Devil's Rise

Volume 1 'The Young Noble' followed James Hudson (now Soulless) and his life growing up in the Hudson clan. At the fel awakening ceremony James unlocked Soul Dao, he was looked down upon by his clan from that point forward as Soul Dao is not desired by devils. They branded him as trash. He loses his eyesight as well during the ceremony which gave him the inborn ability \u003cSoul Eyes\u003e. In Volume 1 he is not able to use them as he is too weak.

Throughout Volume 1 James is very immature and envisions himself as a young noble. He wants to be a young descendent that can do whatever he wants with the backing of his clan. He sees no use in practicing devilry to better himself because he's been defended by strong lackeys ever since he was young. He's a classic spoiled young master.

His Devil Ancestor and his older cousin Mikael do not let him have his way being a spoiled young noble. His Devil Ancestor teaches him the craft of blacksmithing and unknowingly gifts him a rare devil artifact known as the Codex of Souls. The Codex of Souls has a library of Scriptures and uses beyond James' understanding.

The Codex has two Aspects that are helpful to James, Jurrath and Sybil. Jurrath is a mischievous cat that uses illusions where Sybil is a responsible pixie that can heal him. Jurrath even scams James into being his chef.

For James' arrogant actions blustering around as a young noble, he is banished to the Wesser Forest for years. There he is put under the watchful eye of his older cousin Mikael. Mikael is a reincarnated cultivator who passes realms like eating and drinking. He is always one step ahead of James. Mikael is a responsible person who understands what it takes to survive.

Mikael did not want to see his first cousin squander himself in mediocrity so he always attempts to make James a better person. He does this by beating him up and making many rules James is forced to follow while under his watchful eye. James hates this, he just wants to bully whoever he can as a young noble.

James recruits a dark elf clan as well as starts a tavern to earn fel shards in his pursuit to be a successful young noble. To be a young noble he would need many lackeys and a strong supply of resources. The clan has completely cut him off from free resources because he has a trash Dao. The only way for him to survive is to get them himself.

Eventually, the Codex gives James a quest to conquer a pocket world. James gets the aid of his mother Diana in conquering the Tutan World. She gives him a group of changelings, including his chief butler Azon, to protect him on his journey there. James takes over and slaughters the residents of the pocket world cultivating the Slaughter Dao.

With Curse Dao he is able to learn the skill to forge cursed weapons, a skill that would aid him in his quest for power. He forges his first masterpiece weapon Destiny which uses his fire Dao.

With the resources of the Tutan World now in his hands, James has his strong organization [Libra] backing him. James spends the rest of Volume 1 mostly practicing his devilry in order to escape the control of Mikael. However, he is always one step behind.

He gains the coordinates to a second pocket world but without his mother's help, he could not conqueror it. He decided to send down a curse binding weapon to slowly take over this world. He eventually beguiles the mortal dwarf Glen to become his cursed weapon spirit Destiny. Destiny wields the Flames of Destiny becoming his agent in the Earthen World.

Eventually, James' father, the current patriarch, breaks through to the Viscount realm. This leaves a vacuum to be filled in the patriarch's seat. The Devil Ancestor chooses Mikael to fill this vacuum. James was furious at this development. If he stayed in the Hudson clan he would always be under Mikael's watchful eye with him being the patriarch.

James immediately headed into closed door devilry to break into the Baron realm himself. James removes his devil wraps upon breaking into the Baron realm. Now he had full use of his \u003cSoul Eyes\u003e, being able to unleash them had a markable change in his personality. He wanted to rule everything he surveyed.

He fully forsakes the Rez'gal Empire and the Hudson clan running off to the Zagell Empire to start his adventures as Soulless.

He saw that only away from his clan would he be able to do what he wanted and develop as a truly powerful devil.

Soulless was a child in Volume 1, in Volume 2 he is coming into being a young adult. In Volume 1, He has much character growth and development to change him from a spoiled young noble into the young devil lord Soulless.

This should cover everything you need to know if you want to immediately dive into Volume 2 and don't want to read Volume 1.

Volume 1 was a coming of age story, a young devil finding his place in the Xertzul Abyss. Volume 2 is a story of a young adult devil finding his place in the world. It explores adult themes, and has more mature content than is found in Volume 1.

I hope you enjoy the story I wrote, please donate this poor author a few stones so he can survive on the power ranking board.