How was Nick supposed to prove that he wasn't lying?!
He didn't have a Barrier.
He didn't have human Zephyx.
There were no other people around who knew Nick.
"You just have to ask Aegis," Nick said with a careful voice. "Tell them that you found Nick Dusk. They saw me getting taken by the Maw."
The woman didn't look like she believed Nick and just kept looking at him with a serious expression.
"Fine, I will do just that," she says. "I don't believe that you are telling the truth, but I'm willing to try, at least."
Nick did not calm down.
He could hear that she was about to add a "but".
"But I can't let a Specter run around just like that. If you come peacefully, I will ask Aegis about you," she said.
Nick became more nervous.
Come peacefully?
'She will put me in a Containment Unit,' Nick thought.
In the past, Containment Units were interesting to Nick, and he also associated them with growth. After all, Nick became more powerful while working with Specters, which were inside Containment Units.
But now, things were very different.
If Nick was put in a Containment Unit, he would never be released again.
If this Hero just dumped him in a random Containment Unit in a random city, nobody from Aegis would be able to find him.
Aegis didn't know that Nick was now a Specter, which meant that they would not ask the cities to check their Containment Units for somebody called Nick Dusk.
Additionally, there would probably be tens of Specters that would claim to be Nick Dusk anyway.
Voluntarily entering a Containment Unit represented losing control over his own life.
The only thing he could rely on would be the Hero's words, and humans were generally not the most trustworthy beings.
Especially when they were powerful.
"I can't bet my life on your word alone," Nick said. "If I'm put in a Containment Unit, there is no way that Aegis will find me."
The Hero frowned. "I told you that I will tell them. Are you saying I'm a liar?" she asked with annoyance.
"I don't know if you are a liar or not," Nick answered. "I don't know anything about you. If I were human, would you put your life in my hands just because I say that I won't kill you?"
She didn't immediately answer.
"But you're not human," she said after a bit. "You are a Specter, and Specters are only interested in their own gain."
"You mean like the majority of humans?" Nick asked.
"Wrong!" the woman shouted, her voice angrier than before. "There are many powerful humans who want to improve humanity!"
"There are some humans that act like Specters, but the most powerful humans only want what's best for humanity!"
"Aegis' existence disproves your claim."
Nick felt a strange feeling.
The way the Hero argued reminded him of himself.
This sounded very much like what he used to say.
Was she wrong, though?
No.
What she said was the truth.
While many humans were greedy, humans also had the capacity to be good.
As she said, Aegis' existence was the best proof.
"Are you a Bailiff?" Nick asked. "You sound like somebody that went through the trainee program."
The Hero's expression intensified. "What do you know about the trainee program?"
"A lot," Nick said. "I used to be part of it until just a couple of years ago."
After that, Nick told her about the Specters, the levels, the practical experience, and so on.
The Hero looked at him with intensity, and Nick couldn't be sure what she was thinking about.
"How about this?" Nick said after not getting an answer from her after he finished his story. "I am going to follow you to the nearest city. I am going to wait outside of the city. You get in contact with Aegis and get a new Barrier. And then, I can tell you what you need to look up to prove my identity, okay?"
She looked at Nick for a while longer.
"What do you gain from that?" she asked.
"What do you mean with what do I gain from that?" Nick asked with a bit of annoyance.
"What do you gain from making me do all of these things? What is your plan?" she asked.
"I told you," Nick said. "I want to get into contact with the Technician so that we can find out what's going on and find a solution."
The woman shook her head. "Even if I were to assume that you're telling the truth, I can't see how it would make sense to do any of that."
Nick remained silent as he looked with confused annoyance at the Hero, who kept talking.
"Assuming you told the truth, you used to be human," she said. "But you're not anymore. You're a Specter."
"You're not humanity's ally. You're humanity's enemy."
"Helping humanity would equate to hurting yourself, and the only thing Specters are not willing to do is to hurt themselves."
"What you're saying makes no sense," she explained.
"I'm not humanity's enemy," Nick said with a severe tone. "I want to help humanity!"
"Why?" she asked.
"Why?" Nick repeated.
"Yes, why," she repeated back.
Silence.
Nick's first answer would have been that he was human, but he quickly realized that this was no longer true.
Naturally, Nick still knew that he wanted to help humanity, but it wasn't easy to find the right words for why.
"Because I did horrible things in my past and want to atone for them," Nick said with less fight audible in his voice.
"How is that related to humanity?" she asked. "Atone to the people you've wronged."
"They're all dead," Nick answered. "I can't ask them for forgiveness anymore, and they also wouldn't grant it. The only thing I can do is to help others until the good I have done far outweighs the bad."
The Hero just kept looking at Nick evenly for a couple of seconds.
"And that's why you want to help humanity?" she asked.
Nick nodded. "Yes."
The Hero shook her head and sighed.
It was almost like she was disappointed.
"To think that I actually believed you for a second."
A foreboding feeling appeared inside Nick.
"But that proves it. You're a Specter."
Nick wanted to object, but the woman didn't let him and continued talking.
"You Specters can't see what it means to be human. You are all just thinking about yourselves. You have no experience in what it means to be selfless."
"I asked you why you wanted to help humanity, but the only thing you could come up with was something selfish."
"You only want to help humanity so that you feel better about yourself."
"The way you describe these things is like somebody that knows about something but has never experienced it."
"Why? Because you're a Specter, and you don't know how it feels when you want to help others. You only think about yourself."
At that moment, a sneer appeared on her face.
It seemed like she was internally berating herself for being so naïve as to believe this Specter for even just a second.
Nick grew increasingly frustrated.
'What the fuck is she talking about?!' he thought. 'If I were to use her logic, every single person in the entire world would be selfish. People inherently search for happiness, and part of that happiness is living with the least amount of guilt or remorse possible!'
'By her logic, apologizing to somebody you've hurt after losing control over your emotions is inherently selfish and inhumane!'
'It would also be selfish to help a beggar at the side of the road because you just want to get rid of the feelings of pity you're feeling!'
'What bullshit is this?!'
"According to your logic, a person-"
"There!" the Hero shouted, interrupting Nick. "Logic. You're talking about logic again. This is about emotions!"
Nick grew even more frustrated but also more panicked.
This Hero was his best shot at connecting with Aegis, but she kept saying that Nick didn't know what it meant to be human.
SHING!
At that moment, the Hero suddenly vanished.
DING!
Nick immediately exploded with light since the Hero was obviously about to unleash an attack.
In an instant, Nick turned ethereal and rapidly moved towards his right.
For the first time in a long while, his ability was active again.
At the same time, Nick's newfound sensitivity of his senses increased as well, and he saw the surrounding kilometers with extreme clarity.
That was when Nick's eyes widened in surprise.
He felt a very faint trace of Zephyx around five kilometers away, and it was vanishing!
'She fled?' Nick thought.
That was when Nick realized that this actually made a lot of sense.
She knew that Nick wasn't weak and that he had even killed a Hero.
She wouldn't fight Nick…
At least not without a Barrier.
Even after several seconds passed, Nick's ability didn't deactivate.
Nobody was perceiving him.
She had left.
She had fled.
And now, Nick was alone.
Somewhere in the world.
Without a Barrier.
And with no way to prove that he was human…
Or used to be.