Chapter Summaries

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.

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.