The Rise of the Black Plain

The level 54 Spiritual King who was on the enemy side had died. Still, because his characteristics were far above those of his companions, his body had not been erased by Celeste's technique.

Hence, after the red flames that had covered a considerable space had disappeared, his corpse had been the only one that had remained.

Of the hundreds of people who had been exposed to the destructive power of that technique, only one corpse had remained, leaving behind a terrible scene.

Everything had happened too quickly. The place that had been alive with people screaming and expressing their existence to the world had become practically empty in a matter of seconds!

Besides the corpse of that level 54 Spiritual King, what was there was only several small items that glowed and a large amount of dust.

And such a thing could not be ignored by the people in the surrounding area!

'What a terrible thing!'

"Everyone... They... They've all been erased!" Someone muttered in a low voice while an indescribable chill spread through his body.

'It can't be! How did such a monster get in our way? How can we survive it?'

'Shit! Shit!'

'Shit! I have to escape from this damn hell!'

'I knew it was a bad idea to come here! I knew it! My bad luck never fails!'

While many of the Collins family members were agitated over the circumstances in the surroundings of that base, the last Spiritual King of that group was just as fearful as those Spiritual Generals.

He was the weakest of the group of those five Spiritual Kings. And precisely because of that, he had the mission to investigate that place and was far enough away from that group not to be involved in that previous situation.

'I'm screwed...'

But although he was lucky that he was not one of those many individuals to be exterminated by Celeste, his end was near. Now that many people in front of him were gone, he was face to face with that woman.

So, he could forget about his mission here!

Celeste had sensed him before, and with the disappearance of those many distractions, she could now also see that man perfectly well.

'Damn it! I can only try to retreat... Maybe the rest of the group still on the ships will get here in time for us to face this woman!' He convinced himself, as he had already started to run away from that place.

'Wanting to run away, huh?' Celeste looked steadily at that fellow and then began to chase him.  "I won't let you get out of here so easily..."

Celeste knew that there were more people in the enemy groups. After all, she had spotted many people on the ships approaching this naval base earlier. Because of this, this Lieutenant of Minos' army knew very well that there would be the possibility of a second wave of attacks!

And since she did not know how strong the people on those ships that had destroyed the defensive barrier were, she would not risk letting this person escape!

Her strength was quite extreme, but no one could guess such a thing just from her level. Naturally, therefore, it would be good if the rest of the enemies did not contact those who saw her in action...

Suppose she kept them in the dark about her fighting proficiency. In that case, she could at least continue to appear to be an average level 55 Spiritual King, something that could make the enemy side underestimate her to some degree!

If that happened, she could handle the forces of those ships much more quickly!

'Shit! She's coming after me!' The level 51 cultivator briefly thought as he looked back and saw a fast and furious woman running towards him.

The next moment he screamed with all the force in his lungs. "Stop that damn woman!"

"If she reaches me, we will all die here without our deaths having any meaning!"

"But if I survive, I promise to avenge you and take care of your families!" He said in desperation, looking at the many people still in that place around the Black Plain Army naval base.

Upon hearing such a thing, many of those people curved their heads in confusion, not knowing what to do at that moment. 

They knew the possibilities and consequences of every action they took in this place at the present moment. But even though they knew that this man's speech was the best for them, it was still complicated for people to accept sacrificing themselves with such ease.

It required a lot of mental strength, determination to step forward, and following a plan with a 100% chance of death!

To make matters worse, not everyone cared what would happen to their families or an act of possible revenge after they died...

After all, as far as anyone knows, death is the end, and it really wouldn't make any difference if they would be avenged.

What difference does it make to a collection of atoms and spiritual energy if the body of which they were a part is avenged?

That was one way of thinking.

However, only part of those people thought that way.

Even though they would die and probably wouldn't feel any better about vengeance, some people were willing to die for their families!

Because of these individuals, despite the initial hesitation, several people in that location soon began running toward Celeste while using everything they had to try to get in this woman's way.

"Kill that damn thing!"

"Fight for the Collins family! For your children and women!"

"Protect Mr. Lucas' escape route!"

Several determined shouts resounded throughout the area, reawakening the fighting spirit of many of the Collins family guards who had become discouraged due to Celeste's monstrous power.

"Ahh! Kill her!"

As a few hundred more people in that place began to shift their focus from that base to Lieutenant Celeste, this woman was running in pursuit of her target.

'Humph! That's futile...' She thought, feeling how futile the enemy side's desperate attempt to stop her was.

Celeste was at level 55, and with her Silver-grade techniques, she was as strong as a level 57 noble. However, these many people around this base were just subordinates of the Collins family.

At best, they were people who had sets of Blue-grade techniques, with maybe a single one of them being Black-grade classification.

But if we were to compare her fighting proficiency with someone who had only Blue-grade techniques, then such an opponent would need to be at level 60 to fight her!

However, the strongest of these individuals was only at level 49.

The difference was simply too significant!

And even if they had the numbers in their favor, they would at least need to hit their target to do significant damage.

But the reality was harsh for these people. The moment Celeste used a little too much of her energy in her movement technique, she immediately managed to get past many enemies!

Vuup!

'Shit! They can't hold her back!' The Collins Spiritual King looked back with entirely red eyes and felt a lump in his throat. 

Pow!

And it didn't take long for that woman to pass most of those people, dodging as she ran towards her target. But while doing so, she had delivered a lot of attacks against the strongest people in her path, strategically taking out the level 49 Spiritual Generals.

For her, this had not been difficult. With less than 10% of her strength, she had eliminated more than 30 people when she eventually got close enough to that Spiritual King.

Void Firsts!

After gaining free space to send an attack toward that target, Celeste immediately activated her second attack technique, one focused on hand-to-hand combat.

That technique could create a vacuum current in the form of a fist in the direction the user punched, compressing all the air and energy in the attack's path until such a thing crashed into the target.

When it did, well, let's just say it wouldn't be pleasant!

Pow!

"Ahhhhhh!" After a short fraction of a second, the attack sent by Celeste hit the middle of that Spiritual King's back, causing him to fall over in pain.

"Ahhhhhh!" He continued to scream as he rolled himself across the ground and felt as if someone was slowly opening his back.

As this Spiritual King struggled in pain, Celeste arrived at his side and said in a low voice, in a tone that could lower the temperature of that place by about 20 degrees. "You will be the first person to die because of this technique..." 

"Don't be sad. That is not an unfair death!"

Pow!