Kill the Sun

'This should be empty,' Nick thought. 'But it obviously isn't. Otherwise, the console wouldn't be active.'

'So, this must mean that one of the hidden Fanatics is in there.'

Nick had two guesses as to what kind of Specter could be in there.

'I have to check.'

Nick approached the console and put the gadget on it.

After fidgeting around for a while, Nick took a deep breath and opened the employee entrance.

It was dangerous to open the employee entrance leading to an unknown Specter, but the Containment Unit should be able to isolate the Specter's powers.

Most of the time, at least.

'Well, I've taken enough risks today. What's one more?' Nick thought as he looked at the employee entrance.

He walked over and looked into the Containment Unit.

In the middle of the Containment Unit, Nick saw a pale white snake.

It had several red spots all over its body, and it looked rather sickly.

'It should be this one, then. So, Anatomy had it. I'm not surprised,' Nick thought.

Based on the snake's appearance, Nick could take a good guess as to what its power was.

Usually, without any information, it would be difficult to find out what a Specter was all about just based on their appearance.

But not for this one.

'This must be the cause of Debilify.'

Debilify was a plague that infected seemingly random people in the city.

Anyone suffering from Debilify would have all of their energy absorbed, forcing them into permanent bed rest.

Just eating and drinking was already as exhausting as doing sports to these people.

Tragically, there was also no cure.

Anyone suffering from Debilify would have to live in this condition until they died.

Most people would just be too exhausted to eat anything, and they would slowly starve.

'But just to be sure, I have to check something else,' Nick thought as he looked at the snake from outside the employee entrance.

"Lord Envy has sent me to free you," Nick said.

The snake just looked at him.

It had done that ever since Nick had opened the employee entrance.

"Your greater relay has been destroyed, and Lord Envy's hold on the city has weakened. New Specters can't be sent into the city due to how fortified it is. In a bit less than two hours, the door will open, and you have to cause chaos in the building for a couple of seconds, killing as many humans as you can find, and then you have to run out of the city before you are captured."

The snake didn't react.

"Are you able to do that?" Nick asked.

The snake didn't move.

Silence.

BANG!

Nick jumped back in fright as the snake suddenly lunged forward, but the barrier of the employee entrance activated, repelling it.

BANG!

The employee entrance immediately closed on its own accord, and Nick felt a couple more attacks hitting the door.

Nick took a deep breath as he tried to calm his heart rate.

'Okay, so it's not Envy's servant. Creating a greater relay is something that requires intelligence, and this snake seemed pretty mindless. I don't think anyone can teach it how to make a greater relay,' Nick thought as he looked at the closed door.

'Sad. It would have been great if Envy's servant and the creator of Debilify were the same Specter.'

Nick walked over to the console and looked at it for a while.

'I'm not sure if it's a good idea to release this one. The Pit of Corpses is not subtle in any way, and it can only kill people by directly attacking them.'

'Meanwhile, this snake might have the ability to release some kind of miasma that infects everyone in a huge radius. Freeing it might infect thousands of people with Debilify.'

Nick continued looking at the console.

Kugelblitz had said that they would deal with all of the escaping Specters, but Nick wasn't sure if they could deal with this one quickly enough to avoid a huge number of innocent casualties.

Nick released a sigh.

'I'm not going to release this one.'

Then, Nick's hand moved to the gadget.

But then, his face suddenly turned white, and a terrifying feeling attacked him.

He felt like a humongous snake, covered in eyes, was looking at him and squeezing his heart.

Nick clutched his chest in pain.

He knew what this meant.

'The Death Pact!' he realized in horror.

The Death Pact stated that Nick had to do his best to help Kugelblitz.

Naturally, freeing the Specter would help Kugelblitz, and when Nick decided against freeing it, he had gone against the Death Pact.

'Fine, I'm freeing it!'

As soon as Nick made the decision, the vice grip on his heart slowly loosened, and he finally felt like he could breathe again.

After some seconds, the feeling had completely vanished.

Nick gritted his teeth. 'Guess I don't have a choice. I just hope that the fallout won't be too disastrous.'

Nick fidgeted with the console and set the timer.

When he was done with the timer, he took a deep breath.

The time he had released the Crimson Sea appeared in his mind again.

Nick felt more and more like the incident would repeat.

'Don't think about it. The Death Pact forces me into doing this. It's not my fault this time.'

Of course, even though Nick told himself that, it didn't do a lot to alleviate his fear and guilt.

Eventually, Nick pocketed the gadget again and cut through the wall into the next locker room.

'Empty,' Nick thought as he looked at the console.

He went to the next room.

'Empty again.'

Next room.

'And again. This is the last room on this side of the hallway. The other Containment Units have to be on the other side of the hallway.'

Nick looked at the door leading to the hallway.

'I can't enter the hallway. Most likely, it's crawling with coral people, and as soon as the door opens, the Sea King will realize that I'm here.'

Nick furrowed his brows.

'The floor above me is the highest one, which should also be where the Sea King is. Ariel Cerillion should also be on that floor.'

'If I even show myself on that floor, I will die.'

'I can't possibly go up there.'

After a while, Nick turned around and went through the destroyed walls again until he arrived in the first locker room.

Then, he knocked on the floor.

Nothing happened.

He knocked stronger.

Nothing happened.

Finally, Nick cut through the floor near the wall and entered the office below him again.

He stayed here for a while.

He was planning.

The Death Pact stated that Nick had to do his best to help Kugelblitz.

He had already done a lot, but victory was not certain yet.

'I can't leave this side of the hallway. This floor is filled with offices occupied by Specialists, and all the floors below this one are empty since Anatomy basically got rid of all of their weak Specters.'

'On this side, I have basically done everything I can do.'

At that point, the terrifying feeling in Nick's heart returned, and he gritted his teeth.

'Really? You're forcing me to do this?!' he thought in frustration. 'This is way too risky! There's a 90% chance I will die!'

But the Death Pact didn't care.

Nick had to do everything in his power.

'Fine! I'll do it!'

And just like that, the terrifying feeling vanished again.

Naturally, Nick hadn't done absolutely everything.

He, Ghosty, and Vernon had talked about some things he could do, and they had also come up with a couple of possibilities.

Nick had the opportunity to do one of these things now.

He took a deep breath and put his hand into the black sack again.

Then, he pulled out a letter.

Nick looked around the office, which was covered in papers.

The letter wouldn't be noticed by anyone.

So, Nick looked around the office and found a knife.

He put the letter in the middle of the table and rammed the knife through it.

That should be noticeable enough.

The next moment, Nick created another cut in the ceiling above the door.

Finally, he went to one of the walls.

Knock, knock, knock.

Nick's ability fluctuated, which meant somebody was in the office beside him.

Knock, knock, knock.

Nick knocked again, and he felt his ability fluctuate again.

The next moment, Nick transformed into mist and entered the new cut he had just created.

Then, he waited.

A couple of seconds later, the door to the office opened, and a smaller man with dark-green hair entered.

Nick became extremely nervous as he watched the person looking at the letter on the table.

The person looked around the office for a bit.

Then, the man entered and closed the door behind him.

He walked over to the letter, removed the knife, and started to read it.

And as he kept reading, his eyes got wider and wider.