The ceremony did not end with the completion of the ritual.
There was still the Holy Communion provided by the church for the guests who attended the ceremony.
Hawk was undoubtedly sitting at the main seat.
And during the prayer before the meal, it was also led by Hawk.
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name."
"Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven."
"…forever and ever!"
"Amen!"
"Amen!"
Gwen, Peter, Felicia, Aunt Mei, and other guests followed suit.
Peter, while bowing his head and reciting 'Amen,' watched Hawk out of the corner of his eye.
Hawk's expression was solemn and serious, appearing more devout than any devout believer.
If Hawk hadn't just whispered to him that he'd killed God.
Although Hawk added that it was a joke.
But…
Peter's Spider Sense told him Hawk wasn't joking.
And he had indeed sensed something strange earlier, though just for a fleeting moment, Spider Sense managed to capture that instant breath, which vanished before his hairs could stand on end.
Peter muttered to himself, wanting to ask Hawk for the truth.
But the timing was wrong.
After all, they were in a church, asking Hawk whether he really chopped up God seemed incredibly rude.
So…
Once the Holy Communion ended and Aunt Mei and Felicia went to see off the guests, Peter couldn't wait to drag Hawk to the cemetery behind the church.
Hawk didn't refuse.
After all, his sister's grave was here, and since he lived next to the Palm Street Community, Anya's tombstone was cleaned and kept very quiet.
Hawk squatted down, caressing the photo of his sister on the tombstone, then let his mind sink into the Little Cosmos, seeing his sister Anya currently having fun in the Nether Prison with Blood Elf Kaela and several other Blood Elves.
"I wonder how Dr. Merick's clone experiment is going."
Although the real Dr. Merick was suffering in the Frozen Nether Prison.
But cloning wasn't something only Dr. Merick could do; his clone could do it too.
Back then, to deceive S.H.I.E.L.D into thinking it had captured him, the real Dr. Merick passed his entire memory onto his clone.
So theoretically, his clone could clone others.
But Hawk doesn't like any surprises.
Especially when it comes to his sister, so Dr. Merick's clone was conducting the cloning experiment under S.H.I.E.L.D's supervision.
And Dr. Helen Zhao was also involved in providing technical support to ensure no accidents would occur in the cloning experiment.
Once S.H.I.E.L.D confirms the cloning experiment can proceed, the plan was to open his sister's sarcophagus, extract DNA data, and his sister could be resurrected.
So…
It shouldn't be long before Anya can truly resurrect.
Hawk thought, retracting his right hand, standing up, then turned to Peter who had brought him to the cemetery.
"What's up?"
"…"
Peter, who had been waiting for Hawk, looked at Hawk who turned with a smile and preemptively asked, his expression froze for a moment, then he twitched his mouth: "Shouldn't I be asking you?"
Hawk let out an 'oh' and didn't hide anything from Peter, telling the story of the God's projection attempting to recruit him as the Archangel.
Peter was bewildered while listening.
He was curious.
"You didn't want to?"
"Of course."
"Why?"
"Because God's skin isn't white."
"God's skin isn't…"
Peter widened his eyes, instinctively raising his voice, but quickly realized, looking at Hawk: "How could that be?"
Hawk smiled, then recounted in short the evil plan where Dr. Merick, using the name of God, mass-cloned his body, attempting to substitute quality with quantity and completely replace his soul.
Peter listened more shocked and incredulous.
But not because he didn't believe Hawk.
Rather…
Considering how Hawk had so devoutly called upon and respected God, Peter was puzzled by Hawk's attitude.
"Then why were you so devout earlier?"
"What's wrong?"
"God, and you…"
"Oh."
Hawk didn't wait for Peter to finish, he already knew what Peter wanted to say and waved his hand.
"Believing in God and chopping up God are two different things."
"Who says that believing in God means you can't chop him up?"
"Besides."
"God is God, Yahweh is Yahweh!"
"Once I chop up Yahweh, I'll be the new God."
"By then, believing in God means believing in myself."
"So, why wouldn't I believe in God?"
Anyway, when the time comes and he chops up God, it won't have any impact on Earth. In fact, if he doesn't say anything, the Vatican might not even know that their source of faith has changed.
But when the time comes, Hawk might as well notify the Vatican, saying something like, "The master you believe in has switched from Yahweh to Hawk."
One sentence.
Dimensions need faith.
He, Hawk, the Phoenix Saint Warrior, Master of the Phoenix Parallel Cosmos, does not need any faith.
Faith is like incense, a poison.
Just like the Blood God Madola.
He played around with the faith of the Blood Race, but unfortunately, it went awry. After Deacon Frost died, the last believer who knew him as a deity died, and the Blood God Madola also met his fate's summary.
So—
Faith, this thing, not even a dog wants it!
After Hawk finished speaking, he looked at Peter, whose mouth was agape. Raising one of his sword-like brows, he patted Peter on the shoulder and said with a smile, "As long as you know. You wouldn't want the faith of about 2.4 billion believers worldwide to collapse, would you?"
After saying this.
He patted Peter's shoulder again and then walked towards Gwen, who was approaching from the back door looking for him.
Gwen looked at Hawk as he approached, then at the turning, slightly dazed Peter, and curiously glanced over at Hawk.
"What were you talking about with Peter?"
"God."
"Oh, is he very curious why you want to chop up God, but were so devout just a moment ago?"
"Yes."
Hawk nodded, looking at Gwen, "How did you know?"
Gwen smiled slightly, "Because I was curious too."
Hawk shrugged.
"Render unto God what is God's, and unto Yahweh what is Yahweh's."
"And besides..."
"I used to be in the church choir, of course, I'm devout."
Hawk said casually, once again recalling the days with his sister in the church during his childhood. He glanced at Gwen, "After all, if you don't act a bit devout, you had to go hungry when you were a kid."
Gwen heard him, pressed her lips together, and hugged Hawk.
Hawk hugged Gwen as well.
Half an hour later.
At the church entrance.
While Gwen teased little Ben in the baby stroller, who was giggling and grabbing a golden cross, she chatted with Felicia, "I've looked over the profiles of the staff you sent over. I've selected a few and sent them to your email, just those four for now, and we can add more if needed."
Because when Gwen was collaborating with Helen Zhao on regenerative experiments, they used Dr. Connor's previous lizard regeneration research theory.
And that intellectual property belonged to Osborn Biotechnology.
Gwen had obtained authorization from Felicia in advance, and Dr. Helen Zhao agreed that after the research yielded results, commercialization would prioritize Osborn Biotechnology.
With Gwen's graduation with a Ph.D., the commercialization of the regenerative experiment is also starting to get back on track.
Gwen has also secured her first job after graduating with her doctorate.
Still with Osborn.
But no longer as an assistant, now working in the Stacy Phoenix Biological Laboratory, fully funded by Osborn.
These days, Gwen often communicates with Felicia by phone, discussing the laboratory's equipment and some initial staffing.
Felicia nodded.
"Alright, I'll have HR send invitations based on those you've selected."
"No problem."
Gwen smiled, looking at little Ben giggling in the stroller, and reached out to pinch his cheeks, "Wow, our little Ben is so cute."
Hawk is little Ben's godfather, and when she and Hawk get married next year, naturally she'd become little Ben's godmother.
Once again.
The godmother has more say in little Ben's life plan than mommy Felicia.
After shaking hands and saying goodbye with the priest, Hawk and Peter also walked out from the church.
After a while.
Peter and Felicia got into a car, waved goodbye, and the driver drove away from the church.
Hawk and Gwen also withdrew their gazes and turned to walk towards Palm Street No. 521A.
Half an hour later.
Boom!
A rainbow light shot up from the backyard of Palm Street No. 521A, and in a blink of an eye, it appeared miles above. Then, with a sudden burst of speed, it blasted through a sonic boom cloud and, with a swish, broke through the atmosphere.
At the New York S.H.I.E.L.D. Central, alarms blared on the large screen!
Just then.
Sharon opened the door to her office and stood in the hallway, glancing at the alarm on the large screen below.
"Cancel the alarm, execute the Shackles plan."
"Yes."
The alarm ceased accordingly, and simultaneously, a team of elite S.H.I.E.L.D agents left the central hub, swiftly heading towards Palm Street No. 521A to execute the plan protecting the Demon King's Shackles.
Sharon returned to her office.
She just received a call from Gwen, already knowing that Hawk was leaving New York City for a while.
"By the way, Gwen, where is Hawk going this time, and is there anything we need to do?"
"Uh, you've done all you can."
"Hawk said, Mephisto has taken over his territory."
"He's going there to ask Mephisto to move out."
"..."