Banner had learned the basics of astral projection—but now only enough to send a fragment of his consciousness out when the Hulk appeared. Due to his mutation, his soul remained tethered—he couldn't leave while Hulk roamed the body. Malrick explained this made Banner's soul more stable than most .

Still, Banner was pleased. He could now float beside the Hulk and give warnings mid-fight, instead of blacking out entirely.

Hulk burst through two portals into the mirror space. Banner drifted to the side and spoke urgently: "Hurry, focus on that giant octopus, Hulk. Take care of it!"

The mirror-space battlefield was dire. A few mages drooled, minds corrupted by psychic erosion. The rest clenched their teeth, barely holding on. No one had died yet in the London Sanctum, but Mordo was helpless—wrapped in tentacles and spun through the air.

That's when Hulk chose his own target.

Banner's eyes widened. "No, that's the wrong one!"

But Hulk ignored him. He leapt up, grabbed a massive tentacle, swung it overhead like a hammer, and launched it—and the beast it belonged to—into the air.

That creature collided with the one entangling Mordo. The impact released Mordo at last.

"Way to go, Hulk!" Banner cheered. Though Hulk hadn't obeyed orders, the result was perfect.

Banner felt like he'd discovered how to deal with Hulk: treat him like a wild magical beast. If you understood him just enough, you could steer the power—without suppressing it.

"Hulk, you're amazing! Malrick will be so impressed!" Banner shouted.

Hulk snorted and leapt again toward the remaining tentacled beasts. But a calm female voice cut through the chaos: "Rise."

Scarlet energy bathed dozens of octopuses. They froze mid‑air, limbs still, suspended by an unseen force. Hulk landed, confused.

Banner followed the voice to the portal entrance: Wanda stood there, hands glowing red. The beasts hovered motionless. Wanda's reality-warping power—chaos magic—was reshaping the battlefield .

Banner felt foolish. If he'd known Wanda held such command, he wouldn't have transformed. What a waste of good coveralls.

Wanda waved her hands and whispered, "Return to your realm."

One by one, the octopuses dissolved into fibrous strands and vanished. Wanda's chaos magic—not merely illusion, but dimension-altering force—sent them straight back to their own plane .

She turned and raised her palm again, attempting to seal the portal. But the dimensional currents were too dense. She couldn't close the rift alone, especially as more beasts poured through.

"She needs Malrick," Banner concluded.

Still, she stood resolute at the entrance, annihilating every emerging creature. As her magic snapped fingers, demons disintegrated. Corrupted minds under control slowly regained clarity.

Banner watched in awe. Wanda battled alone—and she was fierce.

---

Meanwhile, across all three Sanctums, conflict with infernal and dimensional invaders had reached a fever pitch.

In the World Ring, the showdown between Malrick and Dormammu escalated.

They hurled planets at each other. Meteor storms versus astral blasts. Dormammu spewed dimensional energy from eyes, mouth, palm. Malrick rebuffed it with heat rays—and unleashed Space Stone energy like a cosmic Kamehameha.

Their fight carved valleys and shattered continents. A world-sized landmass shrank by nearly a tenth under the strain.

Dormammu resorted to elemental power, dark magic—everything he had. Nothing broke Malrick's defense.

In melee, Malrick treated Dormammu as his punching target—not a foe. The suit dampened Dormammu's force to one ten-thousandth of its strength. Even with a blow meant to destroy a star, Malrick flew backward, toppled mountains, but emerged unscathed.

Dormammu staggered back, bruised—even Momento's armor cracked. At one point, his arm vanished completely.

---

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