Demon‘ s Rule
In the sprawling, morally fractured realm of the Roland Empire—a land where colonial ambition cloaks itself in divine righteousness and magic collides with treachery—a disgraced noble’s pact with a demon ignites a revolution that will shatter gods and empires alike.
Duwei Luo Lin, heir to the illustrious Luo Lin family, is branded a “worthless fool” at birth. Silent, frail, and dismissed by his iron-willed father, Count Raymond, the empire’s revered naval commander, Duwei hides a lethal secret: his soul carries memories of a past life, gifting him a modern intellect sharp enough to dissect the rot beneath Roland’s gilded surface. When a political assassination leaves him mortally wounded, Duwei strikes a Faustian bargain with , Alagon a chained demon of the abyss. In exchange for the Eye of Laws—a power to unravel the fundamental truths of magic and lies—Duwei’s soul begins its slow descent into darkness, his right arm twisting into a clawed monstrosity.
As Roland’s seventh colonial fleet sails to plunder the South Sea, Duwei is thrust into a labyrinth of imperial intrigue. His father, celebrated for crushing rebellions, drowns in guilt over atrocities committed in the empire’s name. The Church of Light, sanctimonious enforcers of “divine order,” hides vampiric rituals behind sermons. Meanwhile, the South Sea tribes, led by the blind prophet Sea Singer, prepare to drown Roland’s ships in blood. Duwei walks a razor’s edge: manipulating his family’s rivals, exposing the Church’s heresies, and allying with Vivian, a frost mage burdened by her lineage as a half-human heir to an extinct ice goddess.
But power corrupts. The demon’s whisper grows louder in Duwei’s mind, and his victories come at a cost. He forges the Free Covenant—a coalition of mages, dragons, and rebels—yet fears becoming the tyrant he seeks to overthrow. When the Light God itself descends to annihilate him, Duwei gambles everything: shattering the divine Frost Crown to freeze eternity itself, even as his body disintegrates. In his final moments, he entrusts Vivian with a plea: “Tell me if the new world… has fewer lies.”
