Author: Kenneth James | Banner: Jackson Morris

Drums and chants rang through the island as the natives prepared to appease the being they worshiped with a human sacrifice. A young girl was tied, unwavering, on the other side of the wall. She knew Kong had taken other girls before her to his lair, never to return, but they didn’t know if he consumed them or simply cared for them as dolls. Regardless, to her, appeasing the thunder god was more important than her own life.

However, as she stood, waiting for the roars emitting from the other side of the island to reach her chained form, the ground before her began to split and tear apart, flames and brimstone emitted from the depths of the Earth. As she stared in terror, the massive, magma-like form of Kumasogami tore his way from the underworld. The demonic beast had once had such sacrifices given to him, but that civilization died out long ago. It’d been too long since he’d tasted such blood.

As the woman screamed, Kumasogami reached down to take this sacrifice for himself, only to be interrupted by a fierce roar bellowing from behind him. The titanic demon turned, only to see the native object of worship tear through the foliage before him.

Kong charged out of the forest surrounding his island, bellowing in rage. He adored human women, he wasn’t sure why, but having them in his presence gave him joy, and he cared for them, even defended them from the inhabitants of the island. And while this wasn’t an inhabitant of his world, he wouldn’t allow his offering to be taken without a fight. The massive gorilla beat his chest in fury, roaring at the top of his mighty lungs, preparing for battle.

Kumasogami roared his challenge and prepared himself for a fight. Kong was first to charge, Kumasogami holding his ground. The fire demon swiped his firey claws, but the intelligent behemoth ducked under its swipe and bashed him hard in the side, sending the dark god to the ground with a resounding thud that echoed throughout the island. The Eighth Wonder quickly reached down and tore the chains off his offering, allowing her to run as he turned his attention back to his demonic rival.

Kumasogami rose slowly to his feet, surprised at the intelligence and brute strength he was now up against. The demon morphed his hand into a sword as he approached King Kong, swinging the blade fiercely. The simian saw this assault coming and sidestepped the blade, only to receive a fist to his face, the blazing skin of the demonic titan burning his skin and fur. Kumaso’s overlord was quick to swing his sword around once more, the great ape barely stepping out of its lethal path, but getting a bleeding scratch across the torso and grunting in pain.

The divine devil seemed pleased to draw first blood and swung his sword at his foe repeatedly, the primate barely managing to evade the otherwise deadly assault. Finally, Kumasogami managed to back the Faro Island monarch against one of the nearby mountains and swung, preparing to slice Kong’s skull open. However, the massive ape swung his hands up, catching the blade between them, much to the hellfire fiend’s shock.

Before he could counter, the King of the Apes, in a massive display of force, snapped the blade in two, causing Kumasogami to roar in pain. Kong, despite the magma-like blood and flesh of the demon burning his hands, was quick to thrust the half of the sword he held like a dagger, cutting the screaming devil across the chest, spilling molten blood. The corrupt guardian’s pained roars quickly changed to fury as his hand reformed and he managed to catch his foe’s thick wrist, burning the gorilla’s fur and forcing him to drop his weapon. Kumasogami quickly tossed the ape aside, forming the fingers on one hand into a set of arrows and the other hand into a bow.

Kong rose, only to see the molten monster forming his hands into arrows and a bow and open fire. The first of the arrows struck the ape in the chest, sending off an explosion that sent the giant gorilla staggering back. A second blast detonated shortly after, toppling the titan into the forest. The devil beast refused to let up and fired into the trees around Kong’s prone form, igniting them aflame and doing the same to his crimson fur.

Kong screamed in agony, quickly getting up and trying to put out the flames engulfing his fur by any means possible. As he scrambled, Kumasogami prepared another arrow, this time aiming straight for his fanged face. However, before he could fire, another roar erupted from the forest behind him. The irritated tyrant turned to the new challenger, only to be greeted by a massive headbutt to the gut, toppling him to the ground.

Gorosaurus roared in a feral rage at this new threat. He had no love for Kong, they were fierce rivals, but lighting the forest the relic dinosaur called home was asking for trouble. It was more than that, though. Kong had spared his life before, having defeated him many times, but never killing him. The great allosaur, despite not being as intelligent as the mammal, was still smart enough to have a sense of honor and to return the favor. The carnosaur roared in fury and lashed out with his toothy maw, sinking his jaws into the stunned demon’s shoulder. But, to the dinosaur’s surprise, he was met not with blood, but molten lava.

Gorosaurus recoiled in agony, spitting out burning magma as it scorched his mouth. Kumasogami was quick to rise and form his hand back into a sword, swinging it at the emerald predator, slashing a deep gash across his scaled chest and sending him backpedaling. His predatory instinct triggered by his own blood, the dinosaur was quick to swing around, smashing his tail into the devil’s pronged head, staggering the demonic beast. Before he could recover, Gorosaurus lunged out and clamped his jaws down on the demon’s arm, shaking it like a rabid dog.

Kumasogami roared in absolute agony, the theropod refusing to release his grip despite the molten blood burning away at his jaws. The lava demon thrust his sword through Gorosaurus’ shoulder, erupting out the back in a spurt of blood. The carnosaur roared in agony, being forced to relinquish his grip and allowing the magma god to slash him across the side, drawing more blood. Enraged, the primeval predator stood up on his tail, startling his flaming foe. What happened next did so even more.

Kumasogami found himself launched through the air and slamming hard into the ground by Gorosaurus’ infamous kangaroo kick. The demon moaned, his chest plate cracked and bleeding from the assault. As the demonic beast rose to his feet, the allosaur charged once more. Only this time, the monster deity raised his hands, morphing them into a bow and arrow once more and fired, blasting the apex predator in the chest, toppling the mighty dinosaur to the ground with a roar of agony.

Content that Gorosaurus was down for the count, Kumasogami turned his evil eyes to Kong, who had finally put out the flames but was laying on the ground, panting in pain and exhaustion. The demonic beast raised his weapons, intent to put the ape out of his misery. But as the arrows fired through the air, Gorosaurus, refusing to allow his rival sparing his life to go unrewarded, used his powerful legs to launch forwards and intercept the arrows.

Kong watched in surprise as Gorosaurus took the deadly hit, his chest blowing open from the impact. He then watched in horror as the last dinosaur gave out one last roar of misery and slumped to the ground, dead. The ape god curled his lips up in fury, getting to his feet and roaring in fury, beating his chest at the murder of one of his subjects. Gorosaurus’ sacrifice was not in vain. Kumasogami scoffed, did this stupid beast think he’d fair any better?

As Kumasogami raised his bow and arrow, the sound of drums and chanting filled his ears. He looked over to the wooden wall, seeing the villagers watching from the mountains and the wall, cheering their god on. The lava god then noticed that suddenly, the sky had filled with clouds and thunder roared. Suddenly, a powerful bolt of lightning tore through the sky, slamming down into Kong. Surprised, Kumaso’s god watched as the lightning didn’t seem to harm the great ape. In fact, it seemed to revitalize him!

Kong roared in pure fury as more lightning bolts cast into his hide, his muscles bulging and lightning crackling about his massive form. When the bolts stopped, the Eighth Wonder charged with unheard of fury. Kumasogami tried to halt his progress with a barrage of arrows, but the massive ape waded through, the lightning coursing through his skin detonating the arrows before they made contact. The savage simian reached the fire monster, forcing the devil to revert his hand and, not having enough time to morph it into a sword, tried to punch Kong, but on contact, found himself shocked by thousands of volts of electricity.

Kumasogami recoiled in agony, allowing Kong to slam his electrically charged fist into the demon’s face, launching him backwards through the air and into the side of a mountain. Kumasogami couldn’t believe it, the mortal before him had completely turned the tables, now it was him who couldn’t touch his opponent and was at their mercy… Unfortunately, Faro Island’s monarch had none for him.

The enraged ape swung his arms up and brought them down full force into the molten chest, discharging thunder and causing the cracked face to roar in agony. Kong quickly pulled his fists back up and delivered another hammer-like smash, cracking Kumasogami’s chest, a third slam sending a spurt of lava-like blood spurting from his fanged mouth. The devil tried in vain to counter attack with his sword, only for Kong to catch the weapon and wrench Kumasogami’s arm with unearthly strength, further pain coming from the voltage coursing into his demonic form.

Finally, with a sickening crack, Kumasogami’s arm was sent flying through the air, crashing to the ground in the distance from Kong’s massive strength and the wound Gorosaurus had torn in it earlier. The demon roared in agony, staring at the bleeding stump where his arm once was. Before the devil could hope to recover, the giant gorilla wrapped his arms around his waist and picked him off the ground, squeezing with all his might.

Kumasogami cried out in pain, flailing wildly. One arm was gone, the other pinned to his body by the ape’s massive strength. He was defenseless. Kong kept up his bear hug, electricity discharging into the demon along with the crushing force. The molten monster roared out as lava spurted from his maw, his internal structure practically imploding from the force being exerted. Finally, the tyrant god’s struggling ceased, his body going limp. The guardian reared up and slammed Kumasogami’s limp body into the forest floor with unheard of force, shaking the entire island.

The thunder beast panted, looking down at the devil’s corpse as the eyes faded to black, his entire body going dark. Kong reared back with a earthquaking roar before slamming his fists down on the slab of lifeless stone that used to be the God of the Kumaso Kingdom, his great strength causing it to explode into a shower of stone, the demon’s severed head landing before him.

Kong looked over the cranium of the demon before, in one last insult, stomping on it and reducing it to dust. His foe completely defeated, the King of Faro Island reared back, beating his chest and giving a primal roar of victory. When he finished, he looked over his shoulder at Gorosaurus’ body, bowing his head in mourning of his rival who’d given his life for him.

Sensing his sorrow, Kong’s worshippers sent a large number of barrels full of Soma juice to drown those sorrows in. The primate was quick to accept, and even quicker to find himself in a drunken slumber.

Winner: King Kong (Showa)