“You also think so, huh? Then, it’s not just my imagination. This man looks like the deceased Vaan Raphna, that was recently entitled Venerable Sage for his contribution to the study of magic. Clearly, the information was false. Not only is he wise, but he is also extremely powerful. It does make one wonder whether he had been part of this kingdom from the start or not.”
“I remembered, my Lady. There was a lot of opposition from the supremacist witch faction when Her Majesty pushed forward the idea. Do you think they played a part in Her Majesty’s disappearance, my Lady?”
“That, I can’t say for sure. However, I’m confident Her Majesty’s decision was the final spark that pushed some of them to lean toward Queen Sybil’s side. After all, they had always been unhappy with Her Majesty’s neutral stance.”
“It’s hard to get anything done right with the supremacist witch faction interfering with their extreme ideology.”
“That can’t be helped, especially when half of the capital belongs to the supremacist witch faction. That man’s claim was no different from waging war with every witch in the capital. I wonder if he can last long enough to back it up.”
…
As the neutral witches chattered and watched from a distance, Vaan continued to beat down the several ten thousand battle witches, heavy-handedly without a care for their beauty.
Ten-thousands… twenty-thousands… thirty-thousands… forty-thousands…
The number of broken bodies soared as Vaan’s rocky fire fists hunted down their targets like vengeful spirits with deep grudges, leaving behind a trail of wailing battle witches sprawling on the streets stained in their blood and tears.
The matriarchs wanted to create distance and regroup their forces, but Vaan’s rocky fire fists stubbornly pursued them, leaving them without a choice.
“Ahhh—! No, spare me! It hurts so much!”
The battle witches caught by Vaan personally endured a more excruciating beating as he struck them where it hurt. Electrifying pain drowned their senses and left behind lingering numbness, only to make them feel more sensitive to the next wave of pain.
“Unhand me, you filthy animal! My pristine body isn’t for the likes of you to touch! Even if I die, I’ll never surrender to you—!”
Pak!
Vaan smacked the next matriarch across the face, bruising her left cheek and knocking out several teeth.
“It looks like you haven’t been beaten hard enough. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to give you some special attention.”
Pak! Pak! Pak!
Shortly after Vaan made his promise, he raised his hand and slapped the matriarch repeatedly as he held her up by the throat; he made sure each cheek got its fair share of damage.
The matriarch ended up losing all her teeth, and her face swelled up like a bloodied pig, appearing unsightly and gruesome. She could barely keep her eyes open due to the swelling and bleeding. Even so, she refused to submit.
“You may break my body, but you will never break my spirit! I admit you are strong, but you are just one man. Men will forever be beneath us superior witches—!”
“Do you dare say the same thing if men were given equal opportunity for growth? Not that I really care. I didn’t come here to fight for them; I came to fight for myself. We’ll just have to see how long you can keep up such stubbornness.”
Pak! Pak!
Shortly after his reply, Vaan continued to deform the matriarch’s appearance with his beating, twisting it into something even more hideous and unsightly.
It was true that he believed men’s potential wasn’t inferior to witches. However, it was also true that the aura cultivation of men accumulated power more slowly than the witches’ magic cultivation.
Furthermore, he wouldn’t gain much from raising an army of strong aura users except for the sake of possessing a strong army. On the other hand, if he raised an army of strong witches, he would have a strong army and no shortage of competent dual-practice partners to improve himself.
If he wanted to explore the vast stars and boundless Chaos, he must reach the divine rank at least. Raising a strong witch kingdom was just the first step towards that goal.
“Just kill me…”
“You want to die? Then, kill yourself. I’m not stopping you.”
“…”
“Don’t want to kill yourself? It seems you still prefer to live. Then, submit to me, and your suffering will end. Since you can’t win, why resist? Life will be easier if you learn to let go.”
“…Fine. I will surrender. Please end this madness.”
The matriarch voiced her submission with a tired look, as if it took all the remaining strength in her body to utter those words. But in doing so, her heart felt at peace as if she had put down a burden.
“Swear it with the Oath of Magic.”
“Don’t do it, my Lady! We must never submit ourselves to men! They will only enslave and oppress us again! What have we been fighting for if you give up now?!”
Despite the pleas of the matriarch’s people, she still swore her allegiance to Vaan with the Oath of Magic, putting her life and death in his hands.
In that instant, the entire thousand beaten battle witches from the matriarch’s household lost their fighting spirit and dropped to the ground. They appeared like they had lost their souls.
Nevertheless, the matriarch was only one of many matriarchs who had banded together to challenge Vaan. Many still had yet to submit, and many more were waiting for the opportunity to strike him down.
That said, the first matriarch’s submission produced a domino effect, making it easier for Vaan to subjugate the following matriarchs and their people.
In two hours, he made all forty-thousand supremacist witches swear their allegiance with the Oath of Magic.
pαпᵈα-noνɐ1·сoМ
If he had to go through them in batches, it would take too much time to subjugate them all. Thus, he needed to change his tactic and lure all the hostile, opportunistic witches out to attack him at once.
“I know there are many who still want me dead. However, I am tired, so let’s fight another day, okay?” Vaan suggested, appearing a bit unstable and short of breath.
…