Chapter 3

Ryo was the first to start coming around in the cave. He shook his head trying to clear the cobwebs, but that sent sharp pains flying through his head at the movement. His vision cleared and he looked around to see Cye sitting across from him, still unconscious.

"Cye," he called as he tried to move but to find his hands chained behind him to the wall. He struggled to break free of the chains, but it was no use.

He looked up as he heard footsteps and Saranbo appeared at the door of their cell and smiled in at him.

"What are you smirking at?" he demanded struggling more against the chains that held his hands behind him.

Saranbo didn't say anything as he opened the door and walked into the cell and stood in front of Ryo, looking down at him. He motioned for two Dynasty Warriors to unchain Cye and take him out of the cell and Saranbo left slamming the door shut behind him, making Ryo wince because of his headache. At the mansion, the others were sitting around the living room trying to come up with a plan to get Cye and Ryo back. They didn't know exactly where Saranbo was holding them, but they were planning on finding out and soon.

"We need to search the whole city and the outskirts of town," Sage said to the others. "It's the only way to find out where Saranbo is holding them."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Kento said and Rowen nodded in agreement.

They decided to start out as soon as possible. Sage was going to the north, Rowen to the south and Kento to the east and then they'll meet back up later and search the outskirts of town for any signs of their friends. Meanwhile, Talpa sat on his throne room, waiting impatiently for any news from his Warlords.

'Sekhmet, have you and the others found anything yet?" he asked.

'We're still searching, Master Talpa,' Sekhmet said. 'We're searching all over Toyama. We didn't find any sign of Saranbo in the Nether Realm. Hang on a minute, I spot something. Looks like Strata. Must be looking for his friends.'

'Follow him and see where he goes and report back to me,' Talpa ordered.

Sekhmet followed Rowen by means of the rooftops of the buildings. Rowen didn't even know he was being followed. Back at the caves, Saranbo watched as the soldiers chained Cye in the middle of one of the rooms and then left.

"Time to wake up Torrent," Saranbo said as he slapped Cye across the face in an attempt to wake him.

Cye slowly came around and glared at Saranbo who smiled at him. Saranbo walked around to a chair and picked up a whip and before Cye could say something he lashed it across his back tearing a huge slit into his tee-shirt. Cye tried to hold back the scream but it escaped his lips. Saranbo kept at it enjoying hearing him scream. In the cell next to them, Ryo cringed at the sound of Cye's screams. He hated not being able to do anything when one of his friend's were being tortured. He shut his eyes trying to block out Cye's screams but it just didn't work. Soon it was quiet and he opened his eyes again.

In the other room, Cye had lost consciousness and was slumped against the chains that held him. Saranbo threw the whip back onto the chair and unchained Cye and dragged him back over to the room where Ryo was still chained. Saranbo didn't bother in rechaining Cye, he just threw him on the ground and left. Ryo glanced over at Cye who had landed on his side with his back to him. He could see the deep cuts on Cye's back and Ryo's anger rose. Back in Toyama, Sage met up with Rowen and Kento and they hadn't found anything so they headed to the outskirts of Toyama to look around there and the three Warlords weren't far behind them, keeping to the shadows as they went.

"Master Talpa will be pleased if we find where Saranbo is keeping those two Ronin pests," Dais said as they hurried along.

As they walked along, Rowen kept on glancing back behind him and Sage finally noticed and stopped.

"Something wrong Rowen?" he asked his best friend.

"I think someone's following us," he replied looking at Sage. "I'm not too sure."

"I'll find out," Kento said and climbed a tree. Couple minutes later, he came back down frowning, "I should have known Talpa would send his Warlords to follow us."

"Talpa must know that Saranbo has Ryo and Cye," Sage said as he glanced at the two.

"Yes, he does know Halo," Cale said as he and the others skidded to a halt not far from them. "And we won't let you save your friends before we get our hands on them."

"We don't have time to deal with you," Rowen said as he got ready to call upon his armor. "Armor of Strata, dao inochi."

"Armor of Halo, dao chi."

"Armor of Hardrock, dao gi."

Back at the caves, Ryo was still fuming over what had happened to Cye when he noticed that Cye was finally starting to come around. He went to roll over on his back but the pain from the cuts stopped him and he slowly sat up and looked around to see Ryo sitting across from him watching him with concern.

"You okay Cye?" Ryo asked as he tried again to break free of the chains keeping his hands behind his back.

"Been better," Cye said coming over and sitting down next to Ryo and looking at the chains. "It's something that I'm not chained."

"You were," Ryo said. "I guess Saranbo didn't think you'd be a bother after the beating you took."

"I guess he was wrong," Cye said trying to work the chains free, but with no prevail.

"Don't worry about the chains," Ryo told his friend. "There's no way to break them. Believe me I've tried."

From a temple not far from Talpa's castle, a young woman watched through a magic mirror at the caves where Saranbo had the two Ronins. She smirked as she watched Cye and Ryo trying to free the chains bounding Ryo's hands behind him.

"They can try all they want, but they'll never break those magical chains," she said. "Not in a million years."

"Mistress Jenica, what is your orders?" a demon asked appearing beside her.

With a wave of her hand, the mirror disappeared and she turned to face the demon.

"Tell Saranbo to go ahead with the next phase," Jenica told it. "I'll be there shortly."

Jenica was a beautiful girl with long black hair that fell down past her waist and silver eyes. She wore black stretch pants and a purple halter top. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she wore high heeled boots that came up to her knees.

"Everyone thinks Saranbo's the one after the White Armor of Inferno, but they're wrong," she said to herself after the demon left to do her bidding. "But nobody knows that I, Jenica Sawamatsu, is the person really after the legendary armor and no one, not even the Ronins or Talpa, will stop me from getting what is rightfully mine."

Meanwhile, the Warlords were head to head with the Ronins. Sage was taking on Cale, Kento against Dais and Rowen against Sekhmet. Sage was having a hard time with the Warlord of Corruption. Dais had already made the place where they were fighting dark and he was having a hard time keeping up with the dark warlords who kept on darting in and out of the darkness to strike.

"Black Lightning Slash."

Sage heard him call upon his sure-kill and couldn't step out of the way in time as it came bearing down on him. He was hit hard and fell back into some tall grass. He leapt to his feet and charged where he thought Dais was but missed him. He felt something hard slam into his back and he fell once again to the ground.

Kento wasn't having much luck with Cale. He had already fallen for three of his illusions and he was getting pretty steamed because of it.

"Stop hiding behind your stupid illusions, Cale," Kento yelled waiting for Cale to show himself again.

"Can't you handle it, Hardrock," Cale called back.

Cale stepped out from behind a tree and Kento unleashed his sure-kill.

"Iron Rock Crusher."

Cale screamed in pain as the sure-kill hit him dead on and he was sent flying into the forest and disappeared. After making sure, he wasn't going to reappear, Kento went to help Sage deal with Dais.

Meanwhile, Rowen was still battling Sekhmet. He had been hit by his swords more than he would have liked and he could feel the venom flowing through his veins and wasn't sure when the time would come when it made him pass out. He stopped a move from Sekhmet with his bow and jumped out of the way, getting ready to fire his sure-kill. Sekhmet saw that and got ready also.

"Arrow Shock Wave."

"Snake Fang Strike."

Both of their sure-kills hit their targets. Rowen was slammed back into a tree and hit the ground, unconscious. Sekhmet was thrown back into the woods and disappeared.

"Rowen!" Sage yelled when he saw his friend hit the tree. "That's it! You asked for it, Dais!" He was able to conjure enough light to unleash his sure-kill. "Thunder Bolt Cut."

As Dais was thrown away by the sure-kill he yelled, "You'll pay for that Halo."

As soon as he was gone, they rushed over to Rowen. Sage placed his hands over his body and they started to glow green. Soon, Rowen's eyes opened and he looked at his friends. Seeing that he was too weak to travel more, they decided to make camp for the night and head out first thing in the morning. The Warlords made it back to Talpa's. Talpa was furious that they had not succeeded in finding out where Saranbo was.

"Do I have to do everything myself?" Talpa yelled as he sent electric shocks through his warlords.

He left them at the castle and disappeared to search on his own.