Chương 157: Chapter 157: Dark Knight Carter 

The Ancient One descended smoothly from the sky, landing lightly next to the spot where Mephisto's avatar had just been violently shattered. "That demon is as cautious and cowardly as ever." 

"I'd be genuinely shocked if he actually dared to bring his true body to Earth to play games right now," Luke said helplessly, spreading his hands. 

Just then, the acrid stench of sulfur began to waft from an unknown source, and thick, insidious plumes of demonic smoke began seeping in from the surrounding alleys. 

"It seems he's made his move." Luke's dark energy violently erupted outward, completely annihilating the encroaching smoke. He seamlessly transitioned into his towering Dimensional Lord form, casting a cold, vigilant gaze at their surroundings. 

"Do you think Mephisto brought his true body this time?" Luke asked the Ancient One as waves of dark energy pulsed outward from him. 

"Highly unlikely. He is infamously sly and treacherous," the Ancient One replied, her eyes scanning the shadows cautiously. 

"Still, constantly playing defense isn't a viable long-term strategy. I'll go secure Blackheart first. Once we extract that localized fraction of dimensional authority from him, we can march straight into the Hell Dimension and drag Mephisto's true body out for a proper beating." 

Luke nodded. Dozens of glowing red eyes suddenly snapped open in the darkness around him, and a massive swarm of Nightbat Ninjas took to the sky, circling silently in the night. 

After the Ancient One departed to handle Blackheart, Luke distinctly sensed an unnatural movement in the shadows, yet the Nightbats patrolling the sky didn't react. This confirmed his suspicions. 

The moment the thought crossed his mind, a chorus of agonizing shrieks echoed through the streets. A horde of demons violently erupted from the surroundings, lunging aggressively toward Luke. 

But Luke had absolutely no intention of wasting time with minor cannon fodder. Hundreds of glowing red eyes manifested around him as a massive legion of Shadow Ninjas instantly stepped out of the darkness. They drew their katanas in perfect unison, the cold steel flashing as they aggressively slashed at the advancing demons. 

However, the razor-sharp blades simply phased harmlessly completely through the demons' bodies, failing to inflict even a microscopic fraction of structural damage. 

"Your pathetic minions cannot harm Hellspawn!" Mephisto's highly arrogant, raspy voice echoed from the shadows, sounding as if his throat had been violently torn open. 

"It's merely standard physical immunity. Fortunately, my troops were recently issued an equipment upgrade." 

With a casual wave of Luke's hand, the standard katanas completely melted back into the shadows. In their place, the Shadow Ninjas manifested highly customized, heavily enchanted weaponry. As the Ninjas gripped the hilts, glowing, highly complex runic inscriptions flared to life along the blades, violently crackling with localized lightning, frost, and magical fire. 

Without a microsecond of hesitation, the Shadowkhan aggressively resumed their assault. Faced with the enchanted weaponry, the demonic horde was instantly, brutally routed, violently shattered into a disorganized panic as they attempted to flee. With a silent command from Luke, the Shadow Ninjas scattered, aggressively pursuing the routing demons through the city streets. 

"These pathetic lackeys aren't worth my time. Why don't you step up?" Luke yelled into the shadows. 

Mephisto remained completely, utterly silent. 

Coward. 

Luke scoffed, turning his attention toward the Ancient One's localized battlefield. 

Given that she regularly arm-wrestled Mephisto, the Ancient One's combat capability was vastly, astronomically superior to Blackheart's. Blackheart's only minor tactical advantage was the thousands of corrupted souls he had just absorbed, allowing him to violently splinter into a massive swarm of spirits when cornered. 

The Ancient One had effortlessly countered this by aggressively conjuring a massive, highly complex spatial array, violently forcing the thousands of splintered souls back together. She compressed them back into Blackheart's singular physical vessel, tightly binding him with glowing magical chains, waiting for Johnny to arrive and finish the job. 

Under everyone's watchful gaze, Johnny Blaze confidently approached the bound Blackheart. 

"I am the Prince of Hell! I am the son of Mephisto! You cannot execute me!" Blackheart roared desperately as Johnny closed in. He even frantically attempted to telepathically beg Mephisto for assistance, but absolute silence answered him. He could only watch helplessly as Johnny stopped directly in front of him. 

Facing imminent, absolute death, Blackheart fell eerily silent. He stared coldly at Johnny. "I never anticipated that my ultimate demise would come at your hands. But in the grand cosmic scheme, we are both merely pathetic pawns." 

Blackheart glanced toward Luke and the Ancient One, then recalled his father's brief, treacherous manifestation. 

"I am merely a sacrificial piece in their grand, multidimensional chess game, entirely incapable of escaping the board. But what about you? Are you not also a pawn? Do you honestly believe you can ever truly escape?" 

Blackheart let out a bitter, mocking laugh at Johnny's silence. "Your soul is still formally held by my father. If you push him to the absolute brink, what exactly do you think he will do to you?" 

Johnny stared coldly at Blackheart. He vividly recalled Mephisto's terrifying warnings—that he would permanently lose his memories, his family, and his capacity for love. Carter had reinforced those exact same grim realities, nearly cementing them as absolute truth in Johnny's mind. 

But then, Johnny remembered his date with Roxanne the previous night. He remembered the feeling of holding her hand. A faint, highly genuine smile slowly spread across his face. 

"Perhaps I will die. But that is entirely irrelevant. Compared to a bleak, meaningless existence devoid of purpose, I would vastly prefer to die actively resisting than slowly rot in despair." 

Johnny violently grabbed Blackheart by the head, forcefully maintaining absolute, direct eye contact. As the terrifying, absolute fire of the Spirit of Vengeance began to violently ignite within his eye sockets, Johnny continued softly, "Furthermore... I have actively seen the signs. I have physically felt the light. Why would I ever willingly yearn for the darkness again?" 

The Spirit of Vengeance within him let out an apocalyptic, terrifying roar! The absolute, unmitigated Fire of Vengeance violently ignited entirely within Blackheart's body, aggressively forcing the demon to simultaneously, eternally experience the agonizing pain and suffering of every single sin committed by the thousands of souls he had consumed! 

Blackheart shrieked in absolute, mind-boggling agony! But the struggling was futile. Ultimately, his consciousness, along with the thousands of corrupted souls, was completely, permanently incinerated, reducing his physical vessel to a charred, smoking husk. 

A burning, skeletal hand aggressively plunged directly into the charred corpse, violently ripping out a glowing, highly condensed crystalline shard. 

This was the localized fraction of the Hell Dimension's foundational authority. 

"Here..." Johnny turned toward the Ancient One, actively attempting to hand the authority over. 

However, his body suddenly, violently resisted! His arm locked rigidly in place. 

The Ancient One frowned deeply. She quickly stepped forward, aggressively attempting to physically snatch the crystal from Johnny's hand. 

BANG! 

A highly concentrated, Hellfire-infused shotgun slug violently slammed into the pavement directly in front of her, forcefully pushing her back. 

Carter stood a few yards away, his shotgun smoking. 

"He is actively controlling me! He knew my exact coordinates, and he knew I possessed the Contract! This was his highly calculated trap all along!" Carter strained violently, desperately attempting to throw his weapon away, but the residual, ancient power of the Ghost Rider within him completely hijacked his physical motor functions. 

Mephisto's elegant avatar casually stepped out from the nearby shadows, an incredibly satisfied, highly arrogant smile on his face as he strolled toward Johnny. 

"An incredibly entertaining performance. But the curtain has officially fallen," Mephisto stated smoothly. "Now... hand the authority to me. In exchange, I will formally grant you your freedom, and casually reclaim the power of the Spirit of Vengeance. Do we have a deal?" 

Mephisto smiled pleasantly. But Johnny violently rejected the transaction. Straining with every ounce of his willpower, Johnny forcefully wrenched his arm downward, stubbornly hiding the crystal behind his back. 

Mephisto's smile instantly vanished, his expression darkening into cold malice. 

"Can't you aggressively sever his localized control over you?!" Johnny yelled desperately to Carter. 

"He absolutely cannot. How exactly do you think he managed to physically survive for over a century?" Mephisto mocked, slowly advancing toward Johnny to violently seize the crystal by force. "It was the absolute, foundational power of the Spirit of Vengeance that artificially sustained his lifespan. Without it, he would have crumbled to dust decades ago. Even your current, pathetic resistance is merely a temporary localized anomaly granted by the Spirit." 

The Ancient One prepared to launch a devastating magical assault, but Carter's shotgun was aggressively locked onto her. While his localized combat experience was insufficient to permanently defeat the Sorcerer Supreme, the highly seasoned former Rider could easily effectively stall her. 

Suddenly, Luke violently charged directly into the fray! 

He aggressively swung his massive dual Death Scythes, effortlessly, brutally slicing Mephisto's avatar completely in half! 

Just as the avatar shattered, a dark, shadowy figure violently erupted from the wreckage, desperately attempting to fly away! 

"I was waiting for that!" Luke roared! He violently whipped his massive, muscular serpentine tail, brutally swatting the fleeing figure completely out of the air! 

Luke aggressively reached out to snatch the dropped crystal of authority, but a massive, highly concentrated, apocalyptic torrent of Hellfire violently erupted from the side! 

Sensing the terrifying, localized destructive density of the flames, Luke frowned deeply and aggressively evaded. The devastating Hellfire narrowly missed him, violently obliterating an entire line of concrete buildings down the block. The civilians in the adjacent streets shrieked in terror and fled the apocalyptic destruction. 

Luke locked his gaze on Mephisto, who had rapidly reformed. The demon aggressively opened his maw, violently spewing a massive, incredibly dense cloud of highly corrosive demonic smoke that instantly completely enveloped the entire localized battlefield! 

Engulfed in the thick, sensory-depriving smoke, Luke temporarily lost his localized visual tracking. He instantly, violently unleashed a massive, explosive shockwave of pure dark energy, violently blowing the smoke away in all directions! 

As the air cleared, he saw Mephisto violently hoisting Johnny over his shoulder, aggressively preparing to teleport directly back to Hell! 

Not on my watch! 

Luke violently utilized a localized spatial blink, instantly materializing directly in front of Mephisto! He delivered a devastating, full-force punch that violently shattered the demon's stance, and aggressively snatched Johnny out of his grasp! 

"The authority! Hand it to me immediately!" Luke ordered Johnny. 

But Johnny snapped his head up, his eyes wide with absolute panic. "RUN!" 

It was too late. Luke suddenly felt a highly insidious, terrifying, localized demonic power violently attempting to forcefully pry open the 'sins' within his own heart, actively attempting to violently incinerate his soul from the inside out! 

"You do not possess the cosmic jurisdiction to judge me!" Luke roared! 

He aggressively channeled absolute, massive torrents of dark energy, violently suppressing the insidious invasion! Staring into Johnny's eyes, Luke could literally clearly perceive the absolute, raw entity of the Spirit of Vengeance actively trying to assert control. 

Luke violently flooded Johnny's body with pure dark energy! The overwhelming cosmic pressure instantly, completely smothered the Hellfire, aggressively forcing the Spirit of Vengeance back into dormancy. Johnny violently gasped for air, instantly reverting back to a standard human. 

Luke gently set Johnny down, effortlessly retrieving the crystal of authority from his hand. He instantly, aggressively absorbed the shard directly into his own physical vessel! 

"Your elaborate, highly calculated scheme is officially terminated, Mephisto. I have successfully integrated the localized authority." 

Luke stared coldly down at the fallen Hell Lord, aggressively grabbing Mephisto's avatar by the throat. 

Mephisto's face twisted in profound, absolute frustration. He glanced at Carter—who had finally reverted to his human form and was currently actively engaging the Ancient One in a localized struggle—and then turned his desperate gaze back to Luke. 

"Let us formally establish a mutually beneficial transaction." 

"Actively negotiating with a demonic entity, specifically the recognized Lord of Lies? Do I genuinely appear that incredibly stupid to you?" Luke sneered dismissively. 

But Mephisto pressed frantically. "Johnny and Carter's souls are currently firmly within my absolute legal jurisdiction! If you formally transfer the authority to me, I will completely restore their souls and officially grant them freedom! I will formally swear a binding oath upon the foundational core of the Hell Dimension: if I ever manifest hostile intentions toward Earth again, the dimension itself will catastrophically retaliate against me! I will even instantly provide you with a blank, magically binding contract! You may freely insert any localized stipulations you desire! Do we have a deal?!" 

Luke narrowed his eyes. Mephisto's deceptive, highly manipulative nature was legendary. Every single 'concession' he just offered was completely riddled with massive, highly exploitable loopholes. 

Return their souls? Sure, but he absolutely didn't guarantee he wouldn't maliciously tamper with them first. Swear no hostile intentions toward Earth? He could easily interpret that to mean he could still aggressively target specific, localized individuals on Earth. A blank contract? He'd likely just absolutely refuse to provide his localized magical signature to validate whatever I wrote. 

"You simply refuse to learn." 

Luke tightened his grip, aggressively preparing to violently crush Mephisto's avatar into cosmic dust. While destroying the avatar wouldn't permanently kill Mephisto as long as the Hell Dimension existed, it would prevent any further localized manipulation. Besides, Luke currently actively possessed a foundational fraction of Hell's authority; he could simply invite Uncle Galactus to formally devour the dimension later. 

Sensing the immense, lethal pressure crushing his neck, Mephisto roared furiously! 

"Do you honestly, arrogantly believe that simply acquiring a localized fraction of authority grants you the cosmic capability to permanently destroy the Hell Dimension?! Then I formally invite you to try! But before you do... you will suffer the localized loss of your pathetic comrades!" 

Luke violently squeezed, instantly crushing Mephisto's avatar into dissipating fragments! 

Simultaneously, Johnny and Carter violently collapsed to the ground, screaming in absolute, mind-boggling agony! Carter's physical body began to rapidly, visibly age, his skin wrinkling and decaying by the second. 

Luke frowned deeply, rapidly analyzing the localized magical trauma. Mephisto was currently actively, aggressively tearing Johnny's soul apart from his dimension! Carter, meanwhile, was simply dying of extreme, hyper-accelerated old age because the Spirit of Vengeance was no longer artificially sustaining his biology. 

Luke thought rapidly. He instantly, aggressively withdrew the dark energy suppression he had placed on Johnny! 

With the suppression lifted, Johnny's rapidly degrading soul was violently, seamlessly merged entirely with the core essence of the Spirit of Vengeance! While Mephisto possessed the localized jurisdiction to torture Johnny's mortal soul, he absolutely lacked the cosmic authority to actively damage the primordial Spirit of Vengeance! The merger instantly stabilized Johnny, saving his life. 

As for the rapidly dying Carter... 

Luke calmly walked over to the withered old man. He gently placed his index finger directly against Carter's forehead. 

Instantly projecting his consciousness directly into Carter's localized mental space, Luke materialized in his towering Dimensional Lord form. 

Carter stood in the ethereal void, looking around in profound confusion. 

"Are you functionally intact?" Luke asked. He noted with genuine surprise that Carter's soul had visibly adopted highly distinct, localized characteristics of the Ghost Rider. Decades of acting as the Spirit's host had permanently, fundamentally mutated his spiritual structure. Even his iconic, demonic black horse was present in the soul space. 

"This is your localized spiritual realm. I am Luke," the colossal Dimensional Lord explained, watching Carter nod in slow comprehension. 

"So... I am formally transitioning into death?" Carter asked quietly. 

"Correct. The artificial, demonic energy sustaining your physical vessel has been completely, entirely exhausted. Your biological functions are permanently failing." 

Carter offered a bitter, highly resigned smile. "Well... considering I've technically lived well over a century... without that curse, I would have died a long time ago. Is dying now truly such a terrible localized outcome?" 

Luke stared down at the old cowboy. "Do you genuinely, absolutely desire to permanently cease existing?" 

Carter shook his head helplessly. "Who genuinely actively desires to die if they possess the localized option to continue living?" 

Luke smiled broadly. "That specific confirmation is entirely sufficient." 

To Carter's immense, bewildered surprise, the colossal dark entity leaned forward. "Then... would you care to formally sign a highly exclusive, localized contract with me? Would you like to officially become my Dark Knight?" 

Carter froze, entirely stunned. Then, a massive, brilliant smile spread across his ethereal face. 

... 

Back in the material plane, Johnny knelt beside the rapidly decaying Carter, looking frantically up at the Ancient One. "Is there absolutely any possibility he survives this?!" 

The Ancient One glanced calmly toward Luke, whose eyes were currently closed in deep concentration. "If Lord Luke actively desires it... he will absolutely continue to function." 

The absolute microsecond she finished her sentence, the deafening, terrifying sound of heavy, galloping hooves violently echoed through the quiet street! 

Everyone turned to look. Carter's old horse was aggressively galloping toward them! As it ran, massive, terrifying torrents of pitch-black, highly volatile dark energy flames violently ignited along its mane and tail, and its hooves left burning black hoofprints on the asphalt! 

Simultaneously, the dying Carter violently convulsed! 

Massive, unfathomable torrents of pure dark energy aggressively swarmed over his withered body, instantly manifesting as highly stylized, lightweight, pitch-black tactical armor! Two terrifying, brilliant black flames violently ignited deep within his eye sockets! A heavy, tattered black cloak materialized over his shoulders. 

"I have formally returned." 

Carter's voice echoed with a terrifying, ethereal resonance. The demonic horse aggressively slid to a halt beside him. Carter grabbed the reins and flawlessly, agilely vaulted into the saddle. He casually extended his hand, and a massive, terrifyingly sharp pitch-black scythe materialized in his grasp. Wreathed in the black cloak and the dark flames, he looked exactly like the absolute, literal, mythological manifestation of the Grim Reaper. 

Luke opened his eyes, admiring Carter's incredibly intimidating new aesthetic with a highly satisfied smile. "So, what's the formal performance review? Does this localized upgrade feel functionally superior to your previous Ghost Rider configuration?" 

"Absolutely," Carter replied, his voice echoing from the black flames. He casually, expertly twirled the massive dark scythe. "This specific, localized power formally obeys my absolute, conscious commands. I no longer have to constantly aggressively battle a rogue Spirit for localized control of my own physical vessel." 

"Outstanding. Because we currently have a massive, highly critical tactical cleanup operation to execute." 

Luke gestured toward the city. The chaotic, localized demonic souls from Blackheart's shattered avatar were currently frantically wandering the streets. Mephisto was genuinely an absolute menace regarding localized littering. 

"Carter. Johnny. I formally authorize you to actively, aggressively sweep the entire city grid. Permanently, violently eradicate every single rogue demon you encounter!" Luke ordered authoritatively. 

He then turned slowly toward the Ancient One, raising his hand to reveal the glowing, crystallized shard of Hell's authority resting in his palm. 

"As for us... let's give Uncle Galactus a call. We're going to completely annihilate the Hell Dimension!" 

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