The Dark Martial Arts Tournament Finals Begin!

Human World, Hanging Neck Island.

The night passed without issue. As the sun rose on Hanging Neck Island, the tension in the air was palpable. Although no one other than the biggest players on the island knew that Toguro had killed Genkai only two days before, everyone could feel that there was something more than just the desire for victory in the air between the two remaining teams.

Like most days, Team Urameshi and their entourage woke up and had breakfast. However, unlike most days, even Hiei was present for the meal.

"Are you all ready?" Genkai asked as she put down her chopsticks. "This will definitely be the hardest fight any of you have ever had."

Receiving nods from everyone at the table, Genkai nodded in return. Then, as everyone finished their breakfast, they all left the hotel and headed to the arena. In most cases, they would show up just before the matches began. However, since today's match would be the final match of the tournament, they decided to arrive early so they could get themselves in the right state of mind.

Once the team arrived at the arena, they split from their entourage and made their way to the locker rooms. While their entourage found the best seats they could, considering that most of the demons had lined up since dawn to get good seats.

"From what I can tell, Team Toguro only has four members." Hiei said in a nonchalant manner. "So, which of you will be sitting this round out?"

"That makes it sound like you'll definitely be fighting n this round." James said with a smile. "What if we say that you should be the one who sits out?"

"Then, we'll have to fight to see who the last four standing will be." Hiei said. "If one of you is unable to fight, then I'll get to fight by default, right?"

"So, you wanna do it like we did on the cruise ship, huh?" James asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Sometimes, you're way too confident in your strength, Hiei. That could be your undoing one day."

"You should just worry about yourself, devil." Hiei said in a cold tone. "But then again, after this tournament, that won't be an issue for you anymore."

Instead of responding to Hiei's taunt, James simply shook his head.

"Uh… I know I'm the weakest among us." Kuwabara said with a bit of irritation in his tone. "So, I'll sit this one out."

Nodding at Kuwabara's decision, James approached Kuwabara and patted him on the shoulder.

"That's probably the most mature decision anyone on this team has made since the tournament started." James said with a smile. "It was a much more mature decision than walking into a trap like a certain someone did during that one round."

"Hmph!" Hiei snorted. "Just wait until this tournament is over, I'm definitely going to kill you."

"Do your best!" James exclaimed in an over enthusiastic tone. "I'm rooting for you."

This time, it was Hiei's turn to ignore James' taunt. And James decided that it was not worth antagonizing Hiei any further.

Meanwhile, Kuwabara had separated from James and approached Kurama.

"Are you really gonna use that stuff Suzuka gave you?" Kuwabara asked quietly once he was close enough to Kurama. "I mean, it could be dangerous, right?"

"I have tested it." Kurama said with his eyes closed. "And I know that it takes about fifteen minutes to take effect."

"Alright, man, I hope you know what you're doing." Kuwabara said, knowing that he would be unable to change Kurama's mind.

Just like that, Team Urameshi spent their time either chatting or relaxing before the final round of the Dark Tournament began. Eventually, noise from the arena made it clear that the match would be starting soon.

Meanwhile, back in the arena, Koto was walking through the crowd asking their opinions about the outcome of the finals. And to her irritation, most people were just saying whatever came to mind since their conversations with Koto would be broadcast to the demon communities in the Human World.

"*Sigh* Sometimes I hate my job." Koto said after interviewing another annoying demon.

"Aww, don't say that, love." An Australian accented male voice said from behind Koto.

When Koto looked back to see who was talking to her, she was surprised to see that it was Chu, Rinku, Jin, and Touya, four demons who had lost to Team Urameshi in earlier rounds of the tournament.

"I wasn't expecting to see the four of you here." Koto said, putting down her microphone for a moment.

"Well, we gotta root for the blokes that beat us, right?" Chu said with a goofy smile on his face before taking a swig from a pint of liquor.

"Yeah, if they win, we can at least say we lost to the champs, ya know." Jin added.

Before Koto could reply, however, the lights in the arena dimmed and a spotlight fell on the center of the ring. In that spotlight stood Juri, the referee for the finals.

"Well, it looks like I better get back to my post." Koto said with a smile. "I've gotta let everyone know about every bone shattering hit that is delivered in that ring, after all."

The four demons simply nodded at Koto and watched her go back to her broadcast booth.

Meanwhile, Juri had just raised her microphone to her mouth in the ring.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you have all been waiting for is finally here." Juri said in a low and subdued tone. "The final match of the Dark Martial Arts Tournament is about to begin. Are you ready?"

In response to Juri's question the entire arena exploded into loud, excited cheers. In fact, the cheers were so loud that Juri had to scrap her plan to tell the audience that she could not hear them to get them even more riled up.

"Then, without further ado, I present to you, Team Urameshi." Juri said, gesturing toward the entrance on the south side of the arena.

As expected, when Team Urameshi was introduced, they were greeted with a symphony of boos and jeers. However, the five of them walked out as if nothing had happened. However, James did wink at Irene when he spotted her in the crowd, receiving a tired sigh and a nod in return.

"Next is the favorite to win the tournament, Team Toguro!" Juri shouted into her microphone, playing to the crowd's emotions.

When the four members of Team Toguro entered the ring, they received a welcome that was the exact opposite of Team Urameshi's. However, before they reached the ringside, Juri spoke up once again.

"Team Toguro, please have your fifth member come to the ring." Juri said in a professional tone. "During the earlier rounds, it was acceptable for him to not be present However, all five members, provided that they are alive must be present for the finals."

"Understood." The younger Toguro responded. "Our fifth member is always ready should the need arise for his presence."

Not even a minute later, a tall, handsome man with slicked back black hair walked through the same entrance Team Toguro had entered through.

"Glad you could make it, Sakyo." The younger Toguro said as Sakyo approached.

"Of course." Sakyo, the sponsor of Team Toguro as well as its fifth member said with a smile. "The only thing this changes is that I'll get a better view of the action. Since my turn to fight will never come."

"Now that all the participants are accounted for, the rules for the finals are simple." Juri said. "The round will be the best of five matches. The first team to win three matches is the winner."

Waiting for a moment to see if either team had any questions, Juri continued after a brief silence.

"Then, would both teams send up their fighters for the first match." Juri asked in a professional tone.

Immediately, Karasu, a tall male demon with long jet-black hair wearing a long black coat, black slacks, and black dress shoes with a metallic mask that covers the lower half of his face, jumped into the ring. Shortly after Karasu, Kurama did the same.

"For the first match, Karasu from Team Toguro will face Kurama from Team Urameshi." Juri said, gesturing to both fighters. "Now, let the battle begin… Fight!"

As soon as Juri gave the signal, Karasu rushed at Kurama with his hands extended. Once he was near, he began to swing his hands, trying to make contact with Kurama.

'Just as I expected, he needs his hands to make his opponents explode." Kurama said, expertly avoiding Karasu's random swings.

Using his superior martial arts training, Kurama either completely avoided or deflected Karasu's hands away from his body as he counterattacked with precisely placed palm strikes.

{"Although it is clear to everyone that Karasu is superior to Kurama in both speed and power, Kurama is managing to break even with the raven-haired powerhouse from Team Toguro with is superior martial arts training."} Koto said excitedly into the microphone. {"Although this has yet to lead to any bloodshed, I can say that all those near misses from Karasu is keeping me hopeful."}

And just as Koto finished speaking, Karasu grinned under his mask.

Although Kurama could not see Karasu curling his lips, he was definitely able to see the amusement in his eyes.

*Boom!*

An instant later, a small, yet powerful explosion went off next to Kurama's right leg, leaving a bloody gash on his calf.

"Gah!" Kurama screamed in pain as he stumbled backward.

"It's rather cute how you thought that I actually needed my hands to make things go boom." Karasu said in an eerily calm tone.

As Karasu spoke, he appeared to be holding an object in his hand.

"Like you, Kurama, I can use my demonic energy to manipulate objects." Karasu said, as a small, round eyeball with a fuse materialized in his hand. "Unlike you, however, I am not bound to manipulating tangible objects. I can even manipulate the intangible into objects for my use."

Hearing that explanation, Kurama took a quick look around himself. When he did, he was surprised to see that he was surrounded by more of those small eyeball-shaped explosives that had injured him before.

Meanwhile, the crowd was going wild. While Kurama had been too preoccupied with fending off Karasu's onslaught, they watched as more and more of those little explosives materialized around the fighters.

"This is bad." Kuwabara muttered from ringside. "If that stuff the clown gave him doesn't work, I'll find him and kill him myself."

Hearing Kuwabara's muttering, the rest of the team glanced at Kuwabara strangely, James the only one who knew what he was talking about. Then, they quickly returned their attention to the ring.

"Now, let's end this little game." Karasu said in the same tone as before. "But I would ask that you try not to move too much. I would not want to damage that pretty, red hair of yours. It would make your mounted head look a lot less pretty, after all."

With that, all the eyeballs floated toward Kurama at high speed.

*Boom!*

Before Kurama could try to escape, however, the eyeballs all exploded, leaving a cloud of dust and debris in the place where Kurama stood.

Naturally, this raised the nerves of Yusuke and Kuwabara. However, James and Hiei continued to look on without changing their expressions in the slightest.

"So that's what the fool meant." Hiei said with his Jagan glowing under his headband.

"Yup, I guess it is." James replied.

This time, it was Yusuke and Kuwabara's turns to glance at James and Hiei in incomprehension. However, it did not take long for the meaning behind their words to become clear.

Once the dust cloud dispersed, Everyone was surprised to see a large plant growing from under where Kurama stood. A moment later, the large leaves of this newly grown plant opened, revealing the form of Yoko Kurama.

{"OMG! My sexy silver-haired fox god is back!"} Koto squealed in excitement over the arena's speaker system.

"I thought I told you that I just might take this body for myself if you carelessly called me to handle your fights, Shuichi." Yoko said as he stepped out of the plant's embrace. "But considering how out classed you are in terms of fire power, I guess I can understand why you called me out this time."

Looking around the ring once he was free from the plant, Yoko saw that there were many more of those eyeball explosives floating around once again. Then, he looked at Juri, who had been standing at the edge of the ring to referee the match.

"I would suggest you don't move." Yoko said, not explaining what he meant.

Then, Yoko reached into his yukata and pulled out a handful of seeds. Then, he blew on them and tossed them around the ring. An instant later, a few dozen demonic plants that resembled a Venus Fly Trap grew around the ring.

"Do you think those little plants will save you from me?" Karasu asked as he saw the plants that grew all over the ring.

A moment later, the eyeball explosives began floating toward Kurama from all directions. However, as soon as those explosives began to move, they were snapped at by the nearby carnivorous plants and swallowed.

Before long, all the eyeballs had exploded within the plants, dealing no damage.

"Actually, I do." Yoko said with a roguish smile on his face. "The real question is, what will save you from my little plants?"

A moment later, a small plant with razor sharp thorns grew from beneath Karasu, causing him to have to dodge. These movements, naturally, caused all the carnivorous plants to move toward the source of movement, just like Venus Fly Traps do.

Showing off his speed, Karasu managed to dodge the onslaught of all the carnivorous plants for a couple of minutes. However, considering how many plants there were, he was eventually caught. In the process, however, his metallic face mask was knocked off.

"I would suggest you take a few steps back, Sakyo." The younger Toguro said while watching the ring. "Since Karasu has lost his mask, things are about to get dangerous."

As Sakyo took a step back, Karasu took a deep breath just before he was completely engulfed by the sharp leaves of the carnivorous plants. After a few seconds, there was no more movement from the pile of plants and Yoko turned around to walk toward the rest of Team Urameshi.

"I expected more from you, Karasu." Yoko said. "You did not even use up half of the fifteen-minute time limit I have before I have to---"

*Boom!*

Before Kurama could finish, a much larger explosion than Karasu had created throughout the rest of the tournament went off, sending burnt and fresh parts of the plants that engulfed him flying all over the arena.

Once the explosion died down, Karasu was once again visible to the crowd. However, instead of his usual jet-black hair, his hair was now a day glow yellow color.

"That would have actually worked if you hadn't knocked off my mask." Karasu said, too bad for you."

With that, a number of strangely shaped objects appeared around the ring. However, to most of the audience, they were not visible. Only those with high enough spiritual awareness were capable of seeing these new explosives.

"I see, so you only made them visible to give your opponent a false sense of security, huh?" Yoko said while gazing at all the explosives. "This will be more troublesome than I expected."

The numerous explosives began charging toward Yoko like they had done before. Unlike before, however, Yoko simply grew a pair of rose whips. Then, he began dancing elegantly between the explosives and explosions as he lashed out at as many of the explosives as he could.

On top of lashing out at the explosives, Yoko also sent more than a few attacks at Karasu, leaving several bloody gashes across his limbs and torso. Unfortunately, the explosives seemed as if they had no end. And eventually, Yoko was caught in a large explosion that shook the entire arena.

When the smoke settled, instead of Yoko, the original Kurama was left laying in the middle of a crater with tattered clothing, several large gashes, and heavily burned skin.

"Kurama is down." Juri said after realizing that Kurama was laying down in the crater. "I'll start the count… One!"

As Juri began her ten count, Karasu made his way over to the crater. Looking down at the heavily injured Krama, Karasu could tell that he would not live for much longer if no one administered any treatment, something he would make sure never happened.

"I must admit, you were much better prey than I was hoping for." Karasu said with a smile on his face. "I'll take great joy in mounting your head once this tournament is over."

'Although I'm in pain, I'm not as injured as Karasu thinks.' Kurama thought to himself as he watched Karasu approach and heard Juri's count reach five. 'But I don't have enough demonic energy left to fight him. I have enough for one more attack, and that's it. I have to make it count.'

Karasu then reached Kurama's side and knelt next to the red-haired demon. Then, he picked up some of Kurama's hair between his fingers.

"It's just a shame that the explosions damaged your pretty hair." Karasu said as Juri's count reached eight. "No matter, I can stand to cut a little."

"Nine!" Juri said as her count continued.

'Now!' Kurama thought, as a plant grew from his sleeve.

An instant later, a plant with suction cup-looking leaves clamped onto wound on Karasu's chest. Then, it began to suck out Karasu's blood at an insanely high speed. Karasu's blood left his body so quickly that even to the untrained eye he was visibly paling. A few moments later, Karasu had died from blood loss.

"Hell yeah, Kurama won!" Yusuke cheered after realizing what had just happened.

"Did he?" Hiei asked while looking at the reactions of the rest of Team Toguro who seemed calm as ever. "Do they know something we don't?"

"Hiei's right." James added with a nod. "Don't count your chickens before they hatch. Nor should you count a victory before the final ruling is announced.

With that, Yusuke and Kuwabara turned their attention to Juri, who was holding her microphone up to her mouth.

"And the winner of the first match of the final round is Karasu from Team Toguro." Juri said calmly.