American Comics: Heaven's Reward

Mephisto looked up to the sky and roared, his whole body turning into a shooting star, directly attacking Aaron and the Ancient One.

Hatred blazed in his eyes.

The two people in front of him were the ones he despised the most. Especially Aaron, who, at least today, made even the Ancient One seem insignificant.

An ordinary Asgardian who had the entire dimension of Hell at his fingertips.

How audacious!

Not only that, after revealing his power, he dared to come to the dimension of Hell with the Ancient One to kill his subordinates.

It was a complete disregard for him, the King of Hell!

Could this be tolerated? It was unbearable!

He wanted them to understand the authority of the King of Hell!

In the dimension of Hell, he was the boss!

Whether it was the Sorcerer Supreme or Aaron, who had wasted his power, they would both die at his hands!

Seeing Mephisto move, Aaron and the Ancient One tacitly ceased their bombardment of the demons.

Although the results of the battle were not yet clear, it was evident that they had dealt a significant blow.

The Ancient One's Bosat's Thunder was an extremely powerful spell, but its slow casting speed made it something the Ancient One rarely used. However, the abundance of demons in the area had left them unable to react in time, giving the Ancient One the opportunity.

Even the lords of Hell's upper demons could not withstand repeated strikes from the Bosat's Thunder.

Aaron's attacks were even stronger, summoning a thunderous sea modeled after Thor's power, alongside a fiery combination of phoenix and hellfire. That level of power was undeniable.

Not to mention that the two of them had been relentlessly attacking from the beginning. Those who survived were the strongest of the strong, the elite of the elite.

Yet, even they were barely hanging on.

Now that Faith had arrived, there was no need to worry about the remnants of those who had barely survived.

Aaron hadn't even moved yet, and the Ancient One, who had dealt with the Dimensional Lord of this dimension before, was already in action.

She skillfully waved her hands, and a series of crimson chains shot toward Mephisto with a whistling sound.

These were Cytorak's crimson chains—once bound by them, breaking free was nearly impossible.

Mephisto knew the power of this move and swiftly evaded it before continuing his assault.

The Ancient One had anticipated this and summoned the Shape of Aikon once again.

Dozens of Ancient Ones appeared around Mephisto, each releasing the crimson chains of Cytorak.

Each chain's magic came directly from Cytorak, amplifying the magic's power.

This time, even if Faith wanted to escape, it was impossible.

The duplications created by the Shape of Aikon were energy entities, each with 630 points of mental control, allowing for high flexibility in spellcasting.

More than half of the crimson chains wrapped around Mephisto, binding him tightly.

"Hurry up!" the Ancient One exclaimed, breathless.

Though she had absorbed much of Dormammu's magic power and made a deal with Cytorak, casting such high-level spells still took a heavy toll.

Aaron nodded and formed a massive sword outline in the air, wrapped in flames. It was the twilight sword used by Surtur during Ragnarök—capable of turning all of Asgard into cosmic dust with a single blow!

Mephisto, now bound, immediately recalled the powerful flame king he had encountered in a kingdom of fire long ago. The flame king was a titan god, a being comparable to Dimensional Lords!

He saw a shadow of Surtur in this sword.

But Surtur wielded the Eternal Fire, while this gigantic sword was infused with another form of integrated flame—a flame powerful enough to threaten demons.

"Damn it! Don't think you can defeat me like this!" Mephisto roared as he summoned the hellish energy to form a giant shield, trying to resist the attack.

But his efforts were futile.

The twilight sword fell upon him, shattering his shield like tofu. The sword continued its descent, piercing Mephisto directly.

Boom!!!

Mephisto, unable to resist, was pierced by the giant sword.

The sword continued downward, sinking deep into the ground.

At first glance, it seemed that Mephisto had been defeated, but both Aaron and the Ancient One knew better.

Dimensional lords were not so easily killed.

As long as they were in their own dimension, they could regenerate.

For now, Mephisto needed time to recover, but once he was fully restored, defeating him again would be even more difficult.

"Let's go!" the Ancient One called, clearly not foolish enough to stick around and fight until the very end.

Aaron nodded, agreeing.

There was still a slight gap between him and the Heavenly Father's spirit.

Despite absorbing immense power from the Hell dimension, which had filled every cell of his body, Aaron realized that even with such vast power, it didn't elevate his strength to the level of a Heavenly Father god.

Even facing Ancient One or Odin, Aaron would hesitate.

But despite the gap in ratings, he knew he was still in the process of improvement.

"Maybe it's time to improve other aspects of my magic," Aaron thought.

So, the two left the Hell dimension, gracefully avoiding any further conflict. Only the heavily wounded demon lords and the chaotic dimension of Hell remained.

After they left, it didn't take long for Mephisto to recover.

On the surface, his strength appeared unaffected, but upon seeing that the two enemies had benefited and left without any further confrontation, he was so enraged he nearly vomited blood.

With a cold face, he dispelled the magic affecting the demon lords and began to rescue them.

Originally, there had been dozens of demon lords, but after the battle, fewer than ten remained.

The others were killed in the onslaught earlier.

Certainly, Black Heart, the son of Mephisto, had survived with his impressive physical strength and extraordinary regenerative abilities. But the situation remained grim.

After all, he was not the lord of Hell and could not control the authority of the Hell dimension.

Even though he was said to be the son of Faith, his death would be permanent.

"A bunch of trash!" Mephisto scolded angrily, then turned and left.

But no one dared to reply to him.

After all, the facts spoke for themselves. If Faith hadn't arrived in time, they would have all been in serious danger.

The Kamar-Taj sorcerers were ruthless, using sneak attacks instead of confronting them directly!

It had been a disaster.

The surviving demon lords exchanged fearful glances, then silently left.

Their current state was weak, and any demon could target them at any time.

Among them, Black Heart lingered for a moment before departing. He could still feel the lingering presence of Aaron and the Ancient One in the air.

One day, he would return for revenge!

Back in Kamar-Taj, Aaron was preparing for his next round of power harvesting.

He had depleted some energy in the previous battle with the demons and Faith, and was now looking for a new source to "borrow" from.

In the past, Aaron had always charged his phone before heading out. Even when it was less than 50% or 60%, he'd connect it to the charger to ensure he wouldn't run out of power.

Now, with magic as his means of power, energy was even more crucial.

Without further ado, Aaron went searching for sources of magic power.

The demon lords were all aware of his previous schemes and refused to respond.

Even when Aaron made new contracts and offered souls, no one would engage with him.

It was clear that his name had become a curse in the Hell dimension, and no demon would fall for his tricks again.

So, Aaron shifted his focus—on to Dormammu!

According to the Ancient One, she had the ability to steal Dormammu's energy in ways that he couldn't prevent.

She could open a channel between reality and the Dark Dimension, drawing energy from it.

As long as she controlled the absorption rate, Dormammu wouldn't notice.

The Dark Dimension was so vast that it would be impossible for him to sense every corner of it.

Once he became aware, they could simply close the channel before he could react.

It was thanks to this method that the Ancient One had prolonged her life and achieved feats beyond the reach of ordinary mortals.

Her power was likely on par with Odin's!

Aaron had tried this technique and found it effective. Although the energy gain was minimal, it allowed him to replenish his own magic reserves.

Thus, Aaron began a new round of improvements.

This time, he aimed to master Kamar-Taj's magic and perfect his own magical system.

He would also dedicate more time to improving his previously planned schemes.

In short, he would specialize in certain types of magic and fill in the gaps in his knowledge with the rest of his time.

Previously, lack of time and other issues had prevented him from achieving perfection.

But now, with his focus on improvement, Aaron was on track to become even stronger.

He also needed to prepare for the Phoenix Force.

As for the "minor matters" with S.H.I.E.L.D?

He was uninterested.

Before retreating, Aaron didn't even notify S.H.I.E.L.D.

After informing the Ancient One and Jean, he entered the mirror space with a pile of magical books, ready to immerse himself in study.

Meanwhile, outside…

S.H.I.E.L.D. and the United States were in full panic mode.

At first, they thought Aaron and his companions were just alien invaders, and they could easily wipe them out with nuclear weapons.

Who knew they were provoking a god?

When S.H.I.E.L.D. made their report, no one believed them. They thought Nick Fury had lost his mind.

But when footage of the battle surfaced, showing powers beyond human comprehension, they realized the threat was far greater than they imagined.

Aaron's power could affect celestial phenomena and absorb nuclear and solar energy.

They knew then that if this situation wasn't handled properly, they would face divine wrath.

The fact that nuclear weapons were useless against Aaron was terrifying.

After learning of Aaron's dissatisfaction with their handling of nuclear programs, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the U.S. government feared the consequences of crossing such a powerful being.

Nick Fury and various politicians began to understand that things were about to escalate.

Especially after discovering a massive energy fluctuation in the New Mexico desert.

When they arrived, they found tens of kilometers of desert had vanished, replaced by a giant pit hundreds of meters deep.

The air around it smelled like burnt stone—energy typical of the God of Magic.

It was clear that this was a warning from Aaron.

Feeling the pressure, S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to act quickly.

They issued a full-scale cleanup operation, even sacrificing loyal HYDRA members.

Alexander Pierce, the mastermind behind many of these actions, realized the stakes.

If this triggered a war between Asgard and the U.S., HYDRA could stand to gain, but that risk wasn't worth it.

After all, Aaron was after him.

According to S.H.I.E.L.D., the God of Magic possessed a vast array of powers, including telepathy and control abilities superior to even Magneto's.

If Aaron chose to intervene directly, Pierce knew the danger would be catastrophic.

"Perhaps it's time to lose some pawns," he thought.

"Others can be sacrificed, but I cannot."

As long as Pierce remained alive, HYDRA would rise again.

In the end, the U.S. government decided to appease Aaron.

They held a new presidential election and imprisoned the previous president who had authorized the nuclear program.

The U.S. and HYDRA had given up on their ambitions and were forced to make humiliating compromises.

In response to the growing threat of Asgardians and other alien civilizations, the U.S. decided to form a new organization—The Avengers!

They hoped that by doing so, they could at least talk to the gods.

As for Aaron, unaware of these developments, he continued his deep study of magic, occasionally emerging to monitor his allies and keep an eye on Dormammu.

Despite a few small conflicts with Dormammu, Aaron remained undeterred.

Dormammu had begun to take notice of Aaron, his hatred deepening as he vowed to punish him.

The final chapter of this story? It was only just beginning.