The helicopter jolted as it ascended further, the noise of its rotors resonating like thunder in the night sky. The crew members sitting near the open doors looked out at the other army helicopters scattered several tens of metres away from theirs, their blackened hulks almost impossible to spot were it not for the blinking lights near the rear rotor and across the front and sides. There were twelve of them overall. Some of them had guns fitted to the wings, others were only armed with a single large cannon below the front and pointing ahead.

Inside, corporal Atsuo sat strapped into his chair towards the right door of the vehicle, eyes shifting from the other helicopters to the ground far below every few moments. It was as if the world had been consumed by darkness; like hell had burst from the ground. Everything below them, save for the occasional lights from a tiny village or the isolated house, was pitch black. They had left the coastal cities some time ago and were now heading inland towards a town called Sakurashin. He did not have all the facts as to why but there was something going on there that had ordered a general evacuation being given out to the city and the surrounding areas.

Probably one of these Yokai assholes causing trouble! He thought angrily as he roughly tugged at his gloved hand as if readying for a fist fight.

It was true, dear readers. Atsuo had no time or respect for the Yokai. To him, they were something lesser than humans; sometimes even insects were better in his eyes. At least they didn't try and show everyone how great they were. They kept and keep to themselves! Why we haven't gotten rid of them, or at least done a 1950s and '60s segregation against them, I don't know.

As shocking as it was, his views were common among people from his part of Tokyo, namely the Shinjuku District. His experiences of them had been largely those who were working in the small crime gangs or larger, more obscure syndicates throughout the city. His family lived near one of the major hotspots of their criminal activities and, thus, were never short of stories to tell him when he was on leave. 'Oh, did you hear about the werewolf mobster arrested last week. And 'Oh, Mr so-and-so was beaten up by two gang members, and he swore down it was a Yokai and a human. Oh, it only made his blood boil when he thought of these things. Why can't Yokai do something about these guys?

Of course, he had been criticised by many people for his views. They had said this his experiences were based only on a small bubble and were not a general representation of Yokai. Many pointed to Sakurashin, a place where Yokai and humans lived side-by-side in, almost, universal peace as an example of his opinion being wrong. Atsuo accepted this but still thought it ridiculous and believed it was only a matter of time until any existing tensions boiled over into full-blown rioting, possibly even conflict. He had told himself that the mayor of this town was in a bad position for enabling such a thing to happen.

I feel sorry for her. He had once told himself She's digging her own grave; most of it being prepared by her predecessors.

To him, such a thing as human/Yokai coexistence would only lead to trouble. Trouble that would involve the army being called in; a necessary prerequisite to the maintenance of peace.

Atsuo's hand momentarily drifted to his pistol in his uniform pocket. That would mean force …

KRGZ! "We've got cont-" KRGZ!

All ears and eyes immediately turned to their radios as it suddenly came alive with static, panicked voices and … gunfire. Why was there gunfire? Had another regiment made it to Sakurashin before them? Or was it even the Yokai up to no good again?

"Shoot that damn thing!" A voice cried out, followed by a chorus of screams and even more, much louder blasts of weapons, both light and heavy, in the background.

What the hell is going on? Atsuo wondered.

One of the voices of the crewmembers called out for people to look below and, like children eager to see something they wanted to see, everyone looked or rushed to the entrances to look down.

Far below, fires dotted the landscape, the smoke rising visibly into the sky. An explosion erupted near what Atsuo thought was a forest covered hill. He could see tracer rounds flying out from various areas below them, all going to the same spot that kept moving in the same direction as them, but he could not see what it was exactly. It appeared to be black as knight. He listened into his radio again and heard more screaming and the shouting of orders and … a loud roar?

Wait! A roar? Was this thing what was crashing through the coastline earlier on this evening? In fact, could it even be one of these creatures that had landed in Tokyo just a few days prior.

"Heads up, Sakurashin dead ahead. ETA 9 minutes!" came the voice of the pilot through the radio.

Once again, all eyes turned, this time looking ahead. Atsuo looked in the same direction and could not believe his eyes.

A few miles before them, nestled between the blackened hills, was a sea of lights, some brighter than others but no less visible. He could see roads leading to and from the place, and they were covered with pairs of headlights that he knew were cars, trucks or other vehicles; all of them jam-packed and heading in the same direction. Away from the city. Anyone unfamiliar with the situation would look and wonder why there seemed to be a mass evacuation. Atsuo even mentally asked himself: what kind of emergency would need to call for the population of an entire city to leave the city?

He got his answer when he looked ahead and saw, through the steadily growing pillars of smoke and what appeared to be a line of fires that led through the city, the reason why.

"WATCH OUT!"

Kyosuke dived out of the way as a large red fist slammed into the building he was on, punching a big hole into the roof. As he looked up, he saw the hellish eyes of Dagarkra glaring down at him akin to a human frustrated at trying to kill a bothersome insect. With a snarl, he swung at him with his other hand, shearing off part of the front as Kyosuke jumped onto the shorter neighbouring building but had to move as an uppercut from the enormous creature tore off most of the front, spilling out a wall of rubble and the contents of the structure to the ground. With a satisfied growl, the creature turned and marched on towards its original objective, its feet crushing flat countless vehicles and those unfortunate to remain there as it went. Screams of the dying and terrified filled the air as it advanced but Dagarkra paid it no heed. To him these were just insects; worthless parasites that needed no sympathy or attention. They were just in the way.

Something whooshed past its face, startling the gigantic beast and almost making it fall over. His head turned in its direction. BANG! Something exploded on the face and it let out a deafening roar as it staggered back, clutching his eye. On the ground and in the surroundings buildings, people looked on with a glimmer of hope. Yes! It had been hurt! It was not invincible!

Dagarkra looked up, his eyes falling on a skyscraper that was just below eye level for him, particularly two tiny human figures. One of them had hold of something. What it was he did not know but he felt anger rising within him. How dare they! How dare those parasites do that to him!

"I think we got him!" Kotoha said in a relieved tone as she lowered a huge bazooka. Akina, who stood next to her, held one too, curtesy of said female Yokai.

"Yeah!" he replied as he and Kotoha exchanged glances; pleased that this thing was not invincible. Finally, we can start taking it down and-

The creature looked up at them, quickly wiping away their victorious looks. Even though its form was slender and nowhere near as muscular as Godzilla's had been when he was in his monster form a few days ago, this thing was still very intimidating to them. It stood up and growled a low but bone chilling growl that would have made the bravest of men quake with fear. Teeth gritted, hands clenched and shaking, and a look in its eyes told them that it was not down. And it certainly was not out!

Akina gulped as Kotoha muttered: "I think we just pissed it off!"

After a moment's pause, Dagarkra charged wildly like a wild animal, eyes burning with fury. There was one thing and one thing only on its mind right now. Crush and/or rip those insects limb-from-limb. Kotoha and Akina instinctively shielded their heads with their arms as if it would protect them, waiting for blow that would either crush them into paste or send them flying and then falling to their deaths, no doubt to be among the many that had already happened and would happen tonight.

Akina expected to be thrown through the air, his body mixing with a cloud of rubble and then becoming a victory of gravity as he would plummet towards the earth and land on something and quickly snuff out his life. Instead, a pair of hands grabbed him and hoisted him into the air. He opened his eyes but the world spun. Everything was a blur. He heard Kotoha yelp. Was she okay? He tried to look back but saw an eruption of dust fill his peripheral vision, followed by a roar of anger and snort as though a giant bull had just smashed the structure to pieces.

He felt himself land on a hard surface and someone set down next to him.

"Yae!" he exclaimed with happiness.

The nun set herself down beside him. "Are you okay?" she asked him and he replied with an affirmative as Kotoha and a young boy, who was holding the young woman in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other, landed next to them. "Looks like me and Yuhi got here just in time." She said.

Kotoha nodded and adjusted her glasses. "Yeah, thanks." She told them.

The young boy sucked on the cigarette and blew out a ring of smoke. "Not bad, eh?!" he said with a smug smirk. "Usually it's you guys who are doing the saving. Well have no fear, we're gonna help ya take that thing out." He added, puffing again on the cigarette.

Kotoha glared at him. "Hey, we managed to hit it with a rocket! He's not invincible!" she snapped back.

"Uh guys?" Akina warned as he and Yae stepped back, their faces full of terror.

A growl and something big made Kotoha and Yuhi look back in the direction of the building they had been on to see a huge form rising out of the dust and smoke as if it were emerging from hell – not that the group denied something like that. Kotoha gulped and glanced down at Yuhi, who, for the first time in her life, looked genuinely afraid as he dropped his cigarette and muttered a swear word under his breath.

God, what would your sister say? Probably nothing! She thought to herself, knowing their mishaps and his rather laid-back attitude.

Dagarkra shook the dust off him and began surveying the damage. He had taken the skyscraper and part of the building behind it down with his charge. Both buildings were now a pile of rubble and anyone who happened to be at street level was likely to be suffocating in the dust cloud. But he did not care. He waved his arm, removing the dust cloud that obscured his vision of below.

What! Nothing?! He growled in frustration! How could there be nothing?! He had ploughed right into the building; surely nothing could have survived it! Maybe there were buried under the rubble. If they were, then he was going to smash them into a pulp. Their bones would be crushed into dust, their organs squished, and their lives obliterated. Nothing would remain!

Movement to his right drew his attention and, to his fury, he saw them! There were two more people with them and he could sense that they had power emanating from them. No doubt they were Yokai. They had saved those two who had fired the rockets at him. Then they would pay just as dearly as the other two.

Dagarkra turned his body towards them, leaning over them to be as terrifying as possible so that his boy would fill their entire peripheral vision. It had its effect because the four backed away further towards the back corner of the rooftop. He saw the woman dressed in strange clothing take out two long katana swords. He almost cackled with mocking laughter. Those things cutting him?! How pathetic! He raised his fist, determined to turn them into a paste on the concrete roof.

He was about to strike when a chorus of loud sounds reverberated through the air and were coming towards them. Dagarkra looked up; his red eyes falling on a group of small, black, flying objects coming towards them. Some of them had lights and were pointing towards him. He stared at them with a mixture of shock and annoyance. Had they come to fight him?! It would only slow him down!

He did not wait for them to do anything. With a snarl, he swung his fist up at a helicopter as it attempted to fly past him, catching the craft in the middle and sending it spinning into a building. It exploded into a ball of fire, the sound blocked out only by the noise of glass shattering and the craft plummeting to the street. The glow of the fire made Dagarkra's own red eyes light up as if revealing the satisfaction in them at having taken down one of the craft. It had been so easy! So fragile.

And why stop there? He turned back and, now ignoring the group, focused on another helicopter that banked right away from him as it flew over his left. Not fast enough! Dagarkra slapped off its rear rotor, jolting it wildly and sending two of the crew members screaming to their deaths. The craft's alarm system began to bleep loudly as the pilot struggled to keep it airborne. It was in vain for the main rotors clipped the side of a concrete building and were torn apart. It fell and crashed into the ground, splitting in two and flattening three unoccupied trucks.

All of this went unnoticed as Dagarkra continued to tear down the other helicopters, which, by now, were starting to fire on him. One hovering above a street about a hundred feet away fired a missile at the giant red beast, striking him in the side. He roared in pain and, turning towards him, charged full blast towards him, flattening several buildings in the process. The pilot tried to move away but he was not quick enough. Dagarkra grabbed the craft, spun round and tossed it like a ball at a second helicopter that was passing nearby with a machine gun on the side aimed right at him. Both craft exploded into a fireball, earning a grin from the creature that revealed his sharp and deadly looking teeth. Nothing could stop him! These humans and their machines were weak, toys even. How they hoped to stand against him he had no idea.

Atsuo and the others in the main part of the helicopter looked on in total disbelief. Never had they thought this of all things would happen. Just like that, four of their helicopters and their crews had been downed by this creature as if it was nothing. They could not believe it.

How many of my friends were on there? A feeling of anger gripped him, coursing through his veins like some sort of life giving energy, pushing him to take on this creature before it did anymore damage to the city and its human inhabitants Screw the Yokai, this thing needs to die!

The craft suddenly tipped and fell sideways, almost throwing two standing soldiers out of the open door of the other side if they had not grabbed onto something or had been grabbed by their comrades sitting down. Something large fell in the place where they had just been and tore off the front of a small building below them, just missing the helicopter. Atsuo struggled to pull himself up, trying to stay upright as the helicopter shook wildly. The world outside rushed past like a blur. Alarms began to sound.

"Everyone, hang on!"

The last thing Atsuo heard were the screams of the pilot and a fellow crew member as the front of an apartment building filled his vision.

Dagarkra grinned a small but nasty grin as he saw the human craft impact on the front of the structure, shattering into a thousand burning pieces. Anyone on the ground was likely to be crushed by rubble and burning metallic remains – not that any of this really mattered to him. He looked around to see some of the human vehicles retreating, their dark shapes flying away as fast as they could go into the night sky. Cowards! No backbone!

But they had distracted him long enough. He turned his head back to the Nana-Gou. No more distractions! As before, he moved forward with an uncaring unwavering drive to get there. With a swipe of his hand, he pushed over a building, not even giving it a second glance as it crumbled into dust. Another he ploughed through, scattering rubble over a wide area. Cries erupted from below but he paid them no heed.

After a few moments, he emerged from the now smoking streets, hands clenched into fists as he approached the enormous Nana-Gou that stood about his toned midsection. A few people who had taken refuge on the metallic ring around the middle of the structure, screamed in terror. He glared down at them, displaying his sharp teeth threateningly. He watched as two of the minuscule beings fled towards the ladder in a desperate but futile attempt to escape. Pitiful!

Dagarkra grabbed the sides of the tall structure and dug his claws into it, rocking it and throwing those on the platform to the floor (one of the two who had reached the ladder was thrown off to his doom). Then, with only part of his strength and one big movement of his arms, he ripped the structure in two and dropped the crumbling pieces on the ground.

One down. And several to go! Destroy them and open the realms!

As he turned his head back to look out over the city, his red eyes falling on the second Nana-Gou tower far off in the distance a few miles away. That was his next target and he would get there, no matter what got in is way.

Dagarkra promptly turned and moved off in that direction. Anyone who happened to be watching his movements now would now that only more death and destruction would follow before the night was over.

Authors note: Hey fellow FF readers and writers. Just as a note to a reviewer, Dagarkra is my own creation. He is nothing to do with the anime.