As the Avengers of this universe talked with Noah and his companions, a single emotion quietly spread among them.
Jealousy.
Pure, unfiltered jealousy.
In their eyes, Noah's universe was impossibly perfect.
Any misfortune.
Any disaster.
It all seemed solvable.
Effortlessly.
That universe had an enormous base of mages. Those mages had even established schools to train future generations.
And Noah?
He was the best of the best among them.
One could even say that Noah had changed the entire magical world.
Their universe didn't have this.
Or rather, whatever magical system once existed had vanished at some point in history.
Magic still existed, but the mages here were completely different.
With Noah's intervention alone, look at how much his universe had changed.
Tony became Noah's apprentice.
And his friend.
And a pioneer who fused magic and technology.
Loki, after encountering Noah, went from a mere accomplice to someone who deliberately lured the Chitauri into a trap.
That transformation left Fat Thor stunned.
Because Noah's existence revealed possibilities Thor had never dared to imagine.
It was everything he had yearned for.
And that made him painfully jealous of his alternate self.
Then there was S.H.I.E.L.D.
In Noah's universe, it still existed-but HYDRA within it had been almost completely eradicated.
Noah had known Fury for a long time.
They had always been on good terms.
With Noah's help, Fury reclaimed control, eliminated HYDRA, and rebuilt an agency to deal with Earth and extraterrestrial threats.
Because of Noah, even some less aggressive alien races had entered Earth peacefully.
Ultron never appeared.
Sokovia was never lifted into the sky.
As for future accords?
That was beyond their knowledge.
Those things happened later, in Noah's universe.
And then there was Thor.
He knew the source of his power early.
He had already obtained Stormbreaker.
Even though he hadn't reached his peak yet, he would never fear a newly freed Hela.
Most importantly-
Frigga never died.
Because of Noah, Odin never went to the realm of the dead to find her.
Behind all of this stood a single figure.
Someone who quietly altered tragedies before anyone even noticed.
"Damn it..." Fat Thor let out a bitter laugh.
"Why didn't our universe have someone like you?"
"Probably because you don't have a magic academy," Noah said casually.
"You know, I graduated from Hogwarts. Before I was eleven, I didn't even know magic existed-until a clumsy owl delivered me a letter."
That alone was a prerequisite.
Without the wizarding world, Noah might never have existed at all.
The Avengers understood this.
And it only made them sigh.
Why did magic disappear here?
If their universe had someone like Noah-
They already knew the weight carried by the Sorcerer Supreme in his world.
Even without that title, Noah was the true power behind the British magical world.
If such a person had existed here...
Would they really have lost so badly?
Even if Thanos came, would he have stood a chance?
With mages swarming him, he probably wouldn't have even touched the Infinity Stones.
He would have died on Earth.
"By the way," Noah suddenly said, breaking the silence, "there's something I've always wanted to ask."
The Avengers looked up.
"In my memory, Natasha was also an Avenger. And when Banner came to our universe, we saw fragments of his memories..."
"What?" Banner stiffened instantly.
"You saw my memories?"
Then his expression darkened.
The others reacted the same way.
They lowered their heads in silence.
They were mourning.
The woman who gave her life to save this universe.
"Alright," Noah said flatly.
"Then she's dead."
He shrugged, his tone indifferent.
"How did she die?"
"Why ask?" Captain Rogers frowned.
He clearly didn't want to bring it up.
"Then forget it." Noah spread his hands.
"She died by my hand."
Clint Barton spoke quietly.
"To obtain the Soul Stone, a loved one must be sacrificed. The one who should have died... was me."
Silence fell again.
None of them expected such a method.
Thor and Loki raised their eyebrows.
All of them following Noah carried Infinity Stones.
The only one they hadn't obtained-
Was the Soul Stone.
At that moment, Thor and Loki felt genuine relief.
Fortunately, Noah had never gone looking for it.
Otherwise, no one knew what would have happened.
"Sacrifice?" Noah tilted his head.
"From the name alone, it should be a sacrifice of the soul. So tell me-was it a sacrifice to the Soul Stone, or to the guardian of the Soul Stone?"
"Does that matter?" Loki asked, eyeing him warily.
He had a bad feeling.
"If it's a sacrifice to the Soul Stone..." Noah raised his hand slightly.
The next instant-
The orange-glowing stone on Barton's body flew straight into the air, stopping in front of Noah.
"The soul would be inside the stone."
"Hey!" Tony snapped, activating his armor.
"What are you trying to do?"
"If I wanted to take it," Noah replied calmly, "you would've been finished the moment I restrained you."
He smiled.
"Relax. This is just an experiment."
A faint blue glow appeared around Noah.
Thor and Loki exchanged a glance and immediately stepped forward, shielding him.
The Avengers could only watch.
If it were just Noah, they might have acted.
But Thor and Loki were different.
Fat Thor would never attack Loki in his current state.
And no one wanted to fight Thor.
They were stuck.
All they could do was observe.
What confused them was the blue glow.
It felt familiar.
Of course it did.
Since Noah had removed the Time Stone from the Star of Space-Time, the only stone remaining on him was the Space Stone.
The best way to counter an Infinity Stone-
Was another Infinity Stone.
Noah understood this principle well.
As the powers of the two stones interfered, his magic found a gap.
It slipped directly into the Soul Stone.
"System," Noah said inwardly, "collect the Soul Stone's energy."
This was a task he had delayed for years.
He wasn't just curious whether sacrifices truly trapped souls inside the stone.
He had been waiting for its energy.
"Energy collecting..."
"Energy collection complete..."
"Energy analyzing..."
"Energy analysis complete. Pure soul power detected."
Pure soul power.
Noah frowned.
It was a term he'd never heard before.
But thinking about it, it made sense.
If the Soul Stone didn't contain soul-based power, that would be strange.
He didn't dwell on it.
He was waiting for his reward.
"System," Noah asked, a little impatient, "what's my reward?"
"Power synthesis in progress. Unable to disclose at this time."
The voice remained mechanical.
Noah could only shrug.
To be honest, he was curious about what the fusion of six Infinity Stone powers would become.
But this wasn't something he could rush.
"By the way," Noah added, "can you locate Natasha's soul within the Soul Stone?"
"It can be attempted. Pure soul power originates from souls. A search is possible."
"Then go find it."
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