The Laughing Swordsman

Willow's talisman suddenly exploded, releasing a bright golden light. As for the mist the talisman produced, it expanded into a sphere roughly three meters in diameter.

It encapsulated Willow, the person who activated the talisman.

Hex, who was running off, but barely in range.

Layla, who was on Apollo's back, shielding her eyes from the bright glare.

And Apollo, who was right in front of Willow, about to pierce her with his bokken.

Then, all four of them disappeared.

The black tendrils slammed into the ground, their original targets nowhere to be seen. Falk roared out in anger, unable to accept what transpired.

...

From within a small room composed of black flesh, Oddryl narrowed his eyes.

"...That glow. I've seen it before."

He let out a faint sigh.

"The Shadows..."

Oddryl paced around the small room, lost in his thoughts.

"Hm... I suppose their interference was inevitable."

He clicked his tongue.

"Though, losing so much and having nothing to show for it really does leave a bad taste in my mouth."

Suddenly, Oddryl paused.

"...Well, perhaps nothing is an exaggeration."

...

Talon panted heavily. Sweat covered the entirety of his forehead, while the black veins on his body worked overtime, pulsating rapidly to keep up with the energy Falk was expending.

He looked to his left. His hand was still wrapped firmly around his sister's.

They had reached the edge of the empire, right at its walls. Currently, they were standing right next to the massive hole in the wall.

The one that was left from the fight Apollo, Layla, Hex, and Willow had.

Talon stood in place, while Lena remained next to him carefreely. Despite keeping up with her brother, she herself was not panting.

Though, the black veins around her body pulsated tiresomely. Lena had a calm demeanor, yet she had to strain herself to keep up.

Talon glanced at his sister, still catching his breath.

"We... are almost... out of the empire."

Lena nodded slowly, looking towards the outside in a daze. Talon joined her, and together, they stared at the scene in front of them in awe.

The only thing to see was a cracked wall, some trees, and heavy snow.

But it was like Talon and Lena saw something different.

This was their first time seeing the trees. And though the trees had already shed their leaves, leaving them bare, it was beautiful to them.

For their entire lives, they had been doing everything they could to get into the center of the empire.

And they succeeded.

...But now, they were leaving the empire altogether.

In a certain sense, their entire understanding of the world was flipped on its head.

Talon looked back once more and saw Falk far off in the distance, who was a giant amalgamation of flesh standing over fifty meters tall.

Falk let out a roar.

Talon sighed.

"...We shouldn't stay here any longer."

Then turned to look at his front.

"I guess we just gotta hope things work out."

And took a step forward.

They left the confines of the empire, experiencing true freedom for the first time.

Now, a forest awaited them.

As for what was in this forest, they did not know.

So the only thing left was to explore it.

...

Willow, Hex, Apollo, and Layla were all transported to the shadow world.

A bright golden energy stuck onto each of them, resembling a flame of sorts.

That energy seemed to be what was propelling them at unbelievably fast speeds. In fact, Layla even lost hold of Apollo in the chaos.

All four of them could hardly make out anything in front of them, as it all looked like a grey and black blur.

Since there was no air for living things to breathe in here, they had to go through the entire process while holding their breath.

For Hex and Layla, this was simple. In fact, they didn't even need to try.

As for Willow, she was expecting this. She preemptively took a deep breath before entering the shadow world in order to tide over this transportation.

After a few minutes, Willow was eventually tossed out into the real world. The air in her chest burst out before she greedily gasped for it back.

Willow hurriedly raised her pitch black sword, ready to fend off Apollo's strikes.

...But he wasn't there.

In fact, nobody was there, other than her and countless trees.

Willow furrowed her brows.

"Oh no..."

The few times Willow used this talisman before, she was the only person in question that was within the range.

Her assumption was that the talisman would warp all of them to a random location, but they would all be together.

But that was not the case.

On the other hand, Apollo was not having such a fun time. The sudden loss of air was suffocating, especially for his body, that was currently working overtime and starved of oxygen.

Red veins bulged from within his eyes.

Apollo desperately tried to lift his bokken and use it to open a path out of the shadow world, but the golden energy simply propelled him far too chaotically.

He could hardly even tell the general direction he was heading to, much less move his bokken in the right direction.

In the end, he could only endure, hoping that things would somehow work out.

This process continued on for a few minutes, but it felt like hours to Apollo.

Until eventually, a line of white mist streaked past him.

Then, he found himself back in the real world.

Apollo tumbled across the ground, sending snow into the air with his impact. He gasped for air uncontrollably, laughing intermittently as he did so.

Apollo wanted to stand up right now and kill Willow, who he believed was still nearby.

Unfortunately, Apollo couldn't move.

The damage he suffered prior to the warp was simply too much.

Apollo's body continued to repair the horrifying wounds still on him. However, his body was terribly emaciated.

His eyelids fluttered.

"So.... hungry."