Aria was looking at the silver-haired man, and the silver-haired man looked back with an angry expression.
However, Aria knew that this expression didn't reflect the silver-haired man's real feelings.
After all, Specters weren't known for having a wide variety of emotions.
Yes, Aria already knew that this was the Prison.
In fact, she had been over 90% certain after the blood test.
The blood test used spores from the Crimson Fungus.
Any human blood that touched the spores would turn into Zephyx.
But didn't the needle give off Zephyx when it was stabbed into the silver-haired man's finger?
Didn't that prove that he was human?
Yes, the fact that the needle gave off Zephyx proved that it had come into contact with human blood.
However, the amount of Zephyx was the important part.
The amount of Zephyx that had been given off was way too little.
According to the density of Zephyx, the needle had come into contact with an Expert.
Not a Hero.
Naturally, that was extremely suspicious, but it wasn't enough to unmask the Prison 100%.
Nevertheless, the guards informed Aria as soon as the blood readings were taken, and she arrived almost immediately.
And then, she only needed to ask the Prison to split up to be sure.
The fact that the caravan resisted this simple proof this much basically confirmed that it was the Prison in disguise.
"Will you run around the city?" Aria asked with a serious voice.
The silver-haired man looked at Aria for several seconds with narrowed eyes.
"Are you sure you want to force this issue, little girl?" the silver-haired man asked with a dark tone.
WHOOOM!
The next moment, a dense cloud of Zephyx came out of the silver-haired man and washed over Aria.
However, Aria wasn't intimidated.
She had already expected the Prison to be a Late Demon, at least.
Sadly, Aria was still an Early Hero, and her chances of winning against the Prison were low.
Aria might be very experienced, but the Prison was probably just as experienced.
"If you know about me, you also know why I'm here," the silver-haired man spoke.
"I do," Aria answered evenly, "but aren't you afraid that we will call Aegis to apprehend you, or why are you willing to just show up like that?"
"I've been to many cities, and I have seen many battles, girl," the silver-haired man spoke. "I can sense the distress signal. If you had activated it, I wouldn't be here talking to you."
A light seemed to appear in the silver-haired man's eyes. "The fact that you didn't activate it can only mean two things."
"Either you are a fool who believes that you can win and contain me inside your city…"
"Or you are open for negotiation."
Aria looked back. "I am not arrogant enough to think that I can suppress you on my own."
SHING! SHING! SHING!
At that moment, three people appeared behind Aria.
"But I'm not on my own," she said.
The three Heroes of Kugelblitz had arrived.
Jornis stood in the front.
Vanessa stood far in the back.
And the third Hero, a man with blue hair, Libran Baneling, stood between the two.
Four Heroes.
Two Early Heroes, Aria and Jornis, and two Initial Heroes, Vanessa and Libran.
A team of four people could take down something that was far more powerful than them.
However, the silver-haired man didn't seem very worried.
"What foolishness," he spoke. "Human bonds are only as strong as the benefits gained from them."
"You are not as united as you present yourself."
The silver-haired man looked at Jornis. "You must be Jornis Zealow," he said.
"I am," Jornis answered evenly.
"You know why I am here and what I want," the silver-haired man spoke.
"Nick Dusk," he added.
"Master Envy desires Nick Dusk's power, and he is willing to do everything in his power to obtain it. Do you know how powerful Master Envy is?" he asked calmly.
"I do," Jornis answered calmly.
"Then, you must know that Master Envy is not someone a mere Crimson City can resist. Even if I were to fail today, at some point, one of Master Envy's Commanders will find some time to visit Crimson City."
"Can Crimson City withstand one of Master Envy's three Commanders?"
"One of three Fallen?"
Nobody gave an answer.
Yet, they seemed just as calm as before.
"Hand over Nick Dusk," the Prison demanded. "If you don't, I will lay waste to Crimson City."
"You will not get another chance."
"If you refuse today, you will die as soon as one of Master Envy's Commanders arrives, at the latest."
"One Expert."
"For an entire city."
"For your lives."
"You decide."
Silence.
Surprisingly, the three Heroes from Kugelblitz didn't seem worried or perturbed.
It was almost like the Prison hadn't said anything.
"It's quite clear that you are not human," Vanessa spoke up from the back. "You don't know how to negotiate. What you gave us is an ultimatum, not an offer."
"An ultimatum is an offer," the Prison spoke. "It is just an offer that you can't refuse."
Jornis grinned aggressively. "Watch us."
The Prison furrowed its brows.
It hadn't expected that.
Usually, humans were only interested in their own survival and wealth.
Fighting against the Prison was risky, and there was no potential payoff.
No powerful human would take such an unnecessary risk.
"You were right," Aria said. "Most human bonds are only as strong as the benefits gained from them."
Jornis smirked. "Which is why we have been paid very well in advance."
"We're sorry," Vanessa spoke from the back, "but your offer is not good enough."
"We reject," Libran added.
Aria just looked at the silver-haired man in silence.
If the Prison had come a couple of months earlier, things might have turned troublesome.
At that point, Kugelblitz might have turned against Aria.
But that was no longer a possibility.
Once again, it was important to repeat what the Prison had said.
Human bonds were only as strong as the benefits gained from them.
The Prison had spoken that sentence while referring to Crimson City and Kugelblitz.
However, that sentence also applied when referring to Kugelblitz's leadership and Kugelblitz itself.
Vanessa, Jornis, and Libran were Kugelblitz's leaders, but they were also three individual humans.
In order to convince Kugelblitz to help the city, Aria and Nick only needed to convince their three leaders.
And how did they accomplish that?
Future.
In the past, all doors to the future had been open for Kugelblitz.
They had essentially ruled over the city.
But now, they could no longer rule the city.
Aegis was in charge.
And a couple of months ago, Nick spoke to them and asked them a question.
"What do you want to accomplish in life?"
Good question.
What did they want to accomplish in life?
They had thought that it would be easy to answer that question, but it was surprisingly hard.
Was being the leaders of Kugelblitz the thing they wanted to be for the remainder of their lives?
That was a nice thought, but it also felt so final.
It felt like they were stopping.
Powerful humans were powerful because they had more ambition than most humans.
Their desire to become powerful was far higher than that of the average human.
Would such an ambitious person be content with just stopping?
No, they wanted to go much further.
However, Kugelblitz's future had been cut off.
There was no way for Kugelblitz to regain its old power in the political landscape.
Kugelblitz couldn't possibly rival Aegis.
What was Kugelblitz to Vanessa, Jornis, and Libran?
A tool.
A job.
A way to become more powerful.
And what did humans do when a tool was no longer useful?
They searched for a better one.
In this case, Aegis.
The highest possible level they could achieve in Kugelblitz was Mid Hero.
That was it.
There was no way forward anymore.
And then what?
Remain a Mid Hero and executive for the remainder of their lives?
No, they wanted more.
They wanted to become Peak Heroes!
They wanted to become Protectors!
And how could they achieve that?
Aegis!
A couple of days after talking to Nick, they were willing to talk some more with him.
Kugelblitz had become a dead end.
Was there a way they could continue advancing?
And sure enough, there was.
There were rules that every city had to follow, and one of these rules was that competition needed to exist.
One party shouldn't own all the power.
This was to promote competition, which would result in more efficiency for the market.
But Nick was the Liaison.
As the Liaison, it was his job to completely restructure the way Aegis operated the cities in an experiment to see if it was possible to increase profitability.
Nick could change these rules for his city.
So, he changed them.
All the Demons would be owned by the city, including the Crimson Fungus.
All the Heroes would work for the city.
The Heroes wouldn't work for their own wealth anymore but for a potential position in Aegis.
Agents were always needed.
This had been Nick's theoretical end goal, but he hadn't been sure if he would be able to actualize it in Crimson City before he had to leave.
Absolute authority for the government.
Most of the Zephyx went to Aegis.
And the city would act as a nursery for future Agents.
With all of that said, how was this possible?
Because of the truth of the world.
Power was everything.
The Heroes of Crimson City just needed a reminder of this truth.
They had to have their path forward destroyed so that they would walk on Nick's path.
Powerful and ambitious people always searched for a path forward, and when they saw Nick's path, they would gladly follow it.
The Prison wasn't standing in front of Kugelblitz and Crimson City.
It was standing in front of Aegis.
"Killing you should give us a good chance to join Aegis as Agents without needing to prove ourselves as Governors," Jornis said with a bloodthirsty grin.
SHING!
All of them pulled out their weapons.