Wep’Keer

When you are back out of the forest, head up the trail to enter Wep’keer and go up the stairs next to the merchant. Keep going up and out through the door at the top right to go out to where the altar and ark are. When you reach the altar, Issun will comment about no one being there. Head up the trail on the left side of the zone and follow it around until you come to the shrine doors where you were earlier. Talk to the crowd gathered there and they will tell you that Oki opened the door and ran through. Follow his path into the shrine and Lika and friends will run off to perform the volcanic incantation.

Wawku Shrine

When you enter the shrine, you will be shown a close up of two cannons guarding the entrance. Walk forward and when you hear the cannons fire, use mist to slow down the cannon balls. When the balls approach, use slash to knock them back at the cannons much like you did with the trees that tossed things at you. When they are destroyed, head through the door and make your way to the right across the icy bridge. Use jumps to control yourself from sliding off and use the fire to melt the ice blocking the doorway. Go through and watch for the falling ice and enter the next room. In here you will see two large scales. Melt the ice block off the right scale and then grab one of the small trees. Drop it on the scale that you melted the ice off of and grab a second one. When you have two trees on the scale, use bloom to make them grow and the platforms to the left of the room will rise.

Use wind to blow the snow ball across the platforms to the button and the door across the room will open revealing an arrow key for you. Grab it and head back out of the room and across the ice bridge to the eye lock. Go through and use the fire around the room to melt the ice and use the water brush to create a water column. Ride it up and jump off to the ledge on the left and follow the walkway around until you come to a set of spikes on the wall. Use the catwalk brush on the statue above it and create a path down beside the spikes. Climb up and jump off to the left and you will be shown some cannons in the area. Use the same technique on these cannons as the previous ones and use the mist to slow down the spinning platforms so you can jump across. Once you make is across the spinning platforms, head across the walkway and to the save well.

Go through the door on the left and use the mist power to slow the spinning wheels there. Go through the next door and use the mist to get past the spiders and hop off the cliff. Fight the Great Tengu there and you will see a puzzle to the right. Ignore it for now and go blow open the crack in the wall to find a pile of leaves. Burn each one and look at the picture on the ground. It will give you the solution for the puzzle outside. Head back out and hit the lever that frozen on the left of the puzzle with fire from the torch and unfreeze it. Now you will need to hit the lever when the spinning wheels are in a certain position. For the far left wheel, the eye will need to be at the top. For the middle the eye needs to be on the right side and for the right wheel, the eye needs to be on the left side. Once all three are lit up, you will receive the 13h and final brush technique. Once you have fit, try it out on the flame spider and then hop up the ledge. Continue past the rest of the spiders and head back inside the shrine and across the spinning wheels again.

Once you are back in the large open room with the save point, use the blizzard brush on the fire spiders and jump up to the bridge. From here you’ll need to jump up on a few more and enter the door at the top. When you enter the room there, use mist to cross the spinning wheels and use the torch to melt the ice block that is in the doorway. When you enter the next hall, the floor will break so you need to keep moving quickly and jumping to get through. At the end there will be a cannon so either keep moving or use mist to take it out. Use the save well in the next room and continue through the next door to run in Oki and another long scene. After the scene is over, you will begin a battle with Nechku.

Nechku

The battle with Nechku is a pretty simple one. For the most part, you will simply stay out of his way when he comes at you and wait for him to flutter off to the other side of the area. When he hovers there, he will send out various long range attacks at you. Use power slash to deflect them back at him and he will eventually get stunned. When he is, go to town on him and get in as many hits as you can on him. When he comes around, back off and repeat the same process until the next scene plays.

After your battle with Nechku, head back inside the shrine with the gear in your mouth and use it on the door to the right. Go through and you will come to an area outside. There will be a large chasm and four cannons near you. Ignite the two that aren’t moving and then you will need to time the other two cannons to hit the corresponding targets on the far side. Once they are down, you can use the ice pillars to create a walkway over the chasm and use mist to slow the cannon attack from the far side. Be quick though because the ice steps won’t last long. Once you get to the far side, use the torch on the ice block to the left to release a ice ball and blow it through the door that is now open. Roll it down the hallway into a room full of spinning fire gears. Use the ice ball to freeze the gears and hop across to the platform to the right. Use a bomb to blow up the crack and grab the arrow key. Head back across the gears to the next platform and go through the door there. Continue to the next room and talk to the merchant and use the save before heading through the gate. Once you do, talk to Oki and it will be on like Donkey Kong.

Nechku and Lechku

The battle with the two birds is pretty much the same as the fight with just Nechku. When the birds pull out their attacks, either the lightning conducive sword, the bomb, the balls they shoot or the ice pellets, fire them back at them or hit them with the correct counter measure which you should know by now and wait for the stars to appear around their heads. When they do, Oki will run over to you. Stand behind him and hit the triangle button to bite him and pull him back like an arrow. Hold it down for a few seconds and then launch him. He will hit one of the owls and turn it grey. Give it a power slash and then run over and hit it with your sword. If you power slash it again, it will wake up. The birds other attacks will include slowing time down and everything will go white. Use power slash on them to stop it and the other attack is to come at you while you are surrounded in a whirlwind. Use mist to stop that and have the owls turn grey, making them prime for a power slash. Once they are both down, sit back and watch the scene.

Kamui

After a few more incredibly long scenes, board the ark of Yamato for a few more long scenes and then you will finally be in control.

Ark of Yamato

As you enter the ark, you will see a merchant to the left and a save well. Use both and make sure you stock up pretty good on inks and holy bones. You’ll have a few boss fights coming up. There are five doors in this room, each with a large picture beside them. From the far right and moving right, they are Blight, Orochi (again), Spider queen, Crimson helm and finally Nine Tails. The battles are the same as you already went through when you fought them earlier so there isn’t much surprise on how to beat each one. If you forget how, here’s a reminder:

Blight

To battle the Blight, what you will need to do is wait for him to stop because when he does he will try to attack you really quickly. When he does, use the mist to slow him down and then get to attacking him. He will stone stone after a few slashes and then you need to hit him again. Once you do, his sword will go flying off to the side and you can then go and attack it. Give it some slash attacks and then eventually it will return to the Blight. Keep doing this over and over and it will eventually die.

Orochi

To battle Orochi, you will need to avoid the heads attacks until it roars at you. When it does, draw a line from the sake pools to the mouth. Do it and the head will pass out. Do it to 4 of the heads and you will be able to run up the neck to the bell in the center. When you get there, slash away at it until it breaks. When it does, you will now have to face off against each head. The first head I took on was the green head. Wait until it opens its mouth and then shoot sake at it. Let it hang and then power slash it and it will fall to the ground. Go nuts on it with attacks and it will die. Do the same for the one to the left of it with the black hat and it will die quickly as well. Keep going left and the next one will have a red hat. Again, slash to make it open its mouth and shoot sake in it. When it comes down, nail it will attacks to finish it off. Continue left and the next one will have a brown hat. Repeat the same moves and on to the next with the pirate hat. Do the same thing to it and when it drops the next one to the left will be wearing a white hat. Kill it and the next will be a yellow hat. There will be one left after him and it will be the water spouting head. When it floods the floor, hop across the lilly pads to the head and hit it. The water will flush away and the head will open its mouth. When it does, repeat the same thing you did for all the other heads and kill it.

Spider Queen

To defeat her, you will need to draw some vines from the flowers to the hooks that are on the spiders butt. When you have two attached, the spiders butt will open and his eyes will be exposed. Use the power slash to attack them. You will need to slash them a good five or so times until it is finally defeated.

Crimson Helm

To defeat this baddie, all you really need to do is the same as all the other enemies so far. Stay away from his attacks; which will be charging and shooting out flames, and then attack him when he is turned. Once you hit him enough times, his armor will fall off and he will be bones. Use the wind brush to blow out his flames and then use power slash and quick hits to do some major damage to him. You will need to knock off his armor two or three times depending on how much ink you have.

Ninetails

Nine Tails is pretty impressive when she first appears. It is the body of a fox with nine tails that are brushes. For the first part of the battle you will need to avoid her rushes and advances by running and jumping. Wait until she pulls out her sword and then use the Thunderstorm brush to draw a line from the lightning in the sky to the sword. When it hits, the tails will detach from her body and you will need to fight them all. Use power slash against them and try to gather as many tails in one slash as you can. See if you can get all the tails to come after you and then, nail them all repeatedly with slashes over and over. Once you have defeated all the tails, you will need to defeat ninetails herself. She will run back and forth charging at you and the only thing you can really do is jump out of the way and stay out of her path. When she pulls out the sword again, you can use the lightning to stun her as well, every once in a awhile when she charges, she will get tired and stay stunned facing the wall for a while. Slash her then as well and eventually she will drop

Once you have defeated them all again, the center of the area will glow and you will be able to transport up. Again, make sure you hit the merchant before you enter it. The final boss fight is a pretty long one. Stop on the light when you are ready and you will face off against Yami.

Yami

The final boss is Yami and it takes five different forms, well five different attacks that you need to defeat. He is always a large ball but does things differently each round. The first round Yami will be a brown ball and you will find your self without any brushes or weapons. Use your head butt on the ball until it releases your rejuvenation power. Once it does, you can start attacking the ball. Use it to cover the fix the holes the ball makes and continue till you get your power slash brush back. Once you do, start hacking away at the ball until it takes its new form, a green ball. In this form, Yami will split up his ball into slices and attack while also exposing the blue orb inside that needs to be hit. Slash the orb when it appears until you get your waterspout brush back. Once you do, then you can simply use the water around the platform area on the flaming disc to stun the ball.

Once it is stunned, you can walk up to it and wail away on it to your hearts content. Keep repeating that until it finally loses all health and turns into a blue ball. The ball ball is a bit different in the fact that when it attacks, it takes the form of a slot machine. When it opens, use your power slash to stop the spinning sections. What ever they land on, will be what will attack you. Most can be deflected back to the ball and some such as the fire attacks can be blown out with the wind. When you get all three spinning dials on the blue orb picture, it will crash down and give you free shots at it. Also keep an eye out for when the orb pops out at the top and bottom to power slash at it. Once this form has taken enough hits, it will become a yellow ball with arms. For the beginning part of this form, you will want to keep your distance from its whip arms.

Wait for the orb to appear in its chest and give it a power slash when ever you see it. Keep this up until you finally get your Thunderstorm brush. Once you have it, you can zap the orb with lightning as soon as it appears to knock the ball over and stun it. Each time it is stunned with lightning, the orb will roll out and be free for attacks. Hit it enough times and the final form will appear. The final form resembles a large hand and the orb will be in the palm. For the majority of this round, you are going to avoid the attacks the hand makes and wait for it to turn the sky black. Once it does that, use the rejuvenation brush to draw a sun in the sky and stun the hand. When it is stunned, the orb will roll out. Use a damage increaser if you have them and start going to town on the orb. If you feel brave enough, you can also use a damage deflector during the round when the hand is chasing you and hit the orb in the palm when it is wide open. Once you have hit the orb enough times, the final final final boss will FINALLY be defeated and you can sit back and watch the end sequence.

Congrats!