6 — AXIA
Days passed in the hospital. Seiya had difficult dreams and only a few moments of awareness. He remembered Marin and Shaina and his difficult times in Greece. From his pleasant childhood at the orphanage. Disjointed images of one word or another with Shun and Miho, who rarely left him alone. But also with Saori Kido. Not knowing how to distinguish what was a dream and what was reality.
Five days later he was refreshed and just under observation in the hospital bed; eager to get out of that room soon. On the sixth day, Miho visited him with two children from the orphanage, the crazy Makoto and the little sass girl.
"Are you feeling better, Seiya?"
"Yes, much better. Thank you so much Miho."
"What's up, Seiya? Are you ready for the next fight?" Makoto asked.
"Always, champion!"
"Then hold my Rising Dragon!" Said the boy screaming jumping on Seiya's bed, frightened by the chit.
"Makoto!" Miho yelled. "Can't you see that the poor brat can barely stand up?"
"Oh, come in, it's not that bad, Miho. I'm fine!"
"You be quiet and lie down on that bed, Seiya!" she scolded.
The brief discussion was interrupted by a few knocks on the door: Shiryu and a girl with shorter dark hair entered silencing everyone.
"Hello, Seiya." she began. "Are you feeling better?"
"Ah yes. Much better. What about you, Shiryu?"
"Alive, thanks to you."
"Shiryu, if I knew you could die, I would never…"
"I knew about the risks, Seiya. It was my fault, not yours. And none of that matters, what matters is that I will be eternally grateful to you for saving my life. Shunrei told me how she managed to convince you to help me."
"I would do it every time." said Seiya; the two pests in the background cursing the girl in the back with grimaces and childishness.
"We're going back to our home today."
"Shiryu…" Seiya began. "You fought for real because of your Master, didn't you?"
She didn't say anything at first, but as she looked at each other with her friend, she decided to be more honest with the friend who had saved her life.
"My Master is very sick." she began. "Shunrei came from far away to tell me, but unfortunately she arrived at the stadium at the last minute of our fight."
"Our Master is very old." explained the Shunrei girl beside Shiryu.
"I wanted to fight as hard as I could so he could feel my Cosmo wherever he was." Shiryu said very seriously. "And now I want to be with my Master in his last days. We'll leave as soon as I say goodbye to Shun after his fight."
"I'm sorry, Shiryu." Seiya said.
She said nothing more.
"Again, Seiya. I'm alive thanks to you. I will never forget."
"Well… try not to die again, Shiryu. Take care of her Shunrei, because she sucks at traffic lights."
They tried laughing again; they greeted each other and Shiryu thanked one last time as if it wasn't enough. Only then did they leave.
Seiya took a deep breath, as he knew he would miss her.
The kids lay down next to him on the bed and Seiya turned on the TV to see his friend's fight was about to start. The broadcast tuned exactly to the image of Saori Kido giving her famous opening speech. Seiya wondered if the words he exchanged with her hadn't been a dream.
"Good luck, Shun." said Jab. "Unfortunately you got unlucky for fighting with me."
"For you too, Jab." Shun replied with a sweet smile, but there was a sadness in him. "It's so weird, this empty locker room."
"Well, the losers all went back to their masters so they could train more. That idiot is in the hospital. Alice doesn't leave Saori's side. It's just you and me, Shun."
"Don't forget about me." Shiryu said entering the locker room.
"Shiryu!" the two were startled.
"I was discharged today and came to say goodbye before returning to China."
"I'm glad you're fine, Shiryu." Shun said really happy. "What about Seiya?"
"He'll see you on TV today. Soon you will be fleeing the Mansion together again." she said.
"Did you run away from the Mansion?" asked Jab.
They laughed, but soon both Jab and Shun were called to the Arena by the official commentators, as the fight was about to begin. Shiryu was not content to stay in the locker room and dared to watch the fight from the mouth of the tunnel, as he would like to see it closer before leaving. Beside her, to her surprise, Alice soon appeared, wearing her Dolphin Cloth.
The two looked at each other, but did not actually speak, as they were two very reserved young women.
"And here they come, Stacey!" came the commentator. "Far from an island off the coast of Ethiopia he comes…"
"Just listen to it, Adam."
"He comes, ladies and gentlemen! Ever since the draft has been put out there, this one has been one of the most acclaimed. One of the most beloved of them all."
"You can't imagine how many merch that boy is selling!"
"Unfortunately due to some technical issues, we were not able to see his debut, but today he is among us. Representing the constellation Andromeda. Shun!" The commentator made a point of letting the vowel play a good five seconds through the speakers before finishing the boy's name. "Andromeda Shun!"
Shun was greeted with the greatest ovation of any of the Saints so far. There was a chorus named after him, there was a fan club, applause, total hysteria with the boy who didn't even let himself move through the crowd. He entered the Arena elegantly, but without his Cloth.
"And on the other side, from Algeria, winner of the first phase against the Wolf. Also has some of his fans out there, It's Unicorn Jab!"
"I love unicorns, Adam!
"The audience does too!"
It was without a doubt the busiest day in the Coliseum. Not only were all the seats sold, as usual, but the organization insisted on putting more space and there were people standing, people on the stairs, in the marquees and, outside, the entire blocked avenue, as there was an agglomeration of people to watch the fight at the big screens. All eyes were there.
Unlike Shun, Jab very confidently jumped and donned his Unicorn Cloth punching and kicking in the air to the delight of the audience. And although they were two big favorites, it was still very clear how Shun had a lot more people rooting for him. Yelling his name.
"Look at that, Shun! You should be a child actor and do soap operas for kids since you don't like to fight." he mocked.
"Jab, these battles are useless."
"Oh come on, Shun. You got lucky and didn't even have to face Ichi. You had to fight me on your first fight. Is that fear?"
"I only agreed to participate to try to find my sister again, I don't really want to fight." And Jab mocked again:
"Sometimes you remind me of what a crybaby you were as a child. Come on, let's go! Put on your Cloth and let's have showdown!"
But Shun said nothing and Jab finally realized that he would fight without his Cloth.
"Will you face me without your Cloth?!" Jab was offended.
"It doesn't matter"
"It can actually make a lot of difference!" and Jab jumped into a flying kick that Shun easily dodged.
And when Jab returned to the ground near the ropes, he could see the back of Shun; but couldn't do much more, as he lost his balance, went back to the ropes and stumbled to fall out of the Arena. The crowd was in shock; first there was a silence because nobody quite understood what happened. The screen soon showed what had happened and the audience burst out laughing and shouting Shun's name. The winner of the first round.
"Oh my goodness, Stacey, what bad luck for Jab!"
"He stumbled, Adam. He did a beautiful flying kick, but ended up tripping, wrapped himself all over the rope and fell away. Point for Shun. Better to see if he didn't twist something. No, he looks fine. He's just really mad."
"With good reason. A mistake like that could cost you a spot in the semi-final."
"Let's see if he recovers from that and… whoops…" The entire Coliseum blinked three times, threatening to turn off the lights, but soon returned to normal. "Oh, oh, what was that?"
"Did the Foundation payed the bills for the stadium, Adam?"
They both laughed in the booth and Jab climbed the ropes and returned to the Arena clearly furious at having been made a fool of.
"Don't think you're deceiving me, Shun!" he said. "I know damn well I didn't trip!"
"Like I said. I don't like fighting. But I need to get to the Final with Seiya."
"Well, you're going to have to beat me for that to happen. And I already caught your trick!"
Oblivious to Jab's threats, however, Shun had a curious sensation that his Andromeda Cloth was calling for him.
"Are you ignoring me?" Jab asked, always looking away at Saori's cabin. "Fight me for real, Shun."
Jab moved forward to attack Shun a few times, but each time the boy was able to dodge gracefully. And more and more Jab threatened him and looked for some breach in his movements; the Unicorn Saint noticed that not only was Shun too fast to dodge, but his blows also seemed to suffer a slight deflection every time he attacked Shun.
But Shun grew restless as he felt the Cosmo from his Cloth, and a slight misdirection was enough for Jab to finally hit him in the stomach, then fitting in a combo that took Shun finally to the ropes and out of the Arena. The audience was silent as they saw their fallen hero.
Shun stood up, took a second and ended up vomiting a pool of blood into the Arena to the horror of the audience.
"Shun, you're crazy fighting without your Cloth. If I hadn't held my fist, I could have killed you!" said Jab, altered from the ropes out.
Over the loudspeakers, the commentators went crazy:
"It's a tie, Stacey! Andromeda and Unicorn each have won one round and will now face each other in the last one. The tiebreaker. Whoever wins will be in the semi-final! Who will take it?"
Upon recovering and returning to the Arena, Shun noticed the cosmos of his Cloth even stronger and couldn't even avoid what was about to happen: the Urn lit up from his Cosmo and the Cloth revealed itself to be splendid in the air. It split into parts and finally dressed Shun's body. Immediately, Shun felt that the Cloth was tense and did not return to the Arena trying to understand what was happening.
"Looks like Shun has come to fight now, Stacey. Armor and everything!"
"And he has Chains, Adam! What a beautiful Armor!"
"Andromeda, return to the Arena!" yelled one of the floor directors as he opened a small door at floor level to scold Shun.
He was confused, but ended up obeying and returning to the Arena with a strange feeling in his Cosmo. Jab was on guard awaiting the start of the battle when something fascinating happened: the chains Shun had wrapped around both arms spread across the floor and completely surrounded him in several circular rings. Shun at the center.
"What are you planning now, Shun?"
"I don't know Jab. The Chains are trying to protect me from something." he said worriedly.
"Then I won't be able to go any further like I did the other time, I imagine."
"No. It's not you, Jab. There's something else. Something is happening and the Chains are trying to protect me."
"Are you saying the Chain is ignoring my presence?"
"Jab, please leave the Arena. The Chain is very tense and will attack anyone who gets closer. It will be safer for you." But then Jab was absolutely offended.
"I don't know what you're trying to do, Shun. But it won't work for me!" Jab then decided to jump to avoid the chains and hit Shun from above.
"Don't do this, Jab!"
A terrible mistake. The Chains simply soared into the sky and Jab had no way of defending himself being crossed by the Andromeda Chain that destroyed his Bronze Unicorn Cloth. He fell into the arena bloodied and Shun couldn't even go to his aid, as the Chain again formed around him protecting him and preventing him from leaving.
"Jab!"
The Chains became even more tense, but it changed its pattern of defense. The Chain in Shun's left hand retracted to cover his body with a rotating matrix, so as to serve as a shield for Shun. The Chain in his right hand began to form letters on the ground. And the letters formed a word.
"AXIA? What does that mean?" Shun wondered.
"Shun, what's going on?" Shiryu and Alice had left the tunnel, as it was clear that something strange was going on.
"The Chain is trying to tell me something. I don't know what it is."
But the word formed by the chain on the ground became misinformed, as Jab was slowly getting up, panting with the end of the chain in his hands.
"What are you doing Jab? Drop the Chain!"
"No. I will not be humiliated. This is my chance to change the game."
"Jab, release the Chain. It is feeling a great threat at the Coliseum, which could be something that threatens us all. Please!"
But Jab didn't listen and he felt the chains thrashing in his hands and letting go to re-protect Shun.
"What kind of chain is this? Does it... have a life of its own? And it's moving again!"
Now the Chain moved frantically around Shun forming the spiral once more and slowly going forward in one direction.
"It's coming from there. I can't stand it anymore, she wants to attack."
Shiryu and Alice then climbed into the Arena.
"Attention friends, what an incredible story. The Andromeda Chains have stopped the fierce battle and both Shiryu and the incredible Alice are in the Battle Arena. But what is all this mystery, Stacey?"
"What have they prepared for us? I'm curious!"
Shun was using an incredible force to hold the Chains in its place, when he realized that the direction they were pulling so hard was precisely towards the Coliseum Cloth bench. That's when it finally occurred to him.
"AXIA. AXIA! AXIA has the Greek meaning of value. Maybe… The chain is pointing to… the Gold Cloth!?"
There was a very loud explosion sound in the Coliseum and a complete blackout. The only light that remained on was precisely the four pyres of fire around the Golden Urn that became the focus of everyone inside that stadium. In the transmission booths, a huge rush to try to guess what had happened to restore the power.
And then, as if a gust of wind had hit, the four pyres of fire went out. And in the suspense it had installed in the audience, the Urn of the Golden Armor began to open up; its lid slowly sliding to the side letting out an immense golden glow that projected itself like a beam of light to the dome until finally it opened completely throwing a huge beam of light. A figure formed behind this light. A silhouette. There was someone there.
The Coliseum's dome, which once simulated a beautiful universe crossed by the Milky Way, gave way to complete darkness cut by many menacing bolting lightnings. The light of the Urn went out, the dome once again threw the Coliseum into deep darkness. The four pyres lit up again and finally the entire system of the Coliseum went back to light.
And all everyone could see was a menacing woman wearing her Bronze Cloth reflecting the fire that burned beside her. The leg resting on the Golden Urn and what looked like feathers of fire on her back. It was Phoenix.
ABOUT THE CHAPTER: I tried to make Shun and Jab's fight a little more dynamic and give Shun some more peaceful attitudes to deepen his personality. Mainly the fact of fighting without his Cloth, inspired by Seiya and Shiryu.
NEXT CHAPTER: THE BLACK SAINTS
With the theft of the Gold Cloth, the Bronze Saints go after the assailants.