As they descended, they were greeted by yet another marketplace. It was much larger than the last one, and the ground was solid square-patterned concrete. In front of them was a sign that read "Welcome to Eclipse." It was the name of the marketplace they were in, As usual, the sky turned even bluer, though still seemed quite dull. The stalls were wider and housed fresher-looking foods and a wider selection of items. There were also small attractions that piqued the interest of children. The shoppers there were mostly Demis, but there were a few ghosts there excluding Came. They walked around for a bit, this time Kazuya and Mono were wearing masks carved of wood, which they borrowed from Gale.
"This place sure is a lot livelier, huh?" Kazuya said.
"Of course. This is where most Demis come to shop for farming supplies and any foods they need. The products are so fresh that the people on the level below us also sometimes come here for convenience purposes." Terra explained proudly.
"Remember. We don't need to do anything here. We just need to get to the level below us." Came said.
"Right." Kazuya and Terra said.
"....Uh, where's Mono?" Asked Kazuya.
"That idiot-" The three of them thought to themselves.
Mono had decided to walk off on his own after seeing the size of the place. "Man, I could walk around here for ages! And the food here is delicious!" He said as he stuffed his mouth with free samples from the stalls. He continued visiting multiple stalls, but the word was already spreading about someone going around wearing a wooden mask, asking for samples, and he was eventually stopped from getting any more food.
"Damn. This reeks." He thought depressingly, as he walked at a sluggish pace, with his face to the floor.
As he was walking, he bumped into the back of someone. Someone big. He was pushed back onto the ground and looked up. Mono was ready to complain, but what he saw had him speechless. He saw a person, with a large black cloth as their clothing, and their head was a red mask, with black soulless eyes, yellow spirals on either cheek, two small nose holes, and a small, pill-sized void as the mouth. It appeared to have no actual head and possessed no legs. The person turned around and walked away from Mono.
A few moments later, he was found by the other three, who scolded (and bruised) him well. They continued walking towards the next gate while picking up a few supplies from the shops thanks to Terra's money.
"Sorry for leeching off of you like this..." Kazuya apologized.
"It's alright. We're in this together, remember?" Terra said with a smile.
"Still it's strange that there aren't any guards here either." Came said with slight concern.
"Maybe they've given up after we beat 'em on the previous level?" Said Mono.
Nervously, they approached the next gate but thankfully went down without issue. As they fell, they noticed the layout of the level from afar. It possessed large, wooden buildings and shrines, golden accents, red paint on every building the eye can see, and its ground was complete water, with only bridges and artificial platforms to move across it, which were also made of wood. Additionally, above them was a black and dark sky, with no light to radiate the time of day, despite other levels having dull yet bright skies.
"What is this place..." Kazuya thought to himself.
They successfully landed on one of the bridges, though they interrupted a lot of walking. As they looked around, Mono was speechless. Everyone around them was wearing masks and long black clothes. Each mask pattern was different, with some having different base colors, but the most common one was red, as with everything in this level. It was also clear that these people didn't have physical heads from the positioning of the clothes that extended to the top-back area of the mask.
"Woah. This place is beautiful..." Said Terra.
"Wait, these guys don't have legs!" Kazuya exclaimed. "And their heads, they look caved in from the back!"
"What a weird place." Came thought to himself. "Kazuya. Do you have the letter?"
"Oh, right. Yeah, I do." He replied.
"Alright, Gale said that we should be able to just ask any of them to guide us, so let's do that," said Came. He proceeded to stop one of the masked people, and ask them about Budo's location. Immediately, the others around them froze in place and gave them a large stare. Hastily, the person they asked started walking away, to which the four of them followed.
"Oi, are ya sure this guy's not just runnin' away from us? He keeps going faster!" Mono said as the group began to run.
The further they went, the fewer buildings there were. They had been running for a while now and eventually reached an isolated part of the town. What greeted them was a small shack that read simply read "DOJO."
"Is this it?" Kazuya asked. The masked figure did not respond, and walked away from them. They decided to enter the small shack, whose door was a red curtain. As they stepped inside, they saw an empty room. There was no training equipment, no chairs, and Budo himself was not even there.
"Man, did that guy just lead us to some run-down shack or something?" Mono complained.
"We were told by Gale that if we just ask one of 'em, they'd lead us to the correct place. Maybe-" Before Kazuya could finish, he was interrupted by wind coming from the center of the room. Suddenly, a dark ball of gas formed there, and expanded. What appeared was yet another masked figure, only this time their mask was completely different from everything they had seen. It was a bright white, had a long pointy nose, eyes in the shape of crescents, and no mouth.
"Uh, Hi... Are you perhaps Budo? We were sent here by Gale." Kazuya said.
The masked figure didn't speak, and walked towards Kazuya. He put out his hand, as though asking for something.
"Oh, the letter!" Kazuya remembered. He handed the letter to him, which he started to read.
He then put down his arm, and let go of the letter. Silence broke out, as everyone was waiting for a response of some form....
"SO YOU'RE FRIENDS OF GALE, EH? HOW GREAT! HOW FUN! HOW JOYOUS!" The masked figure shouted, with a slightly high pitched voice.
"Yes, I am in fact BUDO! The great martial artist!" He proclaimed. "Now, I don't train people anymore, but I'll make an exception for y'all, 'kay?"
"Um, thank you very much," Kazuya said, still in a confused shock from Budo's personality. He was envisioning some old wise man, who had a scratchy deep voice, who was calm yet strict. However, the only menacing thing about this man, was his appearance.
"Now, if you two could take off your masks, that'd be great. I need to see your face to assess how much work you'd need." Budo Said.
Mono and Kazuya took off their wooden masks, and all four of them stared into the crescent-shaped eyes of Budo, which resembled the void. There was a long pause of silence, as they got more and more uncomfortable.
"Hm... this quite interesting," Budo said.
"You, the small boy with the blue hoodie. You must be Kazuya, correct?" Budo said.
"Yes, I am," Kazuya replied.
"Alright, Kazuya. Gale said in his letter that you wanted to be able to better control Sky Energy, is that correct?"
"Right."
"Alrighty! Follow me then. We'll get started right away!"
Budo grabbed Kazuya's hand and walked towards the center of the room. Wind started to rush in like a spiral, and Kazuya was engulfed by black smoke, before disappearing.
"Alright, that should do it." Budo said.
"Oi! Where the hell did ya put Kazuya?!" Mono exclaimed, getting into a battle stance.
"I sent him to my domain. You'll all be going through this domain, but he needs to do it first." Budo said.
"What're you yappin' about? What's happening to Kazuya?!" Mono said threateningly.
"Kazuya... is facing the creatures and terrain of my domain. There are only two outcomes from this. Either he survives by channeling Sky Energy efficiently, getting past all the creatures that want to kill him, and reaching the very other side of the Jungle, where I've placed an exit, or he dies." Budo Said.
"You're dead." Mono said, channeling a large amount of Sky Energy.
"Now, now don't get too feisty. If you kill me, my domain will simply be inaccessible , and Kazuya would be trapped in there forever, in which case he'd definitely die." Budo explained. "This could take a while, so please, rest up in one of the inns around here."
Budo then proceeded to absorb himself within another cloud of black smoke, and disappeared. Kazuya meanwhile, was now in a strange terrain. Surrounding him were blue plants, trees, and vines. And the sky above him was a bright yellow, but was partially blocked by the Trees that formed into semi-circles, lined up one after the other. He now faced a challenge that threatened his life, and despite the fear he felt, and the chills being sent down his spine, he couldn't help but feel the excitement rushing through his veins!
He now only had one goal: to control the energy around him to survive!