Mephisto had always been able to trap people with contracts not only because he was adept at exploiting loopholes, but also because the power of the King of Hell gave him something to fall back on.
Besides fulfilling a contract, killing the other party was another way to terminate it. But as the King of Hell, Mephisto possessed enough power to put that option beyond almost everyone's reach.
And with how slippery Mephisto was, catching him was no easy task. What was more, as long as the Hell Dimension remained intact, he could resurrect himself time and again as its king.
So terminating a contract by killing Mephisto himself was practically impossible.
Now that Arale had snatched the position of King of Hell, however, things were rather different.
Even without the Hell Dimension empowering him, Mephisto was still an immensely powerful demon. But a demon was all he was, a far cry from the Dimension Lord he had once been.
Never mind Dormammu, a fellow Dimension Lord-even Ghost Rider in his Zarathos form had the power to kill Mephisto.
What made things even more frustrating for Mephisto was that, just as he could contact Ghost Rider through their contract, once the other party became powerful enough, he could also use that contract to locate Mephisto.
So once Mephisto calmed down, he hurried back to his lair, scooped up the treasures he had collected over the years, and decisively fled Hell while voluntarily terminating every contract that could be used to track him down.
Although this would alert those who had yet to catch on that Hell had a new king, it also kept them from secretly pinpointing his location after noticing something was wrong.
Besides, Zarathos and Dormammu were right near the new King of Hell. Even if Mephisto tried