Chapter 58 Rising from the Ashes: Marco's Phoenix Bloodline Breakthrough
On Dillock Island
Marco eagerly took out a comic book and went to his usual practice spot. This particular comic held special significance for him as it reflected his phoenix heritage. Excitedly flipping through the pages, Marco discovered that the seventy-two pillars of the demon god were in decline and a new generation of demons were rising.
Despite being descendants of the phoenix, his family had lost its former glory. Suddenly, Marco felt a strange sensation and was transported into the world of the comic book. As he looked around, he realized that he had been transported to the underworld of the Highschool DxD, a realm inhabited by demons.
"Descendant of the Phoenix blood, are you able to hear my summons?"
A faint summons reached Marco's ears, causing him to furrow his brow in confusion. He activated his Observation Haki in an attempt to understand the source of the summons. However, to his surprise, he couldn't detect any life form around him.
"Descendant of the Phoenix blood, there's no need to search around. I'm right in front of you," a voice called out to him.
Suddenly, Marco's gaze fell upon a funeral inscription in the devil's language. Although he couldn't comprehend the language, his Phoenix blood seemed to stir within him, allowing him to understand the message. The voice continued to speak, identifying itself as a remnant soul of the Phoenix will, calling upon Marco to rekindle the glory of their generation.
Ah, Marco felt a sense of honor!
As an outsider, he was entrusted with such an important mission?
"What should I do?" Marco asked curiously.
His phoenix bloodline had reached a bottleneck and he couldn't break through it. He had nothing to do anyway.
Now that he had encountered this opportunity, it might be his breakthrough moment.
"Rebirth from the fire, soaring into the sky immortal!" the remnant soul replied.
Marco listened for a moment and asked, "Can you explain it in detail?"
Then the soul explained in laborious detail for days and nights until Marco fully understood the situation.
The Phoenix is capable of being reborn from the ashes they call these occurrences 'Phoenix's Resurgence'. However, this ability requires the will of the Phoenix to support it. If some descendants of the Phoenix bloodline are afraid of death, then this talent for rebirth from the ashes will be weakened.
This does not just weaken an individual's ability, but it weakens the talent of the entire Phoenix race. If more and more people are afraid of death, then the rebirth talent of the entire race will continue to weaken.
This means that when a Phoenix blood descendant dies, there is only a certain probability of triggering a Phoenix's Resurgence, while the other probability is true death. Currently, due to the decline of the Demon's 72 Pillars, the New Demon King has taken the lead, and the descendants of the Phoenix family bow their heads to the Great Satan faction.
There are more and more people who are greedy for life and afraid of death, resulting in the probability of the Phoenix's bloodline being reborn from the ashes getting lower and lower.
The phoenix that was once glorious has now become a counterfeit version of itself. To restore its former glory, the will of the phoenix must be reawakened. The current generation of phoenix descendants must use their lives to rebuild the will of the phoenix. In other words, they must defend the honor of their tribe, fight against death, and trigger a Phoenix's Resurgence.
In this weak era of the phoenix will, the descendants may not be able to trigger rebirth from the ashes after their deaths, but every attempt will make the phoenix will stronger. The glory of the individual will influence the will of the entire group of phoenixes. When quantitative change leads to qualitative change, the day when the Phoenix's glory returns will arrive.
"It is crucial for the descendants of the phoenix bloodline to revive their sense of pride and encourage their fellow tribesmen to fight for the phoenix's glory." This is the remnant soul's final wish, which Marco has been entrusted to convey to the Phenex family.
Marco's expression is priceless.
If I actually do this, I might get beaten to death by the Phenex family.
You're essentially telling the whole family to fight and likely die.
Anyone with a sane mind would kill you.
"I have a question. If only one phoenix descendant keeps fighting and dying in battle, then is it possible for them to continuously trigger the Phoenix's Resurgence?" Marco asked.
"Yes. However, the phoenix's will is so weak in this era that no matter how lucky the phoenix descendant is, it is impossible to continuously trigger the Phoenix's Resurgence! Reshaping the phoenix's will requires relying on the strength of the entire race!" Aurelia explained.
[A/N: I name the soul to 'Aurelia']
After receiving the answer, Marco nodded contentedly.
He didn't know anything about the Phenex family in this world, and he wasn't foolish enough to believe that he could convince the whole family to die together with just his words.
Since reshaping the phoenix's will only requires continuous triggering of Phoenix's Resurgence, then Marco had a better plan.
In this world, if someone dies, they are permanently gone.
But Marco isn't from this world. If he dies here, he would simply return to the real world.
Therefore, as long as Marco keeps coming back to this world and fights against the Demon King, and then tries to trigger Phoenix's Resurgence, he can also reshape the will of the Phoenix.
With this thought in mind, Marco didn't waste any time and went straight to the Demon King Ridge.
Devil's Ridge.
Sirzechs Lucifer, the leader of the Four Great Satans.
A Beyonder!
A powerful and enigmatic being.
As soon as Marco entered Devil's Ridge, Sirzechs Lucifer detected his presence. The aristocratic and refined demon king looked at Marco and asked, "Have you come here to challenge me?"
Despite using his Observation Haki, Marco could not discern the demon king's strength. Sirzechs Lucifer's existence was elusive and he seemed to vanish when not looked at directly.
Marco shook his head and replied, "No, it's not a challenge, it's a duel. A fight to the death with no quarter given."
Sirzechs Lucifer remained seated and replied calmly, "This is unnecessary. Even if the Phoenix family's leader were to come, there would be no suspense."
The demon king was not a bloodthirsty demon but rather a responsible one. He hoped to bring about a peaceful coexistence between angels, fallen angels, and demons.
"Ah? You are indeed a good demon!" Marco remarked, pleased with the conversation.
But despite the positive feelings, Marco knew he had to proceed with the fight. "Be careful, I'm going to attack!" he warned.
Since Sirzechs Lucifer refused to engage, Marco would have to force the issue. Marco charged forward, unfurling the flame wings of the undead and covering his right foot with Armament Haki. He kicked towards Sirzechs Lucifer's direction.
Sirzechs Lucifer made no attempt to defend himself and simply allowed Marco's kick to connect.
Afterwards, Marco felt as if he had kicked into an infinite expanse of stars with no solid ground to focus on. He couldn't even retract his foot.
"Hmm? What's this?"
Sirzechs Lucifer paid no mind to Marco's attack, but was highly intrigued by the Armament Haki covering his legs.
He could sense that this was a completely new ability system, unlike any other he had seen before.
"It's called Armament Haki! But it doesn't seem to have any effect on you, so you shouldn't be too interested," Marco replied.
"No! It doesn't work on me simply because you're too weak. This kind of ability, if used properly, can be incredibly powerful!"
Sirzechs Lucifer was one of the Four Great Satans, and the most powerful among them.
A natural fighter!
With an incomparable understanding of abilities!
After only a brief encounter, Sirzechs Lucifer had already analyzed the characteristics of Armament Haki.
"Can you teach me?" Sirzechs Lucifer wanted to learn.
Marco was dumbfounded
'Clearly, I came here to seek death, so why do I still want to become someone else's master?'
"Okay, I'll teach you, but on the condition that we have a duel and you must kill me! You can't hold back!"
Teaching Sirzechs Lucifer to use Armament Haki posed no problem.
After all, Marco was like a traveler in this world. He knew that although Sirzechs Lucifer was a demon, he was responsible for "Domestic Affairs" and was highly committed to maintaining peace among all walks of life.
As such, the stronger his strength, the better equipped he would be to achieve this goal.
This time, Sirzechs Lucifer was taken aback.
"Why do you want to die so badly?" he asked skeptically.
"It's hard to explain. If you agree, I'll teach you. If not, I'll fight other Great Satans," Marco replied helplessly.
"I'll agree," Sirzechs Lucifer said after some thought.
After leaving the church, Sirzechs Lucifer kept his word and punched Marco to death.
"Damn! Is the difference really that big?" Marco thought as he appeared before the "Highschool DxD" comic book.
Despite knowing he was going to die, Marco couldn't even see how Sirzechs Lucifer moved his hand.
"Start small and aim to see how I die next time," Marco told himself before entering the comic world again.
After a month had passed, Marco appeared in front of the comic book for the 32,899th time.
"I finally did it! Hahaha! I was beaten to death with just one punch!" Marco was ecstatic.
Although it might seem like an exaggeration, Marco had never known how he died until now. Seeing it was a significant improvement in itself.
Some pirates passing by were shocked when they heard Marco's business.
"Marco's gone crazy, Let's run" they whispered to each other.
But Marco wasn't satisfied and continued to enter the comic world.
After another month had passed, he appeared before the comic book for the 64,231st time.
"This time, I want to try dodging his fist!" Marco thought, even though he knew he would still die.
It was still an improvement for his Observation Haki.
One year had passed since he first entered the comic world, and Marco had appeared there hundreds of thousands of times.
"Great! I was finally able to react to his fist! Even though I still died instantly, my Observation Haki has made great progress!" Marco celebrated.
It was clear that Marco's goal was to find a way to overcome the bottleneck of his Phoenix bloodline, but through his repeated deaths, he unexpectedly made tremendous progress in his Observation Haki. He could now briefly glimpse into the future for less than half a second!
"I think my mission should be almost complete, but even after I finish the task given by the Remnant Soul of the Phoenix, I'll keep coming back to Sirzechs Lucifer to further hone my Observation Haki."
"In addition, he's now mastering Armament Haki, and I can still learn from him on how to practice it at a higher level."
Although Marco had taught Sirzechs Lucifer how to use Armament Haki, there's a saying that goes: "There is a sequence of learning, and a specialization in every field." In other words, Sirzechs Lucifer can take Marco's teachings and bring them to a higher level.
It's like Marco gave Sirzechs Lucifer a seed, and Sirzechs Lucifer grew it into a towering tree. Then Marco can return and celebrate Sirzechs Lucifer's success with him.
Feeling happy, Marco once again entered the world of comics.
Marco arrived at the memorial inscription.
"As the heir of the Phoenix bloodline, your unwavering efforts have reignited the will of the Phoenix!"
"Thanks to your hard work, you are now worthy of experiencing the glory of your ancestors!"
The voice of Aurelia's soul faded away, and Marco's consciousness was suddenly drawn into the memorial inscription.
It was the era of the War of the Gods.
Angels, fallen angels, and demons fought continuously!
The Phoenix ancestor grew weaker as he battled and was eventually mortally wounded.
The Phoenix people charged at the enemy in desperation, sacrificing themselves to protect their critically injured ancestor.
Witnessing the Phoenix people launching suicide attacks one after another, Marco's Phoenix blood resonated deeply!
They feared no death!
They were born from ashes!
They embraced death!
Although Phoenixes could be reborn from ashes, they would eventually be consumed by life if they never rested after rebirth.
When he saw a twelve year old Phoenixbloods charging towards the enemy, ready to end it all...
Marco was moved to tears! His Phoenix blood surged like a flood, rapidly transforming!
[Breakthrough! The sixth level of the Phoenix bloodline!]
[A/N: INFO]
Phoenix's Resurgence is the ability of the phenex family to rise from the ashes after death. This ability is a result of the phoenix's unique physiology and connection to fire. When a phoenix dies, its body bursts into flames and is reduced to ashes. However, from these ashes, a new phoenix is born, ready to start a new life.
The process of Phoenix's Resurgence is not instantaneous. It can take several hours, or even days, for the new body to fully develop.
To trigger Phoenix's Resurgence, the phoenix must willingly accept death. This means that if a Phoenixbloods dies unwillingly or in fear, it may not be able to undergo Phoenix's Resurgence. In addition, the strength of the phoenix's will can also affect its ability to undergo Phoenix's Resurgence. The stronger the will of the Phoenixbloods, the more likely it is to be reborn.
Phoenix's Resurgence is not an unlimited ability. Each Phoenixbloods only has a finite number of lives before it eventually dies permanently. The exact number of lives a phoenix has is unclear and may vary depending on the individual.
[People who can use the power of the phoenix are often referred to as Phoenixbloods]
Aurelia was a member of the first generation of Phenex family, and one of the strongest among them. She was a fierce warrior and a skilled strategist, who fought tirelessly to defend her family and their honor.
Aurelia was born with the gift of fire, which she could summon and control with ease. She was able to manipulate flames to form intricate patterns, and was known for her ability to conjure up a scorching inferno that would leave her enemies reeling. Her control over fire was so precise that she could even create small flames that would float in the air, illuminating the darkness around her.
Aurelia was also a master of hand-to-hand combat, and was well-versed in various forms of martial arts. She was agile and swift, with lightning-fast reflexes that allowed her to dodge attacks effortlessly.
In addition to her combat skills, Aurelia was a brilliant strategist. She could analyze complex battle situations in the blink of an eye, and come up with a plan that would give her family the advantage. Her tactical prowess was a key factor in many of the Phoenix family's victories.
[If anyone is interested, they are free to use this character.]
[I have included some additional information in the text for a more immersive experience, which is not from the mtl. I hope it adds to the overall enjoyment of the story.]