Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

When Asura arrived home, he felt completely sober thanks to meeting the strange woman. Frey felt both nostalgic and terrifying. This caused his many minds to awaken and dissolve the alcohol rapidly.

'It's the second time I've felt conflicting emotions and memories towards someone.'

However, since she vanished, he shifted focus and rushed back to the mansion to meet with his wives.

Although he was unsure why he felt so fond of her, he felt he knew her very well and that she was important in his life, even though he was a little confused about who she was.

'Let's focus...'

Not long after, he arrived home, but instead of a big greeting, only the maids remained awake.

"Welcome home, Master."

"Lord Asura, welcome back."

Vela's and Verana's maids politely greeted him. The pair seemed to get along well when he peeked at the table. They both were playing chess together while enjoying hot tea and some snacks.

"Sorry, did I force you both to wait for me?" Asura always treated his maids and servants well in private. Because his dad hated the abuse, some nobles did. So many of the old women back home adored him. He was a well-mannered boy who mistreated people because of his class or strength.

He firmly believed people should treat others equally, not below them, especially someone in his family.

"L-Lord Asura... of course not, this is our job...!"

"Master, we also enjoy this time to chat together." Vela's maid answered with a smile.

Asura chuckled, "I am glad you are both getting along well. Where are the others?"

"I believe Lady Xue and Lady Xavida are sleeping while the princess also retired for the night with Lady Verana. Knight Lorem seems to be in the library for a late-night book session."

Verana's maid seemed more cheeky and confident, but this likely came from her bloodline, a minor vampire created to serve the Duchess family.

'The bonus is eternal youth and long life... Most girls would love that.'

In contrast, Vela's maid was a trainee Valkyrie, who would serve Vela as her guard in the future.

"Understood. I am a little tired and won't give you any orders. Enjoy your evening, ladies. I will retire to my room."

"Please rest well, Lord Asura. We will prepare a fresh meal in the morning." Vela's maid added.

The two bowed as they saw him off, sitting down before their soft voices of gossip and speaking words about Asura gently echoed throughout the mansion.

'Ah.. I didn't fasten my shirt...'

He was too distracted and forgot to close the top part of his clothes before heading out, but he did not care since he was not exposing much, only his muscles, to anyone who looked.

'How foolish... The maids are perverted wolves.'

He felt lonely in his empty bed when he reached his room. He had never slept alone since he got together with his wives. Since he returned to this life, someone had always been beside him or sharing his bed...

However, something inside him clicked, and he realised a key thing he had forgotten to complete since Helliana vanished.

He stopped checking his current state and was on the edge of reaching Stage Five or moving on to the next cultivation cycle when he realised his bloodlines had also reached Stage Four back in the tower.

'No, they are almost maxed out at Stage Five, too.'

Asura walked into the room, taking a deep breath before he sat on his gigantic bed and flopped, entering his spirit palace before his head hit the soft pillows.

When he entered the tower, he noticed that the huge, beautiful palace had undergone repairs since the attack and had expanded in size and diversity. It even felt more sophisticated than before.

It had a more complex system of rivers that wove across the vast place, feeding many green fields, wildflower meadows, forests, and even mountains with an expansive and wide range of habitats.

'There are creatures and animals!'

More beasts and animals also filled the jungle. Asura felt surprised to see how everything had progressed, especially when he gazed at the magnificent palace, which had also undergone many changes.

He entered the black archway to find the five wings now grand and similar to his original Spirit Palace.

The black, grey, crimson, blue, and Silver colours glowed brilliantly, spreading radiance far beyond the space's border.

The pentagon platform on which the wings converged was ten meters across, and the massive screen showing his current status flickered in a clearer and more visible font than previously.

"I will deal with my evolutions first... then check this out."

Now, instead of asking Helliana.

He needed to go to each monolith and manually choose the requested evolution. First, he walked towards the Asura monolith and noticed only two more parts remained dull. After that, he wondered what might happen.

'Though they still seem a little damaged from that woman's attack...'

⁜ Asura Monolith Evolutions

Stage One: Eyes of Desolation—Allows the user to see through all illusions and resist all charming spells within Two Stages of current cultivation or One Stage when they have the Darkness Element able to disguise their stage.

Capable of perceiving the movement of mana, qi, anima, and magic.

Stage Two: Void Body Tempering—Temper the body using anima to make it more durable, flexible, and powerful.

Also allows for the usage of Void Battle Arts.

Stage Three: Unending Wrath—As long as mana, anima or qi should remain, the user cannot die or fall in combat. Lasts as long as their body and resources remain.

Stage Four: Adaptive Reflexes—Improve the body's reflexes beyond humanly possible while strengthening muscles, flesh and tendons to avoid damage.

Allows the use of Anima to reinforce the body.

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⁜ Devil Monolith Evolutions

Stage One: Devil Dragon Twin Heart - Increases your heart's durability, endurance and capability to manage and control your anima and blood with enhanced capabilities.

Stage Two: Devil's Wings—A black pair of wings fused with your Asura bloodline, turning them white and grey with strange runes and sigils that resonate with power.

Stage Three: Devil's Core—Empowers all elements of magic, increasing their casting cost and damage by double while ignoring half the enemy's resistance to the current element.

Stage Four: Devil's Claws—Use the devil's bloodline to strengthen your claws' endurance and fuse it with other bloodlines to create even stronger effects.

---

He finished changing the Devil's evolutions with a nod. However, the upgrade to his armour might help this time. Asura wanted offensive skills from Dragon and Devil, thus evolving his claws and the same upgrade from the dragon monolith.

"I think this will help more..."

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⁜ Dragon Monolith Evolutions

Stage One: Scales—Increases the natural defence of your body, boosting magic resistance.

Stage Two: Wings—Black dragon wings fused with the devouring bloodline, turning them black with red lines filled with powerful vibrations and sharp claws.

Stage Three: Heart—Upgrades the Dragon part of the Devil Dragon Twin heart. Enhances the management of magic and anima while granting the ability to cast all spells instantly, with a 50% decrease in damage.

Stage Four: Dragon Claws—Use the Dragon's bloodline to sharpen and create deadly claws that other bloodlines can empower.

Devil's Claw Bonus creates a sword that extends from each forearm during Manifestation, channelling the fire and ice elements.

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⁜ Devour Monolith Evolutions

Stage One: Sensual Link—When cultivating with females, it increases the pleasure felt by the female while improving the level of purification, increasing their magic density and affinity.

Stage Two: Force—Devour living targets at twice the speed.

Stage Three: Efficiency—You can purify all qi and mana for an additional time, increasing your and your partner's magic density further.

Stage Four: Adaptability—You devour the magic particles from the air faster.

Force, Efficiency, Sensual Link, and Adaptability Evolutions detected! Removed all Negatives.

---

Asura felt a moment of joy; seeing that it removed the negative effects in huge pale letters, he felt a sense of relief. When he chose all five, he guessed something like this might happen, but he only needed four.

'It's even changed the last one... Quick Dual Cultivation no longer makes it harder to purify their magic.'

He strolled towards the huge black pillar behind his glorious throne, made of dragon bones, a mixture of silver and gold, and a huge phoenix with two heads at the top.

"I never had control over this monolith, but now I can finally appreciate its existence."

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⁜ Profane Phoenix Monolith Evolutions

Stage One: Rebirth—The bloodline of two divine phoenix bloodlines gifts you both a miracle and a profane blessing. An example of cruel experimentation using the last samples of either bloodline, yet it allows you to survive an instance of death twice a month.

Stage Two: Dark Phoenix Fire (Passive)—This fire is hot enough to burn the lowest levels of hell. Scientists created it through profane experiments with the world's fire-breathing monsters, leading to its destructive and powerful nature.

The flame absorbs and accepts all others, increasing its ferocity with each flame gained. It increases the effective damage of breath-type attacks by 500%.

Stage Three: Born of Flames—Normal fire cannot hurt you. Powerful flames deal with decreased damage, and your flames can heal your body.

Stage Four: Rebirth/Destruction Fusion—After enduring eight lives of suffering, betrayal, and the curse of accepting the profane blood of both divine birds, you have finally devoured the curse completely and fused both bloodlines into a singular flow.

Immune from the mental control of others, the bloodlines are now fused with your body and soul, and nothing can remove them, even divine beings.

Can grant a single spouse the properties of each fire.

Rebirth - Helliana

Destruction - Unknown Existence

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Asura felt a moment of awe; from the start of this monolith's awakening, it never showed its full name, nor did the first stage reveal its true ability...

"So this is what it does.... but who is the unknown existence? I don't remember giving my flame to anyone but Helliana..."

Asura suddenly felt a deep connection when he focused on something close to his body. The link with Helliana felt strong and reassuring. However, then he felt a connection to something else.

A female... but she seemed to be far away. He could barely feel the link yet it seemed the other side felt him as a strange tugging pulled at his chest.

"The girl is asking me to play..."

He didn't know how he knew this, but Asura felt it was the truth... or maybe just an instinct. He clutched his chest as his heart beat erratically before a surge of magic coated his body in flames.

'I cannot play right now... I don't know where you are...'

He tried his best to transmit his voice, the voice of his heart and soul. The other side continued asking him to play for a while before the feelings and message changed. "I will wait!"

'She understands... who are you?' Asura felt both happiness and confusion. The small feeling felt pure and innocent, like a child, and carried no bad intentions... a delicate thing that was too far for him to reach.

Yet when he tried again, he felt a throbbing inside his mind, dropping to the ground with both hands holding onto the throne, desperate to keep himself afloat.

"Guooo... What is this pain..." He cried as his heart and head burst with a powerful force. It felt as though something was trying to destroy his mind. "Maybe it's a limited communication because of our distance?"

Asura barely pulled through with his powerful physique and resilience before the pain faded away, leaving him exhausted.

He felt drained and fatigued. He sat on his throne as sweat dropped from his body.

A cold hand caressed his cheek and helped him relieve some of his pain before it faded. The hand surely came from the other side.

Although it soothed his pain...  the way it caressed him like a priceless treasure felt... eerie.

"I should... accept these evolutions now, while I am used to the pain..."

He focused on the pain to recover and decided to get his evolution over and done with.

Asura clicked his fingers and performed the stage four evolutions, hoping he could avoid more pain if he absorbed them together.

This was a grave and painful mistake...