Bang!
With a mournful cry, Hawk's second Phoenix Cloth finally gave way. Shattered into countless golden fragments, the armor peeled off his body and rained down into Kong's Gorge like a shower of glittering sparks.
Hawk lowered his gaze to the falling shards, then glanced once toward the direction where Ikaris had fled.
This second set of Cloth had already been weakened from his repeated duels with Thor. Otherwise, Hawk wouldn't have been driven to forge the Black Phoenix Surplice using the Underworld Black Gem.
But though the Black Phoenix Surplice rivaled a Gold Cloth, without the Underworld's law sustaining it, it could only be worn briefly—or within realms of the dead.
So in the end—
The true prize was still the Golden Cloth.
And now Hawk had gathered all three key materials to create it.
Before clashing with Ikaris, he had only found replacements for orichalcum and stardust sand.
But after their battle, he discovered a substitute for gammanium as well.
It wasn't magma at all.
It was energy—life energy, flowing in golden torrents to nurture the seed of the Celestial Tiamut slumbering deep within the Earth.
That explained why this hidden world birthed mountains made of adamantium.
And it explained why Hawk's sixth sense had warned him so sharply whenever he thought of the Celestials.
Of course they'd be enemies.
If he siphoned off Tiamut's energy, the Celestials would know he had stolen the sustenance meant for one of their own. Could there be any peace after that?
Anyone would rage if they saw a stranger drinking their brother's milk.
Still—
Rage or not, he would take it.
He wasn't killing Tiamut, after all. Just borrowing enough energy to forge his armor. Surely the Celestial wouldn't mind.
He even chuckled to himself.
In the original story, when Tiamut was meant to emerge, he refused to destroy Earth and even aided Sersi in sealing himself away.
So what if Hawk delayed him a little longer? What difference would it make?
Resolved, Hawk turned his gaze back to the cavernous passage into the lost world.
The next instant, he was gone.
Ikaris had fled. Now came the harvest.
Back in the Iwi village, Peter and Felicia sat frozen, mouths agape after witnessing the clash of titans.
Felicia was the first to speak.
"Peter."
"Yeah?"
"There's another powerhouse on this island."
"Mm."
Peter nodded, frowning. "He flew… black hair… looked a lot like the Iwi. Almost like their godly ancestor."
Felicia frowned. "Impossible. If he were truly their ancestor, they wouldn't need Kong to protect them."
Peter agreed. "True."
"Peter."
"What?"
"Good thing you didn't go."
"…"
Their eyes met. The air soured with unspoken jealousy and worry.
Meanwhile, in the lost world—
Hawk stood before a massive floating mountain made entirely of adamantium.
"Phoenix Heart!"
Cawww!
A flaming phoenix unfurled behind him, its burning wings enveloping the mountain. In a flash, the entire peak vanished into his microcosmos.
He wasted no time, vanishing again and again.
One by one, mountains disappeared into his cosmos.
By the time he had seized ten of them, his sixth sense flared in warning. Hawk halted his sweep.
He landed at the edge of a golden river of molten energy.
He remembered when Ikaris had slammed him down here, and how he'd realized this was no magma at all.
It was life-force.
The perfect substitute for gammanium—the bridge between uru and adamantium, the final essence needed to forge the Phoenix Gold Cloth.
He extended his hand.
The Phoenix Heart within him stirred.
Suddenly the skies of his cosmos split open, golden torrents cascading like waterfalls into his inner world.
Energy rivers branched in countless streams, rushing into every corner of his cosmos.
And there, wings spread wide, a phoenix rose—no longer an image, but substance, body forged of endless life.
It was power enough to birth a Celestial.
Now it was his.
The life-force swelled him, his cosmos climbing higher, higher, until the stars within blazed like a thousand suns.
Though divine will still sought to suppress him—
The immortal phoenix feared nothing.
One by one, embryonic stars ignited across his cosmos. The Silver Sixth Sense was reaching its peak, climbing toward a new height.
But then—
His sixth sense warned sharply.
He withdrew his hand at once. The golden river roared again, energy rushing back toward the seed of Tiamut deep below.
And through the river's glow—
Hawk glimpsed him.
Tiamut, slumbering, titanic, waiting to be born.
"Thank you," Hawk said quietly, his voice sincere.
This wasn't just bravado anymore.
He could feel it—the reason he'd been allowed to draw so deeply wasn't his strength, but Tiamut's tacit permission.
The Celestial had allowed it.
On one condition: do not take too much.
Hawk smiled wryly. He'd been about to overreach when the warning struck.
So he bowed his head, and gave thanks.
And—he thought he saw it.
On that colossal, metallic face, a faint smile. Like a patient elder pleased with a respectful youth.
"Uh…"
"Well, Tiamut has been here since he fell with the World Tree. Elder it is."
His expression twisted oddly, but he chuckled, shook his head, and whispered a second thanks.
Then he turned and rose skyward, leaving the lost world behind.
The moment he departed, the realm below convulsed.
Golden rivers boiled, mountains of adamantium plunged into molten seas and melted away, the land itself consumed.
But Hawk did not see.
He emerged above Kong's Gorge, flying toward the village.
There, Peter and Felicia sat entwined, gazing at one another with tender eyes.
Hawk appeared silently before them.
After a beat, he turned his head, coughed loudly.
"Cough, cough!"
"Shit!"
"Hawk!"
Startled, the couple jumped.
He smiled faintly. His thoughts drifted to his own fiancée.
"Time to go home."
…
(End of Chapter)
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