Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

Mu Xue left the room with a calm face. Each step was graceful as she opened the large black doors and walked towards her private room.

Her purple eyes were calm like violets. Hair raven black, swaying as Asura watched her leave without a word.

'...' A silent thought, her fists clenched tight as she pushed open the soft red wooden doors, a feeling of magic passing over her body as she closed the door.

These rooms would block all sounds from the inside from leaking unless the owner felt distressed.

The mansion used the basic light and dark element spells of alarm and detection.

Inside, she felt frustrated. Constantly playing the role given to her. How long since he released her from such a role?

She still acted like his maid rather than his lover.

"Idiotic!" her voice shouted with annoyance. Her face distorted quickly as her genuine emotions flared out.

"But my love... what do you do?" Mu Xue shook her head, placing her palm across her brow, annoyed with him.

"Accept her childish antics!"

Mu Xue knew the gap in status between herself and Asura plagued her mind. A mere maid and an earl. What shame would she bring to him and their children?

Unlike Xavida, she couldn't just pretend or act ignorant.

She was not an immature child but a grown woman nearing her thirties. This gap in status could easily be used as fodder against him. Mu Xue wasn't the strongest around him anymore. Her stable footing and psychological safety net vanished when Xavida showed her Stage Four prowess.

'Tell me, Asura, how can her love of a mere few months compare to the lifetime I've loved you.'

Blue swirls of magic erupted from her body—unlike being cast properly, it felt like they came and went naturally.

Pitch-black horns rose, tearing through her forehead, jagged and fierce like a demon's horn. Mu Xue's fingernails and toenails grew rapidly before the sound of flesh splitting.

Wings of ice tore apart her back and dress as she growled in agony, tears streaming down her beautiful face.

Then her legs suddenly swelled as her muscles tore and changed. Like someone was peeling her skin back.

Mu Xue didn't show any resistance as the demonic aura erupted forth.

Because she knew this was her... Something deep inside her stirred each time she pretended to be fine with Asura and Xavida, watching her cling to him when she suffered to reach this point. Then offering and asking other women to invade her sanctuary.

An outsider.

She hated how she cared for him. She cared so much that her heart ached. He treated her like the world, but no matter what, he did not see that she was struggling like a wingless beast falling from the skies.

'I don't want him to hate me...'

"But I cannot hold this in anymore!"

Mu Xue wrapped her arms around her body as if to contain this strange form, to stop herself from completely losing her normal, calm and accepting facade.

But nothing stopped the endless torrent of growth, her form now similar to Asuras when transformed.

Bizarre as it was, there was a beauty to it, as if an unknown and divine creation formed a woman with a deceptively sweet face. Her plump ass formed a tail of black ice, swaying seductively as she climbed to her feet.

Now, her face seemed calm, with ice blue hair flickering with ice shards and snow.

"This is me?" Mu Xue spoke with a deep, reverberating but sensual tone as she lifted her breasts, their faint blue colour and light pink tips created to drive males into madness.

But despite that, she never smiled. The beauty felt demonic and tragic. Her perfect face contorted with conflict, her full, cherry blossom lips pinched tight.

She did not transform willingly; this was her pent-up anger, frustration, and despair... The destruction of the Mu clan happened because of this cursed devil's blood.

Despite looking like humans, the members carried this hereditary curse, a lineage lost to time. A race that was banished to the abyss after they tried to attack the upper realms with their immense power and magical talent.

Only one member survived—her father—who killed off the entire Mu Clan before killing himself. Her mother sacrificed herself to give birth, fearing what her father might do.

Growing up, she held on, seeing her only purpose in life was Asura, to be with the one she loved until her final breath.

'But this blood wants me to do more.'

It demanded, taking the lead when the little voice in her heart wouldn't. She dreamed of killing and destroying all those that caused the end of her family.

Yet, in the past, she would never even allow the seed in her heart to take hold, no matter how real the memories flittered across her vision.

However, a new urge spurned the dying demonic desires and urged her to nurture this broken existence, wanting a happy ending. To be Asura's first, the one he loves the most.

Stop playing family with the woman who has taken everything from her in a month.

'Xavida is like a voracious beast!'

"Never satisfied... always taking more from me." She glanced at herself in the mirror and shook her head.

She began examining her form, the formation of ice arrows, spears and lances as simple as bending her fingertips, now able to control every inch or molecule of her body and anima.

'I struggled so hard, held myself back... That was stupid. Master would never feel inferior because I was stronger than he thought. Princess Vela was correct. My love was too tame, too controlled...'

"I was holding it back like a nice little maid..." Her eyes were completely blue, like a beautiful gemstone. She seemed more like a goddess of ice than a devil.

Suddenly, her eyes flicked towards the door, frowning. She felt another enter the barrier around the mansion, walking along the entrance hall.

"Come play with us! We are having a fun time!" a loud voice spread outside, excited.

The moment she heard Xavida's voice... her magic exploded, destroying the beautiful dressing table and shattering the glass to reveal her figure in a more devilish light.

When angry and frustrated, her eyes turned black... Eerie and full of destructive impulses, even her ice changed its properties and colour... black ice, so cold it burned, raging as the hot ice made her want to fight, to kill.

Mu Xue desired control, and control meant acceptance.

"Nice to meet you, Xavida Bahamot. I am the wife of Asura Fenix, Mu Xue. If you touch him, I will tear out your lizard insides."

"Ah~ it felt so good to say what I felt when she started following him."

She spoke the first line with her usual gentle voice. Then a distorted but heartfelt voice sounded from the second as the demonic visage of Mu Xue smiled for the first time.

'I wanted him for myself... I wanted to kill her... To peel her scales away... But Asura said he loved her.'

'Why? Am I not your beloved... Did I not give you ten years of my life?' Mu Xue gripped her hand so tight they bled her raven blood, unable to control her powers.

"I know. Control. I understand, but..." her eyes snapped shut, feeling something else. Her features shifted slightly, her blue icy hair returning to her usual black.

'My mother also liked my father a lot, didn't she? She was the perfect queen. Unfortunately, she did not have the blessing to last longer." Her eyebrows narrowed as her emotions shifted.

"Did father deserve that honour? Not after what he did. No, Mother, you were not blind to your love. You understood his reasons." Mu Xue nodded in approval as her voice sounded almost wise.

"I was a fool for falling for that man, and I must learn to adjust these feelings of hatred, anger and murder. Otherwise, he will leave me. Then I might just go insane for real."

Mu Xue had come to accept her current state, looking at herself with the acceptance she lacked.

She studied her form again, smiling, and gently pressed her breast, sighing. "How the body matures. Will this make his body react? Can I steal his heart back from that beast?"

"To think I would reach the Fourth Layer without his help and in such a pathetic way... It even makes me feel sad." Mu Xue chuckled and raised her right arm.

Her skin had returned to normal.

"Better?" the demon side of her questioned approvingly.

Mu Xue found it difficult to respond, and then her body continued the change, slowly returning to the usual beloved maid as Mu Xue stabilised herself.

"Mu Xue~, why don't you open the door?"

Mu Xue shivered when she heard that playful voice.

Her mind wavered before nodding at the words in her heart. Her fingers clenched before relaxing, and Mu Xue felt at ease when the devils accepted hers, the demon side and her human side settling their dispute and changing her clothes.

'I cannot change so suddenly, no matter how strong you are. Let me slowly adjust, reveal myself and have Asura become mine.'

With the strange change complete, she smiled and fixed her attire. Then, slowly, like a goddess emerging from the flames, she opened the doors gracefully.

Xavida looked surprised for a moment.

"Hello, Xavi—sorry for the wait."

'I wish you would disappear, or I will gut you while you sleep. Fufu.'

"You suddenly seem prettier and more sexy, big sister! Do you want to make babies tonight? Hehe."

"..."

'I will suck him dry and make sure you are locked in the garden, whore.'

Mu Xue smiled calmly and replied without blinking.

"I can do that. Did you have fun riding Asura?" Mu Xue walked calmly ahead, ignoring Xavida's face distorting and mouth opening.

'Losing now means nothing. I will have the last laugh.' Mu Xue and the Demon looked at her, finding their souls perfectly in sync.

'Survival, pride and victory belong to the fittest. Let us not waste time anymore, Mu Xue. It is a chess game—the next moves should be obvious if we use our minds.'

'Yes, let us hunt, my other half.'

Xavida recovered her expression after seeing Mu Xue smile so kindly.

"Mmm~ it was very warm and gentle."

From the moment she accepted her inner self and desired something more than just being his maid and lover in name...

Mu Xue and Xavida's relationship might eventually change forever.

'KILL KILL KILL KILL...'

She loved him for ten years, watching over and serving Asura.

He gave her safety, something she never could enjoy or find with her old clan.

Yet, watching the same woman he asked her to bring home make that bond a farce hurt her like an invisible blade that hacked and dug deeper, rotting away her once healthy sense of pride, happiness and joy.

But why could the future's shadow vanish if it wasn't clear what she was fighting?

After all, where was the border between acting and acting on impulse?

The answer was simple: why make her dark impulses and shadow vanish? Because those feelings were the true Mu Xue.

All the images that plagued her dreams for ten long years, ever since the death of her clan, was the answer, a wish for revenge...

Only now did Mu Xue realise why the name of their hidden clan was called Mu.

'We are the destroyers... Destined to wipe life from existence and seek no harmony, nor amnesty.'

'Though, from his arms, maybe I could keep myself safe, protect the ones he values, and, one day, become a saint, slaying the evil thoughts in my heart. If only those women didn't exist.'

Then she realised. If she wanted something, why not just take it?

This would be her and Asura's last competition... A new game of chess that he didn't realise started at this moment.