With Airi in his grasp, King Fang tells Rei he will make him feel true pain. He begins to mock Rei by saying that he knows the feelings he is going through after seeing so many of his sons killed by him and Kenshiro. Rei attempts to jump up and fight them all, but he is told not to move by King Fang, who puts his sword next to his hostage's head.



Ken then steps forward and tells the Fang clan their predicament: they are here to rescue Airi. If she dies, he will kill them all and then some. This scares most of the clan, but King Fang asks if he has ever felt the loss of a loved one. Gojiba eggs him on by saying they should make her suffer slowly. Fang thinks this is a brilliant idea and is about to lodge his sword in her neck, despite Rei's pleas to stop, when Mamiya steps forward and says that there is someone who Kenshiro cares about!



Kenshiro doesn't know what she is doing but then realises something: is she going to tell King Fang about them? No, she isn't, because she says that she is the one who is important to him, as they are engaged! Gojiba demands proof of their engagement, which Mamiya simply provides by kissing him in the most over dramatic way possible.



King Fang seems to think that this is enough proof for him and tells Mamiya that he will let Airi go if she comes up here to take her place. Ken knows it must be a trap and tells her not to go, but Rei tells him to let her go as if she manages to free his sister, he will protect her forever. Mamiya makes her way to the top and soon stands before King Fang. Two of the clan attack her but she kills them both, and Fang keeps his side of the bargain by releasing Airi.



Mamiya catches Airi. Instead of doing the non-stupid thing of jumping off the cliff with her and letting Rei and Ken use their girl catching skills to win the day, Mamiya has a much bolder plan: kill King Fang. She puts Airi to one side, draws here yo-yos and aims them at Fang's head...but they just bounce off!



King Fang grabs Mamiya, but she doesn't give up and pulls out two small spears. She shoves them right into Fang's chest, which seems to hurt him...but then he laughs it off and tells her to check her weapons. They didn't work!



This is because he has learnt "Kazan Kakuteigi" -a technique that allows him to turn his body as hard as steel and that Mamiya could never, ever hurt him. Now with two hostages, Gojiba suggests it is time for some fun, and throwing knives at them sounds like a good game. King Fang agrees and he has the two women tied up and stood against a cliff. Gojiba gets ready.



The other Fangs all get excited and Gojiba starts throwing knives, but he shows his skill by throwing them around the heads of his targets. One of the Fangs tells him to do it with a blindfold on and it is something he is happy to do -he throws a knife that almost goes straight into Mamiya's face, but it narrowly misses and goes through part of her hair, luckily. The Fangs tell Gojiba to try it again at the other hostage.



Rei finally snaps and gets down on his knees to beg King Fang fto release Airi, and says that he will do whatever he wants as long as he doesn't kill his sister. Fang's demand is a great burden however: he wants Rei to kill Kenshiro! Ken tells Rei to just calm down as Fang just wants one or both of them to die, and they shouldn't do anything stupid yet.



But Rei doesn't listen and as the sun rises he takes his stance. He tells Ken to get ready to fight! He immediately uses his Nanto Suicho Ken to try and slice Kenshiro to pieces. Ken does not attack back, but instead just defends and dodges Rei's strikes, which get faster and faster.



Ken eventually stops Rei's fists by grabbing his wrists, as the rock behind him breaks apart. King Fang is happy because he believes that the man of Nanto and man of Hokuto will kill each other, leaving him to rule supreme, and then further hurt Mamiya by raiding her village and killing everyone in it. Meanwhile Rei wants to know why Ken isn't fighting back.



Ken tells Rei about how he once lived for a woman. He explains the story of how Yuria was taken away from him by Shin, and how he fought to get her back, only to find out that she had died. But she still lives on in his memory. Rei wants to know why he told him this and Ken explains that he doesn't want them to fight. Rei wishes things could return to the peaceful days of before, but he still maintains that he must beat Ken.



Having had enough of the pair trying to kill each other, Mamiya decides that she must kill herself for some reason, but King Fang grabs her just before she tries to throw herself onto a spear. She tells Ken and Rei that her death doesn't matter as long as they protect her village from this clan. But what's this? Ken seems to have gone into a stance, and tells Rei that he can't beat him unless he uses his secret technique.


HOKUTO SEIKYOKURIN

(North Star Holy Ring)



Ken tells Rei he should know what his stance means. King Fang seems to know something about it and believes that this is it: one or both of them will die shortly. The two are that focused on each other that when King Fang throws his sword at them, they stop it mid-flight and shatter it with just the tips of their fingers. Rei then goes into a stance of his own. And not to be outdone, so does Ken.


NANTO KO HA RYU / HOKUTO RYU GEKI HO

(South Star Tiger Destroys Dragon / North Star Dragon Attacks Tiger)



Rei strikes first, but Kenshiro evades his move and hits him right in the face. Rei is knocked back, but has enough energy to spin around and have another go at Ken. This time, Ken isn't fast enough to react in time, and he gets hit in the chest.



Ken removes Rei's fist, but lots of blood spurts out from his chest. Both men then collapse, so King Fang sends a couple of his guys down to check if they really are dead or not. They find out that they are, so more Fangs are sent down to abuse the bodies -they want to cut the two of them up for what they did to some of the other clan members. They raise their swords.



Just as they start, there is some flashing and the clan members and all killed, as Ken and Rei appear again, alive! Fang and Gojiba realise that they have been tricked.



Ken and Rei had just entered a false state of death, as it was all part of their "Holy Ring" technique, and their plan has worked. Ken points a finger and reminds King Fang that he has been bound to die since the beginning.


NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW

The time has come for Kenshiro to fight against Fang, but will Hokuto Shinken be able to defeat a man who can make his body as hard as steel? Find out next time in "It’s Too Late to Beg for Mercy! Go to Hell, King Fang!!"