Power

Three years later.

Jack didn't abolish the elections in the republic; he was confident he would win, so there was no reason to abolish them.

Kashu ran against him again and campaigned especially hard on the empire's land formerly owned by the Kampaku. He was going to lose the left-of-center vote in the former republic, so he put his effort into the empire.

He knew trying to steal votes from Jack in the states he ruled was wishful thinking; winning Kampaku's former supporters was the only road to victory. He negotiated with the former ministers ruling the states formerly ruled by Kampaku and got their endorsement; they didn't run a candidate and fully supported him. Who knows what he promised in return for the endorsement ...

The election was held, and the result shocked the country.

Turnout in the entire country was very high, up to 82%! The right-of-center and centrist voters in the former republic were extremely motivated; in the last six years, Jack ruled far to the left, often ignored Congress, and accomplished his policy preferences through outright illegal means. Wealthy people were fired up against him and spent tons of money to increase turnout.

In the end, Kashu won the land of the former republic 78% to 20%; Jack only got 20% of the vote from the republic, mostly because of low turnout from his voters.

As for Kampaku's former land, Jack lost to Kashu 89% to 9%. Through years of propaganda, former ministers who resented him have made the people against him.

As for Jack's base, he got 99% of the vote there.

The former republic's total vote accounted for 40% of the total vote; Kampaku's former land accounted for 25% of the total vote, while Jack's former land accounted for 35% of the total vote.

The result was as follows: Jack got 47% of the vote, and Kashu got 50%. Jack lost the election, mostly due to the low turnout of left-of-center voters and high turnout of right-of-center voters, along with enmity from Kampaku's former ministers.

The result was beyond his expectations; he didn't expect not to even to get 30% of the vote from the left in the republic; it can be said that they let him down. Jack's economic policies were too far to the left; they caused rich people to run to neighboring countries.

Any system, as long as it is too one-sided, will fail. Balance is essential; neither the left nor the right can prosper on their own; there needs to be a balance. Jack didn't want a prosperous country; he wanted votes. He thought that as long as he kept the left, they would be satisfied and vote for him. But, as it turned out, by having so many wins, he enraged the right and center to the point that they turned out at historic rates.

Jack didn't want to abolish the election system because he thought he would win; now that he lost, however, he is not going to transfer the power. He simply said that the election wasn't fair and declared he would keep the power to "protect democracy". His reasons were very righteous-sounding; he said that because women weren't allowed to vote, the results weren't representative.

The election was open only to men over 20 and married women.

He called for a new election that included all women, including unmarried ones; he proposed allowing everyone over 15 to vote. In addition, he called for more IDs for voting, single-day voting, and more voter integrity; he called for mandatory voting for those below 30 to get them to 'used to vote'.

All of his policies were self-serving. First, his support was higher among younger and female voters, so he wanted to make it easier for them to vote. Second, he preferred a lower turnout because he already had a very committed constituency who always showed up. After all, if the republic's turnout is lower, the votes from his base would mean more. If the republic's turnout gets below 40, he may be able to win by relying only upon votes from his territory.

Therefore, he wanted to make it harder for voters to vote to lower turnout. Of course, Jack could say whatever he wanted, but nobody not already part of his faction supported his ideas; they threatened that if he tried to remain in power illegally, the union of the two countries would fall apart.

But Jack didn't care; he already controlled most of the country, and the army was loyal to him. In addition to the army, he had immortal cultivators under his command.

The children he brought three years ago are already usable in missions. The strongest cultivator is himself, who reached the 10th stage of energy gathering a while ago.

Below him is Mike, who is in the 8th stage.

Faith is at the 6th stage.

There are three people in the 5th stage.

59 are in the 4th stage, and the rest are in the 3rd stage.

The first stage of energy gathering makes them barely stronger than mortals; they can use the little bit of mana they have to strengthen their muscles. In a war, they are worth five skilled swordsmen.

Second-stage cultivators can cast simple spells, shield against arrows, and deflect sword strikes with magic; they are worth at least 20 skilled swordsmen.

Third-stage cultivators can easily cast several simple spells, such as shielding arrows and deflecting swords. If they are surrounded by many soldiers, they can survive for a while until they run out of mana; they are worth 100 skilled swordsmen.

Fourth-stage cultivators can use fly spells to escape even from encirclement; they can Fly up and assassinate enemy commanders; they can attack from above using fireballs or fly into castles to open gates; they are worth at least 500 skilled swordsmen.

Fifth-stage cultivators can fly longer, cast more spells, and even cast blessing or curse spells, which can turn the tide of battles; they are worth 5,000 soldiers.

Sixth-stage cultivators are like moving castles; they can cast fireballs, magic arrows, poison mist, and many other mass casualty spells from the sky and deflect all arrows from themselves and their sides' troops. They can attack and retreat as they please; a mortal army cannot restrict them. Unless they make mistakes, such as draining their mana, a mortal army will have no chance against them; they are more valuable than an army of 100,000 skilled swordsmen.

Seventh-stage cultivators are already beyond the scope of mortal armies. At this level, the damage they could inflict is still limited, as their fireballs and spells are weak. However, they can attack and retreat easily; a mortal army if they manage to flee when facing them.

Eighth-stage cultivators can easily break castle walls, set entire cities on fire, etc. They are far beyond mortals; sure, their firepower is still low; for example, if the castle or city is made of non-flammable material, they cannot destroy it, but most cities are made of wood, so in effect, these cultivators can destroy cities by themselves.

Ninth-stage cultivators last longer than 8th-stage ones and can use more complicated spells that were unavailable due to their low mana storage.

Tenth-stage cultivators, especially those at the peak, may barely be able to perform some low-ranking core formation spells; their firepower is to the extent that they can create huge fireballs, destroying a village with one spell.

A core formation cultivator can fly with extremely quick speed, cast huge fireballs that melt even stone castles, and use terrifying curses that can destroy countries if not cured by other cultivators. A core formation cultivator is a god compared to mortals; they are no longer the same species.

Nacan soul cultivators can possess other bodies, teleport far distances, destroy huge cities easily, and destroy armies of millions with a glance; they are beyond the imagination of mortals.

A divine soul cultivator can live forever, destroy counties without breaking a sweat, and create incarnations of themselves; there are few things a mortal can think of that divine soul cultivators can't do. 

Jack hasn't reached core formation for now, but he has energy-gathering cultivators under him. He would still not leave power even if the republic's army were against him. He can suppress any rebellion easily and has an excuse to delegitimize the election, so why not?

...

Regardless of what Congress and the courts said, Jack used military force and held another round of election; Kashu and the land controlled by Kampaku's ministers sanctioned the election, but Jack didn't care and left Kashu's name on the ballot.

The result was an overwhelming win for Jack; he won 95% of the vote. It shouldn't be surprising, as nearly all of Kashu's voters refused to vote.

Jack declared victory and put the matter aside.

He doesn't care much about the mortal world; he cares about his immortal forces. He needs to control the republic because it gives him convenience; it's not like he enjoys ruling over some mortals whom he himself created. In his youth, he used to create and rule over a simulation world; he played his share and now doesn't care. As an incarnation of Jack, he doesn't have access to all the memories, but he has access to most.

Kashu tried persuading the military to help him but failed and ran to the former Kampaku land.

The village chief negotiated with Kampaku's former ministers and reached a deal; soon, they deported Kashu back to the republic.

Jack ordered the judge to sentence him to execution; the judge complied and scheduled the execution in one week.

The people came out to protest, millions, in fact. To soothe the protest using non-violent means, Jack ordered Faith to use a disguise spell and turn herself into Kashu; then, he killed Kashu.

Using Kashu's face, Faith went out into the crowds and started calming the protests.

The disguise spell of the Energy gathering realm is very flawed; anyone actually knowing Kashu would notice the difference; but, the protesters, who only roughly knew Kashu, believed him; many left the streets.

...

Jack sighed; he didn't want to brutally suppress the protesters because that would create ill will toward him, so he decided to play a game instead.

To 'compromise' with the protesters, he appointed 'Kashu' as prime minister; 'Kashu' accepted, and like this, protesters mostly were satisfied.

With mortal election problems finally done, he again turned his attention to important immortal affairs.