Banner had already learned the basics of astral projection.
But for now, all he could manage was to cast out part of his soul when the Hulk emerged.
Beyond that, he still couldn't separate the Hulk's part of the soul from the body.
And if he wasn't the one in control of the body,
even his own soul wouldn't be able to leave it.
According to Lyon, this was due to mutation, which had caused his soul to be slightly more stable than that of an ordinary person.
Still, Banner was already quite satisfied with this progress.
At the very least, now when he transformed into the Hulk, he could remain on the side and observe.
And when Hulk lost control, he could step in and offer a reminder or two.
No longer was it like before, where once he transformed, he would completely lose awareness of the world—along with any memory of what had happened.
At the moment, Hulk had passed through two portals and entered the mirror dimension, while Banner hovered nearby, constantly giving instructions.
"Quick, quick, quick! See that giant octopus over there, Hulk? Go smash it down!"
The situation inside the mirror dimension was indeed not looking good.
Some of the mages looked completely dazed—mouths slack, drooling, faces twisted—as if their intelligence had suddenly dropped.
Clearly, their minds had been corrupted by the enemy.
The remaining mages weren't in much better shape, all of them gritting their teeth just to barely hold onto their sanity.
Overall, while there hadn't been any casualties yet on the battlefield of the London Sanctum, the situation was extremely dire.
At that moment, even Master Mordo had been snatched up by the tentacle of a giant octopus and was being flung around in the air, cursing furiously in frustration.
Banner had intended for Hulk to deal with that particular giant octopus first—the one swinging Mordo around.
But Hulk didn't see it that way.
He glanced sideways at Banner with disdain, snorted heavily through his nose,
Then suddenly leapt high into the air, raising both fists and slamming them down onto another giant octopus instead.
"No! Wrong one! That's the wrong direction! It's that one, notthis one!" Banner floated anxiously at the side, practically stomping in midair.
But the more agitated Banner became, the less Hulk paid attention to him.
"Hulk—smash!" Hulk grabbed one of the octopus's tentacles and yanked it hard, flinging the whole creature high into the air.
Then, like he was throwing a hammer in a track-and-field event, Hulk stomped in tight, powerful circles, his massive body spinning the octopus with him before launching it far into the distance.
The giant octopus traced a graceful arc through the air—Boom!
And then came crashing down right on top of the one that had been swinging Mordo.
After the two octopuses collided and rolled into a tangled mess, the helpless Mordo was finally released.
"Oh! Nice job, Hulk!" Banner raised his hands in cheer.
Even though Hulk hadn't followed his instructions, wasn't this already a pretty great start?
Suddenly, Banner felt like he was dealing with a magical creature—something like a manticore or unicorn.
Those creatures, because of their immense power, were always rebellious.
You had to go along with them—otherwise, they'd show you what unhappiness really meant.
Thinking about it, wasn't Hulk just like a very powerful magical beast?
In that moment of realization, Banner felt like he had discovered a new way to coexist with Hulk.
"Amazing, Hulk! Thanks to you, the crisis is over. Lyon is totally going to see us in a new light now!" Banner piled on the praise.
Hulk didn't respond to Banner directly, but the look in his eyes toward the giant octopuses lit up with fire.
He let out a roar, leapt high into the air, and came crashing down like a tornado wrecking a parking lot, smashing straight into the octopuses.
But just then, a crisp female voice rang out: "Rise!"
Suddenly, all the dozens of octopuses present were enveloped in a wave of scarlet energy.
Next, the octopuses floated uncontrollably into the air.
They couldn't even move their tentacles, as if their entire bodies had been bound by an invisible force.
"Hulk?" Hulk slammed down onto the ground, looking up at the airborne octopuses, completely confused.
What was he supposed to do now?
Banner followed the sound and looked over.
At the entrance to the mirror dimension, where the sorcerers had left a portal, stood Wanda—her hands glowing with swirling red energy.
She was the one controlling these dimensional creatures!
So Wanda was this powerful?
Banner smacked his forehead in frustration.
Had he known this girl was this capable, why even bother turning into the Hulk? What a waste of a pair of pants!
"Dimensional creatures—go back to your own dimension!" Wanda flicked her delicate wrist.
Instantly, all of the octopus-like dimensional beings rapidly expanded and then burst into strands of fibrous ribbons.
Under Lyon's guidance, Wanda had already learned the basics of using Chaos Magic to alter reality.
After disposing of the dimensional creatures, she pushed her hands downward and, channeling her Chaos Magic, flew toward the portal entrance.
Wanda tried to use her magic to close the portal.
But the dimensional energy above the portal was too dense—she couldn't dispel it in such a short time.
And more dimensional creatures were already beginning to emerge from the portal.
There was no time for Wanda to spare any effort in breaking down the dimensional energy within the passage.
"We'll have to leave it for Lyon to deal with when he returns."
Wanda stood alone, blocking the portal.
Just like the sorcerers in the other two Sanctums, for every dimensional creature that emerged, she eliminated one.
As the mentally corrupted mages gradually regained their clarity, what they saw was Wanda killing a dimensional creature with every snap of her fingers.
Their minds all froze.
Whose subordinate is this woman? And why is she so hot—I mean—fierce?
...
As the battle between the three Sanctums and the invading forces from hell and other dimensions reached its fever pitch—
Inside the World Ring...
Lyon's battle with Dormammu had also reached a critical juncture.
The two had gone from initially hurling planets at each other—one using a meteor strike, the other countering with Heaven-Shaking Starfall—To a pure clash of raw energy.
Dormammu fired dimensional energy beams from his mouth, eyes, and palms all at once.
Lyon, unyielding, pushed the beams back with his heat rays.
At the same time, his hands weren't idle—the energy of the Space Stone burst forth from his body, and in a Kamehameha-like stance, he launched a wave to clash directly with Dormammu.
The two clashed from the edge of the continent to its center, then from the center to another edge.
Sometimes, the heat rays would slice through a tall mountain; other times, the dimensional energy blasts would carve deep ravines into the land.
The continent—measuring tens of thousands of kilometers in diameter—lost a full tenth of its mass during their prolonged energy struggle.
By the end, Dormammu had given up all semblance of restraint.
Dimensional energy, dark magic, elemental manipulation—none of it mattered anymore.
No matter what he used, he couldn't break through Lyon's defense.
In contrast, Dormammu himself had no idea how many times his own body had been torn apart during the battle.
In the end, Dormammu simply raised his fists and started swinging them directly at Lyon.
The battle once again reverted to close-quarters combat.
And in this phase, naturally, Lyon went back to treating Dormammu like a sandbag—no, more like a baseball being smacked around.
Every time their fists collided, the "Dormammubuster Suit" on Lyon's body would automatically reduce the force of Dormammu's attacks down to just one ten-thousandth of their original strength.
Even if Dormammu used his full power, launching a blow capable of destroying a star without regard for the consequences—
Even if that strike shattered the ground, tore open the sky, and made it seem like the entire world was coming to an end—
Lyon would merely be sent flying, crashing through a few mountain ranges.
And when he reappeared, he'd still be in peak condition.
Dormammu, on the other hand?
Not only got sent flying along with Lyon due to the recoil, but he also ended up covered in wounds, with one of his arms completely gone after the clash!
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