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"HELA! WITH ME! WE KILL HIM NOW!"
"You're on your own."
"..."
Hawk's rebellious attitude finally pushed Mephisto too far. Furious, Mephisto let out a roar and got ready to attack Hawk, expecting Hela to back him up.
And then... he froze.
Mephisto stared at Hela, blinking as if he hadn't heard her right.
"What did you just say?"
"I said, you're on your own."
Hela was no longer wearing her obsidian antler headdress. Her dark hair lay loose around her shoulders as she gave Mephisto a cold stare from under her pointed, arched eyebrows. She looked at the stunned demon like he was an idiot. "Believe in yourself. You can do it."
Hearing this, and seeing that she meant it, Mephisto's pupils contracted. He sucked in a sharp breath, his face showed disbelief. "Do you think he's going to spare you? We're allies!"
"I'm sorry..."
"What?"
"You can never trust a demon."
"Wha—"
"Heh."
Mephisto whipped his head around, his gaze snapping back to Hawk, who was still sitting on the trunk of the World Tree.
Hawk was smirking. Resting his chin in his hand, he raised his right hand and pointed at Hela, as if introducing an old friend at a party.
"Oh, by the way. Allow me to introduce you."
"Hela, Goddess of Death."
"My Death."
"..." Mephisto's heart, already sunk, seemed to stop completely.
But—
"Impossible."
"I don't believe it."
"DIE!" Mephisto lost control. Feeling humiliated, he yelled in anger, raised his huge clawed hand, and swung at Hela.
Hela, dressed in her sleek dark green bodysuit, remained unfazed. She delivered a single high kick—swift and precise.
The next second.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!
Mephisto was launched backward, tracing a parabolic arc through the air before crashing down with a thud that shook the ground.
Struggling, he pulled himself out of the crater his body had made.
And then, he saw them. Hela and Hawk, standing side by side.
Hela stared at the furious demon, her expression blank.
Hawk stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at Mephisto like a tired father dealing with a disappointing son.
"Believe me now?"
"I..."
Mephisto felt a cold despair settle over him. He stared at Hela, who was standing by Hawk's side. "I don't understand!"
Hela was his ally. How had everything flipped? Why was she standing with Hawk?
Hawk looked at Mephisto's face, which screamed: "I won't rest in peace unless you tell me how you did it." He chuckled and turned to Hela.
"Should we tell him?"
"Sure. Why not?"
Hela kept her icy gaze on Mephisto.
Hawk nodded. He looked back at Mephisto, who was clearly desperate to know, and shrugged.
"Because Hela is me."
"?" Mephisto heard the explanation and assumed Hawk was talking nonsense.
But just as he was about to curse him out.
He saw Hela, standing next to Hawk, flash him a wicked smirk. The next second, her body dissolved into a shower of blood-red light, spreading into the air.
And then, Hela was gone. In her place, hovering where she had stood, was a dark blood-red gem.
Hawk pulled his right hand from his pocket and opened his palm.
The gem drifted into his grasp, sinking into his palm and vanishing.
Mephisto's mind staggered. "The Reality Stone!"
"Exactly." Hawk slipped his hand back into his pocket, offering Mephisto a polite smile.
What Hela?
There was no Hela.
Hela had teamed up with Mephisto to ambush Hawk, but Mephisto misjudged his opponent's intelligence.
A "Red Wedding" ambush might be considered a shocking betrayal. But to someone whose soul carried the weight of five thousand years of Eastern history, overflowing with treacherous banquets and backstabbing alliances?
From the first time Mephisto tried to trick him, Hawk's trust in him disappeared completely.
But if Mephisto wanted to pretend to surrender, Hawk was happy to play along. He hadn't wanted to deal with the hassle of taking over the authority of life and death on Earth anyway.
So he accepted Mephisto's fake surrender and treated the demon like a dancing monkey, sitting back and watching him perform.
Similarly, Hela—in her alliance with Mephisto, had overestimated her own cunning and underestimated Hawk's speed.
Just as Hawk had suspected.
During her fight with Surtur, Hela had been holding back. She knew Asgard was doomed, so why waste her energy fighting a lost cause? It was smarter to conserve her strength for a sneak attack on Hawk alongside Mephisto. Why go down with the ship when you can hijack a newer one?
But Hawk was too fast.
Way too fast.
Question: At what exact moment did Hawk take control of the World Tree?
He had seized control of the World Tree in the fraction of a second before the primary universe's timeline swallowed it.
The logic was straightforward.
The World Tree had been severed. Hawk had repaired it, transforming it into the Parasol World Tree.
But... that meant the World Tree was now Hawk's Parasol World Tree.
The original World Tree died the moment it snapped.
In that instant, Hawk took possession of the World Tree, using his near-infinite Cosmo energy to repair it and elevate it to Parasol status in one motion.
He was the Lord of the World Tree. He was its new Chief God.
And so, Hawk acquired one hundred percent of the World Tree's divine authority, including the fragments of power Odin had distributed to others.
Like Thor's authority as the God of Thunder.
But Hawk returned the thunder authority to Thor the second he recalled it.
Again, business is business, personal is personal.
Hawk drew a clear line between the two.
He hadn't known about Hela's alliance with Mephisto at first, but his suspicions were raised when he saw Hela getting beaten by Surtur like a child.
So the moment he took control of the World Tree and realized Helheim hadn't been destroyed, his first act wasn't to return Thor's power. It was to strip Hela of her authority as the Goddess of Death and grant her the gift she embodied.
Death itself.
If she wanted to pretend to be dead to fool him, he would make it real.
What?
Keep her alive?
For what? Her looks??
Please... Hawk was a one-woman man.
As an ally? Even less appealing. Hawk knew better than to keep someone like Hela around.
If she was willing to stab Odin in the back, what would she do to him?
In short—
Hawk didn't need Hela, and he wouldn't trust her.
So... Hela died. And to be safe, Hawk didn't bother keeping her soul. He incinerated it on the spot, wiping out any chance of her causing future problems.
As the saying goes:
Better safe than sorry.
Caution is the ship that sails a thousand years.
Only after he had dealt with Hela for good did Hawk return Thor's power of thunder.
That was why Thor had felt his power vanish for a few terrifying seconds.
The rest was simple.
Hawk used the Reality Stone to manifest Hela and his Cosmo to manifest a duplicate of himself. He baited Mephisto out of hiding and played along with the demon's little stage play.
Listening to Hawk lay out the sequence of events, Mephisto's massive ten-foot frame began to tremble.
"So... you've been playing me from the start."
"Hey."
Hawk looked at the despair and hatred written across Mephisto's face. He waved off the accusation. "I gave you a chance. You're the one who threw it away."
Mephisto was beside himself.
"You played me!"
"Whatever you need to tell yourself."
Hawk couldn't be bothered to explain it again. He tossed off the remark, then a thought seemed to strike him. He looked at the demon. "Although I should probably say thanks, Mephisto."
Mephisto's furious expression froze.
"..."
"I was in a bad mood earlier." Hawk spoke honestly. "But watching you put on this little performance... it cheered me up."
Hearing this, Mephisto met Hawk's eyes.
"Does that mean you'll let me go?"
"Hah... hahaha!" Hawk blinked in surprise, then burst into laughter. Real laughter.
Seeing Hawk laugh, Mephisto forced a desperate grin and joined in.
But quickly, Hawk's laughter stopped. His expression went cold.
"No."
"What?"
"I've given you too many chances, and you've wasted every one of them. I've been more than generous."
Hearing Hawk's refusal, Mephisto's small hope vanished. He let out a soft growl. "You think you can kill me?"
"You hiding an ace up your sleeve?"
"If you kill me, Death will never let you get away with it."
"Heh!" Hawk snapped back to reality and scoffed. He looked down at Mephisto. "This is my universe now. My rules. Your boss Death can't even enter this place."
Mephisto raised his voice, trying to use the Cosmic Entity Death as a shield to buy himself a chance.
"BUT ON THE OUTSIDE—"
"Goodbye, Mephisto." Hawk cut him off. He raised his right hand, then, as if suddenly struck by an idea, his eyes brightened and he corrected himself. "Actually, I mean good riddance. I've thought about it, and having you in my Underworld will only be a hassle. So just die."
Seeing Hawk raise his hand, Mephisto's face distorted in panic.
"Wai—"
SNAP!
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