Shadow Novelist
Volume 23: The Game Changes
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"The Fiend of Darkness?" William repeated. "I think we have a Specter like that. I don't know every Specter that we own, but I recall hearing its name a couple of times before."
'You don't even know all of your Fanatics,' Nick thought with annoyance. 'I'm really not sure if this guy should be made an Agent.'
"You should have such a Specter," Nick said. "If you don't have sufficient information about your Specters, please bring me into contact with someone who does."
'That sounded a bit more passive-aggressive than I wanted, but it's already out now,' Nick thought.
Nick was trying his best to change the way he was communicating so that nobody would connect him to his old persona, but sometimes, something slipped through.
Luckily, no one would connect this extremely powerful special Agent with an Expert.
At most, Nick would have become an Initial Specialist by now.
Naturally, Nick didn't even pop into William's mind when he heard the passive-aggressive remark.
"If my expertise is not to your satisfaction, I will refer you to the person that is responsible for our Specters," William said in a subtle passive-aggressive dig of his own.
Nick just nodded.
William didn't let any of his annoyance and rage show on his face while his Barrier activated.
A moment later, he called somebody over, and the person showed up just a couple of seconds later.
"How can I help, Governor?" Vanessa Korint said as she arrived.
Vanessa Korint was the former CEO of Kugelblitz after the entire war with Anatomy.
She had been the overall leader of Kugelblitz, while Jornis had been the CZE.
'So, she's responsible for all of the city's Specters now,' Nick thought.
"Vanessa, the special Agent wishes to enquire about one of our Specters. Please support him in their endeavors," William said.
Then, William turned to Nick and performed a quick and polite bow. "Excuse me. I have business to attend to."
Nick nodded while William walked away.
'Yeah, I don't want this guy to become an Agent. He really doesn't fit Aegis,' Nick thought.
"How can I assist, sir?" Vanessa asked with a charming smile.
Naturally, Vanessa also wanted to become an Agent, and making a good impression on somebody like Nick was important to her.
"Crimson City should be in the possession of a Specter called the Fiend of Darkness. Aegis wishes to conduct a couple of experiments on it," Nick said. ’
"Ah, the Fiend of Darkness," Vanessa said with a nod. "We do have such a Specter. It is currently a Late Fanatic, and it is quite a mysterious one. We do not know a lot about this Specter. Learning more about it might also help us."
"Shall I lead you to it right away?"
Nick nodded. "Please."
Vanessa nodded politely and led Nick to the center of the megastructure.
The headquarters of the city hadn't changed since Nick left.
The two of them entered, and Vanessa led Nick to one of the Containment Units.
A moment later, she looked at a sheet of paper that was sticking to the wall beside the Containment Unit's entrance.
"Nobody is currently working with it," she said. "However, that was to be expected. We rarely work with it."
Nick already knew the answer, but he asked anyway not to seem suspicious. "How come?"
"Well, the Fiend of Darkness tends to kill its food," Vanessa said. "We do not have many people that require execution, which is why the Fiend of Darkness rarely produces Zephyx. Do you require some food to study the Specter?"
"That won't be necessary," Nick said.
"Very well," Vanessa answered before she opened the door.
Naturally, thanks to his Barrier, Nick could pass through the employee entrance despite being a Specter.
As soon as they entered, the gigantic piece of cloth attacked them.
SHING!
Nick pulled out one of his blades and pointed it at the cloth.
Vanessa couldn't see the blade due to Nick's disguise.She only saw the big black figure extending its arm to the cloth.
And then, something shocking happened.
The Fiend of Darkness stopped!
Even more, it seemed to stop voluntarily!
Vanessa had never seen anything quite like it.
The Fiend of Darkness was barely a mass of instincts.
Communicating with it was impossible, and it attacked basically anyone it saw, no matter how powerful the other side was.
Yet, the special Agent seemed to have an ability that allowed him to influence the Fiend of Darkness.
Vanessa was fascinated by this.
She hoped that she would one day become as powerful as the special Agent.
Naturally, Nick had just communicated with the Fiend of Darkness.
Nick knew that the Fiend of Darkness was so dumb that it wouldn't even know how to communicate with any human.
Telling it that Nick was a Specter wasn't dangerous in the slightest.
The only thing Nick had done was to infuse his power into his mind while talking to it.
The Fiend of Darkness could feel that the person in black was extremely powerful and that the person would be willing to kill it if it resisted.
Of course, that second part wasn't true, but the Fiend of Darkness couldn't discern that it was a lie.
The Fiend of Darkness immediately answered with a feeling of capitulation.
It essentially said, "I give up. What do you want me to do? Please don't kill me."
Except that its feelings were so primitive that interpreting them with three entire sentences was already giving them more credit than they deserved.
It was essentially just "no."
"Do not be alarmed," Nick said to Vanessa. "I know what I am doing. You may leave the Containment Unit. Please do not use any kind of surveillance to oversee my work here. I will be using highly confidential techniques and technologies."
"Of course," Vanessa said with a smile before opening the employee entrance again. "Excuse me."
Then, she stepped out.
After Vanessa left, Nick turned to the Fiend of Darkness again."Swallow me. When I tell you to return me, you will return me," Nick transmitted.
The Fiend of Darkness sent a confused feeling back.
Nick's instructions were too complicated.
"Follow my orders," Nick commanded.
The Fiend of Darkness sent a positive feeling back.
"Swallow me."
The Fiend of Darkness approached Nick and enveloped him.
It didn't even know if it could swallow Specters.
It didn't know why it should swallow Nick.
It just did it because Nick said so.
As soon as the Fiend of Darkness surrounded Nick, he deactivated his Barrier and turned into mist.
Just like the last time he had been here, he found himself in the middle of the air, surrounded by nothing but darkness.
Luckily, the darkness didn't impede Nick's senses in any way, and his perception had become far more powerful.
As soon as Nick turned into mist, his ability also reactivated, which meant that the Fiend of Darkness had also lost him.
Yet, Nick didn't lose the Fiend of Darkness.
It was camouflaged rather well while flying through the air at quite some impressive speeds.
Its body on this side was not a cloak but just a distortion.
It was like the air in some places here was warping slightly.
That was the only sign of the Fiend of Darkness.
Nick decided to stay hidden and watched it for a while.
The Fiend of Darkness randomly zipped around the space, doing nothing else.
A moment later, Nick sent a voice transmission to the distortion.
"Stop moving!"
The distortion stopped moving.
Nick had been quite certain that he would be able to get out of there again. Even if the Fiend of Darkness wouldn't listen to him.
This place was somewhere on the planet, and Nick could move through almost all matter.
He could get out of here, one way or another.
Yet, seeing that he could still interact with the Fiend of Darkness made things much easier.
It meant that Nick could return to the place from which he had entered.
Otherwise,he would need to explain why he had entered a Containment Unit just to reappear from outside the city again.
"You may continue," Nick transmitted.
Yet, the Fiend of Darkness didn't resume zipping around.
It probably didn't even realize that it was zipping around, and it didn't know what Nick meant by continuing.
It just stood there.
It was like telling a human that they could relax the tongue in their mouth and put it back in a comfortable position.
Some humans would be quite confused and not know what to do with their tongues now.
Nick didn't bother with the Fiend of Darkness and looked around the space.
His perception stretched for several kilometers, and he could see far more than the last time he had been here.
'Gravity is extremely weak but present,' Nick noted. 'Air basically doesn't exist. The only air this place has is the one displaced by the Fiend of Darkness.'
Nick landed on the ground and touched it.
'Fascinating,' he thought as he touched it. 'This is material treated with Zephyx, but it seems very natural. It's like this material has just naturally absorbed Zephyx.'
'I would assume that's what he is doing,' Nick thought as he looked into the distance.
Naturally, Nick also saw the owner of the place.
The rotting corpse.
The Nightmare.