I lay curled beside Mother, still half‑formed and dimly aware. With each slow breath, I felt her atomic aura wash over me—warm, resonant, humming with raw power. While I waited for time to pass, I let the energy seep into my bones, then reached out with my nascent will. I toyed with gravity, drawing the air's weight into a tight sphere around me, feeling the invisible pressure compress and pulse like a heartbeat. When I'd shaped it to my liking, I unfurled my limbs and rose, pacing the small cavern to build strength. Every step was a silent promise: when the shell finally broke, I would be ready.
Two Years Later
"Hey, Andarta," I rumbled, tail flicking in the dim glow of the gravity spheres I kept spinning around my forearms. "Do you think I could use electromagnetic fields and gravity to condense my atomic beam—make it more… Godzilla Ultima‑style?"
Andarta's translucent form shimmered beside me. "Belenus, you'll unleash untold destruction. Why would you even try?"
I grinned, watching sparks wick along my dorsal plates. "First: the Gundam's secondary multiverse God Palaces. Second: because it's a damn good trump card."
She sighed, her eyes flickering with amused exasperation. "…Fine."
I paced the smooth obsidian floor of Mother's hollow‑earth lair. "So, what's changed outside?"
Andarta's projection shimmered, reconfiguring the local star map. "Earth was elevated to Super‑Earth status. Seventeen new continents, four new oceans… Six worlds in our solar system can host life now—though they're technically moons. Don't worry about my additions: most of what I imported lies scattered across the Milky Way."
My claws clicked on the stone. "And the Gundam cores? Have they reached Earth?"
She shook her head. "Not yet."
"Good—I was itching for a fight."
"And they should arrive in five to six years," Andarta added softly.
"Nightmare mode for Ghidorah or Mechagodzilla, then," I mused, excitement coiling in my chest.
"Exactly."
I rumbled with pleasure. "Thanks for the update—as always, I can count on you, Andarta."
Her projection blinked. "Y‑you…"
I laughed, stepping close. "What?"
She broke away. "…Nothing."
Dungeon Matters
I frowned. "Why haven't I encountered any dungeons, even though I've got cores?"
"The dungeon cores you possess are added to the world's network of dungeons—but because those dungeons were never cleared, they're locked by 'dungeon brakes.'"
"Oh. And that's why water monsters can't come ashore? Lack of water?"
"No—your mother destroyed all the dungeons around her territory. So what was once the Pacific and Atlantic is mostly sealed off. Sea monsters can't survive long on land anyway."
I nodded, digesting the news.
A Mother's Precaution
Location: the submerged tunnel from Hollow Earth to the surface
Amaterasu's massive form drifted beside me. "Belenus, stay close. Don't wander off—I won't forgive you if you get hurt. You're the second‑to‑last of our kind. Your father… he flew off somewhere."
My horned head tilted. "Flew?"
She gave a rueful smile. "He grew wings, like you will when you reach subadult. He's searching for Ghidorah's home planet—and for others of our brood."
Hope stirred in my chest. "Wings… and a whole legacy out there. That's… amazing."
Emergence
A tremor pulsed through the cocoon. The walls of translucent silk glowed with atomic power, thrum‑thrum‑thrum, as a male MUTO inside shifted, ready to break free. The scene played out like the old holofilm—only now, extras had gathered to witness the birth.
One Day Later—Hawai'i
Tsunami sirens wailed. Lightning‑bright waves ferried us onto the shore—Mother and I, colossal shapes moving through storm and spray. The U.S. military lit flares into the dark sky; their beams danced off my red dorsal fins and glinted on my obsidian scales.
I nudged Mother's flank. "Stay by the coast—I'll handle that male MUTO."
She rumbled her approval. "Be careful."
"I always am."
With each ground‑shaking step, I advanced into the night, senses primed, atomic energy coiling at the tip of my maw. The hunt had begun.