After the incident with the river, Dohko took Tenma back to his orphanage, telling them that the boulder fortunately came apart on its own. It was a little white lie, but he knew that they wouldn't believe him anyway if he'd told them the truth. The matron and all the kids were immensely grateful, after all, he did save the brown haired boy and brought him home. It'd take some time for Tenma's fists to fully heal, but eventually they'd be as good as new.
Once the teenager woke up in the morning, he immediately went to find the man that saved him, looking to give him his thanks, and also to ask him about something else a little more peculiar. He found the stranger outside, resting under the shadow of a tree.
"You're Dohko, the guy who saved me right?"
The saint then noticed Tenma's presence, waking up from his little nap. "That'd be me, yes."
"I'm sure the matron and the other kids all thanked you already, so I'm not gonna waste a lot of time with that." His eyes were shining with curiosity. "I'm grateful for you saving me and all, but what I really want to know is how exactly you destroyed that rock."
"I did what?" Dohko tried to play dumb, but he wasn't a good actor, so the boy saw right through it.
"I wasn't completely out yet, and I'm pretty sure that it wasn't just a delusion." Tenma crossed his arms. "I saw you punch that boulder and break it. How did you do that?"
Dohko chuckled, he was amused but not annoyed at the boy seeing through his deception.
"It's because I'm a saint of Athena, we can all do things like that." Said the man, casually.
"A saint of what?" The kid asked, confused. "I'm not asking about your religion, I wanna know how you broke that boulder!"
"Alright, alright. It's a long story, so you should probably sit down."
Tenma sat down as soon as he heard that, impatient as ever.
"What if I told you that the Greek pantheon is real?" He explained. "Poseidon, Hades, Athena, all those greek gods from the old myths are real."
"You gotta be kidding me!" Tenma interrupted him, not buying that at all. "I might be a kid but I'm not stupid, if you don't wanna tell me about the boulder just say so."
The golden saint chuckled yet again. "Tell you what, if you hear my story to the end, I'll teach you how to do it. How to destroy big rocks like that one. How does that sound?"
Tenma thought about it for a few moments and then nodded.
"Alright, now where was I?" The saint took a breather. "Ah yes, the gods. They're all real, and each one has their own interests, goals and ambitions."
"Back at the end of the mythological era Zeus disappeared, and then his brother Hades, god of the underworld, decided that he wanted the earth for himself." Dohko told the story as it'd been told to him by his masters. "But to do that, he'd have to get rid of the humans who ruled over the land. So he taught 108 of his most devout followers the dark magic of the underworld, armed them with a special type of armor forged in the pits of tartarus, and turned them into his conquering army: the Specters."
Tenma nodded again, following alone with the tale.
"With Zeus missing, Athena tried to rally the other gods of Olympus against Hades, but it was for nothing. Poseidon had his own ambitions, her brother Ares was all too happy to watch the coming war, and all the rest either didn't care or were too frightened to stand up to the emperor of the underworld." Dohko rolled his eyes.
"So Athena took it upon herself to stand up against her uncle on behalf of humanity. She went down to earth, and then taught 88 of her own followers how to harness a mysterious energy. We call it cosmos, because it's like an unexplored universe that exists inside every living being. Tapping into cosmos is how the gods can perform miracles, and it's how I destroyed that boulder."
Dohko closed his right fist. "Then, the goddess gave us armor forged out of a special type of metal taken from mount olympus itself, we call them sacred cloths. Each one is based on a constellation, and they're more durable than anything on earth." He showed Tenma the golden plate on his forearm. "Trained on how to tap into the power of cosmos and armed with our sacred cloths, the saints of Athena were born with the sole purpose of defending the earth from Hades and his specters."
The man looked at the sky. "Our first battle with the specters at the end of the mythological era is now known as the first Holy War. A war that happened in the shadows of history, after all, Athena has gone to great lengths to ensure that the common folk didn't get dragged into it." The saint gave another little laugh. "Since we're all still here, I probably shouldn't have to tell you that the saints won that war. Hades, however, can be quite obsessive, so he simply retreated back into the underworld to plan and rebuild his forces to strike again a couple centuries later, being met with another generation of saints taught by the veterans of the previous wars that managed to beat him back again. This cycle has been going on ever since, and shows no signs of stopping. "
"Wouldn't killing Hades mean the end of those Holy Wars?" Tenma asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hades can't be killed, gods can't be killed." Dohko answered. "And besides, even if they could be killed, Hades never comes down to earth on his own body. He leaves his real body in the underworld for some reason, and when the time comes to lead his armies in the Holy Wars, he instead possesses the body of the human with the purest heart at the time. That one we can kill, and while doing it can give us quite the advantage in the war, it's just a temporary setback for Hades. It's impossible to get rid of him permanently."
"Is that how Athena comes down to earth too? Possessing someone's body?" The boy didn't seem to approve of that way of doing things.
"Not quite." He answered. "See, the goddess thought that she couldn't truly understand the plight of humans if she didn't live like one of us. And so, she decided to always incarnate as a human shortly before the start of the Holy Wars. She's born from a human womb, is raised like a human, goes through all the pain and suffering that comes with it, lives to lead the saints in battle, and then dies, only to reincarnate centuries later in the beginning of the next cycle." Dohko sighed. "Some of us think that this is the reason why Hades hasn't won yet, he just doesn't understand humans and also never cared to learn."
"Anyway, we seem to be getting a little off topic here." The golden saint smiled. "So Tenma, that's the story. And I did promise to teach you how to be strong like me, but to do that, you'll have to become a saint yourself."
Tenma raised an eyebrow. "Ok, let's assume that everything you just said is true." Said the teenager. "Why choose me? Isn't there just 88 spots among you saints? Why not pick some big time athlete or soldier instead of some orphan?"
"It's not about physical strength, Tenma. I saw how determined you were to save your friends last night, even when faced with impossible odds, you kept trying to break that rock and only stopped once your body gave in. That's the kind of strength we're looking for."
The teenager was a bit tempted to learn that power, but still looked undecided.
"Tenma, I can tell you have a lot of strength of spirit, and if you choose to become a saint, you can use it to protect not only your family at the orphanage, but everybody on earth." Dohko tapped him on the shoulder. "All the signs point to a new Holy War starting soon, and if we lose, who knows what Hades is gonna do."
As he heard that, he quickly glanced at the flower bagel on his wrist, remembering his promise to Alone's sister: Sasha. He promised that he'd protect their family in her place. He still wasn't sure if he believed Dohko story, but if he could just become as strong as that man, learn how to manipulate that cosmos thing and destroy even enormous boulders with his fists, he'd be unbeatable. Nobody would ever be able to harm his family. That's what tipped the scales.
The teenager's eyes shone brightly with the fires of his fighting spirit, a natural born warrior that kid was.
"Alright, I'll go with you." Tenma smiled, determined. "I'll become a saint of Athena, and then I'll protect Alone and the others from anything and anyone!"