The Corrosive Dust hesitated.
Naturally, its Specter Core was its biggest weakness.
Some seconds passed in which nothing happened.
"How truly… unfortunate," Nick said as his voice darkened.
"Listen to it," the Parasite transmitted to the Corrosive Dust.
The Corrosive Dust was still skeptical.
"But danger," it transmitted back to the Parasite. "Core defenseless. Danger. Death."
"Shut up!" the Parasite transmitted back with urgency. It didn't want the Corrosive Dust's refusal to cooperate to implicate it. "Do you see that other Specter? Can you feel its power? Do you truly believe that they can't just kill you?! You are stationary! You can't move! This Specter can just send any random servant to kill you whenever it wants!"
"There is a chance you might die if you reveal your Core, but if you don't, you will definitely die!"
A moment later, the bottom of the gigantic column opened, and a black sphere floated out of the pillar.
"How fortunate," Nick commented as he slowly floated over to the Specter Core.
Nick threw a glance back at the Technician.
The Technician understood what Nick wanted.
Ding!
The Technician cut the connection.
The Parasite was a bit surprised that Greed just cut the connection like that.
WHOOOOM!
At that moment, Nick exploded into light, and the Parasite lost its vision of him.
CRACK!
The explosive sound of something hard cracking into pieces reverberated throughout the hall, and the Parasite immediately knew what had happened.
The Corrosive Dust was dead!
CRACK!
The Parasite felt a blade burying into its body.
It noticed a figure in front of him, but the figure didn't look like that black Specter from earlier.
Instead, it was the figure of a man.
As soon as the Parasite saw the appearance of this man, a name shot through its mind.
Nick Dusk!
"Surprised?" Nick transmitted in an instant. "I told you I will kill you one day."
Yet, before the Parasite could say anything, Nick began to cut the Parasite into pieces.
Nick didn't want to risk the Parasite using its rats to tell everyone about his secret.
Because of that, he would kill the Parasite before it could physically speak his name.
Of course, it was a bit risky to show the Parasite his identity near the end, but Nick just couldn't help himself.
While Nick's body was a Specter, his heart and mind were still human.
The Parasite was a Peak Fanatic, but Nick was also a Peak Fanatic.
Even without his ability, Nick would be able to kill the Parasite.
The Parasite was a horrendous fighter, while Nick was an excellent fighter.
Within less than a second, the Parasite's body was cut into pieces, along with its Specter Core.
Sadly, Nick couldn't see the Parasite's dying expression since it couldn't really have an expression due to its exotic body.
As Nick stood in the middle of the room, he looked around.
His ability had already reactivated.
All the rats stopped moving as soon as the Parasite died.
The rats were made of actual biological matter, but they didn't have their own systems to produce energy.
The rats simply burned Zephyx to move and live, which was generated by the Parasite.
Air, food, or water weren't used in that process.
So, without any Zephyx, they just stopped living.
Moments later, the Corrosive Dust also started to vanish.
For the first time in an eternity, this part of the island became quiet again.
'A dead Late Demon and a dead Peak Fanatic,' Nick thought. 'That's a lot of Zephyx that just got released. Most likely, a couple hundred Hatchlings will appear in the world.' Ꞧά
'Sadly, there's not much we can do. The Corrosive Dust can't be moved or contained without spending tons upon tons of Zephyx, and the Parasite knew my secret.'
'With that, one more entity that knows about my ability died,' Nick thought.
'The only ones that are left are the Technician, Ghosty, Simon, and Envy.'
'The Technician and Ghosty are not risky. They both know me and are my closest allies. Simon is a bit riskier since he isn't aware of Aegis' inside issues. I can only hope that he hasn't told anyone else. However, he probably believes that I have already died. According to the database, I never returned from the Maw.'
'Naturally, Envy is the biggest problem. If my true identity gets revealed and the Corruptors realize that I am a Specter working for humanity, Envy could tell the entire world about my ability. He could essentially cripple me without directly attacking me.'
'It's important that the Specters do not realize that there is a Specter working for humanity, and even if they do, it's even more important that they don't connect Nick Dusk to Julian Winter.'
Nick shook his head to pull himself out of his thoughts before turning to the Greater Relay.
'I should quickly deal with these things before people come to investigate.'
Nick activated his Barrier and assumed his disguise again.
He wouldn't need to remain hidden anymore.
From now on, he would openly travel to Crimson City as a special Agent from Aegis tasked with investigating the ruins.
Then, Nick activated the Greater Relay again, and the Technician's image reappeared.
"Everything worked out," Nick said.
"Sounds good," the Technician said with a smile. "If you ever need Greed again, just call me!"
Nick nodded before cutting the connection.
Then, he destroyed the Greater Relay.
Sadly, as a Specter, Nick couldn't use Space Bags, which meant that transporting big objects was cumbersome and annoying.
However, Nick could just conjure any objects he needed.
Then, Nick pointed his hand at the ceiling, and the dirt parted, creating a tunnel to the surface.
Telekinesis was not difficult to use for someone as experienced in manipulating Zephyx as Nick.
Lastly, Nick took to the sky and slowly flew towards the north.
As Nick started flying, he noticed that the corrosive dust started to vanish.
Within a couple more seconds, nothing of the dust remained, and the area became clear.
After decades of constant bombardment with the dust, the area had become perfectly smooth.
It was almost like it was handcrafted.
Of course, something like that couldn't remain hidden for long.
A couple of Veterans and Experts outside the city noticed that the Corrosive Dust had vanished and became nervous.
What was going on?
Naturally, they all knew that the Corrosive Dust was powerful.
Something as strong as that wouldn't just die, which meant that the Corrosive Dust was doing something.
Did it move somewhere else?!
Was it preparing for an attack?
Eventually, they took notice of a distant figure slowly flying toward Crimson City.
As soon as they saw the gigantic black figure, they ran to Crimson City.
Within seconds, half of the Extractors of Crimson City knew that something had happened to the Corrosive Dust.
Just ten seconds later, one of the Heroes had already taken to the sky and gazed towards Nick.
Nick recognized the figure immediately.
It was a huge man with black hair who was wearing Aegis' uniform.
Jornis Zealow, one of Kugelblitz's former Heroes and owners.
Naturally, Jornis couldn't recognize Nick since he looked like a gigantic black figure with Aegis' symbol right now.
Nick stopped flying forward, staying around five kilometers south of Crimson City.
"I am a special Agent sent from Aegis," Nick transmitted. "This is my code. Please verify my identity."
Jornis narrowed his eyes as another Hero flew up to stand beside him.
This one was Vanessa Korint, former CEO of Kugelblitz, who now was also part of the city.
The two of them communicated with each other silently as they glanced at the distant Nick from time to time.
A moment later, their Barriers flickered a bit, and they waited.
"Greetings, special Agent," Vanessa transmitted to Nick. It seemed like Vanessa was able to transmit her voice, while Jornis hadn't mastered that ability yet. "Please stay where you are for now while we verify your identity."
"No worries," Nick transmitted back.
Then, everyone waited for a while.
About a minute later, a third person appeared in the sky.
It was a taller man with long green hair and sharp eyebrows who wore a holster with a single gun.
Nick also remembered this person.
William Drawhand.
William Drawhand was the only Hero who had been captured by the Prison. Back then, Nick had freed William Drawhand, turning the tide in the battle against the Prison.
William had once been a Governor of a different city but was captured by the Prison when his city had been destroyed.
Based on the uniform he now wore, he had become a Governor yet again.
"Welcome to Crimson City, special Agent," William transmitted respectfully. "You may approach."
Nick wordlessly flew towards the city as the other two Heroes looked at him with suspicion.
Naturally, Nick's appearance drew many more gazes from the people.
They had never seen anyone like this.
"I am here to investigate some things," Nick told the Heroes in front of him. "On my way here, I have come across a hidden Specter. After a bit of talking, I believed that the Specter was too dangerous to leave alive, and while I was there, I also dealt with another one."
"I dealt with the Specter that controls rats and the one creating the clouds of dust."
"I hope that is okay," Nick said.
When the Heroes heard that, they were stunned.