"What's going on? Why hasn't Noah arrived yet?"
The moment Kaito, Rensu, and Evan reached Hogwarts, they rushed straight to the Ravenclaw dormitory area. This was the designated gathering point for the groom's side, and they had chosen their old dormitory as the preparation site.
After thoroughly searching the area, their expressions darkened.
There was no sign of Noah.
That was bad.
It was already nine o'clock. The ceremony was scheduled to begin in half an hour.
A wedding wasn't something you could rush. Makeup, formal attire, and all the other details still needed to be handled. This was a highly formal event-no one was going to walk in looking sloppy.
All of that took time.
Even for someone like Noah, the Sorcerer Supreme, ignoring basic formalities wasn't an option.
Yet with only thirty minutes left, he was nowhere to be found.
The atmosphere grew unsettling.
"That guy..." Evan swallowed. "He wouldn't be trying to run away, would he?"
"Shut up!" Rensu snapped immediately. "Even if there's the tiniest chance, you don't say something like that out loud, you idiot!"
"Exactly," Kaito said, nodding. He checked his watch, his expression heavy. "But... we do need to prepare."
"Prepare for what?" Evan and Rensu asked in unison.
"Prepare..." Kaito took a deep breath. "If things go south, we run with him."
They froze.
"We're brothers. Even if it's shameful-even if it's absurd-we're brothers. It's better than letting him face everything alone. If he runs... then we run with him."
Noah stared at the orb of light in front of him.
After a long period of hesitation and mental preparation, he finally gave in to the temptation of this wildly dangerous treasure.
He took a deep breath.
Since the System had spoken, he wasn't about to ignore it.
Noah was cautious by nature, but turning his back on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity wasn't caution.
It was stupidity.
His expression hardened.
In the next instant, silver energy manifested in his hands.
Despite his reckless intent, Noah never forgot one thing-his own safety came first.
Back when he ambushed Tangram in the Warcraft universe, he had relied on spatial power to ensure he never truly stepped into danger.
Now, he felt even more uneasy.
He was in soul form.
Ironically, this was when Noah was at his strongest. His greatest power had always been his soul.
For a demigod-level existence, the soul was usually the first thing to transcend mortality. That alone allowed one to reject the World of the Dead. As a sorcerer, Noah's mental strength and soul were terrifyingly powerful.
Even so, he felt fragile.
Without a physical body, the unease never went away.
Silver power rippled outward as Noah approached the massive golden orb.
This was the closest he had ever been.
He had meditated near it countless times, but he had never dared to cross this line.
Standing before it now felt like facing a blazing sun.
At the point of closest proximity, Noah reached out.
Without hesitation.
In the next instant, an overwhelming torrent of information crashed into his mind.
His thoughts shattered.
The sheer volume was enough to rupture his consciousness, and worse-the impact threatened to tear his soul apart.
Noah clenched his teeth.
This wasn't enlightenment.
This was death.
"System..." Noah forced the word out, using nearly all his strength. "Do something. Or I'm done."
He didn't need to ask.
The moment the impact hit, the System was already acting.
The golden orb radiated pure Rules-power beyond comprehension. The only viable countermeasure was to use the Domain to neutralize and absorb the shock.
But Noah's soul had been hit too hard.
The System couldn't immediately mobilize his power to unfold the Domain.
Fortunately, the silver energy in Noah's hands reacted.
It resisted the invasion just long enough.
That brief resistance gave the System its opening.
The silver Domain expanded instantly, enveloping Noah completely.
The pressure dropped-by orders of magnitude.
The terrifying Rules and raw power poured into the Domain instead.
That wasn't necessarily good news.
Noah's Domain was still young, barely stabilized, containing only a handful of established Rules. The fact that it didn't collapse outright was due entirely to the silver energy holding everything together.
That silver power-born from the fusion of Noah's eight abilities-absorbed and resisted the impact continuously.
Without it, Noah would have died instantly.
"It has no self-awareness," the System's voice echoed again, "but the power it contains is beyond imagination. It can influence an entire universe-perhaps even more. Your intrusion triggered its core. When such power finds an outlet, it discharges violently."
"Discharge?" Noah let out a bitter laugh. "I feel insulted."
"Enough," the System said sharply. "Do you understand your situation? You have two options. Either comprehend enough of its Rules to reach a level where you can leave, or synchronize your Domain with its pulse and escape. Otherwise-"
It didn't finish.
It didn't need to.
Noah could feel it.
He couldn't move.
He couldn't even cancel his meditation and return to his body.
His expression darkened.
This was bad.
Very bad.
For the first time, Noah felt genuine regret.
Not for taking the risk-but for choosing such terrible timing.
"My wedding..." he cursed under his breath. "Damn it."
"Calm down," the System replied. "If you achieve full resonance between your Domain and the orb, you can leave."
"I know," Noah said quietly. "Can I use Time? Can I slow my own flow of time?"
"You can."
Noah nodded, already closing his eyes.
He had no other choice.
This was the price of greed.
Sighing once, he began forcing his Domain to align with the orb's pulse.
It was absurdly difficult.
Even accidental resonance had an impossibly low probability.
Still, Noah didn't stop.
With the System's assistance and the unique properties of the System Space, his available time was stretched.
Ten times the outside world.
And that was before he interfered personally.
He didn't question how the System maintained that ratio here. Combined with his own temporal control, it was enough.
Not infinite.
But sufficient.
He cleared his mind.
Ignored the chaos.
Focused.
A calm Noah with a clear objective was dangerous.
Even if he didn't fully understand the Rules, as long as his Domain absorbed enough and achieved resonance, it would be enough.
Time passed.
How much, Noah didn't know.
With layered time dilation, he had bought himself at least a month-maybe more.
He absorbed.
He learned.
He adjusted.
His Domain grew heavier, more saturated.
Yet resonance still eluded him.
Anxiety crept in.
His only solace was that his power continued to grow. The absorbed energy merged, producing more silver power with every cycle.
That silver energy strengthened his resistance.
His soul stabilized completely.
And as it grew-following the rhythm of the golden orb-Noah began to see something.
A shape.
A presence.
A figure emerging faintly within the pulsing light.
A silhouette.
A silhouette rising from the void.