"Impossible! Unless someone has mastered the special incantation I created, no one on Earth can forcibly separate the Spirit of Vengeance from its host!"
Mephisto was so certain because when he modified the Spirit of Vengeance, he used his original power to apply a unique forbidden black magic to its spirit body.
This not only ensured that the host, in their Ghost Rider form, could directly reconstruct and repair all damage using the energy from Hellfire,
but even if the host was instantly killed before transforming, the Ultra-Dimensional Soul Transfer Magic he had placed on the Spirit of Vengeance could directly teleport the host's soul from his hell back to the human world for 'resurrection'.
Thus achieving true 'immortality'!
However, Mephisto was also well aware that this did not mean the Ghost Rider was invulnerable.
Because certain targeted magic and special items could still inflict substantial, unhealable damage on the Ghost Rider.
Even completely separating the Spirit of Vengeance from its host!
For example, holy weapons made from Heaven's Paving Stones, certain black magic from Hell Lords, and the incantation Mephisto himself cast.
Speaking of which, we must mention the origin of the Spirit of Vengeance and the Ghost Rider.
Around 20,000 years ago, during the Paleolithic Era...
God created a batch of original Spirits of Vengeance.
Their initial mission was to stop an Elemental Demon Lord named Zarthos.
However, these Spirits of Vengeance all perished in battle with this Elemental Demon Lord, using the essence of their life force to seal him within a stone statue.
(Note: Zarthos is a Stone Elemental Demon whose body is composed of ancient rocks from Earth's billions of years ago.)
Then, over two thousand years ago, after a series of events, Mephisto, through cunning schemes, successfully enslaved the soul of Zarthos, who had absorbed all the essence of the Spirits of Vengeance.
In his Hell dimension, he spent thousands of years cleansing Zarthos's memory, turning him into a living Hellfire Flame Spirit—the new Max version of the Spirit of Vengeance.
In the days that followed, Mephisto began experimenting with transplanting fragments of the Spirit of Vengeance into different humans.
He wanted to develop the essence of the Spirit of Vengeance for his own use.
Johnny Blaze was one of the Ghost Riders who was tricked into giving up his soul and given a fragment of the Spirit of Vengeance.
Even though almost all of these Ghost Riders granted the Spirit of Vengeance would eventually betray Mephisto, as long as their souls remained linked to Mephisto, the souls of every human they judged would belong to Mephisto's Hell.
So Mephisto was not angry about the betrayal of these double-crossing 'agents,' but instead regarded it as a great entertainment, even enjoying it.
(Note: There are many versions of the Ghost Rider's origin in the comics, such as the version where a primitive boy 'Ghost Rider' was simply created by Mephisto!
The version where God created the Spirit of Vengeance after the Great Flood to purify the world's sins!
And the version with Zarthos and the Medallion of Power!
There's also the version where the evil uncle Eli Morrow's soul directly transforms into the Spirit of Vengeance!
Therefore, this article adopts a more moderate version.)
Faced with the current situation, Mephisto thought the most likely possibility was that some Hell Lord who had old grudges against him was secretly playing tricks.
But the problem is...
He had 'screwed over' countless Hell Lords over the years.
So much so that he couldn't figure out any clues for the time being.
"Damn it, I better not find out which bastard stole my Spirit of Vengeance, or I will definitely repay them tenfold... screwing them to death!"
He, Mephisto, was always the one who screwed others over, so naturally, he couldn't swallow this humiliation of being screwed over himself.
So, in a fit of rage, he decided to send his son Blackheart (also known as Blackheart) to the real world to investigate the specific situation.
As for himself, he quietly went to the most well-informed Hell's Border and Sulfur Harbor to see if he could gather any inside information there.
What? You say his good-for-nothing son is more likely to screw things up than succeed?
That's right, Mephisto himself knew this.
But the problem is that the enemy can casually take away even the powerful Spirit of Vengeance, which means their strength has at least reached the level of a Demon Lord.
And almost all of Mephisto's subordinates are third-rate demons, with only Blackheart reaching the level above a Demon Lord.
So, who else could he send if not him?
…………
……
Another Hell dimension.
"Lord Marduk, Amon's consciousness and soul seem to have disappeared in the real world, and his demon body left at the base is also dissipating."
A high-ranking demon with a pair of curved demon horns on his head and a pair of dark wings on his back reported to Marduk Kurios, the incredibly huge Hell Lord on the opposite throne.
"Hmm?"
Marduk Kurios asked with a strange expression, "Beleth, that idiot wouldn't have secretly lent his power to humans again, would he?"
"But even so, the only one who could 'completely kill' him in the real world is probably only the Ancient One..."
Marduk Kurios was so certain because Amon was the 7th-ranked Demon Lord under his command, leading 40 demon legions, and his strength was beyond doubt!
"Although that guy Amon is a double-crosser..."
Marduk Kurios's tone suddenly became heavier, "But that bald-headed Ancient One has a lot of nerve, daring to directly kill my people without even saying hello?"
Just then.
A bewitching female voice suddenly sounded from the rear of the hall, "Lord Satan, the one who attacked this time was not the Sorcerer Supreme!"
Then, a pale-faced, slender female vampire wearing a blood-red cloak slowly walked into the hall.
She bowed slightly with respect to Marduk Kurios on the throne and the demon Beleth with dark wings on his back.
"Lilith, what do you know?"
Marduk Kurios said with interest, "I really can't imagine who else in the real world, besides the Ancient One, has the ability to completely erase a Demon Lord and prevent their soul from returning to the Hell dimension!"
Even Beleth, the Demon Lord known for his violent personality, couldn't help but cast a scrutinizing gaze at Lilith.
Lilith didn't play coy and immediately revealed everything she knew.
"According to the news brought back by my people, Lord Amon seems to have descended into the body of the new Black Sky of the Hand under the pseudonym 'the Beast', and attempted to launch a war to occupy the entire New York."
That's right.
Initially, 'the Beast' was just a pseudonym used by the Demon Lord Amon, behind his boss's back, to collect faith and souls in the real world.
In addition to the pseudonym 'the Beast', he and the seventy-two Demon Lords under Marduk Kurios actually had a more widely known title.
That is, the seventy-two demons who signed a contract with King Solomon, recorded in the magic book 'Lemegeton' (translated as 'Key of Solomon') compiled by King Solomon!!
Finally, because King Solomon engraved the names of these seventy-two demons on seventy-two pillars, they were henceforth named the Seventy-Two Pillars of Solomon!!
Of course.
For high-ranking demons with nearly infinite lives.
The Seventy-Two Pillars of Solomon are just one of the many legends they possess in the long river of human history.
"What?" Marduk Kurios heard this and covered his forehead with his hand, "How dare that idiot..."
Beleth's face showed an expression of understanding, "That's right, that's definitely something that idiot could do."
"But in the end, his plan was ended by a street hero named Spider-Woman."
Lilith's words instantly drew the attention of the two back to her, and then she continued with a solemn expression:
"This Spider-Woman seems to be an agent of a certain demon god, and in the battle, she relied on the power bestowed upon her by that demon god to successfully kill Lord Amon."
"Presumably, Lord Amon's soul cannot be reborn in your Hell, and she is also inextricably linked to it, right?"
The most ⊥ new ⊥ small ⊥ said ⊥ in ⊥ six ⊥ 9 ⊥⊥ book ⊥⊥ bar ⊥⊥ first ⊥ hair!
"Interesting."
Marduk Kurios didn't seem to care about Amon's life or death, but instead said with a playful smile:
"Just an agent can defeat Amon... Could it be that besides me, there are other guys who can't stand the loneliness and are preparing to attack Earth as well?"
"Forget it, as long as the other party doesn't affect our actions for the time being, then don't bother to investigate his true identity."
Then, he turned his gaze to Lilith, praising her with a face full of appreciation:
"You did a great job this time... Don't worry, as long as you can help me open the dimensional gate to the real world, I will continue to release Vanaal's soul according to the agreement, so as to help you complete your revenge!"
Lilith was overjoyed when she heard this, "Thank you, Lord Satan, for your accomplishment."
After Lilith left excitedly, a sinister smile suddenly appeared on Marduk Kurios's face.
"Beleth, when that foolish woman opens the dimensional gate and attracts all of the Ancient One's attention, let your people go and snatch those Silver Coins..."
"Remember, you must not let anyone discover that this matter is related to us, otherwise, if it prematurely attracts the attention of Heaven, then this plan will no longer be necessary to continue."
"Yes, Lord!!"
…………
……
Although this disturbance in Hell's Kitchen officially came to an end before sunrise the next day.
However, the impact of the Beast and the Hand on this neighborhood did not subside.
According to rough statistics from relevant departments afterward.
The number of deaths in this riot was as high as over a thousand, and the number of civilians who suffered varying degrees of injury was even more countless.
And all the civilians who were 'mentally polluted' need to receive a lot of psychological counseling afterward before they can return to normal work and life.
In addition to this.
Almost all the commercial supermarkets and public service facilities in Hell's Kitchen were subjected to large-scale damage, and many old residential buildings were directly burned to the ground.
The preliminary estimate of direct economic losses is about... 500 million US dollars!
Yes, you read that right.
This is the authoritative data released by the New York City Hall!
Don't ask why there are so many victims, such a large area, but such low economic losses?
Who made Hell's Kitchen the publicly recognized slum of all of New York.
In the eyes of those professional assessment companies, not only are these people's cheap lives worthless, but even their property is also worthless!
If it were replaced with other areas of New York, I am afraid that this amount of money would not even be enough for a fraction.
The most, most, most important thing is... the less the loss, the less the compensation afterward!
After all, the vast majority of people living in Hell's Kitchen do not have the money to buy insurance for their property.
So most of this compensation will have to be directly allocated and paid by the New York City Hall.
Although many discerning people can see some tricks in this.
But who would openly sing a different tune with the New York City Hall for a group of 'garbage people' living in slums?
However, if the gang members in Hell's Kitchen were to do the assessment and statistics, then the economic losses would be at least 10 billion or more!
Many smaller gangs even ended up in a tragic situation of 'losing both people and money', and completely disappeared after this riot...
And just as the surviving people were appealing and protesting to the City Hall and insurance companies because the compensation was too low.
The Fisk Group suddenly announced to the public in a high-profile manner that it had reached an agreement with the City Hall and would take over the relevant reconstruction matters of Hell's Kitchen in the future.
Its chairman, Wilson Grant Fisk, even made a public commitment when interviewed by reporters:
The Fisk Group will give priority to employing those victims who have lost their homes and jobs due to the riots in the reconstruction process.
And provide them with many optional positions and generous salaries to alleviate the employment pressure of the large number of unemployed people stranded in Hell's Kitchen.
As soon as this news came out, the previously agitated people immediately calmed down and fell silent.
No way.
Even those gang members who shouted the loudest did not dare to touch the mold of the 'Underground Emperor' Kingpin, let alone the ordinary people who were bullied.
Although compensation is important, you also have to have the life to spend it, don't you?
So the people of Hell's Kitchen had no choice but to admit that they were unlucky.
To that end, New York City Mayor Owen McGill, who had achieved a triple win of "political achievement, public praise, and general election victory," even specially awarded Wilson Grant Fisk numerous accolades such as "Outstanding Entrepreneur" and "Outstanding Good Citizen."
Who could have imagined that the "Underground Emperor" who had orchestrated the entire event behind the scenes, guiding it towards spiraling out of control, would ultimately become a "great philanthropist" publicly promoted by the authorities?!
...
The next day.
[Manhattan · Financial Building].
Early in the morning, Selena led several Death Dealers and waited respectfully in front of the building for Karl's arrival.
Sizzle—
Before long, a teleportation gate flickering with sparks opened in mid-air.
Immediately afterward, Karl and Samuel Sterns, along with two Phase One Thunder Warriors, stepped out from within.
