About fifty kiloters north of Fort Stockton lies a cetery marked with a cross.
With an appearance of being past fifty, seemingly nearing the end of his days, Moru, the cetery keeper here, awoke from a leisurely nap and, hearing so noise from the cetery, got out of bed, opened the door, and stepped outside.
What he saw.
Not far from the cetery, a young man, seemingly unfazed by the cold of winter, wearing just a black T-shirt, was digging a pit with an iron shovel, his back turned to him.
Moru, the cetery keeper, chuckled at the sight.
"The cetery here is free; there’s no need for you to sneak around digging."
"..."
Hawk, who was digging a pit, paused and then, holding the iron shovel, turned to look at the cetery keeper speaking to him from a distance, and smiled slightly.
"I wasn’t sneaking around. When I ca here, I saw you were sleeping and thought it would be rude to wake you, and besides, I wasn’t digging secretly."
"Oh?"
The cetery keeper, upon hearing this, didn’t believe a word and looked at Hawk with a smile: "Then what are you doing?"
Hawk smiled slightly, his gaze falling on the iron shovel in his hand.
"My house is short of an iron shovel, and since there’s one here, I thought I’d test the sharpness of this shovel; it feels good, and I’m planning to take it ho."
"..."
As soon as Hawk said this, the smile on Moru, the cetery keeper’s face, visibly vanished.
The next second.
Originally, Moru’s sowhat cloudy eyes beca exceptionally clear and sharp at this mont, and even his voice lost the forr sense of age and weariness.
Moreover...
If you looked closely, you’d find that in the depths of Moru’s eyes, two golden flas seed to ignite suddenly.
His real na wasn’t Moru.
Carter Shire!
That was his na, and he was the original Ghost Rider who signed a soul contract with phisto more than one hundred and fifty years ago, gaining the power of the Spirit of Vengeance.
Back then, Carter Shire, tempted by phisto, also signed the soul contract and beca phisto’s collector. After collecting from the residents of St. Peter’s Basilica, he fled phisto’s control to atone for his actions, hiding with the St. Peter’s Basilica Contract containing hundreds of souls here, establishing a free cetery.
The St. Peter’s Basilica Contract was hidden inside an ordinary iron shovel in the cetery.
The very iron shovel that Hawk was holding now.
Carter Shire, at this mont, looked at Hawk with a grave face as if facing a formidable foe.
"Demon?"
"No."
Hawk smiled and shook his head, weighing the iron shovel in his hand, then looked at Carter Shire: "But demons are coming soon. Since you’re retired, enjoy your retirent. Give what’s in here; I’ll help you deal with the Witch Heart Demon coming here later."
He could see that Carter Shire in front of him could still transform into the Ghost Rider.
But...
He could transform, but it would be his last ti.
If Carter Shire didn’t transform, he could continue living with that energy for quite a while.
However, if he made that final transformation, the mont the energy was exhausted, his soul would return to hell.
With his past of deceiving phisto—not only feigning death but also hiding the St. Peter’s Basilica Contract that belonged to phisto in this Land of Demons for so many years—if exposed when his soul returned to hell, phisto would certainly find out.
Heh.
He’d be in big trouble.
Hawk, with a kind heart, couldn’t stand to see people suffer.
So...
He planned to make a fair deal with Carter Shire, the original Ghost Rider, before him.
Give Hawk the St. Peter’s Basilica Contract. In return, Hawk would help Carter Shire stop the Witch Heart Demon, attempting to take the St. Peter’s Basilica Contract, and the Water Demon beside him, while Carter Shire could continue hiding and live on with the remaining energy here.
As expected.
Upon hearing Hawk ntion the Witch Heart Demon, Carter Shire’s face instantly changed.
"Witch Heart Demon."
As the original Ghost Rider, he naturally knew the demons in hell very well.
The Witch Heart Demon might not be the most powerful demon in the Hell Dinsion, but its background was undoubtedly the strongest in the Hell Dinsion.
Without exception.
Because his father’s na was phisto.
It is said that the Witch Heart Demon was the offspring of phisto and a human dark witch, which is why he still possessed imnse magic power while walking among mortals.
But...
Carter Shire was a bit shocked.
"How did he know I was here?"
"Oh, co on."
Hawk couldn’t help but snort and smiled, his gaze sweeping around the nurous tombstones in the cetery, then he fixed his eyes on the cross on the room not far away, and said to Carter Shire: "You didn’t think putting a cross on that would an the souls buried here won’t end up in hell, did you?"
He was curious about how the Witch Heart Demon knew Carter Shire was hiding here under a false na once Sharon helped him locate the cetery where Carter Shire was buried.
Until...
He saw the nurous tombstones in the cetery.
Good heavens.
To play ’hidden in plain sight’ to this extent, Hawk didn’t know if Carter Shire before him was confident or just lucky.
Now hearing Carter Shire’s words, he already had an answer in his heart.
After speaking, Hawk lanted a bit, shook his head, looked at Carter Shire: "You’re able to live this long, really because phisto’s blind."
Carter Shire finally realized too, looking at the nurous tombstones before him; his expression turned extrely peculiar.
He didn’t refute Hawk’s words.
Because it’s the truth, after hearing Hawk say it, he also felt that for him to have survived till now, phisto must have been blind.
But very soon.
Carter Shire ca back to his senses and looked at Hawk: "Can I ask, what do you want the St. Peter’s Basilica Contract for?"
Hawk shrugged: "Haven’t decided yet, but since it’s a deal, there should be compensation, shouldn’t it?"
Carter Shire nodded.
"That’s right."
"We agreed, I’ll help you deal with the Witch Heart Demon that’s already rushing this way, and the St. Peter’s Basilica Contract will be mine."
"...Okay."
Carter Shire thought for a mont, glanced at Hawk, and then nodded in agreent to the deal.
There was no other choice even if he disagreed.
Because the St. Peter’s Basilica Contract was already in Hawk’s hands, and he only had one last transformation left, once the transformation ended, his soul would go to Hell.
Thinking about the tornt he would endure in Hell after seeing phisto, Carter Shire couldn’t help but shiver inside.
The most important point.
He had confird that the Hawk before him was not a demon.
That was enough.
After seeing Carter Shire nod, Hawk showed a bright smile on his face, then turned and glanced at the rapidly approaching two presences with the setting sun behind them, finally looking at Carter Shire: "You can go back to your room and shut the door now."
Hearing this, Carter Shire did not hesitate at all, turned around, entered the house, and closed the door.
It was all done in one go.
Thud!
As the door was fiercely closed, dust vibrated down from it, and Hawk chuckled lightly.
The next second.
The spade grip in his right hand cracked open with a bang, and amidst the scattering wood chips, an ancient scroll of parchnt was already in his hand.
It was the St. Peter’s Basilica Contract.
Sealed inside were the souls of thousands who made deals with phisto and were then harvested by the first Ghost Rider to fulfill the contract.
Moreover, these thousands of souls were not just ordinary souls.
The thousands of souls on this St. Peter’s Basilica Contract were the evil souls of fallen saints lured by phisto.
Perhaps the current phisto no longer needed this thod to harvest souls.
But a hundred and fifty years ago, it wasn’t the sa.
Back then, phisto was still in a heated war with the Heaven Dinsion for the entitlent of Earth’s souls.
So...
phisto enticed a thousand monks longing for Heaven who practiced at St. Peter’s Basilica.
As everyone knows.
To wash pure weakens by thirty percent, blackening strengthens tenfold.
These monks, once longing for Heaven, beca fallen saints after blackening.
The power of an evil soul from one of them could rival that of hundreds or even hundreds of ordinary people’s soul power.
And this contract contained the power of a thousand fallen saints.
No wonder the Witch Heart Demon was confident that once they obtained this St. Peter’s Basilica Contract, they could create a new Hell Dinsion, contend with phisto, and reignite the war for the entitlent of Earth’s souls.
When Hawk held this St. Peter’s Basilica Contract, just by holding it, he felt the howls and screams of the thousands of evil souls sealed in it for centuries.
These thousands of evil souls even extended an invitation to Hawk through the seal.
"Co!"
"Join us."
"Fall together into the darkness."
"Enjoy the beauty of darkness, revel in this dark temptation with us!"
"Join us!"
Countless evil souls echoed around Hawk’s ears with voices tempting enough to make a soul tremble, inviting him to join them in sinking into and falling into the darkness!
But...
Fall into darkness?
Heh?
Does the darkness need falling into?
I can be the light!
But—
I can also be the darkness.
So...
I am the darkness, whence cos the fall!
Hawk’s lips curled slightly, revealing an unhidden sardonic smile amidst the temptation of those countless evil souls.
At the sa ti, the St. Peter’s Basilica Contract in his hand, sealing thousands of evil souls, also fell silent after a sparse rustling sound.
As if...
They sensed a darkness beyond their reach when combined.
They dared not act rashly anymore.
...
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