Marvel: The Enlightened One#101+102: Hawk the Thief, Demon Hulk the Brigand, Small Universe? No, Phoenix Universe

Below the cliff, a torrential river raged.

As the cliff face crumbled and fell away, the Demon Hulk’s massive body plunged downward, its furious eyes locked on Hawk, who stood at the edge of the precipice.

Hawk, his chest rising and falling as he rapidly recovered his strength, gave the falling behemoth a small, smiling wave.

“Goodbye.”

“ROARRRRRRRR!!”

SPLASH!

The enraged Demon Hulk roared one last time before crashing into the river, the powerful current immediately swallowing him whole.

Hawk felt the Demon Hulk’s presence being swept far away by the river. He looked away and let out a sigh of relief.

The Vibranium was the priority. Once he had it, once he had his Armor, there would be plenty of time to settle the score with the Demon Hulk.

The next second, he stood at the edge of the broken cliff and looked up, taking in the full, breathtaking view of the true Wakanda.

A golden luminescence seemed to emanate from everywhere. It wasn't the light of technology, but the soft, deep glow of raw, exposed Vibranium veins, pulsing with energy where they broke through the earth's surface.

They were like the planet's own vascular system, weaving through massive rock faces and deep canyons, a network of power that fed the mountains and rivers, the lush vegetation and the rolling hills.

In the distance stood a city of impossible, futuristic architecture.

And from a magnificent golden plaza in the center of that city, a squadron of equally high-tech fighter jets was rapidly ascending, heading straight for him.

Hawk’s gaze shifted from the approaching jets. He scanned the landscape and quickly located the massive, glowing mountain in the distance.

With his senses fully open, he could see the entrance to the mine.

“Found it.”

BOOOOOOM!

A sonic boom ripped through the air as Hawk vanished from the cliff's edge.

...

“Holy shit.”

“He’s gone!”

The Wakandan pilots, who were rapidly closing in, cried out in shock.

The next second, they saw it—a shadow, moving at incredible speed through the jungle below, heading for their Mount Bashenga, the source of all Vibranium, known as “The Great Mound.”

“There he is!”

“Shit, he’s going for the Great Mound!”

“We can’t let him get there!”

“Weapons free!”

“Roger that!”

The five pilots banked their Vibranium jets, diving low in pursuit of Hawk. They unleashed a volley of air-to-ground missiles.

The missiles, glowing with a golden energy, screamed toward him.

While running through the jungle, Hawk stopped dead in his tracks. He turned and threw a single punch.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—

A storm of phantom fists erupted, obliterating a path of hundred-year-old trees as it slammed into the incoming missiles.

The missiles detonated in a series of brilliant, blinding flashes that lit up the jungle canopy.

With his work done, Hawk just smiled and continued on his way to the Great Mound.

“Holy shit.”

“After him!”

“Copy!”

The pilots, stunned by the sight, were about to give chase when a furious roar, as if from the depths of Hell itself, shook them to their very core.

“HUUUUULLLK!!”

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The sky suddenly went dark.

The Demon Hulk, now the size of a small mountain, roared as it smashed the peak it had been standing on and leaped into the air. Before two of the pilots could even react, it had slammed into their jets, its massive hands crushing the Vibranium hulls.

The jets themselves might have been indestructible.

But the cockpits weren't.

With a sharp crack, the reinforced glass shattered, and the pilots’ signals winked out.

Suddenly, the Demon Hulk hurled the two jets like stones.

“Shit!”

“Evasive maneuvers!”

The other pilots scattered, narrowly avoiding the improvised projectiles.

The Demon Hulk landed, shattering the ground, then immediately leaped again, heading toward the city in the distance.

The Demon Hulk had only one thought.

Destroy.

Annihilate.

Hawk, still racing through the jungle, felt the Demon Hulk’s presence heading in the opposite direction and smiled faintly.

Perfect.

You go play for a while. Once I get my Vibranium and forge my Armor, I’ll come find you.

Hawk thought to himself.

But for Wakanda, the situation was dire.

...

“Dammit!”

“Father, the one called Hawk is heading for Mount Bashenga, and the black Hulk is heading for the River Tribe!”

In the royal command center, Princess Shuri looked at the holographic display—at Hawk speeding toward the Great Mound, and at the Demon Hulk rampaging toward their city—and she was completely overwhelmed.

On one side, a powerful thief.

On the other, a brute of unimaginable strength.

What were they supposed to do?

“We can’t let that black Hulk near our city,” King T’Chaka said, his voice grim. “Mobilize the War Dogs immediately. Go to full alert. We cannot allow him to destroy our city.”

As he spoke, he walked toward the fighter platform outside the command center. “I will go to Mount Bashenga myself.”

Outside, the King's personal warship, a unique and devastatingly powerful vessel with stealth capabilities, decloaked and began its launch sequence.

T’Chaka climbed inside. The jet took off vertically, then shot toward the Great Mound.

At the same time, all of Wakanda went to full combat alert.

The Dora Milaje, the all-female royal guard, swarmed from all directions, forming an impenetrable cordon around the command center.

General Akeya, clad in her red, Vibranium-inlaid armor, stood guard at the entrance, her face like a stoic sculpture.

The Royal Guard, responsible for the security of the capital, was fully mobilized.

Royal cruisers lifted into the sky.

Vibranium tanks rolled out of their depots, their treads thundering across the roads.

Vibranium jets soared through the air, their wings unleashing a barrage of missiles.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

An air-to-ground missile slammed into the Demon Hulk’s skin and exploded.

The Demon Hulk swatted another missile out of the air and roared in fury at a jet that was banking away.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

The Vibranium tanks that had just arrived opened fire, their cannons recoiling as dozens of shells slammed into the Demon Hulk’s body.

The Demon Hulk staggered backward and fell into the raging river once more.

The next second, the memory of being drowned in Culver Lake surged through the Hulk’s mind.

The memory only fueled its rage. It leaped from the water, back onto the shore, and brought its house-sized fists down on the Vibranium tanks below.

...

Hawk, nearing the edge of the jungle, didn't hesitate any longer. He took a deep breath and launched himself into the air, soaring toward the sky. From above, he could see the Demon Hulk locked in an all-out battle with the Wakandan army.

He only glanced at it for a second, then turned away. A sonic boom echoed behind him as his foot touched down on the platform of Mount Bashenga.

Just as he was about to walk toward the mine entrance...

Hawk suddenly spun around. He pulled back his right fist, and the air itself seemed to crackle as he threw a punch.

An invisible figure, the Black Panther, who had been about to ambush him from behind, was sent flying, his stealth technology flickering and failing.

T’Chaka, now visible in his Black Panther suit, landed and immediately fired an energy blast from his Vibranium spear.

Hawk just smirked. He swayed to the side, dodging the blast, and appeared before T’Chaka in an instant.

No more words. Let the fists do the talking.

One punch.

BOOM!

CLANG!

Hawk’s powerful and heavy blow slammed into T’Chaka’s Vibranium spear, which he had raised to block at the last possible second. The sheer force of the impact drove T’Chaka to one knee.

Then, Hawk’s right leg whipped out, another impossibly powerful blow that sent T’Chaka flying off the platform.

Hawk didn’t pursue.

The mission came first. The Vibranium.

He turned and, in the blink of an eye, was inside the mine.

Just as he had at Quantico, to prevent any interruptions, he stood just inside the entrance and unleashed a flurry of punches.

With a deafening roar, the entrance to the mine began to collapse, and in a matter of seconds, it was completely sealed by tons of rock.

Hawk then turned and descended into the darkness.

The deeper he went, the brighter the golden glow became.

Until, finally, he reached the bottom. And there it was.

The motherlode.

The Great Vibranium Mound.

Hawk stared at the pure, glowing veins of Vibranium embedded in the rock walls, and a look of pure joy spread across his face.

Lightning Sonic Fist—

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Snapping out of his awe, Hawk became a one-man mining crew, his arms a blur of motion as he unleashed a storm of punches against the walls of the mine.

In that instant, dust filled the cavern and the mountain itself began to tremble.

Hawk had only one thought.

Mine!

Forge the Armor!!

<><><><><><><><>

Mount Bashenga of Wakanda was trembling.

Every inch of the ground, every particle of dust, vibrated with the power emanating from deep within the mine.

In the depths of the cavern, a ceaseless stream of Vibranium was being absorbed into Hawk’s Cosmo.

Within his inner universe, the Phoenix constellation spread its wings and let out a long and clear cry.

The moment the Vibranium entered the star chart, it was instantly melted into liquid by the fiery bird's intense heat.

Stardust Sand.

Gammanium.

The other two materials needed for the Saint Armor flowed into the molten Vibranium.

Just then, Hawk sensed something and opened his eyes.

And there, floating in the air before him, was a single, magnificent feather. It seemed to have torn through reality itself—a thing of pure, blazing fire.

“This is...”

“The Phoenix Heart Feather...”

The moment his hand touched the feather, he understood.

This was a gift from the Phoenix Constellation.

Not the one inside his Cosmo, but the real one, the cosmic entity itself.

As everyone knows, unlike some mythologies where mortals can ascend to Godhood through training, Western traditions hold that if you're not born divine, you never will be.

This is because the gods hold dominion over their concepts. Their authority.

And this Phoenix Heart Feather was a piece of that authority.

The true authority over Immortality and Rebirth.

Before, the powers of Immortality and Rebirth had been granted to him by the constellation. Now, by accepting this Heart Feather, that authority would be his own.

To put it simply, the Phoenix Constellation was going all in. It was betting everything on him—wagering its entire existence on the belief that he would make it the brightest constellation in the universe.

Bar none.

Of course, the Phoenix going all in had another meaning.

It wanted to merge with his Cosmo.

Hawk agreed without a second thought.

He'd been wrestling with this exact dilemma. After all, a jack of all trades is a master of none. Specialization was clearly the better approach. While he'd initially been thrilled at the idea of awakening every constellation, he'd quickly started questioning whether he should focus on one or spread himself thin.

The conclusion had been obvious.

Specialize!

But he still wanted the abilities of the other constellations. He'd been trying to find a third option—some way to get the best of both. And now, before he could even figure out a solution, the Phoenix had made the choice for him. In that case, there was nothing left to debate.

Hawk had made his decision.

The next instant, the Phoenix Heart Feather dove into his Cosmo, and the most brilliant, blazing flame he'd ever witnessed erupted.

Hawk pushed his Cosmo to its absolute limit.

"Burn, My Cosmo!!!!"

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

The constellations of the Phoenix and Draco detonated, shattering into light. It felt as if the apocalypse had come to his personal universe.

“...” Hawk’s face went pale.

With his Cosmo, his very existence was elevated far beyond that of a normal human.

But without it, he was just a man.

To allow his Cosmo to collapse back into chaos was no different from self-mutilation. In this moment, anyone could kill him.

But it was worth it.

Hawk watched as his shattered universe, now a swirling chaos, began to merge with the flames of the Phoenix Heart Feather. He steeled himself and began the next step.

...

While Hawk was deep in the mine, meditating and waiting for his Armor to be born—

Outside, all hell had broken loose.

T'Chaka was snapped back to consciousness by his daughter Shuri's panicked voice crackling through his earpiece. Hawk's kick had sent him flying off the mountainside, and he'd tumbled into the darkness below.

“Shuri?” he groaned, his voice weak.

“...Father.”

There was a pause, and then Shuri's voice was filled with relief. “Thank Bast, Father, you’re awake! You have to get back here, now! The Black Hulk... he's destroying everything!"

“What?”

T’Chaka flinched, wiping the blood from his mouth and nose as he pushed himself to his feet. In less than three seconds, he had leaped back up to the mining platform.

He stared at the collapsed entrance to the mine.

“Where is Hawk?”

“He’s still inside. Father, the city... we can’t stop the black Hulk!”

"Damn it!"

T'Chaka cursed under his breath, then looked up and leaped. With a quick flick of his wrist, he caught hold of his Royal Talon Fighter's wing—the craft had been hovering above in stealth mode. He yanked open the cockpit and hauled himself inside.

VMMMM!

The fighter instantly decloaked and shot toward the capital city of Birnin Zana.

As he flew over the mountains and rivers, and the city came into view, he drew in a sharp breath.

As far as the eye could see, the district where the River Tribe lived was now a smoldering ruin. In its place was a massive crater.

Dismembered bodies were everywhere.

It was a scene from the apocalypse.

And in the center of the ruins, the black-skinned Demon Hulk, its eyes burning with hellfire, stood on a pile of rubble and let out a deafening roar that shook all of Wakanda.

“HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULK!”

It seemed to be looking for something.

...

In the royal command center, T’Chaka put his jet on auto-hover and leaped back inside. He looked at the projection showing the survivors of the River Tribe fleeing toward the capital.

“Casualties?”

"Catastrophic!"

“The River Tribe’s warriors have been almost completely wiped out. They stood no chance against the black Hulk.”

“The drivers of the Vibranium tanks are still alive. The Hulk can’t break through the armor.”

“But our weapons can’t hurt him, either.”

Princess Shuri rapidly reported the situation. “He seems to be looking for something.”

King T’Chaka rubbed his temples. He looked at the projection, at the Demon Hulk, which had stopped its rampage now that the tanks and jets had ceased their attack, and was just standing in the ruins, roaring.

Suddenly, a thought struck him. “Hawk!!”

“It’s looking for Hawk.”

“Order the jets to lure it back to Mount Bashenga.”

The moment he realized, King T’Chaka gave the order.

The Vibranium jets immediately changed course. They swooped down, fired a single missile at the Demon Hulk, and then banked hard, flying toward the Great Mound.

BAAAAAAM!

The missile exploded against the Hulk’s skin, not even scratching it, but it was enough to enrage him.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Hulk saw the two jets that had shot him and were now flying away. He bent his knees and leaped after them.

"It's working!"

A cheer went up in the command center.

Shuri turned to her father, her face beaming. “It worked, Father!”

King T’Chaka nodded. “Once all the tribesmen have been evacuated into the capital, activate the energy shield. Let the two monsters fight it out. We are not to get involved.”

Shuri paused for a second, then nodded. “Yes, Father.”

With the order given, T’Chaka let out a sigh of relief. Then, he remembered something else. “Has your brother returned yet?”

“He’s on his way.”

“Good.”

The word had barely left his lips when a wave of agony washed over him.

PFFT!

His expression changed. He coughed up a spray of blood, his body went rigid, and he collapsed to the floor.

The entire command center, including Shuri, was stunned into silence.

“FATHER!”

Shuri snapped out of it and ran to his side, cradling his head. “MEDIC!”

Leaning in his daughter’s arms, T’Chaka’s face was pale. “I... I can see the Ancestral Plane...”

...

“A new small universe is born.”

Hawk’s face was ashen, his eyes slightly dazed, but his spirit soared as he gazed at the new universe unfolding before him.

To be precise, it could no longer be called a “small universe.”

It was... The Phoenix Universe!

His Cosmo had completely merged with the Phoenix Heart Feather.

It was still a universe of brilliant, infinite stars, but now it was suffused with the incandescent, life-giving fire of the Phoenix.

From this moment on, his very soul was one with the Phoenix. If he were to ever fully manifest his Cosmo in the physical world, it would become its own parallel universe, a realm of fire and rebirth, just like Asgard.

But with its birth, the Draco constellation he'd just awakened was gone, consumed in the fiery crucible of his Cosmo's rebirth.

The bad news: Draco was gone.

The good news: He was stronger than ever. And with the Phoenix Heart Feather's full power flowing through him, his strength felt more solid, more tangible than before.

With a final cry, the Phoenix spread its wings wide, and from deep within its core, the Phoenix Heart Feather descended into the molten Vibranium below.

The next second, the flames roared to life.

Vibranium, Stardust Sand, and Gammanium—now bathed in the pure flames of the Phoenix—began the final, flawless forging of the Phoenix Armor.

Ting, ting, ting!

The sound of the Stardust Sand striking the molten Vibranium echoed through his Cosmo, like a divine hammer striking a cosmic anvil.

Hawk watched, his breath held in tense anticipation.

Just then—

BOOOOOOOM!

A colossal hand burst through the solid rock wall of the mountain and appeared right in front of him.