Nicholas steps up to the gap in the wall.

Corvus: "How the hell do you expect to navigate a place like this?"

The sun is setting and the trees are blocking chunks of the light.

Nicholas: "Easy."

He marks a tree with his claw.

Nicholas: "I'll just mark where I've been."

The forest is beginning to whistle.

Corvus: "Well, I'll just be here."

Lyra: "You also don't have a choice."

Nicholas traverses through this desolate place.

Meanwhile...

Crux is flying high above the sky, hi tainted grey body and hazel eyes watching as Nicholas examines the entire forest.

Crux: "Now how long should I wait for him to struggle? An hour? Three? Maybe even until dawn is almost upon us."

You can feel his smug aura emanating off of him.

Crux: "The moment I see him begin to struggle, that is the moment that'll end him in a heartbeat."

He keeps his distance so Nicholas doesn't notice.

A few hours later...

Nicholas has searched this forest top to bottom, but hasn't found a trace of Crux.

Corvus: "Looks like he's already turned tail and ran like a coward!"

Nicholas leans against a tree and begins to think.

Nicholas: "No way he'd run. You guys don't operate like that."

He locks himself in a state of thought.

Lyra: "All I know is that he's sly and more calculative compared to the rest of us."

Crux is watching from above.

Crux: "(in head) They won't be able to hit me even if they do find me."

Corvus: "So what kind of plan could he have?"

Nicholas thinks about how they could hear Crux from everywhere at once.

Nicholas: "A plan that intends to wear me out..."

He looks straight up into the sky, dead on into Crux's eyes.

Crux: "Don't remember you being the clever one!"

Nicholas uses his whip to fling himself into the sky.

Nicholas: "So you were trying to wait for me to tire myself out and strike at the last second?"

Crux: "So what? You've already burned through a chunk of stamina before you figured me out!"

Crux dodges Nicholas.

Nicholas: "Do you not know what kind of Breaks I have at my disposal?"

Nicholas fires some scales at Crux's claw.

Crux: "Huh?"

Corvus: "Hm! You act like that Break is a surprise from me."

Nicholas is falling.

Crux: "No matter at all! You're running out of time!"

Nicholas watches as Crux speeds towards him.

Lyra: "He's not lying!"

Crux grabs Nicholas and has them rocket towards the ground.

Nicholas: "(in head) No kidding!"

Nicholas's arms are pinned to his sides, so he can't use his whip or scale bullets to try and break free, just his legs.

Crux: "Let's here those bones crack!"

After bashing against a couple trees, they crash into the ground as dead as the night, causing Nicholas to hack up an unprecedented amount of blood and for there to be a feeling of a bone or two cracking in his lower back.

Corvus: "Aw come on! You've got to be better than that!"

Crux's arms had received minor damage from the trees, but nowhere near as bad as Nicholas.

Crux: "Had enough?"

Nicholas is trying to pull himself up onto his feet.

Nicholas: "(in pain) Like hell I am."

Crux pins Nicholas down under his foot.

Crux: "Then I'll try and make this quick."

Crux begins to pummel Nicholas over and over again with a series of rapid punches.

Lyra: "Get up Nicholas!"

Corvus: "The only one who has the right to kill you is me!"

Crux: "Here I thought you two were loyal to the Eclipse, not disciples of the World."

Nicholas's body is beginning to break.

Nicholas: "(in head) I'm finished. Without my arms or legs, I can't get up and counterattack."

The look in his eyes is growing more and more defeated.

Corvus: "Get off your ass!"

Crux gets off and kicks Nicholas into a tree, painting it's trunk red.

Crux: "Now then, are you now willing to die?"

Nicholas's body isn't moving, but he's clearly still alive.

Nicholas: "(weakly) I..."

Then, one line pulls Nicholas out of his head.

Lyra: "Didn't you make a promise?!"

Nicholas finds himself at the deathbed of his mother as a young child again.

Nicholas's Mother: "(weakly) Please... live for me, okay?"

Nicholas: "(crying) O-Okay..."

Nicholas's eyes are slowly getting their life back.

Nicholas: "(in pain) I did make a promise..."

Nicholas uses the tree as support to get to his feet.

Crux: "You can still stand?!"

Nicholas holds his arm out as it gets ready to fire.

Nicholas: "(in pain) I'm not going to die until I say so."

Crux shakes off the shock and charges for Nicholas.

Crux: "One hit will kill you Moon!"

Nicholas: "Same for you."

Nicholas rapid fires his scales straight into Crux's skull, not letting up for one second.

Nicholas: "(in pain) I made a promise that I would stay alive."

Even when Crux dodges backwards, Nicholas stays locked onto his skull like second nature.

Corvus: "Huh?"

Nicholas's arm is beginning to twinge with pain, but he won't stop.

Nicholas: "(in pain) You aren't going to kill me because the only one who makes that choice is me."

Crux has taken a knee.

Crux: "(n pain) That's purely illogical!"

Lyra can see how Nicholas is the same as his first incarnation.

Lyra: "(tearing up) You really are the Moon..."

Nicholas switches to his whip and grabs Crux by the throat.

Nicholas: "(in pain) I'm sorry, have you met me before?"

Nicholas tightens his grip as his wounds begin to leak more and more blood.

Lyra: "You're losing blood fast!"

Nicholas is about to shatter his neck.

Nicholas: "Now we'll take down the Eclipse..."

He shatters his neck as he falls to the ground disengaging Wyvern Hunter.

Nicholas: "(weakly) Together..."

Crux's body breaks apart into blue light...