From hypocrisy to a heroic life.

(偽善から健気な命)

After departing for Naxos, each Bronze Saint faced their own battles scattered among the Cyclades Islands. Libra Genbu defeated Dragon Ryuho; Kouga made a way for Naxos; on another island, within an amphitheatre, Lionet Souma was face to face with his nemesis.

"Like I would turn down a fight." The boy raised his arms, bracing a defensive pose like a boxer. "You're going down."

"You've always sparked with confidence," said Scorpio Sonia. "Yes, you truly are a father's son."

His fists tightening, Souma hissed in between his teeth. "Shut up!"

"Loyal to faith, strength, you are completely strong. Even with my father, I couldn't grow like you." Sonia covered the gap of distance between them, and her knife hand was caught by Souma's grapple.

"But that is fine," said Sonia. "I will not cling onto the distant past. As long as I breathe, I have a use in this world."

"I'll ask you again: does that 'use' mean to betray us? Are you lying to me again?" Suddenly, Souma's face turned in agony. A finger was plunged above his hip.

"Does this feel like a lie?" Sonia pulled away her other hand, showing an elongated, sparkling red nail as sharp as a talon, sliding from Souma's upper hip. At such striking speed, with Sonia being at a conveniently close distance, another Scarlet Needle had pierced the Lionet Saint.

"Keep wondering over it and you'll die," Sonia said as she stared directly into her foe's dilating eyes. Her arm was quickly released.

She's right, her uncertainties are gone, Souma thought as he grasped his waist, taking a few steps back. The pain was real and pulsing; sharp and merciless without a recede in level. When Souma fought Sonia a final time during the time of Mars, his Cosmos excelled above hers due to her emotional heart. Now, it was the complete opposite; nothing was dubious about Sonia this time. However, like before, there was her determination towards fighting for the wrong.

"It's best to admit things. I wanted to be a family's girl. I'd go through Hell for my father, but I lied to myself to avoid the past's innocence so I could become a soldier. Demeter is the same in a way."

"Yeah? No matter what you say or do, I can't allow you to help anyone who will probably destroy the world. Therefore, I must fight."

"Some kind of complacent justice?" Sonia stood and watched Souma with some interest. Doing so, she delayed her attacks since she believed that this persistence would inevitably end.

"What else?" Souma tried to grin through the pain. "That's what Athena's Saints do anyway. Fight for the sake of the Earth, for what is right. I made my choice."

"Funny coming from you. Have you really changed? I'm not lying to hide my emotions to battle, Souma. Not this time. Now, I must fight for what I believe in, just like you or so you say. Like a Saint so you say. Demeter's Thesmophoria flowers have me under oath to ease a tender heart. Isn't that worth fighting for?"

"You said something like that before. It's like you sympathize with Demeter. No matter what the answer, I'm still going to beat you. You made up your mind and so have I."

The pain surged as he moved, but when he did make up his mind, Souma wouldn't hesitate to close the gap between him and his foe. He delivered a flaming punch against another fist. Sonia had quickly parried and held Souma in place with her punch. Auras of Cosmos flared against each other.

"I wanted to fight to get revenge on the evil that killed my father and his partners. Yeah, I wanted to take on those damn Martians." Lionet said as he kept his grin of confidence. "But I'm a changed guy! Now I know what the Cosmos are truly for. If the Earth is going to fall because of Demeter's actions, then I'm not losing to you."

"No morsel will overcome the strong."

"Who are you callin' a morsel?!"

Eventually, Souma broke through and his punch pressed against Sonia's cuirass, and Sonia's feet felt a pushback. A kick to his face threw him back, the sheer force launching him into a wall below the bleachers.

"You fight for justice now? You trained and fought for revenge. You are nothing but a hypocrite, Lionet Souma!" Scorpio's anger began to flare up; she charged, closed in fast, and rammed a fist into Souma. Souma's eyesight blurred for a moment, feeling the blow course through his entire body.

"I'm going to beat you senseless until you can't feel anything. Hear anything. See anything. Until you run cold." Sonia then grabbed Lionet's neck and slammed him down on his back.

"Until your own mind dies." After shooting him with a few Scarlet Needles, punching, kicking and now grinding him into the dirt, Sonia felt that she got her point across. She was confident that her stingers would break Lionet Souma. They would make him bleed to death, or perhaps paralyze his system until he suffocated.

"One more. This shall do it. I won't let you suffer any longer." Sonia confirmed his impending death in her next move, and also her compensation for failing to destroy the other Saints on Athena's boat.

On the ground, Lionet Souma could barely move. His eyesight was getting dim. Having felt the Scarlet Needle's symptoms back at Pallestra, he managed to deter it somewhat with his drive to fight. It could only be for a moment, and but after every needle, he started to slow down. His nervous system was slowly breaking down and he could only move his mouth.

"Sonia, even if you fight for Demeter, it still only looks like you're only concerned about destroying me."

"You're still talking nonsense. Is this how Saints beg for mercy?"

On the face of a nearly broken Saint, a smile appeared. "Heh, I don't talk any nonsense. Real Saints care for each other. I think I've obtained courage for fighting with friends." Saying those words, Souma's body shook; he lifted his hip and slowly began to get up. Sonia, completely astonished, backed away and watched without a word. It must've taken Souma a good couple minutes to get back onto his feet. He was still unsteady, doddering from any movement of his feet, so he stayed in place.

"Something or someone is calling to me." Souma gave out a breathy laugh, looking at his hands.

"Are you mad Lionet? Aren't your senses gone?" Sonia watched carefully. Souma was stumbling, but still looked to have the ignition to fight. Her thoughts were confusing. He isn't bluffing is he?

Leo Minor or Lionet, a constellation that lies between Leo and Ursa Major, was known for stars that shined brighter than the sun itself. Setting itself between a bear and a lion, was there both a feeling of courage and endurance within that constellation? Seeing Souma stand, Sonia, now over thinking the situation, would not admit her shortcomings as an executioner. Souma could just be a fine opponent; she would also not admit that she was curious.

"Why do you still want to fight?" She asked.

"Fighting with Kouga and the others, training the youths at Pallestra, I realized that I appreciate life. Human life can be crap, but also the opposite. I like watching the sun rise in the morning. I like being told 'thank you'. I like dedication, seeing the young aid the old, those things."

Having listened genuinely, Sonia chose to select her next words carefully.

"That's fine and all, but we need to admit when we lost, Souma." Sonia raised and aimed all of her blood crimson nails at Souma, who slowly staggered towards her. She waited patiently whether there was a need to strike. She expected that he would collapse soon.

"By your words, perhaps it's best if you were not a Saint," Scorpio said. "Maybe you should've stayed quietly in your home town and grow into a family boy."

Souma was arrested in his tracks, surprised at the words to the point of speechlessness. The revived Scorpio continued, "Training youths, being told 'thank you', seeing the sun, you are speaking with your child-like sentiments once more. Here you are, about to collapse to death, sounding like a hero. "

"Shut up!" Souma coughed out. His words and breathing were getting heavier. "What are you talking about? As a Saint of Scorpio, you should understand this right? Sonia, you can change this. Why don't you use your Cosmos to protect the world? You said that you want to protect a tender heart. You have what it takes."

"You mean, as a Saint of Athena?"

"Athena is kind and forgiving. You sense all beings and lives for what they're worth. Why don't you—" Souma's words trailed off. He gritted his teeth, growled against his body breaking down. He fought to stay awake, keeping one eye open. He slammed down to one knee, but he still had words.

"We've always fought and kept moving forward, and made miracles."

Sonia didn't know how and why, but Souma managed to get back up again.

"This feeling, one to be near the limit and near death. It made me remember a little? My body began to remember why we fight and who we save. I can still fight—"

Sonia took a step and Souma was stiff. In a swift instant, he was pummeled by more Scarlet needles. His entire body was frail to a point that he could not process being hit over eight times.

"Are you dead Lionet Souma?" Sonia's question did not receive an answer. Like a child on his older sibling, Lionet Souma was resting against Sonia's shoulder.

"Souma. Time to go. I don't want to hear your voice again." Sonia grabbed Souma softly, placed him down on his back and took a few steps back. In her next gesture, the lift of a hand, the entire ground cracked. The area glowed crimson, shaking violently.

"Antares Maestrom." Her words were a slow breath.

When Sonia lowered her hand, all that stood before her was a loud blaze of crimson light. Souma couldn't see the blaze, nor hear the loud whistling of the attack. He couldn't make a sound. When the light died down, as did the flaming red torrent, all Sonia could see was Souma standing – wisps of smoke lifting off his body, his Cloth shredded and cracked to pieces. His pupils were swelled. In one move, he looked bruised from a mass brawl and pierced by bullets head to toe. He wasn't moving, nor did he fall dead. However, after the raging maelstrom, Souma's silence was as eerie as death.

"Yes, I'm no genuine Saint am I?" She said. "However, warriors standing for any god have a reason to fight. Whether it's Mars, Athena or Demeter. My reasons are kind and pure; they are just in opposition of yours. "

Sonia convinced herself that her ultimate attack, finally seen in its complete form, sent Lionet to the next world, and turned to leave to find the others. Souma was left dead in the theater. I am dead, Sonia made up her mind that she could not compensate anything for Athena now when revived with a Surplice. Under Demeter, if she rebelled for the sake of "being a Saint", she would be punished and sent back. She would then lose the meaning of being efficient.

The ocean was still frozen solid to allow travel between the Cyclades. Reaching the edge, she stopped; the air was still fogged. Battle training honed her senses to perceive falling stars, or the lives of others. It could be described as an indulging wave or a prickle; a strong warm radiating within the chest was another. She realized that two lives were gone, and then she felt a surge pressing her insides. Gods emitted massive power; was Hades finally revived or so Sonia wondered.

Human lives were fleeting. The goddess Demeter's grace comes from guiding human families. She did not find meaning in ruling the Earth. Love for her comes from the flame within her followers' hearts. Love of nature, growth and family.

It was the same for Athena, who expressed a love of the Earth, which she did not wish to see destroyed out of conceit.

Sonia turned her head again and everything went still. Her body tensed completely; from a surge of power, only her hair rippled in the air. A deep gasp passed between her gritting teeth.