Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

The blistering heat from the sun above caused the sandy training ground to become like molten lava, the scorching temperature rising by the minute, forcing Asura's shirtless figure to shine brightly as drops of sweat fell towards the ground— the sounds of clashing metal echoed across the arena followed by the gasping voice of a female and grunting groans of a male.

'I can activate it faster! I am sure there is a way.' Asura held Nova tightly, now clashing with his sister in a friendly spar before the saintess arrived.'

"Amalia, come at me with everything. Your brother can take it all!" His voice resounded loudly, provoking Amalia's competitive nature, allowing her attacks to grow fiercer and speed up rapidly.

'So her strength is already at the limit, but her speed is much greater.' Somehow, after training with Lucretia, the vision and ability of Asura became different... as if he could see the world more clearly—his eyes saw the world at normal speed, while the parallel thinking skill would slow the world down, passing information to him, allowing him to predict her flow, and target vaguely.

'There's three of them now!?'

It suddenly shocked Asura, realising he had two extra processes in his mind, one studying the martial arts and contraceptive book from Xavida and the other supplementing his combat power, seeming to be always ready to cast magic or direct a block or parry.

'Asura 2, please continue to focus on research.'

'Asura 3 focuses on vision and magic—let me deal with counters and the actual swordplay.'

They weren't real people or other minds; it was easier for him to visualise them as those names, like monoliths. He ordered them to focus and assist him, never taking direct control from the master monolith.

"Maybe I'll eventually have four of them... one for each monolith... and I would be the Rebirth totem guiding them...? It stresses my magic and mind a bit more, but let's keep going with well-defined tasks!"

Amalia's sword was fast, the thin blade sharp and deadly as she sliced across his chest, only for his left hand to flicker with a weak ice block and parry the strike, countering with his right arm piercing her with Nova.

Seeing her chance missed, Amalia retreated backwards with a step. However, Asura twisted his wrist, pushing his shoulder further as Nova pierced her right arm deeply before exploding, sending frost energy into her and freezing her right arm! Only enough to make it numb and not a life-threatening amount of courses, Asura 3 controlled the amount perfectly.

"Ahh.... it hurts...!" Amalia whispered, her body instantly wrapped in wings of wind and pulling her off the blade. She almost dropped her sword as she flew around forty yards away and stopped, kneeling while placing a hand on the frozen wound, magic flowing around her body to recover quickly.

Asura lunged towards her, his golden eyes shimmering as he pushed out his left hand, a flicker of black flames exploding into a small sphere as he shot towards Amalia to stop her healing, his arm moving in sync with the slowly moving visuals to fire barrage after barrage at his twin sister.

"Wind barrier!"

Amalia cried out loudly, crossing her arms and forming a layer of greenish windshield in front of her, the ball of flame smacking hard against it, causing small ripples every time the projectile struck...

His body arrived at her location, with his icy blue blade crackling with a flash of fierce lightning as it slid along the ground and tore through her weakened barrier, slicing apart her armour and nicking her cheek, stunning Amalia momentarily—

Thump!

Asura punched her in the stomach, causing her to vomit saliva and fall onto her knees, grabbing her breast and staring daggers at Asura, who kicked her sword far away and pointed Nova against her neck, staring down at her pitiful state.

"Brother wins...." Amalia coughed, acknowledging she lost and stood up, rubbing her reddened breasts... Asura offered her a bottle of water, which she drank silently, watching him closely, "How do you improve so fast... it's not fair..."

He didn't see it as a competition with Amalia and smiled gently, "I will improve until I can protect you, Father and all our people with my body alone. My desire to become strong and surpass those above me is greater than I ever imagined."

Amalia sipping on the water looked strange, a mixture of a smile filled with happiness and a slight sorrow as if she lost something—while looking at her brother's sweating figure, holding his sword, he practised swinging the sword, but it was a little strange Amalia was sure her brother's weapon should be longer.

"The powerful brother is cool... But I miss the gentle brother... who would tell me stories, the one I swore to protect..."

Watching the pair from the beginning above on the wall was the sword saintess; today, their fight left her with a wide smile; from here, she could hear and see everything, which was the benefit of being above Stage Eight.

Although increasing your stage might improve your body in different ways, the five senses always improved, so hearing, sight, smell, touch, and taste were now beyond humanity.

"To think the two of you want to become strong for the same reasons..." Suddenly shaking her head, the lovely blue hair dancing like a swan fluttering across a lake.

"No, Amalia is a little cute because she only wants to be strong for her brother, while Asura wants to protect more; his burdens will surely be tiresome... Somehow, his weapon doesn't quite suit his movements, though..."

Woosh!

Like last time, the saintess took out her eastern sword and jumped from the roof, aiming to test her student and pseudo-student.

However, unlike last time... Asura somehow knew she was coming; his posture changed from practising the strange movement technique from the first black book and becoming like the second book, a mixture of fluidity as his body twisted towards Amalia.

The moment the eastern blade slashed down, his right arm covered in earth and ice blocked the blade before tossing Amalia to her sword before he kicked out, hitting only the ghostly afterimage of the saintess, who showed a huge grin.

"Excellent reflexes! Let me show you why I am called the saintess of the sword! My only male pupil! Oh! And Amalia! You can leave...

We shall train later today!"

The saintess waved Amalia away, ignoring her teary eyes and sulking face as she walked away...

Asura wasn't daunted and welcomed her guidance; Asura 2 and 3 were comparing her moves to the book and trying to create a new method to incorporate it into their own or defend against it!

"Saintess... how should I wield Nova better... It feels stiff compared to your sword; my strength grows daily, and its weight feels light now, but I cannot get past the limitations of its design."

Clang!

Sparks fluttered as she slashed twice across his blade, her body like a ghost, but her sword struck him like a viper's bite, pushing him back several steps. Realising that although Nova was beautiful and easy to use, he was far too light and frail for his strength.

The answer was there, but she felt that fighting the sword saintess with a lance was wrong, too.

"For such a simple question, I shall teach you this! Show me your proper weapon!"

"But it's not a sword..."

"Oooh?"

Slash!

Her blade cut the tip of Nova, almost taking his entire face as she swirled like a cyclone, appearing and disappearing like a super version of Lucretia. Asura stepped back, his right hand holding out before he called for his true spirit weapon, 'Lumeris Nova, let's fight.'

Vrrrm!

From it appeared the usual long Sword-Lance, dark steel blade, with a red and gold shaft forged in black and red veins, with a black stone glowing blue on the counterweight blade. In comparison, Nova was beautiful, but Lumeris Nova was menacing and regal, with many runes carved into the shaft itself!

Holding the heavy-weighted weapon once again caused Asura to feel relieved, remembering his fights against the many monsters and that Stage Four creature. 'I see... there was a subconscious fear of failure... taking out this weapon.'

It's not like he didn't want to use Lumeris Nova, but the loss against that creature and his brutal beating left a small shadow on his mind, needing the sheer aura and power of the saintess to help him break that thinking.

"Here I come, Asura! Make sure you defend well!"