When is the last time I update again? *Check Update Date* Uhm! Never mind... as promised I update WHEN I can, and don't be alarmed by the status and title change... I decided this story should be separated anyway. Because the length is already epic DX and I need fresh page to start

Enjoy!

Epilogue: Wings to New Era

"Who are you?" Mu blurted out the first question on his mind. At the raised eyebrow the child gave him, Mu couldn't help but realized that sounded a little rude. Not to mention the child had this amused look that reminded him a lot of Shaka's. "I mean… what's your name?" That sounded friendlier at least, he hoped.

He smiled softly, "Tenma." He answered in solemn voice, "I am Pegasus Tenma… Aries Mu, guardian of the first temple." Then he crossed her arm, "Although you've not been there for years from what I heard." At the subtle flinch on Mu's face, Tenma quickly amended. "I didn't mean to offend, I have been in sanctuary for my whole live."

Mu swallowed at that, so this boy was indeed the ward of fake Pope Soma spoke of. However it was surprising this boy had no hostile presence at all in spite of his connection with that murderer. Judging from Daidalos' interaction with him, this boy was well liked too.

Then he gave Mu a beaming smile, so innocent that for a moment Mu wondered if this boy was really a full-pledged saint. "Naturally I am curious of you I've never met before."

At that Mu couldn't help but return the smile with his serene one, "Me too… I've been curious since I heard of you… Pegasus Tenma."

Tenma blinked owlishly at that, "Really? I can't really say I have met anyone who is curious of me before~ " He said with thoughtful look, "Shaka and Camus always said figuring me out is like trying to violate law of conservation energy or solving all mysteries of mundane life…"

'Shaka and Camus?' Mu thought in shock, 'Are we talking about the same persons here?'

"Now that I answer your question, can I ask you a question too?" Mu nodded at that, wondering what this child would like to ask of him. "Why don't you ask other gold saints about me if you're curious? Or better, you can just go home to sanctuary and ask our Pope yourself, ne?"

Mu winced inwardly at that, then he answered. "Lemurian saint in charge of repairing Cloth is stationed in Jamir where we can repair cloth in our workshop."

Tenma blinked owlishly at that and a flash of memory crossed his mind.

'My master fixed your cloth? Looks good, but make sure to drop by in Aries Temple if you sense anything wrong with your Cloth, Tenma. I'll fix it for you.'

"But he used to fix Cloth in his temple… Aries Temple has a smaller workshop than one in Jamir…" Tenma said in a daze, his eyes unfocused as he said it.

Mu's eyes widened in surprise, how this child know of it? Only few peoples knew of this, and he was sure no one had any reason to inform this child about it. With him isolating himself in Jamir, his temple should be off limits barring the passageway, by right there's no way this child could know… he even specifically said Aries had smaller workshop, how he could know that? He had never went to Jamir so he shouldn't…

Tenma frowned, 'Who was that… but whoever is it, his cosmos is familiar and…' He looked up at Mu, 'Somehow feels similar with Aries…Eh?' He winced as holding his temple, 'Not another…'

"Are you alright?" Mu asked in worry, the boy was swaying all of a sudden.

His brown eyes went wide at the sight of Mu's face, someone's face overlapped with his but there was no semblance aside from the gold cloth and Lemurian mark in their forehead. "Shion… you-"

Did this boy just call his late master's name?

"Tenma!"

Mu was almost blinded by golden cosmos that shrouded the boy from his sight, and then he realized it was Shaka who had one hand over Tenma's forehead. The boy's eyes fluttered close, and he was out like a light instantly. Much to Mu's shock, it was Camus who catch the sleeping boy and cradled him as if the Pegasus Saint was their most precious treasure.

Shaka craned his neck towards Camus who was checking Tenma's pulse. "His condition?"

"Stable… we get him right in time. We better hurry to bring him back to Sanctuary before Aiolia and Shura did something stupid fretting over our Tenma." Camus answered. "I will leave the rest to you, here… ja-"

Mu couldn't say anything as he watched Camus disappeared from his sight and turned to Shaka, his old friend and about to demand answer when he was pinned to the ground by force. "It seems you're getting rusty, no wonder… even if you train diligently with zero mission on the field and no sparring partner you fall behind, Mu…"

The Aries saint gasped, "Shaka… what are you guys doing? Hiding secret from us… from me and Roushi?"

"It can't be helped… if it's just you we wouldn't care but Roushi is like your second master and you will run off and report to him is the problem…"

So it was not him but Roushi? But Roushi wouldn't be deceived by the fake Pope, even if Mu didn't tell him Roushi would-

"Maa… but the slip today thankfully just last for few hours I presume, so Mu, don't worry."

Worry?

His eyes snapped open when suddenly something sharp pricked his neck, and darkness clouded his eyes, strength fading and his body went limp in Shaka's arms. The last thing he heard was Shaka's apology and then, nothing.

It was pure darkness.

Andromeda Island

Since Retsu was hospitalized and told to get plenty of rest, Noesis decided rather than fretting over his disciple by the Lynx saint's bedside, he'd better off visiting Daidalos and discussed their latest mission.

"It's not strange for some mission to be hushed up and keep by saints involved but…" Noesis trailed off, "I can't recall a single thing that could make it a classified information."

"Neither could I." Daidalos agreed, not looking at Noesis in the eye instead of looking at his students' hut as if afraid they would disappear on him if he took his eyes off of them.

He shrugged, "Then again what do we know about our superior? All I know lately the gold saints are more involved with trainings and improving the strength of our force so we can't complain…"

Daidalos sighed, "Well, let's just not dwell on what our superiors are up to… there is nothing alarming we have to be worried about."

Yet, they added inwardly unison.

Goroho

"So the mission went on smoothly?" Roushi asked the Aries Saint.

Mu nodded, his golden helmet cradled on his hand. "Yes, we eliminate the Gorgon without any complication…"

Roushi stroked his long beard, frowning. 'Mu seems so sure but why I feel something is off?' He cleared his throat. "If you say so… maybe you shouldn't refuse going on mission. As long as the mission is in line with Athena's justice it should be fine."

Mu shook his head, "No, Roushi… I believe maintaining my stance is more important. I don't want the fake Pope to have any authority over me…"

"I see…" He sighed, "Well, I suppose we can call it a day. Thank you for reporting to me, Mu… you should rest. It has been a tiring day."

"Very well, Roushi."

It was when Mu turned, Roushi spotted a pin prick on Mu's neck. However, the Aries Saint was already gone before Roushi could stop him.

Sanctuary (Few Months Later)

It was secluded area, a training ground reserved for Gold Saints candidates in Sanctuary so only selected few could gain access to it. Located on steep cliff on the other side of Sanctuary's mountain.

"Shun, candidate of Andromeda Saint! Come forward!" Aiolia barked and winced when Shun jumped a little at his voice, maybe he shouldn't call Shun first or lowering his voice.

The future Andromeda Saint inhaled deeply before coming forward as asked. "Amamiya Shun! Here to serve Athena!"

The gold saints present, especially Aldebaran grinned at the boy. His softhearted nature was not appealing but the boy was determined, and that alone would make him a great saint.

"Hyoga, candidate of Cygnus Saint!" Aiolia called out next.

"Here to serve Athena!" Hyoga exclaimed, stepping forward before he knelt in front of Camus. The ice saint nodded approvingly and it took all Hyoga's self-control to not beam at his grand master.

"Mei, candidate of Coma Berenices Saint."

A boy who was slightly older than other Japanese boy stepped forward, imitating his brothers. "Here I am." Unlike Shun, he sounded more solemn.

Hyoga eyed the boy skeptically, he was not a familiar boy even though his nationality alone and age meant he was undoubtedly one of them. But the future Cygnus Saint could see the resemblance to Shun. In fact, he looked like Shun with Ikki's hair.

Camus was inwardly nodding with approval, as he could tell Hyoga's searching look meant the boy was putting the clues together in his head.

"Pegasus Tenma! Come forward!"

Tenma without hesitation came forward as ordered, bowing before turning to the three saint candidates. "Pegasus Tenma, at your service in the name of Athena."

Camus cleared his throat and Tenma quickly took his place beside Shun in kneeling position. "Welcome… young future Saint of Athena, without any further delay I shall enlighten you on why you're summoned to Sanctuary." Which was a rare occurrence considering usually trainee wasn't allowed to leave their training ground without their master when their training was not completed yet.

"We're aware of Kido Mitsumasa's order for you."

Hyoga didn't react, but both Shun and Mei tensed visibly, eyes wide in shock.

"Rest assured, you shall not be punished as the circumstances of your involvement with our world is not within your control… however…" Camus trailed off. "I believe you know according to our law, using your power… our sacred cloth no less for anything but for Athena's cause is prohibited. The punishment of such heresy is death."

Now even Hyoga shivered, as Camus' words were laced in ice and their breath became white in testament of his power. It was a lenient way for Camus to make sure they understood he was not joking and what they were doing under Mitsumasa's order was punishable with death.

Milo coughed and Camus lifted his ice cosmos from their surrounding. "However as Camus said… you're not responsible for the ill intention Kido Mitsumasa sent you to us for… however we can't say you're completely innocent, at least guilty by association so we can't let you off of the hook easily, can we?" Milo grinned, enjoying their paling face. "Especially me… who had the pleasure to deal with this mess because I am in charge of Human Resource…"

Shaka grunted, "The last part is unneeded." He remarked to Milo. "We're Athena's saint so we have to be just… obviously we shall not punish you for this, so we're here to give a proposition for you."

"Proposition?" Mei echoed, "Thank you for giving us a chance… milord, whatever you propose we shall obey. However, if I may be so forward, I beg you to spare all of my brothers. As you said, we're all come to training ground on order of To- Kido Mitsumasa."

No one except Shun missed Mei's slip of tongue.

"So please give us equal chance… I beg of you."

"You have not heard our proposition, aren't you too hasty, boy?" Shaka queried, amused that Mei quickly seized the spot as the spokesman for his brothers.

DeathMask groaned, "I have to fix that… seriously brat, listen till the end before you agreed to something."

Mei sputtered, "I am so sorry Master, I will do my best!"

"Of course you will, as my disciple you shall give me nothing less than your best!"

"Hai!"

Aphrodite rolled his eyes to Shura, "Wow, he took the role of teacher faster than we thought."

Shura nodded, "It pains me to see such a bright child look at DeathMask with so much respect."

Aiolia nodded in agreement, "He is going to be corrupted… just look at his hair. I recall Mei's hair in our file is black but now it's like DeathMask's."

"Well, imitation is the highest form of respect…" Aphrodite admitted somberly. "But at least Misty stopped at following my philosophy that being a saint shouldn't stop you from being vain… that boy in few months is already dyeing his hair."

"As long as he didn't start collecting human remain as trophy…"

Camus cleared his throat, stopping their hushed chatter. "At any rate, listen to our proposition first…" The three trainees straightened. "I am aware of Kido Mitsumasa's plan, and the problem is after you gain your cloth… that Galactic competition he is planning. It goes against our law and belief as Saint of Athena."

Milo nodded sagely, "He can send us unwilling children and we will sort all of you, those who wants to stay stays… and those who won't can leave. But as Camus said, the problems are those who stays like you… and after you get the cloth he sent you for. Will you use the sacred cloth for his gain or abide by our law as Saint of Athena?"

Shun looked confused but the more perceptive ones like Hyoga and Mei paled, they became as white as paper.

Tenma sighed, Shun was clueless not because he was stupid or oblivious but because the boy was too kind to think about the worst of human nature. He was too pure to realize the implication of swearing allegiance fully to Sanctuary. Basically if these three made it to saint rank, they would be send back to Japan following Kido's plan however if they found other Japanese saints competing on their own free will…

It would be up to them to uphold the law.

Hyoga was shaking, he wanted to be loyal to his master, Sanctuary and Athena but killing his step brothers? Shaking his head he forced himself to think logically, like him the others would be given the same chance of training and learning the life of saint. So they would be full pledged saint who understood the consequence of their action if they followed Kido's plan.

If they foolishly did as their bastard father asked, it would be their fault. If he didn't execute them, other saints will.

"I accept…" Hyoga decided. "Since I start my training, my life belongs to Athena…"

Camus nodded approvingly, he could tell why Hyoga agreed. It was not because Hyoga didn't care, but because he knew what was right.

Mei looked torn before turning to Shun. Swallowing heavily he said, "They are telling us that… we would be forgiven for joining Sanctuary if we abide by the rules. If the others… after trained by Athena's law still following Kido Mitsumasa's will, we have to… punish them ourselves."

Shun's eyes went wide at that, "That's… but I don't want to hurt them."

Hyoga hissed, "Shun… their master will teach them it's not a good idea to follow an old man's order after your life belongs to Athena. If we don't do it, their life is still forfeit anyway."

Shun looked at Tenma pleadingly, searching. "Is that true?"

He nodded, his eyes sad. "Yes… our law said so, if they join that competition Kido planned… it's the same as betrayal."

"I will join it!" Tenma gaped at him, "However I am not going to fight! I just want to see my brother again! Is that not allowed."

Tenma exchanged glance with his gold saint brothers, "That's…" He trailed off. "There is a grey area in this… I think? Maybe it's too hasty to declare they're dead if they join that competition?" Tenma wondered. "I mean it's not like we know what Kido hold over their head…"

Aldebaran nodded sagely. "Hm… I suppose Shun is right. The least we can do is ask their motif to go back to Japan first…"

Milo groaned, "Seriously? Ask first then shoot later?"

"To be fair if there are a lot of full pledged saint coming back to Japan by then… we should consider. After all… even Bronze saint didn't grow on trees." Aiolia pointed out. "So I think it's reasonable to bring them in for questioning especially because… of certain deadline coming."

Shaka frowned, "Certainly… very well then we shall allow questioning before sentencing your brothers."

The three young trainees perked up at that. "Really?"

"But first, Tenma."

"Hai." The Pegasus saint beamed. "I believe you have heard my name and Shun know me personally, but I will introduce myself anyway!"

"Tenma." Shaka chided him.

The dark haired boy grinned. "I am Pegasus Tenma, and from now on… you will work closely with me. Nice to meet you…"

It must be their imagination or sunlight playing a trick on their eyes but when the Pegasus saint offered his hand and warm cosmos spread out to their being, there was a pair of large wing on his back.

That was when their fate interwined with Pegasus Saint, a man who in the future would be renown again as sinner of Heaven.

Saint Tenma

So... I end this story ARC and rename the title as Rebirth, more appropriate considering it's just rebirth of Tenma not Holy War yet. I don't know what possessed me to title it as Holy War when Galaxian hasn't started yet.
Sorry it's rushed but there is NOTHING else I can write for this rebirth ARC and I want to start a new page for this story so ENJOY the Sequel Saint Tenma: Galaxian next!

AGain... sorry for the long delay and THANK YOU for everyone who has been waiting updates for YEARS! Hopefully I can update sooner ^^

Please Review!