King Ghidorah changed direction, all three dragon heads turning toward the coast churned by tsunamis.
Curiosity overpowered his instinct for wanton destruction.
He wanted a good look at just who, in this boundless world, possessed the power to stir up such monstrous waves! Could it be another strange creature from outer space like himself? Or was it something native to this land, as terrifying as Godzilla?
A pair of enormous wings glittering with brilliant golden light spread behind him. Like a golden sun streaking across the sky, he plunged into the raging storm at astonishing speed. Deafening booms rang out as immense air pressure burst apart before him, forming an unbroken succession of thunderclaps and lightning bolts.
In the blink of an eye, he approached the coast. When he finally made out the enormous creature laboriously crawling onto land from the fathomless ocean depths, all three of his faces froze at once.
...What the hell was that thing?
There, amid a mixture of mud and seawater, a supermassive beast well over five hundred meters long was slowly clambering ashore.
Its immense head was grotesquely misshapen, looking exactly like some mysterious sea dragon from primordial times. Countless sharp, whiskerlike bone spurs crowded its lower jaw, a sight that sent chills down the spine.
Strangest of all, however, was that its body was not covered in thick, hard scales or armor. Instead, it bore layers of wet, slimy skin tissue like that of mollusks such as octopuses and squid. Countless thick tentacles dragged freely across the ground, leaving enormous trenches so deep their bottoms could not be seen.
On either side of its broad, flat belly extended a gigantic, hideous claw. Every time those claws dug down hard, the entire earth shook violently, accompanied by earth-shattering crashes!
Even prone, it was as tall as he was.
The other creature locked onto him immediately, too.
Without any probing attacks, the world abruptly changed color.
The earth shook violently. The deep-sea behemoth lashed its countless tentacles, and the entire sea abruptly boiled. Thousands upon thousands of waterspouts shot skyward, thick as mountain ranges, crashing straight into King Ghidorah's storm that blanketed a thousand miles. Water and wind collided and tore madly at each other. Violent air currents and towering waves exploded, instantly ripping apart vast banks of heavy cloud. Daylight poured through the gaps, illuminating the two world-destroying figures.
The mere clash of their auras had already torn heaven and earth apart.
King Ghidorah hesitated no longer.
His central head dipped slightly, as though gathering strength, while countless streaks of golden electricity darted like raging dragons through his throat, converging madly. At the same time, the enormous dragon heads to either side opened their gaping maws, and three dazzling Gravity Beams erupted from them. Like three roaring dragons, the beams blasted forth with world-destroying force!
In an instant, a long gash was torn through the dark, deep seawater. Golden lightning streaked across the sky at astonishing speed, crossing several kilometers in a flash before slamming into the deep-sea behemoth's chest.
Boom-!!!
With an earth-shattering crash, an incomparably powerful surge of energy exploded. The terrifying shock wave swept outward with overwhelming force. Wherever it passed, both unyielding rocks and cloud-piercing peaks vanished into dust in the blink of an eye. Even the vast coastline was disfigured by the rampaging force, reduced entirely to ruins.
The gravely wounded behemoth let out an agonized shriek. Its enormous body bent backward like a bow, and, like a boulder shattered by a heavy hammer, it hurtled straight back hundreds of meters before crashing heavily into a stretch of rolling hills, knocking down all the surrounding mountains.
Across the deep-sea behemoth's belly and chest now lay a vast, ink-black patch that reeked of scorching, clearly the result of severe damage from those three Gravity Beams.
"...That weak?"
King Ghidorah's three heads exchanged glances, all somewhat surprised.
Looked like it was only an ordinary Titan-level creature?
He rapidly searched his mind for every monster guide he had seen in his previous life, but nothing matched-no known Titan had this bizarre combination of sea dragon and cephalopod.
But a second later, another deafening roar exploded from the ruined hills.
The Lord of Tides-the Lord of the Azure Waves-slowly rose again.
Its enormous eyes, crimson as magma in the ocean depths, stared fixedly at King Ghidorah, filled with shock and savagery.
A single blow...had gravely wounded it.
Too strong.
Far stronger than the trash that called themselves "gods" in the previous era, stronger than all those so-called legends guarding the continents, stronger than every living creature it had seen since falling into slumber.
Roar-!!!
The roar shook the heavens. Even King Ghidorah could not help feeling his eardrums ache.
What was this guy roaring about?
The next moment, he understood.
The entire ocean...seemed to have been lifted by an invisible giant hand.
It was no illusion.
The boundless sea surged upward with a thunderous roar, forming a mountain of water that stretched across his entire field of vision. The tsunami, over a thousand meters high, was no longer a wave, but an entire moving wall of water that submerged heaven and earth, bearing down on King Ghidorah with the power to destroy everything.
King Ghidorah beat his wings hard, instantly soaring several thousand meters into the air to evade the first tsunami's impact.
But this unfamiliar behemoth was far harder to deal with than he had imagined.
Countless immensely thick waterspouts rose from the sea and shot into the clouds. Like countless entwining pythons, they tore madly at his storm, forcibly ripping gaps into the ever-expanding hurricane. Storm and tide collided, thunder mingling with the roar of tsunamis.
And that was not all.
Beneath the behemoth, endless seawater frantically gathered, compressed, and twisted, condensing in midair into an unimaginably thick serpent of seawater. Stretching several thousand meters long, it opened its enormous jaws and charged straight toward King Ghidorah high above.
"You've got something."
Electricity flashed in King Ghidorah's throat again. Three Gravity Beams erupted in an interwoven barrage. Golden lightning swept out, instantly vaporizing enormous quantities of seawater upon striking the water serpent. White mist billowed skyward and merged with the storm, making heaven and earth even more chaotic.
Yet the Lord of the Azure Waves' killing move was only just beginning.
King Ghidorah suddenly noticed a deep, vast blue light illuminating the deep-sea behemoth's body.
Like the bottom of an abyss, like the core of the deep ocean, the light grew ever brighter, remaining dazzling even amid the dark, raging storm.
Energy was being intensely compressed.
A terrifying aura far beyond that of an ordinary Titan suddenly erupted.
"..."
King Ghidorah froze for an instant.
That light, those energy fluctuations...
You could use Atomic Breath all along?
That was his last clear thought before he was hit.
Boom----!!!
A brilliant blue pillar of light over a thousand meters in diameter erupted from the Lord of the Azure Waves' mouth.
Wherever the beam passed, air ignited, clouds evaporated, and the storm was forcibly torn open into a straight passage.
Incomparably violent energy instantly engulfed King Ghidorah.
Brilliant light exploded. A shock wave swept across hundreds of kilometers, splitting the earth and collapsing mountains. Even the expanding global storm had an enormous gap over a hundred kilometers wide blasted clean through it.
The torrential rain scattered, the clouds tore apart, and daylight poured down, illuminating the golden figure in midair that the pillar of light had swallowed head-on.
The thunderous noise lingered for a long time.
The entire continent trembled beneath that strike.
Apekus, the Lord of the Azure Waves, slowly withdrew the lingering blue light in its throat. Its enormous dragon head dipped slightly as it let out a heavy breath.
Ever since suffering from a surprise attack by those self-proclaimed gods in the ancient era, it had established an instinctive rule-against any powerful foe, strike with full force and give the opponent no opening whatsoever.
That brilliant blue pillar of light which had just pierced heaven and earth was its ultimate killing move, [End of an Era].
Had that strike landed on the ground, it could have easily leveled a medium-sized kingdom. Even the Karelia Empire's Arcane Nexus Tower, guarded by a powerful legend, would have been reduced to ash beneath that power. Even the twelfth-tier being known as the God King in ancient times would have suffered the destruction of both body and soul if he took that strike head-on.
It had never imagined that any living creature on this planet called Yilisai could withstand that move.
But the next moment, Apekus's crimson pupils abruptly contracted as it stared fixedly at the center of the beam's explosion.
How was that possible?!
Amid the dust and shattered storm, that enormous golden body was slowly climbing out of the collapsed earth.
King Ghidorah shook his three heads, shaking loose the rubble and scorched dust on his body, and grumbled inwardly, I got careless. I didn't react at all and actually took that head-on.
He lowered his heads to inspect his body-his scales were completely intact, without so much as a shallow mark on his necks or torso. Only one wing had been slightly blackened by the energy's scorching heat, but under his terrifying regenerative ability, that minor injury was healing rapidly before his eyes. In just a few seconds, it regained its original golden brilliance.
Missing limbs? Severed heads and death?
Not happening.
As for this bizarre ocean behemoth before him...whatever world's Titan it was, he could beat it into submission first and ask about the situation afterward.
Besides, since they were both Titan-level beings, they ought to be able to communicate through mental intent.
King Ghidorah thought no further. His enormous golden dragon wings beat hard, and his body became a streak of golden lightning as he dove straight toward Apekus. The wind pressure instantly hurled away all the surrounding seawater and rubble.
Apekus finally recovered from its utter shock, and a chill instantly swept through its enormous body.
It had withstood [End of an Era] without a scratch?!
Was this even a creature from the planet Yilisai?!
A sense of danger instantly swept through its whole body. It dared not linger another moment. Its enormous tentacles scrabbled frantically against the ground as it tried to flee back into the deep sea-that was its home ground, and only in the endless ocean could it wield its full power.
But King Ghidorah moved far faster than it could flee.
Three golden Gravity Beams erupted almost simultaneously, striking Apekus precisely in the flank. Once again, the five-hundred-meter-long behemoth was blasted away, crashing heavily onto the already fractured earth and sending mud and rubble flying everywhere.
Before Apekus could struggle to its feet, King Ghidorah had already swooped down. His enormous claws pinned its cephalopod body firmly in place, and all three heads let out an earth-shaking roar.
Bzzzt-!
Golden lightning of utmost ferocity gushed wildly from King Ghidorah's scales, wings, and claws. Like a surging golden torrent, it poured entirely into Apekus's body.
Lightning connected heaven and earth, weaving and coiling around the two behemoths to form a towering golden tree. Its branches spread dozens of kilometers, tearing apart all the remaining storm and waves.
The sizzling of scorching electricity and the behemoth's muffled cries of pain mingled with thunder and roaring tsunamis.
Apekus's enormous body rapidly blackened. Thick smoke billowed skyward, and the smell of scorched flesh filled the air. This world administrator, who had ruled the oceans for hundreds of millions of years and brought the ancient era to an end, was now convulsing all over from electrocution, on the verge of passing out completely.
Just as King Ghidorah was about to increase his power and thoroughly subdue the behemoth, a panicked, feeble mental message suddenly burst into his mind.
Wait, wait! Stop hitting me! Stop!
King Ghidorah paused. The three streams of golden electricity abruptly subsided, and all three heads lowered at once, their golden eyes fixed on the dying behemoth beneath him.
Were you the one speaking?
The telepathic voice sounded again, pleading as though on the verge of tears: Yes, yes, it's me! Honored mighty one, please stop first. We can talk this through!
King Ghidorah considered briefly, released one final surge of electricity, and only then completely withdrew the lightning around him.
Beneath him, Apekus smoked all over, its body evenly charred, as though electricity had thoroughly coursed through it from the inside out. Even its strength to struggle was gone. It could only turn its enormous head with difficulty and look at the three-headed golden dragon before it with eyes full of awe and fear.
Hello...honored, incomparably powerful outsider. I am this planet's administrator, Apekus...
King Ghidorah let out a low growl and interrupted it with the mental intent unique to Titans, his tone somewhat impatient and tinged with a transmigrator's confusion.
Enough of that irrelevant stuff. Tell me, what planet is this?
Apekus dared not conceal anything and hastily replied: This is the planet Yilisai, the world I protect...
King Ghidorah fell silent.
Yilisai...
So it really wasn't Earth.
There was no Antarctica, no Godzilla, none of those familiar things. He had transmigrated into King Ghidorah the King and arrived on a completely unfamiliar planet.
But on second thought, since something like transmigrating into a monster had already happened, ending up on another planet did not seem all that outrageous.
He shook his central head, looked again at the behemoth beneath him, and sent another thought.
You said your name was Apekus?
Yes...I am Yilisai's world administrator, ruler of the oceans and tides, who brought the decaying ancient era to an end... Apekus weakly reiterated its identity, trying to salvage a little dignity, yet fearful of King Ghidorah's power, its tone grew increasingly humble.
King Ghidorah could not be bothered listening to it boast about its past and directly announced his own name through mental intent.
Remember this. My name is King Ghidorah.
King Ghidorah the King.
Apekus's enormous body trembled slightly as it engraved that name deep within its soul.
Yes...honored Lord King Ghidorah...