The Earth After Rebirth

The excitement died down when he realised that he didn't have a clue how to go about perfecting his jump skill. He knew that it was closely related to vibrations, but he couldn't exactly decide when and where he will land.

"Fuck! It was a great idea too."

Walking away from the dungeon, they decided to not run another one. Even with Hubris there, they couldn't be sure what encounters lay ahead. Most importantly they couldn't run late with the tournaments starting soon.

"You'll get it." Nikolai reassured him.

Hubris was like a mountain in their midst. He offered to carry them but Kiro didn't feel right about using him as a mount now that he knew he was an actual existing being and not a code.

He wanted to treat him as an equal. But Hubris didn't see it like that at all, Kiro was still the master that saved his life. He owed it to him until his dying breath.

So Kiro had an entire kingdom in the palm of his hand, to do the hell he wanted with it. He was sure Hubris would go on a suicide mission if he demanded.

"You know Master, our feelings are still connected."

"I didn't mean it like that..." He reassured him.

Kiro checked his status window because he didn't hear the rewards being handed out. He was very disappointed to see that he was still at level 130, with a bunch of gold and potions.

"What does this mean?" He mumbled to himself.

He remembered very well that the system would recalculate everything when a dungeon evolved, that included rewards. These seem more or less the rewards you'd expect from an A-ranked dungeon.

Entering the capital there was commotion and a crowd of people looking at a huge structure that wasn't there when they left. Hiro had outdone himself, with the few hours they've been gone he really did what he had promised.

Kiro's thoughts were interrupted by what was in front of them. He couldn't believe so many people came here to enlist, in a way. The fact that the information came from Blakeson, a powerful person in their society must've played a role.

In his opinion, nobody in their right mind would just believe the game was real and otherworldly beings were coming to invade without proof. That needed serious trust on the person rallying the information.

He didn't know whether to be glad or wary. It was Gilbert Blakeson after all, the man who would kill him without a second's hesitation given the chance. Discover stories at empire

The road was closed off, there was no chance they would be able to go through. They were both sure it would be impossible to move around. Nothing exciting was happening yet people were already waiting for the gates to open—or in this case for the tournament to start.

A deafening howl sounded throughout the capital with it was accompanied by the ground shaking slightly. With every head that turned, a blood-curdling scream followed.

Each and every one of them panicked thinking a harbinger had come to the capital. Not a single one of them stood up to the threat, they cowered in his presence. They couldn't be faulted, Hubris was actively releasing sinister aura that made even Nikolai cautious.

Hubris just wanted them to part ways for his master. He was too important for him to wait until the crowd dispersed.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Not that that would have happened. Kiro had his blink skill, he could've easily manoeuvred through the crowds. Nikolai too with his shadow travelling. But Hubris didn't wait for neither of them to do that.

And it worked. As much as they screamed their lungs out, they got out of the way in fear. If they'd seen Kiro maybe their fear would've subsided but they couldn't take their eyes off Hubris for some weird reason.

"Hubris stop, why are you scaring them before they'd even faced a harbinger?"

"If this scares them then they need to work on their spirit—if this breaks them then they were not worthy to serve under you Master."

He didn't like it but he couldn't argue with that either. Hubris was right as horrible as his tactics were, he had the right idea.

"Is that Hubris?" Ishaan's mouth was agape as they entered the coliseum.

The first time he'd seen Hubris was in that cave he preferred to forget. A stubborn pup that almost got them killed. Now he was something else, something unparalleled.

"The one and only." Kiro was so glad and happy that he forgot he had other mounts.

He could train them too and they'd be very useful in the war. Especially the invisible spectres.

"The hell did they feed you down there big guy." Hiro scratched his neck as he said, Hubris felt like he was in heaven.

Surprisingly the bright orange fires all over his body weren't deadly hot just warm enough. But they were fluttering showing that he was enjoying the petting.

"About time you two got back. I finished this an hour ago, where the hell were you..." Hiro gave them an earful.

"Before this tournament starts I wanted to say a few words. Becoming a guardian is a big responsibility, I'll be personally making teams lead by at least three of the old guardians.

"At no circumstance does anyone run a dungeon without their team. The harbingers have taken over the dungeons, Nikolai and I went out earlier to confirm this. We fought one." He let them stew on this, Kiro was addressing the crowd outside the arena.

"If you so much as think betraying humanity is a choice, I'll personally be the monster under your bed. Don't test me. While the game is private, I doubt it'd be hard to find any of you."

"Now we're still going to discuss the guardian leaders. For now, fight and win and be adorned with this badge of honour!"

Despite the not so subtle threats, the crowd exploded in cheers. Everyone was hungry, hungry to prove themselves—to protect humanity—hungry for power.

Kiro only hoped history wouldn't repeat itself because this could really mean the end of humanity.