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.

53. 2A: Labyrinth of the Mind - 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:

-The fic is closing in on the 20,000 hits milestone! There is a special surprise reserved for the release of the next chapter to celebrate, so be sure to share and review the fic to help it grow more! : )

-An extra thank you to Jenny DeVic for the extended work in fixing this chapter. If you like my story, you'll love hers.

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Please enjoy and review (^_^

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"What a fantastic week. I've come across a whole QUARTET of future Gold Saints, more specifically, two pairs of siblings with a set of twins. Almost as if by fate itself, they were adopted into the Heart of Sasha's orphanage in the same year, and not only do they align with their zodiacs, but they exhibit tremendous talent for the cosmos at an extraordinarily young age. One of the twins even opened a gate to Another Dimension.

The other one, however,…. exhibits worrying signs. The maidens complain that what started as a child with some propensity to skip lessons and training to play with other children's toys has developed into consistently subversive behavior, where he disrupts classes, ignores sparring rules of the sport, and… attempts to take over the cafeteria with a piece of rope, twelve spoons and an entire container of minced meat. When asked about it, the child responded that he didn't understand why he had to listen to Maidens dumber than he was and that the cafeteria would be better off under his enlightened leadership of burgers and fries.

…In any case, I'm excited to integrate all four of them to Sanctuary, as well as introduce them to Capricorn Kirin, Aquarius Malta, and Taurus Daniel. Geminis are always a hassle, but the last one we had did fantastically well with his Path to the Cloth, and I hope that Akassius' advances will bring a brighter future to young Saga and Kanon.

Akassius may be one of the most extraordinary men in all of Sanctuary right now. Many deeply admire him. Many more deeply fear him. In my case, I'm not sure what to think. The years have made me more cynical in the sense that I more and more resemble the nobles of Sanctuary who can't help but perceive others by the political danger they represent. It's my constant worries for the stability of Sanctuary that poison my thoughts. I wonder if this is similar to what once drove Aspros mad.

Or perhaps the future of Sanctuary rests not with Geminis. The younger duo of brothers have promise, as well. One's still an infant, but his older brother has shown incredible signs of virtue and valor, having saved the life of two classmates picked for the Cloth from jealous boys. Will the new era be of Sagittarius, rather than Gemini? We shall see."

-Pope Arles III's thoughts regarding the new intake of Gold Saints, dated 1972

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The Past

1751, Lost Canvas War

Death Queen Island

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The two figures in shadowy armor landed on the ash-littered beach from their lightspeed travel bursts, welcomed by a hot breath of volcanic island wind as the shockwave of their arrival subsided. Bennu Kagaho, the Celestial Star of Violence, eyed the surroundings with fury, searching for their target, while Daemon Lucifer stepped towards the rockier innards of Death Queen Island, hating the feeling of sand on his pristine Surplice boots.

The Bennu eyed the far-off volcano spewing out streams of magma. It was not often that he found a place on the surface that so closely resembled his home in the Underworld. "Thank you for trusting me with this mission, Prince. I will not disappoint you!"

The prince climbed out of the beach into the first rocky rises and his cursed eyes surveyed the landscape. "I know you won't. I know vengeance's drive, Kagaho, and the two who have sinned against us will be present here. Keep to the ground! I'd hate to spoil our surprise."

The black-haired warrior obeyed, taking one last flight to catch up with his leader before marching along with him on the discrete ground. His brain was deadest on payback against Dohko's teacher, the hateful witch who struck his chest with her strange phoenix attack (*). Ever since he escaped from that humiliating battle with Sanctuary's Bronze Saints, the Bennu couldn't face Alone out of shame of failing him so miserably. He had set out to assist Lord Lucifer in the payback for Minos' death, and he had utterly failed, crawling back to Pandora's Palace with a wound on his heart.

(*) Chapter 39 Flashback

It was a strange attack. He was feeling pain over something that didn't even seem to scar his body in the slightest. Ever since then, however, his energy had fluctuated all over the place and he even started having nightmares about Sui, his dead little brother from before he became a Specter. Kagaho took solace in the fact that at least Rasgado paid for his insults, and now Lord Lucifer was giving him the perfect chance to completely redeem himself.

"Lord Lucifer, are you so sure the two Rozan heretics will be here?" he asked as they made their way along a dark, rising path between the edged rocks. "Yoma told me that after our attack Sanctuary locked itself down."

Pride Star laughed. "Don't listen to that top-hatted snake. That's what Sanctuary wants you to think. Our scouts report that Pegasus Tenma's party and Cancer Manigoldo have already been spotted in the forests of Pandora's Castle. Master Thanatos has sent Nasu Veronica to ambush them. As for Dohko and that traitor Haisaku… Let's just say we didn't leave Zelos behind for nothing."

Kagaho's eyes widened. The Frog Specter was one of the most useless and reviled Specters. "Zelos?! He's our mole?!"

Lucifer nodded. "If there's one thing that hunchbacked worm is good for, it's eavesdropping. Sanctuary could lock him in Cape Sounion itself and he'd probably overhear along the way where they keep Poseidon's damn trident hidden. The rest is a matter of having the right person delivering him his prison meals…" he detailed. "It just so happens that he saw Tenma being snuck out of prison. After that, we simply followed the boy's trail to Phoenix, Cygnus, and Libra."

The Violent Star's body burned with energy at the mention of the one-eyed Bronze Saint, who tried to freeze him to death, his lips unable to contain an anxious smirk for battle. "Excellent!"

This was another fantastic example, to Kagaho, of why Lucifer was the superior Prince. While Dark Angel Michael insisted on combating the basic nature of the Specters and urging them to strive for better, Lord Lucifer saw the value of each one of their evils. Prince Michael would probably try to make something out of Zelos that the vile worm could not possibly ever be, but Lord Lucifer, on the other hand, simply took that vileness and used it to the Specter's advantage.

The Bennu took the lead and looked for trails. As he did so, his head turned. "What?..."

Lucifer noticed this. "What is it?"

The lower Specter blinked, trying to find the source of the whispers he thought he heard. "Apologies… it was nothing," and he moved on. This was an important mission.

He had not awoken in time to witness the tumultuous battles in Sanctuary of two years prior. It was when Lord Aiacos, still drunk on his earthly persona of Crateris Suikyo, and the False Specters filling in, were invading Sanctuary intending to take Athena's head. The failure of the battle was on such a scale that it encouraged Pandora to withhold direct assaults on Greece until after all 108 of the true Specters were fully resurrected. It just served to show that you don't send a replacement to do a real Specter's job.

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Deeper inside the island, right by the rise of the main volcano, the odd quartet of Saints, consisting of Andromeda, Cygnus, Haisaku, and Dohko, already made their way up the central mountain. There, they took a winding, rocky road of smoldering ground, breathing in air that was riddled with embers, ash and sulphur while sweating under the protection of their armors.

The pink-armored Saint looked up at their destination, a cavern way up in the mountain that allegedly led to the inner furnace of the volcano. They still had such a long way ahead. "It's so hot… It's even worse than I remember."

Dohko eyed them weirdly. "When have you ever been here, Shun?"

The green-haired boy staggered. "Oh, umm… my brother Ikki once took me here," he said. It was kind of true.

His white-armored friend behind him practically melted like ice. "It's been a while since that, though, not since Saga sank the damn place… or rather until he will sink it."

Andromeda chuckled a bit. "It is a bit weird that we have to look at it that way."

The blonde Bronze Saint wiped his forehead. He hadn't been in such a warm place since he battled Hagen, the Sleipnir God Warrior, who literally shot lava at him. "How long until our destination, Saint Haisaku?"

The alleged Phoenix Saint led on, using her sheathed sword to help her get over the rising rocks. She felt forced to leave her cherry wood cane back at Rozan for fear of it burning up on the island. "Not much more. I understand it is very hot, but it's only in these types of places that you can store most resting Cloths."

Assuming they were getting his teacher's Phoenix armor back, Dohko held his chin in reflection. "Considering Ikki showed up at Sanctuary with it during Suikyo's attack, though… I have to wonder if Phoenix is still really here, sensei."

Strangely enough, though, Haisaku didn't address this point. She just kept walking.

At this point, the Cygnus Bronze Saint saw the mouth of the volcano spill out a larger round of meteoric barf, raining huge chunks of hot rock that punished the island's landscape further, morphing its geography in real-time. "Well, in any case, we can't just wait around here. Death Queen Island looks even more dangerous than I remember it."

Dohko's eyes darted. "We're exposed, too. Death Queen Island is literally on the other side of the planet from Sasha's protection and Sanctuary is currently on lockdown. If Specters were to show up… the chance of getting timely reinforcements are close to zero."

Cygnus scoffed. "We're not the type to fear risking our lives, Saint Dohko."

The Libra nodded. He had seen plenty of proof of this. "Ah, you kids are amazing, you know that?" he confessed. He wished he had one hundred Bronzes like these two.

Haisaku shook her head. "Don't worry, Dohko, before we left, I asked for an extra hand."

Cygnus blinked his one eye. "An extra hand?... Who?"

She stopped to elaborate. "Someone who knows environments like this one. Someone the Specters won't be counting on."

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Stalking the trail left behind by the Saints of Athena, Kagaho led the Prince through the heated, morphing landscape of Death Queen Island. He tried to be expedient, for he feared losing the tracks of their prey, as the streaming courses of lava combined with the constant shower of fire colliding with the ground seemed to be constantly morphing the island's appearance, threatening to lead the two Specters down a maze of basalt should one of them not take flight.

Admittedly, Lucifer was not the greatest tracker. He preferred to encounter the enemy on the open field after the preparatory work of subversion, manipulation, and outmaneuvering that he excelled at, usually backed by a large number of underlings to take care of the enemy chaff. Kagaho, on the other hand, who was very independent, excelled in finding his enemies like an Egyptian bird of prey surveying the desert for rabbit. As soon as the Celestial Violent Star uncovered the first imprint of cosmos from the Saints, he just sped off towards the correct path.

However, all of a sudden, Kagaho paused and grabbed his chest, feeling a migraine. "Urgh…"

The merciless prince saw this. "What's wrong with you today?!"

Kagaho tried to excuse himself, but as he stood up, he saw flashes of red and orange inundate his sight and he gasped. A screeching sound was felt very briefly, the invisible wound on his chest burned and the island seemed to spin around him. He could swear that for a brief moment, he saw before him a strange, basalt shrine.

It held a box over its dias, like a Saint's Cloth rest, and a soft, female voice whispered his name to him. "Kagaho…!"

The Specter froze completely, feeling his world funnel around him at the sight of the shrine. "I…"

The shrine burned up as if a large furnace was set alight around it, and the whispers grew louder. The horrible sensation of someone reaching out to him was felt. "Save me, Kagaho…!"

He shook his head and gasped!

It was gone!

Only Lord Lucifer stood next to him with a quizzical expression.

The warrior quickly excused himself. "N-Nothing! I feel a bit ill… that witch must have cursed me or something!"

"Get your act together or I'll fix that with a round of Eternal Darkness!" Lucifer warned.

The brave warrior nodded, furious with his weakness. Eventually, the winged Specter looked up and pointed at a curve on the terrain depression that led up the volcano's rise. "Through here! We'll be able to mount our ambush further up, Lord Lucifer!"

"Perfect!" the Pride Star commented. "Keep your cosmos down. I want to find out exactly where they are going and what they intend with this island."

"Is this not where the Phoenix Bronze Cloth is stored?" Kagaho questioned.

The Daemon shifted eyes, suspicious of the location. "Yes, but something about the idea of them being here just for that doesn't feel right. When Aiacos and the replacements attacked Sanctuary two years ago, Vermeer battled a male Phoenix Bronze Saint on Yomotsu Hirasaka. Now we have that Skeleton traitor claiming that she is the Phoenix Saint, instead. I'm thinking that if they wanted to get that armor, they would have gone after Vermeer's killers instead."

It was unlikely that the Phoenix Cloth was just stored away on its vulnerable home with two whole active Saints of it running around. Still, the Saints headed for the volcano's mouth, likely to get some sort of important edge on the Specters, as they were running a great risk for it, and Kagaho couldn't think of a more important armor to have against Specters than one that literally defied death itself.

And as if his very thoughts sprung it, a torrent of fire burst on the path ahead!

Kagaho guarded himself. He saw boulders ripped apart and lava being spat out from the force. "Lord Lucifer, watch out!"

Covering himself with his black cape, the Daemon Specter bashed away the shower of fire that fell on him with a cosmic swipe of his arm. "An eruption?!"

"Mm, mm, mm! Specters are not welcome on this island. It's a place of death and renewal, not stagnation!"

The Pride Star's 7th sense felt an intense shearing of cosmos in the flames. "WHO'S THERE?!"

Kagaho landed with rising defensive cosmos, widening his mesmerizing eyes at the force he felt, which was like that of an intense, vicious murder intent emerging from the flames. The Specter felt as if the cold hands of Phobos himself gripped him. "A Saint of Athena?! … It can't be! This cosmos is like… a demon's!"

A mighty roar like a volcanic explosion was heard! The flames expanded like widening curtains, and soon enough a tall, thin silhouette was seen coming out of its center, like an emerging creature.

A thick, confident voice sounded from the flames. "I feel… a kindred spirit! A winged being of fire! Mm, mm, this island will be happy to see you thrown into its lava!"

Kagaho irked, stepping back before the overwhelming presence he sensed emerging. He immediately charged a Crucify Ankh, forming black flames in his hands! "SHOW YOURSELF!" he challenged, bracing himself for what was likely the enemy. "ARE YOU THE PHOENIX SAINT?!"

A leg stepped out of the fire, followed by a body charred dark by the flames of hell. A mouth of steaming hungry fangs appeared, hot breath inhaled the air out of the fires like a beast out of its cage and a large mane of grey hair flowed down the man's back. The chest was scarred all over by old wounds of battle, training, and magma, and the eyes carried in them a madness befitting of the island of death.

The very island shook with the fiery cosmos he emanated.

Yet, this was not a local. Standing before the two mighty Specters, the stranger stood straight with a confident, carnivorous grin and presented himself. "Ah, ah, AH! No, I'm afraid I'm not a weakling Bronze Saint like that for you to prey on, Specters! My name is Defteros!... And I am a servant of hell itself, not Athena!"

The Celestial Violent Star gritted in shock but braced himself for combat. He sensed an incredible strength from this man who, despite lacking armor, seemed to surpass Rasgado in cosmos. Even Death Queen Island seemed to shake with his presence, as the air felt twisted around the man like he stepped out from a different, more horrible reality.

But the more powerful and experienced Pride Star merely scoffed. "The Gemini exile? I see… You're the castaway loser from Sanctuary!" he recalled, knowing well about Mephistopheles Yoma's machinations. "Aren't you supposed to be forgotten off some other island?!"

The grey-haired man happily explained. "A little firebird told me I could feast on some rotten corpses here if I left my lava baths in Kanon Island. From the looks of it… I was not lied to. SO -" His hands then burned with bright, golden cosmos, his teeth snarled, and he hunched over in preparation for his assault. "- WHICH ONE OF YOU SPECTERS WILL I TASTE THE FLESH OF FIRST?!"

Lucifer responded in kind, summoning his peerless dark aura and tensing his battle pose. As soon as the energy collided with that radiating from Defteros, the skies became darker and the image of two opposing devils snarling at one another manifested itself, drowning out Kagaho's presence!

"AH, so the madness of the Third House continues to this day! But I'll show you what a true demon is like!" Lucifer mocked, before instructing his soldier. "KAGAHO, I'll hand over the pleasure of killing Dohko to you! Fly up and stop those Saints from getting whatever they're after!"

Filled with confidence and the desire for payback, Kagaho thanked the Prince with a nod. "RIGHT AWAY!" and his dark metal wings flapped, taking him off at tremendous speed into the sky.

Defteros laughed and leaped high into the air, appearing before Kagaho. "AH, AH, AH! DO YOU THINK THIS WILL TAKE LONG, SPECTER?! GALAXIAN- " and he joined his burning hands together, blinding the Daemon Specter. "- EXPLOSION!"

Taken by surprise by the speed of the technique's casting, Daemon Lucifer crossed arms, and the Daemon was struck with the cataclysmic move, blasted all over the body with wave after wave of hyper-accelerated cosmos of destruction.

Lucifer screamed.

The surrounding environment was ripped apart, with rock edges instantly disintegrating and a long cratering trail being ripped across the battlefield, smashing the Pride Star against far off basalt boulders before exploding in a shower of golden light, spreading smoke and rubble everywhere!

Kagaho stopped momentarily in the air, paralyzed by the destruction he just witnessed. Remembering his faith in his lord, though, he gritted his teeth and moved on, intent on exacting vengeance on Dohko.

Meanwhile, Defteros cackled. "AH, AH, AH, AH! You took that attack pretty well, Specter! Don't die too soon, though… I will enjoy showing you all the horrors I can unleash!"

The sound of rocks being ripped apart by an angry Daemon was heard before a final, larger boulder was kicked right off into the air, releasing a maddened, ruffled Pride Star from its weight.

But Defteros's aura burned once more, forming new stars in his hands. "Galaxian…"

The Specter sneered angrily as he got up and faced the incoming attack. This pathetic outcast was mistaken if the Left Arm of Hades would be defeated so easily!

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The Present

Gemini Temple

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Faced with the enemy leader, Kanon was truly unsure what would happen now, in more than one way.

He had been wondering for a while what all the commotion was about. Hidden in the confines of the Third House like a man in an iron mask, the younger brother of Saga was known to exist by very few since the day Saga and Aiolos were inducted into the Golden Zodiac. That night, however, one of those select few awoke him with a panic, secretly transmitting him updates of what was going on so that he would be safe and know to hide.

"Blessed Aiolos, who treats me so much better than even my brother." Kanon sighed mentally. "If only he wasn't as equally ashamed as Saga of how 'blunt' I am."

Said bluntness had contributed to his decision to not just sit back in the shadow like he was usually supposed to do. Specters and Skeletons were moving up his House and Kanon would not tolerate that, at least without claiming a few as a tribute.

He intended to toy around with the enemy a little and then let them move on, as he was interested in knowing what would come out of Shaka encountering a real challenge. He would kill one Skeleton, send another to the quantum dimension, startle a bunch of others, but perhaps he had played with his food a little too much.

The Daemon Specter, strangely insightful, now had detected him, singling Kanon out of the dark as if he knew the House, or rather the shadows, like the back of his Damascus gauntlet.

The air between the two Geminis at the Third Temple was tense like a knife, like two felines meeting in the disputed territory. Aged and experienced as he was, Lucifer's instincts were on red alert, for while the blue-haired teenager who stood before him looked even younger than Dohko's ill-lucked student, the Specter sensed an incredible menace hidden behind his confident smirk, which was like a snake who knew you had looked at its hypnotizing eyes.

The Daemon Specter was also fully aware of the cursed Saints of Gemini. They were often the most dangerous and unpredictable, taking many different forms and often possessing incredible powers and lack of scruples. Determining the nature the curse took this era could give him an edge on this enemy.

He needed to find out more about this twin, then.

"You said your name was Kanon?" Lucifer began, wary that he was likely encountering a manipulator as skilled as himself. His fist clenched with a soft cosmos burn. "It is good that you say yourself the more honest Gemini… I detest lying. Will you only speak the truth, then?"

Kanon chuckled amusedly. "Should we play riddles so you can figure it out? You'll get no lies from me, Specter. There was a lot of honesty in the way I lured your men into the doom of unknown stretches of the Cosmos." He mused provocatively. "I told them they would pay for violating the sanctity of my House, and they did."

While a slight singe was felt in his pride at losing manpower to this arrogant runt, Lucifer suppressed it. "So that's what happened? Were you intending of extending the courtesy to me?"

The youth held his hands behind his back relaxedly. "…Perhaps."

Darkness immediately brewed out of Lucifer's aura, expressing the offense he took. "You seem awfully calm for someone about to die."

Kanon hid his nervousness about the energy that was just released and blinked. "About to die?... Why should I be? We both know that will not happen, don't we?" he challenged the Specter. "Not only because it's not like I'd let you kill me… but because I have to good an offer to make you."

The red-eyed Specter lightly snorted, seeing a film he had watched a thousand times being screened once more. There it was, the curse of Gemini in full. Since he was born in the same Zodiac, Lucian had always paid extra attention to the history of the likes of Aspros and Abel and, more recently, Akassius. Therefore, the Specter knew very well the tragedies surrounding Saints of Gemini and the kind of destruction it could lead to.

Said tragedy, however, could lead to incredible potential. It was a lesson that Mephistopheles Yona and Sagittarius Priam both learned the hard way as Aspros and Akassius respectively showed them the horrors of a conquered Path of the Gemini Cloth.

Perhaps unwisely, Lucifer feigned ignorance and bit the bait. "…You would betray your own?"

Kanon sighed lamentably. "It depends on who you see as your own, does it not? Unlike my brother, I was not made to swear an oath to get a shiny new armor. I am free to ask for friendship with who I want."

The darkness previously summoned now swollen to a large miasma of outreaching hands, the owner's eyes shining a brighter red. "So you kill my men and now you seek barter?!"

Again, the young Gemini had the upper hand. "Who says I killed them?"

Lucifer staggered.

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(?)

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The party of Skeletons that accompanied Lucifer inside the rightmost temple marched on, following his instructions to the letter of keeping their eyes on the ground and hands on the guiding cord, letting their 7th senses guide them. They had been running for a bit, though, and all traces of their leader's cosmos had been left behind beyond the reach of their senses. Many grew increasingly concerned they fell into another horrible space trap.

However, soon enough one of them detected an uplifting sign. "I feel fresh air on my face!" he incited, smiling. "Faster! We're almost out!"

The others were skeptical. "I still can't contact Ainsel!" one protested.

"It doesn't matter! We either run out of here or stay in this horrible dimension!" the one ahead urged. He then noticed the ground he stared at grew alight and he looked up. "Finally, an exit!"

The Skeleton Soldiers all cheered and looked up when a large set of wooden doors beneath an engraving of contrasting angles was encountered. Without releasing the cord, they rushed ahead and charged right through it, bashing open the gates with a loud metal breaking off the hinges. "FINALLY, we are o-"

The forward Skeletons gasped and halted, the forward one screeching his heel and being immediately almost piled on by his rushing friends. They saw piles of burning wooden toys, ripped up flags of a familiar symbol of a curved V, and many familiar, dumbfounded faces before them.

The Skeletons left behind by Lucifer at the Aries Temple all stared back, interrupted from their guarding affairs. "What the…"

The Gemini Temple Skeletons got their bearings. "What are you…. guys doing up here?"

"Out of my way!" The Aries Temple's lieutenant yelled at his soldiers, before pointing at the Gemini ones. "We could ask you the same thing! Why the fuck did you get down here?! Where's the PRINCE?! You're all supposed to be halfway through to Cancer by now!"

"WE WERE JUST AT GEMINI!" the arriving Skeletons protested, utterly dumbfounded. What was going on anymore?! He turned to the cord. "See?! We have this rop-… Oh…"

The Skeletons all stood aback from the door they came from, horrified, and many gasps were heard from the Aries occupier themselves. The long steel cord they had been pulling along to avoid getting bent over to the same path they've already crossed was now trailing from what looked like a gigantic pathway to Another Dimension. Instead of the stairs to the Temple of Taurus, the occupiers of the First House saw instead what seemed like a huge glass window of a spaceship encapsulating the width and height of the broken doorway, showing a terrifying galactic expanse of stars, comets, and cold, cold darkness.

They stepped away, unable to process in their brains that they had somehow walked from the place they stared at, their throats tightening and the air feeling colder. Then, suddenly, the huge broken doorways creaked and raised back into their hinges, the snapped nails fixing back into place by a mysterious cosmos, before the door gates loudly banged close, moved by an unseen force.

Nervously, one of the soldiers turned the repaired handle down and opened the door.

They all felt the hairs on their nape stand up when the stairs to the Taurus Temple stood before them once more. As if to confirm the reality of the situation, the echoes, quakes, and blasts of the battle between Behemoth Torak and Taurus Aldebaran resumed themselves.

"….What the fuck?!" one gasped.

"The damn House sent us back to square one!" another realized. "What's going to happen to the Prince?!"

The Aries Skeleton lieutenant was infuriated, raising his fist. "You're telling me you abandoned Lord Pride Star up there?!"

"It's not our fault, there are weird space loops in the third House like back in the Priso-… HEY!" the Gemini Skeleton then looked around. "Wait a damn minute!... If we abandoned the Prince, then tell me, what the hell happened to Lord Cyclops?!"

The lieutenant staggered. Many of his men pretended they never made a fuss and went back on patrolling.

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Chapter 52

Second Arc

Episode 17

The Labyrinth of the Mind

Part 2 of 2

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Aretias Forest

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The transfigured False Specter slowly turned to Cerah, his hungry gaze shining beneath the shadow of his reinforced helmet. The Eye of Arges burned with new light, but rather than peering through Cerah's soul, its cosmos instead flared like an evil spirit, the purple aura covering the warrior seemingly coming from it. The Specter's grip on the intimidating mace of the flanged head, the contact between it and the ground seemingly causing cracks on the dirt to fissure up. He took a step towards the Corvus Saint as his mouth let out a hot, hungry breath, heated by the monstrous energy that now cursed through his veins.

A word came out of it. "Alone…"

Cerah staggered. "What?!"

The giant gritted his teeth. "That filthy, faggot painter Alone!... ALONE!" he roared, swinging his mace aside, causing an entire sector of the forest to be uprooted right off the ground, forcing Crane Yushira to leap away. The man roared to the skies in lament, memories of the last war returning to him. "How DARE HE!"

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These were his freshest memories.

The war was nearing its end. Minos and Aiacos had fallen and the surviving Specters, including those that managed to be revived early on before the 108 beads were crafted, had been gathered before Alone at the Lost Canvas fortress inner sanctum. Cyclops Gigant was among them. He had been killed by Libra Dohko while searching for Alone three years earlier, and now he stood before his God at the Lost Canvas among many of his friends, even Prince Michael. The only ones not present were the ones picked to defend the Lost Canvas Temples, like Yoma, Rune, Kagaho and Rhadamanthys.

But though they kneeled before Alone, they had been returned the favor with bloodshed. Gigant vomited out blood and fell to his hands and knees.

"S-STOP IT!" Michael roared, reaching for the God. "STOP IT NOW, ALONE!"

But the God was uncaring, revealing painting after painting that he individually made of each one of his lower Specters. The Cyclops Specter reach out desperately, but he couldn't even speak, feeling the reaper's invisible arms wrap around him. "D-Damn you, A-Alone!"

With tears of blood, Michael turned the vessel of Hades around and pinned him against the wall. "WHY?! They all dedicated their lives to you! They fought Sanctuary to bring your vision to light!"

Alone smiled warmly. "Yes… and I'm extending them my boundless gratitude and love…" and he cupped the horrified Dark Prince's cheeks. "You understand, don't you, Michael? You're my 'closest to god', after all? Now my Specters will finally be happy…"

But the Celestial Absolute Star was distraught. He looked over and saw Cyclops was the only one still clinging to life among a pile of Specter corpses.

As the darkness crept up Gigant's eyes, his hand reached out for the idol of all the Specters. "P-Prince…. H-help me!" he begged. "S-Save Hades! KILL A-Alo- gah!"

And he fell, losing strength in his body. He could barely make out more shouting between Michael and Alone before the effects of the painter's betrayal finally settled on him, ending the Terrestrial Mayhem Star.

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

The warrior roared out to the moon, turning it red with his wrath, bellowing out the rage he accumulated in death and sending chills down the spines of everyone around him.

"Even the Prince was betrayed by Alone…HOW DARE HE?!" he shouted, his wrath releasing air currents everywhere.

Cerah guarded herself and was pushed back by the currents, stunned. Even the man's voice seemed different. Everything about him told her he was no longer the False Specter whose brother she murdered in combat, but someone much more dangerous, much more in tune with the Surplice on his shoulders.

"Okay, what the hell is happening?!" Yushira demanded to know. "Why does his armor look like it was put on steroids?!"

Though she could not express it, Cerah felt like she probably could ascertain this. "Who are you?! What's your name?!"

The Specter finally stopped his uproar, his attention called. Though he had smelled her flesh, he seemed to be only noticing her presence now. "… You don't know? I'm the Terrestrial Mayhem Star, CYCLOPS GIGANT!" he announced, unleashing a burst of his aura.

The Corvus knight widened her eyes. "It cannot be…! The real Specter has been called unto this body?!" she realized. "That means the Star burns with him fully! It must be the source of this transformation!"

But the Specter himself was even more confused. As he got his bearings of his surroundings, he realized he was not in the Underworld, and the body he inhabited felt unfamiliar.

"It's strange… I went to bed tonight as a peasant in Vinkovci…I feel like I was sleeping very deeply, more so than ever in my life, and then Hades himself came to me, calling me for battle, saying it was time for me to wear my armor again! I must have spent another peace cycle dead, but…" he then looked at his hands and weapons as more memories returned to him. He lacked the farming scars and did not recognize the height his eyes were from the ground. "These are not my arms…Did I leave my body behind to inhabit 'this'?"

Yushira observed the Specter, who looked over his own body rather weirdly. "He looks confused. We should attack! If we can get him to follow us like we were doing inititally, I can lead him to my tr-"

Cerah signaled her not to. "Wait! Not yet!" and she then turned to the Cyclops and feigned ignorance. "Are you one of the Specters attacking Sanctuary?! You mentioned a Prince!"

Gigant focused back on her. "A Prince?..." and his 7th sense expanded, allowing him to realize he was in Sanctuary. His Eye of Arges burned and he saw many unfamiliar bodies, but one lost in a strange amalgamation of cosmos at the Third Temple of Sanctuary stood out. "That body frame… Prince Lucifer! He must know what's going on!"

Yushira jumped out of her tree, revealing herself to the Specter. "I'd fall back to your boss if I were you!"

"Why the hell should I do that?!" the Cyclops asked, insulted. Somehow he had not noticed this woman earlier, but it didn't matter.

"You're on your own, stepping on sacred Amazon ground! Go any further and we will kill you!" the black-haired warrioress warned.

The Specter scoffed. He was no fool. The last thing he wanted was a bunch of angry mother-cats luring him into a trap in the dark forests he saw, even if he felt strangely strong in this new Cyclops Surplice. The one in front of him wasn't wearing a mask, but Gigant wasn't the type to question the habits of females too stupid to leave the battlefield to men.

"Lord Lucifer is assaulting Sanctuary. He must be in a great battle that requires my assistance, then. Why would Lord hades bless him with my awakening otherwise, then? I'll come back later to burn this blasted forest to the ground once I don't have to worry about golden arrows in my head…" The two looked like a pair of cowards who weren't worth his time. "Fine, Saints… I don't have time to waste with Bronze-ranked pissants anyway!"

Yushira then saw, amazed, as the Cyclops somberly walked away. "Holy shit, he fell for it! How the heck did I manage that?!"

Cerah blinked, also finding the Specter strangely cordial. "I'm… not sure. I think he's… stupid?"

Cyclops Gigant took a few clumsy steps towards the mountain, not used to these muscles he inhabited. Still, his hunger was strong, and he would enjoy smashing a few Saint heads on the marble steps of the Zodiac until his body gave up. He cracked his neck in anticipation and tried to focus on his Dark Calling, the magical force connecting all True Specters that drew them to their destiny as servants of the Emperor. With it, he would get a better bearing of what was going on than his locked 7th sense could.

As soon as he did, though, a voice came through.

"Now, that won't do, will it, Gigant?"

He suddenly stopped, feeling an echo strangely close. His head turned to the stars. This unmistakable voice? "…Lord Hades?"

"Yes, it's me." The soft voice continued, and the gentle embrace of a caring deity was somehow felt by the armored man. "It's been so long, but you haven't forgotten me, have you?"

All the two girls saw was the Specter stiff up and gasping. "What's wrong with him?" Yushira asked.

The mace-wielding giant stepped forward. "No, Lord Hades, NEVER!"

A loving chuckle was heard in his head. "Of course… I knew you wouldn't. It's why I woke you up in this… replacement's body. It's only for a short while, though. In the meantime, I have a task for you."

Gigant's head lowered. "Anything you wish, my Lord! Do you want me to go help Lord Lucifer with his battle?!"

Cerah stepped back nervously, observing the Cyclops' silent gestures. She didn't like this one bit. There was a whisper in the air she could not decipher. It reminded her of the moment that Hades' evil spell attacked Eurydice, blinding her.

"…No, Gigant. My Left Arm doesn't require your assistance. I trust him to do his job." Hades assured. "But I have something for you, that only you can do."

"Yes, Emperor! What is it?!"

"Mm, mm… Something was taken from poor Michael. Just listen to the Calling. Search for your Prince. You'll know what it is…"

The Terrestrial Mayhem Star ceased to hear the voice. He relaxed and focused on his Dark Calling once more.

His head turned to Cerah, who froze.

"Uh oh." Yushira gulped.

Gigant gritted teeth. "You!... W-Why do you have that?!" he thought, bewildered.

There was no mistake! The Dark Calling of Prince Michael himself was coming from the girl, or rather something in her pockets! What happened to the man who defended him from Alone?

Tensing his grip on his mace, he angrily marched towards her. "YOU!... GIVE ME THAT!"

Cerah burned her cosmos, ready for a new battle. She was still sore from the techniques she cast earlier. "D-Darn it!"

His blood-red cosmos burned all over, turning his steps into mammoth gallops that cracked the ground and shook the hair. "YOU THIEF! I'LL SMASH YOU IN THE GROUND AND RIP OFF YOUR HEAD!" he roared, raising his mace and shield.

But her cosmos exploded, reaching high silver-ranked levels, the shine of her light blinding the Specter, who staggered, and the girl took the initiative, leaping at the man's head with a determined narrowing of eyes and raised fist. "PRISMATIC SHOT!"

Screaming in pain, the Cyclops staggered with the blinding light!

Within fractions of a second, the girl then swung the orb of light in her hand. "TIMES TEN!" and the punch landed on the Specter's elf-winged helmet with the bursting force of the refracted rays it fired, exploding in a shower of light.

Cyclops' head jerked back.

Cerah irked in pain, feeling her gauntlet crack against the hardened head protection.

And in the last fractions of that second, before she could even understand what happened, the giant swung back his burning arm, striking her slender body with the flanged head of the mace so hard that her entire world cracked. Her torso screamed in pain and her body shot off him at a supersonic speed, blasting through trees, dirt, rock, and bushes with rolling ferocity, the shockwave of the mace swing ripping apart the air and breaking the landscape before him with geysers of force that smashed Cerah further against the obstacles.

The Corvus Knight finally collided with a tree thick enough to absorb the rest of her body's flying force, falling back to the ground.

Yushira practically flew among the trees, seeing her bloody and injured. "C-CERAH!"

The Cyclops wheezed like a mad dog, sensing the feather of his long-dead idol in the unmasked Saint's possession. He knew not how she came to possess it and did not care! He would use this power granted to him by Hades to teach this Saint the price of taking Surplice parts as prizes!

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

Gemini Temple

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

Kanon was clearly playing with fire. The man before him was visibly powerful, judging not only from the dripping of dark cosmos off the black cape as well as from the readings he has been getting all night from the battles involving Aldebaran, as well as the insane hail-Mary nuke arrow Aiolos shot at him that the Daemon had somehow walked out of with minimal damage. One wrong move could get him on the silver-haired man's bad side and be promptly destroyed.

"You're an ambitious man, Specter. You will need every pair of arms you can get to make it out of this place," Kanon reminded him. "When you walked inside this Temple I had to make sure you'd see reason and not rashly decide to kill me, should you find me. Targeting the soldiers you depend on was the obvious move."

The silver-haired man tensely faced him. "Alright… Let's say you're telling the truth for a moment, kid." he granted. "If you desired, you could have employed all of your powers to send me to some sort of forgotten shadow of the universe beyond hope of rescue, right? What is that you're hoping to get here then?"

Kanon shrugged. "It's simple. I want you to go ahead and kill the old man."

A beat of silence gave off the surprise in the Specter. This couldn't be it. "…Are you joking?"

The youth shook his head. "Absolutely not. I'm being one hundred percent direct. Go ahead and kill Arles. I want him gone."

A look of incredulity was all that was seen on the enemy's red eyes.

Seeing the Specter was still incredulous, Kanon sighed through his nose. He couldn't blame him; he expected this kind of reaction from everyone who heard him badmouth Arles, especially Saga. By contrast, Kanon hated how he was expected to be happy about the way Arles ran things just because he's the nice old grandpa to all the kids he put in charge.

The younger twin, however, saw beyond that and explained himself further. "I have a brother that should be in his place. He's talented, dedicated, and, more importantly, his brain isn't two centuries past its expiration date. It's a… worldly matter, as you might call it? Human politics and such garbage. You're a man of Hades, right? You should be more than happy to do this for me."

The Pride Star scoffed. "And you're a man of Athena. Do not talk worldly with me, child. I think the matter is far more personal."

Kanon smirked. "You got me. Saga might choose to look the other way, but I was old enough to remember the Pope turning a blind eye to what happened to our parents, all because of a silly war of his with some rebel Gold Saints."

The Specter finally understood. The person who stood before him was likely one of many unfortunate orphans of the conflict between Shion and Priam. The ages would match. However, while many chose to put the blame entirely on the Sagittarius who decided to punch the Pope in front of the whole Coliseum, this one had the insight of holding the man with all the real power accountable, instead. He folded his arms. "So it's revenge?"

The youth paused and seemed to think it over for a bit. "Exactly! I'm sure you'll be more than happy to expiate the Pope's sins for me. Arles is holding Sanctuary back. The sooner my brother replaces him, the better."

It was an interesting twist. Usually, the evil twin desired power for himself. This one seemed to be the devil on the shoulder type, though.

"How considerate of you," the Specter preceded the unleash of an outright evil laugh that filled the dark halls of the Gemini Temple, amused by the depravity of the proposition.

For a very long time, he had been made aware of the madness of the Gemini House, whose labyrinths merely reflected the interior of the owner's fractured psyche. He wasn't particularly shocked that such an offer was being made to him. Sanctuary had a long, long history of Gold Saints who assumed they could leverage the enemy in their favor for personal power gain, and they weren't even all just Geminis.

He rested a hand in waist coyly. "That's an interesting proposition… Why should I accept, though?" he challenged. "I'm going to kill that old man anyway. I don't need your permission for it."

Kanon snapped his fingers as his cosmos burned, putting Lucifer on guard. However, rather than an attack, a vertical line of gold light birthed from the ground up. Once it reached the height of a doorway, it opened up, revealing a massive cosmic pathway to an unknown destination on a road of light.

"It's simple, Specter," Kanon explained. "You accept my proposition, and I'll give you a shortcut to the Libra Temple. You can choose how to take advantage of that yourself. Say no, on the other hand, and you can go face the wrath of the Virgo Saint."

Lucifer folded his arms, staring at the gate. "I imagine that includes you returning my men that you took before I saddle with my loot back to the Underworld?"

The youth smiled satisfied. "Now you get it. Everyone wins."

"You seem awfully unconcerned about your Gold Saint friends." Lucifer pointed out. "You do understand what I'm here to do, right?..."

Kanon smirked. "I do. Arles should never have picked these children to guard Sanctuary. It's his fault."

The Daemon's red eyes squinted, recognizing this pattern of self-excuse. It was common in psychopaths like himself.

Feeling the tension in the air, Kanon decided to raise the stakes. "How about an added bonus?" he enticed. "Spare Sagittarius and Leo and I'll tell you how to counter those arrow techniques. I might even tell you what traps the Pope has in store for you along the way…"

This time, the Specter was genuinely intrigued, raising his brow. "Why those two in particular?"

Kanon shrugged and looked away nostalgically. "Aiolos has always been nice to me, I guess."

The Specter paced warningly towards him. "I have a bone to pick with that archer… You'll have to do way more than offer me tips on how to counter arrows!"

Kanon chuckled, sensing weakness. "Does that mean you're considering my offer?" he wondered, disarming the Specter. He then threw his next bluff. "If you think you've seen all Aiolos has to offer, you're wrong. He's been using his weaker arrows so far, but once you get further up the Temples, your men will get within range of his heavier ammunition. Not only that… but the others are no slouches either. You need every bit of info you can get, Specter."

Lucifer growled and stopped to consider his options some more.

Kanon just smirked amusedly. "You don't even know how to get out of this loop you're already in anyway. You'd be a fool to let Shaka needlessly get his hands on your men. Every Specter should know how dangerous the Virgo Saint is. They crafted the beads of your seal, after all. You have no choice."

And this would be his grand move. No one would think of blaming the House of Gemini for the destruction these Specters caused and Shion will be gone. If things kept going as they were, it was obvious Arles would pick Sagittarius over Saga to be the preferiti. The naive old man was the type to value virtue over skill when he named all these kids to be the new active Gold Saints rather than convince the experienced adults to stay a couple more years.

Finally, Lucifer calmly raised his hand and burned his cosmos, sprouting a ball of darkness and sparks on it, putting Kanon on his guard. The youth gulped. The blast he was readying for was intimidatingly perfect, possessing little to no residual waste, like the product of years of fashioning one's technique.

"A prudent man would perhaps test this gate of yours, and see what floor he blasts once my attack crosses that gate of yours," Lucifer suggested.

The youth was confident, though. The snare wasn't that the gate didn't lead to Libra, but rather that it wouldn't necessarily stay open. "By all means. I'll even make it easier for you," and he waved his hand, causing the passage to widen.

Lucifer stretched his arm forward, aiming the ball at the gate, which flickered with electricity in charging tension. He saw the dimensional expanse deepening and deepening, until suddenly the horizon of a marble flooring littered with pillars, much like the innards of another Sanctuary temple, was seen.

He held the blast, though, and sent a mental ping through the gate. He paced it out carefully to try to avoid getting it intercepted by Virgo. "Ainsel, am I reaching you now?"

It took a bit, but eventually, a familiar voice answered. "Lord Pride Star! By the gods, it's a relief to hear from you!" the Papillion answered. "Why is your message coming from further up the Zodiac?"

"… Let's say I found a roundabout. I'll get right back to you soon," the Prince worded, looking between the gate and Kanon, before shutting off comms before Virgo or someone else intercepted him. "So you told the truth about that. I'm glad. I detest liars."

The blue-haired boy shrugged smugly as Lucifer turned his hand to him. "Was there ever any dou-"

*WHAAM*

Kanon screamed, blasted back by the ferocious blast of pure cosmos fired off by Lucifer's hand, burning right across the hall through smashed pillars all the way to the far end of the large room, colliding with the intricately carved wall upon which the electrical charge exploded on him, shattering the space and dusting the innards of Gemini.

"Unfortunately- " Lucifer enlightened as he paced towards his victim. "- I'm turning down the offer!"

The youth coughed and shouted in pain as rubble fell on him. Slowly, he crawled out of the rubble and looked up with bruises at the Specter approaching him. "A-Are you CRAZY?! I opened up a g-gat-" A dark hand lifted him by the neck while another exploded a massive armored punch on his stomach, stunning him and making him gasp out before a hand swipe tossed him aside. The teenager rolled over, burning his golden cosmos in resistance, and tried to stand up and stop the next onslaught. "S-STO-"

Lucifer's hand swiped upwards. "LIGHTNING FANG!" and a shockwave of blue electricity fired off in all directions from his body, striking and electrocuting Kanon like a vicious whip, burning pieces of his clothes.

Recovering from the shock on his hands and knees, the Gemini finally stood up, coughing! "Y-you… You F-FOOL! You'll rot in this temple for all eternity! D-Don't you understand the situation you're in?!" But the Specter only laughed back. "Why… What's so f-funny?!"

The Pride Star pointed at him. "It's you who doesn't understand the situation! This is not a raid! I'm not here for loot or treasure or Gold Saint blood that I can bring back to Pandora's feet for favors! This…. is a conquest!" he revealed, stunning Kanon. He then laughed some more at the look on his face. "And, as you can imagine, it will be a bit difficult for me to honor your brother's rise to the throne when I intend to sit on it!"

The Gemini stepped back in stagger. "What?! YOU?! Sit on the Pope's throne?! You're a Specter!" Even if he had no love for Sanctuary's institutions, something about this idea just innately abhorred him, as if utterly unnatural, like seeing a hyena take over a lion's pride. "Are you insane?!"

"Before I was a Specter, I was someone whom Athena owes a debt of history to." Lucifer elaborated, raising his chin. "So I'm afraid there's more going on than you understand, little Kanon, and greater paths to power than your amateur plans can aspire to. By the end of this night, a new era will begin in Sanctuary… and I'm afraid your ambitions will be quite incompatible with it."

"Ah, ah, f-fine then, Specter…Then if you're no use to me, I'll rid myself of you and your insanity!" Growling angrily and burning his cosmos, the betrayed Gemini launched himself at the Specter with a star-breaking fist, but Lucifer dodged the blow with a body tilt before landing a counter on Kanon's kidney, stunning the young warrior who collapsed right on the floor.

A powerful kick then struck the downed twin, launching him right at a crashing pillar, and the Daemon gave chase through the air with a mighty cosmic leap, narrowly missing Kanon with a hammering stomp as the boy rolled away. Fearing for his life, the boy charged a ball of cosmos and fired it right at Lucifer, blasting the bastard's body back a little but failing to do much more than smoke-screening him with the temple's marble dust.

The Specter scoffed and wiped away the smoke with a mere twirl of the cape. "Ah, ah, are we fighting or playi-" But his eyes widened instantly when he saw the shiny edge of a golden dagger being thrust straight at his face!

Gasping, the Specter's arm reached up and narrowly caught Kanon's wrist, halting the attack. Pressing the other hand and his body's weight unto the dagger's pommel, the youth managed to balance the Specter down on the ground, struggling to dig the blade unto his face. "D-DIE!"

"Y-you!..." the Specter sneered back.

His cursed eyes were locked on the object dangling right above them. He burned his electrical cosmos to the max, unleashing a voltage release that painfully shocked the Gemini, allowing the Specter to then punch his body right across the air unto the side, freeing the Pride Star. Lucifer rose with a truly alarming look as he saw the bladed weapon rolling across the ground, his heart beating fast.

He recognized the significance of the carvings of madness on it, his mind returning to the men Rhadamanthys sent to their deaths at the Alps (*) and his innate Specter fears flooded him. "Where did you get that thing?!"

(*) Chapter 34 – Revelations Part 3

Kanon coughed and got up, holding his stomach. He wasn't sure why the Specter was so startled by the golden weapon the two brothers discovered in the Third Temple., but it brought a smile to his opportunistic face.

He tried to reach for it with a jump, but the Specter blasted the object across the Temple and stepped between it and him. "No more playing with knives!"

Stepping away and subtly manifesting his cosmos in all directions, making it touch the very soul of the Temple in preparation for his next move, Kanon smiled. "Then how about some fireworks?!" he made his aura seen, briefly blinding Lucifer with the sudden burst of golden light. His hands crossed above his head. "GALAXIAN! -"

Lucifer braced himself, charging his cosmos defensively. "You little…!" but he then felt his body tugged into place, unable to leap away. He looked down and found himself standing on a grid of light akin to the Gemini's gate, akin to the sensations he felt when his men battled Akassius. "A trick?!... He's robbing me of my space with Another Dimension!"

Laughing in triumph, Kanon collapsed his hands down, triggering a burst of sharply angled waves of light! "- EXPLOSION!" and the cataclysmic move was fired, releasing shockwave after shockwave of cosmic power in the shape of the currents of outer space itself!

Gasping in alarm, the Celestial Pride Star collected himself and raised his hands to take the blow. His mind steeled and his dark cosmos burned, forming a black-hole like mass of an aura in his body. Coursing down this immense power to his fingers and with a martial shout, the Specter then took on what was one of the most devastating attacks in all of Sanctuary with his hands immersed in the densest of energies.

The collision of forces was like a great shock between stars. It made the entire temple shake and pillars all around them break apart and collide. Waves of light filled up the innards of the Gemini Temple and enveloped the Specter like a swallowing monster and Kanon burned his cosmos further, pressing the attack and smashing the very floor the Specter stood on with the power of the stars themselves.

Yet, while a pained scream from the Pride Star was heard, it was not to be.

The swirling mass of energy of his attack suddenly staggered, as if colliding with a rejective force it could not cross, and Kanon watched in shock as Galaxian Force's power was suddenly ripped apart by claws of darkness, tossed in all directions like shredded paper of burning energy which blasted surrounding rock obstacles to pieces, including destroying the gate that Kanon initially cast as well as the ground net that trapped the Specter.

The Gemini crossed his arms to guard himself and was blasted back several feet, halting himself with a heel screech. Nervously he lowered his arms. "It… cannot be!"

Lucifer panted as burning smoke evaporated away from him. It revealed a Specter taken aback, but otherwise mostly unharmed. It seemed as if the initial impact was absorbed by him, causing a bit of damage, but whatever the Specter did, managed to cancel out the rest of the move's potential power.

Kanon sweated. "That's not possible! I hit you head on!"

"Gah…ah,… I told you, mm, mm!" the Specter mocked amidst wheezes. "I am v-very familiar with you Gold Saints!"

The claws of darkness were then swiped away into speckles of cosmos, no longer needed. Kanon sweated in fear and stepped away as Lucifer approached him. The Specter could not blame his shock. It was likely not very often that a move as powerful and elaborate as Galaxian Explosion was countered. However, there were only so many times Defteros could hit Lucifer with it in the previous war until the Daemon devised this method of employing the aspects of Darkness cosmos related to the unknown, fear, and gravity as a weapon against dimensional abilities.

The powers of the Gemini Saints focused on the clash between light and dark, after all. It was why shades of these elements were seen to the keen eye of one who attempted to cross the Labyrinth of Gemini. The clashing of the diametrically opposed elements being so fundamental to what is and what is not in the universe is what allowed for the very rules of the cosmos to be subverted, and Galaxian Explosion was merely the creation of a rift in space through this into a nearly abstract place of absolute annihilation, a layer between worlds where only entropy existed, allowing the very destructive essence of the Cosmos to come and take a brief step into our reality through one's strength, unleashing untold destruction.

It was an attack that required an encyclopedic mastery of the Gemini arts, but that allowed the radical increase of one's destructive abilities, making it an obvious favorite traditional move for those who studied under Gemini. Therefore, equipped with the powers of the all-consuming Darkness Cosmos, one, with a great deal of strength, could counter and rip apart Galaxian Explosion, first robbing it of its strength by tipping the balance between light and dark that maintain it before taking it apart like a casual energy blast.

Alternatively, one could fuck it up and make things worse, destabilizing the waves of destruction even further by messing with powers one was not meant to understand and put one's strength into the enemy's attack, but fortunately, the Celestial Pride of Star was no amateur.

"Now-" Lucifer hissed, charging cosmos into his hands. "Where were we?! That's right, we are at the part where I tear you to shreds if you don't get me back to my men!"

The younger twin tensed himself, unsure of what to do now! The Specter was clearly much more skilled than Kanon gave him credit for.

He had no choice.

Lucifer smirked, seeing him quiet. "Cat got your tongue? You were being very eloquent earlier…" He then took the energy in his hand to the next level, preparing a blast of Greatest Caution.

Kanon relaxed as much as he could and concentrated, closing his eyes and burning his cosmos. For what he had to do, he needed a deal of luck and good faith, two things he wasn't sure he had much to spare of.

The Pride Star raised his hand to aim at Kanon. If the youth wouldn't act, he would force him to. In any case, he could always resort to-

His red eyes widened and his hand faltered, canceling the blast. "… What?!"

As the Specter stood there, his adversary's body burned with an energy unfamiliar from earlier. Rather than emanating a subtle menace, Lucifer could feel Kanon's cosmos reaching out to something, like a feeling one gets when someone extends a hand to pull you off from a ledge. The blue-haired boy almost seemed to be abstracting himself from the Specter's presence, focusing his thoughts on some unknown factor.

But, most importantly, his power level seemed to be growing ever so subtly, and the background of the temple around them seemed to twist, with far off pillars seemingly dancing like behind a mirage.

Feeling threatened, the Specter burned his cosmos back, but his curiosity about what was going on stopped him from attacking right then and there. More specifically, he felt a strange familiarity with the kind of thoughts he felt off Kanon. He was reminded of a time when he related with others, when empathy was still strong in his heart before Pandora turned his world upside down on the fateful day he was inducted as a Specter.

Steeling his thoughts, the Prince of Hades determined the cause. "It's… like my Dark Calling, the evil force that ties us Specters together, linking our hearts to Hades, but it's subtler, like a…" his eyes then widened again. "… like a brotherly tie?!"

Kanon stood up straight and the silhouette of the Gemini Cloth began to manifest around his body!

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

Secret Passage to Leo

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

Gemini Saga, and Andromeda Shinta rushed up the winding, torch-lit stairs in the rising cavern as fast as they could, determined to find and rescue Aiolia and Deathmask before the Specters reached them at the 5th Temple. Saga was taking the lead when he felt whipped by the strange feeling from earlier of his home being broken into by strangers.

Suddenly, a new sensation came over Saga, and the Gold Saint stopped, resting a hand on the cavern wall.

The green-haired Saint ailed him. "Saint Saga, is everything okay?"

The blue-haired warrior held his head. "Yes, I… I just felt like…"

"Saga!"

Blinking, Shinta wondered if his friend was under some sort of attack. He was acting unresponsive and in need of help, supporting himself on the stair edge, but as he raised his remaining defensive chain, the Bronze detected no reaction from the Andromeda Cloth to any surrounding threats.

He focused on his superior, helping him stand up. "Saint Saga, we have to go. Is something wrong with you?"

"SAGA!"

The Gemini once more winced, feeling the words pierce through his mind. These were not mental messages. They weren't even shielded ones. Rather, they were something much deeper, like a prayer, something meant for the heart, rather than the mind. A familiar, pulling sensation at his beating core was felt by the Gemini Gold Saint. He knew exactly what was going on. They had practiced this in emergencies.

Immediately, his Gold Cloth began burning up energy, alerting Shinta. Saga tried to concentrate and ascertain through this call what was going on at the Gemini Temple, but it felt like the words came from everywhere and nowhere at once, springing up in his soul like the thoughts shared by kindred spirits. Only true twins, with cosmos perfectly matching that of one another, could share such an intimate commonality of thought, such a knot of destinies.

And that knot was being pulled or rather asked to be lent.

Saga felt his heart wrenching, split in two, unsure what to do. The cosmos in his armor was burning ever so higher, threatening to rocket off him. He could not give in. At the same time, he could not just ignore this call. He had a feeling that, if he accepted, something important would happen. Yet, the terror of the consequences of such an act consumed him.

His brother was too dangerous. He could not be trusted with Saga's power.

He was still Kanon, though.

What would Aiolos do?

Saga gasped all of a sudden, releasing their tug of war, and the cosmos of his armor skyrocketed. Then, right before Shinta's dazzled eyes, the Gold Cloth of Gemini turned into sheer, beaming light before puffing into sparkling gold dust, disappearing right then and there!

"W-what?! Saint Saga, your armor!" he screamed.

Almost as if he didn't realize what he had just accepted, Saga's eyes were horrified and his hands patted himself all over, trying to grab the specks of light disappearing into thin air. "N-NO! GEMINI!" he called out.

"Oh boy…there goes our trump card!" the Andromeda Cloth sighed, gesturing its remaining chain in surrender. "WELP, I guess we're done. Thanks for bringing me, Shinta. Do me a favor and just leave me right here so I won't end up some Specter's chamber pot, if you don't mind."

Ignoring his armor's whining, Shinta helped Saga up. "What happened?! Where did the Gemini Cloth go?!"

The blue-haired Saint trembled. This couldn't be happening. "I…The Cloth…" What was he going to say? That the untrustworthy teen that he, Aiolos, and Shion have been hiding from everyone to make the Cloth happy needed to borrow their best weapon for a moment? "… I think my temple called it back. I didn't realize this could happen…It's… it's all my fault."

The green-haired saw the youth's head sink in shame. There was no exaggeration in saying that he himself was completely bewildered. Was Saga suggesting that the Gemini Cloth somehow left him to go protect its house when they couldn't?

He didn't understand anything that was going on, but it didn't change what they had to do. "I don't get it, but we have to help Aiolia, Saint Saga."

The Andromeda Cloth rested its round chain in Shinta's metal belt like a bored customer. "Pfft, yeah, sure! Look, Shinta, Lord Gemini has dumped your friend! He was off in Asia doing whatever and he let Specters into the Third House. What kind of bodyguard is he? I'd fire him, too, if it were me." Princess Andromeda hissed. The pink armor then tapped its owner's head. "Not you, though, you're too cute to be fired! I'd punish you with pattycake instead."

Shinta swatted the round chain away and focused on his friend. "I'm sure the Gemini Cloth didn't abandon you, Saga! We can try recovering your armor after we get to Leo,… right?"

"Yes…I can still fight." Saga slowly nodded, though he had bigger concerns. "Kanon, what is going on at Gemini?... Are you in danger?"

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

(?)

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

Back at the trans-dimensioned Gemini Temple, right before Lucifer's revolted red eyes, Kanon's prayers were heard and the Cloth shared between him and his brother manifested itself on him, going from a silhouette of light around his body into an increasingly solid object of gold metal. Even the cape fluttered down his back, completing the armoring of the Temple's hidden twin. The beaming shine projected Lucifer's shadow right across the temple's length.

The large, two-faced helmet teleported itself into Kanon's hand with a flash of light, like a Lemurian warp, and the youth grinned in confidence as he felt the power of the Gold Cloth invading him. "Looks like the tables have turned yet again. You now face the offhand Gold Saint, Gemini Kanon!"

The Daemon growled, faced off with his first armored Gold Saint in a solo match that war. It had been a while since he last faced off against the Gemini Cloth, but he welcomed the challenge. As such, dark energies immediately manifested around his body, propagating all over, and the Daemon assumed a battle stance.

"I don't know how you did that, but it doesn't matter… It will take more than a gold-sprayed tin can to make up the difference between you and me!"

Cracking his neck, the blue-haired youth put on the helmet. "Let's find out!" His golden aura then burned all over and the Gold Saint dashed at the speed of light towards his target, fist raised.

Caught off guard by the tremendous increase in speed efficiency, the Specter barely had time to raise a guarding arm against a galaxy-shattering punch, the collision between powers shaking the temple and sending off sparks of power everywhere. The Specter felt his feet sink into the cracking floor with the weight of the youth's force and he swung back only to hit the air as Kanon warped away at the speed of light.

Reappearing behind the Specter as if warping the distances themselves, Kanon attacked, cometing the Specter with a brutal cosmos kick before assaulting him with a combo of punches and kicks, while marveling at the power that his brother's armor granted him. Forcing the Specter on the defensive, the Gold Saint pummeled his guards over and over with strikes that resembled more like beams of pure light than blows from a body, cracking against the Damascus plates like fireworks. A powerful kick finalized the combo by striking the Specter's crossed arms, bashing him back towards a pillar, but the Specter's heels screeched in braking.

Kanon still took the chance to blast him to pieces, charging two orbs of light and dark in his hands that he brought together forward, fusing the energies before firing them off in the form of a massive golden beam that incinerated everything in front of the Gold Saint. Pillars were blasted apart, the ground was ripped open, tapestries were set on fire and the head of the beam smashed the Specters against the wall with a brutal crash, giving Kanon a satisfied smirk.

His smoking hands lowered and he gazed upon them. "Incredible, so this is the power of a Gold Cloth! It really is the real thing!" He laughed at the thought of what he pulled off. "I knew you wouldn't abandon me, Saga. Now it's time to smash this intruder under the weight of the stars themselves!"

His 7th sense screamed, when the smokescreen collision point suddenly burst with dark energies, freeing the Specter from the rubble and powering a furious leap of the Pride Star out of it. Landing with dark puddles of energy oozing off of him, the Specter rose indignantly and faced the Gold Saint. "It seems like now you're capable of more than backstabbing."

It didn't affect Kanon in the least. "Maybe you should have taken my offer, instead." He took notice of how little damage he caused. "That was a powerful blast… I may have no choice but to use my A-plus-game."

The Specter smirked. "I may be the Devil, but I don't make deals with snakes. I do have a nasty tendency to step on their heads, though."

Kanon raised his arms, casting out his dimensional powers. "Let's see who steps first on who, then! ANOTHER DIMENSION!" A shattering sound followed, putting the Daemon on his guard, as currents of cosmic forces began bending space around them. No obvious gates or forces were created, though. "Ah, ah, ah, well, let's see, Specter, how you do now!"

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, the Pride Star accepted the challenge and charged at the Gemini Saint, intending to knock the helmet right off his head.

However, he suddenly felt his body twisting around in a spiral like he was driving up the walls of a tunnel, and his attack pattern was completely thrown off!

Burning his cosmos to the max, the Gemini Gold Saint then countered his charge, striking the bewildered Specter right in the hardened stomach plate with a powerful uppercut, stunning the Pride Star. Lucifer recovered and swung his leg in a mighty air kick, but once more it felt like it stretched and curved over the Gold Saint as if the way his body interacted with space no longer followed the usual rules. The Daemon was struck once more over the head with a counter kick by the seemingly much limber Gold Saint which smashed the silver-haired Prince right back down to the floor.

Rolling over, Lucifer tried to get a grip on himself, immediately realizing that Kanon was screwing with distances and relations of space to disconnect his senses from reality. As he stood back up, he realized he could barely put one foot in front of the next without stumbling over, as if the ground was secretly rising and lowering like ocean waves.

Kanon, on the other hand, landed perfectly. "What's wrong? Can't see what you're stepping on, anymore? We're just beginning…" His hand then thrust forward, casting a whole new layer of physics bending. "Let's take away your depth perception next!"

Lucifer then gasped as he saw Kanon suddenly distancing from him without actually moving! The pillars around were stretching maniacally like a sensation of vertigo, mimicking a tunneling effect.

He tried to get a grip on himself. "This is not an illusion… but it's not 'real' either. He's changing how my body mathematically relates to space and time!" He then closed his eyes, gritting teeth determinedly. "I need to abstract myself from this, or I will be a sitting duck!"

Kanon laughed, seeing the Specter's eyes closed, and launched a new assault, charging at the Specter with a leap. "AH, AH, it's no use! It's not your senses that are wrong!" and his fist charged a piercing punch aimed at the Specter's neck.

As he swung, though, Lucifer's hand rose and caught the punch by the wrist, holding the Saint in the air!

Gasping, Kanon swung his whole body to aim a mighty kick at the Specter's neck, but the Prince roared, caught the leg, and furiously bashed the armored Saint on the ground, cratering the floor with titanic force. Before he could lose track of the Saint once more, his hands charged energy for a rapid-fire assault, and his fist thrust down "DARK SPEAR BARRAGE!"

The deadly Gatling fire of dark javelins began, striking and exploding onto Gemini Kanon at near point-blank range, bursting the Saint against the ground over and over until all the Specter saw were domes of swelling energy fusing like boils before bursting into showers of purple light, quaking the Temple.

He kept on firing, letting Kanon's screams fill the air. Eventually, a disconcerting sound similar to the initial shattering of dimensions was heard and Lucifer and he dared to open his eyes back up. Before him stood a smoking crater of rubble, with a downed Gold Saint coughing and trembling as he tried to get back up.

Lucifer sweated, thanking the stars he prepared himself so well. His past battles with Gemini Gold Saints like Defteros formed the bedrock of his knowledge, but most importantly, he had observed a bit of Akassius' more modern techniques back at Crow's Nest, so he was able to understand that Kanon was using Another Dimension in a manner similar to the war hero's Force Manipulation. However, while the older Gold Saint used space relations to power up his attack and defense abilities, Kanon tried to twist the directions of up, down, left, and right to make battling impossible for the enemy.

But an experienced warrior was quick to adapt and quick to find a way to abstract himself from hardship. Once he closed his eyes to reduce the amount of misinformation his brain was received, he simply focused on the 7th sense.

And no one could fuck with the 7th, not even Virgos. It wouldn't tell him if Kanon would punch or kick, but at the very least, Lucifer would know where the hell he really was.

"Did you really think a shitty trick like that would work on me?!" the Dark Prince sneered. "Now stand back up and fight like a man! If you do, I might kill you painlessly!"

The Gold Saint was happy to oblige, shooting off the ground like a comet of light and bashing hands against the Specter's in a power hold. The impact allowed the youth to push back the Underworld warrior, but pretty soon the difference in weight, muscle, and power prevailed, with the Specter not only keeping the blazing gold warrior at bay but also drowning out his shining power with a crackling aura of darkness and pressing Kanon by the hands into the ground.

The blue-haired Gemini winced, feeling his fingers and knuckles being crushed by the hardened press of the Specter's at the same time painful blue shocks coursed through his body.

"What's wrong?! Having a hard time overpowering me?!" provoked Lucifer, pressing the Gold Saint down until he was back on his knee. "It takes more than putting on that gilded dress to become a Gold Saint! What you're up against is the culmination of half a millennium of Specter experience!"

Kanon's legs trembled as his body was crushed down. "D-damn… you!" he growled, burning his cosmos even higher.

It made little difference other than making Lucifer squint at the light. "I don't know how strong your brother is, but I'm betting he has a lot more experience wearing that coat of gold than you! So BEGONE!"

His knee collided with Kanon's armored stomach, smashing the youth's belly. The Gold Saint's grips weakened and Lucifer released the hold to smash him straight across the face with a cosmos infused fist, shooting the Gold Saint off towards the ground, tumbling.

As he raised himself, Kanon's blue eyes searched for the dagger, but the Specter made sure to blast it off practically to the other side of the room. Burning cosmos into his hand, he swiped the air to launch a torrent of white light at the Specter, who deftly slapped it off as he chased down Gold Saint, but it gave Kanon the breathing room he needed to raise his hands. "GALAXIA-"

A blitzing dash occurred right before his throat was struck by a hand chop, silencing the Gemini, dispelling his technique, and making blood come off the stumbling Gold Saint's mouth.

Lucifer watched with dejection as the adversary held his injured neck. "No more of that…You clearly lack a true warrior's grit." He insulted. "Now accept defeat, and take me back to the Golden Zodiac."

With effort, Kanon collected himself. He had no idea battling this Specter would be so difficult. Was this the kind of adversary that Saga and Aiolos regularly faced? Or did Kanon just draw the short straw on a completely extraordinary opponent? Even with the Gold Cloth on, he was barely putting up a fight.

But then again, just like the Specter implied, his intention wasn't to battle.

Gathering his thoughts, he looked up at the Specter with a poisonous smile. "S-sorry, but this direct combat nonsense isn't my style, anyway!" he argued. "I'm more of the type that defeats you from outside the box! A-ANOTHER DIMENSION!" and he lunged his hands overhead!

Lucifer gasped, feeling his footing disappear again as the entire Gemini Temple seemed to suddenly flip over!

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

Aries Temple

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

"What do you mean, Balgo ran off?!" the Skeleton asked.

The lieutenant of the divisions left behind by Lucifer at the Aries Temple shifted his eyes. "He just did. Earlier a pair of Silver Saints showed up to try to bait us out of the Temple. Lord Balgo told us to stay put and he chased after them."

The men that had just walked off the Gemini Temple into Aries were in disbelief. "Do you have any idea what the Prince will do if he finds out?!"

The lieutenant shoved him harshly. "Shut up! Don't act like we can control any of the Specter lords! What were we supposed to do?! Tackle him?! He'd rip us apart! Balgo has always been the unbalanced type, just like his brother! He would have tossed us at those Saints if he could!"

One of them scratched their heads. "Lord Ainsel won't be happy… he'll be the first to find out. What are we gonna tell him when he sees the rear of the army completely undefended?"

The lieutenant raised his chin in offense "Undefended?! You guys are here with us now, so that makes us forty Skeletons preventing any Saint profligate from storming our forces! What are you afraid of?! Of a couple of Mach-fivers?! We have the might of the False Specters on our side!"

"Yeah!" a roused Skeleton cheered.

"We'll tear anyone who comes up here apart!" another added.

The lieutenant then pointed at the front door, which was not only still blocked by the rock slab left by Lady Neferti, but it was covered in Ainsel's titanium-hard silk-threading. "Do you know what those are?! There's enough defensive power here to withstand a Taurus Great Horn! They'd need a goddamn cavalry charge to get through! Good luck finding back up now that with the entire Gold Saint order currently being pushed up the stairs by Lord Lucifer and the elites!"

The newly-arrived Skeletons all shared reflecting glances, seemingly more reassured. "Well…, I suppose."

"But what happens if Saint Aries comes back?" another asked.

"He won't!" the lieutenant assured. "And even if he did, Lord Ainsel is patrolling the sky for a reason! So just take up new posts and notify everyone that you landed here, so we're all accounted for! Also, if anyone shows up, hehe…." He then took a triangle-ended chain from the table that they retrieved from the gate. "We can always use this to pretend we have a hostage or two…"

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

Sanctuary Town

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

On one of the rooftops of Sanctuary Town, a Skeleton soldier scout sat by the shadow of a chimney, observing the sleeping streets and relaying anything he noticed to the higher-ups through the golden moth left with him by Lord Ainsel. Even though Nightmare Sonar was gone, it didn't necessarily mean the civilians would start proactively waking up.

Hearing the half-hour ballad of the Fire Clock, the Skeleton turned to the moth. It was already 2:30 am. Another update from him was due, "all clear in area 2."

"All clear in 1," another Skeleton half-way across Sanctuary Town responded.

"All clear in 3."

"Noted. Keep watching." Lord Ainsel responded to all of them.

The Skeleton Soldier sighed. He was so bored. His job was important, but it was still by far the short straw compared to getting some bloody action in the Golden Zodiac. At the very least he got to watch from the safety of his position the battle occurred at the stairs of Aries. He could also tell by the movements, the torch lights, the occurring quakes, and gold flashes coming off the Taurus Temple, how far his brothers had progressed.

It was dizzying to think that the army would soon cross into the Cancer Temple. This particular Skeleton would be lying if he said that the prospect of invading Sanctuary didn't make him nervous, even after all the successes they enjoyed against the True Specters and the Saints of Crow Nest. Still, Lord Lucifer was delivering what he promised yet again. His heart wouldn't stop beating, though, until he was sure their men got past the Virgo Temple. Everyone knew pretty well that the 6th House was the do-or-die one.

At least the moth on his shoulder made him feel a bit safer. It had much better telepathy than he did, so it would easily pick up on any threats that tried to sneak up on him as he relaxed on the roof, all thanks to Lord Ainsel's abilities. That was one of the strengths of having a general as experienced as Pride Star; he knew how to organize each Specter's powers for the benefit of the group.

As he rested his back against the brick chimney once more, the moth followed him everywhere he went and rested on his shoulder.

The soldier scratched his cheek beneath the helmet, feeling an old web string resting on it with the breeze. Sanctuary was such a dirty place. These rooftops he stood on were packed with dust, moss and weathered cobs. It was nothing like the Underworld, where the very fires of hell burned everything to a black cleanse. It did remind him of the days he used to spend as a human in his mother-in-law's attic before he became a False Skeleton. The darkness of those days had been what originally weakened his mind, making him vulnerable to Hades' seduction.

But no more. Now the False Specters and Skeletons would rule the wor-

His shoulder was punctured and his muscles stiffed.

His eyes looked down on it, searching for his communicator. The moth was struggling in the air, caught in a web, before being snuffed out like a speck of light.

He tried to gasp and form thoughts, but everything in his body froze up.

The cold, metal edge gently pressed against his neck from behind before a fluid hand swipe made it slice it right across. The False Skeleton then saw the world rolling all around as his head dropped to the roof tiles, clanging inside the helmet, before ultimately dropping down the street.

Standing behind it, Adriana stepped away from the body, her booted feet not making a sound. She left the decapitated corpse exactly where she found it and meticulously cleaned the blood off her sword before sheathing it. "All done," she messaged.

"Here, too." Lance messaged back. "Hurry up to the next one."

The silver-ringed lady kicked the body off the rooftop before looking over towards the Golden Zodiac, searching for the last target. Her 'network' had already found and caught the moth of the last Skeleton scout, so she didn't waste time leaping right through the rooftops with gale speed, blade in hand.

She arrived just in time to take a hiding spot by a set of chimneys of a small manor. Peeking around, she saw a familiar male shadow of a Saint on the next building, focused on its prey. Curious at how he would go about it, Adriana sat still and allowed Lance to position by leaping into a railed veranda on the last floor and press his back against the wall, and took note of how he seemed to have a harder time moving as quietly as her, so he resorted to more pauses in between his movements to not alert the last Skeleton.

Her blue eyes saw him stop right underneath the edge of the rooftop the last Skeleton was walking over into.

"Wait for my signal." She asked, raising her hand at Lance and readying herself as well. Adriana looked up and saw the faint golden light of the moth left with the Skeleton pop out. "He's 'blind'! Now!"

Lance stepped on the rail of the veranda so he could jump off it to the Skeleton! At the same time, Adriana blitzed across the air from her building over the rooftop's height, sweeping down at the target!

All the Skeleton saw were two blitzing shadows come over him. Before he had time to gasp, or send a mental message, or even burn a bit of his cosmos, a crushing elbow blow struck his throat from the front while a sharp tip of a blade mercilessly dug itself right into his back across the heart, bursting out the bone armor on the other side. The two competing supersonic forces then withdrew their blows, tearing the enemy to pieces with the force of it in an unexpected shower of blood that wetter their faces.

The two of them groaned and stepped away from the mess they created.

"… Great." Lance muttered. He saw Adriana was stiff with the amount of blood that got on her jacket and face. Lance ripped a bit off the wrappings he wore on his hands and offered it. "Maybe that wasn't such a good idea, but it was as quick as we could quietly take them out."

She took it with a chuckle and gently wiped her cheeks. Her blue eyes then wandered towards the Zodiac mount. "Unfortunately, I think we got beaten to the bigger bloodbath."

Joining her, Lance realized what she was talking about. From where they stood, the many corpses littering the stairs to Mu's House were visible. The Specters had gone through and done their nasty work to the Papal Guards and took little care to clean up afterward.

He frowned regretfully. "Damn…"

"Did you know any of them?"

His head shook. His relationship with the Golden Zodiac's guards was stern, at best, especially since that time they cuffed him and Shinta to get dragged in front of the Pope. "Not really. I was kind of a jerk to a lot of them. But that doesn't matter, does it? I should have been here earlier…"

She snorted lightly and leaped off the building, followed by Lance. "Oh yes, you and your friends could have joined them in death as you stood in the way of an army of Specters…" Adriana commented, ridiculing the concern.

He dashed along with her through the remaining street blocks. If he weren't used to the way she talked by now due to how similar it was to Aphrodite's, Lance would have taken this the wrong way. "You're very…-" What word could he use? "-…ruthless, aren't you?"

The awkwardness of his observation made her laugh as she took cover on the corner of a building. "By Hera and Athena, is that a compliment?"

Taking position on an opposite spot with a covering angle towards the Zodiac, he responded. "It makes me trust you more,… I guess."

She combed her strawberry-blonde hair bangs with her silver-ringed hand and smirked. She then contemplated the Golden Zodiac ahead of them. "So is your plan still of storming that Temple?"

Lance nodded as his eyes narrowed in anger and he rushed to cover the remaining distance. It didn't seem like there were any Skeletons left in town, but you never knew. "Yes. I don't have much of a choice. My friend at Taurus is in danger… and I want to give those Specters some payback for those dead men."

She saw him reach the outskirts of the Zodiac and rushed to join him upon getting his signal it was safe. "But all joking aside… what is your real strategy? How dangerous is this enemy you fought?"

Lance sweated, feeling flashbacks to the battle at Rozan. "More dangerous than anything I've ever faced. My teacher gave me some help, but on my own, I won't do much, which is why I must get the other Gold Saints with me in time to face the Specter boss. Survival is far from one hundred percent guaranteed."

A beat of analyzing silence followed by the woman. "Why don't you just stay here?"

He was bewildered. "ABSOLUTELY NOT! Someone has to stop these killers! Besides -" he thought back to Twin Peaks Mountain. "- my teacher trusts me to do this. He prepared me for it."

Adriana nodded, factoring all this. "Alright, it was just a thought…"

Lance, however, couldn't help but feel rattled at her suggestion. "God, how could you even ask me that, Adriana?"

The silver-ringed sword user paused for a bit. She always had a tough time with this part, that of explaining to others why she couldn't be bothered with this neurotic preoccupation with everyone around her. Not only was this not trained in her as a member of Sanctuary's aristocracy, but it wasn't something she could afford to do in her way of life.

Her priority was to protect her assets and allies, not the Gold Saints she wasn't personally connected to.

And her answer therefore was just as matter-of-fact as it was shocking. "Beyond what's at stake with Sanctuary itself, the Gold Saints up in that mountain are not on my mind. You and Aphrodite are my only concerns right now."

Once more, the red-eyed youth was stunned. "The two of us?…Why?"

She looked away a bit, contemplative. "…I sympathize with… survivors. More than just our zodiac being the same, I also get the presentiment that people demand Aphrodite to care about things that are not important to him, too. As for you,…" she then paused, trying to find words about how she felt "… somehow you're not insufferable to talk to like the rest of the people I have to interact with. I don't know your other Gold Saint friends well, but I've figured out by now you don't just deject people like Aphrodite and you call the gross elements of this place out. For once I feel I can be direct with someone."

Lance hesitated a bit, recognizing an old pattern in her speech. "…You're not just telling me what I want to hear to manipulate me, right?"

She looked away, imagining how she would go about it. "Mm-mm, if I wanted to do that,… I'd talk about how moving it is that you're rushing back to save poor Athena from the Specters and cry a river about it, too."

A stunned look from Lance was followed by an involuntary smirk of amusement. When she looked back, the stoic Saint staggered and hid it. The silver-ringed woman noticed it, though, but pretended not to. The Cancer Saint wasn't the type to like showing vulnerability, after all.

Throoom!

The two, as if reminded of the seriousness of the situation, snapped out of their conversation and turned to the source of the sound half-expecting the Taurus Temple to finally be collapsing under the weight of the explosions that kept happening in it. Instead, though, the source was further to the west, in the forested areas that Lance knew to lead to the forbidden village of the Amazon Saints, Aretias.

They approached the edge of the roof. "Is that… a battle?!" Adriana asked.

Successive bursts of light and massive, geyser-like shockwaves ripped between the dense trees, creating brief flashes of cosmos.

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

(?)

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

The Pride Star gasped, invaded by this scream in a brief moment of connecting dimensions, and felt the entire inside of the Gemini Temple tilting down at him!

His body fell back into reality on the ground and slid down, like on a tilting plate, and Lucifer carved his fingers unto the ground. He tried to think about what just happened, but didn't have time to process it as he watched Kanon stand effortlessly with an evil laugh, projecting his tremendous dimensional powers to take over the battlefield!

The Specter's eyes looked 'down', or really what should be behind him. He sweated as he saw a gargantuan gate to some unknown depth of the outer rim of the universe was opened, where suns danced like blazing infernos, surrounded by asteroid belts, comets, and other spinning elements of outer space.

Kanon laughed, his burning body standing straight on the tilted floor like some Nosferatu. "AH, AH, AH, you said you were a demon, right? How about I send you back down to hell, then?!"

Purple-clad fingers tried to climb up the rubble, but the temple tilted further, putting more weight on the Specter to fall. He saw blazing stars beneath him burning bigger and brighter, threatening to swallow anything that fell into their systems. "You…!"

The Gold Saint folded arms triumphantly and his aura burned brighter, powering up the dimensional current further. "Are you having trouble getting back up?! I bet even a powerful Specter like you can't fly without wings! How about I give you a hand?!" and his hand reached down only to fire a massive energy blast at the clinging Specter, blasting him in an attempt to dislodge the man.

Furiously gritting his teeth through the attack, Lucifer hardened his grip on the crumbled floor, feeling his feet beginning to float up at the crevice under the force of this false gravity. He saw large pieces of rubble on the ground slide downwards at the space rift and crumbling into atoms as soon as they entered the hyperspatial world, imagining something similar might happen to him if he drops as well.

He couldn't be more irritated. "D-Do you think it will be this easy to get rid of me?!"

Kanon's foot stomped right on Lucifer's hand as hard as the Gold Saint managed, kicking it off. The Specter's other hand tightened on the ground and burned an oozy dark cosmos to help him stay anchored, but the Gold Saint laughed at the futility of this resistance

"Oh, I'm sure of it, Specter! And unless you got some Olympian's blood on you, something tells me that you'll be ripped apart by the currents of the Andromeda Galaxy!" Kanon mocked.

As he tried to climb up the tilted floor to get better grips, or to rip the Gold Saints face-off, the Specter burned his darkness cosmos in an attempt to combat the dimensional powers at hand, but the Gemini Cloth was magnifying Kanon's abilities so much that it barely made a difference anymore. "N-no, I don't have Olympian blood… but I have the next best thing!"

Kanon folded arms. "And what would that be? Mm-mm."

The Prince eyed the Gemini like an angry demon. "The Devil's!" and he then let go, falling into the rift!

Kanon gasped!

But as the Specter got sucked into the vortex, he turned his body around to face the rift and summoned his terrifying power, burning his cosmos to the max! Energies of darkness and electricity manifested immediately, unleashing from the Specter's body like an explosion of power,

And Pride Star's hands aimed at the vortex as they crackled with power. "Now face the wrath of Daemon Lucifer! DARK REVENGE BLAST! CHARGE!"

Once more, the shattering sound of planetary impacts seemed to be heard in the background as Lucifer's aura swirled intensely around his body into a vortex of power similar to that of the rift's. However, rather than light and dark coming together to bend the rules of space, it felt as if the sheer anger of some terrifying aberration was called out unto a world that could not understand it, much less tolerate its presence. Kanon saw it was an evil, dark force of thunder and shadows that should not be upon the planet's surface, as the wrath of some cosmic nebula monster and the tilted Gemini Temple began to shake in response to it as if screaming in pain of feeling such a creature inside its belly.

The inexperienced warrior guarded himself with his arms as dark forces were charged and a black orb of power was summoned by the Specter before being wrapped in purple flames. Lucifer's descent into the rift seemed to slow down in mid-air as this thing of an attack was formed, the illusion of a devil holding it in its hands overlapping with the Specter's body like a Saint's constellation. The Gold Saint then realized that, much like he had done to the Specter, space seemed to twist around the orb, with the background spiraling around it, and pretty soon his limited knowledge of his brother's art was no longer an impediment to understanding what the Specter was doing.

It was like… a twisted exclamation, a forbidden move in and of itself.

And it was powerful enough to defy the very conventions of space and time.

Kanon had to do something. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! STOP!"

Instead, the Specter was encouraged by the Gold Saint's fear and kept putting out more power, swelling the orb of darkness into basket size levels. It caused white lightning to crackle out of it and interact with the broken dimensions before him, spreading light and darkness everywhere.

"I'm doing what it takes… to achieve my destiny!" Pride Star roared, his aura projecting the image of a draconic demon wrapping its evil hands around the attack he was forming.

A quaking force was felt and Kanon lost his balance, dropping to his hands. "NO! You're making it impossible to control these gates! YOU'LL SEND US BOTH DOWN A CHASM OF TIME AND SPACE!" he warned. "If you don't stop, we might get swallowed by the very Cosmos itself! There's no telling where we'll end up!"

The devil laughed. To him, it was better than being at the treacherous youth's mercy. "AH, AH, AH, AH! Excellent! Then let the Cosmos itself decide our fate, Gemini!" With a mighty roar, Lucifer rose the orb over his head. "GO! DARK REVENGE BLAST!" and he tossed it down at the rift, colliding two kinds of otherworldly powers inside an enclosed space. White light shone at the point of contact with a shearing sound!

Kanon tried to stop it, swinging his arms around to cast Another Dimension, but the forces, as he said went completely out of control, and both Gold Saint and Specter were swallowed by a blinding light that sheered out of the contact point between their attacks!

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

Aretias Forest

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

Cyclops Gigant approached his fallen foe, seeing the girl down for the count, holding the broken pieces of her chest plate. Unlike what most Specters said of him, Gigant was not the type to play with his food, and he preferred to be rid of potential threats to Lord Hades as soon as possible. It was usually the likes of Myu and Raimi that made him waste time on the battlefield so they could have certain profligates all to themselves.

With them not around, though, he would not waste time. He would take this immense power Lord Hades gave him and smash this thief into a blood splatter.

His red boot pinned the girl, who screamed, so she wouldn't flee. "You committed a capital sin, Saintia girl!" he sneered. "No one steals from the Princes… especially Lord Michael!"

The Cyrulian Knight gasped out in pain under the pressing weight. Her attacks weren't working. Therefore, she steeled herself for the risk she was about to take. She barely turned her shaking eyes to him, now understanding. "(His weapons are too strong… I need to find a way to…)"

"Since you're not going anywhere anytime soon, before I smash your stomach into your spine-" Gigant threatened as he held his weight on her. "-how about you tell me how you stole that piece of Prince Michael's Surplice?!"

With a lot of struggle, Cerah's free hand reached for the feather inside her guard collar and showed it. "I-IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?!" The girl then put it in her mouth!

Disgusted at the idea of the Saint putting her filthy saliva on the Prince's property, the Cyclops dropped his mace to try to take it from her! "You sacrilegious bitch! GIVE ME THAT!"

She bit down on the feather hard and struggled against his foot and hand, burning her cosmos as high as she could. The Cyclops groaned in pain at the burning touch of the Light Cosmos.

Furious, he clasped the girl's throat with his massive hands. "DIE!"

Cerah gasped out loud, releasing the feather, and held on to his wrist as her life depended on it! Her burning energy began to weaken before the Cyclops' terrifying dark power. His thumbs pressed on her larynx, intending to cut the air out completely.

Her crying eyes closed and she signaled her friend. "(Yu…YUSHIRA, NOW!)"

Someone tapped Cyclops' shoulder. "Hey!"

Mad with rage, he turned with a slobbering mouth!

"Batter up, JACKASS!" and the Specter saw his own mace in the hands of a masked black-haired female swing right at his face, exploding its thick tip on his upper lip and bashing him right off the Cyrulian knight, shattering a nose and several teeth while at it. The Specter roared, falling back on his rear and clasping his bloody mug, and Yushira grabbed her friend by the shoulder and lifted her the heck off the ground. "GO!"

"AAGHH! Y-YOU… THIEVES!" The Cyclops howled, standing back up with his hand glued to his injury.

Yushira wagged the mace in the air. If only he knew how much she actually stole. "S'wrong, buddy? Are you looking for your sorority paddle?! COME AND GET IT!" With a furious warshout, the Cyclops charged right at her. Yelping, Yushira fell back, withdrawing to the woods. "Sorry for the delay, but you should get cover and stay there, Cerah!"

The Corvus practically coughed out a lung and leaped away from the fight. "W-what about you?!"

The Amazon sprinted into the trees, chased by a trunk-shattering giant. "Just watch!" The masked woman spotted the area she was looking for and, with a series of athletic leaps, she moved into the treetops, wall-jumping between wooden surfaces until she took a decent height off the Specter's head. She tapped her hand with the mace provocatively. "Hey, look at me, I'm a big dumb one-eyed brute with a stick and I just finished my audition for the Flintstones! 'Nobody' took my eye! Me smash 'Nobody'!"

The Specter hammered his fists on the ground like a titan, fissuring it and sending shockwaves that broke apart the area, uprooting the trees she stood on, forcing the girl to leap down to the floor. He then burned his cosmos and thrust his hand at her.

Yushira yelped with the sudden force she felt in her hand as the mace flew right out of it back to its owner's grip. "…Oh… whoops."

His bloody, disfigured face with a twisted nose and broken teeth sneered angrily at her. "I'll make you pay for what you D-DID!"

She stepped back, seemingly scared. "Um… how about we put a pin on that?" Her cosmos secretly burned, though, when she saw the Specter lose his shit and charge at her. "The hard way it is, then!"

He swung his mace down, but the much faster Saint playfully leaped over with a roll, letting him smash the ground some more before her foot struck the back of his leg with unexpected force, kneeling him. His other fist tried to backhand the amazon before she got away, but unexpectedly, she grabbed his arm and used it to lever a massive, meteoric knee kick to his neck!

The Specter gasped, stumbling backward as Yushira flipped away, and even Cerah was stunned at the elegance of the move!

Bedazzled and frustrated, the Terrestrial Mayhem Star could barely put himself back together. "I… it c-can't be!"

Strangely, Yushira seemed to drag her feet back. "Come on, where are those traps, damn it?!"

"I WON'T LOSE!" Gigant roared, burning his cosmos. An orb of power was formed at the head of his mace. "B-BIG KNUCKLE!"

"Yushira, watch out!" Cerah screamed.

But the Amazon's cosmos burned right back, assuming a white-blue color! The energizing force powered her dash straight into the monster's swing area and her fist threw forward. "METEOR FIST!"

An explosion of blue-white meteor blasts followed, with the Specter's body battered top to bottom in rapid-fire succession, halting the movement of his swing in its tracks and canceling out the enemy's move. Pieces of red metal burst out with the deeper impacts, sinking knuckle-shaped depressions from Yushira's gloved fists deep into the man's body, the Amazon herself seemingly turned into a beam of light that pummeled the giant warrior over and over.

With a final, louder swing that knocked the helmet right off the Specter's head, revealing a brown mane, Yushira reappeared past him with a blunt supersonic aftersound, her hands hot like coal from the technique.

Cyclops stumbled onwards, his body weak. "T-that….move…" His mind rushed back to previous Holy Wars, where he had faced off the Godslayer.

His next step then triggered a sudden surge of light on the ground.

"Finally. Was looking all over for one of those," Yushira wheezed.

Gigant looked down and saw a pattern of a seal forming. It was vaguely shaped like the moon, indicating an Artemisian crest. A sudden shock then came over his body, paralyzing him, as the defensive trap of Aretias' forest was at last triggered. Gigant felt his strength failing him and his thoughts go blank as he screamed in pain.

Eventually, the shock stopped as most of his strength was sapped, and Gigant fell to his hands, his body smoking as his Surplice crumbled bit by bit. "Agh… it can't be…"

Yushira stepped over to him, her fist shining mercifully in a bubble of white, earthly cosmos.

His eyes locked on it, widening in horror as he recognized the cosmos patterns. "Y-You…! Ha, ha… I u-understand now. I'll see you in hell for this, SAI-"

"POLYPHEMUS KNUCKLE!" she shouted, caving the earth-shattering blow on the man's head, silencing him with a blood splatter, and sending shocks throughout the forest, making ground cracks widen and tree branches waver.

The Amazon stepped back and let the Specter fall to the ground, bloodying it. Wind currents blew by as the red armor on his body broke apart completely, turning into metallic ash taken into the air.

The masked girl turned to her friend. "Are you okay?"

Cerah's eyes blinked. She then snapped off of it as the reality that the battle was over sank in and her body heat lowered. Pain from her wounds afflicted her and she stayed on her knees. "Y-yeah… I a-am."

The Amazon held her shoulders and looked over her body. "Sure you are….Sorry, I took so long," she looked to the side, "and, I think those skanks at the village changed the location of the seal traps without telling me again. I swear to Athena, it's like they don't like me or something! This almost got us killed…"

The knight looked the Amazon over. After watching her battle, Cerah had some serious doubts that Yushira ever really felt in danger. The way she battled the Specter was borderline fantastic, demonstrating that she clearly had years of training over the Cyrulian.

Still, the obvious question lingered. "You… used his move."

Helping her back up, Yushira stood back and rested a hand on her hip. "I guess I didn't introduce myself completely. I'm the Crane Saint, for sure, but people in Sanctuary also call me something else."

The knight tried to stand on her own. "What?"

"'Copycat' Yushira…. I take other Saint's moves that I like. The others think it's rude. Training is sacred and all that jazz," she revealed, shrugging. "I think it's just pragmatic…. Still, try not to tell the others. Most of these I end up tossing away cause of how uninteresting they are."

The blonde warrior nodded, giving a pained smile. "Of course…You saved my life, after all. Thank you."

"Mm, or maybe you're safe in the knowledge that no one without Lightcraft can copy 'your' moves," Corvus commented.

The masked Amazon looked down and saw Balgo was still breathing. "Hey, look, holy crap, he's still alive!" she commented, amazed. It made Cerah stiff up. "That's great! I get a win and they can't complain I didn't leave someone to be interro-"

Cerah shouted out as she fired a huge blast of golden light from her thrusting hand that blasted the fallen False Specter with a tremoring burst of cosmos, forcing a dying scream out of the enemy as he was scorched to death instantly, making Yushira yelp back in fright!

The Crane Saint stared wide-eyed at her heavy-breathing friend. "GEEZ, Cerah… what the shit?!"

The crow-armored girl breathed more slowly, realizing what she did. "I… I'm sorry…" She then gulped. When she saw Balgo move and heard Yushira talk about an interrogation, she panicked, thinking the man would rat her out as Lucifer's co-conspirator.

"I mean, uh…. I know he almost strangled you and…" She scratched her black-haired head, suddenly not knowing what to say. "….At least next time give me a warning so you won't shoot my foot out."

Suddenly, steps were heard coming. Cerah gasped and Yushira turned to see a group of mask-wearing young women with bows and Bronze Cloths showing up.

The Amazons approached Yushira, with one of the archers taking the lead. "Sister, what's going on? We all woke up with these quak -" Her masked face then lowered. "Oh, it's just you, Yushira."

The Crane Saint held a hand in the hip. "Yeah, what about it?! What's that tone supposed to mean?!"

All the Amazons immediately lowered their weapons. "It's supposed to mean 'its two in the morning!' Can you just tell us what you pulled this time?"

"NOTHING! We were attacked!" the teenager defended herself, pointing at the cyclopean corpse. "SEE?! There's a whole Specter invasion going on! I lured this one here cause I was hoping we could get some help from you! What were you doing until now?!"

One of the other amazons explained. "Yushira, we all fell asleep in the middle of the village fields all of a sudden! We didn't wake up till this racket in the forest!"

Yushira folded her arms. "I was waiting for arrows to come zipping by for like an hour! I better get a salary raise or something for this, or at least a recommendation letter to Libra! I had to save Cerah's life all by myself, while you floo-"

The bow-woman interrupted. "Wait, save who?"

Yushira turned to her friend. "Are you blind?! Cerah! This person right.." She saw no one. "… here?!... What?!"

The other amazons shared giggles and murmurs. "Well?"

Yushira paced around, searching for the Cyrulian girl. "SHE WAS RIGHT HERE!" Her masked eyes looked for signs of escape, like a blood trail.

Strapping her weapon around her arm, the bowman held her hand to Yushira's exposed temple. "Come on, if there's really an attack going on, we need to figure out what to do in the village."

But the Crane was ready to boil all by herself! "Oh she's not getting away that easily!"

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

The Corvus Knight stumbled away from the forest under the moonlight, holding her injured side. Her small body shook with pain, but her strong mind powered through until she got sufficiently away from the amazons. Eventually, she found a spot by the Zodiac's mount side and rested against it, hidden by the vegetation. The hand holding her wound warmed up with a golden light, applying the little she knew of the Golden Touch to soother her injury. Her skin felt pale and her strength waned, but she would be alright, provided she got some rest.

Guilt pressed on her conscience for leaving Yushira behind, but Cerah couldn't afford to get interrogated by Sanctuary's female Saints.

"Thank you for saving my life, Saint Crane. It was great to meet you. I have to protect myself and Eurydice, though…" she thought. Cerah's other hand took the black feather from her pocket. If only she had just stayed home, she wouldn't have put Yushira in danger or seen what Lucifer had done to those guards. "I guess this was a foolish idea to go after Lucian with this thing from the start… I only seem to get that type of idea. Now it almost got me killed all over again. At least hopefully, this is the last I'll ever have to fight a Cyclops…"

Another important thing she had learned from what happened was that it was probably suicidal to attack any more of Lucifer's men. Even if she wasn't hurt, the fact that Hades was so closely following this Holy War just waiting for a chance to punish Lucifer further through Cerah was more than enough incentive for her restlessness about the war to finally sit still. At least it was one less cruel Specter stalking Sanctuary's streets. Hopefully, that would help more innocent people survive Lucifer's invasion.

She tucked herself closer, self-conscious and remorseful. What kind of trade-off was this? She was still sitting idly by, wasn't she? All those Gold Saints would still have to put their lives on the line against this almighty Specter and his army of vengeful replacements.

"At least you found out a bit more about what you wanted. Hopefully next time you'll have less dumb hesitations."

A strange thought put in her head by her armor, without her knowledge or understanding, made her brighten up her eyes, remembering the moment she locked arms with her new friend, vowing to save the innocent before the Temple of Aries.

Cerah's green eyes felt subtly guided up at the Golden Zodiac. The knight also remembered that Yushira seemed motivated to get promoted to Libra, and wondered if there was something about the Houses that just naturally attracted the attention of those they protected.

The young Cyrulian felt her body as if suddenly blanketed by two protecting wings, even though she was all on her own. "Well, you might as well get some rest before your next opportunity to disappoint me." Corvus nursed, burning its cosmos to aid her rest. "This night of death is still young after all…"

Her eyes dazed down, suddenly sleepy, and her mind was invaded by its usual dreams. "Daese…"

Then, as her consciousness faded, far above her, the Third House of the Zodiac flared with inner light!

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

(?)

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

The two warriors of opposing sides screamed, sucked into a vortex of dimensions made up of myriads of lights and rushing stars, as their bodies were as if squeezed to onlookers into a world that had no physical paradigm that could accept their presence! The gold and dark armors on their bodies made them seem like thin, snaking lines of contrasting color patterns being flushed down a whirlpool of crushing galactic forces, shouting in pain as their bodies felt pressed by invisible, rejecting forces, similar to the ones that afflicted Gemini Saga when he casted Another Dimension on himself in his battle in Tibet.

However, as the world they crossed through overlapped that of Athena's sacred Gold Zodiac, it was drenched in the sacred, inviolable cosmos of the Goddess and the twelve Gold Cloths, and thus made up of spells, blessings, and prayers incomprehensible to the human mind, but filled with the love in the heart of Zeus' favorite daughter for all of mankind. They were like countless stars rushing down around them, pulling their bodies into a narrowing, spiraling tunnel of storming nebulas, reaching out to them with a soothing call of the Goddess as the dimensional cataclysm caused by Lucifer's attack raged.

Kanon's armored arms crossed, his cosmos aura raging furiously as he attempted to gain control of the situation, but he could barely keep his eyes from bleeding at being in such a bizarre, horrifying dimension, much less target their destination. With a desperate scream, he manifested his powerful cosmos in all directions, thinking of home, and prayed that Athena wouldn't abandon him.

Soon enough, the light below them consumed them, and the two warriors felt themselves as if shooting stars falling back on Earth, through the atmosphere, aimed at Greece, and then finally raining down on Sanctuary! Falling through the skies of the Golden Zodiac, and yet not being there at the same time, Gemini Kanon and Daemon Lucifer fell, fell and fell at dizzying speeds, and collected their senses just in time to see the roof of the real Gemini Temple rapidly approaching them.

A blunt noise blanketed their minds as they struck the marble surface and everything went black!

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

Gemini Temple

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

The Specter's red eyes blinked, his body feeling pressed on the cold marble floor. He winced, feeling the world spinning and fading, and gradually got on his hands and knees to realize he was back at the Gemini Temple and the rift created by Kanon was gone. His entire body felt like he had just gone through a meat grinder right before getting splattered against a hard wall. He held his head as the overwhelming sensation of having just tried to comprehend something no human brain could process overcame his brain.

Still, his strength allowed him to remember what happened and recover himself. A cold shiver ran down his spine as he contemplated the risk he just took and his 7th sense expanded, trying to understand where he was.

The Pride Star gasped in relief, feeling a clear exit beyond Kanon, as well as the cosmos of all of his men!

Lucifer wheezed nervously but collected himself. "I knew it… I k-knew a coward like you would have a backdoor way out! All I had to do was call your bluff!"

The younger twin shook in fear as he got back up. "You… you're insane! We could have landed in T-Tartarus itself, or worse!"

The Specter laughed. "I doubt that… I know underhanded rats like you, Kanon. It's the benefit of getting to know scum like Yoma, Zelos and Reimi! Your type never pulls a move like that without the certainty that you'll come out on top no matter what happens!" the Specter argued. "But even if you didn't…"

The Gemini got up, wheezing. Saving himself took a lot out of him. "Then what?!"

Lucifer tensed his body and burned his cosmos, charging out his aura with a furious, dark blaze. It made his muscles swell inside the Surplice and his power manifest with the image of a demon. "I'm not the type to accept having my destiny stolen so easily! I am Daemon Lucifer, he who has challenged a God! If you sent me down some monstrous dimension, never to be seen again, just like with Virgo's cheap trick earlier, I'd still find a way out and destroy you!"

Kanon stepped away in stagger, feeling the Specter's willpower manifested in the strength of his cosmic illusion. Now he understood how he got himself and his men out of Shaka's Sati. This opponent was the 'Akassius' type, the kind that was so strong that it defied reason!

Lucifer raised his hands and charged Dark Revenge Blast once more, forming the ball of dense darkness and wrapping it in the furious fires of terror. The entire temple began shaking furiously and the rocks that littered the ground began shimming, sliding, or was getting sucked into the vortex of the attack, to be consumed and disintegrated.

Gemini Kanon felt his 7th sense drawn so strongly to it and understood he was outmatched. His hands burned. "Another Dimension!" he casted, but nothing happened. Sweating in fear, he tried again. "OPEN UP! A-ANOTHER DIMENSION!"

Lucifer laughed, his red eyes shining as his attack charged larger and larger. "What's wrong, Gemini?! Can't use your dirty trick anymore?!"

The temporary Gold Saint crackled out his attack in frustration. "W-WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

As if to answer this, Lucifer put more effort into his charging, causing the revenge blast to reach the proper size and the lightning that crackled off it to become more visible. At this point, Kanon realized his dimensional powers were working, but they were being blocked out. Something was overriding the changes he was trying to induce in space around him before they could be enacted. The move the Specter was charging combined Darkness and Electricity in such a way that it was it's own mock of Galaxian Explosion or, worse, Athena Exclamation.

Raising the attack high above his head, Lucifer contemplated his outmatched foe. "They say a Gemini Saint is like a painter of the world's canvas. But what happens when that canvas is already being painted on? My Dark Revenge Blast is no dimension opener, but you've seen it's power already. An open gate can't handle its gravitational twists, much less your attempts to open a new one!"

Kanon's cape fluttered as he assumed a desperate battle pose, but his head sweated in fear, truly not knowing what to resort to. "I… I can't overwhelm that with Galaxian Explosion either! None of my techniques are going to work!"

"I'm afraid this battle was hopeless from the start, Gemini Kanon. I told you. I was born to slaughter Athena's champions, so I was made very familiar with them. Especially the ones of my Zodiac," he stressed. "Much like a flame against a lava stream, the Gemini Saint may be powerful, but he is the last of the twelve that can stand up to me. Now face the wrath of the Devil!" and he lowered his hands, tossing the ball of power. "DARK REVENGE BLAST!"

Kanon screamed, "GALAXIAN EXPLOSION!" laying out his hands at the incoming meteor of darkness and firing his attack in an attempt to stop it! All it accomplished was creating a clash of cosmos that exploded amidst the two fighters in the light!

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

Sagittarius Temple

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

The entire Golden Zodiac shook and Aiolos gasped, beholding the Third Temple far below as its roof blew open with a geyser of purple light and crackling thunder. The entire edifice had been quiet for almost an hour since the Specter army had managed to cross to the other side. The cosmos of the enemy leader went missing, but after a mysterious shock of forces that took down the House's Labyrinth, making the enemy boss' cosmos reappear, this new explosion now occurred deep within the building, denouncing some sort of battle.

The Sagittarius Gold Saint clenched his fist. He knew Saga to still be away. "Could it be… Kanon?!"

"Aiolos, what was that?!" Camus asked, the tone of his mental message shocked. Pieces of marble flew up in the air.

"I thought the Third House was empty!" Shura added, bewildered. The marble pieces collapsed all over the mountain in loud tumbles, leaving behind a raging inferno in Saga's home.

"W-W-whow, what's going on?!" Milo pronounced himself for the first time. Aiolos even saw the blue-haired boy rush out of the Scorpio Temple without his helmet, like he was putting protections on in a rush. "Holy sh-….Why is Gemini on fire?!"

Aiolos gulped, feeling something cold in his stomach as everyone expected answers. He also felt as if Shaka was also watching somehow, like an ominous sensation coming from the 6th temple. What could he possibly say? Between the fury he felt in his heart at the possibility of Saga's hidden twin being hurt and the suspicions all of this would arise in everyone, the virtuous Gold Saint felt in an impossible position.

However, Kanon had to protect Saga's path as the Gemini Saint, tragic as it was. "I think the enemy leader just forced his way out of the Gemini Temple's labyrinth with a really powerful attack somehow." He lied. He felt horrible in doing so, but he had no right to mess up Saga's future. It was for Kanon's own good, as well. "Everyone, brace yourselves, the enemy will soon be crossing Lance's Temple."

Aiolos felt his heart tugging, thinking of the younger twin whose fate was uncertain. His imagination, or perhaps even a whisper from the Sagittarius Cloth itself, went so far as punishing him further by reminding him the same could happen to Aiolia soon if he didn't do his best to stop the enemy.

He gripped the bow tensely and bashed his fist on the side of his temple door in frustration. "S-Saga… where are you?!"

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

Gemini Temple

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

The insides of the Third House were an inferno.

The collision between the two almighty attacks had been brutal, rivaling the intensity of Orion's Ray as it burst on top of the Taurus House's occupants. However, the difference of strength between the two moves as well as the experience and power of their users won out, and Galaxian Explosion was unable to stop Dark Revenge Blast. Instead of adding to its destructive power as both attacks rolled over and blasted the main chamber of the Gemini Temple apart.

The floor was a war zone, trenched by fissures full of purple flames of evil. The roof was ripped open, allowing the fumes of the fires out, the pillars that had been beneath it were broken in half for the most part and a trail of destruction now led to Kanon's collapsed, unconscious body. The blue-haired twin was heavily injured and bruised, bleeding all over. The Gemini Cloth also stood above him, floating in its rest form, as if the force of the explosion had kicked it right off of him.

The terrifying Specter walked through the destruction, unabated by it, and beheld his fallen foe. "So you were saved by your brother's Cloth once more. You should be thankful, Kanon…"

Surrounded by flames, the Specter then pondered what his final move would be. The boy was still alive, as his chest breathed in and out, and Lucifer had the opportunity to finish off the scheming twin. Still, he was no fool. He knew that Kanon's brother would likely return to Sanctuary, and experience told Lucifer that Gold Saints were only stronger and more dangerous the more of their friends you cruelly murdered, especially if they were siblings. It was a choice he, unfortunately, had to make despite how dangerous they already were, as ignoring it helped cause his downfall during the Lost Canvas War.

Then again, Lucifer had already decided earlier to have Taurus murdered and displayed as his first blood to his friends. What was one more of Shion's foolish choices for Gold Saint candidates dead in his wake? Perhaps it was only Zodiacal sympathy that made him hesitate just now. After all, someone subversive like Kanon should not be left alive in the new kingdom he was about to carve.

His hand, therefore, summoned the electricity of Lightning Fang. "Besides, I already have my mind set on who's going to be my new Gemini Saint…" he mused. His red eyes then spotted the golden dagger he kicked away. "And then, there's that thing…"

However, before he could cast Lightning Fang, the floating armor of the twins burned its golden energies and Kanon's unconscious body was lifted into the air.

His eyes widened and his hand thrust forward. "Hey, STOP! LIGHTNING FANG!" he unleashed, letting out a furious whip of thunder at Kanon.

A small gate to Another Dimension was opened, though, and Kanon was wisped away into it before the lightning got shielded off by the Gold Cloth, whose resplendent surface withstood the harsh impact.

Lucifer recoiled, fearing a new threat! "What's the big idea, you ostentatious piece of junk?!"

Then, unexpectedly, a twined voice was heard, like two people speaking to each of Lucifer's ears! "You won your battle, Lucian. It's time to move on."

The Specter staggered. "What?!..."

A tense, confronting silence followed between Specter and the Gold Cloth. The Prince of Hades could not believe it; the Gemini Gold Cloth was talking to him? What was going on with this? The Specter felt suddenly fearful of a trap from Shion, whom he knew through Balrog Rune for a long time to be a speaker to Cloths, and Lucifer stepped away cautiously from the floating golden armor, his red eyes searching for some hidden attack.

The shine of the fires reflected off the armor's golden surface as it spoke once more. "You've done well, Lucian, son of Julian." It greeted. "You have lived a long life, and fought many battles, and now fate has finally deemed fit for you to stand here, in your Zodiac's House, victorious."

The Celestial Star of Pride winced at the mention of his father's name. These legion-like voices in his head had to be the Cloth speaking. Shion was the virtuous, heroic type that would never admit giving terrain to the enemy, even if a hostage was taken. Only the Cloths of Athena, with their dubious motivations and manners derived from the spirits from a lost age housing them, would ever admit such a thing.

"Why are you talking to me?!" he demanded to know. "To save yourself?!"

The object didn't even bother to address the silly notion that armors meant to give their life for their owners, only to reserve the possibility of revival through blood, would fear death. "You were born under my House's stars, were you not?"

Lucian laughed out loud. "AH, AH, AH, AH, so that's what it is?!" he mocked. "I'm afraid my star doesn't belong to your constellation! Rather it shines over the palace of Giudecca."

"Even Specters still hold their Zodiacs, Lucian," it argued. "Hades' artificial stars do not change that."

The Specter wasn't sure if he liked being addressed by his birth name. He figured, however, that the armor embodying his birth zodiac would be privy to things far more intimate than this, though. "You speak as if that has ever stopped you from battling them, Cloth."

"Perhaps, but did Athena deny you her words when you spoke to her?" it recalled, referring to his and Michael's debate with her by the Colossus. "Just like Athena loves all mankind, Lucian, it is my prerogative to watch over the fate of all those born under my stars, to love them unconditionally. That includes Saga, that includes Kanon, and… yes… that includes you."

Lucifer clicked his tongue. "I know about how you watch over their fate." He sneered. "Inducing madness in them, turning brother against brother, sometimes inventing one that they can fight. You call that love?"

The voice of the Cloth then suddenly went unexpectedly dark and deep. "Ah, ah, ah, love is harsh! Just as it is beautiful!" but then it softened all over again. "And I will shower every one of my Gold Saints with all of its facets… it is up to them to show me if they can love themselves."

The Specter paced around, taken aback by the facetiousness of the armor. "(This thing is just as insane as its owners.)" He realized. "(Still, this could be a chance to satisfy my curiosity about a few things.)"

"You want to ask me about Akassius, do you not?" the Cloth immediately punctured.

The Specter's eyes widened, surprised by the armor's perceptiveness. "Perhaps," he admitted. "Why him? Why is he the one to come out of your trials with his mind intact?"

The deep voice returned. "We told you, the answer is love!" it seemingly mocked, then returning to its original. "And perhaps sacrifice, as well."

"Love?! Perhaps?!" Lucifer asked, revolted. He then walked over to a certain spot, picked something up, and tossed it at the Cloth's base. "Are you sure it's not this?!"

The armor remained impassive before the golden dagger.

"That's a mighty interesting discovery Kanon made, is it not?!" the Specter confronted. "I may be a man of Hades, but I know those carvings. All Specters do. Many of us fear who made them."

A shine from the flames coursed through the ornate Spartan letter patterns along the blade, producing a starry glint at the edge's tip.

Lucifer continued, stern. "And who made them is madness itself, the name of carnage dressed in blood and pestilence, of eyes cursed red as mine and of they who fear not death or punishment from Hades!" he described, his Specter instincts refusing to give the name to these heretics. "So tell me, Gold Cloth,… did Akassius also stumble upon this in a stroll by this house's sunset?! Is this thing the source of his love?!"

The armor, however, insisted, ignoring the blade's presence. "Akassius discovered that to master Gemini is to understand how to accept himself and the shadow that's hidden inside him, even if that shadow is choking him to death," Gemini argued. "It came at a very steep cost to him, a cost that moved the hearts of everyone in Sanctuary who knew him and his struggle. Because of that, he never felt the pain all the other Geminis went through and found a path flooded with light. He is, truly,… my Saintly Saint. Saga and Kanon had both yet to understand this, though…"

The Prince sneered. "I should have guessed your response would be more of a self-help book nonsense! No matter -" he dismissed, waving his black cape almost theatrically. "- once I'm at the top of Sanctuary, you and all the other armors will be mine, and you'll adorn who I tell you to adorn!"

A twined laughter from the armor followed. "Very well, if that's what you believe. You don't intend to wear me, after all, do you? No, I'm to be your gift-" it mocked. "-, your offer of love, correct? That's why you want to know my secret. You don't want her mind to fall into madness as well right after whenever you foolishly decide she's ready."

The way this armor seemed to guess his every thought despite not even being on his shoulders unnerved the Prince ever so slightly, but he maintained a stoic face.

The armor continued. "But you don't understand, because you were given your Surplice out of pity, were you not?" it provoked, feeling the rage inside Lucian's heart. "The eighty-eight Cloths are earned through a union of hearts, not a contract with the Underworld God. Even if you knew how Akassius mastered me, her trial would be different, because so is her heart."

All this talk of heart made the Prince sick. "Get to the point!"

The forcefulness the armor felt in the Prince to know more only proved the armor right about Lucian's anxiety. "Every Saint is himself his own biggest obstacle. The role of the armor is merely to teach them to get out of their own way. Geminis like ourselves are, tragically, particularly self-sabotaging creatures. Only Aquariuses match our stumbles. You cannot save her, Prince Lucian. Only she can." And then the deep voice returned. "Mm, mm, mm, but you should know that, being a self-sabotaging Gemini yourself."

The Celestial Pride Star gritted his teeth furiously. "We will see! My will is the greatest that there is, just like it always has been in my lineage! By morning you and the other eleven armors will dress champions, not these children, and my name isn't Lucifer if I won't show the world how misguided Athena and her Popes have always been in their picks and philosophies!"

The armor then watched as Lucifer walked past it to go join his men. "You are wrong. You'll prove nothing."

Lucifer halted. "What did you say?!"

"The designs of Athena are not easily shaken. Her love for mankind has allowed her to understand Prometheus' creatures the most, out of all Olympians, and you are incomplete, Lucian, just like Saga is, just like the girl you trained is, just like most humans are," Gemini explained. Its melancholic face on its helmet's side seemed to be the source. "Even if you walk past all our Houses… even if you murder the Pope… even if you stand at Athena's Colossus and summon the Goddess herself to make your wish come true…"

And then the other, grinning face continued. "… for as long as the Star of Pride burns, you shall never be king!"

The silver-haired warrior's red eyes stared at the armor, transfixed by its prophecy. With a furious growl, however, he decided the best way to prove it wrong was to focus on his attack, and he left the armor on its loneliness, ready to cross the Temple once and for all.

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Stairs to Cancer

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The Prince was greeted with cheers and uproars as he left the darkness of the Gemini Temple, his men relieved and moralized to see him cross the House that nearly entrapped them all. Lucifer himself breathed a small breath of relief, as he had not expected an empty Temple to turn out to be so difficult to cross.

Made curious of the time by this, he looked up at the Fire Clock and saw with great satisfaction the flame in the third symbol about to die out.

He scoffed and turned to his men, loving to imagine an aged Shion panicking as yet another Temple was taken. "Raise my flag over Gemini! The Third House is conquered!"

"Yes, Prince!" a skeleton obeyed, holstering the banner of the dragon-winged star over the exit of Gemini.

"YEAH! LONG LIVE THE PRINCE!" another cheered.

"It's good to see you, Prince." Ainsel wished as he flew above them. "It seems, though, that your men have reappeared at Aries somehow. Also…I wish to talk to you about Cyclops."

Lucifer had noticed indeed the absence of the party he took through the right Gemini Temple. "Very well, have them stay there for now, and tell me what you want as we go up. They won't catch up to us before we're rid of the rest of the Pope's guards anyway!" He then searched for his elites. "Where are Neferti and Lemon?"

"After your cosmos reappeared, they went ahead to the Cancer Temple, Lord Lucifer." One of the men informed him.

"Then we shall join them! I've heard the current Cancer Saint is a brawler, unlike his predecessors. Formation, and march!" he ordered. The Skeletons cheered and took up columns to cross the stairs, prepared to face any arrow or spear that could be tossed at them.

Then, as the Prince took the first step to Cancer's temple, expecting a new challenge, the blue Will-o-Wisp of Gemini at the Fire Clock completely gave out, leaving behind nine fires to cross through.

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Japan,

Priam's Base

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The black Saints of Priam continued to monitor the ongoing Holy War through the projected page of the Book of Dead given to them. Work and talk had gone quiet, as they have been tracking the progress of Lucifer's forces for several hours.

Worst of all, 'Sea Prince' went suddenly quiet. Their main mole at Sanctuary was feeding them inside info of what was going on in Greece and then went completely dark after the Specters reached Gemini. Daese bit her nail nervously. She didn't like not knowing what was going on. It reminded her of her early days at war with Sanctuary when everyone seemed too much stronger than her and she could barely do anything to keep her little sister fed and safe.

One of their men put down the phone. "Sir, sir, we've got him on a separate line! 'Sea Prince' has reported!"

Priam let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank Goddess…. I hope he's okay."

"Where was he all this time?!" Daese demanded to know, exasperated.

The goggle-totting burned man looked at the source of the line. The number was indeed from a place coming from almost at Rodario. How did 'Sea Prince' end up there? "That's a strange place for him to be at. Are you sure it's him?"

The Black Saint nodded. "He gave the usual codes. He says he's secure, but that he's hurt and won't be able to feed us more intel."

The brown-haired man held his head. "Shoot…! What now?" Fortunately, this contact was not their only pair of eyes in. "What's the situation with the page?"

Another Black Saint came reporting. "We have a couple more death reports, mostly Skeletons. There's one Specter, though."

Priam and Daese's eyes widened. "Which one?"

The agent guided them to the projection on the one and pointed at the new index line getting crossed out. "It's one of their lower ones, not even an elite."

Daese grumbled. She would be lying if she wasn't hoping for Lucifer's campaign to end in complete disaster. That way, he'd get captured and she and Priam could probably leverage more answers about Cerah and Hades out of him in exchange for springing him before Arles took his head at the Coliseum.

Still, she read the line.

Terrestrial Mayhem Star Replacement| Cyclops | Balgo | Murdered by Corvus Cerah Héloise | Repossessed by Gigant

Her blue eyes widened and her heart stopped!

|Murdered by Corvus Cerah Héloise|

Her breath left her throat and she nearly tripped back on a work desk! "C…" She tried to get her bearings "CERAH!"

Priam held. "Daese, what's wrong?!"

Her eyes wept and she pointed at the page. "CERAH! MY SISTER! SHE'S IN SANCTUARY!"

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Chapter End

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Next Chapter: Chapter 54 - Episode 18 – The House of the Dead

Description: The Specter forces reach the Cancer Temple, expecting to battle a warrior less known for necromancy and more for his brutality. Meanwhile, the Skeletons at Aries continue to guard the Temple against any intruders, when suddenly someone new comes walking by…

Author's Notes: Oof, this chapter went through some trials. Somewhere along the line I realized I wanted Cerah to have a rematch with the Cyclops Specter to demonstrate a bit of growth in her despite the year she lost, but then the problem was that it left her part in this arc a bit underwhelming, so I planned to have her encounter Yushira and the massacre perpetuated by Lucifer's men for some good development. This all led to a bunch of issues regarding her role when Gigant shows up that I ended up repeating myself a lot on and make some mistakes that Jenny DeVic had to pull my ear about.

To add fuel to the fire, the first version of the Lance-Adriana scene was much more problematic, with them wasting around much more time and being too playful in what was a tense situation. The end result was that a LOT of text was cut out and a bunch more was rewritten to its present form, which I hope is acceptable and still contributes to the story's progress. Adriana's character is a bit tough to get down sometimes, because she's supposed to be a refined Pisces with fancy background and a cold-minded mentality like Aphrodite, factors that require a lot of tuning with the 'good guys' for her not to come across as detrimental.

She's not the first character I've had trouble perfecting, though. Cerah used to be the big problem in the story. Anyway, what was a 28000 word chapter got chopped down to little above 24,500 in what's probably one of the biggest post-alpha cuts I've had to do. I'm still happy, though, cause I thought the alpha WAS a bit too big and this brings it down to a more pleasing level. Quality over quantity as they say.

One note about the Star that Gigant is under; I realize that he's said to be the Terrestrial Violent Star, but then again, Kagaho is said to be the Celestial Violence Star, too, so I had it changed to Mayhem under advice of my friend Shion from the SS Discord.

The next chapter is already around 60% done. My aim is to get it done by Christmas.

Anyway, make sure to check out the Saint Seiya Reddit Discord server, where I'm currently one of the co-admins. Other writers like Jenny DeVic also can be found in it. You can hang out with the rest of the English-speaking SS community and we host several weekly events, like episode streams, games and now a whole new Horror Let's Play themed after the Underworld.

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