Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

'Faster, damn it!' Asura cursed at himself as his body struggled to gather enough power, and his Animus condensed.

Cynthia, the royal knight leading their unit, spread her arms and cast a huge barrier of ice in the sky. However, the arrows seemed to have a strange piercing power, easily penetrating the wall. But she slowed them down.

"HOLY...!"

One knight let out a scream as the arrows were about to land.

It was almost upon them now.

Just then, Asura's eyes shone as he raised his sword into the air.

A serpentine head.

A flat neck.

An arching body.

A ridged spine.

Scales shining like a rainbow.

An ethereal tail.

His sword transformed into a beam of black lightning. A massive arc of lightning stretched over fifty feet tall, arcing through the air as the arrows neared their targets.

Asura, along with everyone else, watched as the arrows came down with no hope of dodging them.

But when his eyes met the tip of the first arrow, a wild grin spread across his face.

At that very instant, he swung his blade down with all his might.

The next moment, the huge net of black lightning followed his blades, movement, the lightning still attached to his blade, as it destroyed the arrows and created an arc in the ground before expanding into a dome, protecting him and Unit Nine from the arrows.

Once the dust had settled, everyone stared with gaping mouths at the now-decimated arrows and the man standing on the other side of the ruined ground.

Asura's grin grew even wider. As he stared at the stunned soldiers, his red eyes shone and cracked with lightning, but his breathing seemed to become rough.

While the Royal Knights protected the other units, he and Cynthia protected unit nine, thanks to his lightning storm. Once the attack finished, he cut his lightning off as the dome collapsed on the ground, filling the air with smoke.

Asura walked out, panting heavily as the sword in his hand turned back to normal.

"What are you all waiting for? We need to get in range to counterattack!"

He yelled before taking a deep breath, trying to calm down his two raging heartbeats and the Animus now surging through them.

'That was close,' He thought.

If it weren't for his sword and Animus, their unit and Unit Nine would have been in tatters. Cynthia's ice wall couldn't stop all the arrows alone.

Asura ignored his frantic heartbeats and the desperate eyes that looked at him, still in shock, and led his group forward as Cynthia grabbed her greatsword and charged forward in her black plate armour, giving him a cute wink before closing her helmet visor.

"Your Lordship! I shall be your sword!"

'Who is your lord?' Asura blinked in confusion before shaking his head as he moved forward and prepared himself to face the horde of incoming monsters.

"Lead the way then."

Cil chuckled. "We won't fall behind!"

It seemed Romantica would use the monsters as their cannon fodder while their archers would shoot both down at once.

"Fire the next volley!"

Cynthia spread her hands and created a series of ice pillars instead of a wall of ice while the rest of their unit gathered around and prepared to defend against the incoming projectiles.

However, before the arrows could reach them, the monsters howled. It seemed they couldn't focus on either, forcing Asura to shoot forward, his feeling propelled by the wind while each step he took, lightning caused him to blast forward.

"AWOOOOOOO!"

Asura smirked as the lightning rapidly covered his body, his black hair suddenly flickering with lightning as the wind blew violently around him. He leapt into the air and slashed at the arrows coming his way before destroying the charging monsters, leading the vanguard.

'This is insane!' Asura grimaced as he glanced at the remaining hail of arrows and monsters incoming.

This time, he used less Animus and only took down a portion of the arrows with the black lightning storm. His sword pulled back, the lightning flickering around the blade.

However, it wasn't enough.

The arrows continued to come through.

He smiled bitterly at the lack of power as he whirled his blade into position and heaved it over his shoulders. Black lightning covered his entire body, and the ground beneath him ruptured.

"Come on... give me everything you got!"

"Stop laying hero, fool."

The next moment, Cil's body lunged ahead of him, a hand of wind carrying her as she spread her arms into the air, creating a huge whirl of wind and ice, forming a deadly ice storm, as if she saw Asura's lightning storm and created her idea in a moment of minutes.

"Is this good enough?!" Cil taunted, her lips and pink hair fluttering in the wind as her icy storm picked up power and spread through the sky.

Asura chuckled when he saw her grin at him as if competing with him. It made his competitive desire grow stronger.

"Well played, Miss Mavis."

The archers couldn't fire another last volley since Cil Mavis enveloped their targets in ice and wind. While Asura flipped his katana and sheathed it while allowing his Animus and magic to build rapidly, the monsters raging against the wind aggressively towards their position.

"Hold your ground!" Cynthia ordered.

Asura took a deep breath. He realised Animus was so new to him that it caused his breathing and chest to become disorderly. He gripped the handle tight, drawing his blade towards the monsters charging at him.

"Look at them." He whispered to himself as he pushed his legs off the ground. The moment his feet left the ground, a small gust of wind erupted beneath them as he aimed for the first target that caught his eye.

The first monster didn't even have the chance to react before Asura slashed down at its neck. A flash of lightning, a mere blink, vanished before spreading towards the monsters behind him. Cil's tornado's humidity transferred the black lightning across a huge vortex.

With each slash and stab, the arcs of black lightning spread out, ending the lives of monsters that had already broken down within seconds, and before anyone could realise what was happening, the dead bodies dropped to the ground, lifeless and unresponsive.

"With me!" Cynthia roared as she rushed at the remaining monsters on their side. Their battle became more physical and brutal as she used her magic to form barriers that protected most of the students while she took the damage in their place.

"You cheated!" Cil pouted at Asura, her head full of sweat, as the hand of wind lowered her to his side.

"What do you mean? It was your tornado," Asura replied with a teasing smile.

"That was my water you used, so the kills are all mine!"

Cynthia rushed between them, her single blade killing a dozen monsters with sheer force, causing both Asura and Cil to peer into each other's eyes and nod.

"Let's work together!"

"Pair with me!"

They exclaimed at the same time.

"Alright then, these two idiots are fine; let's help the others..." Cynthia's cold voice trailed off. She had noticed something during the barrage and the following fight.

It was Asura's unusual magic power and density.

She realised his true power but remained silent as Vela's knight.

Thus, keeping her future husband's information secret was vital to her. However, if something happened to him, it could prove dangerous, so she played safe by taking the lead of this group.

Because it was only the initial skirmish, Vela didn't march with the unit like Asura but stood beside the strongest knights because of her status. Although she complained, it was just how they did things.

"These monsters aren't enough!" Cynthia yelled, and it was true.

Even though it was a new arrival, they had expected the second tier and not the third, which they had a higher chance of survival, to be eradicated, which made her worry for her fellow knights and the rest of her students in Unit Nine.

The monsters weren't strong but barely met the level of a threat to Cynthia, but the information gained from scouts, the enemy should have various stage four and five monsters under their control, so seeing nothing above stage three caused her to become concerned.

'Only the scouts were wrong, or something worse is coming.'

Cynthia held her longsword tight in her hand as her magic swirled around her blade, turning it into a pillar of ice.

"Watch out!" Asura roared at Cil, who glanced at the back. A beast jumped through the whirlwind and grabbed her shoulder, slamming her to the ground.

Asura gritted his teeth. He rushed forward to help Cil, who had frozen in fear with the sharp claws on her back, his blade slicing the monster in half while placing his hands on her chest, the slight bumps irrelevant as he tried to close her wound.

"Don't worry about me," Cil said as a beautiful figure emerged from the air.

"Asura! Unit Nine! The enemy has attacked the east! Their target isn't the capital but the coast! They are heading to Vilsheim!"

Cynthia informed with a distressed and exhausted expression, "We have to protect the coast!"

He looked back and shook his head. The enemy outsmarted them, and he realised why, but because he was too excited to fight, he forgot. The existence of the traitors, not just old men but many students whom he didn't even know the names of, betrayed the kingdom too easily.

"Synthia, where is Vela?"

"She headed to the east with Barbatos and half the units."

"Did Lorem leave too?"

"No, she took command and is leading Units seven, eight and ten against the village."

"Understood. Can you heal her chest?"

Although Unit Nine had suffered a few casualties, the enemy still had hundreds of soldiers and knights inside the village walls.

"Let's go!"

He didn't allow them to waste time thinking about anything.

Asura drew his blade and rushed forward, his magic power flowing through his arms, legs and blade as he moved towards the distant village with a shocking speed.

"Your lordship!"

"We're coming!"

A roar echoed behind him as Unit Nine followed, with Akkrum and Bella staking the front, a couple of coyotes at their sides.

Asura grinned and shook his head in disbelief as he ran forward. Glancing at the arrows and projectiles flying at him and Unit Nine, he burst forward instead of waiting for them, leaving a trail of wind and lightning.

Because he could feel the heat from Lorem's magic, since the others rushed to the east, she could now unleash her magic freely without worrying.