The Rise of the Black Plain

As Minos' group went on with their journey, little by little, the experts who had previously felt the effects of his bomb began to arrive in the area where everything happened.

The first of them was the master of the Holy Sect, one of the strongest and closest to that area.

But almost at the same time as him, with a difference of minutes, the queen of Rosser also appeared in that place, worried about a possible attack by the Flaming Empire.

The leader of the Holy Sect was also worried about something like that, but when they arrived there, they soon noticed that the situation was a little different than they had imagined.

If the emperor had been involved in something, as they had thought, there should be survivors in the surroundings, as well as the destruction could not be so 'uniform,' as if nothing had gotten in the way of it.

Considering their fears, high-level individuals should have been fighting there. But there was no mark of the presence of such beings, something easily seen by the total devastation of the area.

'My border has turned into a volcanic region...' The queen pondered just after observing the red sea in front of her.

But while doing so, she was also impressed, since what happened there would be enough to injure her seriously!

Hence, she could not help but shiver in fear.

As for the leader of the Holy Sect, he was shocked but much more relieved that there was no sign of a high-level battle there.

'It seems this place has suffered from the sacrifice of some intermediate-level Spiritual Saints...' He pondered, knowing it was absurd to think of such a possibility.

A Spiritual Saint sacrificing himself was an infrequent event to happen. Thus, to think of several such individuals involved in such a crazy act would be absurd. However, there was no other possibility there. Hence, this fellow soon considered that hypothesis to justify such destruction.

But while thinking about it, he noticed the Spiritual Sage and the queen of Rosser in that area along with him.

He said nothing to that enemy of the Flaming Empire, turning his attention only to the Spiritual Church Cardinal.

"Cardinal, what happened here? Did you witness such a thing, or..."

That fellow replied without giving the Holy Sect master time to finish his words. "I arrived here after everything happened, so I'm still trying to understand the situation."

The queen of Rosser then asked him. "Did the Cardinal, by any chance, come from Vogel?"

"Hmm, I was appointed to handle the situation there..." He replied, still focused on the red sea in that area.

'That was quite a bomb.' He pondered, considering that the stream of destruction seemed to have started from a single starting point.

Because of that, he did not make the same mistake as the level 79 Spiritual Saint.

Meanwhile, the queen felt a little better that such a figure was there since this would prevent any kind of action by her enemy. But not only that, if it were not for the Spiritual Church's attitude toward Vogel, that kingdom would already be lost, and that would be even worse for her condition.

After all, temporarily, Vogel had only lost the royal family. But the entire power structure of that kingdom remained unchanged.

However, if the Church had not seized power in Vogel, that state would be now at civil war, at the mercy of the Flaming Empire.

Therefore, for not having lost this remnant of her allies due to the Church's actions, she could not help but feel grateful to this organization.

As she had also noticed that her previous fears were unfounded, her heart calmed, and she changed her position.

"Kevin," She shouted in the direction of that man, still keeping a reasonable distance between them. "Let your emperor know that we don't want war. But if he attacks our alliance, even if weakened, we will ensure that half of the powers in your state perish."

"Then don't make the mistake of acting rashly now!"

She did not wait for an answer and departed from there as quickly as she had arrived, leaving aside the boiling sea bordering Rosser and the Flaming Empire.

Many had died there, including people from her vassal, allied, or subordinate organizations. But none of this was worth the risk of war, so this woman left feeling much better.

As for investigating what had happened, well, she would worry about that later since she had much bigger problems in mind.

Kevin watched in the direction she had gone in silence. He preferred peace but knew that this was the Empire's opportunity to eliminate the significant problems that had bothered them for hundreds of thousands of years.

So his pacifist thoughts, or perhaps fears of the danger that war posed, were suppressed by the advantages that had presented themselves to the Empire after the fall of Vogel.

'A war will certainly be destructive, but such is life.' His eyes narrowed as he prepared to leave. 'For a new life to be born, another must perish to provide its nutrients, energy, etc.'

'As long as the Empire and the sect continue to exist, it will all be worth it!' He clenched his fists just before flying back to his territory.

After that, other Spiritual Saints appeared in the area, while the Spiritual Sage from earlier also left, heading back to Vogel, where he could not stay away for long.

So, soon the investigative groups of the Spiritual Church, Rosser, and Flaming Empire joined together to study that area and try to determine who had perished during the explosion.

But not only were investigators looking to identify the dead there were among the people watching the area. No, those responsible for spreading the news were also doing their job.

So it did not take long for the region to learn about the new volcanic area between Rosser and Flaming Empire, a place that would surely become legendary in the future.

...

As stories about the new volcanic region spread throughout the central region of this continent, a crow with a symbol of a golden tree on its body arrived in the capital of Albano.

With that, the message carried by this being was soon brought to the upper echelon of this organization, which soon reacted to the ambitious proposals of King Stuart.

"He wants what?" Lulu West's eyes almost popped from her face after she finished listening to one of her mother's subordinates explain what the Black Plain had suggested.

That subordinate then repeated. "The King of the Black Plain wishes the support of the three allied states against the Flaming Empire for the Stuart family to take power in Vogel."

Gulp!

Lulu swallowed her saliva and looked at her mother, who was open-mouthed at this instant.

"How is that going to help us stop the Flaming Empire? For that matter, how dare he think up such an absurdity?" Lulu questioned her mother after a while as she remembered Minos' face.

The queen then closed her mouth and pondered over it. 'It is absurd, but it is a better craziness than the overwhelming reality upon us...'