The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo's body whipped around, creating a tearing sound in the air as though it was paper. His old forearm tore through the air, knocking aside both of the black blades.

The fingers of his old hand, as well as the wrist, directly exploded from the impact, sending his bokken high up into the air.

Apollo dashed over to it, firmly grasping it in his hand.

However, he wasn't really focusing on the blurry figures. As such, the next thing he knew, there was a black sword right in front of his face and one right behind his back.

Apollo violently twisted his body.

The black sword coming for his face directly pierced through his eye that was just healed, splashing blood across the walls. As for the one coming for his back, it pierced through the side of his ribcage, scattering flesh and a few bone fragments across the floor.

Apollo's bokken flashed, directly tearing through the figure in front of him. However, that figure simply distorted before returning to normal.

The figures backed off for a few meters.

Apollo's eye and shattered rib cage rapidly healed. In just a few moments, he was more or less brand new.

Apollo's wide eyes shifted from one blurry figure to another.

How did these things work?

The one in front of him didn't take any damage despite being cut through... so what about the other one?

Apollo dashed to the blurry figure he hadn't attacked before. The blurry figure responded by raising the black sword and dashing forwards.

The figure's wings flapped, erratically shifting the direction it traveled. Once in range, she traced a diagonal arc aimed towards Apollo's torso.

Apollo jerked his body to the side. However, he was still hit in the shoulder.

With a smash, the layer of bones on his shoulder immediately shattered. Countless dangerous cracks formed on the nearby bones as well.

Then, Apollo's bokken flashed.

An audible tearing sound filled the air, slicing right through the figure. However, like last time, the figure was only distorted.

Apollo twisted his neck to the side.

He was missing something. He just didn't know what.

The blurry figure backed off after he attacked it. The other blurry figure hadn't been waiting all this time.

In fact, she was already right behind him.

The figure's jet-black sword drew a circle. Apollo's bokken shot backward, reaching the sword behind him just in time.

He was given a brief window of opportunity while the attack was parried. Using it, he slashed through the figure once more. However, like every other time, it only distorted.

The blurry figure did not back off. Instead, it continued to relentlessly slash Apollo, forcing him to rapidly twist his bokken to block.

He found a few opportunities to attack in between, but the blurry figure did not even bother blocking, instead it let the attack through her. In fact, every time he attacked, he would find himself losing the advantage, as it would essentially be a waste of time he could be using to block.

Yet, it still wasn't terribly hard for Apollo to keep up.

That was when he remembered that the other figure existed. But it was simply standing there from a decent distance away, watching.

Apollo's frenzied state cooled a little. His eyes narrowed slightly. They were still widened far beyond normal standards, but they showed Apollo had calmed down, albeit only a little.

Why was the other figure simply standing there?

...Not to mention, why did the figures sometimes retreat if they were impervious to damage?

So long as the figures continued fighting together without restraint, Apollo would fall fairly quickly.

But they weren't.

Something was contradicting itself.

Or more precisely, Apollo was missing something.

Sinister laughter seeped through Apollo's teeth. His strikes suddenly sped up.

Instead of attempting to block, he simply bashed the blurry figure's blade over and over. Slowly but surely, the blurry figure was losing control of its attacks.

The figure behind him suddenly charged forwards while the other figure retreated.

The corners of Apollo's lips turned up.

He ran after the blurry figure that retreated. He didn't bother with the blurry figure behind him.

The blurry figure he was chasing was very fast and used its wings to go even faster. However, Apollo was accelerating faster than it could.

In the span of twenty seconds, Apollo was just a meter away from the retreating figure. That was when the blurry figure behind him vanished.

It reappeared right behind Apollo, thrusting its sword towards his heart.

But Apollo didn't even bother blocking.

He swung his bokken towards the figure in front of him, pressing his thumb against the hilt.

A crackle of thunder rang out, along with a violent humming sound.

Apollo slashed the figure in front of him, like he always had been. However, instead of simply distorting, blood sprayed out like a fountain.

Willow was hurt badly.

However, Apollo paid a price for that attack.

The humming sword had pierced through his back, shattering his spine and ribcage, as well as mangling his organs.

The blurry figure behind him disappeared while the one in front of him lost its blurriness, revealing Willow.

Willow fell to the ground, violently coughing up blood before fainting.

As for Apollo, he fell to the floor like a rock.

Then, stopped moving.

He had lost consciousness as well.

...

Screams of pure terror rang out from the top of the walls.

Some came from people being thrown off and falling for fifty meters. Others were slowly crushed, leaving only their head intact.

The people responsible were no secret. Layla and Hex.

They didn't take into consideration that things could've been dealt with in a more quiet fashion. As such, they ended up waking nearly every guard that resided within the walls.

This didn't concern the two. They simply dealt with each and every guard that passed by.

After many lives were lost, they saw each other in the distance.

Layla waved her hand, as did Hex.

At that moment, they felt a strange pressure weighing down on them.