The Celestial Tower vibrated in a new way—
a mechanical way.
Not the hum of shifting runes.
Not the whir of magic.
But the anxious rattle of servos that were never meant to feel fear.
Spectators noticed it first.
Then the fighters.
Then Julian Breadstone, who zoomed into frame with his signature blend of joy, horror, and theatrical flair.
"UH-OH! SOMETHING IS HAPPENING! SOMETHING STRANGE! SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL! SOMETHING POTENTIALLY INSURANCE-RELATED!"
He pressed one hand to his ear, listening to a voice only he could hear.
"Oh. Ohhhhhh my stars.
Everyone… EVERYONE… you are NOT ready for this one."
He flailed in excitement.
"WE HAVE A NEW FIGHTER ENTERING THE TOWER—A FIGHTER NO ONE EXPECTED! A FIGHTER THE ARENA DEFINITELY DIDN'T APPROVE BUT SOMEHOW ACCEPTED ANYWAY!"
Cameras shifted to the lower floors.
And there, rolling uncertainly down a ramp…
was a Builder Bot.
Not a new one.
Not a sleek one.
But one the arena engineers had probably retired three universes ago.
Its paint was chipped.
Its left eye flickered.
Its legs were different lengths.
Its tool arm spun constantly like it didn't understand how to stop.
Etched across its chestplate was its name:
Builder Bot 99-B: "Bumble."
The bot took one step, tripped, and somersaulted down the rest of the ramp—
landing perfectly in a fighting stance by pure accident.
Julian screamed.
"BEHOLD! BUMBLE THE BUILDER! A MALFUNCTIONING AUTOMATON WHO APPEARS TO HAVE ENTERED THE TOURNAMENT ENTIRELY BY ACCIDENT—AND THE ARENA ACCEPTED IT!"
Down on the ground level, Jimmy sprinted past security barriers and jumped into the announcer's floating booth.
"JULIAN! JULIAN, WAIT! That bot is not battle-ready! It's defective! It has a loose power core! It once attacked a toaster because it thought the toaster was a dimensional rift!"
Julian hugged Jimmy around the shoulders.
"Fantastic! Welcome to the booth!"
"What—wait—NO—!"
"Congratulations, you're my new cohost!"
"I didn't agree—"
Julian shoved a microphone into Jimmy's hands.
"You're hired!"
Jimmy blinked helplessly.
"What's the salary?"
"A waffle."
Julian produced one like a magician pulling a coin from behind an ear.
Jimmy brightened instantly. "Okay. I'm in."
They both turned toward the tower as Bumble began attempting to climb.
Bumble approached the entrance to Floor 12—the magnetic plates chamber that had challenged dozens of fighters already.
The tower's sensors scanned the bot.
The runes flashed:
ENTITY ACCEPTED: LOW-THREAT NONBIOLOGICAL UNIT
CHALLENGE ADJUSTMENT ENGAGED
Julian squealed, "THE TOWER IS TRYING TO BE NICE TO IT!"
Jimmy groaned into his microphone.
"It will not help!"
Indeed, Bumble stepped onto the first magnetic plate.
The plate spun gently to help guide the bot.
Bumble rotated unexpectedly, clonked sideways into the next plate, bounced like a dropped wrench, ricocheted off four more plates—
and accidentally launched itself upward.
It landed on a floating prism platform with a triumphant beep.
"Builder…?"
Jimmy facepalmed. "It doesn't know where it is!"
Julian spun. "BUT IT HAS CLEARED THE FLOOR!"
Floor 13: The Prism Walk.
Beams of light shot at random angles.
Fighters dodged.
Fighters planned.
Fighters strategized.
Bumble simply walked directly into the beams.
Each beam hit its metal casing, refracted wildly, and—
by sheer coincidence—
redirected into the chamber's exit switch.
The door opened.
Bumble waddled inside.
Jimmy screamed with laughter-disbelief. "How is it DOING THAT?!"
Julian patted him. "Confidence! Heart! And MILDLY TERRIFYING CLUELESSNESS!"
Floor 14: The Hall of Rolling Spheres.
Massive marble-like boulders rolled back and forth on unpredictable patterns.
Fighters had to anticipate their movement or get smashed.
Bumble attempted to "builder" one of the spheres.
It reached out its tool arm—
spinning like a broken blender—
and tapped the nearest ultra-dense rolling mass.
a soft metallic tnk
The sphere froze.
Everything froze.
Even the other spheres.
Jimmy's jaw dropped.
Julian whispered, "It stunned the room physics…"
One by one, the boulders began vibrating softly.
Then—
in obedience to some ancient mechanical law—
they rolled away from Bumble like children fleeing a stern schoolteacher.
The path cleared.
Bumble toddled forward proudly.
"Builder!"
Julian clutched his heart dramatically.
"I think I'm in love."
Floor 15: The Sky Thread Maze.
A chamber of tightropes suspended above a bottomless void.
Even seasoned climbers feared it.
Sharp winds.
Shifting threads.
Illusions that tried to duplicate the ropes and confuse the senses.
A floating warrior meditated before attempting a crossing.
A shadow rogue used three grappling hooks.
A psionic beast formed telepathic footholds.
Bumble did none of that.
It simply walked forward.
Onto empty air.
And because its anti-fall gyroscope was jammed permanently into ON mode, it hovered—
just slightly—
an inch above the void.
It drifted across the entire chamber as if strolling on a pleasant afternoon sidewalk.
Jimmy screamed. "THAT'S NOT FAIR!"
Julian screamed louder. "THAT'S AMAZING!"
One rope snapped.
Two fighters fell into recovery sigils.
A wind gust nearly tore the room apart.
Bumble drifted happily, untouched.
It bumped into the exit door, beeped, and activated it.
"Builder."
Floor 16 was more dangerous.
A swarm of mirror-wraiths—ghost-like entities reflecting the fears of those who entered.
Fighters saw nightmares.
Loss.
Pain.
Failures.
Regrets.
Some froze.
Some ran.
Some panicked.
The mirror-wraiths saw Bumble.
They saw:
Confusion.
Simplicity.
An empty memory buffer mostly filled with "Builder."
They had… nothing to feed on.
The wraiths' reflections flickered.
They tried again.
Still nothing.
One wraith drifted too close and attempted to mimic Bumble.
Bumble mimicked it back.
"Builder?"
The wraith tried again.
"Builder!"
The wraith tilted its head.
The charm of this was apparently too great.
Julian yelled, "IT MADE FRIENDS WITH THE NIGHTMARES!"
The mirror-wraiths escorted Bumble to the exit door.
One even held the door open.
Then they returned to terrifying everyone else.
Floor 17: The Pressure Corridor.
A long hallway that compressed gravity at random intervals, crushing anyone who mis-timed their sprint.
Bumble stepped inside—
and the tower's sensors hesitated.
A rune flashed yellow.
Julian leaned forward. "OHHHHH, this isn't good—"
Jimmy whispered, "If the pressure spikes, that bot will flatten like a pancake."
The gravity surged.
Bumble froze mid-step.
A loud whirr filled the hallway.
A panel in its back clicked.
A failsafe triggered.
A tiny umbrella popped out of its head.
Julian fainted again.
Jimmy shouted, "WHY DOES IT HAVE AN UMBRELLA?!"
The umbrella glowed with a faint anti-gravity coating.
The pressure wave hit—
And Bumble floated safely upward, drifting lazily like a helium balloon.
It bounced gently against the ceiling until the pressure wave passed.
Then resumed walking.
"Builder."
Julian gasped back to consciousness.
"You know what?
I SUPPORT ITS JOURNEY."
Floor 18: The Spiral Ramp.
A nearly vertical ascension track that required careful footing.
Bumble immediately fell down it.
Jimmy buried his face in his hands. "This is it. It's over."
But Bumble bounced off a rune-etched wall—
ricocheted off another—
hit a rotating platform—
then was flung UPWARD…
past the entire spiral ramp…
straight into Floor 19's entry portal.
Julian screamed in utter delight.
"THE BOT HAS MASTERED THE ART OF ACCIDENTAL PARKOUR!"
Spectators in dozens of universes began cheering for Bumble.
A cult formed in the stands chanting:
"BUIL-DER!
BUIL-DER!
BUIL-DER!"
Jimmy groaned. "Please don't encourage it."
Julian tossed him another waffle.
"Too late."
And so, Bumble toddled forward—
floor by floor—
challenge by challenge—
malfunction by malfunction—
Somehow defying every rule of probability.
Somehow surviving everything the tower threw at it.
Somehow becoming… beloved.
By the end of its climb, it would reach higher than even the designers of the tournament had predicted.
Bumble would become a symbol.
An icon.
A mystery of cosmic engineering.
A testament to sheer, unstoppable obliviousness.
And yes—
One of the Top 500 fighters.
Julian raised both arms high.
"BUMBLE THE BUILDER, EVERYONE!
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S DOING!
NO ONE DOES!
NOT EVEN IT DOES!
AND THAT IS WHY IT IS PERFECT!"
Bumble's eye flickered cheerfully.
"Builder."