The Laughing Swordsman

While Willow would attempt to avoid the ground that had been frozen over, Vicar wouldn't bother.

This meant Vicar slipped far more than Willow. However, slipping did not make him lose his composure. His stance would abruptly shift, while his trajectory elusively slipped towards Willow.

As for Willow, she could only block maybe half of the attacks Vicar performed like this.

It was as though Vicar could predict not only when he would land on the frozen ground, but knew which way he would slip. Some would even suspect Vicar was secretly wearing ice skates rather than heavy snow boots.

Willow was unable to even win one spar when they fought in this environment and they had fought here countless times.

Willow fell to the floor after slipping on a patch of ice. She hit the ground and grimaced in pain.

"Oww!"

Vicar was in the middle of a swing, but stopped after noticing Willow had fallen.

"Haha, is this my hundredth win? Maybe it's two hundred by now."

Willow looked up at Vicar, with a bitter smile on her face.

"How are you... so composed? Every time I slip on the ice, it takes everything I have to stay standing!"

Vicar smiled cheekily.

"It's because you are trying to fight it!"

Willow furrowed her brows.

"What do you mean, fight it? Of course I have to resist it, else I will fall!"

Vicar proceeded to perform a complicated set of footwork, gliding around violently whenever he landed on a piece of ice. Yet, he always remained standing.

There was a casual smile on his face, as though he didn't even consider the possibility of falling over.

"You see how I do it?"

Willow sighed helplessly.

"I see it, but I can hardly understand."

Vicar giggled. He raised his index finger while still performing his complicated footwork.

"You should turn your problems into your weapon!"

A smirk appeared on his face.

"After all, there is order within chaos."

...

Willow snapped back to reality. She slowly closed her eyes.

"Order... within chaos."

She swooped down, rapidly approaching a nearby house. The house's light was glowing brightly, about to launch its attack.

However, Willow did not seem to notice. Instead, she dived through the air, feeling the wind glide past her wings. The humming sound from her blade gradually became grating.

It was as though the air itself was being torn apart.

The light from the house abruptly dimmed. It was about to attack.

Yet, before it could do anything, Willow's jet-black sword flashed.

A violent rip rang out. It sounded like fabric had been torn apart.

The house was shredded into countless tiny pieces. This was the case for the bottom of its feet to the roof of its 'head'.

Willow flew by the debris as though she was passing by a shower of flower petals.

The entire time, her eyes were closed and her face expressionless. It was as though she would remain that way even if the sky fell down.

A nearby house's light suddenly dimmed while gazing at Willow. In the next moment, a massive beam of light shot towards Willow.

But she was not concerned. In fact, she didn't even plan on dodging, but facing it head on.

While her eyes remained closed, her blade snapped towards the beam of light. The air itself was torn apart, sounding as though fabric was being ripped. A violent shockwave shot out from Willow's blade.

An ear-piercing grating sound rang out, as though metal was scraping against each other.

The shockwave rapidly tore through the beam of light, making it fly to the sides. It was as though the beam of light was just a ribbon to be cut. As the shockwave traveled upwards, it eventually reached the house itself and exploded its head into pieces.

Willow's eyes remained closed the entire time, and she had no plans to open them anytime soon.

She continued flying through the air, weaving through the sky while following even the smallest currents of air. Like that, she continued to shred the various two-legged houses into pieces.

As for Hex, he only stood there, but began panting heavily. A nearby house's light began brightening considerably. It was aiming directly at Hex.

Hex simply fell to one knee, as though he didn't notice the house targeting him. Oddryl wasn't going to show any mercy just because Hex seemed unprepared. He continued to prepare the house's attack.

But something that slipped past Oddryl's vision, despite his wide coverage. The house's shadow... began to twist.

Slowly, it began to form a massive smiling shadow with two horns and oversized claws. It was Blackie.

The light emitted from the house dimmed, seconds away from finishing its attack. But that was when a massive hand rose from its shadow, directly crushing the house's head into pieces.

While the house crumpled and fell to the ground, Blackie rose up, standing tall like a giant. It was as though Blackie decided to tag in for the house. The only difference was instead of taking a break, the house fell to the floor, never to rise again.

Hex dashed over to Blackie, while Blackie reached out with his claw, palm facing upwards. When they were a few meters apart, Hex jumped up while Blackie scooped him up.

Blackie put Hex on top of his head, then ran towards a nearby house. As for Hex, he stood up on his two feet and raised his sleeves high in the air.

"Me is king! Rahhhh!"

Hex tried to make himself look as big as possible. However, he was already so small normally, and the massive size of Blackie made him look even smaller. As such, he looked like a cute kid.

However, Hex was definitely not just some cute kid. Hex and Blackie continued to rampage among the various houses. With every smash, Blackie would retrieve a yellow crystal and hand it to Hex.

Hex happily munched on them, inspiring an uncanny sense of fear.

But perhaps the most fearful out of all of them...

....would be Layla.