The moonlight shines upon the land of illusion.
Accompanied by a sinister laughter, the roar of a motorcycle slices through the sky, followed by a heavy landing on the ground.
Boom!
Like something emerging from Hell, a motorcycle with flames bursting from its body, its exhaust pipe constantly spewing sparks.
Finally locating the motorcycle, feeling that he was being toyed with by Hawk, the Ghost Rider managed to return to Texas just before midnight.
At this moment, gripping the handlebars of the motorcycle, sitting atop it, with a flaming skull upon his head, the Ghost Rider looked up towards Hawk above the canyon.
In the hollow sockets of his eyes, Hellfire burns fiercely, spinning and even flickering, forming two vortexes leading to Hell.
"Kekekeke!"
Driving to the edge of the canyon, the Ghost Rider emitted a chilling laugh. After dismounting, he immediately grabbed the iron chain wrapped around him and swung it furiously towards Hawk above.
The chain, like a living venomous snake, suddenly rises, carrying soul-burning Hellfire, whistling as it forms a fiery tornado, aimed precisely at Hawk.
Hawk silently watched the incoming Soul Lock Chain.
His silhouette vanished the moment the chain attacked, and at the instant the fiery tornado violently destroyed the rocks beneath him.
The next second.
The Ghost Rider, pulling the other end of the Soul Lock Chain, felt his chest cave in, transforming into a fireball, blasting into the canyon wall.
"Sound Speed Fist!"
"Boom!"
Hawk quietly appeared at the spot where the Ghost Rider had just been standing, then looked at the Ghost Rider embedded in the rock wall as though an entire body was lodged in it, clenched his right fist, and once again swung at the Ghost Rider.
"Super Sound Speed Fist—"
"Boom, boom, boom!"
The rock wall vibrated and collapsed, rocks disassembling from the mountain mass like bullets, spraying densely in all directions.
And as Hawk's fist wind deepened the rock wall, the Ghost Rider, who bore the full brunt of Hawk's hundreds of punches per second, continued to sink visibly deeper into the rock wall.
Finally.
Along with a mourning sound, in the canyon, the misunderstood rocky wall slowly tilted, collapsed amidst deafening noise, and with clouds of dust rising, completely buried the Ghost Rider in the rock ruins.
Hawk withdrew his fist but did not leave.
Was it really that easy to send away the Ghost Rider?
Don't kid around.
You must know, the Ghost Rider is different from the Four Elements of Creation, even from the Second Generation Hell Witch Heart Demon.
Its core is the Spirit of Vengeance.
Simply put.
The Ghost Rider is almost completely immune to physical attacks.
Sure enough!
Again, a thunderous roar echoed from the rock ruins, and the Ghost Rider, with Hellfire blazing all over, leaped from the ruins.
The rock fragments beneath his feet were scorched red by Hellfire, even showing signs of melting.
And standing atop the rock debris, the Ghost Rider, with his hollow fiery eye sockets, gripped his Soul Lock Chain, looked at Hawk, his voice hollow.
"You are guilty!"
"None of your damn business!"
Hawk spoke almost simultaneously with Ghost Rider's voice, right fist swinging out once again.
Boom!
The Ghost Rider standing on the rock debris flew back, crashing into another rock wall.
But this time, he wasn't embedded.
Rocks splattered.
The Ghost Rider, like a painting, fell from the rock wall to the sand ground, at which point the Soul Lock Chain in his hand flew out again, in the blink of an eye entwining Hawk's ankle... or not!
The moment he was ensnared by the Soul Lock Chain, Hawk's remaining afterimage disappeared instantly.
The Hellfire rising in the Ghost Rider's hollow eye sockets paused for a split second.
Hawk's voice sounded above his head.
"Hey!"
"..."
"Boom!"
Almost instinctively looking up, Hawk's powerful punch directly hit the flaming skull of the Ghost Rider.
With the ground shaking, the Ghost Rider's stature visibly shrank.
No, not shrinking, but the entire lower body of the Ghost Rider, under Hawk's strike, instantly sank into the sand.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The Ghost Rider's height continuously diminished, and after Hawk's third strike, only a blazing head remained above ground, with his body completely submerged beneath the earth.
"Hiss!"
Hawk retracted his right hand, flicking off the soul-burning Hellfire that clung to it, gazing in amazement at the Ghost Rider whose head remained intact after the three mountain-crushing blows: "Your head is quite hard."
Before the words landed.
The Soul Lock Chain hanging on the ground, seemingly unresponsive, with roaring Hellfire, suddenly acted like a revived snake rising, darting towards Hawk's foot resting on the skull.
Hawk did not evade, directly reaching out his left hand, successfully grasping the Soul Lock Chain's pivotal spot.
The whole body of the Ghost Rider, with only a head exposed above ground, sensed Hawk grabbing his Soul Lock Chain, laughing sinisterly.
The next second.
Hellfire on the Soul Lock Chain surged explosively, then Hawk felt empty beneath, glancing down to find the skull once beneath his foot now vanished.
But…
The Ghost Rider's body was still underfoot.
Hawk snapped back to reality and once again looked at the Soul Lock Chain he held.
In that instant, a hollow skull burning with Hellfire replaced the Soul Lock Chain in his hand.
The empty eye sockets stared back at him.
"Heh heh heh."
"You are guilty. Face judgment."
The skull held in Hawk's hand slightly opened its mouth, letting out a heh-heh-heh eerie laugh, as the Hellfire in its hollow eye sockets instantly formed a vortex.
Beyond the vortex, there seemed to be endless darkness.
Hawk felt his soul being tugged, as if an external force was trying to draw his soul into the vortex formed by the Hellfire in Ghost Rider's eye sockets.
If the Netherworld belonging to his Little Cosmos hadn't been born, he definitely wouldn't be able to resist such a pull.
After all, he was on Earth, and without any contract signed with any dimension, theoretically speaking, he was just an Earthling, and his soul belonged to Mephisto's Hell.
But after creating his own Netherworld, it was different.
Like I said,
If I possess my own Netherworld, and my soul still belongs to your Hell, then wasn't my Netherworld built for nothing?
So...
Hawk could feel the vortex in Ghost Rider's hollow eye sockets trying to pull his soul.
But his soul remained unmoved.
Time passed by.
Ghost Rider continued his eerie heh-heh-heh laughter.
Hawk calmly stared into the vortex in Ghost Rider's hollow eye sockets.
Ten seconds.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
Three minutes.
Ghost Rider stopped laughing. Not only did he stop laughing, but even the vortex leading to Hell disappeared, and the Hellfire in his eye sockets also stagnated, as if the entire being fell into silence.
But...
The smile wouldn't disappear; it would only transfer.
Hawk looked at the Ghost Rider who had walked willingly into his grasp and stopped his eerie laughter, and smiled slightly, "Laugh, keep laughing!"
As he said this, he applied a sudden pressure on Ghost Rider's skull.
Crack!
A crisp cracking sound echoed clearly in the once cacophonous, now silent canyon.
If Ghost Rider didn't separate his skull from his body, Hawk wouldn't really have a way with him.
But after Ghost Rider chose to voluntarily detach his skull, it became entirely different.
"Ah!"
Accompanying the cracking sound, a scream from the depths of the soul erupted, followed by scenes reminiscent of a horror thriller unfolding.
The flaming skull in Hawk's left hand transformed momentarily into the aged face of Nicolas Cage amidst the screams, before instantaneously reverting back to Ghost Rider's signature skull.
Hawk suddenly understood.
Initially, he thought the relationship between Johnny Blaze and Ghost Rider was more like the relationship between Bruce Banner and the Hulk.
Meaning, Johnny Blaze could transform into Ghost Rider, but Ghost Rider was not limited to just Johnny Blaze; he could have other hosts.
But now, it seemed that wasn't the case.
Johnny Blaze's soul appeared to perfectly merge into one with Ghost Rider's Spirit of Vengeance.
And there was only one way to achieve that.
Johnny Blaze must have willingly chosen to fuse with the Spirit of Vengeance.
This explains another issue.
Why during Sharon's previous call, she mentioned that during the day, even without transforming into Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze was still on his way to New York City.
Simply put—
Following Mephisto's command to bring his soul to Hell wasn't just Ghost Rider.
Johnny Blaze wanted to bring his soul to Hell too.
No wonder Ghost Rider could separate his skull with such ease.
It turns out your minds were united, huh?
"Tsk!"
After figuring this out, Hawk, looking at the head in his left hand still switching between Johnny Blaze and Ghost Rider in the midst of the screams, couldn't help but click his tongue.
The next second.
Boom!
The instant Hawk's gaze turned cold, his left hand gripping the skull instantly closed tight.
The screams stopped abruptly.
Hawk's left hand loosened, allowing the small fragments of skull to slip through the gaps of his fingers.
A Hell vortex activated within Hawk's perception.
The soul of Johnny Blaze, perfectly fused with the Spirit of Vengeance, was instantly sucked into the Hell vortex.
Hawk observed everything with an expressionless face.
He already knew how to get to Hell.
But...
Let the bullet fly for a while!
...