Chapter Summaries

Salomon questioned Nadya about Danny's miraculous conception, then arrived with Nick Fury and the agents at the monastery where the purification ritual would be performed. While the operation began, Salomon slipped into the reliquary and found ancient texts before Agent Romanoff ordered him to come out.

• Salomon had the Artificial Human release Nadya from one handcuff and questioned her about how she conceived Danny.
• Salomon and Nick Fury reached the monastery with Father Morlu, Agent Melinda May, Captain Rogers, Danny, and Nadya as they prepared for Mephisto's expected attack.
• Captain Rogers reported that the monks had stopped resisting but still refused to let the agents search the reliquary.
• Salomon entered the reliquary and found the Golden Legend, a parchment about Jacob's Limbs, and a Kabbalah text.
• Agent Romanoff found Salomon and told him the attack had begun and that they needed him.

Salomon tried to stop the monks from killing the boy before Mephisto appeared, but an artillery attack interrupted them. He rushed toward Captain Rogers after learning that supernatural creatures had ambushed him.

• S.H.I.E.L.D. and the armed mercenaries exchanged fire, while Salomon went with Agent Romanoff to the ritual site.
• Salomon stopped the monks from purifying the boy by killing him and insisted they wait until Mephisto appeared.
• Artillery shells struck near the ritual site, and Salomon raised a blue barrier before leaving with the Artificial Human.
• Agent Romanoff told Salomon that Captain Rogers had been ambushed by supernatural creatures.
• Salomon and the Artificial Human rode toward the battlefield, where he feared Captain Rogers might be bitten by a Werewolf.

Salomon and Captain Rogers regrouped with a S.H.I.E.L.D. action team after Salomon wiped out many supernatural attackers, but a hidden necromancer raised a giant undead creature. Salomon sent Dinah to hunt the necromancer and prepared to fight the creature himself.

• Nick Fury learned that Ankara Air Base had agreed to send an F22 and ordered support for Agent Melinda May while Captain Rogers remained out of contact.
• Salomon shared chocolate with the Artificial Human and Captain Rogers, then explained that the attackers could include vampires, werewolves, undead creatures, or demons summoned across the border.
• The Artificial Human cut off a hand reaching for Salomon as the dead creatures' bones gathered into a giant undead hound in the mist.
• Salomon identified a skilled necromancer hiding nearby and summoned Vishanti's Spirit Guardian to guard the Artificial Human.
• Salomon ordered Dinah to find and kill the necromancer while he faced the undead creature, and told the action team to recite hymns.

Salomon fought and destroyed a massive undead Bone Giant Hound while Captain Rogers’s team regrouped with him. Salomon learned through Mind Communication that his Artificial Human had found the necromancer and an unexpected gain, and he set off with Captain Rogers to meet her.

• Nick Fury monitored the battle and worried that enemies might infiltrate through the monastery’s northern passage.
• Salomon faced the Bone Giant Hound, a powerful undead creature created by a necromancer, while his spiritual guardian blocked its charge.
• Salomon blasted the Bone Giant Hound with fireballs and lured it into an acid trap, where he destroyed it.
• Captain Rogers and his strike team joined Salomon and asked him to continue the mission with them.
• Salomon said his Artificial Human had found the necromancer and an unexpected gain, then used Mind Communication to learn more.
• Salomon and Captain Rogers set off to meet the Artificial Human and claim the unexpected gain.

Cassilius questioned the Sorcerer Supreme about leaving Salomon to face Mephisto’s forces, but she trusted Salomon and revealed she had prepared a countermeasure. In Romania, Salomon’s team captured a Southern Cross cultist whose confession revealed that Lilith wanted King Solomon, prompting Salomon to prepare for a major battle.

• Cassilius urged the Sorcerer Supreme to help Salomon, but she explained that Mephisto’s contract concealed other plans and said she had prepared measures with help from the Merlin School.
• The Sorcerer Supreme told Cassilius that Salomon was stronger than he realized and warned him not to let two Witches appear yet.
• Salomon’s Artificial Human dragged a Southern Cross cultist before the Arcanist after the team captured her alongside the necromancer.
• The Arcanist interrogated the cultist, who confessed that she had overseen the attacks and that Lilith wanted King Solomon.
• Salomon dismissed Captain Rogers’s objections to the brutal interrogation and declared that the team had more than one enemy and must prepare for a major battle.

Salomon returned to the monastery, where S.H.I.E.L.D. was preparing to evacuate after a mercenary attack, and explained why he needed Johnny Blaze and the Spirit of Vengeance for the coming conflict. Nick Fury agreed to withdraw everyone and the artifacts, while Salomon remained uneasy about the devils’ involvement.

• Salomon contacted Bayonetta and Jeanne for help before returning to the monastery with Dinah.
• Salomon learned that mercenaries had attacked the monastery and that S.H.I.E.L.D. was treating wounded agents and prisoners.
• Salomon found Johnny Blaze sedated and explained to Dinah that his primordial Spirit of Vengeance could help fight the lower-plane lords.
• Salomon told Nick Fury that the devils were allied and that Mephisto wanted both Danny and Salomon, then urged an evacuation.
• Nick Fury described his evacuation plan, including taking the agents, wounded, monks, and reliquary artifacts, and asked Salomon to keep Johnny Blaze under control.
• Nick Fury asked Salomon not to reveal the truth about Coulson’s brief death to him.

Salomon kept Johnny Blaze and S.H.I.E.L.D. involved in the fight against the lower planes, then told Johnny that he could not escape the Spirit of Vengeance or Mephisto’s claim. As S.H.I.E.L.D. prepared to leave, Salomon and Nick Fury heard screams nearby.

• Salomon decided he could not abandon S.H.I.E.L.D. and used the agency as a base for Johnny Blaze and Demonkin Danny.
• Salomon woke Johnny Blaze and explained that the Spirit of Vengeance could not be removed without leaving him vulnerable to Mephisto.
• Johnny Blaze left the medical tent to seek help from Father Morlu, who took him to a monastery basement.
• Salomon told Nick Fury that Johnny was angry and that Captain Rogers disapproved of his treatment of the Devil Worshipping Cult’s high priest.
• Salomon and Nick Fury heard screams as the Arcanist packed scrolls from the monastery reliquary.

Salomon and the others flew toward a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base with Danny under guard, but swarms of vampire-like monsters attacked the Airbus in midair. Salomon, the Artificial Human, and Captain Rogers fought back as the plane struggled to survive.

• Father Morlu purified Johnny Blaze, while Nick Fury prepared to confine Danny at a military base and keep Salomon nearby to protect him.
• Natasha asked Salomon what he planned to do with Danny, and Salomon agreed that he might try to save the boy if Nadya accepted lifelong surveillance.
• Monsters swarmed the Airbus, damaged its wings, and forced S.H.I.E.L.D. to prepare for an emergency landing.
• Salomon and the Artificial Human went outside to fight the creatures, which Salomon identified as possible vampire spawn.
• Captain Rogers joined the battle and told Salomon he had encountered similar monsters in Germany.

Salomon and the Artificial Human fought Xenos Vanchot aboard the Airbus, but the vampire damaged an engine and sent the aircraft plunging through the clouds. As a crimson doorway reached for the falling plane, a white, moth-adorned arm caught it and a purple, butterfly-adorned arm struck the intruding hand.

• Salomon and Captain Rogers fought the vampire creatures attacking the Airbus as it flew through thunderclouds.
• Xenos Vanchot appeared, identified himself as Lilith's messenger, and demanded that Salomon honor an ancient agreement; Salomon refused.
• Xenos ordered the vampire creatures to attack, while Salomon and the Artificial Human confronted him.
• Salomon wounded Xenos with close-combat strikes and his dagger, but Xenos escaped as black mist and tore apart the Airbus's engine.
• The damaged Airbus plunged through the clouds, and a crimson doorway reached for it before a white arm caught the plane and a purple arm struck the reaching hand.

Salomon and his allies fought Lilith and her monsters while guiding the damaged Airbus down into a forest. After Nick Fury discovered that Salomon’s companions were powerful demons, a mercenary attacked, and the transformed Carrigan appeared.

• Salomon watched Bayonetta and Jeanne confront Lilith, who forced her way through a portal and attacked the Airbus.
• Bayonetta summoned Madame Butterfly to fight Lilith while Salomon slowed the plane’s descent and Jeanne fought the pursuing vampiric creatures.
• The battered Airbus descended into a forest, where Nick Fury emerged and reconsidered his plans to use Salomon’s companions as leverage.
• A bullet struck the burning aircraft, prompting Nick Fury to take cover and search the dark forest for the shooter.
• Salomon hurled a spear of orange-red sparks at a mercenary from the Romanian monastery, and the transformed Carrigan emerged from the forest.

Salomon rejected Mephisto’s avatar’s offer to hand over the boy and used magic to destroy the undead and other attackers around the crashed Airbus. After Lilith withdrew to the lower planes and Madame Butterfly pursued her, Mephisto’s avatar claimed he still had more servants waiting.

• Carrigan emerged from the forest and demanded that Salomon surrender the boy and the girl, so Salomon burned him alive.
• Salomon used a fire wall, superheated steam, and lightning to destroy the enemies surrounding the Airbus.
• Mephisto’s avatar appeared and offered Salomon an alliance in exchange for the boy, but Salomon refused and distrusted his promises.
• Lilith returned to her plane, and Madame Butterfly pursued her, leaving Salomon to face Mephisto’s avatar.
• Mephisto’s avatar warned Salomon that he had more servants than Salomon imagined and would remain the winner.

Salomon and Nick Fury confronted Mephisto’s avatar while the Artificial Human fought the devil’s servants aboard the Airbus. Mephisto sacrificed his own avatar to open a Hell Gate and bring his main body to Earth, leaving Salomon to attack him directly.

• The Artificial Human slipped into the Airbus while Salomon distracted Mephisto’s avatar, and Nick Fury tried to keep the devil talking.
• Mephisto’s avatar claimed his servants would seize the boy and force the agents and Ghost Rider to submit, but the Artificial Human emerged with the attackers’ severed heads.
• Mephisto’s main body interrupted the avatar’s spell and revealed that he had arranged the Blood Sacrifices to summon himself through a massive Hell Gate.
• Cassilius and the Kamar-Taj Arcanists arrived, but Mephisto argued that his summoning did not violate his contract with The Venerable One.
• Salomon realized he could not stop the Hell Gate with his available spells and decided to attack Mephisto’s main body.

Salomon and the Witches attacked Mephisto as he expanded the Hell Gate, and Salomon unleashed a devastating surge of Positive Energy that failed to harm the gate. Cassilius stopped Salomon before the magic destroyed him and revealed that the Merlin School was handling the Sorcerer Supreme’s preparations.

• Salomon and the Artificial Human feinted at Mephisto while Salomon invoked Oshtur and the Witches fired on the devil to distract him.
• Salomon channeled a torrent of Positive Energy through his rings, scorching the forest and his own hand, but Mephisto and the Hell Gate remained unharmed.
• Cassilius cut Salomon off from the Vishanti before the magic could further burn him and explained that the rings had channeled the power without letting it pass through Salomon’s body.
• Mephisto criticized Salomon’s recklessness as the Hell Gate stood intact and monsters prepared to emerge.
• Cassilius told Salomon that the Sorcerer Supreme had made preparations and that the Merlin School, not Kamar-Taj, was carrying out the mission.
• Salomon said he was ready and resolved to try harder as the monsters approached the gate.

Mephisto watched devils pour through the Hell Gate before Balthazar and a company of elderly Arcanists emerged, revealing the Sorcerer Supreme’s loophole in their contract. Balthazar gave Salomon a divine weapon once used by the Sorcerer Supreme and delivered the King of Eternity’s warning that the war had only just begun.

• Bayonetta and the Artificial Human treated Salomon’s scorched palm while the Arcanists watched Mephisto and Nick Fury eyed Salomon’s potions.
• Mephisto wondered why his devils were so eager to invade, then watched panicked devils flee from a lightning blast at the Hell Gate.
• Balthazar emerged with elderly Arcanists, and Mephisto realized the Sorcerer Supreme had exploited a loophole in their contract.
• Balthazar introduced himself to Nick Fury as a thousand-year-old wizard and took control of the Hell Gate, leaving Mephisto unable to return to his territory.
• Balthazar gave Salomon a divine conceptual weapon once used by the Sorcerer Supreme and relayed the King of Eternity’s message that the war had begun.

Mephisto withdrew from Kamar-Taj’s escalating war against Hell, while Salomon claimed responsibility for Danny and his mother and rejected Nick Fury’s offer to oversee the Hell Gate. As the group gathered, Bayonetta confronted Salomon about his supposed relationship with Natasha.

• Mephisto decided to return to his territory, repair the damage there, and prepare for Kamar-Taj’s coming offensive.
• Cassilius worried about the Sorcerer Supreme, but an old steward insisted that the Venerable One could not have been injured.
• Salomon told Nick Fury that Kamar-Taj would take Danny and Nadya and warned him not to investigate Danny’s devil blood.
• Nick Fury offered to establish a secret base by the Hell Gate, but Salomon refused and said Kamar-Taj would seal it while S.H.I.E.L.D. helped find the devil’s lackeys.
• Agent Romanoff brought Danny and Nadya to the group, and Bayonetta questioned Salomon about secretly dating Natasha.
• Natasha denied dating Salomon and insulted his age preference, prompting Bayonetta to glare at him.

Salomon traveled through Hell with Phoenix and Pegasus to reach Kamar-Taj’s forces while avoiding Mephisto’s territory and Hell’s monsters. In Avalon, Merlin warned the Sorcerer Supreme that Salomon might repeat King Arthur’s fate, leaving her to confront what she truly wanted him to become.

• Salomon asked Phoenix about the devils below, and Phoenix advised him to avoid them and stay hidden.
• Salomon continued his difficult journey through Hell alone with Phoenix and Pegasus, trying to conserve his strength and supplies before meeting Kamar-Taj’s Arcanists.
• The Sorcerer Supreme and Merlin watched Salomon’s march from Avalon, where Merlin warned that Salomon might claim the Seventh Throne and repeat the Battle of Camlann.
• Merlin told the Sorcerer Supreme that Salomon resembled King Arthur, and she reflected that she had shaped him to inherit her work but had tried to help him become a person rather than a tool.
• Merlin asked the Sorcerer Supreme what kind of person she truly wanted Salomon to become.

Salomon traveled through Hell with Phoenix and Nick Fury, enduring the harsh conditions until an Arcanist brought food and warned that Fury had heard something about Stark. Back on Earth, Stark struggled to get information about the terrorist who had injured Happy, while Agent Hill refused to reveal what S.H.I.E.L.D. knew.

• Salomon and Phoenix continued across Hell, where the heat and dust exhausted them and Pegasus returned to the Astral Plane to rest.
• An old Arcanist steward met Salomon and provided food, telling him he could return to Earth after they crossed Mephisto's protective magic.
• Nick Fury reunited with Salomon and described his journey through Hell, during which the other Arcanists had ignored his questions.
• A young Arcanist brought over a newly arrived, twisted humanoid and said it was trying to tell them something about Stark.
• Stark failed to reach his contacts, then called Agent Hill, who refused to share information about the terrorist and urged him to accept S.H.I.E.L.D.'s protection.

Salomon’s group continued their illegal passage through Hell while Nick Fury tried to rescue the soul of a fallen soldier, Chad Davis. Meanwhile, Stark searched for his missing friends on Earth, and the group encountered another soul near Mephisto’s territory.

• Nick Fury learned that time could pass differently between Hell and Earth, then identified the delirious soldier as Chad Davis.
• Nick Fury tied Chad Davis’s soul to his pack and dragged it along, despite Salomon warning that it could not remain on Earth.
• Salomon mocked Fury’s claim that Chad deserved rescue, and the old steward told Salomon to prepare as the group neared its destination.
• Stark searched for Nick Fury and Salomon, checked on the gravely ill Happy, and hurried out to buy Pepper a birthday gift.
• The Arcanists encountered another soul in the same condition as Chad Davis near Mephisto’s territory, and the old steward told Fury their mission had only just begun.

After Kamar-Taj secured a peace treaty with Mephisto, Salomon returned to London with Nick Fury and learned that he had been kept in the dark about the mission’s real purpose. He left Fury to return to Washington and focused on fixing his household conflict and catching up on schoolwork.

• Mephisto signed a peace treaty with the Sorcerer Supreme after Salomon displayed the Sacred Spear, while the other Arcanists completed their assigned tasks.
• An Arcanist opened a portal beneath Salomon and Nick Fury, sending them to London instead of New York.
• Nick Fury teased Salomon about his conflict with Agent Romanoff and learned that Salomon planned to buy her more jewelry.
• Nick Fury told Salomon that S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken over the European matters and that Stark had repeatedly tried to contact him.
• Salomon sent Nick Fury back to Washington and said he needed to resolve his household conflict and catch up on his missed lessons.

Nick Fury prepared to resume investigating the faction inside S.H.I.E.L.D. while Salomon returned home to face Jeanne and Bayonetta after his long absence. The chapter ended with Fury taking over Maria Hill’s investigation and setting out to uncover the faction.

• The White House restarted super-soldier research with General Ross and backed AIM’s Extremis experiments while planning to conceal its involvement.
• Alexander Pierce pieced together Salomon’s identity and planned to recruit him by appealing to his desire for money, fame, and status.
• Salomon returned to the apartment with jewelry for Bayonetta and Jeanne, who confronted him about his absence and his gift to another woman.
• Bayonetta let the exhausted Salomon rest on her lap, frustrating Jeanne as the household argument continued.
• Maria Hill briefed Nick Fury on recent events, the Extremis Virus, and a hidden faction inside S.H.I.E.L.D., and Fury took over the investigation.