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.

45. 2A: A Fateful Encounter - Part 2 of 2

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:

-ATTENTION, readers, a very important announcement! In case you're not here through the announcement on twitter, the fantastic artist Bluefeather has finished another commission for me, this time a fantastic piece of both Corvus Cerah and Aquila Daese! Go check it out on my twitter account RIGHT NOW if you haven't already, cause it's fantastic! (^ o ^ You can also check my profile for the link to it.

-And the above is to celebrate the story reaching (the vicinity of) the 900k wordcount milestone!

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Please enjoy and review (^_^

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"Upon the end of the war, I found myself drowned in melancholy in my solitude in Rozan. I couldn't digest most of what had happened in such a short amount of time. There was too much death to suddenly cascade on our spirits, death that we had pushed deep into our minds so we could keep fighting. Seiryu says that mortal life is fleeting and cyclical, so this shouldn't concern me, but he lives outside the wheel of fate, while I don't.

Now, with the Godslayer Bronze Saints gone, back to whatever home they came from, there was only me, Shion, Yato, and Yuzuriha left to pick up the pieces of Sanctuary. Not even Athena stayed to help guide Shion in his new position. I could see in his eyes the terrible fear he felt when she motioned her hand at him and declared him as the new Pope now. I don't envy him. May the Goddess forgive me, but I don't even think he's up for it. Shion is an alchemist and a warrior, but he's not a leader.

Sasha left with some parting warnings too, in that even though the future we carved was now much better than what awaited us before (the meaning of this still eludes me, was she talking about what if we had lost or something else?) the responsibility on our shoulders to foresee the unforeseeable had only increased. She spoke as if she didn't fully grasp the consequences of our actions, but what is there to grasp? We won. Was this really what Athena's role was among us, to constantly concern herself with the distant future? Pope Sage's testimony from the previous war was that she was usually more focused on the present.

Melancholy isn't my only ailment, though. There's also an odd shadow of fear in my soul like some important business isn't finished. We've destroyed all of the Specters, though. I made sure to bury Daemon in the rubble of the Third Prison with the wrath of the Dragon Emperor itself. To prove this, Asmita's 108 beads have all become purple. I'm also sure he took into account the Princes since Shiryu said Asmita fought one of them at the end of his life… right?

I suppose taking the job of sitting around here for two centuries agonizing if my past will come back to haunt me was probably the worst of the options, all things considered."

-Libra Dohko's concerns regarding the Army of Hades, post Lost Canvas War

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Andromeda Island

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The sun still descended in the west on Andromeda Island, being located further left on the map than Jamir, with the angled rays reaching just a good enough angle for the sea water temperature to be just right for an after-training swim. Albiore always enjoyed taking wider laps and even though he felt the temptation to try to go around the island, Master Shinta forbade him and Elda from leaving the dock bay enclosed by the coastal rocks that acted as natural breakwaters, saying the current was too strong even for people with an immature cosmos.

Still, it was great for morale because most of the day consisted of either studying at the huts or sparring under the hot desert sun.

Taking the towel with a content grin on her face to dry herself, Elda whistled a happy tune as she headed inside her small home. She had extra reason to be happy these days, much to Albiore's chagrin and Saint Shinta's curiosity. That reason was inside the little shoebox under her bed, which he took out and opened to once more admire the half-pound gold pin engraved with the Cancer zodiac symbol, namely the two little tailed circles chasing each other.

She could just run her fingers through it all day with glee, like a precious treasure that guaranteed her future as a great Gold Saint. Her hand covered a cheeky grin on her lips, imagining the doors this would open for her.

"What are you doing?" Albiore asked.

Elda yelped, turning around in a flash and keeping her hands behind her waist. "What the hell?! You startled me!"

Albiore blinked. "Sorry, I was just wondering why you headed straight here without writing down your hits from training at the meeting rocks…" Her scream confused him further though. Elda was so tomboyish that she had never been the kind to be icky about him seeing near her hut. His blue eyes saw her hands hidden behind her. "What do you have ther-"

She stepped back. "Nothing!" she asserted, only making him widen his eyes further. "It's girl's stuff. Get outta here, dork."

The poor Argentinian boy grumbled, but conceded, stepping away from her hut's door. His dad had always taught him to be cautious of these things and being raised with three older sisters reinforced it. "Alright, just don't be late." He went towards the meeting rocks where they usually sat at to give Saint Shinta their daily briefs.

Elda sighed, feeling a mix of relief and guilt. Albiore hadn't done anything really wrong, but if he found out that Saint Lance had given her a gold pin, then he would probably flip just as hard as he did back when they met Orpheé. The Argentinean was a stickler about favoritism and Sanctuary's weird ways really rubbed him the wrong way.

Not only that, but her friend was abnormally strong when pissed. Usually, Elda beat him in a spar pretty handily, but after seeing Albiore breaking Orpheé' wrist, who was a Silver Saint to boot, and somehow beating that jerk Deathmask in the circle, the Cassiopeia student began wondering if the blonde boy was tougher in a scuffle than he himself realized.

Hiding the pin again, Elda rushed down the slope to the rocks, where she sat to the right of the big one where Saint Cynthia would usually be at. Albiore was already sitting by Saint Shinta to the left.

She noticed he still seemed to think about what just happened. Maybe she should think about revealing it to him in a safe environment.

The kids both noticed that Shinta seemed preoccupied as he read their briefings. "Saint Shinta, did we do badly today?" Albiore asked.

The green-haired didn't react immediately, as if distracted. "Oh, um…" he snapped out, looking at the numbers again. In truth, he was thinking about the notification he got from Saint Nam about Saint Cynthia's continued absence. Something was going on in Greece. "No, you did fine, but Saint Cynthia is staying longer away. Apparently she took a job to go to the Peloponesia Fort, a place far up in Europe."

The kids looked at one another. "But then… what's gonna happen to training?" Elda asked.

Shinta smiled reassuringly. "I can take care of you two. She also asked Saint Kastiel to come over."

"That's great, Saint Kastiel can bring his dogs!" Elda elated.

Albiore folded arms resignedly. Every time this happened, the Living Area became a total kennel. Even when only Mr. Aguilon the Bloodhound was brought along, the amount of dog poop got unbearable, especially when it had the habit of laying around where his foot would step.

Elda's legs dangled loosely on her seat. "I can't wait to show Saint Aguilon that we can now even use chains in round defense patterns! We're practically indestructible now!"

Albiore wasn't sure if he shared her opinion. "I don't think making metal links dance around us makes us 'indestructible'. It's really tiring, too."

Shinta straightened his papers and set them aside. "If you're good enough at it, though, Albiore, you can keep even wind blasts off you." He revealed, making them gasp. "It's true; I've done it in fights several times, once here on the island, too."

"Whoow!" Elda admired, thinking of the possibilities. "What about fire blasts and tidal waves and huge beams of light?!"

Shinta nodded, a bit amused by her energy. "Sure, if you train hard enough, Rolling Defense is as good as one of those comic book energy walls. There's very little that you can't do theoretically with the Cosmos, especially if you got a flexible weapon conduit like a chain." His green eyes looked away. "Although, I prefer to think of better uses for it, though…"

While Elda was practically starry-eyed and reconsidering her preference of using just her fists in a fight, throwing a few fisticuffs in the air even, Albiore folded his arms. "You used it on the island, Saint Shinta? For what?"

The Andromeda Saint realized then that he accidentally let it slip that he used Rolling Defense for something other than just practice. The Specter attack where he saved Lance's life from the wrath of the Basilisk Specter wasn't a pleasant memory, nor one that he was allowed to talk about freely, but with the trust issues Albiore seemed to have, maybe Shinta could share an innocent version of the story.

His hand laid out. "I had to… protect a friend, Saint Lance. This island was once attacked by very strong and mean people. Even Master Guardnia could barely handle them." His expression then alarmed itself as theirs did. "Don't worry, it was a long time ago."

"Um, h-how long?" asked Elda.

His green-eyes glanced away guiltily. "…Fourteen months ago, more or less."

Elda practically screeched. "A long time?! That was like barely a year ago!" she looked around as if the island wasn't safe to her anymore. "What if those people come back?!"

The Andromeda Saint sighed. "Don't worry, there's nothing to be afraid of. There's only Bronze Cloths here and I'm the Master now. I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you in a million years." He asserted, determined. He then smiled happily and laid out his arms. "You're in the second-worst Training Ground and you're both still alive, so I must be doing something right, right? No catastrophes so far."

Albiore sweated. "Except for a supervolcano eruption…" he reminded, kicking a pebble after the gay incident.

"Umm…" the green-head glanced at the top of the island's volcanoes, one of which still had a scar in its mouth. This was true, he couldn't deny it, but it certainly didn't mean Specters would suddenly come knocking at the doors of their huts again.

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The Himalayas

Mountain Road to Jamir

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The sky was going dark farther there in the east and the wind seared loudly. It had taken most of the day for Ophiuchus Iaso to make his way from Greece to Tibet. As a Silver-Level Saint, he could only move up to Mach 5, which was convenient for moving quickly into neighboring countries, but still was a hassle for continental trips. Still, the brown-haired, stern-looking muscular adult with full moon glasses pocketed in his brown coat was making a good way through the treacherous, narrow passages going up the World's Ceiling. He expected to find the fabled Jamir tower within the hour, should he make haste.

Finding that the path up ahead snaked backward into a road running just above his head, he decided to stop to improvise a shortcut. He put down his Cloth box, opened it and took out the purple gloves that extended into cobra-shaped arm protections. He then shoved his hands into them without taking his sparring gauntlets off.

The reason for this awkward double-gloving was simple; the Ophiuchus Cloth had retractable metal claws built into its finger sockets for executing the Thunder Claw move, which also happened to be useful to scale rock walls up like he was about to do. However, the Silver Cloth was also notoriously effeminate looking. A lot of its parts were very slim and curvy, especially the shoulder pads and the slithering carvings on the chest plate, which sprung to mind something that was typically worn by Saintias and Amazons.

Thus, Iaso fits the Cloth gauntlets over his own basic ones, making his hands look bulky but still allowing the armor to tract its pointy claws over his fingertips. He tensed the fingers, testing their freedom of movement, before packing back the Cloth box and leaping right unto the mountain wall, scaling the solid, slippery surface.

As his hands moved up and up in search of places to hang on to or carve his fingers into while his feet made sure to support his weight on the slippery edges as much as possible, he began hearing the voice in his ears.

"How crude."

Saint Iaso didn't respond to it. In fact, he pretended it was just the howling wind in his ears. His eyes were focused on the end of the scaling further up, which he adamantly made his way up to. The voice continued.

"So this is what we have come to? Looking for a magical water potion in the mountains instead of caring for our patients?"

Once more, Iaso didn't respond. His hand finally found the top of the wall and he lifted himself up to it with little effort. Standing up and looking back at that altitude, he saw how long the snaking road went in an unproductive direction and calculated he saved at least a couple of hours with this shortcut. He kept his clawed gloves on just in case and headed onwards through the caverns of the mountains. They were dark and damp and there were bones scattered all over the floor, some of them covered in rusty foot soldier armor.

His feet would occasionally step on some, releasing a gross cracking sound. Maybe if he investigated the remains he could uncover their history, cause of death, and so on. He ignored it and pressed on. The floor was getting misty and he suspected that dallying around was a bad idea.

"This whole adventure is a bad idea… but you know that, don't you? There's nothing in these mountains that will help that woman. You just prefer to do this rather than dedicating yourself to my arts."

There was a faint light of the dying day at the end of the tunnel, which Iaso followed.

"Are you even listening to me? I suppose you're not. You don't listen to others, do you, Iaso? No, it reflects badly on you, doesn't it? Admitting that others have something to criticize you on would remind you that you're still an imperfect medic, who can't save anyone."

The adult sighed, fingers resting into his coat pockets. Once more they instinctively searched for the cigarette packs that he no longer carried around.

"No, I just don't listen to pieces of metal from the Age of Antiquity. I prefer to get second opinions from doctors that don't prescribe praying to Apollo and balancing the humors!" he bit, tongue as poisonous as his claws.

"Oh, of course, I am the crazy one. We should be back in Greece, caring for other more worthwhile patients, or studying new methodologies for diseases…. Instead we are here…asking a Gold Saint about a jug of water."

He took a toothpick and bit on it to satisfy his addiction. "Yes, I know how pragmatic you are, Ophiuchus." he addressed. "I wish you would apply it to helping Eurydice."

There was a mocking cackle echoing inside Iaso's head, condescending and derisive.

"You know as well as I do you can't help her. You're not good enough. Maybe if you dedicated yourself longer, harder, being more disciplined to your training…"

"(What bullshit…)" Iaso thought to himself, shielding his mind. "(You're just never satisfied with who owns you. Truth is, you're lucky that an actual medic like me passed your Cloth Path tests, because chances were you were gonna be owned by another knucklehead from the hoplite ranks.)"

The Greek man wasn't dismissing the Silver Cloth's words out of sheer stubbornness. The reality was that experienced Saints like him were very well aware that Cloths, especially Silver and Gold ones, had deceptive layers to what they sprouted inside their owners' minds. Their primary concern wasn't what they made it appear to be at a surface level. While Cloths like Ophiuchus talked like they wished to distribute more good to sick people and Cepheus spoke as if it merely aspired for a worthwhile king to defend Andromeda Island from invaders, the reality was that they were husks of metal housing spirits from Antiquity with the primary mission of perfecting their owners as reflections of themselves, and only second of being 'good people'.

In other words, Ophiuchus, the Cloth, was not really bothered that Iaso was out there in Jamir looking for medicine for an innocent woman like Eurydice. What bothered the Cloth was that Iaso was taking precious time from training and perfecting its personally preferred methods, like the Golden Touch, and making more cutthroat decisions about who to ration care to, as a way to make Iaso be more like itself. It was something that veteran Saints had to learn to deal with when they get a Cloth with a strong ego; balancing the lessons they have to offer with the mind-twisting influence they have.

There was the added tragic nuance that Ophiuchus was a medic's armor. Sanctuary wasn't exactly known for its modern educational system, so there were few people who were simultaneously good with the cosmos and owned a medical degree. Typically, the purple armor had to content itself with brutes and those would usually develop depression or commit suicide, because Ophiuchus would constantly remind them of their inadequacy and how they were taking the spot of other more deserving lifesavers.

"(I pity the guy who gets this arrogant piece of metal after me, especially if they're warriors. Ophiuchus' impossible standards will drive them nuts.)" Iaso pondered, walking out to the mountain top's edge roads and making his way further up the treacherous paths.

"Mmm, mmm, perhaps I should plant a pretty blonde lady with a generous chest by your study to get you to dedicate yourself harder to more medical research."

"That would be nice, yes -" Iaso admitted. "- but I didn't get into med school because of that. Believe it or not, you stupid hunk of metal, but I don't need that kind of motivation to help people the best way I can. I do it because it's the only goddamn beautiful thing a person can do on this ugly planet; giving others a fighting chance." he asserted, eyes narrowing.

"How admirable."

"Speaking of those two, though…" he then touched his temple to focus his thoughts out. "Hey, Aguilon, can you talk now?"

There was a short pause, which accounted for the time the mental message had to travel to Europe, and perhaps some hesitation on the recipient's part. "Yes, I just got off the war tent with Akassius and Daniel. Your voice is cracking. Where are you at, Tibet or something?"

The usually stern doctor chuckled. "You bet. I just left Greece this afternoon after being with our two little friends that you saved from the Specters back in Germany. I'm currently seeing if I can get Saint Aries to tell me about the Waters of Life to help Eurydice."

"That old wives' tale? Your funeral. So what about them?"

"The younger one… Cerah Héloise, who was in a coma for a year? She was taking silver cutlery from one of her employers, seemingly unaware of doing it."

There was a short pause as if the giant back in Europe was wondering if Iaso was wasting his time. "Okay… so what? You want me to call the Gold Saints to rain down on her? I can get the Pope to wag his finger at her too if you want."

Iaso rolled his eyes. Herakles Aguilon was reliable and respectable, but he had that Taurus mockery-of-problems that sometimes made him a bit too sarcastic in serious situations. "Look, all I'm saying is that during this trip here, I had time to do a little mental math. You saw how her vitals were throughout the coma, so much that you even went to their house to question the girl as soon as she woke up. However, you came back saying everything was fine and dandy. You might fool the others like Nam and Cynthia, but not goddamn me."

On the other side of the mental line, Aguilon took a pause, cursing the doctor's conspiratorial mind. "So what's your theory, doc?"

"You and I aren't strangers into how armors influence a Saints' thoughts, so let me ask you something since you went through the trouble of packing your stuff and heading north all of a sudden. Not only that, it's unlikely a conversation between our two remote spots is being traced." Iaso began. He didn't like pressing comrades against the wall like this, especially over a mental message, but this was slowly becoming a problem between him and Aguilon, the two most into the subject of the two rescued women. "All those years back, we never found out where the Corvus Cloth was, right? It just vanished after the Capricorn Saint took Crow's Nest?"

Another pause. "…You're correct, we have not. The Corvus Cloth is one of the 'lost ones', like Aquila and Cygnus."

Iaso grabbed onto a boulder to help him up another ledge. He should be getting closer to Jamir. "Then my question is… do we have a goddamn Cyrulian spy in Rodario?"

There was silence. As he pressed onwards in the mountain, Iaso could feel the tension rising between the two from thousands of kilometers away. For a moment he wondered if Herakles would just not respond at all.

Unbeknownst to the doctor, Aguilon had just scratched his head in heavy pondering. The issue was a lot more complicated than it looked on the surface, if anything Cerah told him that day he questioned her was true. The herculean man had very good reason to want to protect her from Sanctuary's wrath, not only because she reminded him a bit of Partita, his own missing daughter, but also how sincere she was about her innocent intentions.

At the same time, he couldn't compromise the trust he had with a fellow Silver Saint and there was indeed a chance that Cerah secretly possessed a Cloth since it would be easy to hide it in one of those crazy Cloth Stones her people invented.

The urgency of the situation at Crow's Nest aggravated things, too, but it wasn't like they were dealing with Cyrulians there. "I don't think we have a spy." the giant responded, both of them completely ignorant of Cerah's connection with Daemon Lucifer. "We might just have a young girl with too much responsibility on her shoulders that was driving her crazy. I'll head back to Sanctuary tonight and we can talk more about them."

Looking up, Iaso saw the shadow of a tower top beyond the mist. "I think I'm getting close to Lord Mu's workshop, but yeah, we'll definitely talk about this later." His foot then stepped on something that sounded soft. He looked down and frowned at the gross, silky like substance weaved all over the ground. "Goddamn it…This place is grotesque!"

"What?"

His gauntleted hands reached forward in the mist, burning with cosmos, and grasped the thick white cords with a toxic substance leaking from his Cloth's claws to tear it down and clear a path across more thick threads of silk in the air. "I knew there were zombies up this road, but giant silkworms too? This mountain road is filled with a weird swamp of silk!"

"Are ya… uts? There's no… amn silk wo-"

Iaso stopped and touched his temple. "Aguilon? I can't hear you!"

"...aid ther….so."

The medical Saint grumbled a complaint to himself about Sanctuary's crazy safety features and pressed onwards, disintegrating more of this strange silky substance with his poison so he could advance. One of these days, these jamming barriers that Sanctuary puts everywhere were gonna backfire. Why would such an important artisan like Lord Mu need communications cut off anyway? Iaso knew Lemurians were eccentric, but it couldn't be good for business.

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Jamir

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At the busted gate of Jamir, the antennae on Ainsel's orange helmet twitched as it received the signals propagated across the Silky Thread network he weaved along the way, like a spider web on which a fly just landed on.

The False Specter frowned. "Mmm, another Saint around? How annoying." Exerting more mental strength to expand the jamming barrier over the mountains and casting more Silky Thread nets unto the only access to the tower's precipice, he turned to his men. "What are you waiting for? Go get the child. I'll fly up around the building to find the blacksmith."

Sylph Willow saw Ainsel's wings take him towards the air and pointed at the lilac-haired boy running up the stairs. "GET THE KID, you idiots!"

Mu screamed and rushed up the spiraling wall stairs to the upper rooms and the Skeletons ran right after him. "Come here you little twerp!" one roared, scythe in hand. Show us where the blacksmith is or I'll cut your legs off-" but the child pulled a lever on the wall as he reached the next floor and the stair steps suddenly curved down, sliding the Skeletons off it and collapsing them off the ascent. The stair top also sealed shut, cutting off the Specters from their victim.

Sylph Willow rubbed his eyes impatiently and stomped into the workshop. "Do I have to get everything done myself?!" he yelled, pulling the man back up.

He focused, burned his wind cosmos with such intensity that air currents were pulled into the building's innards around his body and the small wings of his Surplice fluttered gently with a rising whirr of the energy.

With a gesture for everyone to standoff, he then thrust his punch skywards, firing off a blast of purple cosmos that blasted the air. "NORTH WINDS!" The loud force shattered the stone ceiling, breaking a new entrance right to the second floor. He then dragged the Skeletons to him. "Come on, climb up!"

The first Skeleton gritting his teeth, holstered his scythe, and stood on his friend's cupped hand to be lifted into the hole. "I'm gonna kill that stupid kid! I swear to Had-" As soon as he peeked up, though, he saw a tall, armored figure standing over him, looking down with a metal mask on the invader. The Skeleton shouted and nearly fell back down, but the figure grabbed him by the collar and holstered him up. "AAGHH! HELP ME, IT'S THE BLACKSMITH!"

Sylph went into full alarm "What the?! EVERYONE CLIMB UP!" and flapped his wings, intending on tackling the enemy.

The False Specter wasn't fast enough to prevent the violent Skeleton from being violently shoved against the wall and the bizarrely firm fingers from squeezing his neck until it popped grossly to the side with a creak.

The group surrounded the tall figure, weapons holstered, headed by Willow. One of them saw the Skeleton limp on the floor, head twisted to the side by the hulk. "Goddamn, he killed him! This guy's dangerous!"

"Get them, Mr. MUD!" Mu yelled, already running up the second stair steps to the next floor, searching for the Gold Cloth.

The cosmos of the invaders burned in unison. "It really is Mu!" they misheard. Their combined energies casted the shadows of pained spirits throughout Jamir's innards and chilled the atmosphere. "You're gonna pay!"

Sylph Willow in particular licked his lips at the unresponsive golem. "You saved us a lot of trouble finding you, blacksmith. Lord Ainsel will have a present to match Libra Dohko's head. I'll enjoy bringing your head to him, mmm-mmm.

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Rozan Mountain

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Speeding across the edge of the battlefield, Lance dodged, ducked, leaped over, and rolled under the numerous whips of cosmos lashed in his direction by the toying Alraune Specter, who laughed in cruel amusement at the sight of the slow Bronze Saint struggling to survive his onslaught. Boulders, trees, and parts of the pond were shattered, sliced and splashed with tremendous force, wrecking the valley with the deadly guillotine slices of Lemon's armor appendages.

The red-eyed Bronze's foot screeched on the muddy ground when he foresaw a blow aimed ahead of his path, striking the spot he would have been, and rolled back to dodge a more direct assault from the Specter, who tried to jump kick the Bronze as he lost his momentum, only to crash through the ground with meteoric force.

Lemon chuckled, eyeing the Bronze as he struggled to get control of the situation and assume a defensive position. "You don't even have time to put your armor on, do you, Bronze? This is the difference between Mach 1 and a real battle speed!" Then he launched at the Saint straight ahead again, propelling himself into the air by striking the ground with his plant appendages and lunging an overhead punch at the speed of light!

But to the False Specter's shock, the martial artist not only reacted in time, but he caught Lemon's attacking wrist in a Dragon Style move, striking Lemon's stomach with his other fist as he lunged the Specter over his shoulder, tossing him into the pond, bewildering and stunning the Specter.

"Do it now, Lance!"

It took no hesitation for the Bronze Saint to obey his armor, detaching the box straps with Blade slices and pulling for the metal chain, causing it to open up and erupt white light everywhere that immersed the Greek, encasing him in the Bronze Cloth of Pegasus under the shine of the moonlight.

The irritated False Specter got up from the muddy water, hair soaked, with a shocked expression now covering his face. "You…! That was a light-speed movement, Bronze!"

With an aura of white burning and a right fist bracing by his side, Lance countered. "And this is a light speed attack, Specter!" he then blitzed forward, trailing through the pond and backgrounded by the illusion of a winged cavalry charge. "PEGASUS CHARGE FIST!"

"Do you take me for a fool?!" The elite False Specter reacted immediately, sizzling the water into huge waves at the charging foe to blind and disrupt him while bobbing to the side, causing the powerful punch to miss by a hair. With Lance's back exposed, Lemon wasted no time, calling forth the power of his cosmos by crossing hands above his head. "BLOOD FLOWER-"

Stumbling around in the water, Lance's instincts were in full alert and he twisted his body around to see the attack coming, backgrounded by the illusion of a descending guillotine. "Shit!"

And the Specter's hands arched down around Lance's neck, intending on cutting it off from the shoulders. "-SCISSORS!"

The deadly slashes approached his skin! Lance's hand blazed with cosmos and blasted to the side to rocket himself out of the attack's path, but splashes of blood spurted out in the air. Rolling on the floor and stopping himself with his hand, Lance panted and got back up, adopting a Dragon Style defense pose with his fingers tense into claws.

Lemon relaxed, taking in the situation. "Finally in a proper position to fight, huh? I'm surprised you dodged that." The False Specter smiled, though, when he saw the red pool by the Saint's feet. "Or maybe not."

The shine of the moon reflected on the dark droplets made Lance look down and he saw the far end of his Cloth's arm protection sliced clean off, having allowed a serious graze that managed to cut into Lance's bandage-wrapped flesh itself. "Pegasus!"

"I'm f-fine!" it assured.

The Specter laughed, shrugging his large, tentacled shoulder pads. "What were you thinking, Gold ranker, bringing a Bronze Cloth to a light-speed fight? At this point, I wouldn't even need my Surplice's help to cut it to ribbons. You really might as well be wearing a cardboard box!" he mocked, on point. "Now tell me, where is Libra Dohko?"

The youth refused to react with fear, instead of tensing his martial claws against and thinking of an attack plan. The problem was, the Specter was correct, and just like with his early spars with Tenma, the amplification of cosmos provided by the Pegasus Cloth was now offset by how much the armor was completely out of its league, defensive-wise.

His surprise element from not having his gold pin with him was also now gone, and Alraune would not underestimate Lance as a Bronze Saint again. Lance hated to admit it, but while he had not pulled for either his fire or electrical cosmos yet in this fight, he was not confident he could beat this foe without Karkinos.

And if this Specter was here, how many more could be out there?

With Roshi's well-being in mind and with Seiryu's watchful gaze in the sky, the youth narrowed his eyes determined and resumed his Charge Fist pose. His hands waved around to shape the constellation of Pegasus as his aura burned once more.

It gave Lemon a renewed sense of overconfidence. "That move again? Do you think waving your hands around like an amateur will give you the boost you need? What a joke." His dark aura burned and he prepared himself for a more serious attack on the Bronze Saint. "Since I'd like Dohko's head in my hand sooner rather than later, I'll just torture the answer I need out of you. It's nothing personal, Bronze… I just really, really don't like my boss."

The youth's fists tensed again and his right hand rose up in the air, finishing the charge up. "Pegasus –"

The Specter waved his attack tendrils and exploded his aura, intending on counter-pining the Bronze to the ground as soon as the fool rushed at him again. "Come on, then!"

But instead the Bronze Saint hammered his fist downwards! "-Charge FIST!" and a thunderous force struck the pond like Thor's hammer, staggering the Specter, shattering the waterbed floor and shaking the entire valley.

The cosmic force of the gold-ranker made the entire valley tremble and rumble! Alraune Lemon lost his balance and fell on his hand. "What the?!" Another loud rumbling sound, this time from a myriad of directions, was heard and the Specter looked around to see protruding contours of the forested mountains surrounding the ghost pond collapsing and tumbling down towards them. "Avalanches?!"

Lance's hand thrust at the distracted Specter and fired off an overcharged energy blast, striking the Specter's armored leg just enough to knock him down. He then took the same hand and swept his body around. "BLADE!" Lance screamed, cutting through the hair with a white-cosmos-edged hand that sliced several tall trees right on top of the battlefield, creating further confusion and preventing the Specter from chasing after him. His red eyes saw the cascade of boulders, dirt, trees, and landslides coming down and he leaped out of there immediately, rushing out the valley. "I don't have time for this! This oughta keep him occupied! I have to get to Roshi, he could be in danger! We'll fight together!"

Alraune Lemon screamed as he was swept by the landslide, covering his body with his arm and tendrils and cursing the Pegasus as tons of wood and rock collapsed on him.

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

The moon was now high, with only the sound of Rozan Waterfall in the background as Lance panted and ran into the groove that housed Dohko's hut. He was relieved to find everything in one piece and no signs of violence but didn't let his guard down. The Alraune Specter could easily already be out of his predicament and searching for them again and Lance's only guarantee that he wouldn't find him right away was that the Bronze Saint had used sub-light speed to get back so as to leave no lasting traces of traveling cosmos.

More panicked than he would like to admit, as memories of the battle at Andromeda Island from a year earlier were strong on his psyche, the Bronze Saint searched for his teacher, moving up to the hut he had just rushed out of. "Roshi?!" he called out loud, not daring to let out a mental ping that could get intercepted. "Roshi, please, where are you?! This is serious, we are under attack!"

Only Ma Chao, the white tiger, stood there in the living room. It was just as alert as the Bronze Saint himself. It growled with a strange sound Lance had never heard in the animal, akin to the preoccupation with a nearby threat.

Lance clapped his hands to shoo him. "Ma Chao, go upstairs!" The Saint didn't put above the Specters that the big feline would be targeted just to lure the Master out, but the white tiger refused to move. Instead, its yellow eyes stared out the window at the waterfall.

There was such intent in it that Lance didn't resist doing the same. Indeed, he spotted a figure sitting down Chinese-style on Dragon Bridge, the natural rock formation that ran in an arc right in front of the waterfall, where he and Dohko would spar and exercise many times. The person was wrapped in a cloak, which made the Saint think of Dohko's gi.

It was with a rush that the Bronze Saint ran out and up the waterfall, side climbs to get unto Dragon Bridge. "Roshi?..." he softly called, to no response.

When he noticed the bulk of the person better, a side of him hoped that Dohko had turned off Misopheta Menos. Anything would be better than another Specter being around, in the heart of their home.

"No…" the Pegasus armor muttered. "N-no…!"

Lance stepped forward, his duty to protect Roshi refusing to believe this. "H-HEY, YOU, -"

"N-NO, LANCE, RUN!" Pegasus screamed. "RUN AS FAR AS YOU CAN!"

But the owner ignored it. "TURN AROUND! NAME YOURSELF! If you're a Specter, prepare to DIE!"

This time, the figure seemed to hear him, gently turning its head. To the rising heartbeat in Lance's chest, it then stood up from the floor, being indeed far taller than the kindly purple Master. The cloak that Lance had confused for Roshi's green ragged gi now raining down like a cape of shadows on the man's back, the contours of a horned, bat-winged headpiece visible on top of a raining silver mane.

The man turned slowly as if savoring the encounter.

The metal armor on Lance's body started shaking uncontrollably, not believing its 'eyes'.

His shoulder-length hair was of pure, clearly visible silver, almost shining under the stars, and his eyes seemed to be an absolute reflection to those of Lance's, possessing the same blood color, but with a sharpness and deadly glow that Lance had only seen in brutal killers. He was taller than the Saint and possessed a bulkier, more imposing statute, presenting a threatening physicality in the unarmored upper arms with a slight paleness commonly found in Specters.

Even more jarring, however, was the Surplice itself, which escaped anything that Lance recalled from battles, textbooks, or descriptions of Specters he had heard of in almost every way. The purple, red and black scheme of his armor immediately denounced it as a surplice of Hades, but the demonic theme, heavy design and the strange, creeping energy it oozed which brought to mind a storming vortex of hell immediately denounced it as an object of tremendous power and danger to him, like a Judge Surplice that had never been documented.

More importantly than anything, Lance's 7th sense reeled, encountering a power right before him it had never sensed before. It was like he was just a tiny white star in space standing in front of a dark, terrifying, huge black hole of vicious, blood-red burning halo which sought to suck up any rays of hope the Saint could muster into a crushing nothingness in the air. It told the story of half a millennium of violence, wars, and destruction in a single nanosecond, shrinking, by comparison, the Saint's meager lifetime of fighting was but a mere speck. Moreover, it reminded the Saint of when he first encountered Seiryu and felt reduced to his absolute insignificance, but instead of a living breathing God, a man was causing this terror in the Pegasus Saint, the proximity of their cosmos threatening to swallow him whole in endless darkness.

The red gaze narrowed, its bloodiness augmented by the shiny ruby centered on the horned, bat-shaped headpiece, causing the trained Gold Saint to shiver and step back involuntarily. The Pegasus Cloth itself on Lance's body was completely inert, paralyzed in terror.

The Specter chuckled, looking over the Saint. "Why, hello, Pegasus…" he sneered, for some reason. "My name is Daemon Lucifer, the Celestial Star of Pride! I'm looking for Libra Dohko…" His hand then sprouted a spear of pure electrical cosmos, powerful to the senses like a bolt from Zeus himself. "Now, before I kill you, tell me, where is the Saint of Libra?"

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

Chapter 45

Second Arc

Episode 10

The Fateful Encounter

Part 2 of 2

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

The dark, clouded skies of Rozan concealed the vigilant shape of the Dragon God swimming through the air, but to the Pegasus, nothing was worth registering but the threat right before him: the man calling himself the Celestial Star of Pride. The Specter's foot stepped forward tauntingly as he twirling the lightning bolt in his hand, relishing in the Saint's fear.

A smirk filled Lucifer's lips. Not only would he teach Lemon a lesson in humility and kill Dohko, but he'd get the pleasure of wiping the Pegasus Saint out of existence all over again. What a fortuitous night. He even had red eyes like his own and Tenma's, adding to the recreation of Lucifer's favorite moment of the Lost Canvas conflict; when he rid the world of that persistent, speeding cockroach and dumped his winged body at Dohko's feet, signaling the final battle of that war.

In the grander scheme of things, though, the pragmatic Specter Prince had to mentally acknowledge all of this as just a meaningless, albeit pleasurable set of details. This guy before him was no Libra Dohko or Phoenix Haisaku, just a scrub learning the martial arts of Rozan. Lucifer had to get rid of him and move towards his objective; the Saint of Libra.

"Perhaps you didn't hear the first time, so I'll repeat; where is the Libra Gold Saint?" Pride Star hissed, receiving only the recoil from the Bronze as the response. "Don't you lie to me, either. I know he's here. I've been asking around… questioning villagers who talk about an adventurous tiger living in the mountains…"

The Bronze Saint adopted his Dragon Style stance with a terrified gritting of teeth. "The adventurer is me!" he boldly lied. "There's no Libra Saint, Specter. You've come here for nothing!"

Lucifer's chin rose, smirk lost. "…What's your name, Saint?"

"It's Lance!" and a thin white aura began burning in his body in preparation for the fight.

The Specter narrowed his blood-red eyes in anger. "Tell me, Pegasus Lance, do you take me for a fool?!" and the bolt in his spear swept to the side at the waterfall, blasting the stonewall surface beneath it with such power that the water cascade burst everywhere in the valley, recoiling the Saint. Most importantly, it showed off momentarily the seal of the Specters, all the 108 names engraved on it, right before the waterfall curtains rained back down. "You're not the guardian of that seal, no Bronze Saint would be! And you're not wearing any gold pin, which means Shion sent you here-" he then touched his chin in reflection. "-to be trained?"

Lance's heel dragged back involuntarily. "S-shit!"

"Lance, you h-have to run, RIGHT NOW!" his armor urged. "This Specter–"

"I KNOW, I'm not an idiot, I'm not gonna fight him with the other one probably right on my tail to this place!"

"Lie to me again, Bronze Saint, and you'll regret it deeply," Lucifer warned, unaware of their internal conversation. "Now talk."

"No, you don't understand, this Specter. He…" but the winged horse seemed to have trouble making its words, even shaking slightly on Lance's body. "I can't… remember!... Just run!"

Lance wasn't sure if he ought to focus on the threat in front of him or what the hell was wrong with the Pegasus Cloth just then, but he knew he had to do what was best for Roshi. He re-tensed his hands and focused. "FINE, I'll get the Cancer Gold Cloth here. KARKINOS! Can you hear me?! Come to me!" Lance called out, pinging the mental message in the direction of Greece.

There was no response, and Lance even felt just a weird static sound and his own ping bounce back.

For some reason, the Specter knew right then and there to smirk.

Sweating in alarm, Lance desperately tried to contact his Gold Cloth again. "Karkinos, I swear to God, come flying out of that Temple RIGHT NOW! I'm in a dangerous situation! Mount Rozan is crawling with Specters!"

The Celestial Star of Pride cackled. "Are those your cries for help I feel bouncing off my jamming shield?" he mockingly asked. "If you're thinking of calling your superiors to come to get me here, Bronze, I'm afraid I have some terrible news for you…."

"D-damn it!" Lance cursed, reassuming battle stance. "What the hell did you do?! What do you want with Roshi?! If you think I'll just offer him on a silv-"

The Specter seemed surprised, widening his eyes. "Roshi? As in Old Master? Is that what he goes by now? Ha, ha, ha, ha!" he cackled, feeling more and more that his hunch was correct about Dohko being around after all these years.

The reality was, there was a serious chance all along that Lucifer was on a wild goose chase and Dohko had been dead for at least a hundred years. It had been nine quarters of a century since their last meeting, meaning that the Libra Saint had to be, at least, approaching his 250th birthday by then. The Daemon Specter knew for sure that Shion was still alive since it was both easy to ascertain from his meek behavior as Pope and his Lemurian longevity, but to the best of his knowledge, Athena did not have the habit of prolonging the life of her warriors, unlike Hades.

In fact, the opposite was typically true; the burning of cosmos would preserve their bodies for a couple of decades after first use and then cause a rapid decay, much like an engine burn-out, causing most Saints to retire by forty and have their eulogies heard by sixty. It even went against Athena's reliance on reincarnations to try to counter this tendency, allied to the fact she had alliances with Gods like Seiryu which were sticklers about the preservation of the natural course of life. The only exceptions he knew of were those who trained under Taurus regimens, whose bodies were built to be above and beyond the physical of most.

Thus, the Daemon's arms laid out in a demeaning shrug. "Thank you, Pegasus, you just confirmed to me that Dohko is around here, guarding that wretched seal. Only a war hero like him would deserve enough gratitude from that petulant cunt Athena to get something that would allow a Libra to stick around this planet long enough to become an 'old man'."

It startled the Bronze Saint how much this Specter seemed to zero in on Dohko, despite Misopheta Menos being such a secret. He had to do something! "I don't know what you're talking about, so get the hell out of this place before-"

Lucifer was completely unimpressed by Lance's threats. "So which was it? Eternal life? A really good nurse team to tend his every elderly need? Or did that blood from Athena your teacher stole from that puzzle box change something about his metabolism?" the Prince theorized. His arms then flexed, as if to demonstrate his own preservation, and his eyes surveyed the area in search of the Master. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid nothing she could give him could compare to the power of a Surplice to make me eternal… but he'll find out soon enough."

All of this information sent Lance's brain into disarray. "What?! I…He…" he gritted teeth to snap out of it. None of this nonsense mattered! All it did was that this guy was clearly an enemy of Roshi who came here to kill him. His aura turned into a white bonfire and his arms and legs positioned appropriately. "Enough! Pegasus! -"

Lucifer smirked at the sight of this and just walked forward as if to move past him. "Don't be a fool, Bronze. This really doesn't concern you."

This was where the Specter was wrong! If Roshi's life was on the line, it concerned him above everyone else. With the bonfire erupting like an engine's afterburner, the Pegasus Saint rocketed at the Specter with a lunging fist of light, aiming right at his face. "-Charge FIS-"

*THOOM!*

….

…. The world rapidly spiraled around, split in two.

…. His body twirled over and over, arms flailing. The armor's voice screamed his name.

Lucifer lowered his counter fist and cackled in sheer amusement as he saw the Bronze Saint crash against the far-off wall and fall back down unto Dragon Bridge's end, rolling over and over till his body's momentum was finally stopped by a small mount's edge. "AH, AH, AH! Bronze Saints, always the enthusiasts! I swear to Thalia's bugle; that there's nothing more hilarious in this world than watching you rooks fight above your stations."

The Greek's mind reeled, his face planted against the ground. The cosmos from his technique still barely burned in his hand, flickering away. He could feel the blood gushing down his forehead from the hammering he took. His whole body still shook from the impact and his sight still doubled. "…W-what?... What the f-fuck?!...I t-thought…"

"Run, PLEASE, run!" the armor pleaded.

The demon walked down Dragon Bridge towards him, intending on continuing the questioning. "Let's try this again…"

The Bronze Saint's hands harnessed his strength and raised his body off the ground, blood dripping. He stumbled back up, making sure to reignite his cosmos. His 7th sense wasn't wrong after all. This Specter was some sort of monster, even against a Gold-rank. He didn't even notice Lance came at him at light-speed.

Still, his fists curled and raised, his shadowed eyes locking on the Specter with fury. "B-bastard…!"

Shoulders padded in red-tinted Damascus metal shook. "Mmm-mmm-mmm, you're not being brave with this, you know?" Lucifer advised. He extended this kindness because the Specter had to admit he was mildly impressed and amused that the Bronze wasn't a vegetable from the devastating counter he just took to his temple, but maybe this was yet to be determined. "You're just being a sap. If you think getting back up again and again will earn you Athena's favor from heaven in this fight or something, think again; you're not the Pegasus that she likes, Lance. She has her lips wrapped around another horse's cock."

"I-I don't know what the fuck you're talking about!" Lance groaned, doing his best not to shake like a leaf from the damage he just took before the approaching Specter. His aura burned once more, this time ready for anything the Prince could throw at him. "A-all I know is that you want to hurt my M-Master and I'm going to stop you!"

"Is that so? Let me tell you a secret, then, Lance, one that maybe will make you reconsider that loyalty of yours to him." Lucifer then leaned his head over to his ear. "The last of Dohko's students who stood in my way? He shined with a God Cloth with wings that went from the tip of his head to the bottom of his feet. So what happened after his heroic little second wind that you Saints brag about burned out? I still punched my fist right through his chest, took the heart out, ate it, and tossed the rest of his disgusting body at your teacher's feet." He leaned back, resting his case.

The Pegasus Cloth on Lance's body now practically shimmered with terror, memories rushing back to it of the event. The Saint himself was practically paralyzed by the cacophony of emotions his armor was going through, which seemed to infiltrate his brain like a panic disease.

The Specter then remembered an extra important detail about it, "Oh, and by the way,… he took a hell of a lot out of me than you EVER will… ! So I can't really imagine you being Dohko's favorite."

An animalistic roar was heard from the Bronze Saint and his aura re-brightened itself with a strange light as if the rage of Saint and armor alike were now suddenly united in unprecedented unison. The Pegasus Bronze Saint's punch swung at a speed breaching upon the limits of the speed of light, loudly impacting Lucifer's cheek harder than Lance had ever punched anyone before.

The Specter staggered, stepping back …

… and then his knee swung right back up at the Saint's stomach like a rubber band, exploding on it with such force that all of the air in Lance's lungs came right out of his mouth, before another massive punch exploded on the Bronze Saint's head, catapulting him right off the Specter's sight towards the edge of Dohko's hut, claiming victory in the second exchange between them.

Lucifer chuckled and rubbed his thumb through his hit lip. "Mm-mm, always so predictable,… but that was a light-speed punch just now."

Lightning began to rumble in the area as the night clouds thickened, darkening the area even further. If it wasn't for the small rays of moonlight still penetrating into and reflecting on the waterfall, as well as the huts' lights, the grove would have been completely dark by now. Lucifer was about to resume his cruel assault when his head turned over at the sound of someone running into the field.

Alraune Lemon, covered head to toe in dirt and leaves, groaned and irked at the sight of his leader. "L-Lord Lucifer?!.. You're here!"

The Daemon folded his arms as he watched Lance slowly get back up. "You sound displeased, Lemon. Unforeseen circumstances back at the castle made me decide to tag along with this little assignment Ainsel handed off to you… without my permission." He hissed, intimidating the Alraune. "Mm, mm, though really, you're exactly where I want you to be. Now we covered much more ground in this huge area and I'm sure Dohko won't resist coming to the aid of his student. I knew you wouldn't resist Ainsel's offer to try to upstage me, Lemon."

The False Specter saw the downed Pegasus coughing and struggling to get back up. "I was searching for your enemy, Dohko, but this Bronze Saint got in the way! I would have the old man's head by now if-"

"Are you telling me a Bronze Saint compromised you?" Lucifer questioned. He saw the amount of dirt filling Lemon's Surplice. "Also, what in Pandora's name happened to you? You look disgraced!"

The Alraune pointed at the red-eyed enemy. "I was caught in an avalanche he caused! He's no Bronze-Ranker, he fights at the speed of light! Pegasus is just wearing a weak armor to fool us!"

The Prince folded his arms. Of course he realized how dangerous gold-rankers were, armor or not; this was all just a power play to put the questionable loyalty of the Alraune Specter in place. "And what, do you expect to find better odds at the Temples? The terrain being used against you will be the least of your worries when you'll be up against the Saint of Virgo, Lemon!"

Coughing and feeling pieces of his helmet crack off to the ground, Lance's head felt like the world swung all over the place and blood dripped everywhere. "T-this is bad… I can't even touch the strong one and now both of them are here!" he saw them arguing though and this gave him time to recalculate his strategy.

Without the Gold Cloth of Cancer, he didn't stand a chance, but if he could take down the Alraune by surprise and then stall against Daemon, then maybe help would arrive. Focusing his 6th sense, he tried to detect any ally close-by, but unfortunately, his mind disarrayed as it was, he couldn't focus hard enough to detect anyone around. He remembered the Pope saying Saga was in Asia but that was a needle in a haystack even for mental messages.

His red eyes then widened. Dear God, what about Mu? If these two were here, sounding like they had a whole plan to invade Sanctuary…

The adrenaline rush, sprouted by the thought of so many people left in his protection being endangered, made the young man get right back up, pained as his muscles were. He was a poor sight to the Specters, his armor started cracking all over, the damage from Lucifer's blows catching up with it. He tried to think of a plan of how to isolate the weaker Specter from the stronger one… If he harnessed his cosmos along with the Pegasus Cloth's like he just did now, maybe he could strike with enough force and speed to cut them off fro-

And then a louder crack was heard and his horse-shaped head protection completely snapped in half to the ground, unfurling his charcoal hair.

The red-haired Alraune Lemon laughed at the sight of him. "Ha, ha, you're just breaking apart in real-time, aren't you?"

The silver-haired Specter leader, however, squinted seriously at the Bronze, detecting new details in the Saint's visage without the helmet's shadow, particularly his red eyes, that upset him.

Lance gritted his teeth angrily and charged his cosmos right back up, igniting it into a fiery aura that startled the Alraune. His fists brightened up with power and he took aim at the plantoid Specter, launching off his standing point with a combustion blast of his cosmos that approached the speed of light.

Alraune staggered as the distance between them was instantly crossed by the Bronze, stepping backward and barely having time to unfurl his Surplice appendages! The white-armored fist came right at his eye!

Until Lucifer's massively armored, caped presence stepped right in between them and took the brunt of Lance's attack with his arm side, absorbing the explosive impact with barely a shake of his body, heels dragging back, interrupting the engagement. His arm swept back at the Bronze, who backfilled away into a slouched position, ready to restrike.

Lemon stumbled backward, startled. "W-What the hell?!.."

"I'll deal with this!" Lucifer asserted, interest captured by the Saint. "Just keep an eye out!"

And restrike Lance did, launching once more at his enemies with the intention of getting to Alraune, but Lucifer just slid once more into his path like an oppressive force, blocking his second charging blow, fizzling cosmos everywhere. The image of a Pegasus knight having its lance easily parried by a demon's forklift was projected in the sky by the clashing energy. It was interrupted by Lucifer bashing his fist right on Lance's face again, pushing him off his objective. The Pegasus stumbled in gritted pain, bleeding, and went for a furious third assault, swinging fists at the Daemon who simply danced away from the path of his blows, eyes locked on Lance's as if he wasn't particularly focused on the fighting itself.

Another meteoric counter from the Daemon seemed to swing from the side. Roshi's student put his study into practice, twirled his own body around away from the swing and into Daemon's flank. He raised both his arms to block a powerful, earth-shaking kick that Lucifer swung right at his side, before he finally feinted a dragon claw blow at the Specter's head. The Specter dodged back just enough to give Lance enough space to leap and crash his armored kick into Lucifer's headpiece, unleashing a resounding impact sound.

In the microsecond that followed, even Lemon gritted his teeth with this blow.

Immediately afterward the Celestial Pride Star roared, reached up to grab Lance's collar, smashed him straight to the ground with a dirt burst that trampled the valley and, whirring a purple blast of cosmos that briefly illuminated the night. He fired off a massive energy blast that shattered the Saint against the ground with a chilling scream, cratering the area and sending off shockwaves that paused even the waterfall's course for a second.

The light dissipated from the blast and Lance found himself shaking and floored at the bottom of a new small crater formed in Rozan valley, overlooked by his enemies. He coughed out blood and more pieces of his armor fell off. Steps were heard coming down the hole he was at and a strong grip lifted him up by the neck.

Lucifer eyed him. "Where is Dohko?"

"N-no way!...So strong! And fast! W-what the hell am I g-gonna do?!" Lance thought. He tried to grab and budge the wrist, but it felt like a steel press.

The Daemon Specter frowned at being ignored. "Your eyes are cursed, aren't they, Bronze? It's a condition I share. I was in the mood of holding back for a bit out of sympathy, despite the particular armor you're wearing. However, if you don't start giving me the answers I want, I will gouge them out."

A chill went down the Saint's battered body. He was truly scared. This didn't look like a situation he would luck out from at all. Nothing about this was like in Andromeda Island where at least his and Shinta's plan at least sort of worked against Minotaur. Here, in Rozan, Lance was alone and his opponent was so overwhelming that he couldn't even maneuver around him to target the weaker link, Alraune, who just seemed to watch how much more dominating his boss was against a Saint foe he was just struggling with.

The Pegasus had no doubts that the Specter really would follow up his threats.

The alternative was telling the man where Dohko was… not that he had an answer to it himself nor would spill it out even if he had.

Damn it… he should have run. He should have gotten the hell out of there the second the Pegasus Cloth started screaming to do so.

A snarling sound was heard and Alraune Lemon looked to the side. "Hey, Lucifer, look." He pointed.

The Prince did. Moving up to them out of the house was a large, white tiger of golden eyes and a threatening snarl in its mouth, tail wagging in warning and paw raised slightly as if about to charge at them.

Lance struggled in the Specter's grip and despaired when he saw the pet. "G-goddamn it… get out of here, Ma Chao!"

The tiger only snarled louder, ignoring the Saint and threatening the two Specters. Alraune once more had to laugh. "What a joke this place is; first a Kung Fu Bronze Saint who won't get smart about this and now a stupid furry giant that doesn't know what it's getting into. Is this what you were so worried about, Lucifer?!" he mocked. "This whole trip was a waste of time. There is no old master here!"

The animal, for some reason, gave the Daemon pause, who detected something odd about it, like the memory of a similar creature, that once mauled him, rushing back. He listened carefully to the beast's animalistic warning, it's heavy breathing and the way its mass in the environment around them seemed off as if there was something seriously out of frame with this particular beast. His 7th sense detected no cosmos in it, which only added further to the mystery.

Why were Lucifer's instincts so alarmed by this wild creature?

The confusion in the Pride Star was enough to loosen the grip for a single microsecond, which Lance took to swing his body up and bash Lucifer's arm with his knee as hard as he could, startling the armored man and freeing himself. Lance's hand reached around his own sore throat before he leaped back, regathering his energies.

Lucifer snarled in frustration, ready to put an end to this. "AGH, Stupid Bronze Saint…enough of this!"

Alraune's tentacles unfurled and his fists tightened. "I'll put an end to this for you!"

Lance's arm swept at the tiger. "MA CHAO!"

To which the animal responded by rushing at the distracted Alraune and tackling him, it's fangs going for the man's throat and clawing at the Specter's exposed body parts, who screamed and immediately focused his cosmos on protecting the skin of his larynx. "AHH, GET IT OFF ME! GET OFF!" but for some reason, the cosmos he put into trying to fight the tiger off was not working as well as he expected, barely keeping the pressure of the huge teeth from tearing his skin. He struggled almost as if he was a normal person, immediately denouncing something supernatural about the feline.

Lance resumed his stance, ready to stall for more time against Lucifer, who summoned his aura in a serious way for the first time in the encounter. It was a dark miasma that dropped to his feet like a swamp as a purple flame immersed the rest of the Specter's body, terrifying like the Surplice itself.

Though intimidated, Lance did not budge and the tension in the air suddenly skyrocketed. "If you are after my master, then get ready to F-FIGHT! I don't know who you really are, Daemon Lucifer, but I won't let you lay a finger on his hat!"

Lucifer gritted his teeth in frustration. He expected resistance from the ever-persistent Saints of Athena, but this guy, Lance, seemed to somehow be able to get on his nerves, brainwashed by Dohko to be just as stubborn as Tenma! Lucifer spread his legs slightly and clenched his armored fists, readying his hidden spears of cosmos. "Stand aside!" he once again ordered "Or tell me where he is! If you don't, I WILL kill you!"

Lance spat some blood to the side, thoughts filled with protecting his teacher. "Forget abou-"

*THOOM!*

The impossibly fast blow to his ribs came just as calamitously as all the others, overwhelming his senses to the point that Lance didn't even see it coming. He gasped, coughing blood, and looked down in incredulous disbelief to see Lucifer with his fist lodged in his guts. He gasped further when he felt the enormous pain filling his belly when the fist disconnected, grabbing it with his arms and taking a few steps back.

"LAST CHANCE!" asked Lucifer, politely, his dark aura swelling little by little. Lucifer's foot raised from the rocky bridge and exploded on Lance's chest with an almighty sidekick, which sent the Saint against a rocky wall, limbs stretched and pressed against the stone. Lance fell from the wall to the floor on his hands and knees, leaving behind a crack-filled body print on the wall, and rubbed his pained belly. "Where is DOHKO?! "

Once more, the battered Pegasus Saint found himself at a loss for strength as he futilely tried to raise himself back up "That kick was probably...the most painful thing I've ever felt!... Even Aldebaran never…Holy s-shit!" he barely formed these thoughts, not believing how strong his opponent was! "It's not possible!...W-who is this guy?... I never heard of any Daemon Specter or Celestial Pride Star!... My God, what the hell is going on?!"

A strong hand grabbed his head and raised him to the sky, only to drop him again. However, before his feet could touch the floor, Lance went through a third Hell when countless fists collided with his body before another sidekick threw him to his left, flying out of the bridge. As his body flew, he had time to open his eyes to see a diving kick land right on top of him, sending the Pegasus right to the lake's shore below, bouncing a little with the impact!

As his body finally stopped dragging through the floor, he heard dark, metal footsteps and Surplice plates clinking against each other, drawing closer and closer. It wasn't long before it stopped next to him and the voice resumed.

"You stupid Saints are just so dense! If I had time, I'd drag you back to my castle and let Nasu have her way with you, but I'm running on a tight schedule so now I'm going to have to kill you and find someone else to question..." Lucifer stopped at a distance, deciding on which technique he would use to finish this off. The sheer irritancy of it all, though, forced another question out of his mouth. "Maybe you will answer this instead, Lance, … what is it about you goddamn Pegasus Saints that always do their best to piss me off?!"

Coughing uncontrollably, Lance glanced to the side and saw Alraune still rolling around with Ma Chao. Miraculously, the feral animal somehow wasn't getting torn apart by the person with superhuman strength.

The state his brain was didn't let him detect the strangeness in this though, just the embarrassment of it. He raised his head at the Specter. "… I h-have a personal habit of punching the faces of murderous Specters like y-you! You're not the first death cult asshole who threatened my l-loved ones, and I swear to g-god you will be the last!"

Lucifer's red eyes wavered quizzically. The way the Saint said this… it made him stop and think back to Nasu's reports. "The last?…Oh, oh… I see… I see! You were the one who stopped Yakos, weren't you?!" he then burst out in laughter, connecting the dots. "HA, HA, HA, HA! What a coincidence; I'll get to tell my men tonight I've avenged another one of their brothers!"

While the mocking was unpleasant, the Pegasus Saint took notice that Pride Star seemed to like the sound of his own voice. If he could make the Specter talk more, then time could be bought.

"Me and my friend k-killed that stupid team you sent to Andromeda Island, too, asshole!" Lance lied. It was Shinta who really did all the work with Nebula Storm, but it didn't matter. All it mattered was making the obviously narcissistic monster talk his tongue off. "You stepped on his home and got what you deserved, so don't think I won't do the exact sam-"

Before Lance could even finish his threat, Lucifer interrupted. "Wait, them too?! Is that true?!" It just seemed to make the Daemon laugh more and more. "HA, HA, HA, HA! You're just a kick up the heels, aren't you, Pegasus?! I always wondered how those three managed to screw up such a simple task so massively. Mm-mm-mm, so tell me, did you trap them in the volcanoes? My spy could barely find their souls after you were done."

The Saint had to confess himself shocked. "Why do you l-laugh?! Don't you care we killed your men?!"

There was a devilish grin. "I'm afraid I have bad news for you, Bronze Saint… I have their souls in a safe place, ready for the right time to revive, and you set me back that day, true, but now I've acquired a lot more freedom to act since then," His thumb then cruelly pointed southwest. "-which is why I've sent a new group to finish the job Maia started a year ago."

Lance's face paled in horror.

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

Indian Ocean

Andromeda Island Coast

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

At the waters approaching the secretive island, Bat Brune and Deep Amphion, the two False Specters responsible for taking over Crow's Nests walls, stood silent in their armor while a Skeleton Soldier grunt of theirs manned the boat's jet engine, which whirred them towards the beach coast.

The grunt raised his head and saw the silhouette of the island as the sun set down behind them. "We're almost there, My Lord Specters."

The winged False Specter's fanged teeth poked out his lips in frustration. "Argh, I want to kill now! Why do we have to take this stupid boat?! We have the power of cosmos!"

But Deep Amphion's head shook. "This is no ordinary island. It has a lot of defenses in it like labyrinths and killer Cloths, not to mention a high-ranking Silver. Nasu says that the last time we sent two elites along with Gorgon during the daylight, they were annihilated by a trap-crazed Silver Saint and two Bronzes. Every precaution is important."

Brune folded his arms. "Then why not just swim?!"

"We could have swum, sure,-" His hand then touched the seawater around them, bathing the gauntlet in it to then show the grey-colored, murky tone of the sea to them. "- but the waters are cursed. I'd be fine since my Surplice is made of the same evil that taints these waters… and don't really like your whining, but I need your Nightmare Sonar to put the people here to sleep."

While the Bat False Specter seemed resigned, the False Skeleton grunt raised his hand, also has his doubts. "My lords, why did Behemoth even send us here, anyway? What does the Prince want with this island so badly?"

The Bat False Specter spat to the side. "Pah, it's some old story… Nasu says there's only Bronze Cloths here, but the Prince acts like he's convinced that the pink one has special godly powers!"

"If the Prince thinks so, I believe him," Amphion assured. "He hasn't led us astray."

Bat shrugged his blue-armored shoulders. "I don't doubt him either…" he then smiled predatorily. "…especially if I get to bite some sweet kids' necks while we're at it."

Deep Amphion and the Skeleton grunt exchanged glances. They were joined up with a freak.

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

Mount Rozan

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

The imaginary sound of Elda and Al screaming popped into Lance's mind. "You b-bastard!… You cruel B-BASTARD!" Lance repeated, rage burning his blood. "What have they ever done to you?! Leave them alone!"

Lucifer rested a hand on his hip, taking joy in verbally shocking the Pegasus. "It's nothing personal; they just house a certain Cloth in it that I want out of the way. The same could be partially said about why I'm here." He then momentarily eyed the waterfall pond, where, deep beneath, the Dragon Bronze Cloth box rested. "You see, in this lake rests an armor that once posed a threat to me…and now the Pegasus Cloth is here as well, what a twofer."

The Bronze Saint warrior quivered as he resumed his battle stance. Could things possibly get any worse? "S-Sanctuary won't let you get away with this! You'll be swamped with Gold Saints to the neck by daytime!"

This response almost seemed to bore the Prince, whose red eyes rolled ever so slightly. "Daytime? You don't get it, do you, Bronze? I've already won." the experienced strategist proclaimed, widening the Greek's eyes. "Do you think this is my first Holy War? There's a lot you won't get a chance to learn about Specters, dear Lance. I've had Pope Shion's entire little army on checkmate before I ever followed Lemon here."

Lance's body shook in confusion and injury. This guy knew the Pope's name?! "W-what the hell do you mean?!"

The devil pointed to the west. "As we speak, the best of the best of your generation is preoccupied with Germany and my castle, chasing ghosts that aren't there, and the rest of your miserable forces are scattered on the map and about to be taken by my knights as we speak. Why even your precious repairman in Jamir… if my timing is correct, has his hands quite full now."

The younger pair of red eyes widened in terror and his heart sunk. "MU…!"

The Pride Star's thumb then pointed over his shoulder to the northwest. "And just to make sure, I sent a couple of my other men to those Lemurian villages you Saints watch over. Pretty soon, there will be no one to revive your Cloths and Shion will be short one of his Allies."

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

Tibet

Shamballa District villages

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

The night was turned to an awful twilight with the lights of fires burning the straw ceilings of the stone-walled cottages, set alight by Skeleton Soldiers with torches and inflamed crossbow arrows firing into the air. People of Asian features and dots marked on their brows fled screaming out of the streets, crying for their loved ones, as the men armored in black bones advanced, headed by a huge brute dressed in the black hide of a beetle.

Further deep into the village, a group of them headed by a pair of Sanctuary hoplites rushed inside a larger house completely made of stone from the mountains. The guards practically pushed the women and children inside, his eyes searching everywhere for enemy spotters. "RUN, HERE! YOU'LL BE SAFE HERE! Get to the basement!"

"Y-yes, thank you!" one Lemurian begged. "Athena be with you!"

"JUST GO! Before they turn the corner! We'll drive them off!" the second soldier roared, closing the door behind them. He then tucked his spear and looked for his comrades. "D-damn it, where did the captain go?! He was supposed to get the rich guy from Greece who watches over these colonists!"

"Hiding the dotted-freaks here, uh?!" a thick voice sounded, seemingly out of nowhere.

The hoplite gasped and grasped his weapon with two hands, practically turning three-sixty but seeing nowhere around. "WHO'S THERE?!"

The other than carefully stepped back, vigilant, and pressed his back against the wall so his six wouldn't be exposed.

His friend turned to him and paled. "…Oh no…"

The first raised his look. "What?"

The second soldier pointed polearm at him and watched, in terror, as the hulking figure camouflaged against the grey brick wall emerged as if out of the building, "Moonlight Jewel!" Gauromydas casted, turning off his disguising power arms reaching out and clasping around the first hoplite, who screamed and was lifted by the bear hug into the air.

His legs flailed. "AAH, HELP ME!"

The second soldier rushed his spear at the Specter, "LET GO OF HIM!" his stardust-dressed iron tip nearly snapped in half upon impacting on the Damascus metal, shaking his body.

The first soldier's body went red and his eyes gouged as the big arms applied pressure, his scream augmenting.

Gauromydas' cosmos burned. "Stand by Me!" and the arms crunched the armored victim's spine, splitting it in two.

The second soldier barely had time to watch his friend's halves drop to the floor before a huge fist promptly smashed him against the ground at the speed of light, turning him into a can of blood and flesh.

Cackling with a job well done, the False Specter Deadly Beetle Gauromydas literally grabbed the ceiling of a harder household with his hands and ripped it out, revealing terrified Lemurian families skittering like insects, making him laugh.

By his side, Worm Samuel lurked, raising one of his tri-clawed tentacles which, with a threatening shink sound, sprouted out a spike out of its end. Its other limbs flickered out, "WORM'S BIND!" grabbing fleeing Lemurians by the ankles and dragging them back to himself on the dirt, before his one spiked reach descended on the back of their necks, cruelly silencing their screams.

The Skeletons they brought with them kept up the massacre, torching the rest of the village until one of them approached them. "We're wrapping things up here, Lords Worm and Beetle. Do we head back?"

Gauromydas' masked face shook. "No, we need to draw out the Lemurian Elder, Yuzuriha. She is one of the Pope's allies and Pride Star wants her off the safety of Shamballah! The more damage we cause in her lands, the better, so until we see a decrepit crane showing her mug, do not stop!" He then pointed to the big, rich house at the top of the hill. "AND make sure to find whatever feudal floozy Sanctuary sent to guard this place as well. I want to make an example out of him."

Worm Samuel nodded and wiped his tentacles, but couldn't help wonder about something. "What's Lucifer got against her and these people anyway? I don't mind the killing, but…aren't we going a bit beyond what the Prince asked?"

Gauromydas chuckled. "I'd say the Prince is being cautious, telling us to take this pace. The Pope is one of them Lemurians… and you know Pride Star hates that pretender's guts as much as Hades himself. He sees Arles as someone who's sitting on his rightful throne."

Worm scratched his chin pensively. "Oh, so this is out of spite?"

But the Beetle shook his head. "No, like I said, this is about the Pope's little friend and her cloth fixers... The Elder at Shamballa is a Lost Canvas War veteran who fought the Prince. The spite is a bonus."

Samuel's eyes blinked. The Lost Canvas War? "And she's still around?"

"Lemurian women age like olive trees." Beetle elucidated. "And she and all the info she has on Pride Star are a danger to the Prince for as long as we can't neutralize her. Secrecy is our biggest advantage right now! But she won't come out for anything, which is why we have to keep attacking."

They marched together with the Skeletons up the hill, where their men already fired flaming crossbow bolts to smoke the rich guy out. "Then how come we are still out here?! We should be attacking Shamballa itself! Every second we spend, I feel less safe that Ainsel can jam us from Jamir!"

The huge Specter slapped his head. "Listen! The place she's at is too fortified and she's surrounded by guards, but if we set some of her people on fire, we will force her out!"

The lower False Specter's dingy eyes widened. "Which means…-"

The beetle grinned beneath his mouth cover. "-that she will be vulnerable, falling into our trap, and we kill her too!" Gauromydas assured. "And Lucifer will shower us with gratitude for showing him her wrinkled head!"

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

Mount Rozan

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

Lance's body burned abright with white cosmos, which grew into intensity until it started acquiring an orange tint. "Y-you… YOU MONSTER! I'll make you p-PAY! Why are you even telling me this?!"

Two fingers were raised by the Prince. "It's simple, first, I knew from the second you started asking questions that you were stalling, Bronze Saint. None of you unenlightened choir boys are at the least interested in what a Specter has to say." Lucifer mocked. Another evil smirked widened on his lips. "Thanatos taught me to take a special pleasure in watching Pegasus Saints like you suffer as much as possible, so I just felt like turning your little game upside down just now."

Letting out a battle roar, Lance leaped into the air and thrust his fist forward. "FLAME ATTACK!" he screamed, shooting out the devastating wave of fire.

The Specter laughed maniacally and merely moved out of the way of the destructive blast with a body roll, not even scorching his dark cape, letting it harmlessly explode onto the ground with an earth trembling bonfire. He saw the Pegasus land and emerge out of the fires with seldom-seen wrath and throw punches, kicks, elbows, and heel blows in a futile combo to punish the Specter, who just blocked, dodged, parried and at the end caught the combo by Lance's wrist, which he then twisted rapidly to the side to stun the Bronze Saint, who dropped to his knee.

"D-damn YOU!" Lance roared.

The pride Star squeezed the wrist, making the Bronze Saint quiet with the stunning pain. "Secondly, mm-mm, I wanted you to know that all those seconds you spent stalling were just buying my men time, not yours. Like I just said, this whole war has been won since before I even left my castle. None of you church runts are communicating with each other what's going on and I'm taking out your most vital assets before that coward Shion even realizes what's going on! Do you know what that means?"

While the Greek was muscularly bound by the lock and gritting teeth in shock, his brain did the math to the horrible strategic realization, which he dared not put to words.

So, Lucifer put words to it for him. "It means now my men are amassing for an all-out attack, and the Golden Zodiac is NEXT!" Lucifer bragged, his foot striking the back of Lance's other leg to fully drop him to his knees. "Congratulations, Pegasus Lance, you've just witnessed the beginning of the end of Shion's age before you could ever even so much lift a finger to do something about it!"

"Mmm, mmm, mmm well, at least you won't be the only one to die, huh?"

Lance's free hand whirred with light, spurred by Guilty's provocation. "I d-don't think so!" and he then fired it off aimlessly at the Specter's face, blinding and staggering the Prince and singeing his armor just enough to loosen his grip and let Lance slip away from it. "Even if I don't have the Cancer Cloth, I have to try something!"

Brushing off the effects of the cheap blow, Lucifer smiled confidently and readied his deadlier round of attacks as he saw the Pegasus recharging his energy.

Meanwhile, still rolling around in the dirt, Alraune Lemon dug into the ground with his tentacles to give himself some leverage and backhanded the huge tiger as hard as he could, finally dislodging the heavy animal off him to the side, who recoiled away with an angry snarl. "F-Fuck, goddamn this tiger! Lucifer, what's taking you so LONG?! Do you want the Zodiac to find us first, is that it?!"

"Relax, Alraune… I'm almost done." the Pride Star assured. "It's been two hundred years since I've had the pleasure to kill someone wearing the armor of one of Athena's little Bronze squirts. I wanted to savor this, maybe even lure Dohko out, but clearly Libra is more uncaring than I remember."

The False Specter swung his appendages at the tiger at light speed, wanting to cut its head off, but somehow the beast seems to smell his every intent and jumped out of the way, even from the underground attacks he performed. "Then get rid of him!"

Lance tried to focus and ignite his lightning cosmos, crackling his energy in his fist like the sizzling sparks of a sliced wire. However, he was so damaged he could barely focus, barely seeing the double vision of a red and black armored Specter preparing to finish the job.

A slight shake in his body was felt as Lucifer's earlier taunts dawned on him the severity of the situation, only countered by a newfound will to defend not only Roshi but Shinta as well. He no longer cared if his life was on the line. If this bastard got through, so many would die over his failure, a fact that he would not be able to live with.

"Yes, trade your worthless life away, Lance! Ha, ha, show him how 'brave' you are, how willing you are to do whatever it takes for your… friends."

Ignoring the voice, whose cruelty competed with that of the Specter in front of him, Lance formulated a plan. "He's too heavily armored for me to pierce through his defenses, but I may be able to batter him back if I just put my all into a point-blank barrage!" This, however, implied getting the drop on the clearly skilled Specter.

"Good idea, buddy! Put half as much effort into it as you put into saving me, and you might just get instantly annihilated, HA, HA, HA!"

Once more, the Dragon stance was assumed, warning Lucifer to stay back. The sensation of being a tiny star about to get eaten by a black hole was returning as the threat enclosed on him. "He doesn't know all my tricks and he's overconfident! All I have to do is think outside the box." He then recalled his battle with Aguilon, the last time Lance fought someone so overwhelmingly more powerful and glanced at the ground at Lucifer's feet. "I know what to do!"

"The trick from the Aguilon fight? Sure. Say, have you noticed that even your armor lost confidence in you? Pegasus has been SO quiet! Mm mm mm."

A javelin of purple cosmos formed in Lucifer's hand. "Alright, Pegasus, time to say good nig-" But Lance suddenly charged head-on, harnessing his strength once more. Lucifer widened his eyes, amazed by the stupidity, and readied his counter punch.

Measuring the distance of Lucifer's physical reach, the Saint suddenly slid his feet forward, dropping his body just as Lucifer's foot stepped onward to power his counter, and chopped the ground as hard as he could as he slid past the Specter's ground. "BLADE!" The fissuring of the battleground was immediate, struck by the knight's sword and mimicking events of Lance's duel with Aguilon.

The Specter was caught by surprise and lost his footing as his feet found themselves on different moving patches of ground and stumbled over. "WHAT the-!"

Lance turned over and his other hand touched the ground to lift the rest of his body up with the explosive force of cosmos, planting his foot right in Lucifer's turning, falling face as hard as he possibly could, genuinely stunning the Specter for the first time in the fight and drawing blood.

There was a brief nanosecond where neither of the three humans believed what just happened.

Flipping down from the kick, Lance wasted no time, and the blood in his body coursed with renewed speed. "ROZAN!" The dragon tattoo in his back became hot and his short black hair flowed with green energy. The dazed Specter recovered just fast enough to widen his eyes in recognition at the sight of a warrior performing the step up, clenching all the muscles of his body and executing a devastating uppercut, the roar of a dragon heard. "Sho Ryu HA!" The full power blow landed right on Lucifer's armored stomach, punching in just enough to expel some air out of his mouth and bashing him back.

Moved by sheer momentum and adrenaline, the Pegasus Saint had to finish the combo, recoiling his right fist to raise his free left one, which finally sparked with fully charged lightning cosmos and fired off the first darts of thunder! "MULTIPL-"

Lucifer's aura exploded, his face twisted into anger and his fists struck back. "DARK SPEAR BARRAGE!" Exploding in a manner similar to what would have been Lance's blow, the spear-shaped meteors were purple and much more powerful, destroying their way right through Lance's attack until the Saint himself was hit.

The devastation to the Saint was immense; bombarded by incredibly focused blows. The Pegasus arm protections were torn holes all over them that then nearly punctured flesh, submitting the Bronze Saint to a bloody shower of stabs that sent him flying back, screaming right through the forested edge of the grove. He crashed through the trees whose weight did nothing to stop his impetus, merely breaking them apart as the white-armored body rolled, tore and bashed right through them, each consecutive dark spear blasting him further back.

Blood was now found everywhere, splashing along the trail of destruction as time resumed itself from the compression of the light-speed exchanges. Lucifer breathed out and felt the smoking on his struck stomach vanish. It had triggered a murderous rage in him that nearly killed his bait before the right time. He looked up and saw the Pegasus finally stopped by a harder mound, shaking and singed by the sharp, deadly blows.

Alraune squinted, no longer interested in the wild beast in front of him as what he witnessed now convinced him more than ever that this Saint was strong well beyond what his armor indicated. "Lucifer punctured even Minotaur Gordon's armor with that blow. This guy is definitely a gold rank."

The Pegasus Saint squirmed in pain, feeling electrical shocks all over the pierced wounds. It was over, for even if he mounted a final defense with what little strength he had left, his enemies clearly had more than enough left themselves to finish the job. The thoughts of death and impending failure permeated his mind.

The Daemon touched his own smoldering stomach plate. The armor was undamaged, being the most brilliant of Surplices, but the ascending dragon fist had still shaken him a bit, bringing back memories of fighting Dohko. No wonder he lost his cool.

Moreover, the fact that Lance was breathing, albeit harshly, surprised Pride Star mildly, but he dismissed it with a folding of his arms. No one under the blessing of the Dragon God's mountain would die easily. Lucifer learned this lesson a long time ago.

With a lot of effort, the Saint, feeling the electrical shocks in his body stunning his nerves, rolled unto his hand and knees, looking pathetic. His helmet was gone, half a piece of his arm covering was missing and he saw blood dripping onto the dirt beneath him from several sources, including his head. What the hell was he gonna do now? What the hell could he do?

The heavy sound of steps was heard as Ma Chao slowly encircled Lance, eyeing the Specters. "G-get out of here, you s-stupid, useless tiger…!" Lance hissed. "Goddamn animal never liked me… and now he won't leave me b-be."

"Mm, mm, maybe he smells a fresh horse meal coming."

Lemon looked up at Lucifer, who still seemed to be just waiting there once more for something to happen. "D-damn it, what are you doing?! Just finish the Bronze off!"

Lucifer barely acknowledged the validity of the disloyal grunt's complaint. "Am I really hearing this from someone who can't even get rid of this oversized pet cat? Look at you, Lemon! You'd make me think that without that armor, that tiger would have left your neck open on the ground." he hissed, referring to the dirt and scratches all over the super-powered Specter.

There was a poisonous glare from the Specter, who tensed his fist but did not dare make a move on the Prince.

After a final look around, Lucifer focused back on what was pretty much just his victim, rather than his opponent. "No one showing up yet, huh? If it is true, then this has been dragging long enough. Nobody came. Whoever is in charge of this place must not care very much for you, Pegasus." His feet spread slightly apart and he took a slow breath. "Well, then… if whoever is the master of this place won't come out to save you, then maybe I'll make him… with my Dark Revenge Blast!"

Pegasus Lance wised up and stepped back in alarm, hearing the Specter name the move, and Alraune Lemon seemed forewarned by it.

It started slowly, with light brightening the red carvings on Lucifer's armor, which then manifested into a frail aura of purple cosmos light. Then, with a tensing of his arms, the slow closing of his red eyes, and the curling of fists at chest height, there was a blunt, unseen thumb, like a powerful breath, that made the dark cape on the man waver up a bit and his silver hair wane. The Prince's body then exhaled and his fingers uncurled out, the black metal in them shining with the beauty of a purple jewel.

Said beauty then crackled out in the form of electrical sparks up his fingers! They coursed around them over and over, like tense charges, growing brighter and sizzling louder. The Specter was in deep concentration while at this and the two onlookers felt a terror fill their souls as they sensed themselves transported once more in the cosmos to the presence of a terrifying black hole of a power about to manifest itself.

The wind began blowing louder. The windows on Dohko's hut were rattling. Small pebbles on the ground around Lucifer's feet started gaining life, shaking as if subjected to an unknown force. The Specter slowly opened his eyes, now their red shining like scarlet, as his mind became one with what he wanted to do with the Cosmos. It was an objective of pure destruction.

Lightning crackled through the sky and the sparks flowing through his fingers brightened, enlarged and fused into authentic arcs of electrical power, snapping like miniature thunderbolts amidst his fingertips. Daemon Lucifer's hands rose up and the arcs, roused, shot upwards before circling around above his head, as if surrounding an invisible spherical shape. The aura on Lucifer's body, previously thin and subtle, then erupted into a raging sludge of darkness, unleashing soft chilling cries from the Underworld itself.

It was at this point that the most terrible part of the attack began to form; dark vortex lines of cosmos started showing up in the space surrounded by the electrical arc, as if generated by it, into a single, tiny core of black mass. To onlookers, though, who possessed the 7th sense, it looked like something far more terrible; as a black herald of destruction about to be formed and cruelly tossed upon the world.

The Pegasus Saint forced himself to stand back up, grabbing his own injured body and staring at the charging of this new attack. He had never seen anything like this. He had experienced the might of users of Darkness cosmos before and even tried a taste of it himself, but what he was witnessing was a pressure of power on a level he didn't think was possible! Softly did the vortex compress further into the orb, fed with Cosmos by the shooting arcs of lightning, circling faster and faster and raising the radius of the core, first into a golf ball size, then into a tennis ball…

The pebbles on the ground flew up at Lucifer, instantly eaten by the charging attack, and the electrical arcs expanded everywhere, as if the eyes of an evil God had opened in the dark! The lights inside Dohko's house suddenly gave out. Water splashing from the waterfall on the lake now flowed around everywhere like the wind. The entire valley of Mount Rozan seemed to cry back in response at what was being done, the forest trees shaking, and the ground beneath them all began cracking up and down in small fragments as if now stuck between two competing gravities of two great cosmos objects.

It was at this point that the charging greatly accelerated and the vortex sunk faster and faster into what was now a basketball-sized orb which continued onwards to swell and, as it the mass of pure dense darkness reached even scarier levels, Lucifer's aura charged to its maximum level, igniting the dense, black hole being created with purple flames of destruction.

It didn't take long for Lance to realize the magnitude of what was about to be cast. All it took was the right detonation, like an atom bomb. "N-no… with that kind of power, if he fires that… forget about me, Ma Chao, Roshi, the house… the entire Mount Rozan will turn into a fucking sea trench!" His injured arm swept aside in protest. "S-Stop it… I said STOP IT! You'll murder thousands, millions!"

Alraune Lemon's face paled, but for different reasons. "He's right, you fool! Are you insane?! The Specter seal is right there!" he screamed, pointing at the waterfall. "If you destroy this valley we will have the Specters right after us!"

The Prince, however, only laughed, almost anticipating the chaos he would cause with it. These two fools could never understand it; suspended now above the Prince's head was the culmination of half a millennium of combat experience as a gifted wielder of the cosmos. It was no mere blast, but the perfect fusion of the types of lightning and the types of darkness that he could personally give form to with the Cosmos, raging above him like a gravitational abomination, something that could shatter the rules of physics in a way Saints could only dream of.

It was no reckless instrument of abandonment; this attack was his soul given form and beauty, his signature move. All would know the wrath of Daemon Lucifer when they saw it; for all the feelings of vengeance, against everything and everyone who ever wronged him, were meshed together into this twisting symphony of annihilation above his head, delicately held together and given form by the most refined of Lightning Cosmos.

An unstable dedication to himself, to his very Cosmos; it was, in a way, his 'exclamation'.

Pegasus Lance snapped out of his trance, motivated by a sense of emergency he never felt before. Ma Chao snarled and leaped away while the Saint waved his hands. He had to stop this madman at all costs! His aura raged in a fire. "PEGASUS-"

Too late! Lucifer's foot stepped forward, his eyes took aim on the Pegasus and his body lunged forward, as if leveraging the weight of an Olympic hammer toss, and Lucifer cried out the name of his attack as he launched his blast with a tear of the fabric of the air that burned up the ground, silenced the winds and bashed the nearby Alraune back with the blast-off a shockwave of his aura "DARK REVENGE BLAST!"

And Lance's fist lunged forward. "FLAME ATTACK!" firing off the torrent of flames as hot as he could possibly, all caution tossed aside.

The black orb drenched in purple electricity screeched through the air right at the Pegasus Saint, leaving a trail of fissuring ground. The fire wave raged back, twirling almost into a compressed beam of proto-plasma. The two shocked together in mid-air. The impact resounded the area, blasting off nearby objects.

Lance burned his cosmos harder than he ever thought he would have to, just wishing with everything he had he could hold the blast back. The collision point was a blinding source of light, impossible to make details out of with just one's eyes. For a brief nanosecond, though, it seemed as if the flames were slowing down the blast's flight. It was eating right through the fire, but it was slowing down!

It was…until it wasn't.

The blast suddenly punched right through the fire.

The Prince laughed hysterically at his meager attempt to stop it.

The force was so strong that Lance's body stumbled back from his spot.

The Saint was now a deer at the headlights. "O-oh god, oh n-no!" he thought. His hands crossed and thrust forward in instinct, a last-ditch response! "BARRIER!" he casted, projecting the image of the Pegasus knight holding up its round shield and forming the ring-based dome barrier to stop the blast in its tracks through defense alone.

The force of it was immediately transmitted right to Lance's body, whose bones shook under his muscles at the extraordinary pressure he was trying to stop. His body was too weak, though. It wasn't holding up. New cracks formed on the barrier, armor, and skin. The horrible attack was just punching through every single transparent layer like hot acid on paper. Terrible memories of the exact same thing happening back in Arcadia returned, back when he tried to protect the girl Alexis and her mom from Bennu Yakos and his Corona Blast, just like he was now.

Soon the shield would shatter, just like back then. He would get buried under a brutal explosion of Cosmos and everything he futilely put his life in front of would die.

Time slowed down, turned to molasse by these thoughts.

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

The Saint found himself staring out at what he was doing as if frozen. Gingerly walking by him, Guilty, always sporting his mask, watched him with his arms stretched out, trying to protect Mount Rozan and probably countless lives living in the vicinity of it.

His scarred shoulders shook in amusement. "It really does bring back memories, doesn't it?" he taunted. "You told yourself you'd save those two as well. And look at what happened…"

The Pegasus Saint just stared out, unable to move. "I tried... I saved her!…"

Guilty's face turned to him as if surprised. "Oh, you think I meant Alexis? Think harder."

Lance's head slowly lowered, though the rest of his body remained frozen. His red eyes got wet as cries of sorrow were heard in his head, a person he promised to help, holding a smaller, broken body in its arms in the midst of shadows.

The bastard circled around him further, unbothered by the situation of the battle. "And now you can't even protect your Roshi. The man who took you in, unlike the undeserving dog you are. You know why this just keeps happening, don't you, Lance? Why you're losing everything all over again, I mean? I told you time and time again…

"…S-stop it…"

The taller, white-haired man looked down on him. "It's because you deserve this, you murderer."

Tears of blood flowed down Lance's stuck face. He felt surrounded once more by a crowd of people pointing their fingers at him, all engulfed in black fire. "Murderer, MURDERER, MURDERER, MURDERER!"

Guilty cackled at his disheveled slight as the crowd burned away. "Aren't they right? AH, AH, AH… Can you imagine what they would say if the heard the full story, though, Lance?"

Lance's head shook. "I told you to s-stop it…"

Guilty completely ignored his whimpering. "Because you STOLE something too, didn't you? Something you didn't deserve either!" Blood then began to seep from the edges of his mask. "Something that rightfully belonged to ME!"

Lance's eyes were shadowed by his dropping hair bangs, overcome by sorrow and guilt. "I… I stole…"

His blood-stench breath then approached his ear. "My second chance at life!" he then stepped away from the Pegasus into the shadows, leaving him to his miserable end.

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

Time sped back up, resuming the course of reality.

Barrier broke apart completely, letting the blast through!

"ROZAN!"

A large furred weight pounced on the paralyzed Lance, tackling him out of the way, and the small meteor of golden light with its small hand dressed in green, draconic shape collided with Dark Revenge Blast, "SHO RYU HA!" the hoarse voice shouted, punching the unstable orb's underbelly with a rising uppercut that bashed it slightly upwards, causing it to sizzle slight above past the tiger and the Pegasus and far above the mound, its sparks singing everything it trailed across right before the orb arced upwards to the sky at the lightspeed, vanishing into the clouds like a departing evil star.

There was barely a moment of acknowledgment of what had just happened from the two Specters. Lucifer immediately expanded his sensory jamming barrier as much as he could, before the unstable blast exploded in the clouds, releasing a thunderous echoing boom that awoke houses as far from them as Beijing. The dark rain clouds were completely blasted away in a perfect emptying circle cored by a crying electrical star, sizzling bolts everywhere like a colossal plasma globe. Seiryu itself seemed to roar in unison with the explosion, crackling out green thunderbolts and turning Mount Rozan into a spectacle of purple and emerald light showers.

These silhouetted the frame of the intervener, who slowly stood up straight with his cane and a muscle strain like he had just greatly exerted himself. "Yo-oh-oh, what a powerful attack! One more second and I'd have some serious landscaping to do. Last time I take 'that' shortcut home, I tell you what!"

Alraune blinked in confusion at the sight of the man and Ma Chao wagged its tiger tail happily, grabbing the downed Lance with its mouth by the nape, who barely could see what was going on. "R-Roshi!..." he called out, voice giving out.

Lucifer lowered his attention from the skies, having successfully contained the massive flare of cosmos his own attack caused, which could have alerted all of Sanctuary to his presence, with an expanded jamming barrier.

He wasn't sure what to be more incredulous about; that the attack had been redirected, or if by this little small man in a straw hat and green gi before them. "…Dohko? Libra Dohko? It's… you?"

The meeting of eyes between the two men was akin to the bells of fate itself ringing in the air, like a great cycle of fate had renewed itself with just their encounter. Dohko saw the silver mane, the Daemon Surplice, the unmistakable cursed eyes, the black cape, and, most important of all, the ever so subtle straightening of pose and heightened chin denouncing a belief in total personal superiority over others.

All signs pointing to only one identity, horrible one as it were. The Master rubbed his long beard with intrigue. "Hee, hee, hee, hee…My, my, by the stars of Athena herself,… I almost feel like I should lower my head at this visit. Welcome to Mount Rozan, Prince Lucifer! Celestial Star of Pride, Left Arm of Hades, killer of Gold Saints, and Archdevil of Despair! YA-AH-AH-AH." he laughed out, amused liked Lance had never seen him, even wiping a tear off his eye. "Goddess forgive me, I never tire of saying all of these in a row."

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

Underworld,

Fourth Prison, Styx Swamp

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

As the lord of the Palace of Antenora, Garuda Aiacos stood vigil before the Third and Fourth Prisons, located in the Second Circle of Hell, standing upon a tall mound overlooking the boundary between both, where his magnificent palace could also be found. Unfortunately, said magnificence of his abode was contrasted by the devastation around him in the Prisons caused by the Dark Exodus.

Everywhere he looked, the Nepalese Judge saw craters, roaming undead, and broken Prison materials. The True Specters and Skeletons worked to the best of their abilities, pinning down the zombies, containing the flood of the Styx Swamp with new dams and generally trying to make sure that his Circle of the Underworld didn't collapse. The detonations planted by the traitors had strategically targeted not the defenses in the Underworld that would have gotten in the False Specters way on their escape, but the vital mechanisms and passes that, once collapsed, would hinder the True Specters from chasing them down.

If Aiacos wasn't on the receiving end, he would have complimented this as another example of Lucifer's cunning.

The damage also extended itself to a personal level. The Celestial Valiance Star was a mess on the internal and external levels. Surplices were powerful in their ability to repair themselves, objects of evil resurrection as they were, but the battle with the Prince had been extraordinarily intense, more so than the Judge had ever imagined. Aiacos still sported cracks all over his armor and forewent some of the more shattered pieces of Garuda, like the helmet. It was a shameful look for a Judge.

Nothing compared, though, to the damage on the inside. Aiacos had trusted the Prince. For a brief moment, he admired him. Their conniving together to better the army and the Underworld worked wonders in gaining the Judge's confidence, making the betrayal all the more shattering to his ideals as a Judge.

More so, the poisonous words spouted by the Pride Star chased his mind.

The Judge rubbed his eyes, his thoughts strained by that cursed name. "Suikyo… Suikyo…I remember it…I do!" He then practically grabbed his head and winced. Strange memories of fighting a Libra Saint flashed in his brain. "Argh… why can't I remem-"

"Lord Aiacos!" a Skeleton Soldier called, walking up to him and snapping the Judge out. "I'm sorry, my lord, but you need to come to see this!"

Aiacos blinked, annoyed at losing his train of thoughts. "What is it?"

The Skeleton pointed towards the Fourth Prison. "It's the Lycaon Surplice, your Honor! We just dug it out of the swamp!"

The Judge's interest was captured. Lycaon Coronis was one of the False Specters that fled with Lucifer. If his Surplice was back, it could only mean one thing. "Take me right to it!"

Obeying without hesitation, the man dressed in black bone armor guided the Judge down the palace hill into the murky grounds of the Fourth Prison, dressed in dead trees and filled with undead fighting each other in the slime, filled with the sin of Wrath.

Waiting by the black river itself was the barge that Coronis once manned, now handled by a group of Skeletons that barely had enough strength to employ the mystical fording. Their scythes were drenched in the thick water, where they held onto an object they fished.

Aiacos deduced what it was. "Pull it out!"

The Skeletons obeyed and pushed for their weaponry, dragging a humanoid shape out of the surface of the liquid. As soon as they did, it howled out, seemingly alive! It was a deep screech, like an evil spirit which startled the men, but Aiacos was stern, gesturing them to pull it to the shore.

There they dropped the downed creature covered in black slime, which slowly dripped out to reveal the cracked pieces of a brilliant Damascus armor shaped like a werewolf. Inside the armor, however, was also a man whose features slowly became visible as more sludge was removed off of him. His skin was pale and his hair was blonde, with green eyes looking everywhere in a panic. His mouth gasped out, as if he had almost drowned, and his face looked everywhere, unaware of his surroundings.

Aiacos folded arms. "Congratulations, Lycaon Phlegyas, Celestial Star of Crime." the Judge announced. "You've been reborn."

"It's a True Specter, one of our real lords!" a skeleton gasped.

Phlegyas coughed out more slime, barely aware he was in the presence of a judge. "W-where am I?...All I remember… that damn Pegasus Tenma…!" he barfed more black sludge, the image of the meteor fists blasting right into his mind from his previous life.

"Is that all?" asked Aiacos, almost curious how this would reflect on his own case. "Do you know who I am?"

Phlegyas looked up at him. "You… a Judge?... How do I know that?" he looked down and saw himself dressed in his beloved Surplice. The howling spirit of the wolf seemed to inhabit his body, making his blood rush to his brain. "I… remember now… I'm a SPECTER!...All those years in South Africa… living normally like a degenerate! All-"

"All wrong for you, Phlegyas. The Emperor has seen that it was time you were reawakened from your life and to rejoin your brothers, now that your Surplice was free and the seal nears its end." Aiacos concluded, lending him a hand to stand up. "And we have much work to do…"

The Specter blinked, seeing a devastated Fourth Prison around him. "What happened?... Has this place just never been fixed from the War?" He then realized something. "By the Death Trinity, Hades, Hypnos, and Thanatos, did we lose the Holy War?!"

Aiacos nodded. "You were defeated at an early stage of the Lost Canvas conflict were you not? You must have many questions that Lord Hades would kindly answer. Unfortunately, you cannot see the Emperor yet. Though he would rejoice to see you, he has…." The thought of it then made Aiacos growl. "He's been injured."

The werewolf Specter was stunned. "Injured?!... That's not possible! What about the Princes?! Lord Michael and Lucifer, surely they have a plan?! Surely they…" he then saw the look on everyone's faces. "What's going on?... Why are you all looking at me like that?! If this is a new era, why is everything still broken?"

The Judge turned to his immediate soldier. "Go warn Pandora right now, Skeleton. I know she is busy with the siege the Saints put on us, but tell her that one of Lucifer's False Specters has died and his Surplice has returned to us. Make sure to mention that the replacement's soul is nowhere to be found."

The Skeleton saluted and rushed off.

Phlegyas approached him tensely. "Lord Aiacos… what the hell did all of that just mean?! A Saint siege?! Replacements?!..."

But the honorable Judge just patted his underling's fanged shoulder plate. "You'll learn in time, but for now, just know that Prince Lucifer has betrayed us, and is a persona non grata. We have also thought it impossible to keep track of his losses since he stole a page from the Book of the Dead, but your presence here brings good news about that, as well."

All of this completely bewildered the Lycaon, who stood jaw dropped.

Aiacos folded arms. "A lot to take in, surely, and believe me you haven't seen the half of this tragedy. Come with me, though… the others will rejoice to see you." The Judge ordered, taking arm around the subordinate and bringing him the palace of Antenora. "He has memories of his past life as a Specter fighting the Saints, but they seem a lot clearer than mine… The first thing Phlegyas remembered was who killed him…. Then why? Why can't I remember?"

Seeing the Judge get tense, the Specter felt less safe. "Your honor?" he nervously called.

Teeth gritted in his mouth. The confusion in him only seemed to grow, which fed Aiacos' wrath. "Lucifer, I swear you will pay!... if not by the Gold Saints hands, then by the hands of every Specter we gain for each of your losses!" and he eyed the far-off Celestial Pride Star in the sky determinedly. "And I will bury each and every one of the filthy lies you told me with you!"

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

Mount Rozan

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

The huge white tiger dragged the defeated Pegasus Saint to Dohko's feet by the armored nape like a caught prey, earning from the small old man a chuckle and a rubbing of its enormous feline nose fur.

"Yo-oh-oh, Ma Chao, look at how dirty you are! You've been hustling, haven't you?" he then looked at his student. "I'm sorry, Lance...I was away, outside this barrier's frontier." Dohko murmured, quickly scanning his student for any vital injuries. "I should have arrived sooner. But I only felt this man's terrible cosmos when I walked back inside its enclosure. This isn't your fight, anymore...Let this old man help you for once."

The Alraune Specter stared with an anxious tremble at the sight of their three targets just standing there like nothing but was especially jarred by the sight of the purple-skinned old dwarf who was like the Master of the mountain that they sought all along. "Is this it?! This is the man you wanted dead, Lucifer, the man who beat you?! A purple midget in pajamas and a straw hat?!"

The line made Dohko laugh out loud, but for once, the Pride Star couldn't blame the disloyal elite's incredulity. What stood before them protectively over the fallen Pegasus barely looked like a man, much less a proud warrior Gold Saint that had once upon a time unleashed the wrath of one hundred dragons of Rozan on him. Moreover, Athena wasn't the type to allow the prolongation of life of her subjects like Hades was.

Like most Olympian armies, Athenian Saints, Atlantic Mariners, Spartan Berserks, and Artemisian Satellites all eventually fell to the deadly guillotine that was the effects that the use of cosmos had in oneself; while it rapidly caused your body to grow as a teenager into fighting shape, it then tragically burned you out and accelerated your aging past the line of an older adult, starting a rather degrading decline from glory.

The result was that most Gold Saints began losing their strength and retiring frequently after their late forties. The common exception were the Taurus Saints, who just built up their body mass so immensely that they could counter the burn out for much longer, or descendants of the Asgardian giants, for similar biological reasons. Surplices, however, preserved the bodies of Specters, removing them from the realm of life itself and allowing them to serve Hades contiguously throughout the centuries. The result was therefore that it was far, far more likely for a five-hundred-year-old Specter like himself to show up than a Libra Gold Saint half that age.

Lance shakenly raised his head, seeing a trembling vision of his teacher. "R-Roshi…! Roshi, r-run!"

The Rozan Master tapped his side with his cane "Quiet, you! We have visitors!" and stared at the Specters apprehensively. "So, you're the two who were beating on my student! Cowards… Do Specters have nothing better to do than pick on weak Bronze Saints? I've had to be transmitting my cosmos to him all this time as I rushed back home to keep him fighting, for Athena's sake!"

Alraune Lemon scoffed. "I knew it! I knew some random Bronze couldn't be fighting at lightspeed!" he turned to his leader. "Come on, let's just wipe them off the face of the Earth! They're not worth our time!"

The Pride Star, however, just continued, lost in his thoughts, trying to reason with himself how his old enemy could still be alive. Dohko was no giant, nor a Taurus. Skilled and strong as he was, that brat wouldn't have lived this long, which was why Lucifer always suspected the stories of him being alive to be wrong, the result of impersonations.

The fact was, however, that the midget had deflected Lucifer's signature move with unmatched expertise, timing, and aiming his punch perfectly so as to derail it off its already chaotic path. Only one warrior among the twelve could have possibly been trained to do this, and only one in Sanctuary's history had the experience battling Lucifer to know to apply it.

Thus, the devil's mighty fist tightened tensely, his red eyes narrowing. "Is that really you, Dohko? Or some successor who took his name?" he demanded to know, genuinely unsure which option would burn his blood hotter with fury. "Speak!"

Seeing the gentle flow of darkness that was Lucifer's aura, the Old Master merely responded. "Of course I am. Tell me, who else on this planet would know to list all your frankly ridiculous titles? HEE, Hee, hee, hee!" he openly mocked. "I mean, do I have to call the Libra Cloth here to prove it to you? Or wasn't the ease with which I slapped your juggernaut of an attack away proof enough?"

While this confirmation of Dohko's identity was made, the Prince raised his chin with the momentous occasion of their encounter while Alraune was just agape at the gall of the Libra Saint. The only people who dared to talk like this to Lucifer were the ones completely ignorant of how dangerous the Specter truly was, like Alraune himself had once been. Either this old man was insane, or he was much more powerful than he let on.

Lucifer chuckled. "Fair enough, runt…" he ironically applied. "So, tell me, what was your secret for living to see this day, Dohko? I know that cowardly faggot Shion is a Lemurian, so why are you still alive? Are you secretly a Specter? Is it from living in the shadow of that blasted Dragon God in the clouds up there? Or…" Lucifer then smirked. "…does this all have to do with the blood of Athena you stole from that puzzle box? The one you used to kill Sylphid and his men?"

Dohko retorted the smirk, feeling the tension rising by the second. The Prince was frighteningly close to the truth, but he wouldn't have a way to know about Misopheta Menos and there was no reason to change that.

"Well, I do a lot of cardio, and eat a lot of fish, hee hee hee! You Specters would be surprised by how well you can live a mortal's life when you don't hide in the skirts of lady death." He then pointed his cane right at the Prince. "What is really surprising, though, is you being alive, Lucifer."

A silver brow was raised. "Oh?"

Dohko nodded. "Yes, yes! I'm old, but I remember the end of the war. I especially remember beating you!"

Alraune saw the vein subtlety tensing on Lucifer's forehead. "Is this old man INSANE?! He'll get the whole area nuked if he keeps this shit up!"

The reality was, Dohko laughed and mocked so that he wouldn't cry. Lucifer was the second most monstrous Specter he had ever faced, beaten only by Dark Angel Michael, but the Daemon was definitely the cruelest. The Dark Angel had been borderline dignified in his battle with Asmita and Shiryu, giving them several opportunities not to get in his way of destroying Jamir, while Lucifer absolutely did not stop until everyone involved in deterring his plans paid the price.

The weaker Prince's thirst for vengeance also rivaled that of the infamous Wyvern Judge, having murdered Taurus Rasgado for what the Pisces did to Gryphon Judge, all for the sake of teaching the Saints a lesson in terror, an act of pure spite that the Libra had never forgotten to that day. The day Dohko crucified Lucifer with the shame of a final victory from Sanctuary was, therefore, one that shined brighter than most. The survival and the subsequent return of the Celestial Star of Pride, even after all these hundreds of years, heralded a vicious massacre on the Golden Zodiac at a time when Athena was still absent from their lives.

When the Dragon God began speaking out of term about the seal, Dohko had entered a stage of denial and ran up and down the mountain making sure that the vast seal rock it concealed was intact, resulting in his delay.

"Seiryu has been whispering things here and there to me, but his cryptic nonsense about the wheel of fate and my laziness finally adds up. He was talking about you showing up uninvited at my doorstep, wasn't he, Prince?" Dohko confronted. "Since I don't feel like believing the seal has weakened to such a point that you would have been revived by now, I have to conclude that you lived through our last encounter, Pride Star, just waiting around."

Daemon lowered his gaze on him threateningly. The anticipation for this day had been long. "Oh, yes… but then again, Dohko, I do not understand your distraught."

It was Dohko's turn to be taken aback. "Uh?"

The shoulders padded in red and black armor pads shook in laughter. "Hm, mm, mm, mm, I'm not easy to kill, Dohko, never was and never will be. I paid a heavy price for losing to you that day on the Third Prison, that is true, but it didn't include my life!" He then laid out his hands, as if appealing to the old man's sense. "But you knew that already, didn't you? How hard it is to kill a Prince? I thought it was a lesson we had firmly planted in all of you Saints."

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

Tenma gasped, seeing the emerald-armored Dragon standing between him and the blow Alone would have landed on him. "Sh.. S-SHIRYU!"

Many, in fact, shouted the Dragon Saint's name, especially the Bronze Saints and Dohko, who rushed at the scene. The Underworld God smirked at the look of shock and pain in Sasha's face and pulled the tip of his sword out of Dragon's shield, blood sprouting out.

The Sagittarius Saint gritted his teeth and lunged at the painter god. "Damn you, ALONE!"

Pope Sage immediately intervened. "DO NOT APPROACH HIM!" and he casted his paper tag seals just as the group got within range of Alone's murderous cosmos. "TALISMAN CAGE!"

Sisyphus was halted by the eruption of white lightning all around Alone, Shiryu, and Tenma, which stopped an invisible, killing force that the God had launched on him. Sisyphus recoiled apprehensively as the forces subsided, but still stood protectively over the others as they rushed to Shiryu and Tenma.

The Pegasus Saint held the falling Dragon in his arms as Dohko and the others closed in. "Shiryu, w-why?! This isn't your fight!"

The blind Bronze Saint coughed, holding his injured arm. "You wouldn't understand, Tenma… but I c-couldn't let this happen." he cryptically spoke. "I will d-die before I let Seiya be struck down by that sword right in front of me a-gain!"

Tenma simply stood there, confused and absolutely distraught. The Andromeda Saint had also said this name once, that day when they met at the Coliseum, before Master Suikyo's attack.

Dohko held the Dragon, enraged. "Shiryu, you FOOL! Hades' sword is cursed, it could destroy your soul… you could lose far more than just your LIFE!" he explained. "Why did you DO THAT?!"

The Dragon Saint felt happy hearing his teacher's voice. "H-ha, ha…I know….I've seen it happen and it's w-why we are here." His healthy arm then reached for the Libra Saint, grabbing his arm. "I also saw how you felt… when Alone first killed Tenma in the v-village… You may not see me as your student here, Roshi… but I can't let my Master go through that pain again…!"

Cygnus and Andromeda then gasped as they saw Dragon beginning to lose consciousness. "SHIRYU!" they screamed.

Sasha held the Dragon, too. "Shiryu, NO…!" her golden cosmos burned, soothing his spirit as it fought against Hades' poison. "I won't let you become like Seiya…I WILL save you!"

Meanwhile, the sight of all this visibly tired Alone. "…Had you left my Specters to further my design, you'd all be part of my Canvas now, your hands joined in eternal happiness…So, really, you are all fools." He eyed Athena in particular. "Especially you, Sasha. You act as if you cared for that Saint, but you're denying him release from pain, salvation."

Haisaku, the Phoenix Saint, carefully joined the distraught group. The masked woman saw her student holding the Dragon Saint and so much went through her head that she couldn't decide what to ask about first. "Dohko, that armor he's wearing… Why does he have the Dragon Cloth? That's impossible."

Dohko turned to her, eyes wetting with Shiryu's pain. "Haisaku, please, can you do something? Anything?" he pleaded, not answering her question.

Before anything, the masked woman eyed the God watching them. Immediately she felt the Dark Calling on her cheek burning, telling her to succumb to melancholia and acknowledge the futility of life. The God seemed to recognize her back, subtly smiling at the former Skeleton Soldier. It wasn't that Alone had any memory of a single faceless former grunt but, as Hades, he felt the dark forces he seeded in her as an extension of his own body, like a toe he could easily move. It was something he felt towards all those with the Dark Calling.

Whispers began to fill the air from a myriad of voices in Haisaku's head, voices of spirits tormented by Hades' chains. Their pull was immense, not through sheer brute force, but rather like the strong, personal touch of a perfectly sounding argument against the value of life. In the presence of the deity, she was reminded of all the things she so strongly used to believe in, that had made her sink herself into the embrace of the darkness, mindlessly obeying even the lowest of Specters, admiring Pandora as a figure of perfection and longing for the eternal embrace of the only God that really understood the pain humans felt.

But these were all words, from the mouth of a single God, from the palaces that filled a single Pantheon trying to control all of the Cosmos for itself. She knew this now. Delving into the pools of the Cosmos had shown her that even 'Olympians' were just guessing at the endless expanse of the galaxies, spouting ignorant diatribes about how insignificant humans were so they wouldn't acknowledge their own fear.

Thus, though she feared her reaction earlier at being in Hades' presence to the point of fearing that she would turn against Athena herself at the sight of Alone, the woman instead felt peace. The whispers made no sense to her, and her katana was not drawn against the purple-haired girl.

Humbly lowering her head at Alone as a form of greeting him like a former lord, the Phoenix Saint earned an intrigued look from the painter. She then walked past Hades and joined Sasha. "Dear Goddess, Athena, your Holiness Sage, I am humbled. My name is Haisaku of the Phoenix."

The young, purple-headed girl met her gaze. Her heart knew of all the Saints and Cloths who so constantly sacrificed themselves for her, so she felt no need for introductions. "Can you save Shiryu?"

The grey-haired Pope nodded. "Haisaku has great knowledge of the Cosmos, Athena. She can guide you in how to help Dragon."

The Phoenix kneeled next to the Dragon Saint and held up his shielded arm. She still couldn't believe someone was wearing the Dragon Cloth. Seiryu hadn't blessed anyone with his hide in centuries. Even Dohko had to walk the Path of the Tiger. Her hands touched his shield.

Immediately, the cosmos that had been burned upon contact with the sword was felt. It was far beyond anything a Bronze Saint, even a gold-ranked one, could possibly have burned on his own. The shining stars of hope that one could expect only from Athena herself had their warmth impressed on it, like her blood coursed through the Cloth's veins, denouncing that, at the moment of the attack, something fantastic, like the supernova of a soul that believed in nothing but in preserving hope and love, had happened.

"You Bronze Saints amaze me more by the second. I'm no blacksmith, but this is no ordinary Bronze Cloth either… it has been drenched in the blood of Athena." she admitted, stunning the Saints of the era and paling the Bronze Saints for their cover being blown. "The shield resisted bravely, minimizing the impact, but the tip of the sword struck through skin ever so slightly, so the curse of death still eats away at Shiryu. I'm sorry… but even if he fights for the remainder of this war, he will die and his spirit will be crushed."

Sasha covered her mouth in horror. "What?! N-NO!" The face of Shunrei back home sprung to mind. As a fellow woman, not just the Goddess of the Saints, she had to do something for Dragon. "I won't let it happen!... I won't let any more Saints die for me like this!"

The sentiment was admirable and showed Haisaku once again why Athena was the only one of the Pantheon she could possibly be loyal to, but the cruelty of the Gods was just as strong as her kindness. "I could slice the arm that was touched right now, and it would not save him… the ail is on his very soul, and that is something he cannot divide."

"No… NO!" Tenma got up, refusing to accept this. "There has to be something we can DO!"

Alone saw this and shook his head at his friend. "Oh, Tenma… you poor idiot…"

"How could you do this, Alone?! How could you keep doing any of this?!" Tenma demanded to know.

Charmingly combing a stray black hair bang with his finger, the painter God responded. "It's simple; I just know better than you. You always said I'd show kindness to the world, remember? What is happening to your friend is a blessing." he recalled, tormenting all before him with this twisted logic. Once more, the sword was then redrawn. "There is no more final and endless kindness I can extend than death…So allow me to make you all join Dragon in my Lost Canvas."

Sisyphus spread out wings and burned his golden cosmos determinedly. "I met you, Alone… I knew you before you became… THIS!" he appealed, referring to the black visage the painter now sported in hair and clothes. "Even if it's Hades pulling your strings, I won't let you continue to commit these cruel crimes against your friends!"

Dohko snarled and joined his Sagittarius comrade. "Me NEITHER! I've had enough of the pain you cause around you, Alone!" his aura burned with the wrath of Seiryu itself. "For all the pain you inflicted on our loved ones for your twisted words alone, I… WILL… END YOU!

Pandora joined the Underworld God from her carriage of headless horses, her feet eased down to the ground by Cait Sith's palm. She saw her brother sigh. "Oh Alone, dear,…are they still boring you with that stanch speech?"

The men and women of Sanctuary stood on guard before the arrival of the second most important person in the Underworld.

Pope Sage himself announced her name. "The woman who released evil unto the world… Pandora." Then, as if to give meaning to the title, Pandora raised her snake-ring hand, causing a cascade of lightning to suddenly strike around the area, unleashing a shockwave that forced everyone away from Alone. Dohko and Sisyphus shielded the lesser Saints and Athena with their shields and wings, while Sage grunted in effort to maintain his Talisman Cage. "UGH!... She must have come to protect Alone!"

"JUST AS WELL!" Sisyphus claimed, raising his bow and aiming straight at her head. "We'll finish off both heads of the Underworld hydra and seal them all up in this mountain!"

Sasha made an appeal to him, sensing a strange danger. "Sisyphus, stand back!" she ordered, stiffening the archer.

Her intervention made the woman snicker in amusement. "What a good dog he is. So, you're the Athena of this age?" Pandora spoke, pacing around her. "Tell me, does it amuse you to degrade yourself as Goddess to live in mortal flesh?"

Saint Andromeda's eyes followed her every step of the way. He still had vague memories of being with the Pandora from back home, and this one was so different in both demeanor and beauty. She could hardly be called the same person, but perhaps they were simply catching her at a different age. "Step away from Athena!"

Cait Sith Cheshire, the Terrestrial Beast Star, laughed, recognizing the Andromeda Saint from Jamir. "Or what, Andromeda? Will you run with your tail between your legs again, nye-he-he?"

But the Bronze Saints, unknown Godslayers to them, stood behind Athena, backing her. The one-eyed Cygnus in particular raised his hand with a circle of ice cosmos on it. "Or we'll turn your precious lady into an ice cube!"

Alone watched Pandora be transfixed by the sight of Andromeda and chuckled. "Mm, mm… does he fascinate you as well, Pandora?"

The raven-haired woman squinted. While the other Saints were nothing to her, she felt a strange pull in her eyes to the green-haired one, as if he were a soft light in a dark room.

Her head shook to dispel the strange sensation. "It matters not, Alone. I've come to bring you back. The Princes have concluded their respective attacks. Jamir has been burned to the ground, the Sanctuary grounds have been pillaged and Taurus Rasgado is dead."

There were a myriad of pained and surprised looks on the Saints in reaction to these news, especially Sisyphus, who gripped the bow even harder. While Dohko had shouted it upon arrival, Pandora's casual confirmation of it somehow staked it home even harder.

The God, however, seemed unfazed. "So?"

Pandora turned to him concerningly. "Athena is conniving. She seeks to confuse your heart and seal you in this mountain. You are at risk staying here." she argued. "Alone, let me take you home."

If anything, her 'brother' seemed displeased by this. "Why should I come? I have Sasha and Tenma at my hand. I won't leave"

"I agree! YOU WON'T GO ANYWHERE!" Sagittarius roared, rearming his bow, this time aiming it at Hades himself. Rasgado's smiling face flashed through his mind. He had entrusted the safety of Athena to him just before going off to fight Kagaho. "This Holy War will end NOW, with my arrow in your head, Hades! I will free that boy of your grip even if I have to kill him!"

While Athena gasped in horror at the notion of this, Dohko couldn't agree more, burning his feline golden cosmos. "And I won't let you lay a finger on Tenma and Shiryu anymore!" he swore, their combined energies rising in unison.

Tenma trembled in fury, wanting to join the fight. His red eyes stared at Alone in pain, not knowing what to do. "Alone!..." But Shiryu's hand gripped his arm, his head shaking. Between disobeying Dohko and the person who just saved his life, the Pegasus Saint reluctantly stood down.

The others, however, did not hesitate so much. Joining the two Gold Saints, the Cygnus and Andromeda burned their cosmos, creating a multicolored bonfire that illuminated the valley they levitated above of. There was a side of Andromeda that wished to do something to save Alone, but at the very least they had to stop him from causing more harm right then and there. Shiryu's sacrifice demanded it.

Sage smiled with pride. "As you can see, Pandora, there are plenty of brave souls ready to stop you and your God. You will be sealed together with your brother and this carnage will come to an end."

Pandora, however, just cackled at the sight of their bravado. "What a troupe of lost-heads. Are you really that stupid to threaten the Emperor?! HA, HA, HA, HA!"

Dohko smiled tensely, his smugness countering his rage. "We very well might be, Pandora… especially after we got rid of your two generals!" he bragged. "Do you think Asmita and Rasgado's sacrifices were in vain?! They did far more than create a seal for you Specters or protect our brethren! We've rid the world of those two monsters you sent at us!"

The pale woman stared at the Libra, blinking her eyes in utter confusion.

Cait Sith covered his mouth with the back of his hand. "Oh, I think he means the Princes, milady! Does he not know?..." he mocked, snickering.

There was a blunt silence and the shaking of Pandora's amused shoulders. Even Alone seemed to smile confidently in agreement, something that sent a chill down the Saint's spine. "We killed those 'Princes' of yours… and you laugh?! Daemon is six feet under the ground and Dark Angel is having his soul crushed by Asmita's Shurakai right now!"

Gracefully combing her hair bangs, Pandora spoke. "Mm, mm, I've had enough of this theater, it's time to show you Saints why you lost your senses." She then snapped her fingers, causing her trident to crackle with sparks of darkness cosmos.

There was a great shattering sound, like a glass breaking. Phoenix Haisaku's eyes widened behind her mask, sensing her Dark Calling burning. "Dohko, watch out! Specters are coming!"

The flying platform they stood on shook, startling the Saints. Athena gasped and was held up protectively by Tenma. "Sasha, stay with me!"

Cracks of light began appearing in the air by Pandora's head, like a window breaking. A miasma of sludgy darkness also sprung from her shadow unto the floor, covering the ground of Talisman Cage's precinct with a black smog. Cait Sith took cover by the carriage and Pope Sage widened his eyes, sensing the presences about to form.

First it was the smog beneath her that puked out a gasping, caped figure with silver hair and red and black armor, Prince Lucifer of Pride himself. Then it was the air that shattered completely open, spitting out a golden-haired man with wings of black feathers and gray armor, who fell down to his hands as if tired.

The sight of both men made the Saints who had met them go pale. Pandora eyed them with contempt. "That was punishment enough for your missteps, Princes. Now stand and protect your Emperor."

The 7th senses of everyone present reeled, feeling the two black-hole like sources of hopelessness get their senses together and observing their surroundings. The two red-eyed men noticed each other first, sharing a glance of casual disdain, then Pandora, then the Emperor, and promptly stood up from their disgraceful states, stepping between Alone and the Golds.

The bat-helmeted man winced. "About damn time! Behemoth Violante always takes forever to transport others through her Shadow Sewing!" he then sneered at the Dark Angel. "And what about you?! Did you get your head lost in the clouds while flying out of Virgo's realm or something?!"

The dove-helmeted one shook his head, dizzy, and unfurled his wings as if dirty. "Shurakai was a harder place to leave than I thought. Gripping with the violence in my heart and shoving a fire sword in Virgo's was simple. The hard part was reporting to Lady Pandora." He returned Lucifer's disdainful look with a stare of superiority, noticing the state he was "But well,- at least I killed my Gold Saint cleanly."

The silver-haired man gritted teeth. "What is that supposed to mean?!"

Michael chuckled, pointing at his disheveled state. Lucifer's cape was covered in dirt, his armor had scratches all over and his face and arms were bruised. "Did Taurus really give you that much trouble? You should be ashamed of being in the Emperor's presence like that."

Cait Sith lurked around the Princes from a safe distance, grinning. "Zelos says that the Taurus Saint was no match for Lord Lucifer, Prince Michael, but he blew himself up at him! Poor Frog had to dig him out of the rubble for a while, hee, hee, hee!"

But the silver-haired man didn't take Right Arm's bait this time, raising his chin. "At least I didn't get brought here under Pandora's skirt, like a dog in need of punishment! I hope she taught you a painful lesson in that shadow of hers!"

Far more patient, the Dark Angel seemed at worst bemused by his comment. "Mm, mm, yes, she was harsh enough." He then gave him a genuine smile. "It's good to see you, too, Lucifer. Ready to join forces?"

Not taking his aim off Alone's head, Sisyphus widened his eyes when he saw his comrades relenting. "Everyone, what's wrong?! Who are these two?!"

Dohko sweated. "No… they were D-DEAD!"

Shiryu shook in Haisaku's arms. "I saw Dark Angel get pulled into Shurakai…"

The orange-haired woman herself tensed, feeling her tattoo burn. While she did not witness the battle at Jamir, she remembered the Princes from her days as Skeleton, and could guess very well why Saint Asmita's effort was in vain. "I'm afraid you cannot shatter the mind with crimes one does not see as such, Shiryu…"

Pandora cackled as she allowed the two Princes to stand gallantly before her. "Athena, allow me to introduce the end of your Saints! The Princes of the Underworld!"

The black-winged one put a hand on his hip. "Dark Angel Michael, Celestial Star of Absolutism, Right Arm of Hades!" he gallantly announced, standing protectively over Alone.

The black-caped one stood aside, folding arms. "Daemon Lucifer, Celestial Star of Pride. Left Arm of Hades." He lowlier sneered, eyeing the Libra Saint. "Mm, mm, mm… Are you shocked to see me, Libra?"

The tiger in golden armor shook in both fear and fury. All he could think about was Rasgado's punctured body, blowing itself up.

It delighted Alone. "I think you left him in a state of shock, Prince."

Lucifer proudly waved his arm past the smudges in his Surplice and the injuries and scratches in arms and face. "He should be… because it's going to take far more than his friend's suicide blast to take me down, my King!"

The Libra Gold Saint braced himself for combat. This had to be a nightmare. What in Athena's name was going on?! Not even a Judge could have survived that blast. The Bronze Saints around him were equally perplexed, knowing from back home the demise of Specters like Rhadamanthys to the full blast of a Gold Saint's suicide blast.

The sight of the two Princes back and in full health therefore filled them with dread. As brave youths of Athena, though, they all still burned their cosmos, ready to face the double threat.

But none more than the Libra Saint. "Lucifer… Daemon Lucifer!" Dohko hissed, feeling the name burned to his mind forever.

Haisaku sensed the rage in him. She knew exactly how dangerous these two were. "Dohko, don't! It's not worth it!" her head turned to the Goddess. "Athena, milady, please stop him!"

But even Sasha was powerless to impede the great tiger roar from coming out of the youth's mouth as his cosmos burned to the max, eyes fixed on the grinning Pride Star. The wrath of the Tiger God Byako himself could be felt in him as his fingers tensed into martial claws and his armor shined more than ever. "ROZAN!"

"End them." Alone commanded.

Dohko dashed forward and lunged his dragon punch. "RYU SHO!"

The two Princes gladly obliged, immediately igniting their cosmos as black as the depths of space itself. Daemon Lucifer in particular welcomed the battle, bracing his body to show Dohko once more the futility of his efforts. "Yes! Come, and meet your fate, Libra!"

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

Present

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

"Do you remember, Dohko? How you would think me ended, only to be proven wrong?" asked Lucifer, grinning, confronting the old man with some of his most painful old memories of the war. "Maybe it sprung to mind how it made some of us feel, fighting your student back then?"

Barely conscious, Lance stood quiet as he saw the Master beginning to sweat anxiously, planning what to do about this situation. He had no knowledge of the past between the Specter and Roshi, but it clearly affected his dear teacher.

The provocations continued. "In fact…Do you have any idea how glad I am to see you, Libra?" Lucifer asked, smiling with sheer anticipation. "Now I can finally avenge Michael, can't I?"

Dohko's expression darkened. "I take it that I won't be graced by his presence…"

"Does that comfort you, Dohko?" he asked. "You probably think that because you got rid of him, I shouldn't be a problem, right?"

The Libra Saint rubbed his beard. "Well, heh, heh… the thought crossed my mind."

Lucifer stepped forward menacingly. "You remember, don't you, the way you people murdered Michael? Lucifer hissed out, before letting out a longing sigh. "I supposed he let his guard down…."

"Did we now?" Dohko dared to ask, measuring his words.

Lucifer's eyes tensed. "Yes… not through sword, but through words." he clarified. The blade that cut off Michael's head came from Lucifer's hand, but the need for it was caused by someone else. "You in particular, Dohko, know how dangerous they are! I know you do! Because it was the same blasted way you murdered Kagaho."

Yet another crack of thunder. The tension in the area just seemed to increase more and more between the two relics of the bygone age, with Dohko struggling to stay calm and composed, but also with the threat at hand in mind. The wrong syllable could cost the destruction of Mount Rozan itself.

However, either Lucifer had witnessed the wrong events, or the centuries of brewing vengeance feelings had twisted his interpretation of the facts. "It was not by the action of any Saint that those two chose the path they did, Prince of Pride… It was by seeing a light you clearly still not have-"

"WRONG!" Lucifer roared, rivaling Seiryu himself in ferocity. "YOU and that treacherous, lying, unfaithful witch-cunt of your teacher and ALL your Bronze Saint friends twisted his mind around into a fucking pretzel! …" He then took a breath to recover his voice. "And before he knew it, he had his neck deep into Cocytus' ice, doomed to have his soul torn to shreds by Hades' hounds!"

Alraune stood back, startled. This was a lot of information to process, even for an underling of Lucifer who was privy to his secrets. Lemon knew they had to keep up appearances that they were still affiliated with Hades to the Saints, so they had to talk like they were still crusading for the Emperor, but this speech felt a heck of a lot more personal than Lemon had ever imagined from the Pride Star.

The red eyes closed longingly, remembering the loss of the best friend he ever truly had. "I won't make that mistake…" Lucifer vowed. His fist then rose up and tightened in the air to stress it. "I won't be done in like Michael was, especially not by you, your failure of a Pope and your petulant excuse for a Goddess! I've learned from his shortcomings! I spent these two hundred years making his weaknesses my strengths! For example, " he then laughed and looked at the Saint at Roshi's feet. "- I learned to make short work of your Bronze Saint students!"

Ma Chao growled in warning, as if reflecting Dohko's inner struggle to turn off Misopheta Menos and protect Lance with his life, but the old man stood still. The memory of Tenma tugged at his heart.

The devil could tell it did, from the frozen look in the old man. "Michael was always too merciful, wasn't he? Always too focused on second chances after the fire branding." The prince touched his proud chest. "As you'll soon see, though, Dohko… I'll be far more direct! No mercy,…no chance,… and especially no salvation…It will just end, plain and simple. And the best part?" Lucifer then smiled. "I got the help of one of the Gold Saints you people betrayed to do all of this, so Sanctuary will fall not just because of my greatness… but because of its own weakness and evil, too! Isn't that just perfect?"

Silence was given by the Master to allow this speech to settle in. Not only did he strangely feel like he did not want to interrupt someone who shared the pain of a long life with him, but Dohko sought to absorb every word the Specter said, knowing every letter to be important for him to understand what was going on.

He also noticed that the communication jamming was coming directly from Lucifer's cosmos itself, impeding Dohko from talking to Shion and warning him. The Specter wasn't bluffing; he was acting a lot more careful this era, playing his chess moves with intricate order, isolating Sanctuary's own from each other and targeting whoever he felt could be a threat to him on the level he had learned to fear back at the Lost Canvas War.

The Saint's habit of stroking his beard when thinking showed itself. "Mm…. You must have had that on your mind for over two hundred years, uh? I bet it felt good to say all of that." he acknowledged. "I also assume the Gold Saint you referred to was poor Priam, our former Sagittarius?"

A hand rested on his hip rather smugly from Lucifer's part. "Yes, on both accounts."

"Interesting…"

By Dohko's feet, the Pegasus Saint touched Roshi's leg. He seemed to be trying to get back up, but his injuries impeded him. "R-Roshi…I don't understand anything that's going on, but you can still move. I'll throw myself at them and you can run off their jamming area!" he appealed through his mental message. "S-Someone has to warn Sanctu-"

Dohko scoffed. "Ma Chao, sit!"

The tiger obeyed, dropping its huge weight right on top of Lance's, making the teenager cough his lung air out. "R-ROSHI, N-NO!"

"That's enough, Lance!" The Gold Saint's voice lambasted, invading his mind, causing the floored Saint to widen his eyes "You fought for long enough, and quite marvelously, but you must stay still for now. For now, you must accept defeat."

"Master Dohko!" Lance protested.

"Lucifer HAS to stay under the impression you are not a threat to him. This isn't something you have time to understand why right now, but he won't tolerate a Pegasus with the 7th sense to live." Dohko argued. His eyes then seemed to shake slightly. "And I will not tolerate losing a second one to him, either."

The Greek gasped incredulously.

"Lance, remember the journal." the Pegasus Cloth suddenly voiced.

With a mind weakened by the battle, the Bronze Saint still tried to. The armor was referring to the book they had ground at Dohko's house while cleaning it, back when Lance was still trying to figure out ways to defeat Tenma. Through it, he had discovered Tenma was Dohko's first student and that he shared red eyes with him, something that Lucifer also seemed to have. Making the Saint pause, the realization of something greater than himself going on came upon him.

Memories of the Pegasus Cloth's reaction and trying to retell Tenma's final moments also came. A sudden fear for his own life took over Lance and he stood incredibly still. Of course. Lucifer was the monstrous presence in Pegasus' memory that had murdered Tenma.

And now Dohko was gripping with the fear of having to relive it. "I…I understand, Roshi." Lance confirmed.

Breathing in relief, Dohko focused on the threat at hand. "Ma Chao, you can get off him now." He told the tiger through message. Animals actually understood human tone better through this method. He then readdressed the impatient Prince. "I wasn't present at the conflict that the young Saints are calling the… 'Third Civil War', Pride Star. I have also never met Priam. It breaks my heart, though, that a Gold Saint would hate Shion so much that he would side with you."

"Does it? Anyone should disregard him as the weakling that he is." Lucifer taunted. "Priam's alliance with me against Shion is only natural. Also, don't think so badly of my ally, hm, hm…. He's under the bizarre impression that even with his help I will fail."

"And fail you will, Pride Star." Dohko asserted

The Specter Prince gritted teeth. "…What?!"

But the old man did not misspeak and eyed the man's cursed orbs directly. "You are a good planner and you may have a grand army with you, but you constantly forget your biggest weakness; your inability to see past yourself." Dohko argued. His cane pointed at the Prince. "Like the sin of the Star you have been cursed with, you're only interested in your own greatness and your own ego. Even this return of yours, you've confessed already to be moved by vengeance."

There was a great tense stare from the Prince's part. "…You think you can try to talk down on me, you brat?"

The small purple head shook. "No, I just present to you a simple question. Tell me, Lucifer… in all these years that you've been lurking in the Underworld, waiting for the wheel of fate to turn, haven't you had more than enough time to think about why you lost?"

While the Pegasus and Alraune both feared that this would cause the Prince to erupt into another assault, the demi-millenarian Specter instead took pause and acknowledged Dohko's point. "Are you asking me if I learned nothing from my humiliation?" he sneered, fist tightening. "Oh yes, I have…"

Dohko lowered his cane, tapping the floor with it as if to signal the proving of his point. "And yet you're back, still doing Hades' bidding, still being his vicious attack hound." For some reason, the Alraune Specter by Lucifer's side smirked at this, causing Dohko to raise a brow. "Am I wrong?"

This was a bait, an obvious attempt to get critical info out of the arrogant Specters. More able to keep a secret than Lemon, Lucifer still couldn't help but rest his hand coyly. He honestly pondered what would be more worth it; the deliciousness of letting the Saints know he was off Hades' leash and causing them this much damage without a God's help, or preserving the tactical advantage of his secrecy?

Wise, but proud about not lying, the Prince picked the latter with some careful wording. "You're not. As I said, I learned a lot from Michael's pitiful ending… but perhaps that pain made me want to destroy you as much as anyone else, Dohko, mm, mm."

More and more intriguing. "So, you have enlightened yourself… I commend you, Daemon." Dohko praised, with complete honesty. One of the proudest moments of his life was the purification of Kagaho. "But you're still seeking vengeance from Sanctuary, and because of that, Daemon, you are a fool and will be destroyed!"

The Devil widened his eyes.

Alraune whipped his tendrils around. "Enough! We've wasted too much time here!" he briskly stepped forward. "If you won't kill them, Lucifer, I wi-" The backhand of the Daemon gauntlet then smashed itself on Alraune's face hard enough to floor the False Specter. "A-AGH!"

"You haven't learned, Lucifer! You are doomed and so are your men!" Dohko continued to accuse. "You continue to fight for selfish causes, seeking to make yourself a vain symbol of triumph over your enemies. Despite what happened in the last war, and all the years you had to do your homework, your mind is still just as much under the grip of the Celestial Star of Pride as ever!

The aura of the devil burned and he paced forward. "As opposed to you?! A pack of fools who sacrifice themselves body and soul for an absent, empty-headed Goddess?!" he roared. "I am about to become the rightful Master of your decadent temples, I will crucify your resistant soldiers one by one and I will make a spectacle of sitting on Shion's throne as I order his head NAILED to the Coliseum! Do you still think your Saint GALLANTRY to be mightier?!"

Dohko nodded. "Absolutely." He dared to counter, unwavering before Lucifer's approach. "Because as Saint we fight for far more than a laurel crown that you seem to think rightfully belongs to you, or to punish innocent people who have done nothing worse but live in the world the Gods have made for them… We fight for hope, something Specters have been brainwashed into thinking isn't worth doing anymore."

Towering over the dwarfish man and his tiger, the red-eyed Prince's aura was now a bonfire, ready to castigate the whole valley. "Perhaps I should cut down that hope then… starting with the head of your student!" The bonfire then concentrated down on his left arm, turning from purple to pure black. "Do you remember this sword, Dohko?"

The master nodded. It belonged to Dark Angel Michael. "It caused much suffering in the war, in a different hand. I'm surprised to see it in yours."

The cosmos extended itself into a longsword's length, similar to a Capricorn's Excalibur ray, but made up of a singing black flame. Lucifer held it at eye height. "One of the many treasures I inherited from Michael's demise, along with the duty to wipe the earth clean of you and Shion! Shall we say I start with this kid at your feet?!"

Dohko then saw the blade get lowered right down on Lance's neck. Ma Chao roared loudly in warning. It was now or never. "I warn you, Daemon Lucifer… step away from my student and leave this place, now."

The Prince scoffed. "Or what?!"

Just then and there, as Alraune got up from the floor, a huge green lightning bolt burst down from the clouds, striking the trunk large tree in the grove, tearing it in two and crashing down loudly on the waterfall lake, splashing water everywhere.

Lucifer saw this and paused in alarm.

Dohko's cosmos burned, illuminating his small body with a golden aura. "You forget where you are, Lucifer. This is Mount Rozan, the sacred home of the nature gods. The eyes of Seiryu have been upon you all from the moment your feet defiled it.… He has acknowledged Lance's efforts against you as honorable, given how you so cowardly fought him… and he has little taste for Hades' men."

The Alraune Specter rubbed his cheek and felt the winds growing stronger. "What the hell is going on here?!" He felt a strange sensation in the air, like a long, thick, unseen serpent body was coursing between the five of them. "Daemon, there's something here with us!"

Lucifer's teeth gritted. Powerful as he was, he was not foolish enough to fight a God. His blade turned to Dohko's neck. The Specter recognized the energy in the air from his old battles with Dragon Shiryu in the old war. "It's the Dragon Cloth, isn't it?! Make it leave, NOW!"

Dohko's eyes then shined with a golden light, making even Lucifer slightly anxious. His Chinese gi waved and his hat fluttered with the gentle energy of the watery cosmos. "You also forget me. So, for the last time, prince, I warn you –" His coarse voice rose in volume, his hat then flew away with the wind's force and his purple hands showed themselves, fingers tensed into tiger claws, the intimidating image of both a dragon and a tiger's faces projected into the background. "Turn that sword away from my neck, step away from my student and LEAVE THIS MOUNTAIN… or I will once more unleash the 'One Hundred Dragons of Rozan' that once DEFEATED you… and annihilate you off the face of the Earth again… for good!"

Lucifer seemed to stagger nervously with the mere mention of the technique that seemingly defeated him two centuries, hesitating to thrust his cosmos blade into the old man's neck. There was a moment of pause as thick as Styx slime between them, where old memories of his final battle with Dohko at the Third Prison came rushing back. He remembered the wrath of a Gold Saint driven to the edge, possessed by the Tiger God's fury, sending out barrage after barrage of lifeforce cosmos which nearly obliterated the Daemon Surplice and buried Lucifer almost as deep as Tartarus itself.

"No, this is different… I should just kill him NOW, Dragon Gods or no Dragon Gods!" the Prince pondered, not even acknowledged the presence of everyone else. "He's just a pathetic old midget! A failure of a warrior! I am the mighty Lucifer, preserved in my apex across time! And this is what I've been waiting for, to cause as much misery as possible to this decrepit… useless…" and as his thoughts turned to Dohko's current state, his heart calmed, weighing it more rationally against potentially incurring the wrath of a God with might rivaling that of Athena. "He's useless, isn't he?"

The witnesses saw the Flaming Sword get de-ignited and Lucifer stepping away, his cape fluttering in the wind as he turned from the Master.

Dohko's energy burned down and his breathing calmed. "Oof… it really worked!" he thanked the Goddess. "Heh, heh, heh… you had me scared for a moment that your memory was really that bad, Lucifer… and that you didn't remember my Hyaku Ryu Ha."

"That attack?" asked Lucifer, scoffing dismissively. "Don't make me laugh…Even though I owe a lot of scars in my body to it, somehow, I doubt you'll be able to unleash it with the same ferocity as before." He then turned to his underling. "Let's go Lemon!"

The Alraune Specter was agape. "WHAT?! After all this shit… we are just LEAVING?!"

The poisonous glare the Prince spared him silenced his protest. "We are going… and I will give Dohko the pleasure of living to feel the cosmos of everyone he holds dear at Sanctuary vanish off the cosmos like the light of dying stars! Especially Shion's!"

Dohko smiled coyly. "You make it sound like it will be so easy… You must have been planning this for a long time. I wonder if during that… if any of Sasha's words had time to reach your ears?"

The mere thought of being influenced by Athena was disgusting to the Prince. "I'm not a bleeding heart like Michael was." he answered before he and Alraune prepared to burst out of there at lightspeed. "And I have nothing more to share with you, Libra Dohko, except for this; the next time we see each other, I'll have your best friend's head on a platter!... Farewell!"

*Thoom* THOOM*

Dohko sighed in relief, seeing the air recoil from the two separate sonic booms caused by the Specters rocketing out of the Mountain, and sat next to the immobilized Lance.

"Farewell, Daemon Lucifer," he whispered towards the darkness from where Lucifer disappeared. He then turned to Lance. "I'm sorry, Lance, but this is going to hurt a little bit." Lance tried to move but he couldn't. He couldn't even see Dohko raising his cane before its tip poked his nape, causing a shock to fill his torso and sending him into a deep slumber. "You're probably exploding with questions. This will force you to rest until help arrives."

Dohko then focused on his 7th sense, discovering that the barrier Lucifer held up over the region still maintained itself. It seemed like Lucifer had no intention of letting the Old Master contact any of his allies just yet. Moreover, with the Specters back and so serious about an attack, there was no way Dohko could afford to turn off his heartbeat stilting to help the others or chase after Lucifer; with as little as they had to go by, the seal in Mount Rozan could be the only thing stopping a full-scale invasion right then. He had to wait until Lucifer left the area and raised the barrier, or for one of the nearby Gold Saints to enter its premises, to help reorganize a counter-attack.

Ma Chao rubbed its head on its owner's arm to comfort the Master, but Roshi's eyes stared at the waterfall, sensing Seiryu already cackling at him. Dear Goddess Athena, what would they do? How would they stop this threat? Painful flashbacks to Tenma's end returned to Dohko's heart. Saving Lance soothed it, but the terror of the upcoming conflict, and who headed it, gripped it nonetheless.

Daemon Lucifer...the man who killed a Godslayer.

His only choice was to wait and pray...and he had to prepare the Gold Saints for the battles that awaited them.

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Chapter End

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Next Chapter: Chapter 46 - Second Arc – Episode 11 - The Lamb, the Twin and the Watchdog

Writing Deadline: The chapter is already finished and undergoing beta-reading : )

Description: While Lucifer's attack on Mount Rozan is over, the cruel assault of the False Specter's on Sanctuary's lands in Asia and Africa continues. At Jamir, Ophiuchus Iaso finds the alchemy tower besieged by a silk-threading monster, while elsewhere in Tibet, countless run from the rampage of Deadly Beetle Gauromydas and Worm Samuel. Meanwhile, at Andromeda Island, Elda sneaks out of her hut to show Albiore something cool she stored at the Andromeda Temple…

Author's Note:

Alraune Lemon is a Specter of unremarkable etymology. I made up his name while I was an early-stage fanfiction writer at a time where a lot of yaoi SS fics were coming out, especially of Camus and Milo, so his name is a reference to the girl-oriented fics written at the time, which only barely ties into how the True Alraune is given the female-sounding name Queen.

Jenny: Very cool fact. I always wondered where his name came from. That makes perfect sense :p

I wasn't always the best writer ever.

Anyway, this chapter was originally a one-parter in Version 2, and Alraune Lemon didn't even participate in Lucifer's attack on Mount Rozan. The beats of the battle from that version of my fic are similar, though, with Lance putting up a futile struggle before Dohko inevitably interferes and scares Lucifer away, setting up the animosity between our main character and our main villain.

Ma Chao also wasn't there, but come on, I couldn't not have the Specters get pounced on by Dohko's pet tiger monster, Goldie-style : 3

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 or the Saint Seiya Reddit server, where you can get updates on Sho and ND directly, not to mention chat with me and many other English-speaking SS fans.