Cynthia's bullets were blocked and fell to the ground as they hit a white Barrier.
When they saw who blocked the bullets, their eyes widened.
"Tutor?!" Steve exclaimed in shock.
Shirley stood in front of the Specter.
She was the one who had blocked the bullets.
Usually, Shirley was always outside of the mission area, and she left everything up to the team.
If they messed up, the mission would fail, and innocent people would die.
It was important that these experiences were genuine.
When Steve saw that Nick showed no reaction, he realized what had happened.
This was a test, and Nick was in on it!
Shirley looked at the team. "The mission is genuine."
This elicited some raised eyebrows.
Wait, the mission was genuine?
Wasn't this a test?
"This was not supposed to be a test originally," Shirley explained. "However, I decided to spontaneously transform this mission into the final loyalty test."
"Every squad has to get past the final loyalty test, and it is the very test that will decide whether or not Aegis will invest more into you."
"The existence of the final loyalty test is confidential, and nobody is allowed to talk to anyone about it who has not undergone said test themselves. That is why none of you knew about its existence."
"In order for second-level trainees to become third-level trainees, they need to fulfill several requirements."
"First, they need to have completed over a hundred training missions successfully."
"Second, they need to be Peak Experts."
"Third, they need to have experience in killing the enemies of Aegis in both forms, Specters and humans."
"Fourth, they need the endorsement of their tutor."
"And fifth, they need to complete the final loyalty test."
"The final loyalty test puts the squad in a situation that will make them question their loyalties. Those situations include betrayal of a powerful member of the squad, life-threatening danger, high bribes, and similar things."
"I already gave all of you my endorsement, and I believed that the final loyalty test was only a formality," Shirley said.
Then, her eyes fell on Mendor, whose face had already turned white.
"But, apparently, I was mistaken."
"I didn't betray anyone!" Mendor shouted defensively. "I didn't attack Steve! I even told him that I would protect him from anyone who attacked!"
"Mendor," Shirley spoke with a serious tone. "During a critical moment in a mission, you defied your leader's orders repeatedly. You feared that Nick had betrayed Aegis and were afraid that everyone in the squad would be killed by him."
"You wanted to secure your own life by betraying Aegis."
"While securing your life can be acceptable if you take a neutral stance, taking a neutral stance during a critical part of a mission counts as a betrayal."
"You were supposed to kill the Specter, and you refused."
Mendor's face turned white, and he gritted his teeth.
"What about him?!" Mendor shouted as he pointed at Nick. "What about his loyalty?!"
Nick didn't react.
"Nick's loyalty has already been confirmed by the Aductress herself," Shirley said. "In her own words, Nick has proven his loyalty more times than necessary."
Mendor looked like his world was crashing down.
He just wanted to survive!
Was that so wrong?!
Without waiting for Mendor's answer, Shirley looked at Cynthia. "Good work. You acted when Mendor failed."
Cynthia nodded, refusing to look at Mendor.
She was angry and ashamed.
She was ashamed because she had thought that Mendor would have her back.
And yet, he was about to betray Aegis, which included her.
Then, Shirley looked at Steve. "You acted correctly, Steve," she said. "Getting close to the Specter would have been too risky. So, you ordered someone with a gun to deal with it while retaining your formation. Killing the Specter first would have also cleared the uncertainty surrounding Nick's allegiance."
"If he had joined the Specter, he would be forced to attack you before the gun fired. If he truly only wanted to suggest something, he would sit by and let you kill the Specter. One case equates execution for betrayal while the other case is an interrogation and reprimand."
"You handled the situation perfectly."
After hearing all of these praises, Steve should be happy.
But he wasn't.
Mendor's betrayal at the most critical moment had hit him pretty hard.
Additionally…
Steve looked at Nick.
If Nick had truly betrayed them…
Steve felt like they would have all been killed.
Steve felt like Nick's true power was endless.
That thought also scared him.
"Nick, please take out the Specter Cage," Shirley said.
Next, Nick took out his Space Bag and pulled out a huge black cube.
When the other three saw that, their eyes widened in shock.
Why did Nick have a Space Bag?!
Not even their tutor had a Space Bag!
Not even all of the Agents had a Space Bag!
Not even their tutor had a Space Bag!
Space Bags were only given to extremely powerful Extractors who had contributed a lot to Aegis!
There was no way to purchase them!
Naturally, when Shirley heard that Nick had a Space Bag, she was just as shocked.
A couple of months ago, Shirley had visited the Aductress to talk to her about Nick.
Shirley had felt that she couldn't get a read on Nick.
Everything about him was too mysterious, and she felt very suspicious of him.
Instead of directly answering her questions, the Aductress just asked questions about Nick.
How strong was he?
Was he reliable?
Did he learn a lot?
What was his progress?
Shirley answered all of the questions.
Nick was outstanding in everything, but she was still concerned about his loyalty.
At that time, the Aductress showed Nick's full file to her.
When she saw that Nick technically outranked her, she didn't know how to respond.
For over eight years, she had ordered someone around like they were a trainee, even though that person was actually their superior!
When she read about Nick's accomplishments, she became even more shocked.
While this guy was not powerful enough to be a true help against the Specters, he was still impacting all of Aegis.
After all, if his methods proved to work, the way Aegis ran all the cities in the world would change fundamentally.
Naturally, all of Shirley's doubts vanished, and the Aductress told her that Nick didn't need to go through the final loyalty test.
Even if Nick somehow failed, he would still stay in Aegis.
He had contributed too much to get rid of him for something like that.
Naturally, when Shirley returned to the team, she continued acting like nothing had changed, but Nick immediately felt that Shirley acted differently from normal.
So, at some point, he asked her privately about what was up.
Seeing Nick in a new light, Shirley felt bad about keeping things hidden.
She had no issues with lying to a trainee, but lying to someone who technically outranked her was something completely different.
In the end, they talked about some things, and they decided that the final loyalty test should be held soon.
Nick would leave the squad after the test.
When the mission came in, they decided that the final loyalty test would be held then and there.
While the plan was being carried out, Shirley covertly entered the basement of Vandalize's building.
After the Chief Zephyx Extractor died, the Specter immediately tried to escape.
Naturally, Shirley stopped it and contained it.
As long as it played along, they wouldn't kill it.
Of course, the Specter didn't have any other choice, and since it didn't want to die…
"Get into the cage," Shirley commanded.
The Specter entered the cage without resisting.
Entering the cage meant that they wouldn't kill it, which was what it wanted.
The cage closed, and the Fanatic was officially contained.
Shirley glanced at the cage and couldn't suppress a small, devious smirk.
That Specter was unworkable.
It only gained power by working with strong Extractors, and any strong Extractor it worked with would become its slave.
Aegis didn't exactly have a great number of criminal Specialists or Heroes, and there were plenty of Specters that fed on those already.
They didn't need another one.
This Specter would get to experience a new execution method.
Around ten years ago, Aegis had found a Specter that could consume other Specters to produce Zephyx and become more powerful.
Thanks to this Specter, Aegis had saved a lot of costs in keeping Specters suppressed without having to redistribute their Zephyx into the atmosphere.
Naturally, that new Specter was the Crimson Sea.
Sure enough, the Crimson Sea's unique attributes made it very valuable to Aegis.
The only bad thing was that it took up a lot of space.
Keeping it in a small cube deactivated all of its abilities, which was bad in this case.
They needed its abilities to kill Specters.
Nick also knew that the Specter would be fed to the Crimson Sea soon.
He found it a bit funny that some random Specter he got to meet somewhere in the world would die to the Crimson Sea, a Specter that had impacted Nick's life severely.
The little Adolescent puddle Nick let out in the building of the Spartans was now going to kill a Fanatic that had lived on the other side of the world.
It was funny how the world worked sometimes.