It was a battle to the death in which there would be no winners: only mutually assured destruction.

When two of the world’s most dangerous reptiles, a king cobra and a reticulated python, entered into a deadly embrace, they both ended up dead.

The python crushed the cobra, which in turn poisoned the python.

It was a battle in which there could be no winners: the duel of the deadly snakes, believed to have been photographed somewhere in Southeast Asia, ended with both reptiles dead.

A photo of the macabre hug is going viral on social media, but no one knows exactly who the original source is, Bgr.com reported, and the identity of the original photographer remains unknown.

The king cobra’s main weapon is its venomous bite and it is known for its deadly toxins. After defeating its victim, it often swallows it whole.

The cobra can be identified in the photo by its tail extending towards the top of the image and has the python trapped between its jaws.

Reticulated pythons, on the other hand, are considered the longest snakes in the world but, unlike the cobra, are not venomous.

But they are known to use their powerful, muscular bodies to wrap around their prey, cutting off circulation and causing death by limiting blood flow to vital organs.

As Bgr.com notes, “In this case, you can see that the python has turned the cobra’s body into a twisted pretzel.”

Online posts suggest the cobra was the aggressor in this fight, and that after being bitten, the python strangled its attacker.

But it seems pretty clear that none of the combatants made it out alive after the cobra literally bit off more than it could chew.

A spokesperson for the Florida Museum of Natural History told National Geographic that the fight likely took place somewhere in Southeast Asia, where the species are known to overlap.