Author: Matthew Freese | Banner: Vincent Rodger & Andrew Sudomerski

Earth had recently bore witness to a clash of gods. Godzilla, the alpha predator and the strongest creation of nature, faced off against King Ghidorah, a demon from the stars with the intent to tear the planet apart and rebuild it in his sick image. The ancient apex, after an arduous battle and with the aid of both humanity and his symbiotic partner, Mothra, had won. The title of Alpha Titan was his. But not before humanity’s interference in the battle had nearly taken his life.

In the second of three battles with the golden demon after its resurgence, the two clashing monster monarchs had been fighting in the ocean. Until humanity launched a horrid weapon at both, a bomb that corroded the oxygen itself for miles around, with the intent of instantly killing all organic life in range. It had nearly killed Godzilla, left King Ghidorah unharmed due to his alien biology, and killed every other life form it touched.

Almost every living thing, that is.

Deep within the ocean, a cluster of microscopic creatures were awoken. They hailed from the Precambrian era, before even the age of the Titans. Their biology was so different from the rest of this world’s creatures that when the wave of death struck them, they absorbed the power.

Filled with the essence of death, they moved as one. To the nearest life, to feed and reproduce.

It started out small at first. Boats reporting high amounts of fish skeletons drifting on the currents, stripped down to the bone without a scrap of flesh or blood on them. Soon, boats would occasionally drift to shore, with only skeletons on board.

People began blaming the Titans, but Monarch assured them no known Titan could be responsible for this. The reports of these events still trickled in, but never seemed to escalate.

Until one sunny day in Dubai, panic started when a red cloud formed on the water’s surface. The red anomaly faded soon afterwards, breaking apart as it sank. Just as a sigh of relief was breathed, they came forth onto the shore.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of armored crustaceans the size of men. Their purple carapaces were covered in bumps, with a strange floral pattern made of bone spikes adorning their chests. Thick legs ending in sharp spikes supported their frame as they marched. Segmented tails ending in pincer claws swung behind them. Forming the backs of their heads were crests the shape of a dual-sided axehead. Yellow eyes bearing no emotion observed the fleeing masses, as thin mandibles opened to reveal secondary jaws.

People were carved into by their myriad limbs, staining the sands. Blue streams of surging energy were fired from the secondary jaws, which destroyed any muscle and bone they hit so cleanly it was like they were erased. Some people were pierced directly by the secondary jaws, only to be unceremoniously dropped to the ground a moment later. Starting from their gaping wound, flesh, muscle, and organs dissolved like acid was poured upon them. Soon, all that was left was a skeleton, as that person’s biomass was converted into more of the microbes.

More of the crustaceans were being formed, appearing in flashes of light as the newly born microbes assembled into their combat-ready form. They were no less dangerous than their older counterparts, as the entirety of the swarm was mentally connected.

As the hellacious army reached the city itself, chaos flooded the streets. Cars were peeled apart like cans, the passengers being powerless to fight back. Glass was shattered as they infiltrated buildings, leaving neither the outside or inside safe. Police tried to fight back, but their weapons did nothing more than single themselves out. People fled in droves, often accidentally trampling over each other in a mad bid to reach shelter. The backs of these packs were set upon by the invaders, meaning one wrong step was a death sentence.

Fortunately for the people of the city, it didn’t take long for the news of the attack to spread. The United Arab Emirates mobilized its army to fight off the invaders, as Monarch went to work as well, bringing their advanced technology to aid in the battle against the anomalies.

But a fourth party was about to be involved as well.

The existence of the Oxygen-Destroyer mutants was a blight upon nature, which could only incite either fear or hatred in all life-forms. The Titans made sure to stay away from humankind at the command of their alpha, who wished to avoid any conflict with civilization. These two facts were a conflict to the female MUTO that had been released by King Ghidorah’s call, who happened to be nearby the ongoing event.

She resembled the female MUTO that had been part of the battle of San Francisco in 2014, aside from the fact that she had an extra pair of legs and a ridged back. Despite the instinctual rivalry between her species and the species of her Alpha, there had been no conflict between the two after he had slain King Ghidorah. Not that she had wanted there to be, but the fact that Godzilla had accepted her was puzzling.

So, there was reluctance as she let out a call towards the alpha, an echoed signal that traveled a grand distance and allowed Titans to communicate from all over the globe, asking for his permission to attack the blight. She did consider running away, it would have been much simpler to do so. But the anomaly was growing in power, and she was the only one close enough to do something about it in time.

Far away, deep within the ocean, Godzilla rested. He did not sleep, as he too sensed the aberration. It scared him more than it did any other, for it carried the same feeling as the horrid bomb that had nearly killed him. He wanted to swim to the surface and blast it all away, but he didn’t dare risk it now.

Aside from the physical damages he had received in the final battle with his ancient nemesis, another condition afflicted him. He had absorbed excess amounts of energy, both from a nuclear device being detonated directly next to him and from the sacrifice of Mothra infusing him with her energy. This had resulted in him taking on a new form for a brief time, with so much power that it overflowed and gave him an aura of heat strong enough to melt steel and concrete.

And though he had vented enough power to avoid overloading entirely and detonating, his nuclear core still wasn’t exactly optimal. It was unstable and damaged. It was almost fully healed, he could feel it. But, millions of years worth of experience had taught him that with conditions like this, almost healed was just as dangerous as any condition except fully recovered.

The signal of a message reached him, startling him for a moment. He was still getting used to having allies again. He got over his shock to grasp what the message meant, and relief washed over him. If he couldn’t fight imbalances in nature, he had others who could do so in his stead.

He bellowed back in reply, permission to attack the anomaly. He took a moment to find humor in this, giving commands to a MUTO of all creatures. His natural enemy, now an ally. How strange things had become.

He shifted slightly, then let out another call. Another command, to the only other titan that he knew could reach the abomination in a reasonable amount of time. He would see how loyal this creature truly was.

Far away, Rodan slept. The signal reached him, and he perked up. The flameborn pterosaur groaned, tired and unwilling to act, especially in a battle. But, still he spread his wings, and took off to soar towards the distant battle. He did not sense the blight upon nature from where he was, so he merely followed the order so he could go back to resting sooner.

Dubai was a war zone. The nightmarish shrieks of its attackers mingled with the heavy rattling of gunfire. Soldiers were ripped to shreds by the crustaceans, their body armor being useless against the mutants’ strength. Any headway made against the horde, individuals ripped asunder by explosives or other high-powered weaponry, was made pointless as more filled their places.

Blockades were overrun by waves of the creatures rushing forward, uncaring of the few losses occurring at the front. The swarm of mutants was only growing as time kept passing. Any attempts to keep a fair distance from them were ended by their rays of energy, which could rip through tempered steel. Several attack helicopters had found this out the hard way, one minute shredding through creatures that had climbed atop buildings, the next being knocked from the skies due to an important part of the internal machinery getting vaporized by a lucky shot.

The city began to shake as the waters of the beach rushed forward in a tsunami, washing away the aftermath of the beginning of the carnage. Black legs like that of an insect’s carried the MUTO out of the waves. Wasting no time, she charged further inland.

Concrete and broken crustacean bodies were made airborne as she stomped upon clusters of the mutants, spilling their yellow blood and filling the cracks in the streets with it. Human soldiers began to fall back, seeing that she wasn’t interested in attacking them.

Turning to face the new threat, larger portions of the horde began charging at her. Those not crushed beneath the titan’s feet managed to leap onto them, beginning a climb upwards. These climbs never lasted long, as another leg of the ebony titan would scrape them off before they could make it far. Titan skin was too strong for their weapons to pierce. Even their oxygen-destroying rays couldn’t deal lasting damage, only leaving marks and causing pain that instantly brought a colossal foot down on the perpetrator.

They needed to be bigger, more powerful, or else the swarm would be destroyed. The microbes coalesced unseen beneath the ground, the nightmarish crustaceans disappearing in clouds of mist. The MUTO backed away upon seeing this, her countless foes vanishing before her eyes.

A mass of concrete, as well as everything that had been on top of it at the time, was tossed into the air. Through the resulting cloud of dust came spider-like legs, which pulled forth a colossus. It was as tall as the male of her species had been, and resembled the swarm’s previous forms, aside from now having two sharpened appendages jutting from its back and crab-like claws hanging in front of its chest.

The ebony titan lunged forward, claw raised high. The aggregate unveiled its secondary jaws, before firing a purple ray of energy at its foe’s stomach. Flesh peeled away from the point of impact, and smoke still poured from the wound after the beam ended. She recoiled, screaming as the deadly energies burned her. Leaping forward, the aberration lashed at her with its bladed limbs, scraping at the black flesh.

The MUTO bit down on one of the limbs, her insect-like jaws piercing the carapace with ease. Yellow blood dripped into her mouth, and she released her foe as soon as it did so. Retching, she spat out the bitter fluid. It bit at the insides of her jaws like acid, its taste worse than that of rotten meat left in the sun.

The aggregate unsheathed its secondary jaws, and thrust them towards its foe’s chest. Through skin and muscle it pierced, forcing a cry of pain from the insect-like vertebrate. Before the aggregate could inject its corrosive power into her bloodstream, her front legs came down upon its back. The blow sent the crustacean to the ground, its jaws being ripped out of her body. Yellow fluid gushed from the two wounds that had just been formed in the mutant’s back, its carapace still not up to the strength typical of a Titan’s hide.

The MUTO raised her left forelimb high, before driving its point into the flesh of her foe. The appendage hooked in, allowing her to lift the aberration off its feet. It flailed wildly, trying to strike its enemy with its myriad of limbs. The blind attempt at an assault did nothing to stop the primeval predator from slamming her foe down, through a building. The structure was smashed to pieces as the colossus went through it, showering the streets in debris. Smoke billowed upwards, obscuring the mutant.

Violet energies pierced the smoke, striking the leg holding the mutant. The spiked hexapod pulled her leg away, shrieking as a burning wound was carved into the limb. Her frantic movements blew the smoke away, allowing her to get a good look at her foe.

Steel girders pierced its belly, the blood dripping onto them warping and deforming the pieces of metal. Its legs were cracked, leaving its stance awkward and uneven. Half of the crest on its head was split open. Its mandibles were twisted, some limply dangling.

With a droning cry, the MUTO lunged forward, forelimbs raised high to split the abomination’s skull open. The aggregate dissolved into a cloud of mist, leaving her attack to further damage the ruined building.

Silence took over, and the ebony titan found herself frantically looking back and forth. She was tense. This being was unpredictable, anything could happen in a battle against it. A minute passed, but it felt like an hour to her.

A distant explosion made her whip around towards its direction. A shriek echoed across the city, which she instantly recognized. Another identical shriek, which made her heart drop. She was suddenly made keenly aware that she had not been fighting the totality of the horde, only a portion of it.

Twin shapes entered the skies, and rapidly soared towards the MUTO.

When they got close enough for the Titan to tell what they were, she recoiled. The abominations’ new forms now had bat-like wings protruding from their backs, seemingly at the expense of the entities’ legs. Instead of mandibles, they now had an upper and lower jaw filled with needle-like teeth.

They dropped towards the insect-like vertebrate, screeching in unison. The one on the left disappeared in a cluster of flashing lights, reappearing as the form the colossi had been battling before. The aggregate dropped onto her back, as the one still flying fired its oxygen destroying beam upon her back.

Fighting through the pain, she charged forward, bringing her head down. The aggregate leaped off of her before she tore through another building, landing upon a nearby building. Climbing to the top of the structure, uncaring of how it shuddered and how each step it took punched a hole through its frame, the aggregate leaped onto its foe once more.

The Titan thrashed within the smoke, desperately trying to fight back. The mutated crustacean deployed its secondary jaws, before bringing them down. They pierced the flesh once more, at the base of her left forelimb, and this time she could not stop it before the aberration injected its unnatural power within.

She cried out in pain as the leg went limp, a burning agony filling her bloodstream and traveling with the flowing vital fluid. The aggregate continued spewing its poison, as the flying mutant continued blasting away at her flesh from afar.

Another call echoed across the landscape, and a moment later the flying mutant was suddenly struck by a flaming blur. The sound of rushing wind came after, as a gale tore through the city beneath, launching debris and cars into the air like they were paper.

The wind struck the MUTO and the aggregate atop her, and both were sent spilling to the ground, the action sending the mutant rolling away from its foe. In its disorientation, the aberration could see the flying mutant drop from the sky, covered in massive gashes which were black and burnt.

Two birdlike feet hit the ground before the downed land aggregate. Fire poured from the bottom of two large wings which adorned a sleek, but powerful, frame wrapped in brown scales. Rodan’s eyes resembled burning coals as they met the hollow orbs of the aberration.

The winged titan’s eyes narrowed as he stared at his foe. He had never seen a being so disgusting in his eons of life. Its essence offended him to his very core. He would enjoy this, a chance to rid this world of such a poison.

With a powerful beat of his wings, the Titan’s feet left the ground. The aggregate climbed to its feet and attempted to escape, only for the claws of the burning titan to clamp down on its head crest. Another blast of wind lashed at the streets as the Fire Demon took off straight upwards, carrying the screeching abomination with him.

The ground below expanded, every feature of it shrinking dramatically as the aggregate was pulled into the skies. Even the MUTO looked tiny from the heights it was being pulled to. The fire spilling from beating wings splashed onto their captive, turning the purple hide black wherever it touched. Stopping suddenly, the momentum nearly ripping the crest on the aggregate’s skull in half, Rodan began flying towards the ground at an angle. Aiming his body towards a skyscraper, the winged titan tucked his wings in slightly, accelerating his descent.

In the blink of an eye, the king of the skies released his foe, then another blink later opened his wings to their full width. He stopped in place as the aberration flew down like a comet. It screeched as it went down, until the high-pitched cry was silenced by the crash of its body colliding with the skyscraper. The building collapsed, explosions rippling throughout the structure and those nearby. Gas lines had burst, ending in a roaring fire that towered high.

The Fire Demon lingered for a moment, gazing at the fire. Despite all of the smoke and flames, the Titan could still see the ruins coated in yellow gore. A leg sprouting from a pile of rubble twitched, each movement spraying blood from the cracks in the carapace. Rodan flapped his wings slightly towards the fires, stoking the flames with the winds. High-pitched calls along with one of a much lower pitch drew his attention, and so he flew away, leaving the flames to consume the blight.

Despite the consuming flame, life still stirred within the ruins.

When the massive pterosaur arrived at the scene, what he found was the mutant he had downed when he arrived now pinned beneath the leg of the MUTO. Each breath she took was taxing, exhaustion weighed her down and made her stance lower than it usually was. But this had not stopped her from impaling one of her tormentors.

Her gaze wasn’t on her captive, instead her visor-like eyes were locked onto two more of the mutants. They waved their claws and spear-tipped appendages, shrieking as they taunted the ebony titan. When they charged forward, the electromagnetic beast swung her leg upwards, sending the flying blight towards its brethren, the action ripping concrete from the ground and sending it airborne as well. Its body crashed against the aggregate on the right, sending both back with the resounding crack of chitin on chitin.

The flying inferno swept down, his claws swinging towards the face of the one still charging. Like daggers they sliced at the aberration’s face, the Precambrian creature’s exoskeleton unable to withstand the heated weapons of the titan. It recoiled, screaming as chunks of its head sloughed off against its will. It blindly fired its Oxygen-Destroyer ray upwards. Relief came when it heard the aerial beast scream, the beam ripping scales off his stomach and corroding the flesh beneath. The airborne Titan clapped his wings to get away from the painful attack, pushing him back and sending a blast of wind forward. The crustacean was forced back, its beam being cut off as it staggered.

Lunging forward, Rodan latched his talons onto the creature’s mandibles. The aggregate let out a muffled scream, before stabbing its secondary jaws into the sole of the clawed foot. The burning Titan, ignoring the pain, dug the talons into the extension. Yellow blood geysered out from the mutant’s mouth when the monster of the skies pulled back, ripping the jaws out, along with veins and throat-lining.

The aggregate hit the ground, and a moment later, flaming feet came down on its skull, splattering it across the pavement. The MUTO thundered past him, charging towards the two mutants.

Now finally recovered from the collision, the two mutants turned to face their foe. The winged aggregate entered the sky, as the grounded crustacean let out a shriek towards its foe. The flying abomination prepared to let loose its beam, only for Rodan to crash into it once more. The two hurtled through the air, the burning Titan showing clear dominance.

And this clear dominance of Titan over aberration proved true on the ground, as even though she was clearly weakened, the titanic parasite easily overpowered the aggregate. Her superior size meant her legs could rip into the amalgamate lifeform while her body kept out of reach of its retaliation. Her superior musculature meant she could thrash it around, preventing it from getting a clear shot with its beam. Its rays barely grazed her as any attempt to fire it resulted in its head being smacked aside by another of her limbs. She knew this thing’s tricks, and it wouldn’t catch her off guard.

Rodan pinned his foe to the top of a building, its purple carapace now almost fully black. Temperature like that of molten rock bathed the mutant as the bird-like colossus rammed his hooked beak against its skull. Looking up, the abomination shot its Oxygen-Destroyer Beam, forcing Rodan to back up just enough for the aberration to get back into the air.

Suddenly, both mutants stopped in place, their heads moving to stare towards a distant pillar of smoke. Before either of the titans could capitalize, white mist surrounded the aggregates. Silence filled the air for a moment, before the lava saurian took off towards the burning ruins. He didn’t know why both had looked to their fallen sibling, but he didn’t like it. There was a sudden uneasiness that had settled in him. The spiked female followed, a similar, unexplained tension building.

A new Titan was being born…

When the aggregate had punctured the MUTO’s flesh with its secondary jaws, and injected her with its corrosive power, it had not been a one-way flow. It had been an exchange, the Oxygen-Destroyer’s essence flowing forth as the DNA and energy of the victim was absorbed. And now the microbes were beginning to exploit this prize, the DNA of a Titan. The radioactive energies mixed with them, the might of some of nature’s greatest creations were becoming one with their own power.

And this was all fueled by something else new within the swarm. The two Titans had beat it bloody, showing it what agony was like. But this agony was nothing compared to what it had felt when Rodan had grabbed it by the skull and lifted it into the heavens. It had felt powerless. To be completely at the mercy of another entity, after it had spent its short life above anything it encountered, was a harsh feeling.

It never wanted to feel that again.

Its collective consciousness held onto the memory of the sensation, refusing to let it go. A new sensation filled the swarm’s mind. A thought that demanded it kill the Titans, make them feel the same as it had felt. Show them what it was like to be before a greater power, to have all control ripped away.

Hatred fueled the antithesis of life as it reached perfection.

A cascade of sparks shined through the smoke, intensifying with each second. Rodan, who had just reached the area, watched in awe. Awe became horror in a moment, and the Titan steeled himself. The cluster, flashing and popping at a blinding intensity, let loose a pulse of energy.

The Fire Demon was forced back, the city block beneath him being ripped apart by the energy pulse. Structures were reduced to shards and sent flying like a hailstorm, as the tower of smoke that had formed was parted by the explosive transformation.

Instead of skittering, spider-like limbs, a pair of thick legs supported a gargantuan frame as large as Godzilla’s. Short arms ending in a trio of bulky talons came from the bases of shoulders adorned with spikes. A lengthy tail snaked through the air behind it, a pincer claw at the end intermittently opening and closing. Bat-like wings jutted from its back, larger versions of the wings of the flying aggregates. The head stayed similar to that of the previous forms, minus a much longer horn from the forehead.

A raspy scream left its horrendous maw, which echoed across the city.

Rodan hesitated, slowly backing away. Lighting crackled across the head crest of the Precambrian terror, heralding the Oxygen-Destroyer Beam. The purple ray of energy pulsed, resembling a shining helix as it tore through the air. Ripping into the pterosaur’s stomach, the concussive force behind the violet beam knocked the pterosaur out of the air. He screamed as flesh warped and melted, the pain still ripping through his body after the beam itself ended. Even the feeling of crashing through buildings, flattening the structures beneath him, didn’t compare.

Before it could attack the flier further, the MUTO charged towards the aberration. She slashed at its bumpy carapace with her claws, spraying showers of sparks with each blow. This was all she accomplished, as the hide of the swarm’s new form only received superficial scratches.

Laughter sounded out from the demon, a raspy hollering that drove fear into the ebony titan’s heart. Every instinct screamed at her to run, and she was happy to oblige. As she turned, one of the demon’s thick legs crashed against her gut, a hellacious kick that sent her to her back. She bellowed in pain, and was sure something had been broken by the attack.

Agony seared through one of her hind legs, a sickening crack resounding at the same time. The congregated swarm had crushed it with a stomp. Twisting its foot, the demon wounded the leg further, bone now spearing out through the limb’s flesh. Something closed around the primeval parasite’s neck soon afterwards, and the world became a blur as the abomination flew forwards, dragging her behind it.

She rammed several legs into the ground, attempting to stop the two. They stopped, the momentum nearly tearing her head off as the aberration nearly hit the ground. Instead, it beat its wings again, sending it straight up. The ebony titan tried to stay hooked into the ground, only for a jolt of orange energy to travel through the tail and into her throat. She was powerless to keep rooted, and her feet left the ground as she seized.

Rodan began to get to his feet, wincing with each movement. The beam of the abomination’s previous forms had left wounds, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. Now, a horrific, warped hole in his stomach throbbed with agony and dripped fire. King Ghidorah’s bolts had burned, but he was used to heat. This had nothing to do with heat, and felt more like venom than anything else, though venom was still a far cry from whatever this was.

As he spread his wings, a shadow fell over him. Looking up from his injury, he saw a black mass dropping from the skies. He just barely flew back in time, ignoring the buildings he tore through, to avoid the MUTO’s body crushing him. She formed an impact crater, the buildings around her collapsing to bury her.

A shriek knocked the volcanic reptile out of his stupor, revealing to him his colossal foe bearing down on him. Even injured, he was still far faster than it, allowing him to dodge its attempted tackle. The burning pterosaur dropped onto his foe’s back, and began pecking at the back of its skull. His peripheral vision caught something coming towards his back, so he leaped into the air to avoid the aberration’s tail lashing at his legs.

The demon rolled over, the bone spikes on its chest opening to reveal an orifice. Rodan’s legs were covered in a cascade of flashing light as an invisible, concussive blast ripped into them. He screamed as the bones in his appendages twisted and shattered, sending him dropping from the heavens as his world became agony. Glowing blood spewed from various wounds as he dropped.

When he crashed, the streets beneath him shattered like they were glass. Vital fluid that resembled lava began dripping into the exposed sewer systems, sending cascades of vile smelling smoke upwards.

The demon landed before him, its hideous mouth curled into a smile that showed every single tooth. Its tail’s claw closed around Rodan’s throat, but instead of channeling power into him, it began to drain. His already dimmed fires darkened further, what had once been roaring flame swiftly becoming the embers before a fire was utterly extinguished.

The ground shook as the MUTO desperately fled towards the waters, the primitive desire for survival overpowering all. The demon let go of Rodan, and channeled power to its maw once more.

The massive parasite dropped when the violet ray of pulsing energy ripped through her two forelimbs, severing them. She tried to stand once more, violently shivering. Her attempt grew more frantic as the demon approached her, but she just hit the ground once more. She had the desire to escape, but her body was too weak.

Hope died as the congregated swarm grabbed her skull, and lifted her into the air. Drawing its free arm back, the Precambrian terror drove the trio of claws into the ebony titan’s chest.

Rodan watched helplessly, one last plan for survival brewing in his mind. This being shared King Ghidorah’s sadism, so hopefully it would share his desire to hold dominion over others. He didn’t truly intend to serve the abomination, something reinforced when he saw it further working its hand into his ally’s chest. He just needed time to heal, and when the time came he would join Godzilla and the rest in battle against the fiend. If that required falsely swearing loyalty to the artificial titan, he’d do it.

The demon, with a shriek, ripped the MUTO’s heart out. A geyser of blood came forth as it held the organ in its talons. The aberration squeezed its foe’s heart, further staining everything nearby with blood. The archosaur’s beak shuddered when he saw the look in the demon’s eyes as it stared at the carnage it had wrought.

Pure, unbridled joy.

The titanic pterosaur let out a weak cry. The same cry he had let out when he bowed to King Ghidorah. Surrender and acquiescence to a greater power. It wrenched at his heart, but survival mattered more than anything. He’d get revenge, backed up by an army.

The shadow of the unnatural titan fell over him. His heart pounded harder than it ever had before, a million panicked thoughts running through his mind. The seconds felt like an eternity as he waited for a response.

The horn atop the abomination’s head glowed red, before the crimson energy extended into a shimmering construct that resembled a katana. It bent down, swinging its head down at the same time.

Rodan’s panic ended as he was sliced in half from skull to groin in an instant, the crimson energies ripping through his body like it wasn’t even there. Pale, sickly foam formed along the rim of the wound.

The demon’s foot struck the pterosaur’s head, sending both halves of his body into the air away from each other. It wished it could have savored more agony from the volcanic titan, but it mattered little, as there was a wide world full of life to snuff out.

Letting loose a raspy bellow to declare its triumph to the world, the spawn of the Oxygen-Destroyer challenged the world. It felt invincible, like everyone else was beneath it.

White mist surrounded its body once more. It disappeared into it, leaving the ruined city in silence for a moment. Silence died when thousands of the man-sized crustaceans formed, along with dozens of the land-based and flying aggregates. As one, they began to march, searching for more life to destroy and more cities to decimate.

The news of the unnatural titan reached Monarch soon, along with the rest of humanity. When the international organization learned the most likely source of the demon’s creation when the U.S. military explained the Oxygen Destroyer’s properties, naming it was simple.

Titanus Destroyer. Or, Destoroyah. Not an Alpha Titan, but instead, the Omega Titan.

Godzilla tried to rest, but he couldn’t. Two of his strongest allies, unceremoniously slaughtered. A being this overwhelmingly vile and powerful roaming the Earth. Fear was not something he knew often, but it wasn’t totally unfamiliar to him. He had felt it only a few times before, and this was the first time it was because of something that didn’t have three heads and came from the stars. A decision needed to be made, and soon. Should he face this nightmare as soon as he was in peak condition, or wait even longer for Mothra to reach her imago state? Both options had glaring flaws, and neither seemed like the better choice. Part of him longed for the eons of inactivity since he had first sealed King Ghidorah away.

Elsewhere, in an underground bunker far away from any population centers, a pair of hollow eyes watched a monitor. The eyes belonged to an elderly man that had rejected his species long ago, and on the screen was footage of chaos committed by Destoroyah. His face showed no emotion at the scenes of death and destruction before him, as his mind worked to make an important decision.

He turned, gazing upon what had been a macabre decoration in his base of operations for a brief time, a centerpiece that would make the bravest of men cower in fear. The dull, golden remnant of the creature that had almost brought about the end of life on Earth. The pieces were falling into place as if by the will of a higher power, how could he not act now?

“Men!” Alan Jonah commanded, his deep voice carrying and grabbing all attention. “Get Ghidorah’s head ready for transport, and prepare to mobilize towards the nuclear power plant.”

Winner: Destoroyah