Itadaki no Hecate

Caught in the Midst

But many years had passed since then.

When the smoke cleared, it became apparent that the hillside was reduced to Swiss cheese, but the golem still stood strong. It cast aside a shield of thick, solid stone from each arm, and wielded the metal rod in its right hand. With it, it gathered surrounding rubble towards its head, turning the tool of tuning into a massive flail.

Unphased, Hecate let loose another shower of energy beams. And once again, the golem shielded itself, with one arm this time, but sprinted downhill with astonishing velocity to avoid the full brunt of the salvo. At the end of Hecate's attack, the Flame Haze leapt high, his armor's feet ablaze as he sped right for the Supreme Throne.

Hecate dodged aside, strafing in the air. Then the golem seemed to do the impossible as it shot its own legs off and flew in the direction of the Priestess as if it were a rocket jettisoning its first set of thrusters. Raising his flail of stone, he slammed down on the Priestess, who did not even try to dodge such a huge object, but instead met it head on with raw energy at point blank.

"Looks like those two have started brawling," Marchosias observed. "Funny thing is she's being pretty unusually reckless."

"Yeah, but even more puzzling than her behavior is the fact that we can't sense any other presences we already know about," said Margery. "Something really fishy's going on, I just know it."

"There's a fight going on over there?" Kazumi repeated as she peered hard, not finding anything out of the ordinary but knowing it was there. "Could it be Khamsin-kun fighting someone?"

"Probably," Yuji replied. "And the other person... I'd know that massive presence anywhere. It's definitely Hecate-Konoe-san."

"Konoe-san?!" Kazumi responded, visibly surprised. "How? And... why?"

"I'll explain on the way," said Yuji.

The girl understood, and took off her other sandal so she could walk properly. Before they could start out towards the hill, a hand clapped onto each of their shoulders.

"Young lady, it's because she is a Denizen-a Crimson Lord to be exact," said the voice of a smug young man behind them. "The mortal enemy of humans and Flame Hazes."

Both glanced back with shock, although of the two Yuji was more surprised, as he should have noticed his presence, yet felt nothing.

It was what appeared to be a man in his mid-twenties. He was tall and had short, golden blonde hair, and wore a white suit with a black tie. On his left pocket rested a single red rose.

Debris flew in every direction following the explosive clash of two powerful forces, and the golem fell towards earth. Before even touching the ground, the Flame Haze let loose a follow-up attack on the Supreme Throne.

"Fist of Aten."

In midair, the golem fired its own left forearm straight at the Priestess, who was just recovering from the horrendous recoil. She tried to dodge aside, but the fast moving object rammed into her side like a piston, shattering on impact, and sent her spinning.

As soon as the rubble giant landed on its feet, Khamsin quickly got to reconstructing its lost arm and broken flail. More stone levitated around him as they gathered together.

"She appears to be quite furious," Behemoth observed. "Perhaps she believes we have done some wrong against the Bal Masque."

"Ah, that may be the case," Khamsin replied. "Whatever the case, however, we have no choice other than to defend ourselves."

He was fully reformed by the time Hecate had recovered. She found that his one blow that had connected ripped the left side of her white Yukata, and left the rest already covered in dirt. She tore off her dangling and tattered left sleeve, baring the milk-like skin of her arm, and aimed her staff at the Flame Haze.