~ 💎 WEEKLY POWER GOALS 💎🔥 60→1ch | 100→2ch | 200→5ch ⏰ Resets Monday! Thanks!
"ROOOOAR——!!"
The Titan Apes moved fast. In minutes, they had hunted down every Hellhawk that had occupied the great hall, piling the featherless corpses to one side. Food reserves, by the look of it.
"GROOOWL!"
Battle done, Kong thumped his chest at the kin surrounding him, battle axe still in hand.
He was still trying to figure out how to introduce himself.
They had charged in when he needed them. That alone was enough to make him feel good about these apes.
"Looks like your read on the situation was off," Jared said from just behind Kong, glancing back at Old De with a small grin. "Handsome found his family just fine."
Kong had been taking down Hellhawks nearly one hit each, but fully covering both humans had been another matter. His kin had pulled serious weight.
"Is that right..." Old De looked at the gathered apes , scarred, most of them, the marks of hard years all over their bodies. Then he looked up at the Skar King, perched atop Shimo's back, ugly and imperious.
These Titan Apes had saved them, sure. But his gut wasn't buying the simple version of this story.
The way they looked at Skar King wasn't admiration. It was fear. Whatever this leader was, he wasn't someone who deserved loyalty freely given.
"These apes..." Maia Simmons scanned the crowd, her brow tightening. "Many of them have already reached Titan level."
"This is beyond what we planned for."
A hundred Titan Apes, at minimum. Mechagodzilla's power dwarfed any individual Titan , it could push past even Godzilla , but against numbers like this, fighting was out of the question.
She needed to understand what she was looking at. If these creatures were humanity's allies, the way Kong was... their entire plan might fall apart before it started.
The Titan Apes in the hall gave a low GRROWL as they watched Kong with complicated eyes. This one was different from them. Unbroken. Young, by the look of him. No marks of captivity, no hollow submission in his posture.
He would learn, eventually. Everyone did, in front of Skar King.
The apes parted without being told, clearing a path. Kong could see straight through to the stone gate now , and there he was. Skar King, standing above everything, looking down at the hall like he owned every inch of it.
Watching the confusion on Kong's face, Skar King stepped down from Shimo's back. He descended the stairs one heavy step at a time and crossed the hall floor until he was standing right in front of Kong.
"Grrowl..."
Kong didn't know what to do with himself. On Skull Island he had clawed and fought his way to the top. Bowing his head, the way the others clearly did, was simply not happening. But this was his kin. The family he had spent years wondering about. And they had just helped him out.
He was completely stuck.
Skar King stared at him. Really looked at him. This ape who had never been caged, who stood here with a body bigger and broader than his own,
A flicker of irritation crossed his face.
Was this guy actually more built than him? More handsome?
"GROWL!" Skar King barked at Kong and jerked his chin down. Kneel.
"Grrowl..." Kong blinked, then scratched his head.
Kneel.
We literally just met. That's how you want to start this?
Kong wasn't an aggressive creature by nature , not most of the time. But that didn't mean he had no pride. He had grown up on Skull Island, surviving through pure violence from the day he was old enough to fight. He was a king. He had gone beak to beak with Godzilla. He wasn't about to lower his head for this red-furred stranger who, honestly, didn't even look that tough.
He didn't kneel. But he didn't snap back either. He gave Skar King that much.
"Growl growl... growl." He tried to make it come across friendly. Open to talking. Let's work something out here.
He genuinely didn't want a fight. He really didn't.
The ugly guy in front of him looked questionable in the strength department, but that white mount was a different story. Shimo hadn't so much as twitched toward violence, yet Kong could feel it , that heavy, crushing pressure rolling off a top-tier Titan. He was being careful.
"GROWL!"
"GROOOWL—, !!"
Skar King was done being patient. He had just crawled out of a lightless cage, and this young ape thought it could ignore him? He exploded into a full threat-display, roaring directly into Kong's face, then stabbed a finger into Kong's chest.
Kneel. Now. Like the rest of them.
Before Kong could react.
Jared and Old De's stomachs both dropped at the exact same moment.
"Oh, hell, this is going sideways," Jared said.
"Get Natsuki on the line. Now." Old De was already moving.
The Titan Apes had every exit blocked. If this blew up, they had nowhere to go. And Skar King hadn't come alone , he had brought his fighters, a force that could roll over any resistance without trying.
"Already sent it!" Jared had moved the second things stopped going to plan, message out to the team near the Iwi tribe's territory before Old De even finished speaking.
"GROOOWL, , !!"
Kong felt the anger come up hard and hot. You red-furred little , who exactly do you think you're telling to kneel?
He knew the power gap existed. He wasn't blind. But Kong did not yield. Not to this.
"GROWL!" Skar King's hand came up, swinging for Kong's face.
BOOM!!
Kong was faster. His fist came around and caught Skar King square on the jaw. The force was something else , the king of the apes lurched sideways, completely blindsided, head ringing. He had not expected this young ape to actually swing back.
The hall went silent.
The surrounding Titan Apes stared. None of them moved to attack. They were too stunned , stunned that Kong had dared to fight back at all.
And underneath the shock, somewhere they'd never admit, something that felt like satisfaction.
"GROWL!"
"GROWL!!" Skar King wheeled on his followers with a furious glare. Surround him. He rubbed his jaw, furious and humiliated, already locking back onto Kong. He wasn't letting this go. He needed to get that back.
"GROOOWL, , !!" Kong took one look at the ring closing around him and let go of any last restraint. He crossed the distance to Skar King in one charge.
He caught Skar King's wild swing with one hand. The other arm swung wide and drove into Skar King's gut.
BOOM!!
Skar King's eyes went wide. He hadn't even begun to account for how strong Kong was. The impact launched him clean off his feet. He crashed down across the stone steps and hauled himself upright, shaking.
"Within this species..." Jared watched Kong, something clicking into place. "Kong might actually be at the top of the bracket."
Then Skar King reached up and unwound the bone chain coiled across his body. He leveled the crystal at its end directly at Kong. At the sound of his command, Shimo began to move , slow, massive footsteps crossing the hall floor, the top-tier Titan bearing down on Kong at her master's will.
"He's cheating. We need to run." Old De was already sprinting toward the APEX aircraft before the sentence was finished.
➤ Next: So You're Skar King, Huh?
— .—— .—— .—— .—— .——
Enjoying the story?
📚Read 35+ chapters ahead on Patreon.
💎Join the free community tier for early access to the latest updates:
🔥patreon(.)com/DarkGolds