Chapter 20

Darkine's Lair

Corey grit his teeth for a second and sighed, "Fine. Go take the glory for kicking this guy's ass, see if I care," He smirked, "But don't get pissed at me if I've already beaten Darkine by the time you get there,"

Derek nodded, "Deal. Good luck, both of you,"

"You too, pal," said Corey.

"Both of you be careful. I'll send Kurama in as soon as I find him," said Liz.

"Good idea," Derek said, and with that nodded. Liz took off back through the entrance of the cavern, and Corey ran up the steps to the Keep.

He stopped at the very top and took one last look at his friend before running through the destroyed doors that Dia made.

Good luck, bro…

Everything was quiet as Corey ran further and further down the corridor towards his final destination. The first thing Corey noticed was that the décor had changed dramatically. The walls were covered in what looked like glowing, pulsing veins…as if this entire area was alive, feeling his every step.

"This is just plain eerie…" Corey said aloud.

He ran for another five minutes until he saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

"Hopefully that's not an omen…" Corey said, trying to make himself laugh. It didn't work. He ran a little faster until he reached the end of the tunnel and found himself in the middle of a room with five doors.

Corey blinked, "Okay…now what?" He didn't see one that was left open by Dia and frowned, "Which one…hey!!"

He turned around to see that the entrance of the room was now sealed shut by the pulsing veins on the walls. A shiver went down Corey's spine.

"Crap,"

Turning around again, he watched as the door farthest to the right slowly opened.

"Door number five, is it?"

He knew it had to be a trap, but when he went to go check the door next to it, he found it wouldn't budge.

"Great. Door number five it is, then,"

Corey bolted through the door and started running again, hearing it slam shut behind him. He knew there was no point in checking to see if it would open again.

Another ten minutes passed as he ran down the winding hallway until he spotted another light at the end of the tunnel. The difference was this light had a weird green tint to it.

I don't like the feel of this…

Corey slowed his pace down to a walk and made his way into the green light. For a second, it was blinding, but when his eyes finally adjusted he saw where he was.

It was Darkine's laboratory.

There were machines of all kinds, connected to the walls and into cylinders about four feet around and nearly ten feet tall. From a distance all Corey could see was green ooze inside of them.

"What the hell is all this?" Corey asked aloud, but didn't expect an answer. To his surprise, he got one.

"They are my pets,"

"Darkine…" Corey growled, his fists instantly clenching, "Where are you?!"

"You'll find out soon enough, Corey Kartana," Darkine said, his voice echoing eerily throughout the entire lab, "But first, why don't you take a closer look inside those cylinders?"

"Why should I?" Corey asked, still looking around to make sure he didn't get jumped from behind.

"Oh trust me. You'll enjoy this,"

Against his better judgment, Corey slowly walked over to the oozed filled cylinders and peered inside one. His eyes suddenly shot open and he fell backwards, still staring at horror at what he saw.

A human woman.

She was floating nude in the test tube, suspended in place by the green ooze. Her eyes were wide open with a look of pure terror and pain in them.

"What…what the hell is this?!" Corey stuttered out, slowly picking himself up, "What have you done to her, Darkine?!"

Darkine's laughter echoed through the lab, "I've enhanced her, Corey Kartana. Made her far superior to any normal human. She is now one of my many demon pawns."

"Let…let her out of there, Darkine!! Do it now!" screamed Corey, now pounding on the cylinder, trying to free the girl. She looked oddly familiar to him, for some reason.

"Do you want to see her?"

"Just let her go!!"

"As you wish,"

The tube suddenly slid up, draining the green ooze and the girl inside of it onto the ground. Corey instinctively went down to her, holding her in his arms.

"Hey…hey! Wake up you're okay now!" Corey shouted, trying to stir the girl, whose eyes had closed as soon as she left the tube. Suddenly, a pulse of demonic energy moved through her body, causing Corey to let go of her and jump back.

"K…kill…kill me…" the girl struggled to say, her eyes open now. They were pitch black.

"What?! No! I'm here to save you! All of you!" Corey shouted desperately, feeling his body start to shake.

"No…no saving…kill…kill me…aaahhhh!!!!" The woman started to scream bloody murder, her body starting to twist and move in ways that it shouldn't.

"No!!" Corey screamed, but there was nothing he could do as he watched the woman transform into a green, scaled demon. Her fingernails were now claws, and her teeth two rows of fangs. She got up and was grinning painfully at Corey,

"Kill…"

"Dammit!!" Corey cried as he jumped away from the woman's claws. "Darkine!!"

"I believe you asked for me to let her out, Corey," Darkine said, laughter in his voice.

"This isn't what I meant!" Corey shouted, still dodging the woman's claws. He looked towards the other tubes to see that they were now opening too. More and more men and women began to emerge, first screaming in pain as they transformed into monsters, then joining with the once human woman in attacking Corey.

"Can you sense their power, Corey?" Darkine asked, "Can you sense how strong they are now? They used to be regular humans, you know…your soldiers, to be precise."

"What?!"

The human monsters all stopped moving and just stared at Corey while Darkine spoke.

"All of these creatures were once your human soldiers from your little army, Corey. Worry not, though. They are much better off now…"

"No…no I don't believe it…"

"But it's the truth!" said Darkine, "You could be like them Corey…don't you want power?"

"No!" Corey shouted, swinging his fist, "Not like this! Change them back, Darkine! Do it now!"

"There is no going back…but, if you will not join them, you'll just have to kill them. It's for the 'greater good' after all."

The monsters slowly moved towards Corey, all moaning in soft, yet rough voices,

"Kill…us…"

"Join us…"

"Make the…pain go…away…"

"Kill us…"

"No…no!" Corey covered his ears and began shivering violently.

"Then you will die now, Corey Kartana!" screamed Darkine, his voice lingering in the air.

Corey couldn't do it. How could he kill them? His own soldiers…his friends!

"Kill us…"

"Join us…"

"Stop it…stop it!!!"

Corey hit a wall and fell onto his backside, cowering. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't kill his own men…his own kind.

"Go away…please…just go away…" Corey cried, covering his ears and going into a fetal position.

He closed his eyes and just waited for the inevitable, but when a minute went by and he was still amongst the living, he opened his eyes, only to find himself in a world of white.

"Huh?"

Corey stood up and looked around, "Where am I? Am I…dead?"

"You know, that's the second time you've asked me that," said a voice.

Corey turned around and his eyes widened. There, standing in flesh and blood, was his teacher and cousin, Yusuke Urameshi, wearing a green school uniform, his hair slicked back. He looked to be about Corey's age.

"Y-Yusuke?" Corey asked, rubbing his eyes to make sure it wasn't an illusion.

"In the flesh…so to speak," Yusuke chuckled a bit.

"Yusuke…why are you here?" Corey asked, still confused.

Yusuke smirked, "To help your dumb ass out of a bad situation," his tone suddenly got serious, "Listen, Corey…you have to fight back."

Corey frowned. "You, too, Yusuke? How do you expect me to fight my own men?! They're…they're humans!"

Yusuke sighed and put his hand on Corey's shoulder, "I understand, Corey. Trust me, I do. I had to make the exact same choice as you did a long time ago,"

"You did?"

Yusuke nodded, "Yeah…and it was hard. Harder for me, because these guys at least still looked human, but I had to make a choice: whether to die and not fight, or to fight back and live with my guilt."

"And you chose to fight?" Corey asked.

"Yeah. To beat Sensui, who as you know was human; I had to fight another human as well as him. Listen, Corey, these guys aren't human anymore. There isn't any going back for them. Free them of their pain and let them go to Spirit World before their souls are tainted." Yusuke let go of Corey's shoulder and stepped back.

"But…" Corey started, but Yusuke glared at him,

"No buts, kid. Now go and kick Darkine's ass…and make sure to give him a good shot with the Spirit Gun for me." Yusuke grinned.

Corey couldn't help but laugh, "Okay, Yusuke…hey? What's the afterlife like?"

Yusuke shrugged. "Eh…same ol', same ol' I guess. This is my third time being dead." he laughed, "I'll give you the grand tour when it's your time."

Corey grinned, "I'll hold you to that." He closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, he found himself back in Darkine's lab with his human monsters still surrounding him.

He sighed and stood up, his right fist channeling spiritual energy.

"I'm sorry…but I can't give up here. I'll make this quick,"

Corey slid his right foot back and cocked back his fist, "Shotgun!"

The barrage of spirit bullets erupted from his fist, destroying the human monsters. They collapsed in their wake. Corey lowered his fist, which was still shaking.

"Darkine…I won't forgive you for making me do that…"

No voice came to taunt him. The only response was that of a door opening on the opposite end of the laboratory. Corey took a deep breath, and walked through it.

******

Corey walked down the long hallway slowly. This was it. At the end of this hall was the man he had been waiting to fight for three years. The one who caused everything: his parent's death, Jade's death, Derek killing John, everything.

Darkine.

As Corey neared the end of his walk, he felt demonic energy begin to pour out of the door to Darkine's room. Corey's eyes widened as he recognized it.

"Dia!"

Corey ran the rest of the way down the hall and pushed the heavy set of doors open and gaped at the spectacle inside.

Dia Jaganshi, with his father's katana in his hand, was raging a fierce battle against a man who looked nothing like the old, creepy Darkine that Corey had known long ago.

The man was beautiful. His eyes were deep blue, and his hair was long and blonde. He wore his black cloak around a set of black armor, similar to that of the Elite Captain Derek was fighting. The armor included a breastplate, knee and elbow pads, and gauntlets. He wore tanned boots, and a white tunic under all the armor. If Corey didn't know any better, Darkine would have looked like the good guy in this fight.

Dia had taken extensive injuries at this point. The two warriors were fighting with blades; Dia with his katana, and Darkine with the same black sword he saw him with in his dream state.

So…that dream did have some truth to it, Corey thought as he watched the fight.

Dia swung again; his clothes ripped up, left arm limp, and Jagan Eye flaring. Darkine casually blocked the slash with his sword and then seemed to notice Corey. He smiled at Corey with perfect teeth,

"The guest of honor arrives!" Darkine exclaimed with childlike glee, "I was just entertaining this other guest, but I'll be right with you, Corey Kartana,"

Dia's eyes widened at the name and he turned to glare at Corey,

"You stay out of this, human! I told you I would defeat Darkine!" Dia snarled, turning back to face his opponent.

Corey remained quiet. He knew that Dia's pride was at stake, but if he just allowed him to continue fighting, he'd be massacred. From the look of things, Dia hadn't gotten off a single hit on Darkine.

Flames erupted around Dia's body and katana, and he leapt back. He swung his katana, and the flames poured out like a wave towards Darkine, who merely held up his hand and with a wave of his strange green energy, pushed the flames out of the way.

Dia had apparently only been using them as a distraction, for he started swinging his blade in the air frantically, cutting through the dimensions with the power his mother had inherited to him.

Darkine merely laughed and a wave of green energy emitted from his free hand again, and a sort of barrier appeared. Every time Dia cut at the barrier, the dimension cutter was tossed into another area of the room. One nearly cut Corey in two.

"Shit!" Corey shouted, jumping back to avoid it.

"Damn you, Darkine!!" Dia roared, stopping his dimension assault and went back to fighting with blades.

"I really am getting bored of this, Dia Jaganshi," Darkine yawned, deflecting Dia's attacks.

Dammit, Dia. You're just getting yourself killed! Corey thought, frantically thinking of what to do. He knew Dia would never just accept his help, but he couldn't just watch him die…no matter how much he wanted to do the job himself.

Dia thrusted his sword towards Darkine, who merely pushed the sword to the side, giving way to an opening. He raised his blade into the air…

"Spirit Gun!!"

The blue spiritual bullet erupted from Corey's right index finger and nailed Darkine in the side, causing him to lose his concentration just for a second. That gave Dia enough time to bring his katana back around and slash at Darkine's armored body. The blade made contact, but suddenly stopped, freezing Dia in place.

Darkine's eyes had changed into that of pure loathing, "That was a mistake,"

With his sword still in the air, Darkine slashed downward, striking Dia across the chest. Dia's eyes widened and he crashed to the ground.

"Dia!!" Corey yelled, running over to the gravely injured demon.

"I didn't want…any help…Kartana," Dia coughed, blood spraying from his mouth.

"Sorry, Jaganshi," said Corey, "But this isn't just your fight,"

Corey turned back around and glared at Darkine, "This ends today, Darkine,"

Darkine, who was back to his smiling self, nodded, "Indeed, Corey Kartana. I must say, I am surprised you made it this far," He floated down to the ground, landing gracefully, "You've come a long way since the punk I faced eighteen years ago at the Demon Realm Tournament,"

"Time's change," said Corey, holding onto his sword with both hands, "And I must say, it looks as though time did wonders for your ugly mug,"

Darkine nodded, "Yes, but that's not all of it. The more demonic energy I gather, the stronger and more beautiful I become,"

"What?"

"As you know, Corey," Darkine started to pace about the floor, "I was not as strong or as beautiful as I am now all those years ago. I was weak…disgusting. I wanted to change that, and then one day, in the depths of the Demon World, I found that I was quite unique compared to other demons,"

"How's that?" Corey asked.

"By absorbing the power of other demons, I felt my power grow. I had always been able to manipulate time and space, but never to the degree in which I wanted. I was no match for Lady Mukuro back then," explained Darkine. Corey heard Dia growl at the mention of his mother's name,

"So, I continued to grow stronger by slowly defeating stronger and stronger demons. Finally, I was able to use my time and space energy to see into my own future--"

"--where you saw Derek and me kicking your ass, right?" Corey asked, smirking a little.

Darkine nodded, "Indeed. You and Derek Maison were to be the two who defeated me, and I couldn't let that happen. So, once I was strong enough, I watched the two of you grow," Darkine began to laugh, "How surprised I was to learn that you had a few drops of the Ma-zoku blood in your veins…enough to acquire Yusuke Urameshi's own spiritual energy. I knew, that with enough training, you would be my biggest worry,"

"Thanks for the ego boost," Corey said sarcastically.

"So," continued Darkine, ignoring Corey's comment, "I continued to watch you grow under the apprenticeship of Yusuke and waited for my chance. When I finally found you alone, I tried to throw you back in time,"

"But you failed," said Corey, "Because of my Spirit Gun,"

"Yes," said Darkine, "I was confused at first as to why you had come into the future instead of the past, but after much thought, I realized that I had never fought a human before who was capable of using Spirit Energy to your degree. It threw off my own abilities," he started to laugh again, "But don't worry, Corey Kartana! I will not make that mistake again!"

"So…it's time, then," said Corey.

The two stared at each other in silence for a long time. The only sound that could be heard was the grunts of pain coming from Dia.

Finally, both warriors exploded with energy; Corey with his blue spiritual energy and Darkine with his green time and space.

"Get ready to pay for your sins, Darkine!" Corey roared, "Because today I'm ending your rule over this world!"

"Let's see if you can, Corey," Darkine replied.

And the two rushed each other, marking the start of the final battle that would determine the fate of every living being on all three worlds.