Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

Flames burned the fallen corpses as countless knights and mages stormed the small village, flinging spells, swinging swords and cutting each other down for their beliefs.

Asura's eyes seemed empty as they gazed at a fallen soldier.

There was no warmth, sympathy, or forgiveness. Asura's silver blade cleaved the chest of an older male. Even those who called out their loved ones' names. Asura narrowed his eyes before landing the fatal strike.

'Leave none alive.'

A message from the depths of his soul, unknown whence it came.

With brutality, bloodshed and a wicked smile drawn upon his face, something about Asura changed the moment he fought against other humans.

After the monster's death, many units suffered great casualties and wanted to rest.

However, the momentum didn't allow them. Forced to charge over the wooden walls to die or kill those who might have been friends or allies on another day.

'An enemy spared shall invite ruin.'

Asura became overwhelmed by feelings of grief and anguish. The more these feelings and thoughts spilt into his mind, the silver blade coated in blood, dripping with thick droplets while crackling with black lightning.

He saw images of Mu Xue's death, and Xavida besieged on all sides.

These memories were the regrets from his past and the hidden wounds caused by the plume rebirth system. Asura tried to calm himself, but the rage as his blade tore the throat of another while he burned the charging youth with tears in his eyes, calling out 'brother' into ash with a single black flame.

'Nothing is profane during war.'

In another scene of Mu Xue's death, dozens of golden lances impaled her, the divine smite of the elves.

The death of Muru, yet to the current Asura who stood with Unit nine, despite their fearful eyes avoiding his bloody figure, they followed his lead and now, along with most of the students, had conquered the village, forcing the Romantican troops to flee in terror.

"Knight Cynthia, we have cleared the second wall!"

Cil's face looked filthy, her eyes milky and glazed while she bit her lower lip, seeming to be about to cry.

"Any survivors?"

"None, the villagers were.... They hung the villagers in the barn and their bodies..." Cil's face became pale while the seven knights behind her looked away with the same look.

The villagers suffered a horrifying end.

"Understood. Return to the camp and take a brief rest. You don't need to return."

Knight Cynthia seemed to have the compassion that most of the royal knights lost during their harsh training.

Though it might be because of her youth, at this moment, the members of Cil's team seemed to support her more than even Barbatos.

"Yes, Ma'am!"

However, the moment their group began marching towards the rear, a sudden impact caused the earth to quake, a rumbling feeling that grew larger before it caused every student to collapse or use their weapon to remain standing.

"So the young knights of Silvara have chosen death?" a deep and raspy voice sounded before an enormous male carrying a massive sword now stood in the centre of the village. Nobody knew where he came from or how.

"!?"

"Siegfried..." Cynthia's voice trembled as she felt the aura radiating from the man standing idle.

The next moment, his muscular thigh slammed down on the ground; with a thunderous boom, the village burned. A huge flame surrounded the entire village, cutting off Cil's escape while one student fell into the fire and turned to ash.

"Fall back, stay away," Cynthia said in a low voice while holding her black greatsword; in the distance, Lorem and the other units were watching.

Lorem moved the moment she saw Siegfried's figure.

Her eyes looked at Asura for a moment before soft, feathered wings sprouted from her back. While the Silvaran forces seemed to be shocked and suffered a blow to morale, the Romantican knights rallied behind the tall man built like a wall.

"Hurry, you cannot win this fight. Asura, Take them and flee!"

"Forgive me, young knight of Silvara, but I cannot allow them to leave. Especially that boy who oozes evil."

Romantica's strongest knight was Siegfried Varheist. His piercing grey eyes watched Asura while he tightly gripped his blade, half impaling the earth.

"What evil he is but a student! You will face me."

"You are but a child—cease!"

With a single outburst, he stepped forward, pulling his sword from the ground and stepping forward with his first slash.

His giant blade sliced through the air and travelled toward Cynthia. She gripped her black blade with both hands and focused her mind on the current situation, casting earth magic that covered her armour to strengthen her body to the limit.

Yet, when the swords met, the sudden shockwave caused Cynthia's bones to creak, though her enhanced defence and Siegfried's brutal offence, which negated the slash's force, caused him no harm.

However, behind Cynthia, several students burst into bloody mist, the force of a Stage 10 blademaster causing those that survived to realise the difference in power, as blood poured from Cynthia's body, dripping down the black armour and rocks that protected her.

"You cannot stop my blade, young girl. Step back and deliver the evil unto my blade."

"!?"

Cynthia couldn't speak. Her chest burned while her arms felt numb from the intense force she'd just blocked. It was too fast and powerful for her to react to.

'This is Stage 10!?'

Asura felt an unbearable weight covering his body. His power to move was limited, and he could not remove his eyes from the tall male's figure. It was a strange feeling that lacked hatred or any negative feelings towards him.

Siegfried just wanted to reduce what he believed to be evil, as there wasn't any of his intention or agenda. He did not fight for money or fame. He simply fought for his country and beliefs.

While Lorem flew at full speed, the nearby students were now running forward while others fled the village in terror. Their auras didn't have the confidence to fight an opponent of this strength, as fear dominated their eyes, yet the moment they came close to the flames surrounding the village, many burned to ashes.

It became apparent this battle wasn't one they could escape.

"Knight of Silvara, do you still not intend to leave?"

"I won't let you touch him. He's just a boy."

Cynthia gripped her black greatsword before charging forward, releasing a low-tiered sword art she'd mastered.

"No, he isn't just a boy. You are the knight who serves Silvara and the royal family. I see. I see. Silvara invites such evil into their bedchambers. Then you do not need to exist!"

Cynthia felt a horrifying force bearing down on her, but she forced herself forward to buy time for Asura while the students marched and fled toward Lorem's reinforcements, hoping to escape.

Yet, when the ten students had just broken through the flames and fled, the flames reappeared and chased the students who used magic to escape, torturing them until they slowly burned to death.

"None may leave alive, none."

"Monster!" Cynthia screamed in rage while her body trembled.

"There are no monsters in war, only the winners and losers!"

"I shall end this, for the sake of my country. Your deaths shall bring prosperity to Romantica, and the wicked shall perish!"

The next moment, Cynthia's sword hit the ground.

"Gaha.. what!?"

An arm wrapped around Cynthia's body the moment her sword clanged on the ground, her left arm half severed, but a warm, scarlet flame entangled with her body, healing her wounds instantly.

The heat felt like a gentle embrace. Cynthia's eyes went wide when Lorem appeared next to her and picked up her sword.

'Always trying to look cool, Lorem.'

Asura felt the pressure crack like a window smashed by a rock. The moment Lorem appeared, she created an aura that completely nullified Siegfried's oppressive force.

"Now then, Cynthia... You did well. Good girl."

Lorem seemed to speak to Cynthia like she did with Lucia, like an older sister or mother.

"Mother Lorem... I-I did my best, but they, they burned...."

'Mother?'

"Go, I shall fight here."

"But Mother, he is the blademaster and isn't your body suffering?"

"My fated partner healed me. Little Cynthia, meet up with the princess and little dragon queen and pull the students as far away as you can."

Lorem gently helped Cynthia up and snapped her fingers, carrying the dozens of students before she flew across the flames and away from the village.

"Not so fast, Knight Lorem."

"You seem to think you're doing the right thing, but what will you gain from this?"

However, despite finishing her trip and returning, only Asura and Lorem remained in the centre of the village. Her beautiful red eyes narrowed, filled with anger, yet when looking at Asura, they became infinitely gentle and affectionate.

"I will fight you to protect my husband. Is there a problem? Knight Siegfried Verheist?"

"Evil shall never repent! Yet... You dare protect him!?"

"Is that so? Yet, if you consider yourself a righteous man, you will not kill the innocent."

"They are not innocent, but knights of Silvara who seek to destroy our way of life and took the lives of my brethren."

"Sophistry!"

Lorem's roar caused the earth to quake; her right hand clasped Cynthia's black greatsword and carried the blood-stained weapon while Siegfried seemed unafraid.

"Does the old scarlet phoenix, alone in the world, seek her death at last?"

For the first time, Siegfried held his sword in a stance, placing his right leg forward while his left foot stretched backwards. He held his blade with both hands.

Lorem felt as though she stood on thin ice while her feet dug into the dirt. The wind gathered around her red battle armour, and the wings on her back seemed to struggle to flap.

"I have found a mate, so why would I seek death? You old fool!"

"Good, you have found a mate. Then do not stand before me and become a roadblock for me to cut down the evil."

The moment Siegfried spoke, Lorem vanished from her spot and slammed into his broad blade with the sword, making him tremble and step back before a jet of flames followed her slash, the intense heat vaporising the entire village ruins, however with a swing of his offhand Siegfried doused the flames and pierced forward towards her chest.

'Wow... She was this powerful?'

Asura focused his entire will and hate on breaking the strange chains that seemed to bind him; though they were intangible, he felt the sheer might of stage 10, who wanted to hold him down while fighting Lorem.

Lorem's figure twisted and swung her sword to block, slashing with her left hand, now transformed into talon-like claws, but the force caused her to retreat once more, a small trickle of blood falling from the corner of her mouth while she clenched her teeth and met his eyes.

"You improved again, old man."

"You too, bird woman," Siegfried muttered as his cheek bled. A long cut appeared from his chin to his cheekbone.