Writer's Note: First off, before we begin, I must apologize to all the readers for the intolerable delay. Unfortunately, I was stuck with a laundry list of distractions: Trouble with my parents, jury duty, academics, the death of a friend... you get the picture. Once again, I apologize for the wait. Also, the third picture will regrettably have to be delayed.
lightningstrxu: Thank you.
ColinatorGX: Well, we'll see what happens now, ne? And as far as Mathilde, you mean the original Crimson-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter, right? Well... *Evil grin* How would she be like riding a wave of Rose Madder Flame?
Isekaijin: Thanks! Here's hoping there's no more interminable delays.
The Light Hidden in the Shadow: Yeah. I may have Ike take both Sydonay's and Bel-Peol's roles in Bal Masque. Hurrah for not-so-flat chests, eh?
CapoExecutor: Yep. As far as the Shana-tan segues are concerned... I might. I just might.
JohnPeacekeeper: Yeah, I did take your suggestion. I'll probably have Ike be both Sydonay and Bel-Peol in Bal Masque... But then he'll probably get teamed up on by both Keisaku and Yuji's mother in the end! XD Keisaku's not really emo though... he's just... taciturn. As far as the upcoming battle is concerned... we'll see. :D
"All right... done."
The Writer of Questionable Stories sighed as he slammed the laptop shut, another day's worth of paragraphs, sentences, and words having been hopefully adjusted back onto their proper course. Then the telephone rang.
"...Could you pick it up please?"
The Writer of Questionable Stories grumbled under his breath.
"Lazy bum..."
The telephone had only been held to his ear for a minute when he suddenly dropped the receiver like a ton of bricks.
"Huh? What's wrong with you? Is there a ghost on the other end of the line?"
The Writer of Questionable Stories turned pale and gulped.
"It's worse."
"Eh?"
"It's HER."
There was a long moment of silence. Then there were two simultaneous shrieks of terror.
SHAKUGAN NO YUJI?
Chapter 3113: Declaration of a Cease-Fire On Top of the School
The figure of the Crimson-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter struggled to move, all to no avail. The Unrestricted Method that was mercilessly holding him captive apparently was not only sucking away his Power of Existence, it was also proportionally draining him of his preternatural strength at the same time. Giving the restraining foosball bars a final shake, Yuji looked up at the One Engulfed in Self-Doubt, bewilderment written all over his face.
"...Why... Why are you coming after me specifically?"
Eita, although possessing a clearly regretful expression on his face, turned away and continued with the casting the Unrestricted Method as he spoke.
"In the Crimson Realm, you're known as the very strongest of the Tools of Destruction used by the Crimson Lords. To me, a weakling Denizen who doesn't even have the strength necessary to protect the person he considers the most important... Your strength would be the perfect counter."
Ogata yawned.
"Can we skip all the exposition, Tanaka...? This is getting boring."
Eita looked a bit taken aback, not to mention rather disappointed at the lack of enthusiasm on Ogata's face. After a moment of silent dismay, the male Denizen slowly nodded and turned to the heavy blade of Blutsauger in front of him. Stretching out with both arms, Eita firmly grasped the hilt with both hands...
...and his squinted eyes opened wide with wonder as he suddenly lifted the blade off the asphalt and raised it above his head. His voice soft with astonishment, the One Engulfed in Self-Doubt gave Blutsauger an experimental swing.
"...Amazing. Simply amazing! So this is the strength of the Crimson-Eyed Flaming-Haired Hunter... the Unrestricted Method actually works...!"
Gripping a shoulder with one of his hands, the Flame Haze could only stare up at the two Denizens with a look of dismay from the confines of the Coffin Stadium.
Shana stared out from the concealing cover of a messy sidewalk hedgerow, scratching her head in some puzzlement as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing and sensing in front of her.
"That's weird... I could've sworn that..."
The next moment, a hand suddenly clapped onto her shoulder, making the female Mystes jump a foot into the air. Scrabbling for her katana, Shana spun around with wide eyes...
...only to find herself staring up at a decidedly unwelcome and vexing face. Keisaku, the Chanter of Elegies, frowned down at the short teenage girl standing before him.
"Geez, you're awfully jumpy. And what are you doing here?"
Shana glared back, snorting with undisguised disgust at the Chanter of Elegies as she sheathed her katana.
"I could ask you the same question. What's a slacker Flame Haze like you doing here?"
"Well, to be perfectly honest, it was just out of curiosity. Something's very odd about this Unrestricted Method that's currently stopping the show. Almost like..."
Shana pointed over at a nearby Torch that was on the verge of disappearing.
"...Almost like that?"
Even as the Torch winked out, a huge stadium lightpost suddenly burst out of the asphalt underneath where it had once stood, its light casting an eerie glow over the street as it loomed into the air. Keisaku blinked at the sudden change, but then looked over at Shana with a puzzled look on her face. Marcosius cut in with a perplexed tone in his voice.
"Wait... Are you telling me that you were actually LOOKING for that? That Rinne?"
Shana nodded.
"For some reason, I can 'see' them, even before they appear. And I'm seeing them all over the place. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do about them on my own."
Keisaku grinned.
"Well, this is all sounding very interesting, but let's discuss this in a safer place, all right? Time to move..."
A few moments later, the two of them found themselves looking out over the Mana River. Keisaku reached into the pocket of his trenchcoat and pulled out a glowing bookmark.
"...Oi, you there? Have you gotten to the Crystal Altar yet?"
Margery's voice floated back through the glowing runes of the eldritch communicator.
"Mm. I'm here. Did your findings match your suspicion?"
"Yep. As expected, it's the Mystes. She's with me at the moment. I don't know why she's even here... She's either acting out of a sense of foolish curiosity, or she's in love with that other Flame Haze."
A heated blush stole up onto Shana's face unnoticed. Before Shana could open her mouth to protest, Keisaku continued.
"What's the situation up there like?"
At the Crystal Altar, Margery frowned as she looked over the miniaturized teal buildings.
"We've got flares of Power of Existence popping up all over. It's almost like a freakin' lattice... It's even more garbled than my students' compositional English essays."
"Eh, is that so..."
Shana raised her eyebrow as the Chanter of Elegies continued to speak through the bookmark.
"Who're you talking to anyway?"
Keisaku blankly stared at the young Mystes for a moment. He then gave her a deadpan reply.
"...My girlfriend."
The angry voice that came through the bookmark was laced with hot denial and violent embarrassment. It was enough to cause the bookmark to shake in the Flame Haze's hands.
"YOUR WHAT!? YOU... DON'T GET ANY STUPID IDEAS NOW, YOU-"
Keisaku's resulting grin only grew wider as his mind could all-too-clearly picture the English teacher's face, bright red in its intense embarrassment. Marcosius guffawed wildly through the Grimoire.
"Pfftt.. Hahahaha! Are you blushing, you boozebreath pedagogue?"
"SHUT UP, STUPID MARCO!"
Shana just rolled her eyes and shook her head. Keisaku grinned for a moment longer before he straightened out his face.
"...Well, enough fun for now. It looks like we have a job to do. Care to team up for now? It would mean saving that boyfriend of yours."
Shana sputtered.
"He... He is NOT my boyfriend!"
"Am I wrong?"
"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"
Eita's eyes were now wide open, staring in awestruck glee at the sudden increase in power that was now at his disposal. Yuji shook his head in dismay as the One Engulfed in Self-Doubt gave the Blutsauger several experimental swings.
"...You're going about it all wrong, you know. Completely wrong."
The male Denizen blinked in confused bewilderment as he spoke in reply.
"Wrong? What do you mean, 'going about it all wrong'?"
Yuji sighed as he crossed his arms and shook his head again.
"You think that's really going to help protect her? Look at her."
Eita looked over to Ogata, who had a completely bored look on her face. Yuji continued with little pause or kindness in his tone.
"By the looks of her, she's far more capable of protecting herself than you could ever be, even with all that newfound power at your fingertips."
Eita took a step forwards in the direction of the imprisoned Yuji, doubt clearly written all over his face.
"T-that's... that's not true! I'll protect her! You'll see!"
"Your face is telling me a very different story. Even with all that power... do you really think you'll be able to protect the one you hold most dear with all that lack of self-confidence written all over your features?"
"Enough! I've had enough of this-"
Ogata bluntly interrupted.
"Could you two finish this up already? Honestly, you two... I can't help but wonder at your mutual lack of intelligence. Eita, would you wrap this up already? I'm hungry and I'm in the mood for some yakisoba."
Before Eita could make a proper answer, however, a burst of light exploded from a distant corner of the city. Eita's eyes widened in horrified shock, even as Ogata cursed under her breath.
"Good going, genius. Now look what all your dawdling's brought about. Someone's figured out how the Coffin Stadium works."
"Never-ending curse! Tongue of caustic flame!"
The spiralling bolt of purple fire made explosive impact as it careened into another Torch that Shana had pointed out for the benefit of the Chanter of Elegies. As Flame Haze and Mystes coasted atop the floating Grimoire, Keisaku blew out the last wisps of indigo flame from his fingertips and grinned.
"Well, that's four down... one more to go."
Marcosius' voice was a bit dry as he quietly cut in with his own remark.
"Honestly, you're being a little crude here, my ugly tankard. No poems, just a bunch of jumbled lines?"
Keisaku shrugged.
"Best I can do on short notice, and with this shitty lack of inspiration, it's good enough. Those two indecisive juveniles should be giving us their full attention now."
The Chanter of Elegies now turned back to Shana.
"All right, if my instincts are still working correctly, the last piece of the puzzle should be up at the highest point of this city, holding everything together. Any idea where that might be?"
Margery's voice came in through the eldritch bookmark in Keisaku's hand.
"...Highest point in Misaki City? That's... the second tower on the suspension bridge that crosses the Mana River. Huh... I'm seeing a major flux of Power of Existence swirling from that spot on the Crystal Altar."
Keisaku nodded.
"Then that's the place. Okay brat, it seems that those two lovebirds will most likely be sending somebody after me now. Let's split up for now. I'll rejoin you as soon as I've drawn off their attention. Don't mess it up, all right?"
Shana brusquely nodded.
"...Ike! Ike, are you there!?"
Yawning and stretching as he got up from his napping spot on the bus station bench, the mercenary Denizen rubbed at his bespectacled eyes as he spoke through the telepathic connection that Ogata had suddenly brought up.
"I'm here. What's the big problem?"
"'Thousand Strategies', there's been a change of plans. Somebody's going after the Lightposts. I need you to stop them... NOW!"
"Didn't you just want me to keep an eye on that little electronic device? Besides, shouldn't that Unrestricted Method have already gone through by now? If your boyfriend's gotten what he's been looking for, shouldn't you two be just calling it a day?"
Ike could almost picture Ogata angrily shaking her head as her voice rang back in reply.
"You idiot! We can't afford to let anyone who's figured out the Coffin Stadium to get away! Now get off your lazy bum and stop whoever's destroying those Lightposts!"
Ike sighed as he rubbed at the back of his head.
"Fine, fine... I guess I should go and earn my pay, eh? You better have a bonus waiting for me when I'm through."
"JUST GET THE JOB DONE FIRST!"
"...Sheesh."
Re-opening her eyes, Ogata turned to Eita and huffed.
"Well, I got Ike up on his feet. Now quit stalling and finish the job, stupid Tanaka!"
Still looking crestfallen, Eita slowly nodded as he turned to Yuji, still imprisoned within the impromptu cage.
"...Your strength is fire-manipulation, right? Then this should do..."
Stretching out a hand, the One Engulfed in Self-Doubt focused his energies...
...and then blinked as absolutely nothing happened. Yuji chuckled within his cell of foosball rods. Eita looked at his hand, still outstretched, in bewildered astonishment.
"Huh!? No... no flames!? But I absorbed your power, your strength! That Unrestricted Method should have..."
Gritting his teeth in chagrin, Eita brought up the Blutsauger.
"Hmph! It doesn't matter... I've still got enough strength to finish you off...!!"
Lunging forwards, Eita thrust the Blutsauger into the cage, piercing the form of the Flame Haze imprisoned within.
SHHTHUNK!
Even as the huge, heavy blade hit home, however, the form of the Crimson-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter suddenly disintegrated into a mass of fiery embers. Eita's eyes widened in shock as the foosball rods fell away into a disjointed pile.
"Wha...!?"
Ogata's face bore a similar look of shock, but she said nothing as she stood back a safe distance away.
From out of nowhere, Yuji's voice spoke.
"You're thinking of this technique, right?"
From beneath the asphalt, a towering pillar of fire suddenly burst forth, nearly incinerating Eita as he jumped away barely in time. Riding atop the blistering, blazing column of flames was Yuji.
Eita took a step back in dismay.
"But... but... How can you be...!?"
Yuji smiled in semi-self-deprecation.
"I really must apologize. I've been a bit... dishonest. You only trapped a doppelganger made of flames... In other words, you went after a fake this whole time. I was standing around a safe distance away, watching how your technique worked."
Eita's mouth fell open in utter disbelief.
"T-then... you mean I..."
Yuji nodded.
"Your Unrestricted Method only absorbed the Power of Existence that lay within my little distraction. And now that I know how your little stunt works..."
With no warning whatsoever, Yuji suddenly sprang into action. With a flash of crimson flames, the Flame Haze was abruptly standing in front of Eita in the timespan of an eyeblink.
"...WHA...!?"
"Tanaka, you dolt! LOOK OUT-"
Before the male Denizen could react, Yuji suddenly lashed out with a rocketing skywards kick. There was a brief ring of impacted metal.
CLANG!
Blutsauger spun into the air, kicked out of Eita's hands by Yuji's well-aimed kick. Even as the One Engulfed in Self-Doubt reached upwards in an attempt to recover his weapon, Yuji jumped upwards in a somersault and snatched the huge two-handed sword out of the air.
Landing nimbly on his feet, Yuji grinned and effortlessly flourished the weapon in an elegant, curving arc, settling it onto his shoulder.
"Not bad. It's got good balance and weight. I think I'll borrow it for a second..."
Eita and Ogata could only stare in wide-eyed horror as the Flame Haze lunged forwards, the massive blade of Blutsauger upraised.
Keisaku swooped around the tower of a nearby skyscraper as he spiralled into a dive. Narrowing his eyes, the Chanter of Elegies suddenly felt another presence lurking from behind.
...NOW!
Keisaku dropped into a headlong dive, barely dodging the sudden bolt of green that suddenly flashed into the air, striking the spot where Keisaku's head had been a moment earlier. Landing onto the pavement below with a dusty thud, the Chanter of Elegies looked up to see a figure floating up above.
Keisaku gave a sardonic grin as he got to his feet. "Thousand Strategies" Ike, dressed in a long black duster and heavy leather fingerless gloves, smirked in reply as he adjusted his glasses with a finger. After a brief moment of wordless regard, Ike broke the silence.
"...I was wondering when you'd finally rouse yourself, ladykilling lunchthief. You've been slacking off recently. It's not like you at all."
Keisaku's sardonic grin turned a trifle bitter.
"Don't get cocky, you arrogant little prick of a bookworm. I can still kick your ass up and down this sidewalk on a Sunday. And speaking of little pricks... Isn't that the reason why you have a thing for little girls? Such as, let's say, your current love interest?"
Marcosius broke into bawdy, raucous laughter.
Ike's face darkened and twisted with sudden rage behind his eyeglasses.
"...You... Don't you DARE speak about my Kazumi in that fashion!"
Without any further preamble, Ike brought up a gloved hand. A huge, massive ball of sickly green energies congealed in his palm. A single gesture, and the gigantic orb of emerald hue slammed into the pavement as Keisaku barely sidestepped the attack.
Ike wasted no time in following up with a screaming, arcing dive that took him on a direct collision course with the Chanter of Elegies. There was a cloud of flying debris and dust as Ike crashed into Keisaku. As the dust settled from the impact, the clearing view showed a massive beast. The body of a lion, and the head of a wrathful, leering demon.
A sphinx.
One of its outstretched paws was tightly grasping Keisaku's comparatively tiny form. The Chanter of Elegies didn't even bother to struggle as Ike's voice floated through the silence of the Coffin Stadium's seal.
"How disappointing. All that big talk, and you can't even put up a proper fight."
Keisaku gave a strange, cynical grin as he replied.
"Pfft. Only too true. I'm not exactly in a fighting mood at the moment. A pity. We could have had a great brawl."
"Yes... too bad. Well, cheers."
With those words, Ike suddenly threw Keisaku into the side of a nearby skyscraper. A second later, a huge beam of green light suddenly burst forth from the mouth of Ike's sphinx-form, crashing into Keisaku with powerful violence before exploding outwards into a shower of concrete and steel debris.
Deep within his sphinx-form, "Thousand Strategies" Ike smirked and adjusted his glasses with a finger as he spoke into the silence.
"...Rest in hell, Chanter of Elegies. May you have fun in the Inferno."
Wings sprouted from the sphinx's back, and the Denizen flew off into the sky of sickly yellow.
Had Ike truly bothered to double-check his handiwork, he would have found, much to his chagrin, that the Chanter of Elegies was far from dead.
Deep within the rubble of the ruined skyscraper, Keisaku coughed and struggled to his feet. Marcosius' voice was oddly lacking in vicious glee as he spoke.
"You all right? That was quite a nasty hit you took. 'Course, could have been worse if you hadn't substituted in that fake double of yours at the last minute."
Keisaku groaned and dusted himself off as he nodded.
"Quite. Man, I'm beat. Well, that's all I've got. The rest is up to that katana-swinging brat and that goody two-shoes of a Crimson-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter."
Lifting the bookmark to his ear, the Chanter of Elegies quietly spoke.
"...Hey, you there?"
The only response in reply was dead silence. Somewhat taken aback, Keisaku spoke again into the bookmark.
"Hey, Margery, are you there?! Answer me!"
Marcosius' voice quietly cut in.
"That's not going to help. She's been out of contact for awhile."
The Chanter of Elegies' eyes widened.
"What?! You mean...!"
Marcosius chuckled grimly, but said nothing.
Keisaku half-heartedly shook the Grimoire as he uncharacteristically gave weak and soft-voiced protest.
"Y-you... you can't possibly be... serious... That's... not fair..."
Marcosius' voice was half-comforting, half-mocking as he spoke.
"What do you expect? Sitting around on your lazy ass all this time, claiming you were nothing but an 'empty shell', bemoaning your fate, never doing anything... And then you expect her to be safe? You're a Flame Haze, for crying out loud..."
Keisaku gritted his teeth.
"What, and you expect me NOT to be like this? Spending all this time, chasing after the Silver, almost having her within reach one moment, only to see her vanish from our clutches the next!? What good is my life if I can't have my stupid revenge!?"
Marcosius was silent for a long moment. When he finally did speak, his words were almost inaudible.
"...Is that what you really want? Then you better shape up your act."
The Chanter of Elegies' next words were muted, but they echoed all too loudly in his head.
"So... the only place to go when you've hit the bottom of the abyss... is up, eh?"
Marcosius chuckled dryly.
"Where else?"
The wreckage of the demolished office building exploded outwards into a million flying fragments of concrete and steel. The purple-furred form of Keisaku's Toga roared with fury. Even as the Chanter of Elegies burst out of the debris and reverted back into his human form, his eyes suddenly settled upon a familiar figure, dressed in purple, running up the street towards them.
Keisaku blinked in uncomfortable surprise.
"H-hey... you're alive!?"
The Chanter of Elegies shot Marcosius an accusing glance.
"You... you said...!"
Marcosius laughed in mischievous glee.
"Hoohawhaw! I said nothing, except that we were out of contact, which was completely true! You're the one who took it to mean that she was dead! Hahahaha!"
Margery Daw raised an eyebrow as she slowed her approach and walked up to the pair.
"You're all right? Hmph. I guess I worried over nothing, then."
Keisaku said nothing, instead simply electing to quietly grumble and turn away wordlessly. After a brief moment of silence, Margery began to approach closer, but Marcosius' voice broke in with a clear note of warning.
"Ah, it's probably better if you didn't approach him at the moment. Hehehehe... He's a bit miffed... and dangerous for the moment. He'll probably be more pliable to your feminine charms after this whole messy business is over."
The Misaki High English teacher simply shrugged and turned to leave.
"Well then, I guess I'm not needed here after all. I'll get back to the Crystal Altar then. Oh, but just one thing..."
A note of curiosity in his eyes, Keisaku turned back to Margery. Her own eyes glinting with mischief, the teacher winked.
"...Don't you dare lose."
Keisaku settled for giving a vague grunt as he leapt off into the air. Marcosius laughed wildly as the Chanter of Elegies flashed back into the bestial form of his Toga.
"Hawhahahahahaw! To think... that you could be..."
Within the depths of his eldritch form, Keisaku gritted his teeth and snarled out a single line.
"Shut up. Not another word. Not another word."
However, a moment later, a small, almost imperceptible smile flashed across the face of the Chanter of Elegies.
Shana looked up at the bridge tower. It seemed to stretch upwards in an infinite plane of mocking altitude. Narrowing her eyes, the Mystes looked about for a way to reach her goal.
The city street roared with waves of blistering, roiling flame. Standing within the eye of the firestorm was Yuji, the Flame Haze. Then, with sudden and unexpected violence, the flames dissipated under a backwash of sickly yellow energy.
Leaping backwards into a somersault, Yuji hefted Blutsauger into a guarded stance as he stared in disbelief at the two figures that stood before him. Eita, the One Engulfed in Self-Doubt, staggered to his feet... Or where his feet would have been. The lower halves of his legs had vanished. Behind him stood Ogata, her eyes wide with shock.
Yuji hefted Blutsauger over his shoulder as he gave the two Denizens a long, searching appraisal. After a moment's study, he then turned to the One Engulfed in Self-Doubt.
"...I have to admit, I'm impressed. You actually went and did it. You spent your own Power of Existence to protect her."
Yuji then gave the Denizen's dissipated lower appendages a pointed look.
"I'm not sure you'll have enough Power of Existence within you to do it again, though. In that case-"
Before the Crimson-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter could continue, however, his words were suddenly interrupted by a shriek of pure, unadulterated rage and hate.
It had come from Eita's female counterpart.
The One Engulfed in Doubting Others continued to scream in hateful rage as she suddenly charged forwards, a ball of flashing and pulsing yellow energy accumulating in an outstretched hand.
"YOU... YOU HURT TANAKA...!!!"
Taken aback in surprise, Yuji's reaction was belated. The next moment, a huge stadium lightpost burst forth from the ball of yellow energy in Ogata's hand, slamming hard into the Flame Haze with all the force of a metropolitan city bus at full speed. However, the blow wasn't enough. Quickly recovering with a vaulting jump, Yuji simply responded by stretching out a hand of his own. Hungry flames of crimson burst forth in a wave of consuming fire.
Ogata abruptly stopped and flinched in mid-charge. Eita yelled in dismayed alarm.
"Oga-chan...!!"
Shana grimaced as she tried to reach the bottom rung of the service ladder that was affixed to the side of the bridge tower, with little success. Shana was just too short. Cursing, the female Mystes dusted off her hands and glared up at the structure.
"How the heck am I supposed to get up that thing!? This is so frust-"
Shana's monologue was suddenly and violently interrupted by a huge, clawed paw that looked like it belonged to an overgrown lion.
Shana's voice exploded in a strange mixture of a shriek and a grunt as a clawed paw of Ike's "spinx-form" slammed her into the side of the bridge tower. Before she could even recover her bearings, however, the leonine facial features of her assailant receded into the more human countenance of Ike's preferred guise.
"Hmph... And what are YOU doing here? A Mystes, freely walking about within the limits of the Seal? Well, whatever it is you've got in there, I think I'll go ahead and take a little peek..."
Shana didn't even have time to open her mouth to scream, to shout in protest and refusal. A gloved hand plunged into her chest, digging, searching...
The female Mystes couldn't help but choke in dismayed pain. It felt... almost as if she were being raped, or at the very least, sexually molested. But she could do nothing. Couldn't bring up her katana to fend for herself, couldn't kick her assailant away. All she could do was squirm about helplessly in the Denizen's iron grip.
Ike's eyes suddenly widened in shock as his questing hand fell upon the object of his search.
"Y-you...!! This... this is...!!"
Then his eyes narrowed in gleeful satisfaction.
"Well, it's mine now-"
Before his hand could draw out his prize, however, a blurred mass of purple fur and ivory fangs bulled into him with the force of a missile.
"SURPRISE!"
Shana shook her head in stunned disorientation as the Chanter of Elegies slammed Thousand Strategies over the bridge railing and into the Mana River. Even as the Denizen fell into the waters below, Keisaku simply jumped in after him, singing a gleeful stanza.
"A penny saved, a penny earned! A penny wasted, a notebook burned!"
Marcosius' voice could be heard in mirthful rejoinder.
"Book burnings, book burnings! Count your wages and count your earnings!"
A volley of purple fireballs slammed into Ike, sending him keeling over with a splash. Even while Shana looked on in amazement, a blast of yellow light suddenly shot forth from out of nowhere towards her. Shana threw her arms up in an instinctive effort to protect herself, but it was completely pointless.
Azure, the Fire-Repelling Ring, simply gleamed once and did its job once more. The yellow blast dissipated. Blinking in some surprise and quite a bit of relief, Shana then noticed two figures flying towards her and the bridge... and a third figure following after them, wings of flame glowing and blazing from his back like two fiery contrails as he lunged forwards, a huge two-handed sword in hand. Shana couldn't help but smile as she recognized the latter in hot pursuit of the first two.
"Yuji...!!"
Yuji similarly noticed Shana as well and smiled down to her in relief.
"Shana!"
The Flame Haze rocketed towards her, spiralling past the two Denizens and grabbing up her hand in a fierce grip as they both then flew up the sheer face of the bridge tower. In another moment, the two of them alit onto the tower's apex and spotted their goal.
Back in the Mana River, things were going very badly for "Thousand Strategies" Ike. Having been subjected to a series of successive, painful blows from the Chanter of Elegies, the Crimson Denizen was simply struggling to keep up. In desperation, the Denizen unleashed a blast of green fire at the purple-furred Flame Haze.
Keisaku simply split his Toga form into a circling mob of doppelgangers. Even as Ike tried to identify his real target, another chanting line came from the Flame Haze.
"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall...!"
Marcosius continued the line.
"...Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!"
The circling doubles suddenly flashed into a punishing volley of indigo fireballs, slamming into Ike. Gritting his teeth, Ike looked up to the bridge.
Urgh... this is bad. Wait...
His eyes caught a burst of crimson flame.
The Crimson-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter!?
Before his thoughts could proceed any further, however, Keisaku burst out of the water, his bestial form slamming downwards onto Ike's head with a double-fisted punch.
"GOTCHA!"
Ike roared with pain, grimacing as the ugly truth reared itself in his mind.
Damn it... I can't protect those two anymore. The Doubting Couple's going to end up a statistic. Time for me to take my leave...
Quickly shifting his bodily form into an octopoid form, the Denizen quickly made his downstream retreat with a few quick bursts of water propulsion.
Keisaku could only stare and blink as he watched "Thousand Strategies" make his exit.
"'Thousand Strategies'... is retreating...?"
Shana looked slightly taken aback as she narrowly regarded the device that was lying atop the tower's zenith.
"That's... the Treasure, isn't it?"
Yuji tilted his head slightly in puzzled fascination.
"Yeah, it should be... but it looks like it's been slightly... altered."
Shana shook her head as she continued to stare at the eldritch device.
"It looks like an MP3 player. Honestly, a Treasure with a modern motif? That's weird..."
A female voice interrupted in explanation.
"...I thought it looked kind of tacky as an old music box."
Ogata and Eita landed in front of them. Shana couldn't help but notice that the male Denizen's legs were just about gone. The female Denizen didn't look much better. Both of them had obviously taken quite a beating at Yuji's hands. Yuji gave the MP3 player a final glance before turning to Ogata.
"So... this is the thing keeping the entire Unrestricted Method going, eh?"
The One Engulfed in Doubting Others nodded, her breath labored and weary.
"It's... quite handy. No matter how complicated the original spell... or Method might be, once it is entered into this device, it can be flawlessly played... or replicated over and over again, without any further need of effort on our part."
Yuji brought up the Blutsauger.
"Well... I'm afraid I can't permit it to go on. Sorry."
Eita and Ogata could only look on helplessly as Yuji brought up the Blutsauger... and unleashed a massive wave of crimson flame in the direction of the Treasure and its two owners.
The sky of sickly yellow receded into the crimson tones of a normal Seal. Yuji surveyed the damage with a critical eye as he sighed and rested Blutsauger point-downwards into the asphalt.
"Quite a bit of damage. We've got a lot of work on our hands."
Keisaku showed up a moment later, riding in on Marcosius.
"True, but those two gathered up quite a bit of Power of Existence while they were running loose. There's enough here to make sure that everything's brought back to normal. Speaking of normality..."
Keisaku raised an eyebrow as he looked over to a familiar-looking pair standing nearby. Ogata and Eita still had disbelieving looks on their faces. Shaking his head, the Chanter of Elegies looked back over to his fellow Flame Haze. Shana finished his sentence, a similar look of disapproval on her own features.
"...Are you sure it's a good idea to let them live?"
A few moments earlier...
The two Denizens blinked in shock and unexpected surprise. They'd had every reason and every right to believe that they were destined to fade away into oblivion at the hands of Yuji's fiery attack. Instead, the Flame Haze simply stood in front of them, smiling as he always did. One of his hands clutched the Treasure that had caused so much trouble.
Eita was the first one who broke the silence.
"...Why?"
Yuji remained silent for a moment longer, then gave his reply.
"I just didn't want to."
He then turned to Ogata as he smiled and directed his words to Eita.
"Besides, you just acted because you wanted to prove to yourself that you could protect the one most precious to you, right?"
The two Denizens blushed up a storm. Eita stammered.
"W-well, y-yeah..."
Yuji's smile only got wider.
"I'd say you proved it well enough. And if the Crimson-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter says so, shouldn't that be as good as trying to be the Crimson-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter?"
The One Engulfed in Self-Doubt reluctantly nodded.
"I... I guess..."
Yuji chuckled as he tossed Ogata the MP3 player. The One Engulfed in Doubting Others raised an eyebrow as she caught it.
"What are you...?"
The Flame Haze spoke.
"I've made a few... changes to the device. I've now permanently looped it into your own Power of Existence. So long as you don't tamper with the settings or attempt to cast any more Unrestricted Methods, you won't need to take any more Power of Existence."
Before the two could speak, however, Yuji's countenance abruptly turned serious as he raised a warning hand.
"Let me remind you, however... this is the last chance you two have. There's only enough Power of Existence inside the device to keep you two going. If you two attempt to try and cast an Unrestricted Method... well, let's just say you won't have any chance to do so. I made sure of that."
Just as quickly, Yuji smiled again.
"Live out your lives peacefully, all right? I don't think living your lives as two ordinary humans is a bad thing."
A tentative, replying smile slowly formed on Eita's still-shocked features. Ogata, however, couldn't help but grumble.
"Hmph. I doubt it."
Yuji suddenly gave the Blutsauger in his hands another experimental swing.
"Oh, and by the way... Sorry to be rude, but I think I'll borrow this a little bit longer."
Yuji chuckled as he and Shana arrived back at Misaki High.
"So, that's that. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on those two and make sure they don't get into any trouble. Anyway, the Seal's about to dissipate, so let's not waste any time getting back to where we were."
Suddenly, a curious look stole over Yuji's face.
"By the way, Shana... where were you when that Unrestricted Method first popped up?"
Not really thinking, Shana gave automatic reply.
"Talking with Miss Convent."
"Oh? Miss Hecate? What for?"
Abruptly realizing the situation, Shana's face turned bright red.
"N-nothing! Nothing at all!"
"B-but..."
"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"
Yuji shrugged and smiled.
"All right, then. See you later."
As Shana turned to leave, however, Yuji suddenly turned back to the female Mystes.
"Oh, Shana! I almost forgot..."
Shana looked back, a puzzled look on her face.
"Huh...?"
A slight tinge of red stole over Yuji's cheeks.
"Y-you know... You did really well back there, finding those Rinne and helping to take out that Unrestricted Method. So... erm... I'm going to give you a reward, all right?"
Shana, wide-eyed, suddenly turned bright red as her mind began to race to the image that had formed in her brain before the two of them had set out earlier.
Wait... you don't mean... Yuji's going to...!? A... k... k.. K-KISS!?"
Stammering and fidgeting, Shana looked away for a moment, then slowly closed her eyes and nodded as she turned to Yuji expectantly.
Slowly taking her hands, Yuji leaned forwards...
...and placed a paper bag in Shana's hands. Opening her eyes in shock, Shana looked down at the packet nestled in her fingers. Inside the bag was a whole, perfect bun of fresh melon bread. Yuji gave Shana a warm smile as he spoke.
"It's the very best. I took a brief side-trip to the outskirts of town to find it. Eat it quick, it's still warm, all right?"
Even as Yuji turned to leave, however, he suddenly stopped in surprise as Shana murmured a single line.
"...I'm not quite satisfied..."
Yuji blinked.
"Huh?"
"I'm not satisfied, IDIOT! I don't want THIS reward! I want... I want... I WANT THIS!"
Blushing up a storm, Shana suddenly reaching up with both hands, grabbed Yuji by the ears, jerked his head downwards... and locked lips with him.
Unfortunately, Yuji had been holding onto Blutsauger at that moment. Eyes wide in shock, he dropped the heavy weapon onto his toes.
Time marched on once more. On top of the school roof, the two girls regarded eachother narrowly. Hecate spoke first.
"So... you've kissed him as well."
Shana fiercely nodded. "That's right!"
Hecate nodded back.
"Very well. May the best woman win."
Hecate turned and left. A gleeful, victorious grin popped up on Shana's face as she produced a paper bag from behind her back and pulled out the huge loaf of melon bread that Yuji had given her earlier. Opening her mouth wide, Shana took a huge bite.
"Mmmf... Smrch... She... mmrfh... doesn't... mmnch... stand a chance... smnch... So... mmrpgh... delicious!"
The Writer of Questionable Stories poked a head out of the ruins of his desk.
"...Is she gone?"
"Finally gone. No thanks to you. Took you long enough, I might add. If you hadn't added that part in at the last moment, I swear... we would have both been kissing Hell's Gates at this moment."
The Writer of Questionable Stories grimaced as he stepped over a squashed carton of guava juice and shook his head.
"Women..."
To Be Continued...?