The Burst

"I like the way you take me out of my comfort zone"

*"On a scale of 1 to 10, she's an 11, and she'd give herself a 12." -The Voice*

**The Burst** is the eighth Guardian but, the seventh encountered by The Stranger. Her name is likely a reference to the fact that she can deal the largest amount of damage to the player in the shortest amount of time; i.e **Burst damage**. This is accomplished with her weapon of choice; a long-range sniper rifle paired with a multitude of drones that serve as her eyes, controlled by the control interface/blade on her arm.

## Personality

The Burst seems to not expect much of The Stranger. Throughout her fight, she constantly reiterates how she believes that he stands no chance against her. Her dialogue also reveals that she is confident and self-assured. She is also highly intelligent, having designed multiple technological systems to analyze and attack The Stranger.

## Fight

### Phase 1

The ranged phase begins in a large arena with The Burst sniping The Stranger from one of the smaller hexagons in each cardinal direction. The sniper shots are instakills and the best way around is to hide behind a wall before the lock-on is complete; after she fires run in the direction of the shot to locate her. Once the player finds the right hexagon, they need to tag her with a shot. If the player is too hasty The Burst may run away.

After tagging her a small arena will be erected and the player will need to defeat her. There will be no CQC.

Attacks:

* 5 purple slow-moving mines which will explode in a fixed radius with a delay. Normally followed up with a ranged attack.
* Burst of shots.
* Burst of homing shots.
* Pink AOE wave explosion, preceded by a short charge up.
* Melee combo: 2 quick attacks, a short pause, 1 attack.

### Phase 2

Same as before, but this time there will also be Drone mines.

After tagging her a small arena will be erected and the player needs to defeat her. There will be no CQC.

Attacks:

* Burst of shots
* Big homing shots, normally 2-3 consecutive shots.
* Pink AOE wave, preceded by a short charge up. Hide behind a pillar.
* Big blue shot, explodes into a wave.
* Melee combo: 2 quick attacks, a short pause, 1 attack.

### Phase 3

Same as before, find and tag her.

After tagging her she will move to the middle. There will be no CQC.

Attacks:

* The fight starts with a series of instakill sniper shots.
* At one point she will move to the middle, do a red charge up and fire about 8 or so slow-moving shots around her. These will simultaneously explode into AOE waves which the player will have to dodge through.
* Single instakill sniper shots.
* Big homing shots, normally 2-3 consecutive shots.
* Pink AOE wave, preceded by a short charge up. Hide behind a pillar.
* Big blue shot, explodes into a wave.
* Melee combo: 2 quick attacks, a short pause, 1 attack.

### Phase 4

This time the fight starts directly, with no chase required. However, she will be invisible for the whole fight, only revealing herself after the player hits her.

Attacks:

* Pink AOE wave explosion. She erects walls covering her while she charges this up.
* Blue AOE wave explosion. She sometimes does this before charging to a new position.
* Different Melee combos: mostly small charge up, attack, attack, a short pause, attack, attack.
* Be careful when attacking her without prior opening. She can block and counter-attack with a quick 2 hit combo. It is difficult, but possible, to perfect parry the counter-attack to create an opening (player must attack, then parry, with the correct pause in between).
* Halfway through the fight, The Burst will hide and the player must fight her drones. Afterward, she will move to the middle and shoot out continuously moving pillars which the player has to dodge.

CQC:

* 1 hit combo
* slow-ish 2 hit combo
* Same 4 hit combo as before (attack attack, pause, attack attack), but immediately followed up with a quick AOE explosion of which the player must dodge out of (dodge backward to the edge).
* She can also still block and counter-attack as before. The player can perfect parry her counter-attack with the same timing as the start of the phase.

### Phase 5

Still invisible as before.

Attacks:

* All the close combat combos from before.
* Blue AOE wave explosion. She sometimes does this before charging to a new position.
* Can block and counter-attack at any time now
* Hides and the player fights her drones. Afterward, she will move to the middle and shoot out some continuously moving pillars which the player must dodge through. At first, there will be an inner ring into which the player cannot move. Later there will be an outer ring and the player will have to move closer to her in order to finish the phase.

CQC:

* Same as before.
* Becomes invisible and grapples the player. The player must shake free to avoid the hit.
* She can still block and counter-attack as before.

### Phase 6

Bullet hell wave pattern that is very difficult to dodge and becomes harder as it progresses. Waves will come from both forward, left and right, with the waves from the left and right launched by drones. (It should be noted that the drones cannot be destroyed).

About halfway through the phase, she will begin to fire at The Stranger with her sniper rifle, once again a one-hit KO. It can only be avoided by walls that pop up once she locks on to The Stranger or by a *very* well timed dodge. This is followed by a CQC segment.

During the CQC she is completely invisible and will attack The Stranger in a completely unpredictable pattern. She has the same amount of health she has in the CQC segments of Phase 4 and 5.

## Quotes

"I like her. She's a lot like me. She is clever and she has a plan." - The Voice

"Remember, for her it's all a game, but losing is not an option." - The Voice

"You can't see me, but I can see you." - The Burst

"I like the way you take me out of my comfort zone." - The Burst