Chapter 7
New Strength
The Smell of fresh air filled the nostrils of Danzo and Team Crimson as they raced across the lowered Drawbridge to the other side. They had managed to reach it when they saw a message carved on the circle which read: "The wheel of Destiny shall guide you to the land of the beginning." Homura pondered about it until she heard the creaking of the drawbridge behind her. Everyone knew that there was no turning back, as they hurried down the stone steps to another spiral staircase. They quickly raced down it towards another door when they were set upon by reptilian Youma in ancient samurai armor with metallic claws on their left arms.
"Take 'em out!" shouted Homura, as she, Danzo, and the rest of Team Crimson readied their weapons.
Danzo fought them all by hacking and slashing at them with Alduin in his possession. Then he jumped beside Yomi and fired his dual hand cannons, Black Star and Silver Moon in rapid succession against these new monsters, while Haruka sent wave after wave of suicide bombers at them with unrelenting drive.
Once they were slain, Danzo and Mirai exchanged a glance and knew they had to move out quickly. They soon came to what looked like an emblem on a shield on the door that was glowing a red light. Turning around almost immediately, they soon came to a decoration resembling two samurai. It looked as if the knights would be holding something, until Yomi saw some words carved under the decoration.
"It says, 'The shields that glow with the light and a pair of lances shall lead to the battleground,'" Yomi said to her friends.
Hikage then noticed another shield with a blue light behind it, then she led Danzo and Team Crimson to another door in the castle with words carved on it.
"'A pair of flames that dwell with strength will open the path,'" Haruka said looking at the words inscribed on the door.
Suddenly, Mirai spotted blue flames creating a path to another gateway. They raced through it until Danzo spotted something up above them. Motioning for his friends to wait, He leaped up onto one ledge, then another, ran to a staircase, and soon activated a device to make a path to the item. Using the platforms as stepping stones you'd find in a river, Danzo made it to the item. He saw an inscription on the base.
"My name is Inferno. The fool who awakens me shall pay dearly with the fires of hell," Danzo read.
Danzo watched as the item exploded and flew all around him, forcing Homura and Team Crimson to duck for cover. When they poked their heads out of their hiding place, they saw the two flaming objects explode on him. Danzo felt the gauntlets on his hands, burning him with a raging fire. Concentrating hard, he channeled the flames through him and made them obey his command. At last he jumped down, and landed near Team Crimson with his new gauntlets. Before they could say anything else, some Mariannetes emerged to ambush them, But Danzo put his Inferno Gauntlets to the test and struck them all down.
"Wow! That was pretty impressive!" Mirai cheered.
Danzo smirked at her, and gently patted her head. Then he led his friends back to the courtyard. When they arrived, they saw what looked like a huge bird with horse legs behind it. Danzo glared at it, and Team Crimson did the same.
"You! Are you the human, the son of Sato who challenges the Darkness Madara?" The strange creature asked.
"Flock off, Feather Face! Or you can stick around and find out the hard way!" Danzo barked at the creature.
The creature sent crimson bombs of electricity down upon him, but Danzo began dodging as he fired his dual hand cannons at it until he sent down an energy ball that sent lightning at him. Seizing this opportunity, Mirai leaped into the air firing her Umbrella gun at the creature wounding even more. When it landed on the ground, Hikage and Homura charged at the winged beast with their swords and knife at the ready. Quickly, Yomi fired her darts at the creature, then lunged forward with her broadsword at the ready, leaving a serious wound on the winged youma. Enraged, the youma struck back with lightning bolts hurtling towards Danzo and his friends, until Haruka sent her puppets down to shield him from any damage. When the smoke had cleared, Danzo fired his hand cannons unfused with fire to harm the youma even further. The creature reeled back in pain and shock to find it underestimated it's opponents as Homura charged in with her seventh sword Engetsu in hand, her hair and eyes turning bright crimson.
"You're done!" she shouted, as Danzo managed to grab the other girls and jump to safety with them.
But the winged creature took off and flew away laughing at them. Homura soon reverted to her normal form and fixed her hair back into its original look. Mirai looked up and saw that Danzo was holding her close to him with Yomi, Hikage, and Haruka also catching their breath.
"Phew, good save darling," Haruka said in her flirtatious manner.
She soon glomped Danzo who stood with Alduin in his left hand, and his Inferno Gauntlets still attached to his hands. Holstering his blade, he cast a fire spell on the two torches that opened the doorway to the next part of the castle. At last he and team Crimson were now moving carefully when they saw a swarm of Youma ambush them. One of them had two fire chakrams and could breathe Fire as well.
"Take 'em!" Yomi said drawing her sword, and charging at them.
Everyone else followed suit and dispatched them quite easily. The chakram wielding youma were quite more challenging than they realized but they were able to strike them down without any mercy. As things settled down, Danzo led them even deeper into the castle, until they arrived in a corridor which took them out to another area they had not seen before. They dispatched more youma with relative ease and continued onward to their next destination.