BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!

Brilliant arcane light flashed as the two mighty beasts collided. Thunder roared, and vines lashed. Lightning scattered everywhere, searing anything it touched. The mindless vines whipped and coiled, targeting the Chimera threatening to pull it apart. Branches of lightning flickered and arched, punishing those that came too close.

GWOAAAR!

The horned beast roared in pain as lightning singed its bark-like exterior. It reinforced its defenses by summoning more vines to cover itself from the raging electricity. Its antlers grew even brighter, strengthening the power of its vines.

It stomped the ground with its mighty hooves, and all of a sudden, the vines multiplied. Endless amounts of them shot out of the earth and lashed towards the Chimera. Deadly streams of lightning collided with the onslaught of vines protecting the Chimera from its wrath. The ominous sounds of thunder roared throughout the empty field.

The endless torrent of vines was making progress as there was too much for the lightning to burn. The Chimera stood its ground, confident that it won't lose. The smell of burning organic matter wafted through the air, and large amounts of smoke rose from the area.

The violent lightning vaporized the moisture present in the vines and air, and clouds began to form above. The once sunny field was slowly but surely getting covered by heavy grey clouds that darkened the entire area.

Flashes of blue light that arced and branched dangerously lit up the dark battlefield. The vines were getting closer to the Chimera, and it couldn't move from its place due to the continuous assault from all sides. It clawed at the air, releasing a charge of electricity, burning through tens of vines with each swipe of its talons.

GWOAAAAAAAAAAR!!

With a mighty roar of the horned beast, the torrent of vines became even more intense. Thicker and more menacing ones with sharper thorns sprouted out of the ground in huge numbers surrounding the Chimera. The horned beast ordered its vines to constrict its foe.

Sensing danger, the Chimera tried to take off, but the relentless vines grabbed onto its limbs and dragged it to the ground. Deep gashes appeared on the chimeras legs as the vine that caught it tightened its grip. As it was dragged down, the vines quickly slithered and wrapped around the Chimera's body. The sheer amount of vines that swarmed it was enough to smother its coat of lightning.

The vines started to constrict even further, their thorns digging even deeper into the Chimera's flesh. The Chimera was having a hard time moving as the vines wrapped around its entire body, encasing it in a cocoon of writhing plant matter. Its eyes gazed through a hole in the ball, staring at the horned beast as the final vine closed off the remaining opening. The ever-noisy lightning grew silent as the vines smothered it fully. No more flashes of lightning and thunder appeared. Only a ball of thorn and vines remained.

...

Tahk. Tahk. Tahk. Skrnnch. Tahk. Skkrnnchh.

The horned beast took a few steps forward. Its footsteps were echoing through the field as it stepped on burnt grass and vines. The heavy grey clouds wept as rain poured down on the horned beast. It stared at the ball of vines.

The ground was nearly molten, and countless vines were burnt black surrounding the area of the ball. It noticed something weird, the eyes of the Chimera didn't show a hint of defeat as its vines fully encased it. It shook its head. It must be imagining things. The Chimera was dead, that's it. Like all the intruders that dared trespass its territory, it died a silent and agonizing death. Unable to scream and unable to move as the vines suffocated it while the thorns made them bleed.

The beast snorted, remembering the proud words of the Chimera, its antlers began to glow a gentle light, and it started to tend to its wounds. The minor burns that covered its body stung as the raindrops fell on them. Its bark-like skin was charred black in some places, and they took longer than usual to heal. The horned beast tried to touch its wounds, and static kept coming out to greet its fingers, making it flinch.

BwwwwKHhhhhhhhRrrrr

The sky rumbled, and the downpour became even heavier. It turned its back and began walking away. The fight was over. It incurred some injuries, but it wasn't too much to hinder it from its daily life.

Squeaaak...

Woaaah... I exclaimed as I watched the horned beast move towards the lake. What I just witnessed was a battle between two powerful monsters. I was surprised that the Chimera had lightning in its arsenal. If it used that on me earlier, I would have been toast! Literally.

Tssss....

Its ears perked up and rapidly moved in every direction locating something that it heard. Uh-oh, did it hear me? I covered my mouth and hoped it didn't. Now that I've seen its power, I'd instantly get skewered by its spikes if it spotted me.

Its ears stopped in my direction, and its antlers began to dim, ceasing its healing magic. I gulped saliva and remained silent. It slowly turned its head, and that's when I knew I messed up. My entire body trembled as I watched it scan the area in my direction. Well, my second life was short-lived, but it was fun. I said to myself, saying my final thoughts. Once it sees me, I'm a goner.

Its eyes stopped at the ball of vines, and they widened in disbelief as it saw the ball rocking side to side. It's not me?! I'm safe! Woohoo! I celebrated inwardly. The beast lifted its left arm and tightly clenched its fist. The vines start to move once more, tightening their coil around the encased Chimera.

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The ball began to shrink in mass as it began to tighten even more. It started to sway violently, rolling to the ground and moving in different directions. The beast lifted another arm and clenched its fist tightly, commanding the vines to finish off the Chimera. It was wondering how the Chimera was still alive.

The grey clouds grew darker and became more ominous as the light started to slip through between the gaps inside the ball of vines. In disbelief of what was happening, the horned beast stomped its hooves, and more vines began to wrap around the already tight writhing mass of plant matter. The field was as dark as night, and thunder rumbled from above and below. The scent of burnt organic matter reappeared once more. The light that escaped became more and more intense until finally, a brilliant flash of light swallowed the ball whole.

SKROOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAARR!!

The Chimera roared with anger as it broke through the ball of vines. Its body, unscathed from the merciless constriction of the menacing vines. It quickly looked up at the sky, and its eyes glowed a brilliant blue. It inhaled profoundly and roared once more.

SKROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!

The thunder grew louder, and lightning flickered more frequently. The churning clouds grew nigh pitch black, pregnant with malice. The Chimera looked at the horned beast and pointed its talons towards it.

KWAAAARARAKKKK...BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!

It was as if Zeus himself rained down his wrath on the world. A gigantic bolt of lightning struck the Chimera, lighting up the stygian sky. The Chimera trembled and shook violently. Its glowing eyes began to glow even brighter.

SKROAAAAAAAAR!

The Chimera roared in delight as the lightning greatly empowered it.

VWOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Lightning crackled as it flapped its wings, leaving a maelstrom of electricity behind it, and in an instant, the Chimera, which was a few meters away from the horned beast, was now directly in front of it. It raised its talons and swiped at the horned beast.

ZzzzzZZZZZzZZzzP

Dangerous amounts of lightning flew out of its talons, searing the left side of the horned beast's face. It winced in pain as it staggered backwards.

Gwooarngg...

The horned beast groaned in excruciating pain, stunned by the sudden turn of events. Instinctively the beast quickly defended itself, raising its arms to block the assault from the Chimera. It began to activate its healing to soothe the pain that dazed it.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZPppp. ZzzZzzzzzzZpp. PzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzT.

The Chimera was relentless. Its strikes carried power and accuracy. Each successful swipe from the Chimera made the horned beast heavier as its lightning was also infused with gravity—a deadly combination.

The beast continued to back away as it was pushed backwards by the Chimera, slowly approaching the waters of the lake. The more the Chimera landed its hits, the more it was harder to move and dodge. Lightning coursed through the beast's body with each strike putting it in excruciating pain. The healing from the beast wasn't as effective as before, as lightning continuously seared its wounds open.

SKROAAAAAAAAAARR!

The Chimera roared as the beast tried to defend itself with vines once more, but the intensity of its lightning was much higher than last time. Before the vines would even sprout out of the ground, they were instantly charred. The beast became a sitting duck as it was too heavy to even move a muscle.

The Chimera began to step up its already dangerous assault. Its strikes became even quicker and deadlier. Chunks of flesh were torn off the beast's arm as it desperately guarded its torso against the Chimera's vicious lightning-infused talons.

SKRRRRRRTCHH. Thud. Thud.

With one powerful strike, the Chimera cleanly burnt off both of the beast's arms, leaving its body unguarded. Its arms which were savagely torn asunder fell to the ground and began to crumble into ashes.

GWOAAAAAAAA—Skrrshh.

The horned beast tried to counter desperately, but it was too late. The Chimera dug its talons through the horned beast's chest, tearing its heart apart like a fragile toy. It withdrew its claws, leaving a burnt gaping hole on the beast's chest. The horned beast stared at the Chimera for a few moments until the light began to fade from its eyes. Its lifeless body began to fall backwards.

Splooooshh~glooop...

As the beast fell to the ground, its body's color started to change to a brown hue. Its solid body suddenly started to become more viscous, and as it made contact with the ground, it splattered all over the place, staining the iridescent feathers of the Chimera. A brown puddle was all that's left of what would be the corpse.

The Chimera observed the small pool of mud and noticed that there was something wrong with its death. The Chimera remained vigilant. It wouldn't make the same mistake that the beast did and become complacent about the situation, like how it coated itself with a thin layer of lightning and gravity, flattening the vines wrapped around it and continuously burning them, tricking the horned beast that it succeeded in killing it. The horned beast might have a trick up its sleeve.

...

I didn't notice that my mouth was wide open as I watched the battle between them unfold. The sudden twists of events surprised me, as the horned beast which was utterly dominating the Chimera a while ago got its heart crushed, and it suddenly became a puddle of mud as it fell. What the hell is happening. My instincts were telling me it wasn't over. The horned beast was still alive.

The grass around me started to move weirdly, curling and straightening as if rejoicing at something. It's the beast's weird voodoo magic again. I knew it!

...

A few moments later, the ground started to shake violently, splitting open parts of the land around the field. The poles which stood unmoving suddenly started vibrating, and the vines that mindlessly moved on their own around the poles began to wrap around it tightly. The pole started to fracture as cracks appeared all over it. The vines began to grind their thorns on the structure hastening its process of destruction. The pole eventually broke apart from the vines' effort. With the pole destroyed and its objective completed, the vines began to wither. The same cycle continued with the other poles, except for one.

Vines around the remaining pole crept and crawled on the ground slowly. The vines started to gather to one place in front of the pole and began to wrap around themselves, creating a cocoon. The mass of vines grew steadily until it eventually stopped. The pole began to break apart on its own, withering into dust. After a few moments, the cocoon started to throb, and its vibrant evergreen color started to fade. The cocoon of vines gradually withered away, slowly peeling off the exterior of the cocoon and revealing the shape of a familiar creature.

GWOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

The horned beast bellowed, announcing its revival as it tore open the withered vines that encased it. It turned its head to the side and cracked its neck, boasting its vitality as if nothing ever happened. Seeing the beast back in its prime state, the Chimera fumed. The horned beast glanced at the Chimera and snorted, clearly showing off.

SKROAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

The Chimera snarled back at the beast. Its lightning crackling with anticipation, itching to electrify the damned beast.

Krrrrrrrrrrr...

The horned beast growled in preparation as it stood confidently, ready to fight once more. The battle between thorn and thunder was about to erupt for the second time.