In the vast circular plaza of Kamar-Taj.
As dawn breaks once more, the young mage apprentices have already begun their daily morning practice on the rune-covered floor of the plaza.
Some mage apprentices are cheering at their successful creation of a Spark Teleportation Gate.
While others, looking at their repeated failures in magic, wear a slightly dejected expression, but soon regain their focus and plunge back into training.
Gwen stood in the library's corridor, resting her chin on her hand, watching the mage apprentices training in the circular plaza.
After a crash course from Hawk, she no longer envied those learning magic.
Alright.
Gwen was still somewhat envious.
But the thought of exchanging her soul, and possibly becoming leverage against her fiancé, shattered her image of mages completely.
No matter what, she couldn't hold Hawk back.
However...
Is magic really that difficult, isn't it just drawing a circle?
Can people fail this so many times?
Gwen watched a mage apprentice fail once again, her curiosity piqued, before thinking of Hawk. She turned and looked at the still-closed library door behind her, eyes filled with concern.
Hawk had been in there for a whole day and hadn't come out yet.
Just then.
The library door opened.
Gwen's eyes lit up.
A second later.
She saw Wang, expressionless, coming out of the library, withdrew her anticipation from her eyes, and greeted Wang.
"Good morning, Wang."
"Good morning."
Wang glanced at Gwen standing in the corridor, nodded in response, then turned to look at the library behind him, ready to suggest Hawk wouldn't be out anytime soon when his gaze was caught by the sight of the Supreme Mage appearing not far away.
"Supreme Mage."
"..."
Following Wang's gaze, Gwen saw the Ancient One behind her, steadied herself: "Supreme Mage, when will Hawk come out?"
The Ancient One did not immediately answer Gwen's question but nodded to Wang, who had just come out of the library.
Wang understood and turned to leave the area.
Once Wang was gone, the Ancient One looked at Gwen, standing together in the corridor before the railing as if seeing through everything, her gaze falling upon the hardworking mage apprentices in the circular plaza: "He will come out when he wants to."
This response was no different from saying nothing.
Listening to the Ancient One, Gwen's mouth instinctively twitched like Hawk's, but she didn't refute, instead taking a deep breath.
"Alright."
"If you feel bored, you could try learning Kamar-Taj's magic."
"No, no."
At the suggestion, Gwen hurriedly waved her hand in refusal: "It looks too difficult, I probably wouldn't learn it."
Listening to Gwen's explanation, the Ancient One glanced at Gwen and smiled slightly.
"To you, it would be easy if you wished to learn, given your wisdom."
"Forget it."
Gwen didn't hesitate, again rejecting the Ancient One's proposal.
Seeing this, the Ancient One didn't say more, changing the topic and inviting Gwen: "Would you join me for tea? Hawk might take a while longer to come out."
Gwen turned to glance at the library without any sign of movement, thought it over, and nodded to the Ancient One, accepting the invitation.
Inside the library.
Within the Vishanti Stone Chamber.
Hawk sat cross-legged, hovering mid-air, the Eye of Agamotto housing the Time Gemstone between his palms continually emitting the exclusive green glow of time.
Time moves swiftly, yet simultaneously, time can pass slowly.
However, when you are immersed in time, time itself loses any significance.
Within the Little Cosmos.
Hawk's time lingers within each breath, each heartbeat.
Upon looking.
The Netherworld has been born!
Under the cheat of time, almost at the moment of the Netherworld's birth, immense, suffocating structures have already appeared within the Netherworld.
Similarly, under the cheat of the Time Gemstone, the nascent Netherworld, emanating invisible rules of life and death, rapidly spreads across the entire Little Cosmos, in an instant encapsulating the life and death rules in the entire Little Cosmos.
In due course, once the Little Cosmos is materialized, any life form originating from these planets will enter the cycle of reincarnation through the Netherworld.
However, there are presently no living beings.
He's currently, using the Reality Gemstone, materializing the power of his Sixth Sense Little Cosmos, but has not achieved the full materialization of the Little Cosmos.
Thus, Hawk's current Little Cosmos contains absolutely no trace of life.
Desolate.
Cold.
Just like the newborn Netherworld.
A vast and formidable Gate of the Netherworld, resembling both crystal and metal, intimidatingly stands at the sole entryway to the Netherworld.
Beyond the Gate of the Netherworld lies an expansive, barren, and lifeless plain.
The ground consists of grey-black sand and jagged stones, devoid of greenery. The sky remains perpetually dark, covered in ominous clouds.
The plain's end is not the end for souls, but a cliff.
Below the cliff, a wide, slow-flowing river filled with an ominous aura.
The riverbanks are desolate, covered with black reeds or twisted barren trees, but at the end of the river, the immense and grand architecture of the Netherworld looms in the distance.
In time, souls will leap or be pushed into this river from the cliff, drifting downstream to the core region of the true Netherworld.
The Court of Judgment!
The Eight Prisons!
The Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss!
Everything is here.
With the mindset of using things now or letting them expire, Hawk uses the Time Gemstone to perfect everything in the Netherworld as much and as beautifully as possible.
Feeling like he's playing a real-life version of Minecraft, Hawk is having a lot of fun, especially the moment he painstakingly replicated the Netherworld King's Palace to perfection and placed it in the center of the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, giving him an unparalleled sense of satisfaction.
And just as he steps into the Netherworld King's Hall.
The Phoenix, engulfed in black flames, swooshes out, perfectly merging with the temple ahead.
The body of the Black Phoenix is imprinted on the temple floor, with wings of black flames similarly etched onto the temple's sky-reaching pillars, forming intricate patterns.
As for the head, it blends perfectly with the Netherworld King's Chair on the high platform in front of Hawk, with its pitch-black phoenix eyes turned into two black gemstones adorning either side of the chair.
Hawk seems to sense something.
He looks up toward the immense inner space of the temple.
In sight.
Under the black flames, innumerable Netherworld Black Gemstones acquired through Time Gemstone cheating melt and amalgamate into the flames.
Visible to the naked eye.
A battle armor that looks like both crystal and metal is being nurtured within.
Hawk gazes at the Black Phoenix Nether Armor being nurtured, with the image of Mephisto flashing through his mind.
"Mephisto!"
"I hope you like my gift."
Hawk thinks to himself.
The next second.
Sitting cross-legged, floating in mid-air, Hawk opens his eyes.
The moment he opens his eyes, the magic of the Vishanti from the Trinity God in the stone wall closes the Eye of Agamotto in front of Hawk with a surge of magic power, and the closed Eye of Agamotto reappears quietly on the display stand on the stone platform.
Hawk raises an eyebrow, meeting the gaze of the Vishanti carved on the wall.
{{ Eight eyes meet. }}
"Tsk, stingy. No wonder you need to be a Trinity to have a dimension."
"Let's make a deal."
"Give me the Time Gemstone, and in the future, I will allow your dimension into my cosmos, how about that?"
"..."
With the Eye of Agamotto closed, the Vishanti who have done all this remain as quiet as a stone sculpture.
Seeing this, Hawk says no more.
He was just saying it casually.
After all, even if his Phoenix Parallel Cosmos were to be born, it would still lack the heritage compared to the Marvel Main Cosmos.
The Vishanti in the Marvel Main Cosmos can spread their power across the main Multiverse.
But Hawk's Phoenix Parallel Cosmos?
It's just a single cosmos, like the World Tree Cosmos, also relying on the Marvel Main Cosmos but independently self-governing within.
Why abandon being the Dimension God of the Main Cosmos to be a Dimension God of a parallel cosmos?
The Vishanti aren't foolish.
Hawk also respects the Vishanti's choice, disappearing silently from the Vishanti Stone Chamber the instant the Sixth Sense is released quickly.
When Hawk reappears, he sees not far away his fiancée, who is chatting enthusiastically with the Ancient One, seemingly having become good friends.
The Ancient One falls silent as Hawk appears.
Seeing the silent Ancient One, Gwen seems to realize something, turning to look at Hawk who appears behind, her eyes filled with sudden joy, jumping up, hugging Gwen, and then curiously asks Hawk: "Do you know how long you were gone?"
Hawk nods: "Two days."
Upon returning and leaving the Time Gemstone, he already knew the time that had passed.
However...
The deal was quite profitable.
Because in just two days, he had pushed his Little Cosmos to its current limits, and had prematurely birthed the Netherworld, which would have taken thousands or even tens of thousands of years to form without time cheating.
But...
Profitable or not, an apology must be made.
Hawk looks at Gwen seriously.
"I'm sorry."
"You're forgiven."
Gwen, whose worry subsided after Hawk appeared, says with a bright smile.
Hawk exchanges a glance with Gwen, hugging her with a smile, giving her a kiss, then looks over at the Supreme Mage at the tea table and bids his farewell.
His business at Kamar-Taj has been perfectly completed.
Next——
It's time to see what surprise Mephisto has prepared for him.
At the same time!
It's also time to show Mephisto the surprise he's prepared for him!
...