The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo didn't think much of the whistling sound, but instinctively tilted his head to the side anyway.

A violent gust of wind passed by. It tore through the air loudly, almost like a woman in a horror movie shrieking. Although it left Apollo unscathed, his ear still felt uncomfortable.

It was as though another him in a parallel universe told him how much it would hurt if he got hit.

Nonetheless, Apollo shot towards Mark, attempting to close the gap once more. As he did so, several faint whistling sounds filled the air. Knowing better than to ignore them, Apollo paid close attention to each.

His chest shot forth, while his head pulled back. A gust of wind passed right by his back, causing his clothes to flutter.

Apollo then twisted his body to the side and raised his hand.

Another gust of wind shot right below his armpit, nearly blasting off his arm. And at the same time, a loud shrieking sound passed by his chest. Apollo got through it all unscathed.

However, he had to stop moving forward in order to dodge it all.

In other words, Mark was only getting further and further away.

Apollo pouted and ducked down, letting a sharp gale pass over him.

"This isn't fair!"

Mark laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

"It was never supposed to be!"

Apollo coughed. Despite having such a great upper hand, Mark continued to mercilessly fill the air around Apollo with ash, forcing him to breathe it in.

More whistling sounds filled the air. In fact, one of them came from right behind his back. Apollo could've twisted his body out of the way, but suddenly didn't feel like it.

Instead, he moved his bokken to behind himself, almost like it was a backscratcher.

Wind burst forth, piercing towards Apollo like a spear.

A thunderous bang rang out.

The wind hit Apollo's bokken, which then slammed against his body. He shot forth with far more momentum than he had before. All the other gales of wind only pierced through where he used to be. 

Seeing this, Mark raised an eyebrow.

"Your weapon is quite sturdy. Not to mention, you are quite creative."

He smiled cordially.

"Though, that will not be enough to reach me."

Mark's eyes narrowed.

"After all, I'm the one choosing where those winds go."

Numerous whistling sounds came from in front of Apollo. Now, he wouldn't be able to use the momentum of them to his advantage.

Many sharp gales shot towards Apollo, like spears but invisible.

His body remained still, crackling violently with lightning.

The winds rushed forth, rapidly approaching Apollo. The only thing that let him know they were there was the slight distortion in the air along with the ear-piercing sound.

It did not take long for the shriek of wind to fill Apollo's ears. His eyes widened slightly as they caught on to the slight distortions right in front.

Then, Apollo's figure flashed.

He appeared on the left, dodging every single spear of wind. The lightning on his body was noticeably less intense, but not too significant.

Right when he appeared, more whistling sounds filled the air in front of him. This time, Apollo just a few moments after he heard them. His figure flashed to the right. The expectation was that the winds would shoot at his original location.

But they didn't.

Instead, they headed straight towards Apollo, shifting their original direction. His figure flashed once more, just barely dodging those winds. Apollo let out a soft humming sound afterward.

He made a small guess.

It seemed that those whistling sounds weren't exactly the sign of a wind spear shooting towards him. Instead, it was more like something that took a second to ascertain his position, then fired.

Once more, numerous whistling sounds came from his front.

Apollo decided to do something quite bold. The moment he heard them, his figure flashed forth. The remaining lightning on his body was getting fairly low, meaning he couldn't keep testing forever.

But he didn't have to.

Just a moment later, piercing gales of wind shot towards his back Apollo's bokken flashed, hitting one of them and making himself shoot forth. His wrist definitely took quite the burden blocking that, but it was nothing too bad.

Mark nodded slightly when he saw this.

"You also seem quite intelligent and courageous for that matter."

By now, from their chase, they were nearing the edges of the city, where hardly anybody was. Mark tactfully slowed down to avoid getting too close to the edge. On the other hand, Apollo didn't care. He dashed forth, finally catching up somewhat.

Yet, right as his bokken was a few centimeters in front of Mark's face, it suddenly wasn't.

Mark's body had glowed white before suddenly appearing behind Apollo. On the other hand, Apollo couldn't stop his momentum anymore.

Suddenly, he felt extremely strong rushing winds. Apollo could not help but shut his eyes as the winds battered against him. As Apollo shot into them, his speed suddenly slowed. Then, he abruptly sped up in the opposite direction, towards the city.

Apollo's body was thrown so fast, he essentially became a bullet. Mark promptly moved to the side and let him fly by.

Apollo was still coughing. The strong winds from earlier made it so he couldn't breathe, thus his breaths were a little more rushed, which also meant he took in more ash. For a moment, his consciousness got blurry from the lack of fresh air he could intake.

Apollo couldn't help but think of the time he sparred with Suki. This situation was similar in a certain sense, except he was the one chasing now and Mark was the one effortlessly running away.

But then, Apollo thought of how Suki was able to corner him by using the natural boundaries to her advantage.

...What if he did the same?

Granted, the boundaries now were the entirety of the city, but it was still worth a shot.

Apollo stared Mark down.

"One last try!"