Recaps

After Scorchflame confirmed that Charles had become a fourth-tier Great Demon, the wizards at Isata discussed the risks and benefits of his advancement. Anderson helped Scorchflame complete the summoning rune array while the sages and grand wizards waited for Charles to return.

• Scorchflame confirmed that Charles had become a Great Demon and had sent him to set up a rune array to guide Charles back to Isata.
• Sage Webster praised Charles’s boldness and told Anderson that a Great Demon could still advance to become a Fourth Ring wizard.
• Anderson agreed that Charles’s return could strengthen their influence in Isata and eagerly offered to help finish the summoning rune array.
• Anderson entered the tower with Scorchflame to complete the array while the sages and grand wizards stayed to await Charles.

Charles returned from Millstone Fortress to Isata through the Abyss Gate, where his allies expected a Greater Demon but saw him emerge as a Demon Lord. He revealed himself to Anderson, leaving the wizard sages stunned.

• Charles finished calibrating the Abyss Gate, ordered Bruce to guard Millstone Fortress and keep Zarlos under control, and told him to have the Flame Ratmen earn merit.
• Charles traveled through the Abyss Gate toward Isata and admired the Abyss Worlds, the Nine Hells, and the stars along the way.
• Anderson secretly shifted Charles's arrival point to outside the tower as Webster, Noah, and the others waited for the portal to open.
• The Abyss Gate expanded to thirty meters and released an oppressive aura, alarming the wizards gathered around it.
• Charles emerged as a nineteen-meter-tall Balor Lord, prompting Anderson to ask where Charles was.
• Charles looked down at Anderson and said, "Teacher, I am Charles."

Charles revealed that he had become a fifth-tier Balor demon lord and a fourth-circle wizard sage with a massive elemental true body, shocking the wizards gathered in Isata. He agreed to speak privately with Anderson, Webster, and Noah about his return and plans for cooperation.

• Charles transformed from a nineteen-meter-tall Balor demon lord back into human form and confirmed his identity to Anderson and Webster.
• Charles told Anderson that he remained a wizard and revealed his fourth-circle rank and twenty-meter Balor-shaped elemental true body.
• The gathered wizards realized Charles had become a wizard sage, while Anderson and Webster were astonished by the size of his elemental true body.
• Noah invited Charles and Anderson to talk elsewhere, hoping to persuade Charles to remain in Isata, and Charles agreed to discuss cooperation.
• Charles returned the evolving Scorchflame to his tower, sealed it, and left with the others.

Charles met with Isata’s wizard Sages, received a wizard tower construction plan, and discussed developing his Abyss territory and trading its materials. He revealed that he could also supply materials from Purgatory, leaving the Sages astonished by the dangerous opportunity.

• Webster and Noah discussed Charles’s advancement to wizard Sage, and Noah offered to submit the paperwork to the Wizard Tribunal.
• Charles told the Sages that he planned to develop between Isata and the Abyss and confirmed that he owned Abyss territory.
• Noah gave Charles a wizard tower construction plan without requiring centuries of service to Isata.
• Webster asked whether Charles could transport Abyss materials to Isata, and Charles agreed, mentioning his demon workforce and supplies from Purgatory.
• The Sages reacted with shock when Charles said he could provide Purgatory devil materials, whose dangers included contracts, deception, and betrayal.

Charles told the Isata wizard sages how he became a fifth-rank Demon Lord in Purgatory and offered them a chance to trade through his Abyss Gate. After several days of negotiations, the groups established a profitable trade plan, and Charles reassured Anderson that he could retreat if the Abyss became too dangerous.

• Charles described killing more than a dozen Devil Barons in Purgatory, and the wizard sages declined his offer to join him in the Abyss.
• Charles promised to share the profits from trade through his Abyss Gate, and he summoned Mark to negotiate on his behalf.
• Mark and the merchants negotiated for several days, then completed a business plan that protected both sides' interests.
• Charles returned to Anderson's place, where Lady Boxi and Anderson's students welcomed him as a newly renowned wizard sage.
• Anderson asked whether Charles intended to keep developing his business in the dangerous Abyss, and Charles said he could flee through the Abyss Gate if necessary.

Charles prepared Scorchflame’s supplies while researching a wizard tower he planned to build in the Abyss, then waited for Scorchflame to finish advancing. Scorchflame emerged nearly at the peak of the fourth rank and immediately announced he would buy a hundred more wives.

• Charles returned to his tower, supplied Scorchflame with fire-element materials, and checked on the many snakes, drakes, and students living there.
• Charles moved the strengthened cross-planar teleportation gate to a new tower on Isata and planned to send third-rank Blood Ring Knights to Osela instead of entering himself.
• Charles studied wizard tower construction and planned to build one in Millstone Fortress, using abundant Abyssal materials and seeking an elemental plane as its core energy source.
• Charles considered how a wizard tower could improve his defenses, spells, and ability to access complete rules, but waited for Scorchflame to finish advancing.
• Scorchflame completed his advancement with strength nearly at the peak of the fourth rank and told Charles he would buy another hundred wives.

After returning to the Abyss World, Charles began preparing two peak Greater Demon Flame Ratmen to break through by giving them Devil Baron heart cores and taking them into battle. The two Ratmen rapidly gained strength through slaughter, while Charles continued supporting them on the battlefield.

• Charles returned to the Abyss World and learned from Bruce that two Flame Ratmen had reached the peak of Greater Demon rank.
• Charles rejected Zarlos's request for Devil Baron heart cores and ordered him to remain at the fortress on guard.
• Bruce brought the two Flame Ratmen to Charles, who gave each a Devil Baron heart core and planned to guide them in battle.
• The Flame Ratmen absorbed the heart cores and fought devils while Charles protected them and weakened their enemies with his power.
• Charles heavily injured a powerful Pit Fiend with a burst of flame, leaving one of the Flame Ratmen to finish him off.

Charles brought two Flame Ratmen back to Millstone Fortress to advance, then rewarded Kaseron and built his forces to seven fourth-rank Greater Demons. As Demon Lords fought over the Abyss Overlord position, Charles gathered intelligence on the sixth-rank lords Kolsama and Anog, and learned that Kolsama wielded a powerful divine artifact.

• A Flame Ratman began advancing, and Charles carried his demon egg back toward Millstone Fortress; another Flame Ratman began advancing a few days later.
• Charles summoned Kaseron, gave him a demon heart core, and ordered him to lead a legion against nearby devils and advance into a Greater Demon.
• The two Flame Ratmen, Kaseron, and two more Flame Ratmen advanced, giving Charles seven fourth-rank Greater Demons and drawing more demons into his territory.
• Charles summoned Mark and asked about the other Demon Lords; Mark identified the two sixth-rank lords as Kolsama and Anog.
• Mark explained that Kolsama wielded a divine artifact containing a God of War's laws and was rumored to have used it to fatally wound the former Overlord Hachiwote.

Charles learned that the sixth-rank demon lords Anog and Kolsama Dalle might be targeting weaker demon lords, so he ordered Mark to watch them closely. Fearing an attack on his territory, Charles accelerated construction of his wizard tower and decided to use a magic pool as its temporary energy source.

• Mark told Charles that Anog had devoured merchants’ stockpiles and might be preparing to attack a fifth-rank demon lord.
• Charles ordered Mark to report immediately if Anog or Kolsama Dalle approached his territory.
• Charles decided to avoid leaving the Abyss and speed up construction of his wizard tower.
• Charles had spellcasters and spiritually powerful Flame Ratmen help build the tower from third-rank Abyssal Demon Iron.
• Charles realized he could not safely search for an elemental plane, so he planned to power the tower with a magic pool until he could find a permanent core.

Charles built a mana pool in his wizard tower and gathered his Greater Demons inside as sixth-rank Demon Lords began hunting nearby. Anog ambushed the unfinished tower, but its shields blocked his attack, and he demanded that Charles surrender his resources.

• Charles installed rune arrays beneath the surrounding volcanoes to draw mana into his wizard tower’s pools, which filled with liquid mana and began accumulating mana crystals.
• After hearing that Kolsama had eaten a fifth-rank Demon Lord, Charles recalled his forces and kept all ten of his Greater Demons inside the tower.
• Anog ambushed Charles while he was refining materials, but the wizard tower’s automatic shields stopped his attack.
• Charles transformed into a nineteen-meter-tall Balor, and Anog demanded his resources while threatening to tear down the tower.

Anog demanded that Charles sacrifice Greater Demons so he could eat them, but Charles refused and prepared to fight the injured sixth-rank Demon Lord from his wizard tower. Charles and his forces wounded Anog, who then struck back at the tower’s shields.

• Anog offered to spare Charles if he threw two Greater Demons out for him to eat, but Charles refused.
• Zarlos and Kaseron argued over who should be sacrificed, and Anog singled out Zarlos before Zarlos attacked him with a Firestorm.
• Charles warned Anog that his injuries would worsen if he fought near the wizard tower, then ordered his forces to prepare their spells.
• Charles, the wizard tower, and the ten Greater Demons unleashed spells that pierced Anog’s magic resistance and wounded him.
• Anog drew on his rule power and repeatedly struck the wizard tower, but its shields held.

Charles defended his wizard tower against Anog’s relentless assault until Anog’s accumulated injuries forced him to retreat. With the mana pools nearly half depleted, Charles remained wary that Anog might return.

• Anog attacked Charles’s wizard tower for a day while Charles countered with repeated witchcraft spells, worsening Anog’s injuries.
• A fifth-tier pseudo-witchcraft spell triggered the law-inflicted wounds inside Anog, leaving him drenched in blood.
• Anog continued fighting, threatened to return, and teleported away; the greater demons cheered as Zarlos’s loyalty to Charles briefly increased.
• The Book of Causal Paths told Charles that Anog was badly wounded but remained too powerful to pursue outside the tower.
• Charles saw that the mana pools had nearly lost half their energy and stayed on guard, while Zarlos stopped asking to leave the tower.

After defeating Anog, Charles ordered Manu to publicize his victory and the interplanar portal to attract merchants and discourage Kolsama. Kolsama secretly waited outside Charles's Domain for a chance to attack, but Charles stayed in his Wizard Tower, so Kolsama left to hunt for Anog instead.

• Charles summoned Manu and told him to spread news of Anog's defeat and the interplanar portal.
• Manu's information channels spread the news across the Abyss, drawing the interest of demon merchants.
• Anog, recovering from his injuries, vowed to kill Charles, while Kolsama saw Anog's weakness as an opportunity.
• Kolsama secretly went to Charles's Domain, but Charles remained inside his Wizard Tower as its construction was completed.
• After waiting several days without seeing Charles leave, Kolsama gave up and set out to find Anog.

After Kolsama failed to kill Anog, Charles secretly offered to help Anog stay alive and keep Kolsama occupied. Anog accepted in exchange for potions to heal his law-inflicted injuries, while Charles gained law power from both Demon Lords to study.

• Mark reported that Kolsama and Anog had fought fiercely, but Anog escaped despite sustaining severe injuries.
• Charles ordered Manu to secretly contact Anog through trustworthy Yugoloths and prevent any leaks.
• Mark arranged contact with Anog, who recognized Charles's motive and agreed to cooperate in exchange for potions that could treat his law injuries.
• Anog sent Charles law power from Kolsama that remained in his body, and Charles divided it between his own research and Noah and the sages in Isata.
• Charles laughed as he began studying the powers of Kolsama and Anog, seeing the material as a valuable opportunity.

Charles secured five potions that could heal injuries caused by rule power and summoned Anog to collect them at Millstone Fortress. Anog agreed to swear a soul oath not to oppose Charles or interfere with his territory, though Charles still required him to make the oath.

• Noah ordered Isata’s wizard sages, including Anderson and Webster, to analyze Anog’s rule power and develop data potions.
• Noah and the other sages brewed five potions to treat injuries caused by rule power.
• Charles kept some potions and demanded that Anog come to Millstone Fortress to collect one in person.
• Anog traveled to the fortress in secret, avoided Charles’s demon laborers, and contacted Charles after waiting for him to appear.
• Charles offered Anog a treatment potion in exchange for a soul oath that he would not become Charles’s enemy or interfere in his territory.
• Anog agreed to the conditions, and Charles told him to swear the oath.

Charles gave Anog a healing potion and offered to brew more in exchange for valuable resources, while secretly arranging to make potions for Kolsama as well. Anog began recovering and vowed revenge on both Kolsama and Charles, while Kolsama sensed his injuries fading and suspected Charles.

• Anog swore an oath to Charles, who tossed him a potion and demanded resources worth at least five hundred million soul shards for each additional bottle.
• Charles told Bruce he planned to brew potions for both Anog and Kolsama, hoping the rivals would fight again after recovering.
• Anog tested the potion, confirmed it could remove Kolsama's lingering power, and drank the whole bottle to attack his injuries.
• As the potion and Anog's power burned away Kolsama's rule power, Anog screamed and vowed to kill Kolsama and Charles.
• Kolsama sensed the rule power on Anog disappearing rapidly and wondered whether Charles was responsible.

Charles exploited the rivalry between Anog and Kolsama by selling them healing potions, then took his wizard tower into the outer void to find a fire elemental plane. He reached the red-lit plane he had purchased from Sage Webster.

• Anog and Kolsama fought fiercely, but both sixth-rank Demon Lords escaped after suffering severe injuries.
• Charles contacted Kolsama, who cursed him for stirring up their conflict but admitted he still needed his potions.
• Charles sold healing potions to both Demon Lords, earning vast resources while their soul oaths kept his territory safe for the time being.
• Charles left four Greater Demons, including Bruce, behind to guard Millstone Fortress and piloted his wizard tower into the outer void.
• Charles avoided a dangerous void storm and teleported to the fire elemental plane he had bought from Sage Webster.

Charles breached the Fire Elemental Plane’s crystal wall and sent Bruce and three other Greater Demons inside to kill its strongest fire elemental. After they returned with its corpse and core, Charles and the demons began compressing the plane, whose will could not affect him from outside.

• Charles ordered Bruce and the other Greater Demons to enter the plane and kill any fourth-rank elemental while he opened its crystal wall with a witchcraft artifact.
• Charles circled the plane and set up witchcraft artifacts as Bruce’s group endured the plane’s rejection and searched for its fourth-rank fire elemental.
• Bruce and the Greater Demons fought and killed the large fire elemental, then returned with its corpse and core.
• Charles activated the artifacts around the plane, and Bruce and the others supplied them with magic power as they slowly compressed it.
• Charles ignored the plane’s rejecting will, which could not affect him while he remained outside.

Charles compressed the Fire Elemental Plane and installed it in his wizard tower as its energy source, restoring the tower’s power. He returned to Millstone Fortress, where Zarlos welcomed him back.

• Charles spent mana essence to compress the Fire Elemental Plane until it was small enough to fit inside his wizard tower.
• Charles placed the plane on the tower’s arcane artifacts, which connected to it and began drawing its power.
• With the tower’s energy supply restored, Charles opened a long-distance portal and traveled toward the Abyss World.
• Charles returned to Millstone Fortress after teleporting for half a month.
• Zarlos, who had wondered whether Charles would return, knelt and welcomed him as the wizard tower appeared above the fortress.

After returning to the Abyss World, Charles agreed to provide Noah and the others with one final batch of healing potions while planning to stop aiding the two demon lords afterward. He then used his wizard tower and its elemental plane core to analyze the rules he had acquired, leaving him preparing to pursue advancement to a fifth-ring wizard.

• Charles returned to Millstone Fortress, asked Zarlos what had happened in his absence, and summoned Mark.
• Mark told Charles that the two sixth-rank demon lords had contacted him for more potions, and Charles agreed to arrange a final supply.
• Charles recognized that Anog and Kolsama both hated him for profiting from their conflict, but continued trading because each feared losing access to his healing potions.
• After receiving Charles's potions, Anog and Kolsama drank them and remained intent on defeating each other before turning against Charles.
• Charles built a rune array in his wizard tower and used the power of his elemental plane to analyze the complete rules he had acquired.
• As rule runes streamed around the tower, Charles sensed that mastering the rules might let him begin preparing to advance to a fifth-ring wizard.

Zarlos lamented his declining status as Flame Ratmen filled Millstone Fortress, while Charles continued strengthening his territory. Outside the fortress, the Abyss struggled against the expanding Purgatory invasion, and even the two sixth-tier Demon Lords feared provoking Charles.

• Zarlos watched the growing Flame Ratmen population and complained until nearby Grand Demon Flame Ratmen rebuked him, prompting him to praise them instead.
• Zarlos recalled how Flame Ratmen had surpassed him in status and decided he would not risk leaving Charles's control while the outside world remained dangerous.
• Charles's forces grew to include ten Grand Demon Flame Ratmen besides Bruce, and Flame Ratmen and Fireburn Demons guarded Millstone Fortress's main city.
• Devils expanded into Abyss territory, where the Purgatory Will replaced the Abyss Will and began producing Lemures instead of demon eggs.
• The two sixth-tier Demon Lords preyed on Grand Demons across the Abyss, but they avoided Charles's territory because they wanted his potions and feared his growing power.

Charles's organized demon legions expanded across the Abyss World while he analyzed laws in his wizard tower. When devils attacked one of his fortresses, reinforcements encircled them and showed that Charles's demons were no longer ordinary, disorganized forces.

• Charles analyzed laws as his demon legions won territory and built settlements and fortresses across the Abyss World.
• Devils attacked a small fortress defended by Greater Flame Ratmen, other Greater Demons, and lower-ranking demons.
• The devils noticed the defenders were disciplined and conserving their strength, unlike the demons they expected to face.
• Flame Ratman cavalry and other demon reinforcements arrived, surrounding the attacking devils as the fortress garrison charged out.
• More than a dozen Greater Demons coordinated to kill the seven or eight Greater Devils, and the last devil realized the demons were no longer ordinary before he was beheaded.

Charles gained a share of the Abyss World’s authority and considered expanding his territory, but chose to remain in his wizard tower while sending his greater demons to fight the devils. He ordered Zarlos to join the expedition despite Zarlos’s efforts to stay behind.

• Charles realized Hachiwote’s death and the absence of a new abyssal archdemon lord had caused authority to flow to demon lords, and the Book of Causal Paths warned that Anog and Kolsama had gained power too.
• Charles considered seizing territory while Anog and Kolsama fought, but decided that confronting them was too dangerous and planned to keep cultivating in his wizard tower.
• Charles summoned his fourteen greater demons and ordered them to lead legions against the devils eroding the Abyss’s outskirts.
• Zarlos claimed he should stay at Millstone Fortress to protect Charles, while Kaseron called him a coward and Zarlos privately judged Kaseron a fool.
• Charles ordered Bruce to leave four Flame Ratmen in the city and sent every other greater demon, including Zarlos, into battle.

Charles sent Bruce and a massive demon legion from Millstone Fortress to expand his territory, increasing Charles's authority and strength. Meanwhile, the injured Anog and Kolsama considered how to use Charles and their growing authority to defeat each other.

• Charles ordered Zarlos to lead the legion out of Millstone Fortress, and Bruce took command of the expedition.
• Charles's authority and strength grew as the legion set out, and he studied higher-circle spell models Mark had obtained.
• Anog, injured and holding little territory, decided to find a way around his soul oath so he could kill Charles and seize his lands.
• Kolsama gained more authority than Anog because he still held territory, but he suspected the Abyss World's power was declining.
• Kolsama considered persuading Charles to help him kill Anog, but he struggled to find a reason Charles would agree.

Bruce’s demon legion captured a major devil settlement and continued expanding Charles’s territory through the Abyss. As the sky reverted from Purgatory to the Abyss, a high-ranking devil suspected a new Abyss grand lord had appeared and rushed to report the news.

• Bruce’s legion overwhelmed the devil pioneers and surrounded a settlement holding about two hundred thousand devils.
• Zarlos broke through the town wall, and the demons slaughtered the defenders and set the town ablaze.
• Bruce ordered Kaseron to rebuild the settlement as a fortress, then led the legion onward to clear more devil strongholds.
• High-ranking devils began retreating as they realized the demon advance was threatening their territories.
• A high-ranking devil saw the sky return to the Abyss, suspected a new Abyss grand lord had emerged, and hurried to report it.
• A devil marquis doubted that a new Abyss grand lord could have appeared so soon and ordered someone to buy intelligence from a Yugoloth merchant.