Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

He complained, looking at the damage to his black armour. The suit bought for him by Mu Xue when he first arrived at the academy was now full of holes, melted, and useless.

Since the moment spent with Verana and Vela, the tower seemed to chance. At least Asura felt it prevented them from meeting.

'I don't like this tower. It feels sentient, not just a tool for personal growth.'

[It is strange since you advanced with both girls. We have yet to see either of them again, and each floor just sends you to the wasteland left after the ships left Sura's planet.]

'So it's true. The four bosses I fought all came from that world?'

[Mmhm, this world doesn't have the technology to perform those experiments, and I recognise the planet's aura.]

'Do you know why or who might want me to experience this?'

[No...]

Asura felt her voice trail off suspiciously, but then again, Helliana had died before this point. Despite these thoughts, a sense of horror washed over him, and he feared he might not be wrong about his worries.

'The upper realms, can they interfere with lower worlds easily?'

[I don't think it's easy, but there are probably powerful existences that can do such things. Why?]

He didn't return her answer because, once again, in the rest area, there was nothing—no fire, camp, or even traces of people who could have touched this floor in decades.

'This place hasn't seen humans in a long time...'

[Asura, this tower is strange.]

Helliana rarely spoke this often to him, but he noticed she had become more talkative since the fiftieth floor, and her worry for him increased with each battle.

'Why do you say that?'

As he asked this question, an invisible barrier dropped around him, sealing his movement. For a moment, his connection with Helliana ceased; even the monoliths in his soul became distant as a foggy mist separated them.

"What the hell?!"

His gaze darted around, trying to see who imprisoned him, but nothing seemed unusual until a distorted female voice sounded from the void. "What, you can't even see my presence? Is this another failure?"

The voice rang out again, sounding like she was behind him. Asura tried to turn around, only to realise he couldn't move his body.

"Hmph! Even moving is impossible." The female sounded like someone appraised goods at the merchant or a weapon at the blacksmith; a strange feeling of hands touching his body caused his skin to tingle, warnings and danger signals echoing in his mind as his parallel minds became petrified of the existence touching him.

However, Asura wasn't the same as before.

This woman started calling him a failure, and worse, the word 'another' triggered a sense of fury and terror deep within his soul.

"Fuck you."

He snapped, his bloodline and unique physique surging as the white and black flames, previously frozen as if locked in space, built momentum rapidly. His body trembled as he moved a single step.

"Haha! Interesting, a single step, but you moved. Movement is possible," The voice sounded amused, but Asura could hear a hint of cold analysis and disregard for his existence in that voice. "Oh, well, you will end up dead anyway after I'm done. Struggle all you will, but you shall leave the tower now. You have overstepped the allotted bounds, Subject #9."

'Subject 9?!' Asura's eyes widened in surprise, and before he could say anything, the force keeping him paralysed lifted, and a dark corridor appeared before him.

He tried to resist the force pulling him but found no means to stop himself from walking to the exit; anger and irritation boiled in his chest.

The feeling of his past life forced him to suffer endings because of his shortcomings. Asura refused to allow himself to be forced out of the tower, and he would reach the top floor!

"Don't resist, or I'll shatter those prototype monoliths and the corpse inside! A mere test subject dares act back."

The voice's words shook him. His soul and the monoliths were deeply connected, as were they linked to Helliana, so he didn't want the strange woman to follow through on her threats.

[DO IT!]

However, a sudden boost from the Monoliths, all of them long past Stage Four, confused him as Helliana forced them to activate. 'STOP YOU WILL DIE!'

[Ignore her idle threats! She can only use her aura to hold and move you, not kill you!]

'But she said she would shatter the monolith!'

Asura panicked, and simultaneously, a terrifying sensation emerged from the female's aura. An ancient evil that made him feel like a frog in front of a massive snake.

[She isn't a god! This is just a human who has reached beyond the 10th stage! Asura, true freedom isn't so easy that you gain it by beating a few ghosts of your past!]

'True freedom...'

He felt his soul burning as the will of the monoliths resonated with his soul, the little flame he preserved in his heart flashing brightly as the emotions he kept locked away soared to the surface.

"I won't leave. I will finish this tower."

"You will leave, or I will cripple you here!"

"Then cripple me before you lose that chance!"

Helliana's boost allowed him a moment. She crippled two of his three parallel minds instantly, unable to help him as usual because of the woman's power, the weight like ten tonnes crushing his body, yet Asura, bleeding from every orifice, reached out and released the pent-up feelings he only allowed Helliana to hear.

'I am no longer half-arsed. I can use it without fear!'

—Manifestation: Profane Phoenix!

Suddenly, the once dormant flames erupted from his heart, turning into a black-and-white flame that spread outward rapidly, covering his body entirely. The pale white-and-black flame ignited everything around him; even the ground beneath him melted before the power of his soul.

However, before Asura could direct this power, a palm met his face, and a heavy force flung him towards the exit corridor, blood spurting from his nose as he skidded backwards.

The strange woman's voice filled with a hysterical tone. "You dare! You are just a puppet made for my amusement and experiments! I will tear apart your soul and use your body as a tool. You will never die!"

Asura stopped sliding, coughing up blood as his body trembled from the tremendous injuries. However, before he could adjust, the moment he completed his transformation, a pair of gentle hands grasped his shoulder.

Black hair like ravens taking flight in the night sky, a single black decaying wing and golden eyes like twin suns...

"Heliana!?"

"Sorry, I wanted to reveal myself in a better way... Haha."

"You were Stage 10---"

Before he could speak, her hands tossed him into the portal for the ninetieth floor...

The dark corridor turned pitch black as space seemed to break down, replacing the wasteland with a black-and-white world...

The feminine voice uttered a word that echoed from the vortex before it suddenly cracked... and shattered. "You!? That vessel has exceeded my expectations, but unfortunately, that body is falling apart because you left his soul! Your end is here."

"Bye-bye, for now, Asura--" Helliana's voice echoed before a tremendous explosion occurred.

***

After his fight against the massive force of a Stage Ten being, Asura felt his consciousness waver in the darkness.

The burning sensation in his chest continued to intensify. This was not like a flame; but a fire that devoured everything and everyone within. The damage seemed to cause his flames to attack his body for a moment; now, he felt weakened as the world smouldered.

He regained his mind.

'Heliana?'

To his surprise, Asura tried to contact Helliana, but the familiar warmth and connection with her didn't exist.

'Her existence... She's gone.'

For a moment, he felt emptiness and dropped to his knees as he entered his spirit palace for the first time.

He found the place damaged, the beautiful skies now blood red, and lightning raining down upon the black citadel standing tall in the centre of the world. He remembered forests and beautiful gardens growing around it on his previous visit.

Now it was a ruin... the five monoliths cracked and filled with marks as if struck by extreme pressure and lightning.

"No..."

His spirit staggered towards the black monolith behind the throne, still standing and unharmed like the rest of the glorious palace. But one thing stood out; he found a translucent female figure sitting against the monolith, her long black hair covering her face, but Asura knew her appearance.

"Heliana... You're not dead, right?"

When he spoke, the beautiful figure looked at him, her pale lips curling into the most affectionate smile before her figure flickered, and she vanished... Asura ran to where she once sat. Deep in his heart, the original sense of dread and emptiness exploded, almost making him faint.

"Heliana..."

He whispered, his voice sounding hollow as it became louder each time he repeated her name.

"HELIANA!"

Asura shouted her name as he smashed his fist against the monolith; a loud bell sounded in his head. Suddenly, the sound of chains seemed to echo in the surroundings, like something was inside.

"Helliana!?"

He tried again, but this time, only the eerie silence returned his cry. In his despair, Asura slammed his fist against the monolith repeatedly... Then again and again.

The soft chime rang out each time until his knuckles bled, and his entire hand lost feeling as it seemed to devour all the anima from his body, leaving him weaker than ever before.

Then... the monolith's text changed, reading the word 'Rebirth' when his blood stained the surface.

A loud clicking and the sound of hydraulics sounded as the front opened slowly. A cloud of smoke billowed as it revealed the insides, filled with tubes, strange machines made of tree bark and other natural equipment and metal.

Sitting on a small bed of strange material was a small black bird with a long raven plume sticking out of its forehead. Its eyes opened slowly, shining with a bright golden light before its wings flapped.

Asura tried approaching it but found the little bird moved faster than him. It moved towards his neck and pecked him, chirping with extreme excitement before settling on his shoulder.

Chirp~ Chirp~

"You..."

"Helia?"

Chirp!

The little bird twirled before flapping her small wings and settling on his broad shoulder again.

"Is this what you did for us?"

Asura looked at the black monolith, which now looked dull with several cracks along the surface, like the other monoliths.

So Asura placed his hand on the surface and felt a warm yet comforting sensation as it sucked anima from his body slowly, the tiny amount not able to fix the monolith...

'But it fixed this small chip... So without Helia, I have to manage them myself now?'

Somehow, it might mean he struggles at first, but Asura felt a sense of peace, which meant he could no longer lean on her to fix all his problems...

Behind him, the small back bird in his shoulder's eyes looked at him as if filled with happiness and relief before it closed both eyes, and a black flame smothered the bird in a protective barrier.

"I am finally standing on my own two feet... without her to tell me anything about the monoliths but this little bird... just how much does she remember, and what is she?"