Nick watched as the team of Protectors suppressed the crimson cloud with practiced ease.
They had three Suppressors in their team, and their teamwork was exemplary.
'That was close,' Nick thought. 'But this should give Lust a brutal hit.'
Nick just waited in the air.
When the Protectors were done dealing with the Crimson Cloud, one of them rapidly approached Nick and stopped in front of him.
"Identify yourself!" the Protector ordered aggressively.
The Protector had seen how Nick had regrown an entire head after coming out of the Crimson Cloud, and he was pretty sure that humans couldn't do that.
Nick's Barrier activated and sent his credentials to the Protector.
The Protector furrowed his brows before another one stopped beside him.
"You can ask the Technician or the Left Arm if you're unsure about my credentials," Nick said. "My name is Julian Winter, and they know me. I'll stay right here."
The first Protector looked at Nick with a serious expression.
Then, he activated his Barrier.
His Barrier connected to the stronghold.
The stronghold connected to Aegis' headquarters, and Aegis' headquarters connected to the Left Arm.
"Report!" the Left Arm ordered.
"There is a Specter here with a black Barrier. It identified itself as Julian Winter and told us to contact you," the Protector said.
"Serial number of the Barrier," the Left Arm commanded.
The Protector transmitted the serial number.
"He's clean. He works for us. Keep his appearance top secret," the Left Arm ordered.
"Of course, Ma'am," the Protector said before the line disconnected.
"He's clean," the Protector told the other ones.
The other Protector was a bit surprised before turning to Nick. "Sorry, mate. You know how it is," he said, apologizing for looking at him with aggression.
"I know," Nick answered.
"What's with the Specter?" the first Protector asked, pointing at the gigantic Specter Cage that was being transported to the stronghold.
"Servant of Lust. Should be an Initial Fallen. It has not shown any sign of significant intelligence," Nick answered.
The Protector frowned.
An Initial Fallen was worth a lot.
In fact, Initial Fallen were worth more than Peak Fallen since there could only be a limited number of Shields.
Yet, this was a servant of Lust.
This was problematic.
"I believe it can be left alive," Nick said. "It might have a similar ability to the Crimson Sea in the headquarters. Tell the Left Arm I said that."
The Protector looked at Nick with furrowed brows.
This Hero was talking like he knew the Left Arm very well.
"I will," the Protector said. "You may leave or stay. Whichever you prefer."
"I'm going to contact headquarters through the stronghold before getting back to work. Thanks for saving me," Nick said.
"It's our duty," the Protector said before flying back into the stronghold.
Nick did a couple of calls before leaving the stronghold again.
The addition of an Initial Fallen would allow Aegis to strengthen their numbers of strong Protectors.
Nick had contributed immensely by handing this Specter to Aegis.
With the many contributions he had made over the past years, Nick asked for five years off, which the Left Arm had granted him.
Aegis had captured a couple more Fallen over the past decades, but it still didn't reach 20 in number.
Every single Fallen was worth a fortune to Aegis.
By capturing a Fallen, Nick had already contributed more than basically any other Agent.
He could have some time off.
Over the next five years, Nick went back and forth between the secret team of researchers and the contained Adversary.
After five years, the team of researchers managed to create a stable source of Star Energy.
Sadly, the amounts were still very small.
But it was stable!
Next on the agenda was to make Star Energy transportable,accessible, and manipulatable.
That would still take many years.
When the five years were up, Nick turned into the aggressive Specter again.
This time, he "attacked" five cities within just three days.
Barely anyone resisted him, and Nick only needed to kill three Heroes, who were secretly traitors anyway.
Finally, Nick conspicuously flew through the wasteland again.
Surprisingly, he was circling a wide area, not deviating too far.
Sadly, even after several hours, he couldn't find any wild servant of Lust's.
'Plan B,' Nick thought.
He searched for a city close by that was controlled by Lust, and after about an hour, he found one.
Nick created an isolated room in the underground.
And then, he created a Greater Relay that could connect him with Lust.
Finally, he called Lust.
'It wouldn't pick up if I were in the wilderness. Especially since this is quite a dangerous area.'
About two seconds later, Lust appeared on top of the Greater Relay.
"Hey, fat fuck! Took me a while to learn how to make this! Now we can talk whenever we want!" Nick shouted with aggressive amusement.
"How are you still alive?" Lust asked with narrowed eyes.
"Why wouldn't I be? Think I'll just keel over and die like you? Stop projecting!" Nick shouted.
"What happened to my servant?" Lust asked.
"Which one? I killed many of your servants, idiot!" Nick answered.
"The Crimson Cloud," Lust answered.
"I've never seen some kind of crimson cloud, but thanks for telling me, idiot. If I see it, I will kill it for you," Nick shouted with aggressive amusement.
"I told it to kill you. You're lucky you survived, loser," Lust answered.
"More empty threats," Nick answered with laughter. "I keep running all over your little club, and none of your servants have even attacked me! I knew you were full of shit when you said that you would kill me!"
"Come on, say sorry, and I might stop," Nick said with a malicious grin.
Lust looked at it.
"Sorry," it said."I shouldn't have underestimated you."
'It's come this far, huh?' Nick thought as an arrogant smirk appeared on his face.
Naturally, as long as they were not Pride, Specters generally didn't have feelings of pride.
They just did whatever they needed to do to get what they wanted.
Because of that, demeaning themselves to gain something was not something unusual for them.
However, apologizing like that still meant that Lust no longer wanted to fight Nick.
Lust would no longer threaten Nick and would no longer force him to become its servant.
Lust just wanted Nick to stop.
"You're so pathetic. Look at the big and strong fat fuck! He's so magnanimous!" Nick shouted with self-satisfied laughter.
Lust didn't react.
It just wanted Nick to stop.
"Your pathetic weakness makes me angry! I hate spineless cowards like you the most! Specters and people that just keel over at the first sign of opposition!" Nick shouted, filled with hatred.
"I will eradicate your little club once and for all!"
BANG!
Nick crushed the Greater Relay.
Then, he exploded out of the ground.
"SERVANT OF LUST! PREPARE TO DIE!" he shouted aggressively.
Just like all the other cities, this one didn't resist.
This time, Nick actually killed the Specter working for Lust before leaving the city.
After leaving the city, Nick stopped in the middle of nowhere.
If he had a heart, it would race right now.
The most dangerous and important moment had arrived.
An instant later, Nick's appearance changed, and he assumed the appearance of his alter ego, Julian Winter.
Then, he continued flying.
During this entire time, Nick's ability was deactivated.
This meant that someone had seen him change his appearance.
But that was what Nick wanted to happen.
As he silently continued flying, his mind was going wild.
Nick felt like he was in the jaws of a gigantic monster.
If it wanted, it could just close its jaws and kill him instantly.
At this moment,Nick was even closer to death than when he had been swallowed by the Crimson Cloud.
That was because Lust was directly beneath him, deep underground.
At a depth of about ten kilometers, something was perceiving Nick, and he only knew where that thing was, thanks to his upgraded primary ability.
While Nick knew where the thing that was perceiving him was, he couldn't see it.
But he was certain it was Lust.
The feeling of danger Nick felt was tremendous.
The last time he had felt this threatened had been when Pride appeared in front of him.
The thing deep underground refused to come out without making sure that there was nothing that could threaten it.
If this were just one of Lust's servants, it wouldn't be this careful since Lust wanted to deal with the angry Specter as quickly as possible.
The luxury of waiting for a good time to strike was only something Lust would grant itself.
Most likely, Lust would follow Nick for several days before deciding to strike.
It was just that careful.
One of the reasons why Nick had changed his appearance in front of Lust was to give it a false sense of security.
Nick's ability to change shapes was obviously the very thing that allowed him to stay hidden from Lust for so long.
This had to be the angry Specter's most important secret.
Nick kept flying for a couple of seconds.
But then, he suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere.
And then…
His Barrier activated.
Join our channel in tëlëgram to receive chapters faster:
The author's patreon. If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.
/user?u=27791050