King Piccolo was somewhat surprised. This was the first time he had encountered an opponent who could match him blow for blow.
The humans he met before being sealed had never possessed such power.
Could they have changed while I was imprisoned?
Hulk paid no attention to any of that. Under Zod's deliberate guidance, his mind had grown considerably smarter and more mature. More importantly—
Hulk saw Zod as his good friend. Zod built him amusement parks, bought him the best food, so Hulk would help him fight monsters. And Hulk had been far too slow. He couldn't even take down one monster in a full day. He felt the effort he gave didn't match what Zod gave him in return. Now that a monster had finally shown itself, Hulk was practically shaking with excitement. After fighting the creature to a standstill, his rage ignited completely.
Ben Grimm moved in to support, while Tony Stark, wearing the Hulkbuster armor forged from secondary-grade Kryptonium, joined the fray.
The other superheroes held position, staying alert for any other members of the Monster Association who might appear.
King Piccolo clenched his fist, ready to advance.
Suddenly, he sensed something. He looked up and saw a massive chunk of debris hurtling down toward his head.
Tony had shoved the wreckage down onto him.
Boom! The entire mass of broken building slammed directly onto King Piccolo, who seemed unable to dodge in time. Tony grinned at the sight.
"This guy's not so tough. Got him—"
The words barely left his mouth when a colossal shockwave erupted from the point of impact. A deafening roar followed as the huge chunk of building was blasted into smithereens, and King Piccolo reappeared completely unharmed, standing exactly where he had been.
At that moment, Green Hulk and Ben came charging in, both throwing heavy punches. King Piccolo caught their fists in his hands—but he had overestimated his strength in his current state.
A thunderous crash sent King Piccolo hurtling into the ruins of a nearby structure. The already battered, tower-like wreckage disintegrated under the immense force, the whole thing toppling sideways.
Despite the dramatic display, Ben knew that punch hadn't truly threatened King Piccolo. Just as he expected, another brilliant burst of light erupted a second later. King Piccolo exploded the rubble pinning him down and strode out of the debris.
"Ptoo."
King Piccolo spat a trace of blood-tinged saliva to the side, like he was casually clearing his mouth. That had been one of Green Hulk's full-force punches, and all it managed was to make his gums bleed a little. An utterly ineffective attack. But since it drew blood, King Piccolo's fury boiled over.
"You damned insects! You actually dared to harm my body!"
King Piccolo was enraged. He had already been deeply displeased by his body's growing old and frail, and now he had been injured on top of it.
He immediately clenched his right fist, aimed a punch at Green Hulk and Ben from a distance, and threw it with a sharp swing. A lightning bolt of pure ki shot toward them.
That lightning contained enough power to devastate the world.
Bang! The next instant, both Green Hulk and Ben were blown backward. At the same time, that single cataclysmic strike flattened half the city. When the smoke cleared, every building and ruin was gone, leaving only scorched earth and molten magma behind.
"Is that the destructive power of a Dragon-level monster?"
Up in the air, Tony stared at the scene in utter shock. The nations watching from afar were equally speechless, mentally raising the threat level of Dragon-level monsters by two full notches.
This was a walking nuclear weapon!
Thankfully, the city had already been evacuated earlier. With the assistance of the Sentinel robots, the evacuation had proceeded far faster than anything in movies or TV shows.
King Piccolo followed up with a relentless barrage of energy blasts.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Explosions erupted in rapid succession. The glowing magma made it look as if the entire ground had been set ablaze. Massive amounts of sand, rock, and debris were hurled into the air by the tremendous shockwaves, scattering wildly before being buried under fresh layers of rubble. The whole region transformed into a hellscape straight out of purgatory.
Tony and Peter, observing from a relatively safer distance, were genuinely shaken by the staggering devastation. This truly was an apocalyptic battle. Both sides were terrifying beyond words. Never mind whether they could help—just getting close was a serious problem.
Still, they had no intention of retreating or standing by as spectators. Even if they could contribute only a tiny bit, they would give everything they had. After all, this battle would decide the fate of the entire planet.
"HULK!!!"
Green Hulk burst forth, his entire body radiating a green glow. Ben lay sprawled on the ground in a miserable state, his stone hide cracked all over. He had just used his own body to shield Hulk from the brunt of the attack, keeping Hulk from losing his fighting capability. Hulk had now transformed into an enraged Hulk—his body tougher, his strength greater, his speed faster, his defense far higher!
King Piccolo, aging and weakened, could not react in time. The furious Hulk's fist was already buried deep in his abdomen.
"Urgh..."
With that single blow, King Piccolo felt as if every organ in his body was about to be violently expelled. His stomach caved inward completely. The sheer force of the punch carried him backward, and with a thunderous crash, he smashed into the iron wall of a nearby ruined structure.
Boom! The massive iron wall shattered apart, King Piccolo embedded into it like a grotesque ornament. Before he could recover, a giant green-glowing figure rushed straight at him and drove another brutal punch, slamming his entire head deeper into the iron wall.
Ting! Tony fired a laser beam from his gauntlet, aiming at King Piccolo. But King Piccolo suddenly seized Hulk's fist, and then with just a casual lift of his right hand, blocked Tony's laser—posing no threat at all.
He kicked away the rampaging Green Hulk who was trying to pummel him with a flurry of blows, and rose up from the wreckage.
Just then, a web shot in from the side, covering King Piccolo's eyes. Blinded, he instinctively tried to tear away the webbing. But Peter came swinging from a distance and landed a flying kick square on King Piccolo's head.
King Piccolo's body staggered. Peter prepared to follow up, but a hand directly grabbed him.
Yes—even without sight, King Piccolo's combat instincts allowed him to pinpoint Peter's exact location. He seized Peter, his left hand already forming a fist.
/-\
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