(3rd person POV)
While climbing another long staircase that, hopefully, would lead them to Suzaku, Kuwabara froze mid-step, his body feeling as if it was struck by lightning and his companions stopped as well to look at him.
"Hey, what's wrong? You're as pale as a ghost!", Urameshi told him.
"I've suddenly had a bad feeling", the ginger explained, muscles tense as a bowstring, "I'm worried for the city. Who knows what's going on down there…".
"Maybe it's been days since we got here", Kurama said, "In Demon World, it's easy to lose track of time".
Hiei narrowed his eyes slightly, "Let's get going, then: we still have an enemy to defeat".
Everyone nodded and they resumed their run up the stairs, but Yusuke felt uneasy and worried, wondering if Keiko was safe. Little did he know that in that exact moment the girl was running for her life, infected humans hunting her down with unnatural bloodlust born of the haunting melody played by Suzaku. The stairs ended in a large platform that, in turn, led to an impressively high tower with a big rounded dome on top, which hovered ominously over the whole castle like a poisonous mushroom.
"The last of the Saint Beasts must be in there", Hiei commented and Yusuke clenched his fist.
Suddenly, his communicator rang, "Hey, Yusuke, Botan here. Can you hear me? Over".
"Yeah, spit it out!".
"We're in trouble", the reaper said, but her words didn't hit him as much as the sight of the person next to her did.
"Keiko?! What's going on?", he asked, shocked and worried.
"We're in the school garden at the moment", Botan explained, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible to avoid scaring the girl at her side, "There's a gang of infected men who's hunting us down!".
At those words, everyone stopped dead in their tracks, even Hiei and Sayuri, who were not really as interested in the fate of either girl…Okay, they couldn't care less to be honest.
"What?", Urameshi nearly shouted.
"They're particularly determined", Botan went on, "And I fear their intended target is Keiko!".
The poor boy felt his blood run cold, the last thing he wanted was for his crush childhood friend to be in danger, "Shit, no! Are you sure of that?".
Kazuma grimaced, "It's disgusting to target Keiko", he growled, gritting his teeth.
"Please, try to destroy Suzaku's flute as soon as possible…", she froze as a shuffling sound came from behind her and suddenly, the bush parted to reveal the face of one of Yusuke's teachers, the jerk who'd tried to frame him for theft not that long ago and always did his damned best to have him expelled.
The man threw a powerful punch, much more powerful than what a normal human without training and spirit energy was supposed to be able to throw and the girls barely had time to duck and get out of the way, his fist hitting the wall and leaving cracks in it.
In Demon World, the call ended and Urameshi was terrified, "BOTAN! Hey what's going on?", he called loudly, shaking like a leaf in the wind with fear that something could happen to his friends.
"Damn, looks like they're really in trouble!", Kuwabara noted.
"That means we've got to hurry!", Yusuke snapped, running forward even faster than before.
When the small group was close enough to the tower, just a few feet away, they noticed two tunnels on either side of the tower and from them emerged…Some weird humanoid creatures, looking like vegetable men, their skin was green and seemingly made of rotten grass, their leaf-like hair a sickly yellowish color and they stank like a swamp crossed with a dumpster.
"W-what are those things?", Kuwabara asked, half surprised and half shocked by the repugnant sight and stench.
"Vegetable humans", Sayuri answered, copper eyes glittering with both disgust and intrigue, "Impressive, not even Rara and I can create such things yet. They don't have a will of their own and they're not capable of thinking at all, they're basically plant slaves in the shape of a human".
"Well, shit", Yusuke grumbled as more and more of the things swarmed out of the tunnels, there was a small army of those creatures against only the five of them.
"Damn, did you see how many there are? It will take ages to get rid of all these walking cabbages!", Kazuma complained.
"It's an army, it will be very hard to make our way to to tower", Kurama noted, annoyed.
"And to make matters worse, those beings don't know neither pain nor fear, they're like zombies", Hiei added.
"Who makes use of such creatures must be a truly twisted and evil person", the ginger spat, "That means Keiko is in grave danger!".
"Thanks, Captain Obvious", Sayuri snarked, summoning her sword made of thorned vines, "So, should we slaughter our way in, or…?".
"No, there's another way", Hiei spoke up, "Look up there", he nodded towards the tower, more specifically a window that stood at more or less halfway to the top, "Yusuke can get in from there".
They all shared glances, then Yusuke turned to Kazuma, "Think you can do it?", he asked, the plan clear in their mind even without the need to talk about it.
"Sure, leave it to me", the ginger gathered all of his strength and then ran forward, "OUT OF MY WAY, YOU LIVING CABBAGES!", he shouted, pushing the plant-men out of his way left and right, then he stopped and got into position, knees slightly bent to better support the weight.
Kurama took a run-up and then jumped, landing perfectly with his feet on Kuwabara's shoulders. Hiei did the same, landing above the fox, then it was Sayuri's turn, adding to the weight on poor Kazuma yet also to the height of the human ladder and finally, it was Urameshi's turn: he took a deep breath, then ran as fast as he could to get more momentum, jumped and using his companions' backs as stepping stones, he made one final jump…That made him get through the window without a hitch!
"Yeah! He made it!", Sayuri cheered as she quickly got off of Hiei, the others getting down to the floor as well.
"Hey, guys, you were great! Thanks a lot!", the black-haired teen shot his friends a wide smile, "I'll treat you first chance I get!".
"Kick Suzaku's ass, that's enough payment for me!", the vixen shouted back and he laughed.
"Will do, fox girl!", he promised, giving her a thumbs up before running up the stairs.
"Well, I guess we'll have to keep ourselves entertained in the meantime", she then commented as the plant-men surrounded the four still on the platform, "Let's fight!".
Her brother chuckled fondly and summoned his rose whip, "I bet I can kill more than you", he challenged her playfully and she shot him a grin.
"Oh, it's on".
Hiei snorted as he unsheathed his sword, "Please, I will kill more than you both combined", he taunted with a smirk.
"No, I will have the highest body count, just you wait and see, shorty!", Kuwabara replied confidently.
"What about a bet then?", the vixen proposed, "The one who kills the lowest number of these things has to wear the hair of one of the zombies like a wig for a week".
"It's on!", the ginger agreed and the two male demons just shrugged, being more than confident in their abilities.
"Fine by me", Hiei replied.
"I'm fine with it as well", Kurama agreed.
Sayuri grinned widely, "Great! Let's get started then!".
While they were having fun with their battle, Yusuke managed to reach the room at the top floor, only to stop dead in his tracks as he saw Keiko and Botan running from the infected humans on a huge screen.
A moment later, he became aware of a sweet melody being played and noticed a figure standing under the screen: it was a male, his shoulder-length wild blond hair was mostly held back from his face by a golden circlet with a crystal clear aqua gem in the middle, two thin blood-red antennae fell over his high cheekbones like bangs, his eyes were a light purple color, he was taller than Yusuke and his shoulders and chest were broader than his as well.
The beautiful man, or rather, the beautiful demon was wearing white pants that reached a few inches above his ankles, red flat shoes, three golden circles around each ankle and each wrist and a sleeveless red shirt with a purple belt and a white ribbon that fell around his neck like a scarf before hovering behind his back in two wide rings.
In his hands was the flute, it was a muddy grey and had a slim body ending with what seemed like a spiky hive. Suzaku stepped forward, still playing, until he was only a foot from Yusuke, then he lowered the flute and smirked, "A magnificent melody, don't you think?", he taunted, "I was thinking of playing it as a requiem for your girlfriend. My name is Suzaku and I'm the leader of the Four Saint Beasts".
A green and yellow bird flew down to perch on his left shoulder, it had reddish eyes with what seemed to be blue eyeshadow and a long blue crest that looked like hair. "And I am Murugu", the bird introduced itself, revealing a scratchy and extremely irritating female voice. Suzaku pointed his thumb at the screen behind himself, "You're lucky, you know? You have a front row seat to watch your girlfriend being hunted down and torn to pieces by my men!", he said and his bird let out a loud, shrill, annoying-as-hell laugh as if he'd told the best joke in the world.
For a split second, Urameshi found himself thinking that he would gladly roast that f***ing bird alive and feed it to stray dogs, but then he shook himself out of it and focused on the real problem: the man in front of him, "Listen closely: hand over that flute right now", he ordered, his tone steady and commanding, "If you do, I'll let you live".
The Saint Beast's smirk fell, "What if I said no?".
"Then I'll kill you with my bare hands!", the human snarled, losing his cool at once. On the screen, he could still see Botan and Keiko in their high school, running for their lives as the infected men ran after them and his anger grew by the second at the sight.
Suzaku laughed, "So, what does it feel like to see your girlfriend being the heroine in a horror movie?", he mocked the teen, "I find her extraordinary, an actress of rare talent! She can be so convincing in the role of the victim!".
By now, Yusuke was literally shaking with fury, "You will pay dearly for this", he promised in a low, threatening tone, but his enemy wasn't impressed.
"Will I?".
That was the last straw for the human, who ran forward, faster than Suzaku had anticipated and threw a barrage of punches, most of which were parried by the demon with just his right hand, until the blonde jumped high in the air to get out of reach.
Urameshi wasn't about to let him get away so easily, though, so he gathered his spirit power in his index finger and shot his Spirit Gun at the enemy, only for the sphere of energy to be batted away with the flute, like a ball in a baseball game. The energy hit the ceiling and destroyed a section of it, broken pieces falling down around the stunned teen: he hadn't expected the demon to just bat away his Spirit Gun so easily, nobody had ever been able to do that before!
"My congratulations, that was not bad at all", the blonde commented as he got back down to the floor, half mocking and half sincere, as he too had never met anyone able to do what Yusuke had just done, "You could have wounded me gravely had you hit me in the right place", he admitted, blowing on his still smoking fist, "Look at my arm, it's still aching from the blow".
The annoying bird flew down to him, "Master Suzaku, would you like me to hold the flute while you're fighting?", it asked in a sugary sweet tone that had Yusuke wonder if it maybe had a crush on the demon.
"It won't be necessary: I've understood what his power is, now I can defeat him with just one hand", the blonde boasted.
"If you think you're scaring me, you're dead wrong!", Urameshi snapped, pissed off at the other's cockiness.
Suzaku looked up as lightning flashed in the sky, "The breach in the ceiling will be quite useful", he commented, closing his eyes and raising his right hand to the sky and the bird cheered.
"He's about to use the Storm of Torment! You'd better say your prayers, boy, you're going to die!", it addressed Yusuke, who felt a sudden craving for fried chicken.
A shot of lightning came crashing down from the sky, hitting Suzaku's outstretched hand without damaging him at all: on the contrary, it gathered in a ball of light and crackling energy so strong that it made his hair stand on end.
"Are you ready to die?", he shouted, running towards the teen, who jumped out of the way of the blow in the nick of time, only for the blonde to jump as well to try and hit him. Yusuke dodged at the last second, but a small part of the electricity still hit him, making him cry out in agonizing pain before he fell to the ground on his belly and lay there, unmoving.
"You did it, master, you killed him at the first try!", the bird cheered happily, but the teen, even with some difficulty, managed to get back up on his knees and tried to stand. His body was aching everywhere, his muscles were a bit stiff, but he would not give up.
He would never give up.