The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo continued swinging his old arm that was holding onto his bokken. As for Willow, she continued raining down strikes on Apollo without mercy.

Apollo felt like he was caught in a flood. The water reached his knees, greatly hampering his movement. On top of that, there was a hurricane coming right for him.

His old arm began to wane.

Suddenly, a snap rang out.

Apollo's old arm directly snapped from the elbow, leaving Apollo with a chunk of flesh. Willow capitalized on this opportunity, thrusting her sword straight towards Apollo's face.

The corner of Apollo's lips turned up. His laughs continued as though they would never stop.

Cracking sounds came from Apollo's neck as he forcefully twisted it. Willow's pitch black sword passed perhaps only a millimeter away from his left eye.

As it did so, Apollo's eye bulged and reddened considerably. The shockwaves wreaked havoc on his eye.

Then, it burst.

Blood splashed, leaving only an empty socket.

Apollo's laughter continued, simply because it couldn't be stopped. He let go of the chunk of flesh before grabbing his old forearm.

Despite all the damage his old arm took, the bokken was still firmly in his old hand.

Apollo swung his old forearm towards Willow. It was much faster than his previous strikes.

Willow's figure disappeared before he could land a hit. She immediately reappeared behind him, already halfway through a strike.

However, Apollo's old forearm snapped backward, almost like he was expecting the strike.

Like this, they continued.

Apollo's swings were noticeably faster now that he was holding his forearm to swing. He even slipped in a few attacks, however, Willow dodged them either with her wings or by vanishing altogether.

Although all that remained of his left eye was a bloody hole, his vision didn't seem to be impacted. It was almost like he never relied on his vision in the first place.

To Willow's surprise, Apollo was still speeding up. She didn't understand how this was physically possible for Apollo to accomplish.

As if it was matching his speed, the heat of his body rose as well. The number of food pellets he had eaten was by no means small. For the average person, it was nearly enough for an entire year's worth of food.

And Apollo downed it all in one moment.

Granted, the conversion from food to energy wasn't efficient. This much was evident from the heat he was producing, while further hampered by the energy required to have such a strong stomach acid.

Not to mention the fact he literally regrew an entire arm and grew new durable skin in the process.

Still, the amount of energy was too much for him. He could feel his body getting uncomfortable like it wanted him to exert his muscles more.

Yet, he was already tearing his muscles at the seams. His current muscles were actually tearing and regrowing with every passing second at an astonishing rate.

Apollo gradually stabilized the tide of the battle, no longer being pressured by Willow.

For every strike Willow threw at him, he was able to throw one back.

But Willow was simply too good at dodging while any attack that came for Apollo was deflected.

In the end, neither of them had been severely harmed.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the poor wall. It was hard to see a section that was still not cracked, even from the ceiling.

The ground was getting unstable.

Willow's eyes narrowed. She had to pick up the pace, else Apollo would begin to overwhelm her.

Her figure vanished before materializing a few meters away.

She took on a strange stance, almost like she was dancing. Her jet black sword traced a slow arc in the air.

Apollo did not wait for Willow to complete whatever she was doing. He pounced forward, swinging with his old forearm.

Willow did not seem to make an effort to dodge.

Apollo's bokken cut through her waist easily.

But there was no blood.

Like a piece of paper, Willow's apparent body was torn before disappearing into a black mist.

Apollo's head wildly spun around, looking for a trace of Willow.

That was when two blurry figures appeared at his front and behind him. They both vaguely resembled Willow, but didn't have any facial features.

They almost appeared to be vibrating, but at the same time weren't.

They were both in the strange stance Willow was in earlier. For some reason, they slowly traced the arc of a crescent moon.

Once the blurry figures finished, they abruptly burst forward, dashing towards Apollo. They left a trail of black mist in their wake.

Apollo's eyes widened.

"Two of you just means I can kill you twice!"

He let out maniacal laughter, as though he found his remark to be extremely funny.

The figures didn't seem to hear him. They dashed forward emotionlessly.

The one behind him traced a circle with her jet-black sword while the other thrust forward with her pitch black sword as though it was a spear.

An eerie wind stirred.

Before the two even got close, Apollo felt a violent, twisting sensation. His arms were pressed to his sides while his legs slammed against each other as though there was a strong magnetic pull.

The two blades would land on Apollo in just another moment.

Death loomed above Apollo's head. A wild smile was on his face as he tried to resist the strange force acting on his body. However, his body wouldn't listen to him.

Apollo looked upwards. He could almost see the sword of Damocles falling, about to pierce his soul.

That was when Apollo had a strange feeling. It was almost like it was telling him something, trying to show him a path forward.

His instincts told him to just go through with it.

And he never resisted against what his instincts told him to do.

Apollo no longer fought against the twisting force.

The two blades were just centimeters away from him.

Then, Apollo's body flashed.