The Earth After Rebirth

Kiro was now sat cross-legged, he was channelling his vibrational senses together with lightning manipulation. The moment he finally entered the meditative state, he got that idea that maybe, lightning can protect him from mental attacks, since his brain was made of neurons.

He could hear the conversation going on out there. He couldn't believe how loyal, and how much trust Hubris had in him. This made him involuntarily smirk.

"Well then beast, you shall die, along with your master today."

Hubris had situated himself between Kiro and the beetle queen. He was a great mountain, that Kiro was basicslly insivible. The beetle no longer had the intentions to recruit the ancient beast. It thought it was too bad, an ancient beast would've made a great foot soldier.

So it started it's attack, like it's companion it didn't have a weapon. The crack on the ground had no indication that it will ever close, the case on it's back opened and a pair of wings appeared.

It slowly rose above. Hubris watched with great caution, he couldn't just leave his post and attack, he had Kiro to protect. It tested Hubris' reaction, using speed flying straight for him in zigzag.

With his eyes, Hubris could see it clearly. He could follow the beetles every move and, every trick. As it was about to stick it's antlers on his maw, Hubris swiped his left claw that was coated with hellfire, it missed the beetles face by a hair breath.

"Not bad beast, not bad." It cackled mockingly.

Hubris however didn't stop swiping his claws in the air. Eventually creating blades of both wind and hellfire that zoomed at crazy speeds to the direction of their enemy.

Its antlers went haywire upon realising the imminence of the danger coming it's way. It swayed majestically from left to right, attempting to dodge the attacks that would have otherwise been invisible to those without good sight.

The beetle had no eyes though, Hubris surmised that it used those antlers to sense. The wind blades missed, but one managed to cut off one of its many limbs. Even without a face, you could see the fury imbeded in its face upon realising that it would have to take this seriously in order to take out these, inferior beings.

Hubris had expected for the limb to grow back, and sure enough it did. As he was protecting his master, he couldn't jump to the enemy and corner them.

'That regeneration will be troublesome.' Kiro commented internally.

He was aware of everything happening thanks to vibrational sense. He was still an amateur when it came to using vibrations, he hoped he could eventually make the skill passive. That would help him greatly when it came to these kind of confrontations as that meant he'd have to shut off his other senses.

He had a bad feeling that, this was just the beginning, that he'll be fighting these harbingers for maybe months to come. The beetle on the other hand was attacking very fiercely than before.

It figured if it could move Hubris even for an inch it could launch an attack on Kiro. The best way to get to a loyal servant is through their master. It threw punches that looked like a thousand fists, Hubris managed to fend them off but only just.

He used everything including his tail to attempt to swat the beetle queen back to the crack it came from.

"You dare kill my eggs, invade my home, now you're attempting to kill me." The anger couldn't be missed in its voice.

"Please, as if you weren't planning to create an army and invade our lands." Kiro commented behind the safety of Hubris' back.

What Hubris supposed to be a mouth, snarled into a sinister smile. It appeared right in front of Hubris, he was way too shocked to react on time as the fist planted itself on his face.

Though, that didn't move him an inch. A barrage of punches and kicks rained on Hubris, he still held his ground. Occasionally sending a hellfire ball the beetles way. He missed all as he couldn't concentrate on everything all at once fast enough.

The beetle queen didn't allow itself to even be grazed by the hellfire balls. It could sense the danger the ball of fire represented. It flapped it's wings creating a gust of wind that threatened to uproot the entire mountain they were on.

Hubris buried his claws on the ground, so that he wasn't blown away. It closed in on Hubris, kicking him right on the neck. In his rush to protect his master he was bested, though he was relieved that his claws offered to let him stay rooted in place.

Landing on the other side, the beetle quickly raced toward Hubris, it wanted to get him since he was still sort of disorientated from the wind. It reached him within seconds, and threw another punch, Hubris dodged but he was still punched.

As thousands of punches seemed to enter his peripheral, he could see them all but his body was a bit on the slower side compared the beetle queen. Hubris unleashed his hellfire which turned his fur wild, life-like, like snakes.

Which served as a temporary armour. Some of the punches were absorbed by the flames, some did some damage. He was now sure he couldn't beat the beetle alone, he activated affliction and scratched the beetle queen across the abdomen.

"What did you do, you stupid canine!" The pain it felt wasn't anything it ever felt before.

Despite it's great regenerative skill, this wound was taking forever to heal. Which prolonged the pain experience. The beetle queen flew toward Hubris and gave him a kick to the gut with all of its might. Hubris flew back a few meters, leaving Kiro completely exposed.

"Hahaha." It laughed evily, "what do you say now, beast?" It didn't waste any time as it sent a blast Kiro's way.

He was instantly sent flying into the wall of the cave, which caved in on him.