Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

Asura's fleet set sail for the eastern shores of Romantica and the fort city of Utgard and began to repair and rebuild itself.

The current look was a dramatic change from the battle seven days prior.

The room formerly filled with jewels and golden items was now bare and rustic, with a beautiful woman sitting on her bed.

Maria Svesta used all the expensive items that she amassed during her time in mind control and sold them to help for reparations and medical help for the injured knights.

"I wonder if accepting that deal is really the correct path. Alan, are you truly gone? The past ten years have felt so blurry and strange. I have a son who betrayed my husband, yet why? Why would I marry someone that wasn't you? Our promise.

Did it mean nothing?"

From the moment she awoke from her control, many images and memories from that time faded like a broken dream.

"If I have a son, where might they be? Did Alistair take him, too?"

She shook her head, covering her face with a feeling of pain each time she tried to recall his face. Rather than dwell on a distant memory, she instead focused on the building forces to the east of her gates.

After the first stalemate, the orcs pulled back, sacrificing the goblin forces.

Now, it seemed more would soon come to bolster them according to the scouts willing to aid her from Alan's knights.

Maria slowly rose from her bed, revealing a long scar from her neck down across her breasts and stomach, an unsightly wound that remained sore and inflamed. "A man would never become filled with desire upon seeing this..."

Knock!

The door opened after knocking twice—Maria knew the only people who came to check on her were the medical magus and the maid, who seemed a little strange. Once an old friend who helped both Alan and her families, rather she should have been Alan's dedicated maid.

'So that's why it feels strange. I accepted her simply because she helped Alan and served him. But will she betray me and Alan's memory using the new prince from Silvara?'

"My lady?"

Maria's fingertips slid across the wound, transforming it into a scar. Her body trembled as she thought of Alan's handsome face once again. 'If he lived and could accept this defiled body, I would give him everything and love him until the end of my life.'

"Oh? It's you... Alice?"

'How could I forget the strange priestess who is also a maid who enjoys coming to see me every day?'

"Oh my, you actually remembered me?" The attractive maid seemed genuinely shocked. Her lips opened, revealing her white teeth, and her eyes opened further, revealing her lovely brown iris that seemed to change colour slightly each time she met her.

"Well, how could I forget the woman who would help set us both up back then in the apple fields and olive garden during the summer of our seventeenth birthday?"

Memories dear to Maria surfaced. The young and slightly nervous Alan entered her mother's fields wearing the most elegant suit, unaware that this little maid tricked him and joined Maria's search for a groom.

'This maid isn't an enemy. She is like me. She loves Alan, thus I must earn her forgiveness for betraying him. Even if it was mind control or whatever they did to me, it was still my actions, and a noble must always take responsibility.'

"Thank you for giving me a second chance, Alice. I must apologise for everything."

"?"

An appearance of confusion increased. Her lips trembled slightly as her eyes closed slowly. "You would apologise to a mere maid, a mere priestess?"

"I should take responsibility for all my mistakes, in control or not. I am a countess, and my actions carry significant weight."

The two women watched each other for a moment while Maria slowly wore a dark blue, light dress, covering her hideous scar and closing her eyes. Alice seemed to be equally shocked, and her lips curled into a faint smile. "I see... The shy little countess seems to have grown up."

"Don't make fun of me—let's head to the main hall; how many people have returned, and what is the state of our knights? Are they well fed, is there enough medical members to heal the wounded?"

Maria wrapped her shoulders in a thick robe that hid the tip of her scar, binding it around her neck with a red woollen thread.

"Over two hundred people returned after the capital denied their entry. As for the knights, they are currently recovering well. With more than a thousand men strong, and after your actions, several commoners offered their services to help with nursing and first aid."

Then she walked towards Alice with her face slowly changing from her weak-looking expression to a proud and fearless noble. Her eyes became sharp, narrowing them while her lips tightened and pressed together.

"Shall we go?"

"Understood, M'Lady."

Alice opened the door for her with a gentle smile. Her face changed to a calm visage while her lips formed a faint smile.

The corridors now felt a little barren from the missing paintings and extravagant items to the dressers now stored in the main hall containing bandages and spare cloth for the hospital and commoners who needed it.

"Alice..."

"Do you want to ask about Alan?"

"Did he suffer?"

Maria's steps halted for a moment, her eyes looking towards the east. In the distance, the ruins of his territory were still smoking. The scene created a feeling of frustration in her chest as she bit her lower lip.

"Alan..." For a moment, Alice couldn't reply. Her eyes cast a fleeting gaze towards the east before swallowing her words. "He should have passed like a valiant warrior."

"...."

Silence echoed through the long hallway. The question seemed to have soured both women's feelings, leaving them on a solemn trip to the medical station.

****

Many commoners were sharing a banquet of small meals, something to celebrate them surviving the first battle.

The moment they saw the Countess, their reaction differed from what one might have expected if they had seen this city a few weeks earlier.

"Countess Maria!?"

"Our Lady, are you well?"

"Bless the Countess and her kind heart!"

From the moment she awoke, her primary intentions became apparent to the people. She prioritised improving their lives and the medical and defensive areas, selling her gold and jewels for the cheapest prices and allocating most of the funds to them instead of her pocket.

"Calm, my people. I am flattered and honoured you remain here. However, the danger has not passed; should you wish to leave or escape to safety, you may. I will never judge you who remained here in the last battle. The walls of Utgard will never fall, but I will not force you to remain and suffer!"

"Our Lady!? We will stay with you until the end!"

"Please do not say such lonely things!"

Alice watched the crowd from a step behind Maria, and she knew that people here once might have hated Maria or found her to be a horrible woman.

However, after seeing her change and the rumours and words whispered by the knights, they seemed to have realised what changed.

Maria's gentle eyes seemed to look wet as she spread her arms, beautiful flames fluttering from her palms before lighting all the lights in the room, a brilliant dance of flames around her body as she looked like a queen displaying her might.

"Then I will answer your prayers. I shall give you everything I have. To protect you until my flames extinguish!"

"To protect our beautiful Utgard until the end!"

The people seemed shocked, stunned to see her changed to this degree.

Her striking gaze became gentle and warm not long after their voices and cheers filled the room, a strange sight that caused Maria's lips to curl into a soft smile, one of the most genuine smiles that her people and Alice had ever seen.

"Alice... We must head to the medical area, though I cannot use light magic. They can use my mana to help boost their spell power."

"But, My Lady, the pain of using you as a battery would cause you intense pain."

"Pain I will endure. Even if Alan is gone, and even if I am the reason he is dead, I can do at least this much."

"Is it wise, M'lady? If you exhaust yourself, you will take several days to recover your mana. Will that not be a loss for our defences?"

Alice's reasoning made sense, but Maria felt the drive to repay his people for allowing her to remain in this place. Then she took out a small vial from her pocket, the volatile purple potion bubbling.

"This will recover me, even if I am to suffer agony after victory."

"My lady that is!? You cannot!"

A rare look of concern filled Alice's face, which made Maria's lips curl into a grin before she put the potion back between her bosom and inside her item storage pendant.

'And this is all I can do as I do not know battle tactics or logistics. So allow me to repay you and Alan with my fire and life.'

The bottle was a potion of mana restorative; it would recover her entire core, but after she used that magic, her body would degrade and suffer intense agony, like someone plucked and removed every internal organ in her body.

'This will at least give me the chance to win. In my last moment, I will rise and hold these walls to defend those who have become so precious to me.'

"And Alice?"

"Yes, M'lady?"

"Do not tell anyone of this potion's effects."

After enjoying a small meal, Maria sat down near the medical centre with Alice. Her soft brown hair made her face feel dazzling. Many of the men and women blushed as her fingers flicked towards the bandages on a pallet, an empty tub resting on a wooden table next to her.

"Ugh..." Maria's lips trembled as she bit her tongue. The pain of the mage's syphoning her magic felt like hundreds of small straws were sucking on her veins and devouring her mana slowly. "Alice, do you think we can win the next battle?"

"My Lady, why do you ask such a foolish thing? If you have the intention to live, I will stay with you until the very end!"

'I am not so confident. Please give me the support I need.'

She showed a confident smile towards Maria and pulled her closer while wrapping her hands around her.

"Allow me to help, please." Alice reached for her ring finger, feeling her temperature until an answer appeared in her eyes. Of course, you're a knight; do you need a proper catalyst?"

"No, I will just let them take it through you."

Thus, the two women allowed the mages to use their magic to increase the power of all healing magic. While they recovered a few mana cores at once, Maria's hand trembled.

'Argh... the pain in my fingertips is too intense. Argh...'

Blood dripped from her fingers, dripping onto the bandages.

As she directed her mana, her blood seemed to become fused into the magic circle, changing the red and white energies into a radiant blue, like her fire.

It continued to burn until the room filled with a brilliant light, fluttering with a calming scent while Alice held Maria's wrist, allowing her magic to flow into the magic circle to support her.