The next moment, Nick cut the treasurer's head off, and the body fell lifelessly to the ground.
Then, he calmly landed behind the Technician.
At that moment, the door opened, and somebody entered.
The Champion of Light.
Naturally, he had been watching this entire time, and he looked with furrowed brows at the corpse before turning to Nick. "Explain," he demanded.
"He is a Specter," Nick said. "I only cut his head off. A human would die, but a Specter would survive. His Specter Core is undamaged."
"Why don't you slowly incinerate his body and see how he reacts?"
The Champion narrowed his eyes.
Then, he pointed his hand at the corpse.
"Wait!" the headless corpse transmitted as it sprung to its feet. "I concede! You can suppress me!"
The Champion's eyes became even darker, and the light didn't vanish.
"I think we can make use of him," Nick said. "We need more Fallen, and it is already inside our headquarters. Usually, we kill them since they could leak intel to the enemy, but I don't think it can do that with you here."
"Also, I think it is easy to work with."
The Champion furrowed his brows.
The headless corpse slowly regrew its head, and it looked at the Champion with fear.
When the Champion saw that, he became disgusted.
He knew that Specters didn't feel fear. The fact that this Specter was trying to act like a human to gain sympathy enraged him.
"Fine," he said, getting rid of the light in his hand. "Suppress it and dump it in a Containment Unit."
"Oh, thank you! Thank you-"
"Shut up!" the Champion shouted, pulling out his sword and pointing it at the Specter.
The Specter immediately stopped saying anything, and its expression became neutral.
Well, it seemed like the sympathy card almost backfired.
Nick approached the Specter and put a couple of Zephyx Suppressors around it.
When the Champion saw the Specter becoming helpless, he snorted once before wordlessly leaving the Technician's office.
"Tell me Greed's identity," Nick asked the Specter.
The Technician's eyes widened, and even the Champion stopped walking for a moment.
"I don't know!" the Specter answered. "I get my orders via mail!"
'I knew it,' Nick thought as his eyes narrowed.
"How did you grow more powerful?" Nick asked.
"Hoarding resources and influencing Aegis' policies to make it harder to get rewards. Some of the things in the treasury are in storage on paper but have been destroyed by me," it answered.
"Destruction of resources," Nick said.
Then, Nick turned to the Technician. "As expected."
Then, the Technician realized how Nick had known that this Specter wasn't Greed.
"Its modus operandi doesn't match Greed's," the Technician said.
"All the other Corruptors have servants. Why wouldn't Greed have some as well?" Nick asked.
"A Peak Fallen serving another Peak Fallen?" the Technician asked with furrowed brows.
"Soft power over hard power," Nick answered. "Greed knows its identity, but it does not know Greed's identity. Despite having similar strength, Greed has this Specter's life in its hands. Therefore, it is forced to serve."
"Also," Nick said before his eyes narrowed, "there's a chance that Greed is not a Fallen anymore."
That was strange to consider for the Technician, but Nick's logic was sound.
All the Corruptors were Peak Fallen, but that didn't mean that they couldn't become Adversaries.
"The other Corruptors feed on Heroes and weaker Extractors. Greed feeds on Protectors. Quality over quantity," Nick added.
"Makes sense," the Technician confirmed.
Naturally, the Technician was the undisputed best researcher in the world, and he had a brilliant mind.
However, he had almost no experience in subterfuge and intelligence gathering.
He was a researcher, not a spy or commander.
Because of that, some things that seemed obvious to Nick didn't even occur to him.
Nick dumped the Specter in a Containment Unit after getting a bit more information out of it.
Then, Nick used his Barrier to contact the new Left Arm, the Politician.
This was the first time they would be talking by themselves.
"Do you have something to report?" the Politician spoke to his Barrier.
By now, the Politician had taken over the Left Arm's office, but compared to before, it was brightly lit.
He wasn't interested in constantly battling the Nightmare's subtle influence like the old Left Arm.
It seemed like a waste of focus.
"Everything I am reporting is confidential," Nick said. "This involves a secret mission. Only the Technician, the Champion, and I are involved."
The Politician narrowed his eyes.
He felt like Nick was trying to establish a power dynamic in which the Politician was not his superior.
"I will keep it confidential," the Politician answered neutrally.
"We captured one of Greed's servants and put it in Containment Unit 5EF," Nick said. "It is a Peak Fallen and grows more powerful by consuming Aegis' resources. You might know it as the treasurer who used to preside over Aegis' treasury."
The Politician was taken aback.
He remembered the treasurer.
The next moment, the Politician gritted his teeth.
Counterintelligence and dealing with traitors was supposed to be his job as the new Left Arm!
He should have been the one who unmasked that Specter!
The Politician grew enraged at his own weakness and blindness.
He should have asked a neutral person to check through the treasury's stock!
"Thank you for telling me," the Politician answered calmly. "I will pay more attention to our Protectors."
When Nick heard that, his eyes narrowed.
'The chances of Greed being a Shield have now jumped to 95%,' he thought. 'Thanking me is normal in this case, but he even said that he would do better in the future.'
'I'm not his superior, and he hasn't done anything wrong. The treasurer had his position for centuries.'
'Not even the old Left Arm noticed him.'
'I don't know the Politician, but this eagerness seems to be a bit too strong.'
"You are my superior," Nick answered. "I am simply giving you the information I gather. I take your orders, not the other way around."
When the Politician heard that, he calmed down a bit.
"You're right. I will deal with the allocation of Peak Protectors," the Politician answered.
"Please keep this a secret for now," Nick said. "We are not done with the secret mission yet."
"I will," the Politician said.
"Thank you," Nick answered before slowly cutting the connection.
The author's . If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.