A woman in a white dress wanders the streets, not a clue where she's going save for the goal of finding someone as of now... A goal she'd toss aside upon seeing smoke billowing out of a building, flames like this... Almost brings to mind Kashmistan. "Nothing to be done but find out if there are any civilians in there I guess... Geez, why am I playing hero?" She knows why, because it's what she should do after all. Even so, it still feels strange to be rushing into a flaming building in search of people. Despite that, Hilda does so without much of a second thought, slamming through the door of the place as her eyes and head dart about to check for anyone who might have gotten mixed up in this mess. And the cause of course, but that's a secondary issue at the moment.

Hilda stares back at the figures in the flames, a black and red scythe with blue and green flowers along the back part taking shape in her hands as she points it toward the creatures. "I'm not looking to fight you things, but if you want to go outside this place and spread the fire I have no choice but to step in and try to stop it... I've made enough mistakes involving flame spreading free." The woman takes on a wary battle stance, scythe gripped tightly as black and purple magical energy begins flowing around her. Even if they didn't move to strike, she'd still advance slowly and with caution given how strange these things are.

"What the.." Naegi was eating ice cream as he happened to spot a irregularly large crowd surrounding a burning building. Curious, he entered the crowd, and asked about what was going on.

The figure would seem to move around more and more as the whispering grew louder and less coherent. Finally, it seemed to stop altogether before an ashy and deformed hand seemed to extend out of the fire. The hand could almost be described as human but it looked wrong. Its fingers were far too large on the end and its skin was cracking and reforming constantly. Slowly from the flames, a full ashy figure would emerge with a green light in its eyes. It barely seemed to be human at all with its entire body seeming to be composed of a solid ash colored material. It almost seemed to take a moment to breathe before staring at Hilda once more. Its hand would shift into the shape of an axe before lunging at her. Its dry cracking voice could now be heard clearly. Ashy Figure: "Flames...everywhere...carry on..." From Match's perspective he could see something that interested him far more on the roof of the building. A massive cluster of green flames would be clumping together as a black figure larger than the one Hilda had seen was forming within. "This time for sure!" Match wouldn't spend a moment hesitating. He'd enter the building and immediately begin searching for the stairs leading up. The members of the crows seemed just as confused by the incident but one of the people in it seemed to provide Naegi most of what they knew. Crowd Member: "The fire patrol and police haven't said anything but I bet this has to do with that arsonist that's been reported in the news lately. Apparently, he always targets abandoned buildings for some reason. Some people are just messed up in the head I guess."

Living flames that want her dead... Too bad Risette isn't around, but what's there to be done? The woman darts backward, having been prepared for a fight at this point she'd quickly hold the scythe in her right hand before holding her left out and snapping her fingers. [Chevar Principle] The dark purple energy crackling around Hilda takes shape as an orb, rushing straight toward her foe and aiming to slam straight into the thing's chest. If it struck, a raw magical force would begin attempting to tear the thing apart. "I hope you can die, it would be annoying if I have to retreat so soon after engaging after all... Of course, I'm pretty sure you don't understand a word I'm saying, right?" She stares at the thing curiously, wondering if it's even able to realize what she's speaking as she takes hold of her weapon in both hands once more.

The magical energy would slam right into the figure both knocking them back and forming a hole in their chest. It would fall to the ground muttering something. Ashy Figure: "I will burn...that they...go on..." The figure would be reduced to nothing but a pile of smoldering ashes. From more of the green flames, black figures would begin forming before two more ashy figures emerged. They looked slightly different from the others. It seemed each one was a little different in size and shape. One would walk over to its fallen comrade and seem to begin consuming the leftover ashes while the other formed both its arm together to make a heavy looking flail-like weapon. It would wing the flail at the end of its arms in an attempt to strike at Hilda's legs. Meanwhile, Match would quickly pass by Hilda and the creatures aiming for the stairs behind Hilda. He seemed to ignore the creatures completely in an attempt to reach the roof.

A man heading up... Magical energy gathers around Hilda, dark purple glowing as she stares forward at her foes. As for the attack headed at her, she'd leap up into the air in an attempt to evade the blow, bits of fire still burning into her legs however as the move takes a bit of time. "Fall down and stay down please, of course, I won't be here too much longer after this... That masked figure interests me far more than you ghosts." As she comes down Hilda would angle her scythe to try and slam into the skull of the ashy being near herself, hoping to slice it right down the middle with a falling slash. Even still, more energy gathers around and the Witch prepares to move.

The ashy figure would stand no chance against the sythes impact as it's cut right in two. Ashy Figure: "I must...protect..." It would crumble into a pile of ash where it stands. The other figure having finished devouring its comrades remains, would now be twice its previous size. It would move over to the newly dispatched figure and begin consuming its ashes as well. On the roof of the building, Match would face off against the green flames with the black figure now swirling around in a circle. "Well, what are you waiting for! It's time for my revenge! I've been waiting for this for a long time and now you'll pay for what you did to the first Match!" The green flames would suddenly compress around the figure causing them to burn brighter and brighter as the figure seemed to form a skeletal structure within the flames. The flames would finally return to a bright red and form into what appeared to be a giant serpent with a black skeleton outline inside it. Match would seem to be confused for a moment before sighing. "Dammit! Wrong one again! You were supposed to stay green! This is just my luck! I'm so mad....I guess I'll just have to take it out on you!" Match would face off against the serpentine monster before slashing the ground around him with the charcoal blade. The charcoal would rub off on the ground nearby leaving blackened marks. "Come on! I haven't got all day!"

Hilda smirks as the being begins wasting its time, she'll leave that one alone for now as her spell is ready. "Time for me to take my leave, Warp!" Time and space fold in, magical energy bursting out as a dark purple portal appears over Hilda and the woman vanishes into thin air. In a moment she'd appear on the roof with a curious look on her face. Hmm, that masked figure seems to be fighting some sort of monster... And yet, isn't he the cause of these things as well? The woman stares at it for a bit longer before deciding to sigh and walk a bit closer to the serpent in front of her. "Hear this song, and slow thy movements." [Upstream Waltz] The woman spins her scythe around in her hands and lets out a few short notes, the song isn't very long at all and when it's done waves of magical energy would rush from Hilda and slam into the snake. If it struck, the beast would find it's movements slowed as if time itself were taking longer to flow for the thing. With that, Hilda would glance toward Match and shout at him. "I'm not quite sure who you are or why exactly you're doing this, but seeing as how we both seem to want that thing dead I guess we can work with each other for now? At any rate, don't ask questions let's just focus on this."

Match would simply nod in response before facing the serpent once more. He'd pull out his sword and attempt to strike directly at the serpent's maw. Unfortunately, even with its slow movements, it was already in the process of recoiling causing Match's attack to miss. The serpent would uncoil itself causing it to charge forward but not nearly as fast as a snake might normally do. To make up for its lack of speed it seemed to make the ground it dashed over burst up into flames. "Ha! Stupid monster! This suit is completely fire-proof!" The flames wouldn't have much effect on Match but if Hilda was too close she would have to either dodge or end up taking the heat.

"Hmm, seems time works fine at least." The woman darts off to the right side, bits of flame catching onto her dress as she vanishes the scythe for a moment to pat down the fabric and put them out. Only able to dodge thanks to the thing's poor speed. "Now, suffer the ravages of time!" [Darkhale Metric] Hilda raises her weapon into the air as her usual magical power collects around the weapon, after a second it would quickly burst out around the battlefield in a large wave of dark purple. Even if Match were close enough to the serpent to be struck, he'd find the magic simply passing over him harmlessly. Their foe, on the other hand, would be assaulted with sheer power attempting to tear into its body.

The serpent having its neck out already would be unable to avoid the dark energy. It would lash out against it threatening to tear it apart. The skeletal figure within would begin cracking and breaking. Suddenly, the serpents would once again roar in rage as the flames grew brighter and larger once more. The skeletal figure within began attempting to reconstruct itself. Match having backed away from the monster as it reconstructed itself would begin wildly slashing the air causing streaks of a black powdery substance to fly through the air and mark anything they touched. The streaks, however, would simply pass through the serpent but Hilda might notice that they all seem to be intentionally not aimed at her. Seemingly growing tired from swinging the sword and covering the roof of the building in the power Match would shout at Hilda. "Simple attacks won't work. You have to strike at it so it won't regenerate. If you can keep it from moving around so much I can finish it off!" The serpent once completed with its regeneration process would begin to move once more. Its speed seemed to return to normal as a side effect of its regeneration. It would attempt to move around Hilda in an attempt to trap her in its constricting flames.

"Keep it from moving... This song is generally used just to deal damage, but I believe I can turn it into something a bit more suited to our current needs." Hilda would begin singing once more, her voice sounding out through the air as magical energy once more takes form. This time however it'd be in the form of various crystals jutting from the ground below their foe. Appearing below and all around it, given that the thing is rather close. [Crystal Realm] The crystal shoots up from the ground, aiming to slam into the beast's underside and pierce through its body, assuming that her attack struck true Hilda would continue the song, but rather than press her attack it would aim to simply keep the snake impaled upon her crystals in order to constrict its movements. "Now, assuming this holds you should have a clear strike!" Of course, the flames around her are causing the woman to sweat heavily and at this point, she'd feel like she's burning up. It's not damaging quite yet, but fairly painful nonetheless.

Match would stab the charcoal blade into the ground before focusing on his belt. With the press of a button, he'd bring out another glass orb with wood within. He'd once more stuff it into the hatch on the belt causing flames to seem to force themselves out from the front. "Alright! This is it! Turning up the heat to high!" With a bit of effort he'd reach down and approach the now flame surrounded belt. Even he could feel the heat coming off of it at this point. He'd place one hand on the dial and the other on the charcoal blade. He'd turn the dial once more but this time he'd turn it up all the way to the highest temperature. [Overheat! Sparking Cinders!] Flames would form out of the belt as he lifted the blade. They'd swirl around the blad before appearing to reignite the charcoal around it. With one swing the marks from before would ignite up as well before focusing their flames on the serpent. The flames would burn brightly with an orange light to contrast to the serpents red body. The serpent's skeleton would begin being consumed by the additional flames as they began to burn away. Finally, the serpent would burn to the ground as its skeletal structure no longer had anything to regenerate from. Match would fall onto his knees as the charcoal attachments on his suit began to burn away as well. And that's...how you fight fire with fire-Ah! I forgot what it feels like to be burned..."

Hilda song comes to a sudden halt, crystal vanishing into the ground as the woman's scythe goes into a portal of the same nature as her warping. There's a gleam across her face as sweat drips down and she breathes in heavily. "Geez... Even a Fire Witch doesn't burn this hot, you're really something else, aren't you? I'm curious though, why go to all this trouble if you aren't trying to cause widespread damage with these flames." She'd dust herself off and look toward him curiously, something about this man doesn't add up in the least bit to her. Causing a place to burn down, summoning monsters it seems, yet then fighting them off? There is more here than meets the eye, and if anyone would know that seemingly harmful actions can have good intentions at heart it's her. "I was half expecting to find some madman who's aim is to torch the whole city, but instead you seem to be the one doing this... It makes me curious, what kind of purpose could something like burning down buildings serve. And for some reason, I suscept it's not as simple as it appears at first glance."

Match would attempt to steady himself off after wiping some of the ash off his suit. He would hesitate slightly at Hilda's question as if unsure exactly how he should answer. "You're probably not used to firefighting but I've always admired those who would put their lives on the line to save those who are trapped in a smokey hell. Putting out fires to protect people is a noble cause but I'm not that noble but neither would I consider myself a villain. Make no mistake, this hunt of mine is a selfish desire. It's all to set things right and to avenge the first Match who burned out. These monsters... I simply call them Ash Fragments. I don't know if they have a true name but the one we just fought is a smaller piece of a much bigger creature. In order to make that monster come to me I have to keep starting fires. It's the only way..."

A selfish desire huh? She can understand that. At the end of the day, she's only ever done anything in memory of him after all... Just for the sake of a promise, at least till recently. "Revenge then, well I won't claim it's the best motive in the world it is one I can understand quite well. I've done things worse than burn down a few buildings nobody uses, in part for revenge, in part to try and keep a promise..." There's a bitter laugh as the woman begins walking off, heading back for the stairs down and looking back slightly. "Well, things have changed since then. But I still understand, besides... Someone important would want me to help, I can tell you won't quit, so I guess I'll lend a hand dealing with these monsters now and then." Something about this man almost reminds her of herself, all too focused on someone they've lost in the past... Heh, she can't really judge burning down buildings, not with all the lives she's cut short. After hanging around to hear Match's reply, she'd then set off from the building with a melancholy look on her face. The whole thing has brought to mind things best left unconsidered really.

Match almost found it odd to find someone who says they understand. In some ways, he was even ashamed to have such a motive and yet still claim the name Match but his mind was already made the day he put on the belt for the first time. "I see, I won't stop you if you want to help but just be careful to not get burned. The temperature might be even hotter next time and this suit might make me fire-proof but it won't help others nearly as much when confronted with too much fire." Even as Hilda left Match would stay on the roof of the building as the flames from before seemed to finally put themselves out. It seemed as though having completed their purpose there was no reason for them to keep burning.