Some of Nick's flesh fell to the ground.
Yet, he only kept looking forward with an intense gaze.
In front of him stood the Aductress, carrying a knife.
Just now, she had cut off part of Nick's chest.
The Aductress looked deep into Nick's eyes with coldness.
"Give up!" she ordered.
"No," Nick spoke coldly.
The Aductress' knife plunged into Nick's ribcage, breaking through his sternum.
Such a wound would be fatal for a normal person.
"Consuming a Peak Elder is too risky," the Aductress spoke. "Even a Late Elder is already too dangerous."
"No," Nick repeated.
CRK! CRK!
The Aductress moved the knife downward, breaking open Nick's chest and exposing his heart.
Nick just gritted his teeth.
Nick's chest rapidly healed, but the Aductress kept opening new holes.
Naturally, someone like Nick was worth a lot, and Aegis wouldn't allow their members to just throw their lives away by biting off more than they could chew.
Nick wanted to consume a Peak Elder, and Aegis would not allow him to go through with that unless he proved his willpower.
The Aductress had been cutting away on Nick's body for three hours already, and she kept saying that he should give up.
Yet, Nick just kept on going.
CRK! CRK!
The Aductress cut off two of Nick's ribs and broke them again so that their ends were filled with spikes.
Then, she moved the two ribs at Nick's eyes.
Nick didn't close his eyes and didn't look away.
The Aductress watched Nick's eyes closely.
Nick hadn't been allowed to blink ever since this torture started.
Otherwise, he would prove that he didn't have the willpower to consume a Peak Elder.
These trials were designed to be completable in theory but basically impossible in practice.
Theoretically, someone could keep their eyes open for days, but who could actually pull off something like that?
The ends of Nick's broken ribs touched his eyes, but he didn't look away.
The Aductress moved the ribs around a bit, and they slightly cut into Nick's eyes.
Tiny splinters that had already been loose before kept sticking into Nick's eyes as the Aductress pulled them back again.
The Aductress just looked at Nick, whose eyes were filled with splinters from his own ribs.
She gritted her teeth.
Didn't this idiot realize that he was walking towards his death?!
It was impossible to consume a Peak Elder!
Allowing Nick to pass this trial represented allowing him to kill himself in the Aductress' eyes.
Because of that, she was doing her absolute best to keep him from succeeding.
But she only had 24 hours.
This wasn't the first time the Aductress had administered this kind of test, but this was the most extreme one she had ever administered by far.
After all, she was allowed to try absolutely everything without any limit to dissuade Nick from trying to consume a Peak Elder.
Now, why was all of this necessary, and what was the Consumption?
In order for a Peak Expert to become an Initial Specialist, one needed to pass the Consumption.
As the name implied, the Consumption represented consuming something.
In this case, it represented consuming the core of a Specter.
When a human consumed the core of a Specter, their mind would fuse with the Specter.
Their two essences would combine, and the two souls would clash with each other.
The one that managed to win would gain control over the entire body, while the one who lost would lose all intelligence and sense of self to become something like a subservient machine.
Since all of this happened within one's mind, one's mental fortitude was the most important thing.
The two wills would clash against each other, and their willpowers would weaken the enemy.
For humans, the resources they used was their willpower, while for Specters, the resources they used was their Zephyx.
Why was it different?
Because a Specter's willpower was perfect.
Specters did not fear pain, imprisonment, weariness, hunger, exhaustion, or suffering.
The only thing they "feared" was death, and they knew that losing in this battle represented death.
Therefore, the Specters would continue fighting until their very existence stopped working.
This was akin to a human that kept fighting until all of their muscles tore apart and all of their bones broke.
A Specter's willpower in this kind of fight could not be matched by a human simply due to the fact that they were not human.
Therefore, in a one-on-one fight, the Specter would win 100% of every single match.
It was like a normal person trying to work longer without breaks than a machine, and they were not allowed to slow down at any moment.
So, the only thing that humans could do was to consume weaker Specters.
This created an imbalance in mental powers.
A Peak Expert that consumed a Peak Adult could force the Specter into compliance just due to the overwhelming power of their soul.
It was like a grown human fighting against a rat.
One slight weight shift onto the rat would make it feel like a humongous mountain was trying to crush it.
That would cause the Specter's Zephyx to burn away at insane rates.
Of course, the stronger the Specter was, the smaller the difference in power there was between the two combatants.
Consuming a Late Elder was already considered almost impossible.
This was like an average adult human male competing with an average adult human female in how long they could keep a weight of 20 kg held above their heads.
At first glance, the answer would be obvious.
But what if the female was so insanely determined that she ignored all the pain until all the muscles in her arm, chest, and back hardened and cramped until they were so damaged that trying to lower them would result in them breaking apart like twigs?
Suddenly, the favorite in this battle was no longer the male.
And trying to consume a Peak Elder would be like competing with another male with the same willpower as the female.
Even the perfect mental fortitude and attitude wouldn't be enough since both parties would just die together in a draw.
After all, both of them would fight with 100% efficiency.
Therefore, there was no point in even trying to consume a Peak Elder.
It was impossible to win.
That was why the Aductress wouldn't allow Nick to consume a Peak Elder.
She would stop him!
Over the next hours, she committed the most horrible acts she could imagine on Nick.
Skinning.
Poisoning.
Breaking.
Burning.
Gouging.
Destroying.
Yet, no matter how horrible the acts were, she made sure that Nick could still physically keep his eyes open and his body upright.
After all, he had to willingly "give up".
Hours passed.
Yet, after just twelve hours, the Aductress stopped and just looked at Nick.
He was still looking at her with determined eyes.
She was out of ideas.
How could anyone get past all of these tortures without cracking?
What drove Nick to such a point?
What was it that made him this determined to kill himself?
After so many hours of torture, Nick didn't even seem like a human anymore to the Aductress.
Torturing Nick accomplished the same thing as torturing a Specter.
Absolutely nothing.
"Why do you want to kill yourself this badly?" the Aductress asked.
Nick didn't answer.
"Do you really intend to go through with this?" she asked again, her voice calmer than before.
"Yes," Nick replied with a weak but steely voice.
The Aductress took a deep breath and looked away.
"I hoped that you would accomplish great things," she said.
Then, she sighed.
"Sadly, your journey ends here."
She looked back at Nick. "Consuming a Peak Elder is impossible. It is physically impossible."
"There is no potential reward to be gained from granting you this opportunity, but we will be losing a Peak Elder."
"This is a pure loss for Aegis."
"You no longer have any value. You are someone who is going to die soon, and forcing you to relent will only make you betray us and try in secret."
"Therefore, I will do the same thing that Aegis does to everyone else who tries to consume a Peak Elder."
The Aductress pointed her hand at Nick.
BANG!
Nick's body exploded and scattered across the room.
BANG!
Nick's head hit the ground.
"What a waste," the Aductress lamented as she looked at Nick's head.
Yet, Nick's head was still looking at her.
His eyes were still focused.
The Aductress looked back.
There was no remorse.
There was no wavering.
He had done his best.
He had done his absolute best to redeem himself.
Did he succeed?
No.
But he tried his best.
The Aductress released a shaky breath.
The next moment, healing liquid exploded out of the ceiling and doused Nick's head.
Slowly, Nick's body began to reform.
Naturally, a normal person would have already died.
In fact, even a normal Extractor would have already died.
The only reason why Nick didn't was because his willpower kept him alive for just a couple more seconds.
Nevertheless, it wasn't easy to bring Nick back from the dead, and the Aductress had to use several different gadgets and medicines to keep Nick stable while his body reformed.
Yet, during all of this, Nick didn't lose consciousness, and he did not lose any of his fighting spirit.
In the end, Nick stood reformed in front of the Aductress.
He still hadn't blinked.
One last time, the Aductress sighed.
"You win," she spoke with resignation.
"You'll get your Peak Elder in one week."