It didn't take too long before Renova sunk deep into her consciousness in order to resist the collars soul binding effects.
Deep within her mind , she was buffeted with emotions and memories that she had buried. Things that she wished she could forget but couldn't. She remembered her younger days with sad sentimentality.
As a young Phoenix , she was without a mother , because in order to birth , a Phoenix must pass on their nirvanic flames , which was what gave them the power to rebirth.
As such , they died soon after.
That's why her greatest vow in life was never to have kids.
Growing up as a Phoenix was difficult. She quickly got used to the prospect of death at a young age. As a weak , growing creature , many of the monsters around her could easily kill her.
Whether it was a blessing or a curse, even after all this time she couldn't say , but she kept coming back to life. And every time she came back , she came back stronger.
Unlike other monsters that gained strength and evolved from age, or devouring the cores of others , she evolved through dying. She died over sixty times before she evolved from a hatchling to a young Phoenix.
By that time , she was stronger than most of the creatures around her.
Out of boredom, she moved out of the mountain range where she was born and went out to explore the world. At that time , she was just a naive young monster. That's how she met him .....
...…
The elf king surveyed the area in front of them. He had to strain his magic sense quite a bit , but he was able to sense the barrier.
All the forces under the Phoenix had gathered together whilst the leaders made plans. Finally , when everyone was ready , they held their last meeting.
"Once I give the signal , the birds of prey will take to the skies and bombard the barrier with their powers. That dome of magic has an effect that alerts them to a large gathering of monsters, so I'm sure they're aware of our existence. We're gonna have a tough fight ahead of us. "
Turning to face Cabal he continued. "Whilst we deal with the humans , you must find a way to sneak into their stronghold , locate our queen , and free her. That way , we can turn the tide of the battle to our favor. "
Cabal nodded. "We've been through this several times already. I know. But I have a little question. If the humans were able to beat her , what makes you think that she joining the fight would make much of a difference. "
The elfking and the others chuckled. "Our Queen never falls for the same trick twice. What makes her so special among the other generals , such that even the strongest , Monkey, is reluctant to directly act against her, is that when she is reborn from death, she experiences a dramatic rise in her strength.
"As such , like I said , whatever trick was used against her won't work again. "
Cabal nodded with an interested expression on his face. So there was such a way of getting stronger. So far he'd encountered corpse eating , resentment siphoning , and in his case , devouring those he defeated.
This world was one full of surprises.
"Let's start ," Mongrel growled.
....
the leader of the birds of prey led her flock into the skies , raining tongues of fire , ice and darkness upon the magical dome, shaking it violently. As if in retaliation , the dome warped , and an actual army of human warriors charged through.
The forces of the Phoenix were taken aback by the sheer numbers that they were up against. They'd gathered their best to deal with a small , elite force , but their rescue mission had seemingly turned into an all out war.
The humans threw themselves at their foes, with total disregard for their lives. By observing the battlefield and watching their suicidal strategy , Cabal concluded that these men were nothing more than canon fodder. Their main forces had yet to mobilize yet as such , his chance to move had not yet come.
Mongrel roared as he flipped. His magical aura surged and changed , becoming more beastial in nature as he assumed the form of a gigantic wolf over 7 feet tall. With a hungry growl he charged forward, leading his army of mutts, devouring any thing that stood in front of him.
With everything he ate , his magic grew stronger. The human sacrifices , congregated at his position like moths to a flame, but with a massive roar , a blast of compressed wind blasted a hole through several of them at once.
His claws glowed with an ominous light as he made short work of his enemies.
Cabal turned towards the elfking , the commander as well as strategist overseeing this mission. He opened his mouth to say something , but the wise sage beat him to the punch. "You've noticed it too haven't you. They're stalling. "
Cabal nodded. If you carefully observed the battlefield , looking past the fact that the humans outnumbered their monster enemies two to one, you'd notice that the monsters were dominating. It was a bloodbath as they slaughtered their foes, so fast that many didn't even know what killed them. In so doing , it fueled their bloodlust and spurred their confidence.
Despite being sentient , they were still beasts at heart. Their hunger to kill and slaughter was being invoked. Although this trait of theirs would be advantageous during an actual full blown war , for a rescue mission it was a blunder on their part , distracting them from their mission.
"We have to do something , and fast. "
The elfking nodded at Cabals words. With a gesture , one of his subordinates brought forth a long slender bow , one of the weapons the dwarves had crafted.
Taking a deep breath he powered the runes inscribed into it. The power Cabal sensed from him continued to realize as the runes of peeled off the bow, arranging themselves into the form of a magical circle.
Pulling back the bowstring , a light arrow manifested. The elfkings mana kept pouring into the magical construct until he released it.
As the arrow sped towards the barrier . It kept expanding as its power increased exponentially. Using [All seeing eye] to analyze the magical content of the spell , Cabal half expected the attack to take out the barrier along with about half of both the human and inhuman forces.
Just before it struck the barrier, a pillar of purple flames shot out of it , colliding with the spell and detonating it prematurely.
A crystal wall appeared at the last second to block the blast wave.
But even then the dome still violently quivered such that it became clearly visible for a second. With his skill still active , Cabal marveled at the intricacies of the barrier. His scientific mind yearned to dissect it to uncover all if it's secrets but he suppressed his desire , as 7 individuals walked out of the barrier while it became transparent behind them again.
'Looks like the cavalry have arrived ,' Cabal thought whilst glancing at the elfking who gave a subtle nod. It was the code for ' get ready. '
It had been a while since he'd seen them , but Cabal could easily recognize Erick and Selene. The other five guys were a mystery to him. His [All seeing eye ] had improved to the extent that he could sense their magical aura with it. With a glance , he could easily tell that the four leaders were stronger than the mercenary group.
As for the others , about three of them were as strong as the leaders of the Queens servants , while the remaining two were slightly weaker. It took a bit of thinking but he was able to analyze their battle strategy.
He inwardly smirked. 'Not bad. '
The elfking didn't even wait for them to react and gave a silent signal. Dwarven , the leader of the birds of prey , whose name he hasn't discovered even up to this point charged towards the human leaders.
The elfking drew another arrow and shot it. Mid flight , they split until the one turned into dozens, before each transformed into the shape of a roaring Phoenix.
The man at the head of the group stepped foward as a walking cane appeared out of nowhere. He ground it into the ground , creating a purple magic circle around him. Tentacles of purple fire surged from his feet to engage the Phoenix arrows whilst his guys dealt with the rest. Selene remained by his side , helping Erick as he fought Mongrel.
The other humans each engaged the monster heads in groups of two , leaving the two most powerful mages amongst the two groups to duke it out.
Soon explosions of mana , roars and grunts of pain and frustration filled the air as monster fought man , and all was chaotic. So much so that no one noticed the entry of a little red eyed rabbit into the barrier.