"What the hell's going on over there?" Yusuke exclaimed as more and more explosions erupted in any town they could see. The ground shook with each explosion, smoke and flames were starting to appear, and faint cries of innocent villages flowed through the air.
"Koray did me a great favour when he practically gave me the Island of Fire." Athanasios smirked. "Before then, I never really had a large facility where I could build up a powerful army. However, with the entire Island, it was a simple matter. And now I can easily take the Island of Wind as well."
"Koray must have known this would happen..." Kurama muttered.
"But then why did he let it happen?" Kuwabara demanded.
"It's simple: At the time he had his own priorities to attend to. That's just how he is." Hiei explained.
"Indeed." Athanasios smiled. "Well, I must be off. I have some matters to settle with the Generals, not to mention your father. Try not to get killed in the meantime." And with that, the small man dissolved into a black aura that disappeared.
"So what now?" Kuwabara asked as the group gazed upon the chaos in the towns.
"What do you mean 'what now?' you fool!" Hiei muttered through gritted teeth. Kuwabara stared curiously at Hiei, who was clenching his fists, and seemed to be restraining an uncontrollable rage.
"Kuwabara, what Hiei means is that we left Yukina at the Stronghold with the Generals." Kurama explained, though a look of worry was painted on his face.
"And that's where that freak show is headed!" Yusuke exclaimed. Without a moment's hesitation the group stormed off in the direction of the Stronghold.
"I never expected the Black Knights to make a move this quickly." Archelaus stated as he and Reuel stood near the entrance to the Stronghold. "To think, they've only had the Island of Fire for little over two months and this is their strength."
"A large group of our men have already been dispatched to the towns being attacked, but..." Reuel stated grimly.
"I understand. There are just too many of them... And using the towns as the battle ground holds our own men back." Archelaus replied.
"Excuse me, Mr. Archelaus." Yukina said as she appeared behind the Generals. "Do you know if Hiei and the others are alright?"
"Unfortunately, we haven't seen them since they left." Archelaus told her.
"I see. I'm sorry for disturbing you." Yukina said with a bow as she stepped aside.
"Cleitnese, how's the shield holding up?" Archelaus called out to the third General, who was maintaining a large shield that surrounded the entire Stronghold.
"Hmph. It's a useless effort. Those foot soldiers aren't even bothering to attack us." He replied.
"I wonder why... I mean, if we fall then the Island is lost." Reuel stated.
"That's true..." Archelaus muttered. "However, their leader hasn't yet made an appearance."
As if on cue, a spear-like formation of black aura crashed through Cleitnese's shield, shattering it like glass, and then hitting the General in the left shoulder. Cleitnese let out a loud cry, as the aura blew up, taking off his arm.
"Fools..." A familiar voice rang out. "I know better than to send weaklings to finish off men of your power." As Archelaus and Reuel rushed to Cleitnese's aid, they gazed up to see Athanasios standing on the large wall that surrounded the Stronghold.
"Heh. What took you so long to show up, leader of the Black Knights?" Archelaus smirked as he drew his swords.
"Patience is a necessity when carrying out large battle plans such as this." Athanasios smirked back.
"Yukina! Forgive me, but we'll have to ask you to treat Cleitnese while we take care of this guy." Reuel said as he got into a fighting position.
"Of course." Yukina said as she went to Cleitnese's side and began to close his wound with her healing powers.
Archelaus and Reuel then began to run away from their wounded companion. As Athanasios followed them by running along the large wall, he gathered black aura into his hands and shot it at the two Generals. He did this several times, while Archelaus and Reuel dodged, having no time to send in a counterattack. Finally, Reuel found an opening and sent a fist surrounded by wind at the wall, causing it to collapse under Athanasios. With the small man's attack temporarily halted, Archelaus used a gust of wind to send himself into the air above Athanasios. His swords began to glow as they had in their previous battle, and he sent slashes of aura at Athanasios. However, Athanasios did a mid-air flip to avoid the attack and sent a blast of aura at Archelaus. The General used one of his swords to slice the blast in half, making it dissolve into nothing.
Suddenly, before Athanasios had any time to begin a new attack, Reuel appeared behind him and punched him with a fist surrounded by wind. The wind easily sliced through Athanasios' small body, tearing him into pieces.
"They got him!" Yukina informed Cleitnese as she worked on closing his wound, since she couldn't make limbs regenerate.
However, Archelaus noticed that although a fatal blow had been delivered, Athanasios' face bore a wide smirk or superiority. As the two Generals remained suspended in mid-air by their wind, they could hear faint laughing coming from Athanasios.
"Heh heh heh... You truly are fools. Did you honestly think killing me would be that simple?" Athanasios muttered as his black aura slithered around his body, covering the wounded area. Then his arms and legs became surrounded by the black aura, as if it were apart of his body. "Or rather, I should say... You can't kill me, because I am IMMORTAL!"
"WHAT?" The Generals exclaimed. "That's impossible!"
"Quite to the contrary..." Athanasios stated as hundreds of black blades shot out from the black aura around his body in the direction of the Generals. Archelaus and Reuel managed to move just enough to avoid lethal blows, however they both received dozens of cuts all over their bodies. "I've been alive for over 3000 years! Those men attacking the towns are all expendable; I can always find replacements for them! I am the most powerful force in the Black Knights, and I cannot die!" Athanasios shouted as his arms transformed into long, black blades.
In movements too fast to see, he delivered a powerful strike across Reuel's torso, causing the General to crash onto the ground in a mass of blood. Athanasios then appeared in front of Archelaus, however the General managed to block the first strike with his swords. The two allowed themselves to land on the ground, and began a sword fight on foot. Despite his size, Athanasios was incredibly fast, and there was a lot of power behind every stroke of his blades. It was all Archelaus could do to block; he couldn't find an opening anywhere.
"Damn...! My swords should be able to destroy those blades on his arms, but they aren't any more effective than a regular weapon!" Archelaus muttered in frustration.
"To be more precise, my aura blades could easily destroy a regular weapon, but because yours are special they're able to hold out." Athanasios explained as he continued to overpower Archelaus in swordplay. However, he paused for a moment, and then shot a single blade of black aura behind him. It hit Reuel's right wrist, in order to stop the gathering of aura that was to be fired at Athanasios.
"Shit! He noticed...!" Reuel muttered through gritted teeth. The blade in his wrist then exploded, taking off his hand. "AHHHH!" Reuel cried out as he gripped what was still there on his bleeding right arm.
"Mr. Reuel!" Yukina cried out.
In that moment, Archelaus tried to make a strike on Athanasios while he was distracted. However, Athanasios dodged the blow with ease, and then jumped in order to slash the General's eyes. Archelaus screamed out as blood flowed down his face, but then he felt a sudden pain in his chest and he realized he had just been stabbed by one of Athanasios' blades.
Athanasios smirked as he removed the blade from Archelaus' chest, allowing him to fall to the ground. "It's too bad. You were a fine warrior."
"Spirit Gun!" A large bullet of blue aura was fired and hit Athanasios directly, taking off a huge chunk of his body. "Yeah, got 'im!" Yusuke exclaimed as he, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei entered the Stronghold.
"Yukina! Are you alright?" Kuwabara asked.
"Kazuma! I'm fine, but the Generals are badly hurt." Yukina replied, as she rushed to Archelaus' side and began healing the wound in his chest.
"Why don't you join them, you annoying brat!" Athanasios exclaimed as he lunged at Yukina. All of his body, except for half of his face, was consumed by the black aura and his hand had morphed into a giant claw that was about to tear Yukina to shreds.
"YUKINA!" Hiei and Kuwabara shouted in unison. Hiei appeared between Athanasios and his sister just in time to deflect the attack with his Sword of the Darkness Flame. Kuwabara then ran up and cut the arm off with his Dimensional Sword. However, as soon as the claw was detached, it disappeared and a new one formed on Athanasios' arm.
"What the-" The two boys exclaimed, but were cut off as Athanasios whacked them away.
"Foolish children." Athanasios muttered.
"I don't understand... How can his regenerative abilities be so strong?" Kurama speculated. "He was hit directly with Yusuke's spirit gun, and then his arm was cut off..."
"Don't let your guard down!" Reuel shouted. "This guy says he's immortal! Just take Yukina and get the hell out of here!"
"Heh. Don't be stupid. Now that you've dared to attack me, none of you will leave here alive!" Athanasios screamed with an insanely wide smirk on his face. Suddenly, many spear-like attacks of aura emerged from the black portions of his body and shot at everyone there. However, a large wall of ice shot up, blocking all of Athanasios' attacks.
"What the hell was that?" The boys exclaimed.
"Yukina..." Hiei muttered at his sister, who was standing and sustaining the wall of ice. Everyone's eyes became locked on the girl who, up until now, seemed to be helpless on her own.
"Heh. So even you've got some fight in you, girl." Athanasios said with an amused smirk.
"During the two months that my father trained Hiei and the others, I was also practicing on my own." Yukina stated as she stared intently at Athanasios. "Mr. Athanasios, there's something I don't understand... Why are you doing all this? You've gained all this power and hurt so many people, but for what reason?"
"Why does there need to be a reason? Perhaps I simply enjoy making others suffer." Athanasios said.
"I don't believe that's the truth." Yukina stated. "If that's all you want, then why go through the trouble of making an organization like the Black Knights when you have plenty of power on your own?"
For a moment, all was quiet as the others waited for Athanasios' response. His face continued to bear an arrogant smirk, however his eyes now contained deep hatred.
"I hate this place..." Athanasios muttered. "I hate this entire world. Although for some reason... I don't seem to remember why."
"That's a load of bullshit." A very familiar voice echoed out. All eyes turned with surprise to see Koray approaching them. "Sorry I'm late for the party. Breaking out of jail took a while."
"Koray... Just the man I've been so eager to kill." Athanasios muttered with a sadistic grin.
"So you've come to help us beat this guy?" Kuwabara demanded.
"Of course." Koray smirked. The others let out a sigh of relief, as they could tell by the way Koray was handling the situation that he had a plan.
"I guess we have no choice but to let you help..." Reuel muttered. "But as soon as this is over, your still getting punished for killing Lady Katana."
"Whatever you say." Koray smiled.
"Heh. I'm surprised you people still trust him. Don't you know he killed your ruler?" Athanasios said as he sent Koray a superior glare.
"Don't take us for fools." Hiei said. "Even if he did kill Katana, the fact remains that you and him are enemies. We can trust him in this fight, at least."
"What makes you think I'm talking about Katana?" Athanasios smirked. "I'm talking about Lord Velimir."
"Lord Velimir?" Yusuke and Kuwabara muttered as they looked at each other, and then at Kurama, who shrugged his shoulders.
"The previous lord..." Reuel muttered. "That's a gotta be a lie! Everyone knows that Koray was close to Lord Velimir. He would never have killed him... Isn't that right, Koray?"
"No." Koray said simply. "He's telling the truth... I killed Lord Velimir.