The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo was standing just moments ago.

...So why wasn't there any ground below his feet?

Willow turned to look in Apollo's direction, yet her mind couldn't process the image in front of her. For some reason, everything was blurry.

A sudden jolt passed through Hex, causing the yellow crystals he was holding to fall out of his grasp while the ones in his lap bounced away.

Hex really enjoyed these yellow crystals, so it was rather strange he simply let them fall out of his grasp.

Oddryl had a dull expression on his face. He was slack-jawed, unable to see anything despite having eyes cast on the entire empire.

As for Kylan, he had his train of thought interrupted. He furrowed his brows in confusion, trying to recall what he was thinking of just moments ago.

There was one thing every single one of these people experienced. Their heads were fuzzy and light, while warm blood fell from their ears.

It was almost as though an unbelievably loud sound passed into their eardrums, so loud that their minds could not process it.

...Well, that's what actually happened.

Layla exploded off the floor.

A massive crater formed below her feet, while the tectonic plates underneath the empire violently shifted. She caused an earthquake to ensue.

The ground cracked apart and surged violently. It was as though below the empire was actually water, while the ground that turned into fragments were ships sailing in a storm.

Layla shot towards the golden pillar like a shooting star. She arbitrarily chose to hit the middle.

Layla crashed through the golden pillar as though it was butter. Her speed hardly slowed in the slightest. Though, that was probably a bad thing, considering the fact she was only going higher and higher.

However, things were definitely worse for Kylan.

The golden shattered so thoroughly it looked like dust. He did not take Layla's bodyslam head on, but was only a few meters above it. Just the resulting shockwave did a number on him.

Kylan's pristine clothes were torn, now looking like the rags a beggar would put on. His limbs twisted in the wrong directions, like a poorly made rag doll. Kylan's eyes rolled up to the back of his head, while an uncanny amount of blood burst out of his mouth.

Kylan shot up into the air, completely unconscious.

At that moment, Apollo landed on his back with a deep thump. He didn't understand what was going on, but regained his bearings quickly.

The ground underneath him was shifting violently, but he was able to stand up without too much trouble.

The first thing Apollo saw was Kylan's body high in the sky. And so, he charged towards him with all his might. However, the journey was anything but smooth.

The ground had split into many fragments. On top of that, they rose and fell without warning. As if the situation wasn't chaotic enough, the countless houses fell to their knees, before collapsing onto the ground entirely.

Apollo was forced to sidestep countless times to dodge the houses collapsing on him. Along with that, he was forced to both jump and fall at heights of over five meters simply because the ground had shifted so much.

Apollo's progress was slow, but a wide smile remained on his face while a faint giggle emanated from him.

Eventually, Kylan's body lost its upward momentum before falling to the ground. With Apollo's current speed, he wouldn't reach him before he fell. As such, Apollo sped up.

It wasn't because he wanted to save Kylan or be the first to loot the corpse like that one party member in MMO games.

I was simply because... Apollo wanted to be the one to kill Kylan. Not for any particular reason.

He just wanted to kill someone.

Anyone.

Such a strange goal was what pushed Apollo to great lengths. Red scars snaked across his legs, increasing his running speed and letting him jump higher onto the various rising fragments of ground.

Kylan's body slowly accelerated, meaning Apollo was hard pressed for time. Suddenly, arcs of lightning appeared across Apollo's body, and with that, his speed doubled.

Apollo left a trail of lightning in his wake while his eyes had widened to their limits. It was as though he needed to save something important to him.

Combined with Kylan's body powerlessly falling to the ground, the scene looked like a hero saving the damsel in distress.

But... a few details didn't seem right.

First off, the supposed hero had an unbelievably sadistic smile on his face. And secondly, the damsel was a damn guy!

Nonetheless, Apollo continued. He was now only a few meters away from Kylan, while Kylan himself was only a few meters from hitting the ground.

Apollo raised his bokken high, ready to slash.

In the next moment, Kylan's body was less than a meter off the ground, while Apollo himself was in range for an attack.

Apollo's bokken flashed.

A strangely metallic clang rang out.

Apollo's body was thrown backward as though he were in the center of an explosion. At the epicenter, a massive purple shield was on the ground.

The shield was large enough to cover up two adults standing next to each other. There were thin gold linings that made many intricate patterns across the shield. They were quite similar to the ones that were on Kylan's suit. Er... what Kylan's suit used to be.

The shield was slowly lifted to the side, revealing a man carrying Kylan's body with one hand.

Kylan's eyelids fluttered open, before closing soon after.

"Dammit Falk... what took you so long."

The man holding Kylan, Falk, slowly stood up.

"Haha, my daughter took my shield and hid it. The only reason I came on time was because your golden pillar was so noticeable."

Kylan let out a weak sigh.

"Well... I suppose you did arrive on time. There is little I can do in my condition. This battle will be left to you."

A smile appeared on Falk's face.

"Naturally."