The Grand Battle [Game Over!]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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As the battle raged on, Amethyst, Emily, and Alcarith eyed the Gentleman with suspicion. Amethyst finally broke the silence.

"Why would you make such an offer?" she asked bluntly. "What, exactly, do you stand to gain?"

"A good question, with a relatively simple answer," Dexter replied. "The Director was displeased that I revealed to Lutherion the nature of the contest beforehand, and punished me by trapping me here with all of you." He smirked. "You can imagine the impact this has had on my loyalty to him."

Emily looked at him disapprovingly, but said nothing. It seemed the other two were content to let Amethyst do the talking, at least for now.

"I imagine you are not offering us an escape route. If you had one, it would not have been much of a punishment."

"Clever girl. No, I cannot traverse the dimensions myself. Among us, only the Director has that ability. I'm afraid all I can offer you is knowledge. Ask me a question, and I will answer as best as I can."

"Well, then. I suppose I shall start with the obvious. Who is the Director? And, for that matter who are you?"

"The Director's secrets are well-kept, even from us Gentleman. Some of us think him a god. I am increasingly finding it more likely that he is simply a mage who has amassed such power that he seems a god - though that may mostly be a semantic difference." He smiled. "As for me - and the rest of us - the Director selected us from numerous dimensions to aid him. Not that he ever tells us precisely what we're supposed to be aiding him with..."

The conversation was interrupted by a loud shout as Lutherion transformed within the isolation field.

"What... what's he doing?" Alcarith asked, surprised. "I... I remember this? But I was dead..."

"I... I remember things happening after my death, too," Emily said, holding her head. "You there! Can you explain this?"

"I am afraid I know little about this world the Director has created," Dexter replied, almost apologetically. "If I were to guess, I would say that the remaining Gentlemen are somehow responsible, rather than the Director himself - they are sending copies of individuals here, with memories that they believe will aid their selected fighter. But that is nothing more than a guess."

Eximo was suddenly flung into the edge of the isolation field. It bounced off a barrier, back into the battle, and began wildly attacking Lutherion's feet, but to little effect. Lutherion tried to grab it again, but kept hitting the barrier with his arms.

"I suppose that's getting rather difficult to ignore," Dexter said, half to himself.