Godzilla Against All: Part 4

Chapter 30: Sword and Shield

Epilogue

"Goji, you should return to Europe," Mothra crawls up beside the damaged mech the morning after Red's defeat.

"I'm not sure how willing the humans will be to repair their rogue weapon," Kiryu replies.

"They will. Trust me. I think after everything that's happened we can reach some form of understanding, we have to."

Nodding, Kiryu takes a step toward the sea but is immediately interrupted. A golden streak of light blasts through the air and smashes into the water just a few meters away. The water crashes over the island, a veil of mist glinting in the morning light conceals the source.

As the ocean spray falls from the air, a figure from behind the veil rises. Mecha-King Ghidorah stands in front of Kiryu and Mothra.

"Finally," the dragon hisses. "I take my throne."

Rushing the critically damaged Kiryu, Ghidorah prepares his attack. Kiryu's low power state prevents her from fighting back, or even dodging the coming blow.

She doesn't need to dodge though, Mothra takes the blow for her, dashing out in front of the attack. Ghidorah throws her lightweight body aside easily and resumes his assault on Kiryu.

The attack is interrupted again, this time, a sharp whistling pierces the air, and a dark blue blur passes between the two. Ghidorah's metal head falls to the ground, sliced clean off, sparks fly and the mouth twitches and snaps at nothing. Solomon lands on the sand before the dragon.

"Kill them! All of them!" the robotic head on the ground shouts.

"Eh, creepy..." Solomon kicks the head away.

"I will destroy all of you, it doesn't matter what order, I guess I'll just kill you first if you insist on standing in my way," Ghidorah says.

"No, you won't," Solomon replies casually.

Mothra–recovering from the blow–crawls up beside Solomon; she sighs and peers at Ghidorah curiously, "why do you insist upon this? Why fight us? What do you gain?"

"I am King! I am destined to rule! And nobody will stand in my way!"

"But is that what you want? What purpose is there in ruling a planet like this? You despise us, the humans, our world. You have no species of your own to rule over. The war is over, Ghidorah."

"No! The war does not end just because I am alone! I was born into this role! It is all I know and all I need to know! I claim the title of King from my father, and his before him, the honor of my lineage demands action! A monarch that does not rule is nothing! Destined to crumble, fall away to dust and be trampled by time and history!"

"You need not be defined, or bound, by such petty history. We are all alone, each of us before you, the last of our kinds. Each of us found our own purpose in life, beyond what our past may have dictated. Living a life caged by something that no longer exists is no way to live, Ghidorah. There's so much more out there than this tiny rock, so much more you can do."

"How dare you lecture me about purpose! You! A filthy insect, granted the power of the gods, yet you do not use it! You waste your potential! You Mosura disgust me, squandering such a gift and letting other species walk all over you! Your kind could have led this world to glory! Yet look at where you are because you were too naive to act! And now you try to tell me that none of you have purpose?! That you found your own way?! It's a lie! Your precious 'Saint' left you behind with a very specific purpose! And you acted upon that purpose, as I now act upon mine! We are all bound to our past, whether you accept it or not it governs how we act, and today I will finally take the action necessary to fulfill my purpose!"

Ghidorah lunges for Mothra.

"No," Solomon says quietly.

The first MUTO moves so swiftly his outstretched claws are barely visible as they slash across Ghidorah's two remaining necks. The dragon stops, choking as blood pours from the gashes, the two heads slide off of the necks and fall to ground. The last Ghidrah's body falls to the ground, and the war ends.

"He was right..." Kiryu says, "besides Rodan, each of us was left here by Acacius with the specific purpose of protecting the world from threats like the Ghidrah, to fight a war..."

"He was in pain though..." Mothra replies, "I always sensed a certain level of distress, uncertainty in him, but today it was stronger than ever. I think a part of him–a part that even he tried to deny–saw the pointlessness in earth."

"The pointless of earth, huh?" Solomon says, "what's that say about us then? We don't belong here, we're artificial creations of some ancient being, invaders from somewhere else, just like the Ghidrah."

"This is home, Solomon," Mothra replies, "each of us was born here, raised here...and when the time came to stand up and guard this place, and it's lifeforms, from external threats we fought the battles they could not. Maybe our purpose was laid down by our past, I was wrong to accuse Ghidorah of that, but we do so with no intent of rule, we don't ask for thanks, we fight for this planet and its inhabitants because we love it, and because we know the cosmos is too dangerous for such a tiny, watery, rock to survive on it's own. We are earth's guardians, a sword to uphold balance, and a shield against any who would threaten it."