The sky became brighter, and Nick's ability deactivated.
As soon as his ability deactivated, Nick charged away.
The fact that the sky was getting brighter did not necessarily mean that something was going on with the Sun.
It might be that Nick was being attacked by something or somebody who used light as a weapon.
In almost an instant, Nick turned into mist and dove into a cave.
As soon as he entered, he charged towards the ground, his mist eroding the ground and creating a hole.
When there was no more light illuminating his body, Nick felt his ability reactivate, which multiplied his speed.
After charging for another kilometer below the ground, he stopped.
Since his ability had activated again, it meant that Nick was no longer being perceived.
If some kind of being wanted to follow Nick, he would be able to see it coming as it tried to enter the little tunnel Nick had just dug.
Yet, nothing was coming after him.
Nick also couldn't find anything with his powerful perception.
A bit later, Nick moved out of the tunnel and looked around.
'What is going on?' Nick thought as he saw the world outside.
Everything was much… brighter.
The light of the Sun had always been so gentle and orange, but now, it felt searing and white.
This had never happened before.
None of the history books that Nick had read had mentioned such an event.
As far as he knew, the Sun had never gotten brighter before.
For some reason, when Nick saw the world, he felt… strange.
It was like he didn't belong in this world.
It was like the bright and searing light was something that refused him.
Nick felt like the light did not like him.
At the same time, Nick felt like it was getting harder to breathe, which made no sense since he didn't breathe to begin with.
Yet, that was exactly how he felt.
Nick narrowed his eyes, walked forward, and held one of his hands into the light.
As soon as he did that, his ability deactivated again.
When Nick pulled his arm back, his ability activated again.
That confirmed it.
'The Sun is perceiving the world,' Nick thought with furrowed brows. 'That also confirms that the Sun never perceived the world while I have been alive.'
'There was a genuine possibility that the Sun perceived me, but for some reason, its perception did not deactivate my ability.'
'There was also the thought that the Sun is a Possession Specter and can't perceive anything to begin with.'
'But now, both of these possibilities have been proven to be untrue.'
'The Sun is conscious, and it generally ignores the world.'
'Until it doesn't…'
Nick's mind was going wild.
'I'm a Specter. I should be its ally.'
Then, Nick readied himself.
And walked outside.
Nick's entire body was bathed by the searing light.
The temperature was actually not that high. A human would sweat after standing in the light for a while, but it wasn't truly deadly or dangerous.
Nick looked up at the blue sky, which was colored a much brighter blue than normal.
It looked so… beautiful.
And yet, Nick felt his nervousness increase.
He felt like he was drowning.
'What is going on?!'
Nick analyzed his body, and he finally noticed what was making him so nervous.
'I stopped producing Zephyx!'
'Why?!'
Nick rapidly tried to generate more Zephyx.
The process didn't seem impossible, but still, nothing happened.
Then, Nick realized what was going on.
'There's no Prephyx around me!'
Just like any other Specter, Nick needed Prephyx to generate Zephyx.
Without Prephyx, he couldn't make Zephyx.
Nick quickly went back into the cave, and as soon as he got out of the light, all the pressure and panic vanished.
Nick's Zephyx production resumed.
'What does the bright light do with the Prephyx?' Nick thought. 'Does it destroy it, isolate it, block it, consume it, or stabilize it?'
Nick was analyzing the situation, but before he could make much headway, something shocking happened.
"People of Earth!"
Nick's eyes widened as he heard a voice coming from the Sun.
The Sun was… speaking to them?!
All over the world, people left their houses and looked up at the sky.
Specters with enough intelligence to understand human speech also looked at the sky.
"I am the new Champion of Light! I am the most powerful human in the world!"
When Nick heard that, his mind almost stopped working.
A new Champion of Light?
Nick thought back to the kind old man on the throne.
What about the old one?
Nick had a bad feeling.
"The old Champion of Light has passed on!"
Nick's mind stopped.
The old Champion of Light was… gone?
Nick still remembered how the old Champion of Light had granted Nick his new last name and how he had given him a chance to prove his hypothesis on how to run cities better.
Nick had met the Champion of Light only once in his life, but that one meeting had left a lasting impact on him.
The Champion of Light had been undoubtedly good.
He had the selfless goal of helping and protecting humanity.
And now, the most powerful human, the Champion of Light, was dead.
'I hoped that I would be able to see him again,' Nick thought.
"The old Champion of Light has given me his power so that I may protect you in his stead!" the voice spoke.
'Power transfer?' Nick thought. 'That shouldn't be possible.'
"Yet, I do not need all of his power," the new Champion of Light proclaimed. "The bright light you see right now is my gift to you!"
"Hope!"
"Look at the Sun!"
"See how bright it is?"
"Its bright light threatens the Specters!"
"But for us, it is warm."
"The Sun has always protected us from the Nightmare and many other terrifying Specters."
"The Sun is not our enemy but our protector!"
"With the power of the Sun, we can defend against the Specters!"
"With the power of the Sun, we can reclaim our world!"
"And as the Champion of Light, it is my duty to use the Sun's power to destroy the Specters!"
"As the new Champion of Light, I promise you that I will get rid of all of the Specters!"
"It might not happen in your lifetime or in the lifetime of your children, but at some point, one of our descendants will live in a world without Specters!"
"I, the new Champion of Light, SWEAR IT!"
WHOOOM!
At that point, the Sun became even brighter, and Nick felt like his consciousness was being attacked.
It was like some form of deep and loud droning sound was reverberating throughout his entire being, making it impossible for him to focus on anything or make any coherent thought.
"SPECTERS!"
"REPENT!"
WHOOOM!
The light exploded, and Nick was thrown against the wall of the cave, destroying it.
The light quickly dimmed again to a level that was only a bit brighter than usual.
"Remember my words, people of Earth."
"I will save you!"
"Believe in me!"
And then, the light returned to its usual brightness.
Compared to before, the world seemed dim and dark.
The Sun's light was a constant dark orange.
Yet, Nick didn't notice any of that.
That last attack had knocked Nick unconscious, and all of his Zephyx had been thrown into disorder.
The Zephyx inside Nick's body basically didn't make sense anymore and was distorted.
It took Nick's body almost a full minute to recover.
Nick's eyes slowly opened, and his memories of the event returned.
He immediately jumped back to his feet and looked outside.
'Everything's back to normal?' Nick thought.
For a while, Nick looked at the world outside.
Then, he stepped out of his cave.
'Everything's back to normal,' Nick thought as he felt the Zephyx his body was generating.
'The way the new Champion of Light talked probably means that the light only had an effect on Specters.'
'This means that normal humans do not suffer from this kind of light.'
For a long time, Nick remained silent.
He was just trying to make sense of this entire situation.
New Champion of Light?
The old Champion of Light was dead…
Meanwhile, far away…
A man shining in golden light bowed in front of a golden throne.
On the golden throne was an ancient man.
The ancient man's eyes were closed, and he looked like he was sleeping.
Sadly, that was not the case.
The Left Arm looked at the old man.
She saw his last expression…
Regret.
His expression was filled with regret.
This was not the expression of somebody who had peacefully died of old age.
The shining man slowly straightened his body and moved his arm to the side.
The next moment, the old man on the throne turned into white dust before vanishing.
Finally, the shining man turned around and pulled out a long and bright sword.
"For humanity!" he shouted.
The six Shields in the hall lifted their arms.
"For humanity!" they echoed.
And yet…
Their shouts did not seem very heartfelt.