The Laughing Swordsman

Layla looked at the black crystal on the desk curiously.

She blinked a few times out of confusion.

"That's the technique?"

Apollo rolled his eyes.

"Yes."

Layla's tail swayed with excitement.

"Is it tasty?"

Apollo's eyebrow twitched.

"No, it's not meant for eating."

Layla let out a disappointed hum.

"Ehhh? If friend can't eat technique, then why did friend want technique?"

Apollo tilted his head to the side before smirking.

"Well, let's just say that this technique will help me eat better in the future."

Layla's eyes widened.

"Woah! Friend is so smart!"

Apollo rolled his eyes with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I guess."

He picked up the black crystal and inspected it for a little while, turning it over a few times. Then, he pinched down, causing it to shatter.

The misty furniture along with Layla disappeared.

Apollo found himself on a familiar stone platform, and a man made of black mist appeared opposite to him. He was a little confused by Layla's disappearance, but didn't mind it too much.

Apollo stared down the man in a fighting stance and got into a similar one.

Suddenly, the man of black mist moved, as did Apollo. Their movements were in sync, the only difference being that the man of black mist was disappearing between each step, while Apollo was just imitating the movements.

This was the point that he was stuck on last time. While he could imitate the man's movements, he couldn't catch what exactly caused him to disappear.

However, this time, he could already sense something within the first few seconds. This was partly due to his increased processing speed from the basic elixir of flexibility he consumed long ago.

But... Apollo couldn't understand what he was sensing.

Thankfully, his eyes were able to catch some sort of flicker, giving him multiple opportunities to understand it.

In a certain sense, it was as though Apollo held a flickering flashlight, only revealing what was in the darkness for brief moments in time.

And then... he realized what was happening.

The man of black mist was disappearing into the shadow world, but did so quickly and exited quickly.

Apollo tried to imitate this and ended up stepping into the shadow world.

However, he frowned soon after.

The first problem was it took him several seconds to step into the shadow world while for the man of black mist, it was instant.

The second problem was Apollo couldn't easily exit right after entering. He tried to do the same movement but remained in the shadow world anyway.

The third problem was that... the man of black mist didn't appear at all. This implied he never truly entered the shadow world in the first place.

Apollo pointed his bokken forth and forcibly exited the shadow world, where he found himself back on the stone platform. The man of black mist was still there, jumping back and forth.

Apollo furrowed his brows. He was clearly missing something.

If the man of black mist did not enter the shadow world, then how was he able to disappear in the first place?

...No, he did enter the shadow world.

That much Apollo was sure of. He could tell from how the man of black mist was disappearing.

Apollo furrowed his brows even harder, almost like he was trying to dig into his nose with his eyebrows.

What if the man of mist... was partially entering the shadow world?

Instead of fully disappearing within, he would briefly enter this strange state in between the two.

Apollo put his theory to the test.

He decided to first see if could partially enter the shadow world normally. He took a step forward and tried to stop himself partway.

Apollo felt he was at the cusp of the two worlds, however, he ended up entering the shadow world soon after. 

It was as though Apollo was trying to remain on a tightrope, but that tightrope was covered in oil, as were his shoes, and there was a wild gust of wind blowing both him and the tightrope all over the place.

In short, it was simply too unstable.

There was a point where he was rejected by the shadow world and pulled in by the real one. However, there was also a point where the opposite happened.

From what Apollo could tell, there was no line in between that would perfectly cancel both forces out. He would either fall one way, or the other.

Once again, Apollo forcibly exited the shadow world. The man of black mist was still doing his footwork.

This time, Apollo carefully watched the disappearance of the man of black mist as well as the appearance.

Eventually, he was able to realize that the man of black mist seemed to be propelled by something. Carefully watching the man's trajectory, there seemed to be something pushing in the short moment the man disappeared.

Apollo's eyes widened with realization.

The man of black mist was using the rejection force of the shadow world to propel himself further. He did not cross the line that would begin pulling him into the shadow world but stayed behind.

Apollo tried to imitate this without the footwork the man was doing. He stepped in... before stumbling backward several steps.

Apollo raised an eyebrow.

He tried once more, but this time he stumbled forwards.

Apollo rubbed his temple with his knuckle.

"...Wait."

The footwork the man was performing obviously had a purpose behind it. After all, it was more complicated than just moving back and forth, but on its own did not accomplish anything more.

Apollo shook his head.

...Taking things one step at a time.

That wasn't the right answer.

In reality, this kind of thinking was something implanted into Apollo. He was told many times to simply move forward little by little.

However, things are far too complicated to always work that way.

Sometimes a combination of several steps was the only way to move forward.

Apollo pushed off the ground.

And disappeared.