Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

In a small chamber with beautiful silver and blue wallpaper and lovely fixtures of silver and sapphire gemstones to match.

A woman covered in blood and deep wounds stood in the centre of the room, where beautiful furniture and an elegant carpet used to exist. Now, a scorched mess with blade marks and wood splinters covering the ground.

"Did you think being a princess alone was enough to become his woman?" Another female with dragon horns and pink scaled wings hovered above the woman with silver hair and a mocking smile. "He just felt sorry for how pathetic you are, slut."

Vela's hand trembled.

The power of this image of Xavida seemed much stronger than the real one she spent most days speaking to.

A rival in love and her first friend, but in this world or death.

They were nothing but bitter enemies.

"I know Asura doesn't judge women that way. He never tells someone he loves them without feeling it. He is a good man!"

"Heh... then why hasn't he touched you when he fucks everyone else every single night?" Xavida said, her lips curling into a cruel smile, flicking her wings to intensify her mockery of the princess.

She didn't take the words of this fake to heart and kept her spirits high and ready to fight.

Although her body screamed in agony, Vela knew her heart and feelings well, and to her, the affection born from training with him each day and speaking about stupid things that a normal couple would.

'He respects me and wants to wait until I am ready!'

Despite being inside the tower of death, Vela's test felt strange from the beginning. She fought herself on the first floor and the twentieth fighting Xavida, almost confusing her into believing it was all her jealousy.

"Stop talking. Someone else will never sway my beliefs. I am Vela Silvara, crown princess of Silvara!"

The wounds she suffered from the twenty floors remained as if no time had passed for them to heal, but thanks to her training and time with Asura, she could keep a clear head and focus on what needed to be done.

Vela stared at the young woman in front of her, dressed in beautiful armour mixed with her scales and narrowed her amber eyes. "Let's fight Xavida, and I will make you understand by force." Her hands gripped the long nodachi in front of her as the gem glowed, calling its wielder to do battle.

Xavida moved through the air, flapping her wings. A cruel smile lingered on her face, showing a madness that didn't exist in reality, like the target of her affection no longer existed. "Prove to who? It's already too late!"

'Why isn't she attacking?'

Vela watched her circle and hovered in the air, mockingly, with the image of her friend saying anything that would piss her off, and while it may have worked in the past, now she would use everything to keep a cool head.

"My feelings will not change. Here I come!"

Her movements were swift; she no longer treated Xavida as her friend and rival but as a clear enemy, twisting her wrist as the nodachi slid from her waist instantly.

The clash of blades echoed as the flash of silver from Xavida's claws and Vela's blade vibrated. Her wings flapping with more power helped her dodge the blow and continue flying, and as Xavida closed in, Vela blocked.

Vela gritted her teeth as she twisted her hips and sidestepped an attack.

Xavida moved faster and faster, bringing her close enough to Vela's face for her to smell her breath and feel the warmth.

However, the moment she tried to mock the princess, Vela thrust her palm towards the dragoness, a swirling burst of magma shooting from her palm, copying Asura's type of combat casting as the golden lava and molten rock exploded at Xavida.

It blasted her away, shattering a section of the wall before falling to her knee. The magma destroyed pictures of Vela and Asura, their frames melting into liquid, yet Vela didn't regret it as she saw the scales of Xavida melting.

"You aren't my Xavida. No matter what you say."

Vela walked to the fake Xavida, holding her nodachi down. Her sharp blade pointed at the fake woman.

The Draconic features on Xavida's body melted like a candle, turning her pink scales black and her horns to dust.

Her bloody wound disappeared, and her mouth warped into a vicious smile that filled Vela with shock because, once again, the enemy...

It was Vela herself.

****

Meanwhile, Verana's experience seemed far easier.

She stood in the darkness, her red eyes glinting as she saw everything like a sunny afternoon, her claws covered in thick blood from the monsters that Verana easily tore apart without blinking her eyes. 'Nothing but illusions. My darkness can devour them.'

For the woman who conquered death and fused her family's vampiric bloodline with an even greater one, no challenge seemed too difficult so far until she came to the twentieth floor...

Unlike Vela and Xavida, Verana's battles didn't hold back or remain human. From the moment she entered, the enemies were abominations, or monsters with twisted and brutal bodies that were hard to describe with words.

In the darkness, Verana stared at a strange monster. It had a dog's body but stood on two legs and wore rusted armour covered in gore, salivating at the vampire woman with long fangs and silver claws that seemed more monster than anything.

"You..."

For the first time, Verana spoke outside of the resting area.

Because she knew this monster, its body two different colours, its size over two metres, with twisted horns and long fangs.

The issue was it killed Asura in all of her dreams—no matter how hard she screamed or tried to move in her nightmare. Her body remained frozen, moving slower the more she tried to save him.

"You killed him again..."

Her voice sounded strange, distorted and hysterical, as if all of her control fell apart.

The beast's armour cracked, showing its wolf-like features, grinning with blood dripping from its lips as it roared towards Verana with a mouth full of rotting fangs and bloodlust that overwhelmed the entire room.

Beneath its body, a deformed head with raven black hair... 'Only one man has such silky, beautiful hair...'

Immediately from her back, darkness flooded the room, creating a pitch-black arena as she let out a screech of despair, anguish, and hatred.

"You are not even real! Just a fucking illusion! Why do you keep coming into my nightmares?!" Verana's voice drowned out the howling of the beasts around her as her darkness transformed into dozens of huge clawed hands and smashed through their bodies.

Their bones shattered with her strength while her red eyes focused on the main 'dog', a feeling of bloodlust surging through her veins. "DIE!"

Verana's aura made even the bones of the fallen enemies turn to dust, but the moment she landed in front of the dog creature and used her claws to stab its body, the floor shattered, and she fell through the floor to another level, the huge dog leaping down and lunging for her.

The way Verana's madness gave her the will to fight harder, the beast only spurred on her desire for blood and battle. "Don't get ahead of yourself, mutt."

Her fingernails elongated, turning into wicked-looking blades as the creature slammed its claw into Verana's stomach. She carved and tore apart its back, almost removing all the armour as they fell deeper into the tower.

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"You won't leave a scratch on me. Just die like all the others!" Verana's body sunk into the darkness as the dozes of arms tortured the dog. Each arm had countless spikes and teeth as they pierced the monster's body. The sound of blood spraying onto the floor echoed as Verana's face changed into a savage expression.

Blood and bone littered the floor, but nothing seemed to affect the beast as it thrashed and smashed the walls, and its eyes remained focused on Verana.

Their combat is brutal, the dog biting at her neck, clawing her chest, while her dark magic ripped off its hind legs, impaled it with its tail and then brutalised it the moment it showed weakness, all of her fists smashing the creature until it became completely still on the ground.

Verana panted, the bloodlust from her crimson eyes not leaving her as she stood back up and spat on its face, the dopey look on the beast's face making her feel sick as it growled and roared.

"Die already." Her left hand, in the shape of a knife, shot forward, inches from the beast's face as it suddenly transformed...

A handsome male with black hair and red eyes lay in his blood and watched her with hateful eyes. "Will you betray me again, Verana?"

Her mind became blank as it broke down and crashed.

"Again?" She trembled as her darkness shifted her around, wrapping her arms together and preventing her from moving. "No... Asura? You're alive! Please, I love you!"

"I have always loved you... don't die again!"

Her eyes widened, and her heart almost stopped. 'Again... I...'

She tried to scream, but only silence sounded as the illusion disappeared, and a sudden feeling of horror filled her body.

"Not again! I will protect you!"

Her entire body trembled as she reached out to the space.

The second time, she killed Asura because the tower confused and tricked her. Despite the portal opening to the rest area she could only sit on the ground, as she held her face, wrapped in darkness as tears flooded her eyes.

A lost girl's cries echoed into the darkness.