At this point, it wouldn''t be a stretch to say that most people in the empire had woken up. Somewhere along the line, the intention to go undetected was forgotten. It was almost as if the goal was to be detected by as many people as possible.


    A shockwave had emanated from the collision of both Hex''s and the ck dragon''s attack. Once this shockwave passed through Apollo and Willow, they both woke up immediately.


    La noticed this, then smiled.


    "Wah! Friends are awake!"


    Willow and Apollo sat up. They slowly turned to each other, with nk stares.


    Then, a smile appeared on Apollo''s face.


    Both of their figures shed. Their swords shed, then trembled in ce.


    Apollo''s eyes immediately widened before a giggle spilled out of his lips.


    The injury on Apollo''s back had healed while there was a scar from the top of Willow''s right shoulder to the left side of her waist.


    Willow''s injury only had a minuscule effect on her strikes, but even that would make a significant difference in their fight.


    La tilted her head to the side.


    "Eh? Friends are ying already!"


    She smiled.


    "Me too!"


    While Apollo and Willow rained down a flurry of blows on each other, La suddenly joined the fray.


    She was almost like a cat diving towards a big pile of catnip.


    Right when Apollo''s and Willow''s swords shed, La grabbed onto them both.


    Both Willow''s and Apollo''s head snapped towards La.


    As for La, she seemed to be embarrassed by the attention, squirming and blushing. She purred.


    "Fun with friends!"


    Without warning, she threw both Apollo and Willow high into the sky. The ground below her cracked dangerously from how much force she put in.


    While this was happening, the ck dragon and Hex were still engaged in battle. The aftereffects of their attacks did not scratch the ck dragon, however, Hex was thrown back. This was mostly due to the resulting shockwave.


    Hex was able to stabilize himself after a few seconds, hovering in the air. His glowing blue eyes and smile flickered, contrasting greatly with his shadowy face.


    A giggle seeped out of Hex.


    "Bigger dragon is strong!"


    Hex shot forward once more, gathering purple and dark green mist around him.


    As for the ck dragon, it wasn''t in any hurry. It took its time to look at the fight happening nearby.


    When he saw Apollo and Willow fighting, he guessed that one of them must''ve been on their side. However, when La picked both of their swords up and threw them high into the sky, he got confused.


    ...Who was his enemy and who was his ally?


    Or was this some sort of huge free-for-all brawl?


    As for Apollo and Willow, the tides of battle greatly shifted once they were in the air.


    Although Willow was not used to flying, having the ability in the first ce gave an enormous advantage when fighting in a ce with no ground.


    She made full use of her ability. Now, she was also attacking Apollo from above and below. However, she wasn''t as dexterous as she wanted to be. She didn''t realize the source, but the pressure from the dragon made her movements akin to trudging around in murky swamp water.


    The same thing went for Apollo, his movements were not as swift. However, this change in pressure affected Willow much more, simply because Willow''s fighting style required her to move around so much.


    This shift in advantages and disadvantages made it so that Apollo was powerlessly defending, but not overwhelmed while doing so.


    Apollo felt like he was in the middle of the ocean, attacked by various hostile marine life. The inconvenient movement bothered him at first, but he was able to get used to it almost immediately.


    Almost like a fish in the water.


    As this happened, La looked at everyone that had taken to the sky. She pouted.


    "...I shouldn''t have thrown friends so high! Now I can''t reach them!"


    She puffed her cheeks and iled her arms around in annoyance.


    "No fair! I want to y too!"


    While Apollo and Willow were plummeting towards the ground and La wasining, Hex had reached the ck dragon.


    The ck dragon leisurely turned its head to face Hex. It could hardly care, Hex just wasn''t a threat in its eyes.


    A dark green w that was one meter long formed above Hex''s sleeve. Translucent purple energy wrapped around it, extending it further, making the w a total of three meters long. Finally, a faint ck shadow wrapped around the entire thing, making the w a total of five meters long.


    The w hadpletely dwarfed Hex. In fact, some would miss the fact that Hex existed altogether, only seeing a giant w.


    The ck dragon casually swiped with its w, meeting with Hex''s.


    The sound of ss shattering rang out.


    The ckyer of Hex''s ws had broken after a small period of resistance. However, he still had the purpleyer along with the original dark green w.


    The ck dragon''s eyes narrowed.


    "Needlesslyplicated."


    It used its other w, grasping both the dark green and purpleyers.


    The sound of shattered ss rang out once more.


    Hex''s w could hardly put up any form of resistance. It simply broke under the pressure, leaving Hex with no w to work with.


    The ck dragon watched on curiously. Instead of taking advantage of Hex after his attack failed, it wanted to see what Hex would do next.


    The ck dragon chuckled.


    "Are you afraid?"


    A crash reverberated in the distance. Apollo had hit one badly cracked section of the floor, directly breaking through. Willow dived downwards while Apollo immediately stood back up.


    They shed once more, almost like robots programmed to do so.


    At that moment, a tiny giggle seeped out of Hex.


    "Afraid?"


    Apollo and Willow''s swords swung towards each other''s necks.


    Hex''s blue eyes and smile grew brighter.


    "Me should be asking you..."


    The ck dragon raised an eyebrow.


    Hex giggled.


    "Are you afraid?"