Lord of Cinder in American Comics

The hellish imp, which had been hiding motionless on the ceiling, was cleaved in two from head to toe. The corpse, mixed with yellow slime, fell to the ground, scattering dust in all directions.

After this attack, the sounds in the darkness gradually subsided. But subtle noises still followed them.

Hearing the chewing and noise behind him, Hill followed Geralt even closer.

Suddenly, Geralt seemed to have found his target and charged forward with his longsword.

When Hill caught up with Geralt, he found Geralt pinning down an extremely humanoid demon, his fists relentlessly pounding on its body.

The demon let out a low growl, like a language begging for mercy, but Geralt ignored it and continued to attack.

“Daughter of Maria, make this man stop, and I can make your mother, who froze to death in the hospital, suffer a little more in hell…”

In a daze, Hill heard the voice of the demon, and she looked in disbelief at the demon howling under Geralt's fist.

"It's me, stop looking! I can also make your father, who has never forgiven you because of his wife's death, reopen the door to your home... as long as you let this man go!"

Looking at the demon, Hill recalled her past. She was born in Chicago, where temperatures dropped to below -44 degrees Celsius, causing her mother to freeze to death in the hospital, and her father never forgave her for it. This left her with almost no experience of the warmth of a home.

“Geralt…”

Hill called Geralt's name softly, as if trying to persuade or stop him.

Before Geralt could turn around, Hill licked her dry lips and continued, "It still has the strength to talk, you're not ruthless enough..."

After Geralt's persuasion, the demon finally gave up in despair, lying on the ground and refusing to move.

Looking up at the dark ceiling, the demon said, "Speak, what do you want to ask..."

"How did the Black Heart Demon escape its father's control?"

"Some time ago, two great lords from other dimensions invaded Hell and engaged in battle with that being. The Dark Lord took advantage of that time to escape from his home..."

Hill was also taking notes. She knew that the name of the Dark Lord should not be mentioned. Apart from the fact that the identity of this High Lord was unknown, the other one clearly referred to Mephisto. The Dark Lord was the Dark Lord that Geralt mentioned.

But Geralt heard this news in a completely different way. Two invasions of Hell? It sounded so much like Sithon venting his anger.

Old Mo is a good comrade; he shielded me twice. I'll try my best not to put him in his shoes next time...

Stepping on the demon, Geralt continued, "What are Blackheart's plans?"

"How would I know! I'm just a weakling wandering the border..."

The demon's scarlet eyes darted around, unable to look Geralt in the eye.

Applying slight pressure to his feet, Geralt looked at the demon who was trying to prop himself up but collapsed helplessly on the ground and said, "That idiot Blackheart, the whole of Hell knows he's rebelling against his father, didn't he say anything about his grand plan?"

The demon continued to struggle, but Geralt increased the pressure on his feet, causing its body to slowly deflate.

"I'll talk, I'll talk! It's said that the Dark Lord has already prepared a body in the human world, and he will descend upon it!"

However, Geralt ignored the answer and crushed the demon's bones under his foot, the sound of them breaking echoing one after another.

"That cross-dressing bastard Blackheart Demon, I've already destroyed his physical body. Now, tell me something useful..."

The demon stared at Geralt in disbelief, and provoked by Geralt, it subconsciously glanced at Hill.

Originally, he was trying to ask for a chance to beg for mercy, but the demon seemed to have seen some important information from Hill and began to explain frantically.

"The Dark Lord prepared for this decades ago; it wasn't that woman who made the wish... I swear to Hell, what I'm saying is true! I don't know anything else!"

Hill realized that he had leaked the information, so he hid behind Geralt, blocking the demon's view.

Upon hearing the demon swear an oath in hell, Geralt released the demon beneath his feet and kicked it into a corner.

Having obtained the necessary information, Geralt left with Hill, leaving only the demon licking his wounds in a corner of the room.

"The Dark Lord is a cross-dresser! No wonder the Lord of Hell won't let him leave; it's utterly shameful. Perhaps I can use this information to gain some protection from other high lords..."

After the soliloquy began, the sounds of fighting erupted. This demon wanted to kill all the demons who heard it and claim this special information for itself.

Geralt, with Hill by his side, followed the seven-colored stone markers he had left behind and returned to their previous location.

The original floor and tables and chairs have gradually turned the color of hell, with only one thing remaining amiss.

Geralt glanced at Hill's guards, shook his head dismissively, pulled over a chair that was almost completely rusted, and sat down.

Unlike Geralt, Hill curiously recorded and waited for what was about to happen.

Just as Hell assimilated the region, Hill and Geralt were back in the interrogation room in the S.H.I.E.L.D. dungeon.

Opposite the chair lay Melinda's shattered remains, left behind by the Blackheart Demon. Everything had returned to normal.

As the two returned, a squad of armed guards rushed in from outside the interrogation room, guns pointed at Geralt, awaiting Hill's orders.

Hill pressed the muzzle of his gun, signaling everyone to leave.

Hill fetched a bottle of water, moistened her parched mouth, and asked, "Where's Jonathan? Hasn't he come back?"

"Eating food from hell makes you a person of hell. Didn't I say that?"

Geralt's words left Hill with no sympathy for the lost guards; those who cannot control their desires are no loss even in death.

"Then how did we get back? Is it really that easy to change spacetime?"

"Easy? What are you thinking? This is rejection. Every dimension rejects what doesn't belong to it. Even if Mephisto descended to Earth, he would have to change into human skin and wouldn't dare use too much power. As soon as he was exposed, he would be attacked and rejected by the native gods and the space itself. This is why the Blackheart Demon prepared a body in advance..."

Hill, comparing the sense of powerlessness she felt when she left the borders of hell, believed Geralt's explanation.

What should we prepare to deal with the evil demon?

Hill's eagerness to protect the Earth might seem to outsiders as a gesture of protection, but Geralt simply shook his head dismissively.

"What are you planning to do? Kill more people? And make that cross-dresser even stronger? You don't have the means to fight demons, nor do you have any professionals to handle such matters..."

“We can cooperate. The Hunter can help us train the relevant personnel. Didn’t you take Clint as an apprentice? S.H.I.E.L.D. has many more excellent agents, and they would definitely be suitable as well…”

Hill spoke with some urgency; she desperately needed a team capable of dealing with supernatural crises.

"So what? The hunter's responsibility is to kill all those who embrace darkness, to strike mercilessly and without hesitation. Can you do that?"

Upon hearing this request, Hill remained silent. She knew that there was far too much darkness in the shadows of the world. And the hunter's request was something that S.H.I.E.L.D. simply could not fulfill.

"Let the professionals handle the professional matters. That's what you should be doing. Don't try to take on everything yourself. Besides, are you sure S.H.I.E.L.D. is right?"

After subtly criticizing S.H.I.E.L.D., Geralt announced his departure to Hill.

"Send me a plane. I need to go to Ravensfield. My apprentice has a problem and needs my help..."

## Chapter 216: Summoning the Soul (Bonus Chapter for Alliance Leader 3/10, Daily 10,000-Word Count Achieved)

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet was flying in the stratosphere. It has to be said that this aircraft, which can adapt to various missions, is slightly inferior to the main aircraft of the same level, but its comfort level is unmatched by those main aircraft.

"Why are you following me? The director of S.H.I.E.L.D. can't be that free, can he?"

Geralt, who was resting with his eyes closed on the plane, didn't even open them as he asked Hill a question.

While performing her daily tasks on the tablet, Hill replied to Geralt, "I need to assess the situation of these mysterious events before I can give the World Security Council an answer on whether to withdraw S.H.I.E.L.D. from these matters. The sights from Hell are not representative..."

Hill's words made Geralt open his eyes and re-examine the person opposite him. He could see from Hill's soul that Hill was not lying.

"What's wrong? Didn't you say the right people should do the right things... Oh, right, I have a question..."

Hill held out a tablet to Geralt, which displayed some of the supernatural cases the military had handled.

Pointing to the operation report above, Hill asked, "Since the darkness is so powerful, how were these soldiers able to handle it? Shouldn't it require specialists?"

"Please, look carefully, okay? Reports of suspected ghosts and suspected zombies, followed by a bombardment with thousands of pounds of aerial bombs—low-level demons would be instantly killed by that kind of firepower..."

"Yeah……"

Hill took the tablet and began writing Geralt's instructions on it.

"You're still not giving up..."

"Even if we strip them of this power, S.H.I.E.L.D. still needs basic countermeasures; they can't just recklessly throw lives into the mix... Can fire harm demons with physical forms?"

"Yes, but we must determine the type of demon and ensure the temperature is high enough..."

And so, through this question-and-answer session, Ravensfield arrived.

This small western town used to be most famous for its theater, which was once the main economic pillar of Ravensfield. However, after an accident, the whole town fell into silence.

"Yes, fly in this direction. The landing point isn't in the town..."

In the cockpit, Geralt directed the pilot to fly along the waterway, finally stopping next to a cabin in the woods.

The roar of the Quinjet's engines drew everyone inside the house outside to look at the aircraft they had never seen before.

Clint emerged from the crowd and walked toward the Quinjet. He recognized it as S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment; having once been a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., he needed to find out the origin of this aircraft.

However, when the plane door opened and Hill appeared in front of Clint, Clint unconsciously took a step back and straightened his posture.

"Chief Hill, I didn't expect to see you here..."

"Clint... have you really left S.H.I.E.L.D."

Hill's voice carried no emotion toward the former S.H.I.E.L.D. employee, as if she were merely confirming something trivial.

"Yes, I am a hunter now..."

Clint answered Hill with certainty. Clint was the first to clarify his identity. Ever since his family was threatened by vampires, Clint had always wanted to be at the forefront of the fight against darkness and to fight for a safe environment for his family.

“Apprentice, you’re just an apprentice! Stop thinking about becoming a full-fledged hunter. If you were a real hunter, you wouldn’t need me to take action…”

Geralt, emerging from the cabin, lectured Clint while standing in front of Hill, blocking Clint's path.

"Alright, tell me, apprentice, what is it that made you summon me?"

Geralt was speaking, but his eyes were fixed on a tree by the pond in the distance, as if there was something on that tree.

"I met an exorcist couple here; they were supposedly here to help. Today, I saw a corpse hanging from a tree outside the building, but it disappeared when I turned around. And a shadow has been following me..."

As Clint explained why he had summoned Geralt, a man and a woman stepped out from the crowd and stood next to Geralt, saying, "I am Eddard, and this is my wife, Rowling. We are also here to exorcise the demon..."

“Ed Warren, Lorraine Warren, I know you, the Warrens, the exorcists. But aren’t you Catholic? How come the power you possess is Kalim’s, oh, and a bit of Dark power as well.”

Geralt's words caused the Warrens' expressions to change. Rowling stepped back, while her husband Ed tried to explain.

“Pope Salvador gave us a chance to keep my wife from the whispers of those demons, in exchange for our joining. But we absolutely did not make a deal with the darkness, and the Deepest Abyss was merely a disguised protection from Pope Salvador…”

Eddard's explanation was accompanied by Geralt's scrutiny, and the Warrens only breathed a sigh of relief when Geralt stopped looking at them.

Seeing Geralt's gaze fall on the tree by the pond, Eddard said, "My wife also saw the witch hanging in that tree, but the witch's power was too strong, and I couldn't get close at all."

As he spoke, Ed gathered a point of white light in his hand, but it quickly disappeared.