Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

In the darkness, Asura focused on his body, each of the monoliths only having one more evolution he could accept. He remembered the mind-numbing pain from trying to evolve without Helliana's help last time and felt apprehensive.

The final evolution of the Asura bloodline's basic stages was called Asura's Enlightenment - Combat domain.

He found the goal of this combat art was to reach a level of enlightenment with his body, able to fight with complete unity using all the chaotic powers and abilities within his body, from the dragon and devil combat styles to his devouring and Asura bloodlines. He would evolve his brain to perform these skills flawlessly, without gaps.

With a single breath, he allowed his mental energy to envelop his body. This was the first stage of Asura's Enlightenment; thus, Asura expected simple results.

However, the next sensation wasn't that simple as his mind overworked to control all three types of energy from each monolith simultaneously. Animus flowed like a raging sea during a storm, bringing a tight pain in his chest and neck as it rushed to his brain.

Countless images and ideas flowed through his mind, combat skills and styles that his eyes caught glimpses of while alive. Not only from this world but also Azoth's, Sura's, and Auros's lives flooded him with unique martial abilities that caused him to suffer, with blood pouring from his nose and his skin turning pale; Asura could barely remain standing.

His mind experienced so much at once that Asura could hardly breathe or grasp a clear picture. All of his thoughts seemed to explode, crumpled up, and mixed in a myriad of distorted shapes and forms, and his entire body trembled like an earthquake.

The boy's memory of a sword strike from a famous swordsman in Silvera's history appeared before him, causing him to experience a reality of his swordsmanship that gave him a slight hint of understanding the blade more.

Then, a serious monk who belongs to the mole tribe on Sura's planet was fighting young drakes with his bare fists.

"Haaa!"

Asura's eyes popped open, and his scream echoed through the dark dungeon. A spirit flame, dragon's fury, and void flame exploded at once and compressed inside his body as he imbued them with Asura's Enlightenment—Battle domain.

All at once, countless pieces of information joined within his mind. Although he couldn't understand them now, his subliminal mind would analyse them for him. The wonders of parallel thought were too important, as Auros seemed to become the one in charge of this task, with Asura's past self also helping with the theory.

"God... my head feels like a giant just used it as a trampoline."

Asura Fenix groaned at the tremendous pain in his skull.

"If my skull shatters and ends my life, can I come back with rebirth?"

Asura hoped for death as he lay on the cold ground, feeling each beat of his heart as a hammer crushing his mind.

"Wait! I can't do this! Next one, I have four more to go!"

'It's kind of dull name... Devil's Hide.'

The next evolution would complete his devil bloodline foundation, but he didn't understand why a devil needed to hide.

Since turning invisible seemed quite useful, he closed his eyes and started flowing energy into the Devil monolith; with no one to adjust the amount like the Asura monolith, it became difficult.

Alas, the meaning of this evolution differed from what Asura imagined.

It didn't mean to hide, but the very flesh of his body would become a devil's.

First, he felt a painful itching from head to toe before blood, pus, and dirt pooled from his pores; the next moment, even the skin itself peeled and fell from his flesh, revealing a horrific sight.

Yet Asura couldn't look because of the intense desire to claw himself and tear his flesh apart.

"Make it stop! It hurts too much!" Asura screamed and wailed in agony as the additional layers of devil's skin sprouted out of his body, followed by new flesh and the same level of agony as his original skin tore away.

The first layer, the deepest layer beneath his flesh and meat, was black, covered in rivets and beautiful patterns. The devil's shroud danced around this new skin, creating layer after layer until the softest, most beautifully fair skin covered it with no blemishes or faults, a silky smooth finish yet stronger than the average chain-mail armour.

Meanwhile, Asura's heart pounded fiercely from the terror of losing control of his Animus during this process.

He could feel each prick of pain from the skin forming and pulling at his muscles and nerves.

"Haaa...god...help."

Drool leaked from the corner of his newly grown lips, beautiful with a light pink tint. Asura didn't realise how much this facelift affected him visually, but he could no longer feel any discomfort from the rocks and sharp edges under his back. His flesh seemed immune to their damage, and he honestly felt like he was on a firm mattress.

'Let's finish the next two simultaneously. Devour only affects my dual cultivation, so it can't hurt as bad. While the dragon monolith only has one more thing to change my dragon's breath.'

"I don't want to evolve anymore; it's too painful. This is way worse than dying." Asura complained to himself, a lump of sweat covering his new devilish features.

However, he didn't have a choice.

Thus, he felt like someone suddenly stuffed hundreds of the hottest peppers into his mouth. While the moment he completed the process to start the evolution of his devouring bloodline, he felt agony as if someone pushed a pen down his cock's opening.

"ARGH! Why?"

A question that echoed through the space filled with other questions as he realised something; none of these evolutions would have been possible if not for the powerful and painful torture.

"Please make it stop; it hurts so much."

Asura was now a mess, his beautiful features covered in blood, drool, tears, and all other sorts of liquids from the body's evolution process.

"one more."

'This can't get any worse.'

However, nothing went Asura's way today, as he felt the horrible feeling of pain travel from his crotch through all the veins and arteries in his body. His nose bled profusely, and the pain in his throat caused him to vomit blood. His knees seemed to quiver slightly from the feeling of such suffering, causing him to roll on the spot.

'I can't do this; I am going to die here.'

Each step seemed to sap more energy from his body. The toll on his mind made him realise those old movies about torture were true. Even the strongest could break under the right pain. Asura could hardly keep his eyes open. He lost count of how many times he evolved his body and wondered if any human could endure this type of torment without going mad.

"Do it!"

The command came out like a prayer; his heart had lost hope long ago.

But it still happened. His dragon bloodline formed the last piece of his foundation.

First, his horns grew larger and thicker, becoming a horned skull before growing outward like the horns of an ancient dragon.

Then his wings became more beautiful, the scales shined with a glossy sheen and became stronger, while he felt his two hearts beating with more force than ever before; both the Devil and Dragon bloodline seemed to resonate with each other.

'Eh?'

The pain vanished like a gentle warmth washed over him.

The powerful heartbeats pushed his Animus faster and with more force; a single beat now pushed it five times more than before his evolution finished.

Another change was his old teeth all fell out, replaced with the most pristine but deadly teeth. He felt the power of his new ones could bite through rock and metal if he desired, with two larger fangs but nothing too far away from a human.

His devouring bloodline made him feel awkward when in a dark dungeon with the corpse of another male, as his member wouldn't settle down, no matter how hard he wished.

Dragons, Devils and Demons were extremely lustrous creatures, after all.

'At least the girls will be happier. I could probably go for a few days without stopping now.'

As for the phoenix evolution, it seemed he needed to speak with Lorem about that evolution. So he lay back and cast water magic, while heating it and bathed himself before leaving a feeling of fatigue making him slow.****

Asura tried to recover before dragging the corpse of Aldric Cavallio from the basement. He felt his muscles gradually recover along with his core.

However, he didn't see this world from afar. Asura could remember Sura seeing his planet before in pictures.

That's why he found that his core slowly resembled a planet more with each step he took forward.

He noticed the lack of light and life, and now, after final adjustments, the ocean seemed to have split into nine different parts.

'That feels a little strange. Is it because of my cultivation technique and the nine plumes?'

There wasn't anyone to answer the question as the heavy corpse of Aldric slapped against the stones and debris, ruining his handsome face.

"Asura!"

To his surprise, Akkrum waited for him near the entrance, his body covered in dirt and blood. He noticed the body in Asura's hand and the state he was in and looked worried.

"Are you alright? You look horrible."

"I could say the same to you, Akkrum. How is the battle?" Asura asked as he approached his unit nine comrade.

Akkrum's body seemed to collapse. Exhaustion and fatigue seeped from his soul. The other students helped him stay upright as he tried to smile at Asura.

"We are winning. Something has happened in the central plaza to weaken them. Because we broke through, the commander allowed our unit to take a rest and guard this building."

"Look at how exhausted you are. Do you need healing?"

While Asura browsed the room, he noticed Cil was holding Akkrum up, and the two of them seemed to have a strange atmosphere.

'It seems romance has kindled during a life or death battle, haha.'

Asura was happy for his comrades, knowing these kinds of relationships had an equal chance of lasting as well as not. However, this wasn't the time for love because he would need to tell Lorem something believable once he saw her.

Otherwise, there would be trouble for him.

"You should rest too, Asura," Akkrum said. "Also, your eyes look a little strange."

"Yeah, I think I will." Asura smiled as he placed his hand on his comrade's shoulder. "Thanks."

Asura had no intention of telling him his eyes looked strange because he wasn't human, and he finished his evolution. Instead, he could only feel the invisible dagger poking at his chest that these humans wouldn't accept him like Azoth.

'This is what I hate about being different.'

After shaking off his troubles, Asura returned to his body and let out a tired breath before resting next to a wall in the room.

A feeling of hot pain pierced through his soul, but a sudden coldness removed all the pain the moment he touched the icy wall.

He felt everything become simple, and no longer suffered.

With a moment of silence, he slipped into a deep sleep.

***