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Ch. 322 It's Up to Me Next
🕑 Added 2024-03-13 16:00:08 +0000 UTCRussell was no stranger to the world and had gained a wealth of experience.
However, at the moment he connected with the Gate of Heaven, he still experienced a strange sensation that words could not describe.
In that moment, he felt like he had completely transcended his humanity, with only those indescribable divine qualities remaining in his consciousness.
Although Russell had never encountered divinity before, he immediately recognized the profoundly different divine consciousness from his human nature.
As the connection deepened, he even had a fleeting thought of leaving everything behind and heading directly to Heaven.
However, at this very moment, his Divine Sun Power within suddenly became exceptionally active.
The abnormality of his Divine Sun Power instantly drew his attention back.
Along with his attention came the remnants of his humanity, which had almost completely disappeared.
As humanity started to return, he quickly regained his composure and noticed the abnormality he had just experienced.
'My will wasn't quite firm enough!
I nearly got summoned into Heaven by the Gate of Heaven?'
Russell inwardly criticized himself for a moment.
After berating himself, he didn't waste any more time.
The Gate of Heaven had been summoned, but his battle with Mephisto was far from over.
Or rather, the second half had yet to begin.
With this in mind, he tightly grasped the Holy Cross in his hand and forcefully activated his Divine Sun Power.
As the Divine Sun Power wildly churned within him, his connection with the Gate of Heaven deepened further.
However, he wouldn't be influenced by the Gate of Heaven like before.
What happened earlier was just a small accident. Having experienced it once, he naturally knew how to resist the Gate of Heaven's influence.
If he couldn't even do that, he wouldn't have agreed to Doom's invitation to come to Hell and confront Mephisto.
After connecting with the Gate of Heaven, Russell temporarily lost his ability to attack Mephisto.
It wasn't because he couldn't move right now, but because he was busy "communicating" with the Gate of Heaven.
To say he was communicating might be a bit inaccurate.
More precisely, he was rapidly aligning his Divine Sun Power with the Gate of Heaven.
Only when the Divine Sun Power and the Gate of Heaven were perfectly aligned could he use the Gate of Heaven's power and authority to forcibly take some of Mephisto's authority while defeating Mephisto.
If Mephisto was confused about Russell's intentions at first, seeing the Gate of Heaven appear now should leave no room for misunderstanding. If he still didn't comprehend, he wouldn't be the Lord of Hell.
This kid!
When Mephisto realized that Russell was aligning his Divine Sun Power with the Gate of Heaven, he felt a strong desire to kill.
Summoning the Gate of Heaven within Hell was already a provocation and threat to Mephisto.
Furthermore, Russell now intended to align his Divine Sun Power with the Gate of Heaven and use its power to defeat Mephisto.
After the Gate of Heaven appeared, the blinding golden light that had previously concealed everyone's vision rapidly dissipated.
Russell's figure once again appeared in Mephisto's line of sight.
Seeing Russell standing still, tightly gripping the Holy Cross while aligning it with the Gate of Heaven, Mephisto didn't hesitate. He rapidly activated his demonic power, which surged toward Russell.
Just as Mephisto was about to eliminate Russell in one go, Doom, wearing a metal mask and a green cape, appeared in front of Russell.
"Your current opponent is me!"
As teammates, Doom was well aware of the critical moment in Russell's plan.
At such a time, he wouldn't allow Mephisto to attack Russell freely. After all, whether Russell could use the power of the Gate of Heaven to defeat Mephisto directly impacted Doom's ability to reclaim his mother's soul from Mephisto.
Faced with the oncoming Mephisto, Doom didn't hesitate at all. He clasped his hands together, and magical arrays appeared out of thin air in front of him.
Compared to Russell, Doom's physical strength was not even close. Although he was now wearing armor rivaling Tony Stark's and possessed magic akin to Doctor Strange's, he was still an ordinary human, relatively speaking.
Of course, this wasn't to say that Doom wasn't powerful. It was just that his physical attributes were indeed quite ordinary when compared to monstrous individuals like Russell, not to mention super soldiers like Captain America and the Winter Soldier.
However, Doom's true strength lay in magic and energy attacks, not in close combat.
The magical arrays that took shape in front of Doom first provided him and Russell with powerful magical protection.
Next, two of the magic arrays shot out energy beams like lasers.
These energy beams shot straight towards the incoming Mephisto.
Although Mephisto sensed the intense energy contained within these beams, he had no intention of dodging or retreating.
Russell had already begun the process of aligning his Divine Sun Power with the Gate of Heaven.
No one knew when he would complete the alignment.
If they didn't take the opportunity to defeat Russell now or disrupt his alignment with the Gate of Heaven, the situation would only become more dire.
Since they were in Hell, Mephisto wasn't concerned about being directly defeated by Doom's attack.
Although Doom had unleashed powerful energy beams, it was still a far-fetched idea to try and defeat Mephisto, who had ruled Hell for tens of thousands of years.
In an instant, the energy beams, as thick as a bucket, struck Mephisto, forcibly halting his advance.
Green energy struck Mephisto's body, creating energy ripples like water.
Although Mephisto's current body didn't appear remarkable, resembling that of an ordinary person, the impact of the thick green energy beams didn't even make him take a step back.
Doom's energy beams, fueled by magical arrays, not only failed to push Mephisto back but also didn't completely stop his progress.
At this moment, Mephisto seemed like someone walking forward against a hurricane, steadily advancing towards Doom and Russell.
Although Mephisto hadn't revealed his true demonic form yet, his actions proved that even in his current demonic state, distinct from his human appearance, he remained a powerful Lord of Hell.
Upon realizing that the pure energy flow couldn't stop Mephisto, Doom quickly formed more magical gestures with his hands.
Interdimensional Gate!
Doom didn't continue with offensive magic but instead invoked a ninth-level spell called Interdimensional Gate.
As Doom's gestures completed, a pitch-black, circular gateway appeared behind Mephisto.
As the name suggested, this was a magic used for interdimensional travel.
Through an Interdimensional Gate, a spellcaster could move from one plane to another.
In principle, the Interdimensional Gate magic was similar to the Gates of Hell and Heaven.
However, unlike the fixed exits of the Gates of Hell and Heaven, the exit of an Interdimensional Gate was determined by the spellcaster.
Of course, the condition was that the spellcaster knew the coordinates of the target plane.
Otherwise, the Interdimensional Gate spell was prone to failure.
Although Doom had never personally traveled between planes, he had come across information on interdimensional travel in the magical texts he had collected.
These precious records were left behind by ancient Earth mages.
Due to Hell's unique circumstances, Doom couldn't open an Interdimensional Gate to any plane, just as Hell had no direct access to Earth due to an ancient agreement.
Similarly, most routes from Hell to other planes were sealed.
Otherwise, with the power of demons, they could use other planes as transit stations to bypass the agreement and reach Earth.
Though most routes from Hell to other planes were closed off, there was one plane that could still be easily accessed.
Yes, Heaven!
Doom had previously made deals with the angels of Heaven, and the Holy Cross in Russell's hand was obtained through a transaction with a high-ranking angel.
He had memorized the coordinates of Heaven's plane long ago.
Moreover, with Russell having already summoned the Gate of Heaven, there was now a stable connection between Hell and Heaven.
Doom's intention was to use the Interdimensional Gate to banish Mephisto into Heaven.
Doom's idea was bold, and he executed it decisively. However, the outcome was different from what he had expected.
He had indeed opened an Interdimensional Gate to Heaven, but they were currently in Hell, Mephisto's home ground.
Attempting to exile the Lord of Hell, Mephisto, from Hell to Heaven was no small feat.
Even though Doom had adjusted some aspects of the Interdimensional Gate to give it the terrifying gravitational force of a black hole, Mephisto still firmly stood his ground.
The Interdimensional Gate failed to forcefully draw Mephisto inside.
However, the horrifying gravitational force of the Interdimensional Gate did stop Mephisto's advance.
While the result wasn't exactly as Doom had imagined, he had gained some precious time.
As long as Mephisto was restrained, Russell would have more time to align with the Gate of Heaven.
Mephisto hadn't anticipated that even with Russell having summoned the Gate of Heaven, Doom would open an Interdimensional Gate to Heaven behind him.
These two bastards!
If he could, Mephisto would have devoured Russell and Doom alive right now.
However, he knew that, for the moment, he could only think about it in his mind.
The terrifying gravitational force from the Interdimensional Gate had already affected him, making him feel bound.
If he didn't deal with the Interdimensional Gate behind him, he might truly be banished to Heaven. Even as the Lord of Hell, he wouldn't fare well in Heaven.
The angels of Heaven would certainly not hesitate to eliminate a Lord of Hell within their domain.
Because of Doom's brilliant move, Mephisto had to temporarily abandon his plan to attack Russell and focus on resolving the Interdimensional Gate behind him.
To better utilize his power, he dropped his human appearance and fully revealed his demonic form.
In the blink of an eye, Mephisto, who had a human-sized body, suddenly grew to be five to six meters tall.
Enormous bat wings appeared behind him, and his thick, snake-like tail was drawn into the gravitational pull of the Interdimensional Gate.
His characteristic demon features, sharp teeth, and claws, all were now on full display.
Seeing Mephisto reveal his demonic form, Doom's expression turned extremely serious.
This wasn't his first encounter with Mephisto.
He was well aware that the form Mephisto displayed at this moment was not his most powerful.
For most beings, Mephisto's true form remained unknown.
Mephisto possessed the ability to change his appearance and size at will, adapting to the aesthetics of different intelligent species.
Doom had once witnessed an extreme example when Mephisto appeared before him in a form hundreds of meters tall.
The current form, which was around five to six meters tall, wasn't particularly impressive.
However, while Mephisto's current size might not be astonishing, Doom didn't dare to underestimate him.
As a Skyfathers tier entity, Mephisto's strength wasn't affected by his size.
No longer wasting energy to maintain his human appearance, Mephisto turned his attention to resolving the Interdimensional Gate behind him.
First, he turned around, changing from facing away from the Interdimensional Gate to facing it directly.
Resisting the powerful gravitational force of the Interdimensional Gate, he extended his two massive and sharp hands.
Then, using the demonic power within him, he gathered two magic spheres that resembled molten lava in his hands.
At first glance, the magic spheres he held in his hands appeared similar to common lava orbs.
However, these were entirely different.
The magic spheres in Mephisto's hands were formed from pure demonic power and carried a strong aura of destruction and malevolence.
Once the magic spheres took shape, Mephisto wasted no time. He first hurled the left one towards the Interdimensional Gate and then the right one.
Under the terrifying gravitational force of the Interdimensional Gate, the first magic sphere was swallowed up.
However, as the Interdimensional Gate absorbed the first magic sphere, the once pitch-black gate turned a blood-red color.
At the same time, the second magic sphere arrived at the front of the Interdimensional Gate.
Rather than allowing the Interdimensional Gate to engulf the second magic sphere, Mephisto chose to detonate it directly.
Boom!
The tremendous energy contained within the magic sphere erupted, creating a devastating explosion reminiscent of a small nuclear blast.
The red energy surged toward the Interdimensional Gate, instantly engulfing it.
At the moment of the explosion, the entire ground shook violently, as if the world was facing an apocalyptic cataclysm.
The explosive energy swept across every corner of the surroundings.
Not only was the Interdimensional Gate devoured by the red energy, but Mephisto himself was also consumed by it.
As Mephisto's figure disappeared from view, the crimson energy surged toward Doom.
Faced with this incredibly powerful red energy, Doom couldn't afford to be careless. He pushed his protective magic barriers to their limits, safeguarding himself and Russell.
However, at this critical moment, a hand suddenly rested on his shoulder.
"I'll take it from here," Russell's voice sounded from behind Doom.
Doom never expected that he would one day find safety in a man's voice. Moreover, upon hearing Russell's voice, he instinctively stopped his actions and handed over the task of resisting the red energy to Russell.
