Hulk grew increasingly enraged. A small bug he could never seem to catch, Saitama easily dodged his attacks, driving the green behemoth into an absolute fury.
Not long after, Saitama finally stopped moving. He looked up at Hulk, who was now towering at almost seven meters tall.
With eyes full of bloodshot madness, the monster swung an iron fist straight at the bald hero. Light green air currents fluctuated violently behind the behemoth's swing.
Saitama simply watched it approach quietly instead of taking evasive action.
In the eyes of the onlookers, Saitama seemed to be in a complete daze. Some people whispered secretly among themselves.
Would Saitama blow up the Hulk just like he did the Abomination? The answer was entirely wrong.
Bang!!
The thunderous slamming sound resounded through the sky, washing a powerful force of turbulent airflow in all directions. A terrifying shockwave swept through the entirety of Times Square.
All the glass in the distant streets shattered instantly, blowing away the surrounding dust. Everyone's eyes were about to jump out of their sockets as a chilling sensation gripped their hearts.
The sheer horror of the impact made their hair stand on end. Saitama had taken Hulk's giant punch head-on.
His head was pushed slightly to the side, but the rest of his body hadn't moved an inch.
A direct hit?!
Aboard the Helicarrier, Nick Fury's usually dark complexion had previously turned a pale shade of gray, but he was finally beginning to recover his color. No one truly knew just how much pressure the Director was under.
Saitama's sudden appearance was entirely inexplicable. To obliterate the Abomination with just a single punch was nothing short of shocking.
During this crisis, he had practically turned that manga magazine upside down. He desperately wanted to know Saitama's true abilities and his potential weaknesses.
But it was of no use at all. What was his weakness?
Heaven only knew if it was a cat or a simple mosquito. What exactly was his superhuman ability?
Did throwing one punch even count as an ability? There was absolutely no useful information after looking through the book for so long.
He just saw the reality of the situation far more clearly than the senior leaders of the Hero Association did in the comics. To be honest, even now, he still didn't know how to properly deal with this matter.
All he could do was report it to the World Security Council. Since he could actually be hit by the Hulk, this showed that there was still a physical limit to the bald man.
Thinking about this, Nick Fury started to regain a fraction of his confidence. He firmly believed that there were no fists in this world capable of a one-hit kill.
But in the very next moment, his face pinched up and began to twitch violently.
Saitama casually straightened his tilted head and turned towards the Hulk, who was still looming close at hand. With a completely dissatisfied look, he spoke.
"Your fist has no power at all. It's not even as good as Boros."
The Dominator of the Universe, Boros, was the strongest monster he had ever fought. Those heavy fists, that astonishing speed, and his superb fighting skills had formed a dizzying series of torrential offensives.
After Saitama had experienced that kind of power, a slight ripple had finally formed in the stagnant water of his heart. If only Boros had been just a little bit stronger.
"No power at all!"
That single sentence pierced directly into the Hulk's fragile self-esteem. No one had ever dared to say something like that to him before.
"Hulk!!"
Hulk roared his supreme dissatisfaction, constantly bearing his fierce fangs. His violent eyes were filled with unbridled ferocity as he swung another thunder-like fist toward the ground.
Saitama plainly raised his hand, casually clenched his fist, and threw it out. It slammed directly into Hulk's massive green fist in one seamless motion.
Bang!!
An unstoppable, world-shattering power suddenly burst out from the point of impact, instantly spreading up the beast's arm. Hulk instinctively shifted his body just a fraction of an inch.
He felt his massive body go completely paralyzed for a fleeting moment. In the very next instant, his entire right arm burst apart into a spray of gore.
The terrifying kinetic force then spread through the rest of his body like a burrowing insect. The rock-hard muscles on his tough bodily surface began crazily disintegrating.
At this moment, the Hulk looked like a fragile porcelain doll as endless cracks burst out across his skin. The fissures madly struck the entire right half of Hulk's body.
An emotion akin to genuine fear finally appeared in his mind, and he let out a deeply painful growl. A geyser of green blood burst out immediately, spilling high into the sky.
Hovering in a helicopter not far away, General Ross and Betty felt a chill run down their spines.
In the eyes of the stunned onlookers, the aftermath of the two colliding punches was completely one-sided. Hulk's right arm had burst directly, and the devastating force had passed straight along the limb into the right half of his torso.
The horrifying result was that the entire right half of his body was completely blown away. Because he had instinctively shifted his head away in time, his skull remained intact, but exactly half of his entire body had been erased from existence.
At the exact same time, the massive building standing behind Hulk's right side shot straight into the air in an oblique upward trajectory. It was completely obliterated for hundreds of meters along the punch's path, leaving absolutely nothing behind but a cloud of fine dust.
Iron Man hovered at the scene with cold sweat pouring down inside his helmet. Mr. Fantastic had just helped the Invisible Woman to her feet, but upon seeing the destruction, her legs went soft, and she collapsed right back onto the ground.
Layers of violent air waves began to spread out in the aftermath, scouring dust across the battlefield. A delayed sonic boom rolled against the airflow, leaving the hair and clothes of everyone present in a complete mess.
Peter Parker pressed his dry lips together in sheer disbelief. "It's really just another punch," he whispered softly.
Uttering the exact same sentiment from miles away was Nick Fury.
Coulson secretly glanced at the Director again. Fury was bluffing well and holding back his pale complexion, but his entire body was involuntarily shaking.
He was completely terrified to the point that his entire worldview was being aggressively reshaped.
"Director, are you all right?"
"Detect the raw power output of that punch! What are you all doing? Move fast!" Nick Fury slammed a hand onto the console, yelling at the panicking agents below him.
After he finished roaring his orders, he felt his throat go painfully dry. He nervously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
"Woo..."
With only half of his body remaining, the Hulk fell softly into a pooling puddle of his own green blood. He looked extremely miserable as blood poured out wildly, leaving the beast to let out a pitiful whimper.
"Hey, he actually moved away a little by instinct," Saitama observed mildly. "Forget it. He can't live like this anyway."
Saitama spoke those plain words and was just about to turn around and leave. He glanced back out of the corner of his eye and was genuinely surprised.
"This is..."
Hulk's catastrophic wound unexpectedly began to heal itself. From the broken ruin of his left side, cells and blood vessels began to rapidly spread outward.
His muscle fibers automatically reconnected themselves. In less than two minutes, a completely intact right half of his body had grown back out.
The global audience watching in front of their televisions clearly realized just how terrifying Hulk's super-healing factor truly was. Everyone who already knew of the Hulk's power fell dead silent at this moment.
The military had attempted to arrest the Hulk countless times, throwing every conventional weapon in their arsenal at him short of a nuclear bomb.
But look at him now.
He had been effortlessly beaten by Saitama with just a single, casual punch. Even if he was covered in blood and essentially resurrected on the spot, what was the use?
It would only take a few more punches to end him completely.
General Ross, the man who had obsessively wanted to catch the Hulk for years, couldn't help but violently shudder. Beside him, his daughter Betty quickly yelled for the pilot to bring the helicopter closer.
"Hulk."
Hulk didn't roar loudly like he had before, but only yelled out slightly.
Seeing this, Saitama spoke to himself in his mind.
'This weirdo is actually really strong. If he isn't down yet, I guess I'll have to use Consecutive Normal Punches.'
He then casually raised his fist for a second strike.
Hulk watched Saitama's movements in absolute, primal fear. The dominant, rage-filled personality of the Hulk was so completely frightened that he quickly retreated back into Banner's subconscious.
Pulling his big feet a few steps back in a very humane manner, the monster raised his hands to hug his head.
"H-Hulk... no... don't hit... Hulk..." he whispered pitifully.
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Word count: 1535
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