The Hydra - Part 1

The entire canyon seemed to shake as the massive silhouette made it's way toward Grim as he ran…

Gripping his weapon tightly, he steeled himself and focused on the battle that was soon to take place. Looking back, he shouted toward Leezy and Reyes over the rumbling footfalls.

"You two going to just stand there looking stupid?"

"No need to tell me twice…"

Swinging his greatsword down to his side, Leezy began his mad dash to catch up. Reyes swiftly followed suit while cursing silently under his breath and twirling his katanas.

It didn't take long before the silhouette came into full view underneath of the glowing blood moon that hung above them.

Ten heads with glowing purple eyes fixated on the trio as they ran forward. Black mirror like scales reflected the red moonlight perfectly, making it's massive body look as if it were being targeted by multiple laser beams.

A cold chill seemed to permeate from it's body as well, dropping the temperature around them substantially as they got closer and closer to it.

Suddenly, three of it's heads reared back as their neck muscles flexed. Veins of purple energy slowly began to spider up the throat of each one until they roared roared and spewed forth bouts of purple flames toward each of them.

Grim transformed in an instant and jumped high into the air above the flames while the brothers split off in different directions.

As the ground they stood on was struck, the flame itself seemed to spread out like water.

To avoid it Reyes and Leezy both jumped high and stabbed their weapons into the wall, using them as anchor points.

The heat they felt from flames below them was unlike anything they had ever felt or seen before. Everything the flames touched melted as if it just had hydrochloric acid poured onto it, morphing into a black goo rather than the typical ash one would expect.

Grim was still in midair between the both of them when two of the hydra's heads shot toward him with their gaping maws of razor sharp teeth poised to consume him completely.

'Trick Cage'

The same white Ki Sphere appeared around Grim albeit smaller in size than before. Both the heads froze abruptly suspended in the air along with him at the center.

Taking his chance, he swung his Kusarigama in an assortment of strikes but was left surprised when his weapon only left minor scuff marks along the Hydra's scales.

Another bout of shock came when he noticed that the two heads were slowly regaining their movement as if they were thawing out in ice.

Another head came from directly above him and tried to bite down but rebounded off the sphere in a display of bright light. Roaring angrily, it began to fill it's throat with purple flame full of malice.

The other heads that weren't occupied trying to consume Grim focused their attention on their own prey.

Reyes leapt from the wall of the valley and used his aura platforms to avoid the onslaught of relentless attacks that came from all sides by three of the Hydra's heads.

Leezy wasn't faring much better as he had managed to get caught within the maw of one of the other three heads that had attacked him separately.

Using his strength he managed to wedge his greatsword between the roof and jaw of the Hydra head that threatened to swallow him whole, preventing it from biting down fully.

"I'll be damned if I let you treat me like a midnight snack!"

As he yelled, he summoned forth the strength of his tattoos and threw out a hard uppercut. The force of his punch dislodged himself from its mouth and into the sky while the roar of pain echoed through the canyon.

Seeing that it's prey was just out of reach for another bite, one of the three hydra heads that attacked belched forth a column of flame directly at him.

Lightning arced down Leezy's sword as he swung it, sending a bolt directly into the approaching flame.

A massive shockwave spread through the air as lightning and flame exploded canceling out each other.

The pressure sent him flying backward but before he could get far, Reyes closed the distance between them and extended a hand. Taking it, he shifted his momentum and landed on Reyes's aura pad beside him.

"This thing is a problem, any bright ideas?"

Together they leapt from pad to pad side by side, avoiding all six of the hydra's heads that attacked them while they spoke.

"No, not at the moment…Grim!"

Reyes called out but wasn't given a response. Grim was dealing with his own trio of heads.

His sphere had completely dissipated by now, leaving him no choice but to flash back and forth dodging the hydra's heads whilst attacking to no avail.

Seeing that none of Grim's attacks were having an effect, Reyes began to feel frustrated knowing that between all of their efforts, there was no time to do anything but dodge.

"GRIM!!!"

"As you can see, I am a bit busy here!!"

"We need to come up with a plan! This isn't going to work!"

"You think I don't know that Orokamono!? Im working on it!"

'Think Reyes, think!'

Casting his gaze around for a weakness, nothing immediately stood out to him. As a nearby head reared backward to fill its throat with more flame, it was then that the memory of the golden bracelets came to fruition.

As he thought of them, they appeared on his wrists as if they summoned themselves. Distracted, the hot flames that soared through the air beside him snapped his focus back as he leapt backward alongside his brother.

"What the…where the hell did you get those bracelets from?"

"Long story, talk about it later…right now I need you to buy me some time while I figure out how to work these things."

The two locked eyes for a second and without any further words required, Leezy nodded and gripped his greatsword tightly with both hands.

"HEY YOU UGLY BASTARD! YOU PLAN TO CONTINUE SPEWING YOUR HOT ASS BREATH EVERYWHERE OR ARE YOU GOING TO COME TRY TO TAKE A TASTE OF WHAT I'VE GOT BREWING FOR YA!?"

As if in answer to his taunt, all six of the hydra's heads that surrounded them roared and reared back, purple veins pulsing along their throats.

Yelling, Leezy pumped every ounce of energy into his arms causing lightning to arc from his body in insane amounts. Looking toward the ground, he spotted the remnants of bones and decided to send the remaining bit of black Ki he had saved up over to them.

He could hardly hold back his excitement when he saw the bones move and assemble themselves into a small group of skeletons that began scaling the canyon wall toward him like undead spiders…