Long before that day, to the suspicion of no one, a discrete spell had been cast which passed from hand to hand among innumerable people: by way of lovers, siblings, gestures of respect, business deals, even coincidental brushes—up until it was passed from schoolmate to schoolmate, to the girl dressed as Alice who shook hands with Matake Ogata. As this spell branched out, a subtle but supernatural wind blew, growing ever closer until it found who it was reaching out for.
The moment Yuji and Ogata high-fived in that school hallway, arcane circles formed where their skin had made contact. The air around them suddenly exploded, shattering every window on the floor and knocking them both down. Had there been more room, there would have been a lingering gust as well, but because the space was so confined, there was only one way the wind could blow.
Before either of them could even tell what was happening, there was a beautiful woman standing between them. Her hair was long and bright green, and her eyes of blue-green fixed themselves on the current Mystes of the Reiji Maigo. Yuji knew this woman. He had seen her in the memories of another; this was the lover of his own predecessor, the Beautiful Whim, Pheles.
But how did she discover him so suddenly? Why now? But there was no time to find an answer for either question, he needed to act immediately.
"Fuzetsu!"
Gears Set in Motion
For miles around, the entire area was engulfed in a crimson field. The seal that froze time still carried the essence of the same azure flame that Yuji had come to be familiar with, as there was no need to bring forth the silver fire, especially while Margery Daw was close by.
As he picked himself up, the Beautiful Whim walked towards him with an extended hand. "Johann," she uttered longingly. Reaching out with soft and dainty fingers, she touched his cheek and looked right at him with wanting, yet at the same time, she was also not looking at the current Mystes of the Reiji Maigo. "I've found you."
As shaken as he was, even though he stepped back a few paces cautiously, Yuji held his ground. Had he not fought a dire battle of his own or understood the real meaning of fear and pain from the memories of others, he may have been paralyzed by the presence of one so terrifyingly strong, possibly rivaling even Hecate or Shana.
Gently, he took her hand and removed it from his face. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you take it," he said bravely as he looked her in the eye.
Just as quickly as her appearance, the Crimson Lord's expression exploded into rage, accompanied by another blast of wind. Before she could cause any more damage within the confines of that small space, Yuji shoved his hand forward and let out a stream of corkscrewing azure fire that hit her right in the gut.
Against one so strong, the bluish fire was hardly enough to damage her, but the pressure behind its constant channeling was forceful enough to knock Pheles off her feet and all the way to the other end of the corridor. When she crashed into the wall, Yuji put down his hand and took a moment to assess the situation before him.
His eyes widened by what he found in the space between himself and the Crimson Lord.
Clutching onto an open doorframe so that she would not be blown away was Matake Ogata, still animated within the crimson zone that was supposed to halt all mortal movement.
"Ogata-san?!" Yuji exclaimed as he hurried to her side and urgently tapped her.
The girl's eyes were shut tight, and she held onto her anchor for dear life. She was trembling, of course, and for a brief moment, Yuji recalled the first time the world had turned red and exposed its secret war to him. That same fright was reflected in this young girl right now, too petrified to move or listen to him.
He had no idea why she could move. His Fuzetsu shouldn't have any flaws, as hasty as it was set up. But an explanation can wait; at the end of the hall, Pheles was already back on her feet and speeding straight at him.
More forcefully than he would have liked, he peeled the petrified Ogata away from the door with his left arm and blasted the ceiling with an azure fireball from his other hand. The heavy debris fell in front of the Beautiful Whim just before she could touch them, and that split second delay was all he needed for them to relocate.
Pheles hammered through the obstruction with a single punch. Within that same moment, Yuji leaped out of the school building through the window with Ogata in his arms and began to fly away. Before he could put any distance between himself and the Crimson Lord, however, he felt himself choke and come to an abrupt halt. Having forgotten that he was still wearing his costume, he quickly realized that Pheles had followed after him and caught him by the hem of his cape.
The Mystes instantly delivered a kick aimed back towards her, forcing her to let go of him upon impact. Before she could come at him again, Yuji summoned Blutsauger into his right hand, its sharp point deterring the Beautiful Whim from coming any closer. He actually could have heavily wounded her with his weapon right then, just as he did with Ernest Flieder, but he was hesitant to do so. This woman just wanted to be with the man she loved, a man who was actually not so bad himself.
They both sensed another presence finally approach from the other side of the building, climbing high into the air until she was right over the obstruction. Hecate's eyes studied Yuji's reluctant yet desperate expression before meeting with the two desiring orbs of the Beautiful Whim, and she immediately understood what was transpiring right before her.
Just before the two Crimson Lord women engaged, Pheles cast her hand towards Yuji, and the hovering Mystes found himself caged in the eye of a pillar of spiraling amber wind.
"In other news, martial law has been passed by the Ministry of Defense on the City of Misaki. Convinced that the international terrorist organization has been operating in the city, a strike force, along with accompanying military forces, has been dispatched and will be arriving in the city at an unspecified time today. All civilians are advised not to leave their homes…"
Chigusa watched the television set with a concerned expression, her hand squeezing that of her husband sitting beside her. "I hope Yu-chan, Heca-chan, and their friends are home before things become serious," she said.
"I agree," Kantaro replied, knowing full well that this may be only the beginning. But why would the Japanese military, of all things, be involved. His mind was already sifting through numerous possibilities.
Suddenly, the man turned towards the direction of his son's school, having sensed the Fuzetsu being cast via the dove feather entrusted to him by Lamies.
"Is something the matter?" Chigusa asked him.
"I just remembered," he said to her with seriousness in his tone he had trouble hiding, "there's something I have to check out for Yuji, before he comes back. It's something that would mean very much to him."
"You're being vague," Chigusa said, starting to worry. The woman was not one to meddle in the affairs of others, nor was she troubled by many things, and she possessed a mind far more open than most, but she couldn't help but shake this ominous feeling.
"It's nothing too serious," Kantaro lied to her and got up from the couch. Facing her before leaving, he suddenly leaned in closer and kissed his darling wife deeply on the lips. "I'll be back, Chigusa. And never forget that I love you with all my heart," he told her with a kind-hearted smile.
She could not stop him from leaving, not when he spoke with such purpose, and could only watch as he walked out of the door. "Be safe, Kantaro. I love you too," she told him just before he shut the door.
"Aster."
Hecate swooped in a strafing arc, opening fire on the Beautiful Whim with multiple energy beams. The long-haired Crimson Lord dodged the first two that came her way and advanced swiftly, handily evading the other projectiles. When Hecate unleashed a more focused barrage, Pheles vanished in a gust of amber wind just before the attack connected.
A brief moment later, the Beautiful Whim revealed herself again, and the Supreme Throne immediately fired on her again. This time, with air blowing from out of the open spaulders on her shoulders, the amber wind whirled around her like a protective barrier, sucking in the condensed energy, and sent them back toward the Priestess.
Hecate twisted in the air, narrowly avoiding her reflected attack and allowed the beams to detonate a safe distance behind her. As she raised her staff again, Pheles absorbed more wind into her being before generating a funnel of amber wind that enclosed them both in its unnaturally diagonal space.
Meanwhile, Yuji studied swirling prison around him. On his left, Ogata still clung to him tightly, her muddled and shocked mind still unable to make out anything that was happening at the moment.
"Sorry you had to get caught up in all this too, Ogata-san," Yuji said in an attempt to calm her. Right now, his friend being able to cope with such a traumatic experience was at the forefront of his will. "I know it's scary, but please don't break down on me."
Had those words come from any mouth but his, in this unbelievable situation, they would fall on deaf ears. Yet, not for the first time that day, his will was carried in his words, tender as they might have been, and Ogata slowly began to open her eyes.
"S-Sakai?"
Yuji smiled, slightly relieved. "You probably have no idea about what's going on, but first thing we need to do is get you to safety," he told her.
He raised enormous sword in his right hand and let it blaze in a bright azure light. Ogata watched the Mystes with wonder as he brought the heavy, burning blade down onto the wall of wind, sundering it apart in a vertical flash. With its continuous flow disrupted, the tornado broke apart, freeing its former prisoners as they resumed to make distance from the area.
"It won't be too long until Hecate breaks her way out of that, and then she and that woman would start causing more collateral damage," Yuji told Ogata as he eyed the abnormal sideways twister. Turning away from the two fighting Crimson Lords, he accelerated. "I'll leave you at where I can sense Margery-san; you should be safer with her."
"Margery-san's in on this too?" Ogata gasped, and that would only be the beginning of the surprises to come.
From high above, Sale and Chiara watched the duel between the two Crimson Lords who battled for their love. The pair of Flame Hazes stood atop a bright aurora in the shape of a massive arrowhead circling crimson sky.
"It seems like that other Denizen might be a match for the Supreme Throne," Chiara observed.
"The Flaming-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter aside, there aren't many like those nowadays," her partner replied.
"Since she's occupied, then don't you think this is the chance the Evoker of the Demon Horde was waiting for?" Chiara asked.
"You're right, we could swoop in and make it off with the Mystes," Sale considered her suggestion. "But we'll need the Evoker of the Demon Horde with us if we want to get past the Chanter of Elegies, and perhaps the Judge of Paradoxes too if she shows up; I alone won't be enough to cover our retreat either."
"Come to think of it, where are those two?" Chiara said as she discovered his absence within the sealed area.
Two Crimson Denizens, one in the guise of a human with her face hidden by the hood of her jacket and another in the form of a large lizard with a tiger's head, kept watch on the roof deck of the Yoda Department Store, the very place where Friagne had met his end. Without coincidence, this also happened to be the Flame Haze Killer's former lair.
"There's a battle going on over there, so what are we doing here again?" the animal-like Denizen complained to his partner in a rough, growl-like voice.
"We were not informed of any details, but the Strategist ordered us to do so, so it must hold some measure of importance," his partner answered loyally. "Just be ready to report anything strange the moment you find something suspicious."
Unseen by the oblivious humans traversing the streets below, they stood on the edge of the rooftop and continued to keep watch for anyone intruding from the outside. They did not notice, however, the two zombie-like clay creatures emerge from the concrete floor behind them until it was too late. Simultaneously, the two Dead opened their mouths wide, latched onto the two Denizens in a tight grip, and took a big chomp out of their necks. Within seconds, they gorged their hapless victims until every trace of their being was consumed.
Several blocks away, as he casually walked on the sidewalk, Southvalley closed his cellphone. After remotely signaling his Dead to stealthily take down the Bal Masque sentries, he took a moment to calculate and confirm his timing. "Those commoners standing by had better come through," he thought aloud. "I might have to act sooner than I hoped, but that doesn't change a thing."
The Judge of Paradoxes Bel Peol landed in front of the manor she shared with Hecate and threw the front door open as she strode inside. In the living room, waiting to meet her, sat the Spiral Organ, sipping a cup of tea.
"Already had your fill of fun?" he asked calmly while pouring her a cup.
"More or less," Bel Peol replied with the same composure. She took the warm beverage, but opted to stay on her legs.
"Something tells me you're waiting for something to happen here," Lamies said.
"Sharp as ever, Spiral Organ," Bel Peol replied as she took a sip of her tea. "As you would already know, Hecate is engaging in a skirmish with a powerful Crimson Lord, the Beautiful Whim. While I have no doubts that the Priestess will emerge victorious, there is something that bothers me. Two of the Flame Hazes are just watching the fight from a distance, but the third one, that warmongering Evoker of the Demon Horde, I haven't accounted for yet."
She set down her teacup and produced one of the chain links of her Treasure Tool, Tartaros. Holding it aloft, she began to weave a seeking spell. "I had assumed that he might try something tricky and come here to discover our plans while most of us had out attention on Hecate's battle. While I have no fears of that, since I'm not so foolish as to leave physical evidence lying around; I thought I could ambush him if he really did come here and eliminate a potential threat while I had the opportunity."
"I see," Lamies said, vocally agreeing to the hastily made up yet reasonable plan. Even if she did not find him here, he knew, she could still search him out and deal with him before he became a problem. It might spark the war they had been putting off for Hecate's sake, but if the Evoker of the Demon Horde was willing to make the first move anyway, like they suspected, then it was going to begin today regardless.
At least, that's what he thought.
"Tarta—Huh?!"
Just before the Judge of Paradoxes could activate her completed seeking spell, a metallic cylinder broke through one of the glass windows and burst in with a bright flash and a deafening bang.
"What is this?!" Bel Peol exclaimed in confused and blinded disbelief. But she couldn't even hear her own voice over the ringing in her ears. Reacting quickly to the killing intent she felt surrounding her, she manifested the full form of her chain and let it coil in the air around herself and her fellow Denizen.
"Tartaros!" she said and triggered the barrier spell that deflected several identical attacks focused on the both of them. These attacks were rapid-fire, and were meant to deal plenty of damage per second to a target with a number of small projectiles.
"Machine gun fire?" Bel Peol said as her hearing returned, unable to comprehend the facts that her senses had picked up.
"These are Japanese soldiers," Lamies said with just as much astonishment as she.
With the effects of the special grenade having worn off, they finally understood the situation they were in, even if they could not believe it. Indeed, there were several soldiers surrounding them, each completely suited in heavy military armor and carrying a fully automatic Howa Type 89 rifle.
It didn't make sense. Why would mere humans be attacking them, when their cover was so well laid? Only one with knowledge of the dealings with the Crimson Realm could have possibly issued such an order, but who in their right mind would waste the lives of their troops when they knew they were essentially combating those with the powers of deities and demons?
The soldiers slowly began to comprehend just what they were up against when their bullets seemed to inexplicably halt and fall upon touching the air surrounding the floating chain. While some of them began to reload in panic, others dove for cover, fearing a counterattack.
For a moment, the gunfire stopped, and Bel Peol seized the window of opportunity to attack her home's intruders. With a single lash of her chain, she slammed the weighted end into a couple of soldiers, fatally crushing their bones and innards into paste.
The others watched in horror as their comrades perished and were about to open fire again when the chain known as Tartaros snaked its way in the air at the bidding of its wielder and demolished several military men in a single sweep.
Finally understanding what their enemy was capable of, the rest of the soldiers retreated out of the mansion. Before the Judge of Paradoxes could pursue them, Lamies spoke up from behind his cover.
"Wait a moment, do you hear that?" he said, his ears picking up on the sound of whipping wind.
Hearing the same whooshing sound the Spiral Organ had pointed out, Bel Peol's mind rapidly went through everything she knew about human technology. When she figured out what was about to happen next, she immediately wove a net around herself and her ally with her chain.
Not even a second later, missiles of explosive ordinance ripped through the building and engulfed it in screaming fire.
Undaunted, Hecate blasted at Pheles, who vanished quicker than the eye could blink. The Supreme Throne narrowed her eyes slightly and glanced from side to side, gripping her staff. She could not sense her opponent's presence, not here, this air space was now the territory of the Beautiful Whim, and she knew not from where she would strike from.
"Inverna," she muttered the name of her opponent's spell in a cursing tone.
Before long, a fist shot right into her back, rattling the Priestess from the spine. Hecate immediately spun around, swinging Trigon, when her foe faded away like a phantasm once more, only to rematerialize right above her to slam her fist into her teal-haired head.
Hecate spun like a wheel and barely managed to fly backwards in that tunnel of wind. Her enemy had vanished again, it seemed. She ground her teeth together in pain and frustration; tactics of simple reaction would spell defeat at this rate. Closing her eyes this time, she centered herself and used her mind's eye, tuning out the howling of the wind and waiting patiently for the split-second alarm bells that would alert her to incoming danger.
The bells went off in her head, and the Supreme Throne reacted. Fist met metal as Hecate managed to block the punch with the middle of her staff. With the momentum from her forward shove, the Priestess levered the upper end of her staff towards the Beautiful Whim's head and smacked her square in the temple, stunning her long enough to twist the metal shaft and slide it down until she could grip the base with her arms before smacking her again with all her might.
Pheles spun like a top from the blow, clutching her aching head. Hecate didn't let the chance go to waste and chimed her staff, summoning multiple spheres of energy around her that blended into the spiraling wind around them. These orbs, however, did not flow with the current; rather, in unison, they rapidly spun in the opposite direction.
As Pheles began to recover, she realized that the power of her unnatural tornado was waning quickly by an opposing force. By the time it had fully dissipated, the orbiting beams spread out in multiple directions before converging on her.
The Beautiful Whim wove through the multi-angled attack skillfully, but was unable to evade Hecate, who had maneuvered her energy-based missiles in such a pattern that would force her right into her hands.
Pheles threw a punch and a kick in resistance, but Hecate's strikes with her staff were more than enough to negate her efforts. Ruthlessly breaking her opponent's guard, Hecate raised Trigon and slammed its butt into Pheles' chest.
The Beautiful Whim croaked painfully, and her breath rattled heavily as Hecate plunged her staff deeper without remorse. When it appeared like the Beautiful Whim was on the brink of death, the Priestess shut her eyes and wordlessly cast a spell. An arcane circle appeared at the point where flesh and gold met, and an amber wind blew around them again, ringing the chimes on Trigon's head.
Hecate released her opponent from her hold and distanced herself. The Pheles before her was engulfed by strong amber winds before breaking apart…
Only to be replaced by a completely identical existence-a more complete self, her true self.
"How did you know?" the real Pheles said through her teeth, frustrated at having been forcibly summoned into the realm before she was prepared for it.
Hecate hovered backwards and aimed her staff at the Beautiful Whim. "Because I would have done exactly the same," she told her frankly.
"Hey, is it just me, or did the presence of that new arrival just get bigger?" Marchosias said to his Flame Haze as she stood on a distant rooftop together with Keisaku, Shana, and Kazumi—who was still dressed as a lioness.
"Seems like it," she said. "Good thing we're all the way out here then, 'cause it's probably going to start getting really ugly."
"Hey, what's that over there?" Kazumi said, spotting a figure head right towards them on the air.
Keisaku and Margery turned towards the direction the girl had pointed and squinted. "Well I'll be," Margery said with an impressed tone.
"Is that Sakai?" Keisaku said in disbelief. "Since when could he fly?"
"Since yesterday afternoon at the least," Shana told him matter of factly, only sparing the approaching Mystes a glance; her full attention right now was on the battle between the two passionate Crimson Lords.
Only when he finally came closer did her eyes stray towards the Mystes again, and they widened in speechless shock, just like the others did.
Upon touching down next to them, Yuji let go of the girl he had been carrying. Ogata's legs wobbled for a moment before giving way, and she collapsed to her knees, unable to even look at her other friends.
Keisaku, no less surprised than either of the women beside him, was the first to speak up. "What the hell Sakai?!" he said with immediate fury in his voice, though not really directed to anyone in particular. "What's she doing moving around in here?"
"I don't know," Yuji said calmly, his eyes counting those gathered. "Where's Tanaka?"
Shana, who stared at her volleyball rival with a very uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach, answered listlessly. "We couldn't find him anywhere when the fighting started."
"Hecate-chan insisted Satou-kun and I be taken to safety while she dealt with the intruder herself," Kazumi explained.
"Said she knew whose presence it was, and was really persistent about it," Marchosias added.
"But Tanaka-kun was separated from us just a few moments before that wind blew," Kazumi continued. "He was going to meet with Ogata-chan."
At that, the named girl flinched. "T-Tanaka followed after me?" she muttered as fear began to sink into her. What if he was still over at the battlefield? What if he was already caught up in the fighting? Tough as he might be for a high school boy, what were his chances of surviving over there?
Ogata, though still weak at the knees, lunged at Yuji and grabbed him by his collar. "Sakai, you have to go back there and rescue him!" she begged. "If there's a chance he could still be alive…"
"Wait," Yuji said, still keeping his cool more than anyone else present. Before Ogata could protest, the Mystes spoke. "Ogata-san, did you happen to pick up anything that belonged to him?"
"Does that matter?" Ogata said angrily, but Yuji gave her a firm look, and she fell silent.
"Ogata, did you by any chance pick up anything that looked like this?" Keisaku, having caught on to his male classmate's logic, said as he drew a strip of paper marked with arcane symbols.
The girl gasped, and she nodded with anxiety. Slowly, with a trembling hand, she pulled out a similar bookmark from her skirt pocket.
"Where did you get that?" Margery asked, her voice laced with concern.
Not too long after Yuji had made his feelings clear to Kazumi Yoshida, Ogata Matake returned to the classroom after changing. As she opened her bag to return her necklace for safekeeping, she found the bookmark still stashed within.
"Almost forgot about this thing," she said, pocketing it innocently as she replaced it with her necklace.
"So it was back then, and none of us noticed," Keisaku said, angry with himself.
"She didn't have to get involved with any of this too," Kazumi said sadly. Her eyes widened slightly in realization. "Is this what it was like for you that time, Sakai-kun?"
The Mystes nodded.
"But at least you had a choice Yoshida," Keisaku said, and he too faced the Mystes, glaring daggers right into him. "What the hell happened anyway? Who is that woman and why did she appear now of all times?"
Unshaken, Yuji answered him. "Her name is Pheles, the Beautiful Whim," he said. "She created the Reiji Maigo."
"But more than that, the man she loved is sealed inside that Treasure, isn't he?" Shana said, to the apparent astonishment of the Mystes. "Wilhelmina told me all about it," the girl clarified.
Was she also aware of why the two lovers had been separated as well? Beyond the one called Sabrac, he knew from a certain girl's memories of who exactly had hired him to go after them.
"Then, if Hecate-chan is aware of that too," said Kazumi, her eyes fixed on the current Mystes of the Reiji Maigo. "Then the reason she wanted to face her alone is because she's fighting for the exact same reason."
Yuji lowered his eyes a bit, and put a hand on his chest. So, the two of them really were fighting for love more than anything else; if that was the case, then what was he doing still standing here?
"I have to go back and see their fight through to the end," he told them as his feet lifted off the floor. "Please take care of Ogata-san."
"You don't have to tell us asshole," Keisaku said as the Mystes took off towards the school again.
Evading security with ease, Kantaro Sakai entered the hidden chamber at the top floor of the Yoda Department Store. The deserted lair was hardly lit. Piles and piles and mounds and mounds of Treasure Tools filled the place at every side—all of them having little use other than as a collector's item, for it were for this very hoard that Friagne's title had been Hunter.
"It won't be long until he gets here, if my guess is right," Kantaro reminded himself verbally as he pulled a stool towards the door he had just entered through and stood on top of it in order to reach for a small case he had stuck above the doorframe with duct tape. No one ever expects to find what they would be looking for right above their own heads.
He thought back to a conversation he had with Lamies the day after his arrival.
"Other than my son and Hecate-chan's residence, do you have any idea what else could have any value to the Flame Hazes in this city, in case they do come here?"
"I suppose there might also be the former lair of Friagne the Hunter, full of all kinds of Treasure Tools, but it's a longshot. Everything left there would be useless to them, or anyone for that matter."
"Are you certain? There isn't anything in there that could benefit or harm anyone?"
The Spiral Organ thought long and hard, before giving his reply.
Hopping off the stool and kicking it aside so as not to arouse suspicion, Kantaro opened the small box and reached into it.
"There might be something in there which might not have been destroyed when he met his demise against the Priestess and your son, seeing as it would have been useless against them. It is a Treasure Tool capable of killing any Flame Haze with a single shot, but the Judge of Paradoxes and her servants claimed they could not find it, even after combing the entire lair."
"But they fought on the roof, did they not? And he went straight there to begin with after defeating the Flame Haze Margery Daw and claiming my son."
"That's what the Priestess had implied when I took the time to ask for her narration. But why would… oh."
"That's right, it was never in there. For a Denizen, hunted by Flame Hazes, it would be a bad idea to keep a weapon like that anywhere but on their person at all times."
"I take it you already know where to start looking?"
"Yes I do."
From out of the container, Kantaro took out a shiny revolver with an intricate pattern down its barrel.
"By the way, would this Treasure have a name too?"
"Yes, the Trigger Happy."
Taking up the revolver, Kantaro walked over to one side of the door. Three feet away would be a good distance; it was close enough to hit someone trying to dodge, but far enough that they wouldn't be struck down before he could shoot.
Ten minutes later, as he had expected, the door to the lair opened inwards, and he heard footfalls about to enter the room. Holding his breath and making sure not to leak his killing intent, Kantaro still kept the gun lowered, but at a position where he could snap into aiming and shooting in half a second.
The Evoker of the Demon Horde walked right into view, and Kantaro raised the gun to fire out of the corner of his vision. In that brief instant, all of time seemed to stop even without a Seal over the area. In the nanosecond that the mortal man brought the gun's barrel up, the Flame Haze pried the door from its hinges effortlessly and shielded himself from a fatal shot at the same time that the trigger was squeezed.
There was a loud bang, but Southvalley was unscathed. Before Kantaro could reposition himself, the Flame Haze chucked the door right at him, forcing him to get on his belly, allowing his enemy the chance to dash amidst the maze of Treasure piles.
Sliding into a safe position, Southvalley took note of where his attacker had tried to ambush him.
"That was pretty clever of you, I nearly died back there," he said as if he were having a casual conversation over a cup of coffee.
"Ever since the day I got back, I figured I had to make some arrangements," Kantaro replied honestly before creeping over to cover.
Southvalley took out a pair of steel tomahawks from under his poncho. "So, what gave you the idea that a Flame Haze might want to come here for a Flame Haze-killing weapon?"
"Safekeeping first comes to mind, but I get the feeling that there's somehow more to it than that," Kantaro said. "If you really wanted it gone, you'd take measures to destroy it immediately, especially considering you want to start the war anyway. But don't you think it was a bit strange that the Japanese army, run by humans, would come after the Bal Masque at the same time as your arrival?"
"Smart man, a little too smart for your own good," Southvalley said, thoroughly impressed. "I take it you've already figured out my whole plan?"
"Blame the news!" Kantaro's voice said towards his right. Shit! How'd he flank him so quickly?!
He threw his left tomahawk in the direction he had heard the man's voice, only to watch it disappear into a pile of useless Treasures with a clattering sound.
"Gotcha," the voice came from a completely different direction now.
Ventriloquism?!
He dashed behind another pile just as Kantaro peeked a distance behind his blindside while firing at the same time. Having hit empty air, Kantaro ducked into cover as well.
This was going to be a long and stressful day, and they both knew that.
Hail of energy fell from above and blew an entire city block into smithereens, having been thoroughly dodged by the agile Pheles. The Beautiful Whim retaliated by pointing her finger at the Supreme Throne and unleashing a concentrated wave of wind. While it had enough force to tear apart even the sturdiest of structures, Hecate managed to hold her ground, so to speak, at the cost of concentrating all of her willpower into her ability to fly forward.
Pheles took advantage of that opening to close in on her to deliver a kick, which was quickly parried by Hecate's staff. Following that, the two exchanged in a series of blows, with neither managing to touch the other as they each struck and parried with equal skill. Sound-breaking fists and sundering kicks clashed with the spinning rod of metal, wielded intense dexterity. To anyone below an elite's level of martial prowess, every split second of motion was a blur.
Slowly, but surely, the ferocity of Pheles' strikes began to wear down Hecate's defenses. The woman had incredible stamina, that was for certain, so the Supreme Throne had to end the exchange quickly, and make some distance in order to attack at range, where her killing ability thrived. Gambling on an opening, she blocked a knifehanded chop aimed to her neck with her staff and opened her free hand's palm towards her foe. At the same time, Pheles had followed through her previous attack and aimed her pointer finger just inches away from
At the same time, the two unleashed a blast of overwhelming force right into each other at point-blank, sending one another rocketing through the air in opposite directions before crashing violently.
But the two women in love persisted, and they took to the air at the same time, staring each other down viciously with a sharp gaze.
"Aster," Hecate said as she flung salvo after salvo of energy bolts at the Beautiful Whim. The wind-affiliated combatant expelled air from the spaulders on her shoulders as they opened up and generated an amber whirlwind to either side, each of which, while orbiting around her, sucked in the magic missiles headed her way before expelling them in a random direction.
Free to cast a spell of her own under the protection of her localized storm, she absorbed an immense abundance of the surrounding air into her being via her spaulders, converting it into a part of her existence, before releasing it in the form of an even greater tornado. It took several moments, and while Hecate continued to attack relentlessly but with little avail, a colossal column of amber wind formed, with the Beautiful Whim at its epicenter.
The gigantic twister could be seen from many miles away—with Hecate's rays of light little more than tiny bright lines in the distance, including from where Ogata watched with fright beside Margery Daw and Keisaku Satou. Terror took hold of her heart and squeezed it as she witnessed the ungodly winds tear apart the surrounding structures and lifted them high into the air. Among the huge chunks of debris, she was certain, she had seen whatever was left of her school's building.
"TANAKA!" the fearful girl screamed with tears falling from her eyes. Frantically, she stretched out her hand in vain, and Keisaku grabbed a hold of her firmly before she could accidentally walk off the ledge in front of her.
"Get a hold of yourself!" he tried to tell her, but the words didn't even register, and continued to frantically reach for the boy she was sure had just perished.
Two small hands clasped over her trembling, outstretched hand, both of them belonging to the girl named Shana. "He's alive, I promise," she told her with a kind tone and a warm smile. "When this is all over, you'll see him again unharmed. As long as he isn't carrying that bookmark, any damage made to his world can be fixed completely, I swear."
"He will be fine," the girl with long dark hair repeated softly as she lowered Ogata's arm with the same amount of strength one would use when holding a newborn kitten, and the human girl slowly started to calm down.
To the side, Margery Daw looked at her fellow Flame Haze with a newfound respect. Of all people, she had not expected the Flaming-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter, who just a while ago was so fixed on her duty with hardly an emphatic bone in her body, to act so caringly. It was then that she truly realized that Shana was a human, just like she was. As for Kazumi Yoshida, she was filled with gladness as she watched her new friend. Out of everyone in Misaki City besides herself, Shana had spent much of her time with Matake Ogata, and a bond of friendship had certainly formed. It was relieving to see that Shana was not one to let her status as a Flame Haze ruin the friendships she had made as a person.
Far away from them, the typhoon threw every massive piece of rubble it had picked up right at the Priestess. Calculating the varying trajectories with her senses, Hecate let Trigon vanish in her hands before diving forward and meeting the oncoming traffic head on. Her mantle fluttered in the terrible winds as she weaved around two stories of office building, under a chunk of her school building, between numerous cars and other assorted vehicles, and right through a flying hallway.
As she came closer and closer towards the storm, the Supreme Throne summoned another Treasure Tool into her hand: the precious side-blown flute, Traverso.
Having abandoned conversation and vocal trickery for a good while now, the sharp-witted mortal and the cunning Flame Haze stalked each other in the dark lair. Apart from the initial exchange, neither of them managed to catch a trace of the other, and this duel to the death quickly turned into a fatal game of cat and mouse.
Kantaro Sakai breathed slowly and exhaled soundlessly, fully aware that the natural senses of an elite Flame Haze would be at the peak of what any human could achieve. He crept around with slow, deliberate steps, carefully avoiding the scattered Treasure Tools. His one-shot-kill weapon was lowered, and he kept his killing intent in check.
Somewhere off to the side, he heard the sound clattering, followed by a faint rolling, as if someone had tripped in the dark. But the man knew better. This was an experienced and seasoned warrior according to Leanan-sidhe, one who had been hunting in the native lands of America long before he had even become a Flame Haze. The noise was a decoy, that much was obvious, and he cautiously made his way to where he felt was the best place to chuck a random object in the direction of where it had landed.
Meanwhile, Southvalley snuck to an angle from where he could view his enemy's approach to where he had just been, but at the same time, it was a location where anyone approaching would have had their back turned to him. His eyes having fully adjusted to the lack of light, he took note that Kantaro kept his eyes roaming, even when he was certain of his previous location. Just as he suspected, the man was too clever to fall for such an obvious trap.
As long as the Flame Haze was far enough for Kantaro to point and shoot, he could not get close enough to disarm him. He needed to get a better angle of approach, now that he knew where he was. Sure, he could end it quickly if he wanted to by swarming him with his adorable summoned Dead, but that was hardly a sporting chance. As it stood, the man outperformed anything he had expected of your average commoner,
Then a delightfully wicked thought came to mind, and he grinned from ear to ear. Sure, the Evoker of the Demon Horde was willing to fight with honor, but with all his opponent seemed to know about him, did he believe that he would opt to do so?
With her chain hanging in both of her hands, its links drenched in blood, oil, and brain matter, Bel Peol stood amidst the ruins of several downed attack choppers, at least fifty corpses belonging to the Japanese military, and a tank.
The woman's dress was slightly wrinkled, but that was all she had suffered, at least physically. Personally, the attack was a heavy blow to her pride, as it was the one thing she had never anticipated. Add to that the fact that she had been forced to engage in such unrefined and meaningless slaughter, and didn't even set up a Fuzetsu. In the heat of battle, with so many things happening that caught her off guard, she had no idea whether she could risk casting the Seal. On the one hand, it could have frozen everything, even the soldiers themselves, but on the other, if whoever sent these troops after them was aware of who they were, then they might have taken measures against the time-stopping seal and left her wide open to gunfire while she cast it. Besides that, even if the soldiers really froze under the time-stopping seal, they would just track her down again anyway, maybe with even more of their colleagues backing them up.
One thing was for sure, however. If the Flame Hazes were really responsible for this, then it was surely a declaration of war. Her own pieces were already prepared abroad; all that was left was to give the order. There had been only one thing holding her back from issuing the command, as foolish as the reason might have been: Hecate's happiness.
She wanted to draw it out for as long as possible, in spite of the strategic part of her existence berating the compassionate side she had never shown to anyone but her sister. She wanted Hecate to achieve as much happiness as she could in this city, before she had to face her fate. But now that the Flame Hazes were willing to go this far to bring the fight to them, there was no other choice but to let the inevitability erupt.
"Spiral Organ, we make our move today," she proclaimed to the Denizen standing with composure behind her. "All members of Bal Masque are to attack with all their strength."
"And Tokyo?" Lamies asked her, knowing full well that that was the only place Bel Peol had not taken any particular military preparations against.
"We will deal with it ourselves as soon as Sereiden arrives," the Strategist said confidently. "They can come and try to stop us while the rest of the world burns around them. Wherever the Flame Hazes divide their attention in this war, they will certainly lose."
Blowing her flute as she neared the spiraling amber walls, Hecate summoned a number of serpent-like dragons of pure blue fire. Every one of them surrounded her, acting as a mobile blockade against the gale-force winds, with the largest of the fire snakes right up front as the Supreme Throne plowed her way through.
All manner of debris continued to swirl around randomly in that unnatural weather, but as Hecate continued to concentrate on the melody of her instrument, even more flame dragons appeared to demolish the oncoming dangers out of the corner of her vision.
Finally, she reached the eye of the storm, where the winds were most calm. In the middle of that space, Pheles was waiting for her, and upon her arrival, the Beautiful Whim flung her hand forward and shot a narrow, concentrated pillar of spiraling wind right at her. In response, Hecate changed a couple of notes in the song she was playing, and the flaming constructs that had accompanied her merged together into a great aqua-blue serpent of flame that met the hurricane drill head on.
Steadily, the roaring, blazing beast pushed against the howling wind, and Pheles understood the futility of her tactic. Throwing her other hand forward now, the twisting wind column vanished, replaced by a tremendous explosion of wind that ripped the conjuration apart.
With her construct having taken the brunt of the attack, Hecate lowered the flute from her lips and aimed her free hand at her enemy.
"Aster."
The spell not necessarily requiring her staff, multiple beams of energy flew at the Beautiful Whim, who flickered out of sight. A second later, she reappeared right on top of Hecate. But the Priestess had anticipated the attack, and she caught her fist with her hand. Hecate followed through with a kick to the gut, and her opponent delivered a headbutt in response. Wincing from the blow to her skull, the Priestess clutched at the woman's long hair and pulled at it brutally, only to receive a sharp slap in return. And as the two continued to grapple like cats, they spun round and round in the air.
Finally, Hecate crudely jabbed at Pheles' temple, once again paralyzing her for a brief moment, and kicked at her with both feet. Propelled backwards, the Beautiful Whim glared at her persistent opponent, and vanished into the air again. But this strategy had begun to become more and more predictable to the Priestess, who dodged her foe's surprise attack with a quick burst upward.
No matter how many times Pheles would try to use Inverna to take the upper hand against the Priestess, the latter would evade her attacks. But the way it was now, the battle would never end. It was time to finish it.
After narrowly strafing past a couple of hit-and-run strikes, the Priestess brought Traverso up to her lips once more, and she began to play a melody. As soon as the music filled the air, a multitude of fire dragons appeared in the space around them, circling around the Supreme Throne with their watchful gazes.
The very moment Pheles reappeared at Hecate's blindside, every one of the dragons immediately swarmed her. With fiery jaws, they bit into her skin, even through her clothes, and latched onto her like leeches burning ever brighter as they sapped away at the Beautiful Whim's strength.
Hecate kept playing her song, even as the storm around them gradually subsided. Her dragons of fire continued their cycle of scorching and draining, none of them letting go of their prey. Slowly, they both began to descend to earth.
By the time they landed on the smashed up ground, Yuji joined them, alighting from the air himself. The Priestess turned to the Mystes with a serious expression, and in response, he took her hand and squeezed it tightly. For the two equally powerful Crimson Lords, this was not about the Reiji Maigo, it was a matter of whose feelings were stronger; that was why Hecate had summoned the real Pheles and fought her with all of her might as opposed to simply subduing the clone. Whoever would have won would have earned the right to be with the one she loved, and Hecate had come out victorious by a hair's breadth.
Although Hecate had stopped playing the flute when Yuji came to her side, the severely weakened Pheles still stubbornly and desperately reached her hand out towards the current Mystes of the Reiji Maigo.
"Jo…hann…" she muttered wearily, and Yuji couldn't help but feel pity for the woman. As for Hecate, she felt something beyond mere sympathy from this unexpectedly similar spirit.
"It's over," Hecate told her, but not with a cold tone, and the Beautiful Whim finally collapsed, her vision going dark.
"She'll live," the Priestess told Yuji, although he already knew it. The small girl tightened her grip on the boy's hand and continued to gaze upon her fiercest rival yet.
"Looks like it's all over now, that was quite the show," Sale remarked, having watched the entire thing from a distance with Chiara as they still rode upon her arrowhead.
"Yes but… this was really our chance, and we missed it," the female Flame Haze said. "Why didn't the Evoker of the Demon Horde come to help us fight them off?"
"I have no idea," Sale said, his brow furrowing in thought and suspicion. "What could possibly make him pass up the chance at taking the keystone of the impending war?"
Kantaro Sakai continued to stalk the lair. A sweat drop rolled along the side of his head, but he could not spare the motion of wiping it off. For a long period of time now, neither he nor his hidden opponent had made a sound.
Suddenly, a steel tomahawk arced high into the air, having been thrown by something. But judging from the distance it was travelling, it was not meant to hit him, but land right him.
His opponent had summoned one of the Dead to retrieve the first discarded tomahawk from earlier in order to pass the weapon to its master behind him!
Spinning on his heel, the man turned a full 180 and fired. But once again, his shot only struck air, and the flying tomahawk landed on the floor right before him. His eyes widened and his mouth hung loose in horror of such a grave mistake.
He leapt forward while turning back in the direction he had just been facing in an attempt to preserve his life, but it was too late. Southvalley was already on him with a huge Bowie knife in hand.
In a last ditch effort to win the fight, Kantaro flicked his wrist, passing Trigger Happy from one to the other just before it was hacked off. Not letting the pain get to him, Kantaro attempted to squeeze the trigger of the gun in his off hand, but the Flame Haze was too fast, and sliced off his fingers in one deft stroke.
The Flame Haze-killing gun fell to the ground with human blood coating its handle. Before anything else, Southvalley kicked the defeated Kantaro down to the floor and stood over him triumphantly.
"You really were too smart for your own good," Southvalley said, grinning cruelly.
Kantaro, keeping his cool to the very end, even as he sat there at the point of his demise, chuckled lightly. "Banking on the idea that I couldn't possibly think you'd pull a dumb move, you really had me."
"I have to admit though, you really gave me a run for my money," Southvalley told him honestly. "I haven't felt this threatened and exhilarated in a very long time. You have my respect, Mr. Kantaro Sakai."
"Well, at least I earned that," the mortal said, still grinning, but now breathing heavily, feeling the wave of repressed tension hit him.
Stooping down to pick up the Trigger Happy, but never taking his eyes off the enemy he genuinely respected, Southvalley made an offer. "You truly did well against me, in spite of being a mere human commoner. So, I'll grant you this mercy if you wish it: I can make it so that you won't have to bring grief to the woman you would leave behind on this mortal plane."
Kantaro considered his words seriously. "Either way, I'm going to have to be erased, right?"
Southvalley tucked away his knife as he replied. "Well, you already know too much, but seeing as I didn't get mobbed on the way here, you probably were the only one who figured everything out. I think the facts speak for themselves, don't you think?"
"I thought so," Kantaro said with a shrug. "I've made my choice then: I'd rather lose my life than lose my existence. The news may devastate my family, but at the very least, they can keep their memories of me. The last thing I want is for Chigusa to forget what once filled her with joy."
Southvalley nodded, his expression now far less cruel, and somehow more compassionate towards the unfortunate man he had been forced to fight. "Alright, I'll make it quick and clean."