"That's…large."
"Size isn't everything, girl. It's going down whether it wants to or not."
Stella's mouth twisted into a grimace as the two of them gazed up at the gigantic tyrant they had been tasked to take down: A vast Cinicula that was in the process of rising out of the ground before them. Easily the largest of its kind they had ever laid eyes on, it was a wonder that it hadn't been noticed sooner given the fact that it was easily within sight of the city walls. The Mediator unsheathed her knife and airily threw a question towards her partner.
"What was the plan again?"
Sergio drew his Photon Sabre, the beam of brilliant orange light extending from the hilt in a moment, accompanied by a noticeable rise in temperature.
"Kill it until it dies."
"Perfect."
Stella dived forwards to draw the attention of their target, who bellowed at her before launching a beam from its mouth. She dodged the easily telegraphed attack before stabbing upwards into its jaw. The force of the strike slammed the Cinicula's mouth shut, only for it to be blown open a moment later by an explosion as the beam misfired. Eckart reeled and roared as Stella dropped to the ground before backpedalling furiously. The girl allowed herself a grin, but it was cut short by the sudden shock of being knocked to the ground.
Scrabbling to right herself and clamber to her feet, she glimpsed her attacker: A Grex, seemingly alone and likely starved mad due to its separation from the pack. It made to lunge at her, but howled with surprise and pain as Sergio shoulder-charged it from the side, stabbing it with his photon sabre and knocking it off its feet. In a single movement, the Harrier ripped its tail off and slashed the blades on the underside of the appendage across the throat of his target, mortally wounding it and spraying the pair with blackish-purple blood.
Sergio tossed the tail aside before turning to Stella and hauling her to her feet, his gruff expression betrayed by his glancing eyes, checking for any sign of injury.
"Watch yourself next time."
"Y-Yeah" Stella replied, more than slightly shaken. "Lost my focus for a moment there. At least I wasn't too badly hurt this ti-"
A shadow fell over them and Stella found herself thrown clear as Eckhart stomped down on where she'd been standing barely a second ago. With her partner still underneath it.
"SERGIO!"
Stella righted herself in mid-air, landing on all fours and bearing witness to something that relieved her as much as it awed her: Sergio standing beneath the Cinicula's foot, every artificial muscle in his body tensed and screaming. In a pure display of raw strength accompanied by a roar of exertion, the Harrier pushed back against the several tons of giant bug that was trying to flatten him and, after a tense moment, launched the offending leg skyward, only for it crashed down a few metres away with a sickening snap.
Sergio swayed slightly and fell to one knee as Stella ran over to him, grabbing his sabre from the side of the Grex where her partner had left it on the way.
"You alright!?"
"Don't worry after me. I've had worse."
Sergio took his weapon from Stella's offering hand and hauled himself to his feet again, and the pair looked on as Eckart staggered upright, its newly broken foreleg causing it to screech in agony. Sergio flipped his sabre in his hand and grunted, activating Overdrive. He rolled his shoulders to loosen the tension and took a combat stance with a sigh.
"Well then. Let's make it quick and take this sucker down."
