As a yokai, Gouki was at least qualified—he was brutally faithful to his own desires.
He loved human souls, especially children's souls.
And the dark treasure, the Demon Orb, was tailor-made for him: he could store large numbers of children's souls inside it and enjoy them at will.
But today, just as he got his hands on a new prey, disaster struck.
Following that stench, Charles found him and, without a word, broke all four of Gouki's limbs.
Gouki was no Kurama or Hiei—he was a bona fide low-level yokai. His brute strength was fine against a Yusuke Urameshi who'd only just awakened spiritual power; in front of Charles, he was as feeble as an ant.
Charles tossed and caught a strange sphere—the Demon Orb, one of the three dark treasures.
Sure enough, it wasn't anything high-grade. Charles could have replicated a magitech tool with identical functionality himself.
And as expected, the recent spate of unexplained child comas had been caused by Gouki extracting their souls; those souls were all stored in the Demon Orb.
With a bit of fiddling, Charles worked out how to use it. He could have Yusuke return those souls to their rightful owners later.
As for the howling Gouki, Charles flicked a cluster of flame and burned him to ash.
Pocketing the Demon Orb, Charles said, "Had your fill yet?"
Behind a big tree in the distance, Hiei jerked his head back and tried to calm his hammering heart.
"Damn it. How can there be someone this strong in the Human World!"
The same thought that Koenma had crossed Hiei's mind. The difference was that, as a Jagan-bearer, Hiei's perception was even more direct.
Under his gaze, Charles looked like a fanged, winged dragon.
And when Charles spoke, that dragon turned its head to look straight at him.
Hiei muttered a curse—then realized Charles's shadow on the ground had vanished.
His pupils contracted. He sprang on instinct, but that nightmarish voice sounded right behind him.
"Not bad. Pretty quick."
Hiei skidded to a stop and slashed behind him with the Sword of Demon-Slaying, but cut only empty air. There was nothing there.
Charles's voice came from behind his head again.
"Too bad it's still not fast enough."
Hiei reflexively swung again—then stopped mid-cut. Someone had clamped down hard on his wrist.
After that flurry, Hiei cooled down.
Speed was his specialty; his forte was finishing fights while his opponent couldn't even see his movements.
But Charles had twice moved behind him without him realizing it. That meant he'd already lost on speed.
Hiei didn't move rashly again. He turned his head to look at Charles.
The headband around his brow kept the Jagan closed—if he opened it, he couldn't look directly at Charles at all.
"Who the hell are you?"
Truly worthy of a main character's crew—his mental fortitude was impressive.
Charles had always been interested in Hiei—partly because Hiei was a founding father of his childhood "edgelord" phase, which carried a certain fondness.
Partly because he was curious about Hiei's current condition.
In the Glacier Country, the snow women reproduced by self-division; if they intermarried with outsiders, they would give birth to boys who inherited only the father's traits and were innately violent, and the mother would die immediately after birth.
But Hiei and Yukina were the lone exceptions. The sister, Yukina, possessed pure snow woman blood, while Hiei was wrapped in demonic flame aura from birth and possessed the power to wield Demon World flames.
What followed was the classic trope of trying to prevent a prophecy and thereby ensuring it.
The snow-woman elders prophesied that Hiei would bring calamity to the Glacier Country and sought to execute him, not realizing this would make him despise their clan.
When Hiei later returned and discovered that the snow women's fear of disaster was itself the disaster, he gave up vengeance—that's another story.
To find the Ice Tear Stone left by his lost mother and his missing sister, Hiei had the Jagan transplanted. The price was that the eye sealed his yokai power at his brow.
It felt akin to the Heavenly Eye I saw in the last world—though Hiei's Jagan clearly wasn't as powerful.
After all, the Jagan hadn't ruined him completely. Though his yokai power was reset to zero upon transplantation, he could at least recover it gradually.
Charles didn't answer Hiei's question. Instead, he said, "That Demon World surgeon's technique is something—worth studying."
What he had his eye on wasn't the Jagan itself; getting your entire arsenal undone by a single blood technique from Kurama didn't exactly honor Hiei's former A-class might.
What interested Charles was Shigure's transplantation technique.
It wasn't just an organ transplant—it was moving a power into the recipient's very bloodline.
Seeing a sample up close piqued Charles's curiosity. It seemed every world had something worth examining.
Hiei didn't know what Charles was thinking, but the one-sided monologuing ticked him off.
He released his grip on the sword, twisted his body, caught the falling straight blade with his free left hand, and slashed at Charles without hesitation.
Charles ignored the descending edge entirely and simply swung the arm holding Hiei, smashing him into the ground.
Even with childhood idol status, Charles didn't go all out—but the slam still broke Hiei's motion and nearly knocked him out cold.
Hiei's fundamentals held; gritting through the pain, he pulled back.
Without the slightest hesitation, he chose to explode into his top speed and run.
As much as he wanted the Demon Orb in Charles's hand, he knew staying would only cost him his life.
Charles didn't give chase. Instead he glanced down at his own feet, where several thin vines had sprouted from the ground and wound around his calf.
Vines as tough as steel—nothing you'd find naturally in the Human World, and certainly not sprouting conveniently from beneath his feet.
Charles arched a brow. A thread of fire wound once around his leg, and the vines crumbled to ash.
Then he said, "You've got guts—sticking around instead of bolting."
A crimson figure appeared before him—a red-haired youth in training clothes.
It was the once-notorious Demon World bandit, Yoko Kurama.
"Because if you decided to chase, I wouldn't escape."
Kurama met Charles's eyes and said frankly, "And I didn't feel any killing intent from you."
"Good eye. As expected of Yoko Kurama," Charles said, approving.
Kurama smiled wryly. "Those titles probably don't mean much to you.
May I beg three more days? I'll return the Dark Mirror then and go with you to face the Spirit World's punishment."
Charles looked surprised. Had Kurama seen him drop Gouki and retrieve the Demon Orb and assumed he was dispatched by the Spirit World?
He stepped forward and patted Kurama on the shoulder. "Relax. I'm not here to arrest you, and I've got nothing to do with the Spirit World. Gouki was dealt with for one reason—he deserved it."
Kurama looked at him in surprise. His guess had indeed matched Charles's, and he'd already steeled himself to risk everything to flee. He hadn't expected Charles not to make things difficult.
Looking at Kurama, Charles couldn't help but sigh. If this were the former Yoko, he'd have left Hiei to die without a second thought.
Was Kurama moved by his mother in this life, or did fusing with a human soul give him feelings?
No wonder every member of the main cast had a special history.