Nothing was stopping Nick anymore from becoming an Eternal.
Now, he just needed to work on his advancement.
Nick had nine Shields he was working with, and the Champion would continue buying time for humanity.
The Champion now knew what he had to do.
He needed to buy Nick time.
In the past, he had tried to sabotage Nick by making the researchers work on things that they shouldn't work on.
Of course, Nick still managed to eradicate that research, but that was not the important part.
The important part was that he had tried to stop Nick.
He was no longer doing that.
Instead, he would even help Nick do his job.
Working with the Shields was Nick's primary objective.
Another century passed.
Finally, Nick became a Peak Adversary.
However, that was not the only thing that made Nick stronger.
Working with the Shields didn't require Nick to use his mind since everything happened automatically.
That gave his mind time to plan and work on other things.
Namely, his self-created abilities.
First, he had improved his mind-reading ability.
He refined it over decades and managed to push it to incredible heights.
Despite "only" being a Peak Adversary, Nick could read the minds of Mid Shields and weaker without interacting with them or having to push them into darkness.
This allowed Nick to read the minds of basically every human on Earth, except for a handful of Late Shields.
Another ability Nick worked on was his ability to sense suffering.
He had managed to extrapolate this ability to also work on a person's or Specter's surroundings.
This meant that he could sense the suffering a Specter created just by looking at them.
For a Specter, this was practically and theoretically impossible to hide.
Not even Nick could do that.
The only way to hide that was to not cause any suffering at all.
But that wasn't very easy.
For example,some of Nick's past actions still weighed on the minds of a couple of Shields, and while the suffering produced wasn't much, it was still there.
After that, Nick worked on his ability to see through other people's abilities.
He practiced that passively by becoming more familiar with Zephyx Manipulation, by looking at the Shields he was working with, and by sending perception drones out to look at random Extractors.
By now, Nick could decipher all the abilities a Shield owned within just a couple of minutes.
In the past, he needed weeks or even months.
But there was even more.
Nick created a couple more useful abilities.
Powerful telekinesis, hiding more of his Zephyx, illusions, distractions…
Even if the Champion still tried to chase Nick, he wouldn't be able to capture him.
Nick also had a chance at killing the Champion, but it would be very risky.
In a direct confrontation, the Champion was still more powerful.
When Nick became a Peak Adversary, he looked at Aegis again.
By now, Aegis had over 50 Shields.
Even more, they had two Peak Shields.
Theoretically, they were ready to capture Nurse Alice.
However, the Champion wanted to be sure that they would succeed, which was why he said that they would only try it when there were five Peak Shields.
Otherwise, Nurse Alice might be able to learn how they fought.
This reason sounded believable to the other Shields, but the Champion and Nick knew that it didn't hold up well.
They knew that Nurse Alice would know what their abilities were before they could even unleash them.
If the Champion hadn't become Nick's ally, Aegis would have most likely already suppressed Nurse Alice.
'It's still hard to believe that things turned out this way,' Nick thought.
'The Champion was an agent of the Sun, and when he first rose, he was arrogant and almost antagonistic towards humanity.'
'But over the years, he changed.'
'I believe the reason for his change in attitude is Aegis.'
'He saw how much people were willing to sacrifice their lives for humanity, and that affected him.'
'In the beginning, he was probably only interested in the prestige and power the position gave, but with time, his ideals changed.'
'Now, he himself is willing to sacrifice his life for humanity.'
'I had nothing to do with this.'
'I was not the one who changed him.'
'The Aegis the old Champion created.'
Nick remembered the time he had spoken to the old Champion.
Back then, he had felt so calm.
The old Champion had felt so kind, gentle, and powerful.
Yet, despite his incredible power, he wasn't threatening in any way.
His power felt much more protective than aggressive.
The old Champion created Aegis and filled it with like-minded people.
While Aegis had to make many sacrifices, the organization had its heart in the right place.
The people with power and at the top were the most willing to sacrifice themselves for others.
The old Champion's kindness had lasting effects.
It was the old Champion's kindness that changed the new Champion via the people the old Champion had changed.
And the former Right Arm and the Inferno had been the catalyst.
Nick had not told them to talk to the Champion.
They did that themselves.
'I never planned on making Aegis my ally, and yet, it ended up this way.'
'Humanity is united.'
'We chase the same goal.'
'They have handed me everything I need.'
'Now, it's my turn to live up to their expectations.'
The pressure on Nick's back was unprecedented.
It was the heaviest weight of responsibility any human had ever carried.
He had to succeed, or all of humanity would be thrown into an eternal nightmare until humanity ended.
Nick continued focusing on his abilities and his advancement.
This was all that was important right now.
He needed to be the strongest since he would be dealing with the strongest enemies.
'I will not disappoint you.'
'I will do everything I can.'
'Even if it kills me.'
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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.