Chapter 155: New Dawn, II

They arrived at the battlefield before anyone knew they were even gone. Kiro was envious a little bit towards his mount, his blink would take him a couple of steps, his reality warping wasn't quite strong enough either.

The hounds were busy covering up the dead as they were told to do. Some were making stretchers for the heavily wounded, Kiro looked around for a while.

He was looking for Achyls, the last he saw him was when he was almost at death's door. He hoped against all hopes that the kid didn't perish, he was too promising and too much of an asset for the future Hubris hopes to achieve.

"Oh by the way master, what can your new abilities do?" Hubris said breaking his master's concentration completely.

"Just simple things for now, I can change some properties on things. Like making liquid water ice or gas, I could temper with the temperature of this world and make it warmer or colder right now. I could make this ground a slippery mess of mud.

"In simple terms, I can only slightly tweak anything as long as its not complicated."

"Sounds cool enough, though I doubt it's as cool as gravity." He heartily said wagging his tail unconsciously.

"Oh, stop it Hubris, if you want to make it a competition, wait for when I unlock this many stages that restrict me from using the full power." Kiro shot back without missing a beat.

"Hahaha, there's only 3 restrictions for me." He happily said, he hadn't teased his master in a while and he was enjoying this more than he should've.

The hounds around them watched him, as he wagged his tail for Kiro, they were surprised. They'd never seen a royal hound doing something like this, even amongst regular hounds it was a rare sight.

This tail showed vulnerability, happiness. Something hounds shouldn't experience. It was survival of the fittest here, the slightest weakness would be your own downfall.

But here was their future King stronger than any of them. combined, showing his vulnerability, his happy place to everyone else. Looking at the person that made him this happy, even if they wanted to try something, he was just too strong.

"Where are the rest of you?" He asked the supposed leader.

"U-unfortunately, they died in battle Sire." Achyls choked on his words, he had lost a friend.

"I'm not staying, but I'll do what I can while I figure out how to go back. Never let your men die again." Kiro certified his position with those words.

Suddenly an incredible sadness washed over Kiro, he then noticed it was from Hubris. They had never exactly talked about leaving, it was a hot topic that both of them avoided.

Since Hubris decided to take revenge it became a very complicated topic. Hubris would stay, Kiro would leave. They knew it but they still chose to ignore it.

Hearing it for the first time envoke feelings Hubris shouldn't be feeling since he had just liberated his people.

Kiro turned to Hubris with the most sincere smile he could muster, "don't worry buddy, if I can leave, I can return. I'll find a way, you know I will."

Hubris nodded, feeling a little, only a little bit better. The hounds that were putting the soil on the dead were done, they walked back. With higher spirits than when they came.

With new comrades, making their new numbers around a several hundreds. They had decreased by a lot in number, but this was much preferred. They sang all the way, to the City of Halo.

Nobody lost their lives at the lethe river as Kiro used his new power to freeze the waters. He would've preferred drying up the river but he was told no by more than one hound at the same time, so he obliged.

It was a different welcome than when he first entered the city walls. The guard was smiling like an idiot, he couldn't believe the person he had talked to was the rightful heir. He praised his instincts for making the right call.

"The rightful heir felled King Azazel. All hail Hubris Cerberuson, our rightful King. Our true King." Belial bellowed.