'What will you do now?' Nick thought. 'Humanity is regaining control of the world, and if you don't act now, I will expose one Fallen after the other. All the Fallen working for your Corruptors will be captured.'
This was the plan.
By talking to Hatred, he exposed that he knew where it was.
This alarmed the Adversaries, and they all gathered together so that none of their elite could be picked off.
But that released their hold on the world, and as long as they stayed in one place, humanity had the freedom to deal with all of the cities.
Without the constant fear of an ambush by a Corruptor, the Protectors could travel from city to city and eradicate the hold the Specters had over them.
If the Specters didn't do anything, they would lose control over almost all of their cities.
While none of the elite would die, they would essentially lose all of their food supply.
Naturally, Death could see what was going on, and it knew that it had to do something.
The Specters were deep below the ground beneath the ocean, which meant that the Shields couldn't see them.
They only knew where the Specters were due to Nick's information.
When Nick saw the two Specters moving, he sent a signal.
However, none of the Shields moved.
They kept "surrounding" the Specters.
The two Specters left towards the east and were on their way to the War Continent.
'Death wouldn't dare to send one of its Adversaries out,' Nick thought.
When the Specters were safely outside of Death's senses, Nick approached them.
"Wrath and Sloth, what a surprise to see you here," Nick transmitted to the two of them.
The two of them stopped to communicate with Death.
They waited for orders.
"Who are you?" Sloth asked lazily.
"Julian Winter. I thought that was obvious," Nick answered.
"Why are you helping humanity?" Wrath asked.
"Because they are helping me," Nick answered. "I'm not even 300 years old, and I'm already a Fallen. Many Protectors work with me willingly, and I am free to roam the world."
"The humans are not attacking me, and yet, I feed off them."
"Domesticated animals are much easier to slaughter than wild animals."
Wrath narrowed its eyes.
"You are playing with your food. As soon as your usefulness runs out, they will kill you. You are too dangerous to be left alive, and they know that. Who's to say that they will not be the ones slaughtering you?" it asked.
"I have my insurance," Nick answered.
Wrath scoffed. "Humans are transient. Specters are forever. There have been many eras, and all of them ended. This one will also end."
"If you support the humans, you will end with their era."
"Death is willing to forgive you. If you join us, we can regain control over this world."
Nick transmitted a short chuckle.
"I think you have it the wrong way around. Humanity will be the rulers of this world soon enough. True, their era will most likely end, but I will not end with it."
"If the era ends, I will be free to roam the Earth until a new era arrives, and even if I am in a Containment Unit, I just have to wait until a human finds me."
"As long as I willingly cooperate and let myself be suppressed, I will not be killed."
"It is not me who is on the losing side."
"Look at your current situation. You are herded like animals. Greed has already joined us, and it is creating Early and Mid Shields."
"You need to strike the Shields right now before they become too powerful, but you lack the power."
"Do you believe the situation will improve with time? No, humanity will just keep growing."
"Your deaths will not be the reason for the era's end."
"The suppression of the Eternals will spark the end of the era."
"You will not outlast the Eternals."
"You will be dead long before the Eternals get suppressed."
"So, what will it be? Will you join willingly, or will you keep holding onto your misguided hope?" Nick transmitted.
The two Corruptors evaluated Nick's words.
At that moment, the group belonging to the Technician shot towards the two Corruptors.
Death told them to retreat immediately, and the conversation ended just like that.
Since humanity couldn't strike the Specters deep beneath the ocean, Wrath and Sloth retreated successfully.
All of the Specters were gathered in one place once again.
Nick just waited far away.
Several minutes passed.
Humanity was rapidly reconstructing the strongholds.
Originally, Death wanted to send Wrath and Sloth to kill the Protectors spread across the world, but Nick had intercepted them.
Then, it tried to convince Nick to join, but it failed.
It seemed like Nick could sense the Corruptors to a certain degree, while they couldn't sense him.
This was problematic.
The reason why the Specters reigned supreme was their ability to stay hidden and strike from the shadows.
With Nick around, they were forced to traverse the light.
If they did nothing, they would lose control over the world.
If they split up, they would be picked off.
Sure, while they were inside the ocean, they were safe, but they needed to go on land to kill the Protectors.
At that point, they would be vulnerable.
There was no easy way out.
However, Death was ancient and knowledgeable.
It could also scheme.
A couple of minutes later, it made its move.
Nick saw three beams traveling toward the War Continent.
It was Wrath, Sloth, and Hatred.
'So, that's your game,' Nick thought. 'You are going to send out to three of them. With all three of them together, the Protectors won't be able to stop them. They will pick off one Protector after the other.'
'Because of that, humanity needs to dispatch three Shields to deal with them. Most likely the Technician's group.'
'That only leaves four Shields left. Since Envy is most likely an Adversary as well, it will be four versus four.'
'And in that case, you will have the upper hand.'
'While the three Shields are busy, Death will keep the Champion at bay, and the other three will deal with the Shields.'
'War will launch a huge attack, while Pestilence keeps everyone weak with its mass miasma.'
'Envy will use its unprecedented adaptability to kill one Shield after the other.'
'Of course, you know that we know what would happen. Because of that, you're betting that we won't split up.'
'But then, your three Corruptors will lay waste to the world.'
'No matter what we do, we don't have a good answer.'
'You turned the situation around nicely.'
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