A couple weeks ago, the Sanctuary received news of strange happenings in the Italian countryside, more specifically around the area where Tenma and Sasha's town was located. And since specter activity had been ramping up lately, Grandmaster Sage decided it was worth it to send a scouting party of saints on a little reconnaissance mission to assess the situation in that area. All three members of the scouting party were silver saints.
There existed a hierarchy among the Saints of Athena. Bronze saints were the rookies, the ones who just recently graduated from apprentice status and became full fledged saints. Silver saints were the more experienced veterans, men and women who attained a superior degree of skill in using their cosmos. And above all of them, standing below only the Grandmaster and the Goddess herself, there were the golden saints like Dohko.
The twelve golden saints, each one representing one of the zodiac signs, are by far the strongest warriors in the sanctuary, saints who have achieved mastery of their own cosmos to a degree where they've become comparable in power to demigods.
That morning, the scouting party of silver saints had finally returned from their mission. The Grandmaster, Athena herself, and two golden saints, the tough and laid back Libra Dohko and the cold and collected Aries Shion, had gathered in the temple of Athena to hear the mission report.
Sasha, sitting on an ornate throne, seemed happy that they've been able to come back without casualties or serious injuries. The Grandmaster and the golden saints, however, still had their guards up, as if they sensed that something wasn't quite right in the air.
"So, I'm happy to see that you all managed to come back safely, silver saints." Said the Grandmaster, crossing his arms. "Now, give us the report."
"Our suspicion that there was unnatural specter activity in the Italian countryside was true." Said the scouting party's leader. "Mysterious deaths are happening in the region, causing panic among the townsfolk."
Sasha frowned, after all, those were her people he was talking about. There were specters in her hometown, and she was scared for her friends.
"We continued our investigation until we found a suspicious cathedral in a forest, where we were ambushed by a group of specters." The silver saint continued. "We engaged them in combat, and then… our group was completely wiped out. We were decimated down to the last man."
Aries Shion raised an eyebrow at that. "Come again?"
"Completely wiped out?" Asked the Grandmaster.
"Yes, without exception." The silver saint conformed, a malicious smile forming on his face.
"We were all killed by those specters, but Lord Hades offered us a new chance at life..." The leader of the scouting party took a step forward, a dark miasma emanating from him and his comrades.
"As long as we take Athena's head." He concluded. "We won't ever have to fear death again."
Grandmaster Sage scoffed. "So, Hades raised you from the dead and promised you eternal life if you betrayed your brothers in arms and your goddess for his sake." His tone was filled with contempt, even though he was still calm.
"What a disgrace, not a single one of you is worthy of wearing those sacred cloths."
The renegade saints then prepared for battle, raising their fists in anticipation for the fight that was about to break out.
"Dohko, protect Lady Athena. Shion, wipe them out." Grandmaster Sage gave the orders, not a hint of stress in his tone.
"Yes sir!" Both the golden saints answered, one going to Sasha's side and the other standing before them and the specters.
"It's three one one, there's no way we're gonna lose!" Yelled the leader of the renegades. "Come one! Forward!"
The trio of renegades charged. Shion, who merely raised both his arms in response, elevating his cosmos to the fullest extent of his power. A majestic golden aura then started emanating from his body.
"Starlight Extinction!"
As he said those words, pillars of light erupted from the ground where each of the renegades stood, enveloping them in a shining torrent of energy, which completely tore their armor apart. The trio screamed in pain as their bodies got burned by the deadly pillars of light summoned by Shion's technique. That was the full power of a single golden saint, three silver saints were nothing compared to it.
As the technique subsided, the pillars vanished, and renegades fell to the ground, all of them agonizing, certain that they only had a couple seconds before death would take them again.
"Any last words, traitors?" Asked the Grandmaster, his tone was just as imposing as usual.
Sasha was shocked as she witnessed all of that, this having been the first ever death she'd seen with her own eyes. The girl had known those three silver saints who turned renegade for a long time, and yet she'd never thought that'd one day try to murder her. A couple tears formed in her eyes, as she tried and failed to force herself to be the strong and stoic goddess from Greek lore.
The leader of the renegades crawled on the ground, as he reached out with his hand for the Goddess. "Lady Athena…" Now at death's door, his expression had a look of deep regret for what he'd done. "We…" He suddenly started crying as well. "...we just wanted to live!"
And then he collapsed, his hand falling into the ground, the breath of life finally leaving the bodies of all three renegade silver saints.
Sasha couldn't watch that anymore. She got up from the throne and ran to her chambers, trying her best not to show that she was sobbing uncontrollably. Goddess or not, she was still just a young woman.
Although the saints' whole existence was centered around defeating their enemies, killing allies turned traitors always left a bad taste in their mouths. And this wasn't any different, as silence soon took over that room after Sasha stormed off.
"Should I go after her?" Asked Shion.
"No, this was to be expected." The Grandmaster sighed. "That young lady, the current incarnation of our Goddess, hadn't seen first hand the cruel realities of the holy war until today." He explained. "With time, those experiences will harden her, and then she'll be fit to lead us saints into victory in the later stages of the war. This is what always happened during previous holy wars, it's a consequence of Lady Athena choosing to keep reincarnating as a common human instead of possessing humans like Hades does."
He continued. "Until then, I'll make sure that the Sanctuary is well run to the best of my abilities."
After that, Dohko, who was visibly shaken by what happened today, decided to speak up. "Grandmaster, please allow me to assemble a team to move in on the specters gathering in Italy."
The Libra Saint gritted his teeth, angry. "They had the gall to turn our comrades against us and forced us to kill them, we must hit them hard, with no mercy, so that they won't ever try this again!"
The Grandmaster stood silent as he heard that, and then looked over to Shion. "Do you agree with this course of action?"
The Aries Saint nodded. Although he was far more collected than Dohko, he shared his feelings of anger over being forced to execute his own former brothers in arms.
"Very well, you have my permission." The Grandmaster turned his back as he said that. "Gather a squad and move out as soon as you can, your mission is to eliminate the group of specters that's gathering in the Italian countryside."
"Yes sir!" The duo answered, determined to make the forces of the underworld pay for what they'd just done.
As Dohko and Shion left the room, the Grandmaster looked at the empty throne where Athena sits, reminiscing over the events of the previous Holy War, when at its end Athena blessed him with an unnaturally long lifespan so that he could train the next generations of Saints. The new Holy War was finally starting, and Sage knew that this was the time where all of his life's work would finally pay off.
-x-
Without wasting time, Dohko and Shion gathered a group of silver and bronze saints as ordered by the Grandmaster, among that group were Pegasus Tenma and Unicorn Yato.
Dohko picked Yato because he was among the strongest rookies, and Tenma because this mission involved his homeland, and he thought the young man had a right to come with.
The group was quickly briefed on the mission objectives, and Tenma was all kinds of worried. Alone's safety was weighing heavy on his mind, after all, he'd promised to protect him.
"Does Sasha know about this, Dohko?" Tenma asked.
"It's Lady Athena, dumbass! Be more respectful!" Yato corrected him, giving him a little slap on the back of the head. The brown haired kid, however, didn't pay it any mind.
"She didn't come up with the mission, but I'm sure that the Grandmaster has let her know." Dohko answered.
A few moments of silence then followed, but were interrupted by Shion's voice.
"Listen up, we have no way of knowing what kind of dangers we'll find when we get there." The aries saint warned them. "Stay on your toes, and don't do anything stupid." He then looked over to the unicorn saint. "Especially you, Yato. You've just made bronze saint, don't try to bite more than what you can chew, lives are at stake."
"Yes sir!" Yato answered, a bit embarrassed that he got singled out in front of his peers by Shion. But really, he had no one to blame but himself for his reputation in the Sanctuary.
As the group made the preparations to move out, Tenma noticed that Sasha had come to see the group off. She stared at them from a window in the temple of Athena, looking distressed. After all, not only her homeland was in danger, but her childhood friend Tenma was about to head there.
Quickly putting all of that together, Tenma gave her a confident grin and a thumbs up, knowing that it'd lift her spirits. And that it did, as Sasha let out a timid smile as her friend's attitude reassured her that everything would be ok.
"Please, let everything be alright…" She muttered a prayer, although she knew that no one would listen, after all, she was already the goddess.
Sasha felt completely useless, unable to do anything else to protect the people she cared about. It was quite ironic, supposedly she was an olympian goddess with an army of super humans at her beck and call, and yet, she felt as hopeless as the young, scared young woman that she truly was at that moment.