Though Hitomi had learned the Jacob's Limbs from Martha, her true passion was magic.
It was just so versatile.
Thus, in every battle, Hitomi preferred to use magic to dispatch her enemies.
This time was no exception.
With a wave of her hand, she conjured layers of magic circles, enveloping Yusuke Urameshi.
Fire lances, ice arrows, light orbs, lightning bolts…
A barrage of magical attacks rained down on Yusuke, giving him no chance to dodge.
Yusuke let out a yell, his immense power surging forth to form a spirit energy shield that protected him from the onslaught.
Then, with a powerful stomp, he shattered the ground beneath him.
Boom!
The arena floor cracked, but Yusuke launched himself like a cannonball, charging toward Hitomi with his shield intact.
Hitomi remained calm, casting a teleportation spell as Yusuke closed in.
In an instant, she vanished.
When she reappeared, she was floating high above, looking down at Yusuke.
A bolt of lightning materialized in her hand, shaped by her will into a spear.
Whoosh!
Aiming at Yusuke, she hurled the Thunder Spear.
It struck his shield in the blink of an eye, its immense impact and explosive force combining into an unstoppable power.
Yusuke's shield shattered almost instantly.
But he had already reacted, dodging the spear just in time.
The Thunder Spear slammed into the ground, unleashing a deafening roar and leaving a massive crater.
"Spirit Gun!"
Seizing the moment after evading, Yusuke counterattacked. Bullets of spirit energy shot from his fingertips, aimed at Hitomi in midair.
A hexagonal shield formed before Hitomi, deflecting the barrage of Spirit Gun shots.
With a wave of her hand, she unleashed a storm of magic bullets in return.
What goes around comes around.
Yusuke was forced to scramble, barely able to find an opening to retaliate under the relentless assault.
Seeing her chance, Hitomi conjured another Thunder Spear and launched it at Yusuke.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Though Yusuke dodged all three spears, the shockwaves from their explosions hit him dead-on, sending him flying.
The impact rattled his organs, forcing a mouthful of blood from his lips.
This couldn't go on—he'd die if it did.
Yusuke instinctively wanted to surrender, but the words caught in his throat.
He could give up now, but what about next time?
Was he supposed to surrender every time he faced an opponent he couldn't beat?
His eyes flickered with determination, a surge of fierce courage rising within him.
He wasn't dead yet, was he?
Why not fight to the end? Maybe he could turn this around. He refused to believe this girl's power was limitless.
So, Yusuke held his ground, dodging Hitomi's attacks while searching for an opportunity to strike back.
Hovering above, Hitomi bombarded the arena, flattening the ground by several meters with her relentless assault.
This technically unrefined, saturation-style battle raged for over ten minutes.
Finally, Hitomi grew bored.
Yusuke was like an unkillable cockroach—no matter how she attacked, he kept dodging.
No matter how many times he was knocked down, he kept getting up.
Even battered and bloodied, he refused to stay down.
In the end, Hitomi couldn't bear it. "I surrender."
And so, Yusuke won the match.
But the moment Hitomi conceded, he collapsed, hitting the ground with a thud, unconscious.
By the end, he'd been running on fumes, sustained only by sheer willpower.
Once Hitomi surrendered, that willpower vanished, and he went down.
Hitomi, startled, rushed to his side and began healing him, terrified he might die right there.
She was here to compete, not to kill.
After some frantic healing, Yusuke pulled through, soon back to full health, brimming with energy, ready to fight again.
But when he learned Hitomi had healed him, he promptly withdrew from the next match.
He wasn't shameless enough to keep fighting her teammates after she'd saved him.
Thus, the third match saw another swap.
This time, Morpheus sent out Medusa.
Yusuke's team countered with Hiei.
Hiei was the quintessential edgelord, his words and actions dripping with individuality.
This stemmed from his unique origins.
Hiei hailed from the Ice Kingdom, a floating realm in the Demon World shrouded in thick clouds.
The all-female Ice Maidens reproduced through parthenogenesis, but if they consorted with outsiders, their offspring inherited only the father's traits.
These male children were invariably born with violent, cruel natures and, without exception, died immediately after birth.
Hiei, born with the blood of an outsider, and his pure Ice Maiden sister Yukina were the first twins in the Ice Kingdom's history.
At birth, Hiei was wreathed in fiery demon energy, forcing the Ice Maidens to wrap him in cursed cloth.
When the elders foresaw that "this child will bring calamity to the Ice Kingdom," his mother's friend Rui was tasked with executing the taboo child to avert disaster.
She cast him from the floating kingdom, placing one of the two Tear Gems—born from his mother Hina's tears during childbirth—into his hand.
Born with fully developed senses and intellect, the taboo child made revenge against the Ice Kingdom his first life goal. After his fall, he was taken in by local bandits and named Hiei.
Naturally ferocious, Hiei lived up to the Ice Maidens' fears, becoming a ruthless bandit.
By age five, he had reached the rank of an A-Class demon.
For Hiei at that time, the distant goal of revenge paled in comparison to the thrill of killing any enemy in his path.
As his strength and infamy grew, even flaunting the priceless Tear Gem around his neck drew few demons bold enough to challenge him.
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
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