Is this a... No! Impossible! I'm posting an actual, honest-to-goodness _fic_?
Masaka!
________________________________________________________________________
Youtou Shinnoken
A Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin fic
By Chester Casta�eda
chester.castaneda@gmail.com
Original concept by SeventhOne
chadjill@ms3.hinet.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/~abdiel
Will Yusuke's failure to protect his loved one cost
him his humanity? And will Kenshin suffer the same
fate as well?
________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 12: To Protect Love Ones (Part 8)
________________________________________________________________________
The Hitokiri Battousai shielded himself the best he could from the
oncoming tremors and shockwaves of the resulting explosion. That done,
his eyes inspected the area where the Shisejyu was just a minute ago. A
large crater filled with loose land and gravel stood in its place.
Battousai turned around just in time to see the spectacle before him.
It was Genbu's head, the only remnant of the once huge Saint Beast,
sitting prettily on a nearby mound of rock. Curiously enough, it was
chuckling, smiling its ever-present mangled grin.
"You should have finished me off when you had the chance. But never
mind. It's your loss anyway. Tetsuzan Kou, Offense Up and the Original
Bakuretsu-Ganshou-Dan COMBO ATTACK!"
Just as Battousai hastily weaved through the torrent of pointed rocks
that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the ground underneath his feet
buckled, spewing out hundreds of faux stalagmites that flew wildly
through the air as though they were trapped in a hurricane.
"You can't exactly fight back when your opponent's a talking rock head,
can you?" Genbu derisively mocked.
The sheer number of converging fake stalactites and stalagmites was
impossible to dodge. Numerous times they impacted against Battousai
repeatedly, feeling nearly as painful as the flogging Genbu gave him
earlier in the bout. In the face of his ungodly speed and reflexes,
the swordsman suffered at least two dozen blows before being laid low.
Quickly gaining back his confidence, Genbu bragged, "I don't CARE if
you're the Legendary Battousai! And I certainly don't CARE about all the
humans that you've killed as an assassin; I probably ATE more humans
than you killed! Hell, you yourself are just a HUMAN, a GHOST of a human
at that! I have no reason to be scared of you; hell, I should be having
you for breakfast! So SUFFER! Chou-Bakuretsu-Ganshou-Dan... GENBU NO
HOKO!"
Yet another powerful explosion, comparatively larger than the previous
ones, subsequently rocked the remnants of Genkai's decimated domicile.
The clouds of dust from the blast soon formed into a spiral that shot
upwards into the sky, creating a tornado-like sandstorm that swallowed
everything in its path.
The destruction filled the air with tons of earth merging upward then
falling down, with nearly a third of the landmass collapsing into an
eroding sandpit thanks to Genbu's desperation move. Much of it fell
directly on top of Battousai, since that was where the destructive wave
was aimed.
The storm abated just as the Guardian of the Demon's Sword hit the
ground, fragments of rock littering the length of what was once a
pristine shrine foyer. At that point, even the only identifiable proof
of the vestibule's previous identity, the rickety Tori Gate, was no
more.
Satisfied with himself, Genbu finally decided to lay down his trump
card. "I'll show you not to mess with me. Here's the ULTIMATE Tetsuzan-
Kou! OUGI! GENBU NO IKARI!"
As Genbu said the words, the resulting rubble and wreckage from his
devastating Genbu no Hoko technique started to converge unto him,
consuming him... or rather, what was left of him... whole. After a few
minutes, he regained a body that was twenty to thirty times the size of
his original physique. Becoming one with the surrounding earth did tend
to do that to a demon.
"FEEL MY WRATH, SAMURAI!" Genbu pompously stated as he used his
Tetsuzan-Kou, Offense Up to create a spiky bat out of his left forearm
and his Tetsuzan-Kou, Defense Up to fashion an iron-coated fist with his
right hand.
<Hmmm. It seems that his self-assurance is back; he's calling me
'samurai' again.> Battousai snorted. <That walking pile of landfill
doesn't even know that he has already lost. His use of the so-called
'Rage of Genbu' has only made his defeat certain. But of course, he has
no idea.>
Battousai leapt into the air, drawing his sword back in order to parry
Genbu's now-humongous, hundred-feet-long stone tail with a vicious
chop, when he sensed an attack. He twisted his body into a ball and used
one of the more difficult techniques of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu to
change his path in midair. It was more a case of sensing rather than
seeing the weighty steel fist and spiked forearm flash past him,
creating two extremely large craters on the ground with their
frightening trappings.
After a few more seconds of quiet contemplation, Battousai noticed
something vaguely familiar about the pattern of his aerial flight <This
is it. It's now time for me to use _those_ techniques to end this
needlessly long fight once and for all. My mercy is already spent.>
Altering his trajectory ever so slightly while quickly increasing the
speed and velocity of his bodily rotation, the hitokiri executed unto
Genbu one of the many variants of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu's Dragon Sword
Swathe.
"Ryu Kan Sen TSUMUJI!"
The Hair-spin version of Battousai's Ryu Kan Sen hit the gap in between
Genbu's spiky forearm and the boulder that constituted for his elbow. As
a result, his forearm broke off of his body like the loose handle of a
brittle clay pot.
"Ryu Kan Sen KOGARASHI!"
The Winter Gale version of Battousai's Ryu Kan Sen made him do a split-
second alteration of his trajectory once more. The technique was like a
mirror image of the Ryu Kan Sen Tsumuji, with the hitokiri spinning in
the reverse direction of the Dragon Sword Swathe Hair-spin before
landing his strike onto Genbu's steel fist. Its iron knuckles buckled
under the pressure of the swordsman's assault, breaking it apart into
twenty separate pieces.
"Ryu Kan Sen ARASHI!"
The Storm version of Battousai's Ryu Kan Sen made him tumble in a way
that would make an Olympic gold medalist green with envy. He spun from
front to back and basically cleaved through the remainder of Genbu's
handicapped body, stunning the Shisejyu.
"H-How...!"
"Bastard. Don't even start." Battousai sighed. "Don't you realize that
the fight has already been over ever since the source of your power...
the ground we're standing on... had been grinded enough times to become
as brittle as chalk? Now that you've made the ground into your body,
your body is now as weak as the ground. You've sealed your own fate."
Genbu stared dumbly at the ethereal manslayer, mortified beyond words.
"RYU TSUI SEN!" Battousai roared as he hammered the last nail on Genbu's
coffin, landing his blow smack dab on one of Genbu's knees, literally
destroying his last legs.
Genbu's body started to collapse like a thirty storey stack of cards,
its unsound structure unable to withstand his own heaviness.
"Y-Y-You lied, samurai. You said that I had the potential to become a
fairly decent warrior. But the truth is, t-that's a steaming p-pile of
demon shit. If there w-were such a thing as a Level-E monster, then I'd
be it. I'm lower than dirt. Hell, I _am_ dirt." Genbu chuckled hoarsely.
<Damn you, samurai. Damn you for making me think I'm more than what I
truly am. Damn you for making me die a warrior's death, even though a
coward like me doesn't deserve it.>
Eventually, the foundations of the Shisejyu's gargantuan mass became so
unstable that the gravitational pull of his own weight overcame the
quantum boundary, eventually collapsing in on itself in an inimitable
vortex before vanishing into a singularity.
Unfortunately for Genbu, instead of a bang, his fight ended with a
pathetic whimper.
***
"I am Ayame," the kimono-clad lady introduced herself casually. "I will
be your Guide to the Spirit World for today. And you're Yukimura Keiko,
aren't you? Nice to meet you. Welcome to Reikai."
Keiko took that in. "So..." she said slowly, "This _is_ Reikai? This is
the afterlife?"
"Yes," Ayame answered patiently, as though she had dealt with this sort
of thing before. "You're dead. Don't worry, you'll get used to it."
"It's not that," Keiko blurted out suddenly, then avoided eye contact
with the shinigami. Though she didn't exactly have plenty of time to get
used to the idea of being dead, she certainly didn't want this woman to
think that she was some sort of novice or anything. "I just thought I
might have gotten lost on the way here or something."
Now it was the ferry-girl's turn to blink in surprise. "Well, before,
um, getting here, I went through some sort of springtime-themed road
full of cherry blossoms," Keiko explained, adding, "and then I had a,
uh, 'reenactment' of my memory of..." <My first kiss,> she thought.
Evidently embarrassed and thoroughly confused, she instead opted to
exclaim, "I had a memory of something... something that doesn't have
anything to do with my death at all!"
Keiko cleared her throat primly. "And though I'm no expert in how souls
pass on, I certainly didn't think that almost drowning was part of
getting here," she continued. "Is that the way everyone gets here? They
die, and suddenly find themselves several hundred meters underwater?"
She didn't know if it really was that far, but it had felt like it.
Ayame was looking at Keiko oddly. "Though the road you crossed and the
memory you experienced can be attributed to the ghostly mind's post-
mortem hallucinations... like the phenomenon of having your life pass
before your very eyes... I still have to ask; you almost drowned?" the
kimono-clad woman inquired, raising an eyebrow as if she didn't quite
believe the young ghost-girl. "I was wondering why you made such a big
production, coming out of the river like that, gasping like a fish out
of water."
Keiko pouted. "So it wasn't like that for the... others?"
Ayame shook her head. "Usually, they were only underwater for a few
moments. Just long enough to realize that they were dead, and that the
surface of the river was just above them."
Keiko had a million questions then, making her hesitate for a moment.
Which one should she ask first? She was just about to air them all out
at once when suddenly the river bed seemed to shift under her feet, and
a strong current took hold of her, pushing her a full meter downstream
so fast that she nearly lost her balance and plunged all the way under
the water again.
"Eeek!" Keiko shrieked, and she struggled against the current, trying to
wade for the bank where the goddess of death was sitting, but the more
she struggled, the stronger the current became. "A-Ayame-san, please
help me!"
"Don't fight it," the shinigami called out to Keiko. "It's okay, this
happens to everyone. Once the river has you, it will send you where you
are supposed to be."
Keiko didn't like the sound of that. She wasn't sure where she was
supposed to be, but she knew where she wanted to be. She didn't want to
die just yet, no way. She wanted to be back where Yusuke and the others
were, in the Human World. She had to find Lord Koenma, the Lord of the
Spirit World, to clear things up. Or maybe even Botan... <Botan-san! So
that's who Ayame-san reminds me of. So they're both ferry-girls! Er... I
mean Spirit World Guides. Yeah. Now everything makes sense. Well, maybe
not everything...>
"Ayame-san! Ayame-san! You know Botan-san, don't you?" Keiko called out
excitedly, somehow forgetting that she was currently being dragged by a
seemingly sentient waterway.
"Yes. We're both Spirit World Guides." Ayame nodded, getting up from her
sitting position and actually walking on the grassy bank beside Keiko,
following her as the river swept her along. "And you're the Reikai
Tantei Urameshi Yusuke's girlfriend, right?"
Keiko blushed, unwilling to answer the question, but she didn't let her
embarrassment deter her train of thought. "Actually, I need to speak to
Koenma-san, er, sama, about this... situation. Can you please take me to
him?"
Ayame shook her head. "I can't do that. My mission for today is clear:
to get you to where you're supposed to be. That is my only task."
Keiko didn't know what to say to that. <She won't take me to Koenma-san?
But... but... I don't want to die just yet! I don't want to go where I'm
'supposed to be'! Not yet, anyway...>
"Well, if you keep on thinking like that, then you'll end up as a lost
soul, haunting abandoned houses and appearing in other people's
nightmares for all eternity. You don't want that to happen to you, do
you?" Ayame queried, seemingly able to read Keiko's mind. The recently
deceased young girl shook her head mutely.
With a resigned sigh, Keiko twisted in the water, trying to see where
the river was pushing her. Soon, she finally reached the shrine where
the pillars of light lay, their convergence of brilliance pulsating like
the sun itself. Its awesomeness overwhelmed her briefly, hurting her
eyes, but in a little while, strangely enough, her vision cleared.
She blinked. It was as if she was blind before, but now, because of the
dazzling globe of light, she could see clearly for the first time. And
just past the Shrine of Light, she did indeed see a lot.
Apparently, the Shrine wasn't really the edge and limits of the river as
Keiko first thought; the vortex's bright splendor merely blanketed the
watercourse's true scope and size. Her eyes widened as she got a good
look at the river from beyond the Shrine. She hadn't realized that it
was so... huge.
And that she was not alone in its waters.
The river looked to be nearly a mile wide. And it was full of people.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of people. The more she looked, the more she
gradually became aware of them, their forms slowly appearing before her
eyes. Old people, middle-aged, teenagers, children... even a few infants
floated gently on the surface of the water. Keiko stared at them all in
amazement. And yet, she noticed that only a few were looking around at
the others, like she was. Most seemed completely unaware that they were
not alone in the vast river, just like she had been moments before, even
as they were being pulled along by the same swift current that she was
caught in.
As she watched, feeling the current drag her down river, several more
people broke through the surface of the water, looking a bit dazed, and
perhaps even a bit frightened as they looked around at their new
surroundings... and yet their eyes passed blindly over their fellow
deceased.
"You don't see it all at once," Keiko heard Ayame say, far off to her
side. She was now riding on the wooden oar she saw earlier, flying in
the same way Botan would. "It's too much to take in. And then, you see
only if you're looking closely." She paused. "You're seeing a lot, I can
tell by the look on your face."
Keiko could only nod.
***
The Iron Body technique was one of the many techniques of the Byakko's
Claw. These abilities were so impressive that, by order of the Chojin,
Randou passed it on to another 'Byakko' of sorts... the White Tiger of
the Four Holy Beasts, the Shisejyu Byakko.
In so saying, it was in fact Randou, not Byakko, who first mastered the
many techniques of the Byakko's Claw after nearly a century... and he
was now about to show his mazoku opponent what a master-level Kaiwan
looked like.
"KAIWAN!"
<So far, I've only been using all of my first level powers. But now that
I've somewhat replenished my chakra and my jaki, watch out! I'll show
you what my second level powers can do, Urameshi.>
Apparently, a master-level Kaiwan involved making both of your arms
hideously large, distorted, and hypertrophied. With unearthly reflexes
he gained from mimicking Battousai's Shinsoki technique, Randou
attacked with two split-second vacuum waves, creating crisscrossing
grooves on the pockmarked floor.
"BYAKKO SOU!"
Toushin Yusuke smirked, darted away, and attacked. He scored with two
right hands fired from the distance in the opening moments of his
counterstrike. Randou answered with three solid body shots care of his
twin Kaiwan. The two combatants parted ten feet from each other, their
bodies repelled by the power of their respective attacks.
Randou growled as his knees buckled and his vision blurred. He checked
Yusuke's reaction, hoping that his attack affected the half-demon's
physical condition as well. He frowned; the mazoku was grinning
impishly. <Perhaps he's only _pretending_ not to be hurt. Well, all I
need to do is strain my ears a bit to check his heartbeat and blood
pressure, and-->
Randou gulped. Yusuke's heart didn't beat at all, he noted. The only
beats he heard came from his own palpitating heart. Right now, he was
seriously contemplating whether or not his mazoku opponent even had a
soul.
<Feh. Even though the odds are obviously stacked against me, I don't
care,> Randou thought determinedly as he hastily wiped the blood off of
his nose. <But dammit, this fight should have been in the bag! The Kugai
was supposed to give me the upper hand, not make Urameshi stronger; it's
like my shrinking technique backfiring on me all over again, only this
time it's ten times worse.>
Randou snorted as he began to execute his second attack. The vein-marked
demon stampeded forward with a titanium-hard shoulder tackle. Though it
wasn't half as impressive as a shoulder tackle from the sizeable
Shisejyu Byakko, it _should_ still be enough to take down Urameshi
Yusuke.
"BYAKKO SHU!"
Smirking, Toushin Yusuke stood perfectly still, not even bothering to
brace himself for impact. Seconds later, the attack hit, and the half-
demon didn't even flinch or move a single inch. His laid-back pose,
however, instantly changed to an offensive stance as he moved in for the
kill.
"--TSUIKA!" Randou shouted as he delivered a follow-up mule kick to the
stomach of the recently awakened mazoku. To his surprise, Toushin Yusuke
still managed to land a left hook on his thigh.
Conversely, the young spirit detective hit the deck when it appeared as
if his feet became entangled with Randou's. The two cautiously and
simultaneously parted before either of them could find an exploitable
opening.
"Nice. I almost didn't expect that."
"There's more where that came from."
It didn't matter who said what; the two shared both of these sentiments.
Both combatants eventually recovered and returned to winging wicked
shots at each other. Moments later, the mazoku got the angle on the
youkai and drilled him with a hard left hand to the midsection. Yusuke
scored again with a sharp three-punch combination that rattled off
Randou's profile.
As Randou reeled, by pure reflex he stabbed forward both of his Kaiwan
in front of Yusuke's face. Shortly after, two overwhelming blasts of
pure energy erupted from his open palms.
"Double RETSU HOKO!"
Toushin Yusuke quickly reacted in kind, backing away to gain enough
distance to avoid the Double Retsu Hoko in one breath. But an evasive
maneuver was not what he hand in mind. Using the extra distance as added
leverage, he bent his knees, lowered his body by about half a foot, and
charged forward.
"Double Barrel SHOTGUN!"
Countless fist-sized blasts of blue energy erupted from Yusuke's twofold
punch, spraying each of the Retsu Hoko with at least nine or ten dozen
good shots. Basically, the respective energy blasts cancelled each other
out.
But Yusuke wasn't quite done with Randou just yet. Seconds later, the
demon descendant utilized his superior reach, reloaded, and connected
with another blistering Rei-Kou-Dan combination to the belly and head
featuring a left uppercut to his enemy's chin. In retaliation, the ever-
persistent Randou dug a right-handed Byakko Sou to the body and a left
hook to the face of his opponent.
The Toushin spat out blood. He inwardly seethed, but his maniacal grin
remained on his tattooed face. He afterwards became a veritable blur.
"Wha...?" Randou started, dazed and confused as he helplessly gazed at
the hundreds of fists hurtling towards him.
Working behind double right jabs and left crosses that Randou had a
great amount of difficulty in tracking, Toushin Yusuke began putting his
combos together at that point and never looked back. The teenaged demon
spawn darted inside and drilled his quarry with clean hundred-shot
volleys, one after the other.
"HYAKU RETSU-KEN!"
<H-H-He's relentless! A monster! A machine! What the hell must I do to
STOP him? DAMMIT!> Randou contemplated hysterically, the Iron Body
technique the only thing keeping him alive and conscious amidst the
vicious, endless onslaught of the mazoku descendant.
***
>From there, Keiko could see that the river downstream forked three ways.
The right fork, near the bank that she was closest to, wound off into
the distance, and she could see lush fields, and forested mountains.
And, as she looked closer, she thought she could see houses, their
gleaming tiled rooftops peaking through endless groves of cherry trees,
reflecting the sunlight, and people waiting on the banks of the river,
helping others out, greeting them with smiles and hugs...
It looked... nice. Warm. Welcoming. Like family. Keiko felt her heart
twist inside her chest, and she forced herself to look away. She
couldn't allow herself to get distracted...
As she forced her gaze elsewhere, she noticed that other people were
washed up onto the bank before they reached the forks in the river.
"Those people are supposed to get reincarnated," Ayame explained
helpfully. "Well, the wait can be a bit long, but in my opinion it's
worth it; rebirth is always a wonderful thing. Some of the souls,
however, don't particularly want to abandon their recent past life. But
what can you do? It's either they get reincarnated or remain in the
Human World as ghosts that just couldn't let go."
The middle fork was hard to see. It was obscured by mists, and when
Keiko tried to look at it closely, it didn't seem to be there at all,
which puzzled her quite a bit. It was like an optical illusion,
something she could only see when she wasn't paying attention to it
directly, and it immediately aroused her suspicions. Was that where she
needed to go to find Koenma Daio?
"Where does that middle fork go?" she asked her Spirit World Guide.
"Middle fork?" Ayame guardedly asked, seemingly feigning ignorance.
So, either Ayame, an obviously experienced ferry-girl, couldn't see the
fork, or she had deemed Keiko unfit to know about it. How curious.
"Never mind," Keiko said, and she looked out across the river again,
wondering if there was a way to maneuver herself to that middle fork.
But, as her gaze slowly raked past the masses of human souls caught in
the river, she could suddenly hear voices. The voices floated to her
across the surface of the water, snatches of solitary conversation,
faint and eerie...
"...Dead? I'm dead? But I was just..."
"...At last, finally, I waited so..."
"...God, oh God, I'm sorry, I didn't want..."
The faint garble of voices washed over Keiko like a wave, far colder
than the river itself. So much confusion, relief, uncertainty, fear...
"...Mama? Mama? Where..."
"Nooooooooo! Help, someone, I...!"
Her head jerked towards the sound of that last terrified voice...
The left fork.
For a moment, she couldn't see it. It was even worse than trying to look
at the middle fork. Her eyes kept skipping past it, almost on impulse,
because each time she almost saw it, a feeling of immense dread twisted
her insides. But then, she took a deep breath, and forced herself to
stare, unblinking, until it slowly came into view...
One look at it, and Keiko knew that it was the last place she'd ever
wish to go. The water streaming into that left fork ran thick and
blackish-red... like an open, clotting wound. The people caught in its
current clawed futilely at the bloody water as they tried to escape its
grip, their eyes wide, or clenched shut, their faces tight masks of
terror. In the distance, the sky was as black as tar, and as Keiko
listened carefully, she became aware of a thin, high sound that drifted
from that starless void. Faint, but it chilled her to the core all the
same.
That wasn't... screaming, was it?
"Like I said." The ferry-girl following Keiko on the river bank spoke
again, and her voice was grim as her gaze followed the young girl's.
"You don't want to go there." She sighed. "Lucky for you, it looks like
you're headed for your ancestors. There _are_ worse places to go, after
all..." She trailed off as she finally averted her eyes from the left
fork.
Keiko again concentrated towards the misty middle fork. "I've got to get
over there somehow." And she began to struggle against the pushing force
of the river, forcing her legs to move against the water pressure.
The river, sensing her struggle, fought back. Keiko found herself
suddenly in the midst of her own personal rapids. The water frothed and
churned with the sudden force of several tons of water rushing around
her body, pushing her towards her eternal destination whether she liked
it or not.
She strained with all her strength to stand, but the current was too
much for her. Her feet were swept out from beneath her, and for a
moment, she went under. Immediately, the waters calmed, and Keiko stood
again, spluttering and angry as she felt the current once again pulling
her steadily downstream. "Mou!" she screamed. "Leave me alone! I don't
want to go to my ancestors! I want to go home, in the Human World!"
***
Fighting at the center of the dojo, Toushin Yusuke landed with a long
right jab and a follow-up left cross down the middle. There was an
audible crack as the shot caught Randou square on the chin and dropped
him in his tracks.
Randou's heart stopped beating for a fraction of a second as his vision
was filled with stars. Very briefly in his mind, he thought he saw a
bloody river filled with souls of the damned; he thought he saw the
Gateway to Hell.
Though the demon hit the deck hard on his backside, he nonchalantly
popped to his feet after a few seconds, his face a bloody, lumpy mess.
<Aw, how cute. He's playing pretend. He's pretending that he's not
hurt. He's pretending that he still stands a chance. He's pretending
that he's not terrified of me.> Yusuke laughed inwardly.
Following the knockdown, the mazoku became bolder and went back to work
with ruthless precision, landing a series of hard rights to the belly
and nasty left hands that rebounded off the side of Randou's head.
"Stop blocking my punches with your face," the Toushin jeered.
After a few more seconds of punishment, Toushin Yusuke landed a
thrashing five-shot salvo but Randou answered back and returned fire
with a sharp three-punch combination to the jaw and a Byakko Shu to the
midsection which sent the hanyou stumbling back. A minute later, Yusuke
reversed his momentum and connected with a rapid-fire left cross, right
hook, and straight left sequence to the face seemingly out of nowhere.
<How nice. You're still standing. You even managed to fight back. Well
then, fine. I'll humor you, champ.>
As soon as it started, it stopped. Toushin Yusuke backed off and kept
his distance from Randou, despite the fact that the momentum of the
fight was on his side and he was literally picking apart his nemesis
piece by piece. This seemed to both fluster and anger Randou, just as
Yusuke planned.
Randou sneered as he thrust his palm forward and fired another shot of
his Explosive Spirit Blast.
"RETSU HOKO!"
It was now Randou's turn to become a blur as he ducked under the glare
of the energy burst and vanished into obscurity. With Yusuke thusly
distracted by the oncoming youki shot, Randou managed to score with a
solid left hook to the jaw.
Yusuke rubbed his granite chin and then punched it hard for good
measure. "More. Hit me more. That blow was nothing compared to the pain
I'm currently feeling because of your damn Kugai, you demon dipshit."
Randou started to sweat profusely as Yusuke again vanished. After taking
a deep breath, the youkai almost immediately disappeared as well, making
full use of the Hiten Mitsurugi Technique of Divine Speed.
But the Shinsoki still wasn't enough. Yusuke actually went toe-to-toe
with Randou's quick pace, catching the redheaded demon completely by
surprise.
Randou eventually realized that the mazoku was still spiritually linked
to one of _the_ masters of the Divine Speed Technique, Kenshin Himura;
of course Yusuke would be as fast as Randou, if not more.
And so the inexorable Yusuke continued unloading his bombs and drilled
his opponent with another six-punch burst as he simply overpowered the
lesser demon.
"More. I said MORE! I want more from you, you bastard. Come on. Catch me
off guard if you can. Certainly, with all your speeches about revenge
and murder, you can do better than that."
After a few seconds of what was quickly turning into a one-sided affair,
the Last Son of the Mazoku drove his prey back into the wreckage and
nailed him with another volley of fire. The pale-faced demon managed to
land a hard, right-handed counter and a quick Retsu Hoko shot, but
Yusuke dodged, feinted, and continued blasting his way through and
scored with another half-dozen punishing shots to the face.
"I know what you're thinking. You're frustrated, aren't you? You thought
that you can come in here with your One Hundred and One Dalmatians and
own me. Well, guess what?" Toushin Yusuke punctuated his statement with
a straight, right-handed punch that all but decapitated the bruised and
battered Randou.
The mazoku continued to pull away as his fabled ruthlessness and rhythm
simply beat Randou to the punch, Kaiwan and Shinsoki be damned. He hurt
Randou again with a blistering left hand to the sternum and four more
digging shots that rocked off his ribs. By the end of the attack, the
red-haired demon's left eye was closing and Yusuke backed off yet again
to the corner of the dojo, smirking nastily.
"C'mon. What are you, comatose? Come at me with all that you've got, or
don't come at me at all."
The dismantling of the Master of a Hundred and One Skills continued as
the Toushin rocked him with a ramrod right jab and a right hook square
on the chin.
Feeling quite confident with himself, Yusuke looked straight into
Randou's glazed eyes and mouthed the word, 'Checkmate.'
That did it.
Randou spat and spewed out blood and bits of tooth to the ground, his
eyes consumed with utter abhorrence for his opponent. He again stabbed
his hand forward.
Yusuke made a clucking sound with his mouth. <Using a technique again
and again, even though it doesn't work? He's getting desperate,> he
assessed as he dashed with another double right jab and left cross
combo. The mazoku's mouth afterwards formed an 'o' of incredulity as he
realized that Randou was utilizing a different kind of tactic; it wasn't
the Retsu Hoko, it was just a ruse for the more experienced youkai to
get within close range of the half-demon.
Randou snatched and lifted Yusuke in midair, his large fingers choking
the Spirit Detective turned Demonic Warlord. Then, with a mighty roar,
the demon slammed the mazoku descendant to the ground, driving him
through the floor. Thus was the power of the "ZETSU HOKO!"
Randou rallied forth with his counterattack and appeared to be on his
way to turning the tides when...
"Bastard! KURAI YADARE!"
...An irate Yusuke landed a flurry of hammering body punches and a left
to the chin that stopped the youkai cold.
As Toushin Yusuke opened up his next assault with another volley of
fists, he drove Randou again into the ground. He landed two right hooks
and a straight left down the middle as the fighters battled in close
quarters. Randou emerged from the combat with a bloody gash over his
left eye.
The one-sided assault resumed. The mazoku hurt Randou again as he
connected with youki-powered Shotguns that snapped his opponent's head
back. Ruthlessly, Toushin Yusuke was able to follow up the devastating
blasts with laser-like left crosses to the face while his head would
periodically slam into Randou's skull.
Frustrated and angry as the fight slipped away, Randou lost a chance to
counterattack as he left himself wide open with a thoughtless use of the
Zetsu Hoko. Yusuke was not to be fooled twice.
The punishment and prejudiced pounding persisted as Toushin Yusuke
repeatedly beat Randou to a pulp. The demon's breathing labored as he
struggled to go the distance against the far hungrier fighter. Stunned
and dazed, he continued to walk into right hooks that thudded off his
skull.
<No. This fight won't end this way. I should be the one calling the
shots,> Randou deliberated as he remembered the one move that worked
effectively against his monstrous opponent thus far. <Urameshi blocked
my second Zetsu Hoko because he saw it coming. Nevertheless, I still
have a trick up my sleeve that's even deadlier than the Shout Blast...>
"KONGO SAI!"
***
Ayame was staring at Keiko, frowning. "What are you doing?" she asked.
Keiko ignored her, her eyes narrowed and focused as she looked around.
There had to be a way to escape the river's current. Any move she made
in any direction other than the way the current ran made the river react
violently. She looked across the river, where thousands of other human
souls drifted inexorably towards their fate. She then looked up at
Ayame.
She blinked. And smiled.
The death goddess's eyes narrowed, but Keiko didn't notice. "What are
you doing?" she asked again.
Keiko didn't answer. Instead, she took a deep breath and ducked under
the surface of the water, curling herself into a crouch. She opened her
eyes in the clear water, waiting, letting the current drag her along the
bottom of the river bed...
This time, her swimming lessons back in junior high were about to
_really_ pay off, big time.
And then, she jumped.
The woman stared as Keiko burst from the river like a trained dolphin.
The ghost-girl then landed, of all places, on top of Ayame and her
wooden oar, much to the absolute shock of the normally unflappable
shinigami.
The startled woman didn't even have a chance to react after her initial
surprise, for Keiko had somehow taken control of the flying wooden oar
and was now heading towards the mystifying middle fork.
The river did nothing, could apparently do nothing, Keiko noticed, as
she clumsily flew her way--floated and bumped around was more like it,
actually--across its waters. "Excuse me! Whoops, sorry sir! I didn't see
you. Oh my gosh, did that hurt? I didn't mean to... I-I'm really sorry,
this is my first time."
The ferry-girl in the black kimono yelled at Keiko in confused terror.
"Wait! Where do you think you're going?"
"I'm really sorry for borrowing your oar without your permission, Miss
Ayame-san, but I had no choice. I have to get to the middle fork! I need
to speak to Koenma-san, er, sama, um... I-I just need to speak to Koenma
Daio, even if you won't let me, okay?! This whole situation is just one
big mistake, and I just have to clear things out with him."
Ayame stared at her, wide-eyed in disbelief. "You don't even know what's
beyond the middle fork!"
<So this time, there really _is_ a middle fork?> To Ayame, Keiko begged,
"Then tell me what's over there, please," but she was only greeted by
the ferry-girl's dismal silence. This calm was eventually broken as
warm, steamy mists soon surrounded them.
"We're here."
Indeed, Keiko... and Ayame too, come to think of it... had made great
progress crossing the river, finally reaching the misty waters of the
middle fork before either of them even noticed. Curiously, not many
people were being swept across this part of the tributary; either that,
or the wispy white drape that enveloped the area hid the people from
plain view.
Without so much as a word of warning, Keiko gingerly got off of Ayame
and her flying paddle, and then plunged straight into the depths of the
unknown middle fork with one big splash.
She went under. The river had her again... and it was furious. There
would be no reprieve or escape for her this time, and Ayame saw a brief
flicker of panic cross Keiko's face as the raging murky waters dragged
her under...
Shinigami Ayame held her breath, her eyes scanning the far bank's
violently turbulent waters. The moments ticked by with terrible
slowness.
Finally, Keiko resurfaced at the mouth of the middle fork. She looked
bedraggled and afraid as she looked around, the water streaming from
her hair and down her face as the immaculate ivory steam converged on
her... and soon she realized where she was. The river had apparently
decided to grant her wish after her display of utter disrespect for its
laws. She was on her way to the unknown place beyond the mysterious
middle fork.
Keiko hoped deep in her heart that it was Koenma Daio who was beyond
the suffocating fog, praying to the gods that she made the right
decision, however hasty it might have been.
Ayame slowly passed a hand over her eyes in seeming dismay at the turn
of events. But as soon as Keiko disappeared out of sight, her features
became more complacent, more... methodical.
"Mission accomplished. The subject, Yukimura Keiko, has now been
sentenced to spend fifty years of her spiritual life in Level 34 Block 7
of the Purgatorial Sector due to the insubordinate behavior she
displayed earlier... just as planned," she communicated telepathically
and emotionlessly before flying away from the River Styx; curiously, she
was the only ferry-girl present in the veritable river of dead souls.
***
Frustration. The human turned monster was beginning to grate on Randou's
nerves. <Why wouldn't he die?> Even with all the abilities he worked so
hard to master, he still couldn't defeat the fucking human.
Anger. It wasn't fair. He was supposed to be far stronger than before...
more powerful. Was he going to be beaten by that human again? Even if
the said human was also a mazoku descendant, it still didn't matter. Was
he going to reveal his wretchedness and weakness to the world once more?
Hatred. Hatred soon consumed the dark heart of the many-skilled demon
known as Randou; destructive, vicious hatred that threatened to engulf
the entirety of his mind, making him numb of all pain, of all things.
Nothing else mattered to him.
Soon, Randou was producing ridiculous amounts of jaki, balancing out his
diminishing chakra and youki. The destructive force nearly devoured his
blackened soul, making him drunk with power.
Randou grappled Yusuke with both hands this time, the youkai's eyes
feral and pupil-less as he began executing one of the most powerful
maneuvers of the Byakko's Claw.
"KONGO SAI!"
Yusuke was again unceremoniously flung to the ground, in a manner
reminiscent of the Zetsu Hoko. This time, because he had no leverage, he
crashed helplessly on the earth, bits of debris and stone pelting all
around him. The mazoku coughed and choked amidst the settling dust.
Afterwards, before Yusuke could react, he was yet again lifted and
slammed on the ground... This was Randou's follow-up move, the first
Kai. The Toushin felt several of his bones crack and snap against the
pressure, to his chagrin.
Randou lifted up the half-conscious Yusuke once more as he stomped his
foot on the floor, making it buckle and crack into a mass of spikes. A
vicious, demented grin briefly appeared on the demon's pallid face as he
began to execute the final Kai.
The vein-marked youkai howled in triumph. <My first mistake was to try
and out-punch Urameshi in a brawling contest, when in fact the Kaiwan
works better in situations involving wrestling and grappling moves. But
I've since rectified my blunder; now I've come up on top and-->
A flicker of pain flashed into his chest quickly... There it was again.
And again. And again. Before long, the white spears of blistering death
stabbed his chest repeatedly, making him drop his quarry on the ground
before he could finish him off with the final Kai.
Angrily, he tried to force his body to move, but the sharp pain in his
chest surged with every movement, however slight, causing him to gasp at
its intensity as it seared his insides and stole his breath away. Fuck,
it felt as if someone had driven a dozen thick nails into his chest...
His eyes opened slowly, groggily, and he winced against the pain. Even
so, he forced his eyes open, anxious to make his agony stop somehow,
hoping desperately that this simple act will miraculously cut short his
suffering.
But all he saw was Yusuke, Yusuke's fists, and even more pain. For the
first time since his fight with the mazoku started, Randou backpedaled
from his opponent like a whipped dog.
What happened? What made him slip? What made him choke? He had a fucking
mazoku descendant in palm of his hands and was about to finish him
off with a fucking body slam through a spiked floor... Why did he stop?
For the love of the gods, just... why?
But Randou already knew exactly why he let go of Yusuke Urameshi at that
critical moment.
<That shot he did back then, the one that nearly knocked me down... no,
that nearly _killed_ me... I'm feeling its full effects just now; it's a
delayed reaction, but it's still one hell of a reaction.>
His breathing became labored as he continued to evade the quickly
recovering Urameshi with his Divine Speed. <Fucking hell. What made that
one punch different from all the rest anyway?>
That punch really did hurt, no doubt... more so than any other punch he
had ever experienced from the half-demon hell-spawn. It was even more
dangerous than the Blood Fire Wave-powered punch that unhinged his jaw
a while back; the Iron Body technique numbed him of most of the pain
then. This time, the full effects of that single, powerful left cross
came to him in a belated but very apparent fashion.
Though Randou was supposedly impervious to all physical pain, he could
not discount the fact that there was yet another time when even the
Iron Body technique couldn't save him. It was during his first fight
with Yusuke, in the course of the finals of Genkai's tournament. At the
time, after accidentally shrinking himself, he had fallen victim to an
elbow drop care of a gigantic Yusuke.
Though the elbow drop in and of itself wasn't particularly worth
mentioning, the mere fact that Yusuke was about ten times larger than
Randou at that instant made the move about ten times more painful. It
was like being elbow dropped by a whale, if whales had elbows. _Of
course_ the Iron Body technique would be rendered moot in that sort of
situation.
<So is that it? Yusuke's punches as a mazoku are ten times more powerful
than even his most powerful punches as a human? His punching power is
like that of a person who's _ten times_ as large as he is now? You have
got to be fucking KIDDING me!>
Randou was quickly becoming sluggish and listless; using the Shinsoki to
run away from his adversary was actually tiring him out. Soon, Yusuke
would catch up with him. The demon had no choice. It was time for him to
fight back or die trying, preferably the former.
As soon as the fight resumed, Yusuke was on top of Randou, landing
hammering body shots that thudded off the youkai's rib cage. Seconds
later, the half-demon pinned his demonic nemesis's back on a nearby wall
and nailed him with another thundering volley of punches.
Randou stood his ground, gritting his blood-soaked teeth. He then fired
back with a Byakko Sou, Retsu Hoko, and a Byakko Shu Tsuika combo. To
his amazement, all three of his attacks connected. To his chagrin, the
mazoku's momentum was barely broken by his offense.
There was one more thing that bothered Randou. The precious jaki, youki,
and chakra he gathered by performing the Ibuki were quickly being
depleted by Yusuke's myriad of megaton punches. <What am I going to do
now? If my energy goes down any lower, then I won't be able to make use
of any of my second level attacks. I'd be as good as dead.>
Yusuke continued to put his punches together and moments later, he
reloaded and clipped Randou with another flurry of shots including a
hammering youki blast to the belly.
Randou answered back with two solid Kaiwan-powered jabs and a Byakko Shu
down the middle that drove Toushin Yusuke into the nearby pile of
debris. The demon jolted the demon descendant with three more numbing
shots of his hypertrophied fists.
This only served to wake up the devil inside Yusuke all the more.
The Toushin returned fire with five hammering body shots that forced
Randou to retreat yet again. He continued to pull the trigger and nailed
his target with another half-dozen riveting body blasts to close out the
attack. Struggling to master Yusuke's straight left hand, Randou cursed
as he felt his left eye start to swell.
With his left eye almost swollen shut and blood trickling down the side
of his face, the stubborn Randou regained his feet and could only shake
his head. His resolve tempered by Yusuke's fists and raw power, he
decided that it was now time to finish the fight; it was now time for
the endgame.
He had no other recourse. It was really all or nothing this time.
"BOUKO HYOUGA!"
***
Darkness. Botan was deathly afraid of it... which was a little ironic
really, since she was Death. A Goddess of Death, to be exact.
Perhaps it did somehow make sense... Death, despite what other people
thought, was a people-oriented job. She just loved being around lots of
people... In fact, in the Reikai ferry-girl admission test, she scored
the highest on the Social Skills section.
Okay, so she made the 'Reikai ferry-girl admission test' part up... but
if there was one, she knew that she'd have a high score on the Social
Skills section. That was Botan... the 'Miss Lady Death' type of people-
person.
Where was she? Oh yes... darkness. She hated the darkness because it
reminded her of loneliness and isolation, something that just didn't sit
well with her people-person-ness, if that was a word.
But enough of the darkness monologue... All she had to do was open her
eyes to get rid of it anyway. <Du-h.> But she couldn't help but think
that she had the exact same thoughts before, in what seemed to be an
eternity ago...
But before she digressed any further, she heard a voice; an oh-so-
familiar monotone voice that roused her to a frightening realization.
Intercepting the stray (and ostensibly secretive, seeing that the
transmission was on a discreet frequency) telepathic signal, Botan
strained her ears to decipher the clandestine message.
"Mission accomplished... Yukimura Keiko... Block 7 of the Purgatorial...
insubordinate behavior... just as planned."
Botan's pinkish eyes widened. It was Ayame's voice.
The blue-haired Spirit World Guide swallowed nervously. Though she had a
rather amiable relationship with the somewhat aloof and introspective
Ayame, she was still quite wary of her co-worker's job description.
Ayame was, in fact, a shinigami in charge of covert operations; she
sported a carte blanche to do whatever was needed in order to complete a
particular mission. Furthermore, in all of the Reikai, she only answered
to one man... Enma Daio. Meaning, even Koenma Daio could not interfere
with any of her top secret assignments.
Needless to say, Botan was more than a little worried about hearing
'Yukimura Keiko' and 'Purgatorial' spoken in the same sentence by the
'Ice Queen' Shinigami Ayame, of all people. Her worries mounted even
further as she remembered the condition that Keiko was currently in.
<They didn't. Oh my Lord, tell me they _didn't_!>
Fully aware that she was still fast asleep, Botan's spirit left the
Human World and its physical body behind to fly towards the Spirit
World. She didn't quite know how long her Astral Projection would last,
but she didn't particularly care. She only had one thought in mind;
Keiko was going to be in big trouble if she didn't get her out of _that_
place in time.
Though Botan only intercepted snippets of Ayame's message, she knew
exactly where Keiko was; she actually knew the assigned level and block
by heart. It was to be expected, since she herself had gone through the
exact same place before becoming a ferry-girl.
"So Keiko-chan is in Level 34 Block 7 of the Purgatorial Sector, huh?
Damn," Botan cursed as she summoned her boat paddle and traveled
frantically towards the said destination.
Actually, one could say that Level 34 Block 7 of the Purgatorial Sector
was the very thing that helped mould and train Botan into becoming the
ferry-girl that the whole of Reikai knew and loved.
...Yes, there was still no such thing as a Reikai ferry-girl admission
test; a _written_ one, at least. A practical exam, on the other hand...
"Keiko-chan's going to the damn Elysian Fields, of all the damn places!
Damn, damn, damn! Even though Ayame-chan was probably just following
orders, damn her too! I better get Keiko-chan out of there before she
completely forgets who she really is!"
***
The endgame had finally started. In chess, the endgame (or end game or
ending) referred to the stage of the game when there were few pieces
left on the board.
The line between middlegame and endgame was often not clear, and might
occur gradually or with the quick exchange of a few pairs of pieces. The
endgame, however, tended to have quite different characteristics from
the middlegame, and the players had quite different strategic concerns.
In particular, pawns became more important; endgames often revolved
around attempting to promote a pawn by advancing it to the eighth rank.
The king, which had to be protected in the middlegame owing to the
threat of checkmate, became a strong piece in the endgame. It could be
brought to the center of the board and be a useful attacking piece.
In short, the endgame in Randou's case meant making use of all his
remaining techniques (the Pawns) and risking more of himself (the King)
than usual. Yusuke, despite his power up, was still suffering the full
effects of the Kugai. Sooner or later he would succumb to the madness of
feeling the suffering of everyone around him, and when that happens,
then it would truly be endgame for the mazoku.
"BOUKO HYOUGA!" Soon, Randou's body quickly grew and hardened as his
muscles hypertrophied in the same manner his Kaiwan had. Afterwards, he
charged forward with a shoulder tackle that was twice as powerful as the
Byakko Shu.
The mazoku sidestepped then continued to fire off looping right hooks
that repeatedly clanged on the youkai's unbreakable body. Within a few
more minutes of the fight, Yusuke trapped the demon on the far wall and
nailed him with another three-shot volley to the face.
The half-demon blinked as he felt his knuckles crack and his fists
swell. He then cursed his moment of hesitation as he barely avoided
being blasted by a Retsu Hoko and getting grabbed by a Zetsu Hoko.
"TATSUMAKI SENPUU KYAKU!"
On the other hand, Yusuke wasn't able to dodge the repeated, whirling
kicks to his face and body. At that point, his uniform turned into
tattered rags as he spun in the air like a dummy after a test crash.
Moments later, Yusuke rebounded on the nearest wall and caught the demon
warrior with two more ripping body shots that put him on the floor.
Randou crouched hard after hitting the floor, the ground buckling
underneath his feet, and charged forward with an uppercut move that
caught Yusuke flatfooted, which was no easy feat in and of itself.
"SHORYUKEN!"
The fact that Randou was using the Kaiwan made the stolen Ansatsuken
technique all the more devastating. Yusuke did not suddenly become
airborne because of the sheer strength of the Shoryuken, but his head
did snap back in an unusual manner as a result of the assault.
Before Yusuke had a chance to recover or even breathe, Randou went on
the offensive, jettisoning an iron-hard straight right jab and a follow-
up left cross off Yusuke's chin, stunning the mazoku further. The demon
had just perfectly imitated the half-demon's trademark fighting style in
mocking tribute; Randou grinned, pleased with himself.
The mazoku descendant chortled in kind, then aimed his pointer finger
straight at Randou.
"Oh no you don't! SHIN NO IPPOU!" Randou knew that he was merely
delaying the mazoku's Rei-Gan... or actually, 'You'-Gan or even 'Ma'-
Gan... with Jine's little parlor trick, but he needed time to prepare
his own spectacular counterattack. He reared back, his arms and palms
posed in such a way that it seemed like he was holding an imaginary
ball. Crackling bits of electric blue energy began filling that gap in
between his hands, forming into a sphere of pure youki.
Sooner rather than later, Toushin Yusuke recovered from his frozen state
and fired with his trademark move, the "REI-GAN!" ...a misnomer, bearing
in mind the fact that it was now a youki-powered shot, but there weren't
any nitpicking critics present in dojo, only fighters playing the game
of death.
<What was he gathering all that energy for, anyway?> Yusuke idly thought
to himself as he lethargically watched his spirit ball advance towards
his adversary.
Randou began to glow with a bright red aura that was in stark contrast
to the shining blue ball in his hands.
<What's he doing now? Enough already. Die.>
The aura brightened.
<Something tells me that I'm about to find out.>
Randou answered back Yusuke's Rei-Gan with his own explosive "HADOU
KEN!" unleashing a massively huge blast of energy that swept through the
floor then collided with the demonic energy ball, causing it to vanish
in its wake.
>From his position, Toushin Yusuke's mouth went agape at the unbelievable
sight. For the first time since the fight began, he was truly and
genuinely shocked. <Oh my. Ol' Randou is putting up quite the fight.>
Feeling quite confident with himself, Randou lobbed yet another powerful
Surge Fist at Yusuke, making it merge with the first one.
"Let me show you the difference between you and me; the difference of
THREE YEARS!" Yusuke suddenly shouted. A golden glow started to spread
all over his body, immersing him in deific glory. As soon as the Hadou
Ken dispersed at the might of his new power, he immediately charged at
Randou with no hesitation or reluctance.
<What THE HELL is _THIS_?! This isn't youki, chakra, or jaki! WHAT IS
GOING ON???>
Randou could only stare in helpless shock as his half-demon archenemy
ripped apart the outer coverings of his twin Kaiwan in one violent move.
He screamed in anguish at the intensity of the pain caused by the
searing light force which surrounded Yusuke.
"SEI KOU KI!"
The Saint Light Ki was neither reiki, jaki, chakra, or youki; it was a
special kind of ki that was, in theory, one of the greatest powers in
all of the three worlds. Mere possession of this angelic ability was
enough to warrant an S-level classification from the Spirit World. Very
few people could master it... Shinobu Sensui himself had to train for
nearly ten years before he could fully utilize the skill.
<Urameshi can do this sort of technique? He ain't human! Well,
technically he really ain't... but... AH, FUCK IT!> Randou gulped. <So
this is the power of the legendary S-Levels...>
The Saint Light Ki was strong enough to repel even the strongest of the
Reikai seals, which was basically what Koenma's pacifier was. It was
even powerful enough to keep the Kokuryuha, Hiei's greatest technique,
at bay.
<What the hell am I supposed to do now? I can't face Urameshi like this!
He just tore apart my Kaiwan like it was made out of human flesh instead
of hardened demon-grade muscle! I'm definitely out of my league! Forget
it! I'm just wasting my time!>
Just as soon as Randou realized what sort of troubled thoughts floated
in the dark recesses of his mind, he felt shame. He wasn't merely
hesitating now; this time, he was experiencing true fear. His will to
fight was fading fast.
The mazoku continued to pick Randou apart with looping keyed-up right
hooks that repeatedly landed and broke through what was left of the
demon's so-called Bouko Hyouga Armor. Within a few more minutes of
punishment, Yusuke trapped the demon on the far wall and nailed him with
another hundred-shot volley to the head, body, legs, and arms; his fists
were flying everywhere, like a swarm of angry bees.
Moments later, the Prodigal Child of the Demon Nation caught the fading
demon warrior with a rising, Shoryuken-like uppercut that put him on the
floor and made him stay there.
Randou had no more energy to escape using the Shinsoki... or use any
other ki-type move, for that matter. He had no more power to execute the
higher level grappling moves of the Byakko's Claw. His punches were
barely even fazing his opponent. The Twin Kaiwan and the Bouko Hyouga
were now long gone.
In between shallow gasps, Randou avowed, "You have truly turned into a
devil, Urameshi. To see such power from the likes of you is indeed mind-
boggling. You could probably give even the Chojin a run for his money."
The demon had enough audacity to laugh, despite his rising fright. "But
at what cost? Are you really this eager to leave your precious humanity
behind? Can you really handle having the Kugai haunt your mind for the
rest of your unnatural life until you finally devolve into madness?"
"You talk as if it's a bad thing." The Toushin sneered sardonically then
licked his lips. "I have become death, the destroyer of worlds. It's
just as well, since my own world has now been destroyed. This is the
path I've chosen to take."
The mazoku turned towards Randou, eyeing him with pure malice. "You have
been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting.
Come back when you're worthy... or better yet, don't come back at all.
Good-bye, Randou."
Randou closed his eyes; the only thing he could do now was wait for
oblivion.
***
To be Continued...
Next: Countdown to the Endgame.
Unnecessarily Long and Tiresome Author's Notes: First, I would
like to greet my father, Alberto T. Castaneda Jr., a happy
birthday. May he have more birthdays to come. ^-^
I believe some of you may be asking yourselves, "Has the author
gone insane? What's with the Hadou Ken and Shoryuken? What next, a
Genki Dama? Where's Aoshi-sama?" Here are my respective answers to
these burning questions: "Probably", "Because I thought it'd be
fun", "Don't give me any ideas", and "Watch out for the later
chapters of 'Demon's Sword' after the 'brand-split'". ^_^
R.I.P., Shisejyu Genbu. You're the one-shot character that never
could, yet you somehow managed to survive far longer than you're
supposed to (he was featured in a whopping nine chapters), simply
because of the goodness of Kenshin's heart (and the fact that you
were in the middle of very important plot points :P). There may
not be much love lost between you and fandom, but don't worry...
you still have a chance to redeem yourself. (Foreshadowing!)
(cackles) Now, in order of appearance, the rest of Randou's
stolen techniques (the fucking copycat thief):
22. Byakko Sou: A downward slash that hits twice (in Randou's
case, hits four times due to his double Kaiwan). 'A' version can
be combo-ed, while 'B' version had a very short Super Armor. A
Byakko's Claw technique from Nanoe Shigen of Last Blade fame.
23. Byakko Shu: A 'titanium-hard' shoulder tackle using the
Kaiwan. Yeah. A Byakko's Claw technique from Nanoe Shigen of Last
Blade fame.
24. Byakko Shu Tsuika: A follow-up kick to Byakko Shu, done by
pressing 'C' during the Speed Mode. A Byakko's Claw technique from
Nanoe Shigen of Last Blade fame.
25. Retsu Hoko: Exploding Spirit Blast. Pretty self-explanatory.
'A' version causes the Spirit Blast, 'B' version causes the Shout
Blast, but basically the joystick movements are all the same. A
Byakko's Claw technique from Nanoe Shigen of Last Blade fame.
26. Zetsu Hoko: Shout Blast. Despite the weird name, it's simply
a 'ruse'-type of grappling technique where you make your opponent
think you're doing the Retsu Hoko, only to get them slammed into
the pavement 'Kurt Angle'-style with the Zetsu Hoko. Boo-yeah. A
Byakko's Claw technique from Nanoe Shigen of Last Blade fame.
27. Kongo Sai: Diamond Smasher. It's as painful as it sounds, but
only because you can chain it with a lot of moves. Randou grabs
the opponent, lifts them into the air, and slams them. If not
followed up, spikes will appear on the ground as the opponent gets
slammed. A Byakko's Claw technique from Nanoe Shigen of Last Blade
fame.
28. First Kai: After the initial Diamond Smasher, Randou lifts the
opponent up again for a second slam. If not connected, he simply
stomps on the opponent for some minor damage. A Byakko's Claw
technique from Nanoe Shigen of Last Blade fame.
29. Final Kai: It's a 'Kai' with a different kanji from the
'First' Kai. After the second slam, spikes will emerge from the
ground, and Randou drives the opponent through them, shattering
them. It's basically a finishing move, a combo-ender. A Byakko's
Claw technique from Nanoe Shigen of Last Blade fame.
30. Bouko Hyouga: Randou's body turns iron-hard as he does a
powerful shoulder dash a la Byakko Shu. Story-wise, Randou is
simply making use of the Iron Body technique to the extreme.
31. Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku: The 'Shotokhan' Ansatsuken trademark
move that's about as popular as the Hadou Ken and Shoryuken.
Repeated Whirlwind Kicks to the face of an opponent? Kick-ass,
dude. Kick-ass.
32. Hadou Ken: The Surge Fist. "Street Fighter" Ryu's trademark
Ansatsuken Special Technique. It's arguably the most well-known
projectile move on the planet.
33. Shoryuken: The Rising Dragon Punch. Ken Master's trademark
Ansatsuken Special Technique. It's arguably the most well-known
uppercut move on the planet.
Why the hell am I listing these things here? First, because I
forget things easily, and second because I want to establish a
semblance of continuity in Youtou Shinnoken, even though the
entire premise of this fic is based upon pure otaku geekiness
rather than a desire to write a fan fiction classic.
Also, starting at the end of this first major arc, I'll be making
an exciting new promotion for Youtou Shinnoken. A separation of
the "brand" has come. In accordance to the wishes of my former co-
author Danyal Herder, I'm now going to give his ideas a try by
branching the story out into two series... the "original" Youtou
Shinnoken and the newer series, Demon's Sword. Simply put, I'll be
working on my story developments in YS while working on Danyal's
story developments in DS. Stay tuned for further developments.
Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro
Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV and St. Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the
rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and Sony. Don't sue us
please, we are very poor.
Ja!
Abdiel
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