Mephisto compromised.
After Hawk made a vow to the Goddess of Death, he decided to trust Hawk once more.
But...
He had no choice.
The barefooted aren't afraid of those with shoes. However, the current situation is exactly as Hawk described; he's the one wearing shoes.
Mephisto couldn't enter Hawk's cosmos.
Yet Hawk could block his Hell Dimension, not to mention, he also remembered a sentence Hawk had once spoken in the Hell Dimension.
In this lifetime, I won't do anything else but block the gate of your Hell Dimension. Stay inside for a lifetime; I'll wear you out until death.
Thinking of this.
Mephisto shivered in anger but could only swallow his rage.
Four eyes met.
After Hawk made his vow, Mephisto chose to leave without a word.
Why stay?
To suffer?
But—
This can't just end like this.
We'll see, just you wait.
As the Gate of Hell slammed shut, Mephisto turned away, gazing at Hawk with eyes full of suppressed, furious flames.
Hawk sensed Mephisto's hate but paid no mind.
The moment he used force in the Hell Dimension to take his sister's soul from Mephisto, he knew he was at odds with Mephisto.
One sentence.
Not only are demons unscrupulous, but their hearts are exceedingly petty. Even a glance makes them feel you've disrespected them.
Mephisto, as the biggest demon in the Hell Dimension, his pettiness is truly astounding.
However, it happens to be.
Hawk isn't broad-minded either.
In truth, those who traverse time are rarely broad-minded.
Therefore—
Someday, I'll swallow your Hell Dimension.
Watching Mephisto disappear from sight, Hawk murmured to himself, his Black Phoenix Nether Armor disintegrating back to the Temple of the Netherworld. He stepped out, returning to the real world, and his mind sank into his Little Cosmos.
The conversation with Mephisto occurred in a spatial rift, a moment in time, no longer.
Just as Mephisto decided to abandon the issue of Alexander Pierce's soul ownership, Pierce's soul was guided by the Netherworld into the Nether Prison.
Hawk's Netherworld has Eight Great Prisons!
This he created by combining the Life and Death Law Fragment obtained from the Witch Heart Demon, the Four Elements of Creation from the Four Elemental Demons, and the Reality Gemstone, with the Nether Prison from the Specter he read in his previous life.
Each of the Eight Great Nether Prisons has its merits.
Divided into:
The First Prison, Netherworld Tribunal, will preside over all creatures of his Little Cosmos, holding the Book of Life and Death, judging life's sins, rewarding and punishing, condemning the dead to the appropriate hell based on their sins.
The Second Prison, Torrential Rain Nether Prison, like a small world, where souls endure acid rain that can dissolve souls, dying and resurrecting in cycles until their sentence ends.
The Third Prison, Stone Mill Nether Prison, on a giant circular millstone connected by three giant pillars, turning evenly. Souls run continually, and those who stop are crushed by the giant pillars, dying and reviving...
Alexander Pierce finds himself in the Stone Mill Nether Prison.
With a sudden, painful tug, he appears on the vast stone mill of the Stone Mill Nether Prison, his expression horrified as he surveys his surroundings.
Vast, desolate, and despair-inducing earth-toned world; in the distance, a gigantic, towering pillar rolls towards him.
No time to think.
Alexander Pierce instinctively turns and runs.
The giant pillar pursues.
Pierce runs.
But...
He runs, his feet like lead, noticing too late the sluggishness, as the giant pillar catches up with a fierce wind.
In the next second.
Alexander Pierce is crushed by the giant pillar.
The second after.
Alexander Pierce resurrects behind the pillar, bewildered, as the rumbling resumes.
In sight.
Another giant pillar appears.
"WTF..."
"Welcome to my Nether Prison, Pierce."
Hawk silently appears in the Stone Mill Hell.
Pierce's pupils contract, looking at Hawk then at the frozen giant pillar.
In an instant.
He finally understands why Hawk killed him so easily and realizes the meaning of "death is not better than living" that Hawk said before dying.
Indeed, death is not the end, but the beginning.
Alexander Pierce remembers the pain of being crushed, looking at Hawk, even his breaths momentarily halted.
Though he forgot he was dead, needing no air.
Pierce's face changes subtly.
Hawk chuckles lightly.
"Do you think I'll ask again what you've been hiding from me?"
"Rest assured."
"I won't ask."
"I gave you the last chance; you didn't cherish it. Now, you have no chance."
"So..."
"Stay here,"
"Eternal life and eternity."
"..."
By the time Alexander Pierce came back to his senses, Hawk had completely disappeared, and the giant mountain pillar that had just been fixed was once again moving.
Alexander Pierce escaped again, only to be crushed to death once more.
He would endure this punishment endlessly in the Stone Mill Nether Prison, perpetually experiencing an endless cycle of escaping—being crushed to death—resurrecting on the spot.
Above the Stone Mill Hell, after his conversation with Alexander Pierce, Hawk looked down calmly at everything below.
Just as he had said earlier.
The chance was given once, and Alexander Pierce did not cherish it. Since that's the case, let Pierce carry his secrets and be tortured eternally.
Hawk didn't care at all what secrets Alexander Pierce was hiding.
Of course not.
It's not that he didn't care at all, he just couldn't figure out what kind of secret Pierce had that he would rather die than reveal.
But it's fine.
There's still Anna.
When Anna dies and her soul comes to the Netherworld, Hawk believes she will tell him.
Of course.
Anna is just a backup choice; Hawk has other options.
It's known that Hydra's leaders aren't just Alexander Pierce and Anim Zola.
There are several Hydra leaders.
Hawk happens to know two more Hydra leaders.
The first one, Daniel Whitehall.
This guy is ruthless; he survived to the present by grafting the organs of an Outsider Race member, Skye's mother.
Because of this, Hawk remembered him well.
But...
Hawk only knows of his existence, not where he is currently hiding.
But that's okay, there's a second one.
Wolfgang von Strucker.
Or—
Baron Strucker.
Yes.
The one who used the Mind Gemstone to activate the superpowers of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.
And Hawk knows exactly where he is.
In Sokovia.
Just right, the Mind Gemstone is also in Sokovia; he can seize the opportunity to get it as well.
So—
Boom!
Hawk's figure instantly appeared thousands of miles above, and then, as the sonic boom cloud appeared, his form transformed into a rainbow, whistling towards Sokovia.
Meanwhile.
Back at S.H.I.E.L.D. Three Feathers Headquarters, Tony Stark heard Jarvis's voice.
"Sir, we've detected Mr. Phoenix's energy signal."
"Bring it up."
"Yes."
Jarvis instantly projected a live satellite feed.
In the image, Hawk's flight was so rapid that the camera was pulled far back, so it wouldn't have to switch back and forth.
"That's not the direction back to New York City, is it?"
"No."
"Can you predict his final destination?"
"One moment."
Jarvis replied, and shortly after, based on Hawk's current flight path, a small inland country in Eastern Europe, bordering Slovakia and the Czech Republic – Sokovia – was marked.
"Sokovia."
Tony looked at the place name and then glanced over at Natasha: "What's this place, do you have a S.H.I.E.L.D base here too?"
Natasha shook her head, "No."
Tony was a little curious, "Then what's Hawk doing going there?"
Just then.
Jarvis spoke again, "Sir, we have confirmed through signal detection a potential Hydra source hidden outside Palm Street."
"Send it to me."
"Sent."
Tony looked at the location of the signal source projected by Jarvis, then said to Natasha, "There's nothing for me here. I'm heading back to New York City to take care of the hidden Hydra."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Tony's faceplate closed up as he headed out, "Hawk's better than the Hulk, at least with Gwen around, I don't need to design anti-Hawk armor."
That's true.
With Gwen around, no matter how furious Hawk gets, he can be calmed down.
Unlike the Hulk.
Who doesn't reason and just smashes everything when angry.
But...
Anti-Hawk armor?
Tony indeed is secretly working on it.
Just in case!
...