Dense red light flashed ceaselessly through the room. Wanda's eyes glowed scarlet, and her cold gaze shifted continuously as her energy invaded Johnny's body.
Johnny was currently pinned beneath the heavy slab, with only his head exposed. He had already lost all ability to resist. He gritted his teeth, even his pupils trembling violently from fear.
"Hm?"
A moment later, Wanda seemed to discover something. Her brows lifted in surprise. "He's actually a man without a soul?"
Johnny could clearly sense that his mind had already been completely infiltrated. A strange, tingling numbness spread through his entire body. His eyes suddenly widened. "My soul was traded to a demon many years ago…"
"There's nothing on me now. What do you people want? I'm a star. I have money. I have a lot of money. Whatever you want, I can give it to you…"
Not far away, Fenris looked at the man who was terrified to the extreme, trembling all over, yet unable to move at all. "He used his soul to make a deal with a demon. Turning into that inhuman, ghostly thing and serving Mephisto is the price he has to pay."
"Another greedy man."
Hearing that, Emma's gaze toward Johnny instantly became filled with extreme disdain. "What did he trade it for? Money? Wealth? Or that fame he enjoys now?"
"Bullshit!"
The moment those words came out, Johnny felt as if Emma's words had cut into his heart like knives. Though he was pinned down and unable to move, he still twisted his head desperately to stare at Emma, his eyes instantly turning red. "I never cared about any of that! I was tricked by him!"
"My father was sick. That liar told me that as long as I signed the contract, he could save my father. But after curing my father's illness, he killed him with his own hands!"
"What do you know, you bunch of murderers!"
Bitter memories surged into his heart. After saying so much in one breath, the heat in his blood faded. Realizing what he had said, Johnny suddenly snapped back to himself, closed his eyes, and turned his head away without another word.
"…"
Wanda clearly sensed the pain in the man's heart, and the movement of her hand quietly paused for an instant.
But when she thought of Fenris, her eyes lowered, and the power in her palm erupted once more.
Several breaths later, Wanda abruptly rose to her feet. The scarlet energy inside Johnny's body immediately flowed backward, wrapping around a cluster of azure flame as it slowly gathered into shape in the air.
The instant the blue flame left his body, Johnny let out a sharp cry of pain. A powerful wave of weakness surged from deep within him like a tide.
"This is what I got in exchange for selling my soul?"
Johnny opened his eyes and looked at the magnificent blue flame in the air. For a moment, his gaze suddenly went a little vacant.
"No. This isn't what you got in exchange for your soul."
Fenris silently appeared in front of that cluster of blue flame. With a casual slap of his hand, the slab pinning Johnny down and keeping him immobile was smashed into fragments all over the floor.
Finally given a chance to breathe, Johnny scrambled to his feet and patted himself up and down, only to find that the power had not injured him in the slightest.
Under Wanda's control, the blue flame was gently sent in front of Fenris. After carefully admiring it for a moment, Fenris actually flicked it casually to the side.
Looking at the young man, Johnny struggled to keep himself from looking at the blue flame. He swallowed nervously. "What… what do you mean by that?"
"The Spirit of Vengeance. A power created by God to oversee human sin. This isn't demonic power at all."
Fenris pointed at a relatively clean couch nearby. "Sit."
Seeing that he did not seem hostile, Johnny's tense nerves eased slightly. After sitting down cautiously, he heard Fenris continue.
"Mephisto, the demon you encountered, can't control the Spirit of Vengeance. He also can't act directly in the human world. But through a contract, he can control the Ghost Rider possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance and use him as his representative on Earth."
"And the reason I appeared here today is that my original target was this Spirit of Vengeance."
Hearing that, Johnny glanced at the blue fire floating quietly in the air and instinctively asked, "Then why are you now…"
Fenris shook his head. "You're not the person I'm looking for."
"This thing is very important to me, but also not that important. I have many abilities. If one is temporarily restricted, then I can just use another."
"So…"
Fenris casually raised two fingers. "I'm giving you two choices."
"What choices?"
"If you think your contract with Mephisto is a burden, then give me this Spirit of Vengeance. From now on, none of this will have anything to do with you. You can go back to being the famous star everyone admires. But you can't keep doing stunts as recklessly as before, because you'll die."
At that, Johnny's pupils contracted.
"I can promise you that I'll take your soul back from Mephisto in the future."
Seeing Johnny's gaze flicker uncertainly, Fenris gave him a moment to think. After a pause, he continued, "Second."
"The Spirit of Vengeance remains yours. But as compensation, you need to find another host of a Spirit of Vengeance for us. That is where my original target is."
"I believe that won't be very difficult for you. But the consequence is that you'll have to carry this power with you for the rest of your life. From then on, the world of ordinary people will have nothing to do with you anymore."
Fenris spread his hands. "Choose."
"Fenris!"
When Wanda saw that Fenris actually wanted to give up the Spirit of Vengeance that was already within reach, her brows immediately knitted together. She called out in confusion, "What if he can't find one? Are you just going to stay injured like this?"
"It's fine, Wanda."
Fenris waved his hand, took out a small axe, and twirled it in his hand. "I still have this, don't I?"
Looking at that coldly gleaming little axe, Wanda curled her lip and walked over to Emma's side without saying anything else.
"Father… Roxanne…"
On the other side, Johnny's mind had already sunk completely into conflict.
Because of Mephisto, he had lost his father and forgotten the woman he once loved.
Deals with demons were always cruel. Now that someone was willing to solve everything for him, wasn't this exactly what he had once dreamed of?
Johnny, Johnny, what is there left to hesitate over?
Johnny heard such a voice rising from the depths of his heart.
But could he really let go of all this? Could he really escape that nightmare-like figure?
And then there was Blackheart, who had committed so much evil. Without him, would even more people suffer at Blackheart's hands?
Choose himself, or…
Choices were never perfect. When two completely different roads lay before his eyes, Johnny stared at that streak of blue in the air and once again fell into confusion.
"Can I really sit back and watch all this happen?"
"Johnny!"
(End of Chapter)
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