"So, Yuji Sakai, what will you do now?" the Thousand Changes pressed the Mystes who had stumbled to the floor.

The Mystes was overwhelmed, between being at the mercy of the Crimson Lord before him, Hecate's fate, and the acknowledgement that he is powerless to anything against either. He stammered as he tried to answer, but there was none.

Then, he and the Thousand Changes suddenly felt the tremendous presence of the crimson fire blazing in the distance. They were not the only ones to feel it either, besides the other two in the Trinity, as well as Margery Daw, even Keisaku and Eita could sense it through the bookmarks given to them by Marchosias, and the same could be said for Kazumi Yoshida, as she clutched a tiny object in her hands. And to each of them, different feelings sparked within, ranging from fear to anticipation.

Where Fate Splits Apart

"Did you feel that?" Yuji breathed out. Another Flame Haze? But that power, even Margery-san's presence wasn't that huge, even if hers is more refined, but this one's almost like Hecate's.

"I'm surprised you did too, but it's all the more reason we have to settle this very soon," Sydonay urged, knowing full well that their time here would be limited unless their plan was put to action as soon as possible. "Give me a solution to the problem you caused."

His attention brought back to the Thousand Changes, Yuji struggled to reply, and it came out simple.

"I don't know," Yuji said, looking away in shame.

"You don't know, huh?" the Thousand Changes shrugged. "Figures, well I'll tell you what you should do. Give me the Reiji Maigo, and forget about my Hecate. You go back to that ordinary life you used to lead until you eventually fade away and everyone forgets about you, especially Hecate, while over time she returns to the pure Priestess she is and needs to be."

"What?" the Mystes gasped, and for a moment his personal feelings and beliefs battled against his fear and hopelessness. "No, I can't do that. Even after what you said, I can't just forget her and leave her be."

The Crimson Lord grabbed him by the collar."You hypocrite! If you really meant that then you would have been with Hecate when she met up with us, and would not have been with some human girl."

"You mean… Yoshida-san?" Yuji said as he was gripping the Crimson Lord's arm, trying to pry himself loose, but the latter's grip was too strong and firm.

The Crimson Lord threw the boy down and continued angrily. "And even if you did mean that, what can you do, when not even a Crimson God can save her? Know your place, Torch."

The Thousand Changes took a step back as his hand transformed into the head of a red tiger. "It's too bad. For taking care of Hecate I would have let you live, but it looks like things ended up going the painful way."

From the tiger's maw he released a spray of hot flame. The Mystes, thanks to the Anti-Flame Ring Azure which hung from his neck, emerged unscathed as he quickly got up and backed away from the Thousand Changes, who merely raised an eyebrow at his survival.

"The kid gloves are coming off boy," he said as the tiger's head, along with his other arm, transformed into massive claws fit for a chimera.

Although terrified, the Mystes had just enough presence of mind to jump out of the way as the large but cumbersome extremity narrowly missed him. The Thousand Changes slashed with his other claw and Yuji desperately dove out of the way.

As the Mystes lay on the floor, the Crimson Lord advanced on him again. Adrenaline pumping like crazy, the young man reached his hand out and put Hecate's teaching to practice once more as he released a forceful pulse of Power of Existence.

While it would have knocked any human off their feet, however, the Thousand Changes didn't even flinch; although he did pause out of humor. "What can you do with that pathetic level of power!" he said as he stabbed his claws into the ground just as Yuji rolled out of the way and clumsily got to his feet.

The Thousand Changes yanked his claw out of the earth and swiped at Yuji again. This time, the Mystes caught him by surprise as he performed the same counterattack he had used to chop off Flieder's arm. As before, Yuji had summoned Blutsauger mid-swing and the heavy blade knocked the claw aside. While Sydonay may have been slightly surprised, however, he didn't show it as he followed up with another swipe from his other claw, knocking away Yuji's only weapon. The Thousand Changes then delivered a kick to Yuji's chest, sending him sprawling on the ground.

"You did decently for a Mystes, but it's time you came to realize just how powerful we all are against fate," the Thousand Changes said as he brought his huge claw down on him.

It never touched the Mystes. When Yuji realized what had happened, both he and an astonished Sydonay discovered Hecate standing between them, with Trigon wedged in the middle of Sydonay's claws.

"What are you doing, Sydonay?" she said with a furious glare and a tone of chilling anger.

"I was only making sure he understood you, my Hecate," Sydonay replied, and the Priestess shoved him back with a thrust of her staff.

She narrowed her eyes. "I do not belong to you," she said coldly. "And I never asked for you to do this."

The Thousand Changes glanced at the Mystes sitting on the ground, and returned his arms to their original form. "So, you still insist to protect him." He sighed. "How can I possibly go against you?"

The Thousand Changes gave one last death glare towards the Mystes before turning his back on them and walking away. When he was out of view, the Mystes spoke to the Priestess.

"Were you planning on keeping me in the dark about it the whole time?" he asked, and the Priestess turned to him with a look of sadness. As usual, she didn't give him a straight answer.

"I need to forget, and so do you. I am just the Priestess, I am not allowed to be anything more. But you have the potential to be whatever you wish to be. I can't help but feel envy."

"Hecate…" Yuji said as he got up. "That can't be true…"

But in his heart, the young man was conflicted and unsure. After all, it was him who was causing her so much pain in the first place.

"I'm sorry, Yuji," Hecate said as she continued to face away from him, a single tear trickling from her eye down her cheek. She touched it softly, and another fell from her other eye.

"Hecate…?"

"I'm sorry," Hecate said as she lifted herself off the ground and vanished into the night.

Margery and Keisaku continued to stare into the night until the former turned to go back inside.

"We're not going to see anything more tonight," she told the boy. "You might want to get some sleep."

"Margery-san," Keisaku addressed her seriously. "What are you going to do after you've finally had your revenge on the Silver?"

The Flame Haze halted and turned back to the young man, assessing him. He looked at her straight in the eye, waiting for her response intently.

"Same as I told Marco: I have no idea really," the woman said. "Is that what's been bugging you this whole time?"

The young man nodded. "You realize trying to face him means throwing your life away, right?" he said. "I may not know much, but if you're not too confident against those Bal Masque guys like Konoe-san, then what'll you do when the time comes to face their secret weapon?"

"So you were eavesdropping on us the other day," Marchosias said, and followed with a laugh. "I thought you seemed more emo than usual."

But Keisaku was in no mood for it. The Chanter of Elegies crossed her arms and shrugged.

"I'll just fight like crazy with all I have, until nothing's left in me," she said. "Until then, I'd rather save my strength."

"So you do plan to die fighting him," Keisaku said.

"So what if I do? It's not like you're responsible for my life, is it?" Margery said.

In response, Keisaku simply averted his eyes for a moment.

"Haha! Looks like the little kid's—gufaaah!" Marchosias guffawed before Margery swiftly silenced him with a fist.

"If anything, I'll probably end the contract with Marco," Margery told the boy honestly. "If I have my revenge, I can at least rest for good."

"Rest for good, you mean you'll die?" Keisaku said. "Can't you just, you know, go back to being an ordinary Flame Haze?"

"She's never been an 'ordinary' Flame Haze. Revenge is all she's ever lived for," Marchosias told him. "She's always been my wrench of revenge; and although I don't agree with how she'd rather end things, when all is said and done, there's really no place for her to go."

"So I might as well take what's mine with my final breath," Margery said with a prepared calmness. "So I wouldn't get too attached to me if I were you."

"That's why you started nudging Tanaka away to make the parting easier for him, huh?" Keisaku concluded.

"Yeah, but at least I'm being gentle and discreet about it. Besides, it seemed to me he was already having second thoughts. I'm surprised you're still sticking around."

"What if I became a Flame Haze? At least then-."

Margery gasped at the mere mention of it and flicked his forehead with her finger.

"Don't you dare think about that!" she said, her eyes showing a mix of fear and anger for a brief moment until she calmed down. "That kind of life's not for you either." She turned her back to him once more and went over to her couch. "It's best you started forgetting about me."

Keisaku sighed. "Margery-san…"

As the boy left the room and the Flame Haze lay to rest, the Claws and Fangs of Violation began to think more deeply and seriously about the matter.

With nowhere to go, the Mystes wandered the streets, his head bowed as he took in what he had learned that night.

Hecate has no choice but to be sacrificed, for the sake of the Denizens' wishes. They'll be happy, but this means Hecate will go on to be used as just a tool for granting wishes. That's who the Priestess is. But… it's just too cruel for her. But what can I possibly do to help her?

As he climbed over a crosswalk, he encountered the Judge of Paradoxes, Bel Peol.

"So, Sydonay tried to go through with it," she said. "You don't have to be on guard around me, Yuji Sakai."

The Mystes had been tense as soon as he caught sight if her. He studied her, and thought she seemed the reasonable type compared to Sydonay. Slowly, he relaxed.

"You did well for a Torch, those few seconds of survival spared your life," said the Judge of Paradoxes. "I would almost say you've surpassed any of your kind if you're that capable of manipulating Power of Existence like that."

"I have Hecate to thank for that."

"She has been training you, even when someday soon she would have to take the Reiji Maigo," the Strategist said, as a statement than anything else. "Not many have such an opportunity."

"Yeah, but it still doesn't make too much sense why she'd still teach me when there's not too much point now. When she does have to go through with your plans, I'll eventually disappear."

"You boys are so dense, aren't you?" Bel Peol said with an amused expression and tone. "Have you ever heard of Tenmoku Ikko?"

"I haven't," the Mystes answered honestly.

"He was a Mystes just like you," Bel Peol explained. "Many saw him as a brute with a sword, but he was an immensely strong one. And he lived for quite a long time, but that not because he had anything similar to the Reiji Maigo, his immortality came from his own strength."

"What do you mean?"

"He killed Denizens and consumed their Power of Existence just like we do to humans," Bel Peol told him bluntly.

"That's… horrible. But what does it have to do with-?" the Mystes gasped.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for life," Bel Peol quoted. "She's hasn't been training you to support her, if that's what you thought before. She wants you to keep existing on your own strength."

Yuji felt even worse with that revelation. To think Hecate expected him to do the same to the Denizens as they did to the humans. The thought didn't disturb him for too long however, as he realized something.

"I don't think I can do that," he said with a small smile. "Just as humans are still people, the same can be said of Denizens. I don't think it would be right."

"Then what will you do with the strength you have, Yuji Sakai?" Bel Peol asked him. "Like it or not, at the moment, you are already on your way to becoming a very powerful Mystes yourself."

"I don't know," Yuji replied, and Bel Peol gave a single nod as she turned to leave.

"At the very least, wouldn't you like to prove someone wrong?" she said.

As the Mystes lay asleep that night, he was shocked to find himself drifting in a deep, vast darkness, as if floating in space. Nothing was around him, and yet, at the same time, he saw many things: half-completed castles, landscapes with grass and trees, and grand architecture of various shapes.

"What is this place?" Yuji wondered out loud as he looked around.

Suddenly, a gigantic reptilian eye emerged out of nowhere in the space in front of him. The Mystes recoiled in fright—a natural reaction—and the disembodied eye spoke with a clear, deep voice of pride and ambition.

"Who are you?" it asked, and the Mystes stared at the imposing shape. The only audible sound he made was a single dry gulp. The voice repeated its question, "Who are you?"

This time, the young man answered. "My-my name… is Yuji Sakai."

"I know what you are called. What I ask is WHO you are, Yuji Sakai," the voice said, evidently wanting a different answer. "Are you simply a Torch or human who watches as the world decays along with your limited life, or are you a true existence who makes an impact on your world, an impression so deep it can never forget you were there?"

"I… don't know."

"Maybe you don't, but Hecate is sure of her own existence: she is a being of eternal existence, and yet no existence, and to exist is her one, true, solitary desire."

"What do you mean? Who are you?"

"I am a true existence, an existence whose one desire is for a miracle. Who are you?"

Then the eye faded, and black turned to a brightness as the Mystes opened his eyes, finding himself in his room once again, with sunlight shining through his window.

"Was that just a dream?"

That Sunday morning, after taking the time to think about it, Yuji knocked on the door of Hecate's current residence. It wasn't the first time he had seen the manor, since Hecate had showed it to him once as they passed by it. A female voice responded from within.

"It's open, come in, Yuji Sakai."

The boy slowly opened the door and let himself in. Inside, he found Bel Peol sitting on a couch to one side of a coffee table, with a chess board on top of it. The pieces were still many, but set up in various complicated positions. Evidently, she had been passing the time playing against herself.

"How'd you know it was me?" Yuji asked as he approached.

"Who else would be coming, besides Sydonay, who's more likely to barge in anyway?" the Judge of Paradoxes replied as she sipped some wine and moved a black chess piece. "Hecate won't come out of her room let alone see the people she's trying to avoid," she said with a bored tone.

"That's not exactly why I'm here," Yuji said. The Strategist gave him a sidelong glance and gestured at the seat across her.

"We can talk while we play," she insisted as she reset the board.

The Mystes was puzzled, but went along with it. "I don't really play chess very often," he told her. In fact, he almost never played it.

The pieces on his side were black, so naturally, Bel Peol made the first move. "There was something you wanted to ask me?"

"Uh, yeah," Yuji said as he moved one of his pieces. "I just wanted to know, what is Bal Masque going to do with the Reiji Maigo?"

"Is it any of your business?" Bel Peol replied as she moved one of her knights. And for as long as they conversed, they would continue to move their respective pieces with an air of calmness.

"Well, I am just a Torch, but at least I know that Hecate still wouldn't let it be taken from me by force."

"So you're taking advantage of that."

"Well, it'd be nice if I knew it was going to be put to use in something good."

"I guess it can't hurt to tell you what I haven't already told the other members of Bal Masque before I evacuated them from the Palace."

"Evacuated?"

"When you see it, you'll understand."

"So, about this Palace, you're going to put the Reiji Maigo in it?"

"Yes, but not just to keep. I plan on transforming it into a Fountain of Existence."

Yuji fingered one of his pawns as he repeated the term. "Fountain of Existence?" He put the pawn in-between the white queen and his bishop.

"Just as the name implies, it's a literal fountain of neverending Power of Existence."

"Drawn from the Reiji Maigo."

"Exactly. We plan to set it up in this city, but don't worry. Mortals can't see it even if they were aware of it."

"Is it going to hurt Hecate?"

"Sydonay asked me the very same thing. Rest assured, it won't hurt her; in fact, the endless Power of Existence should fill her bottomless emptiness."

"About that, was it because of the sacrifices and the ritual?"

"It's at the root of it yes. Because she cannot remember herself, she can't even acknowledge if she exists or not, and it leaves her with an empty and infinite void, but the unending Power of Existence that would flood her should wipe those feelings away, as well as anything else that isn't in her identity."

"As the Priestess you mean?"

"Yes, in essence, she would still know herself as only the Priestess, but at least she will no longer be plagued with a hollow self-acknowledgement and be satisfied with who she is."

"So that's what Sydonay-san meant when he said Hecate will eventually forget about me."

"And this benefits you and your city as well," Bel Peol added. At this point, she had locked several of Yuji's pieces in unfavorable positions, and was only a few moves away from a checkmate.

"How so?" Yuji asked, his focus more on the conversation than on the game, despite lasting so long against the one known as the Strategist.

"Your city is filled with hundreds of Torches, and you know better than anyone else that they will burn out eventually."

In that moment, Yuji thought of Yukari Hirai, her lost bright spirit and her current bleak dullness as a Torch. "Yes."

"If all goes to plan, the saturated Power of Existence should also seep into the Torches as if they were roots draining water, thereby maintaining whatever is left of their existence. This includes you too of course. So both parties would benefit. Of course, the Flame Hazes likely to come here won't see it our way, but it won't be hard to deal with them."

As Yuji considered her proposition, they continued to play, with the Mystes steadily having all of his pieces cornered from every angle. Then, the boy made his decision.

"Alright, I'll give it to you, willingly," he said. "It's all I can really do, and I want to support you guys and the people of this city."

Bel Peol lowered her gaze for a very brief moment. "So, that's how you plan to do that, Yuji Sakai?" she said.

Then, she smiled as she put down one more chess piece and stood up. "Good, that was the last item we needed, so we can finally begin," she said. "We had better move now, I sense the Flame Haze approaching, and there are more coming. You go ahead and meet us at the riverbank."

Yuji nodded and headed out the door before her. When he left, Bel Peol was about to head upstairs to fetch Hecate when her eyes strayed back to the chessboard. It was only then that she realized that Yuji had been just two moves away from completely turning the match into his favor.

The Judge of Paradoxes blinked with all the eyes wide, then laughed lightly to herself.

Three women stepped down from a train that had just arrived in the city: a queer maid, a Chinese, and a tomboy with the energy to rival Matake Ogata's.

"The matter was too difficult for Ernest Flieder," said the Chinese. "It is time we took this matter into our own hands."

"Finally!" said the one with wild, dark hair. "I was getting really bored just waitin'"

"The Flaming-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter should already be here ~de arimasu," said the magenta-haired maid. "But should Bal Masque act before we meet with her, we should head straight to their location instead ~de arimasu."

"Urgency equals encounter," said Tiamat.

That same morning, Keisaku found himself visiting Margery's room out of habit, only to find the Flame Haze absent. The Grimoire, the vessel of the Claws and Fangs of Violation, however, was resting on top of the bar.

"Where's Margery-san?" Keisaku asked, glancing around.

"She went out for a walk to clear her head of some things, and probably might come back with a crapton of booze," Marchosias answered. "A Flame Haze doesn't need her contractor to be around every waking moment. She can still draw from me even from a distance," he added.

"So why'd you stay behind?" Keisaku asked as he sat on a stool by the Grimoire.

"What? Can't I be alone once in a while?"

Keisaku chuckled. "It'd completely break your status as a talking weapon."

The book lifted up in the air on its own and lightly bopped Keisaku on the head before standing on its covers. "Very funny kid," said the Crimson Lord contractor. "Did you really mean that? Becoming a Flame Haze?"

"Yeah," Keisaku answered. "It'd be a great change compared to the dull life I've been living until now."

"I take it you never liked being here huh? Just had no place to go so decided to stay, maybe exercise your freedom while you're at it."

Keisaku raised an eyebrow, realizing that Marchosias was not the idiot he took him for.

"So when my buxom beauty Margery came, it must have been a godsend."

"Well, I guess I have been enjoying this kind of life ever since she came. But what's this all about Marco?"

"…You really meant what you said last night, becoming a Flame Haze? You know you'll lose your existence in this world."

Keisaku relaxed on the counter. "I think I'd actually prefer that," he said. "Margery-san aside, it means I'll be free to go wherever I want, and I'll finally do something worthwhile, instead of watching over this dump. You still didn't answer my question though."

Marchosias sighed through his vessel, and he opened up his pages, bathing the room with a bright purple light. Keisaku blinked for a moment, then found himself visualizing a place other than his home.

"Is this New York?" he asked, although the buildings were old, the Empire State Building before him was clear evidence of the place.

"Let me tell you the story of a Flame Haze she knew, a Flame Haze known as the Leader of Spirits, Yuri Chvojka."

Sydonay, Bel Peol and Hecate were already at the riverbank by the time Yuji had gotten there. The Mystes was about to ask how and why, then realized they could fly without being noticed too much. As for why, the answer came to him when he took one look at Hecate, who was deliberately facing a different direction from him with a downcast expression.

"It's time we began," Bel Peol said as she stepped forward and produced a long metal chain. "Tartaros."

The chain in her hand began to glow, and it hummed lightly. At the same time, the strings of eldritch code shaping a bowl reappeared in the sky, invisible in broad daylight to all with the exception for those who could see it. As the spell continued to act, the blue sky all around the city turned into a deep red, and all motion stopped, even until its outskirts. And then, a massive piece of land filled the empty space of the bowl in the sky. On that piece was a gigantic Palace with many walls, battlements, and towers.

The Mystes watched the Unrestricted Method's work with awe, his mouth wide open. When the Palace had completely manifested, Bel Peol put away her chain, Tartaros.

"That is Sereiden," she told him with pride. "The headquarters of Bal Masque. Normally it is invisible to all forms of perception, including sight, but to initiate the Fountain of Existence, we needed to deactivate its Unrestricted Method for now."

Sydonay lifted up into the air. "I'll go notify the Seeking Researcher to begin final preparations," he said before flying off, leaving the Mystes of the Reiji Maigo with the Supreme Throne and the Judge of Paradoxes.

"Did you know, Yuji Sakai, that our Commander had one small wish of his own before he was lost to us?" the Strategist said to him in as the white-robed Priestess approached him, her staff raised in silence and her eyes focused only on his chest, or rather, the Treasure within him.

A miracle, those words of the reptilian eye from the night before echoed in the young man's Peol finished her statement.

"It seems it was a mistake to put our hopes on such a thing," Bel Peol said and as soon as she had said that, Yuji felt a pang of guilt, and cursed his own powerlessness.

The Priestess chimed her staff a few times, and gently tapped his chest with it, and an orb of light containing the Treasure began to slide out from the Torch. At that moment, the both of them remembered their first real encounter, and the process that should only take seconds seemed like eons. Watching Hecate at work, Yuji saw that her expression was that of one desperately trying to hide her feelings, trying to be cold, and yet was anguished and reluctant inside.

Despite having the Reiji Maigo removed, Yuji could still move within the Seal. The Priestess took a step back, holding the Treasure once inside of him.

"Farewell, Yuji Sakai," the Priestess said as she embraced the orb in one hand. "After today, we will return to who we really are. Just a Torch, and just a Priestess."

"N-No…" Despite all that had happened, a large part in Yuji still refused to accept it. But he couldn't do anything, and he fell into despair again.

Before anything could develop further, they sensed four presences close in, with one far ahead of them, and it was approaching fast.

"Hecate, we have to fly to Sereiden," Bel Peol told the Priestess with calm urgency. She knew her own limits outside her own turf, and Sydonay would take too long to return to their aid. On top of that, Hecate was in no condition to take on four powerful Flame Hazes at once, especially while holding the valuable and fragile Treasure.

The Priestess hesitated, and so the Judge of Paradoxes had to take her by the hand, the one which held her staff, and dragged her skyward. Meanwhile, a girl with flaming red hair and blazing crimson eyes arrived on the scene with a black cape on her back and a long katana in her hand.

"They have the Reiji Maigo!" said the contractor of the Flame Haze. "Bring them down before they get out of reach!"

"Alright, Alastor," the girl said as she rushed forward. It would take seconds for Bel Peol and Hecate to get high enough to avoid her maximum jumping range, but it would take even less time for the Flame Haze to leap at them and attack them. And Yuji sensed this.

Preparing himself, he faced the oncoming Flame Haze as he summoned Blutsauger. Unlike before, however, the enormous blade did not drop to the ground upon its appearance, but he held it firmly with both hands. Hecate watched him with both awe and anxiety.

"Yuji, don't!"

But the Mystes did not heed her, and he blocked the path of the Flame Haze. "I won't let you," he declared bravely.

"A Torch?!" the Flame Haze said with surpise as she continued her blazing dash.

"Cut it down quickly, before they get away!" her contractor commanded.

As she closed in on him, the Mystes swung his blade in a sweeping slash. The Flame Haze parried it with ease and knocked it upwards in a following strike. And then, she delivered a deep slash to the side of the Mystes, all but cutting him in half.

"YUJIIIII!" Hecate screamed as the Mystes collapsed to the ground, a huge gash in his side.

The Flame Haze continued her pursuit without remorse. She kicked the ground with such force that it warped and she leaped high and fast towards the two Crimson Lords. Bel Peol threw the weighted end of Tartaros at the Flame Haze with one hand, but the metal was knocked aside as the Flame Haze closed the distance.

"Haaaaaaaaah!" the flaming-haired girl yelled as she slashed with her katana, at the same time unleashing a wave of fire , at the peak of her jump. The attack came short by mere inches. Taking the opportunity to counter, Bel Peol attempted to wrap Tartaros around her enemy, who maneuvered in the air as she fell to the ground, avoiding it with skill.

By the time the Flaming-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter landed on her feet, her allies had arrived. At the same time, the whole Trinity had made it into the levitating Palace.

Meanwhile, a male Torch lay on the ground, badly wounded. There was no blood, but the hollowness of his being as a vessel was fully exposed. His massive broadsword rested beside him. He had already succumbed to the shock of being sliced and he saw no more as he slipped out of consciousness.

Author's Note: Watch Shakugan no Shana Second Episode 8 in regards to Yuri Chvojka.