Van En instinctively glanced toward the flaming skull nearby when he heard the word "general," but the moment his eyes met that blazing visage, he realized his mistake and quickly looked away. The fire burning in the hollow sockets gave off an unsettling aura that made holding eye contact almost impossible. Trying to regain his composure, he turned back toward Carter, waiting for the old knight to continue.
Carter nodded slowly before speaking. "Many years ago, Mephistopheles orchestrated the fall of San Venganza."
His voice was calm, but the weight behind the words hung heavy in the air. From that moment onward, the town became a place rejected by God, a cursed land where no deity would protect its people or answer their prayers. Within a short time, it transformed into something far worse than an ordinary sinful town.
It became a paradise for demons.
And a living hell on Earth.
Van En's eyelids twitched as the meaning of those words sank in. After a moment, he raised an eyebrow and let out a surprised laugh. "So it turns out our God isn't exactly the tolerant and magnanimous type after all?"
Carter shook his head with a tired expression. "If God were truly merciful, He wouldn't have once sent a flood that lasted seven days and seven nights to wash away the sins of the world."
Van En blinked in surprise. "Wait, that actually happened? I thought that was just a myth."
Carter choked on his words and stared at him in disbelief. "Is that really the part you're focusing on?"
Ignoring the comment, the old knight continued his explanation. "Before San Venganza completely fell into corruption, countless atrocities were already taking place there."
Deception, murder, rape, robbery, greed, jealousy—every ugly impulse humanity possessed gathered in that town like poison in a stagnant pool. It was a place where the worst aspects of human nature flourished without restraint. Every street and alleyway seemed to echo with cruelty and vice.
An old priest eventually realized that he no longer had the strength to save such a depraved place on his own.
Desperate and driven to the brink, he performed a blasphemous ceremony intended to reveal the town's filth directly to the heavens. His goal was simple: to force the gods themselves to witness the corruption and judge it.
The ritual worked.
God sent an angel named Aaron and commanded him to determine whether San Venganza was still worthy of salvation.
Van En leaned forward eagerly, clearly hooked by the story. "And then what happened? None of this was in the movie. This is way more interesting."
Carter's expression darkened. "Mephistopheles exposed the angel's identity."
The words hung in the air for a moment.
"And the townspeople imprisoned him."
Van En frowned as he processed that information. The audacity of it was almost unbelievable.
"When the angel Aaron failed to return and report on time, God realized something was wrong," Carter continued. "So He sent another angel. A far more powerful one."
"A battle angel."
God commanded this warrior to rescue Aaron and investigate the truth. If San Venganza still had any hope of redemption, then the battle angel would leave punishment for evil but allow the town to survive. But if the place had already fallen beyond salvation, then the battle angel's mission was simple.
Destroy it completely.
Van En rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So the battle angel was basically just there to fight."
He paused for a moment before asking another question. "But deciding whether the town deserved salvation—that was Aaron's job, right?"
Carter sighed and nodded slowly. "Yes. Aaron was the one meant to judge."
His voice lowered as he continued explaining. "If the battle angel arrived and discovered Aaron had been killed, then San Venganza would be declared guilty."
"And if Aaron was still alive?" Van En asked.
"Then the judgment depended on his verdict," Carter replied calmly. "But if Aaron himself declared the town guilty, the result would be the same."
Van En frowned again. "But he was being tortured by the people there."
Carter's lips curled into a faint, almost mysterious smile.
"God doesn't care."
Van En froze for a brief moment, absorbing that answer. The bluntness of it left him silent for a second before a strange grin slowly spread across his face.
Alright.
He liked that.
"And then what happened?" he asked eagerly.
Carter continued. "Mephistopheles revealed all of this information to the residents of San Venganza."
Van En's eyes widened immediately. "Holy crap!"
The realization struck him instantly.
"An inside job," he muttered under his breath. "That's some serious undercover work."
He shook his head in disbelief. There had to be a spy in heaven working for Mephistopheles. How else could a demon know so much about divine plans?
Carter shot him an irritated glance before continuing his explanation.
"The people of San Venganza were just as shocked as you are," he said. "Because they had no idea the man they imprisoned was actually an angel."
Mephistopheles had deceived them from the beginning, telling them only that Aaron was a man born with unusual divine qualities. By the time the truth came out, however, regret meant nothing.
Carter paused briefly before continuing in a deeper voice.
"When the angel Aaron descended to San Venganza, he took on the body of an ordinary human."
However, the divinity within his noble soul gradually influenced and transformed that mortal body.
It possessed more than extraordinary beauty.
Aaron's blood could cure diseases. His singing voice could lull anyone to sleep. His gentle words could calm troubled minds, and his touch could wash away exhaustion.
But the people of San Venganza, already corrupted by Mephistopheles' influence, were not satisfied.
Greed was the greatest of all original sins.
They coveted more.
They wanted his flesh, his blood, his power, everything that made him divine. Their screams, their cries, their desperate pleas and acts of cruelty filled the town with unimaginable horror.
Every vile act that could exist in a sinful world unfolded within San Venganza.
Carter exhaled slowly as he finished that part of the story, while the Ghost Rider standing beside him burned with visible fury. The flames around the skeletal figure flared brighter, making him resemble a towering tree engulfed in fire.
"San Venganza," Carter said quietly, "earned its fate."
Van En nodded slowly but suddenly remembered something from earlier. According to the old knight's original story, San Venganza had not been destroyed. Instead, it had become a place abandoned by God.
Which meant the story was not over.
"The battle angel descended directly into San Venganza," Carter continued. "He searched the entire town but found nothing except a cellar that resembled a prison. There was no trace of the angel Aaron anywhere."
Yet something about the situation felt wrong.
The battle angel could sense Aaron's presence everywhere.
In the soil beneath his feet.
In the air filling the streets.
Even within the bodies of the townspeople themselves, where faint traces of angelic radiance still lingered.
Van En shook his head slowly with a knowing expression.
"The battle angel didn't know how to deal with something like that," Carter said. "So he returned to heaven and reported everything to God."
The result was immediate.
An enraged God delivered a punishment even worse than death or destruction.
"Forsaken by God."
The old knight paused before repeating the words slowly.
"San Venganza became a place abandoned by the heavens."
It became a land where demons could revel freely.
A true hell on Earth.
A place even more terrifying than hell itself.
The town had originally been home to seventeen thousand people. Within a single year, only three thousand remained alive.
Van En inhaled sharply. "Why didn't they just leave?"
Carter shook his head.
"The devil has knights," he said quietly. "And God has knights as well."
Seven warriors known as the Wrath of God were assigned to guard the town. Their duty was simple and absolute.
No one was allowed to leave.
Carter forced a bitter smile. "And that rule didn't only apply to the living. Even the souls of the dead couldn't escape."
Tens of thousands of trapped souls turned on each other inside that cursed land. They tore and devoured one another in endless conflict, their hatred forming a suffocating black fog that filled the town.
Every living person eventually died.
Most of the souls were destroyed in the endless struggle.
When everything finally settled, only a thousand spirits remained.
They were powerful, twisted by suffering, consumed by resentment and greed.
Such spirits, once they entered hell, could become elite warriors under a demon lord. Each one possessed enough strength to command an army of one hundred thousand demons.
Van En suddenly understood everything.
"So that's why Mephistopheles and Blackheart are fighting so hard over the contract."
Carter nodded.
"Yes. Mephistopheles signed the covenant long before he led the residents of San Venganza into ruin."
Everything had been planned.
If Mephistopheles obtained the contract, his power would increase dramatically. But if Blackheart obtained it instead, he could use those spirits to challenge his father's authority in hell.
"Either way," Carter said quietly, "it's bad news for humanity."
A war in hell would inevitably spill over into the human world.
Van En nodded slowly, finally understanding the full chain of cause and effect behind the cursed contract.
After finishing the explanation, the old knight looked at him expectantly.
"So," Carter asked carefully, "you won't hand the contract over to Blackheart, right?"
Van En's expression turned serious.
Then he casually waved his hand.
"Nope. I already signed a contract with him."
He shrugged with complete indifference.
"I can't just go back on my word," he said. "What if he decides to sue me in a New York court?"
The old knight's face turned red with rage.
"You… you… you bastard!"
"Relax, old man," Van En said with a confident grin.
He raised an eyebrow and pointed at himself proudly.
"I'm the boss behind the Justice League, which operates under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security."
He spread his arms dramatically.
"Supernatural affairs are my responsibility."
"Don't worry," he added. "I've got everything under control."
After saying that, Van En stood up from his chair.
"Alright, I'm busy every day," he said casually. "Time for me to head out."
He glanced at Johnny.
"Come with me to the Justice League headquarters and get registered," he said. "You can meet some of the other superheroes while you're there."
"It might help you decide what you want to do next."
Van En had already made up his mind. He intended to make sure Wolverine and Johnny got along well.
The two of them left together, leaving the old knight behind.
Carter stood there trembling with anger, pointing at their retreating backs but unable to find words.
As Van En walked away, he glanced at the flaming skull beside him. A sudden thought popped into his head, and he slapped his forehead.
"Oh right."
"I'll have someone find you the coolest studded leather jacket," he said casually. "Consider it a gift."
Ghost Rider tilted his skull slightly in confusion.
Johnny had been bailed out of the police station by Van En earlier, so he never had the chance to steal the leather jacket from his former cellmate like he originally would have.
No wonder the flaming skeleton always looked slightly dissatisfied.
For now, Van En had no intention of removing the Spirit of Vengeance from Johnny. Having a blazing skeleton walking beside him actually looked incredibly cool.
Besides, Johnny seemed fairly easy to persuade.
Honestly, using nothing but words and persuasion to guide someone into becoming a superhero felt far more thrilling than simply brainwashing them with superpowers.
The rush of that kind of success was intense.
Cool!
.....
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