Chapter 209. Intentions
BOOM!
The collision was silent in the vacuum, yet the psychic shockwave was deafening. Noah's emerald beam hammered into the violet torrent unleashed by the Living Ship, the two forces grinding against each other until the Abyssal energy was unceremoniously shoved back.
Corvus and Proxima didn't wait to see the result. They moved with a newfound, sickening fluidity, gliding through the debris as if they were swimming in deep water. Proxima's transformation had gifted her with more than just armor; two sleek, organic thrusters had sprouted from her back, venting bursts of violet fire that propelled her through the airless void with predatory speed. She banked hard, escaping the splash zone of the magical explosion.
The Living Ship groaned, its fleshy hull rippling as it realized its primary attack had been swatting aside like a nuisance. It didn't try a second blast. Instead, its surface erupted with hundreds of small, twitching tentacles. They wove together in a frantic blur, creating a shimmering, multi-layered shield of geometric energy plates that hummed with defensive power.
Noah's beam struck the shield with the force of a falling moon.
Hiss~
The green light washed over the barrier, melting the first few layers into molten slag, but the ship's regenerative properties were insane. As soon as one plate shattered, two more grew in its place, fueled by the endless well of the Abyss.
From the periphery, Corvus saw his opening. While Noah was locked in a struggle with the ship's defenses, the monster unleashed a devastating mental wave. His tentacles thrashed, weaving a pattern in the dark as he sent his organic energy blades screaming toward Noah. Proxima joined the fray, her hands glowing as she unleashed a barrage of violet micro-missiles—living projectiles that banked and curved toward their target like hungry insects.
To any observer, it would have looked like an entire fleet was laying siege to a single man. But these were no longer machines; they were organisms of war, refined by the void into something far more lethal.
Noah watched the incoming storm with a calm that bordered on boredom. He didn't move to dodge. Instead, he drew in a deep, spiritual breath, feeling the pulse of the World Rune in his marrow.
[Force Pulse!]
A spherical wave of pure, concentrated Abyssal energy erupted from his body. It wasn't a blast of heat or light, but a ripple in reality itself. The mental waves shattered upon impact, the energy blades were ground into dust, and the living missiles evaporated like ice cubes dropped into a furnace. Within a second, the entire assault had been erased, leaving only the cold silence of space.
Corvus, however, didn't look discouraged. In fact, beneath his chitinous mask, his lips curled into a hideous, knowing smile. He knew he couldn't kill the man they called the Storm Swordsman. He had learned that lesson the hard way on the blood-soaked streets of Earth. No matter how much power he stole—whether it was the yellow fire of the Mind Stone or the violet rot of the Abyss—Noah was always a step ahead, always stronger, always faster.
He had accepted this bitter truth. He wasn't here to win a war. He was here to commit a robbery.
A few hundred yards away, the Mind Stone was drifting. It was a small, golden pebble in the vastness of space, still pulsing with a soft, rhythmic light after its violent encounter with the Abyss. While his ship and his companion kept Noah busy, Corvus had quietly extended a single, hair-thin tentacle. He had shifted its pigment to a matte, non-reflective black, making it nearly invisible against the backdrop of the starless void. It was inching toward the stone like a snake in the grass.
He had a plan. With the Mind Stone back in his grasp, he could amplify his new Abyssal frequency a thousandfold. He wouldn't just be a monster; he would be a god. He could broadcast the corruption directly into the minds of every sentient being in the galaxy, turning them into a mindless legion of the void. And he would be their master.
He just needed to reach it. He just needed to run.
Noah's attention seemed fixed on the Living Ship. Corvus's hidden tentacle was now mere feet from the golden prize. His pulse quickened. He began to channel his energy, preparing for a sudden, desperate burst of speed to seize the stone and vanish into the darkness.
Almost there... he thought, his clawed hand twitching in anticipation. Got you!
He lunged. His tentacle whipped out, hungry and desperate.
But the universe suddenly felt very small. The space in front of him began to stretch and warp. The Mind Stone, which had been within arm's reach, suddenly looked as though it were miles away. The light, the debris, even his own outstretched limb—everything became distorted, pulled into an infinite, recursive loop.
"No!" Corvus screamed, his psychic voice cracking with frustration. He pushed himself forward, his thrusters screaming, but for every inch he moved, the distance grew by a mile.
He knew this feeling. It was the same invisible cage Noah had put him in back on Earth. The Space Stone was laughing at him. He was trapped in a spatial pocket, a hamster on a wheel made of starlight.
Noah didn't even look back at him. He simply reached out a casual hand.
The space between his palm and the Mind Stone didn't just shorten; it ceased to exist. In a flicker of blue light, the stone vanished from its spot in the void and reappeared in Noah's open hand. It sat there, humming softly, as if it were happy to be home.
"That makes two," Noah murmured, his eyes reflecting the golden glow. Behind him, the Tesseract flared in a supportive sapphire pulse, as if welcoming its brother back into the fold. "I suppose I'm a few steps closer to a very famous snap."
"Curse you!" Corvus hissed, his face darkening with a mixture of rage and pure, unadulterated terror. The stone was gone. His plan was a pile of ash. He looked at Noah, then at the vast, uncaring cosmos, and for the first time, he realized he wasn't the hunter. He was the prey. And he was out of places to hide.
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