In a few seconds or so, the team reached Master Genkai's house. Though they figured out that it was indeed hassle-free to use a portal to reach Master Genkai's place, they couldn't help but feel suspicious about it. Something was wrong and they knew it. But for some unknown reasons, no one wanted to voice out their concerns as if their minds were in their dimensions. But then it was stopped when the door suddenly slid open and Yukina came out.
Just like usual, Kuwabara was the first to approach the ice apparition and greeted her. But they noticed that even though Yukina was smiling, her eyes looked troubled and sad,
"Yukina, is there any problem?" Botan asked.
"Are you alright? What's wrong?" Keiko added.
That was when Yukina's forced smile slowly faded and she faced the rest of the team with troubled eyes. "Master Genkai said that you should proceed to the backyard. She and the others are waiting for you there," Yukina said before turning around to lead the way.
Though puzzled as to why she was acting like that, the team followed Yukina to where they would suppose to head out, unmindful of their heartbeats pounding louder and louder by the second. All of them could feel that something was about to happen, once they reached the backyard where Master Genkai was. They just couldn't figure out what could it be or how would it happen.
Like what Yukina had told them, Genkai was in the backyard. But what gave them the shock of their lives (so far) was the fact that it wasn't only Genkai who was waiting for them. Six people—extremely familiar people, to be exact—were there having a serious conversation with the old lady.
Hisakawa Yumi, Kirisawa Ayako, Hondou Soujiro, and his younger sister Yukari, Yanagi Akane, and her older brother Noboru—these were the six people talking to Master Genkai. And upon seeing Yumi, only led the whole team—including Botan and Keiko—to realize one certain conclusion. They were about to face one of the greatest battles of their mission.
But they were hoping it won't lead to that even though Koenma told them that such a possibility could happen since it was a part of their mission. The one person who was immensely against the idea of fighting Genkai's guests was Kurama. Not just because of what Yumi had told him about Riya but also because of the strange actions of Ayako, Soujiro, and Yukari earlier. Something was telling him that this confrontation would give him answers to his questions which was making him all confused right now.
"Looks like they're here," Genkai said before facing the team as soon as she turned around. She smirked at the sight of the gaping and wide-eyed team looking at the six people who were supposed to be the spirit detectives' enemies. "Still in shock?"
"What's going on here, Genkai? And what do these people have something to do with this?" Yusuke confusingly asked the moment he recovered from the shock.
Yumi sighed heavily and beckoned Noboru to answer the boy's question.
"The answer is already in front of you, Urameshi Yusuke," the orange-haired guy named Noboru stated. "Didn't my sister already told to your girlfriend earlier? Meet us here and we'll tell you everything. Was that hard to grasp?"
"Oh, yeah? Like I would easily believe that!" Yusuke retorted sarcastically and without warning, charged toward Noboru with his hand balled into fists. He didn't even notice one of the girl wielders materialized her weapon and hit him hard to his stomach. And because of that, he was sent flying backward. Of course, most were surprised to see that. Well, it was a given since Yusuke or even the entire team realized that the girl's strike would be that powerful.
And worst of all (at least on Yusuke's part), it was a GIRL who sent him flying backward with her weapon which infuriated him the most. But he couldn't do anything to counter that yet since his stomach was actually in so much pain. He didn't anticipate such a girl could give him that much pain from that attack. How did she even do that?
Whoever that girl was...
The rest of the team rushed to Yusuke's side after he finally landed about a hundred meters away from where Genkai and the wielders' spot. After assuring that Yusuke was still alive (since it would be an extreme surprise if he did die from that strike), Kurama looked up to know what happened and who did that to Yusuke. But the surprise hit him when he saw Ayako in front of Noboru holding... a staff?
That's right. It was a staff. But it wasn't an ordinary staff for that matter and he knew that. It was familiar to him. He researched the Staff of Shimmer right after it disappeared from the Light Shrine. And from that, he wasn't oblivious to the fact about its appearance and at least, parts of its powers. But the fact that it was Ayako who was wielding it was something he was oblivious about. In addition to that, Soujiro and Yukari were with her, as well. And it could only mean one thing now. After all, what Ayako did to Yusuke already answered most of his questions.
But he still needed to make sure about it. And with that, Kurama stood up from crouching on one knee beside Yusuke—who was still bearing the pain—and ran towards Ayako even though Botan and Kuwabara told him not to. For some reason, Hiei was unusually quiet but Kurama didn't give much thought about that yet. Right now, all he cared about was confirmations to some of his questions and speculations.
"You're a Legendary Weapon Wielder, Kirisawa-san?" the redhead could only ask after that as soon as he stopped approaching the two.
Ayako only stared at him for a short while before heaving a sigh and allowing herself to let her guard down. She knew that he wouldn't fight back, that's why she put the staff down and answered the fox demon's question.
"Yes, I am. I guess now you finally figured out how that happened," Ayako said. Kurama frowned upon seeing the sad and reluctant smile—even though it was just small—on the brunette's face. Yes, he knew the meaning behind those words that the Light Wielder had spoken. But he knew that something was still off about everything with regards to this.
"The light that engulfed the Hanasakura Academy that day when the demon shinobi attacked and also the one that transported us to different locations... It was you who did that?" Yusuke asked as he approached the wielders with Kuwabara and Keiko's assistance.
Ayako slightly nodded. "But I did that feat on impulse. I have no idea I did such a thing until Captain Yumi told me about your three-eyed demon friend ended up in the Hisakawa mansion that same day."
"What about the dimensional barriers whenever some demon shinobi attack us all of a sudden? You're also creating it?" Kuwabara asked it this time.
"As soon as I'm given the orders to do so, yes."
"You mean on Yumi-san's orders?"
"Not just Captain Yumi but also our mistress. They are the ones who knew the scale of damage that those demon shinobi could cause to this place if I didn't cast such type of barrier. More than anything, we couldn't let humans be involved in this matter. Not just because it's our mistress' orders but also because we care for the sake and safety of this world. After all, we were born and raised in this world. It's natural for us to care about it."
After that, Yukari soon stepped forward. "And besides, we didn't come here to fight you guys. We came here to explain what's going on right now. Please, you have to believe us."
This time, Soujiro chose to speak. "I know what we're doing in front of you right now is beyond crazy since we're criminals in some way. But we want you to believe that we didn't come here to hurt you or anyone else for that matter. And besides, if we wanted to kill you, we should've dealt with all of you from the start. We do not intend to involve unrelated victims in our mission to protect our mistress and the three realms. In addition to that, our mistress told us not to have you get involved with the battle that should've existed between the Legendary Weapon Wielders and those wretched demon shinobis who have no qualms about destroying everything and everyone just for them to create a new world order in their own set of rules. Of course, it's something we have to prevent from happening no matter what."
"I'm sure it will be easy for them to understand your reasons for doing all this. After all, they care for this world more than anything else, as well. But are you sure you're all ready to explain everything?" Genkai asked seriously then glanced at Kurama and the rest of the team before looking back at her six guests.
The wielders remained silent for a few seconds or so before Yumi decided to answer the old lady's question. While contemplating on what to say, Yusuke managed to finally stand up on his own even though Ayako's strike on him still hurt.
"As much as possible, we're not going to use force to tell them everything since it's our mistress' orders. We have to obey that, Master Genkai," Yumi said before glancing at Hiei, and then she faced the team "We're not expecting you to believe us all of a sudden and we fully understand that. At least try to listen to what we have to say. We're only asking that from you guys."
The Spirit Detectives looked at each other after hearing that from Yumi, especially when they heard the pleading in the Fire Wielder's voice. From there, they could tell that the wielders were somehow desperate in some way. But wait! If there were only five weapons out of seven disappeared from their respective shrines, the other two guests of Master Genkai couldn't possibly be the wielders just like Yumi. No one among the six guests of Master Genkai was the wielder of the Arrow of Wind and Kurama could already tell that. He could sense it, after all.
If that was the case, then who exactly were Yanagi Noboru and Yanagi Akane, and what role could they have possibly played along with the wielders.
"I don't mind listening as long as Yusuke and the others are not going to fight you," Keiko suddenly said in a serious tone that surprised the team.
Yusuke approached Keiko but he never had a chance to voice out his concerns when she spoke again.
"But I want to know how Akane-chan had been involved in this. Are you one of the Legendary Weapon Wielders, too?"
'No, she's not,' was something that Kurama said but only in his thoughts. Weird... Why couldn't he say that? It was the right answer, anyway since he could sense it. Much to his confusion, they saw Akane smile as she shook her head as an answer. Not only he but the rest of the team were confused when they saw that.
"To tell you the truth, I played a different role in this team. The same goes for my older brother, Noboru. Don't worry. I'll explain everything as clearly as I can. I'm sorry, Keiko-chan. I know I shouldn't be involving you in this... but I don't have much of a choice here. We all are," Akane said as her eyes softened, and then she looked away.
No one spoke a word after that. It wasn't a complete silence that surrounded them since the night wind blew a bit fast. The wind wasn't cold; just enough to cool down Yusuke's hot head. Just looking at the troubled and sad eyes of Genkai's guests was enough to convince him of the sincerity and truth in what they had said. From there, as well, they never thought that the wielders of the missing Legendary Weapons would be this dedicated for the sake of protecting the world.
Yusuke then stepped forward and stopped beside Kurama. The pain from being hit by the Staff of Shimmer subsided. Besides, he was unmindful about it.
"Alright, we'll listen. But after this, you'll let us find Riya and have you guys explain everything we don't know about this damn case," Yusuke said.
"Hey, Urameshi! You can't be serious," Kuwabara suddenly said when the thought registered in his mind. "What if they will attack us when our guard's down?"
"Then we'll just face them heads on," Yusuke answered simply. "But I know it wouldn't happen... for now. Without direct orders from their mistress to attack us, or even a reason for their cool not to be maintained, they will remain unable to hurt us, let alone kill us with just one strike of their weapons."
Unable to decide easily, Botan faced Hiei who had not spoken a word ever since they arrived there.
"What do you think, Hiei?" Botan asked the fire demon. But she was surprised to see Hiei looking at a certain person and she was about to say something about her observation when he spoke.
"Since it was an order from their mistress, we might as well comply with that. Besides, Yumi's the one leading the other wielders. I know she wouldn't disobey any orders from her mistress," Hiei said nonchalantly, his gaze still fixed on the Fire Wielder.
Of course, it caught the team's attention and made them look at the fire demon disbelievingly (or incredulously would have been the perfect word).
"What?" Hiei asked innocently.
"Are you sure you're not sick, Hiei?" Yusuke said sarcastically, but Hiei just shrugged. He didn't want to talk about it anyway.
But to his surprise, Yumi answered Yusuke's question.
"No, he's not. He only knows how we live our lives for the sake of fulfilling our duties as the warriors of our mistress. He's just simply stating that."
Botan raised her hand that caught the Fire Wielder's attention. "Umm... Will it be okay if I ask something to you?"
"Sure, I don't mind. Of course, as long as I can answer it," Yumi answered.
"When we first met you, you were just about the same height as Yusuke and your hair was shorter. Your eyes were of a different color, too. It was green if I'm not mistaken. But now, you're as tall as Hiei and your hair grew longer. Your eyes turned purple. It's just an observation, though. Sorry, I asked. But does your height fluctuate sometimes? And do you usually change your appearance?"
Though Botan initially thought that asking something like that would make the Fire Wielder angry, the others thought otherwise. Yumi sighed before answering with a small smile.
"When you first met me, I was using transformation magic to appear a bit different, almost human. You see, I'm a hanyou—half human and half fire demon—and now I'm using my true form to find my father in the Demon World. What you can see right now is my true form."
"Now that explains it," Kurama said. "I know something's wrong about you when you first talked to me."
"Maybe it's better if we should get inside. It's getting cold out here and in case you didn't know, I easily get sick when I exposed myself to a cold environment for a long—" But Yukari abruptly stopped talking when she sensed something foreboding that sent an icy chill down her spine.
The wielders, especially Soujiro, noticed that.
"Yukari, are you alright? What's wrong?" Soujiro asked worriedly.
Though her eyes widened upon sensing it, Yukari managed to look at her teammates.
"Captain, something's wrong happening to our mistress. The sound of her getting hurt... I heard it. If I'm not mistaken, she was pierced with something sharp but I couldn't tell what did."
That information made them quite shocked, not only the wielders but the others, as well. Before they could even leave the place to go and find their mistress, they noticed Pu (in his bird form) left and flew away heading in a certain direction. Kurama later sensed the spirit energy of the Arrow of Wind in use.
"Tell me something, Yumi," Kurama said. "Is the one who has the Arrow of Wind your mistress?"
Yumi nodded but she frowned when she noticed the red head's strained look. "Are you alright, Kurama?"
Kurama shook his head slightly, worrying the team. But before they could say anything, they noticed him running in a certain direction and that was to follow Pu.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Somewhere in the vast land that Genkai owned, Riya was standing there with her eyes closed. She felt the gentle wind blow forth. It was calming and she liked that. But that calming feeling didn't last for long. In a swift movement, she snapped her eyes open and turned her head sharply to the west. An ominous feeling was lurking along with the calmly blowing wind. Now it was heading in her direction... FAST!
And that ominous feeling was something she loathed the most.
The same ominous feeling belonging to the demon shinobi's dark aura.
Riya's eyes narrowed as she waited for her enemies to get her and hurt her... just like how it has always been ever since the death of her father eight years ago. Her father's death triggered many events to unfold in her life one after another. One of them was the appearance of the Wielder's Crystals named the Topaz Heart and the Garnet Heart giving powers to her and Yumi respectively. Their duty as a Legendary Weapon Wielder started setting her fate in motion that lasted for eight years now.
"Arrow of Wind... come forth to your master..." she uttered.
A yellow rune circle was soon conjured beneath Riya as helixes of wind surrounded her before the silhouette of a glowing long bow appeared on her hand. A few seconds later, the glow shattered and revealed the silhouette's true form.
The helixes of winds continued to surround Riya as she positioned herself to fire the glowing arrow at her approaching target. The arrow started crackling with electricity as she pulled the string of the bow. The bow soon glowed in yellow light.
"5... 4... 3... 2..." she counted in a whisper as her eyes narrowed further. It was only a matter of time before the arrow had fully gathered the energy required for that one attack.
And then she sensed it approaching even faster. In 30 meters...
...20 meters...
...10 meters...
...5...
"Lightning Arrow Shower!" And with that spell, she released the arrow from the bow. The arrow soon multiplied into hundreds of it and struck the demon shinobis approaching with it. The shot from the arrow was fatal in just one strike, that's why Riya used it to take down the wretched demon shinobis who badly wanted to kill her.
From what she could count from her position, more than 30 demon shinobis were struck down by her arrow's attack. She couldn't help sighing exasperatingly at that discovery.
'And now they're attacking in large number...' even though this wasn't the final battle yet... she thought in distress as she dematerialized her weapon. It wasn't long before the helixes of winds surrounding her and the rune circle disappeared, as well.
However, doing so only made her realize the mistake she had done. But then, she realized that mistake too late.
Before she could even turn around, she involuntarily let out an agonizing scream of pain when an arrow lodged into her shoulder deep. It made her collapse to her knees before she could even help it. Despite the pain rushing throughout her entire body, she tried her best to face the perpetrator who did that to her. However, her vision started to blur not just because of the pain but also from the arrow that started to drain her energy the moment she felt that arrow delved deeper into her shoulder.
'But I can't let them win like this...' Riya thought in pain as she tried to stand up despite the pain starting to intensify and her energy started to whittle away little by little. 'If I die here, I won't be able to protect what is important to me. This isn't the time for me to leave yet and face King Yama's judgment. Whatever happens, I can't die here!'
With that resolve, Riya only thought of one thing to do. An immensely and brightly glowing magic circle appeared beneath her, indicating that she was about to release a powerful spell despite her energy dropping intensively up to that weak level already. But she had to do it. Her hand that held her wound earlier lowered down to her side. As she panted a little heavily, she closed her eyes and concentrated. As she did so, a rune loop encircled Riya's wrist. This time, the loop was silver in color and it was about three inches thick. The loop continued to encircle her wrist, followed by her hand beginning to conjure a silver and yellow-colored glowing orb. She slowly raised her hand to her side as she faced the direction where her opponent fired the arrow that struck her.
The jolts of pain she was feeling kept on giving her too much discomfort and she couldn't hold it in much longer. But she did her best to fight down the pain as she prepared that one fatal attack to take down those demon shinobis. And then, not too much later, three rune loops formed in front of her that acted as target rings and it would be where she'd launch her attack. Those rune loops that formed as rings were placed in front of her at certain distances and order—two of which were just the same diameter while a larger loop was placed in between those two smaller loops. The orb glowed brighter before Riya thought that the power needed for that attack was enough.
As if a strong force surged inside of her, she placed the orb in front of her in one full force and she shouted the attack.
"Twin Thunder Blast!"
The orb broke apart and immediately released a large full beam surrounded with silver and yellow crackles of lightning upon shouting the spell. Riya released it to the southwest direction and it came to the enemies like a tidal wave that they didn't even have time to retreat far enough. As soon as the beam came in contact with the target, it immediately blasted into atoms. The beam was extremely powerful that the power used to conjure it caused her too much pain which she couldn't handle anymore.
It was recklessness on her part to use such an attack when she knew full well that her powers were not as strong as it was supposed to be. She was getting weaker and weaker... and sooner she would die. One more mistake like that and it would be the end of her. Nonetheless, she guessed it was for the better. Dying sooner would probably ease the pain she was feeling all this time. It would only provide an escape to this destiny of hers. She was destined to die in the end, anyway.
Feeling the last of her strength drifting away from her, it wasn't a surprise for her to find herself collapsing to her knees on the bloodstained grass field. She looked at it with blank eyes... The field was stained with her blood... The blood further took all of her strength to continue doing what she needed to do. She had been fighting for a long time...
Perhaps this was the time to stop forcing herself to fight.
Her mind started turning black as she felt herself dropping to the ground.
'I guess this is the end... huh?'
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
No one exactly knew among the team what Kurama was thinking as he followed Pu in the direction it was heading but they decided to follow him. For some reason, they noticed that Kurama was running faster than he usually does as if there was a force driving him to do that. It was at that time that all of them felt a powerful energy signature coming from the direction that Kurama was heading.
"Hey, Kurama! Wait up, will you? You're going way ahead of us!" Yusuke yelled as he tried to keep up with Kurama.
"Sorry, Yusuke. But I'm alright. I just need to go ahead of you," Kurama replied without looking at those people behind him as he continued to run. He didn't know why but he has the strangest feeling that he would find Riya somewhere where Pu was heading, along with the wielders' mistress. The powerful energy signature earlier made him think of that. It was a feeling unlike any other yet at the same time, it felt so familiar.
When he looked up, he saw Pu land several meters from his spot so he ran even faster even though his mind and body were already screaming to stop. Well, he did stop—because of utter shock when he saw the familiar figure lying on the green grass clutching her bleeding shoulder. Without him knowing, his feet moved to approach the girl who was heavily breathing as she seemed to bear the pain from the wound on her shoulder.
"Riya..." Kurama uttered when he finally had a close look at the girl, along with the realization that hit him upon seeing that it was only Riya who was there.
Riya slowly opened her eyes when she heard a familiar voice and then looked at that person. She smiled weakly when she saw Kurama worriedly looking at her.
"I'm glad... you made it here," Riya said despite feeling extremely weak because of her wound. "Sorry... I'm sorry..."
That was when Kurama rushed to her side and pulled her body to his arms as carefully as he could not cause more bleeding. His arms were quivering while doing that.
When the others arrived, they were surprised to see Kurama and Riya together underneath the wings of Pu protecting them somehow. Now only that, they saw the scattered bodies of demon shinobis (approximately 35 in number) on the field as the blood from them stained the green grass.
"Don't tell me she took them all down..." Yusuke mumbled as he continued to look around.
"Seems like it..." Noboru said.
Keiko noticed Riya's bleeding shoulder and an odd-looking arrow poking out from it. That was when she remembered Yukari's words when the Sound Wielder sensed a foreboding feeling a while back.
~"Captain, something's wrong happening to our mistress. The sound of her getting hurt... I heard it. If I'm not mistaken, she was pierced with something sharp but I couldn't tell what did."~
Upon remembering that, Keiko gasped at the thought that entered her mind followed by covering her mouth to muffle the sound that was about to come out from it. But in the end, she failed, making the others focus their attention on her.
"What's wrong, Keiko-chan?" Botan asked.
"Riya-chan... is the Legendary Weapon Wielders' mistress. And at the same time, she's the wielder of the Arrow of Wind," she uttered softly but it was more than enough to make the team (except Hiei) completely shocked.
"You're kidding... right? That can't be..." Yusuke managed to say in disbelief despite the shock he felt.