"Thank you," Nick said. "How many of the new Shields are from the group that accompanied me in killing Gluttony?"
"None," the Champion answered.
"Are all the Peak Protectors who have accompanied me still alive?"
"Yes."
"That leaves 13 suspects," Nick said. "The Juggernaut, the two new Shields, and the ten Peak Protectors."
"I can help you," the Champion said.
"Yes, Champion?" Nick asked.
"You can tell me something about your abilities, and I will tell that detail to one of the Shields. If Death knows about that ability after a while, we will know that this person is the traitor," the Champion said.
"I'm sorry," Nick said, "but I don't have the capability to just know when someone else knows something. I have my sources, but they are not very reliable and take a long time."
"Actually," the Technician said, "now that I'm thinking about Greed being in Aegis, a couple of things make sense."
The Champion and Nick looked at the Technician.
"How does Greed grow more powerful?" the Technician said. "All the other Corruptors grow more powerful by causing the very thing they are named after."
"Naturally, all the Peak Protectors desire to become Shields, but isn't it strange that so many of them constantly ask us to allow them to become Shields next? These people dedicated their lives to humanity. Usually, one would expect them to want the most useful person to become a Shield. Sure, some of them think they are the most useful person, but almost all of them?"
"I believe Greed is instilling ambition in them, and when the majority doesn't get their wish fulfilled, they will suffer."
The Champion grimaced.
Now that the Technician had put it like that, it seemed almost obvious.
"Can't you use your Zephyx sensing ability to unmask Greed?" the Champion asked.
"I don't think so," Nick said. "If Greed managed to infiltrate the peak of Aegis,it must have an unparalleled ability to disguise itself. The Envious Researcher still openly absorbed Specter Zephyx, but if Greed could even remain undetected in front of you and the Left Arm, it probably can even mask its Specter Zephyx."
"Sensing it via Specter Zephyx won't work, and sensing it via human Zephyx also wouldn't work since every human creates their own Zephyx."
The Champion was growing annoyed. "Then what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to kill all of them just on the off chance that they might be a Specter?"
"Of course not," Nick answered. "I just need to refine my sensing abilities."
"You're saying you want to become an Adversary before we deal with Greed?" the Champion asked.
"No, Zephyx Manipulation," Nick answered. "I've been focusing on Zephyx Manipulation for almost a century by now, and I made significant advances."
The Champion wasn't convinced. "Self-created abilities can't compare to true abilities. If your sensing ability can't sense Greed, your self-made ability also won't be able to."
"Abilities don't need to be powerful to be useful," Nick answered. "They just need to strike at the opponent's weakness, and I think I know exactly what I will do."
"It might take a while, but I think I can create a way to identify Greed."
"How long is a while?" the Champion asked.
"Give me 30 years," Nick said.
"Another 30 years?" the Champion asked with annoyance. "You just took 30 years off."
"No, I'm not taking them off," Nick said. "I will work on my ability while I am becoming an Early Fallen. The process of creating this ability is related to the way I will become an Early Fallen."
"How?" the Champion asked.
"Remember how I became a Peak Demon?" Nick asked.
"Yes," the Champion answered.
"The Containment Unit isolated Prephyx, which meant I only generated my Zephyx after I left," Nick explained. "But how is that Zephyx generated? What did it fuse with to become Zephyx?"
The Technician laughed. "If we knew that,we could make Zephyx without Specters."
Nick nodded. "I don't know what this something is, but if I can sense it by keeping it isolated from Prephyx, I might be able to create an ability related to it."
The Technician's eyes shone as he scratched his chin in thought. "If you can measure it, you can interact with it. The issue was always that we couldn't see the fusion between Prephyx and the thing Specters use to generate Zephyx. But if we isolate the Prephyx from the suffering you're causing, we might be able to sense it."
The Technician nodded. "It sounds feasible," he told the Champion.
The Champion furrowed his brows.
"Fine," he answered. "I promised your advancement anyway. Get everything in order. Technician, you will deal with communicating with the Protectors."
The Technician lost all his energy and sighed. More work…
"Sure," he grumbled.
"Good," the Champion said. "Julian, Technician, I leave everything to you."
And with that, the Champion essentially cut the connection, but Nick could sense that he was still watching.
"I need Early and Mid Protectors," Nick said.
"Sure, I'll get right to it," the Technician said with a sigh.
Over the next few days, the Technician prepared everything, and Nick went back into the Containment Unit that could isolate Zephyx.
Since he also told the Champion about his disguising ability, he no longer needed to create some silly costume.
He simply assumed the appearance of his old costume himself.
The first person who entered was familiar to Nick.
It was that one woman who had worked with him inside this Containment Unit the last time.
The reason the Technician gave to convince the woman was much simpler than the one the Left Arm had given back then.
They wanted to train this Specter.
This Specter was peaceful and gave amazing abilities.
The stronger it got, the more powerful its abilities would be that it gave Extractors.
On top of that, it produced a ton of Zephyx.
The sad part was that, since they were currently training it, the Extractor or Aegis wouldn't get any of that Zephyx.
But all of that would be worth it in the future.
The doors closed, and the Prephyx ran dry.
Once more, the woman fell to the ground, powerless.
And Nick started to focus on Zephyx Manipulation.
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