Note: By the end of this story, Yuji would have chosen one of the girls. Even if he loves both there can only be one choice in the end, right? Don't try to jump to any conclusions on Yuji he ends up with, because you know by now that I tend to put in a lot of twists. And don't worry, both Shana and Hecate will have a happy ending.

Finally, this is the part we've all been waiting for (or dread)… I've been looking forward to writing this for a long time. So please review.

Warning: Very dramatic, tear-jerking scene up ahead.


Chapter 53: Snake of the Festival(part 2): Inner Beings

A tremendous wave of energy pulsed out of Yuji's chest as Power of Existence poured out of the Reiji Maigo and completely unsealed the full power of the Snake of the Festival. The Mystes closed his eyes and levitated in the air. His hair and red sash also floated as if gravity was non-existent. A black and silver flame wreathed his entire body. And the silver snakes on his gloves glowed.

The Crimson Lords and Denizens were puzzled at this, but they didn't want to find out what would happen when the process occurring before them was finished. One of the more paranoid Denizens threw its lance.

As the projectile flew at him, Yuji suddenly opened his eyes. They had turned crimson red and glowed brightly. The lance was suddenly caught in midair by a silver snake that came out of nowhere. The same snake killed the owner of the lance with its own weapon.

The silver snake orbited around Yuji, and the black and silver flames grew more intense. The Mystes' hair turned white and grew longer. As it braided itself at the end, the long white hair changed color from the roots and turned as black as the endless void of space. His eyes also turned from a crimson red to black. And the gloves on his hands shed themselves off, but the silver snakes remained on his skin like tattoos.

The Mystes alighted on the ground and looked at his enemies. The raw power that emanated from his very presence was felt throughout the whole city, even by the humans in the mansion.

Sakai Yuji had now become one entity with the Snake of the Festival.

"For threatening the lives of those I care about, you will all pay dearly with your lives," he said with the same voice he had always used in the past.

This was indeed still Sakai Yuji, but at the same time, it wasn't. And he was no longer just the Mystes of the Reiji Maigo. From a weak Torch he had ascended to the most powerful of Crimson Beings, a Crimson God.

One Denizen, who had a sturdy helmet in the shape of a skull, foolishly rushed at him from the side with dual hammers. Yuji sensed him easily and, staying in the same spot, grabbed the Denizen's face with a single hand. The next moment, the Denizen's face was crushed and the rest of its body dissolved in fire.

Another tried to come at Yuji. It was a Crimson Lord three times his size with full plate armor and a giant claw. As it raised its weapon, Yuji calmly reacted.

In the blink of an eye, a hole appeared in the Crimson Lord's upper body. Yuji had delivered an extremely powerful punch that was so fast that it was invisible to the naked eye. The Crimson Lord before him was blown apart in fire after the attack was dealt.

"Pitiful," Yuji said. "I expected more from the potential traitors in Bal Masque."

Many of the Denizens were surprised. "Yes, I know about each one of you scheming backstabbers, plotting from within my own palace," Yuji continued. "That's why Beol Peol had a list of those who should be sent out here, so that I could deal with you all myself."

Fear, panic and anger swept throughout the entire army and swelled within every one of the Crimson Lords and Denizens. One Crimson Lord raised his sword.

"Don't worry, if we take him all at once, we can beat him!" he said. With a wild yell, he charged at Yuji with the army following behind.

Yuji just smirked. "Don't be so sure," he said.

His long black hair transformed into a serpent-like dragon and raised its head. Its eyes were bright crimson and burned like fire, its entire body was covered in a silver flame and its sharp fangs were made of freezing ice.

The serpent lunged at the leader of the army rushing before him and gave him a big bite. The Crimson Lord burst into flame as the serpent dragon chomped on his body.

As this happened, the army had frozen in terror. The still calm Yuji turned his hair back to normal and confidently walked forward.

The Crimson Lords and Denizens tried outflanking the one-man army and began to surround him. As they did, Yuji put his hands in his pockets and shut his eyes.

"As bad as you guys are, you deserve a handicap," he said. "I'll destroy you all without even looking, lifting a finger or moving from this spot."

The enemies in front of him charged first. Yuji responded by inhaling. And as the foes came closer, Yuji breathed out a great mass of silver flames from his mouth and completely engulfed them in it. The Denizens screamed in agony as they were quickly roasted alive. When the flames subsided, nothing remained of them.

SnSnSnS

The group anxiously watched Sakai Yuji's killing spree. Although they were saved from the enemy, none of them knew whether to be relieved or horrified as the Crimson Lords and Denizens were effortlessly being decimated.

"This isn't a battle anymore," Margery said. "It's a slaughter."

"I knew something like this would happen," Kantaro said. "But it could never have been avoided. It would have happened eventually, no matter what we did."

"So that's the power of the Snake of the Festival," Keisaku said.

"No, he's holding back. What we are seeing is but a fraction of his power," Wilhelmina said.

"That's not even half?!" Ogata exclaimed.

"Invincible," said Tiamat.

"I admit that even I would have an extremely difficult time against him," Alastor said.

As the Flame of Heaven's Flame Haze, Shana, watched the unstoppable monster easily exterminate his enemies, tears poured out of her eyes. She couldn't take her eyes off the projection of the battle, but the pain of seeing the one she loved turn into such a fierce entity was unbearable.

"Why Yuji? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?" she sobbed. "Yuji you idiot…"

It was the same with Hecate. She was curled up in a fetal position at a corner of the room.

The Priestess didn't want Yuji to change, not after she had finally believed that she had found her place. But as she was now, she was too weak to do anything, everyone there was.

Her teary eyes strayed to the top of a table by the Haridan. The cross-shaped Giralda lay there, unguarded, and for some reason, it drew the Priestess' hand to it. The Hougu's owner, Kazumi, stood nearby in shock at what the boy she loved had become, and was completely oblivious when Hecate swiped it away.

SnSnSnS

The rest of the horrified Denizens tried to attack all at once again, and Yuji could sense each and every one of their movements with his near-omniscient sixth sense. Once more, Yuji turned his hair into a great serpentine dragon, but this time, it separated into a dozen snakes. Each of these snakes latched onto an enemy's head and waved them about in the air forcefully. When one of the weaker enemies died before the others, the snake that once held it would then sink its teeth into the leg of another Denizen that was still caught in the grip of another serpent and helped tear it apart.

Some Denizens tried attacking Yuji directly from behind. But before they could hit him, several large silver swords materialized out of thin air and engaged them in combat. Each of these blades fought as if wielded by invisible hands with the skill of Sakai Yuji's own swordsmanship and proved to be more than a match for their enemies. Even a single successful strike proved fatal.

Realizing that they had been fighting a hopeless battle, the Crimson Lords and Denizens turned to flee in the same direction. But before they could escape, giant silver spikes came out of the ground around the area and formed into a great and wide wall that blocked their way. One of the Denizens, in a panic, tried to break through it, but it didn't even suffer a scratch.

"Leaving so soon?" Yuji said. The swords that levitated around him gathered at his sides and pointed at the army. The serpents that came from him also aimed their heads in the same direction. All of these seemed to lock onto several panicked targets.

As a spell circle appeared at the end of each of the serpents and swords, Yuji uttered a single word.

"Aster."

SnSnSnS

Hecate snuck into her room, smuggling Giralda. If no one present was physically able to help Yuji turn back to the way he was, then she would summon someone who was. She decided to call Pheles.

"What am I doing?" the Priestess asked herself. It was certainly her actions, but she felt as if they were not completely her own.

Suddenly, she felt a great pain throughout her entire body, as if something was trying to break out. In her pain, she closed her eyes. And when it stopped, she opened them again.

Her "human" half, Konoe Fumina, stood before her, holding Giralda in her hand. And for some reason, the void within the Priestess also felt slightly smaller.

"What are you doing?" Hecate asked, now fully regaining control of her body.

"Helping to save everyone," Konoe said with a soft smile. "I also absorbed part of your void into myself. As a lesser being than even a human, I might need it for what I will do."

"But how could you leave my body?"

"We were always two separate beings, although, like Yuji-kun and the Snake of the Festival, we merged together in the same body and Synchronized with the same will," Konoe answered. "But even if we were perfectly Synchronized and were of one mind, we have never been less than two entities. Because of this, I can break away out of my own free will."

"But why use that Hougu? If you use it, your existence will be replaced."

"Because I don't want to lose Kazumi-chan or any of our friends. If summoning Pheles is all that we can do for now, then I would gladly sacrifice myself for it. Besides," Konoe said as she lowered her head, "I was never meant to exist in the first place."

"You're wrong," said a voice. It was Kazumi. "You're completely wrong. Everyone was meant to exist, even you."

"But I'm nothing more than a copy," Konoe said.

"But you're still a different person," Kazumi said. "You said so yourself. You two are completely different beings. You don't have to disappear."

Konoe smiled. "Neither do you," she said.

"But Pheles-san gave that for me to use," Kazumi said desperately. "I want to be of use here. I want to save Yuji."

"Pheles gave this to you because she knew how much you love Yuji and how you would sacrifice even your own existence for him. As for me, not only do I love him as much as you do, but I love you and the others as well. That's why I can't let you be the one to use this," Konoe said. "And you are already very helpful as you are, even if you don't realize it. So please, continue to exist."

Kazumi tried to respond, but she found herself at a loss for words and just cried even more than she already was.

"Stay strong, and thank you, Kazumi-chan," Konoe said. "Thank the others for me as well. Please tell them 'thank you for giving meaning to my existence'."

She activated the Hougu in her hand. Her existence began to leave her body in a blue fire.

"Goodbye, Kazumi-chan," she said. Then she turned to Hecate, still smiling. "Farewell. From now on, you will have to live as one person. I wish you the best of luck, onee-sama."

As she bid her final farewell, her existence vanished completely, and another being took her place. Standing before a crying Kazumi and Hecate was none other than the Beautiful Whim, Pheles.

"I've been called," the Crimson Lord with long light green hair said to herself. "She must have--."

She stopped and stared at Kazumi in surprise.

"Yoshida Kazumi, you're still here?" she said.

"Someone else used Giralda," Kazumi said, wiping her tears away. "She was a very dear friend of ours. Please honor her sacrifice and break Yuji away from the Snake of the Festival."

Pheles widened her eyes in disbelief and fear. But she understood and went out through the window immediately, flying at her greatest speed.

Beside Kazumi, Hecate stood silently and wiped away all her tears.

SnSnSnS

The entire army of Crimson Lords and Denizens was completely and utterly annihilated by a storm of hundreds of very accurate silver energy beams. With the quick destruction of his enemies, Yuji demolished the silver wall he had created and absorbed it back into his being.

He looked up towards Sereiden. From the great palace above the city, he would find all he needed to stop all the fighting.

But before he could take off in its direction, a force from within his body pulled him back. Recharged by the power of the Reiji Maigo, Johan struggled with all his willpower to keep Yuji on the ground.

"Johan, what are you doing?!" Yuji said as his body staggered and his spirit grappled with his predecessor.

"Stopping you from making a big mistake," Johan replied.

"Stop getting in my way!" Yuji yelled.

As the two entities struggled against each other, they felt a presence coming closer.

Yuji smiled wickedly. "This will be the last time you will interfere Johan," he said.

He put both hands into his chest and pulled out the Mystes from the Reiji Maigo within him. Then, he threw him at the newcomer, Pheles.

Pheles managed to catch her lover in midair. As she landed, she embraced Johan warmly. But she still couldn't help but feel the intense presence of the being in front of them.

She put Johan on the ground. "I'm so glad you're finally free," she said, "but please wait for a while. I must still honor that girl's sacrifice, which was done out of love, and turn that other Mystes back to normal."

Before she could fly forward, Johan grabbed her and held her back tightly.

"Don't," he said. "He's determined to stay that way, and no one and nothing can stand in his way. Even I couldn't stop him. You will only be killed in vain."

"A very wise move Johan," Yuji said.

He covered his body in silver fire and flew off towards Sereiden.