?'You fucked me, Wyntor!'
'You fucked my life!'
'And why?'
'You wanted to teach me a lesson, right?'
'You wanted to show me that my actions have consequences, right?'
'Great, but I already realized that when I saw how Horua reacted to the Dreamer.'
Nick just kept looking at the red wall with narrowed eyes.
'And then, you made it impossible for me to ever make things right!'
'You even made me believe that I maybe shouldn't have shaken Horua's body after the Dreamer tried to help him!'
'I thought that I might have gotten too worked up and somehow interrupted the Dreamer in helping him!'
'When, all this time, he was supposed to die!'
'You told the Dreamer to kill him!'
Nick remembered the conversation he had with the Dreamer.
The Dreamer had confirmed that it had only killed people that it was told to kill.
In truth, Nick had actually noticed that the Dreamer's answer hadn't fully been accurate with what Nick had thought to be true.
However, Nick had just thought that the Dreamer might not have considered the little boy from years ago.
Or maybe the Dreamer had planned to save Horua, and it was Nick who ended up killing him?
Lastly, Nick also didn't want to believe that Wyntor would order the Dreamer to kill Horua.
But, of course, things always had to turn out in the worst way imaginable.
For several minutes, Nick just kept looking at the red wall as his mind focused on how he had felt for the last four years.
'What should I do?' Nick thought.
'How can I take revenge?'
'Wyntor fucked my life, and I want to take revenge.'
'But how?'
'I can't kill him since I would die as well.'
Nick just kept thinking.
This was probably the first time in a month when the incident with the Crimson Sea was actually not forgotten but put in the back of Nick's mind.
For a month, Nick's thoughts had only been in two states.
Either he completely forgot about the Crimson Sea, or the thought of it consumed Nick's entire mind.
But for the first time, Nick thought of the Crimson Sea but didn't put much importance or emphasis on it.
Right now, Nick's mind was not filled with guilt but with the desire for revenge.
Nick might not have considered Wyntor his friend, but he had still been the most significant person in his life.
And this person had betrayed him.
The pain Wyntor had caused him was unforgivable.
Wyntor caused Nick the worst pain in his life and made it impossible for that pain to vanish.
'You know, I actually believe you,' Nick thought with narrowed eyes.
'I actually believe that you view me as your friend.'
'There is nothing positive you can gain out of telling me about Horua.'
'You felt guilty, right?'
'And you told me about what you have done to alleviate that guilt.'
'You wanted to make things right.'
'Isn't that just like me?'
'Are you willing to atone for that act for the remainder of your life?'
Nick snorted.
'You're not such a person.'
'If I don't forgive you, you will drop the matter and continue living.'
'No point in wasting resources on something unachievable, right?'
'Sucks that you can't get it, but there's no point in lamenting over something that was impossible to achieve in the first place.'
'You said that I'm your first friend.'
'I also believe that you consider me your closest friend.'
'Isn't that just like the situation with Horua and me?'
'I did something horrible to Horua and want to make things right, and you did something horrible to me and want to make things right.'
'What irony.'
'However, there are two key differences.'
'First, you are actually also mainly responsible for Horua's pain, not only my pain.'
'And second, you still have an opportunity to alleviate your pain and earn forgiveness since I am still alive.'
'I can't.'
'Horua is dead.'
'I can never earn forgiveness.'
'You made it impossible for me to earn forgiveness.'
'So, why do you deserve any forgiveness from me?'
'Even if, for some reason, I stopped hating you, forgiving you and letting you live this thing down is an injustice to me and the situation you put me in.'
'I can't escape my situation. So, you don't deserve to escape yours!'
Nick's rage started to increase again.
'I will find a way!'
'Somehow, I will find a way to kill you!'
'Oh, is killing an overreaction? You don't deserve to die for that?'
'Well, sucks to be you! You made me think I killed Horua! You made me kill Pator!'
'You wanted me to be a killer!'
'Well, there you go!'
'I've killed thousands of people now!'
'And killing one more won't make a fucking difference!'
"Someone seems upset," someone from behind Nick said.
Nick recognized the voice, and while he was a bit happy to hear the voice of said person, he also didn't care.
"Can we talk some other time, Julian?" Nick said.
Behind Nick stood a man with blue hair.
"Nick, I have a question," Julian said.
Nick got a bit annoyed. "What?" he asked.
"If the Dregs were still there, would you still want to improve the lives of everyone?" he asked.
That sentence made the guilt inside Nick return again.
After some seconds, he sighed.
"Of course," he said.
Silence.
"Alright," Julian said. "A deal's a deal."
"We had a wager."
"If you still wanted to improve the lives of the people in the Dregs when you finally got the power to do so, you win."
"If not, I win."
"While the destruction of the Dregs should result in our wager becoming void, I don't want to take any chances."
"So, here you go. You win."
Nick furrowed his brows and turned to look at Julian.
That was when Nick's eyes widened.
Julian's face was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, Nick only saw countless mouths.
He knew what this meant.
"You're a Specter?" Nick asked in shock.
"Yes," the mouths answered, "but that's not important right now."
"What's important is that you won the wager."
"If you lost, I would consume you."
"But since you won, I won't consume you, and you also get a prize."
"One wish."
"You get one wish."
"So, tell me."
"What do you wish for?"