The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo flashed a smirk at Layla.

"I should be able to get a promotion with this."

Layla raised her hands in the air.

"Ohhh! Promotion!"

Apollo stepped into his shadow.

He felt a tugging force, which he followed.

After a few steps, Apollo found himself before the slightly parted eye.

He reached out, disappearing from the shadow world.

Like last time, Layla was already there waiting for him.

Her tail swayed from side to side.

"Hehe, what do you get from the promotion?"

Apollo shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess we'll find out."

Apollo walked up to the grey desk and flipped his coin.

Plumes of mist materialized.

Once his vision cleared, he saw a small bowl and the request paper next to it.

After a second of hesitation, Apollo took out the ten eagle berries and put them in the bowl.

Once the last eagle berry dropped inside, the bowl promptly disappeared into the mist.

The parchment tore in half while the mist grew in density.

Twelve lines of white mist condensed in front of him.

It cleared once again to reveal three objects on the table.

One was the torn request paper, which Apollo ignored.

However, his eyes were drawn to the next item, a small vial. The vial was made of glass and was sealed with a cork. Translucent light blue liquid resided within.

Apollo picked it up with his thumb and forefinger. The vial itself was smaller than his pinky.

There was a small slip of parchment on the table.

Layla nipped it between two of her fingers.

"What does this say?"

She spread out the piece of paper and read it intently.

Apollo looked over Layla's shoulder to see it for himself.

'This is a Basic Elixir of Flexibility. This elixir will modify the body in a specific way. As such, repeated use of the same Elixir will have no effect. For further increases in effect, use higher tiers of Elixirs.'

Layla's eyes lit up.

"Ohhh! Wow, elixirs sound so cool!"

Apollo shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe..."

He bit on the cork, taking it off with a light pop.

Apollo threw the cork aside. Then, he proceeded to down the vial's contents.

Although the amount was small, Apollo could feel his tongue freeze over.

The elixir continued emanating a strong chill as it traveled down to his stomach.

His entire body nearly froze over.

Apollo felt like he was dropped in the middle of a blizzard.

Yet, once it reached his stomach, a surge of heat snaked through his body.

He immediately slipped out of the blizzard to plunge into an inferno.

Although Apollo was very accustomed to pain, he still felt quite a bit of discomfort from the heat.

As for an ordinary person, they would be pushed to their absolute limits, perhaps fainting on the spot.

The elixir itself provided a safeguard, the chill that came before it activated.

Without this safeguard, most would die from the pain itself.

Nonetheless, that was not the end.

Apollo's nerves abruptly lost their function. Although the pain disappeared, a strong numbness came to replace it.

The numb feeling made Apollo feel itchy. He almost wanted to scratch open his skin.

His vision grew blurry.

Apollo gradually lost control of his body. He plopped onto the floor powerless.

Layla stared curiously with her beady eyes. Her furry ears perked up in interest. They twitched from time to time.

"Apollo? What are you doing?"

Apollo did not respond.

He couldn't even if he wanted to.

Layla pouted.

"Why won't you respond?"

After another moment of silence, her tail drooped down.

"Apollo?..."

Layla's furry ears curled up in sorrow.

She lightly poked Apollo a few times.

"Don't leave me..."

Although Apollo couldn't move, he could still somewhat process what was happening to him.

He could feel a faint pain from Layla's pokes. Since he could actually register it despite his numbed senses, she was poking really hard.

Beads of sweat formed on Apollo's forehead, both from the heat and nervousness.

...Layla wouldn't kill him, right?

As if to respond to his thoughts, Layla grabbed both of Apollo's shoulders...

Then slammed him onto the ground repeatedly.

"Don't leaveeee"

Although the pain was numbed, it still hurt.

Apollo was getting a little afraid.

Was he really going to die like this?

Layla lifted Apollo up then threw him back down. This meant his head was conking on the floor each time, taking the brunt of the impact.

...If this continued he really was going to die.

Layla was getting more aggressive while Apollo's consciousness was getting more blurry.

Was this how it ended?

If he died he wanted it to be in a battle, not like this...

That would just be too embarrassing.

Suddenly, Layla stopped.

She curled up into a ball. Her arms wrapped around her legs while her face was buried in her knees.

Her tail wrapped around her body.

She rocked back and forth, mumbling to herself.

"Friend... friend..."

Apollo's consciousness returned to him. He would let out a sigh of relief if he could.

Although it was still unclear, he could make out Layla's general condition.

His thoughts wandered.

What did Layla go through to make her like this?

Before he could ponder further, a chill assaulted his nerves.

Apollo felt like someone woke him up through electric shock.

He abruptly sat up and gasped for air.

Layla looked up with red eyes.

"...Friend?"

Apollo coughed, still trying to recover oxygen.

"Yeah... agh."

Layla jumped out and wrapped Apollo in a tight hug.

"Friend!"

Apollo panicked. He could feel his rib cage bending.

"Ok, ok! Let go, let go!"

Layla got off of him with a giggle. Her tail shot up, becoming stiff as a rod. Her ears twitched from excitement.

Apollo sighed.

This girl might literally be the death of him.

He flexed his fingers, already feeling the difference from the elixir.

Apollo had very fine control over his muscles. After all, he swung his bokken countless times.

However, it still took time for the signals to travel to and from his brain. This meant he could only react so fast if he did not predict in opponent's movement in advance.

The elixir circumvented this. It made the signals travel roughly ten percent faster.

For ordinary people, this might not mean much. However, for Apollo, it was very impactful.

Now.... What was the last item?