Farewell the Ultimate Men. The Clash of Light and Darkness.

At last, a way to counter Aoshi's deadly kodachi. Because of he was the best samurai of the Ishin Shishi, Aoshi swears to kill Kenshin. If the Oniwa Banshu was at Edo Castle to fight the allied army, they would have set fire to the castle and killed the leaders. Now, Aoshi wishes to make his men, the Oniwa Banshu, known as the strongest fighters. To accomplish this task, he must defeat Kenshin, the legendary Hitokiri Battousai. Kenshin finds that goal rather selfish as he continues his fight, sword-to-sword, with Aoshi. Like before, Kenshin is hit and knocked down, but this time it's different, Kenshin's found a way to counter Aoshi's kodachi. By gripping his Sakabatou's blade, Kenshin has shortened the length of his sword, matching the kodachi's speed. Even so, Aoshi still has more tricks up his sleeve.

The effects of Jissen Kenbu. Using the Oniwa Banshu's succession technique, Jissen Kenbu, Aoshi moves around Kenshin like flowing water. Quickly, the Oniwa Banshu leader slashes past Kenshin, giving him three cuts across his chest. Again, Kenshin falls down. Yahiko readies himself to enter combat, mad at Aoshi's selfishness, but Kenshin gets up after hearing Yahiko speak. Kenshin reveals that he had blocked the Jissen Kenbu with his sheath. Aoshi tries the succession technique again. This time it won't work. Kenshin sees an opening in the move and catches Aoshi's kodachi. Following up, Kenshin delivers a hard thrust to the throat of Aoshi with the butt of his own weapon. Aoshi spits out blood, but he uses the last of his energy to uppercut Kenshin, knocking him a few feet away and his kodachi out of possession.

Aoshi's goal is still in mind. Kenshin is fine, but so is Aoshi. The Oniwa Banshu enter the room, allowing Kenshin to ask the members themselves why they want the title of the strongest. Hannya speaks for the group, explaining that other members of the Oniwa Banshu moved on to new lives, but because the current members can never adjust to the new era, they feel as though Aoshi gives them a purpose, even when the government offered them work. Aoshi had trained each Oniwa Banshu member, that's why he wants them to hold the title of the strongest. With that said, Aoshi demands that Kenshin kill him, otherwise, he'll hunt the former Battousai down. As a rurouni, Kenshin refuses to kill Aoshi and takes the risk, but sets the rule that no one else will be involved. Suddenly, doors on the opposite side of the room are busted open by bullets.

Shikijou takes the bullets for his boss. Kanryu enters with a gatling gun in his possession. Like a madman, he turns the gun's handle and fires at Hannya first. Aoshi runs into Hannya, shoving him away before he's hit, and takes the bullets to his legs. Once Kanryu finishes up boasting about his money, he targets Aoshi. The gatling gun fires its large bullets at the Oniwa Banshu leader, but before they connect, Shikijou jumps in front of his leader and takes the blow. Hyottoko charges for Kanryu, but he is gunned down. Beshimi tries his luck and fires one of his poison darts as he is shot repeatedly. The poison dart had landed in the round of bullets, but Kanryu doesn't see. The three dying members of the Oniwa Banshu say their final words to Aoshi, and Hannya informs Kenshin of where Megumi is located. Hannya makes one request, however; he wishes to see the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu before he dies. After saying good-bye to Aoshi, Hannya darts forward to Kanryu.

Kanryu pays for his evil acts. Immediately, Hannya is gunned down, but he has allowed Kenshin to retrieve his Sakabatou. Using incredible speed, Kenshin manages to dodge the bullets fired at him by Kanryu and finally cuts off the gatling gun's handle. Kanryu begs for mercy, but because of his actions, Kenshin has grown enraged. With one swing from his Sakabatou, Kenshin dislocates Kanryu's jaw. There's no time to waste, the Kenshin Gumi departs from the bloody scene. On the third floor in the observation tower, Sano finds Megumi trying to commit suicide. With haste, he stops her and takes the knife. Megumi wants to die because of her sins, and obviously, she didn't listen to a word Sano told her earlier. Kenshin reminds Megumi that dying won't bring back anyone, so there's no point in killing herself. The rurouni suggests that Megumi be like him. As the Hitokiri Battousai, Kenshin's killed so many people, but now, he wishes to atone for his sins by doing the right things.

R.I.P., Oniwa Banshu. Takani Megumi had become neighbors of the Kamiya Dojo. Now, Megumi trains with Doctor Genzai in medicine, hoping one day to see her family. Kenshin had prevented Megumi from going to jail after the story of Kanryu was told. However, at Kanryu's mansion, the police had reported that Aoshi and the Oniwa Banshu weren't at the scene. Aoshi had taken his four men to a forest, where he buried their bodies in the ground and made graves for them. He will not grant them peace just yet, not until he gets them the title of the strongest.