Danmachi: Westward Cloud [Complete]

[Vol.3] Quest 290.5- Endless March

Day 1 within Cirrus' mindscape?

Cirrus opened his eyes to find himself in the desert.

"W-what the fuck!?" He looked around to see that he had no weapon and that he was wearing Nox’s armor. "Huh? I’m not being burned?"

‘Cirrus.’

"Nox!" He looked at his armor. "Can you turn back? And you can talk!?"

‘… No. I’m stuck in your armor. I have a 360-degree view of your surroundings. As for the talking part, yeah, I can. I got used to the feeling enough to talk.’

"Cool, cool… so you can see that we're in the middle of bum fuck nowhere."

Cirrus looked all around to find nothing but sand.

'At the very least, it's familiar to us. Can you imagine if we were in the sea? Haha! You and the sea do not go well together!’

"Haha. I have bad luck while I’m out at sea."

‘Bad luck!? Boy, you always find yourself in a storm somehow! Even Poseidon was shocked at how much bad luck you have at sea!’

‘Stupid fucking Orion.’ Cirrus lamented his fate entwined with Orion. ‘To love Artemis, you have to be her Orion—God—Well... I suppose it's worthwhile to be with her.'

"Anyway we—Hm? Say Nox, how good and far can you see?"

‘Why do you ask?’

"Because about a few miles out, I can see some familiar-looking uniforms."

‘Hmm…’ Nox focused her range of sight directly in front of Cirrus to see the Israfan military coming towards him. Just behind them were several monsters slowly being incorporated into the army. ‘Well, this is just great. Monsters are also in the mix.’

"It seems we need to fight a bit."

Cirrus reached into his shadow and pulled out Gram and Spekð, broken.

"Hah… I’m sorry, you two."

He sighs and puts them away. Before taking out some other spare weapons.

"I should have made some spares." Cirrus regretted. "Oh well. I can always rely on my limbs."

Cirrus and Nox could see them walking closer with bloodstained clothing. The army, once in view, burst into purple and black flames.

"URAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!"

They charged wildly at Cirrus.

Cirrus clenched his weapons as a white light enveloped them.

"Fuck." He said softly.

Cirrus took a deep breath and—

Jump!!

—Flung himself into battle.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"

Cirrus didn’t bother to look at those he cut down.

‘Cirrus they turned to salt! They must be purified!’

"Then I’ll keep fighting!!"

Slash!!

Thrust!!!

Thud!!

"Until they're all gone!! Nox, can you watch my right!"

‘What a rhetorical question! I got you with 360 degrees!’

Cirrus crushed the flaming skeletons in every way that he could, a thrust of the spear, a slash of the sword, a kick, a punch, an elbow, a headbutt, biting, and large swings of the spear.

After about 19 minutes of nonstop fighting, he felt he was in a Musou game, just clearing wave after wave of grunts and mini-bosses.

‘(Grow little starlight of liquidation)! (White Night)!’

Several beams of light shot and cut through several of the skeletons.

"When will they fucking end!!" Cirrus shouted.

‘They better fucking hurry and get help! Quickly—'

"UUUUUUUOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

"!?"

Cirrus dodged the thrown punch to see him, Briareus.

"Annoying."

Cirrus upon seeing the face of the first person he killed, was not looking forward to his stay here. Even Nox was not looking forward to it.

"UWOOOO!!!!!"

"Hey, I don’t know this guy?" Cirrus said he was dodging a rather handsome man who looked oddly familiar.

‘That is Vento. He gave his life to save me… This place is rather shitty.’

"Ah. I can see the family resemblance to Ais. Hup!" Cirrus punched him, turning him into salt.

‘It seems this place is gonna drag up some sore memories from my life as well, huh?’

Day 2.

"URAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"

Cirrus goes through another army of flaming vestiges of people who died, mixed with some of Nox’s past.

‘That makes… I lost track of how many we purified.’

"When will it end?"

He doesn’t even need to turn to see the endless waves of fire and flesh.

‘Hey, I see a flaming skeleton!’

"Sure just add more shit."

‘At least after we clear a wave, we have some time to breathe.’

"Yeah, a very short time before something else pops from the sand."

Day 4.

"COME ON!!!!! COME ON!!!! YOU FUCKERS!!!! URAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!"

‘Left! Lower right! High back!’

There was no physical exhaustion in this place. Cirrus doesn’t even need to eat or drink. The only thing that did slowly get whittled away was Cirrus’s mental state and his overall damage.

"Huff!! Huff!! I want to sleep." Cirrus said mentally tired. "Why hasn’t the sun FUCKING MOVED!!"

The desert’s sun continues to bear down on Cirrus, its heat slowly melting his sanity.

‘Oy. Cirrus, you lost a bit more of your skin. Look at your left wrist.’

Cirrus looks at their left wrist to see some bits of his skin were broken off like a vase.

"… I don’t like this." He looks at it, but he could see through the small broken section to see the backside of his wrist. "… Do I not have organs!?"

He figured out he was not in his physical body but somewhere along the spectrum of a dream.

Day 16.

The unrelenting sun still beats down on Cirrus.

"I’m losing my fucking mind. I grow numb to killing, even more so now than before. I swing and they're gone." Cirrus doesn’t even pay attention to what he’s doing anymore, his arms simply swing in a direction, and his body moves to avoid damage.

‘Keep your head up Cirrus. I have started to count the minutes.’

"… When did the floor turn white?" Cirrus looks back to see a sea of salt.

‘You have been purifying them. You kill them, and they turn to salt.’

Cirrus looks back ahead at the horizon, which is filled with enemies, including much stronger monsters and people.

"Keep going. Keep going."

Cirrus mutters to himself as he charges into the army, a bit more of his skin breaks off.

Day 32.

Cirrus has explored the space he found himself in.

"It’s just endless sand and enemies. There is no boundary, just infinity."

‘I lost count after 473 hours. We need to find a way to end this.’

"… I miss my family. If not for you, Nox… I think I would have lost it by now."

'I can say the same to you Cirrus. When this is done, I just wanna sleep.’

"When this is over... I want a big family. I want to sleep with my wives. Have them in my arms, warm and comfy."

‘Sound nice. Can I join you?’

"By all means. But when we want some privacy, we're going to throw you out."

'It's not like I've never seen your dick before, Cirrus.'

"Not the point—actually, have we not spoken about personal boundaries before? I swear we did?"

A bit more of Cirrus’s skin breaks off.

'I mean... what is the point of it now after so long?'

"... Guess that is true."

Day 64.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!—"

‘—!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’

Cirrus and Nox stopped even making sense anymore; they just fight—

Clang!!! Swish!!! Bang!!!

Crack!!! Boom!! Pew!! Pew!! Whoosh!!

Pew!! Crack!!! Crackle!!! Boom!!!

—and fight endlessly, covering the world in salt and sand.

They focused solely on the fight; they abandoned reason and made their minds only focus on battle. It was not their intention, but when one fights for so long and so much under the desert heat, they will eventually snap.

With each step they take, they are leaving behind the broken-off skin of Cirrus and even some of the cloth from Nox’s armor.

Cirrus and Nox were stuck in a purgatory, the time dilation was hell. Every two days, they were in there fighting; it was a whole hour outside.

With each new crack lost from the containers known as Cirrus and Nox while processing Primordial Flame their souls are slowly breaking apart.

Yet—

Day 100.

"Ah… I wanna see my kids." Cirrus thought that cleared his mind.

‘—!!!!!!!’ Nox was screaming, having also fallen into mindlessness like Cirrus.

"Nox. Shut up. That’s an order." Cirrus said sternly.

‘—!?’ Nox’s mind suddenly became lucid upon hearing Cirrus’s order. ‘Ah. Where are we, Cirrus.?’

"Still in this hell. Oh look, it’s the Nuckelavee."

‘Hm? I think I see Hecton?’

—Cirrus and Nox will keep fighting.

"Ah, I only have my right arm." Cirrus noticed.

‘Hey, I lost some of myself too! Your right sleeve is gone, but the left one is still there! How does that make sense!’

"Well…"

Cirrus could feel and see Kali’s tattoo glow and pulse. It even grew to cover his arm and even some of his neck and upper body.

‘Seems you are getting some use out of that, huh!’

"Yeah. Let’s not lose our minds again. We lost track of our own time."

Cirrus dreams a bit of those halcyon times of his life to find some solace.