The Laughing Swordsman

When one of the winged reformed beings suddenly turned around, they forced a confrontation with Apollo. With that confrontation, they were able to chain their attacks.

Apollo caught onto this fact and decided to employ their own tactics against them.

After all, there was no reason to dance to their tune.

The winged reformed being chasing after Apollo was caught off guard. It didn't even have its jaws open before it suddenly found itself next to him.

In a panic, it tried to slow down.

But it was already too late.

Apollo bolted forth, prompting the winged reformed being to try and open its jaws. Yet, Apollo didn't even try to attack.

Instead, he traveled downwards slightly and hunched over.

So that Layla could pop up.

There was a bright smile on her face. She had raised her hands high in the air and clasped them together.

Then brought them down.

A booming explosion resounded throughout the empire.

The winged reformed being had directly burst into pieces. Its flesh and blood scattered into the air, some of which battered against Apollo and Layla.

Apollo forcefully suppressed his giggles so he could force a few words out.

"...Nice."

Layla brushed the hair on the back of her head bashfully and lowered her head.

"Hehe, thank you, thank you."

The other three winged reformed beings were at a loss. The sudden turn of events was too much for them.

Although these beings showed considerably higher intelligence compared to their predecessors, it could only take them so far.

As such, even when their previous tactic clearly failed, the three winged reformed beings executed it once more, circling around the two.

Apollo laughed louder when he saw this.

They were just making it too easy.

...

Oddryl was currently in a very small room, encapsulated with black flesh. It definitely wasn't the nicest place to stay, given every step would cause uncomfortable squishing sounds.

However, Oddryl didn't seem to care about this. He stood still while his yellow eyes glowed brightly.

Although Apollo, Layla, Willow, and Hex had dealt with the black beings fairly well, there was still a confident smirk on his face.

It was apparent that he had yet to show the real reason why this was his last resort.

Oddryl did have his concerns about Talon, but he shrugged it off as he couldn't find him. It was simply too hard for him to monitor the entire empire in its current state. Previously, every single citizen acted as Oddryl's eyes.

As such, he was able to monitor nearly every inch of the empire. But now that they were transformed, he lost the ability to see through them.

The only thing he had to rely on was a crystal he had attached on top of the largest palace. The one that was in the very center of the empire.

He did have others, including one on his watchtower, but they were either destroyed with the chaos, or the building itself was dismantled.

Oddryl leisurely watched over the situation, as though everything was under his control.

Yet, without warning, Oddryl frowned.

"...What?"

He furrowed his brows, while his eyes glowed even brighter.

"This is..."

After a few moments of silence, the frown on Oddryl's face became a smirk once more.

"Well, I suppose there will have to be a change in plans."

He chuckled.

"Not due to any mishaps, but because of a boon."

"Falk... you really outdid yourself this time."

...

Earlier on, Falk had been decapitated. His head soared across the skies before landing somewhere on the ground.

There was a dull expression on his face that was partially covered in black flesh.

As for the black beings, few cared about Falk's head laying on the ground. Some of them even stepped on it in order to move forward, not bothering to shift their step.

There was a reformed black being that curiously poked at Falk's head, but it simply rolled over to the side. That reformed black being quickly lost interest, thus continued running on with the crowd.

Falk's head was unresponsive the entire time. Every single sign pointed towards the fact Falk was dead.

...But that wasn't exactly true.

Flesh scattered across the air from the winged reformed being Apollo and Layla killed. One of these pieces of flesh landed next to Falk's head.

That piece of flesh squirmed around, clearly sentient. After a few moments, it curiously approached Falk's head.

A tiny jaw gradually began forming out of this piece of flesh. It stretched itself out wide, so that it could swallow Falk's head whole.

The piece of flesh brought its jaws downwards.

But the expected sensation of sinking its teeth into soft flesh did not come. Instead, there was a festering pain that spread through it.

Before the piece of flesh could bite down on Falk's head, a black tendril suddenly shot out from the base of Falk's head, where his neck used to be. That black tendril directly pierced through the piece of flesh.

Veins bulged across the piece of black flesh, after which it stopped moving entirely. Falk's black tendril released something, which killed its prey immediately.

After the piece of flesh shriveled, the black tendril brought it closer to Falk's head. Once it reached the base of his head, his neck suddenly expanded and swallowed the piece of black flesh whole.

In just a second, countless more tendrils burst out of the base of Falk's head.

One black being casually passed by. From what it could see, Falk was one of its own, thus the black being ignored him.

Yet, a black tendril shot out and pierced its chest, showing how foolish it was.

The black being struggled fiercely for a few moments before falling limp. The black tendrils surrounded the black being's body before consuming it.

From there, a mass of flesh extended out from Falk's neck, while the number of tendrils grew several times over, making Falk look like an octopus.

But this was just the start.