Recaps

Azathoth opened the Elemental Throne and announced that he would become the Elemental King within 24 hours, persuading the nearby elemental lords and his allies to defend the throne for him. The ritual sent elemental forces into turmoil across the world, and the rival elemental rulers began mobilizing toward the throne as Azathoth waited for their arrival.

• The four Elemental Spirits explained that the Elemental King ritual required an elemental lord to hold the throne for one day, and the system announced that Azathoth had begun it with 24 hours remaining.
• Azathoth declared that he intended to become Elemental King, and the five nearby elemental lords pledged their loyalty and deployed their forces around the throne.
• Azathoth enlisted Maiev Shadowsong, Taelan Fordring, Mermaid Queen Ariel, other heroes, and adventurers to help defend the throne in return for promised rewards and alliances.
• Neptulon, Therazane, Al'Akir, and Ragnaros learned of the ritual and ordered their forces to assemble and march toward the Elemental Throne.
• Thrall and Malfurion sensed the elemental disturbance and began taking action, while adventurers worldwide found that their elemental summons had vanished and their summoning skills no longer worked.
• Azathoth's army took its positions around the throne, but no rival elemental lords had arrived yet, leaving him waiting in an uneasy calm.

After waiting for hours, Azathoth and his forces saw Al'Akir and the Conclave of the Four Winds arrive at the Elemental Throne amid a storm. Azathoth confronted Al'Akir and offered him a position as his right-hand man if he helped defeat the other false Elemental Kings.

• Azathoth and his allies waited for the elemental lords, and system notifications announced that Al'Akir, Ro'esh, Anshal, Siamat, and Nezir had entered the Elemental Throne.
• Al'Akir and his wind elementals approached inside a vast storm, and Al'Akir accused Odin of betraying the wind clan.
• Azathoth reassured Odin, transformed into a Chaos Dragon, and faced Al'Akir in the sky.
• Azathoth declared that he would become the Elemental King and offered Al'Akir the role of chief adjutant in exchange for helping him defeat the other false Elemental Kings.
• Al'Akir questioned Azathoth about the offer, appearing hesitant despite his anger.

Xiao Yu used Azathoth’s Void Barrier and attacks to prove his strength to Al'Akir, then persuaded the Windlord to withdraw rather than fight to the death. After four hours of waiting at the Elemental Throne, Neptulon and several water-aligned leaders arrived with their forces.

• Al'Akir surrounded Azathoth with storm clouds to test his strength, but Azathoth’s Void Barrier dispersed the lightning before it could reach him.
• Azathoth tore open Al'Akir’s cloud formation with Netherstorm and struck him with Hammer of Chaos, making Al'Akir concede that Azathoth was qualified to join the contest.
• Azathoth and Al'Akir agreed to postpone their conflict while Al'Akir withdrew his army to the battlefield’s edge, reserving the right to intervene if Azathoth failed to defeat the other contenders.
• Xiao Yu told Esmehalda and Mephist that he planned to hold the Elemental Throne and play the elemental kings against one another rather than fight them all at once.
• Four hours later, Neptulon, Derwala, Saizel, Raslet, Mowot, Lokholar, and Istra entered the Elemental Throne with their forces.

Azathoth confronted Neptulon’s water elemental army and persuaded him to withdraw after demonstrating the power of Simulated Black Hole. When Therazane and several earth elemental leaders arrived, Xiao Yu suspected Ragnaros was delaying his entrance so the others would weaken each other first.

• Neptulon led his water elemental army through a whirlpool passage and advanced on the Elemental Throne, where Taisuitou’s earth elementals formed a defensive wall.
• Azathoth warned Neptulon that fighting him would leave Neptulon vulnerable to Ragnaros and offered him a powerful position if Azathoth became Elemental King.
• Neptulon attacked Azathoth with Sea God's Grasp, but Azathoth used Simulated Black Hole to absorb the water arms and nearby water elementals.
• Neptulon acknowledged Azathoth’s strength but said he would still compete for the throne if another elemental lord defeated him, then withdrew his army.
• Four hours later, Therazane arrived with Typhon, Nate, Clyde, Dreivort, Xifolai, and Malazelle, leading Xiao Yu to suspect Ragnaros was waiting for the other lords to exhaust themselves.

As the Elemental King ceremony neared its end, Ragnaros arrived with a massive fire elemental army and proposed that the false elemental kings attack Azathoth together. Azathoth challenged all four rivals to fight him at once, relying on their poor cooperation as the deadline drew close.

• Therazane, Al'Akir, and Neptulon held their armies back while Xiao Yu waited for the Elemental King ceremony to end.
• Ragnaros entered the Elemental Throne with his forces and berated Big Ivan for joining Xiao Yu.
• Azathoth claimed responsibility for opening the Elemental Throne, triggering the second stage of the Road of Vengeance quest to kill Ragnaros.
• Ragnaros proposed that the four false elemental kings unite to kill Azathoth before the ceremony ended.
• Azathoth rejected the proposal and challenged Ragnaros, Therazane, Al'Akir, and Neptulon to attack him together.

Xiao Yu fought Ragnaros to stall the false elemental kings while the ritual neared completion, using chaos and ice powers to counter the Firelord. Ragnaros broke past Xiao Yu’s challenge and attacked the defenses around the Elemental Throne, leaving the second defensive ring under heavy assault.

• Xiao Yu taunted the false elemental kings until Ragnaros charged him alone, and Xiao Yu trapped Ragnaros’s arm in a Simulated Black Hole.
• Ragnaros sacrificed his trapped arm, regrew it with fire, and used Flame Barrier, but Xiao Yu’s Void Descends extinguished the flames and cut off his access to nearby fire elements.
• Xiao Yu struck Ragnaros with Frost Orb, Blizzard, and Chaos Dragon Breath, exploiting his flight and Ragnaros’s vulnerability to ice.
• Ragnaros rushed toward the Elemental Throne and cast Volcanic Eruption, scattering the Water Elemental Legion; Qixi Jun and Monari fled, leaving their troops without command.
• Ragnaros led his fire elemental army through the collapsed first defense and attacked the Scarlet Expeditionary Force, whose ranks began to buckle under the flames and fire elemental lords.

Azathoth organized the Alliance, Horde, and adventurers to push back the fire elemental army and aided the assault on Ragnaros. As the adventurers fought the Firelord, Azathoth intercepted two elemental lords summoned to reinforce him.

• Azathoth rallied the adventurers with a reward for killing Ragnaros and ordered Sgelari, Amalarui, Mephist, and Estero to hold their position while Esmehalda and Leah Bloodmoon joined him.
• The adventurers used coordinated attacks to defeat groups of fire elementals, and Azathoth spotted Taelan Fordring struggling against Galax.
• Azathoth shielded Taelan Fordring from Galax’s fireball, then told him to withdraw with his men and return to his waiting father.
• Azathoth empowered the adventurers fighting Ragnaros, strengthening the tanks and reducing damage to the rear ranks.
• Ragnaros summoned two fire elemental lords, and Azathoth intercepted them with Esmehalda attacking and Leah Bloodmoon healing him.

Azathoth let the four false Elemental Kings reach the Elemental Throne, then used their rivalries and a chaotic all-out battle to keep them from claiming the Scepter of Elemental Domination. As the elemental armies and kings battered one another, Azathoth changed into his Raven of Chaos form to observe from the air.

• Neptulon ordered his army to attack the Elemental Throne as Therazane's and Al'Akir's forces also prepared to advance.
• After learning the three armies were moving, Azathoth ordered his troops to let the false Elemental Kings through while holding back their main forces.
• The four false Elemental Kings reached the throne, and Azathoth provoked Ragnaros into a brawl that drew Neptulon and Therazane into the fighting.
• Azathoth and Al'Akir unleashed attacks from the sky, and Therazane dragged Al'Akir down with a Gravity Barrier.
• The four kings turned their area attacks on one another, and Azathoth changed into his Raven of Chaos form to avoid the worst of the battle.

Xiao Yu tried to claim the Scepter of Elemental Domination, but the coronation required sixty uninterrupted seconds while four false elemental kings fought nearby. He gambled on combining Chaos Barrier with Simulated Black Hole, diving after the crystal as the black hole swallowed it.

• As the twenty-four-hour limit ended, Xiao Yu’s Raven of Chaos reached the Elemental Throne and began opening the crystal, but attacks from the false elemental kings interrupted him.
• Ragnaros and then Neptulon tried to claim the crystal, but neither could complete the sixty-second coronation before the others attacked.
• Xiao Yu realized he needed to endure or control the false elemental kings for sixty seconds, and devised a plan to use Chaos Barrier inside Simulated Black Hole.
• Xiao Yu cast Simulated Black Hole at the Elemental Throne, drawing the crystal inside as the false elemental kings dodged.
• Xiao Yu activated Chaos Barrier and dove after the black hole, hurtling toward it as a black sphere.

Xiao Yu was sucked into the black hole with the elemental crystal and endured attacks from the four elemental false kings while completing his coronation. He became the Elemental King, wielded the Scepter of Elemental Domination, and struck back at the four kings before the black hole vanished.

• Xiao Yu was pulled into the black hole, where he found the elemental crystal protected at its bottom.
• Xiao Yu reached the crystal and began the sixty-second coronation, but Ragnaros, Neptulon, Therazane, and Al'Akir entered the black hole and attacked him.
• Xiao Yu endured their attacks and used Elemental Siphon to restore his health while continuing to absorb the crystal's power.
• Xiao Yu completed the coronation, gained the Elemental King title and the Scepter of Elemental Domination, and reached template level 6-skull.
• Xiao Yu used Elemental Storm to reverse the elemental attacks and gravely wound the four false kings.
• The black hole expired and flung Xiao Yu and the four elemental false kings out.

Azathoth became the Elemental King, and the elemental armies submitted to his rule. When Ragnaros refused to surrender and called on C'Thun for power, a rift opened above the throne and a gigantic eye emerged from the void.

• The four Elemental Spirits recognized Azathoth as Elemental King, and his power caused the fighting elemental beings to kneel and become friendly to the adventurers.
• Mephist, Leah Bloodmoon, Estero, Big Water Cunt, Poseidon, and Maiev Shadowsong celebrated Azathoth's victory.
• Al'Akir, Neptulon, and Therazane submitted to Azathoth, but Ragnaros refused and challenged him.
• Ragnaros invoked C'Thun, promising to make the elemental beings its servants in exchange for help becoming Elemental King.
• A rift opened above the Elemental Throne, revealing a colossal tentacled eye that fixed its gaze on Ragnaros.

C'Thun empowered Ragnaros with fel flame, raising him to a nine-skull boss, while Esmehalda wounded C'Thun and received the Old God's curse. Azathoth refused Ragnaros's challenge and rallied the elemental lords against him, drawing the fire elemental lords into the fight by promising a successor.

• C'Thun poured power into Ragnaros, restoring his health and raising his rank to nine-skull level as the Lord of Fel Flame.
• Esmehalda struck C'Thun's eye with an ice lance, froze the Old God's blood, and was marked with Gaze of the Old Gods before the rift closed.
• Ragnaros challenged Azathoth, but Azathoth denounced him as a traitor and ordered the elementals to kill him.
• Neptulon, Therazane, and Al'Akir attacked Ragnaros together, with other elemental lords joining the battle.
• Azathoth promised to make whoever killed Ragnaros the Fire Elemental Prince, prompting the fire elemental lords to join the assault.

Azathoth killed Ragnaros, completed the Road of Vengeance, and became a seven-skull Elemental King. After resurrecting Ragnaros as his servant, Azathoth ordered the elemental lords to gather their armies for a campaign to conquer the world.

• Ragnaros attacked Azathoth with a final Fel Flame Meteor, but Azathoth countered with Elemental Storm and killed him.
• Xiao Yu completed the Road of Vengeance quest, gained the Child of the Plane title, and rose to seven-skull rank.
• Xiao Yu resurrected Ragnaros as an elemental puppet, making him a powerful and obedient servant.
• Azathoth addressed the elemental army and declared that the elementals would reclaim their former power.
• Azathoth ordered Al'Akir, Neptulon, Therazane, and Galax to gather their elemental forces for conquest.

Three months after becoming the Elemental King, Xiao Yu finished consolidating his rule and prepared for the Demon King Tournament. He returned to the real world to read the game officials’ reply to his application.

• Xiao Yu reorganized the Elemental Plane, appointed four Elemental Princes and four guardians, formed armies, and established the Lords’ Council.
• Xiao Yu rewarded his allies and subordinates, promoted several elemental players to lords, and punished Qixi Jun for fleeing the battle at the Elemental Throne.
• Xiao Yu sent Maiev Shadowsong ten thousand elementals and several disobedient lords to fight Illidan in Draenor, but chose not to join the conflict himself.
• After submitting his Demon King Tournament application, Xiao Yu received word that the game officials had replied.
• Xiao Yu returned to Chaos Space, logged off, and opened the officials’ message in his studio.

Xiao Yu, the Elemental King, went to the Second Working Group’s office after his application for the Demon King Tournament was approved, worried they might reclaim his artifact. While waiting with other applicants, he learned he ranked fourth among demon kings and encountered Deathclaw, an old acquaintance from his goblin days.

• Xiao Yu received an invitation to discuss the Demon King Tournament and a separate urgent matter concerning his recent in-game experiences.
• Xiao Yu entered the Second Working Group’s lavish office and was recognized by a staff member as someone the company was monitoring.
• Xiao Yu met Baal, who told him he ranked fourth on the Demon King Power Rankings.
• Deathclaw, a black panther representing the Crazy Zoo, argued that rankings did not measure skill and introduced himself to Xiao Yu.
• Xiao Yu recognized Deathclaw from Nightwhisper Village but concealed that they had met before, and the group speculated that the officials had called them in for special treatment.

Xiao Yu learned that he had been named a seeded contestant in the Demon King Tournament and received an advance briefing on its livestream, events, and promotion rules. The chapter left him needing to choose a promotional image and finish a video before the April 1 release.

• Xiao Yu met Liu Wei and learned that the Scepter of Elemental Domination was his to keep, though he must not let the Old Gods take it.
• Liu Wei told Xiao Yu that his Elemental King title and eight-skull strength rating had earned him a seeded place, skipping the preliminaries and bringing publicity support and a share of livestream advertising revenue.
• Liu Wei explained that the new livestream system would debut with the expansion and broadcast the tournament's thirty-two-player elimination stage worldwide.
• Liu Wei described the Strongest Demon King Competition, Demon King Team Competition, and Evil Forces Battle, along with the player voting that would decide the top three named bosses and ten warm-up bosses.
• Liu Wei gave Xiao Yu promotional materials and told him to choose a scriptwriter and complete his video before its April 1 release.

Xiao Yu chose Ma Xiaoyun to help create his promotional video, then checked the Demon King Hall rankings and learned that three formidable bosses stood above him. He was left wondering how he could compete with the first-ranked Naiser, Lord of Purgatory.

• Xiao Yu chose Ma Xiaoyun from Liu Wei’s list to help make his promotional video.
• Xiao Yu checked the Demon King Hall rankings and discovered he was ranked fourth.
• Xiao Yu read about third-ranked Samat the Dracolich, an eight-skull boss with dragon and undead powers and a powerful artifact.
• Xiao Yu read about second-ranked Abbas the Devourer, a gigantic carrion maggot who had grown by devouring creatures and could regenerate at a tremendous rate.
• Xiao Yu read about first-ranked Naiser, Lord of Purgatory, a nine-skull demon with angelic and demonic talents who had survived three years of battle without dying.

Xiao Yu read the Demon King and Evil Forces rankings, learning about the other top contenders and the strength of his own Immortals. He chose to enter the Demon King Team event, though he still needed to find out whether NPC bosses could participate.

• Xiao Yu read the ranking entry describing how Azathoth had become the Elemental King and reviewed the other players in the top ten.
• Xiao Yu saw that his Immortals had risen to second place on the Evil Forces Ranking, behind Naiser and his demon army.
• Xiao Yu ruled out the Strongest Demon King and Evil Forces events because Naiser was likely to enter them.
• Xiao Yu chose the Demon King Team event, planning to field Neptulon, Therazane, Al'Akir, Ragnaros, and himself.
• Xiao Yu wondered whether NPC bosses were allowed to participate and worried his other subordinates would not be enough if they were barred.

Xiao Yu learned the Demon King Tournament rules from Ma Xiaoyun and decided the evil forces competition suited his elemental army. He watched the first promotional video, which followed Prince Spencer’s transformation into an undead commander bent on revenge against the Alliance and the Horde.

• Xiao Yu asked Ma Xiaoyun which NPCs he could bring to the tournament, and learned only those fully under his control qualified.
• Ma Xiaoyun explained the evil forces competition’s troop and boss limits, then advised Xiao Yu that his elementals made it a strong choice.
• Xiao Yu decided to enter the evil forces competition and planned to use different elemental troops for defense, damage, slowing, and scouting.
• Xiao Yu gathered the studio staff to watch the first promotional video, titled “Return of the Dead.”
• The video showed Prince Spencer’s homeland destroyed by orcs and its territory divided by Alliance leaders, leading him to seek revenge.
• A necromancer revived Spencer as a death knight, and Spencer raised his fallen people into an undead army to wage war against the Alliance and the Horde.

Xiao Yu and Ma Xiaoyun watched promotional videos for rival Demon King Tournament contenders and discussed how to present Xiao Yu. Ma Xiaoyun proposed showcasing Xiao Yu’s power, commanders, and treasures, and they entered the game to develop the script.

• Xiao Yu watched Prince Spencer’s promotional video and judged that Spencer was unlikely to win the championship, while Ma Xiaoyun revealed he had filmed it.
• Xiao Yu and Ma Xiaoyun watched Abbas the Devourer’s video, which taunted adventurers and claimed Abbas could defeat them all.
• Xiao Yu considered how to promote himself and rejected both a tragic backstory and provoking players.
• Ma Xiaoyun suggested showing off Xiao Yu’s strength, boss monsters, divine artifacts, and legendary items to attract adventurers.
• Xiao Yu agreed to work on the script in-game, and he and Ma Xiaoyun logged into the game.

Xiao Yu showed Ma Xiaoyun the Immortal Throne dungeon and pitched its bosses and layout as material for a promotional video. After Ma identified the mysterious voice as Thrall, she devised a script that would present Xiao Yu’s power through the Horde warchief’s perspective, and they agreed to film it.

• Xiao Yu met Ma Xiaoyun at the Immortal Throne and guided her through the dungeon’s planned stages and bosses.
• Ma Xiaoyun praised the dungeon’s layout but said it needed a more distinctive way to showcase Xiao Yu’s strength.
• Xiao Yu explained that a mysterious voice had been asking him about the elemental world, and Ma Xiaoyun recognized it as Thrall communicating through shaman tradition.
• Ma Xiaoyun wrote a promotional-video script featuring Thrall’s perspective and showed it to Xiao Yu.
• Xiao Yu approved the script and agreed to perform his role while Ma Xiaoyun handled filming.

Thrall received a vision from Azathoth, the Elemental King, of an elemental army destroying Azeroth and resolved to unite the Horde and Alliance. In his virtual office, Xiao Yu watched the promotional video and agreed to release it with the others on April 1.

• Thrall failed to reach the elements and sensed their agitation as Draka urged him to rest.
• Azathoth appeared in Thrall’s inner world, restrained him, and showed him visions of wind, fire, water, earth, and elemental forces devastating the world.
• Thrall awoke and told Draka that the Elemental Tide was coming under the Elemental King’s control.
• Thrall proposed setting aside the Horde and Alliance’s old hatred to face the coming invasion together.
• Xiao Yu watched the promotional video with Ma Xiaoyun and agreed to release it on April 1 alongside the other videos.

Xiao Yu warned Ma Xiaoyun that Medivh seemed self-aware and that the Alliance of Sages planned a spell that could change the world’s rules. After Ma Xiaoyun promised to report the concerns, Xiao Yu prepared a varied army for the Evil Forces Competition.

• Xiao Yu told Ma Xiaoyun that Medivh had asked about GMs and players, making him seem like a self-aware NPC.
• Ma Xiaoyun explained that NPC behavior came from the optical computer’s calculations and said he would report Xiao Yu’s concerns about Medivh to his superiors.
• Xiao Yu warned Ma Xiaoyun that the Alliance of Sages planned a major operation and a spell to change the world’s rules, and Ma Xiaoyun assured him the company could intervene with deity accounts.
• Xiao Yu chose to enter the Evil Forces Competition and began assembling a broad reserve army of hydras, dragon turtles, giants, magical troops, elemental units, and dark shamans.

Xiao Yu prepared his tournament lineup and watched the Demon King Tournament qualifiers conclude before examining the final participant lists. He discovered that Naiser’s enormous Purgatory Legion had entered the Evil Forces Competition, leaving him worried about the threat it posed.

• Xiao Yu chose Ragnaros and Sgelari for his main lineup and named four bosses as substitutes.
• Ma Xiaoyun told Xiao Yu that her boss had already handled the matter concerning Medivh.
• The game company released promotional videos, and the Dynamic Angels, Naiser, and Azathoth drew major attention from players.
• The tournament qualifiers ran for half a month and produced thirty-two finalists for each of the three competitions.
• Xiao Yu examined the Evil Forces Competition list and noted the Light of Heavenly Punishment and the Dragon Covenant among the leading factions.
• Xiao Yu found that Naiser led the invincible Purgatory Legion, which had a population of 473,127 and had entered the Evil Forces Competition.

Xiao Yu learned that Naiser had entered the Evil Forces Competition and assessed the other major contenders before the tournament draw. He drew the opening match against the Heaven's Chosen Clan and prepared for battle.

• Xiao Yu discovered that Naiser had chosen the Evil Forces Competition and worried about facing the skilled, wealthy player and his Purgatory Legion.
• Xiao Yu reviewed The Immortals' limited forces and recognized the Light of Heavenly Punishment, the Dragon Covenant, and the Purgatory Legion as dangerous rivals.
• The contestants gathered in the game company's virtual space, and the draw placed The Immortals in Group 1 against the Heaven's Chosen Clan in the opening match.
• Xiao Yu examined the centaur-led Heaven's Chosen Clan and its bosses, then studied the faction and devised countermeasures.
• Xiao Yu, Leah Bloodmoon, and Big Water Cunt logged in and arrived at the competition venue as the tournament was about to begin.