AWB #213 - Ancient gods on earth! Whisper of the devil, hunt of the lord of hell!
#213 - Ancient gods on earth! Whisper of the devil, hunt of the lord of hell!
Although accustomed to the veiled way Master Ancient One spoke, Luo Fu still felt a sense of displeasure at this moment.
However, he also understood that Chaos Magic itself was a very profound type of magic, existing in a state of 'neither thinking nor not thinking'.
Or rather, Chaos Magic was a form of extreme idealism.
Without a sufficiently strong mental will, it would be impossible to manipulate Chaos Magic at will.
Just like the Scarlet Witch, she clearly possessed powerful mind magic, but even after going completely insane, she never truly mastered Chaos Magic to the point of wielding it as she pleased. Before that, the Scarlet Witch's Chaos Magic was more like a form of telekinesis that interfered with reality; at most, it was the Scarlet Witch's telekinesis capable of interfering with the mental plane.
The immense requirement for individual willpower was the real reason why Chaos Magic was so dangerous.
Faintly grasping the deeper meaning of Master Ancient One's words, Luo Fu glanced at the magical book in his hand, which remained in the form of bone slips.
After pondering for a moment, Luo Fu slightly bowed to Master Ancient One and said, "Thank you, Master Ancient One."
"I only hope that one day, when Kamar-Taj encounters trouble, you won't forget my help!" Master Ancient One reminded him, "Also, don't completely trust the things recorded in this book in your hand, because it could very well be a trap!"
To truly transform this thing into a tool like the Eye of Agamotto or the Cloak of Levitation, it depended on how much of his own wisdom, knowledge, and power Luo Fu, as its master, imprinted upon it.
The so-called book form was, in essence, nothing more than the residual power left behind by the demon gods and dimensional demon gods who had died at Master Ancient One's hands.
This residue was extremely dangerous for anyone, even Luo Fu himself, despite being a dimensional demon god, would be affected.
This was also why Master Ancient One had subtly reminded Luo Fu multiple times.
Not to mention, through this tool made from the bodies of demon gods and dimensional demon gods, one could temporarily borrow the power of those demon gods and dimensional demon gods that had not yet dissipated.
Even for Luo Fu, this tool could completely serve as a tool and carrier for Luo Fu himself to achieve the highest realm of Chaos Magic.
After bidding farewell to Master Ancient One and taking the bone slips, which were currently only a semi-finished product but, if truly completed, would be enough to become Luo Fu's strongest tool.
Upon returning to the Hydra base, Luo Fu discovered that in a short period, a large number of exceptionally beautiful young women had appeared within the Hydra base.
These young women were either pure, charming, enchanting, or innocent…
Although he knew that these extra young women were Baron Strucker's tools to further corrupt or, in other words, win him over.
In name, however, these young women served as guards, secretaries, and even maids.
This left Luo Fu unable to find a reason to fly into a rage. After all, Baron Strucker was now using a calculated plot, and these young women were Baron Strucker's bait.
As long as Luo Fu couldn't restrain himself once and took the bait, then it was certain that Luo Fu, who had tasted blood and broken his vow, would be gradually won over by Hydra.
Hydra was almost the most skilled at this on Earth. After all, not many years after suffering heavy losses in the Third Reich, Hydra had corrupted its nemesis and even played a game of cuckoo's nest.
The nominally S.H.I.E.L.D. had almost completely become one of Hydra's heads.
Baron Strucker believed that Luo Fu, such a vigorous young man, could endure for a short time, but he couldn't possibly persist for long.
If they really obtained a powerful force like Luo Fu, then Earth would sooner or later fall into Hydra's hands.
When Luo Fu returned to the base, to the room he had claimed for himself.
As soon as he entered, Luo Fu saw the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver siblings chatting and laughing with a Middle Eastern girl.
"Sir." Seeing Luo Fu appear, whether it was Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, or this carefully arranged girl, all revealed a nervous expression.
Just a glance at this girl made Luo Fu sigh in his heart. Baron Strucker and Hydra were truly dedicated.
This Middle Eastern girl, aside from anything else, at least had a 70% resemblance to the Scarlet Witch in appearance alone.
Even in terms of figure, she was much more provocative than the Scarlet Witch, who hadn't yet reached her peak state.
"What are you talking about?" Luo Fu didn't need to guess that this girl was definitely a tool arranged by Hydra to indirectly approach him through the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.
To put it bluntly, it was Baron Strucker's attempt to probe Luo Fu's preferences.
"Sir," the girl slightly bowed to Luo Fu and said, "Pietro, Wanda, and I were talking about the skull knight riding a motorcycle engulfed in flames that recently appeared."
Luo Fu's eyes suddenly narrowed.
Riding a motorcycle engulfed in flames, and a skull knight.
Wasn't this the Ghost Rider who had been tricked by Mephisto?
Luo Fu naturally knew the Ghost Rider's power. Nominally, the Ghost Rider was a so-called fallen angel, but in reality, the Ghost Rider's origins were quite complex.
Fallen angels, Spirits of Vengeance, ancient Earth gods, Zarathos…
Although the origins were quite complex, one thing was undeniable: the Ghost Rider's power itself was immense.
Even if the Ghost Rider was born because of Mephisto, even those humans on Earth who obtained the Ghost Rider's power and were controlled by Mephisto were not truly without any ability to resist.
The news of the Ghost Rider made Luo Fu immediately guess the culprit, the hell lord Mephisto.
Luo Fu knew how greedy this hell lord Mephisto was for the Seven Deadly Sins authority he possessed.
More importantly, when Master Ancient One helped Luo Fu's newly born Divine Might Dimension grow, she had truly fleeced countless dimensional demon gods, including Mephisto.
For someone as petty as Mephisto, while he resented Master Ancient One, he would definitely not let Luo Fu go.
The Ghost Rider suddenly making such a big splash, even within the Hydra base, they were starting to use the Ghost Rider's existence as a topic.
This made Luo Fu suspect whether it was Mephisto's scheme against him.
Don't think that Luo Fu was being paranoid or suffering from persecution complex.
Those powerful demon gods or dimensional demon gods were most adept at laying down layers of schemes against their targets without them realizing it, causing the targets to fall into the trap unknowingly.
So-called coincidences simply didn't exist in the eyes of such great beings.
And without a doubt, Mephisto was such an existence.
Being targeted by a veteran dimensional demon god like Mephisto was definitely not an easy thing, after all, there was only a thousand days of being a thief, where was there a thousand days of guarding against a thief?
Not to mention, Mephisto was not comparable to any thief.
Regardless of whether the Ghost Rider's appearance was Mephisto's scheme against him.
For Luo Fu, it was better to try to kill someone like Mephisto, who was powerful and accustomed to using conspiracies, as early as possible. If not, he had to hurt him once to make him not dare to have any thoughts against him.
Don't look at how fast Luo Fu had grown, but in Mephisto's eyes, he was more like a dimensional demon god newbie who had just been born under Master Ancient One's protection, and yet this newbie possessed the Seven Deadly Sins authority that even Mephisto coveted.
It was conceivable that in Mephisto's eyes, Luo Fu was simply like a piece of fatty meat exuding a tempting aroma, making him drool.
It was only because Earth had the protection of the three Sanctums that Mephisto couldn't descend in his true form, and his avatar couldn't deal with Luo Fu at all. Otherwise, Mephisto would have personally taken action long ago.
His gaze swept over this girl who had a 70% resemblance to Wanda, Luo Fu asked, "Where did this Ghost Rider appear?"
Without hesitation, the girl said, "Sir, the Ghost Rider is just a legend. It is currently impossible to determine whether he has truly appeared on Earth. There have only been some unverifiable messages circulating on the Internet before."
After explaining the uncertainty of the news, the girl continued, "If we follow our analysis, if the Ghost Rider really exists, then he should be in the vicinity of a small town in America."
After learning the activity range of the Ghost Rider from the young girl, Luo Fu prepared to go straight to America. However, to his surprise, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver actually offered to help Luo Fu at the moment he was about to leave.
Luo Fu glanced at the siblings meaningfully, thought for a moment, and then refused Quicksilver, choosing to take the Scarlet Witch with him instead.
Hearing that he was rejected, a clear look of disappointment flashed across Quicksilver's face.
But when he heard that Luo Fu actually intended to take Wanda to America, Quicksilver's expression suddenly became complicated.
From the young girls who had replaced the Hydra members, Quicksilver naturally knew that, in Hydra's eyes, the reason why Luo Fu treated them differently was entirely because he had taken a fancy to Wanda.
As for Quicksilver, he simply didn't have the right to refuse.
Not to mention anything else, even their abilities came from Luo Fu. Under such circumstances, Quicksilver could only hope that Luo Fu would treat Wanda well.
After struggling for a while, Quicksilver quietly instructed the Scarlet Witch before seeing Luo Fu off with her.
Under normal circumstances, traveling from the Hydra base to America would take several days, and that was under the premise of taking some relatively efficient means of transportation.
But for Luo Fu, it obviously wouldn't be so troublesome. With his Divine Might Dimension ability, even circling the Earth a few times would only be a matter of moments.
However, because he wasn't sure of the town's location before, Luo Fu could only go to America first, and then look for news about the Ghost Rider.
Compared to the hearsay of the Hydra girls, the legends about the Ghost Rider in the town were even more bizarre.
Although he didn't get any detailed information, Luo Fu was certain of one thing: the Ghost Rider had indeed appeared around this town recently, and there were more than just a few, but dozens of witnesses.
Through the town, he learned that a stunt performance team had indeed come to the town not long ago.
Luo Fu was now completely certain that this Ghost Rider was none other than Johnny Blaze, the hotshot who was bewitched by Mephisto, not only坑死(betrayed/screwed over) his own father, but also沦为(degraded into) the Ghost Rider.
After inquiring about the next destination of the stunt performance team from the town, Luo Fu directly took the Scarlet Witch to the next destination of the stunt performance team, waiting for the rabbit to appear.
Luo Fu didn't have to wait long, staying at the next destination of the stunt performance team for only two short days.
This stunt performance team quickly appeared in the new town.
Although the performance team came, Johnny Blaze was simply unable to display the abilities of the Ghost Rider during the day.
Only at night would the Ghost Rider show his true form, and more importantly, the appearance of the Ghost Rider was not fixed, and even Johnny Blaze himself could not control it. Moreover, at this stage, Johnny Blaze deeply resented his identity as the Ghost Rider and resisted it immensely in his heart.
This made the appearance of the Ghost Rider even more uncontrollable.
But Luo Fu believed that since he had already found the human body of the Ghost Rider, then he would soon be able to personally contact the so-called Spirit of Vengeance.
He also didn't know whether the Ghost Rider on Johnny Blaze was the Spirit of Vengeance or Zarthos, the elemental demon lord who was once born on Earth and even dared to challenge God.
As night fell, the town suddenly seemed to be in a festive holiday atmosphere because of the appearance of the stunt performance team.
In addition to the residents of the town itself, even those who knew about the hotshot Johnny's stunt performance and that it was about to be performed in this town gathered from all directions, with countless fans of hotshot Johnny.
Under the night, the town was bustling with noise and brightly lit.
Luo Fu took the Scarlet Witch, bought two tickets, and came to the venue of the stunt performance team.
Sitting in the audience, the Scarlet Witch plucked up her courage and said, "Sir, aren't we here to find the Ghost Rider?"
"Are you trying to ask why I'm not in a hurry to find the Ghost Rider, but instead have the mind to come watch a stunt performance with you?" Luo Fu's eyes swept over the stunt performance team that was preparing and said, "Have you forgotten that this Ghost Rider is very different from the legends? The legendary Ghost Rider rides a horse burning with hellfire, but this time, he's riding a motorcycle burning with hellfire."
The Scarlet Witch's eyes lit up and said, "You mean, the Ghost Rider we're looking for is in this stunt performance team?"
Nodding, Luo Fu said, "Not only is he in the stunt performance team, but he's also the star of the stunt performance team, hotshot Johnny."
Hearing that Luo Fu had even confirmed the identity of the Ghost Rider, the Scarlet Witch was surprised and said, "Then why, sir..."
"Why don't I take action?" Luo Fu smiled, looked at the stunt performance team that was preparing, and said, "Don't forget, we're looking for the Ghost Rider, not hotshot Johnny."
The Scarlet Witch showed an obvious look of incomprehension.
In fact, in the Scarlet Witch's view, since the Ghost Rider was hotshot Johnny, then finding this stunt performance star was finding the Ghost Rider, wasn't it?
However, Luo Fu didn't explain.
Actually, the Scarlet Witch's idea can't be considered wrong, but there is still a difference between the Ghost Rider and hotshot Johnny.
The human state of hotshot Johnny, after transforming into the Ghost Rider, is actually unable to empathize in the initial stage.
Accurately speaking, once he transforms into the Ghost Rider, then the consciousness of hotshot Johnny will be manipulated by the instinct of the Ghost Rider's Spirit of Vengeance.
In this state, he simply cannot dominate his own consciousness.
And what Luo Fu was looking for was neither hotshot Johnny nor the Ghost Rider, but Mephisto, the lord of the hell dimension who was behind everything.
Seeing Luo Fu's silence, the Scarlet Witch, although full of doubts, still obediently fell silent and didn't continue to ask anything, but quietly watched the exciting performance that followed.
It has to be admitted that hotshot Johnny was indeed not living up to his name to be able to make such a big name for himself in the stunt performance circle. His various performances, in the eyes of ordinary people, were indeed playing with his life. As long as there was a slight mistake, his life would be over.
Even the Scarlet Witch couldn't help but sigh after watching the stunt performance competition, "Sir, this guy dares to perform such a performance, I'm afraid it's only because he really has the power of the Ghost Rider behind him."
One minute on stage, ten years of work off stage.
Hotshot Johnny's thrilling and exciting performance was indeed over in an instant on the stage, but little did they know that this kind of program, where even a little mistake would cause a fatal tragedy, had been practiced countless times before the official performance.
Even in practice, mistakes would cause irreversible consequences.
But hotshot Johnny not only kept living, but even created such a big name for himself. The Scarlet Witch didn't think that an ordinary person could do this.
Luo Fu nodded slightly, stood up, applauded, and said to the Scarlet Witch beside him, "Let's go! The performance is over, we should go back."
"But..." The Scarlet Witch was stunned for a moment, and said in surprise, "Aren't we here to find the Ghost Rider?"
"No need to find him, he will come to find us." Luo Fu said, glancing meaningfully at hotshot Johnny, who was raising his hands and welcoming the cheers of the audience.
Following Luo Fu's line of sight, in a dimension that no one could detect, a white old man wearing a swallowtail coat and holding a civilized cane seemed to feel Luo Fu's gaze and made eye contact with Luo Fu across the air.
The old man showed a thought-provoking smile in Luo Fu's direction, nodded slightly, as if nodding to Luo Fu.
After leaving the performance venue, Luo Fu and the Scarlet Witch quickly returned to the motel where they were staying.
Although Luo Fu and others did not drive, only this kind of convenient motel was available for lodging in this remote town.
After Luo Fu and others left, as the audience gradually dispersed.
Backstage, just as he was about to change out of his performance clothes, Johnny Blaze's expression suddenly stiffened, and his eyes were instantly filled with anger.
Turning his head to look at his side, Johnny Blaze said angrily, "You damn devil, what do you want to do again? I won't be fooled again."
"Don't be so excited, I just want to give you another chance to choose." Mephisto smiled slightly, looking confident, as if he could easily manipulate Johnny Blaze, and said, "My child, I know, you think I deceived you, but in fact, your father's terminal rectal cancer does not exist anymore, does it?"
"But you still took his life." Johnny Blaze's face bulged with blue veins because of extreme anger.
In Johnny Blaze's eyes, the Mephisto in front of him was a standard devil.
Back then, Johnny Blaze's father was diagnosed with terminal rectal cancer and didn't have long to live. To save his father, Johnny, in a state of panic, was lured by Mephisto and signed a contract.
After that, his father's rectal cancer indeed disappeared, as if the hospital had misdiagnosed him. However, three weeks later, during a performance where mistakes were theoretically impossible, Johnny's father had an accident.
And all of this was considered by him to be the devil's deception.
Although Johnny had countless times wished he could kill Mephisto, who appeared before him.
But unfortunately, even the powers of the Ghost Rider were granted by Mephisto. In addition, due to the existence of the three Sanctums of Kamar-Taj, Mephisto was unable to descend in his true form.
Even if he was killed by Johnny, the other party would soon reappear in front of him.
This made Johnny Blaze hate Mephisto to the core, yet he couldn't do anything about him.
"No, no, no!" Mephisto shook his head with a smile, explaining, "You should know that I have indeed complied with our contract. After all, I really did take away your father's fatal illness, didn't I?"
"I don't want to communicate with a devil like you who is good at deception, and I don't want to be deceived by you." Taking a deep breath, suppressing the anger in his heart, Johnny prepared to change out of his performance costume.
"I can understand. I understand your feelings of not wanting to see me, but child, don't you want to know what's happening with Krush now?" Mephisto wore a smiling expression.
Abruptly turning his head, his eyes flashing with chilling killing intent, Johnny gritted his teeth and said, "Devil, what exactly do you mean?"
"I just want to tell you that your father is in hell, and he's not having a good time. Although I really want to defend myself, you know that hell is never a good place. He needs help now."
Mephisto slowly walked up to Johnny, leaned close to his ear, and said, "Only I can help him now."
After experiencing intense inner struggle, Johnny suddenly seemed to let go of something, exhaled a long breath, and said, "I won't help you deceive anyone."
"No! It's not necessary. I just need you to help me retrieve a soul. As long as you can help me retrieve a sinful soul, then I can return your father's soul to you."
"You want me to kill someone?" Johnny frowned.
"Wrong! It's judging sin! Moreover, the one who judges is not you, but the Spirit of Vengeance in your body! The Spirit of Vengeance is an angel, and he will only target sin."
Hesitating for a moment, Johnny, who had just been very firm and would never be tempted by Mephisto, now seemed to have forgotten what he had just said.
Hearing this, Johnny sneered and said, "Since when does sin need a devil to judge?"
Mephisto didn't seem to care, holding Johnny's father's soul, he wasn't worried that Johnny would refuse.
Sure enough, after mocking him, Johnny finally chose to compromise for the sake of his father's soul.
Taking a deep breath, Johnny said, "I won't harm any good souls."
"Neither will I!" Mephisto said something that sounded like a joke. Then he told Johnny the location of the motel where Luo Fu and the Scarlet Witch were staying, and said in an encouraging tone, "I hope you won't disappoint your father. Believe me, the pain of hell is something humans can't even imagine."
The moment he finished speaking, Mephisto's figure instantly disappeared from Johnny's sight.
When Mephisto was gone, Johnny suddenly seemed to have lost the strength to return the performance costume, and sat weakly on the chair in front of the mirror.
Staring at himself in the mirror, after a long time, Johnny changed into casual clothes and went to his motorcycle.
With the action of straddling the motorcycle, a terrifying hellfire instantly ignited in Johnny's body.
In an instant, the flames burned Johnny's body until only his skeleton remained.
Even the motorcycle under him was turned into a Hell Cycle under the hellfire.
The moment he twisted the throttle, the Ghost Rider, burning with hellfire, shot out like an arrow, heading straight for Luo Fu's direction.
Inside the motel, the Scarlet Witch nervously twisted the corner of her clothes, looking frightened, like a poor girl who could be bullied by a villain at any time.
And Luo Fu in front of her was the villain in the Scarlet Witch's heart.
Although Luo Fu found it ridiculous, he didn't explain anything. After all, before he completely mastered chaos magic through the Scarlet Witch, this little witch could not escape Luo Fu's grasp.
Although Luo Fu was not like the profligate rich second generation in the Super God Universe, he was not a monk either.
Just as the Scarlet Witch was struggling with what to do,
The roar of an engine, accompanied by terrifying magical fluctuations, rapidly approached from afar.
Clearly, she was being targeted by the Ghost Rider, but at this moment, the Scarlet Witch instantly breathed a sigh of relief, and her heart was overjoyed.
In her opinion, at this time, the Luo Fu in front of her was much more terrifying than the Ghost Rider.
"Sir, the Ghost Rider you've been waiting for has arrived." Since being taught a lesson by Luo Fu, the Scarlet Witch had never shown such a vivid and lively expression as she did at this moment.
Luo Fu chuckled silently, but also secretly speculated in his heart, what exactly did Mephisto want to do?
He didn't think that Mephisto would believe that a mere Ghost Rider could deal with him.
Although he had never really fought Mephisto, Luo Fu had met him before.
And at that time, Mephisto had already sensed the authority of the Seven Deadly Sins on Luo Fu's body.
In Mephisto's eyes, even if Gu Yi forcibly took away some of the power of the Hell Dimension, it was not as tempting as the authority of the Seven Deadly Sins on Luo Fu's body.
The power of the Hell Dimension could be slowly accumulated and expanded by harvesting a little more human souls from Earth in the future.
But the authority of the Seven Deadly Sins was something that could truly allow him to expand his power and authority in the Hell Dimension.
In the entire Marvel Multiverse, although there were many dimensional worlds, the Hell Dimension was always one of the top powerful dimensions.
Even just a lord among them was more powerful than some ordinary dimensional gods.
Lucifer, Mephisto, Hades, and even Hela, could all be considered lords of the Hell Dimension.
And the power of the Seven Deadly Sins, even in the Hell Dimension, was a quite powerful ability.
The more powerful the dimension, the closer it was to the real universe, and the more numerous the authorities and laws within it.
The authority of mere death was divided and controlled by countless lords in the Hell Dimension.
Mere power was far from comparable to authority.
If you think of Hell as a company, then mere power is just revenue, and authority is equivalent to shares.
Weak dimensional gods would still care about the amount of their own revenue, and the lack of a little energy would make them furious.
But for the old-fashioned Hell Dimension lord Mephisto, what he really cared about was the shares of the Hell Dimension, the authority.
Anyone who occupied authority in the Hell Dimension was not easy to mess with.
Only Luo Fu, clearly a new dimensional god, had simultaneously mastered the power of the Seven Deadly Sins. Not to mention that Luo Fu himself had accepted the power that Gu Yi had taken from the Hell Dimension, making Mephisto hate him to the bone.
Even if all of this had not happened, Luo Fu, who possessed the power of the Seven Deadly Sins, was a piece of fat that Mephisto seriously coveted.
Sending a mere Ghost Rider was clearly not in line with Mephisto's emphasis on the Seven Deadly Sins.
A flash of inspiration suddenly flashed through Luo Fu's mind.
His consciousness instantly swept across the entire town.
In a remote room outside the edge of the town, Luo Fu clearly sensed the power of a second Ghost Rider.
At this moment, Luo Fu finally understood Mephisto's thoughts.
The Contract of San Venganza.
Hidden within this contract was the soul contract of an entire town of residents who had once been lured by Mephisto.
But what was important was not the souls of these town residents, but through the soul contracts of these town residents, Mephisto incorporated the territory where the once vanished town of San Venganza was located into the power of Hell's dominion.
In other words, once the Contract of San Venganza was opened in the town of San Venganza, then a piece of Hell environment specially built by Mephisto would appear on Earth, and such an environment would allow Mephisto to bypass the barriers of the three Sanctums and exert the power of his true individual.