The next hour break came to an end all too quickly. With stiffness clinging to every inch of me, my fur still smelled faintly of ash, and the healers’ salve left my skin feeling waxy and strange. The pain had dulled to a quiet throb, but my tail ached every time I so much as twitched it. Still, when the amber light of the sun slipped through the infirmary’s shutters, I rose.

  I had tried to use my mana meditation during the break. It was chilling. I could feel mana slowly drift into me. As the mana was absorbed, it grew colder. I liked it.

  The air outside the arena was already thick with dust. The next round of the tournament was ready. The audience wanted blood. And judging from the low rumble echoing through the colosseum walls, they were going to get it.

  Keagan met me in the prep room. He had a look of half excitement, half guilt again.

  “Hey,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “How’s the tail?”

  “Still attached,” I said flatly, rolling my shoulders. “Can’t say the same for Sereth’s pride.”

  Keagan didn’t smile. “They say she’ll recover, but she did have to drop out.”

  “It was never my intention to hurt her that badly.” I glanced at the rack of Association medkits and bandages in the corner.

  He nodded. “I knew you'd say that, and I already told Fayna that. She said not to worry about it, it was the heat of battle. Also she said, ‘The next time you face us, it won't be an easy win.’”

  I closed my eyes and chuckled. “Easy win? Ha. But I'm glad Sereth will be fine.”

  The boy gave me a quick hug. “I'm glad you're not holding a grudge.”

  “She doesn't deserve it,” I said. I flicked my tail and flattened my ears. “Though, I'd like to see her outside of a battle, to see if Fayna was telling the truth. Not that I think she's lying or anything.”

  “We'll see.” Keagan patted my side. “Are you ready for the next match?

  “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  The door creaked open, and one of the attendants peeked in. “You’re up next.”

  Keagan exhaled sharply through his nose and shouldered his bag. “Right. Listen to me carefully before we go out there. Your opponent is a hydra… and it has four heads.”

  I froze halfway through stretching my front legs. “Four? Is that significant?”

  “Yeah,” he said grimly. “Which means it’s not low-level. Every extra head a hydra grows is from the Multiple Heads trait. That trait can only be gained once per trait level. To have four heads…” He trailed off.

  “Means it’s level seven,” I finished for him.

  “Exactly.” He knelt beside me, spreading a small sketchbook across his knee. He’d drawn rough anatomy notes—lines, arrows, and weak points, all scrawled in pencil. “Hydras have ridiculous vitality. Cutting off a head doesn’t slow them down; it just grows back. Their regeneration is their main weapon. Don’t waste effort on trying to disable individual heads.”

  "So, is the goal to target the main body?" I asked, leaning closer to look at the drawing.

  “Their healing burns through mana like crazy. Each head divides their energy, but the body shares it. If you can freeze or exhaust the main torso, you can stall regeneration long enough to end it.” He paused, chewing his lip. “But Lucia, listen. This isn’t like fighting Gravelox or the wyverling. This thing’s killed over twenty-one monsters to get this far. If you take a single wrong step…”

  “I lose. Got it.” I flicked my tail back and forth, working out the stiffness. “Then I’ll just make sure every step is right.”

  He pouted. “That’s not funny. I mean, it can kill you.”

  “It wasn’t meant to be.” I glared at him. “Do you know if this hydra has a history of killing contestants in the arena? I highly doubt it. The Association would never allow a monster like that to keep fighting. It will keep things civil.”

  He packed up his notes. “Don't overreact, right? Sorry. And I guess he did lose to Sereth, so he's not unbeatable.”

  The kid's making progress. That's good. Baby steps, and eventually he'll work his way past his grief.

  The announcement echoed faintly through the hallway. “Final match: Lucia versus Garuuk!”

  Even the name made me want to roll my eyes. “Who names these things?”

  “Is it better than Snowball?” Keagan nudged my side.

  “Anything is better than Snowball,” I muttered.

  As we walked down the corridor leading to the arena, the sound of the crowd grew into a thunderous tide.

  I stepped out first. The sun had settled low enough to turn the sky a rainbow of a dozen different shades of orange. They removed the stone stage as the ground had dried out. Across the field, the gate on the opposite side trembled.

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  Then I heard a wet, dragging scrape followed by a hiss that multiplied itself fourfold.

  The hydra emerged. The creature was twice my height with four heads, each slightly different in color and shape. One crimson with a single horn, one mottled green, one black with a frill of short horns, and the last pale blue with milky eyes. Its body was low and wide, muscles rippling under slick scales that glistened with moisture. The four stubby legs clawed at the ground to pull it forward. Each head flicked its tongue independently, tasting the air.

  The crowd erupted. The smell of sulfur and old blood hit my nose. I crouched lower to the ground instinctively.

  Keagan leaned over the railing of the trainer’s box. “Remember, go for the body! Don’t stop moving!”

  I didn’t answer. My ears were pinned back, and I was locked into my opponent.

  The referee raised a hand and looked at each of us in turn.

  I spread my stance. The hydra’s four heads snapped toward me, each one letting out a low, unified growl that vibrated through the ground.

  “Begin!”

  The ground shook as Garuuk surged forward. I had to blink to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Dirt and grit exploded under its bulk, four jaws snapping in staggered rhythm. But despite the display, the creature was moving pathetically slow.

  No wonder Sereth won.

  The leftmost head reared back and exhaled a thick cloud of steam; the rightmost spat a glob of corrosive bile that sizzled on impact where it hit the ground beside me.

  I darted sideways, claws digging into the dirt. The air shimmered with heat where I’d just been standing.

  You didn’t say anything about it breathing acid, kid.

  One of the heads lunged, and I met it with a frost shield, propping its mouth open. Then an ice shard went down the throat of a second.

  It snapped shut on the shard reflexively. For a moment it looked confused. The mouth with my shield in it couldn't close, and with how I wedged it in the teeth, it couldn't open it far enough to drop it either.

  There's more than one way to disable a mouth.

  Then the hydra regurgitated acid on the shield. With it weakened, it snapped it into pieces. I took note that it took several seconds to melt my ice enough to do that.

  While it was busy with that, I circled around to the back of the bulky serpentine body. The three other heads tracked me, and one even snapped for me. It came up short.

  It tried to slap me with its tail. I batted it down with a paw and then bit down on it with my fangs. The hydra hissed, and I prepared a frost shield for the inevitable acid.

  First it reached for me with two of its heads. The first head I kicked upwards, leaving deep gouges from my hind claws. As that had reeled, the second darted in faster. I spun and interposed its own tail between us.

  It bit down, flinched, and recoiled. Blood dropped from wounds I left, but I could see that they were sealing up.

  Right, regeneration. But how is that kind of regeneration fair?

  The hydra hissed again with all four heads in an eerie harmony and began circling me. My shield was ready, but it could only block one.

  Right, four heads can strike from four directions at once. I'll admit, this is almost new. Too bad I've had more practice fighting larger numbers than this. All of them stuck to one spot is only a hindrance for it.

  I let go of its tail and jumped on its back. “Well, what are you waiting for? Are you scared?”

  Without disappointing me, one head snapped in from the left. My claws dragged across its back as I spun to meet it. As I deflected that head, another was already aiming for my tail. I pushed off and did a backflip only to land directly on it.

  Why isn't it using its acid? I looked down to see the wounds I was leaving in its back weren't healing. Ah, so it does have a weakness. The boy did say it will regrow its heads. If that's the case…

  Another had interrupted my thoughts. I leaned back but still kept my foot on the one head to keep it pinned. There was a nice vulnerable neck in front of me.

  Before it could recoil, I sank my fangs in. It fought back, but I was clearly stronger. Then the hydra’s squirming spiked.

  It was terrified.

  I yanked the head within my jaws and bit through the neck. Hydra meat was delicious. It had a nice earthy taste without overpowering the savoriness. Despite not having any fat, it was soft and stringy.

  Now is not the time!

  I spat it out of my mouth and chomped through the remainder of its neck. The crowd let out a collective “Ooh” as the head rolled off to the ground. The head flipped to the ground, spraying blood as it went.

  My claws dug into the pinned head and rammed them through. I slashed more claws through the same opening. The head was hanging on by a few inches of skin as it hit the ground, blood draining from it.

  In a blind panic, the hydra tried to roll over on me. I summoned the first shield I had been holding back. I shaped it into a kite shield with the point being as sharp as possible. I positioned it at the base of one of its two remaining heads.

  As I jumped off, I landed on the blunt top and drove it through the neck, severing the entire thing.

  “Stop! Stop, gods, stop.” The final remaining head cupped away from me. “What's wrong with you?”

  “You'll regenerate,” I groaned.

  The hydra pushed itself further away from me. “Yeah, but do you have any idea how much that hurts? How would you like it if I just started pulling off your legs?”

  “Greater have tried, and failed.” I bared my fangs.

  “You're a psychopath,” it hissed and slithered out of the arena.

  I did notice a wet line following the monster, and it wasn't blood. The crowd had gone silent.

  I turned to them and shouted, “Is this what you want? Does this make you happy? Have you had your fill of blood?”

  They cheered.

  I felt sick. And they say I'm a threat to society.

  I walked over to Keagan, who looked more than a little green in the face.

  “Did you really have to go that far?” he asked.

  “What does it matter? It’s over. Let’s go, kid. Let's get our money and get out.” I flattened my ears. “Don't bother with getting me food tonight. I've lost my appetite.”

  Keagan didn't say another word to me. He just led me to collect our 2,000 gold and then paid the taxes and for the healing I received.

  As we exited the Association’s branch office, someone was standing in the street clapping as he watched us. Velleigh floated behind Luther. Luther was dressed in a heavy coat with thick boots. Also a pair of gloves were tied together and hanging from his belt. An even thicker fur-rimmed cloak draped from his shoulders.

  He’s a little overdressed. Where’s he been?

  The man grinned. “Spectacular performance, Lucia. And that speech at the end? Moving.”

  I stepped in front of the boy and growled at him. “What do you want?”

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