“Can someone quickly read up the section about Heaven’s Gate?” Steve asks.

  Then someone answers, “Defeat the guardian, and the gate will open for you. The guardian’s strength is similar to Cerberus’.”

  “Good,” Wei says, a grin spreading across his face.

  While the Hell souls are busy looking up information on Heaven’s Gate, the Living Creatures begin to merge, fusing into a single, towering entity. The merged form has the head of a man crowned by a radiant, halo-like light. Its chest and shoulders are those of a lion, while six massive wings – two feathered like an eagle’s and four glowing ethereal – spread wide from its back. Human arms extend outward, their hands transformed into razor-sharp eagle talons. Its legs are powerful and hooved like an ox’s, and a glowing wheel of eyes hovers and spins around it, emanating a celestial hymn that resonates through the air.

  “Yuck! So many eyes on its body, and now on the wheels?” Yu exclaims.

  “The wheel reminds me of the winged angels we’ve seen before, but something seems different,” Wyn remarks.

  The wheel, a single layer of celestial power, has four thick arcs extending from its rim, converging at the top and bottom to form a symmetrical frame. Each arc is lined with glaring eyes that blink asynchronously, their unsettling gaze tracking everything around them. The entire structure rotates as one, while the hollow space at its core remains empty, a void of radiant power.

  As the merged entity motions with its arms, pushing them inward, the wheel shrinks and shifts to hover in between its talons without touching them. Shortly after, the hollow space inside the wheel illuminates with elemental abilities – cyclone, rock, fire, and water – each pouring out from the eyes within. The elements mix chaotically, swirling together inside. The wheel expands as the arms are pushed outward, growing so large that it completely obstructs the merged entity, its presence overwhelming the surroundings.

  “Wei and I will stand our ground. The rest of you, get behind us and stay safe,” Steve orders.

  Suddenly, the wheel jets toward the Hell army. Steve, prepared, counters with his own cyclone, attempting to push the wheel back. However, the wheel shifts, its thick arcs keeping clear of the cyclone’s reach, causing Steve’s powerful attack to pass through the wheel and sweep away the elemental chaos inside. As the cyclone fades, the elemental abilities surge once more, engulfing both Steve and Wei, before swiftly advancing toward David’s and Wyn’s teams, the next in line.

  Caught off guard, Charlotte quickly gusts her team and Wyn's team into action. At David’s command, they fortify their defenses, erecting walls of ice, snow, and rock around them, while instructing the souls behind them to brace for impact and follow suit. As the wheel engulfs them, they feel and hear their defenses being chipped away rapidly. But when the hub at the center of the wheel sweeps from the bottom, their protections are instantly destroyed, and the souls are sucked into the chaotic elemental space within.

  Meanwhile, Steve propels himself and Wei out of the wheel, both crash-landing as it continues to spin toward the back of the army.

  “That stings!” Wei groans as he pushes himself up.

  “I’m just surprised we’re not worse off than this!” Steve adds.

  With lightning speed, the enemy closes in on Wei, sweeping its talon toward his neck, attempting to rip it open with a vicious pull. Despite the force, the pull proves unsuccessful as Wei stands frozen in shock, his mind overwhelmed by the sheer proximity of death. This moment of hesitation prompts Steve to spring into action, shooting ice bullets at the beast. However, the creature swiftly dislodges its talon and evades the attack.

  “Get a grip, Wei!” Steve shouts.

  Feeling the wound in his neck, Wei steadies himself, gripping his triple-sworded weapon. He summons a swirling stream of evaporating water, which emits smoke as it encircles both him and Steve. The beast dashes in, but Wei miscalculates his timing and fails to ensnare the enemy in the hardened lava stream. Standing ready, Steve leaps in, blocking the sweeping talons. Just as Wei prepares a counterattack, the merged entity lifts its hooves and delivers a powerful kick to Steve, sending him stumbling backward toward Wei, and both crash to the ground.

  While the group is being carried inside the wheel, Wyn jets himself around, one eye squinting as he tries to locate his team and David’s. He quickly grabs Charlotte first, then Violet, who together create a wind barrier to soften the force of the elemental chaos. This allows Wyn to more easily locate the others, grabbing them before jetting them all out of the wheel.

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  “Everyone alright?” David asks, his eyes scanning the group with concern.

  “I’m about to throw up!” Yu exclaims.

  “The wheel’s not that strong. It didn’t tear us apart!” Eugene says.

  “‘Not that strong’? Really?” Charlotte responds.

  “I’m more worried about the other souls caught inside the wheel,” Violet adds.

  “How can we stop it? Our defenses were destroyed instantly the moment it made contact,” Kai remarks.

  “Jesús, do you think you can hook your chains onto its spokes or arcs, or whatever they’re called?” David asks.

  After making its way to the back of the army, the wheel comes to a stop, shrinking in size and releasing the souls trapped inside. Once it returns to its original size, the wheel hovers high above, only to enlarge again – though not nearly as large as before. This time, elemental attacks stream from the eyes on the outside of the arcs, relentlessly firing into the army below.

  Charlotte, with Violet, carefully carries Wyn and Jesús toward the wheel, skillfully evading the attacks from the eyes. Just as Jesús takes aim with his hooks, one of the eyes on a spoke notices him, causing the wheel to stop spinning and focus its attacks on him. While the air team dodges the onslaught, David summons a fully-charged thunderstrike directly at the top spoke hub, causing the wheel to drop. Before it can stabilize midair, Jesús successfully hooks the chains to a spoke and the hub. As usual, he lets Wyn propel the anchor, sending it spinning with Wyn’s fully-charged cyclone.

  With David clearing the ground for him, Wyn directs the anchored wheel through the air, using his cyclone to slam it into the ground with full force. The impact causes all the eyes to close simultaneously, giving the souls on the ground an opening to bombard it with projectiles. Despite their relentless efforts, the wheel shows no sign of damage. That’s when David realizes the truth – the wheel is merely a weapon.

  “We need to kill the Living Creatures or unmerge them!” David shouts.

  Leaving the army to hold off the wheel and buy time for Steve and Wei, David’s group returns to their side. Upon arrival, they find the two faction leaders struggling to track the lightning-fast merged beast.

  “It’s just a glorified boberbearboar with wings…and tons of eyes,” Yu remarks.

  “What’s a boberbearboar?” Lisa asks. “Sounds cute.”

  Wyn motions for the two to be quiet as he watches intently, studying how Steve controls the cyclones as they emerge from different directions, swirling next to each other. Meanwhile, the beast evades, dashing through the air before switching tactics to fire its sharp, regrowing feathers from its eagle wings. However, David’s group quickly notices that the beast stops moving when it unleashes the feathers. Silently, they spread out, preparing for their next coordinated attacks.

  The moment the merged enemy stops to fire its feathers again, David shouts, prompting the group to unleash their attacks around the beast, Steve, and Wei, creating a battlefield where no one can retreat. Startled, the beast pauses, giving Steve the chance to strike its head with ice bullets. The enemy swiftly reacts, flying sideways while using four ethereal wings to shield its human head. Though the beast is contained, its speed remains too fast for Steve and Wei to inflict further damage.

  “Trust me on this, okay? Ret it hit me. You’rl know what to do,” Wei says.

  “That’s too risky,” Steve responds.

  “We need to end this soon before we roose too many souls.”

  In a surprising move, both Steve and Wei stop attacking, telling David’s group to stay put and not intervene. Wei steps forward, eyes closed, bracing himself to endure the intense pain. In the blink of an eye, the beast’s talons sink deep into his neck. However, this time, the beast lifts its hooves, attempting to kick Wei in a bid to rip apart his neck.

  Fully charging his cyclone, Steve dashes toward the beast just before the kick lands. His ice blade sinks into its side, and with his other arm holding onto it, he spins it through the air.

  “Wei!” David calls out, dashing to grab him before he collapses. Wei’s neck remains intact, though a nasty slash across it leaves him in tremendous pain.

  Meanwhile, Steve, still propelled by his cyclone, maintains his grip on the beast, not letting go. Frost spreads across its side until the ice shatters, and the ice blade bursts from the gun’s barrel, driving through the beast and blowing off its lower half as the cyclone continues. The lower half dangles for a moment, still caught in the swirling winds before being hurled away, while the upper half stays within the cyclone, with the man and the eagle unmerging. As they remain suspended, the lion and ox unmerge as well, dissolving into essence as they fall to the ground. The wheel vanishes instantly.

  With Steve’s cyclone pinning the man and the eagle down, the group joins in, funneling their attacks into the cyclone as Steve leaps out of the way. As a finishing move, Steve unleashes two horizontal cyclones, sending them in opposite directions, tearing the creatures apart. The Living Creatures are no match for Steve’s current strength, especially now that they’re no longer merged.

  The army emerges victorious with no losses, aided by the barriers most souls managed to activate and share with those nearby. David, Steve, and Wei, who is still conscious and being carried by David, gather the dropped essence. The leaders decide to rest and give Wei time to recover.

  As David navigates the menu, he selects the option to pitch a tent. A portal opens behind the virtual screen, and a small black tent for one materializes. Despite its size, Mira somehow manages to fit James inside, and the two “rest” together.

  Meanwhile, the rest of Wyn’s team approaches Steve, eager to learn how he controls his powers in different directions. They spend the entire time training with him. The rest of the army waits as Wei recovers, using cat saliva to heal their injuries while preparing to march through the gate, which had opened on its own after the deaths of the Living Creatures.