"In the past, men fought and left temporary peace on Earth. The history of those men was eventually buried in the sand and their legend was left behind."



We then see a city. It seems that in the 10 years that have passed since Raoh's death, civilization has improved drastically with many new buildings replacing the crumbling wrecks of old. But the narrator continues and explains that a large gap has appeared between the rich and the poor. There is a new power in the world, and the common people are once again living in fear. And part of this new power rides through a town, as a man powered carriage moves through the streets. The men are being made to carry a woman and her child, as the villagers bow down.



The carriage splashes mud all over one family. The father sees that the tears of his child are stained with mud, whilst that woman's child in the carriage...why are things like this? They are all humans, why are they treated so differently? The world is heading into chaos and darkness once more. An old man has realised this, but he is certain that the savior will not come again.



That night, a group of prisoners are in a truck. The two officers explain that they should be happy -instead of getting the death penalty, they will now get to do hard labor for the rest of their lives instead. As the truck moves on the prisoners see what they think is a star in the distance, but as they get closer...



...it isn't a star -it is a huge fortress! The fortress has many lights shining brightly out of it, as the prisoners realises that the place has electricity.



The driver explains that this is the Imperial Capital and where the Celestial Emperor lives. Wanting to know how this place could have electricity, the prisoners are taken to the very source of it -a huge turbine operated by humans!



With lashings being provided to anyone not working hard enough, many prisoners are operating it and the new guys are also being forced to help out. They will be here until they die. The prisoners don't want that, but the guards beat any whiners up, saying they should be more grateful as they are getting a chance to work for the Emperor. Meanwhile, in another room, many lights are turned on...



...as Viceroy Jakoh appears and listens to reports from his troops. Most of the news is good, apart from a report from one of the officers who says that a prisoner truck was attacked by a gang known as the North Star Army.This army is led by two people: a young man and woman. Jakoh just laughs and says that the world is for the Emperor to take. They have already taken over most of the land, and the North Star is a lost martial art.



A fuse box then blows out and suddenly the entire room is plunged into darkness. Jakoh starts shrieking, as it seems he hates the dark and starts to yell out about how dark it is. The officers manage to get the power back on and Jakoh returns to normal, only now he wants more light in here. He shouts that all the light in the world is for the Emperor. And since the Emperor basically put him in control, Jakoh's orders are the Emperor's orders!



The narrator explains that the Celestial Emperor governs heaven itself. It is the sovereign star which rules over both Hokuto (North Star) and Nanto (South Star). The Celestial Emperor has begun to take the Earth in his hands.



The next morning, a man called Joe and two of his friends brave a desert during a sandstorm. As the storm stops they come across something they didn't really want to find: a gravestone with the big dipper on it. This means one thing: the savior really is dead, as the rumors they had heard indicated. As the world plunges into chaos again, it seems that now, nobody can help. As the three guys think about this a hooded figure leaps out of the ground and kills one man with a scythe!



A second enemy appears and kills another man, leaving only one. The two cloaked people are Zoruba (red) and Zaruji (black) who say that the Hokuto Shinken successor is dead, as he angered the Celestial Emperor. The two of them are here to kill people who come to try and find him.



Zaruji takes a swipe at Joe, who ends up falling off the cliff behind him. He has survived, but rather than going down to finish him off, Zoruba and Zaruji tell him to go back to his village -go back and tell everyone he knows that Kenshiro is dead!



When Joe gets back home, word quickly spreads about Kenshiro's demise and causes mass depression. Joe tries to tell people not to give up and they must take a stand, but the gathered crowd quickly moves on. This is because some of the Emperor's troops have arrived and aren't very happy about what Joe is saying. So much so that it is decided that it would be best to just execute him now.



The large troop crushes him, but gets his clothes dirty in the process. He tosses Joe's body into a wall, which slides down, past a couple of wanted posters.



Later on, a bunch of people have been gathered up from the town and are being taken to the Imperial Capital. As the small convoy heads through a desert, they fail to see an army of people up on a cliff. The order is called out to advance as the army starts to attack! Who is leading this army?



Bat & Lin



Bat, Lin and the rest of the army soon have the convoy surrounded. The commander of the Imperial troops want to know who these people are so Bat points in the direction of the flags, which have the big dipper on them. They are the "Hokuto no Gun" (North Star Army)! And they have a reputation for attacking many of the prison convoys, so they can free the prisoners.



Bat says that there was a man who kept fighting all alone. Lin says that they have inherited that man's love and courage with their hearts. Bat gives the order to attack, and the North Star Army begins to beat up enemy troops. However, the Commander quickly puts together a plan to get them out of here.



He has one of his minions pour gasoline all over the prisoner carriage and then he himself strikes up a match and throws it on! The carriage is set ablaze mere moments before Bat, Lin and the rest of the army reach it.



The commander gets away, saying they are quite welcome to take the barbequed corpses if they want. Lin continues to run towards the carriage, but Bat stops her as there is nothing they can do now. They had especially wanted to save these prisoners as one of them was Mamu's father. As Lin breaks down she wishes that the North Star Army just had a little more strength.



Later that night, at the hidden base of the North Star Army, Bat and Lin report to their leader, Rihaku. He finds out that the prisoner carriage was set on fire and the people in it were all killed. It was an unfortunate action that they could do nothing about.



There is then a rather heart-wrecking scene as Mamu walks in and asks Lin where her daddy is. Nobody wants to explain what has happened to him as a couple of guys talk about Kenshiro: is he really dead? Bat doesn't want to hear about such things and tells them not to talk about it.



As Rihaku hears and sees everything, he wonders if Kenshiro will know something is wrong with the world. Bat and Lin are carrying the flag for the North Star and fight on, but they are both waiting for Ken's return. If he can hear their young hearts, then he must return. They need him, the true successor to Hokuto Shinken, to bring light back into the world.



In a different town, a man in a green cloak walks slowly on. A thief bumps into him and he falls down. The thief calls him an idiot for getting in his way before continuing to run as fast as he can, but several other people search the cloaked man to try and steal anything useful be may be carrying. They find nothing however, and walk off.



With the looters gone the man is just left on the ground, until a young boy comes across him and offers him water -but the man is so weak he can't even accept it. As the boy repeatedly asks if he is O.K., we have to wonder: who is that cloaked man?


NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW

The Emperor's forces have taken over, but..."When will he awaken...!?"

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