The Earth After Rebirth

The road ahead was a long one. Hubris wanted to leave early because he knew they couldn't rush it. They still had a battle at their destination, he didn't know how long the other army would take to get there but he couldn't risk it.

The chatter amongst the hounds didn't die down, the more they walked the more they seemed to have a lot to say. The excitement that filled the air couldn't be described with just words.

It was a beautiful atmosphere that snaked through Kiro's every muscle, and made him feel enthusiastic. He'd never been in a large scale battle before, he'd never been part of a battalion, so he had no idea where the feelings were coming from.

But this felt right, like he was made to do this one particular thing.

'Can a game even give you feelings your real self doesn't have?' He wondered.

He didn't know the answer, but he also didn't quite care. He wanted to bathe in this feeling as long as possible. It gave him hope, it gave him a sense of justice, he didn't hate it.

They'd managed to scrape up about a thousand hounds to follow them into this madness. They'd meet up with other races on the road, that's when their army would be complete. Hubris had already asked Kiro to lead one or two battalions. He couldn't exactly say no to him, so he agreed.

The only ones that were required to stay behind were the elderly and the young, of all races. They had nothing much to offer than being meatshields of the strong. So their task was to hold the fort while the strong were out to fight.

They couldn't go at full speed, the two would leave the rest in the dust and the rest would arrive tired at the field ahead trying to catch up.

"S-sire," Belial said almost out of breath.

He when they looked behind them, the army wasn't exactly marching, they were fast walking just to stay close enough to their King.

"Just how weak are they?" Kiro whispered to Hubris disappointed.

"I'm sorry to interrupt Sires, but it's not a question of our weakness, you're just too strong. If you could, lessen your pace, I'm sorry for asking for something so shameful." Belial answered, with the most sincere voice.

"It's fine, we got carried away for a second." Kiro shrugged it off. "By the way Belial, it was your dead pal Gage who betrayed you guys." He told him slowing down.

Belial took the news with a grain of salt. Though they were different races, he thought of him as a brother. And for a brother to betray him so easily he didn't quite understand.

Kiro saw his hurt confused face, "Greed will make anyone do terrible things. Don't feel too bad."

Belial nodded, but the words didn't bring him any comfort. He still didn't understand how Gage could throw away their brotherhood like it didn't mean anything. They grew up together since they were infants, so the hurt wasn't unwarranted.

"Sires, I'm so sorry for Gage. I've been his older brother and he was my responsibility, I feel like I'm part to blame for his rebellion that almost cost us the battle." He said, his head downcast, his voice sincere. Kiro was sure if Hellhounds had tears, his would be running down his face.

"That's okay, I have a little brother, he's a rebellious little sh*t. I can't fault you for his actions, the same way I wouldn't want to be faulted for his actions." He took it upon himself to pat him, to make him feel alright.

At first, it made him uneasy being comforted to such an intimate level by his superior but he accepted at the end since he couldn't say no to him anyway.

"You never told me you have a brother." Hubris said, envy painted all over his face.

"It never came up. Don't be like that!"

That didn't help, as he continued to sulk but Kiro didn't think he should spoil him by enabling such behaviour so he ignored him.

"Belial, how do assassins train in this world?"

"Train, Sire? They don't?"

"Huh? Then how did the last one alude my senses? I couldn't sense his Killing Intent at all."

"That's because we're such beings. Even if one of us comes at you, intending to kill you, they won't exude any negative feelings." He said proudly.

"That's... Psychopathic, you mean to tell me, you guys are devoid of such emotions? To the point you made it a weapon?"

Belial didn't even need to answer, as Kiro looked around he really saw them, he paid attention enough to notice that even though they were heading to battle there was zero bloodlust.

He couldn't believe he never noticed until now. He was used to Hubris who leaked killing intent like it was his life line.

Though Kiro didn't fault him too much. Hubris was very young when he was tossed in another realm. He had to learn to fend for himself, alone, without his people. Naturally he'd evolve and grow differently from them.

"How is this trained?" He asked interested, he had to bring this to Nikolai somehow.

"Formally? There's no training Sire. I suppose the environment we grew up around and the culture makes us how we are now."

"So any of you can be assassins? That's pretty amazing."

Belial smiled and lightly bowed. Kiro thought it was too bad none of them could use Kaos. It was strange but then again, the monkey King did mention that the energy was created by him. It's only natural for the hounds to care little about it, since they were natural enemies.

But if that was the only reason they didn't even try to harness it, that would be an illogical reason. Seeing as that would be beneficial to their strength. If an enemy creates something that every can benefit from, that's not really an enemy. That's an ally.

He thought back to the report, 'Ammon is it? I hope you die by my hand.'