The Rise of the Black Plain

While Minos was enjoying himself in the northern region of the Central Continent, Gloria had already arrived in the Flaming Empire. At this moment, she was resuming her duties in the branch of the Spiritual Church in such a state.

Gloria was aware of all the decisions made by the Church in her absence and also informed about the entry of Spiritual Emperors from the great sects of the empire into that region.

At the same time, she already had the information about the departure or confirmation of the death of those individuals who had gone to that region after her order. With that in hand, she was now in the central hall of the Spiritual Church temple in the empire's capital, bringing her case forth to her superiors.

"Patriarchs, I have just returned to my duties locally, and I hope you will approve a new request from me." She said this as she was dressed in her black uniform, facing the three individuals dressed in red clocks.

Those individuals were sitting side by side in that area that looked more like a courtroom than an ordinary workplace.

Meanwhile, several low-level individuals were standing around to register or do other essential functions.

"Archbishop Frost, we have already learned about your deal with the newly-born state, the Black Plain." The leftmost individual, a short, fat man, said this while having his eyes closed. "Is that what you want to talk about?"

"Yes, Patriarch Horton."

"What do you want?" The most important Patriarch of the three, level 78, sitting between those two, asked this as he looked at the most talented woman of this generation in this place.

Gloria then went straight to the point. "Patriarchs, I know that the church's release for the sects of the empire to act against Minos was previously motivated by the Seraphim's Promise Medal."

"But Clayton Silva is already dead. Nay, House Silva has already been wiped out, and anyone who had the right to question the culmination of our promise is already dead."

"Consequently, we no longer have an obligation to continue allowing outside powers to interfere in the northern region!"

"If we let that happen, I fear that the damage caused by the empire sects to that region will become too great for us to attempt to reverse it later!"

"In that way, I ask the Patriarchs to revoke the previous order and prevent the empire sects from acting in the northern region." She said this in a determined manner, acting for the good of Minos and her own plans.

Now that they were allies, she had to act for his sake even if she was not interested in him in other ways. As such, she had brought this matter to these people as soon as she got a schedule with them.

After hearing the redhead in front of them speak on that point, the three men looked at each other momentarily, knowing that this was reasonable.

They did not like to give outside powers too much freedom to interfere in the northern region, where they had unparalleled dominance. And with a good excuse to ignore the request made with the Seraphim's Promise Medal, they soon thought to go ahead with Gloria's plans.

"Well, that seems like a good idea, but not entirely." The individual who had not yet said anything declared, looking at Gloria calmly. "We've already allowed this, so we can't just cancel it anyway."

"Then I suggest that we forbid such actions in the northern region for people who have not yet left the empire on the date of the publication of this prohibition. That way, at least we will give some room for the powers with Seraphim's Promise Medals to understand that their requests will not be canceled anyway."

The other two nodded in agreement since the Church needs to maintain some standards in its actions.

"Well, let's do it this way," The leader of the three said. "Is there anything else, young Archbishop Frost?"

"No, Patriarchs, that was all." She made a gesture of etiquette before leaving that place with a smile on her face.

'Well, Minos, that's all I can do for you now...'

'I hope that's enough to give you some peace for the next years!' She walked down a long corridor in silence, next to a woman dressed in purple, her secretary.

"Chloe, keep in touch with the northern region more often from now on. I want news from that place at least once a month while I'm here in the empire."

"While you are here? Archbishop, do you intend to go to that place often?" That black-haired woman, only 1.5 meters tall, asked in doubt.

"Not necessarily. But I must return to that place soon."

"Oh? You mean that young man's wedding, right?"

"That's right."

"Well, then I must inform you that Ruth Miles has already signed a contract with the Church, guaranteeing that she is no longer part of her sect and that she will not receive support from it in the future."

"She should already be traveling north by now."

Even before she returned to the empire, Gloria had already asked for information about Ruth's passage to this place. After all, the royal wedding of Minos was to take place soon, something that could be most easily signaled by that woman's departure from the empire.

Therefore, that secretary promptly informed Gloria about it upon hearing her boss' earlier answer.

"I see... Well, then I will stay here for another two months before I leave again." She clenched one of her fists as she looked through a window at the end of that corridor. "For now, make arrangements for what I told you."

"All right, Archbishop. Everything will be ready when you return from King Stuart's wedding." That woman then left Gloria's side, going to begin to settle such matters.

Meanwhile, Gloria finally stopped walking around that place, standing by the window that overlooked the most beautiful part of this capital city. 'Now that I have reached level 65, I must take advantage of these weeks I will have before I return to Minos' territory.'

'I cannot allow myself to be overtaken by him so easily!'

...

Only a few hours after Gloria's request, the new communiqué from the Spiritual Church regarding the liberation of Minos' assassination by the sects of the empire had already reached the principal people involved in this.

First, each of the six sects that had not sent people to the northern region had felt better about this since they preferred that the Church not break its own rules. After all, they were weaker and preferred to live with what they already knew.

On the other hand, since most of them had accepted Oswald's request, they had gained a lot for something that lasted so little!

Thus, they did not receive the new Church publication badly.

But for the members of the Saints Killing Sect, or even family members of the individuals killed by the Black Plain forces, this had been a bath of cold water!

Several of them had died, and now they could not even seek revenge?

Well, that was indeed enough to make anyone angry!

But the command of that sect was not feeling so terrible about that. After all, besides the fact that there were still people of theirs going to the Black Plain, they had already incited enough trouble with the Gray Clouds Sect in the past few months.

With that, it was only a matter of time before they achieved their goals!

But not all of their projects were going according to plan...

...

In a desert place in the Flaming Empire, a man with blood-colored hair, and eyes of the same color, was sitting on a hill, looking at the many bodies in his surroundings.

As he closed his eyes that had a particular circular pattern around his pupils, the small vertical 'scar' on his forehead almost opened with the movement of his face.

"Ah, where am I going to go now? Those worms won't stop coming after me as long as I'm in the empire."

"Maybe the northern region?"

"Hmm, it will be problematic to advance to the 8th stage in that place, so I guess I will go to one of those high-level kingdoms on the border with that region..."

"Worst case scenario, I can move to that area easily!" He made up his mind as he stood up from where he was and opened his eyes.

As he did so, the circular pattern in his eyes began to move, each circle following a different direction. At the same time, the 'scar' on his forehead seemed to want to open.

After this, the space around him collapsed, and he disappeared from that region without a trace.