Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix - Chapter 478

Chapter 478: The Treacherous Demon Empire
In his final moments inside the mortal realm, Seere’s arm lifted, coating his lance in powerful black energy, which crackled and formed lightning bolts arcing from its tip.

When Asura heard his last threatening words, the Abyssal Monarch tossed the spear towards Asura, intending to kill him. “Die, you wretch!”

With the divine cage slamming shut, the threat was over—however, the spear, covered in devastating abyssal magic, tore through the sky and hurled towards Asura.

As it approached, time slowed to a crawl.

‘I am in danger… but if I don’t block this attack, Mu Xue and the others are in danger!’ he thought urgently as he looked behind him, where the buildings of the empire already looked damaged and covered in flames. Even though he couldn’t see them, Asura was completely calm. He would protect them, no matter what!

Gritting his teeth, he put his hands together in a cross-guard fashion to take the brunt of the incoming weapon’s momentum, which seemed to fly towards him at an impossible speed. Even so, he knew that in his current state, that explosive magic and spear would wound him severely.

‘Don’t worry, everyone. I will stop his attack with everything I have.’

Black flames gathered rapidly around Asura’s crossed arms, the spear-like meteor approaching as fast as possible while glowing menacingly. There was nowhere to dodge—the lance was locked onto him.

It drew closer… and then—

Thump.

As soon as the two forces collided, everything shook as an intense shockwave rang out across the city.

“What’s going on?!” A voice screamed from below as the vibrations in the air began to shatter the glass and weaker buildings below, forcing people to slam onto their faces due to high-density pressure and weight.

“Run for your life, woman!” Another said as people started flooding away from the centre of town, their bodies started to vaporise from the black energy that enveloped the epicentre of where Asura blocked the spear.

More screams resounded from the empire’s people. No one could run away since most of the buildings were falling apart around them. The force was enough to kill anything below Stage Three from just the aftershock and vibrations in the air; many corpses turned into blood mist without knowing what happened.

“AAAAHHH!!!”

After a few seconds, however, those within 100 feet had ceased existing. After all, they remained near the blast radius of Seere’s attack, with even some Demi-humans dying because they didn’t get far enough.

“Hold it back!”

‘I won’t die here!’

While trying to hold on to Seere’s Abyssal Lance, Asura’s face was stained red as his power battled the Monarch’s attack head-on. The black mist began to melt the flesh of his fingertips before the muscles and bone turned into dust before his eyes.

The attack caused him to grind his teeth while his body threatened to burst at the seams with such extreme pressure. Asura refused to give up as his thoughts went towards Mu Xue and her sister. “You can’t hurt them like this.”

Even though his body couldn’t handle the pain much longer, Asura forced himself to fight, the remaining tree inside his body absorbing the surrounding Animus and the strange energy from the spear as it grew larger, attempting to nourish his collapsing body. He decided that now was not the time to die. ‘I will live on! I need to return safely back home!’

*Crack*

Despite his efforts, the spear finally penetrated his chest, the sound of organs bursting and blood pouring onto the people from his back as the dark energy began to eat at Asura’s insides, shattering the remnants of the monoliths.

With the spear’s power being greater than expected, Asura tried his hardest to hold on for dear life, gritting his teeth. His powerless arms dangling as the black flames began to fizzle, his wings tattered and torn apart as he started to fall. The magic was eating away at his body and melting his skin to nothingness.

‘….’

Asura’s mind became blank, his blurry gaze watching the horizon while he fell, frustrated that he suffered such a defeat. Only to notice the familiar ships on the horizon… They were warships from the demon empire…

*Fwop.*

His body fell, all senses fading from him as Asura’s eyes became dull, void of light, his wings and transformations fading away from view, leaving just a man with the spear through his chest. His hair fluttered in the wind while the ruins crumbled around him.

The next moment, his eyes closed, and his body impacted the stone floor.

***

Meanwhile, Mu Xue and her sister felt the tremors and saw the impact. Her eyes widened in horror, filled with fear, as she forced herself to stand despite the rubble that collapsed around her. “A-Asura!” She began to stumble and struggled to move towards Asura.

The moment he crashed into the earth, a secondary explosion enveloped the city, causing everyone nearby to either die instantly or attempt to survive by hiding behind anything they could find.

Even so, most perished from the blast and shockwaves generated from their battle against each other.

Mu Xue tried to go after him, but it was futile because of how the floor shattered beneath them and the hands that held her back before a piece of stone flooring fell in the place she would have stepped.

“Mu Xue!”

“Sister, you must focus. We can’t rush. Use your magic!”

“B-but…” Even though she spoke, the area began crumbling even more, especially when they witnessed what happened above—if someone could destroy a piece of landmass like that from so far away. Then what did it do to Asura’s body that blocked it?!

“I used my shadows to help block the fall.. Urk…” Lucia’s voice was hoarse—her throat dries despite the sweet taste of copper filling her bloody mouth. ‘Though I lost contact with them instantly…’

“We should check—”

They both began moving again to rescue Asura. However, what occurred next made them pause their thoughts once more because, within that instant, several figures landed on the ground beside them. Dozens of dead humans, some people they met during their time undercover.

Merchants, slaves, dancers and people who greeted them. The Emerald Dream was devastated, and although the Vigilants tried to prepare to take over. After what happened, half of their recruits were now ashes. It looked like death covered everything since no one stood among the crowd.

“This is horrible…”

They ran across the ruined pathway towards where the entrance of the resistance base to find Mu Lan and He Ran, both attempting to give first aid to dying and wounded people. The sickly sweet scent of blood and the foul stench of death flooded the small room filled with bodies and corpses stacked together.

“Why did this happen?”

“Hurry, I need someone who can use healing magic!”

“Get me some bandages!!”

“Help!”

While they gazed for a moment at the chaos and devastation, Mu Xue shook her head and stumbled towards Asura’s location. Suddenly, the ground shook violently underfoot before splitting apart between the two siblings. They reached out desperately to grab one another only to fail because of debris crashing down upon them.

An enormous boulder hit Mu Yue directly, knocking her backwards toward an undamaged section of wall behind them.

Mu Xue found herself flung towards Asura… A broken body lay on his back, impaled into the ground, creating an enormous crater as she slid down the wall of sand. Yet, the young woman believed that Asura wouldn’t die.

“Asura!”

He wasn’t dead.

At least she could see his chest moving… A small flicker of hope burned inside her chest.

Mu Xue got to her knees quickly, tears streaming down her face, crawling towards him and clutching him close with her slender arms.

“You’re alive,” she muttered softly, “Don’t worry, you won’t die! I promise.” Blood dripped onto her skin. But Mu Xue didn’t care. “I’ll get you home safe,” she whispered as she cried silently into Asura’s shoulder.

A long moment passed until finally, when she raised her face, she looked up and wiped her cheeks free from tears.

“I should’ve helped you more, trained to become stronger…” Mu Xue clenched her fists tightly before stroking the blood and dirt from his pale cheek. To make sure he didn’t die, she placed her ear to his chest, only to hear only one heart beating…. the other was silent.

‘Eh?! Asura has two hearts… what’s going on?’ The lack of rhythm indicated something was wrong, yet she didn’t understand, and the black energy coming from the spear wouldn’t stop flowing into Asura’s body.

In shock, she hugged him tight and kissed his cold, purple lips. “N-no… don’t leave me! Y-you promised me we would stay together!”

No matter how many times she said that nothing changed except for the warmth growing stronger from his flesh.

“…H-He’s don’t going to die?” Mu Xue felt her tears overflow once more.

Slowly, the vitality of the world tree began to spread through his body, leaking into Mu Xue’s body through their lips and fingers. The energy filled her body with warmth and a tingle she couldn’t explain as the world tree started to grow, devouring the remnants of the monoliths and the black energy from the abyssal devil’s attack.

‘The wound doesn’t look as bad anymore… Can I move him now?’

She looked around but sensed nothing. Only corpses of enemies surrounded them—many who looked calm or unaware would die amid the destroyed palace and buildings.

Those who still breathed were those fortunate enough to survive such devastation. This included some Demi-humans and other species mixed in the bunch, including humans.

Mu Xue also realised she and Asura were in a dangerous spot because of their proximity to the palace.