The Laughing Swordsman

After Apollo retreated, Layla pushed off the ground to hop back on her feet. She smiled cheekily, as though proud of how easily she was holding up.

Like before, Layla did not give chase. She waited for Apollo to make his move.

Her tail swayed enthusiastically.

"Hehehe... I am really strong, right friend?"

Apollo simply remained silent.

He kept laughing, but it gradually became quieter until he could hear his own thoughts. 

Apollo wondered...

Wasn't he limiting himself by just remaining on the ground?

Layla had already used her legs in order to fight with him, making her way of fighting more dynamic. On the other hand, he was only slashing directly towards her.

Of course, Apollo couldn't really replicate what Layla was doing. After all, he was using a sword, and only really knew how to fight using that. As for the strange breakdancing fighting style Layla did, that would just be too hard for him.

For whatever reason, Apollo could hardly let go of his bokken even if he wanted to. That would really limit his ability to use his hands as feet like Layla. However, that didn't mean he had to ground himself to conventional ways of fighting.

Apollo narrowed his eyes.

There had to be a better way than just this. Apollo felt like he was trying to paint something better than an expert by using only one brush and one stroke.

Perhaps if his skill in painting was tremendously greater than the artist's, he would stand a chance.

However...

Apollo knew his physical strength was lower than Layla's. He wasn't that much of an idiot, and wasn't going to fool himself to believe it as so.

That meant he had to do something different, but as for what...

One of the main advantages Apollo had over Layla was his ability to fly. Unfortunately, that would also mean being unable to use the basic shadow step technique. Frankly, his agility in flying did not justify giving up the use of the technique. So what else was there?

Suddenly, Apollo's laughs cut off.

He realized that he didn't have to give up on the technique in order to do more than use the ground.

There were still countless trees. Although Layla did directly demolish a few, many still remained. What if he stopped treating them as an obstacle, and instead, as a foothold?

For the first time, Apollo thought of using the terrain to his advantage.

A few zaps and crackles rang out.

Apollo's body gathered a few strands of lightning, while his laughter returned. Waves of heat emitted from his body, while red scars snaked across his skin.

The snow below his feet began to melt, while some of the snowflakes that passed by directly turned into water.

The arcs of blue lightning began to crackle with even more fervor, jumping around wildly across his body.

Apollo's eyes gradually began to widen, while his smile grew larger.

Then... Apollo stepped forth.

The ground cracked under the pressure, while the snow was launched upwards as though it were a puddle of water.

Apollo erratically dashed from the left and right, leaving trails of lightning in his wake. Then, he put his foot onto the side of a tree, and pushed off. A frightening creaking sound came from the tree, but was otherwise fine.

As for Apollo, he violently bolted to the side, appearing next to another tree. He pushed off once more, gaining even more speed.

Apollo did not charge directly towards Layla. Instead, he rapidly among the trees around her, attempting to slip past her vision.

Layla's surroundings were filled with laughter and lighting in all directions. It was as though she was in the middle of a violent hurricane.

However, Layla locked on easily. She kept spinning her head around from one direction, to the other.

Apollo was able to travel from one tree on one side of Layla to another on the opposite side in less than a second.

But her eyes could still catch him.

After a few more futile attempts, Apollo dashed towards Layla, hoping she wouldn't expect it.

He swung while still several meters away and pressed his thumb against the hilt.

A violent snap reverberated throughout the forest.

A ten meter long slash formed on the ground, crackling with a few remnants of lightning. However, Layla was nowhere to be seen.

No...

She was in front of Apollo, throwing her claw towards his face. Layla had dodged Apollo's attack by stepping to the side but didn't forget to get closer to him as well.

Wild winds were stirred up by Layla's claw, but hit nothing.

Apollo disappeared.

He reappeared to the side with both feet on the side of a tree. His knees bent, compressing his body into a ball.

Then, he shot out once more.

The trees shook violently, rustling noisily and scattering snow into the air. Crackles of thunder continued to echo along with eerie laughter.

Apollo bolted off one tree, tearing through the air. He pressed one foot on another tree...

Then disappeared altogether.

Moments later, Apollo reappeared on another far off tree. He buckled his knees once more and shot off it again, but disappeared once his foot left the tree.

Apollo was stepping into the shadow world, using it to not only speed himself up, but disappear altogether.

The reason he did all of that dashing between trees before was mostly to get a feel for how fast he was moving.

After gaining a little confidence, he used the basic shadow step technique in order to disappear altogether. The brief moments he stepped into the shadow world made it feel like he was in a storm.

By only partially stepping into the shadow world, things looked more grey than black. The mist passed by him so fast he felt like he was in a tornado.

And by using that tornado to propel him forth, he appeared right behind Layla, already halfway through his swing.

....But then, she moved.