Live A Live: Secret Orders (Part 1)

The main character for this chapter is my absolute favourite. He's a purple haired ninja, what's not to love about that? His default name is Oboro-maru, and I really wanted to name him Battousai but since that doesn't fit I am naming him Kijin-maru instead. This is by far the most complicated chapter, I personally had to start over about five times. But since you are following a faq not reading one, you won't have that problem. Lucky you.



There are a few different ways to go through this chapter. One is the "peaceful" way where you do not kill anyone, and then the "violent" way where you aim to kill all 100 available people. Each of these rewards you at the end with a special weapon, but since we can get one from an optional boss that makes both of those entirely unnecessary, I am just going to go somewhere in between. I may do walkthroughs for the other two at a later date, but this path is going to be my main focus. If you are going for 0 kills however, I strongly recommend Boltage McGammar's video walkthrough.

You'll drop down right behind two guards, leave these or kill them if you want some experience. I recommend fighting as much as possible, unless you're going for 0 kills obviously.  Go north for two more guards, and then into the building for a small scene.


There is a password system in place in the castle. When someone declares Mountain respond with River. Eventually a bell will ring and you will have to respond with Origin instead, and when the bell goes off again it goes back to River. Since we're just going to be killing everyone we won't really need to worry about keeping up with it. Go into the room on the right and kill another guy if he pesters you, and you should level up here. Open the chest for a Chain Mail.

There is a simple enemy in the middle room for you to kill as well, so do that. There will be a samurai roaming around in the hallway who is rather dangerous. Try to move so that there's one tile between you (not diagonal) and hope that he moves toward you. You can try turning him around with Cross Slice, but two Shinobi Slashes should take him out.


Outside there are more samurai, you can hide from them using the cloak you were given in the intro if you want. There are two guards to the left who are much more easily taken care of, as well as this hidden merchant. If you kill the guards and merchant you should learn Flame Arts, which will make taking the samurai out a bit less dangerous. Head through the doors here to find another hallway and another samurai.

Out of the next set of doors, the left-most one leads to a room full of women - do not kill them, no matter what or you will not get one of this chapter's best items. In the middle room kill the samurai but not the other guy, and then in the room on the right is a weak merchant enemy. There's also a hidden door in the top left corner which you will see someone go through as you enter, so follow them.


That's just sheer brilliance, that is. Curiously, the guy guarding the attic won't attack you if you answer "Potato" but he will if you give him the password for the wrong time. It's a tough enemy, but you can win as long as you stand right next to him and keep him from using his ranged attacks. His Shuriken Tail Flick can and usually will kill you in one shot. Once you've climbed the ladder you can peep through the holes in the floor to see some small scenes, and there will also be a little scene as you go over toward the three chests at the bottom. Two are empty, though the one on the left contains some Money. Now that you've got this you can go back down and kill the guy in the middle room. To the left around the wall is a chest with a Castella which is a healing item.

Left from here is another chest with a Suijin's Tabi, though there is a ladder in your way that you will have to go down then climb back up. While you're down here you can go into the room below and talk to the old man to fight two more ninja enemies. Get right between them, they will attack one at a time so you can heal if you need to. The easiest method is to get between them and use Cross Slice, which will usually turn around and cause them to use the same attack. Luckily their version is much weaker.

Go back up to the attic and loop back around and head toward the left-side exit and a guy will come out. This is another enemy like the one just before, you can avoid fighting him by pressing Y to pull the cloak on as soon as he enters. If you do fight him, again just stay in really close. Also if you equipped the tabi we got, you can now heal on water tiles, though only 8 hp each time. Whether you've avoided or killed the ninja, head left and exit onto the roofs.

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Save before you enter the first building because you will encounter this inside. The fight isn't as deadly as it seems, they won't all attack at once and four of the five have significantly weaker attacks. Run up underneath the second one down from the top-left corner, since you can't reach the other one yet and beat him down with Shinobi Slash. Once he's out of the way do the same thing with the one above him. I got hit with Shuriken Tail Flick a couple times, but I was able to heal and pull through. Alternatively, if you were lucky enough to get a Fujin's Scroll from one of the many samurai enemies, just toss that out and be done.

Once the one in the top-left is dead the other three will disappear as they were just illusions. In the chests you'll find Money and a Genji's Gauntlet. This item offers a bit more defense than the Shinobi Gauntlet but not as much speed. I equipped it anyway because I felt I needed the defense more. Exit this room. Head along the roofs and enter an attic that will be above the door you went through right after dropping into the castle. You'll have to move around the perimeter of the room, touching the middle will cause you to fall through.

Continue on to the storehouse attic (your character will jump over the small gap you come to) which contains a Storehouse Key in the middle chest and a Castella on the left (the other is empty). Head through the passage to the north to end up in a room with a bunch of conveyors and wooden wheels. Head left and then up, and then take a couple tracks east directly down into a pit. Tempt the guard here into your cell by turning invisible, but save first. His attacks hurt. Use Flame Arts as he closes in on you, then start turning him around with Cross Slice once he's in close. If you're lucky he won't get to attack at all, and he'll drop the Basement Key when he dies.

Open the cell below you for two very strange enemies. They may seem simple but they have a counter ability that's fairly dangerous. Next open the cell in the north-east for what turns out to be a disguised samurai.  You can kill the guy in the other cell here too, he asks you for food but if you give him some he will choke and die. I left him alone because I want to see if there's something I can do about him later. When you're done in here, go through the hidden door at the bottom-right.

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In the cell to the right is disguised samurai enemy you can kill, and then head through a hidden doorway a bit further right. Go down the steps and take out another simple enemy, then open the cell on the far left. As you move up to talk to the prisoner, you'll get dropped down into this gloomy pit. The blue wisps are Lost Soul enemies, which you can probably kill with a single Flame Arts by now. They also respawn infinitely, so I'd highly recommend training to level 7 if you have the patience. In any case, you have to completely clear the room before attempting to leave. Sometimes they hide down at the bottom where you won't be able to see them.

A boss will come to block your path as you approach the steps. If there are still spirits lingering around, choose "I give up" and then run around the room killing any Lost Souls that remain. You'll be able to tell when there are none left because she will stutter as she starts to speak to you. The room must be absolutely empty when you challenge the boss or else she will just regenerate. When you've finally done the ridiculous deed, run to the top and challenge Shiro.

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She is tough, and it is incredibly easy to get slaughtered here. Don't stand right next to her, but don't move too far away or she'll hit you with a ridiculously powerful electric attack. Using Strength of Ninja (level 7) at the very start is about your only opportunity to shave a good chunk of her health off, after that she will constantly be trying to cancel out your attacks as well as heal. You should be able to keep ahead of her by spamming Shuriken Storm, and heal when necessary.

When she is dead for real you will get Maria's Veil and Ryoma will crash down into the pit, and then join the party. Equip the veil on your main character and give Ryoma the Chain Mail, then head up the steps. Ignore the prisoner in the cell beside Ryoma's - he will serve a purpose, but not quite yet. Take the steps up and unlock the leftmost cell on the dungeon's first floor to fight two very simple enemies. Exit the dungeon entirely and you will find a man sitting on a cushion that you can talk to to fight two ninjas, and a chest beside him containing a Kotetsu.

Head south through this hallway and take a hidden door in the right corner for a chest with an Izanagi's Scroll. Just ignore the woman in here. Go back and take the left exit from the hallway to come to another small section with four guys running around that you can battle. One is wearing different coloured clothing and is a bit tougher, but it shouldn't give you trouble now that you have Ryoma.


Ignore the first room here, it contains a woman who will constantly appear in every room you enter until you have defeated her 16 times. Despite her demonic appearance, she still counts as a female so killing her will block you off from a valuable prize near the end of the chapter. Go through the door on the right and through a hallway to another with three doors. Take the left-most one after getting rid of a samurai for two chests with some Money and a Shinobi's Birdlime. That's all we wanted here, so back track to the hall that had the four guys running around and exit via the south door.

Kill the two guards outside as well as the samurai, then use the Storehouse Key on the building to the right. Inside you will find a couple more lost souls which will regenerate each time you leave and come back, as long as you don't kill the woman in the corner (she is a demon so she won't count against you). What we really want here is in the chests and pots. We get; an Ode Shuriken, a Genji Tabi, an Izanagi Scroll, some Money, a Topknot, and two Tenmusu. Exit the building when you're done.

Head through the rear door of the building on the left and take the door on the right for two chests (both containing Castella) and two enemies. Take the left door and proceed through the hallway as there is nothing in the middle. Where you come out there is a samurai to kill, but both of the rooms by him are empty. If you are going for maximum experience then go south and exit the building and use your Storehouse Key on the small warehouse to the left where you will be attacked by a ninja, then two, then four. Don't bother with the chest as it just contains another Basement Key which we obviously don't need.

Now head back inside the previous building and go back through the door on the right to access the attic. Go all the way back to where we got the storehouse key, and I'll cut this off there.

See the next section to continue on.