The spear shot forwards like a bullet, skewering the scaled appendage like it had been tofu and hardening into a long pole. The hydra hissed and swatted at me with its other forelimb. I reformed my shield just in time to be sent careening to the side instead of being reduced to mulch. As soon as I dispelled it, I dove out of the way; the tail of the monster crashed where I stood but a second later, crushing the ground beneath to dust.

As soon as I hit the ground, I jumped to my feet and dashed back at the beast. My Law poured in waves out of my skin, burning through my qi reserves to form tendrils that skewered whatever snake congealed out of the dark clouds, back to formless smoke. Once more, I overcharged my sword with energy, but instead of throwing it at the monster, I kept it on the blade to enhance its cutting prowess.

I pushed with my legs from the ground with all the strength I could muster and sailed through the air in a collision course with the hydra’s body—sword up in the air above me and already posed to strike. A streak of silvery light flashed beneath my feet, and then searing hot lightning rose to smite me from the ground. Like a flea against a windshield, I was stopped death cold mid-air and then repulsed. I hurtled back—not seriously injured, but stunned.

The hydra was about to capitalize on the opening, when a second swirling liquid spear shot out of my skin, taking the hydra by surprise and impaling its leftmost head. The skewered head fell limp, while the others twisted in shock and pain.

A second later, I fell to the ground and hurried to get on my legs despite the stiffness. The monster’s three remaining heads were quick to recover. They turned towards me as one and upon opening their mouths in unison, they unleashed three torrents of dark smoke in my direction. They joined in an enormous roiling cloud, which threatened to swallow me whole.

I forced my Law to form a wall before the dark cumulonimbus, parting it right before it drowned me.

Something was different about it. Small dark green droplets inhabited it, and whenever they touched my Law, they sizzled ominously against it.

I was about to resume my attacks when what seemed the weight of an entire mountain settled on my shoulders. I looked up and found an ever-growing red, gold, and white aurora stare back at me. It undulated and moved with ease belying the ponderous, crushing weight it exuded.

The Cardinal was right beneath it. Blood poured from his facial orifices, lending him a demonic appearance.

“Song of Destruction; 9th Poem; 2nd Stanza—Solar Storm.” I didn’t hear him say the words; there was no need to—everyone knew the name of the spell.

As the chant finished, lights as beautiful as they were deadly spread to cover the sky for miles. Then the Cardinal pointed at the hydra, and like a tsunami, the aurora came down on it.

Without wasting time, I created layer after layer of protection around me, hoping they would be enough and knowing it wasn’t.

There was no impact to warn me of the spell descending on the monster, just the heat—the unbearable, scalding heat that caused my Law to bubble the likes of boiling water. I fed more qi to the innermost layer, expanding its radius and then conjured more and more domes internally until, slowly, the temperature begun to normalize.

When I undid the shield, the heat had largely subsided. It was still enough to roast someone who had not awakened, but to an S-ranker it was barely an annoyance.

The ground was cracked and blackened in an enormous circle around the smoking corpse of the monster. I stood at its very edge, and the realization that I wouldn’t have survived had the spell been aimed at me hit me like a ton of bricks. It was the first time since Ascending that I confronted my mortality—it was both humbling and scary, a reminder that despite the power I could feel coursing through me, I was yet mortal.

I looked up. The cardinal still stood in the air, his face caked in his own blood and posture hunched. Casting such a high ranked Stanza must have taken an enormous toll on him, and it showed in how the man now carried himself.

I turned back to the hydra, knowing full well what I had to do. The familiar black liquid surged out of me, and like a hungry predator, it pounced on the corpse. I guided it to start from the heads to then work the torso and limbs, ending with the tail. Inert, the monster had no way to protect itself, and soon it was devoured in its entirety.

The Cardinal Mana Stepped beside me. “Good job,” he said, looking at the roiling mass of flesh and Law. “That is a fearsome Law you have.”

I nodded. The fact I could control the shape it assumed made my Law quite the flexible tool, while the ability it had to eat through pretty much anything it touched could cause devastating damage, thus also making it an incredible weapon. I wouldn't want to face a monster with similar powers.

Four silhouettes appeared at the very edge of the treeline. I couldn’t see their features for the heat twisted the air and the shadows the trees cast upon them hid their features, but I guessed them to be with the Cardinal since none of the people with whom I had come could have been that close to the fight.

“They are with me—” the Cardinal told me before whatever he was saying was lost to my ears.

I turned to the writhing dark mass. Something had changed about it. It was not the monster coming back from death. It was a feeling, unlike anything I had ever felt. My Law felt different. Foreign. Alien. I willed it and the undulating mass came to a stop, dissipating harmlessly in the air like it always did. But that feeling remained—something within it had changed.