The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo's consciousness began to flicker, like a candle reaching the end of its light. Yet, when it seemed like darkness would consume him entirely, a bright light filled the room, as though breaking an illusion.

"Friend, you have to try this fish!"

Layla crouched down next to Apollo, excitedly holding a rainbow colored fish in front of him.

Apollo weakly turned to look at Layla, hardly able to keep his eyes open.

"...Layla."

His lips parted ever so slightly while his voice trailed off.

Layla giggled.

"Yeah! Now try this fish, friend! It's super tasty!"

She proceeded to crudely shove the fish into Apollo's mouth.

As for Apollo, he anxiously tried to bite down because of how hungry he was. However, the rainbow colored fish struggled violently enough to leap out of Apollo's mouth, and onto the snow.

The fish continued to flop in the snow, leaping high into the air and off into the distance. Basically, it was making a break for it.

Layla pouted.

"What are you doing, friend? Do you not like it?"

Apollo's eyelid twitched. He couldn't care less about liking the fish at this point, he just wanted to eat something.

"...hard...to...eat..."

Layla tilted her head to the side.

"Hm?"

If Apollo wasn't on his last breath right now, he would've been shouting at Layla while violently shaking her.

Just... just get the fish back!

Apollo parted his lips with great difficulty once more and barely formed the words.

"Like...fish...but...hard...eat."

Layla blinked a few times, before coming to a realization.

"Ah, ok!"

She looked in the direction that the fish went off to. It had already traveled a hundred meters or so away.

The fish was on a hustle, to say the least.

Unfortunately, it was not enough to escape from Layla.

She dashed over, sending snow high into the air.

Layla caught up to the fish in moments, before catching it deftly in her hand. She leisurely skipped back towards Apollo with the fish in hand.

Layla crouched back down next to him before curiously staring at the fish.

"Hmm... how do I make this easy to eat?"

Apollo felt like screaming out, but couldn't.

"...break...pieces..."

Layla nodded.

"Oh!"

She held the fish with both hands and tensed her fingers.

With a soft rip, the fish split in two.

"Wah!"

Layla held each half of the fish in both hands, but startlingly enough, they both continued moving wildly.

After blinking a few times, she crudely shoved one half of the fish down Apollo's throat.

Apollo immediately began choking, but forced himself to stop. This time, the fish was unable to escape and was swallowed by him.

However, the fish wasn't going to give up until the very end.

It continued to flap around violently as it traveled down Apollo's throat. It almost made him want to throw up, despite how hungry he was. However, Apollo pushed through it, contracting his esophagus against the struggling fish.

In the process, Apollo's throat was cut up from how strongly the fish pushed against him.

It was a painful process, but the fish eventually landed in his stomach, then stopped struggling.

Not because it had any plans of stopping, but because the stomach acid within Apollo was simply too strong.

In reality, if a normal person tried to consume this fish like Apollo did, they would find the fish continuing to struggle within their stomach. From there, it would continue struggling until it directly broke the fleshy walls of their stomach, essentially killing the person who swallowed it.

These fishes may appear bright and eye-catching, attracting many predators, but they had developed strong survival tendencies to match.

Though it was not enough to survive Apollo's stomach.

The moment the fish dissolved, Apollo felt vitality rapidly course through his body. It was as though his flesh was greedily eating up whatever nutrients it could get.

Apollo's breathing became a little less weak, while his eyes slowly opened.

His emaciated body rapidly turned healthy once more. The lost muscle and fat returned to him.

Almost like magic, he was as good as new, just because of a fish.

And half of one, no less.

Apollo sat up, still partially catching his breath. He looked at Layla with conflicting emotions.

"...Thank you."

Layla giggled bashfully while her ears twitched.

"No problem!"

She tilted her head to the side as her tail swayed enthusiastically.

"Does friend want the other half?"

Layla held up the other half of the fish that was still struggling violently.

Apollo nodded without much hesitation.

Layla handed him the fish, which he hurriedly grabbed onto.

Apollo raised an eyebrow.

Although he could hold the fish in his hands, that was only barely. It was simply struggling with far too much fervor.

His eyebrow twitched.

Then, he put the fish in his mouth.

Apollo tried to chew, but frequently missed the fish due to how much it was bouncing around. Eventually, he was able to land his teeth on them. With great effort, he tore the fish in two.

...Only for those two pieces to continue struggling.

Apollo frowned and decided to just directly swallow the fish pieces. As they traveled down his throat, they ripped up his throat once more.

Apollo forcefully grabbed onto the top of his neck and slowly forced the pieces down. Once it reached his stomach, he let out a sigh of relief.

...It was quite a bit of trouble to go through just to eat a fish.

However, the nourishing qualities of the fish made it more than worth it for Apollo.

Once the energy from that rushed through his body, Apollo felt his body heat up considerably. The muscles in his body became tougher, albeit by a small amount.

In fact, a few arcs of lightning began dancing around Apollo's body, though he himself did not will them into being.

Apollo clenched his fist, feeling the strength behind it.

"...Huh."

Layla raised her hands in the air and giggled.

"Tasty, right?"

Apollo chuckled.

"Yeah."