The city was saved from a Denizen by another Denizen, the Supreme Throne no less.

Yuji glanced towards the stairs where Hecate had gone down. He was still on the rooftop, but it seemed as though the Supreme Throne had sensed something below. As he waited, the Mystes thought about the events of the past days: meeting Konoe Fumina, saving Yukari from a fate of disappearing, discovering he was meant to be a replacement of himself, seeing the terrifying side of Hecate and accepting it, a mutual desire to understand each other, defeating Friagne.

He put a hand on his chest. Besides all that, that he was a Torch who still had a future, as long as he possessed the Reiji Maigo, the Treasure that recovered Power of Existence.

But there was one thing he could not fully register. Both Friagne and Lamies had mentioned the word "Flame Haze". It was obviously a person, but what kind? Was it a human, or a Denizen? He had no idea.

As Hecate made her way up the stairs, putting away a small bronze mirror, Yuji recalled something else he had seen that day. A well-endowed, bespectacled blonde-haired woman with blood red lips had fought Friagne before Hecate, although she was obviously so severely beaten.

"No Flame Haze could defeat Friagne," Yuji said to himself. "Could that woman be the one they called a Flame Haze?"

The Flame Haze

Yuji and Hecate walked home together, side by side. They were still quiet, but there was no need for unnecessary words. The Priestess remained in her true form, since there was no real reason to change into her disguise so late at night.

"Hey, Hecate?" Yuji said. "I was wondering, you don't really have a place to stay, do you?"

"There's a large abandoned house not too far from here," Hecate replied. "Konoe Fumina stayed there."

The boy chose his subject word carefully. "So, you used to stay there by yourself?"

Even to someone who knew nothing about humans, it was pretty obvious. The thought of Yuji so consciously thinking about the girl's feelings humored Hecate, yet puzzled her at the same time. For a brief moment, she smiled a little bit.

"Yes," she answered plainly.

"I see." Yuji scratched his cheek. "Well, how about you stay at my place then?"

Hecate gave him a questioning look.

"Well," Yuji went on, averting his eyes, "I don't really want you to be alone all the time."

"I see," the girl said. "It should be easier to keep you safe then."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Yuji said. "We'll have to convince my mom to let you stay, not to mention give her a believable story for why we were out so late. I'll tell you what I've come up with when we get there."

Hecate nodded at that. A place to stay would be nice.

"Hmm, oh! One more thing," Yuji said. He smiled at the Priestess. "We both know I can't really agree that you have to consume the existence of people, even though I said I'd accept that you had the need. But remembering what Lamies said, how about this compromise?"

Hecate looked at him intently and listened. She did not seem to care too much about who the Denizen was, or that they had met, as long as he did not seem to harm Yuji.

"The Corpse Collector consumes dying Torches to gain Power of Existence," Yuji said. "How about you drain existence from me instead of other people? Since the Reiji Maigo refills me, then we can do it every night."

Hecate just stared at him, considering the thought. She remembered his expression when he had witnessed her consuming his kind without holding back. She regretted it since then, and would have sworn herself off doing it again while the Mystes was still around. But his proposal gave her a new option.

She nodded in acceptance. Although she did not express it, she was grateful. It was a strange, comforting feeling.

More time passed as the two walked together. The night breeze was both a comfort and a cold chill, just like Hecate. The thought amused the Mystes when he thought about it.

After a while, the question that had been bothering him for a while had to be asked. "Hey, Hecate, what's a Flame Haze?"

He girl glanced at him with her emotionless green eyes. "Humans who hunt Crimson Denizens," Hecate answered in a serious, deadpan tone.

Humans who hunted Denizens? That sounded like something very unlikely, recalling how powerful Friagne was, and how even more powerful was the Supreme Throne.

"How do they fight them, shouldn't humans be too weak to fight Denizens?" Yuji asked, then added. "They'll just freeze in that crimson Seal"

"They have contractors," Hecate said, then, remembering how little the Mystes knew, explained a little further, "Crimson Lords."

"So they're humans contracted to Crimson Lords," Yuji concluded. "Does that mean they'll get their powers or something?"

Hecate nodded once. "Yes."

"Why would they hunt you though?" Yuji asked. "Is it-?" he stopped, not wanting to touch that subject for Hecate's sake.

The girl sensed his hesitation, however it came to be there. She let herself deliver a clear answer. "Because we consume Power of Existence."

"So they try to stop you," Yuji said, finally understanding. To sum it up, Flame Hazes were humans who contracted with Crimson Lords like Hecate to fight Denizens. Could it be because they posed a threat to the balance of the world and the existences in it?

"I actually saw a woman earlier today," Yuji told the girl. "Friagne almost killed her when I got there. I didn't get too good a look at her, but I remember that she was blonde."

"The Chanter of Elegies," Hecate told him. She showed no anger on her face, nor did she clench her hands into fists, and her tone was as lacking as ever, but Yuji could sense a hidden anger as she spoke the Flame Haze's title.

Still too irritated to sleep, Margery Daw let herself go and helped herself to more of Keisaku's stored booze. Of course, the noisy, intoxicated ranting that followed had woken the two other boys in the room.

"Damn those Denizens, they're all sons of bitches!" she said as she took a swig of wine straight from the bottle. Besides the gauze wrapped around her neck, stomach and arm, her face was flushed and her eyes were glazed as if half dreaming.

"Isn't one of them a girl though, like you said?" Eita said, and just barely ducked Marcosias, who had been so poorly chucked in his direction. The grimoire smacked flat into the wall behind him.

"Don't throw me around, my raging drunkard Margery Daw, or you'll ruin my bindings," Marcosias said as he fell to the floor with a thud.

Naturally, Keisaku and Eita ran for cover. Picking up Marcosias on the way, Eita hid behind a coffee table, but Keisaku was not quick enough and had been too close to Margery. Before he could escape her reach, the drunken lady wrapped her arm around his neck and pressed his head on her rather generous bosom.

"Jus' who does that bitch think she is anyway?" Margery said. "Going around stealing my job, she might as well be a Flame Haze instead!" She chugged down on more booze and tightened her lock on Keisaku.

"G-guys, help me out here," he said, flailing his arms in Eita and Marcosias' direction

"Sorry man," Eita apologized with not even the slightest hint of guilt.

"Hahahah! You're on your own kid," Marcosias said. "It's kind of nice not being on the receiving end for once, and I'd like it to stay that way! Besides, what guy wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now?"

"Why you-MMRG!" Before Keisaku could say anything else, Margery thrust the bottle of wine she was holding in his mouth. He swallowed some of it, and coughed out the rest when the Chanter of Elegies withdrew it to drink more herself.

"Dammit, what was that for?" Keisaku protested as he struggled again. "I'm still underage!"

"Kid, you gotta drink too! It's not a party if not everyone goes nuts!" Margery said as she attempted to force the bottle on Keisaku's mouth once more.

The boy resisted her with both hands, and managed to hold her off fairly decently, although the woman would gain the upper hand very soon. Thankfully, she stopped trying, tossed the bottle aside, and swayed from side to side, still holding the boy firmly.

"Maybe next round I'll help you drink it mouth to mouth," she said with a wide, open-mouthed grin.

Keisaku's face flushed a deep red. "D-don't say stupid things like that!" he said. "Mmmph!"

Unabashed, Margery shoved his face into her cleavage. "Come on kid, you an' me are gonna be Flame Hazes together and write poetry all day long!" she said before taking in another gulp and then laughing loudly.

Keisaku continued to flail, unable to breathe as he was being smothered by her ample melons. Before he could lose consciousness, however, Margery did so before him. She fell to the floor on her back, with Keisaku on top of her.

"Onee-san, Satou, are you alright?" Eita said as he rushed up to them.

Keisaku pried himself from the dozing Margery's grip, red faced. Eita helped him up to his feet.

"How often do you have to deal with that?" Keisaku asked Marcosias as the book levitated towards him.

"Once every time she drinks if I'm lucky," Marcosias answered.

"It's surprising though, I thought she could hold her liquor," Eita noted.

"She's actually not much of a drinker, sometimes she just feels the need," explained the tome.

Despite his recent treatment, Keisaku picked up Margery in his arms. She was lighter than he had expected, although he still had to deal with her awful breath.

"You said Flame Hazes were avengers," he said as he rounded the coffee table with the woman in his arms. "That they hunt Denizens because of a grudge. Did something happen to her, or her family, or her lover?" Somehow, the last thought displeased him.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" Marcosias said as the boy gently put the woman down on the couch.

As Keisaku turned to look at him, a flash of purple light blinded him and Eita. The next thing they saw was a palace in flames.

Everything, everything was burning in silver fire. Men and women in fine clothes lay dead and mutilated. Blood was everywhere, pooling on the floor, splattered on the ceiling, staining everything in red. And in the midst of it all was a massive knight in a full suit of silver armor. Despite its form, it was anything but human. Beneath its visor was a legion of crimson eyes, gazing upon everything as it all burned down, making sure all was destroyed.

When the memory was over, Keisaku and Eita gasped for breath. They had expected something otherworldly, but what they had just witnessed had transcended whatever horrors they had imagined prior.

"So that was a Crimson Denizen," Keisaku muttered.

"Did she get her revenge?" Eita asked.

"Not yet," the Claws and Fangs of Violation replied. "But we're not going to give up just yet. He's still out there somewhere, finding him is just the hard part though. Denizens can change their appearance as they please."

"And after she gets her revenge, what happens then?" Keisaku asked.

"She'll keep being a Flame Haze," Marcosias told him. "She has quite the vendetta against every Denizen out there."

"But, aren't you a Denizen – I mean, a Crimson Lord - too?" Keisaku said. "Don't you feel anything about hunting your own kind?"

"Did your people feel any remorse for making sure every Nazi was wiped off the face of the Earth?" Marcosias replied.

"We're Japanese you douche," Keisaku grumbled in a low voice. "But I get your point."

He turned back to Margery and pulled a blanket over her sleeping form.

"So, what do you think of her now?" Marcosias asked him.

"Hmph," Keisaku grunted. "She's a bit of a pain, but she's not so bad."

"Oho~! So in the end, even though you act tough, you're just a softie," Marcosias said.

"Sh-shut up!" Keisaku said. He glanced at the sleeping Margery. After all that's happened today, she just could not refuse her body's need for rest. She would be deeply and soundly asleep for quite a while.

"I'm going back to bed," Keisaku said as he turned around to go to his own room.

"Goodnight Marco-san," Eita said before following after his friend.

"Sleep well and rest easy you two," Marcosias said in a rare gentle tone as he rested his form on the coffee table.

In the Sakai household, a third member joined the table at breakfast. To one side, between Yuji and his mother, the girl in the guise of Konoe Fumina sat, poking a yellow egg yolk with her fork. She barely showed it on her face, but she was obviously curious.

"She's a quiet one, isn't she?" Chigusa noted.

"Yeah, she doesn't really like doing things she doesn't find interesting, but she can get pretty devoted when she wants to," Yuji said. "She doesn't really know a whole lot either," he added. It was true, despite her age and her knowledge of magic, she knew little about the human realm.

"It's a wonder how she's been living by herself all this time," Chigusa said.

She glanced at Hecate again. She seemed to be in her own world, not caring about what was being said about her. She sipped her tea with eyes closed and both of her dainty hands holding her cup. It was a little elegant in a way.

"Yeah," Yuji said. As he looked at Hecate, nibbling on a slice of bread, he recalled the conversation with his mother the night before.

"It's nice to meet you Konoe Fumina-chan," Chigusa repeated after Yuji had introduced Hecate to her.

She wasn't too worried that Yuji had been out so late. Somehow, she knew her son would return to her eventually, he had his father's blood after all. She didn't seem too surprised that a girl had come home with him either.

"Hecate," the Priestess said. If she was going to learn to understand and be understood better by not just Yuji, but by his caretaker, she might as well be referred to by her true name, she figured.

"Is Hecate your nickname?" Chigusa asked.

"Nickname?" Hecate repeated. She glanced at Yuji, who gave a discreet nod. "Yes," she answered.

Chigusa clasped her hands together. "Then I hope you don't mind if I call you Heca-chan?" she said cheerfully.

Hecate just nodded in affirmation.

"So, anyway mom, she needs a place to stay," Yuji said.

"Oh, don't you have a family, or anyone to take care of you?"

Hecate shook her head.

"Well, we'll do what we can for you," said Chigusa, genuinely concerned. "But did anything happen that you chose to stay with us?"

"I... um… You tell her what happened, Hecate," Yuji said. He had actually come up with a tale to tell when they arrived at their front door. And lying was not really his best skill, so he left it up to Hecate, who could keep a poker face no matter what she said or heard.

The girl glanced at him, then looked at Chigusa with a straight face. "He made me feel many things deep inside of me that I have not felt before," she said in a deadpan reply.

Yuji flushed a deep red, beside him, his mother gave him a serious look. "N-No!" he said as he facepalmed hard. "I-I mean, what happened last night, about what happened to your house."

Chigusa crossed her arms as she listened.

"It was hot and explosive," Hecate said, with no change in her tone.

Yuji blushed even redder, and Chigusa frowned. "Yu-chan" she said

"M-mom, don't misunderstand!" Yuji said frantically. "On the way home there was a fire at Hecate's place." It was believable, but he feared that his tone made it clear that he was lying.

"A fire?" Chigusa repeated, glancing at Hecate. She didn't seem to have any emotional reaction to their words at all. "Is this true, Heca-chan?"

Hecate simply nodded.

"I see," Chigusa considered. "Well, you're welcome to stay with us as long as you like."

Yuji sighed with relief. "Thanks mom," he said. Sensing his gratitude, she gave his mother a nod too.

"But you two had better not do anything strange while you're alone," Chigusa told him sternly yet with the same calm demeanor. Beside her, Hecate was trying to figure out how to eat bacon with a spoon. "Thankfully, she seems like a very innocent girl. But I don't want my son doing anything he would regret."

"D-don't worry about that mom," Yuji promised. Of all the things he had encountered so far, he could chalk her up to one of the scariest things he could experience, considering how easily she switched back to her normal, cheerful self.

"Good," Chigusa said, giving him a satisfied smile. She stood up to begin cleaning up. "You two had better wash up now, or you'll be late for school. Heca-chan, I prepared a bath for you just a few minutes ago, so you better hop in while it's still warm."

Hecate blinked. "A bath?" she said before turning to Yuji with a questioning look.

Yuji scratched the back of his head, realizing it was probably something Denizens did not really do. "W-well, how do you normally clean yourself?" he whispered.

"With my flame," Hecate told him.

So that was how she cleansed and dried herself at the same time the other night, before he walked in on her. The thought didn't make him feel too embarrassed, since it was already some time ago, and Hecate had no reason to be ashamed either.

"Well, it's just another way to clean yourself," he told her. "It might feel even better than using your flame."

"Mm," was the only sound from Hecate, then she nodded.

Margery Daw gripped her head as she twisted and turned in agony on the couch. Overnight, she had recovered from the injuries that had been inflicted on her by Friagne, but she was now assailed by a new pain.

"Argh! My head's spinning!" she groaned. "Just kill me already and end the pain!"

Close by, Keisaku and Eita could only watch her squirm. "Standing" on the coffee table, Marcosias guffawed. "Ah, alcohol, it's a double edged sword! But I'm not going to use the Flame of Purification just yet. So you're on your own Margery Daw, my angel of drunkenness!"

Margery reached out to him angrily. "You asshole, what if the Corpse Collector escapes or the Supreme Throne attacks us?"

"Then I'll use the flame then, but right now you have to learn your lesson!" Marcosias argued. "We don't want the same thing happening again tonight do we?" he gave a proverbial glance at Keisaku, who simply averted his eyes with a grunt.

"Dammit," Margery said, continuing to clutch her skull. "Fine then. Keisaku, Eita, I have a job for you since I can't do it like this."

"I'm listening," Eita said obediently.

"You're high school students right? I want you to infiltrate the school where the Supreme Throne's Mystes attends," Margery instructed, bearing the pain as best as she could.

"Oh great, skipping school to get into school," Keisaku grumbled.

"Quiet you," Margery said, gritting her teeth. "Ow, this hurts. When I feel a little better I'll use a seeking spell to find out which place they're at, then you two tail them."

"But we don't even know what they look like," Keisaku said.

"Might as well show you now than later," Marcosias said. Unlike earlier, he used a different spell to reveal the images. A spell circle of arcane runes appeared in the air, and the image of a male student held by the throat by Friagne materialized.

"That's the Mystes we saw," Marcosias explained. "Not sure if he's dead or alive, but since the Supreme Throne is still here, I'm assuming he's still kicking."

The image changed to an emotionless Priestess with short teal hair.

"And that's the Supreme Throne. Like I said before, Denizens can freely change form, so she probably looks more human when she's out and about."

Keisaku and Eita just stared. Registering what they saw, they glanced at each other with a nod.

"They look exactly like two of our classmates," Keisaku said, "Yuji Sakai and Konoe Fumina."

"You seriously mean you two have been right next to them the whole time?" Margery yelled.

"Hey, it's not like we knew what they were," Keisaku said.

"It's strange though," said Eita. "She's a Denizen, yet none of our schoolmates have disappeared yet."

"Maybe not yet," Margery said as she sat up. "But she will eventually. There's no such thing as an innocent Denizen. Marco, let's deal with those punks right now!"

"Alright! We'll tear them up and roast them to a crisp, my battle-ready princess, Margery Daw!" Marcosias bellowed.

"Wait, I have a better idea," Eita said. "What if they're in cahoots with that other Denizen you've been having a hard time chasing down?"

Margery turned to him with a curious look. "Are you implying that I could kill two birds with one stone if I just waited for them to meet?"

"Well, you have been chasing after that Corpse Collector guy for quite a while now," Eita told her. "If we tail Sakai and Konoe, we could find him without alerting him."

"He has a point. Besides, with all the tripwires we've put around the city, he'll need their help if he's going to try and escape the city," Marcosias said. He pushed out three bookmarks from between his pages. "Take these then, two of them are for communication, and let you move freely when you're in a Fuzetsu. The other one lets you summon us when the two Denizens meet."

The two boys took the bookmarks. "We won't fail you Onee-san," Eita promised. Keisaku just stayed silent.

"Alright, alright, now get going," Margery shooed them. "Don't you dare lose sight of them."

When the two left, Marcosias turned to Margery. "They're good kids," he said. "Would be a shame though, if something happened to them."

Margery got up on her feet. "Shut up, stupid Marco," she said in a low, almost regretful voice.

With dainty hands and slender fingers, Hecate undressed herself before entering the bathtub. A wet yet warm feeling surged throughout her whole body, making her quiver a little. Slowly, she submerged her whole body.

So, this was a bath. It was a comforting yet warm and satisfying feeling, similar to how she felt when she was with Yuji, but in a more physical sense. For some reason, she was also looking forward to taking up Yuji's offer to sustain her existence that night.

One thing was for sure: it certainly was better than when she used her flame to cleanse herself. She closed her eyes and continued to enjoy the relaxing sensation.

Meanwhile, Yuji went to his room. As he went in and closed the door behind him, like on any other day, he found a holographic projection of the city covering the entire floor of his room. At first, it didn't register in his head, and he went to get his things ready. Halfway there, he stopped and did a double take.

The holographic projection was still covering his floor.

"What the?" he exclaimed as he put his back against the wall.

Back in the bathtub, Hecate continued to relax without a worry or a care.

"Thanks for putting that thing away Hecate," Yuji told the girl as they walked to school together. "Is that what you got from Friagne's hideout after we beat him?"

"Yes," the girl beside him replied.

"What was it exactly, another Treasure like the Reiji Maigo?"

Hecate nodded. "The Haridan," she answered.

"Is that like a map of the city?" Yuji asked, and Hecate nodded in reply. "I also noticed some little flames on it."

"Those are Torches," Hecate said.

"There sure were a lot of them," Yuji said. "Friagne really didn't hold back. I wonder how many Flame Hazes tried to stop him and died."

Hecate glanced at his troubled expression. He still didn't seem to know too much about anything. When she thought about it, she didn't know anything about his world either. But they had all the time in the world for that.

Some distance ahead, Yuji noticed two familiar figures. "It's Yoshida-san and Hirai-san," he said. Hecate just stared ahead blankly in response.

"I just left her yesterday," Yuji said. "I'll go and apologize."

He strode ahead of Hecate, surprising her in spite of his telling her before hand, as if she did not care about them. She chased after him in a trot.

"Good morning Yoshida-san, Hirai-san," Yuji greeted as he caught up with them.

The two girls turned to the sound of his voice. "It's Sakai-kun," Kazumi said.

"Hey Sakai-kun," Yukari said, then went straight to what she wanted to ask him. "Did something happen yesterday?" Neither her voice nor her expression was accusing, but more of concern for both her friends.

"Yeah," Yuji said. Now that the question was asked, he felt an obligation to tell them, but the terrible liar could not think of a half-decent excuse other than that which was otherworldly. All he could do right now was apologize.

"Sorry for leaving you yesterday Yoshida-san," he said as he bowed to her. "I promise I'll make it up to you."

It was right at that moment that Hecate caught up with him, and when she did, the first thing she did was hold onto Yuji's sleeve as if she had no intention to release him. Kazumi's eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly in a gasp, and Yukari looked back and forth at the three with worried eyes.

"Hm?" When Yuji noticed her expression, he traced her gaze to Hecate, still clutching his sleeve. "Ah! N-no! Don't misunderstand," he said, putting his hands up defensively.

"O-oh no, it's fine Sakai-kun, I understand," Kazumi said with a forced smile. "We'd better get going now, or we'll be late." With that, she turned around and ran off with a pained expression.

"No, you're wrong, we're not like that! Yoshida-san!" Yuji called as he followed after her, pulling free of Hecate's grip.

The Priestess, wide-eyed, was about to chase after him again when Yukari took her hand. Turning to the human girl, Hecate gave her a cold, piercing glare. Yukari flinched, but held onto her with both hands with a determined look for the sake of her best friend.

"U-Um, I think it's a better idea to leave them be, you know?" she said with a smile. "It would be a bother for Kazumi-chan and Sakai-kun if you were there right now."

Why couldn't she be with him right then and there, let alone all the time? After all, he made her feel better, to feel warm and not so cold, so why not? She did not understand. Humans were difficult creatures to comprehend. But at the very least she could understand that if she was going to trouble Yuji, then she would have to let him go this once.

She watched his form gradually become smaller and smaller until he was out of her sight. As he disappeared from her vision, she felt the emptiness inside of her return.

"So, that old man from yesterday told you that her condition was acting up, and thought you would know where to find her?" Kazumi said, finally calmed down. She and Yuji were in the classroom together, and Hecate and Yukari were yet to arrive.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it. She doesn't show it, but that heart condition of hers can be really bad," Yuji said. He didn't like to lie, but there wasn't really any choice in the matter. "And I meant what I said. I'll make it up to you."

Kazumi looked down and gave it some thought. "Alright," she said. "If anything comes to mind, I'll let you know."

Yuji smiled, glad to fix that issue. It wasn't long until Hecate arrived with Yukari.

As the four took their respective seats, Kazumi whispered to Yukari, who sat in front of her. "Sorry we left you two behind," she said.

"It's fine," Yukari said. She glanced at Hecate. "She's not really as scary as I thought she was. She was quiet the whole way here though."

"Yeah," Kazumi said, staring at Hecate as well.

Why would Sakai know where she would have been? And why did it have to be him, and not someone else, like her family or guardian, or even the old man himself? Now that she thought about it, she still only spoke to Yuji and no one else. He had assured her that there was nothing going on between them, but it was still suspicious, and at the same time discouraging.

At the back row of the class, Keisaku and Eita kept a close eye on Yuji and Hecate as well.

"No doubt about it, they're the ones Margery's after," Keisaku said.

"Come to think of it," Eita said, "they're still our classmates. Could we betray their trust like this?"

"What trust? We hardly know each other. Besides, it was your idea."

The squint-eyed boy lowered his head. "Yeah, I know," he said. "I just wanted to be of some use to Onee-san."

"Well you got your wish," Keisaku said. "To think they were this close and we didn't realize anything. I always just thought they were a couple of weirdos."

"So, when do you think they'll meet up with the Corpse Collector?"

"No idea," Keisaku shrugged. "I'm not even sure if they will meet up at all. But now that I think about that, your suggestion did one thing right."

"Yeah?"

"Remember what Margery told us? She'd leave once all the Denizens here were destroyed."

Eita was downcast at that. "Yeah," he said.

"My point is…" Keisaku was about to explain, then shut his mouth. It would have been too embarrassing to say that it was good that it was possible for Margery to stay longer than she had planned.