The Grand Battle [Game Over!]

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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“This seems… familiar.”

Aeon and Eximo were surrounded by grey mist. It was easy to guess what it reminded Eximo of: the Holding Cell, where they waited for the next round. If this was indeed the same location as the Holding Cell, then it was a different part of it—Aeon and Eximo stood on a circular platform. Scattered along the walls were hundreds of images. Aeon walked over to one and saw a misty swamp. He saw individuals wade through the waters, entirely incognizant of their observer. In others, he saw an amusement park, an icy cavern—each sporting a number of individuals, each individual unique, yet some groups appearing in multiple images. Windows to other universes, no doubt.

A voice from below caught Aeon and Eximo's attention. They silently walked onto the circular platform and looked down. Beneath them, there was a circular table, a screen showing formless static, and two familiar individuals.

***

“Where's the image?!” Ari shouted as he looked at the display.

“Perhaps they changed their surroundings to static,” Arnold mused, “It's theoretically possible, isn't it?”

Ari shot him a dirty glance.

“Look, we just witnessed everyone who could possibly make this interesting get killed. There's no way they'll start fighting again after that, so really, this is going to go on until your contestant dies of old age. Mine can't.”

“Aren't you the least bit concerned about what they might be scheming?”

“They were scheming something? No, wait, don't tell me what it was, it spoils all the fun when they manage to pull it off!” Arnold leaned back in his chair, and looked up at the ceiling.

Ari groaned, and started to walk away. It wasn't as if he particularly cared who won anymore, but the Director had excused himself, and Arnold made poor company. Then he noticed Arnold staring at the ceiling.

“What are you looking a-?” Ari looked up. He saw a man and a vacuum cleaner staring right back.

“How did- Never mind! Fogge, you imbecile! Those are the contestants! They're here! THEY ARE HERE!”

“Hm. Do you think we should offer them a cup of tea?”

Ari clasped his hand to his forehead, and attempted to run down a hall before he was thrown back into his chair. Evidently, neither of them were to leave the room.

***

“Come on. This particular area seems to be a medium to all the Grand Battles. The Director must be somewhere in here.”

Aeon and Eximo walked around the circular platform. At one end, the platform extended into the middle of the area. Aeon walked onto the middle platform, and Eximo followed suit. Soon, Aeon and Eximo rose to the air, and the misty walls surrounding them morphed. From this vantage point, it seemed that everything here has been made available to them. With a mere thought, the walls shifted and a relevant image situated itself in front of them, and both Aeon and Eximo knew their objective.

The walls around them shifted, and accelerated downwards. Hundreds of images appeared and disappeared, and soon faded into a blur. Soon, Aeon and Eximo reached the limit of the vertical hall, and entered a vast, spherical area. The ‘Hall of Grand Battles' was one of thousands of similar organizations. As Aeon and Eximo slowed to a halt, tendrils of smoke appeared and coalesced into a floating platform, and Aeon and Eximo landed on it with no sound at all.

In the midst of it all, at the very center of this hyperdimensional yet miniscule universe, was the Director. Here, the fruit of Amethyst's work was finally seen. The only being who had the slightest right to call himself a god sat with an air that somehow reminded Aeon of an old man recovering from a near-fatal incident.

This was the Director.