The Earth After Rebirth

He tried to say something but blood splurted out instead. Kiro gave the two who had their eyes wide in shock a cheeky smile. Almost apologetic.

He entered fits of coughs before the enemy in front of him ran his arm through him, splitting him into two equal halves. His two bodies hit the ground with a deafened thud.

His two comrades didn't know how to react, he was supposed to be the strongest one amongst them but he was turned into a kebab pretty easily.

Viktor in particular was finding the scene before him hard to swallow, he'd fought Kiro before. He, better than anyone, knew his strength. The time in his vicinity seemed to slow, not because 'Rocky' was there but because he was processing all of this.

Just as he entered slow mode, he was pretty quick to bark orders.

"Shit, shit. Kid, fall back... We gotta fall back now." Viktor scrambled backwards. "Fuck. I should definitely level up agility." He noted, as he was having a hard time moving quick.

Aeron being an elf priest, now saint, he had no troubles moving around. He considered grabbing Viktor for a second, then realised he didn't have the strength to carry an oaf like him.

'I should level up my strength.' He also noted his weakness.

The previous groups he challenged dungeons with never took up levels higher than theirs. So he didn't need to worry about being strong, joining After Dark and going through this tower has changed his mind unexpectedly.

Aeron realised if he wanted to survive being a member of After Dark, he at least needed to be above average in fighting. And he wasn't exactly wrong, with him being a guardian he had a perilous rode ahead.

The sky was grey—not much of a difference between it and the clouds that looked like they were paint thrown on a blank canvas. But for a moment the dull heavens sparked so bright that it caused them to shield their eyes with arms.

"Ryu!!" Kiro's voice shouted from above, completely concealed by the dull sky.

Hearing the familiar voices, both of them defied the need for their eyes to be covered. They wanted to see, they didn't trust their ears—it could've been a hallucination.

Their eyes took a while to adjust and they saw it. A bright comet falling from the skies, threatening to destroy everything within its radius with its impact.

Ryu accepted the lightning Kiro was channeling through it. Both of them were coated with it, they travelled at amazing speeds, going straight for 'Rocky'—he quickly became aware of the impending danger.

He tried moving out of the way, but Kiro had planned this out quite well to have failed again. 'Rocky' had realised too late, as a lightning shrouded Ryu and Kiro fell ontop of him with great force.

Ryu ran through the rocks, from heads to toe, then expanded causing for 'Rocky' to explode to things less than dust.

Viktor and Aeron looked to be confused. Didn't they just witness him die? But they were glad he wasn't nonetheless, Viktor's heart was the most sated. He knew his rival wouldn't die so easily.

"You guys forget so easily, or I guess you never saw it? I have a skill that can split me into a number of, well, me." He explained, feeling the adrenaline rush throughout his body.

"Okay, I've heard about this. But I was participating in the war, I didn't know they were talking about you. That's pretty neat."

"Yeah, just when we think you can't surprise us anymore, you go and do just that."

Kiro felt good about his success, if vengeful spirits were scared of lightning then this was the skill he was going to spam until they made sense of this tower.

His smug smile faded, "get ready to fight." He stood up, readying for the oncoming attack.

They heard howling at a distance, then a pack of skeletal wolves showed themselves. It was a strange sight for all of them, their teeth seemed to be as sharp as when they were alive. Their eyes burned crimson.

"Aeron. I'll need you to continuously heal me. My regenerative skill can't keep up with this lightning form." He ordered before blinking away to the midst of enemy territory.

"You have a regeneration skill? At this point, it's a question of what exactly does Kiro not have?" He mumbled to himself and heeded the orders.

At his arrival, the wolves seemed to want to avoid him at all costs. The fear of lightning must've been real for them, but Kiro was too fast—using lightning to further enhance his speed, the monsters' pathetic attempts to evade only brought them to deaths door, again.

Viktor didn't want to be left behind, so he went straight for them. Using his labrys to ground the bones to dust, he wasn't getting off unscathed. He didn't realise, but the fangs were poisonous and he'd been bitten a number of times.

Kiro and Aeron noticed this immediately, he used whirlwind to push back Viktor far into the safe zone. Killing any wolf that tried to go after him.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Saving your life! Be grateful!"

Aeron didn't need to be told, he immediately focused his attention on the wounded giant in front of him. He first siphoned the poison out of his system. Before closing the scratches, which didn't leave a single scar.

"Damn kid, what's your secret!" He was impressed.

Kiro at the far distance was completely destroying the vengeful spirits in the form of wolves. The scenario was clearly designed for the intruders to be the prey, but he was the predator in this situation. Experience tales at M-V-L

However he could feel his conscious mind slipping away from him. He was sure he wasn't bitten but it felt like poison was coursing throughout his body.

He was trying is damnedest to stay awake, but like a child overcome with drowsiness, he couldn't stop the wave that was coming.

He was fighting, then the next minute it was dark.

"Welcome, child of destiny."

"That voice." He couldn't see anything but he wouldn't mistake that voice for anything. It was the one that's been showing up at random moments.