Kenshin Himura's eyes widened along with his mouth and slack jaw.
Another one of his techniques had been neutralized by an unknown Chinese warrior.
Just who was this man anyway?
He'd just avoided the white-haired warrior's overhead slash, the Shou Ha Tou Sei. A curious technique that had the flat of the Chinese-Japanese fusion blade struck by the left hand of the Triad(?) boss to increase its momentum.
The Ryu Tsui Sen (Dragon Hammer Flash) attack was countered by the albino(?) martial artist's attack before Kenshin could even complete the move. Impressive.
The Chinese swordsman pole-vaulted on his sword to increase the height of his jump then pulled the sword from the ground with him to do the "CHOU TEN TOU SEI!" or his version of the Ryu Sho Sen.
Kenshin countered the counter with a Ryu Kan Sen Arashi (Dragon Wrap Flash Storm) of his own, driving the taller man back down to earth.
Explosions from a distance then occurred, distracting them both.
Elsewhere nearby, the Guardian of the Demon Sword could feel the ghost of Sanosuke Sagara ebb away from the bombardments of Karasu, which was Kurama's deadliest rival once upon a time.
Himura had to finish this fight quickly.
While living humans risked death by having the connection between their mortal body and spirit severed, a ghost risked nonexistence by having the vessel of the remnants of its identity and memories destroyed.
A fate worse than death. Sano's very existence was at stake.
Or worse, the Chojin could snatch Sanosuke's ghost from the jaws of death and turn him into one of his zombie pawns. His Dai Kaijin. His Shin Ju.
Kenshin thusly sheathed his sword and dropped into his battoujutsu stance. "I don't know who you are, but I'm busy now."
It was Battoujutsu versus Wattoujutsu.
The Chinese man with white hair smiled. "That's right, Battousai. Use your ultimate technique. The one I've heard so much about." He twirled his sword and held it so that the spine of its blade lay perpendicular to his sword arm.
"Perfect. Use your ougi on me so that I can deliver Jinchu (Earthly Punishment) upon you, you wangbadan (son of a bitch)."
'...Jinchu?' came Kenshin's belated thought before he charged then stomped hard with his left foot to unleash the fastest sword-drawing technique of the Hiten Mitsurugi School.
Youtou Shinnoken: Demon Sword
A Rurouni Kenshin/Yuyu Hakusho Crossover Fan Fiction Story by Chester Castañeda
Original Concept by Chad Yang
The Wolf of Mibu arrives, but has to deal with the machinations of theShin Ju.
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 53: Living Sin (Part 5)
Toguro Ani. The Immortal One of the Toguro Brothers with healing and regeneration abilities way beyond that of what was supposed to be a B-Class human turned demon.
He was one of two recruits from the Chojin's army of Dai Kaijin that was "promoted" to become one of the replacement Shin Juppon Gatana (New Ten Swords).
This came about because two of the Shin Ju... Jine Udo and Suzaku... had already died or become incapacitated while taking on the Reikai Senshi (Spirit World Warriors).
The Regent-Class hanyou (half-demon) epitomized the Biological Immortality phenomenon (as seen in lobsters and jellyfish like the Turritopsis dohrnii) to its utmost extreme, allowing him to never age ever since he received his demonization treatment from Dr. Shoji Sugino.
Therefore, no matter how many times he died, he'd come back to life. Like Count Dracula. Or Jesus Christ. A god and a devil in one person.
No one could finish him off. Not Kazuma Kuwabara in their match in the Dark Martial Arts Tournament. Not Shuichi "Kurama" Minamino with his Sinning Tree. Not even his own flesh-and-blood brother, the Younger Toguro. He didn't even need Houji "Onmyouji" Sadojima to revive him. He could do so on his own.
Using Kamiya Kasshin Ryu techniques mixed with techniques shared with other kendo schools within the Tokyo area (the school incorporated these moves in order to better evolve with changing times a la Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do), Kaoru Kamiya exploited every last opening she could find from Toguro Ani.
For all it was worth. For whatever little damage a wooden sword could inflict upon the monster who couldn't be killed.
Whenever Toguro aimed his attacks in the middle (the torso, the shoulders, the arms, and the wrists of Botan) through spikes and tentacles, Kaoru attacked high with the Makinukemen (a forehead, left temple, or right temple strike as the opponent rushes forward) or Sho Fuu Jin (a feinted throat thrust turned into a double head strike).
Whenever Toguro aimed his attacks low by shooting his bone spurs or tentacles through the ground, Kaoru hopped and aimed her attacks to his torso, arms, and wrists with the Inukido (thrust to the throat or armpits to disable the opponent by hitting the nerves in those sensitive areas) or the Ichijin Sou Fuu Satsu (intersecting crossover strikes that hit either the wrists or the sides of the opponent).
Finally, whenever Toguro aimed his attacks high or from up above Botan's head, Kaoru hit him low with the Tsuka no Gedan: Hiza Hijiki (the ducking knee breaker she used in her fight against Kamatari Honjo), Suneharai (a liver blow), and the En Eiken (the succession technique of another kendo school that struck the shin of the opponent but if it missed, it served as a good setup for a follow-up counter or kaeshi).
Kaoru did her very best, though. But she guessed her best just wasn't good enough.
Originally a resilient and acrobatic martial artist contortionist who used poisoned or toxic knives, darts, and needles that he had immunity against to kill his opponents in the Ankoku Bujutsukai, Toguro Ani walked through very strike Botan (or rather, Kaoru Kamiya) hit him with, as though the woman were striking him with a harmless plastic Wiffle bat.
For all intents and purposes, Botan/Kaoru should've succumbed to the unstoppable Toguro Ani half an hour ago, with his tentacles skewering her in every which way in order to answer the mystery behind what would happen if a ghost were "killed" even though it was already dead.
However, she survived exactly because she practiced Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. A purely defense-based kendo school that bided its time and played it safe: A fact that drove a ten-year-old Yahiko Myojin crazy when all he wanted to do was imitate Kenshin Himura's offense-driven Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.
In order to not die (or whatever it was that happened to shinigami) right then and there, Kamiya made constant use of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu's succession technique, the Hadome (Sword Halt) and Hawatari (Sword Crossing) combo whenever Toguro attacked up close.
Then, when the Elder Toguro rushed to kill her by turning into a wriggling mess of tentacles, Botan came to Kaoru's rescue this time around, summoning her flying oar and soaring away from the mass of sharpened tubes and fleshy hoses.
Kaoru showed a balance between quick instincts and quick thinking. She reacted to every muscle movement or outright bodily mutation from Toguro Ani with the twitch reflexes of an unswattable fly.
She also attacked the Elder Toguro with precision strikes. Every one of her strikes and thrusts had a purpose. To set up other attacks or exploit openings while avoiding counterattacks.
They also made Toguro predictably shoot his tentacles everywhere in frustration, which Kaoru avoided by flying away from his reach then dive bombing him while he ended up off-balance with his excess weight.
Yahiko nudged Natsuki in the ribs then said without looking at her, "Kaoru's using the former succession techniques of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, Cat Eyes."
Shinkai had no idea what Myojin was talking about, but her past self Yutaro "Cat Eyes" Tsukayama did as he mouthed through her lips, "Mujinken and Tenchijinken."
However, no matter how many times they would've won against Toguro in a point-based kendo tournament, their strikes did zero damage to the constantly regenerating Shin Ju member. Kaoru really was an annoying fly that was buzzing around him fruitlessly.
"Gotcha."
The game of cat and mouse was soon over. As expected. A small cannula of a tentacle pierced Botan's neck unnoticed then sucked the "life" (or "death") out of her, halting her in-and-out movement dead on its tracks.
"Enough."
Just as Toguro Ani was about to kill "Death" herself with his tentacles, that was when Kaoru's kendo students moved in to attack, with Natsuki batting away the tendrils and grabbing hold of an anemic-looking Botan before Yahiko blasted everything away with a Dou Gami turned into an imitation Dou Ry Sen.
Toguro harrumphed after realizing that Botan/Kaoru had been buying the two enough time to heal (while at the same time using her healing powers on them whenever she retreated) in between pummeling him down with her kendo techniques.
"...Clever girl."
"Gotaro Ani or whoever is made of cancer? You turned a human into a demon by giving him cancer? Are you insane?!" shouted out the reincarnation of Misao Makimachi (Likka Ikumi) from afar after overhearing the absurd conversation between Detective Daiji Matsudaira (Aoshi Shinomori's reincarnation) and Doctor Shoji Sugino (Edward Gein's reincarnation). "How...?"
"WITH SCIENCE, OF COURSE!" said the skull-masked mad scientist, his uncuttable piano wire weapons still tied around Detective Matsudaira's wrist as the two showed off their hand-to-hand and weapon-based combat skills against each other.
Although the Aoshi incarnate's kenpo was superior to the Gein reincarnation's taijutsu, the aged scientific ninja knew enough ninjutsu trickery to limit the Okashira's Water-Flow Movement while his muscular Iwanbo 3.1 wailed on him like a tiger would a piece of meat.
A two-against-one scenario from an outmatched (albeit skillful) foe.
"..." said a bruised and scuffed-up Daiji.
Then Gein began to rant again.
"It made perfect sense! It's certainly something we'd do to logs (test subjects) back in Unit 731. This disease that occurred every time I injected demon DNA into a human body could actually be used to make the timber become resilient enough to transform into a demon."
Even as Gein ranted and raved, the Iwanbos continued to advance like the irresistible monstrosities that they were.
"In fact, I used some of Toguro Ani's resilient cells to help his younger brother survive and assimilate demon DNA too, allowing him to regulate muscular growth even after I intentionally made him suffer from myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy!"
"You're crazy! EEK!" The Misao incarnate stated the obvious before bumping into one of the Iwanbos (she hadn't the faintest idea which "version" it was).
She ended up surrounded, stuck between a living, breathing parade float seemingly made entirely of marshmallowy fat and its twin that had a circular bomb inside of it waiting to blow up.
"...LIKKA-TAN!" came the (uncharacteristic) shout of Daiji, his implacable facade as the leader of a historically famous spy group cracking under the pressure brought upon by the Shin Juppon Gatana's resident Doctor Frankenstein.
"Cat Eyes," said Yahiko.
"...My name is not Cat Eyes, Yahiko-kun," reminded Natsuki.
"I know, I know, Natsuki. Pardon me, but I want to talk to Cat Eyes right now."
"...Oh." The brief pause was followed by a deeper, boyish voice. "What do you want, Urchin-Head?"
"Hey, man. Let's use them. Let's use Mujinken and Tenchijinken. Together."
Toguro Ani rolled his eyes and cackled at the two teenagers (an ancient ghost in teenage form and a living human girl with spiritual powers) that dared take a stand against him.
"You two again? I guess you really do have a death wish." Toguro's eyes narrowed. 'Once this Myojin Yahiko boy is killed, we win. They have no way of countering the Onmyouji without the kid and his powers.'
From there, the Elder Toguro turned into a jungle of gross flesh vines so that he could skewer the teens from a distance of about barely a kilometer, without him even moving a step away from them.
Like a tentacle sniper of sorts.
Expecting this, Yahiko did a Dou Gami (God on Earth) that exploded like a bomb from under his feet and covered both him and Natsuki with a thick cloud of dust that hid them from the fleshy tendrils of the older Toguro Brother.
The two then ran opposite directions. Myojin to the left. Shinkai to the right.
Unimpressed, Toguro harrumphed and had half-and-half of his stretchy tentacle arms go after the two, the elongated appendages growing through his body like extending skin tags with sharp pointed edges.
Yahiko flipped his sakaba sword and sliced through the tentacles like vines, as expected. Natsuki blocked and deflected the appendages with her blunt cane while she danced and dodged away from them, as expected.
However, when Toguro countered and made his tentacles branch out into more tentacles, their different tactics suddenly became in-sync with each other thanks to the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu's ougi (succession technique).
The Hawatari followed by the Hadome.
Any opening that Toguro attempted to exploit, the two kendo masters Myojin and Tsukayama countered with the kendo version of the Counter Time (or the counter against the counter).
They feinted a parry or a thrust then countered the ensuing counter with the Hawatari (Parry) and Hadome (Thrust), timing their counters to come after Toguro's counter (hence Counter Time).
'This is the reason why the Hawatari-Hadome became the ultimate succession technique of the Kamiya Kasshin School,' said Kaoru to Botan from within their shared mind. 'It's not the flashiest of techniques, but once you master it you're practically untouchable.'
Toguro sneered as the pair advanced. Yahiko, the more aggressive of the two, got roughed up more than Natsuki, who actually managed to entangle the tentacles like spaghetti with her more defensive use of the Kamiya Kasshin ougi.
Because of this, she was able to cut the distance between them in half while Myojin trailed behind.
Snorting to himself, the Elder Toguro ripped his entangled flesh vines by their stalk with a fresh new tentacle and used that tentacle to go after Shinkai.
'First thing's first. I have to take her out.' Toguro Ani smirked. 'Sorry not sorry, Xinhai. I have to kill your littlest demon spawn.'
Like with how he "grounded" Botan from before, Toguro used that one tentacle as a distraction while a second thinner cannula-sized tube made its way to Natsuki's neck, sucking her blood out until she was drained bone dry.
However, as he was about to apply the cannula, Shinkai's step stuttered to a halt, the thin tube shooting right in front of her, allowing her to snatch and snap it in twain.
With grit teeth and furrowed brows, Toguro turned his single tentacle into thousands of cannula threads while multitasking and pushing Yahiko into a corner with his other, bigger tentacles.
Nonetheless, with the grace of a dancer, Natsuki avoided the clear tubes with her fencing stop-and-go motion as though it were a choreographed dance then used her cane to twirl the strands around it before pulling and breaking them apart.
Kaoru's surprise reflected itself upon Botan's widening eyes after she recognized Shinkai's technique. 'That's...!'
Instead of hesitating and planning every one of her attacks in order to get a good counter, Natsuki let her instincts take over her body while under the Gedan-no-Kamae (Earth Stance) of kendo, her reflexes reacting faster than her mind would.
One of the original ougi of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu before it was replaced by the Hawatari and Hadome: The Mujinken.
A technique that required an empty mind in order to react to the opponent by instinct. The one technique that the analytical Yutaro with his game-plan-centric fighting style couldn't do naturally.
Meanwhile, Yahiko did a wild technique from the Joudan-no-Kamae (Fire Stance) that alternated from one blindside to another, forming a figure eight or infinity pattern from all his instinctual bobbing and weaving.
This was Yahiko's interpretation of the other original ougi of the Kamiya Kasshin School: The Tenchijinken.
The more deliberate form of the defensive Mujinken.
The whirling in-your-face attack took a lot of energy but allowed the samurai spirit to attack and defend at the same time, with every dodge followed by a clubbing blow or a slice from either edge of the sakabatou.
The double-shifting technique and its smooth movement looked wild and random but was actually calculated, allowing the user to adjust his trajectory and pick his spots to attack or to defend, thus making the target second-guess himself on how to react.
His mind games allowed Myojin to make short work of the halfhearted tentacle attack Toguro aimed at him because the older Toguro brother was distracted by the defensive wizardry of Shinkai.
It was now Yahiko who was ahead of Yutaro's reincarnation and nearing Toguro.
Meanwhile, Kaoru reminisced of the past.
When Yutaro Tsukayama first came back to the Kamiya Dojo after rehabbing his partially sliced arm with damaged nerves (care of Raijuta Isurugi), he struggled to keep up with the more experienced Yahiko Myojin who'd battled the likes of Kariwa Henya.
However, after hundreds of duels and contests with him losing over and over, the kendo prodigy changed tactics and learned how to counter everything Yahiko did to him by learning his rival's moves like the back of his hand.
Then Yahiko started always losing to Yutaro because the latter figured out every last trick up his gi's sleeve
Enraged that Yutaro caught up to him in skill in so short of a time, the Tokyo Samurai Descendant himself started to expand his knowledge of kendo to up his game and to make sure he was always one step ahead of his rival.
They were soon winning against each other half-and-half. Sometimes, Yahiko won. Sometimes, Yutaro won.
Every time, Tsukayama and Myojin talked to Kaoru on how to defeat each other.
The proud sensei then tasked herself to teach Yutaro how to do her old ougi, the Mujinken, and Yahiko how to do her father's old ougi, the Tenchijinken.
...Much to their chagrin after they found out which techniques she was teaching to whom.
The Elder Toguro frowned. Was his brief battle with the ferry-girl enough for these two upstarts to figure out how to defeat him?
No. That was nonsense. There was no way a ghost with a blunt sword and a girl with a metal walking stick could take down an immortal demon like him.
As if they could put a dent on him! They couldn't even deal a deadly blow on him!
Like with what he did while battling Kazuma Kuwabara in the finals of the Ankoku Bujutsukai (Dark Martial Arts Tournament), Toguro Ani turned his body into an empty husk and made the rest of him (his brain, nerves, bones, and other internal organs) travel across the tentacle attacking Xinhai's daughter.
So by the time Yahiko arrived to fight the visible Toguro, he had already transferred himself into a newly formed body. The kid was fighting a skin puppet that looked like him. His real self was over there with Shinkai, ready to pounce on her.
From there, Toguro Ani ended up sprouting from the tentacle that Natsuki was avoiding, fully formed, leaving his other self behind and traveling through his own tentacle to attack the girl up close and personal with his a blade arm.
However, Yahiko immediately spotted the "new" Toguro Ani and thusly switched gears.
Toguro got shook as Myojin blasted himself horizontally backwards rather than vertically with a modified Dou Gami aimed at a different angle to allow for the change in trajectory.
The boy seemingly teleported straight for Toguro Ani's new body and smashed it to the ground a la what Kuwabara did via his flyswatter-like Kyodai Reikibou (Giant Spirit Energy Staff).
This forced Toguro to turn his new body into a husk at the last second and deliver back his internal organs to his other untouched puppet body.
Furthermore, while the unkillable imp was distracted, Natsuki switched gears herself and ran on the tangled remnants of the tentacle that Toguro Ani "grew" out of earlier as though she were running across a high wire.
She slipped and dodged the growing branches of tendrils, cannula, chitinous nails, and calcified bone spurs, every so often doing a Hadome-Hawatari block-and-counter combo for any openings in her defense she might have.
All purely by reflex. With no forethought save for the focus of cutting the distance between her and the surviving Toguro Ani body.
Such was the quickness of Mujinken's reaction time. The counters flowing through Natsuki by both her muscle memory and the muscle memory of her past self, Yutaro Tsukayama.
Toguro then slashed off his own entangled vine arms with an extra arm blade and formed new arms over the bloody stumps before Natsuki could reach him.
He was about to shoot off more fleshy rope darts at Natsuki when he noticed that Yahiko was again nowhere to be found. He grew a new eye on his very scalp and then saw the samurai kid airborne again.
Instead of merely smashing Toguro Ani's spare body apart, the Tokyo Samurai Descendant had actually used the resulting blast to hurtle himself upward, turning his Dou Gami (God on Earth) into a Ten Gami (God in Heaven).
Shinkai and Myojin were approaching Toguro high and low rather than left and right.
What was with these kids anyway?! 'Why won't they give up? They have no chance of winning against me! And why am I acting so scared of them? They can't kill me even with their superpowers!'
However, he couldn't help but erase the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. Like something bad was about to happen to him.
Back in Kaoru's memories...
"Kaoru-sensei, I think you're making a mistake! You should teach me the Tenchijinken because it's more suited for my skill set!" insisted Yutaro after learning of Kaoru's decision. "I'm the one who should be doing mind games on Myojin Yahiko! Teaching him the Tenchijinken is a waste of time!"
"You should've taught me the Mujinken, you stupid tanuki (raccoon dog)! I'm the one who can do reflex-based techniques that don't need no overthinking! Let me learn the emptiness technique! Teach Cat Eyes that other technique!" complained Yahiko to Kaoru in turn.
Kaoru pinched both of the current coadjutant masters of her father's school by their ears so that they could lend them to her. It certainly caught their attention.
"Listen," she began. "If I teach Yahiko-kun the Mujinken and Yutaro-kun the Tenchijinken, you two might be able to learn them immediately because you're better suited for them. But you'll end overspecializing. If you both reacted the same way you always did but better, you'll become predictable, and there's always more than one way to approach a situation."
She held Yutaro by the shoulders. "Learn the Mujinken. You're a master of making game plans and figuring out ways to counter your enemy. But you have problems thinking on your feet. You hesitate too much and you can be overwhelmed or confused enough to not implement your different plans and contingencies. The Mujinken can help you overcome that flaw."
She then turned and faced Yahiko. "Learn the Tenchijinken. Even though you can occasionally strike Yutaro-kun down first so that he doesn't get enough time to outthink you by beating him to the punch, most of the time you fall for his plans hook, line, and sinker. You're too predictable. You charge at him the same way every time. You don't think at all. At least with the Tenchijinken, you'd have a method to your madness!"
She finished up her diatribe with, "It's simple. If you overspecialize, you breed in weakness. A jack-of-all-trades might be a master of none, but he's oftentimes better than a master of none."
The new set of endless tentacles that Toguro Ani shot at Tsukayama's present self got tangled up again. The kid's bobbing, weaving, slipping, and sidestepping wasn't as fast as Hiei's dodges but about comparable to Kurama's acrobatic defense.
She adapted. She thought on her feet. Any vine she couldn't avoid, she parried with the Hadome and tore apart with the Hawatari counter that opened it up to a flesh-tearing Kousa Dageki.
'Relax. Relax. They can't kill me. I can let them hit me all they want and it won't matter. Especially Xinhai's daughter.'
The Mugen Dai no Hyogo (Mark of Infinity) was a counter against kinetic attacks. At most, against Toguro Ani, it could break his limbs, bones, or appendages apart as she returned their physical energy back at them.
But she was much more powerful and effective against enemies that used energy blasts or plasma attacks than against enemies who used physical force. Especially someone like Toguro, who easily healed from whatever offense she could dish out.
There was nothing in Toguro Ani's arsenal that she could use against him. His healing factor could not be countered by a kinetic energy deflection technique that would've worked way better against something like the Rei-Gan.
First, Toguro shot his sharp-tipped flesh vines at the sky where Yahiko flung himself at, intending to skewer him. Second, his other eyes were monitoring the progress of Yutaro's female self.
Myojin reacted in kind by hammering the tentacles in midair and overshooting his landing over the head of Toguro Ani, away from his scalp eye.
The regenerative demon heard the Tokyo Samurai Ghost land from behind him with a stone-crushing thump to the ground. He closed and absorbed the eye on the top of his head, transporting and opening it at the back of his head.
Then, before Yahiko could do another God in Heaven to blast himself overhead once more, Toguro Ani made his grey hair grow like an ashen wheat field, smothering him with a wriggling mass of keratin. He then transferred his third eye to the back of his hand to be able to see what was going on behind him still.
'Good. That's one rodent I've exterminated. Now for the remaining li'l mouse...'
The Elder Toguro let up on his offense against Natsuki, allowing her to cut the distance between them. He lay his trap from within his body... his spiky bones... that he intended to catch the girl with, unafraid of her (lack of) significant offense.
As expected, the girl tangled up his fresh supply of flesh vine whips that he had to rip apart from him in order to face the defense master.
She was able to multitask and avoid every last creepy tentacle that popped up from Toguro, from the ground, or hidden in nearby trees. But in the end, she couldn't dodge forever. She had to do her final attack.
Every attack pattern of Toguro Ani was foiled because of the kendo clinic Kaoru did on him earlier. Shinaki learned from her master well.
However, as Natsuki thrust her cane forward with her (ineffective) Mugen Dai no Hyogo, Toguro's chest then burst open, his bleeding ribs turning into the teeth of a ravenous Venus Flytrap made of mutated human flesh.
Game. Set. Match. It was all over. With Yahiko drowning in his hair. And Natsuki mauled and masticated by human ribs turned into fanged teeth and a chest-sized mouth.
At least, that was the plan.
Myojin wasn't actually tangled in a never-ending river of hair. He'd actually blocked the initial wave of strands with the crossed-wrist Hawatari defensive parry then ducked under the rest as he did a Hadome deflection, allowing him enough space to do one more attack of his.
A Revised Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Technique he could call his own: The Inga Gami (Karmic God).
During that same window of opportunity, Shinkai delayed her ultimate technique (that Yutaro developed in his past travels to Germany along with her own studying of fencing and western swordsmanship) in order to time her counterstrike with Yahiko's strike.
Normally, because of the nature of Toguro Ani's mostly normal, physical attacks, Natsuki ultimate skill was worthless against a foe that could survive having his own attacks deflected against him.
However, with the help of the Inga Gami's raw power (a full-bodied, two-handed slash that combined the speed of the three-hit God Hammer with the power of the God on Earth), the Mark of Infinity now had strength to spare from Yahiko.
That she deflected back unto Toguro.
Toguro Ani screamed, remembering how Kazuma Kuwabara's Giant Spirit Energy Staff turned him into mush on the ground. Sandwiched between a rock and a hard place, even a regenerating zombie like him had no chance.
"It was kind of unfair how the Shin Ju got you of all people to take down Yahiko and Natsuki-chan," said Kaoru's voice through Botan's bleeding mouth. "Not because you heal fast and you're immortal. But more because my students never faced off against an enemy like you. But now..."
The Inga Gami should've been enough to render Toguro into road kill, but the added deflection from Yutaro/Natsuki's Mugen Dai no Hyogo redirected the kinetic energy back into the demonized human, turning him into soup and shattering the sakabatou into a million pieces.
"...They know exactly what to expect of you now. There's nothing you can do that can surprise them anymore. Also, they'd long ago worked on their weaknesses and made them their strengths."
Kaoru crossed her arms, nodded, and smiled at her two students.
She particularly chuckled at how Yahiko misinterpreted the Tenchijinken by turning it into an offensive technique. It was never meant to be used that way.
The Tenchijinken was supposed to be the opposite of the Mujinken by emphasizing tactics, prediction, and anticipating moves ahead of time over simply attacking by reflex.
However, because Yahiko was so stubborn and set in his ways, he viewed the Tenchijinken as the offensive version of the Mujinken instead.
He used it to create a move that allowed him to defend and "offend" at the same time, by bobbing and weaving then striking at a continuous loop. It allowed him to compromise by applying a game plan to his free-form attacks while still fighting by instinct.
'That Yahiko always improvises during his fights, doesn't he?' thought Kamiya. 'Even when he uses the analytical Tenchijinken instead of the instinctual Mujinken, he still finds a way to fight on autopilot. Only he could've made his version of the Tenchijinken actually work.'
The true analytical part of his version of the technique came from him searching for or forcing openings and weaknesses on the enemy by applying his endless steamrolling offense to pressure them. He even baited them to counter him so that he could counter their counter (called a Counter Time in fencing).
Eventually, as he mastered the skill, he figured out what it was truly used for. He learned how to think fast on his feet, analyze his opponent, and give every strike of his a purpose. No wasted movement.
The way Yahiko used his Inga Gami to make the Mugen Dai no Hyogo actually turn into an effective technique against Toguro was the true face of the Tenchijinken.
"Is it over?" asked Natsuki, who was covered in Toguro's disgusting blood and giblets, as she backed away from what was left of the demonized former human. "Did we win?"
Instead of "merely" looking like he was hit by a truck, the combined techniques liquefied the remains of Toguro Ani as though it'd been shredded by a blender and turned into a demonic puree.
Shinkai looked away from the devastation to keep herself from getting sick from the gore. This was probably the closest she'd ever been to killing a man.
A small miracle, considering her quest for vengeance against a literal Triad Boss.
She then saw Yahiko's sakabatou. Or what was left of it. "Oh man! Dude! I didn't mean to destroy your sword!"
A similarly bloodstained Myojin waved the girl's worries off. "It's okay. This isn't really the sakabatou. It's a replica made from my spirit energy. Watch."
The samurai spirit then slowly reconstituted his broken sword, the blade reforming bit by bit with the power of his soul. A Quest-Class ability not unlike the powers of Karasu and Daiji.
Another sword then appeared from behind Xinhai's daughter, stabbing her.
"...Rohaku Ryu! HIKIUCHI!"
...Or it would've had she not done a Hikiuchi sword-stealing technique shared between Kamiya Kasshin and Rohaku Kendo Schools.
She grabbed hold of her attacker and made him tumble to the floor, but because the sword was literally attached to his arm, she got clipped on her thigh.
"Kamiya Kasshin Ryu! HADACHI!"
Yahiko followed up the Hikiuchi with a barehanded sword-breaking technique, grabbing hold of the blade and breaking it apart with his bare hand.
The two then backed away from the flurry of tentacles and bone spikes. They still got scuffed-up afterwards, but their high defense kept their wounds minimal.
Not minimal enough though. Myojin's hand was now injured and Shinkai's leg was bleeding.
Toguro Ani cackled. He had reconstituted himself once more. Or rather, he managed to leave only a husk of himself for them to destroy while the rest of him remained none the worse for wear.
"You had me scared for a second there. But I'm too smart for you."
The members of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu (the Kaoru within Botan, Yahiko, and Natsuki) could only stare slack-jawed as the Elder Toguro regenerated right in front of their eyes.
"I'm not like Genbu of the Saint Beasts. There's no special gem you can destroy in order to stop me from regenerating. I don't stop regenerating at all! You'll just end up getting damaged more and more while I keep surviving your best shots!"
'Even after they did their best, he still won't die! He really is a demon!' Kaoru gulped and grabbed hold of Botan's oar, thinking that discretion was the better part of valor this time around.
However, she stopped short of bailing with her two kendo students when she realized what exactly they were looking at.
"Just a minute... I'm going to..." said Toguro Ani, who was short of breath for some reason.
He then took a look at himself. Most of his chest was gone, exposing his heart and spewing out blood all over. He was also missing a lung.
He strained to complete his regeneration, but it went slower than usual. "Wh-What's going on? I transferred my vital organs on the ground before I got hit! WHY AREN'T I HEALING PROPERLY!?"
Yahiko blinked then smacked his palm. "My sword! The particles of my shattered sword are made of my reiki! They must've entered his bloodstream and nullified his healing factor from within his body!"
Botan snapped her fingers. "Of course! It's like people with diabetes! The excessive blood sugar content causes neuropathy, which in turn leads to poor blood circulation and slower healing! Yahiko's spirit energy is making his blood move slower than before!"
Her years as the grim reaper ferrying souls from emergency rooms had taught her much about mortal diseases and Human World medicine.
"Wow. Was that intentional?" the Yutaro within Natsuki asked Yahiko. 'Is this the power of the Tenchijinken in action?'
The Tokyo Samurai Descendant responded with a grin. "Absolutely not! But I'll take the credit for it regardless!"
Yutaro almost made Natsuki fall face-first in shock. Instead, she said, "You dummy. So it was dumb luck?" She smirked. "I was almost impressed there for a second!"
Kaoru looked back and forth from Toguro to Yahiko. 'Dumb luck, huh?'
Inwardly, the Son of Tokyo Samurai thought, 'I can't believe it actually worked...!'
"DAMN YOU!" screamed and gasped Toguro after he finally regenerated most of his chest cavity, filing it with his blood and organs. "This isn't over, vermin! My healing factor may have slowed, but I can still take you down!"
Myojin and Shinkai exchanged glances and grinned. "So your healing factor has slowed down, you say...?"
However, before they could attack, Toguro Ani took out an ace in his sleeve.
"Not so fast, children!" he said before he used what remained of his slowed-down healing factor to generate plates of chitinous shell and calcified bones to create an exoskeleton over him.
A human-sized (or demon-sized) insectoid armor, if you would.
Yahiko and Natsuki attacked at once, protecting Botan from harm. But it was all for naught.
Indeed, the one-handed Yahiko and the pacifistic (and injured) Natsuki could barely scratch the surface of the hardened plates before they scattered away from the armored tentacles on them that looked like segmented spider legs. Or multiple scorpion stingers.
"Once I kill you," said Toguro Ani, pointing at Myojin with an extendable spindly finger, "I'll get my full regenerative powers back! Even now, I'm finding ways to excrete your toxic reiki out of my body!"
And indeed, bits of Yahiko's spirit energy were exiting out of Toguro's pores due to his complete control of his bodily processes.
"Pathetic. You already lost and you're still fighting," a voice from behind the Elder Toguro said. "Give up."
"Wh-Who was that? Who's there?!" demanded Toguro, sweating off bullets of Yahiko's spirit energy before he saw a dark blur move past him in the corner of his eyes. "I don't care who you are! You'll die like the rest of Koenma's little toy soldiers...!"
He didn't even get a chance to scream.
Toguro again splattered into a spray of pureed guts and blood right after Hajime Saito's Gatotsu (Fang Thrust) made impact.
It was specifically the shoulder-level Ishiki (First Form) attack that crushed the shell-thick exoskeleton armor in one fell blow with the force of a speeding Mack Truck hitting a hapless insect or bird in the highway.
Saito shredded apart Toguro Ani like a bug on his heel. Or like Toguro Ototo atomizing his own brother in the Dark Martial Arts Tournament.
Back at the front gates of Sarayashiki Junior High (Yusuke, Kazuma, and Keiko's old middle school), a few months back...
"Hmph. I wonder if the rumors are all true," said one enormous high school delinquent who wore shades, a bomber jacket, and had the physique of Conan the Barbarian. The Bancho (Boss) of Todaiji Gakuen.
Todaiji was located in Nara, which was a good six hours away from Tokyo via the New East Gate Expressway.
These delinquents were tired from the travel and bloodthirsty for some action.
"What rumors are you talking about, Boss?" asked his underling, who himself looked like an Asian Sylvester Stallone, sporting a Rambo bandanna and all.
"The rumors concerning Sarayashiki Junior High," said the Bancho. "The urban legend surrounding this middle school."
"Oh, you mean their upperclassman protector? Someone who graduated from there but never went to high school afterwards," said another one of the gang with dyed blond hair and the massiveness of a Russian boxer who ate steroids for breakfast. "The one who took out all the toughest middle schools in the area before challenging even the high school and college student gangs."
A mohawk-sporting man that appeared of African American descent with a sleeveless denim jacket and ripped jeans spat on the ground. "It better be true. I don't want to bully Japanese middle schoolers over a wild goose chase. I pity the fools if it isn't."
They were twenty high school students who looked like thirty year olds thanks to their massive musculature. They sported bats wrapped in barb wire, planks with nails, chains, brass knuckles, shinai (kendo sticks), and steel chairs.
"Pretty pathetic of him, to be honest. Another high school dropout loser. But I heard he's as strong as a demon. A yakuza in the making. Or even a yakuza boss. No one can touch him."
The underling then listed off the demon child's accomplishments.
"All of the toughest school gangs were taken down by this one school's shadow leader. He beat Shonan's Oni-Baku pair, the gang from Holy Forest Academy, Kitano the Guardian Angel of Heikiku High School, Shohoku High's Sakuragi Gundan, Karakura High School's Bleached Shinigami, the Zokugaku Chameleons, the Bancho Rengoku, Gedo High's Kazama Daigo, Tomobiki High's Bancho, Otokojuku's Tsurugi Momotaro, Seido High School's Sawamura, the other Sawamura with the Devil's Right Hand, and so forth. He beat the who's-who of delinquents all over Japan!"
The student gang bangers from Nara then faced off with Sarayashiki's remaining delinquents after both Urameshi and Kuwabara graduated.
The kohai (underclassmen) of Yusuke were tough in their own right due to upholding their sempai's (upperclassman's) reputation by taking out gang after gang on their own, but they were ultimately no match against Todaiji's number's game.
The boss of the group spat blood and rallied forward, saying, "Protect Urameshi-senpai's reputation! We can take 'em on! We can't depend on him forever!"
A steel chair to the skull later and it was lights out for the kid.
The boss grinned and cradled the brass knuckles on his fist. "Urameshi is his name, huh? I've pummeled my share of thugs. I've even faced off against actual yakuza. And won. If we bring this strongest high schooler in Japan down, I will become the strongest in Japan!"
"Hoo. Really now? Let's see what you got then, Arnold," Yusuke Urameshi said from behind the leader of the Todaiji Gang, his arms tied up in chains and handcuffs while his ankles were weighed down by shackles on top of the multiple invisible Spirit Cuffs that were already restraining him.
"What the fuck are you wearing, you clown?"
"Who the hell do you think you are? Houdini?"
"Are you mocking us? I'll make you eat your teeth like candy, boy!"
The battle lasted for barely a minute, with steel shrapnel, wooden bat splinters, blood, and teeth flying everywhere.
When it was over, the situation left Yusuke shaking his head and scratching his neck, snapping his bonds apart while doing so. He mumbled to himself, "What am I doing with my life? Bullying high schoolers of all things. Jeez."
However, unlike before, he merely knocked the overdeveloped high school students out cold rather than beat each of them within an inch of their lives.
This was in contrast with his previous battle with yakuza, which took mere seconds (they were even armed with M16 rifles) and had all of them end up in the E.R. for broken bones and severe concussions.
As though they were hit by a bomb.
He again got better at holding himself back. And keeping that damned Rando's Kugai (World of Suffering) curse at bay.
He looked back at the unconscious thugs.
Had he not activated his demonic atavism... had he not turned into a Spirit Detective fighting ghosts and demons... had he just remained a normal delinquent boy with killer punches... his mangling of these high schoolers from Todaiji might've meant something.
It might've even felt impressive. Satisfying.
Now, he just felt like he was bullying children and toddlers.
Back to the relative present, at the jungles of Okushiri...
"S-Saito!" stuttered the Kaoru within Botan, taken aback by the sudden appearance of the former captain of the Shinsengumi's Third Unit. "What are you doing here!?"
Hajime Saito... known in the Heisei Era as his alter ego, Goro Fujita... spared a glance at the raccoon dog girl's spirit sharing a body with the ferry girl.
"Only an amateur like you would teach a fish how to fly and a bird how to swim. Let your students do what they do best instead of making them become something they're not."
Botan rose to Kaoru's defense, saying, "H-Hey, y-you antenna-banged old man! Would you rather give swimming lessons to a fish? Besides, there are birds that can swim and fishes that can fly! Kind of. Your metaphor sucks!"
Fujita ignored the shinigami's remark then turned towards Yahiko and said, "I've gotten rid of Toguro Ani for you. He's here to keep you from reaching the Onmyouji. That's your plan, correct? Keep the priest from resurrecting and empowering the Shin Ju by nullifying his powers?"
Yahiko was at a loss for words, so he instead nodded at the man whom he had witnessed to have almost killed Kenshin a century ago. A man who somehow looked stronger now than before.
"Then go fulfill that mission of yours and find Sadojima Houji. Now."
To himself, Goro noted that Reikai (Spirit World) had hit the jackpot on getting this kid and his special powers. He indeed was the perfect counter to the Chojin's power conduit.
Saito then told Feng Xinhai's daughter, "Stop following your master's foolish advice. Don't waste your actual talent in analyzing opponents and predicting their next moves."
A defiant Natsuki told Goro off. "Don't tell me what to do. If it hadn't been for Kaoru-sensei's teachings or her demonstrating the flaws in Toguro Ani's powers, both of us would've been goners!"
Hajime countered with, "And I'm the one who finished Toguro off in the end," while cleaning his bloody blade off with a handkerchief. He then stared at her wounds from both her battles with the Elder Toguro and her father.
"You should also overcome the trauma you've suffered from Isurugi Raijuta's reincarnation. He's using you now the same way he had used you and your father from a century ago. This is also hindering your potential."
"Overcome my...!?" an indignant, flabbergasted Natsuki started, followed by some choice Mandarin curse words aimed at Fujita. "Why I oughtta...!"
"You're Mister Sensitivity as always, aren't you? Who's side are you on anyway, Saito?" demanded Botan as she held an fuming Shinkai back, grabbing her under her arms. "Are you on the side of the Reikai Senshi? Or the Shin Ju?"
"Neither. I'm on the side of justice," he said. "Just like before. Just like always."
"...Shishio is the Chojin, isn't he?" Yahiko finally spoke. "He's the one you're after. The guy you couldn't finish off a century ago but Kenshin did!"
Saito chuckled at Myojin before his smirk turned into a frown. "I uphold one simple belief. Aku Soku Zan. I will kill evil instantly. Even across decades or lifetimes."
He leapt away to parts unknown. Perhaps to hunt down more Shin Juppon Gatana members lurking about for him to finish off.
Begrudgingly, Botan said, "He's right, though. He's a jerk, but he's right. We need to find the Onmyouji right now and keep him from resurrecting or empowering any more of the Shin Ju," before taking out her Spirit Detector/Radar.
"Let's go, then," said Yahiko, sheathing his completed and reforged sakabatou. "Let's find Shishio's lackey already and beat him to a pulp."
"That's right," said Natsuki. "We have to stop him from reviving and buffing up the stats of his fellow Shin Ju."
Hyottoko. Beshimi. Hannya. Shikijo.
They were the four Oniwabanshu shinobi whom Aoshi Shinomori dedicated his revenge against Battousai for.
However, their restless spirits haunt the world anew for a different purpose entirely.
Protect the Okashira. Protect Misao.
They appeared suddenly as Ikumi was about to get blown to smithereens by the Bomb Iwanbo (Version 2.1), her path blocked by the Inflatable Iwanbo (Version 1.1).
"Who...?" began Likka, only for the Misao within her to gasp and recite the names of the ghosts before her. Her friends, bodyguards, and caretakers from the past.
At first glance, the Makimachi reincarnation looked about ready to lash out at the "freak shows" before her: A midget, a scarred muscleman, a fat giant who looked an Iwanbo, and a scary masked man with striped sleeves.
However, instincts from a century ago told her that they weren't enemies, which made her jump into the arms of the masked man who grabbed her, jumped on the head of the Iwanbo Version 2, and then bounced off of the bouncy Iwanbo Version 1.
"..." thought Daiji. These were the people who saved him when he first faced off against the One-Eight-Ten Killer.
As for Shikijo, he grabbed hold of the Fat Iwanbo from behind while Hyottoko blasted fire onto the Iwanbo with the Bomb, intentionally igniting it as the two Iwanbos crashed unto each other in a blaze of glory.
Meanwhile, the impish Beshimi managed to shoot his poison darts at Iwanbo Version 3.1 (the excessively muscular one whose so jacked up that he made the ghost of Shikijo look puny and undefined in comparison).
The dwarfish ghost got flattened with a simple backhand, but the neurotoxin (tetrodoxin or TTH) derived from fugu (puffer fish) soon made its way to the veins of the living puppet, forcing it to slow done, convulse, and suffocate.
"Perhaps turning your Pinocchios into real boys wasn't such a good idea. Right, Gein? Or is it Geppetto?" remarked Matsudaira while idly wondering how the ghost of Beshimi got his hands on puffer fish biotoxin for his poison (or rather, toxic) darts in the first place.
The policeman couldn't tell the expression underneath the veil of Doctor Gein's mask, but it was a fair guess to conclude he was frowning right about now.
"Okashira!" the detective heard the lithe ghost of a man wearing a Hannya mask that was used in Noh Theater, hence his moniker. "I will fight alongside you."
Daiji could only stare, nod, and mirror the kenpo stance that the original Okashira's right-hand man from a century ago took. His heart swelling with an indescribable feeling.
Elsewhere on Okushiri Island...
"Ah. So you're the great Jaganshi Hiei I've been hearing about!" said Usui Uonuma... the blindfolded zombie member of both the old and new Ten Swords... before he ended up directly behind the demon.
"What a happy coincidence! Since I only have one of Jine's Jagan in my possession, the Jagan you've gotten from one of Mukuro's minions should fit in nicely in my other empty eye socket!"
The blind swordsman (technically, "spearman", but he was also an ex-hitokiri working for the Shogunate) covered Hiei's vision with his Tinbe then attacked with his Rochin from above, intending to pluck the Evil Eye out, only to end up spearing nothing save for an afterimage he couldn't even see.
"Humph. Know who you're messing with first before attacking him," snorted Hiei, the fastest of the Spirit World Warriors, before turning and slashing from behind the Shin Ju member.
However, he ended up having his sword blocked by the dense turtle shell shield instead.
Usui knew exactly where the demon was thanks to his sensitive Shingan (Mind's Eye) hearing.
Uonuma cackled then delivered an onslaught of spear thrusts and slashes, only to be bombarded by the jaganshi's "Jaou-En-Satsu! RENGOKU SHOU!" In turn, the mortal flames were also blocked and neutralized by the Tinbe.
It was reminiscent to how that one brat who was friends with the Battousai could nullify spirit or demon energy.
Hiei growled, then considered unleashing one or two more Dragons of the Darkness Flame on either Toguro the Younger (he had sensed him from the distance) or that mustachioed man with the youki-proof turtle shell defense.
"Go ahead. Use that flaming dragon technique of yours on me. I want to see how long my Tinbe will hold out against it," Usui urged, even dared, the Jaganshi. "It'll serve as my test run before I face off against some other fire user."
The fire demon narrowed his eyes, his teeth and fists clenching in remembrance of that other human(?) whom he faced off against back in Alaska. A man on fire who could withstand both the Dragon of Darkness Flame and the Demon Sword.
Before Hiei could contemplate things further, a black blur moved past him, cutting off Uonuma in mid-sentence as it crashed right into the original Juppon Gatana member.
It was only through the diminutive demon's heightened senses and his otherwordly Jagan that he was able to make out who or what that blur was.
A lean, wolfish-looking middle-aged male with a sword thrust forward in speeds no ordinary human could muster.
Actually, he felt more like the ghost of a human instead, but that still didn't explain his tremendous strength.
Hiei recognized him. He was one of Battousai's acquaintances. A rival turned ally (much like himself) wearing... what was it? Oh, yes. A police uniform.
The copper (or a man impersonating one) who called him a skunk back at that human festival where everyone connected to Reikai met up.
The Jaganshi had half the mind to blast both of them to Kingdom Come with the Jaou-En-Satsu Kokuryuha while the Tinbe was preoccupied with blocking the copper's sword. Disintegrate them into silhouettes on the concrete floor.
"Whu...?" said Usui, who probably heard the policeman coming a mile away with his super-hearing but barely had enough time to raise his shield to block the attack because of how fast the man traversed that mile.
The ex-Juppon Gatana member's face went from slack-jawed to teeth-clenched and laughing in the span of seconds, recognizing who that man was. "SAITO HAJIME! It's been forever!"
The human's sword clashed right into Uonuma's Tinbe, cracking it slightly before pushing the both of them skyward.
The Forbidden Child gave chase and for once, could barely keep up. And this was Hiei, the fastest member of Team Urameshi.
The dwarf demon's artificial third eye narrowed. Saito's spirit energy didn't belong to just one spirit. But multiple ones. Fused together.
'Just who exactly is that human anyway?' Hiei thought.
At the seashore, on a cliff overlooking the sea lay the battered Feng Xinhai as he got tended to by the Chojin's conduit, Houji Sadojima.
"There. You're all patched up, you big baby," Houji the Onmyouji told Feng. "You've again been outwitted by the Okashira and defeated by your daughter. What do you have to say for yourself?"
The Triad Mountain Master chuckled. "Xiaxi is growing up nicely. And so is the detective. I feed off their strength the same way you leech off of the Chojin's."
"I can't believe Chojin-sama put so much stock on your abilities when you're just the reincarnation of Isurugi Raijuta. You could barely even wound the Battousai when he was still human," continued the Onmyouji.
Xinhai flexed his muscles and bared his fangs at Sadojima's current incarnation in the form of releasing his miasmic jaki aura in purple and black flames from out of his huge body.
"If you doubt my worth, then watch what I'm about to do with Saito Hajime: The Reikai Senshi's wild card."
"O-ho. The Wolf of Mibu himself? The man who almost killed Lord Shishio? Now that's rich," scoffed Houji. "Don't be so full of yourself. What can you possibly do to him that Shishio-sama can't do?"
Feng sneered. "I can finish the job Shishio couldn't. And more." He took out his walkie-talkie and then called out, "438."
This was Gatekeeper Itsuki's Triad designation of Vanguard.
From behind the two, Itsuki arrived from a portal, his wounds healing faster now that he was in close proximity of the Onmyouji. "Yes, 489?"
This was Xinhai's designation of Dragon Head.
"Bring me to where Saito is."
Somewhere else in Okushiri...
"Stop hiding behind your bombs, you stringy-haired terrorist!" demanded Sanosuke Sagara to the bombastic Karasu, his legs wobbly and his ghostly body fading in and out of existence.
His reiki aura scattering into pinpoints of light. Like the embers of a dying fire.
At any rate, he had nowhere left to hide.
"SANO!" Sanosuke heard someone call after him. An effeminate voice that Karasu mistook for, "KURAMA...!"
No, it wasn't Kurama. It was Kenshin. Kenshin Himura. He had a heavily bleeding wound (arguably a laceration) that began from his left abdomen and ended on his right shoulder.
"KENSHIN!" shouted Sano, flabbergasted. 'Who did that to him?' To his comrade, he asked, "What the hell happened to you?!"
"No time to explain. Use the Youtou Shinnoken (Demon Sword)!" said Kenshin, wincing as he threw the Demon Sword at Sano with his left arm, his right arm seizing up from having its ghostly muscles torn by the attack that... that person used on him.
Himura gulped and endured the pain of the nostalgic wound given to him.
The first hit of the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki (Heavens Gliding Dragon Flash) missed the bespectacled young man with white hair Kenshin was fighting entirely, but the second hit reached him by the side of his ribs, breaking him in half with high-velocity impact.
However, had Kenshin known who he was earlier, then the result of their battle might've been... slightly different.
The Mad Bomber aimed all his blockbusters at the distracted Guardian of the Demon Sword before he could complete his throw at Sanosuke.
"I've already learned my lesson from before. You're not going to let you give Saru-san (Mister Monkey) another power up."
Hajime Saito had just driven his old rival Usui Sadojima right into the heart of Mount Kamui with the full strength of his Gatotsu.
Incidentally, Mount Kamui was the highest peak of Okushiri Island.
The wind around Saito howled like wolves under the full moon. He'd been doing his part in eliminating the Chojin's pawns so that the Reikai Senshi could get closer and closer to a checkmate.
Take down the conduit of the Chojin's power and you take down the Chojin's New Ten Swords.
They were at a stalemate of sorts save for their so-called pawns. The game was over as soon as Yahiko could neutralize the Onmyouji long enough to allow the Reikai Senshi to defeat all the Shin Ju.
It was only because of Houji resurrection powers that the New Ten Swords could win a war of attrition against the Spirit World Warriors.
After all, at every turn, the Shin Ju had members that perfectly countered the heavy guns of the Reikai Senshi.
The most powerful Reikai Tantei they had, Yusuke Urameshi, had to deal with a new-and-improved Toguro Ototo. The brains behind their operation, Kurama, had his hands full against that man from his past.
Kenshin Himura also had that man to fight with. Jaganshi Hiei could barely get past Usui Uonuma, of all people. The modern version of Aoshi Shinomori was still traumatized by Raijuta Isurugi's own reincarnation. Not to mention, Gein was an old rival of his as well.
The Shin Ju even got their own Kazuma Kuwabara equivalent in the form of Gatekeeper Itsuki from the original Sensui Seven, who could match the human's Dimension Sword with his own warp creation.
It was as if from behind the scenes, the Chojin knew which enemies to resurrect in order to perfectly counter any warriors from the past and present that the Spirit World summoned.
How strange. Or maybe not, since Shishio himself was an evil mastermind on top of being a formidable opponent
Only Saito, the outsider, had no equivalent member in the Shin Ju that could take him down on their own.
So he saw the resulting confrontation coming from a mile away: The Shin Ju were going to ambush and gang up on him.
Nearly immediately, he got greeted by Itsuki and an almost healed Feng Xinhai.
The Onmyouji's shikigami then imparted enough energy unto the Shin Ju, including the buried Usui, to raise their levels up, if temporarily. The familiar then disappeared.
Lieutenant Fujita harrumphed. "So all the pawns are after me now?"
Xinhai's longsword burst into jaki flame. "We're no pawns. We are the Knights of the Chojin."
"No. In Shishio's eyes, all of you are just his pawns. His cronies." Goro then fell into his signature Gatotsu stance.
The earth from the hole that Saito's Gatotsu drove Usui into stirred. Then rumbled.
"SAIIIIIIIITOOOOOO...!" a voice roared from the darkness.
Feng idly wondered if the policeman were on the same level as Yusuke earlier before his heart got punched out into giblets in the middle of him doing a Matoi Izuna.
Xinhai's eyes rolled upwards before an Onmyouji shikigami regenerated his heart on time. Perhaps had the Chojin willed it, Houji would've regenerated his lost arm too.
However, Feng didn't want that. The fewer favors he got from the Chojin, the better. Besides, he liked his metal arm.
Karasu had his whole body recreated from scratch by the Overfiend (since his old body was skeletonized worm food by the time he got revived), and now the crow demon was practically in the ownership of the evil overlord.
His zombie slave. It was like a deal from the devil, almost.
Xinhai wanted to outwit the devil instead of the other way around, at least. He didn't reach S-Level as a living human for nothing, after all.
Saito's Ishiki against Itsuki stopped short when his sword stabbed through a portal, which strained his arms a bit.
Had he continued, he would've skewered his own self because the Gatekeeper placed an exit portal from behind him. This was his usual modus operandi against any sword user.
However, like the crafty Aoshi reincarnation before him, Hajime did a pointblank Gatotsu Zeroshiki around the portal to stab Itsuki from behind, but the demon had seen that technique before.
He made another portal on his back then made an exit portal aimed at the lieutenant's skull from above.
However, the former Shinsengumi captain was one step ahead of Itsuki. Instead of stabbing around the dimensional demon, Saito stabbed upward with a Gatotsu Sanshiki and exited from behind the demon then did a Zeroshiki to his unprotected side.
Such was the cunning of the Captain of the Shinsengumi's Third Unit.
To Be Continued...
Rurouni Kenshin's version of Hajime Saito is one of the coolest characters ever, isn't he? A Japanese version of Dirty Harry.
Ciao,
Abdiel
