Ethan descended toward the Abomination with the velocity of a falling star. The Abomination was mere seconds from crushing the small child with his arms, when Ethan intervened. In a blurred instant, Ethan slammed into the creature's back, driving the monster into the asphalt with enough force that the concrete road shattered like glass. Thick, viscous green blood began to seep from the jagged wounds where Ethan had made impact, staining the grey debris.
Ignoring the groaning monster beneath him, Ethan turned his attention to the child. The boy stood frozen, seemingly oblivious to the sheer magnitude of the danger he had just escaped.
"Sorry... did I scare you?" Ethan asked, his voice dropping to a gentle murmur. He approached with a serene, grounding smile, though the boy remained motionless, staring back with wide, uncomprehending eyes.
Ethan crouched down to the child's level and spoke. "Are you hurt? Were you with anyone? Your mom or dad, maybe?"
The boy finally reacted, his small hand trembling as he pointed toward the periphery of the carnage. Ethan followed the gesture and felt his heart turn to lead. On the side of the road lay the mangled remains of a woman. There was no doubt; she was gone. Ethan immediately stepped forward, extending his hands to shield the boy's vision. No child should ever have to witness such a scene.
Ethan's mind flashed with the "meta-knowledge" he possessed regarding Abomination. He knew the history of Emil Blonsky: a decorated special-ops commander of the British Royal Marines, once loaned to SOCOM. In a desperate hunt for the Hulk, Blonsky had been recruited by General Thaddeus Ross and injected with a volatile variant of the Super Soldier Serum. Driven by an insatiable hunger for power, he had later forced a transfusion of Bruce Banner's gamma-irradiated blood, birthing the monstrosity known as the Abomination.
In another timeline—another story—Blonsky would eventually find a path to a comedic, legally-mediated redemption. He would appear in the She-Hulk series and the fighting pits of Shang-Chi, eventually becoming a meditative self-help guru leading "Abomaste" retreats.
But as Ethan looked at the mangled bodies and the weeping child, the idea of a "redemption arc" felt like a sick joke. Could a monster that caused this much senseless carnage truly be forgiven? And this woman was only his latest victim. Ethan looked towards the road where the Abomination had arrived from; there was carnage everywhere.
"Nah... no redemption arc for you," Ethan whispered to the wind.
From the depths of Ethan's shadow, a single Raiju bird manifested, its form crackling with the volatile electrical energy of his Shikigami, Nue. With a shrill cry, the construct launched itself toward the recovering Abomination. The impact was absolute. The creature was instantly reduced to a spray of gore and bone. The resulting electromagnetic shockwave was so intense it fried every mobile device within a three-block radius and snuffed out the raging fires in the street as if depriving them of oxygen.
"You were very brave," Ethan said, still looking at the boy, he hadn't turned to launch the Raiju's Strike "Confronting him like that... it took real guts."
As the adrenaline began to fade, the reality of his loss finally broke through the boy's shock. Tears began to flow freely down his dusty cheeks. Ethan gently picked the child up, carrying him through the ruins until he spotted a police officer coordinating the emergency response.
After delivering the boy into the officer's care, Ethan paused. From the far side of the intersection, a familiar, guttural roar echoed through the smoke. The night was far from over.
The Hulk had arrived. Even over the settling dust of the battlefield, the heavy thrum of military helicopters began to throb against the night sky. Not wanting to be caught in the middle of a tactical perimeter, Ethan allowed himself to sink into his own shadow, merging with the darkness before emerging silently atop a nearby tenement building.
From this vantage point, he had a clear, unobstructed view of the crater where the Abomination had met its end. The Hulk roared into the clearing seconds later, his massive form skidding to a halt. The jade giant looked down at the remains of Blonsky—or what was left of them. The upper torso had been entirely vaporized by the Raiju strike, leaving only the lower extremities. With a grunt of primal frustration, the Hulk kicked the severed remains across the street, the action reminiscent of a petulant child throwing a tantrum after being robbed of a fight.
Ethan watched the beast, a tactical question forming in his mind. He wondered if the Hulk's gamma-enhanced physiology allowed him to perceive Cursed Energy or Shikigami. Could he "see" them the same way Toji Fushiguro or a fully realized Maki Zenin could—through heightened, heaven-restricted physical senses?
Ethan knew the risks of engaging such a volatile force in a populated urban center. However, he was confident that if things turned sour, he could immobilize the Hulk instantly. He considered using a technique similar to the Ancient One's Astral projection strike in Endgame, utilizing Tora's assistance to facilitate an astral projection that would separate the consciousness of Dr. Bruce Banner from the Hulk.
To test his theory, Ethan deactivated Hollow Trace and allowed his Cursed Energy to flare, releasing exactly one-tenth of his total reserve. The effect was immediate. The Hulk's head snapped toward Ethan's position, his nostrils flaring as he sensed the sudden, massive presence of foreign energy.
Almost simultaneously, the spotlights from the overhead military choppers swiveled, following the Hulk's gaze and pinning Ethan in a blinding cone of white light. Ethan was currently wearing a red hoodie, so his face remained obstructed. The confirmation was clear: the Hulk could indeed perceive the supernatural.
This was a pivotal moment. Ethan had a message for Dr. Bruce Banner; he wanted his help in creating Cursed Tools—nothing fancy like the Inverted Spear of Heaven, but simple Cursed Glasses. This was something he had not been able to do, and the chances of the scientist believing him were much higher now. If Ethan's "meta-knowledge" held true, Banner had once described the experience of being the Hulk as being trapped in the passenger seat of a car. He was a witness to the rage, retaining fragments of memory from the monster's encounters.
Ethan stood tall against the blinding glare of the military searchlights, his gaze locked firmly onto the Hulk. While the light struggled to penetrate the shadows of his red hoodie, it illuminated something far more striking: an Eight-Handed Wheel hovering majestically above his head. Ethan hadn't quite realized it yet, but this wheel was no longer a mere construct of Cursed Energy; it had materialized into a physical Cursed Artifact. The soldiers above could see it clearly.
"Let's take this somewhere private," Ethan suggested, his voice calm despite the surrounding chaos.
Behind him, Tora partially manifested. His massive, spectral form opened a sling ring portal to the desolate Kerguelen Islands—a sub-antarctic archipelago thousands of miles from civilization—beneath the Hulk's and Ethan's feet. In the blink of an eye, the spotlight hit empty pavement. Ethan and the Hulk had vanished.
They arrived on the windswept, barren plains of the islands, but the Hulk was in no mood for sightseeing. Feeling the insult of being forcefully relocated, the giant roared and lunged, his massive fist aimed squarely at Ethan's head.
Ethan didn't flinch. He remained perfectly relaxed, an expression of clinical curiosity on his face. Before the Hulk's knuckles could connect, Tora fully manifested between them. With a fluid, powerful motion, the Shikigami extended a palm and struck the Hulk squarely in the solar plexus.
The physical body of the Hulk skidded backward, but his spirit—the soul of Bruce Banner—was jolted clean out of the body. Bruce drifted in the air, staring in horror at his own translucent, shimmering hands.
"Let's start over, shall we?" Tora remarked, his voice resonating with the quiet winds.
"What is happening? Am I dead?" Bruce gasped, looking down at the unconscious, breathing mountain of muscle that was his physical form.
"No, Dr. Banner, you are quite alive," Ethan replied, stepping forward. "Tora here has simply separated your astral form from your physical body. It's a temporary measure to ensure we can actually have a conversation."
Banner was speechless. He gawked at the twelve-foot-tall, bipedal tiger-like Shikigami, then turned his gaze to the horizon. There was nothing here—no trees, no buildings, just flat, volcanic rock surrounded by a violent grey ocean. His scientific mind began to race; he had theorized about spatial rifts, but to see one utilized so effortlessly was staggering. And then there was the "Speaking Tiger." What on earth is that thing?
"Doctor, the reason I brought you here is that I need your expertise for a project," Ethan explained. "I think Tora and I have hit a roadblock."
Ethan's goal was ambitious: the creation of Cursed Glasses—tools that would allow non-sorcerers to perceive the hidden world. He suspected that with Banner's knowledge of gamma radiation and the adaptive properties of Mahoraga, they could bridge the gap between science and sorcery.
Banner felt a strange sense of levity. He doesn't need the Hulk. He needs Bruce. It had been four years since anyone had looked at him as a scientist rather than a tactical nuke.
"You look... incredibly young," Bruce noted, finally catching a glimpse of Ethan's face beneath the hood.
"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Ethan Park. And yes, I'm young—I'll be fifteen in a few months," Ethan introduced himself with a bright, disarming smile.
Fifteen. The realization hit Banner like a physical blow. A sudden intuition—the same survival instinct that had kept him ahead of General Ross for years—flared up. "You killed Blonsky, didn't you?"
Ethan's smile faded slightly, and he looked down at the ground. He remembered the boy's trembling hand pointing toward his mother's mangled body. "I did," he said firmly. Others might judge him for playing executioner, but they hadn't stood in the blood of the innocent. He felt no regret.
Bruce gulped, his voice dropping to a cautious whisper. "And if I refuse to help you with this... 'pet project'... do you kill me too?" There was a flicker of dark hope in Bruce's eyes. He had spent years looking for a way out.
Ethan caught the subtext immediately, but he didn't push. He wasn't Bruce's therapist. "No, Dr. Banner. I'll simply transport you wherever you wish to go, and we'll part ways. Of course, if you leave, you'll never understand the truth about those grotesque creatures you see clinging to people when you're in your Hulk form."
He dangled the carrot. He knew the one thing a man like Banner couldn't resist was an answer to a mystery.
"What? You can see them too?" Bruce exclaimed, his hopelessness replaced by frantic scientific curiosity. "I thought I was losing my mind... I thought they were hallucinations brought on by the gamma." He took a breath, his hesitation melting away. "So... tell me. What exactly is this project?"
Ethan's smile returned, this time with a sharp, predatory edge. He had his lead researcher. "Well, before we begin, Doctor... let me tell you about Cursed Energy."
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