Kill the Sun

Nick cut through the ceiling near the wall.

His ability was still active, which meant nobody could hear him.

As soon as he cut through, he saw light streaming in from the cut.

Nick turned into mist and went through the cut.

An instant later, he turned back into his physical form while looking for something he could use to cover the cut.

He just hoped that the office wasn't owned by a clean freak.

Luckily, it wasn't.

There were papers scattered around here and there.

Nick just grabbed a couple of them and put them over the cut.

He knew that this office belonged to one of the Specialists, but he didn't know which one.

He also didn't know when the Specialist would return to their office.

So, he had to act quickly.

Nick shot upward and cut through the ceiling without hesitation.

He reached the next floor and bent the ceiling back into shape.

It wasn't perfect, but if the Specialist returned, they most likely wouldn't pay attention to a small, uneven part on the ceiling.

They were probably too busy despairing at their fate.

Nick hadn't been afraid of going up another floor since this one didn't have any offices.

Additionally, it was also completely dark again.

Just like the room two floors down, this was a locker room leading to a Containment Unit.

Nick thought back to the floor plan.

'This should be the Containment Unit for their previous main Specter, the Pit of Corpses,' Nick thought.

The Pit of Corpses was a Peak Fanatic that mindlessly consumed corpses.

It did not have any intelligence and attacked anything it could see.

When Nick looked at the Containment Unit, he felt like a dark pit appeared in his stomach.

He remembered the time he had freed the Crimson Sea and what devastation it had wrought on the city.

'It's different this time,' he thought. 'I told Aria about my plan, and she said she's prepared to deal with any of the Specters that break out.'

'Freeing the Pit of Corpses is part of the plan.'

'Even if something happens, it's not on me this time.'

Nick walked over to the console and saw that it was active, as expected.

Nick retrieved an object from the black sack.

It was a monitor with several metallic cables coming out of it.

Nick remembered what Ghosty had told him and carefully opened a panel on the side of the console.

Over the next five minutes, Nick carefully plugged in all the cables in different spots.

Then, he pressed several buttons on the device until a menu appeared.

He now had all rights for the Containment Unit.

Not even Anatomy had all the rights for it.

They thought they did, but just as everyone had expected, Ghosty had reserved special privileges for himself.

There were several functions that were not available normally.

One of them was self-destruction.

All the Zephyx in the Zephyx containers would be transformed into an explosive, which would flood the Containment Unit and explode.

Normal Physical Specters were not likely to survive, but there was a chance.

But that was not the option Nick was interested in.

He was more interested in the "Immediate Opening" option.

If someone pressed that option, the Containment Unit would immediately open and release the Specter.

No alarm.

Nick fidgeted with the gadget for some time before he set a timer.

Two hours.

Nick also set a portable timer he carried with him to the same time.

When he was done, he retrieved the gadget and put it in the black sack again.

He took a deep breath and sighed.

It was final now.

In two hours, the Pit of Corpses would break out.

Nick would release a mindless Peak Fanatic into the city.

After some time, Nick went to one of the walls and cut through it.

Just like last time, he repaired the cuts.

As expected, no coral people were stationed in any of the locker rooms, and Nick arrived in the next one.

He thought back to the floor plan and narrowed his eyes.

'The Doom Sayer,' Nick thought.

If he freed this one, many people would die.

However, there was one important distinction between the Doom Sayer and the Pit of Corpses.

The Doom Sayer was intelligent.

Nick had already thought about what to do with this Specter before.

Over the next couple of minutes, he fidgeted with the gadget again, but this time, he didn't open the Containment Unit.

Instead, he took a deep breath and opened the employee entrance.

The employee entrance opened, but no light came in.

Naturally, the Containment Unit wouldn't have any light.

Specters didn't need light.

Nick looked at the employee entrance.

"Come in and face reality."

A dark voice echoed out from the Containment Unit.

Nick's heart felt like it froze over.

Luckily, this Containment Unit filtered the Doom Sayer's power.

It couldn't use its power by speaking through the employee entrance.

As long as Nick didn't enter, he wouldn't fall under the Doom Sayer's spell.

Nick walked over to the employee entrance and stopped in front of it, looking into the Containment Unit.

In the middle of the black Containment Unit, Nick saw a tall man completely hidden beneath a black cloak.

The way he stood in the middle of the Containment Unit made terror appear in Nick's heart.

"What a strong one I have received today," the Doom Sayer spoke, its face hidden beneath a black cowl.

"I'm not from Anatomy, and I'm not here to die," Nick spoke.

"It has a mind of its own," the Doom Sayer spoke. "There is no point in avoiding the inevitable."

"Okay, listen," Nick said. "I'm Anatomy's enemy, and in a bit less than two hours, this entire building will turn into a hellscape. Kugelblitz, the biggest Manufacturer in the city with three Heroes, is going to fight a war of annihilation with Anatomy."

"I'm an agent from Kugelblitz, and I'm preparing everything for the war," Nick said.

The Doom Sayer became silent.

Then, a slow and dark chuckle came out from him.

"A war of annihilation. Death shall be plentiful," he said.

"You can be part of it," Nick said.

The chuckle became louder. "Relay your missive."

"There are four ways this will go, depending on your cooperation," Nick said.

"One, you are uncooperative. In that case, I will not open the Containment Unit, and you can stay in here until Kugelblitz takes you to their place."

"Two, you say you are cooperative but don't actually do anything. In that case, you will most likely just stay here, even though the door is open. In that case, you will also be taken in by Kugelblitz."

"Three, you are cooperative. In that case, you will be released in about two hours. What I need you to do is to cause as much damage as possible to the building, and if you see any people with corals coming out of their bodies, you are allowed to kill them. They are the minions of the Sea King, Anatomy's biggest Specter."

"After causing chaos, you have to run out of the city as quickly as possible. All the Heroes of Kugelblitz and Anatomy are going to battle each other to the death. This is the only way you have a shot at freedom."

"Four, you are cooperative but bloodthirsty. If you break out but then decide to kill the humans of the city, one of Kugelblitz's Heroes will launch an attack at you and directly kill you. Aegis, the rulers of humanity, will not allow the citizens of one of their cities to be killed just like that."

"Kugelblitz, Kugelblitz, freedom, death."

"These are your options."

"What do you choose?" Nick asked.

The Doom Sayer hadn't stopped chuckling ever since Nick started speaking.

In fact, its amusement seemed to only increase as time passed.

"Running from the inevitable is mindless folly," the Doom Sayer spoke.

Nick narrowed his eyes.

"It will come for everyone regardless. Whether now or later."

"Many people need to hear the truth of existence."

"With freedom, more humans can be enlightened."

"I will follow Kugelblitz's orders."

Nick sighed in relief.

"Good. Don't forget that being uncooperative will end in your destruction. You might be powerful, but a casual attack from a Hero will still annihilate you. You can go wild in this building, but as soon as you leave it, you have to focus on running away," Nick spoke.

"I do not require your useless ramblings, human," the Doom Sayer spoke. "You have heard my answer. Proceed accordingly."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Sure."

Then, the employee entrance closed, and Nick went to the gadget and fidgeted around.

He checked the portable timer and put the time into the gadget.

After sending the order for this one as well, Nick put the gadget away again and went to the next locker room.

This was an empty one, so Nick-

'Wait a second,' Nick thought as he looked at the console.

The console was active.

At that moment, Nick's eyes shone.