File 38: True Strength – the end of the Dark Tournament
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. She tightened her grip. Suddenly Toguro broke free and backed away a few meters at light speed. His frown turned into a crazed laugh.
"That's great, that's great, Akari! I couldn't hope for more, or my previous actions would have no meaning!"
"It's fine, isn't it?" The little one looked at Sakyo.
"Yes, as per our agreement, you're allowed to fight. The show will finally get more interesting."
"Gee... why thank you." The girl replied sarcastically. She reported her attention to Toguro but there was no burst like everyone had expected. Wind blew, sad, soft, serene.
Her feelings when he had killed her parents, her feelings when she had risked her life every single day after that to become stronger, as strong as he wanted her to be, her feelings when he had killed her master and grandmother, taking away her past, her place to return and giving her no choice but to move forward on the path she had already chosen, and that lead to him, her feelings now that he was threatening to rob her of everything she had left... and those she had last night when she remembered a conversation she had had with her grandmother before she had left for her journey. At that time she had only pretended to listen but it seemed the words had still stuck into her mind. Toguro's story... how and why he had become like this. She had thought about him, about Genkai, about Yusuke, and about herself. She understood things. And she had confirmed others by watching his fight with Urameshi. The rei master sighed, closed her eyes, and opened them again.
"Toguro, I know your true wish. I know that originally you wanted me to be the one to fulfil it." Akari spoke with the utmost conviction. "However, my heart isn't big enough to give you that, regardless of the consequences to anyone or anything. I guess in a way I'm kinda grateful you involved Yusuke so I can leave that part to him. Also, were it not for you, I wouldn't be who I am now, and I am quite satisfied with my present self. The rest will just change with time. But really..." The atmosphere around her changed and an intensely ravenous smile curved her lips. All the watchers were instantly electrified. And more than anyone, Toguro felt this shiver down his spine, like a rippling sheet of lightning. That girl was really one to shatter all expectations... "The least I can do... is show you how I grew, why I got this nickname I don't really like... and a fight worthy of me, Katsuyama Akari, granddaughter of Master Genkai... and the one known as the Human Elemental Maiden!" She made a sign with her hands and six perfect copies of herself materialized. That was the Ankoku Yoro Jin, the Saint Beast, Suzaku's technique! They disappeared and reappeared in a large circle around Toguro. They quickly created a kekkai on the battlefield. "This way you won't be able to touch anyone but me and no one will be able to interfere. If you want to dissipate this kekkai you'll have no choice but to kill me or critically injure me." And she fired shotguns in rapid volleys while skilfully sealing his movements. He knocked them down like Yusuke had done with his air pressure bullets earlier, creating a cloud of dust. Two copies of Akari leapt and launched balls of fire and air pressure. There was a huge explosion, far more potent than Karasu's and contained by the kekkai.
Koto commented about those terrifying and relentless attacks and how Akari had so easily created such a powerful dust explosion... but what about Toguro and Akari?! Just how could they escape unscathed from that?! But the girl had protected herself with an energy shield. The smoke cleared. Toguro was still standing there. He clearly had taken very important damage but it was healing at a rapid rate. Both fighters smirked ferally. The youkai attacked but the psychic evaded and the fist hit the barrier full force. And with as much force he had put into his punch, he was repelled and sent flying. He crashed against the other side and fell down. He was getting up when suddenly, Toguro jumped as a water dragon rose just under his feet. But that was a trap... and he was caught in the mouth of three water dragons that lacerated his flesh and coiled around him and imprisoned him in a sphere of water. Akari instantly increased the pressure inside to a crushing degree, like the ocean depths before freezing it. But after a time, the monster burst the sphere with his youki. He vanished and tried to smash the little human who dodged and jumped on his back where she absorbed her opponent's spectral energy. She leapt away before she got caught and fired shotguns. Toguro deflected them again, his hands smoking and heavily burnt. Two Akari jumped and performed a heel drop. The youkai blocked with his arms but ominous cracking sounds were heard and the impact caused a crater to form and the ground to split to the bleachers and divide the stadium. Four launched super heated high speed highly perforating drills raining down on him from different points. Some pierced through his back, and legs. Blood flowed from his mouth before he noticed the ice at his feet had turned into water. Lightning fell on him.
Everyone was completely awed. Even if they knew or had heard rumors about Akari's powers, to think it was to this extent... She had THAT Toguro completely on the defensive! And her attacks actually hurt him! Her reputation wasn't just a sham! She might just be able to win! The spectators started cheering for her. Things couldn't be that easy though. The demon had indeed suffered severely but that wasn't enough. He taunted her as he removed the rods from his body. She had indeed worked hard, but that still wasn't quite enough. As long as she couldn't get a clean blow on his head or heart... They still could have more fun... Enough testing the waters, time to be serious... He vanished and attacked one Akari from behind but immediately, four others were ready to shoot him at point blank range, however, before they could they were caught in Toguro's arms. He quickly withdrew and caught their back
"Four less." He smirked maniacally as he crushed them in his arms. There was an explosion of light and four flashes returned to Akari. When everyone could see again, the youkai was a bloody mess. The three remaining Akari stuck their backs against the wall of the kekkai and unleashed their wind attacks in the same time while the enemy was still healing. He was engulfed in three tornadoes and found himself in the middle of a spinning whirlwind full of rocks and blades of ice and metal and wind strengthened and sharpened with reiki coming at him from every direction and lacerating him ceaselessly, without giving him time to heal. And the cuts were all so deep. That one could really be dangerous. Toguro made his youki explode and released an even more enormous pressure. The whirlwind burst like a fragmentation bomb. The rei master protected herself but suddenly one of the Akaris was stabbed in her middle by the demon's hand. There was another explosion of light and a flash returned to Akari.
"Tsk. Is there even a limit to your durability?" After all those continuous and powerful attacks she looked tired but although her situation seemed dire her golden eyes were shining with excitation.
"You nearly got me there. And I'm also approaching my limit. Your reiki is slowing my healing rate with each attack and your kekkai is preventing me from absorbing the souls of that garbage. What more, you even forced me to surpass my limits for a short time. But now I've killed one more. There are only two of you. Isn't it time to do what you really want to do?" Toguro inquired as he recovered.
"I guess so. Seems like it's time for us to close this act. Then for the last play..." The last copy returned to the original one. The human then lunged and went for a punch. That was the start of a full all out hand-to-hand combat with blows so fast most of the audience couldn't see a thing. Both of them were suffering and still both of them had that savage smirk curving their lips. Each time Akari dodged or took a blow was instantly followed by an attack. Suddenly, the girl took advantage of one of her opponent's big swings to dive in behind him and kick him harder than usual. As he was sent flying she stomped hard on his back. The crash caused yet again another crater. Akari rose in the air and gathered energy at the tip of her index. The ball increased to her size. The energy condensed inside, the light... it looked like a little sun. She fired. Toguro caught it. The pressure made his feet sink in the ground. His veins were bursting all over. The rei master landed and waited. However, the youkai managed to divert the ball that shot towards the sky. Akari clicked her tongue, vanished, and reappeared right behind Toguro, aiming at the nape of his neck but the man suddenly caught her arms, brought her to him and immobilized her in his arms.
"I see. I really gotta completely immobilize you. If not you'll break free like earlier by breaking a few of my bones. Now I'm sorry but I have to kill you in order to get out of here. It's your fault for having such a high resistance to pain and for having made it like this after all. I really didn't want things to end like this but I guess that just shows how much you hate doing what others want you to do. Do you have any last word?"
"Drop dead already!" She yelled. From afar, she could hear her friends screaming her name even though she had not been able to hear anything during the fight.
"Too bad but I can't fulfil this wish just yet." The demon chuckled. "Well, I have words for you. Thank you for playing with me until now. Goodbye."
Akari looked at her friends, her comrades, just as Toguro tightened his grip on her. Sinister cracks were heard and blood flowed out of the girl's mouth. A second later, the kekkai shattered. Their blood frozen in their veins, their eyes wide in horror, the members of the Urameshi watched those golden eyes close and Akari fall to the ground like a broken doll. Hiei, Kurama and Kuwabara ran to her and held her up. They called her but it was no use. She would not answer. Kurama hung his head and tightly squeezed her body against him, tears running down his cheeks. Hiei was simply staring, incredulous, in a daze, as if he still had to acknowledge the blow. Kuwabara was slamming his fists on the ground. In the bleacher, the girls had started crying and sobbing too. Pearls fell at Yukina's feet. Those reactions... so... that was true after all? It was not one of her usual pranks caused by her shitty sense of humor? Akari had... had... Yusuke fell on his knees.
"With that, your last hope died. How about it? Has that motivated you a little? Or is one of them not enough? In which case, shall I have another one of them die?" The monster pondered with a cruel little smile. Yusuke stood up, vanished and reappeared behind Toguro. And the reiki flowing out of him sent a cold shiver down his opponent's spine, surprising him.
"I'm pitiful... I couldn't even save one of my own..." Urameshi lamented, his ki filling the whole stadium but it was completely different from before. It was an incredibly chilling wind, very similar to the one Akari had caused when she had lost Genkai. "That was unforgivable... and more than anyone else, I cannot forgive myself."
"You've snapped, huh?" Toguro smiled. Really, just how exhilarating was the growth of these two each time they were plunged into depths of grief and despair... And indeed, something was changing in Yusuke's body, like his limiter had broken.
Akari... even though she had always insulted him, always hit him, teased him, taunted him, from their very first meeting... she had also always helped him, healed him, saved him, pushed his back, made him stronger... with Hiei, Goki, and Kurama, with Suzaku and the Saint Beasts, during the tournament too like with the Dr Ichigaki Team... and she kept believing in him, in his victory over Toguro, she had entrusted that fight to him... even though because of him her grandmother, Genkai, was... despite all that... That was unforgivable. For not being able to save his friend... more than anyone, he really couldn't forgive himself from the bottom of his heart.
Toguro felt this cold shiver again. Anxiety and anticipation were equally controlling his body. What a blessed day. That unprecendented tension, this feeling of fighting a match whose outcome you could not foresee, and to be experiencing those twice in a single day when he had never felt that once. Truly, what a blessed day it was.
"This is indeed the fight I was hoping for! This is also how you were hoping it would turn out! Be grateful to me, Urameshi. You are now indisputably strong! You are approaching the same status of strength that I possess!" Toguro lunged.
"I'm not like you."
"How are you different?!" The demon punched Urameshi who hurled back. His back slid on the ground until he crashed against a wall. "Get up! That shouldn't have hurt you that badly. The power I hit you with is the same. However, the damage you take shouldn't be as great. If that is not strength, then what is it?"
"It's true my body doesn't hurt the way it used to." Yusuke stood up. Their strengths were definitely growing closer, but in the same time, they were decidedly different. The boy's reiki changed again. Just as it was strong, it was terribly confused and vague. But again, it was easier for everyone else to breathe, like it was protecting them. Jin commented about the awfully sorrowful breeze. It was so sad it felt like he was all empty on the inside. Urameshi was fighting with himself. He was unable to forgive himself. But no matter how strong his spiritual energy grew, would he be able to fight Toguro like this?
"Urameshi, does it pain your heart? It's like having the measles. Once you get over it, you'll never suffer from it again. Right now you are being tormented by your feelings of powerlessness, right? Don't you want to become stronger, more and more? You'll reach the same state as I have, even if it means discarding everything else! Now is the time! Believe me! Power is everything!" Toguro declaimed. Urameshi clenched his fists.
"I'm different from you! And so was Akari! She suffered when you killed her parents, and she suffered when you killed her grandmother too. She never stopped suffering. Even as she tried to ressemble you, to discard everything like you, she never did! The people she met in the Makai, me, Kurama, everyone, she has us. She never abandoned us and never would. With that kekkai, she protected us to the very end. And I'm the same. I can't discard them. I was able to make it this far because everyone was there..."
"You're soft! Soft! Soft! Soft! All you need is yourself! Can't you understand that?!" The youkai pointed an accusing finger at Yusuke who shook his head sadly. "It appears you won't understand unless I get one more of them to die." He turned to the remaining members of the Urameshi Team with a cruel smile. The boy frowned deeply and caught the demon's wrist. "Let go of me." He ordered sharply. Yusuke wouldn't budge.
"At some level, I yearned to be like you too. Even as I was nearly having the piss scared out of me, I yearned for your strength..." Due to the pressure of the teen's reiki, the ground started cracking. "Despite what baa-san told me again and again... like Akari I wanted your kind of strength, even if that meant tossing everything aside."
"That's what you have to do."
"I won't do it! Just like Akari, I refuse to acknowledge your strength as true strength, and I'll prove to you that she and granny were right! Akari showed me, and granny told me, right at the very end..." Genkai had told him and Akari about how Toguro was reborn as a youkai from being a human in order to hold onto his power longer. She had told them about how everyone had to fight against time, and how he had ran away from that fight. Throwing away his pride, his soul, and his friends... She had told them that they were not alone, and to never forget that... "I've finally realized the weight of that which you have discarded. I will not discard it! I will safeguard it even if I have to cling to it!" Urameshi tightened his grip on Toguro's wrist and the rising pressure of his reiki caused the ground around them to break apart and the rocks to shoot up. His confusion had cleared up.
"You are Genkai's pupil alright. Being at that level and all..."
"I won't let you kill anyone else! As such, I'm going to beat you!" Yusuke affirmed.
"I doubt you could." Toguro scoffed. But just as he said that, the human's fist heavily collided with his cheek before he could react. The impact not only twisted the demon's neck but also sent him flying and rolling and crashing through rocks all the way to the fence on the other side. Just when he sat up he saw that huge reigun heading towards him. It hit him before blasting through the bleachers, the forest, rocketing above the sea and rising into the sky. Everyone was amazed by this severe punch followed by this rei-gun at maximum power. Even Contestant Toguro seemed to have taken damage from that and be unable to move. Once more the onlooked observed with renewed hope.
"The next reigun will be my last one. I'm going to put all of my power into it. In exchange I want you to take all the power you got after discarding your soul and use all of it, and I mean ALL of it, to come after me! I'll tear down everything about you and win!" Yusuke affirmed with strength and determination. The monster chuckled, stood up, and returned his neck to normal, to the spectators' shock. He seemed awfully happy.
"That's a good look. Up to now, I've beaten everybody who challenged me with that look and stepped over their corpses. Sometimes no matter how the opponent, I used my full power. And now, I can use more power than ever before. Let's finish this!" The man roared, increased his youki and transformed again. "Full power! 100% of 100%! If you're going to be the greatest at one thing, you have to abandon everything else. That's what you are incapable of doing and that's what makes you incomplete!"
"Abandonned everything, you say? That's not it. More like you ran away from it. You've ran away from it all!" Urameshi yelled confidently. "I will not run. I will abandon nothing."
Let all of the power within me come together! I don't care if I'm never able to shoot this again! Yusuke aimed and gathered every ounce of spirit energy he possessed at the tip of his index. I don't care if I kick the bucket! I just want to shoot all the power I have in this one blast! Toguro howled and braced himself to receive the attack with everything he had too. Both roared, heightening their spirits, their energy, their power to the utmost limits, staking their entire life in this single instant.
"Take this! REIGUN!" Yusuke fired. Toguro ran to meet the attack head on. He caught it with one hand but was soon forced to use the other too as the force drove him back and the pressure on his right arm was too great. The audience was cheering and telling Urameshi to blow Toguro, the exact opposite of what they were saying at the beginning. And then Yusuke completely exhausted himself. The flow of energy stopped and he sank on his knees, utterly empty. But it was not over. His reigun was still alive! And it was still pushing the demon back. But if that didn't work, then the human wouldn't even have enough power left to survive through a single punch. And indeed, Toguro, through sheer strength, constricted the ball and managed to extinguish it. His body ws smoking and covered with burns, but he had pulled it off. Yusuke collapsed entirely. It was over.
The scarce remaining spectators were despairing. They were going to be devoured. Toguro slowly walked over to Urameshi.
"I give you my thanks, Urameshi. I've been able to put out that much power." He said with such a gentle smile and expression you wouldn't believe it was the same man. Cracks appeared on his face that extended all over his body. "Is this the strain caused by going over 100%?" His hardened armor-like body shattered, leaving only his human body that now looked like frayed bark. "When you fight for someone else, you can bring out 120% of your power. That's what makes you strong." Toguro fell down, dead.
Was it a draw? Juri, who had hidden behind a rock, approached. Toguro was definitely dead but Yusuke was standing up. Koto climbed down and joined her collegue and declared him the victor. Urameshi Yusuke had won. He was still alive. Everyone was cheering, but the winner didn't look the least bit happy. He collapsed again. His friends ran to him and Kuwabara helped him up, told him to keep a hold of himself. He had won, he was the one who had won!
"I'm alive..." Urameshi whispered, still incredulous. Koenma praised him. His fight had been magnificent. But then, the boy saw Akari in Kurama's arms, shoved Kazuma away and fell back on all fours. "Damn it... damn it all!" He cursed, clawing at the ground, slamming his fist against it. "Because I can't do anything, she always takes my place and saves the ones I should have saved... because I can't do anything, she's always sacrificed herself for me... even now... I couldn't do anything as she was killed right in front of me... what can I do for her now? How should I pay back all the debt I have piled up? What should I do?!" He screamed in anguish, tears streaming down his face.
"Let's see... for now you can just stay like this. You make a good bench." A female voice said coolly as the Dark Tournament champion suddenly felt a weight on his back. He turned his head and saw Akari sitting on him.
Author's note: next chapter won't be before some time because I must first do some preparation work.
