Chapter 13: Wanted II: BANG! BANG! BANG!

Alex stared into the eyes of Bang Shishigami, noticing that they burned deep with not just determination but also with a slight hint of wickedness. That was more a result of the aura that had infected him than a change in the man's overall demeanor. Before the ninja could charge at him, Alex held his hand up and remarked "Hey, hold your horses there idiot. You can't tell me you haven't noticed that aura around you."

Bang stood up straight and placed his fists on his hips, letting out a jolly laugh before he proclaimed "This is merely the manifestation of my burning heart of JUSTICE! Tell me villain, does that cold heart of yours not tremble at the sight of it?!" He swung his right fist out and had the look of a maniac on his face, and Alex then slanted his brows and commented "Oh, yes, I can't keep my footing I'm quaking so much…"

"Then again, his strength feels somewhere between Ragna before and after activating the Azure, so maybe I should take this a little seriously now…" Alex closed his eyes and with a sigh held his hands in front of his hip and cracked his knuckles, remarking in a reluctant tone "Whatever, lets just get this over with, I have shit to do."

"Hahaha! The only thing you shall be doing, vile cur, is eating prison food for the rest of your days!" Bang boasted jollily before hunching over and charging ahead at Alex. He moved as nimbly as a breeze, his feet not making a sound despite how many times he tapped the ground in the second it took him to reach Alex and then swing his right fist diagonally towards the boy's chin.

Alex widened his eyes then swiftly flung his right arm up to clock the underside of Bang's gauntlet to force the fist to brush past the left side of his face. The punch shot off a pocket of air that blew against the back of Alex's hair, surprising him with the power packed into that blow. Alex quickly wrapped his arms around Bang's gauntlet and swung him over his head to smash him against the ground back first.

The very moment Alex's arms loosened however, the halves of Bang's gauntlet spun around and became a makeshift hammer that thrust forward to jab the boy hard in the face. Alex's face reddened as blood dripped from his nose, and as he stumbled back while grumbling "Mother fucker…!" Bang rolled forward and got to his feet. Turning around, the ninja swung his right pointer out and proclaimed "That was just the first of many blows from my Hammers of Justice, fiend!"

Alex pulled his hand down and with an irritated glare asked "Do you even HAVE a mute button?!" Bang bent down and as he swung his left fist forward with a face brimming fiercely with heart he exclaimed "Justice cares not for the word 'silence', nor does it care for evil-doers…AND BELL PEPPERS!"

The boy's expression drooped into a state of distress, as though he had already found himself completely defeated. "It finally happened…I found someone too STUPID to throw insults towards." He readjusted himself as Bang charged forward with his left leg wreathed in bright flames, throwing out a kick that turned his body around in a full circle to increase it's power. Alex dug his feet into the ground and pulled up an ankle-high wall of steel to block the kick, but the very moment it connected Bang had completely vanished from sight save for a few leaves where he was.

Alex's expression was once again left in shock as he started to swing his head back only for his left cheek to be pounded by the burning fire and sweat from Bang's left fist. The boy found his feet leaving the ground and his body suspended in mid-air while the skin of his cheeks rippled in an attempt to stabilize. With incredible agility, Bang did a short hop and flipped himself around, bringing his burning left fist down onto Alex's chest and knock him to the ground.

The tile floor broke and scattered upon his impact, with Alex's body lurching up as he coughed a bit of saliva. Bang followed his assault with a diagonally kick to the bottom of Alex's stomach, which knocked the boy back to the ground and sent him grinding up more of the tiles until his head smacked into the fence surrounding one of the trees.

"Toh!" Bang yelled before flinging a red ribbon wrapped nail straight at Alex, who slowly reared his head up and with eyes widened in a fervent glare he clapped his hands against the nail, only for it to blow up in his face. Bang stood upright and crossed his arms against his chest, proclaiming heartily "Hahaha! Had enough?!"

Alex leapt out of the smoke with fists held together behind his head and a scowl on his face. Disliking the fact that he had to put in effort against Bang Shishigami of all people, the boy put all his strength into a downward slam of his fists. The ninja was quite taken aback by his rage and quickly pulled his gauntlets up to block the punch. A shockwave of power ripped through the air and sliced into the legs of the imp statue, while Bang's legs bent down and his gauntlets were dented a little.

Bang pulled his arms back and Alex stayed levitated as he swung his left leg towards the man's face. Bang ducked his head under the calve and then swung his right fist straight between the boy's legs with all his might. Alex grimaced with his eyes widening to the point of them almost breaking free of the sockets. He dropped to the ground and keeled over, with the boy gritting his teeth and releasing moans of agony.

Bang held his fists against his hips and stood triumphant over his pained opponent, and with a jolly laugh he reprimanded his error proudly "First rule of battle…Do not leave your weak points exposed! Hahaha!" As Alex continued to be hunched over, Bang's laughter slowed down until it sounded a little awkward, then eventually left as nothing more than a pitying "Haaa…"

He looked down at Alex and with a concerned smirk asked "Are you ok?" The boy turned his head away from the man and cracked a wide, mischievous grin that would make even the Grinch blush. He then spun around while rising up, grabbing Bang by the head and forcing him down so he could knee him in the face while exclaiming "Balls of steel, bitch!"

He then let go and threw a couple punches into Bang's chest to push him back, all the while the ninja grunted in utter shock "I can't believe you pretended to be wounded!" Alex responded with a fierce sounding "All's fair in battle!" as he swung his left leg up and hit the side of Bang's face, knocking him off the ground and spinning him around sideways a few times until Alex spun around and slammed his right foot into his gut to send him crashing through the nearby tree.

As the tree fell and splashed into the water, Alex stood sideways and winced, thinking after a slight grunt of pain "T-Though that did sting a bit…" He grit his teeth and took in a deep breath through his nostrils while Bang flipped past the tree and landed with fist already swung out. With a roar of anger he said "Even a ninja such as myself wouldn't resort to such underhanded tactics! You, good sir, are the epitome of villainy!"

Alex widened his eyes and let out a surprised scoff before he curtly told the man "Epitome's such a big word. You and the dumbass squad must've huddled around a dictionary for story-time, eh?" Bang was taken aback and let out a terse growl, remarking in a furiously offended tone "I will not let you sully the name of Ikaruga any longer! Now you shall know the true power of Bang Shishigami!"

"Hmph…" Alex lowered his brows with a distinct lack of care as he gently waved his left hand towards himself and said "Bring-" but before he could finish that with an "-it on" Bang had already ran right in front of him and yelled "Shishigami Ninpo Hidden Arts!" while jabbing his elbow into Alex's chest.

He then swung his other fist into the boy's chest and make him curl over, with Bang refusing to let up as he dragged Alex's feet along the ground with each blow he made. His next attack was a jab to the bottom of his neck, followed by a high-rising kick to the bottom of his chin to knock him up, and then bringing that same foot down with the force of an axe to send him straight down. But with his agility at it's apex, the ninja plucked Alex out of the air by the collar of his shirt and rammed forward, leaving dust in his wake until he pounded the boy straight into the iron fence with a vicious thrust of the arm.

"BANG VOLCANIC FURY!" He screamed with all his might as his strength broke through the fence and sent Alex flying into the tree. The boy recovered quickly and planted his hands against the bark, digging his nails into it to pull some out and tuck into his grasp. He then leaped from the tree and kept his arms folded back as he wildly swung his feet at Bang's chest. The ninja somersaulted back and flicked another red ribbon wrapped nail at the boy, who responded in kind by tossing some bark out with the speed of a bullet to intercept and set off the nail's devious and explosive trap.

Alex then launched forth through the smoke with a high-rising spinning kick locked onto Bang's forehead. The ninja bent under the attack and then swung his flaming right fist up into the bottom of the boy's calves. The impact made the boy's muscles spasm and sent a stinging pain rippling up his hip, but he didn't let it hold him back as he swung his leg straight down and kicked the back of Bang's head with the heel of his shoe to send him tumbling behind.

The boy then spun around and landed on his left foot, wiggling the other one a bit while letting out a relived puff of air. In that time Bang stood up and turned around, looking no less spry than he did before. "Have to admire his guts, even if his focus is misplaced…" That brief compliment was followed by Alex forced to duck to the right as the ninja threw a purple ribbon nail his way, with him then tossing a black ribbon one straight at the boy's chest.

The second nail broke open and wrapped Alex up in a sticky netting, with it spinning around his body twice over to ensure the maximum pressure on his limbs. The boy grunted to break free for a few seconds as Bang came in and punched him across a body with a few swift jabs. When strain didn't budge the netting, Alex just flexed his muscles and released a burst of fire to burn it right off.

Bang flipped back and remarked in amazement "I see! So this is the explosive attitude the poster warned me of!" Alex brushed the ashes off his arms and remarked with a glare forward "That's not referring to my powers you idiot, it's about my temperament!" He then blinked a couple times and glanced aside, whispering through a scowl "Great, I'm even insulting myself now…"

Bang raised his brows and must've got a laugh out of the comment seeing how he was snorting as he spoke "No one will argue with you there!" Alex then thrust his right hand up and thought "Screw it, I can spend a little of my energy for this battle…" before sending a large fireball straight at the ninja.

The man stood still and braced himself by swinging his gauntlet before the fireball, letting it hit as he remained as still and strong as a mountain. Then as the fireball vanished from, Alex found that Bang had also disappeared. He wouldn't get a chance to detect him as the man had already dug the tips of his left toes into the back of Alex's legs to trip him up.

The boy fell back and Bang had already bent forward to get under him, raising his fist up with all his might to strike the center of the spine. A shockwave ruptured out from the top of Alex's body as it lurched back against his will. He let out another gasp of saliva as his body was sent flying into the air high above the garden.

Even at such harrowing heights, Bang was able to warp above the boy and bring his hammer of a gauntlet down onto his gut to send him plummeting straight back down. His body wrapped in air pressure from the descent, Alex barely had time to summon a mighty gale against his body that would lessen his impact with the ground. Even as he landed, Bang was right there waiting for him with a kick towards the back of his head. The boy wised up and rolled out of the way, turning himself around and slamming a palm against the ground to send a series of muddy spikes towards the ninja.

Bang flipped his right gauntlet around and punched through the foremost spike, sending a shockwave through the others to crack them apart. Alex leaped forward and dug his right leg into the shards of stone left over, launching them straight towards Bang and managing to cut through the sides of his body and parts of his arms.

"Erk…!" The ninja grunted as his body stiffened in pain for just a fleeting moment, allowing Alex the chance to dive in and smash him in the chest with a brutal right hook, with only Bang's thick pecs saving parts of his rib bones from cracking. The man dug his feet into the ground at the last second and dug up the tiles in his wake as he was pushed back.

The man then reached behind himself and flung out a parasol above Alex, which opened and released a hail of nails upon him. The boy was pricked and prodded as he held his hands over his head to swat them all away for a good three seconds. When the parasol closed up after, he leaped up and snatched it, coating it in a thin layer of steel. As he descended he used it as a bat to swing Bang's black ribbon nail back at him.

Privy to his own tricks though, the ninja hopped and spread his legs to avoid the net being unleashed upon him. However, that simply put him in the right spot for Alex to plant the steel parasol into the ground and use it to vault himself forward and kick Bang square in the chest with both feet. As he was launched away, Bang reached into his pocket and pulled out a yellow ribbon nail, flinging it forward and making it split into three other nails.

Alex rushed ahead and swatted those nails away with a casual swing before leaping off the ground and gripping the parasol in both hands, holding it pressed behind his neck as Bang was slammed against a wall. As the man bounced off it, Alex whacked his head as hard as he could with the parasol. The boy ultimately shouldn't have been surprised, however, when Bang planted his feet in the ground and pressed his skull against the parasol.

"A warrior of Ikaruga…w-will never bow to evil!" Bang's eyes continued to burn with determination as he swung his hands together with his pointer and middle fingers going upwards. "Shishigami Ninpo Hidden Arts!" He exclaimed as a body-sized pillar of fire erupted from his body, the force of it blowing Alex back into the air and knocked the parasol from his hand. The boy looked left and right quickly and saw Bang and a copy of himself diving straight at him while giving an echoed declaration of "BANG'S INFINITE CHAOS-FIST OF THE VOID!"

Alex swung his arms out and grabbed the two Bangs by the center of their crossed arms, noticing that even the copy felt real to the touch, right down to the sweat dripping from his pores. As he began to swing his body around to throw the two away, two more Bangs rose up from the front and back and smashed their fists into the chin and backside of the skull respectively.

"T-Three clones?!"

This was the last straw on surprises from Alex's end, as he quickly grit his teeth down and flared his eyes and nostrils open like the maddest of bulls and slammed the two clones he held into the one directly in front of him. He then swung his body around and with a flick of the wrist whipped up a series of wind blades to attack the four Bangs. When only the one behind him bled, the boy spun around and tucked his fists against his hips, setting them on fire before he sprung them forth into the man's chest.

Bang was launched by a burst of raging fire into the top of the nearby tree. He bounced off of it after the back of his giant nail split the top of the tree down the middle, and Alex had already flown over to intercept him with a back-handed punch to the gut. Bang crashed into the ground and was laid out in his own divot, forced to look up as Alex drew his hands back and started charging flames in a sphere.

But the boy ultimately didn't do so for long as he saw the state Bang was in and thought "…No, I've already won…" He then clasped his hands shut to dispel the flames and then dropped to the ground with his eyes shut. Standing at the edge of the divot, the boy turned away from Bang and remarked "Have a good day Mr. Shishigami" before starting to walk away.

His advance was slowed, however, by him still sensing the presence of that dark aura around Bang's body. He stopped just fifteen feet away from the ninja and glanced over his shoulder, watching as the man pulled himself out of the divot and rose to his feet. He shook the dirt off his muscles and stood tall, laying a hand under his chin and placing another on his right knee.

"I-I cannot give up…The people of Ikaruga are counting on me to fight with all I have!" Bang's legs were shaking, his arms could barely act as support for the rest of his body, and yet he still swung his fist out and met Alex's cold gaze with a fire hotter than anything the boy could produce.

"Our hearts burn as one, a raging inferno that lights through the darkness and all who dare to inhabit within it! You can beat me, bury me, burn me…But this fire will keep burning on and on until I choose to give up! And Bang Shishigami NEVER gives up!"

Alex lowered his head and shook it a couple times, placing his hands in his pockets before he mentioned with an inkling of respect "Look Bang, your heart's in the right place, but I'm NOT the bad guy here. The poster you've seen? It was fabricated by the NOL to frame me."

"The NOL are the scum of the Earth! …But even so, they surely must have a reason for targeting you! Perhaps it has to do with that awful stench of blood I've been forced to endure from you?!" As Bang threw out an accusing finger at him, Alex closed his eyes and thought in annoyance "Like you'd even understand…" he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and then lifted his head up.

"I don't even know what you're talking about. What blood could even be on my hands considering I've done nothing to your men?" Alex felt tired trying to make his point and pinched the front of his forehead, whispering bitterly "…Forget it, I'm going now."

He turned around and only took a couple steps before Bang fiercely declared "You will not run away! Stand and face your punishment like a man, fiend!" Alex gripped his hands into fists in his pockets and glared daggers over his shoulder, harshly speaking to the man "Your justice is a childish farce, Bang Shishigami."

Bang's expression became completely devastated, his mouth going agape as Alex had the gall to turn his head and walk away. The ninja clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles cracking against the skin as he grit his teeth and murmured "You would DARE insult the legacy of our departed Lord…?! That…is the LAST straw! There will be no more mercy for you, villain!"

Alex rolled his eyes, ignoring how Bang spread his legs and swung his arms over and under his head, which was hung in deep concentration as he clanked his gauntlets together and murmured "Forgive me, Lord Tenjo, but I must use this technique to take vengeance upon this fiend…!"

As Bang's eyes released actual, burning flames made from his raw determination, Alex felt a sharp increase in power and spun around, watching as Bang's body rose off the ground while he proclaimed with a mighty echo "SHISHIGAMI NINPO FORBIDDEN ART! FU-RIN-KA-ZAN!" At the same time, those four symbols he declared appeared in the air around his body as flames burst forth from the ground behind him and his body was consumed with a flashing, golden light that was luckily not buried in the dark aura that surrounded him.

His sudden increase in power sent shockwaves hurtling through the garden, knocking down all leaves in the tree and making the water coming off the fountain splash towards the sky, creating a beautiful pair of rainbows. Alex had to dig his feet hard into the ground to stop himself from being pushed back, and as he looked Bang straight in the eyes he found that the man still had traces of that dark aura mixed into his body. It was quite unsettling to see that on a man who spoke so triumphantly about justice.

"St-"

The very moment Bang landed he was gone from sight, appearing behind Alex and punching him square in the head before he could utter a single word. The boy went flying into the nearby wall and was then pinned upside-down by the burning hammer that was Bang's right fist. The pressure Bang applied cracked the wall down in a millisecond and he dragged the boy to the ground, burying him under the rubble of the crumbling wall.

"S-So fa-…"

Not even the boy's thoughts were able to outmatch Bang's speed, as the man punted Alex out of the rubble with a flaming kick to his hip. His body only made it even with the ninja's face before Bang ran around him and jabbed an elbow into the side of his body to flip him back upright, where he then grabbed him and delivered a hard knee to his back to send him flying upward.

Alex didn't even have time to register the pain of each blow before yet another one would strike hot through his nerves. With just the second he had, Alex thrust his hand into his right pocket and grazed the top of the Gaia Temporis, just barely activating it's ability to stop time as Bang appeared above him with fists mere millimeters from colliding with his gut.

The boy sharply put the brakes on his ascent and dove down a few feet through the monochrome atmosphere to catch his breath. He rubbed the back of his head and panted a few times, feeling a sharp pain ripping through his mind. With a grimace of the left side of his face that look a bit unhinged, Alex gasped "I-I can't believe I'm having to use this…! On BANG!" His outrage aside, he was rational enough to realize that he had no choice but to knock Bang out, otherwise the man would relentlessly pursue him.

Thus, with a swing of his burning right fist out, Alex looked towards Bang and dropped the Gaia Temporis' power, charging straight at him to throw out the hardest-hitting punch he could muster. The very millisecond before the attack could connect, Bang disappeared and Alex was left holding a fist out towards the blue sky. His vision was then assaulted by dozens of the golden ninja running circles around his body.

"Hahahaha! This is the secret technique passed down by my Lord! Are you impressed now?!" Bang's words and laughter echoed in an incredibly grating manner, and Alex yelled out as he coated his hands in violently surging electricity "You're just leaping endlessly off of empty air, I could do that when I was eleven!" He then clapped his hands together and unleashed a burst of lightning that intercepted the real Bang amongst the speeding afterimages, forcing the man to raise his arms and guard despite it making him lose the high-ground.

As Bang dropped a little bit, Alex spun around and dived after him, flipping his body around so he could assault the top of his skull with two mighty kicks. The ninja's reflexes remained top-notch, or perhaps beyond even that, as he blocked both kicks by raising his gauntlets above his head. Then he grabbed Alex by the ankle and spun him around over his head a few times, making sure to dizzy him before tossing him to the ground like a bean bag.

Though the impact was nowhere near as soft as one, as Alex's head was planted into the ground and his mind was briefly left garbled from it. Bang landed behind Alex and kicked him with a rising foot to the rear, knocking him free at the cost of tearing up a huge chunk of the ground in the process. The man then reared his right fist back and flipped the gauntlet around for a decisive, hammering blow.

Alex gained full control over his body in time to swipe his right arm out and draw his sword to block Bang's attack. The man's aura rippled and he was pushed back, with Alex swiftly spinning around and swinging his sword again to send a flurry of wind blades after the ninja. Bang sped in a curve past the right side of Alex's body and with a sharp turn got behind and leaped forward to deliver a spinning kick straight into his back.

With the sole of his boot dug into the boy's back, Bang pressed downward and slammed him to the ground, and in a millisecond he had already pulled and flung out his black ribbon nail to trap Alex in more netting. The boy's sword dropped from his hand and Bang threw a hard right hook into Alex's back to send him flying diagonally over the bridge. Bang sped over to intercept him, punching him to the other side of the garden.

Alex broke free of the netting with fire, but that mattered little as with one more punch to the back he was flung front and center with the fountain. By then, Bang appeared a few feet away as the boy swung his head around to try and find him. The man pulled the giant nail off his back and flung it straight into Alex's gut, which dragged him straight towards the front of the fountain. The tip of the nail had already dug itself into his skin and flesh, and Alex knew it would only get fatally worse as Bang charged forward with his right gauntlet swung back and an absolutely burning look of determination on his face.

"Taste justice at the hands of our Lord's last memento! SHISHIGAMI NINPO FINAL ART! THE ULTIMATE…" Bang smashed his fist right at the end of the giant nail, causing it to stab right through Alex's torso and all the organs behind it. The front of the fountain cracked from the center to near the very top and bottom, with Bang declaring triumphantly "BANG!"

Alex's head jerked back against his will, his pupils shrinking as his face was flushed of blood, most of which was either dripping from the massive wound in his body or in his throat from him to gargle and eventually choke on. He struggled to turn his head and look down at Bang, his thoughts thrust into a whirlwind of emotions as the man seemed almost proud of what he had done.

"Your honor has been avenged, Lord Tenjo!"

The boy thought there was something very wrong about the way Bang spoke just then, but that rationality would soon be drowned in a rising tidal wave of pure rage. All other feelings were swept up as it crashed against the confines of his mind, and with what strength he had left the boy glared down at Bang and grit his teeth against the flow of blood, giving off the appearance of a grizzled demon as his eyes burned with a seething hatred.

With a raspy voice, Alex's last words this time were a venomous curse towards his slayer "You…idiot…!" Then, all life was flushed from his eyes as Bang ripped the nail free, with his body dropping flat on it's side like a rag doll as the rest of the blood seeped into the fountain and turned it a garish shade of crimson.

And in a matter of minutes, that shade would stick to the fountain forevermore, tainting the once pristine garden. But for a certain despicable snake, that putrid look only made it more beautiful. Long after Bang and his 100 subordinates had left the garden, the green-haired man known as Terumi strolled into the area as though it was just another day for him, laying a hand on top of his fedora as he hummed a personally favored tune.

He stopped at the center of the carnage that unfolded and looked up, staring straight at Alex's rotting corpse as was drenched with wrinkles and decay on the fountain. At first he cracked a small but curious smile, saying in a suave and aloof tone "Oh my, that sweaty fool really did a number on you, didn't he?"

But after a few short seconds, his smile grew wider and more malicious, as he creaked open his eyelids and glared forward with his slit yellow eyes, saying in a more outwardly bombastic and wicked tone "Serves you right for trying to get up in my shit, little boy! Hehehehehe, oh, but I KNOW you aren't done yet…!" He swung his arms out and pulled his hat off, his hair flaring up into a spikier, more maniacal look as his eyes widened to show the absolute madness and glee he felt at this moment.

"Well guess what birdie, this is MY hunt now, and you and that little bitch are going suffer like the insignificant prey you are! So please, come back again…and again AND AGAIN AND AGAIN as many TIMES as you like! I will be more than happy to gorge on that delectable anguish, that oh so SUCCULENT despair…Until you are even more of a dried, withered husk than that sad sack of shit I see before me now!"

He was so excited he began to pant, making him slowly take pause and then place the hat squarely back onto his head, remarking in his more well-mannered tone "And even then…I'll just start all over again." With one last wicked grin, the man turned around and left this wretched site behind…

Next Time: Cold Lunacy