Author: Christian Salabert | Banner: Stephanie Hughes

Suddenly, Iris was alive.

His cranial orb pulsing with light, the ancient beast rose to his feet. His tentacles began to swing lazily behind him. He wasn’t sure why he was alive again, but he was not about to complain. Almost instantly, the evolved Gyaos craved completion. And he knew there was only one being on the planet that could grant it to him.

Ayana…

Splitting his tentacles open and forming his wings, Iris fired his jets and rose into the sky.

* * * * *

The fearsome roar of King Caesar filled the air.

Rock and dirt exploded into the sea as the Okinawan deity awoke, emerging from his cave. The leonine golem could already sense the foul beast that had risen, angry that it would dare appear on his watch. Roaring furiously, King Caesar broke free from what remained of his resting place and began to make his way towards his foe.

Queen Minami watched as the royal champion disappeared into the distance. She knew the creature her guardian was about to face was a dangerous one, but she wasn’t worried. She knew King Caesar would fight until the end.

* * * * *

Iris set down in one of the humans’ settlements, ignoring their screams as they ran from him. He could sense that Ayana was somewhere within this city, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where. She wasn’t close, he could tell that much. He began to move forward, crushing various structures under his feet. He swept even more of them away with his tentacles. He would not stop until he found her.

Though he was still a good distance away, King Caesar could see the beast. His eyes narrowed as he watched it destroy the humans’ homes, sending them fleeing in terror. He would put an end to this right now. Throwing his arms out into an attack position, the mighty shisa charged the creature, letting loose with a roar to let his foe know its end was near. His ears folded upward.

Hearing the cry, Iris turned his head and spotted the approaching deity. The armored creature wailed out as it watched Caesar run at him. Once the feline beast was within range, the evil god lashed out with one of his tentacles, sideswiping the golem in the head and instantly toppling him. As he got back to his feet, Iris sent his bottom two tentacles at Caesar, their speared tips aiming right at him.

Okinawa’s savior reacted quickly, jumping into the air and spinning around. His foot impacted with the first tentacle’s head, kicking it away with a loud clang. Seconds later, he was able to snatch the second limb out of the air, tugging on it with all his strength. Iris jerked forward, unable to resist his foe’s pulling. The Atlantean creation groaned in frustration; he was too far away to strike the creature.

Unable to wrench his tentacle free, Iris raised his two top tentacles into the air and pointed their tips at his opponent. King Caesar watched as they aimed at his head and split open, energy glowing within. Twin sonic beams shot forth from the spears, soaring towards his maned head. Iris was confused. Instead of trying to avoid the beams, his foe looked up at them, facing them head on. The golden energy hit King Caesar’s eyes and seconds later were redirected back at the mutant Gyaos. The armored monstrosity realized what was about to happen and pulled his tentacles out of the way, but the shisa wasn’t aiming for the ends. The beams lanced through his tentacles near their base, making rear his head back and wail. The appendages fell to the ground, cleanly sliced off by their own sonic beams.

With the vengeful kaiju distracted, the ancient automaton charged, quickly closing the distance between them. Before Iris even realized he was there, the golem began slamming his fists against the spiky creature’s chest. The demon quickly responded, shoving against King Caesar and sending him sprawling to the ground with his superior mass. But he was back on his feet and attacking the tentacled beast within seconds. Iris was about to counterattack with the spear on his arm, when the feline leapt into the air and slammed his foot into Ryuseicho’s chest. With a sickening crack, he tumbled backward onto the ground, groaning in pain. A large crack now went down the middle of his chest plate. King Caesar advanced, but before he could press his advantage, the mutant raised one of his two remaining tentacles and fired off a sonic beam. This one hit home, piercing the guardian’s shoulder and sending him crashing to the ground.

The Atlantean rose to his feet and turned to face the Azumi, who did the same. King Caesar leapt forward and wrapped his arms around Iris, grappling with the creature. The long spikes jutting from his knees jammed into his stone gut, forcing him to back away. In retaliation, the shisa backhanded Iris across his pointed face. Ryuseicho bellowed as his foe’s fist bounced off his face, shaking his head to regain his focus. As the living statue locked his arms around the rampaging beast once again, the mutant Gyaos brought one of his tentacles up behind his opponent. Iris thrust his tentacle forward.

Seconds later, King Caesar howled in pain as the limb’s speared tip impaled his hip from behind. As he began to pull the arrow-headed appendage out of his hip, he brought his other tentacle up behind him, this time aiming at the feline’s head. He was expecting the ploy this time, however, and flipped out of the way, making Iris wail as the tentacle’s spear collided with his chest plate, damaging it even further. The royal guardian, meanwhile, dislodged the spear head from his hip, batting the tentacle away and roaring furiously at Iris. The armored monster looked up just in time to see a flying red and gold shape tackle him head-first to the ground.

King Caesar quickly pressed his advantage and began bringing his powerful fists down on the millenia old bioweapon’s damaged chest. Iris struggled, trying to get the golem off of him, but he refused to move, and in fact struck the Vermillion Bird across his spiked face in an attempt to cease the beast’s movements. He cried in pain and anger as he was assaulted by the brave golem over and over. He wanted to finish this creature quickly.

When King Caesar lifted his hand, preparing to bring it down on his foe, he responded with his tentacle, wrapping it around the mortar arm, pulling the feline creature away and sending him tumbling to the ground. The Southern nemesis got to his feet just in time to be uppercut by the sovereign beast, breaking several smaller spikes off his head. Another powerful kick from Caesar, and fluids began to spill from the crack in his chest plate. He prepared to tackle Iris again, holding his arms out, ready to attack before he charged, roaring loudly. The Atlantean thrust his arm forward, but King Caesar avoided the spear, spinning around and planting his foot into his armored back. The mutated Gyaos staggered forward, lashing out with his tentacles. One struck Caesar in the head, dazing him before the second slammed into his legs, sweeping them out from under him and bringing him to the ground. Iris raised his tentacles into the air and aimed their tips at his foe. In an instant, he thrust them downward. The shisa rolled out of the way, and the tentacles’ spears stabbed into the ground.

Ryuseicho pulled his tentacles out of the pavement just as the gem eyed beast returned to his feet and attacked again. The furry creature slammed his fists into the chest plate again and again, driving the beast back before he raised his leg and planted his foot into his foe’s gut, kicking hard. Iris stumbled back, and flexed his arms, a low bellow hissing from behind his static face. He was ready to finish this. As Caesar approached, the Vermillion Bird thrust his right arm forward once again and once more his foe dodged the attack, spinning to the side. But Iris was ready for the tactic. He slammed his left arm forward, jamming the limb’s spear into the golem’s back.

King Caesar shrieked in agony as the deadly extension cut through his body like a knife through butter before finally exploding out of his chest. He desperately clutched at the spear’s protruding tip, unwilling to concede defeat to his foe. Iris withdrew his spear, revealing the massive hole torn through the guardian’s torso. Shakily, the mammalian deity turned to face the vengeance seeker, and stepped forward. Iris watched in amazement as his enemy fought to stay standing, taking another step forward, and just as Iris began to raise his tentacles to strike the beast down, King Caesar reached up and grabbed his head. Quickly tipping his pointed face downward, Caesar headbutted his foe with terrifying force, cracking the armor that made up the skull. As the mutant staggered back, stunned and badly hurt from the blow, King Caesar turned away and dropped to his knees. Satisfied with his final act of defiance, he toppled face-first into the ground.

His vision blurred, Iris looked down at the fallen form of King Caesar. Despite the fact that his life force was rapidly ebbing away, the shisa still moved, fighting death every step of the way.

This angered Iris. The mutant Gyaos lifted his tentacles high into the air and aimed their tips at his head, bringing his sonic beams to full power. He would end this now. Golden orbs of energy gathered in the open speartips, aimed directly at the back of the Azumi guardian’s head as he began to weakly push himself up off the pavement.

The sonic beams fired. They pierced King Caesar’s skull, instantly killing the protector of Okinawa.

But the beams hadn’t claimed all their victims yet.

Nanoseconds after slicing through his brain, the golden beams struck the backsides of the golem’s eyes. Their reflective properties still worked, and the rays shot out of the back of the golem’s cranium. One of them shot up harmlessly into the sky. The second blasted back towards the sacred demon who fired it, and before the ancient creature could react, it seared through the yellow orb in his head. The light within died instantly.

For a moment, Iris stood, unmoving.

Seconds later, the beast toppled to the ground, slain by his own weapon. The impact of the armored beast hitting the ground shook the surrounding area, leveling any nearby structures.

Before long, the humans came out of their hiding places. Though thrilled that the evil monster known as Iris had been defeated, they also recognized the sacrifice made by their heroic defender, the ancient guardian known as King Caesar.

Draw: Iris, King Caesar (Universal)