"??!!" The Bronze boys were astonished by Shaka's change in attitude. They had originally thought they were in for a fierce battle, but hadn't expected it to end in such an anticlimactic way.
Even so, everyone stayed tense as they passed by Shaka, afraid he might suddenly change his mind. Never mind how relaxed Ikki had seemed when he dispelled Shaka's illusion just now.
He himself knew that that single Phoenix Wing Rise had already drained more than half his stamina. As expected of a Gold Saint's illusion—just breaking it had taken everything he had. Fortunately, he hadn't used the Phoenix Illusion Demon Fist to launch a sneak attack, or he might have been countered instead.
If Ikki had used the Phoenix Illusion Demon Fist to both break Shaka's Demons and Phantoms and sneak‑attack him, Shaka really would have turned it back on him. And on top of that, Shaka had yet to unleash his spiritual technique, the Six Paths of Reincarnation.
One careless slip against that move and a person could be driven to complete mental collapse.
Shaka did not speak again until the Bronze boys' figures vanished from the Virgo Temple.
"Come out. The one whose Cosmo has been locked on me this whole time." Shaka, whose eyes had been tightly shut, suddenly snapped them open, and an astonishing Cosmo erupted from his body.
"Your Cosmo is different from those following those Bronze Saints. Theirs may be powerful, but they are still within what I can bear. Yours, in contrast, is bizarre to the extreme. Just who are you people? Why have you intruded into the Sanctuary? And what exactly are you plotting at Athena's side?"
"Heh heh… the man closest to God, huh." A blurry figure faintly appeared before Shaka. The black stealth garb and the fan emblem on his back made his identity self‑evident.
"If I said we really don't harbor the slightest ill will, would you believe it?"
In the Libra Temple there was only an empty Cloth; aside from that, the place was deserted.
As the disciple of the Libra Gold Saint Dohko, Shiryu and the others passed through with ease.
"So you're those foolhardy Bronze Saints? To think you actually pushed through the earlier Gold Saint guardians so easily. Let your lord Milo see just what you're capable of." The Scorpio Gold Saint Milo blocked their path.
The pitch‑black temple was empty, or rather, its master had driven out all the guards who should have been standing there.
"It won't be long before Athena returns. Your plot will not succeed—you will soon receive the punishment you deserve." Clutching his forehead in agony beneath a golden bat‑shaped helmet, his hair above kept flickering between gray‑white and blue.
To an outsider, the Cosmo around him shifted from violently aggressive to utterly tranquil from one moment to the next.
Dark Saga and Blue Saga—the two personalities inside Saga's heart—were locked in constant struggle.
"Damn you… you and I are originally one and the same. You think if I get the punishment I deserve you'll be fine?" Dark Saga said.
"I've long since understood that the sins I've committed can never be forgiven. Receiving the punishment I deserve would be better described as release and atonement." Blue Saga replied.
"Atonement? Saga, you're nothing but a coward. Everything I've done is right—it's all for mankind. Wouldn't it be good to trample all those damned gods underfoot? Humanity should rely on itself!" Dark Saga snarled.
"You think I'm just going to end things like this? The real show will only begin once they get here. Athena, thirteen years ago I let you escape with your life from this place, but I never expected you'd deliver yourself to my door. Today I will take your head for sure."
"I can't let you keep making mistake after mistake!" Blue Saga insisted.
"Who do you think you are? You can't stop me—because I am you, and you are me! Hahahahaha!" Dark Saga laughed.
"Aaaargh!" Saga clutched his head and screamed in pain, his hair constantly shifting between gray‑white and blue. Even the papal crown on his head fell to the floor.
In the end, Saga's hair settled into gray‑white.
A pair of blood‑red eyes opened.
"Just wait and enjoy the show. I'll make sure everyone in the world knows that I, Saga, am this world's true savior—that I am the incarnation of God."
"Oh, Athena… I'll be waiting for you right here. Hahahahaha!"
While internal strife raged on in the Sanctuary, far away beneath the great whirlpool near the Norse Celestial Palace, within an undersea temple—
An immense Cosmo shot straight upward, enveloping the entire vast undersea city.
"My Mariners… your king has returned." A majestic voice echoed in the minds of all the Mariners clad in Scales.
All the Mariners joyfully put down what they were doing and rushed toward the center of the undersea temple.
Unlike everyone else's excitement, there was one person whose expression grew rather stiff.
One of the three mighty Sea Generals—Kanon.
"Damn it… of all times, the plan has to change now—the Sea Emperor has awakened in person."
"Lady Hilda, what orders do you have for us, to summon all of us God Warrior candidates together?" While turmoil shook the sea realm, great changes were also taking place in the Norse Celestial Palace.
Stripped of her white divine robe and now clad in a blue sacred mantle with a crown upon her head, Hilda loudly proclaimed to the God Warriors she had summoned.
"The North has slept for far too long. Now is the time for the Celestial Palace to rise. My God Warriors, don your God Robes and declare war on the Sanctuary! This is Odin's decree!"
"Yes, we faithfully obey our lord's will!" The God Warriors harbored not the slightest doubt as they respectfully addressed Hilda standing upon the high platform.
Only one person—Alberich of Megrez, the fourth‑magnitude bright star—watched Hilda with a glint in his eyes, his thoughts unreadable.
Under the sun above the boundless northern ice fields, a strange red light flashed on a ring on Hilda's finger.
Not far away, on a balcony of the Celestial Palace, a red‑haired priest dressed in a healer's divine robe watched it all with cold eyes that gleamed blue.
A faint, obscure smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"The sea realm, the Celestial Palace, and the Sanctuary—fight each other to the death, all of you. Only then can I obtain the Eternal Spear. When that time comes, whether Poseidon, Odin, or Athena, I'll trample every last one of you under my feet."
"Hm?" Far away in the Sanctuary, Meruem seemed to sense something, and his gaze suddenly turned toward the distance.
The direction he looked in was precisely where the Norse Celestial Palace lay.
"Never expected you to awaken ahead of time… but that only makes things more interesting. Still, what good will your early awakening do you?"
"Should I just wipe you out completely, one wonders?"
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