Inside Saint Mark's Church.
The priest of the church received the check handed over by Hawk, wearing a look of compassion on his face.
"May the Lord bless you, Mr. Hawk Phoenix."
"Praise the Lord!"
Hawk, with a solemn expression, said, "The attacks of heresy will never defeat our faith in the Lord."
The priest's expression was heavy, thinking of the Holy Land that had inexplicably been erased from Earth yesterday.
"Amen."
"Amen."
Hawk followed closely, mourning with the priest for the nation within a nation that had been inexplicably erased from Earth yesterday.
Not far away.
Standing side by side with Gwen in the cemetery, Sharon looked at Hawk, who was bowing his head in mourning with the priest, and her lips twitched.
Seeing Hawk donating and mourning the disappearance of the Vatican, for a moment, Sharon felt a sense of self-doubt, thinking that someone with such deep faith like Hawk could never have been the ultimate Demon King who surged upwards attacking Heaven, and erased the Vatican in passing when returning to Earth yesterday.
The results of the battle in Heaven, she had not known.
But the Vatican...
Thinking of the Vatican that had been wiped out in an instant yesterday, Sharon couldn't help but lower her voice and asked Gwen beside her.
"Gwen, what did the Vatican do to provoke him, did you ask?"
"Yes, I asked."
Gwen replied in a low voice, "After Mr. Chloe was taken away, he was held inside the Vatican all these years."
Sharon and Gwen glanced at each other, then nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good then."
"Will there be trouble?"
"No."
Sharon shook her head, "Although the three Security Council members were a bit worried, since Hawk had a legitimate reason, there shouldn't be a problem."
It is well known.
Hawk is very powerful but since his debut, except for that one time at the Quantico Military Base, he has chosen to fight each time as far away from cities and people as possible.
This is one of the reasons why the Security Council chose to keep the peace.
But yesterday.
Hawk broke through the atmosphere, and with one strike, completely leveled the Vatican in 0.001 seconds.
No, not really.
To be precise, a ten-meter deep pit appeared at the location of the nation within a nation in Italy.
On that day, less than an hour after the event, the news had already spread across the world.
Fox News: "Wrath of God or Attack, Nation Within a Nation Vanishes in an Instant!"
CNN Report: "Vatican Destroyed, Pope Missing!"
Reuters: "Vatican within Italy Destroyed by Unknown Cause, Leaving a Ten-Meter Deep Pit!"
The world was in an uproar.
The world Security Council immediately convened an emergency meeting to discuss what exactly was this attack.
But the five major powers, knowing the truth, immediately contacted S.H.I.E.L.D., Maria Hill contacted Sharon, Sharon contacted Gwen…
The five major powers were very worried that this attack was Hawk's first unveiling of power after years of hiding his strength.
But…
The nation within a nation did wrong first, and Hawk merely retaliated.
That was enough.
"By the way, Heaven..."
"Mephisto has already occupied Heaven."
Gwen said in a low voice.
Last night she had already learned about the entire battle from Hawk, who recounted everything in person afterward.
Tens of millions of heavenly beings.
Countless…
Gone.
Heaven was completely gone.
But when Gwen had a quick thought, she chose to tell Sharon that Mephisto occupied Heaven.
Gwen felt that saying Hawk completely destroyed Heaven was a bit too murderous, so it was better to put Mephisto in the spotlight.
After all, that was also the truth.
Soon.
As the two women spoke quietly, Hawk, after donating ten thousand US dollars to the deceased Vatican, entered the cemetery after bidding farewell to the priest.
Hawk looked at the resting place of his sister Anya.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Sharon brought had already dug up Anya's resting place, just waiting for Hawk to nod for them to take out the coffin buried there.
Hawk said, "Go ahead."
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents quickly got to work, and soon used the tools they brought to lift up the more luxurious and comfortable looking coffin, which had already been replaced once after the last move, from the resting place.
The coffin was entirely white, with golden edges and patterns, which cost Hawk five thousand US dollars at the time.
Small money.
Back then, after obtaining the war reparations from the Quantico Base, he achieved financial freedom.
And now even more so.
Anyway, from some unknown time, the amount in his Stark bank card had never dropped below ten million US dollars.
Who did it.
It's not important.
Just like how Hawk silently allowed West View Town on the outskirts of Jersey City, some things are understood without needing to be explicitly stated, there's no need to dig deeper.
As for why he had so much money in his card but only donated ten thousand US dollars, the reason is simple.
The other side is only worth ten thousand US dollars.
But that's not important. The most important thing for Hawk right now is the resurrection of his sister Anya.
After personally placing the coffin down, Hawk walked next to it. Instead of opening it to take a look at his sister inside, he patted the coffin and took a deep breath: "I'm bringing you home, sister."
Having said this.
He turned to look at Sharon and nodded.
Sharon understood and nodded at several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents responsible for digging and taking Anya's coffin to the Tahiti Cloning Base.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, without a word, transformed into pallbearers, lifted Anya's coffin, and walked out of the cemetery.
There was already a black van waiting there.
Once the black van loaded the coffin, it immediately set off at top speed towards the nearest private jet.
There, the S.H.I.E.L.D. special plane was ready, just waiting for the coffin to be transferred to the cabin before taking off swiftly to the Tahiti Cloning Base, which was also ready for the coffin's arrival and to extract DNA for the cloning process.
Actually, Hawk could directly teleport with the coffin to the Tahiti Cloning Base in a second.
Hawk did want to do that.
But he had more important things to do.
For example—
His sister had missed several Christmases, and this year's Christmas, he wanted his own sister to accompany him.
But with just less than a month until Christmas, the cloning base's progress, even at an accelerated pace, would not make it in time.
Because cloning takes time.
So…
Hawk planned to speed up the time.
Therefore, after Sharon ensured that Anya's coffin would arrive intact at the cloning base, Hawk took Gwen once more to Kamar-Taj on the Great Snow Mountain to borrow the Eye of Agamotto from the Supreme Mage The Ancient One, who had postponed retirement, for the third time.
Like the first and second times Hawk borrowed the Time Gemstone, The Ancient One still looked as though he already knew Hawk's purpose.
The Ancient One, while instructing the librarian Wang to fetch the Eye of Agamotto, was pouring tea for Hawk and Gwen and then looked at Hawk.
"After this year, I should retire."
"..."
Holding his teacup, Hawk stopped upon hearing this and then looked at the smiling The Ancient One across from him: "Won't delay retirement a bit more?"
Gwen, beside him, drank her tea silently but perked up her ears, listening to her fiancé and the Supreme Mage's conversation.
The smile on The Ancient One's face remained unchanged.
"Possible."
"..."
Hawk, hearing this, looked speechlessly at The Ancient One.
The Ancient One's expression remained unchanged: "The past cannot be changed; only the destined past will happen, but it doesn't mean it can't be postponed. After all, life is unpredictable. Even if someone summons Dormammu, Dormammu won't dare come here."
Dormammu is the ruler of the Dark Dimension.
Mephisto is the ruler of the Hell Dimension. The important point is, Mephisto is outside Earth devouring the Heaven Dimension.
Although Dormammu and Mephisto are not on opposing sides, in this situation, if Dormammu comes to Earth, what if Mephisto mistakes Dormammu for taking over the Heaven Dimension and draws a knife to fight?
After all, at this time, Mephisto has completely expanded his Hell Dimension.
Clearly telling all dimensions.
Bring it on if you dare, whoever comes, I'll take them down.
So…
Unless Mephisto finishes devouring the Heaven Dimension, Dormammu won't come over, and The Ancient One's scheduled demise can only be postponed.
After all, the script was written for Dormammu's arrival and the Supreme Mage's retirement.
Can't just not act at all.
Upon hearing this, Hawk looked at The Ancient One: "I can make Mephisto slow down the devouring."
With The Ancient One here, it's easier to borrow the Time Gemstone.
After all, compared to Doctor Strange's self-identification with his PhD, he prefers the happy cooperation with the Supreme Mage from the start.
The most important point.
He doesn't particularly like Doctor Strange; although it's not to the point of dislike, not liking is enough for him to choose not to interact with Doctor Strange.
So, if The Ancient One could delay retirement, he would be delighted.
As for the nonsense about disrupting the timeline.
Hah.
He's already dismantled The Avengers 2, does he care about anything else?
Besides.
Since he first appeared, he hasn't really involved himself in any Marvel hero's plot, having little interaction with Superheroes.
At most, when The Avengers was combating Hydra returning home for a break, he'd bring Gwen to Stark Tower for a party and drink some juice or something.
Yes.
Juice.
After all, he'll only be twenty-one after this year, so attending parties, would he drink alcohol instead of juice?
In short.
The Marvel storyline? Not his business.
But!
After Hawk's remark, The Ancient One smiled faintly, then shook his head.
"Once, twice, not thrice."
"The first delay was due to Yahweh's contest with Mephisto, making Dormammu dare not come to Earth, lest the Heaven and Hell's contest, might smash the Dark Dimension."
"Thus, my retirement was delayed."
"The second delay was because Mephisto is devouring the Heaven Dimension, in such a case, whoever comes would be considered an enemy by Mephisto."
"But Mephisto's devouring is not endless."
"So——"
"After Mephisto finishes devouring Heaven, it will be time for my journey in this universe to end."
"..."