After hearing Hex dere his victory so confidently, La puffed up her cheeks with dissatisfaction.


    "No! I will win, I always win!"


    She charged over to Noctis, iling her balled fists in the air.


    As for Noctis, he was trying to think of a way to deal with this strange shadow attached to him.


    Beads of sweat formed on his forehead once he heard La approaching as well.


    "...So it hase to this."


    The strange pressure released from Noctis died down, bing as gentle as a feather.


    Then, it exploded out with renewed intensity. It nearly resembled the gaze of a dragon.


    Small ck mes began flickering above Noctis'' armor and hammer. They blended in with the color of his apparel, making it a little hard to notice.


    Suddenly, a wave of ck mes burst from Noctis.


    The shadow screeched. It disconnected itself from Noctis before retreating back into Hex''s shadow while batting away the mes.


    As for La, she let out a yelp. Her eyes closed while her arms blocked her face.


    The wave of ck mes passed through La, but didn''t seem to aplish anything. A few tiny fires had appeared on La''s clothes, but they were put out the next second.


    La raised her fists in the air and shook them.


    "That was weird! I don''t like it!"


    Hex pouted.


    "Why you hurt ckie!"


    The shadow, or ckie, partially materialized above the ground with a small frown. Hex used his sleeve to give ckie some pats on the head.


    "There, there ckie. Me fight big human now!"


    ckie gave a small nod before merging with Hex''s shadow. An eerie smile formed in his shadow.


    As for Noctis, he no longer bothered talking. Although he did not believe he would lose, dropping his guard was not a pastime for him.


    Noctis decided to go for Hex, since La probably wasn''t going down any time soon.


    His head turned to his new target. Then, he charged forwards like a ghost.


    Hex was not intimidated. In fact, he also charged forwards, raising his sleeve. A dark green mist coalesced above it.


    Noctis felt some apprehension, but swung his hammer anyway, aiming the t part at Hex.


    A deep boom resounded along with a muted explosion.


    As they collided, a giant wave of dark green energy exploded out from Hex''s sleeve, while a small wave of ck me exploded from the hammer.


    Noctis stumbled a few steps backward, but kept a steady grip on his mace.


    As for Hex, he flew backward, like a feather that was blown away. Uponnding, Hex pouted.


    "Owie, ow, ow, ow!"


    Hex vigorously shook his sleeve that hit with the hammer.


    "It hurts! So painful!"


    Noctis'' eyes narrowed. It took him a second to realize, but there was a hairline crack in his hammer.


    This was the first time his weapon was damaged in a fight.


    La saw Hex and Noctis fighting with a pout. She assumed that they began ying without her.


    With a yowl, she pounced forward. Her hands were outstretched and took on the position of a w.


    Noctis immediately noticed as he had been paying attention to La, despite not directly looking at her. He promptly spun around, counterattacking with the t side of his hammer.


    The hammer threaded the needle between La''s arms, then hit her in the chin. A small smile appeared on Noctis'' face.


    But in the next moment, it became a frown.


    La wrapped her arms around the head of the hammer. Although she was struck by the hammer, it hardly seemed to affect her.


    Noctis clenched the hilt tightly. ck mes emitted from the hammer, raging on violently.


    ...But they didn''t do anything to La.


    Noctis then tried to swing his mace around in an attempt to fling La off. To his surprise, it felt heavy to him, making his movements sluggish.


    As for La, she simply giggled.


    "Wah!~"


    Noctis mmed the hammer on the floor in front of him, then raised it up to m it on the floor behind him.


    However, La stubbornly remained like a cat that refused to leave a nket.


    Noctis cursed under his breath. He was at a loss.


    He never considered that someone could fight like this.


    As for Hex, a dark green mist circted around him, almost like a tornado. He dashed forward, with his arms spread out. The dark green mist coalesced intorge opaque ws that resembled ckie''s ws.


    Noctis turned his head to Hex. While one hand was swinging the hammer around, he sent a punch towards Hex with the other.


    A faint glow emitted from Hex''s ws while a violent torrent of ck me gathered around Noctis'' fist.


    Another explosion rang out.


    A shockwave of dark green mist and ck me shot out from the point of impact, melting the surfaceyer of stone.


    Hex''s ws shattered, but he used the recoil to fly out of range. As for Noctis, he slid a meter or so backward, but was rtively unharmed.


    Unfortunately, another hairline crack appeared in his armor, right above the knuckle.


    Before Noctis could ruminate on it, La scaled down the hammer. Her legs wrapped around the handle while she swung her ws at Noctis.


    There was a cheeky smile on her face.


    "Don''t forget about me!"


    La''s first strikended squarely on Noctis'' shoulder, letting out a metallic ng. Noctis grimaced while keeping a tight hold on his hammer.


    La was currently attached to his hammer. As such, once she hit his shoulder, he was shoved backward, while La also recoiled backward. However, since La was attached to the hammer, Noctis had to suffer the full recoil force if he wanted to keep the hammer in his hand.


    La raised her other w and swiped down again, but this time Noctis had the time to respond with his fist.


    A deep bang resounded throughout the air, covering up the light clink that rang out.


    A small frown emerged on Noctis'' face.


    "This is unfortunate..."


    His eyes narrowed.


    "How did thingse to this already?"