Dark clouds rolled across the sky above Luminia like a heavy blanket, casting gloomy shadows over the battle-scarred streets below. A gust of wind swept through the ruins, lifting Joe's long hair just enough to reveal his hidden eye before letting it fall back into place. His modified guitar felt heavier than usual in his hands, its blade edge drinking in what little light filtered through the clouds.
Across from him, Dray stood like a nightmare come to life. Black flames oozed around him like living oil, somehow darker than even the shadows they cast. The strange fire moved with an intelligence of its own, rippling across his body like a second skin eager to devour anything it touched.
Joe struck a few experimental chords, the familiar vibration of the strings steadying his nerves. "Time for your big debut, terrorist!" His voice carried the exaggerated showmanship of a true performer, though his visible eye remained cold and focused. "Hope you're ready for the spotlight."
"Always with the theatrics." Dray's lip curled in disgust as he settled into a fighting stance. "You think your little music show can stop me from finding the Angel of Death? From making him pay?"
"Oh, give it a rest." Joe rolled his eye with enough drama to make it a performance of its own. "Angelo this, Angelo that - you're starting to sound like a bad record. Besides..." His grin turned sharp as a knife. "The only show that matters right now is the one where I kick your ass back to Infernia."
Dray's shoulders tensed at the mention of his homeland. "You false Infernians make me sick," he spat, black flames writhing around his hands like angry snakes. "Living here in 'Luminia', pretending to belong. Playing your music, running your businesses - all while betraying your true heritage."
"Heritage?" Joe barked out a laugh that held no humor. "What I am is a rockstar who's about to rock your world. The only traitor here is you, bringing this violence to innocent people."
"Big words from someone about to burn." The black flames coating Dray's hands stretched into wicked claws as his voice dropped to something dangerous. "Let's see if you can back them up."
Dray lunged forward like a striking snake, his flaming claws leaving trails of darkness through the air. Wherever the black fire touched the ground, it seemed to eat away at the concrete like acid through paper.
Joe took a deep breath, centering himself as he positioned his guitar. When he sang, his words carried power that transformed into visible waves of force:
"Got my walls built out of music
Got my shield made out of sound
But something in your frequency
Keeps breaking down my ground..."
The sound waves slammed into Dray like physical blows, making his flame-claws sputter and fade. Even his cape of black fire trembled as if the music itself was trying to tear it apart.
"What's wrong?" Joe taunted, satisfaction clear in his voice. "Not a fan of my music? Critics can be so harsh these days."
Gritting his teeth, Dray circled away from another sonic assault. "Your pathetic songs won't save you forever."
Joe raised his guitar higher, pouring more power into his next verse:
"I could write a thousand lyrics
About the way you move
Could fill an endless setlist
With the thoughts of me and you
But I'm stuck here at midnight
With these chords that just won't end
Trying to find the courage
To let this static bend..."
The sound waves forced Dray to circle away, his boots scraping against broken concrete as he searched for an opening. His face twisted with frustration as Joe turned slowly, keeping him in his sights.
"Getting real tired of your foolish song!" Dray snarled, suddenly changing direction with impossible speed. His claws extended as he charged straight at Joe.
"Everyone's a critic!" Joe swung his guitar like a sword, forcing Dray to dodge. But the terrorist recovered instantly, those terrible claws slashing through the air. When the black flames touched Joe's guitar, they clung like tar, slowly spreading across its surface.
"No no no!" Real fear cracked through Joe's stage persona as he realized the danger. He channeled that panic into a raw scream that exploded outward in a sphere of pure sound.
The force drove Dray back and thawed the black flames on his guitar, but the damage was done. Joe's precious guitar strings had vanished, eaten away by that impossible fire.
"Seriously?!" Joe inspected his ruined instrument with growing outrage. "How can this be? The entire thing is Auranium. Do you know how much Auranium costs? That's coming out of your paycheck, terrorist!"
"Still making jokes?" Dray's voice dripped contempt. "Let's see you laugh without your little music maker."
"Oh, you think I need strings to sing?" Joe's visible eye blazed with renewed determination as his aura flared brighter. "Buddy, you're about to learn what a true encore feels like! Time for the Chorus!"
His voice rose with raw power as he launched into the next verse:
"You're the rhythm that I'm missing
The note I can't quite play
The silence between power chords
That takes my breath away
And maybe I'm not ready
To hear what you might say
But this static in my heartbeat
Won't seem to fade away..."
The sound waves ripped chunks from the street as they roared toward Dray. The terrorist raised a wall of his black flames that kept dissolving and reforming under the assault.
"That the best you've got?" Dray shouted over the noise. With a shout of effort, he sent his fire racing through the ground like dark rivers.
The flames burst up around Joe's feet as jagged spikes, forcing him to stop singing and dive away. "Hey, no fair interrupting the chorus! That's like, against the rules of rock!"
Both warriors stood panting, studying each other across the broken battlefield. Sweat ran down their faces as exhaustion started to catch up. Joe moved to set up his next attack, but suddenly froze. A strange smile touched his lips as he stared at his hand.
"This is it," he said, his voice carrying an excitement that made Dray tense.
----------------------------------------
[Minutes Earlier...]
"YO! Angel!" He shook Angelo's shoulder roughly. "Come on man, talk to me!"
Angelo lay flat against the broken concrete, his breath coming in shallow gasps. Every muscle screamed from pushing his powers too far. He could feel his evolved state flickering like a candle running out of wax.
"Keep your voice down," he whispered to Joe, who crouched nearby. Sweat ran down Angelo's face as he fought to stay focused. "I'm almost out of steam. We need to end this fast." He reached for Joe's hand with urgent purpose. "Give me your hand – quick."
Joe hesitated for just a moment before extending his arm. Angelo pressed his palm against Joe's, orange light gathering between them like morning sunlight caught in glass. The energy solidified into a simple ring that settled onto Joe's finger.
"Ow!" Joe barely managed to keep his yelp quiet as the ring adjusted itself. His eye darted toward where Dray fought Red and Blue, but the terrorist seemed too occupied to notice.
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"Here's the plan," Angelo's words came fast and low. "I'm going to fly up with Red and Blue. We'll make it look like they got beaten, and I'll pretend to run away." His fingers tightened around Joe's wrist. "You need to sell it – make it look like I really did abandon you."
Understanding dawned in Joe's visible eye. "And once you're gone?"
"The three of us will set up something big enough to take him down for good. You'll need to stall him. Wait for the ring's signal." Angelo's voice carried grim certainty.
Joe remembered how Red and Blue's combined attack had demolished the other evolved terrorist. "You better make it count, Angel." His words carried both threat and desperate hope.
They watched as Blue made one final attack on Dray, only for the terrorist's black flames to explode outward like an angry storm. Blue's form dissolved into smoke that rushed back to Angelo's body.
Dray stalked toward them, confidence radiating from every step. "Looks like you lost, Ang—" His taunt cut short as Angelo's wings of pure energy burst to life. Before anyone could react, Angelo shot straight up like a rocket breaking atmosphere.
"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 climbing until he vanished into the clouds. Joe's face twisted with perfectly acted betrayal as he turned back to Dray. "Whatever." He raised his guitar as his yellow aura blazed brighter, evolving into something new and dangerous. "Want to dance, big guy? Time for the encore!"
High above the battle, hidden safely behind thick clouds, Angelo finally let himself catch his breath. Red and Blue materialized beside him, both crafting their own ways to stay airborne.
"Think rock boy can keep him busy?" Red asked, his usual manic energy subdued by concern.
"He has to," Angelo muttered. Exhaustion made his words slur slightly. "Okay, this Dray's tougher than we thought. I say we mix all our energies for one big hit."
"I strongly advise against that." Blue's scholarly tone carried real worry.
"Here we go," Red rolled his eyes. "Always with the warnings."
Blue ignored him, focusing on Angelo. "We haven't mastered combining Red's energy with mine. Adding yours could make it even more unstable." His words brought unwanted memories flooding back – their failed attack against Jill, the explosion that had cost them so much.
Angelo sighed, wiping blood from his nose. "Look Blue, I know you still feel guilty about what happened then." Blue's perfect composure cracked just slightly. "But I'm running on fumes here... We can't afford multiple attacks. It's all or nothing."
"Well said!" Red's grin carried its usual edge of chaos.
Blue studied them both before closing his eyes with scholarly resignation. "Very well. But we must be extremely careful. At least this time we can focus properly."
They stretched their hands toward each other, palms hovering over the same point. Three colors of energy – orange, red, and blue – began to flow between them like mixing paints. The energies swirled together into a sphere, but sometimes it would stretch violently in random directions like it was trying to escape. All three pushed back against these surges, fighting to keep the power contained.
Everything seemed under control until the sphere started spinning wildly, making a sound like an angry tea kettle. "Whoa whoa whoa, back off!" Angelo shouted. "Give it room to breathe!"
They quickly expanded the sphere, making it bigger but less dense. The horrible shrieking stopped as the energies settled into a more stable pattern. Angelo let out a shaky breath.
"Nearly complete," Blue observed. "Though making it larger reduces its power significantly. The trade-off may not be worth it."
"Yeah?" Red glanced at Angelo with rare concern. "Well, we can't exactly start over. Look at him."
Angelo was barely staying airborne, blood running freely from his nose to join the stains on his clothes. But his eyes burned with fierce determination. "Don't worry about me. This has to work." He focused on the ring he'd given Joe, making it tighten and loosen twice – their signal that everything was ready.
Far below, Joe felt the ring's message. A fierce grin spread across his face as he faced down Dray's black flames. "This is it," he said, his voice carrying an excitement that made Dray tense.
Dray looked up, confusion crossing his face as he noticed Joe's sudden confidence. "What are you—"
"HEAVEN'S JUDGMENT!" Angelo commanded from far above.
A beam of light crashed down as it punctured the clouds, its colors swirling together like paint in a river orange, red, and blue all dancing around each other as they rained toward earth. Joe dove aside at the last second, rolling behind a chunk of broken wall as the attack engulfed Dray like nature's own spotlight.
"Uuugggh!" Dray's teeth ground together as the beam hammered him from above. His black fire-coat tried to ignite and absorb the attack like it had done before, but the energy was moving too fast, washing away his flames like a waterfall clearing away oil. The ground cracked beneath his feet, concrete splitting apart as Angelo, Red, and Blue poured everything they had into their combined attack.
"You... cheeky... BASTARD...!" Dray managed through clenched teeth. The powerful beam was slowly eating away at his defenses, his coat of black flames dissolving bit by bit like paper in acid.
High above, Angelo's face was pale with effort as he fought to maintain the attack. Blood ran freely from his nose as his evolved aura flickered like a dying lamp. "Don't... let... up!" he shouted to his duplicates.
A scream of pure rage tore from Dray's throat: "DARK SUPERNOVA!"
Black flames erupted around him, but different from before – thicker, almost solid, like tar given life and purpose. The dark mass swallowed him completely, growing larger by the second. The sound of his flames fighting against Angelo's beam was like a giant bathtub trying to drain an ocean, the two powers grinding against each other with horrible force.
"Holy shit..." Joe watched in awe from his shelter. Then determination hardened his face. "I should help!"
He unleashed a massive sound wave, trying to help break down Dray's defense. But his attack disrupted Angelo's beam too, weakening it just enough. That tiny moment of reduced pressure was all Dray needed.
He burst from his cocoon of black flames like a demon emerging from hell, his body covered in cuts and bruises from the devastating attack. At that same moment, Angelo's power finally gave out. His aura vanished like a snuffed candle as his forged energy wings dissolved into mist.
Red and Blue grabbed their original before he could fall, his body limp but still conscious. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth as he fought for each breath. They carried him to a nearby rooftop, laying him down carefully before landing beside Joe to face their opponent.
Everyone was breathing hard now – Joe from his constant attacks and Dray from the beating he'd taken. The street had become a war zone, broken concrete and scorch marks everywhere you looked.
Then something unexpected happened. A voice crackled from somewhere on Dray's person, tinny but clear: "This is a call for all units. All units, retreat."
Dray's eyes widened with surprise, but he wasted no time. He scooped up his brother's body in both arms, cradling it with surprising gentleness. "We'll continue this another time."
"You're not going anywhere!" Red launched a wave of crimson energy that looked like angry lightning, but Dray blocked it with what remained of his black flames.
"Mark my words, Angel of Death." Dray's voice carried the weight of a solemn vow as he backed away. "I will avenge my brother. You can be sure of that."
Before anyone could stop him, he turned and ran, crossing the distance between buildings in impossible leaps. Joe sent blast after blast of concentrated wind trying to catch him, but Dray dodged each attack with the desperate energy of someone with nothing left to lose.
A sleek vehicle swooped down from above, snatching Dray up mid-jump before disappearing into the clouds. Red stood cursing at the sky, unable to fly fast enough to pursue them.
The dust finally settled over the broken street as Angelo and Joe sat slumped against chunks of fallen concrete. Red and Blue stood guard over them like watchful shadows, their gray-tinted forms identical to Angelo's except for their expressions – Red's restless energy and Blue's careful focus.
"So..." Red bounced on his heels, unable to stay completely still even after such an intense battle. "Guess we won, huh?"
"I s'pose." Joe winced as he tried to find a more comfortable position against the rubble. "They wouldn't be running away if we lost."
Blue crossed his arms, his scholarly concern evident. "We can't be certain. They might be regrouping for another attack."
Angelo lifted his head with visible effort, dried blood cracking on his face as he spoke. "We need to call the chief... make sure what's happening." His voice sounded like he'd been gargling gravel. "Red, get my phone."
Red suddenly became very interested in a nearby piece of debris. "Um... yeah, about that." He scratched the back of his head. "I kind of left it charging at Bob's house."
Angelo just sighed, too exhausted to even muster proper annoyance.
"I can't even hold your phone in the first place, when we reintegrate! Remember?!" Red protested.
"No worries, I got this—" Joe reached for his pocket with confidence that quickly turned to dismay. The mangled remains of his phone looked like it had gone through a blender. "Ah. Never mind."
"We need to think practically." Blue's forged energy gathered around his hands and feet, forming his precise flying gear. "There must be working radios in some of these abandoned vehicles. I'll search the area."
As Blue took off to check the scattered cars and trucks, Angelo watched the sky where Dray had disappeared. His thoughts drifted to the terrorist's final words – that promise of vengeance that had carried such raw conviction. They'd won this round, but something in his gut told him this was just the beginning.
Somewhere in the city, sirens wailed their mournful song while smoke continued rising from dozens of fires. The New Light Festival decorations hung in tatters, their cheerful colors now seeming like a cruel joke against the destruction. But worst of all was the uncertainty – that creeping dread that made every shadow seem darker, every distant sound like a potential threat.
Because the real question wasn't whether they'd won or lost today. The real question was: what would tomorrow bring? The Sundering Flames had shown their hand, painting the city in fire and blood. And Angelo had a terrible feeling that this was just their opening act.