After an indeterminate amount of time, the Containment Unit became loud, and the Prephyx density in it increased.
The Protector started to regain her strength, and she knew that her shift was over.
While the Containment Unit worked automatically, there were still a couple of settings an Extractor could change.
For example, this Containment Unit worked with a timer that the Extractor had to set before entering.
However, to maximize the suffering, the timer didn't say when it would open.
It just said minimum, short, medium, long, very long, and manual.
Manual meant it couldn't be deactivated from the inside and would continue running until someone on the outside deactivated the function.
Of course, the Protector didn't know that the Containment Unit just stopped suppressing Prephyx.
In her mind, when the time was up, the Containment Unit just dumped so much Prephyx into its insides that the tentacle Specter couldn't absorb it fast enough.
Outside, she took a deep breath as her fear vanished.
Such experienced Extractors were very used to suffering since they had worked with powerful Specters for centuries.
While the perpetual feeling of drowning was horrible, it wasn't more traumatizing than her other work.
Extractors who couldn't recover from working with a bad Specter generally didn't manage to become Protectors.
Every Protector had the talent of disconnecting past events from current events.
Yes, she had suffered immensely in there, but everything was fine now, and it wouldn't be a big issue moving forward.
This particular instance of suffering was behind her.
'At least until my next shift,' she thought with an annoyed sigh. 'I signed up for ten shifts in total with an average length of medium.'
'I chose medium when I entered. How much time actually passed?'
The next moment, she checked her Barrier.
'A week?' she thought with raised brows. 'I was in there for a week?'
'It felt… actually, I don't know how long it felt. On one hand, it felt like barely an hour passed, but on the other hand, it felt like I was in there for an entire year.' Ṙá₦ꝋβÈś
She released a long breath.
'Well, I signed up for it, and that's that. I'm helping Aegis by agreeing to this.'
Then, she left the locker room in front of the Containment Unit to report to the Left Arm.
What she didn't notice was that the Containment Unit still let Prephyx through.
That was because Nick had to manually activate the function before it could reactivate.
Naturally, this was a fail-safe so that he could also come out in case things went bad.
After some minutes, Nick came out of his costume and left the Containment Unit through the employee entrance.
'It wasn't nearly as bad as expected,' Nick thought as he walked out.
At this moment, Nick was producing a crazy amount of Zephyx.
All the bottled-up suffering was reacting with the Prephyx around him, pumping him full of Zephyx.
'One week passed, and I produced far more Zephyx than expected.'
'Sure enough, working with a Protector is much more efficient than working with Heroes.'
That was when Nick was reminded of Simon Francium, who had died when Envy broke out.
'Back then, his power seemed otherworldly.'
'But now, I am working with people of his power level.'
Nick was reminded of when he met Simon for the first time.
He had only been a John back then.
The innocent and scared Nick from back then didn't exist anymore.
Now, he was harvesting the suffering of Protectors while aiming to free all of humanity from its oppression.
The nervousness Nick had felt when the old Champion gave him the last name of Dusk was no longer there.
It was his duty now.
He had to destroy the Sun and the aliens living on the moon.
'I will never give up. It seems like an insurmountable task, but changing Crimson City seemed just as impossible back then.'
'I changed Crimson City. I succeeded.'
'Improving the lives of a million people also seemed impossible, but I also managed to do that.'
'I fulfilled two impossible tasks.'
'Who's to say I can't fulfill a third one?'
Next, Nick connected his Barrier to the Left Arm.
"Report," the Left Arm ordered.
"The first shift went smoothly. There were no issues," he said.
"I've already heard. Are you ready for the next shift? Are there any changes in procedure that would make the process more efficient?" she asked.
'She's actually just asking me if I can deal with the pain,' Nick thought.
"No, everything has worked well so far. Based on what I've seen, the long and very long settings are also usable. Of course, the Protector probably reported everything already. You know more about the viability of the settings than me," Nick explained.
"Good. I will send the next one soon," she answered before cutting the connection.
Nick set up the Containment Unit again and re-entered.
He had already transformed all the saved suffering into Zephyx.
He went back into his costume and waited.
The Containment Unit started suppressing the Prephyx again, and Nick went back into a trance.
Time seemed to pass so quickly for him.
It was like the outside world was moving much faster than him.
The next Protector arrived around two hours later, but Nick felt like he had just sat down.
The Protector collapsed in what seemed like barely a couple of seconds to Nick.
Then, Nick felt like only an hour passed before the Prephyx in the atmosphere increased again.
Everything returned to normal in Nick's perception, and he came out to check how much time passed.
'That was a long session?' Nick thought. 'An entire month? Barely felt like an hour.'
'Being a Specter certainly has its upsides. If I were human, I would be suffering tremendously, but as a Specter, it just feels like I'm sleepy or exhausted.'
"You can send in the next one," Nick said to the Left Arm through his Barrier.
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