The Cosmos that can overcome anything!

(克服の小宇宙)

After he threw out his hip with all he could for the punch, Kouga squeezed his eyes shut and stood there with his fist out. Being familiar with Chthon Impulse, Pegasus's Cosmos possibly broke the core that attacked his body, then reignited the Cosmos that was supposed to be diminished. Or maybe it wasn't fully diminished. A simple excuse for something outside Arion's expectations. He had to deal with these contradictions and miracles over and over; at this point, Arion considered just fighting until one or the other was defeated. Just one more enemy was in front of him.

The Ryuseiken passed by, and the memory of Ginga whisked away in seconds as Arion reorganized himself, holding a part of his face. The Terrae thought of his next attack, and lifted his other hand to prepare. He was then stopped by another magnetizing sight.

"Miss Shaina, Miss Saori...you Terrae took them." With his fist outward, and speaking in a dejected, choking tone, Pegasus Kouga was crying. Shaina made him remember the flames in his heart; even though she was suffering, and kept her identity as a goddess hidden, Saori embraced Kouga like one of her children. That's how it felt to Kouga; it was those two who stood for him and raised him. Now, one was taken permanently and the other was taken beyond safe boundaries to be executed. To face those facts shook his heart and flooded him with memories.

"You took my teacher, Miss Shaina. She taught me what it meant to be a Saint, she taught me about the Cosmos…and all I did was complain. I didn't understand! And Miss Saori, who is Athena…she raised me, taught me love, and you're telling me you're going to have her killed?!" Kouga has yet to walk into a mood where the opponent showed sympathy. Arion's only answer was an astute stare; sympathy aside, he was not going to stand for complaints while battling the enemy.

"Pegasus. I will use the technique that defeated your friend, Eden." The Terrae's hand rose high above his head and the atmosphere drowned in dark purple once more.

"Tri X Cluster!" Three giant bodies of stone materialized in the air and flew toward Kouga. It was the same technique that was used on Souma and irradiated a part of his arm; Kouga assumed that the sizes could change since Eden was struck by a smaller projectile. It passed Eden smoothly—in other words, it was a dangerous attack.

No matter what danger he faced, Kouga had to remember Shaina's words: Everything could be destroyed by his fist and kicks; human and God, everything had atoms as targets.

The asteroids flew to Kouga quickly and everything went white. He expected to take them out with his own fist, placing faith in the Cosmos. However, being at the best of one's ability did not prepare him for the gravitational forces that sucked him into the impact. Kouga felt like he was being eaten—when the three giant asteroids broke into multiple pieces from an attack—still smothered him.

There was a secret to the Tri X: Without a "unique" energy of magnificent scale, maybe indefinable, it could not be destroyed. Very few knew the underlying reason, but to most, it was considered an infallible attack using real meteorites. For Souma and Yuna to destroy it, Arion supposed that they carried the identical Cosmos of a God. That had to be it.

Kouga fell to the ground still in one piece, with dust and multiple shards of rock and metal raining down on him. Arion narrowed his eyes seeing the Pegasus Cloth still attached, secretly praising Pegasus's endurance in his mind, while at the same time, annoyed that his opponent won't completely perish. Kouga slowly rose back to his feet; his body looked to stand in a forlorn display as he was surrounded by a regolith.

Kouga took in a few breaths and mumbled, "They are reaching out to me." Still physically and mentally attached, Arion figured, but who was "they"? The Terrae stood still as he discerned a moving pressure that suffused the air. Pegasus is gathering something, Arion wondered. There had to be a reason why the enemy was still alive. The pressure he felt could be traced like a ribbon floating in the wind. Arion's gaze averted to the left, to the far end of the temple wall. Arion saw the fallen three: Yuna, Eden and Souma. His eyebrow bumped. He remembered regressing Yuna and Souma's hearts to a small immature size. Eden still had a hole in him.

"Focus on me, Arion!"

Hearing Kouga's voice rise, Arion looked ahead again and lifted his hands, an unseeable barrier materializing between the two. Kouga's fist landed on it, blinding the two in a flash of light. The Pegasus Suiseiken could only be subdued to a point where it wouldn't hit Arion directly. At least, not immediately. It being condensed to a single point, Arion could feel the attack pushing through. An impending impact may arrive in seconds, he thought, his body protected by Demeter's strongest Stole even vibrating. Arion had a sudden epiphany—a burst of strength that both he and Pegasus realized was not out of thin air. The words came out slowly through Arion's gritted teeth.

"They're…alive?!"

It was them!?

Lionet Souma, Aquila Yuna and Orion Eden were considered clinically dead; in this state, even if the heart stops, oxygen remains in your veins. However, the heart must remain beating via resuscitation techniques before too long. Still, it was this state of Clinical Death being the reason why people could reattach limbs, but recovery was not fully guaranteed due to ischemic damage. The ability to repair became unstable due to lack of nutrients, but did the Cosmos rebrand the theories of therapeutic study? Overcame that challenge? Yuna and Souma's hearts still carried life and pumped; Eden hung by a thread. Even Kouga survived Tri-X Cluster—perhaps the answer to a person reviving from unpredictable circumstances is a rapid function of the body, especially if one has control of the Cosmos, possibly keeping them alive. It was also true that the energy of other stars could shed off or eject and pass along to others, such as after an explosion. Even if would be strange to think of humans having magnetic fields, it didn't seem like a stretch. The Cosmos of Gods could influence an entire world after all. For a mortal, what was the potential? An infinite potential?

The Suiseiken's glare died down, and an unfamiliar sound reached Kouga's ear: Arion's scream. The Fourth Terrae doubled over to his knees, holding his side. After sliding by, Kouga turned around and saw a bubble encapsulated in one side of Arion's waist. It pooled there in a gape. Kouga praised himself in his mind—he was sure that he injured his opponent and was confident that he could do it again. When Arion looked down as to where that surging pain came from, seeing that gape coated in a "black substance", his face changed from twisted agony to shock.

He then shot the same gaze to Kouga, which froze Kouga to perplexity. To see those gold eyes burn with a disturbance, his mouth quivering.

"It can't be….Pegasus?!" Pulling up one leg, Arion's movement belied his injury. The two were face to face. The Terrae suddenly snatched Kouga's strike hand and scanned his eyes up and down the boy's arm.

"Let go you bastard!" The words came out fast, but Kouga did not resist and held everything still, including his mouth, for the next minute. He was honestly surprised.

"The entire time, who or what was I fighting?" At Arion's question, Kouga only hummed in wonderment. He contained to break out a scowl. Pegasus thought of it as a stupid question, but why was it even asked?

That power you contain…Those were Arion's only thoughts as his face had yet to relax in tension. He looked up at Kouga, mouthing strange words.

"Erebus."

"What?"

"Pegasus Kouga…why do you have this?" The battle went still.