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Chapter 17: Vengeful Spirit
A temple stands in front of you. There is a large crack in the wall. We know what to do here, right? Right. Equip the War Hammer and smash it down to create an entryway. Inside is a small chamber with three knight statues. One of them will immediately spring to life and begin attacking you! It wield a sword very similar to the Dabilahro, so expect the same sort of slow, broad, hard-hitting attacks from the fiend. It also has a very strong guard, which will require some hard-hitting attacks and combos to smash through. After a few hits, it will change color and gain a sizable increase in power. Dodging and counterattacking whenever you have the opportunity will allow you to finish the enemy off. Don't get too comfortable, though... it has two more friends waiting in the wings to take you down!
Keep at it and finish all three of the knights off to reveal another statuette: the Serpent God. Take it and head back outside. Head down the path towards an open doorway. You'll also see a locked Griffon Door, which you can't do anything with right now, but which will be important soon enough.
Go through the door to find a Dragon Statue. Muramasa's shop is also located closeby, so if you need a boost to your inventory, be sure and stop in.
Not too great a distance from the Muramasa statue is a portal. Hop on in to enter the Hellish Depths. All you need to do here is finish off a group of enemies, take the Griffon Key, and then watch as the demon in the background taunts Hayabusa a bit. Don't worry, you'll be kicking his ass soon.
Head back to the Griffon Door and open it up. You'll want to equip the Flails or another speedy, combo-oriented weapon here, because you're about to face a school of swift, ravenous ghost fish. These undead piranhas still crave human flesh, and you'll fit the bill just nicely. Smacking them down quickly is the best way to fend them off. While they don't do that much damage on their own, they have a tendency to swarm you and attach to you, which can be quite painful. If they start to swarm you and latch onto you, mash your attack button like a madman to force them off. If they get to be too much, consider using a Ninpo to clear several of them out at once. They school in large groups, so it will take a little while before you can dispose of them all, so be patient and keep on attacking.
Once that task is completed, continue along the path. There's a small opening in the wall beside you - pop in there for a chest with a Life of the Gods inside. Hop back outside and continue on, climbing the stairs upward when you reach them. There's a chest and a dead body at the top, so examine the both of them for some items. Keep advancing, ignoring the Lion Door for now. A chest containing the Lion Key waits at the end of this path.
You'll be ambushed from behind after taking the Key by another group of the zombie fishes. Deal with them the same way you did before. Finish them off and continue backtracking to encounter more new enemies: the catwomen. These feline femme fatales are swift and strong, and can do some very heavy damage if you leave yourself open. Watch for the opportunity to attack them, then let loose with a flurry of combo strings. You're not done fighting enemies yet, though. Still more catwomen and a huge claw beast will block your path back to the Lion Door. Hack them up with whatever you have on you, and you'll finally be free to move along and enter the previously locked doorway.
From here, take the western path and follow it all the way to the end for another Golden Scarab. We've almost got them all! Backtrack and take the other route this time. Hop up another set of stairs to reach a new save point. You should also search around this area a bit - there's a small room with another Life of the Gods located closeby. Continue onwards.
You'll run across a big, open area here, which doesn't serve any purpose right now - it just has another locked door in it. Instead, snake around to the right and prepare to make more undead sushi out of some ghost fish. At the end of the path is an area with a Muramasa statue. Replenish whatever you might be lacking, then head into the area across from the statue to find another Golden Scarab waiting for you. (There's also a chest in a small room located behind the bejeweled bug.)
Continue on to a new area where more of those hellspawn piranhas lie in wait. At the end of this alley is a chest with a Lioness Key. Backtrack all the way to the last save point, then head into that large, open area we skipped by before. (You may run into more fish along the way, but you should know what to do with them by now, right?) More enemies appear here, so dispose of them in your favorite manner. You may want to go back and save again just so you don't have to take on these creatures again, since you're about to encounter a new boss. Actually, it's not really a new boss - in fact, it's...
Stage 17 Boss: Doku Spirit (aka Doku II - Electric Boogaloo)
You gotta hand it to Doku, he's one tenacious bastard. He continues to cling to an ethereal existence just because he hates Hayabusa that much. But it's time to put this fiend out of its misery, and you've got just the weapon to do it with - the True Dragon Sword.
Doku II's patterns are noticeably similar to those of his original incarnation. He's got a sword-flinging attack, a strong charging strike, an energy-draining close-range grab, and. He's also got a few new tricks up his sleeve. For starters, he can launch one of his arms to try and pluck you away from wherever you may be standing. If he picks you up, he has you at his mercy, and can execute a throw attack for major damage - or even worse, drain some of your life to replenish his own. Avoid this at all costs!
You'll want to use a similar strategy as you did before, but be aware that Doku recovers more quickly this time around, meaning you'll need to rush in and smack him as quickly as you possibly can. Again, try and keep a good distance from him as much as possible.
One thing that might make this battle a bit difficult is that, much of the time, Hayabusa will be facing the camera rather than it being behind him. If you find this disorienting, keep a finger on the R1 trigger so that you can shift it to a behind-the-ninja view whenever you might need it.
After this, Doku is finally dead and buried. Finally, we're getting to the very heart of the evil presence.
