Lyon ignored the three-year-old-minded Hulk.
He pointed at the thin green ethereal thread that connected Banner and Hulk, linking their souls together.
"See this? You two are actually one soul—he is just another part of your personality," Lyon explained to Banner.
"You see him as a monster, but really, that just ans you see yourself as a monster too."
"He… is ?" Banner stared blankly at the green soul thread between them. "So that ans… I really have beco a monster after all."
Lyon paused for a mont, surprised by how Banner interpreted it.
"Whether or not you're a monster isn't determined by your body, Banner. It's determined by your mind and your actions," Lyon corrected him.
He adjusted his explanation. "Like what I'm doing for you now—learning magic will allow you to control yourself… and Hulk."
"You an… use magic to cut the connection between us and separate us?" Banner murmured thoughtfully. "Or… to erase him on a soul level?"
"HULK!!"
Hulk, who had been poking Lyon's face, froze when he heard that.
With an angry roar, he suddenly jumped onto Banner, tackling him to the ground and throwing a punch.
BAM!
"Ow!" "That hurts!"
The punch landed squarely on Banner's face—and both he and Hulk cried out in pain at the exact sa ti.
Since their souls were one, fighting each other was no different from punching themselves.
"Hulk, smash!"
Hulk, refusing to believe it, kept pounding on Banner—and with each hit, both of them yelped in pain together.
"Stop! Stop, Hulk! I won't kill you, I won't kill you!" Banner pleaded.
Hulk finally realized what was happening.
Every ti he punched Banner, he felt the pain himself.
Annoyed, he shook out his hand, stood up, and let out a frustrated roar at Banner:
"HULK NOT LIKE!"
Then, with a huff, he plopped down on the ground, deliberately turning his head away from Lyon, sulking.
Everyone else watched in stunned silence, their expressions looking as if they had just seen a ghost.
Lyon spread his hands at Banner. "So? Do you get it now? You two are the sa soul—how do you plan to cut that apart?"
"If Hulk were truly separated from you and beca his own entity, both of you would be incomplete, and your strength would drop significantly."
Banner glared gloomily at Hulk. "If that's the case, then I'd rather not separate at all."
"Grrr!" Hulk scoffed, shaking his head in disdain, then slapped Banner to the ground—only to stumble himself from the shared pain feedback.
"You sure about this? If you separate, Hulk's power will weaken, and you, Banner, with your normal human body, might end up completely paralyzed."
"Forcibly separating you two isn't necessarily the best solution," Lyon said, raising a finger. "But I do have a better idea."
"What idea?" Banner was convinced that Superman's plan wouldn't be a bad one.
"Learn magic. If you master Astral Projection—the sa spell I used to pull your soul out of your body—then you'll never have to worry about conflicts with Hulk again."
Lyon explained, "Your biggest issues are pretty simple.
"One—Hulk is easily angered, lacks ntal maturity, and causes destruction too easily.
"Two—whenever you're getting too excited with your girlfriend, Hulk suddenly jumps out. Right?"
Banner awkwardly scratched his head, looking embarrassed. "I an… you really didn't have to say it that bluntly."
On the side, Betty's soul also turned away in embarrassnt.
Just last night, after escaping from the military base,
Banner and Betty had hidden in a small motel.
The reunion atmosphere was just right, bathed in gentle moonlight.
Before they even realized it, the two of them had started getting closer…
Then, just as they were getting to the main event, Banner's body started turning big and green.
There was no way he could accept that.
"So… you're saying that right before I lose control, I can use Astral Projection to keep Hulk in check?" Banner asked, a flicker of hope in his eyes.
"More or less," Lyon nodded. "But I'd set higher expectations for you."
He stepped forward and tapped Hulk's soul with his finger.
Imdiately, Hulk rged back into Banner.
"You just need to master Astral Projection first. Then, after improving a little more in soul research…"
Lyon made a pinching gesture with his fingers.
"You'll be able to knock Hulk out of your body whenever you need to.
"Or, more accurately, knock yourself out of your own body.
"This way, you can control Hulk while also ensuring that when you're in danger, you can instantly transform into the Green Giant."
Banner was completely hooked.
He rubbed his hands together, excitent growing. "That sounds amazing! Can I ask—is there any requirent for learning this magic? When can I start?"
"You just need to join Kamar-Taj—and you can start right now."
Lyon grinned and snapped his fingers.
In an instant, everyone's souls returned to their bodies.
"Ah!"
The "corpses" on the ground all snapped their eyes open at the sa ti.
As soon as they got up, everyone frantically patted their own chests and faces, still shaken by the out-of-body experience.
That sensation of separating from their physical forms was sothing they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
One by one, their eyes lit up with excitent—they all wanted to be like Banner and shout: "Coach! I wanna learn magic!"
But Lyon imdiately shut it down.
"Don't even think about it. Learning magic requires talent and cos at a cost. Just stick to being agents and keep serving the world."
"What kind of talent? Do you think I have it?" Tony leaned in, curiosity flaring up again.
Lyon smirked. "Talent ans either your body or your soul has to be delicious enough for a dinsional god to be willing to give you a loan."
"What kind of weird analogy is that? That sounds like turning yourself into a gourt dish for sothing to feast on." Tony raised an eyebrow. "And what the hell is a dinsional god?"
"If you really want to know, I'll have one of the other sorcerers give you a crash course later."
Lyon activated his super vision, scanning the surroundings.
Then, he drew a mystical portal in the air.
"But not today—don't forget, I'm here for the Tesseract."
They had made a deal earlier.
Tony would hand over the Tesseract to Lyon, and in exchange, Lyon agreed to join the Avengers.
As the portal opened, the Tesseract was revealed on the other side.
"Holy shit—you can open that golden portal directly into my vault?!"
Tony was dumbfounded. "Have the sorcerers from that Kamar-Taj place even registered with the authorities? Because I swear, they'd make the greatest thieves in the world!"
"It's not that exaggerated. Most sorcerers need artifacts to use portals. This spell isn't as convenient as you think."
Lyon stepped into the vault and picked up the Tesseract.
The deep blue cube imdiately reacted, its energy surging wildly.
Lyon attempted to guide and channel a portion of its space energy. But instead, the Tesseract's chaotic energy surged forward like a flood breaking through a dam.
In an instant, Lyon's entire body was enveloped in blue energy.
Even his eyes began radiating a brilliant blue light.
Inside his body, every single cell seed to be hungrily absorbing the precious energy.
From the outside, he looked like he had turned into a glowing blue figure.
If any ordinary person had tried this, they would have instantly exploded, leaving not even a speck of dust behind.
But Lyon didn't even feel overloaded—not in the slightest.
With Lyon's current level of power, he could now easily control the energy of a single Infinity Stone.
However, unlike the Ti Stone, which he could manipulate through magic, this was his first ti directly connecting with the Space Stone—and he wasn't fully prepared.
He struggled to halt the massive energy influx flooding out of the Tesseract.
Minutes passed, and the outer casing of the Tesseract had already begun to crack.
Yet, instead of weakening, the energy flow only grew stronger, completely engulfing Lyon, turning him into a massive, glowing blue lantern.
To be safe, he closed the portal.
anwhile…
Tony stood with a serious expression, communicating with Jarvis through his neural chip.
"Jarvis, what's the energy level coming from Lyon right now? Is he in danger?"
"Sir, ah~! Lord Lyon—he, he, he—ahhh temporarily…"
Jarvis's voice was completely distorted, his usual calm tone utterly scrambled.
Tony rubbed his forehead, already regretting asking. "Forget it. Just… go back to evolving."
His eyes still held so worry, though.
Suddenly, a new voice spoke from behind him.
"This seems to be that S.H.I.E.L.D. base. The energy source is coming from here… and there's residual magic from Lyon!"
A fat figure stepped out from a portal.
_________
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