The Battle Majestic (Round 4 - Magpie Skies)

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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"This is far less interesting than I had expected," Lionel mumbled to himself. "I barely have to lift a finger."

He couldn't help but compare it to the slaughter at Oxbow. That had been exhilirating; the security bots posed an actual threat if he didn't catch them first; there were numerous cowards to root out of their hiding places; and the Yaggs had taken some actual effort to down. Of course, the Yaggs were hardly the most tactically competent of foes, but compared to the better majority of the knights, they might as well have been Sun Tzu. He'd been mildly surprised when two knights had charged down separate hallways and collided with each other; then it happened seventeen more times and it had simply stopped being funny.

The worst part was that his son was trying to reassert control, holding him back. All the progress he'd made in the last round was slipping away. He couldn't even kill any of the knights to relieve the boredom, though he was careful not to reveal that; if the boy knew his resistance was having an effect, it would only encourage him further.

Lionel sighed as he heard a nineteenth pair collide behind him, then turned to look and halfheartedly shot a medium-strength bolt to incapacitate them. For the nineteenth time.

He turned around to resume his path, and found that six knights had gathered in the hallway in front of him, swords drawn.

"Finally," he grumbled. "I hope you're at least marginally competent."

He raised an arm and fired at Twenty-Eight, flinging him back to the ground. Then he grabbed Thirty-Seven's sword with his bandage, and swung it towards Forty, who stepped back to avoid it.

Unfortunately, he stepped back into Sixty-Two, who was far less deft, and managed to not only fall to the ground, but trip Forty-Three and Fifty in the process.

Forty, luckily, had managed to avoid getting caught up in Sixty-Two's flailing. He sliced through the bandage, knocking the other sword to the floor. Unfortunately, he then made the mistake of grabbing the bandage, allowing Lionel to easily conduct a calculated shock that carried through his armor and knocked him unconscious.

Forty-Three and Fifty scrambled to their feet as Forty collapsed, with Sixty-Two still flailing around. In the meantime, Thirty-Seven rushed to grab his sword from the floor. Unfortunately, the pause he took to lift it was just long enough for Lionel to fire another bolt.

As Thirty-Seven collapsed, Forty-Three and Fifty used the opportunity to charge at their attacker. But Fifty was soon tangled up by the bandage, and then shocked through it.

Forty-Three was undeterred. He flung his sword at Lionel, hoping the attack on Fifty would divert too much attention. It didn't; Lionel sidestepped the blade, which fell to the floor behind him, and then fired a bolt at Forty-Three.

He smirked. That had been interesting, even without the opportunity to kill. If only more of the knights could make such an effort, halfhearted as it was.

He continued walking down the hall, and sighed as two more knights collided in front of him. Apparently that was too much to hope for.

And then everything went dark as Forty's helmet struck him in the back of the head.

"Er, sorry," Sixty-Two said to Forty's unconscious form, still stuck on top of his legs. "Maybe pushing would work better than pulling?"

***

"Sixty-Two caught him?" Twenty-Five asked incredulously.
"I don't know how it happened either," Fifteen grumbled. "Regardless, I understand that this man was left in the Queen's room and not the dungeon on your orders. So I believe you owe us an explanation."
Twenty-Five sighed. First the worm-thing, and now this.
"Look, one of the more moronic ones brought him in, I don't even know his number off the top of my head. Said he'd been 'bouncing on clouds' without a license. He was unconscious, I assumed he was simply an unfortunate victim of idiocy."
"You're lucky we didn't actually lose anyone in that attack," Fifteen snarled. "Otherwise, we'd have a good forty-seven victims of idiocy - yours, specifically."
"Yes, I understand that."
"Good. Then you also understand why I'm assigning you to guard his cell." Fifteen glared at the junior knight. "If he tries anything again after he wakes up, it's going to be your problem first and foremost. Understood?"
Twenty-Five saluted.
"Understood, sir."
"Now get over there!"
Twenty-Five rushed off to the dungeon.
"I'm never allowing another visitor into the castle again," he muttered to himself.