Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

"Lucia, crush them."

"Yes, Captain!"

Before a dozen frogs could even move, Lucia\'s body split into countless shadows, each one a perfect replica of the original. She appeared behind a group of confused frogs, her movements a blur of precision and speed.

A casual swipe of her obsidian blades, and she removed two heads from their shoulders. The remaining nine whirled around in a rage, but the girl was faster than them by leaps and bounds.

Her shadows massacred the horrifying monsters before returning to the spot she stood a moment before without a trace of sweat or exhaustion.

"We have crushed the enemy, captain!"

"Good work. Your shadows are becoming a little too strong. Rather, they seem to have changed qualitatively since the last time we fought together."

Lucia said nothing, instead shrugging her shoulders. She knew the element had changed after sleeping with Asura, but that was something special for her, and she didn\'t want Lorem to know just yet.

"Maybe I just improved, thanks to the power of love."

"Ah, I don\'t doubt that. You\'ve slept with him, right?"

"Mm, it was amazing."

"Tsk, I should burn you to a crisp, less competition."

Lorem grinned at Lucia while the other rolled her eyes.

"Well, aren\'t you a little late? Besides, you wouldn\'t burn me for that; otherwise, you\'d have to fight all of his women and Asura himself. He doesn\'t mind us bickering, but true fights are off-limits."

The smile on Lorem\'s face vanished as she placed her palm over Lucia\'s face, a searing heat emitting from her palm that caused Lorem\'s eyes to widen, her pupils dilating. "I don\'t care if he would be mad—if you try to take him from me, I will burn even you to ashes."

Her tone was serious, almost insane, causing Lucia to grin. "Don\'t worry, I\'m not interested in becoming another woman in his harem. That said, I won\'t allow you to claim him for yourself either!" The next moment, the Lucia that Lorem was threatening vanished, while her body emerged from behind her, with a blade to Lorem\'s neck. "I will make him mine."

Lucia\'s blade swung downwards, but the look in her eyes made Lorem chuckle. "Good, make sure you do. But remember, I am always watching you, and I will burn you to a crisp if you try to monopolise him."

The threat was real, but Lucia wasn\'t worried about it, shaking her head instead. "Why don\'t we spar so we can clear our minds before another war is upon us?"

"No, I want to return. That the queen married her daughter to him makes my skin crawl!" Lorem was quite easy to understand; though she spoke in such a violent and angry way, Lucia knew she wouldn\'t really burn her. Instead, they were testing each other\'s affection towards Asura, and they both seemed to have accepted the other\'s feelings.

"Okay, let\'s head back; the other knights are a little late, though." .net

"They\'re on a wild goose chase right now, with the queen sending them in every direction to fight monsters and protect villages; what would happen if Romantica attacked again? Or the East?"

"Why do you think the queen ordered us back to the castle and everyone else to different parts of the Kingdom?" Lucia wondered while preparing their horses, her hands storing the magic cores from the monsters for extra profit.

"I suppose it\'s not her, but maybe Asura is calling for us." Lorem seemed to believe, her raid hair dancing in the gentle breeze.

"What do you mean?"

"Hmph, you think so lowly of him; it\'s almost pathetic. You didn\'t realise how much he loves each of us. That he got married while we were in the south, he definitely has some part in our return. Otherwise, Barbatos would also be returning to the capital, not heading to the east!"

Lucia giggled as they hopped onto their horses, dashing through the dense forest and taking a shortcut to get back to the castle. "Ah, Asura, you have woven something interesting into our lives, huh?"

***

In the east, Barbatos stood overlooking a deep canyon with hundreds of dead wolves, deformed, with long canines and twisted tails with sharp spines.

"Troops, this cannot continue. How many did we lose?" Barbatos questioned one lieutenant under his command, a young man by the name of Don.

"We lost two hundred soldiers and thirty knights to these things, General, but they lost seven hundred wolves, and more are falling by the minute."

Barbatos closed his eyes, the exhaustion of constant battle, something even he couldn\'t avoid.

The monsters would keep coming, morning, noon, or night, and the southeast of Romantica was a dangerous place, with the huge southern wilds now uncontained. He knew the monsters could leave and attack the countless Silvaran people.

"More monsters. This won\'t stop until they run out of forces."

Barbatos had been fighting for a full day without sleep or food, his men and women exhausted and injured, and he had a week\'s worth of supplies left in his belt pouch.

"Change tactics. Have half the troops rest and recover while forming small, dense teams to defend against the monsters. Preserve your strength!"

"Yes, Sir!"

Barbatos had faith in his troops, and if things continued like this, they would easily wipe out the Southern monster army. However, should any of their enemy nations strike, then Silvara would be pushed to the brink of destruction.

"My Queen, what should we do..." Barbatos asked the wind, his hand grasping his weapon tight.

Lorem and Lucia spent hours racing along the kingdom. Their warhorses suffered somewhat under the intense speed of their riders, yet the trusty animals got them back to the castle in record time.

With only a few dozen miles to go, Lorem\'s keen eyes suddenly caught a trail of smoke coming from a village nestled in the grassy plains ahead of them. "Lucia, we must check this out; I have a bad feeling about it."

"Okay, but if we\'re wasting time here, I will not spare you. Also, send a signal flare to the knights and ask for aid." Lucia replied to Lorem, her eyes scanning the surrounding area before focusing on the small village. "We should investigate."

Lorem nodded, a signal flare shooting high into the sky as they raced towards the burning village. The closer they got to the village, the more horrified they became; countless people were running away in every direction, a large group of monstrous lizards hunting them down like flies.

These lizards had four legs and were about ten feet long with sharp teeth and a long tail that could crush an ordinary person if it struck.

As soon as the two women entered the village, they split up to take down the lizards; their coordination was perfect, almost as if they were a single soul occupying two bodies.

The fight was tough, not because the monsters were strong but because there were hundreds of the lizards, and the heavy armour would make the fight hard if they had to keep up with the beasts.

Lucia lunged forward, her black blade slicing apart the scaly hides of the lizards before dodging a bite attack.

She launched herself up, a small shadow manifesting within the air and catching her, propelling her up even higher as she sped through the air like a bolt of black lightning. Her twin blades flashed in the air, tearing into the lizards\' scaly hides.

Lucia was elegant, her movements swift and fluid, but she was only one person. Lorem was completely different; her long-range attacks decimated dozens of monsters in seconds while her sword dealt with those that got too close.

The flames of a phoenix burned the lizards from the inside out. Her beautiful lips parted with a lovely bird call before flames billowed and burst from her throat, burning everything below Stage Seven into cooked meat.

"Lucia, this will take a while!" Lorem said, her clothes covered in dirt and charcoal, a smile on her face as she wreathed in the blood of her enemies.

"If you don\'t hurry, I will get to Asura first." Lucia challenged as she leapt, avoiding a dozen lizards, her obsidian blades drawing arcs in the air.

"Haha! We will see." Lorem grinned at Lucia before she melted into the ground, the heat emitting from her body, causing her armour and clothes to burn, along with the mud melting, making her a little dirty and exhausted.

"What a power, nothing less than that of a damn phoenix!" Lucia chuckled while guarding a group of terrified villagers. Her attacks focused on the enemies approaching them. "Come on, who\'s next?"

Her aura burst forth as she avoided the incoming lizard bites and tails. She slashed through one\'s chest, but another bit her shoulder, dragging her through the mud, its claws digging into her flesh.

The next moment, her figure vanished, and two Lucia\'s cut through the lizard\'s neck, with no damage to her body.

She grinned and charged into another group, her movements making it hard for her enemies to pinpoint her position.

Time passed, and with the combined efforts of both women, they managed to cleanse the village of monsters.

However... they were both spent, exhausted beyond their limits as the last lizard fell, although the meat could feed the villagers for the night, perfectly cooked thanks to Lorem\'s flames.

"What now, Lucia?" Lorem asked as they sat beside each other, leaning against a scorched wall. "I can\'t move."

"Neither can I..."

"I bet those other girls have such a great time, probably sleeping with him right now... Ah~ I want to have sex with my darling." Lorem complained, the wall melting as she fell back.

Her body was covered with a fireproof robe because of her extreme heat and flames melting everything else.

Lucia looked at Lorem before laughing and looking at the looming moon. "Ah... Sex with Asura seems like a wonderful reward for this."

"Neither; let\'s push for the castle. I don\'t want to rest in a burnt and destroyed village. Rather, I don\'t want to share him with those girls if we make it back later."

"Then, if we get attacked, I\'m relying on you. I don\'t have any clothes remaining."