K.W.C. Match 444: MUTO Prime vs. Kamacuras (Universal) (original) (raw)

Author: Joshua Strittmatter | Banner: Dao Zang Moua

Skull Island

A taloned hand dipped slowly into the water-ridden grass, placed against the wet foliage with utmost flawlessness in its care.

Lightly and quietly as possible, as if to remain completely and utterly undetected by any and all beings with auditory receptors in range. A bony, scaly arm stretched with muscle as its two-limbed owner stalked ever so quietly towards its intended target: a long-limbed, cricket-like insect, moss adorning a body that looked as if it were made of a fallen tree. The Spore Mantis didn’t even notice the Skullcrawler stalking her, she was too busy traversing the edge of a forest, scouring for whatever small edibles she could find. Toad-like eyes watched her every movement as the adult Skullcrawler timed his next step right and took it, making sure to tread the watery ground with just as much softness as before. His plan seemed to be working, the Spore Mantis didn’t seem to notice. A long, pink tongue flicked quickly and noiselessly out of his bony jaws to taste the air with anticipation before slinking back in just as quickly as it had arrived. Tensing his 95-foot body, the Skull Devil laid his tail completely flat against the ground and lowered himself like a resting monitor lizard, moving his shoulders with the full intention to break into a spring… … …

The Spore Mantis suddenly chirped loudly and began to scuttle quickly into the reaches of the forest, her vocalization laced with fear. The Skullcrawler paused, unsure of what was happening. Unaware of why the floral insect had suddenly decided to flee. Had she noticed his presence—?

A sound suddenly reached his ears, causing his head to start ever so slowly turning around. It was a sound unfamiliar to the reptilian apex predator. A sharp chittering, like a cross between a bird and a monkey.

And it was emanating from right behind him.

The Skull Devil suddenly whirled his body a full 180 degrees—and in the blink of an eye, his stalker zoomed screeching at him from the top of the mountains, covering the distance to him in less than a second.

SHINK!

A rain of red spurted into the wetland water to paint it with the one color that marked the scene of a hunter’s kill, before the ground thudded with a quaking impact as a large body collapsed limp as a wet rag. Two spiny forelimbs picked up the corpse as their arthropodal owner carried it far away; leaving the severed skull of the once feared ravenous predator behind, as a stark reminder of one of the most brutal teachings by Mother Nature.

There is always a bigger predator.

*****

Yellow, bulbous eyes scanned over the vast expanses of the tropical ecosystem of Skull Island, noting down every detail and every path as the emerald insect navigated his way back to where he desired. Blood dripping from the stump where his kill’s now-severed head once perched, the giant praying mantis left a raining trail of crimson as he flew across the forested mountains of the island, some even falling down into a human village he passed over. The mantis ignored them, for he had no interest in humans. Just tiny gnats in comparison to his feet, not even worth predation by his ilk.

This island was full to the brim with bigger, tastier game.

His wings fluttering at speeds that made even a hummingbird’s wings look juvenile, Kamacuras zoomed through the skies as if he were a biological bullet on a rocket launcher; the air warping behind him from the sheer velocity. He didn’t have far to travel; up in the distance, at a series of rocky peaks that reared from a large expanse of water, he saw his objective. The archipelago, the islets. The edges of the island.

His territory.

Kamacuras chittered as the expanse grew in visual size and detail, his wings beginning to slow in pace. As he neared, his eyes caught sight of the other large forms that resided upon some of the limestone peaks, one even standing in the shallow water. The other Gimantis chattered and chirped to each other, waving and twitching their raptorial forearms while filling the morning air with their communicative vocalizations. Claws still clutching the beheaded Skullcrawler, the alpha Gimantis slowed his flight to the point where his wings could actually be seen, the other insects going quiet at his appearance; then, with a screech, Kamacuras landed upon the tallest peak to assert his dominance over the rest of the pack.

But as he placed the Skull Devil’s body on the rocky surface below his claws, his mind registered a sight that made his blood boil and his seasonal instincts flare to life.

Another male stood upon a peak that also happened to be inhabited by a brown-colored female, chirping softly to her as he steadily approached her; his left forelimb clutching the dead body of a Sker Buffalo. Fresh blood dripped from the lacerations on the mammal’s body, and even from his peak the scent of it was every bit as mouth-wateringly alluring as the dead Skullcrawler that lay beneath his feet. And even worse: the trick seemed to be working. Chittering in interest, the female was slowly advancing towards the ungulate corpse, mandibles twitching in hunger.

A sharp, shrieking bark left Kamacuras’ mandibles, stopping the other male dead in his tracks.

Both Gimantis jolted and whipped their heads around to look at him, and even without the necessities to provide for facial expression their shock and alarm was clear as day. The courting male quivered lightly as Kamacuras bent forward and reared his abdomen towards the sky, spreading his wings and raising his arms while he uttered two terrifying shrieks. The meaning was clear; Kamacuras was the alpha of the pack, and as the prime male he always held first dibs when it came to breeding. The dead Skullcrawler served the same purpose as the dead Sker Buffalo; it was not for himself, not to satisfy his own hunger. It was a gift.

It was mating season.

The female Gimantis stepped back while the younger male turned to face the alpha, his alarm replaced with animalistic anger. Rearing his own claws, he screeched a challenge at Kamacuras. The alpha male squalled back, threatening the youth to back right off. From their perches, the three females quickly backed away as they watched the two males posture and wave their clawed limbs to display their strength, screaming at one another like hormonal harpies with a volume loud enough to send any and every species on Skull Island fleeing in terror for miles around. All the while, the timber-colored females watched the spectacle but did not get anywhere close, for while it was often that the loudest and most intimidating display was all that was needed to settle disputes, it was never guaranteed that showing off will be enough. And it was at this point where the females needed to be very careful. From the looks of things, there was a mounting chance that push was about to go to shove, and when two males engaged in full-on combat and a female remained too close to the point she got caught in the crossfire, the males could easily kill her amidst the ferocity of their duel—to say nothing of the combatants themselves.

And this younger one may very well have just made a dangerous mistake.

Even by Gimantis standards, Kamacuras was a very large male; as such, risk of serious injury at the very least was frighteningly high. Kamacuras’ displays were beginning to grow more aggressive by the second, but amazingly the younger male was only emboldened to increase the ferocity of his displays as retaliation. That was when Kamacuras pawed the rock beneath him and screeched his final warning, louder and more vicious than ever. This was it. This was the moment that the young male had to make a decision. He had to choose between intelligence and logic, or bravery and outright stupidity, to decide the outcome of whatever happened to him next. It was all riding on what choice he made here and now… … …

Forelimbs reared and head bent low, the younger male screeched and began to wave his abdomen back and forth, the message unmistakable: an intimidation dance.

The last straw snapped like a dead twig.

With an enraged squall, Kamacuras leaped right off his perch to shoot towards the young Gimantis with speed and fluidity that caught him off guard. The younger insect only managed to raise his arms halfway up before the alpha male collided with him, knocking him off his rock and tackling him into the shallow water below. The females watched poker-faced as the two males squared off, rearing up onto their hind legs and smashing their upper bodies against each other like giant bears, clawing and clanging against one another with their raptorial forelimbs as if they were in a swordfight. Echoing screeches filled the air as they dueled, the cracks of their colliding bodies being so powerful they trembled the rocky islets that composed of the archipelago and rattled the ground for a good three miles. Nothing but pure, primeval testosterone fueled their savagery as they threw down in the shallows, the water splashing about in repeated bursts amidst this clash of the titans.

But it was clear that one held a distinct and obvious advantage.

An arthropod’s armor was his best defense—unless it got split. And there, with one good stab of a clawed limb, Kamacuras buried it into a gap in the rival male’s exoskeleton. Yellow blood spurted, and the mantis let out an ear-piercing shriek of pain and immediately recoiled. As the razor-edged scythe of an arm withdrew from the injury, Kamacuras lunged forth and bit down upon the young male’s neck, chewing viciously into the chitin. Kicking and thrashing, the youthful Gimantis squealed like a giant capuchin as he finally called it quits; with one good hard yank he ripped himself bleeding and free from Kamacuras’ grasp and instantly reverted from fight to flight. Wings a-buzzing, the praying mantis flew into the air and soared far away, landing upon a different islet a few hundred meters away.

Leaping like a grasshopper, the alpha male landed upon the peak his defeated rival once stood upon, perching proudly as he made his position clear. The wounded youth watched fearfully from afar as Kamacuras reared his scythed limbs upwards and screeched in triumph to signify his superiority, the females beginning to re-enter the scene again upon knowing that the battle was over.

But then, in an unexpected display of extra salt to the festering wound, the victorious mantis did the worst possible thing he could ever do to his overpowered competition.

Grabbing the dead Sker Buffalo in his claws, Kamacuras quickly began to feast upon the deceased mammal, the very gift that the defeated male had tried using to court a mate. Mandibles slicing through meat and bone, the triumphant insect devoured the intended gift like the bite-sized snack it was while its original owner watched, the blood spilling down the rock and into the water below, a scent that would surely attract aquatic predators to the spot. It didn’t take long for Kamacuras to finish the meal, discarding the last scraps aside as he at last turned his attention away from the rival.

Another, lighter chirp rang in the air.

Jumping back to his original perch, Kamacuras grasped the dead Skullcrawler in his right ‘claw,’ preparing the gift of his own. Sure enough, the female now began to tread towards his position, bulging amber eyes fixed on the decapitated lizard with interest. Soft, monkey-like chitters left Kamacuras’ mandibles as he scaled down the islet, slowly approaching the female and holding the corpse out in her direction, enticing her to take it. Chirping cautiously, the brown mantis reached forward and allowed her antennae to poke at the corpse, sensing it… … …and then, with a hissing bark, she snatched the corpse out of the male’s claw and began to chew into it.

With the female feasting on his gift, Kamacuras chirped as he began to pace around her in very close physical proximity, sensing her with his antennae; all the while she continued to feast on her prize, unbothered whatsoever by his presence.

She was now receptive.

As Kamacuras lumbered around, he caught yet another glimpse of the defeated male in the distance, still watching them with his expressionless gaze. The alpha male thought nothing of it; he was stronger, simple as that. As with every competition, there were losers, and the young male was the most recent in line. Standing on the outskirts of Kamacuras’ territory, still bleeding from his recent wounds, out here he had little chance of attracting a mate.

All but ignoring his presence, Kamacuras continued his courtship. The strong passed on their genetic lineage, the weak lost out until they either became strong in time, or died trying.

It was just the way things were.

… … …a booming vocalization abruptly roared into the wind.

Kamacuras suddenly froze, the other Gimantis following suit. They all heard that loud and clear; whatever made it sounded big. As if that weren’t a telltale sign enough, the ground was beginning to quake with single, repeated tremors in a three-second-apart pattern. Almost as if they were powerful footfalls of a very large animal… … …

A loud screech suddenly echoed from the mandibles of the outsider male, the youth waving his claws as he held his back turned on the rest of the pack. The other Gimantis looked in his direction, following his line of sight—and that’s when they saw it. Their excellent vision caught sight of the perpetrator long before any other animals in the vicinity saw it, and Kamacuras twitched his forelimbs and chittered a warning at the oncoming intruder.

The hulking behemoth thundered a deep croak as it slowly closed the great distance between it and the huge mantises that watched its every movement. Golden-scaled arms ripe with impressive muscle stomped the shallow water to quake the Earth’s crust with miniature earthquakes, a black armored body rising large spires upon its back to give the creature a regal appearance. A series of bioluminescent crimson bulbs acted as a single visor-like eye that glared at the distant insects, the islets trembling with every footfall as it lumbered into Kamacuras’ territory without a care in the world.

Rearing her right hand up, MUTO Prime slammed her claw down upon the shallow water with enough force to trigger a Magnitude-5 earthquake, booming a bellowing roar at her insectoid opposition. This was her territory now; these pests better either get with that fact and leave, or face her wrath and end up squashed under her heel like the bugs they were.

Eyes seeming to bulge with rage, Kamacuras reared his mandibles and screeched a fearless battle cry that actually made the giant amphibian stop in her tracks, his fellow Gimantis following his lead. The insects had just sent a message of their own:

We’re not going ANYWHERE.

MUTO Prime growled deeply. So be it.

Under normal circumstances, the multi-legged powerhouse would’ve given another warning to the arthropod predators; maybe roared at them or pawed the ground, any kind of intimidation display to tell them one last time to back off or else. But the past month, her mating season hormones had kicked in, and as a result she was even more aggressive and territorial than she would already be—and drastically strengthened her desire for a fight. So when the pack of giant praying mantises screeched in defiance to her obvious superiority, the Earthquake Beetle howled with rage and charged with the ferocity of an angry gaur.

Kamacuras spread his wings and took flight at eye blinking speeds as the radiovore smashed into the rock he once stood upon, shattering it into collapsing pieces. The other Gimantis took flight as they prepared to mount an offensive against this hulking threat, the younger male standing on the outskirts as he held his ground and watched MUTO Prime intently.

The Unclean Thing bellowed and swiped upwards with a massive claw, missing the insect that zoomed over her. But just a second before her hand plunged back into the shallow water, something slammed into her back with surprising strength. Razor sharp forelimbs slashed and sliced against MUTO Prime’s back, but the bony armor held together well, resulting in nothing but sparks and miniscule pieces of armored skin being drawn. Rearing up like an enraged mare, MUTO Prime roared and threw herself forward, throwing the brown Gimantis off of her. Reacting quickly, the female mantis spread her wings and buzzed to life, taking flight just as the golden-armed powerhouse charged her position at speeds that seemingly went against her massive bulk.

Landing upon one of the rocky peaks, a second female took a moment to eye the hulking predator, then took flight straight at her from the side. Flying right above her, the mantis slashed the top of MUTO Prime’s neck as she soared past her, landing once again on another rock just a hundred meters away. The giant amphibian hollered in wrath and whipped about to face her attacker, a clear slash mark now left upon where the mantis had cut her; not deep enough to draw blood, but still visible nonetheless. It was gonna take far more than a mere scratch to the neck to take her down.

Suddenly, something sharp slashed past her back. MUTO Prime barely registered Kamacuras’ mocking screech before she drowned the sound barrier in the fury of her angry roar. Whipping around, she swiped hopelessly as the mantis had long darted away, landing a good hundred meters away from her with wings raised. Insulted rather than injured, the Dragon Beetle ululated with fury and prepared to charge again when something abruptly sliced into her right heel—and this time, she felt a sting of pain as a warm, familiar feeling seeped down her leg. She looked down, and her jaws gaped ever so slightly when she saw a small river of red bleeding from the cut to paint the water scarlet. Screeching, the younger male Gimantis landed on another islet, the Unclean Thing’s blood staining his claws.

Rage overtook the giant’s mind.

Another female Gimantis made her move, forelimbs raised to slash—and to her shock, MUTO Prime reacted faster. Before the insectoid predator could land a hit, the giant amphibian bellowed as she swung around with her left arm.

BAM!

The impact of the nucleovore’s oversized hand colliding with 10,000 metric tons of chitinous exoskeleton emerged flawlessly victorious against the mantis’ armor; there was no contest to what happened as a result. Blood flew everywhere, her body broken like a soda can and three of her limbs shattered apart, the brown mantis flew back like a softball and smashed into a rock face so hard, the miniature island shattered apart as she landed on the other side in a spray of bloody water—and she never moved again.

The other Gimantis froze instantly.

With a half-angry, half-satisfied croak thundering from her beaked jaws, MUTO Prime turned to face the four remaining arthropods, her ‘visor’ aglow with wrath. She could tell that they had all just seen that, that they knew what it meant. That was what would become of them if they didn’t get out right now; she would squash them like the insects they were no problem. These next three seconds were their last chance to get the memo—

Kamacuras screeched and took flight, shooting right over MUTO Prime and leaving a series of harsh winds which battered against the elder beast’s armored body.

The radioactive apex predator screamed in fury. Apparently they didn’t get the message!

The other Gimantis screeched and split apart, intending to take MUTO Prime from different directions. The Earthquake Beetle stood her ground, containing her anger as she looked from side to side to focus on her attackers and predict their next move. Stomping the ground with her giant forelimbs, the Permian predator roared a challenge, daring the diminutive mantids to try her.

One of the female insects made its move. Kicking off with a burst of speed, the Gimantis seemed like she was gonna rocket either above or right into the Unclean Thing, who was tensing her arm to throw it forward at the right moment—but to her shock, the arthropod abruptly turned left and banked away when she had been mere meters from the giant. A surprised growl left the ancient predator’s beak, taken aback by this unexpected maneuver. But before she could comprehend the flaw of her action, she suddenly felt another slicing pain in her other leg. MUTO Prime reared up with a painful howl as another Gimantis sped past her, blood staining its forelimbs once more. The mantids were attacking her legs again.

But that wasn’t to be the worst of it.

Without a sound, something slammed on top of her with enough force to lurch her forward. With a deafening screech, Kamacuras sliced away at the armored back of the menace as hard as he could, trying to find a weak spot where his forelimbs could cut deeper. But so far, all his attacks did was kick up bursts of nothing but sparks—and send the giant amphibian into a thundering rage. Rearing up on her legs like a horse, MUTO Prime roared how she would crush the foolish insect as she bucked and flailed about. As if she were a rodeo bull trying to dislodge its unwanted mount, the Earthquake Beetle thrust up and down in an attempt to dislodge the alpha Gimantis so she could finally get her hands on him. Kamacuras shrieked as he wound his right forelimb around her neck, trying to secure a hold that would keep him hanging on for dear life. But trying to hold on to something seven times your own weight, thrashing about like a beached mako shark was immeasurably easier said than done.

But mere moments before she could fling her unwanted passenger off her bulky frame, MUTO Prime suddenly yowled in pain when one of the female Gimantis slashed past her right leg once again. As the massive nucleovore tried to turn about to find her attacker, another female lunged from the peaks to pounce upon her side. Before MUTO Prime could react to this, the other female lunged in and slashed her heel yet again—and this time, the blow was so painful, it brought the wailing colossus to her knees with a splashing THUD!

As the giant went down, Kamacuras slipped up—and his claw slashed across the MUTO’s throat upon losing his grip. But, to his surprise, something happened that he did not know was possible: his forelimb slashed a freshly bleeding wound into the giant’s throat, and he was thus rewarded with a bellow of pain! Apparently, the flesh on her throat must not be as tough and hardened as that on her back.

A new idea began to circulate within his primal mind… … …

At Kamacuras’ screeching command, the two females went on the attack. Slashing and gnawing against the tough hide of the elder beast like the feral animals they were, the Gimantis tried to open a breach of any kind into MUTO Prime’s elephantine skin. The giant amphibian thundered with hollering wrath and tried to push up back to her feet, straining against both the ever-increasing assault from the arthropods and the searing, bleeding pain in both of her legs. Shaking her head, MUTO Prime tried to keep her face devoid of her attackers’ assault as she focused her strength, trying to push herself back into a combat ready stance. But when she least expected it, Kamacuras suddenly clawed her across the throat a second time, sending her back to her knees as blood spurted from the deep—but thankfully not fatal—laceration. Noticing the success of the attack, Kamacuras screeched in approval.

Rage glowed in the eye of MUTO Prime.

Rearing her right fist as high as she could muster, the Earthquake Beetle howled into the sky as she prepared to live up to her name. The Gimantis had no clue what she was about to bring forth into the combat, so they made no effort to counter or dodge when Jinshin Mushi brought her massive hand down upon the watery ground with all the force in her gold-covered arm.

KA-BOOM!

The shallow water did nothing to hinder the immeasurable power of the hit; sure enough, the sheer force of the impact was enough to trigger a powerful earthquake that shook the ground with a magnitude as if an atomic bomb had just gone off. MUTO Prime, having evolved to be able to stand and continue moving during conditions like this, had no problem keeping herself together as Mother Earth threw a fit of rage; the much smaller and lighter Gimantis, on the other hand, were almost immediately thrown off-balance by the sudden change in terrestrial pressure. Shrieking in surprise, the insects staggered like swaying trees, one of them outright falling right off the Permian colossus.

It was exactly what MUTO Prime had hoped for.

With a booming howl matching the earthquake she created, the giant amphibian charged with the efficiency of an enraged rhino. One of the female Gimantis didn’t have time to react, and screeched in pain as she was trampled under the heels of the angry titan—but Jinshin-Mushi didn’t stop there. Turning about on her injured heels, MUTO Prime charged towards the next female Gimantis in her sights. The arthropod reacted in the nick of time, flapping her wings and leaping into the air—but the Permian killer managed to bite down on the tip of her leg as she flew, resulting in it breaking off with a crack of chitin. The mantis screeched in loss as she leaped away, but she had escaped more serious injury—to say nothing of death itself. The other female, despite having not been so lucky, was amazingly still alive; her bleeding exoskeleton still lacked any truly fatal injuries, but she had lost two of her legs in the accident and one of her wings was torn.

She knew she was about to lose a lot more when MUTO Prime turned on her with a deep rumble.

Pawing the water with one of her legs, the massive unidentified terrestrial organism bent low and barreled towards the injured arthropod. But before she could make impact, something else slammed into her from the side with enough force to make her stagger, eliciting a surprised howl from the nucleovore. With the earthquake beginning to subside, the other Gimantis were now having an easier time keeping their feet—and as a result, were able to look upon the MUTO’s surprising attacker.

The outsider male, his olive exoskeleton still stained with yellow blood drawn by Kamacuras, was mauling MUTO Prime in a feral rage. Claws slashing wildly and mandibles chewing as if he were infected with rabies, the young male had become a relentless berserker of animalistic fury. MUTO Prime boomed a prehistoric roar as she thrashed about, sparks and blood alike dancing upon her armor from the mantid’s repeated blows. For a moment, the remaining females looked upon the young warrior with an aura of admiration, watching as he fearlessly attacked the much larger titan despite his wounded state. He may have been completely outclassed in size and mass, but he was no coward. Females often focused their attention on strong, brave males more than they did ones who backed away from a fight—but sometimes, bravery did not instantly equal strength. In some cases, boldness concealed a brand of foolishness.

A lesson that Nature always taught in the cruelest of ways.

Bellowing in deadly fury, MUTO Prime reared back on her wounded hind legs, ignoring the pain that stung at her heels. The male Gimantis, still clinging to her shoulders with mandibles biting fiercely into her flesh, felt his lower half lifted off her armored back. And then, with all her might, MUTO Prime flung herself forward… … …and sure enough, the young male was thrown right off with a frightened shriek, landing hard on his back in a great splash of water some two hundred yards away. Seeing his predicament, the healthier of the two females lunged in, intending to slash out the MUTO’s legs from behind with enough efficiency to permanently cripple them. But lo, for this time the apex predator was not to fall for such a trick. Before the insect’s claws could even reach their target, the Earthquake Beetle raised her leg off the ground—and right over the female mantid’s head.

Less than a second later, she brought it down with earth-rattling force.

The female’s body jerked into a sudden fit of violent trembling… … …then stilled forevermore. Kamacuras and his remaining female barely had time to register what had just happened before the amphibious goliath turned around, uttering a throaty crackle. Despite the younger male being not far behind her, MUTO Prime no longer deemed him a real threat; it was clear at this point who her real targets were, and she was no longer in the mood to fight on an even playing field with them. Her temper was almost past her breaking point, and she had no interest in containing it anytime soon. Red electricity began to sparkle around the crimson visor that acted as her eyes, as the Earthquake Beetle bent low in preparation to charge… … …

The Gimantis tensed, rearing their raptorial forearms defensively as they waited for the giant to make her move… … …

SHINK!

A quick spurt of blood fountained from the deep incision that now gaped wide to the world from MUTO Prime’s neck, stopping the giant amphibian in her tracks—and in a splash of water, the young male Gimantis suddenly blurred to existence beside the titan. His natural cloaking ability was now disengaged—and his claws were stained with a fresh layer of radioactive blood. For a moment, all was still; even the mighty MUTO Prime barely even twitched as she stood like a sentient statue. Not even a drop of the titan’s blood yet began to drip from her attacker’s claws; it was as if time itself had ceased flowing, frozen in the beginning of a suspense that began to build towards an unseen inevitability that only fate knew as of now… … …

The first drop of blood fell off the insect’s claws, plunging into the shallow water below.

MUTO Prime turned around with a thundering chitter, glaring upon the young male with a visor brighter than ever.

Kamacuras would’ve widened his eyes if he could have… … …

… … …MUTO Prime’s head did not fall off.

The poor insect didn’t even have time to turn around before the Unclean Thing completely lost it. Temper unrestrained and fury skyrocketing, the breaking point had been shattered into a billion pieces as she bulldozed the shrieking mantis flat with a howl that blew the most archaic dust off the spires of rock. Like a bear attacking a measly coyote, there was no comparison as to the outcome; the young male’s surprise attack had failed so spectacularly it wasn’t close to funny, and it would prove to be the last mistake he would ever make. The youthful male hadn’t finished shrieking his last breath as he lashed out one final time with his blood-stained claw—an effort that in of itself was pathetically wasted. MUTO Prime’s hand splintered the claw like a decaying twig before striking its main target, and the mantid’s body was pulverized with a sickening crack of chitin and ruptured organs. A thick, yellow mass ejected halfway out of the insect’s gaping mandibles, glinting slickly in the open air, and Kamacuras had only a second to contemplate with a primal terror that the young male’s own innards were protruding out of his mouth before MUTO Prime’s fist flew down yet again.

And smashed the young male’s head like a dying melon.

Even after it was clear he would never get up off the ground again, the giant amphibian continued to smash his still-twitching body in, bellowing in rage. With every hit from the titan’s massive hands, the young male’s body was turned into an unrecognizable bloodbath of pulverized chitin and shredded organs that hued the water in a repulsive organic war paint; all the while MUTO Prime seemed entirely blind in her rampaging fit, paying no attention to what else lay around her as she focused solely on beating the guts out of the gory pulp that was once the young male Gimantis.

An opportunity that Kamacuras had already taken advantage of.

The alpha male of the Gimantis was slowly stalking towards the raging beast like a big cat, letting the horrendous death of his rival serve as the perfect distraction for his ploy. Beside him the wounded female, the last of his harem left alive, held just as low as she followed his movements without a sound. They moved carefully, making sure to time each step with every hit of the Earthquake Beetle’s massive fists against the dead mantis; like their smaller relatives stalking a fly, they seemed almost to bob back and forth as they moved ever so slightly towards the rampaging giant, who was still focused only on her bloodlust to kill a foe that was already long dead. Crimson visor still sparkling with electrical fury, the Permian predator showed no signs of slowing or fatigue in her bestial wrath.

The closer the two predators got to their furious quarry, the higher they began to raise their raptorial forearms; for all they needed were just a few more steps forward and for MUTO Prime to show that beautiful, tasty throat of hers, and this whole ordeal could at last be over. And what a meal this brute would be; the very thought of it alone made Kamacuras’ digestive juices stir and jaws yearn to salivate! And all of it was just a few steps and a swipe of a claw away! Letting such desires fuel his resolve, Kamacuras took yet another two steps closer with claws primed and ready to lash out, the female behind him copying his movements for support. Three steps away…two steps away…one more, just one more step, dammit… … …!

MUTO Prime would’ve smiled if she could.

Suddenly throwing her head in her foes’ direction, Jinshin Mushi didn’t give the insects time to contemplate what they had just walked into before she let loose her secret tool of combat. The roar that ripped from the elder beast’s beaked jaws was not a mere intimidation tactic, but a most lethal weapon; a continuous, auditory shockwave blasted at full earth-shaking volume upon the frail mantids at close range that they had been so foolish enough to put themselves in. As Kamacuras reeled from the unforeseen surprise attack, he just barely managed to hear a sickening noise behind him, before a few droplets of a warm, yellow material fell upon his already-cracking exoskeleton. Even before he began to turn his head, the horror of what had just happened was already setting into his mind before he saw the results in full for himself.

From nothing but a sheer overload of sound, the last female had exploded like a balloon.

It was the last thought of total clarity in Kamacuras’ mind before his very brain plunged into a world of pain. Multiple limbs had cracked and fallen apart, including one of his infamous claws; cracks and fractures in his exoskeleton flowed with yellow hemoglobin that painted the shallow water they stood in, an aroma that would surely provide a great banquet for scavengers. Even the mantis’ eyes were beginning to suffer the adverse effects under the never-ending surge in sound volume ravaging his once-proud physique. Crippled, caught and entirely helpless, Kamacuras could only shriek his losses amidst the auditory assault as the ancient superpredator vented her wrath.

So much pain flooded Kamacuras’ being that he didn’t even notice MUTO Prime finally cut off her sonic bellow, nor did he even notice that he was in pain in the first place; the feeling that now cloaked the crippled mantis’ mind and body could only be described as a strange sense of relieving euphoria. A tender, harmless warmth that at last banished the once-grueling agony that had been terrorizing his pain receptors like never before mere seconds ago. It almost seemed like it didn’t matter that his body was wrecked beyond healing by his prehistoric adversary. As if it didn’t matter that the brutish behemoth was now stalking towards him with repeated heaves of visible rage, that it didn’t matter that MUTO Prime reached over to smack him with her head alone, sending him plummeting onto his stomach.

Moving no faster than a tranquilized horse, Kamacuras only chittered and moaned in his damaged, nirvanic state as MUTO Prime reached down and sank her jaws into the soft flesh of his abdomen, ripping out a chunk and swallowing it whole… … …and after deciding she was quite fond of the flavor, she reached down and tore off another. Whether or not the insect’s pain receptors had been entirely ruptured, or a certain section of his brain had been destroyed, it could not be known for certain; whatever the case, Kamacuras could no longer feel any pain, nor did he care or possibly notice what was happening to him. His killer standing over him, the fallen Gimantis simply continued to lay there in his strange state of deathly peace as MUTO Prime continued to bite and chew into his broken flesh, eating him alive.

Holding the insect’s body down with one limb, the giant amphibian ripped out another chitinous shred before swallowing it whole. Radiation may have been her primary diet, but MUTO Prime was no picky eater, nor did consuming meat ever act as a detriment to her well-being; when all was said and done, she was still very much a predator. In the absence of nuclear energy, the Earthquake Beetle simply made do with what she had; it was the way of opportunistic predators. If she couldn’t chow on the energy she craved, she could boost her bodily nutrients before seeking such a prize out later.

For she had nothing if not plenty of time.

Kamacuras’ entire abdomen was now gone, all of the delicious internal organs having been consumed with relish, and now the crunchier thorax was next. It was unfortunate that these insects seemed to bear little to no trace of the radiation she yearned for in their bodies; she was hoping that today could’ve been a discovery for future reference. A territory that she could re-visit when the time came, to hunt for creatures of radioactive nature—for very soon, she would not be hunting just for herself.

Rearing her blood-dripping skull back to her full height for a moment, MUTO Prime uttered a booming, crackling howl that reached far beyond the boundaries of Skull Island, rippling through the very layers of the planet’s crust itself—but despite its power and seemingly furious intent, noises could be deceiving. It was not a territorial call, not a warning for other predators to stay out of her hunting grounds. It was a call for companionship, a lure for what she desired first and foremost above all other things to take notice and heed her advances. For if she were to have any offspring, what use was there if she had no mate to fertilize them? Breeding season seemed to be at its height with all creatures great and small; somewhere out there, whether on the surface or in the depths of the Earth itself, MUTO Prime had no doubt that there was at least one male MUTO eligible to pass on his genes to the next generation. The timing couldn’t be better for her to issue her courtship call, even if she didn’t stay on this island.

All she needed to do was wait for one of her calls to be answered by a wandering male—and she was nothing if not a creature of patience.

MUTO Prime devoured another crunchable husk of chitinous flesh, barely noticing that the praying mantis’ yellow eyes had faded along with even the slightest movements; Kamacuras, once a powerful breeding male in his prime, was now dead. Victim, ironically, to the very fate that he himself had inflicted upon the headless Skullcrawler that still lay somewhere amidst the ravaged battlefield that was once his very own territory. Prey, poetically, to one of the most brutal lessons that Mother Nature could teach.

There was always a bigger predator.

Winner: MUTO Prime