Juliet blasted a huge hole in the Demonic Bloody Wolves horde.

Phoenix Nova

A huge explosion of Golden Phoenix Flames engulfed the Demonic Beasts, causing a wave of cries and whimpers. For a second there, Juliet almost felt bad. Then, as soon as another huge wolf tried to behead her with its toothy maw, she resumed fighting in earnest.

Few things irritated Juliet as much as looking at Helena strolling among the monsters like a true Goddess of War. She had clearly brought the Golden Palm Martial Technique to a whole another level, and now it killed half a dozen monsters every time she released one. And not Juliet saw the other girl starting to mix it up with Fireballs, Earth Walls, even Chained Thunderbolts that hit multiple targets in swift succession.

Juliet had her own secret weapons, but she wasn’t able to pull them off while fighting like this. It would hurt her, it would leave her weak. She could have used the Forbidden Technique Jacob had taught her and destroyed not just the small horde but also Helena.

She eyed the Spirit Gathering Formation and then looked at a bigger monster, one whose aura was actually suppressing hers a bit.

Juliet was still at the 8th level of the Mantis realm, even though her fighting potential was much higher. And so far, she had not been able to fight a proper Oriole realm monster; and not for lack of capabilities, but just because Epagogia would slay all of those by herself.

So, Juliet sprinted forward, disseminating a trail of burnt corpses at her back. The monster that was eyeing the Spirit Gathering Formation protections with curiosity suddenly turned his eyes toward her. Juliet saw a glint of intelligence in the monster's eyes, or she believed she did; it only lasted an instant, but that monster was certainly much more evolved compared to its kin.

Demonic Beasts usually had tougher bodies compared to humans. Or at least that was a common understanding, the rationale the humans used to justify their weaknesses. But in Juliet’s case, nothing could be more incorrect.

She was still at the 6th Belt of the Sacred Phoenix Body Transcension Technique, but she had one of the strongest Hidden Constitutions paired with a marvelous Body Technique. She feared no little wolf.

The monster could feel her aura, but it just showed its teeth toward her, ready to make little ribbons out of her flesh.

Juliet clenched her fist, closer and closer to the monster, ready to blow its brain to bits.

Sadly, that wasn’t in the plans of a certain someone else who had just come back from the forest.

Purple Qi Claws

Epagogia swooped in and cut down the Early Oriole realm monster like it was nothing. It had been so easy that it looked like the wolf had always been dead and that the cut corpse was its most natural shape to assume.

“Good morning to you, birdy-boy,” Epagogia said to a reddening Juliet, feeling the brewing anger in the Phoenix girl.

Juliet by now knew better than engaging in smack talk with a Devil and simply ignore her.

If there were something she could have done about the woman, she would have already done it. But Jacob had gotten so mad after she had tried to use the Forbidden Technique that she was trying as hard as possible to avoid conflicts.

A part of her, the same that had punched her step-father straight in the face during the first assembly post-apocalypse in St. Peter, wanted to slaughter the woman. Not just beat her up, but cut her, make her suffer. That part of Juliet was a bloodthirsty monster, and sometimes she was tempted of quenching the thirst with some Devilish blood.

But the other part, the part that had been born after the Ancestral Bond happened, after she discovered the Phoenix Constitution, that part was calm and measured, elegant and refined. She had felt it even during the first days after awakening the constitution, the contrary of what she would have expected from a being of fire and flames.

The part of her that was born out of a Phoenix, and her new bond with Jacob was a completely different Juliet, either an evolution or a perversion, based on the interpretation.

Thankfully, she had many monsters to take out her frustration on.

The darker part of her was still there, though. Even though a part of her was connected to the Phoenix, or to put it better, was like the Phoenix, the other part tried to corrupt the Divine bird. Black tendrils sometimes tried to latch onto the mighty flames, transforming them into something new, less regenerative, and more destructive.

And the smirk on Epagogia’s face, the sheer and open mockery, even after what had happened with Jacob, drove her crazy. The fact that that woman was so shameless to continue acting like that even though Juliet knew it was a ruse was extremely insulting; Epagogia knew that Juliet knew, but she apparently regarded her to be such an animal that she would still fall for her ridicule.

Phoenix Nova

Juliet blasted some other monster out of existence. But she found it lacking. Using the flames to fight was efficient, but it didn’t sate the beast she had always had inside.

So, Juliet stopped using the flames so much, she simply kept them as a coating for her body, and started pummeling her way through the little horde.

“Well, look at birdy-boy, fighting hard, huh? Do we want to impress my Jaji, maybe? Or did you find the pretty blonde to your liking? I’m willing to give him to you if you leave Jaji-boy to me,” Epagogia was having a field day, as usual.

That didn’t bring Juliet over the edge, she simply kept ignoring her. But, while she fought with her own bare hands, she could suddenly feel a different world in which Phoenixes had lived.

Everything around her froze for a second, and a vision came onto Juliet.

A world without the majestic golden flames, without the famous capabilities of the Phoenixes to heal and regenerate. No, that world had been plunged into despair and anger, and the Phoenixes had mutated, forgetting to be born again in favor of annihilating their kin.

The first vision Juliet ever got, thanks to her Hidden Constitution, was of different flames, more powerful, with the regenerative ability discarded in favor of pure, raw destruction.

Those were not red nor golden flames.

They were black.