Author: Joshua Strittmatter | Banner: Andrew Sudomerski
A low, chittering rumble quaked from the jaws of the male MUTO as he stepped into the once still waters of Berg Lake at Mt. Robson Provincial Park, causing the biological mirror to ripple across the surface. Clouds of frozen vapor wisped from his jaws on contact with the cold autumn air as he waded through the waters, letting the cold water ignite the nerves in his limbs as he walked. The sun was beginning its course to set, daytime was turning to afternoon, and the already frigid air was about to turn even colder.
But this did nothing to deter the MUTO. His species could thrive anywhere- their great evolutionary strength was their environmental adaptability.
The male continued his walk; every time his scythed limbs impacted the lake floor caused fish great and small to jump out of the water before falling back in. Not very far away, the lacerated corpse of Methuselah lay near the edge of the lake, a crimson glow radiating from within the broken hole in his chest. That crimson glow belonged to none other than his offspring, all neatly deposited within the radioactive carcass to gestate on the scrumptious nuclear energy. The cold water dripping off his limbs as he stepped onto land with a quake, the MUTO trudged over to the corpse of the slain Titan and lowered his head to peek into the shattered ribcage for a better look.
Within the dozens of eggs that his mate had laid, underdeveloped embryos lay curled in the fetal position inside their protective jelly, their strength steadily growing and their recognizable shape of the species ever so slowly forging to perfection. It would be quite a long time before they were developed enough to hatch and begin moving, but even from within their eggs the young were already letting out a series of audible, dolphin-like chirps and chatters. Communicating with each other, and all those around them in the outside world.
The male croaked to them. At once, all of them chittered right back.
A fair distance away, the massive female MUTO watched fondly as her mate communicated with their unborn offspring for a moment, then eventually resumed his walk. While the male patrolled their territory, the female stood still in her vigilance. The biological visor that acted as her eyes never left her mate nor her unborn offspring- if there were any threats in the vicinity, they would not be going by unnoticed.
Unfortunately for them, some didn’t want to go by undetected to begin with.
A thunderous croak made both MUTOs snap their heads up in both alarm and recognition- especially the female. Primordial instincts flared to life and she galloped over to the middle of the lake, grunting for the male to get behind her. The language and intent of that call was clear to her- that was a courtship call if she ever heard one, and one from what sounded like an unusually big specimen.
The male backed away towards Methuselah’s corpse as the female barked loudly, demanding the unseen intruder to leave this place at once. No sooner did her angry voice finish echoing through the canyons did the intruder show itself from behind the mountains. The female could not show facial expression, but the abnormally bright glow of her visor sufficed perfectly for a savage glare as she faced the newcomer. It was another MUTO, sure enough, but this individual was different. She was even larger than the female she faced, with massive trunk-like arms adorned in shining orange scales. Pointed spires towered behind her head; oversized claws walked on their knuckles in a gorilla-like fashion; and two spider-like mandibles clattered beneath her jaw.
MUTO Prime grumbled a deep thunder as she stepped into the lake, her visor brightening the moment she saw the female. Then, she let her gaze wander for a second- and stopped when she spotted two things that grabbed her attention. One was what she was searching for: a male MUTO. Although her method of reproduction was different to that of the standard members of her species, it still required fertilization from another before the spores were viable. However, what lay beside him began to spur dark thoughts through her prehistoric mind. The unmistakable glow of a batch of MUTO eggs. This male and female had reproduced! As long as this female and their unborn offspring were around, the male would not be receptive to her advances. She couldn’t produce her own young to thus birth a generation carrying her genes.
And that only left one option in her mind. Destroy the eggs!
But as she moved forward, the female stepped in her path, growling like an enraged elephant. MUTO Prime bellowed angrily. This smaller beast thought she could stand up to her? Did she have any idea what kind of stunt she was pulling?! It was one thing to challenge a rival of the same subspecies- it was quite another to challenge the apex of the race! Had this female lost her sanity?
The truth was, the female MUTO did know what kind of move she was making- and she didn’t care. She didn’t care that her rival was the parent superspecies to her race, didn’t care that this armored goliath was essentially the queen of their species. This knuckle-walking brute couldn’t just waltz into her home uninvited and destroy everything she and her mate had worked so hard to create while replacing it with her own work. She would not allow it. Size did not matter to the female MUTO. This abomination was an alpha species- and with that came the notion that she was too used to being top dog. Too used to getting her way.
The female MUTO was gonna put an end to that notion one way or another. She was gonna teach this prideful parasite a lesson. Should this oversized giant get anywhere near her mate or offspring, and she would tear her apart. Behind her, the male crouched low over the nest with wings spread, chittering a low warning as he waited for the outcome of his mate’s current stand-off.
MUTO Prime roared a second time, telling the female to get out of her way. But the female only screamed into her face, refusing to budge. The motion actually startled the larger MUTO, who took a step back. The female roared, demanding that the intruder leave this place at once. She wasn’t bluffing, and this was her last warning. But the larger Kaiju only pawed the water and growled her refusal. The female held her ground as she got into a combat stance, the stress setting in. Without looking back the she chirped softly to the male, telling him to stay where he was, causing him to crouch lower in response with a nervous chitter. In that moment, it was all too clear the outcome of the situation; nobody was gonna be backing down now.
This was going to get ugly.
MUTO Prime boomed a powerful roar, backing up for a charge. The female MUTO’s howling reply echoed throughout the mountains, rattling snow and sending any rodents, amphibians, and reptiles who had emerged scurrying back into their burrows. Ripping her scythed limbs through the water in a threatening motion, the MUTO showed zero fear in the face of what was supposedly an apex superspecies as she too backed up.
The sun’s light half hid behind a coming cloud, thus casting the lake in an eerie, almost otherworldly glow as the two titans finally charged like oversized rams. When they met in a collision strong enough to shatter canyons and shake the very earth, at first it seemed like MUTO Prime would obviously shove her way out. Muscling against the female MUTO, the larger monster seemed soon to topple the former family matriarch off her feet; but in her belief in pure physical might, she underestimated her foe. This was a determined mother. In a display that would’ve shocked Monarch to their core had they been present to witness the battle, the female MUTO began to push back and overpower her larger rival.
The female threw her entire upper body upwards, forcing the larger Titan up onto her hind legs. And then, unable to stay balanced, MUTO Prime fell onto her back with a colossal THUD! The MUTO rushed towards her downed opponent, but without consideration that said opponent could still attack. Before she could lunge for the kill, she caught a brief glimpse of MUTO Prime’s right claw headed straight for her face.
The next second, she felt a molten pain consume her head as she felt herself flying across the battlefield, before a new hurt devoured her skin as she crashed into the earth and dragged a massive trench of rock and dirt along with her. The instinct to protect her family immediately began to wage its own war with her pain, and the female began to summon the strength to get back on her feet. She could hear her rival’s roar of approval as she shook her head, the sound serving as a tremendous motivator to get up and running. Stabbing her scythes into the earth, the MUTO pushed back to her full height just as she felt the earth begin to rumble with unmistakable footfalls. The male MUTO cried out in distress for his injured mate.
MUTO Prime was charging.
The female’s instincts kicking back into gear, she thought fast and broke into her own sprint. Even with a painful headache, she could still make out MUTO Prime’s approaching shape- but she had a different strategy this time. As the orange-armed abomination was right on top of her, the female quickly ducked straight under and allowed the bigger monster to pass right on top of her. The larger MUTO realized her mistake too late as the female jerked upward, sending MUTO Prime flying over her head and crashing behind her.
The Unclean Thing flailed her massive arms as she attempted to right herself, screaming how she would butcher her foe and destroy her offspring. Had she been speaking or thinking in words, what her opponent did next would’ve made her eat them right quick. Lunging like a hunting dog, the female MUTO clamped her jaws around her enemy’s hind leg before proceeding to drag her screaming across the lake. MUTO Prime wailed in distress and thrashed, but in vain. There was no escape from the wrath of the angry mother; the female shook her head, digging her hooked jaws deeper into the bony leg with every yank.
MUTO Prime’s struggles grew painful to the point where she felt her leg was going to be torn off at any moment. She had no other option- she knew what had to be done.
As the female MUTO pulled and tugged, ripping great trenches along the edges of the mountains, MUTO Prime held her head steady as she aimed it at her adversary. Reddish electricity began to spark and sizzle around her eyes, catching the female MUTO’s attention. Before she could get an idea of what that meant, MUTO Prime’s jaws suddenly snapped open and a great wave of pure concussive sound roared from her mouth. The female MUTO immediately relinquished her grasp to wail like a tormented soul as the sonic roar ravaged her body like nothing had ever in her life, cracking skin and bone alike and carving bloody scars all across her monolithic form. Unable to stay standing in one place, the female backed away as MUTO Prime climbed to her feet while continuing to roar, not stopping until she ran out of breath.
But even through the haze of agony that devoured her senses, the female MUTO reacted upon instinct. For she had not lost the will to fight back- the state of motherhood had given her near-supernatural levels of tenacity and relentlessness. A devastating attack, her opponent possessed indeed… but the female had a counter.
Pushing herself to her full height through the sound waves that rippled through her body, the female MUTO bellowed in the face of defeat as she raised her claw, which had begun to glow a bright red that mirrored the eyes of her enemy. The Dragon Beetle would’ve narrowed her eyes in confusion had it been possible, but nonetheless continued to roar.
She was entirely unprepared for what came next.
The female MUTO roared and slammed her claw into the earth, and a powerful electromagnetic pulse burst from the scythed appendage to spread across the land for a total radius of five miles. The moment the pulse washed over MUTO Prime, her sonic roar suddenly stopped. Her eyes couldn’t widen, but the quick gasp she emitted as she jolted told her shock well enough. The Unclean Thing tried to summon her sonic roar again, but all she managed were a few measly sparks around her eyes before releasing a weak gurgle, the energy having all but drained from her.
A cold chill went down her spine.
Her elephantine skin was so covered in blood that her grisly scars couldn’t be seen, but the female MUTO sure as hell felt them. But it mattered not- her primeval mind had snapped back to full reality, and her already heightened aggression combed with the sheer agony lacing her being soon gave way to clouding her mind with a fog of vengeance.
She charged.
MUTO Prime didn’t have time to react as she was steamrolled by her smaller rival. How could everything have suddenly gone so wrong? She had pulled out her trump card, had put her enemy on the ropes! This fight should’ve been over right now, the eggs should’ve been destroyed and the male hers for the taking! And yet she found herself lain upon the earth, pierced again and again by the claws of her enemy, continuously trampled beneath the heel of the foe she considered inferior. Even her great armor did nothing to stop the blood-spurting trenches the MUTO’s scythes ripped through her body.
MUTO Prime shrilled miserably under the claws of the female MUTO, who screamed infuriatedly as she vented her rage on her offspring’s wannabe attacker. At this point, only one instinct overtook her primeval mind- survival. Every wound she suffered for every second decreased the chances of that happening. There was nothing else to be done- she had to get out of here. She had suffered enough injury as it was, and already her wounds were serious. If she tried to continue fighting, it was unlikely she’d survive the night.
And the female MUTO wasn’t showing any mercy.
MUTO Prime lashed out with a fist just as the female threw another claw down to pierce her bronze hide, temporarily stunning the eight-legged beast. This was it- this was her chance. With a powerful fear greater than any she had ever felt in her life, MUTO Prime clambered to her feet and began to run as fast as she could. Not even passing a glance at the male or Methuselah’s egg-laden corpse, the once unbeatable predator was now fleeing for her life as the female quickly recovered and galloped after her, hot on her trail like a blood-soaked missile.
The female knew Prime was fleeing. She knew that she had already won the fight. But that didn’t mean she was finished dealing her punishment just yet. She still had more to say on the matter.
Catching up to the knuckle-walking beast, the female MUTO snagged MUTO Prime by the neck with her hooked jaws. As the parent superspecies wailed in pain, the female used all of her strength to turn the larger monster about and, with one hard thrust forward, throw her clear through the entrance she had come through in the first place. Slung onto her back a good two hundred meters away, Prime groaned as she rolled over back onto her stomach. For a minute she considered resting, to recover enough strength to get to her feet painlessly- a plan that was quickly put to an end when the female MUTO loosed an angry roar followed by a warning charge. MUTO Prime did her best to ignore the agony she was in as she ran. She didn’t dare look back, she just kept running. Even when she knew that she was far beyond the reach of her opponent, the female MUTO’s last fading roar spurred her to keep going like her life depended on it.
The female MUTO reared up on her hind legs as she howled in triumph, warning the defeated fool to stay out. Then, bringing herself back to the ground, the bloodied colossus sighed in exhaustion as she turned about face, slowly lumbering back to the nest. The male chirped in relief as he flapped over to his mate, where she leaned down to nuzzle him. Her partner, and her brood, were safe.
It had never been a greater day to be an underdog.
*****
A week had passed since the colossal skirmish.
The female MUTO sighed contently as she looked over the alpine landscape that comprised of her and her mate’s territory. Her eye-like visor pulsed with radioactive bioluminescence as she scoured her home, her tongue clicking every now and then as she tested her echolocation, trying to locate as many organisms in the vicinity as possible, threat or otherwise. The cracks and scars that adorned her elephantine flesh added to her already imposing physique, and while they occasionally ached every now and then they did nothing to slow her movements down.
There had been no sign of MUTO Prime for seven days, and the MUTOs couldn’t have been happier about it.
The female yawned as she began her descent down the slope, back down to the lake where her mate and brood resided. Her shift was over, and now the male was preparing to take flight. Their species could go quite a while without food, but nonetheless it would certainly increase their chances of survival and success if he found and brought back a source of radiation for them to snack on. The female grumbled softly to her mate, who chittered back in reply. Then, unfurling his wings like a cape, the male flapped and lifted off the ground. The female watched as her mate rose higher into the air, before then gaining velocity and soaring out over the mountains. The eight-legged beast turned back to her unhatched brood. It was time for another several hours of guard duty.
At least, that’s what she wished was gonna happen.
A familiar howl echoed through the winds like the cry of a wolf, causing the female’s visor to light up considerably. Her scythed limbs dug into the ground as she rose, a low growl resounding from her gut. For a moment she felt her anger flare, her blood beginning to heat as she waited for this potential challenger to call again… and sure enough, it did.
Her reaction this time, however, was different. For one thing, the call was not from the rival who had given her body its scars. This call she was familiar with as well, and rather than fuel a need for conflict it instead peaked her interest. It was the cry of another female MUTO- and she was in distress.
*****
Large wisps of breathly vapor fogged from the jaws of the injured MUTO as she panted painfully. Her muscles throbbed; her limbs shook so badly that she could barely stand. Fresh, horrific burns were etched into her pitch-black skin, crimson embers still flaking off the horrendous injuries. The barbed female groaned in agony as she took a shaky step forward, limping as strongly as her sore muscles would allow. However, when a contraction suddenly coursed through her lower abdomen, she instantly dropped to the ground with a roar.
Her pregnancy was beginning to fester.
The MUTO took a moment to regain her breath, inhaling and exhaling massive clouds of vapor that permeated the trees with frost due to the mix of cold and warm temperatures. Panting like an exhausted feline, the arthropodal amphibian waited until her contractions steadied, before digging her scythed limbs into the cold soil and pushing, straining as hard as she could against the exhaustion crawling through her injured form as she struggled to get back to her feet.
She couldn’t stay here. Her children would be born soon- and the destroyer was not far behind.
A heartbroken groan bassed from the female’s throat as she contemplated everything that had happened in the past seven minutes, her frightened mind trying desperately to push such memories away for the time being.
Her mate bellowed a warning, wings spread wide and scythes raised.
She called back, unsure of what was going on.
A terrible cry, like the howl of a demonic entity, answered back.
Carnage ensued, so quickly she barely had time to register what was happening.
Her mate, pinned beneath the heels of Death, called out to her one last time, telling her to run, which she did.
A burst of hellfire, followed by a final scream of agony before going silent…
The ground began to rhythmically tremble, a telltale sign of approaching footfalls. Something was arriving on her position, and quite fast at that. The MUTO fought ever harder to stand, her panting increasing just as quickly as her heartbeat. But as she began to move, another contraction waved through her lower region, eliciting a cry of pain that she tried desperately to keep as quiet as possible. Her visor brightening from stress, she looked around like a frightened prairie dog in a desperate attempt to locate her pursuer.
And she froze, unsure of what to do when the source of the tremors came into view.
*****
The female stopped short when the second MUTO came into her sights. At first, she simply remained standing in one spot, staring at the new female. Unsure of what to do other than size her up. For one thing, this newcomer was slightly smaller than her, and had small barbed spires rising from the back of her neck. Spires that partially reminded her of MUTO Prime- but she could tell that this was certainly no Jinshin Mushi.
Then the second detail came to mind: this female was pregnant. The pouch of transparent skin in her lower region glowed luminously with the hundreds of jelly-like eggs within, each housing an underdeveloped tadpole slowly perfecting its form. The smaller female remained crouched low to the ground, trying her best to hold her unborn offspring out of harm’s reach. And from what the larger female could tell, this pregnancy was in its final stages. This mother-to-be would lay her eggs soon, there was no other way around it.
But the third detail sparked a reaction in the larger female: as if the clear labor pains she was displaying wasn’t enough, her barbed counterpart was also gravely wounded. And she had no mate with her. The larger female took a step forward- and the smaller one back, lowering herself defensively. She was scared out of her mind and didn’t try to hide it.
A haunting scream howled over the mountains, causing both MUTOs to jump in shock. The barbed female groaned miserably.
The destroyer was here.
Summoning all the strength she could, the barbed MUTO rose to her feet and began to limp away as fast as her limbs could carry her. She paid no attention to direction or scent; all she knew was that her life was never more in danger than it was right now, and she needed to get as far away from the coming threat as possible before death found her. Another wave of pain coursed through her abdomen, but she pressed on. She was going to need to muscle through the pain if her unborn brood was to survive. However, another convulsion nearly brought the pregnant amphibian to her knees. The larger MUTO called out to her, wanting to know the cause of her fleeing.
Another terrible scream from the distance.
An eyeless, grotesque head reared over the mountains, howling a chaotic cry of pure malevolence to the heavens. Veins of lava pulsed through a body forged from the very rock that made up the mountains, a muscular physique pulling itself up to the top of the scar of limestone that ran across the earth to beat its chest like a demonic gorilla, roaring a hollow war cry. A gaping fish-like mouth shone with the same glowing magma that coursed through the golem’s musculature and veins, two ear-like appendages of solid rock protruded behind its hideous skull like rabbit ears. A short yet thick tail swung behind it as it stood to its full height, screaming for bloodshed.
The MUTOs backed away as the hideous golem reared up on its hind legs with another terrible cry, balling his hands into fists and bringing them down onto the peaks of the hills and crushing them like they didn’t exist. As an avalanche of rock and earth tumbled forward, the lava monster leaped right over the earthen peaks without a second thought, crashing to the ground on all fours and lumbering towards the frightened MUTOs like the impending omen of doom he was. Obsidius raised his arms to the heavens and bellowed, announcing the coming of their imminent deaths.
The larger MUTO thrust her forelimbs into the ground and roared a warning to the volcanic abomination, but Obsidius didn’t cease his charge. Beside her, the barbed female began to limp away, but another contraction forced her to her knees. Obsidius roared evilly as he neared her- and was suddenly knocked back when the larger MUTO charged into him. Skidding back on his feet, the golem bellowed a noise that almost sounded akin to a mocking chuckle, before then proceeding to march back towards his new foe. The scythe-limbed amphibian reared her arms up as she prepared to bring them down upon the terrible golem, but Obsidius grabbed them with both hands and shoved forward, sending the predator stumbling back. As the MUTO began to recover her footing, Obsidius lashed out with a fist and socked the nucleovore in the chest, knocking her flat on her back.
The golem roared and reared back, puffing out his rocky chest as his mouth began to shine with an infernal glow. Instinctively the pregnant female reacted, knowing that a most horrifying attack awaited her counterpart if she didn’t do something fast. Her eyes flashing a bright red, an electromagnetic pulse erupted from a hidden organ deep within her prehistoric body, washing over the golem and widening into a sphere of influence that carried for miles.
Obsidius halted for a moment, the glow in his gaping maw dimming ever so slightly. He turned his eyeless head towards the barbed female, who struggled to stand back to her full height before another contraction made her regret that choice. And then, his head shaking backwards to point towards the sky, the golem broke into a brief fit of mocking laughter at the predator’s feeble attempt at disarming him. The barbed MUTO watched in horror as, with a deep breath, Obsidius spat a streaming river of lava upon the downed female, eliciting a loud scream of agony from the nucleovore.
The larger female instantly began to struggle, kicking and thrashing as she desperately tried to keep focus and regain her footing while the golem’s molten breath barbecued her elephantine flesh. But just as the blast ended and she pushed herself off her feet, a pair of rocky fists slammed down upon her back, sending her falling right back. Obsidius reared over her with a devilish cry, pounding his chest- a mistake. Near-instantly, the female kicked her back legs out, hitting those of her enemy and tripping him up, sending him falling on his back while she at last began to find her footing again.
While turning about and keeping the golem in her line of sight, the female directed a cry towards her barbed counterpart, telling her to flee; this was no place for a pregnant, injured mother-to-be. A request that the barbed female, despite how heavily pregnant she was, tried with every fiber to obey as she strained herself up, limping onward with sheer determination to protect her unborn young. Obsidius turned his eyeless head towards her with a sadistic snarl, but the larger female took this as the perfect opportunity to charge. The golem swung a fist out- but, recalling a battle with an old enemy, the MUTO ducked under and hoisted Obsidius onto her back before bucking upwards, throwing him clear over her head. But as she turned around, she bore witness to a shocking surprise; before he even hit the ground, the golem had curled himself into a ball. The moment he struck the earth he began to roll around, circling the battlefield as he began to veer towards the limping barbed female.
Instantly, the larger MUTO ran in front of the mother-to-be, digging her scythes into the ground as she braced herself for the inevitable. The impact of 78,000 metric tons of hardened magma colliding with her prehistoric flesh all but knocked the wind out of her massive lungs. She fought with every ounce of her strength to keep her scythes ingrained in the earth as she skidded back, digging great trenches in the soil as she just barely kept her footing, all the while the golem bounced away. The evil beast unfurled and landed on all fours, howling menacingly as the MUTO gasped an agonizing gulp of oxygen in an effort to regain her breath. Unfortunately, the lava monster wouldn’t give her such an opportunity and fired another burst of searing lava, enveloping her right shoulder and eliciting a terrible howl of pain.
Obsidius growled contently as the corners of his jaws curled back, the closest he could possibly get to smiling with pleasure… before two scythes skewered his chest as a pair of feet planted upon his shoulder!
Two massive wings flapped a great gust of wind over his head as the golem cried out in rage, spinning around with swinging claws in an attempt to dislodge his new attacker. The male MUTO bellowed in defiance as he reared one of his arms up before plunging it through the golem’s body- but recoiled and leaped away with a scream of pain when the magma that substituted for blood burned his limbs. Obsidius roared as he turned to face the male MUTO, glaring at him even without discernible eyes. The EMP that the barbed female had given off wasn’t just an attempt of disarming him; it was a potential distress call, one that could be heard for miles. The male must’ve picked it up and come to investigate its source- such were the behavior of social animals.
An angry wail roared from the male’s jaws as he flapped his wings, taking flight back towards the volcanic obscenity. The golem snarled demonically and spat forth a burst of lava, but the male’s quick reflexes saved him from an agonizing fate as he flapped just above it, snagging Obsidius by the throat before wringing himself around onto his back like a bull rider. Obsidius roared and flailed madly as the winged predator bit down unto the base between his shoulder and neck, but once more was forced to recoil due to the mutant’s lava lifeblood. The golem reached up, but before he could grab the winged amphibian, something powerful slammed into him from behind.
The female MUTO bellowed her return to the combat as she pounced upon the stunned Obsidius, ripping at his monolithic body with her scythes.
*****
The barbed MUTO wailed as she finally fell to her knees, her quivering scythes ingrained in the soil as she slowly lowered her stomach down onto the ground to ease herself, crushing a great many trees in the process. She couldn’t move anymore, despite the grim truth that she hadn’t gotten very far from the ensuing battle. She could very clearly hear the roars of her mate’s murderer behind her, followed by the wails of her fellow MUTOs that she never knew existed in this territory until now. The nucleovorous predators could hold their own against the volcanic demon for only so long… before the inevitable happened. They couldn’t win against the horrible beast.
It was only a matter of time before they shared…
Another wave stung through the amphibian’s abdomen, coursing up through her entire body. Her labor pains were worsening by the minute, and now she had nowhere to go. The barbed MUTO was too overcome with the mounting agonies of childbirth to be able to so much as rise to her knees, and she was growing ever closer to the verge of laying her brood in a radiation-less wasteland, in the middle of a hopeless battle against a mortal enemy that had murdered their father. With the waves of agony that lingered through her body, the pangs of something else began to seep throughout her mind: despair. Everything was so bleak, so hopeless; her beloved was dead, her injured body wracked with the sensations of flaring pain receptors, her home long left behind, the lives of her children already hanging by the thinnest of threads… all of it.
A distant wail of agony echoed into her ears, and she just barely managed to lift her head to see the abominable horror known as Obsidius grab hold of the male MUTO’s leg and throw him into his mate like a ragdoll, the heavens splitting with his horrific roars of frenzied pleasure. Rearing his hands skyward and screaming like some devilish, blood-crazed berserker, Obsidius leaped at the downed titans with a terrible thrill.
The barbed MUTO wailed from the contraction that undulated through her lower body, the distant cries of battle beginning to become drowned out by a molten sense enveloping her very being, the concept of sight and sound beginning to become indiscernible amidst her own agony. She cried in despair, begging for the pain and sorrow to just end.
So captivated in her own mournful torment was she, that she didn’t make out the towering shape that lumbered towards her on two great pillars of arms clad in orange scales.
*****
MUTO Prime thundered a surprised growl upon seeing the injured MUTO, trudging towards the distressed creature with growing curiosity. She had heard the EMP from a mile away, amplifying her echolocative skills and enticing her back to this territory once again. All MUTOs were capable of giving specific frequencies to their EMPs, and different frequencies could tell different emotions- and this one sounded like a clear distress call. And upon finding its source, curiosity turned to dreaded shock when she saw the full state of the barbed female- she wasn’t just hideously injured, she was pregnant. And heavily pregnant at that. She was on the verge of giving birth, and she had no source of radiation to expose them to. And that’s when the next detail dawned on her: this female had no mate with her. She could very clearly smell brief after-traces of a male MUTO on her, but no such presence accompanied her.
She was alone.
A blasphemous howl unlike anything MUTO Prime had ever heard in her millions of years of life suddenly screamed into existence to burn itself into her mind for as long as she lived henceforth, and she looked up to view its source. Had her eyes been capable of widening, they would be big as miniature asteroids when she looked upon the sacrilegious horror that terrorized two familiar faces she hadn’t seen in a week, just a few hundred meters ahead. The female MUTO who defeated her, the one who had given her a fresh adornment of scars and chased her out of this territory, as well as her mate. And they were being slung around like children’s toys by a living mountain of searing magma and volcanic limestone. A most wretched beast that screamed its vile war cry again and again as it pummeled the MUTO pair with merciless cruelty.
MUTO Prime looked back to the barbed female who lay helpless and in horrible torment before her, looking over the fresh burns that adorned her once gray, elephantine skin. The pregnant amphibian croaked miserably, feebly scratching her hooked limbs against the soil as her groin convulsed again. The larger kaiju looked to the battle ahead, then back to the crippled mother-to-be. In that moment, the Dragon Beetle came to a decision, and only now as she lumbered towards the suffering MUTO did the female wail out once more in tortured despair.
Sliding her head under the MUTO’s abdominal region, Jinshin Mushi began to hoist the barbed predator up off the ground. The strain on her muscles made the MUTO cry out in pain again, but as she lifted MUTO Prime took the rest of the body up with her, and in seconds she had lifted the pregnant Kaiju onto her back. Instinctively, the MUTO hooked her scythes onto the larger monster’s shoulders, knowing full well what was coming. Making sure her passenger was now safely in tow, MUTO Prime began to gallop away at her top speed. There was still time to exploit; this MUTO needed radiation for her unborn children.
And she knew just the place to find it.
*****
The male MUTO flapped off the ground just as Obsidius pounced on his former position, twisting around to hover facing the volcanic berserker. Obsidius stamped the ground with a primal aggression and roared at the prehistoric amphibian, demanding his blood be spilt today. His mouth beginning to heat up with an infernal light, Obsidius reared back as the male MUTO recognized his vile intentions and dove away. However, the winged predator failed to notice the golem’s true plan. Thinking Obsidius was going to try and blast her mate out of the sky, the female MUTO barreled into a charge towards the vile monstrosity.
If only his lips were capable of pulling fully back, for Obsidius wished he could smile.
Whipping his head around faster than the female MUTO thought he could, Obsidius watched the split-second of the MUTO’s face falling in shock before he unloaded his superheated cargo onto her flesh. The force of the blast was so great it sent the wailing MUTO careening backwards and crashing onto her back, howling with agony as the golem refused to cease his horrible assault and continued to sear her flesh. The only thing that stopped Obsidius from roasting her alive was the male MUTO flying in to plunge his claws through the top of the golem’s head- but, unlike an ordinary creature of flesh and blood, Obsidius did not die.
Instead, the volcanic superorganism went into a frenzied rage, thrashing and bucking around at an intensity that even the male MUTO couldn’t keep up with. If such thrashing didn’t put the nail in the coffin for the MUTO’s plan, then the golem’s superheated blood that boiled his limbs did. Ripping them out in showers of magma, the MUTO flew to retreat- only for a rocky, clawed hand to grab him by the leg. Even flapping his wings with all his power did nothing to stop Obsidius from turning about face and slinging the amphibian to the earth chest-first, roaring a hollow cackle in response. The male MUTO bellowed in frustration as he tried to move, but before he could, Obsidius yanked him upwards and slammed him down on the other side, knocking the wind out of him.
Despite her hideous wounds, the female MUTO managed to struggle to her feet. However, this time, she did not attack outright; such a tactic had proved futile before. Instead, the eight-legged predator lowered herself down in a hunched position, and began to stalk the volcanic obscenity like a big cat. Obsidius was so engrossed in slinging the male around like a dog toy, he didn’t seem to notice the female’s slow approach. Her plan seemed to be working.
The male MUTO roared in defiance as he twisted himself in mid-fling, landing on his limbs as Obsidius slung him to the ground once more. However, unlike before, the golem didn’t lift him back off the ground- instead he stepped forward and slammed a rocky foot down onto his back, eliciting a pained cry. The amphibian tried to fight back against the strain, but the evil golem was too strong and pressed down harder.
A booming bellow of fury exploded from the female’s jaws as she finally made her move and pounced, springing onto the volcanic obscenity and taking him completely by surprise. Obsidius roared in rage as he found himself trampled under the MUTO’s wrath, her scythes skewering his body in repeated bursts of rock and geysers of magma. Even with the molten rock that seared her skin with every strike, the radioactive predator was blind in her rage as she struck Obsidius with repeated strikes of her hooked limbs, punching hole after hole in the solid rock that substituted for his flesh. Obsidius swiped at her face, but the giant amphibian grasped the golem by the wrist in her hooked jaws and bit down as hard as she could, all the while still continuing to spear his rocky physique.
With his free hand the geothermal maniac swiped again, this time actually managing to claw the prehistoric predator across the forehead, but still she refused to relent and bit down harder, stabbing with greater strength into his rock-strewn body. But as valiant as her efforts were, as great the wounds she rended in Obsidius’ ghastly form, her tactics were only serving to further enrage the terrible golem, strike by strike. When the MUTO raised another claw, Obsidius reacted just as fast and grabbed it in his hand, and wasted not a second as he yanked it to the side, smacking it against one of her other limbs. As the MUTO tripped, the golem thrust his hand forward and planted his palm straight into her face, sending her reeling back with a painful howl.
The female MUTO shook her head with a booming wail as she fought to keep standing, holding all six locomotive limbs planted firmly into the ground as she regained her senses- and not a moment too soon. The nucleovore bolted to the right just as a searing burst of lava lanced right through where she had been standing a second ago, boiling the mountainous limestone behind her instead. Obsidius jumped up and down and screamed his death chant towards the monogamous predators, informing them of the painful deaths he was to inflict upon them very soon.
The male MUTO, perched on the top of the mountain behind Obsidius and lowered into a panther-like crouch, seized his chance and took cues from his mate from earlier, pouncing off the peak and flying as silently as he could towards the insidious golem, scythes raised as he too attempted to take him by surprise- and was rewarded with a rocky, clawed hand reaching out and snagging him by the neck. Obsidius all but laughed as he threw the male straight towards his mate, who immediately lifted herself up as high as her massive body would allow and just barely managed to catch her mate, dropping him to the ground to soften his fall.
Such a moment was short-lived when a burst of lava slammed into her chest, knocking the female MUTO off her feet.
*****
The cavern wall shattered with one almighty blow. Thousands and thousands of tons of ancient mineral and solid rock cracked apart and fell in one colossal rain of stone. Some were solid and opaque, the average rocks that one would often see when walking about on the shores of a river or creek. Some were highlighted in countless different shades of color, brightening the dense and usual gray to add some color to the darkness. And some were both brilliantly colorful in multiple differing shades, and translucent as if they were made of glass; these were minerals that were often looked upon by humans as the basis for precious gems, jewels, and nuggets.
Diamond, pearl, emerald, amethyst, ruby, sapphire, even traces of silver and gold; all were valued by humankind as among the strongest sources of wealth on the planet. But to the prehistoric elder beast known to humanity as MUTO Prime, it was all but just a falling obstacle out of the way that happened to contain a dazzling shower of color. It was but a temporary spectacle of beauty as ton by ton, the shower of rock fell into a useless heap before her hooked knuckles as she waded into the now-exposed hollow that was so massive, it dwarfed even the largest Titans in existence.
On her back, even in her pained stupor, the barbed female MUTO would’ve widened her eyes if she could have when she lifted her head to gaze upon the incredible sight.
The colossal hallways went on for miles and in multiple directions, extending deep into the farthest depths of the mountains and beyond. And, from floor to wall to ceiling, the entire cavern itself was all composed of one mineral and one mineral only. All across the makeshift geological dungeon, the very being of the cavern was made up of countless cyan gemstones that absolutely reeked of the most potent of radioactivity. Coursed with it. Emitted it like no other substance had ever before. Even now the pregnant MUTO could feel her body absorbing certain portions of its properties as her mount carried her through the cavern, searching for a suitable location to place her.
MUTO Prime had only discovered this location yesterday, by nothing but sheer coincidence; but nonetheless, when her senses had alerted her to the presence of such incredibly potent radiation, she had followed her nose as she always did, and had thus stumbled across this goldmine of the most mysterious and sought after mineral in the world: Element X. As such, she established it as her new territory- and now, she saw that it would prove to serve more purposes than just one.
MUTO Prime grumbled softly to her pregnant passenger as she finally ceased her walk, deeming this smooth patch of ground suitable enough. Gently lowering herself into a hunch, she slowly slid the barbed MUTO onto her stomach upon the Element X that made up the ground, before finally rising back up to her full height as she backed up a bit. As if on cue, the MUTO let out a blaring wail of pain that echoed through the caverns like the howl of a mournful banshee- it was happening. There was no stopping nor delaying it now.
The MUTO was giving birth.
Her lower regions finally began their quickening, more prominent convulsions as they began to expel their infantile cargo. Groans and bellows of labor echoing from her massive jaws to reverberate off the caverns as her cloaca expanded to begin dispensing with her young; thus, the female MUTO started to lay her eggs. Pulse after pulse, with tremendous effort that only the females of her species were capable of she pushed out the next generation, until what seemed like hours contained to only a solid thirty seconds of great pain finally came to an end.
It was all over.
A wearied clatter croaked from the MUTO’s throat as she finally laid her head upon the Element X-laden ground to rest, inhaling a much-needed deep breath of air. MUTO Prime rumbled a thunderous dolphin-like chatter as she knelt down to inspect the once-pregnant titan, checking her over as she remained on the ground all but unmoving. Another deep sigh escaped the MUTO’s vocal cords as she remained stationary, for the time being unable to find her feet.
She was absolutely exhausted.
Noting this fact, MUTO Prime reached down and sank her beaked jaws into the ground, with a bite force up there with the strongest on the animal kingdom, and with a loud CRACK pulled a sizable chunk of delectable Element X free from the ground. Then, with a throaty chatter that was so deep it would’ve made a human being’s ears explode, she leaned down and held it in front of the barbed MUTO’s face, the female noticing and lifting her tired head up to inspect it. The very scent it gave off was mouthwatering, and its glow was so heavenly so as to be downright hypnotic.
MUTO Prime was offering it to her as a gift.
Instinctively, the smaller MUTO reached up with all her strength and snagged the radioactive piece in her jaws, and with one efficient yet lazy motion snapped it up and swallowed it, ingesting its contents. Near instantly the properties of the poisonous gems began to re-energize her fatigued build from the inside out. Her body finally filled with enough radiation to keep her going for the next few hours, the slowly healing nucleovore tilted her head around as she finally gazed upon the results of her torturous labor, and a gentle wailing trill crooned from her jaws. Behind her, sprawled about in a large batch, was the unmistakable sight of dozens upon dozens of glowing MUTO eggs- and within each translucent orb of jelly, she could clearly make out the distinctive shape of an unborn, underdeveloped tadpole-like embryo curled inside. From the very moment those eggs had entered the world, the entire cavern was thus filled with the clicking, dolphin-like chatter of the unhatched MUTO tadpoles within; all of them immediately setting to practicing their echolocation skills upon birth.
An emotion that could only be described as joy set in to the MUTO’s mind.
MUTO Prime thundered a soft croon at the new mother, who chattered her gratitude to her in reply before laying her head back down. The copper-armed beast looked around, scoping the cavern out as she smelled the air, inhaling the intoxicating scent of the Element X. She was testing the area for which specific areas packed more radiation; some of the minerals were more potent than others. If either one of them was going to regain their strength, it would be better safe than sorry to seek out the most fit samples of Element X in the mountainous cavity. As she began to step towards a makeshift pillar of the poisonous minerals, she clicked her tongue as she let her echolocation do the work of scanning the territory- and came to a freezing halt.
Something was wrong.
Instantly, MUTO Prime’s senses detected the presence of something… unwelcoming. A scent that she had not detected at any time she had been here. She didn’t know what it was, she had never smelled anything like it before. But there was something about it that screamed ‘danger’ to her instincts, and as a result she immediately began to look from one direction to the other in an attempt to find-
MUTO Prime bellowed in pain when something sharp stabbed into her side- then, as suddenly as it came, its source dashed away and submerged itself behind one of the columns of Element X. The knuckle-walking amphibian thundered in rage as she demanded the intruder to come forth from hiding, tearing a trench in the crystal-laden ground with one of her clawed limbs.
Two yellow eyes devoid of any pupils fixed on her from within the mass of glowing crystals, looking her over with the most wicked of intent.
MUTO Prime barely had time to register the sound of fast-approaching footfalls, each one light as a feather- but with what little time she had she used well and swung one of her claws. A mere second before her blow connected, her attacker jumped gracefully over her spired body and landed just on her left. Three spheres of energy suddenly struck her other side as she began to turn around, eliciting a howl of pain from Jinshin Mushi. But this time, MUTO Prime muscled through it and charged her foe, who once more leaped away.
Only when the assaulter landed a good hundred meters away did MUTO Prime finally get a good look at the source of her pain- and her head jolted back in shock. A bipedal obscenity white as the snow that covered the mountains stood before her, with an entire dorsal region that was all but covered in violet spires of razor-sharp crystal. The beast’s very claws on its hands and feet were made of the same crystal material- as was the assortment of spikes on the end of its long, dog-like tail. A mouth full of teeth cracked to bear a crooked grin of malice as the beast lowered itself on all fours, scratching the crystalline ground with its mineral claws and producing a craggy, scratching noise that set MUTO Prime’s beak on edge. She roared a warning to the newcomer, but the crystalline terror only swiped its claws in mock attack before uttering a warped cry that reverberated through the cavernous cavities of Element X.
Krystalak grinned evilly. Such a pathetic display of power would be crushed out of existence when he showed this pitiful wretch what real power looked like!
The mineral menace lunged forth like a charging leopard, MUTO Prime trying to time her strike just right as she lashed out with a fist. Just inches in front of the appendage, Krystalak leaped up and somersaulted, flinging three purple spheres of energy from his tail that struck the giant amphibian in the face. MUTO Prime bellowed in pain as she reeled back, noticing that tiny shards of crystal were now stuck in her skin. Krystalak roared mockingly before lunging again, and this time the massive MUTO didn’t have time to counter. With the efficiency of a hunting wild dog, Krystalak leaped up and grabbed the Titan’s neck, wringing himself around as he landed atop her back!
Hissing sadistically, Krystalak lunged and bit down unto the back of her neck, sending MUTO Prime into a rage!
Bucking and running about like an enraged bull, the prehistoric predator thrashed in a maddened fury as she attempted to toss the crystal menace off of her, but Krystalak persisted with little trouble. As if to make matters worse for Jinshin Mushi, the unnatural beast thrust its tail down and jabbed it into the lower base of her shoulder.
So MUTO Prime changed her course of action.
Howling a thunderous roar, MUTO Prime suddenly began to walk backwards; slowly at first, but picking up pace quickly. Krystalak loosened his grip, confused as to what the hunchbacked beast was doing- and then gaped his jaws open in a painful gag when MUTO Prime slammed herself backwards into a wall, pinning him between her back and the wall. Krystalak tried to roar but couldn’t, the wind having been knocked out of him from the force of the hit. At least he was lucky enough not to have been impaled by the beast’s dorsal spires.
Wrenching herself to the side, MUTO Prime flung Krystalak to the floor around her before lashing out, and this time the crystalline terror was too fatigued to react as her fist slammed home and sent him flying across the cavern. The blow echoed across the cave like the crack of a thunderbolt, and Krystalak crashed to the mineral ground in a spray of Element X fragments. Not even wasting time, MUTO Prime broke into a sprint towards the crystal terror, but even having sustained such injuries Krystalak was not one to stay down so easily. Seconds before MUTO Prime reached his position the evil beast had leaped away, crawling up a mineral pillar like a monkey. The ebon colossus bellowed wrathfully at him like a dog at a cat in a tree, demanding him to come down.
Krystalak smiled. Be careful what you wish for.
His crystal spines suddenly glowing to life, Krystalak fired a violet beam of pure concentrated fragments of crystal material from his mouth. The Prism Beam smashed into MUTO Prime’s chest, eliciting a howl of agony from the elder beast. Capitalizing on her moment of pain, Krystalak leaped down and slammed into the prehistoric brute. MUTO Prime bellowed in defiance, which turned to one of pain when the crystal menace loosed another Prism Beam that struck her side. The ancient predator swung her fist, but Krystalak jumped up before somersaulting. Instinctively, MUTO Prime held up her arm as the energy blasts struck the copper appendage, blocking them from hitting her face. She lowered her arm, and Krystalak was already lunging towards her.
MUTO Prime struck.
Her claw lashed out, and once more, the crystal fiend leaped over her head. Near-instantly she whirled about as she lashed out a second time, and a Prism Beam struck her face. MUTO Prime cursed herself for failing to hit the wicked creature, which only got worse when Krystalak lunged in and slashed her across the face, deepening her already painful injuries. Survival instincts taking over, MUTO Prime backed up, not wanting to risk him taking out her eyes.
She needed to be careful from here on out. She needed to be tactful.
Thundering a deep chatter, MUTO Prime hunched down like a hunting puma as she glared at the living mountain of crystals that was Krystalak, who leered back at her through narrowed yellow eyes. Hunched down like a wrestler prepared to throw down, arms spread, Krystalak hissed a mocking challenge at the ancient predator, trying to entice her to charge. But MUTO Prime stayed put, her only reply being a low growl that vibrated down the fiend’s spine. She was not falling for his tricks this time- she needed to try and beat him at his own game.
An alien snarl hissing from his toothed jaws, Krystalak began to circle the brutish behemoth through the cavern; the giant amphibian never taking her line of sight off him. MUTO Prime boomed a savage rumble as the evil creature continued to circle her- before he suddenly broke into a sprint.
Where he ran towards made MUTO Prime break into a run of her own.
Yellow eyes widened with delighted thrill as the crystalline terror charged towards the barbed female MUTO, still laying exhausted on the ground in front of her newborn batch of eggs, his crystal spines glowing purple as he neared the unhatched infants, his mouth beginning to shine the same color as he prepared to wipe out the poor batch with one fell swoop-
-and was knocked sprawling when MUTO Prime intercepted him at the last second.
This time, the Unclean Thing took no chances and snagged the fallen beast’s tail in her jaws before turning back around, proceeding to charge deeper into the cavern. Jutting her head up and down as she ran, the enraged Titan killer smacked the crystal fiend against the floor again and again- before going out of her way to swing her head while still keeping her grip intact, smacking the beast against one of the pillars. Keeping her jog up, she twisted her colossal body about and changed directions, running onward before she swung her head a second time, smacking him against another column of Element X.
Skidding to a halt, MUTO Prime growled through her closed jaws as she flung her head a third time, slinging Krystalak against the same pillar with a loud boom. Even before he cried out in pain MUTO Prime had lifted him into the air before yanking him down to the ground. With a powerful roar, Jinshin Mushi wailed upon the downed fiend with ferocious blow after blow of her oversized claws, letting her rage explode as she vented her long-contained fury upon him. The crystalline terror tried to defend from the vicious onslaught, but MUTO Prime was beating into him too hard. The ground shook and the caverns rattled with every blow as MUTO Prime tried her hardest to make the mineral menace one with the Element X that made up the very fabric of the geological expansion they fought in.
Krystalak smiled.
His spines flashed with the same violet hue, but MUTO Prime ignored it and intensified her assault. A move that would prove to be a big mistake indeed; a powerful surge of energy suddenly exploded from Krystalak’s body, slamming into MUTO Prime at full furious force and knocking her a formidable three-hundred meters away on her back with a thunderous howl of shocked agony.
MUTO Prime grumbled in agony as she tried to move, but her muscles ached so badly that it tested her to her limits just to roll halfway over. She couldn’t comprehend where that had come from, how her horrid foe had been able to conjure such an unnatural ability, but whatever it was made of had left her crippled beyond comprehension. She couldn’t tell whether or not any bones had been broken from the hit, she was in so much pain. Laying her head upon the radioactive crystals of Element X that comprised of the ground, the giant amphibian gasped and panted for air while she waited for her body to fully regain its senses, trying to conserve whatever strength she had left…
A Prism Beam slammed into her chest, knocking the wind out of her. Even in spite of her dazed state, Krystalak’s hollow laughter echoed through her ears, informing her of his return to the upper hand of the combat. The crystal demon laughed before blasting MUTO Prime again, relishing in her wail of pain. But even before she had finished, Krystalak had broke into a cheetah-like sprint and closed the distance between him and her in seconds. Leaping upon the weakened Titan, Krystalak began to assail her with repeated slashes and jabs of his diamond-hard claws; even her natural armor failed to protect her from the horrid gashes the fiendish horror rended into her flesh. Krystalak roared pleasurably as he continued to hack bleeding trenches into MUTO Prime’s weakened body, her crimson lifeblood spilling out in repeated bursts to stain the radioactive ground. The crystalline terror decided such torment wasn’t enough and lashed out with his tail, jabbing its crystal tips into her belly and eliciting a louder roar of agony from the Dragon Beetle. Another Prism Beam followed suit, blasting her in the neck.
Krystalak growled a sadistic snarl as he lashed out again, rending another trio of bloody gashes in the Titan’s flesh before he reared back, preparing to blast her point-blank in the face.
An otherworldly howl nearly made his ears explode when a massive body slammed into him at forces that put a Russian freight train to shame, knocking him off his prey and slamming him against another pillar. Despite the colossal force of the blow the pillar still continued to stand, its rocky hold proving strong. With an exhausted wail, MUTO Prime lifted her skull off the ground as she fought to regain her eyesight, trying to get a glimpse of her savior- even though she already knew who it was.
Blaring a wrathful bellow, the barbed female MUTO lashed out with a scythed limb, slashing open the side of Krystalak’s neck. Howling in equal parts pain and rage, the crystalline abomination reeled back just as she lashed out with another scythe, plunging it into the ground where he had just been standing seconds ago. Bending down into a defensive position, Krystalak hissed like a demented cross between a tiger and a crocodile as the recovered MUTO faced him.
Suddenly, the MUTO lunged at him, the crystal menace jutting backwards just as the multi-limbed predator snapped her jaws mere inches from his face- an intentional mock-charge on the MUTO’s part. Before Krystalak could retaliate, the MUTO lashed out with another of her limbs, her scythe curled into the closest her species could get to a fist and clocked it against Krystalak’s face. Howling in pain, the evil creature recoiled just as the female MUTO took the opportunity to take him-
-and recoiled herself when his tail swiped in an arc, letting loose a trio of energy blasts that struck her in the abdomen.
Both monsters stepped away from each other as they recovered from one another’s respective attacks; however, it was unfortunately Krystalak who took advantage of it first. Bounding towards the multi-legged nucleovore, Krystalak slammed head-on into her. The female MUTO roared in pain as she dug her limbs into the ground to prevent herself from sliding a good distance back, and not a moment too soon. Grinning another wicked smile, Krystalak turned about face to aim his spike-covered back towards the MUTO. Instinctively, the giant amphibian ducked low just as Krystalak jumped backwards, thrusting herself up only when he was just above her head. Knocking him in the torso, she sent him skidding backwards behind her.
A Prism Beam erupted from his gaping jaws, striking the back of her skull and flooring her flat.
Quick as a demonic ninja, Krystalak leaped onto her back. The MUTO wailed in distress as the sadistic fiend jabbed his tail crystals into her thigh, grinning at the blood that flowed from her injury. But he didn’t give her a moment to mourn before he slammed his foot down on her head, knocking it against the ground. Groaning painfully, the nucleovore was helpless as Krystalak turned around again, leaping into the air and repositioning himself as he prepared to land his crystal quills upon the wounded MUTO…
MUTO Prime roared in outrage as she stampeded seemingly out of nowhere to body-slam him in mid-air, knocking him flat like a soccer ball against the nearest pillar. Fragments of Element X and his own bodily crystals splintered as Krystalak crashed against the geological column with a hollow roar. His eyes snapped open to find MUTO Prime’s own optical visor mere inches from his own, sparking with crimson electricity as her jaws gaped.
Before he even had time to counter, the Dragon Beetle let loose her sonic roar at point-blank range upon the crystal fiend. What followed thus was the greatest, longest, most indescribably agonizing and grueling torture Krystalak had ever experienced in his life. Rapid wave after wave of pure concussive sound slammed and reverberated throughout his body from the inside out in a ceaseless onslaught. His ears exploded and his eyes all but cracked as MUTO Prime unleashed every ounce of power she held within her monolithic body, finally in a position to exact her righteous vengeance on her arrogant attacker.
A loud splinter rang through the sound barrier as one by one Krystalak’s bodily crystals shattered, a roar of torment escaping his quivering jaws as his body began to seize from the agony.
MUTO Prime kept roaring until she ran out of breath, but it mattered not; by the time she was finished, Krystalak lay upon the mineral earth looking nothing so much as like a plucked porcupine. Crippled, deaf, and nearly blind, the crystalline terror’s jaws quivered open and shut in soundless screams as he fell into a torturous seizure, sprawled pitifully under MUTO Prime’s feet. With an angry roar, the apex predator swiped the once-formidable fiend aside with an oversized claw, sending him skidding right towards the wounded female MUTO. By the time he came to a halt, she had recovered, towering over him with a fierce glower. Booming footsteps from behind informed him of MUTO Prime’s approach, the larger amphibian soon coming to stand beside her smaller counterpart as she too glared down at the loathsome beast. Had he not been in such an agonizing convulsion, Krystalak would’ve sighed in frustration at how the tables had turned.
The last thing he saw was both Kaiju raising a respective limb, before the barbed female MUTO thrust a scythe down towards his face.
*****
The mountain nearly shattered when the female MUTO’s body slammed against it, a powerful quake echoing through the earth’s crust as the weary nucleovore fell to her knuckles with a fatigued sigh.
Across from her, the volcanic berserker known as Obsidius roared a devilish scream from another world that sent all diminutive animals fleeing for their lives. A howl of defiance made his eyeless head snap to the left as the male MUTO spread his wings and reared up on his hind legs, challenging the horrific golem to come at him, regardless of the horrid burns that adorned his ebony skin. Obsidius merely chuckled in reply before turning back to the wounded female, trudging towards her with murderous intent. His head perking in fearful shock, the male instantly took flight in an attempt to intercept the evil beast.
A rocky fist merely reached out, punching him in the chest.
Despite the painful blow, the male managed to land on his feet before breaking into a charge. This time however, as he neared, he ducked low and lunged towards the legs of the golem. Obsidius whipped around with a fierce roar, spitting a blast of lava that just barely missed the nucleovore’s head as he snagged the golem’s left leg in his jaws, then yanked upwards as he pushed to his feet. Obsidius howled in annoyance as he fell on his back, and immediately the MUTO pounced upon him with a fierce roar- only to receive a kick to the throat for his efforts. Gagging, the winged amphibian was sent falling away on his back as Obsidius stood back to his full height.
But no sooner than he had crippled one obstacle, did Obsidius have to face another. The female MUTO charged like a maddened bull, intent on ripping this abominable obscenity apart no matter how long it took. The golem fired a blast of his lava breath, but this time the MUTO was ready and veered to the side just in time. She closed the gap between her and this most terrible foe- just like Obsidius had wanted. The golem would’ve smiled if he could.
Perfect.
Quickly grabbing his hands under the MUTO’s shoulders, one minute the eight-legged amphibian was on the ground, the next Obsidius had yanked his arms up and flipped her clear over his head like a ragdoll. Howling with surprise, the female MUTO crashed to the earth with a painful thud! and ended up in an entanglement of her own limbs. She bellowed in distress as she tried to free herself of her own predicament, struggling as hard and fast as she could to untangle her limbs and get to her feet- and a foot pressed firmly onto her chest, stopping her.
Even pinned, the female MUTO still refused to give in, and tried to push against the hideous golem who restrained her. Gazing down on her with his eyeless face, Obsidius hissed a demonic trill as he pressed harder, and yet still the female continued trying to snap and bite at him. So Obsidius grabbed her by the throat and threw her over his shoulder like an afterthought, turning around as she landed flat on her stomach. The entangled amphibian tried to right herself, just barely managing to pull a few of her limbs free while she looked back- and her eyes would’ve widened if they could have.
Roaring loudly, Obsidius leaped sideways and crashed his elbow full force on her back.
A roaring boom exploded from the MUTO’s muzzle as she felt her ebony armor and bones crack, blood leaking from a few spots from the force of the hit. Obsidius stamped the ground and screamed his awful cry, wanting more pain from his prehistoric adversary. So he jumped up above the wounded nucleovore, grabbing her head at the same time and yanking upwards the moment he began to fall back down. The MUTO howled as she fell, crashing painfully against the earth with a great quake. The volcanic abomination known as Obsidius lifted his fists and brought them hard upon the back of her head eliciting another scream of torture from the female MUTO, all while the evil golem roared with laughter once again.
A massive body landed upon his shoulders from behind as a pair of scythes stabbed into his chest.
The male MUTO bellowed in fury as he raised his right arm and tried to bring it down upon the golem’s head, but Obsidius jutted it to the side, so it impaled his shoulder instead. The very moment the male lifted his other arm to skewer him Obsidius reached backwards to grab him- and the male leaped away and took flight before he could even do so.
So Obsidius decided to make him come back down.
Cracking the closest he could to a sick grin, he turned back to the female and blasted her with a boiling spray of magma. The eight-legged amphibian howled in agony as the volcanic berserker cooked her alive, and sure enough her mate changed direction and flew down to save her with a wail of rage. Scythes raised, molten wrath eclipsing all else, the male sprung towards the living volcano with a fury burning bright in his crimson visor.
And Obsidius leaped right over his head.
The male MUTO landed upon the earth, his scythes stabbing nothing but solid ground. Knowing his enemy would surely land, he whirled back around as quickly as he could- and barely had time to register a blast of lava lashing in to scorch his legs. Howling in agony, the male tried to back off as Obsidius burned away at his limbs- and then, just as suddenly as he started, he cut it off. The male fell to his knees; taking a moment to breathe, though confused as to why his foe had suddenly ceased his hellish assault. When he looked back up to gaze upon him, it didn’t take so much as a second to figure out why.
Cackling a demonic hiss, Obsidius curled himself inward as he rolled forward, soon becoming a living ball of fury. Too fast did he roll towards the male MUTO to dodge in time, and the volcanic obscenity slammed into him like an oversized dodgeball, flooring him instantly. The male groaned in pain- which suddenly turned to a wail when the quickly unfurled Obsidius grabbed hold of his leg and swung around, tossing him away and sending him crashing into his mate; the two radioactive predators now lying in a heap.
Without hesitation, Obsidius charged.
Tired and in more pain than ever, the MUTOs were too weak to react in time before Obsidius snagged both of them by the throats in his hands and lifted them high above his head as if they were weightless pieces of cardboard. A devilish roar echoed from his glowing jaws as he continued to stand there, holding them above the ground… and then they both felt it. They had no clue how the creature was capable of such a power, but even their animalistic minds could comprehend that this horrid abomination was siphoning their very essence!
Obsidius roared a hollow laugh as he sapped the helpless MUTOs of their nuclear hemoglobin, enjoying the power that coursed through him from his pathetic foes. Their essence tasted good; it refilled all the energy he had spent thus far in the battle. He wanted more!
The male MUTO cried out in distress to his mate as he felt the golem’s claws dig deeper into his flesh, more of his radioactive essence being ripped from his body. The female MUTO tried to struggle, but Obsidius held them both in too tight of a grip. The evil golem chuckled at their weak attempts to escape his foul grasp, his lava-filled veins glowing a crimson hue as he fed on the energy that they depended on. At first, their struggles remained as hard and defiant as ever, Obsidius’ arms actually wobbling a bit as they fought to break free. But then, their efforts slowly began to dampen, lessening in intensity as Obsidius held them completely at their mercy, waiting eagerly for their thrashes to come to a complete halt.
The Richter Scale began to grow.
Obsidius perked his head in curiosity, slowing his essence absorption as he pondered over such an occurrence. It were as if an earthquake had suddenly struck out of nowhere. The ground was beginning to shake more violently with every passing second, the volcanic berserker beginning to have trouble keeping his footing as well as his grip on his weakened foes. Obsidius uttered a confused roar as he began to stumble, the shaking of the earth’s crust ever growing in intensity to the point where he finally had to throw the MUTOs to the ground, dropping down on all fours to keep his footing.
The ground in front of his face suddenly exploded outward, a massive form erupting forth like a demon out of hell. Obsidius was so taken aback he could not react fast enough before a bronze-scaled fist swung forth to slam right into his face, partially caving it inwards and sending him flying back. The living volcano actually burst straight through the mountainside and out the other end on his back, groaning a hollow hiss as he looked up to see the cause of his current predicament. The MUTOs, weak from exhaustion but still strong in spirit, managed to lift their heads up with low chatters as they took in the sight of their savior- and received a first.
Rearing up like an angry horse, the Earthquake Beetle known as MUTO Prime bellowed an earth-shaking thunder, denouncing the murderous golem that was Obsidius. Clambering back to his feet, the volcanic menace beat his chest and challenged the Unclean Thing with a terrible roar that sent shivers down her spine, but still she held her firm composure and growled back, unwilling to back down here and now. Rearing back, Obsidius spat forth a blast of lava that struck the Dragon Beetle in the chest, eliciting a bellow of pain. Obsidius wanted to smile as he relished in the sound of his attacker paying so dearly for her arrogance.
But such a smile would’ve been wiped off his face when a series of footsteps rapidly approached from his left.
Before he knew what hit him, an equally powerful body slammed into his side, knocking him silly. The barbed female MUTO howled in fury as she pounced upon her mate’s murderer, repeatedly skewering holes in his body with her scythes. Bellowing from a distance, MUTO Prime galloped forward to join in the carnage, taking extreme relish in proceeding to land crushing blows with her oversized claws. Obsidius howled in fury as he breathed forth a burst of lava, searing the knuckle-walking monster’s chest and knocking her off of him. The barbed MUTO called out in worry for the Earthquake Beetle- and was sent reeling back from a punch to her face. Obsidius wasted no time and stood back to his feet, whirling on his new foes with a sadistic snarl. His mouth aglow, he reared back as he prepared to unleash his superheated fury-
-and a familiar roar blared in whatever substituted for ears as two scythes stabbed into his neck before yanking him off his feet.
The male MUTO bellowed mightily as he proceeded to drag the thrashing Obsidius away from the barbed female with what little strength he had left. Howling with rage, Obsidius flailed like a hooked fish as he tried to snag the winged amphibian in his limestone claws, wanting nothing more than to butcher him with his bare hands here and now. But as he was dragged along the ground, he looked over his shoulder, trying to get a clear shot at the male. As he did, he got a full glimpse of what else lay behind him, and the realization of where the male MUTO was dragging him towards dawned on him.
Standing side by side together, two old enemies now shared a hatred for a common enemy. MUTO Prime bent under to hold the exhausted female MUTO back up to her feet, grumbling a deep chatter as she then turned back to glare at the sadistic golem that was steadily being dragged towards them by the second. The female MUTO growled her own hatred towards the volcanic abomination; the rivalry between her and her old rival was but forgotten in this moment. The feelings towards their common foe were mutual at this point, and that was all that mattered. Seeing MUTO Prime’s eyes beginning to shine red and spark with scarlet electricity, the female MUTO wisely stepped back as the Dragon Beetle prepared to unleash her most formidable weapon.
The male MUTO slung his arms upwards, tearing two deep trenches into Obsidius’ rocky flesh along the way as he finally let go and took flight, just as MUTO Prime capitalized on the opportunity. Her eyes glowing brighter than ever, the Titan killer let loose her supersonic roar upon the vile Obsidius. Whatever substituted for pain receptors in the lava monster’s body all but exploded as the waves of concussive sound ripped through his granite-strewn body with tremendous force. Lava leaked from shattered veins and forming cracks in his body alike, limbs flailing like a madman as Obsidius stepped back in a vain attempt to escape the pain. An attempt that proved futile as MUTO Prime continued to lumber forward, continuing to unleash her fury upon the volcanic organism. Molten lifeblood poured from Obsidius’ screaming maw as he reeled in agony, his stone body slowly beginning to crumble under the power of the concussive sound that ravaged his being.
Even the very moment MUTO Prime’s sonic roar ceased, the pain didn’t stop. With a booming howl, MUTO Prime smashed her fist into the ground, producing a powerful shockwave that sent Obsidius flying back with a howl-
-which cut off when a long, black appendage burst through his back and out his chest, impaling him.
The barbed female MUTO roared with rage as she ripped her scythe out of the golem’s body, ignoring the igneous blood that burned the offending limb as she pounced back onto her mate’s killer. Roaring their denouncement to the volcanic superorganism, both the larger female and MUTO Prime charged into the fray as they too descended upon the crippled Obsidius, and this time there was no stopping them. Filling the air with their screams of wrath, the three MUTOs proceeded to curb stomp the once tyrannical titan all at once. Time and again the once invulnerable berserker was pelted with scythed limbs punching over and over into his crippled body; all accompanied by repeated strikes of MUTO Prime’s fists smashing into him, caving his injuries in deeper with every blow as molten rock geysered forth through the multiplying wounds. Solid granite cracked further with each hit, lava leaked and spurt about; his arms, legs, stomach, torso, neck, head, all came away in the brutal onslaught of the enraged Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms.
Obsidius’ once terrifying roars gradually evolved into repulsive gurgles of bubbling lava frothing from his shattering mouth as the MUTOs proceeded to beat him into an unrecognizable puddle of shattered rock and pooling magma that steamed on the cold autumn ground. The magma singed at the MUTOs’ feet, but in their rage they paid it no mind- the circumstances were far too urgent. They knew how close to victory they were, and they were taking no chances. They needed to make absolute certain that this cruel obscenity was destroyed, and so they continued their savage massacre. Eventually, there was little left of the volcanic berserker to subjugate, and Obsidius’ head emitted a last, dying gurgle as the barbed MUTO reared up off the ground, raising her forearms into the sky. The other two MUTOs backed off, knowing full well she deserved this kill more than anything.
With a roar that made her lungs ache, she brought them both down through Obsidius’ head.
The golem’s eyesless skull split like an overripe melon, spilling lava of all textures everywhere across the floor. All movement from the mutilated husk that was once Obsidius ceased, and the magma that once flowed through his unnatural veins began to rapidly cool and fade to a dull, lifeless gray. A wave of satisfaction coursed through the MUTO’s mind as she watched all life in the wretched beast who had taken her mate’s life flee from existence, until it now resembled nothing more than simply a shattered pile of rocks left to erode.
All four MUTOs reared on their tired legs and filled the air with their howls of victory.
As their cries faded into the wind, the victors simply stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do now that this most loathsome foe had been at last slain. The barbed female MUTO continued to glare unmovingly at the deceased remains, still and silent as a sleeping reptile, not even uttering the lowest of grumbling booms. She simply watched the unmoving chunks that remained of the volcanic atrocity, as if she expected them to come back to life at any given moment. But nothing came from either; the remains of Obsidius lay upon the earth barren and harmless as ever, and the barbed female MUTO continued to glare at it for what felt to be a suspenseful eternity.
But it wasn’t to be.
With the longest, most mournful sigh, the battered nucleovore slowly turned away and began to limp back the way she came without sparing her allies so much as a glance. MUTO Prime boomed a guttural grumble as she looked back to the male and female whom she had met a week ago, sharing once last glance with them. The one look alone between the unlikely trio communicated everything there was needed between them, and just like that, all bad blood from the past had been put aside for good. They had all worked together to destroy a potential threat to all life on earth, and had succeeded. The female MUTO understood perfectly well that had it not been for the intervention of her old rival and her newfound companion, then she and her mate would likely not be standing here alive right now. They would’ve been charred, barbecued corpses blazing in a heap behind the leaving footfalls of the evil abomination known as Obsidius.
With a last bellow, MUTO Prime turned away and followed the barbed female, catching up with her as she too took her leave; her former foe wailing her gratitude to her as they parted ways.
The two MUTOs, male and female, decided that they too had been here long enough. It was time to regroup back at their nest and recuperate, for today had proven to be nothing short of unconventional. Now would be a time to rest- they deserved it. The pair sharing a moment to nuzzle affectionately, the MUTOs finally began to trudge away as they followed the path back to their territory by sheer memory. Such a walk was a short one, for the battle had not taken place very far from where their main nesting ground lay. And upon arrival, they were greeted with a familiar sight that had never been so sweet to sore eyes. The air was fresh and cold; the watery veil of the lake was still enough to provide a biological mirror of the sky; the recognizable chatters of their unhatched young within Methusela’s corpse reached their ears as they re-entered their beloved territory. Burnt, bruised, exhausted, but alive.
It had never been so sweet to re-embrace the warm comforts of home.
*****
MUTO Prime lunged under the barbed female just as she stumbled, nearly falling to the earth had it not been for the larger Kaiju catching her and lifting her back to her feet. A somber chatter rumbled from the MUTO’s throat as she continued her limp, the pains of battle and childbirth catching back up to her. Even her Element X banquet that had re-energized her and her titanic savior hadn’t eliminated the terrible waves of exhaustion that threatened to make her monolithic body give out with every step she took. She could have no more combat after this for at least a good two days; she needed rest, and a very long period of it at that. But most importantly… she needed to mourn. She needed time to comprehend all that had changed in the course of a day, all that the vile golem known as Obsidius had taken from her.
As intelligent as she and the rest of her species were, they were still animals. Their mindsets being rather primitive- but even a mind as feral as hers still understood the concept of change. Understood the pains of it. And through that, still understood the pain of loss.
With a wounded wail she stumbled a second time- and yet again, was suddenly caught by the larger MUTO Prime. The larger Titan hoisted the eight-legged amphibian back to her feet once more, rumbling a soft chatter. But as the two nuclear predators rose back to their full height, the barbed MUTO shakily reached up and nuzzled her savior, emitting a deep series of clicks in gratitude. For a moment, the larger MUTO was unsure of how to react to this, frozen stiff like a deer in headlights. But before long, her long-dormant social instincts clicked back into gear for the first time in many years.
With a soft rumble of infrasound, she returned the gesture.
*****
One week later; Winter Solstice
A deep snore reverberated throughout the luminous caverns of the most radioactive material known to humanity, Element X. Laying comfortably upon a flat space of the toxic gems like a mythological dragon upon its treasure horde, the Queen MUTO slumbered soundly next to her batch of eggs; the unborn tadpoles permanently kept alive due to the presence of unfading radiation within their surroundings. Her burns and wounds had long since faded into scars, adorning her elephantine skin all across her body as a testament to the might of her slain adversary. But despite the rugged and battle-torn texture of her body, the giant amphibian slept in a state of comfortable, painless peace.
After all that she had suffered, after all that had been taken from her, she finally had all the time in the world to have some peace and quiet.
Not too far away, staring in the direction of the entrance to the cavern of Element X, MUTO Prime stood tall and mighty like a mythical statue; her tongue clicking every four seconds as she tested her echolocation skills, listening to the howling winter snowstorm that raged outside. Her optical visor pulsed faintly with bioluminescence as she looked about her radioactive territory, still clicking her tongue as she made certain that no more threats were headed their way. The Dragon Beetle could detect nothing, which eased her mind, but still she remained vigilant. The only noises that reached her auditory receptors were the infantile chatters of the unborn MUTO tadpoles and the soft snoring of their mother.
Chittering one last echolocative call and detecting nothing once more, MUTO Prime finally stepped away from her vigilance and trudged onward, continuing to listen to the muffled roar of the blizzard outside. The voice of the wind whispered through the caverns in warped, ghostly howls that would’ve unnerved most creatures, but MUTO Prime understood it was merely but a natural phenomenon of nature far beyond their reach. They were safe and untouchable in the heart of the mountain, out of reach of the bitter cold.
For a moment, the random voice of the distant wind shifted, sounding somewhat akin to a familiar roar for a moment before dying away. A mere two seconds later, a roused chitter croaked from the jaws of the sleeping Queen MUTO as she shifted in her sleep, beginning to twitch and quiver every now and then. Stressed sighs and croaks began to wisp from her jaws, the sounds of the outside world influencing her dreams and turning them into bitter nightmares.
But like all bygone menaces from the past, they wouldn’t last.
Rumbling softly, MUTO Prime knelt down to nuzzle her triangular skull, and already the sleeping giant’s twitching began to subside as her gigantic body loosened back to its peaceful state, and she was still and peaceful once more. Satisfied, the Earthquake Beetle stood back to her full height as she scoured about her territory with her biological visor, all the while she contemplated all that lay before her. For the majority of the Fall, MUTO Prime had searched about for a mate to allow her to produce the next generation carrying her genetics. Unfortunately, time nor fate had not been kind to her during her voyages, and she had ultimately failed. However, surprisingly, such a disappointment hadn’t proved to be the end of everything for her. Fate had ended up yielding some truly surprising results for her, indeed.
A widowed female MUTO slumbering soundly on the ground, a fresh batch of healthy eggs beside her who lacked a second parent, and an entire territory reeking of their species’ primary food source that they both shared together, that was all theirs for the taking and theirs alone. A literal mountain of energy that could last them for years if not decades to come.
A pleasant twinge of fondness coursed though her mind as MUTO Prime knelt down to nuzzle the slumbering Queen MUTO, who continued to snore soundly. For all the failure and bad karma that had befallen the both of them in the past week during the end stages of autumn…
This was not a bad place to start over.
Winner: MUTO, MUTO Prime
