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On the rooftop of the hotel.
For the first time in a long time, Hawk wasn't training. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the cool concrete, his posture mirroring that of a meditating Buddha.
He no longer needed to throw punches.
His most pressing concern now was transcending the limits of his own existence.
The reason Gwen had found him looking like he'd been drained by a vampire was a direct result of those limits.
As everyone knows, the Reality Stone is a fickle power. It warps reality, reshapes the world, but it comes at a cost. If you have the energy to pay, it takes it. If you don't, it takes your life.
When his Cosmo was active, he had more than enough energy. His very being was on par with the most powerful superhumans in the Marvel Universe.
But without his Cosmo... he was just a man.
And for a single, terrifying instant, as the Reality Stone began to reshape his inner universe, his Cosmo had vanished. The stone, however, had continued its work, and in that moment, it had nearly siphoned away his entire life force.
He was lucky.
It was only a fragment of the stone, and he hadn't tried to fully manifest his Cosmo in the physical world.
If he had, he would have been dead before he even knew what was happening.
So, His priority was clear. He had to ascend.
Fortunately, the Saint system was a complete package.
The Cosmo was the foundation of a Saint's power, the core from which all their strength was drawn. But it was the development of the senses beyond the first five that determined the true level of a Saint's existence—the true power of their Cosmo.
The Sixth Sense.
It was the latent potential that elevated a Saint beyond the five senses. Only a Saint who had mastered The Sixth Sense was worthy of the title of Silver Saint.
Hawk had first touched it during his battle with the Demon Hulk on the African savanna. He had grasped a fragment of it, enough to unlock the power of flight, but he hadn't truly understood it, let alone mastered it.
Logically, without mastering The Sixth Sense, he shouldn't have been able to elevate his Cosmo to the Silver level.
He had considered using the fragment of the Reality Stone to force the evolution, to push his Cosmo to the level of a true Silver Saint.
He could have done it.
But the moment the thought had crossed his mind, a voice from the depths of his being had warned him:
Try it, and you die.
Cheating has its price.
So his current mission wasn't to train his body, but to understand and master The Sixth Sense. Only then could he truly become a Silver Saint and elevate his Cosmo to its proper level.
Hawk sank his consciousness into his inner universe, appearing before the gateway to The Sixth Sense.
He had already pushed the door open. Flight was the proof.
But he couldn't step through.
He thought back to the legends of the Saints, to the ways they had awakened their true potential.
There was no single, guaranteed method. There were many paths.
The first was the easiest: find a higher-level Saint, a Gold Saint, and have them guide you. By experiencing their Cosmo, you could awaken your own Sixth Sense without any pain or risk.
However—
In the Marvel Universe, he was the only Saint. There was no one to guide him.
The second path was similar: find a good teacher, someone who could show you the Way, who could point you in the right direction and save you from the pitfalls of self-discovery.
But that path, too, was closed to him.
He was his own teacher.
That left only the final, most difficult path.
A path of extreme mental discipline, or a trial by fire in a battle between life and death.
He had already walked the path of battle. His fight with the Demon Hulk had been the catalyst for his initial awakening.
But that path was dangerous, and it had nearly cost him his life.
The other path, the path of the mind, was a journey inward. A process of forging his spirit in the crucible of his own imagination, of facing his deepest fears and emerging unshaken and his Will unbreakable.
It wouldn't harm his body, but it could shatter his mind. One wrong step, one moment of weakness, and he would be lost to madness forever.
And that was the path he was on now.
Fortunately, he was not alone.
Every time he neared the edge, every time the darkness threatened to consume him, the cry of the Phoenix would echo through his Cosmo, pulling him back from the brink.
"This isn't working..."
Hawk's eyes snapped open. He wiped the sweat from his brow, his heart still pounding from the memory of his last attempt.
Shaka be damned.
If just touching The Sixth Sense was this dangerous, how in the world had the legendary Virgo Saint spent his entire life with his eyes closed, meditating on the Eighth?
He thought, a shiver running down his spine.
He would rather die a warrior's death on the battlefield than be silently consumed by the shadows of his own mind.
Tomorrow. It would have to be tomorrow.
He needed the Reality Stone to manifest his Cosmo. And the Dark Elf, Malekith, needed it to plunge the Nine Realms into eternal darkness.
Hawk reviewed Malekith's history in his mind.
Even with the Aether, he had been defeated by Thor's grandfather, Bor, who had then taken the stone from him... and in the movie, in a straight-up fight with Thor, he had been outmatched. But that didn't mean he was a pushover.
Thor had been fighting with the fury of a grieving son.
The fact that Malekith had taken a direct hit from an enraged Thor, armed with Mjolnir, and had only lost half his face... that proved he was tough.
And this time, he would be empowered by the same Reality Stone fragment that Hawk now possessed.
Hawk looked up at the star-filled sky, a sense of calm settling over him.
For some reason, he felt no fear. Only a quiet, thrilling anticipation.
Hawk thought of the coming battle, of his new Silver Phoenix Cosmo, and his hands, resting at his sides, clenched into fists.
One thing was certain.
Tomorrow would be a hell of a fight.
Just then, the door to the rooftop opened.
Hawk turned and saw Gwen. A smile spread across his face as he stood up.
Gwen didn't beat around the bush. "When's the next fight?"
"...Tomorrow." Hawk was taken aback for a second.
Gwen nodded. She took a deep breath, her face serious. "Is it dangerous?"
"No."
"Can I come with you?"
"What?" Hawk's eyebrow shot up. "Not this time, Gwen. This is..."
He trailed off, but she had already understood.
"I get it. I won't go."
"Uh..."
"I trust you, Hawk." Gwen's smile was soft, but her eyes were filled with a fierce, unwavering belief. "So don't let me down. Come back to me."
Their eyes met.
Hawk looked into her emerald-green eyes, which seemed to speak a language all their own, and nodded.
"I will."
The Phoenix does not die. It is only reborn.
...
The next morning, Hawk and Gwen shared a final kiss.
Then, with her watching from the window, he stepped onto their hotel balcony, looked up, and launched himself into the sky. He became a streak of light, shooting toward Salisbury Plain—the ancient site of Stonehenge—a hundred miles southwest.
He had chosen the location for a reason.
It was open, remote, and barely populated. Even if their battle shook the earth to its core, there wouldn't be any collateral damage.
His sister had been a casualty of someone else's war.
He would not make the same mistake.
...
Gwen watched until Hawk had completely disappeared from view, then let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
She had wanted to say goodbye.
But last night, Hawk had told her not to. He'd said it was a jinx, a death flag.
At first, she hadn't understood. But then he'd explained, and she'd remembered all the movies where the hero says, "I'll be right back," is always the one who never comes back.
So, she hadn't said it.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Gwen took a deep breath, pasted a smile on her face, and opened it.
Mary Jane stood in the hallway, practically vibrating with excitement, ready to start their day.
Behind her, Peter's eyes darted past her, into the room. He seemed to sense that Hawk was gone, and a look of surprise crossed his face.
Gwen turned to Mary Jane. "Hey. Hawk's not feeling well. He said he's just going to rest today. We can just go, the three of us."
Mary Jane's face fell. "He's not coming?"
"No."
"But..."
"You know, I'm actually feeling pretty tired myself," Peter said, raising his hand. "I think I'll just stay here at the hotel too."
Mary Jane looked from him to Gwen, then a slow, knowing smile spread across her face. "Okay, then. The boys can stay here. We'll have a girls' day out."
Gwen shot a quick, grateful look at Peter, who gave a small, almost imperceptible nod in return. She then turned back to Mary Jane, her own smile bright and genuine.
"Yeah. A girls' day. No boyfriends allowed."
"..."
...
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