Chapter 11: The Hungered Beast
Facing down the sheer, raw power of the Mad Dog Azrael, Alex showed not even a hint of fear across his entire being. Ragna had little fear inside of him as well, but that was more due to his raging overconfidence than anything else. The Grim Reaper drew his sword and swung it out beside himself in the grasp of both his hands.
"I don't have time for you, Mad Dog! Get out of our way!" Ragna started off charging right at Azrael, causing Alex to shift his glare over to him in a swift panic and exclaim his name to try and call him back. Yet Ragna did not hesitate even as Azrael stood still and smirked his way.
Leaping into the air, Ragna covered his blade in darkness and brought it down with the speed of a plummeting guillotine. Azrael thrust his right pinky finger up, not a single other inch of his body budging, and blocked the sword with minimal effort. The darkness scattered, and Ragna's blade rattled trying to overpower Azrael's defenses.
The Mad Dog grinned and glared up past the circumference of his fist in an attempt to intimidate his foe. Ragna pressed his weapon down for a few seconds, then parted it with enough force to push himself back and land on the ground. Azrael flexed his right fingers twice then tightened them into a fist, throwing a hard punch into the empty air.
Then a tremulous gale erupted throughout the lobby, as though a tornado had swept through it, and Ragna ended up taking an invisible punch to his chest a moment later. Already, the Grim Reaper found himself at least a tiny bit winded, yet wasn't the least bit dissuaded from trying to attack again. He swung his blade forward in one hand and said, "Goddamn it, you really are a monster!"
"Hahaha! Don't be so modest, Grim Reaper," Azrael spread his fingers out to make a cup-like shape before his chest as his body radiated with his raw power, "We're BOTH monsters! We were born only to rip and TEAR into each other for all eternity! So come on, let the carnage BEGIN!"
"With PLEASURE, Mad Dog!" Ragna was a mere second away from assaulting his foe when Alex yelled out, "That's enough Ragna!"
He managed to get his and Azrael's attention with that declaration, and both of them noticed that the boy was still in the same pose as before. Ragna gave him a nasty glare of confusion and exclaimed, "Hey asshole, you gonna fight or are you just gonna stand there and watch me get thrown around like a rag doll?!"
"Preferably, I'd like us BOTH to not get thrown around like that. We still have to fight Terumi, remember?" The boy pointed out.
Azrael tucked his hands into his pockets and gave the boy an unenthused glare before saying, "You've got to be kidding me."
He swung his hands out an inch beside his hips and wiggled his fingers inward as though to taunt his opponents, "That witch said the Phoenix of Destruction would be worthy prey, and yet you have the gall to try holding back on me?"
"I think you're overestimating your worth Azrael…" Alex stated in a put-off tone, yet his attitude towards the Mad Dog only got him chuckling in excitement.
"Really now? Is this attitude born from confidence, or fear?" Azrael oozed with excitement even as he taunted the boy in such a gravely manner, "It doesn't matter. I'll force you to go all-out!"
Azrael suddenly bounded across the air with the speed of a rabbit and coiled his legs back ready to pounce upon Alex. The boy widened his eyes and leaped back before he was struck, yet the Mad Dog's strike was so ground-breaking that it sent a wall of stone up in front of him that pounded Alex right in the gut.
With the boy winded, Azrael threw his right hand up and smashed through the wall to grab him by the neck. Then he spun around in a single, strainless jerk, and pile-drove the boy into the floor. He then let go as Ragna went in for a downward slash at the side of his body, needing to step only a foot back to avoid it.
"Heh…!" Azrael cracked a smirk as he stared into Ragna's blistering, primal gaze, then threw a lazy but powerful punch towards his face. Ragna planted his feet in the ground and twisted his body to swing his blade in the path of the man's bare knuckles. The moment the punch connected, Azrael pulled it right back while the Grim Reaper was dragged back until the heels of his feet touched the bottom of Alex's shoes.
The Mad Dog then followed up by swinging his head forward as though bringing down a gavel, hitting Ragna's blade square in the center with his forehead. A resounding crack similar to the sound of breaking bones echoed out before Ragna lost his footing and was thrown over Alex's body, a sharp pain in his wrists crippling his ability to react further for the moment.
Azrael prepared to leap forward again, but was midway through when Alex planted his hands down and shunted his legs straight into the air to kick the Mad Dog in the gut. He had to put most of his strength into that kick just to stall the man from that precarious position, and even though he succeeded the muscles in his lower legs were quivering like gelatin after.
Azrael landed back a couple inches away from the boy as he himself got up, rubbing the front of his chest as the muscles throbbed a little. When the soreness subsided, Alex stared up into Azrael's face and saw him grinning.
"I'll wipe that smug look off your face soon enough, Mad Dog…" The boy took whatever moments Azrael presented to scan the monster's body, hoping to find something resembling a weakness. However, that proved more difficult than expected. The man's body was the pinnacle of what humanity could accomplish. Raw, overwhelming power packed into a body more sturdy than the strongest tank. His technique, even as rough and wild as it was, did not display a single flaw.
"But it doesn't matter how powerful you are Azrael. Your body is still as flesh and blood as the rest us!" Alex stabbed his right hand up and summoned his sword into his grasp. Azrael pulled back on his body and ended up covering ten feet of floor in a single instant to dodge the attack. Alex froze in place for a second then spun his blade around his hand twice, holding it behind his back while raising a hand towards the Mad Dog.
"So, you finally draw your sword. Hehehe, you better hope that tiny thing won't snap like a twig!" Azrael proclaimed as he slammed his hands together and swiveled his neck to crack the bones. The boy then raised his brows, the sounds the man made bringing forth a stroke of inspiration.
"Wait a sec…That's it!" He then firmed his stance and exclaimed, "Ragna!"
The Grim Reaper had pulled himself up by now, taking a moment to grip the sore muscles in his right arm, "This guy's a monster…You better have a plan to take him down!"
"I do! But it's going to take some time. Whatever you do, don't activate the Azure!" His warning to Ragna elicited a sharp outcry of disbelief, "You've got to be shittin' me!"
"Why are you trying to keep this battle restrained, Phoenix of Destruction?" Azrael gestured a hand out towards the boy while giving him a wild but curious glare, "Come on…Isn't it in your nature to enjoy the pleasures of battle? Let loose, enjoy yourself! Become the beast you are meant to be!"
"Give me a break, beef for brains…" Alex groaned and shook his head with a hand's worth of fingers spread across his forehead.
"I'm not going to satiate your hunger. In fact, the only thing that'll be fed will be the vultures that'll gnaw on your rotting corpse!"
"Hahaha! That's a laugh! I…WILL NEVER DIE!" Azrael threw himself across the room until he was right before Alex with his eyes wide with ecstasy and his right fist coiled back behind his head. His movements tore up the ground like a charging elephant would, and the mere act of him pulling his fist shook the building. Alex stood his ground and focused not on the man's frenzied glare, but rather the left side of the man's chest.
He threw his left fist out while swerving his head out of the way of Azrael's punch, striking the Mad Dog right in the chest with all he has. A shockwave erupted through the lobby, shattering the red lights above and forcing Ragna to hold his ground before he was swept up like a leaf in a hurricane.
Meanwhile, inside of Kagura's office, Hibiki and Terumi are experiencing the aftershocks of the battle going on. Hibiki had to grab onto a bookshelf to avoid falling, but Terumi just stood as though his feet were covered in concrete and played the whole thing off coolly.
"Oh? Are we under attack?"
Hibiki pulled himself away from the wall when he was certain the tremors would subside for a bit, curious as to why this was happening. First though, he looked back at Terumi and said, "It might be an earthquake."
A booming explosion went off in the distance, causing Hibiki to grimace for just a second. Terumi raised his brows just a little and commented with faked obliviousness, "I had no idea earthquakes could be so…explosive."
"A gasline may have been hit. I should go check on it. Wait here for now." Hibiki motioned towards the man as he went for the door, but as he raised his hand to the knob a snake-headed chain lashed out and struck the back of it. Hibiki spun around and glared at Terumi, who had opened his eyes and kept Ouroboros moving around his body in the shape of a ring.
"Do you take me for an idiot?" Terumi's tone took upon his unrelenting harshness as though it was always there, and he took great pleasure in calling out Hibiki's behavior, "I know you're working with that cheeky brat to try and trap me. Pity for him that this is exactly what I wanted to happen!"
Hibiki wasted little time in parting his jacket down the middle with a shrug of the shoulders, revealing two extendable, segmented blades tucked into his pants. He whipped them out into his grasp and gestured them both at Terumi, holding them in different directions. His gaze turned malicious and piercing, devoid of any fear.
"Hahaha! You're seriously going to fight me?! Are you stupid or what?!" Terumi roared with rancorous laughter, tears almost forming in his eyes.
"I'm not going to fight you, Yuuki Terumi. For Lord Kagura's dreams, I will kill you." As Hibiki spoke with no hesitation, a shadow crept out from his feet until it was behind Terumi. The Hibiki in front of him vanished in a puff of shadows as the real one jumped out and stabbed both his blades at the man's neck.
Terumi spun around and used the chain of Ouroboros to push the blades away, then kicked Hibiki in the gut to push him back. Then, with a lifeless flick of the wrist Terumi called the chain back into his sleeve.
"See, as much as I'd looooove to make you scream, I'd rather be empty before I encounter our little Phoenix of Destruction again." Terumi began to stroll over to the nearby guest chair, with Hibiki pointing one of his blades at him and declaring, "There's nowhere to run, Terumi. You're trapped, and there's no escape!"
"Ah, yes, but there's just one teeny TINY little problem with your plan there champ…" As Terumi flicked his left hand up and waggled his pointer finger as if he was reprimanding a child, he then twisted his head to look at the window and grinned from ear-to-ear as a shadow dropped in front of it.
"You are ALSO trapped inside with us!"
The window shattered apart, the shards of glass flying out and bouncing off of Hibiki's back. He spun around, but found his legs turning as stiff as fresh wood as he faced the newcomer. Bathed in an eerie shadow formed by the sunlight was the Murakumo Unit known as Nu, her body now completely restored as her gaze was fixated upon the poor Captain.
Nu's hands were bloodied, the tatters of countless NOL uniforms stuck to her form, with bits of flesh dripping off the steel blades floating around her back.
"Insurgent forces have been eliminated…Proceeding to advance upon target Captain Hibiki Kohaku of the Yabiko branch…" Her voice had not lost it's cold, calculating nature, and it's existence sent a chill down Hibiki's spine. The Captain looked over his shoulder, finding Terumi relaxing on the chair with legs crossed and elbows planted atop the highest knee.
"This IS entirely your fault, you know. See, you brought knives…I brought a Sword!" Terumi raised his right hand as far as it'd go above his head, pressing two fingers together while staring at Nu with eyes open halfway.
"Number 13, let this traitor be your appetizer! Feast upon his flesh and bone as only the Sword of Izanami can!" He then snapped his fingers, and the light in Nu's eyes flashed bright to signal her recognition of the commands.
"Acknowledged…Proceeding to eliminate the target." Nu pointed her blades down at Hibiki, whose stance began to show weakness even as he gripped his blades tighter than before.
Back in the lobby, the battle against Azrael began to have it's effect on the setting. A couple statues surrounding the tree were broken off from the chest up, the floor had looked as though it had been churned in a blender. After trying to attack Azrael, Alex ate a punch to the forehead and was knocked to the ground, his head digging a trench into the dirt.
Ragna took the lead with a valiant charged with his sword drawn back in his left hand, which he slammed down into Azrael's held-out right palm. He then spun around and dragged his blade against the ground to launch his Carnage Scissors attack at Azrael. The man was dragged back a couple inches from the impact and got maybe a couple cuts in his clothes, leaving him ready to slam his forehead into Ragna's own right after.
The Grim Reaper buckled his feet against the ground and slammed his forehead in as well, with only his blood dripping out from the impact. Azrael grit his teeth and dug his hands into his pockets, pressing on with a gnashing smile and excited glare.
"Come on, Grim Reaper, is that all you've got?!"
"Not even close!" Ragna roared with all his might as he grabbed his sword in both hands and swung it up from the ground, bringing with him a large, lashing wave of blood and darkness that swept over Azrael's body and managed to knock him back a good foot. Refusing to relent, Ragna then swung his blade over his head and attached a spiked curve of darkness to it.
"This'll sting!" He exclaimed before bringing it down towards Azrael's head. The Mad Dog stood right up and thrust his right arm up at the blade to block it, followed by him raising his right foot up and kicking Ragna in the gut. The Grim Reaper curled over as his support could no longer hold for the moment.
Azrael pulled his right fist back and it surged with his raw power, with him poised to strike Ragna right in the face. However, his attack was stalled when he heard the ground ripping up behind him, and a moment he found the roots of the tree wrapping themselves around every last one of his limbs.
The roots had gone wild, having grown thick and harder than steel, all thanks to Alex exerting immense control over them. The boy held his hands out and gripped the fingers into his palm tightly, making sure to have the roots fully embracing Azrael's limbs before working them towards his chest and abs.
Cracking was heard, but it came from the bark of the roots struggling to keep Azrael bound. The Mad Dog looked at his bindings and broke into jolly laughter, then focused his glare on the boy and halted his laugh the moment he thrust his fists forward. The iron grip of the roots were broken as though they were as flimsy as string, and with just that single tug Azrael uprooted the tree and sent it flying over his head towards Alex.
The boy left his arms limp for a moment before swinging the right one up with sword drawn in a blink of the eye, slicing through the tree and letting both halves crash to the ground at his sides, where they tumbled and cracked apart at the door. Azrael crossed the gap between himself and the boy in a single motion and brought his right knee into his chin.
Sparks flew out from the impact as Alex took the second he had to coat that part of his skin in a thin layer of diamond. He then bit down on his teeth and kept the Mad Dog in a standstill while Ragna charged the man from behind and summoned a claw of darkness bigger than his foe. Azrael only got a moment to glance over his shoulder before Ragna had him locked in his grasp, pulling him away from Alex and spinning him around until he could slam him to the ground.
Ragna spread the darkness around Azrael's body to hold him down, but the Mad Dog started laughing once more before flexing his muscles to exude so much power that it parted the darkness and gave him enough freedom to push himself back onto his feet with a single hand. Azrael turned around and watched as Ragna pooled the darkness into his sword and swung it back, the way it was positioned clearly indicating an attack aimed at the neck.
Azrael pulled back on his body and began to radiate with a blood red aura, which left afterimages of his form in his wake. He left only his pointer and middle fingers out on each hand, holding the right one out towards Ragna. When the Grim Reaper's blade was but a centimeter from his face, Azrael twisted his body forward, putting his other leg out as he jabbed the left fingers into Ragna's chest.
The Grim Reaper was left immobile by the severity of the blow, which erupted forth a blast of pure energy from his backside. Azrael left no room for holding back, and immediately took his other hand forward and struck the same spot with his open palm. The energy condensed and burst forth from Ragna's back in the form of a blistering white beam. The Grim Reaper's body trembled as though left in the middle of a magnitude ten earthquake, and after spitting forth a good chunk of blood from his mouth he couldn't prevent himself from collapsing towards the ground.
He was not dead, but his body was rendered incapable of moving for a bit of time. Azrael applied the side of his right shoe to back of Ragna's head in a firm kick to knock him aside, then applied his focus towards Alex.
"I'll enjoy feasting on the Grim Reaper again in a bit. Now…why don't you show me what you've got, Phoenix of Destruction?!" Azrael waved his arms up, keeping his body wide-open for whatever manner of attack Alex wanted to perform on him.
Alex lowered his brows in an unenthused glare and told him, "I don't think you realize how little I give a shit, Mad Dog."
He then shrugged and sighed, putting his sword away and thrust the empty hand up to send a violent bolt of lightning at Azrael. Though the lightning was capable of shaking the building, the Mad Dog only had to swing his right palm up to stop it, but his skin was left singed after. Then, Ragna came in swinging from the side, managing to deliver a hard slice to Azrael's arm and draw blood from it.
The Mad Dog glanced at the side and was as surprised to see the Grim Reaper standing as Alex was, but his focus soon went to the open cut on his arm. He turned his arm around a bit then flexed the arm muscles by tightening his fist, punching Ragna aside with the back of it to send him flying across the room. Thanks to his attack though, Alex was able to cross the gap in a millisecond and punch Azrael square in the chest, hitting the same spot he has a couple times already.
He dug his knuckles in and twisted, unable to budge the skin, and making Azrael crack a dry chuckle at his efforts before he threw a right hook into Alex's gut to push him back a couple feet. Azrael then pulled back on his body while the boy was winded, his body exuding with so much power that his aura turned to actual flames. He bent his head down until the chin was behind his right elbow with his left arm stretched up and back as far as his bones would allow.
He charged his power until his body couldn't hold it anymore, then shot forward faster than any bullet, but with greater force than any rocket could produce. His fist smashed into Alex's gut and left a bloody crescent in the air, the Mad Dog's own scar on reality, all while proclaiming, "I'LL MAKE YOU GO ALL-OUT!"
A large shockwave ruptured itself through Alex's body, forcing blood and stomach acid up through his mouth and leaving his muscles flayed like raw gelatin. He was launched back towards the door, slamming through the center of them with enough force to get them unhinged. The boy forced himself to fight back against the pain, even as it left him with a strenuous headache, and pushed his body to stall in mid-air above the staircase.
He threw his right fist up, his bones cracking from fighting the pressure, and pushed the doors to his side while twisting them down into thick, winding spears that he flung straight at Azrael. The Mad Dog threw his hands up and plucked them out of the sky, snapping them in two in the middle without blood being drawn from his palms.
Alex then swung his arms up at his sides and charged spheres of flame before the palms. He connected the flames into a larger, condensed sphere before his chest and pointed it towards the door. Azrael basked in the crimson light with a grin and swung his hands up over his head, taunting Alex with a boisterous roar, "That's it…HIT ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!"
The boy fired a massive beam of flame that squeezed through the edges of the doorframe and blazed it's way towards Azrael, with Ragna pulling back before he was swept up in the inferno. Without breaking a sweat, Azrael increased the intensity of his aura until it waved out of his body and met the flames head-on. At that point the flames didn't meet a wall so much as they were swallowed up in a void of raw power.
But for Alex, such a powerful attack served only as a distraction to keep Azrael wide-open, and he launched himself through the center of his own beam to smash the Mad Dog in the chest. He managed to drag him back three feet through the ground, digging his knuckles into the skin and twisting them. The skin budged just a tiny bit before Alex pulled back and skid away from Azrael, who tucked his hands down into his pockets and looked unenthused.
"This can't seriously be the best you've got. I was expecting DESTRUCTION, yet nothing you've done could even knock down a straw house let alone quench my hunger!" Azrael gestured his right hand out in a lax manner and left his jaw in a bit of a bored slack.
"How many times do I have to tell you that you're barely worth my time, Mad Dog?!" Alex blurted out with annoyed frustration.
"Oh? So that's how that is, is it?" Azrael found himself grinning and stretching his arms out, digging his feet into the ground as his aura began to erupt around him.
"You just aren't motivated enough to fight at your full power!" The building trembled with increasing intensity, as Azrael's already overwhelming strength began to grow, the tattoos on his body glowing bright as the bottommost ones began to burn off his skin.
"ENCHANT DRAGUNOV…LEVEL 2!" Releasing that limiter caused a powerful shockwave to be thrown out, which pushed Alex back and almost knocked Ragna onto his back. Any remaining lights in the room were shattered, and the illumination after came from Azrael's blood-red aura.
He stood in place, all focus forced upon him, and radiated with ungodly power. Ragna's teeth were clattering as he stared at him, and without a second thought he swung his right hand up and declared, "To hell with this! Restriction 666 re-"
"Ragna! Don't! You HAVE to save that for Terumi!" Alex exclaimed, a tone devoid of all fear. The Grim Reaper turned to him and said, "We're not even going to SEE him if we keep this up!"
"I said…" Alex swung his fists at his hips and set them on fire, revealing an unshaken look of confidence in his eyes towards the Mad Dog, "I've got a plan."
He then stepped forward and threw a left hook followed by a right hook in rapid succession to the same spot in Azrael's chest he'd be hitting all this time. The Mad Dog stood there and looked down, even as Alex beat his chest a few more times to no avail.
"Are you kidding me? This is starting to get boring…" His tone was that of a man on the verge of yawning, and he raised his right hand up and curled a finger into his palm to point at Alex's forehead.
"Maybe you'll get the hint this time, Phoenix of Destruction!" Before Azrael flicked his finger out, the boy parted his left hand from the assault and wrestled his grip around the Mad Dog's wrist to push the arm away. He then stopped and caught his breath, the flames flickering out from his right hand.
"You're the one who needs to get it, Mad Dog…" Alex tightened his right hand into a fist and pulled it back, giving the man's face not a hint of acknowledgment. His punch was lined up with the same spot in Azrael's chest, and all his strength was poured into that fist.
"You're nothing more than a wall in my path. And no matter how tough that wall may be, I will always…BREAK THROUGH IT!" He threw his punch forward with the speed of a bullet and plowed it into the surface of Azrael's chest. But this time would be different from the all the rest. With the brittleness of crackers, Azrael's chest caved inward from the strength of Alex's punch, and the boy then slipped his hand between the man's ribs and grabbed onto his heart.
"GHHHHHH…! GAAAAAAAH! W-What the hell is this…feeling?!" Azrael suddenly roared out of sheer shock and agony, which forced his attention onto Alex's cold, uncaring expression with a look of raw anger.
"It doesn't matter how powerful you become Azrael. You will always be constrained to the biological limits of your own body," Alex closed his eyes and began squeezing on Azrael's beating heart, "Did you know that your skin is composed of dozens of minerals, like Calcium and Iron? Minerals like those fall under the domain of my 'Earth' element, so while you were busy being a muscle-head, I kept stealing the mineral composition of your skin with every punch I threw until your defenses were as thin as a sheet of paper."
"You…coward! Our battle is supposed to last for all eternity! I REFUSE to let you get away with this!" Azrael roared, mad with his own growing sensation of fear. He struggled against Alex's grip while beginning to move his other arm towards his head.
"…Too bad. Your eternal battle ends here. Die, Mad Dog Azrael." Without a hint of hesitation or remorse, Alex squeezed Azrael's heart and made it burst within his chest. Azrael's movements stopped as blood shot out from the hole in his chest and leaked down onto his abdominal region. Alex pulled his blood-drenched arm out and swung it aside, turning and walking away from the Mad Dog.
Then, beyond all possible expectations, Azrael's body twitched, making Alex's body give pause.
"Enchant…Dragunov…LEVEL 4!" Azrael screamed back to life, his body erupting with an unfathomable amount of power. It was beyond Hakumen, beyond the empowered Nu, and perhaps even beyond the Black Beast itself. Azrael's power affected the fabric of reality itself, making it look as though it was affected by a massive heat wave. Alex turned around and his heart almost stopped as he gazed upon what remained of the Mad Dog.
There were no visible human features to be discerned. Just a titanic mass of blood, fire and pure rage stood before him. With a demon's roar, Azrael was prepared for one final charge, and Alex stood there unable to move.
Yet, he did not even get to take a step. His body collapsed, falling down to the right of Alex with a pool of blood forming underneath. Just to make sure he would never move again, the boy turned his head to look down at him. There was no breathing, no movements. Now, where many else had failed, Alex had managed to put down the Mad Dog Azrael.
Breathing a sigh of relief, the boy washed the blood off his arm with water and then flicked his wrist to dry it off, then raised a hand to his head, "Hey Kokonoe. Azrael's dead. You're welcome."
There was no response from the other line, not even static. The boy turned his head to the right, then realized she must already be fighting her battle. With a shrug of the shoulders, he walked over to Ragna, who was stiffly staring his way while kneeled down.
"I…am REALLY glad you're on our side." He said in a relieved tone.
"Same." Alex replied all nonchalant as he held his hand out to help Ragna up. The Grim Reaper, however, managed just fine on his own and sheathed his blade. With eyes closed, he commented, "Well this was all fine and dandy…But don't you think Terumi will have noticed the commotion?"
"Yeah. I'm really worried about Hibiki's safety. We need to hurry." Alex didn't waste anymore time, and with a nod of agreement from Ragna the two hurried their way towards the entrance of the HQ to confront Terumi once-and-for-all…
Next Time: For a Friend