Indebiss attacked again, dashing forward and punching Ning square in the jaw, sending him crashing through multiple standing natural glass structures and giant crystals that stuck out of the ground.

He not only broke past them but also struck the mountain on the other side at such an angle that he skipped over it from sheer momentum.

He went flying back into the burning hot sun and quickly stopped himself before instantly kicking at the Indebiss that had followed him. He managed to land a solid kick to Indebiss’ head, sending him flying to the right with a resounding boom in the air.

Ning felt his clothes start burning from not just the heat above, but also the heat below. At the same time, something was happening to him that he couldn’t explain.

He could feel a sort of energy converging within him. He felt a sharp sensation on the thumb of his right finger and saw a small tattoo of some sort appear on it.

“The **?” he cursed out loud. The tattoo that appeared on his thumb wasn’t just black as if a tattoo, but it was black just like the rest of his skin. While most of his skin was currently black, his palms at least were of much lighter color such that they seemed fair by comparison.

However, for some reason, a black marking had appeared on his thumb and it was no ink but instead the black of the rest of his body.

The tattoo that appeared on his thumb wasn’t just black as if a tattoo, but it was black just like the rest of his skin. While most of his skin was currently black, his palms at least were of much lighter color such that they seemed fair by comparison.

However, for some reason, a black marking had appeared on his thumb and it was no ink but instead the black of the rest of his body.

“What is—”

07:12

He was only 2 words in when Indebiss clocked him on the side of his chest so hard that Ning went flying for kilometers again. Ning tried to see where Indebiss was, but it was already too late. Indebiss was right behind him again, in the process of punching down on Ning.

Ning flipped himself in midair and crossed his arms to block the punch. But the punch still sent him crashing down to the ground.

Ning’s clothes burned at the contact with the surface of the ground and coughed when he smelled the terrible fume that came from underground.

He waved the fumes away and jumped back into the sky, leaving a large dent in the soft ground. Their fight continued, taking them all over the Sunside, into places where the temperature was so hot that a human would slowly cook to death. What surprised Ning the most about the atmosphere was that, further away, the land was actually not that sunny. Despite being the Sunside, the sulphuric fumes that came from the ground created a blanket in the sky that stopped direct sunlight from reaching the ground.

But what it did instead was keep the heat in the area from escaping, and thus the temperature was consistently in the 400s or 500 degrees all over.

Indebiss sent Ning flying above the cloud of toxic gasses, where Ning appeared before the direct sun in his naked flesh and fell back down to the ground.

He burned all the way down and landed comfortably in a pool of lava that seemed to be stable in a volcano. He remained floating there, sighing deeply.

He looked at his finger once again, wondering what the tattoo was for exactly. He hadn’t had the time to ask the system just yet.

Indebiss flew down and landed on top of the lava as well, walking across it with bare feet. His clothes seemed resistant to eat and didn’t burn the entire time.

He arrived next to the lying Ning and crouched down in front of him. He grabbed Ning’s face and pulled it closer.

“What’s wrong? You give up?” he asked with a look of fervor. “I was only just starting to have fun.”

“Yep,” Ning said. “It’s time to stop.”

“Oh? What happened to all the words about defeating me? Are you really giving up so easily?” Indebiss asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t call it giving up,” Ning said. “Just that I don’t want to fight anymore.”

“Oh? And why is that? Are you scared that I’ll kill you?” Indebiss chuckled. “I’ll do that either way.”

“Scared?” Ning scoffed. “No that is not the reason. I just don’t want you to lose too much energy in the fight. I’ve already distracted you for long enough anyway.”

Indebiss frowned. “Huh?” he asked. “Long enough for what?”

Ning suddenly grabbed Indebiss’ arm which creaked under the force of his clutch. Indebiss’ eyes went wide at the force that Ning produced. What he was using to fight before was nothing compared to this at all.

“I have no need to fight you anymore,” Ning said and grinned mischievously. “Link!”

Indebiss was surprised at the sudden foreign presence in his body that he could somewhat feel. He looked at Ning in confusion and panic, not understanding what had happened. “What did you do?” he asked.

“Me? Well… I did what I said I would from the start,” Ning said, slowly standing up on the bubbling lava. “I killed you.”

“No!” Indebiss cried out. “You… you can’t kill me. I am—”

Suddenly Indebiss found himself falling to the lava, pain coursing through his body as his very essence was ripped away by Ning.

Ning placed a foot on the Will’s back, breathing out in relief. “Thank you for being an idiot and not realizing I was playing with you,” Ning said. “Had you known you were going to die, you would have run away long ago, and that would have been problematic.”

“You… You duped me,” Indebiss said.

“The correct term would be bait. I baited you into a fight long enough so that Farhalys would die, so I can continue this,” Ning said.

“No… I won’t die,” Indebiss cried.

“Oh? But I thought you would be happy to die. Wasn’t that what you told me just earlier?” Ning asked.

Indebiss tried to struggle, to teleport away, or to attack Ning, but nothing worked.

Once the link had been established, there wasn’t much he could do especially under Ning’s clutches. All he could do was cry in horror as his existence was slowly wiped away.