The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo's eyes swiveled, keeping watch on his surroundings. Suddenly, a hand shot out from the side, reaching out to grab. Apollo twisted his body and darted back, dodging it and bursting out from the ash.

He was immediately greeted by a house flying towards him.

Apollo slashed with his electrified bokken.

A clear bang resounded.

The house split in two, passing by Apollo. However, those two halves gradually shifted their trajectories before going back to him as another house shot towards him. As for the ash, it had scattered to reveal Mark, but continued to swirl around in the air.

Apollo seemed to realize that attacking the houses was going to get him nowhere, thus dashed towards Mark, leaving trails of lightning in his wake.

Unfortunately, Mark was simply faster.

The houses closed in on Apollo, forcing him to do something about it. Large amounts of lightning gathered around his body before traveling onto his bokken.

Shadows were cast upon Apollo. The shadows of the houses.

They were close, but he still swung his bokken slowly.

A blanket of roaring lightning formed, swallowing up the houses. All that was left was ash. But then, that ash joined in swirling around the air.

Apollo began to cough.

Every time he breathed in, some ash would sneak its way in, damaging his breathing tract. Mark chuckled.

"You are a crowned. This can't be the extent of your strength, right?"

Apollo spoke between coughs.

"I can... still do more!"

He continued to chase after Mark, who had his hands behind his back as he floated away. Apollo's body rapidly gathered lightning, until his entire body glowed like one massive lightning bolt.

He held one hand in front of him and pointed his bokken behind him.

Mark raised an eyebrow.

"What is this?"

Then, a frown appeared on Mark's face. His body began to glow white.

Suddenly, Apollo's figure flashed.

He abruptly appeared at Mark's original location with his bokken outstretched like a spear. Other than a few dying arcs, there was no lightning on Apollo's body.

As for Mark, right when Apollo moved, his figure also disappeared and reappeared where Apollo used to be.

The two of them swapped positions.

Mark chuckled.

"That wasn't too bad."

As for Apollo, he began falling from the air.

"But it's not good!"

The ash continued to circulate around him, making him uncontrollably cough. On top of that, several houses came after him.

Now that Apollo couldn't fly, there was no way to dodge them. Yet, if he broke them up, the pieces that remained would continue after him, even in the form of ash. With that, Apollo came to the conclusion that he shouldn't hit the houses.

So even when one came barreling straight for his face, he did not attack it.

Instead, Apollo twisted his body, shifting his position in the air so that his feet would face the house which came after him with frightening momentum. When Mark saw this, he simply thought that Apollo would break his legs trying to fend off the house.

Yet, things went against Mark's expectations.

Right when Apollo's foot landed on the wall of the house, a tidal wave of force rushed over to him.

Yet, right before it could do anything, he disappeared entirely.

Apollo reappeared in the middle of the air. Lightning began to gather around his body once more, allowing him to fly.

Mark rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger in amusement.

"...The Shadows."

There were a series of houses in the air, some floating around Mark, some shooting forth towards Apollo. As one approached, Apollo shifted his position so that he could step on the house.

And once he did, Apollo disappeared once more.

He appeared further ahead, getting closer to Mark.

Like that, Apollo used the houses as footholds and continuously narrowed the distance. Mark quickly noticed that the houses were working against them, thus pushed them all away.

The houses tore through the air, stirring up large gales of wind as they passed. Then, they crashed down on the city, causing large amounts of panic from the debris and destruction.

Now, Apollo no longer had anything to use as a foothold, so his speed decreased. Though he closed the gap considerably, it began to widen once more.

Lightning gathered on his body once more, until he looked like a glowing lightning bolt. Mark could predict what Apollo was going to do. His body began to glow white as well.

Apollo's figure flashed forth.

He pointed his bokken forward. As for Mark, he appeared behind Apollo.

From experience, Mark believed Apollo would temporarily lose the ability to fly. Thus he slowly turned around without much concern.

But to his surprise, Apollo's body was still crackling with thunder, albeit less.

Apollo immediately turned around and pointed his hand towards Mark.

Then, his figure flashed once more.

He appeared right in front of Mark, while his bokken was just a few centimeters away. Unfortunately, not only was the lightning on his body gone, but a strong gale formed between them, pushing them both away from each other.

Apollo got really close, but it still wasn't enough.

Now, he was helplessly carried away by the relentless wind.

The reason he was able to blink forth twice in a row was because of the distance. When Apollo first used that move, he continued until he couldn't. But now, because he closed the distance in on Mark, he still had some leftover power to go back.

As Apollo was carried away, Mark was still smiling cordially.

"I suppose you haven't done bad, but there is much to be desired. Perhaps you can surprise me a little more?"

Apollo flailed his limbs as the wind carried him away.

"I will get you next time!"

He then coughed, as more ash went into his lungs.

Mark let out a soft sigh.

"Alright, let me see it then."

Lightning gathered around Apollo's body once more. 

The corner of Mark's lip turned up.

And there was a faint whistle.