The Savage Brawl [Round 5: Battletopia]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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The alert blaring through the city never made it to Gormand's ear-analogues. This was because said ear-analogues, and the body they were attached to, were preoccupied with trying not to freeze to death underneath a heavy mound of snow.

With great difficulty, Gormand began to lift himself out of the pile. He quickly realized that the snow was magical in nature; if it were natural snow, it would trap heat underneath it. Instead, it was chilling him dangerously fast.

Upon digging himself out, Gormand found his hypothesis confirmed. A young man in a black uniform was deep in concentration, pointing his fingerless hands in Gormand's direction. It didn't take much thought to identify him as the ice mage responsible for this localized blizzard; the more curious question was why he was casting here, in what seemed to be an unassuming alleyway.

Judging by the youth's uniform, and the similar uniforms worn by the half-dozen figures behind him, this was some sort of military exercise. But to what end? What could possibly be in the middle of an alleyway that would justify military-grade magic?

Gormand had little time to mull over this before a woman with short black hair covering one eye pointed at him; her uniform suggested she was a higher rank, most likely commanding the group.

"He's breaking out!" she shouted, pulling out a staff. "John, give that spell more power! Everyone else, keep that meatball back until it's frozen!"

Oh, that explained it. They were here for him. He really shouldn't have been so surprised.

With great effort, Gormand pulled himself forward, hoping to grab the ice mage and interrupt his spell. At the same time, three of the soldiers stepped forward and began firing at him. Gormand closed his eye as he continued pressing forward; he simply needed to feel the mage in his noodly grasp to end this storm, and then he could deal with the rest.

Of course, this meant he never saw the arrival of a straw doll with dragons for arms. One of them held a water bottle in its jaws.

"Where have you been?" Sergeant Karen grumbled at the new arrival. "You were supposed to be backup!"

"I needed a water source," the red dragon-arm replied apologetically. "And when I found one, it was less than cooperative."

The blue arm glared at Karen expectantly.

"What are you looking at?" she said.

"I think she wants you to open the bottle. It's rather difficult for her, after all."

Karen sighed. She grabbed the bottle and opened it up; a massive torrent of water flew out of it, slamming her against the wall.

"You see? Uncooperative," Right said. "I'll take care of this."

He directed the wave of water in an arc, past the trio of space marines, over John Swift's head, and directly at Gormand's closed eye. It wasn't long before John's magic froze the water over, leaving Gormand encased in a shell of ice.

Karen breathed a sigh of relief. Then she quickly slammed the lid back on the bottle, and the flow of water subsided.

"All right, we're just about ready to go. Where's Miq?"

At the mention of her name, an oversized icebox gleefully hopped into the alley and smiled.

"He's right over there," Karen said, pointing at the now-frozen meatball. "Remember, keep him cold, and don't eat him. We need him alive."

The icebox hopped past, and swallowed Gormand whole. She smiled back at the sergeant.

"Good job, Miq," Karen said, patting her on the head. "Now let's get this thing secured."

***

Hoss was desperate. He was outnumbered, cornered, and stripped of the abilities he knew how to use.

There seemed little recourse but to risk a spell. He raised his hand, and concentrated. He flung an enormous fireball forward at the soldiers, and was thrown back against the wall. He picked himself up and smiled.

And then an elderly woman rushed forward, holding a glowing shield in front of her. The fireball struck it, and stopped moving.

"Barrier's up," the woman said. "Now somebody get rid of that, I don't want to keep this up forever."

"Already working on it." A purple-haired woman was staring at a device on her arm and pressing buttons. "Mana drain initiated. Murdoch, you should be able to repulse it now."

A glowing white man stood next to her, wearing a blue cloak. He smiled, and waved a wand towards the fireball.

A small blue blast struck it, and then it started moving back towards Hoss.

"No!"

Hoss screamed as his own fireball flew at him. He held up his arms, hoping he could discover an appropriate spell to defend against it in the few seconds he had remaining.

And then, just as it was about to reach him, it shrank away to nothing.

"So he's got magic again this time around," the crystalline man mused. "But he hardly seems as effective with it as when he was The Great Hoss. And not nearly as stylish, it worked so much better when you had the beard and the pointy hat."

A bulky man with equally bulky gauntlets stepped out of the crowd of soldiers, smiling.

"So, can I take a shot at him now, Your Eminence?"

His Eminence turned to the purple-haired woman.

"Amethyst? Do you have sufficient analysis?"

"Yes, sir. Data indicates the subject has a high level of mana available to him, but is otherwise a standard human. In addition, he does not appear to have much experience as a spellcaster. He is of limited threat, so long as he does not have an opportunity to refine his abilities." She paused. "Oh, and incidentally, Rock Bind."

As Amethyst spoke the words, Hoss suddenly found his feet encased in gravel.

"That shouldn't be too much of an issue," the green man mused. "He's all yours, Aegis."

Hoss panicked, as the large man's gauntlets changed into a metal club. He tried to break out of his gravel bonds, but before he had the chance, everything went black.

His wrist communicator beeped. He answered it.

"This is Sarika, Your Eminence. All Savage Brawl competitors have been subdued and are in transit."

"Wonderful!" The leader smiled. "Well, everyone, it seems this will be a smooth iteration. Get the mana-dampening cuffs on Hoss. Once he wakes up and answers a few questions, we can start preparing the execution."

Aegis picked up the unconscious former cyborg, and Amethyst placed a pair of metal bands around his wrists. The entire group began walking off, triumphantly shouting their leader's name in praise.

"ALL HAIL KRACHT! ALL HAIL KRACHT!"