Two-hundred thousand supremacist witches fell short of Vaan's ideal number, but he didn't find it surprising. The supremacist witches were selfish and sly, if nothing else. As such, it was actually amazing that he managed to attract two-hundred thousand supremacist witches with his cheap trick.
Perhaps, the overindulgence and unhealthy lifestyle in the capital had led them to become mentally weak and numb to danger.
But then again, what he really attracted was roughly two hundred household matriarchs. The rest of the supremacist witches were just following orders.
Nevertheless, Vaan wouldn't be any less lenient on them because of that.
"Wait! Something is not right—!"
"Too late."
Vaan's eyes shimmered with a cold light before his tyrannical dragon aura exploded outward like the surging tides, assaulting the shores in waves.
At the same time, a curtain of blue flames rose high in the sky, ensnaring the two hundred thousand supremacist witches within it, cutting off their escape and forcing them to face him.
Swoosh!
Vaan cracked the ground with a strong step and lunged straight into the army of supremacist witches that filled the ground and sky.
Like a beast ravaging a garden of flowers, the supremacist witches were helplessly and brutally beaten; countless bones shattered, and blood splattered everywhere, painting the area in red.
"Dammit! How could I fall for such a cheap trick? Curse this vile man! My excitement has blinded my judgment!"
"If you have the energy to curse, then put some more effort into taking him down! Otherwise, we'll be the ones to suffer! This sly man isn't tired at all!"
Although the matriarchs realized their predicament, there was nothing they could do. Their fates were sealed when Vaan raised the flame curtain.
…
From day to night, the supremacist witches' screams resounded from within the towering flame curtain. The spectators outside its boundary could only speculate about the ongoing situation based on their hearing.
However, without the visual aid, their imaginations ran wild, picturing the scene within the flame curtain to be more horrific than it actually was. Even so, their imaginations weren't far from the truth.
After one day and night, the painful wails within the flame curtain finally died down. Shortly after, the flame curtain dissipated into thin air, revealing the supremacist witches' broken and bloodied bodies scattering across the ground.
A cold chill ran down everyone's spines when they saw Vaan standing amidst the mountains of 'corpses,' but in truth, only a few had actually died. The rest were very much alive, albeit barely.
Nevertheless, everyone understood one truth: no one was Vaan's opponent. Therefore, if he was hellbent on subjugating the entire capital, they only had two options; to submit or die.
Once the two hundred thousand supremacist witches swore their Oath of Magic, the remaining witches from the supremacist witch faction had no choice but to recognize Vaan's influence, no matter how much they despised him for being a man.
After all, once the surrendered witches recovered, they wouldn't just be facing Vaan but also his two hundred forty thousand subjugated witches.
Under such circumstances, they were presented with three choices; to either kill themselves before they suffer humiliation at Vaan's hand, take the initiative to surrender themselves and swear their allegiance to avoid the beating, or flee the kingdom before they get caught.
Considering they cherished their lives, killing themselves would be the last thing they would do. No, it wasn't something they would ever do. They didn't want to die.
"Dammit, which hole did this menace crawl out from? He has completely ruined my plans!"
Up on the fifty-third floor of a distant magic tower, a supremacist matriarch bit her nails with a grudging look.
Originally, she was preparing to maximize her benefits in the capital before taking all her wealth and fleeing to the Kingdom of Verdant Woods with her people before the empire attacked. But now, she was about to be forced out of the capital before she could take everything she could.
At the same time, other supremacist matriarchs were also having similar thoughts in their magic towers.
Without Queen Henrietta around to hold the fort, they believed the Kingdom of Black Rose was done. Thus, it was in their best interest to take what they could and flee to a neighboring witch kingdom to start over.
Most of them didn't care what happened to the Kingdom of Black Rose so long as they survived.
They were no different from parasites, leeching off the kingdom when it was still prosperous and readily abandoning it once it sank.
"What will become of us now, Margaret?"
"I don't know… Whatever that man—the Lord wills…"
A few surrendered witches looked like they had lost their souls as they dragged their broken bodies to the side of the streets and recuperated from their injuries.
They had no idea what the future had in store for them now that they had sworn their allegiance to man. However, they thought the worst.
Meanwhile, several neutral matriarchs led their battle witches over, numbering in the twenty thousand. At first, it seemed like they had come to fight, but they didn't have a shred of hostile intentions.
A leading black-haired matriarch signaled her people to stop at a safe distance from Vaan before she approached him by herself.
"I have a few questions I want to ask you, Your Excellency. If you permit it?"
"Ask away."
After the black-haired matriarch asked, Vaan calmly consented with a simple hand gesture. Once the black-haired matriarch received his confirmation, she sought out his intentions.
"What do you intend to do once you force everyone to submit to you, Your Excellency?"
"Raise an army to repel the empire's inevitable invasion, abolish slavery, grant equal rights to men and women alike, and reshape this kingdom."
The black-haired matriarch and the other neutral witches were immediately astonished, not because of the content of Vaan's reply but the confidence he exuded in uttering them.
"How can you be so sure we can win against the empire if we follow you? How can we be sure that you're not working for the empire? And if the whole kingdom follows you, how do you intend to face Her Majesty's wrath?"
"All of that can be answered with one simple question."
Shortly after Vaan spoke, he extended his hand toward the sky.
In the next instant, the vast sky trembled as an incomparable amount of fiery power gathered high above the capital, forming a miniature blue sun that grew with alarming speed.
Eventually, the blue sun became so enormous it blotted out the immediate sky, transforming the capital into a scorching summer. Even so, it didn't stop growing and raising the temperature.
Everyone felt unbearable under its intense heat despite the distance between them.
At the same time, they were all deeply shocked; their hearts trembled due to the seemingly infinite power of fire.
"Do you think anyone can stop me if I really want to do something?"
Faced with Vaan's question, the black-haired matriarch couldn't think of anyone besides the seven Great Devils from Gehenna. As for people on Pangea, there were none.
The black-haired matriarch didn't doubt that if Vaan dropped the blue sun on the capital, nothing would be left of it. Everything would disappear in a short instant.
Even the Holy Knight Empire's mighty army was nothing against the giant blue sun.
The black-haired matriarch directly dropped down to one of her knees in front of Vaan, forcing the battle witches behind her to do the same.
"I, Fidelia Vandran, and House Vandran recognize your absolute power and submit to you, Your Excellency!" the black-haired matriarch declared.
Following her declaration, several other neutral matriarchs and their troops also marched forward and lowered themselves in front of Vaan, directly swearing their allegiance with the Oath of Magic.
"House Vandran also submits to you, Your Excellency…"
"House Carparthia swears their allegiance to you, Your Excellency…"
"Hermia offers her allegiance…"
…
As neutral matriarchs and their personal troops continued to take turns offering their allegiances, even the witches that didn't belong to any big or renowned households stepped forward in droves to surrender themselves.
The heat made them sweat profusely and suffocated them, burning their lungs with each inhale; it only grew worse with each passing moment.
"Please have mercy, my Lord!"
Finally, after the witches started pleading, Vaan released the enormous accumulation of fire back to the world.
The blue sun dissipated into thin air, taking all the heat with it. Within moments, the blue sun completely disappeared without a trace, making it seem like an illusion.
However, no one dared to question Vaan's power.
"Not Divine, but above Transcendent… Beyond Transcendent…! This power has to be Beyond Transcendent…! Someone has transcended Transcendents and acquired a greater level of power! And it was a man, no less! How can we fight someone like this?"
The notion of fleeing vanished from many supremacist witches' minds as they felt weak in their knees and fell back on their rears with abject disbelief and shivering horror. Even if they lied to themselves and denied the truth, the image of the enormous blue sun was forever engraved in their memories; it was an unforgettable memory.
Nowhere was safe if they earned Vaan's ire.
If he really wanted to kill them, it would be as easy as turning over his hand. They finally understood that very well.
After the capital's neutral witches submitted, the remaining supremacist witches finally came forward on their own accord to surrender for the chance at life.
Although Vaan could have displayed his absolute power from the start, the effect wouldn't have been as great. It was only made possible after repeatedly weakening their spirits and shattering their beliefs.
Nevertheless, after such a gargantuan event, the capital's witches had, more or less, all fallen under his control.
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