Danmachi: Westward Cloud [Complete]

[Vol.4] Quest 370.2- Duel For Ones Fate

Present day, Moonlight Tower.

“…” Artemis and Astraea were in the corner with their faces covered.

They could not believe what they had just heard.

“Wow,” Malion said, breaking the silence.

“I have never seen Lady Astraea lose her composure more than in this retelling,” Ryuu said.

“I mean, you said Ananke was one of the strongest gods in heaven, right? How powerful could she be?” Ai said.

Artemis and Astraea stood back up, turned around, and walked up to Elysium, grabbing his shoulder.

“Please,” Astraea said.

“Tell us you are making this up,” Artemis said.

They both had a look of disbelief.

"Naw, I fought her.”

“Oh, my fucking Khaos.” They both said it at the same time.

“So how did it go?” Malion asked. “Since you are here, you won in the end, right?”

“I did just, you know, took me what... 5, 6, or was it 10 thousand years? Nope, that doesn’t sound right.”

“10 thousand years!" They all shouted.

“I have kept quiet,” Fels said. “Listening to your tale and... I did not think you would be older than I.” Fels walked over and knelt at Elysium’s eye level. “Are you okay? I know living for long gets to you.”

“I am fine, Fels.” Elysium nodded. “Well, not during the process, but I came out rather fine. Now I’m just going to kind of give an overview of the years. Ahem!” he cleared his throat. "So, year one.”

Year 1

At the suggestion of several gods, Chronos increased the flow of time within the Nascent of Gods.

“Run!! And run!!” Ananke shouted. “That’s all you do!" She swipes her fingers like claws across the sky.

Slice-Slice-Slice-Slice!!!

Space separates to create a slash through the air.

“Grrr!! Crack-Whoosh!!”

Cirrus narrowly dodged Ananke’s attacks, cutting off layers of his armor as if it were sand.

Slice-Slice-Slice-Slice!!!

Crack-Whoosh!!! Crack-Whoosh!!!

He spent the year running. Learning how she moves and attacks with only half a millisecond attacks to near instantaneous ones.

Cirrus knew Ananke was playing with him. She wanted to keep the man who Nyx threw all her chips in to dance.

'Move! Learn! Adapt! Improve! Move! Learn! Adapt! Improve! Move! Learn! Adapt! Improve! Move! Learn! Adapt! Improve! Move! Learn! Adapt! Improve! Move! Learn! Adapt! Improve! Move! Learn! Adapt! Improve! Move! Learn! Adapt! Improve! Move! Learn! Adapt! Improve! Move!'

These were Cirrus’ thoughts, his only thoughts, and through Elpis, they proved true.

Year 2

They fought for so long that Ananke had music play to make the fight more entertaining.

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

They played opera. The voices were as magnificent as Ananke was relentless. It would continue to play throughout the fight.

“Do you like this?" Ananke smugly grinned. “I believe it’s called Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen. It’s German, but after a few special souls that knew German, I figured out what it meant."

“___” Cirrus remained quiet. He had learned what his new body could truly do. He did not need to breathe, drink, eat, or sleep. These functions no longer apply to him as a soul. The only function that affected him was mental fatigue, but he has experienced these kinds of situations, fortunately, and unfortunately.

“At least talk back. All you do is run, but I must say.” Ananke spoke with some respect towards Cirrus. “You lasted for longer than I could imagine! I wonder if it is because of Elpis or Nyx’s doing!!!”

She used her other arm and swiped three times as fast.

Yet no matter how long it took, Cirrus kept running, moving until he had gotten a full grasp of her movements, and finally, after many years, he made his move.

Year 38

Crack!!

“!?”

A bolt of lightning struck Ananke’s finger, and a new feeling and sensation arose from the numb finger.

“… You.” She stopped and glared at Cirrus with piercing eyes.

“Hah~” Cirrus let out a long breath of relief. “It has been a long time since I stopped running.” He looked back to match Ananke’s gaze. “Are you ready for the duel to begin?” He draws out Sword of Thunder and Argonaut’s fire sword. “Let us (Sing)!! Crackle!!! Bwoosh!!!” Thick fire and lightning covered the blades. “And dance until my blade reaches your throat!!”

“I have played with you long enough.” She crunched up her fingers like a claw, and strings formed. She looked like a puppeteer as strings appeared around the shrine. “Die.” She moved her hands.

Death had its grasp around Cirrus’ neck and even all around him.

“Naw, it’s kind of like drinking lava. You can and should only experience it once.” He holds his flaming blade aloft; electricity covers it, and it erupts into a brilliant electrical-white flame. “If you want my life, earn it!” he swung his blade. “Swish-Bwoosh!!!” He swung his flaming blade and burned all the surrounding strings.

Snap-Snap-Snap-Snap!!

“Finally, after so long, you showed your teeth, Hero. Also, drinking lava?”

“It popped up in my head.”

The battles from then on swung in Cirrus’ favor.

Bwoosh!! Crackle!!

Snap-Snap!!

Crackle!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!!

Ananke, for the time being, had to know what the feeling of being worried and frustrated was.

“Grr!!!”

Yet for Cirrus, it was nothing new.

“Hahaha!!! Come on!! Is this the director of fate!!”

“You damn child!!!”

The tide did eventually sway back in Ananke’s favor after 3 years.

Swish-Swish-Swish-Swish!!! Swish-Swish-Swish-Swish!!! Swish-Swish-Swish-Swish!! Swish-Swish-Swish-Swish!! Swish-Swish-Swish-Swish!!

Swish-Swish-Swish-Swish!! Swish-Swish-Swish-Swish!! Swish-Swish-Swish-Swish!! Swish-Swish-Swish-Swish!! Swish-Swish-Swish-Swish!! Swish-Swish-Swish-Swish!!

Even she has grown into a warrior's spirit and eyes.

Spurt!!

Thud!

It all began when she took his arm.

“Hahaha!! How about that!!! You lost your arm!!” She moved her fingers, and strings tied up the arm like a piece of meat before she clenched her fist, and her strings ripped the arm to shreds.

“No matter.” Cirrus’ armor moved to his left shoulder, and his arm regenerated. “I can always make a new one.”

Cirrus would end up losing more and more limbs, yet he kept moving, growing, and adapting.

Present day.

“Ah! That’s right!” Elysium tapped his head. “It was 50 years! Haha! I guess I repressed that. Time sure distorts a lot of things. Kinda felt way longer like 500 years or something.”

“Still 50 years…” Ai said as she and Artemis’ lips drooped.

“The last time you were forced to fight for so long with such a degree of time dilation was back during Olympia,” Artemis said.

“I wished to ask about that,” Malion spoke up. “After Olympia and its events ended, I saw you with Ai or Art, or just the both of them by your side. Did it affect you that much?”

“Very.” Elysium nodded. “Cirrus was a mess. Mentally, emotionally, and physically. I was drained and desperate to just have a single day where he did not have to fight. Hm. Cirrus would sleep more. I would get lost in the routine of doing paperwork. When Cirrus was not doing that, he would indulge, satisfy, and numb what was afflicting his heart with sex.”

Noticing how he spoke, Ryuu spoke.

“Cirrus, why do you speak sometimes in the third person and sometimes in the first?”

The way he spoke finally became noticed by them all. He had an inconsistency with how he referred to himself at times.

Elysium takes a moment for himself. A thought rolled through his mind. The stars of his clothing turned a deep purple for a while before returning to normal.

“… I will give my reason at a later point in time. For now, I wish to finish the story.”

Everyone in the room couldn’t help but make a solemn expression. The look Elysium had was one they knew well.

“Cirrus…” Ai spoke, heartbroken.

“… Are you truly alright, Cirrus?” Ryuu asked.

“You can stop if you do—”

“No, I am fine,” Elysium interjects Malion. “Ahem!” He clears his throat. “I could only last so long because of Elpis. Had I not gotten it, I would have died the very second she got serious with me… Back to what I was saying.” Elysium carried on.

Back to the story: approximately 50 years in total have passed.

Cirrus had gained the respect of all the gods who watched him fight and survive. Yet Ananke had surpassed his skill.

Thud!!

Thud!!

“Guh!!” Cirrus rolls across the battle-riddled floor of the shrine. His limbs regenerate.

“This is it,” Ananke said, standing above him. “Thud!” She stomps her bare, blood-soaked foot on Cirrus’ head. “Any last words you wish to say?” She raises her hand with strings.

The strings slowly wrap around Cirrus’ neck.

“Huff!! Huff!!”

Ananke turned her head and looked at Nyx.

“Go on. Say your peace.” She raised her other arm and rose Sword of Thunder and the flame sword and sliced them into bits. “This is your true end.”

Cirrus looked at Nyx and Vesta as well. Blood stained his face and eyes.

He could see Nyx smirking as she put her arms to the head and her fingers out.

‘Horns?’ Cirrus thought, and then it dawned on him. ‘Horns!!’

“Yeah,” Cirrus said softly, trying his best to get up, slowly moving his head, and adjusting the angle. “A few.”

“Go on. Snap!” Ananke made her and his voice resonate throughout the shrine.

“My… last words… are…” Cirrus swallows his saliva and grins. “Stand aside, you're blocking the sun.”

Ananke smirked.

“No can do. Try again next time.”

“Can I talk to the manager?”

“I am the manager.”

“Then eat a dick! HRRRR!!!”

He focused on his head, and his antlers sprung from his head, impaling through her foot. His other antler grew and pierced her thigh.

Spurt!!!

Spurt!!!

“GYYYYAAAA!!!” Ananke screams out in pain, loosening her hold as this strong, piercing sensation corrupts her.

Cirrus forcibly got up, knocking Ananke to the ground. He broke his antlers with his own hands and got onto her with his fists reeling back.

“GRIT THOSE TEETH!!!” Cirrus shouted, her ichor drenching him.

THUD!!!

THUD!!!

He laid into her like a MMA fighter.

THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!!

THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!!

He did and will not relent. He struck with as much speed and force as he could throw at her.

From the onlookers it looked as if Cirrus' arms were a blur.

“Gah!? GAH!? gUH!?”

Ananke herself was reeling from this brutal, primitive feeling; she had never been punched before nor had someone on top of her.

A pristine goddess who was not violent alongside her enteral companion and who never left her side.

She caught glimpses of Cirrus, his face wreathed in anger and desperation.

They could not see the joy behind those eyes of his.

Yet he has stained her with his animalism, his barbarity, and his humanity. She underestimated him far longer than she should have, but why? She asked.

'Why am I getting my face beaten into with blurred speed!? How did this come about? Was it when Nyx came to me for her proposal? Was it when I attached my strings so he could achieve godhood in his mortal body? Why? Why did he do that? He could have been a god and still be alive!?!? He would be bonded to the land as its enteral guardian!? What better honor and life could that be!! What was it!? What!? WhaT!? WhAT!?—’

“—WHAT WAS IT!?!?”

Whoosh!!

“Grr!!”

Ananke howled towards the sky. A massive burst of wind struck Cirrus, but he grabbed her throat tightly.

“You damn Moksha! You pond scum!!” She flung her wrist, and threads latched onto Cirrus's back, pulling him back.

“Fuck!!”

Cirrus was flown back, but he at least took some flesh with him.

“I should have rejected the idea Nyx had!!” She got back onto her feet; her throat was healed as strings came to take the place of the flesh lost. “I should have gone down to Gekai and killed you when you were in your mother’s womb!!!” She held her arms up and curled her fingers. “She should have kept that stillborn! Ouranos should have kept his old ways and subjugated the mortals! Free will was a mistake! Everyone and everything should have an ultimate destiny! Why do insignificant specks of carbon be the only ones allowed to do as they see fit like those vagrant Primordials!!”

“GAH!?”

Strings tied Cirrus up and strung him like a flag for display.

“No more games!!! I let my arrogance lead me for too damn long!!! Be happy you at least taught a goddess of my power a lesson!!!”

“You're welcome!” Cirrus smirks with a bloody smile.

“PISS OFF ALREADY!!!” She leaped towards him and struck him dead center.

“GAH!!!!”

Riiiip~

Spurt-Spurt-Spurt-Spurt!!!!

She struck him so hard that she ripped his limbs off his body with the force she used.

“Ah.” Everyone said.

Ananke quickly calmed down at what she had done.

“FUUU—”

She struck him towards The Void.

Plop~

Cirrus entered the beginning and the end.