"BAAAACK TO THE TOURNAMENT! TEAM THREE IS ABOUT TO FACE A HIGH-LEVEL MYTHICAL MONSTER… THE HYDRAAAAA!"
The announcer's voice echoed across the stadium, and the crowd's roar drowned everything else. Everyone rose to their feet, screaming with excitement, as the ground began to tremble.
From the other side of the arena, the monstrous figure emerged. The Hydra, with nine writhing serpent-like heads, stomped into the sand with a force that shook the earth. Its breath burned, spreading venom, and each of its steps cracked the ground beneath it.
Opposite it stood five human figures. Silent, focused, almost motionless as if carved from the very will of the world itself.
"Let's see now, princess," Calyra said with a smirk dipped in irony, "what will you do against something truly monstrous?"
Her laugh was nearly monstrous, but Cellynn didn't flinch.
The battle exploded into motion. Cellynn and Calyra, both archers, moved like mirrored reflections. Not allies, but not enemies either. Twin drops of rain silent catapults. Their arrows targeted the beast's weak points: eyes, necks, spots where the Hydra's skin seemed thinner. Each shot carried stubbornness: who would be deadlier, more precise?
There was no friendship between them only a kind of respect born in rivalry.
"Ashen, how much time do you need?!" Cellynn shouted, dodging a wave of poison that melted stone.
Ashen stood a bit farther back. His book lay open, hands trembling but his eyes were calm. The pink light from the page stirred, mingling with water, then with something heavier.
It was no longer fear. It was belief.
"Just hold her a little longer!"
A wave of energy shattered the ground, binding the Hydra's legs as if chains of water had grown from the earth. The beast screamed, but it was trapped at least for a moment.
"Nice one, kid!" yelled the warrior with the twin blades, already charging through the storm.
He moved like wind fast, relentless. No sound in his motion only precision and silence. He slipped beneath a tail, dashed through fire and venom, and struck at one of the necks. One, two, three slashes and the first head fell.
"This… is for my family!" he shouted, leaping back.
The girl with the heavy weapon stood before the heart of the beast. She did not retreat. She didn't take a step back.
One strike the ground cracked.
Second another head shuddered.
Third and the Hydra screamed, wounded and bleeding heavily.
The battle felt like an eternity. But in truth, it was just moments stolen breaths, split-second glances, desperate thoughts.
And at the end, Cellynn, eyes locked on the one remaining head, raised her bow. She said nothing. She didn't need to.
"This is what I trained for. I've got this."
The arrow flew silent, cold, flawless.
It tore through the air.
It pierced the monster's eye.
But this arrow was no longer ordinary. As it left Celynn bow, it began to glow fading into a swirl of color. Flames of rose, morning-star blue, sun-gold, and forest green erupted at its tip.
An arrow forged from strength, belief, and destiny.
It tore through the sky with unimaginable speed.
It pierced the last remaining head.
The impact shattered the Hydra's skull, and the arrow still burning with multicolored light shot upward, far into the sky, toward Argus.
A rainbow traced its path as it vanished beyond the city.
The Hydra collapsed.
With a final hiss, its massive body fell into the sand, sending a cloud of dust into the air.
Silence fell upon the arena.
The five stood bruised, bleeding, battered. But victorious.
They hadn't just won a battle.
They had proven a truth:
When five hearts fight as one, not even a Hydra can stand in their way.