The Laughing Swordsman

Hex lunged towards Oddryl, ready to swipe with his dark green translucent claw. Layla was doing the same, but with a bright smile on her face.

Once they were right next to Oddryl, his eyes began to glow brightly.

"Everything... can be rebuilt."

Immediately, something changed. The atmosphere within the entire empire shifted.

It had become stagnant... yet antsy.

Empty, yet crowded.

...Silent, yet loud.

What remained of the watchtower instantaneously shifted into black flesh, swallowing Oddryl within.

In the end, Hex's and Layla's attack only slashed into the black flesh, while their target, Oddryl, got away.

Apollo hovered in the air, watching as the watchtower rapidly lost shape, becoming something...

...new.

There was no longer ground underneath Layla and Hex, prompting them to fall.

As for the black flesh, it quickly formed into a massive maw before lunging upwards. Its appearance resembled a giant black worm with countless teeth that burst out of the ground, trying to swallow up a few victims in the sky.

Thankfully for Hex, Blackie arrived timely.

Hex smiled happily.

"Blackie is back!"

Blackie slipped into Hex's shadow before wrapping around Hex's legs and traveling all the way to the top of his hood.

His clothes went from blue to dark purple, while two bright purple horns appeared on his head.

Hex's face was replaced by a shadow with two large blue eyes and a smile. An uncanny giggle proceeded to resound throughout the empire.

During this time, Hex and Layla had fallen, while the monster rose high enough to chomp down and devour them.

And so, that's what it did.

However, Hex suddenly disappeared before the maw could consume him. He reappeared up in the air, hovering next to Apollo.

As for Layla...

She was simply looking around herself curiously, as though wondering what was happening.

Then, it became dark.

In the distance, Willow was still flying from afar. Her eyebrow twitched. She was watching the events that proceeded.

"Oh dear... will she be-"

Willow was cut off by an explosion that consisted of flesh. The average person that heard it would cringe in disgust from just the sound.

The black monster blew up into tiny chunks of flesh and blood. A tiny figure shot upwards from this explosion.

"Ewww! Gross, yucky, gross!"

It was Layla.

She wrapped her arms around herself and squirmed violently. Layla now had a fear of giant black worms with lots of teeth.

Though, the reason for the fear was a little different from why most people would be afraid of that kind of monster.

Willow let out a soft sigh.

"Ah... it seems she is fine."

She clicked her tongue.

"But..."

Willow looked around herself. The houses that used to be standing on two legs all fell to the ground, suddenly losing their limbs. The resulting debris littered the ground, adding to the chaotic nature of the city.

However, there seemed to be a reason for this shift.

The houses were no longer necessary. After all, there was no need to keep a dog after you tamed a pack of wolves.

From seemingly out of nowhere, countless figures appeared across the empire. They were humanoid, but the majority appeared similar to...

...children.

These beings were made exclusively out of black flesh that slightly pulsated. Some of them even had wings of a bat, while all of them seemed to have one to three horns on their head.

The overwhelming majority of them consisted of a feminine head and a muscular body.

However, there were also countless variations among them. Some had the head of a male and a feeble body. Some of them were far taller than the others, but seemed to have a stumble in the way they walked. Some of them had a few extra limbs, while others had no arms.

But there was one thing in common, that they were all grotesque abominations.

Willow frowned.

"...What the hell is happening? I suppose I shouldn't have taken the investigation mission so lightly."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Something sinister is happening in this empire."

When Layla shot upwards, she just so happened to hover right next to Hex and Apollo. As of now, her body was covered in bits of flesh and blood, looking quite grotesque.

Layla had been cringing in disgust, but upon noticing the other two, her expression lit up. It was as though she completely forgot they were just there.

"Ah, friends!"

At that moment, Hex was letting out a strange giggle while Apollo was laughing a bit too loudly. Layla interpreted this as them having fun, making her smile as well.

"I want to fly too!"

Just as she began to fall, she looked at Hex, then Apollo.

"Mm... Nyah!"

Layla came to a decision, and that decision was to grab onto Apollo's shoulders. Because of the flesh and blood that covered Layla, the feeling of her hands was rather disgusting.

It even made Apollo stop laughing. He began to squirm, trying to get out of Layla's grasp.

However, that was easier said than done.

Layla giggled when she noticed his struggle.

"Now I can fly with friend!"

To Apollo's dismay, Layla wrapped her arms around his neck while her legs clung onto his waist. Now, Apollo's body was also covered with flesh and blood.

Apollo freaked out, flailing his limbs around.

"Gah, get off, get off!"

Layla smiled cheekily before tightening her grip.

"No!"

After Apollo realized flailing his limbs wouldn't work, he began accelerating in an arbitrary direction as fast as he could, grimacing the entire time.

However, Layla easily held on. In fact, she held up one hand high in the air, feeling the wind brush by her face and blow aside her hair.

"Waaaaaaah!~"

Several black beings with wings soared up into the sky, coming straight for Apollo. But before they could reach, Layla would smack them, sending them barreling towards the ground.

Layla giggled with innocent bliss while Apollo was growled with frustration.

At the same time, a couple of winged black beings soared towards Hex.

At that moment, Hex's giggles suddenly stopped.