"I want... I need... I need some milk! I mean, cough!"
Johnny coughed dryly twice, forcefully swallowing the rest of the ridiculous sentence.
"I will generously allow you to rephrase that," Luna said, her tone dripping with warning. She stood there, casually holding the heavy golden Bible with both hands. Her brow was arched in a dangerous, distinctly unamused expression.
"I mean, I want power! I want to help them fight," Johnny corrected himself nervously. He had already deduced that this little girl was vastly more powerful than she appeared. She likely held the key to some serious mystical heavy artillery.
"I can give you that," Luna said, her ancient eyes locking onto his. "But do you actually understand the price you will have to pay?"
Johnny hesitated for a brief moment, the weight of his previous torment flashing through his mind. Finally, his gaze hardened into something unshakeable. "If this world truly needs that kind of power to survive, then I will gladly bear the curse once again."
"I honestly don't know where you get these delusions of being some tragic hero chosen by fate." Luna rolled her eyes so hard it looked painful. "You really have spent too much time hanging around that idiot."
She shook her head with a weary sigh. Reaching into the folds of her coat, she brought out the original Bible. The heavy artifact radiated a pure, blinding aura of Holy Light.
Johnny stared at the glowing book, looking visibly confused. "Shouldn't you be holding a creepy parchment contract written in blood?"
In his imagination, Luna was supposed to smile mysteriously and produce a trap-filled scroll. She was supposed to use a sultry, demonic voice to say, 'Sign your soul away to me.'
"Sorry, but predatory soul-binding is completely outside the scope of my current agency business," Luna said flatly. She pointed a small finger across the battlefield toward Roarke. "If you want a direct-sales pyramid scheme, talk to the guy over there."
"Of course, you don't need to be too disappointed. At the end of the day, the fundamental difference between these two cosmic products really isn't that vast."
"Then what exactly am I supposed to do?" Johnny asked, his anxiety spiking again.
He couldn't fully comprehend Luna's cryptic business analogies. However, he figured that signing a contract with a glowing holy book couldn't possibly be worse than dealing with the Devil.
"Just place your hand right here," Luna instructed, tapping the ornate cover.
Johnny slowly extended his hand and pressed his palm against the original Bible. The ancient text reacted instantaneously. Mysterious, glowing golden runes flashed brilliantly across the binding.
The heavy cover flew open on its own. The parchment pages flipped in a rapid, blurring frenzy until they slammed to a halt. The open page displayed a magnificent, vivid illustration of a descending angel.
At that exact moment, a trace of a deeply evil, black aura seeped out from Johnny's fingertips. The dark energy violently clashed with the holy golden runes rising from the page.
As the two opposing forces mixed and churned, the black aura was rapidly purified. It ignited into a familiar, blazing blue flame.
"What is that?" Johnny asked, staring at his burning hand with deep suspicion.
"That is the residual energy of the Spirit of Vengeance still clinging to your soul," Luna explained, her expression turning deadly serious. "The power of a fallen angel is not something that simply washes off. Although those ascetic monks did a remarkably thorough job, a weak quantum tether still connects you to the entity."
Luna stepped closer, her eyes boring into his. "So, I need you to answer a very simple question right now. Are you truly willing to believe in the Holy Light?"
"I am willing to dedicate absolutely everything to the Holy Light!" Johnny shouted, his voice echoing across the ruins.
The moment the declaration left his lips, the original Bible erupted with a truly blinding radiance. The sudden, incredibly active surge of Holy Light poured frantically into Johnny's mortal body.
This massive influx of divine energy immediately agitated the dormant, evil power hiding deep within his cells. The two opposing forces violently entangled, finally merging into a roaring pillar of blue flame that completely swallowed him whole.
Simultaneously, deep within the darkest, most agonizing pits of Hell, an entity stirred. It was a skeletal figure wreathed in fire, bound tightly to a jagged rock by countless heavy, spiked chains.
The creature suddenly raised its skull, as if physically feeling a tug across the dimensions. A warm, brilliant golden light began to shine directly above its head.
It was the pure, unadulterated radiance of the Holy Light. After enduring thousands of years of endless torment, the fallen angel was finally being offered a sliver of redemption.
A single drop of liquid flame welled up in the dry, empty sockets of the skull. It fell, striking the scorched earth below with a soft hiss.
The very next moment, the Spirit of Vengeance threw its head back and unleashed a deafening, earth-shattering roar. With a massive surge of power, it violently shattered the ancient chains that bound it to the abyss.
Magnificent, towering wings constructed entirely of brilliant flame erupted from its back. The newly freed Spirit of Vengeance condensed into a blindingly fast, localized comet of fire.
Launching itself from the absolute bottom of Hell, it broke through all demonic obstacles with an unstoppable momentum. It tore across the crimson sky of the underworld, rocketing directly toward the spatial node leading back to Earth.
Meanwhile, in a grand, obsidian castle overlooking the abyss, Mephisto was calmly observing this exact sequence of events. He sat on his throne, swirling a glass of vintage red wine.
In his other hand, a dark parchment contract suddenly ignited with a golden flame of Holy Light. He simply watched as the binding document burned into a pile of useless ash.
However, the Lord of Hell did not show a single trace of anger at losing his prized possession. Instead, he took a leisurely sip of his wine, a deeply expectant and twisted smile spreading across his face.
"The real fun has finally begun," Mephisto purred, watching the comet of fire breach the dimensional barrier.
Back in the ruins of Göbekli Tepe, a blinding streak of flame violently tore through the horde of demons blocking the Hell Gate. The fiery comet slammed directly into Johnny, who was still fully enveloped in his pillar of blue fire.
In an instant, three distinct energies collided. The evil black-red flames of Hell, the cold light-blue flames of vengeance, and the sacred golden flames of the Holy Light violently intertwined.
The three forces desperately repelled, devoured, and fused with one another. Finally, the chaotic reaction stabilized, forming a massive, pulsing gray cocoon that floated silently in the night air.
The sheer magnitude of the energy spike caught everyone's attention. Even Ethan, Thor, and the giant Roarke were forced to temporarily suspend their brutal brawl.
The three powerhouses stepped back, their eyes locked onto the strange, pulsating gray cocoon. The entire battlefield fell into an eerie, tense silence.
A sharp, crisp sound suddenly echoed across the ruins. It sounded exactly like a thick eggshell fracturing under pressure.
A glowing crack spider-webbed across the surface of the gray cocoon. From this narrow fissure, a brilliant ray of golden Holy Light spilled out, followed by the soft brush of a snow-white feather.
In mystical terms, black represents ultimate depravity, while blue signifies a polluted soul. But pure gold is the undeniable color of the divine.
From this exact moment forward, Zarathos, the fallen angel and corrupted Spirit of Vengeance, had been completely and entirely redeemed. He was no longer the cursed Ghost Rider; he had been reborn as an Angel of the Holy Spirit!
Massive, snow-white wings slowly stretched outward, violently tearing the gray cocoon to shreds. The angel finally revealed itself, hovering gracefully as a figure completely bathed in a warm, sacred glow.
He no longer carried the endless rage and toxic anger of a vengeful spirit. Instead, he exuded a profoundly holy, peaceful, and comforting atmosphere.
He was God's chosen agent in the mortal world. He was the literal embodiment of light, justice, and purity.
He was... still a bald, flaming skeleton, but now his bones were pure gold!
"An angel! Kill him!" Roarke roared in panic, instantly realizing that the tactical situation had just deteriorated severely.
The giant demon attacked first. He swung his massive claws, which were burning fiercely with dark hellfire, tearing through the air to swat the Holy Spirit Angel like a descending mountain.
Just as the strike was about to land, a gentle but incredibly majestic voice echoed smoothly across the battlefield.
"God said, let there be light."
As the divine command fell, the Holy Light radiating from the angel's golden skeletal body suddenly magnified by dozens of times. He transformed into a dazzling, miniature golden sun hovering in the middle of the ruins.
The moment Roarke's massive, demonic claws came into contact with this overwhelmingly intense Holy Light, they began to sizzle. The hellish flesh melted away at a speed completely visible to the naked eye, reacting exactly like white snow exposed to a scorching summer sun.
Down on the ground, the lesser demons and devils writhed and roared in absolute agony under the oppressive weight of the illumination.
"Is this a legendary angel?" one demon shrieked, clutching its burning face. "The Holy Light is too strong!"
"But why does the angel look like a bald skeleton?!" another devil screamed in sheer confusion as its skin blistered.
"I have no idea, but it's too dazzling! Ah, my eyes! I'm blind!"
"I can't see anything! This angel is terrifying!" the demonic horde wailed in unison.
Biologically speaking, demons and devils are incredibly troublesome and resilient creatures. They possess supernatural vitality and immense endurance, making them extraordinarily difficult to kill with conventional kinetic or thermal force.
However, the Holy Light is their absolute, fundamental nemesis. It is the perfect counter-measure, acting exactly as pure order does when introduced to absolute chaos.
Ethan watched the spectacle unfold with intense, calculating interest. He noted that the moment the angel appeared, it executed a devastating area-of-effect attack on Roarke.
Simultaneously, the ambient light passively applied a massive, map-wide weakness debuff to every single demonic entity in the vicinity. Ethan's eyes suddenly lit up with a brilliant, practical idea.
"When it comes to neutralizing the energy signatures of Hell, the destructive coefficient of this Holy Light is significantly higher than I previously calculated," Ethan observed.
He smoothly adjusted his trajectory, gliding over to Luna's position.
"You want to learn how to use it, don't you?" Luna asked dryly.
Before Ethan could even finish his operational assessment, the ancient Atlantean had already deduced exactly what he was plotting. "I thought you completely refused to believe in the Holy Light?"
"I only refused to become the exclusive, corporate agent of the Holy Light," Ethan clarified quickly. "I have absolutely zero interest in becoming the next Jesus or taking up the mantle of the Pope."
He stared intensely at the glowing original Bible tucked under her arm. "But, if we are strictly talking about borrowing the energy source itself..." he added tentatively.
Luna smirked, a mischievous glint in her ancient eyes. "Why don't you give it a try?" she offered, holding out the heavy golden book. "It doesn't cost any money to touch it. Just trust me!"