10 Chapter 10

A giant cloud of fire and smoke fumed from the impact.

The shockwave pulverised Dominic as it carried him across the beach.

He could feel every muscle shake and tear. His body was stiff.

Then came the inferno.

What Dominic felt could be described as if he had received a large paper cut. Now increase that by a thousand, and the feeling appeared all over his body.

The flash blocked his vision.

He spun around like a cannonball. Untouchable. Unpredictable. Unstoppable.

The ground surprised him.

What was left of it.

Dominic smashed into the dirt. His bones shook with the crash. He bounced. A few more later, Dominic stopped.

He was on his back.

The earth seeped into the burns. Dominic groaned.

'I am stupid,' He thought incoherently, the cuts of flames scorching his frame, 'Ggh,'

There was a constant ring in his hearing. He looked around. Still blinded.

Even then, Dominic thought.

The blast radius should've reached Anguirus.

Would that kaiju have survived?

He was not sure.

Then again, Dominic was close enough, yet he survived, albeit poorly, but alive anyhow.

Perhaps a positive for Anguirus.

And a negative for Dominic.

Minus One would obviously be okay. After regeneration. If she were to find him, would Anguirus help?

He shook his scorched head.

'Why would Anguirus help?'

A poor assumption.

His vision slowly grew back. Not enough, but barely.

'I'm...dead then,' He shook from fear.

Although, after some time, Dominic could see.

The first thing he saw was the mushroom cloud. It jumped for the heavens, yet never set foot on the doorstep.

Around him, destruction.

All vegetation was flattened by the blast. Trees had their leaves removed, and some branches too.

A wasteland.

Minus One was the embodiment of a nuke.

If it wasn't clear enough already.

As he strained onto his feet, which were still intact, luckily, Dominic was hit with cloud after cloud of dust.

He decided to flap his wings.

As Dominic tried, he couldn't get this feeling that something felt off.

With some difficulty, he turned his head left and right.

No wings.

The more he twisted his head, the more Dominic began to panic.

Embers.

Around him, several pieces of something were engulfed in small flames, vanishing as they were incinerated.

'That's...'

His heart raced as Dominic realised where his wings had gone.

'Whatever,' Even if he accepted it, that dawned on him.

How could he combat Minus One now?

Only one answer:

'I can't,' Dominic's blue eyes seemed to widen at that, 'I'm really screwed,'

BOOM!

The ground rumbled.

BOOM!

As the dust cleared, Dominic saw his nightmare.

BOOM!

A nightmare turned reality.

Minus One let out an ear-raping roar. One of relief and dominance.

When she caught sight of Dominic's tattered body, he could almost see a grin.

'No...' He shivered as Minus One drew near. The earthquakes intensified the nearer she got.

Dominic didn't want to lose again.

He was 0-1 in this world. Now, he could die as an 0-2.

'I...have nothing to fight with,' His eyes never left her towering form.

His antennae hung just outside the top of his vision, but what could those beams do to Minus One?

One thing.

Dominic knew that it wouldn't kill her, but it will annoy her.

Maybe.

He trembled as Minus One stood over him. There looked to be no escape.

Dominic cranked his neck.

Exposed flesh and bones were strewn on the Godzilla. Small pieces fell from her cut-up body.

Although, as the seconds ticked on, the wounds closed up.

She was able to talk.

"Finally," Minus One said, staring at him, "I'm-"

CRACK!

Her skin zapped from the blast.

'Now,'

Dominic limped away, wanting to create space.

This wasn't a plan to defeat her, but a plan to survive.

BOOM!

Minus One pulled the carpet from under Dominic with one step.

She lowered her head.

That sent a wave of fear into Dominic.

He tried to get away, but there was nothing he could do.

"Shit!" He screeched as Minus One brought her sharp teeth down onto his antennae.

Like two twigs, they easily snapped off, leaving Dominic disoriented for a moment. When she began to laugh as she swallowed his broken antennae, he watched in horror.

The slight damage she did sent Dominic onto his back.

"I'm hoping..." Minus One lowered her face inches away from his, exhaling through her nostrils, "...you understand,"

The next thing he knew, his thorax flattened, his organs screaming to get out of such a high space.

Dominic screeched as Minus One stomped a foot on him. His legs freaked about in the air, trying to escape such hopelessness.

He could see the content on her face as she watched him squirm under her weight.

'Ggh,' Dominic thought he would be crushed and explode in a splash of goo.

Yet, he wondered why that didn't happen.

Minus One let out another roar.

Filled with victory.

She looked down at him once more.

"I'm going to enjoy..."

At that moment, Minus One raised her foot, giving Dominic a chance to breathe.

"...breaking you."

STOMP!

A dome of dust expanded as she crushed his chest, slamming all oxygen from it.

She stomped again.

And again.

And again.

Dominic was bludgeoned by the oncoming wave of attacks. Each one rattled and broke not only his thorax but his entire body.

Every stomp, she crushed all hope.

What leaked in, was a grim reality.

Something Dominic finally accepted.

'I'm broken,'

With another stomp, his body curled, from his mandibles leaked a liquid.

Was that blood?

No matter, Minus One relished that as a trophy of the absolute ass beating she was handing him.

A few more stomps later, she pressed down on him one last time before examining her work.

A pulp.

She could feel Dominic's chest raising and lowering at a slow rate.

"Ah," Minus One sighed, lifting her foot off his chest, "so satisfying,"

If there was one thing she made sure of, it was for damn certain that Dominic could hear her.

Even on a thin thread, she knew he could.

"I now understand," She spoke, "the meaning of 'Minus One',"

She scanned the surroundings. A brown stain of dust and earth. Quite the outstanding work.

"I've been given that name to destroy you," Minus One exhaled, steam exiting her nostrils, "not kill you, but destroy you,"

She looked at him. Dominic couldn't even move to look back.

"To destroy the one who gave me this name," There was a scoff from her, "over and over and over again,"

Her tail swayed calmly.

"Now, I shall name you, moth," There was venom in her voice, "something to make you never forget your place in this world,"

"To be beaten by me," Minus One continued, "the name will remind you of how I will break you again, in our next fight,"

She took a step.

"Furthermore, if you were to rebuild yourself, and face me," She spoke, "I will break all that over again with pleasure,"

Minus One blinked.

"Darthra," She said, "I name you, Darthra,"

There was a light chuckle from Minus One.

"So, Darthra, until then..." Her footsteps shook the ground, "improve,"

"Once you reach the skies above, I'll drag you back into the sea."

As the vibrations of her footsteps dimmed, Minus One's faint roar echoed all around.

Dominic heard it.

There was nothing he could do.

All he did, was lay there, unable to move, unable to see, unable to scream.

Greenish-yellowish liquid ran down his face onto the cold earth.

So did his thoughts.

Only a single sentence.

This sentence repeated in his head like a broken record. It was the bane of his existence, the nail on his coffin, the Achilles' heel.

One simple sentence.

'I'm a failure,'