The Earth After Rebirth

Chapter 472: Conviction

Kiro walked closer to the egg-shaped coffin, close enough for the oval shaped structure to feel him breathing but he still kept his distance afraid of what touching the thing would do to the sleeping beauty inside of it.

Regret was starting to engulf him again, not exactly sure he made the right choice to travel to the underworld to get Hubris and leaving behind the guardians to fight without him.

’Maybe if I hadn’t left things would have been different.’ He thought to himself but quickly shook off those gnawing thoughts that threatened to drive him insane.

"It must be the energy around here." He said aloud this time, it dawned on him that this was a very dangerous space for someone with Kaos, everything he experienced this far had attempted to not harm him physically but mentally.

He started observing his friend who was standing right next to him, observing the coffin. Hiro didn’t seem to have been affected mentally, while Kiro looked physically drained, Hiro seemed fine.

"Did you try to get her out?" Kiro stared at the structure in front of them again, he finally found the courage to ask his friend.

"I didn’t know what would happen so I didn’t touch it." Hiro answered nervously sensing an accusatory tone in his friend’s voice.

He like his friend, blamed himself for not being there to stop Isla from crossing over and now she looked like she was dead. Only her hair was moving, her chest didn’t fall and rise, her eyes were opened and unblinking, reminding him of a time when his father died in his arms.

Kiro immediately felt guilty with the way he asked his question, he gave Hiro an awkward, apologetic smile. He hadn’t meant to imply it was Hiro’s fault, even he didn’t know what to do, whether cutting this down would not do any harm, whether it was even possible cutting it down.

But something needed to be done, they came all the way here to rescue her and that was what he intended to do. He wished the system extended beyond worlds to help him but silence never rung so loudly.

Kiro turned to Hiro again, "do you feel weaker?"

He shook his head. "Not at all but I can feel a weird pull, it’s like this world whatever it is, is drawing me to another place but I’m strong enough to ignore it."

Kiro’s focus went back to the coffin, he was using his staff to keep himself balanced. That’s how weakened he was during this time.

He gestured for Hiro to come closer and used his shoulder a crutch, while Ryu, his staff was on his right hand. When his left side was balanced he lifted up his right and started poking the oval-shaped coffin.

Through his staff, he could feel the texture. It was soft but surprisingly it wouldn’t break no matter how hard he tried to poke a hole in it. It stretch endlessly in every direction.

"Hiro could you use your axe?" If a blunt weapon wouldn’t work he figured they should try something sharp. "But please be careful, don’t cut her."

Sweat trickled on Hiro’s temple, despite the cold air surrounding them. His axe could cut air, that’s how sharp he kept it. The slightest mistake could decapitate Isla and that made his insides congest. Her father was scary enough—his best friend was even scarier.

"I’ll give it to you, you do it." He was not confident in his ability to be precise at all. With all the monsters he fought in Asgard, precision was not a necessity, he always just needed to hack and kill.

"I can’t even hold up Ryu for very long, how am I supposed to do it with an axe that probably weighs more than I do?"

"Ah, right."

Hiro took a few quick breaths. There was an inch of space between Isla and coffin on the sides. That was where Hiro intended to aim, he raised his weapon to the heavens, and he swung hitting exactly the part that was not Isla.

Instead of it getting cut, the axe bounced off it, jerking Hiro backwards so hard that he let go of his axe. It flew straight for what would’ve been the sky in their world, Hiro jumped after it, that was a weapon he did not want to part ways with.

He grabbed ahold of his weapon in the air and realised he had jumped too far and now he was falling back to the ground, a huge thud sounded as his body and the solid ground met.

"That was close, I almost lost my weapon!"

"It seems it’s indestructible..."

"What are we going to do?"

Kiro stood there for a minute, at a loss for words. "Hubris, any ideas?"

His question was met with complete silence, he quickly turned his head because the last time he had felt Hubris, his mount was right behind him and now there was nothing.

"Wh-what, where?" Hiro was lost for words, the last time he checked, Hubris was right beside him.

The atmosphere changed from dire to grim. There was a foul smell in the air, along with their realisation, they heard a growling coming from the fog that was meters away from them.

Every fibre in their bodies was petrified, every single one except for the eyes that darted from left to right looking, intently at the fog looking for the danger to jump out.

There was a whisk of wind accompanied by a shadow that was heading straight for Kiro. He had his staff in hand but he was too weak to react, the shadow was too fast.

A sharp pain shot from his intestines that were twisted in knots because of how scared he was. As someone who has experienced dying once, he didn’t want to go through it, not again at least not yet.

His forehead was creased and face painted with confusion.

"Hubris?" His mount’s paw ran through his stomach appearing at his back. There was no remorse in his eyes, only conviction.

Kiro felt something that could’ve frozen his entire being in the eyes of his Mount. That’s all he would remember before he completely lost his consciousness.