The streets of Novaria lay torn and battered, but hope flickered like a stubborn flame - the tide of battle was finally turning in Luminia's favor. Angelo stood over the fallen terrorist's body, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths as his evolved aura faded away. The weight of another death settled on his shoulders like a familiar but unwelcome burden.

Joe climbed over a chunk of broken wall, his guitar bouncing against his back. He let out a low whistle. "Man, I gotta hand it to you, Angel," he said, shaking his head with a mix of respect and amazement. "That was seriously impressive. Like, rock-concert-finale level of awesome."

Before Angelo could answer, Red's crazy laughter rang out from somewhere down the street. Both of them turned to look as another scream cut through the air.

Angelo rubbed his sore shoulder, watching black smoke spiral up from burning buildings in the distance. "Just glad I got here before things got worse," he mumbled, wincing as his muscles protested.

Joe found a mostly-stable piece of wall and slumped against it, pushing his sweaty hair back from his face. "Hey, let your wild twin handle the leftovers," he said with a tired grin, gesturing toward the sounds of Red's rampage. "We've earned five minutes to actually breathe. Trust me, there'll be plenty more bad guys to punch later."

Angelo caught Joe watching him, the rock star's face softening in a way that made his earlier tough-guy act seem ridiculous. There was something almost apologetic in his expression.

"Listen," Joe said, fiddling with one of his spiked rings, "I was way off about you, man. Like, embarrassingly wrong. You're actually pretty awesome – in a scary-but-cool kind of way."

"That so?" Angelo couldn't quite hide his surprise. After their rocky start at the station, this felt surreal. "You're not so bad yourself, rock star."

Red's voice popped into Angelo's head like an angry little brother: "Hey! Don't get all buddy-buddy with him! Did you forget how he made fun of us? Of ME?" Even while complaining, Red kept right on terrorizing the remaining bad guys.

Joe gestured in Red's direction. "Even that red guy - what'd he call himself? Chaos? He's kind of intense, but I dig his style."

"Actually, he just goes by Red," Angelo said, feeling Red perk up at the mention of his name.

Joe snorted with genuine amusement. "More like Blood Red, am I right?"

In Angelo's head, Red grumbled: "Okay, fine. Maybe this guy isn't completely terrible."

A faraway look crossed Joe's face. "You know, he kind of reminds me of one of my best friends - especially with that creepy mask he's got going on."

Red's mental voice brightened: "Huh, sounds like my kind of—" His thought cut off suddenly as something slammed into him from above. A hand grabbed his face and dragged him across the ground like a rag doll. Even as chunks of his mask went flying, Red played dead perfectly.

Angelo's evolved aura erupted instantly as he sensed Red's predicament. His eyes locked onto the approaching threat.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Joe straightened up, suddenly alert. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Someone just jumped Red," Angelo said, his voice going cold and steady. "They're coming this way. Get ready."

Blue's scholarly tones cut through their shared consciousness: "Red, maintain your ruse. This could work to our advantage. I'm preparing another Precision Shot from my position." From his hidden spot in the building, Blue began gathering energy for another sniper attack.

"Yeah, no shit, genius," Red shot back in their shared head-space. "Why else would I be acting like a knocked-out dummy?"

A figure walked out of the dust cloud, dragging Red's "unconscious" body. The guy wore this weird black coat that looked like someone had frozen black fire in place. It seemed to eat up the sunlight around it.

The stranger stopped when he saw the dead ice Auron. Tears ran down his face, but his expression stayed hard as stone. "Today brought with it a heavy toll..." he said, his voice heavy with grief and anger.

Angelo and Joe shifted into fighting stances but held back, waiting to see what would happen. Even Blue stayed perfectly still in his sniper spot, watching everything.

The newcomer's voice dropped lower, thick with cold fury. "Fear not, brother. Wherever your soul has drifted – I'll send some target practice to join you soon."

Joe crossed his arms. "And who are you supposed to be?" he asked with a smirk that could cut glass.

The stranger locked eyes with them, but neither Angelo nor Joe blinked. The tension in the air felt thick enough to choke on.

"I am the Sundering's Black Flame," he said, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "Dray of the Black Flames."

He extended his free hand, and darkness gathered in his palm. It writhed and twisted until black fire danced there, somehow darker than any shadow. "This is fire from hell itself," he promised. "May it burn you in this world and the next."

Orange energy swirled around Angelo, forming his flowing cloak. The hood cast shadows over his face, making his orange eyes glow brighter. "Hell's fire can't touch Death's messenger," he said. "You're the one who's about to face judgment."

Red's mental voice dripped sarcasm: "Man, you two make such a great pair of drama queens." But only Angelo could hear his commentary.

Angelo gathered energy in his palm, making the air hum like an angry beehive. The orange glow lit up his face from below.

"Oh?" Dray lifted Red up like a shield. "You forgot I'm holding your twin brother? Go ahead - kill him just like you killed mine."

"If I do, will you let me live?" Angelo asked, his voice steady.

"No."

"That's what I thought." Angelo fired his energy bomb straight at them. Even a hundred masks couldn't hide Red's widening grin.

Shock flashed across Dray's face at Angelo's apparent willingness to sacrifice his "brother." His surprise doubled as Red's form exploded into crimson smoke. Before he could process this, Blue's concentrated energy bullet struck the back of his head. Though his black flames absorbed some of the impact, the force still snapped his head forward - just in time to meet Angelo's full attack head-on.

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The explosion lit up everything like a camera flash. Dray went flying backward, his weird fire-coat trailing behind him like angry shadows.

"Niiiice," Joe drawled, holding up an approving thumb as dust and debris rained down around them.

Dray's strange black fire-coat seemed to grab the ground like sticky tar, helping him recover his balance. His eyes narrowed as he studied Angelo with newfound respect. "You're better than I thought. Creating copies of yourself, controlling them like this..." His gaze drifted to the fallen bodies of his men, scattered across the broken street.

Suddenly, his head snapped toward the building where Blue was hiding. Without warning, he sent a wave of black fire rushing toward Blue's position like an angry tide.

Blue barely had time to widen his eyes before dissolving into blue smoke. He streamed back into Angelo's body through the newly created hole in the wall, while Dray watched the smoke with obvious confusion.

"That was too close," Blue's voice echoed in their shared mind. "He remembered the attack from behind. We need to be careful - he's smarter than he looks."

"Heads up!" Red's warning came just as Dray charged at them like a bullet.

Black fire wrapped around Dray's hands like claws as he slashed at Angelo. Angelo dodged the first swipe, but Dray spun with surprising speed. The back of his fire-covered hand caught Angelo right in the chest, sending him flying backward into a wall hard enough to crack the concrete.

Angelo pushed himself up with a grunt, then noticed something wrong - his energy cloak was on fire where Dray had hit him. He tried to pat it out, but the black flames stuck like glue, eating away at his forged energy like acid through paper.

"What the hell?" Angelo tried creating more energy to repair his cloak, but the fire devoured it faster than he could make it. No matter what he did, the flames wouldn't go out. If they reached his actual clothes...

"Angelo, you have to-" Blue started to warn, but another wave of black fire forced Angelo to jump away, his cloak still burning.

"-take off the cloak!" Blue finished urgently.

Angelo leaped backward, leaving his burning cloak behind. He let it dissolve into orange sparkles, and the black fire disappeared with it.

"Hellfire?" Angelo landed in a crouch, his voice dripping sarcasm. "More like sticky fire."

Dray stepped forward, black fire spreading across more of his body like living armor. "Mock me all you want. Your minutes are numbered either way."

Angelo's face hardened like stone. "How many?" His voice could have frozen fire. "How many Luminian lives did you take?"

Dray didn't even hesitate. "I lost count."

"Then it's time for judgment." Angelo's eyes blazed orange in the shadows. "I'll show you exactly why they call me the Angel of Death." His mind reached out to his other selves: "Red, Blue - we fight as one."

Like answering a silent call, Red and Blue's smoke forms danced through the air. They materialized behind Dray, trapping him in a triangle formation.

Dray spun slowly, studying each of them as their evolved auras lit up the street like three small suns. His eyes lingered on Red's wild grin, then moved to Blue's calm but deadly focus.

Orange energy swirled around Angelo as he created fresh robes. Red let out a delighted laugh. "Oh, we're doing this again? Time for Chaos to make his comeback!" He formed his own costume and mask while Dray's eyes went wide at hearing him speak.

"These copies are more than just-" Dray started, but Blue cut him off by charging forward, forged energy-covered fist ready to strike.

Dray shot black fire in an arc, but Blue jumped over it like a gymnast. His foot connected with the back of Dray's head - but Dray barely moved, like hitting a steel pole. Black fire exploded outward, forcing Blue to retreat.

Red and Angelo joined the fight, turning it into a deadly dance. Red slashed with his razor-sharp gloves while his energy tentacles whipped through the air. Angelo's double-scythe spun like a deadly fan, and Blue kept trying to land precise hits. But touching Dray was like playing with fire - literally. His sticky flames forced them to keep replacing their energy constructs as pieces caught fire.

Dray proved he was no pushover. He matched their style perfectly, mixing long-range attacks with close combat that looked like something out of an action movie.

"Hell's Tornado!" Dray finally shouted, his patience obviously gone. Black fire spun around him like a deadly blender, forcing the three to jump back. When the flames caught Red, he simply turned to smoke and streamed back into Angelo before reforming.

"Together!" Angelo dropped to one knee, hands pressed against the broken street. Red and Blue copied him perfectly as they all shouted: "Energetic Fissure - times three!"

Energy tentacles in red, blue, and orange erupted from the ground under Dray like angry snakes. The attack forced him to stop his tornado and whatever new move he'd been charging up inside it.

Dray leaped onto the writhing tentacles, slicing and burning them as they tried to grab him. He shot a small fireball that seemed to miss Red completely.

"Ha! You missed!" Red crowed - then the building behind him started to collapse. Thanks to Blue's shared vision, Red saw it coming and twisted away just before tons of concrete would have crushed him.

Angelo and Blue kept up their attack while Red charged straight at Dray.

"Red, get out of the way, you idiot!" Angelo's mental voice crackled with frustration. "I can't hit him without hitting you!"

"Sounds like you need more practice!" Red shot back.

Their brief argument slowed them down for just a second - but that was all Dray needed. He dodged Red and launched himself at Angelo like a rocket.

Angelo's eyes went wide as Dray closed in. His energy wings burst to life and carried him skyward, barely avoiding Dray's fiery attack. But Dray wasn't done - a fireball shot from his coat straight at Angelo's head. Angelo had to bend backward, the flames almost singing his hair.

Something in Angelo's dodge made Dray's eyes twitch, pausing for just a heartbeat - but that was all Blue needed. His precise strike would have caught Dray in the ribs if the terrorist hadn't moved at the last possible second.

Angelo dove down like a bird of prey, but he'd fallen right into Dray's trap. By the time Angelo realized his mistake, his own speed had betrayed him - he was moving too fast to change direction. Dray jumped and spun like a dancer, his movement flowing smooth as water. His boot caught Angelo square in the chest with the force of a speeding truck.

"I got you!" Joe leaped forward to catch Angelo, but the kick was so powerful it sent them both crashing through the wall behind them. Dust and broken concrete rained down as Angelo lay motionless on his side, looking like he'd fallen asleep in the middle of the destruction.

Joe scrambled over to him, heart hammering in his chest. "YO! Angel!" He shook Angelo's shoulder roughly. "Come on man, talk to me!"

Dray started moving toward them like a predator closing in on wounded prey, but Red and Blue jumped into his path. Their attacks came from every direction - Blue's perfect martial arts mixed with Red's wild, unpredictable strikes. They shouldn't have worked well together, but somehow they did, like chaos and order joining forces.

But Dray was learning their rhythm. He slashed at Blue with his sticky black fire, forcing Red to knock Blue out of the way. Red's body dissolved into smoke that flowed back into Angelo - but this time, he didn't come back out.

Now Blue had to fight alone. Without Angelo and Red to help, Dray's raw power became overwhelming. Every exchange left Blue giving more ground, like waves retreating from the shore.

Blue moved in for one last attack, but Dray had been waiting for this. The black fire he'd been secretly gathering exploded outward like a bomb going off. Even someone as quick as Blue couldn't dodge it all. His form turned to smoke and rushed back to Angelo like he was being pulled by an invisible string.

Dray walked toward Joe and Angelo, who was just starting to stir. "Looks like you lost, Ang-" He cut off as Angelo's energy wings burst to life. Before anyone could react, Angelo shot straight up into the sky like a rocket.

"HEY!" Joe's voice cracked with fury as he shook his fist at the retreating figure. "You coward! How can you just leave after I saved you?!"

But Angelo kept flying until he was just a speck against the clouds. Joe's face hardened as he turned back to Dray. "Whatever." He pulled out his guitar, and his yellow aura growing and evolving. His uncovered eye glowing yellow like a snake's.

"Want to dance, big guy?" Joe's fingers hovered over the strings. "Time for the encore!" His voice carried none of his usual showman's flair - just cold determination.

Dray launched a wave of black fire, but it vanished like smoke in the wind when Joe's sound wave hit it. The attack forced Dray to jump aside as windows shattered all around them.

"How about that?" Joe's grin was all teeth. "Your brother's ice may have beaten my sound, but my sound beats YOUR fire! Funny how that works, isn't it?"

The broken street fell silent except for the hum of Joe's evolved aura and the soft crackle of black flames. Two evolved Aurons facing off in the ruins of Novaria - one fighting for revenge, the other standing alone where three had failed.