After saying that, Loren raised a finger and pressed it firmly against the bulletproof glass, already webbed with spider-like cracks.
Instantly, an immense, penetrating force punched a small hole straight through the reinforced pane.
That tiny breach was all it took—the entire pane of bulletproof glass collapsed in an instant.
With a deafening crack, it shattered into countless shards.
Hulk looked surprised—astonished, even—that Loren would deliberately break the glass blocking his path.
But Hulk wasn't exactly known for his intellect. Seeing the barrier shattered, he grew even more reckless and launched a furious punch straight at Loren.
Loren, however, remained utterly calm as Hulk's massive fist hurtled toward him—almost dismissive in his composure.
With effortless precision, he raised his hand and caught Hulk's crushing blow mid-air. Then, to Hulk's utter disbelief…
He seized the green giant's fist, spun him around like a ragdoll, and hurled him violently downward—sending him crashing into the arena floor below.
BOOM!!!
The impact unleashed a thunderous shockwave, carving a massive crater into the ground.
Hulk lay sprawled at the center, dazed and bewildered—his mind struggling to catch up with what had just happened.
It was unthinkable: someone as powerful as him had been tossed aside like a toy in a single move.
Not only was Hulk incredulous—so were the three women watching from the sidelines.
After all, this was the same Hulk who had just battled the Red Giant, while still at the peak of his rage.
At full fury, a single punch from him could easily exceed 70 tons of force—possibly even 100 tons.
That kind of power was precisely what had cracked the thick bulletproof glass in the first place.
Yet despite that overwhelming strength, Loren had dispatched him in one fluid motion.
Just how powerful was Loren?!
The women could barely believe their eyes.
This level of power… was it even humanly possible?
Even as advanced general-purpose combat robots, they were clearly outclassed.
No wonder their boss was so obsessed with perfecting the Hulk serum.
Hell—they were starting to feel a little envious themselves.
As soon as Hulk hit the ground, Loren's nanotech armor activated its anti-gravity mode.
He rose effortlessly into the air, weightless and serene, then floated slowly down to stand beside the dazed behemoth.
"You're not strong enough! Get angrier—hurry up!" he called out.
Before the words even faded, Loren lashed out with a kick. Hulk instinctively raised his arm to block—
—but Loren's baseline strength, even in his normal state, reached hundreds of tons. Such raw power couldn't be parried so easily.
The kick sent Hulk flying again, his body slamming into the reinforced steel barrier like a cannonball—leaving behind a perfect, human-shaped dent.
Yet Hulk's greatest trait—and weakness—was his ability to grow stronger with every surge of rage. Unless incapacitated instantly, each blow only fueled his fury, making him bolder and more powerful with every passing second.
"HULK!!!"
Roaring with renewed wrath, the green giant sprang to his feet and unleashed another devastating punch at Loren.
Hulk's fighting style was brutally simple: wide, direct, and devoid of finesse—relying entirely on overwhelming force to bulldoze through any technique.
There was nothing inherently wrong with that approach…
…unless his opponent matched his strength and possessed refined skill.
And that's exactly what Loren was.
Just like Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—who effortlessly dismantled the Hulk using superior combat prowess—Loren now stood as a being of equal or greater power, amplified by technique, intelligence, and control.
Worse still: when enraged, the rate at which Loren's strength escalated far outpaced even Hulk's legendary rage-fueled growth.
In addition, his brain has been enhanced, granting him an extraordinary capacity for learning and imitation.
Essentially, he can perfectly replicate any fighting technique he observes just one second earlier and seamlessly integrate it into his own style.
This remarkable ability has a specific name in the Marvel Universe: "photographic reflexes"—a signature trait of the Taskmaster.
Thanks to this power, he can rapidly master a vast array of combat techniques simply by watching action movies of all kinds, then digest and refine them into his own unique fighting style.
It's fair to say his current combat proficiency rivals that of Captain America and the Winter Soldier—and may even surpass them.
So how could a Hulk, who relies solely on brute force and straightforward attacks, possibly stand a chance against him?
As the Hulk's massive fist hurtled toward him, Loren narrowed his eyes, and his perception seemed to slow time itself.
To him, the Hulk's movements appeared at least twice as slow. With a simple sidestep, he effortlessly dodged the blow.
When his first punch missed, the Hulk hesitated for a moment before unleashing a rapid barrage of follow-up strikes.
Yet Loren evaded every single one. In his eyes, the Hulk moved as slowly as a snail.
To outside observers, however, the Hulk's punches were as fast as the wind—yet even at that speed, he couldn't land a single hit on Loren.
The scene left the three women in the stands utterly stunned. They'd anticipated that the perfected version of the Hulk serum would be powerful, but not this powerful.
"The boss is so fast! If he used that speed on me, I probably wouldn't last five minutes before I went flying into the sky!"
"Hmm… at that terrifying speed, I could hold out for 5.5 minutes," A2 said thoughtfully.
"Then I can last six minutes," 2B declared.
2B tilted her head and glanced at A2, clearly unwilling to be outdone.
"I'll take six and a half."
"Seven minutes."
"Eight."
"Stop, stop, stop!" Tifa interjected. "Can you two please not turn this into a competition?"
"Anyway," she added with a smirk, "no matter how much you argue, you still can't beat me. I can last ten minutes."
"You're bullying us, Tifa!" A2 cried. "A2—wait, that's me! Anyway, 2B, let's team up and take her down!"
"Okay!"
"Ahhh!"
Inside the arena, after effortlessly dodging the Hulk's heavy blows, Loren spotted an opening and delivered a powerful hook to the Hulk's jaw.
The impact was so immense it launched the Hulk's entire body into the air. Before he could crash back down, Loren was already on him again.
Leaping upward, he reappeared in front of the airborne Hulk, his hand forming a claw that seized the giant's head.
"Alright," Loren said calmly. "This fight's over. Get some sleep."
With that, he drove the Hulk's head straight into the ground from midair.
His nanotech armor provided additional diving acceleration, amplifying his speed to near-instantaneous levels.
To onlookers, he was little more than a blur.
A deafening roar echoed as the earth shattered beneath them. Dust erupted into the air, and a crater several meters wide formed instantly.
At the bottom of the pit, the Hulk lay motionless—his body visibly shrinking until he reverted to Bruce Banner.
It was unbelievable: Loren had used sheer force to knock the Hulk out of his transformed state!
Above the crater, Loren slowly rose to his feet, a faint red aura swirling around his body, giving him an almost mystical appearance.
This was the sole side effect of the perfected Hulk serum: whenever he activated its power, his body temperature would steadily rise—the angrier he became, the hotter he got.
The resulting thermal emission created the crimson aura, making him resemble Might Guy after opening the Eight Gates.
Just as Loren secured his victory, the long-absent system notification chimed in his mind once more:
[Congratulations, Host, for participating in the battle between Hulk and Red Hulk. Reward: Neir Automata– Flight Armor Technology. System Points +5.]
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