Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix - Chapter 442

Chapter 442: In the Midst of Battle He Stands

The sound of stone crumbling to brute force, a roar of thunder bursting from the enemy’s siege weapons and the scent of burning flesh like roasted pork. A battle for survival and domination was waged in the eastern parts of the continent. Five thousand Empire warriors against a small force of Imperial forces.

A blue barrier expanded and tortured anyone with mixed bloodlines. Although the orcs fought without issue, those with human and orc blood suffered, brought to their knees as their bodies rotted from the inside.

“The empire has been developing a weapon like this…?” Sigurd, the sword saintess of Silvara, stood in the midst of battle, her beautiful silver blade slicing and reaping the lives of dozens while her body drifted through the burning flames of war.

“You vile fiends dare to create such an evil machine! My dear husband forced to suffer because of you wretched knaves!”

“Kill her! Surround and crush this bitch!”

“Yes, Captain!”

The empire lacked a sole combatant with such great power. They were a trained unit relying on their formations and numbers to crush the Imperial resistance.

Sigurd closed her eyes for a brief second, using the moment to draw the wind element from around her body into her sheath and to regain her calm. ‘I cannot fight alone—Gaius and the Valkyrie are behind me, clearing the way.’

This battle had been going on for more than three hours now, the casualties on both sides likely in the hundreds.

From the moment Asura began suffering and collapsed, Lucia, who could avoid the barrier hiding in the shadows, became the key element in informing Gaius, Shizuka, Rasha and Sigurd of the situation, which allowed them to assess the threat of that blue, thin barrier quickly.

‘An anti-hybrid field, they didn’t target monsters but humans who mixed with other races…’

Sigurd felt that the empire was a disgusting place, but as her sword cleaved through the air, a silver flash of death. She couldn’t help but wonder why she wasn’t affected by the barrier.

‘No, maybe the barrier isn’t complete; they don’t have samples for all monsters and races. Asura and Helliana both have phoenix blood… Is it because of that?’

She wasn’t sure, as huge chunks of stone were flogged towards the forest by the unbroken trebuchets in the background. Sigurd wanted to destroy the generators, making the field so Asura could fight.

However, the empire wasn’t stupid…

Their strongest elite warriors were all protecting the generators with two catapults and a group of archers defending them.

‘Damn fools…’

“Lady Sigurd, I am here to support you!”

*Woosh!*

Gaius swung his massive axe, cleaving five men in half, before his fist smashed into a shield, sending the sixth member flying back into their line of infantry.

“It’s good you’re here, Gaius. Shall we push forward and crush these ingrates?” Sigurd’s lips curled into a fierce smile, her eyes narrow like thin crescent moons.

“Let us go, my brother! Follow me and aid your sister in battle!”

“Crush them!” The Sword Saintess cried out, her silver hair waving in the wind, “If we are to die, let it be at the enemy’s hands after killing ten more! If we are to live, let us wreak havoc and break the bones of our enemies, bathing in their blood and feasting on their flesh!”

In the past she might have been a more quiet warrior, her strength leaving her in an isolated place. However, with the appearance of the Grom clan and Valkyries, she found herself surrounded by fierce and loyal allies who could follow her into battle.

“We aim to destroy those foul generators! Free our brothers who are the symbol of freedom!”

Sigurd truly believed that those with hybrid bloodlines were a sign of the future, a place where being a human, monster or divine beast would matter less the longer time progressed. Her future husband’s lovers were all a mixture of various races and creatures—once they had children, wouldn’t all of them be hybrids in nature?

‘That’s why I must help him, to destroy these foul machines and their creators!’

“You heard the big sis! Let’s crush them all!”

A massive charge, three hours into the battle, caught the empire’s force off guard. They believed without the firebird and Asura, they would lose too much power and would slowly crumble in a defensive battle while outnumbered five to one.

“Heh, let’s see if you can handle my new toy…”

A strange male in a white coat looked down upon the battlefield from his small encampment. His hands rubbed a crystal ball the size of a watermelon, his eyes narrowed in an intense gaze, “Pour more mana into it. Make it more intense! Kill the hybrids—don’t let a single traitor of human blood survive!”

The man was known as the genius mage, Ivar, and was the only human to learn how to manipulate the blue barrier and make it into a weapon. He created this item because of a tragic past, yet as a traitor from Silvara, it was deplorable he would create a weapon that would now endanger not only the crown prince but the princess and anyone who had formed a bond with him.

“Yessir!” A fat, balding man, who appeared to be a subordinate, saluted the young mage and barked orders to the other researchers and soldiers guarding the camp.

“Focus the field over there! Stop the advance of the enemy forces, now!”

“Right away, sir!”

The silver-haired woman and the burly, green-skinned giant led the charge, followed by dozens of heavily armed warriors. Despite the empire’s strong formations, what could an iron shield do against the sheer might of an orc-enraged mace? Their bodies were flung back, like a used dishcloth, as Sigurd cut open the path for the orcs to expose the flanks and weakness of these troops locked in stiff formations.

“I want her dead! That damn harlot needs to perish!” Ivar shouted, his hands glowing a bright red. “Get me that girl, or the empire will suffer!”

“Yes, yes, I understand. We shall send out the best imperial assassins and kill her.”

Sigurd’s eyes widened suddenly, her blade cutting into a knight’s armour before his eyes became dull, and he grabbed her sword with both hands, abandoning his life before a flicker of darkness formed around her. Suddenly, four assassins appeared with sharp, poisoned blades attacking her from all directions!

Sigurd’s head snapped back, her ears picking up on their movement due to their focus on attacking her. Her instincts were screaming at her as her muscles tensed.

*Clang!*

An explosion of force, the ground crumbling beneath her feet. However, the blades collided with the shadow of Lucia’s clones, the blue forcefield instantly wrapping around her clones, crushing them into particles of dark mana.

“Thanks, Lucia….”

However, that was enough for Sigurd; she released her sword, letting the man fall to his death before twirling it around her palm, pointing towards an assassin as a dozen wind blades tore him into pieces. Each twirl, she killed another of the assassins before the area around her was silent, the ground covered in blade marks from her wind magic, and the remains of more than fifty soldiers torn apart by her attack.

‘If Lucia didn’t pull Gaius back and protect me, I couldn’t have cleared these insects!’

Sigurd’s mind was working in high gear, her expression calm despite the situation. She believed the empire was targeting her and was using the barrier only to get some testing data, with her prince as a test subject.

‘Are they aiming to create a more powerful version? Or something to cause the death of people who have mixed bloodlines?’

*Swish!*

She grasped her sword, flicking the meat and blood across the battlefield, distant sounds of rock colliding and explosions from magic filling the dull area.

“Whatever, the machine cannot gather data if I destroy it.”

Sigurd now stood less than 1000 metres from the machine, with most of the elite guards now dead—only standard soldiers stood holding their swords, some even trembling at the sight of the silver maiden.

“I am going to slay you all. Prepare for death. Say your last words~ while you still can.”

***

Meanwhile, in the background, Asura stood on the wall, his hands grasping the stone, desperately trying to remain conscious. His skill was filled with cracks and deep wounds, bleeding constantly, his face pale as his organs started to fail.

‘My Animus is keeping me alive forcefully… How amusing, if not for these monoliths. I would die so easily, like a flower in winter.’

He could feel the devouring totem desperately trying to absorb magic from the world to keep his body from collapsing. However, the blue barrier created a delay, stopping his magic from collecting at the usual rate, meaning by the time he healed from a wound five seconds ago, half a minute would have passed.

“I can see my people fighting—even without me, they are suffering. Then let me help them, even if it rends my body into pieces!”

Asura hated this world when he was first reborn, yet now. He didn’t feel that way; rather, he was with each person he met and the women he fell in love with. The world became a beautiful place, one that he valued so much that a single soldier’s loss made him feel like he needed to retaliate.

‘The western flank is weaker because Sigurd and Gaius are on the East… Then let me help you, my brave warriors.’

His hand trembled, releasing the broken wall, now almost falling due to his unstable body; Asura pointed his palm towards the enemy, and a warm pulse flickered inside his chest, like a fire being kindled.

A swirl of black flames appeared in the centre of his palm before magic circles formed beside his palm; over and over, they appeared and formed black spheres of flame with crackling heat that made the air seem to tremble in fear.

“Burn them to ash, my dark inferno…”

One by one, they were fired into the distance, the flames burning with a frightening intensity. Asura’s breathing was slow and steady, his face calm, and his eyes focused.

‘I can’t control my magic, but I can increase the amount, right?’ His calm face twisted into a distorted smile as he began to squeeze his magic, forcing his body to produce more fire, with greater force, as the spheres bombarded the enemy lines with explosions of black firebombs.

*Boom! Boom!*

The enemy army, unaware of what was happening, was devastated by this sudden barrage of fire, their shields catching alight and their skin burning. Many fell to the ground, crying out for mercy, while others panicked and ran, trying to escape the flames.

Only to be burned in a cinder.