The Rise of the Black Plain

The emperor was not as hasty as some of his generals there in that throne hall, who were commenting as if their victory was in his hands.

He knew that even with Vogel's fall, it would not be easy to eliminate resistance to him in those other three states. After all, the state now under Church control represented only a fraction of the enemy forces.

Vogel had only over 27% of the alliance forces opposed to the Flaming Empire, the second smallest state in the alliance.

But a previously balanced 4-on-1 fight would not change significantly by becoming a 3-on-1 fight.

That was a significant loss of power which would make a victory for the Flaming Empire side much more straightforward. But it was not synonymous with an easy victory or extraordinary imbalance.

That was the difference between a fight where everyone involved could die in conflict and one where one side would suffer losses for an 'acceptable' victory.

Harold Edwardstone knew this and understood that even if the enemy side could no longer use the combination of the sacrificial techniques of the four kings, the battle would still be hard fought.

The enemy side probably could no longer use 100% of the weapon he was afraid of, but that did not mean such a thing would be useless.

Since he was not sure of this, this man had to be careful!

He then said, silencing everyone in that area. "Send troops to our borders with the three allied kingdoms of Vogel. I want our forces to be ready if I invade those states."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Someone said, looking forward to the battles of conquest they would soon fight.

But then another of the high-ranking generals of the imperial army asked the emperor. "Your Majesty, aren't we going to attack immediately? Right now, with the Church in Vogel, there is no chance for the families of that state to get involved in the conflict."

"Yes, that is true." Harold knew this and readily agreed with his man. "But first, I want some of our groups to test the enemies and check the sacrificial weapon situation of those states."

"We won't act on vigorously starting an actual war until we have some information about it."

'With 100% of its power, that weapon would kill me. But only half of that power would be enough to injure me...' He thought, considering the precautionary measures he needed to take.

A level 80 Spiritual Sage like him was much stronger than high-level Spiritual Saints, as in the case of the enemy kings. But if he was seriously injured, Harold knew that even an intermediate-level Spiritual Saint could threaten him!

So he would not act until he had at least the minimum of information regarding the enemy weapon, which surely should already be in the hands of those kings.

The Spiritual Saints there understood the emperor's point, knowing he had to be careful.

'Even if those kingdoms are weakened by Vogel's fall, His Majesty still has to worry about the Flower Kingdom...' Someone there pondered this problem.

And so, it was not long before those individuals there no longer questioned the emperor and went ahead with his order!

...

Meanwhile, in Vogel...

After days since the historical incident involving this state's royal family and the local post of the Spiritual Church, reinforcements from that organization had arrived to control the situation here.

Several Spiritual Saints from headquarters had been sent to this place, while Spiritual Emperors from neighboring states had been transferred to take the positions of those killed in combat.

But not only that, due to the change in status of this kingdom, a Spiritual Sage had arrived at this place to command Vogel during the Church's regency period.

The reason for this? Simple, to control the local powers and protect the borders of Vogel until a new royal family was chosen and the regency ended.

So, the Church was slowly beginning to act to bring this state back to normal, already working with the succession of power directly from the local temple.

In this place, the reinforcements were working on miscellaneous matters, while the Spiritual Sage was in the main temple hall with the surviving leaders of this post.

Of the three strongest in the Church in this state, only two, a man and a woman, had survived.

And precisely those two were standing in front of an individual dressed in a silver robe, sitting in an armchair.

"So that's what happened..." He commented as he finished listening to these two juniors' accounts of the events of that day. "And where is this fellow? I want to see this so-called ticking time bomb of his."

The white-haired woman then said. "Cardinal, after that day, we had no further information from him or his group. After he left the battlefield, we only know that he departed with his beasts, heading east."

"Oh? And how does he intend to justify his accusations against the Vogel family?" He asked, finding it interesting that such a fellow started this whole problem and did not even stay to talk about his accusations.

It was no longer necessary for Minos to denounce such an organization since the Vogel family had gone too far in fighting against the Church. But still, this man wanted the person responsible for everything to be there to talk to him.

"I think he will probably do that in the Flaming Empire. His wife is an Archbishop who said came from that place..." The man next to the white-haired woman commented.

"Flaming Empire? You said he is an outer member, right? What was his name again?" That figure asked while his eyes narrowed.

"He said his name was Pyke."

"Pyke, huh? A very common alias within the Church..." He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to wonder if Minos had a connection to the people of Iron Hearts.

Only the people of that order followed traditions of false names, Pyke being one of the most common among them.

"Well, I want you to contact the post of the Flaming Empire and tell this fellow to return here immediately. I'll be waiting to take his statement." He said as he stood up from his seat, feeling the spiritual fluctuations of several level 79 Spiritual Saints approaching this city along with someone stronger than him.

"That..." The two strangely looked at each other.

"Maybe that will take a few months, Cardinal. He's only a Spiritual Emperor, and it might take a while just for him to get to that place." The woman said in an uncertain tone.

"No matter. I'll probably be here for a year, so there's enough time for him to come here... Or maybe I should go to him? It doesn't seem appropriate, but it would only be a few minutes trip..." He said to himself, ignoring those two.

"I've changed my mind. Have the post at that place let me know when they have this young man's location, and then make him wait for me." He said before disappearing from that place as if he had never been there.

The two Spiritual Saints looked at each other and smiled, sensing that such a Cardinal was somewhat unusual.

They had no desire to meet with Minos while they were just Spiritual Saints, but that Spiritual Sage was willing to go to this young man!

...