Shaaa!!!
Campe roars, her vicious fangs glistening under the hellish glow of Tartarus.
'First gate. Second gate. Third gate.'
A surge of power, raw and electric, flooded Hades' veins as the first mental gate crumbled. His muscles tightened. The second gate fell, and the world around him seemed to slow, the frantic swipes of Campe's claws becoming easier to track. With the third gate, a sharp, metallic gleam ran down the length of his spear, and the leading edges of his wings honed themselves to a razor's edge. He could feel the air itself parting for him.
Campe swings her massive claws in a decapitating arc. Hades meets the blow with his spear, the impact ringing through the cavern. Before he can reset, her colossal tail whips toward him. He beats his wings hard, lifting himself just inches above the sweeping attack. She lunges, her jaws snapping shut on empty air as Hades flies backwards, evading the bite by a hair's breadth.
'Metal Surge.'
The ground trembles. Massive iron lances erupt from the stone floor, impaling Campe's serpentine lower body.
SHAAAA!!!
She screams in agony, thrashing wildly. In a fit of rage, she smashes the lances to pieces with a single, powerful swipe of her tail and claws.
'Metal Manipulation.'
The shards of broken metal rise from the ground. They swirl together, forming a single, giant lance that hovers in the air for a split second before shooting toward her heart.
In response, Campe and every one of her serpentine hairs unleash a thick, green poisonous gas. The cloud hits the metal lance, and it melts into nothingness within a second. But she doesn't stop. She keeps breathing, and an acrid smell fills the entire cavern with a corrosive, acidic fog.
Jasssshhh!
The poison eats away at the very structure of Tartarus. The ceiling drips, the walls sizzle, and the floor dissolves beneath their feet.
Cough! Cough!
Hades doubles over, violently coughing. The skin on his arms blisters, and his magnificent wings begin to fray and smoke at the edges. He wraps himself in a shield of divine energy, but it's not enough; the poison seeps through.
'Fourth Gate.'
He forces another gate open. His body instantly adapts, his skin hardening and his internal systems neutralising the toxin. He can breathe again.
Through the green haze, Campe camouflages herself. But hiding is a useless tactic against the God of Secrets.
'Invisibility. Fifth Gate.'
Hades vanishes from sight. The fifth gate sharpens his senses to a preternatural level. He can hear her heartbeat, smell her venom, and feel the displacement of air around her body. He beats his wings, gains height, and then dives, spear pointed forward for a killing blow.
Just as he is about to strike, Campe's head whips around. She narrows her eyes, sensing the air shift, and swings a claw blindly.
The blow connects mid-dive, smashing Hades out of the air and into the ground. The impact crater is deep. Her poisonous claws have torn through his armour and dug deep into his side. His body tries to regenerate, but her unique venom nullifies his healing abilities.
Argh!
He grunts in pain, forcing himself to stand. Across the chamber, Campe takes a deep, rattling breath, gathering energy. Her snake-hairs spit more venom into the gathering fire. She unleashes a torrent of enhanced green flame.
Hades responds, breathing a jet of brilliant blue hellfire. The two streams collide, but her empowered flame slowly, surely, overpowers his.
'Sixth Gate.'
The sixth gate unlocks, massively amplifying his magical power and control. The blue flame, once pushed back, now roars with renewed fury. It overwhelms her green fire and washes over her, scorching her face and upper body.
SHAAA!
She roars in pain, clawing at her burned face. Seizing the opportunity, Hades conjures a small, swirling sphere of purple-pink energy.
'Dream Void.'
He hurled the sphere. It speeds toward her, but at the last second, her primal instincts scream a warning. She jerks her head aside, and the Dream Void misses, hitting the wall behind her and dissolving into nothingness.
"Tchh!" Hades clicks his tongue in frustration. 'What is she? She can sense pure intention itself.'
Enraged, Campe slams her tail down. Hades takes to the air, dodging the shockwave.
'Arcane Pulse! Netherflame Blitz!'
He unleashes a relentless barrage. Blasts of pure arcane energy hammer her scales, and bolts of black Netherflame stick to her, burning until her scales shed to reveal new ones underneath. She ignores the assault, focused solely on swatting him from the sky with claws and blasts of fire, which he deftly avoids.
'Seventh Gate. Eighth Gate.'
As the final two gates unlock, a cold, hyper-clarity washes over Hades' mind. The chaos of battle slows to a crawl. His divine sight instantly analyses everything, pinpointing the one faint, pulsing weakness beneath her emerald scales: her heart.
While maintaining his barrage to keep her distracted, he focuses every ounce of his divinity into his spear. He imbues it with the absolute finality of Death and the cold touch of Mortality.
He sees his opening and dives.
Campe senses the imminent, existential threat. She reacts instantly, reinforcing her skin with a dark green glow of divine and demonic energy. She swings her claws to intercept him in mid-air.
But she is a fraction too late. Hades has already thrown the spear.
It flies with impossible speed, striking her left chest. It pierces her enhanced defences, tears through skin, fat, and muscle, shatters a rib, and grazes the surface of her heart.
SHAAAAAA!!!
She unleashes a world-ending scream of pain. Her tail whips out, coiling around Hades and crushing him in its grip. With her own claws, she viciously tears open her chest and rips the spear out. Dark red blood pours from the wound, and it does not heal; the divinity of Death prevents any regeneration.
While she is distracted by her grievous injury, Hades, trapped in her coils, prepares his final spell. His hand glows with a sinister purple hue.
'Gleam of Nightmare.'
He presses his glowing hand against her tail. The purple energy travels up her scales, snakes along her body, and finally shoots into her eyes, pulling her mind into an illusion of her deepest, most primal fear.