After a particularly long session with a Mid Protector, Nick left the Containment Unit as always to transform his harvested suffering into Zephyx.
On the outside, he just seemed to recover and tell the Left Arm to send in the next one.
But deep inside, Nick's mind was in absolute chaos.
'Why?!' he thought in panic, trying not to show anything. 'What did I do?!'
At this very moment, Nick's ability was deactivated, which meant someone or something was looking at him.
Thanks to his improved ability, he could also tell where this someone or something was.
The sensation came from about 50 kilometers above him.
50 kilometers.
Any human ascending to just 30 kilometers would be killed, and the same thing was almost certainly true for Specters.
This meant that something that was neither human nor Specter was currently looking at him.
Even more, Aegis' headquarters completely isolated all perceptions from the outside.
Not even Death could peer through the walls.
Nick re-entered the Containment Unit as calmly as he could.
The door closed.
And his ability was still deactivated!
'I'm not even sure if an Eternal can look through such an advanced Containment Unit,' Nick thought nervously.
Nick wanted to test his hypothesis, but that would mean showing that he knew that he was being watched.
Instead, he walked past his costume and manually opened its back with his hands.
There was one specific thing that he couldn't allow anyone to know, and that was not his primary ability.
It was his ability to turn into a Force Specter.
A Physical Specter who could transform into a Force Specter was unheard of.
There were some very rare cases of humans being able to make their bodies intangible or something like that, but Specters didn't have that power.
The reason was most likely the aliens' design of the Specters.
An intelligent Force Specter would be almost unstoppable.
'If they realize that I can transform into a Force Specter, they will know for certain that my origins are not natural, which means I am either a Specter that was created by humans or a Specter that was once human.' ṘÄℕо𝔟ËS̩
'Both cases will be bad for me and humanity.'
As soon as Nick entered his disguise and sealed it shut behind him, his ability activated again.
'That confirms it,' Nick thought.
'The only thing that changed between before and now was the light.'
'The light in here is generated via a complex transformation of Specter Zephyx. Since the new Champion is no longer sitting on his throne all the time, he's not being the primary source of light in the headquarters.'
'Whatever was looking at me could only perceive me through light, and it doesn't even need to be its own light.'
'There's no question.'
'The Sun is looking at me.'
'But since the Sun is only a machine, it can't trigger my ability.'
'That means someone is using the Sun to look at me.'
'The aliens.'
'Somehow, my actions attracted the interest of the aliens, and they are looking at me right now.'
'But why?!'
'What did I do?!'
'It's been three years since I started to work with the Protectors, and they didn't look at me during that time.'
'What changed?!'
'Is it the bottled suffering?'
'Having a big chunk of saved-up suffering probably never happened before since it just automatically reacts with the Prephyx in the air.'
'Did my conversion of suffering trigger some kind of sensor, or is it something else?'
'Why would they be looking at me?'
'Are they just checking if everything is working fine due to the strange anomaly of saved-up suffering, or did something happen that attracted their attention to me?'
'If so, it could only be Death or the Champion of Light. They are both very interested in me.'
'However, Death most likely doesn't know about my identity.'
'Was it the Champion then?'
'Or is it just the strange reading?'
Nick tried to imagine the scenario in a more realistic manner.
If it were just the strange reading of his saved suffering, some kind of engineer was probably looking at him to see where this reading came from.
If it were the Champion's words that made them look at him, an alien involved with administrating Earth was probably looking at him.
'But the Champion doesn't know about my abilities. He only knows that I can sense Zephyx that Specters produce, and that's not even true.'
'Even if he told them that a Specter was working for him, they most likely wouldn't care.'
'I can't be sure what the reason is.'
While Nick was thinking these things, the next Protector walked in.
By now, Nick's Zephyx storage was also running low, which meant thinking about his current situation was almost impossible.
He tried to find the answer, but the low Zephyx didn't allow him to make many cohesive thoughts.
'Just act like nothing is happening.'
'If I die, I die.'
Eventually, the Protector stood up again and left the Containment Unit.
Nick's mind returned to its usual condition, and he prepared himself.
He slowly crawled out of the costume into the light.
His ability was still active.
When he felt his ability still being active, almost all of his anxiety left him.
'They are no longer looking at me, and if they wanted to kill me, they would have already done so. I don't know how long this session was, but even the shortest one lasts an entire day.'
'That's more than enough time to eradicate me.'
'But that still doesn't answer the question of why they looked at me.'
'What's the reason?'
'Was it just some kind of general sweep of Aegis' headquarters to check up on how the humans were doing?'
'I don't know.'
Nick left the Containment Unit, and a huge burst of Zephyx entered his body.
He waited for almost an entire minute.
No one was looking at him still.
'I don't know what's going on, but I seem to still be in the clear.'
Nick checked his Zephyx.
'Around two more years, and I should be a Peak Demon.'
"Send in the next one," he told the Left Arm.
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