Not waiting for Seiya to turn around in the slightest, nor having any intention of engaging in conversation, towards this assassin who had suddenly appeared in the Goddess's palace, Pope Arles raised the corners of his mouth in a cold smile and unleashed the most feared strike among the Saints.
"—Genro Maoken!"
This legendary demonic fist had long since surpassed the realm of ordinary illusionary arts. It did not create false images; rather, it acted directly upon the core neural centers of the opponent's brain, forcibly invading, rewriting, and dominating with an absolutely tyrannical willpower!
For those struck by it, their self-awareness would be instantly shattered, as if deeply hypnotized, becoming a puppet who would obey the caster's every command.
What made it even more terrifying was that this支配 effect was branded deep into the soul. Even if the physical body perished, the spiritual shackles would remain. It was the source of a demonic power that could, in a true sense, control life and death!
As expected! The mysterious intruder's body stiffened abruptly, as if struck by an invisible sledgehammer, and he began to tremble violently.
His knees buckled, and like a marionette with its strings cut, he collapsed heavily onto the cold marble floor.
"And here I thought it was some manner of powerful warrior, to dare come to Sanctuary to assassinate Athena. No matter what secrets you hide, no matter who sent you, now, under my Genro Maoken, reveal everything to me!"
Following the Pope's cold command, the kneeling figure, as if controlled by invisible threads, began to confess mechanically and without reservation:
"I am... from the Land of Ice... the leader of the Burning Legion under Queen Hilda... By the queen's command... I have come to eradicate Athena and the seven chosen children... Only when the Goddess falls... can my clan's authority completely erode this land... and take control of the human world..."
"You things hiding away in Asgard dare to covet my Earth! Neither Aiolos nor any other false god can take it from my hands!" Arles snorted coldly, a flame of resentment igniting in his heart.
He couldn't wait to summon all the Saints, reveal his identity, and from then on, rule as the Pope in Athena's stead, serving as the lord of this Sanctuary and the Earth!
Just as his swelling ambition was about to extinguish the last shred of his clarity, just as he was impatient to gather the Gold Saints and formally announce his grand enterprise of replacing Athena and reigning over Sanctuary—
"Wake up! You piece of trash with a mind full of wicked thoughts!" A cold and piercing voice, like a clap of thunder, exploded in his mind!
The voice was faster than his conscious reaction; his body's instincts had already activated the moment the voice sounded! Arles's right hand, as if pulled by an unseen force, shot up, his five fingers clawing viciously at the empty space before him!
Clang—!
An ear-piercing sound, like shattering glass!
The thing that had been affecting his own thoughts was his own... Genro Maoken!
With the two combat techniques of the same origin colliding, the now-lucid Pope Arles looked at the figure before him grasping his neck, the Cloth on his body awakening the nightmare hidden in the deepest recesses of his heart.
"Impossible, this is...? !" another young man's voice rang out from a distance.
In Tokyo, Japan, at the Kido Foundation, the Saints guarding Saori Kido also noticed something was amiss.
"Shiryu, Hyoga, look! The helmet is glowing!" Andromeda Saint Shun's voice trembled slightly.
In truth, Shun's reminder was unnecessary. Cygnus Hyoga and Dragon Shiryu had both already sensed that immense energy outburst.
It was a Cosmo erupting from within the Cloth, yet it held no destructive power. Instead, it seemed to be responding to something.
The last remaining piece of the Sagittarius Gold Cloth, the helmet, along with the other parts far away on a demonic isle, simultaneously transformed into meteors, converging above the great ocean.
Although they didn't know what the awakening of the Sagittarius Gold Cloth signified, their instincts told them that this was likely a good thing.
The world was a deep, dark blue, and a torrential rain poured down.
Purple lightning and furious winds swept across the lands of Sanctuary, while the Saint standing beside the statue of Athena looked down upon him...
Alarms, calls, thunder, and footsteps all allowed Arles to regain his footing, making him realize he had returned to the real world.
Hah! Ah! Ah!
Streaks of golden light, more dazzling than lightning, like meteors tearing through the rainy night, suddenly descended into this temple that symbolized the supreme authority of Sanctuary!
As the light scattered, figures appeared one by one within the temple, clad in golden armor that reflected the light of the sun, their presence majestic and imposing.
The Gold Saint, Aioria of Leo.
The Gold Saint, Camus of Aquarius.
The Gold Saint, Aphrodite of Pisces.
The Gold Saint, Shura of Capricorn.
The Gold Saint, Milo of Scorpio.
The Gold Saint, Shaka of Virgo.
Aldebaran of Taurus.
The Gold Saint, Deathmask of Cancer.
These were the newest generation of Gold Saints, the pinnacle of all warriors, but all of their gazes were focused on the man standing in the very center.
He was draped in a white cloak, and the great golden wings on his back spread naturally in the wind and rain, shining with a sacred light.
His posture perfectly matched the warriors depicted in the murals of Sanctuary.
But his face was covered by a gleaming silver mask, and from the eye and mouth openings of the mask, a scorching light like the sun's blazed forth.
"Sagittarius?" Shaka of Virgo spoke softly.
The mysterious man before them had not announced his name, yet his entire being was inscribed with the name of Sagittarius.
Throughout the generations of Saints, the Sagittarius Saint had always worn a white cloak with golden wings, wielding the bow of the gods.
He served concurrently as the personal guard of the goddess Athena and the guardian of the House of Sagittarius, the most loyal of all Saints.
In myth, Sagittarius is the symbolic constellation of the God King Zeus, forever maintaining the will to fight, forever defending justice. He is like the valiant heroes of Greek mythology, a symbol of righteousness and strength.
But the problem was that the Sagittarius Gold Saint, Aiolos, had already died in September of 1973, forever branded in that year with the shame of attempting to assassinate the reincarnated goddess.
This was a completely illogical state of affairs. It was a figure of utmost divinity, yet in the eyes of a few with ulterior motives, he was like a demon clawing its way out of Hell.
"Gold Saints, it has been a long time." The man clad in the Sagittarius Cloth finally spoke.
His voice was flat, yet it seemed to carry the tone of an old friend reunited.
He made no move to approach, yet an immense and irresistible pressure from his Cosmo, like a tangible blade, descended upon the heart of every Saint.
The feeling was incomparably clear: if he were to take even a single step forward, it would bring about a world-shattering catastrophe.
The divine wrath of a War God and the fearful trembling of a Death God—these two unique combat auras now brought upon them a pressure more terrifying than that of a god.
"Kill him! Kill this traitor!" Pope Arles roared, not daring to let this man in the Sagittarius Cloth speak any further.
He would not take the risk, not even if the possibility was one in a thousand.
He suddenly raised his hand, the spiraling light twisting around them as his powerful Cosmo erupted in the rain.
Another Dimension!
This, too, was a top-tier combat technique. It used a powerful Cosmo to compress space, causing spacetime to warp and creating a dimensional passage to another world, sending one's opponent into an unknown dimension that does not belong to this universe.
If the enemy cannot find an exit, they will drift trillions of light-years away, doomed for all eternity. It is a spatial technique that can effortlessly eliminate an enemy from the battlefield.
"Wait, Pope... that's Sagittarius!" Aioria of Leo cried out anxiously, but was rebuked by Pope Arles's fury, "Are you going to side with that traitor as well?!"
"Pope, it's absolutely not like that! But we should hear what he has to say!"
He didn't know what to say, or rather, many of the Saints harbored the same question in their hearts.
But seeing that figure already being twisted within the space of Another Dimension, the matter was settled.
But in the next instant, Shaka of Virgo crossed the spatial distance and appeared behind Pope Arles.
Just as the Pope was watching this most elite Saint with extreme vigilance, the brilliant light of Tenku Haja Chimimoryo emerged from Shaka's palm.
And within that distorted space, an even grander vision of the Twenty-Four Heavens came pressing down in response.
Tenku Haja Chimimoryo VS Tenma Kofuku!
Illuminated by this vision of the heavens, the mysterious man who had been drawn into the other dimension, far from being exiled, remained standing firmly in his original spot.
The golden flames of his burning Cosmo were so intense that they instantly evaporated the pouring rain into a vast white mist.
The mist was scattered by the fierce wind only to condense once more, revealing his eyes, which shone through the mask's openings like two scorching suns.
"Scarlet Needle!" Milo of Scorpio, the Gold Saint, could not hold back from attacking.
His Cosmo had already sensed that the person before him was an unprecedentedly powerful enemy, and he could not afford to hold anything back!
The Scarlet Needle is the precursor technique to the Scarlet Needle, and this combination technique is a high-concept, rule-based attack.
But the mysterious man before him merely swiped a hand lightly in front of himself. A barrier composed entirely of compressed space appeared out of thin air, and the Crimson Light Needles he had fired met the curtain and were frozen in place.
"Scarlet Needle, a very impressive combat technique. But did your master not tell you that before the fifteenth needle, your Crimson Light Needles cannot inflict a fatal wound on an enemy?" the mysterious man said coldly.
Even the weakest Bronze Saint could see his own Crimson Light Needles suspended in mid-air, spinning at high speed, yet unable to advance even a single micrometer.
As they spun, they veered off course, and finally, with an incredible, sharp pain, Milo dropped to one knee.
He looked at the light needle that had suddenly appeared in his chest, having not even seen its trajectory.
No, there was no trajectory at all; it had just suddenly, and with uncanny strangeness, pierced through his chest.
What kind of attack was this? Spatial transfer, time control, or was it an even more mysterious causality-based combat technique?!
This was no longer a time for contemplation, because that splendidly powerful Saint finally moved.
Between flashes of lightning, a brilliance that had been absent for over a decade rose once more in Sanctuary.
—Atomic Thunder Bolt!
Hundreds of millions of golden lightning streams, each capable of shattering atoms, instantly flooded everyone's vision like a bursting golden torrent.
The light was so fierce, so violent, as if a thousand suns had exploded before their eyes. The night sky over the entire Greek peninsula was utterly illuminated in that moment, as if day had arrived!
Queen Hilda of the Land of Ice, the divine dragons of Fairyland, Pandora in the Underworld, Dohko meditating under the waterfall at the Five Old Peaks, and Mu of Aries traveling through the mountain forests—all looked towards the same place at the same time.
"Truly... a somewhat nostalgic aura!" someone in the Underworld sighed softly.
And within that overwhelming tide of lightning, even the Gold Saints were forced to temporarily retreat.
When the light faded, they saw only a long, narrow spatial rift crackling in the center of the temple's divine arch, its dark red glow flashing with an ominous aura.
The mysterious Saint was already on the other side of the rift.
"Let's call it a day for now, warriors of Athena." The mysterious man's figure on the other side of the rift began to fade.
He tilted his head back, looking at the Saints behind him. "The next time we meet, I will take your head, Lord Pope."
He gave a slight nod, and the purple lightning dragons that filled the sky seemed to gradually subside along with his departure.
At this moment, only one person stepped forward, shouting at the back of the figure that was gradually disappearing into space.
"You in the Sagittarius Cloth, who are you?!" Aioria of Leo stared with a tiger's glare at the silver mask before him. "Why don't you dare to show your true face! Answer me!"
"If you have the courage, then follow me." He left this faint remark and vanished completely from everyone's sight.
Aioria of Leo instinctively wanted to follow him into the closing rift but was suddenly grabbed by the wrist by Camus of Aquarius.
Unable to break free after a few struggles, he could only watch as the rift sealed shut.
"Don't pursue him. This could be an enemy trap," Shaka of Virgo said slowly.
Most of the Gold Saints held the same view. They had no desire to step into that dangerous space after this mysterious Saint.
For a very small number of them, their expressions were grave; they might have already guessed in their hearts just what that space was.
A Path of the Gods, belonging only to deities. Any Saint without divine status who dared to set foot within would be doomed for eternity.
"It seems he, or rather, it, may not be that person from Sagittarius," Pope Arles said slowly.
But compared to the Saints who were more accustomed to thinking with their fists than their brains, Shaka and Camus harbored some doubts.
Who was that person really? Why did he appear in the Goddess's temple, and why did he suddenly leave, especially when he clearly held the upper hand against so many Saints?
"This is a time of great change for Sanctuary, the likes of which haven't been seen in a century. For an assassin to have already penetrated this far is my, Arles's, shame, and even more so, the shame of Sanctuary." The Pope turned to face the Saints before him.
"I suspect the Holy War may be about to begin. The first thing we must do is purge the problems from within. Deathmask—!"
Pope Arles suddenly called out a name, and subsequently, the sharp-featured, monkey-like Gold Saint, Deathmask of Cancer, stepped forward voluntarily.
"You will now go and deal with those rebels entrenched in Japan, those who use Athena's name in an attempt to divide Sanctuary. They must be utterly annihilated!" the Pope commanded.
"Hmph, sending a Gold Saint like me to deal with a bunch of Bronze-leaguers, isn't that a bit of an overkill..." Deathmask scratched his face, but seeing the Pope's stern gaze, he immediately clasped his fist and dropped to one knee.
"As you command. I guarantee I will bring back the heads of those Bronze Saints and Saori for you!"
_____
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