Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

'I don't understand; how does such an old human have such power!? To fight Hod, the strongest cyclops, to death in minutes!'

Now wasn't the time to curse—Asran ordered his primary force to prepare for tomorrow's siege. Many of the undead who cast the magic from earlier mixed in with the orcs and other monsters.

Asran felt troubled because if the human, Garret Fenix, reached him... Even with his magic, that human would crush him with sheer power.

Asran looked towards Lyndwrym Fort and saw Garret Fenix and his remaining knights return to the fortress as night set in—Asran felt uneasy from sensing Garret's dense magic power.

'Hod died so easily...'

His magic was dense compared to Hod's, but that human easily defeated a Stage Five Cyclops while being weaker; Asran felt fear but did not let it overcome him.

Instead, he called all leaders to his tent—sitting on a wooden chair. He glanced towards the twenty orcs all above Stage Four.

"Tonight is the crucial moment to end Lyndwrym forever—that human has exhausted his power to defeat Hod. We must attack with an elite force of strong orcs and take their fortress by storm."

One orc asked, "And what about our casualties? With this approach, Lyndwrym has some humans above Stage Three—we may lose more lives than Lyndwrym!"

Asran sneered before laughing mockingly.

"Don't worry—it isn't your life we're fighting with. I've prepared a surprise to ensure we take down Lyndwrym tonight!"

With that, he revealed forty small black balls, each about a finger big with glowing patterns—Asran chuckled sinisterly as he stood up and spoke threateningly, "Any who fail me tonight will die instantly! Get to it! Prepare our best orcs and dark elemental mages!"

Without hesitation, he handed each Stage Four Orc two orbs before commanding, "You all have control over these—once we assault their castle walls, drop these and bring down that ugly rock!"

****

Meanwhile, inside the fort, the knights and citizens that lived inside the fort city helped heal the wounded, reinforce the gates and prepare arrows and other weapons for the knights and mages.

"My lord, they will strike in the darkness. Their leader is wise, and seeing your power being drained..." Glade was having his wife clean the wound of his shoulder with pure ice and water.

"Darling, don't move. The orcish poison is still lingering in the wound!" She warned while her white hands glowed with water, healing him with magic slowly, freezing his wound so the poison would not spread further. Glade sat still without speaking more.

Garret Fenix sat in the throne room, his eyes closed, breathing calmly. His recovery was vital to the survival of his people; at first, he presumed this battle would not challenge him. However, he now understands he was wrong.

Felix Odon and Estin Calman guarded him until midnight as his mana recovered slowly.

Then, the entire fortress trembled from the explosions of the enemy's night assault.

"ATTACK!"

"ENEMY ASSAULT!"

"Knights, rally to me and protect the walls! Save the people!"

"Mages, prepare. It's time to fight, illuminate the skies, and reveal their dark tactics!" Felix Odon ordered while Garret opened his eyes slowly before standing—although recovered to half of what it once was, his magic density was enough to take action.

Felix Odon asked nervously as the shouts continued, "My lord, what of you?"

"Estin, summon all Stage Three Humans and below—prepare to evacuate women, elders and children to Lyndwrym's defensive barrier below the ground. We cannot fight them in open warfare!"

Garret commanded calmly while Estin Calman nodded before running off—Garret Fenix left the fort's inner sanctum with Felix Odon. Both men landed on the castle's secondary walls to witness an astonishing scene.

Hundreds of dead orcs had used advanced dark magic spells, then destroyed much of Lyndwrym's thick stone walls with strange bombs.

Stage four elites had massacred the walls guards.

Hundreds of orcs scaled the wall before engaging in direct melee—Lyndwrym knights fought well, killing many orcs, yet there was nothing that Garret Fenix's keen senses could not see.

The same Stage Fours were fighting on the castle wall—sixteen!

After noticing Garret, one orc roared at Garret Fenix's calm visage.

"Crush them, leave nothing, not even their bones or flesh."

Garret Fenix commanded calmly while Felix Odon glared at the Stage Four orcs as his mana gathered rapidly. He shouted with his left hand, creating a huge lightning ball—lightning crackled and raged wildly.

"Lyndwrym Mages, support me! Clear this filth away!"

His powerful roar caused his aura to explode like Garret's—fire and lightning magic formed a wave of deadly magic from the entire group of mages, and Garret Fenix laughed wildly before joining the offensive—creating a pillar of flames ten metres wide and shooting up to the sky like a tower.

It exploded before turning into a shockwave that swept the entire outer wall, searing, melting and incinerating all orcs on the castle walls instantly.

Even the Stage Four orcs fell helpless to the blast.

Garret Fenix landed nimbly and looked to Felix Odon, who supported him with a dark face. "My lord, these bastards..."

"Don't talk, crush them!"

"WE FIGHT!"

Garret and Felix rushed forward towards the outer walls, burning, killing any orcs that survived his fiery shockwave while other mages cast powerful lightning magic and water attacks; swordsmen rallied together with Felix Odon, preparing to engage the orcs, but Garret Fenix yelled suddenly.

"What are you doing!?"

"My lord!?"

"GLADE, Destroy them!"

Garret Fenix commanded while looking below—Glade Estan heard his lord's order and rallied a hundred knights against five hundred orcs.

He smiled wickedly while charging with ten Stage Three knights beside him, launching a magical lightning slash against them, staggering nine Stage Four orcs instantly as other Lyndwrym knights used their bodies to shield Glade—without stopping, Glade's spear erupted with lightning magic as his

"You won't harm my husband! Fall before my magic!"

Agatha's body turned into a storm of ice before the skies above the orc armies formed a horrific icy blizzard, long shards tearing through the skies, all targeted manually to protect her husband and his knights; this was her ability, although she lacked the power of a normal mage.

Agatha Estan's control was the highest in the kingdom below Stage Six. Her magic fell, piercing dozens of orcs and killing fifty wild orcs before the Stage Fours could react.

Although many died... the primary force was her beloved, always protected by seven shards of ice.

Glade and his knights were free to wreak havoc because of Agatha's blizzard covering them. Glade Estan rushed forward; he dodged, cut, thrust and parried deadly strikes as if dancing like Garret Fenix while dealing death wherever he passed.

Soon, the remaining Stage Fours orcs understood and scattered Glade Estan's knights—they engaged Garret Fenix, who laughed wildly, crushing orcs and destroying their ranks with ease.

Felix Odon protected his back with over twenty Stage Three knights and mages as they fought the five Stage Four human knights.

"How dare these scums attack us!?" Using his thunder magic and martial prowess, Felix Odon easily ripped orc after orc while the stage three knights protected his flanks; everyone felt exhaustion.

Garret Fenix laughed wildly before taking on two Stage Five undead mages at once—his blade moved precisely as if he knew exactly what they would do; the sword tore their magic apart and instantly counterattacked at every weak spot before evading smoothly.

"Drive them out! Repair the gate! Haa...Haa...." Garret was exhausted. He suddenly saw in the distance a sight that caused him terror.

"How did their liches get past the Mage detection barrier!?"

"Glade, Felix... Hurry..."

A dark cloud of death, the swarm of locusts, and a group-type spell had already launched towards the entire fort...

"MY LORD, LOOK OUT!"

Felix Odon saw everything.

Garret Fenix felt overwhelmed, protecting the wall; using his magic reserves, he used his mana to form a flaming wall, draining himself empty around Lyndwrym Fort. It acted as a dome that surrounded them, deflecting the locust spell before shattering.

"Lord!!!"

He stopped the locust swarm, but the barrage of the deadly group spell approached like a dark tsunami.

'Ophelia...'

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"By your holy grace, dare you let my husband fall? I will shatter the heavens and slaughter the gods themselves!"

A beautiful yet foul voice sounded like a song... a chant of over fifty women... a sudden feeling of light erupted... The light was so intense the night became day, with the moon illuminated by the glowing light.

Ophelia and fifty light elemental mages rode towards Lyndwrym, with Ophelia standing on her horse as she cursed the gods for her beloved husband.

"Fell the force of our divine radiance!"

—Barrier to negate all evil!

"Sister Ophelia!"

"My dear wife!? The gods will get angry!"