The Earth After Rebirth

The experience wasn't a comfortable one, it felt like his insides were being frozen, melted and healed, and the cycle repeated itself.

The energy felt extremely hot, but at the same time somewhat cold. Hubris was in a pickle out there, one minute his master would sweat like a pig, the next he was shivering like his life depended on it.

He didn't know whether to start a fire or fan him for cold air. The changes happened at speeds he couldn't keep up with, so he sat there and hoped for the best.

He wouldn't be much of an ancient beast if he couldn't see the energy running rampant inside of his Lord. But he surmised that, since magic didn't exist in this world, his master decided to tame this energy to replace magic.

But he knew, deep within his heart, even if the energy was attempting to kill him, there was nothing much he would be able to do. That brought back the feelings of hopelessness that he hated more than anything.

If he had tears, if he was able to cry, he was sure they would be pouring right now. He promised himself to never let himself feel hopeless again, but this situation was forcing his hand. He could do nothing but watch, as his master suffered.

While Hubris seemed to have been experiencing an existential crisis, Kiro continued to consume the energy into his body, the minute he felt bloated the energy looked for the next strongest thing to be stored at, which were his bones.

He wanted more than anything to store it in his mana veins, but he didn't know how to create them. The ones he had were given to him by the game system, but they were no longer available since the energy destroyed them into nothingness.

There was also no time to figure it out, the energy wasn't a very patient entity. If he had known that the veins would be useless, he would've tried thinking of a way to make them stronger first, but it was too late now.

The Kaos energy was already snaking through all his 206 bones. Forcing it's way into the deepest parts of his bones. The transition was the most painful thing Kiro had ever had the displeasure of experiencing. It felt like someone was breaking his bones with a hammer over and over.

He knew very well the pain of broken bones, he was very experienced in that field. Even though that was something that happened once before his death, he remembered it all very well.

You'd think that'd make him used to it, but there was no getting used to pain, especially when it was just as painful if not more. His body's vitals reached dangerous levels. The temperature of hot and cold, caused him a high fever.

His mental image self laughed, as he was sure his avatar would die of pneumonia. Something that was easily treatable in his real world, so easily treatable, it was akin to a scraped knee. The irony was just too funny for his liking.

"I'm not even sure what dying would mean for me in this foreign space. Let's try to avoid that at all costs." He consoled himself.

He tried to avoid thinking about what he was feeling. He distracted himself by counting from a million backwards. When that didn't work, he imagined himself with Isla. That worked, but only for a little while.

As the pain shot through his ribs, his physical body involuntarily spasmed. Hubris saw this too and instead of despairing, he was hopeful for the first time they've set foot here.

Kiro kept distracting himself with his family and Isla. He did anything that would stop himself from listening to the excruciating pain he felt from this kind of metamorphosis he was going through.

"Hubris, is this what you felt when you were evolving too?" He wondered.

But it wasn't anywhere near close. Although Hubris had almost died, though his pain was heightened, it wasn't comparable. Magic was more forgiving than Kaos.

He experienced that pain for another month before it settled well in his bones, the pain finally subsided. He took a deep breath, both of them did. His body started going back to normal and he started using Kaos to heal his physical body.

His astral self felt lighter than before. He summoned the beetle queen to test out how better this self was from the previous one. It wasn't even a contest, he finished it off within 0.1 seconds.

He was faster, stronger. His skills were enhanced by a high amount. He felt sad that he couldn't look at his character sheet just to see how broken he was now. Though he was strong compared to where he came from, it was a different story from where he currently was.

He started mental image training. With just Ryu, he reinforced his kicks, palm strikes and punches. He had his eyes closed, using vibrational sense as if it were his third limb.

He started messing with the particles in that space he was in, and by sheer will, a world, vast and beautiful appeared before him.

"Whoa, did I create this with my mind, within my mind?"

He still had his eyes closed but he could see everything clearly. There were even monsters in there that he had fought before.

As enchanting and exciting as it was, creating a world, though it was just a figment of his imagination, he didn't stop training.

He used Ryu to form large gusts of winds, that uprooted the trees and even threatened to change the course of how things worked in that world.

"Too powerful."

His staff was of legendary rank after all. He summoned lightning within his being, his eyes turned to lightning just like before. His fingers were now also made of lightning, he went from one tree to another. Leaving them with scars that will never heal.

Every single thing he attacked with his lightning corroded and died. He noticed his lightning was no longer a blue hopeful colour, it was purplish black.

"Am I like Hubris now? Dammit."

He was busy testing his newfound powers when he heard a creak behind him. He didn't even need to turn to know what it was. He felt like some kind of god, he knew everything about the world he created, it was in his mind after all.