Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Diabolo examines Minostaur through time and space, tracing the thread of causality that anchors the creature’s existence beyond the Virtual Realm. Following it reveals a being deep underground whose roar carries intense fear.
• The encounter frightens Diabolo, but he severs the thread and destroys Minostaur. He suspects the unknown being’s fear could help give his time-and-space power the emotional force his other abilities lack.
• Diabolo wonders how another creature can wield fear when, by legend, each supreme emotion belongs to only one Abyssal Dark Beast King. Intrigued but wary of challenging the King of Fear, he decides to investigate the unknown creature later.
• Meanwhile, Andariel’s party fights through the Fire God Cavern, suffering few losses but eventually facing an impassable river of lava crowded with fire monsters and valuable Energy Crystals.
• The group fears they cannot cross and speculates that they may have taken the wrong route. Diabolo reveals that the monsters gathered after his fight with Minostaur disrupted his control of the cavern—not because the group failed a trial.
• In a generous mood, Diabolo creates a lightning bridge across the lava and invites Andariel inside, addressing her by name.

Character developments and interactions

• Diabolo grows fascinated by the unknown fear-bearing entity and considers whether its power could enhance his own. His curiosity competes with caution, while his amused, manipulative side emerges as he watches Andariel’s group and hints that he may have plans for them.
• Andariel remains composed under pressure and suggests that the party may have misunderstood the cavern’s entrance. Countess Bartoli supports her reasoning, giving the others hope.
• Duriel voices the party’s alarm at the scale of the obstacle; Isabel is likewise shocked. The group’s shared fear and uncertainty give way to surprise when the bridge appears and Diabolo speaks.

Significant themes

• Fear as power: The chapter explores fear not just as an emotion but as a force that can influence and infect others.
• Mystery and broken rules: The unknown being challenges the supposed law that only one Dark Beast King can embody each supreme emotion.
• Power and control: Diabolo’s ability to manipulate time, space, and causality contrasts with his limits—and with the immense power of the entity he discovers.
• Chance versus design: The party interprets its predicament as a deliberate trial, while the reader learns it arose from Diabolo’s actions.

Plot points and events

• Andariel and her companions hear a voice from within the Cavern of the Divine Ruins that seems to know Andariel. Andariel suspects it may belong to Diabolo, the extraordinary man who saved her group.
• The academy students’ earlier account of Diabolo had been dismissed as fantasy until Andariel produced recordings and physical evidence: the Longtuoba Beast’s remains and images of Diabolo defeating it with overwhelming ease. His existence and power then became widely known, though some remained skeptical.
• Several factions—including representatives from the Central Military Academy, the Western Continent, and Duriel—had come to question Andariel. The cavern’s mysterious voice changes their priority: they now enter to investigate who or what is inside.
• An angel, sent by Lord Sappos to investigate the disappearance of Virtual God 181, also enters despite recognizing the danger.
• The group reaches the cavern’s vast, fiery interior, where flames and lightning display scenes from the life of Minostaur, the Fire God. A figure sits on a throne above a staircase of fire and lightning.
• Andariel recognizes the figure as Diabolo. He confirms their reunion, turns to face the crowd, and reveals his striking appearance and overwhelming aura. The assembled witnesses react with shock, awe, fear, and fascination.

Character developments and interactions

• Andariel remains composed despite the mystery and leads the group forward. Her certainty that the figure is Diabolo reveals how strongly she remembers him—and how emotionally affected she still is.
• Nana and Alexia eagerly recognize the voice; Alexia is particularly confident because of her exceptional memory.
• The Countess reacts to Diabolo with intense possessiveness, reflecting the forceful entitlement of her noble background.
• Isabel is impressed, but focuses more on Diabolo’s strength and presence than his beauty, which inspires her ambition.
• Duriel reacts with visible distress, while the angel is terrified that Diabolo may surpass even the archangel.
• Diabolo’s calm, poetic greeting to Andariel contrasts with the fear his power inspires in everyone else.

Significant themes

• Truth versus disbelief: Diabolo’s seemingly impossible feats become credible through evidence, but his power remains difficult for others to accept.
• Fate and reunion: Diabolo frames his meeting with Andariel as an encounter governed by fate.
• Power and hierarchy: His presence unsettles established assumptions about gods, angels, and the limits of human strength.
• Awe and desire: Diabolo’s beauty and power provoke admiration, longing, possessiveness, and fear across the gathered factions.

Chapter Summary: The Man Who Looked Down on the Gods

Key Plot Points and Events

• Diabolo observes the spiritual forms of everyone inside the illusory world, gaining a clear understanding of their thoughts and potential.
• He identifies Andariel, Duriel, Alexia, and the other Central Military Academy students as exceptionally promising “seeds.”
• Diabolo notices Jisafu, an angel who has retained his complete physical form rather than appearing as a mere cluster of spiritual energy.
• Intrigued, Diabolo secretly attacks Jisafu with lightning and traps his consciousness in an abyss of sensory deprivation. No one notices what has happened to the angel.
• Andariel briefly senses an evil presence and notices something strange, but the feeling passes. Diabolo admires her exceptional intuition and becomes even more interested in her potential.
• Alexia recognizes Diabolo and asks whether he is truly the same person connected to the divine ruin of Minostaur, the Fire God.
• Diabolo demonstrates his overwhelming power by reconstructing Minostaur from fire-element energy, shrinking him, and holding the furious ancient evil god in the palm of his hand.
• Witnesses are stunned by the sight. News and images of Diabolo effortlessly controlling Minostaur spread throughout the Virtual Realm and into the outside world.
• Leaders at the Central Military Academy, the Monastery, noble territories, cities, and nations all react with shock and unease. They begin questioning Diabolo’s identity, the nature of the gods, and the purpose of the Virtual Realm.
• Nobles on the western continent realize that the Countess—who had ordered an investigation into Diabolo—has apparently fallen in love with a god. They conclude that investigating him may be impossible and dangerous.
• Diabolo remains unconcerned by the widespread panic. His attention is focused on the coming descent of Primordial Void Creation, the angels’ purpose, and his plan to merge the Magic Network with the descending entity.

Character Developments

• Diabolo: Reveals a greater understanding of the illusory world and displays nearly absolute control over its laws and spiritual entities. His confidence grows, and he openly treats even a powerful ancient god as an object of amusement. He also reveals his strategic goal of balancing the world by allowing both angels and demons to descend.
• Jisafu: Is exposed as an angel with an unusual ability to retain his complete form in the illusory realm. However, he is immediately overwhelmed and secretly incapacitated by Diabolo.
• Andariel: Demonstrates extraordinary intuition by briefly sensing Diabolo’s hidden evil influence. Her strength and spiritual sensitivity make her increasingly valuable in Diabolo’s eyes.
• Alexia: Confirms her familiarity with Diabolo and shows her characteristic knowledge of the divine ruins and ancient gods. Her curiosity helps prompt Diabolo’s public demonstration.
• Minostaur: Although restored with his former appearance and aura, he is completely powerless against Diabolo, emphasizing the enormous difference between them.
• The Academy and world leaders: Their confidence in their understanding of the Virtual Realm collapses. They become wary of the Monastery and increasingly frightened by the appearance of beings who may exist beyond their control.
• The Countess: Though absent, her romantic interest in Diabolo becomes a major topic of discussion, causing the nobles to view her relationship as both astonishing and potentially disastrous.

Significant Themes

• Power beyond divinity: Diabolo’s effortless domination of Minostaur overturns the traditional hierarchy between mortals, gods, and demons.
• Illusion versus reality: The chapter emphasizes that everyone within the Virtual Realm exists as spiritual energy, while also suggesting that its events have real consequences in the outside world.
• Hidden identities and manipulation: Diabolo sees through the thoughts and forms of others, while concealing his own intentions and secretly controlling Jisafu.
• Fear of the unknown: Institutions that helped create or govern the Virtual Realm are unable to explain its transformations, leaving them vulnerable to panic and speculation.
• Balance between opposing forces: Diabolo believes a world containing angels but no demons would be incomplete, foreshadowing a deliberate conflict between holy and demonic powers.
• Love and transcendence: The Countess’s love for Diabolo, now revealed to be a godlike being, becomes an example of romance crossing boundaries of status, species, and power.

Character Interactions

• Diabolo mentally evaluates Andariel and the other students while secretly attacking Jisafu.
• Andariel briefly senses Diabolo’s malevolent presence, but he responds with admiration rather than hostility.
• Alexia enthusiastically addresses Diabolo and questions him about Minostaur, prompting his demonstration.
• Diabolo taunts and restrains Minostaur while the surrounding crowd reacts in disbelief.
• Academy officials debate the Monastery and the gods before receiving the shocking images of Diabolo.
• Western nobles discuss Diabolo, the Countess’s feelings, and the danger of attempting to investigate him.

Plot and events

• The narrator, a web novelist, is discouraged by their book’s worsening subscription numbers despite steady updates.
• The story has reached 1.5 million characters—the length planned in the original outline. The narrator wonders whether Qidian will soon ask them to finish it.
• They suspect the book is too unprofitable to justify a recommendation slot or much attention from their editor, and even the author’s 500-yuan perfect-attendance bonus might cost the site money.
• The narrator decides to deliver the promised update burst on the 25th, likely five chapters, then postpone deciding what to do next. They resolve not to abandon the book.

Character development and interactions

• The narrator moves from frustration and self-doubt toward a modest commitment to continue, though they remain uncertain about the book’s future.
• Their relationship with the platform and editor feels distant and transactional: the narrator believes poor performance has made the book—and them—unworthy of attention. No direct interaction with either occurs.

Significant themes

• The emotional toll of poor readership and commercial pressure.
• The conflict between creative persistence and platform-driven measures of success.
• Uncertainty about continuing a long project, balanced by a promise to keep going for now.

Plot points and events

• Diabolo dismisses the idea that he is a god, insisting that gods are merely powerful creatures. He crushes the illusory god Minostaur, though he suspects it may revive unless its underlying source is destroyed.
• He offers the gathered humans energy seeds capable of awakening latent abilities and granting unique professional skills, warning them that great upheaval lies ahead. Before leaving, he cautions Andariel that gods are not necessarily good.
• In a Monastery laboratory, researchers confirm that illusory god number 181 vanished again after appearing. They cannot track Diabolo or investigate the mysterious Light Divine Pool, which Aidan orders them to leave alone.
• Diabolo appears beside the Light Divine Pool, still holding a low-ranking Angel trapped in his seal. He devours the Angel’s soul, extracts its potent light energy, and learns about the Angels’ hierarchy—but gains little information about their larger plans.
• The Angel’s memories describe three upper ranks: seven Seraphim, who rule the Light God Clan; Cherubim, nearly as powerful as ancient gods; and Throne Angels. The Angels also believe in a possibly mythical Lord of All Things, the Holy King of Light, above the Seraphim.
• Diabolo recalls that the Angel’s superior was a middle-ranking Angel and recognizes the image of a man carrying a white sword, though he cannot place him.

Character developments and interactions

• Diabolo demonstrates overwhelming power and contempt for lesser “gods,” while showing continued curiosity about the Light God Clan. His warning about the coming upheaval suggests he knows more than he reveals.
• Andariel is unsettled by Diabolo’s power and identity. His final warning deepens her suspicion and unease.
• Aidan reacts cautiously to the Light Divine Pool, treating it as dangerous and beyond the Monastery’s control. He orders researchers not to study it further and asks to be alerted about Diabolo.
• The researchers’ inability to explain the pool underscores the limits of their knowledge and control.
• Diabolo’s interaction with the Angel is purely predatory: he consumes the Angel for its spiritual power, rejects its irritating light energy, and dismisses its knowledge as mostly useless.

Significant themes

• The limits of divinity: Diabolo challenges the idea that powerful beings deserve to be called gods.
• Power and fear: His effortless defeat of Minostaur leaves the witnesses more terrified of him than they were of the illusory god.
• Knowledge and mystery: Both the Monastery and Diabolo encounter forces and plans they cannot fully understand, especially the Light Divine Pool and the Angel hierarchy.
• Moral ambiguity: Diabolo’s warning that gods may not be good complicates assumptions about divine beings, while his own brutal actions make him difficult to judge.
• Hierarchy and belief: The Angels’ rigid ranks contrast with uncertainty surrounding the supposed supreme ruler above the Seraphim.

Key plot points and events

• Diabolo recognizes a sword-bearing angel from Minostaur’s memories. In the memory, the angel—then a Principalities-class Power Angel—boasts to Princess Onyxia that he plans to seize her world and earn promotion under Archangel Almis.
• Realizing that a powerful middle-rank Angel may be behind events, Diabolo reviews the Light God Clan’s hierarchy and the ways Angels are created. He notes that Faith Angels can be formed from pure spirits using faith, though the technique is generally reserved for upper-rank Angels.
• Diabolo connects the Archangel’s plan to the Virtual Realm: its Plane Will, mutated through its union with the Sunwell, contains immense mental energy. If the Archangel controls it, he could use the world’s rules to create an army.
• He concludes that the gods’ return is likely an experiment showing that the Plane Will permits outside creations. But he still cannot determine what will trigger the Virtual Realm and reality to merge—the final step toward Primordial Void Creation.
• Seeking proof of his theory, Diabolo travels to the Light Divine Pool, concealing himself with Time and Space energy. He penetrates its barrier and finds a horrifying sight within.

Character developments and interactions

• Diabolo shifts from studying the Angelic threat to uncovering its strategic purpose. His fear of facing an Archangel alone makes him cautious, but the possibility of creating vast armies also excites him.
• The memory shows the Angel’s arrogance and ambition: he taunts Onyxia while imprisoned creature struggles against magical seals, then leaves confident that he will return with greater power.
• Onyxia responds with contempt, dismissing the Angel as a mere Power Angel and threatening to kill him.

Significant themes

• Power and ambition: The Angel seeks control of a world as a path to promotion and greater authority.
• Faith, emotion, and creation: Mental and emotional energy can sustain or produce beings, making belief a potential source of military power.
• Illusion becoming reality: The Virtual Realm’s merger with the real world represents a looming transformation whose mechanism remains unknown.
• Knowledge and uncertainty: Diabolo pieces together much of the plan, yet the key trigger—and the truth behind the Light Divine Pool—remain unresolved.

Chapter summary

Sixue commits to posting five updates the next day, regardless of whether anyone reads them. Though she doubts anyone will show up, she still hopes for some support. She ends the message by saying she is going to write.

Character development

Sixue shows determination and keeps her promise despite feeling discouraged and uncertain. Her hope for readers’ encouragement remains, even as she tries not to expect too much.

Significant themes

• Perseverance: Continuing to create despite a lack of recognition.
• Hope and disappointment: Sixue balances a small hope for support with guarded expectations.
• Commitment: She takes pride in keeping her word.

Character interactions

Sixue addresses her readers directly, sharing her plans and asking—implicitly—for their support before signing off.

Plot and key events

• Diabolo discovers a vast, seven-tiered mountain of flesh and bones hidden inside the Light Divine Pool. Though it resembles the Flesh Altars used by demons, holy light is transforming it into a crystalline, apparently sacred structure.
• He observes dark, Abyss-like energy coexisting peacefully with holy light, suggesting that the two forces may be closely related or different expressions of the same power.
• Two angels arrive in projection form. They explain that the structure is a projection of Heaven Mountain, and that more flesh and blood is needed to complete it. One orders their agents to sacrifice a small nation within a week, threatening them if they fail.
• The angels reveal that the Plane Will has detected their arrival and still resists them. They depart, leaving their agents in the Monastery to carry out the next stage of the plan.
• Diabolo recognizes the structure as a reduced projection of Heaven Mountain, home of the Seven Primordial Seraphim and a formidable divine artifact.
• The altar’s victims’ souls have been converted into souls of faith, which now sing praises to the Lord. Heaven Mountain absorbs holy light and uses those souls as templates to create angels.
• The newly formed angels include powerful Dominion Angels, one of whom immediately devours several weaker angels to replenish its energy. As Heaven Mountain drains the surrounding power, the world’s underlying rules become exposed.
• Realizing he may be discovered, Diabolo decides to leave and investigate another figure. He draws out a thread of Causality, preparing to act.

Character developments and interactions

• Diabolo shifts from astonishment to investigation, carefully concealing himself from the angels. He pieces together the connection between the altar, holy light, and Heaven Mountain, and grows increasingly distrustful of angels’ claims to righteousness.
• The two angels reveal a ruthless, pragmatic side beneath their holy appearance. They discuss sacrificing a nation, blame the resisting Plane Will, and rely on agents in the Monastery to advance their plan.
• The angels’ interaction with their subordinates is coercive: they issue orders and threaten punishment rather than showing the compassion associated with their public image.
• The newborn angels’ behavior is equally predatory: stronger angels consume weaker ones, echoing the cruelty of demons.

Significant themes

• Holy appearance versus hidden corruption: Sacred imagery conceals sacrifice, coercion, and predation.
• The cost of power: Heaven Mountain is being built through mass death and the transformation of its victims’ souls.
• Light and darkness as intertwined forces: Holy light and Abyss-like energy coexist and appear capable of transforming into one another.
• Manipulation and belief: The victims’ cries become hymns, suggesting that faith itself can be manufactured and exploited.
• Predatory hierarchy: Angels, like demons, are shown competing through consumption and domination.

Key plot points and events

• Diabolo investigates mysterious threads of causality, then leaves the Light Divine Pool. Soon afterward, an unknown presence searches the pool with white feathers and a giant eye, apparently sensing traces of him. Unable to understand what it found, it erupts in anger, making the pool’s energy surge and Heaven Mountain shake.
• Angels arrive to investigate. Their leaders order a larger war, with the Monastery enlisted under the excuse of fighting evil, so they can harvest more blood and flesh, win converts, and speed the arrival of Primordial Void Creation.
• Diabolo travels as red lightning to the Monastery’s underground research facility, where he senses the powerful entity he had been seeking.
• Aidan descends toward the deepest chamber. The facility is protected by the Severing Magic Array, which drains or repels energy, forcing him to walk and rely on fossil-fuel lamps. He worries that Experimental Virtual God No. 181 has died despite the entity’s promise, and wonders about the secretive people and Primordial Void Creation.
• Diabolo reaches the chamber and finds the entity concealed in black fog. The room is covered with elaborate sealing and defensive arrays, all linked to a massive crystal capable of storing nearly a god’s energy. Diabolo is impressed but wary, wondering what could require such extreme containment.

Character developments and interactions

• Diabolo remains bold and curious, but the unknown presence’s reaction and the chamber’s elaborate defenses make him increasingly cautious.
• Aidan is tense and suspicious, driven to investigate whether the imprisoned entity can be trusted and what happened to the failed experiment.
• The Angel leaders display confidence and rank-consciousness, exerting pressure over their subordinates. They casually direct the subordinate Angels to intensify a war, treating ordinary lives as expendable.
• The unknown entity interacts indirectly with Diabolo: it searches for him after he leaves, while Diabolo seeks it out in its underground prison. Neither fully understands the other.

Significant themes

• Hypocrisy and evil: The Angels present violence as holy work, while engineering war and mass death for their own aims.
• Power and hierarchy: Angels enforce rank through overwhelming force, contrasting with Demons, among whom some can transcend their formal level.
• Fear of the unknown: The entity’s obscure nature, the dead experiment, and the extraordinary containment systems create mounting uncertainty.
• Control and containment: The Severing Magic Array and near-god-level crystal show how powerful beings may be restrained—but also hint at the danger that necessitates such measures.

Key plot points and events

• Diabolo explores a vast underground chamber filled with powerful Summoning Arrays and a Sealing Array. The arrays absorb a surge of fear and channel it into a Time and Space Crystal, turning it black.
• He hears echoes of immense fear and is challenged by a mysterious creature hidden in the black fog. Despite the sealing field, Diabolo enters the fog by using taboo energy, which the array cannot fully suppress.
• The creature is revealed as Onyxia, a powerful, apparently mutated Black Dragon bound by chains connected to the arrays. She introduces herself as a princess and asks Diabolo to free her.
• Diabolo refuses to commit without first learning the source of her fear power. When Onyxia tries to recall it, she suddenly becomes overwhelmed, warns Diabolo to flee, and releases an explosive wave of fear.

Character developments

• Diabolo remains cautious and calculating. He records the arrays for future use, withstands the fear, and prioritizes discovering its source over rescuing Onyxia.
• Onyxia shifts from furious defiance to sorrowful bargaining. Her sudden loss of control suggests that the power within her is dangerous and may be connected to a traumatic or frightening memory.

Significant themes

• Fear as a force: Fear can transcend time and space, affect powerful beings, and be harnessed by the arrays.
• Power and containment: Even formidable beings such as Onyxia can be imprisoned, while Diabolo’s taboo energy gives him a limited means to resist the sealing system.
• Self-interest and trust: Diabolo’s curiosity and goals take precedence over compassion, while Onyxia offers anything for her freedom—leaving their alliance uncertain.

Character interactions

• Diabolo and Onyxia begin as adversaries: she calls him an ant and attacks, while he calmly identifies himself and questions her.
• Once she realizes he can use energy and resist the fear, Onyxia tries to recruit him as her rescuer.
• Their negotiation is interrupted when Onyxia’s fear erupts, turning her from a potential ally into an immediate threat.

Key plot points and events

• The black dragon princess’s Fear Tide erupts, marked by an Abyssal sign reading “King of Fear.” Its force overwhelms the surrounding space and threatens Diabolo.
• Diabolo survives by layering time-and-space defenses, then uses Taboo’s power over time to freeze the moment and redirect the fear into a Summoning Array. The array absorbs the energy and channels it into a crystal.
• The princess collapses after the eruption. Seeing Diabolo unharmed, she is astonished and intrigued by him.
• Diabolo persuades her to answer questions in exchange for possibly releasing her. He learns that Black Dragon King Neltharion—Deathwing—is her father and sealed her away to protect her from the Fear Tide. She has been imprisoned for more than three thousand years.
• Asked about the fear power, the princess first explains the Abyss. She describes Demons as savage, uncivilized, and barely clothed—claims that privately irritate Diabolo.

Character developments and interactions

• Diabolo displays formidable control of time and space, practical caution around powerful figures, and a talent for acting ignorant to encourage the princess to talk. He recognizes that the array is protecting her, not simply holding her captive.
• The black dragon princess shifts from a frenzied, apparently hopeless state to curiosity and conversation. Her long isolation and juvenile development leave her lonely and uninformed; she also shows an unexpected attraction to Diabolo.
• Their exchange becomes a cautious negotiation: Diabolo questions her about her imprisonment and power, while she tests his knowledge and then speaks at length about the Abyss.

Significant themes

• Fear as a dangerous, double-edged power: uncontrolled emotion can endanger both others and its bearer.
• Isolation and protection: the princess’s confinement may be an act of care, but it has also left her lonely and emotionally immature.
• Prejudice and misinformation: the princess’s caricature of Demons contrasts sharply with Diabolo’s own pride in being one—and with his view of himself and his world.
• Power and restraint: Diabolo survives not by overpowering the Fear Tide directly, but by redirecting it and using the array built to contain it.

Chapter summary: “Source of Fear”

• The Abyss and the Mythic Age: Diabolo asks the black dragon princess about the Abyss. She explains that it has invaded the Great Universe repeatedly, most recently about 100,000 years ago. She also describes the legendary Mythic Age, when the worlds were not divided into separate planes and its inhabitants were said to rival or surpass today’s God Kings. The account reminds Diabolo of mysterious beings and events he encountered in the Luxi Anqi plane, though he cannot yet solve their significance.
• The princess’s ordeal: A little over 3,000 years ago, the princess led companions or suitors into a ruin in the Demigod Realm. The “ruin” was actually the corpse of a plane-sized Dark Beast: the Ankugu Beast, a King-Level Dark Beast known as the King of Fear. Its body teemed with hundreds of millions of powerful, fearless creatures that spread terror. Most of the expedition died. The princess survived long enough to reach the beast’s center and call for help, but her father, Deathwing, arrived only after part of the beast’s Source of Fear had infected her.
• Consequences and revelations: The Source of Fear left the princess with a large Dark Mark on her back. Because of the resulting threat, Deathwing and other gods went to the Demigod Realm to contain the creatures and prevent a greater calamity. Diabolo realizes this may explain why the Demigod Realm has been largely absent from the Wizard World’s affairs for nearly three millennia. He also suspects its crisis may still be ongoing.
• What Diabolo learns: The princess explains that fully grown Dark Beasts rival Devil Masters, and those that wield emotional powers are called King-Level Dark Beasts. The Source of Fear seems to be emotion condensed to an extreme degree, with strange runes resembling the true forms of Primordial Runewords. Diabolo sees a possible connection to the cores of the Destruction Rune and its related item.
• Diabolo’s intentions: He reasons that Deathwing’s absence may leave this world open for him to control, though he suspects there is a deeper reason the Black Dragon King imprisoned his daughter here. Seeking the Source of Fear for himself, Diabolo promises to free the princess and cure her if she answers one final question. The princess falls silent, doubtful he can succeed when even Deathwing could not.

Character developments and interactions

The princess shares her history in a casual, self-interested way: she regrets the lost treasures more than the deaths of her companions, underscoring her dragonlike greed. Diabolo plays the role of an earnest student, asking questions to draw out information while privately assessing the political opportunity and coveted power. Their exchange shifts from a lesson about cosmic history to a negotiation: Diabolo offers hope of a cure, while the princess remains skeptical.

The author announces that all five promised updates are complete, despite having to work overtime and write late into the night. Tired and struggling to see clearly, they thank readers for enjoying the updates and ask for recommendations, while dropping their request for subscriptions. The chapter is a brief, personal note rather than a story episode: it emphasizes keeping a promise, exhaustion, and appreciation for readers’ support.

The chapter is an author’s personal note rather than a story installment. The author explains that, after posting without a break since last November, they need one day off because they feel mentally drained, work is going poorly, and the book’s performance has been disappointing. They plan to rest in bed, clear their mind, and return to their usual schedule tomorrow.
The note also thanks readers for their support, especially when the author posted five chapters in one day, and asks them to allow this one-time break. No plot or character developments occur.

Key plot points and events

• Diabolo claims he can extract the Source of Fear from the Black Dragon Princess, despite her disbelief. She explains that the source has nearly developed a will, draws on fear across the Universe, and would return unless placed in a suitable vessel.
• Diabolo reasons that the source has attached itself to her because her mutation made her exceptionally dark—and that his demonic nature, reinforced by his connection to Baal and Mephisto, could draw it away.
• He also suspects a larger portion of the Source of Fear remains in the Dark Beast ruins. To contain the fragment he attracts, he will need a vessel of his own.
• Diabolo releases his Taboo energy to provoke the source. It reacts violently, triggering another surge of fear that drives the Black Dragon Princess toward a destructive transformation.
• He breaks through part of the Summoning Array and opens a Space-Time Rift, revealing his true, far more powerful form: an ancient-looking Demon surrounded by darkness and Taboo energy. A strange clock manifests behind him as Time and Space distort.
• Diabolo calls on the Darkness Source to emerge. The enormous Eye of Darkness opens, and the chapter ends as fear spreads.

Character developments and interactions

• Diabolo is confident and calculating, treating the Black Dragon Princess’s peril as an opportunity to acquire the Source of Fear and strengthen his powers. He deliberately provokes it, despite her desperate warnings.
• The Black Dragon Princess shifts from skeptical to alarmed and agonized as Diabolo’s energy awakens the source. Her body mutates further, and her mind is nearly consumed by madness, though Diabolo’s full appearance briefly restores a trace of clarity.
• Their interaction is tense: she warns him that the source cannot simply be destroyed and begs him to stop, while he insists that provoking it is necessary to draw it out.

Significant themes

• Power and ambition: Diabolo sees a dangerous curse as a chance to gain strength.
• Fear as a living force: The Source of Fear feeds on emotion across the Universe and can repeatedly return.
• Corruption and control: The Princess’s mutation makes her vulnerable, while her chains restrain her body but not the source’s influence.
• Risky transformation: Diabolo’s attempt to solve the problem escalates it, leaving the Princess on the edge of collapse.

Plot points and events

• Overcome by an unusually powerful sense of danger, Aidan decides to descend into the cavern anyway. He believes he must uncover what is happening with Deity No. 181 and the Monastery before the hidden threat becomes fatal.
• In the cavern, Diabolo confronts the power of fear within the Black Dragon Princess. Using the Abyssal forces of Destruction and ruin—powers on the same level as fear—he drives the Source of Fear out of her soul.
• The Princess opens her soul to Diabolo, who shields her remaining spirit. She appears as a weakened little dragon girl, explaining that fear consumed part of her soul and caused her strength to regress.
• The Source of Fear takes the form of the Ankugu Beast, a Dark Beast King. Diabolo transforms into a different, even more fearsome Dark Beast King and fights it inside the Princess’s soul. The battle injures her, but Diabolo carries the fear-being out of her body.
• Outside, Diabolo uses his Taboo Clock, which contains Time and Space, to draw in the Source of Fear. He also swallows a crystal containing more fear power. His eyes and brow mark reflect his new powers, and he declares himself the Fear Demon God.

Character developments

• Aidan moves from hesitation to resolve, choosing to face the danger despite his fear.
• Diabolo demonstrates that his advantage lies not simply in strength but in his unusual combination of powers and abilities. After taking in the Source of Fear, he seeks to master it and claims a new identity as the Fear Demon God.
• The Black Dragon Princess is revealed to be diminished and vulnerable, but she cooperates with Diabolo in hopes of escaping fear’s corruption. Her survival remains uncertain as the battle takes place within her soul.

Character interactions

• Aidan’s decision is driven by unresolved concerns involving Deity No. 181 and the Monastery.
• Diabolo bargains with the Princess, who distrusts him but ultimately releases the binding on her soul. He protects her spirit while pursuing the Source of Fear.
• Diabolo and the Ankugu Beast clash directly, with the Princess caught in the consequences of their fight.

Significant themes

• Fear and courage: Aidan acts despite dread, while the Princess resists being consumed by fear.
• Specialized power: Diabolo’s success depends on the particular mix of Destruction, ruin, darkness, and transformation—not simply being stronger than others.
• Power and risk: Diabolo’s attempt to absorb the Source of Fear promises immense power but leaves its ultimate consequences unresolved.

Plot points and events

• Diabolo absorbs and destroys the Source of Fear fragment inside Black Dragon Princess, enduring its violent resistance with the help of the Taboo Clock and his Destruction and Ruin powers.
• The surrounding fear begins gathering around Diabolo rather than affecting the princess. He absorbs it and fuses it with his Time-and-Space power.
• The Taboo Clock transforms: its second hand governs time, its minute hand governs space, and its Hour Hand now represents fear, drawing in and supplying that power.
• Fear spreads through Diabolo’s body and bloodline. Across the universe, those who carry his Time-and-Space Bloodline awaken new powers: fear patterns and marks appear on them, and their floating clocks merge into those marks.
• The story shifts to a battlefield in the Wizard World, where Diabolo’s Time-and-Space Squad is stalled by the Holy Temple’s forces near a branch of the Sunwell. The Heavenly Demon King and Testel repeatedly clash, while Nesser, Loxia, and other leaders worry that the delay will leave them behind the rival Destruction Squad.
• Just as the opposing forces face off again, the Time-and-Space Squad suddenly erupts in cheers, suggesting that Diabolo’s transformation has changed the situation.

Character developments and interactions

• Diabolo demonstrates his resolve and resilience by containing the Source of Fear, then gains a new fusion of fear, time, and space.
• Black Dragon Princess feels freed from the fragment’s influence, though she remains cautious because fear has revived after being destroyed before.
• The Taboo Clock evolves into a three-part power source, with each hand controlling a different aspect of Diabolo’s abilities.
• The Heavenly Demon King is frustrated by Testel’s repeated ability to stop his attacks.
• Testel holds the line for the Holy Temple but recognizes that the Time-and-Space Squad’s unseen leader, Diabolo, is a threat no one can readily match.
• Nesser and Loxia discuss the strategic cost of the stalemate and the danger of falling behind the Destruction Squad.

Significant themes

• Conquering and transforming fear: Diabolo does not merely resist fear; he absorbs and makes it a source of power.
• Power shared through bonds: Diabolo’s transformation reaches everyone connected to his bloodline, altering the balance of the wider conflict.
• Rivalry and urgency: The battlefield stalemate highlights the race between the Time-and-Space Squad and the Destruction Squad, as well as the costs of delay.

Key plot points and events

• As the Holy Temple faces the Time-and-Space Squad, fear suddenly pours into the Squad’s members from the battlefield and beyond. Each gains a Fear Mark, and their strength rises sharply.
• Diabolo reveals himself as the Time-and-Space Demon God and King of Fear. His projection appears as a colossal skull of black smoke and unleashes a wave of fear across the battlefield.
• The Holy Temple’s soldiers succumb to terror. Many transform into mindless Dread Beasts and attack those around them; even Testel and other leaders are overwhelmed. The Squad’s marked members remain safe, while Nesser and his allies grow stronger by absorbing fear.
• A gigantic Dread Beast challenges Diabolo’s projection. Diabolo crushes it to assert his dominance, then restores it as a stronger Dreadspawn, marked as his offspring and able to revive by drawing on fear.
• Diabolo orders the monsters to spread his fear throughout the world and proclaim his rule.

Character developments and interactions

• Diabolo claims a new identity and title, demonstrating that he can command fear, create or destroy Dread Beasts, and establish himself as their unquestioned king.
• Nesser, Loxia, the Blood Demon, and the other Squad members discover that fear empowers them. Loxia is especially fascinated by her new Fear Mark and the power behind it.
• Testel and the Holy Temple’s forces go from a military confrontation to helpless victims of their own terror; Testel’s resistance ultimately fails.
• The Heavenly Demon King tries to defend Diabolo’s projection when the giant beast attacks, but Diabolo orders the Squad to stand down and handles the challenge himself.
• Diabolo’s crushing of the beast establishes the hierarchy among the monsters; its subsequent transformation into a Dreadspawn turns it from challenger into a subordinate.

Significant themes

• Fear as power: Terror strengthens Diabolo and those marked by him, while destroying or transforming his enemies.
• Dominance and hierarchy: Diabolo proves his authority through overwhelming force, and the monsters submit to the strongest.
• Corruption through emotion: The harder the Holy Temple’s soldiers struggle against fear, the more deeply it consumes them, stripping away their humanity.
• The spread of a new order: Diabolo’s command signals that fear is no longer merely a battlefield weapon but a force he intends to extend across the world.

Key plot points and events

• Diabolo finishes absorbing the Source of Fear. Its power greatly strengthens his body and leaves him with an illusory Fear Rune; the Rune’s true form remains inside the Ankugu Beast. He decides not to enter the dangerous Demigod Realm until he becomes stronger.
• He sees the black dragon princess’s fear of him and recognizes an opportunity to use her knowledge.
• Aidan arrives with news: Virtual Experimental Deity No. 181 has been killed by someone called Diabolo, the Monastery is accelerating its Mystery Plan, and the Light Divine Pool has appeared.
• The princess tells Aidan not to provoke Diabolo and dismisses concern over No. 181. After Aidan leaves, she confronts Diabolo about his intention to take over the world.
• Diabolo admits his goal and argues that they need each other: she needs his help to escape, while he needs her knowledge of the world.
• The princess reveals the world’s unusual, game-like nature resulted from a shattered Virtual Godhead left by a powerful Magic-Tech figure. It fused with the Plane Will, while the Sunwell’s influence helped shape the world.
• This figure had been exceptionally powerful, and the factions of the Demigod Realm have long sought his Virtual Godhead. They agreed not to claim the world until they understood what happened, making Diabolo’s plans potentially dangerous.
• Diabolo asks why the Light God Clan’s Angels are invading, but the chapter ends before the princess answers.

Character developments and interactions

• Diabolo emerges stronger and more intimidating, but remains cautious about the Demigod Realm. He openly pursues control of the world and tries to turn the princess into an ally and source of intelligence.
• The black dragon princess shifts from frightened captive to a shrewd negotiator. She takes a human childlike form, but her nearly three thousand years of experience and guarded knowledge remain evident.
• Aidan reports developments to the princess, but is unnerved by the danger inside the thinning fog. He learns that Diabolo is considered far beyond his ability to confront.
• Diabolo and the princess test each other’s motives: he seeks information and leverage, while she probes whether he has powerful backing.

Significant themes

• Power and caution: Diabolo’s new strength does not eliminate the risks posed by greater powers.
• Hidden origins and secrets: The world’s strange structure traces back to a lost Virtual Godhead and a mysterious outsider.
• Alliances of necessity: Diabolo and the princess may cooperate despite distrust, because each has something the other needs.
• Ambition and consequences: Claiming the world could provoke factions powerful enough to threaten Diabolo.

Plot points and events

• Diabolo questions the black dragon girl about the Angels’ invasion and the Wizard World. She is shocked to learn that Archangel Amils—an old rival she once fought and bullied—is leading the Angels.
• Her account reveals that the Demigod Realm is in serious trouble: its forces have apparently been recalled from guarding the Lich King, leaving the realm unable or unwilling to intervene.
• Diabolo reveals that he possesses the Frozen Throne and controls the Wizard World. He says the Lich King is dead, though a remnant of his soul survived, and that he never encountered the guards the girl expected to find.
• The girl realizes the situation may be connected to her father, Deathwing, and the three thousand years she has spent sealed away. She transforms into her true form: Onyxia, a World Lord.
• Onyxia can maintain that form for only a few minutes. She demands that Diabolo negotiate quickly and demonstrates her formidable physical strength by briefly breaking one of her chains.
• Diabolo offers an agreement: Onyxia will help him seize the plane, and he will free her from the seal. She agrees to help if the Demigod Realm is truly in crisis, but doubts he can overcome a seal created by a being at the height of godhood.
• Diabolo claims he can free her and shows her a magic crystal. Its contents shock her; the chapter ends before they are revealed.

Character developments

• Diabolo gains confirmation that the Demigod Realm is distracted by a larger crisis. Though confident and provocative, he recognizes Onyxia is far more dangerous than her childlike persona and decides to negotiate seriously.
• Onyxia shifts from a confused, seemingly helpless child into a powerful and wary World Lord. Her concern grows as she connects the invasion and Diabolo’s revelations to the unexplained absence of her father.
• The black dragon girl is revealed as the childlike persona associated with Onyxia; the chapter suggests Onyxia has been withholding her presence while the girl appeared to Diabolo.

Character interactions

• Diabolo probes the girl’s knowledge, then uses his possession of the Frozen Throne to establish his credibility and unsettle her.
• The girl initially panics, mistaking Diabolo for the Lich King, but becomes serious when he explains his role and reveals his control of the Wizard World.
• Onyxia challenges Diabolo’s claims and threatens to resist, while he counters with the proposed bargain and evidence presented in the crystal.

Significant themes

• Hidden crises and shifting power: The Angel invasion may be only one consequence of upheaval in the Demigod Realm.
• Deception and revelation: The girl’s apparent helplessness conceals Onyxia’s identity and strength; Diabolo’s disclosures repeatedly overturn expectations.
• Pragmatic alliances: Both sides weigh cooperation against danger, joining forces out of mutual need rather than trust.
• Uncertainty and foreshadowing: The cause of the Demigod Realm’s crisis and the crystal’s revelation remain unanswered.