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Chapter 16: Fiendish Awakening
This stage is a lot like Chapter 14 in that it's a mishmash of several different areas. You'll start underground, where you'll immediately be assaulted by a swarm of bats. These should be a cinch by now, so take them down and proceed along. Search the dead body for an item and save your game at the Dragon Statue you eventually run into. There's another 60 enemy challenge here, and thankfully, this one's pretty easy. You'll be facing off against a swarm of wasp creatures. Jump attacks and projectile strikes ought to do the trick here, along with a bit of Ninpo if things aren't going your way. It shouldn't take too long to exterminate the pests, and you'll get a Jewel of the Demon Seal as a reward. Use it to power up the Ninpo of your choice.
Head back a bit to the save point and save your game - you probably don't want to have to go through that again, even if it wasn't that tough. Check the area around the Dragon Statue for another Life of the Gods.
Your goal from here is to get back to the Twin Serpents Plaza near the entrance of Tairon. To do this, you'll need to exit this area via the Aquaducts back into town. The zombie soldiers you fought as Rachel are here again, and they'll pop up in several places along the way. At Drawbridge Square, you'll be fighting three larger zombies. They're more like the regular zombies in terms of speed, but they can take a hell of a lot of damage. Be absolutely relentless in your attacks!
Finish them off to get a valuable Talisman of Rebirth, and then continue on your way. If you want, you can drop by Muramasa's physical shop to see an interesting cinematic sequence. The Dragon Sword isn't at its full power yet, apparently - there's a space in the hilt for a small jewel to be inserted. Foreshadowing? You bet. (Also fun: try throwing a shuriken at Muramasa and watch him react. Hee hee.) You can also continue to explore a bit around town to try and locate any treasures or items you may have missed before.
Once you reach the Twin Serpents Plaza, use all three pieces of the Tablet to activate a warp. You'll wind up back in the Hayabusa Village.
At the graveyard, you'll find the missing piece needed to complete your Dragon Sword, transforming it into the fiercely powerful True Dragon Sword. Hayabusa's already formidable asskicking ability has skyrocketed to new heights!
Leave this area, save your game at the Dragon Statue, and head back the same way you did as Rachel in Chapter 14. There's another Jewel of the Demon Seal inside the small structure that Rachel found the Tablet in, so be sure to stop by and grab it. The portal Rachel created is still there, so hop on in and go through a short series of portals until you reach an area with a Dragon Statue. Save your game and walk into the field for another hellish boss encounter…
Stage 16 Boss: Alma Redux
She's back and she's badder than ever! Unlike the bipedal fiend of before, Alma now has an insect-like set of legs that let her creep across the ground. This is looking bad already.
Many of her attacks are the same as her previous form, only increased in potency. The projectiles are harder to dodge, and the melee strikes hurt much more than before. A similar evasion and distancing strategy to the previous Alma fight will work OK, but you'll still need to be a bit quicker on your toes this time around.
Good news, however: she takes pretty heavy damage if you hit her when she's open! But even the good news comes with a caveat: She's incredibly tough to hit. D'oh. Jumping/slashthrough attacks are good to try against her, but she's more likely to block them than before. You may want to try attacking her when she's rushing at you, but again, this can be quite risky - you'll usually want up taking damage even if you do nail her. As always, persistence and patience is vital to your success here (as well as a few good restoration items). Keep at it and free Alma once and for all!
