"Acacia! Show yourself!" Nicholas gathered his energy and swung his hand.
A huge sharp razor pressure cuts all the trees surrounding him. He is panting while looking straight, and a voice whispers in his head. "If you do that, you will run out of energy!"
Nicholas turns his eyes down at his gauntlets. "I don't really care! I want to avenge my friend!"
"Your weak friend?"
That voice causes Nicholas to turn around. A face is now closer to his face, a face that belongs to Acacia. Nicholas stares into his emerald colored eyes, and anger consumes him. He crashes Acacia's head with his gauntlets but he vanishes.
"Tch!" Nicholas lowered his gauntlets, seeing Acacia standing calmly a few steps away from him.
"Come here! I will crush you!" Nicholas let out a huge leap from his metallic boots.
Acacia steps aside with a thought in his head. "How did he become faster?"
Nicholas stabs Acacia's face with his elbow before throwing a punch straight at Acacia's face, and the impact sends him flying towards the other trees; all of them fall apart while Acacia crashes against them.
Nicholas speaks in his head. "I must finish him, obliterate him!"
He faces his palms against each other, in their centre, a little amount of air appears until it multiplies into a large amount. Nicholas raises the orb of wind and throws it where Acacia crashes. He stands up but only for the orb to hit his chest, leaving a spinning crater on his wooden chest.
"You don't have the heart of a human! You have an empty body!" Nicholas yelled while sprinting towards Acacia.
"My liege!" Gale yelled in Nicholas' head.
In Acacia's sight, he sees a beast heading straight at him with anger in his eyes. That beast is none other than Nicholas, and he hits Acacia's chest with his knees and crashes Acacia's head with a clash of his gauntlets.
"Calm down!" Gale told Nicholas but it was no use for a man drowned in his anger.
Nicholas grabs Acacia's leg, with a powerful lift, and slams him repeatedly on the ground. Nicholas releases Acacia's leg in mid-air, and releases small tiny circles from his mouth like a bullet, and each projectile causes small holes on Acacia's body.
Nicholas turns his upper body slightly behind him with his left gauntlet clenching while air is seen twirling around the gauntlet, and he gives it all with one punch straight at Acacia's abdomen.
The punch sends Acacia crashing against a wave of trees, and all of them fall in half. Nicholas is breathing faster as one of his knees falls on the soil.
"Your word that I have no heart," A voice came from the farther part of the forest, and it became clearer and louder, "does that mean, I don't have the empathy, and kindness of a human?"
"You're still standing, you are truly a monster!" Nicholas yelled.
He makes a run towards Acacia but he stops and holds his chest. "Damn you! Why did you have to kill Laine?!"
"Oh, so that was her name." Acacia regenerated a new wooden head, and a face.
"I remembered how she tried to stop me... it was an amazing discovery for me on how a human can be pushed by those he protects," he added to his words.
The eyes of Nicholas shake as he grits his teeth. "Y-You watched her die?!"
Acacia nods and stares calmly at Nicholas. "It wasn't just a cut to her throat but also, I stabbed her many times."
Acacia feels the air hitting him gently, and he observes the leaves around him as they begin to fly in the same direction. Suddenly, the air becomes stronger, and Acacia stares at Nicholas he's being surrounded by the air.
"Go on, show me the side of you that killed her! I will fucking kill you!" Nicholas clenched his gauntlets, and the air wrapping around him burst in different directions.
Acacia blinks, and Nicholas reaches him with a punch, and it slams Acacia on the ground. Steel layers crawl on Acacia's entire hands, and he pulls himself back to his feet.
"That was strong." Acacia swayed his steel fist straight at Nicholas.
Nicholas punches the incoming steel fist, and his eyes display his wrath. "Pathetic."
He grabs Acacia's wrist and pulls him closer. Nicholas opens his other hand and slams his palm against Acacia's face. Nicholas lands punches at the speed of a hurricane, and each punch leaves craters on Acacia's body.
He looks at Nicholas, and from his eyes, he fires a huge force of green energy beam. The beam sends Nicholas flying towards the sky.
"Laine was a determined human," Acacia stared at Nicholas from the ground, "she was kind, and she passed all of the criteria of a good being. Unfortunately, she doesn't let me take those kids, and that drove me to kill her."
In the sky, Nicholas remains afloat. A transparent hand touches his face, and it is a woman with a bright smile, and Nicholas opens his eyes a bit. "Laine?"
A small tear fell from Nicholas' eyes. "I am sorry, I wasn't there. We promise to protect one another but I failed! I hate losing those who matter to me."
Laine smiles as her eyes crinkle. "You don't have to cry for me. You have Kuya Juan, and Sister Madelaine."
Nicholas jerks as he releases more tears. "B-But we are the big three. We promised!"
Laine wraps her transparent arms around him. "I will always be in your heart."