Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

East of the kingdom stands Lyndwrym fort, created over two thousand years ago. It had yet to face defeat.

Garret Fenix stood on the grey walls with his arms crossed, his body wearing the dire wolf armour, enduring the rain hammering the walls while he watched the enemy on the horizon. 'My dear son, beloved daughter. How I would love to show you this sight.'

"Glade, Estin, Felix. How are the troops?"

Estin Calman, captain of Lyndwrym's imperial guard, said with a smile, "All troops are prepared for the coming battle."

With pride in his voice, Felix Odon replied, "Lyndwrym mages are ready, sir."

Glade Estan smiled at his lord's current aura. "All knights are fully rested!"

Garret Fenix nodded and looked at the army in the distance.

On the black, wet ground, several miles apart, was a great army of feral and wild orcs, a huge cyclops rushing towards them as Garret stepped onto the rampart, holding his huge red sword; the moment his hand tightened, it flickered with flames.

He stared at the incoming army and shouted, "We'll start the battle on my terms—hold your positions. Archers! Target that monster's gigantic eye!"

His powerful shout resounded through the entire castle along with the order; it was only a moment before the archers around Garret Fenix fired the arrows into the sky—several hundred arrows flew like raindrops through the air, and soon after came a ferocious roar.

The cyclops stopped, grabbed his bleeding eye, and roared painfully. Garret Fenix observed without interest before giving out another command.

"Knights! Hold your ground. I am going to battle!"

'It's going to enter berserk and take down the wall.'

His voice resounded across the wall once more, and everyone held their breath and gazed at him. Garret Fenix dashed off the castle wall, his body erupting into flames, as he came crashing down, holding his enormous blade behind his head, before slashing down at the cyclops that turned red, bulking up with intense muscles and veins.

"Ya!"

Garret's sword, forming a massive beam of fire, collided with the cyclops' club covered in wild magic; a tremendous explosion occurred—the black earth ruptured all around them, and Garret's body flew backwards, landing a hundred feet away, smashing into the fort wall, shaking it to the foundation. "Gaha... bastard!"

Quickly, he rushed forward again as if time had never happened. His red sword clashed again against the Cyclops's club. The cyclops let out a loud grunt as Garret Fenix forced its legs deeper into the ground; seeing an opportunity, Garret let out a howling slash; a terrifying flame engulfed the giant before blowing it up.

Cheers sounded around Lyndwrym Fort from watching such a tremendous battle as the clouds above rumbled and thundered intensely, shaking the souls of those around the castle.

However...

The Cyclops survived with a burned body, only missing one arm, glaring at Garret.

Its aura instantly surged wildly, releasing a roar that shook the surrounding trees and crushed small rocks into dust, causing even Garret Fenix, who could not feel fear, to shiver; he looked at the beast before turning back, shouting towards his soldiers, "Prepare to meet them!"

Shouts from his troops resounded, but the Cyclops's war cry drowned all. 'No, I cannot let them fight this monster...'

—Manifestation!

Blazing Dire Wolf form!

Instantly, Garret's body grew, his muscles expanding, veins pulsating as they writhed against his flesh, followed by his eyes becoming bloodshot.

Garret Fenix, now transformed into a two-metre tall male with powerful muscles, his entire figure pulsating with huge flames, his power and magic density exploded while staring at the Cyclops before charging madly, colliding with the wild orc once again, sending tremors through the land as both beings crashed.

'I will protect my children!'

'I will protect my people.'

'I will protect my wife!'

With no thought for himself, Garret attacked the Cyclops—every slash caused the beast to roar in agony while the club hit Garret Fenix countless times, shattering bones. Yet he ignored the pain and wrapped the bones in flaming and forced them together.

He countered with seven more for every strike he took, ripping through its flesh and taking the brunt of the attacks.

Finally, after five minutes of fierce fighting, half of his magic depleted, he stabbed deeply into the beast's heart, roaring as he pierced through it. The Cyclops let out a silent roar before its body slumped, sliding in the molten mud because of Garret's plan.

However, his flames were slowly dimming before flickering completely.

Garret Fenix pulled his blade from its heart before gasping, his body returning to human form—bones shattered almost into fine dust under stress from Manifestation and enduring a Stage Five Cyclops' relentless blows.

"Haa....Haa... Asura, you made me proud even before you gained magic. Hahaha!"

"My Lord!"

"For the Lord!"

Glade rode forward with over two hundred knights, fully armed on their battle steeds, towards their lord because, during the battle, the leading orc took that chance to make half of their army charge forward. It seemed to aim for this moment to crush Garret while exhausted.

But Garret Fenix waved weakly towards Glade Estan and ordered calmly, "Hold them for an hour... Lyndwrym will survive."

Then...

He gave a childish smirk and lept back onto the wall, falling to one knee and burning the ground with a smile that would put anyone to sleep as the knights charged past him to halt the advancing orc army.

The beautiful melody of two hundred war steeds in perfect sync, charging half speed ahead, filled his ears with pleasure; Glade Estan commanded them flawlessly, and soon, the orcs that had rushed forward came within charging distance.

He lifted his arm, the silver spear gifted to him by Garret for his service shimmering as all his knights couched their spears and lances.

"Crush them all!"

The horses barged through the front line as if trampling over mere twigs as they swiftly beheaded many wild orcs easily and quickly—nothing could match them in the open field.

Glade Estan pierced through orc after orc skillfully before leaving his couched stance, spinning his spear, decapitating two wild orcs with one move before rotating the spear further, causing four more deaths by impaling four orcs trying to ambush him.

The knights killed hundreds instantly as Glade retreated with fifty others, while leaving the other one hundred and eighty to hold the wild orcs until their next charge.

"Prepare for their primary force! Structured Charges! Aldred, you take the second wave! Paul, hold the lines!"

Garret Fenix observed everything with pride in his eyes—only Glade and two hundred knights faced a thousand wild orcs. However, they were helpful as long as the orcs relied purely on numbers.

He laughed loudly when they executed structured charges perfectly—they'd gallop in formation before executing different tactics to deal as much damage as possible.

Yet the good times were not forever; knights and steeds became exhausted after high-intensity combat. Even Garret felt tired of observing everything.

Now, orcs began falling back with many dead while Glade and his fifty men led them as they charged back into the battlefield—Garret could sense all of Lyndwrym's soldiers fighting fiercely.

'It's now... we must pull back!'

"PULL BACK GLADE!"

Garret's shout resounded loudly as Glade's expression changed—he heard Garret Fenix shout like this once before; without hesitation, he immediately gave out orders as he spun his spear, beheading three orcs in seconds before stabbing a charging one through the mouth with lightning reflexes.

"ALL KNIGHTS PULL BACK!"

However, before they could safely retread... undead mages on the distant hill cast a dreadful spell... Dissolve flesh.

A purple ray fell upon dozens of Lyndwrym Knights and steeds.

Their flesh melted instantly as a disgusting stench entered Glade Estan's nose; he gagged before spitting out bile. Then, anger took over as he glared towards the mage hill. Yet he stuck to his lord's orders, biting away his sorrow. "PULL BACK!"

In the first clash, both sides suffered.

Garret lost forty knights and noble steeds.

The orcs lost five hundred orcs, a cyclops and fifty wolves.