Cercelians and Socenians should never have been enemies. We were friends. We were brothers. We are descendants of the proud Solodian race, the Sunwalkers, the inheritors of the Solar God Jove. Then why do we keep fighting among ourselves? We, as a race, should work together as one, to unite Loktharma and bring back the glory of our people before the accursed Guinness era!

Excerpt from "Transcript of Cercelian Secretary Javann Buttigieg Speech,18th November, 6072"

Melodi Baggardo

The guardian pulls its arm back for another punch. I dodge and swing my flail on its wrist. The hit leaves a crack not nearly as big as the one on its knuckles.

"Eugene!" I call out.

"Coming!" He flits past, swiveling his blade as the giant turns the attention to him. "Look at me, you piece of rock! I'm the human meat shield that's always used as bait! Gaze upon my unimportant presence!"

He dashes to the left, then to the right, then to the left again. The giant turns its back to me, shifting its body focus to follow Eugene's movement. Its heels are now exposed.

I smash my weapon on the heel for the 'jab'. My attack isn't even a jab, but our strategy was named after Eugene's sword moves.

The rock surface on the guardian's heel cracks, and it twists its upper body in an unnatural angle. I try to aim for the other heel, but has to step back when the guardian kicks the on the ground and covers my vision with a snowy white. When I resume my defensive stance, the guardian has already stood with its sides facing both of us. It's aware of what we're trying to do.

Eugene goes in for another 'flit'.

"Move to the right so it exposes the rib!" I point to the general direction I want him to head to.

Eugene boldly accelerates and perhaps gets himself a bit too close to the creature. It tries to get him with another bearhug. He ducks, swaying and drifting out of arm's range.

He huffs as he screams, "I'm tired. Hit it now!"

"Fall back!"

"Why?" He frowns.

"Just fall back!"

He bounces away so lightly it looks like he's flying for a moment. Right afterwards, the ground at the nose of my boots rumble.

Found the movement sequence.

Eugene exclaims as his feet touch the ground. "Wow. How did you know it's gonna do that? Since when did you become smart?"

"The last time it tried to hug and slam, it was able to activate its Colossal Stomp. My educated guess is that it needs momentum to build up to its AOE. If you'd paid attention in Theory you would've known."

"Ouch. If my name was Melodi my feelings would've been hurt. So where are its weak points?"

"Heels and wrists. Testing ribs too. And as crazy as it sounds, knuckles."

"I'll give it some flank twists and a lil' bit of footwork. You handle the rest."

"Okay."

The Stone Guardian is actually rather predictable once we figure out its signature moves. After a few more rounds of flitting and jabbing, we're able to crank through the outer rock layers on its weak spot, revealing its lurid white skin that looks like yet another layer of rock. Both Eugene and me took a couple normal hits, but we're more than healthy enough.

The protector has yet to drop its stoic mask, but I can see its movements getting hastier. It's trying to speed up the punches it throw, but that just makes them easier to counteract. In one such punch, I amplify my hit with Soundwave Infusion. As I smash into its knuckles, the crack runs up to his arm, creeping to its neck and chest before the entire left upper body shatters like a plate of glass.

"The guardian only has 3,000 armor left, but its left side is now unprotected." Lek hovers close, flashes a beam of light from his eyes before announcing, "I can see its Health total now. It has. . . 18,000 Health."

So it has 18,000 Health on top of 18,000 Armor. Since the only differences between Health and Armor are that Armor can't be regenerated and is penetrable, this hulking giant essentially almost double my total health.

The protector smashes its fists together, its jaw moving, creating brittle noises. The hollow holes where its eye sockets should be start to turn into a smoky grey color.

Why does it look more revitalized even though we just knocked its protection off? Does this creature perhaps has a. . .

"Berserker Mode," Lek says. "Fall back and watch out."

But it's too late for Eugene, who's already steamrolled in like he's wearing a pair of Turbo Tundra. The protector's eyes burn a ghastly hue of white, and when I turn to see the amused smile on Tamara's face, I know I need to set up a Sonic Barrier.

A thunderous roar emits from the creature as it raises its chest and bashes its fists together.

Lek reads in an incessant manner he uses when he's reading straight from the database. "Impenetrable Bulwark: Take 70% less physical damage for 15 seconds. None Shall Pass: +100% Speed, 10% Repeated Damage to anyone within 5 meters for 15 seconds."

Lucky for us, a tank-type creature like this usually has weaker AOE abilities. 15 seconds of None Shall Pass is only 150% of its total damage. I'll be fine if I stay inside the barrier, but I'll need to parry if the protector comes for me. Eugene, on the other hand, is taking immediate damage. He grimaces as he jumps backward, gripping his sword chest-height. However, as soon as he gets outside of the Berserker Mode zone, his smug returns.

"Ha ha!" He cries out. "Missed me—" Eugene trips on the snow and bangs his head on the side of an ice spike, losing 800 HP. The creature accosts him, and he starts taking AOE damage again.

Ugh. What an idiot.

"Wow. I saw bisons fighting better than you. Now get the hell out of there." Lek swerves near him.

"Y'know. You talk a lot of shit for a piece of gum." He staggers on his feet. "Ouch. Ouch. Why does my outfit keep glowing?"

The Stone Guardian gets dangerously close to Eugene, who doesn't get up nearly quickly enough. Why do I have to do everything here?

I sigh, dismiss my barrier, then sprints over to the creature. I didn't want to use Sound Blast because the whole forest might hear me and might deduce that I'm training when not supposed to, but it doesn't seem like I have a choice.

I open my mouth as wide as I can, taking in the soundwaves from the surrounding space. The whole training ground becomes muted for a second, then I launch the waves I gathered forward like an arrow.

My blast hits the back of the protector as it's about to grab Eugene and push it to a side. I only dared to use half of the usual reserves I'd use on it, so it should only deal 25% of my normal melee damage. But damage isn't the point.

I pull Eugene up. "Gosh, let's get out of here. Both our suits are flashing because of the AOE damage we took."

"We kinda look like Lady Tanaka's colored torches in the Midmoon festival, don't you think?" He laughs.

"Get up! Take this seriously!" I jerk him forward.

We pull back and reorient ourselves. The creature charges at us again, and we jump to opposite sides. It decides to chase after me. I can't outpace it when it gets a 100% speed boost. I need a barrier, but it requires a lot of flair reserves. I have to buy time.

"Come on. . . Come on. . ." I run in a zigzag motion, but my pursuer still seems to close the distance. I hide behind an ice spike. The guardian smashes it to bits. I jump to another one. The guardian smashes it too.

Finally, I feel the surge of reserves coming. I set up my Sonic Barrier, then feel an immediate banging noise followed by perceptible shaking of my barrier. My protection came just in time to block the protector's punch, but it breaks as soon as it's created.

The glow on its eyes wear off, and I know we've survived those testing fifteen seconds. The creature tries to punch again.

"Speeding Bullet!" Eugene immediately comes in for an actual jab on its hip. The guardian topples over. Its fist rams on the ground, splashing the snow around it.

I jump on it, grab its head, and plunge my flail repeatedly into its shoulder. It falls on its back right as I hop off.

We give each other sideway glance. Lek flies in between us and says, "On the bright side, the guardian's punches do 25% less damage now."

"Hooray. We can lose 25% slower now." Eugene says in a mock-cheery voice.

"On the flip side, The Guardian's Rage has been activated. That gives it 25% extra damage and 25% speed for the rest of the fight."

"So it's literally just as strong."

"Not true. It's just as strong, and faster."

"It won't be a problem," I say, and Eugene and I smile at the same time. There are certain moments in a fight where we practically read each others' minds.

The win is in the bag.