Rurouni Kenshin Hell Arc

This is a fanfic I started last year and im still brainstorming the final act. It takes place after Samurai X Reflections, but revolves around the unfinished story of Shishio's conquest over Hell. I read a fanfic years ago like this that was never finished about shishio fighting angels and taking over Hell but it didnt feel like it followed closely enough so I decided to give it my own take on it. Here is a summary of what ive got so far. Shishio, Yumi, and Hoji meet up with Usui finally and go off to conquer Hell. He goes around slaying beasts and demons collecting demonic artifacts that will aid him in taking down the devil himself. Hoji meanwhile is gathering demon followers to help break through Satan's defenses telling them thst shishio will grant them more power, ect. Shishio breaks through and claims the throne atop the Mountain of Burning Souls and waits for his adversary... After Shinta (kenshin) dies in kaoru's arms his spirit ends up in limbo. He is confused as a hooded figure shows up telling him about shishio's uprising, saying thst his hunger was never satisfied and that he plans to take over living and spirit world too! Kenshin steps in to help, if not to kill then to prevent shishio from succeeding. The hood reveals himself to be jin-e. He tells kenshin thst no assassin ever goes to heaven and he should judt get used to it and fight to his heart's content. Kenshin says nothing and presses onward through the portal jin-e opened into hell. A light appeared from kenshin's body upon entering hell. This light attracts more and more demons to him forcing kenshin and jin-e to fight. As they kept fighting, kenshin loses track of time and wonders how long theyve been there. "Who cares." Jin-e chuckled. "Time flies when you are having so much fun!" He kicks a demon off his sword after running the blade through its head. "A tad brutal, even for you." Kenshin said. "It may as well have been a shinai. This is Hell battousai. No wooden swords or 3 round matches. Here its the way of the assassin KILL OR DIE!" Jin-e continues to slaughter more demons laughing. "Come on! I could slay all of you before finishing a single ciggarette!" Just then a familiar voice... "Your sword strikes true for a samurai, but your technique is sloppy." (Enter Saito Hajime!) "Fwuhuhu... A member of the Shinsengumi, a captain no less. Im honored." He bows playfully. Kenshin was suprised to see him. Saito puffs his ciggarette and blows smoke. "It would seem that eternal damnation is something every assassin must face, even in the name of justice." He walks towards a mountain in the distance surrounded by a red glow. "Come. Shishio awaits atop the Mountain of Burning Souls." "So its true then, that it is." Kenshin followed him along with Jin-e who shook the blood off his sword. "By the way, put out that light of yours, battousai. Its whats been attracting so many demons to you." He nodded and willfully toned it down. "That power wont help you here, battousai. They play by different rules down here." "If it will spare more souls then fine. This battle is between this one and shishio." (Pages 1-3) (4-6 up by tonight)

(Time passes and they meet up with sanosuke) "Hey, Kenshin. You here for the action too?" He grinned cracking his knuckles. Saito smirks, "hmph, well wonders never cease." Sano pushes aside kenshin and leans into saito's face spraying him with his spit as he yells, "HEY YOU, DONT THINK IVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT OUR LITTLE REMATCH! C'MON! RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, SAITO! Saito simply ignores him and jin-e chuckles, "The rooster caws, but the farmer ignores it and shuts his window." Sano was just about to snap when kenshin grabs his shoulder. "What are you doing here, sano? As this one recalls, you have never done anything that bad." "Well it's kind of a long story so I'll make it short. I pretty much lost a fight." He cracks his hand again gritting his teeth. "He must have been some opponent." Kenshin said curiously. "Not really. I was hanging around tokyo when I noticed a bunch of guys up to no good down a dark alley. I decided to check it out, nothing exciting was going on and it looked like things were going my way. Then I found out they were with the yakuza, and after I accidentally broke one guy's neck, another gunned me from behind, lousy bastard!" Just then seeing him worked up, saito struck a nerve. "Your captain must be so proud of you." Sano grabs saito's collar. "What did you say, jerk?! Listen, you got no right talking about captain Sagara!" Kenshin gets between them aspnd asks politely for sano to finish his story. "So anyway, I ended up in limbo. I guess the devil doesnt want me. Probably scared I'll kick his ass. I then found my way here and started fighting demons for the heck of it. Been having a blast really." Saito puffs his ciggarette, "that explains it. Shishio is judging all the souls, controlling who gets sent where. Clearly he does not want to deal with lower trash and stranded you in limbo." Sano was tired of saito but he made a point. "It's the logic of shishio. He is weeding out those he sees unfit. He's going by his own philosophy." Sanosuke then posed an important question. "So wait, if we stop shishio, then who ends up taking his place?" Saito laughed, "certainly not you. Even as Zanza you could not shake even the lowest demon insects." Kenshin finally spoke up. "Enough, saito. Sanosuke can hold his own like the rest of us. This fighting is getting us nowhere. We'll sort it out later." "Im just here for the killing! Hoo hoo!" Jin-e said glareing at his own sword. "I just want to bring that monster to justice." Saito said, posing his gatotsu stance. He looks over at jin-e. "After him, you're next." Jin-e laughed, "I must say I look forward to our fight as well!" Time passes and they arrive at the foot of the mountain... (Enter aoshi!) Aoshi was standing there in front of the stone steps that circled the mountain with his kodachi blades out ready to fight! "Hello, battousai." Sano was more suprised than kenshin. "What the hell, Aoshi? Arent you supposed to be on our side?" Aoshi then proceeds to explain, "While it is true my brothers in battle passed on into heaven for their sacrifice, it seems that I however have slain too many in vain. Shishio came to me offering a chance to face battousai and I accepted." Sano stood there flashing back to kyoto. "Huh. Deja vu." Kenshin held his sheath but did not draw his sword yet. "This one would gladly face you in a fair fight. But this isnt the time or place, that it is not. Shishio is threstening not only japan this time, but both the realm of the living and spirit world! Thst includes miss Misao and your brothers in battle!" "Shishio promised not to do anything to them provided I destroy all of you." Sano snorted, "You really believe that dont you?" Saito chimed in as well. "Youre a bigger fool than Usui!" Usui meanwhile overhears this from his post halfway up the mountain. He smiles knowing he would have his revenge very soon! "Draw, battousai! The gods of death have offered us a chance for a rematch!"

Posting pages 7-9 soon... I plan to explain the reason for kenshin's inner light, as well as the purpose of the demonic artifacts!

There was a long pause before aoshi grew impatient and immediately dove in with his dual kodachi blades crossed like scissors. Kenshin blocks it catching his reverse blade between them. Aoshi backs up and performs his sword dance creating after images surrounding kenshin. Kenshin leaps out of the ring of clones aoshi created and manages to find the real one, dropping behind him and slashing down his back. The clones vanish. Aoshi then whirls around with both blades spinning towards kenshin as kenshin holds his sword to block and is forced back by the attack. Aoshi then knees kenshin in the jaw knocking his off balance and slices into his torso with one last spin. Kenshin falls back and struggles himself to get up, holding his side as he bled. Apparently it was still possible to get hurt here despite the fact they were dead. He balances himself with his sword and gets back into position to fight. "Give up, battousai. Your swordmanship is getting rusty. I havent stopped training even until the day I died to prepare myself for this fight." Kenshin let go of his torso and grabbed the sword with both hands preparing for his ultimate technique, the 9 headed dragon strike! "This one will not give up! Not until everyone is saved!" A light emissed from kenshin, almost golden. Sano whistled as saito lit another ciggarette. He sighed, "I warned him." (Tbc)

Sorry the choreography to this fight is terrible, im trying to fix it as I type this, also the demon artifacts are shishio's power source. There are 4 of them so after aoshi ineviatbly joins them and saito has his rematch with usui, they will work together destroying them one by one. Each artifact is guarded by a powerful demon. Each one fights a different demon and kenshin goes after shishio for the final battle as hoji and yumi watch.