At the island of Okushiri; many hours after the Reikai Senshi (Spirit World Warriors) were first alerted of the plans of the Shin Juppon Gatana (New Ten Swords) to invade Hokkaido...
The conduit of the Overfiend's power, the Onmyouji (Occult Priest) known as Houji Sadojima, hummed a hymn of the damned in order to quicken the resurrection of Rando, Itsuki, and Karasu.
"Goodbye everybody. Enjoy the rest of your lives. Because this world is going to be gone soon," said Houji as he licked his lips. "Mark my words."
After seeing Houji turn the Lower S-Level Usui into someone who could take on an Upper S-Level demon like himself, an important realization hit Yusuke Urameshi
"AH! Wait a minute! He's the guy! Houji's the guy Kenshin was talking about! The Onmyouji (Dark Priest) who could give the Chojin's minions power ups!" Yusuke said, hitting his closed fist over his open palm.
"Hiei knows him too from a previous mission! He could raise the power level of low level demons so that they could take on even S-Levels! I didn't know he could resurrect people and magnify their powers! He's bad news!"
Houji posed with his scythe and laughed. "As expected of the might of the Chojin! Even the likes of Raizen's own descendant can't help but recognize his greatness! Listen, a mere conduit like me only showcases a fraction of the Chojin's...!"
"I remember him too," interrupted Detective Daiji Matsudaira as he conversed with the reckless teen. "Or rather, my past self does. Sadojima Houji is an underling of Shishio Makoto who helped create the Ten Swords. And the blind man is also one of the original ten."
"HEY! STOP IGNORING ME! Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" demanded Houji the Onmyouji.
"Oooh. So you've finally gotten your memories back, Okashira? After all these years," mocked Usui. "If we had fought a hundred years ago, you might've stood a chance against me. At this point, I'm simply out of your league."
The detective frowned then said, "And what of Shishio Makoto? Are you now within his league or still out of it?"
Uonuma then screamed, "You cheeky bastard! I should kill you right NOW!"
"I'll take that as a 'No,'" Daiji deadpanned in true Aoshi Shinomori fashion, appearing more and more like his past self by the minute.
While Yusuke let his immense supply of reiki flow all over him in the form of a bright-blue aura for the sake of healing his (mostly missing) shoulder from Usui's spear attack, a faint whirring noise came forth from the sky.
Usui was the first to notice the sound because of his sensitive hearing, so he was thusly able to block it with his turtle shield named Tinbe.
Incidentally, the object he deflected was a thick, twelve-foot blade that was large enough to chop a horse in half. Unsurprisingly, it was also aimed at Houji Sadojima's head.
The huge zanbatou (horse-chopping sword) then ended up into the waiting hands of one Sanosuke "Zanza" Sagara of the Sekihoutai and the Kenshingumi.
"Sorry to keep you guys waiting. The cavalry is here."
Youtou Shinnoken: Demon Sword
A Rurouni Kenshin/Yuyu Hakusho Crossover Fan Fiction Story by Chester Castañeda
Original Concept by Chad Yang
Things are heating up at Okushiri as even more reinforcements from both sides of the war arrive!
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 materials that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.
Chapter 51: Living Sin (Part 3)
"SANO! You made it just in time, you son of a bitch!" said Urameshi as he rotated his arm and massaged his recently healed shoulder. He was getting so good at healing himself, it was almost like he was the third Toguro Brother: Toguro Manaka (Middle Toguro) or something. "Where're Kenshin and the others?"
Sanosuke grinned and pointed his thumb upwards. Sure enough, riding shotgun with Botan and her extra-long oar was Kenshin Himura and a teenaged Yahiko Myojin.
The Kenshingumi was their second backup to arrive after half of the Reikai Tantei cleaned house against half of the Shin Juppon Gatana.
"Thanks for the ride, Botan. Or is it Kaoru-dono?" said Kenshin with an impish smile before getting off of the boat paddle. Yahiko followed suit, saying to the ferry-girl, "We'll see you in a bit, Old Hag."
"Who are you calling Old Hag!?" Botan demanded, and Myojin responded with a shrug, adding, "I don't know which personality I was talking to, so I just called you an old hag, Old Hag!"
From there, Botan flew off and met with the Misao Makimachi reincarnation named Likka Ikumi in order to help her out with her rescue efforts. She was also there for grimmer reasons; putting to rest the souls of the unfortunate victims who perished from the Shin Ju's attack on Okushiri.
"Battousai," both Usui and Daiji said in unintentional unison before they shot glares at each other (or Matsudaira did, since Uonuma was blindfolded and mostly sightless).
Houji gulped. They already had all they could handle with Yusuke and Hiei alone. Now even the Battousai himself had arrived.
'I know they're supposed to be second only to Tenro-sama or third only to Chojin-sama, but can I trust them to take out these monsters by themselves? Especially that Urameshi bastard! Damn him!'
Sadojima's orifices clenched in remembrance of what Yusuke did to him.
Kenshin warily moved beside Daiji and Yahiko then eyed the battle-ready Usui.
They currently outnumbered the lone conscious Shin Ju in the area five-to-one, but the slumbering and recovering Rando, Karasu, or Itsuki (as well as the Triad Boss Xinhai) could return and pounce on them at any moment thanks to the necromancer powers of the Onmyouji.
As for Houji, he kept one particularly troublesome Reikai Senshi member in his sights.
Himura closed his eyes and took a deep breath before facing the two conscious former Juppon Gatana members, sparing a glance at the three unconscious Shin Juppon Gatana for a second.
He then said, "Sadojima Houji, where is Shishio Makoto? Or rather, where is the Chojin?"
A blood-soaked Feng Xinhai... Raijuta Isurugi's current incarnation... let out a collection of Mandarin curses at Hiei, who himself was covered in cuts and slashes.
"As expected of Mukuro's right-hand demon. Even in this state where you've run out of youki, you're still a dangerous opponent. You're almost as fast as Seta Soujiro!"
"..."
Hiei considered that "almost as fast" comment from Raijuta an outright insult.
Xinhai's flaming familiar covered him with a replenishing amount of jaki (negative energy) fire that cauterized and healed all but the deepest of his sword wounds.
Hiei then fought against both Feng and his doppelganger, their nodachi whirling like rotors. Two against one.
He got pushed back by their strength, but they ended up hurt by his blinding hand speed regardless.
"The rumors were true, weren't they? You really did face Tenro then lived to tell the tale. I thought it was because you wielded the Demon Sword at the time, but you're strong on your own even without it!"
"Hn. Stop babbling nonsense and fight," said Hiei before plunging his right hand into the flames of Xinhai's fiery shadow, absorbing its negative energy unto himself.
Houji's answers to Kenshin's questions were as vague as possible.
"Ah. Shishio-sama..." He licked his lips. It'd been so long since he said that name. "He will be arriving here shortly, Battousai. You'll know him when you see him. Your rematch will happen soon, and I doubt you'll end up as lucky as the last time you faced him."
"Hey, Onmyouji!" beckoned Urameshi. "This Shishio guy won't mind facing me either, will he? Kenshin said that mummified freak loves fighting. He even fought Sano mano-y-mano, without once using his sword."
Sanosuke's stomach churned and fist throbbed at the mention of his one-sided fight against the insanely strong Makoto.
The Onmyouji harrumphed. "He'll take on all comers as long as they're worthy of him. As he'd say, 'Only the strong shall survive and the weak is food for the strong.' Then again, you have other people to worry about. Don't you, Urameshi Yusuke?"
Yusuke then shot another glare at the horizon, sensing an even bigger upsurge of energy from the remaining five Shin Ju after they themselves sensed the arrival of Kenshin Himura and his Kenshingumi.
He had a better feel of their auras. They formed glowing silhouettes in his mind.
One of them, he met on top of the hospital where a comatose Keiko Yukimura was recuperating. Two of them, he knew from the Ankoku Bujutsukai. One person in particular, he fought in one of his most difficult and momentous fights.
"Toguro," Yusuke breathed out the name and frowned at the bitter aftertaste it left. "Why are you here? Why are you a member of the Shin Ju? I thought you were dead! I thought you were satisfied with our fight! I thought you were willing to face your punishment for all your sins! YOU FUCKING LIAR!"
That was the question he wanted to ask the strongman ever since they last met at Minato Ward, near Tokyo Tower.
Had the Younger Toguro reneged on his word to serve out his sentence in Hell in favor of a rematch against a more powerful Urameshi?
"Kenshin. Sano. Yahiko. Detective Ossan. I'll leave the rest to you," he told the four time-displaced warriors from the Meiji Era. They all nodded at him.
"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, BOY!? We're not yet...!" demanded Usui to Yusuke, materializing a new Rochin on hand, only for Himura to unsheathe his sword and do a pointblank Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki (Heavens Gliding Dragon Flash) on him.
The blind man was able to move his turtle shield in the way of the Demon Sword to protect him on time, but he ended up flying in the sky anyway from the impact of the battoujutsu strike.
The move that would've normally been neutralized by the adaptive Tinbe was fast enough to jettison Uonuma before his shield could become dense enough to nullify the force of the attack.
Urameshi took that opportunity to run after his fated rival, disappearing in an instant.
Detective Matsudaira did the exact same thing, sprinting in the opposite direction, sensing where the One-Eight-Ten Killer was by his developing Rei-Kan (Spirit Sense) and his innate detective instincts.
As for Sagara, Himura, and Myojin, they surrounded Sadojima and his incubating Shin Ju zombies. Three against either one or potentially four opponents.
"This is hardly fair at all, Himura Battousai. You outnumber me," said Houji while caressing the staff of his scythe. "Whatever shall I do?"
Kenshin sheathed his mystic blade and went into battoujutsu stance. "If we take you out right now, then the Shin Ju won't be able to revive themselves or raise their power level."
"If."
For some reason, the Onmyouji who was trembling and sniveling earlier was now swimming in smugness. The epitome of confidence. As though he knew something that the Kenshingumi didn't.
The answer became clear in an instant as they became surrounded by glowing green orbs of energy.
"!?"
The three comrades acted fast. It would've been handy to have the ninja master Daiji available to weave through the air mines, but the bullheaded Sano has his own way of getting through them.
"ZANKUU TOU ATE (AIR SLASH DISTANCE SHOT)!" he screamed, doing the aerial version of the Tou Ate technique he "learned" (or rather, was on the receiving end of) from the master of the Futae no Kiwami (Dual Extreme), the Mad Monk Anji Yukyuzan.
This opened a path for the rest of the Kenshingumi members to move and crowd the Onmyouji.
The pair of Yahiko and Kenshin both flanked either side of the grinning Houji, who stopped smiling when he attempted to produce more of his familiars to attack them but couldn't.
'So what Rando said was true. This boy...' The Onmyouji spared a glance at the determined spiky-haired street scamp turned Kenshin disciple. 'He has ki-neutralizing powers. I can't use the Chojin's jaki anymore.'
Meanwhile, Sano whirled his gigantic zanbatou across the energy bombs, detonating them safely in the air while keeping them from converging too close together and creating a bigger chain reaction of explosions.
He then dropped the gigantic sword right beside him like some sort of metal surfboard, freeing up his hands in time to intercept an incoming organic explosive with bat wings and a single eye.
"Not so fast, Masked Man. Trying to pull a fast one on us?" Sano punched the Trace Eye out of the air with his Dual Extreme fist, making it explode on impact.
The smoke cleared, and sure enough a fully healed Karasu was there in front of Sanosuke.
"Well, well. Now isn't this interesting? I'll be facing off with all new faces instead of the same ol' Urameshi Team. I've faced some of your lot already, though," Karasu said, referring to Yahiko and Yutaro (Natsuki).
The crow demon's eyes sparkled as they alighted on Kenshin's form. The ex-vagabond had a svelte, effeminate look to him that reminded Karasu of a certain someone.
"Nevertheless, I particularly want to see for myself what the fuss is all about this Battousai and his Youtou Shinnoken (Demon Sword)," said Karasu, his hidden smile projected by his shining, narrow eyes.
Sayaka arrived at Okushiri with Kurama and Natsuki Shinkai on Yusuke's "pet monster" Puu just in time to catch sight of a running Detective Daiji.
Meanwhile, right behind them at a slower pace, Hinageshi herself had with her a bandaged Kazuma Kuwabara and an out-of-sorts Uchiko Shikoku since the miko (priestess) shinigami (death goddess) had the more advanced healing powers among the ferry-girls.
Once Puu landed back to the ground, Kurama and Natsuki split up. The former youko turned human wanted to see firsthand who the replacement Shin Ju were. The Yutaro Tsukayama incarnate, on the other hand, wanted to help Daiji deal with her estranged Chinese father.
Likka herself learned from her best friend "Tsuki-chan" via Spirit Detector where Daiji was headed. After tending to the survivors, she headed out while wondering at the back of her mind why her brother-in-law was so obsessed with "Souther".
Regardless, in just a few more minutes, all of the available Reikai Senshi (plus their air support shinigami) would soon arrived at Okushiri to face off against the Shin Juppon Gatana (plus their ground support Dai Shin Kan).
After playing cat and mouse with Karasu for so long, Sanosuke managed to slip in a Futae no Kiwami to the crow's face that became a Sanju no Kiwami (Triple Extreme) at the last second.
Then, as the bomber man's body dropped to the ground, he got blasted right into the sky with a landmine-like Zanbatou Ate. Finally, Sano did a Zankuu Zanbatou Ate finishing blow in the air to complete the combo.
Sano's fighting spirit glowed and manifested into a burning hot blue aura that surrounded his body, his power level rising from B-Level to right at the cusp of A-Level.
To be more specific, he was currently around the same power level Yusuke was when he blasted the A-Level Rei-Gan that ultimately defeated Toguro Ototo.
His white mouth mask shattered and his clothes in tatters, the bird youkai folded like laundry against the might of Sano.
Or at least, that was the idea.
A blond Karasu kept himself from toppling over, his clothes billowing from the golden aura he emitted as he breathed in a large amount of oxygen.
"...Are you gonna explode now, you gaijin-looking suicide bomber? Go ahead and blow up like a dying enemy from one of those sentai shows that Heisei kids love to watch nowadays," dared Sanosuke. "Your goose is already cooked."
His bleached and curly hair undulating from the winds of his own youki, Karasu produced a turtle shell flashbang that blinded Sagara, allowing him to disappear from his midst and hide.
"That's cheap, Karasu! Where the hell are you?" said Sano, his eyes still seeing stars a minute later.
From behind, the blond devil threw a multitude of devilish horn-shaped cluster bombs that Sano had to shield himself from using his surfboard-like zanbatou. Every time they exploded, a payload of more bombs appeared, thus increasing their firepower exponentially.
'Irritating little asshole, isn't he? He has even more bombs to spare than Katsu!' thought Sanosuke, referring to his fellow Sekihoutai member, Tsunan Tsukioka (formerly Katsuhiro Tsukioka).
Then, to Sagara's chagrin, the crow youkai threw slimy napalm into the mix, which made the zanbatou glow red in persistent fire. Karasu took that opportunity to touch the steel blade and turn it into exploding hot shrapnel.
Sagara attempted to cover himself from the zanbatou shrapnel bomb with his Class-A battle aura, but that was when the human suicide bomb decided to explode with a Full-Body Explosion that combined with the conflagration produced by the napalm, hot shrapnel, and cluster bombs.
"SANO!" Kenshin and Yahiko shouted, then for a split-second a shikigami appeared before them, but the ex-rurouni shredded the creature into pieces just as the Myojin again neutralized Houji's (or rather, the Chojin's) powers.
Karasu's cackles could be heard amidst the ensuing fire.
"You know what's funny, Saru-san (Mister Monkey)? Once upon a time, I worked under the thumb of a man... a human, at that... that was much weaker than you are right now. He was B-Plus at 100% of his power.
Sanosuke rolled on the floor until his coat stopped burning, red tears coursing through his eyes.
"At this point, my present self could probably burn that Toguro's 100% self like an ant under a magnifying glass and concentrated sunlight. My, how times have changed."
'Sano...' Yahiko bit his lower lip to the point of it bleeding. Focusing all his energy in holding the Chojin's conduit back so that he couldn't use his jaki to revive Rando and Itsuki.
Even as he saw his friend get blown up to smithereens at the corner of his eye.
"GUARGGH!" Sanosuke cried after he hit another landmine. While bathing in his own blood (actually, ectoplasm).
"S-Stop," the Tokyo Samurai Descendant couldn't help but mumble.
Kenshin himself kept an eye on both Myojin and Sagara. Second-guessing himself. He considered fighting by Sanosuke's side in order to double-team the S-Level opponent before them.
Because Sano was completely outmatched. No less than the likes of Himura or Urameshi could keep up with an S-Class Karasu.
A Karasu that was capable of infinite variations of bombs thanks to the wellspring of jaki flowing inside him care of the Onmyouji and the Chojin.
Kenshin moved towards Sano, but stopped when the street fighter shouted, "DON'T YOU DARE MOVE ANOTHER STEP! I got this!"
"You got what exactly, Saru-san?" asked Karasu before a bear trap clamped on Sanosuke's foot and a Mad Bomb began counting down the seconds before it exploded.
"SANO!" Kenshin and Yahiko screamed for a second time, and once more a shikigami appeared before them for a split-second from the distraction. Like it was déjà vu all over again.
This time, Myojin didn't recover fast enough to block Houji from accessing the Chojin's jaki.
"Checkmate," said Sadojima while he boosted the powers of his associate Karasu, who then shot a beam of volatile energy at the trapped Sano.
Three things happened at once. One, Kenshin (again) shredded another shikigami into ribbons. Two, Yahiko attacked Houji directly. Three, Sanosuke kicked the chained Mad Bomb into the Mad Bomber's face, making it explode and skew his aim.
"STOP CALLING ME A MONKEY! I'm a goddamn rooster, you whiny bitch!" came Sagara's strange retort to Karasu.
"Ow! You BRAT! I'LL KILL... AUGH! Stop! MERCY!"
To Yahiko's surprise, his counterstrike to the scythe-wielding Houji hit the evil businessman right on the noggin with little to no trouble. The man was wide open to attack.
Huh.
Cautious but optimistic, Myojin feinted a strike then backed off as the Onmyouji's scythe missed him by a mile. Houji obviously didn't know how to use his weapon properly.
Without the Chojin's jaki, the occult priest had about the same fighting abilities as an ordinary Christian priest (that wasn't a paladin) or a non-warrior Buddhist monk.
Kamatari, he was not. Who knew the Overfiend's "manager" or whatever was such a weakling?
Kenshin and Yahiko then exchanged knowing looks and nodded to each other.
"KENSHIN! Didn't I tell you to leave me alone!?" demanded Sanosuke, whose went through the cluster bombs like a tank but missed wildly with his Futae no Kiwami attempts.
Instead of answering, Himura threw his sheathed Demon Sword at Sano, which the former Sekihoutai caught by reflex.
"Use that," Kenshin said. "The Shin Ju are playing dirty. Karasu keeps receiving power ups from Houji. I'm not asking you to play dirty too. I just want us to fight together again like old times, that I do."
Himura then disappeared, becoming one with the Youtou Shinnoken that Sagara now wielded.
"I would've rather fought Himura Battousai than you, to be honest, but maybe if I kill you, I can drag him out instead...!" began Karasu, but his words were cut short after he himself got cut short. Or rather, cut in half. "...Eh?"
The Youtou Shinnoken in Sanosuke's hands transformed into a "brand-new" zanbatou. Much sharper and thicker than the old horse-cutting blade that ended up in Sano's possession at the tail end of the Bakumatsu.
However, gigantic as it was, it now mysteriously weighed the same as a normal sword. For someone as strong as Sagara, a katana weighed as much as a knife or a kendo stick.
The two halves of the S-Level Karasu exploded then imploded unto themselves (or himself) before he experienced rebirth from his own flames, reforged from the melted remains of his broken self.
It was not unlike how former Shin Ju member Suzaku replenished his health with lightning and his own clones. Class-S entities were truly hard to kill.
But then again, Sano wanted the challenge. And so did Karasu.
"From what I remember, the Onmyouji's power ups are only temporary. How much longer can you keep this up before you run out of juice, Thin Man? ZANBATOU ATE!" mocked Sanosuke before activating his Horse-Chopping Blade Distance Hit technique.
The crow demon summoned a mole landmine in the middle of the incoming waves of earth and let it detonate to stop the landslide, his bleached hair wriggling like tendrils.
"Then I guess I'll just have to snatch the Demon Sword away from you and claim it as my own like Suzaku did."
The tides of battle have turned. Without the power of the Chojin to assist him, the Houji Sadojima of 1993 was just as good at combat as the Houji Sadojima of 1878. In that he was not.
He was a powerless, desperate man. More pathetic than the little man behind the curtain that claimed to be the Wizard of Oz.
The occult businessman's scythe clattered on the ground after he received yet another Shippu Jinrai Doutou no Ken (Gale Thunderclap Billow Sword) from Yahiko followed by a head strike on his domed forehead.
Meanwhile, even though they were at a deadlock, Karasu's temporary boost of jaki had begun to run low thanks to the combined forces of the stamina monster known as Sanosuke Sagara and his own power booster, Kenshin Himura's Demon Sword.
Sano had become a tank capable of walking through explosions like they were warm gusts of wind or a light haze in the air. He timed every bomb explosion with Futae no Kiwami punches to different parts of his body, serving as shock absorbers of sorts.
This technique was also known as the Kiwami Hazushi (Extremity Release) that Anji Yukyuzan had used to neutralize the Futae no Kiwami strikes to his body by Sanosuke.
The proximity vacuum slashes from the much lighter version of the zanbatou ripped even the nimble avian youkai apart, piece by piece. The blunt-force trauma of close-quarter combat by the tenacious street fighter didn't help matters any either.
Alas, the black-and-blue Houji knew this would happen (as the Chojin predicted) and was simply buying time for the rest of the New Ten Swords to act.
Thusly, Sadojima slipped a hidden pistol in his hands and shot Yahiko in mid-swing. Using a normal gun. It wasn't enchanted or anything. But it got the job done.
"YAHIKO! Don't let your guard down, dammit!" said Sagara.
This distracted Sanosuke long enough for a white-haired, glasses-wearing martial artist to seemingly teleport from behind him. Out of nowhere.
'Huh? Another Shin Ju? Wait... Where have I seen this guy before?' thought Sano before he got disarmed with a rising slash that nearly (literally) dismembered his arm.
The zanbatou turned into the Youtou Shinnoken once more, and from it materialized Kenshin's body.
Himura had never seen this man in a Chinese outfit before, so he presumed he was one of Urameshi's enemies as he did a quick-draw battoujutsu slash at him.
However, the man ducked beneath Kenshin's strike with a strange split-leg crouch before pouncing like a tiger and pushing the ex-rurouni back with a trail of ghost blood.
"At long last. Battousai. I've waited a century for you, criminal scum."
"...Oro? And who might you be?"
"I see you still have your scar too."
"KENSHIN! Dammit, who the hell is that guy with white hair?" Yahiko called out.
Speaking of which, Myojin almost retaliated against Houji by hammering the sakabatou into the man's firearm, breaking it and his hand.
The teenager neglected to avoid a strange frog-like mutant from swallowing him whole from out of the blue, though.
A mutant controlled by Edward Gein, the Doctor Victor Frankenstein (or Surgeon General Shiro Ishii) of the Shin Ju. The infamous Puppet Master himself who helped build the regenerating bodies of all the resurrected minions of the Chojin.
Houji grinned as he regained access to the Chojin's jaki and reenergized Karasu just in time before he dropped back to Class-A altogether.
That was when the Mad Bomber materialized a warehouse's worth of insect-legged TNT roaches around Sanosuke, with the intention of turning it into his instant grave at the push of a button.
A huge explosion soon followed, turning the area into the Gates of Hell. Rock melting into lava. Asphalt bubbling into tar. Fire forming everywhere.
The two new arrivals helped Sadojima and Karasu outnumber and overwhelm the Kenshingumi four against three.
Just as the Chojin planned. 'As expected of Lord Chojin!' thought Houji.
There was at least one thing Houji didn't expect, though.
A grinning Sano with a crimson mask of ectoplasm covering his face emerging from the flames of what was supposed to be his funeral pyre, laughing like a maniac.
"KARASU! You bastard. This is getting seriously fun."
"Saru-san..."
After she was done rescuing everyone she could reach within the city limits, Likka began to explore the trail of tears and devastation elsewhere to search for any other survivors.
Memories from her past reminded her of how the Juppon Gatana similarly devastated the landscape of Kyoto under the Oniwabanshu's watch. This New Juppon Gatana showcased what would've happened had the Old Juppon Gatana succeeded in setting fire to the old capital.
She then located her targets. "Uncle Jiji", "Tsuki-chan", and "Souther" (plus his "Stand") were locked in mortal combat, up until the bad guy cheated and summoned his henchmen to help him out.
Likka gulped and prepared her shuriken, only for her blades to drop once she heard the truth about Souther straight from Daiji himself.
Natsuki Shinkai (pronounced as Xiaxi Xinhai in Mandarin Chinese) and Daiji Matsudaira arrived just in time to witness Jaganshi Hiei almost finish Feng Xinhai off (again) with a fiery blade that Makoto Shishio himself would've been proud of.
Natsuki gulped. She had a vague suspicion that Kurama's friends were on another level altogether compared to the recently awakened reincarnations of past Meiji warriors like herself, but to see her unstoppable father struggle like this against this diminutive demon was beyond words.
Nevertheless, as both she and Daiji had suspected, Xinhai had a backup plan, as evidenced by the demonic headset on his ear and the sweet nothings he whispered in its mouthpiece.
They then saw Usui Uonuma barrel out of the woodwork, his Tinbe shield ramming against the Jaou-En-Satsu Ken and killing its flames. The blind swordsman probably even practiced that move repeatedly against Shishio once upon a time.
"..."
The two S-Level warriors became a blur of shapes and sparks before disappearing into the horizon.
The only ones now left in that area surrounded with wreckage and bodies were Xinhai, his daughter, and his most persistent rival.
Just as he'd planned.
"Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren (Spiral Sword Dance Six Series)."
"Daiji-sempai, no...!"
But Daiji didn't care if he was falling for another one of the One-Eight-Ten Killer's stupid schemes. He had enough.
Gein and his pet Iwanbo carried Yahiko as far away from Houji as possible in order to stop his neutralization powers from reaching the Chojin's conduit.
However, Myojin's latent ability also took its toll on the meat puppet, cutting its jaki connection from its owner, the Puppet Master.
The fat, pink, and dumb Iwanbo's stomach gurgled before it ended up vomiting the saliva-covered kid out in one disgusting, slimy heap.
"Oh my. Looks like your neutralization powers extend all the way to my puppets too, huh?" observed the skull-masked Edward, and soon enough his Iwanbo fell on its face, literally like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
The jaki that flowed within the fleshy marionette was cut off, turning them back into inanimate objects.
Gein attempted to make another Iwanbo, but his Regent-Class ability to create life from ki was also hampered by the boy. His homunculus could not be transmuted.
"That thing's a puppet? Sheesh!" Myojin gagged and wiped the gunk off of his face with a handkerchief. "It smells like death in there!"
The old ninja then made Yahiko's blood (or rather, ectoplasm) curdle when he answered, "That's because all of my puppets are made of human and demon corpses."
'UWAAA! Holy shit, this man's absolutely bonkers! He's a total freak!' thought the blue-faced Tokyo Samurai Descendant before something urgent and important occurred to him then and there.
He had met this madman before. This mad scientist. Back in the Meiji Era.
He also met the old geezer's white-haired partner-in-crime too; the one who attacked Kenshin and led him away from Sadojima as well.
"Hey, Puppet Master Gein," began Yahiko, "Why are you and Yukishiro Enishi part of Shishio's New Ten Swords?"
"Oh. Have we met before?" asked the former doctor from Unit 731 with a twinkle in his eye. "In a past life, maybe? I don't remember giving you my name or the name of my compatriot, Myojin Yahiko.
The Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren. A six-hit combo attack with spiraling slashes that cut deeper with each stroke.
Feng had seen that move before.
"You're like Sisyphus and his boulder. You're compelled to do something over and over expecting different results. The definition of madness."
A supercell from a half-formed Tornado Ripper was all it took to render the Aoshi reincarnation's best move moot, the blades unable to reach Xinhai because of the wall of invisible wind currents surrounding him.
It was from within the confines of this twister without a funnel that Feng ripped the police detective apart with supersonic Tobi Izuna that he couldn't avoid in time despite his water-flow movement.
"Is that the best you could do? You were asking for this fight. Well? Here I am now, Detective!" mocked Xinhai before kicking Daiji's midsection and caving his ribs in.
Xinhai's daughter Xiaxi... no, Natsuki... attempted to counter his "Quasimodo" technique again with her damnable Mugen Dai no Hyogo (Mark of Infinity) technique that made him lose an arm.
But Feng learned his lesson from last time and denied her the opportunity by circumventing the crossed-wrist strike and hammering her jaw with the titanium prosthetic arm he ended up "installing" to his arm stump thanks to her.
Disciplining her like only a good father could.
"You're dead to me, One-Eight-Ten Killer!" said Natsuki in Mandarin instead of Nihongo before spitting her blood at him. Making sure he understood her crystal clear.
Aw. She kept her promise to disown him and not call him her father. It almost brought a tear to his eye, really. Ungrateful brat.
Something interesting started to happen to Daiji though. He manifested more and more of his burning reiki (spirit energy), which flowed along with his sharp kenki (swordsman energy).
Also, with a hint of corruptive jaki (negative energy).
'Ah. Finally. Something different,' thought Xinhai.
He'd applaud if his hands weren't full at the moment. The detective was no madman after all. He had a method to his madness.
Even if he was betrayed by his beloved daughter, at least this... prodigal son of his wasn't a disappointment. A worthy rival till the very end.
"I won't allow the killer of my wife and countless other victims to remain alive. Even if I can't save them, I will damn sure avenge them. I will decorate their graves with your blood!"
The skies then turned dark, blotting out the sun. It then rained.
It rained steel. Kodachi fell from the sky.
The kodachi hailstorm converged on the area where Xinhai stood, the blades falling atop his head like a thousand Swords of Damocles.
The Misao reincarnation known as Likka Ikumi dropped to her knees while hiding behind a fallen piece of concrete rubble, peeking into one of its holes as the battle ensued between Daiji Matsudaira, Natsuki Shinkai, and Feng Xinhai.
"N-No. It can't be."
After saving as many people as she could along with Botan, herding them away from the devastation the nearby Shin Ju wrought (and keeping them from bumping into any one of those mighty demons and super-powered humans), she followed the B-Class and A-Class blips on the radar of her Spirit Detector.
Only for her to discover the awful truth her so-called family had been keeping away from her.
She overheard what her best friend and her brother-and-law had said about Xinhai.
Souther. The Triad Boss. He was actually the Kanji Killer. Or rather, the One-Eight-Ten Killer. The murderer of Daiji's wife and Likka's sister, Itsumi Matsudaira (nee Ikumi).
She didn't know what to feel or think as she clutched her chest and felt a familiar twinge in her heart that she hadn't felt since her sister died.
Or since a hundred years ago, when Aoshi almost killed her "Jiya", Okina.
A memory from the recent past...
"...All right. I'm going to shoot you now, runt. Don't worry, I'll make it only about as strong as a knockout punch," said Yusuke, aiming his Rei-Gan at Yahiko's head then firing.
"HIYAH!" Myojin let out his kiai (short yell) before intercepting the concussive blast with his reverse-edged sword and neutralizing it with one downward strike.
"He really can neutralize raw ki, huh?" said Kurama before he summoned a Rose Whip from out of his hair and attacked Yahiko with it.
"WHOA! Hey, you almost ripped my face apart with that, you Kenshin sound-alike!" complained the Tokyo Samurai Descendant after deflecting and avoiding the thorny vine's whiplash.
"Hmm. Interesting. So you can't revert the Rose Whip back to its original form after I've already transformed it. How about this?" Shuichi Minamino took out another rose stem and bud. "Keep me from transforming this rose into a Rose Whip.
Yahiko nodded with a solemn expression, aimed his sakabatou like a wand at the rose and, sure enough, it didn't transform no matter how hard Kurama concentrated.
"Marvelous, Yahiko-kun! We can use this new ability of yours against the Chojin's army!" said the smiling redhead. "Particularly against that man that Kenshin and Hiei have met. The Chojin's Onmyouji."
In the corner of Myojin's eye, he saw a smiling Kenshin nod his assent as well, which made him smile too.
Back to the relative present...
"Ah. I can't summon more Iwanbo units with my jaki, huh?" said the skull-masked mad scientist. "Man, I'm in such a bind! Good thing I'm not dealing with the Battousai. Instead, it's this little brat. I'd be as good as captured or dead otherwise."
"HEY...!" exclaimed Yahiko at the insult. At the back of his mind, he realized, 'The geezer is changing the subject. He won't talk about Enishi.'
Yahiko had an inkling suspicion on how the Chojin got a hold of Enishi, though. The Shanghai Arms Dealer mobster was one of many people out for revenge against Kenshin.
Whether Yukishiro was a reincarnation or a revived ghost from the past, it didn't matter. He remained the perfect enemy against the Battousai, even a hundred years later. A fellow neutralizer, if you would.
"...Then again, we were warned about you, Myojin Yahiko. You're quite the meddlesome pest. Ordinarily, you'd be in the bottom of the totem pole, beneath the Shin Ju's notice, but because of your special powers, anyone that fights you won't be able to manifest their full power."
The shifty eyes behind Gein's skull mask narrowed. Observed. Followed Yahiko's every move.
"The Onmyouji couldn't do anything against you. Karasu won't be able to make bombs within close proximity of you. Xinhai can't summon his flaming familiar while you're around. Hell, any energy projector would have problems fighting you. Even the Reikai Senshi leader, Urameshi Yusuke, would've had fits dealing with you."
The Puppet Master then whipped out his taut, piano wire strings at his Iwanbo Unit meat suit.
Yahiko anticipated Gein's action and did a Dou Gami (God on Earth) to keep the hooks from his metal and diamond ropes from reaching its target.
"Nope. I won't let you wear your Iwanbo suit again like when you were working undercover with the original Juppon Gatana."
The former Unit 731 doctor tilted his head to the side. "My, my. You know so much about me yet I only know of you because of your neutralization powers. That hardly seems fair. Let's get to know each other better, then. En garde."
The falling blades turned to sublimated hot gas and molten metal amidst the S-Level jaki flames of Feng's familiar. His kagemusha (shadow warrior) that shared his build and his longsword. It was the shadowy version of him that was on fire.
"You're right about one thing, Blue Meanie. You can't save anyone. You're only meant to destroy. To kill me. I made you that way intentionally. Because your anger feeds me."
Detective Matsudaira continued bombarding Feng with the kodachi rain while he himself dodged and picked up short swords in order to swarm him with the more aggressive form of his ninjutsu-based swordsmanship.
"There's no holding me back. I'm not driven by fear. I'm just driven by justice, One-Eight-Ten Killer," said the copper.
"Justice is only a human concept. It doesn't exist in the real world," rebuked the mobster. "The universe is not fair, much less just. It simply is."
Xinhai then chuckled before blowing the rest of the blades away with his Tornado Ripper, the heat from his shikigami rising amidst the cool gales of his Izuna vacuum slices.
"Don't you understand, Detective? You can't win. Your own rage has made me this powerful. You're wasting not only your breath, but your spirit energy. You're out of your league, A-Class."
But the detective wouldn't stop. He pressed on with his steel squall, forcing the Fake Kanji Killer to not only block with his nodachi but also with his metal arm.
Matsudaira sneered. "Out of my league? You've proven you're the bottom of the barrel of the S-Classes here. A pebble on the road."
Occupied with deflecting falling swords from the sky (that his fiery familiar also had to melt, vaporize, or transmogrify into spirit energy with their shared Shinko Ryu techniques), Xinhai left split-second gaps in his guard that the policeman penetrated with the occasional kenpo strikes or Kaiten Kenbu (both versions).
However, even though Xinhai was turned into a human blade cushion like Houji's shikigami earlier (or perhaps Julius Caesar after his assassination), the tank-like mobster continued to advance.
The gangster's narrow, shifty eyes noticed how the copper was producing fewer and fewer swords from his ki, his mixture of kenki and reiki ebbing away. He had wasted his energy on creating swords that couldn't hit their mark.
Xinhai saw his opening and took it, shifting from Shinko Ryu to fencing with a Japanese longsword. Meanwhile, his jaki-infused monster itself attacked with Nikaido Heiho (a self-taught technique that Feng used during his days of being the Copycat Kanji Killer).
However, his daughter was on standby the entire time, observing their every move.
"I got your back, Daiji-sempai!" Natsuki assured the detective, parrying every last thrust.
Not only did Natsuki interject in the middle of the fight and redirect her father's sudden fencing thrust with her Tactical Wheel. She also deflected his longsword towards the longsword of his familiar, which kept the flaming shikigami from blocking the remaining squall of short swords.
Like with the sword-and-shield tag team she and Yahiko formed to fight against Karasu back in Kawaguchiko Station of Fujikawaguchiko Town at the Minamitsuru District, Shinkai served as the shield to any openings in Daiji's offense.
Also, while she was there, Xinhai couldn't use the Tornado Ripper for fear of deflection. They were again at a deadlock.
Then, with a sneer, Feng said, "I've taught you well, Xiaxi. 'Always have a backup plan,' as I always said. You're the detective's backup plan. However, you're about to see the difference between master and student."
Thusly, the fully healed Rando and Itsuki teleported into the scene.
What was once a two-against-two battle became a four-against-two war.
The Reikai Senshi's original plan of neutralizing the Onmyouji before taking out the Shin Ju had failed.
Gein was pretty nimble for a man his age who claimed to Hiei and his demonic comrades that he was alive during World War II as part of the infamous Unit 731: The Empire of Japan's Human Experimentation Unit.
But then again, technically, the solidified ghost was older than the reincarnated associate of Enishi.
Yahiko slipped through the wire lasso that almost wrapped around his neck and would've either choked him to death or decapitated him. He then hammered the slick ninja with a Tsui Gami.
A God Hammer that the scientific ninja blocked with his intertwined diamond-hard wire, showcasing strength that belied his age and occupation.
"Your mediocre sword skills might be enough to take down B-Class opponents or even careless Lower A-Levels. But not against anyone stronger or smarter than that. Like me."
Myojin's reverse-edged blade bounced off the ninja's cables, ruining his pinpoint timing when doing the Inga Gami (Karmic God) but it did raise him and his arms high enough to do a devastating Dou Gami (Earth God) on the ground.
"I'll show you mediocre sword skills, Old Man!"
The bomb-like blast made the ninjutsu scientist go airborne. Not for long, though.
Gein tumbled backwards and shot his cables to what was left of the decimated buildings to steer him away from Yahiko.
He then fell right into the waiting maw of his skin suit Iwanbo 1.0. A meat puppet that soon stood up, welcoming its "host" or "driver" of sorts.
Iwanbo tumbled around like a mascot from a baseball game. The Tokyo Samurai Spirit knew better, though.
'...Uh oh,' thought Yahiko as original Iwanbo towered over him, remembering the trouble the Kyoto Oniwabanshu had with the ball of blubber when they first fought him a hundred years ago.
"Gifu," was the sound the Puppet Master made while controlling his meat puppet.
"My shadow, go ahead and deal with Xiaxi. I'll take care of the detective," ordered Feng Xinhai, only for his shikigami to block his path with a clone of his longsword. "Explain yourself."
The flame entity shook its fiery head and then moved towards Detective Daiji Matsudaira instead.
"...Very well. I'll take good care of my daughter then."
They parted ways, with the fire familiar joining forces with Rando, the Master of 99 Techniques (102 with the inclusion of Yusuke's You-Gan, Jine's Shin no Ippo, and Kuwabara's Jigen Tou). Meanwhile, Xinhai himself paired up with Gatekeeper Itsuki.
Feng shifted from the Kanji Killer's Nikaido Heiho brushstroke strikes and close-range Izuna vacuum slices from close quarters to his fencing abilities to strike from a distance when facing off against his defense-minded daughter, mixing up his offense to keep her at bay without resorting to using the Tornado Ripper.
"You're not my father. I've already disowned you," said Natsuki.
"No, no. That's only something parents could do to their children, not the other way around. Regardless, you can't change the blood flowing through your veins."
Like when she last fought the Triad Boss, Natsuki was able to keep up with her father's erratic fighting styles and patterns. She reacted to every shift in stance without overextending her counters so that in case Feng feinted her (and he did that a lot), she could react in time and withdraw. Also, she had her Mugendai no Hyogo as her trump card against him.
It would've been another close battle between father and daughter had Itsuki not been there to interfere.
As reported and relayed to the Reikai Senshi by the ferry-girls, Itsuki and Xinhai managed to get a jump on Kuwabara by making portals that teleported the mobster and his longsword in various space-defying locations.
As such, on top of defending against her father, Natsuki also had to steer clear from Itsuki's dimensional rifts to avoid getting stabbed, sliced, or vacuum cut from varying angles.
This made her even more defensive than she usually was, resulting in her doing more parries, feints, and misdirections than actual counterattacks, her scratched and marred body at the mercy from the aggressive Xinhai's sharp blade.
As for the mute flaming doppelganger of Xinhai, he used the Shinko Ryu for all his long-range attacks with the occasional supercell shield to protect himself against the Kaiten Kenbu.
The detective grit his teeth as one blade after another melted or even got vaporized (sublimated) from the intense heat of the shikigami's body and flaming jaki sword.
"..."
Rando's constant attempts at shooting Daiji down from behind (like the Class-A coward that he was) certainly weren't helping matters any, although the copper dodged every last Hadou-Ken, Kikou-Ken, or Psycho Shot because of his past self's Ryusui no Ugoki.
His water-flow movement was enough to avoid the bombardment of vacuum and youki projectiles from both Rando and the shikigami, but it wasn't enough for him to reach his actual goal because Itsuki kept teleporting him back to the line of fire every time he got close to intercepting the Triad Boss.
Dammit. So many people were getting in his way towards finally achieving vengeance. Or justice. One or the other. Might as well be the same thing.
Fueled by his righteous indignation, Daiji soldiered on and set his sights on Rando while at the same time dodging the spider-themed demon's multitude of energy blasts (like the Shakunetsu Hadou-Ken and the Kashou Happa Ken).
Matsudaira countered a Kashou Happa Ken with his own Onmyou Hasshi (Dusk-to-Dawn Strike) technique (which involved throwing both kodachi at his opponent, the second sword hidden behind the first).
The first blade pierced through the fireball and the second blade to the chest got blocked by Rando's Shield of Sand.
The policeman then drove the blade into the youkai's Armor of Sand with a kenpo kick and finished the whole exchange off with a one-bladed Kaiten Kenbu that hammered the sword right through the earthen shell to draw a fountain of demon blood.
"Don't get cocky with me, copper. Fuck the police! BLOOD WIND!" said Rando, firing off a retaliatory red tornado powered by his own blood.
Daiji let the wind power his flight and spiraling Kaiten Kenbu. He learned from Kuwabara that the Blood Wind was a double-edged sword to Rando, so he used the twister against the demon who halved his power and blood supply by doing the technique.
However, unbeknownst to the detective, the fireballs and energy blasts that Rando had been chucking at him were actually aimed at Xinhai's familiar, who ate the plasma up like gasoline to a bonfire.
Thusly, the fire entity returned the favor by sharing its jaki with Rando in time for the spider demon to counter Detective Matsudaira with a flaming "SHORYU KEN!" that hit him on the chin.
As if reading Daiji's mind, Rando dismissed, "Even though Urameshi Yusuke manhandled me earlier, you're nowhere within that teenaged nuclear warhead's level. We're both A-Level, you dingdong!"
Yahiko wiped the ghost blood (or ectoplasm) on his face and clenched his jaw. He then attempted another God Hammer on Gein's Iwanbo. 'Dammit. I can't damage him.'
Like before, Myojin's inherited sword bounced off of Iwanbo's jiggling fat body, which forced him to retreat before the puppet's stubby limbs and sharp nails could reach him.
However, to his surprise, Gein used one Iwanbo hand and stretched his other rubbery arm all the way behind the behemoth. Afterwards, he let go, which made the limb stretch farther than normal as it landed on the Tokyo Samurai Descendant's face like slingshot.
This knocked several teeth out of the young ghost's mouth.
"You're lucky. If I could use my jaki on Iwanbo, I would've been able to inflate him up to six meters tall. However, even without that ability, I could still crush you just fine!"
Spitting out bits of dental enamel and ectoplasm, the spirit warrior soldiered on, doing a jumping attack onto Iwanbo's head, only for him to bounce back up and then swatted back down to the ground like a fly by Gein's puppet.
Again, Yahiko got back up from the beat down, which made the old man whistle. "You're quite the persistent little brat, aren't you?"
"SHUT UP!" The teenaged ghost feinted a "Men" strike from his Jodan-no-Kamae to make Iwanbo hesitate long enough for him to execute a bomb-like Dou Gami from down below. "I won't let you or the rest of the Shin Ju take over the world and destroy everything in it!"
"Nonsense. A true mad scientist would only destroy half of the earth, since the other half is the control group," came Gein's muffled voice after the atrocious corpse monster merely bounced from the explosive technique before its whole body landed on the boy's body, creating a crater from the impact.
"GUAAAGH!"
Because Rando's projectiles were never wasted and the ones that missed Daiji served to fuel the flame of Xinhai's shikigami, the detective shifted tactics.
He used the Onmyou Hasshi to repel the multiple blasts with the same number of kodachi in order to keep them from ending up absorbed by the familiar while at the same time attacking their source.
However, this meant draining his own supply of kenki and reiki by materializing so many short swords, which left him susceptible to being double-teamed by the close-quarter attacks of Rando and the shikigami. A veritable Catch-22.
It was like fighting the self-resurrecting Suzaku and his clones all over again (especially since the Onmyouji was there to power up and/or revive Rando, Itsuki, and Xinhai whenever required).
Meanwhile, the tiring Natsuki wasn't faring any better with her war of attrition against her father and Itsuki because not only was she unable to attack him at all, even her significant defensive skills were being pushed to their limits because of the dimension-defying powers of the Gatekeeper.
The proud Chinese father shed a proud tear over the fact that his daughter had kept her guard up superbly even with the odds against her and with him "cheating" with Itsuki's teleportation and portal abilities.
Not for much longer, though.
Matsudaira's eyes gazed at the deft and defensive Shinkai, who was covered in scratches and cuts. Even a defensive master like her couldn't last against her father. Not like this. However, not one slash against her was fatal in the least.
"Pay attention or die, copper!"
The jaki-infused Rando was about to follow up his Genocide Cutter counter against Daiji's Onmyou Kousa (Shadow-Light Cross) technique (hammering one sword against the other sword to make a deeper cut or solid block) with a Psycho Crusher or Raging Storm when a kunai struck his eye.
Several other knives flew at Xinhai, his shikigami, and Itsuki, but they never reached their targets (Xinhai blocked the one headed towards him, Itsuki teleported the kunai away, and the familiar merely melted the blades with its fiery body).
As Rando screamed bloody murder, everyone else turned towards the source of the knives. They then saw the reincarnated ninja girl Likka Ikumi fly into the fray, a blanket bound to her feet and legs that acted as a glider of sorts.
"I've seen enough! If you really did murder my sister, then prepare to meet your maker, SOUTHER!"
"Likka-tan...!" said Natsuki, her mouth agape. "Get away from here! These men are dangerous!"
"..." intoned Daiji, his lips pressed together into a thin line.
Yahiko ended up being bounced hard against (what was left of) a wall repeatedly by the trampoline-like springiness of Iwanbo's stomach. It only stopped after the plaster, wood, and concrete gave way and crumbled from the unusual assault.
"It's such a shame that your unique talent is worthless against normal physical attacks. Still, I can't wait to dissect your soul and steal your neutralization powers. With your abilities, maybe the Nameless Yatsume could take on the likes of Yomi and his multitude of energy attacks!"
Had Myojin any bones in his ethereal ghost body, they'd would've shattered upon impact.
As he'd been warned constant times since his days as a shinigami like Kenshin, a soul or astral body dying was even worse than having a living being die, because the next phase of a ghost was absolute nothingness.
All the memories and personality he retained from his past life as an orphaned samurai kid running after the back of the great Battousai would be rendered moot. Gone. Like a puff of smoke.
He didn't want to die (again) there. He wouldn't allow it. He still had a mission to accomplish. He still had to stop the Onmyouji from turning the Shin Juppon Gatana into unkillable fighting machines.
With a blubbery "gifu", Gein said, "Very good. You'll make a fine new specimen for my experiments," after seeing the ectoplasm-covered Yahiko rise once again. "The resilient ones tend to last the longest."
While the rest were distracted, Daiji used the small window of opportunity to attack Xinhai with a Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren, jumping right into one of the portals Itsuki created to cut the distance between them.
Feng reacted immediately to Matsudaira's presence, as if reading his mind and intentions.
The copper parried and attacked at the same time against the Chinese mobster's Beat Parry Riposte specialty with the Gokou Juju (Yin-Yang Cross), but his offensive got blocked by the titanium prosthetic arm.
As Daiji got pushed back, he appeared to attempt a counterattack against Xinhai's follow-up attack, but instead feinted a counterattack because he expected his enemy to do a feint to draw out his counterattack (Counter Time).
Matsudaira instead got countered as Feng used his supernatural reaction time to turn his planned feint into an unimpeded attack while the cop himself was feinting.
Daiji got saved by two things. One, a rain of falling shuriken and kunai care of Likka. Two, a counterattack kaeshi (kenjutsu riposte) care of Natsuki, who followed Matsudaira's trail into Itsuki's countless labyrinthine portals in order to read her father's intentions.
That was the copper's one chance. And he wasted it. Now the lives of both his sister-in-law and her best friend were in jeopardy. All because of him.
What more was Daiji supposed to do in order to exact revenge against this man? What extremes must he undergo to finally kill Feng Xinhai?
Everything Daiji did, Xinhai had an answer for. The bastard knew him like the back of his hand. The Triad boss had the policeman's number, playing him for the fool that he was.
Again, Xinhai escaped from further punishment (and karma) care of Itsuki and his damnable warp portals. Meanwhile, a half-blind Rando and Feng's pet once again flanked either side of the detective.
It wasn't a complete reset of the previous situation, though.
Learning from her mistakes, the defensive Natsuki started going into the offensive against Itsuki while defending against her father's (halfhearted) aggression, doing quick jabs into portals to see where they led and moving into the one-eyed dimension hopper's blindside.
Even though she was outmatched against the Class-A Rando, the Class-C Likka used guerilla tactics and traps to keep the spider demon busy for at least a split-second, thus his attacks from before were easier to counter since for a change, he was the one being double-teamed.
That left Daiji to deal with Xinhai's shikigami.
The fiery shadow clone knew all of Feng's different sword styles (the Shinko Ryu, the Nikaido Heiho, and Fencing). However, unlike its master, it relied more on Shinko Ryu's vacuum slices. Perhaps this was a manifestation of Xinhai's past self, Raijuta Isurugi?
Summoning as much of his remaining spirit and sword energy as possible, Matsudaira again created a rain of swords that fell right into the blazing familiar.
Again, the steel blades either melted or sublimated altogether within the vicinity of the hot shikigami, feeding its flames.
However, something unusual started to happen. The heat from the flame monster wasn't enough to sublimate the sheer number of swords.
Soon, the flames were engulfed with molten steel. The steel hardened as its fire died out, its one last Izuna swing stopping mere inches from Daiji's throat.
This was because on top of summoning a rain of swords, Daiji also materialized asbestos handles on the swords, thus the heat from the fire monster was killed by the "unquenchable" material before it froze into a statue of molten steel.
Asbestos. Toxic to humans with prolonged exposure but an effective fire retardant regardless.
However, the victory came at a price. Daiji's ki was almost completely spent. He only had enough reiki and kenki left for one more attack. One last Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren.
He turned his attention towards Rando, who bombarded Likka with a swarm (or perhaps a whole plague) of demons, with none of her kunai able to land against him and his triple defense of the Shield of Sand, the Armor of Sand, and his Iron Body Technique.
Daiji killed several demons with the Jissen Kenbu to protect the overwhelmed Ikumi, only to see the tiring Natsuki get surprised by Itsuki's disembodied hands pummeling her down despite her parries and blocks.
Her father was winning their war of attrition as he pawed at her with his expensive platinum nodachi and titanium arm.
Time was running out. What must Matsudaira do in order to surprise Feng? What was the last thing the mobster would expect him to do?
What lengths should Daiji go? What could he do that even a monster like Xinhai wouldn't consider doing?
If those who fought monsters had to be wary because they themselves could turn into monsters, then what kind of monster did Matsudaira have to turn into in order to slay the monster before him?
Knowing Xinhai, he might turn the tides yet again by using his own daughter or even the little sister of one of his victims as hostage to defeat the cop.
'As if he'd ever kill his own daughter. He's in love with her. And not in a fatherly way, even.'
Oh, wait. Why didn't he notice it before?
Feng was at full power right now. Class-S. If he wanted to, he would've killed Natsuki already, especially since he had a way to circumvent her ultimate technique, the Mark of Infinity.
Of course. Xinhai had that opening... that weakness... all this time. It was staring him right in the face, even. Why didn't Daiji take advantage of it from the beginning?
Was it because of his morals?
How foolish of him. Why in the world did he think he could remain pure while wrestling against a pig in the mud and its own filth?
Matsudaira's eyes turned glassy.
Dark. Desperate. Obsessed.
To kill this monster, he had to become a monster himself. A bigger, badder monster. A worse one, if that was possible.
He needed to do something as unforgivable as (or perhaps even more so than) what Feng would do.
Sacrifices had to be made, or else Itsumi would never be avenged.
Or so he told himself as he shredded through the demons then plunged his blade into Natsuki's heart while embracing her.
Likka dropped to her knees, unable to process what just happened. Her quivering mouth opening and shutting, but no words would come out of it.
"Forgive me..." Matsudaira trailed off, whispering his explanations, his excuses, and his rationalizations, into Natsuki's ear.
To Be Continued...
Has Daiji gone off the deep end? How will the rest of the Reikai Senshi react?
Ciao,
Abdiel
