The Rise of the Black Plain

When he heard Minos' voice calling him, Mortimer, inside that island, looked back as if he had heard a ghost calling him.

He hadn't been out of there for years, and even though he had the feeling that someone was watching him, he didn't think Minos would casually approach him.

To him, that man was in the northern region minding his own business and would not come to him without him causing trouble. After all, Minos had beaten him and could have come after him at any time in the past six years. However, at no time had that ever happened.

So when he heard that voice, as he felt his body shivering, Mortimer did not consider it to be Minos, but rather a voice from his demons, a hallucination.

He turned his face forward, trying to return his concentration to what he was doing. Still, then he felt a powerful spiritual fluctuation arising near his position.

This fluctuation was not alone, being next to someone Mortimer knew well!

"Oswald!" He turned to look back again, noticing his old enemy, who was still at level 79, standing next to a level 74 cultivator.

He then left where he was, climbing to the top of that island until he reached where Oswald and Minos were.

When he got there, he identified Oswald, but then he was dumbfounded and shocked by Minos' situation.

In just a few years, the man who had defeated him at level 80 while only at level 70 had advanced to level 74.

That was impressive!

Minos saw the expression on Mortimer's face and smiled. But, at the same time, he already had his Soul Avatar activated to prevent a possible escape from that man.

"Mortimer, long time no see, uh?" Oswald smiled.

Minos then said. "Do you have your last words, Mortimer? From today on, your Saints Killing Sect will be hunted down.

To get us off to a good start, I will finish you off first."

"Minos!" Mortimer said in an altered tone, seeing the causer of all his misfortune. "You really are a monster. I admit that... After all the years, I see that I always underestimated you...

I should have killed you when you were not so strong.

That will be my only regret... Not being able to kill you!

Other than that, I don't regret anything else. I did what I wanted to do and conquered things that thousands die just thinking about them."

"Hmm, your words are not bad, despite what a scumbag you were," Minos said, seeing that this man did not seem to fear death. "Aren't you going to try to defend yourself? Aren't you afraid of dying?"

"What is there to fear? You have taken everything from me. You destroyed my family, ruined my sect, stopped my dreams, and damaged my cultivation... What else is there in this world to live for?

I had thought that my punishment for failure would be to live in this degrading way, but dying to someone stronger seems more worthy." He said, no longer showing the previous perturbation when Shannon's envoys observed him for the first time.

After years of being watched, he had gotten used to it and, more, stopped fearing death.

He had not thought of ending his life alone since, in his view, that was the way of the weak. But he was ready to die at any moment and would not dare to face Minos on this day.

Minos could already defeat him when he was at his peak power and his opponent only at level 70, so now that Emperor Stuart was at level 74, there was no hope for this partially crippled man.

Oswald saw it in this man's countenance, who had a tired look in his eyes and a restrained aura.

Oswald wanted to see the end of this enemy. Still, after all these years of seeing Mortimer so weak, spiritually and psychologically, it was taking away some of the good feelings he hoped to feel in this revenge.

"Tsk!"

Oswald sounded dissatisfied and turned his back on Mortimer, feeling that killing this man would be no different than kicking a dead dog.

'Damn it! We took too long!' He clenched his fists.

Minos narrowed his eyes, seeing the tragic situation of his opponent, and sighed after a while. "You amaze me, Mortimer...

In all my years in the Spiritual World, few men have shown such conviction with the things you have done and peace with their impending death.

The most common is fear, the insane desire to stay alive, and the obscene will to hurt the opponent to the point that people utter blasphemies against the Natural Laws, sacrificing themselves.

Courage and peace in the face of death are not common things to see in the eyes of a man about to die."

'No, those feelings are seen only in two kinds of warriors.' Minos' eyes narrowed. 'In those of honorable warriors and those of dragged down people, who already live in hell even in life...'

'Sigh... It's a shame, I should let you live so you can pay for your deeds much longer, but that doesn't suit me." Minos said this as he moved his hands, wielding his low-level grade-4 sword. "To leave you any longer with those eyes would be a desecration of my old friend Gavin's heritage."

Mortimer smiled for the first time, remembering the young red-headed man who had given him a glimmer of hope, in vain but quite valid.

Even though he had failed, he had no regrets and thanked Gavin's eyes for giving him a chance to reach the 9th stage, a level he had never imagined he would reach before that man was born.

He closed his eyes and showed his Adam's pommel to Minos, ready to leave this world.

'At least my death didn't come at the hands of someone unworthy, like Harold or Oswald...' He thought as he waited for Minos' movement.

Oswald did not see the act, but he soon heard when Minos' sword cut through the air, quickly following until one of its sides reached Mortimer's neck.

In a split second, that spiritual weapon separated the head from the rest of Mortimer's body, destroying the man's soul.

It all happened very quickly, and within a few seconds of Mortimer's final words, he died peacefully on top of that floating island!

Minos saw the blood of his opponent on his weapon and then looked down at Mortimer's dead body, silently observing this situation.

Mortimer had been a great challenge to him, and the Saints Killing Sect was a problem in his path for years. But now it was all over so easily.

It was good, but it was also disappointing.

He hadn't even had a final fight with Mortimer!

Oswald sighed and turned to see the outcome of this situation, seeing Mortimer's neck letting his blood stain the grounds of that island.

Amidst their observation, some of the high-level Spiritual Saints, forced to stand beside Mortimer on that island, saw the development of the situation and turned pale.

Some immediately began to fly away, while others knelt down, hoping to be forgiven by Minos.

Unfortunately for all of them, after collecting the items on Mortimer's body, Minos turned his attention back to them.

Chaotic Gravity!

...