Battling the Beast

“Left.”

Ed immediately jumped left upon hearing Auranna’s order, as the head of the massive hydra crashed into the coastline. The strike just barely missed him, and the massive neck separated him from both Adelyn and Teddie, who stood on the other side.

VRRRRRR-

The sound of Adelyn’s chainsaw rang through the air. Ed saw the blue device fly into the skies as another head of the hydra began to crash down onto the coast.

“Keep your eyes on what’s coming to you, Edward.”

Ed turned around and noticed one of the dark heads staring directly at him. Its mouth opened, and a cone of glowing green mist spewed out of its maw.

Acid.

With a raise of his arms, a glowing yellow dome formed around him to block the spray of acid towards him. Unluckily, this allowed the head that slammed into the ground to recover from the attack it just did.

It seems to want to cover its own mistakes with acid. It’s like fighting five beasts at once, instead of just one. Ed thought to himself, as the pressure from the spray weighed down onto his shield. It felt like it would keep on spraying until…

“Pew! Pew!” A playful voice was heard in the distance, and beyond the spray, it was Cozy. The girl had taken to the skies right next to the hydra and began firing energy blasts at point-blank range.

The hydra roared viscerally. It was clearly annoyed by the small pest shooting at it. The acid breath one head was firing became disrupted by the blasts and its attention was instead diverted towards Cozy. A second head also looked towards her, and both heads began biting in her general vicinity.

Cozy weaved around the heads, like a fly dodging strikes from a person. Due to this, Ed was given a very brief reprieve thanks to her efforts.

“You got saved by that girl,” Auranna spoke in a scolding tone towards Edward. “Now, put on the mask instead of standing there like a buffoon. Then we can finally fight.”

Edward didn’t appreciate the tone, but he was in no position to argue. He put the mask attached to his belt right before the hunt, and finally donned it on his face.

Auranna disappeared, her energy flowed through Edward’s body as he began to glow yellow once more. His strength was finally unleashed.

Two glowing ropes formed in Ed’s hands, before he began to dash across the water. He was headed straight towards the body of the hydra. His plan was simple, he was going to run up the body of the hydra and use his golden ropes to tie up all the heads together. That way, he believed he could quickly take down the entire beast at once.

His feet rippled against the surface of the water as he ran on top of it. His eyes focused on the entirety of the massive beast. Two heads focused on Adelyn and Teddie, where the former had summoned an earth golem to clash against one of the heads. At the same time, the other head attempted to rain acid down on the two of them.

Meanwhile, Cozy was expertly weaving through the other two heads. They were angrily striking the air, bite after bite, in an attempt to take her down in response.

That left one head unaccounted for, and Ed noticed that it seemed to be sticking underwater. It took a second for him to realize, but then he felt something sharp grasp onto his foot. His movement halted completely. It was like his leg felt stuck between a wedge, before the boy was suddenly lifted up into the air.

The beast caught him right in the valleys between its teeth, and lifted him up into the air. Any lesser man would’ve had their entire foot turned into mush.

But it still really hurt.

“AAAAGH-!” Ed shouted as he was lifted up into the air, before being spun around like a ragdoll. He quickly manifested a blade of light and began stabbing at the mouth of the dragon. However, the beast spun him around like a ragdoll and released its grip. Ed was then sent flying towards the shore. He crashed into the trunk of a nearby tree, and slumped onto the ground.

“Eurgh, ow… ouch, this thing is seriously tough,” Ed grumbled. He adjusted his mask and allowed Auranna’s energy to continue flowing through him. With how fast it moved, he might not be able to approach it directly.

Ed stood up and was still face to face with the head that threw him. He didn’t even get a second to breathe before the head crashed into the tree, uprooting it entirely off the ground! Ed barely dodged out of the way last second and caught his landing with a roll. He looked towards the head, and the impact from its attack caused it to get stuck in the ground for a brief moment.

A moment he could not waste.

The glowing ropes formed in his hands before he threw them forward. The whips wrapped around the head of the hydra and caught it. In return, the hydra’s head began to lift itself up.

Edward’s foot dug into the ground, and Auranna’s energy rushed to his arms and legs. Their efforts were an attempt to keep the beast grounded for as long as possible.

“Cozy! Can you do that thing you promised?” Ed shouted, looking up at the airborne girl.

“Uh! Yeah, if you can-” Cozy began to shout back. Though, before she finished her sentence she was interrupted by a charging head. It forced her to dodge it, barely. “If you can get these two off of me, I can! Uh, Adelyn! Cover me!”

The two turned to Adelyn, who was standing with Teddie. She was currently holding off the teeth of one of the other heads with her chainsaw, alongside her earthen golem.

“Uhh-” Adelyn said. “Teddie, can you cover me then?”

“R…Right!” Teddie said. Teddie began to sing, which seemed to cause a reaction in the hydra. It seemed to draw the two heads towards the young boy, though not for long.

“LUZ!”

Adelyn shouted and a blinding light came from her area. This caused the beast to recoil back from the sudden luminosity. Cozy and Ed both knew what to expect, so both of them covered their eyes while Cozy landed on the ground next to him.

“Do your Love magic thing,” Ed said towards Cozy, still straining to hold the beast’ head on the ground. Cozy let out a small smile and flew towards the beast’s head. She carefully put her palm on the head of the hydra, and a pink glow began emanating out of it.

Shortly after, the pink glow manifested into a kind of energy that encircled Cozy. The aura covered her and then disappeared into her body. She seemed refreshed after that, and confident.

She looked back at Edward with a smile and a nod, as if signalling that her work was done. What Ed saw, however, was right next to her, one of the heads about to charge into the girl!

“WATCH OUT!” Ed shouted, and within a blink of an eye, he crossed the distance to stand right in between the two. Both of his hands pushed against the massive hydra head. Though only by himself, he wasn’t strong enough to counteract such a powerful push.

Both he and Cozy got slammed onto the ground, bearing the weight of the massive beast on the both of them. A massive crushing force pressed down on the two of them as their backs were against the floor.

Ed grunted in pain as the two of them lay in the crater. The only thing Cozy and him saw was the mouth of the beast pushing onto them. Cozy was damaged too, bruised by the attack, but she was pushing against the beast as well.

“W…Watch your own back… agh-” Ed groaned.

“N…No, this is exactly where… I wanted it, yeah, that’s it, ahaha-” Cozy did a rough smile. To Ed’s surprise, the hydra head began glowing pink once more. Energy manifested out of the hydra’s head and began flowing towards Cozy’s own body. Ed began to feel the weight he was holding decrease significantly, as if the entire beast became lighter, until he was able to push back against the head. He threw it to the side of the crater and the two of them climbed out.

“Hah… hah…” Ed panted as he took a breath. “What… exactly did you do anyways?”

“It’s just Love magic,” Cozy said. “They won’t want to do anything for at least a little while.”

“That… doesn’t explain anything,” Ed responded.

Their brief break was interrupted by the whirring of a chainsaw. Adelyn could be seen on the other side of the beach alongside Teddie. A tornado stood next to the two of them, blowing back one of the heads of the hydra which was retorting with acid from its mouth. However, despite their efforts, that did not absolve them of the two other heads attacking from both sides.

Adelyn was glowing, moving alongside Teddie’s own songs. She was far more nimble than usual, but the amount she was having to juggle was too much even for her. Every single strike she deflected was followed by another one from behind. It was clear she was getting overwhelmed.

“We should probably help.”

“Yeah. Good idea.”

The two of them agreed, and within a second, both Ed and Cozy leaped into the air. They then landed on the two heads attacking Adelyn and Teddie. Ed took out a sword of light and struck the hydra. Unfortunately, it wasn’t strong enough to cut through its thick skin. It was however enough to cause the beast to relent for just a moment.

Cozy’s attack also caused the head to fall back, and the two of them flipped back onto Adelyn’s side.

“You doing okay?” Ed asked Adelyn.

“I’m… fine! I haven’t fought anything like this ever…” Adelyn huffed.

“You’re doing pretty well for an amateur!” Cozy said cheerfully.

“Thanks…” Adelyn smiled back.

The hydra roared once more. But now they outnumbered the amount of heads, and a surge of confidence came back to the group.

“One, one, one and Teddie on me!” Ed said, pointing to each of the heads. “I’ll try and hold them down so just hold out until I do!”

The rest of them nodded, and Teddie began singing. Ed felt something surge through his body. Now, he not only had Auranna’s energy, but Teddie’s own magical tune through his blood.

He felt faster, and he was plenty strong already. The head charged towards him but he was able to sidestep it completely. Then he formed a rope to lasso the head down. With a strong pull, he managed to drag it back as it charged forwards. His feet dragged through the ground and he held strong… until he eventually managed to fully halt it!

However, it won’t be that easy. The beast changed direction and began flying towards Ed at a high speed. The hydra was using Ed’s own pull to boost its acceleration further! Ed had to respond fast, so he pulled out a sword and parried the strike sending the beast to the side.

This allowed Ed to respond by using his enhanced speed to jump onto the head once again. He raised one hand and blasted a beam of light onto the head of the hydra, crashing it into the floor.

That was what put the head out of commission for a second, allowing Ed’s ropes to tie it down.

“Cozy, switch with me!” Ed shouted at the girl, who was flying around their own head. Dark crystals littered the ground before being smashed through by the head of the hydra. Cozy turned back and nodded before flying over.

The head chased after Cozy, but that's when Ed jumped in front of it and struck it back with his sword. The beast recoiled back as Ed landed right next to Adelyn, whose chainsaw was grinding against the teeth of the other head.

“Caught it!” Adelyn said, before shouting, “Viridia!”

Leaves began to blow around them and flutter through the air, and a girl wearing a green dress formed next to them. Then, multiple large vines grabbed the hydra and dragged it’s head onto the ground!

“Cozy! On me!” Adelyn said before flying next to Ed. Now, it was two on one. Teddie stood behind them, and kept on singing. Ed felt some of the magic that was in his body split to Adelyn and the two of them looked at the last head.

“If we strike together, I’m pretty sure we can overpower it!” Adelyn said.

“Yeah,” Ed responded, creating a large hammer. “Let's hit it with all we got.”

The two ran at the remaining head, which charged towards them. With one final clash, the two prepared for a harsh strike… until…

Suddenly, the head of the hydra got tied up in glowing blue vines. Not only that, but Ed felt as if he couldn’t move. He turned his head to the side, as he saw Adelyn also tied up. All three of them got dragged to the ground and held there, and not even their best struggles could keep them up.

“What the…?” Ed asked. “Who…?”

He kept on looking around. And they weren’t alone either. Teddie and Cozy both also seemed to be tied to the ground, unable to break out.

“I missed a concert for this…” A female voice spoke. Turning to it, a woman dressed in a pure white dress, a tired expression, and a frown. Ed didn’t recognize this woman at all.

However, he did hear one voice in response to this lady’s appearance. Teddie’s.

“...L…Liana…?”