There they were once again, caught in the midst of battle with the mysterious man who went by Anta. He admitted to being the one who caused this calamity called immortality, and he didn’t seem to mind that he was tormenting the whole world in a living Hell.

Anta battled like he was dancing, easily evading with twirls and sidesteps. His black cape and long white braid flowed behind him. He didn’t seem to think anything was a threat, and in a world where no one could die, that was an understandable mindset. 

But this wasn’t about killing Anta. This was about destroying his machine. So as long as they could somehow get down there and get to the device, victory was theirs.

Anta began fighting back, even though it didn’t seem necessary. He shot balls of light at Prota’s party as he dodged.

Prota followed his plan. He froze Anta, for the few seconds that his invention would allow, which enabled his friends to get a couple hits on him.

Prota did his best to not cry out in pain. His assumption was right. Any attacks against Anta hurt him. Thankfully, they seemed to be hurting Anta as well. And Prota’s automatic healing spell made him feel better in a jiffy. He was thankful that his friends were too busy fighting to notice their attacks being inflicted on him. They might feel bad and stop attacking if they knew. Besides, Prota still found this charm or whatever it was rather eerie. He’d never had a sorcerer cast this kind of spell on him before, not one that made him feel his pain, and especially not one that made him want to get close to him.

That was another reason for Prota’s tactic of using his gadgets to stall Anta from afar. If this guy wanted Prota to get close to him, that must mean he had a trick up his sleeve. Maybe he had some sort of bomb set to detonate when he came within 5 feet of him. Prota couldn’t take that chance.

The battle continued, with Prota bravely toughing it out. But eventually, it became too much for him. Tiki saw that something was hurting him. She turned around, concerned for her beloved friend.

And that’s when it happened.

A beam of light shot straight through Tiki’s chest. Her turquoise eyes opened wide as she realized she got hit by Anta’s magic. Prota looked on in horror… A horror that grew as he watched his friend dissipate into little particles of light. She was disappearing. Disintegrating. Dying.

It wasn’t possible. It shouldn’t have been. But no matter how immortal they were, Prota couldn’t convince himself that anyone could survive being dispersed into trillions of tiny particles.

Krain looked on, horrified, as the golden particles faded into nothingness.

Prota and Krain stood there, defeated.

Anta looked proud. 

Prota was beyond furious. He gripped his sword and ran in roaring. “YOU BASTARD!!” He jumped up into the sky and slammed his sword down at his enemy.

But as usual, Anta dodged with ease. His hand gracefully showed itself from beneath his cloak, and he just barely touched Prota. A shockwave of magic sent the boy flying, all the way to the edge of the disk.

Krain’s efforts were equally useless, as he was quickly laid flat on his back.

Anta looked down at them and scoffed. He turned his back on them, deeming them too weak to be a threat. He once again kneeled down and traced the sigils in the center of the stone. Before Prota could find the strength to rise again, Anta was gone.