Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

The world and time abruptly ceased to move for Asura, leaving him in a frustrating stillness.

He felt frustration and helplessness; life and his rebirth never happened. Chained to the wall, unable to break them, his body breaking from the mere pressure of this soul's aura.

'I never gave much thought to anything, including the future and the nature of the shards, not to mention the fact that someone could manipulate them at will. In my past lives, why did I never consider that maybe this situation wasn't some convenient power-up and instead lingering in the shadows of wolves waiting to devour me? Who had no clue?'

Asura felt frustrated. The frozen face of the old phoenix who held out his hand made his stomach churn.

This person was also one of his past selves. Yet, with a conniving trick, he somehow survived while a slither of his soul entered the cycle of rebirth.

'Make my women happy. Who are you? I will destroy you and leave nothing remaining!'

The thoughts echoed in Asura's mind with enough fury to tear him apart. However, something shifted within his thoughts, a subtle feeling as if something responded.

[Your body is weak; the damage from the force is tearing apart your soul, Asura.]

A voice echoed, the systemic voice of Brian!

'Brian, is that you?'

He could hear the voice echo, not inside his mind, but in the spirit palace, and not from a single place but from everywhere.

[I am but the small shard that Helliana left behind. Soon after, I shall return to her, and we will become whole again.]

[Look at the black monolith. They are waiting for you to accept them. As their true heir and soul, you are the key to their survival. Once you have them, everything will change!]

Brian's voice felt hurried and stressed, causing Asura to realise something was amiss.

He turned his gaze, the frozen world with only him and Brian trembling as if the magic creating this situation couldn't last much longer. It was then that the two hearts entered Asura's vision, their beautiful husks glowing gently, one from each phoenix.

However, in this frozen world, where even the old man stopped moving.

The two hearts were dancing, swirling around each other in orbit!

[Asura, there is little time left! Call them, and they are the source of your power. Accept them and take a step that NOONE else planned for, not the upper realm or the divine being awaiting his rebirth!]

Free From the Upper Realm's Control!

'Their hearts are resonating?'

Asura gazed at the strange scene before him and the way Brian's voice spoke. While there was a sense of urgency, he could feel the subtle sincerity from within the words.

'This will change everything, Brian. Thank you.'

"I can trust you, right? Won't I end up as a puppet for the upper realms?"

Asura asked while watching the beating hearts. A new realisation hit him, his eyes growing wide with disbelief.

The two hearts fluttered around the air and sent small hands created of aura to slap his cheeks, their presence giving off a strange feeling, like a mother's warm embrace.

'A feeling of familiarity!'

Asura's breath halted.

The two hearts seemed to feel his acceptance and approached before they sank into his chest. One fused with the dragon's heart, the other his devil's heart.

The devil became a symbol of rebirth.

The dragon became the manifestation of destruction.

Asura closed his eyes, feeling something pulling from within his mind and soul. The other monoliths cracked, while his heart seemed to transform both, with a black-and-white Monolith tattooed onto their flesh.

The Devouring totem formed a silver wolf, reminding Asura of Auros, with his blade fighting until the end alone. The totem floated through the air before entering Asura's abdomen; from the moment it touched his Kidney, the world he saw changed.

'You're on your own now; don't make Those two cry. Farewell.'

A message from the last essence of Auros as silver sparkles of light added into the world. Suddenly, Asura found himself able to effortlessly able to think about two things at once while able to control the devouring force of the monolith as if breathing.

'Auros, I can no longer feel his existence!?'

[He's gone. They were waiting for this moment when they fused with the monolith. All of them knew the truth, but the upper realms sealed their lips using the black monolith.]

Next, the dragon monolith crumbled. A small dragon with beautiful raven-black scales and wings shot towards his body before settling into his flesh the moment they touched.

His fair skin shimmered with youth, and beautiful black scales grew around it, helping to amas animus that protected and empowered his defence.

'It no longer feels strange... I can control the scales like I would my fingers.'

'Don't make Lorem and Helia cry, or I'll come back and kill you!'

The final words from Sura!

[A poor boy, if he didn't sacrifice his heart, the boy would have become a great king. Remember that.]

'Tsk getting lectured while I'm about to die here... my organs and skin are on fire!'

[Man up! This is nothing, you brat!]

Asura couldn't help but bite back; though the monoliths were flowing into his body, the world cracked, and time seemed to return, and he didn't know how long before it was too late.

'Always worrying about stupid things.'

Azoth's voice sounded as a devilish figure floated closer. Before fusing with his muscles, the previous demon aura vanished, rewritten by the monolith's demonic runes and text a world beyond Azoth himself.

'I won't make you love Philis since you chose your path. Celine is nothing to do with me nor is Spica so enjoy. Can you just let her know I don't resent or blame her so that she can move on?'

The devil's power seemed to combine the knowledge of the monolith's devil runes and strange texts beyond Azoth himself.

It seemed to combine the knowledge of Devils from all the various 72 Abyssal Territories, while Asura suffered from his body tearing itself apart while the devil monolith reformed his muscles on the cellular level.

[To think her idea worked... The cultivation technique involved creating a world inside the body, so Helliana theorised the monoliths could become part of the body, as if to protect the world with an asteroid belt made of monoliths.]

Asura hated the feeling of those who used to feel like close people vanishing. Auros, Azoth, and Sura vanished, and though he felt their legacies and last requests, he couldn't help but get teary eyes. Whether part of his soul or strangers, they supported him so far and asked something so simple in return that it made him feel ungrateful.

'I am not special. It just happened that it was my turn when she completed her plans.'

Brian's words continued, sounding like an old friend.

The monoliths continued to crumble while Asura lay against the wall, realising the problems stemmed from his swollen ego.

He endured his flesh and muscles, continuing to evolve, reaching the pinnacle of mortality, a body as strong as a Stage 9 or 10. His body strengthened to the level of the old man's pressure and felt like a heavy breeze.

'Don't be so pessimistic. That title is for me. I couldn't take the step you took because of my own fears and inferiority complex. Although we are both Asura Fenix, you deserve to be called Asura Phoenix, the one who truly protected our home and father. I ask nothing other than you forgive Verana and give her the love she needs to heal her wounded heart.'

The final monolith crumbled the figure of himself from the past, before the evolutions and improvements: raven hair, dull red eyes and a weak body.

'No, I accept the weak me; why don't you return to where you belong? We are both Asura Fenix, and I shouldn't take the credit.'

This one differed significantly from the other shards, as the monolith fused with his brain, and the shattered soul fused. Rather than vanishing, it could be more accurate that Asura returned to where he belonged.

[Well, it's good you realised.]

[The only reason you were reborn as Asura Fenix a second time was because Helliana split your soul when she allowed that Verana girl to be reborn beside you. Now that your soul is complete and unbroken. The other shards cannot affect you like before. So cast them aside!]

Once the Asura monolith fused with his brain, Asura's thoughts became clearer. He could concentrate on five tasks while retaining clarity on his focus.

'Brian, you're mistaken.'

Shatter!

The frozen world broke with the last monolith gone, and the special freezing spell faded, returning the world to reality.

"You should submit to me, and I won't make things difficult for you. Asura."

Asura didn't show any resistance—his handsome face lacked the tension and suffering from before, but the phoenix elder didn't seem to realise because Asura held out his hand and touched the wrinkled palm of the old man.

[Monolith Project Activated!]

[Phase 2 started - Cleansing Process Started!]

[The host has marked other souls as enemies.]
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[The Monolith System will devour ALL remaining soul shards as willed! Beginning destruction of the host's enemies.]

"I won't cast them aside, Brian—I will DEVOUR them!"

Asura's lips curled into a wicked smile as he controlled the devouring force from his palm like a black hole at the centre of his palm. The suction force devoured half of the elder's soul before he could blink.

"W-What!?"

The elderly man shrieked in terror as he fell to his knees. Black slime vomited from his lips, eyes clouded by pain.

"Cough, cough."

He raised his head and found Asura standing over him, the expressionless look like a demon.

"W-Why is this happening? You should have become my puppet!"

He struggled to speak, but Asura's terrifying pressure and killing intent made him retch once more.

"Old man, you are not here to control me. You are just the food that awakens me from my slumber. NOW DIE!"

Asura's cold eyes showed no remorse. His mind understood that this old man planned to destroy the world he loved in the name of a greater existence.

"No, I have waited for centuries for this! Argh!!!!"

He screamed in terror before his body began vanishing, crumbling into a pile of dirt.

"This is impossible!"

These were the old man's final words before the intense, devouring force eliminated him.

[All hostile elements vanquished, knowledge and information being dispersed to the host!]

"Stop calling me host. I have a name."

[Which name would you like to designate?]

"Asura Phoenix - The Devouring Monarch."

[Confirmed. Unknown Bloodline detected! Please add a name for future reference!]

"Blood of the Profane Phoenix."