The air screamed with ozone and static as Meredith, Zak, and Theo flew into the clearing. Lightning ripped through the sky, mirroring the fierce fight below.
Eleanor, Gail, and Katya were wounded and bleeding. Their breaths were ragged, armor was cracked, but their angelic wings kept them airborne, beating defiance.
Lyn hovered above, a tempest of pure electricity. Her golden eyes burned with deadly amusement.
"Finally," she said, calm but razor-sharp. "The whole pack has arrived."
Zak wiped blood from his lip, tightening his grip on his radiant sword. "We've got your number, Lyn. No more running."
Lyn smirked. "Numbers don't matter. I am the storm incarnate. You'll break before the sky does."
Meredith summoned a swirling orb of water on her staff. "We'll see."
Lyn struck fast, slamming her charged blade into the earth. The shockwave scattered the three incoming angels, shattering trees behind them.
Katya caught herself, her emerald energy flaring to protect her. "She's stronger than before. Keep your distance!"
Gail roared, slashing her sword through a bolt of lightning before launching herself forward.
Eleanor rose from the dirt, golden wings spread wide despite the bleeding cuts. Her axe glowed fiercely. "Let's finish this."
The fight exploded into a storm of clashing powers. Lightning met water, radiant light met emerald force. Every strike sent sparks flying.
Zak and Theo moved like blurs, their wings maneuvering them through Lyn's lightning strikes to keep the pressure on. Meredith focused on defense, throwing up water barriers to stop Lyn's fury.
But Lyn was relentless; each blow only seemed to fuel her storm. She twisted and struck like a wild tempest, impossible to predict.
Eleanor dodged a brutal lightning slash that scorched her wing, refusing to slow her down. "She's got tricks... watch her hands!"
Katya grimaced as she blocked a lightning chain that left searing burns on her gauntlets. "She's trying to trick us, looking for an opening."
"Then let's not give her one," Gail growled, eyes blazing.
The battle became a deadly, fast-moving blur. Blood stained the ground, and every warrior bore fresh wounds.
Lyn's voice rang out above the chaos. "You fight well... but your light is flickering. This storm won't last."
Eleanor gritted her teeth, her anger stubborn. "We don't give up."
Suddenly, Lyn unleashed her Divine Right; lightning exploded outward, tearing through the forest and knocking all six angels sprawling.
When the dust settled, they were all still standing: hurt, shaken, but alive.
Zak spat blood but smiled grimly. "That was close. Too close."
Meredith's eyes flashed. "This ends soon. Together."
Lyn hovered above, cold amusement in her gaze. "Good. I was starting to get bored."
Lightning carved veins of fire across the canopy. Lyn dove like a comet, thunder cracking at her heels. The Zenith Guardians exploded into motion, using their wings for maximum agility, refusing to break.
"Circle formation!" Meredith shouted. "Use your speed! Don't let her ground us!"
They obeyed instantly. Zak and Theo, flying low, created the front line. Meredith anchored the center. Gail, Katya, and Eleanor zipped around the perimeter, watching, waiting, their wings creating small bursts of wind.
Lyn stood above them. She raised a single hand, and lightning obeyed.
"Divine Art: Spearfall."
Bolts rained down like meteor fire, splitting trees and screaming through the air. But the angels held their position, weaving through the chaos with barely-controlled precision.
Katya burst through a curtain of smoke, fists glowing. "Overdrive Pulse!"
Her strike hit Lyn squarely in the ribs, but the Herald twisted with the blow, caught Katya by the arm, and flung her into a tree with bone-jarring force.
Gail came next, sword flashing upward. She blocked Lyn's counter-strike with her nardachi, the impact vibrating through her bones. The memory flashed: the burning city wall, the cries of her squad, and the awful, crushing weight of realizing she was a moment late. She had been too slow. That failure had forged her iron will, hardening her into the shield she was now. She wouldn't be too slow again.
Lyn returned a lightning-charged knee to Gail's gut, sending her crashing to the earth.
"One by one," Lyn muttered, "you fall."
"Not today!" Zak shouted.
He and Theo surged in unison. Zak's radiant blade and Theo's twin daggers danced in tandem. Meredith summoned a geyser beneath Lyn, throwing off her balance.
Meredith's power wasn't just about water; it was about absolute control. She focused, shaping the churning liquid with the precision of a master architect. She recalled the ruins of the Azure Library, where the unchecked power of a previous Demigod had shattered centuries of knowledge. She'd vowed then that power must be wielded not with fury, but with deliberate, reflecting calculation. Her staff became a conduit for structured, reasoned force, the opposite of the pure, wild chaos Lyn embodied.
Eleanor seized the opening.
Wings igniting with sunlight, she soared through the clearing. Her axe gleamed like the sun. "Solar Requiem!"
Lyn blocked, but this time, the force of the blow pushed her back. A cut opened across her shoulder; shallow, but it bled.
Her smile vanished.
"You're learning," she admitted. Then her power surged, lightning wrapping around her body like a second skin. "Then so must I."
She vanished.
A blink, and she was behind Theo.
He barely turned before she struck. His daggers blocked the blow, but the raw force sent him skidding backward, lightning scorching his arms.
Zak intercepted the follow-up, clashing with her in a brilliant burst of light. Gail rejoined the fray, flying with deadly speed, her blade spinning like a storm. Katya flanked, fists pounding in from the side.
Meredith screamed a command: "Now, pin her!"
"Divine Art: Glacial Tomb!"
She slammed her staff into the ground. A burst of freezing mist surged upward, catching Lyn mid-air and crystallizing into jagged ice.
Eleanor didn't wait. She launched forward, golden energy streaming off her wings. Axe raised, her voice rang out:
"Divine Art: Sunflare Execution!"
The impact lit the clearing.
The ice shattered. Lyn fell, coughing blood, her armor cracked. But she landed on her feet, eyes wild with fury and power.
"You think this is enough?!"
She roared, and the sky responded.
Bolts of golden lightning tore through the heavens, striking her body in rapid succession. Instead of pain, they seemed to renew her, arcane patterns glowing across her skin.
"Divine Right: Stormheart Ascension."
A pillar of lightning engulfed her. When it faded, her form shimmered with divine light. Wings of pure lightning unfurled behind her, her presence now overwhelming.
Everyone faltered.
Even Eleanor.
But she gritted her teeth. "We can still win this."
Lyn sneered. "Come, then. Let's see if your precious sunlight survives the storm."