Luckily, Nick's Zephyx recovered extremely quickly.
With his amazing Shell and his high Stage, it barely took him a minute to recover all of his Zephyx.
"Then, we have fulfilled our side of the Death Pact," Aria said.
Nick nodded. "For now. If I succeed, you still have to give me an Elder."
"If," Aria said.
"However," Nick said, "while the mandatory things have been fulfilled, giving me another helping hand will definitely improve the chances of success, and I think it's in both of our interests that my chances of success are as high as possible."
Aria became annoyed. "Is there anything in particular that you have in mind?"
Nick nodded.
"Equipment," he said. "This is going to be a stealth mission, and as soon as I'm found, the mission will fail, and I will die. Because of that, I need things that will aid me in escaping, staying hidden, and assassinating."
SHING!
Nick's blade shot out of his wrist, and he held it up for Aria. "This blade might be useful in a normal battle, but it might break if I attack a Specialist."
"Attack a Specialist?" Aria repeated in shock. "That would be stupid! I get that you must feel amazing after becoming an Expert, but don't overestimate yourself."
"Let that be my issue," Nick said calmly. "I am the one going into Anatomy, and Vernon has enough faith in me that he's willing to give me an Elixir. I will tell you what I need, and if you want to improve my chances, it would be in your best interest to listen to me."
Aria was annoyed by Nick's arrogance, but she knew that this wasn't the right moment to deal with such unimportant things.
"Fine," she said with a bit of annoyance.
Nick nodded. "Thank you. If possible, I would like a Shadow Shroud."
Aria's eyes narrowed, shock and rage appearing in them.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})How the fuck did Nick know about the Shadow Shrouds?!
Those were secret!
She glared at Nick for a couple of seconds.
Nick only looked back with a neutral expression.
"I believe Vernon will be fine with giving you his," Aria said after a while.
Right now, it didn't matter how Nick knew about the Shadow Shrouds.
They were on the same side for now.
Nick nodded. "I also need fist blades that won't break if a Specialist attacks them with their full power."
Aria didn't see why Nick would need something this expensive.
After all, if he attacked a Specialist, his remaining time in this world would be measured in seconds.
Nevertheless, this concerned Kugelblitz's survival.
Additionally, they had already given Nick the Elixir, which was far more expensive than such a set of blades.
"We don't have such a set currently, but we can make one within the next couple of hours," Aria said.
Nick nodded.
After that, he requested a couple of gadgets, but those weren't very expensive.
He didn't ask for an expensive set of throwing spears since those were only useful in open places.
Within the tiny hallways of Anatomy, his throwing spears would only slow him down with their weight.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Is that all?" Aria asked.
"Yes, that's all," Nick said with a nod.
"Good," she said. "Everything will be ready within five hours. For now, we should go back to Vernon and create a plan for attack."
The two of them walked out of the Containment Unit, and Nick entered the briefcase again.
The two of them traveled back towards the highest floor and searched for Vernon.
Since several hours had passed, Vernon was no longer in Aria's office.
Instead, he was in his own office, and he seemed quite worried, which was understandable since it didn't look good for Kugelblitz.
Sure, Nick might give them a chance, but it was very slim.
After leaving Nick in Vernon's office, Aria left to deal with the equipment Nick needed for the mission.
Over the next period of time, Nick and Vernon made plans for the assault.
Since this concerned Kugelblitz's survival, Vernon did not hold anything back.
He unveiled the power of Kugelblitz's ability to collect intelligence by handing Nick an almost complete map of Anatomy's building.
There were a couple of parts that were greyed out since only the most powerful members of Anatomy had access to those, but 90% of the building was perfectly mapped out.
They even knew in which Containment Units half of the Specters were.
Naturally, Vernon also told Nick what these Specters were and what they could do.
While Nick knew everything about the Hatchlings, Adolescents, Adults, and Elders due to the offer Anatomy had made to all the Manufacturers, Anatomy hadn't publicized any information about their Fanatics.
That was where Vernon helped.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})According to Vernon, Kugelblitz knew of four Fanatics that Anatomy owned, but they couldn't be sure whether or not there was a fifth one.
There was a chance that there were five and a very small chance that there were six.
But there definitely were not seven.
Otherwise, Anatomy would have grown much faster within the past decades.
Eventually, Aria returned with all of the equipment Nick had requested, and he pocketed all of it.
The three of them planned some more, and eventually, the picture of a complete plan formed.
"Is everyone fine with this plan?" Aria asked.
Vernon nodded.
Nick furrowed his brows.
The other two looked at him.
"I just got an idea," Nick said. "It's a risk, but if this works, it might improve our chances drastically."
Aria and Vernon were interested.
In the beginning, they had mostly dismissed Nick's contributions to the plan, but he had given quite a few valuable pieces of input during the discussion.
"Yes?" Aria asked.
"I need you to bring me to somebody so that I can talk to them," Nick said.
Aria raised an eyebrow. "Involving anyone else will put everything at risk," she said.
"I know, which is why I said it's a risk," Nick said.
"Who?" Aria asked finally.
Nick's eyes gleamed.
"I want to talk to Ghosty."
