Lance's Role

by Thrudgelmir2333

A 'shonen' fic that sequels Next Dimension and Lost Canvas. In 1960, the Pope of Athena receives three prophecies from an old enemy that irremediably set the course of his reign over Sanctuary's tragic history and almost two decades later a Saint of Pegasus finds himself put through the unfolding of a new age of violence caused by the Pope's actions. Please enjoy and review.

43. 2A: The Shadows Move

Notable OCs: Pegasus Lance's Saint Generation, Civil War Saint Generation, World War Saint Generation, Daemon Lucifer's Specters, Maiden Elisa, Priam's Black Saints; Cyrulian Refugees

Notable Original Concepts: Mount Olympus Training Ground, Sanctuary Court, Teos Cloth, Athenian Empire mythology, Isle of Gardens; Stardust Prison; Hades' Dark Princes; Desert Beyond; Sanctuary Town Layout & Buildings

Recurring/Cameo OCs of Jenny DeVic: Mrs. Schafurwatt, Cyrus

Recurring/Cameo Concepts of Jenny DeVic: Great Bodyguard Legend, Golden Line Heritage, Sanctuary Orphanages, Andromeda Island's Geography & Tests, Sanctuary Nobility, 88 Knights Festival

Author Notes:

- I want to apologise for the long delay on this chapter. Be certain that chapter 44 is already in the works, with 10,000 words done

- February was a great month in hits; Lance's Role had over 530 hits from you readers. Be sure to keep supporting the story! ^_^

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Please enjoy and review (^_^

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"All my life has been battle and war. There is no man on earth that has seen more than I have. Along the way you realize that there are no demi-gods in the world, just great men backed by their great armies. The folly of Saint and Specter alike has always been to challenge this notion.

To a Dark Prince, this is especially true, and especially dull. To see another fighter of my caliber among the enemy is a wish as ardent as my ambition to return to my ancestor's lost throne in the Zodiac. I need the Hector to my Achilles if I am to truly become the king of men as Lord Hades envisioned.

With only Dark Angel Michael to match me, I've grown often depressed with the lack of true competition. I would often go out of the Underworld over the decades and seek the urban myths, the killers and the champions for me to fight, only to suffer disappointment after disappointment.

Yet, tonight, during Hades' attack on Sanctuary, I have perhaps met someone that 'struck' me, someone who could have 'injured' me, even.

I have found him… the Gold Saint I looked so long for. The Gold Saint that will make my blood boil in battle! And I will not rest until Libra Dohko is destroyed!"

-Entry from Daemon Lucifer's 23rd journal, dated late 1751

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Romania,

Crow's Nest, Western Outskirts

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The sounds and the lights of the forest around him caused the Fornax Saint's senses to awaken. He groaned. He was dizzy and confused at where he was and what was going on, feeling his vision shake and darken every few seconds as he awoke from his stupor. Did he drink too much last night? No, that's not what happened. He got punched, didn't he? Did he get into a fight with Octans again? His head shook so much, though. It felt like someone much stronger knocked him out.

As he rested his hand on the grass to raise him up, though, and he realized he was in the woods, Fornax's memory flurried into activity.

Fornax was on patrol.

There was the warning shot.

Then the meeting.

Then the spear flew out of the woods and Specters turned everything into night.

Then the battle, and the bats, and the Deep Specter at the walls, and the panic!

The Bronze Saint gasped, standing right back up and nearly hitting a tree with his head! The hooded guy zipped him away and landed him there! Dear Goddess, what happened after that at the castle?! His eyes searched for it, but he was in the middle of the Romanian forest. Fornax, burning as little cosmos as possible, leaped up the tree and climbed all the way up.

Pushing aside the branches to poke himself out of the forest headline, the fire-armored Saint looked up and saw the smoke columns rising from the old Cyrulian fortress. Cries were heard inside, not of fighting, whose typical sounds of metal clashing had stopped, but of his friends struggling against captors and Specters yelling orders, infesting the place.

Fornax could barely make out what was going on, much less overhear the Specters in detail. It seemed, however, that the threat was much bigger than first perceived, as he counted at least twenty Surplices and probably hundreds of Skeleton Soldiers.

His terrified brain tried to make sense of this. "By the Gods, has the Holy War come?... is this an actual attack?! There's so many of them! I h-have to warn Sanctuary!" he reasoned. His eyes, however, needed to search for more. "I have to know where Octans and Lacaille are, though… this could be my only chance… The Octans Cloth could be lost forever, and so could them." His cowardly heart, however, could only think of running. "Oh dear goddess forgive us, n-NO-o!" he thought. He then gasped, feeling a sharp pain, and noticed the bleeding on his chest. "I'm hurt… but the others!... What happened to my friends, to Octans, to Fort Commander Lacaille?!"

The Saint looked up, still seeing the strange dark barrier created by the Specters active. There was no helping it; if he tried to get back inside, he could get stuck, so he had to get out of there while he still could. With feet drenched in fire-cosmos, he prepared to superspeed his way out of there and shot out of the area in a fire beam, when he was suddenly side-blinded by a booming shockwave of silver that stonewalled him right then and there!

Fornax fell on his back, only seeing a strong, metal chest whose hands then grabbed and held him up. "AAGH, HELP-" Fornax screamed, thinking himself found, but the large hand then covered his mouth, silencing.

Herakles Aguilon, the legendary Silver Saint, stood before Fornax and made a shushing motion. "Quiet, Bronze Saint."

The Fornax shook like a leaf, took a deep breath, processed what was going on and finally obeyed. "You're… A-Aguilon of Hercules!" He then looked over and saw the equally famous group of Herculean Guard hoplites joining him. He gulped in terror as the memories of the attack were accessed. "Please, you have to help! My friends...!"

The Nemean and Stymphalean Guards, two of the twelve members of Aguilon's personal elite footsoldiers, walked up to the edge of their forested hideout. "It's as we feared, Lord Aguilon, the flags are down, there's smoke and yet activity seems non-belligerent," Nemean commented. "…Someone has taken the fortress."

The Silver Saint nodded tensely and sat the Fornax down. "You're hurt. You need medical attention. We have a doctor on the way, but we also need you to tell us what happened right away."

"Y-yes, of COURSE! I… it was Specters!" Fornax blabbered out. "At least four Celestials plus… goddess knows how many must have been hiding in the woods. I was taken out before things escalated."

Aguilon looked at his men. This contradicted all the sensitive information that Sagitta Nam had relayed to them. "I need to ask you a serious question, Bronze Saint. Take your time and remember the correct answer well." He then seemed to hesitate, as if unsure whether he should voice the next phrase. "Was 'Priam' of Sagittarius among them?"

The Bronze Saint obeyed once more, taking his time. It all felt really fuzzy. He remembered who Priam was. While Fornax was way too young to have been part of the Third Civil War, most knew about the former Sagittarius Gold Saint who attacked the Pope during a closed-doors execution at the Coliseum, destroyed half of Sanctuary Town and waged war against the Pope and Gemini Akassius for three years.

As calmness returned to his spirit, he realized that something really fucked up was probably going on and the Silver Saint wanted to make sure they weren't in the middle of a new bloody civil war.

Unfortunately, though, Fornax had to nod. "Yes… he thundered into the barbican and started demanding for everyone to leave, saying that his damn Specter friends would slaughter us," he revealed, making even the gigantic Herakles Saint darken his expression. "Is this bad?... are we at another Civil War?"

Herakles patted the Bronze Saint's shoulder, glancing at the fortress. A horrible image of the Black Saints being in cahoots with Hades crossed his mind. "I don't know, kid. Let's pray we are not."

Stymphalean pointed upwards. "Flyers! Get down, everyone!"

Immediately, the whole group masked their cosmos and dropped to the floor while Aguilon pulled the huge camouflage bush over them all, disguising them, and a supersonic person in dark, winged armor flew right above their heads and trees, curving around the fortress' western valley before returning to the fortress.

Aguilon slowly raised back up. "Did anyone catch that?"

The Herculean Guard of the Lernaean Hydra, knowledgeable in Specter lore, nodded. "Yeah, I think it was the Nasu Specter. We're not safe here, Lord Aguilon, that one could turn this whole forest into a swampy deathtrap without ever landing."

Herakles Aguilon gritted his teeth. He had half a mind of kicking the invaders out of Crow's Nest right then and there with his own bare hands. "Someone report back to Ionia and take this kid with you! We need to besiege this place before these bastards can carry on killing!"

The Nemean guard protested. "Lord Aguilon, we should just nuke them right now! They must have had to kill all our soldiers to get inside!"

Aguilon shook his head. "I understand your feelings, kiddo, but I know these damn Black Saints… if Priam is really with the Specters, then he will know to have hostages, especially political ones, so as much as I'd like otherwise, we can't just send this place packing straight to Another Dimension."

Fornax ran his mind through the faces of his comrades. "Octans once mentioned he was the son of an Argead count…" His eyes then widened in relief. "He must be alive, then!"

A giant thumb pointed at him. "See? The Specters may be bloodthirsty and nihilistic, but Black Saints have objectives! They didn't take this place for nothing, it's too damn out-of-the-way!" he then gritted his teeth some more. "But Athena help us… we may really have an early Holy War in our hands."

The Herculean Guards felt their blood still hot with rage, but the Herakles Saint had more pull with them than a loving father. "Yes, Lord Aguilon."

"Also someone notify the goddamn Pope," Aguilon added. "Send the message straight to him. If the streets of Sanctuary find out that Priam is out here, it will be panic… and you can kiss your goddamn pensions goodbye!"

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Up above at the fortress, scores of Specters and Skeleton Soldiers moved up and down, left and right inside the castle's many ways, breaking into the wall towers, the barbican rooms, the barracks, the basement and even the Crow Tower itself in search of hoplites and Saints, which they then promptly dragged through the floor back to the bailey. There, a concentration of menacing Specters was gathered.

"A-AH-ah, l-let go of me!" a hoplite begged, covered with blood and dragged down the outer wall stairs by a huge Specter with round armor plates, namely Golem Treble. "I don't want to d-die!"

Golem Treble tossed him the rest of the way to Lucifer's feet before he kicked the man's face until he shut up. "QUIET, coward, or I'll smash your head under a rock!"

Daemon Lucifer saw more and more hoplites who had hoped to hide in the old Cyrulian corridors get pulled out and collected before him. He had expected this, which is why Deep's turn of the assault was so important; his Ghast Grenade's smog sunk into the basement floors all the way to the fortress' foundations and smoked out all the hoplites who planned to hide from the occupiers after the battle, while the echo of Bat's Nightmare Sonar mapped the whole fortress for the bloodthirsty False Specter.

Not every one of Athena's foot soldiers was so cowardly. A particularly muscled one struggled against Cait Sith Palug and Troll Grendel as the strong Specters tried to tie him up. "I WILL KILL YOU, SPECTERS! Athena is on our side, in our hearts! And she will NEVER abandon us! We will get out and SLIT YOUR THROATS WHEN YOU SLEEP!"

The hoplite screamed and quieted down, though, when Palug sunk his cat claws on his cheek till he touched his teeth. "That's the spirit, nye-he-he! Show some tongue!" he then bashed the man together with the rest of them. "Lord Lucifer, I believe we got them all. If there were any more cowards, Brune of Bat would have known."

"Excellent." Lucifer merely commented. It had all played out as sublimely as he intended.

With one small exception, an exception that stood right next to him and protested his actions. "L-Lucian… you can't do this!" Priam appealed, calling him by his real name, the first thing Lucifer had ever traded with him to earn the Black Saint's trust. "This isn't you, you're a Specter, but you're also a man of pride! You can't kill these men!"

Behemoth Torak's huge hand shoved the Black Saint away from his master. "QUIET, traitor! You have a lot of nerve! You had the Prince's trust and you went around it to serve your misguided moralism!" he then addressed the Prince. "Lord Lucifer… this was a sublime triumph. We took the fortress without losing a single man, and you only employed six of us. Lord Urial would be proud of us!"

The red-eyed Specter turned to him. Torak still seemed trapped in Gryphon Urial's memory despite how stronger he has become. This could be inconvenient should they encounter Cerah in the future, but over time the Prince would be sure that Behemoth's only god was him. "It was never in doubt."

The tall, black-haired man looked around, searching the darkened skies. "Still, it seems it wasn't enough. The cloth you seek didn't show u-"

"Don't speak of it so aloud!" Lucifer warned as he saw Alraune Lemon walk by, tormenting the hoplites with his tendril whipping. "…Unfortunately, this only confirms to me that an even greater feat from me is needed to summon the armor, but this is why we will converge our objectives together, isn't it? For our next goal is Sanctuary, and there is no greater triumph possible in this world than conquering the Zodiac itself."

The orange-armored moth Specter flew above their heads. "And in any case, we will make use of this place for us, Prince?" Papillion Ainsel asked, landing by them. "I've taken a good look around. It's a worthy place and highly defensible, but it's full of Cyrulian seals… Staying here could be… hazardous to our health."

Just as Ainsel said this, a group of clumsy False Skeletons at the walls played around with the bright sealing mark that had stunned Deep Amphion during the attack and got painfully zapped by it. Elf Rossalier immediately yelled at them and gave them something else to do.

"Let me worry about that, but first, to honor my word," the Prince assured, taking the page from the Book of the Dead out and tossing it at Priam, who clumsily caught it.

The Black Saint hesitantly held it. "What?... after all this…!" his teeth gritted in a rare show of anger. "You think I want this, Lucian?!"

The Specter Prince chuckled. "Why wouldn't you? This way you will know I am the same man you made an alliance with, will you not? Despite the stunt you pulled, I am quite grateful to you, Priam, so you should accept it."

Shaking in confusion and anger, the Black Saint hesitantly unfurled the page, half-expecting it to curse him or something, and saw the names of all the False Specters and Skeletons surrounding him. They burned with the power of Thanatos, making Priam's fingers feel cold and whispers being heard in his ears, lulling him into an eternal void. All it would take, as the False Specters said, was for Priam to teleport to Pandora's Castle right then and there, and Lucifer's ambitions would be over.

Looking around, the sharp-eyed pacifist saw Torak and some of the lesser False Specters seem quite nervous. They anxiously waited for him to furl back the page as if having it open made them feel the scythe of the Death God himself on their necks. All signs pointed at this being the genuine thing.

He stood up, half bloodied. "Lucia-… Lucifer, why? Why are you doing this? What do you want with Crow's Nest, really?"

The Specter leader gestured his men to bring all the important hostages to him, to which the Specters promptly lifted Lacaille and Octans from the many captured and shoved them up the bailey to Lucifer's feet.

The Daemon Specter knelt before the commander. "Look at me, commander." He ordered, but Lacaille refused. Lucifer gestured the skeletons to hold their scythes around Octan's neck, who gasped in panic. "LOOK AT ME, SERVANT OF ATHENA! Or is your pride worth more than the lives of your men?!"

Hesitantly, the veteran lifted his bloody head at the Specter. His mind still reeled. He didn't recognize this foe's Surplice from any book or tale in Sanctuary. "Y-you disgust me! L-let them GO!"

Lucifer just cackled at the notion.

Priam gritted his teeth, unable to take this anymore. "Lucifer, you heard him! These men have never done anything to you! They are not Shion and you can't keep them here!"

"They are not Shion, Priam, but they are his weakness!" Lucifer enlightened him. "And so are you."

Hearing the name, Lacaille stared at the broken burned man. "By the goddess, so it's t-true… that man is the devil of Sanctuary, Sagittarius Priam," he concluded. How could the day get any worse? His very soul felt tainted at the thought of having been touched by the man who laid his hands on the Pope.

Lucifer scoffed. The man's outrage was to be predicted. "I wouldn't attribute undue titles to him, dear Commander. Priam tried to save your worthless hide. The devil here is me." the silver-haired Specter assured the Greek. "Tell me, Priam, you fought him for many years, but do you know what Shion fears the most?"

The brown-haired burned man nodded. "I do…It's those damn prophecies." To this day, they had been the root of the war between him and Arles.

"Yes and no." Lucifer countered, surprising the Black Saint. "What that Lemurian really fears has nothing to do with silly superstitious words out of the mouth of a dying Artemisian witch. The members of his dotted race tend to reject unscientific nonsense like that. What plagues Shion is failure."

The Black Saint considered the Specter's words; they were not entirely off the mark from what Priam knew of the man who had once crowned him as Sagittarius, yet he sensed there was more to Lucifer's argument since he was doing all this macabre theater of holding these innocent people at the fortress.

Knowing that Lucifer liked the sound of his own voice, Priam stood quiet.

"There's nothing in this world that terrifies Shion the most than letting all the years he sacrificed to Sasha's foolish dream go to waste," Lucifer continued. "It consumes him. I see it in his actions, in what he tells his Saints to do… in the war, he fought with you, someone he once entrusted the most important of the Gold Cloths with. Do you think he would do something like this if failing Athena herself didn't deeply terrify him, Priam?"

The hesitation to speak continued, this time due to sadness from the burned man's part. Memories of Shion encouraging him to try again, to not let himself down by the fact he was the second weakest of their generation, broke his heart anew. Indeed, Athena was the only person the Pope could have possibly put above them. "…No."

All this back and forth was insane to the commander's ears. "It was a just war!" Lacaille interrupted them, spitting blood to Priam's feet. "That bastard stabbed Sanctuary in the back, abandoning ATHENA! And now you're with Specters, Priam?! You deserve everything every Underworld God out there has in store for YOU! I hope Cerberus rips your legs apart and eats them, DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

Priam turned his face in shame.

Lucifer laughed mockingly. "Ah, ah, do you see what your heroism got you, Priam? More hate from these short-sighted zealots!"

"You're a murderer, Priam!" Lacaille seethed, mad with rage, as if to make Lucifer's point. "Just like these Specters! Don't think Hades will forgive you just because of the side you took; he will make you rot in Cocytos like all the other traitors!"

The Specter shook his head lamentingly. "I'm afraid who betrayed who is a matter of perspective in that war, Saints of Athena," Lucifer added, knowing only Octans really owned a Cloth in that fortress. "And Priam… Shion spits on you, humiliated you, sic'd his Gold Saints on you and your friends… and yet here you are, saving his Saints, the people who call you the Devil of Sanctuary, as we see! Don't you understand this is why Aries 'Helenus' abandoned you and Aeneas? That this is why you lost your war?"

The brown-haired warrior, though, would not compromise on his principles. "I will lose every war I fight in my life if I have to, Lucifer… but I will never let innocent people pay for my mistakes ever again!" he assured.

The Specter scoffed. "No wonder Cepheus hated you. It must be a terrible thing to have such a weak teacher." Lucifer stung, making Priam's heart wrench in two at the memory of Guardnia's death. "You know what the worst thing about you is, Priam?! From the moment I met and forged this alliance with you, you've reminded me of Shun!"

Once more, Priam stood quiet. He had nothing to say about Lucifer's century-old stories about impossibly strong Bronze Saints from the previous war. Meanwhile, Lacaille had no idea what they were talking about. It seemed, however, like the Black Saint really did try to save them, which made no sense.

There was no way he could make out the rhyme or reason to this at the time though. Instead, he had to seek an opportunity to save those entrusted to him. "The Gold Saints will sooner or later be here, Specter, and they will annihilate you and your men!" he warned, getting the Prince's attention. "And you know that will be the end of you all! If you let my men go, though, they might give you a chance to return to the Circle that spawned you."

This just made the False Specters laugh, though. After another triumph like this, they wouldn't be shocked if Daemon Lucifer one day returned to the Underworld and unseated Hades himself, much less the Gold Saints.

"Why do you laugh?!" Lacaille demanded to know. "Do you realize who you just declared war on?! Do you think Akassius and his generation will just stay still because a new generation took over?! You're dead, Specters! You just don't know it yet!"

"And now, Priam, we get to why Shion's greatest fear matters so." Lucifer continued, seemingly ignoring Lacaille's protest. "You see, that Muvian thinks that just because he punched Balrog Rune around a couple of times at the Lost Canvas and he no longer fears the voices of the Cloths, he can make an acceptable Pope, but the truth is it means very little if his real nightmares still haunt him. I'm talking about something much more common and deep-rooted in the minds of us all; just like any other good man with too much power, Shion is terrified of having to use it… while I am not."

Priam's brain began making the real calculation. "You let me inside first… I was the first person the Saints saw…" The smirk in the Celestial Pride Star's face expanded as Priam's blue eyes widened. "I felt the area getting jammed right afterward, so Shion was only told that…-"

"- that his old failure, you, that he so wants the world to forget about, is back again!" The Daemon concluded, pointing at the Black Saint and laughing out loud. "I should really thank you, Priam. Our alliance yielded excellent results! You warped my whole army out of Germany without the really strong Saints noticing us and, now, you're going to take all the blame from the attack!"

Priam's face paled. He looked at all the hoplites getting shoved into metal cages by the Skeletons. "Which means he doesn't know you're back…and won't… send Akassius or any of the kids cause he won't want them to meet me…"

Lucifer's shoulders shook in amusement. "There's more to the matter of your former friends than that, but we can discuss it later."

The pacifist pictured Shion on his throne getting the news. "And in any case, we're putting him in a terrible position."

The Daemon's armored shoulders shook. "HA, HA, HA, HA, yes! Can you imagine the look on that dotted freak's face when he realizes he has to decide between letting the world of Saints know you still live so he can besiege my men OR give them the breathing room I need to destroy him?! I can't wait for him to find out that it's been me the whole time behind this!" the Daemon Specter cackled, genuinely amused. "So go ahead, take the page. I know you won't send it to Pandora, Priam because the last thing you want to do in this world is lower yourself to Shion's level and abandon someone who placed so much trust on you."

The hooded man's head dropped, fingers tightening on the scrolled document until they went numb. By the Gods, Daese was right; Lucian had him rolled around his thumb the whole time.

Still, this gave him hope for something else. "Does this mean you won't kill these Saints?"

Lucifer scoffed. "Kill them? And give them the free pass they need to blast us from space while my top men are out? Absolutely not. I will, however, show Sanctuary that I'm serious!"

Priam looked up in alarm. "By doing what?!"

There was another snap of fingers from the Daemon which made the Skeletons holding Octans smile with glee. They pulled him back till his back hit the floor and encircled him. "A-AGH, N-NOOO!"

Lacaille paled. "DON'T!"

"HELP ME!" Octans' arms, legs, and neck were held aside and several Skeletons raised their swords and scythes "NO! Goddess Athena, D-DON'T KILL M-" The metal weapons dropped, pierced and slashed, going up and down over and over in a shower of blood that wetted the killers and turned Octans voice into ragged screams. The head dropped off, frozen in pained expression, and the body was cut to shreds and tossed at the hoplites, paralyzing them with horror.

Lacaille roared and struggled against Torak. "N-NO! YOU BASTARDS! I'll hunt you all down one by one!" but the Behemoth punched his head in.

Priam's scarred face went white and he stepped forward, fists curled in fury.

But Lucifer warned him with a mere red look to stay out of it. "Don't you make a damn move…" he threatened before pointing at his men and the walls. "Take the Octans Cloth to the Crow Tower and mount the head on the barbican! I want any special op out there to see the price of trying anything stupid!"

The Black Saint squirmed. "N-no, damn you, why?! He had a family, friends!"

"And I have a Holy War in my hands!" the Daemon retorted while folding his arms. "Any mistake from now on could cost it!"

But the Black Saint shook his head. "NO, this is you, Lucifer, your crimes, your cruelty! What would Cerah say if she saw you doing this?!" Priam argued, virtue strong as steel. "You and I fought together to subvert the Gods that torture us, not to punish the innocents they puppeteer! You made it clear to Daese that her sister admired you for it! Does Cerah know you're a murderer, too?!"

And Lucifer's cosmos suddenly burned, immersing him in an aura of waving darkness. The brave Priam stood his ground, but the False Specters stepped away. To those that had tried to rebel against Lucifer in the Underworld under Alraune Lemon, facing the Prince, like Priam was doing, was insane.

None knew this better than Cyclops Balgo, who observed the scene while shoving the hoplites into their cages. "U-Ugh, does that Black Saint want his mind to rot from Eternal Darkness? What is with him?! I don't feel his cosmos budging at all before the Prince!"

Lucifer's fists cringed tensely. "Of all the times for you to show some courage… Where was that when you had men counting on you, Priam? Perhaps with it you could have stood a chance to win your war. But now it's my turn!" and he then walked up to present himself to the Specters. "And I won't fight my battles from outpost to outpost, running from the Gold Saints; my empire, the new Athenian Empire, starts with this castle!"

"YEAH-AH!" many celebrated, raising dark weapons at the sky, freezing onlookers in place.

"LONG LIVE LORD LUCIFER!" others shouted, tossing objects in the castle up in the air.

"KILL THE SAINTS! KILL HADES! KILL THEM ALL!" others demanded, looking at the captured hoplites.

Lucifer laughed elatedly, his aura burning more and more. It began manifesting the image of a demon over the entire fortress seemingly clasping the building. "Our names will be carved into this place forever, men! Hear my command, mighty power of the Cosmos! With the shadows themselves, I now curse this fortress into my cathedral of darkness!"

The entire army of False Specters then roared and burned their cosmos in unison with the Prince. There was a screeching sound, like countless spirits of pain being released from a confine, and the cosmos of all the Specters and Skeletons burned up with the Prince's. A huge cloud of darkness exploded in the bailey, consuming the insides of the castle and smoke-screening everyone. The dusk got even darker and the captured men of Athena watched, in horror, as thunders struck, the ground shook and the countless Cyrulian seals revealed themselves on the walls of Crow's Nest as if crying out in pain.

These flashed brightly in white color, only to then become purple and rearrange their letters into the carvings of the Underworld itself. The cloud spiraled around, twisting more and more and rising along the height of the inner walls and the Crow keep like tentacles embracing a home. More and more lightning came, illuminating the evil spectacle, and before long the darkness taking hold of the citadel blackened further, now dressed in the malicious spells of the Specters.

The ruined barbican rearranged itself, healing into a twisted shape of more imposing battlements. The brick of the walls became as if Damascus. Several spikes of metal and rock busted along the length of the battlements like barbed wire. Shadows of demons seemed to sprout out of the towers, wall corners, and vantage points, screaming at the clouds, only to then solidify into gothic gargoyles of devils. The moat around the fortress deepened itself and green, condemning fire erupted from it, much like at Pandora's castle.

Finally, the darkness enveloping Crow's tower seemed to fuse into its walls, replacing the stained glass of Athena with images of monsters from Specter armors, sharpening the height of the ceiling and sprouting four huge cardinal spikes out of the formerly flat top. From each of these, a larger and more menacing gargoyle of a winged devil grew, watching every direction.

With the vanishing of the magic mist, Crow's Nest, the great castle where many had lived in, the former bulwark of Cyrulian purity, reemerged in the world as a monument to the Specter leader, a walled citadel of gothic displays, from where powerful red and purple seals burned and flames lightened up in torches littered across its many lengths and heights.

Then finally, the rain. Not of water, but of blood. Priam's hand rose to feel the red drops wet his hand. The origin of the diluvium became clear when the mist finally fell down to the floor to reveal several of the defenders of Crow's Nest with their throats ritually slit, to his and Lacaille's horror. The Specters danced over their corpses and celebrated their master, asking to defile the Saints further in a mockery of Athena.

The captured commander wept and was dragged off to his cell. The burned Black Saint was merely silent, having lost the ability to be further heartbroken by war long before this.

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Chapter 43

Second Arc

Episode 9

The Shadows Move

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Sanctuary, Pope's Halls

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The Pope looked at the papers that Maximus brought him from Sagitta Nam, comparing to the others containing the written word of Saint Herakles' personal elite guardsmen. Both documents had been expressed straight to Shion as soon as they were written. Both of them contained a horrible word no one had been allowed to read.

"Priam…" Shion read, his heart sent into chaos. He remembered better days when he would pull the curly-haired youth by the hand from the ground after a beating from Paris. The Sagittarius Gold Saint would smile in happiness that the man trusted by Athena would have so much hope for him in spite of his weakness, while the disgruntled Scorpio would scoff over undue favoritism.

The Pope also remembered days of sunshine for him, when Priam met his future wife. He remembered when they announced their wedding and then her pregnancy. The Lemurian remembered thinking how beautiful it was to have a generation of Gold Saints that would likely never see war and, instead, establish families, raise their kids in Greece, live long and fruitful lives… the picture of everything Athena ever wished for them.

It was a possibility of years of nothing but happiness, unlike his own generation.

Then those smiles disappeared. They were replaced with bitterness, bloodshed, fear, and vitriol that cracked the glass and broke the frame. And it was all his fault.

Maximus was not allowed to read the Pope's correspondence, but he could tell the masked man was tense. "Your Holiness?"

The porcelain face turned up at him, wondering what to do. Maximus had been coincidentally one of the veterans that fought to take Crow's Nest from the Cyrulian Castellans. It made him realise quicker than usual that the Pope could not afford to pretend a whole fortress hadn't been taken. People would ask about their family members and bureaucrats would notice the holes. Something had to be said.

Yet, the terror of letting more saints fall under Priam's influence beset him. The spread of news would never end with Maximus and a couple of confidants. It would inevitably spread to the new Gold saints and the kids were still quite young. They would never understand the subtleties of the conflicts between the adults right now. The chances that some of them, especially the ones that liked Shion the least, would have doubts or even be manipulated were far from being null.

Perhaps this had been Priam's ultimate chess move; to let Shion think he was gone and, on the day of the transition between the veterans that beat him and the novices that would perhaps listen to him, make a spectacular return that put the Lemurian Pope in the position of being in check.

Thank the Goddess for Saints like Aguilon, though. "It seems the enemy has taken a deep cut at us, Maximus. A group of Black Saints and Specters have taken Crow's Nest."

The aged man was stunned, widening his hardened eyes. His face wavered ever so little as the possibility of Holy War gripped his heart. "… Are we sure, your Holiness?"

The Pope shook his head. "Not of everything; so this is why we will handle this with care and discretion. There could be people and Cloths being held hostage." In fact, the idea of Specters and Black Saints joining hands confused the Pope. The men of Hades relied on no one's help, confident in their immortality as they were. Moreover, it was far too soon in the calendar for Hades to be making such a big move. "If Akassius knows about this…"

The captain saw the pope hesitate once more. "Lord Arles?"

Shion's fingers gripped his chair's arms.

"Lie to me one or my brethren one more time… especially about something like this… and I will personally walk my way back up all these stairs, dislodge you from your seat and replace you… Do you understand?"

The warning from the night of the Festival, after the battle with the Black Saints in Andromeda Island, was still vivid in the Lemurian's mind. Akassius meant not any harm to the Pope, or he would have staged a coup long before. Deep down, the root of the secret hostility between them was in how their ways to keep Sanctuary safe conflicted. Arles III preferred the subtlety and patience that allowed him to juggle together all the matters he was privileged to, while Akassius favored quick, focused and determined action towards the direst open problem.

So, were it not for Hecate, Shion would likely have delegated more to the Gemini, maybe even named him the next new Pope.

Putting Shion's feet to the fire, however, was the fact that the former Gemini was a figure of great renown, a 'Cincinnatus' that could likely have more pull with the people than the Pope himself, yet surrendered his authority when the big crisis was over. What a rare situation for any man was chosen by Athena to be in Sanctuary, to be overshadowed by a retired Gold Saint. The mob and the patricians alike loved Akassius. Shion was not the type to fear the popularity of his subordinates, but more so to fear how far the situation could get out of his control so close to Athena's rebirth.

Touching his chin, the leader of Sanctuary formulated a plan of action. "Get me a secure line to Akassius, Maximus."

The captain saluted him. "Yes, your Holiness!" he then departed to get the needed tools, perhaps even accelerated a bit by the prospect of seeing his idol in action once more.

The Pope rested back in his chair. The attack on Crow's Nest seemed riddled with inconsistencies. There was a high chance that it was all a big misunderstanding. Priam had a vendetta, but he wouldn't strike deals with Specters, would he? Much like Andromeda Shun, the Sagittarius would never tolerate the way they spit at the value of life.

Therefore, the chance that Akassius would enter the stage and encounter no Black Saint was likely. Shion would score points of trust with the most important man in the army's reserve and see this matter put to rest, all in one big swoop.

Before he could speak with Akassius, though, The Pope had to concentrate deeply and notify his assassin. "Leon, I've been told your target might be at Crow's Nest. I want you to accompany the Saints from afar until we confirm it."

It took a minute, but the response from the silver-haired late teenager came. "I understand. I was following a different track, but I'll give it a look."

Shion breathed out and slumped in his chair. Thank Athena that at least Mu was off to Tibet, distracted with his fun little project. Shion would hate for his student to be around in such a trying time for the Master.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Tibet, Jamir

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

With a wide toothy grin, red-stained gloves and a lamp hanging over the patient's head, the lilac-haired seven-year-old boy stared down at Mr. Mud. He strapped the braces around his wrists, turned the industrial torch on and lowered the fizzling flare on its chest, sending out a flurry of sparks everywhere. The body beneath him shook and thrashed, feeling the immense heat cutting, mending, and sizzling its torso as it let out a terrible smell.

The Lemurian boy laughed in excitement, letting the flare off for a second so he could see Mr. Mud's strange innards before he resumed his work, cutting deeper into the skeleton. How exhilarating!

The metal gate of the tiered tower was knocked on loudly. "*Thoom Thoom Thoom* Hey, Mu! Are you there?!"

The boy yelped in fright. He turned off the welding torch and rushed to the entrance.

Thoom Thoom Thoom!

His cheeks puffed. "Okay, okay, I'm going!" he then stood on a chair to reach the alchemic locks in the shape of circles drawn with quadrant symbols. With a mere touch, they brightened up and rotated on the wall, causing the gate to then slide to the side.

The day was nearing its end, but the sunlight was still strong enough to blind him for a second when it hit his eyes for the first time in days.

The shadowed visitor covered his nose. "God, what's that smell?! Do you have a corpse here?"

The boy beamed up, recognizing the voice and adjusting his genetically superior sight. "Lance! You came to visit!" he celebrated, hugging the teenager's legs. He practically squealed when the stoic hand patted his head and politely moved him off the human. "Are you here to play with me?"

The red-eyed teen shook his head. "Don't get too excited. I'm just back from Greece on my way to Mount Rozan and decided to stop by and check on you before it got too dark here in Asia. Mu, nobody has seen you in ages." he assured. He saw the Lemurian rubbing his eyes again. "Geez, how long have you been inside this dark place?"

Mu shrugged. "I'm not sure... I haven't really gone back since you called me to fix Pegasus."

The Pegasus Saint's jaw dropped. "MU, THAT WAS A MONTH AGO!" He looked around in search of a window or a fridge but all he saw was a person in metal armor tied down to a surgery table. "And who is THAT?! Why is he strapped down?!"

Mu grinned in elation. "That's my test subject, Mr. Mud! I'm finding out what kind of organs he has. Isn't it exciting?"

Guilty laughed. "Oh, YES, it 'is'!"

"….NO, MU, IT ISN'T!" Lance shouted.

Mu raised his hands defensively, startled. He guessed humans were never quite as interested in theory. "Okay, okay, what if I let you take the cutter?" Mu then dragged the teenager inside with a startling amount of strength and put the torch cutter in his hands. "You just squeeze the handle here, but be careful because it lets out 4000 degrees Fahrenheit-"

Lance tossed the cutter out, his face white like chalk. "MU, YOU SHOULDN'T BE CUTTING PEOPLE OPEN! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?! Does Shion know about this?!" he saw the body moving its gauntleted fingers. "He's still alive?!"

"Alive?…" The lilac-haired boy then gasped. "Ooooh, you misunderstood!" he then laughed and flipped the metal mask over Mr. Mud's face, revealing a frozen expression of mud with no eyes, nostrils or mouth.

Lance let out another staggered shout, tripped back on a ground cable and fell over Mu's tool stand, crashing everything on the floor.

Mu blinked, seeing the metal objects whirr around all over Lance in the ground. "…What?" he looked back and forth between the two, utterly confused.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Greece, Kastoria

Akassius' Manor

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Back in Greece, where the sun was still high, the Steiner couple was at Akassius' desk, to where he had been called to by an aide who announced that "the black phone was ringing". Standing by her husband, Cecilia Steiner watches Akassius take the call from the black telephone and nod his head slowly at every sound out of it. It was rare for Sanctuary to give a call through that particular line. Typically, their family would get invitations, letters, and requests through mental or written messages. For the black phone with the direct, underground cable and end-to-end encryption to be used, it usually meant that the Pope wished to tell her husband something that he absolutely did not wish to get intercepted in any way.

The noblewoman was excellent at keeping her outward cool, but her heart grew heavier as Akassius' dark eyebrows tensed with each new phrase spoken to him. The little gestures in him, like the resting of the hand on the table or the slight turn of the shoulder, told Cecilia he was being called to something.

She stepped forward when the phone was finally put down. "Darling…?"

The former Gemini Saint turned to her. "That was the Pope. He says a group of Specters took the fortress of Crow's Nest in Romania," he revealed, already sinking her heart. "And that Priam was possibly involved."

Her expression darkened and she cowered away to preserve her dignity, not allowing the fear crossing her eyes to be seen. The days of the war returned to her mind. "So he's really back."

His hands held her shoulders to calm her. "We already knew that to be true since the Pope was injured. I saw him with my own eyes, Cecilia. There was the way he teleported into the Pope's room and then Daniel and Kirin fought him. They saw the arrows he shot… Those were his 'Chrysó Fos Velos'."

She took them. "Akassius… do you think… do you think he wants our kids?" she hesitantly asked. "I want to see Marco. I want him back here with me!"

But his head shook. "Cecilia, … Marco is fine. He is safe, far away from all this at 'Elba', and Galarian is just north of us in Bulgaria. Priam is a traitor and a disgrace who fired Athena Exclamation on us… but he's not petty like that." He saw her face look away but he carefully held her cheek. "Listen… even if Priam wanted that kind of revenge, I would die before I let anything happen to them."

She thanked his consoling smile and walked away, clasping hands. "Well, at least the Pope is being direct with you this time. It's about time he respected you."

"Yes, it surprised me," he confessed. Arles' behavior had preoccupied the Gemini for more than a decade. "This will make it easier to keep the situation under control. I wish he had done this at the Festival too. Kirin was so angry when he saw His Holiness' injury…"

"What are you planning, then?"

Akassius raised his chin in pondering. "I will get help. If Hades and Priam are truly involved, then we need special back up. For a little while, I will leave retirement," he guaranteed her, setting her heart at ease. His eyes then closed in concentration. He thought of where his friends now lived. "Kirin…. Malta… Daniel? Has the Pope spoken to you?"

"Akassius… yes." Malta's voice responded. "Though I wish this had been another boring day, instead."

"Is this true?" Daniel joined, his tone preoccupied. "Is Aldebaran okay?!"

Kirin's stern voice was the last to be heard. "Don't tell us to hesitate, Akassius. Let us destroy this threat before it spreads further." Even the tone of his mental message came in as sharply as a blade.

"It's alright, everyone, I have had a good word that all your students are safe. Greece hasn't been breached," Akassius assured. Kirin had complete trust in Shura while Malta hid his preoccupation with Camus, but Akassius was sure all three of them had this concern at heart. "Meet with me in Bulgaria, where my oldest son trains. We will formulate a plan on how to proceed."

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Greece, Sanctuary

Sanctuary Town, MMC

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

At the building where the missions, jobs, schedules, and assignments were handed out to Saints and foot soldiers, Sagitta Nam nervously tried to get on with his day at his glass desk. The message that got through to him from Romania still haunted his thoughts. Before he forwarded all the information he got from them and the Herculean Guard to the Pope, Nam had tried to contact the Romanian fortress five more times, just to make sure it wasn't all a big mistake.

He stopped organizing papers for a second to take a deep breath. The blonde Saint struggled with the prospect of a new war.

A clipboard was dumped in front of him, startling the Silver. "Hey, Nam. I just got back from South Africa with Crane Yushira," Cassiopeia Cynthia announced herself. She saw the staggered look on his face. "… You look spooked. Is everything okay? Don't tell me you saw a Cancer ghost."

He gagged, the 4th House lore joke barely registering. "Ah… yes! It is, I'm fine, I…" he stuttered. He shouldn't spread the cause of alarm before the Pope said anything, even to fellow Silver Saints. "It was a stressful day."

Her head tilted to get a better look at his face. "Are you sure? Do you want to come and have a cup of coffee with us two? Yushira is insisting we go celebrate the success of her mission, even though she made such a mess." She then sighed. "I can't really say 'no' myself since I should be encouraging my Amazon sisters to be less depressed about their lot…"

The archer Silver Saint pondered what to say. Usually, he would never refuse, especially since Cynthia was one of his two surviving childhood friends. If he declined, she could get suspicious, but if he spent too much time with her, knowing himself, Nam would certainly spill out something he shouldn't.

But the masked woman saw through his hesitation that something was definitely wrong. "What happened, Nam? Tell me." she gently pinned. "Was there another Specter attack?"

Nam gulped. They were friends and if Cynthia now went northwest to the Peloponesia Fortress, there was a chance she could, in her ignorance, venture too close to where Aguilon was. "Cynthia… yes, it may have," he revealed.

Her chin lowered. The village of Arcadia came to mind. "Where!"

The archer pointed at the round-shaped country on the wall map. "In Romania, at Crow's Nest."

She hesitated. "But… that's a whole fortress!"

Nam nodded, sweating. "Exactly…but there is a lot of conflicting information. If true, jumping in and causing unnecessary panic..."

While the idea of a big, serious offensive from Specters still reeled her, Cynthia was a professional and she stood calm. "Right!... We barely know anything yet, right? No reason to think it's a war. Let's keep it to ourselves, Nam."

Nam rubbed his forehead and turned to his papers. "You have no idea how crazy it has made me, but when Aguilon started sending confirmation notes in, I almost climbed up the wall. We are all warriors, sure, but you never think the Holy War that kills nine out of ten Saints will happen in your lifetime-"

There was a soft, snapping sound of the wooden door. Cynthia came through and had left it ajar. It was clumsily pushed open, almost by accident, and the black-haired, silver-armored masked girl stumbled in.

Her hands raised apologetically. "Oh, sorry! Sorry, Saint Nam!" Yushira pleaded, politely closing the door behind her.

Cynthia almost panicked! "Yushira, I thought you were waiting outside!"

Crane's blue-eye-lined mask turned to the older woman. "I… got bored. They told me the office was here, so I thought I'd just go right ahead and sign everything and whatnot?"

The Cassiopeia stared at her with suspicion.

Sagitta Nam sorted his things exasperatedly. "That's okay, Yushira. I'll process your report later. Cynthia, I think I'll take you on your offer. I need to clear my head." he accepted.

Crane Yushira stood back and let the two adults take the lead out of the room, following them from behind pensively. She was telling the truth and embarrassed herself a bit when she leaned on the ajar door too much, but she overheard what Nam said right at the end.

Her black-gloved fist tightened. "An actual Holy War... and Aguilon's involved too! I can't believe it! This could be my big shot to leave these boring missions and impress the Zodiac!" she thought, smiling with excitement. Saint Cynthia would kill her if she was caught, but the Tibetan girl immediately began forming plans to join the fighting, picturing herself in the golden, Libra armor.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Hours later

Romania, Crow's Nest, East Road

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Searching the areas surrounding the transfigured fortress of Lucifer, a group of False Specters used their scythes and swords to hack apart bushes, looking for blood, hand prints or footsteps from anyone that could have escaped the castle or could be watching them from afar.

One stood apart from the rest, looking through a spot where he had seen charred leaves. "That Black Saint Priam uses that thunder technique to warp around and no one knows where the Fornax Saint that tried to fry Erika is." he thought. "I bet that guy teleported around here and the Bronze Saint is somewhere in these woods. There's no way those bolts of his don't leave a mark on this vegetation! If I find Fornax, I'm sure the Prince will promote me." His helmeted head then looked up when he spotted a dragged trail through the dirt as if a body had been moved. "… Bingo."

Looking around to check if any of his competitors saw the same, the greedy Skeleton stored his scythe and used his hands to move through the thick forestry, pushing aside branches, bushes and spikey brambles that scratched his biceps. When he saw the track getting deeper and curving around a thicker, taller tree, he sped up towards it and saw a gloved fist swing at his fa–

WHAM!

All in an instant, he gasped, skull mask shattered and tried to let out a scream but a muscled grip went around his head and pulled him against the tree side. His arms reached out but his throat was squeezed. Darkness crept around his eyes and his limbs went numb, dropping down.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The dark dream went by. While asleep, the False Skeleton saw the usual, namely old empty promises of Hades to bring him to a place of happiness and peace should he slaughter every sinful mortal on Earth. They were like a recorded message in him meant to cement the belief that Pluto was loving and pure, but now they just reminded him of how his blindness caused him to waste so many years.

As it vanished from his head like a mirage, his senses returned, but he felt constricted like a blanket was on too tight. He then felt how heavy his head was and tried to open his eyes, but all he saw was an upside-down world with trees and grass growing from a ceiling of ground.

His legs and wrists were tied! The False Skeleton screamed, but his mouth was gagged with at least two layers of fabric. A struggle immediately began and his mind pinged multiple messages, but they just bounced back to his head, jammed.

Sitting nearby with his polymer longbow at an angle from where the Skeleton couldn't turn to see him, Leon heard the pings, being inside the dome he set up, looked up and saw the Skeleton struggling against the steel cable hanging and wrapping him upside down. He slowly took out an arrow. "I'll be quick and to the point. Where is Priam?" he messaged, not wanting his voice to be heard even by the animals.

"F-FUCK YOU!" the Skeleton defied. There was a whooshing sound and what felt like a cannon shot penetrated his side, piercing the Damascus hide from end to end. The Skeleton screamed against the gag, feeling voltage coursing through him and seeing a bloodied tip coming out of his body. "S-stop it! I d-don't know!" More arrows were shot. The pain was much more intense this time, reminding the Skeleton of an old punishment Minos put him through and testing the silencing limits of the gag.

"I'm running out of ways to avoid any organs." Leon warned, blue eyes narrowed tensely. "If you tell me what I want to now, I'll stop, and maybe your friends will find you before you bleed out."

When the screaming waned down, the Skeleton began shaking, this time in laughter. "D-do what you want, Saint, Mariner, whoever the fuck you are!" he protested. His mind was full of devotion to Lucifer. After everything they had gone through, nothing but the Prince's path was worth following in their worthless lives. "It's nothing I haven't seen in the Underworld!"

The silver-haired teen calmly nodded. "Mm, you have a good point." He then aimed at the rope and shot through it, letting the Skeleton fall. Before he hit the ground, though, Leon's cosmos sparked out and he took the Skeleton like a bullet far into the sky, disguising his energy signature throughout. They landed far up above in a precipice of the Romanian mountains and Leon held the snapped rope over it, hanging the Skeleton over a height of over a mile. "I doubt the Underworld has done 'this' to you, though. I've read they prefer a more hands-on approach. So how about it?! Do you want to talk now?!"

Looking down the dizzying height, the Specter screamed more than ever. The blood rushing to his head heightened the sensation, and so did the blood loss. Suddenly how replaceable he was to the interrogator came to mind. "S-stop! STOP! Priam is at the fortress! He is!"

Leon's fist reached down and bashed the Skeleton's gagged mouth, breaking his teeth. "Why is a Black Saint with you Specters? Which Judge is leading you?" the killer calmly asked.

Blood drenched the gag, chocking the Skeleton, but his mental messages came out anyway. "No Judge among us… ah, ah, ah… someone far, far worse! And when he's done, you Saints will all 'pay'!"

This was an intriguing answer, but not an ideal one. "How about offering me a name and Star? I want to know whose head to put an arrow through next." But the Skeleton just hanged freely, as if to tell him to go fuck himself again. "…Alright, yours will do."

His eyes widened when he felt himself slipping down. "Wait, don't! DON'T DROP ME-!" and he screamed like he never had before when the grip loosened entirely, letting him freefall down the top heights of the Carpathian Mountains.

Taking out his longbow, Leon shut an eye, aimed down the arrow and watched the target go lower and lower. When it looked like it would disappear in the distance of the drop, the silver-haired mercenary drenched the arrow in blue electric cosmos and released it, shooting a blindingly fast missile that seemingly struck the Skeleton and pinned him through the snapped cable all the way across the large valley to a rocky edge overlooking Crow's Nest. The grunt bunged him for a while until he passed out again.

Leon stored his weaponry. He got what he wanted from the Skeleton; a confirmation of Priam's presence. Who he was working with mattered very little in the end. Eventually, someone would notice the grunt was gone or he would die and return to the Underworld, but the Specters would just blame it on the Saints since his face wasn't seen.

He took out his pocket watch and made a quick calculation. "If I want to be the one to take Priam's head, I'll have to beat the Saints to it, so they and Shion can go without this confirmation." He then observed the fortress. "Then again it's hard for any of them to imagine someone would hate the old man so much that Priam would happily work with Specters instead…" He snorted through his nose. "Except for me."

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The Tower Keep

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Priam extended the bowl of food through the bars to Lacaille. "You should have something. You're getting weaker by the hour next to all this stardust."

The commander sat inside a cell specifically left for him at the fortress' tower keep and just stared at the bowl like it had poison inside. Rather than dive his spoon in, he sat against the blackened wall of the transfigured fortress, sighing in depression. His cosmos burned lightly to sustain his energy, a typical technique from cosmos users to sustain fasting for weeks on end. While Lacaille couldn't use it to break out of stardust-enforced bars, he could still keep his dignity and his body strong for as long as he could burn it in these dark times.

Priam couldn't blame him for refusing to eat. "I know it's difficult to accept your situation. It's only temporary, though."

Lacaille looked at him like he couldn't believe how stupid his words were. "Is that so?"

Priam nodded. It wasn't in his nature to leave good men in despair. "Lucifer means to keep you alive, remember? His crusade won't last very long."

There was a tense leaning of the head towards him from Lacaille. "Keep me alive for what? To have me as a hostage until you lot kill all our families?! I wish you had killed me too, instead," he assured, referring to Octans' brutal end. "I know who you are, Priam. I know what you've done. I fought in the war, heard stories about what you were like… a devil who tempts Gold Saints with the perceived innocence of what he does. Is that how you seduced Pisces Aeneas and Aries Helenus?!"

Priam's eyes closed. "No."

Lacaille chuckled, folding arms. A button had been pressed with the Black Saint. "Then, if you care to enlighten me, how? How did you get two virtuous Gold Saints to take your damn side over the Pope's, if not with the same treachery and deceit that got you in this castle?!"

The Black Saint gently tapped the food bowl deeper into Lacaille's cell. "It's simple. They were my friends… and Arles pushed them to me." he explained, before walking away. "Please, eat something, commander. I won't be back until tomorrow and the Skeletons want to see how thin you get. If I wanted you dead, I would have shot you through these bars."

The aged Greek raised a brow as the Black Saint disappeared up the winding tower stairs. He had a good point about the food.

After climbing the floors to the very top floor of Crow's Nest keep, reaching what was formerly the room where Lacaille would plan the day with his two bronze Saints, Priam was greeted by False Skeletons into a large abode of brick and basalt. Its walls were still being decorated with torches and spoils by the Skeletons, but Daemon Lucifer already had installed a large throne with arms shaped like gargoyles and a very tall back, reflecting the owner's pride.

Priam noticed that apparently they had decided to bring the Octans Bronze Cloth Box up here, too. It rested by Papillion's feet and had chains wrapped around it as if to prevent its contents from flying away.

Daemon himself sat on it rather bored, conversing with Papillion Ainsel. "We don't have time to form a long term plan as to what to do with the hostages." He instructed the orange-armored, blue-haired psychic. "We can't afford to use them as labor because we don't have enough shackles, but they are too precious to get rid of."

"And we don't have enough food for them, Prince," Ainsel added. "Not if we want to keep our own well motivated."

Lucifer's hand wavered. "Let them burn their cosmos, then. The strongest shall endure. And tell the Skeletons to man the blasted ballistae. I want any phalanx hoplite approaching the castle to regret sticking so closely to their buddies! Sanctuary will be here sooner or later…" He then went to the next point. "Have you gotten your attack party ready yet?"

Ainsel smiled mischievously and tapped the Cloth box with his foot. "Almost, Prince, but I do have one question. Is it such a good idea to involve Alraune Lemon in this? You want Libra found out, but you know Lemon despises you."

Lucifer chuckled amusedly and stood up. "Yes, Alraune is problematic…but China is where that flower-dressed fool will cause the least damage to my plans. The best that can happen is that Dohko is long dead and Lemon will be occupied from his problematic thoughts… and the worst is that Libra will rid me of a nuisance and reveal his presence."

The Papillion nodded obediently. "Very well, Prince, a win-win, then. I will follow your command and pray for you to join us soon." He then walked past Priam out of the throne room.

As they brushed each other, never in his life Priam had imagined he would work so closely to so many Specters. The curly-haired Black Saint always pictured Lucifer's ambitions to be sort of unrealistic, but the way Pride Star managed to get this army so smoothly had forced the rebel to reevaluate his plans.

It was time, therefore, to set things straight with Lucifer. "I assume you're already on the offensive, Lucian."

"Correct, there is little time to lose." The Daemon confirmed, walking Priam into the table where the castle's old map was laid. It showed the war theater Lucifer planned to wage his conflict on, spanning from Europe to East Asia. "With the fortress taken and my enemies confused, I now have the liberty of taking action. I need to conduct a precise and decisive maneuver against our dear friend Shion. While the brunt of my Skeletons and a few trustworthy Specters hold this position, I and my strongest will strike the heart of Sanctuary. This will be a Holy War that will end within the week."

"As per usual, then." Priam passively commented. It seemed to tickle Lucifer's particular sense of humor somehow, taken by his chuckle. "But let's say you win; what then, Lucian? Will you go after Hades? How long is your enemy list? When will your rampage stop?"

Finally a pertinent question arose from Daemon Lucifer's Black Saint ally. "Obviously when I'm personally secure with everything that is coming to me, Priam!" the Specter Prince assured, referring to his so-called birthright, but also his revenge against the Underworld God. "But you understand why I do what I do, correct? I don't personally care for your approval, but we have a common enemy and –"

Priam's look went severe. "-and you need me because even you know perfect plans don't exist, and I'm the only one who can get you and whoever's with you out of the Underworld and Sanctuary in an emergency… So don't test my generosity, Lucian."

Once again, to the surprise of onlooking False Specters, Priam seemed to have Lucifer at odds. "No, I won't. I have learned that I should count on Sanctuary always having an ace-in-the-hole generation of Saints. Last time it was those Godslaying Bronzes, and now the Civil War Gold Saints like you…" he pondered. "In order for me to have total triumph, I must attack Sanctuary at its weakest, this much is clear. The days of fools striking it head-on are a thing of the past. However, Priam, it's impossible to wage war on Sanctuary without having to deal with your old friends first."

The Black Saint nodded. "Akassius, Malta, Daniel and Kirin…" he recalled, nostalgic. "Yes, now that Shion thinks I'm involved, they will definitely get called from the reserve. This won't be easy, Lucian."

Ignoring how Priam kept addressing him by his real name, Lucifer pointed at Crow's Nest position on the map of Europe. "The Gold Saints are surely coming to confront us here at the Nest, but all they really know about us is that we're a rabble of Black Saints and Specters. They will want revenge, to keep us in check and, most importantly, to get counter-leverage for our hostages."

Priam's eyes enlarged. "So you think-"

The silver-haired man chuckled. "What's the first thing you do before you take on an enemy army? You weaken it before the battle ever begins, first by blockading his base of supplies and support," he pointed out. "So where do you think is the first place that Shion will send your old friends first, Priam?"

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Germany,

Pandora's Earthly Castle

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The castle of the Sister of Hades was still a mess after the Dark Exodus, filled with broken furniture that the True Skeletons now rushed to put back in place and clean while many others tried to organize the defense of the castle for the future. The curtains were ripped, the torches were stolen or knocked down, the chests had been raided and many True Skeletons had been murdered along the way, though these last ones were promptly revived to do the dirty work of putting everything back together.

Perhaps the real problem lied in how emptied the premises were. At that stage of Lord Hades' recovery, less than a fifth of the Specters and half of the Skeletons were the True ones, so the Dark Exodus left the Underworld crippled. To make things worse, they took who perhaps was the only true competent leader with them, the Celestial Star of Pride himself, who knew the Underworld like the back of his armored hand, making recovery take even longer.

The three Judges had been carried down to the Underworld to rest and heal at their respective palaces, although Rhadamanthys had to be taken to Ptolomea by force. Physically broken as he was, the Wyvern screamed all the way, demanding to be let go so he could pursue the False Specters and destroy the traitor Prince, so the fool had to be knocked out with shocks from Pandora herself.

Harpy Valentine, the Celestial Wailing Star, was injured as well, but he made sure to get back to work as soon as he could. Occasionally he rubbed the Dark Knight ring that Lucifer tossed his way during the Exodus.

Take care of Pandora. If you don't… when I come back you'll be the first to suffer my wrath.

The Specter needed not the threat of a traitor to feel motivated to be Pandora's knight in shining armor, but the former Prince's words confused and bewildered him. He was willing to go as far as attack Lord Hades, yet he wanted Pandora cared for? It also froze his blood at the prospect of the guy who escaped the wrath of Hades himself returning to make sure he was doing a good job. Was Lucifer absolutely insane? Did he intend to mock the Gods with his boldness?

The white-haired Specter saw Pandora sitting once more by her harp, playing it lamentingly. She had been lost in thoughts since the exodus and wouldn't speak to anyone unless it was to scream orders to hurry up with the repairs. Valentine gulped. She had asked him to do a run-by of the status of the Underworld and now he would have to face the dragoness. "Lady Pandora."

Her fingers halted threateningly on the harp. It somehow made the doors to the central abode close around them loudly, closing off the tense atmosphere from the outside world. It felt that with a simple run of her thumb on the instrument, the ring would fire off and shock Valentine, or worse.

"…Yes?"

The Specter immediately bowed his head. "I've spoken with the Circles, even Giudecca itself. It's… worse than we thought."

She wouldn't even look at him. "How is my brother?"

As expected, her first concern. "The Emperor is still under Lord Hypnos' care, milady," Valentine announced. "They will tell me not what Daemon has-" he then felt his throat tightening.

Pandora tensed her finger on the chord further, squeezing Harpy's neck to the limit. "Don't utter that name!"

Air was then allowed back in, making him gasp. "F-Forgive me…The 'traitor' has injured your brother greatly, milady, not by bodily means, but by the h-heart," Valentine rephrased. "Lord Hypnos says the betrayal broke the Emperor's heart and the vile man made him relive nightmares of old. Lady Pandora,… your brother is suffering very much."

During the brief moment Harpy recovered from the chokehold, his eyes accidentally wavered up and he noticed Pandora's eyes were red, but the lady preserved her dignity and turned away. "Of course, the Emperor has a sensitive heart. In this wretched world, he entrusted so few of us, yet one of them was so ignoble to him, to us. What about the Prisons?"

"They may be in just as bad a shape, milady. The traitors knew what they were doing," confessed Valentine. It didn't surprise him, as they all worked in the Circles for decades. "During the battles, they detonated several charges across the entire Underworld. With the Emperor… injured, it weakened his world, allowing them to shatter chains, break cauldrons, wreck the swamp dams… even Cerberus was hurt in their rampage."

Her nose sighed. "And the dead?"

"They litter the landscape. We, your true Specters, are working around the clock but… it's proving difficult-"

Pandora took a porcelain vase by her and threw it across Valentine's head. "DIFFICULT?! THEY ARE DEAD! HOW INCOMPETENT ARE ALL OF YOU?! YOU HAVE SURPLICES, COSMOS, WEAPONS AND THE MAGIC OF THE PRISONS ON YOUR SIDE! DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING!"

Harpy sweated, not daring to meet her eye. "Milady, it's not so simple as brute force and labour. The dead may be weak, but they lack the fear of dying! They were once contained by the magic of your brother, who still rests. Also, many of them have been encrusted with stardust like the zombies you saw in the Desert Beyond-"

The entire harp was then tossed down to the floor, clanging loudly and startling even the warrior. "MORE EXCUSES, MORE INDOLENCE, MORE WEAKNESS! HE WAS RIGHT! THE SPECTERS HAVE BECOME CORRUPT AND ARROGANT!" the raven-haired girl screamed. The frustration was so strong in her that she stumbled around dizzyingly. "He w-was right… I s-should… my B-BROTHER!.."

Harpy gasped when he saw her about to fall and rushed to her, catching the woman. "Milady!"

Pandora's pale hand grabbed her eyes. She looked at Valentine's helmeted face, a figure of grey and white tones, but his eyes were wavering in tone, turning into something that reminded her of grass. Even the ripped curtains on the wall seemed to transform psychedelically, oscillating between grey and purple, making her mind reel.

She slowly stood up. "B-by Persephone and Nyx, what is happening to me?!"

Harpy rushed off. "I will fetch you something to calm yourself with!"

Her hand wavered dismissively and she rested them then the Victorian table. She shouldn't have lost her composure like that. Now her sweet harp was on the ground, all scratched up. She couldn't stop thinking about what was happening to her sight. Was she hallucinating? "The weakness… yes, it's my old weakness from the past. From when I was just a stupid fool wandering my parent's house, thinking the world was good and clean…" Her hands clasped and her chin raised. "Brother, I vow to protect you. I will capture the traitor, bring him to your justice and prove once and for all I am your rightful sister! I shall never see color again!"

"SOUND THE ALARM!" a Skeleton outside screamed, startling Pandora out of her trance.

"TO THE WALLS, SKELETONS! TO THE WALLS!" another far off voice joined.

Her jaw dropped indignantly. "What?! What now?!" she saw Valentine rush back. "Harpy, what is this?!"

But his face was even paler than usual. He took her hand "Forgive me, Lady Pandora, but you must come with me! You must see this!" he then lightly dragged her to the harp room's balcony.

The Sister of Hades was taken to the highest watch place of her castle, from on the semi-circular veranda of brick she would usually look down on the entire Earthly fortress and its surroundings, and her eyes widened in alarm.

To the southeast, the road to Peloponesia, through where Lucifer once departed, just outside the moat from where green fires of the Underworld blazed, there were tall spears, many hundreds of them in fact. They were carried by men in Greek hoplite armor and had flags of the Athenian Owl on them. Their armors chuckled loudly and in unison as they marched with coordinated shouts and orders being barked around. As Skeletons ran to her castle's walls, the regiments of Athena's soldiers stopped their march just outside the firing distance of the mounted guns and crossbows.

Large roman trumpets, known as 'Cornu', were sounded and synchronized shouts for the glory of Athena, Specter bloodshed and the pride of Peloponnesian soldiers were heard. Spreading around the arc of her castle's premises, the large force blocked off the exit passage entirely, immediately setting camp.

Her eyes shook. "WHAT?! What is the meaning of this?! Does Sanctuary want war?!" She then rushed down the tower with Valentine. Skeletons and Specters alike made way for the infuriated young woman, who climbed the lower barbican that watched over the fire moat's bridge, at the time being raised up. She looked to them like she could personally kick the enemy foot soldiers out of there herself.

When she presented herself, though, immediately many Greek archers took aim at her from behind the safety of their forward hoplites. Their lieautenants held their hands at chest length, signaling to hold their fire but keep the nasty woman under watch.

She was confident, though, joined by Valentine and knowing they wouldn't dare attack her. "Have you all perhaps lost your ways to the whorehouse, Greeks?!" she provoked, but the army remained impassive. "This is the house of Hades, not your red-light districts! Where is your commander?!"

The tall, black-haired and falcon-eyed man known as Ionia stepped up. "Good afternoon, Lady Pandora. I'm sure you remember me?"

She smirked. It had been years, but the man's height and arrogant eyes were quite distinctive. "I do! Are you not the one who came complaining about some villagers that got their well-deserved salvation a few years back? Did you come to extend that kindness to all these men as well?"

While the True skeletons laughed around the woman, Ionia was even more amused. "Mm, mm, yes, it was I, Lady Pandora, but I'm afraid I'm not here for that this time. You see, Athena is a loving and forgiving goddess… but she does not take kindly to truce-breakers."

Her eyes narrowed. "Truce-breakers?! What matter of blabber is that?!"

The seasoned warrior squinted too, raising the tension between the two armies from across the distance they had to shout through. "She does not take kindly to liars as well, Lady Pandora… but you and your men will soon find that out."

She scoffed and gestured her crossbowmen to fire. "Kill him!" and the Skeletons at the walls empowered their weapons with their cosmos of darkness and triggered their weapons, unleashing a salvo of poisoned, gravity-twisting bolts.

The mass of missiles flew in convergence towards Ionia, but neither he nor his men moved a single inch.

A hand was raised from further behind the ranks. "GLACIAL WALL!" and the humidity of the air itself concentrated at the speed of light in a space perfectly capturing the wave of missiles, stopping and locking all of them inside a large block of brilliantly crafted ice which then collapsed on the ground.

The crossbowmen staggered. "WHAT THE-"

A beam of light shot from among the hoplites with a sun blade for an arm that was swung "CRY EXCALIBUR: GIANT TEMPEST SLASH!" and a massive shockwave of light and destruction was swept across the air at the castle's battlements.

"LADY PANDORA!" Harpy screamed, tackling the woman out of the barbican, which was then blasted across its entire length.

The attack wave was immense, blinding the whole castle with its light. Just as it approached the walls, though, even this colossal burst of power was suddenly heavily shrunk, most of its strength sizzling away into nothing. It still struck the defenses like a large wave, knocking back the battlement crossbowmen. The entire magical castle shock, absorbing the galactically powerful attack with the magic of the Underworld God himself, but scores of Skeleton Soldiers were bashed off their positions, knocked down from the battlements or simply sent flying high into the sky by the sheer wind force of the attack. Some more vulnerable, though, were pierced by what looked like the shrapnel of a broken sword of light in the midst of the blaring chaos, killing them instantly. The focused part of Excalibur's energy went on to scorch a huge line across the height of the main keep of the castle, though failing to do more than this thanks to Hades' cursed barrier.

Ionia laughed, joined by the red-haired Malta and black-haired Kirin, who cooled their attacks down and presented themselves to the fortress. He never felt so in charge. This is what they should have done a long time ago.

Harpy helped Pandora up, who indignantly preened her hair. She saw the state the fortress was left in. "Who do they think they are?! THIS IS WAR! Athena's Saints will pay for this affront!"

The former Capricorn Gold Saint, Kirin, saw the surviving Skeletons scurry around. He was a bit disappointed with the damage he caused, but he felt the objective had been reached. "I think we have them scared….is it time to aim at the gate?"

The former Aquarius had a rebuttal. "This won't be so easy, Kirin. If we could just nuke this place, we would have done so as soon as it reared its ugly towers in this world. The best course of action is to just keep this place under control so they can't reinforce their friends in Romania."

The black-haired Kirin crossed his arms. Malta's strategies had never been unwise. "Mmm, very well, I agree. If my Tempest Slash can be so incredibly weakened, then sending soldiers with that cursed barrier up would be foolish. I do hope they try us."

Ionia could barely contain the excitement of not only finally having the action he craved, but having at his disposal two of his war heroes. There was a smile on his face he hadn't felt since he got his first medal.

The former Aquarius then elaborated. "This is still Hades' Earthly Castle. A cursed barrier surrounds it, weakening those who lack the 8th sense to one-tenth of their power. We made arrangements with Akassius to control this location and nothing more."

There was indeed a frown on the tall Commander's face, but he accepted their word. "…Don't worry, our retribution on these disgusting death worshippers is just beginning." He then took the megaphone from one of his aides. "Specters of Hades, for the crimes you committed at Crow's Nest, consider yourselves under siege! You will not step outside your walls alive, nor will help come to rescue even from Olympus itself! Know that we will destroy the invaders you sent there and that this castle will follow!"

Inside the walls, the Harpy Specter tried to calm Pandora down. "They seem to think we attacked them! Crow's Nest sounds like a Cyrulian fortress name."

The woman was livid. "What does it matter?! This is unforgivable! Our main road to the surface is blocked out by those disgusting profligates!" she pointed at her men. "Call the Specters! I want them out of my sight by the end of the day!"

But the Dark Knight held her. "Wait, Lady Pandora! Don't order any rash action! They can bombard the castle all they want, but the barrier will weaken all their attempts down to a tenth! Any of them that tries to scale the wall will be massacred! We are safe here! Have faith in Lord Hades, Milady… eventually, the rest of the True Specters will reawaken and we'll be able to kick these besiegers off the barrier's reach."

She bit her nail, her brain furiously looking for answers. "This must be the traitor's handiwork. He's out there causing destruction and the Saints are blaming us! Don't they know that the men under him are just a bunch of replacements?!"

Harpy sweated. "No, the Saints don't, and without the book page we can't eliminate the False Specter to get the Surplices back right away," he concluded, though he didn't dare to voice it to Pandora. He had to admire how well Lucifer played this, though. "Daemon Lucifer…it really is as if you knew the minds of the Gods themselves on this. If you had stayed loyal, how much damage to the Saints would you have caused in our name?"

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Romania, Crow's Nest

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The Celestial Star of Pride took a white knight chess piece and placed it on Pandora's castle in the map. "Divide and conquer; the oldest and simplest strategy."

The inherent recklessness in this concerned Priam. "What about Pandora? What if they breach the castle and take it? What if she gets hurt?"

"They won't." Lucifer confidently asserted. He cared about Pandora, but he wasn't stupid. "It's protected by Hades' Barrier. Even your Civil War veterans know better than to try it. They will still send some important ones there though to make sure they cut off our communication lines… which don't exist."

Priam rubbed his chin. "And if they are besieged…this will make sure the real specters don't have how to go after you either…" he concluded. It was almost chilling how well this seemed thought out. "I have to admit, you definitely know what you're doing. I almost want to ask how you're so good at preying on Sanctuary's weaknesses."

This wasn't a hard question for Lucifer, though. "It's simple; training and experience. This isn't the first time I've taken advantage of Sanctuary's inflexibility to cripple it… Well, I even met my next target while doing it…. but we'll talk by the bailey, Priam. I'm sure your other friends are closing in as we speak after all."

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

1751, The 'Lost Canvas' War

Sanctuary, Refugee Camp Ruins

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Amidst the quakes and the ruining of the battle, the emptied refugee field blazed with the cosmos of three different sources; one pink, one gold and one dark and drenched in blue sparks. The Andromeda Saint leaped over a wash of black cosmos with a boost from his Nebula Stream and launched his chain. "NEBULA CHAIN!"

The metal links whipped around in a curving angle at a speed poking past light itself, but the Specter Prince's muscled arm took it in wrapping and pulled with a powerful tug, swinging the green-haired Saint across the battlefield into debris. He watched it collapse over the Bronze Saint and scoffed. "Ah, is this a joke?! Don't get in my way Bronze!"

Taurus Rasgado roared, covered in injuries, and dashed against the distracted Specter with a swinging arm and a background of a bull. "D-DON'T UNDERESTIMATE US!" and his palm thrust at the speed of light, releasing the explosive force of a galaxy.

The Prince grunted and swung his body beneath Rasgado's thrust, delivering a counter elbow to his large chest that staggered back the huge Gold Saint, making him blast the floor to pieces instead. As dark and gold cosmos raged against one another, Taurus recoiled but recovered, resuming his attack with a counter fist. Lucifer's hand caught it and the Specter's hand raised to catch Rasgado's other punch, initiating a struggle. Balls of struggling cosmos formed in the clasped hands as the two piles of muscles tried to push each other.

It was a ferocious fight, but although his feet dragged back a little, Lucifer smirked when he saw the hidden advantage. "Were you expecting the brute advantage to be bigger, Taurus?!" he mocked, being a bit of a physical beast himself.

Rasgado smirked back, sweating. "M-maybe, Specter, but I can work with this!" he then dragged Lucifer's arms apart and butted his huge head against the Prince's draconic bat crown, stunning the Pride Star before the Taurus grabbed his own wrist and aimed his hand. "TITAN'S BREAK!" and his fingers turned to golden light with a bovine roar, unleashing the power of a Taurus charge in the form of cosmos.

Lucifer barely had time to recover and raise his hand before the point-blank gold blast was fired, catching it but being pushed back by its immense kinetic force, dragging trails on the cement ground with his greaves before getting blasted through the rubble, smoke screening the area.

Already realizing what he was up against, Rasgado wasted no time. His aura erupted, his arms raised and he cast his follow-up. "TITAN NOVA!" Huge geysers of golden energy shock-waved through the ground, traveling across the battlefield, and converged where the Prince was blasted into, smashing up the area further in a spectacle of destruction.

Amidst the quakes and blasts, Andromeda crawled out of the debris and stumbled towards Rasgado. "L-Lord Taurus…"

Rasgado panted and held his hand at him. "Shun, this isn't over yet, y-you have to get out of here!"

"I know it isn't, but he's not after ME!" the Andromeda argued. His attention was turned to the smoke cloud when the Specter prince jumped out of it, barely phased by the attacks and red eyes set on the Taurus. "Lord Taurus, you don't understand, these two new Specters are after the Gold Saints specifically! They are monstrously strong. The one at Jamir took Shiryu's Hyaku Ryu blows over and over with an element disadvantage!"

This was enough to take even the optimistic Taurus by surprise, as he knew firsthand how strong Dohko's technique and the Dragon Saint using it both were, but it wasn't in his nature to back down. He gathered his bravery as he saw the Specter charge his energy, but the memory of the Virgo Gold Saint gave him all the strength he could ask for. "Asmita fought the other to the end to take him down, so I don't plan on going anywhere with this one, either! We might as well work together a third time, Shun!"

The thought of it seemed to amuse the Specter. "Is that how much Kagaho has tired you, Taurus?" he mocked, manifesting a demonic background image. His fist closed, drenched in electricity shaped like a javelin. "Gold and Bronze shall SHATTER together then."

Drenched in black and red miasma like a monster, the demonic Specter dashed at the Gold Saint, fist sunk in energy. The Andromeda Saint saw this and countered "SPIRAL DUCT!" releasing a spiral corridor of chain with which to wrap the speeding Specter in.

Daemon was indeed taken by surprise, unfamiliar with Andromeda's attack patterns as he was, so he halted his charge with an empowered foot screech and slid between the chain openings with a body roll. Taurus Rasgado was immediately upon him with a series of light speed blows, so the Specter rolled onto dodge them, but Andromeda then pulled his defensive chain and caught Lucifer's leg.

The Specter growled as he lost his balance and fell to his hand.

With his full power, ready, Andromeda lifted the Specter towards himself with a mighty pull and took his chance, thrusting his hand. "Burst OUT! NEBULA STORM!" and the massively powerful shockwave of wind cosmos shot at Lucifer like a concentrated tornado.

The 7th sense of both Specter and Gold Saint reeled, making them widen their eyes at the shocking force of the Bronze Saint's attack, and Lucifer crossed his guard to take the blow, being blasted back once more with a scream.

Shun then swung his hand down, commanding the winds to smash the Specter on the floor like he had once done with Aphrodite. "It's over!"

The currents shifted with an impossible strength, amazing Rasgado once more, and the Specter was cast down like a banished spirit towards Sanctuary's ground, body fractioning on the surrounding cosmos like a shooting star. It meteored, quaking the ground and geyser-ing smoke everywhere.

The two Saints gathered their energies, watching the scene and awaiting the results. "That was an excellent blow, Shun…" Rasgado complimented. His seventh sense felt every bit of it, and a Gold Saint landing on his head could have been killed by it. A tisk followed, though. "… but it seems we're up against something quite monstrous…"

As the cloud cleared, Daemon Lucifer coughed, stunned at the force he was bashed with. With a slight shake, he got on his hands and knees. It made Andromeda shake against his will. Even in his harshest fights, a human had never resisted this kind of punishment.

"Ah, ah,… it seems Michael may have had good reason to be taken by surprise…" A light flow of dark cosmos then began burning in Daemon.

A sphere of purple energy sprouted out from his hand and electricity started sparking around it with a fury. It expanded, releasing spiral patterns of black light that enacted a gravitational force in the area. The ground cracked, pebbles raised into the air to get sucked into the charging, a light screech of a demon was heard in the air and the Saints bodies went cold as if they were being unknowingly carried into a dark world.

Daemon's hand aimed at Andromeda "It's time to take things a bit more seriously…but first, to get rid of the nuisance!" His aura then unleashed huge whips of thunder everywhere, staggering the Saints. "DARK REVENGE BLAST!" and the large sphere shot out of his hand with such force that the ground beneath Lucifer caved in with bright fissures of the ignited rock.

It traveled across the battlefield with a wild pattern, darkening the area with its evil, and Rasgado tackled Andromeda to save him from a direct hit! The huge Gold Saint's hands immersed in the cosmos. "GREAT HORN!" and the power of the golden bull was unleashed, shock waving a counterforce that struck the flying orb dead on.

Like a sword slicing dynamite, however, the blow simply triggered the Specter's orb to explode right away, hitting the Saints along with the entire area in a huge shower of darkness and electricity. It thundered around, obliterated the ground and lightened the area with the huge sparks of power.

Andromeda raised his head and saw the spectacle of gravitational and electrical power swallowing the screaming Gold Saint. "NO! Lord Rasgado!" The residual energy then converged again on the victim and exploded once more, further brutalizing the Gold Saint, whose huge body fell to his hands and knees, Cloth smoking.

The Daemon casually walked up to the Saints, fists already ready for the next round. His red eyes observed the panting giant. Blood dripped from many joints of his dense Cloth and the already scarred side of Rasgado's face now had spark burns all over it.

There was a whooshing motion from the fallen! With a mighty roar, the Taurus' hands reached overhead on the Specter. "TITAN N-"

The Prince saw the second wind coming, though, charged his fists, leaned below the Gold Saint's swing and countered "DARK SPEAR BARRAGE!" his fists swung straight at Rasgado's chest, aiming countless javelin-like punches all across his body, the image of the Specter's body trailing across the victim along with the firework display of impacts before ending with a slide across the beaten Gold Saint.

Rasgado screamed, his mind going blank. His entire body had javelins of purple cosmos skewering it through the weaker points of the Taurus Cloth, which then burst into electric shocks, and the huge man fell completely on the ground. Andromeda screamed his name.

The Daemon just smirked. "Three down, nine left to go." His red eyes then looked up at the Fire Clock, where Pandora had already emerged by Alone to face Athena. "Mm, mm, and from the looks of it, Sagittarius will be next."

Tears formed in Andromeda's eyes, seeing the fallen Bull. "N-no…why?! Who are you two?!" he demanded to know. "Why are you so cruel?!"

The silver-haired specter turned to the Andromeda, the Nebula Storm on his mind. "You're not an ordinary Bronze Saint, are you, Andromeda? You're part of this strange group that has been fighting us with the Gold Saints. I'm sure you can figure out something as easy as why the enemy is to be slaughtered, mm, mm."

But strangely, the green-haired stood up and faced him in thoughts. "No, you're wrong! This has nothing to do with Hades or this war, or you would have gone with Pandora to kill Athena! You're killing Saints because you felt 'embarrassed' by Minos! You said so yourself!" the Bronze confronted.

"And what if I am?" the Pride Star questioned. To him, wiping dishonor was as important as ridding the Earth of the vile rape that the humans subject it to. "By the end of this war, far more blood than your friend's will be shed!"

Andromeda was used to the callousness of Specters, but this still struck a nerve with him. "Saint Albafica died… but you still felt the need to punish everyone else for how he embarrassed you… It's wrong and evil! It's everything you would say innocent people do to the Earth!" the green-haired argued, tightening the grip in chains. "So I will use EVERYTHING in my power to stop you!"

He stepped towards the Bronze menacingly. "Mm, mm, mm, how moral! You and who else, Bronze?"

"ME! ROZAN-" Someone shouted, making Lucifer turn to it to see a huge dragon roaring at me. "RYU SHO!" The golden fist collided with the Prince, striking him with the charge of the great dragon of Rozan. Lucifer gasped and was tossed across the battlefield, smashed against debris, and Libra Dohko landed with a foot screech by Andromeda, his body still burning with watery cosmos.

Andromeda gasped. "ROSHI!"

The Libra's face was pure, incensed rage, though, his eyes like tiger slits and his teeth grinding so hard his canine looked longer. The sight of Rasgado's fallen body made his blood pump with uncontrollable fury. "SHUN, leave this place now! He's MINE!"

Daemon brushed off the large pieces of rock on him and stood up to face the Libra. "… You will regret that!" He then exploded his aura and charged at Dohko. "DIE, LIBRA!"

Dohko took out his shield and blocked the initial heavy swing, still recoiling back with the impact, but then tensed his body in preparation for his Tiger-Style Rozan martial arts to counter the Specter with a furious combo of lightspeed swipes, kicks, and forearm strikes, the strength of each impact shock-waving the area and pushing back Andromeda with air currents. The few blows that crossed the Specter's defenses barely seemed to scratch his impeccable Surplice, but, fueled with rage, the Libra Saint saw an opening when the Specter dragged his foot back!

His aura burned, his foot stepped in, his left feinted a punch that tricked the Specter into raising his arms and Dohko then, with a mighty roar, span his body to deliver a water-charged knee blow. "SHORYUHA!" he shouted, striking the Prince's stomach head-on with the knee variant of his technique. The collision was so powerful that the heavily-armored Specter was lifted up to the air, large boulders around them were blown away, the roar of a dragon was heard and the Specter actually seemed to stagger.

Seeing this, Andromeda cheered. "GO, ROSHI!"

The Libra's body span for momentum and his leg swung upwards to smash the bastard's jaw into his skull!

The heavily armored elbow rushed up, blocking it perfectly! Lucifer gritted teeth angrily and Dohko staggered in hesitation. A dark armored fist exploded on Dohko's cheek so hard that his head nearly snapped to the side and the Libra fell back on his heels and hand.

Light then emanated from Lucifer's body as his hands converged, shaping with his fingers energy into the format of a demon's skull. "GREATEST CAUTION!" he then thrust it at him, blasting the Libra with the flexible but powerful attack he once took from Rhadamanthys, punishing the Libra for his transgressions by blasting him to the ground.

His greaves immediately pinned the young Libra, forcing blood out of his mouth. Lucifer panted for the first time in the night. "N-not bad, ah ah…" he congratulated. "I didn't expect to encounter someone so good at hand-to-hand tonight! I figured you Saints do nothing but toss techniques around!"

Dohko's fist punched Lucifer's heel, but it wouldn't budge. "D-damn you! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

The devil smirked. "We are the end of the Gold Saints, Libra, we are Hades' ultimate revenge against Athena's little schemes against him. And just imagine, you aren't even the ones the Dark Calling makes me ache to kill the most." The Daemon teased, referring to the magical compelling that lived in all Specters, drawing them to their destiny. "No, your death and Rasgado's is merely strategic, a necessity I felt to oil Alone's plans for world cleansing. So if you two wouldn't mind… WHERE IS PEGASUS TENMA?!"

Making the obvious conclusion the Specter was there to murder his student yet again, Dohko's will to resist turned to pure titanium. "I will NEVER tell you, Specter! You'll have to ask the Gods themselves!"

Blue lightning then came down from the skies, blinding the two Saints, and converged on Lucifer's hand, immersing it in white fire. He held it up as a threat. "This is my ultimate fighting move… with this technique, I can penetrate even a Gold Cloth, Libra… since you won't talk, then you can at least experience it." He then arched his arm. "DARK REVENGE FI-" Andromeda's chain wrapped around Lucifer's fist and the boy pulled with all his might, tightening the Specter and stopping his arm. "WHAT?!

Andromeda's cosmos burned pink like it never had before. He couldn't let Roshi die, not only for Dragon's sake, but for the war and the lives of so many. "I won't let you!-"

The Prince struggled to hammer down, but the chain had a strange power over him, halting his limb. He saw it sparkling with pink electricity. "Damn it… w-why are you so strong…?!"

Reaching over for the chain with his free hand, the Andromeda gritted teeth and used every bit of his strength to pull. His aura burned more and more and memories of fallen friends motivated him.

Even Roshi was stunned, feeling Lucifer's foot grip on him tightening. "S-Shun… your cosmos! Your Cloth!"

The Andromeda Cloth itself began shining with energy, seemingly swelling. To Lucifer and Dohko's amazement, the silhouette of a strange, enhanced shape suddenly contoured it, as if the armor was in the process of morphing into something superior, and the chains began gaining a light golden tint.

Lucifer's red eyes widened. He had never sensed this kind of cosmos from a human. He feared to think it… but it was almost like that of a god?!

Realizing how dangerous this Bronze Saint truly was, Lucifer's free hand immersed itself in a separate charge of cosmos. "So Tenma might not be the only Godslayer in this war?... FINE, THEN I'LL WIPE YOU OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH TOO, ANDROMEDA!" He then swung his fist. "DARK SPEAR BARRAGE!"

Andromeda gasped as he saw the missiles shot out with the sharpness of a Sagittarius arrow at him!

Dohko's hand reached out. "NO, SHUN!"

A huge mass clad in golden armor suddenly sped in front of the attack's path and the missiles were stopped by a wall of metaled flesh, splashing blood everywhere. Standing between the three of them with his arms laid out in cover, Rasgado breathed out heavily, body pierced top to bottom by another round of spears that then exploded into shocks of electricity, punishing the Gold Saint further.

Lucifer roared in frustration. "UGH, why does everyone get in my way tonight?!"

Andromeda rushed to catch the massive man as his smoking body tumbled over. "L-lord Rasgado, NO!"

"S-shun…" he called out. His body was drenched in blood. His hand then squeezed Andromeda's tightly. "Take this and run, Shun…"

"NO, y-you saved me, I won't leave you!" Andromeda appealed, feeling what seemed like a paper in his hand.

A male roar was heard from the Taurus, "GO TO ATHENA!" who then burned his cosmos and tossed his huge weight, tackling the Specter off Libra Dohko. Andromeda rushed to get the Libra Saint while Taurus wrestled with the powerful Specter Prince on the ground. Lifting up Lucifer, Rasgado's huge arms wrapped around the Prince's body, bear-hugging him. Taurus Rasgado's cosmos burned to the max, constricting the Specter, and he looked at his friends. "DOHKO, SHUN, save yourselves!"

Dohko barely could react, but Shun, despite his youth, rushed over and lifted the Libra off the ground. "Come on, Roshi!"

"NO, RASGADO!" Dohko appealed, already knowing what he was going to try.

"LET GO OF ME, TAURUS!" Lucifer demanded, fist still immersed in white fire. "YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!"

The Taurus Gold Saint's body and armor began emanating gentle waves of golden light. His vastly superior physical strength allowed him to hold on to the powerful Specter despite the cosmos difference. "He, h-he… I told you not to underestimate me… Taurus Saints never go down without a last word, S-Specter!"

Lucifer roared and swung the back of his head as hard as he could, smashing the giant's nose in. Thanks to his own impressive strength it was enough to lighten the grip and Lucifer fell down.

Dohko wanted to fight him, but Andromeda wrapped him in chains and pulled him out there. "L-Let's go, ROSHI! We need to save Athena!"

But Dohko merely shouted Taurus's name when he saw Lucifer turn to the giant to kill him. "NO, RASGADO!

The Celestial Pride Star roared. "DARK REVENGE FIST!" and the white-fire of his punch struck Rasgado's open chest plate like a blow from the gods themselves, piercing metal, flesh and heart and blasting the concentrated electrical cosmos all the way on the other side. Lucifer cackled, showered in the man's blood, and twisted his hand inside the body, feeling the pulses of the Taurus' huge heart. "AH, AH, AH, AH, AH! YES! This is the power of the Dark Princes of Hades, Gold Saint!"

The Taurus coughed and vomited red. "Gah…ah, you're strong indeed… too strong… you'll be a great threat to Sanctuary…It's a good thing Asmita took out your f-friend."

But the Specter had something to say. "Mm, mm, that's where you're wrong… This place is my destiny, Taurus… and Michael is far from done." He then delighted in the look of horror on the giant's face. "That's right… we won't be stopped by your Gold Saint tricks, Taurus. Rest assured knowing that your generation will be the last to have defended Sanctuary's rot!"

The realization of what was going on hit Rasgado's mind. He would no longer live to know everything about the man that ended him, but some answers were now clear. "I see…the Dark Prince of Hades. Now the fluffy t-titles make sense, ha, ha."

Lucifer growled and twisted his fist further into the cavity. "What's so amusing?!"

Taurus then grabbed his arm and shoulder, binding him. "I laugh because you're a Fool, Prince! HA, HA, HA, HA!" his body then gradually shining brighter. "Athena will win this war, Daemon Lucifer, because the fate of so many loved ones depends on us… but even if she doesn't, you fight for a promise Hades has no intention to fulfill. There will be no Prince in the smoldering ash of his blackened Earth, not of Sanctuary, nor even of c-cockroaches, HA, HA, HA, HA!"

The Specter struggled to get free, but the powerful body of the Gold Saint forbade him this time, motivated by the heroic spirit of a dying warrior. "Shut up, Taurus! JUST DIE ALREADY!"

The Gold Saint of Taurus smiled. His body now glowed as bright as a star. "Don't worry, Star of Pride, I will go and meet the next world with pleasure!... Thank you for the wonderful battle!" he then took up to the sky, seeing his constellation looking down on him. His thoughts passed by Asmita and Athena in a prayer, but ended on Teneo, Celintha and Salo. "My sons and daughters… I entrust Athena to you! Now burn my star, the great Aldebaran, like a mighty SUPERNOVA! TITAN NOVA!"

Far up above, the Andromeda Gold Saint then stumbled to the ground, still dragging Dohko, when the massive quake came. The two of them fell to the floor, a huge eruption of light exploding behind them, and they looked on to see a blast as big as an Athena Exclamation consuming the emptied refugee camp. It raged, raged and raged till its swelling slowed down, forming a dome of waving golden light that illuminated the night like day for a brief instant.

Tears formed in both their eyes. "No,…. R-RASGADO!" Dohko screamed. "Not y-you, too!"

The ground shook, fissuring all over. The force of the attack kept damaging the area and cracks spread all over Sanctuary's ground. One ran straight up to them and the injured Saints were caught by surprise, slipping into a sudden opening Shun and Dohko screamed, thinking they would fall.

Two hands clad in white suddenly rushed down and caught them "I GOT YOU!"

Dohko and Andromeda looked up. "H-HYOGA!" Andromeda screamed.

Amidst the quaking, the Cygnus pulled them up. He had come with Libra, but a regiment of lowly Specters had tried to intercept them and Hyoga stayed to fight so Dohko could rescue Shun. He saw the tears on Shun's face. "Another Gold Saint falls… but the battle continues. We must help Sisyphus, you two. The fighting rages on at the Golden Zodiac."

The Andromeda Saint nodded. "He saved me… I was in the middle of summoning my God Cloth… if Lord Rasgado hadn't stepped in the way…"

"Don't think of it, it's not your fault, Shun." Cygnus assured. "So don't let his sacrifice go to waste. We will fight on, at the Twelve Temples."

Saint Dohko seemed quiet and lost in thoughts, perhaps ashamed he couldn't have helped more. The only consolation was that perhaps they would not see such a dangerous Specter like the Pride Star and Absolute Star Princes again.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Present

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Strolling angrily by one of the bailey's warehouses, Alraune Lemon gritted teeth and kicked a crate of old hoplite spears to the ground, smashing its contents. How could things be going so smoothly for the blasted Prince? Everything he has proposed so far has been preposterous. First, a rebellion against Hades, escaping without a single loss, getting past Peloponesia undetected, and now capturing a Sanctuary fortress to turn it into his personal vanity project. All impossibly bold moves no human should be able to get away within this fucked up world of deities and armies with the power of the Cosmos.

Now here he was, a disgraced False Specter. Was his existence really this pathetic? Lemon did not conform himself with this, even after all these months. He was promised glory, wealth, and deification by Hades. Now he lived in the shadow of a pretender to a lost throne he once tried to kill. Just looking at the darkened walls of the Cyrulian Castle, which were now cursed into resembling a tribute to Lucifer's glory, made him sick to his stomach.

Papillion Ainsel and Deadly Beetle Gauromydas approached him. "You shouldn't be wrecking the place, Lemon. We're working very hard to make this our humble abode."

"Pah!" Lemon spat, turning to the moth-winged turncoat. He noticed the Specter was off his Surplice and carrying the Octans Cloth Box with him. "What's the deal, Ainsel, what are you doing with that Bronze Cloth?!"

The blue-haired psychic tugged the straps. "…Let's say I'm off my way to 'get it fixed'." He then addressed the Specter's foul mood. "Is something on your mind?"

A metal tendril smashed another barrel of weapons. "Of course there is! What are we all doing sitting and rotting in this place?! Sanctuary will nuke us as soon as they get over the shock of their loss. Once again, Lucifer is driving us to our death!"

The huge beetle-armored man folded arms, skeptical. "You haven't been paying attention to what's been going on around you, have you?"

The planetoid Specter glared at the giant. "What did you say?!"

Ainsel cleared his throat. "Gauromydas is asking if you aren't being a bit unfair to our new leader. Lucifer has delivered everything he has ever promised us." He pointed out, before waving his arms at what they had conquered. "Look at us, Lemon. You should be happy; here we are, with the power of Surplices and free to do as we wish. Most importantly, you won't be disposed of by Thanatos just because the real Alraune has finally reawakened. You can't honestly say that we haven't come far under him."

"Me? Unfair?!" Lemon spat, indignant, pointing at the Papillion. "How about you, who turned your back to me when I thought I had your trust?! We would supplant the Prince and become the new lords of the Underworld and you, Erika, Neferti and Torak took that entitled lunatic's side! How long did you lie to me, Ainsel, pretending you agreed with my designs?!"

Deadly Beetle Gauromydas laughed out loud through his mouth-mask.

Lemon reached up and pulled his collar down to his level with incredible strength. Gauromydas struggled, but the elite False Specter ignored his attempts, even hovering his bladed tentacles threateningly over his eyes. "Do you think I'm funny?!"

The huge man tried to free himself, but while he was powerful on his own, the cosmos difference, in this case, was too high. "Y-yes, I'm saying you're deluded, Lemon! You were content with being Hades' little lap dog even though deep down you smelled like the rest of us that there was something wrong in the air. T-That's why you failed to inspire us! Not Lucifer! He beat us, and then he saved us!"

He then managed to finally shove Alraune off, thought the effort necessary for it surprised the giant. The False Specter elites like Ainsel and Lemon really were a notch above the rest of them. A tense stare off followed between the two, though the blue-haired Papillon just seemed to want to sigh at how pointless the bickering was.

Alraune still had poison left in his throat. "… So I'm deluded, uh?... This is what it's come to!" He then pointed at the tower keep from where Lucifer gloated his superiority. "You call me crazy, but I'm not the one hinging our triumph on claiming some long lost lineage or getting his hands on a fairy tale Cloth! No one in history has ever breached the temples of Sanctuary but the Gold Saints themselves! Now he wants to do it without the help of any God, just some failed Sagittarius Gold Saint, on the off-chance that not only he accomplishes what no Olympian ever has, but that he wins the myth lottery while he's at it! Hear me now, quote me later, friends, Daemon Lucifer will be the death of us all!"

Gauromydas and Ainsel exchanged glances. There really was no convincing with this one. His grudge against the Prince for what happened at Neferti's Prison was just too intense.

But while his rant was a bit hyperbolic, Ainsel recognized it had some merit, so he, therefore, decided to divert the energy to something productive. "You want to prove you're still a great Specter among us, Lemon, don't you? I believe you still are." he started. "How would you like to help us in our job? It's a task that Lucifer entrusted to me personally to prepare for him but that, perhaps, should things get out of control… you could have a finishing touch."

The red-haired Specter's interest was piqued. "… What job?"

Ainsel smiled. "One that if you accomplish, you'll forever rob the Prince of a very personal vendetta, one he has dreamed of for centuries." he lied. "Imagine the look on his face when you bring the head of the one who defeated him in the Lost Canvas War!"

The Alraune paused, eyes narrowing in intrigue. "That… who is it?!"

Ainsel could see in the spark of greed in Lemon's eyes that the plantoid was falling to this spiel exactly like Lucifer predicted he would. "Tell me, Ainsel, have you ever heard of Libra Dohko?"

Suddenly the battlement bells rang and the Skeleton Soldiers rushed around. "Sound the alarm! SOUND THE ALARM!"

Gauromydas looked around. "What the hell?!" he then grabbed one of the rushing skeletons off the ground. "Hey, what's going on out there?!"

The grunt gulped. "Lord Beetle, there's Saints outside! A whole army of them! Including some sort of big shot!"

"Uh-oh, this is our cue to go to Asia, then." Ainsel lamented, covering his mouth.

Lemon was stupefied. "Didn't you hear him? We are under siege! Where the hell do you think we are going?"

The Papillion was unimpressed by the problem. "Worm Samuel has been hard at work tunneling through the bedrock through the mountains surrounding the Fortress. It's awfully soft when done from the inside out. Well, Lemon, are you joining us or what?"

While he hesitated one last time, Alraune eventually nodded. "Alright then… I'll see what this is about. If it's some Holy War survivor Lucifer is worried about, I WILL bring back his head… and show everyone that I was able to defeat the one that the mighty Lucifer could not!"

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Stealthily trailing down the mountainside, the mercenary bowman leaped into the forest branches, making his way closer to the fortress with longbow and arrows in tow. He stopped halfway behind Sanctuary's western line, seeing that Shion's men were already surrounding the citadel.

Leon understood what this meant; competition for Priam's head would be stiff. His early salvation in Shion's eyes was riding on this, though. "I see flags from several castles belonging to the old man. These hoplites have come from all over northern Greece and Italy," the youth concluded, before noticing something vital. "No Cloths, though… Not even a Bronze Saint. That confirms it; these men think this is a much lesser problem than it really is. Shion, you old fool. You're so terrified of this Black Saint that you're going to cost yourself all these loyal lives."

His heightened senses then analyzed the problem: if Leon's target was really inside the fortress, then he had walls and hundreds of Specters and Skeletons in the way. His first plan of shooting down the gate and storming the premises directly was unviable then, as much as it saddened him, but the mercenary wasn't opposed to the stealthy approach. He just had to figure out which window would he target the Black Saint from.

As he balanced himself so he could notch his longbow, Leon, in deep reflection, would be lying to himself if the legend of Priam didn't intrigue him; the idea of shaking hands with the first man in all of Sanctuary to really sock the Lemurian mummy brought a smirk to the mercenary's lips. In other circumstances, he would have liked to first get to know the guy, but Leon would rather put expedience into ridding himself of his nightmares.

And, by Athena, he would, even if it meant doing Shion's dirty work.

Just as he began searching the dark fortress for weak points from his hidden vantage point, though, the central keep tower's lower door opened wide and a multitude of important-looking figures, including two surrounded by the group that based on their cloaking could either one be Priam. "Blast… which is which?" he wondered.

The False Specters and Skeletons anxiously followed the Daemon Prince and the former Sagittarius Gold Saint from the Tower Keep to the western barbican. From there, they saw scores of hoplite battalions camping out among the trees in the western road, planting flags of Athena's owl and getting makeshift defenses ready, mostly counter-ditches but also equipment for ramp construction and long-distance bombardment.

Experienced leaders like Priam and Lucifer knew, however, this was just the beginning of

a circumvallation, an old antiquity tactic of surrounding the edifice with layers of troops and minor obstacle lines to both encircle the citadel and prevent outside relief. The Prince had no intention of getting outside help, though. Everything he owned for his campaign was already inside Crow's Nest.

Nasu Erika turned to him. "Prince, is it really necessary to… put yourself in rags?" she pointed out.

The Pride Star nodded. "My greatest card is my secrecy right now. Shion wouldn't dare let these Saints know a Gold Saint killer like me could exist. Tell Worm Samuel to rig the tunnels for collapse after he leaves. Once I make use of it, I don't want any of the Saints' sensing anything out of the ordinary about the citadel's ins and outs."

Troll Grendel nodded. "Yes, Prince!" and headed off.

"The eastern road has also been blocked, Prince. "Behemoth Torak informed, taller than the whole barbican group. "We haven't seen any Gold Cloths, though."

"Excellent… Shion is doing exactly what I thought he would." The red eyes surveyed the besiegers before turning to his equally ragged ally. "What do you think, Priam?"

The Black Saint wasn't amused by the number of hoplites he sensed working on the circumvallation. From his calculation, they were probably about five hundred, more than Lucifer's Skeletons.

"They are serious; they must have pulled all these foot soldiers from forts around the globe, but they are also confused," said the Black Saint. "Ordinarily, Sanctuary wouldn't tolerate a single second of a castle being taken. Crow's Nest was originally taken in a night, but these look prepared for weeks of sieging. They know you have hostages."

Lucifer chuckled and folded arms. "Perfect."

Priam eyed him venomously. "No, Lucifer, you know what this means. They're going to send-"

And before the Black Saint could even finish his sentence, the hoplites blocking the western road began gasping and cheering, several of them around the middle even making way for a small group of men that had just arrived on horseback. "Mm, mm… now, who could that be?"

Priam just gulped.

Down by the besieging forces, hoplites rose their spears in the air and banged their shields like drums in celebration. What had previously been looks of apprehension on them was replaced by unison euphoria as the two former Gold Saints, two men who were war-heroes to many of them, rode their way to the front of the army pack.

"AKASSIUS! AKASSIUS! AKASSIUS!" many cheered, elated.

Others applauded with their spears and shields. "It's the old Gold Saints! It's Duke AKASSIUS!"

"There's Duke Daniel! Athena bless us, he's here too!" one hoplite pointed out, though the gigantic blonde man was somehow ignored over the black-haired rider ahead of him.

Flags of Athena were waved around in support. Manly cheers choired in the air. Shields were drummed and spear ends were rhythmically tapped on the ground.

Dressed in cloaked leather pad armor over his usual dignified garments, the former Gemini dismounted his steed and approached the safe edge of the siege, observing the fortress, almost wishing he could see Priam already, but all he could detect was the shadows of black-armored heads and scythes poking out of the battlements. He was joined by his huge comrade, the former Gold Saint of Taurus, Daniel, who climbed out of his powerful horse and stood twice as tall as his brother in arms, joining him in contemplating the desecration of Crow's Nest.

The blonde giant's eyes surveyed the area, still deafened by the cheers. He was a bit exasperated that, even after all these years, his much younger comrade drew such celebration upon his mere arrival. "You know, you have a gift to making me feel small."

Akassius chuckled. "My apologies."

More importantly, the situation at Crow's Nest concerned the former Taurus. Said Nest was now a fortress that they no longer recognized, resembling more a temple to the night itself. "I've never seen such a gaudy gothic thing, Specters always had terrible taste." Daniel commented. "It's a good thing you called me, Akassius. I will love to flatten this place to the ground."

The Gemini's hand held him in place. "Let's be cautious. First, what have they done to this place? It looks like Pandora's Castle itself," Akassius commented.

Someone as gigantic as Daniel stepped next to him. "Excellent question, heroes, and welcome to the battlefield!" Herakles Aguilon concurred. "We're not sure about the new decor, but all the old Cyrulian Seals don't seem to be working or the place would look like a burning firework factory by now."

Daniel laughed out loud. "Aguilon! You son of a bitch!" he elated, locking his muscled grip with his oldest comrade in a loud snap. "I should have known you'd be the first on-site!"

Akassius was just as happy to see him. The Herakles Saint was one of the last few people in Sanctuary who didn't treat him like he had the world on his shoulders, probably cause he remembered a time when he got that treatment too. "Aguilon… long time, no see."

The Silver Saint tilted head. "Mm, not that long, we all went after Priam at the festival, remember?" the giant recalled. "And now here we are. So do you think he's here?"

The black-haired descendant of Cain squinted. "Perhaps; there's some of his dirty fingerprints on this, but everything about this attack is suspicious.. What would he want with this fortress?"

The blonde Taurus veteran scratched his chin apprehensively and snapped his fingers. "The Aquila girl with him at Andromeda Island who fought me and Kirin looked like a Cyrulian survivor. Maybe this is part of whatever deal they have."

The Silver Saint giant then stepped away worryingly. "And so is that Cerah Héloise girl living with Eurydice… things just got a whole lot more problematic, haven't they? I better give Iaso a call about this."

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

From his hiding spot, Leon stood down from aiming, reassessing the situation. "So Shion called you old bunch, after all? How desperate…He must think I can't handle this? Or maybe you scared him into including you." he calculated. "Alright, let's see where this goes, then."

With scythes, spears, swords, and crossbows ready, the Skeletons stood by the wall, observing the newcomer. One of them winced. "Don't you just get an awful sensation from those two?"

Another nodded his skull-helmeted head and scratched his neck. It felt like the very footing under them was slipping towards the far-off man like a gravitational well, or a portal to the Underworld, but perhaps it was just their seventh senses playing tricks on them. "Yeah…it feels just like when Rhadamanthys or Urial was around, like if you take your eyes off them, something painful might happen."

"It's worse than that." a third one commented. "I heard the short one is some kind of monster in Sanctuary. Even Gold Saints are afraid of him."

"Quiet, fools, or I'll toss you down the wall at them!" Cyclops Balgo ordered, punching one of their heads. "You stand by the Prince of the Underworld, Daemon Lucifer! No one on Earth or below compares to him! You're scared of those old men?! BE SCARED OF ME, INSTEAD!"

At the barbican, Behemoth Torak's fingers gripped the brick edge of the defenses as his eyes locked on the huge man standing by Akassius. He cared not if the Gemini was the colossus of war everyone spoke him to be; the Behemoth's blood boiled for nothing but the death of the grey-haired, scarred giant standing next to him.

Lucifer saw his fingers grip the battlement so hard it began pressing unto the rock. "Do you feel that anger, Torak? That desire for vengeance?"

The long-haired youth nodded. "Yes… I can barely control it! I want to destroy him, Prince! I want to avenge my Master!"

"Then imagine all that boiling for a quarter of a millennium." the Prince reminded him, putting things into perspective. "Twelve generations of humans going by and being unable to quench your thirst… I've waited for my moment, Behemoth, and so will you."

Priam watched in amazement as how the tall warrior seemed, albeit with some difficulty, to ease his grip on the edge. Perhaps he would not immediately jump at the sight of his foe. "What did Aguilon do to him?"

Lucifer scoffed. "He killed Gryphon Urial, a False Specter who made it to the rank of Judge, whom Torak really admired. Perhaps you remember him. Urial used to be my number two. You would have liked him, Priam. He died fighting foolishly, after all." he enlightened. He then turned to his men. "Stand by the walls with crossbows and ballistae ready! Be ready to sally support!"

Priam watched the False Specters relay the orders with mental commands, triggering countless Skeletons into readying their bolts, stand by the hostage cages with scythes, arm the big bows in the inner walls and generally be alert and make way for their leader.

The Black Saint widened his eyes. "You're going down there?!"

Lucifer flexed his wrists. "Yes."

Priam held his shoulder. "Do you know who you're dealing with?! That's not one of the Lost Canvas Saints you massacred, that's-"

Lucifer shoved him off. "I know who he is… the great-great-great-whatever-son of Cain! The guy who burned your face!" he enumerated. "But that's precisely why I will give those hoplites the champion match they are hoping for! Hostages or not, I can't have that guy think he can nuke my castle without retaliation! A little spar is called for."

The False Specters themselves didn't seem content either. "Lord Lucifer, this is beneath you, let me handle this!" Torak offered.

"Don't be a fool like Urial, this one will destroy you! You will fight him with help. " Lucifer affirmed, eyeing the unarmored Duke. "I want my men to sink their teeth into Shion's so-called champion and know what awaits them in the future."

The Black Saint Priam stood aback, pondering his choices. It didn't seem like he could stop Lucifer, but perhaps letting this battle happen wasn't the worst thing. He needed a way to make sure Lucifer knew he couldn't go around recklessly endangering Sanctuary's citizens and perhaps letting his False Specters exchange fists with the strongest Gold Saint in recent memory was a way to do it without tensing their already fragile alliance.

The experienced Black Saint then took a gamble and turned to Torak. "… Don't commit to a battle engagement, or you'll be in his hands. Remember; no matter how strong you guys think you are, he is in control of the dance, not you."

The behemoth was surprised. "… Thank you for the advice."

Lucifer turned to him as if shocked that Priam would be so kind. "I seem to recall you saying something about his particular techniques, yes…" The disguised Lucifer then stepped on the edge. "NASU ERIKA! LYCAON CORONIS! Come with us!"

Both sides then watched as the quartet of Specters jumped out of the fortress barbican and loudly landed before the two Saints heading the army, cratering the grassy ground, causing scores of Skeletons and Hoplites to rush to their respective safety edges. There was a collective murmur of worrying and gasping and Lucifer raised his hooded head to lock the shine of his red eyes with the steel blue of Akassius.

The spike of tension with this was worthy of a declaration of the greatest of Holy Wars. Two colossi sided by their entrusted now stood with but only a stone throw distance from each other, ready at any moment to exchange salvos of blows that could annihilate civilizations in an instant without any help from their armies, knowing without a single exchange that they were the best of their best, the main heads of their hydras.

Silently the cosmos burned, one of pure vengeful darkness crackling with demonic thunder which oozed a swamp of shadows unto the floor, the other made up of the depth of the galaxy clusters themselves which made stars shoot across the horizon at a speed faster than light. It was as if the lightning clouds of the gods threatened to collide in the air, the tension between Saint and Specter. Nobody knew who would make the first move or say the first word. All anyone knew was that a simple mistake at this sudden proximity could be the destruction of all.

Akassius calmly stood his ground. "This guy… isn't ordinary…"

"Yeah, and the big blue one is giving me the stares." Aguilon commented. "What are you waiting for, then? Send them straight to Another Dimension before they causes more trouble!"

The Gemini lowered his chin, darkening his expression. "Tsk, that was the first thing I tried, Herakles." he revealed, startling both the huge Saints. It was then that the two Taurus they noticed the cosmos in his hand had been discretely burning all along. "I opened a gate, but I can't seem to create any force to push them into it…. It seems the leader has some sort of countermeasure for Geminis in place."

Lucifer chuckled. "Not quite as simple as you expected, Gold Saint?" asked the disguised Specter, joined in amusement by his three escorts.

Akassius squinted.

Daniel gritted teeth. "Shoot, it's never that simple, is it? Good luck, man. Don't get rusty now."

The Duke of Kastoria nodded and stepped onto the battlefield, comprising the rather limited space between the moat and the army encirclement. He could feel the anticipation in the countless eyes on his back from the soldiers. It was a familiar feeling.

The hooded Specter eyed him top-to-bottom and chuckled. "Are you sure you should be coming here without your Gold Cloth, Saint? You might catch a cold."

The black-haired hero clicked his tongue. "Well, look who's talking; from the looks of that rags you're wearing, you don't look too proud of whatever you're armoring yourself with under there."

Again, this amused the dark foe more than anything, based on the shaking of his shoulders.

While the face was shadowed by the hood, it let out the shine of two red eyes, a sign Akassius knew to be one of a curse. "The voice isn't familiar, either. It's not Priam I'm talking to, then," he concluded, tightening fists. "Also, I'm no longer the Gemini Saint. I am Akassius, Duke of Kastoria. Who are you? Where is Priam?" his low, thick voice demanded.

The Prince measured his words. He wanted to test the so-called war hero, as after taking Sanctuary itself Lucifer would likely have to deal with him, but it was vital at this stage that the ruse he worked hard to set up was not compromised.

Something delicious came to mind. "Maybe you should ask instead how many hoplites I've told my men not to kill."

Akassius' own aura suddenly rose into an orange blaze, intimidating the whole army behind him. "…You'll regret those words, Specter!"

The hooded Prince's miasma of darkness swelled, seemingly darkening the day, and his armored hands sparked with electricity. Just when Akassius thought he would battle the villain, though, the hooded Specter then allowed his three subordinates to walk around him. "Behemoth, Lycaon, Nasu! Show this Saint we don't fear their relics!"

The trio of False Specters confronted the Gemini, each burning their individual dark auras. Nasu's energy flowed with the deep, choking darkness akin to the air of a swamp and she licked her lips in excitement. Behemoth's blue brim was more stoic and his pose more disciplined, centering the three fighters and adopting a fighter's stance. Lycaon, on the other hand, emanated a purple energy with the silhouette of a bloodthirsty werewolf.

The dark-haired war hero's eyes surveyed them. Already his cosmos took control of the battlefield without his enemies realizing. His fingers tensed and relaxed in anticipation for the explosive moment the fight would begin.

His lips curved. "How unfair. Three to one isn't nearly enough for you to take me on."

Lycaon Coronis roared as he charged his cosmos, "DIE!" and formed two balls of purple energy in his hands that he then squished together and blasted at the Saint. "HOWLING INFERNO!"

Akassius dashed at him in a burst of fire, triggering the encouraging shout of Athena's army, and the large purple blast exploded unto him upon collision, shaking the ground and screening the entire field with dark light and smoke.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Deep below the ground, in the tunnels of the fortress, Worm Samuel's tentacles dug like drills into the ground towards the East. They had to carve a path away from the Saint encirclement while they still could. The entire tunnel suddenly shook intensely and pebbles fell menacingly from the rocky ceiling.

Gauromydas went into alert. "Uh? What was that?! Did you hit a gas pocket?!"

Samuel had none of it, giving the giant False Specter a warning tentacle bash. "What do you take me for, ya beetle freak?! I'm a professional tunnel digger! I could dig a path to Sanctuary from here if I wanted to! That was from the surface!"

Sitting on the Octans Cloth Box, Ainsel looked up, his helmet antennae tingling. "It's the old Gemini Saint. He's doing battle."

Alraune Lemon was skeptical. "We're a mile below the surface! I thought these fortresses were supposed to be able to absorb shocks even from Cosmos attacks!"

Ainsel smirked. "The fortress can. Have faith in it… Our adversary is just that strong."

Lemon, Gauromydas and Samuel exchanged nervous glances. The tentacle Specter focused back on his drilling and Alraune's face paled. "This can't be! It's unreal…!"

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The army of hoplites recoiled and marched back several feet as smoke, shaking and the sound of battling filled the area, though Aguilon and Daniel both stood their ground. Bursts of light of several colors were seen amidst the falling dust and rubble, accompanied by the shockwave of physical impacts.

There was another mighty roar from Torak and Akassius' elbow collided with the Behemoth Specter's arm, shock waving the area with windblasts so strong that the cloud of smoke screening the battlefield cleared away, revealing the fighters to onlookers. The Prince stepped back and watched as his man tried to overhead punch the Sanctuary veteran but a cross guard blocked it and allowed for a spinning counter kick that pushed back even the heavily armored Specter, electrifying the air. Akassius gave chase with a dash, but a winged figure leaped out of the shadows with a sharp chop hand aimed at his throat! The Gemini caught it by the wrist, halting Nasu in her tracks as she morphed back from the darkness, but her slim leg immediately slammed his side, stunning him just enough to release her.

Not to be outdone, Lycaon Coronis jumped into the fray with a mad scream and dash-kicked the defensive former Saint, using his dark cosmos to densify his blows. The three high-rankers continued their simultaneous assault, converging unto the warrior with a multitude of rapid fire blows that put Akassius on the defensive, parrying blow after blow with skilled fore arm blocks.

The experienced warrior blocked one final swipe from Erika "Now the pain!" before his foot suddenly struck Nasu's, tripping her, and his elbow immediately bashed her face, shrugging her off him with a bloodied scream. His fiery cosmos burned in a blaze and he jump-kicked her upper body, flooring the woman. Sensing another attack from his side, he quickly turned over to cross block Lycaon's punch, but a third attack, this time from Behemoth, began burning its cosmos right away before he could react.

The huge Specter's aura emanated the image of a rhino and his foot was immersed in a pale blue fire. "BRUTAL REAL!" He swung it like a hammer, exploding the attack on Akassius's shoulder with such force that the war hero was pushed off the Lycaon several feet back, feet trailing on the grassy ground.

The trio regrouped as Akassius lowered his smoking harm, feeling the damage done unto him. "Hmm, not bad…"

Behemoth gritted teeth. That was a direct hit, yet it felt like Torak kicked a person made of lead. "The prince was right, this guy is dangerous."

The blonde woman irked and her hand formed a blade of energy. "Whatever! He's not even wearing armor! We just have to rip his heart out!" Her other hand burned cosmos too, but for a different move, one powered by the earth element. "Black Strife Forest!"

The Gemini felt the ground shake and the air becoming damp and his instincts went full alert. He somersaulted forward just as the floor burst with blackened, caustic roots that tried to grab him and his hand shot a huge blast of cosmos at the Specters, who also spread around to dodge. Nasu's body in particular seemed to sink into the ground like a vanishing shadow as she landed, while Lycaon and Behemoth prepared for another melee round, with Torak taking the initiative, dashing at the Saint.

Akassius focused. "Force Manipulation." he cast.

Lucifer observed on the side and narrowed his eyes, sensing a strange shift in momentum.

Torak's foot swung, trying to catch the Saint as he recovered from his landing, but something went wrong with the movement and not only did Akassius dodge the kick with a body bob, but the foot smashed the ground with much more force than the Behemoth had expected, sinking himself slightly. "What…?!"

Lycaon leaped as well, assaulting the Gemini. "Where do you think you're going?!" he roared, punching the Saint's guard over and over. He kept on the assault, but the man seemed impenetrable, swatting Lycaon's clawed fists aside as he would a kid's flimsy attempts at punching.

The Gemini smirked as he finally countered the werewolf specter with spinning kick to the chest that shockingly cracked his Damascus plate armor, flooring Lycaon. Cheer shouts were heard from all around. "Is that all? My sons punched harder in their cribs."

Coronis screeched insanely, got back up with a blood-cough and charged his cosmos to the max, manifesting the image of an angry werewolf in the sky, silencing the hoplites. "I-I'll make you pay! With my Howling Inferno!"

"I don't have time for this." Akassius declared, charging his fire aura. A huge ball of blaze formed in his hand. "HELLFIRE CANN-"

"SHADOW SEWING!" Torak cast, thrusting hand at the Saint, his fingertips burning with blue cosmos.

The Gemini swung his fist to shoot his attack, but suddenly felt arrested. He looked at his arm and saw a spiraling pattern of a shadow impressed on his arm like a tattoo over his skin and leather-clad forearm protection. Turning off his blast, Akassius struggled against it, but it seemed as if the massive Behemoth Specter was wrestling with his strength from where he stood in the rubble through these shades.

Again, Lucifer took interest in this. "So whatever Akassius did earlier isn't working now?... I see, it's like Priam said; he's affecting the battlefield, not Torak." he concluded.

"Coronis, keep charging your attack! NOW, ERIKA!" Torak urged, his hand turning upwards as if to reshape his technique.

And then, to further Akassius' surprise, the shadow on his arm began morphing, raising from his skin into the upper body of the Nasu Specter, which then took color and shape of the woman. She smiled gleefully and her hand, bladed by a layer of cosmos, went for the paralyzed Gemini' throat!

The veteran, however, would not be caught with his pants down; realizing the nature of the trick, his fire-element burned, making his aura explode from his body and wipe out every shadow near him with the light of the bonfire. Nasu screamed and was tossed with a scorched lower body away from the Saint and Torak's hand lost the tension of Shadow Sewing's grip.

But the Behemoth was determined to win! "No, you don't! Again, Shadow Sewing!" and this time his own shadow, expanded by the intense fire light Akassius nearly blinded him with, moved around the Specter, flew across the ground and grappled the Gemini. The large Specter gritted teeth and tensed arms as he indirectly felt the Gemini's attempts to free himself from the large shadow "D-damn, what incredible strength!"

Nasu got back up. "H-He's going to blast the shadows again! Coronis, fire NOW!"

The Gemini turned to the Specter he forgot about as he was just about to recharge his aura burst. The Specter had a vile smirk on his face and his aura was flowing as a fire almost as tall as the castlegate, having left to his devices. "Ha, ha, ha! This time you won't just brush this off!"

Aguilon stepped forward. "AKASSIUS, MOVE!"

Lycaon Coronis then focused his aura into two orbs much larger than before, this time the size of basketballs. "It's too late!" he then united them into one enormous blast that crackled with purple sparks. The background was once again marked with the illusion of the werewolf monster, this time accompanied by a round moon. "DIE, Gemini! Howling Inferno; FULL MOON BLAST!" and the gigantic attack fired off, shaking the air and trailing just above the ground, scorching it.

All in this traveling instant, the hoplites shouted the hero's name.

The Skeletons cheered from the walls.

Nasu and Behemoth guarded themselves, jumping away from the radius.

And Priam merely folded arms at the barbican, knowing better.

Lucifer was no slouch himself. "Let's see what the champion of Sanctuary can do, then!" his own aura filled his body to protect himself.

Akassius just stood calm, closed his eyes and focused. "OVERLAP!"

The immense sphere impacted on the Saint, hitting the entire battlefield in a colossal blast of purple light. The entire valley shook, both armies recoiling and the escorting Specters and Saints step back. Shockwaves of embers and sparks flew everywhere and the field was once again screened with smoke.

Lycaon Coronis cackled. "Yes, I GOT YOU! HA, HA, HA, HA!" he turned to the hoplites. "Look, Saints, your hero is dead!"

A multitude of concerned murmurs and gasps were heard. Lucifer folded arms, exchanging glances with Priam at the battlement. Taurus Daniel clicked his tongue and Aguilon observed the smoke tensely.

Then, wind currents picked up by the charging of a cosmos inside the smoke carried the smoke away, revealing Gemini Akassius, his hand swallowed in a sphere of infernal fire and aimed right at the dancing Lycaon. "HELLFIRE CANNON!"

"CORONIS, WATCH OUT!" Behemoth shouted.

The pale werewolf Specter didn't even have time to turn around before his back was blasted by a huge fireball with the force of a speeding train, sending him screaming across the battlefield to Daniel's feet, his Surplice blasted to pieces. His back smoked, skin burned, and he coughed out blood, body shaking.

"G-gah… w-what?!" he crawled over and saw the Gemini pacing towards him. Not only was Akassius alive, but the unarmored Saint seemed mostly unharmed. "NO, you're supposed to be DEAD! I could hurt a JUDGE with that kind of a-attack!"

Akassius stopped short of him, fist already preparing another cosmos round. "Now you will pay…"

Coronis screamed, got up and started blasting the Saint. "DIE, DIE, DIE!" he roared, firing cosmos blast after cosmos blast.

Stepping backward, Akassius irked, dodged and parried with his forearms as best as he could, but still only deflected the technique to a standstill. The missiles kept on coming, though, so the veteran leaped back and thrust his hand forward "DOUBLE DIMENSION!" and the last array of purple orbs suddenly slew down into a halt in the air.

The trio of Specters couldn't believe their eyes, especially Coronis. With but a slightly thrust of hand, Akassius then made the blasts suddenly shoot back in all directions, impacting the ground harmlessly, making it shake with their dome bursts of energy.

Recovering his breath, the Gemini tensed his stance and readied himself for round two, but his two gigantic friends walked up to him and rested hands on his shoulders. "Alright, Akassius… that's enough." Daniel assured, sweating. "If you keep powering up, you'll become more dangerous than me, ah ah…"

Behemoth gritted teeth and almost went after his friend, but Nasu then held his huge body back. "NO, don't be stupid!" she urged.

The disguised Daemon rested back against the gate, equally impressed. "Fascinating… He's even better than what Priam told me." So interested was he, that the Prince felt his blood burn with excitement at the idea of being the next to fight. His rational side, however, prevailed. "Torak, stand down, we are done."

There was a collective murmur of gasps and comments from Skeletons and hoplites alike, but as tensions relaxed and the men of Athena realised they had won the scuffle, a rounding cheer was heard all across the encampment!

"YEAH, TAKE THAT!"

"GET READY, SPECTERS, YOU'RE NEXT!"

"PRAISE ATHENA!"

Daniel also laughed out loud. "HA, HA, HA! That will show them! Someone has been busy training…"

Akassius shook his head. "Thank you." He then grabbed Lycaon Coronis by the throat. "But now it's time for a little chat with our new friend."

Lucifer made sure Behemoth and Nasu made their way back inside and then reassessed the fight. "Those must have been the techniques Priam told me about… Force Manipulation, Overlap and Double Dimension. With these, Gemini Akassius can use the powers of a Gemini to turn any fight into a one-sided beatdown." he calculated. "I'm not sure when he triggered which, since he was smart enough not to shout them out like most Saints do, but it was the correct option not to battle him before observing these in action. In the future, I will know to avoid them…"

The Specter's attention was drawn to the scuffle the Gold Saints were causing with Coronis, who struggled against them. "TALK!" Daniel demanded, stepping on the False Specter. "Is Priam inside?! How did you overwhelm the fortress?! Why are you attacking us?!"

But overpowered as he was, the injured False Specter would not relent. "F-fuck you all!" he screeched. "None of you are getting inside that fortress! Not one! My master is far more powerful than me!"

"Who is he, then?" Akassius calmly asked. It was something that had concerned him from the beginning. He pointed at the hooded Specter observing them. "Is that man him? What's his name and star?!"

Coronis laughed out loud, lips dripping blood. "HA, HA, HA! You want his name?! I'll tell ya! I'll shout it to the skies and he will make you and your hoplites pay for what you've done to me, just like Hades! LONG LIVE LORD L-"

A blue javelin then flew across the field and pierced the False Specter's throat, startling the Civil War veterans. They turned to the far off hooded Specter, whose missile sizzled out without a traced. "Frankly, you can't get discrete help these days. You always have to tie the loose ends yourself."

While the Saints were initially taken aback, Herakles Aguilon wasn't too shocked. In fact, his fist clashed with palm menacingly. "Typical… he was your man and you just murdered him in cold blood. But I suppose that's irrelevant to you, Specters, isn't it, given how happy your God is to bring you back for more?"

The hooded Specter shook his head. "Not exactly, I just don't like having my secrets spilled out, and since I doubted you'd let me have my man back…"

The Ironclad Bull snorted furiously and Daniel burned his golden cosmos in an eruption of light. His hand raised tensely "Bastard! If he won't talk, then let's not waste time!" he aimed at the castle gate, where the Specter stood in front of. "MAGNITUDE AT-"

Lucifer turned to the barbican. "SPHINX! GET THE HOSTAGE!"

Immediately, skeletons at the top of the walls dragged up a chained Lacaille, who was pinned over the battlement beneath their feet and threatened with a scythe pressed ever so lightly around his neck.

The former Gold Saint of Taurus burned off his golden aura and interrupted his attack, alarmed! "What?! What do you think you're doing?!"

Sphinx Neferti eyed the Taurus from the walls and held her harp up high. "I'm warning you, Saint… play by the book or I'll pull this man's heart through his throat."

"LET HIM GO!" a Greek lieutenant near him roared in protest.

"That's the fort commander!" another pointed out. "I used to work for him! Release him, you bastards!"

"YEAH! Don't involve him in this, you dishonorable pigs! Don't you have any shame?!"

More voices of protest were heard across the length of the Athenian army, with many outraged fists raised and demands for justice made.

Herakles Aguilon blew his whistle. "CALM DOWN, you lot!" he then turned to his Taurus friend. "I don't like indiscipline, but the men have good reason to be mad. There's no limit to depravity with those death-worshipping assholes, is there?"

But the hostage seemed unwilling to be a pawn. "DO IT! Smash this castle now, Saints!" Lacaille begged from the wall. A series of musical notes were heard, though, and his chest wrenched in pain. "A-AARGH!"

Neferti's skin burned with energy as her fingers held the strings. "Your heart is old and especially sensitive, Commander Lacaille… I can't guarantee I won't accidentally kill you, so please be silent."

"N-No, I won't! Lacaille protested. Hearing this, Cyclops Balgo walked over him as the commander made one last appeal to Akassius. "SAINTS, don't hold back because of me! Athena will understand! Lord Akassius, crush these bastar-"

The huge Specter knocked him out with his large red-armoured fist. "She told you to BE QUIET!"

The disguised Daemon Lucifer chuckled, unnerving the Civil War Gold Saints. "You didn't think I'd make this simple for you, did you, Akassius? We're not playing by your rules." he provoked, earning a tense stare from the two Civil War veterans. "So what will it be, Gold Saints? I've heard you were involved in some kind of internal war already. Can you weight this castle on the lives of more of your own in your conscience?"

While the huge blonde Taurus gritted teeth angrily and truly felt he should raze the place to the ground, his experienced and pained mind weighed the options. Eventually, his tense arms lowered. "Athena have mercy on me…"

Aguilon shook his head in sympathy. "We'll get them eventually, don't worry, buddy."

The war hero Akassius was also confident of this, tossing Lycaon's corpse aside and pointing at Lucifer. "If you think we're leaving, you're sadly mistaken, whoever you are," Akassius promised. This strength he sensed from the man couldn't be just of a Judge, it just couldn't, so perhaps Daniel's hesitation was wiser than the Taurus understood. "And don't think your dear Pandora is safe in Germany either. You Specters crossed the line, siding with Priam, and sooner or later, we will rescue our men… and you will pay Athena's ultimate price!"

This threat seemed to encourage a cheer from the hoplite army "YEAH, TELL HIM!"

"ATHENA IS ON OUR SIDE, SPECTERS! Sooner or later, YOU WILL PAY!"

Ignoring the taunts of the hoplites, the barbican raised the portcullis, allowing the hooded Specter and his men back in. Behemoth Torak eyed Aguilon one last time before joining the Celestial Pride Star, but the Herakles didn't notice, instead focusing on joining Akassius into their main tent.

Daniel folded arms. "That could have gone better…" he commented.

The black-haired man sighed. "It's better than being provoked by Specters into letting innocent Saints die. The men may be demoralised by this, but imagine if they saw us just nuking the place."

The blonde Taurus groaned. "I can't take how cowardly they are! Lacaille fought under Kirin to take this place and now he's being made their shield! I want to go there right now and personally smash all their faces on the concrete floor… but I know I can't." he reasoned with himself. "Maybe we should have stopped by Greece and asked Saga to lend you his armor-"

Akassius immediately cut him short with a hand gesture. "No, that's off the table, Daniel. It's not my right to do that. Saga is in the middle of the Path of the Cloth. You know Gemini is... difficult. Taking it away from him may compromise an important stage of his growth." He then tensed his eyes. "Besides… I agree with you on something else; After what happened there at the barbican, I want to personally see this matter to a rest, too."

Herakles sat by the war table and immediately ordered the men to get alcohol with a snap of his fingers. "Still, mighty general, you have to admit we are in a pickle…" he ironized the title. "If Priam is really inside there with that guy, we could have a serious war in our hands."

Daniel's hands banged the table. "But we have the advantage, Aguilon, remember that! Kirin and Malta right now have Pandora surrounded! We just have to… bide our time, force the Black Saints and Specters into a negotiation. Also, I hate to admit this, but… maybe Akassius is right and the less we involve the kids, the better. Remember, Guardnia hated Priam with a passion…but all it took was a single night for him to drive his screws loose. I'd hate to see what that traitor would do to Aldebaran or Saga…"

Aguilon raised hands sympathetically. "I understand, buddy…I guess it's not like they can go anywhere."

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The atmosphere was tense in both forces, but Sphinx Neferti noticed the Prince seemed content. "It worked, Lord Lucifer, they now know there's a price to pay for attacking this fortress! Though it's sad we lost Coronis…"

Lucifer brushed over the death of Lycaon. "Exactly, Neferti… which gives me the freedom of action we need! Now that I've shown them we don't fear their champion, those fossils won't dare to take a single of their senses off this fortress…" his lips then curved upwards, reminded of how Acheron was forgotten in the Underworld last war. "Just like always, the over-focused nature of Saints will be their downfall, making them lose sight of all the important details."

The brown-skinned woman saw how wide his smile was. "You're unusually happy, though, if you don't mind me saying, prince…Was there some other gain to this?"

The silver-haired man tensed his fist as if anticipating a fight. "Yes… That guy, Akassius, is interesting, just like my old enemy Dohko. I almost regret not being the one to fight him. Speaking of which, how is Worm doing in the basement?"

The musician touched her temple. "Ainsel is saying that Samuel finished tunneling. They see the light of day and are ready to go to Asia." Her eyes widened as she felt her lord's plan unraveling. "It's like the Saints let a huge door open for us!"

The Pride Star's eyes shined. "More excellent news; monitor their progress into their targets. We may need to reinforce them." His gauntleted fists tightened intensely. "I can feel it in my blood already… All these years planning, working, training and waiting and now my vengeance is finally beginning! By this time the next morning, Libra Dohko will be dead!"

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Priam walked up the tower staircase, disgusted. He agreed with some of Lucifer's objectives, like ending Shion's prophecy-crazed tenure and stopping the escalation of problems that the Pope was causing over them, but he had never in these years been quite sure that allying himself with him, even considering Lucifer's plan involved a unique type of Specters that wasn't as cruel as the real ones, was such a good thing. Unfortunately there were prices to pay to do any sort of good in the world.

Seeing his old friends outside the walls had also been difficult. They didn't spot him, but Daniel and Akassius' faces were clear from where he stood and it always broke Priam's heart all over again. It would never be in his nature to just see them as enemies purely as they saw him. In his heart of hearts, Daniel, Akassius, Malta, and Kirin would always be to Priam his old brothers in arms, the people who were so patient with his weakness and stood at his wedding ceremony.

They didn't return the kindness, but he didn't mind. Paris and Daese could go on and on about how he should forget them, but the burned, goggled Sagittarius would always secretly hope one day they could shake hands once more, even if it was at his own execution stand.

This reminded Priam of the demise of the Lycaon False Specter. He unfurled the page from the Book of the Dead and searched for his name. Where previously had been a mention of it in the listing of the Surplice and name, the text "Lycaon Coronis" was now slashed through, as if an invisible hand had scratched it off the paper, and the slight burning light of Thanatos cosmos that filled every other name had disappeared from it.

This was the evidence that the page was real. "Incredible… even now the Book of the Dead is keeping track of all their lives. No wonder Lucifer wanted to deprive Hades of this no matter the cost." but since he now owned it, Priam had to think about what to do with it.

He walked into Lucifer's throne room. Undoubtedly the Prince was already on his way, ready to brag about how he faced off against the big bad Akassius everyone in Sanctuary worshipped. What tripe.

He stopped midway in the room, ear tilting.

Priam's head bobbed at the speed of light to the side, dodging the missile of pure, condensed cosmos that somehow broke through Lucifer's sealed window, and his body rolled over on the ground, lifting the table over himself as someone crashed through the opening, knife in teeth. A longbow was raised and aimed but the multitude of missiles blasted through the wooden furniture only to scorch stardust reinforced brick as Priam blitzed out of the tower with Lightning Arrow!

Leon cursed his luck! The Black Saint was much faster than he seemed and that teleporting ability was surely making things harder. That could have been his one shot and Leon let it go to waste! The Specter leader would surely take more precautions in the future against attacks like these now.

He approached the spot Priam blitzed out of and saw a piece of hair was actually sliced off the side of his head by one of his killer arrows. It was drenched in blood. Could he ask for more DNA? "I got you by a hair…and you didn't even take a good look at me, so next time it will be your 'head', Priam."

He already heard footsteps coming up the tower. Someone must have heard the commotion. It took Leon a significant amount of cosmos to blast through the dark castle's unique seal patterns, so he should leave before he was surrounded by the Specters. With the speed of a gale, he took off out of the window, letting the Skeletons sound the alarm.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Chapter End

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Next Chapter: Chapter 44 - Second Arc – Episode 10 - A Fated Encounter - Part 1 of 2

Deadline: (Late March - Early April)

Description: Pegasus Lance decides to rush to Rozan after meeting with Mu, but little does he know that the False Specters make their move on the sacred mountains of Jamir and Rozan.

Author's Note:

In the midst of the Corona-chaos, a lot of work got delayed on LR, so I want to start off apologising for the delays. The deadline was set for March 4th and while the chapter was finished before that deadline, the editing and beta-reading both took an extensive amount of time cause the original product had a lot of issues to be fixed. It also doesn't seem like the deadline for chapter 44 will be met, but I have 10,000+ words done in it already so maybe what my new deadline system needs is just a bit of momentum.

Speaking of which, my beta-reader Jenny seems to have really liked the death scene of Octans so I'm rather curious if any other reader will also feel sad about it. It's interesting because these are unnamed OCs with only two or three chapters of presence in the story in what's mostly a set-up for the False Holy War. To give you a little more info on them; Fornax is basically wearing the same Cloth as the 'Ennetsu Saint' that we meet at the climax of what I call the "Gigas Filler Arc" of the original show (Episodes 15-22). Lacaille's name comes from the scientist that discovered the Fornax constellation. Finally, Octans is a constellation unexplored in the series who I picked mostly cause it made sense to me that Crow's Nest would have a Saint stationed in it with sight-based attacks.

Finally, make sure to check out Hitagi Gahara's SKD scanlations of Next Dimension, Saintia Sho and others. The writer of this fanfic is proofreader of Saint Seiya Next Dimension's English releases and they're your current top source for high-quality scanlations in English. Also, if you're interested, contact me through PM and get an invitation to the new SKD Discord server, where you can get updates on Sho and ND directly, not to mention chat with me and many other English-speaking SS fans.