The Earth After Rebirth

Hubris looked at him stupidly, but didn't say anything.

"Must've imagined it. That was strange."

"Haha, it wasn't your imagination master. Thank you for working tirelessly to save me. From now on, I, Hubris, the King of the underworld will be at your service."

Hubris felt really grateful to Kiro. He saved his life after all, and the way he was concerned for him, and nursed him without rest, he was touched to the point he unconsciously accepted Kiro as his true master.

Gaining a Hellhound's loyalty to that extent was no joking matter, as they would even claw their intestines out if their master ordered them to.

"King of the what now?"

"Of the underworld, I was put here because there was a rebellion that took my father's life and because I was too young to rule, instead of being killed, I was banished here."

Kiro was astounded. Even mounts have backstories, just how thorough were the devs. He was fascinated by the backstory.

"Let me guess, you want your revenge?"

"I did, but now my life is yours," he said, bowing his head to him. "Before, I couldn't be loyal to you because I was loyal to my home, but now you mean more to me than my home ever will. So my loyalty is yours, it belongs to you alone."

'Why do I feel like I'm being confessed to.' Kiro blushed a little.

Ding!

[Congratulations, your legendary hellhound mount has evolved into the ancient rank. You've also obtained it's absolute loyalty, even when you're weaker than it, it'd die for you before it's loyalty ever wavered.]

Hubris

Race: Ancient Hellhound

HP: 30 000

MP: 100 000

Skills:

Perfect Senses:

Eyes that can see death. Once it has your scent you can never escape. Ears that can hear through dimensions. Claws and fangs that inflict wounds that don't heal.

Soul Collection[can only be used against Harbingers.]:

It can tear flesh to shreds and steal your essence. Turning your soul into energy for the user.

Fear Inducement:

Weak beings can die from it's presence alone. It can make most things cower.

Hellfire breathing:

Able to breathe Hellfire that can burn until the ends of time.

Probability Manipulation: [Locked]

If the user encounters those he sees as enemies, they'll be affected by great deaths and extreme bad luck. This skill is passive.

Precognition: [Locked]

Can see glimpses of the future, especially people's deaths.

Superhuman Intelligence: Easily able to intercept, predict attacks and counter them.

Cannot be tricked and nigh impossible to distract.

Teleportation: [Locked]

Can dematerialized and disappear at will, ability to make the user completely invisible but those around can still feel the sinister presence it exudes.

Affliction:

Can inflict savage, excruciatingly painful wounds that are slow to heal, if they heal at all.

Shape-shifting: [Locked]

Can turn to a different species of their choice. Using their transcendental sight, the user can turn into any peak version of a species.

Intangibility:

Gives you the ability to go in and out of the ethereal state. Maintaining the ethereal state is extremely difficult.

All this information hit him like a ton of bricks. Everything about this shocked him. He had never even heard of a rank called Ancient.

Maybe because in the past that may or may not have happened, Hubris was never saved. Therefore this rank never really made it to light. Or people simply hid their strengths.

"So everything is okay now." Hiro commented on the other side of the line, the call hadn't disconnected.

"Whoa, don't scare me like that," he said startled. "Thanks to you, he's fine now. Thank..." he trailed off, "but why aren't you shocked about Hubris being able to talk?"

"If I couldn't do this much for my friend as an alchemist, I'd be a totally useless decoration. oh and, I woke up way earlier than you."

"Curse it. So you're more resilient than me."

"I wouldn't be much of a tank if I wasn't."

Hiro was becoming more of a true craftsman, despite having worked for days without rest, he only needed a couple of hours to be back to his top condition.

After their 3 day call, Hiro finally hung up. Leaving the master and his mount to their newfound relationship and abilities.

Now that Hubris was a rank higher, he had his own mana circulation, he didn't need to borrow from Kiro anymore. Which was a bonus for Kiro, he appreciated that.

"Hubris, you have quite a lot of overpowered skills, though some are locked, these are insane." Kiro said, scrolling through his stats.

"I have to be strong, for you Master."

Kiro looked at him amused, "why are you so docile all of a sudden? I suddenly miss your rebellious attitude." He remarked, a little take aback by Hubris' new attitude.

"In any case, let's put that nose of yours into test. That thing we just defeated, can you smell more of it?"

"I can, though it's elusive," Hubris said, and bowed down since he was too tall now. "Get on, I'll take you there."

Kiro didn't waste any time. This was why he wanted a mount in the first place, to travel on it. Hubris ran like the wind. The road was a treacherous one, but the way Hubris ran through the mountains, it was as if it was a straight well-maintained asphalt road.

As uncomfortable as the road was meant to be, sitting ontop of his mount didn't feel like that at all. He felt like Hubris was faster than the train he rode to the academy, yet he wasn't uncomfortable. The wind didn't violate his face either, the flame that was his fur protected him.

Without having stopped, Hubris suddenly shot a fist sized ball of hellfire up ahead. Kiro had watched him grow, his flames went from orange to purple, they also evolved from being wild to something concentrated.

As small as the ball was, he could feel the power within it. It was nothing to scoff at, sure enough, it levelled a small hill of rocks on impact.

Trolls came rushing out. Kiro was astonished that Hubris sensed them before he could.