Chapter XI
"It didn't work. Let's go." Blade said. They were still there, after all. Hakiej nodded.
They made their way to Rasoginim's tower, located on the remains of Lon Lon Ranch. The trip was short, as they had been waiting by a dimensional gate at the edge of Gerudo Valley (found in Hakiej's library). The tower was huge and midnight black, standing out against the clear blue of the morning sky.
The door was large and wooden, standing up to Blade's best charges and even Hakiej's devastating jumping kicks. Hakiej, as Blade had known for years, was an outstanding unarmed fighter, but he didn't conform to any specific martial art.
Blade shrugged and remembered what he had learned from the scroll. He cupped his hands, fingertips pointing at the door. He called upon his magical energy.
A ball of fire formed in his hands. It grew rapidly, from about a fifth of an inch when it was formed to the three inches Blade let it be, before releasing.
"That's why you use an iron door, if you're concerned about security." Hakiej commented.
"It could be a trap," Blade replied. "We could walk in to have a hundred bombs dropped on our heads."
"Remember the potion," Hakiej reminded.
"Oh, yeah."
The fire streamed out beautifully, a huge flare erupting when it hit the door. The door burned slowly, releasing a foul stench while doing so. But finally, the door burnt down and only ashes remained.
The duo stepped through, Blade leading. They went up a long set of stairs, coming to a wooden door that this time, wasn't locked.
The two Stalfos guards brought their swords down in powerful swings, onto the heads of the intruders.
Blade used his sword to parry the blow. Hakiej sidestepped the attack, tripping his opponent and following through with a quick flurry of punches. The bones shattered.
Blade brought the sword from his parry into an attack, and separated a skull from bony shoulders.
Blade grinned at Hakiej, who smiled back. Rasoginim had to have better guards, but—
The smile stopped as a huge blast of flame shot at them. Hakiej jumped over it, while Blade did a quick backflip. Both were unharmed.
They turned to see a big, green-scaled creature looking at them.
"A Dodongo," Hakiej breathed. "I've never seen one before."
Blade smiled, and released a puff of flame, not charged at all, at the Dodongo. The tiny ball expanded into a full-grown fireball, and the Dodongo was gone.
"Not bad," Hakiej commented, while the two headed up yet more stairs.
At the top, they came into a large room, probably as wide as the tower itself. Two figures stood at the opposite end. They had body-covering armor, and huge axes. The only difference was that one was a silvery-blue, and one midnight-black.
Hakiej whispered to Blade, "They're Iron Knuckles. It's pointless to shield against their ax, and fire is totally unaffecting to their armor. Use an arrow to wake one up—we'll go one at a time against these guys."
Blade nodded, and took out his bow. He made a carefully aimed shot—taking, of course, less than a second to aim—into the white Iron Knuckle's right eyeball.
It seemed unaffected by the eye shot, but started moving towards Blade. It hesitated, apparently sizing Blade and Hakiej up. It then continued toward Blade.
The Iron Knuckle lifted its axe, but Blade darted behind it and slashed with his crystal sword.
The crystal, on impact with the armor, visibly glowed a bright green. It took a moment, but the Iron Knuckle was apparently vaporized. His armor and weapons, at least. The person remained.
The man—no, Blade corrected himself, he's a boy. Thirteen or fourteen, probably. The boy raised his hands in surrender.
"Why are you fighting for Rasoginim?" Blade demanded.
"Who's Rasoginim? I'm defending Ganon, and this is Ganon's Tower. My father was killed defending him, so I got taken in his place."
Blade and Hakiej looked at each other. Brainwash, said Hakiej's face plainly.
At last, Hakiej asked, "Who's the other Iron Knuckle?"
"A guy. He's old, to old to be a good Knuckle."
"How old is he?"
"Twenty-ish." Blade almost laughed, but didn't.
"What's your name?"
"I'm not saying."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." The boy crossed his arms defiantly. Behind his head, Hakiej's face said all to clearly, He's a risk.
Blade didn't agree, but the boy had fallen forward, dead, before he could argue.
"Why'd you—"
"He was a risk."
"But—"
Blade was cut off as Hakiej kicked the black Iron Knuckle's axe out of his hand. He landed, spun, and brought his hand through in a ridgehand attack to the one weak spot on the armor—the neck.
The Knuckle dropped.
"Let's go."
Blade nodded, and continued on.
The Najibreza sensed the two fighters coming. The four of them readied themselves, drawing short swords and positioning.
Blade burst through the door. Seeing two tightly grouped enemies, he shot a ball of uncharged fire at them. An instant later, they were on the floor, writhing in pain.
Hakiej, with a single roundhouse kick, chopped a Najibreza in half. He had never seen these strange creatures before, but they seemed weak enough. A single punch dropped another.
The two warriors continued towards the door. The Najibreza that had been chopped in two reattached the parts. A hole in another's stomach regrew, although the two hit by fire were still unable to fight.
The two healthy Najibreza silently stalked their enemies up the stairs. The two intruders didn't notice.
When they made it up to the room with six Odentian elite fighters in it, the Najibreza nodded. One Odentian made the tiniest tilt of her head.
Blade cupped his hands, but a Najibreza stabbed him from behind. An etinabol then hit him on the shoulder, downing him.
Hakiej, using a flurry of kicks and punches, had dropped three Odentians and the other Najibreza. He made a skipping span kick to get the other Najibreza temporarily down. He'd have to get them more permanently after the Odentians were taken care of.
He made a backfist to an Odentian's stomach, and followed through with a punch. He swept another off his feet, and did a combination of an attack to the downed one and a double kick to the face of the one behind him. She fell.
He turned around, chopping one Najibreza into four parts, and throwing them into the corners of the room. He did the same with the other, but through his quarters to the midsection of each wall.
Blade moaned on the ground, and Hakiej realized his injury. He ran to Blade.
"The power from the potion!"
Blade nodded, recognition flashing in his eyes, and concentrated. A second later, he was on his feet.
The potion both of them had consumed allowed them to heal themselves, restore their magic power, and create a magical shield around them, at will, while it lasted. Blade had forgotten this.
After a minute, the two went up yet more stairs.
As they entered the room, Blade got a very bad feeling, although he couldn't see anything. Just a room, the only thing unusual about it four pillars, slightly discolored at the top…
"Assassi!" he realized, just as six shuriken made their way towards Hakiej. Hakiej batted them away with a fist.
Blade pulled out his bow, and let loose a trio of arrows at the nearest discoloration. Their aim was true, and an Assassi body—now gray, the camouflaging didn't work for the dead—could be seen falling to the floor. Luckily, the body blocked the eight shuriken heading for Blade that he couldn't see.
Blade managed to do the same thing thrice more, after time. The Assassi were dead.
Healing himself—he had been hit by a few stones from a sling—Blade started up what was hopefully the final set of stairs in this place, Hakiej following.
They opened a large stone door. It gave yield to the view of a man sitting in a large chair, a midnight-black sphere floating behind him.
And next to the sphere was the Triforce. But it was a corrupted Triforce. It was black, and decidedly evil.