Chapter 3 Begins: Military Rule in Troubled Times.
When the South Star is in Disarray, the North Star Appears!!

In Mamiya's village, Kenshiro has decided to leave Bat and Lin behind. He sees that they're both sleeping, so after putting covers over them, he says farewell to them both.

Kenshiro walks out of the village, where he sees Toki waiting. Toki asks him if he's leaving. Kenshiro says that he feels something is calling him. Toki tells him that it's his destiny that's calling him. He's the successor to the North Star divine fist, and as the South Star fades, the North Star appears. Shin, who was Kenshiro's nemesis. Rei, who gave his life for Mamiya. Yuda, the star of deception. And three other warriors.

Together, they are known as the South Star six holy fists. In the distant past, the South Star six holy fists were known as the guards for the six gates of the emperor's castle. Among the 108 South Star styles, these six stood at the pinnacle of the South Star holy fist. And the North Star divine fist served the emperor as the supreme art that guarded the South Star six holy fists.

However, the nuclear war then happened. This war divided the South Star six holy fists, and it was when Yuda betrayed the order. He took his subordinates, the 23rd style of the South Star, and pledged their loyalty to the fearsome tyrant, the Fist King. One of the stars fell...

...and it was Yuda. Because of this, the remaining five stars also fell into dissaray.This sowed the seeds for enormous tragedies.

The star of sacrifice, Shin. The star of justice, Rei. Their tragedies were only a prelude of the greater tragedies to come. They, along with Yuda, have already fallen.

But the remaining three are still alive. Toki tells Kenshiro that there's no doubt that one day, he'll have to fight them. He tells Kenshiro to go -this is his destiny. Mamiya then walks up, and speaks to Ken.

She knows he must be going, and he says he is. He says that battles in the wasteland are waiting for him. Mamiya says that thanks to him, the villagers now have the courage to live. They'll no longer back down, no matter who attacks them. She says she'll continue to be the village's leader, and will protect it. And she'll remember Rei, who had devoted his life to her. Kenshiro says farewell to her, and then walks away from the village.

At another village, people are under attack by the forces of Souther, the Holy Emperor. The soldiers are ordered to capture the children, but kill everyone else. Many villagers are killed, and one of the soldiers declares that this village now belongs to the Holy Emperor.

At the Holy Cross mausoleum, children are being forced to work. Nearby, Souther watches the pyramid's construction.

Souther says that his mausoleum will soon be complete. Someone walks in, and tells him that the town of Ul has now fallen, and the entire D region is now under his control. Souther tells him well done, but he doesn't desire something as trifling as that. He seeks to seize the entire world.

He puts on a mask, and says he is the Holy Emperor, Souther. Even Raoh, the Fist King, has avoided a battle with him. He orders for his troops to go forward, and plunder the Earth bare. All land is to be put beneath the banner of the Holy Emperor!

At the other village, Souther's forces are now in command. They've decided that they'll now have the villagers trade food for water. A woman gives over a bag of good. The guy in charge decides that that's worth a bucket's worth of water -but only a third of the way filled. The woman says that won't be enough for her family, but she's told to shut up -if she has any problems with this, she should bring more food.

Kenshiro then appears, buy the Holy Emperor's forces don't realize it. He trades some gasoline, and is given half the amount of water back for it. He asks if that's all, and the leader asks him if he's got a problem with that. He has a couple of his guys come over, who tell Kenshiro that he should be happy to be getting any water at all. They asks him if he has a problem with this.

Kenshiro ends up taking the water, and walks away. The two soldiers thinks guys like that just need a little threatening to be dealt with.

The next guy who comes along doesn't have any food. The soldiers say they won't give him any water for free, but the man begs them, as he hasn't had a drop to drink for two days. Everyone had been able to drink freely from the well in this town until recently. One of the soldiers grabs him, and says things are different now. He tells him to go on home, and throws him to the floor.

Kenshiro gives the man the water he has. One of the soldiers boots the man in the back, and tells Kenshiro not to interfere.

The solider stomps on the man's back, and tells him to bark like a dog. If he does that, they'll let him drink the water. The man eventually barks, so the soldier says he can drink -but he has to lap it up like a dog. The man does as he's told.

The soldier wants him to bark again, but Kenshiro then punches in the face. The villagers then run away, as Kenshiro asks the soldiers what's wrong. The leader orders for Kenshiro to be killed.

Kenshiro quickly takes down several men, who land in a heap in front of their leader.

He then starts counting. The leader asks what he's doing that for, but Kenshiro tells him he'll soon understand. Kenshiro gets to 10, and the men he's defeated all explode. The other soldiers surrounded him, and ask Kenshiro if he knows who he's messing with -they're the Holy Emperor's forces.

Kenshiro says he doesn't know who they are. To him, they just look like a bunch of thugs, who are picking on the weak. The leader orders everyone to attack, so they charge. But Kenshiro is soon hitting pressure points on everyone.

HONSHA BAKURETSU KEN

(North Star Spinning Explosive Fist)

Kenshiro clicks his fingers, and the men he's defeated all explode. The leader realizes this guy is using the North Star divine fist, and Kenshiro introduces himself. The one other guy remaining with the leader runs away in fear, as Kenshiro leaps over. The leader says he's not afraid, and won't run. Kenshiro hits a pressure point on him and tells him he won't be able to run anyway.

The leader falls to his knees. Kenshiro tells him he won't be able to control his body, and if he tries to force himself to move, he'll explode. The leader tries to get up, but his body blows apart. Kenshiro says this is such a miserable era.

Back at Mamiya's village, Lin watches the sunset. Bat and Pel come over, and Bat passes Lin some bread. Bat asks her why she hasn't been eating recently, and realizes she must still be thinking about Ken. He wonders how long she'll think about someone who's gone -he can't take it anymore! As he stomps off, Lin looks back out at the sun.

Bat then drives up, and tells her to get in. If she wants to see Ken, they can go and find him. Lin gets in the car with Pel, and Bat admits that he wants to see Ken too. They drive off into the desert.

Back at the other village, the villagers are celebrating the fact that they can now drink freely again. But three of the villagers talk to Kenshiro, and tell him about how terrible the Holy Emperor's forces are. They don't think they'll be allowed to get away with this, and tell Kenshiro he's made some bad enemies. One of them tries to give Kenshiro a bag of food, and tells him to run now, whilst he still can. Kenshiro refuses, as if he does run, it'll cause trouble for them, and they won't be relieved from their suffering. They then hear some villagers shouting, and see that more of the Holy Emperor's forces have arrived.

Kenshiro goes to confront them by himself. As the soldiers come to a stop, one of them, the guy who ran away earlier, confirms to the unit's captain that this guy is Kenshiro. The captain says they'll show Kenshiro how fearsome the Holy Emperor's forces are. The soldiers all surround Kenshiro.

Kenshiro tells them to leave this town immediately, but the captain tells his men to get Kenshiro. The soldiers all charge forward.

Kenshiro rips his jacket and shirt off, and starts taking on all the soldiers. He quickly smashes everyone who tries to attack him out of the way.

He then leaps over to where the captain is, and hits a pressure point on his head, which breaks apart his helmet. Kenshiro tells him to leave this town now, but the captain says he can't do that. Kenshiro tells him he'll have to pay, and lets him go. The captain immediately points his flamethrower at Kenshiro, and asks how he dares to resist the Holy Emperor's forces.

Before he can fire, his face starts to twist up. Kenshiro tells him he's already dead, but the captain warns him that the Holy Emperor, Lord Souther, won't let him do this. He then dies, and his head blows apart. The remaining soldiers run away. Kenshiro sees that this Holy Emperor Souther is his new enemy.

Elsewhere, Souther and some of his men drive through a canyon. They are watched by three others, who hope to defeat him so they can get their children back. A little later on, Souther observes the construction of the pyramid.

The children continue to work on it, and Souther is informed that the Holy Cross mausoleum is now 80% complete. One of his soldiers tells him he was wise to use obedient children instead of rebellious adults. Nearby, the three guys wait for their chance.

One of them fires an arrow at Souther, but he avoids it just be casually cocking his head. The men then attack, and as one of them has a shotgun, they easily start killing Souther's men.

As two of the guys deal with Souther's men, the other goes to shoot Souther. He fires a shot, but Souther seemingly teleports out of the way.

In the next instant he's right next to his attacker, and strikes him down with a slicing technique. His shotgun is broken, and he is badly injured. As he falls down, Souther stomps on his head. He then asks the other two if they want their friend to live. If they do, they should put down their weapons.

The guy on the floor tells his allies to forget about him, and defeat Souther. They hesitate, so Souther thinks they can't act out of pity. He decides to cut off the source of that pity.

He crushes the guy's head. The other two try and attack, but Souther swings his arms out...

...and slices the other two men. They fall to their deaths, as Souther thinks they could have just run away. But because of pity, they ended up wasting their lives.

Souther removes his mask, and thinks that his star is the star of leadership, born to the star of an emperor. An emperor needs not love or pity...

NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW

A mysterious man, Shu, suddenly appears before Kenshiro! Is he a friend, or a foe? Next time, on Fist of the North Star: "The Star of Darkness Engulfs the Heavens! The End of the Struggle is Coming!!"

Kenshiro: The rage of the tempest is calling me.