Sorry for the delay, I had math work to do.
Hellfire can create a fiery shield to block attacks.
With that in mind it gives him a pretty good advantage in the fight.
Also I'm curious to see how Lifting Strength helps in this fight. Does Hellfire Flame usually restrain people?
He tends to lock blades with his opponent during combat, which is LS related I believe.
For the shield, while he technically could do that, it seems to be more a by product of him slashing his blazing blade around very fast.
On the whole skill thing, Garou is comparable in skill to Bang, able to learn entire fighting styles at a glance, who is comparably skilled to Flashy Flash, and Hellfire was able to land hits on FF during their fight (ie get past his gaurd), so they are at least in the same ballpark.
How I see it;
Raw AP:
Crimson Fire (Small advantage)
+
LS:
Hellfire (Huge advantage)
+++
Skill:
Hellfire (Only a mild advantage)
++
Range: Pretty much
a tie (While Crimson has TK, it is far too weak to restrain Hellfire, and Hellfire has a range of multiple meters with his "Fire Release Blazing Scatter Slash". Not to mention its primary purpose is to move 6 extra swords. While TK is inherently more powerful, how it mies with her opponent's stats is what evens it out.) =
Defensive/evasive skills:
Hellfire (Mild advantage. Is able to make a shield like bubble around himself, is highly agile and able to run on walls.)
++
Hax:
Crimson Fire (Mild advantage. TK, and her ability to sense where people are will likely nullify Hellfire's duplicates and stealth mastery)
++
Durability:
Crimson Fire (Small advantage)
+
Offensive Skills (Separate from AP, ability to mount and maintain offensive pressure):
Hellfire (Small advantage. As his style is mostly composed of offensive strikes, with many abilities to take advantage of his offensive skill. Crimson does have like 6 swords though, so it's not an easy win there, and in fact, I won't give any points for it)
Hellfire: 7, technically 8
Crimson Fire: 4
Unless knew counter-arguments are made, my vote tennativly goes to
Hellfire.