At this moment, Nul/Hulk was like a bull trapped in quicksand.
No matter how much he raged or struggled, he could only watch as he was slowly submerged by the relentless fists.
On this day, Hulk finally recalled the fear of being dominated.
As Hulk gradually snapped out of his rage, Banner's consciousness began to regain the upper hand.
At this moment, three distinct souls—Nul, Hulk, and Banner—were locked in a grueling tug-of-war within a single body.
"An opening!"
Standing atop the head of the True Several Thousand Hands, Peter had gained a deeper understanding of the mysterious nature of souls, perhaps due to activating his Zanpakuto and obtaining the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
This allowed him to keenly capture Hulk's currently chaotic situation.
He knew his opportunity had arrived.
"Retract!"
With a thought from Peter, the thousands of arms instantly ceased their assault. Instead, like living vines, they tightly bound Hulk from all directions, rendering him immobile.
Hundreds of those arms precisely wrapped around the breaker of worlds hammer and began to pull outward.
"Roar!"
Hulknul let out an angry roar, using all his strength to grip the hammer's handle, refusing to let Peter take it away no matter what.
This terrifying test of strength even caused the ground beneath Hulk's feet to collapse for hundreds of meters around him.
The audience in the global live stream didn't even dare to breathe as they stared intently at the screen, watching this struggle that was beyond mortal imagination.
While everyone was waiting for the outcome of this contest, Peter had already grown tired of this meaningless game.
There were still five more hammers waiting in line; he really couldn't waste too much time here.
With that thought, Peter, sitting atop the Great Buddha, slowly stood up and then appeared before Hulk in a flash.
He really wanted to imitate the Ancient One from the movies and perform the divine feat of knocking Nul's soul out of Hulk's body with a single palm strike.
Unfortunately, he had not yet mastered such a skill.
Fortunately, he had other tricks up his sleeve.
"Banner, give me some help! Don't let me down!"
As he spoke, Peter's finger lightly touched Hulk's forehead, and the magic of the Tiger Talisman within him instantly activated.
Originally, the situation inside Banner's body was Nul and Hulk teaming up to suppress Banner.
But now, with the assistance of the Tiger Talisman, the three forces shifted from a clear imbalance of power to a standard tripartite standoff.
Once the three parties lost their balance, a "change of the guard" naturally occurred.
"Peter, hurry up and take this damn hammer away!"
Taking advantage of the moment Banner barely managed to seize control, Peter grabbed the breaker of worlds hammer with his right hand, which was inscribed with Divine Power Runes, and snatched it away.
The moment the hammer left his hand, Nul's soul also instantly separated from Hulk's body.
Peter had been waiting for exactly this moment.
Hum!
The moment Nul's soul flew out of Hulk's body, the Ten Thousand Soul Banner emerged. Its black surface unfurled in the wind, and a cold suction appeared out of thin air, precisely drawing Nul's remnant soul inside.
Just like Kuurth before him, no matter how Nul struggled, he could not escape the fate of being sucked into the Banner.
Another surge of pure soul energy flowed into Peter's body, causing him to narrow his eyes in satisfaction.
At the same time, the breaker of worlds hammer, having lost its core soul, became a masterless object. With a wave of Peter's hand, it was stored inside his storage ring.
"Done. Mission accomplished."
After casually dismissing the True Several Thousand Hands and using the Horse Talisman to restore Hulk and the damaged streets to their original state, Peter stretched. Following Tony's guidance in the team channel, he spoke to the eye of aurora:
"Take me to South Africa!"
...
Meanwhile, deep in the Mariana Trench.
Cul, "The Serpent," who had just broken free from his seal, was comfortably closing his eyes, feeling the continuous stream of fear energy gathering from all over the World.
Every shred of fear nourished his soul, which had been parched for ten thousand years, allowing his weakened power to recover bit by bit.
"This is the feeling... Fear is the most primal and beautiful power in the Universe!"
"Odin, my dear brother, just you wait. Soon... very soon, I will make you and your ridiculous Asgard experience the taste of being dominated by fear once again!"
Just as he was immersed in his dream of revenge and the smile on his face was becoming increasingly twisted,
Suddenly... Cul sensed something!
He froze for a moment, and then the smugness on his face was instantly replaced by shock and fury.
Because just a moment ago, he clearly felt that the soul of his capable general, Kuurth, had vanished. Even the Breaker of Stone hammer had disconnected from him!
"How is this possible!"
Cul could not help but let out such an exclamation.
In the next second, something even more shocking and infuriating happened.
The fear energy that had been pouring into his body like a vast ocean from all over the World was now vanishing at an incredible speed!
In just a few short minutes, the "food" he craved was completely gone, as if the supply channel had been totally cut off.
Then, not only did the "food" disappear, but even Nul's connection was severed!
Something like this... even the Odin of the past couldn't have achieved!
"What on earth happened?"
Cul opened his clouded eyes, which were clearly burning with a raging fire.
But hidden behind that anger was a worry he was unwilling and afraid to let others discover.
Having finally regained his freedom after ten thousand years, he did not want his revenge plan to suffer any setbacks.
With that thought, he couldn't help but turn his gaze toward Skadi, the "Breaker of Worlds," who was still holding her war hammer high.
The current situation had completely exceeded his expectations.
He needed more useful intelligence; he needed someone who could help him strategize.
Right now, the only being who could provide the information he wanted seemed to be her!
Cul then reached out a withered finger and touched Skadi's forehead.
But this time, he wasn't sending a command; instead, he was signaling Skadi to relinquish control of the body.
In the next second, the hollowness and indifference of an ancient deity on Skadi's face melted away like snow, revealing the shrewdness and cunning of a human.
"Sin," Cynthia Schmidt, was back.
Feeling the reality of being back in control of her body, she looked at the decrepit old bag of bones before her. A calculating smile spread across Sin's face:
"It seems the great God of Fear has run into some trouble?"
Before she could finish, an invisible, terrifying pressure forced her to her knees, making it impossible for her to even lift her head.
"Lowly mortal, giving you the right to speak does not mean you can be insolent in my presence!"
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