Having judged that in his current condition, Yusuke was unable to defeat his greatest enemy, Toguro, Genkai presents to him a final trial in order for him to assume the spirit wave orb, the greatest, innermost secret of the spirit wave techniques. At the same time, the semifinals were progressing at a rapid pace. Hiei and Kurama survived their battles, and finally, Kuwabara stepped forward to face his opponent, Shishiwakamaru.

Item of Darkness: The Mantle of Death

Yusuke finds Genkai, and asks if she can take care of Puu for him. Genkai tells him it looks like he's made the spirit wave orb his own. She takes Puu, and Yusuke then collapses. She says he's endured all of that pain, so he must not have any strength left. And Puu had to stick it out as well. She thinks that when Yusuke wakes up, Puu will also be better. She tells Yusuke to sleep well, as his real battle begins when he wakes up.

She leaves Yusuke and Puu next to a tree, and walks off. At the stadium, Shishiwakamaru's fan girls cheer for their idol, and tell him to smash the Urameshi team for them.

Kuwabara tells his opponent it's unfortunate he has to go against him. He says he'll fillet him like he was sashimi! The fan girls voice their displeasure, so Kuwabara yells at them to shut up. The fans make their thoughts on Kuwabara clear.

Shishiwakamaru says he'll settle this in a matter of moments, as it's hard for him to look at Kuwabara's face for too long. Kuwabara tells him he'll hack up his pretty-boy looks, and summons his spirit sword. Juri says for the fourth match to begin.

Kuwabara thinks that, as long as Yukina is watching over him somewhere in the stadium, he'll win. At the stadium, Botan's group arrives, but find it's empty. They wonder what's going on.

Botan is certain she remembered the right time, the match was meant to start at 3 o'clock... although they are half an hour late. Yukina wonders if the fight was finished in under 30 minutes, but Keiko then remembers Kurama saying something about the location changing. Botan says that's right, so they'll have to go on ahead to the new stadium... until Shizuru points out they don't know where it is.

Kuwabara begins his attack, and seems to hit Shishiwakamaru, but it turns out he's only hit his shadow. Shishiwakamaru is able to move at great speeds, and avoids every attack that Kuwabara throws at him.

Koto comments that Kuwabara can't even graze his opponent. Kurama tells Hiei that Shishiwakamaru can see through everything his opponent does. Kuwabara lunges one more time...

...but Shishiwakamaru leaps over him, and uses his head as a stepping stone. Kuwabara can't believe he dared to do that, and goes on the attack again. But he still can't hit his opponent.

Shishiwakamaru leaps up, and releases his mantle. It seemingly grows in size, and surrounds Kuwabara. He wonders what's going on, but is then suddenly thrust into an unknown realm, and disappears from the ring.

Kurama says Kuwabara's spirit energy has vanished. Juri wonders if she should do a count, but Shishiwakamaru says that's useless. He's made Kuwabara vanish, and he doesn't know where he went. You'd have to ask his mantle what his destination is.

ITEM OF DARKNESS

MANTLE OF DEATH

He says Kuwabara could have been sent to the ends of the Earth, or the Demon Realm, or even another dimension. Juri declares Shishiwakamaru the winner, and the crowd are happy the Urameshi team have lost a member. They tell Shishiwakamaru to kill the remaining two, and this time cut them to bits. Shishiwakamaru considers granting them their request.

Kuwabara falls out of a portal, and crashes onto the floor. He's landed in the other stadium, where Botan's group see him. Botan asks him why he suddenly fell out of the sky like that.

Kuwabara is just happy to see Yukina, and asks what she's doing here. She explains that they were mistaken with which stadium they were supposed to go to, but he thinks for them to meet in this fashion... it has to be fate. Shizuru then gives him a reality check by telling him he lost his fight again, didn't he? Kuwabara starts to say he got a little bit careless...

...but Shizuru shows him no mercy. She tells him he's not allowed to get careless, and starts beating him up. Keiko tells Botan that perhaps Shizuru is the stronger one.

Kuwabara gets up and says that he'll show them where the other stadium is, and tells Yukina they must hurry. Meanwhile, at the other stadium...

Shishiwakamaru rolls the dice, and for his team, it's a free choice. For the Urameshi team, it's the masked fighter. Shishiwakamaru says he'll fight for his team, and asks Hiei and Kurama what are they going to do? Hiei says he's already said he'd go if the masked fighter or Yusuke's names came up, but before he can do, the masked fighter stops him. He asks her who she is -she's different that before. The masked fighter he'd seen previously had tremendous spiritual power within them, even when they were suppressing it.

The masked fighter says she's transferred it to Yusuke. As she walks onto the ring, Kurama thinks this person is the same as before, but they're now much weaker. Shishiwakamaru doesn't know why she's bothering to fight with such low spiritual power, and thinks this is a joke. He says he'll expose her for what she is. Juri says for the fifth match to start.

Shishiwakamaru charges forward, and is able to move at incredible speeds. But the masked fighter is able to dodge his strikes, over and over.

But he tells her not only is her spirit energy below average, so is her speed. He can't believe that she's the same masked fighter that he saw earlier. He wants to know who she really is, and does some strikes that not even she can avoid. Her mask is destroyed, and as she lands, everyone can now see that she's the aged Genkai. Genkai is surprised to find out that her power has dropped as much as this.

Shishiwakamaru tells Juri that the Urameshi team are using masks to let multiple people fight for them. And even if she is the sixth, alternate fighter, the rule is that unless someone has died, she can't take their place. If that's the case, then the Urameshi team need to bring out the body of either Urameshi or the young girl as proof. The spectators call the Urameshi team a bunch of cheaters, and want them killed.

Koto says that the match is being temporarily suspended. A monitor displays footage from the Ichigaki fight, which clearly shows the masked fighter being a different person.

Koto is then told that the tournament headquarters is now consulting over what to do. She tries asking the spectators for their opinions, but the ones she asks are more interested in talking about how much more they liked the younger masked fighter. Koenma is certain the younger girl and Genkai are the same person.

He believes Genkai has handed down all of her abilities to Yusuke, and in doing so has used up all of her spiritual power. It's why she has returned to her original appearance. Jorge suggests he goes to the tournament headquarters to explain all of this, so he transforms to his older form. But before he can leave the room, an announcement comes through saying that the tournament headquarters have reached a decision.

Koto says that the outcome is... no problem. There will be no penalty, and the match is to continue as it is. Shishiwakamaru is angry nothing is going to happen, as the spectators aren't happy about the decision either. They start throwing things at Koto.

However, Toguro appears, and says he'll explain things. The spectators quickly fall silent, as Toguro says the Urameshi team haven't broken any rules. He says the woman who fought the Ichigaki team and the woman currently in the ring are the same person. Practitioners of the spirit wave, when they use their powers at the maximum level, have their cells activated...

...and their bodies are returned to the age when they were at their peak. In other words, her appearance now is her true appearance. He asks Genkai if that explanation will do.

The spectators have all heard of Genkai, and didn't realize the Urameshi team had someone like her on their side. Some of them also question why Toguro would know all this stuff. Toguro doesn't say any more, and walks off. Shishiwakamaru laughs and says that luck has turned his way.

He says that no matter how he looks at it, the person standing before him is nothing more than some ordinary old woman, but if she really is Genkai of the spirit wave, then it would be worth killing her, as it'd make him famous. He tells her he'll use his full power to kill her, and draws his sword. He then pull the hilt apart, changing the weapon:

ITEM OF DARKNESS

MAGIC KILLING-WAIL CUTTING SWORD

Shishiwakamaru says that as long as the bearer's life is in danger, this katana will summon death itself. Kurama says that katana is emitting a demon energy even more ominous than Shishiwakamaru himself. Meanwhile, Kuwabara leads the others to the other stadium, and says they're almost there. Botan hopes the team haven't lost.

Kuwabara tells her not to worry, as Hiei was all fired up. Yukina asks if Hiei was that gentleman who didn't say much and had a keen gaze. Kuwabara says Hiei is an unsociable thug who does nothing but give people dirty looks. He warns her she shouldn't go anywhere near that guy, but Botan then yells at him for saying such things. She thinks it's rude for him to say stuff like that, but he says he'll telling the truth.

Botan is about to say that Hiei is Yukina's brother, but then gets a vision of Hiei telling her he'll kill her if she says anything about his relation to Yukina. She awkwardly walks off, and thinks about how close she came to getting herself killed.

Everyone else wonders what that was all about. Shizuru then notices something nearby: Yusuke!

They go to check on him, and find that he's asleep. They wonder what could have happened to him, and also notice Puu is there. Keiko picks Puu up, and says it looks like he held in there as well. Kuwabara picks Urameshi up, and the group walk on.

They arrive above the stadium. Back on the ring, Genkai gets ready to fight. She thinks that if she uses all the spiritual power she has, she has enough for three spirit gun shots. Shishiwakamaru is ready to go, but Genkai thinks she mustn't lose here... she must fight Toguro.

At last, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan and the others meet up. And now, having entrusted her secrets to Yusuke, does Genkai, with her little remaining spiritual power, have a chance of winning?


NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW

(Yusuke is speaking)

Damn that pretty-boy bastard! He's twirling that strange katana of his around! And what's worse, it's creating an army of phantom skulls that are coming out all over! That's pretty nasty -not at all what you'd expect from a guy like that. Ah, auntie! Don't you lose to a bastard like that! Next time: Remaining Power! Genkai's Life or Death Battle. The Other World's not watching for nothing!