"This can't continue."
Watching the oversized tangram grow stronger as the fight dragged on, Noah saw his Domain nearing collapse.
It had to be said-once power reached a certain threshold, even someone with poor technique became terrifying.
Of course, this Naaru wasn't an amateur.
It was just that, in Noah's eyes, its attack patterns and burst timing were crude.
Perhaps Naaru simply weren't built for combat.
If this thing fought like Dormammu, Noah's Time Loop would have reset countless times already.
But it hadn't even managed to trigger the loop.
Nor had it forced Noah to use Time Reversal to return to peak condition.
Still, in terms of raw suppression, it was undeniably monstrous.
The state of Noah's Domain made that very clear.
Even so, Noah wasn't panicking.
Time Reversal alone meant he had room to breathe.
More importantly, he had found an opening.
What surprised him was that just as the Naaru was about to shatter the Domain, it suddenly stopped.
That made Noah cautious.
In a fight at this level, there was no such thing as mercy.
So what was it doing?
Noah stuck to his plan.
"Can we talk properly now?"
A'dal's calm voice echoed as he looked at the stranger whose left eye was bleeding.
His tone was steady.
Cold.
"Tell me who you are."
"And why you attacked me."
"???"
Noah stared at the golden Naaru.
Blankly.
He didn't understand a single word.
Awkward.
"Do you wish to learn the Light?"
Seeing no response, A'dal continued.
"If you seek to sense the Light, I can guide you."
"I can even return you to the Light's embrace, child."
As he spoke, a gentle wave of Holy Light drifted toward Noah.
It was slow.
Deliberately so.
An obvious gesture of goodwill.
Unfortunately, Noah still couldn't understand him.
And even if he could, he wouldn't trust it.
Between his instincts and the memory of Illidan's encounter with Xe'ra, trusting a Naaru wasn't happening.
As he watched the slow-moving Light cautiously, Noah noticed something.
A'dal had dropped his Holy Shield.
That was an opening too good to ignore.
With that chance-and everything he had prepared-Noah knew he would get what he wanted.
The language barrier made everything absurdly awkward.
Noah stared at the drifting Light, then deliberately opened his Domain's defenses and let it enter.
A'dal seemed pleased.
Even without a face, Noah could feel the shift in emotion.
Then-
Shock.
Followed by fury.
In that instant, A'dal realized what the green energy was.
And it terrified him.
Time.
A'dal was wrapped in temporal power and frozen completely.
Being locked in time was horrifying.
A'dal was nearly eternal and didn't fear erosion.
But solidified time meant absolute helplessness.
Holy power erupted violently as he tried to break free.
At the same moment, space behind him shattered.
A pale gold longsword tore through time and space, slashing toward him without hesitation.
A'dal had misjudged his opponent.
He hadn't expected such a ruthless ambush.
The Holy Light detonated.
Just before the blade could take his head, A'dal regained movement.
But it was too late.
A chunk of his body was carved away.
A roar of rage and pain echoed across the land.
Blinding Light shot into the sky, instantly blowing the entire Mirror Dimension apart.
"Got it."
Noah's Domain was shredded, but the remaining fragments still shielded him.
Clearing the lingering holy energy, his body shifted to deep blue.
The pale gold mana vanished completely.
In the next moment, Noah appeared before the fallen fragment.
A plate.
A golden steel plate.
As he grabbed it, blood burst from his left eye like a fountain.
At the same time, a phantom black dragon manifested behind him, roaring savagely at A'dal.
Noah covered his eye.
Deep blue light flared as spatial energy engulfed him.
Before the ocean of Holy Light could consume him, he vanished.
What unsettled Noah most was what he heard just before leaving.
A word he understood.
"Neltharion!"
...
Collapsed on the ground like a dead dog, Noah gasped for breath.
That final moment had been terrifying.
The Holy Light hadn't felt warm at all.
It felt like incineration.
He had genuinely thought he would die.
Fortunately, effort paid off.
Looking at the golden plate beneath him, Noah felt genuine joy.
He had survived.
And the reward made it worth it.
The suffocating holy power radiating from the fragment made his left eye throb even harder.
Noah rubbed it, feeling slightly miserable.
He finally had a piece of the tangram.
Just one.
But it was vastly more dangerous than the smaller black or purple fragments.
Unfortunately, the holy power made his left eye even more unstable.
At this rate, he wondered if blood loss might kill him first.
"And that shout just now..."
As he cast a spell to stop the bleeding, Noah frowned.
"Was that Azerothian?"
"Did he shout 'Neltharion'?"
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Under pressure, the Black Dragon's power had flared from his left eye, pinning the blame neatly on Neltharion.
Honestly, that wasn't bad.
Let the Naaru hunt Neltharion.
What did that have to do with him?
Noah wasn't a dragon.
Certainly not a black one.
He was just a mage.
Looking around, Noah realized he was back in Karazhan.
That alone was a relief.
Sensing mana fluctuations, he immediately threw the golden plate into the Mirror Dimension.
He had no idea whether that Naaru could track fragments of itself.
Better safe than dead.
He had caused enough trouble already.
And his current condition was terrible.
If that thing chased him here, he'd be in serious trouble.
"Those damned Naaru even have spaceships," Noah muttered.
"If it really comes after me, I'm finished."
"Actually, you don't need to worry that much," the System said.
"Even if it pursues you, you can return to Draenor. Without spatial authority, it cannot catch you."
"Yeah. Brilliant plan," Noah sighed.
"Got the goods. Nearly died for it."
"You almost did," the System replied calmly.
"I nearly activated spatial authority multiple times."
During the fight, the System had been ready to fully unleash the Space Stone within the Chrono-Star.
Before the battle, Noah had handed control over completely.
He'd been afraid he wouldn't react fast enough and get killed instantly.
The System had managed his Domain while handling countless other tasks.
Multitasking clearly wasn't an issue.
Thinking about the Domain again made Noah's expression darken.
Its further evolution didn't make him happy.
It just annoyed him.
His combat power had undeniably increased.
But if all that effort ended up wasted, he'd lose his mind.
"System... about my Domain..." Noah asked hesitantly.
"As I said, you're an idiot," the System replied flatly.
"I warned you. You knew it yourself."
"Since the fight with Dormammu, your Domain has been at its peak, ready to advance at any moment. Why did you forget?"
"Stop lecturing!" Noah snapped, his face red.
"I just want to know if I wasted my time!"
"And without the Domain, how was I supposed to block that thing?"
"You can fuse it. With me here, that is not an issue."
"Honestly, you had better options."
"You could have used the Chrono-Star directly."
"Launch a sneak attack with time and space."
"Wouldn't that have been simpler?"
"I didn't know he couldn't resist that power!" Noah shot back.
"You said he was tenth rank or higher. How could I not be careful?"
"In short," the System replied, "you are both a coward and a fool."
"Stop making excuses."
"Why didn't you attack from the Mirror Dimension, cut off a piece, and leave?"
"Is that really so hard?"
"...."
"And while we're at it," the System added, "couldn't you have just let the cat swallow him first?"
"And then spit him out?"