Godzilla lowered his head solemnly, his mouth closed and his eyes shut. A single tear fell from his eye and plummeted through the sky, splashing on the cheek of his offspring laying on the ground. “Godzilla Jr.” stayed motionless amid the smoldering ruins of the city. One final breath seeped out of his quivering mouth, and death took him. For a moment, there was no sound but the crackling flames enveloping Tokyo’s remnants. Then the silence was broken by a single cackle. A sinister, malicious, and content cackle.

King Ghidorah stood on a massive pile of debris, watching eagerly through his three pairs of eyes. His center head pushed forward, a forked tongue flickering out from his toothy maw, and glared with anticipation. He was literally drooling with excitement. He couldn’t wait to see the sorrow and anguish he had caused. How he would enjoy Godzilla’s pain. Or so he thought.

Godzilla lifted his head suddenly, and his eyes swung wide open, burning with fiery rage. His mouth opened, showing glistening double-rows of fangs, and he let out a thunderous roar so fierce that every remaining window within a mile radius shattered instantly. Godzilla narrowed his eyes on Ghidorah and bared his teeth, snarling furiously. And with a fury greater than anything any human had ever seen before, Godzilla charged.

Ghidorah’s eyes widened as Godzilla slammed full force into his body, shoving him from his perch and throwing him down to the ground. A massive cloud of smoke flew into the air, and bits of downtown Tokyo rained down around Ghidorah. Godzilla roared furiously, lifting his foot and slamming it down on Ghidorah’s chest. Ghidorah shrieked, gurgling blood as Godzilla’s immense weight shifted to Ghidorah’s chest. Ghidorah gulped down his own blood, shaking his heads painfully, and unleashed three streams of surging electrical energy. The blasts hit Godzilla’s chest, sizzling his flesh and filling the air with smoke.

Godzilla snarled, lifting his foot and stepping back as his skin burned. Ghidorah coughed, red saliva spraying on the barren earth. Ghidorah’s three heads reared back, then shot forward at Godzilla. Three mouths full of razor sharp teeth latched onto Godzilla, charging an electric current through his body like giant, golden eels. Godzilla bellowed, sparks flying from his fingers and thousands of volts surging through his flesh. He jerked one hand closed, hissing loudly. Every movement of his body made the pain worse.

Ghidorah continued to pump his electric current into Godzilla, slowly sapping the life from him. Soon Ghidorah would have two victims as testaments to his power, and nothing would keep him from destroying the planet. His path would be free of obstacles- he would swat the human military like flies and raze the cities, he would feast on the flesh of the dead and burn the planet down to a smoldering wasteland. And then he would stand without opposition, as the one and only King of Terror. And all he had to do was finish off this squirming Earth creature that called itself the King of Monsters. If Ghidorah’s mouths weren’t full with the flesh of his foe, he’d cackle like a maniac.

But then something went wrong. Godzilla’s arm was moving. Slowly, and painfully- but it was moving. His clawed fingers spread, and then closed shut on one of Ghidorah’s necks. Godzilla’s hand closed shut around Ghidorah’s left throat and squeezed hard, and his muscles flexed. Godzilla yanked the mouth away, partially breaking the current as he struggled with the three headed behemoth. And it was weakened just enough for Godzilla to move his free hand forward and place on Ghidorah’s right head. His hand wrapped around Ghidorah’s head, and his claws dug into his skin. Godzilla yanked the second head away from his body and pushed it away angrily, then grabbed the remaining head in both hands and tore it away.

Ghidorah stumbled back, dumbfounded. No foe he had ever fought had been able to break his hold before. But before he could wonder if killing Godzilla’s son hadn’t been such a good idea after all, he was surprised by a glowing blue light. Godzilla’s spines were glowing like fire, and energy cackled down his back. His mouth surged with the same glowing blue light, and his eyes narrowed. All Ghidorah could muster was a quiet screech before Godzilla let loose his radioactive breath. The heat beam tore through the thick air, illuminating the city and blinding any poor soul that still remained in the ruins of Tokyo.

Having hit it’s target, the beam simmered down and disappeared. Godzilla’s jaws slammed shut, and he snorted with satisfaction. Ghidorah’s right and left heads turned and looked to their companion with fear and awe- Ghidorah’s center head was no more that a smoking stump. Ghidorah shivered, the pain suddenly hitting him like a brick wall. His two heads screeched as he spread his leathery wings. He jumped up, flapping his wings and creating a gust that sent cars and chunks of wrecked buildings tumbling down the streets.

And as Ghidorah began to rise skyward, Godzilla roared. He lunged forward, grabbing one of Ghidorah’s feet and yanking him back down to the ground. Ghidorah fell on his stomach, hissing with aggravation and struggling to get up. But Godzilla planted his clawed foot on Ghidorah’s back and shoved him down into the dirt. Godzilla lurched forward, reaching for Ghidorah’s wings. His claws pierced the leathery membrane of both wings, and Godzilla lifted his arms, raking his claws through Ghidorah’s wings. Ghidorah hissed loudly as Godzilla ruined his wings, shredding them like paper.

Ghidorah twisted one of his heads around to retaliate, only to be obliterated in a stream of burning breath. Godzilla grabbed Ghidorah by his shaking shoulder and lifted him clear off the ground, and shoved him against the crumbling remnants of a sky scraper. And as Godzilla moved forward for the kill, he paused and looked into the eyes of his opponent.

Ghidorah’s last head shook wearily, and his breaths were heavy. His eyes looked up at Godzilla dully, full of pain and distress. Blood trickled down from his mouth, which hung open. The pitiful monster could barely lift it’s head, let alone fight back. And for a minute, Godzilla felt sorry for Ghidorah, and considered sparing his life.

Then an image faded slowly into his mind. The image of “Godzilla Jr.” screaming in pain as three streams of electric breath hit his body. The image of the electricity arcing into his frail body and burning his skin. The image of King Ghidorah cackling hysterically and watching “Godzilla Jr.” die. The image of King Ghidorah enjoying the death of Godzilla’s only son. And then Godzilla’s pity disappeared, and was replaced by blind, bloodthirsty, merciless rage.

Godzilla rushed forward and bit down on Ghidorah’s neck, his jaws slamming shut like a vice and his fangs sinking in deep. Blood oozed and vertebrae cracked as Godzilla chomped down. And with a final rush of hatred, Godzilla tore Ghidorah’s head from his body and threw it through the air. The severed head crashed down into the streets, and the blood on Godzilla’s teeth instantly dried as the heat of his fiery breath rose from his throat. He bathed the decapitated corpse in radioactive flame, blowing away the skyscraper and setting the body on fire. Ghidorah’s golden scales turned black, and his shredded wings shriveled up and disintegrated.

Godzilla watched the body as it was consumed in a raging inferno and let out a long, triumphant roar. Ghidorah may have been the King of Terror, but Godzilla was the King of the Monsters. And no matter how many lives he claimed, and no matter how many planets he destroyed, Ghidorah was nothing but another monster. And just like every other monster that came to Japan, he had been destined from the start to die a bloody death. At the hands of Godzilla. The King of the Monsters. And he was the only King. For as long as he would live, Godzilla would never let another monster dethrone him. And now with his only heir dead, he would be the last of his kind. And so he would have to fight that much harder to keep his title, for as long as he was able.