He moves his face upwards, and the pain still radiates throughout his entire body while blood drips from the wound on his abdomen.
"If you think you won, I still have my consciousness." Nicholas held the iron blade that pierced his stomach.
"What's your name then?"
After hearing the question from the wooden humanoid, Nicholas smiles. "Nicholas."
There was no sign of pain on his smile, only full of confidence. He pulls himself away from the blade but he continues to stumble, and he maintains his balance. With his sight spinning around, and fast breaths coming from his mouth, Nicholas looks up at the wooden humanoid.
"What's your name then?" Nicholas asked with a weak tone in his voice.
"Acacia," Acacia, the wooden humanoid replied with a stare of calmness.
"Listen, I won't let you cross me and touch that crystal," Nicholas panted, "I will use all of my energy, and I will toss you out of my world."
A deep breath is all that Acacia uses as a response to Nicholas' declaration. Acacia's feet shrink into the ground, and he folds his legs before jumping towards Nicholas with his bladed hand aiming at him.
Nicholas pulls out a towel from his pocket and ties it around his abdomen where his wound lies. He clenches his gloved hands and sways his body downwards. He avoids the slash from Acacia's bladed hand. Upon landing, Acacia swings his blade towards Nicholas from different directions which Nicholas evades but a cut appears on his cheek.
Nicholas turns his eyes beside him and blocks the incoming blade with his gloved hand. A sound of metal being scratched echoes in his ear, and Nicholas throws a punch, landing on Acacia's face.
Flinching from a painful sensation, Nicholas turns his head downwards and sees blood spreading on the towel. Acacia appears in front of Nicholas after jumping towards him, and Nicholas looks at where the blade goes.
"He moves so quickly! I think, I'll lose to him but I must do something!" Nicholas began launching counter punches against the bladed hand.
"That's right!"
Nicholas jumped backwards and launched a punch at the ground where he landed. A crater manifests beneath him, and he picks up all of the broken pieces from the ground. With a smile, Nicholas throws all of the rocks at Acacia.
"What are these childish attacks?!" Acacia swung his blade again at every rock coming at him.
Nicholas runs toward him, and he goes for an uppercut but Acacia recovers immediately. He looks down, their eyes meet. Suddenly, his wound opens further, and Nicholas flinches.
Acacia swings his foot and hits Nicholas who throws him away. His back drifts against the ground, and he touches his wound while releasing groans of his agony.
"My wound hurts," Nicholas rolled from side to side but he stopped.
His eyes look forward, and he sees Acacia walking towards him. Nicholas presses his hand on the ground and pushes himself slowly until he's standing on his feet.
"I volunteered to help! But I didn't volunteer to die like this!" Nicholas said with frustration in his tone.
Acacia begins to move his feet faster until he's running towards the young man with a wound on his abdomen. Nicholas grits his teeth with his eyes narrowing, and he lowers his gloved hands.
"I don't care if I am in pain!" Nicholas began to sprint toward his enemy, "But I agreed to help this village! I vowed to Aya to protect everyone with all that I can!"
They both throw a punch which collides, and Nicholas throws another punch with his other gloved hand. The punch hits Acacia's waist, and Nicholas jumps before swinging his foot down at Acacia which he blocks with his wrists.
Acacia pushes his wrists, and it pushes Nicholas away. But before the young man lands on the ground, Acacia grabs his ankle.
"Oh–!"
Nicholas gets slammed repeatedly on the ground, and Acacia throws him towards a nearby house. He aims his hand at the house and fires a sphere of green energy. The explosion of the sphere creates a lingering large green energy sphere which leaves a round crater.
"Are you knowledgeable about what we Seeds want?" Acacia spoke while staring at the crater.
From the crater, Nicholas climbs out of it. He stands firmly with a heaving chest, and blood drips from the towel covering his abdomen.
"I know! You and your allies want to kill mankind!" Nicholas held his wound, pressing it with a firm push.
"We despise your kind. Your kind killed those trees just to build buildings, and to collect the trees just to turn them to useless papers," Acacia told Nicholas while his right wooden hand sharpened into a blade, "just let us get that crystal to open the portal of my kind."
Even after he's feeling the pain from his wound, Nicholas continues to stand firm. A chuckle leaves his mouth, and he smiles. "To conquer my kind? My world? No."
Nicholas suddenly falls unconscious, and blood oozes from his wound. A shadow covers his body, and Acacia looks down at him. "You fought very well but you're just a fragile creature with a strong punch and kick."
He turns around but feels something wrapping around his ankle, and he looks at it, seeing Nicholas holding onto his ankle.
"I... I am not a person who gives up easily," Nicholas verbalised with a weak tone.
Acacia pulls his ankle away and tosses a seed towards Nicholas. "Here is your medal for being courageous. Now, rest, and when you wake up, your world is ours."
The passerby manifests beside Nicholas. He holds the young man's shoulders, and shakes them, seeing no response from the young man, the passerby shakes his head.
"NO! I thought you could do it!" The passerby spoke.
"But there is one way to save him."
The passerby turns his head beside the body of Nicholas and sees a large blue eagle sitting beside the young man.
"You need to merge the crystal completely with his body."
"Gale, the crystal has already chosen him! It has merged with him!"
"No, you still have half of the shard. The state he's in is just a premature transformation, he needs the complete transformation."
The passerby becomes frustrated, and he punches the ground. "But doing that will erase the traces of his biological origin."
"Do it! He needs to live!" Gale, the eagle told the passerby.
The passerby's gaze at Nicholas turns into something serious.