Aku wakes up and smashes his alarm clock. He pouts on his burning eyebrows and does his exercises, and goes to deal with his newest tribute. The Shogun of Sorrow is less than thrilled with the mud creatures and their offering, and complains that they're messing up his floor. He orders them out, and his scientists arrive to show him their new beetle drone. Aku wonders why he should care, and the head scientist points out that it will kill Jack. Aku tells them that it's the new Aku and he doesn't care about Jack. He invites the scientists to kill Jack because he doesn't care.
later, Aku meets with his therapist and explains that in 50 years he's been unable to kill Jack. He thought that Jack would die of old age, but he hasn't and it looks like Jack will be there forever. The therapist--Aku's subconscious--agrees that it's quite a conundrum. They both hope that someone could dispose of Aku's problem.
A lone wolf walks through the forest and comes to a fork in the road. After a moment he takes the left path.
Jack rides through the forest and comes to a fork in the road. After a moment he takes the left path.
Green-striped tigers emerge from the forest and attack the wolf.
Jack brakes to a halt as he realizes something is waiting to ambush him. He dismounts and draws his battle staff, and the ground shakes. The newest beetle drone emerges from the trees and Jack throws his staff into the robot. It tears it apart from the inside and the drone explodes. Satisfied, Jack recovers his staff, remounts his motorcycle, and drives away. However, he hits an energy line and it shatters his motorcycle. Jack lands on his feet and draws his sword, but shadowy figures attack him, destroying his armor and knocking away his sword. jack grabs his machine gun and opens fire on the trees, screaming defiance.
The wolf howls defiance and attacks the tigers.
One of the Daughters pulls away Jack's gun with a chain and destroys it. He runs, setting off charges behind him, He takes shelter in the ruins of the beetle drone, and he sees the ghost of his past self. It tells him to end it. Jack insists that they're just machines. The ghost points out that Jack doesn't have the sword and there's no hope, and asks what happens when Aku finds him and realizes that Jack has lost the sword. Jack figures that Aku will never emerge from wherever he's gone, and the ghost asks how long Jack can defeat the drones. He points out that there's no way home and no honor, and refuses to spend eternity in the forsaken time. The ghost asks Jack if he's tired and his ancestors are waiting for him to join him. Jack looks out and sees the dark rider waiting, and insists that he'll make it.
Jack runs out into the storm and the Daughters pursue. The samurai sees them for the first time, and ducks into a ruined temple. The Daughters come in after him and split up to search for Jack. One of them spots a firefly in a darkened room and follows it. Another spots a footprint and comes to a tree growing through the floors. She climbs up but finds nothing.
Another Daughter swims through a flooded hall to a room but Jack isn't there. None of her sisters have any luck, and they fade into the shadows to wait. Jack finally emerges from a crack in the ceiling and sees the firefly. He follows it into the room and the Daughter attacks him. They fight in the dark and another arrives. Jack flees and they follow, and another one cuts herself out of the tree and slashes at him. Jack avoids her attack and vies into the flooded corridor, and the Daughter there attacks him. He swims past her and the others, emerges, and runs.
The floor collapses below Jack and he falls into the chamber below. The Daughters jump down after him and find a room filled with hundreds of sarcophaguses. At the center is a mummified warrior seated on a throne. The Daughters search the room, while Jack hides in one of the sarcophaguses. When the seven Daughters find him, they stab into the sarcophagus but Jack jumps clear. They continue their attack and Jack grabs the mummified warrior's axe. The Daughters soon destroy it and Jack runs out of the room.
A Daughter moves to intercept him and Jack disarms her. She draws a knife and Jack cuts her throat with her own sword. Blood spurts out and she goes down, and Jack realizes that he has killed a human woman... and she left her knife in his side. He hears the other Daughters coming and staggers toward the exit, leaving a trail of blood. Using Scarmouch's sword, Jack causes the hallway to start collapsing. The exit leads to a river, and Jack passes out from blood loss, falling into the water below. Behind him, the temple explodes as the river carries Jack away.
In the forest, the wolf lies dying, surrounded by its dead enemies.
Written by Gadfly on Mar 19, 2017