Friya wasn't healed so much as reborn.
The healing tank was akin to a womb that allowed Faluel to share the Guardian blood that even Lesser Divine Beasts carried over from their ancestral primogenitor with her Harbinger.
The Hydra's latent Dragon essence nurtured Friya into the next best thing to the perfect fusion between the human and Hydra life force.
The strong fed the weak, pouring more of Faluel into the smaller creature until they became one. Where one minute ago a human woman with traces of Hydra blood in her system floated in pain, now stood a Hydra woman with traces of human blood.
As the process neared completion, Friya's body started to change. Large green scales bloomed over her skin, and six more necks sprouted in the space across her shoulders. Her nails turned into claws, and a long, stumpy tail formed on the small of her back.
Very few things of her former human appearance remained, but more than enough to make Friya blush wildly as her eyes regained their focus. Her body avidly consumed the Hydra's blood to restore its strength, leaving her more exposed by the second.
"Guys, turn around, dammit! Stop staring at me!" She yelled as embarrassment painted her many serpentine snouts of a bright shade of purple.
Her right leg stopped fading and reappeared from knee to toe. Then, it was the left leg's turn.
"Why does it have to be the legs? Give me my damn arms back first!" Friya curled up in a foetal position with the only result of offering her friends a different point of view.
As soon as new life flowed through her body and her right arm returned, Friya covered her crotch. Her bountiful bosom had to wait until her left arm returned as well.
"It is done." Faluel panted heavily and let herself fall to the side on the ground. "Friya is going to be okay."
All of Faluel's scales had lost their luster, and she looked somehow diminished. Her presence wasn't that of an apex predator anymore but that of a wounded beast struggling for survival.
"I hate you, Faluel!" Friya sat down with her back against the healing tank. "Why didn't you give me my clothes back, and why didn't you guys turn around? I didn't stutter!"
"I noticed." Lith said to Faluel, ignoring his friend. "The crazy yelling and the wild blushing sort of gave it away."
Faluel started to laugh, only for it to turn into a dry, violent cough.
"By my Mom, Faluel, are you alright?" A wave of Solus' hand restored the tower's normal functions and removed the Menadion Set from the Hydra, lightening the burden on her debilitated body.
It also got rid of the healing tank, allowing Friya to recover her Featherwalker armor. Or at least she tried.
"Why doesn't it answer my call?" She extended her hand, but the enchanted metal remained on the floor where Faluel had tossed it.
"Friya!" Nalrond rushed to her and was about to wrap her in an embrace when he stopped abruptly, afraid to hurt her.
He moved slowly, as if she might shatter upon contact, and covered her with his own body.
"You almost gave me a heart attack. Don't you dare scare me like this again." He rested his head on her shoulder, letting warm tears of relief finally flow.
"It wasn't my intention, and believe me, I have no desire to repeat the experience." She returned the embrace, and only then did she notice the changes in her body. "Wait, what?"
Her eyes looked along her scaled arm until she saw her clawed fingers.
"How can you say that? I'm still shocked from the transformation and you-" Nalrond held her in his arms and gave the humanoid head a deep kiss, cutting the secondary heads short as well due to the delighted expression appearing on the six serpentine snouts.
"I'm sorry, babe. I just wanted you to stop bickering with yourself, so I said something I knew you all would agree about." He said once he was out of breath.
"It's no big deal." Friya smiled as her other heads looked disappointed.
They had never stopped breathing, which made the kiss too short for their taste.
"You made them agree alright but it's not anger that did the trick." Faluel chuckled in the smallest laugh she could afford.
"Master Faluel!" Friya's snarled as she blushed a little and her secondary heads hissed like angry cats.
"I'm glad you are alright, Friya, but Nalrond isn't the only one who was worried about you." Lith's heart started to slow down as the anxiety gripping it loosened its hold. "Can we also congratulate you and give you a quick check-up? ƒreewebɳovel.com
"Just for our peace of mind."
"Yes." Friya took a step back and then stuck to Nalrond again. "I mean, no. Why aren't my clothes answering my commands?"
"If it's clothes you want, I can solve the problem easily." Solus conjured a sky-blue day dress around Friya's body.
"Thanks, Solus… Wait a minute, why didn't you do this when I asked for clothes the first time?" Friya grunted but went to hug her friends anyway.
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