There was just a crater in front of Nick!
Right now, Nick could see the sewers through the gigantic hole in front of him, and he could also see gigantic waves crashing against each other in the sewers.
Then, Nick noticed that half the building in front of him vanished.
It was like a 40-meter-wide conical laser had shot through the building, leaving behind a trail of destruction.
Nick was bathed in sunlight, and he felt the wind of the outside brush against his skin.
A moment later, Nick realized what had happened.
By following the pathway of the destruction, Nick's gaze was directed towards the megastructure that was the Inner City.
80% up the structure, on a balcony, Nick could see the distant silhouette of a person.
Nick wasn't sure, but he thought that the person held a huge rifle in front of them.
The only things Nick could properly see were their red hair and their uniform, which signified that they belonged to the city.
"We want to enter Kugelblitz."
Nick turned around and looked at Riker and Monica.
Both of them looked extremely calm.
It was almost like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
When Nick saw their demeanors, he was reminded of the Dreamer.
The Dreamer acted the same way as them all the time.
BANG!
Nick's gaze turned forward again as he suddenly saw someone landing in front of him.
It was a young man with red hair, and he was wearing the uniform of a Zephyx Extractor working for the city.
However, Nick noticed two things that shocked him to his core.
First of all, the emblem of the guard!
There was one huge fungus on it, two medium-sized ones, and two small ones.
This was a level five Extractor!
A Specialist!
The other thing that Nick noticed was the rifle in the man's hand!
It looked exactly like the one that Nick had seen in the hands of the man on the balcony of the Inner City.
Nick quickly looked to the balcony.
The man was gone!
Did this man move from over halfway up the megastructure towards the Dregs in less than five seconds?!
That was a distance of over 4 kilometers!
The man looked at Nick and the two people behind him.
The next moment, the man's barrier projected several diagrams and figures in front of the man's eyes.
"We are willing to join Kugelblitz," Riker spoke calmly.
The man furrowed his brows.
Then, he turned to Nick.
"You fired the signal?" he asked calmly.
Nick remembered the red storm that had consumed him.
That should have been the signal.
"Yes," Nick said weakly.
His feelings finally came to terms with the fact that he wasn't going to die, and he suddenly lost all his power.
Nick almost fell over.
"You and the two Specters behind you will be taken into custody," the man said.
SHING! SHING! SHING!
The next moment, five more people arrived, which surrounded Nick and the two Specters.
Nick could see that all five of these people were Experts.
Nick took a deep breath.
The only thing he felt was relief.
He had survived!
Two of the Experts put Zephyx Suppressors around the Specters, and one of them lifted Nick over his shoulder.
The next moment, Nick felt like his body was being torn apart as he accelerated to speeds he could have never imagined.
Nick could only tell that the Expert, who was carrying him, jumped and entered the Inner City through some kind of exit partway up the megastructure.
Then, Nick saw the blurry images of tracks flying by him.
He guessed that the Expert was rapidly jumping from platform to platform on the middle layer of the Inner City.
In less than a minute, Nick found himself standing in front of a huge column on the middle layer of the Inner City.
The gigantic column looked just like any of the other columns, except for the fact that it was hollowed out.
Nick could see several windows on the column, and he could also see a couple of people standing in front of a set of doors.
That was when Nick noticed a huge sign.
City Guard Headquarters.
However, Nick couldn't admire the building for long since he was pushed through the door almost immediately.
The Expert had already put Nick down, and now, he shoved Nick forward.
About a minute later, Nick entered one of the rooms, and he quickly recognized where he was.
A Containment Unit.
"The captain will be with you shortly," the Expert said before he exited the Containment Unit.
The next moment, Nick heard the Containment Unit power up.
By the sounds of it, this Containment Unit was not cheap.
It could probably even contain a Force Specter.
There was definitely no way for Nick to escape.
Nick took a deep breath and looked around.
The entire room was stark white, and the only furniture was a table with four chairs in the middle of the room.
Nick slowly walked over to one of the chairs and sat down.
Silence.
Only silence surrounded Nick.
At that moment, Nick realized how tense he had actually been.
It was like his chest had finally relaxed.
And yet, Nick couldn't fully relax.
There was something deep inside of him that told him that he would soon die.
The image of the starving child entered Nick's mind again.
It had proclaimed that it would consume Nick.
It had said that it would destroy Crimson Fungus City.
And worst of all, it had said that it would soon come.
This meant that it hadn't truly been there.
Had it used some kind of way to manifest its power over a great distance?
If so, how powerful was this thing?!
How far away was it?!
'It even recognized my power! It said I have the power of an Eternal!' Nick thought.
How powerful was this thing?!
Was Crimson Fungus City safe?!
Could he even escape?!
Nick's mind was going wild.
He hadn't even noticed that over 20 minutes had passed.