Marvel: The Awakened One

A tsunami of biblical proportions erupted from the Atlantic’s surface!

And hovering at its crest stood Namor—bare-chested, muscles coiled like steel cables. Across his exposed torso, the deep blue runes of Talokan’s underwater kingdom pulsed with ethereal light.

The trident in his grip hummed with matching energy—a blade of pure oceanic power.

The weapon vibrated with an almost living resonance.

With each pulse, the sea itself answered in kind. Massive waterspouts—like serpents risen from the deepest trenches—coiled around Namor in a protective formation.

Hawk observed the Sea King’s dramatic reentry. His eyebrow arched slightly.

However—

First things first.

He tucked the Mind Stone into his Cosmo.

After all, compared to Namor, the Stone was infinitely more valuable.

As for Namor?

Only after the Mind Stone was safely secured did Hawk turn his attention to the figure standing atop that towering wave.

Namor’s eyes blazed crimson.

”I WANT YOU DEAD!”

His voice dripped venom—echoing as though rising from the ocean’s deepest abyss.

”You should be thanking me.”

Hawk let out a dismissive snort, regarding Namor with cold amusement.

”If it weren’t for me, you’d never have broken through.”

Just as Thor had witnessed the slaughter of Asgardians at Hela’s hands—and in that moment of ultimate despair had shed his identity as the God of Hammers to become the true God of Thunder—

Namor was undergoing a similar transformation.

After Hawk had forced him to kneel, then crushed his wife’s skull bare-handed, then kicked her body into fragments right before his eyes—

When Hawk’s boot had sent Namor plummeting back into the depths, something had changed.

In that maelstrom of humiliation, grief, and boundless agony, Namor had finally merged completely with the ocean itself. The same ocean that had endured centuries of human pollution, decades of industrial fishing, countless tons of garbage dumped into its waters. All that accumulated fury—all that suppressed rage—had fused with his own.

And in that fusion, he had evolved.

Now, only one thought remained in Namor’s mind.

Kill Hawk.

And then—

Drive every last surface-dweller from the seas forever.

Namor’s grip tightened on his trident. He met Hawk’s amused gaze head-on.

”Yes—I should thank you. And as repayment, today is the day you die!”

”You? A bottom-feeder?”

Hawk’s eyes narrowed.

”HRAAAAGH!”

Namor was done talking. His trident thrust forward.

In an instant!

The three waterspouts coiled around him—each one massive enough to be mistaken for a sea serpent from legend—received their command. Like leviathans unleashed, they roared toward Hawk from three different angles, carrying enough force to shatter an aircraft carrier.

The high-velocity rotation of each water column generated horrifying shear forces—even the oxygen in the surrounding air was ripped away.

”Hydro Serpent Assault!”

”Phoenix Wing Rise!”

Hawk’s faceplate snapped shut instantly. Golden light blazed in his eyes—devoid of any human emotion. Behind him, the projected wings of the Black Phoenix spread to their absolute limit, obsidian feathers seeming to blot out the sky itself.

The next second.

A Black Phoenix—composed entirely of destructive energy—erupted from his fist, trailing an apocalyptic storm of annihilation as it rocketed toward the three raging water dragons.

The phoenix and the serpents collided head-on.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

No stalemate.

Only detonation—the kind of cataclysmic explosion that occurred when water met fire at their most extreme.

The resulting black radiance consumed everything in its path.

Where that darkness swept, the seemingly unstoppable waterspouts were torn apart from within. The seawater that had formed them flash-vaporized under the extreme temperature of those black flames—then was devoured entirely by the rampaging energy.

The shockwave from the explosion shattered the towering wave beneath Namor.

That tsunami dissolved into torrential rain, hammering down toward the churning ocean below.

But the same shockwave sent both combatants hurtling backward.

Beneath them, the violent sea surface was carved open—twin furrows gouged deep into the water by their retreating forms.

Hawk shook out his wrist, eyeing Namor—who had used his trident to arrest his momentum.

Namor planted the trident and regained his footing. In the same motion, he swept the weapon forward, expression savage, and charged at Hawk once more.

”DIE!”

The rain that had been falling between them—remnants of that shattered wave—responded to the trident’s command. Every droplet elongated instantly, transforming into needles of ice radiating frozen malice. Each one carried the full weight of Namor’s fury.

The next second, Those ice needles became a storm—a blizzard of frozen death raining down on Hawk from every direction.

Hawk’s eyebrow twitched. With a thought, the wings of the Black Phoenix Surplice—normally decorative—snapped together, cocooning him completely.

TING-TING-TING-TING—!!

The sound of hail striking metal filled the air. Ice needles shattered against those obsidian feathers, disintegrating into powder on contact.

As each needle exploded, it released a burst of extreme cold—attempting to freeze Hawk solid.

But—

Namor’s water might be cold.

Hawk’s fire burned even hotter.

FWOOOOOSH!

Hawk’s wings flared open. Black flames—so hot they’d transcended red and orange entirely—erupted outward, instantly vaporizing every incoming ice needle before they could reach him.

But the ice storm had only been a diversion.

The instant Hawk’s wings had closed around him, Namor had already launched himself forward—trident in hand, a massive sea dragon coiled around his form as if they’d merged into a single entity. His roar and the dragon’s merged into one as he rocketed toward Hawk.

”DIE!”

Namor’s battle cry harmonized with the dragon’s furious howl. The frost-gleaming trident carried the ocean’s wrath and Namor’s rage alike—striking toward Hawk’s chest with absolute, unwavering resolve.

Hawk threw a punch.

Not Phoenix Wing Rise. Not Phoenix Phantom Demon Fist.

Just a punch.

The most ordinary, unremarkable punch imaginable—yet one he’d practiced ten thousand times daily, every single day, for over a thousand consecutive days.

This punch had no name yet. But someday—once his Phoenix Cosmo had spread across the universe—it would have one.

Like the foundational Long Fist passed down through generations of martial artists.

This punch would be called—

The Phoenix Long Fist!

CLAAAANG—!!

The instant Hawk’s knuckles met Namor’s trident, a visible shockwave expanded in a perfect sphere—pressing the ocean surface below into a massive depression nearly a hundred meters across.

CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

Fist and trident remained locked in a violent exchange.

Hawk’s Cosmo clashed against Namor’s oceanic power. Two utterly different yet equally terrifying energies collided—churning the clouds above into a roiling maelstrom.

The shadow of the Black Phoenix loomed behind Hawk, blotting out the sky.

Black flames roared heavenward.

Behind Namor, an endless wall of equally dark ocean waves rose like a living mountain range.

The sea itself raged.

”RAAAAGH!”

Namor gripped his trident with both hands, eyes boring into the executioner who had—even after he’d knelt—still chosen to murder the mother of his unborn child.

”DIE!”

Hawk’s golden pupils remained emotionless.

He didn’t roar.

He never did.

Fighting was simple.

Only losers screamed and shouted—venting impotent rage through volume alone.

Hawk refused to be a loser.

He only won.

So—

”Phoenix Ray!”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

”GAAAH!”

The instant Namor locked eyes with Hawk’s golden gaze, twin beams of searing energy lanced from those pupils. Caught completely off guard, Namor took the Phoenix Ray directly to the face. He screamed—one hand reflexively flying up to cover his scorched features.

But—

That moment of distraction was all Hawk needed.

Hawk’s free hand seized the trident. His other fist drove into the now-defenseless Namor, launching him backward like a ragdoll.

WHAM!

Namor plummeted from the sky like a dead fish—smashed from the air directly into the ocean below.

Hawk’s gaze dropped to the reclaimed trident in his grip.

The weapon hummed and vibrated—exerting the pressure of an entire ocean against his palm while simultaneously trying to escape his grasp.

But!

With his Cosmo burning at maximum output, an ocean’s worth of pressure was nothing. Right now, Hawk felt like he could lift an entire planet if he wanted.

Still, he had no time to deal with this overgrown pitchfork. With a casual flick, the Black Phoenix phantom behind him snatched the trident mid-throw.

The next second.

The trident vanished from reality—reappearing inside Hawk’s Cosmo, pinned beneath the phoenix’s talon.

As for Hawk himself?

The instant he’d banished the trident, he was already rocketing toward the spot where Namor had splashed down—diving like a missile.

’Never let a wounded enemy escape.’

’Finish what you start.’

Namor wanted him dead.

What a coincidence.

So did Hawk. The bastard had slipped away last time through sheer luck. This time, Hawk intended to see just how lucky Namor could get.

Namor—clutching his face as he sank, using the ocean’s embrace to soothe the burning agony—detected Hawk the instant he entered the water.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Hawk’s Cosmo exploded to its limit. Black light carved through the surrounding water as he streaked downward. The moment he spotted Namor, his form flickered—appearing directly before the Sea King in an instant.

Namor raised an arm to block.

WHAM!

A violent burst of bubbles erupted. The energy impact created massive vacuum cavities in the water around them.

Namor yanked back what felt like a shattered arm, his mind crying out for his trident.

Inside Hawk’s Cosmo, the weapon—pinned beneath the fire phoenix’s talon—sensed its master’s call. It began to hum and vibrate.

”Want your pitchfork back?”

”Don’t worry.”

”I’ll reunite you with it soon enough.”

Hawk’s fist came down in a devastating overhead strike, hammering into Namor’s right arm.

CRUNCH!

Namor used the momentum—letting the blow that felt like it had rearranged his internal organs carry him deeper into the ocean’s depths.

”You can’t escape.”

Hawk watched him descend and immediately dove in pursuit, accelerating rapidly toward the plummeting Sea King.

”In the name of the deep...”

Even as he plunged toward the ocean floor, Namor’s voice began to resonate through the water around them.

The next second!

RRRRUUUUMMMMBLE—

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