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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!
As soon as Hawk entered the solar system, he locked onto the Celestial Gargaratus. The air beneath his feet split with a sonic boom.
Dust plumed.
Wanda waved her hand, and scarlet chaos magic pressed the debris back into the ground. She looked up to see Hawk already streaking through the atmosphere as a flash of golden light.
Clang!
Crack!
A phantom Fire Phoenix flared behind him and merged with his body. Huge, blazing golden wings burst from his back. He shot past lightspeed, heading straight for Gargaratus.
He didn't hold back. First strike, killing blow.
"Phoenix's Wings Rise!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!
A golden phoenix tore out from his fists.
Out in the void, Gargaratus watched the threat approach. The six glowing eyes on his enormous face shone crimson. Two enemies were about to collide.
No words needed.
Gargaratus lifted his arm. His fist, made of pure Adamantium and strong enough to crush stars, clenched tight. Space warped around it as cosmic energy gathered and compressed over his knuckles, forming a sphere of destruction. He threw his punch.
The golden phoenix collided with the sphere of ruin.
There was no sound and no explosion, only a single point. A singularity formed at the center of the clash, swallowing all light and sound.
The singularity consumed both the Phoenix's Wings Rise and the sphere of destruction. It grew larger, pulling in everything nearby. Drifting stars, cosmic dust, and stray nebular gas were all dragged into the void.
An energy storm exploded outward from the epicenter, sweeping across millions of kilometers of dead space in a frenzied ring.
Inside that raging storm.
Hawk and Gargaratus charged at each other, neither thinking of retreat. They dove into the storm, and their fight tore the space apart.
Literally...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!
A nameless rogue planet, which had survived the storm, was struck by the shockwave from Hawk's fist. It broke apart.
Gargaratus reached down with a hand big enough to block out the sun. He grabbed a drifting moon and threw it at Hawk like a giant baseball.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!
Hawk didn't dodge. He took the impact head-on.
He didn't break. The moon did.
Hawk burst through the broken core. He lifted his right arm, covered the fiery debris in Phoenix Fire, and turned it into a bright meteor. Then he threw it back.
Smash!
The burning rock hit Gargaratus's chest and shattered, but Gargaratus didn't even react.
Hawk knew a simple trick wouldn't kill a Celestial, but he noticed something.
In this universe, Gargaratus was tougher. Faster. Stronger.
It wasn't an illusion. Hawk remembered what Death told him.
"Your universe is low-end."
"So low-end... Eternity and I didn't even bother checking when our projections vanished."
Hawk started to agree with her.
Gargaratus wasn't the only one getting stronger. Hawk felt it too. His strength, durability, and speed were all greater here than at home.
More importantly.
He felt the universe pushing back. The suppression here was much stronger. At home, the universe pressed in from all sides. Here, it felt like a net tightening around his throat.
Same suppression, vastly different weight classes.
That explained the wild rumors back home. People exaggerate what they don't understand. In a weaker reality, stories about Celestials killing Death, banishing Eternity, and taking over the cosmos became legends.
But one fact stood firm.
Gargaratus was the reason Gwen was stranded in Universe-828.
So… Gargaratus had to die.
"Detonate, my Cosmo!"
Hawk traded a hundred blows with Gargaratus inside the storm. He ripped himself backward. Inside him, his Cosmo went supernova. Endless golden energy flooded his fists.
At that exact moment.
The power the universe had been choking down erupted like a volcano.
In a blink.
With the Golden Phoenix Armor, Hawk's life force broke through the cosmic net. He moved beyond the Eighth Sense and returned to the level of a Chief God.
He aimed both fists down at Gargaratus.
"Phoenix's Wings Rise!"
Clang!
This time, the phoenix didn't just burst from his fists. It broke free from the universe forming around Hawk's body. His own universe became real, blurring the line between what was physical and what was not.
This was the true Phoenix's Wings Rise.
Blinding and filled with Hawk's will, the phoenix burned with golden flames. Its wings stretched wide enough to cover a galaxy as it dove at Gargaratus.
Wherever the firebird flew, space itself broke apart like fragile glass.
It happened in a fraction of a second.
Gargaratus saw Hawk pull back. He looked up. The true Phoenix's Wings Rise slammed directly into his face.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!
Gargaratus froze. Far behind his head, a distant nebula caught fire from the force of the Phoenix Fire.
A clean headshot!
But Gargaratus's head didn't explode. The phoenix phased into his skull. Blinding golden light poured out from the inside.
Thin cracks spread across Gargaratus's face, forming a pattern like a spiderweb.
Down his neck.
Across his torso.
Down his limbs. In seconds, the Celestial was covered in a network of glowing fissures.
Finally, Gargaratus made his first and last sound in this sector.
Hum.
Thud.
It sounded like a huge engine shutting down. The six shining eyes on his face flickered, one after another, until they all went dark.
Once the last eye went dark, the cosmic giant slumped forward. His cracked head hung heavy in the void.
Given enough time, maybe another Knowhere would form from this corpse. But that was a problem for another day.
Right now. The fight was over.
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Hawk stood among the stars. The flames on his armor faded, and the Golden Phoenix Armor turned back into a sleek suit. He looked calmly at the dead god before him.
He hadn't planned on killing Gargaratus this fast.
But the universe's suppression remained suffocating. As soon as he realized he needed to use his Cosmo to defeat Gargaratus, he acted. He detonated it, surprised the prime universe, pushed his power past the Eighth Sense, and finished Gargaratus with one punch.
The blowback was immediate.
The second Gargaratus died, the universe caught up. It slammed down on Hawk with unprecedented force.
Hawk felt the crushing force pressing down on him. He let out a quiet laugh.
He stepped forward and placed his foot on Gargaratus's bowed head. He looked out into the void, aware of eyes watching from the darkness.
Shock.
Awe.
Disbelief.
Appreciation.
Caution.
The unseen watchers all had their own reasons, but Hawk didn't care. He focused on one gaze hidden deep in the cosmos, put his hands in his pockets, and smirked.
Ten minutes.
Half an hour.
An hour later.
The scrutinizing gaze vanished.
Hawk chuckled. Look at that. Weren't they supposed to attack him? Usually, if you kill the kid, the parent comes. If you kill the parent, the elder appears. So what happened? Did they back down?
'Hey, look. I just slaughtered your guy right in front of you. I'm standing on his head. Aren't you coming for revenge?'
Was this really how the Celestials operated?
Hawk couldn't wrap his head around it. He just fought a heavyweight bout. He was warmed up. Kill one, kill two. Made no difference to him.
But no. The nameless Celestial hiding in the darkness just looked away, ignored him, and left.
Wow. Really?
Hawk watched it happen, shaking his head.
But then, he lifted his eyes. Seeing the Celestial rush to avoid a fight made him think. His smirk widened.
Run?
Pfft.
Can you??
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