radicalducati Chapter 123 Mephisto, Lord of Hell
Chapter 123 Mephisto, Lord of Hell
Chapter 123 Mephisto, Lord of Hell
Li En walked up to Thor's hammer and reached out to try it out.
Grip the hammer handle with your palm and apply force.
It remained completely still, as expected.
This thing has no weight when held by someone who approves of it, but when touched by someone who doesn't approve of it, Mjolnir's weight becomes infinite.
You want to put it in the space warehouse? No way.
He walked back outside and glanced at Thor, who stood beside him, holding a military axe in one hand and looking excited.
At this moment, the dark creatures on the periphery had gathered to a scale of nearly ten thousand, and were pressing towards the base from all directions of the desert.
Although Thor lost his divine powers, his perception of danger still far surpasses that of ordinary people.
He stared at the ever-shrinking darkness ahead, his eyes scanning the surroundings. After a moment, he spoke in a low voice: "Allies, it seems we have quite a few enemies."
Even Thor, a veteran of many battles, was starting to lose confidence.
Li En raised his hand and pointed forward.
A beam of searchlight shone from the edge of the darkness, sweeping across several figures who were crouching and running away.
These guys are probably trying to slip away in the chaos.
I don't know if they're from S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra, but they're definitely planning to run away.
The moment the light shone on them, more than a dozen dark creatures pounced on them at the same time.
Faced with this situation, they instinctively raised their weapons and fired wildly.
The sound of the trigger being pulled and the screams of agony exploded almost simultaneously, only to be quickly swallowed up by the muffled sound of flesh being torn apart.
Li En withdrew his finger expressionlessly: "How brave the humans on our side are."
Thor nodded seriously: "Indeed, to know you'll die and still dare to charge forward, that certainly takes a lot of courage."
He even felt that these humans possessed the courage of the Asgardians, and he greatly admired them.
Coulson, Hawkeye, and Natasha's faces were twitching simultaneously.
Coulson couldn't believe that Lee's ability to lie through his teeth had reached such a level of mastery.
Those people were clearly planning to escape in the chaos, completely unaware that the outer encirclement was so tight that not even a wild rabbit could slip through.
No matter which direction you go, you'll just run into the mouth of a dark creature and get torn to pieces.
Li En did not dwell on the topic.
He took out the ebony, the white ivory, and the requiem in that order.
After thinking for a moment, he handed the ebony to Hawkeye and the white ivory to Coulson.
The most powerful Requiem and the Vibranium Dagger were handed to Natasha together.
"These are better than your standard equipment."
The three men simultaneously began inspecting the firearms, slide-loading to check the ammunition, without asking any further questions about the origin of the guns.
The dark creatures continued to approach, and had already pressed within a hundred meters of the base's perimeter.
Despair was already evident on the faces of many agents.
Thor suddenly spread his arms wide and roared to the sky like thunder: "I am—Thor Odinson!"
After shouting, he bent down and reached out, pulling the military axe from Hawkeye's waist. Holding one axe in each hand, he charged into the darkness with a howl.
He charged into the darkness, his double axes flashing as he cleaved through one dark creature after another, his figure quickly swallowed by the black tide.
All that could be heard was his incessant roar as it crashed out from inside.
Coulson glanced in the direction Thor had disappeared, then turned and lowered his voice, "Lynn, if that guy dies on Earth, won't it cause some kind of diplomatic trouble?"
He never imagined that Thor, the legendary god of thunder from the Nine Kingdoms, would be such a complete brute.
Faced with an enemy of this caliber, they charged forward with a roar.
If the opponent had godlike abilities, that would be one thing, but how could someone who could easily defeat Patton be so brave?
Li En calmly replied, "Don't worry, those dark creatures won't dare to actually kill him."
"He is Odin's son; at most, they can only hold him back."
"Similarly, with Thor causing trouble, at least he helps us tie down a large number of enemies."
He looked away, his tone suddenly changing.
"We should be the ones worrying now. You all go and organize the defense. I need to have a good talk with this guest."
"A guest?" Coulson paused for a moment, then followed Lee's gaze into the darkness ahead.
A middle-aged man dressed in a well-tailored suit, leaning on a black cane, and sporting a slicked-back hairstyle, walked out of the darkness with extremely gentlemanly steps.
On the spotlight-shielded ground between him and Li En, his leather shoes moved with extreme steadiness with each step.
In Li En's view, this person was entirely red.
It wasn't the kind of tiny weakness mark he'd seen on the dark creatures before.
This thing has a huge ball of weak light that is nearly 20 meters tall.
The person himself was about 1.8 meters tall, but the outline of the red light far exceeded his size.
The middle-aged gentleman stopped a few meters away from Li En, his hands clasped on the top of his cane. When he spoke, his voice was soothing and elegant, with a certain old-fashioned British style: "I'm here just to get back what you took from me."
Li En waved to the three people behind him, signaling them to go to the defensive line.
"Don't worry, this guy must be from hell."
The middle-aged gentleman smiled and nodded to Coulson and his two companions in turn, his manners impeccable: "Hello, my name is Mephisto, you can also call me Satan—if you prefer."
He tilted his head slightly, his tone becoming even more amiable, a faint dark red light shining in his eyes.
"If you are willing, you can sign a contract with me. After the deal is made, you will gain great power, enough to solve your current troubles."
He paused for a moment, as if giving the audience time to process the information.
"And the price—is merely that your souls belong to me after you die."
His voice softened even more, almost as if he were comforting a wronged child.
"If you can't survive today, why bother thinking about what happens after you die?"
"Sign a contract with me, and you can at least live to old age on Earth and die a natural death."
"Isn't this a reasonable proposal?"
Hawkeye took a step forward.
Natasha gripped his hand tightly, her fingers digging into the fabric of his tactical glove, and she hissed through gritted teeth, "Barton, that's Satan, the devil of hell. Don't be bewitched."
Hawkeye stood there, gritting his teeth, without saying a word.
Unlike Natasha, he had a wife and children.
If I could grow old with them, going to hell after death—it's not an entirely unacceptable price to pay.
"Take them away quickly," Li En whispered to Coulson.
Coulson was actually tempted for a moment just now.
He immediately grabbed Hawkeye's other arm, and together with Natasha, they dragged him out of Mephisto's line of sight toward the defensive line.
As Coulson walked, he shouted to the agents on the perimeter, making up for the few seconds of distraction he had just experienced by issuing orders to deploy defenses.
Li En did not continue Mephisto's line of thought.
He turned his head to look in the direction from which Thor's roars continued to echo from the depths of darkness, and said casually, "That's Odin's son. If he's killed by the creatures of hell, it will probably become the best excuse for war."
"Don't be fooled by the fact that he seems to have lost Thor's powers now; that's just a game between father and son."
"If something really goes wrong, Odin will definitely come knocking on our door."
Mephisto bowed slightly with great politeness, tapping his cane lightly on the sand: "Thank you for your reminder. Please don't worry, Odin's son will be fine."
"Those children were just playing with him and slowing him down."
3
He straightened up, met Li En's gaze again, and spoke in a gentle tone.
"So—could you please give me back what you took?"
"What did I take?" Li En tilted his head, his left hand lightly resting on the scabbard of the Yamato. "What did I take?"
Mephisto's smile remained unchanged.
He rested his hands on the top of his cane, his tone retaining the unwavering composure of an English gentleman: "My contract."
His gaze slowly moved down and landed on the tube of Demon King's reagent hanging on Li En's chest.
"And that blood—it also seems to come from hell."
Li En lowered his head and gently tapped the outside of the test tube with his index finger, causing the liquid to sway slightly inside: "This is what I picked up from hell."
Upon hearing this, Mephisto's smile froze for a moment.
It was extremely short and shallow, so short that ordinary people couldn't even catch it, but he was indeed stunned for a moment.
He was 100% certain that the tube of demon blood contained an extremely large and pure hellish power.
It was so huge that it was almost as if a piece of it had been ripped off his body.
But Hell has always been under his control, and he has no idea when this human named Li En went to Hell or when he left.
I originally thought that Li En obtained this blood from some ancient ruins or from some god.
Did they actually obtain it by going directly to hell?
Then the situation would be completely different.
Compared to a stable passage that can traverse between hell and the human world, what is a contract, what is Frank's soul?
Even the life and death of those thousands of dark creatures outside became unimportant.
A human being, a pure human being without any demonic bloodline, who had never signed a Hell Pact.
They actually possess the ability to freely travel between hell and the human world.
Even he himself had to wait for specific timing and location to barely manage to create an incarnation to descend to the human world.
The stay cannot be too long, otherwise the guardians of the earth will notice.
He didn't want to be thrown back in such an embarrassing way; it would be too shameful.
Since such a good thing exists, the terms of the transaction need to be changed.
Thinking of this, Mephisto smiled again, this time more amiable than any of his previous smiles.
"The contract can be given to you, no problem."
He loosened his cane, spread his hands, and acted as if he were giving a gift.
"I am also very interested in the soul of that Mr. Frank Castle—in fact, I would say even more interested in him than the original child."
"As for that bottle of Demon King's blood, you can keep it as well."
He placed his hands back on the top of his cane and leaned forward slightly.
"But we need to make a small deal."
"A deal?" Li En repeated the word, his tone rising slightly.
"Do you know how Satan's deal is usually written in various storybooks?"
Mephisto shook his head slightly, his index finger twirling back and forth on the tip of his cane, his expression even carrying a hint of grievance at being wronged.
"You're mistaken, Mr. Lee."
His tone suggested he was explaining an interesting philosophical proposition.
"Throughout all history, mythology, folk tales, and film and television works, you can clearly find a pattern: once you make a deal with a demon and sign a contract, the demon will never go back on its word."
"But what do those who pray for divine protection ultimately get after donating money to the church, attending Mass, and cleansing themselves of their sins?"
He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice even further.
"From any perspective—we demons are far more trustworthy in our contracts, aren't we?"
Li En did not respond.
Because from a certain perspective, that is indeed the case.
Those who pray to God will die; those who seek blessings from deities will die.
Those who sign a pact with the devil may all meet a terrible end, but at least the devil always strictly adheres to every word of the pact and never goes back on his word.
However, most people, after gaining power and overcoming their predicament, feel that giving up their souls is too much of a loss, so they desperately try to find ways to break the contract.
This is human nature all along.
Mephisto continued, his voice tinged with a sigh bordering on pity: "Who are those who pray to God?"
"Murderer, plunderer, sinner whose hands are stained with the blood of the innocent."
"After a lifetime of evil deeds, they go to church at the last moment of their lives—to sincerely repent, shed a few tears, and then God forgives their sins."
"Don't you find this incredibly ironic? Why should the people they killed die in vain?"
"Those whose lives are ruined by them will live in darkness forever."
"The murderer, however, can ascend to heaven cleanly and stand under the same roof as the victim simply because he shed a few tears at the end."
"What an absurd rule."
Li En remained silent for a long time.
He slowly exhaled the breath from his chest, and when he spoke again, his voice was very calm.
"I must say, you, Satan, the King of Hell, are truly adept at bewitching people. I was almost tempted myself."
He looked into Mephisto's dark red eyes, which still held a hint of a smile.
"Tell me, what exactly is the deal you want?"
Mephisto's face broke into a smile.
"It's very simple, I want a passage to freely enter and exit the human world."
"Tell me—how did you do it, and then open that path to me as well."
His voice was extremely low and soft, carrying a kind of almost pious earnestness.
"In exchange, I can give you another gift—one of the twelve Demon God Pillars, and bestow its power upon you."
"That's the power of a ruler of Hell. If you put it in the human world, it can help you cut off a lot of trouble."
The so-called twelve demonic pillars are all his subordinates, each guarding a region in Hell.
But compared to the passage that would allow him to freely enter and leave the human world, he would be willing to give away not just one, but all twelve of them, even if he were to pack them all up and hand them over to Li En.
Because as long as he obtains the passage, he can immediately launch his plan to conquer the human world.
When the human realm is completely swallowed up by the power of hell, this human named Li En will ultimately become just one of his many pawns.
Mephisto's plan was meticulously executed.
However, Lee Eun's expression did not change.
He drew the Yamato sword from under his coat with his right hand, holding it in its sheath, his thumb lightly resting on the blade, his tone suddenly turning icy.
"Excuse me, but regardless of the contract or the blood sample..."
"Those things were all spoils of war that I took back myself."
"I don't need to give up my own things to exchange for anything else with you."
His right hand slowly gripped the hilt of the knife, his body leaning slightly forward, assuming a drawing stance.
"As for the twelve demonic pillars you mentioned—" He curled the corners of his mouth upwards.
"If I have the chance in the future, I will personally go to hell."
"When that time comes, I won't need you to give them to me; I will refine them myself."
Mephisto looked at the way Li En held the knife, and at those eyes that hadn't wavered at all since the beginning, and suddenly laughed.
"Are you planning to go to hell again?"
Li En held his right hand hovering directly above the hilt of the knife, neither gripping it tightly nor loosening it. His voice was low and his tone was steady.
"Someone like me is destined for hell."
Mephisto fell silent.
He stood at the boundary between the searchlight and the darkness, his suit still impeccably tailored, his cane still dignifiedly supporting his hands.
His expression shifted within seconds from confusion to scrutiny, and then to a complex silence.
Then he suddenly burst into laughter, which carried far across the desert sky.
"Okay, okay, okay." He said "okay" several times, and before his laughter had completely subsided, he took a step back and his body slowly disappeared into the darkness.
The huge red weakness mark gradually receded into the distance, as if it were being swallowed up by the darkness.
His last voice drifted back from the depths of the night, carrying a certain almost joyful tone.
"Since you still intend to go to hell again, then I will wait for you on the throne."
"I look forward to your next visit, Mr. Lee En."
Only after the red light completely disappeared from his perception range did Li En slowly straighten up and exhale heavily.
He loosened his grip on the knife slightly.
This guy is completely different from the Demon Emperor I met in the Devil May Cry world.
Just standing in front of Mephisto and talking to him made his body tremble slightly involuntarily.
Every word he said stirred an almost irresistible feeling within me, urging me to believe it.
Throughout the entire process, the other party did not use any offensive force.
He simply stood there, chatting with them about everyday things with that kind, gentlemanly face.
This is Mephisto, the King of Hell.
There's absolutely no chance of winning against this guy right now.
He turned around and looked around the base.
The tide of dark creatures has already reached the edge of the defensive line.
Strangely, even the gunshots seemed to have stopped now.
Thor's roar also disappeared.