Elric exhaled slowly, his breath controlled and even despite the chaos surrounding him.
No matter how many times he witnessed it firsthand, he still couldn't help but feel this faint sense of genuine amazement toward the Hulk.
"It's absolutely ridiculous…" he thought to himself.
From the exact moment their fight had actually begun until right now—barely five minutes of real combat—the creature had already grown at least three times stronger than when they'd started.
Three times.
In five minutes.
At the very start of this confrontation, Elric honestly hadn't taken the battle seriously at all. He'd treated it almost casually, like a minor inconvenience. Even at what he'd assumed was the Hulk's absolute peak performance, his destructive potential had barely reached the level of what he'd classify as an island buster—maybe capable of devastating a small landmass if given enough time and rage.
Dealing with that kind of strength should have been nothing more than a minor nuisance, really. An irritating obstacle, but nothing threatening.
More importantly than the power level itself, though—Elric did not want to kill Bruce Banner.
The man didn't deserve to die. This wasn't his fault.
That was exactly why, in the beginning, Elric had deliberately restrained himself significantly—carefully matching the Hulk's current level instead of just immediately overwhelming him with superior force and ending things.
But now?
Now things were different.
"This growth rate is absolutely insane," Elric admitted internally, reassessing the situation.
His curiosity stirred despite himself. Just how ridiculously strong could this monster actually become if he was allowed to continue fighting indefinitely? What was his theoretical upper limit?
But that curiosity quickly gave way to practical caution.
Because if this exponential growth pattern continued completely unchecked for much longer, this situation could become dangerous.
Not just for the town.
For everyone involved.
So Elric made a decision right there—it was finally time to stop holding back and get serious.
His gaze swept carefully across the immediate surroundings, taking in the full scope of destruction.
Fortunately, he had arrived just barely in time to prevent the worst outcomes. Buildings were heavily damaged. The streets were absolutely ruined, asphalt torn up and cratered.
But crucially, miraculously—no one had actually died yet.
However, when Elric's vision picked up several people standing dangerously close to the active combat zone, just calmly recording the entire catastrophe on their phones like they were watching a movie, his expression turned strange.
"…Unbelievable."
How exactly this species had managed to survive to the modern day genuinely baffled him sometimes.
Natural selection should have weeded out this kind of behavior ages ago.
He would absolutely save those who were in legitimate danger through no fault of their own.
But he would not go out of his way to save those who deliberately chose danger for internet clout.
If they insisted on gambling their lives for viral footage and social media likes, well, that was ultimately their own decision to make. Evolution would sort it out eventually.
With that morbid thought firmly dismissed from his mind, Elric shifted his full attention and focus back to the immediate threat.
The Hulk.
From the massive crater created by the previous devastating impact—easily fifteen feet deep and thirty feet wide—a giant green hand suddenly emerged.
Thick fingers dug into the cracked earth.
The ground fractured even further as the Hulk slowly, deliberately pulled himself up from the hole, massive chunks of rubble and debris cascading off his broad shoulders and back. His towering ten-foot frame rose slowly but steadily, every muscle visibly bulging with barely contained power.
Steam practically poured from his body with each ragged, furious breath.
The Hulk didn't hesitate.
He lunged forward immediately, covering the distance between them in a single explosive movement.
His massive fist came down from above like a literal falling mountain, the air itself screaming as it was displaced.
BOOM—!
The street beneath them collapsed instantly, the entire section of road just ceasing to exist. Violent shockwaves tore outward in every direction, rattling nearby buildings hard enough to crack their foundations. The asphalt didn't just break—it literally vaporized into superheated dust and molten fragments.
Elric's body blurred sideways a fraction of an instant before the impact point.
The massive fist missed him by less than a meter—close enough that he could feel the displaced air pressure against his skin.
The Hulk snarled, a sound somewhere between rage and frustration.
But this time he adjusted his approach.
After exchanging several dozen blows with Elric over the past few minutes, the Hulk had actually begun to adapt. He was learning, in his own crude way. He started anticipating the evasions now, timing his strikes not just with raw power, but with actual tactical expectation.
There was intelligence buried somewhere in there, fighting its way through the rage.
With another earth-shaking roar, the Hulk swept his arm sideways in a horizontal arc, moving like a living wrecking ball.
Elric vaulted cleanly over the wild swing, his body spinning midair with effortless.
He descended in a smooth arc, landing a precise heel strike aimed directly at the Hulk's exposed collarbone.
CRACK—!
The pavement beneath the Hulk's feet shattered outward dramatically, spider-web cracks spreading for dozens of meters—
—but his actual skin remained completely intact.
Not even a bruise.
The Hulk's massive hand immediately shot upward, trying to grab Elric before he could retreat.
But Elric had already moved, landing lightly atop a heavily tilted bus that had been overturned earlier. His feet slid smoothly down its length as if this chaotic, debris-filled battlefield were nothing more than a casual training ground.
"…A little more strength," Elric noted calmly.
The Hulk's regeneration factor was genuinely impressive. Even, from a biological standpoint.
Every blow Elric landed that should have caused lasting damage just… healed. Sometimes within seconds.
"I just really hope he doesn't actually die from this," Elric thought with concern.
Because he was going to have to hit significantly harder now.
The Hulk's frustration finally boiled over completely.
Heavy cars were torn from the streets like they weighed nothing and hurled toward Elric like oversized pebbles. Each throw generated an actual sonic boom that ripped through the air with devastating force—
—but without exception, every single piece of debris vanished mid-flight.
Erased before it could reach any nearby buildings or fleeing civilians.
The Hulk roared even louder, the sound almost painful to hear.
His anger surged higher.
And with that surge of pure rage—more power flooded his body.
His muscles bulged larger. His veins stood out thicker.
His next leap actually shattered the entire façade of a nearby high-rise building as he launched himself forward with catastrophic force, attempting to tackle Elric with overwhelming momentum.
Elric stopped moving and braced himself properly this time.
Because here was the truth of the matter:
The Hulk was strong.
Incredibly strong.
His raw physical power was world-ending.
But his actual movements?
His fighting technique?
They were crude at best.
Childish, really.
Just wild, uncontrolled swings fueled entirely by pure instinct and blind rage.
Like a toddler throwing a massive tantrum, except the toddler happened to have the raw strength of an angry god.
And Elric?
Elric carried thousands of years of Ishiki Otsutsuki's direct combat experience embedded in his very soul.
Against raw, completely uncontrolled power like this.
This was honestly the easiest kind of fight imaginable.
"Alright then," he thought. "Let's end this properly."
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