Blessings of a Prince?! The strength of chivalry! PART 1
(王子の恵み？! 騎士道の力だ!)
Your hearts are burning with…ambition. Despite that, all I know in the world is that all living things are fated to perish.
Arion's thoughts reflect a man that refused to give up. He also dreaded Demeter's fate, which gave him enough to pursue his enemy's defeat.
What prompted Orion Eden to ruminate over the enemy was beyond anyone's guess. If he compared his foes thus far, they were mostly warriors of the divine or divine themselves. However, he felt that Arion was different. Even the Gods wore armor on mortal grounds, much like his father's Galaxy and Saturn's Chronotector. The visual of a lower peasant Terrae with a robe, but carried the air of nobility, struck Eden as odd.
Loom Pan was the Terrae of Dancing Fibre, Boron Ginga was the Terrae of Universal Supernova, and Megaera was the Terrae of Scorching Fury. But what was the well-mannered Arion supposed to be? In a blink of an eye, it seemed that everything was revealed, and seemed to take a step towards the worse for the Saints.
Kouga was at a lost to react. Why did a Stole appear only now? It was blue as the sky, carrying wings, wrapped around the enemy's entire body. Such a color and shape would maybe invite calm and safety, a rite of passage for Kouga to somewhere that dissuaded him from anger and fighting. A color of trust, authority, and assurance; about 50% of the world's national flags had the color blue to them.
"Before we resume," said Arion, "I'll give you time to move your friends". As Arion used the wings sprouting behind his Stole to brush away the rest of the smoke, Kouga returned to his senses. He growled and picked up his friends one by one as Arion continued.
"You seemed confused, Pegasus. Did you know that the 4th Garden of Horae has another name? The Garden of Triptolemus, the immortal warrior that served Demeter."
As he listened, pacing, Kouga was particularly gentle with Yuna and Souma when he set them down next to each other by the right wall. The scrappy-looking flesh puffing out their chests could not be made out, but Kouga's instincts told him to be delicate.
"After the Mythological Era, it stands as a reminder of a guardian temple for Demeter—a Garden—to remember the mortal that Demeter blessed and sent all over the world as her priest."
"Are you saying that you're a divine being? A descendent of Triptolemus?" After setting down Eden, Kouga strode away and stood face to face with Arion.
"Triptolemus was the son of a King, who was in Demeter's debt. Becoming a Terrae, I was given the Prince's spiritual power by Demeter's Imítheós Angigma (ημίθεος άγγιγμα). Therefore, it is my duty to serve as both a leader in Naxos, and as a second for Demeter and her human host. But enough of that. I'd love to tell you more Pegasus, but we are enemies."
Glowering, Kouga twisted at the hip to an attack stance. His Cosmos swam around his body in a silver-bluish hue.
"Maybe in the afterlife, there will be hope for even you," said Arion.
Kouga closed one hand into a fist and pulled it to his waist. "Earlier, did you say that my friend lacked care and heart?" He asked, shooting a fierce glare at Arion.
"Orion? Indeed."
"I'll use one blow." Those few words from Pegasus made Arion's brow crinkle. Even after everything that has happened, with each Saint falling to his abilities, Pegasus still carried a nerve.
"After I defeat you, you will apologize, and you tell me where Athena is. Take me to her!"
"Very well."
"Pegasus Sui Sei Ken!" Kouga brought his arm forward, and Arion whited out. Or rather, it felt like his entire vision, his entire space, was swallowed by an explosive light. Arion stretched out, then wrapped his wings around himself; behind them, he heard the roar of air from Kouga's attack. So, he won't give up.
The light flew through and tapered behind Arion, who unfurled his wings. Staring with gold eyes that burned toward his opponent, the 4th Terrae stood quietly.
"Then I'll punch a thousand holes into your Stole!" Kouga showed no despondency, fierce eyes asserting to not give up-or was it unforgiveness? With another punch, the air split apart and glimmered; Arion nearly lost sight of Kouga in an endless flurry of meteors. When they struck, it was hit after hit from punches. Even initiated from a distance, they felt like heavy punches from up close.
Arion didn't take the blows – that would be a man who lacked common sense. He had to create an aura around his Stole with his Cosmos. Even from the Sui Sei Ken, he felt a buckle and then a shockwave that threatened to knock him away. Once again, he had to ask himself where the Bronzes' strength came from. He knew full well that the Cosmos from Athena's Saints, most of them, brought destruction to sky and earth. Fortunately, he was a Terrae of barriers. Loom Pan managed her shields through a weaving technique, imitating metal weapons that took blows. The resilience depended on the items' physical size and her own ability; Andromeda's Rolling Defense was similar; Arion's scale of power simply surpassed that through his own Cosmos.
Agh!
The wave of punches ended. Before he moved, Kouga pulled in a huge amount of breath. Completely freezing the Pegasus Saint, Arion's fist had pummeled into his Cloth cuirass.
"Your friend Eden lost because your Saints lack something!" Arion pushed his punch in further, severing the Cloth's elasticity. It felt sore and heavy in comparison to the softness of his gold eyes, frozen within an austere face.
"And that is Chivalry!"
When Arion pulled back his fist, Kouga fell. He had not experienced the ferocity of Arion's close combat firsthand and it surprised him. So far, Arion fought with tricks to deter or divert the enemy's strikes, and he clearly had launching attacks that could literally break bodies. The ability of pliability— like his goddess, Triptolemus also had the ability to create grain from the ground, which was home to the minerals that formed a god's temples and mankind's weapons and armor. Did Arion's own hands contain some form of "governing"? Even for hypermetal?
Pegasus managed to stand back up. After all, Arion was not allowed to snuff out his life if he had anything to say about it.
As Pegasus transcended the bounds of what fate is supposed to be, or the Life cycle, the strong consuming the weak, Demeter moved downstairs in a furious gait. It was the stairs behind her temple, which stretched into the well to Limbo. There, she met her nemesis, bounded from neck to ankles by the Cerebus's chains. What brought along such abuse?
"Athena!" The Mother Goddess roared. "The strength of your Saints, tell me how!"
Athena, in the face of Demeter's furious gaze, stood expressionless, and Demeter could not help but define that as obstinance. Her brow caved when Demeter squeezed her chin.
"You took my daughters from me. You will answer."
"Faith." Despite being a prisoner, Athena could say a word with an unclouded belief. When that word slipped from the tongue, tales of the many times she reincarnated on Earth and betrayed the Gods to aid the mortals felt genuine. Warmth radiated from her eyes in this Limbo.
"What?!"
"Faith in their Cosmos. A burning feeling in their hearts and the love they have for their planet. When I see this demonstrated, I can't help but cry."
"Is that why you can sacrifice yourself so easily?" Demeter asked, which led to no answer; Athena closed her eyes as affirmation.
"Whether brave, selfless, or pious, the sin of harming my family will not pass by me lightly," Demeter opined. "Furthermore, Megaera should've never lost to them!" She then turned to the Specter laying on the shadowed ground limbs flat like a dog. In one hand was the lithe chain wrapped around Athena.
"Meadow! Did she do something?! Anything?!"
Dark Meadow curved his neck to look up at the Goddess and could only shake his head. Demeter was obviously exasperated like a child. With Arion away, she was not satisfied staying in bed and had to disgorge the fire that was churning in her body. She did not know how to properly mourn and her negative emotions were usually dished out as anger. She will go up and down as long as the assault on Naxos continued.