Chapter 7: The Seafloor Palace

Chapter 7: The Seafloor Palace (7章　深海に潜む神殿 7-Shō Shinkai ni Hisomu Shinden, "Chapter 7: The Temple Hidden in the Depths of the Sea") is the seventh chapter in the storyline of Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Featuring returning boss Tanatos, Pit's goal is to defeat the god of death in order to claim the Underworld Key and gain access to the Underworld.

Air Battle
At the beginning of the chapter, Palutena sends Pit through a vast desert, informing him of their next mission: to claim the Underworld Key from the god Tanatos. Tanatos's base is located at the bottom of the ocean, though Palutena remedies this by parting a nearby sea—however, the god Poseidon suddenly interjects to claim responsibility for the feat instead.

As Pit traverses through the parted ocean, Poseidon shows Palutena his support and complains about the nuisance of the Underworld Army. Pit then crosses through a sunken city, which Poseidon states was the result of asserting his authority over the humans. Pit eventually reaches the ocean's floor, and Palutena flies him down to Tanatos's base, the Seafloor Palace.

Land Battle
Once inside, Palutena announces to Pit that Poseidon has closed the ocean. The sea god then wishes them luck before departing, and Tanatos begins telepathically communicating with them soon after, informing them that his name is "Thanatos" now. Palutena asks Thanatos to hand over the Underworld Key, but the god is reluctant to listen, forcing them to proceed with their mission. However, the Seafloor Palace proves to be difficult, as it contains many enemies, stage hazards, and unfavorable conditions for fighting. Nonetheless, Pit manages to successfully traverse through the palace, eventually making his way to Thanatos.

Intensity Gates
The level 9.0 Intensity Gate is located near the very beginning of the Land Battle portion, directly to the right from where the player starts. Inside are puddles with electrical currents, and a Treasure Box that will only appear if the enemies within are defeated.

The level 4.0 Intensity Gate can be found after Pit falls through the trap door leading back to the central area, located immediately to the right in the next room over. Inside are two Frozums, a Bumbledrop, damage-inflicting electrical orbs, and a Treasure Box.

Boss Battle
Upon reaching the boss chamber, Pit encounters Thanatos and engages him in battle.

During this fight, Thanatos will utilize his shape-shifting abilities to transform into a variety of different forms.

Normal Form
Thanatos is primarily a projectile user in this form, unleashing rapid-fire energy beams from the branch-like accessories around his shoulders or slower-moving blasts that resemble a demonic face. The latter will inflict poison on contact.

Nesting Doll
Thanatos will change into a doll version of himself, simply bouncing toward his opponent to attack. By shooting the red gem on his belly, the doll will open up and spawn a smaller version of itself. This process must be repeated until the smallest doll spawns a miniature Thanatos.

Bat
Transforming into a medium-sized bat, Thanatos will flutter around the room and fire bat-shaped projectiles. He is also capable of splitting off into small swarms of bats, which grants him brief invincibility until the bats join together again.

Urn
Thanatos will transform into an urn, which he claims to be impervious to Pit's attacks. He will attack by deploying red and white skulls onto the battlefield, and while the red skulls explode on contact, he can be damaged by deflecting the white skulls back at him.

Foot
Thanatos transforms into a giant green foot that will hover towards Pit. Once in position, he will either stomp once or three times in quick succession.

Sword
Transforming into a large sword accompanied by spears, Thanatos will hover towards Pit and slash at him. The spears are invulnerable to attacks, forcing Pit to exclusively target the sword.

Epilogue
Once Thanatos has been defeated, the god of death disappears, leaving only the Underworld Key in his place. Palutena instructs Pit to pick up the object, then extracts him from the battlefield.

Weapons
The following is a list of weapons most commonly obtained in this chapter.


 * Meteor Bow
 * Volcano Arm
 * Eyetrack Orbitars
 * Poseidon Cannon
 * Thanatos Staff

Trivia

 * Poseidon parting the ocean for Pit is likely a reference to the Crossing of the Red Sea, a biblical story depicting God parting the Red Sea for Moses so he can safely pass through.
 * The Air Battle theme contains a remix of the Overworld theme from the original Kid Icarus, and the Land Battle theme contains a remix of the Fortress theme.
 * The Land Battle theme is later reused during Chapter 24's Land Battle.
 * Three Minos can be seen stacked on top of one another in the desert portion of the Air Battle, serving as a possible reference to the Pokey enemy from the Mario series.
 * All of Thanatos's forms are guaranteed to appear if the Intensity is above 6.0.

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