?The two of them entered Julian's new office.
As soon as the door opened, Nick noticed that Julian's office was covered in even more mouths.
It was almost like the entire office was made of mouths.
The only place that didn't have any mouths was the chair in front of the desk and a small pathway leading to it.
Julian walked through the mouth-covered area, and the mouths seemed to phase through him.
Then, he sat down behind the desk, seemingly fusing into the domain of mouths.
Nick couldn't see Julian anymore.
"Come in," a chorus of friendly voices said.
Nick's eyes showed determination, and he stepped inside.
He had made his choice.
He had made his wish.
This was what he had chosen.
Regrets?
Guilt?
Fear?
Feeling any of that would be an insult to his choice.
This was the ugly face of his choice, and he had to look at it.
Dark Dream had been handed over to a Specter.
Something that was supposed to suppress Specters was now being run by a Specter.
This was a betrayal of humanity.
A human had willingly handed something like this to a Specter.
Something like this happened very rarely.
After all, even little kids knew that Specters were humanity's greatest enemies.
Accepting a deal with a Specter would only end in one's death.
'But I need this!' Nick thought with narrowed eyes.
'This is the only way I can achieve my goal!'
'If humanity ever wants to win against the Specters, humanity first needs to unite!'
'The same thing is true for this city.'
'As long as Kugelblitz, Anatomy, Ghosty's Lab, and so on fight against each other, Crimson City will never get enough power to truly free themselves of Specters like Julian or the Parasite.'
'Getting rid of the Parasite would have just required them to work together, but that never happened.'
'In the end, the Parasite only vanished from the city after another Specter got rid of him.'
'Having Julian officially rule the city will cause less damage and misery than having the current leaders in charge.'
'I would much rather hand the entire city to him than have things continuing to be this way!'
'And when I am finally strong enough, I can take over.'
'Humanity needs to unite, and the strong must stop their exploitation of the weak!'
Nick's eyes narrowed.
'And if they refuse to comply, they are humanity's enemy!'
"You're not afraid?" the mouths in the room asked.
"I made my choice," Nick said.
The mouths chuckled.
"Didn't you always say that you hated how the weak suffered? And now, you're handing a building filled with proverbial explosives to a Specter," the mouths said.
"Your enemies are my enemies," Nick said. "The Heroes are the only ones that can see through your identity, and they are also the ones that were the reason why the Dregs had been so horrible."
"You haven't told me a lot about your power, but I know how Specters work. If you really want to become a Demon, you need to kill several Specialists after winning bets against them."
"However, even if you win the bet and get the ability to easily kill them, every Specialist that dies also provokes a huge investigation."
"You need a human that knows your true self and acts as your mouthpiece."
Nick looked at the mouths with narrowed eyes.
"If I had to choose between you and the current leaders of the city, I would choose you."
"You have a selfish goal."
"The current leaders have a selfish goal."
"But your selfish goal will cause less misery and death."
The more Nick thought about the absolute filth that was the mindset of Crimson City's leaders, the angrier he got.
"Handing humanity's fate to a Specter might be better than handing humanity's fate to a human."
"I don't regret giving you Dark Dream," Nick said. "If Wyntor kept being Dark Dream's owner, it would have one day been sold to Kugelblitz, and I would need to join another Manufacturer."
"I want to help humanity, and to do that, I need power."
Nick looked at the eyes.
"Just like how I am helping you become more powerful, you are helping me become more powerful."
Silence.
"Humans are so interesting," the smiling mouths said.
"Your opinion of humanity is so low. Yet, your life's mission is to help humanity."
"Aren't you also human?"
"Will humanity have a better fate if you are its decider?"
Nick looked at the mouths.
"Yes," he said with conviction.
Silence.
The mouths chuckled.
"How truly interesting," the mouths said.
"Working with you might prove to be very entertaining."
Silence.
"Do you have a plan for Dark Dream?" Nick asked. "You are now the CEO, and I am your employee. Is there anything you want me to do?"
"Yes," the mouths answered.
"Since we are now allies, I don't want you to die. That would be bad for me."
"I have seen how powerful you are. I saw the ambush of the Spartans."
Nick's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I also know that you were the one that freed the Crimson Sea."
"The Crimson Sea ate several pieces of my food, and it made it much harder for me to find opportunities to collect debts from lost bets."
"You're lucky I'm not a human, or I might have killed you out of anger."
Nick didn't say anything.
"Nevertheless, your survival is now relevant to my power."
"Because of that, I want to get rid of your weakness."
"And while we're at it, you may also prove your loyalty."
Nick didn't show any reactions.
"Your power is terrifying, but only as long as the enemy doesn't know how it works."
"There is one person, aside from myself, that knows how your power works."
"This person is your weakness."
Nick's jaw clenched.
"Prove that what you said are not just empty words."
"I made a wager with Albert."
"I bet that you would visit him within the next two months at his home."
Nick didn't move, but his heart rate shot up.
"I want you to visit him."
Nick didn't say anything as he silently clenched his fists.
The smiles on the mouths seemed to widen.