"Found him?"
Noah asked the Nova Corps officer directly, without any courtesy.
He recognized the man.
Roman Dey. That was his name.
The slightly plump officer who would later help Peter and the others. In another future, he would become Xandar's administrative head. This time, Xandar hadn't suffered catastrophic losses. Aside from economic damage, nothing critical had happened. The former administrator was still alive, so Roman hadn't risen to that position yet.
Noah felt no guilt.
He had essentially saved Xandar.
And Roman's gaze toward Noah was filled with genuine gratitude. This had nothing to do with future achievements. It was simply appreciation for what Noah had done here.
"Yes. We found him," Roman nodded.
"Our pilots detected signs of life while clearing the ruins. A heavily damaged escape pod."
"An escape pod?" Noah raised an eyebrow.
"Someone survived? Who?"
Roman hesitated for a moment.
"It's Ronan. And... Thanos's daughter."
"They're both critically injured and unconscious. The pod barely kept them alive."
As he spoke, Roman couldn't help glancing again at the young man before him. Noah looked barely twenty. The age felt unreal. The power behind that appearance was even more unsettling.
Yondu, standing nearby, lifted a brow as well.
Did this kid know Thanos's daughter would be here? Or was his luck just absurd?
Asgard didn't fear Thanos. But they didn't like provoking him either.
Accepting a commission from an outsider to deal with things here meant that even if Thanos's daughter died "by accident," the responsibility wouldn't fall on Asgard. It would fall on the mission's client.
And if that client happened to be a Ravager...
Good luck tracking them without coordinates.
That was the smart way to do business.
"Thanos's daughter?" Thor's eyes lit up instantly.
"No."
Noah shut him down without hesitation.
"If she were on your level, she wouldn't have ended up like this."
"...She's that weak?" Thor asked, disappointed.
"Thanos slaughters civilizations," Noah replied calmly.
"But he also 'adopts' children and raises them personally. You didn't know?"
"There's a ceiling to talent. His daughters never reached his level."
Thor let out a breath.
Disappointment replaced curiosity.
No worthy opponent.
Just another fragile existence.
If she couldn't even survive a basic strike, fighting her would feel no different from bullying.
Thor lost interest immediately.
As they followed Roman deeper into the ruins, Noah noticed something.
Gamora wasn't here.
Neither was Peter Quill's group.
He didn't dwell on it.
They would end up at Ego eventually. Ego was actively searching for Peter, and space travel wasn't cheap. They'd need work. Trouble would follow, as always.
If needed, Noah could just have Thor keep an eye on them.
Soon, they reached what functioned as a makeshift medical facility.
Ronan lay on the bed.
Pathetic.
His left arm was gone. His body was scorched black. The blue skin of a Kree had been burned into something closer to charcoal. He looked less like a conqueror and more like a corpse waiting to finish dying.
Beside him lay Nebula.
Noah studied her quietly.
Pitiful.
Her body had been dismantled piece by piece by Thanos. Flesh replaced with machinery. A living person turned into something half-human, half-machine.
The advantage was resilience.
Terrifying recovery speed.
Still, it had limits.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have died so easily in that other future.
Noah sensed faint consciousness within her.
A memory surfaced.
Her brain, too... replaced.
"How did she retain her self-awareness?" Noah wondered briefly.
He shook his head.
That could wait.
"Keep an eye on her," Noah said flatly.
"Don't let her escape. She'll be sent to Asgard."
Whether she heard him or not didn't matter.
Then Noah turned back to Ronan.
"He's in rough shape," Thor commented, amused.
"Can he even be saved?"
"No," Noah replied calmly.
"There's no need."
He stepped to Ronan's bedside.
Noah raised his hand.
Clawed his fingers through empty air.
A faint golden glow seeped from Ronan's chest.
Slowly, Noah lifted his hand, fingers tightening-like he had grabbed something invisible.
To everyone else, his hand was empty.
The scene felt wrong.
Unnatural.
Thor felt it.
He released divine energy instinctively.
A shadow flickered into view within Noah's grasp.
Gasps erupted.
"What the hell-"
"A soul?"
"He extracted a soul?!"
"This man-"
"Shut up!"
Someone hissed sharply.
"Unless you want to die."
Noah barely reacted.
Demon. Monster. Devil.
Words like that didn't bother him.
Wasn't the word mage itself tied to magic and demons in plenty of cultures?
The stronger a mage became, the closer they stepped toward that line.
He could cross galaxies in an instant.
Erase worlds.
Tear souls from bodies.
The difference was simple.
He lived in reality.
Not hell.
And who said demons only live in hell?
Noah chuckled inwardly.
Golden power surged.
The soul in his grasp stirred.
Awakened.
Even Thor blinked.
Noah spoke, addressing only Ronan.
"Do you know about Ego?"
Ronan's soul twisted violently.
"Who are you?"
His awareness snapped to his body-or what remained of it. The connection was still there.
Then he understood.
This young man.
This was the one who had done this to him.
"You..." Ronan growled.
"Who are you?!"
"Earth," Noah answered calmly.
"We met nineteen years ago."
"My teacher struck first. You ran."
"Consider this repayment."
"...You!" Ronan snarled.
"Is this illusion? Magic?"
"You're dead," Noah said simply.
Any lingering hope shattered.
In another timeline, the Power Stone ended him.
Here, the executioner had changed.
Nothing else had.
"Don't think death saves you," Noah continued.
"If I can extract your soul, I can deal with it."
It was a bluff.
Noah couldn't truly control souls.
But Ronan didn't know that.
His expression collapsed.
After a long silence, Ronan finally spoke.
"I'll tell you everything."
"But I want one thing."
"Speak," Noah said.
"I am a warrior."
"Grant me a swift death."
"No problem."
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