[Vol.3] Quest 296- Westward Cloud, Part 3- Hero of The White Night

From the divine mirror, they watch as these two heroes dance with one another in mortal combat, creating a massive spectacle for many to watch.

Clang!! Bwoosh!!

The swing of the blade of fire burns the air, and the swing of the blade of thunder reverberates through the ashes in the air.

Clang!! Crackle!!!

They moved with the speed and skill that was expected of their statues.

Epimetheus, with his 3000+ years of experience and refinement, moved as if it were second nature to him. Each swing goes into another, and each step he took was a work of precision. Every dodge was perfectly polished and efficient, but to his foe, it proved useful.

Clang!! Bwoosh!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Bwoosh!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Bwoosh!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Bwoosh!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Bwoosh!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Bwoosh!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Bwoosh!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Bwoosh!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Bwoosh!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Bwoosh!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Bwoosh!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Bwoosh!! Clang!! Crackle!!!

Cirrus moved with utter instinct, accuracy, and precision. His unnatural movement and unpredictable way of fighting left one on the edge of their seat wondering how or what they would do next as a kick led into a headbutt, a headbutt into an elbow strike, an elbow strike to a slash, a slash into an electrifying, piercing palm strike to the chest.

Clang!! Crackle!!! Thud!!! Ting!!! Thud!!! Clang!!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Thud!!! Ting!!! Thud!!! Clang!!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Thud!!! Ting!!! Thud!!! Clang!!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Thud!!! Ting!!! Thud!!! Clang!!! Crackle!!! Clang!! Crackle!!! Thud!!! Ting!!! Thud!!! Clang!!! Crackle!!!

They played off each other with terrifying chemistry.

Epimetheus would react quicker, and Cirrus grows harder to read with movements changing on a dime with a weapon that goes from sword to spear to dagger, and so forth, using one another to grow.

Cirrus felt happy he could match blades with one with whom he didn’t have to worry about dying too quickly, and Epimetheus felt the opposite. Anger and hatred build and build inside, fueling the corrupted flame.

How could one who had not even lived a mere fraction of a fraction of his life grow this strong? Epimetheus had one thought:

‘I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!!’

Cirrus could see the face of anger on his face, and Epimetheus could see the joyous smile on his face.

"Keep staring at me like that, and you will need to buy me dinner first!!" Cirrus said jokingly.

"YOU FUCKING EPHEBE!!!!! YOU ARE JUST A BOOKMARK IN MY REDEMPTION!!!"

Clang!!! Bwoosh!!! Crack!!! Ting!!! Clang!!! Ting!!! Ting!!! Thud!!! Crack!!! Bwoosh!!! Bwoosh!!! Crack!!!

"URAAAAAA!!!!!!!!" Epimetheus shouted, coming up with an underhand swing. "(Incinerate and die, wrathful ashes.) [Guf Deukalion]!!!!!!!!!!!"

The fires massively increased their speed and power.

Cirrus jumped up and was shot high into the sky.

CLANG!!!!!! BWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!!!

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!

Cirrus looked down with minimal injuries as Epimetheus grew smaller and smaller.

Cirrus was now far above the sea of gray clouds.

"What a beautiful opponent!!! (Damocles)!!!"

With the metal embedded under his boots, he stood as a grin danced across his face as he went higher and higher till he had trouble breathing, but by that point, frost covered Cirrus.

"Cirrus, what do you plan on doing?" Vesta asked. "We are just within the mesosphere; any further and I doubt you can even still breathe."

"Fuu~" Cirrus slowly breathes in and out.

'Cirrus, who is that!?' Circe asked, noticing the new voice.

"I will answer you later. Circe." Cirrus squints his eyes to see Epimetheus as the fire he made it easy to find him. "For now. Cirrus held White Night out, and it spun. "I am going to kill him. White Night, extend."

White Night floated into the stratosphere. It grew longer and longer to the point where the spinning began to slowly pull in the clouds around the area.

'Uhhh Cirrus, aren't you going a bit overkill?' Circe asked again, seeing how far Cirrus is going to attack one person.

"He is a hero. This much is required to take him down."

Down below, Epimetheus readied himself. His divine weapon was covered in a tungsten melting fire.

"Come, you little bastard. Come down and die—Shit."

He could see the clouds coming together in large quantity.

 

A hole in the clouds became the eye of this storm as more and more clouds began to collect and spin around the hole and into the sky.

Rumble!!!! Rumble!!!!

Rumble!!!! Rumble!!!!

Following the rumble of thunder, lightning shot out randomly from the storm as it slowly turned red.

Crack!!! Crack!!! Crack!!!

Crack!!! Crack!!!

Crack!!!

Then Cirrus’s voice boomed out.

"(Vespers of Damocles)!!!"

Epimetheus and everyone else could see Cirrus’s figure high above the clouds. His shadow rained down below.

"Huh?" Everyone could see their hair sticking up, and even small rocks and metal levitated.

The air has been charged as high above the clouds Cirrus builds and gathers electricity with White Night as the conduit.

"Everyone!!!" Shouted Hermes. "Take cover!!!!"

"COVER NOW!!!!" Aphrodite shouted as loudly as she could.

Cirrus’s voice then boomed again.

"(Sing your Vespers.)!!!!"

His magic circle appeared within the clouds; its soft twilight glow illuminated a fear that took root in everyone watching. Two thoughts ran through everyone: "What is he going to do?" and "We need to run away!"

Epimetheus smiles from ear to ear as he becomes a pillar of fire. His muscles bulge with strength and ecstasy, ready for whatever happens.

Then, for the third and final time, Cirrus roars.

"[KYRIE ELEISON]!!!!!!!!!"

Followed by a deafening crack.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!

Poking from the clouds was a massive red spear of electricity. All around it lightning rained down like raindrops.

"Ooooo…" Epimetheus was in awe; never did he see such awesome power and might.

If he were to die, he would want this to be the coup de grâce.

Unfortunately, he still needs to redeem himself, and he cannot—will not take it.

"(An unwarranted gift.)" Epimetheus chanted. "(A fate forcibly given.)" A magic that Epimetheus never used for it was everything he was no longer. "(I shall not open your box.)" A hero. "(Even if I am chained and my liver eaten.)" Prometheus’s hero. "[Aktinovólos Enkopí̱]!!!!"

All of his flames congealed on his divine weapon. They absorbed the fire clones into the blade.

BWOOOOOOSH!!!

A flame to rival the unbridled incineration of the sun graced the lower world. A brilliant, glittering dark flame unlike any other.

Epimetheus contorted his body; defense was long thrown away.

With heaven’s might bearing down on him, Epimetheus swung with all of his might.

"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!!!"

BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!

The two colossal powers have driven everyone far, far away.

Ais, Bell, Ryuu, and Malion quickly ran away. Ais uses her wind to help Malion escape faster with her, Ryuu, and Bell under her arms, booking it.

Being carried away Bell watched with baited breath as the heights he wished to climb to reach Cirrus.

"Oooh..."

Of course many who saw this sight felt the same as Bell such as Ais.

Fafnir and Hecton quickly traveled through the shadows to help those within the city find cover.

From under the Great Temple, Ai, Artemis, Hera, and Hestia were glad they were in a safe enough area, as these were two powers that wanted to kill each other regardless of the destruction.

Yes. This was the two heroes fighting one another with all of their strength and power.

When the red judgment of heaven met the blackened heroic strike of hell, they dyed the world into two colors.

FLASH!!!!!!!!

Red,

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Cirrus roared toward the hellish flames of corruption.

And black.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!" Epimetheus screamed toward the heavenly lightning of purity.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!

Heaven and earth shuddered in sublime might as red and black mix into a maroon hue.

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The earth gave into the hero's might.

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The gates of heaven broke off their hinges in their fury.

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They destroyed even the road to hell in their conflict.

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Now only the desolate planes of the lower world are left for the heroes to fight.

 _

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The world is left asunder.

The land is bleeding; they wiped the sky of its tears, and the sea ran away from the abuse.

"Huff!! Huff!! Huff!! Huff!!" Epimetheus looked emaciated. He looked completely drained of any vigor. "Hw… hm?" His words were slurred a bit. "Bwoosh!" His body then returned to normal. "Ah, how long was it before I was brought to this point? This level of exhaustion?"

He looked around to find his clothes were singed and tattered, barely holding on for dear life.

The area was completely shattered and molten, with pools of magma all around him.

Epimetheus looked up to see if he could spot Cirrus when the sound of something crashing shook the ground a bit.

Rumble!!

"Where the fuck are you looking, old man?" Cirrus said mockingly. "I’m on the clock."

Epimetheus turned behind himself to meet Cirrus’s gaze.

He looked Cirrus up and down to find he was none the worse, but he was still glowing a soft, warm light. He could feel the mana converging on him.

"That light... ah! Your spare spirit, I see. They were the ones pumping you up with mana from the air, huh?" Epimetheus rests his sword on his shoulder.

"Her name is Circe."

"I don’t give a fuck."

"Rude. Maybe this heat is getting to you, old man." Cirrus points White Night to his right side. "(Old man of the sea, place your water onto me.) [Laconia Styx]."

Thetis’s core glowed brightly as a massive amount of water shot out from the tip of White Night.

SPLASH!!!!!

TSSSSSS!!!

They cooled the molten earth down, releasing steam into the air.

"Hoh~," Epimetheus was impressed. "That is some Divine Weapon you made."

"Hm." Cirrus swung White Night sharply, cutting the water off. "Shall we end this battle, O’ Epimetheus of the Corrupted Flame?"

"Heh. Why not? Tell me, what was that owl’s name?"

"Her name is Nox, Grand Spirit of the White Night." Cirrus' eyes were trained on Epimetheus.

"Hm. A fine spirit indeed." He nodded his head. "Well then, O’ Cirrus Zephyr, Hero of the White Night." Epimetheus gets into his stance.

Cirrus follows along as well.

"…"

They both stared at one another when they both heard a tear, a ripping sound cuts through the air.

R̵̜̺̅̎Ḯ̵̢̖̕ͅĨ̸̧̗̣̣I̸̛̲̖̩͗I̴̳̳̬̍̽Ḯ̵̥͎ͅI̷͉̠͖̍͐̊͒I̴̳͂̃̆Î̵̪̠̅Ĩ̷͙̠͎̌I̵̡̛͒̿̓Ȉ̵͓̭͖̓͝I̸̺̊̆̌̕͜I̷̮̭͑̌P̴͕͈̖̲̐̆̃͋~̵̣͚̥̂̎͜!̶͍͕̀͋̀̐͜!̸͖̉!̴͓͍͍͊̾͝

"??"

They look to their left and right sides respectfully to see nothing before looking up to see a massive tear in space appear over them, across the sky.

The amount of power and force of these two heroes' clashes caused space itself to split.

The gods watching felt their blood run cold. They all uttered with fear in their voice:

"Fissure."

The worst possible thing that a Rift can turn into is one of even greater magnitude, as for one to form, several Rifts need to have formed close to one another to result in one of such size. A Fissure could also form if the rift is not addressed fast enough.

Immediately, as they said, Fissure, they called out to the administrator of Gekai.

"OURANOS!!!!"

"GRANTED!!!" Ouranos shouted.

Hestia, Hera, Artemis, Hermes, and Aphrodite held their hands out, and they all glowed an iridescent light of colors.

The collective Arcanum of these gods quickly covered the Fissure, and any damage was further prevented by containing it in a sphere the size of a 20-story building both in width and length.

Hanging over the Sacred Deer and the Scorched Eagle was a black-hole-like phenomenon with a rainbow event horizon.

The two men looked back at one another, and both took in a long breath of air as if it were their last, and they kicked off, breaking the ground even more.

Crack!!

Crack!!

They were still planning to end this all. The Fissure happening was of no concern to them, their only concern was the hero before them.

This was the end.

One last strike from their weary bodies and coarse throats as they cry out.

"Epimetheus!!!"

"Cirrus!!!"

The earth broke as they ran towards one another.

Cirrus spun White Night as it grew to be a spear’s length and leaped into the air.

Epimetheus stomped his foot into the ground and gathered power from the earth at his feet and then at his hip, where he twisted. That energy then went into his shoulders and arms.

Cirrus went for a downward strike, and Epimetheus a skyward strike.

"AHHHH!!!"

"AHHHH!!!"

In a fight with an equal foe, something had to eventually give, be it stamina, strength, blood, or even the endurance of a weapon, and in this case—

Clang!!!

Kirik!!!

—It was the weapon.

The only thing that stuck with Epimetheus for over 3000 years. The thing that has been with him more than his god.

"Ah…" Epimetheus looks to see Ethon finally break. Sliced, after so many battles and years.

He glanced at the divine weapon that clipped the eagle's wings, White Night. Not a single scratch, dent, or nick on it. Perfect.

The white blade, tinged with twilight, cut into him.

A cold line flowed through his body, a clear swipe down from the left shoulder to the right hip. Cutting from the bones of the left clavicle and every organ in between, separating whatever is in the line's path.

Spurt~!

"Fuu~" Epimetheus breathes out slowly.

With Ethon broken, its control of the Heavenly Flame was broken as well. So goes his immortality.

Finally, this long-fought hero may rest and be with those he has long lost to the march of time.

As he falls to the earth, he mumbles softly.

"Well shit."