Upon revisiting his wives after days of seclusion, Minos was happy to see Gloria at level 72. At this level, she should have enough powers to fight ordinary peak Spiritual Saints.
Even individuals with complete sets of Silver-grade techniques at level 77 should not have the ability to defeat her at this time!
On the other hand, as much as Ruth and Abby were still at level 67, Minos judged that they would be able to advance to level 68 in no more than six months. So, naturally, he was not disappointed by the speed at which they had progressed over the past few weeks.
As for the rest of his forces, several new Spiritual Emperors had appeared in Dry City, while others, as in the case of Elena, currently at level 65, had advanced and become stronger.
But amidst this, the local forces had not lost any members recently.
Abe's group had already been under a lot of pressure and could no longer damage the local forces as before.
But it was not for nothing. In the past few months, a thousand more Spiritual Emperors had arrived in the Black Plain Empire from the Gray Clouds Sect.
With these people, even if the focus of Abe's group were Spiritual Saints, the situation of the local forces had improved a little more in the period because of 'more eyes' watching the situation.
The cities of the Black Plain were now safer. At the same time, each outpost had enough power to temporarily hold off enemy pressures until reinforcements arrived.
That had escalated the losses of Abe's mercenaries and made possible the present situation where the terrorists were practically up against walls, trapped in a particular area surrounded by Minos' forces!
...
"Your Majesty, currently, the enemy group should be mostly located at a point further south in the empire, between the borders of the Vogel and Cromwell areas." A local soldier presented this information to Minos while this emperor was seated in the main position at a long table in a meeting room.
The local forces had acted vigorously over the past few weeks. They cleared areas and searched meter by meter several towns and villages, as well as forests, to wipe out enemy hideouts.
That led to several conflicts around the empire. Still, eventually, the enemies were significantly damaged by these actions and were forced to retreat.
With the success of the local forces, the Western Empire's mercenaries were now restricted to a few areas of the Black Plain Empire. They were now in parts of the state where the local powers had men stationed, watching the situation.
The terrorists' situation was now so extreme that they had virtually nowhere to hide and were slowly being wiped out without being able to recover in the slightest.
In this situation, Minos was preparing to launch a definitive attack, intending to finally take Abe Vogel's life!
"Very well. Tell the Assembly of Vogel to send men to help us in the attack." Minos said this to some of his subordinates who were responsible for communicating with such an institution.
After Minos' previous orders concerning the Assembly of Vogel, his Black Plain core forces had begun to buy off the representatives of the Vogel noble families.
They were lobbying favorably for the causes of the empire in that place, gradually making the Vogel area powers more interested in staying in the empire and voting with Minos.
Because of this, as much as there was still a large wing of representatives in the Assembly of Vogel who was against Minos, he already had several supports to get men for this attack.
But not only that, as people who wanted to take revenge on Abe, even forces with their problems with Minos could favor this kind of action!
In crazy times like these, an enemy's enemy could be a friend. So Minos saw no problem in demanding things from that Assembly, even considering his role as shallow ruler of that area.
"At the same time, call in all our high-level experts. In two weeks at most, I want most of them to be on their way to that area in the vicinity of Vogel." Minos said while already thinking about further actions he could take with this move.
'After I act against Abe's group, whether or not I kill that cockroach, I may pay a brief visit to Vogel to strengthen my relations with the organizations in that area.' He remembered that such an area had never been entirely OK with him in the leadership position.
Vogel had only accepted him as sovereign due to the difficulties after the fall of the Vogel family.
From the changing situation in the Flaming Empire due to the kidnapping of the emperor, the subsequent weakening of the Saints Killing Sect, and the rise of Minos as master of the Gray Clouds Sect, much had changed. Now he was no longer seen as indispensable, and some even considered Emperor Stuart a problem.
So that area could soon become rebellious or strip Minos of his position as ruler!
To avoid problems with the greedy leaders of the families in the Vogel area, Minos was planning to visit the Assembly. He wanted to show them their advantages and disadvantages depending on which side they chose.
"What about Dry City, Your Majesty? What will we do with the local defenses?" A level 66 soldier from the Black Plain Army asked, worried that the enemy might be able to attack that place, as had happened in the recent past.
Minos had not forgotten that incident where Mirya and Viola had lost their lives and said. "Let's leave 10% of the empire's forces around the capital and belt of cities. That should be enough to protect the area from possible enemy counterattacks."
The people there agreed to this, some feeling eager to continue training after taking care of these matters, while others longed for the impending revenge.
"What about the level 80 Spiritual Sage, Your Majesty?" The level 78 elder of the Moss family asked Minos, considering that this was the one responsible that they had not yet finalized this conflict.
Minos then said. "I have the plan to stop this person. But I will need the high-level elders of our forces to suffer a little to hold him back."
Gulp!
"What will it take?" A level 77 woman asked while other people in that room swallowed their salivas.
Emperor Stuart replied. "There is a way we can obligate the Spiritual Sage to retreat. We just need to force him to use his abilities. Then, when he has no options but to act, he will give up Abe."
Minos then finished his speech. "Then I need you to 'dance' with him while the rest of us deal with Abe's forces!"
...
