The Laughing Swordsman

Draconic Noctis' remaining hand clenched onto the scythe tightly.

"How did the situation spiral out of control so fast?"

He sighed and closed his eyes.

"If only it wasn't my shift to guard today."

The pressure Draconic Noctis was releasing suddenly disappeared, the prelude to something greater.

The black flames covering his body disappeared. His armor slowly sunk into his body, merging with it.

Then, an unbelievable amount of flesh burst out from Noctis' body.

...It was the skin of a reptile, with glossy black scales. They gradually grew into various features, such as wings or a tail.

In a matter of seconds, it was finished.

The old Noctis was nowhere to be seen. However, a black dragon over five meters tall and ten meters long appeared in his place.

The black dragon had red eyes, but they looked at the surroundings with a strange calm.

The pressure had returned, with far more force than before.

Layla tilted her head to the side.

"Eh? What happened to friend?"

Her feet had sunk into the ground purely because of the overbearing aura of the black dragon. However, Layla didn't seem bothered by it.

As for Hex, he trembled slightly after feeling that aura. He had dropped the arm he had ripped off of Noctis, letting it fall into some place in the forest.

Although the pressure was constant in the force it exerted, Hex stabilized quickly. His shadowy face seemed to darken while his blue eyes and smile brightened.

"Big dragon became bigger dragon!"

Layla put a finger on her chin.

"Hmm... new friend?"

The black dragon slowly brought its wings down, yet still caused violent gales of wind to blow. It soared a few meters into the sky before letting out a deep, but majestic, voice.

"It appears two children have been able to force my follower to his limits."

Layla waved her hand in the air.

"Hi!~ Want to be friends?"

The black dragon chuckled.

"I'm afraid that possibility disappeared a while ago."

Layla pouted.

"Eh? There's always a possibility!"

The black dragon narrowed its eyes.

"...Perhaps. But one should not treat miracles as an everyday occurrence."

It lifted up one claw as though it were holding up a chalice.

"Frankly, there is little difference between calling it impossible and nearly impossible."

Layla puffed up her cheeks.

"But it's still different!"

She flailed her arms around in the air.

"I can show you! If we just play for a little, we will become friends so fast!"

The black dragon appeared to smile.

"Hah. Then how should we play?"

Layla smiled.

"Like this!"

She bent her knees, before exploding upwards in strength. The floor underneath her directly collapsed while Layla shot up into the air.

Hex shot a glance at Layla.

"Me help too!"

Hex dashed over, while still hovering in the air.

As for the black dragon, a ball of black flames gathered above his claw.

"...There are limits to what each being can accomplish."

It looked down at Layla that was rapidly approaching.

"Only by adhering to those limits, can you survive."

Layla had pulled back her hand, flexing it into a claw. She slowly accelerated forward before snapping out. As for the black dragon, it casually lowered the claw that held the black flame.

A deafening bang resounded.

The flame on the black dragon's claw exploded right when Layla hit it, sending out intense waves of force.

The dragon hardly moved while Layla was launched downwards like a meteor. Layla landed on the wall, or what was left of it after she caused the floor to collapse.

Layla found herself buried in fragments of stone and dust. She was pretty dirty, but came out unscathed.

"Bwah!"

Layla burst out of the pile of debris, scattering most of the stone fragments into the air.

She shook her head and let out a few light coughs.

"Eek, dirty!"

Her eyes were drawn to the side.

"Eh? Why are you here, friends?"

It was Apollo and Willow. The two of them had been buried by the rubble, but fortunately, Layla got rid of most of it.

If she hadn't... they probably would've suffocated.

Layla walked over to them and shook each person with one of her hands.

"Helloooo?~"

Layla continued trying to wake them up, but without much success. While she did that, Hex was rapidly approaching the black dragon in the sky.

As for the black dragon, it was initially watching Layla fall like a shooting star, but quickly lost interest when it noticed that something else was approaching.

Purple and dark green mist gathered around Hex, making his figure blurry. However, his bright blue eyes and smile shone through the mist easily.

He let out a small giggle.

"Bigger means easier to hit!"

The black dragon raised an eyebrow.

"Haha, but it also means your attacks become less meaningful. If I was in my true form... even the most devastating attack would leave only a scratch."

It chuckled.

"Yet for something as tiny as you... the same attack would turn you to dust."

The black dragon opened its mouth, letting a ball of black flame condense in front. It seemed like it wanted to prove a point.

Hex was not perturbed. He continued forth, condensing the dark green and purple mist into a ball in front of him.

At this moment, the ball of black flame let out a blinding light while the ball of condensed mist in front of Hex expanded violently.

Deafening crackles of fire reverberated throughout the air along with a thundering crash, like the rushing sound of a river.

A massive cone of black flames shot out from the black dragon's mouth while a cone mixed with green and purple energy collided with it.

Unbelievably violent gusts of wind rampaged outwards. They were even able to blow away all the dust on Layla, almost like she wasn't covered in debris in the first place.

For a few moments, these waves raged on.

Then an explosion resounded throughout the city.

Both Apollo and Willow's eyes shot open.