"I'm here to meet Mundus," Vernon said.
Vernon was in a dark hall, standing in front of a desk that was barely illuminated.
Behind the desk was a woman wearing a blank expression, corals growing out of the back of her head.
Vernon recognized her.
This woman had been one of Kugelblitz's Experts just two days ago.
The deadline the city had set for Anatomy's Specters was today, but even though it was already late in the evening, there was still no movement from the city.
However, he had already expected that.
The governor had said that Anatomy was supposed to deal with all of their weak Specters, but he probably wouldn't take action.
Everyone knew why.
Most likely, the governor had set the deadline to make the decision about which side to join for him.
If nobody accepted Anatomy's offer, he might have chosen Kugelblitz and fought against Anatomy.
However, over half of Anatomy's Specters had been bought, and most importantly, all of their Elders and over 75% of their Adults had been bought, which meant that they had already gained almost all the employees they could possibly get.
By now, it was obvious that the governor would choose Anatomy's side.
Was it stupid?
Wasn't he afraid that Anatomy would also force him into servitude?
No, because the governor was part of Aegis.
As long as the city kept sending Zephyx and as long as the normal people had a passable quality of life, Aegis wouldn't get involved.
Of course, with so many Extractors becoming unable to work with Specters, the general Zephyx production suffered.
However, every Extractor controlled by the Sea King also made the Sea King produce more Zephyx.
So, even though so many Extractors couldn't work with the Specters anymore, the production had only suffered a little bit, and it still fulfilled the quota Aegis demanded.
As for the necessary competition of Manufacturers that Aegis demanded, that also wouldn't be an issue.
They just had to leave Ghosty's Lab alone and maybe also Gemini.
That would still be competition enough, even though those two obviously couldn't even attempt to fight Anatomy.
"Follow," the woman said with a raspy voice as she turned around.
She took hold of the lamp behind her and gestured towards the side.
Since Anatomy only had eight humans left, they decided to kill all the lights inside their building.
The humans controlled by the Sea King weren't affected by the Nightmare.
Well, that wasn't technically true.
Technically, they all had already been killed by the Nightmare.
The Nightmare had already tortured all of them into unconsciousness and had then destroyed their minds.
However, their bodies were still alive.
As long as the organs still received orders from somewhere, they wouldn't stop working.
This meant that all the coral people were brain-dead but were still walking around as if they were alive.
As for the couple of humans still alive in Anatomy, they simply walked around with special lamps.
Additionally, there were a couple of places in the building that still had a bit of light for them.
But over 80% of the building was in complete darkness, and almost nobody could walk around in this darkness.
They needed either a light or the ability to produce light on their own, and as for the latter, that required the power of a Specialist, and it cost a lot of Zephyx to keep the light active.
Like this, Anatomy had created a fortress.
Vernon nodded and followed after the coral woman.
The coral woman slowly walked forward as she held the lamp in her hand high.
Vernon wasn't sure if he had ever been in such a dark place.
He wasn't a fighter.
He had worked with many Specters, but he had never truly been involved in capturing one or in explorations into the outside world.
While Vernon seemed calm on the surface, he was actually very afraid deep inside.
He was risking his life by coming here.
If Anatomy decided to kill him here, there would be nothing Kugelblitz could do about it.
The only things he could rely on were Anatomy's confidence and their trepidation about starting the war too abruptly.
After all, there was still a chance that the governor might decide to stay neutral, even when the last fight was happening, and Anatomy did not want that to happen.
The coral woman led Vernon up several flights of stairs until they arrived in a dimly lit hallway.
It was not very bright, but it was bright enough to keep the Nightmare at bay, but just barely.
If one didn't have a strong mind, one might see faint illusions.
Even though Vernon wasn't a fighter, his mind was still powerful, and he could resist the subtle influence of the Nightmare.
The two of them reached a Containment Unit, but shockingly, the door to the Containment Unit was open.
In fact, it wasn't only open.
The door was actually destroyed.
The coral woman gestured for Vernon to walk into the Containment Unit.
Vernon took a deep breath and walked forward.
When he entered, he saw a gigantic network of corals, which were stretching all over the Containment Unit.
Some of them were even extending out of it through a couple of holes.
In the middle of the Containment Unit was a pillar of corals that connected the floor to the tall ceiling.
Even though he had never seen it with his own eyes, Vernon could tell that this was the Sea King.
Two people stood in front of the Sea King.
Ariel Cerillion and Mundus Stairwell.
Zarren Harrow was nowhere to be seen.
The Containment Unit was brighter than the hallway, but not by much.
"Vernon," Mundus said with a neutral voice.
Even though Anatomy had to be confident, Mundus didn't show any arrogance or carelessness.
He appeared just like always, cold and calculating.
"Mundus," Vernon said with a nod before looking at Ariel. "Ariel."
Ariel didn't look at him and just kept looking at the Sea King.
Even though Anatomy was working together with the Sea King, they did not trust each other.
Ariel stood beside the Sea King every second of every day.
If the Sea King didn't follow an order, she would kill it.
Of course, the Sea King had a lot of soft power.
After all, if it died, Kugelblitz would become the favorite to win the war.
This meant that the Sea King had a lot of negotiating power.
At the back of the room stood a Veteran with corals growing out of his ears.
This Veteran was used as the Sea King's mouthpiece since it couldn't talk on its own.
"Why are you here?" Mundus asked neutrally.
Vernon took a deep breath.
"You won," he said.
Mundus didn't answer.
"Everything has been clear since the day before yesterday," Vernon continued. "You managed to take advantage of Kugelblitz's scattered ownership and made us kill ourselves."
"You probably even already know why I'm here since we spoke about the reason why I'm coming here," Vernon said.
"Why are you here?" Mundus repeated, not confirming or denying anything.
"Kugelblitz wants a meeting with Anatomy in six hours," Vernon said. "We want to propose a merger with Anatomy."
Naturally, this was not a merger where both parties had equal power.
In essence, Vernon was saying that Anatomy was allowed to purchase a majority of Kugelblitz's stock while Kugelblitz got a minority of Anatomy's stock.
What happened after that was up to Anatomy since they had control over both companies.
Would they absorb Kugelblitz?
Would they keep it as a puppet?
The reason why Kugelblitz suggested a merger instead of a takeover was so that it seemed like there was competition in the city, making it far easier to fulfill Aegis' competition requirement.
"A meeting," Mundus repeated with a neutral voice. "Where will the meeting take place?"
"Inside Ghosty's Lab. We realize that holding it inside Kugelblitz is too disadvantageous for you, but we also don't want to hold it inside Anatomy. After all, Kugelblitz's owners are also just human, and we don't want to unnecessarily risk our lives."
Mundus remained quiet for a while.
Then, he glanced at Ariel.
Ariel looked back with a neutral expression.
After that, Mundus glanced at the coral person in the back of the room.
The coral person shrugged.
Mundus looked to the side for a while.
"Fine," he said before looking back at Vernon.
Vernon didn't show any reaction, but the tension he had deep inside vanished.
"Thank you," Vernon said with a quick and polite bow.
Mundus looked at Vernon for a bit longer.
Then, he glanced down.
"What's in the suitcase? You've been carrying around everywhere recently," Mundus said.
Vernon looked at Mundus.
Then, he put the suitcase on the ground and slowly opened it.
When Mundus saw what was inside, his eyes shone.
"Proof of our intention," Vernon said, taking a couple of steps back. "I presume you recognize it?"
Mundus didn't answer, but he recognized it.
The most powerful Possession Specter in all of Crimson City.
The only Fanatic Possession Specter.
It was a bloody sniper rifle that could deal tremendous damage, and it had the ability to turn its victim into Zephyx.
It was called the Money Maker, and it was the most powerful weapon in Crimson City, except for the governor's spear, which was made by Aegis.
The Money Maker had been a worry for Anatomy since a Specialist could use it to kill several other Specialists or maybe even a Hero if given the opportunity.
Handing over the Money Maker was almost like handing over a Hero.
"Interesting," Mundus said.