Human World, Hanging Neck Island.
While the Dark Tournament staff were taking Ura Urashima's corpse away before the beginning of the fourth match of the round, Genkai finally arrived in the arena. After walking through the crowd for a few minutes, she took a seat next to Erza.
"Did everything go well, Master Genakai?" Erza asked as soon as she noticed Genkai sitting next to her.
Erza's question also alerted Botan, Shizuru, and Keiko to Genkai's presence. Meanwhile, Irene had noticed Genkai ever since she was just outside of the arena.
"Yes, Master Genkai, how is Yusuke?" Keiko asked with concern in her tone.
"There's no need to worry, Child." Genkai replied. "Yusuke is fine. He passed my final test and inherited my greatest technique successfully."
Hearing that, Keiko sighed in relief. The other ladies, on the other hand, were curious to know what this technique was. However, no matter how much they asked Genkai about it, she remained tight lipped.
Meanwhile, back in the ring area, the ring was cleaned up and once again ready for another match to begin.
"Would both teams please send up their next fighters?" Juri requested in a professional tone, as if she was not just jumping around and fondling herself excitedly after her body was returned to normal.
Taking Juri's request as a cue, Shishiwakamaru tossed the dice onto the ring. When they stopped rolling, the names read as such.
Team Urameshi: Team choice.
Team Uraotogi: Makintaro.
Seeing that Makintaro was no longer able to fight, Shishiwakamaru shrugged his shoulders after glancing at Onji, who seemed to have no interest in fighting the next round. Then, he hopped into the ring and made his way towards its center.
On Team Urameshi's side of the ring, Hiei began walking toward the ring. However, just as he was about to hop onto the ring, a hand landed on his shoulder.
"What do you want, Kurama?" Hiei asked in an annoyed tone.
"The dye says that the team should choose." Kurama said, clearly wanting to fight in the next match.
Knowing that Onji and Shishiwakamaru were the ones that supplied the rest of Team Uraotogi with their weapons, Kurama wanted to fight them for the sole purpose of finding a way to trigger a change into his true demon form.
"Kurama Is right, Shorty." Kuwabara chipped in. "Besides, you've already fought in two matches. But J and I haven't even fought yet."
"I already made it clear that if Yusuke's name or the Team Choice sides of the dye came up that I'd be fighting." Hiei said with even more annoyance in his tone. Then, he glared at James, expecting him to add his two cents to the argument as well.
"Don't look at me like that, Hiei." James said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm perfectly content waiting until my name comes up."
"Besides, you decided that on your own, Hiei." Kurama said. "If memory serves, no one agreed to your declaration."
"Then, how do you expect us to settle this?" Hiei asked with a huff of annoyance.
"We should use the tried and true method of solving a dispute." Kuwabara said while puffing his chest out.
"A massacre?" Hiei asked with malice glinting in all three of his eyes.
"No!" Kuwabara shouted. "Jeez, it's no wonder you don't have any friends."
"I think he means Janken." Kurama added.
"*Sigh* Fine." Hiei said, realizing that they would get nowhere at the rate things were going.
Like that, Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara huddled together and began to play the most intense game of Rock, Paper, Scissors that James had ever seen. Meanwhile, Shishiwakamaru and Juri, who were standing in the ring could only stare at the three with blank gazes.
Noticing the stares coming from the ring, James turned and looked at the two, who were clearly growing impatient as time went on and smiled.
"Sorry about this." James said with a smile. "But they all really want to fight, and we had a bit of a disagreement. If you just give us a minute, we'll be done soon."
And just as James finished speaking, Kuwabara raised his voice in celebration.
"Oh yeah, the Janken Master's still got it!" Kuwabara shouted while kissing his right fist repeatedly. "I know the good ol' rock would clinch me the victory."
"Just shut up and go!" Hiei ordered angrily.
"Sure." Kuwabara replied in a gloating tone.
A moment later, Kuwabara hopped into the ring and moved forward to square off against Shishiwakamaru.
"Now that both fighters are in the ring." Juri spoke into her microphone. Then, she gestured toward both fighters as she continued. "From Team Uraotogi, Shishiwakamaru, and from Team Urameshi, Kuwabara."
"Come on, Shishi!" A female demon shouted. "Kill that ugly human."
Hearing a female demon call him ugly, Kuwabara felt as if he had taken an arrow to the heart.
"Yeah, make it so we don't have to see such an ugly face ever again, Shishi!" Another female demon shouted loudly.
Once again, Kuwabara felt as if he had taken physical damage from the crowd's comments.
"If you make that ugly human disappear, I'll give you a nice reward, Shishi!" A third female demon shouted in an extremely seductive tone.
Finally fed up with the constant insults, Kuwabara turned around and shouted at the crowd.
"Would all you bimbos shut up?" Kuwabara shouted in an agitated tone.
Instead of silence, Kuwabara received even more insults from Shishiwakamaru's fans.
"Whatever, I have Yukina, so that's all that matters." Kuwabara said to himself in an attempt to soothe his heart.
"Let the fourth match begin." Juri said, almost feeling bad for the way Kuwabara was treated. "Fight!"
As soon as the starting signal was given, Kuwabara created his [Spirit Sword] and took his fighting stance.
Shishiwakamaru, on the other hand, simply materialized a transparent cloth in his hands.
"What is that?" Kuwabara asked curiously. "Instead of whatever that is, shouldn't you take out your sword?"
"Oh, don't worry." Shishiwakamaru said with a charming smile. "This will be enough to take care of you. It's just too bad that Urameshi kid isn't here instead of you."
Getting tired of being looked down upon, Kuwabara gritted his teeth. Then, he charged at Shishiwakamaru who was still smiling at him.
A moment later, when he was within striking range, Kuwabara made a horizontal swing with his [Spirit Sword] that Shishiwakamaru stepped back to dodge. Keeping up the momentum, Kuwabara continued swinging his sword, with similar effect.
For the next minute or so, no matter how Kuwabara swung his sword, Shishiwakamaru dodged the attacks with little effort. Eventually, when Kuwabara went for another horizontal swing, Shishiwakamaru leapt over Kuwabara, dropping the transparent cloth as he passed over top of Kuwabara's head.
Not taking the cloth seriously, Kuwabara made no attempt to dodge it, causing James, Hiei, Kurama, Irene, Erza, and Genkai to face palm simultaneously.
Just as the cloth fell on him, and Kuwabara, along with most of the audience, thought it would simply be draped over him, the cloth continued to fall. And as it did, Kuwabara's body began disappearing until the cloth was lying flat on the ring's surface, while Kuwabara was nowhere to be seen.
{"Wow, what happened to contestant, Kuwabara?"} Kuto's voice rang out around the arena. {"One second he was there, and the next he was gone."}
"This is the Cape of no Return." Shishiwakamaru said, picking up the transparent cloth. "I don't know where it sent him, but I'm sure he won't be back in the next ten seconds."
"I see." Juri said, considering Shishiwakamaru's words for a moment, ten seconds to be exact. Then she continued. "Well, since Kuwabara is... out of the ring... Let's continue to the next match. The winner of the fourth match is Shishiwakamaru of Team Uraotogi."
With that, all of Shishiwakamaru's fans cheered loudly with high pitched screams. While they did that, Shishiwakamaru once again pulled the dice from his sleeve and dropped them on the ring. This time, the Dice read.
Team Uraotogi: Ura Urashima.
Team Urameshi: J.
Seeing the result of the dice roll, Shishiwakamaru simply waited in the ring, deciding to take on the next fighter, as well. Meanwhile, James smiled at his two teammates.
"I know the two of you want to fight, but I'll be taking this one." James said before hopping into the ring.
Meanwhile, back at the stadium where the first few rounds of the Dark Tournament took place, a spatial distortion opened up about 20 feet (6 m) above the ring. Then, Kuwabara fell from the distortion toward the ring below.
*Bang!*
"Ow... If you think that was..." Kuwabara winced in pain before shouting at his opponent.
Before he could finish, however, Kuwabara realized that his surroundings had changed. Recognizing where he was, he sprinted out of the stadium in a futile attempt to make it back into the arena's ring before the ten count was over.
Back in the arena, however, Juri had just introduced the fighters to the crowd and given the signal to start the match. As she did, James materialized Mangetsu no Shita de on his left hip and took an iaido stance. Shishiwakamaru also did the same with his own katana.
An instant later, both fighters charged at each other, drawing their swords simultaneously.
*Clang!*
Sparks flew as both fighters' swords collided. In the next instant, James, using his left hand, swung his sheath at Shishiwakamaru's throat.
Widening his eyes, Shishiwakamaru tilted backward to avoid the surprise attack. However, he had also lost the position necessary to hold James' blade in place.
Taking advantage of Shishiwakamaru's awkward positioning, James changed the position of his sword and thrust it at Shishiwakamaru's chest, causing him to arch his back to avoid taking a fatal strike. Then, Shishiwakamaru placed both of his hands on the ring and kicked upward toward James chin, gaining himself a bit of breathing room.
Using the momentum from the kick, Shishiwakamaru flipped backward and took a proper fighting stance again. James, on the other hand, was already charging in, to continue the clash.
Like that, many attacks were exchanged, countered, and deflected over the next few minutes. Eventually, however, James gained the upper hand. Using an opening that Shishiwakamaru had left open, James was about to cut off Shishiwakamaru's right hand.
However, just before James' strike could land, the hilt of Shishiwakamaru's sword split from the middle, revealing an eerie, featureless, fleshy face that fired a skull-shaped energy attack at James.
This naturally caused James to backpedal in order to not be struck by this sneak attack. After slashing apart the skull as he took some distance, James noticed that the blade of his opponents katana had also turned red.
"This is my weapon, the Banshee Shriek." Shishiwakamaru said with some pride. "It allows me to use the souls of all the demons who lost their life to the blade as my own means of attack. [Shrill Call of the Reaper]."
Once Shishiwakamaru called out the name of his next attack, he began twirling the Banshee Shriek as if it were a baton. As he did, an eerie wale was emitted from the fleshy face's mouth. And as he spun the sword faster, the pitch and volume of the wailing increased, causing the weaker demons in the crowd to cover their ears and cry in agony.
"With weaker opponents, my Banshee Shriek is capable of ripping their souls from their bodies." Shishiwakamaru said with a sadistic smile on his face.
"*Sigh* Are you looking down on me?" James asked in an exasperated tone while positioning himself in front of Juri. He then wrapped her with his demonic energy as he continued. "What do you think that little parlor trick will do to me"
Realizing that James was protecting her, Juri blushed slightly while she stared at James' back.
"Thank you for protecting me." Juri said in a meek tone.
Meanwhile, Chu, Yusuke's first opponent, did the same for Kuto so that she could continue to commentate on the matches. While Irene erected a barrier to protect her group, as well.
"I suppose you're right." Shishiwakamaru said with a nod as he stopped spinning the sword. Then, he swung the blade of his sword downward, slamming its red blade into the ring. [Chorus of a Thousand Skulls]."
This time, hundreds, if not thousands, of the same skull-shaped energy attacks materialized above the ring. A moment later, with most of the skulls charging toward James, or Juri who was standing behind him, to be exact, the skulls shot off toward the weaker demons in the crowd.
Like before, Chu and Irene protected the ones they wished to protect while James materialized Ochiru Sakura on his left hip. Then, with his left hand, he drew the sword in a reverse grip.
Dancing elegantly, while many of the weaker demons in the crowd lost their lives, James protected Juri from the onslaught of skulls, cutting them down with elegant swordsmanship. Naturally, as James protected her, Juri's blush deepened.
"*Sigh* Another one is hooked." Irene said while shaking her head at the infatuation she could see in Juri's eyes.
"Yes, I can see why so many have fallen for him." Erza said with a nod. "His willingness to protect others is admirable, and quite charming, as well."
Back in the ring, after a minute or so, James was able to destroy all the skulls. Then, he glared at Shishiwakamaru with an annoyed scowl on his face.
"I think I've had enough of all the indiscriminate attacks." James said before he vanished from in front of Juri with a [Flash Step].
A moment later, James was standing in front of Shishiwakamaru, swinging Ochiru Sakura upward toward the fleshy face in the middle of the Banshee Shriek's hilt. Then, with little effort, Ochiru Sakura's blade sliced through it cleanly. Then, using the momentum, James spun around and kicked Shishiwakamaru in the chest, causing a sickening crack to ring out around the entire arena.
*Boom!*
In the next instant, Shishiwakamaru sailed past Onji, much faster than the clown faced demon could see, before slamming into the wall that separated the crowd from the ring area. A moment later, after the dust settled, Shishiwakamaru could be seen laying among the debris from the collapse wall.
Though it took Juri a moment to react, she quickly spoke into her microphone once she remembered what her job was.
"Shishiwakamaru is outside of the ring. I'll begin the ten count." Juri said, explaining to the crowd. "One!"
Without even twitching, Shishiwakamaru did not move as Juri counted. Eventually, she reached ten, yet Shishiwakamaru had not moved. In fact, if it were not for the shallow rising and falling of his chest, no one would have even known if he were alive.
"Ten!" Juri cried. "As Shishiwakamaru was unable to return to the ring before the count of ten, the winner of the match is J from Team Urameshi."