In the plot of Wuthering Waves, when Scar fought Rover, he held back at every turn, was schemed against by Rover and Jinhsi, and was captured and thrown into prison.
If the Scar in the plot had shown his full strength from the very beginning, Rover—who had not yet regained his memories—might not have been able to take him down so easily.
But Noah was different.
The version Noah had drawn was Rover at full power (Spectro), possessing the combat ability of Rover at his peak.
If it weren't for the five Echoes he had hastily assembled having barely passable stats, he could have gone toe-to-toe with Scar in a direct clash.
If he had a full-constellation Rover.
Refine 5 on Emerald of Genesis.
And a fully graduated Echo set.
Then, if he still couldn't beat the shit out of Scar right now, it would only mean Scar had a remarkably clean bowel movement.
But no meant no.
At this moment, Noah could only keep dodging Scar's attacks, seizing the moments when Scar exposed a flaw to land a few slashes. This slow rate of damage left Noah feeling rather helpless.
"Weird bastard!"
Scar gritted his teeth, his words unable to hide his frustration.
Every one of his attacks seemed to be read in advance by the man in front of him.
Even when he suddenly changed his moves and patterns mid-strike, the man adapted almost instantly—and even used it as an opening to find Scar's own flaws.
He had clearly trapped this person inside a barrier on this isolated island no bigger than a basketball court, yet he couldn't even graze the corner of Noah's clothes.
If he got too emotional and struck too hard without leaving himself room to pull back, Noah would seize that flaw and slash him multiple times.
By now, the wounds on his body were so numerous that even Scar himself had lost count.
It hurt. It hurt too much.
Some of the deeper wounds, cutting to the bone, couldn't even be sealed by his spatial power and kept seeping blood.
Scar swore he had never fought a battle this suffocating. The man opposite him seemed to have fought him thousands of times before—knowing Scar's own style far better than Scar himself did.
"Aaaaaargh!"
Scar roared again, flinging out another wave of explosive poker cards. As expected, they were all dodged with leisurely ease by that guy.
They had been fighting for so long, yet he hadn't even dirtied Noah's white clothes, while he himself kept taking wound after wound.
Scar roared once more, savagely forcing his Resonance ability to overdrive. In an instant, he entered Overclocking, his entire body glowing with blinding red light.
His frame suddenly swelled, a pair of curved long horns sprouting from his forehead, black-purple flames burning all around him—like a horned demon crawling out of a hellish furnace.
His massive body instantly occupied half the space on the isolated island.
He spun his wooden longsword in a flourish, and Scar's hoarse voice emerged from the horned demon's form:
"You brought this on yourself!"
Contrary to the panic and fear he had imagined, Noah on the opposite side was not frightened but delighted, his face full of eager anticipation:
"Finally reached phase two!"
Phase two? What did phase two mean?
And even if it was phase two, what was that "finally" in front?
Scar, utterly baffled, felt a wave of unease climb up his spine, only to suppress it with explosive rage:
"You don't know what's good for you!"
Scar's eyes nearly split from fury as he swung his longsword, determined to reduce Noah to dust!
Outside the barrier.
"Liuxi's telling me there are three final Fractsidus members ambushed behind that wall ahead."
Yangyang pressed her brow, faint cyan light flickering in her eyes. Beside her, Chixia picked up a standard-issue Fractsidus cannon shell and aimed in the direction Yangyang indicated:
"Watch this!"
Boom!
The shell struck the wall precisely, blasting three figures in Fractsidus uniforms into the air. They breathed no more.
"Yay!"
Chixia excitedly high-fived Yangyang.
"We've taken care of the last Fractsidus members too. Now it's all up to Noah."
Yangyang gazed worriedly at the distant red barrier, hands clasped at her chest as she silently prayed:
You have to win, Noah.
"Yangyang, look quick—Magistrate Jinhsi is over there."
Chixia pointed far off toward Jinhsi. Yangyang followed her gaze and saw Jinhsi's trembling growing more intense.
Opposite Jinhsi, the Whisperin Erosion was releasing more and more black mist, its area of coverage gradually expanding.
"This is bad—the Magistrate can't hold that eyeball back much longer!"
Yangyang's expression changed as she quickly directed the assembled Patrollers:
"Put on your shielding bracelets and get the Jinzhou citizens out of the sound domain—fast!"
On the other side, inside the barrier.
As the fighting continued, the temperature across the entire battlefield was soaring.
Phase-two Scar had far more openings than before—and was far more lethal!
Commando of Conviction took on a layer of golden glow. Under Noah's icy gaze, it precisely stabbed into Scar's forehead horn, producing a metallic clang like clashing steel.
He made no effort to conceal his killing intent. Gripping the hilt with both hands, he yanked the blade upward in a ferocious pull. The horned demon was forced backward by the immense force of the strike, its front completely exposed.
Noah naturally wouldn't miss this rare opening. He shattered the ground beneath his feet, leaped high with blade raised, and drove Commando of Conviction deep through the horned demon's heart.
He planted both feet on the exposed white bone protruding from the chest wound, using the leverage to force Commando of Conviction downward with crushing weight.
The blade edge sparked brilliant fire against flying shreds of desiccated flesh, mercilessly parting skin and muscle like a god plowing a vast chasm into the earth.
Amid a roar of agony laced with mad fury, Noah pulled out the blade and landed gracefully, back turned to Scar, flicking Commando of Conviction in a beautiful flourish.
Black blood dripped from the blade, reflecting the image of a horned demon half-kneeling on the battlefield, right hand braced on its wooden longsword.
Its left hand clutched its front, yet could not cover the massive wound running from heart to lower-left abdomen.
A vast surge of Resonance power gathered toward the palm of the man before it, carrying the scorching heat and radiance of the sun itself.
Scar could only watch helplessly, powerless to resist even slightly, unable even to let out a single roar.
"Moment of resonance!"
The vast power detonated in a thunderous explosion.
Scar's enormous frame was hurled backward, and when it landed again, he had been forced back into human form.
"Cough—how could I... lose to a nobody like you?"
Scar knelt prone on the ground, coughing up blood incessantly as the surrounding blood-red barrier slowly dissipated.
Noah advanced slowly with Commando of Conviction in hand, the blade tip scraping the ground with an ear-piercing screech, carving a straight furrow—like the trail left by Death itself approaching.
"Tell me—where is Rover?"
"Hehehehehe..."
Scar lowered his head, letting out a low laugh of unclear meaning. He glanced sideways at the distant Patrollers leading Jinzhou civilians out of the sound domain:
"Where Rover is... do you still need to ask me that?"
"Nonsense!"
Noah found it utterly baffling and stabbed Commando of Conviction into Scar's abdomen:
"Who else would I ask if not you!"
He pulled Commando of Conviction free and asked again:
"Tell me—where is Rover?"
Scar clutched the wound with one hand and raised his head to stare coldly at Noah.
Having been forcibly knocked out of Overclocking, he needed a little time to recover his strength—but that did not mean Noah could humiliate him with such brainless questions.
He answered with stubborn defiance:
"Pointless conversation. I won't repeat myself."
And then he took another stab.
"Talk or not!"
Seeing Scar remain silent, Noah grew increasingly irritable.
As a professional substitute player, he knew that basically every supervisor-level member of Fractsidus was a die-hard Rover fan, but he hadn't expected them to be this die-hard.
He just wanted to know Rover's whereabouts—why was it so hard!
His right hand thrust in and pulled out the blade so fast it became an afterimage:
"Talk or not! Talk or not! Talk or not!"
"Stop!"
Unable to endure the pain any longer, Scar finally spoke. Dignity, humiliation—none of it mattered anymore. If the pile-driving stabs continued, he was going to die.
So Scar chose to confess what he believed to be the truth:
"Rover has already been rescued out of the sound domain by your people."
Noah froze for a moment, glancing toward the exit of the sound domain. He saw exactly the group of Patrollers leading Jinzhou civilians away, his mind racing.
First, Rover could not possibly be one of the Patrollers.
Second, Rover could not possibly be one of the evacuated Jinzhou civilians.
Therefore—
Scar was lying!
A surge of anger rose in him, and Noah stabbed into Scar's abdomen once more:
"You dare play me!"