There was a floating ball of light in front of him.
It looked like a Force Specter, but it actually wasn't.
Nick could see a minuscule Specter Core in the middle of the light, barely a couple of nanometers wide.
If it wanted, it could have escaped through the hole Nick had created.
But it didn't even try to escape.
"It is time," the Specter transmitted to Nick.
"You have foreseen this?" Nick asked.
"Yes," the Specter answered.
This was the False Prophet, the first Adversary Aegis had "contained".
It came to Aegis willingly and worked with the old Champion, turning him into a Mid Shield.
But countless cities had been destroyed during that process.
Every time someone worked with the False Prophet, it gave a prophecy.
The prophecies had a 50% chance of becoming real and a 50% chance of being false.
However, the False Prophet wasn't just prophesizing easy things.
No, its predictions were often very concrete.
The chances of its predictions coming true, assuming it made random guesses, would never reach 50%.
If someone said that they would win a lottery with odds in excess of one to several million, their predictions wouldn't come true 50% of the time.
But with the False Prophet, the odds were always 50%.
"My last prophecy was that I would soon die," the False Prophet said.
"You didn't try to escape?" Nick asked.
"Destiny is unavoidable," the False Prophet transmitted. "I am bound by destiny."
"You could have still tried," Nick said.
"Would I have succeeded?" the False Prophet asked.
"No," Nick said.
Naturally, Nick would have easily pushed the False Prophet back into the Containment Unit.
However, what it could have done was to cause a ruckus.
The Champion would notice and immediately charge into the Containment Unit.
Of course, Nick would have already killed the False Prophet by then.
Then, he would have teleported to an entrance, opened it, and teleported away.
While inside Aegis' headquarters, Nick couldn't sense the outside, which was why he needed to open a door or break through a wall.
If the False Prophet resisted, it would be more annoying for him, but nothing would change.
No matter what the False Prophet did, it would die today, and Nick would be able to escape.
"Did nobody ask for another prophecy after the last one?" Nick asked.
"Nobody did," the False Prophet answered. "I have become superfluous. Working with me is dangerous. The only reason why I am still alive is so that my Zephyx doesn't escape."
Nick understood a couple of things.
"Specters' reason for existence is to cause suffering to humanity," Nick said. "You can't cause any suffering to humanity anymore if nobody is willing to work with you."
"Because of that, the most suffering you can create in your current state is to disperse your Zephyx," Nick said.
"Destiny," the False Prophet said. "My destiny is to cause suffering. I will fulfill my destiny."
"Why not fight against destiny?" Nick asked.
"Destiny is destiny. Everything is preordained. You could leave and save the world some suffering. You have free will."
"But will you do so?"
Nick remained silent for a while.
"No," he answered. "You have to die. Your prophecies are too dangerous. The way your power acts is unfathomable. Your prophecies might interfere with humanity's future."
"Destiny," the False Prophet said. "You have free will, but only as long as it walks destiny's path."
"Many times, your destiny is your desires."
"Why fight against something you want to happen?"
Nick had already had such thoughts before.
It happened when he was learning about biology.
"Do you want a last prophecy?" the False Prophet asked.
"I'm a Specter," Nick said.
"That doesn't matter. I can create prophecies for anyone," the False Prophet said.
"Why would you want to give me a prophecy?" Nick asked.
"Because it is an opportunity to cause more suffering," the False Prophet answered. "It is my destiny to cause suffering."
Nick looked at the False Prophet for a while.
Anything could happen if he asked for one.
It was also possible that the prophecy would turn out to be false.
"Fine," Nick said. "Give me your last prediction."
The next moment, the light of the False Prophet brightened, but no Zephyx was generated.
"I foretell," it spoke slowly.
"During the final battle."
"You will die."
Nick remained silent for a while.
Then, he sighed.
"That's good to hear," Nick said.
"If your prophecy is false, I might not die."
"But if it is true, that means there will be a final battle."
"If the final battle happens, I will be confident in victory."
"It is not me that needs to survive."
"If there is a final battle, humanity's chances of victory will be high."
"My own survival doesn't matter."
In Nick's opinion, this was a good prophecy.
And yet, Nick had also gained nothing.
After all, there was a 50% chance of nothing happening.
It was meaningless.
The prophecy was completely meaningless.
The next moment, Nick pulled out his weapon.
Since he was currently being perceived, he couldn't wield his actual weapon, which he had taken from Deep Core Base.
But he didn't need it.
BANG!
Nick charged forward and cut the tiny Specter Core into two pieces.
The light dispersed, and the Specter Core fell to the ground.
The False Prophet was dead.
The Containment Unit didn't alarm anyone.
The next moment, Nick moved through the tiny hole and approached Aegis' exit.
He used his Barrier and opened it.
As soon as it opened a tiny crack, Nick vanished.
His perception entered the outside world, and he teleported thousands of kilometers away.
The Champion immediately noticed that the door opened on its own, and he commanded it to close.
Then, his light covered all of Aegis.
The Trickster must be here somewhere!
It could only be the Trickster!
He was the only one who could do something like that!
Almost immediately, the Champion noticed that one person was absent.
The Protector who had arrived a couple of minutes ago!
The Champion searched all of Aegis.
But then, a couple of minutes later, the missing Protector arrived in front of Aegis' headquarters.
"The Trickster! He captured me and stole my identity!" the Protector shouted.
Naturally, Nick freed the Protector after he was done.
The Protector went through rigorous tests to make sure that he was not the Trickster.
When it became clear that the Protector was a human, the Champion realized what had happened.
The door opening didn't represent the Trickster entering but leaving.
He was gone.
But what had he done?
The Champion looked through all of Aegis' headquarters.
And when he entered the False Prophet's Containment Unit, he knew what the Trickster had done.
The Champion wasn't sure what he should think.
The False Prophet was dangerous, and they didn't work with it anymore.
They had no more use for it.
And yet, it was also killed.
It was good, but it was also bad.
It was just nothing.
It was just something that happened.
Just like the False Prophet's prophecies…
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