As soon as Nick entered Envy's actual perception, walls of electricity appeared around him.
Naturally, Nick stopped moving.
'Not surprising,' he thought, looking at the walls. 'Envy probably has hundreds of abilities.'
'However, these are reverse-engineered abilities gained from looking at Zephyx Synchronizers. They are not very powerful.'
"There is no escape," Envy transmitted to Nick.
A second later, Envy's true body appeared in front of Nick.
"Okay, I will be your servant," Nick answered from inside his electricity cage.
It was only natural for a Specter to capitulate in this scenario.
"That is the right choice," Envy said.
The next moment, Envy conjured a green gem in its hands.
"You will consume this. Only then will you be my servant."
Nick tried to sense the fluctuations of the green gem.
Sadly, he wasn't experienced enough to find out what it did just based on its fluctuations.
'Most likely some kind of bomb that it can detonate remotely,' Nick thought.
The green gem floated through the walls of electricity and landed in Nick's hand.
He looked at it for a moment before looking at Envy.
"You walked right into Aegis' trap," Nick said.
Then, before Envy could say anything, Nick transformed into Julian Winter.
Envy's eyes narrowed immediately when it saw that.
The electricity cage compressed.
Black smoke exploded out of Nick.
Nick cut through the cage of electricity, and it immediately turned into white dust.
Based on that, Envy could see that Nick was using a weapon infused with Star Energy.
However, instead of striking Nick, Envy escaped.
The Specters had always been unsure whether or not Julian Winter had truly left Aegis.
His escape from Aegis' headquarters could have been one of Julian's ploys.
When Julian had said that Envy had walked into Aegis' trap, Envy knew that Julian was still part of Aegis.
This meant that at least one Shield was most likely close and ready to strike.
Envy immediately told Death about what was going on.
The next moment, Envy noticed Nick shooting towards the surface.
Then, Envy noticed the Icestorm and the Inferno appearing 40 kilometers to the south.
The two of them were readying their attacks.
In response, Envy released a terrifying wave of screeching black souls.
This wave distorted perceptions, and it would stop the two Shields from finding it.
Then, Envy turned completely translucent and went deeper underground.
A blade penetrated Envy's chest.
The Inferno and the Icestorm were gone.
Julian Winter was no longer near the surface but right in front of it.
That was when Envy realized something.
Julian Winter must have an illusion ability!
Three more strikes turned Envy into pieces, all of them transforming into white mist.
Its Specter Core was revealed.
Nick grabbed the Specter Core and covered it in Prephyx.
The Star Energy didn't reach the Specter Core, and the Prephyx isolated it.
In a fluid motion, Nick wrapped a Zephyx Suppressor around Envy's Specter Core before retreating deeper underground.
He didn't know how Death would react, but that didn't matter.
Some seconds later, Nick looked at the suppressed Specter Core.
Just to make sure, Nick investigated the Specter Core closely.
Envy had plenty of tricks, and Nick wanted to make sure that this was not one of its tricks.
Sure enough, he saw countless small Manipulation Lines, and he could also feel suffering traveling to the Specter Core.
This was the real deal.
'I actually got Envy,' Nick thought. 'That was way easier than expected.'
Yet, it had only been this easy because of all the things Nick had learned.
The weapon he had used had come from Deep Core Base.
This was a weapon that could even injure Eternals.
Even with his ability active, Nick could wield this weapon only very slowly.
But its power was devastating.
No matter how many abilities Envy had, it wasn't nearly powerful enough to resist such a strike.
Additionally, Envy had been in a panic since Nick's illusions made it believe that there was a far bigger danger out there.
If this were a fair one-on-one fight, Envy would have been formidable.
But Nick didn't do fair fights.
He used tricks and subterfuge to disorient his enemies before killing them with a single strike.
As he looked at the Specter Core, Nick was reminded of the time he had seen Envy for the first time.
Envy had caused him a lot of worry back then.
But now, its life was in his hands.
'Keeping Envy suppressed would be idiotic,' Nick thought. 'It has so many abilities. Most likely, if any of my Extractors work with it, it will somehow manipulate them into letting it escape.'
'Additionally, it saw part of my true power.'
'However, Envy is still worth a lot.'
'This is an Initial Adversary, and I know someone who would be willing to pay a good price for its death.'
Nick put more Zephyx Suppressors around the core and traveled to the ocean east of the Great Triangle.
Whatever Death had done in response to Envy's demise didn't matter anymore.
Several minutes had passed, and whatever battle had been fought was over.
Eventually, Nick reached the coast east of Aegis' headquarters.
Death was nowhere to be seen.
Nick slowly came out of the water and openly looked at Aegis' headquarters.
His ability had already deactivated.
Nick held Envy's Specter Core up as he looked at Aegis' headquarters.
"Champion, are you willing to make a deal?" Nick shouted.
Aegis' headquarters shone in a bright light, and the Champion appeared above it.
He looked with a mix of shock and anger at Nick.
When he saw the Specter Core in Nick's hand,he immediately knew why Death had destroyed one of their strongholds a couple of minutes ago.
The next moment, the Tinkerer also appeared beside the Champion, and both of them looked at Nick.
"This is our chance!" the Tinkerer transmitted to the Champion. "Julian is on his own! We can kill him!"
However, the Champion just looked at Nick.
"No," the Champion answered. "You're underestimating his capabilities."
"If he's willing to show himself this openly, he knows that he can escape."
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The author's . If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.