The Earth After Rebirth

Kiro activated lightning manipulation, people would've thought it impossible, but that turned his eyes bluer. He had bits of lightning zapping through out his entire body, making his brown skin more prominent.

Of course nobody could really see his skin, but the eyes, underneath that dark hood they shone brighter than a full moon on a dark night.

People had one thought in their minds, 'god of lightning.' Which was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was rare to get such an elemental manipulation in the game, so they weren't far off either.

It was a shame that he could only use his lightning skill in such a mediocre way. He could make himself faster, he could coat lightning with Ryu, he could turn foes to charcoal.

But lightning manipulation was much more than that. It had more to offer, and unless Kiro figured it out himself, the skill would stay hidden.

"Hey you! What are you trying to do, do you know who we are?" A short and plump man shouted, though his voice denied his size.

"That's exactly why." He said coldly and unwavering, he activated blink.

Hubris wasn't left behind, he was on Kiro's tail. More than anything, he loved chaos. So he was truly feeling happy.

Everyone couldn't see him travelling, but Hubris could. When he appeared in front of the slug, they thought he had teleported.

Kiro didn't want to use Ryu, he deemed it an insult. He didn't hesitate and used bending kick, slamming the earth slug a few meters from where it was rooted in place.

Hubris was already there, with his sharp claws ready and sliced the earth slug into pieces.

"Tsk, was that really a boss monster?"

Ding!

[Earth Slugs are no match for a guardian like you. This was a low level boss monster. Don't be too smug.]

"Shouldn't you be giving me EXP instead of preaching nonsense?"

[...You've received 10k EXP and 200k coins.]

"System, why doesn't the title show on the status window?"

[Titles don't exist in Asgard.]

"Isn't that a contradiction?"

[...]

The Crow guild members were livid, they hadn't even scraped half of the boss monster's HP when Kiro killed it, seemingly easy.

Since rewards were distributed by contribution that meant they would receive less. They had worked hard to keep people from this boss, but it all ended in mere seconds.

"You idiotic brat! You've cost us, and you'll pay."

"I'm neither idiotic nor a brat, but no matter how this turns out, you're the one who will pay for your sins."

Kiro didn't recognise any of them, but he was sure they were from that demonic gang that killed his siblings and him.

"Hubris, you can have as much fun as you want, kill them slowly. If you can't beat them all, no food for you, for a week."

Ryu vibrated as if to announce his excitement. Clearly the weapon loved blood and gore.

Though Hubris seemed hesitant, that was enough motivation. If anyone paid close enough attention, they could tell that he didn't act because he was commanded, but because he loved torturing and killing.

'Why's my every collection in this game hungry for blood?' Kiro wondered.

In the next second Hubris' teeth were already sunk in another's man's neck whom talked a lot. Kiro was shocked to notice that, the man was a priest.

'Was that on purpose? Interesting.'

The man fell, he didn't die immediately. His guild mates were rooted in place, still unmoving from the shock of how this turned out. He didn't wait for them to wake up from it, as he gutted and decapitated some.

Blood and guts riddled the ground they stood at. Hubris was intricate in his art, as much as he gutted them, he knew exactly how to do it so they bled out slowly.

Shrills could be heard echoing across the field, as Hubris unleashed his hellfire upon his master's foes.

The flames had a peculiarity about them, they were bright orange, no matter what the men did, they couldn't be put out. They could only writhe in agony trying to put them out.

Hubris took care of all but one, he was caught off guard by a player who was a knight. He had a sword for a weapon, he used the time his comrades got put out of commission to get closer.

Sure enough, it worked. He slashed with all his might, he wanted to slice the beast in half but alas, he could only wound him greatly.

Hubris couldn't musk his surprise. He wasn't bleeding, but the wound was a deep one. With just one slash, his movements lagged and he was no longer faster than the players he was torturing to death.

The knight's smile curled into a smug one. He closed in intending to gut him just like he did with his comrades.

CLANK...

Kiro put himself between the knight and Hubris. The knight was visibly annoyed, as this person stopped his kill. He had forgotten there were two enemies.

"Well, Hubris, no meals for a week." Kiro taunted him.

He took out a health potion and emptied it's contents in Hubris' mouth.

"Make that 2 weeks for wasting my potions," he said grumpily.

He spun his staff around, aimed at the knights neck and connected. He didn't use all of his strength, he wanted to beat this person to death if possible.

He kept poking, and smashing his joints, cracking his bones faster than he could react. The knight was now on the ground, with most of his bones broken, he couldn't really stand up.

"You'll regret this!"

"Doubt it. You don't even know what I look like." He planted Ryu on his neck, the knight pixelated.

Luckily for Kiro nobody had recorded the fight because of how fast everything concluded. They didn't really recognise Ryu from the trending videos.

People watched how good the fighting was, they didn't obsess over the weapon he used. So nobody guessed it could be him.

Kiro had thought about the dangers of what he was doing. He was simply tired and just wanted to vent his anger. He only hoped he was cautious enough this time.

The men Hubris had tortured, finally pixelated when they became nothing but bone.

"If you've healed. Let's go."

Hubris was earnestly unhappy, not only did he fail the assigned mission, he wouldn't get food for 2 weeks, some would say Kiro was just exaggerating but Hubris knew better.

People moved aside to make way for them. They watched, as the mysterious young man, and his beast walked and entered Sun's Mountain.