Deathlock

When close to the whale, in the very deathlock of the fight, he handled his unpitying lance coolly and offhandedly, as a whistling tinker his hammer.

Source: wiktionary

In a word, luck — that's the word — shortly threw in Paul's way the great action of his life : the most extraordinary of all naval engagements ; the unparalleled deathlock with the Serapis.

Source: wiktionary

The wasp, who had apparently been playing possum, suddenly became very much alive, and in a flash spider and wasp were clasped in a deathlock.

Source: wiktionary

The fighting was the most violent of the war, and along the whole line, plunging forward after intense artillery preparation, the Americans and French met the Germans in the deathlock of hand-to-hand fighting.

Source: wiktionary