Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

⁜ Verana POV

The moment she appeared in the strange land, a beautiful grove with vibrant flowers and flora surrounding her, Verana felt a sense of confusion.

Because Asura wasn't beside her, she began feeling unstable.

"Asura... Asura? Where are you!?"

'No way. Did he deceive me and go to another woman!?'

Verana had been trying to forget the past, hiding her fears by acting strong and confident.

However, the moment she felt Asura's presence vanish from her side, she felt terror as the dark feelings inside that grew over the ten years while trapped inside a living coffin, dark feelings of obsession and her hatred towards those who would part them.

'Asura... where did you go this time? Am I not good enough, even though I tried so hard?'

Her mind became deranged, thoughts and voices from her two lives mixing.

Verena's mocking words as she forced Verana, the puppet, to speak of everything they did, spilling her beloved secrets and forcing her betrayal for over ten years in silence.

"No, he wouldn't care. Asura likely did this to protect me."

'Really? Verena might have deceived him in secret!'

While fighting the voices in her mind, Verana's body swirled with an eerie darkness, a darkness that formed a churning mist, hiding her body while it danced around her.

Unknown to her, a group of monsters picked up her scent.

Seven goblins wearing iron armour stood only a short distance while readying their weapons, and their leader, a shaman-type goblin, started emitting its magical aura.

"I can smell corruption and disgusting trash."

Verana's voice sounded distorted and filled with resentment.

Her low tone was as she stared at the approaching goblins with narrow eyes, hiding most of her iris and leaving only an eerie red iris visible from the distance.

"Gigik!"

"Gusham, Vek Incanero!" said the goblin shaman as flames gathered atop his staff.

The moment the goblin's spell formed, the shadows and darkness around Verana transformed, the floor forming giant patches of darkness, like a mist covering the forest.

It swarmed around the goblins.

"Was it you?"

"Did you take Asura from us?"

There were two voices, one like the normal Verana and the other distorted, like when Asura used his liberation or manifestation.

A clear phoenix cry sounded while her head leaned to the side.

"Die."

With the echo of her voice, the darkness awakened.

Shadowy claws covered in blood and made of bones emerged from the ground as the phoenix talons grabbed the goblins one by one.

Each goblin shrieked as she ripped their limbs from their bodies, blood and flesh raining down upon the once beautiful clearing, staining these flowers forever with their black blood as the phantom talons pierced their hearts and dragged them underground.

Dissolved by the shadows, the goblins vanished from existence. Their essence, magic and life flowed into Verana, causing her to radiate with youth, beauty and power.

"So loud."

"..."

Verana stopped for a moment, her hands stained with blood as if she was the one tearing them apart—each time she moved, the phantom talons would dance inside the shadows, and then her eyes set on the goblin shaman about to cast his fire spell at her.

She observed the goblin's mana as the shadows touched him.

"..."

Verana tilted her head and disappeared. Darkness was gathering around the shaman as it squeezed him inside a bubble, rotting and melting his skin in seconds.

Then she appeared from a dark flicker behind him. The moment after she appeared, the space she existed in exploded with the inferno spell, creating a pillar of orange flames in the sky.

As the goblin shaman turned his head, her hand was already grasping his heart.

"Now you will tell me where he is."

She did not kill him just yet.

Instead, she absorbed his mana and devoured him using her tainted power.

The undead phoenix was born from the deceased Asura, and Helliana used her power to fill Verana's lifeless body with a forbidden curse of rebirth. Her profane magic burned his spirit and soul away in the darkness while watching the goblin's memories.

"It was not them..."

"How?"

'Let's find Asura... He is waiting for me. He needs me.'

"No. We need him."

'...'

The voices were still arguing and fighting with each other, but it became clear one was the Verana of this world, innocent, yet corrupted by the memories of the Verana from the past, reborn as her cursed power, an undying, yet undead phoenix.

Verana's mind was also in turmoil as her dark feelings raged and swarmed, causing her eyes to glaze over.

And then she wandered.

****

Meanwhile, after Asura kidnapped the princess, Spica stands surrounded by her brother's troops and the approaching military knights.

"Open fire!"

"Exterminate that monster!"

Arrows flew, chasing the rapid dragon's flight; Spica watched in a daze while her brother's troops grasped her arms and pulled her before him, forcing her to kneel.

"Look what happened now, because you refused to let us peacefully end your precious princess... Now a monster will take her into his cave and defile her."

Spica watched everything happening before her as if in a dream.

Her eyes looked dilated while she felt an intense pressure on her shoulders, hoping the princess could escape while ignoring the obscene words the surrounding troops whispered to affect her morale.

"Sister, don't ignore me, or I might accidentally let you suffer." Alfonse said in a sarcastic tone.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to."

"Of course. It seems my half-sister, born from a human whore, isn't completely stupid." Alfonse tilted his head, gazing into the distance as he spoke in a monotone voice. "Oh, there goes her clothes, tossed by the dragon in the wind..."

'Princess!? Wait for me. I will contact the queen and summon your sister to gather aid. Serafina would never let you suffer!'

"..."

While tied up and carried before the knights, Spica could only grimace, suffering a little because of her brother and maybe even her father's antics in supporting the first prince.

'That fool only knows how to gamble the empire away to those filthy orcs from the north!'

A handsome male with a mature face and blue eyes approached Spica on his winged warhorse, the steps creating vibrations through the air from the sheer power of a Stage Seven beast.

The knight remained silent before letting out a sigh, leaning on his right palm, and looking down at Spica with scorn.

"Child of Gil'Harad, why do you take part in this kidnapping?"

The Elven knight asked with a stern gaze. His blonde hair moved slightly against the wind while the ground below began shaking from the several magical circles that formed upon Alfonse's command.

"I do not know, Sir Geim..." Spica could only express confusion, pretending ignorance, but after her words, she felt an immense force so heavy it began crushing her bones.

"Lord Geim, be gentle with my half-sister. After all, her mother is a lowly human. However, in this case, she cannot escape punishment for aiding in this vile plan."

'Brother? What the hell are you doing... We have never gotten along, you bastard! My mother isn't lowly. She loved father until her last breath!'

Alfonse's voice echoed as he approached, holding a sizeable military writ signed by 'Gil'Harad' with the queen's mark at the bottom. "My father sent me personally on this mission. Forgive my impertinence, Lord Geim."

Lord Geim, in his golden raiment, looked pleased with Alfonse and his words, which caused him to take the pen. After reading a few lines, he nodded with a smile.

"I see you are aware of the brilliance of our crown prince."

"Yes. If it was not for our radiant prince, then how can our great nation expand past the ocean and take back our former homeland in the Far East? Those vile monsters now defile our beloved mother tree!"

Geim watched the two elves in front of him. Alfonse bowed his head respectfully while Spica could only endure the pressure, forced to keep a straight back.

"Good; in respect for your father and the fact we both serve his majesty, I will let your sister go with a warning. For now, the princess and that beast will probably die in the wild. The divine smite should have destroyed most of the disgusting fiends' organs. A dragon... funny to think I might have gained the dragon slayer title."

He took a deep breath, releasing the pressure and stopping the enforcement of his domain, his Elven magic power fading.

"By the way, you should not anger your father. From what I hear, he is not fond of your actions, young girl."

"Yes, Lord Geim..." Spica bit her lips, now trembling from anger when Alfonse leaned down and grabbed her neck.

"Come, you useless half-sister, let's go home."

His words were cold and sharp as his nails pierced her neck. Alfonse forced Spica to follow behind his horse as he pulled on the rope connecting her arms.

'You bastard, Alfonse! Let me go to her Highness!'

Princess Celine was the youngest princess born from the queen and her beloved spouse.

However, unlike her elder brothers and sisters, Celine was uniquely born with the same crest and markings as their ancestor, who destroyed the devil, passing on the crown to her twin sister. She later died at the great battle, which fractured the continent in half, leaving the north and south at odds.

'Princess, please be okay...'

Despite her worries, Spica could never imagine that the haughty and arrogant princess who lacked power would transform upon meeting a single male.