Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

Even watching others pointing their blades at her, she remained unphased.

"Inelegant cur, dare you point those filthy weapons towards me?"

The beautiful voice that left her lips seemed angelic.

Yet her tone became sharp while the tattered men who wore cheap leather and held worn spears and swords seemed intimidated.

"P-Princess, don't pretend to be tough. We outnumber you, and we will keep you isolated for another twenty-four hours!"

"Spica! Slay them."

The Princess didn't seem to acknowledge their words or threat and called her female knight.

Spica leapt forward, her long black hair twirling with the breeze while her chain sword wrapped around several of the tattered men's bodies.

The short chain sword appeared brutal, with a beautiful wooden hilt and metal blade covered in dried blood, yet it sliced through flesh and bone with ease, piercing through their torsos and taking their lives in mere moments.

"Princess..." Spica stood at attention. "I have slain the filth. Please allow this cloth to clean thine eyes."

"No... that would be far too shameful."

"I'm sorry."

Princess Celina watched Spica lower her head, appearing ashamed to have not killed them quicker.

"Don't be angry, Spica. Come here."

The Princess raised her left hand and traced Spica's soft chin with her white glove. "Your service is immaculate, as always, Spica."

"Thank you, Princess."

Spica lowered her head and appeared pleased with the compliment.

"Come, let us return. It is time for me to crush these filthy apes who planned to do such disgusting things to me."

"Of course, Princess."

However, the next moment, more of those haggard men appeared, but this time wearing what seemed to be knight armour and with well-managed weapons.

"Sorry Princess, no can do. Since you rejected the prince's demands, we, as his hidden agents, must crush you here."

The leader, with a handsome face, lean build and light stubble, gave a wry smile with his gruff voice. It seemed the Princess never expected this man to impede her, and she looked shocked.

"Brother!?" Spica's voice became strange as she held her chain blade and covered the Princess's body.

"Alfonse? You would betray me, even after my mother helped you and your family escape persecution from the north!? Ungrateful dog!"

Her beautiful face became unsightly as she faced Alfonse's words and shouted back at him.

"I'm sorry, Princess... orders are orders."

With a cold grin, Alfonse raised his blade, the enormous curved blade larger than his own body.

The moment he dropped the blade, it signalled their attack.

However, as if a disaster-class monster had appeared, the world had transformed into a world of black ice.

"Princess, look out!"

"Spica!? What's kyaaa!?"

"Princess... where are you!? Princess!!" Spica's shouts continued as she became panicked.

****

In a mysterious swirl of ice and mist, the Princess found herself in a man's arms. Her first thought was to scream or fight. Yet the moment she gazed upon his black eyes and golden pupils, it felt as if his gaze shattered her soul.

Memories and feelings unbeknown to her spread through her psyche.

"You rude monster, release me!"

"Monster? I think you'll find I'm just a passing handsome genius."

'What genius, who is this man... He makes me feel unsafe, my chest is tight and I fear he will kill me!'

"For now, I will save you, pretty girl with long ears."

Asura looked around the frozen battlefield in silence.

His eyes narrowed while flicking his wrist with a graceful movement instantly after seven sharp ice pillars shot from the ground and penetrated the filthy knights that had tried to kill the Princess.

'What!? How can he cast magic without a chant? Who is a pretty girl with long ears?'

"Get off me!"

The Princess shouted at him again with her fists striking his chest and slapping his cheek, yet he didn't release her.

He seemed to enjoy her touching him.

His cold hand grasped the fingertips that slapped him before his lips gently touched them.

At first, the Princess thought he was seeking her body.

However, she realised his kiss removed the intense cold and pain from her body.

A warmth spread through her body, reaching Princess and creating feelings she never experienced before, causing the proud Princess to cover her mouth as she released a loud gasp of pleasure.

"Ahh~ wha!?"

"Such a temper for one so cute."

"You dare call me...."

Before she could finish, his hand slapped her buttocks, twisting his body and lunging forward.

His powerful leg smashed against a knight's face before crushing the bones and evaporating the man's head, turning it into powdered ice.

The Princess became stunned at his unusual actions, one moment molesting her, then cruelly killing a man like nothing.

Her mind tried to process everything that happened.

'Who is this person? He appears so different and cold compared to those who serve my mother. But why does it feel like I have known him for thousands of years? My heart feels so strange. What did this strange man do to me!?'

"Princess Celine! Where are you?" Spica shouted. Her body was trembling from the bitter cold caused by the monster's permafrost.

Princess Celine watched Asura's eyes focus on something in the distance and narrow his gaze before he whispered to her in a gentle and honest tone.

"Will you trust me, long-ear girl? If we don't flee now, then even I cannot save you from the people coming to help these scum."

'Long ear girl!?'

She lifted her head in anger as her chin touched his muscular chest. When she looked up at him, she saw his handsome face looking down at her with a strange intensity in his gaze.

All thoughts of insulting him faded like a puppy meeting an adult wolf.

"C-Celine... my name is Celine."

"Ok, Celine. Will you trust me?"

She stared into his eyes, seeing her reflection in his golden pupils.

Suddenly, her heart felt a longing to stay in his arms and a feeling of regret, as if she had hurt this man with such beautiful eyes as the stars above.

This mysterious and handsome man was nothing like her arranged meetings. His hands didn't care about her pedigree, causing her to feel warmth throughout her body.

'So beautiful...'

"Yes... Take me away."

"O by the grace of the divine maiden of the sun, heed thy believers call and smite the monster which seeks to sully your land! Divine Bolt!" (Elvish)

Celine heard the distant chanting of a deadly spell used only against monsters above the demigod level and quickly wished to inform Asura, who wrapped himself in shadow and prepared to flee to the south where he came from.

The stronger people were, the less time they could spend in this realm, meaning the Princess would stay for a full day. Those people on the horizon flying towards them on winged warhorses only had an hour at most.

The Princess didn't wish to sound weak, but she remembered the last time she watched such a dangerous spell and the devastation it left.

"You fool! Do you not know that such a spell is used to kill or suppress powerful monsters?"

"Hmmm!? What spell? They are speaking weird words." Asura looked at the Princess in confusion before realising that only elves could hear their chant. Celina understood that this man wasn't an elf or from the Elven continent!

"They are casting a demigod-level Elven ritual spell! It takes time to prepare... but we must flee!"

"The monster that stains our glorious lands, our mother and divine maiden, has seen your treachery. Now kneel and repent!" (Elvish)

However, there was no more time left; the bolt of lightning hit Asura's back.

The bolt was gigantic, filled with golden mana and energy that destroyed the frosted landscape, but his body moved with Celine in his arms.

She watched his face and body torn apart, the bolts relentlessly destroying his flesh as he bit his tongue and rushed away from the elves with all he could.

— Manifestation Devouring Black Dragon

The moment her eyes closed, Celine didn't wish to see him die in her arms. Celine felt something change.

With a violent jolt, her body suddenly opened her eyes. She felt her body shifting through the air like magic, flying through the clouds and the world like an angel.

Asura's body, now as a dragon, carried her in his claws, and with a deep voice that caused the mountaintops to shudder, he called to her.

"Open your eyes, Celina. I cannot keep this form for long. Use your eyes to guide me to a safe spot to land and hide."

"Mon... ster?!" Celine's eyes widened as she raised her head and saw Asura's majestic black dragon body with crimson red scales along his chest like a heart. The beauty caused her to freeze before shaking her head.

'Guide him?'

The moment she opened her eyes again, she saw the world beneath her and Asura's massive body keeping her from falling into the clouds below.

She could feel his steady breath and slow heartbeats within his body.

The sky and earth passed by at an extraordinary pace as she became entranced by this man's ability to transform into such a creature.

'He can become the extinct dragon... Truly a mysterious man.'

"To the left, that small crevice hides a special cave that only the Elven royal family can access. Even Spica and her brother don't know of its existence!"

"I hope you are right, Celine. This spell is really killing me."

"Don't be rude! And what's with this strange voice that makes my body tremble!? Who are you?!"

"You wound me, Celina."

"Stop calling my name so freely! It's confusing!"

"Ok, Celine...."

"Idiot!"

Asura's large body flew down, twirling after smashing into the mountain.

The impact tore his right wing before he dropped towards the area Celine pointed out. He landed within the tiny crack in the mountain, where a monumental cave entrance, disguised with Elven magic, lay hidden.

"Kyaaa, we're going to die! Hurry, level yourself!!!"

She watched his enormous body instantly shrink back to the bloodied body, now completely naked and almost unconscious. Celine watched him with her chest heaving, although she kept complaining it was the first time in her life she felt so alive.

"Do I have to drag this idiot into the cave... Come to think of it, it's my first time seeing a naked male, Mother in the palace. Please forgive your ungrateful and sullied daughter!"

Celine then struggled to drag his muscular body towards the cave, with her beautiful robe becoming filthy from dragging him in.

The Princess covered his body with the blanket in the cave, doing her best to show some kind of gratitude.

While not used to these circumstances, Celine did what she could while waiting for this man to wake up. Since Spica was absent, she felt insecure and lost the pride and arrogance she usually showed.

"This man sleeps like a pig. How dare he! I am the Princess here."

After setting a fire, she moved closer to Asura, falling asleep beside him.

"His body is full of wounds and scars. Will you really be alright?"

'My handsome dragon knight.'