Danmachi: Westward Cloud [Complete]

[Vol.4] Quest 371- Kintsugi Through Perdition

“Ugh!? Fuck!!”

Cirrus's first concern was his body, so he focused on his wounds before realizing the situation he was in.

“Huh? This something?”

He held out his hand.

“(Sing).”

His magic circle formed, and a column of thunder shot through the void and slowly dissipated.

There was no difference between when he fired it and when it dissipated.

“Huh? Uhh…” He looked around to find only emptiness. “Shit. Did I get thrown into the void? Wait, is this the… aw fuck! Fuck!!”

He looked around desperately, but he didn’t know if he was moving or not; up and down were the same as left and right.

“Hah… Welp, guess I can rest.”

He leans back and goes into meditation. He has nothing better to do.

The next day?

"I might as well imagine I have some weapons.”

He would imagine swinging and slashing with a spear and sword and various things to pass the time if time was even passing; thus, he judged time by the time he slept, if he had not mastered how not to sleep.

“Fuck. I’m boned.”

He then spent his time singing.

“If I die in this world, who will know something of me♪

I am lost, no one knows♪

There’s no trace of my yearning♪

If I die in this world—But I must carry on♪”

Day in and day out, he would follow this routine.

“Huh, this is rather easy.”

With nothing to actively attack him like in the purgatory, Cirrus had to rely on himself.

4 months in.

“I want to kill myself; I want to kill myself.”

It was painful to even think and exist.

2 months later.

“Keep busy! Busy!! Busy!!!”

He threw himself into improving himself.

“(Sing)!!!!” he would practice his magic and skills.

And like that, a year had passed.

20 years later.

Cirrus has already refined his form and, generally, everything to his standard of perfection.

"I guess I’ll meditate.”

40 years later.

He meditated and meditated and mediated. He meditated so much that one would assume 3 lotus' would blossom on his hands and head.

80 years later.

He now runs simulations of his past opponents fighting with various handicaps, other people, and abilities.

160 years later.

He focuses his efforts on his magic control. Molding the electricity into various shapes, forms, and designs.

320 years later.

He said all the names he could remember, and it eventually turned into a mantra.

“Eupheme, Ai, Fels, Ouranos, Artemis, Hakushika, Callisto, Auberon, Alise, Ryuu, Malion, Fafnir, Hecton, Circe, Nox, Lenoa, Ibic, Lugh, Susanoo, Aphrodite, Hera, Poseidon, Rethusa, Vesta, Eupheme, Ai, Fels, Ouranos, Artemis, Hakushika, Callisto, Auberon, Alise, Ryuu, Malion, Fafnir, Hecton, Circe, Nox, Lenoa, Ibic, Lugh, Susanoo, Aphrodite, Hera, Poseidon, Rethusa, Vesta, Eupheme, Ai, Fels, Ouranos, Artemis, Hakushika, Callisto, Auberon, Alise, Ryuu, Malion, Fafnir, Hecton, Circe, Nox, Lenoa, Ibic, Lugh, Susanoo, Aphrodite, Hera, Poseidon, Rethusa, Vesta.”

640 years later.

“!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

He screams in madness at himself.

1,280 years later.

“______”

Only silence remains.

2,560 years later.

Cirrus grew bored with insanity and went sane.

“Ah… I finally understand the structure of my arms. Now what about my legs?”

He clawed himself out of madness and began seeing how the body works, from its limbs, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, veins, ligaments, skin, and hair. Everything worked on the cellular level.

5,120 years later.

“Haa!!! Huh!!! Fuu!! Raa!!”

Cirrus returns to his fighting style, remaking it from scratch.

10,240 years later.

“(Sing)”

Flash!!

Cirrus now sees how much he could create a city with his lightning before it fades. With each attempt, he adds a little bit more detail to this void.

Years upon decades, decades upon centuries, centuries upon millenniums, millenniums upon eons, and eons upon supereons.

Those human parts of his soul have been broken and fixed with those of a god, and then broken again till only a golden vase remained.

36,021,002,010 years in total.

By this point in his time in the void, he was building and breaking down his understanding in a never-ending solipsistic hell.

He is in unimaginable pain, stranded in a place devoid of anything. Yet despite it all, it’s all he keeps going for. That is all he has. No matter how much suffering the place brings, no matter how broken he becomes with every second, no matter how distant he becomes from the individual Cirrus Zephyr, he has to continue. Because he wants to live, Cirrus planted a garden, and he must be its gardener.

Eventually, something happened in this empty world, and his suffering finally ended.

“!?!?!?”

They felt a surge of power fill him with knowledge, wisdom, and strength instantly.

“̶͚̥̄̅̍͜G̸̨̬̩̈́̄͝A̶̠̮̹̬͊͝Ä̴̛̮͚̌A̸̙͂̈́Ȧ̷̖͖̅̔̀A̶̺̱͛͝H̸̱̫̰̖̔!̴̨̲̠̪́̈́̆?̵̛̱̙͈͒͆͝!̸̪̫̥̑̉̉?̴̠̆̇̚̕”̷̧̞̒

It was an excruciating pain that felt like a condensed, sublime form of all the years Cirrus was in that null.

Authorities given; Nyx’s request has been fulfilled. I have gifted you something special. I very much liked your song about being driven into insanity with one’s knowledge.

A voice that sounded like a child, an adult, and an elderly person all speaking at the same time, hitting him like a tidal wave that hammered him as much as this inexplicable power goes into him. It was even hard to identify whether the voice came from any specific gender.

“̸̲͍̘̀&̷͙̓ͅ$̷͕͎̖̋%̷̝͔̟̹́̈́?̶͍̈́̈́͋͗”̸́̇͜

They spoke in incoherent gibberish, and then everything went black as his body grew rigid, as if rigor mortis had set in.

Back to the present, Elysium remains quiet for a moment.

The look on his face expressed a deep moment for him. The stars of his clothing turned a purer white.

“… Thinking back on these moments,” Elysium said, closing his eyes and remembering them. “I remembered a quote.”

Everyone looks at him with bated breath.

“The quote goes as such.”

Everyone closes their eyes as he paints the picture for them.

The bird fights its way out of the egg.

CRACK~!!!

CRACK~!!!

Cirrus's body cracked.

The egg is the world.

CRACK~!!!

CRACK~!!!

CRACK~!!!

Cirrus's back began to bulge and break apart.

Who would be born must first?

His whole body was then split open like a cocoon.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!!!!!!!!!

Destroy a world.

And the new existence came into being.

The bird flies to God.

The new existence moves around as a blob before gaining features.

Almost as if they were an oil painting, layer after layer of perfection did their eyes: a pair of prismatic jewels—sapphire, ruby, topaz, opal, emeralds, diamonds—they were all beautifully painted, adorned into what was the blob head.

That’s impressive. No god of your Conceptual Ring could see that many dimensions. Had you been born in Heaven, your cry would have destabilized the very concept of it.

But they did not like it; the ability to see so much bothered them terribly.

One by one, their eyes grew less beautiful and more human in appearance and functionality.

They looked into the abyss, and the abyss spoke.

Annoying, isn’t it? To see so many things, it’s a chore. Now leave. Your time here is over. I have given you the authorities and knowledge that you require and what Nyx has asked.

The existence took a step forward and—Blip~

Back at the Nascent of Gods.

“!?!?”

Every god’s eyes widen as a new power appears in Heaven, putting out a crushing, titanic pressure that seems to reach the center of Heaven itself.

↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

“Hah… Hahahahaha!!!!” Nyx laughed out boisterously; she was smiling ear to ear.

“Nyx how—”

Nyx cuts out Ananke.

“Didn’t I say it would be finished within 36 days, 21 hours, 2 minutes, and 2 seconds?”

That was the time outside of The Void.

Days were billions of years, hours were millions, minutes were thousands, and seconds were decades.

“You knew all of this!" Vesta said, looking up at Nyx.

“I said to trust me!” Nyx was brimming with joy. “Now for the finishing touches!”

“Nyx!!!” Ananke shouted. “Was this your plan!!” She slowly walked toward her.

“Indeed, it was!" She smirked from ear to ear.

“How!? How did you hide this from me!!!” She reeled her arm back, ready to cut Nyx down. “TELL ME NOW! HOW DID YOU KNOW WHEN HE WILL APPEAR THE EXACT FUCKING TIME YOU PREDICTED!?!?”

Nyx looked her in the eye and gave her the answer.

“My veil, I have never once shown what I can fully do; if a piece of my veil can hide Cirrus’ soul, make him appear normal to the gods with Discerning Eye and my daughter hide from them all together! What do you think my whole veil can do? Face it, Ananke, even the goddess of fate itself, is not immune to their own concept; thus is the nature of fate!”

“You… You hid an entire timeline from me!?” Ananke’s face ran cold. She knew Nyx was a God-King much like her but on the weaker side. Yet this display of power to even avert her gaze was something that made her question everything and fractured the foundation of her confidence. “W-why!? Why do this!?”

“Because I knew the fate you wished to give him would have chained him to Gekai and made him work under heaven as our unpaid intern. No. The fate I saw of him and one I wish to give him was one where he was free.”

BOOOOOOM!!!

FWHOOOSH!!!

“Grrr!!”

A massive blast of wind tore through the area. The force was comparable to the Tsar Bomba; it blew several gods back and stopped the music before another took its place.

♪♪♪♪♪♪

An orchestra of violins filled the ears.

“?” Every god but Nyx looked around, confused.

They look around the area to see humanoid figures made of transparent energy. They were a massive orchestra—a symphony.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

They built up until they hit a climax, and then the whole symphony came to life, and they came.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

Tap!

From the dust, many could see a golden bow.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

Clack!

A silver arrow is notched.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

Creak~

It is then pulled back and released.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

______!!

It shot through the air with no sound at all. Only the sound of the orchestra accompanied it.

Ananke knew it was going to miss her future sight before it exploded into several hundred million possibilities.

“!?” Immediately, she teleported away.

Teleport!

So many possibilities overwhelmed her, and yet they kept growing and growing into infinity.

Tap-Tap!

She immediately sealed her future sight as she felt a stinging, throbbing, wet sensation run down her fingers.

“?” She raised her right hand to see the silver arrow strike her. “Ahhhh!!!” She screamed out in pain; it seared into her mind. “Who are you!!!” She shouted, cutting the arrowhead off and pulling the rest of the arrow out.

Tap~

Tap~

Out of the smoke came Artemis, wrapped in a robe made of the night sky. In her hands were her Divine Weapons: Phoebe, The Light Bringer, an indestructible golden bow, and Orion, The Hunter, a silver arrow that duplicates itself within the quiver and will always find its mark.

“A-Artemis!?” Every god shouted.

“Nay.” She quieted everyone as her form seamlessly changed to Astraea. “I am neither Artemis nor Astraea." They changed again to another form. “Not Ouranos.” They said as their form was like his before changing again to Ai. “Nor am I a Renard nor a human.” They changed more and more forms, their divine-like power growing and growing until it was crushing them all with the force of a black hole.

↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

“Throughout all of heaven, I alone am worthy of being feared.” Their existence is said to only nail down their existence.

↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

“Grrrrr!!” Ananke crumbled to her knees, barely able to look up at the existence.

“By the way.” The existence said. “I should introduce myself first.”

Their arrogance rubbed the gods the wrong way, but who are they to disagree?

All but a few gods were targeted by this force.

The existence, with a thought, stopped it and appeared before Ananke.

Blip!

Tap-Tap!

They then took an elegant bow.

Ananke looked up at a figure of sublime, perfect beauty. They easily left a deep impression on her, for all who set their eyes on them.

They were draped and covered in decadent white robes that faded off into the brightest and clearest night sky. The stars were like polished jewels embroidered into the clothing. One could argue that it matched or even surpassed Nyx’s veil. Their long white hair faded into a walnut brown, which did well to frame their almond eyes, which were a simple green with silver pupils, but their faces and all that the gods could see from their bodies made it appear as if they were painted with masterful care and precision. But what tied it all together like the cherry on top was their divinity. It wreathed them in a corona of power that oozed a transcendent feeling that brought this work of art to life.

“My name is—”

That God's name is—

“Elysium, the God of Nascent. Also, Mozart is fucking overrated. This is Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 Movement 4, or as it's more commonly known, New World.”

           ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

The symphony roared to life with even more fervor.

“And it fucking slaps.”

Their divine-like energy burst out again, but unlike last time, this did not crush them. It lifted them.

↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑

Several gods felt an undescribed level of upliftingness, like the hit notes of the symphony.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

It was for a moment to show how far above they were compared to everyone else.

Their might and power could easily rival or surpass that of the other God-Kings of Heaven and even the likes of Ananke and Chronos if they were together against them.

“So, do you want to keep fighting?” Elysium said. “From the looks of it, you lost all that confidence. Come on.” Elysium’s eyes narrow. “You were talking so much shit before you fucking Bruce Lee-ed one inch punched me into Khaos. I’m all for a more even playing field. I can even change the song to one that would describe how I was feeling—just moments for you but years for me." His eyes narrow in with a cold, refined fury. "How would you feel to get beaten down and have your existence scattered to the stars, all to the tune of Dies Irae?"

“What say you?” Nyx asked Ananke as she was staring at Artemis’ Divine Weapons. “Give up?”

Several emotions ran through Ananke’s mind and face.

“Come on,” Elysium said as Artemis’s divine weapons floated before him. “I wanna see what fate can do.” The weapons let out a tiny orb of gold and silver.

Elysium put Artemis’ Divine Weapons away as the gold and silver light mixed into a large orb of silver and gold.

Clack!

Elysium snatched it out of the air to reveal a long-barreled weapon. They decorated it with lavish silver and gold engravings that covered the whole weapon. They even modernized it with an infinity-shaped magazine.

“W-what the in the world is that!?” Ananke knew the shape of it—a gun—but its barrel length confused her.

“This is called a Wall Gun.” Elysium had it trained on Ananke. “Used from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Primarily used to break advancing troops. It lies somewhere between a musket and the lightest form of artillery at the time. Of course, I changed and improved it. I call this weapon in honor of Artemis. Freischütz. But you may call it a gun, of the long ass variety.”

He had just made a new Divine Weapon from the smallest of the essences of Phoebe and Orion.

Ananke was predominantly becoming more fearful. She does not want to be at the end of that barrel.

“… Nyx. Do you mind if you lift your veil on the timeline now?” Ananke asked quietly as her wounds slowly healed. “I will determine from there.”

“Sure.” Nyx glowed, and a wave of night sky went through all of Heaven. “Have a look♪”

“!!” Upon releasing her veil, she could see the timeline Nyx had seen so long ago. “Ah… I see.” Ananke understood having undone her seal she bore through the infinity of time bombarding her with possibilities and variables. She quickly began to curate and hone down what she is looking for which upon first doing so was done immediately, the light the timeline gave off was in her face. “Oh... I had already said the answer.” She made a bitter expression.

Ananke had a taste of her own medicine. She did not like the bitterness of it.

“So, Ananke,” Elysium said. “You wanna keep going? I have a whole War And Peace worth of shit talking.”

“You have grown arrogant; has becoming an actual god brought out the hideousness inside you?”

“…” Elysium takes her words to heart. “You are correct. Hold on a second.” A small barrier formed around him.

Many of the gods could tell what he did.

“T-they made a Time Bubble!?” shouted Chronos.

Elysium stood still inside the bubble before it popped right away.

Pop!

Once the bubble popped, Elysium had an even more grandiose and gentle presence.

“Let us end this. I have no ill will toward you anymore. My fight with you was for my survival and well-being. But I will keep going if you still seek conflict. Very willing. You could even throw in the gods who suggested what to do with me." Elysium looked to the stand with keen eyes remembering all the gods who looked away.

Ananke could feel their intentions. They didn’t want to fight, but a little bit of them did. They wanna see what they can do and how much of their power they can express. They want to know and learn. A destructive thirst for self-discovery could very well end with her being reborn.

“I understand that.” She turned around, tired of this whole event. “I conceded. You have won. The trial is over. You can do what you want. I do not wish to see you ever again.” Ananke then disappeared, teleporting away.

Chronos soon followed her, worried about her.

“… This left a bittersweet taste in my mouth, Nyx.” They looked at her as she walked around them. “You really tricked her and me. Snap!”

A fingerless snap quiets the music playing.

He then stored the newly-made divine weapon in his shadow.

“Hm…” Nyx was closely looking at Elysium. “Seeing you in person certainly is something.” She moves his robe to see nothing that could be described as a body drawn by master artists. “Also, do not worry about Ananke.” She looked him up and down, but he really was just a feast for the eyes. “You gave her something she never had—a new experience. That alone is worth more than anything to an immortal god.”

“Heh.” Elysium then looked to Vesta. “Vesta.” They kneel before her. “I am sorry I—”

“I am happy you are still alive!" She came and hugged them.

Elysium smiled and patted their head.

“I am sorry, but I wish for the first people these hands embrace to be my wives and kids,” Elysium said.

“That’s perfectly fine!” Vesta said, happy that he still was Cirrus inside.

“Elysium,” Erebus said, coming up to them.

“My. You have the worst timing.” Elysium said, glancing up at him.

“You know what you have to—"

Present.

“Well, the rest is a bit of a spoiler,” Elysium said. “Oh, and Nyx also gave me this memory pill she made from my memories while I was asleep. But that’s not really important.”

“Come on!! I wanna know what that bastard Erebus was going to say!" Artemis shouted, with Astraea right behind her.

“Tomorrow.” Elysium earnestly smiles. “Tomorrow I will tell the world my goals. So how about we enjoy the rest of the day? I wanna eat and drink again after so long.”

“Well, I have to go and update all of their status now,” Artemis said.

“And we have to change. We can’t walk around in funeral attire.” Malion said.

“Are you going to change Cirrus?” Ai asked.

“…No. These clothes are—were mine.”

“Were? They are yours.”

“I will wait here!” He said, giving a gentle smile.

“Well, if you’re not gonna change, then I won’t as well!" Ai said, jumping onto his lap.

“Oof!?”

“We are matching clothes!”

“!!!” Malion, Ryuu, and Artemis's eyes widen at that fact.

“I believe I will take my leave,” Fels said.

"Are you leaving already?” Elysium said, getting up and carrying Ai in his arms.

“Yes. Lady Metis has run off and... I wish to give her something before she leaves. But before I go, I wanted to give you this.” They walked up to Elysium and hugged them tightly. “I am so happy you are back, my son.”

“I am too.” Elysium hugs them as much as he could with Ai on his lap.

“Thank you. Enjoy your day, Cirrus.”

Fels puts on their cloak and disappears.

"So... are you girls going to get changed?” Elysium looked to Artemis, Malion, and Ryuu.

“W-well…” Ryuu said, a bit embarrassed.

Ai could see they didn’t want to dress out of their clothing. They wanted to match Elysium.

“How about I go with you guys? We are a bit sweaty!” Ai gave them a signal with her eyes.

“!” They all caught on.

“Thank you, Ai,” Ryuu said. “Cirrus, we will be ready soon."

"Then I'll get out of your hairs."

Elysium gets up and leaves the room with Astraea following him.

As they left, Astraea spoke up.

“My… I never thought I would have an actual son.” Astraea said, patting his head as they walk down the tower. “And one so reckless.”

“…Yeah. I didn’t think I would have so many parents.”

'Guess I am a god. I hope the family tree doesn’t turn into a circle.’

“So… How does it feel to be a god?” Astraea sat next to him.

“Not what you feel. I think you and Artemis know I am a slightly different species from the gods in Orario.”

"Yes, you are.” She then touched his shoulder. “You have a mortal body, born of the Gek—I should call it Elysia, right?”

“That is its name, but you can call it Gekai if you wish.”

“No. It has a proper name, and it should be called as such. Elysia. Named after its first god, Elysium.”

“Yeah… Tell me, is Cecil here?”

“She is with Bree. The two of them get along rather well!"

“I see. That’s wonderful. By the way.” He looked at a corner “Mairu, you can come out.”

Mairu slowly walked out from the side of the door.

“S-sorry Lord Kyūjouno!" She bowed profusely. “I-I um came a few minutes ago…”

She didn't know how to act or say infront of Elysium.

“It’s fine. Do you wish to come along and celebrate?”

“I-I wouldn’t want to impose on—”

“Nonsense. Come join us.” He gave her a earnest smile.

“A-are you sure, sir?”

“I am. Now hurry and—Damn. Sorry, but close your eyes.”

“O-okay, sir!” She closes them tight.

“Good. Now when I snap my fingers, I want you to open them, got it?”

“Got it!”

“Cool, now hurry and change. Snap!!”

Mairu opens her eyes to find herself in the spare room they gave her to stay in.

“Ooh! Oh wait, I need to change!"

The two  went down to the first floor and waited while chatting a bit when his family came down. The kids were all dressed casually. Nox was on Callisto’s head, as was Circe on Haku’s shoulder. Behind Haku was Mairu, following three steps behind him.

His wives were all dressed to match Cirrus, not in funeral attire but in black dresses that fitted them well.

Nox flies over and lands on Elysium’s shoulders. She turns back to her human form.

“That is a large family.” She then rests her arm on his head. “Isn’t it... Cirrus?" She glanced at his eyes.

"Yeah, it is.” He said it smiling ear to ear. “I am happy.”

The stars on his clothes turned pink and white.

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