The Rise of the Black Plain

While those two were still in the same part of the Spiritual Church temple in the capital of Vogel, the Spiritual Sage in question appeared tens of kilometers from there through a spatial crack in the sky.

Appearing in that place where he could see the capital's lights forming a beautiful picture overnight, this fellow stopped in front of a group of 7 people.

"Oh? What are you doing here? I thought my group was the first to arrive..." Immediately upon being stopped by this fellow, the level 83 Spiritual Sage commanding that group asked after seeing the level 81 individual in front of him.

The members of the Spiritual Church coming from the Iron Hearts order could not be distinguished from other members of that organization by their clothes alone. So there was no way for that individual to know if the one in front of him was not a fellow order member.

"You misunderstand, Cardinal. I am here to administer this state..." That fellow made a gesture of greeting, smiling at those people. "Are you here to hunt down the Vogel family? I'm sorry to inform you, but those people have already fled, and we have no idea where they are."

"Administer this state? They have fled?" The leader of that group asked, finding this all very strange.

This group had spent the last two days traveling through a wormhole between the Evergreen Empire and Vogel, so they were not up to date on recent news. All they knew was that they were supposed to investigate the Vogel family for terrible crimes.

That Spiritual Sage then briefly explained the situation. "Well, you guys are here because of the Vogel family's alleged action against one of our members, right? So, after that, a great battle incurred in this state, resulting in the death of thousands of our organization members."

"So you guys don't need to investigate the matter. The royal family of this place has already committed serious crimes and fled after attacking our members and forcing their escape."

"We have arrested a few thousand of them, but these are low-level individuals... The most important ones are already far away from this city." He finished explaining, seeing the serious expressions of those men who expected nothing of the sort.

"Are you serious?" One of the Spiritual Saints there asked, finding it all very unbelievable.

The Spiritual Sage in question nodded in agreement. "Unfortunately, I am. Precisely why we have taken over this state and will eventually have to help the local powers choose a new ruler..."

"Sigh..."

The leader of that group frowned, not thinking that the day would come when he would hear such absurd things. "Well, we're going to have to investigate anyway since they got away... Where are the strongest of the individuals you arrested?"

He replied. "At the local temple."

The level 83 individual then pointed to four of his subordinates. "Interrogate those people and find out as much as possible about the enemy."

"Yes, Cardinal Pyke."

"As for you two," He looked at those who continued to stand there while the others flew away. "I want you to start investigating the battle site... Find the tracks of the enemies."

Those two accepted that person's orders, quickly heading towards their place of interest.

Then, the weaker Spiritual Sage looked at that person and said. "Pyke, huh?"

"Yes, that's my name."

"Anyway, Pyke, I have a tip for you."

That man's eyes narrowed. "What is it?"

"In the rubble of the local royal palace, the survivors of the previous battle found some suspicious traces."

"Suspicious traces? Of what?"

"We strangely found traces of contact of the local royal family with a sect of the Flaming Empire, even considering the unfriendly relations of the two sides..." He said, looking strangely at his superior.

"Which sect?"

"Saints Killing Sect." The tall, strong man, level 81, said. "We don't know what happened between them, but there was some strange communication between the crown prince's group and people from that organization."

After saying that, he handed some documents to that man.

"I will check it out..."

As he saw this man losing focus on him, the Spiritual Sage who wanted to meet Minos looked toward the horizon, toward the Black Plain.

'Stuart family, eh? I wonder why that fellow suggested such a thing?'

...

As the investigations of the Spiritual Church group began, Abe Vogel was with his most loyal subordinates.

After days since the catastrophic events for his family, this level 70 young Spiritual Saint had managed to leave the boundaries of his state, successfully entering the western region of the Central Continent.

And with that, he was planning his subsequent acts while hiding in one of the great forests of that place, a neighbor of a state that did not have the presence of the Spiritual Church!

"Your Highness, I wonder what happened?" One of his subordinates asked as they stood inside a cave, around a campfire.

They had avoided human cities for this entire period, so none of them had any idea of the events after their departure.

Abe then said. "There's no sense in thinking about it now. What was ours is now gone, and it will be a matter of time before the Church puts a bounty on our heads..."

Gulp!

"Then we must flee as quickly as possible to the Western Empire, where we will have a chance to stand up!" He clenched his fists, imagining a future where he could get revenge on the bastard who put him in this situation.

He was so close to achieving his life's dream of becoming the king of Vogel, but then a little masked bastard got in his way, screwing everything up and putting a death sentence on his head!

As such, Abe could not forgive Minos and already planned one day to return, to take revenge when he was strong enough to protect himself from the Church!

'I will become an ordinary person in this state where there are even Spiritual Demigods, but I will be able to go further than I could in my homeland!' He clenched his fists in determination.

'Just wait for me, Pyke!'

...

At the same time, on a ship sailing west of Vogel, the leading royalty members of Abe's family were traveling there with terrible expressions on their faces.

Among them, the king and queen were watching the calm sea in the surroundings from the highest point of this ship heading towards the westernmost kingdom of this continent.

"What will happen from here on out, dear?" The queen asked as she tried to forget everything that had happened on that fateful day.

King Vogel closed his eyes and said. "Right now, we are no longer sovereigns but criminals wanted by the Church. So our only hope is to escape the domain of that cursed institution."

"After that, we'll see what to do... Then, we will find a place for the descendants of our family to develop in peace and maybe one day seeks revenge."

"At the very least, we must settle our grudges against the Black Plain and the cursed Saints Killing Sect!" He said with hatred in his eyes, remembering the information his wife had collected before killing one of Abe's minions.

She agreed with her husband, thinking of returning the blow of these people who had acted against them.

"Maybe even the Spiritual Church..." She commented in a low voice, remembering Clarisse, this false friend of theirs.