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.

75. 3A: Back to Basics

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; Kido Mount; DQI Geography;

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

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Author Notes:

-Celebrating 75 chapters!

-This chapter has been Betaread by EpicElly, from Discord;

-Even though it's a long LR tradition dating back to V1, I've decided to no longer put the lore quote at the start of each chapter. It's just become a bigger source of problems than solutions. I would rather showcase the characters in the story itself and help myself keeping things consistent and loyal to less random establishments than adding the extra lore;

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Please enjoy and review! ^_^

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Tibet

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It was already almost nightfall in Central Asia. Lance really wished he hadn't forgotten about the stupid time zones. The cold winter wind blew unpleasantly at the World's Ceiling as Saint Pegasus Lance, carrying his heavy Cloth box, climbed up the rocky slopes and made a grueling march through the inhospitable terrain. A mission was a mission, though, even if commissioned by the two kids with him.

He was in a remote part of the world, even in the context of Chinese Tibet, an area where few humans had gone to and, therefore, was perfect for siting the legendary capital of the surviving Muvians, Shamballa1, where Elder Yuzuriha2 and her council resided at.

To make things worse, he was being used as an unwilling vehicle for his two travel companions. Mu holding onto left shoulder, Shaka on the right.

His hand slipped down a hold and his fingers gripped tightly on the rocky wall, trying to reach the top of the plateau. "Crap…!"

"Are you doing okay?" Mu asked.

The Bronze Saint nodded and tried to move back up as stably as he could so as to not frighten the kids. "Yes. Are you sure this is a shortcut, though?!"

Mu happily nodded. "Yup! It's just over this last short climb and we'll reach Shamballa's plateau."

Lance looked up; the short climb was easily still at least 2 miles of going up, up and up on a slippery, snowy stone wall in the Winter.

"How did I let you two rope me into carrying you?!" Lance groaned, lifting the weight of three people plus the Pegasus Cloth box up a mountain. "I know there are speed-hampering defenses around these sorts of places, but…."

Shaka apologized profusely. "I'm sorry, Saint Lance, I wish I could help, but without my powers, I can't concentrate on light speed quite as well anymore."

"Also, we have to protect Shaka from the Specters, Lance! This is your first mission as a Bronze Saint! You don't want to put it at risk, do you?" Mu reminded him. "And the terrain is so rough! We can't just let poor Shaka make a big pilgrimage all by himself through it."

Reaching closer and closer to the top with hand reaches and leaps, Lance groaned in resignation. "Right, that makes sense."

…

He turned to Mu "Wait a minute, can't you just teleport us?! You did it at Twin Peaks!"

Mu nodded but raised a finger. "Shamballa is a sacred place of my people protected by countless barriers and seals, Lance. If I tried to teleport us there directly, it would be incredibly disrespectful… and we'd also bounce off into outer space."

"So just like my karma barriers?" Shaka asked over Lance's shoulder.

"Yup! That's why this super top-secret mission to escort you is ranked so high in danger, Shaka! We can only trust an experienced Saint like Lance to take us there." Mu would know, having filed the request at the MMC himself. He didn't realize how much paperwork humans liked involving in these things, but figured they probably had their reasons. "Shamballa has a ton of places dedicated to Buddha's teachings, Shaka. But that just proves how it's the perfect place to get your groove back in no time."

Lance gritted his teeth, seeing Mu missing the point. "Yes, but you can take us next to it, no?!"

Mu gasped. "Oh yeah!"

And with a big envelopment of white energy, Mu blinked all three of them out of the climb and beamed the group to the top of the plateau, where Lance would no longer have to carry the three of them up a slippery, flat rock wall.

Far up above, popping into the flatter plateau terrain like a camera flash, all three dwellers of Sanctuary landed on their feet. Since the distance was minimal on a global scale, their alignment relative to the earth's floor was the same too.

Lance stared at Mu, feeling like he could kill the small boy.

The child grinned self-consciously. "Sorry, I completely forgot. I'm used to Master insisting I make the trip by foot."

The Pegasus groaned in vexation. "Damn Arles; no wonder he and Roshi are friends!" Master Dohko loved barring abilities for mundane tasks, too. If it wasn't outright physically impossible, he'd have Lance carry the 1-ton weights up the mountain without any cosmos.

Lance then felt the chilly wind and trembled, immediately leading the two boys down the road now before them.

"Okay, let's go before we freeze. This area looks way too much like my old Training Ground for my tastes." He rushed, taking the lead. "Stick close to me, we don't know who might have followed us up here."

Shaka, who just had his Buddhist toga, obeyed but spared a look with Mu. "Isn't he a fire user? He can just burn cosmos to warm up, right?"

Mu laughed into his hands. "Yeah, we've told him already like a dozen times. At this point it's kind of funny that he never remembers that."

His aversion to being in the cold aside, the hurrying Lance had to admit some curiosity about their destination. With Elder Yuzuriha being by far the friendliest of the Seven Allies that Lance had met (which wasn't saying much), Lance was admittedly curious to see what kind of place Shamballa was. He didn't know much about Muvian culture and architecture, but if Mu, Shion, Yuzuriha and her creepy masked bodyguards were any indication, they seemed to be of an eccentric culture, even for Sanctuary's standards.

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Tibet, Lemurian Colonies

Shamballa Countryside

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Before they could spot the citadel, the road led up to some kind of small outpost, namely a tower with white walls, a flat yellow-tiled rooftop and a small staircase to the main door- all staples of Tibetan architecture meant to fool Chinese authorities into thinking this was a regular area. By the tower stood guard two of those masked Muvian men that were normally seen accompanying the Elder everywhere, except these had simpler armor, attire and weaponry. They carried some ceremonial-looking Ral-gris, which was a traditional Tibetan sword, as well as conical helmets and small buckler shields. The objective was to given them plausible deniability to normal people as tourist trap props, but Lance knew that, just like Hoplite spears in Sanctuary, they were quite deadly.

Lance perked up, spotting what looked like a young Saint of dark blue hair and black winter jacket, either late teenager or young adult, already in dialogue with the guards.

"(Are you sure I can't come through?)" the young man asked in Bodic. "(I was born around these parts and wanted to see the citadel.)"

Lance didn't understand a word of it, but tried to figure things out based on tone and body language. Unfortunately, the guards' masks and stoic demeanor made this pretty hard.

The young Saint took his rank's pin and showed it to the guards once more. "(I'm a Silver Saint, you can check my ID with the MMC at Greece)."

But the two guards were intransigent, shaking their heads. "(Holy Shamballa is on lockdown right now for a special visitation. Unless it's official business or a Papal emissary, no one is allowed through. Please leave.)"

The young man sighed sadly and nodded. "(Very well, thank you anyway.)"

Lance came in with Shaka and Mu and showed his own Gold-Rank pin. "Excuse me? Saint Pegasus Lance, on an escort mission from the Zodiac."

The two guards nodded and asked something in Bodic.

Lance gawked. "Uh?"

Mu raised his arms for attention. "Lance, I know, I know! He said (We received word of your arrival, Saint Pegasus. Are these two young lords our guests of honor?)"

The Pegasus squinted in suspicion. "Did he really say that last part with such adoration?"

The child nodded. "Yup!"

Seeing the two guards open up the way, the young Silver Saint beside them put hand in hip and tilted head at this, chuckling. "Ah, ah, Oh, there's my mistake; I should have brought a clever little guide with me as well."

Lance studied the person; the Silver Saint was a young man of about Lance's age, perhaps a bit older, had slightly tanned skin with Asian features, wavy dark-blue hair with a tied tail, a dark purple jumpsuit with a thick black jacket for the winter over it, a silver badge pinned to its chest, travel boots, and forearm wrappings much like Lance's own. The Pegasus couldn't say to have seen this guy around Sanctuary, but given the poor relationship he had with the ranks, especially Silver, that wasn't much of a surprise. There was a large chunk of the army he had never met.

"I don't suppose there's a chance you can get me in, too?" the Silver Saint joked to Mu.

Mu crossed arms behind head coyly. "How much you got? Bottom prices are one hundred thousand Drachmas!"

The young man recoiled, but smiled amusedly. "Oh, you caught me. I don't usually bring that much with me." He then palmed his own face, noticing Lance, and offered his hand. "Gods, where are my manners? I'm Crateris Suisho, at your service."

Cautiously, Lance took the hand. "Pegasus Lance. These are Mu and Shaka. I'm on a mission to take them to Shamballa."

The Silver Saint tilted head to check Lance's box. "Pegasus, uh? I should have guessed, given the Cloth."

Lance tensed his guard, knowing half the Silvers hated him, and asked with reserved tone. "Yeah. We're not gonna have a problem, are we?"

But Suisho shook head and raised hands self-disarmingly. "Not at all! In fact,….-" He then frowned. "-I think what the others have been doing to you all these years is pretty shitty. The Silver Saint order likes taking the side of their own on these things, but personally I don't take to such tribalism. Leave it to Sanctuary to take the side of a guy who abandons a little kid in a mountain."

Lance blinked, taken by surprise. "Oh…"

The Silver clicked tongue and looked away spitefully. "To be honest, with how long you've been gone from work, I thought the others had done something to you to free up your armor, Pegasus." The Silver then turned to the kids. "But now you're back to work, it seems. I guess you've been working for the Golden Zodiac?"

Lance stiffed up in alarm. "How did you…!"

The Silver pointed at the badge in Lance's belt and Shaka's toga. "That's a Gold pin on you and little Shaka, right? I just assumed. Besides, what other kind of kids would get escorts all the way out here?"

The Pegasus Saint held his pin away self-consciously. He had to admit that it was a pretty good giveaway, when combined with the Buddhist kid and the Muvian by his side. "Right… Sorry. I can't talk about it, though."

Suisho shook his head reassuringly "Zodiac business, right? Don't worry, I absolutely get it. I'm back from a mission myself."

Lance's interest perked up. "A mission? Where?"

The Silver Saint smirked proudly. "I suppose I can brag about it a little. The eruption at the Kamchatka peninsula."

The Pegasus widened eyes. "That one?! I saw it on the billboard at the MMC! It was ranked so high at G!"

Mu, who had never worked for the MMC before this, scratched his lilac head. "Is that a lot?"

Lance nodded. "Me and Shinta's mission to his island back in the day was marked for silver-ranks and we ended up attacked by what I can assume now were some of Lucifer's False Specters (*), so this guy is the real deal." he addressed Suisho again. "You're a gold rank? How come I never heard of you before?"

(*) "Andromeda in Chains"

Suisho gave him a 'really' look, coupled with a pacifying smile. "Well, Pegasus, you haven't exactly been social with the rest of us during your career…"

Pegasus Lance irked. Couldn't really argue against this.

The smiled disappeared from Suisho's mouth. "Yeah, well… At Siberia, it turned out the MMC was right and eruption wasn't an act of nature. Some… violent bastard, let's call him, awakened his Cosmos, 7th sense and all, and started a cult in mount Kizimen." The Silver Saint clicked tongue. "I took care of it, but not before some nasty things went down there..."

Lance cringed, having gone through his own share of mission catastrophes with Shinta. "I see…"

The young Silver Saint shook head. "It's frustrating. We have superspeed, but it still feels impossible stop all this madness in the world, because it just has so many remote places out there to foster like weeds…"

Noting the sad tone in the man's voice, Lance folded arms in resignation, reminded of Death Queen Island. "I know what you mean."

The Silver Saint returned a comforted smile. His blue eyes looked over Lance's shoulder. "Mm, I think the visits to Shamballa are here. I was told I couldn't get in because of those."

The three Zodiac dwellers turned and saw a big carriage traveling through the plateau road, escorted by a group of soldiers whose chain-link armor Lance recognized right away, associated to some very unpleasant memories

Shaka saw the look on his face. "Saint Lance…?"

The Pegasus Saint pushed them protectively aside. "Kids, stay behind me."

Suisho raised a brow. "Do you know these people, Pegasus?"

Lance grit his teeth angrily at the ivory-lined coach. "Unfortunately, yeah."

The Lemurian Guards held their hands up at the brown horses, making the carriage halt. The driver was a tall, dark-skinned man equipped with a chainmail that exposed the arms, a holstered scimitar, a red cape fastened over his neck, a round helmet, a decorated belt and white trousers. At his side rested none other than the Camelopardalis Cloth Box, indicating his status as a Bronze Saint.

"(Please turn in your weapons. Armed foreigners are not allowed inside the City of Peace.)" the Lemurian guards asked.

The atmosphere instantly became heavier as Camelopardalis turned his gaze at them. Lance in particular, who knew who this Saint escorted, felt his skin crawl, remembering what happened the last time someone inconvenienced the passenger's travel.

However, the driver did surrender his sword and signaled for the rest of his entourage to stay put at the border check. "Take my weapons, but I will keep my Cloth." The driver asserted. "I'm sure the people of Mu do not consider their creations to be 'foreigner arms', after all."

The guards shared a concerned look, but eventually accepted these terms, technical as they may be. They moved out of the carriage's way and let it advance. As it drove past the four Saints of Athena, though, Lance spotted the unmistakable smirk and eagle glare from inside the vehicle's veiled glass looking back at them.

His fist clenched, remembering Shinta's tears far more so than the Court. What was Cetus doing in Shamballa anyway? Some kind of Allies' meeting? Suddenly he didn't feel so safe leaving Shaka and Mu at the city.

Suisho watched the coach vanish over the slopes. "I see why you raised your guard, Pegasus. I would too, if I knew Saint Cetus was in that coach. A very unpleasant man to have as an ally, to say the least."

"Unpleasant? That guy is a fucking murderer! I don't understand why the Pop-3" Lance roared, but he stopped himself from complaining about Shion when he noticed the distraught look in Mu's face. Lance sighed. "Never mind."

The young man sighed, looking at the wonderful mountains. "It's alright. I know exactly how you feel… It seems like doing the right thing as a Saint should be much simpler, right? Instead… these armors sometimes…"

"Feel like traps?" Lance suggested, pensive.4

Suisho seemed to observe him for a bit, before smiling reassuringly. "Something like that, yes."

Lance saw him turn away and raised a brow. "Wait, didn't you want to see the city?"

Suisho looked at the stern guards again. "Yes, but that's not going to work today, so I'll be heading back to Greece. I was just curious about it. Maybe I'll see you around, Pegasus. If you're back in the mission workforce, there's a couple of missions I'd like to work together with you someday, given your record."

Lance waved back, watching the guy boom away at Mach 5. "Mm, nice guy for a Silver." He then turned and saw Shaka rub his head. "Are you okay?"

The young Virgo sweated but nodded. "Y-yeah, I am. That guy talking made me feel strange for a second there, like my mind went blank for a bit. I thought my powers were coming back, but it's gone now."

Mu gasped. "Shaka, maybe you sensed that guy's previous life! Many Saints are reincarnations of ancient warriors, after all. Already, just being close to my people's home, your spirit is being healed!"

Shaka pondered this mystery. "Perhaps…" It did feel like when he first sensed Shinta's soul, and now Shaka had reasons to suspect Saint Shinta was someone's reincarnation as well.5

Mu held Shaka's hand, accompanied him to the guards and waved Lance goodbye. "Thank you for the escort, Lance! We'll be safe from this point on."

Lance waved back hesitantly and watched as the masked guards called for a private escort. It wasn't that he didn't trust the Elder with the two of them, as Shion seemed to have complete faith in her and she seemed like a reasonable, caring person, but now that Cetus was around, his calm was replaced by anxiety.

He turned away, though, knowing it was out of his hands, and headed back to leave Shamballa's protective perimeter before it got completely dark. Without Shaka and Mu, he should be able to lightspeed his way to Mount Rozan without worry.

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Later,

Mount Rozan

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It was now nighttime in Far-Eastern Asia.

Having taken care of all his business with Sanctuary, Lance finally departed for the place where, from his point of view, all this False Holy War mess started. Lightspeeding through the deserted Central Asian steppes and then slowing down to high Mach speeds when approaching the village of Arlia, he then made the rest of the way pretty much on regular pace up the usual forested mountain path where his Master lived.

As he penetrated the quiet landscapes of Mount Rozan, though, the Saint finally had a chance to really rewind his brain through all the shit he was put through since Lucifer first showed up. He took deep breaths of the pure mountain air and drew peace from the thick amounts of green he had become accustomed to in that region of the world. Since it was too dark to see the road, he used his familiarity with the paths and his 7th sense to guide him towards Roshi's home.

Along the way, he tried to rehearse to himself what he was going to say.

"Hey, Master, I'm back from fighting the guy who tried to kill you. Sorry about using your secret forbidden technique." He internally voiced to himself, feeling ridiculous. He wondered what kind of punishment Dohko would give him. Despite his eccentric methods, Dohko knew some pretty harsh ways to make you regret disobeying him. "Maybe if I stress how I almost died doing it he'll consider it punishment enough…"

This wasn't even the worst thing he had to look forward to when confronting his teacher. He also had to explain to him what he intended to do with himself next and how. Perhaps Tenma had taught people to think of Pegasus Saints as stubborn mules, but Lance was starting to think that his personal legacy would be that they could be suicidal, as well.

It wasn't long before his ears detected the crashing water sound and he was greeted by the beauty and sounds of the Rozan waterfall. With such a sight, he smiled in relief. Maybe Shion got him a place to stay in Sanctuary Town, but, for now, it was only at Rozan that he felt finally home.

Climbing the slopes to the lonely house observing the lake, Lance perked up, seeing the light of the dining room. Roshi was still awake?

He stopped, seeing the door ajar and glances of destroyed furniture. The house was attacked?!

Gasping, he rushed up. "ROSHI!"

Lance's heart beat fast! He knew that Dohko guarded the seal of the Specters, and so that Hades' forces likely wanted him dead. He also knew that many False Specters had survived the War and that they'd certainly want to avenge their loss by attacking who they thought to be simultaneously the most isolated of the Gold Saints and the one that Daemon Lucifer held the greatest grudge against, other than Shion. After Teos showed up, both factions had a whole month to strike Rozan, a place that Lance and Shion had been both too busy to communicate for more than a few moments per week.

And that battleship…

"Yes, but more concerning than its defensive capabilities is its launch catapult… with it, they could launch Specters past Sanctuary defenses, through stardust clouds, like nightmares in the air.

Burning cosmos, Lance crashed himself through the broken door, smashing through the chaos of broken furniture. There were tossed tables, chests and shelves everywhere. Lance's breath stopped, seeing an unconscious, rejuvenated Dohko beneath a pile of assorted junk.

"Imagine Specters assaulting our training grounds, our villages and our islands. Killing our loves ones, regardless of what fortresses we build…"

"ROSHI!"

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Chapter 75

Arc 3

Episode 3

Back to Basics

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Rushing to his teacher, Lance shook his unconscious body. "ROSHI, WAKE UP! What happened?! ROSHI!"

The Libra Gold Saint's eyes opened a little. "U-ugh… L-Lance?..."

"ROSHI!" Lance called, relieved that he wasn't too injured to awake, or worse. His red eyes furiously looked around, searching for threats in the chaos. "Who did this to you?! I SWEAR TO GOD, I'LL-"

WHACK

Splattering aside from the surprise blow, Lance screamed, rolling through tipped over furniture.

"Q-QUIT YELLING IN MY EAR, ALREADY! I'm FINE, you drama queen!" Master roared, getting up and rubbing his head. Still, he winced. "Ugh… I may have taken my victory celebrations too far, though. My brain feels like a brick."

Holding his whacked head, it was then that Lance, bewildered, looked around to notice a whole assortment of emptied sake bottles, dirty dishes and a pair of elegant figures suddenly moving beneath the pillows. The two beautiful, naked young women from the village yawned, asked Dohko something in Mandarin, then noticed Lance sitting there and screamed, covering their bare breasts.

Lance covered his eyes in respect. "Oh god, Roshi! Did you really?!" Lance groaned, while the two women got their clothes. "Here I thought you got attacked by Specters and you were having… threesome parties!"

"Oh, I got attacked alright, rawr!" he purred, showing off the scratches on his arms and winking at the two women, who giggled back. He handed them their clothes and guided them out. "(Go on, you two. My student is still too shy around beautiful goddesses like you.)"

"(Bye, Raibura!)" they wished, thinking this was his real name. "(Call us!)"

"(Of course!)" Dohko assured, putting the door Lance smashed through back in place behind them. He didn't even have a phone. "You can open your eyes; the naked ladies are gone."

Lance obeyed, and stared at the destruction in the dining room. Whatever happened there, it seemed like they didn't even bother finding a bed. He sighed sadly. "Geez, Roshi…"

Dohko folded arms and snorted. "By the Gods, Lance, they're just breasts. Not Amazon faces. You can stare at them just fine. What, are you waiting to get married, or something?"

The Pegasus Saint held face, which grew redder with every image in his brain his Master voiced. Even if he wasn't raised Catholic, or underage, this was totally inappropriate for a teaching setting. "Roshi… that's not the issue… holy shit!"

"Besides-" And Dohko's hand proudly waved down his own bare chest. "You get to stare at this magnificently tuned body every day you train here. Even if you're not interested in men, you should at least be desensitized to nudity by n-"

"ROSHI, PUT YOUR PANTS ON!" Lance shouted, pointing at his naked crotch. "I DON'T WANT TO BE BOWING MY HEAD AT YOUR DANGLING DICK WHEN I'M TRYING TO SAY I'M SORRY FOR ROCKETING MYSELF INTO SPACE!"

Dohko looked down, noticing he had never gotten his trousers back from the two girls. "Oh, right… my bad." He apologized, chuckling with sincerity. Having partied for a week, at some point it just normalized. "Well, let's get the place in order."6

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After making sure his teacher wasn't walking around the house naked anymore, Lance spent the rest of the night helping the rejuvenated man clean the entire building from top to bottom. He discovered that, against his initial assumptions, the chaos had indeed spread to the upper rooms. And to the study. And the equipment shed not far from the house. In fact, it seemed the only place Dohko and his lovers hadn't wrecked was Lance's room, and frankly the Pegasus Saint wasn't sure if this was out of respect or because he bothered to leave it locked the last time he departed from China. He hoped it was the former.

Still, it was nice that Dohko decided to share the labor, unlike what he usually did of leaving it all to Lance and calling it 'an exercise in inner peace'. Lance had the feeling the Master did feel a bit responsible for the mess and didn't want to be unfair to his student, especially when Lance was taking the time to come all the way to China to ask forgiveness for a forbidden technique use.

Or, at least, this was as far as Dohko knew he was there for.

Eventually, the sun rose over China, welcoming a new day as they finalized their work.

Master and student set the mops aside and Dohko breathed out in satisfaction at the shining kitchen. "Ah…. Perfect! We've done it, dear student. Consider your sins with the Dragon techniques forgiven!"

Lance glanced at Dohko; the wood-carved house was a tough place to clean, but the Bronze Saint felt this was still a bit too easy. "Master, are you sure?... You don't want me to go clean Ma Chao's shit or something?"

"Yes, I'm sure, Tenm-…. -acious student!" Dohko corrected himself.

Too late, though; Lance's lips curved down at this slipup of his.

Dohko frowned, looking ashamed. He put his hand in the Pegasus' shoulder to reassure him. "Everything is fine, Lance. You don't have to ask my forgiveness for that. Normally I would have a severe punishment for something like this, but, considering the extreme circumstances, I'm… just happy you're alive to come try it to begin with."

Lance looked away. "Right…" but he then cringed. "I still wish you wouldn't just turn Misopheta Menos off just because you want to party. Isn't it supposed to be a secret? What if Shion came by?"

The Master waved hand dismissively and rolled his eyes. "It will be fine! That slave-to-routine always comes by the exact same days of the year to have his sake with me. Besides, I doubt he even remembers what I used to look like." Dohko's arms folded. "But speaking of that old goat, now he's put us at a crossroad, hasn't he? Since you're no longer the Cancer Gold Saint, I am no longer supposed to train you to become a full-fledged guardian of the 4th House, am I?"

Lance perked up in concern. Of course, he completely forgot about this; the whole reason he ever even met Dohko was because Shion wanted him in proper shape to occupy the Cancer Temple. (*) He saw Dohko stare expectantly, clearly awaiting his thoughts on it.

(*) "Starting Anew" Storyline

Lance stepped up, determined. "Roshi, please continue to teach me!"

A testing brow was raised by Dohko. "Is that what you want?"

"Yes! I don't care about why Shion even sent me here anymore, I'm way past that!" Lance assured. Rozan was the only place he felt at peace anymore, even with all its crazy spirits and gods. Dohko was also the first person other than Shinta and Noah to ever treat him correctly. He was Lance's first real Sanctuary Master. "I… don't want to go back to how I was. My place is here, at Rozan. It's thanks to your help and your teachings I was able to survive the war! Also…" Lance took a deep breath. "Roshi… I finally know what I want to do now. As a Saint. That's why…"

Dohko lowered his head pressingly, spotting that Lance was holding something back. "Yes, go on?"

And Lance then got on his knees and bowed his head humbly. "That's why I'm asking you to please continue to be my Master, but also to keep being… my f-." Lance's voice then cut short, utterly embarrassed. "I have given myself a mission for Sanctuary, but… its path is difficult and dark, in more than one way. I can't do it alone. I'm going to need help. Especially from you. And not just as my teacher, but also as one of the few people… who ever truly cared for me."

Dohko's jaw dropped, having rarely seen Lance being this open. He scratched his chin pensively, then turn aside to head for the equipment shed.

Lance blinked. "Roshi?"

With a heavy grunt, Dohko's body glowed with cosmos and he dragged a large, roped 150kg7 granite boulder out of the small side building, leaving a deep trail in the soft grove ground.

He put the thick cord in Lance's hands. "Here, take this. We're going for a walk up the mountain. You can explain this mission of yours on the way up. You've made me very curious."

Lance stared at it suspiciously. "That's it?! Roshi, again, isn't this too ea-"

"No cosmos for this. Not even Bronze-level."

Lance's red eyes practically exploded. "WHAT?!

"Don't worry, I'll give you plenty of incentive to hurry." He then whistled the woods, causing his gigantic pet white tiger to come leaping out. "MA CHAO! Come! It's teaching time!"

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Hours passed.

Sitting atop the huge rock, Dohko took a deep breath of the Rozan Mountain air as they slowly but surely reached the higher elevations, from where he could see the entire region of green, jungle-filled mounds cut by rivers. Below in front, Lance roared in effort, pulling the boulder by the chain up the path the last few stretches, absolutely drenched in sweat, his sneakers worn out by the friction of pulling the weight up the mountain for a solid hour and generally looking red as a beet.

Ma Chao, Dohko's gigantic pet white tiger, followed behind them, snarling menacingly trying to find ways around the rock in the narrow uphill path, swiping at the boulder in an attempt to harass the student, particularly by attacking the thick rope. Despite having saved Lance's life from Alraune Lemon, it seemed the beast still clearly hated the Pegasus Saint, or at the very least still scented the hated Dragon God's influence on the Pegasus. Lance would either need to keep the boulder up as a dragged shield and bring it to the top in time, or Ma Chao would finally swipe the damaged cord off and make the rock fall all the way down, forcing Lance to start over.

With a big heave, Lance finally pulled the blasted rock to the flatter mountain top, letting it collapse aside loudly as Dohko jumped off of it. He fell to his hands, dripping sweat all over the ground. If only he didn't have to talk about his mission while coming up.

"Nice job! Only took you one try, too!" Dohko laughed, holding Ma Chao at bay. "I'll get a bigger rock for tomorrow."

"D-Damn it, Roshi *pant*… did you *pant*… hear a word I said?!" Lance begged, exasperated.

The teacher passed him a water container. "Yes, I did."

You want to:

Build a Gold-Rank assault team of your own;

Invade the Heinstein Castle;

Penetrate the Underworld;

Destroy the Prisons and Underworld Palaces;

Fight and defeat as many high-ranking Specters as possible, preferably at least one Judge;

And, most of all, find a way to permanently disrupt Hades' ability to go to war with Sanctuary, if not end it entirely;

All this without the help, involvement or knowledge from the Pope, the Cancer Cloth OR the Teos Cloth. At a time when we have reason to believe Hades is awake and active, along with Hypnos and Thanatos, while our Goddess Athena is yet to return to us on Earth;

"Did I get it all?" Dohko asked, watching Lance gurgle half the water down.

Coughing, the student nodded. "Y-yeah, that's about it…" "Though Step 4 was more of Lucifer's idea… he said that if I wanted to hurt Hades, then I needed to strike where it hurt, not just kill his Specters that he can revive."

Master Dohko scoffed, tying Ma Chao to the boulder. He knew Lucifer was a murderous bastard, but also an idea stealer? "I see…."

Storing the container, Lance eyed the teacher anxiously. "And… what do you think?"

Master folded arms, turning sternly. "I think… I think that this is the most insane thing I've ever heard. Especially coming from you! You're usually so cautious and reserved, Lance, but this…The sheer ambition of this plan flies in the face of thousands of years of Sanctuary's warring with Hades, to think you can do all of this when countless generations of Gold Saints would not…"

Lance sighed sadly, but accepted it. He already expected this reaction, even from the adventurous Dohko, since the Libra Saint did live through a war with Hades and would understand better than even Aquarius Malta the risks that were involved.

However, to Lance, Dohko's approval was never going to be a deciding factor in his choice, just something he hoped to get. "Well, I already made my choice, Roshi, I'm advancing with this even if you don't-"

Master Dohko burst out laughing. "-And it's about goddamn time! Finally, my new student has found something worth fighting for!" He gave Lance a thumbs up. "You want my help?! You damn got it!"

Lance gasped. "Wait, really?! I thought-"

"What? That you'd have to debate the pros-and-cons with me?" Dohko scoffed, rolling eyes. "What am I, a damn Aries?! No. We've been talking about nonsense for thousands of years already in Sanctuary. I've been waiting for this day to come, for someone in it to finally realize the only way to change things is to create the change yourself!" he held Lance's shoulders firmly, smiling like a proud dad. "Look at you! Who needs a damn Gold Cloth, you're a true Cancer, anxious to screw up the system and defend your loved ones! I could almost cry out of happiness! So, who else have you gotten on board?"

While Lance couldn't be happier with Dohko's reaction, now came another challenge. "W-Well,… there's my friend Adriana."

Dohko beamed with pride. What a good day to be a mentor! "Oh-oh, a friend?! You dog! Is she cute?"

"It's…. it's not like that, but I can trust her. She even defeated the Papillon Specter." Lance assured. He should have assumed Dohko would react like this. It did make him happy, though, to put a smile on Dohko's face, so Lance fed him a bit more. "Adriana 8will be in charge of coordinating the group, in fact. She has contacts from her noble background that-"

Dohko raised a pausing hand "Wait, WHAT?! She's rich, too?!" He laughed in happiness and patted Lance's back so hard the student almost fell over. "Why did you never tell me about her?! You have to introduce me to this girl!"

This was a bit too much. "Roshi, don't get so excited! We're just friends with a common goal."

The Libra held chin coyly. "Mm-mm, for now!"

Lance's eyes narrowed. "Forever." It was time to get the conversation back on track. "I needed someone who could maneuver social fields better than me. AG makes a career out of integrating newcomers to Sanctuary. If I'm going to recruit a team, I can't sit around being my usual anti-social self. I need allies, especially people who can get me over walls I can't break through."

The teacher nodded along for now. Unbeknownst to Lance, Dohko actually disagreed that the student was as anti-social as Lance voiced himself to be, since he was clearly super devoted to the few friendships he had, again like a true Cancer. No one rocketed themselves into space with a Dark Prince of Hades for just casual acquaintances. Lance was just terrified of showing vulnerability.

But that was a lesson for another time, when he finally got a way to convince Lance to accompany him to a real adventure with the ladies. "Makes sense. So, who else you got?"

Lance shrugged. "That's it."

Dohko squinted. "What?! What about Shinta? Saga, Aiolos?"

Lance shook his head firmly. "I don't want to involve the kids. They got their own battles back home. As for Shinta? Over my dead body!"

Dohko folded arms, finding the first problem he had with Lance's plan. "Well, I guess not all of your Cancer traits will be useful for this… I also suppose Shinta isn't the right person for this kind of… aggressive initiative. Still, I wish you at least had a Saint partner watching your back. It would make me more comfortable about this."

This word made Lance pause. "Right… a partner…" Memories of the battle he had at Death Queen Island two years earlier, the screaming that was traded between estranged friends, the bloodshed and, most importantly, the dream that was crushed came to him. "I guess I just… wasn't lucky in that front, Roshi."

The teacher hummed, observing his student. His eyes seemed to pierce into Lance's soul sometimes, like he was too experienced for you to hide anything from him.

"The Queen is a cruel creature, isn't she?" Dohko confronted.9

Lance nodded, his eyes welling. "Yes, she is…" he rubbed them very quickly. Before he departed to stop Lucifer's invasion, he and Roshi had promised each other to finally talk about this. "She took my friend… or maybe Guifi gave himself to her. It's difficult to tell. Either way, he's gone."

Dohko sighed, having long suspected all of this. "Perhaps it was meant to be. Your friend became the Phoenix's warrior. Then you've met me, the Tiger's. And, as a result, you sought out Seiryu's protection and become the Dragon's. As two of the Four Gods, Phoenix and Dragon's powers naturally operate on the same level, yet belong to different cardinals. His blessing was a good solution for your curse."

Lance nodded along, already knowing this. In fact, he sensed it early on during training, from the moment Roshi began introducing him to the Dragon God living in the lake. Seiryu's terrifying powers and cosmos seemed very much alike the Queen's, so Lance realized that if he sought his protection, he could save himself from the Queen's curse, which he knew still resided in him. While Lance's eyes were still as red as Guifi's, the nightmares had receded and Guilty had become less aggressive, perhaps sensing Lance found new ways to resist his influence.

At least until recently. "I started having hallucinations of Guilty again not long ago, though. (*)"

(*)The Two Towers Storyline

Dohko nodded somberly, treating this with all the seriousness of a deadly disease. "It's only to be expected. Ultimately, you're still a Pegasus, not the Dragon Saint, so your status as his Dragon warrior10 will never be perfect. As you stay away from Rozan and focus on your other affairs, Seiryu's protection will naturally erode."

Lance nodded. He had other concerns about Seiryu, but he could leave them for later. "Right."

"If it's okay with you, we'll talk further about what happen over the course of your training. I assume you have a lot about 'Guifi' to get off your chest after all." Master suggested. However, now that we're open about these things, I believe our training to get you prepared for your mission will tackle that, along with many other problems you will face."

Lance perked up. Training and learning new ways to improve was always his favorite part of being Dohko's student. "I'm ready, Roshi! What do you have in mind?"

"Simple." Dohko then pointed at the big boulder he dragged up the mountain. "You're going to lift that rock over your head. For an hour. Without cosmos."

….

The Pegasus Saint gawked. "What?!"

"Oh wait, sorry, my bad." Dohko then pointed at the even bigger rock already there, the one twice the size and triple the weight. "I meant that rock."

….

"WHAT?!

{======================|A3|======================}

Andromeda Island

{======================|A3|======================}

Dislodging the huge boulder with his Andromeda Chain to create a path up the steep desert hills, Shinta guided Albiore and Elda11 to their sparring area, while Saint Cynthia followed behind. It was their first day training after the war period and the kids had a lot of catching up to do.

"So how was your stay in New Lalibela?" he asked, smiling anxiously.

Elda didn't seem to be able to contain how fantastic their stay there was. "Oh, Saint Shinta, it was so cool! We got to ride on the elephants, see the festival, they took us to see the big castle palace, then Saint Camelopardalis took us to see their train that takes people down the mountain….oh and they got this great spicy lamb dishes with veggies." Elda practically drooled at the memory of it and swooned nostalgically. "Ahh, I wanna go back so badly! They said they'd take us to see the volcanoes next!"

Shinta smiled, sighing in relief. After his brief but horrible experience with King Saint Cetus, the Andromeda Saint had dreaded the prospect of letting the kids into New Lalibela. "That's great. Maybe Saint Cynthia will let me take you back if you raise your test scores to a B, Elda."

Her mood instantly crashed at the unsurmountable task. "Ow…."

"What about you, Al?" Shinta asked his student, hopeful. "Did you have a good time?"

The Argentinean boy shrugged. "Yeah, it was okay."

…

Shinta blinked and smiled awkwardly. "Oh… did you draw anything into your book from it? I'd love to see it?"

Albiore shook head. "No, not really. One night they gave us some of their coffee to try. It made us stay up all night so I made a rough sketch of the mountain, Master, but that's it. Are we there yet?"

Shinta frowned, but tried not to express it too strongly to his student, focusing instead on guiding them to their practice area.

Cynthia noticed this, though. "Don't beat yourself up too much, Shinta. Kastiel says Al was mopey the entire stay in Ethiopia and just wanted to train. It's normal for young boys like him to feel specially pressured by what happened. Elda was the only one of the two that seemed able to keep her mind off the war."

Shinta stiffed his expression up. "It's okay, I'm not sad about it."

Cynthia tilted her masked head. "Becoming a teacher is making you better at not showing it, yeah, but you forget I've known you for close to a decade, Little Shinta." she playfully messaged, wagging her finger. "You have a lot of growing up to do before you can fool the Queen of Andromeda Island."

This triggered enough of a smile in the Andromeda, but sometimes Shinta couldn't shake how much Al reminded him of Lance back in the early days, when the Pegasus was still dealing with his trauma. "Is it… that normal for them to be so unrestful? I don't remember ever feeling like this."

Cynthia nodded and scoffed. "Oh yes, especially if you come from a war back home like Albiore did. You never went through a war before the False Specter attack, Shinta, so its normal that this is taking you a bit by surprise."

Shinta did remember the surge of determination to join the fight he felt in his blood after Deep Niobe and Bat Wimber attacked his students. "Sure, but Master Guardnia was always so reserved…"

"You should have met your teacher back when the Priam War broke out. He was almost as bad as Kastiel, temper wise. Not just him, by the by; when Guard' told us he signed up for Gold Rank training, I swear I could have strangled him right then and there." Launching her chain at the cliff and combining it with Elda's to climb it, Cynthia advanced to the training fields and continued her thoughts. "…It's funny, but as mad as I was, I think the Taurus House did him some good. We all assumed our generation would just be nobody-Bronzes forgotten by history, but all of us, even Nam, ended up becoming Silvers instead. Maybe try to take it as a sign that they really want to grow up, Shinta, instead of lazing around like some hoplites I could mention."

Creating his own chain climb path with Albiore, Shinta accompanied the Silver Saint up the cliff pensively. He knew Saint Cynthia didn't mean it, but there was an aspect of what she said that strangely reminded him of some of Prince Lucian's rants. Why did some people keep saying war was good for solving problems like that? Shinta wasn't afraid to fight and thought being vigilant was important, but he'd rather there be no war to begin with.

Albiore yelped when his foot scratched down a steprock, making him slip down his chain.

Shinta caught him immediately with his second chain and helped him reattach his spikes. He wasn't supposed to do this as a Saint teacher, but he couldn't help himself. "Are you okay?!"

Albiore grumbled in frustration but nodded gratefully. "Y-yes, Master. I just set my foot on a loose rock. I wasn't keeping my fingers on the links this time, so I'm okay. I'll be more careful next time." And, indeed, the young boy took a bit more time picking what to put his foot over the rest of the climb.

Cynthia folded arms, admiring how well Albiore was coordinating with Shinta after the error. "You know, Shinta, I'd actually kill for a student like yours. Albiore may not be open about what he's feeling, but he's obedient and listens to your lectures. You have no idea how hard it is to get Elda to pay attention to me sometimes. Remember when she rushed off to the Desert making motorcycle noises when she dug up that old bicycle? And almost died? Heck, she still tries to find ways to cheat out of using her chains in spars, instead of just punching."

Shinta checked if Albiore was properly hydrated or if he got hurt from the slip before advancing through the desert plateau.

The boy seemed flustered, looking away from Master Shinta. "Master, I'm sorry, I did have a good time at Ethiopia…I'll show you the sketch I made later. I'm just…"

Shinta's lips curved down. He saw Albiore's eyes reddening. Maybe he needed to keep things simpler, instead of confusing Albiore all the time by expecting both dedication to a harsh training regimen and sensitivity to talk to his Master about his problems from the young boy.

"We'll talk about it later, Al… Come on." He simply said.

Cynthia watched the two of them advance into the sparring rings with a concerned folding of arms. After hearing about some of Shinta's amazing feats during the war, such as supposedly having faced off against the enemy boss himself, the Cassiopeia Saint had been nothing but amazed by the young boy's growth since his stay at the Taurus House. They even got a series of commendations from the Pope himself, including extra budget for their Training Grounds.

She had hoped the experience would have hardened the softer aspects of his spirit as a Saint, but instead the shift in atmosphere in Sanctuary from peacetime into a tense cold war with Hades was clearly having a heavy impact on the pacifist Andromeda, perhaps heavier than what would have been helpful.

In particular, the Andromeda seemed more reserved, more introspective, like something dark experienced during the attack on Sanctuary gnawed at his spirit12. Something that the usually open Shinta didn't want to talk about and robbed the light in his smiles that everyone was so used to. Something somehow harsher than Guardnia's death, Shinta's brief fall-out with his best friend and the difficulties he had stepping up as a teacher put together.

Having once received a very shy and naively-worded crush confession letter from the boy back when Shinta was still in his 5th year under Guardnia, Cassiopeia Cynthia struggled to think of what terrible feelings could possibly be holding the Andromeda's tongue back from her. Was it the war itself that was bothering Shinta, though? Or was it that things were changing to begin with? Or did he find something horrible about himself? In the crazy world of cosmos that the four of them lived in, it could be any of these things… or perhaps all combined.

Maybe sometime later they could talk about it. For now, though, it was time to train.13

{======================|A3|======================}

Switzerland, Alps

Saintia Academy Open Gym

{======================|A3|======================}

With a martial shout and a burst of light, Cerah's small palm blasted the boulder apart, shattering it away into the debris field. All around her, girls of her class repeated the exercises, blowing away the boulders with similar open palm thrusts or spin kicks. She beamed reluctantly, watching the debris roll away further than her classmates'.

Even the teacher took notice. "Very good, miss Heloise, you're focusing your Cosmos better now. However, you need to improve your charging dance." The older woman in gym tracks pointed out. She manually raised Cerah's posture, corrected her arm posing and lightly tapped the young girl's temple. "You executed the last dance in 1.37 seconds, but you need to lower that to at least one tenth."

Cerah's eyes widened. "A tenth? But the Cygnus dance is a really complex one…"

The teacher held hand in waist and tilted head uncaringly. "Then concentrate harder! 0.137 seconds is the lowest possible human reaction time without cosmos, so you can still go down to at least that. If you perfect your posture within the first three steps, you'll see it makes all the difference. Now chop-chop! I want to see those arms flapping!" she then patrolled the rest of the class. "That goes to all of you girls, too! Diana, stop putting so much weight forward! Mii, if I see those fists closing again, I'm making you run around the Matterhorn again!"

Cerah nodded, wiping a sweat, and continued. A rule of gym class at the academy was to use closed fists as little as possible. This was because, as Saintias, unlike the other divisions, the girls were expected to be just as dignified and refined as they were strong, since theoretically they were to serve either the Pope or Athena more directly than the Saints or Amazons. Closed fists were considering brutish forms of cosmos for the girls, so graceful moves from palms, elaborate kicks or 'hands in claw' were favored by the Academy.

Personally, Cerah found it completely stupid. Knowing from both Lucian's teachings and personal experience that Cosmos worked best when concentrated, thus favoring closed fists, Cerah felt in her bones the sheer waste of energy that was firing it from a palm or half-clenched fingers, which was best for defensive blocks, but this inefficiency gave her the perfect framework to keep practicing without revealing the full extent of her abilities, allowing her to focus on the academy's better lessons. She only went along with it to stay discrete.14

Such lessons included better physical regimens more fit for her smaller build and the charging dance, where she shaped her constellations stars prior to a cosmos blow, something that Daemon Lucifer considered a… "Sanctuary faggotry", as he put it. Cerah always had the feeling that the Prince was too accustomed to training battalions of adult men in Skeleton Armor, rather than a young girl. The truth was that the Academy seemed to know the ins and outs of the less-known arts of cosmos manipulation, and Cerah could feel her understanding grow by the day through continued practice in ways Lucifer failed to seize on out of prejudice.

Breathing deeply, Cerah spread her feet apart, waved her hands, clenching her fingers and began shaping the stars of Cygnus, a Bronze constellation that was assigned that day to the whole class. No one in the gym was a Cygnus, though. Picking a wrong constellation for the students was kind of the point, since it lowered the efficiency of energy even further, thus making classes safer. Moreover, Cygnus involved a bunch of complicated movements from both arms and legs that was ideal to put most of the girls to the test.

Concentrating as much as possible, Cerah executed the dance set yet again as efficiently as she could, cutting her time and her cosmos aura re-emerged. She felt her energy rise and tried to gauge it to a humble blast. Her green eyes shined, seeing the unseen stars of the universe…

The teacher nodded pleasantly, but her eyes widened, watching Cerah's pale aura grow faintly gold.

With another martial shout and the brief flash of a roaring dragon going through her eyes, Cerah thrusted the boulder target with her palm, releasing a blinding amount of energy that flared the entire gym, startling the whole class. The boulder was pulverized with a loud sonicboom and Cerah froze up, watching the debris fall all around her like Christmas snow.

"W…w-wow!" a stunned girl by her side gasped. "That was a Symplegades15 rock, right? How did you do that?!"

"Look, it was the newbie!" another called attention.

Diana, her dormitory roommate, congratulated her with a shoulder pat. "Nice going, Cerah!"

The teacher recovered from the surprise "Was that… gold? No, it must be my imagination." and clapped. "Excellent, miss Heloise! Excellent! See, I told you it would make the difference."

Cerah's face went red and her fists recoiled, feeling the attention of the whole class on her. She absolutely did not intend to fire so much power. In fact, she wasn't sure what just happened.

She tried to play it off "I… I guess I got lucky!16"

The teacher held a hand against her forehead and felt it abnormally warm. "I don't want you passing out in my class from a burnout, so go take five." The teacher ordered, pointing at the benches. Every time one of the rich girls exerted themselves even a little bit, the academy would get angry letters from their rich parents. She didn't want to find out what happened if one of the girls went into a coma from firing too much Cosmos.

Cerah obeyed and headed for the seats. She had been feeling sick like this since the war. Maybe whatever persistent flu she had was giving her all her nightmares of dragons and making it harder to gauge her cosmos correctly.

On her way off the practice space, Cerah looked up and spotted someone observing the class; the long-black-haired girl in sharp school dress and yellow headband that everyone in the school admired stood there with one of the teachers, discussing something with them while taking glances at the training girls.

Cerah recognized her; it was Olivia, the class president that welcomed her into the academy. "That's…"

"I guess you got miss Olivia's attention, newbie." Said one of her classmates passing her from the locker room, an older red-haired girl, her tone brimming with poison. "Don't let it get to your head, though. You might faint for real.17"

Cerah gritted teeth, sick of the threats. "How about you bite me?!"

"And get an infection from whatever hole you came crawling from? No thank you." The girl dissed, before rushing off to her stupid mean girl friends on the older girl circle of the gym.

Sitting at the bench, Cerah groaned. Were all the older girls at the academy just vying for popularity with Olivia? Cerah knew that the class president had first hand pick for who got recommended to become a Saintia and who got sent home to continue their lives like before, so maybe that was it. No wonder miss Ghisi's younger sister was such a snake, if she came from people like this!

In any case, what just happened with her cosmos? She was pretty sure she gauged it way down. She didn't even spawn her Lightcraft lenses, the things responsible for her Prismatic Shot technique. Her hand just… fired way more power than she expected to, all of a sudden. While she was feeling improvements in her skills from the Academy, that blammo couldn't be the result of just concentrating harder, could it?

Cerah stared at her hands, concerned. She never had this kind of trouble with her meager Silver-rank cosmos. However, ever since Lucifer's attack, incidents like this kept happening where she kept using more cosmos than she thought in tasks, nearly blowing her cover in Sanctuary and at the Academy more than once. To drive her even crazier, she was dreaming about Daese again. Cerah kept imagining she was somehow right next to her, even though she knew her older sister was far away hiding from Sanctuary.

She looked up again. Olivia and the teachers with her were gone.

{======================|A3|======================}

Mount Rozan

{======================|A3|======================}

"Roshi, are you insane?!" Lance screamed, arms in the air. They were still arguing.

The master rolled his eyes. "I don't see any reason for you to raise your voice at your Master over what I ordered, dear student."

"You don't?!" Lance pointed at the smaller rock from earlier. "Pulling that smaller one up without Cosmos is one thing! It's fucking hard as shit and you made it tougher by sitting on it all the way up, but it's humanly possible!" He then pointed a the much bigger one Dohko wanted him to lift. "But raising THAT one? Over my head?! For an hour?! That's not hard as shit, that's impossible!"

"Pah! Oh, quit your winghing. We live in a world with Gods and dragons and fire birds that make you live your worst nightmare with a poke to the forehead, and you want to invade the Underworld and destroy the realm of one of the cruelest trios of Gods Sanctuary has ever faced, and you're telling me about what's impossible?"

"WITHOUT THE COSMOS?! Yes!" Lance asserted. He pointed at the gigantic boulder. "Look at that! Even Aldebaran's teacher wouldn't lift it! And Daniel can create fucking earthquakes with his hands! But even for that he has the Cosmos!"

Dohko just laughed derisively and headed for the rock.

Lance stood back, bewildered, and saw the Libra grip the gigantic boulder the size of his hut tightly. Was he going to demonstrate? Watching carefully with both his eyes and 7th sense to make sure the teacher wasn't going to trick him by using a teeny-weeny bit of Cosmos, Lance observed as Dohko took a deep breath, focused, carved his fingers deep into the rock and roared in effort.

At first nothing happened, as expected. Lance almost scoffed in triumph.

Then a small shake beneath their feet was felt. Lance froze. Ma Chao the tiger snarled, its fur raising.

Dohko's half-naked body bulged, its muscles swelling and its veins popping. There was no supernatural manifestation in the atmosphere of the cosmos, like Libra stars appearing; instead, the wind simply blew stronger, the nearby waterfall sounds sounded louder and the dirt on the ground seemed to wave up and down like a great natural force was harnessing around the teacher. The roar intensified and the fingers dug deeper until the rock cracked slightly around them. For a moment, it felt like the human before Lance was disappearing, and a dangerous animal was emerging in his stead.

Then, with an enormous muscular force that made Lance's jaw drop to the floor, Libra Dohko separated the rock from the ground! With an even greater effort that visibly stressed the Gold Saint, proving even further the lack of cosmos use, Master then slowly raised it over his head, shadowing himself with it entirely. Sweat practically fountained down his body and his chest weaved for air.

Slowly, Dohko turned, without dropping the rock, smiling. "D-Does this look impossible to you now?!"

Lance practically fell back on the floor, overwhelmed. He kept scanning the Gold Saint with the 7th sense, his jaw hanging loose, desperately searching for the tiniest sign of burning, but there was nothing! "W-,.,.W-… W-What… H-HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?!"

Even Ma Chao coiled nervously, as if finding itself suddenly in the presence of a superior cat.

Dohko straightened his pose with a deep breath, raising the rock into a perfect holding stance, just to show off the feat. "T-This, dear student… will be your next great lesson… and the key to your mission's success."

Lance watched, feeling like he wasn't on planet Earth, as Dohko tossed the gigantic rock down on its place, making the whole mountain shake and dust raise into the air.

Dohko wiped his drenched forehead and spoke between strained breaths. "T-The barrier that surrounds Hades' castle cuts the Cosmos of anyone not protected by a Surplice down to one tenth of its level. As a Cancer, …you could pursue the Yomotsu Hirasaka Well instead, but my guess is that you'll need a passage that won't take away your soul in exchange for a way into Hades' realm. …Do you know what this means, Lance?"

The student gulped. "Yes… That my cosmos won't serve me for this." But he knew this already.

"It's worse than that, actually." Dohko taught, slowly catching his breath. "The barrier of Heinstein Castle… cuts that much down because you are merely around its source; the passage to the Underworld in and of itself. Where it's at its strongest, in Pandora's staircase to the Underworld, the barrier fully separates the realm of the living from the realm of the dead. Walking through it will separate your body… from your soul. You die standing on your feet."

Lance gulped. So walking down Pandora's staircase to hell would kill him.

Okay, so maybe things were even worse than he thought. "Yes, but it's just the same at the Underworld Well!"

Dohko shook his head and raised a hand, burning his golden cosmos. An illusion of a miniature Heinstein castle as generated in his palm, along with a big dome of purple light around it covering the whole hand, to represent the Barrier.

"First, let's study the problem; Hades' barrier works by exploiting the nature of the border between the Living World and the Dead World. Walking down the stairs would be… very much like going to sleep for surgery." Dohko compared, making a big red arrow go into the castle. The Master sounded like he had gone through it more than once. "Every step down, your mind falls asleep, your senses go dark and life is filtered out of you, for it is not in nature for it to cross into the next world."

Pegasus Lance watched the arrow descend down the castle, shrinking and shrinking, until a Grim Reaper hand stood in its way, letting an outline of the arrow through but forcing its filling to stay back.

He gulped again at the metaphor. "I know, Roshi, but… I don't have a choice!"

Dohko raised two fingers. "Yes, you do, two that I can think of; the first one, you unlock the 8th sense. I don't have time to explain all the Buddhist technical nonsense, but this is the sense that stores your very being. This includes both who you have been so far in your life, but also in previous ones. It's a ledger of your very karma and identity. Therefore, being in touch with the 8th sense means… that the barrier cannot make you lose touch with yourself. It's a form of Nirvana."

Dohko then repeated the animation of the arrow going down the castle, but this time it was coated in blue, signifying the 8th sense. The same Grim Reaper hand seized on it, but this time, it was unable to filter the arrow, instead phasing through the object as if trying to catch a ghost.

Lance held his head, feeling overwhelmed not so much by the animation, which was pretty clear, but by things like Nirvana and Buddhism being involved. These were a bit beyond his paygrade. It didn't sound like he had the time or understanding to master this solution, as good as it sounded to unlock a sense beyond the 8th.

But what choice did he have? "Well, I guess I'll be meditating a lot, then?"

Dohko shook his free hand. "Don't even bother, Lance. Typically, during Holy Wars, it's the Virgo Saint's job to perfect the best way to achieve it for the rest of us, but with Shaka in the state he is18, I doubt he can use the 7th sense to its fullest, much less the eight. And the Virgo of Akassius' Gold Saints died more than a decade ago. Therefore, going forward to the next sense is not an option."

The Pegasus folded arms with a groan. "Great… then what do we do? What's the second option? Dress up like Pandora and ask the Specters to let me in?"

Dohko laughed at the idea, picturing Lance dressed, perfumed, wearing a really goth wig and asking Rhadamanthys in a really detached voice if the Fury Star Judge could walk him inside the Underworld.

"A fine idea; let's call that plan B! Well, dear Lance, if we can't go forward in the senses…"

Lance raised a brow. "We… go back? To what, a 0th sense?" he joked, smirking at the thought.

"EXACTLY, you got it!" Dohko praised, bumping his arm.

The Bronze Saint's eyes widened. "What?! I wasn't being serious! What the fuck is the 0th sense?!"

Dohko pointed at the rock he lifted excitingly. "It's called the Life Sense, and it's what you saw me do just now!"

"What, lift a rock without cosmos?! What does brute strength-" but Lance then stopped himself, remembering where he was. He looked around, seeing the many mounds blessed by Seiryu, a God of Life. Life. "Wait…."

Dohko folded arms with a cocky smile. "Go on? I'm pretty damn strong, Lance, and I know you admire me greatly, but even I can't just lift a huge rock like this. Not on a whim. What do you think I just did? Try and guess."

Lance studied the scene, from Dohko himself, to the rock, to the hints about the 0th sense that the teacher just gave him. Yes, it made perfect sense that Dohko pulled some trick, but the nature of it was in question. Simultaneously, Dohko had pulled off something supernatural while also implying no supernatural power was involved? That was the strange bit that didn't fit into the logic.

The Pegasus Saint tried to think of how strong a human could really be expected to be. Lance knew there were giants in Asgard, and also just plain huge guys like Saint Aguilon of Herakles around, but that didn't change the fact that, between himself and his teacher, the two lacked the mass to even come close to Aguilon's standards of muscle power. So, if it wasn't supernatural, nor was Dohko pulling an illusion, but still made the Master truly sweat like he just tried to lift a truck, then there was only one thing left. This made it finally click in Lance's brain, something Aldebaran had sometimes mentioned to him when talking about Saint Daniel's training.

"Hysterical strength! A mother who sees her child screaming under a car has been said to be able to lift it up." he pointed out, before pausing to reflect its meaning. "This is because… our bodies have strength we normally block ourselves from using. Are you saying… the 0th sense is that?"

Dohko tapped his own skull. "The brain is a powerful organ. More than hosting the senses, it protects you from yourself. However, hysterical strength is only an aspect of what the 0th sense is. Among Masters of Rozan, such as yours truly, the 0th sense is also called the Primal Sense, Sense of Life, or even Chi. It's not just your locked muscle power, but also your heartbeat, your breath, that flinch you make when I throw a punch at you in practice,…and yes, even your sex drive."

Lance squinted at this last example and folded arms warningly. "You just had to mention that last one, right? Roshi, if you send me to a whorehouse to unlock this thing, I'm reporting you to the Pope!"

Dohko scoffed. "Pfft, if only it were that easy! No, this Sense is arguably one of the most dangerous ones to unlock because… the point is to put you in danger."

Lance relaxed his guard, considering this. This sounded interesting, but how would it be the solution to his mission's problems?

He thought about the way his other senses worked, plus Dohko's explanation of the barrier of Hades' castle. "So,… if I am in touch with my Chi, my lifeforce, the way I am with my Cosmos… the barrier can't kill me…?"

Dohko grabbed his shoulders excitingly. "Not just not kill you! Take a look."

Master then raised a hand again and replayed the illusion, except this time the arrow was coated in green and vibrating, full of life. When it went down the stairs and the Grim Reaper hand showed up to grab it, the hand did catch it, but instantly recoiled, as if scalded.

"You remember when I taught you that Seiryu's techniques have an advantage over Specters?" Master Dohko asked him. "When Seiryu lends you his power in them, he's also giving you his Chi. The barrier of the Underworld has the same root as the Surplices. Now imagine you could access your own Chi at your convenience and put it into your Flame Attack and Charge Fist, rather than act as conduit for Seiryu?"

Lance nodded; this was their entire strategy against Lucifer, to get Lance to land the Hyaku-Ryu-Ha on him. He also remembered that Dohko had mentioned Chi to him even back then.

"Yes, you said it's because… it's the power of life itself." Lance widened his eyes. "So, with this sense unlocked, I could battle the Specters at the Castle just fine! The barrier wouldn't work on me at all! Yeah, that makes sense!"

Though Dohko then cringed. "Although…. That's just you, you know? Not your armor. Your power output will still be reduced a chunk because your Cloth is alive, not just an object you carry. The advantage of the 8th is that it protects you AND your Cloth… If we go down the 0th sense path, you're going to have to find a solution for Pegasus for your mission."

Although this was a bit disappointing, Lance had a feeling he would tackle this issue. Dohko didn't know whose blood upgraded the armor, after all. "Besides, I'm used to being way stronger than Pegasus at this point, anyway. I don't know how much Mu upgraded it, but so long as I have a bit of protection, that's better than nothing. In last resort, maybe I can convince Shion to lend me Teos…"

Dohko rested his hand against the rock he just lifted. "Also, let's keep some perspective here; for all the physical power the human body can potentially command, it is still nothing compared to the Cosmos. I can lift this rock with Chi and that's pretty great… but I can't atomize it unless I employ the Cosmos, especially without exhausting myself."

This made enough sense to Lance as well. He also had a couple of ideas already of how to experiment with this thing, should he achieve it. "Even if it's only good to stop my Cosmos from being cut down to a tenth, that's good enough as it is, Roshi. So, when do we start?"

Dohko just stared sternly. "… I already told you. You have to lift this big boulder and keep it over your head without cosmos. I'll tell you when to stop."

Lance stood there, stoic. "No, for real, Roshi, how do I get in touch with this sense? Do I meditate? Do I talk with Seiryu about it? Do I make a pilgrimage to a mystical mountain or something?"

Dohko thumbed the rock. "Boulder. Lift it. It will come to you."

….

Lance squinted. "You can't be serious about this!"

But Dohko was dead serious. "You want to invade the Underworld, don't you? Is that more or less insane than what I'm ordering you to do?! Now quit arguing with your Master and lift that stupid rock!"

This was completely ridiculous! Lance walked up to the boulder, grasped as best as he could and tried to lift it just to show how impossible it is. It didn't budge an inch, predictably. "SEE?! It doesn't work!"

Master smacked him over the head. "NOT LIKE THAT, you stubborn wing-mule! Use cosmos first to lift it, then to hold it over your head, then slowly lower its burning as much as you can!" Dohko then sat next to Ma Chao and pulled a magazine to read. "Go on!"

Rubbing his pained nape, Lance had to confess lifting it first with Cosmos made a lot more sense. He studied the rock, then burned his cosmos, which emanated in a faint white aura before going orange once his Fire element kicked in. Digging his fingers in the cracks caused by the boulder's first lifting, he slowly raised it off the ground once again, dropping all sorts of bugs and debris over himself, and carefully positioned it over himself until Lance felt completely shadowed.

He gulped nervously. There was a serious chance that if he lowered his cosmos too much, he'd get crushed into a blood stain then and there. "Okay, I'm going to burn my cosmos down…"

Dohko flipped the magazine pages distractedly and took out a bag of smoked fish strips to munch on. He tossed one at the big white tiger next to him. "Go on… Don't worry, me and Ma Chao are watching."

Great. Lance's life was being watched over by his prankish teacher and the tiger that hates him. Lance took a deep breath and braced himself for what could be the worst mistake of his life. "Well, here goes nothing…."

The Bronze Saint initiated the process of cooling down his cosmos. Just like with regular warmth, cooling Cosmos down was typically a tougher process to regulate than shooting it up to extremely high levels. It required a different kind of concentration that what most Saints were trained with, involving the de-focusing of the universe's energies. With the 7th sense unlocked, it was much easier to control the precision of Cosmos, but reducing it gradually from an already burned level was still extremely tough. And if he fucked up, 800 pounds of granite would smush him.

Still, his orange aura began to gradually thin. First it went down to the level that would give him Mach 5 speeds. Then Mach 4…

Dohko flipped his magazine, but his eyes glanced occasionally up.

Mach 3…. Mach 2…

Ma Chao sat relaxingly, licking its lips with the taste of smoked fish watching the hated student of the dragon willingly about to crush himself.

Mach 1…

At this point, Lance began to sweat of strain, rather than nervousness. What was previously a feeling of lifting a big balloon, had morphed into Styrofoam, and was now changing to a big pile of plastic. Then it felt further like rubber. These were subtle changes, but meaningful for what could very soon feel like lead. Seeing Dohko unimpressed with his hesitations, Lance kept going, reducing his cosmic power output down to the point the boulder started feeling really realistic.

His legs began to shake. His aura was now a very thin white, not even activating his element anymore. He was now giving himself barely above normal human strength, specially by Cosmos' standards. Lance panted and he slowly got on his knee-

"Don't! Stay up!" Dohko ordered, making Lance snap back. "Now stay like that."

"F-For… how l-long?!

Dohko shook his bag of fish strips. "Mmm… I said 1 hour earlier, right? Make it 20, maybe 30 hours. Then we take a break and do it again."

Lance gasped, nearly dropping the rock then and there! His heart began beating fast with fear, being very strongly aware of the real weight above him and the hours he'd have to keep it up.

"You seem to be having trouble concentrating." Master stood up and searched in the rocks for something. He took out a bunch of silver-colored chunks of stardust that often accumulated in Mount Rozan and started placing them around Lance. "Here, these will make sure any cosmos you burn higher than your current point will get sucked up. Later on, I'll put some more around you to force your cosmos down even mor-"

"A-ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!" Lance screamed.

Dohko seemed to legitimately think about it for a second. "Mm, yes, I suppose that's a proper way to put it. Hey, you're the one that was asking for more punishment, right?" The Master finished making the circle of stardust and sat back down with Ma Chao. "After this we'll spar for a while. I need exercise after all those months sitting around as a purple old man."

{======================|A3|======================}

A MONTH LATER

{======================|A3|======================}

February, 1977

Austria, Peloponnesia Fortress

{======================|A3|======================}

Sanctuary's mighty fortress of Peloponnesia at the edge of Hades' domain was abuzz with activity. Hoplites from throughout the world were gathering in it, many involved in fortification and renovation efforts within and around the citadel shaped like Greece's southernmost reach. After Duke Kirin of Thrace repelled the enemy battleship at the Heinstein Field retreat in January, the hoplites under Commander Ionia focused on preparing the installation for the Valiant's potential return.

As such, some unconventional defenses were being raised; rather than thickening the walls, Commander Ionia ordered the digging of outer trenches only as deep as a man's height. These were a kind of defense that couldn't be torn down by bombardment, as they were built into the ground, and still be used to stop a mass charge of Skeletons. The relatively shallow trench depth made the hoplites less vulnerable to being buried alive by attack shockwaves and the bracing for impacts easier to set up. In addition, to further break up mass assaults and chariots, these trenches were shielded by outer arrangements of sharp stakes and thick steel caltrops placed beyond them.

Behind these trenches, the walls of Fort Peloponnesia itself, on the other hand, were being armed with hook-bolt ballistae guarded by Toxotes. Knowing the Specter battleship was armored, their ammunition had long chains with grapple ends that could be attached to enormous torques in the bailey and be used to hook the Valiant, instead of shooting it. Should the Valiant get too bold and approach the fortress, they could fire the ballistae over the decks, lock the grapples, rotate the torques and drag the blasted battleship down to the ground until it crashed, at which point the Saints could board it.

Patrolling the walls, Kirin observed the raising of the defenses with a concerned frown, biting on his thumb. "This isn't enough…we haven't covered every possible angle they could strike us with. We should reinforce the underground crust to prevent subterranean attacks as well."

Count Malta, who had healed and returned from Greece, was with him. "Assuming they intend to attack us here, of course."

"They will. It's their surest path to victory." Kirin confidently declared, scoffing at thought of the enemy doing anything else. His sharp green eyes squinted. "It would be devastating to us if they took this fortress. We'd never set foot in Germany again, much less Pandora's Castle, not with that damn ship flying around. They'd just be able to sit back, concoct whatever apocalypse they have in mind this time, and let us bleed ourselves dry trying to get Peloponnesia back."

The blue-eyed, red-haired Malta nodded. He was always impressed how confident Kirin was in military thinking. Everyone always said Malta was the smart one, while Akassius was seen as the political leader, but Capricorn "Achilles" Kirin was the one to go to so as to decide how to destroy the enemy's battle plans. He always predicted the enemy movements with such confidence and sharpness that it bewildered even his Gold Saint equals. Most importantly, he was usually right; even when Priam got the drop on them all at the 88 Knights Festival, Kirin had been the first to detect something was terribly wrong just by spotting a slight blooddrop in Pope Arles' clothes and knew exactly where to go to counter the Sagittarius traitor.

Therefore, Malta could only assume Kirin was right about this, as well.

The portcullis below raised, letting an arriving squadron of horsemen led by a black-haired man in dark blue coat in. "Look, Akassius has come."

The retired Gemini unsaddled and saw his two comrades come greet him. He smiled. "Friends."

Kirin laughed in relief and embraced him. "Ha, Ha, welcome to the war front, old man!"

"We're all the same age group, aren't we?" Akassius asked, hugging back. "Romania has gone quiet for now, and Priam's trail has gone cold, but I felt I should give a hand to you all. I've been busy gathering forces, too."

Malta smiled in happiness. "We can always count on you, Akassius. How is Cecilia, though?"

"Utterly furious that I'm spending another month with you all, instead of tending to our home. I dread the beautiful dragon I will return to when this is over." Akassius confessed, irking in fear. Akassius looked over Malta. "I'm glad you're well, 'Odysseus'."

The retired Aquarius nodded slightly. "…All your kind wishes must have aided my recovery.19"

The observant Gemini paused, noticing the hesitation in Malta. "Is everything alright?"

Malta held tongue, pondering whether to discuss Pegasus Lance's visit with Akassius.

"No, I gave Pegasus my word." And shook his head. "Nothing, I just worry for the future."

Akassius patted his shoulder comfortingly. "We all do. We'll talk strategy later, though, at the war room."

"Hopefully you had no trouble on the way here." Kirin wished. "The roads aren't safe these days."

Akassius smirked. "Only a minor scuffle, nothing to write home about."

{======================|A3|======================}

Far-off to the east of Fort Peloponnesia, in the road that Sanctuary dwellers took to reach the fortress, a previously forested path was now a burning, smoking crater of corpses in Damascus armor scattered about with burning flags of the Underworld stars. Large fires still raged, in fact, eating away their bodies with a fearsome will, like a cleansing force.

How could this be?

It was just a lone Sanctuary squad.

Sylph's battalion outnumbered the Greeks 10 to 1.

And they were only half a mile away from the Heinstein barrier.

They also fired all their arbalests in advance, filling the skies with toxic bolts.

They would then massacre the travelers, bring the survivors back to Heinstein and interrogate them.

It was supposed to be an easy ambush….

The Terrestrial Flight Star, Sylph Edward, tried to crawl out of the burning pit, his body and Surplice aflame and his body shaking in horrible, consuming pain. He coughed and gasped, feeling darkness surround his sight, barely able to breathe anymore. All around him were dead Skeletons.

He shook in horror and looked up at the road that Akassius disappeared off to after the massacre. "S-such p-power! It… it was just one Sanctuary profligate… he didn't even have armor!" He had no memories of such horribly powerful flames since Prince Michael accidentally killed him at Jamir, during the Lost Canvas War. The more he crawled, the more pieces of his limbs he felt crumble off into ash. His hand reached out to the skies. "L-Lord Hades… F-forgive me!"

The rest of his body then crumbled into ash along with his Surplice, utterly disintegrated by Akassius' Hellfire Cannon flames.

{======================|A3|======================}

Mount Rozan

{======================|A3|======================}

Winter deepened in Rozan, making the air colder and the rain more frequent. The lush forest of the mountain stayed green, though, being closer to the tropical south of China than the vast steppes of the north, and Lance's training continued in more ways than just fruitlessly holding a rock over his head. Sparring with his Master, traversing the terrain for chores and doing other various exercise routines.

These all varied a lot, but rotated around the idea of putting Lance in some kind of danger where he couldn't resort to cosmos to get out of. Just to name a few, Dohko had ordered him to take dives down the lake to check on the Dragon Cloth Box (which was quite deep down, more than he could hold his breath), run from Ma Chao across the mountains with stardust shackles around his wrists, climb up the waterfall cliff sides with weights and going back to raise the boulder. In all of these, Master Dohko would try to pinpoint the moment Lance felt the most concerned for his life and pressed on it, extending the time he was required to stay in said conditions.

As Master Dohko joked a month earlier, it truly was as if he was quite literally trying to kill Lance.

Well, at least Seiryu wasn't at the lake to jump-scare him during his dives.

During weekends, Lance would take trips back to Greece just to check up on the Gold Saints and Aiolos, who had requested to train with Lance. They set up a schedule where they'd practice together on Saturdays and Sundays while sharing notes via mental messages during the week while Lance was in China, all while also making sure Deathmask and Aphrodite weren't causing too much trouble. Aiolos seemed quite concerned, persistently thinking his Lightning Bolt was still shy of what he witnessed Galarian Steiner pull off. Lance, having no frame of reference for it, felt a bit exasperated, but tried to be patient and keep his part of their deal. Aiolos was just worried about his brother, after all.

Master Dohko had noticed how busy he had been. "You make it look like Shion never fired you, Saint Pegasus."

Lance would smile at this, for it did feel true. However, if he wanted to keep his friends safe at Sanctuary while preparing for his own quest, he had no choice but to stay busy, and multitask as much as he could. However, he wished the training with the 0th sense was going better. While he was getting used to the risks and staying longer and longer under the rock, that didn't seem to get him any closer to unlocking a new sense, especially one that seemed counter-directed to all the others. In fact, it seemed to make the training worse, since it distanced him further from the important sense of self-preservation that he needed to open a window to his Chi.

"Roshi must have been serious when he said the point was to put me at risk, not make me physically stronger." Lance could only conclude, though this brought a frown to his lips. "That must mean… that the better I get at these exercises, the less risk I feel, and the harder to tap into this sense it gets. Shit!"

To raise the risk back up, Dohko had been placing more dangerous elements into the training, like more stardust rocks sucking up Lance's cosmos down even more, sitting on the boulder and setting Ma Chao loose around Lance while training. At a few points it did seem like the urgency Dohko subjected him to made him hold the rock longer and higher with less cosmos, and Lance tried to focus on the sensation of his body during those moments, though he had a feeling it wasn't enough.

At the same time, as they agreed, Lance opened up to Master about his experience in Death Queen Island. "- and that's all that happened. I've been dodging the Phoenix and Guilty ever since."

Dohko swirled his cup of sake. They were sitting at the dining room of his house after a long day of training. "I see. Now I understand everything."

"Despite my promise to Noah, it wasn't until Shinta that I felt ready to finally get a partner." Lance continued. "I'm happy I did, though. Noah was right. It helped me heal a lot of the pain I went through on that island. It also made my trips there to keep that bitch Goddess happy easier to bear."

The Master drank the dish of alcohol whole. "You took a heavy burden upon yourself with that arrangement, yes. Suzaku likely expected you to slowly crumble over time, abandon Pegasus and going back to being a Phoenix."

"Suzaku?"

"That's her name in Mount Rozan, of the Queen." Master explained, his eyes searching for more sake in the house. "The Gods of Rozan have had an impact in many different mythologies, so naturally they've earned many different names. In Greece, Seiryu is known as 'Ladon of the Hesperides', the one-hundred eyed dragon. The hundred eyes, dear student, were merely the glint of the golden apples of Eris on his scales."

Lance took the bottle of sake away before Master drank too much. "And the two of them are even constellations?"

Roshi simply got another he kept under the table. "Correct, Dragon and Phoenix, both allies of Athena… though I understand it's difficult to see Phoenix that way."

The Pegasus Saint rubbed chin, remembering vividly the horrors Suzaku put him through. "Yes… yes, it is."

Between Karkinos' grim rituals, Cepheus' brainwashing of Saint Guardnia and the erratic way Ophiuchus Iaso seemed to deal with his armor, Lance had discovered over the years that Sanctuary was actually full of really questionable armors.

"It's a good thing she underestimated your spirit, or you might have been known as Phoenix Lance now." Dohko complimented. He seemed to stare at Lance a bit at this, perhaps imagining some alternate turnout for his student or how he looked in a blood-soaked Phoenix Cloth. "…You said you had an outburst of Darkness cosmos on that island, correct?"

Lance raised a brow. "Yes? But frankly who cares anymore? Fire and Lightning are better for me." He affirmed. In fact, in his opinion, Darkness was what people develop when they can't get over the shit in their brains, explaining the high number of Specters with it. "It's a shitty element, too. Shinta was even able to repel that bastard Lucifer's Eternal Darkness back to him."

Master looked away and back, tapping the short table pensively. "No, it couldn't be.. Kagaho was a Leo, right? Or am I thinking of Shun's brother? Ugh, I can't remember…" the Master thought. Twenty decades did horrors to your memory. He tried to change subject and saw Lance's Cloth box off to the corner. "Speaking of your armors, have you checked out your repaired Pegasus Cloth yet?"

Lance shook his head. "Mu made me promise not to. At least until I really need it. It's kind of annoying but,-"

Dohko frowned like he said the stupidest thing and reached for the Bronze Cloth Box resting close to them. "That's ridiculous! It's been a month already! Let me see…"

Lance got up in protest. "Master, don't!"

Dohko opened the lid, peeked inside and gawked like a little boy window-shopping a toy store. "Whow-oh! Look at that! Shion's student did this?! Holy cow!"

Lance covered his eyes to keep his promise. "Yes, he did..."

"You're missing out, Lance. This looks spectacular." And closed the lid. "I feel bad for the next Specter you run into."

The student grumbled. "Do you enjoy fucking with me like this, Master?! I'm sure Mu did a good job, but it's still a Bronze Cloth. There's only so much you can do to upgrade these."

The Master, however, chuckled in a deliberately arrogant manner, the way of someone who knew something you didn't. "Ah, you naïve boy. You'd be surprised… you'd be very surprised."

{======================|A3|======================}

One day, they went out together to get firewood for the house.

"How's your relationship with Pegasus?" Master suddenly asked, as they trekked through the rainforest.

Lance rose an eye brow. "With Pegasus? My armor?... It's fine, I suppose. I don't have to worry that what he tells me might end up with me building an altar to freaking lady Death. Why?."

Dohko picked up fallen branches along the way and tossed them at Lance's hands to carry. "I've been thinking about that ever since I heard Shion fired you."

Lance grumble. Why did everyone describe it as 'being fired'?

Master Dohko continued. "Before Lucian popped by for his reacquaintance, my training focused on making you a proper Gold Saint, so I never worried about your connection with Pegasus too much. However, now that you're exclusively a Bronze Saint, it might be a good idea to revisit it."

Lance balanced the timber in his arms as best as he could. "You… really think it could be a problem?"

Dohko paused and turned. "You're the one always talking about Saint Kerberos not training you properly, right? You even told me Shinta had to teach you about how armors can talk to their owners. That's usually a sign that your Path to the Cloth is incomplete."

The Bronze Saint looked away, embarrassed. These were all things he couldn't deny. "Well, the armor already chose me as its Saint, so it should be fine, right? You once said it's just Gold Cloths that have their 'Path' after we get them."

"Some Silver Cloths as well, such as Cepheus." Dohko specified. Cepheus, in particular, was quite the insidious one, requiring you to be willing to kill candidates to the Andromeda Cloth. "But generally, yes. However, based on the little you've told me about Mount Olympus, it's possible that Pegasus decided to facilitate your graduation."

They started heading back after collecting enough. Something about the way Dohko put this, though, didn't sit well with Lance. "So…, you're saying Pegasus felt sorry for me?"

"Well, feeling sorry and recognizing injustices are two very different things." Master reminded him. "However, we might never know anymore what Pegasus was truly thinking. If I remember Shion's interminable lectures, Cloths tend to lose memories whenever they are killed."

The memory of the battle Lance fought at Rozan two months earlier came to him. "And Lucifer did just that." Lance also remembered when he and the armor found Dohko's journal of training Tenma. "There have been a couple of moments here and there where I felt a deeper connection with Pegasus, but…"

Dohko helped the student store the limber in the training shed. "Well, that can't be helped… Communing with your armor does raise your link with it, though, and we need every advantage we can get for your mission."

A silly thought came to Lance. "Someone has been teaching me to ride a horse. Does that count?"

Dohko's eyes widened. "Actually, yes."

Lance grumbled. "You're joking, right?"

Master shook his head. "I'm 100% serious, Tenma used to keep one in Sanctuary just for that. He said it helped him understand Pegasus' thoughts better in combat, even if he never heard its voice. Keep taking those classes." Dohko folded arms. "How long have you been doing that?"

Lance thought back to when Adriana gave him Alastor. "A couple of months. They're not really classes. It started with trying to find something for Aphrodite to do." Lance locked the shed and took a beat to bring up the elephant in the room. "But if we're talking about armors that I can use… there's Teos, too. Technically."

Master Dohko seemed to darken his expression suddenly. "Right… that one. Have you been able to use it, since?"

Lance shook his head. "Nope. No one has." He revealed. It was a bit disconcerting, in fact. Lance would love to get another look at the fantastic Cloth that saved his life, but since the battle with Lucifer ended, it refused to communicate with anyone, even Lance. "The thing locked itself inside its box. Shion has been keeping it at his Chambers along with the Daemon Surplice since. I think he intends to run tests on it once Jamir is rebuilt…. Master, what do you think of that armor? Should I be worried about it? It made some kind of contract with me, after all."

Dohko seemed to ponder over this quietly. "I think I'm surprised it hasn't flown away again. Why would it choose to stay? What does it want from us? From you? I don't mean to diminish you getting its attention, but I don't trust armors that operate as loosely as that one. Lance, promise me something. If that… thing… does come out of its box again… only use it in the direst of emergencies, okay? Just like the Koryuha."

Lance blinked. "Roshi… are you okay? Why are you asking me that?"

Master Dohko only sterned his gaze. "Promise me! That's an order!"

Lance grumbled but nodded. "Alright, alright! I promise I will only use it if Hades himself is stepping on my throat and holding his sword over my crotch! Now what's the big deal about that armor?! Did it kill someone or something?"

Master Dohko nodded. "Yeah, it did. It killed your Grandmaster, in fact. Now come on! We can still train a bit more before it rains." Dohko then patted the flabbergasted Lance's back harshly.

{======================|A3|======================}

Switzerland,

Saintia Academy

{======================|A3|======================}

While it was morning in China, it was still close to midnight in Europe, but the silence in the high Alps would soon be broken.

Thrrrooom….

Cerah gasped awake, breathing frantically and grasping her beating chest at her bed. The tremor she felt, though, startled her out of another nightmare and she heard some of the objects in the room vibrating slightly.

It was pitch dark that night.

Her heart calmed and her green eyes surveyed the dark academy dormitory room. She held her head self-consciously. "It was just a dream… just a dream."

Diana, her brown-haired Italian roommate, turned her head from her pillow. "Cerah?" she turned the lamp on and looked at the clock. They had to be awake by five the next morning for practice and classes "It's… past 11pm?"

Cerah smiled. "Sorry, I just need… to go to the restroom." she lied, getting up. In reality, she just wanted to clear her head.

Diana rubbed her eyes. That newbie had been pretty stressed after those older girls started harassing her, so maybe she needed this. Still, the teachers made it very clear they'd get punished if caught out of their rooms after nine. "Are you crazy?... Gosh, okay, just don't let the teachers catch you."

Putting on the new winter coat she got after giving her own to Katya, Cerah thanked her friend with a smiling nod and headed for the door. On the way out she looked at their table, where she kept her obsidian Cloth pendant. Should she take it? On one hand, if she got caught, it could expose her, but on the other, she could Lightcraft it into camouflage. Deciding that it was unlikely anyone would figure out what it was even if she got caught, she took the pendant.

"Hey, aren't you gonna take a light, newbie?" Diana asked, yawning.

Cerah chuckled "Now you just want me to get caught!" she played, making her friend laugh. "No, I'm good. I see pretty well in the dark."

"Okay, if you say so. Try not to wake me up when you get back." Diana wished. "Hey, you're okay, right? Not sick from training or the food? Don't let what the older girls did bother you either."

Cerah turned the nob, hesitated, and then nodded. "… I'm fine, thank you." and sneaked out, closing the door without a sound.

She faced the Academy. Everything was pitch black.

"Emission Lenses." She casted on herself, giving Cerah a semblance of night vision. The corridors were big and carpeted, with lamplights that were shut off at that hour, but Cerah's technique allowed her to not only see pretty well in the dark, but also detect people's cosmos visually. This meant she'd have plenty of warning if professor Severus happened to be patrolling just off the corner of a hall.

Hands in jacket, the Knight silently strolled down the halls. She hated lying to Diana, especially now that Cerah was starting to make friends at the Academy. In reality, Cerah felt far from okay, having developed a strange penchant for nightmares recently. At first she thought it was the stress of suddenly having all these tough classes, these strict teachers, this foreign environment and unsympathetic classmates, but now that Cerah was becoming more accepted by her classmates, especially after her stunt at the gym, and her grades were improving, she had no reason to still have these bad dreams,… right?

Especially dreams about… a Chinese Dragon staring her down, saying strange things and encircling her? What on Earth did that mean? Maybe Cerah just needed to walk off some of the extra energy she had been feeling lately. Surely that would help her sleep better.

She walked down the wide marble steps of the side corridor stairs, avoiding the ones where she could see the cosmic outline of an adult patrolling. The Alchemy Basics teacher, professor Severus, was among them. She could tell just based off the stiff posture, height and the faint scent of Muvian potions. Cerah really didn't understand why so many girls of her class seemed to have a crush on him. The guy was broody, mean, talked down on every single student at the Academy, always wore black and headed a class none of them was any good at. Diana said it was the British accent, but Cerah personally found it even more condescending.

Detecting a sudden presence off the corner side with her Lenses, Cerah pressed herself against the wall. "Lightcraft: Smokescreen!" and her stone casted a veil of obsidian dust over herself, making even the blonde girl imperceptible in the dark.

The etiquette teacher, Miss Dolores, walked by, right in front of Cerah. In fact, her puffy shoulder pads brushed right past her camouflage screen dust. If it wasn't so thick, the short teacher probably could have felt Cerah's on it. The knight smiled happily when the teacher turned the corner, proud of her sneaking abilities, and rushed off without a sound.

Eventually she reached the big open inner courtyard space that the Academy complex had at its center. It was a space decorated with trees, open to the skies that connected all the flanking halls that the students liked to hang out at during the day, after lunch, and between classes. She avoided going right for the center because there were so many windows all around from where a teacher could spot her, and so she sat at a tree-shielded bench on one of the edges.

Cerah took a deep breath, looking at the stars above, and the month she'd had at the Academy ran through her mind. While she still had to hide the fact that she was the guardian of the Corvus Cloth, just the fact she now had an excuse to have Cosmos had taken a huge load off of her, not to mention she was hanging out with people her age who could directly relate to her training experiences. She was even starting to impress some of the teachers. If things kept going well, maybe she could become a real Saintia and make a life for herself in Sanctuary.

She smiled, having never felt so excited for her future. Did the dragon of her dreams signify hope? In any case, she owed Miss Adriana a huge debt. Whatever project the Silver Ring had in store for her, Cerah was now more determined than ever to tackle it on, head first-

…Throoom…

Cerah gasped, standing up in startle. "Another tremor?"

It was very, very slight, but the knight was sure she felt it. How odd. While Switzerland was more active than most European countries, quake-wise, it was still nothing compared to serious earthquake terrains, like Greece, Turkey and Lisbon. Maybe she should head back, before-

…Thrrrrrooom…. Throoom….

Cerah's hair stood up in alarm. This time she felt it, and…. It was moving away?! She followed its direction carefully, to the northeast section of the complex.

…Thrroooom….

Cerah stopped, hearing the sound dying down to a halt. She even got down and pressed her ear on the grass, but heard nothing more. How strange… Was it just her imagination? Maybe a far-off mountain avalanche was tricking her senses. She looked up, spotting the academy chapel, where the girls could come offer prayers to Athena. Lights were turned on inside.

"I think I'm hearing voices… I don't want to get caught, but what is anyone doing at this hour at the chapel?" she wondered, walking in and keeping to the shadows. She pressed herself against the wall and peeked over. Two figures stood by the altar and Cerah sucked her breath, recognizing both! "Katya?!... And… she's with miss Olivia?"

Indeed, at the chapel, by the small statue of Athena at the altar, the small Russian girl of pale blond hair and piercing, gelid blue eyes, Katya seemed in a sad conversation with the class president, whose pet owl sat calmly at her shoulder.

"Miss Olivia…I don't understand what you are saying." Katya muttered.

The elegant, beautiful teenage girl of long, black hair held up the crystal of ice Katya made in the shape of a ballet dancer. "I'm saying, Katya,… that you have a great gift. This level of control over ice techniques is unprecedented outside of Bluegrad. Why didn't you show this to your teachers?"

Katya looked up, her eyes shaking. "That… that was just a gift I made. I wanted to offer it to the Pope, but I didn't know how. The other girls said you could reach him, so I thought I'd send it to you..."

Olivia smiled warmly, setting it down at the table. "It's beautiful. Even the current Aquarius Saint would be impressed. You have a tremendous gift, Katya. I'll do everything I can to ensure Pope Arles gets it." She then held out her arm, causing the large owl to leap down unto her hand and take the ice statuette in its beak. "This is Partita20, my familiar."

Katya smiled and carefully extended her fingers to scratch the bird's head. It cooed in a friendly manner in spite of its mean-looking yellow gaze. "She's so pretty."

"She's a very intelligent owl that can travel to Sanctuary all on her own. Partita, please take Katya's gift to the Pope." Olivia ordered.

Katya, and Cerah from her hiding spot, both watched as the bird delicately took the fragile statuette and flew out the door with it, startling Cerah when the bird of prey passed right by her before vanishing into the nightsky.

"His Holiness will understand it came from you, worry not." Olivia assured. "Katya, if you don't mind, would you tell me why you wanted to honor the Pope so much?"

Katya nodded. Tears formed in her young eyes. "The Pope is the kindest and wisest man I've ever known. When the Priam War spread to Russia, everything in my old town became pure chaos… Saints were fighting each other all over the place. They didn't come to where I was, but…"

Olivia knelt down to Katya's height, even though it dirtied her impeccable black skirt. "Go on?"

Katya's gelid eyes burst into tears. "B-But evil people took advantage of it!... Black Saints, slave traders, killers…We were even attacked by a Dryad of Eris! B-but…. Lord Arles saved my life…. He was there when the Saints could not be. Ever since then I've devoted myself to become his servant. I couldn't believe how a Sagittarius Saint could be waging a war against him. When I got into Heart of Sasha, someone told me that if I became a Saintia…that would be the most direct path to the Papal Chambers."

In her hiding spot, Cerah's eyes welled and a crushing guilt came over her. So that was Katya's desire? The Knight slid down until her butt was on the floor, remembering when she used to scream at the Prince that one day, she'd kill Arles to get Daese back and Lucian's acceptance. Of course; there must be countless people in the world who owe everything they have to Arles, even if Cerah was taught to hate him by both Daese and Lucian.

By contrast, Olivia was nothing but supportive of the young eight-year old girl's dreams, holding her small shoulder comfortingly. "One day you will become a Saintia, Katya, I am sure of it now."

The traumatized crying girl, however, shook her head. "How do you know, miss Olivia?"

The older teenager looked up, as if at the stars through the chapel's ceiling. "People say I've been… blessed with understanding the fate of Sanctuary. Not a true prophet, but… I suppose you could say my heart echoes some of the Goddess' thoughts. And I can see it in you that one day you will become one of Athena's great battle maids. And you'll meet the Pope of your dreams."

Cerah smiled warmly through her feelings of guilt as she saw Katya's tears dry and hug Olivia. It was obvious to her now why so many in the Academy adored Olivia like an older sister. She was smart, kind, wise, beautiful and capable of making a crying child smile with hope again.

CRAASH!

Cerah gasped, Katya screamed and Olivia recoiled in terror, tightening Katya into her arms, when the wooden floor of the chapel erupted in a shower of shattered planks, dirt and ground rocks, accompanied by the sound of sizzling metal burning with black cosmos. A great shadow of many long arms came bursting out, anchoring down on the floor to lift a small metal body off the hole it came from.

"K-KATYA, RUN!" Olivia screamed, pushing her off towards the back exit.

Two burgundy-greaved feet landed on the floor. Cerah's eyes widened in horror, recognizing the intruder not by his face, but by his armor!

"RUN? No one runs from Worm Raimi, Terrestrial Star of Submission!" the short man of pale, wrinkled skin and yellow bloodshot eyes presented himself, unleashing his eight tentacles in a menacing dance of limb waves and prong clacks that turned the chapel into a nightmare of shadows. His armored finger pointed at Olivia. "Especially not you, Whore of Athens! You'll be taken to Lord Rhadamanthys… and pay for the sin of your existence!"

{======================|A3|======================}

Mount Rozan

{======================|A3|======================}

As he rushed down the sparring field, though, Dohko paused, staring at the waterfall lake. "Mm, how strange."

Lance dragged the equipment inside the shed and joined him. "Is something wrong, Roshi?"

Dohko took glances between the lake and the moon. "It's Seiryu. He's still gone. It's been months as of now…"

"Is that a bad thing?" Lance asked, raising a brow. He frankly couldn't tell. That monster tried to kill Lance the first time they met, but he also warded off Daemon Lucifer and his False Specters off of Rozan. Lance only tolerated it as far as it helped him keep Guilty off his back.

"It's… suspicious. Usually, he doesn't just leave Rozan on a whim, just hides in a cavern somewhere where I can't pester him. I had to fight a verbal battle of my own to convince him to send you kids my Gold Cloth." Master Dohko explained. A thought occurred to him and he turned to Lance. "You were the only one to drink the Waters of Life, right?"

"As far as I know, yeah. I doubt Iaso is going around sharing it after it almost killed me." Lance folded his arms, trying to decipher Master's thoughts. "Roshi, you don't think Iaso…?"

Master scoffed. "He's a doctor working with the public. If Saint Iaso had drunk enough of it to get Seiryu's attention, I think we would have confirmed signs of it by now." A preoccupation assailed him, though. "But… what if he gave it to someone else? Someone flying under Sanctuary's radar?"

Lance staggered, seeing the preoccupation in the Libra Saint, but he tried to rationalize it. "Well… let's say he did. Is it a bad thing? All the water does is rejuvenate your wounds and senses, right? And that's if your body does most of the work, anyway. It isn't much different from the Golden Touch. At worst someone out there had their life saved by Iaso, which is kind of his job."

"It's more complicated than that, dear student. The Waters work, yes, but only if you're enough of a warrior to withstand them. They are alike a God's blood, after all. I'm sure you remember your own experience with them?"

Lance cringed. Yeah, having seizures in a mountain peak wasn't fun at all.

Master continued. "You already had your 7th sense for a year when you took it so it didn't make a difference for you other than healing, but imagine for a second a Silver-Rank survived taking it?"

Lance's red eyes widened, picturing Saint Cynthia or even Kastiel drinking it. "Are they enough to… make you unlock the 7th sense?"

Dohko nodded slowly. "What is a dormant 7th sense if not an eye of yours that hasn't opened yet? If I'm correct, somewhere out there in the world right now, Seiryu found a new warrior to walk into the Cosmos' true light."

{======================|A3|======================}

Switzerland,

Saintia Academy Chapel

{======================|A3|======================}

Flinging his long, eyed tentacles all around, the intruder cackled loudly, burning his black cosmos to command his many limbs to trash away the pew chairs all around him, flinging them against the walls and the chapel doorway to block it. Katya screamed, seeing a pew sling over her head and crash down on the fire exit, trapping them inside!

The grey-skinned man eyed Olivia directly, grinning with his fang-like canines. As soon ashe saw her looking for exits, his tentacles flung, tossing further pews against the doors behind him and by the confessionary. "Hi, hi, hi…where do you think you're going, Whore?! To beg your Goddess for help?"

Feeling trapped, Olivia stepped back, scowling in terror and disgust at the presence of a Specter in Athena's holy spaces. "What did you call me?! And h-how dare you enter this Academy?! LEAVE THIS PLACE RIGHT NOW!"

"Oh, I will! But you're coming with me." the man assured, loving the defiant look in her eyes. He aimed his tentacle's eyes at Olivia, sprouting their spikes and tapping their pincers menacingly. "I was told by Judge Rhadamanthys to scout your academy, prod for weaknesses, search for Gold Saints… but this is quite the discovery instead! Zelos will simply die of envy at the gifts the Emperor will give me for your head!"

Cerah shook in horror at the presence of the Specter. A real Specter, not of Lucifer but of Hades, whose power therefore likely surpassed his False Specter equivalent. While lights were turning on all over the Academy, no one would come in time to stop a supersonic Specter from hurting Olivia and Katya, especially with the trashed entrances.

"Mm, mm, what will you do now? Put me on and expose yourself as a Knight? Or flee and let those two die?" Corvus' unheard voice spoke. "Or perhaps… a challenging middle way? Would you dare fight in your pajamas? That looks like a dangerous Specter, though…"21

Her fists clenched. She had to do something! Her green eyes searched the wide candle-lit chapel for an angle with which to ambush an enemy through those tentacles.

Meanwhile, Olivia backed away in fear, avoiding the flinging metal limbs trashing all over the place. She knew there was only one figure in Sanctuary's myths to whom Specters referred to in such an ugly manner.

But she had to play dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about! I'm simply the class president of the academy! I'm of no value to Emperor Hades!"

Raimi stepped towards her, cackling. "Yes, you are! I heard you telling all of it to that little girl hiding over there! You're the filthy incubator, the virgin-birther, the holy cunt from which that traitor to Olympus' purity, Athena, will come screaming out of one day to stand in the Emperor's way! How could I pass this opportunity to assure the Emperor's triumph before Holy War even begins?"

Both Cerah and Katya widened their eyes at the accusation. "What? Miss Olivia is…?"

Burning her white cosmos, Olivia tried to guide Raimi away from Katya to the left side of the chapel. "You… i-if you lay a SINGLE FINGER on the girls-"

Raimi didn't seem to like this denying, as he scowled and trashed the altar aside with his tentacles, clearing a path to her, before flinging a commanding hand towards Olivia. "WORM'S BIND!"

Olivia screamed, seeing the tentacles dash at frightening speed towards her, wrapping themselves around her body like octopus arms and raising her into the air. "Let me DOWN! AHH!"

"No fingers required!" Raimi mocked. He gestured a closing of hand to command his Surplice to start squeezing Olivia. "I can crush all your air-headed schoolgirls just-like-this!"

Hiding by the trashed exit, Katya cried at the sight of the metal limbs sending Olivia into a screaming fit. She burned her icy cosmos to prepare an attack. "Miss Olivia!"

But Olivia shook her head. "D-DON'T! Stay where you are or he'll-!" but Olivia's concentration was broken off her message when a tentacle tightened around her neck, squeezing her breath shut. "A-AGH! S-STOP! I'm not w-who you say I a-am!"

Raimi shook his head in disgust. "Liars, all of you, just like Prince Lucifer used to say! All you Saints, Saintias, Amazons and whatever else should really just rot in Cocytos like you deserve!" He held her high, as if preparing to send her crashing down. "But that's fine, this nun school of profligates will be buried in Alpine rubble before long, hi, hi, hi, hi! Don't worry, though… all your precious girls of Athena will be taken care of just fine in the Underworld. All the luxuries a Specter's concubine deserves!"

The star-reader gritted her teeth, trying to resist the grip of the appendages, but their Damascus squeeze was so strong that it threatened to crush her whole skeleton with a mere thought from the Specter instead.

Still, even as her lungs felt tightened, she eyed Raimi in utter contempt. "H-How dare you… attack this home of Athena's innocent faithful for such a thing! To curse us like that! Y-your… your cruelty… is U-UNFORGIVEABLE!" Her white aura burned, but it was too weak to free her. If she could only keep the Specters eyes on her while Katya ran, that would be fine, though. "The light of Athena will burn on without me! And you will pay for what you've done!"

"Blah, blah, blah! All you people do is talk!" Raimi mocked, burning so much cosmos into the tentacles that they started trying to twist the screaming Olivia like a wet sponge. "I want to see how much red I'll splatter on these walls, instead! Consider this revenge, Whore of Athens, for all the times your Goddess has tried to assassinate the Emperor's host-"

"PRISMATIC SHOT!" Cerah commanded, leaping off a support pillar and dive kicking her foot into the Specter's helmeted skull, blasting him away into the wall, cracking it and loosening the tentacles around Olivia, who screamed and fell. Zipping like a golden beam, Cerah caught the class president in her arms. "I got you!"

The seer gasped, recognizing the student. "Y-You!"

Katya gasped, hiding. "Miss Heloise?!"

Still in her coat and pajamas, Cerah laid Olivia down slowly and then fired a blast through the wall opposite of Raimi, creating an exit. "Go, GO, take Katya and run!" She turned to the rising Specter, gritting her teeth and burning her bright aura. "I'll hold him back!"

Hesitant and bewildered, Olivia nodded, took Katya by the hand and fled, sparing looks of shock at her shining savior on the way out.

Worm Raimi rubbed his bleeding head. The crack on his helmet was sizzling with Light Cosmos eating at its Damascus. "O-OOW… That burns! Where the hell did you come from?!"

Cerah sweated; she wanted to put on her Cloth now that Olivia and Katya were gone, but she could feel the cosmos of people all over the Academy waking up and scurrying towards them. Being seen with the Silver Cloth could end her, weather she survived or not! But could she beat this bastard with just her sleep clothes? She remembered Worm Samuel's abilities well from her time in the Underworld. If the real Worm Specter was even more dangerous…!

"You're the one that was causing the tremors, aren't you?!" she accused, avoiding his question, charging her cosmos and focusing it down her fists. "What does Hades want from this place?! Why did he send yo-"

His arms lunged, commanding his tentacles. "WORM BIND!" and all eight metal limbs scurried towards Cerah at frightening speeds!

Startled by the sudden assault, the Corvus Knight leaped aside, dodging curved supersonic lunges of metal prongs that blasted the ground and walls as they missed her, crushing rock, cement, wood, and brick with their closing prongs.

In the chaos, candles held on the walls fell at this over the destroyed pews, setting them on fire.

"I don't have to answer a single thing to you, girl! You don't even have a Cloth!" the Submission Star hissed, seeking vengeance from his wound hungrily by launching more and more strikes and lashes, faster and faster. "The idea that you cracked my precious helmet, which Lord Hades gifted me… Ughhh, I can't stand it! How dare you?!"

Landing with a roll aside a bunch of crashed pews, Cerah's foot slung them up, causing a series of attacks to aim at it instead, pulverizing the seats into saw dust. Exploding her cosmos, she then launched herself with a raised fist at Mach 5 speeds, dodging a flank lash before leaping high into the air.

She shouldn't use her Lightcraft skills, but firing unmultiplied Prismatic Shots and Storms should be fine! Her fist swung down "PRISMATIC STORM!"

Seeing the slow fist burst into countless rays of yellow light, Raimi's upper tentacles came down on himself, shielding him with a thick layer of Damascus. The rays bombarded it over and over, sounding thousands of metal-on-metal impacts, but the tough metal barrier blunted Cerah's assault entirely without as much as a crack.

"AH! Too weak!" he mocked, peeking between the thick arms of metal. His purple cosmos then burned, creating the visage of the monstrous underworld worm, and they then lashed back out in all directions, creating an anti-air blur of lashes. "BIRD CATCHER!"

Cerah thrusted herself aside mid-air by firing a small blast with her hand and curved her body as much as she could so as to dove through a hole in the counter-attack's pattern, landing near Raimi's side. "I'm close! This is my chance!" Her yellow aura exploded and her fist became a ball of light that she swung up at the Specter's face. "PRISMATIC SHOT!"

Her senses missed a lower tentacle lash coming in from the flank.

It struck her ribs directly with a mind-numbing impact, making time slowdown from the sheer pain grinding against her side.

The force of the impact played out, shooting her over the air into a wall. Cerah felt her back crash harshly against it before falling on the ground. The world spun around her uncontrollably and she gasped in pain.

Retracting his tentacles, Raimi blinked and smirked, seeing her down. "That was easier than I thought…"

Cerah coughed and tried to stand back up, but her body collapsed back down. She took a direct hit without her armor, so there was no way she was okay from that. She heard Raimi's metal feet approach her…

"You stupid girl! My Worm Surplice's tentacles can home in on their target through their cosmos, even if they're much faster than me! Multiply that by their number and all my enemies are sitting ducks to my techniques! You never stood a chance!" One of his pronged limbs descended on her, grabbing her blonde head without squeezing. "I should crush your brainless blonde skull right here and now, but I want to know where the Whore of Athens ran off to! Is there a bunker in this school?! Where did you send her?!"

Cerah screamed, feeling the metal prongs starting to squeeze on her head, slowly but firmly. "G-GAAHG!...N-NO!"

He smooched her down harshly. "TALK! Don't just scream!" and raised another one with a protruding spike, which shined with the light of the growing fires around them. "Or I'll skewer you to the ground and go look myself, so you can burn with the rest of this chapel!"

But her green eyes narrowed at him as best she could, even as her skull began vibrating under the pressure. Memories of Hades blinding Eurydice and Lucian's men leaving all those dead at the Aries Temple's stairs flashed through them. However, this time, her fight wasn't merely a small part of a bigger war, where Saint Yushira could come in and save her. Cerah either prevailed over this guy, or a bloodbath in the Academy would start.

"I s-said N-NO!" she sneered. She grabbed the prongs crushing her and started forcing them off as hard as she could. Her blood burned with cosmos, igniting her with strength. "I-I am Corvus Cerah, a Knight of the Zodiac, the Obsidian! And you… y-you're nothing but a cruel murderer, just like Hades! So you can go back to him empty-handed for all I c-care!"

Worm stepped back, horrified. "W-what?! A knight?!" but his horror was then replaced with sheer hatred, feeling in his Surplice the memories of Athena's paladins and their blasted Light Cosmos. He raised a second tentacle and made a long spike sprout out of its eye lens. "Change of plans, then! I'LL CRUSH YOU NOW before you become a threat to the Emperor and earn double the bounty from Rhadamanthys!"

Cerah, however, much to his shock and with great effort from her, started prying the prongs off of her skull, making them cringe loudly. Sensitive to his appendages, Raimi felt as if a burning grip was fighting off his squeezing fingers and aimed his spike. With a battle shout, however, Cerah snapped the prongs off, triggering a release of black hydraulic oil everywhere.

Worm screamed as if his very hand had been ripped off, backing away in pain. "AGH! M-My Surplice! Y-YOU BITCH! DIE!" and thrust his spiked tentacle at top speed.

Cerah gasped in fear, sensing its Mach VIII force directed at her face, a level much faster than anything she could reach!

A spark of light flashed through the cosmos, though, and she suddenly perceived the attack in its entirely… as if it was way slower….

Reacting by instinct at this, she bobbed her body with great force, dodging the thrust which shattered its way across the chapel, erupting the floorboards and piercing the wall, getting stuck. Raimi gasped. "W-What?!"

Cerah saw her chance! Grabbing the stuck appendage, she threw it over her shoulder, launching the screaming Specter against a wall before firing a blow. "PRISMATIC SHOT!" she screamed this time.

The golden blast fist struck the flying Specter right in the chest at a shocking speed, cracking his armor and smashing him even deeper into the ground, breaking off the stuck tentacle. Cerah watched the rubble and dust burst up with the impact and breathed heavily, unsure of what she just accomplished.

She stared at her blood-stained hands burning with cosmos, bewildered. "That was… way above Mach V! H-How did I-"

Then, there was another great flare of the cosmos that alerted her, like an alarm going off in her head in the shape of a screaming specter shaping the cosmos of his next attack, interrupting her thoughts!

The collapsed rubble exploded and tentacles came flying out. "W-WORM'S BIND!" Raimi roared, sending the full force of his six surviving tentacles at her. They struck, crashed, lashed and whipped the entire chapel, but he saw Cerah dodging the impacts, so he put more and more cosmos into his strikes. "H-How dare you injure me, one of the 108 Specters, bringers of peace to the surface?! This is why you're nothing but profligates in training! YOU'LL ALL BE BURIED UNDER THESE MOUNTAINS IN THE NAME OF THE SUBMISSION STAR!"

Cerah, however, was too focused on her own dodging. She leaped, rolled, slid and bobbed around to avoid the blows, which seemed to be going faster and faster, well above her wheelhouse, yet she felt their pattern and speeds more and more clearly! "I…I'm doing it! I can do this! I just need…" And then, after jumping to avoid a combined attack of three spiked tentacles that skewered the ground she sprinted out of, she saw it; a tunnel of weakness in the cosmos of Raimi's attacks that she could dash right through with a spearhead blow! "AN OPENING!"

Raimi gasped, seeing her focusing her cosmos and blitz at him, avoiding all his long-range blows. "D… DAMN YOU, KNIGHT!" Overcome by the terror burned into his blood by centuries of battling Athena's Knights of the Zodiac, he harnessed all his tentacles, focused all his cosmos into them and lashed them as one in the same pattern he managed to hit the girl with earlier. "FEEL THE LASH OF THE BLACK WIND VALLEY! UNHOLY CRAWL22!"

Startled, Cerah's foot braked in the exposed ground of the chapel, aborting her assault upon sensing the massive threat of the attack suddenly sprung on her; a huge whip of dense Darkness Cosmos coming at her from the flank at Mach X this time! In that instant, she felt in it the force to rip her whole body apart with a single pass, and the speed to utterly overwhelm the senses of a Silver-rank like herself. She moved to jump over in mere reaction, knowing it was too late!...

She had overplayed her hand.

Yet, her feet somehow sprung her into the air in time. And the cosmos in her jump was somehow powerful enough to shoot her over the huge flinging attack's movement, dodging it. And then, on top of it all, she felt herself in the air, utterly light, with cosmos generating inside of her like an uncontrollable reactor, and the Specter below react to her dodge in slow motion.

It was a sensation of absolute freedom, like her strength suddenly had no bounds and she could accomplish anything, even miracles. Most of all, it was a sensation of diving into an endless ocean of stars, where nothing but the interminable light of the universe bathed her in a warm glow.

In this sensory bliss, Cerah forgot all her fears of getting caught, Lightcrafted a refraction lens around her fist and charged her Storm to its most powerful level. "PRISMATIC STORM! TIMES 100!"

An authentic downpour of sunrays, turning night into day, fired off her punch, blasting through Raimi's tentacles like paper and showering the chapel grounds with a blowing bombardment of Light Cosmos. Worm Raimi screamed, feeling all his appendages blown to smithereens, most of his Surplice punched right through and his body pummeled over and over by hundreds of millions of blows. The earth shook with the violent force, triggering far-off avalanches, and Cerah's cosmos was felt all around.

The accumulated impacts erupted into a big exploding dome which blasted small debris everywhere and Cerah landed with a gasp, feeling her arm completely numb to the bone!

She shook in pain and breathed heavily. As her cosmos surge cooled down, the consequences of what she just did set in and her arm went from being merely numb to being in sheering pain, as if every atom in it was vibrating all at once. Never in her life had she pushed her Light element to such destructive levels, even in her two battles against Cyclops. What had she done?!

"Amazing… you almost did it!" Corvus complimented. "You were a breath away from grasping the 7th sense just now! The Waters of Life are truly the Dragon God's blood! Cerah… you will become a great Knight yet!"

While she was short of breath and in great pain, Cerah smiled, feeling an odd comforting sensation appear in her heart from nowhere. It was a mix of pride and flatter, as if her happiness in having protected Katya and miss Olivia was now mixed with when Eurydice said she was prettier than she thought, or when miss Ghisi gifted her scholarship.

More of the chapel candles on the wall fell, landing on the spilled oils of Reimi's broken Surplice, spreading even more fires. The chapel was now utterly ablaze.

Her cosmos started dipping dangerously and her world darkening…

Had Raimi been defeated? She was too weak to turn…

Cerah felt a great weakness overcome her and she collapsed to the side. The flames spread all around her, trapping Cerah. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was an armored figure, likely one of the teachers, finally arriving on the scene…

Still, her last thoughts before the darkness descended were of her sister, somehow. "D-Daese…"

…

…

The Aquila took Cerah into her arms. A burst of blue cosmos blew a path through the fire and both vanished off the chapel before it came crashing down.

{======================|A3|======================}

Mount Rozan

{======================|A3|======================}

A crying eagle flapped off the tree branches, startling Lance.

He calmed down. It was just a bird. Sitting by a campfire on a log with his drowsy Master after a whole morning of training and fishing, Lance could only assume he was jumpy after surviving approximately 1.456.864 light speed punches from the Libra. They had the results of a fishing session laying in a cloth on their side and used sticks to hold them over the campfire for grilling.

Master held the tasty fish over the flames until it smelled nicely cooked, before tossing it at Ma Chao. The tiger happily devoured the meal.

"At this rate she's gonna eat the whole catch, Roshi." Lance pointed out. He took his own meal and devoured it, knowing he was going to need the strength for Roshi's insane training regimen.

The tired teacher chuckled. "It's fine, I'm not the one who's going to have to lift that rock."

Lance noticed how bated Master's breath was. Dohko didn't want to admit it too often, but it was clear that getting off Misopheta Menos wasn't as casual a transformation as Master made it look. Still, the subject of their training reminded him of something important, a decision he spent the whole month trying to voice.

"Master, I want to stop using the Shoryuha."

Dohko turned to him. He didn't seem angry, just mildly tense. This was his signature move that Lance was rejecting, after all, so it was understandable. "… Why?"

Lance hesitated. How did he explain this without sounding crazy? "Something… happened during my fight with Daemon Lucifer. Something scary, that I've never felt before. Something…"

"Animalistic?" Dohko guessed.

Lance nodded, remembering the pain in his canines and skull when he fired the Hyaku Ryu Ha "Yeah."

Dohko sighed. "It's happening much faster than I thought. I suppose it can't be helped, since Lucifer forced you to use the 100 Dragons way before you were ready."

"I've been thinking about it ever since you explained the Life Sense to me." Lance confessed. "You said… whenever I used Seiryu's moves, a bit of him would go through me, since I'm not a Dragon Saint or have the Water element. That I was trading in his strength rather than my own. I'm just a human but, during that fight, the more I would channel Seiryu through me to battle Daemon,… the more I felt like I was changing."

Master bit lip. "That's because you were."

Lance felt his throat tighten in fear. "Roshi? Changing into what?" He then felt Dohko's fingers go through Lance's charcoal hair, searching. "Uh, what are you doing?"

"Good, no horns yet." Dohko concluded. He took another fish and held it over the flame. "Yes, I think you are right, Lance. We need to scale down your use of his moves, before something irreversible happens. You deduce right that there are consequences to exchanging your Chi with that of Seiryu so often. In fact, there have been many Masters of Rozan, before me or Haisaku, who have done the same to compensate for their own lack of Water element… or just to get more power."

Lance's eyes widened. "What… happened to them?"

Dohko watched the fish slowly go black. "The same that happens to everyone who trades away their humanity for strength, Lance; they became monsters." Dohko offered Lance the grilled meal. "But considering your experience in Death Queen Island, I think you already know what that looks like, don't you?"

Taking the tasty fish, Lance then remembered something; even though Master thought himself as a 'tiger', and had a tattoo of Byako, the Tiger God, on his back, he never seemed to use anything but Seiryu's moves. "Roshi, can I ask you something? You don't have the Wind element, do you?"

Dohko smiled and shook his head. "No, I don't. Not until my loved ones are in danger… That's when the Tiger in me roars. Lucifer's learned that the hard way."

The student nodded, taking in the meaning of the cryptic sentence. "Master, I'd like… to take it easier with your techniques, so that I don't become a monster, either."

"Between Seiryu, Teos and the Phoenix, I think yes, it's possible you have accumulated too many devil bargains." Dohko stared at the campfire. He seemed a bit out of it, perhaps exerted from training. "However…"

The student perked up. "Yeah?"

The Master turned his eyes, looking concerned. "You're going to get this training for the Chi Sense done, no matter what, understand?"

Lance paused for a bit. Master seemed tense saying this. Underneath all his previous excitement, he was likely deeply worried about Lance's mission. Any teacher would be. "Yes, of course."

The Master nodded. "Good, good… No matter what, I won't let Hades take another student from me…"

Lance sighed deeply. The words sounded loving, but they hid a dagger that Dohko himself was probably not aware of. It had become clear to Lance that Roshi was haunted by the death of Tenma by Daemon Lucifer, even after all these years. The Bronze Saint wanted to believe that it was the coincidence of Lance being the new Pegasus Saint that kept planting in Roshi these painful thoughts, because, otherwise, two hundred years had passed with the Libra Saint unable to move on.

Yet, while this pained the Pegasus, how could Lance complain? Dohko gave Lance everything; council, a peaceful home, mentorship, example, wisdom, care, insight, attention, even a Gold Cloth to assist him in a time of great need. Even now, with an impossible mission in Lance's hands, Dohko was nothing but supportive, enthusiastic even, going above and beyond the call to help Lance fulfill his dreams. Compared with being the abandoned student of Kerberos, Lance felt truly blessed to have him.

Still, a deep squeeze of his throat whenever Roshi's eyes wondered off nostalgically, like something Lance sought beyond all his dreams of defeating the Underworld was being unfairly denied through no one's fault but of chance. With Noah away, Roshi was the only parent figure he could count on being around for him, especially in these trying times. It hurt a lot to keep seeing his Master thinking of Tenma whenever he looked at Lance. Was this his curse of the Phoenix, for renouncing Athena, for having displeased his original Master, for having told the Queen he wouldn't become her knight, for having worn the Cloth of Teos?

How was it possible Lance landed on feeling like the less-preferred son of a man with no children?

With a breath of sadness, Lance casted these thoughts away. This was no time for doubt. He had a great challenge ahead of him, beyond just unlocking a strange new sense. If he wished to have a future beyond the next five months or so, then only concentration, discipline and bravery would see him through, just like they always had.

He would bury the pain, he would train, he would learn and he would grow. And then he would put an end to the wars with Hades and his Specters.

{======================|A3|======================}

Germany,

Heinstein Castle

{======================|A3|======================}

The forces of Hades at the castle watched the injured Worm Raimi back away in terror from his commander. "Y-Your H-highness, p-please w-wai-"

The Wyvern Specter's massive armored foot exploded on Raimi's chest, blasting him across the barbican and crashing him against the battlements with a blood-splattering force.

"YOU UTTER FAILURE!" Rhadamanthys roared, stomping in pursuit. "All you were ordered to do was to scout the academy! Who told you to ASSAULT IT?! DO YOU WANT SANCTUARY TO BE READY FOR OUR EVERY MOVE?!"

"Y-You Honor, please have mercy!" Worm begged, missing teeth and bleeding all over.

"MERCY?!" The Judge roared, picking the Specter by the throat and holding him over the roaring green fires of the abyss surrounding the castle. His screams didn't even penetrate the Judge's ears. "FOR DISOBEYING ORDERS AND EMBARASSING MY COMMAND WITH YOUR LUST?! HOW DARE YOU THINK OF ASKING IT?!"

"No, NO! I m-merely saw the Whore of Athens exposed and took the chance to eliminate her!"

"AND NOW ALL YOU'VE ACCOMPLISHED IS SHOWN SANCTUARY OUR HAND! I hope you enjoyed stalking those teenagers, Raimi, because you'll spend the next year with the undead at the Valley of the Black Wind, paying for your SINS!"

The Celestial Wailing Star, Harpy Valentine, watched the wyvern's fingers open and the Worm Specter fall down the abyss below, before being consumed by the flames, with a cold sweat. While he found what Raimi did just as repugnant as the Judge did, it always unnerved him to watch a fellow Specter being put among those they were raised to punish.

Valentine shook his head lamentingly at the waste. "I wish you had sent me instead, your Honor. I would have infiltrated that cove of maids easily. Then, at the right moment, my Sweet Chocolate would have devastated it from the inside out."

The Judge fumed to himself. He would have sent Valentine, but with Emperor Hades ordering the Specters to manage the Prisons for Minos, crew the Valiant for Aiacos and man the Heinstein Castle for Rhadamanthys, their forces were split among the Judges. This meant that his personal elites, namely Basilisk's trio, were no longer under his direct command. While they had more than enough Specters to keep all fronts solid this way, it also meant he couldn't spare the ideal Specters for specialized tasks. In this case, he couldn't let Harpy off the Castle and protecting Pandora just to infiltrate a school of, at best, what the other Judges considered Silver-rank threats.

Rhadamanthys knew better, though. To him, Silver-Rank enemies were just Gold Saints reinforcements in the making! Now thanks to Raimi, that damn school would probably have a Gold Saint stationed at it for protection!

"Normally I find the rate with which you punish the men counterproductive, Rhadamanthys, but this time I think it was the correct choice." Pandora commented. "My brother wishes to have full justification in Olympus to wage war with Sanctuary. If we're perceived as the aggressors by Zeus, we cannot have our crusade, not unless we want all of Olympus coming to Athena's aid."

"May his cock be flailed by the Black Winds!" Rhadamanthys cursed, spitting down the abyss. The Wyvern Judge ground his teeth so hard he could have crushed a rock between them. If the other Judges learned about this, he'd never hear the end of it. First the humiliation at the Alps engineered by Lucifer, now this?! How could it get any worse-

"Another disaster, Rhadamanthys?" Aiacos asked, arriving at the barbican. "I told you; leave the recon to me and the Valiant. It's clearly not your talent. Hades gave us all clear orders."

The golden eyes of the Wyvern turned piercingly at Garuda Aiacos. "Where did you come from?! And clear orders?! My orders are to destroy the enemies surrounding the Emperor's lands! Hence, I'll do all the recon I find necessary to command the ground forces!"

Aiacos folded arms with a skeptic stare. "And that involves sending Raimi to a teenage girl school?"

"THAT SCHOOL IS AN ENEMY TRAINING CAMP SITTING AT OUR DOORSTEP!" Rhadamanthys roared, almost popping a vein.

Harpy Valentine struggled to hold the Judge. "L-Lord Wyvern, please! Your heart!"

"Rhadamanthys, calm down at once." Pandora ordered. She stood between the two. "Aiacos, Rhadamanthys may have failed, but he speaks with reason; not only has Raimi been defeated by a Knight, but he's confirmed the presence of Athena's harbinger in that haven. Sanctuary was hiding her right beneath our nose and now it's only a matter of time until they take her back to Greece. You know what this means, don't you?"

The Garuda Judge nodded humbly. "Of course, my lady; it means that Sanctuary's end is at a hand, for we now have the chance to assassinate Athena before she's ever to be. I will work on ascertaining how they intend to escort her right away."

Pandora squinted severely. "You better mean that, Aiacos. Her name is Olivia and she heads the student body of Sanctuary's fantasy of an academy. I will not tolerate failure on this. Give Rhadamanthys his target… and Lord Hades may expediate your reward."

Aiacos nodded obediently and flapped his wings away, taking off to the battleship floating above them.

{======================|A3|======================}

The battleship 'Valiant' under Aiacos' command sat at the 'drydock' atop the mountains surrounding Heinstein, being worked by countless Skeleton Soldiers to repair the damages it suffered a month earlier. There was a big scar in its hull, close to the stern, inflicted by Capricorn Kirin's Longinus Drill, which was now finally being healed and hardened. Soon, the Valiant would fly again and fill Sanctuary's skies with terror.

The ship possessed an imposing forecastle that housed his private quarters, which the Judge headed inside of, locking the room behind him. A wide room fit for an admiral, it was styled in the same manner as his palatial master room at the Antenora Palace which guarded the 3rd and 4th Prisons of the Underworld, possessing a wide bed, dark purple curtains over the windows to the battleship's rear, his own dining table, a large closet, a conversation area for when he had a fellow Judge in to drink with and even a mahogany credenza.

These days, however, he had little company for drinking, what with Minos being ordered to guard the Underworld below them and Rhadamanthys being absorbed into his task of trying to prove he wasn't an embarrassing failure to the Emperor. The furniture, especially the bigger pieces like the closet, were all styled with Asian contours rather than western ones, possessing carvings of the Garuda wings or of its sets of three eyes over the top, or references to Buddhist symbols, in particular the Dharma Wheel.

This last one was a symbol of law and justice in the religion, concepts that the Judge identified himself well with. The shelf was full of books regarding religion, in particular a copy of the Book of Dead's section on Underworld law, but also of naval tactics, training of troops and philosophies regarding death, rebirth and the importance of self-sacrifice and discipline. These were just the ones he brought from his Palace, too. Back at Antenora, he had collections that rivaled Daemon Lucifer's halls of tomes, which were now sadly blocked following the Dark Prince's betrayal (*).

(*) The Dark Exodus Storyline

Judge Garuda Aiacos, however, walked past all of these, instead heading for the door of his quarters that led to his private chapel, his place of personal worship to the Emperor. It was a black door adorned with a winged sword, its edge filled with archaic letters, and a background of 108 Evil stars, plus the two Dark Prince ones above. He searched for a particular Celestial Star, a lonely one off to the side of Aiacos' own, and pressed it at the same time he pushed down the handle, causing the door to unlock open.

Gently stepping inside the pale-blue-lit room, Aiacos took off his helmet, unfurling his mane of dark blue hair, and stared at the giant crystal in front of him. It was bigger even than himself, much bigger, and was held up by the hands of big gargoyle statues akin to the ones watching over the gates of the Circle Palaces. A tall, scarred, muscular black-haired woman was encased inside, sleeping for what must already have been two and half centuries, yet perfectly preserved.

His hand touched the impenetrable surface, wanting to reach out to her; his perfect servant, denied the Wheel of Time by Athena for the sin of having fought against her so fiercely. How cruel. The Goddess of Sanctuary and her Gold Saints criticized him for sacrificing his men for the greater good, yet had no qualms inflicting such horrid punishments on those very same souls.

However, that would come to an end. Now, with the False Specter Behemoth Torak dead and the crippling of Sanctuary at hand, Aiacos will earn his reward from the Emperor. He and the other Judges will right the wrongs of Daemon Lucifer's treason, the defeat at the Lost Canvas and the humiliation of the Odysseus incident. The girl Olivia would die. Her corpse would be holstered on the pikes of Heinstein for all of Sanctuary to see. And at long last the pure of heart would enjoy Elysium forever.

{======================|A3|======================}

Chapter End

{======================|A3|======================}

Next Chapter: Chapter 74 – Third Arc – Episode 4 : A Series of Foreboding Encounters

Release Date: October 25th

Description: Pegasus Lance receives an order from Sanctuary to return to Greece and participate in a most vital escort mission. In Switzerland, Cerah Heloise awakes and is honored with a visit from Olivia.

Meanwhile, in Japan, Mitsumasa Kido receives a special visit, while in Romania, Saint Daniel encounters the last person he ever wanted to see.

Author's Comments:

We got a bunch of things to tackle in these notes. First of all, I'm very happy that I managed to publish this chapter on time. I absolutely did NOT want the chapter to get this long. 26k is ridiculous for a setup chapter. However, slowly, I've come to accept that I don't have much of a choice, especially with the late decision to add in the Cerah vs Raimi battle. With all the concurrent storylines and my monthly release schedule, I need to pack beginnings, middles and ends all into one solid release. Perhaps when I start releasing on AO3, all these 3rd Arc chapters will be split in two and released every 2 weeks instead.

Fortunately, EpicElly is, like, the quickest Beta-reader I've ever had. Holy shit. She got this thing done in like a week, plus reader commentary.

Second of all, the Chi thing. So, this is something that goes back to Version 2 and don't worry, it's not gonna be a big whole thing, it's just a tool to advance the characters in the current arc and help tie the myths of Rozan with the rest of show's realms of lore. While it will play a role in the growth of Lance's techniques, its impact is not gonna be heavier than, let's say, a lighter version of Naruto learning Sage Mode (actually this last one was plenty impactful…)

Third of all, just a bit of commentary on the characters. Since the False Specters are done with, Etymology trivia will shift now more towards things like techniques and locations. I gave Raimi two moves he does not have in canon; Bird Catcher and Unholy Crawl. The first one is named after it's tactical purpose, simply, but the second one is named after two of Sam Raimi's horror movies, tying in with the Specter's etymology from Kurumada.

Fourth of all, what my beta-reader Elly called "Furry Lance"; believe it or not, characters turning into monsters for abusing Rozan techniques is LC canon. Yes. Go look up "Dohko vs Kagaho at the Terra Temple". There's a whole flashback in it going into this. This is all Shiori's fault. Enjoy.

Anyway, be sure to leave a review or share the story if you enjoyed this chapter, or if you want to criticize it even. Like it on Twitter/Tumblr/Reddit and generally support this project if you enjoy it. You can find me in all those places under the Thrudgelmir2333 name.

Also, 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, live streams and games.

See ya \owo