Chapter 543: Reward

"Is there anything else in the ruins?" the Justiciar asked.

"No, sir," the Protector answered. "Everything else has been turned into liquid metal."

"What era?" the Justiciar asked.

Another Protector walked forward. "The ruins are made of crude composite material, and the architectural style is typical for the Recovering Ones. While crude for our standards, this was actually very advanced for the Recovering Ones. My first guess would be that this place was built within the last 20% of the civilization's reign."

The Justiciar didn't look at the Protector. "Any guess as to how this Possession Specter became this powerful?"

Two of the Protectors looked at each other.

Naturally, every Protector had their own specialty.

One of them knew almost everything there was to know about past civilizations.

One of them knew almost everything about the cities and their rules.

One of them knew almost everything about Specter theory.

And one of them was just a scout.

"It's a big burning ball of fire that gives off incredible amounts of radiation, right?" the Specter researcher asked the scout.

"Yes," the scout answered. "It's about five meters in diameter and has incredible power. Its radiation is so strong that it uses up my Zephyx faster than I can recover."

The Specter researcher rubbed his chin. "A Possession Specter needs to possess something living or something dead. This ball of fire doesn't sound like something that's alive, which means that the Specter must have possessed it as an object."

"However, big balls of fire don't tend to exist very long under normal circumstances. If this is just a momentary explosion, the chances of it turning into a Specter are minuscule, which means it must have been relatively stable for quite a while."

The Specter researcher looked at the civilization researcher. "Is there any ancient technology that creates long-living balls of fire?"

The civilization researcher nodded. "It's called nuclear fusion," he answered. "The Recovering Ones weren't able to transform Zephyx into electricity. None of them had been creative enough to think of the Orwell-Mandrake-Model, which locked the true access to the power of Zephyx away from them."

"Nuclear fusion is an inefficient way to create energy by fusing nuclei together. While the theoretical output of energy is very high, the many different control processes required to keep it running are prone to error and consume a lot of the resulting energy."

"Can you get to the point?" the Specter researcher asked.

The civilization researcher sighed. "It makes a big ball of fire, which is then used as an energy source."

"Thank you," the Specter researcher said. "Now, is there a way that this ball could cause a lot of suffering for the people?"

"You're applying the Ghosty Hypothesis?" the civilization researcher asked with raised brows.

Nick looked with surprise at the two of them.

They knew about Ghosty?

"It's the best explanation," the Specter researcher answered.

"Fine," the civilization researcher said. "Nuclear fusion is extremely dangerous. One wrong input and the fireball can essentially 'explode'. If that were to happen, everyone in the surroundings would turn into dust."

The Specter researcher looked at the ruin.

"I have a theory," he said as he looked at the Justiciar.

The Justiciar only nodded without turning to him.

"It's possible that the fireball has already caused a bit of suffering before the explosion. At some point, it transformed into a Specter, which changed its properties and increased its powers."

"When that happened, it broke through its restraints and killed everyone inside the ruin."

"All of this must have happened so fast that it managed to increase its level of suffering before fully transforming into a Specter."

"Based on its power, it must have killed over 50 people while causing immense suffering to thousands more. It most likely killed all the researchers, and since it was no longer possible to harvest its energy, several settlements in the surroundings were without power for a long time. That would fulfill all the criteria."

The Justiciar just looked at the ruin.

"So, it's a Possession Specter possessing a big explosion," the Justiciar said.

"Yes," the two Protectors answered.

"Can I use Exkrep's Detachment without killing it?" the Justiciar asked.

"If there is a way to feed it what it needs to keep exploding, it would work."

The Specter researcher turned to the civilization researcher after saying that.

"The effort required to do that would not even be close to worth it," he answered.

Nick listened as the Justiciar asked about more and more complicated methods of extracting the Specter, while the Protectors kept shooting down his ideas.

"Zephyx Suppressors?" the Justiciar asked.

Nick knew what this method entailed.

"That would kill it," the Specter researcher answered without hesitation.

Silence.

"Carrying the entire building is too risky," the Justiciar said after a while. "If we get attacked on our way back and this thing gets out..."

"Seems like there's no other way," the Justiciar said with a determined tone.

The Protectors looked with concern at him but didn't protest.

It was truly the only way.

Nick wasn't sure what they were talking about but kept watching.

"Bring the Liaison back to the city and give them an appropriate reward," the Justiciar said as he turned to the scout and the city researcher.

"Affirmative," the two of them answered before they approached Nick.

Without saying anything, they flew out of the hole while pulling Nick behind them.

Nick was pulled out of the cave quickly and was put down on the surface.

The two Protectors gestured to the city, and Nick started to run towards it.

"What is the Justiciar doing?" Nick asked.

The two of them didn't immediately answer.

Near the edge of the city, they stopped and looked at Nick.

"The Justiciar is the best Suppressor in the world," one of them said seriously. "He has an ability that allows him to suppress any Specter. Even if technology and knowledge fail us."

"However, using that ability comes at a heavy price. Every time he uses it, his body ages several years."

"He doesn't have many years left."

Nick could feel the mood turning solemn, and he didn't ask for any specifics.

The fact that the two had answered his question so far was already incredible.

"Thanks for telling me," Nick answered.

"What do you want for your reward?" one of them asked, looking at Nick. "You are the Liaison, which means you can decide for Crimson City, correct?"

Nick nodded. "I can."

"Do you know what you want?" the other Protector asked.

Nick nodded. He and Aria had already talked about what they would want from a potential reward.

"Can you capture the Plague Vulture and give it to Crimson City?" Nick asked.

"The big bird flying to the west of here?" one of them asked.

Nick nodded.

"Does the city already have a Demon?" he asked.

"Kugelblitz has one. The city itself does not have one," Nick said.

"How powerful is the Governor?" the man asked.

"Early Hero. She will become a Mid Hero within the next three years."

The two Protectors looked at each other.

"Do you have a Containment Unit big enough to suppress this thing?" they asked.

"No," Nick said.

The Plague Vulture was almost 50 meters long. If they wanted to suppress it, they would need a Containment Unit that was at least 75 meters long.

On top of that, it would need to be powerful enough to contain an aggressive Demon.

"How long would it take to construct one?" one of them asked.

Nick did some math.

"Around five days," he answered.

"Do you have three tons of Zephyx in liquid funds?" one of them asked with furrowed brows.

Nick nodded, and the two of them raised their brows.

"You do?" one of them asked in surprise.

"Yes," Nick said.

The man had only asked out of courtesy.

He hadn't expected that the city actually had three whole tons of Zephyx just lying around.

The two Protectors looked at each other and nodded after a while.

"Alright," one of them said, looking back at Nick. "We're going to contain it as your reward. We're going to use a special kind of Zephyx Suppressor, which can be powered by Zephyx. Three tons of Zephyx can keep the Plague Vulture's Zephyx suppressed for around nine days, which should give you enough time to construct its Containment Unit."

Nick sighed in relief.

The Plague Vulture had been a humongous issue for the city.

It kept several Specialists busy and blocked off the entire western direction.

With the Plague Vulture finally taken care of, the city would finally be able to spread its wings, metaphorically speaking.

"Where do you want it?" one of them asked.

"For now, dump it in the crater to the south of the city," Nick said.

The two of them looked to the south and nodded. "Sure. Give us about two hours to come up with a plan and another hour to put it into motion."

"You will have your rotting bird by the end of the day."