Kill the Sun

Nick looked at the Bleeding Lady. 

"Come closer," Jonathan said from the side. 

Nick slowly took a couple of steps forward and went on his knees, just like Jonathan.

Then, he extended his left arm.

The Bleeding Lady slowly moved her nail across Nick's wrist.

CRRRK!

Yet, it didn't bleed.

There was a cut there, but it didn't draw any blood.

At that moment, Jonathan started to sweat profusely.

"It's okay. It's okay," he quickly said in a calming tone. "My boss is a bit stronger than me. You can play a bit rougher with him."

"Come, try again," Jonathan said.

Nick noticed that the Bleeding Lady's body was shaking with intensity.

"Move back," Jonathan whispered with a veiled, urgent voice.

Nick slowly stood up and took three steps back.

Jonathan moved his hand behind his back and gestured for Nick to ready his weapon.

Nick understood but didn't move.

He didn't want to act suspicious right now.

But inside, he was ready for a fight.

"You can try again," Jonathan said with a calming voice. "If you use more power, he can also bleed."

"If you want, we can try again."

The Bleeding Lady's nail continued shaking.

Some seconds passed.

Eventually, her nail lowered to the ground, and Jonathan took a deep breath.

A nail from her other hand rose, and she pointed at Nick.

"I will kill you," she said.

Jonathan gestured for Nick to come closer again.

Nick did just that and arrived beside Jonathan.

He held his arm in front of him, and the Bleeding Lady pointed her nail at it.

Nick felt some kind of power gathering on the nail, but he didn't move.

SHING!

A deep cut appeared on Nick's wrist.

Nick took a deep breath.

That hurt like hell!

Nick had come into contact with the Nightmare many times, and he had gone through worse pain, but this cut was still far more painful than a normal one.

It was almost like Nick's nerves were screaming at him with far more intensity than normal.

The next moment, the Bleeding Lady's nail moved away from Nick, and she slowly moved her flat hand to Nick's bleeding arm.

Jonathan slowly put his arm on Nick's shoulders, signaling to him that there was nothing to worry about.

The Bleeding Lady slowly touched the blood coming out of Nick's arm, and the blood magically gathered in her hand, forming a ball.

After ten seconds, Nick stopped bleeding, and the Bleeding Lady held a big ball of blood in her hands.

Surprisingly, Nick didn't feel any pain or weakness.

It was almost like he hadn't been cut just now.

The next moment, the Bleeding Lady moved the ball of blood onto one of her own cuts.

Nick's blood clung to the Bleeding Lady's cuts, making them seem like they were bleeding again.

She did that with all of the cuts across her body, using up the ball of blood.

Then, she put her hands around her legs and stopped moving.

"Alright, it was fun. See you soon," Jonathan said carefully before standing up.

"It was fun," Nick said carefully before he also stood up.

Then, the two of them slowly walked to the exit of the Containment Unit and left.

Jonathan carefully closed the door behind him.

And then, he collapsed onto the ground and started breathing heavily.

Nick looked with surprise at Jonathan. "What's going on?" he asked.

Right now, Jonathan looked like he had been scared for his life, and he only looked forward in shock.

"I've never seen her this mad before!" he shouted. 

"She was mad?" Nick asked.

Jonathan rapidly nodded.

"When I saw her after going in, I would have run out immediately if you weren't with me. I'm just a Mid Newbie, for fuck's sake! I can't fight her!"

Nick blinked a couple of times. "She seemed pretty calm to me."

"Are you kidding?!" Jonathan shouted. "She was absolutely furious when we showed up! I thought she was about to jump us at any second!"

"Also, did you see how many cuts she made?! It took that many cuts to calm her down! I've never been cut this much!"

Nick raised an eyebrow. "What's the normal number of cuts?"

"Like one across the wrist, like you tried to kill yourself, and maybe one more somewhere else. After that, she's content," Jonathan said. "That bitch cut up almost my entire fucking torso! Do you have any idea how hard it was not to cry out in pain?!"

"What if you cry out in pain?" Nick asked.

"Never do that!" Jonathan shouted with urgency. "That will only entice her to continue! Her cutting you is like an addiction. She has to do it from time to time, or she won't calm down."

"But if you scream in pain, it will be like your drug of choice suddenly becoming far stronger, and she needs more. If you remain calm and quiet, she will quickly stop, but if you become loud, she will keep going until you stop crying."

"One way or another," Jonathan added before looking away.

Nick looked at Jonathan.

"You know, you actually did exemplary work just now," Nick said.

Jonathan looked at Nick.

"I can see how terrified you are," Nick said. "But while we were in there, you acted calmly and rationally. In front of a Specter that's more powerful than you, you managed to remain focused and even calmed her down."

"You did very well," Nick said with a smile.

Jonathan looked forward for a bit before smiling.

Then, he started to smirk arrogantly. "Of course! That's to be expected!" he said with confidence.

Nick just nodded with his own smile. 

"Anyway," Jonathan said as he stood up. "That's one session of work. She gets one session a day, and based on how much blood she drew during the session, a certain amount of Zephyx will be produced."

"Usually, she produces about 15 grams of Zephyx a day, but today, we might have even made 50."

"But don't expect things to continue like this. It will most likely be back to 15 grams a day starting tomorrow."

"You just go in, talk to her, slowly approach her, let her cut you a bit, and leave. It takes less than ten minutes per day and nets you something like 15 grams of Zephyx."

"The work is painful and scary, but it doesn't take a lot of time and gives a lot of Zephyx."

"That's about everything you need to know about her," Jonathan said.

Nick nodded.

"Thanks. You were a great help."