Marvel: The Awakened One

The vampire Dracula was already dead.

The current Dracula belonged to Heaven.

Hawk heard this statement, studied La Magra’s expression, and his mind raced. The next second, He thought of what cloning expert Dr. Merrick had said before dying.

Hawk’s pupils contracted. He locked eyes with the Blood God formed entirely of crimson liquid.

”Heaven possessed him?”

”They prefer the term ’conversion.’ But yes—possession.”

”The Blood Clan is the Blood Clan. Vampires are vampires. My Dracula was a Blood Clan creature who worshipped me. But he died in that fire long ago, along with his wife. The current Dracula is no longer mine—he’s a puppet controlled by Heaven, a tool designed to kill me once and for all.”

La Magra’s voice was hollow and distant. Then he laid out everything that had happened back then.

The story largely matched what Mephisto had told Hawk. With a few... minor differences.

In Mephisto’s version, he wasn’t exactly a good guy, but he was the kind of bad guy who believed in ”sustainable development.” Yahweh, on the other hand—as a lackey of the Celestials—was the real villain, the one who drained everything dry without a thought for tomorrow.

La Magra didn’t deny this. But in his version of events, Mephisto and Yahweh had never been enemies. They ran in the same circles. They were allies—competitive allies, but allies nonetheless.

After all, both Yahweh and Mephisto had backers of equal standing.

The Cosmic Entities—

Eternity and Death.

In La Magra’s account, when Earth fell from the World Tree, Yahweh wasn’t the only one who’d had his eye on it. Other dimensions and civilizations had noticed too.

Sorcerers. Witches. Druids. Hyper-advanced technological civilizations.

This was precisely why modern Earth had so many supernatural creatures and lost technological civilizations.

Because once upon a time, Earth had truly flourished with diversity.

But...

”Yahweh worked openly, triggering the Great Flood.”

”After the Flood, Mephisto pretended to be Yahweh’s mortal enemy. But in reality, their so-called conflict hurt us the most—the dimensions that had planned to stay out of it.”

”The two biggest dogs fought, and all the smaller dogs got wiped out.”

”But my dimension was special.”

”As long as the Blood Sea didn’t dry up, I couldn’t die.”

”As long as someone remembered me, my Blood Sea wouldn’t run dry.”

”So to eliminate me for good, Yahweh destroyed my Book of Blood, used a Heavenly soul to control Dracula, changed my Blood Clan’s name to ’vampires,’ and tried to erase me from existence entirely.”

”I’m dying...” As La Magra spoke, he projected an unfiltered image of the Blood God dimension’s current state.

What Hawk had glimpsed through that blood mass earlier was just the tip of the iceberg.

Beyond that tiny fragment, the rest of the Blood God dimension had withered into a wasteland. All that remained was a single river’s worth of blood, clinging desperately to existence.

And even that river was visibly evaporating. Once it dried up completely, La Magra would meet his end—and the Blood God dimension would become a truly ownerless realm.

Seeing this, Hawk had a thought and instinctively withdrew the Phoenix Fire surrounding La Magra.

But—

”There’s no need for that.”

”Just now, my last remaining followers on another planet were wiped out. And the final person who remembered my name—Deacon Frost—is now dead.”

”My fate can no longer be reversed.”

La Magra watched the Phoenix Fire retreat and let out a soft laugh. Then he looked at Hawk. ”Do you know why Yahweh wants me dead so badly?”

Hawk raised an eyebrow.

”Because you’re the only one who knows they’re not enemies but allies—and you escaped their grasp?”

”No.”

La Magra’s lips twisted into a smile that was clearly genuine. ”Because I almost converted Yahweh himself. That’s why he lost Earth. And that’s why he’s so furious—why he wants me dead so desperately.”

Hawk thought back to that moment in the Hell tavern, when Mephisto had casually boasted about defeating Yahweh and claiming Earth. Hearing La Magra’s words now, everything suddenly clicked.

Once again.

Mephisto—that old bastard—couldn’t be trusted. Not a single word. Not even the punctuation.

Good thing Hawk had never actually believed him.

Hawk thought this to himself, then looked at La Magra—whose aura was growing weaker by the second—and asked one final question.

”Why tell me all this?”

”Because...”

La Magra’s gaze drifted to the Underworld at the edge of Hawk’s Cosmo. Then he looked back at Hawk.

”That Life-and-Death Law you possess... it reeks of Mephisto.”

”Mephisto gave it to me.”

”Ha! HAHAHA!”

La Magra laughed as if he’d just heard the funniest joke in existence. He stared at Hawk, saying nothing, just laughing.

Hawk met the Blood God’s gaze. After a moment, the laughter seemed contagious—and Hawk found himself laughing too.

After a while.

La Magra’s laughter faded. He looked at Hawk. ”That old bastard Mephisto only takes—he never gives. If you’d told me Yahweh gave it to you, I might have believed you. But Mephisto? Unless he was absolutely desperate, he’d never hand over any of his authority.”

Hawk also stopped laughing and shrugged. ”I killed his son Blackheart and took it from him.”

La Magra was about to die anyway.

Once his time ran out, the Blood God would cease to exist—completely and utterly.

Dimension Lords might be called ”Gods,” but they weren’t true gods.

Unlike Planetary Gods, whose souls returned to Death’s domain after being killed—and who could potentially be resurrected if they curried Death’s favor—Dimension Lords simply ceased to exist when they died.

In other words, their souls scattered into nothing.

So—

A dying man speaks the truth.

Since La Magra was on his last legs, Hawk saw no point in playing mind games. He gave a brief summary: how Mephisto had first tried to use Blackheart as bait to trick him, how Mephisto had attempted to steal his authority, how Hawk had seen through the scheme and counter-attacked, stealing a portion of Hell’s Life-and-Death Law, and how he’d used the Four Founders of Hell to forge his own Underworld.

After hearing everything, La Magra’s increasingly aged face showed shock—then understanding dawned.

”So that’s why Yahweh has returned.”

”Hm??”

”Yahweh and Mephisto have an agreement. Whenever a powerful challenger emerges on a life-bearing planet controlled by either of them, the other can intervene as a third party—eliminate the challenger first, then resume fighting over the planet.”

La Magra explained this, then shook his head. ”I only learned this while trying to convert Yahweh. Unfortunately, I found out too late.”

Hawk’s expression shifted to one of realization.

”So...”

”Mephisto said Yahweh has returned, trying to quietly funnel souls into Hell, creating a new Angel of Death to replace him...”

”Half-true, half-false.”

La Magra let out a soft laugh. ”But Earth’s Angel of Death has nothing to do with Mephisto’s Hell dimension. You don’t actually think Earth is the only life-bearing planet under Mephisto’s control, do you?”

Hawk shook his head, then looked back at La Magra.

By now, the Blood God’s blood-formed body was on the verge of collapse.

Hawk didn’t ask anything else.

He’d learned what he needed to know.

He offered only a final word.

”Thank you.”

”Don’t mention it.”

La Magra—now reduced to little more than a facial outline—laughed with surprising lightness. ”It’s rare to meet someone else being targeted by both Yahweh and Mephisto right before I die. So—don’t make my mistake. Don’t fall for their schemes.”

Hawk chuckled. ”Don’t worry. I’ll avenge you.”

La Magra said nothing more. Under Hawk’s gaze, he slowly closed his eyes.

The next second, The blood forming La Magra’s face dried up completely. All that remained was a single crimson droplet, hovering silently in the space where the Blood God had vanished.

This was the Blood God dimension.

Whoever possessed this drop of blood would inherit the Blood God dimension and become its new master.

However—

Hawk didn’t look at the blood droplet. His consciousness ascended, returning to reality in an instant.

His conversation with La Magra had seemed lengthy, but in the real world, it had taken only a blink.

When he opened his eyes again, he was still standing in front of Blade.

Blade’s expression was still frozen in the act of trying to dodge that blood mass.

The next second.

THUD!

Blade’s body finally received his brain’s command. He leaped sideways—and faceplanted onto the ground.

Hawk turned to look at Blade sprawled on the floor and couldn’t help but laugh.

But he didn’t speak to Blade. He took one step forward and vanished from sight.

When Hawk reappeared, he was back on the surface.

Sharon, who had been waiting outside, spotted him and her eyes lit up.

”Hawk—”

”Done.” Hawk’s hands were already back in his pockets. He looked at Sharon’s expectant face and chuckled. ”Blade and the female doctor are still alive.”

Sharon let out a breath of relief. ”Thanks.”

”Don’t mention it.” Hawk smiled faintly. ”Nothing left for me here. I’m heading out.”

Sharon nodded.

”Okay. Take care.”

”Mm.”

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