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A furious roar tore through the cold wind of Siberia.
The water vapor around Hyoga suddenly boiled, and countless ice crystals spun wildly in front of him, condensing into a vortex several meters in diameter.
A dazzling white light burst from the center of the vortex—it was cold air compressed to its extreme. Wherever it passed, even the falling snowflakes were frozen into rhombic ice crystals, whistling as they attacked Li Yu!
Li Yu didn't even activate his Cosmo; he simply waved his hand gently.
Bang!
The Diamond Dust, powerful enough to shatter a boulder a hundred meters away, instantly disintegrated as if it had hit an invisible barrier.
Ice crystal shards flew everywhere, landing on Li Yu's shoulder.
"All show, no soul."
Li Yu commented coldly, flicking his fingertip.
Several ice needles suddenly appeared, almost transparent, with only a faint blue glow at their tips, shooting in parallel towards Hyoga's throat!
Hyoga's pupils constricted, and he sharply dodged sideways.
The ice needles grazed his Cloth and embedded themselves in the ice cliff behind him. The hard, millennia-old ice surface instantly showed a spiderweb-like pattern of cracks... Hyoga looked up and realized that in the instant he dodged, Li Yu had vanished into thin air.
"Not good!"
A bone-chilling cold attacked him from behind.
Hyoga sharply turned around, only to see Li Yu had appeared behind him at some unknown point, his palm pressed against Hyoga's back!
"You disappoint me greatly, Hyoga!"
As Li Yu exerted a slight palm force, Hyoga felt an overwhelming power surge like a tsunami.
His body flew out like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily into the millennia-old ice mountain behind him!
Boom!
The entire ice mountain collapsed with a deafening roar, tens of thousands of tons of snow and broken ice pouring down, completely burying Hyoga.
The rising snow mist obscured the sky, dimming even the sunlight.
Li Yu's eyes showed no ripple of emotion.
"Again! This level of attack can't kill you!"
The Bronze Five wearing bronze cloths were harder to kill than cockroaches. Li Yu firmly believed that this attack could absolutely not kill Hyoga.
"Ah!"
Hyoga's roar came from beneath the massive ice block.
He threw a punch, and countless ice blocks, mixed with wind and snow, shot into the air, forming an ice-blue fountain!
Before the snow mist had fully dispersed, Hyoga's figure had already appeared behind Li Yu.
His punch was several times faster than before; the gauntlet of the Cygnus Cloth gleamed with cold light, aiming directly for Li Yu's head.
This seemingly certain punch, however, passed right through Li Yu's body, as if striking empty air.
Li Yu's figure gradually blurred on the spot, dissolving into countless ice crystals. Hyoga had only struck an illusion he left behind.
Li Yu stood not far away, on the peak of the ice mountain, commenting.
"You've improved, but you're still a long, long way from defeating me!"
"Hyoga, as my disciple, you've disappointed me greatly. It seems I need to make you understand that weakness is the original sin!"
Li Yu raised his hand; a necklace dangled in his palm, swaying in the cold wind.
Hyoga's pupils instantly constricted to pinpricks.
That was the only memento his mother, Natasha, left him!
He had worn it around his neck since he could remember, yet Li Yu had taken it at some unknown time, and he hadn't even noticed!
"No!"
Li Yu flicked his hand, and the necklace arced in a silver line, plunging into the surging icy sea in the distance, instantly swallowed by the black waves.
Hyoga's eyes were bloodshot with fury; he turned to jump into the icy sea.
This sea area was constantly moving, and if he delayed even a moment, he would never find his mother's keepsake again!
"Angry?"
Li Yu's figure suddenly appeared before him, blocking his path, a cold smile on his lips.
"Then unleash all your power and defeat me!"
"Master!"
Hyoga gritted his teeth, his eyes blood-red, his body trembling violently from extreme anger.
Li Yu could clearly feel that Hyoga's Cosmo was burning with unprecedented intensity, like a star about to explode.
That power was wild and scorching, subtly touching the edge of the Seventh Sense.
Li Yu nodded slightly. As expected, he was one of the Bronze Five personally chosen by the Goddess.
Given time, awakening the Seventh Sense would not be difficult for Hyoga.
One must know how many Saints were stuck at the hurdle of awakening the Seventh Sense Cosmo.
Awakening the Seventh Sense is the most basic requirement to become a Gold Saint!
He himself had gone through countless trials, and only in his duel with Camus did he fully awaken the Seventh Sense and don the aquarius gold cloth!
But now, Hyoga could ignite his Cosmo to such an extent just because he had thrown a necklace.
Li Yu chuckled inwardly, "Athena, how partial you are."
"Master, take this! Diamond Dust!"
This time, Hyoga's Diamond Dust was more dazzling than ever.
The air of Siberia condensed into sheets of ice crystals under the extreme low temperature. The world seemed to be left with only this blue-white light, carrying the power to freeze everything, shooting directly at Li Yu!
Bang!
A huge impact echoed across the ice plain. The blue-white light completely froze the sea surface for several kilometers around; where the ice spread, even the surging waves were frozen in place.
Before him, Li Yu had vanished without a trace, and Li Yu's indifferent words drifted through the air.
"Go to Tokyo to participate in the Galaxian Wars and win the sagittarius gold cloth. In this battle, you are only allowed to win, not to lose!"
Hyoga's face showed a look of surprise; he shouted loudly into the air.
"Understood, Master! I will definitely win the championship and never disgrace you!"
"Heh, naive youth!"
Li Yu's figure was hidden in the air. He looked down at Hyoga from above, his eyes complex.
"The darkness of this world is far beyond your imagination. If possible, I truly don't want you to encounter those things."
He recalled the previous plot: Hyoga's reason for ruthlessly attacking Camus might have been related to Camus sinking his mother's shipwreck into the ocean trench to provoke him.
This time, he wanted to see if, without the provocation of the shipwreck, Hyoga would still become that berserker who killed his master.
The opportunity had been given, but if Hyoga's nature was cold-hearted, he would never go easy again... Three days later, the dome of the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium was dyed into a sea of stars by neon lights, and the cheers of tens of thousands of spectators almost blew off the roof.
The giant electronic screen displayed the gilded words of the Galaxian Wars.
National flags hung on both sides, fluttering in the wind.
On the central stage, the sagittarius gold cloth was illuminated by spotlights, glowing with a breathtaking sacred luster, as if golden flames flowed within the Cloth's patterns!
"Ladies and gentlemen! Respected guests!"
The host, dressed in a blue suit, held a microphone, his voice reverberating through the speakers, making people's eardrums tingle.
"Welcome to the ultimate showdown hosted by Miss Saori Kido! The Galaxian Wars!"
"The Gold Cloth you see behind the arena is the legendary Gold Cloth. Whoever can defeat all enemies will claim it!"
"Now, I declare the competition open! For the first match, the contestants are Seiya, Jabu..."
Two young men in bronze cloths stepped onto the stage, and the crowd below immediately erupted in thunderous shouts.
Hidden among the crowd, Li Yu's gaze swept over the boisterous stands, finally resting on the front row of the VIP platform.
A young woman in a white dress sat there, her light purple hair falling over her shoulders, her skin almost transparently white under the lights.
She sat upright, her hands clasped on her lap. Though only a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl, her eyes held a serenity and compassion unsuited to her age, like a bottomless lake.
This young woman was Saori Kido, the reincarnated Athena.
Li Yu could feel that her divine essence had not yet fully awakened; she had only recalled a portion of Athena's memories, and the sacred aura around her was so faint as to be almost imperceptible.
As if sensing Li Yu's gaze, Saori's eyelashes trembled slightly.
She instinctively looked up, her gaze scanning the stands, but she couldn't find that familiar Cosmo, and a hint of confusion flashed in her eyes.
Soon, she turned her gaze back to Seiya on the stage, a faint smile gracing her lips.
"Seiya, this time, we must win!"
Li Yu watched Athena's smile, then turned and blended into the crowd.
This seemingly ordinary Galaxian Wars was merely the prelude to the grand Holy War.
And he would be the most unexpected variable in this prelude!