The Armor of the Soul

By Dixxy

Chapter Forty-Three: Return to the Nether Realm

(Sara)

I had never felt so alone in my life. I had never felt so worried in my life. And I had never, ever, ever felt such a deep, sickening hatred for anyone in all of my fifteen years of existence. Trulpa had kidnapped the Ronin Warriors and brought them back to a place that had been a living Hell for them. Demon or not, it was almost beyond my comprehension just how sick and revolting she really, truly was. Destroying and taking over the world is one thing- to single out people to make them suffer to the limit is a horse of a different color.

"We've got to figure out how we're going to get the boys back," said Rona. We had recollected at Mike's house, the living room seeming oddly quiet without the boys. Yet we've only known them a week at the most. Why does it seem to cold and quiet here without them? I wondered. "Kento, Sage, and Cye are our friends now, as well as our allies. We need to figure out a way to bust them out," Rona finished.

"What about the other two Ronins?" asked Sam. "Couldn't they help?"

"No, they wouldn't help us unless we were to find a way to break the last two barriers," said Keisha. The normally cheerful Senshi of the Hardrock was abnormally sullen and morose, visibly shaken by the boys' recapture. Especially that of Kento. "In our fight with Trulpa the Iron Rock Crusher, Super Wave Smasher, and Thunderbolt Cut did little against her. Like the other two sure kills would help?"

"This is true," said Cara. "Trulpa has a very high resistance to attack magic, as Talpa had a high resistance to non-attack magic. We'll need to use either the Inferna or the best you have as far as your magic goes."

Anubis was sitting in one of Mike's bigger easy chairs, deep in thought. He was pretty collected, teeming with a cold fury that we all felt. Trulpa had his son and he was PISSED. "We're going to have to infiltrate her fortress in an entrance other than the sewers or the front door."

"She'd expect us to go into the sewers because that's how we got into her palace the last time," I concluded. "We need to find another way in. But what other entrance to the castle is there?"

All eyes turned to Cara. She'd lived in Trulpa's castle for a long time. Maybe she hadn't seen it, but she probably knew of one. "There is an entrance to Trulpa's stronghold in the Under City."

"The Under City!?" said Anubis. "Are you crazy!?"

"What's the Under City?" asked Keisha.

"The Under City is an incredibly huge metropolis that stands in the darkest shadows of Trulpa's castle. It's filled with some of the most dangerous Dynasty assassins to ever live," said Anubis. "Now that I no longer work for the Dynasty, even I'm afraid to go there."

"But it might be the only way to get inside," said Sam. "If it's that dangerous, she might think that we won't try that entrance, right? So if Trulpa doesn't expect us to go in that way, then that's our best solution!"

Cara stood up. "Anubis does have his point. While I haven't actually seen what the Under City looks like, I have heard stories and I've been there. There are screams of murder, rape, and robbery at an almost constant pace."

"Assassins and prostitutes line every corner. The most disgusting examples of demons and humans alike live there, all immortal, unless they're murdered by another assassin," said Anubis. "I warn you, there may be another way in."

"The only other way into the castle is directly through Trulpa's throne room, where the main teleporter is," said Cara. "Going in through there is even more suicidal than the Under City. That or the power boosters, which is about as intelligent as grabbing onto an electrified fence- you'd all be fried."

"So then are we going in through the Under City?" asked Rona.

Anubis sighed heavily, but he eventually nodded. "As much as I really don't want to, we don't have much of a choice but to go to the Under City," he said. He took in a heavy breath and let it out slowly. "Go home to your parents, get some sleep, and if you do nothing else, be absolutely sure you tell them that you love them when you come back here tomorrow morning."

"Why's that?" asked Sam.

"Because there's no way to guarantee that we'll all be coming back alive."

~

Comments on even more reviews:

Kar-chan: No, I don't know why you didn't think of that.

Winter Peacecraft-Yuy- Ah, my most loyal fan. Rona and Rowen hook up in Dragonia, which is a few stories down the way. As for how the long distance duet thingy works, it has to do with the link between the two Strata armors and the fact that one of the attributes of the Strata armors (in my stories, at least) is music. This becomes an important theme in Dragonia.

Only seventeen parts left to go! Will the Senshi make it into the Under City? What plans does Trulpa have for our boys? Will Keisha and Kento admit their obvious feelings for each other? What haunts the lower levels of Trulpa's castle? And what the hell is a Flitteree? All this and more is coming up!