WHOOOM!
An explosion of light appeared as soon as the gun fired.
BOOOM!
The bullet hit something solid and was stopped.
The light vanished and revealed a huge earthen shield.
A hole had appeared in the huge shield, but it didn't manage to get all the way through.
The next moment, the shield vanished into thin air, revealing Carl, who had an enraged expression on his face.
Carl immediately turned to look at Irwin with barely contained fury.
Irwin looked back in annoyance.
"You let him escape!" Irwin shouted.
Nick was nowhere to be seen.
BANG!
Carl jumped towards Irwin with all of his power.
Irwin noticed what was going on and jumped back.
Yes, Carl was an Initial Expert, but Irwin was a Peak Veteran.
There was only one level between them, even though that level was bigger than the usual ones.
"Stop!" Irwin shouted. "I got the evidence! I took a photo!"
Irwin waved the camera around.
Carl jumped after him with rage.
"This is the best-"
BOOOM!
A huge earthen shield came out of Carl's right arm, and he rammed it against Irwin's Barrier with all of his power.
Electricity ran all over Irwin's Barrier as the spikes on Carl's earthen shield released some kind of gas when they hit it.
Irwin's eyes widened, and he took a deep breath as he was thrown into the distance.
Even though he was powerful, the physical impact of Carl's attack was brutal, and Irwin's entire body shook.
Irwin coughed.
BANG!
Carl reached Irwin in the air, summoned another Earthen Shield, and hammered Irwin down onto the ground.
BOOOOM!
Irwin hit the ground and created a crater.
Carl rushed into the crater.
BANG!
Irwin's Barrier fizzled and broke down.
At the same time, Irwin's face turned completely white, and he looked like he couldn't breathe.
Carl frowned, and his hand went into one of Irwin's pockets.
The next moment, Carl retrieved a small disk from the pocket.
It was Irwin's Barrier.
Then, Carl took hold of Irwin's rifle.
Lastly, Carl put his hand on Irwin's chest and pushed some of his Zephyx into him.
Irwin took a deep breath, and life appeared in his eyes again.
If a Veteran or stronger ran out of Zephyx, their survival was uncertain.
Zephosis was a cycle that required Zephyx.
It essentially needed Zephyx to turn Prephyx into more Zephyx.
If there was no Zephyx, no more Prephyx could be turned into Zephyx.
At that point, the entire body would stop working.
Taking all the Zephyx from an Extractor was akin to sealing a normal person's airways.
Next, Carl grabbed Irwin and jumped back to the formation of boulders.
BANG!
Carl threw Irwin into the middle.
"I'm not sure if you're still here, but I can assure you, I did NOT want to kill you, Nick!" Carl shouted.
"Irwin worked on his own!"
Silence.
No answer.
At this moment, Carl's mind was filled with a mix of negative emotions.
He genuinely didn't think that Mark had told these things where Nick was.
After all, if he did, Nick would be dead.
He had thought that Nick wanted to get some kind of advantage out of Solace by accusing one of their dead Extractors.
Yet, Nick's reaction had been too extreme and genuine.
Carl had worked and talked with many people, and he was quite certain that Nick had been genuine with his outburst.
So, Carl tried to calm Nick down, but as soon as he stepped forward, Nick jumped backward, taking his step as a form of aggression!
Nick had even accused him of wanting to silence him!
That thought was scary.
Yes, Carl had fought other Extractors in the past, and yes, he had caught many Specters.
However, he had killed less than five people in his life, and he still vividly remembered every single person he had killed.
One of the main reasons why Carl wanted to become a Veteran decades ago was so that he didn't need to sleep anymore.
After all, in his sleep, he met the people he killed again and again.
Of course, all these deaths had been necessary, and he knew that.
However, killing Nick was definitely not necessary, and Carl would never want to kill anyone unless it was absolutely necessary.
Earlier, when he had turned his back to Nick, he had noticed a flash of light coming from on top of one of the rocks and looked over.
That was when he had seen Irwin with his camera, and Carl felt like his world was breaking down.
He had immediately rushed to Nick to defend him from the shot.
But then, an explosion of light occurred, and Nick had vanished.
Luckily, Carl remembered exactly where Nick had been and where the rifle had been pointed at.
He made it in time and blocked the bullet.
At that moment, he had felt terror, frustration, anger, and hatred.
Irwin had ruined everything!
However, even though he absolutely hated Irwin right now, he knew why he had done it.
Irwin, Carl, and Mark had been best friends for over a decade now.
They were together almost all the time.
They worked together, drank together, had fun together, and so on.
Mark had been the only one in their group with a wife and kids.
Naturally, as Mark's best friends, Irwin and Carl also very often visited Mark's family.
Mark's kids even called them Uncle Irwin and Uncle Carl.
So, when Irwin had heard that Mark died, he had understandably been distraught.
And when humans were distraught, they very often tried to deny their reality or find something to blame.
All this fear often turned into anger, and they quickly turned resentful.
If nothing crazy had happened after that, Irwin probably wouldn't have done anything.
However, seeing Nick with a pulled-out weapon was too good of an opportunity.
Usually, Irwin wouldn't do something like this without consulting the other two, but the opportunity had been too good.
So, he took a photo.
And when that happened, it was already too late.
Nick had seen him take the photo.
Irwin knew that there was no turning back anymore and tried to kill Nick.
From an outsider's perspective, this assassination had seemed planned.
Carl would assume a vulnerable position, and Irwin would take a photo as proof.
After that, they could kill Nick without fear, right?
Sadly, or luckily, that hadn't been the truth.