WARNING: Blood, violence, death.

The Dragon Resurrected

Dark Dragon moved straight to Shiryu with a flying kick, and the latter avoided by crouching, proceeding with an uppercut. The Dark Saint side-stepped from its path and skittered forward to tackle and grab the enemy, but Dragon held his fists and they engaged in a trial of strength, arms swelling and bodies leaning in with the rising effort.

Weakened by the sacrifice he made to repair both Cloths, Shiryu was pushed back, boots sliding behind and leaving depressions on the ground. He growled, holding a little longer, yet Dark Dragon used the momentum to lower his hands and go with a knee to the Saint's chin. With him thrown back and their hands separated, he followed with a palm strike that Shiryu blew off with the reinforced shield, but the force generated still laid him against the pillar right to his back.

There was no time to prepare, as Dark Dragon approached him at a great velocity and went for a throat grab. Shiryu responded with a knife-handed, Cosmos-filled strike to his triceps, something he learned watching Seiya's fight with Geki, although this time the power accumulated was enough to rip a scream from the enemy and crack some of his weak armor. After the grip on his neck was released, he followed that with a palm to Dark Dragon's stomach, then twisted in the air for a crescent kick to the face, throwing him straight to the floor.

Shiryu looked down at himself and noticed the rocks opened a shallow cut on his forearm. The prospect of losing blood in that situation made him apprehensive, and the longer the fight lingered, the more likely he was to lose.

Dark Dragon rolled out and up, then instantly dove at the enemy with another tackle attempt, and both got stuck in an embrace, which Shiryu separated by pushing him sideways. The other proceeded with a high roundhouse kick, glanced off as Dragon followed the motion of the leg with his shield. What came next were the three heaviest punches of the fight at that point: Shiryu gave him one to the breastplate, one to the stomach, and the next to the head. Only the third was successfully intercepted by the black shield, but stress marks appeared in every metal touched by the strikes.

Desperate to end this before his armor got reduced to ashes, Dark Dragon used all the built-up Cosmos in him for a palm-heel blow to Shiryu's breastplate, sending him some feet away. Off-balance, the Saint was open for a strong attack, and he didn't waste the chance. "SOARING DRAGON!" shouted the Dark Saint.

Bolts of energy chased Shiryu, who could only defend by crossing his gauntlets and curling his head down. He was launched far against rocky formations, so hard that the weight created a series of holes in the walls. The claw-like energy of the Soaring Dragon ripped the clothes below the metal, and opened deeper cuts, slits which dripped out blood lazily.

"That technique…" Dragon whispered, stepping out without issue, but studying his wounds with worry.

"I can use the techniques of the Dragon as well. I'm not the Dark Dragon for nothing."

Howsoever shallow the cuts still were, their length and the many bleeding spots told him what he'd have to do to defeat that opponent. "This isn't good," Shiryu said.

Shun watched the fight in standby while Jabu continued ridding Seiya of the toxins, and he thought of getting involved, calling: "Shiryu!"

"Don't!" Shiryu lifted a hand at his ally. "Don't worry, Shun. Stay back. You don't need to spill any more blood."

Dark Dragon lifted his brow in surprise. "Such honor. You now you'd win if that boy used his chain," he argued.

"Shun could probably kill you in an instant, but he's a pure person. As his ally, I'll make sure he doesn't need to get involved. I will win by my own merit!"

"Camaraderie, friendship, honor… these are obstacles keeping your goals out of reach. Power is all that matters in a fight, Dragon, and it's clear you don't have enough to defeat me on your own."

Shiryu challenged that by going back into a fighting position. "In the state I'm in, he might be right. It's useless…" he thought, feeling life force being carried out of him through the injuries "… I'll have to use it, but if I do, I might pass out again, and then..."

He was reminded of his last moments in Jamir, before he left back to Japan. Mu seemed overjoyed at Shiryu's survival and fast healing, in fact seeing that as partially a product of his loyalty and courage. "It's not easy to come back from what you did, Shiryu. You saw the gates of death and somehow swam against its comforting tide. To see you here, standing before me once more, makes me believe you have a bright future ahead," the alchemist told him.

"Thank you, Mu. Thank you for the kind words, for keeping your promise, and for repairing my Cloth as well," said Shiryu. He looked down at Kiki, who was beside his master. "And thank you for everything as well, Kiki!"

The boy chuckled awkwardly. "Ah, don't mention it!"

Mu told him: "I must nonetheless leave you a warning. You have lost enough blood to kill the average man, and you're still not fully rested. It should take a month to replenish that volume of blood, but it will take much longer for your red blood cells to be replaced. You should avoid fighting at all costs, and if that's impossible, avoid any bleeding you can."

He was reminded of what the Rozan Rising Dragon did to his body, and facing an enemy like Dark Dragon, he would probably have to endure its consequences. "When I use the Rozan Rising Dragon, my blood flow shifts in an upward motion with immense force. This should only worsen my bleeding, but I see no other option to defeat him," Shiryu continued debating in his mind.

He began rising Cosmos, and so did Dark Dragon, both preparing for what they believed to be a final move. "I never fight alone," Dragon said, "I have my comrades with me, in body and in spirit. I will end this fight in the name of Seiya, the friend who returned me my life!"

"Big words for someone who's about to die," Dark Dragon replied, pulling an arm in preparation for another Soaring Dragon. "We will see who ends this fight before the other."

"Have a taste of the secret technique of the Dragon!" Shiryu strode forward at the speed of sound, having a dummy punch defended by his foe, who was surprised by the swiftness. He raised his fist, yelling: "ROZAN RISING DRAGON!"

Lacking the window to counterattack, Dark Dragon was violently hurled against the ceiling, the false Cloth reduced to dust so that he was entirely unprotected. The thrust of the technique was tremendous, making part of the ceiling give in and collapse on top of the fighters, and soon they were buried in rubble.

"Shiryu!" Shun yelled again. "Shiryu!" He ran to where he last saw his ally, and soon, from between some of the rocks, Shiryu tumbled out. The Dragon Cloth was amazingly unscathed, although his skin was coated in a scarlet wash of blood. He breathed intensely and fell on all fours. "You're bleeding a lot!"

Shun helped Shiryu up, who still had strength in him to stand. The issue was more that he felt lightheaded, and would have to rest a while before heading out. "Yes… I don't know if I'll be able to continue fighting."

"Come on, you don't need to, you've done more than enough," Andromeda said, escorting him to Seiya and Jabu.

As the two passed by the unstable pile of stones, a nearly limp hand grabbed onto Dragon's fingers, prompting him to pull the arm back with a flinch. Under the rocks was the sorry sight of a barely alive Dark Dragon, skin as red as Shiryu's, yet head stuck in a way that he couldn't even think of moving a centimeter.

"D-Dragon…" his voice came like a scratch, a weak hiss, so nigh was his demise. "Is it this spirit of yours that makes you so powerful?"

Shiryu stared with pity; from the start, perhaps pity was what he had the most for such a person. "No, but it's this spirit that makes us fight the right fight, and that makes our potential limitless."

Dark Dragon opened a bloody smile, barely able to shut his eyes. The two Saints before him were sure they saw some semblance of tears on his face, if that was at all possible. "Quite late for a man like me to learn that, but you beat it into me."

"Take it to heart. You'll have another chance in a next life."

"Do you truly believe that?"

"I do."

"I hope you're right… Shiryu." The Dark Saint finally went to rest, joining his former allies. Shun and Shiryu slotted the man's hand closer to him, into the rocks, then mourned another senseless loss over what they deemed to be a senseless cause.

Further deep into the Ten Wind Caves, after struggling a bit with dead ends and dark tunnels, Hyoga safely found his way to one of the largest, highest chambers he had yet seen, wide clefts being responsible for the good visibility inside. Crossing between the pillars, boulders, and stalagmites, he saw Ikki sitting on a raised section, a golden bow lying beside. He did not yet know, but that was the last piece they needed to have full possession of the Sagittarius Cloth.

"It's you. You've defeated yet another one of us," Ikki said. "Dark Cygnus was quite intent on taking your life, but it seems he wasn't enough to make as much as a dent on you."

Hyoga remained quiet, setting down the boot, elbow, and quiver he carried. When he put a closed fist forward, Phoenix noticed he didn't seem intent on talking much, and got off his seat.

"You can speak," insisted Ikki. "I think we should talk before we do something regretful."

"I have nothing to say to a traitor," Hyoga said.

"I'm no traitor; I'm trying to free us. You should understand, as you've always been a realist like me." Hyoga refused to reply once more. "What we went through as orphans was unacceptable, I know you agree. That old man and his goons ripped our childhoods away from us, our joy, our friendships… for what? They say it was to serve a goddess who will use our lives as fodder for her personal wars," said Ikki. The other nodded negatively upon hearing that, still remaining quiet. "Not just that, then he has the gull to plan a tournament, make a joke out of what we became, turn Saints into pop stars for profit alone. Will you really defend those people?"

"I'm here for the Gold Cloth," Hyoga countered, "I couldn't care less about Graad, let alone your monologue."

Ikki snickered and quit pacing about, raising his hands to the side. "Hyoga! Don't you get it yet? I don't want to kill you, but I want you to join us. You've proven to be one of the most powerful Saints I've seen so far. Such power shouldn't be used to serve under some selfish goddess, but to serve ourselves. Graad and Athena never did a thing for us, so let's fight for ourselves and rise against the gods that permitted our suffering!"

"Right, I'm done listening to your drivel." Hyoga lost patience and went for a flying strike of his fist, which Ikki held in a palm with ease.

"Then this is how it will be."

Their battle was on. Cygnus rained ice at Phoenix with quick-paced punches, but his foe melted it all with flames he swung off the very air. In the other hand, Phoenix's claps of ember were washed away by Cygnus' cold winds. Without anything surpassing what they had shown at that point, they could've kept clashing for a hundred days.

Ikki spun and tried an arching, burning swing of an arm at Hyoga, who rolled back and returned with one of his techniques. "DIAMOND DUST!" he yelled.

Grunting, Ikki emanated a torrent of hot Cosmos through his palms, projecting a true maelstrom of fire to trap the snow and wind in its midst. Hyoga frowned, that being the second time this technique had no effect on someone. "The girl did a good job canceling your Diamond Dust, so I thought I'd give it my own twist," Phoenix said.

Not Dark Wolf, not Dark Unicorn, not even Dark Cygnus had interpreted June's canceling of the Diamond Dust as ingeniously as that man had. It was unquestionable that Ikki watched every match closely, and he was much more insightful a fighter than his comrades, so defeating him wouldn't be a simple matter of using techniques until he fell down. Hyoga needed a strategy, and being at such a similar level, he couldn't come up with anything.

He yelled angrily and ran in, and despite being so nimble and unyielding, Ikki blocked and dodged effortlessly his every blow. The lack of counterattacks was calculated; when the opportunity reared its head, Phoenix pulled Hyoga's punching hand in to immobilize him momentarily, then pointed an index finger at his right eye. "DEMON FIST!"

A string-thin beam of light shone into Cygnus' pupil, being mirrored inside and perplexing the senses. That great flash that filled his view eventually shuffled through memories in the brain, confusing him to the extent that he stepped back with a gasp.

In the split second for that to occur, a film played in Hyoga's mind. He dove into the eternal ice as he oft did while in Siberia, the voice of Camus echoing stifled by the water. "Your undying love for your mother will either mean your death, or the fuel to help you reach great heights," he told him.

As if in a soliloquy, he heard himself speak as he entered the shipwreck, swimming after his mom. "Мама, я всегда о тебе подумаю. Я всегда приду тебя увидеть, чтобы принести твои любимые цветы. Мама…" [Mom, I will always think of you. I will always come to see you, to bring your favorite flowers.] For some reason, it was hard to see through the darkness that day, and her peaceful mien was hidden. He looked closer, yet something felt wrong; the flowers withered, looking pallid. "Мама?" When light shone on her, what he saw was a deformed, decrepit image, terrified in death rather than in tranquil sleep.

His soul was rinsed with a bitter sensation, the impression that his mom's last seconds alive were to cyclically repeat in the afterlife, and that she would never find serenity in death's embrace.

The Saint's tears dripped to freeze on his icy Cloth, but he was momentarily paralyzed in shock. Ikki took advantage of the situation to connect a couple hits, a kick to the stomach that folded the man's body, then an elbow to the back that dropped him to the ground.

"The Demon Fist should chew through your sanity until there's nothing left. You'll die inside before I'm even done with you," he explained.

Hyoga began to get up slowly, so Ikki axe-kicked him back down, although he didn't give in. The next time he tried to stand, he did so in a hurry to hold the foe's axe kick in both arms, following with a cold punch that forced him a couple steps back.

Despite the tears and the daze, he was visibly furious, blue eyes furled. "You've committed a grave mistake, you wretch. You defiled the only sacred thing I hold dear to me. This is no longer about the Gold Cloth." With insurmountable strength, Hyoga screamed and blasted Ikki with such a thunderous palm strike that he was sent against a pillar. He flew in and went for a punch, and Phoenix avoided it by a hair, inclining to the side. The rocks crumbled covered in hardened frost.

Cygnus followed with a series of punches so heavy that, each time Ikki parried them, the ground beneath them trembled. With an opportunity, Phoenix connected a fist to Hyoga's face, but he was met with his secret technique. "ЛЕДЯНОЙ СМЕРЧ!"

Ikki's eyes widened in surprise and he was launched upwards. Before he was caught in the polar low, he enveloped himself in a blazing cocoon which exploded as soon as the tornado vanished. Hyoga knelt and defended, giving time for the enemy to return to ground.

Next, both came at each other at a similar velocity, punches generating a shock wave and a spinning pivot of fire and ice. Their blows connected every time, sliding them about and forcing them to leap back in dangerously. When Hyoga was finally overpowered by a palm heel hit, Ikki made a desperate attempt at something else. "PHOENIX FLIGHT!" he shouted.

What transpired was a simmering tunnel, the air surrounding it completely ablaze, which funneled from Phoenix's extended arms and hands out in Hyoga's general direction. Its surge broke through his defense, coating him and the Cygnus Cloth in black smoke. The air was burned out of his lungs, and he fell back, the forearms he used for blocking growing a few blisters.

Ikki looked at his fallen foe, unimpressed that he had given him so much trouble. "You were a formidable fighter, Hyoga. This fight would've gone on to eternity, if only you didn't have any tears left to cry." He walked calmly beside the young man as he talked, but when he had just passed by, he felt a hand grab on his ankle.

"I haven't lost yet," Cygnus growled, looking up at Phoenix with reddened eyes. "This isn't over."

"Are… are you out of your mind?" He kicked Hyoga's wrist to make him let go, then prepared to stomp on his head, but something else slapped him off from afar.

When Ikki turned to see, he was now faced with the image of June, holding her whip behind her and then dropping a golden boot and gauntlet from under an armpit. "I won't let you hurt him while he's down," she said.

"The next lamb comes for the slaughter," the man said with a somber tone. "I wonder what went through Dark Chameleon's mind when you defeated her; she underestimated you through and through. It's a shame to have to cull such strong warriors."

"Step away from Hyoga!" Ikki did so, raising a hand towards her and preparing for the next clash. "I don't care that you're Shun's brother, I'll have your head."

"Then come and get it."