Sign a contract!?
Mephisto's words would have been better left unsaid.
As soon as he spoke.
Johnny, who had been excited about Mephisto saying he could resurrect his father, suddenly felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.
In an instant, he recalled the tricks Mephisto used to deceive him years ago.
In a flash.
Johnny's previously heated head cooled down at an incredible pace, and he looked at Mephisto.
"You're trying to deceive me again."
"No."
Mephisto shook his head, still smiling gentlemanly at Johnny: "This time, I definitely won't deceive you."
At least, when he said this, he truly meant it.
As for afterward?
What does Mephisto breaking his word afterward have to do with Mephisto making promises now?
Just as he told Hawk that if Hawk found the body, he would release Hawk's sister's soul.
This is merely a trick Mephisto used to lure Hawk to Texas, the Land of Demons.
His rebellious son, Witch Heart Demon, had escaped from Hell, attempting to find the Four Elements Demon to recreate a hell using the Law of Death he controlled.
Similarly, he genuinely hoped Hawk would help him stop the Witch Heart Demon.
But...
He was also serious about wanting Hawk's soul.
No one can refuse a divine soul, especially when the divine soul is not truly divine.
In short.
It can be replaced!
Being the Dimension God of the Death Dimension isn't bad, but Mephisto feels that becoming a true Divine Spirit would make his divine path broader.
Moreover, the Life and Death Divine Authority is different from other divine authorities; even if Mephisto brings all the living beings of the universe into his Hell Dimension, he cannot become a true Divine Spirit.
Because the Life and Death Divine Authority already has a master.
And the holder is a Creator God.
Death!
One of the five Celestials of the universe.
Death is the abstract entity of the concept of death, the embodiment of death itself, the master of souls, the source, creator, and controller of all souls in the Main Multiverse.
In simple terms.
As long as Death exists, Mephisto will always remain a Dimension God and never become a true Divine Spirit.
But...
Hawk's Nirvana, entering the edge of Life and Death, gave Mephisto hope and stirred his thoughts.
Because if he can obtain Hawk's soul and extract the two Divine Authorities of 'Immortal' and 'Nirvana,' he can truly become a God.
Therefore, ever since he saw Hawk on the brink of Life and Death, he has been preparing.
For instance, those few glasses of wine he invited Hawk to drink.
Those few glasses were nothing special, no tricks, and even drinking them would strengthen one's soul.
Because the materials for those few glasses of wine were souls themselves.
But precisely because the materials for those few glasses of wine were souls, until Hawk fully consumed them, his soul was not purely his own.
What Mephisto needed to do next was extremely simple, find a way to harvest Hawk's soul; even if his soul falls into Hell for just a second, he has a way to make Hawk forever remain in Hell.
And then—
The opportunity arose.
His son, Witch Heart Demon, escaped hell as Hawk's sister Anna was summoned by Hell Witch through the Gate of Hell, which made Mephisto furious and simultaneously aware of the opportunity to harvest Hawk.
So he got back online once more, successfully tricking Hawk into coming to Texas, capturing his rebellious son, and seizing the chance to take his soul.
And this opportunity was the Johnny right before him, who signed the Soul Contract.
Of course.
As an ordinary person, Johnny couldn't harvest Hawk's soul, but the Spirit of Vengeance he once slew had the opportunity to do so.
Back when he fought the Spirit of Vengeance, he nearly had his soul drawn away by the Eye of Judgment.
For Hawk, who hasn't become a god yet and whose divine authority is temporarily suppressed by Mephisto's wine, meeting eyes with the Eye of Judgment could effortlessly harvest Hawk's soul.
But there's a prerequisite for all of this.
Johnny must cooperate.
If Johnny doesn't cooperate, it could lead to failure.
But it doesn't matter, Mephisto could absolutely deceive Johnny once, and now he can deceive him a second time.
Indeed.
Listening to Mephisto's earnest guarantee, Johnny's just-extinguished heart started beating again.
He swallowed, looking at Mephisto before him.
"Really?"
"I promise."
Mephisto smiled, then extended his right hand, and subsequently, a scroll of parchment flew toward Johnny: "I swear in the name of the Master of Hell, that this contract contains no hidden word traps or any text you cannot see. You can check this contract."
Johnny took the parchment contract, took a deep breath, recalling the painful lesson from being fooled the first time, and seriously examined the contents word by word.
Indeed.
The contract indicated that as long as he could bring back the designated soul for Mephisto, Mephisto would release his father's soul.
No hidden word traps, and also, no small text nearly invisible to the naked eye.
This contract was exactly as Mephisto had described.
Johnny took a deep breath, looking up at Mephisto.
"Who is this specific soul?"
"Hawk!"
Mephisto smiled and used Hellfire to project Hawk's figure: "Send his soul to Hell, and your father's soul will be released."
He said release, not resurrection.
Johnny's father's soul is now trapped in Hell's soul cage, and releasing him from the cage is the same as release.
Just as he promised Hawk back then.
The difference is, one is house arrest, and the other is imprisonment!
So...
He, Mephisto, did not lie!
Johnny looked at the projection of Hawk, frowning deeply: "Who is this Hawk, and why do you want his soul?"
Mephisto seemed to know what Johnny was thinking and said with a smile: "He's a bad person, I can assure you."
As he spoke.
To prove his words, Mephisto opened his right hand again.
The scene of Hawk ravaging Quantico Base, turning it into ruins, was projected by Mephisto with Hellfire.
And Hawk in African Wakanda.
Countless souls of Black Barbarians ascended into the sky, seemingly accusing Hawk of his crimes to Johnny in Hell.
Johnny watched the scenes projected by Mephisto, and as a doubt in his heart was resolved, he gasped at the sight of Hawk's explosive power.
"I can bring back his soul for you, but do you think, with him like this, I have the strength to get close to him?"
"You do!"
Mephisto's gentlemanly smile did not change, and the Hellfire on his right hand suddenly turned into a ghostly blue flame: "With the Fire of Revenge I give you, you will have this power."
This is also why he wanted to bring Hawk to Texas.
Because Texas is the location closest to his Hell Dimension, and only in Texas can the Fire of Revenge exert its strongest power.
At the same time...
The energy of his Hell Dimension can also suppress other non-hell energies in Texas.
The question is only how much suppression it can achieve.
But that's not important.
In the rise and fall between, Mephisto has already envisioned himself becoming a true Divine Spirit.
"Achoo!"
At the moment when he was following Sharon and riding in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Chevrolet SUV entering the small town of Fort Stockton, with a population of less than 9,000, Hawk felt a familiar yet strange aura invading him and couldn't help but sneeze.
Sitting next to him, Sharon watched Hawk sneeze and gave her blessing.
"God bless you."
"Thank you."
Hawk responded offhandedly, then opened his Sixth Sense fully and discovered something strange.
If it were in New York City, with his Sixth Sense fully opened, enveloping the entire city in his consciousness wouldn't be difficult.
But in this small Texas town with a population of less than 9,000 and an area of just 13.3 square kilometers, his Sixth Sense couldn't cover everything.
It seems...
His power was being suppressed.
Hell!
After analyzing the source of this familiar yet strange aura, Hawk secretly noted.
At the same time, he confirmed something else.
Mephisto, the old guy's words, couldn't be trusted, not even a punctuation mark.
Meanwhile, he also sensed another aura quickly approaching him.
Hawk opened his eyes and said to Sharon beside him: "By the way, what's the name of the hotel you're staying at?"
Sharon was slightly taken aback, then stated the hotel's name.
Hawk nodded: "Another Elemental Demon has come, I'll find you at the hotel after I deal with it, don't follow, people will die."
With that said.
Hawk's figure once again vanished from the car.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent driving in front watched Hawk suddenly disappear from the back seat, instinctively twitched the steering wheel, but professionally regained control of the vehicle quickly.
After the first time, it was hard to surprise Sharon the second time; after a brief moment of distraction, she sighed: "Let's go back to the hotel first."
For some reason, she felt her wish to watch Johnny Blaze's motorcycle stunt performance tomorrow night might be falling short.
And...
Vacation?
Screw it.
Hurry back to the hotel and report to the commander.
When Hawk reappeared, he was already outside the city. His figure soared into the air, turning into a shadow invisible to ordinary people, and in an instant, he swept towards the desert area outside the city.
His sister died in a battle between two monsters in the city, so whenever there was a battle, he would instinctively choose to leave densely populated areas.
Soon.
Hawk landed from the air in a valley in the desert.
At the same time, the aura that had been chasing him also revealed its form.
But not from the air, from the ground of the desert.
Rumble!
The ground trembled, gravel heaved, and in the blink of an eye, it formed a figure of earth.
Earth Element.
Earth Demon—
Gegom!
...