Ren rembered the surprise on the faces of teachers and students alike when the second head had first appeared. Because everyone "knew" that hydras could only accumulate heads in their wild form, when they reached absurdly deep depths where pressure, heat and mana density allowed such developnt.
The few whose eggs had been found and which had bonded to human tars, "dosticated" beasts, were supposedly limited to a single head permanently through so fundantal restriction.
Except they weren't actually restricted at all.
They only needed soone to find the appropriate cultivation thod to overco that "perceived" limitation that everyone had accepted as the absolute truth.
And Ren had cultivated his hydra perfectly for breaking that barrier. Even more than perfectly in execution. Refining its complete elental control that shouldn't exist in its lineage through the standard evolution. Pushing it in many ways far beyond what others believed possible for the species.
The second head had been the indisputable result of Ren's knowledge of cultivation. Proving that old perceptions were just incorrect assumptions, not natural law. That the limits everyone accepted as absolute truth were simply a lack of understanding about the proper developnt.
As always, Ren had broken the expectations that constrained most others.
The two-headed hydra had been talked about extensively for a good while after its reveal. Conversations in the academy hallways between students. Topic of debate among professors who studied beast cultivation. Example cited alongside Taro's enormous beetle when discussing unexplored potential in beast developnt.
But after the initial commotion settled...
The hydra hadn't had many opportunities to truly shine and demonstrate its capabilities.
Most discussion had remained speculation rather than observation.
In the mid-sester exam everyone had wanted to see it in action with great anticipation but...
Ren's previous attack group had been so large and so dominant in their coordination. So many powerful beasts manifested simultaneously created a presence that eclipsed individual contributions or simply didn't allow them space to demonstrate their powers.
The hydra had participated in those battles, yes. Had contributed in team fights. Had demonstrated so of its power in the group context.
But it hadn't needed to use much of its true power or acted in a mont that was truly its own. Hadn't shown what it was capable of when it had Ren's complete attention focused on it alone.
And it also hadn't displayed its new multi-elental capacity like the mantis had been doing just now.
Because the hydra had also absorbed effects from the jade mana exposure. Had also developed control over multiple elents through that transformative process. Not at the sa level as the wolverine which specialized in elental manipulation. But sufficient given its much higher mana level and developnt to leave the mantis considerably behind in raw power.
Sufficient to surprise many with what would co now.
Sufficient to make clear that Ren's elental versatility wasn't limited to a single beast in his arsenal.
'It's ti for putting two beasts of the sa size to confront each other,' Ren decided finally after considering matchup options.
The hyena was enormous in stature. The hydra also matched that scale.
It would be a different kind of fight from what spectators had witnessed. Not speed versus power. Not flexibility versus regeneration.
Size versus size. Power versus power.
And Ren wanted to see how his hydra handled that type of direct confrontation against an equally massive opponent.
But first… satisfying the initial curiosity that his curious mind demanded.
First he wanted one final data acquisition before committing to the main strategy.
Master Lin raised her hand with the ceremonial gesture. "Begin."
The hyena opened its enormous throat in preparation. The sound that erged made several spectators cover their ears instinctively despite their distance from the arena.
It wasn't a normal scream like the ones other beasts produced. Wasn't a roar or growl. It was a maddening pure vibration that traveled through the air like a visible physical wave, distorting everything it touched through sheer sonic force.
Ren had already given an order to the mantis before the sound could reach across the distance.
"Maximum speed,control at level two... Test strike."
The mantis had used the combination of fire and wind before for its maximum revealed propulsion. Heat expanding the air behind it in controlled explosions. Wind channeling that expansion in specific directions with precisión, gaining propulsion that launched it like a projectile toward its target.
It wasn't lightning yet through complete elental fusion. Wasn't the level three elental control of combining the elents fully into electricity that would reveal true mastery.
But it was fast regardless.
Incredibly fast by any standard asurent.
The mantis shot toward the hyena like a blur, almost impossible to track visually even for enhanced observers.
The hyena's sound wave reached it at the midway point between starting positions.
The impact would have shattered normal beasts completely. The vibration entering its body, making organs vibrate out of synchronization, destroying internal structures through the resonance damage.
But the mantis created a small vacuum around itself as a defensive technique.
Air being evacuated in a semi-sphere with a half-ter empty space from the mantis exoskeleton. Without air as dium, sound couldn't travel appropriately through the empty space.
It wasn't flawless protection against the attack. The sphere distorted from the enormous velocity of movent and so vibration still passed through the imperfect vacuum. The mantis suffered sharp pain from the partial exposure.
But the defense was sufficient for its purpose.
The mantis reached the hyena despite the sonic assault. Its blade-arms already manifested, gleaming with the concentrated and explosive wind and fire strength for maximum impact.
And struck with full force.
But not at the inflated throat as it had targeted... The hyena managed to rotate in ti and covered it with the bone of its foreleg in a defensive reflex.
The blade-arms impacted the bone armor on the hyena's side with a force that should have penetrated the harder shells of Gold rank Pyroclast-Shell Bears.
For a fraction of a second, contact was established between weapons and armor.
And then Ren deactivated the mantis voluntarily.
The beast dissolved into mana particles, returning to its storage space in Ren's chest. Disappearing from the field before any counterattack could land.
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