I'm baaaaaaaaaackk!

I tried to breathe in, but I couldn't. It felt like I was inhaling shards of glass. It tore at my throat with every breath I took. But even as I tried, wheezing and choking, I couldn't get enough air. I tried to look around, but everything looked warped and hazy. It was as though I was looking through a dense cloud of fog or submerged in dark, murky water.

I fell to the ground onto my knees. My hands hit the dirt and I stared at them. Black veins crawled up my hands to my arms, like spider webs. My vision had gone black around the edges, and only growing darker as the seconds passed. But for me, it felt like an eternity. Everything moved around me as though it were in slow motion.

I tried to fight it, but I felt nauseous and weak. My teeth were bared and my eyes wide and wild. I felt my blood rushing through my veins. My pulse drumming. The pain was too strong. I was overwhelmed by it.

I thought I heard my name, but it sounded like someone shouting at me from miles away. Muffled and incomprehensible.

It felt like my bones were breaking, my skin felt like ash.

I heard something, like a cackle, malicious and cold, but it sounded far away.

Someone was near me. They bent down and placed a hand on my shoulder. The touch burned my skin as if it was made of something hotter than fire. Like the pits of spirit world itself.

"Hang in there! C'mon, Hiei, you can fight this."

The voice sounded familiar, but it was hard to focus on.

My arms were shaking. My vision was going dark. I tried to focus on the hand on my shoulder. The reality of it. Its weight. The pain. But I couldn't. I was losing it.

I lost control and I fell forward. I didn't even get to feel the sensation of my face hitting the dirt before I fell unconscious. Just watched as the world spun before I succumbed to the black.

"Hiei!"

Earlier

"Man, gotta love that smell," Yusuke exclaimed after breathing in a lungful of Makai's stench. He stood with his arms extended outwards, puffing out his chest. "Nothing quite like the smell of ass on a foggy day."

I resisted the urge to scoff.

Yusuke always did seem to find a way to make light of a critical situation. The ability was uncanny.

I ignored him in favor of looking out over the high ledge we were standing on, staring out at the blistered horizon. I was in the process of scanning the area for our next destination.

We had left Genkai's temple to set out on our search for the corrupted village. Koenma had given us the details on what to look for.

The directions he gave us were of course vague. It had taken us hours just to get this far. If it hadn't been for the Jagan and Kurama's more clear description, we may not have gotten here at all, standing on this cliff overlooking a desolate, shrouded wasteland.

I had almost regretted voluntarily agreeing to this journey.

Taigon was deep within the demon plane. We'd only descended a mere few levels. Not only that, but the farther we went, the more hostile the demons within became. They were like animals. Most probably haven't experienced civil conversation in their entire lives. Though there was nothing here we couldn't handle.

I looked down. Past the jagged rocks that jutted out at crooked angles. The farther down I looked there was nothing but a dark, hazy void. Rubble hung in the air abiding by its own sense of gravity. There was a crackle of bright purple energy that lit the black smoke-like haze in an ominous way, scattering in an intricate, jagged web. The demon world was a volatile place.

"I wonder how much farther we gotta go. Where the hell is the end, anyway?" Yusuke asked. He had walked over to lean over the edge of the cliff with me. I shrugged at his question in response.

I had no idea how far down the demon plane went. It was like sinking to the depths of a bottomless pit.

We're lucky that Taigon was far enough away from anyone's territory that we didn't have to deal with either Mukuro or Yomi. We were able to keep a low profile. All I wanted was to see this place.

The sound of shuffling to our left interrupted us. I looked briefly over my shoulder to see a demon with coal gray skin and wide, yellow eyes. Its teeth were sharp and jagged. Probably from biting and use. They were yellow with grime and red with whatever it had gotten a hold of before finding its way to us. I didn't flinch when it jerked forward on unstable legs and sprinted at us.

"Kill!" it screeched.

A flash of blue whizzed past me and struck the demon in the chest. It disintegrated into black ash with a horrible wail.

Yusuke lowered his hand back to his side. "The locals are so welcoming."

I looked back down at the void below. I lowered myself to kneel on the ground, placing my palm flat on the rock's smooth surface. I carefully reached up to take the piece of cloth wrapped around my forehead off and closed my eyes. The Jagan opened, and with it I began to search.

It was difficult to see past the haze deep below the planes, but I was able to make out the distinct shape of a town in ruins. It was hidden beneath a thick layer of dark energy. A forcefield of some kind.

I opened my eyes and stood up. I didn't bother to look at Yusuke when I spoke.

"We're getting close."

Yusuke cracked his knuckles and placed his foot on the edge of the cliff.

"Sounds good to me. About time too. You ready?" he asked. I let out a humph.

I was always ready.

He jumped first, and I followed soon after.

We descended pretty quickly. The void distorted and warped around us as we fell through it. Time seemed to quicken as we suddenly appeared on the other side of the ripple in space.

We landed on a pillar that jutted out and floated into view. It was cracked and worn.

The air felt thicker here. It was harder to breathe. It was also noticeably darker, and a faint mist obscured the ground below. The atmosphere felt off.

Rocks and broken stone floated by us. All circling around us as if being pulled by a source close by. I imagine our destination wasn't too far away now.

We jumped down into the faint mist below. As we landed, the fog parted around us in swirls. We took a moment to look around. Everything looked muted and gray. We both paused a moment before going any farther. No telling what might be waiting around a corner or hiding in the mist. That is how most ambushes start.

From what we could see, which wasn't much, there didn't appear to be anyone or anything close by. No more stray demons. They were probably scared away from the air of this town.

I took a quick glance over at the ex-detective. He looked calm, but ready. I could see the slow breaths he took in his focused state, taking his time to be quiet and mindful of our surroundings. I smirked.

"You look a little tense, detective."

I saw him smirk without returning my gaze.

"My ass," was his response.

But even with his snark, I saw his hand held steady at his side, already pointed. I myself had my hand on the hilt of my sword.

We started forward, walking past the broken ruins and through the mist.

Nothing readily jumped out at us. We continued without incident. The farther we went, however, the darker it became.

"What do you think we're looking for anyway?" Yusuke's voice broke the eerily quiet calm that had settled over us. I stopped walking to take a look around.

I found myself with the same question. Though I suppose we did need to consider the possibility that nothing would be here. I couldn't sense anything other than faint amounts of energy. The air here felt stifling and unnatural, that much was noticeable. When I looked up, I couldn't see anything other than the dark crackling energy we jumped through. I couldn't sense anything else here either. I allowed the Jagan eye to open. Looking through it, I searched.

There appeared to be an epicenter to this decrepit place. The energy there appeared more volatile. More alive. It seemed a good place to check.

"This way," I said as I began to walk towards the area where the energy was at its most dense. Yusuke followed me wordlessly.

Slowly, we approached what appeared to be the center of the town. As we drew closer, the air felt heavier. I looked around at the broken buildings. The decrepit remains of human bones were scattered about under the ruins. Crushed up under large chunks of stone. There wasn't much around save for a bunch of rubble and skeletons. In the very center sat an old and cracked well. A lone skeleton sat at its base with its mouth agape.

There didn't appear to be anything noteworthy here anymore. The energy that used to be here seems to have dissipated.

Through the Jagan, I gave the area another once over.

Most of the energy appeared to be coming from where we were standing. On the outskirts of the town, there didn't appear to be any life. There was no movement. Only the wisps of lost souls.

"These guys have sure seen better days," Yusuke spoke, mostly to himself. He was examining a smaller skeleton. One that could have been a child's. The next thing he said came out more quiet. "Poor bastards."

I let out a humph.

This was quickly becoming more disappointing than I was expecting, but I guess it couldn't be helped. Whoever took the artifact didn't leave much behind. Just tendrils of energy that lingered around the scattered corpses. It seemed this town's story was much overblown.

There was energy here, that much was true, but there was nothing strong enough to pose any kind of threat to us. Just the decimated remains of a slaughtered town.

"Tch," I muttered. "What a waste of time."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Yusuke glance at me briefly in acknowledgement. He didn't seem to share in my sentiment, however. I watched him walk closer to one of the corpses. The one leaned up against the well that sat in the very center of the town. Looking at it more closely, I noticed the corpse had its arms close to its chest. Its hands were cupped as if it had been holding something. Yusuke leaned down into a squat to look closer.

The bones around the skeleton's chest and hands were charred black. They looked as though they had deteriorated over the years. Perhaps also from under the strain. Whatever it had been holding had taken its toll.

"I guess this is where it was," the ex-detective stated. I was inclined to agree. Yusuke reached out his hand to touch at one of the skeleton's coiled, blackened fingers. As soon as he did, the bone disintegrated into ash beneath his fingertips. Yusuke's face took on a bluish tint. He stood up quickly and backed away from the remains.

"Well that's just peachy," Yusuke muttered to himself under his breath. "Gonna be haunted by a bunch of old, angry, dead people."

I turned away from him to look around at another one of the crumbling buildings.

The dingy stone walls had dark, black stains covering them from top to bottom. In one of the buildings, two skeletons had their arms intertwined, as if embracing, laid out on the floor encircled by a particularly large black stain.

Another one of the skeletons was charred black, lying in the middle of what was once the main dirt road. it was covered in soot and barely recognizable as a skeleton at all. If the air wasn't so thick and dense here, it would have been blown away long before now. Yet here it remained, perfectly intact and cut off from the rest of the world.

The smaller corpse, the one Yusuke had been looking at before, I noticed it was missing its legs. The bones looked crushed at the knees. It was huddled up in a corner of broken stone of what used to be a small house it seemed. Though now the only thing left of it was just that corner of stone. In its right hand it was gripping something tightly. A small doll made out of fabric and string.

I couldn't keep myself from clenching my hand into a fist.

Not only has this venture been a waste of time so far, it has only served to piss me off.

Fools.

I couldn't imagine how any one people could be so stupid as to sacrifice their own to save themselves. They could have bartered or traded. Found someplace else to live. Built up barriers, set traps. Hell, even if they had to run away. Only fools would sacrifice their own because it was their tradition. Maybe they deserved to die.

Maybe they had already been dead, if their hearts had grown that callous and cold they could give up their own brother or son for the sake of the greater good.

"So, why do you think someone would try to steal this thing?" Yusuke asked, breaking the tension I found myself in. "Think they're trying to make some kind of zombie army?"

I scoffed in disdain.

"I don't know and I don't care," I said with derision. "It makes no difference to me." I walked over a short distance to one of the buildings. In front of it, the skull of a human sat. I kicked it, and it shattered. "The way I see it, our only objective is to stop them. Nothing more, nothing less."

I turned to Yusuke in time to see him shrug. "I guess so…" He stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked at a rock along the dirt road. "just don't know why they're targeting us."

I smirked at that.

"Are you surprised?" Yusuke looked up at me when I said this. I let out a curt laugh at his confused expression. "The demon world has been set in its ways for centuries. Now all of a sudden everything it's ever known has been flipped upside down, and who do you think are the pioneers?" When Yusuke didn't answer me, I carried on. "Not many demons have ever gotten as strong as you, Kurama, or I so quickly. You're the one who set this all in motion with the tournament. We didn't exactly return to Makai with the best reputation either. Did you not think there would be consequences?"

Yusuke scratched idly at his hair, lost in thought.

"Yeah, I guess I never thought about it like that. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

I laughed. "Yes, that is how all of your ideas start."

I saw Yusuke's brow twitch in irritation. He pointed an accusatory finger at me. "Yeah, well, you've never complained. Don't act like you didn't want to fight."

"Hah, I'll play along if there's something in it for me. Though I don't care one way or the other if humans get killed. It wouldn't have bothered me if Yomi was the one who was made ruler."

Yusuke for a moment seemed to bristle at my comment, but his irritation quickly waned into something more smug. I didn't care much for it.

"For somebody who acts so damn sure of himself, you sure spent a lotta time in the human world with a random ass girl. Care to explain that one, Hiei? Mr. 'I hate humans.'"

It was my turn to become irritated. My smirk fell away.

"I was trapped and near dead. I had no choice."

"Oh?" Yusuke said with a smirk. He started to chuckle, much to my growing resentment. "So I guess she forced you into that diner? And I guess you had no choice but to sit there and drink tea?"

Yusuke's chuckles started to turn into laughter while my annoyance gave way to embarrassment. I opened my mouth to speak, but found I had no good retort. When I closed my mouth, Yusuke's laughter turned into guffaws.

Fuck.

I glared at him, but it had no effect. For a moment I idly entertained the idea of unleashing the dragon upon him and blaming it on this god forsaken town when the others no doubt had questions.

I turned away from him and crossed my arms.

"You annoy me."

I shouldn't have even come. I could be sitting in a tree somewhere alone. Minding my own business. And certainly not having to deal with half demon idiots.

Yusuke's laughter quieted down to chuckles. He walked up to me and clapped a hand down on my shoulder. "Relax man, I'm just messing with ya." I was quick to shrug the hand off. Yusuke didn't seem put off by my blatant display of disdain, however. He just chuckled more. "So why didn't you just come to one of us anyway? When you were hurt. We could have helped you, you know."

It was not lost on me when Yusuke mumbled something along the lines of, "coulda saved you some embarrassment," under his breath. I resisted the urge to cut him in half.

"Hah," I scoffed. "I would have rather dug a hole and died in it."

Yusuke's chuckles only increased.

"Well damn, Hiei, if all I needed to do to get you to hang out was to take you out for hot chocolate, all you had to do was ask."

In the face of his freshly renewed laughter, I felt my skin flash hot. From both equal measures of irritation and embarrassment. My jaw clenched. My body went rigid from the tension.

Kill him.

Don't kill him.

...

Just kill him.

I unfortunately didn't get a chance to exact my revenge, because it was at that moment that I sensed something among the fragmented ghosts. Yusuke's laughter immediately ceased as well. He had also sensed the arrival of something close by.

We waited in silence. It wasn't long after sensing it that I started to hear the faint sound of laughter. It was difficult to pinpoint its location with how warped and twisted this area of Makai was. It made the voice sound as if it was all around us.

And strangely... it was vaguely familiar.

I could hear the footsteps before I could see anyone. Yusuke and I quickly spun around. The mist parted around a figure behind us. When I did see who it was, I clenched my teeth hard enough for my jaw to ache.

"Ah… so you are here. My master was right to think you would come snooping around."

I clenched my fists at my side and hunched my shoulders, glaring at the intruder hard enough to set him alight.

Yusuke noticed my change in demeanor. He quirked a brow at me in confusion as he said, "Hiei?" Though I paid him no mind. When I didn't answer him he asked again, "You know this guy?"

The demon in front of us laughed.

I knew I shouldn't have let him live.

"Oh, Hiei and I go way back," the demon started. He chuckled to himself as if he was telling some elaborate joke and about to get to the punch line. "I'm the one who nearly gutted him in half." When he began to laugh again, I let out a low, feral growl.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance," I muttered.

It appears all of my mistakes the past few months are coming back to haunt me now. Clearly I must be the butt of some joke.

"Wait, this is the guy that attacked you?" Yusuke asked. I spared him a glance. He was pointing at the demon in question in front of us. I merely let out a humph. "Damn it, Hiei. Really?"

The ex-detective was starting to give me a headache.

"Tch." I turned my heated glare back on the fool that dared have the guts to stand in front of me again. I certainly wouldn't make the same mistake I did the last time. I was already in the mood to kill something. Now was most definitely not the time to tempt me. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't cut you down where you stand, fool? Your audacity is wearing my patience thin."

If he for one moment thought he was going to be able to injure me so easily as he did the last time, he was sorely mistaken. He could barely hold his own against me when I was only at half my full strength. And now there was no one around to grab on to for leverage. There was nothing stopping me from breaking this idiot in half.

The only reason I did not just kill him where he stood was because of the situation we found ourselves in. There's no way some low rate demon would have the ability to track me all the way into the pits of Makai. And he said something about having a master.

As much as I wanted to separate his head from his shoulders, I knew that it wouldn't be wise without knowing how he knew about this town in the first place. But there was one thing I knew. There was no doubt now that the attack on me was indeed related to what's been happening in the human world.

Though once I did know the connection between this cretin and Taigon's Tear, I will relish in the moment I get to watch him die. I would make sure that it would be slow and painful.

"Hah!" The demon scoffed. "If you think I came unprepared for fighting you and the other human sympathizers, you've got another thing coming."

I felt my rage swelling. I can't believe I had been so stupid. Damn it all.

I briefly looked him over.

There was nothing different about him from the last time he had shown up. Not a particularly strong demon, but not weak either. He wore shaggy clothes and had coal gray skin. His eyes were solid black, and he had several horns of varying sizes protruding from his otherwise nondescript head. His teeth didn't fit his jaw. Four canines jutted outward from his mouth. Two on each side.

"But where are my manners," the demon spoke. He looked over at Yusuke, who glared back at him. "I haven't properly introduced myself to Raizen Jr.." He chuckled. "My name is Kumo."

Yusuke let out an unimpressed grunt.

"Yeah, I don't give a shit. How the hell did you find us?" He raised a hand to point his middle finger at the low rate demon. "'Cause from what people keep tellin' me, this place is hard to find." He glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes before smirking. "And seeing as how you almost killed this asshole over here, I'd say I owe you a foot up the ass."

The demon lifted his chin up in a snarky way, looking down on us as if we were beneath him. It didn't affect me. I'm used to vermin underestimating my skill. Though I could tell it bothered Yusuke by the way his crude hand gesture changed into his signature spirit gun.

"Like I said, we knew you'd try sticking your nose in places it didn't belong," the demon said.

Yusuke took a step forward. "Who's we?"

The demon didn't look intimidated. "No one you need to concern yourself with."

He was a fool to not be afraid. Yusuke didn't need to do so much as snap to erase him, and in the blink of an eye, he'd be gone.

"How 'bout you come over here and you can concern your face with my fist?" was the former ruler of Tourin's retort.

The demon crossed his arms and let out a snide humph.

"I'll pass, though since we're all here, how about I introduce you to someone?"

Yusuke and I both readied ourselves into fighting postures. This idiot has already tried to ambush me before. I wouldn't put it past him to try a stunt like that again. At least this time I was prepared, and with one of the strongest fighters Makai has ever seen by my side.

The demon stepped aside to reveal another figure that had been standing behind him. At the sight of this new arrival, my whole body tensed. Yusuke too immediately noted the strangeness of him.

"Am I goin' nuts? I didn't feel that guy's power at all. Was he standing there the whole time?"

I shook my head.

"I have no idea," I stated plainly.

This new figure was tall with elongated limbs. His entire body looked to be wrapped in sullied bandages. They were covered in splotches of dried, dark red blood. Everything was wrapped except a single eye. It was opened wide, the white part tinted yellow and bloodshot. I noticed the skin around his single exposed eye looked dried out and weathered, like leather. He wore a black trench coat and black pants around the dingy bandages.

He simply stood there, like a scarecrow. I couldn't even tell if he was breathing.

He didn't blink, and he didn't speak.

I couldn't even tell what he was. If he was a demon or human. There was nothing discernable about him.

"We call him, Kokkaku," The demon said with a crooked smile. "Sorry if he's not very chatty."

Yusuke was poised and ready to strike, but he looked agitated.

"This guy's giving me the creeps," the ex-detective began. He looked to me with a perplexed look on his face. "It's like he's…" he trailed off.

I followed Yusuke's line of thinking. There was definitely something off about this man. He simply stood there, inhumanly still, like a statue. And the way we were not able to sense him at all? As if he wasn't even there? It was as if he was an empty shell.

"Dead," I finished.

The demon interrupted us with a loud, haughty laugh.

"Very perceptive. Little good that does you. It's him you'll be fighting." The demon looked over to the scarecrow-esque man. "Kokakku!" He bellowed. He then looked back over to Yusuke and I with an irritating smirk. "Show them what you can do."

We braced ourselves.

For a moment, the man didn't move. He just stood there silently.

Then, as if he was some kind of machine being plugged in for the first time after years of disuse, he started to move. He started by rolling his shoulders, then cracked his neck on both sides. Raising his arms, I could hear every bone crack as he stretched. The man trained his lone eye on Yusuke and I, and within the blink of an eye, he was in front of us.

When he reeled back his right arm to swing, both of us were quick to jump out of the way. His punch hit the ground, breaking the earth and parting the mist. Rubble and dirt were thrown in every direction from the force. It hit the crumbled ruins, destroying what was left of some of the stone buildings. Some of the skeletons were crushed underneath large chunks of rock.

Yusuke and I landed on either side of the man.

"Aw fuck," Yusuke muttered at seeing the damage. "That's gotta be at least seven years bad luck…"

The half demon didn't get more time to reflect on his statement, because the man started coming for him.

The man's speed was impressive. Though his coordination was lacking, and his movements were unstable. He was all over the place, as if he wasn't in full control of his limbs. As he ran at Yusuke, his torso jerked forward. He almost lost his balance, but he somehow managed to keep himself upright. He threw another right punch that Yusuke blocked with raised arms.

"Damn dude, you reek," Yusuke yelled as the man hit him with his left fist.

With his attention on Yusuke, I saw my opportunity. He was wide open for an attack and clearly not paying any mind to his surroundings. I sprinted towards the man from behind. Raising my right fist back, I aimed for the spine, throwing my punch right in the center of his back.

My fist collided with flesh, hitting him exactly where I had intended. What I wasn't expecting, however, was for the muscle and bone to give way under the impact so easily. My hand went right through his body like an anvil through wet tissue paper. Though what I thought was most odd was that the man didn't bleed, even as my hand was through his sternum. There wasn't even a speck. Yusuke let out some kind of undignified noise, but I ignored him. I didn't think too much more about the lack of blood as I ripped my hand back through none too gently. Once I did, I noticed my arm was covered in grime and filth. Yusuke just looked at me in disgust, looking as though he might vomit. I merely shook my hand off and took a step back.

The man, for a moment, didn't move at all. He looked down at the gaping hole in his torso, then looked back up. Without uttering a word, he fell to his knees. He crumbled to the floor shortly after.

"Gross," was all the ex-detective had to say.

I waited a moment to see if the creature would get back up, but when he didn't, I smirked.

I turned to point at the low-rate demon. "Your corpse fighter is down, and you will be next."

As I said this, I realized there was another figure standing in the shadows, concealed by the mist. When he saw that I noticed him, he simpered before fading away into the fog.

I didn't get much of a chance to see what he looked like, but his spirit energy felt familiar. Perhaps kin to Kurama's.

An animal spirit?

"Hey!" I heard Yusuke yell. "Who the hell was that?" All traces of his previous state disappearing at the sight of a possible new opponent.

But we didn't get the chance to find out who or what the extra person was, because we were interrupted by the arrogant, haughty laugh of the demon.

"You don't need to worry about him," he said, smiling so wide he looked like a clown. "Do you really think your fight is over?"

The demon threw his head back and cackled so hard it shook his shoulders. Yusuke and I were quick to become tense. I looked down to the scarecrow of a man to see his body had started to twitch. It had both of us taking a step back when he started to rise up from the ground.

His chest rose up without the use of his arms as if he were a puppet being pulled by invisible strings. On unstable legs, he rose to his knees, then he pushed himself up to stand. His head was lolled to the side. Slowly lifting his arms, he grabbed his head to push it back up straight with a sickening crack. But perhaps the most unsettling part was what happened after.

Yusuke and I watched as the hole in his chest began to rapidly stitch itself back together.

"What… the fuck?" I heard the ex-detective mutter. He looked appalled. I remained silent.

I'm not one to get so easily disgruntled, but I hadn't seen something of this nature since Kurama swiftly dealt with the elder Toguro brother. And it was just as grotesque.

Bone and flesh and sinew reformed to leave behind nothing but a hole in the dirty bandages, revealing decayed, burned looking skin. I stared at it, somewhat in awe.

Yusuke was the first to shake himself out of the trance of watching the creature easily become whole again. "Alright, I've already had enough of this Frankenstien son of a bitch. I'm blastin' him."

Yusuke lifted his hand to point his spirit gun at the man at point blank range. I too reached for the hilt of my sword and unsheathed it.

We were both ready to go on the offensive, but we paused when the man moved his hands to his chest. He cupped them there, as if he was holding some kind of sphere. His hands started to shake from the strain of whatever he was about to do. It wasn't long after this that I began to sense a very chaotic, powerful burst of energy.

"What's he doin' now?" I heard Yusuke shout, alarmed. I kept my eyes on the creature in front of us.

An unstable mass appeared from his chest. He held it in his hands, but it didn't appear as though he was able to properly restrain it. It was a massive blue sphere of pure energy. I could hear it hiss and crackle. The light it was emitting was bright enough to blind, and pulsating with energy from within. It lit up the ruins with a bright blue, casting eerie shadows of bones that danced with every pulse. It affected the very air. It was like it was sucking it in, like fire. I found it increasingly difficult to even breathe.

Blue sparks of energy struck at the ground and whatever else was in its reach. Both Yusuke and I had no choice but to move back.

"Fuck," I heard Yusuke curse, but it was nearly drowned out from the noise.

There was no doubt about it. This must be the corrupted artifact. I had to hold my arm up just to shield my eyes from the light.

The sound of cackling drew my attention back to the demon.

"Now you'll be the one to know fear," he said. He had a wide smirk on his face, but his eyes didn't match his confidence. There was terror there. He looked frightened. No doubt the power from the orb was making him anxious. "Kokkaku! Kill them! Hurry up!"

The scarecrow of a man was holding the orb in his hands with what looked like deep concentration. Once the demon shouted out the order to have us killed, he released his concentration on restraining it.

As soon as he let it loose, a shockwave of energy shot out from the center. The blast had Yusuke and I reeling backwards.

I was thrown through the air. I crashed into one of the ruined stone buildings, crushing it even more from my impact. Once the dust had settled, I lifted myself up to sit with a grunt.

Shrieking interrupted me from recollecting myself after being pushed back by the blast. I looked up to see ghostly apparitions rising up from the skeletons as if they were being awoken from a deep sleep. The energy from the orb seemed to be having an effect on the ruins. It's like it was… coming alive. When one of the ghosts let out a banshee-like screech and rushed at me, I swatted it away with my fist.

I barely got a chance to stand up before more ghosts were rushing towards me. I clenched my teeth and sliced through them with my sword. As they evaporated after being torn apart by my slash, the corpse man was in front of me.

My eyes widened in surprise. The only thing I was able to do before he crashed into me was raise my sword to block him.

Taigon's tear collided with my sword. I had one hand on the hilt and the other on the blade, pushing back against it. I felt beads of sweat roll down my temple from the strain of trying to keep the man from overpowering me.

"Hiei!" I heard Yusuke shout, but I couldn't take my eyes off the opponent in front of me.

As he struggled to overcome me, I noticed him start to focus his efforts on one hand, he took his right hand off the orb. I watched him gather some of the artifact's energy into his hand. He pulled it back into a fist, then then threw it towards me. I grit my teeth, and with sheer force of will, I pushed the hand with the orb out of the way, but I couldn't stop it when his punch connected with my chest.

The force of his punch pushed me back hard. I let out a pained groan through clenched teeth as my feet kicked up dirt from me sliding backwards. Once I had stopped, I tried to keep myself standing, but I staggered, clutching at my chest. I breathed out, panting heavily. It was hard to tell what even happened.

The punch itself hurt, but that wasn't what was keeping me from standing up straight. I could feel something. The energy㇐I could feel it seeping into my veins.

I noticed the man was on the ground. I had successfully knocked Taigon's Tear from his hand. Without it being in his possession, the ruins appeared to be taking on a life of its own. The ghosts rising up from the bodies flew around searching for anything. I saw the demon running off with his tail between his legs at the sight of all the chaos.

I didn't pay him any more attention than he deserved. I couldn't afford to with the way the ruins were waking up. I needed to move, lest more of these ghosts came for me and I wouldn't be able to defend myself.

With all the will I could muster, I tried to take a step forward. But as soon as I attempted to move, my vision doubled. I ended up doubling over, falling to my knees. The last thing I remembered was Yusuke running towards me and the sound of laughter before I lost consciousness.

Hello! Yes, I'm alive. I apologize for the delay.

On the brightside to my delays, I always seem to come back to this story. If there's one out of the slew I've started over the years, this would be the one I'd finish.

Again, thank you to everyone who has commented, favorited, and followed this story! I'm thinking about posting it over on Archive of our own as well. I'm hoping to average more than just one update a year. See you hopefully soon and not in 2021!