So...Yeah, here I am once again just experimenting again, trying something new. This time it's Yu Yu Hakusho. You can leave your thoughts, reviews, favorite, follow, that's all cool beans. Or just look at it. Either way, happy reading people, and thanks for checking it out!


He didn't care about the throne.

He didn't care about ruling over the Makai.

He didn't care about ruling over the Earth.

The only thing he cared about. The only thing he lived for. The only thing that he breathed, the only thing that pumped through, bolstered by his turbulent heart, and the only thing he ever knew.

Combat.

They called him a war god. He didn't even have a name, growing up, but all those who crossed him in combat called him this.

Raizen.

They called him invincible.

He didn't care for all the nicknames, thinking of them as bullshit.

Why worship someone when you can topple them?

He was Raizen.

Strongest Demon, period. He had no equal. He just wasn't the strongest demon, but he was the Mazoku.

A demon king.

For centuries he roamed, battling, tearing through all foes he came across, eating humans as he pleased. There was no separation between their worlds, his power was as real on Earth as it was in the Makai, and he could use it exactly the same. But, why would he bother sing even a tenth of his power against such mites-against his food? The only thing they could be worthy of was getting their heads popped off by his bare hands.

He had no equal in power, true, but nobody dared to challenge him. He quickly develop a reputation for being brutal, ruthless, and reckless in battle. Whether he faced one or one million he was in their face, biting, punching, kicking, scratching, bellowing, clawing, and the end result was always the same with him sending in the center of a valley of corpses.

However, today was different.

Amidst his throne-just the barren wastelands of the Makai where he decided to stake his claim, he could feel a power. A great power. It was so great and abundant that it made his meaty hands clench with anticipation, his long talon-like fingernails breaking through the skin of his palm painting his ashen skin and the sand by his feet with crimson.

His back hyperextended, straightening completely, and lastly he stood up to his full height reaching out with his senses.

Recently the demons had been ganging up on him in high numbers, trying to chase him out, send him into areas where they thought they'd hold the advantage, and just seek to overwhelm him through sheer numbers. Amusing as it was, he found it to be like smacking gnats when these hordes and hordes came after him, and of course he wasn't going to turn down the chance to wreck their shit and leave their heads-they wouldn't even have bodies left.

Maybe if they could fuse into one demon, their combined power may be enough to contend with him. It'd be a great fight, one he would relish as long as he could, because as it stood there wasn't anyone that stood a chance. But, demons weren't known for their intelligence, and rather than take the lesson he dished out, brutally, they kept on coming.

The one improvement was that there was someone who could contend with him-he'd fight this demon for hours and hours, days and days, weeks and weeks, months and month, refusing to back down, covered in blood and gashes, cuts and scrapes, his body practically burning from the exertion. He pressed and pressed, and each time the demon had to fall back, as powerful and relentless as the demon was, he couldn't match up to him. In prolonged combat his technique of taking a shot to trade a shot proved to have merit.

Sure he'd get his jaw broke. Nose busted. Forehead split open with a gash.

But, he returned the favor.

Unfortunately, even more recently the demons were starting to gang up on his rival. Their fights went from happening every day and night to scantly ever. He remained alone and isolated, his power so great that he couldn't ever find anything to do with it. He could destroy and obliterate, but what good was doing that when there was no challenge? When there was no grit and determination on his foes part? When he could slew through a million and one foes, without even batting an eyelash?

It left him feeling empty and angry. Once upon a time he had challengers coming far and wide-I will dethrone you, Raizen! I will become stronger than you, Raizen! I am the strongest, not you, Raizen-these were thrown around like the heads he'd pluck off with minimum effort, tossed about with the flippancy that he'd kick with, chucked right into his face in order to make him slip in his anger.

He only found amusement in it.

But, now he only found anger. He wasn't sure how much time passed since he'd last got a good battle, demons weren't coming, his rival wasn't coming, nobody was coming after him trying to whoop his ass, and it bothered him. What he wouldn't give for one of those low class demons to run up to him again, screaming like the morons they were. He would enjoy ripping through them with a flick of his fingers-with a mere flourish of his energy.

His eyes ablaze, he craned his head up. In the distance, he could feel a gathering of demon energy-so much, so potent, that it made his spine tingle with sheer excitement. True, there were so many amassed together, but through the horde of power-he could feel the distinct burning energy that'd crash into his jaw at terminal velocity, yes, and there was no mistaking it.

And, the next second Raizen was gone, clearing thousands of miles in the blink of an eye. He didn't pace himself, his energy exploded from every pore, shrouding his body in a bright green fire.

The scene he came upon was one he was more than familiar with, but it made smoke curl around his black, beating heart. His rival was in the middle of madness, demons were all around, low class and high class. This was something he was accustomed to-how many times had this same exact thing happened to him? It had been for different reasons. Fame and the chance to sit at the top of the food chain.

Raizen launched himself at his rival—and his rival half turned, slamming his foot into the ground and tearing out a huge chunk to send at him, while holding two of his attackers at bay with a crushing vise grip. Blasting another ten with a quick spurt of energy that ripped everything asunder for miles. Debris whirled and twisted passed Raizen's head. He slammed the first chunk in half contemptuously with a forearm, but the second caught him across the chest and the third battered right into his face and knocked him down.

He snarled to himself, sprung up to his feet, and swung a wicked series of punches forward—and the horde of demons that had been focused on his rival, slammed into him and drove him back to crush him against the wall. His fists ripped and split through flesh, crushing skulls, ripping entire faces apart, And now, Raizen was barely even paying attention to his rival. Pressed, angry, half stunned with the sheer amount of demons boring down on him and his rival.

If this keeps up, I am going to get mad. Raizen thought.

While effortlessly deflecting a rain of streaking strikes from his foes, Raizen felt a burst of energy, and the next second a pack was shoved away from a few feet, sent it hurtling toward his back with astonishing speed; he managed to lift himself enough that he could backroll over them, instead of them crashing into him. "What's the matter, Ryoku? These little shits too much for you?" Raizen asked with a sharp grin, chuckling.

"Hardly, but their numbers are pesky!" His backroll brought him to his feet directly in front of his rival, who was charging, headlong and unarmed.

"We've done this how many times now?!"

Raizen shot right for him.

Ryoku sidestepped the blitzing charge of Raizen, sending a blast at the muscular man's chest, yet Raizen's fist met the blast, shoving it aside, as he passed and he managed to sweep his leg forward-but to his anger, he sent a low class demon splattering across the ground in blood and gore.

"Its time both of you get taken out!" The demons chorused.

"Really? This is pathetic on your part then." Raizen scoffed mockingly. They were certainly energetic enough, leaping and whirling, running and sprinting, raining blows almost at random, raining down blasts of demon energy, cutting mountains and the land to pieces and hurling them in every conceivable direction, while himself, and Ryoku continued, in their brutal, ferocious way, to outmaneuver them so thoroughly it was all he could to do keep from laughing out loud.

Ryoku didn't seem to share his last sentiment though-the man looked completely angry.

It was a simple matter of countering these demons' tactics, which were stupidly straightforward; There were swift ones, whooshing here and there, attempting to cut off his flanks, so they could come at him from both sides—while more came in above deliberate in their thought process. They wanted to crush him through sheer numbers and their weight.

Whereas all Ryoku needed do was to lunge from the ground to the sky above, streaking madly in his own red fire—and occasionally crushing a head here and there—so that he could fight eachthe demons all at once, rather than fighting Raizen and these demons at the same time. He supposed that in their own mindset, they might actually prove reasonably effective. Even when it wasn't effective, it didn't stop them from coming with reckless abandon.

They were not prepared to fight together against a single monstrosity, let alone two, certainly not one of Ryoku's power. Their attacks and style were born of ambushing. Raizen, on the other hand, had always fought alone. It was laughably easy to keep the hordes tripping and stumbling over each other, and getting in each other's way. They didn't even comprehend how utterly he dominated the combat.

How utterly Ryoku was changing the tempo of this whole battle.

Because they fought as they had been trained-there was none, and they allowed their demon energy to not just flow through them, but to explode. They had no hope of countering his physical prowess.

However, only one death was in his plan, and this dumb-show was becoming irritating. He leaned into a punch at demon's gut that the little thing deflected with a rising parry, bringing them chest-to-chest, but a wicked punch sent the demon's head splitting and flying overhead.

"You bastards need to get the hell out of my way!" Raizen snarled.

"Can't do that, Raizen. You and Ryoku have upset the big guy upstairs."

Raizen, snarling rage, ramped up the intensity and velocity of his strokes—fifty per second, eighty, ninety, two hundred, five hundred, until finally, at over two thousand strikes per second, he overloaded the demons completely and sent their gore for miles. A subtle shift in the angle of a single parry brought Raizen in contact not with the demon who was charging him, but at another that was trying to come out the ground.

"The hell are you idiots talking about?" Ryoku demanded, before violent realization crossed over his face, and he snarled. "King Yemma!"

"That's right. You see, the last time you and Raizen fought, he sent that so called security force, but you left them near death. Your battles threaten to rip apart not just the Makai, but earth as well." One of the demons replied.

"Why should that matter to you? You all hate humans." Raizen demanded, and shot straight upward over the demons' heads so fast, so furious, that he vanished, and only the pulsing shock wave was the sign that he had ever moved.

In the space where Ryoku's chest had been was now only the green fire of Raizen's fist, driving straight for Ryoku's heart. A quick and precise whirl to one side made what would have been a smoking hole in Ryoku's chest into a splatter of blood, from some demon that didn't know when to quit.

"The hell does that dumbass have over you guys? He judges the dead, that has nothing to do with us." Ryoku bit down on his tongue, drawing blood.

"We will all be compensated for this, and that's all that matters." A few demons said.

"Evidently, you don't know how that fool works..." Raizen chuckled, giving a shrug. "You aren't going to get anything, except for my fist crushing your damn skulls."

However, all of the amusement drained from Raizen as he watched Ryoku seize up-as if he had been run through by a foe and blood was gushing from his torso, but there wasn't any blood, and there were no foes that could do such a thing to Ryoku, except for him. However, Ryoku fought and clawed, he screamed and roared, fighting against what was binding him.

"What is this!?" Ryoku roared-he could feel his immense power, power which only Raizen could equal, and surpass draining from him.

"You damn bastards. I've had enough!" Raizen all but snarled, going on the charge, and left at least two thousand bodies lying behind him. "Let him go!"

Another demon chuckled. "You thought we were just attacking you both blind? No, it was all for this moment right here-Ryoku will be sealed away forever in the void, and you Raizen, will join him in due time. Then, we will take your throne!"

"I don't give a shit about any of that!" Raizen howled.

Raizen hit Ryoku in the stomach so hard that blood erupted from the man's mouth. Refusing to back down, Raizen pushed and pushed, until he had to grit his teeth. "Don't let them do this!"

Ryoku returned fire, though with not as much ferocity as he normally would, as he normally could return with. It left him feeling empty and shameful-how could he strike Raizen with anything less than his full power? When the man always went all out against him, and didn't bother to hold anything back.

His strength was...Waning...King Yemma, damn that stupid fucker. He couldn't confront them one on one, his stupid security squad couldn't do shit, and now he had to have these little demon shits-do something completely strange, that he didn't realize he had already lost. He lost the second he barreled into these stupid shits.

"I can't..." Ryoku clenched his teeth, feeling an eerie, strange, infuriating pull...Like he was being pulled somewhere. He met the fierce eyes of Raizen, with equally ferocious eyes, his teeth stained with blood.

"It's no use trying to resist, Ryoku!" One demon howled. "The more you struggle, the more your energy will be drained, and the sooner you will trapped inside of the void."

For the first time in a very, very long time...Raizen seen his life flash before his eyes-all of his battles, the wars he survived, and through it all there was always one constant. Ryoku. He had no friends, no allies, only enemies...He didn't even have a rival, other than Ryoku, because there wasn't anyone worthy enough to be called such. Now, the one person who he respected, and loved to fight...'

One of the demons must have sensed his intent, because he flashed before the muscular man. "You power up and you'll be sucked in with him."

Raizen's eyes burned with fury, both hands shot forward without any hesitation, and ripped the demon in half vertically. True enough, if Ryoku's strength was waning, then so to would his own, he would be trapped within whatever was binding his rival, and then he'd be trapped within the void itself. Where nothing exists but darkness, where no life of any sort exists-where it is mere emptiness. Surely, he could battle Ryoku for eons, but they'd never escape...They most likely wouldn't even be able to exude any of their power.

"This is the only person who can challenge me, you're crazy if you think I'm going to let that happen!"

Raizen went on a tear. Hitting. Smashing. Kicking. Punching.

However, as Raizen tore through bodies, three, eight at a time, Ryoku could only think of one thing.

There'd be no escape...

"If you think I'm going to spend my entire existence in that dark abyss, you have another thing coming!" Ryoku roared, and with a violent snap of his arms he was engulfed in his red fire. He could feel his power coming back, as little that waned, and it brought a smile to his face. Being weak-like humans, was something he was never fond of, and he was never fond of humans.

Being imprisoned would make him no different than those vermin.

Pathetic and weak, living a meaningless, futile existence.

"I won't be imprisoned!" Ryoku screamed, letting his fire grow more and more, until what was binding him-invisible as it was-snapped away, and he felt all of his energy return to him like a blazing inferno.

But, whatever was binding him didn't just vanish, and if it were possible, it got worse than before.

"Let him go!" Raizen screamed.

"I-"

"Told-"

"You-"

"It's not possible-"

"And, you're next Raizen! You're both too damn strong-"

Vexed, Raizen stomped on the head of the demon to give the last statement, glowering at Ryoku-who was on all fours now, a think layer of sweat building on his forehead. This is what it was all about-because they were so powerful, that nobody could stop them? Because they didn't give two shits about anything else other than the thrill of the fight and the hunt-they had to be subdued and chained down? Raizen couldn't think of a life worth living that didn't include battling Ryoku, for years...They had legendary showdowns.

Now it'd end because of some stupid ass...

"Tell me what to do!" Raizen screamed at Ryoku, nearly in his face. "I'll kill them all! I'll kill King Yemma!"

Ryoku smiled for the first time, a humorless chuckle escaping his lips. Surely, Raizen could kill them all, they both easily could-even if they continued to grow in number and swarm around them-him and Raizen could kill them all. However, neither one of them could kill King Yemma-the judge of the dead, who sat on his pedestal and comfortable, looking down on everyone else. "You can't kill Yemma."

"I will!" Raizen shouted.

"The judge of the dead, sitting nice and pretty on his throne..." Ryoku laughed, but it was filled with bitterness. "What gives him the right..."

The pulling sensation came back, and unlike before he couldn't resist its pull.

"That's why I'll kill that stupid son of a bitch!" Raizen shouted.

"Who will judge the dead then?"

"I don't care about the dead!" Raizen snapped.

"Heh, that makes two of us." Ryoku laughed.

"He's interfered in our fights for the last time!" Raizen grated through his teeth.

The irony of Raizen's words didn't go unnoticed by Ryoku. Yes, unfortunately, this would be the last time they could ever square off. The last time they could clash for days and months on end. It would be a sad and miserable existence in the void-nothing and no one existed, no land, no air, no trees, nothing. He'd be alone, consumed in emptiness. He couldn't recall his family, who gave birth to him, he didn't even have a name until Raizen gave him the name of Ryoku-a bestowing for surviving their conflicts.

In the same breath Raizen would call him Mazoku-demon king, a shroud of honor.

A shroud of honor in being his rival, the only person who could push Raizen to his limits.

The one constant in his long, long life had been Raizen-an eternal rival, and something close to a friend, if a demon even believed in such things.

Raizen lunged back a few inches-eyes warily watching a...Portal twisting itself into existence behind Ryoku. It was pitch black, filled with coils of lightning and tunnels of clouds, but more than anything it was like a vortex. The ground itself was flaking upwards, and being sucked into it. Even from his distance from it, he could feel it grasping towards him, feeding off of his massive amounts of energy-that just made it stronger.

And, to his growing horror, Ryoku's power-red hot as the flames in his heart that made him so ferocious, was being sucked into the portal-into the void.

"When you accept your fate, perhaps you will be able to escape." A demon chuckled.

Raizen clenched his fists so hard, his nails dug holes into his palm, sending blood splattering near his feet. He couldn't do anything at all, he couldn't even move, and he couldn't try to stop this injustice from happening. And, seeing Ryoku smirk as if he won, and this wasn't as horrible as it was, just made Raizen even angrier.

"So, that's the deal?" Ryoku chuckled, this time full blown humor in his tone. He turned his eyes on Raizen, eyes glinting with the same battle crazed look as before.

"The hell are you smiling about!?" Raizen snapped, careful not to flare too much of his energy.

"Even if it's a million years, or generations from now...We will meet again, Raizen, and we will fight to our very last breath."

"Ryoku!" Raizen lunged for him, just as the man was sucked into the pitch black vortex. "Ryoku!"

The portal sealed shut, dissipating before he could ever come close to contact.

"I'm going to make you bastards pay for that! And then I'm going to kill that bastard Yemma myself!" Raizen declared.

Years later, Raizen made love with a woman on earth...forty four generations later, a child was born with his genes.

The genes of the Mazoku.

And, at the same time, another child was born, but unlike the first child...He didn't have the genes. He was the real deal.

But, he was tainted...Tainted in the same way the other child was.

Tainted with the blood and body of a human.