"But… What is an "Arhanghel"? And more specifically, what did he do so badly?" asked stefan3B.

"Arhanghels are hybrid warriors of Heaven, they're entities made to destroy, protect, and restore. Arhanghel Stefan was a jack of all trades, but his history was purged once he got kicked out of heaven, and so only tales remained about him." said the second wizard.

Ares is starting to become impatient, he looks away with his arms crossed and nervously taps the ground.

"Is he in or not?" asked Ares.

"What are your powers? What's your element?" asked the first wizard.

"Uhm, I don't have an element, but I still am quite strong, just as a melee fighter." said stefan3B.

All three wizards instantly become disappointed, without a doubt.

"Well… I don't think we'll be able to find anyone else, in addition, Ares doesn't bring weaklings to recruit, so I say we give him a chance." said the third wizard.

"Are you mental? So now if Ares brings a worm, you're gonna hire it?" said the first wizard.

"But he didn't, so I suggest you measure your words, you damn-"

"Enough! Stop it, both of you. He's in, he joins the royal guards, end of discussion." said the second wizard.

"But I never agreed to any of this…" said stefan3B in his mind.

"Anyways, what's all this stuff about?" asked stefan3B.

"When we'll get the full team of four people, we'll explain why this team exists. For now, you should both go and search for more people to join." said the second wizard.

Both stefan3B and Ares nod before departing back to the city.

"You fooled me. What's all of this about?" asked stefan3B with a slight anger in his tone.

"Don't worry, you like saving the world, don't you?" said Ares.

"I don't care about people who aren't willing to like me back." said stefan3B

"How do you get people to like you back if they don't know you?"

"So you're doing this for clout?"

"No, I'm doing this for power. I want to be the strongest." said Ares.

"And what happens after?"

"We'll see when it happens. I'm thinking about the road, not the destination." said Ares, with a smile this time.

They both reach the top of the hill.

"Let's split. You go left, I go right." said Ares before rushing to the right side of the city.

stefan3B jumps and slides down the hill.

"How will I ever be able to find someone who's willing to fight for those bastards… They didn't even give me a reason to hire someone." said stefan3B in his mind as he ran into the city.

stefan3B arrives in a commercial area. He sees a lot of stands and people selling anything, from food to vases. stefan3B wanders around the zone, trying to find anything or anyone even slightly interested. At the same time, he feels very slightly uneasy in this zone. It's not because of the elementalists, but he felt as if something was... Beneath him. He looks behind him, and he feels like something very peculiar has happened. He looked at a very specific stand that sells oranges in nets. He glares at it for a few moments.

"Did… did one of the nets just disappear... ?I swear that guy had one more…" said stefan3B in his mind, shocked.

stefan3B looks around at the other stands. He counts up all of their items.

"5 apple buckets, 10 onion sacks, 3 blue vases, and 2 purple vases-" counted stefan3B in his mind.

But as stefan3B was counting them, he suddenly noticed a stand that was selling plums in small bags. He realized that he's the only one who's currently watching the stand, the owner chatting with a different person a few meters away. Right at that moment, a hole burst through the concrete quickly, and a hand reached out for a bag of plums. In a matter of a split second, the arm grabs a bag and returns underground, fixing the hole as if it never existed.

"No… What's going on…? Who was that?" asked himself, stefan3B.

He starts to panic, as everyone is completely oblivious to this mysterious person's activities. But one question remains unanswered: why would it steal the most random things? Not only that, but what other things can it steal? stefan3B had to find out and put an end to it. He looks around for another stand that might be the next victim of the attack. He notices that the vase stand has little to no attention now.

"It wouldn't… What would it do with a giant vase?" said stefan3B to himself, but right in that moment, the same hole appeared, this time larger, quickly pulling the vade safely into the hole. stefan3B tries his best to rush and grab the arm, but he fails miserably and almost crashes into the vases. He runs away before the owner of the stand notices. stefan3B looks around for the next target… But he suddenly doesn't feel it anymore. He doesn't feel anything beneath him, as if it just ran away and disappeared almost instantly. stefan3B takes a deep breath, then sighs deeply, still wearing a slightly worried expression. He decides to go deeper into the city, however, he barely walks for a few minutes and sees another stand. This time, it was extremely suspicious, because by sheer coincidence, all of the items he saw that were stolen were being sold there at a much lower price, and the seller's arms looked just like the arms stefan3B has seen.

"The audacity… " said stefan3B as he frowned.

To his surprise, people were actually interested in buying that person's stuff. Upon taking a clear glimpse at it, it was a boy of his age in a dirt-like elementalist coat.

"Could he be an earth elementalist? I'm not scared of ground manipulators." said stefan3B in his mind.

He approaches the boy's stand with blazing anger in his sight.

"Hey, here for anything?" asked the seller.

"Your life." said stefan3B in a deeper tone.

stefan3B instantly choked him with his right arm.

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"Are you crazy? Let me be! Why won't anyone help me?" said the boy.

The elementalists around them either didn't care or just stared at them, none of them were willing to interfere.

"He looks like he's part of the royal guard, I am not messing with him… " said a random voice.

"You have no savior now." said stefan3B.

The boy stomps on the ground, and it shatters right beneath them. stefan3B loses his grip, and then the earth sticks to his body. stefan3B activates his sword mode and breaks free from it. The boy gasps in sheer shock. stefan3B instantly leaps and grabs his face, then crashes him into a block of flats, chipping away the wall slightly. stefan3B looks at the boy dead in the eyes and pushes his head against the building.

"Alright, fine, fine! Sorry, I won't steal again! Ever! I was just a bit hungry, sorry!" cried out the boy.

stefan3B lets go of him, and his sword mode deactivates.

“Damn, was it necessary?” asked the boy.

stefan3B still looks at him dead in the eyes.

“Alright, chill, we’re cool, right? You can call the high-rankers, arrest me, and do whatever you want, just don’t kill me. Pretty please?”

stefan3B thinks for a few seconds upon hearing "whatever”.

“Tell me your name.” said stefan3B.

“Radu.”

“Alright, “Radu”, how far are you willing to take your punishment?”

“I don’t know, man… There’s nothing I can do.”

stefan3B suddenly bursts out laughing.

“Oh, God, you should’ve seen your face! I can’t stay serious for so long, hah!” said stefan3B.

Radu is instantly hit with confusion.

“Wha-huh? What the… What do you want?”

"Look, man, I’m here to search for candidates to join the royal guards. I don’t give a damn about you, stea-” but stefan3B’s speech was cut short.

“No. Fucking. Way. The royal guards? That team was organized by the three grand wizards? Are you serious?!” said Radu, in pure ecstasy.

“Uhh, yeah. Are you a fan, or-”

“A fan?! I always wanted to meet the grand wizards! Oh my, oh my!... Wait, you’re telling me you’re going to recruit me?!” said Radu, filled top to bottom with happiness.

“Uhh, yeah, sure, yeah, y-you’re in, kiddo.” said stefan3B, a bit weirded out.

Radu feels like he’s about to explode.

“YES! Oh, yes! Oh! Yes! It will be so cool!” said Radu.

“Also, doesn’t the insane smack I just gave you hurt you in any way?”

“Ah, no worries, adrenaline ru-OW! Ugh… yeah, thanks for reminding me…”

stefan3B sighs.

“Alright, let’s go.” said stefan3B before turning and walking to the altar.

Radu is slightly confused.

“Huh? Where are we going?” asked Radu.

“To the ones you love so much. Come on.”

Radu’s eyes sparkle with hope.

“Wait, you’re telling me I’m going to see them now?”

"Yeah, dumbass, come on already!”

Radu quickly walks by stefan3B’s side.

“Oh my, have you met them until now? But, of course, you did! What are they like? Are they wise? Are they powerful?” said Radu in an annoying yet happy manner.

stefan3B rolls his eyes.

“I barely saw them for a few minutes. I’m not interested in old men as much as you are.”

“Aw, come on, don’t say that. They’re the literal grand wizards! They’re so cool!”

“Tell me one thing the wizards can do which I can’t do.”

“Well… Uhm… They’re way smarter than you! For sure!”

“Fuck, he’s right…” said stefan3B in his mind.

They both go silent as they walk.

“Can’t we go faster? You did zoom insanely quickly back then. I could’ve never dodged you.”

“Can you keep up?” said stefan3B with a slight smile.

“Of course I can, who do you take me for? Ground elementalists are insanely quick within the soil.” said Radu proudly.

“So they’re called ground elementalists…” said stefan3B in his mind.

“Alright then, see that hill up there?” said stefan3B as he pointed to the hill he slid over earlier.

Radu nodded.

“Try to get there before me.” said stefan3B, before sprinting off.

“Time to get humbled, heh.” said stefan3B to himself.

But to his surprise, he feels Radu digging underground right beneath him at insane speed, zooming past him. He’s surprised by this and tries to speed up, but there was nothing he could do. Radu arrived on top of the hill first. Once stefan3B arrives at the bottom of the hill, he tries to activate sword mode, but he fails and his body staggers for a brief moment and he coughs heavily a few times. Radu notices him and shouts at him.

“Hey! You alright?”

stefan3B looks up at him and pants a bit, then starts running again up the hill.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I hope so.”

They both look down.

“Is that their altar?” asked Radu.

stefan3B already hopped down the hill and started sliding. Radu joined him as well, and soon enough, they arrived.

"Hey, old men! I found someone!" shouted stefan3B.

Radu is left in pure awe by his sudden words. The door opens.

"Ugh, who the fuck-" said the first wizard, peaking through the door.

"Oh, it's him." said the wizard before opening the door fully.

"He, is a ground elementalist." said stefan3B, presenting Radu, wearing a tired expression at the same time.

The grand wizards are a bit disappointed. Upon a greater look at him, it's another 14-year-old and to top it off, he's a bit chubby as well.

"Take it or leave, I'm not doing this again." said stefan3B.

Ares suddenly flies over the hill with flame bursts, carrying someone under his arm. As they fall down, Ares drops the boy. Ares lands safely down, but the boy takes the full might of the ground into his face. Ares crosses his arms and frowns as usual. The boy slowly got up, he had a blue elementalist coat. The wizards are even more disappointed.

"Did they really just recruit two random teenagers?" said the third wizard in a low tone.

"I recruited this random teenager" said Ares, presenting the boy as well.