12: Devil's Last Stand -- The Battle from Hell!

Knowing their pursuers would still be in pursuit of them long after they distanced themselves, Jack and Kenshin ultimately decided to split the three up and face them individually. It pained both warriors to be forced to face such violent encounters, where they would probably be forced to kill, but their very own lives were at stake there and no amount of convincing would save them. They would just have to deal with things as they came, one violent storm at a time.

They had time and distance on their side. Melville Drakemoth had been thrown into brambles, Rygar was stuck in a forest full of felled trees, and Fumus Adhvanit was severely injured. The samurai had bolted the moment they could, and didn't stop until they were convinced that their enemies were long gone. They turned around and waited for the flood of savagery to come, looking around the horizon for any sign of the killers. Jack felt an eerily familiar aura approaching, something that resembled the demonic Aku he had slain and would slay in his own time. He recognized the feeling to be the Vanishing Smoke, the devil-like man who might have very well been Aku's minion.

"Here they come," murmured Kenshin anxiously. He squeezed the hilt of his katana and patiently watched as the figure in black came nearer. It was Fumus, all right--the creature disappeared in a black column of smoke before long, and was lost as the wind carried the foul cloud away. Kenshin and Jack swallowed nervously as they waited for the demon to reappear and conclude his attack.

For the record, Kenshin had no problems with slaying a devil. He flipped his sword around so that the sharp end was out. Jack bit his lip.

There was almost no warning. Fumus erupted out of nowhere, his black cloak billowing as his blades whirled in the air and crashed back down. It took the reflexes of two veteran warriors to meet and deflect his power, and the stamina of bold hearts to resume a fight that was quick and merciless. It was like battling against a tornado.

Kenshin and Jack both pushed against the devilish man, sending him backwards with a grin. He laughed and threw off his cloak, revealing a very slim body whose skin was as black as a nightmare. He leered, his hairless white face glowing a ghastly illumination as the sun revolved, teeth bared and sharp like a bat's. His two blades, quite small and light, whirled in the air as he danced around and lashed out at his enemies. The Vanishing Smoke cackled madly as the warriors swung at him, and reduced himself to a black mist again just before he was cut. This battle would not be easy.

Kenshin and Jack stood back to back and used their combined vision to scout the entire area. Fumus appeared at Kenshin's left and drew the warrior in for solo combat; Jack stood by carefully and watched as his friend did battle again. He had gotten little rest from the violent chaos of the previous rumble, and though he looked to show some signs of fatigue, his steam was mighty and proud and carried him on as the Smoke laughed and inched Kenshin closer to his death.

The red samurai's sleeves were totally ripped off as Fumus sliced at his arms. There was no blood drawn, but the cloth was gone for good as it fell in the embrace of the wind. Kenshin strafed to the side and batted away Fumus' knife with a swing; he swung his sword in a crescent and smashed it against the dagger of the other. It quickly rose back up to block off the other knife, and Kenshin plowed the butt end of his sword into Fumus' face now that his weapon was in a good position. As the devil lurched back in a grimace, Kenshin darted forward and quickly sliced at his abdomen, carving out a thin scar. Fumus came to quickly and waved both his daggers at Kenshin, taking a tiny chunk out of the bride of his nose.

Kenshin leaped back in shock, and watched as Fumus laughed cruelly. His wound slowly healed up by some devilish means, and the evil man was ready to fight once again. Fumus became smoke to evade Kenshin's next attack, and floated over towards Jack where he leaped into solid form and collapsed on the warrior. Jack was sent to the ground as knives cut all across his body, but a quick swing of his sacred blade forced Fumus to shirk back in agony. A tiny cut had been made across both of his arms, and there it stayed forever, burning and devouring his dark flesh. Fumus scowled.

Jack picked himself up, dusted himself off, and ignored the cuts and scratches on his body as he waited for the killer to strike. Fumus snarled, but turned into smoke and retreated back to Kenshin, who was waiting for him. Himura kept his blade out and swatted at the knives as they came towards him, then finally lashed out with all his might against the evil man. His blade burned right for the devil's body, cutting a great canyon from the man's armpit to his hip, sending him backwards and howling with pain. It would be extremely hard for him to recover from a hit like that.

But before either warrior gave him the chance, Kenshin screamed out a war cry and lunged forth to finish the job. Scowling angrily, Fumus lamely threw his sword at the warrior in a feeble attempt to defend himself. Kenshin quickly dove around the object, knocked his enemy in the face with his shoulder as he tackled into him, and used every last fiber of his powerful strength to cleave off the creature's hand, a few inches above the wrist. A shriek came out of Fumus' mouth that sounded like the gasp of Hell itself, and the evil creature grasped his arm in shock and horror.

To the warriors' disgust, the amputated piece of dark flesh had been thrown to the ground, where it flopped around like a fish.

Coldly, Kenshin glared at his enemy with his sword pointed, daring him to attack with such injuries. Fumus was more surprised than hurt, though, and kept squeezing and rubbing his arm as if the shock of losing his hand had not yet been absorbed. He stared at Himura with a questioning gaze, not seeming angry in the least. He definitely wasn't bleeding--nothing came out of the leftover stump. It was as if a tree's limb had been cut off and the tree barely noticed it.

"So, I'm disarmed," purred Fumus emptily as he gazed at Himura. He also noticed that his hand was holding his other blade; he had kept the only other one. "Well, that's a first. I don't ever recall being mutilated in my life. Now that it's happened, I really don't feel any pain at all. Still, I must avenge the insult. You will be covered in darkness before this is over."

"Enough of your words!" stated Kenshin, holding his blade like a mighty king. "I will banish you back to the shadows where you crawled out of, and you will not harm me or my friend or any other person, that you will not. Even if I have to send you there piece by piece, I am prepared to fight to the last, that I am." Fumus finally showed some emotion and chuckled.

"So am I." With a snap, he flicked out his other sword and cut Kenshin on the chin; the Battousai jumped back in surprise, burrowing his violet eyes into the evil man's soul. Fumus laughed wickedly and attacked him again, but with only one sword in his possession, he was much slower and ineffective. Kenshin effortlessly fought him off, swinging his blade in time and keeping up with his enemy's easy patterns. It was obvious that Fumus wasn't left-handed, because his swings seemed somewhat childish and awkward.

Jack, however, immediately saw what was wrong and ran over to intervene before it was too late. He failed.

As soon as Kenshin got near Fumus' hand, the black object jumped up from the grass and latched itself to Himura's face. Kenshin screamed in terror as he was blinded and suffocated from the ghastly flesh, and yanked with all his might so that he could survive. Fumus merely stood back and watched his prey being slowly tortured--his prediction had come true in the most horrific manner.

But Kenshin's dark fate did not last long. Jack swerved across the field and slammed his blade on the hand, cutting it in two and destroying it completely, while rendering Kenshin's face untouched. He had learned the hard way (in a graveyard, of all places) that his blade did no harm to the pure of heart, and so was confident that he would not hurt his friend. Kenshin was surprised at the sudden flash of light, and gasped with air as the dark hand was released and destroyed.

Fumus Adhvanit shrieked in agony, and clutched his hand as pain finally came to him.

"Stay here and rest," said Jack as he placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You fought very well and have earned a break. Now, it is my turn! I shall vanquish this demon and send him back to the Pit!" Jack donned a mask of rock-hard concentration, and with the same cool, fiery calm he always carried, the samurai marched towards the yelping Fumus and prepared to end the monster's life.

"Demon," he announced over the squeals of torture, "you deserve no kindness for your deeds, but in order to erase your existence from this world, I shall be forced to end your life quickly and spare you this pain. Be fortunate to receive such a quick death, or else the pain you feel now would have gone on until you received your just rewards."

Evil to the end, Fumus lashed out at Jack despite his injury, salivating and screaming like a madman.

"You go to Hell, samurai!!!"

"NO!!" Jack cleaved into the air just as Fumus rushed towards him, and with a mighty crash that split the very atmosphere in two, he cleaved right through the monster's body and ended his life. The two halves of Fumus sailed on through the momentum, until finally they fell to the ground and burned up into ash and dust. Jack stared at the end of the abomination, then quietly sheathed his sword and sat down on the ground for a rest.

"I feel as if I'm getting too old for this sort of thing," he sighed with a smile. Kenshin laughed and took a few clean breaths of fresh air.

To be continued…