Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

"Xue!" The shout of the princess echoed through the western forest.

Her voice strained as he held down an enormous mutated rhinoceros with black armour and long, twisted horns.

Vela's hands of molten rock grasped the front and hind legs of the wounded monster. Her body was wearing a full materialisation of molten earth. The molten armour protected her from the blows of this deadly beast as it thrashed against her hold.

"Good work, Vel." Whispered Mu Xue, standing a few metres away and looking at the raging rhino.

'Hyōka, let's finish this in one blow.'

Mu Xue always felt the need to hold back in the past. Although she could become stronger, she felt the young master's depression and inferiority grow each time she broke through.

At first, it was nothing until she fell in love with him. Those glances of jealousy and anguish pained her heart.

'My beloved Asura, to you, Stage Two at twenty was something to be proud of, a genius, but in the wide world. It is above average at best...'

Swirling winds enveloped Mu Xue's body as she lowered her stance, grasping the long handle of her beloved sword. A storm of ice began forming.

'However, your praise and honest support were painful when you would show such faces when alone...'

The shards became sharper and more violent, tearing the wind with reverberating howls.

This was the manifestation of ice. It proved Mu Xue's Stage Three mastery and a message to Asura that she painted with her feelings and heart.

"Haa..."

⟪Mu Family Drawing Arts⟫

—Dissecting Blade

With a single step, her body flashed with violent propulsion through the dirt, her hand twisting the blade as she drew it from the sheath.

A single howl of frost.

That's all that Vela could recognise as a blue horizontal flash cut through the entire rhino. The deadly ice blade tore everything within a five-metre line in half.

Immediately after the blade cut, the rhino shards of ice formed along the wound, exploding with sharp spikes, penetrating its insides and tearing it apart.

"Phew..."

With a clink, Mu Xue put Hyōka to rest while the ice storm calmed.

"Xue, your attacks are so violet~ how will we sell this frozen meat to the traders?"

"Idiot princess, this meat is for our dinner."

"Hah!?"

"We have nothing left. Are you going to eat dirt?"

After spending two weeks together, the group leader became clear, but Mu Xue also enjoyed the princess and her company. She was nothing like she expected when in private.

The same was true for Vela, although Mu Xue liked to bully her and sometimes beat her up during practice. It was the first genuine sense of a friend Vela experienced.

'Asura, now that you can use magic and have become stronger. I no longer have to hold back or slow my progress, right?'

"Do you want to keep fighting, Vel, or shall we head back and prepare for tomorrow's hunt?"

****

Sitting on top of a tree, hidden in the darkness of night, Bishop Cairn held a strange crystal, dark red and leaking a disgusting goo below.

He was searching for the chosen one but couldn't detect his presence even with the locating spell of the great ones.

'Should I wait here or just release this monster?'

"Ah... Bernard. It's dark. Can we not go home yet?" A pretty girl with a petite figure asked the tall male with a robust build ahead of her.

"Don't be worried, Petra. I will protect you. Let's get a few more points and aim for a higher rank."

These two students belonged to the magic academy and were first years like Asura and Xavida, but they didn't understand the danger they were in because their voices reached Bishop Cairn, who looked at them with an amused and twisted smile.

"Hmmm, new toys have entered the forest."

The bishop took out another crystal similar to the red one in his hand. This one had a disgusting green ooze leaking from it.

"Petra, look at this beautiful flower. Come closer, or you'll lose sight of me in the dark."

Bernard led the innocent and naïve Petra closer to him. He wanted to use this assignment to draw them closer because they were engaged because of family ties.

However, his attempts and reckless desire to impress her. His look finally ran out.

Bishop Cairn threw the green crystal towards them.

"Huh? Bernard, what was that?"

Petra noticed the object flying in the dark, but before she could say anything, Bernard pushed her aside.

"Petra, watch out!"

Unfortunately, the crystal landed at Bernard's feet, and an enormous plant monster grew out of the ground, grabbing Bernard in its thick branches, sharp thorns penetrating his flesh as it wrapped, entangled and lifted him in the air.

"Bernard! Nooo!" Screamed Petra as tears rolled down her cheeks, looking at her fiancé being held in the air by the monster as she tried to chant a fire-type spell.

'Yes... scream, little girl. Show me your despair and suffering.' Thought Bishop Cairn as he licked his lips excitedly while touching himself.

Suddenly, Petra grabbed her staff, holding a mana crystal on top and pointed it towards the monster.

⟪Fire Bolt⟫

Yet the moment the flaming bolts shot towards the plant, it felt like the step sneered, a strange sound of leaves and sticky fluids rubbing together as it lifted Bernard and blocked the magic with his body.

"Bernard!!!"

Petra cried harder as she watched her magic collide with her fiancé, his flesh searing and charring before she saw blood dripping from between the branches holding her fiancé. However, she was shocked to see a grin on his face.

"Why are you smiling!? What is wrong with you? Do you want to die!? Idiot! I don't want this..." she shouted, but as she tried casting different spells, the plant would move the burned body of Bernard to block them while thin green vines encircled her from behind.

"Petra, run!"

"Bernard!!! Why? How can I leave you?! Don't leave me..."

Seeing the vines crawling around her, Petra screamed desperately as she tried casting the fire bolt again.

"Ahh... no, please. I beg you. Burn this damn thing, not me. Please..." Bernard shouted hysterically while crying and screaming as he pleaded with Petra.

Finally, seeing him cry and pleading for mercy, Petra aimed her staff at the plant once again. However, the vines wrapped around her legs, the slippery surface sliding along her body before yanking her in the air upside down, tearing off her clothes.

"Ahhh! Bernard, help me! Please help me!"

She screamed, terrified at the vine rubbing along her naked skin, wrapping around her limbs, climbing her neck and covering her mouth.

"Petra!!!" Screamed Bernard as he struggled desperately, bleeding profusely as his torn muscles exposed flesh, yet the monster only tightened its grip on him while forcing him to watch as the vines changed shapes, pushing into her mouth and spurting a strange clear liquid into her mouth.

"Noo...Nyo..... I don't... This isn't me... stop... don't..." Petra's voice sounded sweet, causing Bernard's body to tremble. He knew something was wrong.

His fiancé's body was changing as vines rubbed all over her nude body. The liquid forced into her mouth seemed to turn Petra's mind into mush as she stopped struggling, her eyes turning white.

More vines crawled along her smooth and slender legs. Some pierced her skin, injecting a purple fluid. Yet she didn't show pain... her lips released soft moans instead.

Bernard realised the truth. It was an aphrodisiac and poison, changing her mind and numbing her senses as she started enjoying the treatment.

"Petra!! Snap out of it! Please! Fight it!!" Shouted Bernard desperately.

Yet she turned her gaze towards him but wasn't looking at him; as the vines wrapped around her body, a large flower appeared beneath her, blooming and revealing a pink tentacle covered in green slime.

This tentacle wrapped around her body, releasing a strange fluid that caused her skin to sizzle and melt visibly.

"Bernard~ come join me. Haha~ this feels good. I feel so good~ ah~," Petra moaned sensually while drooling as her body shivered in pleasure. The vine's secretions caused her skin to turn red as it slowly melted.

"Noo.... Petra!!!" Bernard continued shouting, struggling desperately as the vines opened his jaw forcefully, pouring another liquid down his throat. The next moment, the two flowers snapped closed, devouring the students whole...

Only the muffled sounds of their delight sounded for a few minutes before silence.

The next moment, an enormous axe tore through the skies, followed by the vast body of a goliath, slamming down and tearing apart both flowers, releasing the heavily wounded students.

"Hah! You vile wretch!"

With a swing of his arm, the wind howled, creating a powerful storm of wind, tearing the vines of both flowers into mush. Immediately after, a second swing created a tornado, slicing both flowers in half, ending their life.

"Vile Assassin of the cult, you bastard! Where are you!? Come out!!" shouted the giant angrily, holding Bernard and Petra under his arms as he searched the area.

Yet Bishop Cairn vanished already.

"Tsk, that coward. Students... Do not worry. I have blocked the images, and what happened here will remain a secret... Although you will suffer for a short time. Remember your desire to save each other."

"You are now safe."

The giant patted the student's head before vanishing into a green light.

Left alone, Petra crawled towards Bernard, kissing his lips as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I love you~ Bernard. We will always be together..."

Then she kissed him again, licking his wounds and cleaning him.

"Haha... hahaha~ it tickles, Bernie..."

A moment later, a beautiful green barrier of wind enveloped them as they released their passions, the fluids of the plan allowing them to break the last problem between them.

"Finally... we became one, Petra. I've always loved you..."

"Mmm, me too... I am so glad you didn't die... even if you are burnt or scarred, I will not abandon you."

Tonight, their family's years of stress would end with the conception of the first heir of Bernard's family in over ten years.