The Savage Brawl [Round 5: Battletopia]

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

---

A pillar of fire erupted in the distance, and Hoss's sensors recorded the bolt of lightning which caused it. Konka Rar's accidental ignition inspired the ancient tyrant, and he moved towards the edge of the enclosure to enact his plan.

His remaining arm, silver surface now fully exposed and glinting in the waning sunlight, began to reconfigure itself into an odd spike-like shape. His hand fused into a single sharp point, which stretched outwards as the spike extended.

It was good his metallic skull was locked in a permanent grin, as, had his artificial skin and facial muscles not been destroyed, he would be grinning anyway. Hoss was enjoying himself, truly and thoroughly. It wasn't the empty motivation from the beginning of this battle, nor the grim determination which had pushed him through the rest, even after he'd finally put together the final pieces of his new Plan. This was something else. His sister had been right; he'd been wallowing in the past too much. He'd lost his focus, and he'd been paying for it this whole time. The other contestents no longer mattered; he had much larger concerns, now, and he would work only to forward those goals.

The spike was nearly five feet long now, his entire arm completely rigid and straight. He neared the edge of the crisscrossing, gridlike metal bars of the enclosure, and pointed the spike at it.

Plasma splayed out from the enclosure, connecting with the end of the spike, and instead of disappearing in a flash, it remained, pulsing, feeding the spike as energy spasmatically coarsed along the gap.

The spike absorbed the massive influx of energy and directed it all to Hoss's internal graviton emitters. Using what internal machinery was still working, he tweaked the emitters very slightly.

Lacking a right arm to gesture dramatically, the next phase was slightly less obvious. The newly-configured emitters were now radiating gravitomagnetic energy, and directing it all towards a single point at the top of the domed enclosure. Simultaneously, a feedback loop established itself in the spike protruding from Hoss's left shoulder, shunting ions back into the metal grid surrounding the park, magnetizing the entire structure.

At the top of the dome, the convergence of gravitomagnetic radiation continued to build in strength. Metal groaned as the magnetized bars began to stress towards the convergence. For a moment, the worryingly frequent creaks and pops throughout the vast structure seemed ready to signal catastrophe, but as the seconds wore on, nothing happened.

Even with the unimaginable amount of energy raging through him, barely controlled, Hoss was still unable to generate a gravitomagnetic anomaly strong enough to pull the structure into it. He would need an additional source of energy, but where...

He thought back to his brief experiment with magic earlier in the round. He'd so far been avoiding it, given its association with the unexplained disappearence of his newmatter fabricators. Still, he hadn't yet confirmed his experiments in matters arcane were directly responsible, and he wouldn't make progress without taking a risk. So...

Hoss reached inside himself, to the place he'd discovered earlier, and infused a small portion of his will into gravitomagnetic convergence.

The result was nothing short of dramatic.

The convergence, still invisible to the naked eye, swelled enourmously, spurting out neutrino emissions as Hoss's will fueled it. The enclosure finally began to snap, crumbling towards the convergence, whose strength had finally allowed it to burst through into the visible realm; a slightly glowing sphere, distorting the space around it.

The ground began to tremble beneath his feet, as the buried portions of the magnetized enclosure began to pull towards the convergence. The enclosure itself formed a perfect sphere, bisected in the middle by the surface. The other half was buried beneath the grass and dirt. It was this second half which was now pushing through the ground, churning the earth in its path, rushing towards the convergence at the top of the other end of the sphere.

Hoss struggled to keep in position as the ground heaved. All around him, the enclosure folded towards its top, and broken shards of metal burst through the ground, rushing towards the building convergence. It did not attract all metal in the area; certainly, metallic objects within its range experienced a slight tug in its direction, but they were not as heavily magnetized as Hoss had made the metal bars of the enclosure.

All around the park, the enclosure buckled and snapped, falling towards the swiftly building magnetic convergence. Its strength continued to build, as it fed on the arcane fuel of Hoss's will, sapping him of energy. The enclosure continued to fall into the strange light, as chunks of metal tore up the overgrown field, mounds of dirt erupting across the landscape as twisted metal screamed their agony through the air.

The ground beneath Hoss was no less turbulent, and the spurting plasma linking his spike to the enclosure was losing cohesion as power fluctuated through the enclosure's grid. Suddenly, the lightning vanished, severing the power to Hoss's generators. The gravitomagnetic convergence collapsed, dropping a dense ball of metal; all that it had absorbed up to that point. The enclosure itself, at least what was above the surface, was completely gone. The portions of it which had ripped their way through the ground and into the air fell back to the surface; a surface of churned earth, broken rock, twisted, crumpled metal, uprooted trees, and one oddly serene tornado of fire.

Hoss fell to his knees, inexplicably drained. He opened a link to his sister, projecting an image of himself which was still whole and vital.

The nature of this multiversal connection was still mostly unfamiliar to Hoss, and, he suspected, to his sister. However, from what he could determine, time flowed... differently, when the link was open. Very little time would pass in his battle while he conversed with people in the network, and everyone seemed to connect at relatively the same moment, despite it being nearly impossible to synchronize meetings across universes.

Which was why it didn't surprise him when his sister replied almost instantly.

"I've dealt with things on my end. The Cultivator has yet made no move, but I've made it clear I'm not playing her silly little game. Report."

His sister began briskly, "There is a contestant in my battle I think you should meet. His name is Vandrel Reinhardt, and he shares your philosophies and past, to an extent. He's a tyrant, a usurper, and apparently ruled his kingdom with an iron fist. From what little I've been able to observe of his interactions, he is also explicitely pro-human. To what extent I am uncertain, but his reputation as a tactician was enough to warrant a comment from my battle's... organizer. He will be a valuable asset."

Hoss caused his image to pace as his sister spoke. He nodded as she finished.

"Good. Make contact. I would like to speak with him."

"I am already on my way."

"Excellent. I should get back to things on my end, if there's nothing else."

He could see her hesitating, and knew her well enough to read the slight inhale as a sign of uncertainty.

"Actually... there is."

Hoss raised an eyebrow.

"Continue."

"Earlier, I was contacted on this line by another... person. I have the message stored."

The two turned to face one side of the circular room, which suddenly contained a screen, showing, at first, nothing. Then a voice, "-ntum thingy to maybe get out of here, if I can just... No, what- Gah. Cursed technology."

A face then came into view, a rather worn-looking man with Old-Earth tinted sunglasses; "Aviators", the two observers remember. The girl's voice came from the screen, saying, "You're connected. I can see you."

"Oh, good. Listen, I'm Officer Arnold Scarlet, Seattle PD, and I am currently a captive of a being calling itself the Controller. He-"

"Let me guess, he's forcing you and a group of others to fight to the death."

The man shook his head. "I only wish. He started off like that, but early on, he took me out of the battle and tortured me as an example to the others. Since then, I've been stuck in this place.

"Sounds horrible." Her false empathy was almost believable. "How did you contact me?"

"He went off to take care of some 'opportunity' that came up and left me here alone. One of his computers lit up and said something about an 'interaction between tagged dimensions' and 'threaded entanglement,' and I though it might be a chance to get out of here."

"Unfortunately, no."

"Shame, I-" He stopped, appearing to notice something, and the image vanished abruptly.

Hoss cocked his head slightly. "Interesting... and I don't just mean the terribly pedantic naming conventions of these multiversal thrill-seekers. 'The Controller', 'The Cultivator', 'The Executor'. Terrible." He turned to his sister, "Did you notice anything off?"

She considered briefly before answering, "... yes, I did. I can't quite place my finger on it, but... why would someone who's being tortured be wearing stylish accessories like those sunglasses?"

Hoss turned back to where the screen had been. "My thoughts exactly. Still, whoever he is, he apparently has the capability to intercept and force open our line of communication. If he contacts you again, bring him into the fold. We'd best keep him close."

"Understood. I-"

Abruptly, the girl stopped, staring off into space. "Pardon, there has been a development." She vanished from the room. Shortly afterwards, Hoss did as well.

Back in the park, barely a second had passed. Hoss took some time to take an account of his internals, and to puzzle at his unnatural fatigue, before his sister contacted him again.

They appeared in the same room, only this time appearing with her was a stocky, solid looking man in a suit of armor, with an impressively well-built face. It looked hardened from years of combat and stress, complimenting his full beard. His physical age looked older than Hoss, but in terms of absolute years, there was no contest as to whom was eldest.

Hoss caused his image to smile. "Hello, Vandrel Reinhardt. You may call me the Hand of Silver. We have a few things in common, and I think you'll be interested in what I have to say."

Reinhardt sank to one knee and stabbed his sword into the floor, bowing cordially.

"Greetings, Sir Hand of Silver. Tell me what it is you have to say."

Hoss motioned for Reinhardt to rise, and the younger man did so. Hoss snapped his fingers, and two highbacked chairs appeared next to the men, with a low table in between. Startled, Reinhardt looked cautiously at Hoss, who smiled again.

"Not magic, I assure you. If you'd have a seat, I will explain."

Hoss motioned towards the chairs, and Reinhardt, after some hesitation, followed. The two sat down; Hoss, luxuriating in the comfortable chair, let out a sigh of relief as he sat. Reinhardt remained rigid.

"That's the second time I've seen something no normal human should be able to do, and told that 'it will be explained'. My patience can only last so long."

Hoss nodded acknowledgment of the other man's complaint. "I understand. So, as promised, an explanation."

"I come from a universe where there is no magic. None. Early in our history, my ancestors lived much like you; minus the magic. Just regular humans, bound to a dirt prison by their feeble technology."

Hoss leaned fowards. "But, being human, they constantly yearned for more. More knowledge, more power, more ease of life. And so they experimented, and learned, and improved, and their technology improved. They went from wood sticks to metal swords to gunpowder cannons and further. Using nothing but their own ingenuity, and limited to the scarce resources of their world, they built, and improved. And those archaic weapons turned to more sophisticated ones; small cannons that could be held in a person's hand, which shot bits of metal at rapid speeds. They harnessed the power of lightning, and used it to power their cities, making a world without darkness. They discovered ways to communicate across vast distances, and every day the world grew closer. Eventually, they found ways to leave their pathetic ball of space mud and claim their birthright; the rest of the universe."

Hoss leaned backwards once more, relaxing back into his chair. "What you see before you is simply an advanced form of your own technology, forged through the passion, courage, and intelligence of our species, and put into use for the might of humanity. In my universe, humans were the only intelligent form of life. Just humans. And we expanded across the stars, ruling everything. It was glorious."

He lowered his head slightly, pupilless eyes never belying their focus.

"But these battles and their organizers... they have shown me a terrible truth. That humans are not alone in existence. I suppose I should thank them for that. But you know as well as I do that humans are the only species which deserve sentience. Everything else deserves only extermination or subservience.

"And that is why I need your help, Vandrel."

Hoss clasped his gloved hands together on the table, and leaned forward again in earnesty.

"We must scour the multiverse for more battles like the ones we are in. More humans, to rally to our cause, and overthrow these unworthy masters. Humanity must, once more, reign supreme across existence."

Hoss allowed a slight easing of his expression.

"So, Vandrel Reinhardt. Will you join us?"

Vandrel considered.

"... what position, exactly, would I occupy in this... Network... you intend to establish?"

Hoss smiled. "I'm glad you asked. Yours will be the face which all potential contacts will first see. You will filter out the undeserving and the unwelcome, and gather only humans, or any other useful non-human tools you may encounter. And," Hoss added, in response to Reinhardt's bristle at the word "non-human", "they will be just tools, to be discarded when their use has been served. My sister will initiate each search with you; she will be your contact in your battle, and your conduit to me. The two of you will work together to create our... yes, you know, I rather like 'Network'. Network it is, then. She will decide if I need to meet any new contacts, but it will mostly be you acting as the face of this operation."

Reinhardt sat back, absorbing Hoss's offer. It certainly seemed... intriguing.

"Very well. I will join with you."

Hoss smiled magnanimously. "Good. I am glad to have a man like you as an ally, and I look forward to working with you."

"Indeed." Reinhardt stood, and Hoss followed suit. They shook hands. "The true might of humanity will be felt across all worlds."

The men smiled at each other. Hoss nodded at his sister, imperceptibly, and she nodded back. She and the armored king vanished as she brought them back to their battle, leaving Hoss alone. He looked around briefly, sighed, and vanished as well.

---

Konka Rar had been mostly unaware of the chaos outside his tornado, focused as he was on not killing himself. It wasn't until a broken, bent metal bar shot through his tornado that he became concerned with the events outside his firey prison.

He spared a small amount of energy to pry open a portal through the maelstrom, lifting two bands of flame to peek at the park. What he saw was... unexpected.

The whole park had been dug up and dumped back down. Broken metal jutted out everywhere, some lodged where they fell, some still half-emerged from the ground.

But this was not what caught the lich's eye. No, what he saw was every single contestent, off-balance, drained from the ordeal, vulnerable. Ekelhaft had still been recovering from Hoss's discharge earlier, and was now broken into several distinct blobs all across the churned earth. Gormand, less disturbed by the enclosure's downfall than the explosion previously, was nonetheless in obvious shock from the chaos. Of Diego and Ziirphael, there was no sign, but one could easily conclude they had not faired well through first the explosion and then the collapsing metal dome.

And then there was Hoss. The ancient tyrant was on his knees, gasping. Great big shuddering breaths stole through his battered body, despite the fact that he did not need to breathe. With a huge hole scarring the area where his nose had been, and the other damage from his fight with the main mass of Ekelhaft showing in pits and abrasions across his almost fully exposed upper torso (most of it missing skin, revealing the cybernetic underworks), he looked drained. And drained he was; his inexperience with magic had cost him. He had not known that, in using his will to fuel his magic, it would drain him in ways he had no real way of recovering from. He was unfamiliar with this concept of magic, and as such, was unprepared for the consequences.

Given Konka Rar's somewhat more considerable magical acumen, he was able to see the signs of a novice mage pushed too far in Hoss, and knew that all his enemies were at their weakest. This was the moment to strike.

Expending a considerable amount of his magical power, he pushed the wind and fire outwards away from him, causing a wall of fire to race across the tortured landscape, seeking to engulf every remaining constestent in flame.