"Robin Sear, did you get your head caught in a door? You locked down the base! Now you won't get out alive either!"
Nuoyansi jumped down from Nuoyante's head and spoke furiously.
"Master, Lord Siber, brother, what do we do? The base is about to activate Self-Destruct. I... I don't want to die!"
Tears filled Nuoyante's eyes.
"Robin Sear, if you want to die, find somewhere quiet and do it alone! Don't drag everyone else down with you!"
Robin shrugged. "Siber, you're the one whose head got caught in a door. My Animagus form is a Phoenix. I... can't die!"
"What about him?"
Lester pointed at Robbie.
Robbie shrugged too. "Heh! I'm the one who really wants to die. Lester, the Main Experimental Base was left behind by First-Generation Lester. No matter how powerful you are, you can't surpass your ancestor. This time... you're the one who's going to die!"
"Robbie, you talk too much!"
Lester turned his palm upward and hurled one blue-green fireball after another at Robbie. Robin intercepted every one. His yellow-white flames grew fiercer as the fight went on, devouring each blue-green fireball faster than the last.
[Woo! Woo! Warning! Warning! The base will activate the Self-Destruct system in three minutes...]
"Three minutes! Haha! Robeli, in just three minutes, your brother will avenge you! None of the people who hurt you will escape!"
Robbie leaned against the wall and laughed.
"Oh, really?"
The corner of Lester's mouth lifted into a deranged, inscrutable smile. The moment Robin saw it, he realized Lester still had a trick up his sleeve.
Lester shook the arm with the severed hand. In an instant, countless green tendrils sprouted from the stump. Like human nerves and blood vessels, they wound around one another and rapidly took the shape of a hand. Then