“Now, pay attention closely, Kendra. What I shall impart unto you… a gift of knowledge, bringer of glory,” I said to the little girl sitting on a high chair with a bored expression. Garbed in an exquisite white chef’s set, I was cooking something up at my cafe’s simple kitchen.

“Sorry, what did you say? For a moment, I thought I was having a stroke,” Kendra replied.

“Just observe.” I turned towards a covered pan under a blazing fire and opened the lid. The steak inside the pot gave off an aromatic smell which even caused Kendra to shoot her brows upwards. With a flip of my finger, the content levitated up from the searing pan.

The oil which leaked out of the meat seeped back in as if trying to hide from a terrifying predator. I held my palm out and dug two fingers into a small bowl of salt. I carefully moved my hand above the steak and slowly turned my fingers over.

As the shower of salt fell, it stopped mid-air.

Near-Divine Spell: Fate Divided.

The already-small grains of salt broke into tinier pieces before grappling into the surface of the beef, dissolving into and enriching the taste of the steak. I clasped my hand and concentrated my inner thoughts into emptiness.

Near-Divine Spell: A Glory Ended.

The steak burst into smaller balls of meat before merging back again. The bone melted into gelatin which intensified the flavor of the steak’s juice. While the entire thing was breaking apart and spinning in the air, I tossed several spices into the mix.

Blue flames emerged from my eye sockets as a surge of power welled inside of my empty body. The mind shifted through my thought library to pierce through hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge.

Divine Spell: Eternity, Reversed.

The spices’ age reversed or advanced to reach their peak flavor. Time seemed to slow down as more and more ‘ghosts’ of the spices from other realities appeared. The black peppers reached the steak first, followed by the smoked native red peppers. Crushed seeds of local graveyard flowers were also added which deepened the aroma of the steak. Sorcerer States herbs were the last of the batch which gave the whole meat a hint of lemon flavor.

At this point in history, this steak could possibly be the world’s greatest cooked slab of meat.

“Behold,” I proclaimed as the perfected beef cut fell back into my pan like a chick returning to the safety of its nest.

Kendra wiped a trail of drool on her mouth and said, “I can’t believe you used your powers just to cook a piece of steak.”

“Isn’t it fine? You use power given to you to achieve your own happiness.”

“But to do it for something as trivial as cooking?”

“Trivialization of power is key to not succumbing to the corruption that will choke you from within,” I explained as I placed my magnum opus onto a ceramic plate. “Rather than thinking power is a thing that will slip from you at any time, why not just think of it as something that won’t?”

“No.” Kendra shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“No? Why not?”

“Trivialization is no different from stepping on ants because you do not care about the feeling of the ants. To be aware of your power, that is the key.”

“I guess that’s your view. What will you do if you have all the power in the world?” I raised my chin while asking her.

Kendra held her hand out then suddenly balled it into a fist. “Rule the world.”

I didn’t really expect her to be this much of a hardline tyrant…

“Now, I’m sure there are better things to do than trying to conquer the world with an iron fist…” I muttered back.

“Hmph. In this world, you are either a game piece or the hand that moves the piece. I’d rather be the hand,” Kendra confidently answered back with a proud look on her face.

I chuckled at the young girl’s expression.

“What’s so funny? You’d rather be the piece?” Kendra asked with a glare.

“If I had to choose, I’d be the rulemaker.” I swung my finger forward and the plate of steak floated towards Kendra slowly. She redirected the floating plate to the side and it made a sharp turn before landing slowly to the counter on the side.

“Finally, I thought you’d blabber on and on until I lost all my weight,” Lard angrily groaned as he took the plate. After clashing his fork and knife, he cut a small slice and threw the cut into his ever-expanding blackhole known as his mouth.

“How is it?” I asked.

“What?”

I pointed at the steak and clarified, “How’s the steak?”

Lard looked at me while chewing the steak and slowly said, “To tell you the truth, I actually have a problem with my taste buds which means that…”

“Which means what?” I leaned in.

“I-I can’t really taste well.”

I kneaded my mask’s nose bridge and said, “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, it doesn’t. But that’s fact,” Lard harrumphed as he took in another bite.

“But given how I breached reality just to enhance the taste, surely you could taste something?”

Lard pinched his finger and answered, “A bit. It’s quite smokey, I guess.”

“Huh. No wonder you could eat those disgusting goop from the Sorcerer City-States,” Kendra pointed out.

“It’s also a bit of a reason why I eat… more than the average amount. But for some reason, I can taste coffee quite clearly…” Lard suddenly went into deep thoughts as he continued to dig through his steak.

I sighed, giving up completely on the deranged lunatic, before turning to his seatmate sitting on the side. “So, Zorror, are you really planning on leaving after the campaign?”

“Zeehor,” Kendra corrected.

The sleep-deprived man coughed and softly said, “It’s actually Zoweer…”

“Right, Zoweer. You’re leaving after the elections?” I asked.

“Yes, sir. I’ve got enough money to stay in the city-states for a while,” Zoweer answered.

“Why are you going to the Land of the Muscleheads anyway?”

“I… I have an enemy I must find, I think…”

“An enemy?!”

“More like enemies, sir.”

“That’s horrible! Listen, as my soon-to-be-former-employee, I’d be happy to help look for your enemies. I have many men in the Sorcerer City-States and an extensive intelligence network. Don’t hesitate to call upon them.” I handed Zoweer an instruction pamphlet dictating all the details on how to contact my spymaster.

“Thank you, Boss! I’ll repay you some day!”

“Right, right. What do you want? Steak? Pork? Skylord?”

“I’ve never tasted skylord before…”

“If cooked properly, the meat outside is crispy, while the inside is chewy…” I started explaining while preparing a new clean pan.

“Ah, Master. What’s the plan for tomorrow?” Kendra suddenly interjected.

“What?”

“Tomorrow. What’re we going to do?” Kendra asked.

“Do I look like your day planner?”

Kendra glared at me then said, “You do realize tomorrow is the election, right?”

“WHAT?”

Zoweer coughed and said, “Y-Yes. It’s why I came here to tell you that I’m leaving.”

I slapped my forehead and cursed, “Damn! I thought it’ll be later or something! I thought I had two weeks of vacation!”

“It’s already been two weeks,” Kendra pointed out.

“Bah. Whatever, two weeks, three weeks. Doesn’t matter. I’m an Archlich. What kind of idiot wouldn’t want me as their eternal leader?”

“The Lich-President of Gravia serves on a term-limit.”

“What rubbish! Liches are made, not elected!” I sighed. “Well, anyway. It doesn’t really matter. I’m only doing this to get the blood of the last Vampire Matriarch. Once Ellysa gets promoted, I can move to my next plan.”

Kendra squinted her eyes and murmured, “Why are we doing this again?”

“Doing what?”

“Getting your pet vampire promoted to the matriarch of the vampires.”

I snapped my finger and Ellysa slowly emerged from my shadow. Black liquid dripped from her dress, and gray fog emerged from her back. “Smile,” I commanded Ellysa. The vampire queen gave Kendra a casual bow with a dignified smile.

Kendra looked annoyed and asked, “What?”

“I want them to stop sharpening their teeth.”

“Vampire teeths are not naturally sharp like that?”

“No. They file them like that.”

“That’s disgusting.” Kendra recoiled.

“Exactly!” I placed my hand on Ellysa’s head and said, “Luckily, Ellysa and her minions are slowly being rehabilitated. Look at how bright her smile is now!”

Ellysa giggled and said, “My dear, I must thank you for the compliments and-”

“Yes, yes. Back into the shadow you go. If not for the angel’s blood, the entire undead population would’ve charged in to beat you up,” I said as I pushed Ellysa back down.

“Angel’s blood?”

I pointed at Ellysa’s neck as she sank and explained, “The blood in her necklace. It’s angel’s blood which suppresses her undead presence. I’m actually surprised she’s adapting to her weakened state.”

“I’m even more surprised you found angel’s blood! Where’d you get it from?!” Kendra asked with wide eyes.

“That’s not important. What’s more important is the effect of my news networks.”

Kendra looked like she wanted to protest but decided not to. “Ah, about that. It wasn’t that effective, but it wasn’t that bad either. After the first week, Agha’s covens retaliated, squashing down the news networks we’ve set up. But the sensation led to the general public copying us, creating their own slander circles. I’m pretty sure these were set up by Particia’s enemies.”

“She has enemies other than me?”

“Of course. She’s a populist, so the rich and snobby undead oppose her. They used to be part of Terebnis’ circle, but after his ‘betrayal’, they didn’t want to join us so they formed a non-belligerent group whose only interest is to make sure Particia doesn’t get what she wants.”

“So much for non-belligerent.”

I cut the skylord chop and carefully placed the slices into the metal pan. Kendra watched with disinterest and said, “Master, what will you do if you lose the election? Even with all our efforts, Particia is still heavily entrenched in Gravia. Just a few months of dicking about won’t really do much.”

“And now you’re having second thoughts on not assassinating her, hmm?” I snarked.

Kendra rolled her eyes and asked, “So what’s the plan now?”

“I’ll be pleased if we actually won against her, but I’ve lived for over a thousand years. Particia is still hundreds of years too young to fight against a monarch like me.”

My young apprentice raised an eyebrow in silence.

As I flipped the skylord chop, I answered, “We’re going with your plan.”

“My plan?” Kendra looked confused for a while then it hit her. Her eyes went bright with life as she said, “Really? You’re going to go with it?”

“I’ve actually got everything prepared.”

“I didn’t really think you’d listen to me!”

“Why should I not listen to you? Though I may be your master, I still have to acknowledge that you, as my apprentice, have some wisdom that impresses me sometimes.”

Kendra placed her hands on her hips, raised her head, and huffed, “Obviously because I’m your apprentice!”

“What plan?” Lard suddenly spoke up, seemingly appearing from non-existence again.

“It’s a plan involving the lunatic fairy-demons, the Head Commissioner, and a little pinch of disguise.”