CHAPTER TWENTY - LIFE OR DEATH SITUATION

The saints made their way towards sanctuary quickly, but they still had a ways to go. They were all tiring, but they didn't dare let that get them down. Concerned for their friends, they knew they had to continue. It took them possibly an hour to reach the actual chambers they had been seeking, and when they arrived, they were shocked to see no guards.

"This isn't good," Shina pointed out, "no guards outside means that they feel safe enough inside to not need them.

"So, what's the plan?" Tenshi asked.

"What other choices do we have? Everyone prepared to die?" Shiryu asked, almost tearing up from the fear of losing his friends and Tenshi who he was developing strong feelings for.

Shiryu and Hyoga broke down the doors to the sanctuary's chambers and saw Ares sitting in the far end of the room, Saori tied in rope next to him. Between them and the pope were masses of saints, dozens of cloth colors, and many of them had weapons.

"This won't be pretty," Ikki pointed out.

The battle at sanctuary had begun. Ready or not, they were about to fight for their lives.

Shiryu, Ikki, Hyoga, Shina, and Tenshi all rushed into the crowd of saints, prepared to destroy them. Naraku was a part of that crowd, but stayed closer to the pope. Someone looking exactly like Naraku, who the group knew must've been Muso, was bound in a corner next to Saori.

Ikki's opponent held a sword and kept swinging it at the phoenix saint. Normally, a weapon like this would pose no threat, but when the blade was glowing red and had sparks flying from it, any saint would be a bit wary. Three other saints were attacking him from other angles and he wasn't sure which one to attack first. Two of his opponents held weapons, one of them the sword and the other held chains. He knew which one to go after first. It would be like fighting Shun only these chains held no power, so if he could obtain the chains himself, then he would have a weapon to use. The man with the chains swung at him and Ikki allowed himself to be hit hard on the back, but it gave him the perfect opportunity to duck, grab the chains, and send the saint flying over the heads of a few other enemies. Now, chains in hand, Ikki had more than simply his phantom devil attack to use.

Shiryu was afraid to let Tenshi fight by herself but knew that if he spent his entire time protecting her, the both of them would surely die, so he fought his own way through the crowd towards Ares. Against a saint with attacks similar to Hyoga's, Shiryu was sure that he would be able to defeat his main enemy. After practicing with Hyoga so many times Shiryu knew that the weakness of any saint who uses ice and snow as a main line of defense is to prevent them from touching you or using their hands. The saints guarding the pope may have had strong cosmoses, but their cosmoses were no where near as brilliant as the group who had arrived to fight for their lives and save their friends.

Shiryu had managed to break the wrists of his opponent who was writing on the floor in pain, but was now in trouble himself. While attacking the one man, two had tag-teamed him and one had him in a pretty good choke hold. Shiryu felt a gust of wind surrounding his body and knew that Tenshi had seen what was happening and was about to use her wind powers to rescue him from the tight hold he couldn't seem to escape.

None of the saints wanted to use their special techniques, because they weren't really sure if the opponents they were fighting now were all Ares had to offer, or if there were worse, more terrifying opponents.

Shina and Hyoga were the only two who could use their attacks repeatedly and have no worries of burning out their cosmoses, and it was heard throughout the room that they were doing just that.

"Thunder Cobra!" Shina screamed, wiping out four men at once.

About eleven men were completely frozen solid and everyone was busy fighting their own opponents. It was difficult to see if they were winning or not, because the more enemies they killed the more that seemed to appear!

Shina was about to make another attack when she felt a blade penetrate her stomach. She looked down and saw a sword being drawn back, covered in blood, and she felt light headed. She went down quickly, losing all sight and hearing.

Shiryu had escaped his choke hold with Tenshi's help and the two of them were now fighting a group of men with knives and swords. Tenshi was using her wind powers while Shiryu created small versions of the Rising Dragon for her to 'whoosh' at them as Hyoga would've put it.

One of the men managed to slip past the attack and had cut Shiryu on the arm, but Shiryu quickly kicked him in the stomach, stopping the attack, and they continued to move on to another group.

More men protecting Ares came from behind the curtains and the group realized that the more men they killed, the more men were appearing! There must've been thousands of them and as soon as so many would die, more would be brought in. There was no way they could win at this rate.

Tenshi was beginning to feel drained from using her powers, and wasn't sure how much longer she could last, when suddenly, she felt completely rejuvenated.

"Nebula Chain!" they heard someone scream and suddenly, dozens of the men were wiped out.

Shun and Peggi stood in the doorway, Shun's chains extended, and Peggi was wielding balls of fire, her favorite attack, in her hands.

Tenshi recognized Shun from earlier, knowing that this time it must've been the real boy, because there was no way Naraku could be in two places at once. Suddenly, memories came rushing back to her.

She went back to some of the dreams that she had been having lately, the ones involving this other girl who also had powers. The girl standing beside Shun was the girl she had been having dreams about. She was not sure who she was or why she had appeared in so many of her dreams, but she had. She remembered that in her dreams, she felt as though she had a lot of power and could do just about anything, as long as this darker-haired girl was around. It almost frightened her to realize that she had been having dreams about this girl, but she knew that she must've been on her side, because as soon as the two entered the room they began wiping out their opponents left and right! Tenshi suddenly felt a burst of energy surging through her and she felt like she could do nearly anything. She found the biggest most dangerous looking opponent she could see in the room and began her attack. She had the urge to unleash her wind and water abilities, sending a sudden burst of water at him, and the water froze on contact! He didn't stand a chance against her! He hadn't even had time to defend himself before her attack had hit him!

Tenshi was wiping out man after man, making her way to the front of the room where the evil Pope Ares sat. She knew that if she made it there before anyone else, it would be up to her to defeat him, and suddenly she realized that no one was attacking her anymore. She turned to see all of her friends and the two who had just entered, covered in cuts, bruises and blood; both their own and their opponent's blood. Dead men lie all across the room, so close and piled on top of one another that it was literally impossible to step without stepping on one of them. The site was absolutely gruesome but it seemed that the good guys had finally won!

The group was tired, beaten, and wishing they could just finish the match with their opponents, but they couldn't leave without Saori. She was trying to pull on the ropes binding her body, but Naraku was approaching her, ready to do something crazy, they were sure! They were all afraid that he would kill her, but they couldn't do anything other than wait to see what he was about to do. They couldn't attack him because he stood right in front of Saori and any attack sent at him might hit her. The only person in the room cocky enough and daring enough to make an attack was pulled off by Shun.

"Please Peggi, don't attack just yet," Shun whispered to her, "you could miss."

"So?" Peggi snarled, not sure why she should care about Saori.

Knowing that it would hurt Shun and her friends badly if she so much as risked Saori's life, Peggi did not attack.

"So," Naraku began, "it appears that all of you have been underestimated. Deal changes now. You see, the red-headed demon child was property of mine, whom I sold to Ares. In his foolishness he allowed her to escape but now that she has returned, we will return your princess to you, no harm done. But it appears you have killed both some of my men and your Holy Father's men as well. It seems only fair that one of you stay and I choose the spunky half-demon child to complete the set!"

Knowing that Naraku meant her, Peggi instantly prepared to attack him on cue, but she allowed for Shun to hold her back if the move was not right. She was afraid of harming anyone else in the room, but at the same time would not allow any harm to come to her loved ones and friends. Shun wanted to attack with the Nebula chains but knew that there were just as many risks involved with his attack as there were with any of the others attacking.

Tenshi had to hold herself back from attacking Naraku or Ares because she realized that she was the so-called property that they wanted back and that was not fair to her! She was a living breathing human being! Or at least half human. Obviously these two were not, but she didn't want to make a move, as no one else seemed to be too rushy on attacking, and she realized why when she noticed that Naraku had placed himself intentionally in front of Muso and Saori. Suddenly, she realized that Naraku was safe for the moment, but he wasn't the only one she was angry with, nor the only enemy that they were fighting at the moment.

She did not even aim her attack, she simply let loose the biggest and most powerful attack she possibly could muster at Ares. Right after she had sent forth her attack, she realized how big of a mistake it had been and wished she could take back that move. Ares was dressed in a weird outfit, much like the cloths that her friends wore but it did not look anything like a bronze cloth or like the one that Shina had worn. Instead, it was made of gold and seemed to cover more of his body than the others' did. Not only did he completely dodge her attack, he sent one her way!

Tenshi screamed in agony as the sudden attack hit her. It hurt her terribly, but it also caught her off guard.

Shun knew his girlfriend well, and realized that with Ares' attack, not even God himself could hold back the hotheaded girl. He didn't even bother trying to hold her back when Peggi made her attack.

"You bastard, I will tear your face from your skull!" Peggi screamed, sending waves of flames in Ares' direction, running at him so quickly that none of them really even noticed at first until she was halfway across the room to him.

She did not aim to kill him just yet. She had other plans, but first, she had to help his so-called "property" to her feet.

As soon as Tenshi gave the other girl her hand to be helped up, she felt something strange within herself. Looking into the older girl's eyes suddenly brought back memories that she had been seeing only as dreams and only at a glimpse for days now. She suddenly remembered meeting her cousin Peggi at a well in Japan. Peggi's boyfriend had introduced her to some of his friends and they had all hit it off for the most part. One of them had lost his sight and in order to restore it, Peggi had decided to journey into feudal Japan to retrieve a jewel that possessed magick. This stone would allow him to see again, and while Peggi did not really like the idea of her going, she had said it would be like an adventure. She jumped at the chance and her cousin had allowed her to go.

She remembered Peggi leaving, going home to their day and age, but she decided to stay behind for a while and to think of it as vacation time. She remembered being captured by Naraku. She remembered Naraku trading her to another man, apparently Ares, and she remembered why Shiryu had found her in the alleyway. She had tried to escape and managed to do so, but not before Ares and his men had nearly beaten her to death trying to recapture her. She had fled and found herself in an alleyway. She couldn't even make it onto the streets before blacking out.

Everything suddenly fell into place, and Tenshi realized she was no longer Tenshi. She was Eevee, and she was not pleased with a certain two people in that room.

Without any sort of warning or preparation, the girls locked hands and a blue energy ball blasted through the ceiling of the room, snow falling down upon them all. Naraku realized that the girls both knew their powers and that he could be in some serious trouble, but he did not show his fears. Instead, he prepared for battle, as did Ares. He stood, ready to kill them both at first chance, and he removed his face coverings.

It was a battle to the death, and no matter what the outcome, it wouldn't end pretty.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY

Peggi-Yes, I know, it took ages to update this, but wasn't it worth it??? I'm still recovering from my surgery and haven't been up to writing but I had to get this out and posted. Only a couple more chapters to go...wow...

Eevee-But I don't want it to end!

Peggi-I know but all great things must end, and this is only the beginning of toying with the world of Saint Seiya!!! Until next time, please slip reviesws to me and now I am off to do...Ra only knows what!!!