Nick's backup plan had failed.
He couldn't intimidate the Specter into conceding, and he also couldn't pull through with his threat.
Nick's mind became more and more chaotic as he tried to find a way out of this.
Plans upon plans formed in his mind, but nothing would work.
This was a direct battle.
This was a human against a Specter.
A Zephyx Synchronizer against a Specter Core.
There was no kind of scheme that could be pulled off in such a straightforward fight.
The one with the weaker will would lose.
Nick would lose because he was human.
There was nothing he could do about it.
He kept pushing back, but nothing changed.
The Specter just kept pushing emotionlessly.
'What do I do?!' Nick thought in panic.
'There's nothing I can do!'
'But there has to be a way!'
'There has to be a way out!'
Nick continued trying to come up with a plan, but none of his plans would change anything.
Nick fell into a state of delirium more and more frequently, and he was being pushed back.
By now, he had been pushed back by five meters.
Five more meters, and he would hit the wall of his mind.
That represented death.
There was nothing he could do!
Nick's mind just kept running in circles, creating the same plan hundreds of times before throwing it away.
'It's over,' he thought. 'It's truly over.'
Scenes of Nick's past materialized in the black world.
Him waking up in the Outer City before walking to the Dregs.
His horrible life in the Dregs.
His meeting with Albert.
There was this other boy Nick had killed, but he couldn't remember his name or why he had killed him. These memories had already been burned away permanently.
That other colleague. Nick didn't remember what happened to him.
Wasn't there also something about some small Manufacturer? Wasn't that related to Wyntor's family?
Nick had had many employees, but he could only remember a couple of them. However, he did remember that he used to remember all of their names.
The Crimson Sea. Nick still remembered everything about that incident.
Wyntor's father. What was his name again? Cecil? Viron? Varon? He didn't remember.
Julian. He remembered Julian.
Whatever happened to Albert? Did he die?
Aria. He regretted that he had wasted five of her years.
At least, everything that he still remembered.
'I caused a lot of suffering in my life,' Nick thought as picture after picture of death and suffering shot through the dark world.
'But I was on my way to redemption,' he thought as pictures of the happy people of Crimson City appeared in the world.
'I was doing my best.' Pictures of stress and pressure appeared and disappeared in the dark world.
Nick took a deep breath.
'The only thing where I didn't do my best was with Aria. Frankly, I didn't even try.'
'I felt happiness in the possibility, but I never dared to try to make it real.'
'I would do things differently if I had another shot.'
'I would actually try.'
'Maybe not for me, but for her.'
'I might not deserve happiness on my path to redemption, but others do.'
'The regret I feel is not my own lack of happiness, but her disappointment and pain.'
'Was giving up and letting her go the right choice?'
'Maybe fighting for her was what she wanted to see since I have never done that before.'
'I fought for everything and everyone except for her.'
'Yet, isn't the fight for the person you love the most the most important?'
'If anybody is fighting for anything, it would be for their loved ones.'
Nick could feel the end approaching.
As he became distracted more and more frequently, the Specter kept pushing him back.
Even when Nick was about to die, the Specter still didn't make a mistake.
Until the very end, it was perfect.
Nick took a deep breath, and a feeling of acceptance and resolve rose inside of himself.
He looked at the Specter in front of him with determination.
'But I refuse to let this Specter take over my body and get reborn!'
'This might hurt Aegis since they will lose a Peak Elder, but for once in my life, I want to be selfish!'
'I'm also just human.'
Suddenly, Nick shouted aggressively and pushed against the Specter.
The Aductress saw Nick's entire body cramping with strain.
She knew what this meant.
This was always what happened when a trainee was about to fail their Consumption.
Inside the dark world, Nick was pushing the Specter back.
However, the Specter was still calm.
At this moment, Nick was using 120% of his power.
However, using 120% of his power used up a ridiculous amount of focus.
Nick was essentially committing suicide.
He pushed the Specter back to the original starting position.
Yet, Nick had shortened his maximum time of survival during the Consumption by an entire week.
Meanwhile, the Specter could still survive the full 16 weeks.
It just needed to hold out.
The Specter was pushed back.
Yet, when they reached five meters, they stopped.
It was like the Specter had suddenly turned into an impenetrable and immovable wall.
Naturally, the Specter could match Nick's power output.
It just hadn't done so until now since it wanted Nick to use up his focus.
Nick screamed and shouted.
He tried to destroy the Specter.
He tried to destroy it with absolutely everything he had.
And yet, the Specter wouldn't move.
It was just as powerful as him.
'I don't want to win!'
'I want to die with it!'
The Aductress looked with a tragic expression at Nick's body, which was already seizing.
His Zephyx Synchronizer was pressing against the Specter Crystal.
The Specter Crystal didn't move.
Suddenly, Nick felt like something inside of him broke.
The Aductress sighed.
Human Zephyx was coming out of Nick's body.
Nick's Shell had broken apart.
The area between his Zephyx Synchronizer and the Specter Core was under so much pressure that his Shell couldn't withstand it anymore.
It broke and dispersed.
Nick's Zephyx regeneration wouldn't be able to keep up with his usage anymore.
Even if he managed to win against the Specter, he would die within the hour.
Yet, this didn't change anything for Nick.
So, he kept on pushing.
He would keep pushing until his mind and body were damaged beyond repair!
He would destroy everything he had to such an absolute degree that the Specter would have nothing left to use to rebuild itself!
"We are going to die!" Nick shouted at his copy.
"And you will die next!"
A crack appeared inside Nick's Zephyx Synchronizer.
Yet, it just kept pushing.
"I will not allow you to come back!"
"I don't care if it was me that forced you into this duel!"
"In the end, you are the one that will kill me, and I hate you for that!"
"I don't give a shit if you are in the right or in the wrong!"
"I hate you, and I will leave nothing for you!"
"We are going to die here and now!"
More cracks appeared all over Nick's Zephyx Synchronizer.
"The end is here," Nick spoke coldly.
"I will die a villain."
"I did not live long enough to see myself become a hero."
Then, his eyes steeled, and he glared at the Specter.
He pushed with everything he had.
"I don't intend to die with you," the copy spoke.
Suddenly, the copy stopped resisting, and the two of them broke past the border of the dark world.
Suddenly, the middle of the Specter Core became brittle, and Nick's Zephyx Synchronizer broke through the walls.
And then, it entered the Specter Core!
Nick could not believe what was happening, and he looked around in complete confusion.
The Specter had… given up?
Nick looked to the side and saw a black cloud floating in the emptiness.
"I will continue to live on," it spoke.
"Part of me will forever continue to live inside of you."
"I can cause more suffering ."
The black cloud shot forward and engulfed Nick.
The Aductress couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Human and Specter Zephyx was coming out of Nick!
She had never heard of something happening!
Meanwhile, inside Nick's neck, the crystal representing Nick's Zephyx Synchronizer started to spin again.
And the Specter Core surrounding it followed.