The Laughing Swordsman

Willow decided to get serious.

She dashed towards Apollo, erratically moving to the left and right.

This did not discourage Apollo. With a wild smile, he bolted forward. His thumb pressed against the hilt of his bokken before it flashed.

A blade of wind tore through the air.

And hit nothing.

Willow's figure had disappeared. She reappeared a moment later, but seemed to be flickering.

Willow would be there in one moment, yet disappear a second later, almost like a glitch.

Apollo let out a flurry of strikes, attacking her every time she reappeared. However, he didn't hit her once.

Willow would sometimes approach Apollo, but sometimes retreat. She hadn't even swung her sword the entire time.

Suddenly, Apollo twisted his bokken to the side. Out of nowhere, a jet-black sword appeared, shooting towards his stomach.

The tip of Apollo's bokken pushed against the side of the jet-black sword, pushing it aside.

However, he was not unharmed.

Although the sword itself did not hurt him, it was vibrating. The moment his bokken touched Willow's sword, the skin on his hand and forearm ripped off, splashing blood across the walls.

To the naked eye, it appeared like Willow's sword was still. The vibrations moved the sword itself less than a millimeter, however, they were terrifyingly rapid. It was as if the sword was a sleeping beast, waiting for a courageous fool to disturb his slumber.

Apollo laughed louder. His bokken flashed, but Willow's figure disappeared once again.

Willow randomly appeared around Apollo, sometimes right in front of him, sometimes sneakily behind him. She was almost like a shadow, flitting in and out of his vision.

Apollo's eyes widened. He kept swinging after the brief shadows around him, but wasn't able to land a single hit.

Apollo kept spinning around, trying to keep up with Willow's erratic appearances. His slashes left massive cracks in the walls around him, almost like they were his true target.

He twisted his neck, letting out several eerie cracking sounds.

"Stop... disappearing!"

There was something graceful in Willow's movements. They were random, that was for sure. However, every step seemed planned.

She would vanish in one place, then materialize somewhere else. There was a strange smoothness to it.

Willow's expression was tranquil, almost like she was falling asleep. Or dancing in a shower of cherry blossoms.

Suddenly, Willow appeared on Apollo's left, tracing a horizontal arc towards his chest. Apollo responded by twisting his bokken.

He was able to divert the strike once more, but a shockwave traversed through his body, rampaging within him. He could feel his organs tremble, waning under the pressure.

Apollo wasted no time in swinging once more, but Willow was already gone. He continued laughing, intermittently interrupted by the blood he was coughing up.

At this rate, Apollo would lose.

Willow's figure flitted around Apollo, like a monster that appeared in the corner of a paranoid man's eye.

This fighting style was one that Willow recently developed. Although it was elusive, it was also too confrontational for an assassin.

When she used two daggers, there was always something missing. Her strikes were dangerous and vicious, but they lacked something. It was the finishing touch, the last bit of polish needed for a valuable vase.

Willow could sense it when she used to blade. She was nowhere near piercing the limits, but she had a hazy vision of it.

This was actually jumpstarted by Apollo himself. Long ago, when Willow watched Apollo fight against the other students, she saw something. Almost like a new door was opened, waiting for her to test all of its profound secrets.

She had touched that surface with the tip of her blade.

Willow appeared on Apollo's right, shooting her sword out like a spear.

Strangely enough, the corner of Apollo's lips turned up. Then, Willow's eyes widened in shock.

Almost every muscle in Apollo's body tightened. His feet spun while his body twisted. Cracks formed on the floor underneath him.

His sudden change in speed was akin to comparing a man running and a lightning bolt. It simply did not seem possible.

However, it was happening right here, on the ground they stood.

The jet-black sword brushed by Apollo. A shockwave rippled throughout his body, but the damage was relatively minor.

Apollo's bokken flashed, drawing an arc towards Willow's neck.

It connected, splashing blood in the air. Then Willow disappeared.

She reappeared a few meters away. A trail of blood fell down from her neck.

If Willow disappeared even a fraction of a second later, the wound would've been lethal.

A short moment later, and a major artery would've been cut, leaving her to slowly bleed to death. In the time it took to take a breath, her head would have flown off.

It was only now Willow realized how little Apollo was holding back.

She realized that Apollo chose to dodge because her attack was a stab. However, Apollo was almost unable to dodge.

If he got hit, his ribcage would've shattered, leaving his organs at the mercy of her sword.

Apollo didn't seem to be concerned about that. He continued laughing, reveling in his successful hit.

He held onto the side of his face with his free hand, clutching his skull. His eye peeked out from a thin gap between his fingers, staring right at Willow.

He stood there, waiting for Willow's next strike.

However, it did not come.

Willow closed her eyes.

She took a deep breath, letting the air slowly fill her lungs. Then, let it flow out.

A bitter smile emerged on Willow's face.

"Apollo..."

Her eyes fluttered open.

"If we take it this far..."

Black mist gathered around Willow's body.

"One of us may truly die..."

The smile disappeared from her face, leaving a cold expression.

"But..."

Willow slowly raised her pitch black sword.

"If this is the only way..."

Her hand clenched on the hilt.

"For us to reconcile..."

Willow's eyes narrowed.

"Then I choose to put our lives on the line."