Dark Ages

Babylon, Year 212.

Medusa, the direct disciple of Circe, the evil witch of the Rose Sect, possessed peerless talent and was an exceptionally cautious person. Though she was also an inheritor, with aptitude no less than Lilith's, she disguised herself as a good witch and infiltrated the Babylon Kingdom to study the knowledge of the two great witches.

After three years of study, she stole all their knowledge and declared the establishment of a nation in the Balchik Mountain Range. A kingdom atop the mountains, named Rose, called: the Queen's Kingdom.

Babylon King's Hall.

"Those fallen witches who desecrate the Three Witches' three iron laws—licentious, debauched, evil, and dark—those rats who have been running away all this time, actually dared to found a nation? And claim to be the rightful heirs of the Three Witches?" Upon the throne, Lilith's divinely beautiful face was solemn. Dressed in a black and deep-blue Wizard Robe, wearing a crown of flowers and holding a black wooden staff, she was utterly enraged. Her terrifying spiritual power spread outward, intimidating all directions.

Below the hall, countless witches trembled, their faces pale from the impact of that terrifying spiritual power.

"King, then we should..." one of the witches asked.

"War, nothing but war!!"

Lilith shook her staff, and rings of transparent halos rippled outward in intimidation. It was the Spring Witch Cassandra's fourth-grade witchcraft, Wave of Sound, and its voice rang throughout the entire Babylon Kingdom.

"War, nothing but war!"

"War, nothing but war!"

Babylon, Year 213.

Lilith led more than a hundred witches to the Balchik Mountain Range and attacked the Rose Kingdom. Mountains and rivers crumbled, trees fell, blood covered the entire land, and countless powerful witches fell.

The grudges of the previous generation of Three Witches continued through the two disciples of the next generation: Lilith and Medusa.

The war lasted a full eight years.

In truth, under Circe's leadership, the evil witches had long amassed an extremely terrifying force. They also had more than seventy witches. Though their numbers were few, their evil cultivation methods made their progress far faster than that of orthodox witches, and they were generally stronger than traditional witches.

The Rose Kingdom's military strength was no weaker than that of the Babylon Kingdom.

Then one day, after long preparation, Medusa broke through to become a Fifth Grade Wizard. Lilith, an orthodox witch, instantly collapsed in defeat and fled.

The farther one progressed, the greater the gap each grade made—like the difference between two entirely different species, as vast as heaven and earth.

After her breakthrough, Medusa watched Lilith flee but did not pursue her. She silently contemplated her new realm, then three days later entered the Babylon Kingdom alone.

The entire nation was shaken.

"You orthodox witches cultivate far too slowly. I have broken through, yet you, Lilith, have not! If Teacher Circe had not wished to become mortal enemies with her two old friends, the Babylon Kingdom would have changed hands long ago!"

"The grudges of the previous generation have already been settled. Teacher remembered old ties, but I, of the next generation, will settle all grudges! I came today to clear Teacher Circe's name!!"

"In this world, who else can fight me?"

Medusa looked like nothing more than an innocent young girl in a bright scarlet Wizard Robe, holding a wooden staff. Her figure was blurred within enormous spiritual fluctuations, transparent pale-blue mist coiling around her scarlet robe, her eyes burning like flames.

She charged into Babylon alone.

Breaking into Babylon King's Hall, she faced an entire nation by herself. The one hundred and thirty-one witches, including Lilith, were instantly defeated.

The gap of an entire major realm was simply too great.

"Do you submit?"

Enveloped in deep-blue mist, Medusa stood atop Babylon King's Hall and looked down upon all living beings.

Terrifying spiritual pressure surged into the sky, as though heaven and earth themselves were roaring and collapsing. The witches throughout the hall spun with dizziness, their minds trembling violently.

"Medusa, you infiltrated my Babylon Kingdom and learned the knowledge of our two great witches. How despicable. We will never submit. Brute force cannot crush our arms or destroy our spines!!"

The palace minister Seerme struggled to raise her head. "Your brute force and atrocities cannot make us submit. The great Lord of Creation once suffered such things. This is barbarism, not civilization."

Before she could finish, Medusa struck the ground with her staff. A terrifying wave of spiritual pressure shot forth, instantly exploding the blood throughout that powerful Third Grade Wizard's body. She fell into a pool of blood.

"Anyone else?"

Medusa spoke calmly.

"Even the most terrifying force cannot make you—"

Bang! A witch growled, but her entire body instantly exploded within Babylon King's Hall, in an incomparably bloody scene.

"Go on."

Medusa looked toward the witches in Babylon King's Hall.

There was neither joy nor sorrow in her gaze.

Teacher Circe had been too mindful of old ties in life. No matter how Medusa tried to persuade her, her teacher had never considered truly attacking the two witches. With her teacher's strength, she might well have been able to suppress both great witches alone. Orthodox witches cultivated far, far too slowly.

And after the era of the Three Witches came to an end, Medusa knew there was nothing left to fear.

In her eyes, power was everything. What did it matter how one obtained it? These witches were too stubborn, so they had lost. As long as she was powerful, she could obtain everything she wanted. That was the truth of this world.

"Everything is about to change."

Medusa's gaze was calm as she looked at the witches before her. "Submit, or die?"

"We never will!"

Splurt! Another person's blood blossomed.

"You are Circe's disciple. Can you give me some face? Even if blood stains the Babylon Kingdom, we will never submit..." At last, a trembling old woman rose to her feet. She was an elder from the era of the Three Witches, respected by countless people—a living epic who had once followed the great Three Witches through those miserable tribal years.

Smack! A tremendous impact hurled the aged wizard against the stone wall of the hall, and she violently spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Throwing your weight around just because you're old? Who else wants to step forward?"

Medusa spoke calmly.

Swish!

The scene fell instantly silent.

Covered in blood, Lilith stood at the edge of the royal hall. Looking at the miserable sight before her, countless bitter feelings suddenly rose within her. She stopped the witches who wanted to step forward and whispered, "I, Lilith, on behalf of the Babylon Kingdom, choose to submit."

"Your Majesty!!!"

Countless witches roared unwillingly.

For more than two hundred years since Babylon's founding, throughout the tribal era of the Three Witches, even in the darkest times—when nearly all the men had died and the remaining women had chosen mass death and consumed Evil Eye Blood rather than submit—that had been the glory of the Babylon Kingdom. Yet now, in Lilith's hands, that unyielding glory and backbone were to be buried.

At the moment of submission, countless people throughout the Babylon Kingdom wept bitterly, sobbing until they could no longer speak. Countless witches holding staffs fell to their knees, utterly broken, hating their own weakness and helplessness.

Mournful songs rose throughout the streets. It was Beethoven's Symphony of Fate, unconsciously hummed by countless people.

They all knew that unless the Three Witches came back to life, no one could stop this Fifth Grade Wizard. Their Babylon Kingdom was about to decline completely.

Medusa openly stepped over the heavily wounded Lilith beside her and calmly sat upon Babylon's throne, looking down at those below. "From this day onward, the two kingdoms shall be divided. The Rose Kingdom shall be the sovereign state, and the Babylon Kingdom its vassal, with Lilith remaining king."

"From this day onward, above kings there shall be an Empress. The Empress shall rule both wizard kingdoms, reigning over all beneath heaven, and none shall refuse to obey."

"From this day onward, the Babylon Kingdom's duty shall be reproduction: bearing male children. Every month, one hundred men must be regularly offered to the Rose Kingdom. Of Babylon's current 143 wizards, all 16 Male Witches shall be taken away by me and brought into my harem as royal consorts."

One unequal treaty after another resounded throughout the entire Babylon Kingdom through the Level Four spell, Wave of Sound.

Countless people wailed and wept bitterly.

They howled, screamed, and despaired, clearly knowing that the world was about to plunge into darkness and that they would once again face the fate of extinction.

The men also clearly understood that, at this moment—men had once again been completely reduced to breeding tools.