Shepherding Humanity

Babylon, year 212.

Medusa, Circe’s direct disciple in the Thorned Rose sect, was an extremely intelligent and cautious individual. As Circe’s successor, she was just as talented as Lilith, and had disguised herself as a good witch, and infiltrated the kingdom of Babylon to acquire the knowledge left behind by the Two Great Witches.

After three years of study, she successfully stole all their knowledge and founded a kingdom in the Balchik Mountains. The Kingdom of Roses was built on the mountaintop and declared to be the Kingdom of Women.

In the Royal Palace of Babylon.

"How dare they! Those blasphemous fallen witches ignore the Three Iron Laws of Witches. They are indulgent, licentious, evil and cowardly rats who have always fled before us. And now, they want to establish a kingdom? They’re even claiming to be the legitimate successor to the Three Witches?" Lilith sat on the throne, a grim expression on her angelically beautiful face. She was dressed in midnight blue robes, with a crown of fresh flowers resting on her brow and scepter of black wood angrily gripped in her hand.

She radiated terrifying spiritual power, and all bowed down in supplication before her.

In the royal palace, countless witches trembled, their faces turning pale from the terrifying spiritual pressure.

"Your majesty, how should we respond?" One of the witches asked.

"War, there can only be war!!!"

Lilith shook her scepter, and transparent waves of light spread out like ripples. The Witch of Spring Cassandra's fourth level magic spell "Sound Waves" spreaded her edict throughout the Kingdom of Babylon.

"War, there can only be war!"

"War, there can only be war!"

…….

Babylon, year 213.

Lilith led hundreds of witches to the Balchik Mountains. Mountains crumbled, forests turned to ash, and the earth turned crimson with blood as countless mighty witches fell in battle.

The feud between the Three Witches of the previous generation has been inherited by their disciples, Lilith and Medusa.

The war lasted for a full eight years.

The evil witches had accumulated a truly terrifying force under Circe's leadership, and had more than seventy witches. Though they were few in number, due to their evil training methods, their progress was much faster, and they were generally stronger than the orthodox witches.

Their battle power was no less than that of the Babylonian Kingdom.

Then one day, Medusa, who had been saving up her strength for a long time, overcame her limits and reached the Fifth Level. The orthodox witch Lilith was instantly defeated and fled.

The further you progressed, the greater the difference one level made. The difference in their strength was like between heaven and earth, and they might as well have belonged to different species.

After Medusa made her breakthrough, she watched Lilith flee, and did not give chase. She silently familiarized herself with her new level, and three days later, a lone individual stepped foot into the Kingdom of Babylon.

The entire nation reeled in shock.

"You orthodox witches’ method of training is too slow! Lilith, I have reached a new level before you! My teacher Circe simply didn't want to fight her old friends to the death, or the Kingdom of Babylon would have changed hands long ago!"

"Affection had stayed my teacher’s hands, and now it’s up to me to settle the grudge from the previous generation! I've come today to clear my teacher’s name!!!"

"Who dares to challenge me?"

Medusa had the appearance of an innocent young girl with a wooden staff in hand, her figure hazy due to the titanic spiritual energy fluctuating around her. A transparent blue haze shrouded her crimson robes, and her eyes burned like flames.

She had slaughtered her way into Babylon and barged into the royal palace, single-handedly overcoming an entire nation. Including Lilith, a hundred and thirty-one witches had been routed.

The difference of an entire level was simply too great.

"Do you yield?"

Shrouded in azure mist, Medusa stood tall in the royal palace of Babylon and looked down on all before her.

Her terrifying spiritual pressure shook heaven and earth, and it felt as if the entire world was on the verge of collapse. Within the royal palace, countless witches reeled, their mind spinning in shock.

"Medusa, you have infiltrated the Babylonian kingdom and stolen our knowledge. You’re so despicable… We will never yield, brute force cannot crush our will and bend our spine!!!"

The royal chancellor Ermei raised her head with great difficulty. "We will never yield to your brute force and brutality. The Great Creator has stated that this is barbarism, not civilization…"

Before she could finish, Medusa tapped her staff on the ground; terrifying spiritual pressure shot out, causing blood to burst out from all over her body. The mighty Level Three magician collapsed in a pool of blood.

"Anyone else?"

Medusa calmly inquired.

"No matter how terrifying your power may be, you cannot…"

Boom!

A witch began to growl, but in an instant, her entire body exploded. It was an extremely bloody scene.

"Again."

Medusa dispassionately gazed at the remaining witches in the royal palace.

When her teacher Circe was still alive, she could not let go of the affection she had for her old friends. No matter how much she tried to persuade her, her teacher had never seriously fought against the other two great witches. It might have been possible for her to suppress them all by herself with her level of strength; the orthodox method of magic training was simply too slow.

She, on the other hand, had nothing to fear now that the era of the Three Great Witches has ended.

In her eyes, power was everything; what did it matter how it was obtained? These witches were too hidebound, that was why they lost. As long as you were strong, you would be able to get everything you wanted; this was the truth of the world.

"Everything is about to change."

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

"Never!"

Poof!

Another person's blood dyed the ground.

"You are a disciple of Circe, please show me some respect. Even if the Kingdom of Babylon is bathed in blood, we will never submit…" Finally, a trembling old man stood up. He was a well respected old guard from the era of the Three Witches, a living legend who had accompanied the Three Great Witches through their people’s tragic early years.

Snap!

A tremendous impact plastered the old wizard on the stone wall of the royal palace, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.

"Don’t think you’re all that just because you’re old. Next."

Medusa calmly spoke.

Swish!

In an instant, everyone quieted down.

Lilith stood at the edge of the throne room, covered in blood. She looked at this miserable scene, and felt bitterness welling up within her. She held down the witches who wanted to step forward and whispered: "On behalf of the Kingdom of Babylon, I, Lilith choose to submit."

"Your majesty!!!"

Countless witches shouted out in protest.

Even in the most difficult years since the founding of Babylon, when most of the men had died, and the women sacrificed themselves en masse to take in the blood of the Evil Eye, they had never submitted. This was the glory of the Babylonian Kingdom, which Lilith was going to bury with her own hands.

In this moment of submission, the Kingdom of Babylon was filled with crying and sobbing people. Countless staff wielding witches fell to their knees, their heart broken, hating their own powerlessness and incompetence.

A mournful song spread in the streets; before they even noticed it, countless people had begun to hum Beethoven's Symphony of Fate.

They all knew that before Medusa’s overwhelming power, unless the Three Witches were brought back to life, no one would be able to stop this Level Five magician. Ruin has come to the Kingdom of Babylon.

Medusa was satisfied. She calmly stepped over the severely injured Lilith and sat on the throne of Babylon, looking down. "From this day forth, there’ll be two kingdoms. The Kingdom of Roses will rule, and the Babylonian Kingdom will be subordinate. Lilith will remain the ruler of Babylon."

"From this day forth, above the king, there shall be an emperor. The emperor shall preside over the two great kingdoms of magic, and rule all under heaven."

"From this day forth, the Kingdom of Babylon, whose duty henceforth shall be to breed males, will regularly sacrifice one hundred men every month to its western neighbor, and the sixteen male wizards among the current one hundred forty three magicians shall be taken away by me and become concubines in my harem."

…..

One by one, the unfair demands were handed down, resounding throughout the Kingdom of Babylon through the Fourth Level magic spell "Sound Waves".

Countless people wailed and sobbed. They cried, they screamed, they despaired. They knew that the world was about to plunge into an age of darkness, and that they faced extinction.

They knew full well that at this moment….

—Men have once again been reduced to reproductive tools.