Shulk sounds confused about Xord’s admission, Sharla takes this time to try to part with her lunch, dry-heaving unnoticed behind the blond. Xord ignores the scientist’s curiosity this time, though, instead enthusing over the idea of fresh meat. He also complains that the colonists weren’t ‘filling’, though what that actually means for a Mechon is anybody’s guess. Sharla kneels in grief which is ignored completely by Xord, who orders the other Mechon forwards. Shulk whips the Monado in a short arc in response, unleashing a wave of its power. As if responding to this cue, Sharla rises far too steadily to her feet, readying her rifle and unleashing a cold, towering anger. She begins to advance on Xord’s position, pumping the action on her ether rifle as she steadily dismantles the first Mechon between herself and her target.
That’s as far as she gets like that, though, an M67 leaping through the smoke of her first kill in an attempt to impale her- but Reyn hauls her back at the last moment, telling her to get behind him. Shulk in turn pops up in front of Reyn, scything down the three nearest Mechon in a single strike. Rather dramatically, he declares that ‘We are Homs, and we won’t just stand here, waiting to be eaten.’
Perched on a nearby abandoned machine, Otharon watches for a few seconds, then turns and climbs back down off of the thing.
Xord mocks Shulk for relying on the Monado, claiming it can’t even so much as dent him. Angrily, the blond accepts the challenge, charging the round-faced Mechon. His strike slams into- and bounces off of- Xord’s arm. The heavy Mechon chuckles and derisively suggests the young man try harder, then whips his hammer into an overhead blow at the Monado’s wielder. Shulk hops back away from the blow, easily avoiding getting pancaked. Still, he makes note of the fact that, like before, the Monado is useless on its own in this fight.
This is where you take control, the party stuck on the platform with the newly-named Xord and four or five other miscellaneous Mechon- and already starting the fight.
Even at high level, this is a dangerous fight- the other Mechon will impede you plenty, leaving you easy prey for Xord’s horrendously strong hammer strikes and sweeps, including among them a shockwave that will briefly knock down the whole party as well as the massive arcing swing he used last time you fought him. What’s more, he has the Resist attribute- you cannot inflict Break on him through any method short of a Chain Attack. While this is all well and good, surviving long enough to use a Chain Attack is made much harder by the interfering normal-sized Mechon.
Your best bet here is to give Reyn time to grab Xord’s attention, then have the entire party start knocking the smaller Mechon out of the fight one at a time. If you can do so quickly enough, you’ll get a little while to beat on Xord before you have to deal with more incoming Mechon again. Thankfully, Xord is slowed by his overhand strikes, taking more than a few seconds to ready for another attack after each one, and this gives you the time you need- either to peel away the smaller Mechon, or to beat on him and build up charge for a Chain Attack.
The fight lasts until Xord nears the halfway mark on his HP bar.
