Author: Landon Soto | Banner: Andrew Sudomerski

In 2019, the world had witnessed the epic clash of two legendary titans; Godzilla and Ghidorah. The two fought for alpha supremacy, and during their fight, they awakened an army of monsters that rampaged across the Earth, before eventually converging to a single point: Boston. There these new titans saw the mighty Godzilla stand tall above a defeated Ghidorah. Among these titans were the fire demon, Rodan; the mountain titan, Methuselah; the giant crustacean-like Scylla; and finally, the earth titan, Behemoth.

Arguably the most interesting of the titans as stated by some, the world had grown somewhat attached to him, and viewed him as the least threatening of the titans. However, his gentle appearance was not a reason to take the beast lightly. Like the mighty rhino or elephant, Behemoth was a true force to be reckoned with when provoked.

The massive titan resembled a giant sloth crossed with a mammoth and an ape, sporting a small trunk at the end of his face, and a lean body structure like that of a gorilla. The beast’s body was supported by long powerful forelimbs and shorter hind legs, walking on his knuckles that flattened the ground. The beast’s thick fur was light brown with foliage growing on it, but the most impressive assets of the titan were his massive, curved tusks that could make skyscrapers crumble to mounds of rubble.

The woolly titan had taken a liking to Rio de Janeiro and decided to make that his home, claiming this territory as his own. The populace had long since evacuated for the most part, with only a few brave souls refusing to leave, wanting to co-exist with the titan.

The sloth-like mammoth lay on his stomach, with his arms folded in front of him, his head resting on his knuckles. The titan was content, absorbing the solar rays of the evening sun. Suddenly, a loud sound caught the attention of the Behemoth, who cocked his head up to the golden sky. A small object falling from the heavens seemed to appear ever closer, getting bigger with each second.

Behemoth kept an eye on the falling rock, as the superheated object stuck out from the golden sky. It was close to landing into the ocean, but to the surprise of the titan, the sphere slowed down and hovered above the ocean. The colossal beast rose up to finally see what this unidentified thing was. The object in question was a sphere, seemingly made up of minerals, sapphire in color with light pulsing from inside.

The tusked giant watched as the sapphire globe descended into the water and vanished from visible sight. Behemoth lumbered toward the beach and stared into the waves. The titan felt uneasy about the foreign intruder, but nevertheless the Mapinguary stepped into the ocean before dunking his head into the water. The mastodon opened his eyes and watched as schools of fish scurried away. Sea life surrounded the pulsing orb, staying a good distance from the sphere.

The titan squinted as he saw a silhouette squirm within the orb. The giant sloth-like beast pulled his head from the crisp water and backed up, assessing the situation. Behemoth stood on the beach and took a long, deep breath, before letting out a bellowing trumpet roar that echoed throughout Rio.

Inside the sphere, the curled up form of the alien being began to stir, claws flexing as scaly eyes opened up, pupils dilating. On the shore, the Behemoth waited patiently for a response of some sort, and after a few minutes, he got one.

The ocean began to bubble and churn violently, blue light flashed beneath the water’s surface. Something was finally approaching. Jagged spikes pierced through the waves, the head of the creature adorned in the thorn-like protrusions. Small beady eyes, sunken into the skull of the monster, stared daggers into the earth titan.

The bumpy reptilian monster continued to rise up from the depths. The tall, skinny frame of the entity marched ever closer to Behemoth, who backed away. Not out of fear, but to give the scaly creature space to stand before him. The strange beast had small arms held out in front of it, flexing the small claws it had.

Bemular, the space monster, snarled at Behemoth, who towered over him. The two locked eyes, unflinching. Behemoth let out another trumpet-like roar, demanding to know what this beast’s business was. The unsettling creature responded with a high pitched shriek of his own, stating that he was merely seeking refuge, nothing more.

The eyes of the mammoth narrowed, detecting the deception in the space monster’s voice, the titan refused and roared at the space monster to leave. Bemular sneered in disdain, his crooked yet razor sharp teeth on display. The lizard-like space monster turned around ready to leave, glancing back at the Mapinguary.

The reptile monster began to walk away slowly, the elephantine creature sighing in relief, surprised by the cooperation of the foreigner. The space monster was almost at the water’s edge, before stopping. Suddenly, the deranged lizard twisted around and fired a pale blue heat beam from his maw, striking the ancient mammoth and exploded against the titans face.

Bemular faced the titan, letting out a victorious shriek, waiting for the carcass to tip over. Yet, it didn’t. The smoke surrounding the area dissipated and revealed the still standing, and seemingly unscathed body of the Behemoth. The titan growled in anger, he had let his guard down, and paid for it.

Now it was time to retaliate. Behemoth grunted as he charged on all fours, kicking up plumes of sand in the process. Bemular tried to leap out of the way, but the ape-like gargantuan was too fast. The powerful titan caught the skinny Bemular with his long, powerful tusks, before turning and flinging the deranged space monster into a large building, the structure instantly collapsed onto the spiked alien. Behemoth let out a bellowing roar as he waited for Bemular to make a move.

As dust and debris settled, the mound of rubble began to move. Bemular rose from the wreckage, concrete and metal rolling off his body. The space monster snarled at the titan, cursing it. However, his frown turned into a crooked smile as an idea popped into his twisted mind.

Bemular’s body glowed blue as a ball of energy engulfed his frame, the orb of light seemingly faded as the mineral sphere had returned. Suddenly, the sphere sped toward Behemoth, who immediately stood on his hind legs and caught the sphere with his clawed hands. The mastodon growled as his elephantine feet carved trenches into the beach as his body was forcefully pushed back.

The titan soon found himself submerged in water as the ocean swallowed up both giants. The mammoth held his breath as he was pushed deeper and deeper before hitting the ocean floor, a few hundred meters under the surface. The ape-like sloth pushed with all his might, trying to force the sphere off, but Bemular simply added more power to the orb, pushing back and keeping Behemoth pinned to the ocean floor.

Behemoth groaned before an idea popped into his mind. He shook his head side to side, allowing his tusks to smash against the mineral sphere. Bemular winced as the clanking sound of rock and tusks echoed inside the orb. Suddenly, the curled up lizard felt water splash against his leathery hide, cracks were forming in the sphere with water leaking in. Bemular cursed the Earth defender, however, the battle was not lost.

On the outside, marine life steered clear of Behemoth and Bemular, letting the titan do his job. Behemoth felt the rock breaking, believing he finally had the space invader, before seeing the light from the sphere flashing. Behemoth’s eyes widened before the orb exploded in a flash of light right front of him, stunning the mammoth. Bemular swiftly swam out of the explosion, his body moving like a marine iguana. Behemoth shook his head as he tried to locate where Bemular was, but he was seeing double, everything was blurry, not to mention the throbbing headache.

The sloth-like mammal tried to swim to the surface but felt a powerful blow in his stomach, knocking some air out of his lungs. The mammoth tried to pinpoint the source, no doubt the thorny lizard-like creature. Behemoth scanned the area, his vision slowly coming back to him, then he saw the blurry figure coming toward him. The woolly titan groaned as he tried to strike it, but the space monster easily dodged it and twisted his body around, allowing his spiky back to rake against the titan’s face, as he swam upward.

Blood trickled from Behemoth’s face, tainting the water around him, the titan tried once more to reach the surface. He was vulnerable in the ocean, he needed to get back to land. Suddenly, Behemoth yelped as a sharp pain radiated throughout his right leg. He looked down and saw Bemular biting into his calf muscle, dragging the mammoth back down. The woolly titan growled, he had lost a considerable amount of air from fighting; he wasn’t sure how much longer he could survive down here.

Bemular released his bite and fled from the titan before circling around Behemoth, snickering at the floating mammalian. He was enjoying this, it felt good to make other monsters pay for disrespecting him, and decided to strike once more. Behemoth saw Bemular swim far before circling around. Anticipating what his opponent likely had in mind, Behemoth carefully scooped his tusks beneath the mud below him.

Bemular was ready for another strike, coming closer and closer before he was finally in range. Behemoth’s eyes narrowed at the deranged space monster, his vision back and able to see the lizard’s toothy grin drawing closer. Bemular opened his mouth, ready to sink his fangs into the titan’s flesh, but the tusked warrior was ready. With an upward heave, Behemoth threw up a wall of mud and debris that blindsided the space monster, Bemular roared in surprise as he was pelted with dirt.

Behemoth immediately turned around to head toward the surface. Bemular, unable to see past the murky water, tried to locate the titan before swimming away, the lizard-like monster wincing as bits of mud clung to his bulging eyes. Bemular swam around the wall of mud, trying to find the Behemoth, but to no avail, then it dawned on the spiky fiend, there was only one place his foe could have gone.

Behemoth was close to the surface as he scaled the muddy slope, giving him the strength to push through the water. The mammoth-like titan soon felt the cold air as his tusks broke through the waves, the rest of his body following suit. Behemoth inhaled a massive gulp of air, before exhaling, gallons of water, rolling off his golden brown fur coat. Finally, dry land, his turf. The mammalian titan turned to face the water, he knew the trespasser would find him. He did not have to wait very long.

Bemular’s crown of thorns cut through the water as the space monster eyed the mammalian beast, feeling overconfident with his opponent worn down. He marched up the slope to meet his adversary. Behemoth let out a heavy breath, sighing at the sight of Bemular, who let out a high pitched shriek of victory. The titan scoffed at the cockiness of his foe, he wasn’t ready to throw in the towel yet.

The deranged space monster immediately spat another pale blue beam, which prompted the Behemoth to raise his left arm to block it. The beam hit the ancient beast’s fur as it exploded on impact, smoke rising off the luscious coat as Behemoth trumpeted, shrugging the attack off. Bemular was already on the offensive, running up to the titan and biting into the forearm of Behemoth, shaking his head wildly like a rabid dog. The mastodon groaned as he brought his right fist up and began to batter the head of the space monster.

Behemoth ignored the sharp pain as his fists struck the thorny head of Bemular, who couldn’t take much more punishment himself and released his bite. Behemoth went for another strike, but the limber space monster evaded the slow moving hits, making sure to evade the tusks as well. The vile monster continuously taunted his mammalian foe.

Becoming more frustrated, the mammoth-like titan barreled toward Bemular in a terrifying burst of speed. The space monster flinched as Behemoth reached his left arm out, instead of punching the lizard, grabbed Bemular’s face. His sloth-like claws dug into the villainous monster’s skull, Bemular squealing in pain, but the cry fell on deaf ears.

The titan slammed Bemular to the ground with pure brute force, his body sinking into the sand. Behemoth twirled around, with Bemular in tow, dragging his body along the coarse terrain. The muffled cries of Bemular fueled the titan as he swung Bemular back into the city, hitting the pavement with a thud as dust and dirt fell from nearby buildings.

Behemoth charged on all fours once more, his knuckles causing the ground to quake, flattening any building unfortunate to be caught in the crossfire. Bemular rose to his feet, shaking his head as he shrugged off the dizziness. But the space monsters’ eyes went wide as he saw the bulky frame of Behemoth coming toward him like a freight train. Bemular tried to dodge, but Behemoth was faster, shoulder tackling the scrawny alien through a tall building. The structure collapsed around the two as Behemoth let out an earth shaking, trumpet-like roar.

Bemular wheezed as he felt his ribs crack, coughing up blood and being trampled by the titan. The space monster tried to rise again, but felt something grab his leg. Next thing he knew, he found himself hoisted in the air before being slammed back into the ground. Behemoth swung the space monster over head again, smashing him downward to the ground, clouds of dust rising into the air with each strike.

Behemoth ceased his assault and let the dust settle. The villainous monster lay in a shallow crater that was molded to his limp body. Behemoth marched toward the fallen lizard, nudging the thorny reptile with his tusks, receiving no response. The roaring animal howled into the sky, bellowing a mighty trumpeting roar that echoed for miles.

The ape-like mammoth cautiously marched away from the fallen Bemular, deciding to leave his body for the buzzards. Behemoth rested on his stomach to recover his energy. He was tempted to fall asleep, but refused, just in case.

Half an hour passed, and a sudden flash of light came from the general area where Bemular laid. Behemoth groaned with frustration, seeing the azure mineral sphere rising into the air. But to the surprise of Behemoth, the sphere took to the sky and shot off into the distance. Inside the travel ball, a broken Bemular licked his wounds. He wasted too much time here, bit off more than he could chew, and now his hiding place was compromised. He was coming.

Behemoth watched as Bemular disappeared over the horizon. Soon, a sound similar to that of a jet could be heard, growing ever louder. The Behemoth turned around to look behind him. A large silver and red figure flew in the sky, with arms stretched outward. The humanoid giant looked down toward the titan and gave a quick salute, then promptly speeding off toward Bemular.

Not quite sure who this being was, the titan did understand that they may have something to do with that spiked lizard he had just clashed with. Behemoth grunted, returning back to his spot and laid down to rest, watching the sun dip into the horizon as the golden sky turned a soft, royal purple.

Tomorrow the sloth-like mammoth would relay the details of this encounter to the alpha. For now though, his body yearned for rest.

Winner: Behemoth

A very special thanks to dopepope for some of the assets used in this banner for the K.W.C. Be sure to follow him on DeviantART, ArtStation, and Instagram.