AN: To anyone who follows my works, I created a simple poll that's now viewable on my profile page and I would appreciate if you could take the time to drop in a vote. Much thanks.

CHAPTER 17: Monster

His eyes slightly burned from the light when he opened them and he found himself lying on top of a lit circular area and yet everything else surrounding him was dark or too dim to make anything out. It was like a single large spotlight had been cast on him but strangely enough, he couldn't tell where the source of light was.

The effects of the gas still lingered with a light unappealing synthetic smell and a dry nauseous feeling. The floor beneath him felt hard but he felt something solid and warm draped below his waistline.

"Aw, couldn't you stay asleep a little longer? I haven't felt up the good parts yet."

And of course, that something turned out to be Nene. From his perspective, the petite woman was pretty much lounging on him with her head on her knuckles and an elbow over his thigh, all while sporting a lascivious grin as she casually drew a finger around his abs.

"Get off me." he grunted roughly.

Nene complied and as he sat up, he noticed that same type of electronic collar around her neck. He immediately reached up and touched the thick metal around his own neck to confirm that he has one too.

"Where are we?" he asked before pointing at his collar. "And what are these things?"

"Don't know about the first question but I have seen those before." Nene replied. "They have different names in depending on the country but the LMN commonly calls them 'Gleipnirs'."

"The LMN uses them?" Batman ask in surprise.

"Yup, police and JSDF too. How else do you think we can capture Rogue Blazers?"

It made sense now that he thought about it.

"You mean these 'Gleipnirs' can suppress our magic. They're like handcuffs designed specifically for Blazers."

"You got it." Nene nodded.

In a world where a population of people can have amazing and destructive powers, there surely must have been means developed to keep them in custody.

He remembered reading that after World War II, the county of Japan went through a rather turbulent phase with a slew of Rogue Blazers committing acts of terrorism; a particular event, called the 'Teito Hotel Incident' came to mind. There were rumors that one of the terrorists was held in some kind of hastily constructed cryo-prison but that information was nothing verified.

It goes without saying that there was intense public pressure to find ways to keep such threats in check.

"Does the LMN supply them to the police?"

"I guess so." Nene shrugged.

"Then who supplies them to the LMN? Do they manufacture it themselves?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

Batman supposed she wouldn't but that only made him wonder how the Ichinose-gumi got their hands on them as well as that machine in Kono's office.

They were startled when the floor under them suddenly jolted and began to raise with the pushing of hydraulics. Both Batman and Nene stood and looked up to see the ceiling slide open and in a bright flash of light accompanied by the deafening roars of the crowd mixed with blaring EDM music, they found themselves on one side of the oval-shaped ring.

"That's right, Mina-sama! For your entertainment tonight, here comes two surprising new challengers!"

Kashiwagi's familiar and steadily grating voice boomed through the arena speakers as the vigilante and the Hagun teacher turned their sights up towards an extended platform that overlooked the whole ring. The frilly-dressed commentator was there standing right beside a sofa seat where Kono sat like a Roman emperor would.

"One of them is the 3rd ranked fighter from the King of Knights A-league, the renowned Yaksha Princess herself, our own former legendary champion from ten years ago, NENE SAIKYOU!"

Nene actually grinned and waved as the crowds cheered for her.

"The other is the infamous Rogue Blazer that's become the talk of the town, Tokyo's Caped Crusader and one of the LMN's most wanted, the one, the only, BATMAN!"

And of course, he only stood while glaring towards where Kono sat.

"Looks like your boyfriend has finally ditched you, Nene-chan."

The gangster spoke smoothly before turning a sour look towards the masked vigilante.

"And I assume YOU are the one responsible for my missing merchandise."

It seemed that Kono hadn't made the connection between Bruce's two personas and that left the Dark Knight to consider that maybe he had given the man's intelligence a little too much credit.

"No matter, I'll find them eventually." Kono said with confidence. "And besides, I have longed so much to have you back in the ring, Nene-chan. Plus I also have the Bat as a bonus and it's not even my birthday!"

"I'm feeling really lucky myself!" a voice called out.

Batman and Nene then looked directly in front of them to see Venomous rise up with her own platform. The so-called Killer Queen of the arena had already armed herself with Ouroboros and was fixing her gold predatory eyes upon them while dragging her long tongue along the chord of her Device in an erotic fashion.

"It's not everyday I get to have more interesting toys to play with."

She then violently tugged on her whip to make a snapping sound.

"Or break!"

To Batman's surprise, Nene stepped forward and unfurled her fan to hold it up to her face and chortle.

"Wahahaha! Then I guess fortune has been smiling on all of us tonight. After watching that pathetic excuse for a match, I was kinda hoping I'd be down here too so I can show the beanpole over here what real fighting is all about."

Much to his irritation, he was starting to suspect that perhaps Nene had an ulterior motive to getting them both captured.

"Who're you calling a beanpole, midget!?" Venomous fired at her as a visible vein bulged on her head.

"Now, now, ladies. Let's save it for when the match starts." Kono chuckled.

"And what makes you think I'm going to be playing along with your little game?" asked Batman, still fixing a glare on him.

"The fact that you don't have a choice, Batman. You see, those Gleipnirs around your necks have been modified."

To make his point, Kono pulled out another electronic collar from behind his suit jacket and held it up like a ring around his eye, grinning as he did.

"Rather than suppressing all your magic, it allows just enough to keep things entertaining. However, if either of you try anything funny…"

From a section of the Gleipnir, a sharp looking spike suddenly shot out and extended nearly halfway within the ring. If a person had actually worn it, it would've definitely pierced through the back of their necks and tear through their cervical spine.

"The Gleipnir uses the Mana absorbed from your bodies to imbue the spike. Even an A-rank Blazer would die instantly, a rather boring death, but a death nonetheless." Kono explained.

"I always knew you were little short-sighted, Kono-yarou, but I didn't think you'd be stupid either." Nene told him. "Even with our limited powers, we still outnumber your pet bitch two to one."

Venomous clearly didn't take kindly to that remark and it looked like she was about to retort when Kono spoke up with a laugh.

"Oh, Don't worry, Nene-chan. I make it my business to stack the odds in my favor!"

On cue, a horseshoe-shaped section of the ring, that was positioned around Venomous, slid open as a platform of the same shape brought up a sizable battalion of Yakuza Blazers; each armed with their own unique Devices.

"You have interfered in our operations for too long, Batman." Kono declared with disdain. "So the least you could do is put on a good show…before I put you out of your misery!"

The gangster then threw his arms up with gusto akin to a showman.

"Now! Place your bets, everyone!"

"Er, Yeah! What he said!" Kashiwagi awkwardly asserts while feeling a tad upstaged.

The crowd's roars of excitement almost drowned out the war cries of the group of men who charged at their opponents, Their menagerie of Devices blazing blue with Mana.

Without looking the least bit intimidated, Batman and Nene summoned their devices.

"You take care of the grunts, Bat-kun. The lanky bitch is mine!"

Batman didn't get the chance to stop her as the Yaksha Princess quickly used her gravity manipulation to vault over the charging men who then homed in on the Dark Knight. Uttering out only an annoyed grunt, Batman readied himself to engage the group.

After quickly parrying strike from one of the Blazers wielding a pair of Tonfas, Batman countered with a hard axe kick to his skull and then spun to slash the next attacker while keeping Branwen in Phantom form. From there, he bounded from one Yakuza to the next while easily avoiding every attack coming his way, be it melee or projectiles in the form of Noble Arts. Now that he had a better handle on his magic, he was able to mix up his moves utilizing both his martial arts techniques, his swordplay and his shadow powers.

Of course, the collar around his neck limited him to what he could do but it didn't account for his usual fighting prowess or his newfound understanding on Mana emission. It probably didn't account for Nene's natural abilities either.

On the subject of the Yaksha Princess, Batman allowed himself to observe her as he was going through the motions and could see that she was handling things just fine on her end.

Actually it looked like she was handling things more than fine.

"Kokutō: Yatagarasu!"

With the activation of her Noble Art, black energy flowed into the twin fans of Beniiro Ageha and formed the shape of a long blade extending from each fan. This allowed her attacks to have a greater range and she promptly closed the distance and swing her two sword constructs with a spinning graceful motion.

Surprisingly, Venomous was slow to react. She was constantly getting caught off-guard as Nene dashed and slashed at her again and again, at the brink of cleaving her had she not quickly guarded herself by holding up her whip which had gone rigid like a pole.

The so-called Killer Queen looked confused and in a state of fluster as she was barely able to parry and block Nene's black blades which came at her in flowing movements.

Batman found the whole thing odd. From what he had seen from the earlier match, Venomous had an impressive reaction speed and yet now it looked like she couldn't even see Nene coming at her. He then noticed something about Nene's movements.

Although she was using her usual dancing-style of fighting, her foot work appeared…precise,…methodical.

He remembered, he had seen this before. During the time when Kurono introduced him to her and Yuuri.

It was a line of thinking he decided to put aside for now and turned back all his attention back to the fight at hand when another Yakuza swung down a bo-staff Device upon him. Batman dodged leapt in the air just as the weapon impacted the ground and created a magic-laden shock-wave that inadvertently knocked the other Yakuza members off their feet. As he landed, Batman brought his sword down on the staff-wielder before smashing his nose in with a punch.

The rest of the Yakuza members were getting back on their feet but he still had one more trick up his sleeve: he quickly plunged the blade of his sword into the surface of the ring and from that point, black smoke billowed out.

It was much weaker than the first time he used it, no doubt the work of the Gleipnir, but it was all needed to throw the group into confusion and strike them unawares.

"What a battle!" Kashiwagi commentated with enthusiasm. "The Batman is making short work of his opponents and it looks like Venomous is on the ropes!"

This development made Kono frown deeply. In hindsight, he felt he should've had their Gleipnirs tweaked to suppress more of their magic but he still mentally assured himself by remembering that he still had his finger on the trigger and could kill them anytime he wanted. Until then, he needed them to please the crowd and he hoped his champion would use the full extent of her abilities.

They were restricted. She was not.

"Aw, come on! Is this the best you got!?"

The Yaksha Princess taunted as she continued to pressure her opponent with her flourishing blade strikes. During which, Venomous had finally managed to summon her second whip and had hardened both of them to create make-shift rapiers which she used to frantically parry every slash coming her way.

"Then again, I guess you never faced anyone with better fighting skills." Nene sneered at her. "I bet you got too used to being paraded around like a freak show and torturing little kids."

"Don't act high and mighty with me!" Venomous grunted as she kept parrying. "I've heard stories about you. Here in the ring, you were just another monster like me. Maybe the only difference is that you may like a good fight, but I like to KILL!"

The taller woman then tried to retaliate by bringing both rigid cords down on her opponent but Nene blocked by holding up both her blades in a cross-type guard. Since the blades constructs were protruding by the ends of her fans, Nene was basically supporting them by her wrists and yet she was still able to hold back Venomous from breaking through.

"And as long as they keep giving me little bugs like you to squish, I'm happy."

"Let's see how happy you are with THIS!"

After saying so, Nene released her guard and swerved back as the cords struck the ground. Then she blindsided her by dashing back in, jumping up and spinning around to slash her face.

A mix of cheers and gasps boomed from the audience, along with Kashiwagi's usual commentary, the visual of the blade slicing at the reigning champion was unmistakable and it would be the first time a challenger drew first blood. For a moment, the possibility of the Killer Queen finally losing her crown hung in their mind.

That was until they noticed that there was no blood nor any injury on her face.

"What the…?" Nene slowly balked.

Nene tried slashing her again a few more time and even stabbing her for good measure but every cut against her skin healed itself with no sign of her internal flesh and her body warped along with being pierced like she was a living pillow.

A cruel smirk graced Venomous's features before she caught Nene off-guard by suddenly wrapping her whips around the woman's arms before yanking her forward as she jumped up to strike her head with her knee.

The petite woman's head flew back from the impact as did the rest of her body but she quickly recovered and flipped in mid-air to land on her feet. The black blade constructs had already shattered but she was undeterred and activated another Noble Art with a wave of her fan.

"Kokushichou!"

On cue, a swarm of dark purple butterflies materialized around the whip-wielder. They fluttered closely to her, harmless at first, making her regard them with a raised eyebrow until they suddenly exploded.

An enveloping cloud of dust and glowing purple particles permeated the area where the Killer Queen stood and gradually cleared to reveal that just as before, she stood looking unharmed.

Nene grit her teeth and cast her eyes downwards; although she couldn't see it, her attention shifted to the contraption encircled around her neck. She figured the Gleipnir must have been dampening her powers. How else would her Noble Arts be so ineffective against her?

As if reading her mind, Venomous walked slowly towards her in confidence as she knew very well that it was more than just the effects of the Gleipnirs.

"Don't look so mad, bug." she grinned evilly. "It'd be the same even if you could use all your magic. No blade can cut me, no weapon can harm me and your powers are next to useless!"

"We'll see about that. Jibakujin!"

With a wave of her fan, a glowing circle spread three meters wide from underneath her opponent who suddenly collapsed like something had pinned her to the ground. Nene could tell that the area of effect from her Jibakujin was much smaller than usual, indicative that her powers have indeed been inhibited.

Nevertheless, it still seemed to have done the job…perhaps too well. Now that she took notice, her opponent was virtually flattened on the floor as if she had no bones. It was quite a disturbing sight but one that suddenly shifted in a blink of an eye.

Venomous's body moved like a living goop of slime, sliding upon the floor with slick fluidity until it was out of the area of effect where it reformed back into a humanoid shape. A humanoid shape in only the vaguest term: while most of her features remained, the shape of her body was warped with hideous cartoonish proportions; such as a more muscular bulk and a head which looked frog-shaped, making her lips stretched out along elongated sharp teeth.

"GYA-HA!HA!HA! You still don't get it!" she laughed manically. "My Blazer ability allows me to be super elastic. I have full molecular control over my body!"

Her tentacle-like whips, now part of her own arms as they have always been, quickly wrapped themselves around Nene's feet and pulled her off-balance.

"And yours is about to be beaten into an ugly pulp!"

And after saying so, the Killer Queen effortlessly whipped Nene around like a rag-doll before mercilessly slamming her face first on the ground. She slammed and scraped her across the ring's floor and then again and again, each time with more ferocity, her laugh growing more psychotic as a sick thrill coursed through her.

"Unbelievable! It looks like Venomous has turned the tables on the Yaksha Princess!" Kashiwagi's commentary sounded off.

It was at that time when Batman had finished off the last of Kono's goons with an overhead punch that sent the man down to join the mass of unconscious bodies littered around the Caped Crusader.

"Saikyou!" he called out in alarm when he noticed her plight.

Still caught in her manic glee, Venomous continued to whack the floor with Nene's body. Her voice grew steadily hoarser and quivered in tiny giggles as she kept repeating one word over and over.

"Die! Die! Die! DIE! DIE! DIE!DIE!DIE!-Guragh!"

She yelled out when a Batarang construct suddenly struck and exploded against her, catching her by surprise. She then angrily swerved her attention towards the costumed vigilante who was charging towards her while holding out Branwen which had another Batarang construct spinning readily at its tip.

With a monstrous snarl, she flung Nene towards him in an attempt to injury both of them but Batman reacted by catching the petite woman albeit being pushed back with enough force that his boots skid across the floor. He had secured her with both arms around her and with her back to him.

"Saikyou, are you alright?" he nudged and looked her over.

From where he could see, she looked a little worse for wear: there were a few scrapes and bruises around her skin area, her purple Cheongsam was now torn and mussed in places and her hair was completely undone. She didn't appear to be responsive.

"Keh…"

He heard a small sound blurt out of her.

She pushed herself off from him and stood up in a staggering fashion with her head was hunched forward and her arms swaying limply while her hands maintained its grip on Beniiro Ageha.

"Kehehehe…"

Her body began to glow blue with a black smoke-like wispy aura that rose from her form like undulating tendrils, particularly from from the front of her head: two long thick wisps flowed upwards and both seemed to be forming a shape looking like horns.

An eerie unease feel over Batman as he felt the air thicken. He quickly realize that it wasn't just him, Venomous seemed to have felt it too, as well as everyone else. Nene's Mana was suddenly spiking to extreme levels, higher than what even a top ranked Blazer would normally have.

She threw her head back and bellowed out a mad cackling laugh as a surge of Mana erupted around her.

"KYA-HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!"

Her mouth open wide to reveal a maw of sharp teeth, her nose had either disappeared or was absorbed into her flesh, the sclera of her eyes had turned into a dark red while her irises turned to a reptilian gold color and her pupils became a vertical slit. And traveling up from her forehead were two horns that were colored like her skin but gradually turned wine-red at the tips.

The two iron fans, Beniiro Ageha, that were held by her hands were absorbed into her arms and her fingers turned into sharp claws.

She looked like a demon or an Oni and that would be because in a way, she had become one. In the past, Nene had already attained Brute Soul and had become a Desperado but even fewer people knew was that there was a further stage of awakening, appropriately called 'Excessive Awakening', that pushes the Blazer into a state where they are no longer human.

The woman known has Nene Saikyou has peeled away and the Yaksha Princess was all that remained.

"Saikyou?" Batman called out.

Soundlessly and without looking back, Nene raised a palm towards him before he suddenly sent flying back with a powerful repelling force until his back impacted against the force field. He cried out and then fell on the ring; while he had the wind knocked out of him, it didn't hurt him too badly…at least by his standards.

With trails of smoke rising from his cape, he grunted as he pushed himself up on his knees. He then noticed that the Gleipnir around his neck had been severely damaged and left him to wonder if that was her doing.

"Is everybody seeing this!?" Kashiwagi spoke into her mic with dinner plate eyes and her jaw agape in shock. "Nene Saikyou…she…she just transformed into some kind of demon!"

"This wasn't part of the plan!" Kono exclaimed, being shocked by this turn of events.

The fact was that Nene had achieved Brute Soul during her stint in the KOK A-League, much after leaving her underground fighting career behind. There was also the fact that the existence of Desperados was a closely guarded secret within the LMN, making even someone like Kono unaware.

A mix of fear and morbid curiosity brought the gangster's sight towards the holographic screen displayed over his armrest and it came to his notice that Batman's Gleipnir had gone offline. As he had said before, he made it his business to stack the odds in his favor; In other words, Kono preferred total control over his operations and right now, he was losing that control.

"Shit! That's it, I'm cutting my losses now!" he said before pressing the 'kill switch' on the holographic screen.

However the spike didn't pierce her neck as he expected. The amount of Mana flowing from Nene's body had fortified her Mana defense so much that the spike ended up being pushed from the back of her neck and tore the contraption off in the process.

"So you're one of them, huh? One of the 'ascended ones'." Venomous regarded her.

What she said didn't escape Batman's attention and he looked on wondering what did she mean. What was going on?

Nene walked slowly with eyes angled with a crazy glint while barring a sharp tooth grin.

"What can I say? You were right about me. I was a monster back then." her voice came out with an otherworldly reverb. "And in more ways than one way, I still am!"

The Killer Queen licked her chops with a long tongue.

"Then killing you will be even sweeter!"

An explosion of Mana surged around the gelatinous woman and her body grew even more with her pink hair morphing into two buffalo horns, her arms turning into a wriggling mass of tentacles and the sclera of her eyes shifting to black. As it would turn out, she was a Desperado herself.

Dropping on fours, Nene snarled and bounded towards her like an animal and then tackled the tentacled monstrosity. While the two Desperados tussled and fought, Batman stood back to silently observe them.

While their transformations did surprise him, he pushed away his focus from that and keyed in on Venomous. In some respects her abilities were similar to a foe he had faced a year ago, Matt Hagen, but at a more dangerous capacity. He had compared the way she had fought in the earlier match to now and it made him take notice of a few things.

For one, everyone else had made the assumption that her Device, which was apparently named 'Ouroboros', were the pair of whips that she wielded but it had become very evident to him that the whips were actually part of her own body. Which left the question: If the whip wasn't her Device, then where is it?

His suspicion was confirmed when he noticed that there one thing about her body that didn't change and from there, he began to formulate a plan. Now the only problem was what to do about Saikyou?

"DEATH REAP!"

"JIBAKUJIN!"

When both Desperados activated their Noble Arts at the same time, it was Nene who gained the upper hand. By the time Venomous's arms extended into long sharp blades, the Jibakujin's area of effect had already pulled her to the ring's floor which cracked into multiple shifting pieces.

No longer restrained by the Gleipnir, the circular area of effect extended all the way past the ring and over the stands where some of the spectators screamed in fear and retreated upwards as the structure close to them broke apart. The portion of the ring effected nearly crumbled on the spot and it caused the surrounding force field to flicker before dissipating.

Venomous, her body flattened like a thin rubber sheet, grunted and struggled against the gravitational forces exerted on her and was only able managed glare and bear her teeth through her stretched face. But surprisingly, she managed to contract her body into a smaller shape and crawl with sliding/pushing motions like how a worm would.

She did so with such rapid speed that she was able move out of the area of effect and within striking distance of her opponent where she quickly formed a barbed tentacle and attempted to slash at her.

Nene reacted and jumped back in time, which allowed her opponent to reform again albeit panting a little from exhaustion.

"Give it up, Midget!" she yelled at her. "I can take whatever you throw at me!"

"You haven't even begun to see what I CAN throw at you!" Nene fired back with an evil grin.

In that moment when she had said that, Batman saw a white flash and then a roaring inferno among wreckage of buildings, bodies being carried by paramedics and what looked like the site of a terrible bombing. Except he knew that couldn't be the case; no bomb could do something like that. And then he saw nothing else.

To say that he 'saw' it wasn't exactly accurate, it was more like it played out in his mind than his eyes and yet he could've sworn he felt the heat on his skin and the debris scratching against his lungs. The experience wasn't too different from that vision of the Joker and all he could think about was that something terrible would happen if he allowed Nene to go on.

"Eat this! Hadou Tens-WAH!"

Nene cried out in surprise when her foot was suddenly yanked under her from behind and caused her land flat on her front. Her teeth grit and her demonic eyes narrowed in anger as she looked back to find that her ankle had a grappling hook wrapped around it and her sights followed the cable to see Batman with his grappling gun in one hand.

"That's enough." he told her sternly.

The horned-woman let out a feral growl before she suddenly bounded and tackled him to the ground. Though he was caught off-guard, he glared at her and tried to fight her off but she still held him down, her fierce visage baring down at him in raw fury.

"YOU!..Irritate me so much!" she growled at him. "And that…"

Abruptly, her face softened with a lustful smile as the slit pupils of her eyes somehow turned into pink heart shapes.

"That makes me adore you even more!"

With him being taken aback and his white eyes widening, Nene sensually leaned down and dragged her long wet tongue over his chin, up against his lips and finally lapped at his nostrils.

"Whoa, this match turned raunchy all of a sudden." Kashiwagi said as her cheeks tinged.

Nene took it even a step further by sitting up over him in a straddling position and began to grind herself against his pelvic area, panting and moaning as she did.

"Let's kill them all my darling Bat! And then we'll make love on top of their corpses!"

What human inhibitions Nene had, which Kurono would attest wasn't much, had been stripped away since her Excessive Awakening and she was now caught in a state of sexual frenzy with both her moans and humps increasing in fervor.

"Over and over and over! andover!andover!andover!andover!"

Her state was put to an abrupt end when Batman's fist struck against her chin. Taking advantage of her dazed state, Batman pushed her off him while roughly grabbing on to the front of her dress as he stood up.

"Sorry, Saikyou." he said, almost sardonically.

After saying so, he threw her judo-style behind him where she fell into the a shadowy pool which he had materialized. She found her body slowly sinking deep into an inky abyss with pulsating red cracks around her, the same 'Shadow Walk' realm that Bruce had experimented with before. Nene reoriented herself and tried to swim up but to no avail. She then tried to use her gravity magic.

"Huh!? Why isn't my gravity powers working!?" she internally yelled.

She only sunk deeper and deeper and all she could do was yell out in frustration.

"DAMN YOU, YOU STUPID BA~T!"

Batman only kept his sights on the conjured Shadow Pool briefly before her turned his attention towards Venomous.

"I have only forty seconds." he thought as he charged forward.

With him controlling his Mana flow into his legs with each footfall, he ran at a speed he had never been able to before and the air rushed over him with the ends of his cape flailing behind. The still horridly shaped Venomous, who till now was rendered perplexed by Nene's actions, snapped back into attention and prepared to deal with the approaching challenger.

"Another bug? I'll squash you too!" she yelled before whipping her tentacles one by one at him.

He hopped from side to side avoiding each stretched out limb just as it slammed at where he was, all while still charging towards her without losing pace. When he was close enough, he leapt forward with Mana propelling his feet and leaving a tiny trail of glowing blue particles as he pulled back Branwen; readying it to thrust forward.

If this woman was as powerful as she seemed then he was going to have to muster all the magic he had to break her Mana defense. He would use everything he had learned from Stella and focus everything into one single point.

Batman couldn't help but internally smirk at himself, finding it quite amusing that he'd think of the young fiery princess now of all times.

Unknown to him, wisps of black smoke trailed off from his body and the aura around him had darkened him to the point of rendering him an inky silhouette; a fearsome sight that took Venomous aback.

"Wait, what are you…?"

Her voice died at her lips and her eyes widened as an unknown sensation tingled across her hulking form. She could feel the sheer amount of his Mana crackling in air as well something which she couldn't remember ever feeling. It made her shiver, her thoughts frantic in the most unpleasant way and the urge to just get away. She felt afraid.

"S-s-stay away from me!" she cried as she lashed out a tentacle thick as a tree trunk towards him.

Not only did he swerve out of the way but as he did, he placed his foot against the side of the appendage and leapt forward from it, thrusting the sword forward as he did. In her immediate panicked state, she could only react by stretching back her midsection but even then she couldn't stop the point of his blade from reaching its mark.

It was the navel stud. That was what her Device's true form was this whole time and what he had keyed in on. When the tip of Branwen made contact with the piece of jewelry with a soft 'tink', that was all that was needed for the decisive blow.

Venomous screamed as a shattering feeling coursed through her before she was sent to the ground in a heap. Her body returned back to her original form as the stud on her navel dissipated. She weakly tried to push herself up but that was as far as she got before Batman mercilessly punched her across the face and knocked her out.

As the Dark Knight stood over her with Branwen gripped in his hand, his eyes sharpened and his lips went taut. He should've felt accomplished but instead all he felt that it was over too damn quick. The outrage he felt for this murderer didn't leave him, it never did every time he put scum like her behind bars; just like the lives she had taken could never be brought back.

It was in that moment when he felt his grip on the sword twitch that he shook those thoughts off, not understanding where they came from. He then turned his attention up towards where Kono sat and used his Mana to propel himself into a high leap, launching himself in the air and landing just before his seat.

Kono yelped in fear and frantically crawled back on his chair which would've toppled back had it not been fixed in place. The audience around him also gasped in panic and tried to scramble up the stands; they had been previously enraptured by the spectacle of two Desperados going at it but were soon afraid for their lives once the force field had broken down.

Not one to lose her dedication, Kashiwagi continued to commentate on the spot even at close proximity near a powerful Rogue Blazer.

"And there you have it, Mina-sama! The Batman has defeated our very own champion! And…um,…"

Her bravado soon broke down and Kashiwagi nervously sweated on the spot when she noticed Batman slowly turn a glare towards her.

"Things are getting pretty hairy up here so once again,…" she held her hand in a sideways peace sign over her eye. "This has been your cute trusty commentator Ayumi Kashiwagi saying…Buh-bye now!"

And on that frantic end, the colorfully dressed girl scurried away, leaving her boss alone to face the wrath of the Bat.

"W-wait! wait! Let's not be hasty, now." Kono stretched his lips into a nervous grin as he wrung his hands. "You've given an exemplary performance. How about you fight for us from now on? You could be-"

But he never got to finish on account of Batman's fist smashing into his face.

As the bloodied gangster slumped and slid over his seat, Batman silently admitted to himself that he felt a little satisfied, even though there was still a lingering feeling that it was over too quick.

"WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA, BAT-KUN!?"

The abrupt loud voice caused him to look towards to ring to find Nene sitting there, her appearance human again and looking extremely peeved. It seemed that she had finally snapped out of whatever influence she was under and had returned to normal…relatively speaking.

"Throwing a cute girl like me down a scary dark hole! Didn't anyone teach you how to treat a lady!?" she ranted on the spot.

"Saikyou…" Batman addressed her and finally told her what she had waited all night to hear.

"Crack this place wide open."

Superintendent-General Shimogamo released a weary breath as he continued to stare incredulously at the mess in front of him.

And what a mess it was.

Luckily, nobody had been harmed and the building's strangely neat collapse had been completely isolated from the rest of Ikebukuro; it was like something (or more accurately, someone) had prevented the debris from spreading over. However, that wasn't even the strangest thing: it was what had been exposed underneath the building that was.

To call this the bust of the century would an understatement. Shimogamo felt like an anteater in front of a torn up anthill; not a very picturesque analogy but it was the best he could think of.

Even as he stood there, there were still a myriad of people ranging from criminals to rich politicians and businessmen being escorted to the police cars behind him. There wouldn't be much charges pressed on patrons although they would be facing a lot of scrutiny from the media and the public, he couldn't imagine their lives getting any smoother from here on out.

The Ichinose-gumi on the other hand, had been dealt a great blow. Their high ranking boss Kono would be facing trial and the LMN officials would take their Rogue Blazers into custody.

On that subject of Rogue Blazer, the LMN placed a particular focus on the Ichinose-gumi's prized fighter. Strangely enough, there was no record of her in their criminal database: no country of origin, no discernible fingerprints, they even theorized that she used her powers to somehow alter her DNA. They weren't even sure if she was even a woman in the first place. Shimogamo assumed that they were probably going to keep her sedated while they figure out how to transport her to a secure facility somewhere in another LMN nation.

Who would thought they'd stumble upon something like this after he dispatched his units to investigate the supposed Batman sighting. That was when they came upon a group of children who sent them on a wild goose-chase.

They were all foreigners as it would turn out, some spirited away, others orphaned. And there were signs that most had gone through some abuse or another.

In any case, it was after they had heard their story that they had contacted the LMN Japan branch who would most likely send some of them over to the Totokubara Foundation's Wakaba house.

As for why they had caused a commotion, it turned out they were trying to buy some time…at the behest of one Nene Saikyou.

He hesitantly turned his attention back to the petite woman who stood next to him. looking proud of her handiwork.

As close as he was to Shinguuji, he was never comfortable with Saikyou; not since he first encountered her back in Kyoto when she was renowned as a notorious problem child and pretty much enslaved the entire Kyoto Prefectural Police Force. He was only chief of police back so when he was promoted and transferred to Tokyo, he was relieved that he was at last far away from her.

Needless to say, the shock and dread he felt when he eventually found out that she started working at Hagun Academy had never left him.

"You're sure you didn't see the Batman after that?" he asked her.

"I told you already, didn't I!?" she huffed at him impatiently. "The Bat just happened to be there and didn't do much. I would've crushed him on the spot but he slipped away in the confusion."

"And you were conducting a…'personal investigation' you say?" Shimogamo asked with his face betraying suspicion. "Why do I get the feeling there is something you're not telling me?"

Nene turned fully to him with a cat-like smile on her face.

"That depends, is this a formal interrogation, Oji-san?" she asked seductively.

The older man sweated and took a step back but the woman took a step along with him and gently grabbed his tie with one hand and playfully walked her fingers up his shirt with the other.

"If it is, then why don't we go somewhere private? Like my place tonight? It'll give us a chance to…catch up." she offered with a sweetened voice.

Shimogamo nervously swallowed and then slowly pulled his tie from her grasp.

"On second thought, I'd rather save myself a headache and hear the details from Shinguuji-san instead."

And that was all he said before he turned away and walked off.

Nene remained on the spot for a moment before she then silently cast her eyes up towards the top of a nearby building where a familiar shadowy silhouette was perched with his cape dancing in the wind before he turned and disappeared from sight.

The Shoji door slid open and Nene stepped into the living room with a sigh and her eyes closed.

She had had already changed out of her tattered outfit and was now in a loosing fitting black yukata with a red and gold floral design and her hair was loose with some light dampness from the bath she just took.

Her abode had a traditional Japanese design with but with more modern lavish amenities purchased from the money she had gained from both her fighting and Olympic career. A short table and luxurious looking cushions were arranged at the center of the room while a large screen TV was hung on the adjacent wall.

It had been a couple of hours since the fall of the Ichinose-gumi and with her state being in a mess, she decided that she really needed to freshen up and coerced Shimogamo to drop her at her house.

On the way she had a brief and very uncomfortable conversation with Kurono over the phone and needless to say, she felt the phone could melt from the Director's burning rage. Nene was expecting one hell of an earful from her when they would meet at the Academy tomorrow but until then, she just wanted to relax.

That was the plan anyway, until she nearly jumped at the sight of Bruce standing in the room and wearing his Academy uniform with his arms folded.

She was startled at first, wondering how did he find this place or even get inside without her notice, but then the perverted side of her brain realized that none of that mattered and her expression morphed into a salacious smile.

"Now this is a pleasant surprise." she said in a sweet voice. "Well, not really because I just knew deep down you couldn't get enough of me."

Keeping her eyes on him, Nene approached the side of the table before slinking down on the cushions, making sure to sprawl herself in an inviting manner with her yukata on the verge of revealing her naughty bits.

"Shall we do it right here? Or maybe in the bedroom?" she asked with her cheeks visibly tinging in arousal.

She felt herself shiver in anticipation when Bruce silently walked towards her, his expression remaining unreadable. He finally stood just before her and she closed her eyes and craned her neck up to await him.

Instead, she heard something drop on the table with a heavy 'THUNK'.

Nene looked to find that it was the remains the Gleipnir that was previously strapped to him. He had apparently taken it at some point and it looked like he had also taken out some of its innards.

"I did a little digging and found out who's making these things." Bruce said as he walked past her.

Feeling miffed, Nene sprung up and flailed her arms about like a spoiled child who was denied her sweets.

"Urgh! You're ruining the mood again!"

Bruce of course ignored her and continued to speak with his back turned.

"The chipset on the PCB board is a unique model, called the 'rk712-13'. The only one who manufactures it is Kazamatsuri Industries."

"Ku-chan was right about you, you really do need a social life." Nene pouted angrily at him.

However, she then picked herself up and adjusted her yukata as she figured she might as well tell him what he needs to know.

"But now that you mentioned it, I've heard of that company. They're part of the Kazamatsuri Zaibatsu."

"A Zaibatsu?" he asked, briefly turning his head back towards her. "Didn't think there'd be any still around."

"Oh they're around alright and they're big deal in this country. They have influences over the banks, technology, medicals, you name it."

Bruce 'hmmed' in thought while an intrigued grin grew on Nene's face.

"Don't tell me, you're thinking of going after them next."

"No." he shook his head. "I have no reason to believe they're involved in any way. What is most likely is that they are the ones distributing the Anti-Blazer tech to the LMN and the authorities."

He at last turns around to directly address her.

"However, that tech is apparently somehow ending up on the black market. That machine that knocked us out back then? I'm willing to bet it's one of theirs too."

"So who's selling them?" Nene asked

"If the items were stolen, they'd be reported. Since they're not, my hunch says that it's an inside job. Either someone in the LMN, the police or maybe inside Kazamatsuri Industries."

Nene raised a brow at this.

"You think there's corruption inside the LMN?"

"It's a theory."

At this point, Nene smirked while puting her hands behind her back while swaying in a coy manner.

"Then when is our next move, Buru-kun? Do I get a costume too?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself!" Bruce glared at her. "Tonight was a one-time thing! The only reason I'm sharing any of this is for you to pass the info along. As I told you before, I work alo-"

"Wahahaha, re~lax! I was just kidding!" Nene interrupted him with a laugh before waving him off. "You can go about your Bat-business all you want without me. Besides, this whole crime fighting thing is not my style anyway."

In a strangely uncharacteristic moment, Nene suddenly dropped the playful attitude and looked at him with sincerity.

"And don't worry, I won't tell Ku-chan about it either and I'll reimburse you for all the money you lost."

The sudden change in her usual personality wasn't lost on him and he couldn't help but regard her with suspicion.

"You're being awfully generous."

Nene found herself absent-mindlessly playing with a strand of her hair as a blush spread over her cheeks.

"Yeah, well,…don't get used to it!" she burst out childishly while throwing her fists down while puffing her cheeks.

Bruce was honestly a little taken aback as this is the first time he had seen this side of her. But as cute as he found it, he wanted to get back on track and question her about another matter that had been on his mind.

"About what happened back there…"

It was vague and could be referring to any number of things but Nene had a pretty good idea of what was on his mind.

"Ehehe, I had a feeling that's what you really wanted to talk about." she chuckled sheepishly.

"You went through some kind of transformation. Venomous said that you and her were the 'Ascended Ones'. What was all that about?"

"It's a little embarrassing but I kinda lost control back there. I'd like to tell you, but the truth is that it's supposed to be an international-level secret."

Bruce's eyes narrowed in doubt.

"Don't look at me like that!" Nene snapped. "I'm being honest! I'm already in hot water with Ku-chan as it is!"

"Saikyou, you can't expect me to just ignore something like that. Do these transformations happen to every Blazer?"

There was a layer of subtext behind his question, one that asked if the same thing would happen to him.

"For now, no."

"For now?" Bruce echoed in surprise.

"Look, I know your little secret and you know mine. So let's just consider us even and forget about it, kay?"

Bruce continued to regard her with suspicion. He was already concerned with how dangerous a Blazer can be but this was on an another level entirely.

He wasn't quite sure if Saikyou was telling the truth but as far as he knew, she had no reason to lie either. Deciding to shelf the matter, Bruce made a mental note to research further into this phenomenon later.

For now, there was something else he wanted to ask about, something that had been bothering him for a while now.

"One more thing…" he began to speak.

"During your fight, I noticed that technique you were using. You were synchronizing your breathing and footwork, moving in such a way that your opponent isn't able to perceive you on a conscious-level. That's why you were able constantly catch her off-guard."

Bruce figured in essence, the technique works on the principle that the human brain can't process every piece of information it receives and in order to be efficient, it discards whatever it considers 'irrelevant' or fills in gaps of missing information.

"So you were paying attention." Nene noted, sounding impressed. "It's called the Nukiashi."

"The Nukiashi…" Bruce repeated.

A coy smirk formed on Nene's lips as she spoke teasingly.

"Are you ama~zed?"

"Actually, I learned something similar to it years ago when I was still training. Only difference was that the technique I was taught was designed to minimize sound as much as possible regardless of how much weight was being carried."

It was paramount for Batman to master absolute stealth but considering the heavy equipment he needed to carry, he had to utilize this technique to render his movements silent and quick. It was how he was able to vanish on Commissioner Gordon on a regular basis, much to the man's chagrin.

"Now you got me interested. What other tricks do you know?" Nene asked with a smile as she walked up to him.

But Bruce paid her no mind as there was still something in his mind that nagged at him.

It was in a way ironic that he figured out how the Nukiashi worked because as a detective, he didn't agree with the idea that the brain couldn't process every piece of information. On a conscious-level, perhaps. But on a subconscious-level, it can be trained to take in every tiny detail no matter how irrelevant.

They could be seen as like tiny jigsaw puzzle pieces filed away in the back of the mind like it would in an evidence locker. Sometimes all the pieces to the puzzle were right there and it just needed the right perspective for someone to consciously arrange them and find the place they would fit.

In this case, he realized that he had seen Saikyou use the Nukiashi on him when he first met her but he still feels that he had seen it somewhere before.

And then it hit him.

"Wait a minute…"

In almost a blink of an eye, she closed the distance between them and leaned against him. This caught Batman off guard as she placed a finger on the emblem on his armor.

"So what's your story anyway, Mister Bat? That's what this thing on your chest is supposed to be, right?"

"Saikyou!" he suddenly exclaimed and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Kyah!" she shrieked in surprise as a blush spread over her face. "Wh-what's gotten into you all of sudden?"

"The Nukiashi! Where did you learn it!?"

His voice was raised in desperate urgency and when she heard what he asked, Nene looked at him weirdly before pulling away from his grip.

"From my old geezer of a mentor, Nangou Torajirou."

The tone of annoyance and disdain at the mention the man's name was unmistakable.

"Did you say Nangou Torajirou?" Bruce blinked in surprise. "As in…the war hero, Nangou Torajirou? From World War II?"

"Uh huh."

"But that would make him…"

"A really old and annoying geezer. Yup, that's him." Nene confirmed with her voice still laced with disgust.

"Do…Blazers age differently from humans?" Bruce wondered.

As curious as he was, Bruce forced his attention back at the matter at hand.

"Where can I find him?"

"Why are you so interested anyway?" Nene asked, now turning suspicious herself.

That was something he couldn't tell her or anyone.

The fact was that this could easily lead to a dead end but what he did know was that the girl he had been seeking had used the Nukiashi on him.

Even if there was only a tiny possibility that Nangou had taught it to her, he still had to try and find out.

"It's very important that I speak to this man." was all he said.

Silently, Nene regarded him for a moment before turning around and walked a few steps away from him with her arms folded behind her back. And then at last, she spoke without facing him.

"Two of my students will be meeting him this weekend. I'll let them know that you're tagging along."

Bruce released out a small breath in relief.

"I appreciate it." he said to her. "I know you just said that we were even but I owe you one this time."

Hearing this, Nene's eyes shone in jubilation as her lips stretched into a lusty grin. She then wasted no time in untying the sash on her yukata and then turned around to bare her nakedness to him.

"Well in that case, how about paying me back with a…"

But by time she turned around, he was gone without a trace.

"Hmph! Spoilsport." she pouted as she tied her sash again.

TBC