[FFML] [yyh][rk][xover] Youtou Shinnoken Chapter 37: The Other Side of Bloodlust (Part 5)

[Abdiel]

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Youtou Shinnoken
A Rurouni Kenshin/Yuyu Hakusho Crossover Fan Fiction Story
By Chester Castañeda
chester.castaneda at gmail.com
gabriel_gabdiel at yahoo.com
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/223441/
Original concept by Chad Yang
chadjill at ms3.hinet.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/56473/

The Spirit World Warriors and the New Ten Swords battle it out all over
the Minato Ward.


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Chapter 37: The Other Side of Bloodlust (Part 5)

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Back inside the main observatory of the world-famous Tokyo Tower...

The nonexistent footfalls of the ghost of Keiko Yukimura phased through
the cracked floors of the heavily damaged, crumbling, and debris-filled
second floor of the main observatory that was 145-150 meters high above
the ground.

It looked like it was about to be cleared out for demolition.

She stared up at the gaping holes of the ceiling to see that the special
observatory nearest the top of the tower's spire (which was 100-105
meters away from the main observatory, which meant it lay at 250 meters
of the 333-meter building), which was also a wreck even from afar.

It was amazing how Yusuke Urameshi could jump 100 meters high up in the
air and "joust" in the middle of his leap against Suzaku with a laser-
light show of lightning bolts, spirit energy, and plasma beams.

Then again, Keiko had a hard time wrapping her head around him being
"S-Class" or whatever that meant. Or the fact that she was having an
out-of-body experience at the moment. For many weeks straight. 'It has
been more than a month since that attack at Genkai-baasan's temple,
hasn't it?'

Instead of feeling frightened, Keiko felt rather emboldened by the fact
that she could see the action up close and personal without having to
worry about getting in the way or having the guys look out for her
safety.

'It's one of the perks of being a ghost, I guess.'

She saw Yusuke go into a portal leading into some sort of shrine, but
she wasn't sure which shrine it was. Should she fly all over Tokyo to
look for him?

No, she had a better idea, and it just happened to land inside the
observatory as soon as the coast was clear and all the different bad
guys had already left.

"Puu! Where have you been, you naughty boy? Were you scared by the big,
bad, and ugly, er, baddies?" she asked the gigantic bird that the small,
blue, stuff-toy-sized penguin-rabbit thing turned into while she
scratched its long, craning neck and played with him like a pet.

"I know you're not a dog but a bird... sort of... but can you track down
where Yusuke went for me? Can you, uh, sniff him out for me or
something? Pretty please?"

The currently humongous Puu chirped his own name and obliged Keiko's
request with what seemed like a smile.

With his avian eyes glistening in understanding, the big "birdie" grabbed
Keiko by the collar of her ethereal dress (the clothes she wore before
she went into a coma), put her behind his back, flapped his wings, and
went off into the yonder.

They flew far beyond Minato, to wherever Yukimura's boyfriend and that
over-muscled mafia boss with the longsword (as well as his shadow that
just happened to be set on blackish fire) went.


===


Before Kazuma Kuwabara could slice open his own escape route with the
Jigen Tou to avoid going through Itsuki's portal, one of the six
remaining Suzaku clones robbed him of his spirit energy while that
damned annoying Rando swung over with his silken webbing and kicked him
into the dimensional rift.

And so there the teenager was, right in the middle of... Wait, where on
Earth was he? Some sort of city with neon lights everywhere. Probably a
part of Minato unaffected by the blackout near Tokyo Tower.

A large, floating neon sign that still glowed with big, bright letters
after being magnetically extricated from the building it belonged to
(probably because the electromagnetism used to make it float also
continued to power up the sign itself) answered Kuwabara's question for
him before it was hurled towards him at 200 miles per hour.

It read, "The Cat's Tail Cafe". From below it, the magnetized sign
clipped the upper leg of the neon depiction of a half-naked woman of
another billboard that lay on her back atop the classy words, "Sex Bomb
Bar and Grill".

If that wasn't enough, Kazuma looked up in time to see a lamppost
wrapped with Christmas lights (it wasn't Christmas) and LED lights that
read, "Roppongi" in Roman letters instead of Japanese characters.

'Oooh, so I've ended up in Roppongi, huh?'

It was a town so seedy that it gave the Sleepless Town (otherwise known
as the Japanese Las Vegas), Kabukicho, a run for its money when it came
to having the reputation as the sleaziest red light district within all
of Japan.

He knew all about the place because he'd been meaning to someday
"explore" the sordid city with his junior high posse during their
delinquent phase.

'My, how times have changed.'

Who would've thought a no-future, brainless thug like him would end up
an honor student in a technical high school? It boggled his mind
sometimes.

Kuwabara was able to summon enough energy to create a Rei-Ken on short
notice that sliced the signboard headed towards him in a spectacular
display of pyrotechnics before turning the Spirit Sword into a Jigen
Tou.

He then made an escape portal of his own that helped him avoid the
expected Ankoku-Raiko-Ha that would've blasted him, the display, and a
whole city block to kingdom come.

He emerged a minute later in another part of the not-so-lazy town,
hopefully far away from the Suzaku duplicate that hurled that big
signage at him in the first place.

He thanked his lucky stars for having such a handy special power as well,
although he was getting a bit sick and tired of running away.

Speaking of running away, he saw a familiar, redheaded face do a sprint
from afar amidst the aurora borealis of bright lights, bars, half-drunk
middle-aged locals and frisky foreigners, beautiful women with their
skimpy clothing, questionable morals, the empty promises of a good time,
and the intoxicating stench of alcohol.

Kuwabara rubbed his eyes to make sure he didn't mistake a beautiful,
long-haired, lithe-figured, and flat-chested woman as his dearest, most
dependable comrade, Kurama.

"Is that you, Kurama? Hey, Kurama! KURAMA!"

"Kuwabara-kun? Kuwabara-kun! Where are you?"

"I'm over here, dude! Boy, am I glad to see...!" Kuwabara trailed off.

"...Watch OUT!" warned Kurama.

Suddenly, a bomb from behind the half-youko went off and body parts flew
all over the place while it rained blood and stank of gunpowder.

After a brief pause, people screamed and ran away thusly, forming the
beginnings of a stampede.

Ever the helpful citizen and quick-thinker, Kuwabara created a huge
dimensional rift that served as the milling humanity's fire exit from
the "war zone" and the battle that was about to take place.

Kurama, also known as Shuichi Minamino, got double-teamed by Karasu (of
course, hence the explosion) and an S-Level doppelganger of Suzaku, his
Rose Whip at the ready while he dodged aerial energy mines and avoided
Ankoku-Raiko-Ha by taking advantage of the cramped streets and the
multitude of hiding places within the urban jungle.

Kuwabara heard Karasu say, "It's all your fault why those people died.
You let them die, Kurama. How many more failures are you willing to make
before you're satisfied?"

As for Kazuma, he himself had to contend with another Suzaku clone (who
spotted him as soon as Karasu's bomb went off), this time sporting that
disturbing black swarm of iron sand that ripped apart anything it
touched into fine dust particles.

Kuwabara checked the Spirit Detector that Botan lent him to scope out
everyone's current power level. Two S-Levels and an A-Level against two
A-Levels? Not bad.

Sure, the odds were still against them, but it could've been worse, like
having all seven Class-S Suzakus ganging up on them while the rest of
the New Ten Swords ran interference in the sidelines.

Kazuma immediately ate his words once Suzaku made him learn what it was
like to have his blood microwaved from the inside while a high-pressure
cloud of gritty metallic particles practically sheared off his skin like
a million tiny piranhas from the outside.

Thankfully, one slash of the Jigen Tou was enough to disrupt the
electromagnetic field around Suzaku, which made his nimbus of coarse
sand succumb to gravity and his radiation to dissipate into nothingness,
as though the Dimensional Sword was the off-button to his powers.

A lightspeed Ankoku-Raiko-Ha blindsided Kuwabara since his sword-
swinging skills were never as fast as the frighteningly lightning-quick
kenjutsu of Kenshin "Battousai" Himura or even the traditionally trained
master kendoist, Yahiko "Samurai Kid" Myojin.

He had enough wherewithal to give his pursuer the slip by slicing a
portal to where he was supposed to fall after he staggered from the
blast.

Dammit, Kazuma hasn't even so much as _nicked_ any of the newest Suzaku
shadow clones they were fighting so far. He got to pull himself
together.

Kurama, meanwhile, dealt the most kills and deathblows on Suzaku out of
all six of the Spirit World Warriors until Yusuke arrived and one-upped
everyone (as usual).

Wait. How long has Kurama been fighting all this time? Kuwabara
remembered the blood-soaked bandages underneath Shuichi's clothes.

Minamino also mentioned dealing with Jine, the Kanji Killer that was all
over the news four years ago. 'So those were probably sword wounds.'

Amazing. He'd been fighting Suzaku injured, and he was _still_ able to
perform this well? He was something else. 'But Kurama refuses to
transform into the youko. Even if he is a demon in disguise, his body
is still only human. There are only so many injuries he could take
before he...!'

Kuwabara crawled underneath an upturned car wreck hidden inside a thirty-
car pileup in time to see a groaning Karasu flinging grenades and
dynamites at a flaming building while occasionally screaming, "Why won't
you die?"

Kazuma crawled closer to get a better look. Sure enough, he saw that the
bomber youkai was actually attached to a familiar plant.

The Sinning Tree or the Janen Ju... the same parasitic mutant plant that
Kurama used to subdue Karasu's teammate in the Ankoku Bujutsukai, Toguro
Ani... had lodged itself into the synapses of the demon's mind until it
broke his psyche with continuous hallucinations.

Was Kuwabara worrying for nothing? As usual, Kurama proved to be a
formidable opponent. However, Kazuma worried anew after he saw his
redheaded friend fly through the wall of the same flaming building that
Karasu was mindlessly tossing bombs at.

Two golden beams of light shot upwards and straight ahead from the hole
where Kurama was blown back, obliterating the entirety of the structure
in barely a second. Kuwabara identified the lasers as that special
"Railgun" technique that both Suzaku and Daiji Matsudaira wouldn't shut
up about.

"It shot metal objects at mach three," was all Kazuma could remember
about the electromagnetic cannon. At any rate, out of the smoke, debris,
fire, and rubble emerged twin Suzakus.

Suzaku went beside the delirious Karasu and electrocuted the Sinning
Tree into oblivion and dust before it took complete control of the demon
crow's unhinging mind. Soon, the unseeing eyes of corvus focused and
regained sentience.

"W-What happened to me?" the barely aware Karasu stammered. "No matter
what I did, Kurama won't die..."

"Relax, it was just a hallucination. From one of Kurama's plants, in
fact," said the Crimson Sparrow clone after he rolled his eyes.

The black-haired youkai shook his head. "So _that_ was the Janen Ju I've
heard so much about. No wonder it defeated the immortal Toguro Ani. What
a bloodcurdling plant you have there, Kurama."

The masked man cleared his throat after seeing the Suzakus roll their
eyes at him. "Is this the best that you can do, though? I told you
_we're_ going to have the last laugh. You and your little friends are no
match against the combined might of the Shin Ju."

Kurama stood up on wobbly spaghetti feet while summoning the last of his
youki, producing a Rose Whip. Kuwabara gulped. Didn't Suzaku have enough
power to electrocute the redhead with any vine plant that he used?

"K-Kurama...?" probed Kazuma from underneath the scrapheap he hid in,
tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

It seemed uncharacteristic of Shuichi to reuse a weapon that didn't work
against his opponent the first time, _unless_... that was the only
weapon he could summon at this point.

Minamino looked as badly injured as the time he had his death match
against Karasu. Or the time he had to undergo a gauntlet of Team Masho
Tsukai enemies from Gama to Toya to Bakken.

Maybe the reason he hadn't transform into the youko yet wasn't just
because he didn't want to, but he also because he couldn't anymore.

"You're still trying? Please, stop. You'll only embarrass yourself,"
said one of the Suzakus. "Let us put you out of your misery to keep you
from tarnishing your proud legacy any further, oh Legendary Youko
Kurama."

"!?" came Kuwabara's silent exclamation before he scrambled to his feet,
which resulted with him bumping his head on the roof of an upside-down
car.

The trio of Suzaku, Karasu, and another Suzaku lined themselves up like
a firing squad and walked as one while the shaky and unsteady Kurama
whirled and struck his whip at them. They casually dodged and/or
shrugged off the damage before they prepared their respective finishing
moves.

Karasu gathered all his combustible demonic energy into a sphere,
intending to shoot it out like the Rei-Gan all at once. He'd used it
once before in the Dark Martial Arts Tournament, but failed to complete
the move because he died before he could do so thanks to Kurama's
bloodsucking vampire plant.

Meanwhile, the two Suzakus flanking the corvus on either side summoned
magnetized metal balls from a pachinko parlor across the street,
aiming to again shoot their Railguns at the hapless Kurama. The half-
youko's repeated stays of execution had delayed his death long enough.

All three Shin Juppon Gatana members (technically, just two, since two
of them were simply clones) shot their payloads at the wobbly legged
demon fox.

Kuwabara brought the Jigen Tou down in time to neutralize both beams of
disintegrating metal objects traveling at thrice the speed of sound, the
large heap of automobiles above him collapsing outwards, like a parting
curtain of a theater stage.

Even though an arm strike was never faster than the speed of sound (let
alone mach three), Kuwabara compensated the speed differential by
slashing the air in advance, even before the laser-like shots were fired
since the reality-tearing slashes from the Dimensional Sword tended to
linger longer than a few seconds.

Kazuma then slashed a portal that redirected Karasu's comparatively
slower ray of volatile youki back at him (with a portal opening above his
head), which (naturally) caused him to explode and take out both the
Suzakus beside him.

Amidst the resulting conflagration, Kuwabara declared, "Hey assholes. If
you want to kill Kurama, you'd have to go through me first."

"...K-Kuwabara-kun," whispered Kurama before he fell down on his knees in
exhaustion. "Thank you."


===


As the portal from behind him closed, Sanosuke Sagara realized he ended
up in the same place where his initial encounter with the Demon-Sword-
wielding Suzaku took place: At Shiba Park near the Foot Town Building
right below Tokyo Tower itself.

There was one difference between then and now, though. While earlier,
the city remained fully intact even after the subsequent blackout
plunged Shibakoen into darkness, it currently looked like a war zone.

Sano's only clue of where he was came from the silhouette of the
imposing, Eiffel-Tower-like building before him, illuminated by the pale
moonlight. If this was where his fight against the Shin Juppon Gatana
was supposed to take place, then he might as well fight blindfolded.

A flashlight shone right in front of Sagara, which startled him enough
to take a swing at the person holding it. He missed and was hit at the
back of his head, making him go down like a sack of bricks for all his
trouble.

"Ugh... Aoshi? Aoshi Lite, is that you?" groaned Sanosuke, rubbing his
sore neck.

"I wish you'd stop calling me that," said Detective-Investigator Daiji
Matsudaira before rolling his eyes.

"Calling you what? 'Aoshi'?" asked Sano, blinking repeatedly.

"No, 'Aoshi Lite'. You make me sound like I'm a brand of beer,"
explained... or rather, deadpanned... Matsudaira.

"Well, what's the big idea, _Aoshi_? You scared me half to death with
that flashlight of yours!" said Sagara while thumping his exposed chest
and pectorals.

"I was trying to find you. We apparently ended up in the darkest corners
of Shibakoen, and I have a feeling that's no coincidence," informed
Daiji matter-of-factly after he turned his flashlight off and stepped
into the moonlight so that Sano could see him.

"Oh, relax, will you? As soon as any of those Suzaku clowns..."

"...Clones," corrected Detective Matsudaira.

"I _know_ what I said. Anyway, as soon as any of the Suzakus or the rest
of the Shin Ju jump us with their bright laser beam powers or explosive
ki blasts, we'd see them immediately."

"Ki blasts, huh? What do you think this is? A Saturday morning cartoon?"
the lean form of the one-eyed (and usually silent) Itsuki asked after
emerging from a portal before Matsudaira and Sagara. "What would you do
if you couldn't see what was coming? If you're fighting something that
you can't see but can see you?"

As if on cue, like in the movie "Poltergeist", metal objects of varying
sizes and forms began floating and circling around the intrepid heroes
like an electromagnetic asteroid belt, their speeds varying from slow
as molasses to faster than a speeding bullet.

Amidst all that chaos, Sano attempted to take a swing of his fist at
Itsuki, but the dimensional demon sunk back into the ground, swallowed
by a dimensional rift. Zanza was then blindsided by an Ankoku-Raiko-Ha
that, as the youkai promised, he never saw coming. The only things he
saw were stars.

What was worse was that because the blast made him stagger, he ended up
on the wrong side of an incoming bus that then collided with a car
headed the other direction, which turned Sagara into the meaty part of
a automobile sandwich.

As for Daiji, he avoided the incoming traffic of flying cars and buses
as well as office supplies, construction materials, and consumer
electronics (like the huge AC unit that nearly decapitated him had he
not ducked underneath it) using his tried-and-tested, practically
"patented" signature move, the Ryusui no Ugoki or Water Flow Movement.

He knew he dodged more than the floating objects he could barely avoid
or otherwise slice up to bits with his ceramic twin blades. He felt the
hairs all over his body rise up on end due to static. He escaped
multiple Lightning Storms of Torment by the skin of his teeth.

_Invisible_ bolts of electricity, at that.

The recovering Sanosuke got zapped for a second time, but this time
around, he tensed his muscles enough to brace himself for impact, thus
the shock wasn't as bad as the earlier sucker punch.

"I don't understand, Aoshi! Don't lightning bolts usually _glow_? Why
can't we see them now? Also, where are those cowards? They've turned us
into their personal shooting gallery!"

"The electrical energy they're shooting us with might go beyond the
spectrum of visible light. In order to take advantage of the darkness,
they could be blasting us with ultraviolet-irradiated youki bolts full
of microwave radiation... which is why my skin is burning now."

"Huh. How much more violet does violet need to be in order to become
ultraviolet?" asked Sanosuke.

Daiji groaned, remembering that even back in the Meiji Era, Sano was one
of _those_ superstitious country bumpkin rubes who thought trains were
fueled by witchcraft and taking photographs allowed demons to steal your
soul.

Then again, they _were_ fighting a demon who could summon lightning and
control the electromagnetic spectrum with his mind, so maybe there
existed soul-stealing photographs or nightmare-fueled trains that led
straight to hell. Who knew?

"Come to think of it, I still have no idea how a microwave oven works
and why this prick with roach bangs has microwave powers on top of his
electrical ones! So he can now heat up cups of water in just one minute
without using fire?" came another one of Sanosuke's observations.

"...."

Wordlessly, Matsudaira leapfrogged from floating vehicle to vehicle (or
any other floating object that could support his weight) and Sanosuke
followed suit, his summoned ceramic zanbatou serving as his occasional
pole-vaulting staff.

Sure enough, the missed shots of the Ankoku-Raiko-Ha they couldn't see
hit the fuel tanks of one of the economy cars they hopped on, thus
resulting in a conflagration that, thankfully, made it easier to see
around them.

They took cover from the ensuing flaming wreckage of exploding cars and
electronic appliances at the Akabanebashi Station, hoping that the power
outage meant there weren't any trains traveling that early morning which
Suzaku (or the Suzakus) could use to turn Sano and Daiji into bloody
stumps on the ground in the middle of a burning train wreck.

There was still no sign of the Suzakus or the Shin Ju anywhere (save for
Itsuki earlier, but he himself had long ago retreated like the coward
that he was).

For the longest time, the only thing they could hear was the sound of
their own heavy breathing and panting, which to two heterosexual males
sounded kind of suggestive and creepy.

Actually, the detective eventually noticed that only his breathing was
making a sound. Even though Sanosuke was heaving his chest and flaring
his nostrils normally, it appeared more out of instinct than
requirement.

No air was entering or exiting from Sano, as indicated by the lack of
fog forming over his mouth. How was he able to talk or make sounds with
his larynx? Did he even have a larynx? Air was needed to make the voice
box vibrate and produce words and phrases, right? Just what was Sanosuke
exactly?

"How come Suzaku is able to see us in this darkness and we can't do the
same to him?" asked Sano, breaking the ice.

"If I have to guess, then the Suzaku clones are probably emitting
infrared light that they alone could see and we couldn't because of the
lack of tapetum lucidum tissue in human eyes that allows for night
vision."

"...What the fuck is infrared and how red does light have to be in order
for it to become 'infra', whatever that means?"

The Aoshi reincarnation resisted the urge to grunt. "Infrared light is
what's used to make night vision goggles work and allow people to see in
the dark as well as dogs, cats, and owls. You know what eye shine is,
right?"

"Oh yeah. 'Eye shine' is when your pets' eyes glow like they're
possessed or something, right?"

"Right. They have an extra tissue behind their eyes that makes them see
in the dark. In Suzaku's case, he can see in the dark because he
illuminates everything with infrared light that only he and his clones
can see, but we can't."

Sanosuke rubbed his chin and nodded. "Well, why didn't you just say so?"

"...." Daiji inwardly counted from one to ten. The wall they were using
to hide out from Suzaku then crumbled after a flying truck crashed right
through, controlled less by gas and more by electromagnetism.

So they had to find shelter elsewhere while being shot at by what
Matsudaira referred to as ultraviolet light and microwave radiation
mixed with demon energy.

"I've been meaning to ask you something since we met back in Reikai,"
began Daiji while he and Sano ran away from the whirlwind of metal
_everything_ found within Shiba Park that the Suzakus could get their
magnetic hands on.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You obviously know more than I do,"
was the rather reasonable answer of Sagara.

"Indulge me." Matsudaira took a deep breath. "Are you even _alive_,
Sagara Sanosuke? You look exactly the same as my past self remembers
you. It doesn't seem like you've gotten yourself a Heisei Era
reincarnation either. How is it that you can fight in the present day
even though you've died long ago?"

It took quite a lot of demonstrations of the supernatural for the
detective to be convinced of the existence of ghosts and goblins. Before
all _this_ happened, he used to only believe in things that had been
scientifically proven.

However, because of the way his inquisitive mind worked, even when it
came to the paranormal, he approached things in a scientific manner (or
even pseudo-scientific manner) by attempting to make sense of it all. He
wanted to discover a method to all this madness.

"I don't know, man. I was plucked straight out of the afterlife and made
to fight this Chojin asshole in exchange for the chance to meet Kenshin
again after a century or so of being separated from him. Not everyone
from our group ended up being reincarnated, after all."

Daiji considered Sano's words. "If I have the ability to make spiritual
energy turn into solid objects made from any material, then it stands to
reason that the same mechanisms of supernatural 'science' is at play
when it comes to ghosts getting a tangible, relatively flesh-and-blood
form."

"In plain Japanese please, Officer."

"I can turn my spirit energy into solid objects as a natural talent, so
I guess it's possible for spirits that are powerful enough to be able to
make their own material bodies."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I have about as much of an idea how
supernatural stuff works as I do with modern technology." Sano shrugged
again.

They screeched to a halt, their shoes making the pavement underneath
their heels buckle while they put on their brakes after spotting a
hurricane of electronics and magnetized automobiles swoop in from behind
and in front of them.

Sano did a Futae no Kiwami right on the street underneath them, which
made it collapse and lead them underground to the sewers. The Sakurada
Dori then turned into an instant junkyard with occasional exploding
debris after multiple hard collisions occurred.

The pair climbed up to the nearest ladder leading to a manhole cover
for fear that the Suzakus on the loose would tear apart Shibakoen and
the innocent citizens who lived there just to flush them out.

As soon as they reappeared from under the street, metal objects began
floating above their heads anew, thus repeating the cycle. They
considered bunking it out inside the sewers and waiting out the
(electromagnetic) storm, but Daiji had other plans.

"For someone who looks down on humanity so much, you sure have done your
research on human technology and scientific discoveries like magnetism,
galvanism, the full electromagnetic spectrum, and electromagnetic
radiation, Suzaku."

"What of it? What's your point, human?" the disembodied voice of Suzaku
boomed from out of the blue.

"You even know what microwaves and railguns are and can mimic their
function perfectly, _plus_ you can even electrically charge metal
railings so that you can travel on them at speeds equivalent to that of
a bullet train. Your knowledge and hatred for humanity is bordering on
_obsession_."


===


After Yahiko Myojin got up from his sudden exit from the portal that one
of the Shin Juppon Gatana, Itsuki, made, he dusted the seat of his hakama
off and espied his surroundings.

He ended up somewhere within a construction site of sorts, in front of a
half-finished building with inverted prisms as its main structure.

This was the first time Yahiko had ever seen such a bizarre-looking
establishment. He couldn't tell if the presence of western influences on
modern Japanese architecture and engineering was a good or bad thing. It
all seemed too weird to him.

"So this is Tokyo Big Sight, huh?" murmured Natsuki Shinkai while she
stared spellbound at the building. This prompted Myojin to move
backwards so that they were shoulder to shoulder and ask, "Where are
we, Natsuki?"

Shinkai raised her hands up in seeming surrender. "I'm not sure. I've
only been in Japan for a couple of years myself and I don't even know
how to write, spell, or read with kanji either."

Yahiko tilted his head. "But you know the name of the building."

"Oh, it's actually called the Tokyo Exhibition Center. That's just the
nickname people came up for it."

"_Exactly_. I rest my case. What are you talking about?" asked Myojin.

"No, you misunderstood!" said Shinkai. "_Likka-tan_ wouldn't shut up
about the damn thing and kept showing me pictures of what it's supposed
to look like when finished, so I can identify it in my sleep. She claims
it's supposed to be the new Mecca for Comiket or some nonsense like that,
I don't know."

"Likka-tan...? Oh, you mean Weasel Girl?" asked Yahiko.

More surprised than outraged, Natsuki put her hands on her hips and
asked in return, "So you knew Likka-tan was Makimachi Misao all this
time and you never told me?"

Myojin shrugged. "Only as soon as I saw her face-to-face. It's eerie how
she looks exactly the same as she did a hundred years ago. Also, what's
this I hear about 'Comiket'? Is that word in English?"

"Yeah. It's a contraction of 'Comic Market'. Once Tokyo Big Sight is
open for business, the otaku expect all future Comiket conventions to be
held there. Or so I've heard. From Likka-tan."

Yahiko scratched his chin. "I have no idea what an otaku is. Please
explain, Natsuki."

"Well, _Weasel Girl_ is an otaku. It simply means she likes manga and
anime a lot. She dresses up like characters from those shows from time
to time. You should know this by now."

Actually, the term "otaku" didn't simply mean "anime and manga fan", but
referred to anyone that was obsessed with _anything_, since there were
also "videogame otaku", "model kit otaku", "train otaku", "military
otaku", "pop idol otaku", or even "firearms otaku".

_But of course_ the half-Taiwanese exchange student who barely knew
anything about Japanese culture wouldn't know that.

"Seriously? Cartoons? Comic books? At her age? And she's reincarnated as
a _female_ to boot?" Yahiko crossed his arms and shook his head. "That's
kind of creepy, Natsuki."

"Yes, _Grandpa_. Kids her age still like cartoons. So do I, come to
think of it. B-But not as much. Don't look at me like that, Yahiko-kun!"

While a blushing Shinkai pounded her fists lightly at a tomato-red
Yahiko's shoulder (ghosts weren't supposed to have flesh-and-blood
bodies, so it was mostly Myojin's feelings of embarrassment that made
him glow red on the face), a voice declared:

"While I'd hate to keep you two lovebirds from flirting around..."

"WE ARE NOT FLIRTING AND HE/SHE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND!" Natsuki
and Yahiko more-or-less chorused respectively, with both of them denying
romantic intentions for one another in not so many words.

"...I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible. YOU-GAN!"

The two Kamiya Kasshin Ryu coadjutant masters flipped and tumbled away
in different directions after the pasty-skinned, spider-themed demonic
villain known as Rando shot at them repeatedly with what Yahiko
identified as the youki-fueled version of Yusuke Urameshi's signature
finishing move, the Rei-Gan.

"Oh my gods. So you _are_ obsessed with that Urameshi Yusuke kid, aren't
you? You even stole his Ray Gun technique! How does it feel to have him
bitch-slap you around before you can even blink?" Yahiko mocked.

Rando snarled, "SHADDUP! If I were you, I'd pay closer attention to
where I'm landing. Do you want to get sucked into a tornado again?"

Natsuki reminded Yahiko, "Let's not fall for his tricks this time,
Yahiko-kun."

"I won't forget," Myojin reassured Shinkai while slamming multiple Dou
Ryu Sen at Rando, then doing a Dou Gami whenever the demon dashed in too
close. "I now know that whirlwind technique he used against us at
Kawaguchiko Station was powered by our own malice and hot ki."

"He cooled down his temperature using his youki, then allowed our
aggressive ki to mix with his to create an updraft," confirmed Natsuki,
who played defense and batted several of the energy beams back at Rando
with the Mugen Dai no Hyogo.

She also went up close to do a jab-like Kousa Dageki thrust that opened
the youkai up for Yahiko's Tsui Gami. However, the deflected energy
blasts were merely dodged or assimilated back into Rando thanks to his
Inner Blood Turmoil technique.

"What a fascinating conversation, Twiddledee and Twiddledum. However,
how exactly are you going to stop me from doing another Hiryu Shoten Ha
against you?" asked Rando.

He realized their answer after the tenth time he attempted to trick them
to move into a spiral.

Whenever he was about to complete the Flying Dragon Wave's corkscrew
pattern, the humans found ways to reset the move by moving in the
opposite direction or attacking from a distance. They also went in and
out of the sallow demon's striking range to avoid his obvious bait.

Again, Rando's triple protection thanks to his Iron Body Technique, the
Armor of Sand, and the Shield of Sand kept him from piling up way too
much damage from the gradual assault.

However, he was still trapped under the Kamiya Kasshin students'
deliberate pace, his defense slowly but surely eroding while Yahiko
chipped at it in a war of attrition.

Instead of moving in for big shots that could end the fight in an
instant, Yahiko settled in the same groove as Natsuki, picking his shots
and slipping in Karmic Gods and Perfect Gods by ambush instead of by
outright aggression: Guerilla warfare at its finest.

Nonetheless, Rando figured out another reason for the slow start
compared to the frenetic pace of their previous battle. They were both
waiting for the other shoe to drop. They knew that the kabuki youkai
with wild blood-red hair wasn't the only Shin Juppon Gatana they should
watch out for, which was why they were conserving their strength as much
as possible.

The thing that they were waiting for happened sooner than expected. Even
Yahiko and Natsuki couldn't brace themselves enough to withstand the
onslaught of dozens of I-beams and rebar being lifted up right above
them through magnetism then released and left to the whiles of gravity.

"It's about time! I was getting bored here!" After the dust gathered
around the two Artful Dodgers while they avoided the downpour of steel,
it gave Rando an idea for a low-effort yet high-yield and energy-
efficient attack.

The youkai himself conserved his ki in anticipation of an opening in the
Spirit World Warrior's (so-far) impregnable defense.

The Suzaku twins then appeared on either side of Rando. One Suzaku had
multiple rings of metal objects orbiting around him, his skin glowing
with electromagnetic radiation while he chucked small metal shrapnel at
the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Masters alongside the towering steel construction
pillars falling all over them.

The shrapnel traveled at around the speed of bullets (335 to 427 meters
per second depending on the size of the metal objects being shot, so
they whizzed a little under or over the speed of sound, which was around
340 meters per second).

As for the other Suzaku, he looked even more like a planet than his
counterpart, his magnetic field so dense that it formed a spherical force
field around him that emitted visible light in the form of electrical
sparks and bolts of lightning that arched around him like shining cracks
in the air or thick leafless tree branches made out of light.

While the human pair of a solidified ghost and his reincarnated female
ally maneuvered their way out of the metal maze, Rando did his attack.

Yahiko and Natsuki reeled after they were both blown back by a blast
from the dense dust clouds produced by the multiple I-beams and rebar
that fell on them like metal stakes.

A dust explosion had occurred.

The clouds of dust combusted with a simple toss of a low-energy fireball
from one of Rando's stolen Xiaolin (or Shaolin, if one preferred that
spelling) techniques.

Rando cackled after the blabbermouth Yahiko slammed into an I-beam so
hard, he left a dent on it, while Natsuki herself crashed and burned so
powerfully into the ground, she formed a trench of sorts, with her body
serving as its digging hoe.

'That's more like it.'

The Suzaku inside the magnetic bubble fired opportunistic Ankoku-Raiko-
Ha arrows at Yahiko (who completed an electrical circuit after the
electricity flowed from his veins and into the metal post he was stuck
in) and Natsuki (who fared better since she was hidden under mounds of
dirt).

"Suzaku! Or rather, Suzakus. You better not act like that crazy clone of
yours who's holding the Demon Sword and planning a mutiny against the
Chojin," came Rando's warning. "Just because you're now Class-S, it
doesn't mean you should be full of yourselves."

The nearest one of the of the twin Suzakus... the one with the orbiting
rings made of metal objects... harrumphed. "Shut up and do your job, so
we'll do ours." It wasn't exactly the reassuring affirmative Rando was
looking for, but it would have to do for now.

Rando's pride still hurt after Yusuke returned the favor for the Kugai
curse by giving the spider demon a taste of his own medicine; the youkai
went through a more literal version of the World of Suffering.

That half-breed hanyou would pay someday, Rando swore. Mister Class-S or
no, the _full-fledged_ demon still managed to bring the Reikai Tantei to
the brink twice already. And he would do so again. 'Third time's the
charm, after all.'

Trembling from electric convulsions while using his (still) metal-
sheathed sakabatou, Yahiko rasped out to his partner, "We'll have to
attack the weak link before we can get any leeway in this fight,
Natsuki."

After the Suzaku with the magnetic force field fired another volley of
Lightning Storms of Torment at Yahiko (which he dodged by running
towards the lightning demon's direction because lightspeed or no, it was
still tougher to hit a moving target), Natsuki jumped and sprinted into
action, with her deflecting several of the lightning bolts she could
counter with proper timing and precision care of the Mark of Infinity.

Shinkai again played shield to Myojin's sword, the latter moving in for
the kill at this so-called weak link.

Rando bristled with contempt after realizing where (or whom) Yahiko
headed towards. "You _dare_ call _me_ a WEAK LINK? I'll show you what
this _weak link_ is capable of!"


===


As Yusuke Urameshi slid on the sloping gravel path underneath his feet,
the portal above his head closing, he looked up in time to spot Feng
Xinhai a few yards away from him, standing underneath the tori gate of a
nearby shrine.

Unbeknownst to the teen, he was actually dealing not only with an S-
Class human, but a Triad Dragon Head or Mountain Master as well as a
reincarnation of one of Kenshin Himura's past enemies to boot.

Then again, the teenager could tell the Chinese mafia boss was a
foreigner by his singsong accent.

"So you're a Spirit World _Detective_ too like _Detective_ Matsudaira,
am I correct? I guess that makes you a Blue Meanie as well, Urameshi
Yusuke," concluded the Taiwanese muscleman in a business suit before
he pointed his nodachi at the (retired and freelancing) Reikai Tantei.

"I have no idea what that is," admitted Yusuke, which was to be
expected.

Even though the world-famous Beatles and the 1968 film, "Yellow
Submarine" (where the term "Blue Meanie" originated) were popular
enough in Japan to somewhat permeate into the country's Late Sixties
pop culture, the young Urameshi was still born a decade later, in the
Late Seventies.

That film was way before his time, and his parents weren't bit by
Beatlemania in the least.

"Are you throwing in old-timey references at me, Ojisan? You're an
even older coot than Detective Ossan! Get with the times, ya old
geezer! It's already the Nineties!"

"...."

Yusuke then took stock of his surroundings. He had a good view of Tokyo
from where he stood, and at the foot of the mountain, there were many
thick clusters of trees. He jumped high up to get a better look. His
jaw then dropped after he recognized the familiar snowy peak.

No self-respecting Japanese person would not recognize Mount Fuji as
soon as they saw it. 'Huh. Fuji-san looks like a gravel pit from a
tokusatsu show from up close.'

After Yusuke went back down and created a small crater underneath him,
he exclaimed, "Why the hell are we on _Mount Fuji_? What were you
thinking, you crazy old gaijin goat? Can you be more of a cliche James
Bond villain? Are you looking for tourist attractions and famous
monuments to destroy? Go back to China!"

Ignoring Urameshi's attempts at conversation, Feng talked _over_ the boy
rather than _to_ him, stating, "I've always wondered what it was like to
fight a Class-S mazoku, even if it's a half-breed like you. I want to
test my limits. Have a fight with me."

There were few S-Level warriors left in Human World. Toguro and Genkai
used to belong in that class at the peak of their power. There was also
Sensui Shinobu, but he was now dead along with Toguro, and even Genkai
herself was on her way to the grave.

"S-Level this, S-Level that. Who the fuck cares? Honestly." Yusuke
sighed long and hard. "You know what my old man, Raizen, told me about
Reikai power levels? They're bullshit. Even Koenma Daio admitted that S-
Level refers to nothing more than humans or demons whose powers they
couldn't scale."

At least, a few years ago, that was the case. Somewhere in between U.S.
President George Bush vomiting on Prime Minister Kichi Miyazawa's lap
and Japan winning the AFC Asian Cup against Saudi Arabia in Hiroshima,
the Spirit World came up with a new "unclassifiable" level... Class-X...
after they researched more about S-Levels and subsequently updated the
Spirit Detector's ratings.

Yusuke scratched his cheek. Was it around the time the new Sailor Moon
anime came out (not that he watched that girly show or anything)? No,
that was _way_ too early.

Maybe it happened during the time when "My Patrasche", the remake of the
1975 anime series (shown a year before Urameshi was born), aired last
year. At any rate, the boy had a better grasp of time through the
anime he caught on TV than any major political or sporting events.

"As expected of a god among men, you don't see your godhood as a big
deal. For you, describing power levels to me is akin to a human
describing the concept of a year to a fly that could only live for a
day."

Xinhai harrumphed. "Only someone who fought his way to the top and made
something out of himself could understand what greatness is, as opposed
to powerful people who were gifted with greatness and take it for
granted."

"Wow, sounds deep, man." As soon as Yusuke exhaled, he disappeared from
view and ended up in the One-Eight-Ten Killer's blindside, remarking,
"If you're that impressed about classes and power levels, then let me
kick you _class_."

Feng winced at Yusuke's lame pun long before he could react to the
glowing, reiki-filled fist headed straight for him... which, by the way,
never connected to his face.

Unlike with how terribly Rando handled the Hyaku Retsu-Ken, the S-Class
Mountain Master caught the very first punch Urameshi launched, blocking
the glowing fist with his prosthetic titanium arm before the boy could
become a whirlwind of shiny, blue-tinted knuckles.

"Hold your horses, son. Don't do to me what you did to that insect
Rando. That's insulting." Feng twisted Yusuke's arm until it bent in
ways it wasn't supposed to bend.

However, Yusuke's left arm was still free. Before Xinhai could chop the
errant limb off, Urameshi went to work by kneeing the Dragon Head's
crotch, headbutting his noggin as soon as the Triad leader doubled over
in pain, then attacked using a variety of left hooks, jabs, and
uppercuts filled with spiritual might.

"I heard you're the guy who taught Seiryu how to put curses on people
so that he could use their suffering as power sources to level up, like
they're slime monsters from RPGs," said Yusuke in between punches,
referencing the weakest characters in Dragon Quest, a famous role-
playing game.

"RPGs? You mean rocket-propelled grenades?" asked the forty-something
Chinese Triad mobster from Taiwan whose only experience in videogames
consisted of playing Pong and Pac-Man rip-offs in the arcades near the
gambling halls he frequented.

"I want to know how to reverse that spell or whatever the hell that
was that Seiryu placed on Keiko to wake her up, gramps. So talk. Talk or
I'll turn you into mincemeat," added Urameshi.

While licking the blood on his teeth and gums, the Triad boss grinned.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Like before, Feng proved to be a hard nut to crack even after his
expensive suit was reduced to torn shreds of cloth from the blazing
blitzkrieg of energized, superheated punches full of ghostly plasma.

"URGH!" The teenaged mazoku descendant grunted and puked blood.

A flaming blade burst out of Yusuke's chest like that chest-bursting
creature from the 1979 movie "Alien". Xinhai proceeded to let go of
Urameshi's right hand before he jumped away and let his burning
shikigami shadow clone bring its impaled victim down and drag him across
the face of Mount Fuji.

Calmly, the Dragon Head walked towards his prey. "Are you done with your
shenanigans, boy? I'm just getting warmed up. Don't disappoint me." With
a snap of his fingers, Xinhai's flaming familiar reappeared beside him,
its own nodachi in tow.

As soon as the shadow disappeared, longsword and all, the bleeding
Yusuke extracted himself from the gravel and spewed rocks, dirt, and
blood from his mouth. His body glowed, healing the damage he suffered
from being turned into a human rake with a sword impaled in his
midsection.

Yusuke quipped after he took one look at the dark purple, jaki-composed
familiar that Xinhai had right beside him, "What's that supposed to be?
Your _Stand_?" referring to the supernatural power in the third part of
the popular series "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure".

It served as a contraction of the phrase, "The one who stands by me,"
and referred to the ghostly manifestation of one's power, thus serving
as that person's spiritual partner that had a mind of its own yet was
also an extension of his own soul.

It perfectly described the second, shadowy version of Feng who stood by
him like a guardian "devil" or a personal bodyguard. The shikigami was
almost his exact mirror image in terms of build and size. The twins even
shared the same kind of Japanese curved longsword. It was a shadow clone
by every meaning of the term.

"Certainly, you can do better than that, right? I heard from Itsuki how
your battle with Sensui made a whole mountain explode and collapse into
a flat plain, as though you could create a ravine or canyon like you're
Izanami or Paul Bunyan," mocked Xinhai.

The shikigami disappeared again, and Yusuke commenced stretching,
hopping, and bracing himself for any sneak attacks that came his way.

Feng continued. "I overheard your little speech to Suzaku about you
being a living nuke. I feel the same way. It must be painful having to
hold back now that the entire world seems like a China shop to you, a
bull with no sense of grace."

"To be honest, it's not as big a deal as you're making it," said
Urameshi. By reflex, he then dodged the Matoi Izuna, a vacuum slice
projectile that traveled on land, his battle instincts improving his
reaction time by leaps and bounds.

After weeks of doing miscellaneous Spirit World errands in order to help
the comatose Yukimura balance out her bad karma with good karma so that
she could finally wake up, Urameshi finally got to fight, and he
couldn't be happier.

"Oh really? When was the last time you went all out with your power?
During the Demon World Unification Tournament, when you lost to Yomi?
Or maybe even before that, because during that sparring match contest
and mockery of an election, barely any of the contestants were ever in
fear of dying."

"Y-Yomi? How did you know about...?" trailed off the spirit detective.

The hanyou had to contend with not only "kamaitachi" (literally, "weasel
cut") on the ground, but also "flying kamaitachi" or the Tobi Izuna from
high and low. The teenager attempted to shield himself with his dense
spirit energy, but the sharp wind pressure still penetrated.

Luckily, they weren't as fast or annoying as Suzaku's mach-three
Railgun or lightspeed Lightning Storm of Torment. The razor winds
traveled about as swiftly as the wind, but never as fast as the speed of
sound, bullets, or light.

However, Yusuke knew that Feng had an ace up his sleeve that made all
the difference. The One-Eight-Ten Killer's familiar could hold him down
and let him get shredded into bits by the sharp vacuum waves with
impunity, after all.

"When was the last time you risked your life during battle? When was the
last time you faced an opponent that couldn't only challenge you, but
put you to the brink of death? Survival of the Fittest? You're _aching_
for release. To not hold back. To reduce this mountain into rubble. Go
ahead. Let go."

Urameshi rolled his eyes. "Oh, jeez, I don't have time to hear your
lectures about how we're more alike than I think we are or the meaning
of life _in the middle of a fight_! If I wanted to listen to that, then
I would've gone to college and became a philosophy major!"

Like Yusuke had been anticipating, he felt the presence of Xinhai's
shikigami materialize beside him and give him goose bumps like that
strange Onmyouji dude and his own familiars did.

Urameshi came prepared with a "SHOT GUN!" but the manifested dark spirit
countered it with a Beat Parry Riposte. However, that was exactly what
Yusuke wanted to happen, his spiritual cluster bombs traveling all over
the real Xinhai.

True to his roots as a copycat of Jine the Kanji Killer, Feng the One-
Eight-Ten Killer shifted stances and did the kanji for one (a horizontal
slash), eight (two diagonal slashes that seemingly formed a mountain),
and ten (a crisscrossing slash that looked like a plus sign) with his
nodachi to neutralize the Shot Gun.

When combined, they formed the kanji for "Hei" (literally means "Even"
or "Peace"), hence the sword style's name, "Nikaido Heiho Ryu".

The shikigami's riposte never landed after Yusuke annihilated the
familiar with concentrated spirit waves. The "REI-KOU-DAN!" blew most
of the torso and parts of the head of the manifestation of Feng's power
while it wailed like a banshee in pain.

Once the Rei-Kou-Dan arched towards Xinhai's direction, the Dragon
Head did a pointblank horizontal "IZUNA!" vacuum wave that rendered
the crescent formation of reiki into nothingness.

"...And even if I haven't felt challenged by a fight in a long time,
you're not the guy who'll serve as a challenge to the likes of me,"
boasted Yusuke, appearing from behind Feng and blasting him right on his
scarred back with a "REI-GAN!"


==


Within the stratosphere (12 to 50 kilometers or 7 to 31 miles away from
the earth's surface), right below the mesosphere and right above the
troposphere, the _clouds_, Tokyo Tower, and the entirety of Minato Ward
(arguably, the whole of Japan as well, considering how high up they
were)...

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" screamed Suzaku while his blood and ichor
sprayed everywhere like an emptying bottle rocket. He and the copper
soared up at elevations airplanes typically flew through. Their furious
ascent parted the clouds many miles below them.

It was surreal to see a _human_ policeman (who might as well have been a
mall cop) of all people humiliate him like this _after_ he gained enough
power to give eve the mazoku-born, Raizen-descended third-rounder (and
at least one of the prime contenders) of the Demon World Unification
Tournament, Yusuke Urameshi, a run for his money.

The pureblooded demon felt the presence of another annoyingly powerful
"ningen"... the Guardian of the Youtou Shinnoken, Kenshin Himura...
whisper something in their shared psyche, which the Crimson Sparrow
ignored.

"It doesn't matter to _you_ what my name is. You're not going to live
long enough to know it. All that matters now is that you become useful
enough to let the Youkiri Battousai out," said the cop.

"Impudent HUMAN...!" Now he did it. Whoever this human was, he said the
exact _wrong_ thing to Suzaku at that moment.

"Battousai again? It's always about Battousai, isn't it? Well, I'm sick
of it! SICK, SICK, SICK OF IT! I'm not a mere pawn for the awakening of
this hyped-up Youkiri Battousai! I am Suzaku, the Phoenix King! The
Master of Electromagnetism! The Railgunner! The Lightning Emperor!"

"You're none of those things. You're instead just another demon waiting
to be slaughtered by Battousai the Demon-Slayer."

Suzaku then had a flashback. The "ever-so-helpful" Kenshin informed him
of who his opponent was. When the copper was still alive, he was
apparently a big deal in the Bakumatasu, during the time when Japan was
attempting to move from being an isolated island nation to a nation
state world power.

He was Hajime Saito, the Former Captain of the Third Shinsengumi Unit.
The Hitokiri Battousai's toughest and most tenacious rival. However, for
all of Himura's efforts to "help out", all he got was a rebuke for his
troubles.

'So this Saito Hajime is nothing more than a mere human? He doesn't even
have experience in slaying demons? All he did was kill other weak humans
just like him?" Suzaku sneered. 'It's _insulting_ to have this weakling
outdo me when he isn't really anyone special!'

Something unnatural happened just then. Instead of lightning falling
from the sky to the ground, a multitude of electrical bolts traveled
_upwards_ from the troposphere to the stratosphere where no cloud lay,
going straight to the impaled Suzaku and his impaler, Lieutenant Goro
Fujita.

Thanks to the lack of metal from high up Earth's atmosphere save for the
Youtou Shinnoken, Fujita's sword, and perhaps the copper's belt buckle
(unless a plane happened to pass by or they traveled high enough to
where various manmade satellites floated overhead) Suzaku settled with
using superheated plasma and the full electromagnetic spectrum as his
weapons of choice.

Suzaku attempted to turn Fuijta's blade into a Railgun bullet after the
upward lightning strike hardly fazed this... person with a thrust so
powerful, they ended up in the stratosphere.

However, Goro saw through the demon's ploy (although he obviously wasn't
omniscient enough to have seen the Railgun in action from down below the
Tokyo Tower... or was he?) and kicked him off his blade.

Suzaku glowed anew with electrical energy. The presence of ozone gas
around them (they were, after all, within the Ozone Layer) and the
planet's magnetic field bathed him with enough power and electricity to
continuously shoot down Goro with endless barrages of Ankoku-Raiko-Ha.

The Crimson Sparrow synthesized an atmospheric lightning storm of epic
proportions while the sky soon turned into a macroscopic version of the
Nikola Tesla invention known as the plasma globe (which was a glass
sphere encasing an electrode and one of the noble gases).

"This is the truth you must accept. We're headed towards a new world, and
I am its GOD! THE ERA OF SUZAKU HAS JUST BEGUN!"

"Aku. Soku. Zan. That's the only truth I believe in. I will kill all evil
instantly."

Hajime Saito didn't bother dodging the bolts hurled at him, opting to
instead allow them to land. Like with what happened to Sanosuke, Saito's
resilience was truly a sight to behold. It was like the swordsman's body
itself was a black hole wherein not even light could escape.

"As expected of a government lapdog. Any moralistic stance that's more
complex than a three-word chant is probably too much for your brain to
handle!"

Suzaku's grin was so wide, it looked like he was prepared to twist his
own arm in order to pat himself in the back for that remark.

"So just as long as it's catchy, it works? What next? I'll be back?
Keeping it real? Eat my shorts? Cowabunga? Ole, ole, ole? Aye caramba?
Hasta la vista, baby?"

Instead of answering, Saito charged with a straightforward Gatotsu
Ishiki that caused even the Great and Powerful Suzaku pause because the
move made the policeman look like he was walking on thin air (or _thick_
air, considering the wind resistance).

Even the four-hundred-year-old blond demon who'd lived through entire
civilizations had never seen anything like it before, especially from a
human. Nevertheless, he had enough presence of mind to magnetize the
blade of the Youtou Shinnoken and parry its naked edge with Saito's
katana.

This caused Goro to end up stuck within Suzaku's grasp while the youkai
fired off multiple shots of the "ANKOKU-RAIJIN-KEN!" at the hapless,
helpless, and (in the saint beast's opinion) feckless copper who dared
challenge his better.

However, like insulation, a conductor, a semiconductor, or even a
Faraday Cage, the spiritual manifestation(?) or reincarnation(?) of Goro
Fujita merely absorbed all the energy bolts shot at him then ripped his
blade off from the Demon Sword by sheer force of will.

"You're trying my patience, _demon_. I don't intend to kill you _before_
you could awaken the Youkiri Battousai. Let him out already or else
you'll die by accident before anything _exciting_ happens."

"You just can't shut up about the Battousai, can you? He doesn't deserve
the Demon Sword! It's a blade that belongs to demons, not humans like
him or the cowards of the Spirit World who stole that Demon World
treasure from us in the first place!"

"You're wrong," said Saito.

"...What?" said Suzaku.

"While it's true that the Demon Sword was, for a certain period of time,
passed down from one generation of demon to another, the blade was never
meant for demon use _nor_ was it even made by demons," Fujita revealed.

"Saito Hajime, what do you know about the Demon Sword?" Suzaku's mouth
moved on its own, which made the demon realize that it was Kenshin who
asked that question.

Using wind resistance as leverage, Fujita blasted off with another
upward-angle Gatotsu Sanshiki, again shrugging off the lightning strikes
and the billions of volts of electricity coursing through his veins (if
he even had veins).

Goro's pinpoint-sized eyes stared at the Youtou Shinnoken. "That weapon
is a god killer. Tainted and strengthened by the blood of deities that
helped form Ancient Japan."

"God killer? More like god _maker_! And don't make me laugh! What does a
mere human like you know about the _Youtou_ Shinnoken?"

The Demon Sword's blade thusly glowed red-hot... the same color as the
superheated, supersonic metal projectiles shot through the Railgun...
after Suzaku turned its blade into a glowing saber of light.

"Even if you won't say your name to me, I'll make you say _mine_. While
on your knees on the ground. Begging me to kill you."

The "rail-gunned" blade of the Demon Sword exploded unto Fujita's own
katana at mach three in a spectacular display of sparks, plasma, and
disintegrating steel.

The Phoenix King of the Four Saint Beasts had every intention of
disintegrating his opponent's sword before crashing and burning with him
for 31 miles straight back to Earth.


===


To Be Continued...

Next: You won't like them when they're angry.

Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro Togashi,
Shueisha, Fuji TV, and Studio Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the rightful
property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Viz, Sony Studios,
Fuji TV, Studio Gallop, Studio Deen, and ADV. This disclaimer also
covers all the other copyrighted material that are far too many to
mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.

So long! Farewell!
Abdiel
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