Ivy was sitting on Zilla's head as they both took a stroll through the sea.
"Then Alice said that-" Ivy started to tell Zilla something about her sisters when she suddenly saw her raise her head and sniff before giving a growl and plunging into the water.
"Whoa, Zilla!" Ivy exclaimed, being abruptly submerged in the water.
"What's wrong? Who angered you?" Ivy asked, confused, feeling Zilla's irritated mood.
"Some of the Titans disobeyed me," Zilla replied, swimming quickly.
"What did they do?" Ivy asked curiously.
"They want to reproduce on the surface, and this is prohibited," Zilla communicated telepathically.
"Why?" Ivy asked, puzzled.
"Because their specific species can have thousands of Titans; on the surface, creatures are still very small and not very nutritious. They would consume everything on the planet."
"That's why they can only reproduce in the Hollow Earth. There, food is abundant, not to mention that the competition is fierce; most won't reach adulthood, thus maintaining balance," Zilla explained.
"But isn't it normal to want your family to be okay?" Ivy innocently questioned.
"Yes, it is, but it's not allowed, or life on Earth would be greatly affected. Perhaps it will be allowed in the future, but not now," Zilla responded, as fauna was growing significantly, so she didn't rule out the possibility.
Ivy nodded, understanding her anger, but she couldn't help thinking it would be good if that didn't happen.
Zilla swam very fast, and in a few minutes, they reached Australia.
From a distance, they could both see two huge Titans resembling insects. One of them was smaller and had wings attached to its arms like a bat.
The other one was larger and had more than eight limbs.
Both seemed to have sensed Zilla, as they immediately took a defensive stance while emitting sharp squeals.
Zilla approached the shore while making threatening sounds.
"Hm, should I be here?" Ivy felt the imminent battle.
"Aren't we friends? You said you support each other," Zilla remarked.
''Well, my fighting skills are not very good in this situation," Ivy said, pursing her lips helplessly.
"Then hold on tight," Zilla said, with a hint of amusement in her voice.
Zilla emerged from the water and began walking towards the two Titans; her steps resounded heavily on the ground.
From her mouth came a loud roar that was a bit high-pitched and made Ivy cover her ears.
Ivy understood what the roars from both meant; in simple words, the two Titans were telling Zilla to leave.
And Zilla responded with something Ivy didn't understand, but it didn't seem very pleasant.
Since they couldn't reach an agreement, Zilla began walking as fast as she could towards the two Titans.
Ivy also saw how the smaller Titan began flapping its wings before taking flight, while the larger Titan ran towards Zilla.
Ivy could only hold on tightly to the small peaks protruding from Zilla's head before the impact came.
Zilla collided directly with the larger Titan, pushing it backward while clawing at it with her claws.
Suddenly, Ivy looked back and saw the smaller flying Titan coming directly towards Zilla's head.
Ivy got scared and quickly stood between the attack and Zilla.
To the flying Titan's surprise, its claws, which were heading directly for the invader's head, suddenly seemed to have collided with a barrier as they couldn't advance an inch.
Zilla then realized the situation and quickly turned, hitting the larger Titan with her tail before grabbing the smaller Titan with her arms.
She felt what Ivy did and had to admit it felt inexplicable to her.
What she was sure of, though, was that she felt angrier than usual at the thought of Ivy getting hurt.
She was confident that she could withstand this attack, and she was also confident that Ivy could avoid getting hurt, she knew Ivy's abilities very well, she just never expected that she would try to receive the attack to protect her.
A sound that Ivy had never heard before began to ring; the sound reminded her of the city's energy storage, only this sound seemed to be getting louder.
Looking back, she saw Zilla's tail light up, and the sound increased as the light traveled up her back.
The sound became terrifying as his entire back to his head was illuminated.
Then Zilla opened her mouth and a large beam of light blue energy shot out of her mouth.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Ivy's hair fluttered strongly as she watched Zilla's breath burn the smaller Titan.
Ivy quickly looked back and saw the larger Titan charging towards them.
She couldn't help but gently bite her lips, feeling useless.
She was supposed to be Zilla's companion, but she didn't know how to help her.
As if her ability deep in her soul responded to her feelings, Ivy suddenly noticed how her hair seemed to lengthen and glow intensely.
Then, as if instinctively knowing what to do, green energy began to be channeled into Zilla's body.
Zilla's breath suddenly doubled in size, severely injuring the Titan on the ground.
Ivy was very surprised and looked at her hand in amazement, feeling Zilla's astonishment as well.
"I told you it was good to be my friend," Ivy joked as she looked at her hand, which had a faint green energy.
Zilla just snorted before quickly turning around; still, she partly understood why she felt so drawn to Ivy the first time.
The larger Titan, upon seeing its injured companion, growled furiously but still didn't attack and cautiously protected its nest.
Zilla only growled softly before beginning to charge her breath.
"Wait, why don't I tell them to return to the Hollow Earth? That way, you don't have to do anything to them," Ivy suggested, feeling sorry for the pair of Titans.
"Their eggs wouldn't survive entering the Hollow Earth and would be destroyed, and it's impossible to let them hatch."
"It's like asking your father to give up on you; do you think he would?" Zilla asked.
Ivy could only stay silent, feeling a little discouraged, understanding that there was no solution since the Titans decided to lay eggs on the surface.
Zilla continued charging her breath before shooting it at the Titan; the Titan could only retreat until it reached the limit of its nest.
Despite receiving the breath head-on, the Titan endured it, protecting its nest.
Ivy bit her lips before placing her small hand on Zilla's head.
The breath immediately doubled, hitting the Titan with devastating power.
Zilla continued attacking with her breath until she destroyed the entire nest, killing the eggs.
In the area, finally, Zilla was the last Titan standing; the other two ended up badly injured and didn't have the energy to get up.
Zilla snorted before turning around and starting to walk towards the sea.
Ivy looked back with doubt before extending her hand; two small beams of energy shot out before entering the bodies of the fallen Titans.
Then a small smile appeared on her face as she felt that despite being injured, they would be fine in the future; she assumed that Zilla also took care not to kill them.
"Are you sad?" Zilla asked as she swam with Ivy on her head.
"Yes," Ivy said, nodding.
"Don't be sad, they were foolish; the Hollow Earth is incredibly vast and nutritious. They could have laid their eggs there. They brought it upon themselves," Zilla tried to console Ivy.
"Hm," Ivy said, nodding. She understood why but didn't like it.
"What was that thing you did that made me stronger?" Zilla asked after a while.
"I'm not sure, maybe I just advanced in using my ability. Dad said the three of us were born with a special ability. Mine has to do with empathy toward other creatures, like you," Ivy explained.
"I guess you're still very young," Zilla remarked.
"Of course, I just turned six years old recently," Ivy said, smiling slightly.
Zilla soon arrived at Madripoor before lying down on the beach under the sun.
"I'll sleep for I don't know how long; your energy made my body better," Zilla said telepathically before closing her eyes.
"Rest well, see you," Ivy said, smiling as she stroked Zilla's rough skin before starting to walk back home.
If she were honest, she was a little disheartened by everything that had happened, despite understanding the necessity of it.
After several minutes of walking, she began to run back home at full speed.
When she reached the palace, the guards only looked at her and let her pass.
Ivy ran up the stairs until she reached the tower where she knew her father was, walking carefully until she reached the top where she saw him meditating with his eyes closed.
Quietly, she approached him before lying down in his lap while hugging him, her body curling into a small ball fitting perfectly.
....
In the depths of the Madripoor laboratory, the lights were off, and everything was silent.
Suddenly, a loud alarm began to sound in the quarters where the on-duty soldiers slept.
"Damn it," Laura said, quickly getting up and putting on the suit underneath the armor.
In a few seconds, she dressed and ran out before boarding her platform.
Her soldiers were not much slower than her, and within three minutes of the alarm sounding, they were all up on the ship with their armor.
The pilot quickly took off towards the area.
"Tell me the information," Laura said inside her helmet.
"A portal will open on the outskirts of New York. The energy seems to be the largest recorded, so proceed with caution," Cortana said.
Since the failure to predict how the portals opened, Cortana simply cheated and predicted the appearances with the time stone.
"Okay, let's hurry," Laura said, patting the pilot before sitting down.
The pilot nodded before revving the engines to the maximum. Everyone shook violently with the initial power before getting used to it.
The ship rose almost out of the atmosphere before continuing to increase speed.
In less than half an hour, the ship was already over New York.
"Great, we arrived a little early," Laura said, so they could create a perimeter and more easily control the invasion.
In New York, it was still daylight, and the city looked bustling. If they didn't arrive on time, the victims would count in the thousands.
Suddenly, in the middle of the street, a red dot formed before starting to spin rapidly, and as if gathering energy, the dot turned into a sphere before forming a portal that quickly continued to grow.
Seeing this, Laura immediately ordered the deployment.
"Go to your positions and watch your perimeter. Remember to report any abnormalities," Laura said before jumping off the ship along with the rest of the Spartans.
She only had 100 men, but based on previous portals, that should be enough.
Down on the street, panic had already formed as people fled from the portal.
After it happened several times, this was not unknown, and people already knew what it meant.
It had been a month since the start of the second event, and people had become stronger.
With the appearance of the portals, many people began to want to challenge these unknown creatures that invaded them.
Although the demons were a challenge, they still fell to several groups of people.
Everything was going well until suddenly the people who had come into contact with the demons turned into zombies.
Apparently, all the creatures carried a very contagious virus, and often you didn't even need to be injured by them. Just by breathing near them, you could get infected.
Since then, no human has dared to face the demons coming out of the portal.
The Spartans split into two groups, one on the buildings and one on the ground surrounding the portal.
To Laura's surprise, the portal continued to grow to a height of 5 meters.
"Open fire at discretion," Laura said, knowing that soon the creatures would start coming out.
Quickly, the demonic creatures began to emerge from the portal only to be met by the firepower of the Spartans.
The people on the roof took care of the flying creatures, in addition to covering their companions on the ground.
Laura saw that the situation was going well, so she nodded slightly.
Suddenly, she heard a police siren from behind her, which made her sigh internally. She hoped no idiot would come to bother her, or she wouldn't mind giving them a punch.
Technically, they were invading, so one more offense wouldn't change the situation.
A middle-aged man got out of the police car in his police uniform, followed by several police cars behind him.
Laura saw the man look at the portal before looking at her.
"Hello, can I help you, gentlemen?" Laura asked, looking at the group of policemen who got out behind the man, each one resting their hand against their weapon.
"You!..." said one policeman with an annoyed expression, only to be stopped by the middle-aged man who was clearly his superior.