The CZE finished her sermon after a while, and she turned back to walk inside again.
The people in front of the building jumped up with newfound energy and returned to their lives.
In a certain way, they seemed motivated and happy.
It was like their purpose had been reignited.
Naturally, Nick knew a lot about psychology, and he could see what was happening.
'Many people just want to have their own opinion reaffirmed, and if they do not believe that, they will believe whatever is most convenient to them.'
'The CZE is essentially patting them on the back for being better than others while also giving them moral justifications to be horrible people.'
'Anyone that doesn't follow their beliefs is a horrible person, and therefore, the believers are morally justified in attacking them. Reciprocating kindness with kindness and enmity with enmity is not a bad philosophy in that form.'
'However, to them, neutrality equates enmity, which justifies acting on enmity on their part.'
'And it's not even possible to accuse her of inciting violence. After all, while she said that the followers of gluttony deserve enmity, she never defined who the followers of gluttony actually are.'
'If anyone directly asked her to say who these followers were, she would most likely answer that she's referring to Specters that follow the actual Gluttony or humans that are consumed by greed and commit crimes. In both cases, she would be justified.'
'Yet, she intentionally keeps the definition vague, allowing the people to make their own opinion on her opinion without contradicting or correcting them.'
'Her followers probably argue amongst themselves all the time about her opinion on different matters.'
Nick looked at the people.
'They seem happy and peaceful, but that happiness hides a tremendous potential for violence and hatred.'
'These people would probably tear a poor mother into pieces because she stole a little bit of food for her malnourished baby, and they would probably do so with a smile while also believing that they were doing good.'
Nick released a short snort.
'Sounds a bit like me.'
The next moment, Nick transformed into mist and moved towards the pyramid.
'Except that my actions bring actual, tangible, and positive results.'
The door behind the CZE closed, and she walked down the lavish entrance hall of her building.
Waterfalls of fine sand ran down the sides of the yellow hall, falling into pools of fine sand.
People had vanished in these pools before.
After walking for a bit, she gestured to the side, and the two men behind her performed a quick bow before leaving.
Their purpose was not to protect her. After all, she was a Peak Specialist.
No, they were just here to give her an aura of majesty and power.
Naturally, any worthwhile Extractor could feel her immense power and knew that she was more impressive than any of her guards.
However, normal people were not like that.
They required a show to truly believe.
She slowly walked through the surprisingly empty halls of the pyramid.
One would think that cleaning personnel, clerks, technicians, and administrators would frequent these halls, but that didn't seem to be the case.
She slowly walked to one of the staircases and walked upwards.
For over five minutes, she walked up the stairs with a leisurely pace.
Eventually, she arrived on one of the highest floors and entered a long hallway.
Weirdly enough, there were no doors along the hallway. There was just one big gate at the end.
She approached the gate and summoned a white Barrier.
Her Barrier gave off a lot of Zephyx, and a moment later, the gate opened slowly.
She slowly walked through the gate.
BANG!
Suddenly, the gate slammed shut with incredible power, barely missing her leg.
'Shit!' Nick thought as he looked at the closed gate in front of him.
Naturally, he wanted to slip in after her and deal with her, but the gate closed so fast that Nick couldn't even react.
'Why did this gate open so slowly but close so quickly?!' Nick thought with frustration.
Nick looked through the pristine and brightly shining hallway.
There were no gaps.
It looked like the entire hallway was made of one piece of blindingly bright metal.
'I can't hide anywhere in this hallway,' Nick thought.
Sure, it was difficult to see Nick when he was in his mist form, but it wouldn't be difficult while he was in this hallway.
Anyone would notice the cloud of mist in one of the corners or at the end of the bright hallway.
While the CZE seemed to be the only person working on this floor, if anyone wanted to visit her, they would see Nick.
Well, unless he waited in the corner beside the entrance.
But in that case, the CZE would see him as soon as she exited her office.
It would be a 50/50 guess.
'It's a longshot, but maybe…'
Nick slowly approached the entrance to the CZE's office.
While Nick could technically break down the door and charge in, he wouldn't do so since that would defeat the entire purpose of being sneaky.
The entire building would notice if Nick broke through the door, leaving him no time for the interrogation.
Nick looked at the door for a long time and found a hidden console. This console was used by maintenance personnel to program the door in case there was an error.
Sadly, the console was password-protected.
'Not even an override function,' Nick thought with annoyance. 'They value privacy and security for this office so highly that they would rather replace the entire door than have any potential security flaw.'
'And just as luck would have it, I don't have my Barrier with my override codes anymore.'
Over the years of working as a Liaison, being a trainee, and working with the Technician, Nick had learned a lot about technology and Zephology.
Getting into a Containment Unit that could house Adults and weaker wasn't difficult for him, but for anything bigger, he needed his override codes.
Sadly, even if he knew the codes, he would need his Barrier to inject them into the door.
While there was a console, it didn't connect to the virtual interface that accepted the override codes.
Only a Barrier from Aegis could interact with that.
Nick fumbled around on the console for a couple of seconds before stopping.
Some of these consoles really didn't like it when somebody did stuff with them without showing any authorization.
'Well, nothing I can do,' Nick thought before turning into mist again.
Nick stopped in one of the upper corners above the door to the office and looked at the entrance to the stairway.
'As long as I keep focusing, I should be able to perceive whoever enters before they can perceive me, giving me a moment to use my illusion ability to make myself invisible for long enough that I can slither behind them.'
'I just have to be really fast. If they even think for a moment that they might have seen something, they will perceive me, and my illusion will break into pieces.'
'I really don't want to wait in the stairwell. Attacking her in there could alert everyone else inside the stairwell at that time.'
If Nick could sigh, he would have done so.
'I guess I'll have to wait until she leaves her office. I just hope it won't take too long.'
Nevertheless, Nick was mentally preparing himself for a long wait.
Shing!
But he didn't need to.
The door to the office opened just a couple of seconds later.
Nick immediately prepared himself to attack the CZE.
However, that plan was immediately abandoned as Nick realized something crucial.
His ability had deactivated!
In an instant, Nick scanned the entire hallway but didn't see anyone else.
His perception also covered the CZE, and Nick could tell that she was scanning the hallway for something but based on the way she was scanning the hallway, Nick could also tell that she didn't know where Nick was.
This immediately told Nick two things.
First, the CZE did not know where Nick was but knew that someone had to be here.
Second, she was not the reason why his ability had deactivated.
Yet, Nick couldn't even take a guess as to who or what had deactivated his ability since he immediately saw the reason an instant later.
"Serve or die."
A voice came out from the CZE's office.
It was seemingly filled with unending hatred and disdain for everything living.
As soon as Nick heard that voice, he also felt two glaring eyes looking at him.
It was like someone with incredible power was perceiving him.
In the middle of the office was something Nick hadn't seen in decades but still remembered its appearance as if he had seen it yesterday.
Four stones surrounded by a stone circle comprised of seven stones with a statue in front of the stone circle.
A Major Relay!
The statue in front of the circle was of a muscular man who was burning with rage and hatred.
The statue was looking directly at the place where Nick was.
Nick had never seen this Specter before, but just based on the absolutely enraged aura, he could tell who that was.
Wrath.
Servant of War.
One of the Seven Corruptors.