GTAG Chapter 10: Plunder
Godzilla snapped shut his maw full of jagged teeth, the air in front of him warping under the intense heat.
Not far away, a spacecraft melted in two under the force of his radioactive beam!
"Hmph."
Seeing the ship split apart, Godzilla snorted, sending twin streams of white smoke spiraling from his nostrils.
He almost forgot—since the Engineers inside had attacked him first, he wasn't about to just let them go unpunished.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
After dealing with the Engineers, Godzilla turned toward the nearest hill. Digging deep, he uncovered a spacecraft identical to the one he had already melted apart.
This time, however, Godzilla didn't destroy it outright. Instead, he carefully began dismantling it piece by piece.
Though he had been attacked by the Engineers' use of the "Black Liquid" and was forced to vaporize what remained inside him, he now understood where more of it could be found.
Crrrk—
Godzilla drove his claws into the ship's hull. Metal shrieked and twisted as he tore it open by brute force.
Inside the wreck, he saw containers tumbling out—storage tanks filled with the Black Liquid.
Godzilla carefully pinched one of the canisters between his claws, then crushed it with ease.
The dark substance spilled across his talons, seeping into his skin.
But Godzilla was not satisfied.
The amount was too little—barely enough to cover a single claw.
Glancing at his massive arm, he decided that even if one limb were compromised, he could afford to lose it. He plunged his entire hand deep into the ship.
Dozens of containers burst, releasing torrents of Black Liquid that drenched his claws.
The alien substance immediately tried to corrode his flesh, reshaping his cells into something new.
But the attempt was laughable. Even without resistance, the Black Liquid could not alter his G-cells in the slightest.
Instead, his cells rejected the substance, treating it as an invader and destroying it.
Before the liquid could even get past his hide, it had to endure the searing hundreds of degrees on his armored skin. And inside his body, the temperature was even higher!
The few drops that survived quickly found themselves crushed by the overwhelming might of Godzilla's cells.
Unless detached from his will, no part of his being could be overtaken. Not while the King of Monsters was present.
Then Godzilla sensed something remarkable—his body was not merely resisting the Black Liquid. It was devouring it.
His G-cells swallowed the alien matter whole, leaving nothing behind.
After the corruption on his claws was consumed, Godzilla shook the vessel again, sending more canisters rolling out. He absorbed them all.
When he felt that this ship no longer contained any Black Liquid, his gaze shifted to the other hills.
Inside each, more "food" awaited.
...
After tearing apart countless hills and consuming an untold volume of Black Liquid, Godzilla suddenly saw a vast, shadowy figure.
It had a long, bladed tail like a whip, and a massive crest upon its head, as though it wore a crown.
Its maw bristled with fangs, and within those jaws lurked another smaller mouth on a tendril.
Besides its two thick legs and arms, several smaller limbs sprouted from its torso.
Its body was sheathed in black exoskeleton, glistening with a dreadful sheen under the sunlight.
A horrible screech echoed in Godzilla's mind, gnawing at his patience.
He knew this was not real. The creature was only an illusion—born from the Black Liquid he had absorbed.
By now, he had opened half the hills in this area, consuming a staggering amount of the substance.
As he prepared to dig into another, the screech came again, filled with bloodlust and madness, clawing at his spirit.
"HSSSS—"
The sound demanded he succumb.
"ROAR!"
Fury thundered through Godzilla.
He realized that some ancient terror, a will preserved within the Black Liquid, sought to remake him in its image—even to corrupt his mind.
But as long as the Black Liquid could not change the structure of his G-cells, it could only ever become his nourishment.
No matter how much of it filled his body, it could not sway him.
With one thunderous roar, Godzilla shattered the illusion in his mind. The shadowy titan dissolved into nothing, and the screeching ceased.
His defiance ignited his cells, doubling their speed of devouring the Black Liquid!
Godzilla pressed on, tearing into another hill, consuming more and more.
The more he absorbed, the stronger his sense grew: the Black Liquid was far from ordinary.
And then—his instincts proved true.
He finally understood the origin of this substance.
It was the blood of the progenitor—the ancestor of all Xenomorphs.
A creature so evolved that it could seize and integrate the genetic code of others at will.
Its offspring, the Xenomorphs, inherited only a fraction of this gift, bound to adapt only at birth by fusing with their host's genes.
But the Black Liquid was the progenitor's blood, artificially replicated.
Not as potent as the original, but still immensely powerful.
Godzilla was pleased.
For by consuming it, he too had gained that ancestral gift—the power to plunder the genes of other beings.
[Please give powerstones if you're enjoying the story.
500 stones = 1 extra chapter
patreon com/GuessMyName33 for up to 30 chapters ahead]