Inferno Densetsu
The motif for Inferno Densetsu is the control the armors can exert on their bearers. The armors wanted to fight and so the Ronins fought, even though they did not know that they were being influenced by the armor. Sai was the first to notice but did not understand why or what he was seeing. Next Ryo and Sage understood during their battle with Mukara in volume 3 and later Rowen and Kento in the same volume. They learn that if they aren't careful, they will become controlled by their armor and not the other way around. In volume four, they fought without their helmets as a symbol that they were controlled by their hearts, not their heads.
New Characters: Naria, Mukara, and Black Inferno.
Mukara of the Sun
It is summer of 1990. All the Ronins but Sai are in their second year of high school, Sai is in his third. Mia is bicycling around the lake near her home. She comes home to find a letter from Yuli telling her that he's gone stargazing with Rowen. Kento and Sai meanwhile are at the beach where Sai is teaching Kento how to surf. A big wave comes and wipes both of them out. As they lie on their boards, Sai teases Kento that he likes to fight. Sai is just glad that they, the Ronins, no longer have to wear their armor.
Yuli and Rowen are walking back from their overnight trip. They hear White Blaze running toward them and Yuli leaps forward to hug the tiger. But White Blaze runs right by both of them. Yuli angrily yells after the tiger, "Have you forgotten me?" Rowen looks back up the road to see Mia in her Samurai. She stops and Rowen asks what's going on, looking very cute while doing so. Mia, in her sunglasses, tells them to get in and she'll tell them. As she drives, she says that all she knows is that White Blaze suddenly got up and left. Yuli asks if the soldiers are back. Mia only says that something has come.
Something strange however is happening in Shinjuku. Not only is it extraordinarily hot, the sun is surrounded by a halo resembling treetops. Mirages of trees and animals such as giraffe and elephant fade in and out of Tokyo's downtown. It begins to get worse as the ground shakes and the wind picks up. People panick and run out of Shinjuku. In the mob, Ryo is highlighted as he stares at the strange halo in the sky.
Shinjuku is abandoned and the police have closed it off. Ryo, standing in the deserted streets, looks at his glowing red armor crystal. Suddenly, the mirages explode into trees, bushes, and vines erupting from the street and entwining the buildings. Ryo tries to touch one of them only to find that it too is an illusion. His attention is drawn to the end of the street which now longer exists and is replaced by a savannah. Someone in the distance is coming.
A blur strikes Ryo, destroying his white shirt and part of the purple shirt underneath. He coughs blood as he tries to sit up. Not knowing who struck him or why, Ryo runs into an alley. But the blur comes through the other side of the alley and Ryo gets hit back into the street, losing the rest of his shirt. Angrily, he calls his sub armor, determined to give a fight to whoever wants it. With the sub armor, he is able to match the speed of his attacker and sees him for who he is. A white-haired african no older than himself, matching Ryo's speed without any special enhancements.
The attacker wields a large black boomerang which he can throw through buildings. The building then falls. The attacker jumps to hit Ryo with the boomerang but White Blaze jumps into him. When the attacker sees White Blaze, he offers White Blaze his arm which White Blaze bites. Red blood flows but the youth doesn't move. White Blaze lets go and backs out of the fight. Since the youth isn't a soldier, White Blaze won't attack him. Ryo however doesn't understand and thinks that White Blaze is backing out.
Sai and Kento are drinking java on the beach and listening to the radio on a boombox. The reporter reports that Shinjuku has been closed off by the police because of the strange things happening in it. Kento immediately gets up to go, sure that it Ronin business. Sai however hesitates.
As Mia drives into town, Rowen wonders why it is so hot. Not much further on, they reach the police barricade. Mia tries to explain that they need to get through but the police are adamant. Rowen gets out of the car, jumps on and over the police cars and the barricade and runs into Shinkuku with several officers behind him.
Ryo and the youth are running across the windows of a building when the youth knocks Ryo through the building. As he falls, Ryo is caught by Rowen who is now in his sub armor also. The youth jumps to attack but is knocked back by Sage. Mukara gets his boomerang and slices another building onto the three. Barely escaping, they call on their armors. Even with their armor though, the youth is easily fighting and beating the Ronins.
Sai and Kento finally come and are shocked to find at least half of Shinjuku in pieces. The youth fights the other three one-on-one but none have been able to through his defenses yet. Sai and Kento armor up and Kento attacks, using his iron bow to catch the youth's boomerang. The strategy backfires when the youth swings boomerang and hence Kento away.
The youth leaps to the top of one of the remaining buildings. Rowen angrily draws an arrow and fires it at the youth. Sai yells at him for firing an arrow at an unarmored person. Rowen tells Sai to open his eyes, this guy isn't any ordinary person. The youth proceeds to demonstrate that by catching Rowen's arrow in it's energy form, holding it, and then throwing it away.
Then he starts going through motions and says something. Suddenly the air is filled with butterflies of light as they whirl around the youth, forming a armor. Forming Inferno, a black Inferno.
Everyone stares in shock. Then his armor begins to glow and Ryo's Wildfire armor glows also. With a motion, the youth draws Wildfire and hence Ryo toward him. Rowen tells the others to give Ryo their power so he can call on their Inferno. Sage, Kento, and Rowen do it without hesitation. But Sai just stands there.
The others call him and look at him. But Sai doesn't see them, their armors have become much darker, much blacker and their voices very deep. Sai doesn't do anything as he stares in fear at what he believes he is seeing. By now, Ryo is as high as the youth on the building. Above the two is a large swirling blackness that seems to be drawing in both of them. Sage jumps after Ryo, grabbing on to stop him from being pulled through. But all three go into the darkness and disappear, leaving the other three and Mia and Yuli who finally came in the devasted ruins of Shinjuku.
Black Inferno
Back at Mia's house, Mia is tending Kento's arm while Yuli asks where are Ryo and Sage. Rowen says they're probably wherever the youth came from. Kento jumps up and ask/tells Mia to look in her data for the black Inferno. But Sai asks from where he leans againt the wall, what's the use. Even if they find it, the three of them can't stand up to the guy. Kento asks why didn't Sai join with them to create Inferno earlier. Sai, "I hate fighting! Watching my friends get hurt and defeated. Why are we the only ones that have to fight. Why only us, why!" Rowen tells him it is their destiny as Ronins. Sai says it isn't fate or destiny but what they choose for themselves. Rowen tries to reason with him but Sai doesn't like what Rowen is telling him and punches him onto the dining table. Kento grabs Sai and Sai punches him. They get into a fight which Yuli stops by grabbing onto Sai, crying "You're friends, friends don't fight!" Sai, scared and shocked, runs out of the house.
Sai goes to the docks, the same place where White Blaze was recovering after taking the killing blow for Ryo from Kenbukyou. He calls Torrent to appear before him. "Good bye Torrent" and disperses the armor into the lake.
Ryo and Sage had found themselves in a strange place at night. It didn't become anymore welcoming during the day. Sage was the first to see the youth standing on a rock in the distance. Behind him, is a brown girl with light blue hair. The youth begins to run, gaining speed to rival the Ronins and throws his boomerang, severing the tree Ryo and Sage were on. The two call their armors but still get trashed. Ryo gets hit by the spinning boomerang, it destroys his helmet and gouges a deep hole in the chestplate of his armor. Sage's helmet is broken when the spinning boomerang erupts from underground.
It is nighttime in Japan. Sai is still sitting at the docks. Mia isn't having much luck with her research. Yuli asks what's wrong with the guys. Mia reassures him that they'll be alright as she looks at a picture of all of them in New York. Kento and Rowen are on their beds in one of the bedrooms. Yuli comes in, asking if they are still friends. Kento says what a stupid thing to ask. Rowen reassures Yuli that they are friends, now and later. Yuli then asks why aren't they helping Mia with her research. It isn't fair for to work all alone with no support. The two go up with Yuli to Mia's den.
Mia can't find any data on the black Inferno. Yuli suggests they try to figure out what the youth said to summon the armor. Yuli can't remember. Kento says, "Babababababa...hambaagaa." Yuli comments that Kento can only think about food. Then Rowen recites it perfectly from memory, "Noobezuuya, iijiizuurii, zuuamaumaa, muunmii." Mia doesn't have any knowledge of linguistics but Rowen asks if any of her late grandfather's colleagues was a linguist. Mia remembers one and immediately places a call to Sengoku University.
The professor calls back, identifying the language as a variant of Swahili and used by the Tauragi village in Tanzania. It is said that village is the root of all Africans.
The youth, having won, drags the unconscious Ryo and Sage back to wherever. He is confronted by the girl who asks him if these are the two whom he brought from the eastern country. She asks why is he doing this, is this the will of the black armor. He doesn't answer, and walks right by her.
Back at the village, there is a dance around the fire. The girl walks past it to a prison cell. The guards let her in. She sprinkles water from the from the jar she brought with her on Ryo's face but he doesn't wake up. So she picks him up and slaps him twice. Now he wakes up and so does Sage. The girl asks them to listen to her.
Her name is Naria and Ryo and Sage ware at her village, Tauragi. The person they've been fighting is Mukara, her fiancé. He is the head warrior of the village and the wielder of the black armor which is their god. Naria is the priestess. She asks who is the one that bears the white armor and Sage points to Ryo. Naria then begs him not to fight, the white and black armors were never meant to ever meet. Ryo tries to explain to her that he can't call on the Inferno alone but never manages to convey the message. Naria doesn't want Mukara to fight.
The music stops outside and Naria tells them that they must hurry because the ceremony would soon start. She helps them escape from the jail and guides them away from the village. Outside, however, Mukara is already waiting for them. Ryo and Sage call their armor, which they had removed before escaping. They combine their attacks, So En Zan and Rai Ko Zan, and hit Mukara with the full force.
When the dust clears, there is nothing left but a crater. Naria begins to cry softly. But something rises from the center of the crater. It is Mukara, surrounded by a greenish aura, without a scratch on him.
Armor That Begins To Run
Everyone is stunned that Mukara survived. He immediately starts attacking them again. When Sage looks at Mukara through his blade, he sees the reflection of the black Inferno. Naria yells for them to stop. She asks him to stop this fight, there is no point to it and can only result in death. But he ignores her and fights against Ryo and Sage. Her words come through to Ryo. He brings his swords together like a So En Zan but instead plants them into the ground. He won't fight Mukara anymore. Ryo "This battle will only create death and destruction." Mukara strikes Ryo as Naria and Sage scream. Mukara throws his boomerang, aiming to decapitate Ryo but Sage takes the hit for Ryo. Even so, Ryo falls unconscious. Sage struggles to get up and is consumed with anger. He is preparing for his Rai Ko Zan when he realizes the urge to fight is not from himself but from the influence of the Kuroi Inferno. He has to pry his fingers open to drop his sword. Sage "Do what you want. I follow my heart. I won't be controlled by you or anyone." Mukara quite obligingly knocks him out.
Mia and company are preparing to leave for Tanzania but Sai isn't going. Yuli is calling for White Blaze who has been acting strangely since the incident. Sai is now sitting by another pond, throwing in rocks and wondering about what he say in volume 1. When he gets up to leave, White Blaze appears and nuzzles Sai in the leg. Sai looks at White Blaze with a half-scared, half-bewildered look.
Everyone else is on a plane to Tanzania. After paying for the safari tickets, there wasn't much money. Mia reassures Kento that her family has a lot of money so there won't be a problem. Yuli whispers to Kento that Mia would make a good wife. Kento replies it's too bad he wasn't born five years earlier.
Their destination is Nairobi and Kento complains about the exchange values. Mia rents a jeep to drive them to the village with Rowen as navigator. Kento is still angry at Sai and is periodically calling Sai a fool or worse. Yuli yells at him for that and makes Kento promise to not call Sai anymore names. While they're crossing a body water, Rowen is talking about how they can't work only as four people. Kento starts calling Sai names again, Yuli yells at him to stop.
They manage to get to Tanzania by following a map to the location of Mukara's tribe. Mia is translating the summoning for black Inferno. "Evil light, Beautiful symbol, Sun and Mother Earth, Power to me." She has this very compact computer notebook that Rowen made. Rowen and Kento who were checking a rope bridge pronounced it safe and they start across. As they crossed a rope bridge, the wind picks up and they're attacked by natives who cut the bridge. Kento and Rowen change into their sub armor to save Yuli and Mia. Kento catches Yuli and the end of the bridge but Mia and Rowen fall into the river below. Then Kento and Yuli fake their fall into the river to get the natives the leave. They travel through the jungle when Yuli spies Naria. The two quietly sneak up near the girl to see her disappear through a tree.
Mia and Rowen have gotten out of the river and encounter a cave which is under the Tauragi village. Inside the cave, Mia finds the drawings depicting the legend black Inferno.
Yuli and Kento followed Naria through the tree which is the secret entrance to the village. There is another ceremony, Sage and Ryo are laid out and the black Inferno is carried by the villagers and place near them. However, the interaction between the black crystals, black Inferno, and Ryo and Sage cause their respective kanjis to appear much to Naria's and Mukara's astonishment.
Rowen and Mia come to the other end of the cave which opens to a valley or crevice of black crystal clusters similar to the ones that appear when black Inferno is summoned. In a cluster of white crystals, Mia sees the reflection of the white Inferno. It was in this valley that both the white and black Infernos were born. The crystals begin to resonate, just like when the armor crystals are near youja. The energy tries to entrap Rowen but he breaks out.
In Japan, Sai is lead back to the dock by White Blaze. Sai looks into the water and sees the reflection of Kokuen-Oh. When he looks back up, White Blaze has transformed and teleports away.
Back at the village, Kento jumps into the middle of the ceremony, challenging Mukara. He calls on Hardrock and knocks away Mukara's first attack. Confident, he doesn't flinch when the boomerang comes around again. This time he does get knocked down. Kento gets up to fight and Yuli cries out to him "Something's strange! Your armor, it's scary!" What Yuli can see but Kento not see is the darkening of his armor.
Rowen fires an arrow right at Mukara's feet. Rowen "You are a warrior that has a reason for this that we don't know. I expect you're not the type that wishes for battle. If it's purely battle, can you parry without limit? But this fight other than the power of our volition will intervene." Naria talks directly to Mukara, "They have hearts that the armors who want a battle cannot influence. Mukara, you don't have that heart."
Mukara knocks away Rowen's arrow which flies away and implants itself betwen Ryo and Sage. Mukara calls on black Inferno, its energy subtle influencing Strata and Hardrock. Yuli runs up, yelling at them to stop. Darker versions of Rowen and Kento look back at him with blank eyes. Yuli "Rowen ni-chan, Kento ni-chan, there's something strange, your armors!"
Rowen and Kento realize the urge to fight is coming from the armor and the black Inferno. Kento "This blasted armor, you think I'm easy meat?!?" Rowen "Kento! Undo the armor!" Kento and Rowen release their armor but not without a lot of pain. They both collapses but the armors simply float instead of disappearing. Rain starts to fall. Mia runs up and Yuli runs to hug her and cry. Mukara falls to his knees and begins laughing rather hysterically.
Mia comforts Yuli, saying, "The armors want the power to fight, and a righteous heart must not fight, the first time they've had this breach."
Nighttime in Japan, Sai stands on the docks above the choppy waters. "The armor, separated from the human heart, at battle raising the tides to do what. You want me to do something! ...Armor, armor that toys with my friends' lives, your will, now I'll fight it!" Then he dives into the water, down to the glowing armor crystal.
Go Beyond The Sorrow
Mia and Yuli are helping Naria collect red flowers. She uses them to make a medicine to help Ryo and Sage. When Yuli tries to feed it to Ryo, he coughs it back up. Rowen and Kento are asleep against a wall, Ryo and Sage are in hammocks. Yuli begins to cry, afraid that the four are dying. Mia comforts him and asks him to believe in them.
Later, vultures are cawing outside. Angrily Yuli runs outside with a burning stick, telling them to shut up. He throws the stick and the birds fly off. But he is still crying. In the dark forest, something shines. It comes closer and Yuli watches it in fear. As it comes closer, Sai appears, completely wet but with the armor crystal glowing in his hand.
Yuli runs up and hugs him, trying to tell him about Ryo and the others. Sai calls on 'Shin', lighting the entire village with its power momentarily, scaring off the vultures, and drying the water on him. Stepping inside, Sai sheds a tear when he sees the other. Sai appears on his brow and as everyone else's kanji appears, they slip into a peaceful slumber.
In the main room of Naria's home, Yuli asks why the kanji doesn't appear in the crystal. Sai replies it is because a different battle of the armors and Ronins has begun. Naria proceeds to tell how her family and Mukara's family have been the village's priestess and armor protector respectively. Mukara was never to have worn the armor. It was when he went to the valley that he discovered the armor. Because the black Inferno wanted to fight the white, it used Mukara to bring the white Inferno here. The armors are now running wildly, of their own will.
Yuli ,"The armors running wild? Ronins's armor won't do anything evil. Isn't it the black one that started it all?" Naria "He knew. The armor without god is only evil for people. Mukara never controlled the armor!!" With that, Naria ran out of the house.
The next morning, the four Ronins found Sai sitting outside. They're all glad that Sai came. Sai says that even though the armor is for battle, it let him meet everyone again. When White Blaze suddenly appears, Sai says he has decided. He calls his sub armor and faces the tiger. White Blaze roars, and Kokuen-Oh separates from him. The roar causes Sai's sub armor to glow and the Torrent armor is pulled out of him. Kokuen-Oh leads it away.
Sai looks to the others, "The two Infernos must be destroyed." Sage "We've seen a armor that needs no heart and runs wild with evil power." Rowen "As we are Samurai Ronins, we can't avoid our destiny." Kento "I don't get what's going on but let's do it!" Ryo "Fighting only produces sadness. Still we must face it, we want to go beyond the sadness."
Naria tries again to persuade Mukara to stop this madness. But he doesn't listen and motions for her to be put in the prison. Mia and Yuli return after getting water. Naria isn't there and neither are the Ronins. They are suddenly shot at but White Blaze appears and shields them from the arrows. The Tauragi fighters shoot more arrows into White Blaze until he collapses. Mia holds Yuli protectively before the arrows sharp points.
In the valley of black crystals, Mukara is confronted by Kokuen-Oh who drops the Torrent crystal and vanishes. Mukara picks it up. The light it shines causes the other four trapped Ronin armors to appear in their crystal prison. Finally, Mukara throws Torrent into a prison. He then summons black Inferno which appears, venting out mist.
What he doesn't notice is that the five armors are glowing and forming the white Inferno in the white crystal bunch. The Ronins arrive, jumping down into the valley but the white Inferno is already free. It summons the Gou Retsu Ken and leaps to a high mountain of crystal. Before their eyes, the sun and moon come together creating a solar eclipse. Pillars of flame erupt around the valley. They've been pulled into the world of the armor.
As the Ronins stare at Inferno, their most precious memories are being burned up.
Kento: The time he went mountain climbing when he was 13.
Sai: Going on a cruiser with his parents and meeting an orca when he was 10.
Sage: Winning the Kansei Circuit Racecart when he was 16.
Rowen: Sleeping leaning on a Saint Bernard under a tree when he was 5.
Ryo: The time of the soldier battle when he first met his friends when he was 14.
The last picture is of the five in their sub armor clasping hands.
Sai: Above this, you want to continue this connection for your own purposes!
Ryo: Still, the heart, you don't want people's hearts.
Kento: Well then, get a good look at it, the power of the heart!
The Ronins call on their armor, breaking them out of their crystal prisons. None of them have their helmets as a symbol that they are in control with their hearts. The power Inferno wields in infinite. Sai's Cho Ryu Ha was absorbed, corrupted, and shot right back at Sai. Rowen's arrows simply glance off of the white armor. Kento breaks the blade on the naginata side of his iron bo. Sage and Ryo both attack at once, trapping Inferno's two swords under their own. Rowen then strikes from above with his bow . Inferno simply blows them away with an discharge of energy.
Ryo says they can't win by force. The power of their hearts is indestructible, not even Inferno can destroy it. They join hearts, sending it to white Inferno and purifying it. Mukara watches, shocked. Naria's words earlier come back to him. But black Inferno rises up behind him.
Mukara is possessed by the black armor. The Ronins reform Inferno and Ryo and Mukara face off.
Meanwhile, back at the village, White Blaze has finally broken the prison door. He bursts out with Naria on his back. Naria tells the worshipping Tauragi that they've been wrong to worship the black armor.
On the first pass, with weapons locked, Ryo calls for Mukara to open his eyes. Mukara, who has no eyes, simply smiles, pulls back his boomerang and strikes again. This time both weapons are smashed to pieces. The two continue their fight in the sky, Mukara purple and Ryo red. The two lights clash and swirl. Resorting to hand combat, Ryo punches Mukara's face mask, breaking it. Mukara returns the punch and adds another.
Naria on White Blaze and Mia and Yuli are running toward the battle. Naria pleads with Mukara to stop this before everything is destroyed. The two lights go straight for one another. They hit and cause a huge explosion. Naria and White Blaze are caught in the blast and vaporized.
The energy backlash clears and Ryo and Mukara are standing on the ground in battered and broken Inferno armor. The valley of crystal is nothing but a large flat area within a crater. Ryo wonders how is he going to end this without destroying the world in the process. Mukara is holding part of Naria's yellow scarf. He screams in anguish. Ryo,seeing the chance to save Mukara, calls to the other Ronins to send their hearts to Mukara, to help him fight off the black Inferno. The hearts of the six join, undoing the eclipse. The white and black Inferno are purified and when joined explode into pieces.
Black Blaze turns and walks away in a flurry of sakura petals.
The Infernos are gone, along with the Ronins' armor. The five stand back as Mukara struggles to control himself. Mia and Yuli walk up near the Ronins. First one shaft of light, and then others, pierce the dark cloudy sky. Where the shafts of light touch the ground, more light solidifies, forming the five armor. The Ronins are startled. But the armors dissipate into light motes, revealing White Blaze. White Blaze rises and moves away from Naria. Mukara stands and staggers toward her. He holds out a hand to her and calls her name, "Naria."
Notes:
For those people who remember that Ryo's shirt was destroyed in volume 1, he is not shirtless at the end of volume 4. He is wearing the 'Milkball' sweatshirt Kento was wearing in volume 2. Ryo must have borrowed it.
From the book that I was using as reference, Kokuen-Oh orchestrated at least part of this battle. He had slept in this valley, guarding the swords until the next evil threatened the world.
It would appear that the Ronins banished their armors at the end because the armors continued existence in this world would destroy the world. OR they gave up the armor because they were tired of all the pain and grief the armor have created for them.
Well, the armors were destroyed in that incident. Not just banished. Absolutely gone. The image that appeared in the end protecting Naria and White Blaze was just that, an image.
