Yes, he thinks as she backs off, rightfully giving in to him.
"Yes," his mother coos in his thoughts, delighted at the forced defeat of the hunter.
"YES!" he roars, his voice like thunder rolling over this plain of perceived victory.

He feels fire inside of him with every step he takes that was once hers. The power burns through him, deliciously filling as it scorches away the marrow in his bones and replaces it with obsidian and greed. He can nearly taste her blood upon his tongue, practically feel the plushness of her pelt as he rests his head upon her ass at night... and yet, and yet it is too soon to be proud.

The battle has not ended, and she reminds him of this.

He trips on the very trap her laid for her, a hoof stepping off the even field and sliding down into a nearly boiling pool of water. His balance sways, and his head is thrown up, but it had already been down to guide here, and then is when she reached out to punch him back into reality. Both sets of her claws hooked on him. Her right tore though his nostrils, cutting off the fiendish smirk that had grown upon his lips, while her left paw gripped the edge of his eye and there, hooked and ravaged him. His eyes were red, but now they bled.

Anguish colored Öde's voice as he squealed out. His head had flung up to save himself as he stumbled into the hot spring, but it had also kept him from the full brunt of her strength. Thick lines drawn in crimson of his own making marked each side of his face, but the bony composition, however sensitive it was, of that region meant she was not able to go deep. His left eye was held shut as pain lanced through it, but once the dust had settled and the adrenaline faded, Öde would still be able to see through the swollen tissues. He had come close to losing it, but she'd caught him just above, and skipped down to below where she'd finally hooked in and raked the rest of her swipe down his cheek and jaw line.

Still, the surprise hurt of it all and the lack of clear vision slowed the ravaging beast that he had become, faltering the machine of war and the god of mortals. He lumbered, splashing around, tripping, crying out, before finally, stopping.

Silence.

---

A: 3/3
D: 1/1
W: 422/800

<3 awesome fight!