Aegis berkembang pesat, pikir Nick. Pertumbuhan Aegis yang cepat memberi tekanan padanya. Dia harus mengumpulkan pengetahuan sebanyak mungkin sebelum era ini berakhir. Setelah mendapatkan informasi, Nick meninggalkan sekitar markas Aegis lagi. Lalu, dia melihat balok-balok cahaya. Untungnya, semua Shield mengenal Nick, dan mereka semua berbagi intel. Satu-satunya yang tahu sedikit lebih banyak adalah Sang Juara. Ada beberapa hal yang tidak akan dia ceritakan kepada para Shield. Berbagi intel itu penting, tetapi ketika menyangkut perlawanan terhadap Nick, itu adalah hal yang buruk. Lagipula, Nick sekarang bisa melihat balok mana yang menjadi milik seorang Shield. Ini berarti Nick tahu di mana semua Shield berada setiap saat. Nick terbang berkeliling sebentar untuk melihat di mana semua Shield berada dan menyusun rencananya. Lalu, dia terbang ke arah timur. Benua tua Eropa. Begitulah para Ancient One menyebutnya. Aegis hanya menyebutnya bagian barat dari Grand Continent. Aegis sekarang punya dua benteng di Eropa. Nick pergi ke benteng barat Eropa, yang terletak di ujung barat Eropa. Ada seorang Shield yang ditempatkan di benteng lain, sekitar 3.000 kilometer ke arah timur. Sang Juara berada sekitar 5.000 kilometer ke arah barat, di seberang lautan. Nick menggunakan identitas barunya untuk memasuki benteng, dan setelah masuk, dia menggunakan persepsinya yang mengerikan untuk merasakan segala sesuatu di dalamnya. 'Empat Peak Protector. Dua Late Protector. Tujuh Early Protector. Total 13.' 'Maaf, tapi aku harus melakukan ini.' Nick bersembunyi di ruangan terpencil dan membuat sebuah mesin. Beberapa menit kemudian, mesin itu beroperasi, dan Nick mengaktifkannya. Perangkat ini membaca basis data Aegis dan membuat salinan lokal dari artikel yang paling sering dilihat. Nick tidak bisa mengutak-atik izin lagi karena Aegis sudah belajar banyak tentang keamanan, tetapi semua orang punya akses ke entri normal basis data. Jika Nick mengedit banyak entri, alarm akan berbunyi dan memperingatkan seluruh Aegis. Tetapi membaca tidak masalah. Selama dia hanya membaca artikel umum, tidak akan ada masalah. Setelah menyalin artikel yang paling umum, mesin itu menyadap sinyal antara benteng dan markas Aegis. Penting untuk dicatat bahwa basis data lokal tidak mengganggu sinyal. Itu hanya menempatkan dirinya di tengah-tengahnya. Selanjutnya, basis data lokal memutus jaringan benteng hanya sekejap. Teknologi kadang bisa rewel, dan gangguan kecil kadang terjadi. Benteng segera menghubungi markas Aegis untuk membangun kembali koneksi. Kedua belah pihak bertukar kunci enkripsi, dan koneksi dibangun kembali tanpa masalah. Tetapi sekarang, basis data lokal buatan Nick juga punya kunci enkripsinya. Akhirnya, basis data lokal menyadap sinyal yang datang dari markas Aegis dan meneruskannya ke benteng dengan identitas dan enkripsi Aegis. Benteng menerima informasi yang diinginkannya dan tidak membunyikan alarm. Kedua belah pihak terus berkomunikasi, tetapi sekarang, basis data lokal Nick berada di antara mereka. Untuk saat ini, itu hanya relay antara kedua belah pihak. Nick mengubah beberapa pengaturan. Basis data lokal akan meneruskan permintaan normal, tetapi sinyal darurat apa pun akan disadap dan diganti dengan sinyal yang menandakan pemeriksaan sistem rutin. Dari perspektif markas Aegis, benteng akan beroperasi seperti biasa. Tidak ada anomali. Tidak ada keadaan darurat. Akhirnya, Nick menarik napas dalam-dalam. Persepsinya membentang ke seluruh benteng. Lalu, dia melepaskan Zephyx-nya. WHOOOOM! Seluruh benteng lenyap menjadi domain kegelapan murni. Semua manusia di benteng itu langsung berlutut ketika pengaruh the Nightmare menguasai mereka. Para Extractor yang lebih kuat segera mengaktifkan kemampuan cahaya mereka yang beragam, tetapi cahaya itu juga ditelan kegelapan. Separuh dari para Extractor mengirim sinyal marabahaya. Benteng mengirim sinyal prioritas tinggi ke markas Aegis. Benteng diserang! Basis data lokal menyadap sinyal itu dan mengirim pemeriksaan sistem rutin. Aegis menjawab dengan pemeriksaan sistem rutin. Sinyal itu juga disadap dan diganti dengan jawaban atas panggilan darurat. Alarm berbunyi di benteng. Alarm ini menandakan bahwa Aegis menganggap situasi ini sangat serius dan mengirim seorang Shield untuk mendukung mereka segera. Sementara itu, Zephyx Nick terkuras dengan cepat. Menjaga domain kegelapan tetap aktif menghabiskan banyak Zephyx. Untungnya, tidak ada yang melihatnya, yang berarti kemampuannya aktif, pada dasarnya memberinya kekuatan seorang Late atau Peak Shield. Ini berarti dia bisa mempertahankan domain itu untuk sementara waktu. Lebih dari satu menit berlalu. Beberapa Extractor pingsan. Ketika itu terjadi, Nick mengizinkan cahaya kembali ke Extractor-Extractor ini. Dia tidak ingin membunuh siapa pun. Ini bukan pembunuhan. Semua orang ini adalah Extractor. Ini hanya kerja tanpa persetujuan. Setelah tiga menit, salah satu Protector berhasil menebak-nebak jalan keluar dari benteng. 'Dia akan segera keluar dari domain kegelapan,' pikir Nick. 'Aku belum mendapat cukup, tapi aku hampir selesai.' Lalu, Nick melesat keluar dari benteng dan masuk ke tanah. Saat berikutnya, semua kegelapan lenyap. BOOOM! Dan mesin yang Nick buat hancur. Sesaat kemudian, Aegis menerima sinyal marabahaya.
Volume 23: Permainan Berubah
Aegis had done it.
They had essentially solved their most pressing issue.
While Death was still out there, it barely had any capabilities to damage humanity anymore.
It was alone.
If it showed itself anywhere, all the Shields would gather and chase it.
They didn't need to kill it. They just needed to keep it in their view until the Champion arrived.
The Champion was a Late Shield by now, and he was regularly working with War.
Within a century, he would be a Peak Shield.
At that point, he could suppress Death on his own.
Since the Trio of Destruction was no more, the Shields also didn't need to stay at Aegis' headquarters anymore.
As long as the Champion was here, the headquarters were not in any danger.
Instead of staying hidden, the Shields flew through the world, trying to find more Adversaries.
The Shark Mother was their priority right now, and it was expected that the Shark Mother would be found within the next couple of years.
Without the Salt Trident, the oceans became accessible again.
'Aegis is progressing rapidly,' Nick thought.
Aegis' quick growth was putting pressure on Nick.
He had to accumulate as much knowledge as possible before the era ended.
After gaining some information, Nick left the vicinity of Aegis' headquarters again.
Then, he looked at the beams.
Luckily, all Shields knew Nick, and they had all shared their intel.
The only one who knew a slight bit more was the Champion.
There were a couple of things that he wouldn't tell the Shields.
Sharing intel was important, but when it came to opposing Nick, that was a bad thing.
After all, Nick could now see which beam belonged to a Shield.
This meant Nick knew where all of the Shields were at any given moment.
Nick flew around for a while to see where all of the Shields were and made his plan.
Then, he flew towards the east.
The old continent of Europe.
This was what the Ancient Ones had called it.
Aegis just called it the western part of the Grand Continent.
Aegis had two strongholds in Europe now.
Nick went to the western stronghold of Europe, which was at the western edge of Europe.
There was a Shield stationed in the other stronghold, which was about 3,000 kilometers to the east.
The Champion was about 5,000 kilometers to the west, across the ocean.
Nick used his new identity to enter the stronghold, and after he entered, he used his terrifying perception to sense everything inside.
'Four Peak Protectors. Two Late Protectors. Seven Early Protectors. 13 in total.'
'Sorry, but I have to do this.'
Nick hid in an isolated room and built a machine.
Some minutes later, the machine was operational, and Nick activated it.
This device read Aegis' database and created a local copy of the most viewed articles.
Nick couldn't mess with the permissions anymore since Aegis had learned a lot about security, but everyone had access to the normal entries of the database.
If Nick edited a bunch of the entries, an alarm would go off and warn all of Aegis.
But reading was fine.
As long as he only read common articles, there would be no issue.
After copying the most common articles, the device intercepted the signal between the stronghold and Aegis' headquarters.
It was important to note that the local database didn't interfere with the signal.
It just put itself in the middle of it.
Next, the local database interrupted the stronghold's network for just a tiny instant.
Technology could be finicky sometimes, and small interruptions happened occasionally.
The stronghold immediately contacted Aegis' headquarters to re-establish connection.
The two sides exchanged encryption keys, and the connection was re-established without issues.
But now, the local database Nick built also had the encryption keys.
Finally,the local database intercepted the signal coming from Aegis' headquarters and forwarded it to the stronghold with Aegis' identity and encryption.
The stronghold received the information it wanted and didn't sound an alarm.
The two sides were constantly communicating, but now, Nick's local database was between them.
For now, it was just a relay between the two sides.
Nick changed a couple of settings.
The local database would forward normal requests, but any emergency signal would be intercepted and replaced with a signal that signified a regular system check.
From the perspective of Aegis' headquarters, the stronghold would be operating as usual.
No anomalies.
No emergencies.
Finally, Nick took a deep breath.
His perception stretched across the entire stronghold.
Then, he released his Zephyx.
WHOOOOM!
The entire stronghold vanished into a domain of pure darkness.
Immediately, all the humans in the stronghold fell to their knees as the Nightmare's influence took hold of them.
The stronger Extractors immediately activated their diverse light abilities, but the light was also swallowed by the darkness.
Half of the Extractors sent a distress signal.
The stronghold sent a high-priority signal to Aegis' headquarters.
The stronghold was under attack!
The local database intercepted the signal and sent a regular system check.
Aegis answered with a regular system check.
That signal was also intercepted and replaced with an answer to a distress call.
An alarm went off in the stronghold.
This alarm signified that Aegis took this situation very seriously and sent a Shield to support them immediately.
Meanwhile, Nick's Zephyx was rapidly draining.
Keeping the domain of darkness active consumed a lot of Zephyx.
Luckily, nobody saw him, which meant his ability was active, essentially giving him the power of a Late or Peak Shield.
This meant he could keep the domain going for a while.
Over a minute passed.
Some of the Extractors collapsed into unconsciousness.
When that happened, Nick allowed light to return to these Extractors.
He didn't want to kill anyone.
This was not an assassination.
All of these people were Extractors.
This was just a bit of non-consensual work.
After three minutes, one of the Protectors managed to blindly guess their way out of the stronghold.
'He's going to leave the domain of darkness soon,' Nick thought. 'I didn't get enough, but I'm almost there.'
Then, Nick shot out of the stronghold and entered the ground.
The next moment, all the darkness vanished.
BOOOM!
And the machine Nick had built was destroyed.
An instant later, Aegis received the distress signal.
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