The Rise of the Black Plain

After the meeting of Minos' group with King Snow's, a week passed in the blink of an eye!

As the forces of this ruler marched towards the headquarters of the Scourges of the Devil, the command of this organization had another day as usual, without any surprises.

There in that area where the borders of three states, Kingdom of the Waves, Snow Kingdom, and Kingdom of the End, met, white birds came and went from a large hole in the most prominent mountain in the area.

At the same time that these messenger birds were bringing and taking information from this headquarters, inside that great mountain was the palace of the Scourges of the Devil.

Such a place was as prominent as regional high-level family headquarters, and the number of people there was not insignificant, although it was considerably smaller than that of noble families.

But although there were not as many people there as perhaps would be expected considering the size of this place, there were still more than a thousand people living and working in this area.

And in fact, the number of people there was greater than ever, as the recent events in this region had forced this organization to call all its members back to headquarters.

Previously this power had outposts in every state in the region. In these places, smaller groups of assassins could carry out the missions passed down by that organization's command, gathering intelligence and contacting regional powers.

Like the Chambers family that had been a partner of the Scourges of the Devil, there were several other regional families with connections to this organization that needed the means to contact those assassins.

But with the changes in the region in recent years, this organization has faced constant problems in keeping its branches running.

During this period, they had faced problems with Snow Kingdom organizations several times and had also endured persecution from House Hayes, when this organization had persecuted the remnants of the Chambers family.

After that, several assassins had fallen while fighting in the Black Plain's War of Independence, something that had weakened them considerably.

Nevertheless, while fighting in the war, the number of services this organization had gained in the region had increased exponentially!

While dozens of powers had sent people to fight in the Black Plain, other smaller organizations had taken the chance to put their 'claws' out and attack.

And several of the assassins from that organization not involved in the war had terrorized parts of that region in the period, having secured a few more enmities for them on the way here.

Finally, with the end of the war and independence of the Black Plain, the powers formerly entertained by Minos returned their attention to their states and began to act against the criminals.

At the same time, the idea that Minos would pursue them was engraved in the minds of the leaders of this organization.

Because of all these events, the Scourges of the Devil had called their outer members back to headquarters to get through this challenging time in seclusion at headquarters.

And so, more than 200 Spiritual Kings were in this place now, while, for the most part, the rest of the people there were Spiritual Generals, the relatives or subordinates of the elders of this place.

This organization was a power composed of many former regional criminals, individuals who had their pasts, with subordinates and even family.

And upon entering this powerful regional organization, these people were entitled to a limited number of 'companions' who could live and serve there.

Therefore, this place had enough people to keep things going, with individuals taking care of basic things such as food preparation, maintenance, and this institution's religious acts.

The Scourges of the Devil believed in the God of Death, an individual who had actually lived in this world. Such a person had earned this title by reaching level 100 and killing an unprecedented level of people, something that had never before been seen before his ascension.

However, with their belief in him, the members of this organization followed the precepts left behind by the organization created by that being, a power formerly based in this region but long since lost in the river of time.

However, just over 450,000 years ago, the founder of the Scourges of the Devil found parts of the ideas of that ancient power in ruins in this region.

In the remote past, this region had been mighty. And with the Great Migration, much had been left behind, something that had later become precious ruins for the weaker people of this region.

Such things left behind were small to the migrants who left the region but extremely valuable to people of low rank.

And so, for hundreds of thousands of years, the many ruins in this region were exploited as much as possible by powers that still exist or have already disappeared in the river of time.

Among the last who had gotten something from these ruins that currently hardly existed, the founder of the Scourges of the Devil had gotten items and techniques to develop his organization.

From there, this organization had arisen, having always kept its ideals and faith in the God of Death, who had indirectly guaranteed the power of this regional organization.

Because of this background, the people in this organization kept their religious doctrines strictly rigid, with people praying in the name of that God at almost all times of the day.

But besides the many subordinates and relatives of the elders of this organization who continued to pray for that God, the Spiritual Kings of this place were diligently cultivating and preparing for the future.

Now that they did not have much to do outside of this place. So, cultivating and getting stronger was the only option!

And since this area where their headquarters was located was notably richer in spiritual energy than others in this region, these elders could not help but take advantage of the opportunity.

In the distant past, the founder's group had managed to eliminate an organization that existed in this place, having taken the palace inside this mountain for themselves.

Because of this, this power had an area similar to that of the hidden sects in the Endless Snow Mountain Range and had never been bothered by regional powers, who naturally feared those sects.

For this reason, these people were quietly living in this headquarters, among them, some old Minos, Maxwell, and Vivian enemies.

...

In one of the many courtyards of that luxurious palace, a group of Spiritual Kings sat around the bleachers of a small fighting arena.

In that place, occasionally, the most powerful elders would demonstrate their skills in friendly matches, something that was about to happen once again in a few more moments.

And with that, the weaker Spiritual Kings there were already looking forward to the start, waiting to learn more from the high-level cultivators in that place.

Among them was one of the survivors of House Chambers, a former subordinate of that organization, the person responsible for the death of Vivian's bodyguard.

Roy, who was currently at level 54!

At the same time, Egbert, level 55, codename Scythe, responsible for the cruel death of Alexander Snow, was also in that place, sitting next to Curtis, level 57.

Curtis was one of the Black Market partners and owner of the place Minos had invaded years ago in Hadria, where he freed dozens of enslaved women.

All these individuals and several others who had wreaked havoc on the battlefields of the Black Plain or around the region were standing, talking, and waiting for the next game to begin.

Roy then commented to one of his superiors there. "Mister Quinn, I recently heard a rumor that our organization accepted a mission from a power outside the region... Is that true?"

After leaving the Chambers family, Roy joined this organization. And as years had passed, he had already fully adapted to this place.

Upon hearing this, the bald man dressed all in white who was standing next to Roy nodded in agreement. "That's true. But it's a shame we'll be in seclusion for a while. So any benefit we could get won't come in a short time."

"Oh well, that's already amazing..." Roy commented with a twinkle in his eye, already looking to the future ahead of him, one that was much better than he had imagined when he had been forced to flee Persephone years ago.

Not only did this organization have contacts outside the region, but this place had techniques and spiritual density capable of helping people from this region reach the 7th stage!

And knowing that the three strongest individuals of the Scourges of the Devil were Spiritual Emperors, Roy could not help but look forward to the future.

Anyway, soon the two people who were about to demonstrate their skills came up to the fighting stage of that small arena.

"Well, let's start the demonstration..." One of the two Spiritual Emperors was saying something when suddenly something happened.

KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

...