Nick prepared himself for the next phase of the plan.
By now, Lust had to be desperate, and it was clear that it wanted to deal with him.
'The next phase is a bit riskier, but it should still work out. Everything's prepared,' Nick thought as he transformed into the angry Specter again.
Then, he conspicuously flew through the wasteland.
He even showed several dark clouds around him, making him as noticeable as possible.
This was very unlike him, but Nick needed to draw as much attention as possible.
After just a couple of seconds, Nick's ability deactivated.
Naturally, thanks to his upgrade, Nick could tell where the person or Specter was that perceived him.
'Just an Adult,' Nick thought as he looked at the slimy red corpse.
Nick did that for a couple of minutes.
'Oh? A Fanatic!' Nick thought as he looked down.
He couldn't see anything above ground, but Nick's perception sensed a network of insect roots below the surface.
"Whom do you work for?" Nick transmitted to the root of insects.
"Peaceful. Alone," the Specter transmitted through simple concepts.
'This is obviously an unintelligent one that can't communicate,' Nick thought.
"Wait here, or I will kill you!" he transmitted.
"Wait," the Specter confirmed.
Nick vanished again, took on the appearance of a human, and moved to the nearest stronghold.
When his Barrier connected with the stronghold, Nick told them where the Specter was and left again.
An Agent would soon leave the stronghold to retrieve the Specter.
Nick returned to his angry Specter disguise again and continued.
'Come on. You can't tell me that you have no spies anywhere.'
After flying around for a couple of minutes, Nick's ability deactivated again, and he looked over.
'Bingo!' Nick thought as he looked at the human Specter standing inside a cave near a Greater Relay.
At this moment, the Greater Relay was deactivated, but the Specter was already on its way to activate it.
When the Specter turned away to activate the Greater Relay, Nick used his upgraded Maw ability to appear right behind the Specter.
BANG!
And punched the Specter Core out of its body before it could activate the Greater Relay.
As long as the Specter Core wasn't severely damaged, a Specter could regenerate.
However, before this Specter could do just that, Nick wrapped a Zephyx Suppressor around it before taking it away.
He made a quick stop at Aegis' headquarters to throw it into the Crimson Sea before returning to the cave.
All of that barely took five minutes.
When Nick looked at the Greater Relay, he channeled the angry Specter and showed a malicious and confident smirk.
Then, he activated the Greater Relay.
He had seen that one Elder Specter activating it, and he remembered how it worked.
By now, Nick knew how to contact three Corruptors, but only two of them were still alive.
Two seconds later, Lust's image appeared in front of Nick.
"Ah, the disgusting fat fuck. Expected someone else?" Nick asked with an aggressive sneer.
Lust glared at Nick. "Immediately stop what you are doing and become my servant!"
Nick laughed aggressively. "You still think you're better than me, fat fuck! Haven't had enough of my rampage?!"
By now, Nick seemed beside himself with absolute rage and hatred. "Want me to go even harder?! I held myself back, but you've managed to anger me! I will fuck up your little club!"
"The humans are not even resisting me anymore! They are letting me enter their cities to deal with your dumb servants!"
"Stop immediately!" Lust shouted. "I will kill you!"
"Try me, fat fuck!"
BANG!
Nick destroyed the Greater Relay.
'It's desperate now,' Nick thought, suppressing the channeled rage and hatred. 'Lust will drop everything it is doing and send someone that is sure to kill me.'
'While I might not be able to fight Lust yet, I can deal with almost all of its servants.'
'Let's see what you're going to send my way.'
Nick flew out of the cave and waited in the sky.
He made sure to kill every Specter that was near him so that his ability was active.
Sure, killing Specters was bad since that created many more Specters, but Nick didn't have the time to deal with them properly.
Just ten seconds after Nick killed the close Specters, his ability deactivated again, and he looked at the horizon.
'That's problematic,' Nick thought with furrowed brows.
On the horizon, Nick could see a humongous red cloud racing towards him.
It was over five kilometers wide and filled with countless images of suffering souls.
As it kept moving, it left behind a crimson mist that turned everything it touched into black dust.
This Specter was about as conspicuous as it got.
Even if Nick tried, he wouldn't be able to be more conspicuous than this gigantic cloud of screaming faces.
Naturally, this was a Force Specter that followed Lust's orders.
And it was not weak.
As Nick felt the fluctuations of the cloud's Zephyx, he couldn't help feeling nervous.
'Peak Demon or Initial Fallen. Most likely Initial Fallen,' Nick thought.
This was probably Lust's ace.
Force Specters were notoriously hard to deal with, and having command over such a powerful one gave Lust a lot of power.
However, Lust rarely used it since it was so conspicuous.
BANG!
Nick exploded into the distance.
"Lord Lust commands you to stop!" Nick transmitted while fleeing from the cloud.
The Specter didn't answer.
'It sees me as food,' Nick thought. 'It might be a Specter that grows more powerful by consuming other Specters.'
'This might be a stronger version of the Crimson Sea but without the mental manipulation abilities.'
Nick surrounded himself in black clouds as he fled, allowing his ability to be half-active.
Since he was already an Early Demon, and since his base power was so high, Nick was as fast as an average Peak Demon.
However, the cloud was still faster.
'Has to be an Initial Fallen.'
BANG!
Nick created an explosion of light to hide from the Specter and tried to use a portal to gain some distance.
But his ability failed.
'It's not perceiving me via vision,' Nick realized.
The cloud was now only two kilometers away from Nick, and it would reach him within a second.
BANG!
Nick unleashed another explosion of light, but at the same time, he also activated his Barrier to isolate his Zephyx.
For just a tiny instance, Nick's ability reactivated.
'It senses me via my aura!'
However, even if it was just a tiny instance, it was enough.
Nick activated his illusion ability and made it seem like he had changed directions.
The cloud changed directions, but Nick felt a terrifying drain on his Zephyx.
Controlling the perception of something almost an entire level above him was insanely costly, despite the upgraded efficiency of his illusion ability.
While the cloud was flying after the illusion, Nick created a portal near the horizon and vanished from the sky.
An instant later, he immediately changed his appearance to that of his alter ego, Julian Winter.
Then, he was forced to drop his illusion ability.
These couple of moves had drained over 80% of Nick's Zephyx.
The crimson cloud stopped for just a tiny moment as the illusion vanished.
Nick's ability deactivated again as the crimson cloud saw the unfamiliar person on the horizon.
BANG!
And charged right at them!
'I don't know if it knows it's me or if it just attacks anything that moves. Either way, it's still following me,' Nick thought as he resumed fleeing.
He couldn't even attempt to fight that thing.
As Nick fled, he recovered some of his Zephyx and activated his abilities again to gain more ground.
This time, he couldn't activate them for as long as before since he hadn't fully recovered his Zephyx.
When the Specter resumed charging after him, Nick was almost out of Zephyx.
He was at around 2%, and he would only be able to recover up to 20% before the Specter arrived.
That wasn't even enough to make a portal that he could enter through the air.
And even if it were enough, Nick couldn't use it since the Specter's perception was still on him.
Nick had so many tricks to stay hidden, but in front of extreme power, all of them only had minor effects.
He was genuinely out.
The only thing he could do was run without any tricks.
The Specter gained ground at terrifying speeds.
Nick gritted his teeth.
The Specter came closer.
500 meters.
100 meters.
Five meters!
And an instant later, he was enveloped.
SSSS!
Nick's body was dissolving into black dust.
The terrifying faces were tearing him apart and consuming his Zephyx.
Yet, Nick just kept flying.
He was almost out of Zephyx.
'Come on!' Nick thought desperately.
BANG!
Suddenly, a fiery wave washed over Nick.
Yet, the fiery wave didn't hurt him in any way.
The next instant, Nick saw the Sun again, and he could also see the Specter.
At this moment, five Protectors were engaged in a battle with it.
Nick took a deep breath in relief.
On the horizon, he could see one of Aegis' strongholds.
This was where he had been fleeing to this entire time.
In order to deal with Lust's servants, Nick didn't need to beat them himself.
He just needed to escape for long enough.
And he was very good at escaping.
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