Author: Matthew Freese | Banner: Landon Soto

It had been a long night for Tokyo, one filled with pain and heartache, only a few glimmers of joy shining through. Godzilla had been afflicted with an overdose of radiation that turned him into a ticking time bomb. A young scientist’s discovery of micro-oxygen, laden with nothing but benevolence, accidently catalyzed the birth of a nightmare made flesh. When the two met, a cataclysmic battle was waged. Godzilla’s only son was killed, both colossi were pushed to their breaking points, and the world was closer to destruction than it ever had been. But the evil of Destoroyah was vanquished, Godzilla’s meltdown was immensely weakened, and Godzilla Junior had been reborn as a carbon copy of his father. All seemed well.

At least, Destoroyah was presumed dead.

A massive, smoking crater scarred the ground, the place where a demon had been supposedly slain. A single monstrous crustacean, roughly the size of a horse, crawled out of the hole. The roars of the new Godzilla hit its ears, filling it with bloodlust it could not sate. It still remembered the horrific, burning pain that had been inflicted upon its greater self by the saurian in its final moments. The subsequent bitter cold that tore into the wounds clung to its mind as well, reducing it from a mighty titan to a single, pathetic creature that could do nothing. Slinking off into the darkness, Destoroyah promised it would bring annihilation to all that lived.

*****

One year later…

The pile of scrap that was once the Super X3 spewed smoke into the sky, its crew dead before it hit the ground. Godzilla cried out in agony as Destoroyah shocked his neck with its tail. Swinging its body around, the Precambrian horror tossed the king of the monsters to the ground. As he staggered up, Godzilla fired an atomic breath at his foe’s haunting visage, causing it to stumble back as its face burned. Screeching in vile joy, Destoroyah channeled energy to its horn, causing a massive crimson saber of energy to appear from it. The demon swung the Laser Horn down as it lunged, carving through Godzilla’s shoulder like it wasn’t even there. The attack kept going, only being halted until it was inches from tearing the saurian’s spine in half.

Stopping the energy, Destoroyah watched as disgusting foam began to appear in the wounds, neutralizing Godzilla’s regenerative cells. Screaming in pure torment, Godzilla stumbled back. Destoroyah bashed its skull against the atomic saurian’s own, cackling in pure joy. The blow sent Godzilla falling to the ground, writhing in torment with frothing jaws. The spawn of the oxygen-destroyer locked its tail around the saurian’s neck, before taking flight.

Destoroyah dragged Godzilla into the nearby waters of Lake Ikeda, disappearing with its prize into a cloud of white smoke. The world could only see the resulting cascade of sparks and lights on the water’s surface, but it was no mystery as to what happened below the waves. Godzilla Junior, only a year after his rebirth, was once again thrust into death’s cold grip, Destoroyah pushing him there once more. The water parted as Destoroyah left it, stepping back onto land in the full terror and depravity of its final form. Letting out a vile screech of triumph, the Precambrian nightmare let the world know that oblivion was upon it once more. That hope was dead…

*****

One year after the death of Godzilla Junior…

Japan was no longer a country, but an inhospitable hellhole. The nearby waters were patrolled by roving colonies of microbes, marked by the tides their presence turned red. Asia fought valiantly as hordes of Juveniles, Aggregates, and other evolutions unseen during the demon’s first appearance assaulted the lands. Nearly half of the continent was overtaken, and humanity was losing ground every day. The rest of the world was on high alert, occasionally having to fight off airborne and aquatic evolutions of the Oxygen-Destroyer’s spawn. The earthly demons dealt horrific damage, tearing swathes of carnage through dozens of cities before perishing. Talk of nuking Japan and other areas with Destoroyah went around, but they never went through for multiple reasons. It was unknown what the full extent of the prehistoric terrors’ reach was, and nuking all the land and ocean where they were documented would likely have horrific effects on the world at large, and the possibility of them mutating further from the radiation.

But everyone knew something had to be done soon. The Destoroyahs were getting smarter and deadlier, their reach growing further and further. Scientists also discovered that oxygen was slowly getting thinner and thinner in the atmosphere. It wasn’t enough to be truly deadly yet, but the fear of it snowballing out of control hung over their heads.

All seemed hopeless. One man sought to change that.

A figure that resembled a gargantuan suit of silver and gold armor marched across the dead soil of Japan. This was Utsuno Ikusagami, a divine warrior that has lived for hundreds of years. He was once merely a mortal prince, fated for greatness, until a grand journey led to him gaining the armor of the gods. He had been on this quest through Japan for the better part of an hour, searching for the source of this plague. Fortunately for him, so far none of the hostile demons in this land had forced him to use anything beyond simple melee, meaning he was still at his full strength. Utsuno knew he would need it for what he intended on fighting.

He could do nothing against the various microbes that truly afflicted the world, but that was not his job. That was humanity’s duty, but they could do nothing if the larger Destoroyahs remained active. For some reason, this was the only instance of the final, or “perfect,” form sighted. Was the rest of the colony incapable of the form? Or was it ill-suited for the widespread, rapid destruction the rest craved? Regardless, its presence ensured that a battle against the heart of the horde was impossible. As he continued walking towards where Destoroyah’s final form usually rested, he began to reflect. He had wanted to help this world for years, to save it from all the colossal beasts that assaulted it. But he hadn’t, because humanity and the Earth needed to save themselves. But with humanity on its knees, and all of Earth’s natural guardians having disappeared, he had to step in.

He paused for a moment. Where were the other guardians? All of them had vanished off the face of the Earth, not seen by anyone. Had they…?

No, no they couldn’t have all died that easily. Utsuno continued walking, determined to finish off Destoroyah’s strongest state. The other guardians were alive, they had to be!

They had to be…

He reached Lake Ikeda, or at least that’s what it had been called when humanity ruled this land. A cloud of red hung on its surface, resembling blood. But he knew what it was. As he stepped closer, the red cloud began to shift, coalescing into a greater mass. A white cloud of smoke formed in the center, until all the crimson waves had gathered. The mist faded, revealing a demon flying from the waters.

Destoroyah, in its final form, landed before Utsuno Ikusagami. The nightmare flexed its claws in anticipation, slowly stepping towards the holy warrior. Utsuno took up a traditional fighting pose, before charging forward. Destoroyah picked up speed as well, until the angel and the devil collided, waging war for the fate of the world.

Letting out a hellacious screech, the Proterozoic devil bashed its claws against the holy knight, sparks flying from the impact as metal slightly dented. Utsuno punched Destoroyah in the chest, following it with a strike to the face. The blows made the demon stumble back, dazed, before quickly regaining clarity. Utsuno lunged forward, but Destoroyah threw its right leg up, bashing the massive appendage into the warrior’s stomach.

Using the distance that put between them, the micro-oxygen spawn’s head crest began crackling with bolts of power. A violet lance of oxygen destroying power spewed from the demon’s maw, striking the paladin in the chest. The oxygen-destroyer ray dented and burned his holy armor, along with pushing him back slightly. Destoroyah fired a second oxygen-destroyer ray, but this time, Utsuno channeled energy into his arms, throwing them forward and causing a transparent shield to manifest before him. He held the barrier until the purple ray faded, and once it did, the sun-shaped medallion on his helm began to glow. A golden ray of divine power blazed forth from the sun-shaped symbol, lancing into the horror’s flesh. A series of explosions tore into Destoroyah, forcing out a scream of agony that was soon drowned out by the roar of the blasts. A vast cloud of smoke obscured the self-proclaimed god of death.

All was still for a moment, but the tension never faded. Utsuno knew that wouldn’t be enough to kill his foe, so what was with the silence? Was a swarm of aggregates about to strike him? The smoke suddenly parted as Destoroyah shot forward, demonic wings carrying it through the air. Horrific burns covered its torso, with the structure on its chest cracked in several places. The oxygen-destroyer’s spawn brought its legs forward, allowing its momentum to let it reach Utsuno. The holy knight caught his foe’s feet with his hands, but the force of the impact still made him skid back. The divine warrior lifted his foe above his head, making Destoroyah screech in shock.

Before he could do anything more, Utsuno felt Destoroyah try to fly away, but his grip held firm. The horrible crustacean bashed its tail against Utsuno’s face, forcing him to release his hold. Destoroyah landed a relatively short distance behind the warrior, and the sun lord promptly turned to face his foe.

The demon pushed against the paladin, trying to knock him to the ground. The holy knight grabbed Destoroyah’s wrists, twisting and pulling back on them. Struggling briefly, the demon realized it couldn’t escape from its foe like this. The living oxygen destroyer threw its tail forward, clamping the serrated pincer at its tip around Ikusagami’s right arm and discharged its corrosive energies into the limb. Pulling and shocking it, Destoroyah felt the grip of the warrior’s arm loosen. The paladin’s grip failed, allowing the destroyer to shake off the other arm, freeing it quickly. Still gripping its foe’s arm, Destoroyah continued to pump energy into the knight’s body, causing smoke to spew from the point of contact.

A haymaker from the divine warrior knocked teeth loose from his foe, giving him the opportunity to pull the clawed tail off his arm. Destoroyah pulled the limb back to safety, screeching at its foe in an attempt at intimidation. The Lord of the Sun was undeterred by such tactics, charging back into battle once more. The divine warrior kicked the armored nightmare in its thigh, but the blow barely caused the thick leg to budge. Destoroyah retaliated by throwing its head forward, bashing it into Ikusagami’s silver helm. With a resounding clang, the paladin staggered backwards as the living oxygen-destroyer clutched its throbbing skull. Destoroyah shook off the pain, trudging forward again to tear into its foe.

Utsuno Ikusagami’s arms began glowing once again, but this time, it wasn’t to form a shield. The paladin put his palms on the floral bone pattern on the ancient damnation’s chest and sent a pulse of energy through his hands, causing a large explosion to engulf Destoroyah’s chest, huge chunks of the exposed bone soaring away. Immediately, Destoroyah flung its own arms back, before an explosion suddenly rocked the sun god’s chest. The holy knight stumbled from the unseen blast, before another sent him further back, and yet another nearly knocked him off his feet. The smoke had cleared around Destoroyah’s chest, revealing the bone pattern, or at least what was left, to be wide open. Several large cracks scarred the spikes, with a few of them being completely gone. A fourth crimson blast knocked Utsuno off his feet.

Capitalizing on its foe’s distress, Destoroyah ceased firing the destructive blasts, before channeling energy to its maw. The demon fired a heavily charged oxygen-destroyer ray, which crashed against the divine warrior’s body. Sparks flew from the impact as the armor of the paladin’s stomach was harshly burned and started to crumple, the force behind the attack being enough to shove him across the dirt for a few dozen meters. Destoroyah followed it up with several lesser oxygen-destroyer rays, raking them across the defender of light’s form.

The medallion atop the warrior’s helm glowed once more, before bolts of holy power flowed to his back. Powering past the violet beams striking him, golden wings manifested from the paladin’s back. The feet of the grand Utsuno Ikusagami left the ground, lifted by holy power into the air. Soaring towards his foe, a light appeared in the palm of his right hand, which soon morphed into a glowing spear. He threw the divine javelin, which tore into Destoroyah’s left wing and detonated violently. The membranes of the wing were shredded and burnt into ash, and the carapace that formed the structure was shattered, leaving what was left mangled and twisted. Ikusagami landed in front of the terror before time, extending his right arm to the side.

A shimmering long-sword extended from seemingly nowhere. The holy knight swung it at Destoroyah’s stomach. A saber of crimson energy extended from the primeval horror’s horn, which it quickly swung downwards to intercept its foe. The blades struck, casting out a shower of sparks as neither gave ground. Their wielders broke away, Utsuno holding his sword back at his side, and Destoroyah holding its head back up. So, the imposter of demons wished to engage in a clash of blades? Utsuno pointed his sword forwards, presenting a challenge. He would show it what the skill of a master swordsman looked like.

Utsuno went for an overhead strike with his sword, but Destoroyah batted it out of the way with the laser horn. Pulling his arm back, the paladin thrust his blade straight forward, aiming it at the damaged pattern on his foe’s chest. Destoroyah swung its horn down, knocking the blade off course once more. But Utsuno continued the strike into the crustacean devil’s shoulder, causing it to scream as the blade tore clean through. Ripping it free, the holy knight prepared to strike again, only to thrust his sword up to block a swing at his neck. Panic filled his mind as he felt the blade almost be launched from his hand, his iron grip barely holding on.

Grabbing its hilt with both hands, Ikusagami blocked another attempt at his neck from the other side. Destoroyah screeched in rage as it aimed an attack at the warrior’s hip. Even using both hands, Utsuno had to use every ounce of strength he had to keep his sword firm as the two clashed. He had to do something quickly. Even if his opponent lacked the range of movement needed to properly duel him, its sheer power and ferocity made it a threat.

Thrusting its head back, Destoroyah swung straight downwards, hoping to cleave the knight’s head in half. Utsuno’s divine long-sword stopped it only a few meters away from his helm. The two’s faces were incredibly close, allowing Utsuno to get an up-close look at his foe. Destoroyah snarled at the paladin, promising a slow and painful demise for crossing its path. Most would collapse in terror at the sight, at being so close to a nightmare brought to life. Ikusagami would have scoffed if he physically could. He would fear the demon once it actually hurt him. Destoroyah reared back up, slamming its laser horn down onto his foe’s blade once more. It did this once more, growing more and more enraged. Why wouldn’t this accursed sword break? Destoroyah’s claws shot forward, gripping the knight’s arms, but Utsuno simply kicked his foe in the stomach, making it stagger back. Thinking of a new strategy, the child of the oxygen-destroyer cut off power to its laser horn, prompting the holy warrior to leap forward.

Utsuno swung his blade at Destoroyah’s neck, ready to decapitate the evil. Before the sword could end it, the demonic creature suddenly bent down, causing the attack to pass over it. Throwing its whole body forward, Destoroyah activated its laser horn. Utsuno could not feel pain, a fact he was glad of when the crimson saber tore into where his solar plexus would be. Piercing the mighty armor, the tip of the glowing blade poked out his back. Thinking fast, the paladin buried his weapon into the unholy mortal’s back. Destoroyah tried to move up, but the divine warrior pushed down on it with all his might. His entire body glowed, before an omni-directional pulse of holy power left his body. The pulse burned Destoroyah’s face horrifically, causing it to screech in pain as it stopped its laser horn. Ripping his weapon free of the demon’s back, the holy knight backed away, as did the evolved crustacean. Blinding light shined from the two holes in the warrior’s body.

As Utsuno examined the damages to himself, Destoroyah looked on in disappointment. Its foe wasn’t bleeding, and it didn’t scream in pain. Was it another construct of metal sent by man to kill it? None of the other machines could do anything like what he did. Was mankind stepping up? As white smoke began to surround the Precambrian relic, it made the decision to leave its domain and pay humanity a personal visit, once its enemy was slain.

Utsuno was on guard as soon as he noticed Destoroyah was gone. He knew full well what was about to happen, but that didn’t mean he was fully prepared. The ground beneath and around him exploded as a dozen aggregates surrounded him, leaping onto his body. The paladin carved an aggregate in half with his sword, before deciding that a long weapon such as this wouldn’t be good for opponents on his very body. As his sword vanished back into the ether, he bashed a demented crustacean in the face with his fist, knocking it to the ground. Three aggregates climbed on his back, bashing his golden wings with their claws and legs. Utsuno’s wings began spinning at rapid speeds like a buzzsaw, ripping away the limbs of two of the aggregates, getting shrieks of pain, and the head of the third. As their yellow blood coated his back, the paladin grabbed the surviving aggregates by the necks and bashed their skulls together. One spewed an oxygen-destroyer ray into the opening on his chest, only to have both crustaceans’ skulls crushed as he slammed them against each other again with harder force.

He felt a trio of oxygen-destroyer rays lance into his back, and when he turned around, he was greeted by three Destoroyahs in their flying forms strafing around him. Three of the aggregates had jumped off him and changed their form. Before Ikusagami could retaliate, an aggregate leaped onto his face, bashing at it furiously. Several oxygen-destroyer rays hit his armor, followed shortly by several aggregates leaping onto him.

The three flying forms continued pelting him with beams as Utsuno started stumbling back, closer towards the lake, while he fought off the assault. No matter how many he punched, crushed, or sliced with his wings, they just kept attacking. He quickly realized that they were repairing themselves and reforming faster than he could kill them, likely being joined by other microbes in the area that had not initially been part of the main body. Stopping his attacks for a moment, the paladin channeled energy through himself.

The aggregates screeched in agony as his energy pulse ripped through them, burning them to ash. As the remains scattered to the winds, Utsuno turned his sight upwards for the flying Destoroyahs, but the creatures had disappeared. Taking the moment of silence to strategize, the holy knight looked around. Amidst the struggle, he had been driven to the edge of the waters. He swore for a moment that something was off about the waves, catching something with his eye for the smallest moment.

Turning to face them, he began to look closer, noticing clusters of white objects floating in the waves. The ground behind him exploded as the connection clicked, the fully healed final-form Destoroyah bursting forth. The divine warrior was shocked. How could he have been so foolish? Turning to face his foe, Utsuno was ill-prepared as Destoroyah’s chest opened, unleashing a destructive blast. The paladin was launched into the water, causing a massive splash as he sunk. Destoroyah cackled, stepping towards the lake with slow, purposeful strides. Its foe may have the advantage on land, but the mechs it had fought before crumbled once their pilots were reduced to skeletons, so why would this be different? It dove into the water, dissipating into microbes.

Water filled his hollow body, but it mattered little to the protector of the light. It did no harm, and it quickly evaporated inside his energy-filled armor. Destoroyah began to flow towards him, but he didn’t focus on that. For in a matter of seconds, the paladin saw something that made his blood run cold. It was not that he couldn’t believe the sight, but that he had refused to before.

The skeleton of the thousand-year dragon, the sky guardian King Ghidorah was what he first saw. Its skeleton had multiple shattered bones, including its right and left necks being severed. Then, the remains of the earth guardian Baragon, its spine broken in two. The hollow exoskeleton of the water Yamato guardian Mothra had a crushed head. The same with Battra, only the dark Mothra was ripped in half. King Caesar was nothing but broken chunks of stone and shredded metal, Destoroyah having likely been frustrated with his inorganic nature. Those were merely the ones he recognized, as skeletons of various shapes and sizes stretched out as far as he could see.

Ikusagami shot out of the water like a bullet. Feeling things crawling inside him, he let loose another omni-directional pulse to purge his body. Looking down at the water, he fired a medallion beam. The holy ray tore into the lake, boiling vast quantities of the water and casting colossal gouts of steam into the sky. The holy knight fired a second blast, hoping to kill Destoroyah while it was still a swarm. This hope was shattered when the micro-oxygen demon emerged from the waters, dodging a third medallion ray. Destoroyah tackled his foe, but Utsuno held firm. The hellish organism didn’t know what its foe was now, having discovered it to not be a mech, but that mattered little. The Proterozoic creature shrieked in his face, clawing at his metal hide rabidly. This time, the paladin did not react with arrogance. He did not react with fear.

He responded with a righteous wrath, one only a god could unleash.

Drawing his holy sword, the sun god swiftly slashed Destoroyah’s right wing off. As the limb plummeted into the boiling waters below, the paladin grabbed the demon by the neck, holding it up. Destoroyah’s claws and tail pincer slashed at the knight, but the blows did nothing to deter him. Bringing its tail up and hooking it around the warrior’s arm, it assailed its foe with powerful energies. This did not last long, as Utsuno Ikusagami sliced the false devil’s tail off near the base, leaving the appendage to fall. Violet energy gathered in Destoroyah’s maw, only for the holy lord to fire off a medallion beam point blank.

When the smoke cleared, the oxygen destroyer was missing its lower jaw, along with both eyes. The horn atop its head dangled by a remaining splinter of chitin, and the shattered crest on the back of its skull spewed blood. It still struggled blindly despite the horrific scalding, which was deep enough to show the inner carapace. Ignoring the shrieks and thrashings of the repulsive fiend, Utsuno drove his sword into Destoroyah’s side. Turning his body towards the land, the divine warrior dove towards it at insane speeds, holding the struggling demon before him.

Dirt and dust flew into the air as a shockwave echoed across the ruins. In the newly formed impact crater, Destoroyah twitched and stained the soil with its blood. Utsuno removed his sword, staring at the demon with pure contempt. The medallion atop his head shined as he readied the killing blow.

Several objects slammed into his back at high speeds. The sudden impact knocked him forward just enough for the medallion ray to miss the center of the Precambrian terror’s back, instead striking just next to its body. Several dozen sharp objects bashed at his back, trying to peel away the metal from the wound on it. Reaching behind him, he grabbed two of the aggregates, then held them to his front. In a last act of defiance, they discharged oxygen-destroyer rays into his face, before the paladin crushed their necks.

Ikusagami stumbled as something slashed into his left leg, which he soon discovered to be the main Destoroyah’s laser horn. A huge gash now disfigured it, but wasn’t large enough to cripple him. It was something that the warrior would have to stay conscious of during battle, as he prepared to drive his sword into the foul crustacean’s neck, only for the ground next to it to burst open. Another aggregate, formed from the remains of the two that he had just killed, leaped at him. As white mist coated the main Destoroyah, the aggregate bashed and clawed at the hole in Utsuno’s chest. He prepared to fire a medallion ray at the final-form Destoroyah, even ignoring the cascade of lights that surrounded the aggregate. He still charged the ray, but when it fired, the flying form the aggregate had changed into leaped in its path mere meters from his face.

The resulting explosion blinded Utsuno momentarily, causing him to stumble backwards. As he waited for his vision to return, he angrily wondered where the demons had come from. He cursed as he realized that Destoroyah’s severed limbs must have turned into aggregates, as even separated from the main body, they still had enough microbes to remain alive. When he could see again, he noticed with a resigned acceptance that his foe was gone. At least he now knew what needed to be done to ensure the demon’s destruction. A powerful explosion in its epicenter, like he had tried before, but without removing body parts beforehand.

Destoroyah’s final form appeared before him, staring. The pain the holy knight had caused it earned him a hatred that had only been reserved for Godzilla before. Pain and hatred was all the demon knew. When it had first showed itself to the world, simply following its instincts, they responded by attacking. So, it fought back. This cycle continued and continued, escalating each time until both sides reached a breaking point. This divine warrior had caused Destoroyah so much pain. Suffering like this demanded retribution.

If Utsuno knew what his foe was thinking, he wouldn’t feel a tinge of sympathy. It didn’t matter what his foe’s motives or past was like, what it did was unforgivable. For hundreds of years, the paladin believed nothing could draw even a fraction of the hatred Orochi did from him. Now, the vile god couldn’t hold a candle to this abomination’s atrocities.

When the two most powerful beings on Earth met in battle this time, there would be no backing down until the other was dead and gone.

Destoroyah slashed at the slowly widening hole in Utsuno Ikusagami’s stomach, tearing it further. The paladin responded by grabbing his foe’s head crest, swiftly bringing it down. Destoroyah’s face was slammed into the knight’s right knee, cracking bone and spilling vile ichor. The primeval mutation responded by kicking the warrior’s left leg, directly in the wound inflicted earlier, causing Utsuno to stumble. Exploiting the paladin’s distress, Destoroyah grabbed its foe’s chest. The holy knight was stunned to find himself being lifted off the ground. Letting loose a horrid scream directly in Utsuno’s face, the oxygen destroyer’s spawn tossed him to the ground. He landed on his back, kicking up dust and rubble. He tried to roll over to push himself back up, but thick and powerful legs crashed down on his own. Destoroyah stepped forward, stomping on the knight’s broken chest.

With a powerful movement of its wings, the destroyer flew into the air, before dropping back down on the divine warrior. The impact forced Utsuno down, his head snapping forward. Repeating the action, Destoroyah stomped on him once again, laughing at the knight’s distress. The demon made sure to put most of its weight on the hole in his foe’s chest, seeking to penetrate and crush whatever lay underneath.

The break was nearly three-fourths the circumference of Destoroyah’s foot now. The crustacean leaped into the air again, but Utsuno’s hands shot up, grabbing his foe’s feet. Energy coursed through his arms, detonating on the soles of the Precambrian horror. Destoroyah screeched while flying back, smoke emanating from its feet. It winced when it landed, but it could still support its weight on scorched ankles. Opposite the mortal devil, Ikusagami got to his feet, staggering from the colossal gash in his left leg, which now forced him to lean. Destoroyah screeched in rage at its nemesis’ continued presence amongst the living! How could he still keep fighting and fighting? Why would they not die?!

Throwing its arms back, the oxygen destroyer’s spawn opened its chest, but Ikusagami threw his arms forward, summoning the energy shield. The crimson stream of destruction was halted by the shield, sending cracks through the divine barrier. As another blast struck the shield, covering nearly the entire thing in crevices, Utsuno focused. He had developed a plan, a risky one, but it was all he had. It would require precise timing.

Another stomach blast fired from the raging demon, shattering the shield like glass. The sun god’s medallion glowed bright, discharging a medallion ray. The beam purged the ground before Destoroyah, causing it to shriek and back away. The unholy menace let out the closest thing it could to a scoff. Its foe missed an attack that simple?

Utsuno hadn’t missed.

The paladin cleared the smoke as he passed through, soaring with his blade in hand. He ran the blade through the structure on the horror’ chest, piercing armor and organs until the tip penetrated Destoroyah’s back. The pain made it throw its head back, groaning in anguish. Utsuno began to pull his blade up, tearing through more vile flesh. Before he could get far enough to do anything fatal, Destoroyah’s arms gripped the warrior’s, holding them in place as the ancient evil threw its head down, looking directly at the helm of its foe. A massive sphere of violet power rested in its maw, nearly taking up its entirety. Utsuno gasped.

He had been deceived!

A mega-charged oxygen destroyer ray lanced into the medallion atop the warrior’s helm. The light it generated blinded Utsuno, and the force behind it made him step back, leaving his sword embedded in the Precambrian abomination’s chest. The beam subsided, and though Utsuno could not see the damages, he knew all too well what they were. The medallion was horrifically cracked, wisps of solar power leaving it. Though he could still use his other abilities just fine, he knew that the medallion ray itself couldn’t be risked. Destoroyah ripped the sword out of its body with its tail, spilling vast amounts of blood, then tossed it to the side. It tried to let out a bellow of triumph, only for a torrent of life-blood to instead come out. Witnessing the status of the beast’s health, Utsuno summoned his wings and leapt towards his foe. Even without the medallion ray, he still had one last resort. Destoroyah glanced up at its foe, its mouth curling into a sinister grin.

Utsuno summoned an energy spear, putting as much power as he could into it.

Destoroyah activated its laser horn, preparing to put the last of its energy into one finishing swing.

Time slowed for the god of light. He realized this would be his last battle, as he couldn’t risk throwing the super-charged spear until he was close enough, but he couldn’t accept it. Yes, this would mean the death of the final form Destoroyah, but would it truly be a victory? Could humanity stop the rest of them without him?

He remembered something. On his way to the Earth through the stars, he glimpsed a golden light in the field of asteroids. Glittering, leaving a trail of sparkling powder. He had brushed it aside due to his mission at hand, but looking in the lake of desolation had revealed something.

There was one guardian of Earth left, the one chosen by the spirit of the world herself.

A mighty explosion shook the empty land around them, its size outclassing the demon’s own. Chunks of burnt flesh, muscle, and bone rained down, the insane temperatures killing off every microbe in Destoroyah’s body. Utsuno Ikusagami’s body limply hit the ground, his helm split down the middle. The light that poured from his body faded.

Silence returned to the ruins.

In the great dark, hope still shined. A great protector had given his life to keep that candle alight just a bit longer, to let others carry it.

Draw: Utsuno Ikusagami, Destoroyah