The Rise of the Black Plain

Seeing Minos' gestures to her, Isabella felt challenged, feeling that such a Spiritual Emperor in front of her deserved to get beaten for his boldness.

Minos was too cocky for her liking, thinking he could do something against her, a level 70 Spiritual Saint. So even if he was there for friendly talks with her family, she was more than willing at this instant to wake him up to reality.

"Well done! I see you have faced some opponents that have given you confidence, so I will show you the difference between us!" Isabella made a defensive stance, preparing to let her opponent make the first move.

Even if only she and Minos were there, she would not let anyone, not even him, think she would be taking advantage of someone weaker than her by attacking first. Thus, this princess would naturally let her opponent attack first!

Minos saw this and smiled at Isabella's confidence, feeling that it would be easier to earn a kiss from this beauty than he had expected.

"Well, you'll be the first Spiritual Saint I ever kiss!" He said as he smiled, preparing to end this quickly.

If this were a life-and-death battle, his only chance against Isabella would be by using his fusions of spiritual techniques. Besides, his combat power, not even considering his weapons that could increase his strength, would be enough for him to beat her.

But with his advancement to level 62, Minos could already be considered one of the strongest Spiritual Emperors in this city. Only someone at the peak of this stage with a complete set of Golden-grade techniques could challenge him. Other than that, the advantage would be all in his favor!

Therefore, even without the strength to defeat Isabella in a serious battle, Minos was aware that he was fully capable of hurting her enough for him to win the match. After all, Spiritual Saints were not indestructible people to opponents, with only the difference in power between them.

He could be compared to someone at level 69, so he certainly had enough to at least impose some injuries on someone at level 70!

Since Isabella was generous enough to allow him to attack first, Minos did not doubt that he would be able to beat this angry woman.

"Tsk!"

"We'll see!" She said to him just before she began to feel the effects of Minos' techniques.

Chaotic Gravity: Attraction!

Infinite Dream!

Devouring Art!

Indestructible Body!

Minos activated several of his techniques at once, causing that woman to start flying towards him as she was mentally attacked and her energies eroded.

But due to Isabella's high level, the amount of spiritual energy she was losing to Minos' technique was practically negligible. Meanwhile, her mental distress was less than what someone feeling the urge to scratch would feel when being prevented from doing such a thing.

As such, Isabella had the condition to open her mouth in surprise at Minos' blow, which, however, was not all that effective, but it successfully surprised her by affecting her despite their differences.

'How can that be?' She wondered as she felt a bit of difficulty in countering Minos' gravitational technique.

But as she flew slower and slower closer to him. Minos moved using his movement technique, quickly moving closer to her while giving a kick in the direction of one of her shoulders.

Isabella saw this and felt annoyed at being attacked on so many different fronts and finally used her techniques to counter Minos.

Angry Flames!

She clenched her hands and then opened them, making balls of fire appear on her fingers. In a second moment, these flames intensified, circling her body as they protected her from Minos' foot approaching her shoulder.

Minos saw this but did not stop, confident in both his armor and the ability of his Devouring Art to defend his body.

Pow!

Finally, his attack hit her shoulder, surprising this woman who did not expect that he would actually have the courage to attack her flames.

'He doesn't respect my flames, so he can't complain if his foot gets burned after that!' She thought about this as she felt discomfort in the shoulder attacked by Minos.

Unfortunately for Isabella, Minos did not get burned since his body had three layers of defenses, something a little above her flames that still needed to mature.

The difference between the two was not as significant as she had imagined, so he managed to surprise her by attacking her without getting hurt!

Since he had already felt how much his blow had inflicted on his opponent, Minos immediately stepped back after removing his foot from Isabella's flaming body.

"What are you doing? Come on! Fight me!" She shouted as she felt her opponent backing away, not liking this reaction right after such an exciting start to the match.

Isabella wanted to teach Minos a lesson. But it was undeniable that she had been positively surprised by his abilities and wanted to see more of this man in action.

But Minos had different plans and said right after deactivating his techniques. "I think I've already beaten you haven't I? Then there's no need for us to continue this."

"What?"

She looked at her shoulder, feeling slight discomfort like anyone would feel after receiving a blow to some part of their body and a bruise appearing there.

Minos laughed as he saw her reaction. "I think we were supposed to get engaged now, but you'll just have to kiss me... Hmm, I didn't make a good deal here."

"I almost won the Flaming Empire, hehe, too bad!"

Gulp!

Isabella did not retort to Minos' teasings, realizing that she had lost the match following the parameters she had created.

Thinking of the humiliation of losing to someone of a lower level than herself and still having to kiss him, she felt lost, not knowing what to say.

'What will I do now? How can I have lost? How will I kiss a man I don't even know?' She fell to her knees on the floor, feeling like she was waking up from a nightmare.

It had been easy for her to do the challenge earlier and agree to kiss Minos if she lost since she did not see how such a thing could happen. But now that it had happened, she could not help but hesitate, feeling the weight of her words.

And with that, tears flowed from her eyes, lamenting what had to happen now.

Minos felt terrible to see a girl crying because she would have to kiss him and sighed as he approached her.

"We can forget about it if you want..." He suggested as he stooped down next to her in the middle of the combat area of the exclusive courtyard of Isabella's residence.

'I didn't think she would cry about it... It seems the emperor spoiled her, and she is still a pure maiden, even considering her age.' Minos closed his eyes as he massaged Isabella's upper back.

After hearing his words, she looked at him momentarily, tempted to give up her promise. But remembering that she was the local heiress, who should cherish the value of her own words, Isabella clasped her hands and refused.

"No. I put myself in this situation, so I will do what I promised!" She looked at him, quickly moving her lips toward Minos'.

...