Purgatory.

Crack!!!

Crack!!!

Bam!!!!! Bam!!!!! Bam!!!!! Bam!!!!! Bam!!!!! Bam!!!!!

Bam!!!!! Bam!!!!! Bam!!!!! Bam!!!!! Bam!!!!! Bam!!!!!

"… Zald and Alfia were a lot weaker here," Cirrus said as he beat waves of enemies.

‘Yeah, along with the horde of enemies, which took us what? A few months to get a full roster of the people you fought or killed?’ Nox said.

"Yeah."

‘At least the ones from Bukhara aren’t here—no. They are yet to appear in this hell.’

It has been 144 days since they arrived.

They have gotten used to fighting 24/7. Mentally, they are far more resilient now, but their body is now down to a leg, torso, and right arm. Cirrus used his spare weapons as makeshift limbs. Nox’s body was also in a similar state, with only his torso being covered.

"Haa… Let’s keep pushing."

‘Alright. Let’s hm?’

"What’s the matter? Do you see four Zald and Alfia's? Maybe a Hecton thrown in?"

‘No… The position of the sun changed.’

"…Are you sure?"

‘Very. Take a few steps back.’

Cirrus glanced at the sun and took a few steps back. The sun returns to hang right above them.

‘Now take a few steps forward.’

Cirrus did just that, and he could see the sun move slightly.

"Oooh!"

This was the first time the sun had moved in a long time.

‘Maybe this is our chance! One last push! Come on!!’

Cirrus ran as fast as he could.

Nox kept watch as the sun slowly fell from the sky.

 

Six hours later.

The sun has finally set, and they found their candle at the end of the tunnel.

That candle was a brilliant, ever-changing energy underwater, and he knew they both knew that was their key to something.

"Ooh." It fascinated Cirrus and Nox.

"How lucky we are to breathe underwater," Cirrus said.

‘Well, we aren’t even in our bodies, so I guess we lucked out, I guess.’

It was changing into various phenomena, reactions, animals, people, and even shapes with wild colors mixed and blended.

Of course, there is always a final trial before the end.

Bwoosh!!

"Fuck."

‘Fuck.’

Before Cirrus and Nox, when they are so close to the end of their tunnel, the kids from Bukhara, along with every single enemy, including a flaming copy of Epimetheus, stand between them and the exit.

‘Tch. Annoying. At least they're half as strong as the originals.’

"Yeah. I also grew tired and angry about this all this. This place brought those kids to torture me."

Cirrus has beaten himself up enough to numb himself to his actions in the Khios Desert. By this point, they are a sore spot that he simply bears and lives with, not even affecting his daily life.

‘Still, it will leave a sour taste in your mouth.’

"Yeah. But I will wash it from my mouth after seeing my kid."

Cirrus ran ahead, fully intent on ending this endless horde of half-baked enemies. But mostly he wanted to sleep. He wants to eat, drink, see another person, hold hands with his wives, kiss them, hold them, and have sex. He wanted to feel intimate love. But more importantly, by this point, he does not want to fight anymore.

 

A few swings later, he cleared the last obstacles in his way.

"Huff!! Huff!! Hmm!!"

He slowly walks to the amorphous thing, using his spare spear as a walking stick.

"… Finally. This can finally end."

‘Yeah. I can finally have legs and arms.’

Cirrus reaches for the ever-changing existence, and the second he touches it, it takes on a different shape and alters the world.

■!■!■!■!■!■!■!■!

"Gah!!"

‘Fuck, that’s bright!’

In a flash of light, the world turns into a white void, and it takes on a very familiar shape bathed in iridescent light.

That shape was Nox.

She looked like an ancient regal queen; her hair was even more white than it already was, with black stars in it. Her eyes were topaz, reminiscent of a figure Cirrus saw in his dream long ago.

"Oooh." Cirrus was captivated by this incidental beauty.

‘Hey, I look pretty hot! The eyes could be a better color, though.’

It then took another shape, and the world changed along with it.

"Oh, shi—" Cirrus braced him as water crashed into him.

Splash!!!!

Splash!!!!

Splash!!!!

"Grrrr!!!"

Cirrus and Nox bore through the pressure as they opened their eyes to see before them an assortment of old wooden planks stacked up like an altar, engulfed in an azure flame that illuminated the darkness of the depths they were in.

"What the fuck?"

‘Cirrus look!!’

Cirrus looked up beyond the azure flame and into the darkness, where a pair of red eyes like those of a white serpent appeared before turning into indigo eyes, then emeralds with indigo pupils.

They soon grew closer to Cirrus as more of its shape took form. The darkness soon had dots of light grow like an empty universe slowly gaining stars. The water currents then shaped the existence.

It was wrapped in an azure night itself.

Flap~

Flap~

A robe that holds the azure night sky and it flaps by the water’s currents.

Creak!

It steps on the altar of wood engulfed in flame, slowly walking closer to Cirrus.

Creak!

Creak!

Soon its head was adorned with golden antlers like a crown with two bowls, reminiscent of a weight scale, hanging off them from threads of gold. They couldn’t see its hair under the veil that covered it.

"… What the fuck."

‘Ooh… Cirrus, if I appeared before then this is—"

"Me?"

As if to respond, the entity rose its head to see past its veil to be Cirrus, with Kali’s tattoo encroaching where his scar was and in fact, that tattoo even went down to match what he has currently.

"What the fuck is this?"

Cirrus wonders what these versions of him and Nox were.

"Do not fret. You're not ready for the full power of Elpis." said the entity. "This is only the beginning, you still have more fights ahead."

"You can talk!? What do you mean by—"

Cirrus wanted answers, but the entity, with his appearance, gently placed his index finger on his forehead, and then he was absorbed.

           ■!■!■!

"What the fu—CK!!!!!!!!!!"

Power. Pure, unadulterated power.

‘W-what the fuck is this!!!!’

It was disgustingly powerful. Energy melted through the makeshift prosthetics Cirrus made and regenerated his limbs, along with Nox's, as more of her armor was repaired.

Their bodies quickly became energized. Too much of it.

"GAH!!! I’M DROWNING!! I CAN’T—!!!!"

Their bodies began to break and regenerate, but even then, bursts of energy shot out of them like a lightbulb in a broken vase.

Eventually, their body stopped breaking, and it was contained. But then it now began to violently stockpile within them.

‘Cirrus!!! Cirrus, hold on!! I’ll try to take as much of it as I can!!!’

While Nox was fine, Cirrus, however, was now overwhelmed to the point of bursting from the power, but with each new crack on his body, the power would fix it and more power built up, causing more cracks.

"FUCK!!! FUCK!!!!" He bellowed out in his pain-stricken voice.

‘Cirrus!! Hold on!! I’ll—’

The pain drowned Nox’s voice.

'I WILL NOT DIE HERE LIKE THIS!!!! NO!!! NOOO!!! NO!!!! FUCK THAT!!! I HAVE COME TOO FAR TO DIE LIKE THIS!!! I WILL NOT JUST FUCKING TAKE IT!!!! I WILL—’

"—FUCKING SEE MY KID!!! I WILL HAVE MY FUCKING FAMILY!!! I WILL HAVE MY HAPPY ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

His eyes swirled, and all of his negative emotions pushed him forward to the homeostasis of consciousness from the pain.

"GRRR!!!! GRRRRR!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!! NOX!!! HELP PROCESS THE ENERGY!!!! GO ALL OUT!!!! THAT’S A FUCKING ORDER!!!!! DO NOT HOLD BACK!!!!!"

Nox chanted without missing a beat.

‘(From the shadow of the night genesis a white light birthed. Paradox by nature, I tore through the balance. No god shall touch the night, I dance upon the stars.)!!!!!!’

Nox did not hesitate at all. She chanted her magic at such speeds that one would have bitten their tongue clean off.

‘[White Night]!!!!!’

The sky turned white, blotting out the sun, and intense heat and bone-chilling cold filled the area as a round Cirrus formed a black and white droplet. Then—

!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

—It absorbed everything in a swirl of black and white.

 

 

 

The world went white.

 

 

 

A sound beats through the void.

 

 

 

Thump-thump!

 

 

 

Thump-thump!

 

 

 

Thump-thump!

Then, from that emptiness, an azure flame with a deep indigo core came into existence. It emitted a boundless night sky like smoke filled with golden stars.

Bwoosh!

Then came a ball of pure white light with a topaz core. It did not emit grandeur like the blue flame, but its light was brilliant enough to closely match the flame.

Flash!

The ball of light got close to the blue flame.

There they remained together, simply existing. The blue flame reached out to the ball of light, but the ball did not resist it; instead, it reached out as well, and the two formed a bond.

From the white void came a purple-black flame, shooting out like a volcano.

BWOOOOOOSH!!!!!

Monsters and people arose from that flame.

"Ur... URAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!"

They all ran towards the blue flame and ball of light. With each step they took, the world turned back to before the void swallowed it.

Desertification took place as it reached the two of them.

The ball of white light moved in front in defense of the blue flame. It fired out beams of light.

Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!! Pew!!!

This would be the stalemate. No matter how hard the purple-black flame tried, it could never encroach more into the white void.

It brought forth a more dangerous monster, and no one could survive the ball of light assault of light beams of purification until something upset the balance that formed.