Asura was mistaken from the beginning.


    The existence of his strange ability to fuse two bloodlines and enter a new form through his technique—Liberación. It should never have existed.


    Normal people could manifest their bloodlines to the limit.


    No one could fuse them like Asura.


    However, Asura misunderstood his skill. He thought it was a weak version of a skill that all people learned—Manifestation.


    Though Liberación was nothing of the sort.


    The truth and meaning behind this ability came directly from Azoth. An Abyss Monarch born with the bloodlines of a Devil.


    Yet because of his Elven mother, the bloodline of the elves flowed alongside his Devil bloodline.


    The bloodline of elemental spirits, a source of the elves'' unique magic.


    ***


    "Fiend, you don''t seem to understand the difference between a master and his dog, kneel."


    Asura''s low voice echoed through the darkness before his figure shed with ck lightning. He appeared above the massive eye at the centre of the gigantic lump of flesh, holding his ck de high.


    The immense power of his aura caused the fiend to wince from the weight.


    "A mere mutt dares to bare its fangs at me! I''ll devour you!" The giant eye widened with a dazzling light, emitting a beam of pure magic as Asura shed down at the being''s body.


    With a powerful sway, his de severed the beam and split apart the flesh below into two halves, revealing the bottomless void of writhing tentacles within.


    Swoosh!


    A thin, long line spread across the vast surface of the fiend''s body before several smaller magical beams shot from the tips of its tentacles as he attempted to escape.


    Asura''s figure shed, dodging each attack as his body fell like aet leaving a trail of zing sparks in his wake. The violent bursts of pure magic collide with his ck de with a reverberating twang, creating luminous sparks of vibrant me.


    "Hahaha! Too slow." He sneered and gripped his de tightly with both hands, stabbing it directly into the bottomless void within.


    Swoosh!


    An explosion of azure lightning sent chunks of flesh flying high into the air as Asura''s body shot upwards from the intense explosive force, appearing from a shower of viscera. His raven-ck hair gleamed in the faint light as a glint of mania entered his eyes.


    Aldric''s figure seemed to shrink. Each blow to the vast mass of flesh caused it to shrink and be faster and even stronger than before.


    "A single cut won''t satisfy you, right? I will have to give you everything I have."


    Asura muttered as he nced at the size of the fiend''s body, which had shrunk to less than a fifth of its original size. "Haa..." With a long sigh, Asura''s body narrowed, his sword held towards the Fiend as his wings spread from behind, the grey wings fluttering rapidly while the ck devil wings, with their enormous size, beat powerfully.


    His crimson red eyes zing with an unbridled fury. "Prepare yourself."


    Boom!


    An eruption of violent lightning and me shot from his body in all directions, transforming his ck de into a de of destructive phoenix fire and lightning.


    A veil of mes cascaded Asura''s body like a cape, his ebony hair flickering wildly, his narrowed crimson eyes burning like smouldering embers in a furnace.


    "Not even you can handle a ten thousand degrees Celsius." His low voice shook with a shocking intensity.


    Asura''s mind, which had entered a state of serenity, could feel each movement of the fiend''s massive form as though they were the tiniest of creatures beneath him.


    The beams from the tentacles brushed past him, twisting his body. Asura dodged them, pping his wings as his body fell towards the fiend''s eye.


    "Phoenix Devouring Abyss!"


    "Boom!"


    A powerful st erupted as the ck bolt of lightning and phoenix fire swirled around his de like a spiral before shing into the eye of the fiend. The bolt turned into a zing inferno that engulfed the fiend''s entire body.


    With an annoying howl, the Fiend trembled as it sent its beams of magic towards Asura, trying to catch him off guard.


    Asura raised his palm and swept it down in one motion.


    Hundreds of deadly pure rays of magic shot towards him from all directions while a wall of white mes rose from the ground, forming a pir around his body.


    Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!


    The white me stopped each beam, protecting Asura as he gripped the de''s handle. He took a deep breath before he began shing continuously at the mes that protected his body.


    Shlink! Shlink! Shlink!


    His body moved so fast that the figure of the zing de became indistinguishable from the zing mes. Thick blood, flesh and meat scattered about along withrge chunks of rock, bouncing away as though struck by an invisible hammer.


    "Die!" His voice resounded in the darkness as his fiery de struck the fiend''s eye.


    An explosion of ck fire engulfed the fiend''s eye and Asura, whose lips curled into a smile.


    The heat boiled the fiend within the darkness as the dark mes ripped through its flesh, charring its bones before devouring the massive creature in an instant.


    With a single sh of his de, he sliced the enormous fiend in half, the scorched flesh and bone falling into two massive pieces as they crashed to the ground.


    Asura''s body hovered above the corpse as the mes receded from his body. His hair became tousled and messy, the normally silky strands covered in thick blood and ash.


    ''Is that it?''


    He remained in the air, gently pping his wings in unison with a feeling of power flowing into his body.


    The immense magic from an Abyss Fiend caused a pleasure that almost broke his mind.


    Yet the Abyss Fiend was the second weakest existence found inside the Abyss. However, Asura wasn''t strong enough to swallow its power without suffering this euphoria.


    ''I''ll need to train more,'' He mused with a frown as his gaze swept over the remains of the Abyss Fiend. A bloody pit full of charred flesh,rge pieces of burnt mean, and the ashes of its viscera.


    Ba-Dump!


    "Hmm?"


    A feeling of uneasiness filled Asura''s chest. His eyes narrowed with a sharp glint, examining the entire body of the fiend. Yet there didn''t seem to be anything wrong.


    "It''s dead. Calm down."


    Suddenly, Asura heard something squishing from behind.


    "Ha- Ha- Ha-Ha,"


    A strangeugh echoed before an intense burning pain filled Asura''s senses. The next moment, his body crashed to the ground as he finally saw what happened.


    Aldric Cavallio hovered in the air with two disgusting flesh wings sprouting from his back, only his left arm holding a golden sword, while a thick tentacle smoking from the tip extended from the right.


    A beam destroyed Asura''s left wings, the corrosive magic melting his flesh rapidly as he sliced them off using his ck de. The intense pain caused Asura to feel like vomiting before he crashed into the ground with a bang.


    "Ugh... I messed up. I am not Azoth!"


    Asura''s body only suffered minor physical impact damage because of his ck and white exoskeleton.


    As he turned his gaze back to Aldric, the former handsome face became rather distorted. His lips drooped, and his eyes dangled from their sockets, transforming into a disturbing visual.


    A true monster.


    "Asura Fenix, you must finish our test."


    "What test?"


    With a flick of his sword, Aldric''s de shone with a dazzling radiance, betraying his monstrous figure.


    The holy sword seemed to defy all legends. That only a hero could wield its power. Now, raising his remaining arm, the faint light reflected across the de.


    A sudden scream deafened Asura before the light shed, enveloping him whole.


    "Ugh... Argh!" Asura grunted in pain, a strange, familiar pain filling his mind. The moment the light touched him, he could feel as though his skin began boiling, as if it had melted and fallen from his bones.


    "Asura Fenix, stop being their toy and learn to survive for yourself."


    ng!


    The figure of Aldric shot forward, shing towards Asura, who deflected the strike with a hair''s breadth. The shockwave created an explosion as the golden de shed with the ck sword, which eroded the thinyer of golden light surrounding it.


    "Grr, your body is well prepared. Mutant."


    "Tsk, who are you? What happened to Aldric Cavallio?" Asura hissed, raising his ck sword while the smell of scorched flesh filled his nose. "What happened to the goody two shoes, Captain of the Knight Order? Where did the idealistic Knight order go?"


    "They betrayed me, and I shouldered their crimes. I am the Saintess, and you, my Divine Son!"


    The figure of Aldric sneered before waving his golden de as the light radiating from his body flickered, sweeping Asura away.


    "Ugh, you''re so talkative and irritating."


    However, the voice became more feminine in tone and pitch. Asura realised that this so-called Saintess was likely controlling Aldric''s body from afar.


    "You foolish boy. You keep sacrificing yourself for these inferior vermin, and it ends in your failure. Still, that''s not important to me. Give me a reason to believe that you are truly the divine son. Or I will end you here."


    "You will die."


    "I will have eternal life," Her voice echoed inside Asura''s mind.


    Each time she spoke, her golden de struck with significant force and skill, as if practised for countless years or lives. Asura found himself quickly bing disadvantaged under her quick strikes.


    "Then where are you and why is it you chose Aldric Cavallio to test me? This body and mind don''t fit you!"


    Asura''s body began taking damage; minor cuts from the holy de sliced his devil''s shroud, but the Asura bloodline armour seemed to take light damage.


    The sword seemed to excel at killing devils.


    "Then? Should I steal the body of that elf-likest time? Hahahaha!"


    Her maddeningughter shook Asura''s heart. The cold and heavy truth was close to him.


    The reason Azoth didn''t hate her, why she vanished from the world and hid herself.


    "You? You are the one that broke Azoth?" Asura''s eyes shed with a sharp gleam before his body suddenly froze. The woman''s cold and emotionless voice filled his ears.


    "Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha, of course! That fool, inferior in blood yet calling himself a Monarch! An unworthy vessel for the Divine Sun1!"


    Her voice grew deeper, as though her power possessing Aldric''s body increased. Asura felt her adjusting to his body as she attacked relentlessly while speaking about the past with a tone of disdain and mockery.


    "I took his beloved! Not once, but Twice! That foolish elf believed me when I told her I would bring peace with her help! Hahahaha!"


    Herughter echoed throughout the Abyss as Asura felt a burning rage building inside him. The fate of the Elf Queen, the second woman that Azoth loved and died for.


    "You lie."


    "How else do you think a child with the blood of devils would be born from the mother of an elf? I instructed our Archbishop to seduce his father, and she bore that halfbreed!"