Nick pulled his blades downward, slicing the Protector open and letting all his guts spill out.
Such an injury would be deadly to a normal human, but this was not a normal human.
The Extractor immediately pulled out a long spear and attacked Nick.
CRACK!
Nick blocked with his blade and was blasted backward against the wall.
"Stop!" the Technician shouted, grabbing the Protector's spear.
The Protector looked in panic and rage around.
"Calm down! This was a test!" the Technician spoke in a warning tone.
By now, the Protector's injuries had already completely healed.
Nick slowly and calmly stood up from the wall, cleaning his uniform.
The Technician threw a glance at Nick, who nodded. "He's safe."
Just now, Nick's new self-created ability had activated.
He had just received quite a bit of suffering.
"What is the meaning of this?!" the Protector shouted, roughly pulling his spear out of the Technician's grasp.
Naturally, the Protector was not happy right now.
"As I've said, this was a test," the Technician said. "The Specters are becoming more advanced, and we are currently evaluating suspicious individuals. This is a new method of unmasking Specters, and it is far superior to every other method."
"What, slicing someone open?!" the Peak Protector asked in anger and shock.
The Technician just laughed. "It looks crude, but it's not that simple. Just know that you are safe."
"You may contact the Left Arm and resume your duties, but I would ask you to keep this encounter secret. Some of your colleagues will undergo the same test, and we don't want them to be prepared for it."
The Protector had plenty of complaints, but he kept his mouth shut.
In the end, he just took a deep breath.
"I understand," he said.
Then, he walked out of the office.
Of course, his fighting instincts were still going crazy, and he would need some time to calm down.
But with time, he would understand that this was necessary.
"One down, twelve to go," Nick said.
The Technician nodded, and they waited for the next one.
A couple of minutes later, the next one entered.
BANG!
But just when Nick struck her abdomen, an icy armor appeared over it, blocking his attack.
Usually, Nick would be able to get through this armor, but his ability wasn't active due to the Champion and the Technician watching.
As soon as she noticed the attack, she jumped back and pulled out two guns.
BANG!
Yet, the Technician just shot a quick laser, burning a hole in her abdomen and disrupting all her Zephyx.
Nick arrived immediately after and took advantage of the opening.
His blades entered the Protector's body and cut her open.
In horror, the Protector just looked at Nick.
In her mind, she believed that Aegis was betraying her.
She had sacrificed her life for Aegis, and this was how they were repaying her?!
Yet, Nick's blades just pulled out of her body before reaching her Zephyx Synchronizer.
She had put up a good fight, but when Nick's blades had been inside of her, she had lost all her motivation to fight.
Because of that, she didn't do anything after Nick pulled back.
"We apologize for the test," Nick spoke calmly. "You are clean. You did nothing wrong. You may return to your duties."
"Huh?" she uttered.
"This was a test," the Technician said, "and you passed. Sorry for the inconvenience."
It took the Protector a couple of seconds to come to terms with what happened.
Eventually, she just left in confusion, but Nick knew that she would explode with anger as soon as the shock left her system.
Three more Protectors arrived within the next ten hours. One of them managed to block Nick's initial strike, while the other two were caught completely off guard.
"Five down, eight to go," Nick said.
"Based on chance, we should be getting a hit within the next three tests," the Technician said.
Nick just furrowed his brows.
"If we were choosing at random, you would be right."
The Technician raised an eyebrow. "You think Greed is one of the Shields?"
Nick nodded. "I am 80% sure."
"How come?" the Technician asked.
"The timing. The Peak Protectors were briefed about me a couple of days before the attack. Any of them would have had a chance to tell Death about me, and I don't think Death would have sacrificed Gluttony for some kind of scheme. Gluttony was too valuable."
"Additionally, the mission went too smoothly, and Gluttony didn't act suspicious."
"I would assume that the Corruptors and the Trio know about Greed, and if they saw Greed amongst the group attacking them, they might act suspiciously. They might even use Greed's identity against it, forcing it to sabotage the mission."
"And yet, the mission succeeded without any issues."
"But I still want to test all of the Peak Protectors who were part of the mission," Nick explained.
The Technician nodded a couple of times. "That makes sense."
This time, it took the Politician a couple of days to move the defenses around.
However, the other five Peak Protectors were now all inside Aegis' headquarters, and the tests could proceed.
The next person who entered was the guardian of the treasury of Aegis' headquarters.
Nick had seen him two times in his life. Once when he got his first reward and once during the last mission.
Just like everyone else, he handed his Barrier over to the Technician.
BANG!
Nick buried his blades in the treasurer's abdomen, who looked with shock and hatred at Nick.
"Calm down, this was-"
BANG!
But then, Nick rammed his blades into the treasurer again, interrupting the Technician's explanation.
"Suppress him!" Nick transmitted to the Technician.
The Technician's eyes widened, but he very quickly reacted.
BANG! BANG!
He rapidly shot two lasers at the Peak Protector, cutting both of his arms off.
The next moment, Nick clung to the treasurer's body.
His body wasn't strong enough to keep him pinned to the wall, and this was the next best alternative.
"You shouldn't have betrayed us!" Nick transmitted to the treasurer as his blades buried themselves in the treasurer's neck.
"I didn't betray you!" the treasurer transmitted back.
At that moment, Nick stopped.
This confirmed it.
Just now, Nick had used the unique way Specters communicate, and the treasurer's answer came back in the same way.
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