"Sorry for that," Nick said with a chuckle.
Then, he reached into the emptiness and took out a Zephyx Crystal before throwing it to Nurse Alice.
"Take this as a token of apology," he said.
Nurse Alice didn't look at the Zephyx Crystal.
Instead, she looked at the empty space in front of Nick.
Naturally, Nick didn't want to pay Nurse Alice.
The only reason why he had taken out the Zephyx Crystal was to show Nurse Alice that he had a Sanctuary with him.
The Pure One was the only one who knew where the Sanctuaries were.
The fact that Nick had one meant that the Pure One trusted him.
"I don't need your apology. I'm not a human," Nurse Alice said, destroying the Zephyx Crystal and dispersing its contents into the atmosphere.
"So, are you willing to teach me or not?" Nick asked.
"I already said no," Nurse Alice said.
"Why are you so afraid?" Nick asked. "Are you afraid our employer is watching?"
"I can tell you with certainty that it's not watching. At least it's not watching me right now."
Nurse Alice narrowed her eyes.
Then, Nick felt Nurse Alice's Zephyx manifesting.
That was when Nick noticed something terrifying.
The beam leading to Nurse Alice was becoming a darker red.
It didn't turn completely black, but it stopped at dark red, lowering Nick's power multiplicator from sevenfold to sixfold.
Nick did his best not to show any reactions, but he was shocked deep inside.
Nurse Alice just stood in front of him, and somehow, she managed to see through all of his abilities.
"You should understand now," Nurse Alice said threateningly. "You have things to hide too."
'Terrifying,' Nick thought. 'She saw through basically all of my abilities with a single glance. This must be one of her self-created abilities.'
'Since she knows basically everything about energy manipulation, she can probably infer what I can do just by looking at my Zephyx.'
'I should have expected that, but what's done is done. I didn't really have a choice in this matter.'
'I need her knowledge. Without it, humanity is doomed.'
"A life for a life," Nick said. "You know I have your life in my hands, which is why you're showing that you have my life in your hands as well."
"Specters want to survive," Nurse Alice said.
The implication was clear.
She refused to teach Nick anything.
"If I kill you," Nick said, "I will die as well."
"If you kill me, you will die as well."
"Incorrect," Nurse Alice answered. "I am an Eternal. I could kill you right now, and I might survive."
"Could," Nick said. "But you can't."
Nurse Alice looked coldly at Nick.
The next instant, an apocalyptic amount of Zephyx came out of her.
The area around Nurse Alice exploded with a black explosion that contained terrified expressions.
At the same time, Nick appeared 10,000 kilometers away.
Naturally, he had immediately summoned a portal to escape.
But then, another portal appeared in front of Nick, and Nurse Alice stepped out of it.
'She has the same ability,' Nick thought as he looked at her evenly.
"You can't escape," Nurse Alice said. "This was just a warning."
"No matter where you run to, I can follow you and continue attacking."
"If I had been serious, you would be dead right now."
"Maybe," Nick said. "But you weren't, were you?"
"Don't force me," Nurse Alice said.
"Why not?" Nick asked. "If you could kill me, you would do it without hesitation. I'm a danger to your life. Leaving me alive has no benefit to you."
"Why try to intimidate me? That would leave-"
Nick's surroundings exploded again.
An instant later, a storm of lightning and fire bathed the area.
Yet, there was also a black cloud of smoke expanding.
The surroundings warped as terrifying visages consumed the black smoke.
But then, one of the visages consumed a small sphere made of metal.
A white explosion happened, turning the visage into white dust.
Nurse Alice defended herself by summoning mountains of earth around her, which quickly turned into white mist as well.
That was when 50 laser rifles appeared in the air, all pointing at Nurse Alice.
All 50 of them fired white beams at once.
Nurse Alice summoned more defenses, but they were all turned into white mist.
Then, over ten Prime Drones appeared in the air, and they all fired their own white beams at Nurse Alice.
The beams were not powerful, but they were made of Star Energy.
Nurse Alice destroyed the rifles and the Prime Drones with a single attack.
That was when another white explosion appeared, bathing everything in Star Energy.
Nurse Alice appeared on the other side of the planet.
"You know you can't kill me easily," Nick said as he came out of a portal in front of Nurse Alice.
Nurse Alice's Zephyx exploded out again, but Nick didn't move.
He just looked at her.
"Technology," Nick said. "You have more abilities than me, and your versatility is much more terrifying than mine."
"But you don't know anything about technology," Nick said.
"So what if you know of my abilities? What does it matter? I'm good enough that I can survive under your assault for a while, and that's all I need to do."
Nick lifted seemingly nothing and showed it to Nurse Alice.
"You don't know what's in there," he said. "Do you have any idea how many weapons were in Deep Core Base?"
"Do you know how many Anti-Specter weapons I can create in several centuries?"
"I can turn into a Force Specter, which forces you to use attacks against Force Specters."
"But then, I unleash Star Energy and turn into a human."
"I remain unaffected by the Star Energy while you have to sacrifice Zephyx to resist."
"I switch back and forth."
"During a long battle, you might win, but that won't solve your issue, will it?"
Nurse Alice just looked at Nick with an unimpressed expression.
"So what?" she asked. "Nothing has changed. You have my life in your hands, but I also have your life in my hands."
"You are a Specter. I am a Specter."
"We won't throw our lives away."
Nick's eyes narrowed.
"You might be a Specter," Nick said.
"But I used to be human."
"And I haven't lost my humanity."
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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.