Nick looked with terror at Simon.
"That is, when you fail," Simon added.
Nick felt like his emotions were going crazy.
"What do you mean?" Nick asked nervously.
"Your perception of the world and powerful people is correct," Simon said.
"I would exchange a John for a city."
"I would be willing to kill you for the good of Crimson Fungus City."
"Your death would stop Envy from trying to get here."
"Right now, getting your power is probably one of Envy's highest priorities."
Simon sat back down.
"Envy's ability is the absorption of human abilities," Simon explained.
Nick blinked a couple of times in confusion.
"The Zephyx Synchronizer below your neck can somewhat copy the ability of a Zephyx, and Envy can absorb the Zephyx Synchronizer of a human and obtain a blueprint of whichever Specter acted as the blueprint for the Extractor's ability."
"Envy has consumed hundreds of different abilities, giving him an incomparably vast arsenal of different powers."
"However, the powers that Envy absorbed can't grow past the base level of the original Specter from which the power came."
"Because of that, most of Envy's powers aren't even useful against Protectors on their own."
"He has to use tens of abilities at the same time to endanger a Protector."
"However, he also has five abilities from Fallen, which already make him extremely dangerous."
"If Envy were to get the power of an Eternal, his power would rival the power of an average Adversary without even being one, and even worse, he would be able to more easily become an Adversary."
"Essentially, Envy would transform from the servant of a very powerful Adversary to a new very powerful Adversary."
"That might actually be the very thing that breaks the balance of the war."
"If Envy manages to consume your power, all of humanity will get endangered."
The more Nick heard, the more he felt like he should die.
Just by existing, he was endangering all of humanity.
Silence.
"So, I should kill myself?" he asked.
"If you fail," Simon said.
"I'm not sure what you mean," Nick answered.
"What's your name?" Simon asked.
"Nick."
"Nick, you knew very well what it meant to tell me about your ability," Simon said. "You knew that your death would be almost certain."
"What do you think? How many people would have done that?" Simon asked.
Nick looked at the table with furrowed brows.
"I don't know," he said.
"Nearly nobody," Simon said. "Nearly everyone would have tried everything in their power to keep their power a secret."
"They wouldn't care about how many people they endanger. As long as they could live for a bit longer, they would be willing to sacrifice thousands of people."
"But you were willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of a city."
"I know how cities are, and I can tell you that Crimson Fungus City is neither one of the best cities nor one of the worst. It's in the middle in terms of quality of life for common people."
"Someone that grew up in the slums of the city, or the Dregs as you call it, will only see the worst parts of the city."
"And yet, you were still willing to sacrifice yourself," Simon said.
The tone of Simon's voice had turned warmer.
"You are what Aegis strives to be," Simon said with a sigh.
Nick just looked with discomfort at Simon.
"No organization is without internal conflicts, and Aegis is not an exception," Simon said. "Many of the Protectors are forced to fight for humanity. Without the Shields keeping them suppressed, most of the Protectors would just stay inside a city and keep being normal Extractors."
"They wouldn't even try to fight against the Specters that view humanity as their enemy."
"They would only care about catching Demons and normal Fallen to increase their power and the weight of their pockets."
"Nick, you are what Aegis needs," Simon said.
"You are what humanity needs."
Nick felt nervous and uncomfortable.
He couldn't view himself like Simon was viewing him.
He had hesitated for so long, and he had done horrible things in his past.
He definitely didn't represent what humanity needed.
"Because of that," Simon continued talking, "I am willing to trust you."
Nick just looked at Simon with uncertainty.
"If you were willing to sacrifice yourself for a city that has not shown its nicest side to you, I know that you will be willing to sacrifice yourself for humanity as a whole," Simon explained.
Simon stood up again and walked to Nick.
"Nick, I will put a considerable amount of Zephyx into your mind. If Envy ever catches you, he will make sure that you can't speak the Sentence. He's used to doing that."
"However, he won't stop you from thinking. He enjoys humanity's suffering too much to do that."
"And if you ever find yourself in Envy's grasp," Simon slowly said as he put his hand on Nick's shoulder.
"I know that you will have the conviction and strength to trigger the Zephyx."
Silence.
"When you activate the Zephyx, your head and torso will explode into a storm of fire, killing you instantly and incinerating your Zephyx Synchronizer."
"Your death will be instantaneous, and Envy won't be able to absorb your power."
Nick looked in shock at Simon.
He could continue living?
He didn't need to die?
"You showed me your conviction and selflessness, and I will never betray those," Simon said with conviction.
"I will never forsake someone like you!"
"If humanity ever wants to escape the grasp of the Specters, we need people like you!"
Nick just looked at Simon.
He had never met anyone like this.
Almost everyone he had met in the Dregs was selfish, and the few people who weren't outright selfish were still morally grey and apathetic.
In the Outer City or Inner City, Nick had seen more nice people, but none of them were willing to lower their own standards of living to help the ones weaker than them.
Even more, the Manufacturers were squeezing every bit of money and health out of people in the Dregs.
The entire world was filled with selfishness and greed.
Nick had even thought that he might be the only one who wanted to help others.
And today, he had finally met someone like him.