Startup Failure! Terrifying Divine Skill, the Penance Stare That Kills Whomever It Glances At

Penance Stare!

At this moment, Johnny, once again possessed by the command, unleashed all the power of Hellfire within him and used the Ghost Rider's most terrifying finishing technique—Penance Stare.

The principle behind this technique was brutally simple. In fact, its original version had not been created by Mephisto at all. It was the signature technique of the Ghost Rider inherited from Johnny's mother, Naomi Kale—the vessel of Zadkiel, Angel of Vengeance.

It could be said that Mephisto had simply "borrowed" the technique because it was useful and suited to wielding the power of Hellfire, turning it into the Ghost Rider's ultimate killing move.

Of course, the reason the original technique was merely a signature move rather than a finishing move was entirely because Zadkiel, Angel of Vengeance, acted as God's agent upon the earth, judging sin and purifying the mortal world. His foremost purpose was judgment, not slaughter. Death only resulted when the sinner's inner evil was too deep, too heavy, and too stubborn—when they possessed not the slightest desire to repent or atone. Once judged by the Penance Stare, they would die from being unable to withstand the backlash of their own sins.

In other words, everyone who died beneath the Ghost Rider's Penance Stare was a hardened sinner with absolutely no intention of repenting for or atoning for their sins. While the Flame of Vengeance driven by the Penance Stare burned away their sins, it also consumed their souls. That was to say, if one truly wished to repent and atone, the Penance Stare would still leave a sliver of life. Even if they had to endure the searing agony of their soul being burned, they could survive as long as they withstood it.

If they could not endure it, then sorry—that simply meant their desire to