This wasn't working…
Liora's fire reached the overlap zone and found the Hydra's ice there, and when fire and ice met without precise control they cancelled each other, which meant the regeneration improved by exactly the margin the two effects had been suppressing.
Ren changed elements without alternatives.
The Hydra dropped the ice from the second head and moved to something that wouldn't interfere with the fire; so pure light on the first head, lightning on the second even at higher cost, because light and lightning didn't counter fire and the ice was doing more harm than good now.
The lightning landed with real force.
The beast that received it staggered, only for a moment, but a moment was enough for the carapace rotation to fall fractionally behind and the light to reach something softer underneath. Real damage, the kind the beast registered, adjusting its rotation pattern so the next cycle came slightly faster.
But the pattern had changed…
