The Broadway incident finally came to an end.
After disappearing into the night sky, Senju Haruto returned to the New York Sanctum. He also brought Stark and Banner back with him.
To make things easier to manage, Haruto had used magic to reshape the Sanctum. From the outside, it looked ordinary—just another plain building, covering only a few hundred square meters. But within, magic made the place far greater than it seemed.
The doors themselves were portals, capable of connecting to other regions without the need for conjured gateways from the Sling Ring.
"…This place…"
Banner looked around. The décor, the ornate yet ancient atmosphere—it all felt familiar.
Wasn't this the very place he'd been brought to when he'd blacked out before?
"You guessed right, Doctor Banner. When the Hulk lost control before, it was I who stopped him."
Haruto smiled faintly, the corners of his lips lifting. "Arthur already told me about your struggles."
Banner blinked in surprise, then the memory of that time returned. He wasn't sure why Haruto had waited until now to reveal it, but he could tell there was something more behind his words.
As for the rest—it wasn't important. There was no need to ask further.
He nodded firmly. "That's true."
"I hope you can…"
Banner began, but stopped halfway.
Before the Broadway incident. Before facing Abomination. He had wanted Haruto's help in ridding himself of the Hulk entirely. He had even come to New York ready to die with the beast if that's what it took.
But now, after everything, his thoughts had shifted.
Maybe having a raging monster inside him wasn't entirely a curse.
At least today… If Haruto hadn't shown up, the only one capable of stopping Abomination would have been the Hulk.
When Banner leapt from that helicopter, he had done so with that belief—that the Hulk could defeat Abomination and save the city.
And for the first time, Banner found clarity.
When a man commits murder with a knife, should the blame fall on the blade itself? Or on the shop that forged it?
Of course not.
The blame lies with the man wielding it.
A sword is a weapon. Swordsmanship is a killing art. Yet the same art can also be used to protect.
Banner took a deep breath, his eyes sharpening with resolve. He had pieced it together at last.
"I want you to help me control the Hulk's power."
The Hulk's strength—combined with his own intellect.
That would be enough to protect the innocent.
Banner believed it with all his heart.
But when Haruto heard these words, he couldn't help but recall the Hulk from Avengers: Endgame.
Banner's strength. Hulk's mind.
The thought alone made him draw in a sharp breath. Terrifying.
"Control the Hulk?"
Stark's brows furrowed. He understood Banner's feelings, but he wasn't convinced it could be done. From all the data he'd gathered, Banner and the Hulk weren't just two sides of one coin.
They were two distinct personalities. Two souls.
"Stark's right," Haruto nodded. He acknowledged the truth of it—but also dismissed the impossibility.
"It isn't hopeless. Whether fusing the two personalities into one, or separating the Hulk entirely from your body—both are possible."
"But I wouldn't recommend either path."
His tone was serious now.
The first outcome… would be the Banner-Hulk hybrid from Endgame. Looking back at that story, aside from wielding the gauntlet to undo the Blip, he hadn't contributed much at all.
The second outcome… would be using magic to tear the Hulk's soul out and cast it into the Hell Dimension.
But then Banner would never transform again.
"Bruce—may I call you that?" Haruto's tone suddenly shifted.
Before crossing into this world, he had watched plenty of American shows. He knew the culture—people addressed one another by surname formally, first names only among friends.
"Of course," Banner nodded without hesitation.
From the moment Haruto's Shadow Clones had saved innocent lives during the Broadway chaos, Banner had seen him as a hero. Yes, his destruction of Broadway had been brutal, but he had spared the civilians.
And it was General Ross who had fired the first missile.
"Good. Bruce… I've been watching you for a long time. From the moment you exposed yourself to gamma radiation, I noticed you."
Haruto began weaving his tale.
Just as he expected, Banner's pupils widened as soon as he heard it.
"I know everything about you. How you escaped General Ross's pursuit. How you hid yourself away. How, to prevent the Hulk from wreaking havoc, you studied breathing techniques and trained endlessly to control your anger."
"I've seen all your efforts. But the truth is… you've been fighting in the wrong direction since the very beginning."
Banner's widened pupils gleamed now—not with fear, but with the light of admiration. The kind one reserves for an idol or mentor.
"Come to think of it," Haruto smiled, as though just realizing something, "I never properly introduced myself."
"My name is Haruto. I am the Guardian of the New York Sanctum. To the outside world, just a sorcerer. My duty is to protect this world from the incursions of beings from other dimensions."
As he finished, Haruto suddenly raised both arms.
In a flash, he struck the chests of Stark and Banner, forcing their souls out of their bodies.
Both men's eyes filled with terror.
To watch their own souls torn free, floating above their bodies—this overturned everything they had known, everything they believed.
Decades of rational worldview shattered in an instant.
It was horrifying.
But Banner's situation wasn't the same as in Endgame.
In that timeline, he had fused himself with the Hulk by bathing in gamma rays once again.
Here, however, Banner and the Hulk were two completely separate souls.
When Banner's spirit was expelled, the Hulk factor inside his body began surging uncontrollably.
Pale skin darkened to green.
In only a few breaths, his body swelled to over two meters tall.
The Hulk emerged.
And for the first time, Banner truly saw his own transformation.
Until now, whenever the Hulk broke free, Banner's consciousness had gone black. He had never remembered what happened while the beast controlled his body.
Now… he could witness it with his own eyes.
And the feeling was nothing short of incredible.