"How do you grow more powerful?" Nick asked.
The Specter explained what it did, and Nick didn't like the answer.
It grew more powerful by suppressing humans, binding them with tentacles, and torturing them.
As long as they suffered physically, it would grow more powerful.
"How many humans are suppressed right now?" he asked.
At this moment, four Late and Peak Heroes were currently undergoing tremendous torture inside the Specter.
They couldn't say the Sentence since it kept their necks and mouths destroyed while isolating their senses.
It also stopped them from killing themselves in any other way.
It was literally a life worse than death.
This was a problem for Nick.
'If the captured Agents get out, they will return to Aegis. That will put eyes on me. Even if they don't see me, they know that it must have been a human who saved them. Another Specter would just use them as its own food supply.'
'They can't return to Aegis, or I might be noticed.'
Nick thought of an alternative.
'I could recruit them, but I don't know them. I have no idea about their personality. Sure, they will be thankful to me, but that does not buy loyalty.'
'If even a single person breaks the silence, the entire operation will be put in jeopardy.'
'Additionally, we need researchers, not warriors. The chances that they are researchers are very low since researchers generally don't travel over the ocean on their own.'
For just a split-second, Nick thought about using them as food for himself by putting them in the special Containment Units.
'No, I refuse! I do not know them, and they do not deserve to undergo such torture! That is reserved for traitors of humanity!'
But then, what should he do with them?
He couldn't let them roam free.
He couldn't recruit them.
He couldn't use them.
There was no good answer.
Nick closed his eyes.
"Kill them and enter the Specter Cage," Nick transmitted.
When he said that sentence, he felt a heavy weight in his chest.
These were innocent people.
Yet, their existence threatened his mission.
They didn't deserve this.
But doing anything else was too risky.
'I feel horrible doing this to innocent people, but my feelings are not as important as the mission.'
'I have already sacrificed thousands of innocents for my goal.'
'I hate this, but I don't have any other choice.'
'Allowing them to survive is putting everyone working with me at risk.'
"Can I not just keep them?" the Specter asked.
"You will get plenty of food soon," Nick transmitted.
"You can have them," the Specter said.
"Kill them immediately!" Nick transmitted again.
The Specter really didn't want to kill them.
These four humans represented decades of work.
However, there was nothing it could do.
"I killed them," the Specter answered.
"Then, get into the Specter Cage," Nick transmitted.
Nick went over to hold the other Specter Cage that contained the new Fiend of Darkness.
The next moment, a wave of tentacles fell off the huge body and entered the ocean.
The tentacles turned into black dust soon after.
Finally, only a one-meter-wide sphere of tentacles remained, and it entered the Specter Cage.
When the door of the Specter Cage closed, Nick's ability reactivated, and he took a deep breath.
He felt horrible, but that didn't matter.
The mission was more important than anything else.
Nick continued his travels and arrived at the city that ordered the Specter.
Before entering, Nick hid the other Specter Cage deep underground.
The Governor greeted Nick, who explained how to work with the "Fiend of Darkness".
Soon after, Nick left again.
He grabbed the hidden Specter Cage and went to the secret research base.
The big gate of the research base opened, drawing the attention of everyone who was currently present.
By now, there were about 50 members, and about 40 to 45 of them had not come into contact with the Nightmare yet.
The gate was perpetually closed.
It only opened when there was a new member or when their mysterious friend delivered something.
Everyone looked past the gate and saw a big Specter Cage behind it.
"Nobody moves!" Aria ordered.
Naturally, Aria was the leader of the research base, and everyone had to follow her commands.
"What's in there?" one of the new Veterans asked.
"Confidential," Aria said.
The others were not surprised.
Almost everything was confidential.
Aria lifted the Specter Cage and brought it into a side corridor.
By now, Nick had expanded the research base by quite a bit.
There were now many corridors and blocks.
Aria went through several doors.
Each of these doors needed a higher level of clearance.
Since this was not a regular city, they didn't need to take special precautions to protect the citizens from potential outbreaks.
The base was surrounded by an extremely powerful shell that could even repel Fallen.
Even if a Fallen escaped, the most it could do was to kill everyone in the base.
It wouldn't be able to get out of the base.
Of course, this precaution primarily existed to stop any potential traitor from escaping.
This was not because of the Specters.
Because of that, the Specters were all placed in a series of corridors based on their power.
Everyone had access to the weakest Specters, but the further one traveled, the more powerful the Specters became, and those were only accessible to a few people.
Finally, Aria arrived in front of the door leading to the last corridor.
Only three people had access to that corridor.
Aria, Ghosty, and Nick.
A huge alarm went through the entire research base as the most powerful Containment Unit within it was preparing to open its primary gate.
Nick materialized beside Aria and looked at the Containment Unit.
Aria already knew about Nick's mist ability since he had demonstrated it before they infiltrated Anatomy.
"How did you catch a Fallen?" Aria asked.
"It wasn't easy," Nick said, "but as a Force Specter, I had my ways."
She knew how difficult it was to suppress a Force Specter.