Hex reappeared in the middle of the sky.


    Like Draconic Noctis always had, he chased after him with his scythe raised. This was nothing new, but he felt sometimes strange this time.


    The faintly glowing blue smile on Hex''s face grew.


    "Big dragon should watch step."


    Draconic Noctis furrowed his brows.


    "What?"


    Countless purple lines emerged from the air. A couple were connected to Hex.


    It was almost like... a spider web.


    Draconic Noctis frowned.


    "Where did thesee from?"


    That was when he realized something. The purple lines matched the path Hex had taken. Every time Hex vanished, he left behind some sort of thread. It was only now that he revealed them.


    Noctis curled up into a ball and held his scythe in front of him. It was toote for him to escape now.


    The purple lines rapidly expanded while glowing brightly. Suddenly, they froze.


    Then exploded.


    Draconic Noctis was thrown around like he was the only ball in a dodgeball game. The ck mes on his body whipped around violently, seemingly on the verge of being put out.


    Draconic Noctis felt a searing pain spread through his entire body. He had held onto the scytheposed of ck mes tightly, however, while he was rocking within the violent explosions, he nearly beheaded himself with it.


    Thankfully, that was not the way he went out. But he wasn''t so thankful for the fact his body was horribly damaged.


    His wings had been torn off, leaving him to fall back on the empire''s wall.


    A loud crash resounded.


    Draconic Noctisnded on the wall miserably, causing a few cracks to form on the floor and fragments of stone to scatter in the air. There was a bit of white smoke emitting from Draconic Noctis'' body.


    La turned to him.


    "Wah! Friend finally came down to y with me!"


    Hearing those words, Draconic Noctis flew into a panic. He ignored how muddled his mind was and forced himself to get up on his feet.


    La was dashing towards him with a yful smile on her face. However, to Draconic Noctis, it was the devious smile of a devil.


    The ck mes had died down, but not even a secondter, they raged on brighter andrger than ever.


    La swung her w at Draconic Noctis, who responded by whipping his scythe forwards.


    An ear-piercing metallic screech rang out.


    La took one step backward. As for Draconic Noctis, he slid back five meters. He had purposely used the recoil to gain some distance from La.


    La curiously blinked. There was arge mass of ck me in front of her. Suddenly, it coalesced into a scythe before shing at her.


    La batted it away with her hand, causing it to dissipate powerlessly.


    Draconic Noctis'' eyes narrowed.


    She could see the attack?


    In reality, the scythe of ck mes had blended in perfectly with the night sky. Logically, there shouldn''t be any way someone could differentiate it.


    But for La, it seemed to be as easy as blinking.


    This only furthered Draconic Noctis'' resolve to ignore La and focus on Hex.


    Speaking of Hex... where was he?


    Draconic Noctis turned around.


    Ah, there he was.


    Hex was floating in the air next to Draconic Noctis. There was a faint purple mist around him. One of his hands had a massive w. It was one meter in length and dark green, however a translucent shadow extended out from it. In total, this shadowy w extended to a total of three meters long.


    Hex swung his shadowy w at Draconic Noctis. At the same time, he unleashed a strange purple energy that was even faster than the w.


    Draconic Noctis had no time to dodge the purple energy, but it didn''t seem to do anything, so he ignored it for now.


    His scythe made of ck mes twirled, just barely making it in time to collide with the shadowy ws.


    Then, the shadowyyer disappeared, leaving Hex only with the one meter long dark green ws.


    The sudden change caused Draconic Noctis to stumble a step forward. If two people were pulling on a rope and one suddenly let go, the one still pulling would end up stumbling backwards. In essence, this is what happened to Draconic Noctis.


    Hex''s shadowy blue eyes glimmered in the darkness.


    "Be careful!"


    He took a few steps forward before shing with his dark green ws. Draconic Noctis furrowed his brows. He mmed his free hand onto the floor,unching upwards and out of harm''s way.


    Draconic Noctis'' ascent gradually slowed, but two wings made of ck me soon emerged from his back, allowing him to retreat further.


    If he wasn''t currently a mass of me, beads of sweat would''ve formed on his forehead.


    Draconic Noctis had a feeling if he stayed any longer, he would''ve been struck by La.


    Draconic Noctis used this time to regain his bearings. He surveyed the castle walls, easily finding La who was attempting to fly like a bird. He lost interest quickly and tried to search for Hex.


    ...But he was nowhere to be seen.


    Draconic Noctis looked in front of him. He raised an eyebrow.


    Say, what was that strange purple balling for hi-


    Hex suddenly appeared in front of him, clinging onto his arm.


    The blue smile on Hex''s shadowy face grew brighter.


    "Uh oh!"


    An explosion apanied a frightening tearing sound.


    A concentrated st of dark green energy exploded from Hex. The recoil made Noctis snap backward, however, not with the arm Hex was holding onto.


    Because it was ripped off.


    Draconic Noctis let out a roar of pain. As he wasunched across the sky, a thin trail of blood was left behind.


    Draconic Noctis grit his teeth.


    "...How is this possible?"


    He was only able to gain the power in his current state by borrowing it from another being, Yzan.


    Draconic Noctis made sure to borrow very little, as he knew it would sap his sanity.


    ....But now, he no longer had a choice.