File 37: Last match
"And now, the end is upon us! This is the championship match of the Dark Tournament! Will the Toguro Team win consecutive championship? Or will the Urameshi Team win their first championship in their first appearance? What's more... as it is the battle between captains, everything will be decided by this match! Contestant Toguro, versus Contestant Urameshi!" Koto raised the tension.
Chu, Jin, Toya, and Rinku arrived just then. Those four had become completely inseparable. They had arrived just in time... all because they had put Chu in charge of their precious tickets. Or so Jin complained. Indeed, the drunkard had overslept because he had drunk too much and then he couldn't remember where he had put the tickets. But Toya didn't care. They had arrived in time to see the fight between Toguro and Urameshi. Chu justified himself by mentioning this perfect timing. Rinku reminded him it was just by a great stroke of luck and there was nothing for him to brag about. The drunkard laughed and they climbed down the stairs. The youkais stared fearfully and some even scooted away from that scary bunch. Even if those four had lost to the Urameshi Team, they were still frighteningly strong. The Mohawk head mistook that for courtesy and they sat together at some good place.
"Both contestants, are you ready? Then begin the final match!" Juri declared.
"First let's have a dry run. I want to check whether that attack of yours the other day was real or just a temper tantrum. I think I'll begin at 80%" Toguro raised his power and muscle mass. The ring cracked below him. His volume doubled. The crowd cheered, but their reaction changed when a number of them dissolved as if they had had sulphuric acid poured onto them. The weaker youkais were being done in from just the youki Toguro was emitting. Knowing it was hard with his injuries, Akari returned to Kurama's side and continued his treatment and in the same time raised a spheric shield, protecting all her teammates against that terrible energy. Yukina, who could also keenly feel it tried to urge the other women to flee. Weak humans like them wouldn't survive it. But then she noticed they were already within a barrier.
"Puu-san..." She muttered, looking at the blank expression of the blue creature.
While on the arena, Yusuke was facing that monster. His expression appeared alert of course but really he was unusually calm. Just like how it was said that you stopped feeling any pain when you suffered from a real horrible injury. Maybe the same was true about fear. Suddenly, Urameshi lunged. He punched Toguro's guts but his opponent's uppercut sent him flying. He recovered, skidded, and charged again. He leapt and went for the face and missed as his enemy stepped sideways. About to be smashed by Toguro's fist, he nonetheless managed to dodge in mid-air by shifting his center of gravity and use his new position to kick his face and use the recoil of the kick to evade the next attack. However, just the pressure from the youkai's swings could blast trenches through the ring that went far into the bleachers. Even the debris served as projectile weapons. And although Yusuke could avoid the blows themselves, he could not altogether prevent all the fragments from scratching him. The human landed again. Toguro charged. Urameshi looked back and braced himself.
"Y-you dumbass! Don't tell me you're thinking of stopping his punch?!" Kuwabara shouted incredulously. But unexpectedly, the demon stopped.
"Pardon me. It wouldn't be fair of me to attack from this angle."
"I didn't know you were a feminist." Yusuke commented. Behind him, in the bleachers, stood Keiko, Botan, Shizuru and Yukina. Toguro's attack would have killed them, and the boy would have had no choice but to take it to save them. But to think that would move that youkai...
"You wouldn't know."
"Keh, that's rather preposterous of you considering what you did to Akari."
"Akari is a special case, right?"
"I-incredible! For a moment, it looked as if sparks were flying from the battle! Instantaneous defence and attack... did you see that, everyone?! They look evenly matched for now, don't they?!" Koto commented as if she had been holding her breath the whole time.
"Still not yet..." Hiei disagreed. "Both have yet to show what they can really do. They're still just testing each other out. Damn... I shouldn't have yielded this fight to Yusuke." He swore. He too wanted to test himself against that monster that was Toguro, like a starving man craving for food. But then he looked at Akari who was watching the battle with a blank expression. He knew though she was watching more intently than anyone. She was also the one with the most rights and the deepest desire to fight Toguro. What would have happened without that stupid bet? Just what exactly was she feeling?
"Assuming that Toguro is only using around 30% of his abilities, I'd say that Yusuke is using 60%." Toya supposed.
"Yeah... but Yusuke has his reigun. That thing really multiplies his power when he's usin' it." Jin debated.
"The question is: how much has the force of Yusuke's reiki risen these past few days?" Chu wondered with an unusually serious expression and sharp deduction.
"You don't seem to be nervous. Excellent. Now show me the power that Genkai turned over to you." Toguro asked.
"Sure." Urameshi smirked. "I'll show you!" And he got into position. Reiki gathered around his right arm and at the tip of his index finger. He lunged. He was limited to four shots. He could not afford to waste them. His enemy noticed his cautiousness. Urameshi was looking for an opening. Blows rained on the demon's torso but those only tickled him. The youkai swung down his fist and made a crater in the ring. Yusuke dodged the second strike that blasted a hole in the wall before narrowly avoiding a kick and using his enemy's outsretched leg to jump and land on Toguro's other side and retaliate with a kick. However, that kick did no further damage than the previous one. The human rebounded again. His enemy reappeared at his side.
"I'll be using more strength." Toguro warned and swung down again. Urameshi grabbed his opponent's arm and yanked himself out of harm's way. The punch literally shattered the ring to smithereens. Juri and Yusuke were sent flying. Now come on, shoot me! I've given you some cover. He sensed something from his right and looked. There, among the chunks of concrete that had splashed up like drops of water... Urameshi was there, upside down, still rising up... and aiming at him. He fired his reigun at just a meter's distance. Toguro took the full shot, screamed, and was blasted through the stadium and far into the forest.
"That was a clean hit!" Koto exclaimed. "The force of that reigun was incomparable to the previous ones! He blew him a substancial distance away from the arena!" She continued excitedly. Kuwabara yelled about the countdown as Toguro was out of the ring. Just where was the judge? And well, the judge was slumped against the wall, completely out cold. Hiei told him to look at Yusuke's feet. There was no more ring, just earth and a few rocks here and there. Ringouts didn't mean anything in this fight. It was either kill or be killed. The former opponents and now supporters of the Urameshi Team voiced their amazement. What kind of training did he go trough in order to become this powerful in such a short time?! But really, that had been perfect. Toguro hadn't been able to guard up in time. Now, if Toguro came out unscathed from that...
The detective walked to the hole he had made. He observed the blazing trail and soon saw the devil calmly returning. He didn't have a single scratch. His glasses had been blown away and his pants were a bit torn but otherwise there wasn't a single change.
"Is that all there is to your power?" He questioned while dusting himself. Kuwabara fearfully stepped back before his knees gave in and he fell on his butt, calling him a monster. The demon suddenly released his youki in a flash and scratches and gashes appeared all over Yusuke's body. Toguro had attacked with just his aura but his guard of reiki had been unable to protect him. Just at 80%... there was still such a gulf between their powers... "I was a fool to expect too much from you. You're not worth fighting at 100%. I will finish this the way I am, at 80%." The youkai declared.
The crowd cheered. But the human's friends seemed quite apprehensive. Urameshi's greatest technique, the reigun, even powered up by Genkai's energy and possessing at least triple the force than during his match against Chu, couldn't do the slightest damage. Was it really impossible for him to win after all? But against all expectations, Yusuke smirked and chuckled.
"Sure enough, it was too much to hope for, the way I am..." He removed his wristbands and his wrists seemed to be glowing. They were linked together just like his ankles.
"Jureijo Shunogyo, huh?"
Spell of Spirit Shackles, Mastery Training. He had been fighting with a handicap... against THAT Toguro... The boy was remembering the time when Genkai had put those incredibly heavy things on him right before giving him the Spirit Orb. They were rei inhibitors for training in rei techniques. To put it simply, they would lock away his spiritual energy so he could improve it. Of course it was impossible to move them with physical strength. He had to use his reiki, and he had to constantly be at full power if he didn't want to die. He could double his power if he got accustomed to them. She had told him the password to remove them and warned him not to use it until he had reached his limit as the longer he wore those locks the more his power would increase. As for when he should remove them, surely, he would be the one to know best...
I'm taking them off, granny.
"Ante!" His binds disappeared and the energy that had been bottled up until now overflowed. Koto voiced her pleasant surprise that Contestant Urameshi still had so much strength after that fight. Everyone else – but Akari – was just as shocked. For Kuwabara Yusuke was now more than a match against Toguro. There was no way he'd lose!
"Did you think you could beat me with those inhibitors suppressing your powers?" The youkai inquired.
"Well, yeah. But it didn't work anyway."
"Then you were underestimating me quite a bit. Were you trying to test me? Come... I'll show you who was testing whom!" Toguro changed his stance. Urameshi charged and suddenly vanished, too fast for most eyes to see. He reappeared right before his opponent and rained blows on all his upper body. This sheer wall of punches sent the giant flying. Toguro slid on his back. The human leapt and struck his chest more strongly than before. Blood flowed from the demon's mouth. The force of the blow made a large and deep crater. Yusuke kept up his barrage of fists not giving his opponent the time to hit back. Kazuma cheered, just like Chu and Rinku, perched on Chu's shoulder. Suddenly, Urameshi saw the look in his opponent's eye and froze in fear. He jumped back instinctively and landed at a safe distance from the hole, shocking everyone.
That was neither bloodlust nor fighting spirit. Just from the look in his eyes I felt like I was gonna be killed!
Toguro came out of the hole. His transformation had disappeared. He now looked like a normal human, albeit a bit lanky and quite bruised and battered. It was as if he had shrunk and got thinner. The audience wondered whether it was because it had taken all he had just to survive Urameshi's attack. But for fighters with greater experience or intuition like Kurama, the impression they had was different. They had this disturbing and ominous feeling like they were standing on a beach at the arrival of a giant tsunami.
"For the first time, I've encountered a worthy opponent." Toguro said softly as his veins became visible all over his body. "Let's have a good match. 100%." At this, his youki started rising. Koto did not miss her chance to comment on that. That man was finally going to show all his power. There was an explosion of light that poured out the holes of the stadium. And even as it receded, youki splashed like strong jets of acid that instantly destroyed everything it touched. The girls were protected by Puu's kekkai and Chu, Rinku, Jin and Toya were able to dodge, but that was not the case for most of the others. And Toguro transformed. His muscles thickened, his body grew, his shoulders broadened, his skin turned gray and now looked like the bark of a juniper tree, or like an armor of enlarged and super hardened muscles. Was this guy really a former human? Even Hiei doubted it. He was truly... a monster. Kuwabara yelled at Yusuke to attack now, while his enemy was still in the middle of his transformation but the boy did not move. He could not move. It wasn't fear. He wanted to see his opponent at 100%. Tube-like appendages appeared on Toguro's shoulders. And the metamorphosis was completed.
A quarter of the spectators had been wiped out. Kazuma's spiritual awareness hadn't been working for a while and now he understood why. If he could feel that youki fully, he'd go insane. And Koenma realized the perilousness of his wager. If only Yusuke had met Genkai just a year earlier...
Suddenly, the youkai flicked his right thumb. The pressure from the flick hit Yusuke on the forehead like a bullet. The force sent him flying backwards, skidding on the ground. He stood back up, blood oozing from his forehead wound and trickling down the sides of his nose. It was a relatively light wound because it was him. But to create a bullet-like blast of air pressure just by flicking his thumb...
"You figured it out, didn't you? Now I will do it rapid-fire." Toguro warned... and did exactly as he had said. Yusuke parried all of the shots with his reiki-active fists. However, this was some serious shit. Those things were so heavy... at this rate his strength was going to wear down just by blocking them and it was not like he could afford to get hit either. Instead of just blocking he deflected the shots to the ground, creating a dust screen. The unusual attack stopped. Urameshi jumped and dived but his punch was stopped by his enemy's left thumb, and in his current position he was unable to stop Toguro's right fist from breaking his left arm. He was blown away. He sat back up holding his broken arm, in too much pain to scream. The boy cursed and gathered his reiki at the tip of his index. "Shoot with your full power! This may be your last chance!" The demon advised.
"Don't patronize me!" Yusuke fired... and his full-powered shot was completely nullified by his opponent's shout. Everyone was shocked. The reigun, annulled by a simple 'kiai'...
"From my viewpoint as a former human, there is something that you are currently lacking. That is... a sense of crisis. Perhaps you still think you won't die... is that it?" Suddenly, Toguro vanished and reappeared right before Urameshi. And the next thing the boy knew, a fist connected with his abdomen and sent him flying to the topmost tier of the stands where he ricocheted on the stairs before crashing against the wall. He recovered his breath only to be vomiting blood. He fell on his knees, holding his belly. "I think you're mistaken on the reason of my 100% metamorphosis, Urameshi. For the moment, you're hardly worthy of this transformation. I can kill you whenever I want. But then, there would be no meaning in my reaching 100%. You have an obligation to me, the obligation to draw out all of your energy to its maximum limit... to fight me. For a long time, I have been thinking on what could make you use all your power. Pain? Fear of dying? Anger? For Akari, it is definitely anger, anger and hatred. She doesn't fear pain or death. But what about you? I'd be glad to be able to throw a light on this."
"This guy's crazy! He's completely absorbed by fighting! His instinct is guided only by his need for confrontation!" Kuwabara exclaimed, appalled.
"Instinct? That is incorrect. This is my will. Fighting is my purpose in life. Instinct is only used for survival. Like in this case for example..." And just as he said that, his aura started sucking all the souls of the dead youkais into the tube-like appendanges on his shoulders. "I get terribly hungry in my 100% form. I will devour everyone, starting with the weak ones. It won't even take me twenty minutes to consume all the food here in the stadium. Is it alright for you to sit idly like this? Your friends have come to cheer on you, haven't they?" Toguro chuckled maliciously. And indeed many of the most fragile spectators turned into ectoplasms and got absorbed. Rinku was weakening and starting to feel cold, same for the black haired middle-aged man of the former Dr Ichigaki Team. Koto wasn't well either but tried to do her job nonetheless. She and Rinku were protected by Chu. Akari took care of the other members of the Urameshi Team as always. Shizuru wanted to beat the crap out of 'that rotten muscle-bound bastard' for doing as he pleased but Yukina calmed her down. They shouldn't leave Puu's barrier. Except for Yusuke's friends, basically all of the audience fled for their lives... or tried to. Seeing that, Sakyo took a sort of remote control and pressed a few switches. There was a loud rumble, the earth shook, and around the stadium thick walls rose higher than the building itself. Everyone was trapped. Sakyo coolly lit a cigarette.
"Why escape? Don't you like the show? Even though it's such a magnificent one... The price for the tickets will be your lives. Cheap isn't it? Since you're just trash what's the point in saving you anyway?" The sponsor of the Toguro Team commented cold-bloodedly. This obvious lack of humane feelings on the opponents's part was really getting on Urameshi's nerves. A number of youkais decided to attack Toguro together to kill before they got killed. Of course, he dispatched them instantly and absorbed their souls.
"Fodder should just shut up and watch. This is a fight between me and Urameshi." Younger Toguro dismissed them. The boy suddenly snapped and leapt.
"Don't you lump me in with you!" He yelled as he punched his enemy's forehead. The demon did not move and took it head on. The impact made a crater.
"So, for you too it is wrath after all. In order for you to draw out your power, you require anger?" Toguro remarked. Even more aggravated by that calm, Yusuke rained blows on him. At this point, the spectators understood that the only thing they could do was to rely on him to beat Toguro and started cheering him on. Such self-serving baseness... how unsightly... However, the youkai caught Urameshi's fist and squeezed it. The boy screamed as his bones cracked. "But that... is not enough." Following that, Toguro showered his opponent with punches in his guts, chest, face... without letting him time to rest, just as Urameshi had done with him earlier. But the weigth of their attacks was nothing alike. Blood flowed from the human's mouth.
Keiko whispered Yusuke's name in disbelief and fell on her knees. What she was watching couldn't be real. Every morning she'd drag him to school where he'd always goof up and cause her trouble and every evening she'd be worried about him. That dull but gentle and peaceful everyday life... that was reality. There was no way or reason for it to be otherwise... So Yusuke being so badly injured and yet still fighting... it could only be a dream, a bad dream... it was a dream, right?
"Let's go home! Let's go home together, Yusuke!" She cried, tears streaming down her face.
"Snap out of it, Keiko-chan! Yusuke's going to win for sure!" Botan hugged Yukimura.
"Well, well, he's really nothing but trouble." The ferry girl suddenly heard Genkai's familiar voice. But it couldn't be! Where was it coming from?
In the meantime, Toguro had let go of Yusuke and was trying to crush him underfoot but the detective had caught his foot and was desperately trying to keep up with the growing pressure. But if the human looked desperate, the demon, on the other hand, wasn't even really trying.
"Heh? You still don't want to move? Do you prefer to wait until I've eaten everyone?" And as he was the one fighting him, Toguro also knew better than anyone the potential still sleeping inside Urameshi... and that he would keep nudging until it awakened. "I am a different creature at 100% than I was before. I'll do anything it takes to shake your will to fight and draw out all of your power..." He glanced sideways at the girls within the kekkai. Yusuke followed his eyes and gasped in horror and fright. "Even something like this!" He swatted his arm in the women's direction. There was a large explosion. Yusuke's eyes widened in terror while his teeth gritted in rage and hatred... When the smoke cleared, the girls were still fine but the blow had destroyed the wall a few meters from them. "Next time, I will hit them." Toguro looked down on Urameshi with a cruel smirk.
"You bastard!" The human yelled. His burst of fierce anger caused a burst of power, allowing him to break free from his enemy and immediately lunge at him again. His fist heavily connected with Toguro's left cheek, drawing blood and knocking him away. But the demon instantly retaliated with a punch of his that sent his opponent crash into the wall surrounded the arena.
"Not yet, this is still insufficient. Don't disappoint me, Urameshi. You shouldn't be content with only bringing out your anger."
"Shit." The boy cursed. He vomited blood again. And blood dribbled down his face, arms, chest. He was completely battered. And even more crushing than Toguro's fist, this realization came from the deepest of his guts... I can't win! The gap between that man's strength and his own current strength was so overwhelming that it could crush anyone's will to fight. And yet, he still had to fight.
At around 20, Shizuru admitted that she would have liked to live longer but seemed to be taking things coolly, though that was still timid compared to her usual self. Botan was the one hanging on the most. The audience was starting to despair. Urameshi obviously couldn't do it. They were all finished. Kuwabara was of the same opinion. Was there nothing anyone could do? But then, he remembered Akari. If it was Akari, then surely...!
"Sorry but I can't do anything yet as it would be a breach of contract. The first demons who got killed were just collateral damage as they were too weak to even stand in that guy's presence. The ones he dispatched earlier was because he was merely responding to their attack. He'd have never gone out of his way to kill them when he was facing Urameshi. And he didn't target the girls but the wall next to them." Katsuyama explained. Her arms crossed, she looked unnaturally calm, composed. And still, she was watching the match like a hawk.
"Yes, but..."
"The match is not over. That man won't let Urameshi die before he's used up every possible means to bring out Urameshi's power. Don't worry, there's still a way. Trust us."
"Yukina, Botan, you can build up a kekkai for four people, right?" Puu turned to the women, but the creature's voice, tone, speech patterns, expression... were exactly the same as Genkai's! The females were stunned, but the two did as told. The granny's spirit had possessed Puu! The spiritual beast flew down between the contestants and apologised for interrupting them. The constestants also instantly recognized Genkai. "Toguro! You want to see the depths of Yusuke's power, right? I'll tell you the quickest way to do so. It's simple... you just have to kill his friends." She affirmed. Yusuke and Kuwabara were shocked but Akari, Hiei, and Kurama didn't look surprised at all.
"Old hag! Have you gone nuts?" The boy shouted. How dared she suggest such a thing?!
"Right now, he is unable to draw out his true power by himself. Unless one of his friends dies before his eyes, he will not awaken. One way or another, everybody's going to die at this rate. May as well sacrifice one to save the others right?"
"Don't even joke about that! I've misjudged you, you dirty hag! Are you saying that all will be well if I watch one die for everyone else?! You think I could do that you piece of crap?!" Yusuke shot back. Genkai hit him hard with Puu's ear. He really couldn't grasp the situation. It was no longer about allowing things or not. It was that whatever Toguro decided to do, it was not within his current ability to stop it, and that was even if Toguro decided to kill one of his friends. He glared back at Genkai.
"Yusuke, this is the merciless world that you have chosen. The weak have no choice but to accept their fate." She declared with an implacable look. Suddenly, Toguro knocked them both with his air pressure bullets. Puu recovered in midair and flew away but Yusuke fell back face first on the ground.
"This is something I thought of as well, as a final resort. If you're so inexperienced that you can't even control your own power, then I guess you leave me no choice." The demon looked over to where the rest of the Urameshi Team had gathered.
"No... stop..." The boy struggled to stand up as Toguro stared at each of his closest friends in turn. Then the youkai smirked.
"You will do!" He pointed at Kuwabara who recoiled slightly, shocked. Just like Yusuke who seemed to have blanked out. "For the sake of drawing out Urameshi's power, as well as for me, you must die!" The monster slowly approached his prey. The human regained some energy, yelled, and showered his enemy's head and torso with punches... in vain. He didn't have the slightest power. Toguro swatted the annoying fly away, telling him to buzz off. The teen charged again to the same results.
And with gritted teeth, Kuwabara watched as his lifelong friend, the one he had always considered his precious rival despite the disparity of their abilities, stood up and got beaten again and again... even though he was already so utterly wrecked, so utterly helpless... Kurama and Hiei were preparing to attack Toguro too as soon as he got close enough, even though they had no weapon and practically no energy after their fights against Karasu and Bui...
"You two are forbidden to move. This isn't the time for you to commit pointless suicide together." Akari harshly glared at them.
"Hey, Akari!"
"What are you-?!"
"Got it?" She insisted. They wanted to protest again but could not. Something in her eyes made them unable to speak up. Something inside her had changed... It seemed like she had reached a conclusion, like she had taken a decision. Everything seemed to be clear for her but she was completely opaque to them. But somehow... the Akari who had been so fragile lately now appeared frighteningly strong...
"You're pathetic, Urameshi." Toguro scorned. With those words, Yusuke reached a breaking point. He aimed at his opponent who vanished before him and reappeared right behind him, kneeling down at his side, his hand clamped on his shoulder. "You are powerless." The demon slammed the human down into the earth with a smile.
I am... powerless... Yusuke thought. Toguro continued walking inexorably. The Urameshi Team tensed. He was coming!
"Wait!" Kuwabara suddenly yelled. "I'm going alone!" He declared, stunning both Hiei and Kurama who tried to dissuade him. He stared back at them with a look similar to Akari's. "Aka-chan. I finally understand you and what you're thinking of. We can't let Urameshi die and we can't let you go over to that guy, can we? I don't think he'd use you for something good. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if it involved the whole country or even the world. Koenma bet his life on you and Urameshi, you bet not only your own fate but that of millions of people on Urameshi. That's why I will trust you, the both of you. I stake my life on your plan, and Urameshi's victory." Kazuma declared. At this, the fox had a flash of realization. "Here I go!" He roared as he summed his reiken and charged.
Toguro disappeared from view again and this time appeared right before the swordsman, but just as his hand was going to stab through the human's chest, it was stopped by an inflexible force. The two men looked down. Blood was trickling down from Kuwabara's chest where Toguro's fingers had pierced his skin just a few millimetres deep. And tightly clamped around Toguro's wrist was a small white hand obviously belying an immense strength.
"That's enough, Toguro. Now, your opponent is me." Akari fiercely glared at the demon towering above her.
