3 More Episodes Remain!
2000 Years of the North Star Clan's Harsh History!!

Kaioh tells Kenshiro that he wouldn't understand the pain of the North Star lapis lazuli fist, which has been cursed as a depraved art for 2,000 long years. The humiliation of being referred to as only the planets of the North Star clan is something he'll change here and now -by annihilating the clan, and Kenshiro! He throws out his evil fighting spiritual energy...

...but rather than hit Kenshiro, he hits the ground under him. Kenshiro falls down into a cave, and wonders what this place is. Kaioh asks him if he'll be able to fully utilize his art down there.

Kenshiro realizes he's struggling to breathe. Kaioh watches him stumble around, and says the gas rising from down there is no ordinary gas. It's known as the dark gem yellow gas, and once it enters your body, you're completely paralyzed. He then hits a pressure point on himself, to close off his own windpipe. He says this is a secret technique: breathless combat.

He leaps down, and immediately punches Kenshiro in the face. He says that it seems that even a man beyond men can barely move down here.

He hits Kenshiro with another punch. Kenshiro tries to position himself, but keeps crashing into things in the cave. He then thinks that it's like the pillars down here are restricting his movements.

Kaioh tells him to die, and punches him in the head. As Kenshiro gets up, he sees the formation of the pillars, and leaps up.

He looks down and sees the the pillars are arranged like the Big Dipper. Kaioh says they're like that to foil his movement, as the successor to the North Star divine fist will always fall into this pattern. The greater the successor's mastery of the art, the more they unconsciously follow the same pattern. This formation was passed down through his family to overthrow the North Star clan, and it's called the North star reverse consignment. He then tells Kenshiro to note his position -he represents the death omen star.

Kenshiro then succumbs to the gas, and falls back down. Kaioh tells him that this gas has entered his bloodstream through his wounds. He says he can call him a coward if he wants, but if he defeats him, and destroys the North Star clan, it's a word he'll gladly embrace.

At the village, Samoto and his men want Lin to hurry up and open her eyes. Samoto wants to see her beautiful face with her eyes open, and all of the other Asuras encourage her to wake up. Another Asura then runs over and says he's found out that this woman had her shikanhaku destructive point hit by Kaioh.

Samoto knows of this point, and thinks this is getting interesting. He wants her to wake up and love him, and even knows the point to press to wake her up. As he goes to press it, he fails to even notice his men suddenly get ripped apart. And then the same force hits his arm...

...causing him to hit himself. He tosses Lin up, but Hyoh is able to catch her. Samoto tells Hyoh he won't let him steal his bride!

Hyoh quickly kills him, as Black Yaksha appears. Black Yaksha tells Hyoh he must not push himself. Hyoh tells Lin he won't let Kaioh have his way with her. He sees her nearly open her eyes, so he puts his hand over them and tells her there's only one man she should lay her eyes upon.

Back in the cave, Kaioh throws a knife down, which lands in front of Kenshiro. Kaioh tells him to take it, and stab himself -he wants him to commit suicide, as he's not going to kill him as a martial artist. He wants Kenshiro to go down as a weak man, a man who, when faced against his might, took his own life.

From that moment, the legendary North Star clan will crumble, and his new century legend shall begin. He asks Kenshiro if he understands -those who abandon their heart will win, and those who keep their heart will be destroyed. Kenshiro grabs the knife, and Kaioh tells him to kill himself.

However, Kenshiro shatters the knife, causing pieces of it to go everywhere. One piece stabs into Kaioh's forehead, as Kenshiro says he must fulfil his promise to Raoh. He tells Kaioh he's about to learn the strength of fighting with love.

Kaioh asks him how he plans to defeat him when he's in that condition -he can barely even breathe! As Kenshiro falls to his knees, Kaioh tells him if he can't even kill himself, then he'll finish him off.

But as he approaches, Kenshiro throws something at him. Kaioh moves back, and then feels at his neck. He realizes that now he can't breathe, and there was only one destructive point that could break his breathless combat. The point is the size of a needle, a finger can't even strike it!

He realizes Kenshiro used a single strand of hair like a needle to strike the point. He leaps up out of the cave, and Kenshiro follows him.

As they get out, Kenshiro strikes several points on himself, and Kaioh notices that his body has revived. Kenshiro says that the poison that was in his body is now gone -all that's left for him to do is defeat him. Kaioh tells him not to underestimate his power -he's not like Raoh or Toki, who gave into compassion.

He says he'll show his invincible style, and goes into a stance. He says nobody taught him this, it's a stance he was born with. Kenshiro looks at Kaioh...

...and sees that the stance is the same stance the statue was in. Kaioh then attacks, but Kenshiro dodges every strikes he makes. Kenshiro then hits back.

One of his punches grazes Kaioh's head, taking some of his hair off. Behind the hair is what seems to be a birthmark... a very familiar looking one. Kaioh has the mark of the Big Dipper on his head. Kenshiro says it's as he thought: Kaioh also carries the blood of the North Star clan. Kaioh can't believe he's a descendant of the North Star clan.

Kenshiro says that mark of the Big Dipper is the undeniable proof. It was what he learned from the female statue, about the tragic tale of the founder of the North Star divine fist...

Around 2,000 years ago, the North Star clan reigned over the world as the shield for the celestial emperor. But the ultimate art of assassination, the North Star divine fist, hadn't been born yet. The world had plunged into a chaotic age of wars. The North Star clan knew that because of the amount of conquerors in the world, chaos reigns everywhere. They decided there should only be one conqueror.

The conqueror they wished for was a man of the North Star, who would create a new and invincible art of assassination. That man would be their true savior, but at the time, the North Star clan was not blessed with sons, and only had two beautiful daughters. These two each gave birth to a son on the same day. The elder sister, Ouka, birthed Ryuo, and the younger sister, Shume, birthed Shuken.

Shume was ill, and apologizes to her sister for having to trouble her. Ouka tells her they only have each other, and in this chaotic world, they need to help each other. She passes Shuken to Shume.

Ouka hopes that their children will be able to grow up happily together, which Shume also hopes. However, if the children were raised as equals, they may compete as conquerors, and the heavens and the land could be split apart.

The guardians of the North Star clan had to make a painful choice. They decided they would place the two babies before starving wolves, and wait for an answer. Ouka can't believe the elders want to kill one of the babies. An elder says whoever survives will succeed to North Star clan. The babies were placed together, and the wolves approach them. But Shume then appears, and takes her son back.

She asks Ryuo to forgive her, and then runs off with Shuken. The wolves close in, but then members of the North Star clan blow them apart.

They, along with Ouka, track down Shume. Ouka asks why she did this. Shume says she's sorry, then coughs up blood. She says she's grown too ill, and won't even make it to the end of the summer. She at least wanted her child to live, as if he lost his mother, and his own life, it would be too tragic. She'd planned to cross the mountain and get to another town.

Ouka tells her that, as a mother, she understands her feelings. The elders think they should make Ryuo the successor to the North Star clan. But Ouka refuses, and asks them to make Shuken the successor instead. She only asks one thing: give Ryuo whatever position they must choose, but at least spare his life.

She passes her child to one of the elders, and says she knows their code: she offers them her own life in exchange. She walks up to the edge of a cliff, and says that for her younger sister, and their two babies, this is her love.

She leaps to her death. The elders of the clan, having witnessed Ouka's sacrifice, were deeply moved by her genuine love. One of them believed they had just heard the voice of the heavens, and bearing both women's deep love, Shuken will become the savior of this world.

With the support of those two women's love, Shuken completed the ultimate art: the North Star divine fist. Because of both its deadliness, and the tragedy of its founder, the art was sworn to a sole successor. There after, the elders built the female statue, and engraved this sad tale upon it.

Back in the present, Kenshiro says that it was said that Ouka's child, Ryuo, also bore the mark of the Big Dipper. That mark is proof of Kaioh's North Star clan heritage.

Ryuo lived on in the wasteland, and created the North Star lapis lazuli fist. He never knew of a mother's love, leading to his descendants going astray. The voice Kenshiro heard told him that someone must solve love -it is the fate of the successor to the North Star divine fist.

Back in the present, Kenshiro cries. He says that thinking back, both Raoh and Toki had wandered in love. If Kaioh intends to tarnish their great pride any further... he will be defeated by love.

NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW

Hyoh reaches his limit protecting Lin! And who is the man that appears on a horse? Kenshiro only has two more episodes left! Next time, on Fist of the North Star 2: "The Last Introduction! The 3rd Man Who Holds Lin's Fate Appears!!"