Part 245: Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu, Sealed.

Yahiko: A contest of height, against Kenshin? Against the Hiten Mitsurugi School?

Enishi: Well? Do you accept, or not?

Kenshin: I've already accepted this fight. Whatever your challenge, I'm here to meet it.

Enishi: Excellent.

(He takes off his earring and holds it up.)

Enishi: The signal. Let's go!

(He throws the earring in the air; as it hits the ground, they both leap.)

Misao: I knew it! Himura's higher!

Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu--

(Enishi seems to rise even higher in the air.)

Watoujutsu Shikku Tousei!

(Kenshin parries the blow, but it strikes him in the shoulder.)

Yahiko: He jumped higher in midair!

Sanosuke: And then stabbed Kenshin!

Saitou: A midair dash...

Megumi: But that's impossible!

Aoshi: No... At the point when the force of his leap and the force of the fall are perfectly balanced, these forces become zero and he comes to a standstill, in a state of suspension. If Yukishiro Enishi could use the reaction of his sword, with his strength and load behind it, it wouldn't be impossible...

(Kenshin hits the ground first but leaps up again immediately, hitting Enishi in midair.)

Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu Ryuushousen!

Enishi: Are you sure you want to push me up in the air again? Don't you get it? You don't have mastery of the air here. That mastery is mine!

Shikku Tousei!

(He slams Kenshin back down into the ground.)

Megumi: Ken-san!

Misao: Himura!

(Both regain their feet.)

Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu Ryuukansen!

Watoujutsu Senran Tousei!

(The two whirling attacks place them some distance apart.)

Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu Kuzu--

(Enishi's open palm slams against Kenshin's mouth, knocking him straight back into a tree.)

Yahiko: No way... Even the Kuzuryuusen...

Sanosuke: The first time he got all nine attacks in. The second time he at least made them... This time he didn't make a single one.

Megumi: He is stronger than before... But it isn't because he's thinking about killing him. It's a strength that comes from some inner emotion... Hate, vengeance, revulsion, anger, destruction, death... It's a strength borne of all possible negative emotions.

Saitou: At any rate, he can't use the Kuzuryuusen now. For the Ryuutsuisen and the Ryuushousen, there's the Shikku Tousei. The Ryuukansen style of attacks won't work on the Senran Tousei. And the Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki has already been broken. In just two matches, he's sealed all his moves.

Kaoru (thinking): He can't win like this... No matter how strong Kenshin is, under his consciousness of sin and retribution, Yukishiro Enishi's negative strength will push him back... The answer... If Kenshin can't find the answer he's been looking for... (aloud) Kenshin...

(Kenshin remains slumped against the broken tree; Enishi approaches him.)

Enishi: Are you going to give up so soon? I haven't even used my Kofuku Zettousei. Get up. Your punishment begins here. Get up, Battousai!

Kenshin: I will... You don't have to ask me. When I fell, that was the end of your living hell. In the midst of that hell, I found something. My only truth, that can't be twisted or taken away. And that truth led me to the answer--the answer of how to atone for the crime of being the Hitokiri that killed Tomoe!