Boom!
From Hawk's eyes, a scorching Phoenix Ray shot out, striking Alexander Pierce who stood before him in a fanatical pose.
In an instant—
Alexander Pierce was vaporized on the spot, not even a speck of bone remaining.
But!
Alexander Pierce's soul remained where he was.
In a flash, Pierce, now a soul after dying, stood there bewildered, seemingly not understanding why Hawk had killed him so easily.
After all, in Pierce's imagination, Hawk would surely torment him for a long time.
He had already prepared himself to endure Hawk's torment, and also prepared himself not to reveal why HYDRA was so brave to test Hawk, no matter how much he was tortured.
Because their second struggle plan had already failed.
But they still had a chance.
Whether Dr. Zola's cloning plan or Strucker's plan, as long as one succeeded, HYDRA could still successfully rule the World.
But the result…
Hawk did not torment him; instead, when death came, he didn't even feel a trace of pain.
Was Hawk kind-hearted?
Of course not.
Just as Alexander Pierce was thinking this, he suddenly felt a pull, and turning his head, he saw a large gate slowly opening before him.
That was the gate of Hell.
He had to enter quickly; if he didn't enter within the specified time, he would become a malevolent spirit.
In his soul state, Alexander Pierce instantly understood the meaning of this gate and his destination.
But…
Just as he took a final look at Hawk, who seemed unable to see him, and was about to turn towards the gate of Hell, he heard Hawk's voice.
"Pierce, where are you going?"
"..."
Alexander Pierce subconsciously turned his head.
The next second.
His eyes narrowed sharply.
In sight!
The Underworld had already unfolded behind Hawk, and the pulling force from the Underworld instantly fell upon Alexander Pierce, attempting to draw Alexander Pierce into the Underworld.
Pierce had provoked him so much; did he still expect to simply die and go to Hell to enjoy himself?
What was he thinking?
Hawk would make Pierce understand exactly what he had just said.
Perfect.
After he established the Underworld, the Eight Great Underworlds hadn't even opened for business yet, so Pierce could be the first customer of his Eight Great Underworlds.
Pierce would soon understand what it meant to be better off dead than alive.
In an instant!
A roar erupted from the rift in the Reality World.
"Hawk!"
"Rumble!"
Accompanying the violent distortion and collision of space, the gate of Hell, which had originally been pulling Alexander Pierce towards Hell, suddenly opened wide, and then Mephisto, appearing as a demonic giant with horns on his head and a tail behind him, emerged with a ferocious expression from behind the gate of Hell.
A powerful aura of Hell instantly enveloped Pierce, who was being drawn into the Underworld, attempting to snatch Pierce back into Hell.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Hawk took a step, and with the appearance of the Black Phoenix's shadow, the black phoenix underworld armor quickly donned itself upon him. By the time he was wearing the underworld cloth, he had already appeared at the rift between the Reality World and countless dimensions.
The Underworld manifested behind him, contending with Mephisto's Hell Dimension, engaging in a battle for the ownership of Alexander Pierce's soul.
In life, Alexander Pierce was considered above ten thousand people, enjoying boundless glory. Even after death, his soul was being fought over by Hawk's Underworld and Mephisto's Hell.
It must be said, Alexander Pierce lived a straight life.
In the literal sense of 'straight'.
In the extreme tug-of-war between the Underworld and Hell, Alexander Pierce's soul was almost stretched into a straight line.
Mephisto roared ferociously.
"Hawk, this soul belongs to my Hell!"
"I know!"
Hawk, from beneath the Black Phoenix's faceplate, met Mephisto's gaze across an unknown expanse of space.
His eyes were calm, and his tone was equally calm as he stared at Mephisto, who stood at the edge of the Hell Dimension.
"But I want this soul."
"Never!"
Mephisto roared.
"Alright."
Hawk, hearing this, showed no anger; he merely sighed, then spoke to Mephisto again: "Then I'll rephrase. I'm taking this soul. Either you give him to me obediently now, or we'll have another Divine War. I'll find a way to blast open your gates of Hell, then run into your Hell Dimension, cause a ruckus, smash your Hell to pieces, overturn your mountains and rivers, and then, I'll take this soul. Choose one, it's up to you."
Mephisto, hearing this, grew even angrier.
His face was flushed, like magma about to erupt from a volcano.
"Are you still planning to contend with me for the ownership of Earth's souls?"
"Depends on you."
"What!"
"I only want this soul. He wants to die? It's not that easy. I'll make him understand what it means to be better off dead than alive. So, either you give me this soul, or I'm really going to contend for the ownership of all of Earth's souls."
It was a good opportunity, while his Underworld hadn't yet launched its soul business, to let Alexander Pierce be a chief experience officer for the Underworld, to thoroughly test how fun his Eight Great Underworlds truly were.
Then, as Alexander Pierce experienced them, he would make improvements.
Just like a game's closed beta before its official launch.
As everyone knows.
During a game's closed beta, various data can be modified at will, but once it goes into open beta, many data cannot be arbitrarily changed.
His Little Universe was the same.
Currently, his Little Universe had not yet materialized into reality; it was merely infinitely approaching reality under the effect of the Infinity Stones' Reality Stone.
So, at this time, any deficiencies could be freely modified, but once the Little Universe materialized into reality, even if he wanted to make further modifications, it would be a very tricky matter.
Mephisto, listening to Hawk's blatant threat, was so enraged his nose almost twisted out of shape.
"Damn it, Hawk, you swore!"
"Pfft!"
Hawk, hearing Mephisto's words, simply laughed: "An oath? What's that? Demons are the most untrustworthy. You told me that, Mephisto. I'm just learning from you. But I have more shame than you; I'm leaving the choice to you. You can choose to make me keep my oath by giving me this soul, or you can make me break my oath. I don't care."
Mephisto, hearing Hawk's utterly shameless words, his massive demonic body trembled.
Hawk was expressionless.
A gentleman to a gentleman.
A scoundrel to a scoundrel.
For a demonic leader like Mephisto, who lacked integrity, the best approach was to be even more untrustworthy and even more shameless than Mephisto.
The most important point.
In this current timeline, compared to Mephisto, Hawk was more like the one with nothing to lose.
As everyone knows.
Since ancient times, it's only been heard that those with shoes fear those with bare feet, never the other way around.
Still, the same old saying.
Currently, Hawk's Little Universe only existed within his mind, in a small space, and had not yet become reality.
But Mephisto's Hell Dimension was a solid reality.
So…
What if there was another Divine War?
In short.
Hawk could recklessly burn and explode his Little Universe, and it would recover after a period of rest, becoming even stronger than before.
After all, the Little Universe was a method of holy war; every battle would enhance one's Little Universe.
Otherwise, why would Hawk be like a honey badger, wanting to fight everyone he saw, and even looking forward to it?
No other reason.
saint seiya grow fastest in battle, which is also why Thor is increasingly reluctant to fight him as the number of duels increases.
He fought too desperately!
In summary.
Hawk loved war, even adored it.
But Mephisto couldn't afford it.
If Mephisto's Hell Dimension were destroyed, it would be truly destroyed.
So…
Mephisto had no choice.
He looked at the expressionless Hawk, who seemed to say 'you made your choice,' and trembled with rage, his face flushed like surging magma.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it."
"Right, right, right."
Hawk's tone was very nonchalant: "You keep dragging this out, pulling the soul I want into soul fragments, and I'll take that as your default to start a Divine War with me."
Mephisto's expression stiffened.
That's exactly what he had just been thinking.
After all…
To just hand over the soul like that, he couldn't do it, because what was the difference between that and the practice of ceding one city today and five more tomorrow?
Mephisto subconsciously relaxed his pull on Alexander Pierce's soul, took a deep breath, looked at Hawk, and spoke in a low voice.
"You promise, only this one soul."
"I…"
Hawk was about to nod, but suddenly remembered something and looked at Mephisto: "Old Mephisto, I don't want to lie to you. There might be a few more souls I need to throw into my Underworld; I want to watch them suffer. So, ten it is. Give me ten more slots."
Old Mephisto?
Ten?
Mephisto felt his entire demonic being was not well.
He simply laughed in anger.
"Why don't I just split it with you? You can share Earth with me from now on."
"That would be great."
"Great my ass!"
Mephisto roared: "Hawk, I have never seen anyone as shameless as you. Life and death are my Hell's authority, yet you challenge my authority again and again. Do you really think I have no way to deal with you?"
Hawk, hearing this, tilted his head slightly, looking at the furious Mephisto.
"You have a way to deal with me?"
"You can't even enter my Universe, yet I can violently enter your Hell."
"So…"
"Let's not talk about that. I only want ten souls. I can swear to the Goddess of Death that as long as you don't provoke me again, I guarantee I won't covet Earth's authority over life and death."
"..."
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