The Earth After Rebirth

2 weeks had passed, Kiro was still unmoving in his comatose state. He was semi conscious, but for the life of him he couldn't move any of his muscles.

He was holding Ryu, watching the beetle queen form for the hundredth time. The body always got him until the face formed, and he'd involuntarily groan.

He didn't wait for it to fully form, he blinked and kicked hard on the abdominal area with his space warping kick, which did nothing but crack his foot. It was the hundredth run, but the results were always the same.

He fell back, landing on his unfractured leg, and smirked.

"A human like you, thinks he can break my armour? Laughable."

"Well, they say, do it again and again, and you'll eventually be good at it."

He held his stance, making sure he didn't put weight on the fractured foot and he gestured for the beetle queen to come to him instead.

It felt disrespected and was therefore livid, it didn't even use it's wings as the wind took it right in front of Kiro. It threw a punch at its arrival, Kiro side stepped and smashed it with Ryu on the hand. That caused it to stagger forwards and almost falling on its face.

It was still crouched when it's head turned, just it's head and it radiated a sinister aura that was almost similar to the chaotic energy that Kiro was failing to harness.

"Wait, that didn't happen in the real world, do you have a will of your own in my own head?"

"I'm in your head? You pompous little brat!"

Kiro could sense kaos energy because he now was acquainted with it, in the world he fell in, he was practically bathed in it. He originally couldn't sense it, when he was fighting with the beetle queen, that's why he was taken aback by this tiny detail.

The beetle queen appeared self-conscious because that's how Kiro's mind perceived it as. That made him paranoid if anything, but the queen was long dead on the surface.

It took the queen a single step to reach Kiro and end him the same way, though this time it was his heart that got severed completely from the line of organs keeping him alive.

"Sigh. You're a tough one aren't you."

Kiro started the simulation all over again. This time he didn't rush in, he waited with bated breath. The beetle queen looked at him warily, when it was apparent that he wouldn't move an inch from where he stood, the beetle queen came to him.

It started with a massive kick, something that was unusual for it. Kiro blocked it with Ryu, he flipped its leg using his staff, then hit it at the ribs area. A crack sound was heard.

"Well, if my body is too weak to attack you, my staff isn't."

The beetle queen was livid. It was fast, but Kiro could follow it's movements what's more, fighting it hundreds of times paid off, he could react to it's speed.

Although it was a close one, it seemed like that they were on equal footing. He started walking towards it, spinning his staff. When he was close enough, it stopped spinning and striked it on its face, which fractured it's cheekbone.

Kiro's hands were starting to blister, hitting the beetle queen was like hitting steel with steel, while he could do it, it still took a toll on his body.

He made a crouching stance and poked it right in the neck, his arms vibrated. The beetle queen staggered backwards choking on its own saliva. It didn't take it a second to recover from it's shocked state, it closed in with a punch.

Kiro smirked, and inserted Ryu in the way of the punch and intercepted it, but alas, it was a fake out as its other arm planted itself right on his chin. He had a fractured jaw, and broken teeth.

"F*ck! Not again. I got a little cocky there."

He died once again. He never stopped materialising the beetle queen, and every time, he'd die. He persisted, he had nothing to keep himself entertained with anyway. Training here was the only thing he could do.

It took him thousands of tries, and deaths to finally stand on the beetle queens corpse. He stood atop of it and screamed victoriously. He saw his reflection on a puddle on the ground, and laughed at how ridiculous he looked.

He was still not satisfied with the results. He wanted to completely overpower the beetle queen, as it stood now he was slightly better than it. But he wanted more than, he wanted one strike from Ryu to be able to completely render the queen useless.

So he didn't waste time summoning it again, and again. It took him another thousand tries to be able to truly one-shot the queen. He fell on his behind, gasping for air, even though it was just in his head. The fatigue could be felt, though he couldn't be sure whether it was mentally or physically or both.

Hubris on the outside was eager to go explore, he didn't know why or how, but the space they fell in felt like home to him. As much as his loyalty was with the man in a coma now, he couldn't help but be excited at the uncanny feeling.

"Master, be better soon, there's so much to do, there's so much to see." He looked out of the makeshift door, watching the ocean waves sway dangerously back and forth.

He didn't know what it was, but the tide seemed to have a strong pull. If he didn't evolve into an ancient beast, he knew he'd enter the ocean voluntarily.

The nights were quiet, with the exception of a beautiful melody that was carried by the wind to the beach. Or the rapid waves that crashed the rocks, which was a sound Hubris was too used to. So he wasn't really conscious about it. The beautiful melody however was, new.