Because of his live show, many male mystics died, after about an hour, Serenity collapsed on the stage with a thud.

The moment she did, many more men rose up but all of them died as well.

Was the act really necessary? Were the deaths part of the plan?

No.

So why did Richard do it?

Because he enjoyed cucking others, he especially found a taste for simps who never even had the chance to talk with a woman who gets fucked in front of them.

This wasn’t the same as watching a pornstar get fucked silly by a male actor.

In such a case, many were already used to self-inserting themselves in the male actors’ place.

But it was a different thing altogether when a crush who wasn’t even a pornstar gets taken.

Many men already mentally collapse when they learn of their celebrity crush getting married.

Imagine having to watch that same crush get fucked live?

Fortunately or unfortunately, many of the men were not mindless simps. They could immediately see the type of relationship Serenity and Richard had.

Though they did feel jealous, it was closer to the jealousy of watching a couple fuck than it was the envy of a man getting his lover taken.

Unfortunately, the number of delusional idiots was still greater than that of the sane men.

After everything was said and done, Richard did a head count and found that there were a few women in the group.

Interestingly enough, unlike the men who looked like beggars and bastards whose belief in personal grooming was "washing my face with cold water is enough". The women actually cared about personal appearances.

Although they too were wearing the same cheap and ragged clothes that fit in with the vibe of this base, their appearances were far from the "poverty" look of the rest.

On his way to this base, Richard saw many women wearing dolphin shorts and camisoles.

The weather was hot and it was an understandable pairing especially since they were basically just two steps away from their rooms.

The pairing showed off a lot of skin but in the sweltering weather of the Philippines. It was a good pair to wear especially when the weather was particularly hot.

But the things he saw while coming up to this floor and the sight before him now made Richard understand that the quote "the clothes make the man" only really works for men.

If you walk six floors and see different women wearing the same type of clothes but under the same conditions, it would be easy to see the combination of "camisole+dolphin shorts" to be an image of poverty.

Add unkempt hair, no make up and worn slippers and you have yourself a perfect way to show off poverty.

Yet-

The female mystics before him who wore the same type of clothes-

A camisole top that did not match their dolphin shorts, worn slippers that looked to be multiple years old and unkempt hair that doesn’t look to have been washed yet-

All of these combined would have made the female mystics have an image of poverty but their bodies were not thin.

They were slim but had meat in the right places.

Their faces had little blemishes and despite not having white skin, their dark skin gave them a very strong "latina" vibe,

Although not on the same level as Serenity in terms of appearance as they did have some blemishes at certain spots and while lacking acne, they did have marks on their body that showed their stress and bad situation.

Calluses on their hands and other parts of their body that came from actual hard labor, creases on their face which showed damage from the sun and stress, sunburn marks that came not from a tan but from hard work under the sun-

Serenity lacked many of the things that became marks of imperfection.

Even as an athlete, tools that limit such marks exist and are in use. Skin care routines, expensive skin care routines also work well to alleviate the damage of her athletics.

There were many things that Serenity was able to use in order to maintain a perfect appearance while still being an athlete and witch.

But Serenity was one of the lucky witches, one of those who were up in the ladder of power and influence.

The witches in front of Richard were not from affluent families, they were more like a bunch of low income women who got the chance to practice witchcraft.

Even among mystics, there is a clear divide in status.

Outside the country, it was based on actual power and influence, but in the Philippines, where the mystics live quietly among the people-

Power and influence is directly tied to wealth.

Richard was already aware of this.

Serenity and Samantha had lectured him about the other mystical groups.

While Samantha’s group looked really posh and elegant, that was simply because they were one of the three top mystical factions.

There were currently ten mystical factions in the Philippines.

Three took the tops spot, Samantha’s group managed politics, another managed the economy and the last managed the provincial powers.

The rest of the seven mystical groups were all based around major cities and population centers.

While the top three groups ruled through a small group of powerful and influential individuals, the other seven managed their power through sheer numbers and scale.

This group for example was based around the major tenement housing and other "poor housing complexes" that were established by the Philippines government.

While there are only one or two famous housing complexes, there are many more smaller scale communities and buildings scattered throughout the country.

Poor mystics created a community and ended up becoming major players in the local mystic community due to their numbers.

One of the reasons why these places were never torn down or remodeled was because many of the mystics who were sent to manage the simple tasks involved in maintaining the national brainwashing came from these poor communities.

Mystics who were hired to do the menial tasks came from these seven groups and the tenement mystics were infamous for taking a majority of the menial labor jobs from the top three factions.

For this reason, Richard decided to attack this tenement housing complex that was in T city.

Why this? Because this was where the top leaders of the tenement mystics were based in.

His plan was simply to attack this spot, cause chaos that would bring in reinforcements and force the other mystical groups to help.

After all, the tenement mystics, as weak and useless as they are in actual mystical conflicts, were still a major force in the mystical community. Their numbers were important to the maintenance of the current status quo and having them get killed off in droves is a huge problem for the rest of the mystical factions.

Of course, Samantha’s faction was already pulled out of that loop as they were already incorporated into his own group.

"Are you interested in them?"

Serenity asked since Richard had been too immersed in his thoughts that he forgot about the fact that he was currently standing in front of the female mystics of the tenement faction.

Of course, he was aware of his expressions shifting as he thought about the current state of affairs.

He was not dumb enough to not be aware of his own facial expressions.

As a man who once held the top position of a billion dollar company, having control over your expression was one of the key skills that had to be perfected.

After all, making deals is all about reading your opponent and showing a panicked expression when bargaining is not something you want to have.

Still, the awareness didn’t help in changing the fact that Richard had recently started to lose fear.

His power had grown to the point where even soldiers with guns could faze him.

This leads him to treating many normal people without magic as "inconsequential".

They were not "worthless" but showing them sides which he would normally hide was a greater waste of energy than just showing them.

Before he became Richard Rex, Damian Dixon, no matter how rich and influential he was, was nothing more than a human.

Even a billionaire could get killed by a stab wound, much less a gun.

That’s the reason why even the richest people in the world try their best to keep a neutral or pleasant air about them.

They aren’t so saintly that it seems fake and they are also not so evil that people would be hard pressed to not pull out their gun when seeing their face.

Now?

Richard survived a stab through the heart with wounds overflowing with curses-

It was a type of injury that could even kill an actual God and yet he lived.

Moreover, his survival gave him even greater power and an even stronger life force.

The best way to describe it is that Richard went from driving a go cart through a battlefield to driving an actual tank.

While there are some threats that could harm him, most could be easily ignored.

Because of that, Richard did not really bother with maintaining a certain image 24/7.

In fact, he didn’t even maintain an image of power in front of the witches and Morgana.

Sometimes, he even shows weakness.

Because of that, Richard found himself being put on the spot.

While maintaining an image of power was not necessary, at the moment-

"Yes, clean them up and send them up the stage. I want to have our guests get a good show while making a deal with me"

He can’t really say that he made a mistake now right?

The aura he constructed by treating Serenity as a toy in front of a live audience and making heads of angry simps explode would all be wasted if he shows a goofy side now!

With Serenity’s words, Richard quickly returned to his businessman persona and kept a cool image while giving off a strong pressure.

Unfortunately, this pressure was not imaginary, it was an actual pressure that came with mystic intent.

And so, five local witches under the tenement faction were now cleaned and dressed to become actresses for the reinforcements that are now coming up the stairs-

"WHO DARES ATTACK OUR-"

"WELCOME!"

"AHHNNN!!!!"

*plap* *plap* *plap* *plap* *plap*