Nick couldn't see what was happening due to all the fog, but he could feel his ability of Null activating!
This meant that the Fog couldn't perceive him anymore!
Nick immediately jumped to his feet and released a terrifying kick.
…
Nothing.
The Fog showed no reaction.
It was almost like Nick hadn't used any kind of attack.
Naturally, Nick released several more attacks, but the Fog just didn't react.
The next moment, Nick willed his ability to stop.
The blue force appeared inside Nick's chest again, and it returned to normal within less than a second.
At the same time, Nick's ability deactivated again.
BANG!
Nick unleashed a kick, and the Fog finally reacted again.
Nick furrowed his brows.
'It sucks that I can't see my body right now. I want to know what is happening.'
'I should try around some more.'
Nick experimented with his new ability a couple of times.
Whoooosh!
Suddenly, a huge gap appeared in the Fog, and Nick's eyes widened.
Just now, Nick had activated his new ability, and while unleashing an attack, he deactivated it again.
By now, Nick had noticed that both of his abilities activated and deactivated at the same time.
When his new ability was active, Nick's old ability was also active.
However, Nick's old ability wasn't active when his new ability wasn't.
This meant that his new ability hid Nick from the Fog's perception, but when it deactivated, it perceived Nick again.
Yet, kinetic energy and inertia were a thing.
So, if Nick unleashed an attack with his ability active and deactivated it again, his attack would still have the kinetic energy of when his ability was active.
This was how Nick had managed to unleash such a strong attack just now.
Nick's eyes narrowed, and he immediately started to unleash more attacks.
The more he activated and deactivated his ability, the more familiar he became with it.
By now, the activation and deactivation times were barely 0.1 seconds.
This meant that Nick could attack the Fog like his ability was active.
It took a bit of practice, but he became pretty good at it.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Nick kept hitting the Fog in front of him, and the gaps grew larger and larger.
The color of the light on top of the locator changed from red to a weak red to a weak green.
When Nick saw that, he felt even more energized, and he continued attacking.
By now, each of Nick's attacks created a huge gap.
If he were fast enough, he could probably even jump through one of the gaps and escape.
But there were two problems.
First of all, the Nightmare was the ruler of the world in front of Nick.
And second, Nick didn't want the Fog to retreat.
Sure, Nick was powerful and could escape from the Fog, but he was certain that he could neither kill nor contain it.
It would be like catching smoke with his hands.
This was the problem with Force Specters.
They didn't have bodies to fight with, but they were insanely difficult to catch, kill, and suppress.
So, Nick just kept kicking and punching at the same opening he had already created.
He needed his locator to remain active.
The longer it remained active, the further its signal would spread.
For over an hour, Nick just kept attacking the same spot.
By now, Nick started to feel exhausted and tired.
'How long are they going to take?!'
Slowly, the gap was becoming smaller and smaller since Nick couldn't keep attacking with all of his power.
About 90 minutes after he started attacking, Nick stopped and sat down.
The Fog closed around him again, and Nick breathed heavily.
He was completely exhausted.
At least he had gotten more familiar with his new ability, even though he still couldn't tell what exactly it was doing.
He only knew that it could hide him from the Fog's perception.
'I'll continue later,' he thought.
For about an hour, Nick just recovered his strength.
Then, he continued attacking the Fog and creating an opening.
90 minutes later, Nick had to take a break again.
By now, Nick was getting tired.
He had been awake for quite a while, and he had done a lot of sports.
'Should I sleep?' Nick thought.
He really didn't like that idea.
What if the Fog attacked him while he was sleeping?
What if it had some kind of ability to poison him with some kind of gas during his sleep?
'I suspect that it probably won't do something like that, but I'm not willing to take that risk outside a Containment Unit.'
'I have to continue.'
Nick stood up again and continued punching and kicking.
The world behind the Fog was just as terrifying as in the beginning.
Luckily, it couldn't enter the Fog's world.
In a way, the Fog was protecting Nick from the Nightmare.
Nick wanted to know where he was, but he had no idea since the Nightmare just kept changing everything around him.
He could be in a tiny dark closet or in the sewers.
Only one thing was certain.
It was dark.
Dark enough to allow the Nightmare to use all its power.
Nick was getting weak again, and he wasn't sure how long he would need to rest this time.
Moving his body had become very difficult due to all of the accumulated exhaustion.
"Nick?"
Nick felt like he heard someone calling him just now, but that could also just be the Nightmare.
But then, the color of the gap changed.
From a red and black hell, it turned into an evening yellow.
At that moment, Nick could finally see where he was.
He was on top of a tall structure within the sewers.
Nick changed the angle of his attacks and created a gap diagonally above him.
There, he saw a big hole with several people looking through it.
It was the people from Dark Dream!
"Are you alright, Nick?" Wyntor shouted through the hole.
"I'm good!" Nick shouted back through heavy breaths.
Nick could see Wyntor through the gap, and Wyntor looked concerned.
"You don't look alright," Wyntor said. "You keep switching between blurry and normal."