Hawk's tone was indifferent.
Mephisto seemed a bit out of it, seriously doubting whether his hearing had been affected after Hawk broke off his horn.
"I said, take your sister's soul and leave my Hell."
"I said it's not enough now."
Hawk hovered in the air, his eyes meeting Mephisto's.
"I've given you two conditions."
"The first time, I told you, resurrect my sister, and you'll gain three of my friendships."
"The condition I offered, the first is always the best."
"But you didn't take it."
"Now I've come again, and I've given you a second condition."
"St. Peter's Basilica Contract to you, in exchange for my sister's soul, I have no interest in your Hell."
"And yet again, you did not accept."
"Now it's the third time."
"So—"
"Hand over my sister's soul, at the same time, your Hell will no longer possess any souls related to me. Any souls related to me will chant my name and enter my Netherworld!"
Hawk looked at Mephisto expressionlessly: "This is my newest condition, accept it or not, it's up to you. But next time you call a halt, I won't just demand souls related to me."
As long as I don't accept extortion, no one can extort me.
Hawk, who was already prepared for the destruction of his sister's soul by Mephisto, was terrifyingly strong at this moment.
After all, even if Mephisto destroyed the soul, it wasn't truly irrecoverable.
Isn't there still the Soul Gemstone?
No big deal; once he leaves Hell, he'll find family planning director Thanos, have Thanos get the Soul Gemstone, and once he has it, swap the Reality Gemstone with Thanos, then use the Soul Gemstone to resurrect his sister's soul.
What's the big deal!
However...
Since Mephisto opened his mouth again now planning to negotiate.
Then talk it out.
Three times is enough.
This is the last time.
Anyway, he was already ready for the worst scenario.
Mephisto listened to Hawk's third and final offer, and his face instantly turned so dark that it could drip ink.
If he could start over, he swore he would choose to agree to Hawk's terms at the tavern without hesitation.
If he had agreed back then, would he have ended up like this?
Continue fighting?
This is his home turf, after all, and once Hell Dimension gets shattered to smithereens, Hawk can pat his butt and leave, while he'd still have to clean up the post-war mess.
Although Odin and Eternal had done this before.
But...
These two didn't make such harsh threats like Hawk did.
In their future lives, they do nothing but keep an eye on him, serve only him, making his Hell devoid of souls, making it impossible for demons to enter or leave his Hell.
How could this look like someone who can be extorted?
This is like a hedgehog with bristling spikes, the kind that explodes at a touch!
But...
Mephisto, with a dark face, looked at Hawk: "What do you mean by chant your name and enter your Netherworld? I'm willing to let your sister go, and you still plan to take Earth's souls from me?"
Hawk was expressionless: "When the war starts, it's up to you, but when it ends and how it ends is up to me. My terms are just this; my friends, your Hell will have no authority to handle their souls. Either accept or refuse, it's up to you."
If he wasn't truly uninterested in developing the Netherworld, his third condition wouldn't be so simple.
After all, he didn't strive for being the Main God for this, only to doggedly pursue the Netherworld King with its narrow ascent channel.
But just letting it go like this, Hawk couldn't calm the fire within.
Just happened that he thought, to prevent Mephisto, the old thing, from pulling some extortion tricks in the future, he'd simply take away the soul rights of everyone he knows from here.
Mephisto's face was dark.
"What if I don't agree!"
"Then we'll fight."
Hawk was expressionless, the St. Peter's Basilica Contract appeared in his hand again, facing Mephisto: "But three times is enough, there will be no chance for negotiation in the future. I will fight you to the death, either you find a way to kill me, or you guard your withered Hell and slowly grow old."
Mephisto's expression changed over and over, his demonic eyes fixed dead on Hawk.
Hawk's pupils met Mephisto's gaze without any ripples.
For a while.
"Get out!"
Mephisto withdrew his gaze, suppressing his internal fury: "Take your sister and get out of my Hell."
Hawk did not concede.
He could only compromise.
And still that sentence.
He couldn't afford to bet.
Now Hawk has his own Netherworld, and his soul is beyond Mephisto's reach.
Hawk can recklessly take chances because he has more than just a Netherworld.
He cannot, because he only has one dimension.
But I definitely want your soul.
Right now?
"Get out of my Hell, don't let me see you again."
"Ha ha."
Hawk couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at these words but didn't show it; he just chuckled hearing Mephisto's words: "As long as you don't come to provoke me, I have no interest in you."
With that said.
The Black Phoenix Nether Armor dismantled, reassembling in the air into a Phoenix Ornament, then twisted and returned to the hall in the Netherworld.
Hawk's feet touched the ground, smiling as he looked at his sister in front of him.
He smiled happily, a joy he hadn't experienced since 2009.
Hawk looked at his tearful sister Anya and softly said, "Hello, my sister, I've come to take you home."
Anya, looking at her brother so close in front of her, instinctively reached out her right hand, and as she truly touched Hawk's cheek, she broke into a smile.
"...Hello, my brother, I knew you would definitely come to save me, just like you promised me back then."
Anya pursed her lips, touching Hawk's cheek.
She remembered before her death, when her brother carried her out of the ruins with his bare hands, in her final moments, her despairing, heartbroken brother suddenly igniting with hope, swearing he would resurrect her.
Now her brother really came to take her away from this damned Hell.
Thinking of this, Anya threw herself into Hawk's embrace, crying her heart out.
"Brother!"
"Let's go, we're going home!"
Hawk held his sister tightly in his arms, lowered his head, kissed Anya's forehead, and then spoke softly.
The next second.
Bang!
The space shattered like a mirror, revealing the other side, a Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss with bright sunshine, the songs of birds and fragrant flowers, and an eternal spring.
Immediately afterwards.
Hawk, with his sister Anya, stepped forward while tossing the St. Peter's Basilica Contract backward with his left hand.
Mephisto appeared instantly, grabbing the St. Peter's Basilica Contract.
By now, Hawk had already taken his sister Anya into his Netherworld.
Swish!
At the moment he fully embraced his sister and set foot in the Pure Land specially created for Anya, the space rift behind them closed at an unimaginable speed.
At the moment his sister Anya's soul arrived in the Netherworld.
Hawk smiled.
He was wrong.
That bastard Mephisto had not spoken a single truth.
That nonsense about not being able to resurrect a soul without a body to house it.
Bullshit!
As long as Mephisto was willing, he could truly resurrect any soul.
Hawk, who controlled the Life and Death Law of the Netherworld, could choose to resurrect his sister Anya the moment her soul set foot in the Netherworld.
He could do it too.
But...
Not now!
Because the Life and Death Law he possessed was just a fragment exploded from the Witch Heart Demon.
It's incomplete, so he couldn't.
Of course.
If he wanted to resurrect his sister before the Little Cosmos materialized, it wasn't impossible.
Just as Mephisto deceived him by saying, find a body to house the soul, and then he could resurrect his sister in that way.
He'd look into cloning technology when he got back to truly resurrect his sister.
As for now.
He could only let his sister stay in this Pure Land for a while.
Hawk then explained to his sister Anya about being back in his Netherworld.
Anya, with her big eyes, was full of bewilderment.
Aggrieved?
She subconsciously looked at the Pure Land in front of her.
The pure blue sky and white clouds.
The lush green grassland.
The countless blooming flowers.
The clear stream.
The magnificent and grand Netherworld King's Hall stood on the heart of the Pure Land.
So...
Living here is called aggrieved?
She remembered an incident, when she was a child and was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment due to a heart perforation. After waking up, she smiled at her brother next to the hospital bed, describing to him the scene she thought was Hell.
And the Pure Land in front of her matched the scene she described to her brother back then, not just similar, but an exact replica.
Anya's thoughts churned while looking at the absolutely peaceful, harmonious Pure Land that perfectly fit her childhood imagination of the afterlife. Her heart tightened as she turned around, seeing her brother Hawk behind her, looking at her with a gentle smile.
"Brother."
"Hmm."
"These years, you must have had a tough time."
Anya earnestly looked at Hawk.
When she died, she might have been only fourteen, but she had stayed in the Hell Dimension for so many years, no longer the little girl who didn't understand anything and was well protected by her brother.
After living in Hell for so many years, Anya knew very well how difficult it was to seize a soul from Mephisto's hands.
And her brother had only used four years.
Just four years.
Her brother broke through Hell from Earth, forcing the ruler of the Hell Dimension, Mephisto, to release her soul.
And her brother, four years ago, was clearly just an ordinary person.
So...
It's hard to imagine how much sweat her brother had shed in these short four years to rescue her from the forever sunless Hell.
The past four years for her brother must have been exhausting.
Anya looked up again, her eyes welling up, seeing her brother who cherished her as a treasure both in the past and now.
"Brother, thank you."
"What nonsense are you saying."
Hawk laughed heartily, reaching out gently to wipe away the tears at the corner of her eyes, and then, just like when they were children, ruffled her hair, "You're not like others, you're my sister, you're my only... you're my family."
Just when he was about to say his only family.
Hawk thought of Gwen, raised his eyebrows, and said to Anya: "Oh right, I found you a sister-in-law, you will definitely like her."
Anya blinked her reddened eyes.
Looked up.
"Sister-in-law?"
"..."