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[b][color=white][center][i][sub][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLd5eabSJ3g&feature=youtu.be][ ♫ ][/url][/sub][/i][/center][/color][/b]
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[b][center][color=007fff]"Your spirit shines bright. Yet by the light of the azure star, all is extinguished."[/color][/center][/b]

A shining blue light filled the streets as the [url=https://i.imgur.com/fjmJcqW.jpg]creature[/url] raised his blade, the air above it tearing apart and spilling forth otherworldly energies through the battlefield. The players scrambled for what cover they could find, those who remained in the open being instantly killed by the deluge of raw unadulterated power. Almost half of the players on the battlefield lay dead, their digital bodies laying on the floor while the real people screamed and cursed about the unfairness of it all. Yet this was what they lived for in the end, this was the type of game HGO was. Cruel, unforgiving of mistakes, a single misstep leading to death. The players would throw themselves at this challenge again and again, learning from every mistake, optimizing every shot, coming together to claim the rewards this Beast would relinquish upon defeat. They would defeat this challenge, just as they had so many in the past.

[b][center]But it would not be today.[/center][/b]

Those who remained emerged from cover quickly, their cooldowns having reset and their guns reloaded, they began the opening salvo on the boss with renewed fury and zeal. The Champion stood tall at 73 percent of it's HP remaining, yet one could be fooled into thinking it had just spawned if you looked at it's physical appearance. Not even a scratch on it's pale skin and it's armor was unmarred, the Champion stood tall as it lowered its blade. It's single visible eye narrowed as it stood still, a recovery period as it recharged from using a Desperation Attack.

[b][color=gold]"Take this you Unival *******!!!"[/color][/b] While the game's profanity filter automatically kicked in, the rage present on [url=https://i.imgur.com/Mehp9Dl.jpg]Saffron Star's[/url] face was more than enough to let everyone around her know she was pissed, especially since her entire squad save her had been completely wiped. The barrel of her Gatling Laser spun rapidly as she prepared to fire, taking direct aim at Champion as she pulled the trigger and braced herself for the recoil of her high level weapon. The Gatling Laser required an extremely high Strength to equip, but it was widely considered to be one of the best weapons in the game right now due to it's high rate of fire and immense ammo per clip, the only negative aspect of the weapon being its long "reload" time as the user swapped overheated batteries.

[b][center][color=007fff]"You still stand. I applaud you, truly I do. But even the most resilient of pests is still nothing more. Than a pest."[/color][/center][/b]

And the Champion was back in action, slowly walking towards the current target of it's aggro as it swept it's blade through the air around it, spawning dozens of [url=https://i.imgur.com/Y3sQtBW.jpg]black and white drones[/url] to eliminate those who still stood. From what everyone had gathered so far, the drones needed to be eliminated in equal numbers, otherwise they would explode and inflict a status effect on everyone within the battlefield, the white ones had blinded everyone for five whole seconds and caused a mass wipe as the Champion did something to kill a dozen people at the same time.

[color=gold][b]"Squads 1 through 4, focus on the black drones! 5 through 8, focus on white! 9 and 10, keep the Champion's aggro spread, don't let his aggro get too high on anyone person!"[/b][/color] The last time it got so focused on someone resulted in a beam of azure energy piercing the sky and instantly killing them. Then they exploded in a similar burst of azure light, knocking their entire squad into low health.

Their strategy wasn't the worst by any means, it was a tried and true method to gauge the bosses that had come before. But the Champion was fundamentally different in some way, by this point in a raid the boss should be at 50 percent and entering a second phase. There was a trick to this boss, something they just weren't getting. Some mechanic that they hadn't figured out, something they would need to change if they were going to take this boss down.