The leader clapped his hands slowly, the sound echoing off broken glass and rubble. He ran one hand through his hair and smiled like a man who liked seeing his plan unfold. For the first ti since the fight started, his face showed sothing close to amusent.
"You took by surprise," he said to Lilith, his voice flat but polite. "I did not expect you to beat him." Blake glanced at the man on the ground, then back at Lilith. "I never thought you could defeat him."
Lilith did not answer. She just watched him, that sa cool look on her face, like she was bored and not interested in small talk.
For a mont everything was still. Then a low vibration crawled under everyone’s feet. It started slow, then spread out through the broken street like a pulse. People froze. Caras tilted. Phones started ringing with new alerts. Soone swore, low and sharp.
The do that had been keeping everyone trapped blinked out of existence. One second the shimry wall was there, glowing and humming. The next second it was gone. Air rushed in where the barrier had been. Dust and smoke flowed outward. The open sky looked empty and ordinary again.
People who had just monts before been trapped and helpless suddenly moved. Relief hit them like a wave. They did not think. They ran. So fell, so stumbled, so grabbed loved ones and pulled them along. Screams of fear turned into cries of joy. The street filled with movent and sound.
Lilith grinned at the three n left standing. Her hands were loose at her sides. She did not seem afraid. The way she looked at them was not challenge or hatred. It was curiosity. Like she wanted to see what they would do next.
From the scattering crowd Vanessa appeared first. She walked out with a fast, steady step. Her face was set and sharp. She glanced at the leader, then at the others, then took her place behind Lilith like a shadow.
Seo Yeon ca next. Her eyes were wide but focused. Ann and Kelly followed shortly after. They did not run. They ca out like they had decided what was going to happen and they had no plan to join the panic.
On the live feed thousands of people watched this scene unfold. The comnts and calls piled up. People tried to na the won. They argued over who was who. So of the ssages were confused, so excited, so terrified.
"Hey, isn’t that girl familiar?" soone asked in the comnts.
"Yes, idiot, that’s Kelly," another answered.
"You an the artist?" soone else wrote.
"Yeah," another replied. "I thought she died with ZK."
" too. Where has she been?"
"Wait, if she’s here does that an she has powers too?"
"Yeah, she is one of them."
"Don’t be stupid. She’s protecting us."
"They already released the people from the do. Let’s just pray they beat those n."
The chat blew up. Thousands of conversations fed off what was happening in the street. People posted screenshots, slow motion clips, and argunts about whether these won were heroes or sothing else.
The caras tightened on the three n left standing. Up close they looked dangerous in a way that made the hairs on the back of people’s necks stand up. Their presence was heavy. It was not just the way they stood. It was sothing about the way the air moved around them. It made people feel small and wrong.
Blake took a step forward. He kept smiling like a man at a party who had just opened a very good bottle of wine. "You managed to bring down my do," he said. "I am impressed."
His hands burned in a small, bright flare. Fire licked his fingers and hungrily curled over his palms. It did not spread. It sat there, ready, like a weapon in his hands.
The other two n moved closer with him. One was covered in bits of tal that seed to float around his arms and chest, tiny scraps orbiting like a belt of knives. He kept his face calm, like he did not want to waste words. The third man had his hands hidden behind his back. He looked like he was waiting for the right mont.
Blake’s voice turned cold. "If Liam does not want to show up," he said, slow and cruel, "then I will just kill everybody present."
The crowd reacted like soone had punched the air. So froze. So started moving faster now, running for the nearest exits. Parents grabbed children and ran. Couples pulled each other and ran. People fell and scrambled up. Chaos returned in a new form, desperate and sharp.
On the street, those who had been standing close now looked for cover. Shouts and orders clashed. Caras kept rolling even as people shoved past each other.
Lilith stepped closer toward Blake. Her footsteps were quiet on the rubble. Her face showed no fear. Vanessa moved with her, small and fast, ready. Seo Yeon, Ann and Kelly spread out, cutting off possible routes and watching for any trick.
The leftover heat from the broken do still lingered like a headache. The city slled of dust, smoke and sothing electric. People coughed. Soone scread a prayer. Others swore and kept running.
Blake breathed in like a man filling himself with rage. He looked at Lilith and at the others and said it again in a voice that carried to every corner of the block.
"If Liam does not wanna show up, then I will just kill everybody present."
Lilith’s eyes turned white. The ground around her froze instantly, thin cracks spreading like veins of ice. Then she moved.
Blake moved at the sa ti, flas bursting from his feet as he shot forward. The collision shook the air. Ice and fire t with a deafening crack, lting frost mixing with glowing embers. The ground hissed, steam rising like smoke from a battlefield.
Lilith swung her hand and a wall of sharp ice ford in front of her. Blake smashed through it with a fire-covered fist. The heat was so intense the air shimred. She slid back, twisting in midair, and threw shards of ice from both hands. They cut through the steam like silver knives. Blake dodged, fire trailing behind him.
"Too slow," he said, and spun, sending a wave of fire toward her.
Lilith blocked with both arms, forming a do of thick ice. The fire hit it hard, lting through layer after layer, but the ice kept reforming faster than it lted. Lilith stepped out of the smoke, hair slightly burned at the tips, eyes cold and deadly.
Blake grinned. "Now this is fun."
She didn’t reply. The air temperature dropped again. Tiny flakes of snow began to fall, unnatural in the middle of the blazing heat.
Then she snapped her fingers.
A blast of freezing wind surged forward, carrying hundreds of razor-sharp ice shards. Blake roared, covering himself in fire like armor. When the two forces t, the explosion threw both of them back. Buildings shattered. The ground cracked open, half burned black, half frozen solid.
They both landed and charged again.
Fire vs Ice. Every clash shook the street. Every hit left destruction behind. People far away could only watch as the city itself seed to burn and freeze at the sa ti.
But while those two monsters fought, chaos broke out on the other side.
The man with tal surrounding him slamd his foot on the ground, and tal spikes shot up like spears. Seo Yeon reacted first, pushing her hands forward, creating a strong gust of wind that threw the spikes off balance. Ann used that mont to send her shadows crawling across the ground, forming black whips that grabbed one of the man’s legs.
Kelly rushed in, the earth under her feet rising to form a thick wall for cover. But before she could attack, the second man — the one with raw strength — smashed through the wall like it was paper and punched her. The impact sent her flying.
"Kelly!" Seo Yeon scread, creating a burst of wind to cushion her fall.
Vanessa appeared behind the strong man in a blink and kicked him in the back of the head. He turned instantly, swinging his arm, but she disappeared again before the hit landed. She reappeared beside Ann, "He’s fast. Too damn fast."
The tal user pointed his hand forward, and all the scattered spikes around started floating. "You’re all going to die here."
"Not yet," Dickson’s voice ca from behind. He appeared in a flash of lightning, his body crackling with energy. He charged at the tal guy, punching him straight in the chest. Sparks flew. The man staggered, tal dented, but he didn’t fall.
Instead, he spread his arms and all the tal in the area pulled toward him, forming thick armor plates around his body. "Let’s see you punch through this."
Dickson gritted his teeth and disappeared again in a flash, reappearing above him. He dropped down with lightning bursting from his fist. The ground exploded on impact, but when the smoke cleared, the tal man stood there, smirking.
He caught Dickson by the arm and threw him across the street.
Seo Yeon sent another blast of wind, sharp as blades, but the strong man blocked it with his forearms and charged. She dodged, barely, but he still caught her shoulder, throwing her into a wall.
Ann’s shadows wrapped around his legs again, trying to pull him down. He broke free, grabbing her by the neck and slamming her against the ground. The shadows scattered.
Vanessa appeared beside him again, trying to stab his side with a tal pipe she found on the ground. He caught it with one hand, twisted, and threw her aside like a doll.
Kelly stood up, blood on her lip. She stomped the ground and a pillar of stone rose beneath the strong man, knocking him backward for a second. But the tal user imdiately shot tal shards at her, cutting her arm. She scread and crouched, trying to raise another wall.
Dickson ca flying back into the fight, electricity bursting from his body. "Don’t touch her!" He hit the tal guy again, this ti with everything he had. The explosion shook the street, but the tal armor held.
The tal man laughed. "You’re strong, kid. But you’re not enough."
Smoke and dust covered the battlefield. When it cleared, the five of them were standing together, bruised, bleeding, and panting hard. The two n stood across from them, barely scratched.
Seo Yeon’s breath was shaky. "We can’t win like this."
Dickson clenched his jaw. "We don’t have a choice."
The strong man cracked his knuckles and smiled. "Then die trying."
The two enemies stepped forward slowly, the ground shaking under their feet.
The fight wasn’t over. But it was clear who was losing.
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