Fanny's Tactics

Hulk's physical strength was the strongest, so nullifying this power with the new evolution of 'Demon Armor Incursio' almost made Fanny invincible.

However, 'physical resistance' was not physical immunity. Getting hit too many times would still injure Fanny.

Fanny also discovered through his battle that Hulk's strength fluctuated wildly. All of it was dependent on the green giant's anger level.

When enraged, Hulk's strength rose sharply. Before evolving 'physical resistance,' he had no choice but to keep his distance.

Hulk was obviously much weaker in a normal state. It could almost be said that the giant would get weaker the clearer his mind was.

This fluctuation and the 'physical resistance' of the Demon Armor Incursio allowed Fanny to see a path to winning a battle against Hulk.

His plan was straightforward. He would keep Hulk at the lowest level of strength while increasing his own and then fight Hulk head-on right then and there.

The hard part would be to keep Hulk in a weakened state and ensure he didn't get injured in the process.

In the end, the two were just sparring. Fanny could not use the same method he used on Abomination to deal with Hulk. Despite everything, they can't kill each other!

The evolution of 'Demon Armor Incursio' solved the self-preservation problem. And Fanny found a way to weaken Hulk through deliberate and careful testing.

Banner had adapted to life in the villa—rather, he had been very comfortable in it. His figure was noticeably rounder than before.

Fanny felt that everyone around him always get fatter.

"Is there really a meaning in doing this?" Banner suddenly asked. After the time he spent transforming into Hulk and back again, Banner began to doubt whether what Fanny did was useful.

"At least if one day he loses control, there is someone who can deal with him, right?" Fanny answered. He knew that Banner could read some of Hulk's memories, so he did not think that he could hide his actions from Banner.

Banner fell silent. He had been helping Tony design the 'Hulk-Buster Armor,' even suggesting some useful systems and weapons.

It was to prevent Hulk from going berserk one day.

Sighing, Banner took off his shirt. He focused his anger for a little while and transformed into Hulk while Fanny was watching beside him.

It had only been a short while, but he was already so skilled.

Hulk obviously enjoyed the current arrangement much more than Banner. There was food, drink, and even someone to accompany him in battle. Other than not being able to come out every day, he was already very happy.

This time, Fanny brought Hulk to a new battlefield. It was the place where he had fought with the Iron Monger.

This low temperature had little effect on Hulk, although it would keep the giant awake. And with Fanny's cold-resistant armor, he wouldn't be affected much.

Hulk had no complaint about the wind and snow; the giant simply looked forward to the battle. Fanny's 'physical resistance' had changed his completely evasive tactics.

Hulk loved the battle where both parties could hit each other in earnest.

"Come, have something to eat first." Fanny began his 'weakening tactic' by summoning several 'Sumire Karaage Rolls' and giving them to Hulk before the battle began.

Hulk looked at Fanny doubtfully, but he still took and ate the food.

Fanny didn't put any drugs to his 'Sumire Karaage Rolls,' but the skill had a naturally relaxing effect. This was obviously detrimental to Hulk's strength.

Then, while still watching Hulk happily eating the fried chicken, Fanny concentrated on releasing 'Ars Magna' in his heart. He muttered in a low voice:

"Reduce his strength by one-fifth!"

"Reduce his speed by one-fifth!"

"Reduce his defense by one-fifth!"

"Reduce his reflexes by one-fifth!"

"Maintain a pleasant state for five minutes!"

This was the greatest extent of 'weakening' that he could apply on Hulk throughout his tests.

Then he continued, this time strengthening himself:

"Triple my strength!"

"Triple my speed!"

"Triple my endurance!"

"Double my reflexes!"

This was also the greatest extent of his strengthening. These 'weakening' and 'strengthening' consumed a lot of Fanny's magic power.

Strengthening and weakening with 'Ars Magna' wasn't as straightforward as it sounded. He needed to gain a complete understanding of the target, be it himself or others.

When Fanny said, 'triple my strength,' he needed to have a clear idea of how much strength he really had. For example, if he knew that his limit was to lift a ton of weight, tripling his strength would allow him to lift two more tons of weight.

It was the same when he helped Skye equip 'Demon Armor Incursio.' He was very familiar with everything about Skye: her strength, endurance, constitution, and so on. That was why he was able to increase her strength.

And it was also true for his enemies. He needed a clear knowledge about their abilities if he wanted to properly apply 'Ars Magna' to them.

There might be a way to directly drop the enemy's ability to a certain level or increase his own ability, but unfortunately, the current Fanny couldn't do this.

Therefore, he hadn't been using this on his enemy or even himself all that much. His strength wasn't a static value; sometimes, he wasn't even sure what his limits were.

Fortunately, he had been able to grasp Hulk's abilities throughout the many battles, so he could smoothly apply the 'weakening.'

Hulk didn't notice anything wrong and continued eating the fried chicken pieces. He only felt unusually happy today.

Fanny also smiled very happily. After preparing so much, he was finally going to win once. He did not believe that he could not win even if he had to resort to such shameless actions!

Fanny didn't let Hulk eat too much fried chicken. They began sparring not long after.

Hulk finally felt something was wrong after the battle started. He felt like he couldn't exert his full strength. He couldn't even roar in rage; all that came out was barely a whisper.

On the other hand, Fanny looked particularly spirited, as if he had injected fried chicken into his blood. He had always tried to evade Hulk's attack before, but this time he recklessly met them directly.

This head-on battle should've made Hulk excited, but Fanny's trickery made him uncomfortable instead.

Hulk felt that he could not use all the strength in his body. And yet there was an inexplicable calmness in his heart. The contradiction tortured him.

He wanted to get angry, but he couldn't!

"Ah!"

Hulk roared loudly.

"Slam!"

Fanny took the opening and punched the giant in the face.

Left hook fist, right hook fist, left straight fist, right leg swinging!

A series of smooth and continuous moves stunned Hulk a little. He still had doubts on his face when he was knocked back, wondering if this really was the same mage that he had been fighting all this time.

Fanny didn't spare Hulk any breathing room. 'Ars Magna' was not absolute. As his consciousness blurred into battle instinct, his strength amplification was also fading.

If Hulk recovered, then his meticulously crafted chance for a first victory would disappear forever!