The Earth After Rebirth

Opening it, he found a bunch of clothes and potions. He removed the dust, before trying them on. They fit him well. It was a monk robe, along with black formal shoes. He almost laughed at how mismatched he looked, but beggars couldn\'t be choosers so he took them. Anything was better than being naked.

He walked to other trunks, they had more or less of the same things, he put all of them in his storage space. He didn\'t know if he\'d need other clothes so he took more just in case.

He heard Hubris walking toward him.

"You can see now?"

"Yes, thank you." He said with a tinge of shame in his tone.

They continued their long walk, they were reminded of the forest. It was as if they were back there again, the room didn\'t even have hidden passages, but it was huge, so huge they didn\'t know whether it had corners or not.

"Master, I\'ve got it... This temple uses illusionary arts. So we\'re in for a wild ride." Hubris blurted out, finally grasping what he couldn\'t get ahold of earlier.

"Do you have any idea what await us?"

"No clue. Whatever erected this tower is multiple times more power than I." With a tone full of disappointment, he told him.

As if on cue with what he was saying, the room atmosphere changed. Clouds gathered, it was as if they were outside but at the same time not.

"That\'s not ominous." Kiro said sarcastically.

An arrow zoomed Kiro\'s way just after saying that. It missed his head by a breadth\'s hair. He could feel his entire bodily hairs stand up. He stood still and listened, that\'s when he realised that, he could feel vibrations in here and the room they were in was infested with traps.

He didn\'t even turn to ask why Hubris didn\'t pick up on this. Ontop of being more powerful, the temple seemed to know which buttons to press to set Hubris haywire.

He took a stance, ready to protect himself and his mount. Hubris had also already caught on and his claws and fangs were out.

"Master, I\'ll protect you."

"We will protect each other." He said, not taking his eyes off the front.

While Kiro could see the traps, he couldn\'t see a way to avoid them. It seemed no matter where they set foot, something would spring up. They had little choice but to go forward.

A shower of arrows came threatening calamity on their lives, Kiro summoned a shower of his own, lightning crackled and formed from nothingness. Like rain, it went down on the arrows, burning them to cinder.

They hadn\'t even had time to celebrate their win when 3 swords came to claim their heads.

Kiro was quicker to draw out Ryu, while Hubris had already blocked two of the three swords, they shattered on impact. But that didn\'t matter because the two that shuttered were quickly replaced.

They both started running forward, as if they communicated it. Their the pursuers didn\'t dare let them think they\'ve escaped, they weapons were already on their heels. Threatening to sever their feet.

Kiro slightly let his feet off the ground, allowing the sword to enter under them and then lightly tapping it using his strongest kick. Breaking it in half cleanly.

More of them rained from the makeshift sky. It was as if he was dancing with them, he swerved from left to right, he was followed by countless swords digging into the floor as they would completely miss him.

He\'d also use palms and kicks to any that got too close be dodged, that caused destroying them completely. They were still enjoying their complete dominance when another trap sprung up, it was the ground this time.

The hole meant to swallow Kiro but it missed him completely and devoured Hubris instead. He quickly turned, and grabbed his mount by the paw.

"Hubris, hang in there, I\'ll put you up."

After he finished saying that, the two swords buried themselves deeply on his shoulders, causing his strength on his hands to weaken dramatically.

"My Lord, it was a pleasure to serve with you but let me go."

"No!" Kiro retorted stubbornly, "I\'m not losing another thing. Not ever."

Hubris didn\'t know what else to do, he could forcibly let his self fall into whatever was down there, but he also didn\'t want to go. He wasn\'t quite ready to be separated from him. But if he kept being this selfish, Kiro would fall to his death with him.

Kiro\'s shoulders had swords protruding from them. Crimson liquid painted his new monk robe red. He was holding onto Hubris like he was the last salvation on earth.

"Master..."

"I know what you\'re gonna say Hubris, shut your stupid mouth. I\'m not gonna die, you\'re not gonna die, because I\'ll pull you out of this stupid trap."

His determination resounded from the room. He was still pulling, trying to pull his mount up. The more he pulled the more it put a strain on his shoulders, he couldn\'t feel anything because of adrenaline. He couldn\'t feel that he wasn\'t exactly accomplishing anything.

Hubris was absolutely touched. He was the one holding on, Kiro\'s strength had long since failed, which is why he let go of his hand.

"I\'m sorry my Lord, let me be the sacrifice." He said already given himself up.

"You\'ll die, when I tell you to, you stupid mutt."

Hubris quickly opened his eyes, shock and fear dawned in his unknowing eyes. Kiro had purposely fell into the trap, the same way Hubris did when Kiro fell into this world.