Yuki waited for the colonel to reply. In retrospect, saying that she had a way to defeat the hydra right off the bat wasn’t exactly the best way to start off the conversation. But something told her that the colonel wasn’t one to immediately dismiss an idea.

“Ma’am, if I may,” Colonel Gyra started, “would you please show me your credentials? It would help me immensely.”

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Yuki shrugged. She tapped on her watch and projected her hunter card in front of the colonel who gave it a critical look.

“I see. Rank A.” His eyes widened a bit as he continued to read. “A mage. You’re a supporter?”

“I am.”

“It’s not everyday that I meet a high ranking mage,” Gyra smiled. “It’s often lonely being a mage. Not many strong ones enlist in the army. I sometimes miss having debates with colleagues on the workings of spells and mana.”

“Oh. You’re mage as well?” Yuki asked.

‘That explains his high amount of mana.’

“I am. One of the few mages to have a high ranking position in the army,” he replied. “I’m a water elementalist.”

“An elementalist. I see,” Yuki said. The memory of the old man she had fought in that treasure rose up in her mind, and her jaw clenched. But she got control of herself quickly. “You dedicate yourself to finding all the applications of water magic?”

“I do. It’s a field of research that seems to be never ending,” he said. “I’m always discovering new things. But enough of that. You said you have an idea on how to defeat the hydra?”

“I did. I’m glad, though, that you’re a mage. The idea I have will be easier to explain.”

“So I take it the idea is magic based?”

“Correct,” Yuki nodded. “Before I get into the meat of the idea though, would you mind if I tried to set up the thinking behind my idea?”

“Go on. I would prefer it, actually.”

“Wonderful.” 

Yuki gathered the air to make a bean bag made of wind for herself to sit on. She patted her side, telling Akira to sit with her.

“First, let me begin by saying that I was one of the few people to actually see the hydra and fight it,” Yuki said as Akira took a seat. The colonel raised a brow. “What I’m about to say is entirely my conclusions based on my first hand observations.”

The colonel nodded, showing his understanding.

“Let me ask you something, colonel. You know about the hydra’s unique attribute, correct?”

“The suspected unique attribute? If you are referring to the idea that the hydra can use all seven elements, then yes, I have heard.”

“Alright. If that conclusion is true, then that would mean that the hydra can attack with any element with little warning. In a battle of attrition, I don’t believe we would hold out. Especially due to the strength of the hydra’s attacks.”

“I was worrying about that as well,” Colonel Gyra said. “We don’t have enough mages to continually shield our front line if the hydra can just launch attacks willy nilly.”

“Exactly,” Yuki nodded. “Another thing to note is that we don’t know the full capabilities of the hydra. I take it that you made your plan as flexible as you did because of this.”

“Correct.”

“My worries are that it has more attacks up its sleeve. I didn’t actually see much of its physical attacks or abilities during the fight. To be honest, I didn’t see much of anything. The hydra didn’t seem to be that into the fight. It was as if it was merely curious and entertained until my partner here managed to inflict a decent amount of pain.”

“That is worrying,” the colonel said, lacing his fingers underneath his chin. “You said your friend here managed to deal some damage? Or pain? How?”

Yuki glanced over at Akira. She wasn’t sure how Akira had done what she had done as Akira had disappeared for a moment before the hydra had become annoyed.

“I hit it at its sensitive point,” Akira replied. “It’s where you had assumed it to be. The tip of its tail. I was poking at the monster to find places where I could deal damage and managed to strike that location.”

“I see. It’s good to know that at least one of my conclusions is correct,” Colonel Gyra smiled. 

“Anyway, back to the main topic,” Yuki said. “What I am trying to say is that we need to incapacitate or even kill the hydra as soon as possible. The longer the fight gets, the more losses we stand to suffer.”

“I understand that,” the colonel replied, “but the question remains of how you plan on doing that? I assume that you have a way to deal a large amount of damage in a short period of time?”

“I believe so. To put it simply, I’m planning to take the idea behind the hydra’s own attacks and use it against it. More specifically, its beam attack.”

“The elemental beam that it can launch from its mouths?” Gyra asked. He forward, his eyes intrigued.

“Yes.”

“How exactly?”

“By using the basic concept of a laser,” Yuki said. She opened a hand and sand gathered in it which she used to create a diagram of her idea. “Take mana, focus it, and then launch it.”

The grains of sand mimicked mana gathering around a focus before becoming a beam.

“That sounds like you’ll need quite a lot of mana to do that,” the colonel commented.

“It does. That’s why I’m bringing this up to you, colonel.”

“You want the help of my mages?”

“Exactly.”

“Well. How are you going to manage their mana?”

“Simple. I won’t be,” Yuki said with a small smile. She arranged the sand into a rough magic circle that had seven points within it. “The idea is that your mages will direct their magic to these points. The spell will channel to this center place where it will be focused. My job will be to direct the attack to the target.”

The colonel nodded his head while he examined the diagram of the magic circle Yuki had created. He played with his fingers as his lips moved softly. Then he looked up, his eyes bright and excited.

“You can pull this off?” the colonel asked. Yuki gave him a nod. “What do you need?”

“What is the breakdown for your mages? Their affinities.”

 “We try to have an even mix,” he replied. “However, some affinities are just rarer than others. So we have a lack of earth and wind affinities. The rest is fairly balanced.”

“My partner here can help with the earth. She’ll probably more than make up for it,” Yuki said. “I can help with wind.”

“Why are you asking about my soldiers’ affinities though?” the colonel asked. A eyebrow went up. “You’re planning to make the attack elemental?”

“I am.” Yuki waved her hand and the sand floating in the air disappeared. 

“All of the elements?” 

“Yes. I don’t know what the hydra is resistant to, and so hitting it with everything would be best. Using all the elements also makes the attack stronger.”

“But you’re going to be managing mana that isn’t of your affinity,” the colonel frowned. 

“The spell will handle the brunt of the management,” Yuki replied. “I’m there just to give power to the spell. That is, if the spell works how I envisioned it.”

The colonel nodded and took the leather book that was off to the side of his desk. He opened it and began to scribble in it with a pen for a few moments. 

“Is there anything else you need?” he asked.

“Yes. This may be more difficult, but is it possible for you to create five groups of mages with their respective affinities that all have similar mana amounts?” Yuki said. 

“That’s simple enough,” Colonel Gyra nodded. “It won’t be a problem. Anything else?”

“Nothing else. I just need time on the battlefield.”

“And I’ll try to get that time for you,” the colonel said. He shut the book and slid it away from himself. “Thank you for coming to me. I always feel better when I have a plan set.”

“I felt obligated to,” Yuki replied. “Though. I have to ask. You seemed to accept my words quite fast.”

“You convinced me with your diagram. It was quite genius actually. It had a combination of runes I had never seen before,” the colonel said with a smile. “Honestly, if it was a different situation, I would have given you an invitation to a mage gathering. I would love to hear what other ideas you have, and I’m sure my fellow mages would feel the same.”

“That’s very kind,” Yuki said. She stood and helped Akira up before she dissolved the cushion of air that they were sitting on. “Anyway, I’ll be heading off to prepare. I’ll see you in the morning, Colonel.”

“Have a good rest,” the colonel said with a wave that Yuki returned in kind.

Then Yuki left the tent with Akira, hand in hand. 

“Well, that wasn’t so bad,” Akira remarked.

“It wasn’t. Let’s hope that tomorrow we can say the same,” Yuki said, staring off into the stars as they walked.

“Whatever happens, I’ll be right beside you,” Akira said. She squeezed Yuki’s hand, and Yuki squeezed right back.

“I know.”