The world was in an uproar.


    While all of this was happening, the Knife''s body was pulling back together and regrowing.


    When Pride died, her servant didn''t move at all.


    The Fallen knew that it couldn''t possibly flee from someone this powerful.


    The only thing it could do was to hope that this human didn''t kill it.


    Three seconds after Pride''s death, the Knife''s body had fully recovered, and she looked at the Fallen with a cold expression.


    "I won''t resist," the Fallen transmitted to the Knife.


    In less than a second, the Knife threw a metallic rope at the Fallen, which slung itself around it.


    This was one of the strongest Zephyx Suppressors that Aegis owned.Naturally, if the Fallen had resisted, it would''ve been able to easily get rid of the Zephyx Suppressor, but since it didn''t, it waspletely suppressed.


    And now, it wouldn''t matter whether or not it resisted.


    As soon as the Zephyx Suppressor was ced on its body, it was over.


    Meanwhile, Nick just looked at the Knife while being in his mist form.


    The Knife turned to Nick and summoned a big Specter Cage.


    Immediately, Nick felt an irresistible force pushing him into the Specter Cage, and he entered.


    BANG!


    The door of the Specter Cage closed, and Nick was trapped inside.


    He was captured just like any other Specter.


    That was because the Knife thought Nick was just a normal Specter.


    Well, kind of.


    The Knife did not know that the mist cloud was Nick, but she did know that the mist cloud was rted to their unique Specter ally.


    The only people who knew about Nick''s abilities were Ghosty and the Technician. Not even the Left Arm knew about all of Nick''s abilities.


    The Left Arm knew that Nick could turn into a cloud of mist, but she didn''t know about Nick''s primary ability.


    The Knife, the Wall, the Right Arm, the Politician, and the Champion of Light didn''t know about any of Nick''s abilities.


    The Left Arm had sent Nick on his mission to infiltrate Pride''s forces,but she hadn''t really made any ns for the mission.


    She knew that Nick waspetent and left the nning up to him.


    From time to time, Nick sent her updates to keep her informed.


    When Nick had killed the Robe, he had sent ast message to the Left Arm.


    "I killed a very important servant. I am confident a Fallen will appear very soon. There is a small chance that Pride will appear. Be prepared to strike." ??


    The Left Arm did not send any answer since it was always risky to send a message to an undercover agent.


    So, Nick couldn''t be sure whom Aegis had sent.


    Based on Nick''s message, it made sense to send a Peak Protector or a team of Protectors.


    After all, the chances of Pride appearing had only been low.


    And yet, the Left Arm had sent the Knife.


    As Nick thought about these events in his new Specter Cage, he realized something.


    ''The Left Arm has given me the same trust I have given Aegis,'' Nick thought. ''I said that there was a chance that Pride might appear, and the Left Arm had enough trust in my judgment to dedicate a Shield to my mission for several minutes.''


    Usually, when somebody said that there was a chance that a Corruptor might appear, one would be doubtful.


    The Corruptors were extremely careful, and they had never managed to kill or capture one.


    And now, this guy said that one of them might appear, and they might have a chance at killing one?


    What? Did this guy think Corruptors were idiots that just walked around carelessly?


    Yet, the fact that the Left Arm sent the Knife showed that she trusted in Nick''s judgment and that she believed that Nick wasn''t assessing the situation inurately.


    When Nick said that there was a chance that Pride might appear, the Left Arm believed that there was a chance that Pride might appear.


    She had gambled on Nick.


    She had even redistributed the Shields.


    If Pride actually appeared and died,chances were high that the Corruptors and the Trio of Destruction would attack humanity all across the.


    So, she sent the Wall to their stronghold in the Long Continent, believing that War might strike there.


    The Long Continent was one of the most vulnerable positions of Aegis since it only had a single stronghold in its middle.


    Additionally, with Pride dead, the Great Triangle would be humanity''s territory. The Specters needed a foothold there, but with two strongholds, one of them being the headquarters, it wouldn''t be possible to get one.


    That left the Long Continent as the best ce.


    Envy''s forces were still there, and if the stronghold in the Long Continent vanished, they could infiltrate the Great Triangle from the Long Continent.


    The Left Arm believed that War would think like that and sent the Wall to the Long Continent.


    He only needed to block a single attack from War, which was easier said than done.


    The Wall had once said that he believed that he would be able to block an attack from War, and the Left Arm believed him.


    Even the Champion of Light might die if War unleashed an attack on him.


    However, the Wall was the Extractor with the most powerful defense in the world, and if he couldn''t block one of War''s attacks, nobody could.


    The Left Arm believed that the northwestern stronghold in the Great Triangle wouldn''t be attacked since Pride was dead, and normal Fallen couldn''t be mobilized fast enough to take advantage of the unique opening.


    It was obvious to the Left Arm that Death would use this opportunity to strike the headquarters to test the strength of the new Champion of Light.


    If the Champion couldn''t block that, humanity was doomed anyway since there would be nothing left to oppose Death.


    The Left Arm also believed that Gluttony and Wrath would attack the two strongholds in the War Continent, which was why she sent almost all powerful Protectors there.


    Sadly, while the Left Arm was an amazing strategist,she couldn''t always be right, and Gluttony actually attacked the western stronghold of the Grand Continent.


    Because of that mistake, one of Aegis'' strongholds had been destroyed by Gluttony.


    There had been two Protectors, eleven Heroes, 51 Specialists, over 300 weaker Extractors, and over 1,800 normal people in that stronghold.


    The stronghold had contained over 100 Specters, including seven Demons.


    The silver lining was that Gluttony consumed everything, including the Specters.


    The Left Arm positioned the Technician in the north of the Grand Continent, believing that Sloth might strike there.


    She also positioned another powerful team of Protectors in the east of the Grand Continent tobat Lust.


    The stronghold on the inds in the southeast of the Grand Continent was defenseless.


    The Left Arm could have sent three more Protectors there, but that might not have been enough to resist Lust in case it attacked there.


    In that case, sending three Protectors there would be akin to sacrificing them on top of the stronghold.


    So, the stronghold was essentially left naked.


    Thest two strongholds in the Grand Continent were where the biggest confrontation would take ce.


    Controlling the middle of the Grand Continent would give the Specters a solid foothold to control the entire Grand Continent, which was why they would probably gather there.


    However, that was actually not the true reason.


    This entire nning and scheming around territories was only relevant as long as no side could strike the true key pieces in the conflict.


    The Shields and Adversaries.


    Death had lost one of its most important servants, Pride.


    Pride could be seen as a small key piece.


    And Death wanted to take that opportunity to get rid of a key piece of humanity.


    It assumed that humanity would defend those two Strongholds with one or two Shields each.


    Because of that, Death decided to send two Adversaries to go to the space between the two strongholds,look at both of them, and attack the weaker one together.


    This would get rid of one or two Shields.


    Yet, the Left Arm had nned something simr, and she nned to counter Death''s counter.


    She knew that Death would try to kill one of humanity''s Shields there, which was why she and two other Shields went to the same ce.


    In case the enemy split up, they would do the very thing that Death had nned and gang up on one Adversary.


    They would lose one or two strongholds, but they might take out one of the Trio of Destruction.


    In case the enemy didn''t split up, they would be strong enough to survive for long enough to regroup.


    If the Left Arm hadn''t been able to predict her enemies'' thoughts to such a degree, Aegis would have lost much more than just a single stronghold.


    Without the Left Arm, humanity would have lost half or more of its strongholds.


    And while she had been nning all of that, she had also kept Nick''s identity secret.


    When she had sent the Knife, she had only said one thing.


    "Julian Winter has taken a Force Specter as a servant and is using it to lure out Pride. It''s a cloud of mist. Capture it and bring it back to headquarters. Do not kill it."


    Right now, the Knife did not know that she had just captured Nick.