Nick and Aria bowed with respect in front of the five people in front of them.
"We are here to deal with two matters," one of the Protectors said. "First, we are going to deal with the Crimson Sea."
"Of course," Aria answered. "Is there anything you need?"
A big map appeared in the man's hand, and it started to float in front of him.
The map depicted Crimson City and its surroundings, including the new districts in the city's west.
"Mark the Crimson Sea," the Protector ordered, handing the map over to Aria.
Aria took the map and drew a big circle over almost the entire city.
"How deep is it?" the man asked evenly.
"I am not sure," Aria answered. "More than 20 meters but less than 50."
The man scratched his beard before turning to the Justiciar. "Sir?"
"It's only a Fanatic," the man said emotionlessly. "Standard procedure."
"Of course," the Protector said before turning to Aria. "Open a path to the Crimson Sea."
"Naturally," Aria said before flying towards Crimson City.
The four Protectors didn't move, but the Justiciar slowly floated after Aria.
Nick watched Aria and the Justiciar landing near Crimson City's edge, and the next moment, he saw Aria pulling a couple of plates off the ground.
For the first time in a long while, the Crimson Sea was exposed to the sky again.
Several eyes floated in an endless sea of red, all looking at the sky emotionlessly.
"The Crimson Sea, sir," Aria said respectfully before stepping to the side.
The Justiciar floated forward until he was just above the Crimson Sea.
At that moment, all the eyes of the Crimson Sea gathered together into one huge eye, which focused on the Justiciar.
The Justiciar didn't show any reaction and floated down until he was touching the Crimson Sea.
He lowered his hand into the gigantic eye and lightly moved it around.
It was almost like he was dipping his hand in normal water since nothing of note happened.
WHOOOM!
At that moment, a ripple went through the Crimson Sea, and it suddenly started to rise.
Aria watched in surprise as the Crimson Sea gained two additional meters of depth, and she knew what had just happened.
It had advanced!
However, the Justiciar didn't seem surprised.
'He probably made it advance on purpose,' Aria thought as she looked at the calm Justiciar.
The Justiciar kept looking at the huge eye with his empty eye sockets.
Then, the blackness of his empty eye sockets seemed to rotate, and a bit of purple appeared in it.
Thin purple streaks moved around the middle of the black nothingness, and when Aria saw that, she immediately associated them with whirlpools.
It was like they were trying to suck her in.
WHOOOOOM!
Suddenly, the entire Crimson Sea began to shake violently, as if a devastating earthquake had happened beneath it.
The shaking became stronger and stronger.
This scene continued for several seconds before Aria noticed something changing.
The eye was shrinking!
It was almost like the eye was being absorbed by the Justiciar's arm!
Next, Aria noticed that the edges of the Crimson Sea started to change color.
The red was vanishing, and it was replaced by clear water!
Aria watched in shock as the red shrank more and more until only a small puddle of red was left below the Justiciar.
The next moment, the Justiciar pulled his hand back, and a two-by-two-by-two-meter cube of crimson liquid was pulled out with him.
The next moment, a big Specter cage appeared in front of the Justiciar, and the crimson liquid was put inside.
The cube collapsed inside the Specter cage and started to violently expand.
BANG!
However, the door of the cage slammed shut before the liquid could expand out of the cage.
And that was it.
The Crimson Sea was suppressed.
Just like that.
Aria was shocked by how easy this looked.
The Crimson Sea had been an unsolvable problem for Crimson City for almost two decades!
Yet, the Justiciar had solved it just like that.
"Do you want to know how this works?" the Justiciar asked while looking in a seemingly random direction.
Aria was a bit taken aback by the Justiciar talking to her.
He didn't seem like someone of many words.
"Yes, sir," she answered.
"Force Specters can be classified in many more categories, but these are not important until your mastery over Zephyx Manipulation reaches a certain level," the man calmly explained.
"The Crimson Sea is not a sea. It is a Specter attached to water the same way you are attached to your body. The only difference is that it can survive without a body."
Aria understood what the Justiciar meant.
Technically, one could argue that a human was only someone's brain and that a body was only a vehicle for the brain.
Essentially, the Justiciar had pulled the "brain" out of the Crimson Sea's body without killing it.
"If you decide to join Aegis as an Agent, you will learn these things," the Justiciar said.
"Thank you for explaining," Aria said respectfully.
The man didn't answer and just floated out of the city's underground.
Aria threw one last look at the clear water beneath her.
The Crimson Sea had made the water rise quite significantly, and there were now only three meters of space between the water's surface and the city's floor.
'It's clean,' Aria thought, looking at the water. 'It's pure water without any dirt.'
'Where did all the dirt go?'
Aria shook her head and left the city's underground before arriving near the group again.
The Justiciar had already handed the Specter cage to one of his people.
"The Crimson Sea has been dealt with," one of the Protectors spoke. "Where's the radiation Specter?"
"I can bring you there," Nick said as he stepped forward.
The Protector furrowed his brows.
"Lead the way," the Justiciar said.
The Protector immediately took a step to the side without saying anything.
"Of course, sir," Nick answered before running towards the direction of the cave system.
The group of people followed after Nick, and a couple of seconds later, they reached the hole.
However, a big part of the hole had already collapsed again.
"It's five kilometers below this point," Nick said. "The Agent who has investigated this place has created this hole, but it collapsed."
One of the Protectors stepped forward without a word and pointed his hand at the hole.
WHOOOOM!
Nick saw the air below the man's hand get distorted before entering the hole.
For ten seconds, nothing happened.
"You, go first," the man ordered Nick, pointing at the hole.
"Sure," Nick answered before jumping into the hole.
As Nick fell into the hole, he noticed that it had reached its old length and that all the dust and collapsed rock had vanished.
There weren't even any clouds of dirt!
While Nick was falling, he looked up and saw the guy floating downward, just a couple of meters above Nick.
"How did you do that?" Nick asked with interest.
The man seemed a bit annoyed that Nick asked him a question.
"Compression," he answered with annoyance. "I used the stone and dust to compress and strengthen the walls of the hole."
"Thank you for explaining," Nick said carefully, not wanting to annoy the Protector too much.
"This is taking too long," the Protector spoke a moment later before pointing at Nick.
Nick's eyes widened, and the air between him and the Protector warped.
WHOOOOM!
Suddenly, Nick's entire world seemed to warp, and a tenth-of-a-second later, Nick felt ground beneath his feet.
SHING! SHING! SHING!
At the same time, five people came out of the hole above Nick, their Barriers giving off a bit of light as they continued to hover above Nick.
"Is that it?" one of the Protectors asked Nick while looking at the metallic wall in front of him.
Nick looked over.
Sure enough, they had already arrived at their destination.
"Yes, it's inside there. The inside is filled with liquid-"
"We know," one of the Protectors said. "The report was very thorough, and we've all read it."
"Scout," the Justiciar spoke.
One of the Protectors flew forward and stopped in front of the half-destroyed door.
Naturally, a Justiciar was extremely valuable, and they wouldn't risk his life by letting him go in first.
If there were unforeseen circumstances, the scout of the team would die instead.
Nick watched as the scout entered the big hole inside the door.
Moments later, an extremely bright light came out of the hole.
Five seconds later, the light disappeared again, but the scout didn't come out.
'He entered and closed the door behind him,' Nick thought.
A full minute of silence passed before light reappeared inside the hole.
The scout reappeared and closed the door before calmly looking at the Justiciar.
"Mid Fallen Possession Specter," the scout reported. "It's a flaming ball of fire that converts Prephyx into radiation. It produced Zephyx when I let its radiation touch my skin."