Golden aura lightened around her, Saori burned her cosmo. Facing Capricorn Shura, she was ready to fight.
"I know my time is running out," she said evenly. "But I must avenge Sagittarius Aiolos even if that's the last thing I do. Men like you disgust me. There are two types of people that cause chaos: the ones that are evil and the ones that are idiotic. You, Capricorn Shura, is the idiot. You follow orders blindly. You killed Aiolos without any remorse. You believed it's the right thing to do. for I'm not going to waste my breath with men like you. Instead, I'm going to use you to warn all Saints of what is the consequence of messing up with me!"
"You..." Before Shura could continue, he felt the power embedded in his arms and legs were diminishing.
"Are you surprised?" Saori questioned. "The power in your limbs were given by a god and thus can be taken away by a god too."
Now Shura showed fear.
Scorpio Milo took a step back, leaving Shura to face Saori alone. Her cosmo and power made him tremble.
What have you got us into Saga! He thought.
Saori disregarded Milo and everyone else. Shura found the power in his left arm and legs gone completely. Saori shortened her spear to use it as a sword.
"You still have your sword in your right arm, Shura," Saori said.
"Ouja-sama, you are not serious?" Jabu said before his shoes were thrown back at him. Three size bigger, his shoes were now a barrier. Jabu was to stop her but Shiryu pulled him back.
"Let her have it," Shiryu told him. "She has to let it out."
"Silver Saints, Gold Saints, and Poseidon," Shun said. "They never cut her a break."
"Hey, you think Capricorn will win?" Ichi asked Geki. "Or Saori-san?"
Unlike before, Seiya stayed quiet and watched as Saori battled against Shura. She was a skilled fighter and Shura certainly didn't go easy on her. She cleverly predicted Shura's every move and knew when to attack and when to withdraw. In her movement, Seiya saw anger. For the first time, he realized that she had been through as much as he did. Mitsumasa Kido was never her real family. The privileged life she lived in was nothing but an illusion. Her fiance was actually Poseidon, an enemy who wanted to kill her. She had been orphaned, kidnapped, lied to, threatened, attacked - and all alone.
The air was ever colder in the House of Aquarius.
Hyoga was frozen in a glacier. Camus tried to walk away but couldn't. Tears were falling from his eyes.
"Hyoga, forgive me," he said.
His heart was heavy. Hyoga came to him when he was only six and he saw him grow. Although he was Hyoga's master, he saw him as a son as Hyoga saw him as a father figure.
Ice was cracking.
"What?"
Hyoga was breaking out of the freezing coffin.
That means...
Shivering, Hyoga stood and murmured, "Absolute zero is the temperature of -273.15C. which can freeze everything. It can make everything stop. Not even you can make such a coldness."
"Hyoga..."
Slowly, Hyoga raised his arms and mimicked Camus' Aurora Execution.
"In the battle of ice Saints," Hyoga said, repeating from a lesson Camus had taught him. "The one who makes his coldness as close as to absolute zero wins. Even if my coldness can't reach to absolute zero, I must raise it to your level to defeat you!"
"Hyoga, you are not in Gold Cloth! Absolute zero-"
"AURORA EXECUTION!"
The battle between Shura and Saori was intense. It seemed that Shura had the upper hand. The Excalibur lacerated her left arm.
Blood was dripping.
"Saori-san!" Seiya shouted and leaped forward.
"You can't do that!" Milo said. "If this is a fair battle-"
"Pegasus is not helping Athena," Aries Mu said, coming with Shaina, Shaka, Aldebaran and Aiolia. "Capricorn Shura has already lost. By the end of this battle, Athena would be wounded with Shura dead by her hand."
Indeed, the staff in her hand was about to stab into Shura's heart had Seiya not pulled her back. She could feel the coolness from his armor and the warmth from his fingertips.
Saori-san!
Seiya's shouting made her realize what she was about to do - kill a Saint by her own hand. It'd be different from defeating Poseidon.
Saori-san, Seiya said to her through their cosmo, still holding her. I can't let you do this. I've told you to leave the fighting to us because I can't let your hands stained with the blood of Saints. You have done many naughty things since I came back from Greece. You bickered with me, put me through hell in the Galaxian Tournament, kicked me out of my house, and stole the flowers Miho gave me. But not even once had I been mad because I know when you mess up with me you are who you always wanted to be - a stubborn spoiled teenager without a world on your shoulders. But killing Gold Saint Shura, I can't let you because se agapó."
Se agapó.
For the first time she heard these words coming out of anyone's mouth.
Slowly, he let go of her arm and Saori dropped the staff.
"Athena," Leo Aiolia knelt before her. "Please spare Shura. He has been wrong, but so have many of us. Your time is running out. To save you we must defeat Saga. Give us a chance to prove our loyalty to you. This is what my brother Aiolos would've wanted."
Saori looked at the clock tower and saw only two flames left.
"I spare your life, Shura, for the sake of Aiolos' soul," Saori said. "I've taken away the Excalibur in your limbs except for your right arm. I'll let you keep it for your sworn loyalty." Looking at the Saints before her - Bronze, Silver, and Gold - she told them, "I only have two hours left. In the next house, Aquarius Saint is dealing with Hyoga but I'm not worried about them. Past is the past and I know as Gold Saints you didn't have much choice than obeying the orders of the Pope Saga. It was Saga who betrayed me and my mother and it was he who had Aiolos killed."
"Pisces Aphrodite is loyal to the Pope," Milo said.
"We can defeat Saga by other ways," Saori said with confidence, touching the wound on her arm. "Shura, I have something for you to do."