Kill the Sun

Naturally, all of them knew the two Specters Nick was talking about.

The Parasite had been a constant eyesore for decades, and the Corrosive Dust had become a bigger and bigger problem.

William looked further towards the south.

He couldn\'t see any dust. At least, no unusual dust.

Then, William focused on the outer ring of the city.

People wouldn\'t notice since they could only overlook a limited part of the city, but a Hero could tell that there was a surprising number of rat corpses scattered across the alleys of the outer ring.

The Corrosive Dust was gone.

The Parasite was gone.

"You killed the Parasite?" Vanessa asked in shock.

"I assume that is the rat Specter," Nick answered. "Parasite doesn\'t really fit the big pillar of dust."

Vanessa just wordlessly nodded.

"Although," Nick added, "clarification does not really matter in this case. I killed both."

"How did you find it?" Vanessa asked. "We couldn\'t find it, no matter how much we looked for it."

"It was just below the other Specter," Nick answered.

The eyes of the Heroes widened in realization.

No wonder they couldn\'t find it!

It wasn\'t that the Parasite had been absolutely amazing at hiding itself.

It was because the Parasite hid beneath a Specter that was unkillable to the Heroes of Crimson City.

"I hope I did not ruin any future plans," Nick spoke. "I have read that you have quite a good number of Heroes in this city, but I assumed the pillar was a bit out of your league. It was quite troublesome."

Naturally, cities sometimes planned for decades how to capture and suppress a Specter, and that might have been the case with the Corrosive Dust.

"No, no!" William answered quickly. "We were planning on asking Aegis for help anyway. In fact, you have done us quite a service, special Agent."

Nick nodded. "Then, thank you, and you\'re welcome," he answered politely.

"Not at all!" William answered politely.

Vanessa and Jornis also performed some quick and polite bows.

The more powerful party in a meeting dictated the tone.

If the more powerful party didn\'t use any niceties, it meant that the party probably wasn\'t interested in wasting time with pointless displays of respect and politeness. R

But in this case, Nick had been very polite and friendly, which meant that the other Heroes had to return Nick\'s politeness.

Usually, Nick didn\'t act like this.

He was more of a person who communicated efficiently.

However, he wanted to keep his identity secret, and talking to these people, whom he had worked with for years, was a bit risky, despite his disguise.

Some subconscious mannerisms might remind them of the former Liaison of Crimson City.

"I don\'t want to keep you all from your work," Nick said. "I\'m fine with an escort that knows about the city, some history, and the surrounding areas. I will explore in silence. Please do not be concerned. I am not here for an internal investigation. I am an archeologist by trade, and it is my job to learn about the past and present of humanity so I might develop its future."

"Of course," William answered. "We never suspected you of being an internal investigator. Crimson City pays its tribute in greater amounts than necessary, punctually."

Naturally, despite hearing that Nick was not some sort of internal investigator, William couldn\'t help praising Crimson City.

"I have just the person in mind," William added. "His name is Herman Reichert, and he has been part of the city\'s leadership for longer than most of us."

Then, William used his Barrier to contact Herman.

Of course, Nick knew Herman Reichert.

\'Makes sense that he is going to be my escort,\' Nick thought.

Herman Reichert used to be the CEO of Ghosty\'s Lab.

Ghosty\'s Lab had been absorbed by the city itself as soon as Nick had become a Liaison, and Ghosty himself had been sent to Aegis.

Herman had become the leader of the city\'s elite forces.

Nowadays, Herman was probably still in a very high position, but with the additional Heroes in the city\'s leadership, he was most likely no longer an actual leader.

About a minute later, Herman appeared on top of a tall building, waving towards Nick to approach.

Herman looked middle-aged but healthy.

\'Mid Specialist,\' Nick thought. \'He\'s too old to ever become a Hero. He probably consumed an Initial Elder back then.\'

Nick said his goodbyes to the other Heroes and approached Herman.

"Welcome to Crimson City," Herman spoke politely. "My name is Herman Reichert. I lead the fourth special division of the city guards."

Nick nodded. "Excuse me for my lack of introduction, but my identity is deliberately kept secret due to the sensitivity of my tasks. You may just call me special Agent."

"Of course, special Agent," Herman spoke with a polite smile.

"Please, give me a rough overview of the city," Nick said.

"Certainly!"

After that, Herman led Nick through the city while introducing everything to him.

Nick knew 95% of all the things Herman said, but he acted like he didn\'t know about those.

Apparently, Kugelblitz still existed and still occupied the most powerful position amongst private Manufacturers.

However, Kugelblitz couldn\'t compare to the city.

The city had over 800 Extractors, five of which were Heroes.

Kugelblitz only had a single Hero, and it was quite obvious that the Hero would join the city sometime in the future.

The Hero was not interested in leading Kugelblitz, and they barely owned any shares in the company.

They were content with just working with the few Demons the city had until they became an Early Hero.

At that point, they would probably join the city.

"Then, who is the actual leader of Kugelblitz?" Nick asked.

"It\'s a very capable young woman called Samar Melfion," Herman explained. "Her father used to be a senior director of Kugelblitz, and she has taken over his business empire."

Nick just nodded.

He had seen Samar occasionally, but the words they had exchanged didn\'t reach triple digits, and over 50% of them were just random greetings.

Samar Melfion was Vernon Melfion\'s firstborn. If Nick remembered correctly, she should be around 110 years old now, and she was most likely already a Specialist.

"You might work together with her in the future," Herman said.

"How so?" Nick asked.

"She managed to consume a Mid Elder," Herman spoke with praise.

"Oh," Nick spoke with surprise. "That is very impressive. In that case, she is bound to join Aegis as an Agent in the future."

Extractors who consumed an Initial Elder couldn\'t become Heroes without some serious investment.

Extractors who consumed an Early Elder could become Heroes, but they would probably run out of time when they became Mid or Late Heroes.

Consuming a Mid Elder was already very impressive and would allow someone to become a Protector in the future.

Every Extractor who managed to consume a Mid Elder could enter Aegis for a special training course.

Extractors who consumed Late Elders were incredibly rare. They were the only ones who ever had a chance of becoming Shields.

The only people alive who had managed to consume a Late Elder were the Shields and a select few Peak Protectors who couldn\'t become Shields due to the Maw.

There was only about one person per century who managed to accomplish that.

As for consuming a Peak Elder, that was impossible.

After learning more about the past and the truth of the world, Nick was also certain that none of the Champions of Light had accomplished that.

They had most likely been created artificially.

The fact that Samar managed to consume a Mid Elder was extremely impressive and put her in the top 0.1% of all Specialists.

A moment later, Herman sighed regretfully. "If it just weren\'t so tragic."

"What\'s tragic?" Nick asked.

"Samar is very competent but also very driven by emotion.She only attempted to consume a Mid Elder because of her father," Herman said.

Nick turned to Herman, indicating that he was interested.

"Her father died mysteriously, and his death had hit her pretty hard. There was a big battle happening while Vernon died, Vernon being her father, but she is certain that her father didn\'t die in the battle."

"She believes her father was assassinated during the battle."

"She wants to find out who killed her father, and she wants to take revenge for him."

"Sadly, nobody knows who the killer is. We don\'t even know if there actually is a killer."

"But there is one person that has to know the truth of what happened," Herman said.

"And who might that be?" Nick asked.

"Aria Light, the old Governor of Crimson City," Herman said. "From what I have heard, Samar has asked many times about her father\'s fate, but Aria always refused to tell her the truth."

"Aria is also an extremely rare talent. She also managed to consume a Mid Elder back then."

"Samar knows that Aria is her only lead, which is why she is desperately trying to catch up to her."

"But that will be difficult," Herman said. "Aria is advancing rapidly, and she is already a Late Hero."

"Samar has her work cut out for her."

Nick nodded. "What an interesting story," he mused.