Chapter 48: Dark Age

Babylon, year 212.

Medusa, the personal disciple of the evil witch Cersei from the lineage of the Order of the Rose, was supremely intelligent and exceptionally cautious. As a successor, she possessed talent no less than Lilith's, yet she disguised herself as a benevolent witch and infiltrated the Kingdom of Babylon to learn the knowledge of the two great witches.

After three years of study, she stole all the knowledge and declared the establishment of a nation in the Balchik Mountains. This mountaintop nation, named Rose, was called: The Queendom.

In the Babylonian Royal Hall.

"Those fallen witches who profane the three iron laws of witches—debauched, licentious, evil, dark, and always fleeing like rats—dare they establish a nation? And claim to be the legitimate inheritors of the Three Witches?" On the throne, Lilith's divinely beautiful face was solemn. She wore a black and azure witch's robe, a crown of fresh flowers, and held a black wooden staff, utterly enraged.

Her terrifying spiritual power diffused, shaking all directions.

Beneath the royal hall, countless witches trembled, their faces pale from the terrifying psychic impact.

"Queen, then what should we..." some witches asked.

"War, only war!!"

Lilith struck her staff, and rings of transparent halos rippled out, spreading fear. That was Cassandra, the Spring Witch's, Level 4 spell, "Ripple of Sound." The sound reverberated throughout the entire Kingdom of Babylon.

"War, only war!""War, only war!"

Babylon, year 213.

Lilith led a hundred witches to the Balchik Mountains to attack the Rose Kingdom. Mountains crumbled, trees fell, blood covered the entire land, and countless powerful witches fell.

The grievances of the previous generation of the Three Witches continued with their next generation of disciples, Lilith and Medusa.

The war lasted for a full eight years.

In reality, the evil witches, under Cersei's leadership, had accumulated terrifying power much earlier. They also had over seventy witches. Although few in number, their evil cultivation methods allowed them to progress much faster than the orthodox witches. They were generally more powerful than traditional witches.

The combat power of the Rose Kingdom was already no weaker than that of the Kingdom of Babylon.

One day, Medusa, who had been accumulating power for a long time, broke through to become a Level 5 witch. The orthodox witch Lilith was instantly defeated and fled in disarray.

The higher the level, the more pronounced the difference; each level gap was like the difference between two species, a chasm.

Witch Medusa, having broken through, watched Lilith flee but did not pursue her. She quietly comprehended her new realm; three days later, she entered the Kingdom of Babylon alone.

The entire nation was shaken.

"You orthodox witches, your cultivation speed is too slow. I have broken through, but you, Lilith, have not! If my teacher Cersei had not wished to avoid being mortal enemies with her two old friends, the Kingdom of Babylon would have changed hands long ago!"

"The grievances of the previous generation have been resolved, and my teacher remembered old friendships. But I, of the next generation, will put an end to all grievances! I have come today to clear my teacher Cersei's name!!"

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

Medusa appeared to be a pure maiden in a vibrant red witch's robe, holding a wooden staff. Her figure was veiled by immense psychic fluctuations, transparent light-blue gas swirling around her crimson robe, her eyes burning like flames.

She single-handedly stormed into Babylon. She burst into the Babylonian Royal Hall, facing an entire nation alone, and instantly routed one hundred and thirty-one witches, including Lilith.

A major cultivation realm meant too vast a difference.

"Do you yield?"

Enveloped in azure gas, Medusa stood in the Babylonian Royal Hall, looking down upon all. Terrifying psychic pressure surged skyward, as if the entire world rumbled and collapsed. All the witches in the royal hall felt dizzy, and their minds trembled.

"Medusa, you infiltrated our Kingdom of Babylon, learning the knowledge of our two great witches, such treachery... We will never yield! Brute force cannot crush our will, nor destroy our backbone!!" Royal Minister Selene struggled to lift her head. "Your savagery and brutality cannot make us yield. The Great Creator once suffered; this is barbarism, not civilization..."

Before she finished speaking, Medusa struck her staff against the ground. A terrifying psychic pressure shot out, instantly causing the powerful Level 3 witch's blood to burst from her body, leaving her collapsed in a pool of blood.

"Anyone else?" Medusa spoke calmly.

"Even with such terrifying power, you cannot..." A witch growled, but her entire body instantly exploded within the Babylonian Royal Hall, a bloody spectacle.

"Say it again." Medusa looked at the witches in the Babylonian Royal Hall. Her gaze was devoid of joy or sorrow. Teacher Cersei was too sentimental in her life. No matter how Medusa persuaded her, her teacher never truly considered acting against the two witches. With her teacher's strength, it might not have been impossible to suppress the two great witches alone; the cultivation speed of orthodox witches was simply too slow. As for her, after the era of the Three Witches concluded, she knew there were no longer any reservations. In her eyes, power was everything. What did it matter how it was obtained? These witches were too pedantic, and that's why they lost. As long as one was powerful, one could obtain everything desired—that was the true law of the world.

"Everything is about to change."

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

"We can't!" Another person's blood erupted.

"You are Cersei's disciple. Can you grant me this one request? Even if the Kingdom of Babylon is stained with blood, we will never yield..." Finally, a trembling elder stood up. This was a veteran from the era of the Three Witches, respected by countless people, a living epic who had followed the great Three Witches through those tragic tribal years. The immense impact slammed the elderly witch against the royal hall's stone wall, causing her to violently spit out a mouthful of blood.

"Presuming on your age. Who will step forward next?" Medusa spoke calmly.

A chilling silence fell instantly.

Lilith, covered in blood, stood at the edge of the royal hall, watching the tragic scene, and a wave of bitterness suddenly rose within her. She held back the witches who wanted to step forward and whispered, "I, Lilith, representing the Kingdom of Babylon, choose to surrender."

"Queen!!!" Countless witches roared in defiance. For over two hundred years since Babylon's founding, even during the most difficult times of the Three Witches' tribal era, when male kin were almost wiped out and the remaining women chose to face mass death by consuming Evil Eye blood, they had never submitted. That was the glory of the Kingdom of Babylon, but now, under Lilith's hand, this unyielding glory and backbone were to be buried.

At the moment of surrender, countless people across the Kingdom of Babylon wept inconsolably, sobbing uncontrollably. Numerous witches holding staves fell to their knees, utterly broken, hating their powerlessness and incompetence.

On the streets, dirges arose everywhere; it was Beethoven's Symphony of Destiny, and countless people unconsciously hummed along.

They all knew that unless the Three Witches were revived, no one could stop this Level 5 witch. Their Kingdom of Babylon was destined for utter decline.

Medusa, unhurriedly, stepped past the heavily wounded Lilith and calmly sat upon the Babylonian throne, looking down. "From today forward, two nations shall be established: the Rose Kingdom shall be primary, and the Kingdom of Babylon shall be its subordinate, with Lilith still as its Queen."

"From today forward, above the Queen, there shall be an Emperor, who shall rule the two witch kingdoms, reigning supreme over all, whose word is law."

"From today forward, the future duty of the Kingdom of Babylon shall be to procreate and bear males. Each month, one hundred men shall be regularly presented to the Rose Kingdom. Of Babylon's current 143 witches, the 16 male witches shall all be taken by me and inducted into my harem, to be called Royal Consorts."

One unequal treaty after another was announced, echoing throughout the entire Kingdom of Babylon via the Level 4 spell "Ripple of Sound." Countless people wailed and sobbed bitterly. They wailed, screamed, and despaired, knowing clearly that the world was about to plunge into darkness and they would again face the fate of annihilation.

The men also clearly understood that from this moment—

—men had once again completely become tools for procreation.