It’s Just Magic (Third Update)

"Who would be looking for you this late? Avril? Didn’t she come here with you?"

The Ancient One watched Noah frown at his phone and couldn’t help asking.

Indeed, it was around four or five in the morning at Kamar-Taj. No matter how one looked at it, calling at this hour seemed inappropriate. It was probably only two or three in the morning in London as well.

"It’s from New York. You’ve met this guy before—his name is Fury."

Noah’s expression was strange. While he silently praised Egghead for getting him out of that situation, he had no idea why Egghead was calling him.

"Fury? Oh, that kid from that S.H.I.E.L.D. thing?" The Ancient One seemed to remember something before patting Noah’s shoulder. "Aren’t you going to answer it?"

"All right. Let’s see what he wants." Noah nodded and answered the call, then said in a sleepy voice, "Fury, you’d better have a good explanation. Do you know what time it is?"

"I’m sorry, Noah. I wouldn’t have called if it weren’t urgent. You know that."

Fury’s voice was full of bitterness over the phone. "Damn it, Tony’s armor secrets were leaked. He’s fighting Obadiah—the one you predicted—in downtown New York!"

"A prediction?" The Ancient One raised an eyebrow and looked at Noah in confusion.

Noah immediately covered the phone’s microphone with his hand and quietly explained, "Divination magic. I learned it a long time ago and happened to try it out. I saw some images."

"I see." The Ancient One nodded, then quickly said, "That thing isn’t reliable. Use it less in the future, understand? If nothing unexpected happens, the future you will be able to see will be far broader."

A broader future?

Noah raised an eyebrow. What did that mean?

Then something occurred to him, and he quickly came to a conclusion that left him not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Could it be that The Ancient One intended for him to become the Sorcerer Supreme?

Noah soon shook his head. They could talk about that after The Ancient One met Strange.

Besides, Noah had never thought too highly of himself. Even if he had such tendencies, he would never forget life’s three great misconceptions.

After nodding seriously, Noah removed his hand from the microphone and said, "Don’t worry. I think Tony can handle everything."

"Please! Noah, don’t give me that ‘I think’ crap, okay? You already warned that guy, and he still fell for it!"

Fury’s voice quickly came through. "Can you do me a favor and come take a look? You protect the peace and stability of the world. If Obadiah wins and all those suits get fitted with weapons—"

"We can deal with them easily." Noah rolled his eyes. If it came down to it, couldn’t Magneto Erik just take a stroll outside?

But Noah soon noticed The Ancient One’s thoughtful expression, which puzzled him. Then, to Noah’s surprise, The Ancient One actually spoke.

"Is it Tony Stark? Do you know him?"

"Uh, yes. A few years ago, I asked him to make some things for me, so we got acquainted. Recently, he came to my Sanctum."

"Is that so? Then go take a look. In the future I can see, he is an important person."

"…"

The Ancient One wanted him to go check on Tony?

The corner of Noah’s mouth twitched. It seemed Tony really was one of those people born with a protagonist’s halo, popular everywhere he went.

As for that last sentence, Noah didn’t take it to heart at all. The Ancient One could at most see as far as the events of Avengers 3. Tony’s role in the original future was far greater than that.

After nodding, Noah spoke directly into the phone. "All right, I’ll go take a look. But to avoid unnecessary trouble, please move every surveillance camera and anything like that out of my way. No problem?"

"Of course!" Fury replied so quickly it was frightening. "I’ll move them all right now. You can come over anytime!"

After Obadiah tore out Tony’s reactor, Tony had been left on the verge of death.

He regretted it. He regretted not simply bringing along an agent from that logistics bureau when he went to investigate Obadiah.

Then this terrible situation would never have happened.

Am I really going to report to Hell? Tony thought to himself. He found it all absurdly amusing.

Four years ago, he had witnessed something he simply couldn’t understand. Back then, Tony had almost believed what those people said.

Over the next four years, Tony had constantly wondered what those two people had wanted from him.

Had they merely wanted him to make some damn social media app?

Or an artificial intelligence terminal?

Tony couldn’t figure it out. Not until he nearly died in Afghanistan, understood the meaning behind some of those words, and returned home did Tony realize that he had been fucking fooled!

Feeling his heartbeat gradually slow, Tony shook his head. "I thought I’d escaped death, but in the end, I still couldn’t escape this damned scene?"

He had spent four years living in fear. He had finally managed to shake that feeling, only to end up here anyway.

Tony wondered whether he was truly destined to die like this, then roll down into Hell while his annoying father laughed at him from Heaven.

"Wait! I don’t want to die like this, and it’s not like I have no chance!"

Suddenly, Tony seemed to remember something and immediately struggled to rise.

He remembered that there was another reactor in his lab—his original reactor!

Tony had nearly thrown that reactor into the trash back then, but his assistant Pepper Potts had kept it, turned it into a keepsake, and given it to him.

Now, it was Tony’s last lifeline!

Leaning against the wall, Tony made his way toward the lab step by step. He could feel his heartbeat growing slower and slower.

He didn’t even need a mirror to guess that his face was deathly pale by now.

But that could not stop his will to survive. He had to live. He could not allow something he invented to become the root of chaos in this world!

He took the elevator and passed through the coded doors. By the time he reached his lab, Tony was already crawling forward.

But just as he was about to reach the reactor, he had no strength left.

Every step he had taken before had exhausted all his strength. Now, Tony was completely spent.

His heartbeat was growing slower and slower. Even though the reactor was only one step away, he could not touch it.

"Is this the end?"

Tony barely even had the strength to breathe. Though he still didn’t want to give up, it seemed he had no choice now.

But at that moment, a mechanical arm grabbed the finely packaged reactor and delivered it before him!

Tony froze for a moment, but he reacted quickly, snatching up the reactor that carried his only hope.

Tony knew that mechanical arm. It was that silly "idiot" that loved spraying him with fire suppressant foam regardless of the situation.

Tony took a deep breath, smashed the glass case holding the reactor, quickly grabbed it, and shoved it into the socket in his chest.

In an instant, Tony felt as though life had returned to his body, and his heart began beating slowly but powerfully again.

"Thank you, good boy." Tony braced himself against the table and stood up. "Now, it’s time to settle this!"

When Noah stepped through a portal and arrived at Stark Industries, the sight before him genuinely startled him.

Noah had not expected the battle to be this brutal. Especially Tony—he was being hung up and beaten senseless by Obadiah!

That was right, hung up and beaten senseless!

Who knew why Obadiah’s armor was still basically intact while Tony’s armor had been smashed to pieces?

More importantly, Noah noticed that the reactor on Tony’s chest had already grown extremely dim, while Pepper Potts was nowhere to be seen.

"What’s going on here?" Noah rubbed his nose. "Why isn’t Miss Potts here? Who’s going to help Obadiah administer electric shock therapy now?"

After thinking it over, Noah decided he should save Tony first.

Tony looked to be in bad shape right now. More accurately, he was in an extremely bad state, and Obadiah seemed to have had enough fun.

He threw Tony to the ground, and rocket launchers emerged one after another from the arms of his armor!

"How ironic, Tony. You wanted weapons to disappear from the world, but you created the most powerful weapon of all!"

Obadiah’s voice carried a mechanical distortion and was full of mockery. "Now, taste the consequences of your own actions!"

The next moment, Obadiah’s rockets launched!

But just then, Obadiah discovered that, for some reason, all his rockets had flown off in different directions. Even more incomprehensibly, everything around him seemed to have changed drastically!

He could not keep his footing at all. Only after he jumped up and activated his thrusters to maintain flight did things improve slightly.

What was even stranger was that Tony had clearly been lying on the ground, yet the building had somehow flipped over. In Obadiah’s eyes, Tony had completely escaped Earth’s gravity and was now hanging upright from the ceiling!

"Wh-what is this?"

Obadiah was utterly bewildered. This had completely exceeded the scope of his knowledge and understanding. It had even surpassed the realm of physics!

"Nothing. It’s just magic." As soon as the words left his mouth, a glowing circle suddenly appeared before him.

As the circle continued expanding, a figure slowly stepped out from within it!