Chapter Summaries

Charles considered fleeing Hachiwote’s army, but the Book of Causal Paths persuaded him to join the coming war by promising to protect him with a false true name and weave a safer destiny. Tempted by the chance to gain power from the battlefield, Charles agreed to take the risk.

• Charles prepared to flee Hachiwote, fearing conscription and the loss of his true name.
• The Book of Causal Paths told Charles it could weave a false true name from one of his mastered rules, limiting the damage an enemy could inflict through it.
• The Book of Causal Paths argued that the war would provide causal power and souls, which could strengthen both it and Charles.
• Charles worried that powerful devils and demons could kill him, but the Book of Causal Paths promised to weave a destiny in which Hachiwote made him a demon general and protected him from death.
• After weighing the risks and deciding he could flee if necessary, Charles agreed to join the war.

Charles created a disguised true name with the Book of Causal Paths, then received Demon Grand Lord Hachiwote’s command to march against the devils in Purgatory. He prepared his forces and left Millstone Fortress under guard, then encountered Mark and Saru’s caravan traveling with his army.

• Charles used the Book of Causal Paths to create a disguised true name and learned it could be targeted without exposing his real name.
• Demon Grand Lord Hachiwote’s summons reached Charles, and the Book of Causal Paths explained that Hachiwote’s authority over the Abyss compelled demons to obey.
• Charles rallied his forces for the Blood War and ordered Bruce to leave selected Ratmen behind to guard Millstone Fortress and preserve their bloodlines.
• Charles left one thousand Lesser Flame Ratmen and one hundred intermediate ones in Millstone Fortress, then led the rest of his forces toward Purgatory.
• Charles found Mark and Saru’s caravan traveling with his army, and they said they welcomed war because it allowed them to make money.

Charles grew his army by absorbing demon forces and reached the Abyssal Overlord Hachiwote, who forced him to surrender his true name and demonstrated that he could punish him through it. Charles swore loyalty to Hachiwote and saw the powerful demon lords gathered in the Overlord’s palace.

• Charles agreed to let Saru and Mark trade his spoils for fourth-circle sorcery.
• Charles recruited demon forces by demanding their true names and absorbing their troops into his army.
• Charles reached the demon legions and saw armies stretching across the land beneath a vast palace carried by demon behemoths.
• Hachiwote seized Charles and demanded his true name, so Charles offered up his false true name.
• The Book of Causal Paths warned Charles that Hachiwote was about to torture him, and Charles felt the pain transmitted through his name.
• Charles swore loyalty to Hachiwote and observed the fifth- and sixth-tier demon lords in the palace hall.

Charles followed Hachiwote’s demon army into the Purgatory world, where the demons’ Abyss-granted protection vanished and the world itself opposed them. The Book of Causal Paths revealed that Hachiwote was a peak sixth-rank Greater Demon Lord seeking to become seventh-rank by defeating powerful devils, and Charles hoped to profit from the war.

• Charles watched Hachiwote’s powerful forces gather and learned from the Book of Causal Paths that it could not determine whether Hachiwote’s rank came from his own strength or the Abyss’s blessing until they entered Purgatory.
• Charles returned to his army and continued absorbing demon forces while the legion advanced, then led an assault that breached a Greater Devil outpost and slaughtered its defenders.
• After crossing into Purgatory, Charles felt the world’s hostility toward the demons, which Hachiwote’s roar briefly dispelled.
• The Book of Causal Paths identified Hachiwote as a peak sixth-rank Greater Demon Lord who hoped to kill powerful devils and advance, but warned that a nearby devil duke could endanger him.
• Charles hoped Hachiwote would win so he could seize spoils and kill devil barons, while the Book of Causal Paths looked forward to absorbing power from the deaths and helping Charles advance.

Charles and the Book of Causal Paths planned to exploit the opportunity to become demon lords and expand their forces. Meanwhile, a devil count prepared his fortress city for an approaching abyssal army and began summoning outsiders to help defend it.

• Charles considered carving out a domain and promoting Bruce and Delis if he became a demon lord.
• Devils and creatures from other worlds crowded into the fortress city as an abyssal army approached.
• The fifth-rank Pit Fiend devil count assessed his forces and reassured his nobles that the city could hold until reinforcements arrived.
• The devil count ordered his forces to fill the city, summon more reinforcements, and put newcomers to work on the walls.
• The devil count entered an underground spell formation and began enticing beings from other worlds with promises of a vast inheritance.

A vast demon army attacked a huge devil city, while Charles tried to stay out of the initial fighting. The assault began with devastating spells on both sides, and a third-circle wizard died in a Firestorm.

• Devils and mercenaries spotted the approaching demon horde and sounded the alarm to prepare the city defenses.
• Charles slowed his legion’s advance, surveyed the city’s three walls, and hid near the back of Hachiwote’s gathering.
• Hachiwote ordered the demons to breach the city quickly and claimed the Devil Count as his prey.
• Millions of demons attacked the city from the air and ground as defenders unleashed spells and earned battle merits for kills.
• A Firestorm swept across a section of wall, killing many devils and destroying the third-circle wizard’s defenses before he died.

Charles held his demons back from attacking the city’s first two walls while his sorcery devastated the defenders and filled the Book of Causal Paths with soul power. As the demonic horde breached the first wall, a newly arrived mercenary was blinded by corrosive blood rain and dragged away by devils.

• Charles slapped Zarlos out of the sky and ordered the Greater Demons to wait until the legion reached the city’s final wall.
• Charles continued bombarding the city with rule-infused sorcery, absorbing vast amounts of devil soul power and gaining two golden pages in the Book of Causal Paths on the first day.
• The demons overwhelmed the city’s defenses and breached the first wall within two days.
• A devil shoved a newly summoned mercenary out of a transport passage onto the third wall amid the battlefield’s blood rain.
• The blood rain and falling demon entrails blinded the mercenary, and nearby devils dragged him away, saying they would find another use for him.

Charles joined the battle for the devils’ final city wall after several days of fighting, revealing the power he had gained by purchasing complete laws. He killed a devil baron with Abyssal Disintegration as the battle continued.

• Demons breached the second city wall and launched a full assault on the final wall, forcing the devil count and nobles to prepare for a desperate defense.
• Hachiwote sent three sixth-tier demon lords against the devil count while battles broke out between the other demon and devil leaders.
• Charles stayed out of the fighting as demons and devils battled for two days, secretly using soul coins to buy complete fire laws from the Wu Duo Duo Mall.
• Charles entered a battlefield where two Greater Demons were attacking a devil baron and revealed his powerful aura, frightening both demons and the baron.
• Charles struck down a Greater Demon and used Fourth-Ring Witchcraft: Abyssal Disintegration, causing the devil baron’s chest and abdomen to explode.

Charles teamed up with two greater demons to kill devil barons, promising them the corpses while keeping the heart cores and Abyss’s blessings. After gaining another complete Abyssal law, he ended the raid and invited the demons to collaborate again.

• Charles killed a wounded devil baron and offered its corpse to two greater demons in exchange for their help holding back rivals.
• Charles killed another devil baron, gained a complete Abyssal law, and split the corpse between his temporary allies.
• Charles and the two greater demons targeted another devil baron, while his allies held off three greater demons and Charles secured the kill.
• Charles distributed the third corpse, kept its heart core, and stopped fighting before the battlefield became too dangerous.
• Charles asked the two greater demons to follow his orders in future battles, promising them a share of the spoils.

Charles watched his two Greater Demon lackeys fail to steal spoils on their own, then threatened the survivor when it blamed him for not helping. Great Lord Hachiwote killed the devil count and ordered the city destroyed, while Charles’s disciplined legion looted it for his benefit.

• After Charles stopped raiding, his two Greater Demon lackeys rushed off to steal spoils and were badly beaten; one teleported away, and the other returned injured.
• When the surviving Greater Demon demanded to know why Charles had not helped, Charles wounded it and threatened to kill it if it challenged him again.
• Great Lord Hachiwote joined the battle against the devil count and killed him, conquering the city.
• Hachiwote swallowed the devil count’s heart core and ordered his legion to kill everyone in the city.
• Charles located his legion, where Bruce led the Ratmen in formation as they looted devil buildings and warehouses and supported Charles’s other demons.

Charles led the Flame Ratmen in plundering a devilish merchant guild and uncovered its hidden vault. He seized its treasures and captives, ordering his army to empty the vault and keep the prisoners alive for later use.

• Charles used the Greater Demons he had gathered to accelerate the army’s rampage through the city.
• Flame Ratmen charged into a devilish merchant guild, defeated its resistance, and began looting.
• Charles detected and broke the concealment array around a secret vault hidden inside the guild.
• Charles opened the vault and overpowered the merchants and their third-circle wizard, who surrendered.
• Charles collected the vault’s witchcraft materials and Calamity Coins, then ordered the Flame Ratmen to remove the valuables and guard the captives.

After Hachiwote’s legion conquered a devil city, Charles and the other demons absorbed immense blessings from the Abyss and grew stronger. The legion advanced toward another devil city, where the gathered reinforcements promised an even more dangerous battle.

• Hachiwote destroyed a massive devil formation, and the Abyss blessed demons who had fought in the city, including Charles, with rules and magic power.
• Charles absorbed four complete Abyssal rules and a huge amount of magic power, greatly increasing his strength and size.
• Hachiwote finished absorbing his blessing and led the legion onward to attack another devil city, hoping to become a seventh-rank demon grand lord.
• Charles kept the three devil baron heart cores he had taken as spoils, deciding to save them for strengthening his subordinates rather than consume them himself.
• Charles sensed that the devils had gathered their forces in the next city, whose defenses were stronger than those of the previous city.

Charles’s demon army attacked a devil city whose defenders were waiting for a marquis’s reinforcements, while Hachiwote ordered an all-out assault to finish them before help arrived. Hachiwote considered leaving the layer of Purgatory after the battle, and Charles welcomed the chance to return with his gains.

• The devil count rallied the gathered devil nobles, telling them to hold the city for a month until a marquis’s army arrived.
• Charles kept his Ratman troops in reserve during the demons’ assault and sent cavalry to round up scattered demons.
• Hachiwote summoned his greater demons and ordered a full-scale attack after learning that the city’s defenders expected stronger reinforcements.
• A sixth-rank greater demon warned that the assault could cause heavy casualties, but Hachiwote said the demons would leave the layer after killing the devil nobles.
• Charles felt pleased at the prospect of leaving Purgatory with his army strengthened and several dozen new golden pages in the Book of Causal Paths.

Charles withheld the Book of Causal Paths’ power as Hachiwote’s forces attacked the devil city. He killed a fourth-rank Pit Fiend, while the battle raged around them.

• Charles asked the Book of Causal Paths to weave a fate in which he killed more than five Devil Barons, but decided to conserve its power in case reinforcements arrived.
• Hachiwote commanded his Greater Demons and Demon Lords to attack the city as both sides’ powerhouses confronted each other in the sky.
• Charles charged into the city, where a fourth-rank Pit Fiend attacked him amid a barrage of support from the city’s defenses and lower-ranking devils.
• Charles used Abyssal Disintegration to pierce the Pit Fiend’s armor and shield, then blasted him from the sky with a concentrated Firestorm.
• Charles drove the Flame Execution Sword through the fallen Pit Fiend and killed him with his rule power.

Charles claimed the battle’s first kill, received an Abyssal rule, and turned his attention to a fight between a Greater Demon and two Pit Fiends. He ambushed and killed one Pit Fiend, leaving the Greater Demon’s other opponent as his next target.

• Charles killed a devil, received an additional reward, and gained a complete Abyssal rule within his soul.
• Charles destroyed nearby devil troops and towers, then watched two Pit Fiends battle a wounded Greater Demon.
• Charles used Abyssal Disintegration to blast the more injured Pit Fiend while the Greater Demon continued fighting the other.
• Charles charged the wounded Pit Fiend through the city and pinned it against a devil tower.
• Charles and his elemental true body pummeled the Pit Fiend, then Charles tore out its heart core and killed it.

Charles destroyed a tower and killed a fleeing Pit Fiend, while Hachiwote led the Abyssal forces against the devils in Purgatory. The battle continued as Hachiwote used the fighting to weaken both the devil forces and the demon lords beneath him.

• Charles smashed the tower’s defensive shield, brought the tower down, and sent magma erupting beneath it.
• A dying Greater Demon cursed a Pit Fiend, and Charles approached after killing another devil baron.
• Charles collected the Greater Demon’s corpse and used Abyssal Disintegration to kill the cursed Pit Fiend, taking its heart core.
• Hachiwote attacked devil viscounts alongside fifth-circle demon lords, killing a wounded viscount and forcing the demons back into the fight when they tried to leave.
• Three sixth-circle demon lords besieged a devil count as Hachiwote held back, intending to wear them down amid the battle.

Hachiwote controlled the sixth-rank demon lords with their true names while defeating the Devil Count and consuming his remains. As a devil army approached, he told a disobedient demon lord to pledge loyalty because he was about to advance to the seventh rank.

• Three sixth-rank demon lords wore down the Devil Count while Hachiwote fought below and kept them from killing him first.
• Hachiwote used the demon lords’ true names to force them away from the Devil Count, punishing one who resisted.
• The demon lords watched Charles fight below and one secretly hoped the approaching devil army would kill Hachiwote.
• Hachiwote killed the wounded Devil Count, consumed his heart core and blood essence, and tossed the corpse to two demon lords.
• Hachiwote tormented a demon lord for complaining about being denied food and demanded his loyalty, saying he was about to advance to the seventh rank.
• The demon lord eagerly pledged loyalty while chewing on a Devil Viscount’s arm.

After the second city of devils fell, Charles returned to his legion with the spoils of battle and found Zarlos on the verge of advancing into a greater demon. Charles let him begin, but demanded that Zarlos reveal the additional part of his true name afterward.

• Hachiwote and the demons overwhelmed the second city of devils, while Charles killed six Devil Barons and collected their corpses.
• Charles returned to his legion and saw that Zarlos had gathered enough strength to advance, drawing jealous and greedy looks from the other Greater Demons.
• Zarlos knelt and begged Charles to let him advance, insisting that he would remain loyal and offer up his new true name.
• Charles decided Zarlos could advance, warning that he must reveal the additional true name he gained or face consequences.
• Zarlos began advancing inside a newly formed demon egg, while Kaseron and the other Greater Demons argued over who was most loyal to Charles.
• Charles sent the bickering demons flying and ordered them to slaughter and plunder more resources to prove their loyalty.

Charles watched Zarlos advance into a Greater Demon, then subdued him when his new strength made him question his place as Charles’s servant. After Zarlos surrendered his true name to Charles and Hachiwote, Charles sent him to hunt devils and prepare for the next Blood War.

• Charles guarded Zarlos during his advancement and recorded the laws that emerged as Zarlos changed into a Greater Demon.
• After advancing, Zarlos looked at Charles with scrutiny, so Charles knocked him down and tortured him through his former true name until he remembered his place as a servant.
• Zarlos gave Charles his new true name, and Charles released him after further torment.
• Hachiwote summoned Zarlos, who surrendered his true name to the Demon Overlord before returning to Charles in pain.
• Charles told Zarlos to hunt devils and grow stronger before the next Blood War, and Zarlos flew off eagerly to claim them.

After Hachiwote’s victory, the Abyss blessed Charles and the other demons, greatly increasing their strength. Charles helped Hachiwote prepare an array to tear the conquered Purgatory territories free, and learned that returning them to the Abyss could help Hachiwote advance to the seventh tier.

• The Abyss’s will reclaimed the Devil Count’s territory and rewarded the demons, imprinting six Abyssal rules on Charles and raising his mastery to seventeen rules.
• Hachiwote killed demons who tried to disrupt Greater Demons advancing under the Abyss’s blessing, while Zarlos regretted not advancing earlier.
• Charles absorbed the blessing, reflected on his rapid growth, and wondered whether he could now defeat Teacher Anderson.
• Hachiwote kept the legion in the city and conscripted Charles and Zarlos to help arrange a vast array designed to tear the conquered Purgatory land free.
• The Book of Causal Paths told Charles that bringing two Devil Counts’ territories back to the Abyss could increase Hachiwote’s power enough to make seventh-tier advancement possible, though it was not guaranteed.