The Rise of the Black Plain

Three days later...

While the capital of the Kingdom of the Waves was being prepared for the royal funeral that was to take place the next day, Minos was still investigating the surroundings of this city.

After meeting some members of the underworld days ago, he made a deal with such people so that they would help him investigate places where Blake could be.

When he had decided to do this, Minos had in mind to do his best to find this individual in this city before William Walker's funeral started.

That was because he thought it best to threaten the two princes of this state who would be left after his future action against Charles. And since he already had the information that Wilfred would be at his father's funeral, young Stuart only needed to deal with that other individual to complete this goal of his.

But of course, he would only do such a thing if Blake was around this city. Otherwise, young Stuart would only continue his search until tonight, and then he would act with whatever he had in hand.

It would be better to act against the two remaining princes, but Minos would have nothing to do about it if Blake was not in this place.

He could not look for this person throughout the kingdom since this state was too big, and he still had several other things to do before returning to the Black Plain.

So, during this remaining time, this young man was doing his best to find this 'old acquaintance' but had already prepared alternative plans if he was unsuccessful.

As for the group that was helping him, they were also interested in resolving the matter since, with each passing day, the amount they could receive at the end of the service would continue to decrease.

Hence, several boys were around Athela looking for evidence of influential specialists hiding around the city. At the same time, Minos continued his investigation in the neighborhoods they had indicated.

...

In a residential neighborhood of Athela, there was a street wide enough for three ordinary carriages to pass side by side simultaneously, through which some of these means of transport were moving at the moment.

But due to the mediocre characteristics of this place, the little traffic there was here was generated either by passing vehicles or by occasional visits that could happen in any area of the city.

In this way, even the main street of this neighborhood had little traffic at midday, making it possible for small animals to walk from one side of the street to the other without worry.

At the same time, the many residential buildings in this area were not eye-catching, as they were too similar to each other or old, with the marks of time.

But even if the place was unattractive, the people in the vicinity also did nothing to improve the local mood.

Many had solemn expressions on their faces as if they were unable to sleep due to the worries of everyday life.

But Minos understood very well the situation of the people of this city and was not worried about the mood of the place he was investigating.

All that was on his mind was to find some clue that could lead him to Blake, his momentary target.

'Looks like I will waste my time once again...' He thought about this as the carriage of that same coachman from before moved slowly through that neighborhood.

Meanwhile, this young man's spiritual sense was constantly looking for spiritual fluctuations of powerful cultivators or arrays, which might lead him to the person he wanted to meet.

But since he had been doing this very thing for three days now, Minos could not help but lament in his heart for his repeated failures.

'This city is too big, and the bastard can be anywhere...' He pondered this as that carriage changed streets.

"Young master, this is the only street in this neighborhood that we have not yet passed..." The coachman warned Minos just after lowering the glass that stood between the carriage cabin and the place where he controlled the beasts. "After that, shall we proceed to the next area? Or does the young master want to go to some restaurant?"

Minos then replied. "Let's visit the next neighborhood before we stop to eat." 

"OK."

Then silence returned to that carriage cabin as Minos once again turned his attention to the spiritual fluctuations in the surroundings.

'Well, I've done my best to find that guy. So, if I can't resolve this by nightfall, I'll have to find a way to make it very clear that no matter who takes over this state, he'll have to obey me!'

However, while Minos was thinking about these things, he suddenly felt the fluctuation of a medium-level grade-2 spiritual array.

"Oh?" He exclaimed in surprise at finding something so expensive in this mediocre place.

'Finally, something to investigate further!' Minos thought about it optimistically as he indicated for that old man to stop and wait for him at that spot.

After the beasts stopped moving, Minos left the cabin from where he was and quickly activated his movement technique, heading straight for his target.

Explosive Steps!

With that, in the blink of an eye, this young man disappeared from the vicinity of that carriage and appeared next to a simple house, which appeared to be abandoned.

Pa! Pa!

He knocked twice on the only door there, from which nothing else gave a view of what might be inside the small square building.

However, no one came to answer him. Not even any sound came from inside that place.

At the thought of this, Minos found it strange since there should certainly be someone to guard the area in a place that had such an expensive array.

"Well, I guess whoever paid for that array probably won't mind losing it, right? Abandoning such a thing around here as if it had no value..." He muttered this with a smile on his face, preparing to act.

"I'll break it!" His eyes widened as he quickly began to circulate his energies to activate the Devouring Art.

Zum!

Finally, a black ring appeared from young Stuart's feet, slowly increasing in diameter until it finally stabilized at a size similar to that of that house.

Next, the ring moved around that location, sidestepping young Stuart and getting its center at the position of that house.

Then, young Stuart began to feel the energies of that array being rapidly transformed into power for himself to use.

...

Time began to pass, and after 40 seconds of standing in front of the door of that house, Minos' lips formed an arch as he realized that that array would not hold for much longer.

Crack!

Cracking sounds began to spread in the surroundings.

And just as Minos was about to destroy that array, someone came running from across the street, yelling for young Stuart to stop.

"Hey! Hey!"

"What are you..." That person was about to say something when suddenly he saw Minos' eyes glow in rainbow colors.

Puff!

Then his body fell unconscious to the ground, in the same way as had happened to the boys that had tried to rob Minos before.

After seeing this, the coachman shivered again, amazed at how strong that masked individual seemed to be. 'He only needs to look at people!'

'How scary!'

Crack!

And finally, after a minute of absorbing the energies of that array, Minos felt such a thing stop working, at the same time as several fluctuations of Spiritual Kings appeared inside that house.

"Oh?"

"Looks like I found them!" He said aloud, just before using his Indestructible Body and kicking the wooden door of that house.

Boom!

Upon entering that place, Minos saw a curtain of smoke and heard several screams from those people that show their desperation.

"Your Highness, run away as fast as possible!"

"The enemies have discovered us! Escape, young Blake!"

"Damn it!"

"How could this happen? We were almost ready to act!"

However, as they seemed to be fleeing toward the basement of that house, suddenly, each of them felt their bodies significantly increasing resistance to their movements.

And when they were completely motionless, unable even to turn their eyes to observe different points in their sights, Minos' voice reached their ears.

"Calm down. I am not here to eliminate you..."

"I merely have an offer for the eventual death of Charles Walker."

...