The Laughing Swordsman

Hex eagerly watched as Blackie was about to seize another yellow crystal. He could already imagine how tasty it was going to be and how satisfying the crunch would be.

An excited smile appeared on his face, and his mouth was slightly agape.

Then Apollo, Layla, Falk, and Willow, crashed through the house. They directly shattered the crystal along the way.

Hex's smile froze on his face. It was as though time stopped for him.

The group of four that crashed through the house quickly lost their momentum and began falling down. They tried to attack each other, but were simply in too awkward of a position to do so.

However, someone was very willing to take their place.

Hex.

He raised his sleeves in the air with anger with a deep frown plastered on his face.

"Me food!"

Hex looked towards the group of four sailing through the air.

"Grrrr... me kill you!"

Purple mist gathered around Hex before shooting out as a blurry purple wave. The purple waved landed right on to the group as they fell towards the ground. Immediately, Hex morphed into a green ball, rapidly traveling towards the group.

As for Blackie, he simply stared on with confusion at the group in front of him. After a bit of hesitation, he continued smashing the various houses around him and collecting their crystals. He put them on the top of his head, but most of them tumbled off soon after.

The houses were basically powerless against Blackie's attacks. Even when they attempted to attack with their beam of light, Blackie would be able to either crush the house before it completed the attack or absorb the energy from it.

As for Hex, he appeared and got attached to the rest of the group right before they hit the ground.

With a crash, the group of five tumbled away from each other, but were still fairly close. Hex opened his mouth wide, revealing his sharp but tiny teeth. He proceeded to bite down on the person closest to him, which just so happened to be Falk.

"Raah!"

Falk had just figured out which direction the sky was and which way was the ground. But before he could do anything about it, he felt numerous sharp teeth sink into his forearm, the one that wasn't carrying his shield. Beads of sweat formed on Falk's forehead as he grimaced in pain.

"Damn, where in the world did you come from?"

He had already coughed up blood not too long ago, proving he endured damage before. However, something about Hex's bite made it hurt way worse than anything he ever experienced.

Falk grit his teeth.

"Get off of me, you strange thing!"

He began swinging his arm around in an attempt to shake Hex off, but to no avail. It was as though Hex was a rabid dog, stubbornly holding on to the end.

Layla got up and saw what Hex was doing. Her furry ears perked up as a cheery smile appeared on her face.

"Me too!"

Falk raised his shield and was going to bash Hex with it, but before he could, Layla acted.

A frightening crunch resounded.

Layla bit down on Falk's other forearm, but instead of piercing, she shattered it. To compare Hex and Layla, one would be a needle while the other would be a sledgehammer.

While a needle could easily penetrate one's skin, the sledgehammer simply had too much brute force behind it.

Falk let out a muffled groan and dropped his shield, letting it hit the ground with a thump. The situation was bad for him, to say the least. However, he continued to struggle until the end.

Falk spread his arms out wide, indirectly holding both Layla and Hex. Then, he smashed the two together with all of his strength.

Hex was blown off, however, he took along a large chunk of flesh with him.

Hex pouted.

"Gah!"

He landed on the ground with his back, but took only a second or two in order to stand back up. He didn't seem satisfied with this result.

As for Layla, she fell off as well, but only because the forearm she was attached to had shattered completely, leaving her nothing to remain on.

Layla easily landed on her feet. There was a mischievous smile on her face as her tail swayed enthusiastically.

Falk's vision was rapidly becoming blurry. Although he was strong, he was also a human. This was the first time his body was broken through so easily, as though he was a piece of butter.

Layla's bite tore off his forearm, leaving only a stub. He was rapidly losing blood from both there and the wound on his other forearm.

At this rate, he would bleed to death.

Falk smiled bitterly.

"...I never thought I would actually have to use that."

He sighed.

"My daughter, please do not be afraid of me..."

Falk's eyes narrowed.

"I'm still your father."

Suddenly, three large black horns burst out of Falk's head. Black spots burst from his skin and began beating like hearts. The wounds in his forearms rapidly healed, even giving him a new hand. However, the healed sections were now a deep black instead of the pale white they were before.

Falk clenched his fists, feeling the power course through him. His voice became deep and booming.

"Let us try this once more."

While this was happening, Apollo and Willow were having their own battle. The both of them shot up from the ground the moment they landed.

Without hesitation, Apollo gave chase while Willow retreated. Arcs of lightning danced in the air along with some black mist.

Apollo caught up fairly easily. The moment he was five meters away from Willow, he slashed and pressed his thumb against the hilt.

At that moment, Willow disappeared. Apollo continued moving forward. Suddenly, Willow appeared in front of him.

He slashed with his bokken, but Willow got past him, pushing aside his sword with hers.

Then.... she headed towards Falk.