Part 02
The three of us appeared on the outskirts of a city and looked around. "Great, we've got to get from here to there," Tyler said pointing to the other side of the city which was about five miles from where we were.
I shrugged, "Let's get a move on then."
The two of them nodded as we all took off at an alarming rate. I jumped onto the top of a building and began roof hopping across the city. I stopped and surveyed my surroundings, giving Tyler and Tiffany time to catch up to me. After about twenty minutes we arrived at the other side of the city. We all stopped and memorized the castle's set up before we continued.
Our trio jumped over the large walls that surrounded the castle and found a door. I kicked it down and we met our first obstacle, a group of small demons that reminded me of a bunch of poodles. I laughed at them as they all turned and ran down the hallway. We followed suit and soon enough entered a very large room. In the center of the room was the group of dogs waiting for us. And, as luck would have it, they weren't going to stay nice. We watched as they began to grow into large rabid demons.
"I've got these pooches," Tiffany said stepping forward. Tyler and I nodded as she advanced towards the demons.
Tiffany shot her right hand out and made a fist, "Spirit Bow!" From her hand came a bow made of her spirit energy. She held the bow and made it seem as if she was going to shoot off an arrow, "Yousoya! Element Arrow!"
She shot a blast of pure energy at the demons and it split into many small blasts and hit each of dogs. The demons didn't take any damage, but out of them appeared a small fragment of their energy, each with it's own unique level. The feeling that the level gave off granted me and Tiffany the knowledge of what elements the targets were and what to use and what not to use against it.
I grinned, "Watch it, Semai Wan, they all have high spirit levels as well as different elements."
She nodded and started with the closest demon to her, "Mizuya! Water Arrow!" The dog howled and disappeared from the hit of elemental power. "Kazeya! Wind!" Another demon wailed and was destroyed. The remaining five youkai finally realized what they were up against and ran at her all at once. She dodged the first two and jumped into the air.
"Tiffany, Lightning Arrow, now!" Tyler exclaimed.
"Right!" Tiffany agreed as her spirit energy formed her electrifying attack, "Denkouya!"
The arrow of energy multiplied to many equally powerful arrows and knocked all the demons to seperate parts of the room. I looked around and finally saw which one had disappeared.
Tiffany noticed as well, "Good, only four left, and you're next!" The closest demon to her rushed towards her at an alarming speed and then disappeared. She aimed at the shadow upon the floor that was still heading in her direction, "Hikariya! Light Arrow!"
The last three all made an attempt at another tag team, ensuring their defeat. Tiffany glared at them all as her bow grew in size, "Hi, Koori, to Yamiya! Fire, Ice, and Dark Arrow!" The demons disappeared from sight and her battle was complete.
Tyler and I walked over to her as she relaxed her hand and her bow disappeared. "Good battle," Tyler said to her as we looked on.
Tiffany shook her head, "That was a push over compared to what's still to come."
I looked down and sighed, "She is right Tyler, congratulations now mean nothing. Wait until we return to the Human World to commend our battles." He nodded as we all took off running. Soon enough we came to a bunch of stairs. I looked up and they seemed to go on forever, "Well, looks like it's the easy way up."
Tyler and Tiffany grinned, both of them knowing what I meant. The two of them having wolf and cat demonic blood enhanced their ability to move and my elemental youkai blood gave me the power to do almost anything. We all nodded and then jumped into the air. About every twenty floors we reared to the side and rested for a few seconds then continued on. Finally we came to the top of the stairs and ran down the hallway out to an outside arena. Tyler stood in front of me and Tiffany, letting us know that this next battle was his.
Our silence was broken when a giant cloud descended from the sky and stopped before the three of us. What got me the most was when it took shape, it molded into the form of a giant birdlike demon called a gokrakuchou.
"It's a shadow, it can change into any shape! Tyler, you'd better watch it!" I yelled to him.
He nodded and clenched his fists, "Tamashii Yaiba!" In each of his hands a spirit sword was created. Tyler moved his hands towards each other and forged the swords together into his own special weapon, Futago Tamashii Yaiba, the Twin Spirit Blade. He rushed at the shadow and threw a good portion of his spirit energy into a single attack; and of course, he missed. Tyler did back flips as the shadow rushed at him, slashing its giant claws at anything it could. As our luck would have it, we were all prime targets.
When it came flying towards me and Tiffany, we both went two different ways and jumped to the other side of the arena, putting Tyler back in the middle. The gokrakuchou shadow disappeared into the ground. Tyler noticed instantly and jumped up, "Mizu Bakuha!"
I grinned at I held up my hand, "Junsai." A shield of my own water appeared and blocked Tyler's water blast from soaking me and Tiffany. My shield lowered itself so it was still protecting our lower halves from the water as it finished pouring over the sides of the arena. Tyler's eyes darted around the still wet area and located his target. The shadow was moving in on the two of us girls and Tyler knew his victory was near.
"Shadow at six, going for a shock!" I knew what he meant and dropped my water shield. Tiffany nodded and we both went airborne as Tyler went for his lightning attack. "Denkou Bakuha!" Lightning blasts rocked the shadow since the ground was still soaking wet. The shadow appeared and took another form, this time just as a human-like shadow. Tyler hit the ground as his youkai wolf blood kicked in and his speed went into turbo drive. Tiffany and I watched as Tyler bolted right at the shadow and sent his Twin Spirit Blade right through the heart of it.
Tiffany and I landed back on the ground as Tyler pulled back from the shadow, leaving his sword inside it. "Tamashii Sakuretsu!" His sword began to crackle and then it exploded.
"Spirit Explosion...Tyler's finishing move, no doubt," Tiffany said to me.
"Yes, but why was it such a powerful explosion...unless Tyler had this whole thing planned out."
"What do you mean?"
I looked at her, "When he did his first attack he put more than enough energy into it, if I'm right then he wasn't putting out the extra energy for the shadow, it was for the sword." Tiffany's expression was that of total cluelessness.
Tyler walked over to us, "Stephanie's right. I put most of the energy into the sword but a little bit actually hit the shadow. That little bit served as the detonation device, and my sword was just the dynamite."
"Ah, I get it now! You missed on purpose because if you would of made contact it would of drained you of valuable spirit energy," Tiffany grinned.
Tyler and I nodded, "Yeah, you've got it."
Tyler and Tiffany then both looked at me and we all took off again, back into the darkness of the castle. Soon enough we came to a room with three doors. "You want to do it the easy way or the fun way?" I asked them.
"Well, if we use our chounouryoka, we'll know which way to go..." Tiffany began.
"...but if we don't use our ESP we can each pick a door and go on..." Tyler continued.
"And if we come to a dead end?" I questioned them.
"We make our own door."
I grinned, "Exactly."
"Okay, let's set our watches for thirty minutes and if we haven't met back up we will send out greetings," Tyler said as and we agreed.
"Fair enough, you two pick your doors, I'll take the one that's left," I said focusing my psychic abilities on all the different doors. The first one had some high spirit levels coming from it, but they didn't seem too dangerous; and the same with the last one, except the powers were a bit stronger. The middle one, on the other hand, intrigued me. Nothing came from behind it, not one drop of spirit energy was anywhere near it. I tried as hard as possible to figure out why there was nothing but it was to no avail. I shrugged it off and hoped I got that door so I could solve the mystery.
Tiffany walked up to the last door, "This one is mine."
Tyler ran over to the first one, "Then I'm taking this one."
I grinned, "Great, then this one's mine. Be careful you two, and see you in thirty, or not." With that we all set our watches and blasted open our doors.
I ran down the black hallway, never stopping. Finally I saw a small light appear in front of me and I kicked it into over drive. For some reason I knew the light seemed weird, and I soon figured out why. Right before I reached it I felt the floor beneath me disappear. I tried to reach for the other side of the gaping hole, but missed. At that moment a hand shot from out of no where and grabbed mine. I held on tightly as I was pulled up and onto solid ground. I couldn't make out who had helped me, for I knew it wasn't Tyler or Tiffany. I looked back over the hole and instantly my head began to ache, the spirit energy that I hadn't sensed before was located below, where I was to have fallen. The amount of energy being released scared me, it was more than I'd ever faced before. Right at that moment hands came up from the pitch blackness and grabbed me.
"No!" I yelled as they pulled me over the edge and down into the gloom below.
Back up on the ledge stood the demon responsible for my save, "I gave her a shot to continue straight on into my throne room, but yet she failed to grasp it." With that he turned and disappeared into the light.
When I finally reached the bottom of the black hole I landed hard upon the dark floor. I laid there for a few moments and then sat up to find out where the demons were that had dragged me into their play pen. Finally I spotted them, they were retreating down another hallway that was in front of me. When I went to stand I noticed I had a few minor injuries, but didn't take any real caution on how bad they might become. I ran straight forward, going as fast as my demon blood would allow me to. If I had to go anywhere it was right through those demons and I wasn't going to let them hold me back. I needed to get to Tyler and Tiffany, they wouldn't be able to win against that demon I was ordered to defeat. I had to laugh though, if I didn't get past here, the look on Koenma's face would be a classic when he saw me standing before him for a second time, dead as a doornail.
Finally I reached the demons and it wasn't in a good place either. We were in a room, not too large, but not small either. The thing that really got me was the ceiling, metal spikes were suspended from it, and they looked extremely sharp. I sighed at the fact that I was completely surrounded and groaned when both exits were blocked by stones and there was absolutely no way to get rid of them because the whole hallway might collapse as well. At last I stood up straight and popped a few joints and stretched my muscles.
"Alright, if you want a fight, then come and get me," I said to the many demons surrounding me. They all knew what I meant and rushed at me at an alarming speed.
I jumped up into the air and started playing hopscotch on the demons, jumping from here to there. I jumped off and ended up on the outside of the circle near a side wall.
I turned back towards the demons and clenched my left hand into a fist, "Powers of my ancestors come forth! Aide me in my quest, grant me the power of our kind, that of elemental weapons! My choice of weapon be that of the sword!"
It was then that my youkai blood awakened and realized its own presence within my human body. From my hand a spirit sword was created, but as I watched it began to form into a solid object, a material sword forged from my own energy.
I held my sword out at the oncoming demons, "Youso Youkai, blood of all energy bound demons! Send into my hands the power of light! Hikarimi, the Light Sword!" Light shot out from the sword as it changed shape once again. The light lit up the entire room once the transformation was complete and I knew then that I was truly an elemental youkai.
I rushed forward and slayed ten demons in one sweep of the sword, "I knew it, demons born from darkness. I will be victorious!" I turned and slayed another twenty or so demons. I then stopped and turned to survey the carnage of my first few attacks, and in that split second, everything went black.
I awoke in a dark pit, one that had no escapes. My sword was gone and I was even more injured than before. I figured I was beaten by the demons after they had knocked me out thanks to my own foolishness. I sat up against the curved wall and a sharp pain shot through my left arm. I held my right hand up and created a small fireball as to see why I was hurting.
From the flicker of the flames I could make out deep cuts in my left arm, "Probably from when the demons took my sword, no doubt." I snorted, "How could I be so stupid and let my guard down like that!" I let the small fire go out and I closed my eyes.
Suddenly I heard the rock covering my deep prison being moved. I glanced up to see a dim light and someone jump down into the hole. They stood in the center of the pit for a few seconds and then walked over to me. I sat there and stared at them as they extended their hand, "Come on, let's go." Well, it was a guy, I knew that much at least. I took his hand and he helped me up. "Can you jump?"
"Yes, I can jump," I stated, thinking he was nuts for even asking me something like that.
We both jumped up and out of the pit. He then covered the pit back up with the large stone rock and turned to me. His eyes fell upon my arm instantly, "How bad is it?"
"I'm not sure, I don't know if I can wield my sword or not." The guy motioned for me to sit down on the stone so I did. He knelt before me and examined my wounds while I examined him. He was about my height, probably a little taller, and he looked to be around my age, maybe a little older. He had spiky black hair with a white streak through it and glowing red eyes. He wore a black cloak and wore a sword and sheath at his side.
The guy sighed, "The cuts are deep and they need to be sterilized."
I nodded, "But how? We don't have any medicine, nor any other source to do it with."
He shook his head, "I'm going to sterilize it, but it's going to be with fire, is that okay?"
"Fire? Sure, fine with me, it won't hurt me any." He looked at me weirdly and then placed his hand on my wounds. From his hand came what felt to me as a warm wall of heat. When he lifted his hand I looked at my arm and the wounds were already healing themselves.
With his job done he stood and began to walk off. He then stopped and turned to me, "Are you coming or staying?"
"I'm coming," I said getting up and following him out of the dim room.
We walked down a few corridors and finally he led me into a similar room to the one that I'd been defeated in. There, laying in the middle of the room, was my sword, completely unprotected. I didn't wait for an invitation to run and snatch it. I took off and grabbed it, sliding onto the ground to dodge the blades that skimmed my forehead and ended up stuck in the wall across from which they came. I then stood and turned my attention to where the blades had originated from. From another entrance came forth demons, a lot more compared to what I had faced earlier.
I clenched the hilt of my sword, "Hikarimi!" I ran at the demons and slashed about five of them, and only one fell. "Dammit! This time they're all different elements!"
"That's right my pet, we're not as ignorant as those other demons you met earlier. And since they caught you easily, we should have no problem at all!" one of the demons that survived my attack laughed. The demons began to surround me and I knew I couldn't take them all in one shot. I heard a demon sneak up behind me and as I turned around to counter him I saw the demon fall to the ground, dead.
"What in the hell?"
"Don't take your eyes off them, human, they're not stupid nor are they slow."
I jumped at the voice of my savior right beside me, "Fine then, I guess it's on to plan B."
"You don't have a plan B."
"I know, I was hoping you did!"
"This girl is the new Spirit Detective! She's worse than Kuwabara and Yusuke put together! What in the hell has Koenma gotten himself into this time!"
Right then there was a loud crashing sound as a couple demons fell. I jumped to see who was making all the commotion and my eyes fell upon a new entrance to the room and Tyler, along with his Twin Spirit Blade.
"Am I late!" he asked jumping over to where me and the guy were.
"Nope, just in time," I laughed.
"Who's the clown in the black outfit?" he questioned.
"Dunno, all I know is he saved my life, so I owe him."
Tyler snorted, "As usual, someone's always saving your ass." I twitched and went to argue as I heard another sound, but this time it was from the releasal of an arrow. I looked up to see Tiffany's element arrow fall upon each and every demon.
She appeared in front of us, "Looks like we've got our hands full."
I smiled, "And it's going to be a blast!"
Together the four of us rushed forward at the demons. In only fifteen minutes we had only half of them beaten. The four of us were all scattered around the room, neither of us able to assist someone else.
"My ancestors, I know there must be something you can teach me for my elemental sword that is my ultimate weapon! Please, send me the power of the sword of which is unstoppable!" At that moment my sword turned back into spirit energy and then grew larger. I watched as it forged itself into a tachi, or long sword. It then began to pulsate with all seven different elements I could control.
Tyler, Tiffany, and the guy all stopped in their fight, as did the demons, and turned to watch what was happening. I began to float right above the ground as my body also became enveloped in the light my sword was radiating off. After a while I knew what my ancestors had just bestowed upon me. They gave me a sword that only I had, one that no one else had ever been able to control before. The guy watched in awe as he realized that I wasn't a human with divine magic, but a half-blood with much more power.
"Your end is now, demons! Kyuukyoku Yousotachi! Ultimate Element Sword!" The glowing stopped as I made one giant sweep with my sword, destroying all the remaining demons who opposed me.
I fell to the ground and my sword returned to its basic size and design. Tyler and Tiffany ran over to me. "You okay?" Tiffany asked.
"I'm okay, just a little tired, that's all."
The guy walked over to us and sheathed his sword, "You put too much spirit energy into that one attack. Making that mistake again could be fatal."
Tyler glared at him, "And who the hell are you to tell her what to do!"
I knew it would happen and Tyler finally snapped. Tiffany stood up, "Yeah! She's our friend, not yours! And where in the hell did you come from anyway? What do you want with us!"
"Butt out, you two, his affairs are none of our business. He saved my life and that's all I need to know at this point in time," I said as I stood up and started to walk off. The guy caught me as I began to fall again. "Thank you."
He nodded and put my arm over his shoulder, "I was telling her out of her own best interest. I don't think you two would like to face the lead demon alone, now would you?" Tyler and Tiffany looked down and shook their heads. "Also, I'm a fire youkai, I live in this world. I came to this castle knowing what was going to happen and wanting to help. Be thankful, I'm usually not the helping type."
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but what is your name? Mine's Stephanie, and these two are Tyler and Tiffany," I said as we walked towards the entrance where the demons had come from.
"My name is Hiei."
"Hiei...I know that name from somewhere..." I trailed off, "Wait! You were a member of the Urameshi Team! You fought along side Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama during their battles against the Sanq Beasts and during the Dark Tournament and the Makai Tournament!"
He smiled and sighed, "I see you know a lot about me, more than I figured you would."
"Of course! Yusuke is my idol! He's the best fighter I've ever known! And it also doesn't help that I'm Koenma's newly appointed Spirit Detective..." I said quietly.
"You're the new Spirit Detective? Could of fooled me," Hiei laughed, "I thought Koenma was beginning to hire random people to fight for him." I laughed as well. "But I guess it's not that easy when you've been reincarnated, am I right?"
I nodded as we continued in silence down the dark hallway. Before long we came to stairs leading upwards and Hiei picked me up. "Come on you two, let's go!" Tyler and Tiffany nodded as they all bolted up the stairs. As Hiei ran swift and silently I couldn't help but stare at him. His eyes were so intense, but his mind was barricaded by a brick wall that even I couldn't penetrate. Hiei looked down at me for a few moments, "What is it? You're gazing at me." His eyes then returned to the stairs, "Well?"
I blushed horribly, "I...it's your eyes."
He closed his eyes and grinned. "What about them?" he whispered.
"I like them, they say little about you, but then again they tell one a lot. You've been to hell and back in your lifetime," I said as they came to the top of the stairs and continued down another dismal hallway. It was then the brick wall barricading his mind cracked, I could see a bit of his life, just what he allowed me to, though. "You were abandoned as a small child and raised by thieves...you received the Jagan eye you conceal behind that bandage when you wished to find your long lost twin sister, Yukina..."
"Stop," he said to me as he slowed down to a walk. He put me down and I stretched my legs. A few seconds later did Tyler and Tiffany finally catch up to us.
"Why'd you stop?" Tyler asked him.
"Because, the end of the tunnel is near. The final battle will begin shortly."
Tyler, Tiffany, and I all glanced further on down the tunnel only to see a faint dim light. "Finally," I sighed as Hiei placed his hand on my shoulder. I wondered what he was doing as my whole body became extremely warm. When he lifted his hand my energy had completely returned and I was ready to fight against the demon lord. "Tyler, Tiffany, Hiei, let's go." Everyone nodded as we continued on. I let Tyler and Tiffany walk a few paces in front of me so I was walking side-by-side with Hiei, "One more question..."
He sighed and nodded, "What is it?"
"I'm skipping way ahead, since you only let me see bits and pieces; what happened to Mukuro?" He stopped walking so I also halted.
"I quit working for her."
"But weren't you her right hand man along with her heir and lo..."
"Drop it," he growled at me, "I was her right hand man and I may have been her heir, yes, but I was never, nor would I ever be, her lover. You got that?"
I nodded as he walked passed me. I waited for a few seconds and then continued on myself. I watched him walk as all kinds of thoughts screamed through my head. "Why did he get so defensive? He's the one who let me see into his memory...unless I wasn't supposed to see that far... Hiei's so much of an enigma, it hurts to even think about it. I wonder why he is really here, was it really because of me? Because he knew of what was going to happen? Maybe it was that Jagan eye of his..." I sighed heavily, not noticing we had entered a very large room.
"Welcome to my grand hall!"
I looked up as lights came on and lit up the entire room. My eyes darted around until my sight fell upon the demon who looked like he was only twenty and human. And I hated to admit it, but was he cute! I noticed his eyes had fallen upon me. He raised his hand and motioned for me to come closer to him. I didn't walk forward, but for some reason my body was moving towards him. I stopped right in front of him and he stood. "My, my, Koenma is really getting desperate, he's sending girls to fight his battles...but he's sent a very pretty one at that," he said taking my hand and kissing it softly, "I am Lord Iroaku, owner of this vast castle, and of much more..." I gulped. "And you are Stephanie, Stephanie Jiano...only 17? My you're a young one..."
"Stephanie, block your mind before he finds out everything about you!" Hiei yelled at me.
"I...I can't! I can't do anything!"
Hiei went to unsheathe his sword but Tiffany was already ahead of him. She held up her spirit bow, "Alright bow, let's unfreeze her! Elemental Arrow!" Her arrow shot at me and was absorbed into my body instantly. The energy in the arrow put up a brick wall plus some, and gave me back control of my body. I did a few backflips and landed in front of my friends.
"I see you are more resourceful that I thought, oh well...your loss Princess, you'll die along with your friends..." With that his whole body began to glow brightly. When the light had died down he was surrounded by tons of spirit energy. "I shall warn you now, I am not like any of your other opponents beforehand. I have no element, for I am elements! I am the last remaining Elemental Youkai, and a full blood at that!"