Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

The royal red carpet leads to four steps, making those who approached look up to the King to feed his vanity, added at his behest, or so the rumours said.

"Bernard, are they coming? You set the meeting and paid the price, right?" Asked the King with a voice like an impatient child, nothing like the ruler and regal man who stands above a kingdom.

'I am so nervous... They are ruthless monsters...'

Bernard was the knight guard of the King since they were students like the two who followed Prince Valos. He was long used to the cowardly actions of his king, wondering why the queen fell in love with this guy.

"My king, they should have arrived and will be here shortly."

Today, King Silvara had arranged a meeting with a special guest.

Their name in the kingdom continents was the Abyss Guild, a branch of a cultist church known as the cult of the falling sun, which hates the current world and worships the great devouring one who will come and deliver this world to the divine darkness.

"I see... good work, Bernard. Do you think they will agree?" A faint layer of sweat dripped from the King's head as he looked nervous while fidgeting and speaking with a rather unbefitting tone. "Maybe they will just request money..."

"My King, what should we tell her Highness the Queen?" Bernard tried his best to avoid the King's relationship becoming strained because of his bad ideas and plots, sometimes taking the blame himself and suffering a lashing.

'What about that icy woman... She's never here anyway!' The King thought, becoming rebellious.

This selfish and idiotic man saved Bernard's family, and his loyalty was unshakable.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash as the throne room doors flung open—those doors were six metres high and created to resist the attacks of stage four monsters...

Yet a man in a simple black hooded cloak only held out a single finger, and he tore them off their mythril-reinforced hinges.

"The Abyss Guild has arrived," Bernard spoke, stepping forward a single step to protect his king, narrowing his eyes while watching the male approach slowly with a faint smile.

"King Silvara, the fat puppet who bows to his wife like a coward, I presume." The cloaked male uttered in a creepy voice, like a corpse from the grave whispering in the darkness, calling for all who heard to join him.

"You!" Bernard and several knights all grasp their swords... however.

Pop!

The man merely lifted his hand, and over seven of the well-trained stage four knights worth thousands of gold vaporised into meat paste, the king's throne and carpet now soaked in their blood and entrails.

Step...

Step

Step...

The man's tapping feet as he approached the king caused him to feel intense terror, sweat pooling down his brows and back, watching in terror as the man from the abyss guild stepped within two metres of his body.

"Here is the contract—you requested to kill a certain noble... ah, that accursed bloodline, Asura Fenix."

'These guys also hate the little bastard! Great... I also mentioned the stage four monsters in our castle vaults in the letter. I don't know why my wife keeps them sealed, but let's use one of them to kill that bastard!'

Taking the contract and reading the cursive but artistic letter, the king nodded several times as the costs were much lower than he thought, with only a simple addition to the bottom that stated.

The Kingdom of Silvara Must Owe The Abyss Guild A single Favour and fulfil the request in the next five years. - Even if the Monarch should change, the debt is one of the kingdom and people.

'I don't get the complicated meaning—it just means they might want money or some knights to help them... that's nothing to make my boy smile again!'

Bernard felt something strange about that contract—his eyes could sense a magic pulse that seemed part of the promise and what made people abide by contracts... "but it's too evil... and corrupted... even for my king..." He whispered with a helpless look on his ageing face, wishing to return home to his wife for her gentle comfort.

"This is a brilliant contract. To think I could get rid of that bastard's lineage with this... His mother was already... now all but his bitch sister and the entire direct lineage of Athea will vanish forever." The king muttered as he cut his finger and signed the contract with blood, but the eyes of the male shone under his hood upon hearing this information.

"Oh? Direct descendants of that woman... Ho ho ho... what an unexpected jackpot... will the cardinal bless me a position in the main church after I succeed?" like nails dragged along a chalkboard, the man's voice caused the king's high spirits and Bernard's thoughts of his wife to vanish instantly.

"Bernard... you can leave now." The King waved his hand, dismissing the loyal knight who bowed and left the room, feeling a chill from that man's gaze, wanting to warn the King, but he knew it was futile...

"My King... please don't cause trouble... I'm getting too old for this shit." Bernard sighed as he left the throne room. His back seemed lonely and defeated while walking through the halls to return home to his loving wife, thinking about retiring and enjoying life.

Meanwhile, inside the throne room, the man from the Abyss Guild laughed, "Ho ho ho... King Silvara, you are indeed a Zejm(fool)... But I will grant your wish, and you will owe the church a favour, and I shall eradicate that accursed bloodline should that monster fail at no extra cost."

"Monster? Ah, yes! That stage four monster is inside our vault... I'll release it tomorrow night! Haha! Bernard is too cautious; it's just a monster." The King laughed, believing he was smart, but the Abyss Guild member simply smiled.

"Stage four monsters are mere ants... the church has stage eight monsters and even saints at our beck and call."

The Abyss Guild member laughed, and the King froze, realising this man played him, but the power difference was meaningless; he could only lean back, feeling the same as when his wife looked at him when she returned to see his actions.

'....Valos, have I made a terrible mistake?'

The king thought to himself, but nobody would answer as the male suddenly vanished in a black swirl of mist, leaving a huge marking of the Falling Sun cult on the royal red carpet.

"At least... The boy that blocks your path will soon be gone. I do it all for you—there is nothing wrong with my choices... yes, that's right."