The chamber sparked and glowed a violent scarlet red that reeked of bloodlust. From the most primitive of animals to the most intellectual, brutish instincts of violence fueled by anger was the most common trait to find in the animal kingdom.

Grusha grinned, feeling at home once again. Walls began collapsing and shrinking, sending sparks that blinded Grusha’s sight. She diverted a large amount of energy into one of her quills, aiming her back towards the ceiling, the quill beamed a shot that penetrated the thick walls.

Crumbling metal screeched as they rubbed between each other and folded on itself, trying to seal the gap that Grusha had formed. Not wasting time, Grusha turned around and jetted out of the chamber in one leap. Successfully out of the living compound, she hovered high in the air in a white landscape of ice. She landed feet first miles away from the hole in the ground she exited from.

Earth shook and waved as a dome protruded and rose from the ground below, the dome peeled open in an ominous static humming, it was as if observing a mechanical dark flower blooming. From the center of the former dome, a figure embedded a rising pillar loomed from over the horizon.

“You and your toys, Static!” Grusha roared across the frozen land. “You’ve become far too dependent on others and extensions of yourself to accomplish anything! Pitiful!”

Static gripped at his abdomen where Grusha had struck him, blue lights emitted in pulses in rhythm with his heartbeat from cracked gaps on his abdomen. His two dots of white for eyeballs glowed clearly despite being miles apart from each other.

“That is a mistaken assumption!” Bellowed Static. “ I am part of the natural hierarchy of predators in the consumption of lesser beings, assimilating their traits into my own physiology. You are the exception to that rule! You wretched beast! Why must you be gifted with such a godly gift and I be consumed by my own curse?” The last words uttered in pure jealous hate.

“How do I break that rule of hierarchy?”

“You don’t need to assimilate the strengths of others, if you needed gills to breathe underwater, you’d simply will it to happen and it would be just as so. If you needed more strength, it was granted. If a force you’ve never reckoned with would prove to be too much, you’d manage to brush it off as if they were snowballs being pelted. JUST DIE ALREADY!”

Slim long metallic arms raised from the black platform, sparking in between limbs of the structure. Grusha balanced her weight evenly, centering her gravity between her legs. Baring teeth in preparation of what was coming at her.

Streams of wispy light floated into Static from the earth below, Grusha tasted the same distinct tang from Enigma she had fought earlier. Static was absorbing her essence, using what little he could from such absorption with little regard to his own compatibility.

“You call me an animal! You’re a far more monstrous creature than I could ever be!” She roared.

Statics right eye glowed white and his left a stark void, black and white sparks emitted from him and the entire black building.

“You thought you relished her from the pain I havocked on her body mercilessly? How mistaken you could be, she is nigh immortal! My one and only worthy vessel!”

A bolt was tossed in the air, Grusha could feel the change of atmospheric pressures and charges aligning towards her. Only a split second later, she dodged the lighting bolt that struck the ground where she stood at a moment ago. Racing across the open landscape, she dodged lightning bolt after lightning bolt in quick successions. Static swung his arms as if he flung the bolts from his tips, sending a bolt in between each of his swings.

Grusha knew her capacity was nowhere near enough to absorb the current successive output that Static was letting off, she would risk another incident that would be tenfold worse than last time. Clenching teeth in anticipation, timing was key for her. Swooping around, she changed vectors towards Static himself.

If there is a thorn on my side, rip it out. She reasoned.

Static paused from his frenzy in a flustered moment of surprise, but regained his anger in another bout of flurried bolts striking from the dark clouds above. Grusha’s dark long quills vibrated aggressively as it brushed aside the exploding icy landscape, white skin glowered from the bright lights of the bolts. Static’s left hand shook violently, sending black sparks into the platform and formed oozing metal arms that struck a blow at Grusha. The blow sent her flying back, sending her crashing into the ground. His right hand glowed a bright white orb, and sent another pulsing bolt into the sky that crashed down onto Grusha.

Is this the extent of your compassion? What has it succeeded, Grusha? A voice grumbled in the back of her mind.

The shocking lightning sent Grusha’s mind to go blank, losing her senses again. Diving into a black abyss, Wildebeest loomed over her on top a pedestal of a throne of bones. A red moon dripping red droplet reeking in the stench of death. Grusha recognized all of the odors that came from the bones, previous demis she had killed in her tyrant crusade of being the alpha of beasts.

Grusha whipped her head around, the crackling thunderous explosions from Static’s fist echoed in the room Grusha was in. Growling angrily, she narrowed her eyes and looked up at Wildebeest, deformed and three-legged atop of the bony throne.

“I thought we had come to a common understanding.” Grusha barked.

Wildebeest lowered her head, scrutinizing her lesser self below. She bounded from the high throne, sending bones collapsing beneath, WIldebeest skid to a stop in front of an angered Grusha.