Godzilla leans forward, moving from a walk to a run. Behind him, the Armorhide takes a few steps backward: before barrelling past in a ball of spikes and fury. Getting closer now, the Starback can see Mothra glow: green light washing over the shadow of another titan. The Starback flinches when he sees a glimpse of red illuminated beneath her wings, but this creature was too big. The titan lays unmoving on the surface of the water: like a bloated corpse. Godzilla slows his pace, growling to Anguirus so he could do the same.

"What?" Mothra swoops lower, flapping her wings to keep herself afloat. "Shouldn't we help them?"

"No. Something isn't right."

The land borne titans stop, with Godzilla's tail blocking Anguirus' path. The Starback bristles as the 'titan' in distress lets out a weak chirp, painted in a dark shade of green from the insect's incandescent wings. Mothra's frantic circling increases in speed.

"W-we have to help them!"

"Suit yourself." Godzilla scoffs. "I'm not wasting my time on a dead titan."

"Anguirus! Surely you can see that this titan needs our help?"

"I don't know. Tubs is right. That guy looks as good as done."

Despite this, Mothra landed dangerously close to the walking corpse. It chirps weakly, the lobster-like titan shifting onto one side. Even without its legs and tail, it managed to lurch forward.

"Poor creature." Her antennae landed onto its head, causing its large pincer to shift. "Fear not. I will heal you."

Wing aglow, the insect's sapphire eyes narrowed in focus, healing energies rising from the ground and into the injured titan's shattered shell. Chitin grows over soft flesh as the lobster is gradually fixed, smaller limbs growing out of the stumps. A spark of life returns to the titan's dull eyes, one that is quickly replaced by a familiar scathing yellow. Anguirus' scales rattle in alarm as the Armorhide hissed, a blur of red snapping towards the Lightbringer.

"WATCH OUT!"

Mothra squeaked as Godzilla dragged her back with his jaws, throwing her up into the air. As the insect destabilized, the red titan rose; shell cracking with the growth of crimson flesh. The Red Devil's flesh bursts from the chinks in its unwilling host's armor, replacing the lobster's lost pincer with one of its own; pulsing with violet poison.

"Hey Tubs! What the fuck is that?"

"Just fight it!"

The Starback's spines thrum with energy, firing a powerful atomic breath that sweeps over its armor. But the Red Devil's second shell takes the brunt of the damage. Brazen, the impostor lunged forward with its dominant claw; firing a shockwave that interrupted Godzilla's atomic flame. Anguirus picks up the slack, leaping onto the larger monster's side and tearing huge chunks from its makeshift armor. But the enemy's larger claw contorted to grab his neck, slamming the Armorhide onto the shore.

A beam cuts through the red flesh, earning a screech of agony. Godzilla rushes forward, a bullet train of blue ramming into the Red Devil with a fury. One swing of his claw staggered the beast; buying enough time for Anguirus to right himself and rejoin the fray. Even as dozens of small legs cut across their scales, the prehistoric monsters are too tenacious; continuing to lay on the pain against their crustacean opponent. But with surprising speed, the Devil's claw closes in the air; a sonic boom stunning the two titans for a moment too long.

Its smaller claw raked across Godzilla's gills. Ignoring the pain, the Starback grabbed the offending limb and tore it off with both arms: only for another to shoot out of the stump. More and more crimson flesh poured out of the first armor's cracks; filling in the gaps left by their attacks. Anguirus rolled up into a ball, before shredding a sizable chunk of the Red Devil's exoskeleton with his attack. Howling in rage, the Red Devil began to sprout miniature heads; purple beams lancing across their skin too leave actual wounds. As Godzilla kept the beast at bay, the Armorhide retreated - gold scales dropping to reveal an ugly pink.

"We need more power! Where's our Goddess?!"

No response.

Mothra tittered outside of the fight; wings pulsing with melancholy. The Lightbringer was struggling with some kind of inner dilemma, antennae twitching. Again, the titan is forcefully reminded of Ririn. Seeing as he was in the middle of a fight, pushing against the Devil's pincer, Godzilla mustered his adrenaline; swinging it her way with a shout.

"MOTHRA! DO SOMETHING!"

The noise finally shook her out of her reverie, and the insect's eyes flash crimson. All three of the squabbling titans are taken aback by what appeared to be a sudden sunrise, coloring the ocean as if it was made of fire instead of water. Like the petals of a blooming tree, little flecks of orange floating down around them as if winter had come early.

"MOVE!"

Not needing to be told twice, Godzilla and Anguirus duck out of the way as the Lightbringer crackles with energy; intricate runes forming across their bodies. The Red Devil screamed as energy was funneled into Mothra's body, refocusing her light into dozens of smaller orbs. Its purple beams are drowned by radiant light. To his utter shock, the Starback was physically pushed back by a forceful gush of wind; howling powerfully in his ears. His ears began to ring as Godzilla shut his eyes: an ineffective gesture.

When he opens them, the titan is surrounded by glass.

What was once a beach had been turned into a wasteland. The other two warily rise onto their feet; noticing the steam rolling from the stone ground. Glass walls had formed around the crater, with the ocean's water slowly rushing in from the many cracks on the jagged cliffs. Godzilla was assailed by the smell of burnt flesh and ash, the ocean's pleasant breeze replaced by the stale air of a warzone. Triumphantly, the unharmed Mothra landed atop a spire of glass. The only indicator she had ever fought at all was a few patches of lost scales on her wings, and the drooping of her antennae.

"W-wait." Anguirus whispers, echoing Godzilla's sentiments. "What was that?"

"God Rays, similar to Starbacks - we can channel the heat of the Sun and wield her strength to vanquish our foes. Tis one of the first things a Lightbringer learns."

"You could have done that the whole time?"

Ignoring his question, the insect flies over to the Armorhide, wrapping her wings around his body. Anguirus' few wounds were healed instantaneously, mended and knitted back together with ethereal strings of green. Satisfied, Mothra flapped over to him; an offer that Godzilla rejected.

"No thanks. I can heal myself."

"Are you certain?"

Their attentions are caught by the shift in the sand, the ashen remnants of the Red Devil blooming with bits of red. Godzilla charged another atomic breath: blasting the area with another dose of blue flames.

"Rest in peace." Mothra murmurs. "I will remember your name Ebirah."

"Who?"

"The titan it was using as armor. His name was Ebirah."

Thunder rumbles above, a wall of crimson clouds approaching from the distance. There was a connection there- between the Devils and the red rain that seemed to follow them like gnats to a corpse. Godzilla pushed aside his irrelevant musings for later, his attention drawn by a chirp from Mothra.

"Gojira, can you confirm that you did indeed kill the Red Devil you encountered in the abyss?"

"I did."

"Thank the Mother, at least now we only have three to watch out for."

"Wait." Anguirus shuffled closer, uncharacteristically pale. "Three?"

Mothra pauses, antennae wiggling in the air. "Fear not. I do not sense them near here."

He feels the weight of the Lightbringer on his shoulders, her wings shielding his scales ineffectively. Anguirus' scales rattle as he plods after, but not before stealing one last glance at the charred remains of Ebirah and the Devil that had taken over his body. Something was bothering him.

"Mothra, mind scouting ahead?"

"Oh, ok." The insect nods, clearly more shaken from their encounter than she would like to admit. "I will be sure to warn you two of any additional interlopers."

As soon as she disappeared out of earshot, Godzilla leaned forward, nudging at Anguirus with a claw.

"You saw it didn't you?"

Anguirus looked up at him, surprised. "Saw what?"

"Don't play dumb with me."

Both are silent for a moment. Despite his best efforts, Godzilla couldn't push out the image etched into his mind; of the unblinking eyes of the lobster contracting as his claws tore at its red exoskeleton.

"Man." The Armorhide's scales rattle uneasily. "Nothing ever gets past your fat head does it?"

Ignoring the insult, the wanderer glared downwards coldly; pressing Anguirus for more information.

"You know, I saw him blink." The Armorhide shivered. "Heard him screaming too. It wasn't like the Devil thing, angry or furious or whatever; it was afraid. Now, I can't read minds or anything, but that poor guy was begging for us to kill him. Like, imagine being Ebirah; having your corpse carried around by another titan just to be used like some kind of tool. Shit's sick man."

"Hm."

Ignoring the unpleasant similarities between the Devils and another enemy of his kind, Godzilla trudged onwards. His plates itched as the titan looked at the ominous jungles encompassing their destination, wondering if any of them were still lurking in their caves.

Things had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.