Not with peace, but with the heavy, suffocating stillness that follows too much death. The ground hissed with acid burns. The air reeked of smoke and blood. And in the center of it all, Grinex stood like a mountain, towering over the devastation.
Behind him, Hidikai struggled to lift the unconscious Releyanda onto a broken wagon. "Mr. Bear we have to retreat! We can regroup, we can—"
"My name is grinex, you should Go!" Grinex roared, his voice like thunder rolling through the dead forest.
Hidikai flinched. "But—"
"GO! to the zoner district" he bellowed, turning his back to her. "If we fall here, someone has to warn the others. Tell them... what happened here."
Tears stung her eyes. "Mr. Grinex..."
"GO!" he shouted again, louder this time, his claws digging into the dirt.
Hidikai clenched her teeth, nodded once, and took off into the woods, carrying Releyanda toward the Zoner Districts. Each step felt like betrayal.
Grinex didn't watch her leave. He stared straight ahead, at the hulking, bubbling mass across the field.
Edgar.
The bacteria creature shifted and snarled, acid dripping from his bloated body. "Bear stay? Good. Edgar wanted bear."
Grinex slammed a massive tree log into the ground, the log morphed into an Axe. "Then come get me."
Rage vs. Rot
Edgar spat a geyser of green acid across the field. It hit Grinex's arm mid-swing, and his flesh began to melt instantly, bubbling away into steam and blood.
"RAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH!" Grinex roared, but he did not stop. He charged through the agony, swinging the Axe and smashing it across Edgar's face. The impact sent the bacteria sprawling, shrieking in rage.
Grinex's breath came in ragged snarls. He swung the Axe but this time it melted on contact.
Edgar "My acid is more potent, I increased it's effectiveness with my own Abi hehehe, you can't kill what you can't touch silly bear hehehe."
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Grinex arms pulsed with electricity.
He struck his electric claw slashing across edgars face.
His paw was half bone now, acid sizzling down his fur. But his eyes burned with fury.
Electricity began to crackle around his claws, small sparks at first, then brilliant arcs of Abi lightning.
Edgar's eyes widened. "H-How... how can abear use electro?! That's not right!"
"Every living thing," Grinex growled, stepping forward, "has electro flowing inside it. Even animals."
"EDGAR MAD!" the bacteria howled, surging forward in a boiling rush. "THAT'S NO FAIR!"
"Life ain't fair..." Grinex crouched, his muscles coiled like steel. "...bacteria trash!"
They collided in a storm of chaos.
Edgar's fists swung like wrecking balls, each hit spraying acid that burned through Grinex's flesh. Grinex's claws, wreathed in roaring electricity, tore into Edgar's body, evaporating chunks of his genetic makeup into vapor.
BOOM, a punch melted fur and skin off Grinex's shoulder.
CRACK, a claw ripped a hole through Edgar's chest.
BAM, another acid blast splashed across Grinex's face, searing away fur and muscle until half his face was a grinning skeleton.
Still he roared.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
He swung with wild abandon, electro claws burning through parasite tissue. Edgar screamed as his body thinned, his bloated form shriveling.
"STUPID BEAR, EDGAR IMPRESSED!" Edgar screeched, suctioning his mouth to the earth and devouring it to regain mass.
But Grinex was already in motion.
With a roar that shook the ground, he leapt into the air and brought both claws down, smashing Edgar's face into the ground with devastating force. The impact cracked the very earth, sending shockwaves across the battlefield.
Edgar reeled, shrieking, then lifted his head and unleashed one final torrent of acid. It washed over Grinex completely.
The bear screamed, a sound not of fear, but of defiance. When the acid cleared, his entire body was raw and skeletal, his flesh gone, his form barely holding together.
"HAHAHA!" Edgar cackled madly. "BEAR GONE! BEAR GONE! BEAR GONE!"
But then Grinex moved.
He kept moving.
On sheer will alone, his ravaged body pushed forward, electricity still crackling in his bones. "For... the Animal Kingdom..." he rasped.
And with the last of his strength, he plunged his electro-charged claws deep into Edgar's chest, unleashing a storm of energy that ripped through the bacteria's body, frying his core from the inside.
Edgar screamed as his body convulsed violently, his form collapsing in on itself.
Grinex stood there, chest heaving once... twice... and then he fell.
The great bear hit the ground with a thud, his eyes still open, but his breath gone.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then Edgar stirred.
He was barely alive, his once-massive form now thin, frail, almost skeletal. He staggered, trying to suck nutrients from the ground.
"Wh... why... can't Edgar... absorb...?"
He looked down at his trembling hands. Electricity pulsed through his veins, sparking uncontrollably. "No... no... nooooooo!"
The bacteria screamed, not in rage, but in fear.
The battlefield was silent once more.
And the last roar of the Animal Kingdom faded into the wind.
To Be Continued...