Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

The sword let its magic envelop the throne room with its ancient magic, soothing the body and mind. With the return of its heir, the sword seemed at ease.

The woman in question crossed her legs while sitting in a neat black dress adorned with golden jewellery and emerald gemstones. She wore light makeup with silky silver hair tied in an elegant bun. The queen looked both alluring and beautiful.

"I have returned, Bernard. What has that idiot done since I was gone?" Her voice was low and husky as it echoed through the room. While a silver maiden protected either side of her.

"My queen, you look as beautiful as the moon herself!" Bernard knelt with his face against the floor before slowly rising to his knees with a worried look.

"The king has done many things that might cause you anger. However, please, your Highness, understand he did them for Prince Valos, out of Love for that boy..." Bernard explained with a grim face as if awaiting an executioner's blade.

Queen Silvara sighed as she waved her hand, signalling Bernard to continue. However, she already felt disgusted and repulsed, knowing what the man had done and would keep doing.

'Love... how disgusting? That child he sired with my cousin and their filthy copulation like beasts,' Silvara thought, feeling revolted but keeping a calm facade, like a saintess.

Bernard continued explaining everything, from Valos's training to the recent event of him entering the academy. Queen Silvara listened with an indifferent expression until hearing the name of her cousin.

"Valos... Is dead?"

"The son he loved so much is dead, and all he has been doing is sleeping with that whore?" Queen Silvara growled, not holding back the killing intent that leaked from her body as she stood up from her throne with rage.

"Bernard, prepare my carriage; I will leave for that damn ape's mansion soon." The queen ordered as Bernard quickly left to carry out her command. She sat back on her throne with a sigh and relaxed her nerves by closing her eyes.

"How was my acting girls?"

"You almost made the poor old man piss himself..." Epsilon whispered before looking at the fleeing old man's figure with amused eyes.

"The foolish king and his best friend, who covers everything he does, need a little punishment, your highness."

"Oh my, you girls spoil me; thank you, Hilda, Epsilon... Do you think little Asura is doing well up north?"

The queen didn't care what her husband did. She felt pity for him and accepted his sordid relationship with her bloodline to create heirs that would at least bear the royal blood.

'He kept my secret all these years and helped me perform a ritual when he knew it meant he would never touch my body...'

'Rather, without a womb, there isn't much need to touch me, right... My husband? At least our daughter has found a man before war destroys everything...'

"That damned, accursed sword always lingering in my vision!"

"!!!"

Hilda's face looked at Emeris Lux, her eyes narrowing as she remembered the cost of using that sword, the queen's payment to save the kingdom less than thirty years ago.

"Shall I melt it down, my dear queen?" Hilda asked, wanting to destroy such a cursed thing, yet Queen Silvara smiled and shook her head.

"No need, my dear; that sword will soon become a relic of the past. The irony is that it existed to slay one creature and that a Fenix would be reborn as that same creature."

Queen Silvara learned of Asura's actions thanks to Magnus and her special wind magic; the moment she heard about his features in the strange form, it made her remember a legend spoken of by her mother, grandmother and the sword saintess and her past.

The divine son of the fallen sun cult.

'Can my little girl tame him before the cult makes their move? It seems more fun to have him become part of the family... His bloodline is hers, after all... How ironic.'

Her eyes watched the huge sword, and then a moment of clarity flashed through her eyes as she remembered her dearest friend who suddenly vanished after crippling her first son.

"Did you know...?"

"Did you realise from the moment you gave birth? That he was not normal?"

'Is that why you left... Never to appear before me again, despite being like my big sister...?'

With a flick of her hand, the entire room filled with twenty Valkyrie, all locking the palace and carrying the lethargic queen to her bed, as Hilda and Epsilon looked at each other with bitter faces.

"It happened again; the queen's strange fit always comes when thinking of that Fenix woman."

"She is the one who supported the queen, using the ritual to give birth to Vela. Not only that, Epsilon performed the same ritual to make our beloved queen feel at ease. Why do you think the girl is the disciple of the sword saintess? It was the queen's way of repaying that woman's sacrifice."

"Strangely, both of them have the same bloodline as the queen, but she sent that girl to the Fenix house."

"Shhh...! It is best to keep those secrets secret. If the Fenix house learns the truth, they may suspect the crown of trying to steal their secrets."

"…"

"But don't the two people in question deserve to know that the twins born during the ritual were both girls?"

"…"

The two Valkyries carrying the queen didn't notice her eyes and lips twitching to their words, a secret kept for many years, a buried love because of the taboo.

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⁜ Garret Fenix POV

Three days after they won the battle, news of the incoming dragon fleet caused Garret to feel despair. That was until he heard the news that his son and an army of silver maidens came in an airship and endured their first attack.

'But what does this mean, that my son became a monstrous figure and destroyed half the enemy fleet alongside a woman clad in shadows...'

"My son, did you suffer?"

Garret felt anguish because he over-exerted himself to win the last battle, and his mana would not recover for a week. Despite his desire to rush to the north, he and most of his remaining knights could only help repair the walls.

Thankfully, they had repaired almost all the fort, thanks to the magic of Ophelia's family being best suited to sculpting rocks and metals. Added to his flame, they created a more powerful wall than ever before, with all the names of those who fell etched into the massive walls of pure black and silver.

"Ophelia, my dear, can you send a unit of your light mages to the north?" Garret asked as Ophelia nodded, despite her exhaustion from helping rebuild the fort.

"Don't worry, husband. I already asked my family, and they departed two nights ago and should arrive soon. I also sent some of your warriors and knights who were fresh. Forgive me," Ophelia apologised with teary eyes as Garret hugged her tightly with a smile.

"There is no need to apologise; thank you, my wife. Your support means everything to me."

"Garret... Is our boy? Do you think he'll be alright?" Ophelia cried as she clung to her husband, not wanting to lose this fortress or her husband or their son.

After finally being accepted by Asura, she couldn't stand to let him suffer alone from the moment he took his first steps and ate his first meal... It was she who raised him. She would choose her son if asked to choose between Asura and her family.

'Please, my son, come back safe.'

Deep in his heart, he remembered the words of his wife before she left, tearfully apologising and swearing to return when she saved him from his fate...

'I thought you just lied to me because you found somebody else. How could I have not believed you... Our son, will they come to take him and make him into a monster that ends the world?'

Garret never blamed his previous wife, and even when she crippled Asura, he didn't blame her. Because the Fenix line had the ability of foresight and divination...

On the day she gave birth to Asura, she realised something was wrong and crippled her son, making him believe he was a No-Mag before she left to save him. The words she spoke before vanishing...

"If he cannot use magic, they will never know or find him... With this, he can live a normal life if I can solve everything. I will make him a mage once again. I promise you."

"Garret, please be good to Ophelia. That girl loves you; the others are just after your money."

"Freyja, don't go!"

A long-forgotten memory that lingered deep in Garret's heart surfaced, and then he realised that the attack to the east and north...

'This was their plan, to make sure Asura revealed himself to save his father... It's my fault. First, I treated Amalia badly because she was born through a ritual. Then I doubted your words, believing her to be born from another man's seed...'

Amalia's true age was nineteen, just like the princess. Over six months older than Asura.

Yet everyone believed Amalia to be the younger twin because Garret kept everything secret, hiding Amalia and Asura from the public until they were both a few years old.

'Freyja, forgive me; I failed to protect our son...'

Garret prayed to the goddess and his first wife, Freyja, for forgiveness and hoped that Asura would not be taken away.