Sakyo still detonated the bombs inside the arena, even though in the end the explosion only killed him.
But in the end, Sakyo conceded to Koenma, and Urameshi's team took the championship of this Dark Tournament.
This Dark Tournament was also the most unusual since it began.
For the yokai, this tournament showed them the power of humans.
Although the Dark Tournament is a slaughter festival for yokai, there has never been carnage on this scale.
Aside from the competitors, less than a quarter of the spectators left Hanging-Neck Island alive.
Mainly, the power that burst out when Younger Toguro released one hundred percent was too overwhelming; yokai without sufficient demonic energy simply couldn't withstand it.
Add in the massive destruction from Charles's battle with him, and frankly it's already not bad that so many survived.
For the human side, the impact was even greater.
The high-ranking figures of the dark world were wiped out by Sakyo and Younger Toguro, and Sakyo himself died in the blast.
You could say the dark world's upper echelon is now a vacuum. Stella watched a single tournament, came back, and instantly became the highest-status figure in the dark world.
But Stella's goals were long past that; after handing Fire Dragon Group over entirely to her subordinates, she went back to enjoying life.
Charles also began preparing to depart, because the entrance to Demon World is about to open. And Demon World is Charles's main target in this world.
Whether in world scale, number of powerhouses, or extraordinary materials, Demon World obviously surpasses Human World.
The leisurely days in Human World were about enough; just the right time to go take a look.
But to enter Demon World, they still had to wait a bit, since Human World and Demon World are still in a state of separation.
In truth, there have always been rifts between Human World and Demon World, only yokai of low demonic power could pass through.
For example, beneath the Land of Ice Rivers—Hiei as a child fell into Demon World from there.
The reason lies in a seal set by Spirit World in the subspace that separates Human World and Demon World.
It's a net-like seal. Yokai below A-class are weak enough to slip through the mesh.
But if the demonic power is too great, that space-attribute barrier blocks them, and they can't pass.
Thus Hiei after his Jagan transplant and Kurama after reincarnation were able to come to Human World.
When Charles escorted Yukina home last time, he sensed the Demon World rift and went to check it out.
Sure enough, the seal detected his magic as well; he couldn't pass through the rift to Demon World.
With Charles's strength he could of course tear the seal by force, but that would collapse the entire thing. He doesn't want to turn Human World into a charnel house, nor to become an enemy of all Spirit World.
But here's the chance—someone's enthusiastically working to open the entrance to Demon World.
Even without memories of the original story, Charles could tell: the miasma from Demon World in neighboring Mushiyori City was getting thicker, and the demon insects he saw were increasing.
Thanks to that, Stella didn't even feel like going out shopping.
Charles was also handling his resignation from the school; after giving his reluctant students one last class, he went home to wait for the Demon World gate to fully open.
But on the way, Charles saw a man walking toward him.
The man was tall and lean, roughly Younger Toguro's height, just without Toguro's thick musculature.
But Charles could feel the power in the man's body far surpassed Toguro's.
What drew Charles most, though, was the man's aura of madness, completely at odds with his cool expression.
It was crushing malice and killing intent that made even Charles feel a chill.
Charles's brow twitched—so you really can't talk about people behind their backs, can you? Just yesterday he'd told Stella he ought to thank whoever was opening the gate to Demon World; today the man himself showed up.
A human stronger than Younger Toguro; there was no need to guess his identity.
Yusuke Urameshi's predecessor as Spirit Detective, a man who reached S-class as a human—Shinobu Sensui!
Right now he should be one of the seven calling themselves the Messengers of Demon World, codename Black Angel, carrying on Sakyo's legacy to open the gate to Demon World.
For some reason, he'd appeared in front of Charles.
To say he was passing by—Charles wasn't buying that kind of coincidence. He knew Spirit World could never fail to detect the Demon World tunnel opening, and as a former Spirit Detective, Sensui more than knows Spirit World won't sit on its hands.
If he wasn't guarding the tunnel and came here instead, he obviously had a specific purpose.
And he'd come straight to Charles—besides making Charles his purpose, there wasn't any other plausible reason.
Charles stopped, facing Sensui across the street.
Charles was used to reading people by their aura, and the handsome Sensui, in Charles's perception, was clearly a monster screaming in pain.
What made Sensui was proof of a simple truth: hell is empty; the demons are here among humans.
Sensui had once been kind and gentle, fighting for the justice in his heart, and yet he was driven insane to this extent.
Just like the codename he gave himself, an angel whose wings were stained black, bringing judgment upon a filthy world in place of God.
Maybe sensing the emotion in Charles's eyes, Sensui spoke. "Looks like I don't need to introduce myself. Sakyo was right—you know more than I imagined."
Charles hadn't expected Sensui to bring up Sakyo, but thinking of how Sensui went to Hanging-Neck Island after the tournament—probably to honor Sakyo—they must have been in contact for a while.
And the method for opening the Demon World tunnel likely had Sakyo's hand in it. Their goals aligned; it's no surprise they cooperated.
Charles said, "So you came to me because Sakyo mentioned me, and you got curious?"
Sensui replied, "I heard from Sakyo about Tsurukane Gonzo. You've seen just how vile humans can be. You showed no mercy, which proves you and I should be on the same path. I'm here to invite you to join us."
Charles cocked his head with a strange look. "And how did you decide we're the same? Unlike you, I'm not childish."
Called childish, Sensui didn't get angry—he looked intrigued instead. "Childish? You mean me?"
Charles spread his hands. "Do you know what you look like to me?
"Like a kid who saw a toy behind the counter and wanted it so badly, then after getting it realized it wasn't fun and had quality issues. So he wants to smash it to bits so he never has to see it again."
Sensui fell silent, searching for a rebuttal, and finally realized Charles's description fit him perfectly.
The deeper the love, the deeper the hate. Precisely because he loved humanity too much, he couldn't bear it when he saw humanity's darkness.
Charles didn't coddle Sensui's feelings. "Don't talk to me about justice or purification. You're just venting your anger."
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