Recaps

Charles used the authority he had gained in the Abyss World and his mastery of more than two hundred rule powers to break through the bloodline restraints holding back his wizard rank. After a month of drawing in magical power, he became a five-ring wizard.

• Charles recognized that his knowledge and accumulated authority were enough to attempt the five-ring breakthrough.
• As Charles began advancing, a vast magical vortex formed around his tower, and the Flame Ratmen placed Millstone Fortress and its surrounding strongholds on alert.
• Charles's fifth-tier Demon Lord bloodline suppressed his wizard advancement, but he used potions and rule powers to shatter the restraints.
• Charles's soul broke through to the five-ring threshold, briefly allowing him to analyze more complete rules in the Sea of Rules.
• Charles absorbed the magical power drawn into his tower for a month, then rose and announced, "Five rings!"

After advancing to the Fifth Circle, Charles sensed Anog approaching Millstone Fortress and prepared to test his new strength. Anog demanded healing potions and threatened to destroy Charles’s wizard tower, leaving the two facing off.

• Charles’s advancement to the Fifth Circle drained magic power from the area around Millstone Fortress, and Anog suspected Charles was responsible.
• Anog traveled to Millstone Fortress, hid his aura, and devoured several soldiers while inspecting Charles’s expanded fortifications.
• Charles sensed Anog’s arrival, and Anog smashed through a fortress roof when he realized he had been discovered.
• Charles taunted Anog and appeared atop his wizard tower, while Anog demanded ten healing potions and threatened to tear the tower down.
• Charles mocked Anog’s injuries from his battle with Kolsama and challenged his ability to destroy the wizard tower.

Charles confronted Anog, who demanded Millstone Fortress and claimed Charles's territory as his own. After revealing that he had become a fifth-circle wizard, Charles unleashed five powerful spells against Anog.

• Anog arrived at Millstone Fortress badly wounded from his battle with Kolsama and demanded that Charles surrender his territory.
• Charles refused to yield, while demons across the fortress argued over whether they wanted Anog to rule them.
• Charles revealed his enlarged Balor form and the towering elemental true body he had strengthened with power from the Fire Elemental Plane.
• Anog realized Charles had become a fifth-circle wizard, and Charles began casting five spells infused with dozens of complete laws.
• Charles launched the spells at Anog, who cried out that it was impossible.

Charles used his wizard tower to overwhelm Anog, whose injuries worsened under Charles’s amplified attacks. After Anog tried to flee and then resumed fighting, Charles revealed that an entire elemental plane powered the tower, leaving Anog with no way to exhaust its defenses.

• Charles struck Anog with layered witchcraft that amplified his pain, restrained him, and temporarily deprived him of his senses.
• Anog broke free and attacked Charles’s wizard tower, but its shields regenerated faster than he could destroy them, while Charles continued attacking.
• After half a day of fighting, Anog’s old wounds and new injuries worsened, so he fled and threatened to destroy Charles’s other territories.
• Charles made the wizard tower take flight and pursued Anog, who turned back to fight after assuming the tower would run out of power.
• Charles revealed that an entire elemental plane powered his wizard tower, and Anog realized he could neither exhaust its energy nor break through its defenses.

Charles drove Anog away with his wizard tower and gained the authority Anog had left, while Anog suffered new law injuries and lost what little authority he had. Kolsama learned of the defeat and sent Yugoloths to investigate as Charles spread the battle’s details to discourage Kolsama from attacking him.

• Anog fled into the void after Charles defeated him, then returned to the Abyss World rather than risk Kolsama claiming its authority.
• Charles returned to Millstone Fortress, where the Flame Ratmen and demons cheered, and realized that defeating Anog had increased his authority.
• Anog discovered that Charles had taken his remaining lordly authority and cursed him while beginning the painful process of healing his injuries.
• Kolsama witnessed Anog’s defeat from a distance, returned to Toxic Valley, and ordered demons to investigate what had happened.
• Charles told Mark to share every detail of the battle with the Yugoloths, hoping the news would keep Kolsama from troubling him while he expanded his territory.

Charles rejected Kolsama’s proposed alliance and ordered Bruce to accelerate the demons’ campaign for Abyssal territory. After learning that Charles’s fortress and wizard tower had halted their advance, the devil marquis decided to attack him with everything the devils had.

• Kolsama contacted Charles to propose joining forces against Anog, but Charles refused to commit and told Mark to leave Kolsama waiting.
• Charles praised Mark’s growing success in the merchant guild, then asked Bruce about the front and ordered him to seize territory as quickly as possible.
• Bruce reported that the demons had reached the Abyss World’s border and had encountered no stronger devils.
• The devil marquis learned from a viscount that Charles, a fifth-tier demon lord with a fortress and interplanar gate, had organized the counterattack and driven off a sixth-tier demon lord.
• The devil marquis ordered the viscount to investigate Charles and declared that the devils would hit him with everything they had.

As devils investigated Charles, Mark warned him that a fellow Yugoloth was gathering intelligence to sell. Charles decided to exploit the inevitable leak and ordered Mark to sell the devils selected information from a dossier without making them suspicious.

• A Yugoloth merchant in Mark's command gathered information about Charles's Domain to sell to the devils.
• Mark reported the suspected intelligence leak to Charles, who asked how much information the merchant might have learned.
• Mark explained that Yugoloths would sell nearly everything they could gather and insisted that his own loyalty was secure because his wealth and true name were tied to Charles.
• Charles concluded that the devils had likely obtained basic information from multiple sources and decided to feed them intelligence that could benefit him.
• Charles ordered Mark to sell selected information from a dossier to the devils, mixing truth and falsehood so they would not grow suspicious.

Mark distributed fabricated intelligence about Charles through Yugoloth merchants, making the devils believe Charles was badly injured and dangerously powerful. Convinced the information was reliable, the devil marquis ordered an invasion to kill Charles, while his own injuries remained unhealed.

• Mark studied Charles's detailed dossier and decided to make the devils believe its information had been gathered from multiple sources.
• Mark arranged for Greater Demons and Flame Ratmen to leak pieces of intelligence, which Yugoloth merchants sold to their devil kin.
• The devil viscount's intelligence division cross-checked reports and concluded that Charles had severe injuries inflicted by Kolsama and could nearly withstand a sixth-rank demon lord.
• The devil marquis decided Charles had to be killed and ordered the viscount to summon the other viscounts and barons to plan an invasion.

Charles anticipated a coming war with the devils and moved his wizard tower from Millstone Fortress to Bruce's front lines, ordering his Grand Demons to conquer territory faster. Their legions overran devil settlements, rapidly expanding Charles's territory and authority.

• Charles left a Grand Demon to guard Millstone Fortress and teleported his wizard tower to Bruce's legion.
• Charles ordered Bruce, Zarlos, and the other Grand Demons to lead their legions outward, kill more devils, and call for his support if they encountered a Grand Devil.
• The Grand Demons mobilized their legions, leaving devils who had stayed in frontier settlements with little time to flee.
• Zarlos smashed through a settlement's defensive wall and slaughtered devils and demons amid the battle.
• Charles's forces captured devil settlements at a rapid pace, increasing his territory and authority.

Charles's growing authority let him absorb Abyssal magic and expand his territory, while five demons under his command advanced into Greater Demons. As Charles's forces encroached on Dorkas's territory, Dorkas raged in his palace as his subordinates doubted him and plotted betrayal.

• Charles continued condensing his elemental true body by passively absorbing the Abyss World's magical power.
• Charles's forces expanded outward, and five demons—three Flame Ratmen, a Balor, and a Wolf Serpent Demon—advanced into Greater Demons, bringing his total to sixteen.
• Charles's legion pushed into Dorkas's territory, destroying settlements and taking their resources.
• Dorkas raged in his mountain palace over Charles's invasion while his Greater Demons suspected he was too frightened to fight back.
• A Greater Demon licked his claws and eyed Dorkas with greed, and Dorkas knocked him down with a huge object.

A colossal Wizard Tower emerged from a portal above Dorkas's domain, and its master seized a Greater Demon who had been plotting against Dorkas. The Greater Demon found himself before a mighty Balor Lord and submitted, praising his overwhelming power.

• A Greater Demon urged Dorkas to launch a surprise attack, but Dorkas insulted him and drove him from the hall.
• The Greater Demon plotted to betray Dorkas as an enormous portal opened in the sky and a Wizard Tower burst through it.
• The Wizard Tower appeared above the Greater Demon, and an unseen figure lifted him into the tower despite his attempts to escape.
• The Greater Demon found himself surrounded by powerful demons and recognized the Balor Lord seated on a throne.
• The Greater Demon bowed before the Balor Lord and praised him as too brutal and too evil.

Charles used his wizard tower to capture a great demon and trap Dorkas and the other demons inside the palace. After Dorkas insulted him, Charles ordered Zarlos to go down and deal with him.

• Charles seized a fourth-rank Demon Lord and dragged him up to the wizard tower, leaving Dorkas horrified by the power behind the attack.
• Dorkas tried to flee into the void, but the wizard tower's Dimensional Anchors sealed the surrounding space and bounced him back along with the other escaping demons.
• Dorkas roared at Charles and called him a heretic for locking down the space.
• Zarlos laughed at Dorkas's insults, then claimed he had been laughing from rage when Charles confronted him.
• Charles told Zarlos to go down and tear apart the demon who had insulted him, and Zarlos reacted with surprise.

Charles and his forces attacked Dorkas as he led his Greater Demons against the wizard tower. Charles’s overwhelming magic blasted Dorkas into the ruins of his palace, leaving Charles standing above him.

• Dorkas flew out from the palace and rallied his Greater Demons to charge the wizard tower.
• Zarlos pleaded to be let back inside, and Bruce led more than a dozen Greater Demons in a counterattack from the tower.
• Charles revealed his immense fifth-tier aura and unleashed five layers of empowered witchcraft against Dorkas.
• Charles’s spells shattered Dorkas’s defenses and drove him into the palace, reducing it and the surrounding buildings to ruins.
• Dorkas struggled up from the rubble and saw Charles standing on the wizard tower above him.

Charles and his Greater Demons subdued Dorkas, a wounded fifth-rank demon lord, and offered him a chance to submit. Dorkas refused and challenged Charles to fight him one-on-one, so Charles released him and prepared to loosen up his bones.

• Bruce led the Greater Demons in attacking Dorkas while Charles weakened and restrained him with sorcery.
• The Greater Demons overwhelmed Dorkas, pinned him to the ground, and brought Charles down from his wizard tower.
• Charles offered Dorkas his life in exchange for submission, but Dorkas refused and demanded a fair fight.
• Charles praised Dorkas's courage, ordered the Greater Demons to release him, and dispelled the weakening sorcery.
• Dorkas recovered his strength, ignored his wounds, and warned Charles that he would regret the decision.

Charles overpowered Dorkas in a one-sided fight and forced the fifth-rank Demon Lord to submit and reveal his true name. Charles returned to the Wizard Tower, leaving Dorkas defeated and grieving the freedom he had just regained.

• Dorkas gathered power from the surrounding rules and charged Charles, while Zarlos and the other Greater Demons watched.
• Charles unleashed Fear Radiance, seized Dorkas, and beat him until he could no longer resist or speak clearly.
• A kneeling Greater Demon told Charles that Dorkas had likely surrendered but was too badly beaten to say so.
• Dorkas tearfully confirmed his submission, then told Charles he submitted completely and gave him his demon true name.
• Charles withdrew the rule power he had left in Dorkas and headed toward the Wizard Tower, while Dorkas lay among the ruins mourning his lost freedom.

After defeating Dorkas, Charles absorbed the Abyss World Authority and ordered his Greater Demons to conquer more territory. Dorkas was left injured and subservient, stripped of most of his hidden resources, but he finally felt the wind again atop the Wizard Tower.

• Charles gained Dorkas's Authority and commanded his followers to seize more territory through long-distance portals.
• The Greater Demons departed for the front lines while Dorkas stayed on the Wizard Tower to recover from his injuries.
• Charles discovered Dorkas's hidden storehouse and ordered him to bring out its resources, taking most of the valuables for himself.
• Dorkas wept over his losses and lamented that even the wind was gone, then noticed wind blowing by his ear.

Charles gained enough authority from his expanding territory to break through to sixth-rank power, then tested a destructive black sphere that shattered the Abyss’s barrier. Dorkas recognized Charles’s new strength and struggled to dismiss it as temporary.

• Charles’s aura grew as his Greater Demons expanded his territory and brought more demons under his rule.
• Charles broke through the threshold to sixth-rank power, blasting Dorkas off the wizard tower.
• Charles formed a pitch-black sphere of energy and hurled it into the distance, where it shattered space and the Abyss’s barrier.
• Dorkas realized Charles had reached sixth-rank power through authority and tried to convince himself that Charles’s strength was not genuine.

Charles’s Authority gave him temporary false sixth-tier power, drawing the attention of Anog and Kolsama. After Kolsama threatened to ally with Anog against him, Charles considered how to respond if the demon lords joined forces.

• Anog sensed a new sixth-tier power and suspected Charles had gained it.
• Kolsama saw Charles’s power and worried that Charles had benefited from his war with Anog.
• Kolsama confronted Charles, who threatened to ally with Anog against him.
• Kolsama proposed joining forces with Anog to kill Charles, then left.
• Dorkas warned Charles that the demon lords might cooperate, and Charles considered how to face them both.

Charles worried that Anog and Kolsama could join forces against him and destroy the territory supporting his unstable sixth-order power. Kolsama reached Anog and proposed cooperation against Charles, but Anog dismissed the threat, prompting Kolsama to angrily point out Anog’s weakness.

• Charles considered how Anog and Kolsama could overwhelm him by attacking his legion and territory, then kicked Dorkas out of sight when he noticed Dorkas enjoying his predicament.
• Kolsama captured a Yugoloth and threatened him until the subordinate found a way to contact Anog.
• Anog decided to hear Kolsama out because Charles’s advancement threatened the standing and authority of the sixth-order demon lords.
• Kolsama met Anog through the Yugoloth’s body and proposed that they cooperate.
• Anog called Charles only a pseudo sixth-order demon lord and claimed he could crush him, so Kolsama retorted that Charles was uninjured while Anog hid underground.

Anog and Kolsama debated how to deal with Charles, whose growing strength and wizard tower threatened them both. They agreed to meet to remove the rule power lodged in each other, but the encounter ended in mutual accusations as they acted at the same time.

• Kolsama warned Anog that Charles had grown to false sixth-rank strength and could now defeat him.
• Anog and Kolsama considered joining forces, but Anog rejected a direct attack on Charles and agreed instead to take turns holding him back while the other attacked his legion and territory.
• Kolsama suggested they remove the rule power they had left in each other to heal faster, and Anog agreed to meet him.
• At the meeting, Kolsama considered killing the injured Anog, while both demons claimed they wanted to cooperate.
• Anog and Kolsama reached for each other’s rule power at the same time, then shouted accusations.

The two sixth-rank demon lords failed to cooperate smoothly but renewed their plans to target Charles. Meanwhile, the devils mobilized an army of over ten million to destroy him, leaving Charles to assess the danger from both sides and seek a response.

• The two sixth-rank demon lords injured each other while trying to form an alliance, then contacted one another again to discuss targeting Charles.
• The devils gathered intelligence about Charles and learned that he was a fifth-rank demon lord, a fifth-circle wizard, and the owner of a five-story wizard tower.
• The devil marquis ordered the devil army to assemble and warned nearby devil cities to prepare for battle against Charles.
• Yugoloths sold intelligence between both sides, and reports about the devils reached Charles's wizard tower.
• Charles and his officers assessed the threat from the two demon lords and the more than ten million devil soldiers, while Charles considered how to respond.

Charles ordered his demons to evacuate their settlements and gather at Millstone Fortress, aiming to preserve his forces against the advancing devils. The devil army began its advance through abandoned ruins, while its marquis recognized that the retreat would make the fortress assault costly.

• Charles decided to withdraw his forces rather than fight the devils across scattered settlements, and ordered his demons to bring everything movable to Millstone Fortress and destroy what they left behind.
• Many demons began evacuating with their families and supplies, while others hesitated, refused to leave, or fled into the wilderness.
• A devil marquis learned of the retreat and ordered troops to pursue the demons, while preparing the rest of the army to advance.
• The devil marquis warned that Charles was gathering his forces inside a well-built fortress and that the devils would suffer losses if they ignored him.
• The devil troops advanced through ruins and encountered only small, weak groups of demons, leaving them without enough corpses for sacrificial rituals as they marched under the Abyss's hostile will.

Charles gathered an elite force of demons to strike the scattered devil vanguard invading the Abyss. After rallying his troops, he sent the wizard tower through an enormous long-distance teleportation gate toward the devils.

• With the devil vanguard advancing without resistance, Charles ordered elite Intermediate Demons and Greater Demons to prepare for battle.
• Charles punished Zarlos for complaining, and Zarlos gathered the demons as ordered.
• Charles loaded two hundred thousand Intermediate Demons and three thousand Greater Demons into his expanded wizard tower.
• Charles rallied the assembled demons by promising advancement for those who fought bravely and killed devils.
• Charles powered the wizard tower with the elemental plane core and led it through a massive teleportation gate, declaring the devils' destruction had come.

Charles's demon legion ambushed and destroyed a devil army, then launched a surprise attack on another force commanded by a devil baron. The baron's escape attempt failed after Charles's wizard tower locked down the surrounding space.

• A Pit Fiend commander found the settlement in ruins and ordered his devils and Lemures to repair it.
• Charles's wizard tower emerged from a portal above the devil army, and spells and demons attacked before the troops could respond.
• Zarlos tore the Pit Fiend commander in half, and the demons wiped out the leaderless devil legion with almost no losses.
• After the demons returned to the wizard tower, Charles found another target and teleported above an army of several hundred thousand devils.
• A devil baron tried to escape with a teleportation scroll, but Charles's Dimensional Anchor caused it to explode and cut off his escape.

Charles used his wizard tower to destroy several devil legions before the Abyss's warning prompted him to withdraw toward Millstone Fortress. The devils stopped splitting their forces and advanced as one enormous legion, which reached the volcanic range and was astonished by the fortress.

• Charles killed a devil baron and used third-circle spells from his wizard tower to help his demons annihilate the baron's legion.
• Charles attacked several more devil legions over several days, then withdrew toward his core legion after receiving a hint from the will of the Abyss.
• A devil marquis prepared an ambush for Charles, but Charles avoided it and attacked other frontline forces instead.
• The devil marquis gathered his forces into one enormous legion and ordered it to advance directly toward Millstone Fortress.
• The devils reached the outskirts of the volcanic range and marveled at the fortress.