Sign a contract!?
It would have been better if Mephisto hadn't said that.
Once he said it, Johnny, who had been excited that Mephisto said he could resurrect his father, instantly felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured over him.
He once again recalled the tricks Mephisto used to deceive him back then.
In an instant, Johnny's previously hot head cooled down rapidly, and he looked at Mephisto.
"You're trying to trick me again, for the second time."
"No."
Mephisto shook his head, still smiling like a gentleman at Johnny: "This time, I will absolutely not trick you."
At least, when he said this, he was being sincere.
As for later?
What does Mephisto breaking his word later have to do with the Mephisto swearing now?
It was just like when he told Hawke that as long as Hawke found a body, he would release Hawke's sister's soul.
This was merely a trick Mephisto used to lure Hawke to the demon-infested land of Texas.
It was true that his rebellious son, Witch Heart Demon, escaped from Hell and tried to find the Four Elemental Demons to establish a new Hell using the death laws he controlled.
Similarly, it was also true that he wanted Hawke to help him stop Witch Heart Demon.
But…
He was also serious about wanting to obtain Hawke's soul.
No one could refuse the soul of a God, especially when this God was not a true God.
In a word: He could replace him!
Being a Dimensional God of the Death Dimension wasn't so bad, but Mephisto felt that becoming a true God would make his path to Godhood even broader.
Moreover, the divine authority over life and death was different from other divine authorities; even if Mephisto brought all living beings in the entire Universe into his Hell Dimension, he still wouldn't be able to become a true God.
Because the divine authority over life and death already had an owner.
And the owner was a Creator God.
God of Death!
One of the five great Creator Gods of the Universe.
God of Death is the abstract entity of the concept of death, the personification of death itself, the Master of souls, and the source, creator, and controller of all souls in the main multi-Universe.
Simply put, as long as God of Death existed, Mephisto would always remain a Dimensional God and could not become a true God.
But…
Hawke's Nirvana, entering the edge of life and death, gave Mephisto hope and stirred his ambitions.
Because if he could obtain Hawke's soul and extract the two divine authorities of 'Immortality' and 'Nirvana' from Hawke's soul, then he could become a true God.
So, from the moment he met Hawke on the edge of life and death, he had been making preparations.
For example, the few glasses of wine he invited Hawke to drink.
Those glasses of wine were actually nothing special; there was nothing wrong with them, and drinking them would even strengthen one's soul.
Because the ingredients used for those few glasses of wine were souls themselves.
But precisely because the ingredients of those few glasses of wine were souls, Hawke's soul would not be purely his own until he had completely consumed them.
The next thing Mephisto had to do was very simple: find an opportunity to harvest Hawke's soul. Even if Hawke's soul fell into Hell for one second, he would have a way to keep Hawke in Hell forever.
The result—
The opportunity came.
His son, Witch Heart Demon, escaped from Hell during the time when Hawke's sister, Anna, was summoned out of the Hell Gate by a Hell Witch. This made Mephisto furious, but it also made him realize that the opportunity to harvest Hawke had arrived.
So he went online again and successfully tricked Hawke into coming to Texas to capture his rebellious son, while also giving him a chance to take his soul.
And this opportunity was Johnny, who had just signed a soul contract with him.
Of course, Johnny, as a normal person, could not harvest Hawke's soul, but the Spirit of Vengeance he killed back then had that chance.
When he fought with the Spirit of Vengeance back then, he was almost hooked away by the Spirit of Vengeance's Penance Stare.
For a mere Hawke, who had not yet become a God and whose divine authority was temporarily suppressed by his fine wine, as long as he was met with the Penance Stare, harvesting Hawke's soul would be a matter of minutes.
But all of this had a prerequisite.
Johnny must cooperate.
If Johnny did not cooperate, it was very likely that he would capsize in the gutter.
But it didn't matter, Mephisto could certainly trick Johnny once, and he could trick him a second time now as well.
Indeed.
As Johnny listened to Mephisto's sincere assurances, his heart, which had just cooled, began to pound again.
He swallowed and looked at Mephisto.
"Really?"
"I guarantee it."
Mephisto smiled, then extended his right hand, and a scroll of parchment contract flew towards Johnny: "I swear by my name as the Master of Hell that this contract contains no textual traps or any writing you cannot see. You may examine this contract."
Johnny took the parchment contract, took a deep breath, and remembering the painful lesson of being deceived the first time, carefully read every word on the contract.
Indeed.
The contract stated that as long as he could bring the designated soul back to Mephisto, Mephisto would release his father's soul.
There were no textual traps, and similarly, there were no tiny words that were almost invisible to the naked eye.
This contract was exactly as Mephisto had described.
Johnny took a deep breath and looked up at Mephisto.
"Who is this specific soul?"
"Hawke!"
Mephisto smiled and projected Hawke's image with Hellfire: "Send his soul to Hell, and your father's soul will be released."
He said "released," not "resurrected."
Johnny's father's soul was currently imprisoned by him in a soul cage in Hell; releasing him from the cage was also a form of release.
Just as he had promised Hawke back then.
The only difference was one was house arrest, the other imprisonment!
So…
He, Mephisto, did not lie!
Johnny looked at the image of Hawke projected by Mephisto, frowning: "Who is this Hawke, and why do you want his soul?"
Mephisto seemed to know what Johnny was thinking and smiled, saying, "He's a bad person, I can assure you."
As he spoke, to prove his words were true, Mephisto opened his right hand again.
The scene of Hawke rampaging through Quantico Base, turning Quantico Base into ruins, was immediately projected by Mephisto using Hellfire.
And Hawke in Wakanda, Africa.
Countless souls of African natives ascended, seemingly accusing Hawke of his crimes in Hell to Johnny.
Johnny looked at the scene projected by Mephisto, and while one of his doubts was resolved, he gasped at the explosive combat power of Hawke.
"I can bring you his soul, but do you think I have the strength to approach someone like him?"
"You do!"
Mephisto's gentlemanly smile remained unchanged, and the Hellfire on his right hand suddenly turned into a ghostly blue flame: "With the Fire of Vengeance I give you, you will have that strength."
This was also why he wanted to bring Hawke to Texas.
Because Texas was the closest place to his Hell Dimension, and only in Texas could the Fire of Vengeance exert its strongest power.
At the same time…
The energy of his Hell Dimension could also suppress other non-Hell energies in Texas.
It was just a matter of how much suppression.
But it didn't matter.
With one rising and one falling, Mephisto even saw himself becoming a true God.
"Ah-choo!"
Just as he and Sharon, riding in a S.H.I.E.L.D. Chevrolet SUV, entered Fort Stockton, a small Texas town with a population of less than nine thousand, Hawke felt a familiar yet strange aura eroding him, and he couldn't help but sneeze.
Sharon, sitting beside him, looked at Hawke sneezing and offered her blessing.
"God bless you."
"Thank you."
Hawke replied casually, then activated all six senses and discovered something strange.
If he were in New York City, with all six senses activated, it wouldn't be difficult for him to envelop the entire New York City within his consciousness.
But in this small Texas town with a population of less than nine thousand and an area of only thirteen point three square kilometers, his six senses were unable to cover the entire area.
It seemed… his power was suppressed.
Hell!
After analyzing the source of the familiar yet strange aura, Hawke couldn't help but exclaim in his heart.
At the same time, he also confirmed one thing.
Mephisto, that old guy's words, indeed couldn't be trusted, not even a punctuation mark.
At the same time, he also felt another aura rapidly approaching him.
Hawke opened his eyes and said to Sharon beside him, "By the way, what's the name of the hotel you're staying at?"
Sharon paused slightly and stated the hotel's name.
Hawke nodded: "Another Elemental Demon is coming. I'll find you at the hotel after I'm done. Don't follow me; people will die."
With that, Hawke's figure once again vanished from the car.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent driving in front, seeing Hawke suddenly disappear from the back seat, instinctively jerked the steering wheel, but professionalism kicked in, and he quickly regained control of the vehicle.
Having experienced it once, Sharon, who was now less surprised the second time, sighed after a brief moment of distraction: "Let's go back to the hotel first."
She didn't know why, but she felt that her wish to see the popular Johnny's motorcycle stunt show tomorrow night might not come true.
And… a vacation?
What kind of vacation? Get back to the hotel and report to the Commander immediately.
Hawke reappeared outside the city, his figure instantly soaring into the air, transforming into a blur invisible to ordinary people, and instantly sweeping towards the desert area outside the city.
His sister had died in a fight between two monsters in the city, so whenever there was a fight, he would instinctively choose to leave densely populated areas.
Soon, Hawke descended from the sky into a valley in the desert.
At the same time, the aura that had been chasing him also revealed its form.
But not from the air, but from within the desert ground.
Rumble!
The earth trembled, and sand rose, instantly forming an earth elemental.
Earth Element.
Earth Demon—
Gogmom!
…
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