Author: Matthew Freese | Banner: Matthew Freese

A bellow cut across the landscape, echoing through the heavens. It was akin to a horrendous trumpeting, the calling of end times. Earthquakes began as a crevice formed in the landscape, stretching for miles as an entity arose from the shuddering world.

A crown of three horns adorned its head, two curling upwards in the back as a third protruded from the nose. Red eyes rolled in their sockets as they took in their surroundings. Ebony claws cut through the air as their opposite colored fingers flexed, a tail looking like it was crafted of ornate ivory like those digits whipping a crater into the ground. Pillar-like legs lifted a colossus out of the ground, crushing trees into splinters in their wake.

The dragon opened his maw, letting out that same horrific cry, a noise that was more like rolling thunder than a creature’s voice. Colossal spikes protruded from the biped’s shoulders, purple membranes on their undersides. They crackled with bolts of azure power, heralding a ray of bright, blue plasma to pass through his hellacious jaws and incinerate a patch of the landscape. It swept over a mountain, splitting the mass of stone and dirt in half, molten slag dripping down from the now glowing center.

This was Bagan. The God of Darkness, a demon shrouded in mystery, came to shred apart the peace of the world. Why did he destroy? Was it because he loved it, relished in devastation and desolation of all he saw? Had he been corrupted in the past by some dark force, twisting him into the form and temperament he bore now?

No one knew. All they knew was that he was a destroyer.

Dark clouds parted above him, revealing sunlight. It silhouetted an insectoid form with great, rounded wings. The new arrival let loose a piercing screech from short mandibles. Her wings were tapestries of orange, yellow, and black. White fur coated her segmented body, broken up by the orange pattern starting on the top of her head and running down the back. Blue eyes like countless lenses met the crimson orbs of the destroyer.

Mothra’s antennae shined with light, discharging orange rays of energy that were thin. But their potency was not determined by their size, as a series of explosions coated Bagan’s front as the guardian swept them up his body. He roared in shock.

It seemed a battle had begun. The dragon was not surprised by that fact, he knew battle like he knew breathing. Twisting his bulky body, his tail swung out like a weapon, one which the guardian deity avoided with the beating of her wings, carrying her backwards. She was also no stranger to battle, but she knew that this particular clash would be different. This would be a brutal event, one that would push to her limits.

With their respective calls, shaking the Chinese countryside, the battle between god and devil commenced.

***

That had been thousands of years ago. Yet, if one were to somehow live long enough to have been there, they would swear it was happening again in the modern day, the era of great cityscapes towering into heaven instead of mere castles and villages.

In the middle of a peaceful day in Tokyo, the most populous city on Earth, the ordinary humdrum of daily life was broken apart like a fallen vase when a gargantuan orb descended from the skies. It was dark and pulsating, a construct of raw flesh and muscle. Before any action could be taken by the people below, its throbbing quickened as four smaller spheres ripped their way from the mass.

Like softballs pitched by an invisible hand, the orbs flew into the air, descending in the four corners of the metropolis. Horrid flashes of light and blasts of sound filled the area as explosions ripped Tokyo to shreds. Hundreds of thousands died immediately, millions more were gravely injured. It was already one of the greatest tragedies in human history, and it had just begun.

The original sphere was gone, and in its place, Bagan. Only now, instead of white and purple, his entire body was brown. The membranes on his shoulders were gone, the points now just bearing a solid yellow coloration. His red eyes had turned white, a distinguishable pupil now present. He was also even broader and bulkier, already a colossus even for a kaiju, now a living mountain.

And just as that scene from a bygone era progressed, so too was the smoke clouding the skies parted to reveal a divine body. Only, it was different, but in the exact opposite direction that Bagan’s physical changes had gone. The wings bore numerous colors, like a rainbow. The orange upon the back was now black, streaks of the same color on either side of the moth’s legs. And instead of blue eyes like sapphires, emerald-like eyes of beautiful green met Bagan’s stare.

Mothra’s descendant, Leo, had come to stop Bagan’s rampage. His attention continually shifted up for a moment, only to return to the demon. The silver saucer floating in the heavens was hidden from all eyes but his, yet he doubted that it would interfere beyond controlling the dragon.

***

Back in the ancient past, Bagan swung at Mothra with his claws, failing to connect as she flew out of his reach. She flapped her wings, kicking up a windstorm that made the demon stagger slightly. He dug his heels into the earth, channeling more of his power. It flowed into his maw, spilling out as that column of devastation. The goddess cried out in shock as she curled her wings inward, letting the outsides of them take the brunt of the attack. It shoved her back through the sky, smoke curling off her wings as the beam faded and she plummeted to the ground below.

Bagan was upon her in a moment, intent on stomping her until her guts were mixed into the soil to form a grotesque mud. A foul smile adorned his face. He raised his foot high, hoping to get a satisfying first impact. She thwarted his foul plans with golden lightning from her wings, blazing into his stomach. Caught off guard and balance, Bagan fell backwards with an earth-shaking crash, a shout of confusion leaving his maw.

Mothra returned to the air, still flying well despite the pain in her wings. She fired upon him once more, Beam Pulsers and Wing Lightning at once to buffet the fiend. Bagan placed his hands on the earth, rising to his feet with a push. He gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain as he arose.

The divine moth cut off her assault, attempting to flee, only for Bagan to be just a moment too quick. He grabbed her wing, pulling her down to be at the same level as his face. Grabbing her other wing, he reared his head back.

Mothra swung her own body down, narrowly avoiding her face being gored by the nasal horn. Instead it skid across the front of her head, gashing open the exoskeleton and spilling blood. Her clawed limbs grasped the spiky armor of the destroyer, swiftly becoming alight with crackling power. An explosion thundered at the point of contact, sending shards of armor flying. Bagan let go of her, crying out in pain as the orange bolts burned into his body.

They parted, Mothra returning to the air as Bagan’s body lit up with his own electricity once more. He smiled, baring those sharp teeth like knives.

The goddess had barely begun fighting, and already her life had nearly been stolen from her. She had sensed an imbalance in nature, something arising that would disrupt the world, but she had never anticipated such a foe. She would fight, however. Fight for the sake of what she protected.

The thought of a blue, oval-shaped object resting atop a pedestal on a distant island propelled her onwards as she began to flap her wings, glittering powder leaving them.

***

Determined to live up to the legacy his ancestor had left behind, the trio of dots forming a triangle upon Leo’s head lit up as multi-colored rays shot forth, burning against Bagan’s body. He showed little reaction. He simply lunged forward, swinging a punch through the air. The guardian was unable to avoid the strike, having it impact the side of his body. He spiraled through the air, cringing at the pain before regaining his aerial stability. The beast was already upon him once more, but this time the underside of Leo’s wings and thorax flashed with an azure light.

Bagan was shoved back by the Mineral Chest Cannon, a blue ray of power that even his monolithic weight was unable to stay unmoving against. Despite the gigantic dent it made in his armor, he showed no reaction again, simply letting regeneration fill the wound and return it to normal.

The latest in a long line of divinity took to the skies, narrowly dodging a beam of plasma from Bagan that carved a trench through smoke and clouds above. Leo could tell that if it had struck him directly, he would have died. Not even curling his wings in to take the attack would have succeeded like it had for his mother, such was the change that had overtaken the enemy.

But his flight had not been to retreat. Circling around, he angled himself towards Bagan, flying straight towards him. Without hesitation he charged, a glow overtaking him as trails of emerald light followed. Like an organic missile he crashed into the modified demon’s chest, moving at speeds of Mach 85 for a brief moment before the impact.

The Excel Dash would have broken most kaiju in half. Bagan took it without falling, cracks spreading across his armor. His tail whipped through the air by his side, coming down like a hammer onto Leo. He smacked into the ruined ground, shrieking in pain. Bagan raised his foot high, face still locked into a neutral expression.

***

Though the battle would eventually be settled in an outcome that led to the world still prospering, Bagan did not know this at the time as he unleashed his plasma beam once more. It struck the cloud of orange scales drifting down towards him, but instead of breaking through, it was caught within. The pillar was split into streaks that bounced about like every scale was a mirror. He reared back, eyes widening at the odd display.

The winds of Mothra’s mighty wings pushed the now sparking cloud over Bagan’s body, making him scream as his own beam tore into his chest. It ripped away a chunk of armored carapace, casting it to the ground with a trail of smoke. But that was not the worst part.

Bagan’s face fell as he felt his strength be sapped, as though submerged in poison. He slouched noticeably. Mothra was surprised by this. Usually her scales did not have such an adverse effect beyond the reflection of energy attacks. Was it her divine nature conflicting with such a demonic force? Or simply a quirk of the creature’s biology, an allergy?

She did know that she needed to capitalize on it. Her antennae and wings lit up with her displays of power, striking the cloud and being refracted inwards to scourge Bagan. He roared in anguish, explosions marring his form. Mothra continued her assault, until pain overcame fatigue and the dragon lunged forth.

The scale cloud parted as he attempted to impale Mothra on his nasal horn once more. Again, he only succeeded in carving a wound into her abdomen, but this wound went deep, and the divine moth cried out in agony. She turned in the air, grasping Bagan’s horns with her claws. The demon began to thrash in an attempt to force her off immediately, his panic growing more as the crackling energy flowed through her legs once more.

Before the burst of energy could commence, however, Mothra was forced away as rays of red shot out from Bagan’s back horns, blazing two black circles into her body. She cried out as she drifted away, her pain only growing as the frontal horn of the demonic dragon unleashed a white streak of light, turning white fur into a black cinder with its contact. His lips were curled to reveal his teeth the entire time.

***

As opposed to the wicked glee of the past, Bagan in the present brought his foot down almost mechanically. Instead of a sickening crunch, there was only a dry cracking as his foot smashed debris. Leo burst into a glittering swarm of moths, who fluttered up like leaves in a cyclone before smacking against Bagan’s carapace.

A tremendous series of detonations coated the demonic beast, who staggered back. Above him, the horde coalesced back into Mothra Leo, who fired bolts of energy into the earth. The power flowed through the ground, manifesting as multi-colored pillars ripping upwards.

Bagan was obscured by the Rainbow Sparkling Pileload, lost in the brilliant light. A blur raced out from the fading luminescence, and Leo’s quick reaction was all that saved him from being run through. Shooting upwards, he still found his abdomen spilling yellow blood from a frightening wound.

Smoke curled off Bagan’s form, armor peeling off. But it seemed that, even with the added power granted to Leo by the sacrifice of a water spirit, the Rainbow Sparkling Pileload and Excel Dash had failed to accomplish any sort of permanent damage. Super regeneration just continued to knit the damage back up as the soulless beast’s shoulders blazed with power yet again.

The son of a goddess beat his wings, releasing a glittering powder of his scales. It fell upon the chained demon, detonating in clusters as his breathing grew heavy. The divine moth’s scales still retained their power over him, despite whatever had happened to change him in both body and mind.

Leo wanted to know what had changed, why the joy the beast had felt in combat against his mother was gone, as though pulled from the brain. But duty crushed curiosity, and he continued to release his explosive scales.

Three bolts of blue launched upwards from Bagan’s shoulders, rising into the sky where they began to change shape. Forming structures like diamonds, they raced downwards, aimed at Leo’s body.

He ceased the release of his scales, fleeing. The first two projectiles slammed into the ground, punching holes into the earth. With a shriek, Leo felt the third clip his wing, leaving a clean cut. His aerial balance wavered. Pain shot through him, but he did not have time to let it fade before needing to hurl himself to the side, dodging a blurring, swift body blow. He had the wherewithal to leave a cloud of his scales behind him, making the demon crash through it and into another series of bursting blasts.

Had it not been for the debilitating effect of his divine scales, he would have been smashed against the God of Darkness’ form like a deer in the path of a train. Bagan, despite clearly being more sluggish than before, still continued to turn towards him, claws extending from his fingertips.

***

In the past, Bagan’s claws shot out as well, extending to triple their original length as he swung them at Mothra. The goddess cringed as her wounds grew even worse with their contact, her blood splashing onto the trees below. With the beat of her wings, another shower of scales, which were used in conjunction with her antennae’s beams in order to push Bagan back a step.

The God of Darkness staggered, feeling his might sapped by the pollen. The guardian of peace began to fly in a circle around her foe, releasing the cloud of divine dust all the while. Lightning bolts shot forth from the midst of it into the fiend’s hide, who found himself falling to one knee.

He shuddered, black blood beginning to leak from his mouth. Mothra kept up her assault, the Pressure Field not letting up as the mystical lances continued to spear into her quarry. The lasers from his horns shot out, only to be caught in the maelstrom of orange dust and directed back to their user.

Bagan shook from equal parts rage and pain. He wanted to destroy, wanted to do it more than he wanted to breathe or drink. He should not be getting overwhelmed, not when desolation needed to be enacted!

Where was this coming from?

There was a moment of clarity, staring death in the face. Why did he do this? What prompted this death urge in his soul, why did he desire pain and suffering so much? He realized he was just as much of a mystery to himself as he was to the world as a whole.

He looked up, feeling a prickling in his mind. The clouds above had thinned out, revealing something in the midst of the sky, glittering in the sunlight.

It was silver.

***

Bagan nearly ran Leo through with his claws, almost taking revenge on his mother millennia after the fact. The god of peace was swifter, however, avoiding the thrust and countering with his own melee. His claws dragged across the dark god’s face, puncturing an eye and making the gelatinous orb burst.

He expected a cry of pain. He expected a wrathful reaction. What he got instead was Bagan… shaking. Silent, he shivered like he was about to explode. As the veins and finer inner workings of the eye flailed into place within the socket, regeneration so potent that even a complex part such as the eye could be healed swiftly, Bagan looked up towards the saucer above. His head moved like his neck was a rusted joint in a machine.

Leo seized the opportunity and got above his foe, rings exiting from behind him as he soared upwards. They were colored like an aurora, and when they reached Bagan, they began to lift his feet off the ground. His eye was almost fully healed, but he continued to convulse while staring at his master.

The new divinity was not a fool, he could tell what was occurring now. Bagan’s silence and emotional stillness had been enforced by that unknown master, an entity or entities that Leo knew nothing about. But it was not a perfect lock, and though he had failed to do much damage externally, it seemed internally, mentally, the divine moth’s assault was proving too effective.

He knew not what would happen when the breaking point was reached. But all he could do was keep pressing onwards. Once they were miles above the earth, the Mineral Chest Cannon fired once more, even more powerful this time. The blue stream of holy light shoved Bagan down hard, spiking him into the ruined city below with enough force to upheave large chunks of the landscape. Like a meteor’s impact.

He fired rays into the smoke above, parting it to reveal sunlight, before looking back down. Bagan was standing once more, badly bruised and injured. Blood poured from his mouth as he stood in the center of a great crater, cracks spread all across his armor like spider webs, and one of his shoulder protrusions was badly damaged, nearly falling off. He kept looking at the silver ship above, sparks erupting across his shoulders and crown of horns as he tried to channel his power. His head jerked upwards, his master trying to get him back to his foe, but he resisted it.

He no longer even looked at Leo, which suited the divinity just fine as he began to fly in a circle, leaving a trail of his scales. This was a move he had not done since his battle with Desghidorah, the first battle since he lost his mother and attained his imago form.

The sunlight was refracted into the center of the ring, like a grandiose lens. With a mighty war cry, Leo unleashed the Sun Strike Buster, now tinted with the kaleidoscopic coloration befitting his new form. The rainbow-like streak of concentrated sunlight shot downwards like a lance from the heavens, striking Bagan with a thunderous impact. The crater was magnified tenfold, an explosion that shook Tokyo to its foundations ringing out.

For a few moments, silence. Smoke rolled out across the landscape, debris falling like rain. Somewhere in his heart, the god of peace knew he had taken more lives with that immense assault. He wished their souls would forgive him, would understand that the Earth’s fate hung by a strand and thus he needed to take drastic measures.

A roar that would be heard on the other side of the planet rattled the air, filling Leo’s heart with fear like a poison-tipped arrow had pierced it. There was a detonation miles away from him in the sky, a ray of light shattering the silver saucer and casting it off its lofty perch. Another roar, a mixed expression of ecstasy and rage that sounded like it would rend the world asunder with its sheer volume.

***

Like her descendant in a distant time, Mothra too found herself auditorially assailed by a hellacious call. It was not as booming and grandiose as it would be after his mutation, but at this moment, Bagan’s bellow of horrific wrath was like the sound of a falling meteor.

He thrust his head above the pollen cloud, shaking with pain and fatigue but pressing onwards as bolts of light shot forth from his horns. They flew into the sky, coalescing into a billowing vortex. Mothra cried out in surprise and fear, then felt agony as a wild storm of electrical blasts erupted from the anomaly.

Trees flew like tossed aside garbage as the goddess was slammed into the earth hard enough to create a trench with her body. She could only watch in horror as the landscape was lacerated by the chaotic attack, Bagan screaming in the center as bolts entered the still swirling cloud of scales and struck him. Mothra could tell that a change had come over him, a berserker rage uncaring of anything else.

Had she been able to read his mind, she would have learned it was not of his own will.

Bagan was lost in a crimson haze, only seeing red as he thrashed about. He had seen the ship above and felt some sort of connection to it, like it had always been there with him. Perhaps it had. But when he noticed it, at his lowest point, he felt like something was injected into his mind.

He barreled out of the cloud of scales, crashing his body into a mountain and punching a large portion of it off. The dragon roared again, beating his tail against the ground like a drum. His beam cut across the landscape, destructive rays leaving his horns and turning the forest into ash. He swept them over Mothra, simply because she was in the way, making her screech once more on the earth.

Some small part of him, lost within the madness, just recoiled as it desperately grasped for control, but it was like trying to wrestle a waterfall.

***

Bagan remembered that. He remembered that feeling of helplessness, and found it to be paradise compared to what he had just clawed his way free of. His masters, whose faces he did not even know, had pulled him into the light and once more tampered with his mind. In addition to the enhancements to his body, his emotions had been suppressed, unable to rise up.

Which was not helped by the fact that whatever the alteration to his body had been, it had brought him no shortage of new wrath. Jumbled memories that weren’t his own circled through his mind now, hateful and spiteful ideals mixing in with one another like a slurry of sewage.

Nuclear fireballs, grotesque mutations, rage against all life, chained to cruel masters’ will, used as a tool, constant struggle, a battle between the bearers of the memories that led to one being dismembered, pain, chaos, and suffering. Black scales, golden scales, tri-tipped spines, fan-like wings, blue rays of atomic light, and yellow bolts of lightning. Three minds stuck in one body, forced to coordinate, once three separate beings now jammed together to serve nationalistic indulgences.

Millions of screams, and fire rising into the heavens.

Bagan screamed once more, feeling his mind shatter under the pressure of it all. Like in the past, his horns released rays of light into heaven, forming a photon vortex, the violent power building up inside him begging to be freed in glorious chaos.

Leo watched as the resulting object ensured Tokyo would never be rebuilt. It carved canyons into the ravaged city that swallowed the metropolis’ remains, smoke rising from molten crevices. The very foundation of the city was torn open, upheaved and collapsed inwards by a wild dance of energy.

A stray bolt struck him, casting him from the sky like a fallen angel. He was knocked unconscious instantly, reawakening when he smacked into the city sinking into the dirt.

***

When Mothra returned to the sky, she immediately needed to fly as fast as her aching body could muster. Her movement caught Bagan’s attention, drawing a storm of attacks from him as he continued his mad march.

The goddess of peace launched herself directly in her foe’s direction, releasing her scales. As she expected, he made no attempt to get out of the way. Any strategy he would have had was lost in this madness, and as she passed over his head, her scales caught the beam he launched straight up. It just turned back unto him, tossing him to the ground. He flailed on the ground, unleashing light rays and plasma beams that just kept tearing into himself.

Mothra turned in the air, only to almost have her wing torn off when Bagan leapt to his feet, poking his head out of the cloud and unleashing his plasma beam once more. It still tore off a large portion of the limb, nearly making her fall then and there.

Bagan lunging and smacking her across the face with the back of his hand sent her into the dirt, the dragon falling just afterwards.

They both lay there for minutes, which felt like an eternity. Blood rushed out from Bagan’s eyes and mouth, and it pooled around Mothra’s broken form.

A clawed hand moved, placing its palm on the ground. Muscles strained in his arm as the demon began to push himself back up. He growled, steam and ichor pouring out.

Mothra was conscious, but when she tried to command her body, it did not move. In this critical moment, strength had left her. The demon rose slowly, body shivering violently but still moving. The divine moth prayed for a miracle, for that was all that could stop the wretched beast.

There was a sudden anomaly in the sky, and what emerged was something neither would have expected in a million years.

***

Leo arose from the ruins, breathing a sigh of relief that Bagan wasn’t even focused on him. The demon just marched onwards towards more civilization, spewing beams and bellowing maddening songs of desolation. There was not a drop of sanity running through that brain.

White tendrils of shimmering energy rippled out from the beast’s shoulders, membranes forming between them. Leo watched in horror as they carried the greatest bulk a living being on Earth had ever had into the air with a stupefying grace.

The divine guardian… had failed. He had failed to stop Bagan, fallen short of his ancestors. Against Desghidorah he had crushed the Darkness Dragon with ease, and against Dagarha he had risen to the occasion and vanquished the Demon Sea Monster. But before the God of Darkness, he could not stand.

Earth was doomed.

Leo looked to the sky, wings slowly beating just to keep him aloft. Would his ancestors be ashamed of him? He felt like worthless trash, but would they think that? Perhaps they would be understanding if they could see him, perhaps the demon dragon had attained a level of power that nothing could stand before?

What would his mother think? Cast him out and label him a failure, or comfort him and say that he had tried?

Could any of his ancestors have triumphed over the God of Darkness?

This question cast a spark within his mind, that swiftly lit the fire of an idea. An idea whose flaws were immediately apparent, potentially cataclysmic to levels that Bagan paled before, but he had no other choice.

He called out to two unseen, but very present, figures. Asked them for strength. His shriek was weak, but they heard it. Far off in the sky, two women as tall as a child’s dolls, sitting atop a miniature divine moth, began to sing. They hated this idea, but knew just as their god did that there was no other option. A blind leap of hope or an acceptance of death. Neither option was pleasant, but the former at least carried the chance of feet landing on a safe surface.

So, Moll and Lora chanted, sang with all their hearts as Leo began to shift in appearance. He became sleeker, fur being replaced by smooth chitin. His wings flattened, becoming like blades. Colors became monochromatic. But this was not the end result, for soon he shifted again. This state, Aqua Mothra, was only an in-between to what he sought. His colors became more vibrant, features smoothing out further as the jagged edges of his body were refined.

With that, he shot forward, racing at immense speeds. Perhaps he could have sought out Bagan and crashed headfirst into him, for as he approached light speed his mass encroached upon infinity. Had he struck the dark god at relativistic speeds, the resulting impact would vaporize everything around them for miles.

But a suicidal assault was not Leo’s plan. He reached light speed and kept accelerating, breaking the laws of physics without regard. From his perspective, it was like he was plunged into a kaleidoscope, an array of colors surrounding him as he transcended the boundaries placed on all creatures.

For it was immutable that all things only could go forward through time, pushed by the current of the river that was reality. Leo had committed an impossible taboo by turning around and swimming upstream.

***

And so it was that Mothra and Bagan, before his mutation, witnessed the sky part to birth a second Mothra, one slightly smaller yet more vibrant. Leo hurtled out of the tear in reality, swiftly shutting behind him by unseen forces, immediately firing beams from his forehead to strike Bagan.

The cruel dragon was forced to the ground by the attack, vomiting gore as the potent rays assailed his internally ravaged body. Externally he was in nigh-perfect condition, but the scales of the divine one had made it so that his health was only skin deep.

Leo turned, thrashing through the air as if searching for something. As he did so, his ancestor looked upon him with utter bafflement. How was there another divine moth, she thought that all but her bloodline had perished by Desghidorah’s talons? Why had he emerged from a strange portal in the sky, was he not of this world?

But as she watched him fly after something that she did not see, confusion became concern. He was burnt and bloody, looking almost as bad as she did. He had clearly just come from a brutal conflict, and with every movement growing slower she knew he was running on fumes by this point.

The new arrival smashed into something, sending a silver disk hurtling from the heavens. With smoke and fire trailing behind it, the object that Mothra had not even known existed crashed to the earth below.

Mothra cried out in horror that surprised herself when a glowing diamond exploded against the newcomer’s body, sending him from the sky with a scream of agony. Bagan’s shoulders crackled as he lay on the ground, a wheeze of mirth leaving his jaws. The glow faded, but unfortunately, the demon’s life did not. Breath still coursed through him.

Leo wailed in anguish, which made the ancestor’s heart drop at the sound. It was not just physical pain, but an emotional suffering which reverberated.

The goddess of peace knew who this was now. Her mind had been muddled, but her heart was as clear as crystal with how it responded to his pain. This was her descendant, a torchbearer of the one she would pass down. She knew not how long down the line it would be before his birth, but that did not matter, he was as precious to her as her own direct child. Why he was here, she did not know, but she knew that this could not continue.

With the last of her strength, she pushed herself off the ground. Bagan’s eyes rolled to meet hers as she floated over to him, hatred burning in both the ruby and sapphire orbs. If she could, she would kill him here and now, and that feeling was mutual. Given the time, he would rise again, and she lacked the power to even finish him off.

Despite the spite he felt for his masters, Bagan would continue to destroy without them. It would be on his terms, his way, not for the goals of someone he could not even see.

He would never get the chance, however. For Mothra’s body shone brightly as she drifted around him, before she cast down a brilliant circle from the ring formed by her passage. It was inscribed with the runes of her symbol, a holy seal which enveloped the demon. He could only groan, a low, pained growl that faded as he disappeared from sight. Carved into the earth, the passed down for generations sign of the godly lepidopterans.

Where it would stay until the aliens of Nazca returned, dredged up Bagan’s body, and turned him into something unstoppable. Leo wailed once more, a pitiful cry, as he realized that he had accomplished nothing. He had only ensured time flowed the way it had to ensure the Earth’s demise. There was nothing he could have done, the past could not be changed. He began to bitterly weep.

His ancestor crashed into the ground before him, the last of her strength having been used to reach him. Leo apologized to her, but Mothra simply questioned why he would. Why had he come here, what horrors had he escaped from?

So, he told her. Told her of Bagan’s inevitable return, his newfound power due to his wretched masters, and of his fruitless battle with him. Once more, he apologized, but his ancestor once more questioned why. He had not fled, not left the world to burn while he sought safety. He struggled against darkness unyielding, and when he could not surpass it, tried to find a new way to overcome. A failure would have given up, falling short of his lineage would have been throwing his life away meaninglessly.

She had barely seen him, only witnessed a single display of his actual power, but Mothra could simply tell. The goddess could tell that he was a fine guardian, a mighty warrior the likes of which the Earth had never seen before.

He had not failed.

As Leo’s mother had done to her dark counterpart, to forge an alliance against a nuclear terror, Mothra gave her energy to her descendant to heal him. This was the very last of her light, just to ensure he would not die.

She apologized to him. Leo was stunned. Mothra was sorrowful for not having been able to vanquish Bagan, for leaving him with the back breaking burden of the demon god. All she could do was delay him, and leave the terror for the future to face.

Leo could only remember his mother’s passing as he watched the life leaving his ancestor. Despite her words, he still felt like he was not living up to the legacy bestowed upon him.

In her last moment, the ancestor simply told him that he had not fallen yet. As long as he drew breath, Bagan could still be destroyed. She knew he could do it.

The light of Mothra’s eyes faded, and Leo was unable to muster a coherent thought. He soon fell unconscious, the mental and physical stress overwhelming him.

When the moon was high in the sky, two new creatures entered the valley. Blue eyes like gemstones shone in the dark as the brown duo of larvae crawled across the ground, reaching their mother and their descendant. They mourned the former’s passing with a wail.

They did not know that the other Mothra was their descendant, nor did they know his purpose. But they knew he was alive, and they could sense that there was more he needed to do in this world.

Opening their mandibles, they began to spray silk, coating him in a cocoon. This would preserve him, allow him to regain his strength undisturbed.

Only, what they did not know was that it would do more than that. It would not only let him recover, but it would let him do more.

Thousands of years passed, the cocoon being buried by time.

***

And shortly after Leo had left to the past, a mountain of dirt and stone collapsed in China. Next to a great hole in the earth, where his nemesis had been freed, a silvery cocoon was exposed to the sunlight.

Cracking open, the chrysalis split to reveal a changed being. His carapace was now silver and metallic like a knight’s armor. His eyes shone blue like his mother’s, like his ancestors. His wings solidified, becoming great rows of blades adorned with beautiful patterns.

His power had been building over the millennia, his body liquefying inside the chrysalis and rebuilding into a new form, a second metamorphosis. He had become Armor Mothra, and with tremendous speed, took to the air.

Mach 15. Fifteen times the speed of sound, a difficult number to grasp, but what it meant was that the journey from China to Japan was minuscule in length. And most importantly it meant that he met Bagan in the skies over the land of the rising sun in the blink of an eye, the insane beast’s eyes bulging in their sockets as Armor Mothra appeared in his field of vision without warning.

The God of Darkness had no time to react before one of his shoulder spikes had been severed, the reborn paladin passing by him. The Wing of Light faded with a sputtering of sparks, nearly three-hundred thousand tons plummeting from the heavens like a brick. An intact city was shaken by the impact, the residents already in the process of fleeing due to emergency alerts.

Black blood spurting from his new stump, Bagan was already back on his feet, firing a beam at the airborne Armor Mothra. The divine warrior was pushed away by the blast, hurtling through the sky. The dread beast howled in joy, only for a purple ray of power to blast his nasal horn off.

Armor Mothra was not unhurt by the attack, but as was plain from him already lunging towards Bagan once more, metallic carapace only slightly burnt and cracked, it was not nearly as much as the demon would have wanted. More Armor Crossheat Lasers blazed forth from the gem in the knight’s head, tearing away at the once-thought invulnerable armor. Smoke and blood spewed out as the rays dug deep.

Twisting in place, Bagan sought to smash his tail down onto the guardian’s body. Armor Mothra stopped his flight, pivoting in place to thrust his wing forth. The whip-like limb came off, crashing to the ground a small distance away. Howling in rage, Bagan turned and brought his regenerated nasal horn down like a knife. With a shower of sparks, it bounced off the holy armor, leaving only a tiny dent.

Grasping Armor Mothra’s wings, the genetically enhanced monstrosity sought to make that dent far deeper. He swung again, but before a third strike could commence, the warrior of hope fired a ray of light that skimmed across one side of Bagan’s face. It reduced an eye to vapor, leaving a horrendous gash in the skull in the process.

The God of Darkness let go, screaming in agony. The shout was lost in a gurgling of blood as the Earth’s mightiest guardian slit his demonic foe’s throat.

Hate did not befit a righteous god, but it was what Leo felt looking at this vile thing before him. Wrath that had been building for millennia inside his coma, he would let it all be released upon the cruel demon until it no longer twitched.

Bagan’s back and crown sparked with power as he swung an arm up, claws drenched in his azure might. Armor Mothra cried out as it dug a deep trench into his underside, making him pull back as the demon’s wounds regenerated.

A storm brewed inside Bagan’s mind, but as he looked at Armor Mothra, at the end result of the bloodline that had cursed him and made him pliable to be plunged into this hell, it was focusing. He was to be punished for being born, for being created to act this way? For following that which he had been made to do?

The shards of two other souls, they agreed with the hatred of the moth. The nuclear titan and the clone of a space serpent, they wanted his blood to stain the world.

With a burst of movement from both, the two most powerful beings on the planet, perhaps the very universe, collided head-on. The shockwave of their impact knocked down buildings for hundreds of meters around them, filling the streets with debris and dust. Earth cratering beneath Bagan’s feet, he cracked his fist across Armor Mothra’s skull, sending the righteous divinity hurtling across the city skyline. Skyscrapers were decapitated by the dozens by his passing.

The city began to collapse in a straight line towards Bagan, confusing him. It was only just before Armor Mothra nearly cut his feet from his legs that he realized his foe had flown low to the ground, smashing through buildings like they were made of foam. He had managed to step away just in time, but still fell to the earth due to the horrid gashes his foe had left in his ankles.

Shooting straight up into the sky, Armor Mothra turned downwards to launch himself like an arrow at the downed Bagan, Armor Crossheat Lasers firing wildly as he descended. The demon dragon cried out as they assailed his form, but before the paladin could complete his assault, the chimera fired his plasma breath once more. It blazed against the warrior’s back, sending him away like he weighed nothing.

By the time Armor Mothra had recovered, explosive diamonds of azure light speared into him, detonating violently and dashing him against the ground. A groan left his mandibles, sounding mechanical.

He looked at his foe, throat wound closed and body healed. The beast of oblivion seemed to be slowing down, but not nearly enough for Armor Mothra’s liking. This was swiftly becoming a war of attrition, one that the guardian could not triumph in.

A ray of light shot out from each of the fiend’s horns, peeling away strands of the divine moth’s armor. White fur expanded out from the breaks, the body beneath. Again the beams came, but Armor Mothra blocked them with his wing, revealing the delicate membrane underneath in the process.

Bagan continued to march forward, letting loose a rhythmic call that Armor Mothra recognized as laughter. It chilled him to his core. He was losing, even with this grand power increase he still fell short of the God of Darkness. Destiny continued to flow towards the end of all life, no matter what he did…

He refused. Leo refused to let everything be in vain, let the lineage he was the latest of be only capable of delaying destruction. He refused to let his ancestor’s sacrifice be in vain.

Armor Mothra took off from the ground, charging straight towards Bagan. His energies flowed through his form, like he was performing the Excel Dash. A plasma beam lanced out from the dragon’s maw, crashing directly against the god of peace’s face. It stripped away metal and burned flesh beneath, leaving one of his blue eyes surrounded by a patch of black. But still he pressed onwards.

Bagan stomped his feet into the ground, snarling as he prepared to take this attack head on. He was unstoppable, truly and utterly a god of destruction that would never die. The voices in his mind writhed about as they shouted desires for destruction, and he assured them they would get it.

However, there was no impact.

Armor Mothra, light trailing behind him as he sped up, simply passed through Bagan. As though a spectre, he appeared behind his wretched foe, solidifying.

For a few seconds, Bagan was perplexed. Until he looked down at a shining light upon his chest, where his foe had made contact. It did not hurt, but the dark god felt a deep dread permeate his psyche.

This was affirmed by his flesh turning to crystal. He roared in shock and terror as like a cancer the translucent stone spread, replacing his torso. He tried to move, but his arms were paralyzed as they too were afflicted by this. Legs followed.

He could not even turn to look at his killer, for in a moment his neck was solidified. His roars became distorted, vocal chords hardening. There was no physical pain, but the feeling of numbness was even worse.

Armor Mothra just looked at his foe, watching the process. The chance for him to somehow break free was present in his mind, so the guardian was ready to strike at any moment.

It was merely his anxiety, for the crystals soon enveloped Bagan’s entire skull.

The god of darkness felt the most peaceful he ever had when his brain was crystallized, for the howling chorus ceased. The nuclear leviathan, the golden wyrm, his alien masters’ leftover commands, the chaotic and violent programming they had given him from the very start, all of it.

For an instant, the smallest part of Bagan’s psyche, something that his masters did not intend for but was still present, was in joy. In all living creatures, no matter what is done to them or what circumstances lead to their creation, there is an urge. No matter how many cruel desires are layered over it, no matter how much lobotomizing and butchery is done to the mind, it remains.

The urge for internal peace. His masters designed him to be nothing but a tool of violence, but by making him alive they ensured that there was a desire somewhere for the chaos to cease, and blissful silence to come.

Perhaps on such a being as Bagan, that time could only come at this moment, the very last moment of life. But a single instant of it was enough.

Armor Mothra watched as his foe exploded into light, glittering shards fluttering down like snow. He was gone, now and forevermore.

Light overtook him as well, but with not nearly as violent a result. His armor faded away, revealing dense, fluffy fur underneath. His eyes were still like sapphires, only now much warmer in their radiance. The burn upon his face remained, and perhaps always would. Not that he would mind, for it would always serve as a reminder.

A reminder of the day he vanquished the beast that had plagued his lineage for millennia. The beast that would not die, who seemed fated to conquer the world and plunge it into fire. How it had taken everything he had to overcome, moving through time just to stand a chance.

Of his ancestor’s sacrifice, so much like his mother’s after her.

Of how he had transcended fate.

Eternal Mothra beat his wings, saying a prayer for the many who had died on this day and those they left behind. He flew off, to return home and find peace once more. To rest until the world once more faced danger, and needed its divine bloodline to drive back the darkness.

Winner: Mothra Leo