Splinter of wood sprayed the forest, a confetti of woodchip enveloped the trio in their own internal deathmatch. Parading a morbid dance of jumping, side-steps and dodging. Grusha felt fatigue settling in, and from the looks of it, so were her enemies. Lady Hammer breathed heavily and the weight behind her clobbers were waning, her motions were more calculated than the impulsive warrior she knew her to be. The greatest danger was currently her, she had the habit of showing the greatest of ferocity in her most desperate moments.

She dodged electrically charged balls, missing them by a sliver. Static closed the gap between them and grabbed her by the shoulder and thigh, tossing her headlong into a boulder. Lady Hammer flipped atop of the boulder and swung her warhammer at her, it was the first actual blow Lady Hammer had landed on her.

The force of the swing pummeled her through the stone, obliterating it. Grusha bounced off the ground a few times, ending her skid at the foot of a tree. That time she felt it, even though her body hardened and absorbed the impact of the force, she was caught off guard from how intense it was. There was no time to adjust.

Her arms trembled as she tried to lift herself back up, but was knocked back down with a kick. Lady Hammer pinned her to the ground with her foot, a primly arrogant smirk glowed from her face. This was the first Lady Hammer had ever bested Grusha in a duel.

Static’s heavy steps shook the ground beneath her. “Quite the fight you put up Wildebeest. I bear no ill-will towards your desperate attempts for life, despite your quick reply for what you fight for.”

Grusha growled. Prompted by her rising hostility, Lady Hammer pressed harder, reminding her who stood watch.

“Demi’s. Tools. Is that all I was?” She challenged.

The armor hissed as he squatted closer. “If it provides you peace of mind, there was a tempting moment where I considered sparing you. But your powers kept on growing, evolving. Such a splendid ability was wasted on the likes of you, you’re too wild Grusha.”

“Who?”

“‘Who’ what?”

“Who could possibly be stronger than I?”

“Oh? Why would that concern you? Ah, that’s right, you and your obsession of the animal food chain.” He stood back up. “None of you concern Grusha. She shares a lot of resemblance to you, in the sense that it seems nigh impossible to gauge her limits. It would be interesting to see the two of your abilities merged into one indeed.”

Grusha absorbed the information. Her postulate was accurate, it never mattered to him what she did for Cavalry. Completely blindsided by what her purpose was in Cavalry, she felt cheated from her purpose. Her existence was disposable to him, yet she knew she served a higher purpose than for whatever purposes he had in mind.

“Why do you wish for my death? You knew I would war against my own defeat, not until I have ridden the world of the marr of demis.”

“You misunderstand my intentions, Wildebeest. It is not the removal of demis that I seek, but establishing myself as the supreme demi. Imagine a world where a single demi rules all, everyone else beneath him banded together for his supremacy. The world wouldn’t fear our kind, Grusha, they would worship the kinds as us.” His fist clenched. “They would want to be us!”

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What he wanted made sense to Grusha, in fact, in an odd way she thought it sounded noble. There, however, existed a glaring fallacy in his plans.

“One problem. Skorto such as yourself belong beneath me!” She growled.

His metal suit clinked. Nodding to Lady Hammer, she nodded in return. Lifting the warhammer, she swung the hammer back to land a finishing blow.

Instincts kicked in, controlling Grusha’s next several actions. Her toes dug into the ground, Lady Hammer and Static forced her back into the ground with feet. Expecting this to happen, she knew their leverage was now forcing them forward. Timing it perfectly, her arms twisted around and grabbed by the calves. Static tumbled over, while Hammer stumbled a step forward. Hammer whipped around and golfed her into the air, regaining the momentum of the battle.

Grusha whipped through the thick branches of the upper treetops in the forest, perching her high above her enemies. Clawing around for a grasp she successfully caught on to, she trapezed around the flimsy branch. Not wasting a moment, Lady Hammer swooped up to Grusha and swatted her back to the ground.

This time she was ready and absorbed the heavy hit, and landed flatly on her foot. Everything else was expected. More ranged attacks from Static resumed, she was now well attuned to his attack and ran straight towards him. He was the weakest of them here, which meant he was going to be the next one for her to destroy.

The quills on her head hardened and lengthened, needle-sharp ends shined from the lowering sun. Static took steps backwards while shooting at her, landing every shot dead on the face. Nothing fazed her at this point, his power was now ineffective against her. Every shot was absorbed and channels into her quills, causing electrical bolts to explode from the quills and sparks flying from her eyeballs. His own attack was now being used completely against him,

Lady Hammer attempted to intercept, but with so much power charged up, Grusha intended to use the brunt of it for Static. Ignoring Hammers slightly slower speed, her capabilities were pushed beyond anything she had experienced before, and so she left her behind in the dust. In a final leap, she flipped around backside first barreling into Static. The thick armor specifically designed to withstand her quills were penetrated through-and-through, rendering him completely powerless.

She was flung over and beyond him, landing on her three limbs and skidding to a stop, she observed the destruction of her prey. Quills were detached and stuck in his armor, all of the energy channeled into them and set to release the stored energy the instant she lost them. His armor vibrated and glowed, a powerful humming sound grew. He turned around, and even though he was not there in person, Grusha could feel the seething hatred he felt for her.

“Grusha!” He yelled.

A smug grin. Grusha was satisfied with this outcome. His armor imploded, sending cascading pressures in the air that pushed her back a few inches back. When the pressures subsided, at the distance she on the other side of him calmly approached Lady Hammer. Her greatest threat yet, and Hammer knew it too.

“Impressive Beast! Formidable opponents, and you struck out the weakest first. Now it is just me.” She said.

Smugly, Grusha responded. “I want no excuse to stand between us. Let the victor be the true alpha in our engagement, and concede to whatever outcome.”

Their fight had nothing to do with right and wrong, hero and villain, opinions and facts. What was happening now were the lifelong rivalries between two stubborn beasts, a monster’s eternal quarrel of who was the most beastly between the two.

“Very well. I would not have any other way, an honorable battle indeed.” She nodded. Acknowledging her rival. “Truthfully, I say to you dear Wildebeest, this was my intention from the start, a battle between you and I. Static thought my strength alone would be insufficient, but you have my thanks to prove to him that I am more than enough of a contender for someone of your likes.”

She growled. This time she was not upset, at long last she can end this feud between them two.