The silence stretched across the battleground as Winter and Shassra squared off, the air thick with a blend of frost and poison. Winter''s hackles rose, his massive body radiating a cold so intense that frost spread underfoot, forming an intricate lattice of ice beneath his paws. Shassra''s tongue flicked in and out, tasting the biting chill but unbothered by it. His scales shimmered under the sun, each blue scale seemingly imbued with a dark, oily sheen as a toxic vapor began to seep from his body.

    With a guttural roar, Winter lunged forward, his massive paws thundering against the frozen ground and leaving cracks in the ice with each step. Shassra reacted with lightning speed, tightening his coils as he slipped sideways in a flash, his body a blur of scales and sinuous muscle. Even this casual movement was enough to uproot the surrounding trees, shattering them into pieces in their fragile, frozen state.

    Yet, Winter anticipated Shassra''s move, altering his trajectory mid-lunge by creating a wall of ice and swiping a paw across Shassra''s side. His claws, sharp as crystal shards, raked through several scales, leaving deep gashes that oozed thick, dark venom. The liquid sprayed violently, causing the nearby ice to sizzle and even melting the underlying rocks.

    Shassra retaliated instantly, whipping his massive tail like a bludgeon, smashing Winter back and sending him skidding across the frozen ground. Without missing a beat, Shassra opened his jaws, unleashing a thick stream of light blue poison that hissed as it splattered onto the ice. Winter dodged to the side, but droplets of the venom grazed his coat, the fur hissing and singeing as it made contact.

    The venom wasn’t just lethal—it corroded anything it touched.

    Winter bared his fangs, his eyes gleaming with cold fury, and released a blast of icy wind that froze the venom in mid-air, crystalizing it into jagged spikes that shattered upon contact with the ground. Shassra narrowed his eyes, his tongue flicking, but Winter gave him no time to react, lunging once more. This time, his jaws clamped down on Shassra’s midsection, his fangs sinking deep. Shassra hissed in pain, his body writhing, but then his scales began to secrete a new, viscous poison, slicking Winter’s fangs with the dark, oily substance. Winter released him, snarling, the poison burning as it seeped into his gums.

    But Winter did not retreat. Instead, he exhaled a deep breath, and with it came an arctic gale. The frozen air crystallized Shassra’s venom where it seeped from his wounds, trapping it in a brittle shell of ice. Shassra twisted his body, shattering the ice but realizing Winter was forcing him to keep his venom close, unable to spread it across the field without it freezing upon contact.

    Enraged, Shassra coiled tighter, raising his head high, eyes locked on Winter. His gaze flicked to Winter’s fur, noting the dullness in his coat, the strain of each heavy breath. Sensing an opportunity, Shassra lunged forward, aiming to coil around Winter and squeeze the life from him.

    Winter moved, but not fast enough—the snake’s powerful coils wrapped around his body, constricting with crushing force. Winter’s ribs strained, the pressure unbearable as he struggled to break free. Ice erupted from his body, forming spikes along his fur that pierced Shassra’s scales, but the snake only squeezed harder, ignoring the damage.

    With a snarl, Winter tapped into his dwindling strength and summoned a surge of icy power, forming a thick armor of frost along his body. The freezing cold forced Shassra to uncoil, unable to keep his grip as frostbite numbed his scales. But as he withdrew, he lashed out with his fangs, sinking them deep into Winter’s shoulder, injecting a venom so potent it could fell a hundred lesser creatures. Winter howled, stumbling, his leg momentarily buckling under him.

    Yet even as the venom surged through him, Winter stood tall, defiance blazing in his eyes. His body trembled momentarily, ice forming at the wound and spreading through his veins to slow the toxin’s advance. He took a single, steadying breath, and then, with a swift motion, he slammed his paw against the ground, sending a shockwave of ice that erupted beneath Shassra, encasing the serpent in a prison of jagged, glacial spears. Shassra roared, twisting and thrashing, his venom corroding the ice as he struggled free.

    Their first clash had come to an end.

    The two titans stared each other down, battered and bleeding, the air thick with frost and toxic vapor. The land around them lay in ruin, once-pristine ice now marred by venom seeping into the ground, turning it into a barren wasteland. Entire forests, lakes, even hills lay shattered. It was hard to believe this was the work of just two creatures. To any onlooker, it would seem more plausible that a natural disaster—or an army of thousands—had caused such devastation.

    In stark contrast to the ruined landscape, after only a brief moment of respite, the two god-like beings had already recovered from the worst of their injuries. New scales emerged on Shassra’s serpentine body, and the torn, punctured areas on Winter’s hide also appeared healed. They seemed only slightly ruffled by their recent clash, as if the fierce life-and-death struggle moments before had been nothing more than a casual greeting.

    Shassra, in the form of a giant snake, even seemed rather high-spirited as he observed his opponent. “You''re quite weak.”

    Winter’s expression remained unreadable, and he didn’t comment on the insult. His glowing red eyes remained calm as he stared emotionlessly at his opponent.

    “How is it, wolf?” he taunted fearlessly, “Dare to come at me again?”

    His words seemed to strike a nerve, and Winter immediately charged at him again. This time, their clash was even fiercer than before. Shassra, who had been confident that Winter couldn''t seriously injure him in his current state, grew solemn. It was clear that the wolf was giving it his all, attacking with every ounce of strength he had left.

    Even for him, a Progenitor beast with a strong affinity for the cold, the chill seeping into his bones during this exchange was hard to ignore. He hadn’t expected Winter to have this much strength. A shiver ran through him at the thought of what might have happened if they had clashed at full power—he would likely have been torn apart in an instant. But that fate would never come to pass.

    With each bite he inflicted on Winter’s body, his tense nerves began to relax. With every injection of venom, victory drew closer. He didn’t care about the numerous injuries he had sustained; he was solely focused on his task. Yet a small, nagging voice in the back of his mind kept telling him that something was off.

    For a long time, he couldn’t pinpoint the source of his unease. He sensed something was off, but the more he thought about it, the harder it became to identify. Everything was going exactly according to his plan.

    ...

    Everything was going exactly according to his plan.

    ...

    Everything... was going... exactly... according to his plan?

    Why? Why did Winter allow himself to be bitten over and over? It almost seemed as if the wolf didn’t care about the venom building up inside his body, freely trading injuries without a care in the world.

    Shassra’s eyes widened as he stared at the wolf across from him, who met his gaze with that same, emotionless expression. It couldn’t be. This was impossible! No. It couldn’t be!

    “You... you... are...” he stuttered, unable to finish his words, though now that the thought had infected his mind, he could not get rid of it.

    For the first time since the fight had started, the expression on Winter’s face changed. A wide, ferocious smile spread across his maw, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth stained with blood and guts. “So, you’ve finally noticed?”

    Shassra tried to force the words out, but his mind refused to give voice to his suspicions. He swallowed hard, suddenly feeling a rawness in his throat. He reflected on their previous exchanges, and his doubts turned to certainty as he observed his opponent''s unyielding posture.

    Finally, he spoke the truth he had realized but was reluctant to acknowledge. “You aren’t affected by my venom...”