The Laughing Swordsman

Hex reappeared in the middle of the sky.

Like Draconic Noctis always had, he chased after him with his scythe raised. This was nothing new, but he felt sometimes strange this time.

The faintly glowing blue smile on Hex's face grew.

"Big dragon should watch step."

Draconic Noctis furrowed his brows.

"What?"

Countless purple lines emerged from the air. A couple were connected to Hex.

It was almost like... a spider web.

Draconic Noctis frowned.

"Where did these come from?"

That was when he realized something. The purple lines matched the path Hex had taken. Every time Hex vanished, he left behind some sort of thread. It was only now that he revealed them.

Noctis curled up into a ball and held his scythe in front of him. It was too late for him to escape now.

The purple lines rapidly expanded while glowing brightly. Suddenly, they froze.

Then exploded.

Draconic Noctis was thrown around like he was the only ball in a dodgeball game. The black flames on his body whipped around violently, seemingly on the verge of being put out.

Draconic Noctis felt a searing pain spread through his entire body. He had held onto the scythe composed of black flames tightly, however, while he was rocking within the violent explosions, he nearly beheaded himself with it.

Thankfully, that was not the way he went out. But he wasn't so thankful for the fact his body was horribly damaged.

His wings had been torn off, leaving him to fall back on the empire's wall.

A loud crash resounded.

Draconic Noctis landed on the wall miserably, causing a few cracks to form on the floor and fragments of stone to scatter in the air. There was a bit of white smoke emitting from Draconic Noctis' body.

Layla turned to him.

"Wah! Friend finally came down to play with me!"

Hearing those words, Draconic Noctis flew into a panic. He ignored how muddled his mind was and forced himself to get up on his feet.

Layla was dashing towards him with a playful smile on her face. However, to Draconic Noctis, it was the devious smile of a devil.

The black flames had died down, but not even a second later, they raged on brighter and larger than ever.

Layla swung her claw at Draconic Noctis, who responded by whipping his scythe forwards.

An ear-piercing metallic screech rang out.

Layla took one step backward. As for Draconic Noctis, he slid back five meters. He had purposely used the recoil to gain some distance from Layla.

Layla curiously blinked. There was a large mass of black flame in front of her. Suddenly, it coalesced into a scythe before slashing at her.

Layla batted it away with her hand, causing it to dissipate powerlessly.

Draconic Noctis' eyes narrowed.

She could see the attack?

In reality, the scythe of black flames had blended in perfectly with the night sky. Logically, there shouldn't be any way someone could differentiate it.

But for Layla, it seemed to be as easy as blinking.

This only furthered Draconic Noctis' resolve to ignore Layla and focus on Hex.

Speaking of Hex... where was he?

Draconic Noctis turned around.

Ah, there he was.

Hex was floating in the air next to Draconic Noctis. There was a faint purple mist around him. One of his hands had a massive claw. It was one meter in length and dark green, however a translucent shadow extended out from it. In total, this shadowy claw extended to a total of three meters long.

Hex swung his shadowy claw at Draconic Noctis. At the same time, he unleashed a strange purple energy that was even faster than the claw.

Draconic Noctis had no time to dodge the purple energy, but it didn't seem to do anything, so he ignored it for now.

His scythe made of black flames twirled, just barely making it in time to collide with the shadowy claws.

Then, the shadowy layer disappeared, leaving Hex only with the one meter long dark green claws.

The sudden change caused Draconic Noctis to stumble a step forward. If two people were pulling on a rope and one suddenly let go, the one still pulling would end up stumbling backwards. In essence, this is what happened to Draconic Noctis.

Hex's shadowy blue eyes glimmered in the darkness.

"Be careful!"

He took a few steps forward before slashing with his dark green claws. Draconic Noctis furrowed his brows. He slammed his free hand onto the floor, launching upwards and out of harm's way.

Draconic Noctis' ascent gradually slowed, but two wings made of black flame soon emerged from his back, allowing him to retreat further.

If he wasn't currently a mass of flame, beads of sweat would've formed on his forehead.

Draconic Noctis had a feeling if he stayed any longer, he would've been struck by Layla.

Draconic Noctis used this time to regain his bearings. He surveyed the castle walls, easily finding Layla who was attempting to fly like a bird. He lost interest quickly and tried to search for Hex.

...But he was nowhere to be seen.

Draconic Noctis looked in front of him. He raised an eyebrow.

Say, what was that strange purple ball coming for hi-

Hex suddenly appeared in front of him, clinging onto his arm.

The blue smile on Hex's shadowy face grew brighter.

"Uh oh!"

An explosion accompanied a frightening tearing sound.

A concentrated blast of dark green energy exploded from Hex. The recoil made Noctis snap backward, however, not with the arm Hex was holding onto.

Because it was ripped off.

Draconic Noctis let out a roar of pain. As he was launched across the sky, a thin trail of blood was left behind.

Draconic Noctis grit his teeth.

"...How is this possible?"

He was only able to gain the power in his current state by borrowing it from another being, Yzan.

Draconic Noctis made sure to borrow very little, as he knew it would sap his sanity.

....But now, he no longer had a choice.