The Laughing Swordsman

The tapping sounds of feet slamming on the ground was prevalent, as well as the whipping sound of a sword. Due to the lack of any actual collision sounds, it sounded like someone was practicing their swordsmanship, swinging their sword along with some footwork.

Yet, that was not the case.

There were countless people in the dojo, but most of them weren't making a single sound. Not even their breathing was audible.

That was because all of them were watching the fight on one of the tatami mats.

Suki and Apollo seemed to be flying, flitting to and fro across. Yet, despite moving so fast, they did not move out of the borders that constrained their fight.

Suki's long hair seemed to be dancing with the wind. Despite trying to attack Apollo with as much speed as possible, she did not forget her form. As such, Suki was rapidly shifting between stances one after another.

The way her feet moved almost made it seem like she was doing a choreographed dance. Suki constantly released and grabbed the wooden sword once more, letting it whip through the air.

In the back of Suki's mind, she was in amazement of her own skill. Suki never thought she would be able to execute her technique this fast. However, there was something Suki was more amazed by.

How Apollo dodged all of her attacks. It was surprising enough that Apollo was able to evade without the need to swing his bokken once. However, his feat was far more impressive because of how close he was to getting hit each time.

To the people watching, it looked like Apollo got hit because of the angle and how close it was. However, Suki's wooden sword would continue past, making it look like it went through him.

Eden had her fists clenched tightly while the man that set up the spar was still rubbing his eyes.

Suki was panting hard. Sweat poured down across her face, while the occasional drop of sweat was flung to the side. By now, a cramp was beginning to form in her arms.

Suki quickly realized that at this rate, she would run out of stamina. Apollo would end up winning because her arms wouldn't even be able to lift her wooden sword.

However, despite the lack of success previously, Suki had no plans of giving up. She remembered that while they were trying to hit each other, there were also bounds set. For a while, Suki was being led around by Apollo, following him wherever he went.

But now, she realized that she might be able to herd Apollo to the corner.

Suki swung her wooden sword, tearing through the air towards Apollo's abdomen. However, right when it was about to hit, Apollo's body moved backward. Suki continued slashing, forcing him back time and time again.

As they were nearing the edge, Apollo attempted to slip by Suki and get behind her. However, before he was able to do so, a wooden sword blocked his path along with a leg.

Apollo hopped backward so he wouldn't get implicated. Unfortunately for him, that was the first step of no return.

Apollo made another attempt to slip by Suki, but she shut it down immediately by stretching her legs as far as she could. Suki grit her teeth because of the pain from how much she stretched, but at this point, Suki was trying with everything she had.

Apollo tried a few more times to slip by, but Suki blocked it off each time. Under normal circumstances, the move she made would leave her wide open for a strike. However, Apollo established earlier on that he would not attack.

And as such, Suki was not punished for those moves.

What that did mean was Apollo was forced to a corner all of sudden. With a triumphant smile, Suki took full advantage of this and swung as fast as she could. Apollo did not give up, however.

He continued to dodge the strikes, one after another. Suki slowly approached, meaning Apollo was losing more of his real estate each second.

Suki swung her wooden sword horizontally.

In a last ditch effort, Apollo leaned back as far as he could, with only his toe holding up his entire body within the tatami mat.

He dodged the strike once more.

However, with Suki's last ounce of strength, she brought the bokken down on Apollo. Her hands trembled violently while the bokken fell down slowly. It was moving slower than a snail but there was no longer a way for Apollo to dodge while remaining within bounds.

And then, a soft tap resounded.

Suki's wooden sword landed on the center of Apollo's chest.

For a second, there was silence.

Then, resounding cheers and clapping resounded throughout the dojo.

"Woah! That was so cool!"

"How did those two move so fast?"

"It must be some footwork technique! I must have it!"

Eden looked a little dejected, but clapped loudly anyway. As for the man, he stopped rubbing his eyes. He could no longer run away from the fact the sight in front of him was true.

Suki let out a long sigh. Then she smiled brightly as she looked at Apollo.

"It was a good spar. Although I won, I'm sure you would've easily won over me if you used your own wooden sword."

Apollo still had only the tip of his foot on the tatami mat while the rest of his body leaned backwards. He was initially smiling, but tilted his head to the side with a confused expression after hearing Suki.

"What do you mean?"

Suki blinked a few times.

"Huh? Did I say something incorrect?"

Apollo nodded.

"I won!"

Suki furrowed her brows.

"You did basically win, but strictly speaking I won this fight."

Apollo pointed to the ground.

"But you lost!"

The crowd overheard this and got confused.

"Huh?"

"But he didn't attack, how could he win?"

"Well, I guess he could've won..."

Suki looked to the floor with a confused expression and gasped.

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