Chapter 139: Not Yet Gone to One's Fate

Shishio: Now what would a whipped dog be doing here all by himself?

Houji:... A whipped dog. Yes, as Lord Shishio says. Shinomori Aoshi! You've already lost to Himura! Your time to fight is over! How dare you show your face here! Get out!

Aoshi: It is as you say, Houji. If you call me a whipped dog, I cannot deny it. But Battousai accepted a challenge from this whipped dog without trying to get out of it, and lost strength by taking unnecessary wounds. This, too, is truth I cannot deny.

Shishio: So this is how you repay him.

Houji: Ridiculous! Even at his peak, Battousai was pitiful compared to Lord Shishio! The outcome would have been no different!

Shishio: Let it go, Houji.

Houji: Lord Shishio!

Shishio: I haven't fought in such a long time. Let's leave no doubts about who is the strongest. Now that I've beaten Himura and the others, it's me. Care to defeat me and lay that honor before the Oniwabanshuu?

(Aoshi blurs into the Kaiten Kenbu.)

Shishio: So our alliance dissolves... (charging) Let's do it!

(Aoshi circles)

Shishio: You're too slow. I can see your every move.

(Aoshi attacks, but Shishio traps both kodachi with his sword.)

Houji: Yes! Even with two swords, Aoshi can't meet Lord Shishio's ruthless attack! A defensive, one-sided battle!

(Aoshi frees his swords and backflips over Shishio, leaving him facing the corner.)

Yumi: He's trapped from behind!

(No one moves.)

Shishio: What's wrong? (spreading his arms) Your enemy is trapped in a corner. You stand at his back. You have a good chance at winning. Why are you just standing there? You can't attack? Or, you don't want to?

(Aoshi raises his swords.)

Yumi: That technique!

Oniwabanshuu Two Kodachi-style Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren!

Shishio: Too slow!

(He strikes Aoshi's wrist with his elbow, causing him to drop the sword.)

Shishio: The Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren is six instantaneous attacks from both sides. Hardly what you just did. As I thought, the Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki has cost you your strength. There's only one thing left you can do--play for time!

(He strikes him with a flaming sword; Aoshi goes down.)

Shishio: Pathetic. That a man who once commanded pure mindless violence should be reduced to playing for time. But it doesn't matter how long you spin this out. Battousai isn't getting back up. This is meaningless.

(Aoshi gets to his knees.)

Shishio: Shinomori Aoshi... You have narrower aims than Himura, but you both wield your swords for others. You're the same as him. When you were asked black or white, in the end you chose white. When you met me, who chose black without a second thought, you had already gone to meet your destiny.

Aoshi: I don't know if you can call Battousai and I the same, but I know one thing. I cannot think him weaker than you.

(Behind Aoshi, Kenshin suddenly rises, his eyes still rolled back in his head.)

Houji: It's all right, Lord Shishio! Himura still hasn't regained consciousness! Hurry, give him the final blow! With that blow the entire nation falls into our hands!

(Kenshin's eyes snap into focus, with a deathly stare that knocks Houji off his feet.)

Aoshi: The time to fight is now... We are all gathered at this place. We have not yet gone to meet our fate!

(Saitou and Sanosuke, too, are beginning to regain consciousness.)

Shishio: The second bout of the final battle...