The Rise of the Black Plain

Clang!

A metallic sound reverberated through that area where Minos' group had stopped to rest. At the same time, orange sparks appeared laterally from the young man's sword.

At the crucial moment when Celeste's cultivation was about to be destroyed by the enemy's attack, Minos appeared on her back and used his powerful attack technique to counter the previous charge.

That attack was unique and gave a powerful murderous feeling to those who were unlucky enough to witness it, as it was an attack that seemed to come from another dimension!

Such a thing was different from anything Minos had seen in previous battles!

Instead of a visible attack to the naked eye, neither he nor those two women could see it as if such a thing were invisible. However, due to the attack's strength and the spatial fluctuations generated by it, each of them sensed the attack heading towards Celeste.

The problem was that such a thing had been very sudden, and only Minos, the most proficient of the three, had managed to react in time to such a thing.

But luckily for her, Minos had promptly activated all of his techniques and prepared to defend Celeste the moment he'd realized this woman was the prime target. After all, now that she had signed a Soul Contract with him, he couldn't afford to lose this woman's potential!

In that instant, he had counterattacked with great force his opponent's blow. When both attacks collided, a loud metallic sound filled that spot as both Minos and the enemy had been pushed back several steps.

"Miserable!" The assassin hired to kill Celeste muttered as he felt a sharp pain in his wrist due to the earlier collision of this man's weapon with Minos' sword.

He had ignored Minos and Mirya's presence at first, having just focused his attention on Celeste, the strongest and most complicated person of the three to deal with. In this person's opinion, if there was any risk here for him, it was only because his target had two helpers of decent power.

However, once he seriously injured her, dealing with the other two would be as easy as taking candy from a baby!

Unfortunately for him, such thinking had put him in a passive position during Minos' counterattack. Instead of trying to protect himself from the shock of power generated by the encounter of his dagger with that young man's sword, this man had not even tried to activate his defense technique.

Consequently, he now had his right hand with some broken bones, without even being able to hold his weapon in that hand!

Simultaneously, he had already begun to feel his energies being continually sucked in as if there was a parasite sucking his cultivation. And that was scaring this man more and more as he tried to understand what was going on.

'Shit! Who is this brat?' He wondered as he hid in his primary assassin technique, Dimensional Cloak.

Such a technique could allow all light rays that passed through its user's body not to be absorbed and continue their path as if there was nothing in the way. Almost as if that space were empty.

Because of this technique, this man had managed to hide so perfectly from the group of Minos and had attacked Celeste by surprise.

However, this technique did not have the ability, or rather, this assassin was far from the level at which he could also hide his cultivation. Hence, after losing his last opportunity, he would no longer be able to escape the spiritual senses of his opponents.

After all, he was now in the area of influence of Minos and the two women's spiritual senses.

"You bastard, you managed to find me again!" Celeste said in a low voice, looking in the direction this assassin was hiding with his technique.

"Humph, Celeste, as long as I want to chase you, no one in this region can stop me from finding you! I already told you this. My investigative techniques are the best!" He haughtily said as he shifted his dagger to his left hand and eyed Minos warily.

"Brat, I admit you are powerful, so I'll give you a chance. Take this other woman and get out of here. I'll forget your previous offense, and there will be no grudge between us in the future."

"Otherwise, before long, the entire organization behind me will hunt you down!" He said in a cold tone, almost to the point of making the temperature in that place fall.

"You said that no one in this region can stop you? Humph, pretentious!" Minos then started to make his move, running around that spot and using his sword to create various blade-shaped attacks.

"Let's see if you'll continue to be so good after I've destroyed all your defenses!"

Swooish! Swooish!

Quickly the air blades, as big as an adult person, cut through the air of that desert region of the Black Plain, heading towards that man's location.

'Miserable! Since that's how it is, let's resolve this another day!' The assassin thought as he started to try to leave that place.

He was a cultivator specializing in surprise attacks. Since his previous attempt had failed, there was no longer any reason for him to remain in this spot. Particularly because Celeste's side still has Minos and Mirya.

He could even stay to fight if his only opponent was Celeste, someone a little weaker than him. Still, in this other situation, this man was at a complete disadvantage!

"Oh? Trying to get away?" Mirya and Celeste commented almost simultaneously when they finally joined the fight, starting to attack that man's escape spaces.

Boom!

Boom!

Sounds of explosions reverberated through that area due to the constant swerve of that man, who had made the attacks towards the nearby terrain.

Even though those three people could sense the location of that assassin, humans, in general, depended heavily on their vision in fights. Because of this, Minos' group had had a hard time getting the accuracy of their attacks right at this early stage of the battle.

On the other hand, as someone who had been through situations similar to this one, the assassin hired to deal with Celeste successfully managed to dodge those attacks.

He was pacing the battlefield, dropping to the ground, jumping, and even launching long-range counterattacks.

The only thing scaring him was that his body seemed to get a lot heavier every time the young Stuart attacked. As a result, he felt very vulnerable!

'If this brat hadn't been here, I would have already managed to get away!' He complained, seeing one more of the blades cut towards his arms.

He then used his movement technique to dodge this attack by leaning to the side and making a vertical cut aimed at Minos.

Swooish! Swooish!

Unfortunately for him, such an attack created by a dagger could not compare to the power displayed by Minos' mighty sword.

"Let's get this over with..." Minos muttered to himself, feeling that the man's energy was getting weaker.

"Mirya, Celeste, use your cultivation pressures to knock him out..."

"I'll distract him!"

Upon hearing this, the two women understood what they should do and promptly stopped attacking this man. They then began using the spiritual energy left in their bodies to create large hands made of spiritual energy.

After seeing the change that was taking place in the battle, that assassin furrowed his brows tightly as he felt a shiver down his spine.

'Shit, I have to get away from this spot, or I'll be done in a few more blows!' So, he thought as his sweat seemed to grow colder and colder.

He then tried to run from that spot once more, using the many craters that had formed there to balance himself and dodge Minos' attacks by doing such a thing.

"Brat, don't force me!" He yelled in his tired voice, trying to appeal to his opponent's rational side.

"Humph, I will never allow you to leave this place, no matter what you say!"

Spatial Sword!

Swooish! Swooish!