"An uninvited guest…"
The Leader was at the final stage of his experiment. But just as he activated the machine, his vast psychic senses detected the presence of another mind—one unusually powerful, sharp, and dangerous.
His eyes narrowed. He focused, locking onto the intruder.
Once, he had only been a scientist. A doctor fascinated by the Hulk serum, who spent years studying and attempting to replicate it. Although he disagreed with Dr. Banner's methods, circumstances had pushed him to help.
In the end, his efforts had failed to destroy the Hulk. But that failure only deepened his obsession with the power Banner carried.
Later, under Blonsky's threats, he injected the Hulk serum into him—thus creating Abomination.
The price was severe. During the chaos, his own forehead had been cut, and the serum seeped into his brain. Unlike Blonsky, whose entire body transformed into Abomination, the serum concentrated only in Dr. Sterns's brain.
It amplified his intelligence to inhuman levels and granted him psychic control and telepathic abilities.
That was how Dr. Samuel Sterns became The Leader.
When he had sensed Abomination, the Hulk, and Senju Haruto fighting in Times Square, he knew staying there meant death. He had fled, slipping into the shadows.
But disappearing wasn't in his nature.
If Banner could create a Hulk, then so could he. And he would create something greater.
That conviction had driven him to approach General Ross himself.
With the military's resources and influence behind him, he could finish what Banner had started. He would prove his superior genius by creating a new Hulk—one stronger than Banner's creature, a Hulk powered by real, unweakened serum.
The idea had stunned Ross, nearly beyond belief. But Ross was also desperate. He needed a super-weapon. And after some hesitation, he had agreed.
The Leader was welcomed into the military's inner circle, granted everything he required, and the first experiment began.
Now Ross lay on the operating table, eyes shut, bracing himself for what was to come. His mind wavered between eager anticipation and deep anxiety.
"No one is going to interrupt me," the Leader muttered darkly.
He gripped the lever and shoved it upward.
A surge of gamma radiation burst from the towering machine, engulfing Ross in green light.
The Leader gestured sharply, directing the gathered scientists to their stations. Then, removing his coat, he turned toward the entrance.
BOOM!
Under his psychic will, the doors blasted open.
And then, the impossible.
He raised his hands into strange, contorted mudra-like positions. Crossing his legs, his body lifted effortlessly into the air, defying gravity. He hovered there, suspended, eyes closed in eerie focus.
This was the gift his mutated brain had granted him—power beyond mere intellect.
At the end of the corridor, a familiar silhouette appeared. The one whose mind he had already sensed.
Senju Haruto.
"The Leader, huh?" Haruto tilted his head slightly, his gaze fixing on the levitating figure before him.
The serum had swollen Sterns's head grotesquely, two to three times the size of a normal human's. It was a feature impossible to miss—and the reason people called him the Leader.
As a transmigrant, Haruto knew exactly what this man was capable of. Not just his grotesque intellect, but psychic domination and extrasensory perception.
When Haruto had used his own spiritual magic to lock onto Ross and the Leader, the latter had sensed him in return.
And now, those two stood face to face.
"I advise you not to take another step," the Leader said calmly, eyes half-closed. Through telepathy, he could confirm what he already suspected—this was the man who had destroyed Abomination in a single blow at Times Square.
If it came to a fight, even he wasn't confident.
But with Ross's transformation underway, all he needed was to buy time. So he tried bluffing.
"I don't know how you found this place," he continued smoothly, "but this isn't a wise move. Perhaps you are strong… but do you truly mean to stand against the world?"
Haruto didn't answer.
To most people, the Leader would be a formidable villain.
To Haruto? Just another distraction.
Muscle had always been more reliable than brains. And in the face of absolute power, schemes were nothing but window dressing.
Whether the Leader was bluffing, delaying, or trying to sow doubt—it didn't matter.
Haruto had crushed Abomination like a bug.
And this swollen-headed schemer? He wasn't even worth worrying about.
Haruto strode forward without hesitation, intent on reaching Ross.
The Leader saw it clearly—this man wasn't afraid of him at all. His heart sank. He calculated Ross's transformation time. There was no more room to stall.
"So be it," the Leader said coldly. "This will be your greatest mistake."
A glow ignited on his bulging forehead—bright green light gathering, condensing into a beam that lanced straight toward Haruto's chest. Around it spiraled coils of laser-like energy.
"…Looks like a Special Beam Cannon," Haruto muttered under his breath with a faint smirk.
He didn't raise a hand.
Instead, his enchanted Cloak of Levitation shot forward on its own, spreading wide like a shield. It intercepted the Leader's psychic blast with ease.
Against ordinary heroes, the Leader was a nightmare. Even Banner had struggled to handle him.
But Haruto knew his weakness.
Every power had a flaw—and Haruto knew exactly what it was.
Besides, he had no use for this villain.
Yes, the Leader was clever. But smarter than Stark? Smarter than Strange? Smarter than Banner himself?
If he were, he wouldn't keep losing.
To Haruto, he was no different from Abomination—one fought with brains, the other with brute force. Neither mattered.
The Leader blinked, momentarily thrown off by the sentient cloak.
And in that instant of distraction, Haruto struck.
He blurred forward with the Body Flicker Technique, vanishing from sight and reappearing at the villain's back.
The Zanpakutō slid free in one fluid motion.
A single sweep.
Blood fountained into the air.
The grotesquely enlarged head separated cleanly from its body, tracing a crimson arc as it tumbled through the air.