Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

The moment Asura heard the dark, lonely voice with a low pitch, a surge of recognition washed over him, instantly connecting him to his memories.

Before she spoke against them, he wrestled his hands-free of the disgusting, slimy sensation that wrapped around his hands.

The place Azoth lived didn't look beautiful even in the past. However, now, the entire realm looked bare; no demons or devils were supporting the monarch, and the entire place was being flooded with that disgusting black sludge.

"I am the true inheritor. Why do you sit on my throne, elf." Asura growled, resisting the heavy aura that oozed throughout the entire realm.

"You have no place here, begone filth!" she hissed, her words dripping with venom.

Asura didn't have some grand plan to deal with Philis as he wished.

Instead, he only had the emotions, memories, and feelings that Azoth left behind before being devoured.

"How dare you!" The angry voice of the distant figure seated on the shattered throne echoed through the realm, almost splintering Asura's head with a sharp pain. "This is the realm of Azoth, and none can sully his name!"

Philis, who fell to a dark elf for him and suffered because of the cult using underhanded means to control her to kill Azoth, seemed miserable to Asura.
Find your next read on empire

All of Azoth's memories and feelings were like a distorted note that caused havoc on Asura's mind.

"If you were on the surface, I would not be forced to face these memories or come to this place of sorrow," Asura growled. His voice was angry and filled with irritation because of the ache inside his mind. The remnant feelings and memories of Azoth caused havoc upon hearing her voice.

His pitch-black eyes with crimson iris glared at Philis.

He did not know if it was his or Azoth's emotions. But the moment he saw the black slime, everything felt disgusting, embarrassing and shameful. This slime devoured an abyssal realm when its leader was inept, or there was no ruler. Then, the people would die and become sick, and this slime would devour them, leaving nothing behind.

"Philis, that throne is not yours."

She didn't seem to care about Asura's words as her right hand moved, and from her palm, a large glob of sludge oozed out before forming a sword. "Do not speak filth to me, you unwanted bastard!"

A multitude of black swords materialised in front of Asura. He simply let his aura explode, the black and white flames forming a perfect aura of fire that covered his entire body, melting and obliterating the slime.

Philis did not let her attacks stop. Asura could see a dense amount of sludge underneath his feet and across the ground. He immediately stood up in the air, using his fire to burn away anything that tried to touch him.

With a swipe of her hand, a wave of sludge flew towards him.

Asura responded with a breath attack.

His intense black-and-white flame clashed with the black slime. But before Asura could even blink, hordes of swords struck him from different angles.

The attack was powerful, and it didn't matter how fast Asura was. He still couldn't dodge these sword strikes. Or so Philis thought.

Asura used his void magic to teleport past the sword's blade and arrived above Philis.

"It's time to stop," Asura whispered while aiming his palm at Philis.

Her anger-filled expression shifted the moment she noticed Asura's hand glowing brightly, but she wasn't fast enough.

Before she could react, a thick beam of white-black fire obliterated her. When he fired the beam of fire, the entire realm shook. The beam went past the surface, destroying and ravaging the realm and melting everything it touched.

However, his true goal became apparent when the grey-skinned and old-looking Philis reappeared from his flames, her beautiful caramel-tinted face appearing with two long bouncing ears and her green eyes shimmering full of life while the black slime vanished rapidly.

She looked weak, her flesh was grey, and she looked old, but now she was the beautiful Elven queen Philis that Asura knew before her fall.

"Abyss Slime are vile creatures, and they should never exist," Asura muttered softly.

"Who are you?" Philis asked with a groggy voice, her eyes fluttering while feeling as if she just woke up from a dream. The entire realm was silent while she watched the black flames devour the slim that corrupted her.

"Azoth asked me to save you."

"Azoth...!? HOW! Azoth died so many years ago... thousands.. so long, he left me... no, I killed him!" Philis looked lost and confused, and her emotions were in disarray.

Asura didn't speak. Instead, he watched her experience the many emotions and feelings she probably forgot while under the slime's control. Her sin, losing her loved ones and the consequences of believing in the cult.

"Why would you want to save me!?" She finally asked after calming down. "Why did Azoth want to save me, the one who took his and Muru's life!?"

Asura didn't have a reply. He looked at the broken, dark elf, wondering why he was there. There was no plan, and he did not have the means to bring Azoth back with him.

I can tell a lie and soothe her broken heart. Or maybe it's not a lie. Isn't that why Azoth appeared to me as a child... training me so I could save her at this moment?

However, he is not my father but my past. I will discard this past and treat him as my family to save the heart of the woman he loved.

Asura made his choice; though it might be wrong, he didn't want to abandon Azoth's last request. Without Azoth, there were things he wouldn't have done in his past life, and he couldn't have saved Lorem from that sword master.

He looked at the woman thousands of years older than him and raised his hand before slapping her cheek. This woman looked as though she might become hysteric at any moment. Asura hated hysteric people. Thus, he slapped her again and again until her eyes focused and turned to hatred.

"You dirty bastard!" Philis hissed at him with her dark elf appearance. It held a slightly alluring quality, but the fight in her eyes pleased Asura because her hysteria faded.

"Oh, there we go," Asura smiled.

"You think you can escape me now that I am free from that disgusting slime's control?"

"Azoth wanted to save you," Asura said in a cold voice. "But do not think I'm his replacement or as kind as him, dark elf."Asura's words seemed ruthless and left Philis confused. She felt as though she missed something, and the words confused her.

"Now tell me, why did you give the corrupted seeds to your great nephews?" Asura asked without waiting for Philis to understand the situation.

"What seeds!?"

Asura slapped her again, causing her head to tilt from the strike, drool spraying across the throne. Philis's green eyes trembled, and her teeth ground together from the pain.

"You should not ask me again and just answer," Asura said with a terrifying grin.

"You dare hit me!?" Philis roared before he slapped her again, not stopping for several minutes, her lovely brown cheeks now dark red, as she quivered in fear from him even lifting his hand.

Her aura wouldn't appear, as if the man in front of her could hold her down in both body and spirit.

Asura enjoyed the look in her eyes. With a snort, he waited for her to respond. "You had those two eat the corrupted seeds and then turn on your niece, who took control of the empire when you betrayed her and all your people for some human cultists!"

"If you're going to say such rubbish, you should at least have died with them!"

Philis shuddered in fright, unable to recall many of her actions, but she remembered wanting to hurt her niece and nephews for becoming so weak. "But the cult—"

Asura didn't let her finish before slapping her again, causing her to stumble back in fright, collapsing on the throne. "Don't blame others for your weakness."

Philis collapsed on the throne and looked up at Asura. She couldn't deny it now. The person in front of her had the power to kill her. But at that moment, Philis felt a sense of peace as she thought back to Muru's death and how she killed her true love. Forced to watch his last moments before the cult betrayed her.

"There was no revival spell... the spell to make Azoth an elf, as they promised." Philis felt a tear falling down her cheeks. "But the spell worked, and Muru lived!" Philis's green eyes filled with hope as she explained.

"They betrayed me! I gave them the throne, anything they wanted so that I could save Azoth from death... the other Abyss Monarchs were going to crush him..."

Her eyes became bitter as she spoke. "But after it worked, they said there was no way to revive Azoth; it was all a lie... The seed of corruption is powerful. It was meant to create an army of dark elves to lead the assault against the humans and my people," Philis laughed self-mockingly. "Instead, I turned on my people and gave everything to those greedy cultists."

"The cultists destroyed the original world tree, and most of the Dark Elves that followed them were wiped out, with a few scattered across the globe."

"Now, they've been hiding in the shadows ever since and building their forces in secret." Philis's expression turned bleak as she watched Asura.

"Your story is a boring and sad one, yet I cannot hate you," Asura's face was bitter, but his words still came out strong.

**

In the end, the story was quite boring and simple.

Philis learned of the Monarch from the realm above, wanting to attack Azoth, so she searched for help to fight back... She Made a deal with some cultists and used their dark magic to corrupt the original world tree and make it rotten, allowing the seeds to control people.

Then she got tricked and ended up swallowing one, almost losing the entire kingdom of elves because of her actions and killing her beloved and best friend.

What a dumb woman. Why does she remind me of Celine?

Asura looked at the cowering elf, now crying in silence, probably scared to make a sound before he slapped her silly...

He didn't have a way to fix everything, nor could he be the one to forgive her. Asura rejected doing this on Azoth's behalf. However, he gave her at least some hope or rather showed her that everything isn't worthless.

The next moment, Asura's form changed. He transformed into the Liberacíon form that made him look almost identical to Azoth, his long horns and the body of black armour and strange runes.

Philis would know that different Abyssal Monarchs never shared the same form or look unless they carried the same blood or had some relation.

So when she looked up and saw him, her eyes widened, and she froze. "Azoth!? H-How.... A-Are you for real!?"

Pah!

With one more slap, Asura shook his head. "No, I am Asura."