Tokyo, November 3rd 1954

Demona never got a chance to rest anymore. After the great war, it seemed mankind now possessed weapons almost equal to that of magic, forcing her hand. The female Gargoyle had barely arrived in the area after hearing the few scant whispers a few nights ago, of an unspeakable horror, lurking in Japan. One that she must have or destroy. It had been as the sun set, that Tokyo was alive. And running. Human weaponry was pushed forward in immense phalanxes of steel tubing. It fascinated her, how the inferior species of mankind had driven any threat away with mindless violence, as it had done for millennia. Humanity, to it's credit, seemed to have a genius for war. Dark shapes moved through the sky. Demona could not risk seeing if they were fellow gargoyles or human aircraft. She may have been immortal, but she had no desire to pull herself back together again, as she had done many times nine years previously. She wasn't even sure there were Gargoyles in Japan.

As the crowds fled, she crept forward, gliding low over rooftops, until she had reached the "front line", facing out into the Tokyo Bay. Upon her previous visit, the electrical pylons that had stood before her simply weren't there. Upon her arrival, there was a great hum as the pylons sparked to life. Not wishing to stay in a place that was very likely to become a war zone at any minute she unfurled her wings and glanced out over the bay. What she saw was...

Nothing.

No battleships, no landing craft or incoming planes as she had expected. No threat of a war that these people had feared would happen again. She knew Mankind was foolish, but not foolish enough to be so easily duped into fighting a phantom army. Her eyes drifted over a small islet in the water. And she followed it as it dipped below the water.

What.

Islets do not simply sink away of their own accord. There was no wave or eruption or...

*Boom*

An earthquake? But so short?

*Boom*

Now she wasn't so sure. Footsteps? Of what? They were louder now...

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

And so Demona came to the conclusion, that it was not an islet, and thus She had sensibly decided to retreat, at least until she knew what she was dealing with.

As she fled towards the Ginza district, Demona began to panic, and as she rarely panicked, that made it worse. Was this some horrible apparition conjured by a Child of Oberon? Was it one itself? Some great horror from beyond even Oberon's time? As she pondered, she alighted upon a rooftop. Almost immediately there was the repetition of gunfire and explosions coming from the shoreline. And something more. Something that tore the air asunder, shattering windows, and rattling her bones. A roar. A horrible roar. As if steel was wrenched apart in great quantities, the splintering of metal, like some great falling tree. She spun on her heels not, quite knowing what to expect. As if to spare her, fate threw up great walls of smoke and flame to shield her from the monstrosity from within,as she only saw people pouring from side alleys and homes struggling to get away. Tanks roared up the street to the catastrophe and fired. And then it parted the veil of smoke, stepping into view as buildings collapsed due to its bulk. She was iron willed. Had she not spent all her screams on Castle Wyvern, so long ago, had she not seen so many horrors before, she may have had one scream left. Now...all she could do was stare. The roar reverberated again. A great tail whipped into people and buildings alike, crushing them both as she may have once crumpled parchment. It's glowing white eyes snapped to the tanks, who had begun a hasty retreat. Demona felt like following them, but some greater instinct kept her glued to her rooftop as the beast drew level with it. Looking up in mute horror, the female gargoyle's mind raced. Should she run, now? Wait until it had passed? She could not help but wonder, back to when she was a hatchling, being told of stories of Dragons and demons and the knights and heroes who conquered them. Her heart stopped as the beast paused, flexing taloned fingers bigger than her, completely focusing on the human weapons of war. She swallowed, chastising herself. She was immortal. It was most likely not. She was clever. It was most likely not. She was ancient. It was most likely not.

A fizzing, humming sound filled the air. At first, Demona put it down to her going into shock. Then she noticed the white glow along it's spiny back. She traced it up the creature's back to the mouth, where it seemed to be inhaling, the air glowing and swirling into it's maw. Too late she realized what dragons do. She was not in the line of fire, but it didn't matter. The shockwave ripped her from her perch, demolishing it as she was catapulted into the fiery debris behind it. The world twisted and turned as it breathed "fire", and everything went black.

When Demona awoke she was being burned alive. Not an unfamiliar experience for her, but one that was unpleasant nonetheless. Roaring in a mixture of pain and fury, she tore herself free from the flames and began to scale a nearby wall. She needed height to glide. The furnaces of the the city's grave were creating great thermals. She thought to herself grimly, had she done this, she would be gloating. But no, something had robbed her of this city and it's people. And for that it would pay. She was Humanity's death-knell, and no oversized dragon would rob her of her vengeance. She spotted it, easily half a mile away, ripping through the city and roaring wildly. Screeching, any semblance of fear gone, Demona tore towards her target...

As it turned to face her.

Breaking sharply, she came face to face with this unholy monstrosity. Not losing face, she hissed at it as it took two thunderous steps towards her. It was then she noticed the stencil like shapes at its feet. Like some macarbe crime scene, there was the ghostly outlines of people, but in their hundreds.

"I should complement you on your well intentioned slaughter of the Humans, creature." Demona had said. "Unfortunately for you, I had already set my sights on slaughtering Humanity for myself. Now you face the wrath of an immortal Gargoyle. And a woman scorned." she added with a cruel grin. Landing,she raised her hands in preparation to cast a spell,and Demona began to speak.

"Fulminous Benite Mágnus!"

There was an almighty crash as a bolt of energy struck like lightning, engulfing the monster in a blue-yellow flash. Demona sagged a little. She hadn't cast a spell in an age, and never one so powerful without a conduit, like the Magus' Grimorum Arcanorum.

"Not so tough now are you, brute?" Demona sneered. The creature had closed it's eyes and mouth and had it's head drew back. When the milky pupil-less orbs opened again they did betray any pain or annoyance. There was only silence from the monster. Instead, Demona could hear distant fire-engines racing to the fires. The creature, losing interest in Demona leaned over another building and inhaled again...then spun round, unleashing the horrible spew of death from it's fanged maw, into Demona's building, sending her down into the fireball and rubble it had created.

In about an hour or so, Demona regained conciousness. Pinned beneath some easily shiftable rubble, she freed herself, only to be presented with an absolute ghost town. Amid the flames, she could see the blast marks of those disintegrated, and the others who had been crushed beneath heavier debris. With the flames in the background, the monster stood silhouetted against the night sky. As she moved forward, her foot brushed up against a cracked and mangled radio. It coughed into life and began to have someone repeating a word in Japanese. Several other voices overlapped, but one stood out. The voice was American, and interference was great, but she could pick out a tattered, unrehearsed speech.

"... is Tokyo. Once... of six million people. What has happened ….. caused by a force which up until a few days ago was entirely beyond the scope of Man's imagination. ….., a smouldering memorial to the unknown, …...at this very moment still prevails and could at any time lash out with its terrible destruction anywhere else in the world...once many people here …... -ow there are only a few. My name is Steve Martin. I ….. correspondent for United World News. I was headed for an ….., when I stopped off in Tokyo... turned out to be a visit to the living HELL of another world."

And as Demona picked herself up, the one word in the background seemed to be stuck on an endless loop...

"Gojira...Gojira...Gojira...Gojira,"

"Godzilla, huh?" Demona said, her eyes narrowing as she schemed, "Well, you and I may have more in common than our hatred of Humans after all..."

In the distance, Gojira threw back his head...and roared.