The Laughing Swordsman

Although the wind elemental seemed to take the general shape of a baby and even let cries that somewhat sounded like one. However, it was definitely not as weak as a baby.

That much could be subconsciously felt from anyone that witnessed the gleaming eyes of the elemental up close.

Which Apollo just so happened to be doing.

Naturally, he felt a strong feeling of mental pressure come down as he closed in. However, that did not stop him. He refused to stop just because what was in front of him looked scary.

Apollo's bokken flashed.

Then, a deafening bang resounded.

Apollo was unable to complete his swing. As of now, his body was currently shooting back like a bullet, leaving behind a large trail of blood and guts as he went. With him being so close, the wind elemental was able to fully exert its powers, while Mark was unable to defend him.

Almost immediately, both of Apollo's eyes exploded into a mass of flesh while the bottom half of his jaw snapped off. As for his upper chest, his rib cage directly shattered while many of his organs flew through the air. Even the bones covering the lower part of his body shattered too.

The injuries were so severe, they even destroyed Apollo's heart and lungs.

In other words, there was no longer anything to indicate that he was still alive. Mark furrowed his brows as he watched Apollo's body shoot across the air.

"...It appears I should've warned him a little more."

He sighed.

"Though I suppose it was a little ambitious of me to think he was powerful enough."

Mark didn't think that Apollo survived. After all, from what he could tell, Apollo was a human. That didn't mean he couldn't tell that several evolutions happened in his body.

But for Mark, he had hardly seen anybody able to survive an injury like that.

Even among the demons.

That's why he was rather startled when he saw Apollo's body hand twitch.

Right now, a blaring voice was echoing in Apollo's head.

"Get the food pellets! Hurry! Reach a bit further down... no more to the left! What are you doing?"

It was enough to get him to continue moving despite his rapidly slipping consciousness. As he catapulted across the air, Apollo's trembling hand reached for the bag tied to his waist. He used his fingers to slowly part open the bag and pulled out five food pellets. Though Apollo tried to grab for more, he simply couldn't support that action right now.

As he brought it up to his mouth, the voice in his head began shouting again.

"Why are you trying to eat it with your mouth, dummy? You already lost your jaw, just put the food pellets inside your stomach, it's already opened up!"

Apollo did as told, slowly bringing the food pellets towards his stomach. However, before he got there, his stomach had regenerated completely, meaning there was no easy way to fit it inside.

The voice was clearly annoyed.

"Gah! You took too long! Now you have to open up the stomach yourself!"

Apollo's fingers suddenly tensed up before plunging into his stomach area. It was surprisingly early to pierce through, and his hand was greeted with the stomach acid within.

Apollo attempted to just put in the pellets, but ended up sticking his own fingers in as well. Though he pulled out quickly, by the time he did, the tips of his fingers had melted to mush, while what remained of his bones were just tiny stubs already half eroded away.

His body immediately kicked it into high gear, repairing his heart and arteries that took blood to essential locations. However, while it was doing that, there was still no blood going towards Apollo's brain.

His consciousness began to flicker. Even the voice in his head was beginning to feel it.

"Don't... Don't fall asleep... silly."

Though ironically enough, the voice in his head stopped talking soon after because it had fallen asleep.

Right when Apollo was going to blackout, a rush of blood shot towards his head, jolting him awake. However, it was also very painful. The process of taking that injury was already painful enough on its own, but he now had a massive headache from the time his brain was deprived of blood.

It hurt so much.

And so, Apollo began to laugh. They sounded rather distorted, almost like a monster trying to do so. Though that was fairly reasonable given that his jaw had been blown off, making it hard for him to laugh like he used to.

As his injuries rapidly regrew, his laugh not only got clearer, but louder. Almost like the gradual approach of an alarm from a police car.

Apollo curled up his body, causing several cracking sounds to come from his newly formed bones. HIs free hand twitched eerily as the flesh gradually regrew on it. His body was producing tremendous amounts of heat.

Mark watched all this happen and let out a soft gasp.

"I see... most of your strength comes from your unbelievably strong tenacity to live."

He smiled.

"Very well then. Perhaps you are more than I thought."

Right when his skin and muscle healed, Apollo tightened his muscles. Red scars snaked across the entirety of his body as his newly grown and widened eyes appeared, fully bloodshot.

Large amounts of lightning immediately gathered around his body, zapping about like they were fervently excited.

Then, monstrous gales of wind formed around him.

Apollo shot forth, straight towards the wind elemental once more. He found that the winds were now blowing onto him without mercy. In fact, he could feel his flesh tear and pull as he was being carried along.

And because of that, Apollo shot forward at speeds he had never traveled before.

As Apollo pulled back his bokken, he felt that he had become... something more.

His senses began to blur as though he really was transforming.

Transforming into light itself.