As M and K seek to exterminate each other in a game of deadly politics, forbidden love struggles to survive. And in the darkness something sinister lurks, intent on destroying all life.

Or rather, a novel length story in which Kai and Luhan selfishly fall in love, D.O. and Xiumin are their long suffering friends, Kris and Suho are rivals, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are three second away from running off to elope, Lay and Sehun are simply along for the ride, and Chen and Tao may very well end up killing each other. Oh, and they’re supposed to save the world. With their teamwork. In theory, at least.

“Guys!” Baekhyun shouted. “Focus. And get ready.”

D.O. had to jump back as Chanyeol burst into flames, his phoenix manifesting before their eyes and shooting up into the air. “Oh, I’m more than ready.”

The best thing about the lot of them, maybe more than any other group of people D.O. had ever worked with, was that they were a single, cohesive unit when they fought. They moved in perfect synch, sensing the actions of each other, and to a scary degree, they were flawless.

“I’m the bait!” Chanyeol shouted, and then he was raging even hotter than ever before, singeing some of the baby hairs along D.O.’s arm.

“Got it!” D.O. ralleyed back, stamping his foot to the ground as hard as he could. He could feel it respond immediately to him, rolling them all into new positions. Fiercely concentrating, D.O. braced a hand down on the ground for better control, grinning as Baekhyun was flung up an off his feet with a surprised shout.

But Kai was there a second later, teleporting to his side, hooking an arm around Baekhyun’s waist and pulling him free from the shadow that had reared up into a somewhat solid form taller than the both of them.

“Chanyeol!” D.O. shouted, catching sight of movement from the fissure from the corner of his eye. “To your left!”

In a matter of seconds they were surrounded by tall, semisolid forms of blackness.

“Don’t let them touch you!” Kai said, dropping Baekhyun off near Chanyeol’s side.

“Wasn’t planning on it!” D.O. replied.

Chanyeol, as far as D.O. could tell, was absolutely magnificent. He was in his element, flinging fire and brimstone at their attackers. His phoenix soared around, sweeping down in low arcs to cut through the shadow forms with a screech.

And the moment that Chanyeol and Baekhyun begun working together, boosting each other, using their abilities in tandem, the destruction was twice as effective. D.O. have never quite seen anything like it.

“Head’s up!” Kai said, pulling D.O. roughly to the side and teleporting them over fifty feet away. Where he’d been standing D.O. could see a shadow folding in on the spot. “Pay attention!”

“I’m fine,” D.O. shot back, a little embarrassed at losing his focus for a second. He reached down for his ability once more, bringing up a wall of dirt and ground to block the next shadow that attacked them.