About an hour later Seriyu, the Illusionist, and Sakura stood in the inner courtyard of Talpa's castle, Sakura still following the projected image of Kanna, which was being manipulated by the Illusionist.
"Can you open the door Sakura?" Kanna asked sweetly pointing to the heavy wooden doors. "It's too heavy for me." Sakura did as she was asked as they stepped inside the stone castle. Seriyu looked around with an evil smirk on his face.
'Never really thought I'd be here again.' He thought to himself triumphantly as they continued their way to the throne room.
Unknown to the three, Ryo and the others were right behind them. They caught a glimpse of Seriyu's black robes as he swept inside.
"Did you guys see that?" Cale asked. "I swear that looked like Seriyu."
"Then we better hurry. They're almost to the throne room." Sage suggested as they ran in. They saw them just as they were about to enter into the throne room. The warlords let out a yell as they tackled Seriyu, the Ronins surrounding the Illusionist, Ryo running to Sakura.
"Sakura!" he yelled as he stood in front of her, holding her by the shoulders. "Why did you leave? What in the world are you doing here?" he demanded to know.
Sakura continued to stare straight ahead her golden eyes expressionless. Being in the trance, she could not hear or see Ryo, only Kanna who was glaring at the intrusion.
"You can try whatever you like." The Illusionist said evenly as they Ronins made threatening movements toward him.
"What did you say?" Ryo shot back.
"He said that no matter what you do now, it's useless. I've already won!" Seriyu cheered happily from behind the ring of warlords.
"What the heck are you talking about?!" Dais shouted as he held Seriyu by the collar. Seriyu smiled in spite of his current position. There was no way they could win now.
"Sakura is going to open that door for me and nothing you do will stop her." Seriyu answered.
"And what makes you think that we are going to let that happen?" Sekhmet cut in.
"Because Sakura's safety is on the line." Seriyu said menacingly. "She is under his spell." He said pointing to the Illusionist. "And right now, in her current state, he could tell her to jump off a cliff and she'd do it!" Seriyu laughed manically.
It was then Dais looked at Sakura and saw the red glowing locket.
"Ryo! The locket, get it off of her!" he ordered. Ryo turned to face Sakura again and reached for the locket but jerked his hand back in pain. Once he touched the locket, red electrical energy surrounded him until he let go, he couldn't touch it.
"Good try, but that won't work." The Illusionist said simply. "I have taken extra precautions, the only way that locket is coming off is when I want it to and release the spell, until then, she does whatever I want her to do." He bluffed. While it was true that he did put a spell on the locket and the only way it was coming off was if he allowed it, she wouldn't necessarily do anything he ask. Although he did feel confident she would open the door under Talpa's throne, he knew that if he commanded her to attack Ryo that she would steadfastly refuse, because even by using the memory of Kanna, Sakura would never attack him; not in this lifetime as least.
"So it would be in your best interest to let me go. She will open the door and then maybe I'll let her go, but only if you stay out of the way." He said in warning. They all looked to Ryo for instruction on what to do; after all he was the one who risked losing the most. Ryo stared at the wall thinking of what the Illusionist just said before returning his gaze back to Sakura who remained as emotionless as before; staring solemnly straight ahead.
'If what that guy and Seriyu said is true, then if we make any trouble then Sakura pays the price. But if this is all just a high stakes bluff then we just allowed them to get their hands on who knows what. I can't let that happen and yet I won't let anything happen to Sakura, she's much too important to me.' Ryo silently let go of Sakura and stepped back.
"All right, we'll play it your way; we let you open the door and she goes free." Ryo relented as the warlords let go of Seriyu and the Ronins allowed the Illusionist to move freely.
"Excellent choice." Seriyu said with an evil smirk. Ryo turned to give the man a withering glare.
But remember this, you let anything happen to her and I swear I'll kill both you." Ryo promised as he stepped aside and the Illusionist urged Sakura on to do her job.