The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo continued to push through the black energy, maintaining the energy of the dragon the best he could. The black energy still wasn't anything to scoff at though, The form of the dragon head distorted greatly, both twisted and dimming.

Nonetheless, Apollo continued pushing through.

It was rocky, almost like he could collapse entirely at any moment, almost as though he was on a ship in the middle of a violent storm.

However, Apollo continued getting closer. He didn't stop for a single second, just pushing onwards. The sensation was painful, not physically, but mentally. It was as though his very mind was being distorted as the wind dragon was, giving him an unfamiliar pain.

However, Apollo continued to laugh, shooting forwards without any restraint. He was pointing his bokken forwards from within the dragon head and had no intention of pointing it anywhere else.

Miraculously, Apollo got closer and closer. Yzan's eyes widened when he saw this happen in front of him, genuinely shocked that someone could push through his full force attack.

Spewing out this black energy was similar to breathing in a sense, in that Yzan could only do this for so long. It was as though it was running out of breath, shrinking his lungs to the very limits in order to blow out the last.

Apollo got closer. Only a faint glimmer of blue light could be seen from within the black energy, but it was a stubborn one that refused to be put out.

Once Apollo was just a meter away from Yzan's face, he found that he was unable to spew any more of the black energy.

And out from the black energy, it revealed Apollo.

However, the dragon head was nowhere to be seen. In fact, even his skin ripped off, showing his bright red muscles, both of them were stripped off.

However, Apollo was still pointing his bokken forwards while a bright yellow crown hovered above his head, with one bright curved horn at the front.

And he continued forth, hitting Yzan's snout with the tip of his bokken.

...With a light tap.

Then, Apollo began falling out of the sky, unable to support himself any longer. As for Yzan, he was a little flabbergasted, not knowing how to react.

In the end, Apollo landed hard onto the side of the mountain before tumbling down it like a ragdoll, slamming hard against the various indentations along the way.

The voice in his head was complaining.

"Why did you think that was going to work? Did you not see how big that thing is?!"

Apollo spoke distortedly, and he was occasionally interrupted whenever he hit something on the way down. 

"If I didn't... try then how... do I know?"

The voice in his head seemed a little annoyed.

"By using common sense! Is it really needed to do that? Why are you even doing that!"

Apollo opened his mouth, but hit a rather sharp jagged edge really hard, spitting out a mouthful of blood. From there, he rolled down the rest of the mountain like a log, before finding himself in a pile of snow.

Yzan tilted his head to the side.

"You certainly put up a much stronger fight than I was expecting. If I was unable to defend myself, then that attack could cause quite the damage to my body."

Apollo pulled himself out of the snow. His injuries rapidly healed, while his eyes and mouth were still glowing white.

Apollo let out a distorted voice and raised his bokken, pointing it towards Yzan once more.

"This time... it will be different!"

The voice in his head seemed confused.

"Wait, what are you talking about? We just figured out that we can't fight against him!"

Apollo did not even try to listen and began running forwards once more.

As for Yzan, he blinked a few times.

"Wait, no, no, no."

Apollo did not bother stopping, which seemed to provoke Yzan even more.

"No, NO, NO, NO, NO."

Yzan lunged forth and swiped with his claw, shooting out frighteningly fast. Massive waves of winds were stirred up along with a mini tidal wave of snow.

A deafening bang resounded along with the clear sounds of cracking.

Apollo was only able to bring his bokken up to defend, but the force was simply too much for him to handle, smashing into him as well. Nearly every bone in his body cracked as he was sent flying far away like a rag doll.

After slamming hard against the snow and tumbling around, Apollo remained there for a second, letting the more important parts for movement repair themselves. Then, he stood back up.

The voice in his head just seemed confused at this point.

"Why are you being so silly?"

Apollo let out a distorted chuckle.

"...Why not?"

The voice was speechless for a moment, but eventually spoke up anyway.

"Mm, I guess I can help then."

Large amount of lightning gathered within Apollo's surroundings, jumping around in the form of arcs. Eventually, the voice in his head spoke up.

"Ah, I can sense... a new ability? When did this happen?"

Apollo did not respond. His head tilted to the side slightly and let out countless tiny little cracks.

As for Yzan, it sucked in a deep breath.

"You... you do not intend on repeating the same actions repeatedly, correct?"

Apollo began walking towards him.

Yzan seemed to be on the verge of losing it.

"I'm not doing this for a whole day again, alright?"

Apollo continued walking forwards as the lightning around him grew more violent, making it seem as though he had become a thundercloud itself.

Yzan seemed to have some past trauma from sparring, possibly because of Vicar. Though he didn't have much to do, he also didn't want to be fighting for the rest of his life, and understandably so.

Unfortunately, Apollo had no intention of backing down.

Yzan decided not to hold back, suddenly increasing the pressure several times over.