Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

After the meeting with Barbatos, the students took part in a forced training period. Those with their regimes and styles could train alone. However, Barbatos and the other knights would train the normal students and commoners.

Asura wanted to seek Barbatos for help, but there was a feeling inside him that he wanted to test since he reached the fifth stage.

He knew nothing about the cycle of the sea, only that the first layer seemed to be called the 'ocean', and most of his core still seemed to be earth.

The strange changes inside made him curious about the second layer, 'sea', although he could speculate it was setting the foundation with the larger body of water first instead of from the streams.

'Nevermind. I will first learn how to use this changed Animus. The previous energy required to use skills felt sluggish compared to this new ocean of life,'

Asura thought to himself while focused on moving a small amount of the liquid around his body. He created a small tide, almost like an ocean inside him, yet it only covered the surface of his muscles and skin.

'It is very clear I've entered a whole new world compared to the earth layer. Although the amount of power I can use has risen, I don't know how many times this cycle is completely different.'

Instead of training with others, Asura entered the forest carrying only his silver blade while calming himself.

With deep breath after breath, he entered a state where he could feel his blood circulation, the movement of the Animus, and the beating of his second heart.

While in this calm state, Asura closed his eyes and struck forward with the sword, feeling the invisible waves of energy explode from his sword.

'No... This isn't right...'

Something was missing.

Asura imagined the elements: fire, wind, water, and earth; none of them felt right, as if this sword style didn't have a connection to the elements he used so often.

"I don't understand. This is the same energy I used before, so why doesn't it feel right now?"

He placed the sword back in its sheath.

A slight crackle of black lightning flickered at his fingertips. Then, feeling sudden inspiration, he poured the Animus into his sword, drawing it in an explosive movement.

'This is it!'

The crackle of black lightning shone down the blade of the sword, only a small spark but with potential. Asura's blade cut through the air faster than his previous strike, yet even after releasing such a powerful slash, the feeling in his gut said it wasn't enough.

Asura continued using the same element and began increasing the amount of Animus he used each time, the black lightning growing in size and power with each draw of the sword from its sheath.

Then, with a large crashing sound, the last strike was like a whip, and he knew the strike had far more power than his normal techniques. When he opened his eyes, the sword flickered with lingering lightning while the arc magic seemed to have destroyed the earth and trees ahead in the shape of a ten-metre arc.

'The image is important, more than ever.'

He thought of a devastating arc of lightning during the last slash, which devastated the forest, charring the trees and rending the ground.

"But it isn't enough."

After an hour, the once-peaceful forest seemed to have turned into a land of desolation from the constant destructive strikes of Asura's sword.

"There is something more to this than just the image," Asura thought.

Although he could continue practising the same thing until he could execute it with perfect timing and flow, he still didn't want to neglect the other elements; one particular thought that came to mind was the mixture of elements.

After an hour, he imitated Vela's Magma element; from the tip of his silver blade, the orange liquid flames dripped to the ground, melting a deep pit in seconds.

The same destructive power when using it was the same as the black lightning from earlier.

'This is enough for now. I wanted to test if I could use the lightning and wind elements to boost my speed by casting them on my body.'

The element Asura needed was speed. The fastest elemental force he could think of was wind, but the deadly thunderclap of the Black Lightning made him curious about that, too.

"We have to leave soon. I should head back."

When Asura returned to the group, they were all packing their bags and preparing to leave, with Barbatos helping the majority pack.

"Today, you may face an enemy that threatens the peace of our beautiful kingdom. These days have been extremely busy and stressful, and there has been little time to rest, but that was just the beginning. From this moment on, you will suffer, and many will die. But you must persevere.

You have the chance to stop this invasion and help us create a new peaceful era for your generation," Barbatos said to the students. It seemed someone had written the speech for him.

"A new era," a student muttered.

"Lying old fool!" Asura heard a man whispering nearby. "We will all die and become the dinner for the nobles' precious, selfish monsters!"

Barbatos carried a white flag with a blue shield embroidered on it before waving at the students.

"Follow me! This will be the first step in your future!"

***

'This guy sucks at speeches.'

Asura stood in formation, walking in rows of ten across the beautiful grasslands of the South. He felt refreshed because he couldn't join the front lines in the past—because he was a no-mag. His eyes watched the once beautiful grasslands, with vibrant fertile lands south of them filled with vibrance and beauty like a tropical rainforest, with a solemn gaze.

'I remember Father telling me he met Ophelia in the City of Belmont just west of here, near the coast.'

Now, the vibrant flora has wilted, and the grass is dry and dying as if something is draining its vitality. The once beautiful mountains resembled mythical beasts and attracted tourists.

Now they were gone.

The Romanticans destroyed them all, becoming only broken rocks on the ground.

"What's with the glum face?" a lovely girl with pink fluffy hair and a cute round face asked Asura. This girl was the annoying Genius girl who clashed with Mu Xue and Xavida while competing with the princess.

"Cil Mavis, right? I was just lamenting what the beautiful South has become."

The girl took a moment to think, her eyes darting over to the royal knights escorting them before she whispered back, her lovely hair bouncing with each step.

"I never expected someone like you to care, hehe. My hometown is to the west, but it seems mother is worried the war might extend further north and is planning to leave. To think the same thing might happen in Belmont..."

"So you lived there? I never knew."

Asura began thinking more about the entire Silvara instead of the central and eastern portion, which Drakkur and the Phoenix Glade dominated. Lesser nobles covered only a few small villages or towns to the southeast. Many nobles created the South and southwestern Silvara.

Belmont, directly southwest of the capital, didn't have a noble or lord. Instead, a group of nobles held a council over the large territory, each voting and dealing with affairs. This city was one of the former tourist hotspots for travellers from the South.

To the South of Belmont is Vilsheim, just east of the lost villages, where the former war hero Alexander Bernard, another Earl, lived.

'The information we received mentioned him fighting off a fleet of Romantica battleships. I know he will die soon, but this time, I will change it.'

"Mm, my father prefers to live in the capital, though it's easier to earn money there. He didn't like the life of a fisherman or that my mother would work in a bar at night to make ends meet."

Along the march, Asura enjoyed Cil's little chirping about her hometown and the several things a coastal city had compared to his upbringing as a noble from inland.

"Won't Ruben and Sedric get jealous you're speaking to me so much?"

Cil stopped for a moment before almost crashing into the girl behind her, before she looked at Asura with narrow eyes, her lips pushed together. "Hmph, why would they care? All they want is to sleep with me, anyway."

'Huh? Is this girl actually quite smart? She is a little annoying, but maybe she would be a good friend for Xavida.'

Asura's eyes lit up and moved through the marching troops, but his eyes soon spotted Xavida in the leading group; she looked back at him and waved, only to be hit on the head by the female knight leading her unit.

'She never changes such a lovely girl.'

Cil followed his line of sight before smiling. "So, is that girl your type? The feral and violent type?"

"Are you interested in my type now?"

"Mm? Hmph, are you saying you like me?"

"If you are asking about love, then no. If you are asking about sex, then maybe, though, I won't take a woman who is in love with someone else."

"S-Sex!? What are you talking about, you idiot!" Cil blushed.

Asura laughed in his mind, his eyes casting a look around and enjoying the march while teasing this genius girl who turned out to be more approachable than he realised.

The rest of the journey was silent, with their groups being separate as they arrived at the border near evening.

This part of the South became a land of death.

The beautiful grass died, now forming thick, sludgy mud. The distant village still burned, and monsters and foreign knights wandered about. It seemed the first battle of the invasion wasn't that far away.

"Ah... my feet are stuck in the dirt," Cil complained, struggling to pull her heavy boots from the wet mud.

"Hey, watch me. You can use wind magic, right?" Asura smirked while holding her hand.

"Y-Yeah, so?"

"Think of wind like water: it's movement, current, and movement. We are creating a whirlwind beneath us to form a bubble and carry our bodies, using gravity to stabilise us while walking forward. Like a little board of air, we will walk on instead of the dirt. Look."

Asura's mana began circulating through his body as he created a small whirlpool beneath his feet.

This wind allowed him to step onto the small pocket of air instead of the mud, avoiding any dirt touching his clothes or feet.

"Ah!? That's so cool." Cil began thinking about it and soon copied him, using wind magic to walk on top of the sludgy mud while only a few droplets of dirty water dripped onto her feet.

'Hmm, she might be an excellent ally in the future.'

Cil wasn't a noble; she was a commoner but still ranked high among the academy. She didn't have the position or strength to become a noble, but she was likely a strong contender for the next generation. 'I bet many young nobles are seeking her talented blood for marriage, huh? No wonder she is so smart about men.'

"How long until we arrive?" A burly man with a beard asked the lead knight.

The next moment, after a giant eye appeared in the sky floating above. A whistle sounded on the wind before it became a howl as a long arrow penetrated the knight's throat.

'Now.'

A volley of arrows then followed, raining down on the students from double the normal range.