Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

The academy became quiet after classes ended, and the madder sun glowed on the horizon. Asura sat in the library, his eyes reading a book about the logistics of running your land.

Books on farming, fishing, hunting, crafting and building were all information he didn't need, but regardless. He sat silently in the library with a single officer sleeping at the front desk. Asura spent hours in this room with the quiet sound of pages turning each second.

'I wonder if there is a way to automate the recovery of the land after a yield, although an alternation of crops that bear high and low loads while revitalising the soils is a good idea.'

'I need something better so they can still eat during the worst years.'

Asura wore a different uniform in this library, his shoulders blue instead of red and black. This meant he was a second year.

"Earth magic can improve the soil's nutrients and recover the land, but what of the surface, the grass and crops? Wouldn't it be best to combine the other elements to help those grow more effectively?"

"Hmmm? What are you reading again, Asura?" A low but lovely voice sounded as a woman sat beside him and placed another set of books based on military and government topics, the other half of a lord's duties.

Her long crimson hair flowed down her shoulders, gently touching Asura's as she leaned forward and read his notes before scribbling a few words and adding some of her magical knowledge to him.

'Eh?'

"Verana, why are you here? Didn't you have to meet the prince from the east today?"

Asura seemed to speak slightly bitterly when mentioning the prince and everything he lacked. Thus, Asura did his best to surpass him in other realms and topics, wanting to overcome his jealousy.

"Ah... He's not really my type and there's someone who was extremely excited about meeting him in the family, so I sent her instead."

'Liar... You know you betrayed me in the end.'

The moment she appeared, Asura's mind woke from the pleasant dream and realised this was a memory from his first life that had happened when they had been studying together for half a year.

It was also the day...

'Forget it... I should wake up soon.'

"Hmmm, I guess you have a refined palate then, Vera?"

"Haha, I like someone with sharp eyes and silver hair. You're more my type, Asura; you've got a gentle yet comforting aura around you."

'And you're lying since you chose the prince.'

"Anyway, let me help you with this project. Is it for the Phoenix Glade? I am envious that you can think so clearly about matters that are so difficult and that others might not even care about Asura."

'Because you will steal it all from me, anyway. Why do you butter me up?'

The air became silent.

Asura couldn't change the movements of his body, forced to live out this memory like a prisoner trapped inside his mind, as he became shy and embarrassed and dreamed of a happy future together.

However, he didn't remember these days so clearly because of his hatred and the many years after that were like hell. No, he hated Verana so much because of these memories.

They worked until dark, spending hours in the library talking about the problems he had been pondering for days.

Asura felt relaxed, unable to keep calm as he blushed whenever Verana touched him and looked into the magical side of things he struggled with while he would help her with logical reasoning she couldn't quite grasp.

The pair completed each other's inadequacies.

Soon after the library closed, it was a rare time that she visited his room.

They would often talk until nearly midnight on these occasions, but Asura would fall asleep, his mind and memories a little hazy when he woke up alone in his bed wearing different clothes or nothing, wondering if he had stripped himself in his sleep.

"Asura... I want to ask you something because it might become impossible if I don't do it now."

"What are you so serious about? You look so embarrassed."

"Do you... Do you want to be my fiancé?"

'Eh?' Asura remembered how shocked he had been at her words and how nervous Verana had looked, unsure whether she could hide her embarrassment.

'...'

True, there was a time when their families weren't enemies, or so he might have believed back then. However, why did it take so long to complete this request despite her seeming so earnest and genuine?

'Turn her down...'

'Don't be a fool!'

'Turn her down... Before it becomes worse.'

'You idiot! Say yes!' A second voice, his own, shouted... causing Asura's mind to become confused. Who? Who was speaking in his voice?

"Verana..." Asura took her hand, smiling gently with a slight blush. "I am a mere No Mag... Your mother doesn't wish for this outcome..."

The moment he spoke, it was like her entire world collapsed, yet the inexperienced Asura of that life didn't see those subtle changes and signs of pain; even though he hated her because of the past, it caused Asura to become stunned for a moment.

'What!?'

'Verana showed such a face? I cannot remember. Is this my memory or a hopeful dream?'

Asura couldn't recall these details anymore as he tried to piece them together, becoming unsure of what truly transpired.

'What face did she make?'

'Verana cried. Did she cry?'

Before he could say anything, there was a feeling of magic fluttering through the air... a powder both pink and black that Verana blew into the oblivious Asura's face, who continued reading as if he thought his answer was the best for her.

'What's going on... why...'

The next moment, Asura fell asleep, his head hitting the soft palm of Verana as she stopped him from hitting the table before she split into six shadows, and her eyes became serious.

"Pretend to be me in my room, answer the questions and doubts of my sister perfectly. All of you merge to form the most perfect clone possible."

Six shadows nodded, merging to create one Verana, a perfect copy that suddenly collected her books and study materials before leaving the room and locking the key, placing a rune of silence that would hide all sound.

Verana's eyes turned golden before she walked towards Asura, carrying him in her arms like a princess, walking towards his room, whom she had memorised many times.

'What's happening? Since I am sleeping this dream... this memory should end, right?'

[Asura... If I exist in this life, I existed in the last.]

'!?'

She placed the sleeping Asura on the bed with a slightly red face before taking a deep breath and swallowing her saliva.

"You are bad, Asura, turning me down when I know you love me so much... If I don't do this now, then one day, my mother may force me to give this to another man. Thus, I will give you everything. Even if but a mere fantasy for me, a dream... like an illusion, I won't let them separate us."

'What...?'

[...]

With her last words, she undressed the sleeping Asura... his body was slightly less muscular and, although still impressive, smaller than his current state as it towered into the skies. His dragon seemed to glow with a powerful magic aura.

'How!? Why is there magic coming from my body?'

[Just watch...]

He listened to Helliana because he trusted the woman who supported and protected him, but the scene before his eyes... It shocked him to the core...

Verana, the Duchess of Drakkur, whom he hated, had sex with him as he slept. Also, it was her first time; the signs of pain on her face, the blood and her tears...

Asura felt confusion; his past's anger, hatred and suffering clashed with this image...

Verana kissed Asura deeply... the taste of honey, peaches and the scent of a flowery aroma lingered on Asura's lips even though this was a dream. She acted with extreme patience and gentleness, playing with his body with kisses and caressing; each time he finished inside her depths, she only showed an enraptured look as she drank a strange potion...

'Isn't that?..'

[A potion to induce pregnancy... it increases a female mage's fertility by 70%, and today is Verana's highest chance of becoming pregnant.]

'Why!?'

However, as he screamed in his mind, the feeling of someone calling his name and shaking his shoulders echoed.

He watched as the image of Verana shaking her hips while showing a desperate face faded slowly, but he burnt that face and image into his mind before waking up.

"Asura!"

"Lord Asura, are you well?"

"Husband..."

The voices of the three women caused him to stir. As his eyes flickered, Lucretia looked extremely worried, her hands holding his, while Mu Xue sat next to his bed, stroking his cheeks and the last voice was Delta, the commander of the Valkyries.

Delta stood near the door with a few maids behind her who carried food and drinks before leaving, while Asura finally woke fully, realising he lay in his bedroom in Wolfsheim.

Lucretia helped Asura sit up, and Mu Xue fed him a delicious soup.

Yet he tried to remember the dream from a moment before... He could see the image of Verana and himself but still couldn't tell whether it was real or just his strange, fleeting dreams from his past life.

"Are you alright, Huband? You kept calling a woman's name with a pained voice..." Mu Xue asked with a slightly bitter face. He understood she knew who the woman was, and he could only stroke her cheek and shake his head.

"It's different, Xu'er; it was a nightmare." Asura comforted her before looking at Lucretia, who stroked Asura's forehead before giving him some healing tonic and medicine to clear his mind.

"I thought you were going to die... those wounds still won't heal, although they aren't as bad. It's my fault." Lucretia muttered regretfully.

Asura noticed a slight wound on her arm and grabbed her wrist before pulling her onto the bed and kissing the wound; as his anima transferred into her body, it healed.

"Stop blaming yourself. The battle is already over. I can fix this with training and not forcing myself again. Don't worry." Asura kissed Lucretia once more before glancing at Mu Xue, who fed him the soup with a smile.

"I'm sorry to bother you two. Can I have some time alone? Xu'er, will you come back later tonight and tell me what happened after I went berserk?"

"Of course..." Mu Xue nodded and kissed Asura before leaving with Lucretia. Delta stayed behind for a moment longer after sending away the maids.

Asura sat in the darkness, a small candle flickering in the room with an enormous window that showed the beautiful night sky filled with stars. Helia's figure sat beside Asura silently as she stroked along his cheek and shoulder.

"What happened, Asura?"

"A dream..."

"It was your past." She whispered with a reluctant tone in her voice... There was something she knew and desperately wanted to avoid discovering the truth of the events that would follow that night...

"You were with me, even when I suffered that pathetic life?"

"I thought you were cool despite having no magic to help you. Instead, you utilised your brain and wits to survive."

Silence again filled the room before the loud wind howled across the stone window, followed by the distant singing of celebrating soldiers having enjoyed a good drink tonight.

"Did it happen that once? Or did all the times I suddenly fell asleep?.."

"All the times... dozens of times."

He wanted to believe, feeling her gentle hand caressing his hair, but how could he accept that because she had changed so much only six months after that night?

Asura struggled. There were so many things he didn't know or understand. His feelings were also confused, and he wished he could meet her again and ask what she was doing.

'Forget it... I need to recover.'

Although he could ask Helliana now, she might tell him everything, but there was a feeling inside his heart, a hunch that told him that maybe he would get his answers with no need to do that.

"Let's rest, then see the town's state."

"Understood, Asura."

Helia wrapped him tightly in his sheets, watching him slowly fall asleep before her figure faded. An hour seemed to be her current limit for having an actual body.

It seemed choosing that hour to comfort Asura was enough for her, as once again, he sank into the marsh of his memories.