An explosion went off in the distance and a red haired mage was sent flying into the sky. Lucky for her, a blonde hair swordsman managed to catch her midair and land them down safely.

"Natz, you okay?" asked Matt. He pulled out some coffee, poured it in her mouth, and crossed his fingers. Thankfully she woke up and casted a barrier that blocked a projectile that was heading towards them.

"I'm alright. What about you?"

Matt smiled before responding. "I'm fine. Andres and Anna are out of mp while Edward and Lance are having a hard time with this tank."

"What about Seth?" asked Natz.

"I don't know. But one thing for sure, he needs to let us do the work here."

Flashback

The eight person and one limbless cat team teleported into a hot and desolate desert with practically nothing but an unmoving lifeless corpse surrounded by dark energy and the ruins of an ancient temple.

"There's the portal!" exclaimed Andres.

He then ran towards it before the rest of the team could stop him and was struck by a powerful explosion.

"Andres!" yelled Matt. He and Natz quickly rushed over to their friend and found him in a critical condition.

"Revive." Natz put her hands together as if she were praying while a small amount of holy energy trickled out from her and formed a cross over the archer. Within a few moments, Andres woke up completely healed of his injuries.

"Ow. That really hurt."

"Don't do that again."

The rest of the team came over and watched as Darius emerged from the portal.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" mocked the former student.

"Darius! Give up your powers! You don't want us to hurt you for real!" yelled Matt.

"You think so? This power is everything I've ever wanted! With this sword, I can rule not one, but two worlds!"

He then shot a large amount of dark energy at the corpse surrounded by dark energy.

"Of course, it's not a good idea to leave your guest hanging in there without any entertainment. Hope you enjoy battling the guardian of this place!"

"Darius!"

Seth and Lance sent a barrage of bullets and rockets at him but Darius managed to retreat back into his portal before they could reach.

"Dang it!"

Suddenly, the ruins trembled and broke open to reveal an enormous tank made of marble and crystals.

"The Protector!" exclaimed Matt.

"What?"

"It's an ancient robotic tank that was made to guard this temple. Unlike the other robots, though, it has an unlimited set of rune guardian drones and can absorb and reflect lighting attacks," explained Lance. "We came across it while trying to retrieve Anna's village gemstone and nearly wiped us out."

"What should we do then?" asked Edward.

Anna and Lance looked at each other and nodded before taking aim at the ancient tank.

"Edward, back us up. Matt, work with Natz and take out its rune protectors. Seth, call in some airstrikes and target the legs with Andres," instructed Anna.

The duo then unleashed their attacks before narrowly avoiding one of the Protector's bombs.

As this happened, Matt and Natz used an array of spells and elemental attacks to knock each rune drone guardian offline while Andre kept running and looking for an opportunity to attack.

"It's in my sights."

Seth fired several shots from his weapon but before any of them could make contact with the machine, each one of them were deflected by another set of bullets.

"What?"

The team looked around and saw what looked like a robotic Nazi soldier holding a sniper rifle that resembled the one Seth was using.

"Who is that?"

"Hang on, I'm scanning him," replied Matt.

Just as he was going this, Seth fired several shots at the soldier which dodged every attack and returned fire at Seth. However, every single shot completely missed their mark.

"Finished. This guy's Seth's trial and he represents a person opposite of Seth," explained Matt. "Just like Seth, he is a gunner character but unlike our friend, his aim is absolute trash when it comes to attacking others. Still, he's able to deflect bullets just by shooting them. Also only one person can engage him."

"Then what should we do?" asked Natz.

Matt and Andres watched as Seth engaged his clone before answering Natz.

"We can't do anything except pray and have hope for Seth's victory," answered Matt. "Now, let's take out that tank."

End of flashback

"Natz, where's Nolegs?" asked Matt.

"He's right here. I'm still looking for a safe place for him to hide."

Another Rune Protector flew past them and began activating its powers. Luckily, Matt managed to destroy it before it could do anything.

"I hope Seth will be alright. He isn't good at fighting on his own," commented Matt.

"Have faith in him," reassured Edward. "I'm sure he'll pass."

"I've taught him everything I know," added Lance. "Now, we just need to pray that he can use it."

Meanwhile, Seth was doing all he could to try to help his team but all of his shots were being deflected by his opponent. However, every time he tried to attack the enemy, he would either miss or force him to retreat temporarily. When this happened though, he would try to help his teammates again but the same thing would happen which would force him to face the robot again.

"I don't understand. Why can't I do this?" yelled Seth. "I can't risk my teammates being hurt when I can help them. So why? Why am I the one who is dealing with this?"

Seth fired several more shots at the robot but they did nothing but cause it to hide behind some rocks again. He was about to turn back to his teammates but then saw some interesting writing on a tree.

"What's this?"

Seth stopped for a moment to read the writing.

"Have faith in your allies and they in turn will provide for you."

Flashback

Seth and Lance were fighting several drill golems at school. Each one of them were launching their drills as if they were rockets which returned to them after a while. Additionally, some of them were firing large explosive rocks that could destroy the classrooms.

"How many are left?" asked Lance.

"Three."

Lance brought out his radio and called for an airstrike. Moments later, a large black bomb landed in the middle of the battlefield and exploded.

"Are you sure they're dead?" asked Seth. "I mean, the explosion may be powerful but considering what these guys have been through, I'm pretty sure they'll be able to pull through even with our efforts."

The smoke cleared and much to Seth's surprise, a pile of rubble remained.

"Seth, aside from firepower, sometimes, you need to have faith and trust your teammates," said Lance. "Now, I think I should really get going. Also, hide your stuff cuz I don't want to be the one to inform the others that you're stuck in the big house."

End of Flashback

Seth lowered his weapon and turned towards his trial.

"Right. I need to have faith. Lance is right. My friends will pull through! They'll take on that tank and win while I finish my trial!"

He aimed his rifle back at the robot Nazi and began firing nonstop at the robot. Each one of his shots hit their mark but the robot still remained online. The robot then fired its own rifle but each one of its shots missed Seth. Eventually, the gun ran out and the bot began using small missiles and throwing rocks at the gunner.

"They're counting on me to take this guy down. So I'll do it right here, right now!"

Just then, a new symbol popped up on Seth's list of attacks.

"Oblivion? That's new."

A missile blew apart his cover exposing Seth to the robot.

"No time to test this like the present."

He activated the skill and he was suddenly teleported into the air on top of a giant tank before they all came crashing down on the robot Nazi.

"WRRRYY!"

Seth inputted several random numbers into the Tank's main controls before he saw the words: self-destruct initiated. Countdown 3 seconds.

He jumped off the tank and moved several meters away from it before the vehicle exploded. Once it cleared out. Seth saw that the Nazi robot had been blown to bits by the tank and the only thing left of it was its head.

With the Protector…

Matt and Natz performed a strong water and earth attack combo but it did little to the Protector. However, it was clear that efforts were not going to waste as the Protector's ancient armor now had many cracks and dents in its armor.

Suddenly, the protector stopped moving and its single red eye began flashing.

"Everyone! Move back!" yelled Matt. "It's gonna blow!"

The whole team listened and began moving away from the ancient tank. However, Andres suddenly stopped moving and then ran back towards the machine.

"Andres! Move bac-!" yelled Matt.

The archer paid no attention and continued moving towards the tank with his bow drawn.

"Andres!" repeated Matt.

The archer struck the machine's eye and caused it to crack and shut down completely.

"That was close," commented Andres. The tank exploded.

"Andres!"

The entire team ran back over where Edward used his staff to put out any fires and remove rubble.

"Hey guys! I did it. I passed my trial!"

Seth walked over with the head of Nazi soldier robot with a triumphant smile.

"Wait, where's Andres?"

Matt pulled the archer out of the rubble. He was badly burned and covered in many bruises.

"Is he alright?" asked Edward.

Natz checked him for a pulse and nodded.

"Healmore."

Within a few seconds, all of their wounds vanished and Andres woke up.

"Man that was close."

Matt breathed a sigh of relief before he motioned them all to follow.

"Let's get going."