Wow, I really don't care, I found out.
If the author wanted her to be redeemable in the eyes of the MC, he should have made her use some kind of really forbidden dark magic, or sacrificial magic, or blood magic... like, she would have used the life of criminals to attempt taboo rituals or use her lifespan (that could be pretty noble, too).
But she did the one thing that the MC should NEVER compromise on, because if he does, a big part of his character building up till now would be for nothing.

He has to kill her to make it up for her actions. Pacting with demons, in this world, is inexcusable and, just as a reminder, brought up the end of the world for the MC.
The author can always bring her back by resurrection (which was heavily implied in this chapter) or by binding her soul to the MC, or something similar, I don't mind.
It could even become some kind of subplot, with her family pissed at the MC and him trying to bring her back, that could be interesting.

But if the author decides to kill the innocent lovely kid in the orphanage, but then pardons the demon-pacting redhead, that would be pretty bad...

Oh, that could be interesting.
You get a like, because you used the spoiler tag correctly, and your spoiler was actually quite interesting without being too revealing.

And yes, I'm weak as hell, every time I see obfuscated text, I have to check what it is...

I love how the author is building up the reveal, for it to be the most predictable thing ever.
That makes this chapter even more of a filler than it is.

So, let's tally up, to know what's left of the original premise:
1. The MC went back to his past to use his knowledge to dominate the virtual world.
--> Apparently, the world of the game changed because of some of his action, which is already BS, but that makes the MC not know a lot of things, now.
2. The MC will slowly hog and monopolize all resources for his revenge.
--> Feels like the revenge thing is just an afterthought now, if even that.
3. The MC has a plan, and will progressively reveal it as he goes on.
--> Yeah, the plan is pretty much fucked now, I'm guessing.
4. The consequences aren't that bad, this being a game world, so the MC can be as much of a dick as he wants.
--> Pretty much not the case anymore...

I'm really thinking of dropping this before I get even more disappointed.

In a meritocracy, which would be the case here I think, raising the difficulty every time someone exceptional comes up is counterproductive.
It goes against the principles of a meritocracy... everybody should be on the same playing field, at least for the mandatory courses.

Add extra voluntary courses for your geniuses. Offer a higher level of education after they obtain their diplomas. Give them special positions that fit their levels and could improve their skills.
Maybe offer accelerated courses even, so that they can finish the mandatory level shit faster.

I can see you've never suffered from this.
I failed an exam once. I mastered the subject quickly, and passed the exam 3rd place in the region.
But part of the evaluation was a BS evaluation directly from the teachers, without real objective criteria.
They failed me because "They knew I could do better", and they were right.
The only thing that did for me is put me 6 months behind people that were clearly worst than me. Oh, and I developed a full hatred on learning (and teachers) and I avoided learning anything new for years.

It's like when you have an exceptional employee, and instead of rewarding him, you push the rest of the work on him because the rest of the team can't keep up.

Like I said, it's the best way to lose talent and end up with only mediocre people.

Yes, exactly.
Targeting civilians is bad for reconstruction, and that's for the conqueror AND the conquered.
Also, simple soldiers surrendering safely is also the best way to limit human resources losses.

But there's also an element of morality.
Not a benevolent one, but more of a reputation one. The "being on the right side of History" stuff.
Global societal morality is a thing, and the People tend to prefer moral leaders. That's a good way to make them stay passive and follow orders/laws/doctrines.
Now, the morality can change over time, and things that were OK might not be later on, but I still think that not targeting civilians is partly due to said morality too, at least as one of the factors.

I still can't accept the protection for high ranked military people.
I always think that high risk should offer high rewards, but also high consequences. This is seldom the case in real life too, as people with power always legitimize their rewards with the risks, but always find a way to avoid any real consequences for themselves...
I suppose I might be a bit bloodthirsty, hoping that when you give orders to take thousands of lives, and you fail your objectives completely, you should pay the ultimate price...

War crimes are a set of rules dictated and followed by the strongest nation or coalition.
They are to be followed by all, and enforced on everybody equally.

If the strongest goes against those principles, just to hide their actions by trying to manipulate the law, those rules lose all significance.

The Cronos Empire decided that the laws don't really apply to them, then get pissed when "weaker" enemies also ignore them.
Also, I never understood some of the rules, in the real world and fiction.

Avoiding killing non-combatant and civilian infrastructure, OK, that's a good rule.
Not killing surrendering soldier, probably forcefully drafted in the army, I can understand too.

But not killing leaders and strategist that surrender, knowing full well that they were voluntarily trying to kill you a second ago, that you'll have to burden your war effort with keeping them well and alive, and knowing that the second you return them, they will fight you again... I don't understand this rule.
This seems like another rule to protect the rich and powerful why fucking over the poor and weak.

There's one HUUUUGE difference between both characters: power.

If he wanted, he pretty much had all the power he needed, even over her. He always had that power, his decision are his own.
She never had any power. She was never able to make a decision herself, other than maybe dying, and I'm not even sure they wouldn't force her to live.

When parents abuse children, we don't really care if the children forgive the abusers, we actually try to protect them...
You can see beaten wives going back to their abusers over and over and over again, in real life... Does that mean we should forgive the abusers? Are they innocent because their victims don't want to punish them?

Fuck no. He is directly responsible for a big part of her incredibly fucked up trauma.
She never EVER did anything bad to him.

Man, I feel some regrets between those two.
I understand that in the alternate future, they fought to the death and she did kill him, but I feel like there's more history between them than just plain rivalry.

They were perhaps involved, but too proud, selfish and uncompromising to stay together.

I'm guessing we will find out in the next few chapters.

Crap.
I'm now waiting the moment she decides to forgive him for some BS reason to drop this.
Even if he remembers, even if he gives his life for hers, even if he is the most repentant person in this world, he doesn't deserve forgiveness.
He forcefully took a beaten and abused girl and actually found a way to make it way worse. He deserves the same fate as that old hag.

The moment I see the hint of forgiveness from her is the moment this story is actually a joke, and deserves to be dropped.

Oh, crap...
I thought it was the Dwarf girl in disguise.

Without your comment, I wouldn't have even thought of the redhead dude...

Yes.
That's how you do it.
You build-up to the final confrontation showing all the preparations and personal connections the MC makes, then you show the MC ACTUALLY FOLLOWING HIS PLAN.
No that fucking BS trope of "all the planning was for naught, nothing is working, let's ditch the plan we took 15 chapters to prepare after just one chapter".

Ah, man, with so many cases of unsatisfying writing I've read recently, this feel sooooo good.

So, one feels the need to sacrifice his family for the good of his company, and the nation.
The other would sacrifice everything he has to spend one more second with his family.

Ijin's granddad is clearly the right one. You can't say there no right answer when there's so clearly one.

I never understood this mindset of "power over everything" to build strong people.
That builds weak people, reliant on external power to force their will on others, and who never really question their beliefs or decisions, stuck living in their pre-established worldview, never to adapt, and doing everything to keep things as they are, no mater how fuck-up the situation is...

And again, with this goddamn trope.
Let's watch the MC prepare for a specific event for a lot of chapters, then all his planning goes to shit immediately, until a literal Deus Ex intervenes.

This is shit writing, but apparently, it's the new norm now...

It's good storytelling.
But damn this arc is depressing.

I wasn't expecting it to be this long, too.
I thought I knew what Leon had lost, but actually seeing the actual Kingdom, the people, friends, family members, loved one... and knowing he is the sole survivor...

Yep, depressing.

Whoa! That's impressive.
After 66 pretty interesting chapters, this author was able to make me lose all interest in this story in 3 chapters.
That's like the second quickest. The fastest was MookHyang Dark Lady, that lost me in 1 chapter...

*Red Flash*
*Blue Flash*
*Blue Explosion*
*Red Explosion*
*MC Posing*
"Ultimate Sword of the Dragon Phoenix Rising Sun Moonlighted by the Full Moon"

Geez, these types of fight are just confusing. No hype at all...

This seems kinda dumb... no, actually, really really brain dead.

You have a few geniuses that are about to finish their training, they were exemplary and already did more than pretty much anyone else, ever.
So, instead of instantly promoting them and giving them challenges befitting their skills, with actual rewards like titles and honor, you change the final exam, making it harder for the more accomplished students and easier for the slackers and talentless?!?

Now, let's say that the geniuses couldn't complete the insanely hard challenge they received, because, I don't know, they got the flu... or because the challenge was too much...

Your fucking kingdom is now defended by literally the worst batch of students of their promotion...
And the insanely powerful newbies are either redoing a year more of studies completely useless to them, or they become more or less mercenaries, wandering swordsmen or shitty nobles doing nothing... or they could just be dead, because you sent them to a region overrun by monsters that even accomplished knights fear...

This Empire is doomed. It's clearly controlled by a bunch of idiots revered by everyone as geniuses...

That was... good.
This is a great way to show the potential of the top of the top of necromancy, without nerfind the MC for no reasons.
I love the way the professor used bone armors on the whole school to protect, not to overpower.

This chapter kinda hyped me for this story again.

So that's calm.
Better not make him angry...