Boom!
As Hawk's gaze caught sight of the Celestial God Team member Griss stepping into the Solar System, a sonic boom cloud instantly formed beneath his feet.
The dust vibrated!
Wanda waved her hand, and the Crimson Chaos Power extinguished the dust that was rising. She looked up at Hawk, who transformed into golden light and broke through the atmosphere.
"Clang!"
"Crack!"
The projection of the Fire Phoenix appeared behind Hawk, then perfectly aligned with his body. Next, enormous golden phoenix wings, bathed in flames, unfurled from behind Hawk, and in the moment he sped towards Celestial God Griss at superluminal speed, he launched his fists.
An instant kill from the very first move!
"Phoenix Wing Flight!"
Boom!
A golden phoenix surged from Hawk's knuckles.
In the distance, as Celestial God Griss entered the Solar System, the hexagonal cylinders on his face turned red the moment he caught sight of Hawk, conveying the intense feeling of recognition reserved for an enemy.
Thus...
No exchange of words.
Celestial God Griss lifted his arm, crafted entirely from adamantium. His fist clenched, capable of crushing stars with a single grip. The surrounding space collapsed, and cosmic energy was forcibly extracted and compressed onto his knuckles, forming a sphere of energy potent enough to obliterate planets in an instant. He too launched a punch.
The golden phoenix collided with the destructive energy sphere.
In the next second.
There was no sound of collision, nor explosion, only a singularity. A point formed at the moment of collision, capable of devouring all light and sound.
At the birth of the singularity, it seemed to instantaneously swallow Hawk's "Phoenix Wing Flight" and Celestial God Griss' "Destructive Energy Sphere." In a blink, it expanded, greedily engulfing everything around it.
Estranged star debris, dust, and wandering nebula matter were all ruthlessly drawn in and consumed by this expanding singularity.
From the singularity's center, an energy storm spread in rings, wildly sweeping across millions of kilometers of void.
And in this raging energy storm.
Hawk and Celestial God Griss charged in nearly back-to-back without any thought of retreat, commencing a battle shocking on a cosmic scale.
In the physical sense of 'shaking the heavens and earth.'
Boom!
An unknown celestial body, instead of being torn apart by the escalating energy storm, shattered at the glancing force of Hawk's fist.
The gigantic hand of Celestial God Griss, blotting out the sun, descended. Similarly, grasping a stellar body, he wielded it like a weapon, hurling it at Hawk.
Boom!
Hawk didn't dodge. He faced the stellar body head-on.
He didn't break.
The stellar body shattered.
Hawk emerged from within the fractured stellar body, raised his right arm, and with a star ignited by the Phoenix Fire forming a fireball at his back, he roared, returning the burning stellar body to Celestial God Griss!
Boom!
The star shattered upon contact with Celestial God Griss's body.
Celestial God Griss remained unscathed.
But...
Hawk never expected such an attack to defeat Celestial God Griss.
He discovered something.
It seemed that in this universe, Celestial God Griss, whether in power or defense, appeared enhanced.
This was no illusion.
Hawk recalled something Death had once said.
"Who made your universe so low-end."
"So low-end that even when I and Eternal's projections vanished, I couldn't be bothered to glance at it."
Hawk now somewhat agreed with Death's critique of his own universe.
Because...
It was not just Celestial God Griss who was enhanced.
Hawk also felt that since arriving in this universe, both his power and defense were significantly heightened compared to his original universe.
What's more important.
Likewise, targeted by the universe's inherent forces, Hawk realized this universe's suppression was even stronger than his own.
If his original universe's suppression seemed like pressure from all directions...
This universe's suppression was akin to a net from heaven and earth.
In a word.
Though both are suppressive, his original universe and this one belong to different leagues.
The most apparent evidence is the rumor circulating in Hawk's universe.
It's well known.
The ridiculousness of rumors is directly proportional to the level of perception.
The lower the perception, the more absurd the rumor.
That's why, in his universe, there are tales of the Celestial God Team usurping the divine order, killing Death, expelling Eternal, and attempting to replace the universe.
But one thing is certain.
His wife, Gwen, going to the 828 Cosmos is inseparable from Celestial God Griss.
Thus...
Celestial God Griss must die!
"Explode, my Little Cosmos!"
After hundreds of exchanges within the energy storm, as Hawk withdrew, his Little Cosmos exploded, transforming into endless golden cosmic energy, converging once more onto his fists.
Meanwhile.
At the moment he detonated his Little Cosmos, the power suppressed by the universe erupted like a volcanic explosion.
In a flash.
Within the universe's all-encompassing suppression, Hawk's life force broke through, reaching the Main God level, seeing through the Eighth Sense with the aid of the Golden Phoenix Holy Armor he wore.
The next moment.
His fists aimed at the Celestial God Griss below and struck again.
"Phoenix Wing Flight!"
"Clang!"
Unlike last time, this phoenix did not emerge from Hawk's fist, but from the exploding cosmos surrounding him, as if breaking free from its shell, transcending the boundary between reality and illusion, appearing within this cosmos.
So...
This strike of Phoenix Wing Flight is the true Phoenix Wing Flight.
The phoenix shines brilliantly.
Carrying endless, burning with Hawk's ultimate will and magnificent golden flames, the phoenix extended its galaxy-spanning golden flaming wings toward the Celestial God Griss!
Where the Fire Phoenix passed, the surrounding spatial structure shattered like a spider web.
Everything happened in an instant.
Just as the Celestial God Griss saw Hawk at that moment and looked up, the true Phoenix Wing Flight struck right upon his head.
Boom——!!
The Celestial God Griss's form stiffened in place, and behind his head, even the distant nebula was ignited under the effects of the Phoenix Fire passing through his skull.
One punch, head explodes!
But the Celestial God Griss's head did not explode; instead, after the phoenix penetrated his skull, infinite golden light began to shine from within.
The next second.
Countless cracks spread like a spider web across the entire head of Celestial God Griss...
Then the neck.
Then the torso.
Finally, the limbs, all in the blink of an eye, a dense web of cracks covered Celestial God Griss's entire body.
Finally!
The Celestial God Griss emitted the first sound after arriving here, and it was also his last sound.
"Buzz!"
"Boom!"
A sound like an engine shutting down emanated from Celestial God Griss's body, and then, each of his glaring six-tube eyes began to extinguish one by one from top to bottom, or left to right. When the six-tube eyes were fully extinguished, the Celestial God Griss, who could be considered a giant in the cosmos, bowed his head heavily, now covered with spider web-like cracks.
Perhaps, with the passage of time, in the not too distant future, here might birth another Land of Nothingness formed from the head of the Celestial God Team.
But that is a matter for later.
For now!
The battle is over.
Hawk stood still between the starry sea, the golden flames on his Golden Phoenix Holy Armor gradually calming, then the armor detached, reverting to his formal suit attire, and he looked calmly at the bowing head of Celestial God Griss in front of him.
Actually, he hadn't planned to kill Celestial God Griss so easily.
But the cosmos's pressure on him was everywhere, so upon realizing he couldn't take Celestial God Griss without exploding his Little Cosmos, he decisively chose to explode his Little Cosmos, catching the cosmos off guard and elevating his power to the temporary Main God level of the Eighth Sense, then sent away Celestial God Griss with one punch.
But the aftereffect followed.
Just at the moment Celestial God Griss was killed by his punch, the cosmic instinct responded and increased its pressure on Hawk once more.
Feeling this unprecedented pressure from the cosmic instinct, Hawk chuckled softly, then stepped on the bowed head of Celestial God Griss, and his gaze swept across the starry sky, which returned inquisitive stares from all directions.
Shock.
Surprise.
Disbelief.
Admiration.
Vigilance.
Among these inquisitive gazes, each held its own meaning.
But Hawk didn't care, nor did he mind; with one of those gazes, he cast his glance into the depths of the endless starry sky, hands in pockets, a smile on his lips.
Ten minutes.
Half an hour.
An hour later.
The scrutinizing gaze from the depths of the starry sky disappeared.
Hawk was amused.
Goodness.
Wasn't it supposed to be that after beating the little ones, the old ones would come, and after beating the old ones, even older ones would arrive?
Why?
Is this cowardice?
Hey, look, I've killed one of your kin right in front of you, even standing on his head, taunting you. Are you not coming to avenge him?
Is this really how your Celestial God Team does things?
Hawk couldn't understand.
After all, he had just experienced a fierce and evenly matched battle, was still fired up, and thought it would be the same whether one came or two.
But...
The Celestial God Team member in the depths of the starry sky, whose name is unknown, simply retracted their gaze and ignored him, turned around, and left.
Goodness.
Is this right?
Watching this scene, Hawk's heart was speechless with ridicule.
But soon.
He raised his sharp eyebrows, gazing into the depths of the starry sky at the Celestial God Team member who turned and walked away, seemingly determined not to confront him, perhaps realizing something, his lips slightly curling upward.
Escape?
Heh heh.
Can you escape?
…