Unchosen Champion

A flurry of narrow beams lanced from beyond the heavens, piercing the target almost simultaneously with their appearance. It was as though the stars themselves were turning against the invader, sending a volley of thin astral blasts in defense of Earth.

Streaks of pure light traced their trajectories, forming a glowing cascade of hail as they crashed into the angular shell of the metallic Siege Boss. Each collision sounded like a needle-sized bullet smashing through an aluminum sheet. The resonant, thunk, thunk, thunk repeated until a final silver beam penetrated the hardened shell with a slightly different pitch, after rising from below instead of crashing down from above.

The boss hesitated, struggling to defend itself against the asymmetric attack. It had failed to reestablish its area control before the quick strikes bombarded it once again, and it seemed to grow frustrated as a result. Every time the boss attempted to establish its laser artillery swarm or fire the rotating energy cannon, the solidlights threatened to pierce its exposed weak points.

It was aware that its life was being chipped away and it was obviously weakening as the fight went on, struggling to repair faster than it was damaged. However, with desperation came volatility. The fight wouldn’t necessarily be won based on who had the initial advantage.

Platinum, as someone who could almost guarantee a first strike but didn’t necessarily have the firepower to win outright without coordinating a combination attack with Neon, knew that lesson well enough. Still, it was her job to establish herself as a threat in the eyes of the boss. She accomplished that goal by unhesitatingly going for the kill when the opportunity presented itself.

A second after the bombardment, she flung herself across the temple of the Primal Construct, pulling the anchor she had established from below. The lightblade that she wielded carved a straight tear through the side of its triangular face with a metal screech before her momentum carried her beyond the monster. The glowing weak point in its forehead was barely spared, but two others were still in the process of regenerating as her repeated assaults raked the oversized anti-personnel boss with recurring powerful volleys.

Another moment passed while Platinum flew through the air, wind whipping through her silvery ponytail, with her eyes protected by a glowing visor. A streak of white light lingered in her wake, blurred by the speed she had reached after yanking herself across the pyramidal head of the gigantic boss. She drastically increased the distance between herself and the enemy as she executed the second half of her hit and run strategy.

She contorted her body while flying through the air, fearless toward the potential fall, twisting so that should face the back of the boss and aim another solidlight anchor, just in case she had to make another pass before her allies were ready to follow up. She turned just in time to witness the mechanical manifestation turn toward her, struggling to match her speed with its torso so that it could aim a deadly blast in her general direction, determined as it was to stop her strafing assaults. But that was the point. Her distraction had to be threatening in order to truly grab its attention. If given enough time, she might have been able to defeat the boss on her own if her stock of solidlights held up, but in this case, she wasn’t by herself.

“Tumatauenga!” She heard the roar over the gusts of wind as cataclysmic clouds billowed across the sky. “Witness our strength!”

The battlefield shook in response, sending another upheaval of mana through the turbulent clouds that had collected overhead. Platinum let herself be carried by her momentum, abandoning the idea of making another pass and opting to leave the battlefield behind. The further away from the boss the better.

Instead of returning, she flew near the edge of the Appalachian forest, planning on circling back along the beach on the landward side once the coast was clear. Behind her, a vortex of fiery orange reached from the sky, hinting toward a transcendent form. Spiritual energy twisted and churned within the clouds above, having been gathering in anticipation of this moment.

The energy rapidly coalesced with Sila Tupua’s roaring invocation, apparition looming behind him. The fiery orange mana that had spread high into the air cracked as it formed a colossal fist, gripping a massive ghostly wahaika. As the raw energy fused, it was already in motion, dragging the traditional maori club crashing straight toward the Siege Boss from directly above.