For Ao it was well and truly the end. She backed away from the ubiquitous form of Dagarkra as he took another step closer to the burning hospital. It shook a little as he seemed to intentionally slam his foot into the ground, causing something on one of the floors below, visible through a hole, to crash to the floor. Terror gripped her. Dagarkra's red eyes bore into her with fiery hatred. To her, he was a monster, a devil, a behemoth of evil. And was a tough one considering he had been struck with missiles, punched, kicked and burned, and was still walking. To him, however, she was a mere insect and was going to be squashed flat. Nothing would be left, apart from a pile of gory remains.

Gin giggled to himself, his sister's fear akin to mime putting on a terrified expression in a ridiculous display. "So long, sis."

KAAARRRGGGGKKKKKKHHHHHH!

Dagarkra paused and looked over his shoulder. Gin and Ao looked in the same direction, all six pairs of eyes, along with probably countless others across the area, turned to a largely destroyed section of Sakurashin. A huge cloud of dust and smoke hung in the air around it, blocking everything under and behind it from sight as if it were something too ghastly for anyone to behold.

A crystal blue glow lit up the cloud like the glow of a blue star. Quickly, as if by its own will, it began to move along a long moving object that seemed to gradually increase in size. Those around the location looked on in amazement, transfixed by the beauty and peculiarity of the glow as it ran along … a tail?! Yes, that was what it was! It travelled up and up, connecting to a large body that rose out of the cloud, standing tall and proud above the destroyed section of the city. The blue glow, now covering a huge section of the shape, revealed several rows of dorsal fins along its back and seemed to leave a trail of residue in the air as it began to turn to, presumably face them.

Godzilla! Ao thought with sudden rush of hope.

Dagarkra growled, knowing that his larger enemy had recovered and was back in the fight. He glanced over to the right where he had left Godzilla to see Manda also fixated on the large creature, though he held an expression of fear rather than anger. Obviously he had not expected Godzilla to get back up again after being given such a beating that would have killed someone had they all been humans. The fact that he was back on his feet only showed that he was a tough one to take down.

As Dagarkra looked back at Godzilla, his eyes met the glowing blue ones of the larger monster ahead of him. They looked like blue fire, ready to burn their demonic enemy to a crisp and end his reign of terror. Godzilla seemed to rear back, puffing out his chest as if he was going to let loose another roar, his huge form seeming ubiquitous.

Then … WHOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHH! Ao and Gin immediately covered their eyes as the glow now seemed to be right on top of them. Though they could not see, they could hear Dagarkra's scream of pain fill the air. The building shook, the footfalls quieting slightly as a wave of heat swept over the two on the rooftop. The earth seemed to leap as something large fell nearby, causing part of the hospital's wing furthest from Ao and Gin to collapse. The glow subsided, and all fell quiet.

Gin looked up, first at Godzilla, who had now edged a little closer to their position, staring past them at something. The Yokai then followed his gaze, as did Ao, to see a huge smouldering body lying on what had been a row of buildings that had now been flattened. Gin stared. What the hell?!

Ao was equally stunned but felt a surge of excitement run through her body. Yes! Godzilla had killed Dagarkra with his … blue fire or whatever it was. It did not matter; the point was their main enemy was dead. Now Gin was doomed. This unexpected move had left Manda as the only one left for them to fight. Now was the time to finish this.

She looked at her brother, meeting his gaze as both tried to process their current predicament. Ao had expected him to throw another fit and try and charge at her or something else, but it was not so. His eyes were wide, mouth was hung open as if he had lost control of it and he just looked lost. He really did not know what to do: his main card for winning this fight was now lying on the ground and out of the fight and Manda was no match for all of them.

"It's over, Gin!" Ao said with a rush of confidence. "You've lost. Dagarkra's dead."

He did not answer but just glanced back at the body of his monster, dumbfounded. How? How could this happen? How could Dagarkra, a demonic creature who had managed to hold is own against Godzilla so far, just be defeated so suddenly? It was not possible! He was supposed to defeat Godzilla, not the other way around! Was it really over for him?! Was he defeated here?

No! Not yet!

He looked back at his sister with a deathly glare, wielding his spears and pointing the ends of both weapons in her direction. Ao gulped a little, seeing that his facial expression, the positioning of his weapons and his tightening grip on them made it clear that her brother was now really, really pissed off. To hell with Godzilla and any of the others who would come over here; he was going to carry on until they were defeated. And the first one to fall was right in front of him.

"No, Ao. You're dead!" he growled, marching towards her.

He went to march towards his sister but the ground shook as something large approached from behind. Gin froze, terrified to look over his shoulder. He did and saw the approaching form of Godzilla, the face of the creature glaring down at him. Teeth bared in a snarl, fists clenched and hanging by his side and eyes narrowed as he neared the hospital, raring to smash the tiny Yokai enemy into paste. His deeds of unleashing such a horrific monster, or monsters on the world deserved only one penalty, and Godzilla was going to deliver it.

Just as he was about a hundred feet from the groin-level building, a sharp, loud bark sounded out from ahead. Godzilla, Ao and Gin looked over and saw, to their surprise, Dagarkra standing over the remains of the buildings he had crashed through moments earlier. He looked terrible; his once blood red torso now charred black, his face partially burned and blistered from the effects of Godzilla's powerful breath, and there were more wounds across his arms and legs as he stood up, grunting heavily in pain. Still, he looked intimidating, and now he looked absolutely furious. He breathed heavily through gritted teeth and his eyes glared at Godzilla, telling him that he was going to pay dearly for shooting him with his atomic breath.

The dragon reared back, took a deep breath and fired a wall of red and gold flame across the city towards them. Buildings, cars, trees, and the few civilians who were unfortunate enough to remain were incinerated as the wall of fire overtook the streets, reaching into every space. Godzilla went wide-eyed, but the flames engulfed him quickly before he could even react to shield himself. Gin and Ao dived for cover but even they were not able to escape unscathed, their skin burning as their clothes were set alight.

On and on it came as Dagarkra let loose with all his strength, his power, his rage. More! More! Burn them all! Incinerate them until they are nothing but dust! This city and its inhabitants will be destroyed. He turned his body to the right and sent the last of his flames shooting across the city towards the second Nana-Gou, setting everything in its path alight. The Nana-Gou, along with a few civilians who had panicked and climbed onto the metallic platform that ran around its centre when Dagarkra had started moving in their direction, was swamped by fire and quickly began burning like a candle. Anyone on the platform was obliterated.

Finally, he stopped and fell on his knees, holding himself up with his hands on the ground, breathing heavily. Dagarkra's flames were powerful but had taken much of his energy, and his flesh burned from the heat. He felt like his heart and lungs had been cooking and were only just starting to cool down. But he had done it. As he looked up at the surrounding city, his eyes falling on the huge form of Godzilla lying on his side next to the now nearly destroyed hospital, he sighed in relief. He had won.

Godzilla was down. And now it was time to finish him off.

Nearly a mile away, the group watched with shock from atop the rooftop of an apartment building as the city seemed to be in the process of being swallowed up by hell itself. One moment, they, and Manda, had watched Godzilla obliterate Dagarkra with his atomic breath. The next, the demonic monster had struck back with such ferocity that he practically levelled most of the city in doing so. Such apocalyptic scenery had never been seen in Sakurashin before. It was so alien and horrific to them that Kotoha could not help but shed a few tears as her home city was torn apart before her. Kyosuke too looked on helplessly, though part of him hoped that his sister, Touka, had made it out alive.

"Guys, look out!"

Akina's yell snapped the group out of their shocked stance as Manda, who had resumed his cobra-like stance again, slammed his clawed front foot down onto the building. It exploded outward and sent Yae and the boy flying through the air as they were the last to leave the roof. They landed on the building behind where they had been. Akina and Kotoha jumped onto the nearest office building, looking back at Manda as he snarled and surveyed his surroundings, knowing that he had failed to kill them.

"Damn! Close call." Kyosuke gasped with relief.

"Yeah," Akina agreed but quickly realised something. "Wait, where's Kotoha?" He asked in a panicked voice.

Kyosuke looked around him and could not see his Yokai friend anywhere. Oh no! The worst-case scenario hit him as he looked back at Manda. Was she dead?

Their question was answered when Manda, who had turned his attention away from them to another building, slammed his other front claw onto it, only for it to hit something.

"What the…?" Akina breathed in shock.

On said building, Kotoha grunted as she held a large metallic plate above her, pushing with all her might to keep Manda from squashing her. Her Yokai abilities had immediately kicked in but they were not going to save her for long: Manda was a lot bigger, and a lot stronger. She could feel the muscles in her arms beginning to ache as she tried to keep him back. It hurt. Her bones felt like they were beginning to crumble under the immense pressure. She had to do something.

She summoned all her strength, she held up the metallic plate and held out her hand, muttering "RPG!" and one instantly appeared in her hand. Okay. She edged herself as close to the edge of the underside of plate as she could, almost falling on her knees as she did, aimed the RPG at Manda's face and pulled the trigger.

Manda screamed as the projectile collided with his face just below his eye. He immediately removed his hand from the plate and reached up to feel the impact point for any blood. Luckily for him there was none. He turned his attention back to Kotoha, angrily growling at her. She had struck him with a feeble weapon! How dare she! Oh, he was going to make her pay. He would crush her under his hand and, if she survived, hold the human between his fingers and squeeze the life out of her. Kotoha backed away in fear, dropping her RPG on the floor as Manda leaned in towards her, razor teeth foiling her vision.

Something flew out and struck Manda in the side of his head, making him roar out again even louder and he fell on his side, crushing half of a street's worth of parked cars. Kotoha stared, shocked at what had happened. Then Akina and Kyosuke landed near her, the former giving her a small smile and a nod as if to say: "Got to you just in time."

"Thanks," Kotoha replied.

"You guys okay?" the voice of the boy piped up as he and Yae landed behind them.

"We're fine," Kyosuke said. "Just gotta keep up the pressure and-"

He was cut off when a jet flew low overhead and then over the hospital area. A second later, an explosion erupted on Dagarkra's shoulder and he roared, almost falling sideways onto a building next to the hospital. Looking up, he grabbed something and tossed it at the jet, but the smaller vehicle's speed meant it was quickly out of range of anything Dagarkra could throw at him, and whatever it was landed far away on the other side of the city near one of the parks. Despite the smoke rising from the various fires across the city, they saw his face contort into a look of fury as he advanced, or more precisely limped towards Godzilla.

"We have to stop him before he gets to Godzilla." Kyosuke said with urgency.

Before the others could reply, movement from in front of their building made them go still as Manda got up from the ground and, having resumed his usual snake-like posture, was glaring down at them with such vehement fury. They momentarily thought that he would start shooting fire at them and set the city even more ablaze and burn them to a crisp. He swung his forward claw at them, this time shearing a chunk out of the front of the building, sending the group scattering across the roof. Kotoha fell on her back near the edge furthest from the monster, hitting her head on the floor and sending her into a daze.

As she began to recover, Manda's form loomed overhead, his eyes falling on her, anger blazing within them. This time she was vulnerable; this time he would crush her.

He lunged towards her, mouth open to reveal hordes of teeth that would clamp down on her miniscule form and end her life once and for all. Kotoha shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable end.

A loud THUD shook her and made her open her eyes to see Kyosuke standing before her, and in front of him the huge face of Manda was being held back by her oni friend. Both grunting heavily as they tried to overpower the other. Kyosuke's eyes glowed red and a pair of red horns grew out of his forehead, a red aura forming around his arms and hands. He was beginning to go full-out with his power, but it was proving to be less than he expected. Manda forced himself forward.

Crap, I have to help him! Kotoha mentally urged herself.

She rushed up and helped Kyosuke in pushing back Manda, though it was only a little as the gigantic snake-like creature began to pull himself up onto the building, bringing his clawed feet forward. Akina, who was helping Yae, looked up and saw this. Panicked gripped him. His friends were in danger!

"Akina, do it! Now!" Kyosuke shouted at him. "Hurry!"

It was now or never. Leaving Yae with the boy, he rushed forward, pulling out his black staff, aiming straight for Manda's exposed soft neck under his heavy armour. When he reached it, he plunged the staff into the monster's exposed flesh.

Manda reared back and roared louder than ever, this time rising up and then falling on his back with an earth shuddering CRASH that threw several cars and piles of rubble a few feet into the air. He writhed about on the ground for a few moments, crushing several more cars, and scattering rubble over a great distance. He even obliterated a building as his head slammed into it as it tried to remove the pain. Then, as if a switch had been flicked, his form went still. A blinding light filled the air for a moment, causing the group to look away. When it subsided, they looked and saw that the snake-like creature was gone.

Manda had been defeated.

Akina breathed a sigh of relief as he looked back at the others. "Nice work, Akina." Yae said as she limped over, the strike by Manda moments ago having injured her leg.

He nodded, glad it was finally done. Manda had been defeated. That was one less monster for them to deal with. They had no doubt saved each other as well as countless lives by getting rid of him. Now there was only one left.

As all eyes looked over in the direction of Dagarkra, their happiness was quickly replaced with terror at what they saw.

Panic. That was Ao could do as she held onto the side of the hole above a huge fire about fifty feet below. She frantically tried to pull herself up but the pain in her now blistered and charred arms, side and face made her whimper. It hurt so much: it was like she had been dipped in a huge bowl of acid; her skin feeling like it was peeling off. Oh god, make it stop!

A cry of panic from below made her glance down again to see her brother Gin holding onto his spear, which he had driven into another large piece of rubble. He was hanging from what had been the ceiling of the floor below the roof, his face terrified, having been thrown there when a bomb exploded on Dagarkra a few moments ago and his fall had caused more of the hospital to collapse. No, petrified as his gold eyes looked down at the raging inferno below. Like his sister, his clothes were burned to nothing and hung like rags. His arms were red and angry looking; his head badly burned, as evidenced why part of his hair had been singed, and face was covered in blisters and part of the skin looked like it had melted a bit around the cheeks.

He looked up at Ao, their panicked eyes showing the same fear they held in their please to escape.

"Ao, help!" he cried. "P-please!"

Ao, ignoring any kind of potential inner conflict, slowly but painfully lowered herself towards him. She tried to lower her foot towards the spear and be level with it.

"Climb up and grab my foot." She instructed, yelping with pain.

He obeyed but the building shook as he began to move up. Looking up, the two saw Dagarkra stagger past them, his face angry, yet concentrated. He lunged forward and grabbed hold of what they knew was Godzilla and hoisted him up, his hands grasped around the creature's neck. Godzilla struggled to breath and tried to claw at Dagarkra's face but his demonic enemy knocked his hand away and punched him in the face and threw him hard to the ground. The impact made the hospital shake and the spear loosened a little. Gin yelped and grabbed hold of it tighter, swearing loudly in fear.

"Gin, hang on!" Ao cried. "I'm coming!"

She lowered herself more, but as she tried to hang from one hand it sent another wave of sharp pain up and down her arm. It felt like someone wad ripping it out of her socket: it hurt like hell! Tears stung at her eyes and she actually cried out slightly. But she pushed on. I have to save my brother!

"Gin, just reach up and grab me!" she called as she flames seemed to be licking his feet as if eager to swallow and consume him as further fuel for their destructive rage.

He nodded and reached up with his hand reaching for her charred shoe.

The weight was too much and the spear loosened more. Ao and Gin locked eyes one more time. They barely had time to react before the end came loose.

Gin's cries were the only thing that drowned out Ao's as he into the flames, his body quickly being consumed by the flames. His form disappeared from sight and was likely burnt into nothingness. Ao sobbed, burying her head in her arms. Shit! I failed! I couldn't save him! I couldn't sav-

The building shook once again and she went wide-eyed, looking up to see more rubble fall around her to feed the flames. She frantically clawed at the side of the hole, desperately trying to grab something. No! No! No!

Just then a hand reached out and grabbed hers, gripping it tightly. Ao looked up and her face was overwhelmed with joy.

"Hime!" she exclaimed.

Her mayor friend nodded. "Let's get you out of there." She said.

Ao went to thank her but gasped and shouted a warning to her friend. Hime looked over her shoulder and her breath seemed to get caught in her throat.

Dagarkra loomed over them, the glow of the fires around and in the hospital partially revealing his body silhouetted against the darkness of the night sky. Truly he looked like a demon come from the pits of hell. He stared down at them angrily, furious; seething with rage. He was rage incarnate and he would use it to destroy all. Godzilla had been defeated and now Hime and Ao were next.

He raised his fist high above him, ready to strike it down with all his might and put an end to these two insects once and for all. Hime and Ao shut their eyes, waiting for the end.

More heavy footfalls. A loud crack, a strangled breath followed simultaneously by a weak cry of pain. Something huge was moving. Hime and Ao looked up and saw, to their amazement, Godzilla force Dagarkra to the ground, his jaws clamped around his enemy's shoulder. Dagarkra screeched and punched him but it did not even faze Godzilla: he bit down harder and, grabbing Dagarkra's horns, threw him to the ground. He placed his foot on the creature's chest, pinning him. They locked eyes; the two beasts, battered, weary, exhausted and badly injured, accepting the end of the fight.

You have lost! Godzilla seemed to communicate to him.

Dagarkra's glare deepened, the aura of hate emanating from him like heat from a radiator. Only just!

Blue lights shot up Godzilla's tail once again, his dorsal fins turning into mini-suns. His eyes glowed with a sort of haunting beauty as he reared back a little. And then …

FWOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHH! The jet of blue flame shot out of his mouth and onto Dagarkra's face. Dagarkra screamed in pain and struggled desperately to push Godzilla off. He tried to push him off but his strength faded with every passing second. He clawed at Godzilla's leg and, in one final attempt, even tried to push himself up. But the blue flame kept coming as Godzilla was utterly determined to finish him off.

Finally, Dagarkra's hands fell to the ground with a pair of loud THUDS and moved no more. His face, swamped by the blue fire, caved in and crumbled into dust. Godzilla finished his breath and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

It was over. The fight was finished, and he was victorious.

SKRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-ooooooooooooonnnnnnngggghhhhhhh!

Hime pulled Ao onto the roof, both silent as they looked up at the gigantic form of Godzilla as he stepped off the now lifeless, and headless form of Dagarkra. They could not believe it. They had survived. This had been the fight for their very lives, for their survival and that of Sakurashin, possibly even the entire world. And they won. It was over. They watched the exhausted form of Godzilla breath deeply, looking up and surveying the destruction dealt to the city. The fires were everywhere and much of it had been levelled or badly damaged. Even though such things would normally not trouble him, he did hope that many of the inhabitants got out okay.

As Hime and Ao looked up in amazement at Godzilla, they saw a few figures land on the roof. They faced them and were overcome with joy.

"Guys!" Hime exclaimed.

She and Ao rushed forward and embraced Kotoha, Kyosuke and Akina in a bear hug as Yae and the boy looked up in awe at the huge form of Dagarkra's defeater.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Hime said, her voice breaking into light sobs as tears of joy ran down her face.

"Us too!" Akina said, pulling his mayor friend close to him.

After a few moments, they all let go of each other and withdrew, the relief clear and comforting as they looked at one another.

"We did it," Kotoha said. "We won. Sakurashin is saved."

Hime nodded. "What happened to Manda?" she asked with slight concern. "Did he escape?"

Akina shook his head. "We got him. I sent him back to the Otherworld. He won't be a threat anymore."

Hime nodded, happy that not only had they defeated their enemy monsters but they were now well and truly gone for good.

"What about Gin?" Kyosuke asked.

Ao's face fell a little and she looked down at the ground, trying hard not to let the tears fall. "He's dead." Was all she said.

The others stared at her, that answer completely flooring them and leaving them speechless. Kotoha went to ask how but Hime silenced her with a slight shake of her head. Not now. She needs time. Kotoha obeyed with a nod and put an arm around her cat-eared friend, muttering reassurances.

Silence fell among them as the group returned to looking up at Godzilla, his face weary from combat that had nearly cost him his life. But he had survived, and it would not have happened with his new-found friends.

Manda and, more importantly, Dagarkra were defeated. Sakurashin and the world were saved.

Victory was theirs.

Author's note: Hey fellow FF readers and writers. We are coming towards the end of the FF now. I have 2 more small epilogue chapters planned to tie everything up. I will post them over the next week.

Thank you all for reading.