The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo's bokken flashed.

Three people suddenly lost their legs. They fell to the floor and before they could beg, their heads flew off.

"No... no."

A woman had tripped and fallen onto the ground. Apollo giggled as she tried to crawl away.

The woman's head flew off.

Apollo's breathing became unsteady and his vision was blurry. He killed wantonly.

So long as they moved, they had to die.

Eventually, the guards were able to surround Apollo. The villagers were no longer in their way.

Because most of them died.

Apollo continued running despite the guards closing in.

The guard in front of Apollo began sweating. He was half in shock that some kid with a wooden sword was slaughtering the townsfolk, but forced himself to accept it as reality.

The guard took a deep breath.

He just had to block with his metal sword against a wooden sword.

How hard could that be?

While the guard was still lost in his thoughts, Apollo was right next to him.

Apollo's face was right next to the guard. His bloody figure and deranged smile made the guard freeze in shock.

Apollo's bokken flashed.

The guard was violently split in half, right through his armor. Blood and metal fragments sprayed out.

The surrounding guards were terrified.

Apollo was a monster.

The guards directly gave up on fighting, they ran away like the townsfolk. After all, who would want to fight someone who could split you in two that easily?

Apollo giggled.

He stopped running.

But he wasn't letting them escape.

Apollo took in a deep breath and let out a flurry of strikes with his bokken.

The snow falling from the sky suddenly parted erratically. The guards were split in half one after another.

Despair snaked its way further into the surviving guards' minds.

The screams of their dying comrades kept ringing out. Despite the fact the guards had gotten so far from Apollo, they were not reassured.

They could still hear Apollo's faint laughter in the distance. It was as though Apollo was right behind them, standing over them. The pressure was overbearing.

The only thing left was to pray that they were not the next target.

Yet, the guards continued dying until the last one split in two.

Everybody near Apollo was now gone.

They either ran away or had fallen by his sword.

Apollo's breathing was ragged. His free hand was clutching his skull as faint laughter emanated from him.

He was unstable.

Maya had run behind a house. Noticing that things had died down, she peeked out from behind a wall.

"Apollo?"

Apollo snapped to the voice and swung his bokken. He let out a jarring laugh.

Maya immediately ducked behind the wall.

The house behind her had its wall cave in. Wooden splinters shot out from the impact.

Maya's heart leaped. Apollo was not holding back for anything.

Apollo chased after Maya but suddenly stopped.

A gust of wind snapped onto the cobblestone in front of Apollo.

Shards of stone scattered in the air and the snow was blown away.

"Stop there, fiend!"

A young woman was flying high in the air, glaring at Apollo.

She was wearing a tight white robe that draped down far past her feet. It almost made her look like a ghost.

Her long black hair was flapping in the wind and her hazelnut eyes were trying to pierce Apollo.

The young woman observed the scene of carnage around her. Bodies littered the ground and rivers of blood were flowing down the streets.

Apollo was the clear culprit, drenched in blood. Not to mention his fanatical smile.

She was mad.

"How dare you? Do you know what this place is? It's the city of Evermore!"

The falling snow surrounding the woman began to circle around her.

With gritted teeth, she let out invisible blades of wind.

Apollo instinctively felt something was wrong and sidestepped. The cobblestone under him cracked, sending pebbles to hit his face.

He continued dashing at random angles. Each time, the spot he was just at received a strong impact, shattering the cobblestone.

Apollo tilted his head to the side and giggled.

The snow that was falling from the sky kept erratically shifting. It was caused by the blades of wind.

With that, Apollo was able to determine where these invisible blades of wind were coming from.

Apollo's bokken flashed, returning the favor.

The woman flew to the side, dodging them. It seemed she could sense Apollo's strikes easily.

Blades of wind traveled back and forth, tearing through the air violently.

They appeared to be in a stalemate. Neither side was able to hit the other.

The woman frowned.

"Vermin!"

She no longer conjured blades of wind but held out both her hands. Strong gales of wind pushed down on Apollo, compressing his body.

Apollo gritted his teeth.

It wouldn't be so bad if he was uninjured, but his ribcage was still caved in from the fight against the three-horned demon. When the wind pressed down on that part, strong signals of pain were sent into Apollo's mind.

The woman narrowed her eyes and smirked. She noticed this injury that Apollo had and fully capitalized on it.

The wind converged and pressed down hard on Apollo's ribcage.

Apollo tried to cut down the woman, but she dodged every attack effortlessly.

Apollo's pupils shook. His broken rib cage was slowly bending at a dangerous angle. Soon, it would snap off altogether.

Apollo felt helpless.

He hadn't felt like this in so long.

No matter what he did, the only thing he could do was slowly wait for death.

Apollo was angry. Not with the woman, but himself.

...How could he be so powerless?

The woman laughed.

"What are you going to do now? Do you regret your actions now? You should've never messed with the city of Evermore."

Apollo's eyes widened and stared at the woman dead in her eyes.

He became cold like ice and his presence became overbearing.

"I will come back for you.'

The woman frowned. She flinched when she saw the sudden shift in Apollo.

But then, her jaw dropped.

Apollo disappeared.