73

AN: New arc begins. Tobio and Ibaraki venture into Yomi to train for a dark future! Will they grow strong enough to illuminate the darkness lurking ahead? Find out next time on Fighting Spirit's Hellhound Arc.

Chapter Text

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us? Even just for a few hours to see Izanami's palace?" I say bargaining with Suzaku who glances behind me at the entrance to Yomi and shivers in discomfort.

Tobio is storing his luggage in the log cabin I built earlier, and I figured while we wait for him to be ready I should try and convince Suzaku to join us.

"As much as I'd love to spend more time with both of you, the idea of venturing into Yomi before my death seems vaguely sacrilegious." She looks uncomfortable at the mere suggestion, with no indication she's playing it up for a joke, but she still gives me a good-humored ribbing, "Even when your plan to jump back and forth between the land of the living and Yomi, multiple times a day, is far more offensive to my sensibilities."

"I think weaker-willed or more fervently devout members of the Principal Clans would attack you for violating the sacred boundaries of life and death like you plan to." She drawls looking amused at the idea.

"Tobio needs to eat and drink so we have to leave Yomi to keep him going throughout the month." I reply innocently, "I can't let him go hungry as the one responsible for training him. I'd never suggest hopping back and forth otherwise."

I widen my eyes and rest my hand on my cheek to sell my innocence but Suzaku sees through the act.

She rolls her eyes and smiles fondly, "Forgive me for not realizing Yomi was the only place you could train my cousin. Camping outside the entrance to Yomi so you can take day trips to the land of the dead must be the only way to help him grow strong."

"I have to get him used to real combat and what better targets for that than undead?" I pout, pulling Suzaku close and resting my forehead against hers, "If you're uncomfortable with this I can take him somewhere else instead."

She blushes at my sudden proximity and glares at me through her lashes, "I'm not saying you can't train here. Lord Susanoo took you to Yomi for training before so your idea isn't wrong or anything."

She rests her hands on my hips and I wet my lips in anticipation whispering to her, "Don't concede so fast, I can still do more to convince you."

Her blush darkens further and her breathing speeds up, "Not here, Ibaraki."

"Why not here?" I whisper, rolling my hips which causes her to tighten her grip, "Your cousin's busy and there's nobody else around. Just a little kiss?"

"Fine, but just a kiss." She gives me a quick peck and pulls back, eliciting a disappointed whine from me.

"A real kiss, Suzaku. I need something to remember you by until I see you again. If I forget the feeling of your lips on mine I might just die!" She giggles at my protest and frustratingly doesn't kiss me again.

"Since you're not going to be residing at Izanami's palace like last time, I'll come to visit you here when I have time." She lets me go and steps back out of my arms, "Maybe if you weren't so intent on teasing me you would've gotten your goodbye kiss."

Despite my simmering arousal and the frustration of being left hanging, I smile coyly, "Tobio and I will only be at the camp in the mornings and at night. If you're visiting me at night I'll have to build a separate cabin for us to share then. Maybe build a comfy bed and soundproof walls?"

Suzaku's eyes widen and I swear smoke billows from her ears with how red her face turns. She hides her face in her hands and I smirk, she may be getting better at teasing me but I've still got it.

"Goodbye, Ibaraki!" She squeaks out and teleports away, leaving me equal parts smug and frustrated at that exchange.

Still, despite not getting the kiss I wanted, I count that as a victory. I was worried that after following Yasaka's advice and telling Suzaku I was keeping a secret from her our interactions would be awkward or Suzaku would become more distant. Thankfully that hasn't been the case.

Maybe the long talk after, describing the Four Fiends Plan and telling her all the important information about the upcoming events helped smooth things over.

She had been saddened when I revealed that former members of the Principal Clans were one of the groups behind the kidnappings. Though she didn't seem all that surprised by that revelation.

At the very least she eventually agreed with my plan of allowing Tobio to handle the initial emergence of the Utsusemi. The only condition she had was that I shadowed him the whole time and intervened if he got in over his head. Considering I planned on doing that anyway, there was no issue there.

I puff out my chest proudly, "Tobio! Hurry it up in there, It's time to get started!"

The door to the cabin swings open and both Tobio and Jin -who rests upon his shoulder- glare at me like I'm some disgusting creature, "Could you save teasing my cousin for when I'm not around?"

I snort in contempt at his words, "Why should we have to hold back? Besides, I remember you being much more accepting the first time you caught us flirting."

"I didn't realize it was going to happen every time you were in the same room. How can you be so aggressively horny all the time? I'm the teenage boy here." He grouses as he walks with me to the entrance of Yomi.

"You'll understand when you get a girlfriend," I tease back, elbowing him gently in his side as we walk.

He steps out of range and adjusts Jin's position on his shoulder, ignoring my jab at his relationship status. Neither of us is carrying anything else since bringing supplies would be pointless and Tobio doesn't need a physical weapon.

We continue down the hill at a normal walking pace since there's no real rush. The plan is for Tobio to slowly make it to Izanami's palace. I hope he makes it soon, but if he takes a few days it won't set back our schedule.

He still hasn't managed to manifest weapons from Canis Lykaon's darkness aura but Jin will be enough till he figures that out. The most important part of this trip is that he experiences combat, not necessarily him killing undead and demons with a scythe. Simply fighting until he grows used to it is enough.

His weapon skills will develop in the breaks between being sent to hunt undead when he will have to continue his normal training. It's going to be an intense schedule but we only have a month to get him ready. As long as he improves, it doesn't matter if he learns everything.

That isn't to say I don't expect him to learn how to create scythes and blades of darkness during this month. He has a lot of techniques to learn on his agenda, and I fully expect him to tick every box by the end of this trip. In the original timeline, he learned at a normal pace for a shounen protagonist so I can throw everything at him and expect it to stick basically.

I glance at him fondly as the world slowly shifts to the darkness of the underworld. Yeah, I expect a lot from him but I'm confident he'll succeed.

As we fully enter Yomi, I take a deep breath, letting my lungs fill with the essence of the land of the dead. It has been too long since I've visited.

Tobio mistakenly mirrors my actions and ends up doubled over while coughing. The air isn't good by any means, especially considering the lack of Ki permeating the underworld. Nor is it particularly healthy for a human-like Tobio.

I pat him on the back as he recovers, shielding him from the worst of the environment with my Ki for the moment.

A human can walk through the underworld without any difficulty for a while but it is a land that is fundamentally for the dead. Living beings have no place here, this plane rejects them fundamentally. Recklessly inhaling the air, drinking the water, or eating anything here is asking to die. Whether by being cursed to remain, or your life expiring, there isn't much difference.

"Try not to breathe too much of the air," I tell him, and from how unimpressed he looks, the warning might be later than he wanted.

While he's struggling, Jin looks excited, the Sacred Gear taking to Yomi like a fish in water. Well, that's to be expected for the False God of Darkness.

In the distance, I can see a small group of undead shambling towards us. Nothing strong yet since we're so close to the land of the living but the further we trek towards Izanami's palace, the stronger the undead will grow.

"Alright!" I exclaim, patting Tobio on the back one last time, "We're only here for a month so let's start strong. I want you to take out those undead in the distance."

Tobio shakes off his discomfort from the lifeless air and focuses on the approaching enemies. Before he can head off though, I grab Jin by the scruff, confusing both of them.

"Those are low-level undead," I point at them with a smile, "If you can't beat them with your bare hand, there's no point in continuing this training."

Jin growls at me but Tobio just sighs and nods, "I'll be fine, Jin."

I level a serious look at Tobio before he heads off, "For the next month, you'll be broken in as a hunting dog. You will roam Yomi, barring your fangs against all the creatures within. You'll become the scourge of these plains, an executioner in the darkness!"

Tobio rolls his eyes but my excited grin only widens, "Go forth and hunt, my hound!"

As Tobio runs off I cackle with glee, "Tear these demons apart, Slash Dog!"

Tobio swallows a lump in his throat as he runs toward the group of undead.

Ibaraki's laughter slowly fades as the distance between them expands, and Tobio is grateful for the sudden silence. It allows him to dial in his focus for the upcoming fight.

The darkness of Yomi makes seeing anything difficult yet the closer he gets, the more the disturbing details of their grotesque forms become clear. They're zombies, or something close enough to be indistinguishable, all loose rotting skin, torn muscle, and exposed bone wrapped around a shambling humanoid form.

The stench of decaying flesh fills the already lifeless air and their groans break the oppressive silence that blankets the Underworld.

How Ibaraki can not only bear this but seem excited to be here is baffling to him.

The undead around him hardly even react as he falls upon their group, the air distorting with every exhale of his breath.

He punches the first one's head clean off its shoulders with a single blow. Instantly, his stomach roils at the idea of killing this humanoid being but he swallows his discomfort.

Ibaraki had explained that the undead here aren't the bodies of dead humans but a naturally occurring phenomenon, the coalescence of Yomi's energy into a physical form. The death-aligned energies simply take the form of a deceased creature because that's the natural expression of the energy.

She described the undead as spirits or golems rather than a form of life, and rather than doubt that it's far easier on his conscience to take the explanation at face value.

The only deceased humans he could meet in Yomi are the souls in Izanami's castle, and the only intelligent creatures outside there are some of the demons here.

Still, for Tobio to tear these zombies apart with his bare hands is uncomfortable. They look far too close to humans for him not to feel bad.

After around thirty seconds though, the six undead are all lying around him in varying states of destruction.

Tobio stares at his hands with a kind of numb shock. He knew that Ibaraki's training had caused him to grow stronger but until now he hasn't had a chance to witness that strength objectively.

Neither losing spars against Akeno nor having Ibaraki toy with him as she taught him how to fight built up an image of power. It's hard to feel strong while consistently losing, even if you're told that you're improving.

A gust of wind blows his hair back and he hears a sharp crack off in the distance. He turns in the direction of the noise only to see a brief flash illuminate a towering figure before darkness reasserts itself. A second later, a loud thud booms from that direction and Tobio stumbles as an earthquake rips through Yomi.

"Sorry about that," Ibaraki calls out, waving her bow as she walks over, "One of the larger undead sensed my arrival and was lumbering over here."

Jin just sulks in her grip and Tobio feels bad for him.

Ibaraki looks behind Tobio into the darkness and grins, "I hope you've recovered because there are more undead on the way."

"Great," Tobio mutters and follows her gaze to another group of zombies, shuffling toward him.

His body heats up again as he breathes in and activates his enhancement spell. He tries to draw on Jin's darkness to enhance himself further or create a scythe but the darkness slips from his grasp.

No matter.

He reaches the first zombie of the new group and hits it with an uppercut to the chin. He pushes the now headless body into the next nearest undead, and darts by as they tangle together.

Tobio jumps upwards at the next zombie, planting his feet on its chest and kicking off with full force as his momentum throws off its balance tipping it backward. He hears its ribcage shatter as he leaps past it, rotating at the waist and launching a kick that sends another zombie head flying.

It becomes even harder to see through the darkness as he spins from the momentum, and the blur of motion mixes with the steam rising from his body. Still, he sticks the landing on the furthest zombie, caving in another chest and riding it like a skateboard for a few feet to bleed off momentum.

Dark soil ends up covering parts of the zombie's corpse from the furrow the brief ride left in the ground. Tobio brushes the dirt that sprayed on his shirt off and turns to make sure he isn't about to be attacked by something.

Thankfully, the only one left alive in the second group is still struggling to disentangle itself from the zombie he pushed into it. He's able to simply jog over to the downed zombie, deactivating his enhancement spell in the meantime, and crush its skull with a quick stomp.

By the time he shakes off the upswell of nausea from crushing a head, his body has mostly cooled down from the enhancement spell again.

Ibaraki strolls up to the scene moments later, nodding in assessment, "I think it's safe to say that we can move past the lowest-strength undead."

She makes a sweeping gesture and the area around them becomes bright as a sea of white flames bursts into existence. Tobio's mouth goes dry as in the sea of fire he watches as hundreds or even thousands of undead burn to ash.

Beyond the sea of flames, various large undead and demonic beasts are illuminated. Serpents, wolves, deer, bears, and even humanoids both regular-sized and giant, all lurk in the darkness beyond the flames. Some of them are even watching Tobio from the distance, wary of the flames but staring with hunger in their glowing eyes.

Ibaraki's joyous laughter does help soothe his nerves a little. Her reaction reassures him that if he can't handle his opponents she can at least kill them.

Yet his hands still shake at the monsters he's going to be forced to fight.

Sparing a second, he reminds himself of why he agreed to this in the first place, and thinking of Sae allows him to bury his fear.

Tobio sulks, sitting on a log on the other side of the firepit. Jin licks the side of his face trying to cheer him up as I roast the fish I caught for his dinner.

"If nothing else, the pain from the broken arm will remind you to stick to your strengths." I point out helpfully.

Tobio's final challenge for the day before we left Yomi had been to fight one of the canine demonic beasts. The same kind that I had fought when I first arrived at Yomi.

He managed to take out an undead 'giant' that stood around ten feet tall after the zombies, a skeletal snake as large as an anaconda, and a pair of undead deer so I figured he was ready for one last challenge.

I made it as easy as possible for him by allowing him to fight with Jin again and even dragging a lone beast from its pack to fight him. The slowly escalating fights with various undead must have inflating his confidence too high though because despite having Jin, he tried fighting the demonic beast head-on.

The overgrown undead wolves, despite looking like desiccated corpses, possess far more durable bodies than those of mere zombies. Therefore, I wasn't surprised when it barely flinched at Tobio's opening attack.

At best, its skull had a small crack in it from his punch and the wolf swatted him away with a sweep of its paw. Tobio's training allowed him to attempt a block, but the bones in his arm still shattered on impact.

He's lucky the wolf didn't clamp its jaws around his arm instead. That would've been a far more painful lesson.

While Tobio was coping with his freshly broken arm, Jin proved his pedigree as the Dog God of the Black Blade, slashing the wolf into a fine mist.

"I specifically gave you Jin for the fight because I knew you'd need him." I continue, rotating the fish to cook the other side.

I try to cook the fish evenly and not apply too much heat to one area. After fighting all afternoon, Tobio deserves something tasty to eat, and it'll help motivate him to fight hard tomorrow if he eats well now.

"I know," Tobio says with a sigh, "I thought I could win on my own though. I'm sorry, Jin."

Tobio pairs his apology with headpats, which earns him a happy bark from Jin as if to say 'Just leave it to me next time.'

There's no reason to be too harsh because he did well for the first time he has been in real combat.

Instead, I just drive home the methodology I expect him to follow, "Remember, Jin fights at the front and you use stealth while supporting. If you can do that well, we'll be able to reach Izanami's palace in no time."

Tobio's demeanor brightens a little and since I don't want him to feel bad about his progress or anything, I throw him a bone.

"I'm confident that you'll get the hang of wielding Jin's darkness aura quickly. Once you can do that, you can fight alongside Jin instead of only supporting him." Tobio smiles and ducks his head at the praise.

"Thank you, I'll do my best." He says gaze focused on the fire.

"You're free to relax or train for the rest of the night. Just make sure you get a good sleep to have energy for tomorrow," I say, stretching as I stand up.

"Oh, I thought you'd be eating dinner with me," Tobio says as he takes over the cooking.

"I probably won't do more than snack occasionally this month, unless Suzaku wants to visit," I say with a shrug.

Grinning at Tobio I continue, "I can survive that long without eating using my Ki as a substitute, so I'm more focused on feeding the fragile human."

He shoots me a deadpan as he rotates the fish, "Thank you for your consideration. Where are you headed then?"

"I'm going to visit Izanami now since you'll be safe here with Jin. Enjoy your dinner and if I'm not back before you fall asleep, goodnight." I wave over my shoulder as I walk away, nodding to acknowledge his echoed goodnight.

I crack my knuckles and roll my shoulders as I gaze upon Yomi once again.

Since I'm still close to the entrance, the undead nearest to me are the weakest of the weak. Not that any naturally occurring undead could challenge

While I had said to Tobio that I would be visiting Izanami at her palace, I hadn't said that I would be going there directly. I certainly could erase my presence and run straight there but it has been too long since I just cut loose and slaughtered everything in sight. I've missed the freedom and simplicity of pure destruction.

I won't waste too much time, since none of the undead I can sense are strong enough to play with, but I want to mess around a little bit.

A zombie has latched on my forearm and I crack a smile at its attempts to gnaw through my skin. The zombie is too weak to damage me but too stupid to realize our power difference or be paralyzed with fear.

I begin to cycle my Ki and shift my breathing using the altered method Byakko and I created. While there are kinks that still need to be worked out of the techniques, the altered White Tiger Mystic art is close enough to completion to be usable.

My Touki flows over my body, and rather than the blinding white of the Shinra family technique, my Touki glows dark red.

With each step we took away from the White Tiger Mystic art, my Touki drew upon less divinity of the White Tiger of the West. Since that's also where most of the power behind the techniques came from, we had to substitute the divinity with something else.

The idea we came up with in the end, was for me to substitute my nascent divinity from the aborted apotheosis into the technique instead. It lacks the... completion of real divinity but calling it Pseudo-divinity would also be incorrect.

I still benefit from the millennia of refinement for the breathing technique and circulation method but without the visual cues that would signify my theft of their technique.

While my Touki lost the conceptual strength to burn away 'Evil' that the White Tiger granted, the responsiveness of my Touki and the brute force behind the aura noticeably increased. Byakko and I both assumed that change is due to the Ki and Divinity both coming from the same source.

As I continue to pour out more Ki and Divinity, my Touki expands further turning the zombie chewing on my forearm to dust. It's a wasteful way to use my Touki, increasing the energy expenditure massively each time the thickness doubles.

It is, however, really fucking cool looking.

The outpouring of life energy also has the fortunate side effect of drawing the attention of every undead close enough to sense it. With how much energy I'm pouring off, that's a lot of undead.

I walk into the nearest group of undead, welcoming them with open arms as my Touki tears them apart on contact. The torrent of life energy and the Divinity combined within leave nothing behind, save the deathly energy that animated their forms.

Off in the distance, I can see a wave of dust forming from the tide of undead that is being drawn towards me.

I could start firing arrows at them, or crush their advance with a wave of fire, charging at them and physically tearing them apart is another fun option.

Humming to myself, I gauge the distance between where the largest concentration of undead are, and Izanami's palace.

There's a mountain in my path to Izanami's palace anyway. I don't remember it being there last time but it will help block any debris from my next maneuver.

I should have more than enough room either way though, I decide; coiling my legs and leaping as high as I can into the sky.

At the top of my arc through the sky, I rotate over and shoot jets of compressed flame from the soles of my feet. I push myself towards the horde of undead, faster and faster, while transferring the entirety of my Touki into my right heel.

At the last second, I roll forward and slam into the nearest undead with a full-power axe kick from the sky. There's no resistance whatsoever as my heel carves through its body and slams straight into the ground beneath it. I feel the ground shatter beneath me and for a moment wonder if I put too much into this attack…

The compressed Touki bursts outward the instant contact is made with the ground. From the cataclysmic collision erupts a wave of Ki that erases everything unfortunate enough to be within the radius of the explosion.

When the wave of Ki loses cohesion and disperses into motes of red light, I'm left alone at the bottom of a massive crater.

"The scenery in Yomi is bland anyways… Surely Izanami won't mind a nice crater." I find myself saying aloud in an attempt to justify my actions.

From where I am at the bottom of the crater it isn't that large. If I were to guess, you wouldn't be able to build too large of a city within it. Kyoto definitely wouldn't fit within it at least.

I swallow nervously and start praying that the crater doesn't get brought up.

"I'm sorry," I say staring at the floor while sitting in seiza.

"What exactly are you apologizing for, Ibaraki? I'd prefer more than a simple apology in this case." Izanami asks slowly and I shift nervously.

"I'm sorry for, um, 'attempting to recreate an extinction-level cataclysm' in your domain." I look up at her and she still seems unimpressed so I continue, "And for dirtying the fur of your guest's pet due to my actions."

That mountain I saw in the distance? It was Cerberus taking a nap outside Izanami's palace. It turns out Hades and Persephone had already arrived in Yomi and decided to bring Cerberus along with them for a walk.

Izanami still seems vaguely disappointed and her shoulders slump, "I suppose that's enough of an apology. You didn't know my guests had already arrived and I know you were excited to be back."

She pats me on the head and ruffles my hair a little, smiling down at me, "It's good to see you in person again, Ibaraki."

Despite feeling embarrassed about my actions, I return her smile gratefully, "I'm happy to see you too. I missed hanging out here with you."

Izanami looks off to the side only displaying a small grin - barely an upward tilt to her lips- in an attempt to hide just how pleased she is by that statement.

"How have your guests been so far?" I whisper conspiratorily to her and I'm sure my eyes are sparkling with interest, "You have to tell me everything."

Izanami shuffles on her feet and twirls a stray lock of hair, "Ibaraki, they've only just arrived today. We've hardly spoken beyond welcoming them to my territory and ensuring they're comfortable."

I wait for a moment for her to continue but she just bites her lip and stays silent.

"And? You can't just leave it at that." I huff, wishing Izanami wasn't being so reserved right now. I want to hear all the juicy details! "How powerful do they feel, what do they look like?"

Dammit, Izanami, I need to hear some hot gossip! I pause for a moment and narrow my eyes, "Were they polite to you?"

Izanami laughs lightly, hiding a smile behind her sleeve, "They were perfectly polite, Ibaraki, you don't need to run off and defend my honor."

I nod sharply, the surge of protectiveness fading away, "I'm glad, though I notice you haven't answered my other questions."

Izanami rolls her eyes, "Hades and Persephone have ruled their section of the Underworld for millennia, it's a given that they're powerful. Whether or not they're more powerful than I am, I couldn't say. Not that we would fight, but here in Yomi, I certainly wouldn't lose to them."

"If you say so…" I trail off, wondering whether she's right.

Izanami is strong as a progenitor deity of a faction and the ruler of an entire section of the Underworld but she isn't a god known for combat.

While Persephone is a wild card power-wise since she was never mentioned in the original story she shouldn't be weak. Any cursory reading of her mythology would suggest monstrous strength, so long as you read more than her modernized portrayal as a damsel in distress.

Hades though should definitely be stronger than Izanami, whether she's here in Yomi or not. As one of the 'Top Ten Strongest Beings' I wouldn't be surprised if he could erase this entire section of the Underworld on a whim.

"Ibaraki, you're drooling," Izanami chastises and I blush as I wipe the corner of my mouth.

I scratch the back of my neck and Izanami titters, "You'll need to control yourself when you meet them. I'd be saddened if you embarrassed yourself by drooling over my guests in front of them."

I perk up at that, "When am I meeting them?"

Izanami looks down at my clothes, still covered in dust from my earlier exercise, "Not until you look presentable, that's for sure. I would like it if you joined us for dinner, however. Not to eat anything but as support?"

She looks unsure, as though she's asking a lot of me, causing me to sigh and shake my head, "I already told you I'd be there for you, right? Of course, I don't mind."

She wraps me up in a tight hug and drags me to my feet, "Thank you!"

Her hand wraps around mine in a vice-like grip and she starts dragging me out of the room, "Let's get you cleaned up and dressed for dinner!"