Angelo and Dray stood locked in their deadly standoff, houses burning around them with a mix of normal flames and Dray's black hellfire. Neither warrior dared make the first move, the heat of the fires making the air shimmer between them. Blue remained inside Angelo, their shared senses on high alert for any sudden attack.

  Dray's expression suddenly shifted, his eyes focusing on something behind Angelo. Though unwilling to look away, Angelo noticed the change immediately.

  "What's he looking at?" Angelo thought tersely.

  Blue materialized beside him to look behind them. What he saw made both duplicates freeze in shock.

  Neiva approached with hesitant steps, her bright hair standing out against the smoke-filled air. Behind her walked Veronica, the light twins, and an enormous man wearing a tourist t-shirt despite the season, his confident smile stretching across his face like he owned the world.

  The group stopped within earshot. Neiva pointed a trembling finger at Dray, her voice quivering.

  "Th-that's the one," she stammered, glancing back at the hulking man. "That's their leader..."

  The big man looked down at her, his smile never wavering as he surveyed the chaos around them. "And what about those troublemakers over there?" He jerked a thumb toward the ongoing battles between Sol and Ashley, and Red's puppet against Nova.

  Neiva shifted her weight nervously, her blue aura flickering around her like an uncertain flame. "Those female twins are with the fire guy."

  "Right then!" Hugo clapped his hands together, the sound like a thunderclap in the tense atmosphere. "Vika, handle the wind Auron."

  Veronica's shoulders tensed as she turned away with a huff. "I've told you a thousand times to stop calling me that." Her yellow aura flared to life around her as she stalked toward Sol and Ashly, the energy evolving into something more complex and dangerous with each step.

  Hugo flicked his fingers toward the other battle. "Zack, Zeke—you two take metal-girl."

  "As you wish." Zeke's playful tone contrasted with his twin's enthusiastic "Yes, sir!" as they moved in perfect sync toward Red's puppet and Nova, their identical yellow auras igniting like twin suns.

  Hugo cracked his knuckles, the sound eerily loud in the momentary quiet. He rolled his massive shoulders and began walking toward Angelo and Dray, each footstep leaving small cracks in the cobblestones beneath him.

  "Better run along now, little lady," he called to Neiva without looking back. "What happens next ain't gonna be pretty."

  Neiva remained rooted to the spot, her eyes wide with concern for Angelo as Hugo approached the standoff.

  The air around Hugo began to shimmer as his yellow aura erupted to life. His eyes glowed the same dangerous yellow, like a predator about to strike.

  Angelo and Blue silently assessed Hugo with their energy vision. The boss's aura burned brighter than anyone else they'd seen in town (beside Rorck)—brighter even than Dray's. This wasn't just some local thug; this was serious power.

  Dray's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits as Hugo stopped beside Angelo, his black flames pulsing with tension.

  Hugo glanced between them, sizing up both combatants before focusing on Angelo. "Well, well. Our mysterious visitor's made quite an impression in such a short stay," he drawled, his smile never reaching his snake-like eyes.

  Angelo kept his stance battle-ready as he studied the newcomer. "The big boss himself has heard of us? Should I feel honored or worried?" His voice remained flat despite the sarcasm.

  Hugo's laugh boomed across the burning street. "Got some bite to you! I like that in a man." He stepped forward, placing himself partially between the two enemies. His voice dropped as he half-turned toward Angelo. "I'll handle this from here. Though we'll have a real interesting chat later about why you're bringing your enemies to my doorstep."

  Angelo's eye twitched slightly at the implication.

  Hugo turned his attention to Dray, his casual demeanor at odds with the destruction around them. "Now then, flame-boy. Don't know what beef you've got with our guest here," he jerked a thumb toward Angelo, "but turning my town into your personal barbecue? Not your smartest move."

  Water materialized around Hugo's massive arms, swirling up from seemingly nowhere before freezing into enormous ice gauntlets. His already imposing frame now looked like a mountain ready to avalanche.

  Dray's hellfire coat ignited more intensely in response, the black flames covering him almost completely. "There's a simple solution to this unfortunate situation," he said, his voice smooth as oil despite the tension. "Surrender the Angel of Death to me, and I'll depart without further incident. No need to sacrifice yourself needlessly."

  "Listen to this mouthy punk," Hugo chuckled, shaking his head in mock disbelief. "Can't even see what a bad spot you're in? Where I'm standing, water beats fire every time." His expression twisted into something gleeful yet menacing, like a child who'd found a new insect to pull apart.

  Dray remained unnervingly calm. "If you believe ordinary water can extinguish my hellflames, you're operating under a grave misconception." Without warning, he flung his arm forward, launching several sharp projectiles of tar-like flame toward Hugo.

  Hugo raised one massive ice gauntlet, blocking the attack with casual ease. But just as Dray had claimed, the black flames stuck to the ice like living tar, slowly eating through it toward Hugo's flesh.

  "Might want to ditch that glove," Angelo said flatly, nodding toward the burning arm. "That sticky fire is a nightmare to deal with. It'll keep burning until there's nothing left."

  "What the actual fuck are you doing?" Red's voice exploded in their shared mind. "Let these assholes kill each other! Perfect solution to both our problems!"

  Hugo studied the aggressive substance attacking his arm with clinical interest, seemingly unconcerned. Seeing his opportunity, Dray made the flames on Hugo's arm leap toward the gang leader's face.

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  "Whoa there," Hugo said, his smile returning as he dodged the airborne attack with surprising agility for his size. The sentient flame made a sharp turn mid-air, trying again, but water suddenly appeared around it, freezing solid and dropping to the ground with the hellfire trapped inside. Immediately, the black substance began eating through its icy prison.

  Angelo exchanged a quick glance with Hugo. "Huh. Guess he wasn't bluffing." He nodded toward the flames nearly reaching Hugo's flesh. "Well, it was almost interesting knowing you."

  Hugo's thunderous laugh caught both Angelo and Dray off guard, their eyebrows rising in unison.

  "Don't count out an old dog just yet, boy." Hugo raised his burning arm, the ice gauntlet beginning to glow with an inner light. "At my age, you pick up a trick or two. Watch and learn."

  The air around his arm suddenly crystallized with extreme cold, visible as a cloud of freezing mist. To Angelo and Dray's astonishment, the black flames withered and died as Hugo repaired his gauntlet, the ice reforming more densely than before.

  "Impossible..." Dray breathed, his confident demeanor cracking for the first time.

  Blue studied the phenomenon with scholarly interest, his perfect posture unwavering despite the chaos around them. "Quite remarkable. He's reduced the temperature of his ice to such an extreme degree that it's actually cooling the hellfire. The thermal exchange is overwhelming the combustion process."

  Without warning, Hugo launched himself forward with shocking speed for someone his size—like watching a boulder turn into a bullet. Dray's eyes widened in surprise as he hastily coated his arms with protective hellfire, locking hands with the mountain of a man.

  But instead of his flames eating through the ice as expected, the opposite happened. The bone-chilling cold from Hugo's gauntlets spread across Dray's hellfire, extinguishing it like a candle in a winter storm. Disbelief etched itself across Dray's face as his greatest weapon failed him.

  Meanwhile, across the burning street, Sol and Ashly were exchanging rapid blows when a crackling yellow whip of energy cut between them. Both fighters jumped back instinctively, turning toward the newcomer.

  Veronica sauntered forward, her yellow aura flickering like static electricity around her. "Well, if it isn't the handsome silver-hair," she purred, eyeing Sol appreciatively before turning a predatory gaze toward Ashly. "You can sit this one out, pretty boy. I'm taking out the trash now."

  Sol's trademark confident smile returned as he brushed dust from his silver jacket. "Sure you don't want a hand with that? Two against one seems more efficient." His eyes darted between the women, assessing the situation.

  "My, my, quite the gentleman." Veronica stepped uncomfortably close to Sol, running a finger along his collar. "Such a shame you're so young. You'd absolutely be my type—which is hard to find among the filth around here." Her voice dropped to a sultry whisper that made Sol's smile falter slightly.

  Ashly didn't wait for the flirtation to continue. She thrust both hands forward, launching several concentrated air punches toward Veronica. The yellow-eyed woman didn't even flinch—she simply stretched her strange energy between her palms like a glowing net, capturing each blast with casual ease.

  Ashly threw one more desperate attack - a large blast of wind rushing toward Veronica. The yellow-eyed woman caught this one too with her strange energy, adding it to the collection she'd already trapped. The energy behind her twisted violently, bulging with all the captured air.

  With a casual flick of her wrists, Veronica sent the combined wind blasts straight back at Ashly. She dove out of the way just in time as the redirected air smashed into the house behind her, tearing it apart in an explosion of bricks and splintered wood.

  "Now look what you made me do," Veronica said with a sweet yet menacing voice, watching the dust billow into the air. Yellow energy crackled in her palm before stretching into a whip with a snap that cut through the air like thunder.

  "I'm going to make you love my elastic energy," she purred, cracking the whip against the ground and leaving a smoking line across the street. "You'll learn exactly why they call me 'The Thunderwhip.'" She cast a seductive smile at Sol as she said this, making him shift uncomfortably.

  Sol's confident demeanor slipped as he took an unconscious step backward. "Ha, ha... I'm not crazy about how you're looking at me when you say that."

  Across the battlefield, Zack and Zeke approached the ongoing fight between Nova and Red's puppet. Nova was unleashing increasingly creative profanity as the puppet ignored her every attack.

  The twins exchanged weary glances before Zeke raised his arm, creating a blinding flash like a camera's strobe light cranked to maximum intensity.

  "Motherfucker!" Nova howled, jumping backward and rubbing her eyes furiously. The puppet mimicked her movements but in an exaggerated way, as if performing in a silent comedy rather than actually being affected.

  Zack stepped forward with the air of a referee stopping a boxing match. "Alright, time out." He made a T-shape with his hands, then glanced at the Crimson Puppet, mistaking it for a real person. "That includes you too, weirdo."

  Unable to speak, the puppet responded with ridiculously over-the-top gestures of disappointment, clutching its chest and scratching it's head.

  Nova squinted through watering eyes, her metal blades catching the firelight as she pointed them threateningly. "Mind your own damn business!"

  "But this IS our business," Zeke replied, his playful expression turning predatory. He waved dismissively at the puppet. "You, scram, shoo."

  The puppet gave him the middle finger before stomping away with exaggerated movements toward the building where Red was actually controlling it from.

  The twins exchanged another glance, shaking their heads in synchronized disbelief before turning their attention back to Nova. They began circling her slowly, one on each side, like wolves cornering a deer.

  Nova created metal shields on both arms, her head swiveling back and forth as she tried to keep both opponents in view.

  "Now then," Zack said with a dangerous smile, "enjoy the light show." Then everything went white.

  Nova's eyes widened as the world around her suddenly transformed. The burning street vanished, replaced by the gently rocking deck of a large boat, endless ocean stretching in all directions. She stumbled backward in confusion, bumping into something solid despite there being nothing visible behind her.

  "What the hell is happening?!" she shouted, her voice echoing in the illusory space. Without warning, something struck her hard across the face—an invisible attacker. The twins' laughter seemed to come from everywhere at once as more blows rained down from all directions. She slashed wildly with her blades, but they cut through nothing but air.

  Back at the main confrontation, Dray had fully assumed his hellflame dragon armor, exchanging increasingly desperate blows with Hugo. Realizing he was losing ground, Dray jumped backward, unleashing a barrage of black tar projectiles.

  Hugo responded by summoning a massive wave of water. He leapt sideways as an ice surfboard crystallized beneath his feet, letting him glide around Dray in a wide circle, avoiding the sticky flames with surprising grace for someone his size. The hellfire caught the tail end of his water trail, slowly eating through it and advancing toward him.

  Seeing an opening, Dray launched a concentrated stream of fire directly at Hugo's path. But the gang leader was already countering—he jumped clear of his surfboard, simultaneously directing all the water he'd been riding on to crash down where Dray stood.

  Dray was forced to leap skyward, his flaming wings stretching wide as he took to the air. From this elevated position, he rained down projectiles, now holding the advantage.

  Hugo responded with a combination attack—ice shards and high-pressure water jets shooting upward like anti-aircraft fire. Dray twisted in mid-air, dodging and countering with his own flaming missiles.

  Angelo stepped up beside Hugo, casually examining his fingernails with exaggerated boredom. "If only you could fly too," he remarked dryly. "I could offer my assistance, but something tells me you see us as enemies rather than allies."

  Hugo's expression shifted from mild surprise to his trademark wide grin. "My, what a generous offer! You really know how to butter up those in charge, don't you?"

  Angelo's eye twitched with irritation, but he remained silent.

  "Ha...! Don't worry about me," Hugo said, turning his attention back to Dray. "I've got this handled."

  What happened next made Angelo, Blue, and even Dray freeze in shock. Hugo's aura—which had been a brilliant yellow—suddenly shifted to an intense ice blue. His eyes transformed too, glowing with the same piercing cold as they locked onto Dray's.