Hawk's Frozen Nether Prison, where ceaseless, bitterly cold blizzards rage throughout the day, alongside omnipresent ice storms ravaging the place.
Any soul.
Whether ordinary or extraordinary, or any Divine Soul, arriving here, none can resist the blizzard's fury.
Then their fate has but one outcome.
To die and come back to life countless times in the endless storm.
Yahweh was no different.
With a mere thought from Hawk, the previously halted blizzard roared into motion, and in an instant, Yahweh felt an unparalleled cold freezing his soul.
Suddenly.
"Ah——!!"
Even Yahweh, under the abrupt freezing of his soul, couldn't help but instinctively cry out in agony.
He recalled Hawk's recent words.
If there were any backups, now was the time, otherwise, he was about to suffer greatly.
But…
His backup was to have Hawk ingest the meticulously prepared poison; as long as Hawk consumed that Heaven Core, he could become the all-powerful Yahweh within the Hawk Cosmos.
Earth?
Even if it were conquered, it'd be merely one, but if he replaced Hawk and conquered the Phoenix Cosmos, he could break away from his superior and establish himself independently.
The result…
Feeling the overwhelming blizzard freezing his Divine Soul, Yahweh's eyes widened as he spoke with a final hint of struggle in his voice.
"I don't believe it!"
"I don't believe you knew from the start."
"Heh."
Hawk sneered slightly, looking at Yahweh: "Don't believe it?"
He originally didn't plan to say much.
After all, villains often die from talking too much, a rule Hawk was well aware of.
Yet considering the villain now was Yahweh and that Yahweh's soul had entered his Netherworld, from a certain perspective, Yahweh was already dead.
So—
Hawk hovered above the Frozen Nether Prison, hands in pockets, lips curling as he watched Yahweh below, shivering with arms crossed, and slowly began to speak.
"If I'm not mistaken, you indeed sent people into my timeline."
"But you divided them into two groups."
"The first wave, those two birdmen Jack and Allen."
"But you didn't invade my timeline, rather my father Andrew Chloe's timeline, to avoid my detection."
"It was indeed you who caused my family's ruin."
"Even my placement in the church, attempting to domesticate me, was part of your plan."
"Yet you discovered that nothing changed."
"So you sent a third birdman; this time, you did invade my timeline."
"But you didn't anticipate that I had already condensed my timeline."
"The moment I condensed my timeline, my past became fixed, unchangeable, so you miscalculated."
"That's when I wondered why I only saw one flaw in my timeline."
"But I didn't think much of it until I saw Father John."
"Lucifer?"
"Betrayal?"
"Heh heh."
"If Father John's faith could be shaken so easily, you wouldn't have sent him to invade my timeline."
Hawk's voice lingered, looking at Yahweh, who, though quivering and resisting the omnipresent cold, listened to his explanation with an upward glance. Hawk's lips curled: "It was at that moment I realized you were acting."
"Lucifer, fallen?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Just because I condensed the timeline, even if Father John killed me, it would merely create a new timeline, rather it's just a changed plan."
"Aimed at making me believe I saw through your plan so I'd fall into your double trap."
"Andrew Chloe must have also acted on your instruction, hence his escape."
"The goal was to make me believe you'd appear above Earth at the scheduled time so I'd rush over and enter the Heaven Dimension."
"Then it was the empty city stratagem, followed by a stratagem of feigned injury."
"Oh, and the Provocation Tactic too."
"To make me swallow the Heaven Core, occupy the Heaven Dimension, once the Heaven Dimension merges with my Cosmos, your divine body would silently appear, initiating a conflict over my universe."
"Foolish!"
"Bloated!"
"Incompetent!"
"If you can't handle stratagems, don't play. If you want to, do it smartly. Why embellish unnecessarily?"
"If your projection hadn't appeared, I might have fallen for it."
"But…"
"Unnecessary, overly unnecessary."
After Hawk finished, he shook his head, somewhat speechless in his critique.
Truly.
If Yahweh hadn't shown up after he chopped down Gabriel, he might have genuinely thought Yahweh had fled, intending to use the Heaven Dimension for his own gain.
But…
Yahweh did appear.
And he spouted a lot of nonsense.
Especially that line about if he had foreseen the future, he'd know Yahweh wasn't there.
It was obvious.
Yahweh was planting a suggestion.
Yahweh foresaw the future, thus knew he'd attack Heaven at this time, so he preemptively avoided the risk.
But Hawk hadn't foreseen the future, so he foolishly chased it, finding nothing.
The problem with this statement wasn't its logic.
But in suggesting Yahweh genuinely wasn't there, that was the biggest flaw.
Especially under Yahweh's final Provocation Tactic.
What did it mean, if I occupied his Heaven Dimension, he'd definitely regret it?
Good heavens.
He wasn't like those Westerners who, knowing it's an enemy's banquet, went without preparation, then were caught by surprise after falling into a trap.
Just as he had mentioned earlier.
This crude tactic, if he fell for it, would be a disgrace to the nine years of compulsory education he underwent and to his history teacher who often used stories to tell various historical tales.
Therefore...
"You're finished."
"Yahweh."
"Game over!"
Hawk looked at Yahweh, now finally frozen solid, even his face encased in the Frozen Nether Prison, and smiled calmly as he spoke these last words.
The next second.
Yahweh's body shattered into pieces in the extreme blizzard, scattering everywhere.
His soul turned into countless frozen fragments, falling to the ground.
Motionless.
No resurrection.
Once more.
He was calm and rational.
And his reason and calmness told him one thing: rather than subjecting Yahweh to eternal torment, annihilating Yahweh's Divine Soul was the best choice.
With such a powerful enemy left in his Netherworld, who knows if he would launch a desperate counterattack when caught off guard.
Just in case, killing him swiftly and decisively was the best choice.
Thus—
Yahweh was dead.
Not having fired a shot or fought a battle, he died because of his own cunning and belief in his own machinations.
Hawk raised his eyes.
The Phoenix's Eye, looming in the depths of the cosmos, also focused its gaze here.
The next moment.
The Phoenix Fire, known to incinerate everything, ignited with a boom among Yahweh's soul fragments. As the Phoenix Fire burned, Yahweh's soul fragments turned to nothing, completely eradicated.
Hawk then reopened his eyes within the Heaven Dimension.
What met his gaze.
He saw a different Heaven Dimension.
To be precise, it was a Heaven Dimension yet to be destroyed under his power.
Blue skies and white clouds.
Palaces clustered.
Millions of heavenly beings.
Millions of Two-winged Angels.
Hundreds of thousands of Four-winged Angels.
And...
Thousands of Six-winged Angels and dozens of Eight-winged Angels theoretically equivalent to Golden Saint Warriors.
This was the true Heaven.
Look.
Rich foundation, angels in groups.
Hence, complexion determines everything.
This Yahweh was indeed a bit petty.
Hawk, hovering above the Heaven Dimension, slightly smirked as a corpse plummeted to the dimensional ground below.
Is the Lord dead?
Our Lord has died?
All heavenly beings and angels within the Heaven Dimension looked at the familiar figure, beginning to dissolve into light during its descent, eyes wide and hearts trembling in disbelief.
The next moment.
The Eight-winged Archangel Gabriel drew the Guardian Sword.
Raphael, Uriel... the Six-winged Archangels simultaneously drew their Swords of Judgment.
The remaining Four-winged and Two-winged Angels also drew into the War of Angels.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
"Avenge the Lord!"
"For the Lord!"
"Heretic!!!"
Following Gabriel's furious shout, a sound echoed across the Heaven Dimension, leading the charge towards Hawk in the sky.
"Phoenix!"
"Chirp!"
As Hawk stretched out his right hand, a Phoenix engulfed in black flames appeared, a size sufficient to cover the entire Heaven Dimension.
"Wings!"
The Black Fire Phoenix slowly unfolded its wings, beneath which the Heaven Dimension was completely obscured from Holy Light.
"Heaven!"
The wings of the Black Fire Phoenix began to blaze, the black flames dense, starting to drip downwards continuously.
With every drop of black flame upon landing, it turned into a sea of fire.
The beings of the Heaven Dimension, upon being touched by this drop of flame, were turned to ashes before they could even cry out.
Reduced to dust.
Hawk's Netherworld did not even appear to guide these souls.
Though he lacked souls.
But…
Better safe than sorry.
Even Yahweh's soul was disposed of without a second thought, so why bother with the souls of angels.
In short.
Today, he aims to completely erase the Heaven Dimension.
Therefore—
"Ascend—!!!"
The Phoenix soared to nine heavens, its cry clangorous!
As Hawk's right hand pointed toward the angels with grim faces charging towards him, the symbolic manifestation of Hawk's strongest strike, the Black Phoenix, also emerged with a roar, crashing into the Angel Army led by Gabriel at the forefront.
The next second!
Heaven turned dark! Black flames filled the sky!
Divine Soul Annihilation—!!!
...