Without hesitation, Charlotte flies straight to where the lovers are, leaving Ruben to carry the rest with his wind power.

  At David’s command, Ruben carries the group into the battlefield.

  Ruben, standing as tall as Yu, exudes a sharp presence, with dark curls complementing his crisp light blue buttoned-up shirt that accentuates his lean frame and slight belly. He pairs it with tailored black dress pants and classic black dress shoes to complete the “fight with style” look.

  “If your team can at least distract one or two of them, that’d be a great help,” David says, then continues, “Do be careful. These are mega champions!”

  “Wait! Do we even have a chance?” Wyn asks.

  “Shouldn’t we run away, Mister David?” Lisa suggests.

  “No, they need to pay for what they’ve done! Just buy us some time. We’re much stronger than when we last met,” David replies, as Ruben carries the remaining members to the back of the larger creature and launches into an attack, leaving Wyn’s team to strategize on their own.

  Wyn’s team gulps as they observe the fierce battle unfolding from behind one of the creatures.

  “Don’t tell me those are…,” James trails off, wide-eyed.

  “There’s no mistake. These are angels!” Mira responds.

  There are four angels in total, but one looks different from the rest. Thanks to Mira’s insight and James’ bestiary, they identify these creatures as fallen angels.

  The wheel angels possess multiple rotating wheels within wheels. Each wheel is studded with eyes that blink in unison as they roam. Behind the rotating wheels lies a single, massive eye at the center. The wheels possess a celestial symmetry, with a texture like burnished bronze. When engaged in battle, the wheels spin, the smaller eyes on them closing as the central eye narrows its gaze. Elemental power then overtakes the wheels – the one in front of Wyn’s team is a fire-wielding angel, and its wheels blaze with burning flames as they rotate.

  Then there’s the unique figure among them – the winged angel. This version of the fallen angel has six elegant white wings, each folding around its body like a divine shroud when at rest. Its face is dominated by a single giant eyeball. Though peaceful in appearance, the angel carries immense elemental power. When drawn into battle, the wings begin to glow with a tint of the element it controls – in this case, gray hues scatter across the wings.

  “Dude, are we really gonna do this?” James says Wyn.

  “I’ll get its attention, you guys get ready!” Yu declares, his grip tightening on his blade.

  With a quick movement, Wyn summons a rock pillar that erupts in front of the fire wheel angel, unintentionally shielding it from frontal attacks. But the action serves as a signal to David’s team, indicating they can leave the angel to Wyn’s group.

  Yu immediately follows up, summoning a powerful stream of water from the tip of his blade that strikes the angel’s back, mostly splashing against the spinning wheels. The wheel angel turns to face them, but before it can react, an ascending cyclone bursts through the air, shattering the rock pillar into rubble.

  Yet, despite the whirlwind of attacks, the angel remains grounded.

  “Shit! My cyclones have no impact!” Wyn exclaims.

  Lisa fires fully-charged electrifying lasers from her gun, but they all strike the wheels instead. The angel’s gaze sharpens, triggering fire pillars to erupt around the team. Wyn counters by summoning rock pillars to replace the flames, but they are quickly engulfed by the blazing fire. Gathering his team, Wyn propels everyone through the inferno just moments before a powerful fire pillar erupts beneath their previous position.

  While being propelled, Wyn summons another cyclone in the opposite direction. When both cyclones collide, the team is abruptly halted midair before falling to the ground. Despite the soft landing, they all feel a jarring pain from the clash of the cyclones.

  “Don’t EVER do that again!” James exclaims.

  “How did you do that?” Yu asks, but Wyn merely shrugs in response.

  The team finds itself near the burning fence, where farm creatures with fur constantly ablaze roam in chaos, screaming and ramming into each other amidst the flames. The angel lowers itself, charging straight for the team. Wyn swiftly hurls the flaming farm creatures at the angel, employing his bending techniques, while Lisa follows up by firing electrifying lasers. In retaliation, the angel unleashes flames from its spinning wheels, sending fire slashes toward the team that evaporate the farm creatures and cut through Lisa’s lasers.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  One of the slashes strikes Yu squarely in the chest, sending him to the ground in pain, though all his body parts remain intact. The team lets out a sigh of relief as Wyn quickly sends Yu away from danger using a slanted rock pillar. Meanwhile, James assists the others by conjuring an ice pillar to dodge the next slashes. Though the ice pillar shatters from the impact, the team is prepared, already hovering mid-air on Wyn’s mini cyclones.

  The angel adjusts its aim and unleashes a barrage of fiery slashes. Wyn quickly orders his team to hold on to him as tightly as possible before jetting around the angel. He drops each member off strategically when it's safe. Now surrounding the angel, everyone except for Yu begins hurling their own barrage of projectiles, while Wyn hovers above, watching the battle unfold.

  As Wyn observes, he notices that the angel’s spherical shape allows it to fire attacks in multiple directions. However, the fire pillars can only be summoned in the direction the giant eye is staring at. Then, he discovers the angel’s other limitation: when it dodges, it can’t move diagonally.

  Wyn continuously repositions himself, keeping the angel’s eye in sight as it turns and moves. He summons two cyclones and curves them around the angel, each carrying chakram blades. Mira and James quickly switch to ground attacks while Lisa carefully takes aim. The eye struggles to track the two chakrams, distracted by their movement. Just as the eye begins to shift toward Lisa, she fires a fully-charged laser. Her precision shot strikes one of the blades, pushing it past the wheels, though the beams themselves are blocked. Both Wyn and Lisa grow frustrated as the eye suddenly closes, ricocheting the blade between the wheels before it drops to the ground.

  “Attack the wheels!” James shouts.

  James, noticing that his and Mira’s ground attacks slightly slow the spinning wheels despite his ice pillars being swiftly destroyed upon emergence, continues his efforts. Suddenly, a powerful stream of water erupts from the ground, engulfing the angel.

  “Freeze it, James!” Yu says, already at where James is.

  The combined effort effectively slows down the wheels, though Yu and James struggle as their attacks are chipped away by the relentless spinning. Meanwhile, Wyn is unable to get a clear shot at the eye, now hidden behind the constructing frozen wall. He calls out to Mira, swooping her into the air. While the angel is occupied trying to destroy the rising wall of ice, Wyn erects a blazing rock pillar around it, further obstructing its view. From above, Mira hurls fireballs, drawing the eye’s attention upward. Meanwhile, Lisa reaches Yu and James, and together they begin fusing the frozen wall with electricity.

  The moment the eye turns toward Wyn and Mira, Wyn guides Mira’s whip with precision, directing it past the now-slowed wheels and into the eye. The whip’s tip pierces through, triggering a massive explosion. However, the blast also wipes out the ground team’s efforts. The angel, now free but slightly sluggish from the paralysis, slowly regains momentum. As the wheels spin faster, they hit the dangling whip handle, dislodging the sharp tip from the eye.

  “What were you doing? Why didn’t you continue attacking?” James shouts.

  “Someone’s coming!” Wyn replies, peering into the direction of Skill Tree.

  A couple of fire slashes catch Wyn off guard, knocking both him and Mira crashing to the ground. Lisa distracts the angel, firing laser beams so it turns to face her. Yu and James resume the same strategy, while Lisa moves toward Wyn and Mira to check on them.

  “You guys have done a fantastic job! Now, help us!” Fatima shouts as she runs toward Wyn’s team, and on her side is Isabella.

  Isabella is roughly Mira’s height, with long, sleek black hair cascading down her back. Her warm brown eyes are sharp. She has a slender, athletic build, with lightly sun-kissed skin. She wears a sleek, form-fitting black combat suit made from a durable, lightweight material that allows for maximum mobility. Over her suit, she has a cropped, asymmetrical leather jacket with multiple pockets. She wears tight, black tactical leggings made from the same durable, lightweight material as her combat suit. Completing her ensemble are sturdy combat boots. Interestingly, she initially purchased this outfit for a Halloween contest.

  The Skill Tree leaders start to teeter the angel, pushing it to one side with burning rock pillars and the other with electricity-fused lava pillars. Wyn gets up, leaving Mira with Lisa as he jets himself toward Fatima.

  “You read my mind!” Fatima exclaims.

  “Are you sure about this? This is a lot stronger than the lava train,” Wyn replies.

  “We’ve grown even stronger! Just like you have!” she answers with a smile.

  Delegating the teetering task to Yu, James, and Lisa for electrifying frozen water streams, Wyn anxiously awaits Fatima’s command. As the wheels are affected by the electricity, their rotation slows even further. Finally, Fatima gives Wyn the go-ahead to launch her inside a cyclone.

  “What the? We just missed our chance!” Fatima complains, frustrated.

  “Wait, wait, wait! I’m sorry, but let’s not risk anyone’s life here! We don’t have a way to stabilize you inside my cyclone!” Wyn protests.

  Wyn quickly regroups with his team while the Skill Tree leaders dart around the angel, firing projectiles. Fully charged, Wyn summons a cyclone fused with water, ice, and electricity, with Mira’s whip leading the charge. The resulting explosion sends the hovering angel crashing to the ground. Although the blast cuts a significant portion from the fused cyclone initially, it continues downward, freezing the angel in place, with its eye now diagonally staring at Fatima.

  Seizing the opportunity, Fatima propels herself forward using a slanted rock, beginning to drill toward the eye. Isabella rushes to Fatima's side, heating her drill with lava. The intense heat enables the girls to pierce through the ice quickly, striking the eye directly. They continue drilling, and with Wyn's assistance, they push the drill deeper, covering most of the eye and destroying parts of the eyelids in the process.

  The eyeball begins to dry, fading in color.

  “Good job, guys, but no time to celebrate. We need to help David!” Isabella says.