll have to keep an eye on
him and hope this armor doesn't do anything more to speed up the curse."
"I've been trying to research ways to slow or stop the curse, but I
need more time." Kinjiro said.
Navcase dismissed his armor and put the sword away. Looking at
his body, he found that part of his chest had become scaled.
"Damn...it's worse than I thought." Navcase swore.
"According to the information you gave me, that's where the curse begins
normally. The armor's influence must have only cursed you remotely,
but I am not sure why it has been this long before your chest was affected.
Has Ceiphied ever cursed anyone else the way he cursed you?" Kinjiro
asked.
"Not that I know of. I do not recall him mentioning any other
conditions. You can try searching, but I warn you; there is not much
information on the Draconai here on Earth." Navcase explained.
"I'll send Ayame an e-mail. Maybe Amaterasu has something."
Kinjiro said.
"Does she have long black hair, purple eyes, and like to sleep frequently?"
Navcase asked, curiously.
"That's her. Why do you ask?"
"I've been communicating with her telepathically. Astral projection
is one of the things Draconai are capable of, as the energist I was given
with the curse was that of a true blood."
"You should rest now. I'll see what I can do." Kinjiro
said.
"Thank you for all you've done for me."
"Glad to be of service." Kinjiro said.
Elsewhere in Ceiphied's fortress, a ceremony had just been completed.
A Draconai had stepped forward and presented with the armor.
"Let this armor signify that this Draconai Soldier has become the head
of the Poison Clan and the newest Member of the Draconai Elite."
Ceiphied said. "Arise...Gekidoku. May you serve me better than
your predecessor."
The new Gekidoku rose as the other Draconai cheered. Ceiphied
simply smiled evilly.
Atop a building near the base, Anubis was still contemplating his actions.
"What drove me to do that? Something is wrong...I'm not sure what.
I feel like something is guiding my actions, but I do not know why..."
His thoughts were cut off by another thought to destroy once again.
He looked towards the fortress.
"Soon Ceiphied...Soon I will have my revenge..."



To Be Continued...
(ED: AUDIENCE BY AYUMI HAMASAKI)



Next Episode
SAI: Hello, everyone, it's me, Sai. Next time, after a narrow
victory against the latest member of the Draconai Elite, the rest of us
go see Kinjiro to see if he can help. When we find ourselves pitted
against an enraged Anubis, will our slight improvements be enough to stop
him?
RAN: Oh yeah, I've got some great news everyone! Next time,
Ryo finally shows up! I'm sure Sakura will be happy, but don't tell
her I said anything, okay? I gotta go to bed Sai, can you finish
it off?

SAI: Of course. Join us next time on Ronin Warriors: Dragon's
Wrath, Free Agent of Death. See you then!