His wavy hair was blown back by the fierce desert winds. He grasped the crimson rose by his shoulder pocket and clutched his spear. He could not lose this time.

The tip of his spear glowed as he activated his fuel pack. The searing heat of the desert seemed cool to him, like he'd been walking through the arctic in sub zero temperatures, as he approached the place where he'd died over a thousand times.

The pharoah's glowing red eyes greeted him as he stepped through the sandstone arch. His sandstone guards, all over three storeys tall, looked his way. There were so many of them that even he could not see the last of them.

"With this strike and the lifetimes I have gathered, I will slaughter you all."

He pointed his spear toward the pharaoh, before leaping toward the first three guards and crushing their heads with a single ferocious swing. Jumping from shoulder to shoulder of the stone giants, he decapitated each one with the nimbleness of a rabbit and slugged a stray guard with his fist, sending it flying away and crashing into five others.

He could not be complacently calm as the pharaoh had not fallen. His piercing eyes seemed to conquer all as he pieced together the fallen soldiers with his magic control. Even in death, he seemed to be able to fight. The pharaoh was clearly in throes of death, yet he summoned the strength to fight me over a thousand times. Truly a legend.

I did not know why he brought me back to fight over a thousand times, but he did.

His staff glowed a final time before my spear reached his carotid artery and dust poured from the cavity in his neck.

A sandy croak emerged from his throat.

"I'm sorry, Griesa… I could not save you."

Perplexed, I turn to meet his eyes. Then, a gaping void opened to swallow me whole.