Author: Tyler Trieschock | Banner: Tyler Trieschock
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: A Three Knight Game
Chapter 2: The Vow
Chapter 3: A Just War
Chapter 4: Ideological Struggle
Chapter 5: Bagorah vs. The Visitor
Chapter 6: The Tragedy of Monsters
Chapter 7: Contact
Chapter 8: Autophobia
Chapter 9: Theophobia
Chapter 10: Monster X Mutant
Chapter 11: The Gods’ Blade
Chapter 12: Pawns
Chapter 1: A Three Knight Game
Western Mountains, Skull Island
Belvera awoke to a crushing embrace, unable to squirm free no matter how hard the Dark Elias protested or thrashed. Moll and Lora’s crushing hug, a reminder of the love they possessed for her, was as comforting as it proved inflaming for her anxiety.
“Alright. Alright. Enough already!” she howled. Her sisters’ tide of warmth receded, allowing the Dark Elias to massage her temple and temper the migraine pulsing through it. “How long was I out?”
“Nearly two days,” Moll revealed, snapping any lingering drowsiness out of Belvera in an instant.
“Two…” Belvera choked on the words.
It wasn’t the span of time that worried her, more so what that time represented for beings which were perfectly self-sufficient without mortal needs like food or sleep.
How close had she been to overtaxing herself?
How close had she come to… A shake of her head dismissed the thought before she pivoted her attention back at her sisters.
Without her usual sarcasm or wit, Belvera explained her encounter with Tsukuyomi. The supposed god was every bit the arrogant, self-aggrandizing prick that she had expected, but that had worked in her favor as he revealed all the great victories he dared to claim credit for to demoralize her. Amidst the horrifyingly clear flashes of fallen guardians, and the destruction wrought by his Titans of Death and Rage, his weakness had become clear – Gamera. The guardian, albeit frozen, was still alive.
“Why spare him?” Moll inquired.
“Probably cause he’ll just come back,” Belvera huffed. Fingers continued to massage her temple until the prolonged silence of her sisters forced her to bitterly explain, pulling from eons and eons of memory. “Those stupid Atlanteans made him and the Ryuseicho like us. It’s just one reason why Battra and I helped the Gyaos wipe them…” Shame burned within her. A reminder of the jealous, wicked being she once was. What she needed to redeem herself from. “Killing Gamera will stop him for a while. He’ll just reincarnate… eventually.”
Belvera bit her lip as she withheld the most important detail to Gamera’s imprisonment – the why.
Gamera was a guardian unlike any other. A being which wielded the world’s spiritual life-blood – Mana. And yet for as powerful as that spirit within him was, what spirit would be left if the world did fall to ruin?
Would Gamera be forged into a terrifying creature of vengeance, the last living being whose sole path would be divine retribution?
Or would he simply be reduced to hopelessness, crushed by the unimaginable weight of loss?
A spirit could not be killed, merely broken of purpose – like Belvera had come so very close to so many times in her excruciatingly long life.
“So… we won, right?” Belvera asked.
Lora eagerly nodded, and it was then the Dark Elias noticed something… extra, within that emotive smile she wore. A foreign, puzzling energy surged within her emotional sister. It sprung her upright and sent her spinning like she was dancing with the wind.
“We’ve won so, so, so, sooooooooo, many things.” Her spiraling sister’s slurred speech raced questions throughout Belvera’s mind, so she flicked her exasperated gaze to Moll for some answer.
“The… native peoples,” Moll clarified, pointing to the human village barely visible from their mountain perch, “have been doing their best to supply the wounded, monster and human alike, with their sacred, medicinal liquid. They offered some to us. I refused. Lora, did not.”
Belvera’s lower jaw fell slightly forward. “When?”
“Yesterday,” Moll relented.
“And the juice. Was. Great!” Lora enthusiastically shouted before her spiral arced outward into a rolling fall, one which took her down the grassy mountainside. As her sister disappeared from view, Belvera let loose a long sigh – a fight would soon break out, at least Lora would not experience it.
“You know we need to free that stubborn turtle,” Belvera admitted, waiting for the inevitable logic driven retort. “And we can’t wait another few days for her to sober up.”
“I’ll stay,” were two words she’d never guess to hear out of Moll’s mouth. Let alone her follow-up. “I’m… still not ready to be alone.”
Belvera blinked rapidly. “Really? No protest?”
An affirmative nod. “Not this time,” Moll retorted before she unveiled a soft smile. “You’ve done more than enough to earn my trust. Besides, Mothra’s egg is here. We also have to ensure nothing happens to the lives of those on this island. Like you said, we are the guardians of all lives, right sister?”
An appreciative nod was all Belvera could do with her words choked and eyes at the edge of tears. With a shake of her head, she shoved those emotions deep within herself and yanked a piece of her old cold self to compose her currently volatile mood. Her heart thundered anew as she jumped to her feet, a scheme to free the guardian materializing within her mind.
Kaishin Muba.
Kumasogami.
The Ryuseicho.
Destoroyah.
Four menacing threats. Four obstacles to overcome, but perhaps not the only threats Tsukuyomi could muster.
If Tsukuyomi was half as cunning as he was arrogant, then he’d guess her plan. If he could make Desghidorah his lap dog, what was stopping him from sending the other one trapped in North America? Hell, if he were truly spiteful he’d awaken Dagarla, another demon of her past. Lucky for her, while old, Tsukuyomi lacked the knowledge of the Earth that she possessed. Even with his lackeys suckling on the tit of humanity’s vast troves of data, there was no possible way he knew what lurked beneath the planet’s surface – an empire so nightmarish that it terrified the Atlanteans into sealing off that primordial world, even after the seaborne people vanished an unimaginable threat from the stars.
If Tsukuyomi could unseal and control the evil which lurked beneath them, then the world was truly damned.
“I spoke with Miki the past day.” Belvera flicked her attention back to her sister. Wit desired to be let loose, a mocking remark for interrupting her thoughts about an unimportant telepathic conversation with a mere human, but she tempered that desire and allowed Moll to continue. “I apologized. She accepted. More importantly, she has knowledge that may prove helpful to your journey.”
Once again, the Dark Elias contained the growing pressure of vile, but even she was reaching her limits at the mention of listening to a mere human’s recommendation.
“Destoroyah can’t stand extreme heat or cold. If Gamera is indeed trapped in ice, he will not be there to guard him. As for Iris… the Ryuseicho,” Moll clarified, “he will not stray far from his priestess.”
Two logical conclusions. Two threats Belvera would not concern herself with. Still, it meant Skull Island was susceptible to another attack. Monsters would need to stay behind, a great many of them, to ensure some hope of security.
‘I’ll take only three,’ Belvera decided in thought, ‘The rest will stay behind.’
So when Moll followed up by detailing the entire conversation with the psychic, of the worthless apology her sister had offered the human and the monsters that could possibly lend some form of assistance in the Dark Elias journey, a wickedly malicious grin sprung to life across Belvera’s face, banishing the migraine she felt to the depths of her black heart.
“Humans convinced him?” Nails eagerly tapped across her thigh. Her icy heart longed for misery she vowed to never again unleash. But with the Demon of the Xiliens soon to be at her beck and call, how could she not be tempted? “He’s fighting with humanity…” Belvera stifled a laugh. “I bet his old masters aren’t too pleased by that.”
Site Omega
The moment had come to fulfill her promise.
After a brisk thirty minute hike from the military base upon the island, Miki felt some relief as she and Ozaki finally reached their destination – a secluded valley filled with remarkably lush grass. The sky shined with a kaleidoscope of brilliant blue hues, an array of magnetic colors that drew the attention of herself, Ozaki, and a distant meditating white goliath.
Every instinct within Miki screamed out that Monster X could not be allowed to roam free. That the murderous alien creature that was ordered to attack New York, even if it was now under Ozaki’s control and had saved their lives, needed to be contained like the other prisoners upon the isle. Risk should never outweigh control, and yet… Ozaki had been right. The skeletal killer of another world had remained under his control, peacefully transfixed on the wonders of Earth’s sky.
So as the foundation of Miki’s core philosophy fell under attack by the sight, she did all she could to remain firm, to ensure her beliefs did not bend.
“What’s the plan?” Ozaki asked as he began to perform a series of stretches. His eyes were locked on the draconic warrior in the distance, his gaze intent, but whatever idea he was ruminating upon he was not acting on, at least for the moment.
Miki took a slow, deep breath and pushed back her worries. Drawing upon all the knowledge and experience she had gained in the last ten years as a counselor, she focused on the task at hand.
“Your power,” Miki said, “tell me how it first manifested. The more details you’re able to describe, the better.”
Ozaki nodded along, ceasing his movement before he wove a tale, starting with the Xilien arrival in two thousand four. The deaths of all those he was raised and trained with was an especially tough note for him to let free, but the song of the events continued to play. Within the Xilien Mothership, captured and yet not without hope, the tune turned sour as Ozaki recalled the thorough thrashing he had received from X, the Xilien leader, until the man’s consciousness fell into a void of black.
“It’s… foggy from that point on.” His eyes wandered, seemingly lost in thought as he tried to pick up those scattered notes. “I just remember I was back on my feet after that, holding laser fire mid-air.”
“And after?”
“For a few moments I was glowing in this golden light. Then it vanished, and I made X pay.” His voice picked up, one part nostalgia, the other envy of his past self. “He couldn’t even land a hit on me.”
Ozaki’s mood lightened on that beat. His limbs sprung to life, launching swift jabs and countering an invisible opponent with unparalleled grace. He was replaying the same dance from all those years ago, and as a single arm easily parried blows nearly two decades old, Miki realized how truly important this memory was to him.
“Describe what you felt in those moments.” Her request paused the fluidity of the warrior’s movement for just a moment before energy once again flowed to his limbs.
“I used to train with everyone. Kazuma, Tsutomo, Naoko, Rei, Kumi, Motokuni.” Ozaki shook his head, ending his list of names that Miki held no doubt he could recite to completion if pressed. “But when I was fighting X, it felt like I was them. All of them. All of their strengths. All of their techniques. And like I said, he couldn’t land a hit on me after that.”
“And this feeling. It stopped after you helped Godzilla?”
The warrior’s recital of his victory over X came to a sudden halt. “Yeah… I’ve been trying to summon that feeling, power… whatever it was, ever since.” Longing colored the words he spoke, and Miki felt a knife twist in her gut as he followed that depressing note with, “until Nikko that is.” Any sour trace in his voice fell away as he turned back to Miki, the drive to make things right beaming off a fresh, confident expression. “So what’s the plan?”
Miki remained quiet, a silent battle raging within – two core facets of her soul were at odds. The irresistible urge to help others pushed against her devoted pacifism, because if she remained on this path, conflict and pain and truths would undeniably be unleashed. It was a cliff she’d been headed toward since Nikko, and unable to change her nature, she continued her inevitable walk toward the fall.
“I want you to focus on this flower.” Her hand extended toward a small, yellow daisy amidst a sea of verdant blades. “Concentrate, reach out, and ask for a trace amount of its power.”
Silence permeated the meadow. Unable to meet Ozaki’s stare for the past few minutes, the growing lack of sound finally drew Miki to the warrior who was at a loss for words.
“Ask… a plant?” Ozaki inquired. “No soul searching? Not to look within and find that hidden power?”
The skepticism helped quell Miki’s nerves before she said, “I take it you’ve done that many times before. All without success, correct?”
Ozaki gave no retort, only a shrug that, if it could speak, would have said softly, “Fair point.”
Without another word of protest, her new student sat upon the ground in a meditative pose, extended the palm he looked to for power just moments ago toward the tiny flower, and closed his eyes.
Xilien Basin, Planet X
It was through unbothered eyes Nikos watched the bombardment of Planet X. Xiliens were fighting and dying under waves of plasma and lasers and missiles. A roaring hellfire swept through the defenders without mercy or fairness, and from all the loss of life, through all the destruction, Nikos only knew it was a fate the zealous, deceitful colony upon Planet X deserved.
The Xiliens, at least those that didn’t flee the Sol System in their last Mothership after their latest failure on Earth, would burn atop their carefully crafted bed of lies. A just pyre for all the misery they’d brought upon him, and those like him.
Nikos remembered the desolation that was his youth. No matter how hard he tried to escape his homeworld’s overpopulated streets and rampant pollution, there was never any sanctuary on the planet Quintek. He was resigned to a pitiful fate of poverty and disease until he heard the whispers – tales from another world that promised a better tomorrow.
A promise of a luscious green world in the midst of forbidden space. A refuge that contained a numerous yet primitive species.
“They could be wiped away by superior technology,” the whispers had promised from back alleys, streets, and sewers. “A place without hunger. Without pollution. Would you fight for such a place?”
And so that ignorant, foolish younger version of himself had traversed the universe like so many others of his homeworld. Thousands had been incarcerated by the Ultra Garrison for trespassing into restricted space. Others, like his parents, were simply consumed by the monstrous horrors that lingered within the promised land’s quadrant of the galaxy. And for those lucky few which had beaten the odds and made it to the system of Sol, they found the paradise promised to them, and the horror which lived on its surface – humanity.
But to fight the denizens of paradise, the refugees had found allies within the system. Awaiting them like good shepherds, their friends on Planet X had welcomed them with open arms. Their generosity proved infectious, bolstering morale and their ranks, but if only they’d known the cost of it all…
They were given weapons. They were given the supplies for new ships. Nikos’ people were even recommended to create a false backstory to garner support upon their new world. Would humanity act so aggressively against brothers born within the Sol system? If they were despised, would it not be a mere fraction of the hate they would’ve received as foreign invaders from distant, unconnected worlds? So as Nikos and his people forged their new identity as another race born within the system of Sol, the Mysterians were created; however, just as the Mysterians landed upon their new world, wishing for peace and then foolishly instigating war, the horror drove them back into the stars.
And so the cycle began.
Kilaaks. Nebulans. Black Hole Aliens. All were lured by Xilien promises. All set about conquering their slice of paradise, forging new identities based on truths, half-truths, and lies, merely to be tossed aside when the inevitable specter of human might smacked them back into the endless star-ridden sea or wiped them away like the Black Hole Aliens had been.
And into the darkness of space the survivors once again ventured. Where Nikos’ old friends of hunger and stale air were waiting for him and his diverse ranks. The route back home was too long and too dangerous. Xilien generosity all but a forgotten memory. So for decades, he was amongst a group of scavengers within the system of Sol, fighting to survive every day in a nightmare that had been thrust upon them.
But today, today would be the day Nikos witnessed the cycle broken. Today was the day the Xiliens burned, and all the peoples they’d lured into the forbidden wasteland that was this cursed slice of the galaxy, could begin to build the home of their future upon the ashes of the deceitful.
Metal shuttered. Lights flickered as one-hundred and sixty thousand tons of retribution struck the planet’s surface and rattled Nikos within his pilot’s chair.
What he piloted, unlike the rest of his brothers within their outdated, rusted Mogueras, was a technological marvel by comparison. For as much as he hated humanity, Nikos couldn’t deny the ingenuity of the species, especially when it came to their weapons of war. Perhaps his kind stealing the blueprints of humanities’ M.O.G.U.E.R.A. and replicating it was the universe giving them an ounce of justice for all the wrongs brought against them.
If so, it was a small drop to what his kind, and all those fighting under their unified banner, was justly owed.
Nikos took a moment to survey the basin, or really what was left of it. Even if the Mogueras were low-grade hunks of scrap, their crimson ocular lasers were overwhelmingly lethal, bombarding what few, meager defenses the remaining Xiliens possessed with ruthless precision. What few bunkers remained could only offer meager resistance at best.
Flicking his attention to the sky, another battle raged, if also one-sided. What tattered ships the Xiliens could spare, from their Diamond class assault craft to their bulky transport saucers, fell one by one to the undisputed king of Planet X’s skies.
The Korghan Beast – Bagorah.
Once nothing more than a horror consuming those that searched for a better life, including those Nikos loved most, the mind-controlled crimson bat now carved a trail of destruction through anything that dared to challenge its masters’ might.
Was it honor that compelled so many ships to brazenly kamikaze into the bat’s body, or was it merely fear? A terror to not be consumed by the emerald-eyed predator like the first wave had when Bagorah first descended from space. To be helpless within the stomach of such a creature, being slowly digested over the course of hours…
Nikos banished the grisly thought for all the baggage which accompanied it just as a request for fire support appeared on his screen. The target materialized before him; grand steel doors at the basin of the Zahra Mountain Range at the basin’s far side.
Xiliens were rallying there, attempting to pry the entrance open for… what? A safe place to hide?
Nebulan intelligence was confident the Xiliens held no monsters under their control. Monster X, the demon that came from the now isolationist Xilien Empire, was either dead or on Earth. Gigans too, commonplace amongst Xilien forces, were nowhere to be seen. But for all the confidence Nikos felt, the small self-preserving voice within his mind demanded to know why the Xiliens rallied at such a location.
A nonchalant shrug was all the answer Nikos could provide that unimportant voice before he locked on target.
M.O.G.U.E.R.A. rose its cone-shaped arms, allowing each to split down the center and reveal the explosive payload housed within.
Metal screeched. Fire blossomed. Two Spiral Grenade Missiles rocketed forth and as Nikos elicited a grin, the gates vanished, replaced by a wall of fire. Xiliens were smothered by ravenous flames and falling rock as a landslide buried the warped gates. With nothing left but a cloud of debris, Nikos felt that little voice within him fall silent.
Kilaak brawn. Nebulan brains. Mysterian blood. These were the forces the Xiliens called to the system of Sol, and what would ultimately wipe them off the exiled colony they called-
A blur dashed out of the smoke. Impossibly large, it scurried on eight legs to the nearest Moguera and sank three-fingered claws through its hull. By the time the machine detonated, a twisted fireball of brown metal and death rivaled Jupiter’s glow. The shockwave threw a nearby Moguera to the black earth. Nikos could hear gears and pistons groan from the machine, the closest thing to a screech of pain the robot could muster before four spider-like limbs fell upon it.
Another explosion. Another virulent fireball that ensconced Mysterian lives and the attacker alike in flame, yet as the inferno turned to dull embers, the wretched killer of Nikos’ kind made itself known.
The alien’s mouth widened, revealing a nightmarish set of pointed serrated teeth that glinted from Jupiter’s light. Its head was a featureless mass of bony spikes and razor-sharp fangs. A blind beast with four long spidery limbs which protruded from its back. The skin glowed a luminescent violet, interspersed with shining cobalt and ivory armor plating, all the way to its methodically shifting spiked tail.
Nikos knew a walking horror when he saw it, and it seemed so too did the unified high command. Transmissions echoed through M.O.G.U.E.R.A.’s cockpit, orders for the already fleeing Mogueras to pull back to a consolidated line. The battle for Planet X’s surface had been won, this was surely just a last ditch effort by the surviving Xiliens currently hiding within their underground base.
And to fight this horror, another would be summoned.
On black stained wings, Bagorah flew into the basin, attracting the attention of the wretched blind beast. Whether Bagorah was enough to kill the creature Nikos didn’t particularly care. They each were monsters, and while he would not enjoy stepping-in to aid his subjugated ally, the stakes of the mission took priority. But even if Bagorah fell, even if his technological marvel fell, the mission would be a success. To that outcome, the small voice within Nikos held no argument.
Compared to the Mysterian space station that orbited the planet, to the cerulean thing which hovered just above his derelict home, this Visitor to his just war would ultimately fall like all the rest. It and the Xiliens which released it, didn’t stand a chance.
Chapter 4: Ideological Struggle
Site Omega
Ozaki gave a cheeky smile as Miki finally opened her eyes. His teacher had entered a psychic trance shortly into his meditation, perhaps speaking to Mothra’s guardians or catching up with her husband halfway across the world; either way, those usually calm pupils of hers widened in shock at what now bounced between his palms. He didn’t need to say anything, not about the golden golf ball of energy or the swiftness that he manipulated it.
Her methods, strange as they were, had paid dividends in such a remarkably short amount of time, and yet it brought no ounce of joy to the psychic’s solemn face.
“Was that all from the flower?” she asked, eyes lingering on the field.
“No. Pulled all this from the grass too. Speaking of, what is this? Solar energy?” The ball swirled around him, his will shepherding the energy as if it was in the clutches of an invisible palm. It’d been infuriatingly easy all things considered, applying the same principles that he’d used to connect with Monster X, but how could he argue with the results? He ended the lightshow by pulling the power to his right palm, alighting his face and the appendage in a glow he looked forward to using against Tsukuyomi. “And I only asked for a little, so the plants will be fine.”
Some relief finally graced his teacher’s expression as he assumed it would. “That was wise. As for your first question, are you familiar with Mana?”
“It’s like Ki, right? Kazuma was an expert on all that stuff. Never could manipulate it. He mostly researched it to try and beat me.” Ozaki pushed his enthused grin ever wider. “Herbal teas. Meditation. Strong soul, strong body kind of stuff.”
Still seemingly detached, Miki nodded in agreement. “A simplistic view, but yes. It exists in the living and lingers on Earth after death. That is what I believe you harnessed all those years ago. What gave you your golden glow.”
Ozaki flicked his gaze back to the orb within his palm. It was a step, a truly satisfying step toward regaining his lost power. Training with this orb for hours while Miki meditated felt like second nature. Perhaps in time, the power to wipe out a kaiju would become that way too.
But before he continued down this path, it was time for him to maintain his own promise. So while it pained him to relinquish the ball, he did so with a nonchalant flick of his wrist and then confidently strolled toward Miki, a teacher about to become a pupil.
“Remember the deal? You train me. I train you. An even trade.” He flashed a fresh, confident grin, but all the confidence in the world was sucked away by the pain in Miki’s eyes. She was clearly not looking forward to this part of the deal. Was that why she seemed so distant?
Her eyes fell to the ground, unable to meet his gaze and confirming his suspicions. “I don’t think there is anything you could teach me,” she said calmly and without much energy.
His right hand flared to life with elegant movement, dismissing the statement as much as it built up his own prowess. “I’ve got a few ideas. First, you can grab air right?”
“Wha- what?” Miki’s eyes fluttered, their exasperated gaze firmly on him. She clearly hadn’t expected that question.”I- I.” She shook her head, now clearly flustered. “I can telekinetically, yes. Why?”
Ozaki drew a circle with his right index finger in front of Miki. “I want you to hold the air in front of you perfectly still.” Her head tilted back slightly in exasperation, prompting Ozaki to further explain, “If you’re ever attacked, you can use it like a shield for you or someone else. Air flows when we move through it, so if you don’t let it move, nothing can touch you.”
“I… don’t see the necessity,” Miki countered, cracking the confident grin Ozaki fought desperately to maintain as ire oozed out.
It had been clear since they met that they valued their gifts differently. She avoided using her power, avoided conflict in general. Meanwhile, he embraced his strengths as much as he did using his gifts whenever given the chance. But pacifism couldn’t be abided. The world was in danger. Lives already lost or soon to be. Why would she not want to be the best version of herself she could be, especially with how high the stakes were?
He raised three fingers. Three counterpoints to make her understand the importance of what he was trying to do.
“One. You preach control and defense. This follows that philosophy.” Ozaki lowered a finger. “Two. Sure you could grab what’s coming at you. Maybe a fist, maybe a knife, maybe a bullet, but we’re starting at the basics. You need to know your reaction time, your limits, or else you’ll never know how strong you really are.” A single finger remained. “And final point… you have two seconds.”
It took a second for Miki to register the sly remark. Another for Ozaki to enter a combative stance before he launched his left leg forward.
His leg was a missile of muscle, albeit at a far slower speed and strength then if he were serious. And if Miki failed this first test, his heel would stop a centimeter short of impact, not that he would allow that thought to enter his mind in case she was listening.
His pupil’s eyes snapped shut. And just as his leg fully extended, an invisible wall absorbed the blow, cracking Miki’s apparent vow of pacifism in two.
Before she could voice a verbal counter or a request to end the exercise, Ozaki shouted, “Excellent. Now your left.”
He became a blur. A being faster than the human eye could track and just as he said, a palm strike launched to Miki’s left.
Another block for a blow which would have come up short. Another success that stocked Ozaki’s heart to beat a little faster. Again and again and again he continued, pushing his speed and reflexes further, shifting the call outs to his mind. To train with such intensity was as nostalgic as it was exhilarating. And then, based on nothing but his gut, he withheld the knowledge of the angle of attack from Miki and accelerated to his top speed.
His palm’s trajectory would end a centimeter in front of her face. Success birthed rewards and experience, but nothing could replicate the vast knowledge bestowed by failure. This would be Miki’s first for her gift, and hopefully, it would act as a wake up call that she could not hide from the impressive potential she possessed. That in the fight ahead, she needed to be her best self, just in case his power wasn’t fully unlocked by the time of his inevitable final clash with Tsukuyomi; however, as he launched the final blow that would end the session, a telekinetic wall inexplicably appeared.
Ozaki felt his confidence disappear with the following muffled impact. Surprise encompassed his expression. As he staggered back, he looked to his pupil and found what had to be an imposter.
The woman he knew never displayed a shred of the disappointment or animosity that now beamed his way. She was silent. She was visibly frustrated, and she unequivocally showed no interest in continuing this arrangement.
“That was impressive,” Ozaki casually admitted, keeping his shock and excitement to a minimum. But while he could muffle words, his thoughts raced without equal. ‘You were holding all this back all this time? But how’d you keep pace with me?’ The pieces to the answer assembled within Ozaki’s mind. ‘Because reading a mind means your own has to be faster to process that information, right?’
Miki’s eyes twitched; a silent confirmation to all the revelation implied.
‘And if you can read my mind then-‘ Ozaki’s heart began to race, ravenous for the potential this could unlock. To have a near-equal was something he’d not possessed in so long. A nostalgic comfort ripped away when his pupil finally spoke.
“I’m done, Shinichi.”
The blow was the first of its kind from her and the last as Miki turned away, but if she thought he’d give up so easily, that he wouldn’t contest the stupid decision she was making, she was immensely mistaken.
“Why do you run from every fight! What are you so afraid of?” She gave no answer, and Ozaki’s fists clenched in response. “Imagine if you actually tried instead of running away! Imagine if you knew how strong you really are! With your help, I could’ve stopped Tsukuyomi on Nikko!”
She still refused to acknowledge him and something dense and defiant within his heart finally cracked – guilt. The emotion let loose a maelstrom of fury into his veins, so on nothing but instinct, Ozaki yelled one final line.
“Two seconds!”
And then he was off. A blur racing toward the source of his anger and a relief to the guilt within his heart. He held nothing back on his approach and swung a kick that’d snap steel if given the chance. It’d fall short, as all his physical blows would have if the barrier never materialized, and yet Ozaki placed a thought within his mind for Miki to discover – the true blow that no barrier could block.
‘Asagi would be alive if you weren’t a coward!’
All his momentum came to an inexplicable halt behind Miki.
Muscle bulged. Teeth flashed. Ozaki brought his full strength to bear, attempting to combat the unbreakable hold on every part of his body, but it was impossible to make the invisible force clutching him even bend. From his fingers to the toes in his shoes, he was utterly frozen mid-strike.
He couldn’t thrash.
He couldn’t move.
All that Ozaki could do was watch Miki turn to unveil open eyes sparking with as much sorrow as they did anger. A fury that seemed alien upon her face. And yet worst of all was her lips as her mouth quivered, fighting to hold back something Ozaki somehow knew would be stronger than anything he’d thrown in their session.
To his surprise, she never allowed those words to be released. Miki merely turned away, unwilling to relinquish her telekinetic hold as she began to walk back to the headquarters. For a relentless eternity Ozaki could only stare until Miki crested a distant hill, and her hold over him finally slackened.
A frightening scream tore through the air from him. Eyes snapped to distant rocks, an outlet for the fury Ozaki possessed, but decades of training cooled his heated temper and reigned in his guilt-ridden heart. Venting his emotions through his fists would not close the gaping hole in him that his trust for Miki once resided, nor would it make her come to her senses.
But even at the loss of a supposed friend, and the betrayal unveiled alongside Miki’s power, his mission didn’t change. He needed to hone his own strength for the day of his rematch with Tsukuyomi was fast approaching – he could feel it in his bones.
So brandishing a fiendish grin, Ozaki focused upon the white goliath who meditated in the distance.
“Bet I can teach you a thing or two.”
And as if the wind had carried his whisper, four intrigued eyes took their attention off the sky and looked his way.
Chapter 5: Bagorah vs. The Visitor
Nahra Mountain Range, Planet X
The basin quaked from flexing wings, shaking Nikos within the M.O.G.U.E.R.A. as much as it did the Visitor a kilometer away. Bagorah’s hurricane force winds, a mere side effect of its domineering charge, seemed to be instigated as an act of intimidation, not that the Korghan Beast needed more intimidating traits. From its splayed open maw to piercing green eyes, it was a terrifyingly gargantuan killer ready to make short work of the smaller, thinner prey.
And yet in the face of the charging crimson onslaught, the Visitor remained startlingly still.
The small voice deep within Nikos urged him to help his ally, that the uninvited guest to their war would not go down easily, but a mental backhand smacked that plea away. The Korghan Beast could fight and die alone, just as his parents did in the jaws of that same damned creature a lifetime ago.
Spider-like appendages struck out, captivating Nikos’ attention. The four long appendages were splayed wide, a barrier of spikes by the blind predator to halt Bagorah’s charge, but perhaps oversizing his opponent, the Visitor’s appendages were spread too wide. While difficult, a clean path lay open for Bagorah to deliver a bone-crunching kick between the spikes so long as it tucked in its wings, and the Korghan Beast capitalized on the opportunity without hesitation.
Wings tucked back. Legs extended. Bagorah’s brute strength seemed poised to connect merely for spiked limbs to recede while the blind creature fell to all fours, revealing a writhing spiked tail.
Nikos couldn’t help but feel an iota of admiration for the Visitor as Bagorah’s kick struck open air, and the freshly revealed appendage of prey turned predator lashed forward, sinking a thick blade into the bat’s center mass.
A perfectly executed trap. A quick end to the Korghan Beast’s life except for one biological flaw – Bagorah was a creature adapted to space.
While sporting jaws filled with dagger-like teeth and deadly vocal cords yet to be unleashed, Nikos doubted the bat needed any atmosphere to survive. Whatever internal make-up the bat possessed surely didn’t need oxygen. Didn’t need a heart constantly pumping blood like so many others the predator was probably used to crippling, so while the strike was successful, Bagorah seemed more enraged than impaired.
A frothy roar quaked the environment, yet the Visitor cared little for the anguish filled bark of intimidation; it merely launched forward with deadly intent.
Spider-like limbs thrust back and forth. Claws swiped without end. The methodical predator turned into a relentless, vicious pursuer, forcing Bagorah’s raw power to fall flat against lethal intent. Only when Bagorah’s back collided with the vertical incline of the Nahra mountains did the Visitor lose any semblance of the cunning predator it was before. Ravenous intent jettisoned it forward, spider-limbs and claws swinging forward to impale the cornered prey merely to strike rock as Bagorah ascended at the last possible second.
A series of beeps drew Nikos’ attention. He cocked his head to the side, noticing an incoming transmission that was rudely interrupting his show. With the slow flick of a single finger, fresh orders echoed around him.
Nikos needed to put down the Xilien’s blind mongrel to protect their Korghan asset.
Nikos would be reprimanded if immediate action was not taken.
Nikos…
A flick of the very same finger ended the transmission mid-order, cutting off his machine from the orbital station high above.
Whatever bureaucratic Nebulan spouting his newest assignment could leave orbit and tell it to him himself if he dared. Until then, Nikos fixed his attention back on the battle.
In the few seconds he’d been rudely interrupted, the Visitor had doggedly clambered up the side of the Nahra Mountain range in pursuit of Bagorah. In actual appearance, the rock formations mimicked a congealed mesh of human skyscrapers that ranged a thousand meters in height. While really mountains in name only, the sheer vertical cliffs did little to impede the blind predator’s ascent. And then as the predator reached one of Nahra’s countless flat peaks, muscular legs sprung down, propelling the Visitor into the air until spike and claw met crimson flesh.
The two monsters became one, a living aerial mass of scarlet, cobalt and ivory. Nikos struggled to make out details, but it seemed Bagorah’s fangs had found fertile flesh and buried themselves deep. The claws that adorned the bat’s heels too had punctured deep into the Visitor’s hide, and yet all that damage paled to the impalements completed by the blind predator.
With a virulent boom, the two crashed back down upon the basin, the Visitor atop the now badly mauled Korghan Beast.
Spiked limbs thrust back. The predator’s long maw splayed wide, ready to tear open crimson flesh. Nikos watched the killing blow from the Visitor launch forth, but sound proved faster than claw.
The air around Planet X shuddered violently as an ear-splitting shriek ripped through the atmosphere; a hellish scream of death from Bagorah’s bloody maw.
Nikos slammed his hands over his ears, screaming in agony at the relentless onslaught of sound. He was completely helpless against the high-pitched shriek that tore through his senses like a searing scalpel, but then again, he knew he didn’t have to react.
M.O.G.U.E.R.A.’s systems responded quickly, detecting the issue and sealing ducts and entryways to limit his ally’s friendly fire. As Bagorah’s sonic attack was reduced to a more manageable decibel, Nikos gazed back to the battlefield and found the Visitor, the once-assured victor of the battle, writhing like a newborn infant.
What distance and metal and shielding nullified for the pilot, the blind Visitor’s senses and close proximity most likely amplified. The predator could only shriek and thrash as Bagorah took back to the air, fell silent for just a moment, and then let loose another hellish scream.
The Visitor was engulfed in a sea of brilliant white flashes, as if sound was either shattering or focusing natural light. Whatever the screech’s effects, by the time the attack concluded, the Visitor was as limp as stone with its clawed appendages fallen over its head like a blanket.
The Korghan Beast let loose a war cry at the sight while Nikos merely shrugged, his hopes of both monsters killing each other thoroughly dashed. And yet a slight, near unnoticeable glow made those hopes once again flare to life.
The ravenous pursuer was definitely dead, but the cunning, deceiving personality of the Visitor seemed to still be alive and with one last trick to try.
The ground trembled as Bagorah descended, eager for its hard-earned pound of flesh, merely for its claws to never reach as the blind beast unveiled its head and the swirling pink energy atop its cranium. A shock of electricity seemed to pass through Bagorah’s body as the predator was struck by the Visitor’s power.
Muscle locked. Bagorah’s scream of surprise cut short. Seemingly stunned, the scarlet carnivore plummeted back into the basin with a bone-rattling thud, reclaiming the mantle of prey.
The blind beast struggled to stand, struggled to raise its claws back for a final killing blow while it stood atop Bagorah, but the outcome, the true outcome, was clear. The Visitor had won the fight fairly and now readied to end Bagorah’s life; however, Nikos knew the cruel secret of the universe that would always elude the monster – nothing in life was ever fair.
M.O.G.U.E.R.A.’s chest parted, unloading a continuous blast of superheated energy at the pilot’s command. The wall of power tore victory from the Visitor’s grasp and threw the beast back. A howl of torment and surprise echoed, reverberating across Planet X until the blind creature’s armored carapace began to glow. When all life seemed to drain from the Visitor, Nikos relinquished the stream of plasma, ceasing his mech’s chest cannon.
The victorious alien collapsed a moment later.
No pity or remorse welled inside Nikos, only apprehension at activating his communications once more. He could claim a technical malfunction halted his assistance, a bold faced lie, but not a lie anyone of higher ranks would ever call him out on. Bagorah was alive after all and so too was the Visitor – a fresh combatant to place under Kilaak control.
So with a begrudging sigh, Nikos flipped his communications online and listened to the flurry of activity.
Screams. Orders. Confusion. From the open comms streamed a mangled cacophony of chaos. The pilot guessed that he was the cause, overhearing questions and orders relayed about the rogue mech, yet as he moved to explain his situation, a few key details grinded his speech to a halt.
Golden armor.
Serrated wings.
A dread filled tingle raced down his spine from designations unlike anything he could think of, so he began to move his mech’s sensors to find whatever was causing the panic.
The endeavor took only a second.
A petrifying scream ripped from his throat as Nikos’ gaze locked onto a shining silver face plate. The terror that seized him was only matched by the petulant voice deep within him that for the first time in ages, was perfectly attuned to him, screaming in abject horror at the sight.
Chapter 6: The Tragedy of Monsters
Miura School of the Gifted, Shizuoka Prefecture – 1983
Everything was empty and dull compared to the gift the child possessed. It, and it alone, imbued color to the world. Why else did the child’s classmates stare with wonder? Compared to the strength which was flaunted before them, they were all nothing more than nameless silhouettes, staring with orbs of envy that burned white-hot.
To flaunt their gift even more, the child raised their palm higher in the air, lifting a boulder that rivaled a small sedan. The audience let loose bellows of awe and wonder. Sheep, easily wowed by a simple demonstration. But there was more strength to flaunt – so with a flick of their wrist, the boulder began to spin.
Discernible features became a blur as rock spun like a top. Yet it was not enough, not even close to demonstrating their full potential, so the child delved deeper into their reserve of strength. Pushing further and further the awe and wonder and envy beaming their way until a crack of thunder caught the child off guard.
A few droplets of rain struck the child’s face, pulling their attention skyward to a cloudless sky. The sun, so mundane compared to their own potential, shined beside the boulder’s lighter form, drawing the child to the specs upon their cheek. Two fingers touched the droplets and as they pulled back, a vibrant crimson coating each digit.
It was then the child looked back to the crowd; a few dull silhouettes fewer than before while that terrifying red hue speckled the other onlookers’ faces and the fragments of rock at their feet. It was only when the child noticed the group’s white eyes no longer filled with envy, but pure palpable terror, that their screams finally registered.
The child’s hand fell. The boulder followed and the child’s pleas of regret rang throughout the playground only to fall on deaf ears.
“Monster,” was what the potential-less crowd yelled as they fled. “She was a monster.”
Nahra Mountain Range, Planet X
A paralyzing fear clutched Nikos in its icy grip, making his breath come out in shallow gasps. With a Herculean effort of sheer will, he forced himself to break free and focus on the ominous golden presence that had suddenly appeared. Logic came to the forefront of his mind and what it bestowed was nothing good, not for any of the alliance.
The obvious and worst answer for the thing’s identity was an Ultra. Of what designation or rank Nikos couldn’t tell, because if it was a warrior from the Ultra Garrison, the Ultra had come completely covered in thick armor plating, ready for war. The silver skin matched the scarce images within his mind of the warriors, as did the belt which glowed the same color of Sol’s sun, but the distinct lack of bug-like eyes, of any features upon the thing’s face, flourished doubt.
An Xilien weapon of last resort was also an obvious answer to the golem’s identity but then why was it not moving? Like a statue summoned from the ether, the thing wasn’t doing much of anything. It seemed a lost observer rather than an active participant in the battle for Planet X. But for as stoic as the silver skin giant was, the fact that it had appeared a half kilometer away, at the center of the basin no less without setting off any sensors, without so much as a whisper, set off every instinctual warning within the pilot.
The panic across the communication channels from his brothers and sisters in arms was now painfully clear.
Nikos refused to relinquish his vision on the thing, on… ‘the Observer,’, he named it, despite its lack of any facial features. Nerves frayed at the thought of looking away, fearful that it might teleport once more if not under constant supervision.
A flick of the finger re-linked M.O.G.U.E.R.A. to the assault group just as a new order came down from on high.
The great minds of all three species were not taking any chances – Bagorah would kill it.
A breath of relief vented from the pilot before he swiftly prepped M.O.G.U.E.R.A.’s weapons systems. Like with the Visitor, Nikos wouldn’t jump to the Korghan Beast’s aid at the start but wait and see how things played out.
A great shadow engulfed the mech, and then, Bagorah appeared within frame. While battered and bloody, its drive to kill was still being stimulated by Kilaakians far, far above, sending it surging forth toward the silver golem with murderous intent. Its jaws splayed wide and as Nikos realized what would soon be unleashed, he clapped his hands over his ears as a violent scream tore through the air.
Rock cracked. Boulders liquified. Sound waves made short work of everything within Bagorah’s bombing run, blanketing the Observer in a cloud of dust as the crimson creature flew by.
Seconds passed. Dust settled, and the damage became clear. While nothing was spared from the potent sonic attack, the new arrival remained frozen atop fractured earth, seemingly unharmed.
In response, Nikos prepared M.O.G.U.E.R.A.’s full spiral grenade stockpile for imminent launch. Either Bagorah had missed, something he doubted could happen with its sonic scream, or things were about to get far, far worse. As Bagorah swung back round, jaws parted and chest heaved for another scream, he hoped it was the former.
The pilot felt the pressure wave slam into his mech and then through him as Bagorah seemingly let loose everything its lungs could muster. The ground trembled and cracked wide as if at the epicenter of an earthquake but most frightening of all, the golem remained frozen, arms listless at its sides. Only when the Korghan Beast passed over the unmoving thing did a brilliant golden light erupt from beneath.
Bagorah was there one moment; the next, the Korghan Beast was everywhere.
The pool of gore around the golem grew larger with each passing moment as Bagorah’s mutilated remains rained down. Nikos could hardly believe what he was seeing; chunks of meat and organs blended together into an emerald and ruby sludge that made it impossible to discern limbs from organs. Bagorah’s remains were too precisely cut, too atomized to discern any detail. And most frightening of all, the thing that killed him hadn’t even needed to move. The wings or blades or whatever stuck out of the Observer’s back had diced the Korghan Beast in a nano-second.
The Observer was without a doubt hostile, lethal, and as that realization dawned upon Nikos, a chorus of deathly roars filled the air as his Mysterian brethren acted upon that revelation.
Brothers and sisters in distant Mogueras let loose their fiery wrath, the order to fire unneeded after witnessing Bagorah’s liquification. Like Nikos, they’d lived desperate lives of kill or be killed, and they wouldn’t wait for their turn to be slaughtered.
Nikos bellowed an ancient battle cry as he unleashed his M.O.G.U.E.R.A.’s full laser arsenal at the Observer. Ocular lasers spat out a relentless barrage of golden beams, while the splayed cone appendages sprayed the silver golem with a deadly current of violet energy. The dish on the robot’s chest erupted in a technicolor explosion of hues and destruction that consumed the target in a maelstrom of sparks.
His heart thundered. Adrenaline reached every cell within the pilot’s body. He felt his machine’s power as a constant pressure wave quaked the mech and it was… exhilarating.
Nothing could survive the all out assault.
Nothing could stand up to him.
And yet that infernal voice resurfaced, highlighting the sparks could only occur from impacting the Observer’s thick armor plating. That even if he and his brethren were doing considerable damage, something persisted within the maelstrom of death.
Birthing a fresh roar that squelched the infuriating inner voice, Nikos ceased the violet assault, switched the appendages to Spiral Grenades, and let loose his entire stockpile.
Arching the appendages so the missiles would reach their target for one colossal detonation, Nikos fired the mech’s four remaining salvos of missiles. Each pair of mountain cleaving grenades launched into the air, a gray trail of smoke following in their wake before they struck the hidden mass, and let loose an explosion unlike any Planet X had seen that day.
The blinding light momentarily stunned Nikos. His heart raced anew as a powerful shockwave forced M.O.G.U.E.R.A. backward, raining earthly debris like a meteor shower. He heard a screech of the ground trembling and cracking under the mech’s treads, and when things became silent, Nikos blinked to regain his vision and bear witness to the destruction of the uninvited guest.
Upon his vision fully returning, he felt his stomach churn at the sight.
The Observer was still there, immovable and unresponsive as ever. The only discernible difference after the all out assault being that Bagorah’s blood had been atomized. Fear, raw and wild, lashed throughout Nikos’ body, but before he could act upon the primordial instinct, the crest upon the golem’s forehead blazed a solar hue.
What jettisoned forth from the Observer seemed more like a solar flare than a beam. Unmatched power lashed out, an inescapable and unparalleled wall of light that consumed all it touched. The Mogueras, lined up at the basin’s far side, were snuffed out within the inescapable flame. When the Observer ceased the counterattack, only a blackened landscape hinted at what once was so easily wiped away.
Metal groaned. The featureless faceplate turned only a few degrees, but Nikos felt the thing’s full attention fall upon him, piercing whatever superiority he thought he possessed moments ago.
Then came the cleansing flame…
The blinding light seared through his Mysterian visor like a hot poker through flesh, the heat intense enough to make him forget he was wearing any protection. The world spun around him as M.O.G.U.E.R.A. was launched into the air, the cockpit shaking with such violence that sparks flew and metal screeched. In that moment, death seemed inevitable; there was no escaping it. And yet, as the seconds ticked by in agonizing slowness, gravity exerted itself. An impact with the planet’s surface knocked every bit of air out of Nikos’ lungs.
He remained conscious – a man on death row waiting for the ax to fall.
Through spotty vision Nikos forced his eyes wide, even as blood ran down his forehead.
Everything was a blur, a vast, barely discernible collage of objects, but muscle memory proved his savior. Systems responded as he interacted with the control panels on feeling alone, and positive feedback indicated the mech was functioning. M.O.G.U.E.R.A. had taken one hell of a beating, but either luck or humanity’s ingenuity kept the mech operational, albeit barely.
He could escape, he could–
Vision blinked back for Nikos with enough clarity to see the Observer tilt its head to the side. Whatever the mysterious being was, wherever it came from, it clearly wasn’t used to seeing something survive a taste of its power. The sun-crest flickered once more, a far brighter gleam than the previous two blasts had summoned before firing.
Nikos knew this time, he would die if the Observer’s attack struck true. Choking down his fear, he ignited M.O.G.U.E.R.A.’s thrusters and rocketed toward the Nahra mountains.
G-force slammed his body into the chair, crushing his insides and turning the world into a blinding fog. After counting two seconds, mental math assured him he’d cleared the edge of the formation, putting precious earthly material between himself and the Observer’s lethal reach. Even if the damn thing fired another solar flare, it’d have cut through a half mile of rock to reach him. So long as he stayed low and skirted the columns, he’d be fine. He’d survive another day in the miserable system of Sol.
Terror replaced those calming thoughts as a light-filled shockwave tore through him, banishing Nikos into a seemingly everlasting darkness.
Join Base Nares-Stenz, Site Omega
It was with a heavy heart that Miki returned to Site Omega’s headquarters. Even if Ozaki now despised her and relegated her to nothing more than a coward, she’d at least still helped him, partially sating the endless desire to help others within her heart – a desire built upon a wrong that could never be righted or forgiven.
Burying that guilt for another time, she focused back on Ozaki, guessing he’d most likely train to unlock what potential he possessed. Perhaps with enough time and enough preparation against Tsukuyomi, the truth she harbored wouldn’t need to be revealed after all.
It was a pain Miki wished with all her heart to avoid.
Laughing soldiers scattered about the courtyard repelled Miki into the headquarters for some corner of solace. She wanted to be alone, with her power, with her thoughts, and as she found an empty room with a balcony amongst the living quarters, that desire seemed attainable. She closed the door with a beleaguered sigh, grabbed a table chair and began to slide it to the balcony’s inviting space. Only when she realized the room’s sofa was already propped on the concrete slab that extended toward the beach, two legs resting on the black railing on the feature’s perimeter, did she come to a halt realizing her paradise had already been claimed by another.
The man’s dark brown eyes regarded her with curiosity before they slid behind polarized lenses. Then he noticed the chair. A welcoming smile graced his lips before he motioned with a tip of his straw hat for her to join him. Miki didn’t take long to consider the proposal and quickly pulled her chair away from the table, setting it down on the cement floor. Her legs stretched over the black railing just like the stranger, leaning back underneath the warm Atlantic sun.
Miki anticipated some form of questioning from her host, but the man was dressed like he was on vacation rather than visiting a military installation, showed no interest in delving into her troubles. Sitting side by side under the sun’s glow, what felt like hours of peace passed without a word shared between them.
As time blissfully ticked by, the stranger beside her drew a greater sense of familiarity. A specter that had dipped in and out of her past, but one which she never had direct contact with. Her mind dredged memory after memory to uncover the man’s identity, until a virtual meeting her husband participated in made her eyes go wide with realization.
“Dr. Niko Tatopoulos.”
The man didn’t stir, but his lips tugged back to reveal a minor grin.
“You can call me Nick,” he remarked as he stretched his limbs. “Is your husband here too?”
“No he’s…” Miki paused. The past day’s struggles instantly caught back up to her. Her doubt, her fears, her pain, it all writhed in her soul, desiring resolution and perhaps selfishly, she bitterly let them loose upon the world rather than fight and risk what they could unintentionally dredge from long dormant graves. The man beside her was a man of science, a hero in his own realm of the world – he could be trusted. From her meeting with Tatsunari to her disastrous training session with Shinichi, Nick bore witness to her struggles as she revealed them, gradually erasing whatever cheer he originally displayed.
“Hmmmm,” was all Nick said as she finished spouting her novels’ worth of history and drama.
“For the first time in a very long time, I don’t know who or how to help,” Miki admitted. “At least… not without causing pain. And I can’t do that. Not again.”
Nick continued to nod, processing every word she spoke before he tipped his head in her direction.
“For a long time, I valued ensuring my team’s safety over everything else. Eventually that wore me down to the point where I realized I couldn’t ignore my own well being.” His hands cupped the back of his head. “I believe you just told me that story because it’s easier than what you left unsaid.”
Miki’s features remained rigid, no doubt signaling to Nick he was on the right track.
“I won’t pry into that can of worms,” a brief chuckle delayed him, “but I can give you this comfort.” Two fingers pointed to a series of sharp, black boulders along the distant beach. Only when Miki focused on the features did she realize the natural formation to be the scutes of America’s own protector peacefully slumbering nearby – the American Godzilla, Zilla.
“He not only trusted you but listened to you. It took years for that type of trust with me, so either I’m a terrible parental figure, or he senses your good heart. A heart that probably doesn’t deserve all the pressure it’s currently under.” Nick stretched once more before sinking into his sofa. “If you need Zilla, my team, or me, all you need to do is ask.”
“Thank you Niko Tatopoulos.”
“Be warned,” he said with a humor tinged dialect, “my wife and I were interrupted on our second honeymoon. Playa Del Carmen. She won’t be pleased about us not going back so we can fight an… eight-headed dragon was it?”
As much as she desired, Miki could not embrace Nick’s humor. “I think he’s more misguided than anything.”
“This… Tsukuyomi character?”
Miki nodded. “I saw his mind, his past… He’s taken countless lives and that can not be forgiven, but… I don’t think things had to play out like they are.”
“You can cook a rotten egg as long as you’d like, but it’ll still leave a bad taste in your mouth.” Niko huffed. “Take it from me. Sometimes, no matter what you do, you can’t change people. Maybe, at a certain point you could’ve changed him for the better, but to think you can now is just a fantasy.”
“I know I can’t change his views,” she admitted. “And that, that is what scares me.”
For what if she did embrace her true-self?
What if the monster she became couldn’t be reasoned with either…
Niko took his attention off the sun and focused on her. His piercing brown eyes gleamed through his shades as if he could see what truly plagued Miki before he brandished a seemingly genuine smile.
“See my earlier point about that heart of yours.”
The rebuff of Miki’s fear forced her lips back ever slightly.
Sirens cut short the heartfelt connection, drawing Miki’s gaze to the courtyard. Jeeps and soldiers were racing. Something was happening. And based on the direction they were all heading, the white goliath was no doubt the cause.
“I need to go,” Miki asserted but two fingers once again pointed to the slumbering leviathan, who lay unfazed by the high pitched wails.
“He’s not worried, so I wouldn’t be.”
Niko dropped back into his chair, even as the pandemonium of sirens and alarms filled the air. It felt like a silent suggestion, inviting her to return to the blissful tranquility before her. Miki thought through her options, feeling the perpetual anguish and remorse that shaped all of her decisions calling her to investigate, to help others, to make up for a wrong that occurred long ago. And even with that lifelong weight upon her shoulders, she managed to do the unthinkable.
She reclined into her chair and selfishly let herself soak in the sunlight’s warmth, allowing the chaos to play out without her involvement.
Nahra Mountain Range, Planet X
Nikos returned to consciousness with a pained gasp. A writhing agony across his body clouded his mind, kept him focused on wiping the fresh blood from his eyes through his broken helmet until his memories returned all at once, rushing forth from the depths of his consciousness like solar winds.
The invasion.
The Observer.
The slaughter…
Fear overshadowed the crippling anguish that coursed through every cell of his body. Bones were broken, flesh torn, but those wounds could be mended in time if given the chance – if he had a future at all. So when a single screen flickered to life, fear was consumed by an endless sense of awe.
Nahra’s Mountains had been atomized.
Charred piles of debris littered the landscape, of which Nikos assumed M.O.G.U.E.R.A. was within, but any trace of the thick columns of rock had been reduced to memory. Past the destroyed formation, within the basin standing just as listless and unfazed as it arrived, the killer of his brothers and sisters remained hauntingly still until the Observer’s faceplate methodically drifted in his direction.
It knew he was alive.
Lights, or sparks or something must have given him away. Given away the fact that the machine still existed. Nikos expected another flare, another lance of death to arc his way; instead, darkness grew as something blotted out Jupiter’s light.
Nikos craned his head back, mimicking the silver and gold golem in the distance to discover that the Nebulans, Myterians, and Kilaaks had written off not only him, but the entire Xilien base. It was the only explanation besides genuine fear of the Observer that could make those above him unleash their biggest attack animal – a creature that, like Bagorah, ravaged the dark void between systems. Except unlike the Korghan Beast, the squid-like entity that began its descent was infinitely more voracious, infinitely more destructive, and most terrifying of all, exceptionally bigger.
Tentacles that could touch the basin from orbit and thicker than the mech crashed upon the surface like meteors. The quakes which jostled Nikos felt like they could’ve been felt on the opposite side of the planetoid, and if he had to guess, they probably were. Any rock or debris which came in contact with the massive tendrils vaporized almost instantaneously, absorbed effortlessly just like the Visitor’s unconscious body into the celestial horror which drifted amongst the stars – Dogora.
As the golem remained stationary, watching the space-borne cephalopod with the same non-threatened stance it did to everything else, Nikos flicked his attention back to the controls and struggled for any semblance of hope.
M.O.G.U.E.R.A.’s systems were shot to say the least. The lower half of the mech was either completely unresponsive or just gone… Nikos couldn’t determine which, but if the lower half did still exist, he could activate the “Star Falcon” protocol and escape the ravenous hell about to descend upon Planet X.
An earsplitting whine then echoed, forewarning not that ravenous hell’s approach, but its arrival.
Nikos felt the rock pile around M.O.G.U.E.R.A. give way, as did the mech as Dogora began to vacuum up everything upon the surface. The moment his mech reached the permeable flesh of the creature, he’d be liquidated in an instant. He possessed at most a minute, maybe seconds, so birthing a primordial scream of desperation, the pilot tore himself from his chair regardless of his wound’s cries and launched himself into the elevator at the far end of the control room.
Seconds ticked by as the elevator descended. Every moment Nikos waited for cerulean flesh to melt the metallic walls around him and consume him without mercy, but by some miracle, the doors parted revealing the relatively undamaged Star Falcon controls to which he could use to make his escape.
Without a moment of hesitation, Nikos flung for the control panel and initiated launch.
M.O.G.U.E.R.A. shuddered once more, metal groaning as the mech’s lower half detached and morphed into a vessel capable of interstellar flight. Once the transformation settled, thrusters erupted at maximum capacity. Nikos flipped on optical sensors and his eyes went wide as he watched the top half of M.O.G.U.E.R.A. melt away meters behind.
A brief tug-of-war between deep space horror and machine rattled the vessel before the Star Falcon’s engines proved victorious, putting much needed distance between the pilot and his killer. Chunks of rock the size of a kaiju flew by, but even battered as he was, Nikos adeptly flew around the airborne obstacles before a combination of curiosity, and a desire for revenge pulled his focus back to the Observer.
What he saw made him press the Star Falcon’s thrusters to their limit.
The broken earth beneath the armored thing had already been sucked away, but as if the golem’s power exceeded even the laws of physics, it remained stationary, watching Dogora absorb the world around it. Pieces of rock which broke off beneath the immobile being were cleaved in two upon contact or reduced to dust. Such impacts faded though, as the Xilien subterranean base was fully revealed. Miles long and stretching the size of the now eroded basin, the Xilien installation along with whatever pathetic souls remained inside were lifted into the air.
A final course for the ever-ravenous horror.
The Observer, as if realizing the grand Xilien creation below, shifted its attention to the ascending base just as the colony careened into it. No trace of hope that the Observer was finally dead clung to the pilot as he witnessed the base ascend, revealing the entity still hovering and stationary after it had carved through the base like an immovable knife.
A moment later, the Xilien base was gone, leaving the two unstoppable beings to their duel.
Nikos’ eyes seared with rage and sadness as he threw his head back and unleashed a deafening wail of anguish. The pilot felt a deep emptiness inside as he realized that the future he, and so many others, had dreamed of since arriving in Sol was now truly gone, crushed under the weight of unthinkable suffering and cursed beings outside his control.
The dream of a perfect home finally died within Nikos’ soul. Tears welled at the corner of his eyes, but even that solemn moment was ripped away by an inhuman and frightening scream.
Dogora had reached the surface, plunging its immense body atop the Observer to atomize it. And while the entity seemed completely intact, the cerulean horror had surely breached some part of the armor to garner such a terrifying bellow. The seemingly unstoppable giant could be hurt, perhaps it could also be killed, but such thoughts became distant as pain brought the Observer to life.
The blades upon its back swirled like a saw blade while its arms outstretched. Another world-shaking scream was let loose but instead of pain, this one conveyed power and following the audible shockwave, a light that had eclipsed Sol’s sun followed in its wake.
The heavens shuddered with an earth-shaking boom as a burning, blinding golden light tore through Dogora’s immense form. The cerulean horror was engulfed in the shockwave’s white-hot embrace, disintegrating into oblivion just as the horror did to all it had consumed. The orbital space station above Dogora swayed from the heaven shaking pressure waves before a lance of divine fury speared through it, annihilating the command center of the invasion in one powerful strike.
Nikos couldn’t process the loss, couldn’t calculate the immense display of power before the Star Falcon slammed to a sudden halt. Optical sensors refocused, revealing the Observer once more, its silver digits digging into the Star Falcon’s side.
He could feel the Observer’s fury, and the small voice within him fell silent for the first time, accepting what would come next, even if Nikos still attempted a last ditch ploy of survival.
“Please,” was the only thing Nikos begged before golden light answered the prayer, atomizing every atom and trace of the pilot from the universe.
Outside Monster X’s Enclosure, Site Omega – Present Day
Ozaki drove his heels into the dirt. An explosion of force propelled him backward through a cloud of dust a second later as a white fist crashed through the void his body once resided within.
Solid rock fractured across the land. A pressure wave slammed against the warrior’s body, propelling him even faster away from what could’ve been his grave.
If he didn’t move with unparalleled speed, if he displayed even a momentary weakness, Monster X wouldn’t let him live long enough to regret the choice he’d made.
While appearing as nothing but a blur, he ducked under another blow before rolling beneath the followup with incredible grace. Such maneuvers comprised… what, the last nineteen minutes of chaos? Draconic muscle could flatten him in an instant if Monster X’s successfully landed any actual hit. It was no doubt an unwavering strength the alien creature had relied on for millenia, but compared to his speed, to the agility Ozaki possessed when at his absolute best, that raw power was utterly useless.
Ozaki wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked up to the sky, seeing four crimson orbs burning with animosity. They ascended high into the atmosphere a moment later, specs of rage accompanying Monster X who had lunged high into the air.
‘Well that’s new,’ Ozaki thought. ‘Good luck landing on me-‘
Monster X’s ascent abruptly ended, replaced by a meteoric descent Ozaki recognized for what it was – a gravity-amplified drop.
While the connection he now shared with the armored creature didn’t allow him to decipher Monster X’s past or its current thoughts, at least not without the thing’s agreement, he did now have an instinctual grasp of the monster’s abilities. On the surface, it was a juggernaut of dense bone-white armor and powerful ebony flesh. Energized gravity could burn from its crimson orbs, hinting at the ghidorah it harbored within – a terrifying beast that could be unleashed if pressed.
But Ozaki saw the most potential in the ability that allowed the creature to exponentially increase or reduce its mass on a dime. Ozaki was sure Dr. Yamane could’ve summoned some infuriatingly complex term to describe the phenomena, but the warrior simply called this powerful trait he wished to refine, gravity manipulation.
And now, he’d probably die from it…
Ozaki’s run shifted trajectory instantaneously, pressing already burning muscles past their breaking point as he launched himself forward to evade the alien’s crushing impact.
A pressure wave like a bomb ripped through his body. The world became black as he flung through the air before color returned to his periphery, allowing him to land upon earth that swayed like water. His attention flipped back to the impact site, not because he cared to see Monster X’s landing, but for the wave of dust and deadly debris racing his way.
Rocks the size of people were moving too fast to outpace. Only one option remained; a choice he’d always pick – to fight.
Ozaki’s right leg swept back while the warrior bent his knees, strengthening himself even on quaking soil. His arms arched like the long neck of a crane while his fingers smoothly conjoined. Fiery pupils centered on the incoming targets, planning out the next series of blows he’d need to undertake to survive.
Palms raced forward as fast as lightning. Rock splintered upon contact. Whether through redirection or atomization, Ozaki carved through the tidal wave, creating a pocket within the torrent of debris.
Dust burned his nostrils. Muscle ached, but he would last against the earthly torrent.
Time was on his side after all. He just needed to last a few more seconds.
As the last of the projectiles crumbled, a quake tore through the environment. The haze from Monster X’s impact was thick enough to blur his vision, but not thick enough to hide the one hundred meter goliath’s dark silhouette. Whatever the titan was doing, it was still in the impact crater, hunched down, with an arm jutting into the dirt-
Realization cut through Ozaki’s mind as the earth beneath him began to violently ascend. Aerial dust cleared from racing winds while large white fingers broke through the terrain around him.
He was ascending. The dirt beneath his heels was within the palm of the white bastard and if he didn’t pick the right route of escape, he’d surely be crushed.
Jumping left, right, or back meant a slow fall and an easy target for Monster X to swat. To escape, there remained only one route, and as Monster X’s four crimson orbs burned into his vision, Ozaki raced forward without looking back.
Cracks ripped through the air as the piece of earth he once resided upon was crushed in the titan’s grip. But for as devious a trick that had been to kill him, the seconds Ozaki gained jumping across the goliath’s arm was everything he needed. Launching forward to his opponent and then kicking off the creature’s armored chest, Ozaki spun without fear or concern, even as the alien’s eyes flickered with growing power.
‘Not going to happen. You lose in two… One…’
Wiping away more sweat while mid-air, Ozaki beamed forth a victorious smile. Monster X’s smoldering gaze became embers just as explosions engulfed the alien creature
The curse that Ozaki uttered was drowned out by rockets soaring past his aerial form. They continued to bombard Monster X, and as the protector glanced to the ground, he found the unwanted men of Major General Anthony Hicks letting loose their heavy ordinance.
Ozaki landed a moment later, blitzing past the fools to the leader standing amongst them. Even as the warrior’s heart thundered in his ears, and a wave of aggravation struck him from the mental bond he shared with the Xilien monster, years of training and experience kept the warrior’s voice calm and dry amidst the chaos.
“Tell your men to stand down,” Ozaki informed the Major.
To the credit of the man in charge of Site Omega, he seemed taken aback by the request for only a second. Then, the military officer quickly relayed a signal to the few dozen men scattered amongst the surrounding hills, and like good soldiers, they cut silent their weapons of war. The Major’s attention then shifted to the titan as he swept an eye over the goliath behind Ozaki, no doubt watching it for any sign of hostility, but based on the lack of trembling Earth, Monster X wasn’t acting on any impulses to smear the newly arrived insects.
At least… not yet.
“Mind telling me what the hell that was all about?” Hicks asked, veins bursting across his head at what was becoming more and more obviously a waste of his time.
“Proving a point.”
Veins pulsed with fresh agitation. A sharp glare burned Ozaki’s way, informing the mutant that only a thorough explanation could cool the Major’s quickly boiling temper.
“I thought up a technique to teach him.” Ozaki gave a subtle head flourish in Monster X’s direction, his voice indicating the creature was more of a stubborn pet than the hulking monstrosity that it was. Immediately, he felt the connection between them pull taught.
“We agreed I could if I survived for twenty minutes. I… barely managed.” The fraying bond between monster and man slackened. “I should’ve informed you before. I realize what it must have looked like.”
Hicks nodded, still clearly inflamed by the situation, but the gleam in his eyes informed Ozaki that another thing was plaguing the Major General. With another swift hand movement, men of his command began to return to their vehicles, leaving the two of them, for all intents and purposes, alone.
“A few upper brass abruptly attempted to remove me from command of Site Omega. Our mutual enemy making another move.” Ozaki didn’t bother asking for further clarification as the ramifications were quite clear. Orochi’s infection, his shifters, did not only plague Japan, they now resided within the bodies of other nations.
The spread needed to be contained.
“Should we send Miki-”
“They’ve already been dealt with.” Hick’s voice was cold, confident, and yet questioning, as if he was testing the warrior’s knowledge of the subject. “Some by our own internal teams. Most, if eye-witness reports are to be believed, by tall green men who can also,” his voice paused as if in embarrassment of the word about to be uttered, “shift.”
A raised wary brow on the Major General laid the subtext clear. This wasn’t just an update between allied parties, but an interrogation to see if he, the human-hybrid with extraterrestrial DNA running through his veins, knew this third and more than likely alien faction. The lack of further details also made it apparent that whatever this third faction was, they seemingly had made no contact with the U.S. government – a problem no doubt worrying those who found the bodies left to be discovered by official sources
“Not friends of mine,” Ozaki made clear. He then shrugged. “But who knows, maybe some aliens out there don’t want all of humanity dead and want to help.”
Hicks showed no interest in humoring the comment. “They’re all monsters. Just a question if we can use them to our benefit or not.”
Ozaki nodded along, thinking back to the Japanese Self Defense Force, specifically the Anti-Kaiju Division.
How many people with superhuman gifts were ostracized after the Xilien raid of two-thousand four? Did those leaders who pushed their human-first agenda, who viewed those with gifts as monsters which could turn against them at any time, did they still believe that alone, humanity would be better off? Or would the ruins of the Anti-Kaiju Division finally act as a wake-up call?
‘It won’t,’ Ozaki knew. So he tossed away his feelings toward his homeland, and took solace that at least the rot of Orochi had been thoroughly cut out of America’s military command.
“I do have a request for you until I can get that thing cleared to leave Site Omega.”
Ozaki arched a brow in response, allowing Hicks to ask, “I want you to take it back to its cell.”
Ozaki considered fighting the thinly-veiled order, but… there was little to gain from open conflict.
He could train with Monster X within a dome just as freely as he could in open air. And so long as the monster’s containment allowed the Major General to play his political games back home to allow Monster X to fight when the time needed, the true purpose Ozaki guessed behind the so-called request, then what was the harm?
“Understood,” Ozaki said as he set off towards the prison cell, Monster X trailing close behind, shaking the ground with every step.
Whether in hours or days, Ozaki knew his eventual rematch would play out – a battle to decide the world. But the outcome, his chances at victory, were as elusive as the power he currently longed to refine. Looking back to a version of himself only one week ago, that Ozaki would have challenged Tsukuyomi without hesitation, and while his present self would still accept the upcoming fight, he would do so ensuring failure would not rear its malevolent face once more.
Miki was the obvious choice to raise his odds. She had potential, but as she made perfectly clear by refusing to better herself, by rejecting the use of her gift which could save lives, Ozaki couldn’t rely upon her.
So in case Tsukuyomi possessed some trick, in case he used Destoroyah and Iris to block the warrior of the stars which would ultimately best him, Ozaki vowed to refine the monstrosity walking behind him to best either goliath. Because if he or Monster X could not do the impossible, Ozaki doubted anything or anyone would be able to stop that ominous future quickly approaching.
Planet X
Life was a true blessing upon the universe, so why were they so destructive?
It seemed the time of peace amongst their kind had ended, or perhaps it had been broken long ago and went unnoticed by the entity. Now mortals wielded power far more formidable than the timid creatures that once traversed the plains, prowled the forests, and scaled the towering peaks of the worlds the entity had visited. But for all their might, how foolish had they truly become?
After noticing signs of intelligent life in the universe after eons of blissful slumber, the entity had descended to observe. The misguided one still needed to be stopped, of that the entity possessed no doubt, but what was a sword if it knew not what it protected? It’d been careful as to not to disturb the lifeforms it sensed within the metal constructs, the monstrous beasts, or those beneath the planet’s surface. But eventually, the mortal beings who killed each other for reasons beyond the entities’ understanding turned against it – their peaceful observer.
The hostile intention, although perfectly harmless, provoked a proportional and just response until the great cerulean creature accomplished…. what?
The entity shifted its attention to the slight crack upon its right palm where golden light bled. The cursed sensation, unwelcome and horrifying and new, had summoned the giant’s full might against the hostile lifeforms of all shapes and sizes.
Justice was served. Hostiles slain. But thoughts of the scarlet and ebony humanoid called Belial, as well as the destructive creatures on the planet below, sparked questions the entity had never considered about the blessing its gods’ bestowed the universe.
If life could inflict the same cruelty and will over others as the misguided one, was the entity not bound by duty to cleanse such impurities?
Or was it simply natural for the most capable beings, those with the miniscule strength they could attain, to imbue their will over other creatures with less power?
The universe remained frustratingly silent, withholding answers the entity desperately desired but could go without for the time being. Duty gradually cleansed its thoughts and reminded the giant the undeniable fact it knew to be true – the false instrument of the gods needed to be stopped.
Power flourished anew around the giant. Golden power began to ripple, but the crack’s glow, that foreign and despised breach upon its armor, drew the entities’ full attention.
Fear, another new and horrid sensation, festered at the sight of the wound.
Within its nigh-impenetrable shell, the giant’s true self was protected, but that divine barrier had been breached. Hostile intent had been inflicted on its essence and even if it possessed a duty, it would wait until the armor mended so as to not experience that dreaded sensation of pain again. Once it was safe from threats and connections and outside influence, the entity would confront the being which turned against its divines’ true will.
The giant gazed up at the heavens, anticipating a signal that it had been mistaken, that the other instrument of their will needed to be stopped immediately, but the universe remained blissfully quiet.
So into a blissful silence the entity ventured until the time of judgment would summon it to war.
Western Mountains, Skull Island
Belvera let loose a long, drawn out breath, contemptuous as much as it was sapping of her limited strength. There was nothing more she’d rather do than indulge in the near endless fermented drink the humans cultivated, drowning the pain rattling between her ears and escaping the responsibility placed upon her by her own damn self. She’d done it so many times before in her incomprehensibly long life, that such temptations seemed rather dull, raising a terrifying question to the forefront of her soul.
Was she simply bored of her old self, or was she actually trying to be better?
‘Does it really matter right now?’ she thought.
Another sigh.
Another irritation Belvera would have to live with.
Yet her body rejected that idea and opted for momentary relief, driving her pointed heels into her aerial stead’s sides and eliciting a pained cry from the insect. The action tempered some of the Dark Elias’ anguish, eliciting a faint grin while her steed swayed side to side.
Technically, Moll and Lora nicknamed the diminutive moth Fairy, the last vestige of their previous guardian – Mothra Leo. But to her, it was just a fluffy, irritating mode of transportation until her mission was done. A mission to begin as soon as the leviathan wading into Skull Island’s roaring tides accepted her offer. Because as much as she hated to admit it, she needed him – she needed Godzilla.
So far, she’d courted two monsters into her ranks. The molten demon Rodan had been the first and easiest to convince with his lust for combat superseding all reason. Anguirus, while not the optimum second choice with its considerable wounds, proved just as willing to abandon Skull Island. Whether it was confidence in the young Godzilla or simply a disdain for the island, Belvera did not know nor care too. Then as they most often did, humanity had to ruin everything for her third choice.
The Demon of the Xiliens. A draconic powerhouse which nearly heralded the end of the Atlantean Empire when the Xilien Empire descended from the stars, was what, in time out? The telepathic human on Site Omega offered another monster in its stead, but to lose such a prize, such a destructively potent killer left Belvera’s icy heart hollow. She didn’t care or need some scrawny lizard, even if she would accept it, she needed a heavy hitter. A creature that could match the demons of her past, or whatever else Tsukuyomi unleashed to stop her from freeing Gamera, so with a reluctant breath, she screamed with all her strength to the dorsal-spined behemoth about to plunge beneath the waves.
“Hey! Wait!”
Gray scutes sparked azure. A sprawling black mass of muscle and scale and primordial menace swung back to meet her. Belvera was instantly bathed in the leviathan’s shadow. Azure eyes leered down at her. Lips pulled back, revealing jagged teeth and allowing Godzilla’s own contemptuous snarl to rattle her and Fairy.
But for all the show, for all the terror Godzilla invoked, his imposing frame couldn’t make her forget the care it had displayed for the Male MUTO. Like her, he cared for that stubborn parasite, and there was no doubt why he was leaving Skull Island. Rage coursed through those azure orbs. They sought balance, justice for the pain inflicted upon his ally, and that emotional connection she could twist to her benefit. Turning her grin into a sadistic smile, Belvera displayed her intent merely for her expression to crack.
Godzilla’s own maw was now curled into cunning sneer, a monstrous reflection of the menacing expression she had just made.
Azure pupils flickered out, revealing vast troves of intelligence behind those monstrous orbs. Its snout shifted to the island, to the place where the MUTO rested and then he looked back to her, knowing full well the connection she shared with the unconscious creature and more than likely, what she was going to ask.
Rodan soared past a moment later, a mocking smirk plastered across the avian’s beak. It seemed his eagerness had not only been lust for combat, but part of the ruse currently being unraveled before her eyes.
Belvera flung a scowl the molten demon’s way, the only rebuttal she possessed now that it was clear in the game of recruitment she’d played, she’d unknowingly become the very thing she sought to use – a pawn.
“Fine,” she snapped before clicking her tongue. She thrust a mental connection out like a lasso, ensnaring the nuclear titan and ensuring there was no uncertainty between her and Godzilla.
’What do you want?’’
A primordial demand flowed down their connection.
Belvera’s body trembled with rage. Her throat tightened as a fiery blaze of fury wished to be let loose. But for the sake of the world, for the sisters she loved, Belvera gritted her teeth. With a determined effort of will, she choked down her defiance, bowed her head low and accepted the dreadful demand that would change the world forever if Tsukuyomi didn’t raze it first.
Winner: Utsuno Ikusagami
