Chapter 11: The Spreading Link

Yuji stood on the roof of a building, facing the direction he sensed Shana was. Looking over the edge, he found that he was at least five storeys high. He had decided to hop from rooftop to rooftop, since it would be much faster than running through the winding streets. It was something he was still learning, but he knew he had to do it.

"It's now or never," he said to himself. "Alright Yuji, remember what Shana taught you. Plan your landing places before each jump, and make sure they're strong and spacious enough. Focus Power of Existence to your legs and feet and concentrate them in one strong kick to the ground. Use Power of Existence to lighten your body as well, so that you will have no problem while you're flying."

The Mystes stepped back from the edge and took a short running start. He leaped high soared through the air.

So far so good, he thought. Now, keep your balance and stay on target with your landing area. Upon touchdown, kick again; the momentum will send you farther than your first jump. You'll need perfect timing to get it right.

"Easy for you to say Shana," he said aloud before his feet touched the roof of another building. His timing was good, though it still had room for improvement. He kept at it and gradually became better at his jumps.

He was still miles away from his destination when his bookmark glowed. He heard Yoshida's voice coming from it.

"Sakai-kun. Sakai-kun!"

Yuji lost his focus in mid-flight and missed his landing. He fell from the sky next to a building. Thinking quickly, he shot a silver chain from his sleeve and held tightly to it. The end of the chain embedded itself in the concrete structure and the Mystes swung from the chain and smacked into the wall.

"What is it Yoshida-san?" Yuji asked, recovering from the hit.

"It's terrible!" Yoshida replied. "Everything's being Synchronized."

"Oh no," Yuji said. "How much are linked already?"

"Just a small fraction of the city. The people seem to be linking one by one, so there's still time to stop Neftier."

Yuji began climbing up the silver chain. "That's good," he said. "Tell me if there are anything else goes on."

"I will," Yoshida said as the bookmark lost its radiance.

"I wonder if Shana and the others have already met up," Yuji said.

YKYKYKYKYKYK

"That's strange," Margery said as she landed in the street they were supposed to meet at, "that brat's presence suddenly vanished."

"Maybe you're all-powerful booze breath scared her away," Marcosias blurted out. He immediately received a punch from Margery.

"This doesn't feel right," she said. She felt the presence of another Flame Haze approaching.

Wilhelmina landed next to the Chanter of Elegies. "Where is she?" the Specialist of Everything inquired.

"The runt? I don't know," Margery replied. "I sensed her presence here earlier but now it's gone."

Wilhelmina looked to the tall radio tower on the top of a building only half a mile away.

"She probably went ahead," she said.

"How did you figure that out?" Margery asked.

"We can't sense either Neftier or Hecate, so there must be some field of negative Power of Existence shrouding that tower."

"But why'd the brat go without us?"

"I don't know. She's changing, not only because of the Mystes, but also because of Yoshida Kazumi and Hecate. I try to understand her, but it seems like I can't keep up."

"Kids grow up fast, don't they?"

"Indeed," said a ghostly voice, "unfortunately you two will not be able to watch them develop."

The Two Flame Haze turned around and were slightly surprised to see Pslyk standing before them.

"Don't run away from a battle you know you can finish," he said to Wilhelmina.

"This all ends today," the Specialist of Everything said, turning Tiamat into a battle mask. "May this be our last battle, Thief of Twilight Darkness."

"Are you guys going to start a party without me?" the Raging Berserker Alkro said as he hopped down from a building behind the Flame Haze.

"I wondered what had happened when I left you," Margery said to the Denizen. "I was beginning to think a stupid mutt like you would still be digging for me up to now."

"Stupid… mutt…?" Alkro said. His size doubled in his anger and he charged at the Flame Haze. Margery and Wilhelmina nodded to each other and jumped away in opposite directions. Pslyk narrowly evaded the stray fist from his enraged ally. Alkro stopped and looked around for the Chanter of Elegies. A large purple fireball suddenly impacted on his back. He turned and saw Margery in her werewolf form, floating high in the air. The Raging Berserker quickly grabbed a car and hurled it at his enemy. It was easily dodged.

While the frustrated Alkro threw more debris at the purple werewolf, Pslyk tried throwing his knives and tails at Wilhelmina, who also evaded in the air. Suddenly, both Flame Haze vanished and ribbons came out from the ground and coiled around the Denizen's legs. As Pslyk and Alkro struggled to get free, they heard a female voice.

"Ding dong,

Hear my song,

Strike a gong,

Don't get it wrong!"

A giant ball of fire rocketed from the end of the street and exploded on impact. When the smoke cleared, Wilhelmina and Margery, who was now back in her human form, came out to check their enemies. Alkro was seen lying on his back, but there was no sign of Pslyk.

Both Flame Haze suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of their necks. Wilhelmina quickly reacted and put a spell-enhanced bandage over Margery's and her own sting wound.

"What the hell just happened?" Margery asked.

"Pslyk, the Thief of Twilight Darkness," Wilhelmina answered. "These bandages will only slow the tranquilizer." She looked around for the Jaeger, but could not find him or sense his presence.

"Then it looks like we'll have to put an end to these two quickly," Margery said. She watched as Alkro stood again. "Hey, how about we trade opponents?"

"Fine by me," Wilhelmina said.

"Now you've made me really mad!" Alkro said as he grew larger. As the beast approached, Pslyk revealed himself to Margery.

"That was a good move you two pulled," he said. "I would have died if I hadn't cut the ribbons in time."

"Well you're going to die now," Margery said. She transformed again into her bestial form.

"I beg to differ," Pslyk said. "All it takes is a small sting to instantly numb your body, then I can finish you with a cut to the throat."

"Give it your best shot stupid," Margery taunted.

Pslyk sent out all four tails at her. The Chanter of Elegies brought up one paw, causing the tails to embed themselves in its hide.

"We'll see who's stupid," Pslyk said.

Margery grinned. "Looks like it's still you," she said as she grabbed the tails with her other paw and yanked hard at them. The Thief of Twilight Darkness found himself flying directly towards Margery's knee. As soon as he was hit, the Jaeger dropped his Hougus as his body rang with pain.

Margery held the Denizen by the neck. "How come my stings didn't affect you immediately?" he asked.

"You talk like you're smart but you really are just like the average, idiotic Denizen," Margery said. "This werewolf body is just a shell, so you're little stings had no effect whatsoever on my real body. Now, goodbye!"

She delivered an uppercut with her paw and sent the Denizen flying straight up. As Pslyk reached the peak of his flight, Margery leaped up and pounded him with both paws clubbed together, sending him crashing down to the street below. While the Jaeger was still weak, Margery decided to finish him off. She built up a large purple fireball in her maw and fired it down. As the flames consumed the Denizen, he let out the first and last scream he had ever made in his life. When the flames had vanished, nothing was left of the Jaeger.

"How the Specialist of Everything never managed to completely destroy this weakling I'll never know," the Chanter of Elegies said to her partner. She watched the said Flame Haze still fighting with Alkro.

Wilhelmina hurled several ribbon-javelins at the beast while she circled him in the air. None of the javelins, however, could penetrate his thick hide. The Raging Berserker tried to punch and claw the Flame Haze, but she was too quick for him.

Wilhelmina tried a different strategy. She let her ribbons encircle the Wanderer's feet, unfortunately, Alkro had faced this before.

"Oh no," he said, "this trick isn't going to get me the second time!"

Before the ribbons could close in on his feet, Alkro jumped over them. Wilhelmina pulled the ribbons back and formed them into a giant battle-axe. She swung it with great strength, but Alkro caught the blade in his powerful, long fangs. He crushed it with his jaw and the ribbons went limp. He snatched the ribbons and spun them around, taking Wilhelmina along for the ride. He let go and the Flame Haze was flung like a stone from a sling into a wall.

Margery was about to chant another spell when Alkro took her in his grasp with sudden abnormal speed. He threw her into the building next to Wilhelmina.

The Wanderer advanced, taking out a tiny mallet that grew into a giant, two-handed sledge-hammer. The Flame Haze were now too weak to get up, due to both the attacks and the tranquilizer. Suddenly, a red-haired girl wearing a black cape jumped on his head and bashed his skull with her sword. Alkro tried to reach her, but found that he couldn't due to his massive muscles.

"What's the use of having four big, strong arms if you can't even reach your head?" the girl said. She drove her sword deep into the Denizen's head. As the Raging Berserker died and burned away into a cloud of embers, the girl backflipped off and landed on her feet.

"You guys alright?" she asked the Flame Haze.

"We feel just peachy," Margery said sarcastically. "Where were you anyway?"

"I decided to scout ahead," Shana replied. "Didn't you sense my presence?"

"We did, but it suddenly vanished when we came closer," Wilhelmina said. "I think you went into a field of negative Power of Existence."

"At least it allowed you to perform a sneak attack on that stupid dog," Margery said. By now, the tranquilizers of Pslyk were taking effect, and the two Flame Haze began to feel drowsy.

"Hey, are you okay?" Shana asked when she saw that both Flame Haze began to nod their heads and close their eyes.

"We've both taken the tranquilizer stings of the Thief of Twilight Darkness," Wilhelmina replied slowly. "We'll be up again in a few hours." After saying those words, she fell into a deep sleep, as did Margery.

Yuji suddenly came from the sky and landed flat on the street. Shana flinched in surprise.

"Ouch!" Yuji said as he tried to get up. If his body wasn't so reinforced with Power of Existence, he would have been dead by now.

"What happened?" Shana asked concernedly.

"I just realized, you never taught me how to land on my feet yet," the boy said as Shana helped him up.

The Flame Haze gave the Mystes a light punch at the shoulder. "That's not my fault, you still needed work on your jumps," she said, "Wait a minute, you jumped all the way here?"

"Yeah, I remembered what you taught me and barely managed to hop from rooftop to rooftop."

"Maybe after we save this city, I'll teach you the landings."

"Please do," Yuji said. He gasped lightly as he remembered something urgent. "Oh no, we have to stop Neftier soon. She's begun Synchronizing."

"But what can we do? I went ahead and there's a force field of negative Power of Existence blocking our way. I tried breaking through, but I couldn't."

Yuji looked to the two unconscious Flame Haze. "What happened to them?" he asked.

"They're both tranquilized," Shana answered. "It may take some time for them to come to."

"So we're the only ones left who can stop Neftier," Yuji said. His bookmark began to glow.

"Sakai-kun," came the voice of Yoshida Kazumi. "The link is suddenly spreading faster than earlier."

"Not good," Shana said.

"But I've discovered something else," Yoshida continued. "None of the Torches at the West of the city are being connected."

"That's odd," Yuji said. "Hold it, Margery destroyed everything in that area, right?"

"Yeah, so?" Shana said.

"The Torches there can't be linked together since they're not intact," Yuji continued. "I know how we can prevent Neftier from devouring the city, but I'm reluctant to use this plan."

"Spill it Yuji," Shana said impatiently. "Any plan would be good at this point."

"We have to damage the rest of the Torches heavily enough to sever the link between them."

"Sakai-kun!" Yoshida exclaimed in shock.

"It's the only plan we've got Kazumi," Shana said. "Just hope the Fuzetsu stays up until the end."

"That's only the first phase," Yuji said. "Once Neftier realizes that the Synchronization is failing, she'll hunt for the one causing her trouble. When that happens, we'll prepare an ambush and defeat her. Once she's beaten, the force field around Konoe-san and the tower will probably disappear."

"It appears to be a sound plan," said Alastor.

"Let's get to it then," said Shana.