Chapter Summaries

Carl dismissed the sin-silver bullet as too weak to absorb but suspected its curse power could help against fallen angels, and he asked Wanda to take the group to the Vatican. Meanwhile, Razan concealed key information from Necrodamus and planned to use Carl’s group to escape their servant contract as Necrodamus prepared his next experiment.

• Carl accepted the sin-silver bullet from Logan Howlett, decided it might be useful against fallen angels, and asked Wanda to take them to the Vatican.
• Razan told Necrodamus that the bullet had banished Sister Grady’s angelic power but claimed she could not recover it because four powerful humans had intervened.
• Necrodamus rebuked Razan and reminded her that he had freed her from her Ushabti prison, while Razan concealed that Carl’s group might seek Regnar and hoped they would help free her from their contract.
• Necrodamus decided to have demons in Brimstone Harbor recover the silver bullet and ordered Razan to take him to Regnar to turn the remaining twenty-nine coins into bullets.
• Necrodamus and Razan flew southeast from Mexico City on a magical bird mummy toward Popocatépetl Volcano.

Necrodamus and Razan brought twenty-nine Judas silver coins to Regnar to forge into bullets, while Regnar warned that the missing coin weakened their power against angels. At Khonshu’s trial before the New Ennead, he defended his interference in human affairs and demanded that Arthur Harrow be put on trial.

• Razan guided Necrodamus to Regnar’s forge, where Necrodamus asked the dwarf smith to turn the silver coins into bullets.
• Regnar explained that the coins’ power came from Judas’s soul and curse, and that all the coins had to be gathered for their full strength.
• Necrodamus planned to show the bullets to his clients from hell the following afternoon, and Razan reluctantly obeyed his orders.
• Marc Spector arrived at the Great Pyramid as Khonshu’s agent for the New Ennead’s trial.
• Osiris and Horus accused Khonshu of breaking the gods’ rules, while Khonshu argued that the gods’ withdrawal from humanity was hastening their decline.
• When Nephthys’s agent asked why he had summoned the eclipse, Khonshu demanded the trial of Arthur Harrow, Ammit’s agent.

Arthur Harrow deceived the Ennead during Khonshu’s accusation and revealed his loyalty to the Lord of Change, while Marc Spector learned how to find Ammit’s tomb. The Ennead then discovered Khepri had been killed and sent its avatars to investigate, as Osiris sought Zeus’s help.

• Khonshu accused Arthur Harrow of seeking Ammit’s Ushabti, but Harrow blamed Khonshu and portrayed Marc Spector as an unstable victim.
• Horus restrained Khonshu, and the Ennead ended the hearing after Osiris learned something had happened to Khepri.
• Arthur Harrow returned to his mansion and prayed to the Lord of Change, pledging to subdue lands that resisted him.
• Hathor’s avatar told Marc Spector that Senfu’s stolen sarcophagus could reveal Ammit’s tomb and advised him to search the black market.
• Osiris and the Ennead found that Khepri’s body and soul had been destroyed, and Osiris ordered their avatars to investigate the dying Canoptek Scarabs on Earth.
• Osiris decided to visit Zeus and seek an ally in case a powerful enemy was targeting the Egyptian Pantheon.

Carl questioned Daimon Hellstrom about the demons and a weapon made from Judas’s silver, then offered to free and protect Daimon and Satana if they helped find the remaining coins and uncover Marduk Kurios’s plans. Daimon agreed to cooperate but demanded to know whether Carl would dare oppose a Hell Lord if Marduk was behind the scheme.

• Bishop Warren McCoy led Carl, Frank, and Logan Howlett to the cells holding Daimon Hellstrom and Satana Hellstrom.
• Carl tested Daimon’s honesty by showing him drawings of two demons, and Daimon identified them as members of his father’s Flame Legion.
• Carl showed Daimon a Sin Silver bullet and explained that demons had used it to kill Sister Grady, suggesting someone was turning Judas’s thirty silver coins into weapons against angels.
• Carl accused Marduk Kurios of possibly plotting the scheme and offered to secure the siblings’ release and protection in exchange for their help investigating.
• Daimon accepted the offer but asked what Carl would do if Marduk Kurios proved to be the mastermind, challenging him to oppose a Hell Lord.

Carl recruited Daimon Hellstrom to help investigate the demons’ plans and declared that he would free Daimon and Satana from the Holy See’s custody. In New York, Daimon learned that ancient demons were preparing for an approaching event and found a lead that could also help locate a dwarven blacksmith.

• Carl ordered Frank and Logan Howlett to release Daimon Hellstrom and warned them to kill him if he caused trouble.
• Satana Hellstrom rejected her brother’s trust in humans, but after hearing Carl promise to take both siblings from the Holy See, she grew curious about him.
• Carl told Bishop Warren McCoy that he would take the Hellstrom siblings after the mission, then left the dungeon with Frank, Logan, and Daimon.
• Daimon brought Frank and Logan to a demon-run club, where Agnes and Edwin warned that an event occurring every thousand years was approaching and advised them to leave America.
• Daimon concluded that the approaching event might be connected to Necrodamus’s plans and said Agnes’s hint had revealed where to find both answers and the dwarven blacksmith.

Frank, Logan Howlett, and Daimon Hellstrom were ambushed by demons while seeking a book about a dwarven blacksmith, then uncovered a bounty linked to Razan and learned that the Armistice Pact would soon convene in America. Daimon explained that the pact was a millennium-spaced diplomatic summit between Heaven and Hell, and that Earth was their battlefield.

• Daimon Hellstrom visited Edward’s bookstore with Frank and Logan Howlett, where Edward and the disguised demons demanded the silver bullet in exchange for information.
• Frank and Logan fought the demons while Daimon struggled against Edward; Frank won a bet, leaving Logan owing him a hundred dollars.
• Daimon questioned Edward, who said Razan had delivered a bounty for capturing Frank and Logan and had predicted they would seek the blacksmith’s whereabouts.
• Edward identified the book Daimon sought as a record of the Armistice Pact, which would appear at a random location in America within days.
• Daimon read the book and explained that Heaven and Hell held the pact every thousand years to negotiate their war and designate a noncombat zone on Earth.

Daimon Hellstrom followed Carl’s orders to return the silver bullet to Necrodamus while keeping the dwarven blacksmith under covert surveillance, and began to suspect Carl intended to exploit the crisis against both Heaven and Hell. Necrodamus then showed Beleth his captive angels and prepared to test his sin-silver bullets on them.

• Daimon Hellstrom reported the investigation to Carl, who ordered him to watch the dwarven blacksmith secretly and have Edward return the silver bullet to Necrodamus.
• Daimon Hellstrom suspected Carl planned to use the crisis against factions in Heaven and Hell, then sent Edward back under a soul contract and set out with Frank and Logan Howlett for Popocatépetl Volcano.
• Necrodamus met Beleth at an abandoned factory outside Mexico City and revealed a captive patrol of angels, including an archangel.
• Necrodamus loaded a rifle with special sin-silver bullets and aimed it at the captive angels as the archangel warned him that angels would be resurrected.

Necrodamus prepared to assassinate the Seraph Michael with a weapon forged from the Thirty Pieces of Silver, secretly intending to use the mission to advance the Dark Followers Cult’s plan to bring Chthon to Earth. Regnar began inscribing the completed weapon as Necrodamus awaited the attack on the Armistice Pact.

• Necrodamus demonstrated the cursed silver bullets to Beleth, who warned him that he would have only one chance to strike Michael and promised him a Darkhold Fragment if he succeeded.
• Necrodamus told Razan that helping him would earn her freedom, then ordered her to gather the bullets and bring them to Regnar.
• Regnar refused to forge the weapon without all thirty silver coins, so Razan arranged to retrieve the missing coin from a demon at Brimstone Harbor.
• Three days later, Necrodamus waited while Regnar forged the weapon and privately revealed that the Dark Followers Cult planned to use the complete Darkhold to bring Chthon to Earth in the Scarlet Witch’s vessel.
• Regnar finished forging the cursed crossbow bolt and began inscribing runes onto it.

Necrodamus received the cursed bolt Archangel Slayer from Regnar, then had Razan kill the dwarf smith to conceal their assassination plot against a Seraphim. Carl and Wanda arrived before they could dispose of Regnar’s body, and Necrodamus recognized Wanda’s Chaos Magic.

• Regnar finished forging the enchanted bolt, and Necrodamus named it Archangel Slayer.
• Necrodamus paid Regnar with promised materials and a piece of Vibranium, then signaled Razan to attack him.
• Razan struck Regnar from behind with her axe, mortally wounding him, while Necrodamus explained that he could not leave witnesses to the plot.
• Necrodamus ordered Razan to throw Regnar’s body into the lava, but Carl and Wanda appeared through a portal and stopped her.
• Razan realized Carl and Wanda had arrived a day earlier than she planned, and Necrodamus recognized the Chaos Magic covering Carl.

Carl captured Necrodamus and learned that he and Marduk Kurios planned to assassinate Michael during the Armistice Pact, while Carl used a Black Hole Grenade to kill Razan. After explaining the pact’s loophole to his allies, Carl revealed that ordinary humans could interfere with the negotiations, leaving them to consider how the plot could exploit that flaw.

• Necrodamus and Razan tried to capture Wanda and kill Carl, but Wanda bound them with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak and Carl took control of Necrodamus’s mind.
• Carl discovered Necrodamus’s ties to the Dark Followers Cult and his plan with Marduk Kurios to assassinate Michael using a weapon forged from the cursed Thirty Pieces of Silver.
• Carl threw a Black Hole Grenade at Razan, killing her and adding her soul to the Warp.
• Frank, Logan Howlett, and Daimon Hellstrom discussed the grenade’s power and Frank revealed that Carl was a dimensional demon.
• Carl and Wanda returned with Necrodamus and Regnar’s body; Carl asked Frank to revive the dwarven blacksmith and announced that their plans had changed.
• Carl explained that the Armistice Pact’s restrictions applied only to Heaven and Hell, so ordinary humans could still interfere with the negotiations.

Carl recruited Daimon Hellstrom into the Warp Group and laid out a plan to foil Marduk Kurios's invasion by locating the Flame Legion and ambushing it. After reviving Regnar, Carl recruited the dwarven smith as well, then prepared to send Wanda to Satana Hellstrom's prison so she could help bring Satana into the plan.

• Daimon Hellstrom agreed to join the Warp Group after Carl explained Marduk Kurios's scheme and offered him a chance to help stop it.
• Carl outlined a plan to learn where the Flame Legion would appear and ambush it, identifying Satana Hellstrom as the likely person to approach Marduk Kurios.
• Regnar revived and attacked Necrodamus, but Frank and Logan Howlett stopped him before he could strike.
• Carl asked Regnar to modify the cursed crossbow bolt, then offered him a place in the Warp Group; Regnar accepted and received a piece of raw vibranium.
• Carl sent Wanda psychic images of Satana's prison to prepare her to travel there with a Sling Ring.

Carl recruited Satana Hellstrom to infiltrate Hell and help expose Satan’s plan to unite the Hells and conquer the mortal world. Satana escaped the Holy See dungeon to carry out the mission, while Carl gained a way to track Hell’s dimensional coordinates.

• Carl sent Daimon Hellstrom to persuade Satana to spy on their father and report the Flame Legion’s plans.
• Carl convinced Satana that Satan’s coming conquest threatened her and Daimon, and promised to avenge her if she was harmed.
• Satana agreed to join the Warp Group and scatter Carl’s enchanted beads across the Hell Dimension so he could locate its coordinates.
• Carl freed Satana’s enchanted chains, and she escaped through Hellfire while Daimon remained behind.
• Archbishop Warren McCoy told the clergy that the Pope had approved Carl’s request and ordered them to keep Satana’s escape secret.

Satana Hellstrom questioned Marduk Kurios about the [Armistice Pact] while pretending not to know that Carl had already uncovered his scheme. As the [Armistice Pact] began, a temporary [Armistice Zone] appeared in the desert between [New Mexico] and [Texas].

• Satana Hellstrom circled the border of the incomplete [Hell Dimension], leaving bracelet beads as Carl had instructed, then fought her way into Marduk Kurios's palace.
• Satana Hellstrom asked Marduk Kurios whether the [Thirty Pieces of Silver] could kill a [Seraph], and he confirmed that the corrupted silver could kill even a fallen angel.
• Marduk Kurios revealed that he planned to use Necrodamus as a scapegoat and unleash his [Flame Legion], which numbered several hundred thousand demons, after [Heaven]'s failsafe closed its portal to Earth.
• Satana Hellstrom pretended to side with her father and said she would stay to watch his plan, while privately believing Carl had already seen through it.
• An enormous pillar of light descended into a desert between [New Mexico] and [Texas], forming a golden [Armistice Zone] for the two chosen emissaries.

Carl, controlling Necrodamus, killed Michael during the [Armistice Pact] meeting, setting off the pact’s failsafe and foiling Michael’s attempt to expose the plot. As Michael’s soul was seized and the angels outside the barrier were repelled, Carl prepared for the next stage of his plan.

• Beleth and Michael met in the [Armistice Zone], where Carl, controlling Necrodamus, entered and asked why mortals were allowed to interfere in the war between [Heaven] and [Hell].
• Michael explained that God had granted humanity the right to choose its fate, even if human choices could worsen the conflict.
• Carl aimed the [Archangel Slayer] at Michael and fired, striking him with a bolt empowered by special [Runes].
• Michael realized Beleth and Marduk Kurios had arranged for a mortal to kill him, triggering the [Armistice Pact's] failsafe without giving [Heaven] grounds to declare war on [Hell].
• The [Archangel Slayer] drained Michael's life, and Carl's [Warp power] seized his soul as notifications appeared on Carl's screen.
• The Angel Legion charged at Carl but struck the golden barrier and was thrown back.

Carl killed Beleth with a sin-silver bolt, took the Darkhold Fragment, and escaped with Necrodamus as Heaven and Hell’s forces fought. After Remiel learned Michael’s soul was missing, Daimon gave him Carl’s account and persuaded him to take a Warp Bracelet so Heaven could help defend Earth from Marduk Kurios’s planned invasion.

• Carl taunted Beleth for withholding the Darkhold Fragment, then shot him through the heart with a sin-silver bolt and claimed the fragment that appeared after Beleth vanished.
• Carl used Necrodamus’s earth-burrowing magic to escape with him as the golden barrier collapsed, and the Angel Legion defeated the leaderless Hell Legion.
• Remiel arrived after Heaven’s Gate began closing, discovered Michael’s soul had vanished, and summoned Daimon Hellstrom, Frank, and Logan Howlett to explain what happened.
• Daimon repeated Carl’s prepared account blaming Necrodamus and Marduk Kurios for Michael’s death, and Remiel apologized and promised Heaven’s favor.
• Daimon told Remiel that Satana had learned Marduk Kurios planned to send the Flame Legion to invade Earth after Heaven’s Gate closed, then offered him a Warp Bracelet to enable a portal from Kamar-Taj.
• Remiel weighed the risk of revealing Heaven’s dimensional coordinates and accepted the Warp Bracelet.

Remiel revealed that Heaven had never intended to win its war with Hell, while Marduk Kurios planned to exploit the truce and invade Earth to strengthen his claim to Satan’s Throne. The plan began to unravel when news arrived that Necrodamus had killed Beleth and escaped with a Darkhold Fragment.

• Remiel flew through Heaven’s Gate after telling Frank, Logan Howlett, and Daimon Hellstrom that humanity would determine the war’s outcome, and the gate vanished behind him.
• Marduk Kurios explained to the Demon Lords how he planned to use the truce, distract Kamar-Taj, and harvest human souls to grow powerful enough to unify Hell.
• Satana Hellstrom watched Marduk Kurios’s gathering and thought about Carl’s role in the events.
• A bat demon reported that Necrodamus had killed Michael and Beleth, taken a Darkhold Fragment, and escaped underground as the Angel Legion attacked.
• Marduk Kurios speculated that Necrodamus had betrayed them after anticipating Marduk’s plans, then began to reconsider what had happened.

Marduk Kurios learned that Satana had betrayed his invasion plan, forcing the Flame Legion to retreat after an ambush on Earth. In New York, handsome Kong, the Thunder Warriors, Logan Howlett, and Daimon Hellstrom fought the demons pouring through a Hell portal.

• Marduk Kurios ordered the Flame Legion to invade Earth and commanded his legions to capture or kill Daimon Hellstrom.
• Satana Hellstrom rejected her father's offer to awaken her demonic bloodline and left, declaring that he had already lost everything.
• A demon reported that the Angel Legion and Kamar-Taj had ambushed the Flame Legion, and Marduk Kurios realized Satana had likely leaked the landing sites through the Warp Pearl.
• Marduk Kurios ordered the Flame Legion to retreat after learning that his invasion had been exposed.
• In New York, handsome Kong smashed the Flame Legion's giant demonic vanguard while forty Thunder Warriors held defensive lines around the Hell portal.
• Logan Howlett and Daimon Hellstrom moved between the defensive lines to support the fighters as demons continued pouring into the city.

Carl and the Thunder Warriors defended New York against Marduk Kurios’s Flame Legion, turning the invasion into a decisive victory and harvesting thousands of demon souls. After the portal vanished, Logan asked Frank how he and the warriors fought without tiring, and Frank attributed it to absolute loyalty to Carl.

• Carl and Wanda held the rear defensive line while The Daily Bugle broadcast the battle, and Symbiote Kong blocked the Hell portal as the Thunder Warriors fought under Frank’s command.
• Baimon flew past Kong to attack Carl, but Frank and Daimon Hellstrom brought him down, and Frank killed the Demon Lord with a flaming blade.
• The demon army lost heart after Baimon’s death and tried to retreat, but Carl rallied the Thunder Warriors to charge as the battle turned into a rout.
• The Hell portal vanished after the invasion, and Carl’s system counted 6,701 harvested demon souls; none of the Thunder Warriors had died.
• Exhausted Logan asked Frank how he kept fighting without tiring, and Frank said his strength came from absolute loyalty to Carl, adding that he had once died and returned to life.

After the Flame Legion’s invasion of New York ended in defeat, Carl used the battle’s publicity to boost the Warp Group while General Ross barred S.H.I.E.L.D. from the battlefield. Marduk Kurios assessed the devastating losses to his forces and feared losing his place among the Hell Lords.

• Frank led the Thunder Warriors through Wanda’s portal as viewers praised Carl, the warriors, and their victory during The Daily Bugle’s livestream.
• General Ross used President Ellis’s authorization to block Maria Hill’s S.H.I.E.L.D. team from collecting demon samples, and Nick Fury angrily ordered Hill to withdraw.
• Nick Fury watched footage of the battle and worried about the Thunder Warriors’ strength, then lost his composure as online comparisons made the Avengers look inferior.
• Carl gained prestige points from the livestream and revealed that he had arranged signal jammers so The Daily Bugle alone recorded the Battle of New York, while leaving other battles to the Angel Legion.
• General Ross gave Frank a case of demon blood samples, and Carl left him in charge of the cleanup.
• Marduk Kurios saw the surviving Flame Legion return and estimated that the invasion had cost him about 120,000 elite troops, threatening his standing among the Hell Lords.

Carl used Necrodamus to investigate the Dark Followers Cult, then assessed the rewards from his clash with Marduk Kurios and looked ahead to a possible campaign in Egypt. At the nursing home, Logan told Professor X about his mission and Carl’s true identity, while Professor X was pleased to see Logan settling in.

• Marduk Kurios killed a demon reporting nearly 140,000 dead and missing and ordered his forces to bring Daimon back.
• Carl sent Necrodamus to Morgan le Fay, but she sensed Carl’s control and destroyed Necrodamus before ordering the cult to stay cautious.
• Carl reviewed his gains, including demon souls, a divine artifact, Darkhold information, Prestige Points, and new subordinates, and anticipated Tzeentch’s plan in Egypt.
• Logan told Professor X about his mission and revealed that Carl was a Dimensional Demon.
• Professor X listened as Logan recounted his adventures and was glad that Logan seemed happy at the nursing home.