The greatest in the Multiverse

Round 6: The Draconic Wildfire vs the Genius Bruiser

"NOW THEN FOLKS, WE HAVE REACHED THE 6TH ROUND OF THE CONTEST!"

The huge crowd kept up their loud cacophony, showing no signs of calming down even a little. Their excitement had not only hit the roof as early as the first round, but had stayed that way all throughout the tournament. The moment both fighters entered the arena was no exception.

"IN THE BLUE CORNER, THE DRACONIC WILDFIRE OF UNIVERSE 8! AT 23 YEARS OF AGE, THIS FIERY DWARF HAS ALREADY BEEN THROUGH IT ALL! SHE HAS DEALT WITH DEMONS - BOTH ON THE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE -, POLITICAL DRAMA AND, AS SHE HERSELF DESCRIBED IT, 'THE WORST DATE IN HISTORY', BUT WITH HER OWN GUTS AND A LITTLE HELP FROM OTHERS SHE HAS CONQUERED IT ALL! WILL HER ALL-CONSUMING FLAMES INCINERATE HER OPPONENT, OR WILL THEY SNUFF OUT IN DEFEAT? HERE SHE IS: CONTESTAAAANT MOLLY!"

As she strided out onto the field, Molly had really started to regret mentioning that date during the pre-tournament background checks. Going on a date with a pretty lady from an antique store who later ended up being revealed as a succubus was not the most fun experience she'd ever had, and some little slime fucker announcing this to over 250.000 people didn't make it any better. For now though the Dwarf pushed back those thoughts; she was here to beat up a Half-Orc, not mope about her love life. At least the audience's wild roars seemed to indicate that they didn't really pay much attention to it.

"AND IN THE RED CORNER, THE GENIUS BRUISER OF UNIVERSE 6! YOU PROBABLY WOULDN'T GUESS IT BASED ON HER YOUNG AGE OF 27, BUT OUR UPCOMING CONTESTANT IS ACTUALLY A PROUD MOTHER OF ONE! AND IN BETWEEN MAKING SURE HER 7-YEAR OLD SON IS GROWING UP STRONG, SHE HAS ALSO MADE QUITE AN IMPRESSION BACK HOME AS NOT ONLY ONE OF THE STRONGEST, BUT ALSO MOST INTELLIGENT, MECHANICS AROUND! WILL SHE BRING HOME A WIN TO IMPRESS HER BELOVED KID WITH, OR WILL SHE GO DOWN AND HAVE TO SETTLE FOR IMPRESSING HIM WITH SOME CANDY INSTEAD? GIVE IT UP FOR: CONTESTAAAANT ABIGAIL!"

As the huge Half-Orc entered the arena, her thoughts quickly jumped from politely waving and nodding towards the crowd to her son back home. She had of course made sure to get a couple friends to watch over him while she was off rumbling in another universe, but she couldn't help but worry. Was he safe? Was he alright? She noted to herself that there was probably no need to worry, but at the end of the day she was still a mother. It was impossible for her to not be worried. Nevertheless she had a fight to tend to. She'd just have to keep trusting her friends to keep her beloved John safe until she was back home, and until then she would just need to make sure to put up a performance he could be proud of. Say, didn't that little purple Tiefling have the exact same na-

"Hey, what'cha looking at? You saw a ghost or something?"

Abigail snapped back to reality upon the Dwarf in front of her calling out to her while snapping her fingers. She'd been so lost in her own thoughts that she had barely noticed Molly trying to grab her attention. The Half-Orc tried to respond, the words practically stumbling onto themselves.

"Oh, uh… sorry about that. Anyway, uh… let's make this a good one?"

Her sentence was accompanied by an almost comically improvised smile. Molly just stared up towards her opponent with a dumbfounded look on her face. What was this lady's deal? Maybe she wasn't as smart as the announcer had claimed, or at the very least maybe she lacked any awareness of her surroundings? The Dwarf simply sighed and shrugged her shoulders as she turned around.

"Whatever, ponytail. Let's just get going before anyone embarrasses herself."

As she too turned around to get into a starting position, Abigail gave off a deep groan. That was… not exactly what anyone would call even a decent first impression. Good thing there were only just over 250.000 people watching. She briefly shook her head to try and move past that, and instead focus on the fight at hand. And given how Molly was currently cracking her knuckles, it was clear she had the same thought. Those giant green muscles might look scary, but that awkward obviously unprepared mind behind them? It was clear as day to the scarlet sorcerer: This was gonna be easy.

Once more, the arena fell silent as the onlookers were all awaiting the explosion signalling the start of the action. And up in the announcer's booth, Googlorp was about to give them just that.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"BEGIN!"

[KABOOOOM!]

Molly had been ready for this moment the minute she'd got into the tournament, and thus launched the first attack in the form of a barrage of magical flaming bolts. However, each bolt harmlessly hit nothing but dirt as Abigail jumped out of the way. The Half-Orc was surprisingly nimble, to the point of catching the unassuming Molly by surprise. Not for long though, since she quickly fired another volley. And while Abigail did manage to avoid most of that as well, this time she was struck in the stomach and left leg by two of the burning projectiles. As the inventor reflexively clutched her leg in pain, Molly grinned fiercely as she violently thrusted her blazing hands forward.

"Heads up, knucklehead! Hope you didn't plan on getting anywhere today!"

Twin torrents of fire erupted from the Dwarf's palms straight in the direction of the Half-Orc. Abigail only had moments to react, and at the last second she crossed her arms in front of her in the shape of an X. The flaming stream hit dead-on; the mechanic was seemingly engulfed in flame from head to toe. She was completely obscured from view by the raging wildfire and the billowing smoke, and if she screamed it couldn't be heard over the roar of the blaze. Molly yelled with an intensity rivalling her spell as she kept the stream going.

"HAH! Sorry if this gives you a boo-boo, big girl, but you gotta know just how outclassed you are! NOW YOU'RE DO- huh?"

The confident sorcerer had ceased her spell as she thought it had to be enough; by now Abigail should've been nothing more than a charred mess on the ground. But as the fire died out and the smoke pillars dispelled, Molly was caught off guard. Not only was Abigail still standing, she didn't even have a bruise. And as she lowered her arms, Molly realised what had happened. She realised that she was, in fact, dealing with a magic user.

"Phew, thank the gods for the Shield spell. That could've ended badly!" Abigail said to herself. As the shimmering translucent magical wall around her dispelled, she quickly grabbed ahold of her leather backpack and started to dig through it. It was time to go on the offensive.

"CONTESTANT MOLLY STARTS OFF STRONG WITH A BLAZING WILDFIRE, BUT TO NO AVAIL AS CONTESTANT ABIGAIL BLOCKS IT WITH A MAGIC BARRIER! AND IT SEEMS LIKE SHE'S UP TO SOMETHING! WHAT MYSTERY WEAPON IS SHE GONNA GRAB OUT OF THAT BAG? LET'S HOPE CONTESTANT MOLLY KEEPS HER GUARD UP!"

Molly did not keep her guard up. Instead she lobbed another fire bolt towards Abigail, intending to stop the inventor from bringing out whatever was in there. But the projectile was blocked by a large metal handle, easily much longer than what the backpack could reasonably fit. And then she pulled out the rest of it; a thick sturdy iron handle, about as long as one of the Half-Orc's massive legs, adorned with a huge decorated clump of metal at the end. Atop said clump was a small dome made of reinforced glass, a green light steadily blinking inside it. Abigail flashed a confident smile as she hoisted up the metallic warhammer onto her shoulder with one arm, while flinging her backpack back to her blind spot with the other. The flabbergasted Molly had, to put it simply, questions.

"...what the fuck did you just do? How did you pull out an entire godsdamn warhammer from that little bag?"

"Never heard of a Bag of Holding before? Think of it less as a normal bag and more like a portable gateway to an artificial dimension where you store your stuff. Or to put it simply, you can put a lot of large things in one small bag. Like a trusty hammer for example!" Abigail explained.

Establishing an entryway to the Holding Zone - as she liked to call it - in a regular store-bought hiker's backpack had not been a simple task, so the mechanic took every chance she had to explain the workings behind her experiment. Even in a brawl like this, she had to restrain herself as to not start monologuing about her homemade warhammer as well. It was just who she was.

"Cool trick, I'll give you that. But it ain't gonna help you!" Molly retorted. She didn't really care about magic bags or fake dimensions and all that, she just wanted to go back to blasting. Thus she cupped both hands to her side to prepare another one of her trademark fire spells, flames and embers starting to gather into a growing sphere between them. Abigail wasn't planning on just letting that thing hit her though. The Half-Orc started to run up towards the sorcerer, hammer firmly clasped in both hands. As soon as the flaming ball was ready, Molly thrusted it forward with both palms facing outwards. A fierce grunt escaping her lungs as she did so.

Abigail responded with a loud groan in turn as she swung the hammer towards the incoming projectile. The weapon struck the magical sphere with enough force to crack a boulder, rocketing it towards the arena wall like an orange tennis ball. And while the force-field reinforced walls absorbed the impact without issue, the people in the audience closest to the collision still got the scare of their lives. Nevertheless, Abigail was now right next to her much shorter opponent. And as the warhammer was quickly raised up above her head, the Dwarf could only mutter two words in response.

"Oh fuck…!"

[WHAMM!]

The very ground seemed to upheave slightly as the heavy hammer struck it. Molly had reflexively thrown herself backward right before the weapon would've crushed her skull, resulting in one shocked Dwarf sitting on the ground with a warhammer only inches away from her legs. Abigail was reeling as well, although more from the sheer force of the impact rather than a borderline near-death experience. For about 5 seconds, both fighters remained almost perfectly still. Until Molly managed to recover, changing up her battle plan on the spot in the process. This musclebound bozo was clearly far more observant and dangerous than she appeared; hitting a small projectile as fast as the fireball she'd just launched required not only speed and strength, but also precision and calculation. And she'd struck it with a clunky two-handed weapon weighing as much as a smaller wagon. Molly had underestimated Abigail; a mistake she wasn't going to make again.

"OOOH, THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE! A SLIGHT BIT CLOSER AND CONTESTANT MOLLY WOULD BE NO MORE THAN A MUSHY PILE OF BROKEN DWARF BONES! CONTESTANT ABIGAIL'S HEFTY MUSCLES CLEARLY AREN'T JUST FOR SHOW, THAT'S FOR SURE!"

Right now, Molly was running on sheer impulse. Abigail was pulling up the warhammer from the miniature crater it had made, and if another hit like that connected it would be over then and there. The sorcerer reared back her head as her cheeks filled with magical energy welling up from within, smoke billowing from the corners of her mouth. And as she opened her maw, a wide stream of searing wildfire erupted from it. This time Abigail had no time to dodge or block the attack, thus taking the full force of it. The flames searing her skin and the embers lighting up her clothes were clearly agonising; enough so that her hands let go of the heavy hammer and causing a guttural scream to escape her lungs. It only took roughly 6 seconds before Molly let up in order to create some distance between them, but for the mechanic it felt like at least twice as long.

The aftermath of the attack wasn't very pretty. The Half-Orc's bare arms were covered in burn marks and flesh wounds, and both her tank top and jeans now had serious tears and holes showing more blackened injuries all over. As she forced herself through the pain to put out the lingering flares on her clothes and her black ponytail, her mind was trying to cobble together a plan.

"Right, so charging in up close is way too risky" Abigail thought to herself.

"I'll probably only need one good hit to take her down, but after that close call she's gonna be a lot more careful from now on. So I'll need to create an opening first, something to keep her busy while I get a clear window to attack."

An idea sprang to her mind, and as she clutched her burned arm with her left hand she sported a small smile.

"And I think I have just the thing for that."

Without warning, the inventor thrusted her right palm towards Molly. Purple magical particles rapidly began to coalesce in the centre of it, before completely altering their colour and structure. Within seconds the magical shape had turned into a dirty sphere of thick liquid. Abigail launched the mucky orb almost like a cannonball - albeit much slower - towards the wary Dwarf, causing the latter to take a few steps back to avoid getting hit. The orb splashed against the ground, the liquid spreading out into a large glossy puddle.

Only seconds later, the ground began to rumble slightly. Hatches began to open all over the battlefield, and out of the floor rose the protective concrete walls. They had been present for all the previous fights as well, but this was about to be the first time since Prime's and Morgan's fight that they'd end up playing any role at all. In this case it allowed Abigail to throw herself behind cover, giving her enough time to execute her idea. Although she did have to lie down on her side; partly because her burn marks prevented her from sitting down without brushing her wounds against the floor, partly because of her immense height. The Half-Orc shoved both hands into her backpack once again. She was about to recruit an old friend.

But Molly wasn't about to let that muck-throwing behemoth just do whatever she wanted. Either she'd been a terrible shot and thus completely missed the mark with that disgusting blob, or she'd purposefully missed to mock her opponent. Either way, it pissed her off. To the point that the Dwarf made a mistake. She started to move towards the still hunkering Abigail; right into the puddle in front of her. Next thing she knew she laid flat on her back, her rear aching from the fall she'd just taken. As it turned out, the greasy liquid was extremely slippery. It was a trap to buy Abigail some time, and Molly had literally fallen for it. And as the soaked sorcerer steadily managed to rise to her feet, a shrill screech could be heard from behind the concrete wall. Standing up behind it was Abigail, warhammer once again hoisted over her shoulder, now joined by another shape.

Climbing over the wall was a quadrupedal creature made out of lifeless grey metal. Clawed feet effortlessly carried its flat elongated body over the vertical obstacle, its clunky iron tail dragging behind it. And as the artificial being stared towards Molly with no hints of emotion behind its round eyes, it once again opened its mouth to give off a high metallic screech.

"I'd like you to meet my buddy. This right here is a Reptilian Automaton Mk. III, or maybe a Steel Defender or a Mecha Lizard… I haven't really decided on a proper designation yet. This particular guy has a name though; say hello to Darwin, also known as the key to your defeat!"

Darwin Mk. III. With its durable armour plating, surprisingly high agility and experimental AI the robotic Komodo Dragon was one of Abigail's first major achievements as an inventor. It had been an indispensable help in the Half-Orc's career; both in terms of scientific credentials and field combat backup. For all intents and purposes, it was the prototype behind her crowning achievement - Prime. And right now, said prototype was silently awaiting its master's command. A command which now loudly rang through the air.

"Darwin! ATTACK!"

Molly now observed the metal reptile dashing towards her at an alarming speed. So the Dwarf did what she had done ever since the match started: she threw a volley of blazing bolts towards it. But Darwin was a lot sturdier than his flesh and blood creator. It didn't change direction to dodge at all, instead ploughing right through the barrage. And while it did result in a few black burn marks, the mechanical lizard wasn't slowed down in the slightest as it reached the fiery sorcerer. Molly had to leap out of the way to avoid getting rammed by the almost 3 metres long metal beast.

"Fucking hell, now I've gotta deal with TWO knuckleheads? Urgh, whatever. Guess I'll just have to melt this scrap heap first!" Molly muttered under her breath. Her hands once again lit up with flames, and as soon as Darwin had swiped at her and missed with its tail she unleashed another fiercely hot stream of fire. Which was interrupted by a dense headbutt to her stomach. Darwin had once again pushed through the flames to reach her, and although the red-hot glow of its superheated forehead hinted that some damage had been dealt it still wasn't enough to stop it in its tracks.

As her creation kept Molly busy, Abigail took the opportunity to recover. She put a hand over her most grievous wounds as she took a deep breath; this was not something she'd done often, usually leaving this area to one of her friends whenever needed. With a faint green glow, her wounds slowly but surely began to close up. Patches of blackened skin regained some of their original green colour, and mere moments later most of the damage was undone. As she opened her eyes to see Molly still dealing with Darwin, the inventor decided to fix up parts of her burnt and torn clothing as well. Her right index finger lit up just like a blowtorch, and via carefully moving it across the holes and tears in her shirt and pants she eventually fused the tears back together, restoring her grazed modesty as well. Now that she was a bit more presentable, she could go right back to the action again. And judging by the state of her metal friend out there, it wasn't a moment too soon.

While Darwin was tough, it wasn't invincible. Thus the much more nimble - and more sentient - Molly had managed to get the upper hand. One more full blast and the partly melted and smoking automaton would be done for. The literally fired-up Dwarf ignited her fist once again, before thrusting it towards the damaged metal reptile.

"Alright then you hunk of junk, SAY GOODB-"

[THUNK!]

Molly was interrupted yet again. Right in front of her, merely inches away from her feet, a sturdy javelin was lodged into the ground. The steadily more pissed-off Dwarf looked up to see Abigail, one foot forward and right arm close to the ground. No question where the javelin had come from, that much was certain.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you", the robust mechanic yelled out across the field.

"Sorry, but we're ending this before you do something you might regret".

"Lady… you're a real pain in the ass" was all the weary Molly could reply with. Nevertheless, she still put up her fists in front of her. She might've been outnumbered, tired and overpowered, but she wasn't gonna give in. She was gonna continue fighting to her last breath, and said last breath was going to be one more defiant jab towards her opponent. That was just who she was.

"THIS FIGHT HAS KEPT GOING BACK AND FORTH, BUT RIGHT NOW CONTESTANT ABIGAIL, ALONG WITH HER ROBOTIC BACKUP, HAS SECURED AN OVERWHELMING ADVANTAGE! MEANWHILE, CONTESTANT MOLLY SEEMS TO BE ON HER LAST LEGS! CAN THE DRACONIC WILDFIRE MAKE A COMEBACK, OR WILL THE GENIUS BRUISER GO ALL THE WAY AND CLAIM VICTORY? THE NEXT MINUTE WILL DECIDE IT ALL, FOLKS!"

With a daring snarl, Molly unleashed another fiery stream towards the now rapidly approaching Abigail. However, Darwin loyally defended its creator by slamming the sorcerer in the leg, causing her to stumble and cease the spell. She took a deep breath as she prepared another blast of flame from her mouth, but by now Abigail had come close enough to save Darwin in turn.

[WHAM!]

Molly could almost feel her abs turn to mush as nothing but a puff of smoke escaped her lungs. Abigail had slammed her huge fist into Molly's stomach, causing the Dwarf to clutch it while gasping for air. It was obvious that an arm that enormous could pack a serious wallop, but Molly hadn't even been able to imagine it would've been this painful. But Abigail wasn't quite done yet. With her other hand she grabbed the javelin still stuck right next to her, before shoving the breathless magician down on the ground. Finally, Darwin slowly walked up to the floored Dwarf. It proceeded to turn around, before slamming its long tail down on top of Molly's throat. She couldn't move, and even if she could she'd still need to deal with the javelin now inches away from her face. She was completely at Abigail's mercy.

"Not so crude now, are you? Seriously, how predictable can you get?" Abigail sighed.

"So far I've only seen you do two things: Throw fireballs and spit vulgar remarks. Maybe if you'd mixed up your game even by a LITTLE, this could've ended better for you." She shook her head, a hint of disdain creeping into her voice.

"Uncreative and rude. You're exactly the kind of person I warn my son to stay away from".

Molly struggled with all her remaining might to try and get Darwin off of her, but the steel defender wouldn't budge. No amount of force that she could exert was gonna get her out of this. And as if to solidify this, a fairy referee fluttered over to the scene. Abigail nodded towards him, as if wordlessly telling him to go ahead. And right as he took a deep breath in order to start the countdown, the downed sorcerer grinned.

"10!"

"9!"

"8!"

"Aww, you wound me, ponytail! But fine. You want variation? I'll give you variation!" Molly suddenly blurted out. She rotated her wrists, her hands shimmering in a black gold coat of magic energy. And merely a second later, Darwin started to shine with the very same dark hue.

"7!"

"6!"

"5-"

[ZZWWAAMM!]

In a flash, Darwin was gone. And for a moment, Abigail's mouth hang wide open. But her feeling of shock was soon replaced by sudden alarm as a large shadow appeared right above her. And as the now much more cocky Molly quickly stood up, Abigail realised what was about to happen. As she looked up, only two words managed to escape her mouth.

"Clever girl…"

[KATHOOM!]

The audience collectively gasped, some of them loudly cheering as well. Abigail had gone from keeping Molly pinned down to being pinned down herself; by the crushing weight of her own automaton. She had made the very same mistake that Molly had. She'd underestimated her opponent. After only seeing flame-related magics and nothing else, Abigail never once expected the teleportation spell Vortex Warp to be part of Molly's arsenal. She briefly cursed herself for falling for that, before keeping the almost half-ton heavy lizard from crushing her took priority. Why had she made it so dense again?

"HAH! Not so fun being on the receiving end, is it? Well, I'm happy to tell you you're not gonna be stuck for long. Because I'm gonna blow you both to kingdom come!" Molly shouted right in Abigail's face.

Her voice might have been filled with bravado, but her profuse sweating, heavy breathing and many bruises made it clear she was far from in top condition herself. If she wanted to end this, she had to do it quickly. And so she quickly ran back away from the strained Half-Orc, before turning around to face her. The sorcerer's entire body was now surrounded by a fiery aura, part of it intensifying and growing into a fireball in her cupped hands. As Molly loudly grunted and growled in concentration, the fireball steadily grew larger and hotter. If this didn't do the trick, nothing would.

Every muscle in Abigail's giant body pushed back as much as they could against the great weight on top of her. The almost powerless Darwin had landed back-first right onto Abigail's own back, and while she was extremely strong, almost 500 kg was a bit more than she could handle. The fact that she remained standing - albeit barely - was a miracle onto itself. But despite the intense pressure straining her body, her mind was concentrating on something else. She still had one last ace up her non-existing sleeve. With one hefty groan, Abigail's entire body became outlined in a thin red aura. And against all odds she started to stand up.

"I DON'T BELIEVE WHAT I'M SEEING, PEOPLE! IT LOOKS LIKE CONTESTANT ABIGAIL MANAGED TO FIND NOT JUST EXTRA STRENGTH, BUT ENOUGH OF IT TO DEADLIFT DARWIN! IS THIS A MAGICAL SPELL OR PLAIN ADRENALINE? EITHER WAY, SHE STILL HAS TO DEAL WITH CONTESTANT MOLLY'S BIG FINISHER! WHO WILL TAKE THIS HOME?!"

With some quick thinking, Abigail had remembered the spell known as Enhance Ability. It could magically boost a person's physical or mental attributes for a short time; in this case, increasing Abigail's already immense strength enough to easily hoist Darwin above her head. But she had no time to be proud of herself. Across the battlefield, Molly had finished charging up her attack.

The fireball had grown into a raging inferno just barely compressed into a sphere as large as Molly's entire torso. It took a tremendous amount of focus to keep it contained, but still she grinned maniacally. She pushed her right hand, with the giant flaming sphere still held in it, straight towards Abigail.

"You might be swole as hell, but you're not gonna be able to handle this! My strongest blast!" Molly shouted. The onlooking crowd held their breaths; this was it. If this attack hit, the match was settled.

"KISS YOUR ASS GOODBYE!"

With those words, the raging Dwarf launched the giant fireball. Abigail was still standing there with the barely functional Darwin hoisted above her. The determination in her eyes was quickly replaced with sudden panic, especially upon realising she only had a few seconds before the explosive inferno would make contact. There was no time to dodge or even cast another Shield spell. She only had one option, one that she really didn't want to go through with. With a sigh teeming with regret, she apologised to her creation.

"Sorry about this bud, I'll fix you up as soon as we're done here!"

And only mere moments later, the blast connected.

[BAROOOOOMMM!]

The centre of the arena erupted in flames as the fireball detonated, creating a deafening roar along with shockwaves that could be felt across almost the entire structure. The heat was tremendous; even Molly was battered by it. A few moments later, the scene started to settle. Fiery pillars were replaced with one giant smoke cloud, and the intense noise slowly began to die down. Molly had been knocked back by the blast, but was otherwise still standing. Albeit in no condition to keep going for much longer. But finally, it was over. The Dwarf wearily looked over towards ground zero, a shit-eating grin plastered across her face. A grin which completely disappeared as a huge frame burst out of the smoke.

Abigail was still in the fight. She was bruised, singed and scarred, but not nearly as much as she reasonably should've been following a point-blank explosion. The tired sorcerer refused to believe it, desperately trying to figure out why. Why hadn't Abigail been incinerated? Was it the shield spell again? Some bullshit contraption she'd pulled out of that bag at the last second? Straight up divine intervention? But right as the charred Half-Orc had reached her foe, Molly had a realisation. A few metres in front of where Abigail had stood, the smoke had cleared enough to reveal a scattered pile of melted scrap metal. The remains of Darwin. And that was all Molly could figure out before two impossibly strong hands grabbed her.

Abigail had had enough. This little muscle bound magician had severely burned her, insulted her and had now forced her to literally throw Darwin into the line of fire. If it weren't for its body intercepting the explosion and detonating the fireball before it could reach her, she would've been toast. Time to finish this Dwarf once and for all.

The livid mechanic started to spin Molly around, steadily building up momentum for a big finisher. And then she threw her skyward. While she herself was quite built, Molly was still a comparatively light Dwarf while Abigail was a magically supercharged giant of a Half-Orc. The sorcerer was sent what must have been over 10 metres straight up in the air. As soon as she'd let go of her opponent, Abigail grabbed hold of her back-mounted warhammer once more. As she pulled it back, she seemed to… stop for a moment. As if calculating Molly's trajectory, or perhaps her flailing movements. And right as the panicking Dwarf plummeted back to the ground, Abigail swung the hammer. With all the might her superpowered muscles could muster.

[WHAM!]

Molly's vision went black immediately. The sorcerer was sent flying into the weakest part of one of the protective walls, only taking about a second to fly almost 15 metres from the point of impact. The wall crumbled over her as her limp form smashed right through it, burying her in a small pile of rubble. Exactly as Abigail had calculated. If she somehow turned out to still be conscious, the rubble would keep her down long enough to be declared the loser.

But Molly was anything but conscious. Her ribs were reduced to thousands of minuscule bone shards, her neck was almost unnaturally twisted and her completely mangled guts had almost been knocked straight out of her body. This wasn't a body. This was a massacred heap of flesh and bone. And yet, despite this, her heart still barely beat. The Dwarf was alive, but there was no way she could remain that way for long.

The crowd was collectively somewhere between stunned, amazed and completely horrified, a sizable margin of them turning their gaze away from the mangled flesh heap. Buzzing and mumbling could be heard all over the arena, alternating between approving cheers and angry accusations going so far as to decree murder. But the commotion was quickly stopped by Abigail's loud voice ringing through the entire structure.

"Hey, referee! Start that countdown now! She's gonna need that healing field real soon, so GET ON IT!"

As if in direct response, the same fairy referee from earlier in the fight hastily fluttered down towards the mess known as Molly. This time he didn't even bother with the countdown. The result was clear, and right now every moment counted.

"L.K.O: LETHAL KNOCKOUT!"

No sound from the audience. Abigail's supporters seemed to have wordlessly agreed to wait with their cheering until everything was fine, and Molly's supporters were still too shaken to say anything. But luckily everyone's worries were about to swiftly come to an end; the field started to shine a familiar white light. Molly's breathing seemed to become more stable the moment the light engulfed her, and slowly but surely her mangled body healed. Her shattered bones fused back together, the mishmash of flesh and blood reformed back into internal organs and her broken neck straightened out back to normal. Abigail's much less severe damage was fixed up as well; her singed skin regained its regular texture, her flesh wounds closed up and her burnt hair grew back to its original length. A couple minutes later both fighters were completely restored, signified by Molly's sudden gasp as her eyes shot open. It was at this moment the crowd finally erupted in cheers and roaring.

"TH-THAT'S ALL, FOLKS! THAT FINAL BLOW LOOKED DEVASTATING TO SAY THE LEAST, BUT THANKFULLY CONTESTANT MOLLY IS STILL WITH US! HOWEVER DESPITE HER INTENSE FIREPOWER AND REMARKABLE DURABILITY, CONTESTANT ABIGAIL'S OVERWHELMING BRAINS AND BRAWN PROVED TO BE SUPERIOR! THE FIGHT IS OVER, AND WHAT A FIGHT IT WAS!"

The dazed Dwarf slowly sat up as her mind slowly grasped what had just happened. Most other people would've been shaken to their core after being this close to death, but Molly was left feeling… weirdly satisfied. Sure, the massive blow had hurt like hell and she would be lying if she'd said she wasn't disappointed about losing already, but in the end she'd lost to someone holding nothing back. And that was all she could've asked for. Of course, the chance to stay in the tournament to fight some more would've been great too. Oh well, nothing that could be done about that now. The sorcerer, carried by still wobbly legs, made her way towards the victorious mechanic.

Abigail had mostly been apologising to the also restored Darwin - even though the robot lacked the sentience to hold a grudge towards being thrown into an exploding fireball - until she saw Molly approach her. She motioned for her metal buddy to crawl back into the interdimensional backpack he'd originally appeared from, before sheepishly putting her hand behind her head.

"So uh, sorry about that. I got all caught up in the moment and… kinda forgot my own strength. I get if you won't forgive me, but just know that I really didn't mea-"

The suddenly very flustered Abigail was interrupted by a sharp jab towards her leg, coming from a laughing Molly. The beefy Half-Orc barely felt it, but the intent behind the strike was clear. She could tell that her apology was accepted.

"Forgive you? Lady, if you'd held back even a little out there, THEN I wouldn't forgive you! Besides, I've flipped off a full-on Archdevil and lived. That hammer blow? That's nothing!" Molly laughed.

If there was anything that could draw her interest, it was a worthy opponent to brawl with. One that could go so far as to beat her? Even better, since that just meant a new goal to aim for. The Dwarf reached upwards towards Abigail's hand, the Half-Orc clutching it in a meaty handshake.

"Don't you dare lose now, not when you've got me backing you! It's been a blast, ponyta- sorry, Abigail!"

The inventor was notably a bit taken aback by not only Molly's sudden show of respect, but also that part about an Archdevil. She decided to stow these questions for later and instead focused on putting a satisfying end to this round. She gave one more look of fiery contentment towards her opponent.

"Haha, I'll try not to! Oh, and… call me Abby!" she replied. The audience kept cheering upon witnessing all the antagonistic feelings erode away, until finally the two fighters turned around to make room for the second to last bout.

"AND WITH THAT, LET'S THANK CONTESTANT MOLLY FOR A BLAZING PERFORMANCE AND CONGRATULATE CONTESTANT ABIGAIL ON HER SMASHING VICTORY! WE'RE ALMOST AT THE FINAL FIGHT OF ROUND 1 NOW, BUT DON'T THINK FOR A MOMENT THAT THE ACTION WILL SLOW DOWN! NEXT UP IS FIGHT NR. 7, FEATURING A MATCHUP WHICH CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED AS… PROFESSIONAL!"

The small Kobold professor dispelled the bright ball of magical light shining from his staff. The time for preparations and focusing exercises was over: now it was time to go out there and fight. Professor Suss wiped his glasses before jumping down from the - to him very high up - bench. But as he was starting to head out to the arena, someone else entered the room. Molly, his fellow representative from Universe 8, fresh from her brutal bout with Abigail. The Kobold adjusted his red tie before approaching her.

"Greetings and salutations, young miss! You have my condolences regarding your loss, but rest assured, I will restore the honour of our universe momentarily!"

Molly was at a loss for words. What in the nine hells was this scrawny lizard talking about? And who starts a conversation like that, without even introducing themselves? The somewhat stunned Dwarf stood silent for a moment, trying to figure out a decent answer to this eloquent midget. Then again, Professor Suss… that name did sound familiar…

"Uh… thanks. You do that, Professor" she eventually answered.

"Ah, so you do know who I am. Of course, my scientific credentials do speak for themselves, so it's no surprise that even a commoner like you would know about me! Sadly, while nothing would please me more than giving a youngster a few pointers, I'm afraid I mu-"

Molly simply groaned as she left the room, leaving the boastful professor behind. She had better things to do than listen to this insufferable little smartass. The tiny academic simply scoffed as he noticed he'd been left alone, before turning around to head towards the battlefield.

"I swear, the youth of today! No respect at all!"

In the opposing waiting room, the mood was a lot quieter. No sounds could be heard barring the crowd a few dozen metres away and some quiet prayer from the room's sole occupant. Vuzrak Deate of Universe 1 currently had a lot of things on his mind, very few of them uplifting. Everything from his still rocky relation to his fellow Drow from the same universe to his whole deal of suddenly coming back to life, even if it was only temporarily. Being dead for almost 20 years and then suddenly… not being dead does that to a person. At least he had his venerated deity Eilistraee, the Dark Maiden and patron of all good-natured Drows, to watch over him. He finished up his prayer of well-being to the divine being, before a large frame appeared from the arena corridor.

"You okay over there? You look… uneasy" Abigail questioned. Vuzrak looked up, clearly startled. He'd been too far into his own thoughts to realise how obvious his restlessness had been. The Drow took a deep breath as if to calm his nerves, before standing up to answer the Half-Orc.

"No no, it's fine, thank you for asking. It's just a lot to think about, you know?" he replied. Abigail let out a sigh, before calmly putting her hand on his shoulder. Vuzrak jolted a bit, but otherwise didn't resist.

"Yeah, I get that. Tons of people watching, the completely different environment, the whole fighting thing… it's a lot. But trust me, if you can get past all that, it's more than worth it. You wanna know what I do whenever things get a bit too overwhelming?" Abigail said, a comforting smile adorning her face. Vuzrak already seemed less tense, as if a weight began to lift from his shoulders.

"Sure, please tell me", the cleric replied.

"I just think of my son. That no matter what I do, no matter how tough things get, he's back home waiting for me to come back. If things get tough out there, just think of what you hold dear the most. Maybe a family member or your faith… just whatever you're fighting for, one could say. You got anything or anyone like that, if you don't mind me asking?" the Half-Orc said warmly.

Vuzrak stood still for a moment, before all hints of anguish began to dissipate. He closed his eyes as a warm smile started to appear on his face.

"Yeah… I do. Thanks miss, that's exactly what I needed to hear".

"Glad to hear it. Good luck out there, and don't forget what we just talked about!" Abigail expressed as she started to leave the room. Vuzrak grabbed his spear leaning against the wall, before he started to head towards the arena. His mind was no longer cluttered with doubts and confusion, only thinking about what he held the most dear. Who he held the most dear.

"I do indeed" he thought to himself.

The ultimate tournament was close to finishing its first phase, but the most intense battles were yet to come.