Nimrod

Against His Will

Eyes shut, he shook his head to shrug off the ringing sound inside his ears. Axle was sure that he threw the samanea but it was him who bounced off the ground. On all fours, he tried to get up but a massive weight pounded his back. Stepping on him, the nim had him pinned on the forest floor.

Worried about his comrade, Sam rushed to challenge the nim head-on. He picked a prism to clad himself with a strangler-type nim-armor. He dashed towards it but tripped after just a few steps. Though he managed to stay on his feet, he could not advance as the roots beneath him had wrapped his ankle.

To help his struggling teammate, Isis shot the legs of the nim. Three quick shots but not powerful enough to cause any damage.

The wood of Axle's nim-armor started to crack as the nim pressed him down.

"Brace yourself Axe, I'm gonna blow this up!" Isis cried. Set to maximum power, she aimed to blast the nim's chest.

"Not at its chest, Ice! Its prism might shatter!"

"But Axe, that thing will crush you!"

"D-don't worry about me, my armor can still hold on." Axle said as he struggled to get out of the nim's hold. But struggle as he may, he could not force his way out.

"Were down to two minutes." Sam reminded. "Any plan, guys?"

After seeing Sam broke free from the roots that strangled his feet, an idea popped into her mind. "Sam move to your left!" Isis shouted as she ran down the huge tree. Slipping a prism into her suit, wooden armor wrapped her whole body until she transformed into another strangler-type. Upon reaching the forest floor, she punched down as vines shot from her arms and thrust through the ground.

Taking the other side, Sam did the same.

Like a whip, the vines shot up by the nim and wrapped its body. In a synchronized pull, they dragged the samanea down.

Not wasting any chance, Axle hurried to get up. With a sword grown from his hand, he swung his arm to slash the nim. But as their eyes met, his blade stopped midway.

"Finish it Axe! We can't hold it any longer!" Isis cried out.

Quick to its knees, the samanea forced its way up. Most of their vines that strangled it snapped. Though the larger ones held on, they approached their limits and could break any moment.

Forcing himself to take down their target, Axle's hand trembled in response. The tip of his blade sank on the ground. As he lost the grip on his sword, he lost control over his emotions and thoughts which swirled inside his head. He took a couple of steps back and felt like he's about to vomit all that's inside his stomach. He could not fathom why his body had gone against his will.

"Axe?" Sam asked.

"Thirty seconds. Better hurry Axe!" Isis said.

To their surprise, the nim stopped struggling for a moment. It stared at Axle, curious. As if it recognized him and in return for its glaring eyes was a gaze of awe. Still, on its knees, it bent forward and with a deep eerie voice, uttered - "Neeeemrr.."

A dark wooden hand jabbed through the nim's chest and pulled out a lump of wood.

"And that is how you take a prism!" cried out by the man in a huge asana-type nim-armor.

"Ugh! We still have ten seconds, Supremo!" Isis protested.

"Had I given you an extra hour, do you think he could finish the job?" he replied pointing at Axle.

Annoyed yet worried, Isis looked at him. Still, inside his armor, he stood still staring at the lifeless nim.

"That good-for-nothing loser?! No! But I can and I will!" she blurted out.

"But Maca, why are you here? You aren't one of the drill's proctors right?" Sam asked. "And jeez! You even showed off an ironwood species!"

Maca jumped out of his armor and joined the two on the ground.

"All drills are suspended, for now," he replied.

"All? Something big must have happened to suspend all?" Sam replied while he inspected the wood of the Asana-type armor.

"Big? I would say, the biggest thing had happened!" Maca replied.

Isis and Sam looked at each other and replied in unison - "That means!..."

"Yeah, Zero has been awakened. And our quest of reclaiming our home has finally begun."