Kill the Sun

?After the Bleeding Lady entered her new Containment Unit, Nick checked the next one.

Everything seemed to be in order.

The only thing in the Containment Unit was a distressed puppy.

Nick just petted it for a bit before leaving.

"Did your Containment Unit get damaged?" Nick asked the Money Sink, who was just leaning on a wall.

"No," she answered. "What happened?"

"An Adolescent Force Specter broke out and destroyed the Dregs and about half of the Outer City," Nick answered absentmindedly.

"Am I in danger?" the Money Sink asked.

"No, everything has already calmed down again," Nick said. "In fact, you're very safe in here. The outside has become much more dangerous for Specters now."

"There was a big announcement earlier. Apparently, everyone who looks at the new Specter will jump into it. They even said that it eats other Specters."

The Money Sink furrowed her brows. "A Specter that eats other Specters. I've never heard of something like that."

"It's a big red sea," Nick said. "It replaced the sewers. Want to take a look?"

The Money Sink just looked at Nick with a neutral expression. "Didn't you just say that taking a look would kill me?"

"Yes," Nick said with a neutral voice. "It's a joke. Ha ha."

The Money Sink just looked at Nick with an even expression.

"Alright, bye," Nick said before he exited the Containment Unit again.

Nick walked up to the fourth floor and opened the door.

BANG!

Immediately, a red blur shot at Nick.

BANG!

But Nick just slapped it.

The red blur hit the wall and landed on the ground.

'The Blood Hawk broke out,' Nick thought, looking at the red hawk.

In the distance, Nick could also hear something heavy hitting the walls again and again.

Nick walked over to the Blood Hawk, grabbed its throat, and carried it with him.

The Blood Hawk tried to break out, but it was helplessly inferior to Nick.

After rounding a corner, Nick saw a hole in the Blood Horse's Containment Unit.

However, the hole wasn't big enough for it to fit through, and it was doing its best to widen the hole.

Sadly, even though there already was a hole there, the Blood Horse's power wasn't nearly enough to widen it.

Nick entered the Blood Horse's Containment Unit and punched it once.

Then, Nick took a metallic cord out from the equipment he had gotten earlier and put it around the Blood Horse.

That was a Zephyx Suppressor, and it would keep the Blood Horse's power suppressed for about six hours.

Nick just wanted to make sure that it didn't escape.

After leaving the Containment Unit, Nick looked at the other ones on this floor.

All of them were damaged.

This floor had been reserved for the Newbies, and the Containment Units here were all pretty cheap.

Sadly, this meant that none of them survived.

Nick had no other choice but to carry the Blood Hawk with him to the fifth floor.

Luckily, everything was fine on the fifth floor.

Neither the Lover nor the Dreamer escaped.

The Containment Units up here were also far more expensive.

Nick opened one of them and threw the Blood Hawk into it.

Then, he opened the other free one and dumped the Screaming Coffin.

Lastly, Nick went to the sixth floor.

Just as expected, the Fog didn't break out.

The Fog's Containment Unit was by far the most expensive and durable one.

The Zephyx fueling the Containment Unit also wasn't an issue.

After Nick had escaped from the Spartans, he had gotten rid of the 2.5 kg of Zephyx he had taken by simply adding them to the supply here.

Lastly, Nick checked the seventh floor.

Almost everything was destroyed, but that wasn't a big deal.

At least all of the Specters were contained again.

Three Specters escaped, and one was stuck in a damaged Containment Unit.

This could have been way worse.

In silence, Nick looked at the destroyed seventh floor.

With the urgent things dealt with, Nick had a quiet moment to himself.

Everything felt like a dream.

It just felt like everything that happened within the last hours was just some dream.

Had these things truly happened?

Had Nick really done all these terrible things?

It just didn't feel real.

It was like Nick was navigating a dream or a fantastical scenario he had made up in his mind.

Eventually, Nick just turned around and walked down the stairs again.

When he exited the building, all the employees looked at Nick with worry.

Nick also saw three new people in the group.

Three guards.

All Veterans.

Nick jumped down from the entrance and landed in front of them.

The leading guard nodded. "Are you the Chief Zephyx Extractor of Dark Dream?" the guard asked.

"Yes," Nick answered.

"What is the status of the Containment Units?" the guard asked.

"Six damaged Containment Units," Nick said.

When the employees heard that, they felt a cold shudder run down their backs.

They were very happy that Jenny hadn't told them to go in.

"But only four of them were occupied," Nick added.

"What about the four Specters?" the guard asked.

"We had a couple of spare Containment Units," Nick said nonchalantly. "I dumped three of them in stronger ones. Sadly, I don't have one for the last one, but that's not that big of an issue in the short term. It's a Late Hatchling Physical Specter, and I put a Zephyx Suppressor around it."

The guard furrowed his brows.

"Please, show us," the guard said.

Nick just gestured to the entrance. "Come with me, then."

Nick and the three guards jumped into the building, and Nick showed them all the floors.

The guards checked the monitors and Containment Units, and sure enough, the only problematic one was the one with the Blood Horse.

A bit later, Nick and the three guards gathered in front of the building again.

"Thank you," the leading guard said with less severity in his voice. "We're going to send someone to repair one of the Containment Units on the fourth floor. Expect them within the next five hours. Until then, please keep an eye on the suppressed Specter."

Nick nodded.

Then, all the guards jumped away.