The Rise of the Black Plain

After a few moments, the group coming from the Flaming Empire landed beside one of the camps around Dry City.

They promptly caught the attention of the several Spiritual Kings patrolling the vicinity at that spot. Still, they were not immediately surrounded instead of what would typically happen.

Instead, after those individuals noticed the arrival of these strange experts, one of the strongest Spiritual Kings there came closer to them and asked. "Who are you, people? What do you want in Dry City?"

"We are here to see your leader. Is he here?" Crispin did not hide his goal since none of these people could do anything against their group.

Hell, they were five Spiritual Emperors, one at level 64 and the rest at level 63. So how could people from this region offer any danger to them?

And even though several Spiritual Emperors had recently arrived in this part of the continent, those who came to support the regional families were only 7th stage cultivators at the early part of this stage.

That was no big deal in the eyes of these individuals!

With that in mind, their leader had gone straight to the point in the interest of resolving this situation and drawing out the prize left by Clayton Silva in their sect.

Hearing the tone of that person's voice and observing the proud look in those people, typical of those who see themselves as superior, that Spiritual King frowned as he thought of something.

And not only he thought of that!

For those who were allied or subordinate to Minos, there were only four possibilities for Spiritual Emperors to appear in this place. One, they were enemies, members of regional families. Two, they were allies. Three, they were neutral towards Dry City. Finally, four, they were from sects of the empire who were here to try to assassinate young Stuart.

The first possibility made no sense since, for individuals with such knowledge about the power of Dry City, coming here would be like asking to die.

On the other hand, there was no way that allies or people neutral towards Dry City would demonstrate such a superior air. With that, the Spiritual Kings in the surrounding area readily realized that these were the assassins that Minos had warned them about.

"I see... So you gentlemen and ladies are here to see the young master." That individual from earlier smiled, pretending to be grateful that such people were coming to see Minos. "If you allow us, we will take you to him."

Immediately after that was said, the other Spiritual Kings realized that this was a chance for them to buy time, while Minos and the local forces were alerted of these people's arrival.

On the other hand, the five Spiritual Emperors felt surprised by this docile behavior as they expected at least some resistance from these people.

However, if these people wanted to make things easier for them, they were willing to risk following them. Even if there was a trap, they could easily handle it as they had escape items in their bodies.

So why make things complicated?

As they began to follow that person, each of the five individuals was looking at him, looking for mistakes that would reveal some problem.

"Are you okay?" One of the women asked this as she saw the sweat dripping down that person's forehead. "You look terrified..."

"Don't tell me that even someone like me can scare you that much?" She asked as she pouted at that man.

The others watched that intently, waiting for a signal to act. They then listened. "Honestly, I'm not used to being around such powerful people..."

"No, you are, in fact, the first people of that level I have ever met in my life. So I feel a little overwhelmed." He said, glancing over and over at those people without maintaining constant eye contact.

"Really?" A pale-skinned man with no hair on his head asked in surprise. "But I have heard many Spiritual Emperors have come to this region recently. So you haven't encountered any of them?"

"Of course. But that individual was at level 61. You can't compare him with the power of your excellencies." Such a person lied since he had never seen those Spiritual Emperors reinforcing the enemies of the Black Plain, only having seen Gloria and Maisie.

After hearing that, the people there felt satisfied, thinking it made sense that such a weak individual feared them, even though he was only walking close to them.

'In any case, even if this is a trap, we will only crush them when their masks fall...' So, the leader of that group pondered as he watched that Spiritual King, eager to meet Minos Stuart.

...

Meanwhile, some of the Spiritual Kings who had noticed the arrival of those people had already run away and sent warning signals to the forces in Dry City.

Because of this, it was not long before the emergency sirens at the army headquarters, government mansion, and the four entrances to the wall began to sound, warning of the arrival of enemies.

Thus, quickly the four entrances to the wall closed. At the same time, the soldiers at those posts went into alert mode, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

On the other hand, it was not long before the strongest in Dry City began to realize that there was something wrong going on!

...

Hearing the sounds of alert at headquarters, young Stuart got up from where he was standing and looked at his office window, sensing that this might be the problem he had been expecting.

So, immediately as he looked in that direction, he noticed each of his senses became sharper as if his body already knew that he would have to fight.

"Looks like they're finally here..." He muttered in a low voice just before running from that place, heading towards the front of his mansion, the meeting place before possible confrontations in this city.

...

"Minos, what's going on?" Viola was one of the first to ask him something right after that young man arrived at Abby's side.

Meanwhile, hundreds of soldiers, most high-level Spiritual Generals, but several Spiritual Kings from each of the parts of this stage were also there.

Among them, individuals from the Miller family and other past Brown Kingdom noble families were also there, as they had received warning arrays for situations like the current one.

Finally, Ruth and Maisie were also in the vicinity since the first one was in the mansion when the alerts sounded; the latter had already realized something was wrong.

Not because she sensed the presence of those five. She did not. But because her senses were much sharper than that of other people, she had noticed sirens going off in different parts of Dry City.

As such, like the many individuals there, she was paying attention to Minos to know what would happen next.

Minos then said aloud. "I am not sure, but I believe it is the assassins coming from the Flaming Empire."

"That way, all those who are not Spiritual Kings must return to your positions. But, on the other hand, the Spiritual Kings here will accompany me into battle!"

Upon hearing that, the people in the surroundings felt unprecedented tension, as they had never faced such a threat before. But knowing that Maisie was there, none of them feared death and promptly followed their sovereign's orders.

Meanwhile, the weaker Spiritual Kings there were still fearful, and one of them asked. "What low-level Spiritual Kings should do in this fight?"

Hearing Robin's voice, Minos looked at that level 50 woman and said. "Nothing too risky..."

"You will serve as batteries for me." He smiled.

After that, he turned to Abby and said. "As such, your job will only be to defend yourself and the group of low-level Spiritual Kings."

"As for the rest of you." He looked at those stronger people over there. "Your job is to help me find gaps in the opposing defenses, create problems to stop them from fighting us their way."

"Okay." The stronger people there readily agreed, as they already began to follow Minos' footsteps in the direction from which the warning had departed.

'Well, let's see how things develop...' Maisie watched all this silently as she followed those people alongside the worried Ruth.