Tokyo Ginza, Tokuyama Restaurant.
It was already past the 11 PM closing time, but this popular Michelin restaurant remained open, serving only a single person. At a window seat, in a private space partitioned by a noren curtain, Stella was eating the signature sea bream ochazuke. The sashimi used jelly instead of fillings, an innovative dish she had recently grown fond of.
It was true she had been feeling uneasy lately, but she wouldn't deprive herself of the enjoyments she deserved. She had come to terms with it; whether in Ginza or Chiyoda, distance was meaningless to Saint Seiya. What should be enjoyed must be enjoyed.
A peculiar chill suddenly shot up her spine. Stella subconsciously looked up at the window before her. Outside was the glittering Tokyo nightscape, yet in the glass's reflection, the phantom of a winged goddess, nocking an arrow to her bow, was clearly visible!
Nemesis! She had finally come!
The heart that had been dangling in suspense for so long strangely settled back into place at this moment, only to be replaced by a sharper sense of crisis—she had been completely locked on by the other's Law of Causality!
Instinctively, Stella wanted to scream and run, but the piercing pain of being locked by fate made her realize that escape was futile. She tried to summon the Four Stalwart Generals of Flower-Fruit Mountain under her command, but even these top-tier divine beasts could not stop the arrow aimed at her.
The Wheel of Friendship spun as she instinctively tried to call out to Seiya, but her call was like a stone cast into the sea.
"In the face of life-threatening evil, Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, shall deliver divine punishment. May the sanction of justice be upon you. The future arises from the causes of the past. O, Fate, reveal the connection of causality!"
The icy words of Nemesis echoed in the void.
This very moment was the one and only opportunity for success, guided by causality!
At that same moment, in that room, the movements of two people about to overlap paused slightly.
Because the Wheel of Friendship was naturally glowing, it was as much of a mood-killer as a call from a friend right when you were about to get to home base with your girlfriend. And Seiya's choice, naturally, was to hang up and turn off his phone.
He had anticipated that Nemesis would appear at this time, but it didn't matter. Stella wouldn't die anyway, and it was fine for her to suffer a bit for the trouble she had caused herself.
Seiya raised a hand, gently but indisputably adjusting Guinevere's face. In the interwoven, ambiguous light, their two faces overlapped in the shadows. Guinevere, slightly taken aback, responded to Seiya with equal passion.
"Just like this... I can feel it, a little more..."
Guinevere murmured in her heart.
Even with just the most basic connection, the long-dried-up source of her power was being swiftly nourished, like parched land receiving welcome rain.
She couldn't help but tighten her arms.
Seiya felt the attachment and craving of the girl in his arms, and his own restlessness and desire for possession also surged.
The Wheel of Friendship continued to send its call, but Seiya paid it no mind.
As everyone knew, he, Pegasus, was the most loyal and devoted champion of Athena's Sanctuary. Now that an important companion needed his power, how could Seiya not give it his all.
"Burn, my Cosmo!"
A night passed without a word. As Seiya drifted off to sleep, holding Guinevere in his arms, he found himself in a dream. Looking up, he saw a waxing crescent moon hanging in the sky.
Other than that, this was an uninhabited wilderness with no other distinguishing features. There were no birds or beasts, nor any buildings. Strictly speaking, there was only a field of slender silvergrass, and the air was filled with the scent of autumn.
The sound of a zither echoed across the desolate plain, and Seiya walked toward its source.
Not being a native of Japan, Seiya could only guess that it was not the sound of a Japanese koto. The music itself was beautiful, but its timbre and melody were filled with a foreign sentiment, closer to a Western-made instrument than a Japanese one.
Wandering in the dream, Seiya walked across the plain, searching for the musician. And this kind of tone, perhaps it was played by someone who harbored eternal sorrow and regret? For some reason, Seiya thought of the Pandora from another world.
That arrogant Commander of the Specters would occasionally reveal such an emotion. This image surfaced in Seiya's mind. The emotional fluctuations in the melodious music rarely stirred Seiya's sentimental heart.
Then, the sound of recited poetry mingled with the music:
"All that rises must fall,
all meetings end in parting,
and life ends in death..."
This was a hymn of praise to Rama from the Ayodhya Kanda.
A shiver ran down Seiya's spine.
It felt as if he were hearing a song praising a sworn enemy, stirring the indignation, defiance, and fighting spirit of his Godslayer side.
The identity of the reciter was now clear. Seiya pushed aside the slender silvergrass and finally saw the person playing the zither and reciting poetry.
This person, sitting leisurely in the desolate wilderness, plucking the ancient zither on her lap, was a princess in a gorgeous kimono. She had beautiful, light brown hair and a pair of clear, bright, glass-colored eyes.
It was the Princess with Lapis Lazuli Eyes he had encountered several times in the Netherworld! The princess noticed Seiya's arrival, stopped playing, and a gentle smile bloomed on her lips. However, even this stunning smile could not hide the deep, unresolvable sorrow in her eyes.
"I have been waiting for you for a long time, Rakshasa Lord. I humbly ask your forgiveness for disturbing your sweet dreams without permission."
"It's fine. But why have you appeared in my dream?" Seiya asked curiously.
The smile on the princess's face quietly faded, her expression turning grave.
"To be honest, it was your adoptive mother—that goddess—who entrusted me with a message for you. Only then was I able to borrow this 'Dream-Viewing Technique' from the Netherworld to meet you."
"Adoptive mother?"
Seiya thought for a moment.
"Miss Pandora?"
The only one who could call herself his adoptive mother was the one who presided over the Dark Christmas Festival of the Fox God and created the God-Slaying Beast—the goddess of the Underworld, Pandora. Seiya hadn't expected that just after thinking of the Pandora from the Saint Seiya world before bed, he would now receive news of this goddess.
Sometimes, Seiya truly couldn't make sense of his relationships. Athena and Athena, Pandora and Pandora... he had always mocked the chaotic relationships of the Greeks, but he didn't know when he himself had also...
His thoughts stopped there. Seiya shook his head, not thinking about it any further.
"Precisely," the princess solemnly answered Seiya's confirmation.
"My former self and that lady's ancestral goddess... can be said to originate from the same source. This is the fated connection of our acquaintance."
The Princess with Lapis Lazuli Eyes didn't want to say too much about her past.
Seeing Seiya, she became serious and directly conveyed the message:
"Your adoptive mother, she wants you to be wary of Athena."
She watched as Seiya raised an eyebrow, his expression barely changing, and knew that he hadn't taken Pandora's words to heart.
"Lady Pandora has sensed a violent fluctuation in fate, a great divergence concerning your future. Perhaps Athena loves you deeply, but this love... may ultimately lead to an outcome you would never wish to see. One day, it may endanger your life and bring a destructive calamity to the present world. Please, you must act with caution."
Putting aside the riddles of these gods and combining it with his own information, Seiya roughly understood that Pandora did not want to see him become the God King, or more accurately, the Last King.
The reason was that this future would invite a disaster he could not bear.
Seiya smirked.
He didn't take it seriously.
When he transformed into the God King Pegasus, any disaster could take it up with his Pegasus God Cloth.
When he became a powerful individual capable of easily destroying heaven and earth, a so-called unbearable disaster would be nothing more than a minor affliction.
However, in the dream, he gave a slight bow.
"Please tell Pandora I have received her sentiment, and I will consider it carefully."
The Princess with Lapis Lazuli Eyes slowly vanished amid her sorrowful gaze. A great fire swept through the desolate plain, incinerating everything in sight. Only the pink waxing crescent moon remained, hanging high in the distant sky.
Still, Seiya felt like he had forgotten something.
When Seiya woke up again, he instinctively tightened his embrace, but the softness was already gone.
Following his senses, he looked up and saw a girl with the exquisite features of a rare doll standing before the window. Even though she said nothing, Seiya understood in his heart that the Guinevere he knew had returned.
For some reason, at this moment, Seiya's heart felt empty.
Seeing Seiya's slightly furrowed brow, Guinevere sighed, walked over to him, and patted his cheek.
"I am a Divine Ancestor whose mission is to resurrect the Last King, yet I never thought that in my third life, I would become the subordinate of a God-Slaying Beast."
At this moment, Guinevere revealed a sorrow similar to that of the Princess with Lapis Lazuli Eyes.
The true identity of the Princess with Lapis Lazuli Eyes was Sita from Hindu mythology. At that time, she was caught between her savior, the ten-headed demon king, and the Last King, Rama. And Guinevere now faced a similar situation.
"Don't you think this is a good thing? It avoids the fate of us crossing swords," Seiya said, taking the right hand that was caressing his cheek.
But she stopped him at the last moment, holding the Magical Holy Grail in her hand.
Seiya held nothing back from Guinevere, and this magnificent power not only allowed her to pass through her childhood stage directly but had even accumulated enough energy for her to transform back into the Heretical Dragon.
But her resistance crumbled under a single gaze from Seiya.
Guinevere also understood.
Her current body had been reshaped by the Magical Holy Grail, and the Grail's life essence was converted from Seiya's own essence, spirit, and energy.
In a way, she and Stella were now like non-blood-related sisters.
And the situation they faced was the same.
"I won't force you, Marin-san. Just like when I was young, you never forced me to walk that path," Seiya said.
Guinevere nodded, backing away from Seiya until, just as she neared the window, she turned into a shadow and disappeared into the darkness.
A few breaths later, Seiya could no longer sense Guinevere's presence. The restored Witch Queen had completely vanished from his perception.
"Tomorrow you will have become a snake, and will begin to eat men. With that same mouth that devours men, you will go on saying you love me. Can I then truly say, as I do today, that I still love you?"
Seiya sighed, then looked at the empty courtyard and finally remembered what he had forgotten.
Stella had been captured. A strange expression appeared on Seiya's face. The events of this night had probably been relayed back to Olympus by now.
But Seiya wasn't in a hurry. Things being what they were, it was time for breakfast first.
The Divine Realm of Troy. The most famous battle in ancient Greek legend was currently underway.
The Trojan War began when the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, the queen of Sparta. At the plea of the Spartan king, King Agamemnon of Mycenae organized a coalition of Greek armies, assembling a thousand warships to launch an expedition against Troy. The gods of Mount Olympus were also drawn into the war.
An invisible shadow streaked across the sky. Even in the world of the gods, few noticed its passage.
Far from the main battlefield, on a stretch of azure sea, stood a solitary island. The winged goddess of retribution, Nemesis, landed here and set down the tightly bound figure in her hands—it was none other than the love goddess, Stella.
"Hahahaha!"
Although Stella was tied up like a dumpling, her spirit was undiminished.
"You don't dare take me back to Olympus! It seems you're just acting on Hera's orders, not that I've committed some heinous crime! Let me go!"
Nemesis stared coldly at the clamoring love goddess, her face devoid of its former reverence. Her gaze was like ice. At her will, the great golden net binding Stella suddenly tightened, its marks sinking deeper into the young girl's skin.
Divine Instrument—the Golden Net of Hephaestus!
The love goddess who had manifested in the world now was centered on her aspect as "Princess Stella born from the seafoam." Although she always mocked Athena as an old virgin, before meeting Seiya, she herself had indeed remained pure.
However, in myth, the love goddess was the wife of Hephaestus. And this golden net was specially forged by Hephaestus to deal with the goddess who had betrayed him.
This divine instrument, designed specifically for Stella, was far more effective than others. Stella soon realized that the more she struggled and yelled, the tighter the golden net binding her became, and all her authorities had fallen dormant.
"Since there's nothing wrong with me, hurry up and untie me! How dare a mere lesser god be so disrespectful to the great Lady Stella!"
The goddess of retribution cast a cold glance at her.
"Stop struggling. Even at your peak, Princess, you would fall to this golden net, let alone in your current incomplete state. You don't need to call for help, either. Queen Hera, who sent me, has grown tired of your talent for trouble. She plans to forge you directly into the divine instrument, the Girdle of Friendship. That way, you'll be more convenient to handle."
Stella, originally 1.4 meters tall, was now only fifty or sixty centimeters in size under the net's restraint. As time passed, she was completely transforming into the appearance of a figurine.
An expression of obvious shock appeared on Stella's face.
"Which means... you and Hera were lying to me all along?!"
All that talk of looking out for her, of wanting to break the fate of her enslavement, had all been false.
Nemesis revealed an expression of undisguised sarcasm and mockery.
"Oh, Princess, second only to the humans you despise, you are the most self-righteous... idiot."
Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in the sky. Nemesis averted her gaze from the devastated Stella. In this divine realm where the Greek gods manifested, even with the protection of causality, it still wasn't safe; she might be discovered by Zeus.
It was best to deliver Stella to Lady Hera as soon as possible.
Just as Nemesis made up her mind, she saw that the pain and confusion in Stella's heart had vanished.
Perhaps realizing her own weakness, Stella shouted at the top of her lungs, "Seiya, save me!"
_____
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