Samantha followed the witch as she dragged the corpse to a deep pit.

There were no preparations done, all the witch did was drop the corpse into the darkness and the deed was done after the sound of something hitting water echoed back to them.

After confirming that the corpse had already reached the bottom, Samantha nodded as she watched the witch carefully close the opening and hide it using magic once.

This is something they would never have believed was possible before we met Richard...

At first Samantha believed that the Philippine mystical community was going to be destroyed, she thought that everything would fall apart but seeing her people obtain power that they never thought existed-

Even if they believed that it did, many thought of such abilities as being a "thing of the past".

Nowadays, the most influential mystics in the Philippines continue to spread the idea that mystics exist only in the low level forms that they were aware of.

I wonder how the idiots in the capital are faring?

Based on Richard’s personality, he would have started fucking the sanity out of the good looking women by now.

Maybe he started an orgy? He should be able to do that much with that monstrous stamina and libido of his...

Samantha recalled her first night with Richard, it was an experience that she never should have never wanted to experience again yet... for some reason- everytime she saw the amount of power her juniors had... it just became hard to resist.

The allure of power was just too strong, the potential to rise to even greater heights...

Morgana’s showing of power despite being treated like a dog by Richard-

There were many things that kept Samantha wanting more.

"Well done, keep up the maintenance work and we’ll see what happens in the future. After this is done, we’re likely to get more people"

Samantha left with those parting words as he continued to inspect each and every pillar.

The task of maintaining the pillars was nothing more than dropping bodies in the pits from time to time and ensuring that nobody approached the area without permission.

The core was maintained and protected by Morgana herself and the many witches were assigned companions.

Their former friends, the men who were turned into dolls used by mystical beings to solidify their existence and obtain greater power.

While some of their people were put on guard duty, others were busy hunting down mystical beings and rogue mystics who were unwilling to join their ranks.

Fortunately, there were those that willingly gave up, the women were locked up in the cells back at the manor while the men were- like always, treated as subjects to be used as vessels for mystical beings subservient to Richard.

The way he treats men and women... is it because of his desires or something else?

Samantha pondered as she continued her inspections.

Richard dealt with women in a rather "soft" way.

While some may call assault as "evil", to Samantha and the other witches who saw an even "worse fate", Richard’s treatment was rather mild.

There were a lot of benefits to Richard’s way of dealing with women, from power to pleasure- compared to being made to suffer for eternity, pleasure that came with power was the better option.

Moreover, Richard was not that unattractive of a man.

He may be a playboy who could spend all day fucking, the fact that he had multiple partners was a "benefit" as it allowed those that could not keep up with Richard to rest.

"Be careful"

Samantha helped a witch who had almost fallen along with the corpse into the hole.

"If you fall in, that’s the end, those pillars don’t distinguish between friend and foe"

"Yes"

Maintaining a separate world was not easy.

It took quite a lot of "power", Samantha did not know what type of "power" the magic used.

As a student of both mystics and science, she saw magic as a form of energy. But she didn’t outright ask about such things.

The knowledge will come to her later, for now, while Richard was setting things up for their faction, all they needed to know was how to use practical spells and magic.

There was no need for them to go the extra mile and learn techniques that did nothing but confuse them due to their lack of knowledge.

But Samantha knew that the time for them to learn moore and improve on their magic was coming soon.

It was nothing more than a hunch, but Samantha believed that Richard could easily enter the M Palace, the Philippines version of the White House.

All Richard had to do was enter and take control of the president, sneak into the senate and take control of every politician.

By then, the whole country would be under his control.

After all, the Philippines, despite being a democratic nation, was still controlled by oligarchs and old families who have been at the top of the social ladder for who knows how many years.

If the master makes a move...

Samantha could easily see how simple taking over the nation would be but given how they were moving. It was obvious that Richard was not planning to create a nation of Mystics.

She still didn’t know how good magic would fare against modern arms but she was able to learn from the survivors of the resistance group, the young college kids who were lucky enough to survive-

From their accounts, it was obvious that even high caliber firearms were useless against witches and through snooping around, Samantha was able to overhear one of the important witches- Cindy, talking with someone who she referred to as "Goddess".

Their conversation was about the US and the current situation in the country.

Samantha was unable to hear much but she did understand a few things-

The U.S. Military lost...

As someone who lived a combined life as a mystic and regular person, Samantha knew just how powerful the US military was.

Take for example the tensions with China, the Philippines, despite its military and politicians claiming that they had the "ability" to fend off any adversary, most of the Filipino people knew that those statements were performative.

Samantha personally understood the panic and fear the politicians had against the nation that was contending with the US.

It was a secret to the rest of the country but not to Samantha, she knew that the politicians were practically begging for assistance from the US.

They were even willing to give up as much as they could if the US was willing to provide support.

It was an action that was borne from both fear and respect for the US Military power, but for the same power to have "lost" to local witches-

Samantha can’t even fathom what kind of power the American Mystics had.

But-

That was not the biggest point-

What truly shook her and imprinted itself in her mind was the fact that the "Goddess" had been key in fending off the US military.

Her assistance was the reason why the American Mystics were able to survive the attacks of the US Military which led to their loss after the political theatre made its move.

Yet, the very same individual who was key in fending off the US Military was also subservient- or at least, in an equal relationship with Richard.

That was enough for Samantha to truly put all her eggs in Richard’s basket.

It was all in from now on and Samantha would do her absolute best to maintain a good standing-

Of course, getting to Richard was not easy, he was paranoid- that much was obvious and so she had to first get to the people who he trusted the most.

Unfortunately, Cindy was difficult to meet and was the type to avoid such worthless interpersonal politics.

The only other person who she could actually access was Morgana who was difficult in that she was the type to focus on interpersonal relationships.

Hana was the type to avoid such matters and many other women who were close to Richard did not bother with it.

Only Morgana was even remotely willing to hear people out and even actively set up such relationships among the group but.

She’s a huge bitch...

Samantha learned that Morgana was the actual Morgana from the Arthurian legend, yet her shock and awe lasted for only a day as that legendary figure was treated as a cum dump by Richard almost daily.

Moreover, she acted like a loyal maid before Richard yet when he turned around, the bitch acted like a queen.

Everyone outside of Richard’s circle was treated like a slave by her.

That’s why those witches stick to Richard...

At first, she thought the witches who came from Morgana’s group were power hungry nymphos but after experiencing Morgana’s rule?

It became very clear that sticking to Richard was a defense strategy.

If Richard was around, Morgana was tame, if they stayed near the close associates of Richard, those on the same level as Morgana, they would be safe-

But when those people turned their eyes away?

All hell broke loose.

Even when Richard’s close associates knew of the truth, they still turned a blind eye to it.

Well, it’s also a way to keep people in line

But Samantha understood why they did that, someone had to take the heavy handed approach.

Someone had to do the difficult task of maintaining order and a strong chain of command.

Just wait-

But understanding was not the same as accepting, Samantha acted tame but just like Morgana, she too had desires and when the time came-

"HELP!"

"Hm?"