Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

Chapter 70: Sword Saintess - Bring Out Your True Weapon!

The blistering heat from the sun above caused the sandy training ground to become like molten lava, the scorching temperature rising by the minute, forcing Asura's shirtless figure to shine brightly as drops of sweat fell towards the ground— the sounds of clashing metal echoed across the arena followed by the gasping voice of a female and grunting groans of a male.

'I can activate it faster! I am sure there is a way.' Asura held Nova tightly, now clashing with his sister in a friendly spar before the saintess arrived.'

"Amalia, come at me with everything. Your brother can take it all!" His voice resounded loudly, provoking Amalia's competitive nature, allowing her attacks to grow fiercer and speed up rapidly.

'So her strength is already at the limit, but her speed is much greater.' Somehow, after training with Lucretia, the vision and ability of Asura became different... as if he could see the world more clearly—his eyes saw the world at normal speed, while the parallel thinking skill would slow the world down, passing information to him, allowing him to predict her flow, and target vaguely.

'There's three of them now!?'

It suddenly shocked Asura, realising he had two extra processes in his mind, one studying the martial arts and contraceptive book from Xavida and the other supplementing his combat power, seeming to be always ready to cast magic or direct a block or parry.

'Asura 2, please continue to focus on research.'

'Asura 3 focuses on vision and magic—let me deal with counters and the actual swordplay.'

They weren't real people or other minds; it was easier for him to visualise them as those names, like monoliths. He ordered them to focus and assist him, never taking direct control from the master monolith.

"Maybe I'll eventually have four of them... one for each monolith... and I would be the Rebirth totem guiding them...? It stresses my magic and mind a bit more, but let's keep going with well-defined tasks!"

Amalia's sword was fast, the thin blade sharp and deadly as she sliced across his chest, only for his left hand to flicker with a weak ice block and parry the strike, countering with his right arm piercing her with Nova.

Seeing her chance missed, Amalia retreated backwards with a step. However, Asura twisted his wrist, pushing his shoulder further as Nova pierced her right arm deeply before exploding, sending frost energy into her and freezing her right arm! Only enough to make it numb and not a life-threatening amount of courses, Asura 3 controlled the amount perfectly.

"Ahh.... it hurts...!" Amalia whispered, her body instantly wrapped in wings of wind and pulling her off the blade. She almost dropped her sword as she flew around forty yards away and stopped, kneeling while placing a hand on the frozen wound, magic flowing around her body to recover quickly.

Asura lunged towards her, his golden eyes shimmering as he pushed out his left hand, a flicker of black flames exploding into a small sphere as he shot towards Amalia to stop her healing, his arm moving in sync with the slowly moving visuals to fire barrage after barrage at his twin sister.

"Wind barrier!"

Amalia cried out loudly, crossing her arms and forming a layer of greenish windshield in front of her, the ball of flame smacking hard against it, causing small ripples every time the projectile struck...

The saintess waved Amalia away, ignoring her teary eyes and sulking face as she walked away...

Asura wasn't daunted and welcomed her guidance; Asura 2 and 3 were comparing her moves to the book and trying to create a new method to incorporate it into their own or defend against it!

"Saintess... how should I wield Nova better... It feels stiff compared to your sword; my strength grows daily, and its weight feels light now, but I cannot get past the limitations of its design."

Clang!

Sparks fluttered as she slashed twice across his blade, her body like a ghost, but her sword struck him like a viper's bite, pushing him back several steps. Realising that although Nova was beautiful and easy to use, he was far too light and frail for his strength.

The answer was there, but she felt that fighting the sword saintess with a lance was wrong, too.

"For such a simple question, I shall teach you this! Show me your proper weapon!"

"But it's not a sword..."

"Oooh?"

Slash!

Her blade cut the tip of Nova, almost taking his entire face as she swirled like a cyclone, appearing and disappearing like a super version of Lucretia. Asura stepped back, his right hand holding out before he called for his true spirit weapon, 'Lumeris Nova, let's fight.'

Vrrrm!

From it appeared the usual long Sword-Lance, dark steel blade, with a red and gold shaft forged in black and red veins, with a black stone glowing blue on the counterweight blade. In comparison, Nova was beautiful, but Lumeris Nova was menacing and regal, with many runes carved into the shaft itself!

Holding the heavy-weighted weapon once again caused Asura to feel relieved, remembering his fights against the many monsters and that Stage Four creature. 'I see... there was a subconscious fear of failure... taking out this weapon.'

It's not like he didn't want to use Lumeris Nova, but the loss against that creature and his brutal beating left a small shadow on his mind, needing the sheer aura and power of the saintess to help him break that thinking.

"Here I come, Asura! Make sure you defend well!"