The Laughing Swordsman

Snow had scattered high into the air, along with a few trees here and there. Violent gusts of wind filled the landscape, almost like a tornado was nearby.

And within that chaos, Layla had chased Apollo, appearing next to him each time he did. She would swipe her claw, but was always just a little bit too late, hitting the tree Apollo had been on.

Layla wasn't too concerned despite none of her strikes landing. She was confident one would be fast enough.

As for Apollo, he had meticulously remembered wherever Layla appeared each time. Whether it be in front of him, behind, or to the side.

Each time, they were seemingly random. And in a certain sense, they were.

Layla had arbitrarily chosen a place to appear each time.

There was hardly a pattern to speak of, but Apollo felt like he picked up on something.

He had partially stepped into the shadow world, just barely dodging Layla's claw. In the shadow world, he only had one thought.

'Forward'

Apollo had reappeared and let out a laugh.

...And Layla was at his front.

He had disappeared once more, while the tree behind him was decimated.

'Left'

Apollo had reappeared with both feet on a tree and his knees bent.

Layla was towards his left.

Right in the nick of time, Apollo vanished, letting the tree take the fall for him.

'Backward.'

This time, Apollo shifted his trajectory within the shadow world. He had appeared on the snowy ground, while Layla was swiping her claw towards a tree.

And that was how Apollo had appeared behind her, tracing an arc towards her back.

As though he was a painter flicking his paintbrush onto the canvas.

With how fast Layla was moving, she wouldn't be able to dodge. In reality, Layla knew the moment she appeared that Apollo was actually behind her.

In other words, Layla knew she was about to lose. 

After all, the rule of their game was whoever hit the other first. There wasn't even time for Layla to regret taking it so easy before.

...But she didn't want to lose.

Layla's eyes lost their glimmer.

She never lost, never!

Layla's expression dulled.

After all, she always won!

An uncanny serious expression appeared on her face, a big contrast to her normal cheery self.

No matter what game Layla played, she was always the winner!

That... that had to be true.

Something within Layla released. It was as though she was wrapped in countless chains, nearly restricting her movement entirely.

Then, one of these chains fell off, giving her a little wiggle room.

And with that wiggle room, she moved.

Apollo's bokken was just a second away from striking Layla's back, but at that moment her feet tensed.

In a flash, she twisted her legs and slid her feet across the floor, digging deep into the ground. Vast amounts of dirt and snow flew up into the air, while Layla herself turned around.

With her claw tearing through the air.

Apollo could just barely process that something bad was about to happen, but there was no time for him to think about it any further.

Apollo's bokken was only a few millimeters away from Layla's head, while Layla's claw whipped through the air towards Apollo's abdomen.

At the exact same moment, the tip of Apollo's bokken hit Layla's forehead, while the very end of Layla's nail touched Apollo's stomach.

A light tap rang out, but was covered by a deafening bang.

Vast amounts of snow rose into the air like a series of tsunamis while several nearby trees were directly uprooted and thrown up into the air.

As for Apollo, he was violently blasted back as though he suddenly became a comet, streaking through the air. He coughed up vast amounts of blood. The bones around his abdomen were directly shattered into tiny pieces while all the other bones in his body had some sort of crack within them.

Apollo's lower organs had been pulverized while the rest of the organs in his chest peeked out. The only saving grace was that Apollo's spine held on strong, keeping his body attached.

Albeit barely.

Apollo directly smashed through several trees until eventually tumbling on the ground. His eyes were concerningly red while blood dripped down his mouth like a pancake with too much syrup on top.

Apollo laid there powerlessly while his body frantically tried to repair itself.

As for Layla, she blinked a few times like she just realized what she had done.

"Friend?"

Then, Layla pouted.

"That... that doesn't count! I always win, so that doesn't count!"

She ran across the wasteland that the forest had become, stepping over fallen trees and a ground filled with a mixture of dirt and snow.

Eventually, Layla reached Apollo's side. She crouched down over her body and pointed at him accusingly.

"That game doesn't count because I hit friend and friend hit me at the same time! Because of that, we are restarting!"

A righteous expression appeared on Layla's face, one so shameless, that it would remain that way even if the sky fell down.

"And we start... now!"

With that, she poked Apollo's forehead before giggling.

"I win!"

As for Apollo, he was rather speechless. His throat was too damaged to talk, but even if he could, he would still be silent.

This... this girl...

Apollo couldn't even come up with a word to describe both how shameless, yet powerful Layla was.

In the end, he simply remained on the ground silently, other than coughing up mouthfuls of blood.

Layla puffed up her cheeks and looked to the side stubbornly.

Like that, they spent a few moments silently.

Apollo's main concern was that his body didn't have enough to repair itself, but that was a needless concern.

It seemed like whatever those rainbow colored fish were, they were very dense with nutrients, not too unlike the food pellets.

Apollo coughed up even more blood, letting it splurt out of his mouth.

And at that moment, his iron coin heated up.