"Ariel…"
"Wait!"
"You're not Ariel."
Gogum, the Earth Demon, had followed the lingering trace of Ariel's breath all the way here.
Satannish had sought him out, painting grand visions of glory—four Elementals united, plus Satannish's dominion of Death, creating a new Hell from scratch, destined to rival the old.
Souls? Already prepared.
The ancient San Venganza Contract, once left on Earth by Mephisto himself, contained a thousand damned spirits. Enough to jumpstart their dimension, enough to stake a claim in the eternal war for Earth's souls.
They might even win, as Mephisto had once battled Yahweh for dominion.
So Gogum had agreed. He'd left with Satannish, searching for his brothers-in-element.
The bond between the Primordial Four was mysterious, yet undeniable. He had tracked Ariel here.
But what he found was not Ariel.
Instead, a man—Hawk—wreathed in the Wind Demon's essence.
Hawk smiled. "Looking for Ariel? I just saw him. He's helping me with something. You can too, if you'd like."
Gogum frowned, the soil of his brow furrowing. "Ariel… helping you? With what?"
"Training."
The smile faded. Hawk's fist rose.
"Boom!"
Before Gogum could react, Hawk's strike caved in his chest, exposing a glowing earth-core as his body hurtled backward.
And as he fell, he heard Hawk's calm voice:
"Supersonic Punch—"
Impact.
Gogum roared, slamming his hands into the desert floor. The ground split, spires of stone erupting like a subterranean dragon, stabbing toward Hawk.
"Stab!"
But the stone pierced nothing—only an afterimage.
"Hey."
The voice came from behind.
Before Gogum could turn fully, pain exploded in his chest. He looked down—Hawk's arm had speared through him, hand clenched tight around his core.
"No…"
In a single wrench, the core was ripped free. Gogum's form collapsed into rubble, sand scattering across the canyon.
It wasn't weakness.
It was form.
Wind was formless, intangible. Ariel died from arrogance.
Earth was substance, solid and vulnerable. Break the core—death followed.
And Hawk excelled at force.
He turned his gaze to the glowing core in his palm. Phoenix fire blazed, consuming it.
In his microcosmos—
The shock was seismic.
Unlike the storm of Wind, Earth's essence was upheaval—mountains splitting, ground churning.
The meteors within his cosmos cracked into gravel. But under Earth's pull, they began to clump, forming mass. Under Wind's touch, they spun, the birth of a planet's first stirrings.
But still incomplete.
Four elements were needed.
"Wind…"
"Earth…"
"Less than an hour since landing, and I already hold two of the Primordial Four?"
He laughed. Efficiency.
And then—he felt it. Fire. Nearby.
The link between the Elementals pulled them toward each other.
He checked his phone. Barely past three o'clock.
"Good. If I move fast, I'll be home in New York by the ten o'clock flight."
With a grin, he blurred skyward.
Beneath the clouds, a volcano churned. Hawk descended, peering into molten depths.
There, a massive figure swam through lava with glee—changing strokes like an athlete at practice. Salamach, the Fire Demon.
Sensing his brothers' essences, Salamach burst from the magma, dripping liquid flame. "Brothers!"
Then his gaze fell on Hawk.
"F—!"
He dove headfirst back into the lava.
For all his name suggested fury, Salamach was the cleverest of the four. Relatively speaking.
Whatever Hawk was, carrying both Ariel and Gogum's breath, it spelled doom.
Hawk blinked, then chuckled. "So cautious, huh?"
He called down: "Salamach! Ariel and Gogum are in trouble. They sent me to bring you!"
A pause.
Then a horned head peeked from the lava. Trouble for his brothers? He couldn't ignore it.
He rose, magma streaming, smoke billowing.
But then—
He halted, suspicion flaring.
"Ha! Think I'm stupid? You want me to walk into a trap? Screw you. Come down here if you dare!"
"…."
Hawk's smile froze.
A sigh.
Very well.
He lifted a foot—
And stepped forward.
The volcano roared.
…
(End of Chapter)
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