No matter how hard she tried, neither of the realms seemed to ept her.


    ''The world became a blur, and I lost all ability to think or see well.''


    ''All I could remember was a rapid descent, my sisters in battle, all watching with horrified eyes. My body was burning, the pain in my chest from before no longer an issue because my arms and wings felt as if someone stripped them bare with a dull de and fire.''


    In the midst of her painful dreams, she saw her master. Asura was sitting on the castle walls, leaning back against the grey stones, his crimson eyes like gemstones peering into the distance and his raven locks flowing in the mid-afternoon breeze.


    This site, where nobody was around, and he just watched the world.


    At that moment, she felt something changing inside her as she watched his forlorn gaze and a brooding look slowly formed.


    A feeling of ''I need to protect the master, to be his guiding light.''


    However, those feelings were fleeting, and today, Ignis realised that a doll shouldn''t dream about bing a real woman and developing human feelings towards their master.


    In the final moments of her conscious mind...


    ''The only thoughts in my mind were that He would no longer need a broken tool. I lost all value the moment I lost.''


    "Ma...s....ter..." Ignis called out, her broken, twisted arm reaching into the sky.


    She saw a familiar sight: in the distant sky, a pair of feathered wings wreathed in mes as if made of fire themselves.


    Ignis thought her master hade for her.


    ***


    Shortly before, when Asura first sensed the enemy, his wings expanded, and he rushed to the east to support his knights because of what he scanned.


    The two nks were hit with the worst enemies—while he sent half of the Valkyrie west, he sent the rest with a group of knights to support Helia in the rear.


    When he finally arrived, the area was already filled with corpses. The battle was intense, with des shing, magical circles and screams filling the entire area.


    There was an immense power, unlike anything they had ever seen before.


    ''I can feel it, the power radiating off the berserk monsters.''


    His gaze fell upon the monsters that should have been stage five phantoms at most, yet all of them seemed to have been artificially strengthened by the Empire''s blood-red magic circles.


    "Asura!" A feminine voice called his name, and his gaze shifted to his right, and there stood a tall, silver-haired, busty beauty, an eastern sword the length of her body resting over one shoulder, with wounded troops standing behind her.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    ''Sigurd must have realised...''


    Asura sent her to check on the other groups before resting, and she just reached the east before these monsters overwhelmed them. Nevertheless, dozens of his knightsy crushed, dismembered and fallen in the dirt, a jungle far away from home.


    Anger and irritation flowed through his mind, as his hands pointed towards the monsters.


    A magic circle hovered over his shoulders, then another... and another... until the sky became blotted in ck and red magic circles, all crackling with fierce lightning.


    "Pull back, Knights of Silvara."


    It was the first time that he felt a battle was lost because of his idle behaviour. His strength and power should have been able to detect this attack. Why did he be soft and let down his guard?


    ''What if this was the capital? What if they were all here?''


    These questions flooded his mind as the mes at his back grew hotter, the magic circles above him growing more vtile by the second; a swirling torrent of ck and silver mes formed across each of the magic circles before forming a strange pentagram.


    Asura''s eyes became jet ck as he spread his arms, watching the hundreds of monsters and beasts chasing his fleeing men; Danos bloodied, his beautiful blue armour and robes torn, his sword broken, yet he still struggled to drag men with him.


    Belial''s body was covered in wounds as he carried three knights and rushed away, and Virgil, who usually acted arrogant, fought to protect Belial and Danos in their retreat.


    "Tsk."


    Suddenly, the ground began to rumble.


    "Disappear from my view. Insects!" Asura growled, his voice filling the forest before all of the fifty-plus magic circles shot dozens of ming spears and arrows, raining down on the monsters, beasts and Emerald Empire''s troops.


    "Eh!? What''s that!"


    "Hurry, Flee!"


    "Use your Defensive Magic!"


    They were toote, and as the beasts and infantrymen attempted to flee, their screams echoed through the area, their bodies pierced by the sharp projectiles and their bodies charred to the bone. The monsters were no different.


    ''The trees are burning, and the fires will soon spread across the entire forest.''


    "Let the forest burn, a tribute to my fallen men."


    As thest of the monsters were killed, his knights were already beyond the wooden fence they built, and Asuranded on the ground, his eyes fixed on the piles of dead soldiers before he once again pushed out his palms before a massive magic circle filled the zing forest, the stench of burning flesh, and charcoal filling his nose as he prepared to destroy the entire area.


    ''You can''t save everyone, you will lose this war, but...''


    He shook his head, not wanting to think about the consequences of this battle.


    "DIE!" Asura growled, the earth rumbling and the trees shaking as the magic circle began to glow.


    A massive explosion of ck fire consumed the entire visible forest, his eyes cold. As the ck fire faded, a thick cloud of smoke covered the burnt and ravaged forest, the sky turning a shade of grey, and the world became silent.


    There wasn''t even a bird''s song or the howl of the wind.


    As the mes died down, he could see the ckened remains, a circle of death and destruction, nothing spared from his wrath, and the smell of burning wood, nts, and flesh was so thick it was almost suffocating.


    "This is the power of our prince?"


    "Too strong..."


    Many knightsplimented Asura, but Sigurd and his direct knights watched in silence because they could feel the imbnce in Asura''s mood and heart.


    He covered his face and tried to calm down, but his ignorance because of Romantica awakened Asura.


    "My Prince..."


    "I''m fine, Sigurd." Asura waved his hand, "Rest, prepare the wounded for a journey. We will return home immediately."


    "Yes, my Prince," Sigurd bowed, watching her prince''s retreating; the sight of his broad shoulders seemed weak, like a crying young boy. As she reached out, his body jittered before his aura exploded, pushing her back like a deadly storm.


    ''Ignis?''


    ''Ignis, where are you?'' His mind became nk, his eyes widened, and his pupils shrank as a feeling like hot lead searing both his hearts filled his chest.


    "Ignis is gone?"


    "Haha....hahahaha!" Asura roared out, his face anguished, his fingers clenching and unclenching, a feeling of intense pain filling his soul before his aura burst outward.


    Then everything vanished, the wind, sound, and fires extinguished as if terrified of Asura, whose magic aura began to pulsate in sync with his aching heart.


    —Manifestation


    His mouth uttered the words with no emotion or feeling before his existence vanished.


    The next moment, an intense pressure, unlike anything the knights and Valkyrie had felt before, dominated the area, and a crimson pentagram-like seal suddenly covered the sky.


    A momentter, a huge mythical-sized creature appeared.


    "Ahhh... Darling.... why are you so upset?" Sigurd looked up at the horrifying monster, a twisted amalgamation of phoenix, dragon and darkness.


    A dark guttural voice echoed in all their heads. "Reinforce the central and rear nks. Abandon the east."


    It was a tone and voice they couldn''t deny as they watched the massive creature''s wings finally unfurl: a pair of dragon wings, phoenix wings, blood wings, and two sets of small wings made of darkness and demonic wings.


    Its wings, which should have been made for flying and agility, looked ungainly and awkward. The beast was like a young bird learning to fly.


    However, that didn''t stop Asura from flying, his wings abination of mes and darkness.


    And the moment he was adjusted... his form sted into the air.


    "I will hunt them down."


    "Avenge our fallen."


    ***


    Ignis felt a warmth, a burning heat that tingled her skin. She opened her eyes to a strange sight... a world of fire, where the screams of anguage she didn''t know and the pained howls of beasts echoed.


    The stench of burnt meat and roasted pork filled her nose, and a sense of fear and confusion welled up inside her mind.


    ''Master?''


    Looking to her left and right, she could only see mes.


    ''What is this?''


    A gigantic bird of me floated in the skies, a perfect being of beauty and crimson mes. She mistook it for Lorem for a moment before realising its feathers and body were a different shape... an elongated neck, yet still close to the divine bird, a phoenix. The monster looked down at her with intense eyes.


    "Forgive me, you are not longer human."


    ''I am not human...?''


    Ignis wasn''t human in the first ce, unable to understand what the woman meant; however, when she lifted her arms and pped her wings, she understood...


    The pale white skin and beautiful silver hair she loved so much were gone, and her wings and hair were now half white, half red. Ignis realised that her destroyed upper body and wings that were torn apart by corruption were now... like that bird. A frustrating feeling flooded her chest as she felt no connection to Asura.


    Her Master was gone. Yet. In reality, she felt happy because her wings and half her hair now matched her Master''s beautiful eyes.


    ''Ah...''


    Ignis realised she was no longer the same Ignis as before, a Valkyrie but something else... She had be a beast.


    ''Am I a curse upon the master, or will I be his light and guide?''


    It was at that moment that the skies became ck, filled with lightning, and a violent storm began to form when something appeared above the ming battlefield.


    An enormous monster, over five times the size of that beautiful red phoenix.