The Greatest in the Multiverse

Intermission: 1 restless hour

After 4 raging battles between the greatest fighters from across the multiverse, the subspace arena was finally somewhat quiet. Most of the audience were in or around the building - some were down in the lobby, some were forming immense lines towards the bathroom and some were trying to catch a glimpse of the contestants. Which of course was prevented by the security staff. Couldn't risk the prized warriors being distracted or bothered, after all. And when the security staff consists of several well-trained guards of all kinds of species wearing powered armour, then you'd do best to go along with what they said. Thus the 16 contestants were allowed a brief moment of peace and tranquillity. Which, as it turned out, wouldn't last very long.

Inferno was sitting down alone in the courtyard behind the contestants' lodge. They had noted how strange it was that nobody else was out here; at least 4 of the others had an over 52% chance of choosing to come here and train before their upcoming match. But the molten automaton didn't complain. That just meant they had a golden opportunity to run some calculations on their upcoming opponent. Inferno's artificial brain began to gather all the information they had about Universe 7's Ashes.

"Eponym: Ashes. Age: Between 20 and 25 years. Species: Tiefling. Approximate height: 209 cm. Estimated weight: 127 kg. Unique traits: Ridged horns, long tail and red skin. Appears to speak a bizarre alternate version of the Common language. Background: Unknown. Proficien-"

"Excuse me, my good sir, but I wish to take a closer look upon your bodily structure."

The bulky robot abruptly stopped their mumbling calculations and turned their head downward to the sophisticated deep voice addressing them. Staring up at them was a small, scrawny reddish Kobold wearing a brown suit and glasses. Professor Suss of Universe 8 walked right up to the reclusive construct, and without warning he leaned in right next to them. Inferno, with a hint of annoyance in their otherwise monotone voice, tried to tell him off.

"Permission denied, Kobold. I request that you leave me alone, for I do not have the time or desire to converse with you. Additionally, I request you to not address me with the word "sir". The humanoid concept of gender and dedicated pronouns are unrequired for me."

"Oh pish-posh, I simply desire to see how a mass of metal like you can move and act like a person. It is strictly in the name of science, I assure you."

The professor didn't seem to have listened to a word of what Inferno had said. To him, personal space and empathy was not a top priority. It hadn't really given him much in the way of friends before, but one look into his mindset would tell you that he didn't really care. Said mindset was too full of self-importance and thirst for knowledge to make room for any type of friendship. It was just who he was, and he had no plans to change that.

Professor Suss was now right next to the steadily more and more annoyed Inferno, and without warning he put his hands on their metallic side. Inferno reactively raised a hand as if to stop him, but didn't. They were too baffled by this Kobold's sheer intrusiveness and apparent lack of manners at the moment. Professor Suss was now stroking his hands against the robot's armoured thigh and side, occasionally knocking on it with his tiny hand.

"Very intriguing... there seems to be no traces of organic matter anywhere, yet this thing can react and move like a person. Plus its bodily temperature is notably very high... what exactly does it use as a power source? Hmmm..."

By now the small lizard man was standing on top of his much bigger "subject", his snout merely inches away from their featureless face. But Inferno had reached their breaking point. Their bulky iron hand grabbed Professor Suss' tail with surprising speed, hoisting him up in the air as they clunkily stood up. The professor barely had time to react other than with a loud gasp, although when he had realised he was hanging upside down like a bat he made his displeasure clear.