The Laughing Swordsman

Despite Layla's sudden intrusion, Willow and Apollo continued fighting. It was as though nothing could stop the two from fighting until one of them died.

Layla curiously observed the two that were fighting. She tilted her head to the side as her furry ears twitched.

"Me too!"

With that, Layla leaped up.

Apollo and Willow were seconds away from colliding once more, but before they could, Layla appeared between them. She was smiling with uncontainable excitement.

Layla's approach was sudden. She grabbed the wrist of both Apollo and Willow. The two of them had no time to react.

Layla raised both of their wrists, lifting their blades along with it.

"Up and..."

She mercilessly flung Apollo and Willow towards the ground.

"Down!"

Two loud crashes resounded together.

Apollo and Willow were half buried into the cobblestone. It was an impact that would kill the average person or knock them out if they were lucky. Yet, both Apollo and Willow burst out of the ground as though they were never hurt in the first place.

Apollo immediately dashed after Willow while Willow herself dashed away. As for Layla, she plunged towards the ground and ran after them, swiping her claw at anyone nearby.

As for Falk, he stood there dumbfounded.

Who was that girl with a tail?

Was she an enemy or an ally?

He furrowed his brows.

The girl with a tail attacked the boy, meaning that she was helping him out.

However, she also attacked the woman in a black dress, meaning she was attacking an ally.

Falk scratched his hair.

But wait, what if the woman in a black dress was actually an enemy? That would mean the girl with a tail was an ally.

Then again, now that Falk thought about it, the boy wasn't really trying to attack him either. Each time he got in the way, the boy decided to go around him and attack the woman in a black dress.

Falk held his hand with his forehead and looked at the ground in thought.

But-

"Waaaaaaah!"

Layla was holding onto Apollo and Willow, forcefully dragging them along. She was falling from the sky, right above Falk.

Hearing Layla's scream, Falk's train of thought was interrupted. He slowly looked upward to see three shadows about to crash into him.

Falk's eyelid twitched.

"I really should pay more atten-"

A thundering bang reverberated throughout the village.

As a group of three, Layla, Apollo, and Willow collided with Falk. The bulk of the collision was Layla herself ramming her head into Falk's armor. As such, the armor was smashed into pieces, leaving Falk with only a simple black t-shirt and blue jeans.

His muscles were clearly defined, nearly bursting out of the clothes he was wearing.

Now that his armor was gone, he just looked like a casual bodybuilder carrying an oversized shield around.

Falk coughed up blood. Although his armor had taken on the brunt of the impact, enough of it still transferred over to him.

Falk began to realize all this hesitation was getting nowhere.

The four of them pulled themselves out of the ground.

Apollo wasted no time charging at Willow and Layla went after Apollo, who just so happened to be closest. Willow dashed towards Falk before disappearing altogether. She reappeared behind Falk so that Apollo would have to go through him first.

At this point, Falk let out a roar of anger. 

"The enemy of my enemy is my enemy! Everyone is my enemy, even I am the enemy!"

He turned around and bashed Willow with incredible agility. He landed a clear hit, making one of Willow's bones snap with a crisp crack.

Falk lost his armor, losing a good portion of his defensive power. However, his agility increased to heights nobody was expecting. Falk's armor was simply extremely heavy. So when it was finally off, he caught Willow off guard.

However, he neglected the others by attacking Willow.

Apollo relentlessly chased after Willow. Seeing Falk in the way, he tried to sidestep. However, the moment he slowed down, Layla slammed into his back.

Like a domino, Apollo crashed into Falk, causing the man to cough up another mouthful of blood and tumble to the side along with the other two. Willow used the opportunity to escape the situation.

Layla was first to recover, poking her head up. Falk rose up right after with bloodshot eyes. He noticed Layla's figure and immediately tried to bash her with his shield. Falk didn't even consider who it was.

He would simply bring down everything that stood.

"Die!"

Layla giggled while pulling back her index finger, using her thumb to hold it securely in place. Right when the shield was about to hit her, she flicked it.

A sharp clang rang out.

Falk was thrown back and felt his wrist nearly crack from keeping a firm hold on his shield. Apollo shot up from the ground and dashed towards Willow, but Layla swiped at his back.

Apollo instinctively blocked with his bokken, but was still blown away, right towards Falk.

Falk lifted up his shield and swung it at Apollo, almost like he was playing baseball. However, this 'baseball' wasn't going to just wait to be hit by the baseball bat.

Apollo thrust his bokken as though it was a spear, meeting Falk's bash.

With a grating screech, the two of them recoiled backward.

Apollo used that momentum to dash towards Willow, leaving trails of lightning in his wake. As for Falk, he chased after him once he regained his footing.

Layla skipped along from behind Falk, humming a children's song to herself.

In short, it was a shitfest.

Willow flapped her wings, rapidly tearing through the air. She was heading towards Hex.

As for what Hex was doing, he continued harvesting yellow crystals from the houses. However, he was a bit displeased since he lost a few earlier.

Willow turned around to face Apollo since he was catching up. As for Falk, he was right behind him.

Then Layla leaped, violently crashing into Falk and bringing all four of them forward.

Hex watched Blackie reach for a crystal in a house.

....But there was a clump of four bodies shooting towards the house like a shooting star.