'Just as expected,' Nick thought as he looked at a small gray cloud hovering in the corner of the Containment Unit. 'A Force Specter.'
The only thing Nick could usually do if he came into contact with a Force Specter was to run away.
Yes, Nick was extremely powerful and had many ways to fight multitudes of Specters, but he was almost completely helpless when it came to dealing with Force Specters.
Sure, there was some equipment that made it possible to suppress Force Specters, but that was extremely cumbersome.
One only needed to think back to the time Crimson City tried to suppress the newly released Crimson Sea.
One needed special abilities to effectively deal with a Force Specter, and if a Force Specter was very big, not even that would be enough.
Back then, the Crimson Sea had been pretty weak and had "only" been a couple hundred meters wide, but the city still needed to use its entire power to slowly suppress it.
Under normal circumstances, after seeing such a Force Specter, Nick would either follow it from a distance to wait for reinforcement or just directly run away.
'However,' he thought, 'this is a test for Suppressors and normal Extractors. That means that there has to be something I can punch.'
And sure enough, a moment later, something separated from the small cloud and moved towards the ground.
Some grey mist reached the ground and slowly turned into the shape of a human.
Nick raised his eyebrow. 'This could be very easy or very difficult,' he thought as he looked at a copy of himself.
A tall and very muscular man with lifeless grey eyes looked at Nick.
Shing!
Nick's copy activated its blades and shot forward.
CLING!
Nick activated his own blade and blocked the copy's blade.
'Identical strength,' he thought as he pushed against the blade.
Suddenly, the copy lifted its left leg to kick Nick in the abdomen.
CRKSH!
Yet, it only kicked the tip of Nick's left blade.
'But it does not copy my techniques,' he thought as he cut the copy's legs off.
The fact that the copy's leg was mutilated didn't seem to bother it, and while it was falling forward, it slashed with its other blade.
Nick changed the angle of his right blade, his right arm sliding past the enemy's right blade.
BANG!
When his elbow reached his copy's hand, he knocked it to the side.
Nick moved inward, sliding between the two outstretched blades.
SHING!
And decapitated his copy with his right blade.
Just to be safe, he also kicked the body away.
He didn't want to be surprised by the body suddenly launching another attack.
'Just as expected,' Nick thought as he watched the copy turning into black dust. 'It can copy my body, but it can't copy my techniques or my abilities.'
'If this thing could copy abilities just by looking at me, it would be even superior to Envy. Somehow, I doubt that's the case.'
Nick waited for a moment as he just watched the grey cloud in the corner.
'But this is a bit too easy for level five. There has to be more.'
Sure enough, a second later, two Nicks appeared in front of him.
'Ah, I see,' Nick thought.
BANG!
The two Nicks exploded forward and attacked him.
Instantly, Nick jumped towards one side and clashed with one of them.
The key to winning while fighting against superior numbers was to not fight against superior numbers.
As in, turning one brutal battle into many smaller manageable battles.
If Nick got surrounded, he would have a huge disadvantage.
However, as long as Nick used one of them as a barrier to block the other one, he only needed to fight one of them.
In that case, his superior technique would easily win the two fights.
And, sure enough, while one of the copies tried to get around the other copy, Nick had already killed one of them.
A second later, the second one also died.
Then, Nick returned to waiting again.
Some seconds later, three Nicks appeared.
The three of them immediately charged at Nick.
BANG!
But this time, Nick charged forward as well.
In an instant, he reached the rightmost copy, weaved past its blades, and kicked it away.
Naturally, the other two immediately attacked him, but Nick just moved in a way that used one of the copies as a barrier again.
It was back to a one-on-one battle.
Nick quickly dealt with the first one.
Then, he used the second one as a barrier for the third one while killing it.
And finally, he killed the third one.
Nick waited.
When Nick saw four pieces of mist splitting from the Specter, he took a deep breath.
'Three is as much as I can manage without my ability,' Nick thought.
He could kick one of them away, but after that, he would need to find another opening to kick a second one away.
Sadly, the first one would already be joining the fight again before that became possible.
Dealing with four copies was impossible as long as they were not fighting like children.
He could kick one of them away, but after that, he would need to find another opening to kick a second one away.
Sadly, the first one would already be joining the fight again before that became possible.
In the end, they would overwhelm him.
Technique could bring one only so far.
The four copies shot at Nick simultaneously.
SHING!
Nick released a bright explosion of light.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
In an instant, he kicked and punched all of them.
It was important to note that these copies were not as resilient as Specters.
They were essentially Extractors without Barriers.
And with his ability active, Nick was five times as powerful as them.
This was akin to four dainty girls getting kicked by a massively muscular professional male fighter.
The four copies all hit the surrounding walls with several broken bones and ruptured organs.
However, they were not completely human, which was why they tried to stand up and continue fighting.
Yet, in their current condition, Nick could easily take care of them.
After Nick dealt with the four of them, he waited.
The next moment, he saw more mist coming from the Specter, and he readied himself.
Yet, before the fifth copy could fully form, a green light appeared.
The first four copies turned back into mist and entered the Specter again.
'Seems appropriate,' Nick thought.
It wasn't very difficult for Nick, but it was enough for him to be forced to use his ability.
Technically, he wouldn't have needed to use his ability on level four, but he needed to use it here.
A moment later, Nick walked out of the Containment Unit and went to the sixth level.
'No special rules,' he thought as he looked at the illustrations. 'There are also two different rooms again.'
'I should be able to complete level six.'
Nick walked through one of the doors and prepared himself.
As soon as he entered, he saw a humanoid figure in the corner of the room.
The humanoid figure was standing with its hands behind its back, and it was wearing a big black cloak.
Nick was reminded of the Doom Sayer.
"It's been a while," a sickly voice spoke.
Nick readied his blades.
"Don't die too quickly," the humanoid figure spoke as it revealed its arms.
Its arms ended in long blades that almost reached the ground.
But that wasn't everything.
Two more arms came out of the cloak, also ending in blades.
Then, another two arms.
And another two.
By the end, eight arms ending in blades stretched out from the figure.
"They call me the Careless Cut," it slowly spoke. "You will know why very soon."
Then, all of its blades rubbed against each other as if it were sharpening them.
BANG!
And charged forward!
Nick could tell that this Specter was extremely experienced in fighting.
Additionally, its superior number of limbs would make it almost impossible to muster a defense.
Its attacking power was very high.
Its defense was very high.
Its speed was passable.
Its versatility was very high.
This was definitely quite a bit more powerful than the average Specter.
'And I haven't even seen its ability,' Nick thought.
Just looking very scary didn't count as an ability.
The Careless Cut most likely had an additional ability.
Nick waited until the blades of the Specter were almost touching him.
SHING!
Then, he released an explosion of light.
DING! DING! DING!
Nick's Barrier activated several times as it blocked the blades.
CRKSH!
Yet, at the same time, the Specter's body separated vertically, and the two halves flew in different directions.
Nick was revealed again.
His Zephyx had reduced by 50%, but he had expected that.
Sometimes, getting hit and making use of one's Barrier made it easier to win.
Getting hit by the blades stopped the Specter's momentum and allowed Nick to land a clean hit.
Nick looked at one of the halves and saw half of a black sphere in its chest.
This was its core.
The two halves tried their best to move toward each other, but with a split core, that became extremely difficult.
"Is that why you were called the Careless Cut?" Nick asked.
The green light appeared.