Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

Asura felt his entire body burning in intense pain. The sensation was like someone was pulling his flesh apart with metal hooks.

He felt as if someone was pushing their thumbs into his eyes as if to crush them when suddenly, a warm, delicious taste filled his mouth. Someone was kissing him as he awoke from his dreamlike state.

'What happened? I remember some cocky bastard speaking about Xavida, so I crushed him in anger.'

'Then what happened?'

Despite having four different thoughts running through his mind at once. Asura was still dazed and confused as he tried to match the soft, warm marshmallow rolling around his mouth.

Suddenly, a familiar smell invaded his nostrils: the scent of blood, the woman's fragrance and her breath familiar to him.

'Is this Lucretia? Her scent is much more intense than it has ever been!'

Asura could tell she was desperate as he felt a pain in his tongue as she sucked on it. He woke up thanks to her slightly poor kiss, realising that the loud banging and shaking ground meant the battle was still ongoing.

"Hmm..."

He frowned and opened his eyes slowly, finding the beautiful raven-haired beauty kissing him; his blood was inside her mouth, but she didn't seem to care, the feeling of their magic cycling between them too pleasant as it repaired most of his wounds.

Asura could also feel the heat coming from her body as she wrapped him in three clones, still in her raven form.

In his slight daze, he believed the best way to thank her was to kiss her back and make her feel good. The other thoughts controlled things like his magic, defensive senses and observing the surroundings using his magic.

Asura focused on making out with his instructor for the second time.

Lucretia's body tensed momentarily as she felt a gentle hand stroking the back of her neck; her ears twitched a little.

"Mhmm~!"

"?!"

She let out a soft moan of delight when Asura bit down on her lip and pulled on it gently before suckling on it. Her body shivered as she felt him nibble before tracing her plump lower lips with his tongue; her cheeks burned as he slipped it inside her mouth again.

Their tongues intertwined passionately until Asura withdrew from her, leaving Lucretia staring at him with wide eyes.

"Haa.... Ha... You scoundrel... if you woke up... you Mhmmph!?"

Asura didn't care about her complaints, and she kissed him while sleeping, so he grabbed the back of her head, again enjoying the sweet taste of her juicy red lips.

Lucretia's body quivered momentarily, pushing on his chest before all three clones hugged him tight. She felt shocked and excited by his actions since they had done such a thing before.

Her feelings were so joyful, drowning in the kiss's pleasure mixed with the pleasure of feeling his magic mix with hers, that she almost forgot why they were fighting.

Asura noticed her clone armour was shattered, leaving her body bare except for the remnants of leather and cloth sticking to her supple skin. He admired her well-developed breasts pressing against his chest for a moment before remembering the sounds of war surrounding them.

"Lucretia... you must be cold," Asura said before taking off his black bio armour, the set Mu Xue gave him, and making her wear it, the black and red plate adjusting to her sensual frame, causing Asura to swallow his saliva as her ass and breasts were well-emphasised.

'Damn, it looks different on a woman!'

Although she tried to stop him, she was weaker than usual because of the overuse of magic, and the kiss left her sweet to anything Asura said or did, and she didn't have Lorem or Xavida to stop her this time.

"Don't be so naughty. I'm still your instructor."

"Hmmm, instructor wife, doesn't that sound erotic?"

"Eh? Why do you say stupid things? You are still so young!" Her face was red, and even the clone's cheeks seemed to glow as she turned away, trying to resist the charms of a boy almost half her age.

"Instructor wife, don't turn your face on me," Asura teased.

The only reason he teased was to avoid thoughts and reacting to the unbearable pain in his chest and organs, but he didn't know if she understood that.

"Mhmm!" Lucretia moaned, her body quivering when he cupped her chin and forced her to look directly into his eyes, "instructor wife, you're mine."

"Tsk... be serious, we must fight; the war isn't over."

He leaned back and looked into the skies to see beautiful shimmers of silver shooting through the skies, their magic sharp and deadly, glistening lances raining down on the reserve boats without their top-class warships left.

It seemed the demon kingdom was retreating slowly, but the Valkyrie overwhelmed them.

However, Asura knew this battle was far from over; it was just starting.

Would it be a month, two months, or maybe a year before they appeared again with more troops and the primary force of the demon army? This small win for him, though, felt amazing to him, who always lost or got trampled on.

'Oh... Its Xu'er!'

She flew in her devil for in the southern skies with five Valkyrie. Her lovely blue skin danced like a water fairy along the sea, and he watched with a smile as her icy wings gleamed like sapphire jewels.

Lucretia noticed Asura looking into the distance with a smile, his eyes fixated on Xu'er, and although she wanted to act jealous, seeing him happy made her feel relaxed, and she didn't want to ruin that as she wondered why Asura could even smile with the wounds still covering his abdomen, the strange cracks showing no signs of healing.

"Asura, rest; I need to recover some of my magic to take us back there." Lucretia sighed; he kept teasing her as she clenched him against her clone's body, as he was still half-naked underneath.

Asura noticed Lucretia seemed worried about his wounds and likely wanted him to be seen by light elemental mages.

However, he knew they couldn't repair these wounds, and the cracks filled with a strange black substance that neither dripped nor leaked.

He knew instinctively he would heal when hitting Stage Four and used his manifestation without forcing his body into overdrive like before.

'Well, only five minutes and my body is a mess. Imagine I didn't have these four parallel thoughts that stopped me from becoming berserk for real...'

Asura shook his head; he knew his manifestation art was incomplete. It lacked stability, and he needed to fix that.

'Let's ignore my injuries; the demon kingdom is retreating for now. I should show I am fine to help the troops' morale in the last moments, even if it hurts to breathe.'

His back trembled as black scales began covering his flesh, hiding the cracks and wounds as only a pair of black wings extended from his shoulders. "Let's let them know we are fine first, Lucretia."

He spoke briefly before flapping his wings, and the duo took to the skies...

"A-Asura!? Are you okay to fly... Don't push yourself."

⁜ Northern Shore Port Battlefield

Asura arrived above the battlefield. He could see the destruction of the city, and it looked terrible. However, the people were alive, many with shovels or hammers breaking the broken rocks and searching for their fellow people or clearing debris with faces filled with determination.

'I am proud to be your lord.' Seeing these people, mostly unable to do anything against the enemy, were his only thoughts, but they stood here as the enemy fought only a few miles away.

"Aren't they amazing? Their homes and maybe even many of their loved ones might have died... Yet they work so hard to save strangers." Lucretia whispered; she seemed shocked because of her upbringing as Asura flew them slowly above and greeted or helped them as he passed.

Many people cheered when they saw Asura flying; they recognised Asura's voice and his face, which seemed to increase their morale when they saw him alive and helping them clear debris.

As they approached the shoreline, he spotted Xu'er and her Valkyrie finishing the last few demon ships, their bodies still pristine despite fighting for quite some time.

'It looks like I passed the first test, Father... or was this the second test?'

He wanted to fly to Mu Xue and hug her tightly, but his insides suddenly ached, like something was grabbing his twin hearts and lungs in their hands and twisting them. Their flight became messy, his wings losing feathers before he forced himself to crash land near the damaged fort, coughing up another mouthful of black blood.

Asura's mind went blank, his arms wrapped around Lucretia, using his clone to protect her, as she landed with him; he felt pain all over his body before fainting.

"Asura!?"

"What's going on... You, you're bleeding again!"

Lucretia panicked as she carried Asura in her arms; she felt his body shivering and the wounds spreading rapidly as she saw his body bleeding from all four limbs and his mouth and nose...

She knew he was pushing himself, but not this much as she carried him in her arms, desperately searching for something to stabilise him.

Xu'er saw Asura flying around and noticed him watching her as she finished the enemy off, but the moment he struggled and crashed, her wings filled with power propelled her forward with a loud boom as she rushed over.

Mu Xue landed beside them and was surprised to see Asura in such a state...

"Husband? Are you alright? Why are you so stupid... My heart sank when you flew out to fight that bastard in such a strange form!"

"Haa... sorry... Xu'er...."

"Don't speak... Idiot!"

She panicked even more when Lucretia told her he was bleeding all over his body and his condition was unstable.

Mu Xue felt Asura's forehead and found it was searing hot before she placed her palm over his heart; for the first time, she noticed his two hearts properly as they were beating rapidly but out of sync!

The dragon's heart was much faster than the devil's, likely because he used that form in his pseudo-manifestation.

"Lucretia, stay calm... Take us to the medical tents. We will ask someone to check on him."

Mu Xue's voice was stern, noticing Lucretia's panic, and the surrounding Valkyrie, including Xu'er, felt it, too.

It was strange for the student to be calmer than the instructor, but the females knew what was going on from that hot, feverish glance and her clones holding him so gently.

However, she had to remain calm; otherwise, their lord would suffer. So they quickly guided him to the medical tent; yet, even with the victory, many worried about the phoenix glade's future earl.