Nicholas clenches his fists while facing Coseria whose head is lowered. She raises her head, and her flytraps chase Nicholas. One by one, he punches them, pushing their head aside.
Another flytrap is closer to biting him but he holds the upper and lower lips of the flytrap, preventing it from biting him.
"Your breath stinks!" Nicholas looked aside and coughed.
Nicholas removes his other hand from the lower lip of the flytrap and stabs the mouth of the flytrap with his gloved fist.
The last flytrap falls, and Coseria narrows her eyes at Nicholas. She jumps toward him, reaching him before her fingers stick to each other.
"You monster!" Coseria yelled, her wooden hand extending into a blade.
Nicholas holds the wooden blade as he drifts backward. Nicholas is gritting his teeth and he bends the blade until it breaks in half.
"Whoa!" Nicholas spoke in his mind, "What does this badge do?"
The passerby is standing beside a tree as he watches the fight unfold. "That badge gives the user different tools in a fight. For example, the shoes that enhance the propulsion of each jump, and the goggles that track the location of a certain person."
The passerby crosses his arms on his chest and shakes his head. "But that is not his real power is."
With one punch from Nicholas, Coseria is thrown away by the impact but she stands up immediately. Her eyes widen after seeing a tall wooden man with green spiky hair in Nicholas, and the sight causes her to gnarl before releasing a loud cry.
The branches shake and birds fly away from them. The fingers of Coseria become long, and they travel towards Nicholas at a fast rate. Nicholas inhales deeply as he puts his gloved hands closer to his face. He looks at his gloves, and from the fingertips, small blades protrude.
Aya looks at her green necklace which is made from emerald, hence, it slowly radiates a green light.
The eyes of Nicholas widen as everything around him slows down, and a blue key appears in front of him.
"What is this?" Nicholas spoke in confusion, a voice that only he can hear.
He shakes his head, and everything goes back to normal. The long wooden fingers hit him but he was able to shield himself with his hands.
"What the heck was that?!" Nicholas fell on the ground from the impact of the attack with his back continuously hitting the ground.
Even with the pain, Nicholas stands up. Aya continues to look at her necklace, and the light has disappeared. Wooden spikes emerge from the ground until they reach Nicholas but before they reach him, Nicholas lifts Aya into his arms.
"Hey!" Aya yelled in annoyance.
"Sorry!" Nicholas crouched before jumping away.
He successfully avoids a spike from being him. Coseria's eyes glow until they release a mixed yellow and green beam straight at Nicholas. He closes his eyes but opens them, and sees a green barrier covering him and Aya.
"What is this?" Nicholas asked, looking around the round barrier around him.
"Sister!"
Coseria shifts her attention at the sound of another voice but she gets hit by a green energy beam.
Nicholas lands on the ground, and he slowly lowers Aya to the ground until she's standing on her feet.
"Stay here! I'll help her!" Nicholas dashed towards Coseria.
Coseria stands up but gets hit on her face by a punch from Nicholas, and the punch causes her to stumble aside. Aya gets approached by the young woman who blasted Coseria away.
"Are you okay, sister?" The young woman looked at Aya's body for any injuries.
"Elesia, why did you come here?" Aya held Elesia's hand, "You'll get yourself killed."
Elesia shakes her head and places her other hand on top of Aya's hand. "No, I don't want to stand while knowing from my necklace that you are in danger."
Elesia averts her gaze at Nicholas. "But who is he?"
Aya hums while turning her eyes to Nicholas. "I don't know either but I think he's a good guy."
The fight continues, and Nicholas stops the bite of a flytrap after grasping its neck. He pounds Coseria's abdomen with his knee, and she coughs. He pulls the neck of the flytrap along with Coseria, and he slams her on the ground multiple times but Coseria shoots an energy beam from her eyes.
Nicholas blocks the beam with his gloved hand but he wasn't able to maintain his balance while the beam kept pushing him away. He looks at his gloved hand after the beam disappeared, and a small tear can be seen.
"Even after giving Nicholas an enhanced strength," The passerby spoke, "the attack of his enemy still causes damage to the gloves."
"What's wrong?!" Coseria asked while laughing.
Nicholas bends his legs a bit before jumping towards a tree, and he proceeds to jump to the other trees. Coseria stays on guard, and Nicholas continues to jump until he's no longer seen by Coseria.
"What is that vile creature doing?!"
Her eyes widen after an impact hits her face yet she remains standing, and she gets hit by another one, and it continues until one of her knees falls to the ground.
She slowly looks up only for her to meet the deadly stare of Nicholas with his gloved fist heading straight to her face.
"He's slowly getting dangerous!" Coseria admitted within herself.
From the ground between them, a wooden wall emerges. Nicholas hits the wall with his fist, and it falls in pieces but Coseria is no longer to be seen.
"She vanished! Wait–!"
Nicholas turns around and sees Aya standing beside Elesia while watching him. His eyes widen as he turns around. "I shouldn't lose my focus on my enemy!"
He wasn't able to see Coseria but only the trees and the dark shade between them. He turns around once again and sees Aya and Elesia standing closer to him.
"Who are you exactly?" Elesia asked.
"I am Nicholas, and I uh... I have a mission here to help guard the crystal," Nicholas answered Elesia.
"The crystal?" Aya narrowed her eyes a little as her brows furrowed, "What do you know exactly about it?"
Nicholas suddenly remembers the words from the passerby, and he uses them. "Well, the crystal holds the key to choosing the last descendant who will aim to defend this world from darkness like monsters."
Elesia slowly nods while Aya stares at Nicholas, and she speaks, "What is a guardian then?"
Nicholas gulps, and he stares at her for a short second before saying, "A guardian protects something very dangerous to be held by a being with evil intent."
He looks down on his wrist, and sees Aya holding it tightly, and she hears her voice, saying, "I need you to come with us, this forest isn't safe for us to talk."