His entire body was covered in a rough, black, horny shell, riddled with cracks and crevices.
Dark golden light emanated from the cracks and crevices, as if magma flowed within his body, with an asymmetrical number of limbs; some had multiple arms, while others had multiple tentacles…
When Hawke looked at the two Deviants that appeared before him, he recalled Felicia's description of the Deviants.
It couldn't be said to be similar; it was exactly the same.
Except…
These two Deviants, who were in a fighting stance and roaring at him, did not attack him immediately.
Did they not want to?
No.
They couldn't, because these two Deviants had already been domesticated.
Yes.
Domesticated.
Hawke immediately noticed the chains on the two Deviants.
Two thick, silver-glowing chains, very much like edman metal, were firmly bound around the waists of the two Deviants, while the other end was securely connected to the mountain behind them.
No matter how much these two Deviants struggled, the chains connected to the mountain remained taut, showing no signs of breaking.
"Hiss!"
"Deviants, domesticated."
"Well, I'll be."
After realizing this, Hawke couldn't help but gasp, his heart filled with several exclamations of surprise.
But that wasn't the point.
The point was that as these two Deviants struggled in anger after seeing Hawke, and as the chains clanked incessantly, the phosphorescent moss and outer layer covering the mountain also peeled off, revealing the true appearance of the mountain.
Hawke looked at the silver light revealed after the mountain's outer layer peeled off, first stunned, then walked to a nearby mountain, and the moment his right hand pressed against the mountain, his six senses were fully activated.
Then—
He was shocked.
Well, I'll be.
The entire mountain was edman metal?
That exaggerated?
Hawke's mind was filled with renewed shock as he recalled the countless floating mountains he had seen in this Lost World when he first descended.
Frankly speaking, Hawke had come down with the hope of finding edman metal, but he had thought he would have to be a cool miner, digging for it like Vibranium.
As it turned out, he didn't need to dig at all; these mountains, large and small, floating above the Lost World, were entirely composed of edman metal, only they had been petrified over countless ages, forming their current mountainous appearance.
The next second.
Hawke's heart instantly grew hot, and he immediately turned around, not even glancing at the two domesticated Deviants in front of him.
Although he didn't know what had happened here.
But…
Mind your own business!
He came here to find edman metal; he had no interest in what had happened here or why.
I'll take the edman metal and leave.
Hawke thought to himself, then walked straight through the white Shadow in front of him again, returning to the temple.
Boom!
Two golden energy blasts instantly struck Hawke's chest, catching him off guard. Hawke, like a meteor, was instantly sent flying backward, returning once again to the tall valley where the two Deviants were kept, his speed undiminished as his entire back slammed into the mountain, also composed of edman metal.
The mountain behind him instantly vibrated, and countless moss and outer layers peeled off, revealing a larger area of the silver glow unique to edman metal.
At the same time.
The two Deviants, seeing Hawke suddenly appear within their attack range, almost without hesitation, roared and pounced at Hawke like chained hounds.
Hawke's Little Universe instantly ignited, and with a punch, a bang, he instantly pierced through the body of one Deviant. Then, with a graceful kick in mid-air, a bang, he slammed the other pouncing Deviant into the ground.
Under the powerful Impact, the moment the other Deviant's head made intimate contact with the ground, it also revealed the ground below, which was also made of edman metal.
Which was harder, a Deviant's head or edman metal?
The answer was unequivocal.
With the sound of a watermelon bursting, the two Deviants kept here had become two corpses, one with its belly pierced, the other with its head shattered.
The Deviant with the pierced belly still had a mutilated Skull Crawler protruding from its abdomen.
Clearly.
The group of Skull Crawlers outside just now, and those that had rushed onto Skull Island, were mutated creatures born from the mating of these two domesticated Deviants.
Hawke's thoughts raced as he withdrew his gaze from the corpses of the dead Deviants and focused on the white Shadow in front of him.
Soon.
Accompanied by footsteps, a man with a resolute face, black hair, blue eyes, a muscular build, and wearing a blue and gold uniform appeared before him.
The man's gaze first fell on the corpses of the two dead Deviants at Hawke's feet.
The next second.
Looking at Hawke again, the man's blue eyes instantly filled with golden energy, and then, two golden rays, like Superman's heat vision, once again attacked Hawke.
"The same move is ineffective against a saint seiya."
"Boom!"
Hawke watched this scene, throwing a punch at the man, his figure flickering in place. When he reappeared, accompanied by the flashing appearance of the phoenix cloth and the sound of the saint cloth constantly adhering to his body, Hawke, who had appeared in front of the man, also punched him in the chest.
It's rude not to return a favor!
The resolute-faced man's expression showed a hint of surprise, and then, just as he had sent Hawke flying, he himself was sent flying backward.
Boom!
The man, sent flying out of the white Shadow, slammed directly into a giant statue with his back.
The petrified outer layer of the giant statue peeled off with the vibration, revealing its original silver-glowing essence.
Well, I'll be.
This statue was also made of edman metal?
Hawke, who flickered out immediately after, looked at the statue collapsing to the ground with a bang, exclaimed in his heart, and then once again flickered in front of the man who had stabilized himself in mid-air.
One punch!
"Boom!"
"You're looking for death!"
The golden energy in the man's pupils, now steady, flowed again, releasing scorching golden energy that instantly clashed with Hawke's fist in mid-air.
Violent energy surged through the temple, and the entire temple began to vibrate at this moment.
On the beams, on the walls, and even on the ground, the petrified layers and moss peeled off, completely exposing the original building material of this temple.
edman metal.
Still edman metal.
edman metal, which is more powerful and rarer than Vibranium, and is said to be completely indestructible once fixed, was as common as dirt here.
With a bang!
Hawke and the man were both sent flying backward by the Impact of their fists and heat vision colliding.
Soon.
The two, having regained their footing, one at the entrance of the temple and the other at the entrance of the white Shadow, floated in the air, facing each other across the vast, spacious temple.
Hawke's Little Universe burned continuously as he looked at the resolute-faced, black-haired man in the distance, his thoughts racing as a name came to mind.
"Ikaris!"
"…"
Ikaris, hearing Hawke call out his name, paused the release of the golden energy that had been surging in his pupils.
But his eyes still looked at Hawke coldly, his voice low.
"Who are you?"
"It really is you."
Hawke, hearing this, knew he had guessed correctly. At the same time, his gaze swept over the ten statues in the temple and the murals on the walls, finally resting on the skeleton that had just completely fallen apart due to the vibration and had died from a pierced chest.
"The two people depicted in the murals here should be you and Sersi, right?"
"The Ivi Race living here should be your and Sersi's descendants."
"Am I right?"
Hawke said, looking back at Ikaris in the distance.
Ikaris's gaze was cold.
His answer was the same as before.
"Who exactly are you?!"
"Hawke, a passerby."
"Passerby?"
Ikaris's gaze lowered slightly, then looked back at Hawke: "People on this Planet don't have such powerful energy as you."
Hawke smiled: "I have my own opportunities."
Look.
Before he obtained the Reality Stone, Mephisto had immediately seen that his energy came from an outer Universe.
But after he obtained the Reality Stone and materialized his energy, Ikaris in front of him could no longer discern the origin of his energy.
Hawke now completely understood what had happened here.
In the past, the leader of the Eternal, Ajak, led the Eternal members to eliminate the last Deviant, then dispersed the members throughout the World to await the emergence of the Celestials.
Ikaris and another Eternal member, Sersi, accidentally discovered this Lost World, then settled here and gave birth to the Ivi Race.
But later, Ikaris and Sersi left here for some reason, leaving the Ivi Race to fend for themselves.
After an unknown period, Ikaris secretly returned, bringing with him these two Deviants.
The Ivi Race was forced to leave here and go to Skull Island above, and under the effect of time dilation, gradually degenerated into the indigenous inhabitants of Skull Island, with only successive generations of high priests knowing the truth about the Deviants.
As for why Ikaris did this.
Who knows? But one thing is certain: Ikaris brought back the Deviants that were thought to have been eliminated. That's a done deal.
Because in the Eternal storyline, when the truth of Ikaris using the Deviants to kill Ajak was exposed, Sersi once questioned Ikaris: "Did you bring the Deviants back?"
Facing Sersi's question, Ikaris's answer at the time was silence.
And silence was already a good answer.
Just like now.
Ikaris, hearing Hawke's "own opportunities" answer, gave a cold smile, and then golden energy once again surged in his eyes.
"No matter who you are, since you already know, then stay here."
"Boom!"
"…"
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