Another month passed, and Nick was preparing everything for when he had to leave.
Only five more months.
However, Nick also knew that something dangerous would happen within those five months.
It was very obvious that the Parasite wasn't the happiest Specter and that it would try to find a way to get rid of Nick without breaking their agreement.
As long as it could get rid of Nick, it would gain access to Crimson City again.
Naturally, Nick could stop this from happening by going through with his threat and killing the Parasite.
But that was extremely risky.
If Nick committed one mistake, the Parasite would see him, and at that point, it would immediately tell the entire world about his ability.
That wasn't worth the risk.
Yet, there were other ways to deal with Nick, and Nick was quite sure about what the Parasite would do next.
Envy.
Envy still wanted to gain Nick's ability.
Envy's first servant had arrived over 15 years ago.
The Prison.
Naturally, Julian told Nick about the Prison and what had happened between them.
The Prison was a Late Demon, and it was one of Envy's most powerful followers.
Back then, Julian had managed to get rid of it by threatening it with unmasking its identity in front of the city.
A Late Demon was powerful, but several Heroes could still take it down.
So, the Prison had no choice but to retreat.
Two years later, another servant of Envy's infiltrated the Spartans and used them to capture Nick.
That servant died to the Crimson Sea.
Then, nothing had happened for several years.
That was because everyone believed that Crimson City had been destroyed.
After all, only a huge wall of corrosive mist was left.
Eventually, Nick came face to face with the Sea King, a powerful Demon that was also loyal to Envy.
That was when things became uncertain.
Did the Sea King tell Envy that Nick was still alive before getting captured or not?
Nick believed that it didn't tell Envy.
The reason was simple.
Less pressure.
If Envy thought Nick was dead, it wouldn't put immense pressure on the Sea King to capture him.
So, even if the Sea King failed, it wouldn't be killed.
And if it succeeded, the deed of capturing Nick would protect it from Envy's wrath for a long time.
Telling Envy would only put a target on the Sea King's back.
Naturally, the Sea King couldn't contact Envy while being in Anatomy's custody.
Anatomy would not allow the Sea King to come into contact with a powerful Fallen.
Crimson City needed to exist for them to rise to power.
That was also the last time any of Envy's servants had come to Crimson City.
Although, it was also possible that Envy actually knew that Nick was still alive but just couldn't find a way to get to him.
After all, it didn't know that Julian was already dead.
As long as Julian was still in Crimson City, no Demon could enter.
But that actually didn't matter.
The Parasite would tell one of Envy's servants about the current state of Crimson City anyway.
No Julian.
Nick was still alive.
One of Envy's servants was bound to arrive within the next couple of months.
Envy had many servants, but it only had so many powerful servants.
Getting Demons as servants wasn't easy for Envy, and it couldn't have that many.
The Sea King had already been dealt with, which had to have been a brutal strike to Envy's forces.
Envy didn't have that many options, which made it quite obvious what would happen next.
The Prison.
Nick was sure that the Prison would show up in Crimson City soon.
And this time, there was no Julian.
Additionally, they had fewer Heroes, and they also didn't have a Mid Hero.
Things were much more dangerous than then.
But there was no way out.
Nick had to deal with this issue.
Running away would ruin his future, and he also couldn't just randomly keep a couple of Agents on standby.
Crimson City had to deal with the Prison on its own.
The days passed, and Nick waited for the Prison to arrive.
Aria was worried just as much as Nick, but she didn't let it show.
The atmosphere between them had become distant and cold.
Technically, they hadn't broken up yet, but their relationship existed in name only.
Nevertheless, Aria still wanted Nick to survive.
Several caravans arrived and left.
And then, one day…
"Halt!" an Expert from Crimson City's wall shouted at a caravan. "Identify yourself!"
A silver-haired man stepped forward from the caravan with a smile. "We are the Starksilver Trading Caravan. We used to do business with Crimson Fungus City about 20 years ago."
The silver-haired man took out a crystal card and threw it to the guard.
The guard looked at it and nodded.
The identity was valid.
These cards were given out by Aegis and included all kinds of information about the trading caravan.
The guard threw the card back. "Please, stay where you are. The second step of verification will now commence."
The silver-haired man raised an eyebrow. "The card isn't good enough?" he asked in surprise.
"No. This is a temporary policy. If you want to do business with Crimson City, you have to comply," the guard shouted.
The silver-haired man furrowed his brows. "What do you need?" he asked with annoyance.
At this moment, someone jumped down from the walls and approached the caravan.
"Blood verification," the guard shouted from the wall.
The silver-haired man didn't show any outward reactions.
"You want me to hand over my blood to you?" he asked in an insulted tone. "There are many ways to injure someone by just having a vial of their blood."
"We are not going to keep your blood," the guard answered with a calm voice. "You just have to put the needle into your finger. You can do that yourself. We just need to see it to verify your identity."
The silver-haired man looked at the guard with narrowed eyes.
"Fine," he said as he extended his right hand. "This better be worth it."
One of the guards approached the silver-haired man and handed him a silver needle. "Just poke your index finger with it and let it stay inside for five seconds. Please remember to keep your hand and the needle visible during the process."
The man took hold of the needle without saying anything and stabbed it into his index finger.
The guards and the other members of the caravan looked at the needle.
It was giving off a crimson glow, and some Zephyx came out of the needle.
"That is enough," the Expert from the wall shouted. "You may clean the needle and hand it back. You passed."
The silver-haired man snorted in annoyance and threw the needle to the Expert on the wall.
"Can we enter now?" the silver-haired man asked.
"One moment," the Expert said. "There's one last step of verification, but it will be very easy and quick."
"Another one?" the silver-haired man asked, suppressed rage audible in his voice.
"We apologize for the inconvenience," the Expert said. "It will barely take five seconds. You can enter the city after."
The silver-haired man took a deep breath. "Alright, what do we have to do now?"
"A little jog," the Expert said.
"A jog?" the silver-haired man asked with a raised brow. "Elaborate."
"Simple," the Expert said. "You run one lap around the city clockwise, and the second most powerful person of the caravan runs a lap around the city counterclockwise. Both of you have to do it at the same time. With your powers, it will not even take five seconds."
The silver-haired man looked at the guard like he was crazy.
"A jog around the city?" he repeated. "I'm not some kind of servant that you can just order around! This is ridiculous!"
"Sir, it's important that you follow the procedure," the guard shouted.
"Procedure?!" the man repeated, insulted. "How is something like this procedure?! You are just doing this to humiliate me!"
"It's procedure," the guard answered. "Over 20 different guards are listening to us right now. Breaking the rules and humiliating you would just cost me my job."
The man snorted. "I'm done. I'm not going to partake in this child's game."
"You are refusing to confirm your identity?" the guard asked.
"I already identified myself in two different ways! I refuse to identify myself again in such a ridiculous way," the silver-haired man shouted back in annoyance.
"This is not a request."
Everyone turned to look at the sky above Crimson City at the person who had just spoken.
Aria Light.
"Are you the new Governor?" the silver-haired man asked.
"I am," Aria spoke, "and you are not allowed to leave until you have identified yourself. You may file a complaint with Aegis after you leave, but only after you have identified yourself."
The man protested, but Aria kept shutting him down.
Over two minutes passed, and the man refused to split his caravan up.
After all, he couldn't.
The Prison hid itself by using illusions.
If two of its illusions traveled too far away, it couldn't keep them up any longer, and they would vanish.
It was such a simple request.
Just run around the city once.
But it was impossible for the Prison to do that.
The plan failed.
It wouldn't be able to sneak into the city.
That only left the aggressive approach.