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.

79. 3A: The Copycat Amazon

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:

-This chapter has been betaread by EpicElly;

- February 6th Update: Due to some wordcount imbalances with the next two chapters, I've decided to remove a couple of the ending scenes of this chapter and move them to Chapter 80, to be published on February 13th.

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Please enjoy and review ^_^

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A Week Later,

Late February,

Shamballa, Council Palace

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Elder Yuzuriha marched down the hall to the large meeting room at the center of the citadel's political center, a building not too far from the Sun Temple where Shaka resided. Entering, she found the room adorned with the familiar heptagonal table of chairs marked with the different tribes of surviving Lemurians, ranging from the groups living in Tibet, to the people in Sanctuary Town. Tapestries of the Buddha hanged on the walls, a huge glass partition facing the southern balcony illuminated the room and a small golden statuette of Seiryu with an incense stick in its small paws sat on a table by the wall. This last object was a gift from the Rozan Master to celebrate her rise to High Elder. The base the godly serpent sat on had the phrase 'From one friend of lambs to another'.

That day, it would serve as an unofficial gathering spot for a different alliance. The silent, masked guards left the room as Yuzuriha stepped inside and sealed her and the other members inside with the door's thick locks.

Before taking her own seat, the female Elder scowled, beholding her peers. Two other people had been waiting for her, the ones that happened to be based closest to Tibet; namely in the Ural Mountains and in Bluegrad. She had never imagined in her youth she would be part of such a detestable group of men, or that the fate of Lemurians would hinge so much on joining forces with them.

She turned to the first. "Azrael."

The first person, hailing from his castle in the Ural Mountains that separated Europe from Asia, was a stomach-turning sight of villainy; a man cladded in a terrifying, full-body black plate armor composed of segmented, pointy plate edges marked with runes. A grim ram mask made of dark-tinted bone covered his face, fitting into a ram-horned helmet and shadowing his facial features. The air was cold around him, like a graveyard's breeze, even though he sat right next to the glass partition to the warm sun. Strangest of all was his shadow cast by the window, which refracted multiple silhouettes on the floor despite the glass being plain.

His dark green cape was ragged and hole, with even darker smudges of old blood. His waist faults concealed a longsword strapped to his waist with ram-shaped crossguards and a yellow gem incrusted in its center, acting as a chafe. Few people suspected this, but Yuzuriha knew it to be the sacred Topaz Cloth Stone, the highest of all Cloth Stones ever made. As its owner, Azrael was considered the last surviving Knight of the Zodiac… for he had killed or exiled the rest.

"It is Saint Azrael." he stressed. His voice was a thick breath through his mask, like a rough promise of death

The second person scoffed rudely. "You haven't been a Saint in over a decade. Not since you took Priam's side in the war, or have you forgotten, Castellan?"

Yuzuriha turned to him. The second peer was a stunningly tall, impatient-looking man in his forties with pale skin and the shiniest, baldest head Yuzuriha had ever seen on a human. His skull was so polished, in fact, that he was asked by the guards to sit on the side of the table farthest from the windows' daylight, lest he make the shiny reflection on his head painful to everyone's eyes.

He wore a thick set of grey plate armor with the heraldry of Bluegrad (a white prancing bear on a blue shield) crested on a blue crystal between the chest plates, a red cape with furred neck lining to warm his neck, fingers full of gemmed rings and an ill-humored scowl that could make grown men cry. He looked like a lord from children fairy tales, especially with all his jewelry and the strong, square jaw protruding out of his mouth, but he sported proof of war in a collection of small faint scars all over his skin from an old battle with Pisces Aeneas.

This was the Guardian Baron, a former Silver Saint of Sanctuary who had been granted the protection of Bluegrad and lordship over the Blue Warriors for his services in the Priam War. Out of the Allies of Sanctuary, he was considered the least remarkable, as he was no head of a culture, nor a particularly great warrior, nor even known for his virtues. He was just a man at the end of his military career who happened to have landed in the role of lieutenant of Capricorn Kirin, right when the famous attack on Priam's last headquarters in Siberia was made. Some called it the greatest on-field promotion of Sanctuary's history.

No one even remembered what Silver Cloth the Guardian Baron wore, nor if he had achieved anything in particular prior to it. However, people were just happy that Priam had been cornered and defeated, so Sanctuary showered everyone involved with medals and fiefdoms. If the guy who secured the assault on the barely defended walls of Bluegrad got the guardianship of the rich Siberian city, then all the better.

Together, the three of them represented the Allies stationed in Asia; Yushira herself, plus a fascist murderer of his own people holed up in a mountain castle, and finally a bald, greedy pig who stumbled upwards into his role. And she had no choice but to cooperate with them.

She took a seat, causing a blue flame to ignite in the center; a system to communicate with members of the assembly that could not attend for one reason or another. Four silhouettes of faces lighted up in it; that of the King of Asgard, of King Cetus of Lalibela, of "Head of Houses" Arthur Solo and of Legate Menelaus, the last of which seemed like the shadow of a maned minotaur, rather than a human.

The baron of Bluegrad tapped his ringed fingers on the table. "Five, six, seven… It seems we're all here. Can we start this already? I'm a very busy man!"

Cetus eyed everyone venomously, like a coiled viper. "I would have begun when I first visited, a month ago, rather than go home and wait for this… call to be arranged."

"No, everyone must be present to listen." Castellan Azrael demanded. "All seven are the same or not of the seven at all! The strong are neither to ignore or be ignored.…"

King Thorkell of Asgard laughed in the flame. The voice was a hearty crisp distorted by the flame call. "The strong, Azrael? Then why is baldy present for the meeting?!"

The Baron scowled hatefully, despising uncivilized barbarians like Thorkell. "Because my city is richer than your entire kingdom of boar hunters combined!"

The King of Asgard scoffed. "Your city or yourself, little pig?"

Before things escalated, Yuzuriha put order in the talk. "Let's not argue or insult eachother! We have a serious matter to attend. One that puts us all in danger!"

"And what is that matter, High Elder?" Arthur Solo queried. Even with the crisp of the flame, his tone was relatively wise and his voice like a calm sea, a respite compared to the rest. "It is not common for the Pact of Seven to gather like this, especially without the Pope's knowledge. The people of Sanctuary already trust us very little for worshipping our own Gods separately from Athena. What would happen to us all if rumors of conspiracy in the lips of Sanctuary folk were to arise?"

"Who cares what pacified worshippers of Athena think?" asked Legate Menelaus, the leader of the Lost Legion, worshipper of Ares and guardian of the Alpine border with Hades' domains.

The Head of Houses was unimpressed by the bravado. "These 'pacified' Athena worshippers have defeated the forces of both our Gods on multiple occasions, Menelaus. Sometimes combined. My people live among them, depend on them. Their thoughts carry weight to me, hence my concern... Not everyone hides from Athena in Alpine boot camps like you."

This was a fair point from the leader of the family houses of Poseidon, but Yuzuriha would not take such risk without cause. "We face a greater peril than infamy, Arthur. If the Pact does not decide on a course of action, extinction is our surest fate."

"Extinction?!" Menelaus' thick voice boomed, offended. "Maybe for a weak race like the Lemurians, who fear war and breed themselves out of existence in their mountain temples, but the Legion has nothing to fear! We take our numbers from all those who seek conflict. The challenges of this era will temper our Scutums. War will make us strong!"

Yuzuriha tensed her eyes, frustrated. She knew this wouldn't be easy, though. "Do you think the same isn't so for Athena's Sanctuary, Menelaus? Ares is not the only God of War in Olympus. Daemon Lucifer failed his crusade, empowering Sanctuary against an upcoming Holy War with Hades. Even as we speak, the triumph over the False Specters is awakening Sanctuary's gears of war and with it, we risk letting Greece grow so powerful that it will restore its dominance over all of us again."

The Guardian Baron unleashed a loud laughter at this.

"What if it does become stronger? Sanctuary still needs us to survive!" he argued, scoffing at her theory. "This isn't the Middle Ages where one fierce Pope unafraid of his power could make Sanctuary rule the world. Without my steel and stardust, they can't build their weapons. Without Azrael's castle and the Viking's Kingdom, they expose their backs to pagan Gods. Without your Lemurians, their armors go into disrepair. Without Arthur, they fear the seas and without Cetus, they run out of food."

The Baron's argument triggered a series of nods, evil smiles, complicit glances and arrogant cackles from the remaining five men, all at the expense of the perceived weakness of the Greeks. For being the weakest and greediest of the seven, the Baron knew how to appeal to your worst, most complacent nature. Usually towards your grave.

The only one who didn't laugh or nod was Arthur Solo. This was likely because, living much closer to Sanctuary itself, he probably already perceived the same Yuzuriha had.

The Elder folded arms and rose her chin. "And what of the Teos Cloth? Which one of you safeguards us against it?"

A heavy silence filled the room, cutting the laughter short.

Yuzuriha scoffed, seeing the arrogance and male egos in the air subside quite a bit. "I see. So, none of you factored that armor into your petty little calculations, have you? Putting it aside, what about the idea of a Sanctuary unbridled by wars with Hades? Of a Sanctuary that no longer needs your weapons and services… and bribes?"

Again, there was a fearful downturn of the mood among the Allies.

This triumph alone made Yuzuriha smile. As one of the only two or three half-way decent people in the group with an earnest desire to cooperate with Sanctuary, rather than profit from it, nothing made her happier than rein in these cruel parasites towards something productive. The Baron may be good at making them see their worst selves, but Yuzuriha specialized in the opposite.

Now it was time to deliver her final argument. "Well, allow me to give you another piece of news you probably haven't calculated yet; Galarian Steiner has just been nominated the new Leo Gold Saint."

"Steiner?" Baron whispered fearfully, shaking at the very name. "You mean…?!"

"Akassius' son…" Azrael confirmed, cringing fingers together tensely. He had once cradled the boy in his arms, long before Priam's War. "So, he has taken Kai's Cloth."

"I imagine invitations to his welcoming ceremony will arrive at your doorsteps soon." Yuzuriha added "I also guarantee you all that he's quite strong… and quite loyal to his family. He has defeated Sagittarius Aiolos in a single blow, some say, and vowed to ascertain the old traditions of strength at the Zodiac. Excellent news for Sanctuary's golden rings, is it not?"

"Arles' pretend-nobles are making their move, too?" King Cetus asked, chuckling maliciously as if he found the political upheaval entertaining. "Then let them. None of their fantasies of power will come true. Their rings are fake thrones built on a lost memory of the Goddess' gifts to veterans."

"I suppose, Cetus, you and the rest all expect your bodyguards and mercenaries and soldiers to protect you when Sanctuary decides it's had enough of your blackmails and ambitions?" Yuzuriha asked aloud, silencing this excuse of a human being. "Power in Greece is growing and focusing, meaning that so will its ambitions, making an early Holy War inevitable… Soon, we'll either have to deal with one of two unacceptable problems; a Sanctuary free of Holy War AND Athena's wisdom… or a victorious Hades."

Azrael's gauntlets cringed closed at this choice of poisons, creating a creaking screech of metal that made the Baron wince. Both options disgusted him to his core.

"Yuzuriha, how long do you expect until this scenario comes true?" Arthur asked.

The female Elder sighed reflectively, pausing to think. It was sometimes jarring to her that Thorkell, the bloodthirsty Viking, and Arthur, the head of the people who ruined Mu, were her only options for sensible discourse in the Pact.

"Judging by the expansion of Hades' barrier, I believe a confrontation will be inevitable within the next four months or so." She announced. "I also believe the Pope plans to deal with the False Holy War prisoners by then."

"So, by June?!" Baron roared, outraged. "What are we supposed to do about this in such a short schedule?!"

Menelaus stood up, causing their flame to 'heighten' "What do you think?! We go to WAR!"

"I would love nothing less, Menelaus, but with Hades or with Arles?" Thorkell questioned. "It may sound like a simple choice, I know… but it says something about what this Pact is about."

"We'll attack both heretics and heathens, if necessary!" Castellan Azrael hissed. His sunken eyes fixated on Yuzuriha. "I will tolerate neither Hades taking a single filthy step on this Earth nor it being ruled by complacent Saints who refuse to shed blood against him! I'll have the Golden Zodiac burn to the ground before I let that happen!"

Thorkell scoffed. "That must be easy to say for a 'King' with no people. Everyone in my land would die before being slaves again, but the blood of Asgard does not flow endlessly…"

Yuzuriha's head shook. She had to reign these passions in. "We won't have to let a single drop be shed, Thorkell, IF the Pact joins forces like it's supposed to!"

"Joins forces?!" Menelaus asked, outraged. Rome did not 'pay traitors' and neither would Ares' Legate. "Even if the Legion was inclined to share its strength with anyone, you are Arles' oldest friend, are you not, woman? You survived a Holy War with him! You speak very lightly of conspiring against him now. Why should we trust you?"

A breath difficult to swallow was taken by Yuzuriha. How has Shion's foolishness forced her into this? The power he was accumulating, though, from the Dark Prince boy, to Shaka's generation, to Akassius and his brethren, threatened to trigger another imperialization, weather Shion realized it or not. All it took was for the nobles to seize political power, or someone else equally influential, and Shion would be powerless to stop it. Her eyes closed, thinking back to the False Specter attack on her villages. While that particular bloodshed was Lucifer's fault, the same could very easily happen if humans in Greece decided they no longer needed their Muvian friends.

All she could picture, therefore, was the potential genocide of Lemurians not by Arles himself, but at the hands of someone empowered by Arles or pillaging the strength Shion accumulated for Sanctuary.

"Whether you worship Athena, Poseidon or Ares, we all hate the forces of the Underworld… we all hate the Underworld's Emperor, Hades? But even more, we fear having an emperor of the surface, do we not?" Yuzuriha asked. "That has been the foundation of our Pact, Menelaus. And it will continue to be."

There was an exchange of looks. Yuzuriha saw Baron, in particular, sweating and fidgeting fingers nervously, probably picturing his 'hard-earned' fortunes seized by the Pope. Mostly, though, it seemed like a sense of consensus was being formed, judging by the appeased contacts of eyes between them and the silent, attentive reactions to her argument.

Encouraged, Yuzuriha continued, holding hand to chest in honor. "Yes, I am Arles' closest friend after Lord Dohko… Hopefully I will continue to be for the rest of my days. However, I am also a protector of my people. Therefore, what I suggest is exactly what a friend would do; we shall lend our hand to Sanctuary in this time of struggle."

"First you drag us out of our cities to say Sanctuary is becoming too strong..." Baron grumbled. "Now you suggest we help it be stronger?!"

She shook her head confidently. "Incorrect. I suggest the opposite. When confrontation inevitably happens with Hades, one of Sanctuary's fists will be our own, not just Arles'. We will prove our power… and blind Sanctuary to their own."

The other six Allies paused in consideration, then nodded along, each finding their own twisted, self-serving logic in Yuzuriha's words. Yes, the Lemurian Elder was correct; they were all Sanctuary's friends. And, in their selfishness, they would be its very best friends.

Except for one. "Touching words, but that is all they are, Lemurian." King Cetus accused. "What is your practical suggestion for us?"

Elder Yuzuriha laid out her hand, burning a simple flame of cosmos. "Sanctuary's aristocracy wants to put their own in Gold Saint positions, correct? The House of Virgo will be the next up for grabs, so I suggest we do the same. Let us have our own candidate, a person who will be both indebted to us and uninterested in the politics of Sanctuary itself. Someone who can be a stopgap to the decadence of the Zodiac."

Thorkell's flame rubbed its ethereal beard, intrigued. Sanctuary had a long history of putting spies among the God Warriors, so this proposal felt most fun to him in particular. "Eh, eh, eh, I like this plan, Yuzuriha. Do you have someone in mind? Absent-minded hippies for the Virgo Cloth shouldn't be difficult to find."

Her eyes sharpened in concentration and the cosmos in her hand took the shape of three stars. "Yes, I do. I propose Saint Noah, of the Triangle Constellation."

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Sanctuary Town,

Mission Management Center

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Almost a whole week had passed since the Leo Saint's duel with Saint Sagittarius. It was very early in the morning, just barely at the break of dawn, and Lance, accompanying Suisho in the van, arrived at the MMC after another successful mission with the Crateris Silver Saint.

As the truck parked, the Pegasus Saint got out and greeted the blue-armored Silver Saint waiting at the building's entrance. "Saint Nam."

The Sagitta Silver Saint nodded. "Good morning, you two. How did it go?"

Lance smirked and guided him to the van's rear, opening the doors to reveal a set of two large containers he and Suisho had strapped. Next to it, a group of struggling smugglers was gagged and tied, struggling to free themselves. "400 kilograms of classified equipment seized, totaling about 400 grams of stardust. They were going to try to sell it to laboratories in North America, mostly."

Nam frowned concernedly. The tip of hoplite spears only had approximately a tenth of this to make it workable with someone with cosmos "Almost half a kilo, uh? More than we thought. It's a good think you got it all."

Suisho left the van and handed Nam the keys, smiling proudly. "You can thank Pegasus for that. He worked to discover their hidden routes that the Undercovers didn't get. Apparently no one thought of checking if they had contacts from our own people."

"Mm. Sometimes our isolation works against us. Excellent work, you two." Nam snapped his fingers, pointing at the gagged smugglers, and a pair of Hoplites came to carry them to jail. "You're working together quite well, aren't you? You're getting jobs done faster and more thoroughly than even with Shinta, Pegasus."

Lance shrugged shily and played it off. "Well, that's natural, I'm a Gold Rank now, Nam. Plus, Suisho is pretty good and planning these things out. My old missions were chaos compared to now."

Suisho laughed as he took over the clipboard Nam brought them to sign. "Yeah… I keep Pegasus focused on the important stuff he's good at, like punching people."

Nam smiled. "Good to know. Come inside. You should collect your pay. Plus, I got another job for your squad, Suisho. A big one that needs to get done right away."

Suisho perked up. "You mean… that one?"

Lance saw Nam nodding. "You know what this is about, Sui'? What job?"

The Crateris Silver Saint folded arms. "Actually, I don't, ut it had the gold-filing and Nam says they asked for you specifically."

Alarmed, Lance followed them inside.

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The two Saints stood agape. "A kidnapping at the Lemurian colonies?!"

Nam nodded, sitting at this desk. "That's right. A serious one, from the looks of it."

"And they asked for me? What the hell do I have to do with that operation area?" Lance asked.

"Well, technically they've asked for Suisho's squad on the call, but I looked into it and turned out they were interested in your background specifically." Nam explained.

The Pegasus Saint breathed out, feeling stupid. Of course; while working with Shinta he had handled a lot of assault missions in the past before ever even becoming the Cancer Gold Saint and it was likely he had built something of a positive reputation, for a change. Even after he became a Gold Saint, he still got called for busting up delicate situations, like that kidnapping in California (*). Someone must have recommended Lance in reference to these jobs.

(*) "Dawn of a Generation"

Still, something about this concerned him. "I didn't realize people even knew of my past missions."

Nam shrugged "This is quite normal, Lance, at least for the unclassified ones. Saint reputations tend to get around in circles as closed as ours. You've just unfortunately mostly experienced the bad sides of this effect so far."

Suisho added onto it. "You also never had a Silver Saint partner like me, who can be counted by strangers to operate at Mach 5, working with you, so you and Saint Shinta were probably offered more menial, local jobs."

This made enough sense to Pegasus. "Ah, I get it. You're saying they're taking my rank seriously now because you're with me?"

"Correct." Suisho rubbed chin pensively "Still, offering so little detail…

Lance watched Suisho pack his Cloth Box. "You're going ahead of me?"

"Yes, I want to find out what's going on. I grew up around Muvians, so I know them." Suisho explained. "They've never trusted strangers a whole lot, Pegasus, but after the False Specter attack that Saint Gemini stopped, things have gotten even worse. And now they send out a top priority request without any details… Plus I need you to do something important."

Lance rose as well, ready for action. "Sure, what is it?"

Crateris Suisho sighed. "I need you to meet up with my sister. She's part of my squad, but she's a Silver Rank, so Yushira will need a lightspeed lift to Tibet."

The Pegasus Saint paused, remembering the angry call Suisho was getting on his radio in the Alps, during their first mission together. "I guess I can do that… but you sound displeased. What's the problem with her?"

Nam smiled coyly at Suisho being prompted to argue in his sister's defense, rather than criticize her. "Want me to say it, Suisho?"

The Crateris Saint shook head. "No, no!... Yushira would be helpful… at the very least as your guide. You've never operated with Muvians, right? She'd be a good pair for you. Besides, I'll be busy with our fourth guy."

Lance rose a brow. "Wait, are you saying there's someone else?"

"Here." The Sagitta Saint unfurled a paper to show Lance the checklist of operatives.

Crateris Squad

-[V] Crateris Suisho

-[V] Perseus Acrisius

-[ ] Crane Yushira

-[V] Pegasus Lance

The Saint grumbled hesitantly. He had never worked on such a big group before. In fact, he thought everyone just worked in pairs. Looking it over, he tried to remember if he recognized the names. He was pretty sure Crane was the girl yelling on Suisho's radio during their last mission, but he didn't know the other guy.

"Perseus, uh? What is he like?" Lance asked, returning the paper.

Nam cringed and hesitated. "Saint Acrisius, well, is… um…."

Much more confident, Suisho waved hand. "It's okay, Nam, you can just say it; Acrisius is an idiot!"

Lance did not expect this, especially out of the polite Crateris. "What?! How so?"

Nam soothed it over, knowing he had to be the middleman between the Saints and the people in power. "Suisho, no one who earns a Silver Cloth can be an idiot. He is just…. Inexperienced. Acrisius comes from settled families in Sanctuary, Pegasus. He has a… romantic view of his duties."

"He's a role player who thinks he can use the Cloth to live his chivalric fantasies fed to him by his nannies, Nam!" Suisho argued, getting tense. Guys like Acrisius were one of the reasons why he prayed to Hades instead of Athena. "Acrisius has been holding everyone back in every assignment he's been in! He's a walking stereotype of what you expect out of Saints appointed by blood, rather than merit!"

While he was glad Suisho saw it for what it was, Lance had to ask. "Why the heck is he in your squad, Suisho? He's just gonna slow us down, especially on a kidnapping!"

Suisho, though, couldn't disagree more. "I know, Pegasus… Trust me when I saw I hate it more than you. Sometimes, though… they ask us to entertain these golden ringers."

More experienced with Sanctuary than the two younger Saints, Nam added on to it. "It's worse than what Suisho says; the insistence to bring Acrisius couldn't be at a more delicate time. The Muvians are very upset with Sanctuary aristocracy right now. The nobles might think that forcing us to send Acrisius is a way to repair their image… which they probably are."

This sounded like complete dead weight and gave Lance some bad memories of times he had to play escort for rich folk in Sanctuary. "Oh great, so we got a third wheel!"

"I'll handle Acrisius, don't worry, Pegasus." Suisho reassured, already knowing the Bronze was the type to hate this. "You'll work with Yushira. This way I can stop Perseus from doing more damage than he has to and you two can do what you do best."

Lance breathed in relief. Again, just like last mission, the Crateris Saint seemed to be working overtime to iron out all the details. Something told him that if this Acrisius guy had been dumped on him and Shinta back in the day, he'd have a much harder time brushing him off or, worse, his Silver Cloth would probably put the two Bronze Saints under his command.

He could feel only gratitude. "Thanks, Suisho, I appreciate it."

"Crateris, Pegasus, this is all the more reason you two need to make sure this goes fantastic." Nam interjected, looking serious. "With Jamir burned down during the war, Sanctuary needs a healthy relationship with the Muvians now more than ever. It's not just the fact they fix our armors, but a lot of our territorial defenses rely on Muvian expertise. Besides… it's our duty as Saints to defend people who put their trust in Athena."

Suisho nodded, but continued, trying to ignore the appeal to the Goddess. "Splitting the squad this way will keep both parts with one guide, increasing our chances of success. Our number one priority during this mission is diplomatic, not martial. Understood, Saint Lance?"

This diplomacy aspect was all pretty new to Lance, who was more used to leading assaults on Death Queen Island and such, but the Saint nodded. "Right, you can count on me."

Suisho smiled, pleased. He wished he had Skeletons back at the Valiant this reliable. "Excellent."

"You mentioned your sister, though. Where can I find her? Does she need to be filled in on this?" Lance asked.

"Is she still sleeping?" Nam hesitantly asked. It got a nod from Suisho that made Lance's jaw drop. "It figures…Yushira was never a morning person."

Lance staggered, outraged at the show of unprofessionalism. "Not a morning person? That's my guide?!"

This question was a test to Suisho's brotherly pride, but he still tried to be fair to his little sister. "It's not as bad as it sounds. You know me, Pegasus, I wouldn't accept her if she wasn't an asset."

"She is, however, from the Undercover branch, which means she gets a lot of nighttime work, hence hating mornings." Sagitta Nam excused, shrugging. "I probably should have started off with that detail. Yush' might be… unconventional, but Saints still bite the bullet and bring her along because, well…"

Lance folded his arms skeptically, seriously curious at what kind of defense they'd say to convince him a morning log would be an asset to Saints. "Yeah? Go on."

"Suisho's sister kind of has a tendency of surprising you, Pegasus." Nam worded. He'd lost count to the number of jobs Yushira was simultaneously responsible for both screwing up and saving, sometimes within the same breath. "You'll know what we mean when you start working with her. Sloth or not, though, she took down one of the False Specters (*). You have to respect that."

(*) "Labyrinth of the Mind"

This was surprising enough for Lance as it is, especially if the girl was supposed to be a Silver Rank. The False Specters were weaker than their true counterparts, but still dangerous.

"Also, I'm pretty sure she would kill me if I ditched her on a big mission twice in a row." Suisho privately confessed. It was a bad reason, but Violate had taught him not to underestimate a woman's wrath. "Anyway, Pegasus, meet up with her outside Rodario and depart to Tibet by eight am at lightspeed, so we can be at the Colonies before nightfall."

Lance grumbled. "Blasted time zones." He hadn't gotten a minute of sleep for two days since he and Suisho had been stalking smugglers in their last mission.

"Yushira can then guide you to Malachite, the village where the mission is." Suisho stressed, then pointed warningly. "Don't mess up; I know you're tired, but if we work well enough, we might be home by Greek nightfall."

Lance nodded determinedly. He had to take care of some personal business first, though.

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Slightly later,

First Acropolis,

Lance's House

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Dawn slowly rose over Greece, casting hues of foggy rose and gold through Sanctuary. Taking the keys from the Pegasus Saint, Olivia opened the door to Lance's house, letting Aiolos and Lance carry inside a series of travel bags filled with clothes, edutainment books, games, and personal objects of Aiolos' family, which they carefully set down in the living room for unpacking.

The Equuleus Saintia smiled at the nervous, drowsy child outside and her hand gently reached out. "Come in, Aiolia. Come see your new house."

Wiping his brow, Aiolos watched, heartbroken, as his little brother took in his new surroundings. The poor boy was so used to the Temple as his new home that Lance's place probably felt like a symbol to all these changes to him.

"I'm sorry this had to be done so early. I've got a mission later." Lance said, walking in with bags.

Aiolos shook head, too amazed by the kindness of this all to care. "Are you serious? Not at all."

As he brought Aiolia's stuff in, Lance pointed at the living room. "The place isn't very big, but there are games in that room for your brother to play. Mu and Milo already broke into the 'Holy War' board, though."

Surprisingly, Olivia headed to the board game, which was left from last time on the table. "This is…"

The two Saints saw her study it intently. "Miss Olivia?"

Olivia took one of the pieces briefly, then put it back. She smiled embarrassedly and played it off. "Nothing. I just like the game. Hey, Aiolia, want to see how it works?"

The little boy smiled and joined her, studying each piece as the Saintia explained their needlessly complex use.

The Pegasus finished unpacking the bags he brought in and saw Aiolos' mood. "Are you feeling alright?"

Aiolos touched his chest, which was bandaged inside his trainer. "Yes, Saint Iaso did a good job on me. I think I'll just be left with a scar, but…"

Lance grumbled, glancing at Aiolia and Olivia playing with the board to check if they were listening. "I meant with what happened. I wouldn't ask you about the wound the Sagittarius Saint took, intern Aiolos."

Aiolos gasped and chuckled at the misunderstanding, then nodded self-soothingly, looking like he still didn't really believe in how badly he got beaten and how much it cost his family. He saw Olivia show Aiolia around, pointing at things, opening kitchen drawers for the little boy and amuse him with bad jokes only a kid would laugh at.

There was a visible drop of energy in his posture. "…No, I am not. I've lost my brother his home, Lance. I've put the both of us in danger of being separated." The teenager confessed. Aiolos forced himself to smile, though. "But I think what you've just done for us helped a lot. Thank you."

Lance shrugged. He really didn't think much of it. He barely stayed at this house so far. "Hey, no problem, I'm not really using this place anyway, and it's got a bunch of rooms that are useless to me even IF I was staying more often. Besides, Aiolia also survived Daemon's stupid war, so-"

Aiolos reached in and hugged Lance tightly, like he would a blood brother, startling the Pegasus.

Olivia saw it happening and distracted Aiolia, so that he wouldn't see his dear older brother vulnerable. "Hey, Aiolia, let's race upstairs!"

The boy smiled. "Okay!" and he took the lead, running to the first floor.

Hearing the Sagittarius sniff discretely, the Bronze Saint patted his back. He frowned sadly, realizing how disappointed in himself Aiolos truly was. "You two are going to be fine, Aiolos. You can stay with Aiolia here as long as you like."

The brown-haired Sagittarius nodded and released the Pegasus, cleaning his own eyes. "Saga spoke with me… He says we can work out a schedule for me with the Zodiac so that I can keep guarding my House and also live with Aiolia. Camus is sending study books and Aldebaran and Milo both promised they'd come visit Aiolia after classes. I'm…" the archer held his face to keep from crying. "I'm speechless with how everyone's been helping so much. I promise I'll pay you all back, with interest."

Lance could imagine there was an exception to the Zodiac in showing Aiolos kindness. "Have you crossed paths with Galan, yet?"

Aiolos tensed. "Yes…He's already wearing the armor and guarding the Leo House. He praised Saint Sagittarius' recovery." Aiolos admitted, though he had the faintest feeling Galan was a bit sarcastic.

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

They had met at the Leo House' front door, on Aiolos' way out. Galan was already wearing the Leo Cloth and Aiolos had to admit he looked quite impressive in it. His tempered build brought out the imposing chestplate of the Cloth and the golden waves of the headpiece made Galan's hair resemble even more of a lion's mane. Even on a superficial level like this, the Cloth fit him like a glove.

"You recovered well. Either Sanctuary has a better Ophiuchus Saint than I've been told, or my technique still needs work." Galan praised, looking him over. He extended his hand. "I want you to know, Sagittarius, that I want no hard feelings between the two of us. I'm just doing what's best for the Zodiac. You understand that, correct?"

Aiolos stared with mixed feelings. He had no true resentment for the man. As Galan put it, he was just doing what was expected of him. Hesitantly, the bandaged Aiolos took the hand, feeling an exchange of current at the contact of palms that made the memory of Galan's Thunderbolt flash through his mind. He inhaled briskly and felt the pain of the blow return, but shook the hand as confidently as he managed to.

The dirty-blonde Leo looked pleased, though Aiolos didn't feel sure if it was because he accepted the handshake or because he just showed a sign of fear to him. "You look nervous, Sagittarius."

Aiolos nodded. "I'm just thinking I have a lot of training ahead of me to do to match your skill, Saint Galan."

"You can certainly catch up, should you dedicate yourself to your House." Galan pointed out. "Perhaps with your brother out of here, you will be able to. If not, you can always consider abandoning your service at the Hospital."

Aiolos widened eyes. He felt Galan didn't mean much wrong with this, but the Sagittarius still felt his work was important to give good use to his Cosmos other than fighting. "…Saint Galan, I appreciate the advice, but I… think my work there is important."

"It's not." Galan sternly put. He was so direct and firm that it stunned Aiolos. "The Gold Saints shouldn't be spending a single bit of their cosmos in anything that isn't a direct duty of their Houses, Saint Aiolos. It lessens your focus in your mission and your connection to your Zodiac stars. If it isn't done at the Temples or ordered by the Holy Father, then it isn't important."

The Sagittarius' jaw dropped. He composed himself and tried to respond diplomatically, but the sick and wounded he saw everyday heated his blood. "Saint Galan, everyone with Cosmos thought that way, there would be no one left to practice the Golden Touch. There are people everyday who die of preventable wounds and diseases simply because they can't reach or even know the Cosmos exists. If I have time to learn and practice how to help, why shouldn't I?"

Galan studied him tensely. He hadn't expected such a good point, but to him, one sick person did not outweigh even one minute spent outside the Temple you're guarding.

And he could prove it. "That's admirable, Saint Aiolos… but unfortunately that's also the attitude that cost you victory in our duel. At the Coliseum I could tell you were exhausted, likely because you went to do your important work right after your mission? The Cosmos is infinite, but all the energy and focus required to summon it? You spent healing others, when it could have been spent resisting my attack, or counterattacking me better, even."

Again, Aiolos could hardly believe this guy was putting things in these terms. "Saint Galan… there's more to being a Gold Saint than just being strong and fight-"

"No, there isn't." Galan interrupted. He sighed frustratedly, reminded of why he was tasked to replace Arles' Children. "Frankly, that's the problem with the Gold Saints that fought the False Holy War. You keep thinking that more is expected of you all than just guarding this mountain. That's why almost half of the forward temples had Saints all the way out in Asia when the Specters attacked."

Aiolos gasped, outraged. "What?!"

"I'll say this with the utmost consideration for you all, Saint Aiolos. Our duty… is to the Pope and Athena. No one else." Galan recited, closing eyes like it was a prayer. He opened them with the fixed glare of a hunting lion. "Spend one percent of your strength healing others, and lives will be lost to Hades when you least expect it. I was hoping our battle had shown that to you, but clearly it hasn't."

The Sagittarius Saint gawked at the man who was picked to replace his brother.

He walked past him, feeling sick as he forced himself not to judge the new Leo Saint. "Excuse me, Saint Galan, I have to go…"

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

Aiolos finished recounting Saint Sagittarius' encounter with Galan, taking care not to say his own name in a house where bystanders like Olivia could discover his identity.

The Pegasus Saint folded arms, squinting tensely. "No holding back, uh? The guy must be pitch perfect in everything he does, to act that judgmental."

Aiolos looked away worriedly. "Milo and Aldebaran said the same. Personally, I wouldn't judge a Gold Saint for focusing on being a warrior; Galan is right when he says that's our job. What upsets me is that… someone might think I can only be that, when I feel inside that I can be much more. If I can learn to use the Golden Touch properly, to me that's just as valuable as learning how to use Lightning Bolt, if not more." Aiolos scratched head. "I suppose it's just a difference of philosophy."

Lance wasn't happy about this either, but he agreed with Saga that it was likely too early to judge things yet. "Let's give Galan more time. The guy's ears are probably filled with anti-Arles junk expressly made for him by Gigas and his ilk. Perhaps, after some time, he and the kids will sync better. The important thing is that Aiolia is settled in for now."

"Yes, that makes perfect sense…" He then scoffed, impressed. "That's a rather diplomatic assessment for you, Pegasus Lance."

The Pegasus Saint grumbled embarrassedly, aware he was known for his short fuse. "I suppose that's good, given my next mission is also diplomatic. Hanging with Shinta, though, taught me to take a step back with people sometimes. I wanted to kick Shinta off the damn boat during our first mission,(*)… and now he's my best friend."

(*) 'Meet Shinta'

Aiolos laughed, seeing both the logic and the irony in this. "Are you saying I may one day become good friends' with Galan?"

Lance paused; he didn't want to say this to Aiolos, but Aiolia being replaced, though harsh, was a partial relief to everyone around the two brothers. It meant that the child wouldn't be first in line to a position that would, after Daemon Lucifer's attack, clearly not live through a time of peace. On some level, Lance was sure Aiolos also saw this, but just felt the Leo Temple was still the best option he had available for them at the time. This was all, of course, before Lance ever had a home to offer them.

The only real issue clouding their minds was Galan's association with Gigas' shady party, which made everyone see him as an inside man, and the fact he clearly acted towards unnecessarily humiliating Aiolos in their duel in front of everyone, which worried onlookers about his intentions as a Gold Saint. At a time when Sanctuary was concerned about upcoming Holy Wars and information leaks, it made everyone rather tense at this strange new element in what used to be a familiar group of Gold Saints.

"I don't know, Aiolos. I'll tell you what I told Shura; be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. And keep working with Saga." Lance concluded. "He's got better instincts for this political junk than all of us combined. If anyone can keep the Zodiac united these days, it's him."

This made total sense to Aiolos, who nodded. "Of course. And once again, Lance, thank you for this gesture. I will never forget this."

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

After finishing to help the two brothers unpack and settle in, Lance and Olivia left and headed for the town center. "Thank you for helping out, Olivia. I was very surprised you offered to, especially at this hour."

Her head shook self-consciously and she glanced at the house. "Don't worry, Saint Pegasus. It was nothing. I'm an early bird anyway. Besides, I… had my own motives."

The Saint gulped anxiously. "You're talking about Galan, right?"

Her blue eyes darted away. She shouldn't lie to Saint Pegasus. "I really make it obvious, don't I? I suppose I am. I felt somewhat I had to answer for his character to Aiolos. Galan… really isn't a bad person… Not as I remember him."

Frankly curious, as it could be important for the future of the Gold Saints, Lance pressed the matter. "What can you tell me about that?"

She paused contemplatively, even looking a bit red. "…Ah, well…"

Lance noticed her staring and holding back a smile. "What is it?"

The Saintia smiled with a vexing mix of embarrassment and nostalgia. "I can't really explain this well to a guy, but he was that one rare type of boy in your life you could easily get a crush on. Galan was strong, yet sensitive, confident yet gentle... I felt lucky my brother was best friends with him, since it meant he'd come by so often. I could never imagine him hurting people just to show off. I suppose I was wrong about him…"

An envious tightening of the chest was felt by Lance at this. She spoke so dreamily of him. It made him regret he ever asked. His Shinta-influenced side wanted to say he was sorry that things didn't turn out this way for them, but his native Lance-side frowned away instead, trying to hide his irritation.

Olivia felt her conscience press further and continued. "I think it's important I confess that there was… another reason for me to come, though."

Lance perked back. What could it possibly be? Olivia was clearly a generous person, but she was acting that way that Lance had come to know as a sign of her being ashamed to confess something.

"That house you're in… you said the Pope gave it to you, correct?" the Equuleus asked. Her blue eyes looked away self-consciously, before fixing on him confrontationally. "Ah, well, you see… that's the house me and my brother were raised in."

The Saint staggered at the coincidence. "What, seriously?! You mean the one that went to pay for your academy tuitions?!"

She nodded firmly. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier. I wanted to make sure."

Lance took glances back at his humble home, imagining the gigantic Herakles Aguilon raising a tiny Olivia in the place he already spent a couple of nights at since returning from his mission.

"I was certain when I saw the game board. It belonged to my parents. They used to play together." Olivia her held hands around her back with a nostalgic sigh. Those memories were like fog clouds in her mind. "I can't believe it's been so long…"

The Pegasus was agape, both at the coincidence and that Shion would hand him a home that belonged to Aguilon's descendants. He started wondering what she thought of the state Lance was leaving her old house in, or that this guy she had kissed was taking travel naps in what was probably her parents' bed.

She noticed his guilty face and squinted coyly. "Why, you look rather troubled by it, Saint Pegasus. More than you should."

"U-uh…I'm so sorry, Olivia! I had never even been to the First Acropolis before I got it! I mean, before it was offered to me!" Lance swore up and down. He didn't want to make it sound like he took her beloved home like Galan took Aiolia's House. "Believe me, I had no idea it belonged to Aguilon, much less that…that you were raised in it! It was a complete coincidence!"

Her lips tensed and her stare grilled him. "…Was it now?"

The Saint sweated and put his hand over his chest firmly. "I swear on my Master and Cloth!"

Olivia, however, broke into a playful smile and chuckled. The Saintia wasn't ingenuous; she knew her house would one day be given to a Saint, since space was limited in Athena's Valley and houses were in high demand for Saints who wanted to graduate from their barracks and huts at the Winged Slopes. Saint Lance said he got it as a reward for his services in the False Holy War and she was perfectly fine with that, honored even.

However, Olivia really enjoyed seeing the taciturn Saint show some emotion and that he cared, so she tried to feign hurtfulness a bit more, just to bring it all out. "Don't worry, Pegasus, I know you didn't. You can keep sleeping in my parents' place. I don't mind…"

Feeling played with, the Saint squinted. Something inside him sensed he should retort, just to get a little payback. "Maybe I should make it up to you?"

The Saintia stopped. "Oh!" She leaned her head and turned at him curiously. "Go on?"

He recoiled with her blue eyes' stare, which made his stomach feel tight and his tongue tie. He stepped back nervously. "Why the hell did I say that? What the heck do I do now?!"

Coyly keeping her hands around her back, she refused to let him escape and took a playful step forward to match his, keeping him pinned with her eyes.

Her lips curved up winningly. "…Are you trying to ask me on a date?"

The Saint flushed red with the mere possibility of it. He had thought about it after she kissed him. Several times. Lance just had no idea if it was the right thing to do or if he was misreading her intentions. He had even considered the possibility that at the Coliseum Olivia had just thought she should reward him for helping her, and that if he took it a step further by asking her out it would end embarrassingly bad with her having to explain to him that, just because she pecked his lips, it didn't mean she wanted… a thing with him.

Yet, here they were, with the words Lance had forbidden himself to bring up to her coming out of the Equuleus's very own mouth! He struggled with an appropriate response. Should he just admit to it and say yes? Continue to keep things professional and say no? Maybe? Demand answers to whatever the fuck she was doing to him or ask if there was a camera in the bushes getting ready to film a rejection? Was it just all a joke?! He tried to think of the idea of himself dating this beautiful, smart girl and, strangely enough, Lance felt he almost didn't deserve it.

… Wow, he really thought that badly of himself, uh?

His eyes focused to meet hers. "Y…yes."

Olivia widened her eyes, feigning surprise. "You are?"

Lance stiffened assertively, folding his arms guardingly and forcing himself to meet her gaze back to appear confident. "Yes, that's right! I'm going on a mission with Suisho soon, and when I return, I'd like to go out... with you!" Oh dear god, kill him now. "What do you say?"

Olivia looked to think about it, putting a finger on her cheek and staring him studiously, all serious. She took her damn sweet time, too. It was torturous to him, like his heart was bare before a hammer about to come down on it, but the swing wouldn't happen. Maybe she was trying to think of why he'd ask such a stupid thing. Or how gently she could crush it.

The Saint's firmness began crumbling. "Damn it, just say 'no', already! What, are you waiting for me to crack into pieces or somet-"

At last, her smile went from sly to gentle, happy that he passed her test. "Of course. I'd love to."

The Saint staggered. "W… what? Really?"

"Although, I have a commitment to Milo ten years from now." Olivia jokingly reminded him. She took out a small agenda book she carried with her, wrote on it, then put it in his hand. "But we can probably work something out in-between."

Lance took the small book and stared at it, bewildered. It was an address on Sanctuary's lower streets, accompanied by a small smiley star she drew. "This is…"

"It's my grandfather's current address. It's right next to the Coliseum. I'm staying there for now, so you can pick me up there."

The petrified Saint recovered from his shock, not believing this was all really happening. His heart beat like crazy and he looked up at her, completely red. "Wait. W…why? Why did you say yes?"

What a silly question, thought Olivia. Saint Pegasus really was the anxious type, a true Cancer to the core. People didn't need any complicated explanation for liking each other. They just did.

"You don't need to ask that, Lance. Stop worrying about it." The Saintia answered, stunning him. She then leaned over and kissed his cheek to reassure him, utterly petrifying him. She chuckled at the effect it had on him. It was so endearing. "Send me a 6th sense message when you return to Greece, okay? I'll be watching over Cerah and in talks with the Zodiac about my studies… but I'll make time for us."

He watched her leave with a longing glance, like she was very well aware of how happy it made him.

Lance stood there, speechless and dizzy. He got a date with her! Plus, a second kiss!

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

Chapter 79

3rd Arc

Episode 7

The Copycat Amazon

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

Later,

Sanctuary Town Outskirts

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

Still reeling from the date and kiss he somehow got, the Saint headed for the pass out of Sanctuary Town, his heart beating fast with excitement. Olivia kissed him. Again. And when he came back, they were going on a date! His usually stoic face kept cracking into smiles that he quickly kept hiding from people around him, fearing that he looked like a happy fool.

He tried to focus his thoughts on the mission ahead of him and recalled his talk with Suisho at the MMC. This was all the more reason to focus and earn his pay, and perhaps pick up something along the way to gift his date.

Making his way out of the city towards the Green Valley pass, Lance walked quietly in deep concentration, communicating with someone on the other side of the planet. "Master? I'm heading for another mission. I'm afraid I won't be back for another while."

"So, you're going to have to skip class even longer?"

"Please don't put it like that, Roshi. Me doing some field work was your idea." Lance defended himself. "Things just piled on top of that mission to Switzerland too quickly. I'm trying to make time to practice Chi, though. I should be able to return by the end of the week, once my next job clears up."

"End of the week? My boring student seems to have an uncharacteristically active schedule nowadays. Did something 'interesting' happen?"

Oh no, Master Dohko was starting to get suspicious. Lance gulped and decided it was better to divert the conversation before the Libra Saint found out about Olivia "I keep being chased around by Specters, so I'd say my life gets too interesting sometimes. Speaking of which, I was wondering if you could tell me what you know about one of them. He called himself Reaper Grim, the Terrestrial Insidious Star. This is what happened;… "

…

…

The Pegasus Saint finished recounting his encounter. "…and that's it. I think that if the guy wasn't busy covering for Alraune, he could have caused some severe damage. What if he attacks us again?"

"You're worried about a 'Terrestrial'?" Dohko mocked. "Next you're going to tell me you want to quit being a Saint because you got beaten up by foot soldiers."

Lance squinted, irritated. "Master, please."

Back in China, Dohko could formulate a couple of theories, but ultimately lacked enough information. "…The name is vaguely familiar to me. Have you ever studied Atavaka? Or Kageboshi?"

The Pegasus felt his eyes cross at the strange names. "The heck are those?!"

"They were Terrestrial Specters, dear student, who were part of a series of isolated attacks on Sanctuary just prior to the official beginning of the last Holy War." Dohko explained. "They were handled by Saint Virgo but showed to be surprisingly obscure and threatening. My point is that Sanctuary doesn't know much about the lower sectors of Underworld society and they could have all sorts of cards up their sleeve that they've never used against us before."

This meant the problem was bigger than Lance thought. "Great, so I got no way to prepare for the next time this bastard comes knocking at my door!"

"What? What do you mean 'No way'? Have you completely forgotten?! You have the Left Arm of Hades sitting in Sanctuary's jail!" Dohko pointed out, stunning Lance with his own stupidity. His message had pauses between sentences, which made Lance think he was laughing back in China. "Perhaps it's time to pay him another visit, no? Maybe thank him for the Cloth blood…"

The Bronze Saint paused to think. He felt silly that he forgot about the Prince they defeated. He also believed he knew a way to get a foot inside the Stardust Prison again, thanks to Baddub's Black Saints he and Suisho captured.

The Master continued. "This, however, only proves the urgency of your 'initiative', Lance. It is best if you speed up in gathering allies so you can take the battle to the enemy, before Hades takes the battle to you."

Lance couldn't agree more. "Right, me and AG are doing our best, but we only have a small number of candidates yet. I'm hoping my next mission will help, though..."

He could somehow feel Master's interest come into sharp focus his all the way from China. "Mm, making friends already, uh? Go on, tell me about your new mission partner. Do you think he'd be good for your project? He's the reason you're sticking around there instead of training, right?"

The Pegasus Saint released the breath in relief that he didn't mean the Saintia he saved. It's not that he wouldn't like his teacher to know, as Dohko always joked he'd be quite proud of Lance if he found himself a potential girlfriend, but he just had no patience for the teasing Roshi would dish out, when he still didn't even know if this was going to be a serious thing. A shy, paranoid part of him still half-expected this whole date arrangement to be some kind of prank and Olivia would either not show up or worse, call her academy friends to come laugh at him.

Casting those thoughts aside, without stopping, Lance took out notepad, flipping it to a page full of names and notes about them.

'Operation Phoenix' Short-List

-Cerah Heloise (seems trustworthy, AG backs her up, but need to ask Cerah if she's interested once she recovers, plus get to know her better.)
-Aiolos (possibility. Could be interested after Galan's promotion. Want to avoid involving the kids, though. Plus, he has family)
-Shinta (last resort)
-Crateris Suisho (?) (he might laugh at it)

Note to self: Think of better name for operation, sounds stupid. Also don't like it shares name with Guifi's Cloth. Maybe ask Olivia? She seems smart enough.

He stared at the interrogation mark next to Suisho's name before storing the notepad back in his Cloth Box. "It's early to say, but… He's competent, skilled and serious. He also plans ahead pretty well. I'd certainly feel easier with him watching my back on a run to the Underworld."

"He's as boring as you, then? Must be a Cancer. What's the issue? Afraid to ask him out?"

Lance really hated the terms Dohko sometimes put these things in. It was like the old man loved to poke fun at things Lance wanted to be focused about. Was it a way to test his maturity and concentration, or was Dohko just a jerk about these things? "The issue is that he might be too serious, Roshi…"

"Oh, I see, you're afraid he's not insane enough to go along with your plan? What's his Cloth?"

Lance preferred not to say anymore until he learned more about Suisho. Besides, he's heard once Master had a dead friend from the last war who used to own the Crateris Cloth. It might be hurtful to tell Dohko he's putting a successor of one of his friends in danger against Specters.

"It's a Silver one, Master. I'll tell you which if I become more confident in this pick." He then changed topics. "Roshi, speaking of my attack in the Underworld, is there anything I can do to help with this Chi issue? Last fight I was tied to the ground with a Specter about to chop my head off, trying as hard as I could to focus on that feeling of danger, and still nothing happened."

"From what you've told me, there does seem to be some kind of impediment in your way. Were you this way with Cosmos, too?"

Lance had to admit so with an embarrassed frown, which Master thankfully couldn't see. "…Yes, actually. I didn't break my first rock until I was thirteen."

"Ooh! THIRTEEN?! That IS bad!" Dohko bluntly messaged, making Lance go as red as his eyes. "Do you think you might take another decade to unlock Chi? I can't even imagine having such trouble unlocking new senses…. Then again, I AM me. Still, are you sure you're not actually some kind of record breaker with how late you bloom-"

Lance scowled. "Roshi!"

"Fine, fine, here's my WISE advice… Keep practicing. The only way to figure out where the key to your advance might be is by poking in the dark some more. This was never going to happen right away." Dohko's next message took a few beats to arrive, like he paused in-between to think. "However, if it keeps taking so long despite all the experience you've already had with Seiryu… there could be some personality impediment."

Lance widened eyes in alarm. "Personality?!"

"Of course. Unlocking Chi, much like unlocking the Cosmos, depends on the mind just as much as on the body. I keep mentioning the example of a mother lifting a car over a trapped child for a reason; because it's not a power you can easily imagine without BEING in that headspace. Bodily risk isn't enough. Just as you had difficulty unlocking the Cosmos for so long, there could be a missing piece to your mind to unlock the Chi, too."

The first thing that popped to Lance's mind at this was Noah's seal. "Roshi, what if… what if it's something I don't remember? Could… a memory block or a trauma prevent me from doing it?"

There was a long pause at this. Despite Dohko's mocking nature, Lance could actually imagine that the teacher was now making an effort to take his concern seriously. This was what made Lance trust his teacher so much; even though Dohko mocked his insecurities so ruthlessly so that Lance would learn to relativize them, whenever a real problem in his life turned up, the Libra Saint was still sensitive enough to acknowledge and respect its gravity.

"I wouldn't worry about your memory seal, Lance. Its purpose is to negate the impact of your childhood on your training, a common thing among many young Saints. Your problem is somewhere else."

Lance sighed. He could rule out Noah's memory seal. While this was probably a good thing, it left an equally painful possibility. "Then… it's definitely just the way I am?"

"…It's likely that an event that affected your sense of self-worth could be hampering your ability to fear for your life, yes." Dohko admitted. "This could be anything from your tragic experience with your friend Guifi, to your training in Mount Olympus. Maybe all of it combined. And without that fear for your life, then adrenaline, the key to Chi, is harder to grasp. If it affected your sense of self-worth, that could also have affected your capacity to aspirations, your confidence, your belief in yourself… which would explain your difficulty with Cosmos as well…"

A somber frown came over Lance. So he was right. "I see…"

"Perhaps you can discover this sense of danger somewhere else, maybe in regards to the 'other' rather than the 'self'. This is something you need to figure out in your journey as a Saint, Pegasus Lance. I pray to Athena that you will."

The possibility that he could have a deeply-rooted issue preventing him from getting the key to enter the Underworld worried him, but Lance still acknowledged his Master's kindness. This was why, in his mind, Dohko would always be his first Sanctuary teacher, not Kerberos Kastiel. "Thank you, Roshi. I'll do my best."

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

Later,

Rodario Outskirts

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

Reaching the edges of Athena's capital domain, Lance stopped by the roads leading to the outside world. It was time to calculate his lighspeed jump. He took out the map that the MMC gave him of the Tibetan plateau and looked for the spot marked.

"Where is this place supposed to be anyway, Nam?"

"Well, like Suisho said, It's the village of Malachite. It's a Muvian colony." Sagitta Nam had explained. He pointed at the place on the map so that Lance wouldn't mix it up. "You can tell because it's in Tibet and named after a mineral."

Lance's red eyes squinted, looking through the many names. "Amethyst…, Adamantium,….Rutile…. Phospho…Phosphophyllite? What?!" Lance felt his tongue almost twisted itself over trying to say this last one outloud. "Bortz, Quartz, Topaz, Feldspar, Yellow Diamond, Cinnabar?! Who named these towns?! All these goddamn Muvian village names sound like nail polish brands!"

The spots on the map seemed endless, which was shocking considering how much of an endangered species Muvians were famed to be. He recognized Shamballa on the map, of course, as well as the long road to Jamir, but the rest looked like a chicken pox of red dots followed by names spread along topographic lines. Either the Muvians considered every single isolated circle of hovels and forges they had in the mountains to be worth mentioning on these maps, or Sanctuary wanted to make sure every single one was under tight protection of their offices, likely to safeguard alchemic secrets. Or ensure that every last village was held responsible for tax.

How the hell was he supposed to find 'Malachite' among them? Maybe he should look only for 'M's. "Minerva, Moldavite, Musgravite, Moissanite…" Lance then spotted at least three of them just named 'Mu'. "Oh god, I'm gonna be looking for this place forever…Maybe I should just call Suisho up…"

Lance really wished the Crateris Saint hadn't headed out already, but Suisho made a pretty good case for himself. Not only did Lance not want to hang out with a rich brat with the Perseus Cloth, but it was a good thing someone had the foresight to take a look at the situation ahead of time and lay the groundwork for his team, especially with Lance's track record of getting ambushed in missions by Specters so often.

Suisho's only mistake, really, was trusting that Lance could find his way to catch up afterwards. Who could blame him, considering the Pegasus Saint had succeeded so in the expansive Alps? There was no reason why he should get lost looking for a single village with a map to help. It was now on Lance to not make a complete embarrassment of himself by getting himself lost in the Himalayas, looking for a random town in the mountains.

He survived in Olympus' Second Step for four goddamn years. Mountains were no match for him!

The confidence he felt in this challenge, though, just made Lance wish he had gotten a skilled assignment coordinator sooner. While he was both experienced and effective in solo assignments, Lance had always struggled when working with others, because he often felt a powerful responsibility towards the whole group that was vexingly contrasted with an inability to relate to other Saints. His partnership with Shinta had only worked so well because the Andromeda was such a friendly and sensitive personality that he made it up for Lance's lack of ability to connect and think in sync with the rest of the tribe, while Lance made up for Shinta's lack of decisiveness in battle.

Suisho, however, seemed to be the type of mind that was good at utilizing others. Rather than compensate for Lance's flaws, he looked at his strengths and put him right where Lance needed to be, even helping him avoid the escort jobs he hated. The Pegasus felt like maybe he should pay attention to how Suisho does it, since he could probably learn something important for his future quest against Hades, but most of all wished this kind of mission leadership had been present in his work sooner.

Perhaps Dohko was right and Suisho should occupy a higher spot on his short-list.

Still, Lance realized he needed to get a move on in finding more candidates. He felt he was lucky that Adriana had gotten him Cerah and that Suisho had been a happy coincidence, but even assuming that both of them would accept his suicidal proposal, three people still felt very little to conduct an attack into the Underworld.

"Master said I should talk with Daemon Lucifer again in the future, but what was it that he said last time when he was giving blood for my Cloth?" he tried to recall.

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

A month earlier…

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

Lucifer winced, pressing the bandages Lance brought him on his slashed arm. "Is that enough?"

The Bronze Saint frowned disgustedly, putting away the bucket of the man's blood. "I think so. I made the math and drew a line for the liters beforehand."

The Dark Prince leaned back, feeling oozy. "I can't believe a Specter Prince's blood will go to fix the Pegasus Cloth…" An evil snicker then filled his lips. "If only I could see Hades' face when he finds out…"

Noticing that the proud, aggressive Specter was delirious, Lance decided to strike. "You said I'd need to think bigger for my plan, right? What did you mean by that?"

"It's clear, is it not? That you're going to need far more than defeat a couple of my Specter brothers." Lucifer had said. "Death is meaningless to the 108 Stars... Seal or not, eventually they'll just reawaken in the Underworld. Defeating us in battle will just anger us and reinforce our belief that Sanctuary doesn't know how to deal with the challenges that Hades presents it. What you need to do is damage the Underworld in a way they can't simply have Hades snap his fingers and have fixed in two seconds."

This made total sense. "Then I must sabotage the Prisons themselves?"

The Dark Prince couldn't help but scoff at the lack of vision in this. "No, all that will accomplish is buy you time to escape, like it did with me, and set the zombies loose. The Prisons are important, yes, but can just be fixed. That's what the False Specters were there for. What you must do is destroy the Palaces."

Lance had squinted strangely. "Palaces?! What palaces?"

Even while dizzy, the ignorance of Saints always stunned Lucifer. "The Palaces of the Circles, you… ignorant krieger! Caina, Antenora and Ptolomea. Have you never seen your own maps of the Underworld?! They're the big buildings with statues to the Judge surplices!"

Lance widened eyes in remembrance, indeed recalling a trio of locations matching this description.

Lucifer relaxed, recalling the many years he's lorded over these buildings as Hades' Left Arm. The Judges got their own mansions, true, but he and Michael got personal towers in Giudecca. "The Palaces are the homes of the Judges and the backbone of the Underworld. Hades' power runs through them and impose his law. Without them, he can't wage his war, and unlike the Prisons, these are not easily rebuilt."

Lance felt that such a major weakness deserved an explanation "Why the hell not?"

The Pride Star smirked evilly, like he knew an embarrassing personal weak point of an enemy.

"Because Hades, in his hubris and thirst for authority over nature, built them out of slave labor of imprisoned Titans." Lucifer revealed, making Lance widen his eyes. "The Emperor wanted them constructed to be as durable as the bones of the universe itself, so he had his chained forefathers, the makers of the world we live in, construct them as if they were the pillars of the Earth itself."

"The Titans? That's right…" Lance asked. Sanctuary was so geared towards its war with Olympians, that it was easy to forget that, somewhere in Hades' basement, a whole generation of the beings responsible for the universe they lived in were chained up. He ran his hand through his hair at the implications. "Fuck! What have I gotten myself into?"

Lucifer laughed, seeing Lance's reaction in himself, over four centuries earlier. "You were raised Christian like me, weren't you? I can tell…"

Lance grumbled. "Just… give me a second to process this! I grew up being told God would burn me alive if I didn't pray to him, and now I'm planning to attack a place filled with beings made of pure philosophy! This is… something I need to wrap my head around."

The Specter groaned. As much as he hated Lance for ruining his crusade, he needed this kid to win if he wanted his final spit on Hades' face.

"You have worse things to worry about than the losers of the Universe's first Holy War, Pegasus Lance." Lucifer reminded him. "Should you destroy the Palaces, though? The Underworld would fall as hard as if Atlas himself had dropped it on his toes. At best, it will give Sanctuary the breathing room it needs to conduct a real attack. At worst, Rhadamanthys will be forced to return and Holy War will be the last thing in Hades' mind for the rest of the 20th century."

Lance had squinted. "If doing that is so goddamn devastating to him, why didn't you do it yourself on your way out?! Don't you hate the guy?!"

The Pride Star laughed mockingly. "Do you think ruining a Titan's work is easy? You're more alike Tenma than I thought!"

The Pegasus groaned "Do you want me to attack your old boss or not?! Just give me a straight answer instead of belittling me all the time!"

"I didn't because it wasn't worth the risk for me. There would be no point to having the Hecatoncheires whip the Titans out to construct them if a bunch of fake Specters could then tear the Palaces down and paralyze the Underworld when they realized how evilly Hades lied to them. No… the Palaces are as strong as the very roots of Yggdrasil and the pillars of the Sea. In the Underworld, only the Wailing Wall beats them in durability, and there's three of them."

Lance went pale.

Lucifer again laughed at him. "You have your work cut out for you, Pegasus Lance… but I suppose that will be your big test, won't it?"

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

Lance frowned unpleasantly. Now he remembered why he forgot what Lucifer said; cause thinking about the problems he had to tackle to make his mission a success made him want to shoot himself in the head.

If anything that the Daemon Specter said was true, and Lance was inclined to believe so because nothing seemed to please the Pride Star more than mocking Sanctuary weakness, then he needed more allies, especially people of talent and vision that could help come up with solutions for these seemingly unsurmountable challenges. A part of him feared that he'd need far more than a mere Saint's strength to do what Daemon proposed, but perhaps as a last resort he could convince Shion to weaponize the Teos Cloth for this task.

After all, why not? The mysterious armor already had a pact with Lance following the False Holy War and it proved powerful enough to help an exhausted Lance deflect Lucifer's strongest Dark Revenge Blast, so it could be the key to doing this, too. However, Cloths were Cloths; they were not warriors in and of themselves. Lance needed people to watch his back. People that would not be daunted by the impossibility of this mission, as well as have the talent to adapt to an ever-changing situation like invading the Underworld would undoubtedly present.

Therefore, he needed someone with unbridled enthusiasm, exemplary versatility, a mind open to take on the impossible and a spirit of defiance against the darkness of conflict and war. Someone that could both help him infiltrate the Underworld and keep their spirits and everyone else's up, even if Hades himself had them wrapped in chains and lowered into the Cauldrons of Boiling Blood, but also with the skill to be useful in combat against any given Specter.

Someone with the ability to read techniques and detect flaws in new adversaries would be ideal, but also with a style to it distinct to Lance's so that their options would increase, and not merely be repeated.

Somehow, his mind thought of Roshi, a person who fit this description to a tee, but the Pegasus Saint knew his Master had bigger responsibilities, like watching over the seal so that Lance wouldn't be fighting truly immortal adversaries, and it was also unacceptable to drag a Holy War survivor into such a risky mission. Lance was happy enough that Dohko approved of the idea.

Frustrated, he angrily folded the map he had been staring at lost in these thoughts. "Goddamn it, who am I going to get for this, then?!"

"So, are we doing this thing or what?"

Lance yelped in fright and turned at lightspeed, realizing someone had snuck up on him!

His burning feet broke his swivel, though, when he saw a masked woman in front of him.

She put her hand on her hip and tilted her head curiously. "Wow, you jumped like a cat at that. That must be some map you're focused on…"

Lance's red eyes narrowed, realizing his 7th sense hadn't picked her up at all. "What the… How long have you been standing there?!"

She looked at her watch. "Uh, give or take ten minutes. I was actually wondering when you were going to turn around."

"Why didn't you just say something?!" Lance protested.

She shrugged. "I did! Just now. Anyway, name's Crane Yushira. You're my brother's new teammate, right?"

The Saint blinked, studying her. She was an Amazon of elegant build and of around his own age and height. She had neck-length hair of a light almond brown that looked smudged, like it was dyed recently, with even strands caught in a martial artist tail. She wore a red cotton t-shirt with yellow outline markings on the sleeves over what looked like bandage wrappings over her small, athletic chest and her shirt stopped short of her beltline to expose a leanly trained abdominal muscle pack. Her slim, yet toned biceps and forearms were exposed, showing a well-exercised body, and her hands were encased in black, fingerless gloves marked in the knuckles by punching much harder objects.

She looked to be wearing the famously metal-plumed jacket of the Crane Silver Cloth. Her version of the Crane Cloth, though, seemed to have been modified to have symmetrical design, making the number of parts equal on both limb sides, which reduced its dance aesthetic but emphasized the user's combat readiness. Its greaves went over her set of jean leggings which, combined with her preference of a shirt over the typical Saint trainer, made Lance think this person often had to go into the outside world and look normal. These were held up by the Cloth's metallic belt, which she had fashioned like a regular one on her jeans and locked with a crane-engraved seal.

Finally, the mask's eyes were decorated by blue flame outlines and a set of Muvian dots.

The girl seemed to notice him staring and touched her mask's dots. "Oh, these? They're just decorative. I was born among Muvians but I'm one hundred percent Boring Sapiens."

Lance grumbled embarrassedly. "I wasn't looking at …. Ugh, look, I'm guessing you're Undercover, aren't you?"

She leaned head happily. "Proud member for seven years! How could you tell?"

Lance pointed at her strange hair color smudges. "You still have marks from dyeing your hair for disguises. That's what I was looking at, not your mask's dots. I know a lot of Undercover guys do work infiltrating organized crime."

She touched her strands self-consciously. "Oh… pfft, yeah, I feel silly now. You're right. I don't even remember my actual hair color sometimes. Maybe next week I'll be blonde. Good eye, newbie."

Wouldn't this just be a matter of washing it out to find out? "Also, your brother told me you were Undercover."

"Ugh, that tattletale!" she lambasted, slapping thigh exasperatedly. "Ya know, you would have sounded really impressive if you kept that to ya self, Saint,….uhhh?"

Lance stood up presentively. "I'm Pegasus Lance, assault branch."

She gagged incredulously. "What? No. You're not!"

He pointed thumb over shoulder at his own Cloth Box. "Yes, I am."

"You're my brother's new partner? The guy who beat up Kastiel?" she asked, sounding skeptical. She saw the mention of good ol' Kass making Pegasus scowl like an angry dog. "Alright, alright, I believe you. You just look a lot less… punk than I thought."

"Punk?! What the hell has that bastard been saying about me?!" Lance demanded.

The Amazon scoffed amusedly and shrugged. "What hasn't he been saying? Bringing you up is like, the best way to piss him off."

"Well, it's reciprocal! You can tell that dogshed-smelling prick to stop spreading rumors about me!" Lance hissed, startling her. He saw her reaction and felt terrible. Saint Yushira was just a third party, after all, and he wanted to start this on the right foot. "Damn it, I'm sorry, my problem with him has got nothing to do with you. Let's start over, okay?"

Lowering her guard, she leaned her head happily. "Hey, that's alright. I'd be pretty touchy about Kass if he dumped me in the mountains, too. You have my word that I'll only mention him in hushed tones and while I'm sleep talking."

He smiled in relief. She sounded sincere, despite the poor attempts at humor. "Thank you. Suisho told me you're pretty reliable, so I want to work well together." Lance assured. He felt he owed that much to his new partner. "How good are you in a fight?"

She banged fist in palm challengingly "Well, we got a couple of minutes. How about we find out?"

The Pegasus Saint widened his eyes. "Wha-"

The Silver Saint suddenly launched at him, raising her leg high up in a swerving kick. Lance gasped and bobbed to dodge, letting its sheer force blast the air in a tremor that made branches around them shake, but her momentum swerved her body up then down in an axe kick that he had to block with a cross guard. The strong impact quaked his bones and pressed his feet on the dirt. Her knee quickly tried to smash his guard before she fell, but the Saint backed up and struck her back with a punch, blasting her guard and sending her off of him.

He saw her land on her hands and feet like a cat and gritted his teeth. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"What? You asked!" She just said, getting up and clenching her fists. "Come on, let's raise the stakes! Throw in a couple of techniques."

He tensed himself into his dragon pose. Even if he trusted her to make him miss, why should he? "Are you nuts?! What the hell for?!"

Her feet burned cosmos and she blasted off towards him, swinging her black gloved fist. Lance reacted appropriately, absorbing the impact of her blow before turning forward past her guard and lightly bashing her aside with an elbow blow, throwing her off to the ground, but the Amazon had barely rolled on it before shooting back up with a series of puncturing punches that flew off more like arrow points than a fist, right at his chest's exposed lower angle.

In a nano-second, Lance gasped in recognition. This recovering counterstrike was an attack pattern known to belong to Sagitta Saints.

He blocked a punch with his arm and parried her off. "Stop! I know that pattern! Why are you using Nam's moveset?"

She chuckled. This guy really didn't know her, did he? "Ah, well, I'm sort of a collector?"

Again, his eyes widened in stun. "Collector? Of what?!"

Yushira just charged again, launching a sweeping air kick.

The Saint dodged by tossing himself aside with a ground roll, but still felt the wind of her strikes dangerously graze past him. Fully engaged, he struck her guard with a dash punch to blast her back, forcing her on the defensive. It took her enough by surprise to make her gasp and leave her exposed to a follow-up; which he delivered in the form of a spinning heel kick that she barely had time to raise both arms to shield herself from before the force knocked her aside.

Again, her surprising reflexes showed off by stopping her fall with her hand and lifting her whole body up by it to strike his stomach, before she swept the floor with a rolling kick that casted in the Cosmos the faint signature of Cassiopeia Cynthia's battle fan and made Lance flip away to escape being tripped!

He backed off, alarmed and unsure what move to pick next. "She's using attacks from all sorts of current Silver and Bronze Saints! I can't tell what she's going to do next!"

She panted and wheezed with raised fists, her mask eyeing him. She then relaxed her cosmos and posture. "Shoot… you're not using it."

Although the fight seemed to be over, he kept his guard up, as well as his temper. "Use what?! The hell is the matter with you?!"

Her arms raised. "The Meteor Fist! I want to see how it compares to Aguilon's so I can improve my own copy!"

"…COPY?!" The Bronze Saint's jaw dropped in realisation. "….Oh, goddamn it, I get it now! That's what you do?! You copy other people's moves?!"

She scratched head. "Boy, I really thought at this point everyone knew."

"Tendency to surprise, indeed!" Lance thought, folding arms. "What kind of shtick is this?! What were you going to do if I showed you mine? Take it without permission?!"

The Amazon nodded earnestly. "Yeah… well, if they're any good, anyways. And if you don't mind terribly."

The Saint's was flabbergasted, unsure to be bewildered or insulted. " You… Well, tough luck! I don't have the damn Meteor Fist!" Lance roared. With how often some adversaries expected this out of him, he felt kind of self-conscious about his Charge Fist's lack of fame. "I got my own damn moves! And I do mind!"

Her padded hands waved in ceasefire. "Alright, alright! I'm sorry… Look, I totally get it, you worked hard to get your signature moves, it's a symbol of your Cloth, etcetera, etcetera…." she tried to appease, sounding like she's said these exact lines to half the Saint order already. "But, you know, and walk through this logic with me… Since most moves are passed down anyway, then if I manage to copy it, don't I kind of earn it, too?"

At this point, Lance' shock was so strong his jaw was hitting his chest. "What?! NO! And if I find out you're using my techniques out there, I'll give you a personal lesson of hitting them over your head!"

She shrugged in defeat, mentally crossing Pegasus off the cool club list, and gestured a vow through her heart.

"Amazon's word, Pegasus. Shall we go?" she asked. Calming down, Lance nodded and accompanied her out. Her energetic walking pace contrasted with his own relaxed one, as she immediately rushed out and stopped with impatient foot taps as he caught up. "Come on!"

He ignored her impatient calling and took his time. His brain processed how ridiculous this all was, but also how impressively off his guard he was just caught. Even after the first fire was shot, Lance felt unable to press his martial advantage over Yushira, because for every approach of hers that failed, she pulled off an entirely different pace and angle with which to strike.

If she was a Gold-rank, this would probably be a much harder spar. "Okay, putting what just happened aside… Your brother said you could guide me in Tibet?"

"That's right. Don't worry about finding Malachite. I know the Roof like the back of my hand!" Yushira bragged excitedly. "Me and my brother Sui' grew up around the Muvians. There isn't a peak in the Himalayas I haven't thrown rocks at."

Why the hell would you throw rocks at a mountain peak? "That's good to know, I guess."

"You're supposed to be our heavy hitter, though, right? Are you a Coliseum fighter, Pegasus?" she asked, sounding mildly skeptical after their brief spar.

Lance just kept going, answering as drily as possible. "Sorry, not really."

"What?!" she gasped in shock and rushed to follow. "Hold on, okay, I confess I was being a bit braggy, but you must have fought there too, right? I've heard stories."

"Well, they're probably not about my wins, because I don't partake in the games. I've just had… a couple of unfortunate duels at it." he answered, not even stopping.

He rubbed his chin pensively, though, when he realized that maybe this was a good way to get on Aguilon's good side. Lance wasn't sure what the famous wrestler Saint would do when he found out his granddaughter kissed him, after all.

"Why do you ask, anyway?"

Yushira chuckled coyly. She paused to hold her hands on her waist with a proudly inflated chest. "Well, cause maybe you haven't heard that I copy techniques, but I'm sure you've heard of the great Crane Yushira, coliseum star?"

Lance shook head. "Nope."

Yushira pressed on. "What about my undercover work, then?!"

What a stupid question. "It's undercover, right? So, no."

She gasped in horror. What were they teaching these Bronze Saints these days? "What about my Coliseum tournament trophies? Those were in the goddamn paper; you MUST have seen them?"

Lance was willing to entertain this one. Big tournament wins were usually in the MMC bulletins. "Perhaps. When?"

She hesitated. The last tournament she won was actually when she first earned Crane, right before Kastiel crapped all over it at the Grove (*). "Nineteen… seventy? I think?"

(*) Curse of Hatred – Part 2

He gave her a 'are you serious' look. Around that time, he was stuck in Heart of Sasha, having his wrist sliced open by a seer." "Sorry, Saint Crane, but that's before I ever even trained myself."

Crane sounded more and more distraught. "So… so you never heard of me at all? Of the trafficking rings I bust up, or the tournaments I won? Even my old Sisyphean Cup win?" She saw Lance just shrug and lead her out of the village's premises. Yushira rushed ahead of him like a sprinting cat to halt him. "Hold on, STOP! Okay, so maybe you lived under a rock for two or three decades, but you must have heard of how I defeated the Cyclops Specter recently?!"

This certainly had impressed Lance when Nam told him. "I've heard of that one, yes. I didn't realize it was you."

The Crane felt her chest swell with happy, happy pride. Finally, a point with this guy!

"YES, it was me! Well, umm…" Her conscience had to confess that poor Cerah was involved. "I had a little help, to be fair. Can't lie. But I did most of the work! Even saved my friends' life!"

Lance nodded in approval, trying to look impressed. He wasn't sure why she cared so much, though.

Still, he decided to feed her ego a little bit to make a good first impression. "Not just your friends' life, Saint Yushira. That fight was important. It kept the bloodshed from spilling out of the Zodiac into Sanctuary Town."

She scratched her head, basking in more praise than she expected to get. "Ah, ah, yeah, I'm a regular heroine!" she practically sang, beaming happily behind her mask that she got to show off. Yushira felt she should return the favor. "So, did you do anything interesting in the False Holy War?"

"You could say so. I took part in the Temple defense." Lance confessed. "I helped the Gold Saints battle the main Specter invasion."

Her masked smile cracked, like a cold wash of water was dropped on her. "… What?"

Lance moved past her so they'd get a move on. Lance wasn't trying to be mean, but it was just the official record the Pope wanted him to stick to, so it was actually a humbled down version from having battled Daemon Lucifer himself.

He refrained from mentioning he technically defeated the Specter boss, too. "Anyway, we should move on."

Yushira just tapped her foot in a really pissed off way. She seemed speechless, though, like her brain was still trying to rewire stuff in her head at what he just said. "Just how…Why were you… You're not a rookie at all, are you?! What's your rank, Pegasus?!"

"I'm a Gold rank." He answered flatly. He then pointed to the Cancer Zodiac badge on his belt. "Trained in the 4th House."

Yushira paused to think again, shifting eyes between his badge and his stoic face. This meant they were actually, technically, of the same authority, because of how the pecking order worked out in Sanctuary by summing your fighter rank with your Cloth's. Which meant he's just been humoring her so far, including when they just sparred.

Her face heated inside her mask. "You… you prick!"

The Pegasus Saint had to smirk a bit, remembering the trick Olivia played on him when she guessed his Zodiac. "…I think you're the first person recently who didn't remember to look at my badge before asking. That kind of makes me feel less dumb."

She groaned and threw up her arms. "AGH, you could have just… wiped me out in two seconds! I can't believe you! I oughta… punch you in your smug face! You just made yourself a rival, Pegasus!"

He understood her reaction, but this wasn't the way he looked at it. "Relax. That's true, but then what would that prove to you about myself? That I can lightspeed-blitz you if things got bad for me? That would just make me an asshole abusing the Cosmos. It certainly wouldn't prove you couldn't beat me in a fair fight, would it?"

Her tension went down and she relaxed her arms hesitantly. "Uh… Yeah, that's sort of true..."

"You want to one-up a Gold-Rank? You have. Now let's focus." Lance looked around. "I think we're distant enough from Rodario. You'll need a lightspeed lift, right?"

She folded her arms angrily like he just offered her a baby seat in his car. "I have to say yes to that, don't I?"

"I can warp us there much faster if you hold on to me." he offered. She looked annoyed, grunting, but showed off resignation by shrugging. Getting a feel for her personality already, Lance smirked again. "Not a big fan of being 'piggy-backed', uh?"

"Ugh, goddess Artemis, you sound just like Sui'." she hissed. "Do NOT do that."

While getting the upper hand amused him a bit, a part of Lance was concerned about how much Yushira might slow them down once they got into the fray of whatever their job was going to be. If Suisho didn't object to her presence, then Lance trusted things would work out, but his past as an assault branch Saint and working with Shinta, who regularly kept up with Lance's speed, habituated him to not have to account for lower-ranked colleagues.

Yushira begrudgingly held his shoulder, watching silently as Pegasus warmed up his cosmos and captured the two of them inside a soft barrier bubble. She took in every frame her Mach 5 senses could detect, knowing she didn't get many chances to see how an unlocked 7th sense worked.

If she wanted to become the next Libra Saint, every detail possible to copy could be vital.

The two turned into a beam of light that took off eastwards, zipping invisibly between trees, mountains, seas and eventually continents.

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

Later,

Tibetan Plateau, Muvian Territory

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

As predicted earlier, the day was half-way over in Asia, as opposed to just birthing in Greece.

After beaming into Muvian territory, the two Saints had to make the rest of the way on sub-sonic foot, both for safety reasons in the difficult terrain and out of respect for the inhabitants. Because of how big the Tibetan plateau was, the clustered map of red dots Lance had read translated in reality to vast expanses of cold, rocky, empty fields and passes between the disparate Muvian villages. This made him especially glad to have a guide who knew her way around, or he'd be looking for this indistinct village forever.

Or at least he hoped.

He frowned, watching Yushira climb over a rock pile and spend a solid minute deciding where to go. "Are you sure you know where we are?!"

She jumped down. "Y-yes!" she lied. She pointed at a rising rock path. "It's that way! Yeah!"

Hesitantly, he followed her, getting an unpleasant suspicion that she just wanted an excuse to look for a higher vantage point without looking too lost.

"Where's my brother off to, anyway? I see he's having you take me out of his hair already."

"He went ahead early with Perseus Acrisius to Malachite. He said he'd have everything ready by the time we arrive." Lance responded. "Personally, I don't mind it. One of the things I like about working with your brother is that he cuts right through the BS I hate in missions."

She laughed light-heartedly. "That makes two of us. Minus the 'liking Sui' part." As she found her higher vantage point on a big rock protrusion and climbed over it, she continued "But umm…. you bought that? As his reason for going off alone, I mean. You haven't worked with Sui' a whole lot, have you?"

Lance's attention was captured again. How did she guess? "Y… yeah?"

She touched her mask pensively. "And let me guess, this is your second mission in a row and he just spent the last day or two stuck with you specifically?"

The Pegasus widened his eyes, impressed. "That's right, we just got off a smuggler bust. How could you tell?"

She waved her hand. "It's easy, you just seem to still have that idea of him everyone always has at first. You know, that he's just 'focused'?" she mocked, gesturing quotation marks "Sui' didn't go to get things ready, Pegasus. My brother just hates working with other Saints. He starts going crazy if he has to put up with anyone for more than five minutes at a time. Sui' was tired of hanging around with you and wanted a break."

This came off as a totally bizarre revelation to Lance. He had known Suisho to be pretty socially skilled so far. "Hold on, that doesn't make any sense to me. Everyone I know seems to have nothing but compliments about your brother."

"Yeah? And how often have you seen them around him other than drinking?" she asked, continuing to look for their destination.

Lance stopped, stunned, as the cogs in his brain began fitting pieces together. His mind raced back to his previous mission, from Nam's commentary that Suisho kept to himself because of his Cloth, to the way the Crateris Saint seemed to like going off on his own to do preparatory work before meeting up with Lance for the parts he absolutely had to cooperate on.

Yushira spotted the village she wanted and smiled triumphantly, "There it IS, yes!" and jumped down from the protrusion. "See, that's one thing that isn't reciprocal. Suisho may be popular, but the rest of us Saints certainly aren't popular with him."

Lance followed her down the new path she found. "Uh, I see. Is it because of his Cloth, like Nam said?"

The amazon scoffed so hard her mask shook. "Nah, that's his excuse! Suisho is just being a nerd who happens to have muscles! Trust me, no one knows you better than family. Even if you keep them at a Libra Spear length."

The Pegasus Saint grumbled, feeling a bit self-conscious. Somehow this felt like was being ditched by someone he thought was a friend.

Yushira noticed the look on his face.

"Aw, don't worry, Pegasus. That's just Sui' being Sui'." She touched her mask's chin in amused realization. "Maybe that's why he tolerates you. You remind my big brother of his anti-social self."

The Pegasus blinked, feeling his whole perspective on Suisho change. Maybe Lance was so withdrawn from others that even a mildly reserved person like Suisho would come across as a social butterfly. It frankly made him rethink a few things about himself.

They found a steep descent and began working together to climb it down, going one-at-a-time down stepping stones and holding on to each other's hands as they descended to avoid slipping. Despite the weight difference between them, the Crane Saint was perfectly capable of helping him down without cosmos, showing off she was as used to cooperative hiking as he was, if not more.

Landing, they increased their pace towards Malachite. "You handle yourself pretty well for this terrain, Pegasus." she complimented. "Most Saints we bring over always burn their cosmos too much to compensate and before they know it? Gah, out of oxygen!"

For how much Yushira ran around and talked, Lance was stunned the same didn't happen with her, even with her background. "Trained in a mountain, remember?"

"All by yourself, right? Mm-mm, that kind of makes me curious at what techniques you're hiding from me." She slyly said as she took the lead. Yushira couldn't imagine Kass' taught him anything, especially since Pegasus didn't carry a giant set of spiky genital metaphors around with him "I won't copy them, don't worry. I respect my Saint colleagues wishes… when they explicitly express them."

Somehow, Lance doubted this really stopped her. "With or without knowledge, I don't think our colleagues take very kindly to having their moves stolen -"

"Copied." Yushira corrected, not missing a beat.

Lance scoffed in awe and amusement, detecting a hint of pride in what she did. "Doesn't this get you in trouble with anyone? Who taught you to fight this way?"

She slowed her march hesitantly for a bit. "No one did. I trained with the other girls at Aretias for the most part. Most Amazons don't ever get Masters because we're expected to end up as …forest rangers for the Golden Zodiac. Or worse, as someone's wife." Then sped back up, rather tensely at that. "Sanctuary has only ever given me trainers for exercise, like Cynthia."

It then hit Lance. "… Oh. That's why."

If Yushira couldn't get a Master, then it made sense she had to find a way to make due in terms of techniques. It was still quite a radical choice to specialize in copying the moves of comrade Saints, especially considering most techniques in Sanctuary were not just attacks, but personal badges of fulfilling a Path of a Cloth. Shinta, for example, had to go through a whole volcanic labyrinth in his third year in Andromeda Island, all while chased by an armored lion, just so he could earn the right to his Circle End chain and the knowledge of Rolling Defense (*).

(*) 'Love You, Kill Me' by Jenny DeVic

Adding on that some moves required you to have some kind of Element, like Lance's Flame Attack, then her options for combat were kind of limited, in retrospective. Lance had to imagine that Yushira couldn't be very popular with this learning strategy, but she probably didn't have a choice if she wanted to stay as competitive as she wanted.

He frowned, feeling terrible. Yushira was seen as a 'bad investment' by the Saints, just like he had been. "I'm sorry, Saint Crane."

She paused, surprised. "For what?"

He sighed. "I reacted a bit too harshly when I asked you not to copy my moves. I still don't want you to do it, but I understand now why you would."

She folded arms impressed and leaned head aside, as if to get a better look at him. "Ah! Well, aren't you all nice and considerate? And they told me you were a dick. Apology graciously accepted."

"A bit lacking in humility, though." The Pegasus grumbled as he took her hand to climb over another steep rock side.

They dusted themselves and moved on towards Malachite, now within sight of both of them.

She looked up and smiled to herself, spotting the silhouette of a big boulder ahead. She rushed to it and raised her arm. "Ah, see! This is the right way! I was correct."

Catching up, Lance rose a brow; she was pointing at a set of granite statues of Muvian monks facing a center with robes unfurled down to their waist, as if they were in a hot room. Two were holding tongs around a rock and the other two were holding high large hammers. It was rather detailed, with correct swinging postures, carved muscles, the characteristic brow dots and even marks of sweat carefully scratched on the granite heads.

It was impressive, but just a monument, and one hidden out of the path, too. "What of it?"

It was time to earn another point. "He, he, check this out!" she cleaned the dirt off the mossy rock they were working on and revealed, in fact, that the green shine was that of a malachite rock. "See? Muvians like building stuff like this to honor their town's favorite gemstone. This way they can signal to friendly strangers who the local community is supposed to be. You just have to know where to look."

Lance felt impressed, realizing this is exactly the sort of thing Mu would do. "Uh, interesting. You two really did grow up with them."

The Crane Saint groaned. "Hey, don't sound so impressed! I'm very cultured!"

"I'm sure you are, but this isn't malachite!"

She staggered. "… What?"

The Pegasus Saint frowned seriously. He scrubbed the gem with his thumb and burned a light with his fire cosmos, revealing a colorless streak. "It's too clean. This is probably an emerald. I know because Mount Olympus had malachite in its caverns, which has green streaks. They're probably keeping the statue hidden so their gemstone won't be robbed. This is the wrong village."

She froze in utter embarrassment. "… Oh."

"Yushira, have you gotten us lost?!" Lance asked, angrily folding arms.

She gasped and panicked. "NO, NO, absolutely not! Umm…" she rushed out and tried to get her bearings, feeling out where Suisho's cosmos could be. "We have to go… umm…"

Seeing she had no idea what to do and spotting curious Muvians from the emerald village investigating the Saints' presence, Lance sighed and headed to them. "I'll just ask those people before we lose even more time."

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

Later,

Village of Malachite (the correct one)

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

Walking together into the correct village this time, which was several hundreds of kilometers further east and within a surprisingly forested patch of the Tibetan plateau, Lance strode confidently in sharp contrast with an utterly embarrassed Yushira, who pressed her mask against her face wishing the shame would subside.

"Oh goddess, how did I screw that up?! Now the new guy thinks I'm an idiot!" she lamented to herself.

"It is your lack of focus, Yushira." her graceful Crane Cloth told her. "Keep trying hard, though, and you'll overcome it like a flight past the rain clouds."

"I don't think cranes can fly that high!"

Lance walked her up to a statue by the village's entrance, which was of a smiling monk holding a dark green rock with some rather sharply noticeable stripes. He practically pressed his index on it. "See?! This is Malachite!"

She threw her arms up. "Okay, I get it, please don't crush my spirit any harder! It's already a pile of ground dust on the floor!"

Lance folded his arms. He wouldn't be so harsh, but she was clearly trying to show off earlier. "I don't expect anyone to be damn geologist, but if you're going to talk out of your ass, then at least be damn sure you back it up!"

"LEAVE MY ASS ALONE, OKAY?!" she practically cried. It made several heads inside the town of Muvians turn. "Oh… umm, false alarm, everyone. My ass is completely fine. I promise!"

Lance shook head in lament. Fortunately, once they received real directions, they managed to save some time from being too terribly late. "I'm going to tell Suisho we took a detour to ask for some maintenance in our armors. It's about the only thing your brother will believe. If we're lucky, that other Perseus Saint guy is keeping him too fed up to care that we are late."

She slumped, depressed, following him obediently. Not only was she utterly defeated, but her new rival was being merciful to boot, covering her butt to her older brother. How humiliating.

As they crossed the village towards the elder house, which was a longer building at the end of the enclosed town, the two studied the town. Much like most Muvian villages in Tibet, Malachite was small, walled and stony. Its houses were either made of granite bricks or built into the Himalayan granite terrain, being in neat integration with the uneven terrain rather than locked into grid blocks, and many featured small cultivation gardens with humble subsistence plantations, as much as the hardy ground allowed. Lilacs, a favorite flower of their culture, was present in almost every window, and birds were often seen by the windows, loyal to the homes and fearless to their presence despite the lack of cages.

They passed by an outdoor shop, whose green-haired Muvian vendor had several curios for sale. Lance's red eyes caught the sight of something interesting and he stopped.

The Muvian perked up. "Good afternoon, lord Saint." he spoke in Greek. "Welcome to Malachite."

Yushira watched, intrigued, as the famously delinquent Pegasus looked over the man's books on astrology.

"Are these…?" Lance asked, pointing.

A greedy shine went through the vendor's eyes. "Yes! Famous Muvians books on ancient astrology from our lost continent, each specialized on a constellation and signed by one of our most celebrated astronomists. You won't find these in Greece! You must have a good eye, Saint Unicorn."

"It's Pegasus, actually." Lance corrected, a bit irritated. He also doubted the man was telling the truth about the books, but they looked the part just enough. "How much?"

"You must have come a long way, Saint Pegasus. For you, I'll give a special discount of 1%."

The Saint grumbled, finding this generosity very familiar. Was he bargaining with an adult Mu? "Which brings us down to…?"

The vendor smiled proudly "34,650 Drachmae (*)!"

(*) 523€ in 2023

Lance gawked. "WHAT?!"

The Muvian smiled and pulled a rope hidden by his stand sign, causing a sign to come down saying "Everything going at only 35,000!"

Before the smug reaction from the vendor, Lance grumbled and pulled out his wallet. There went his bonus from his Switzerland mission. "Fine!…"

Yushira caught his wrist. "Hold it." She addressed the vendor. "Is that your marked price?"

The vendor looked nervous. He couldn't read this girl's face because of the mask. "Um, yes! Just like the sign says. It's a fair business, is it not?"

The masked Amazon nodded. "It sure is! Give my friend one from the pile over there!" she pointed at the stack he was hiding by his foot. "You know? The one you're hiding behind your foot?"

The vendor gawked "But that one…!"

"Is worth 34 thousand each, right?" the Crane pressed, folding arms. "Go ahead, Pegasus, pick one from there."

Lance watched, amazed, as the vendor begrudgingly nodded and accepted to exchange the cash for a tome. He searched the pile and even to Lance, looked much more impressive than the crappy little one he was trying to sell him.

He found the one he wanted; it was clad in alchemical paper and had constellations engraved with the colour of their Cloths on its cover. Most importantly, it declared itself as an edition on the Equuleus constellation. Opening it, Lance found a wealth of images, formulas, observations and Muvian knowledge about that particular set of stars which seemed boundless and that he could barely understand. Even to a layman like him, it was clearly a rare collectible.

He closed it and put it inside his Cloth Box, impressed by their quality. "Uh, not bad, Yushira."

She tilted head happily. "No problem. Maybe I can't tell the difference between two green rocks, but I know when Muvian vendors try to swindle strangers that don't understand their tech. I told you I was very cultured."

Lance smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem!" she assured, sounding like her mask hid the biggest smirk in the world.

….

He didn't like the way her mask stared at him studiously. "…What are you looking at me like that for?"

She chuckled. "I wanna know who is it for."

Lance went red very briefly and moved on. "I don't know what you're talking about. This is for me."

Yushira laughed out loud like he told the best joke on the planet. "Oh please, Pegasus, you don't want that boring book. What are you gonna do with it? Read it to the Pope? Wax lyrical about the beauty of Alpha Equulei?"

Lance grumbled annoyedly. "How would you know? We've met today, you don't know anything about me."

Perhaps she did not, but the Amazon could tell a type. "Stingy silent dudes don't buy books about pretty stars in the sky, Pegasus. You should have seen the look on your face when that tourist trapper said the price. You'd think he was going to cut your arm off." Her fist bumped his arm. "Come on! I just want a name to sing 'sitting in a tree' with yours!"

"She's… we're not… that. Yet. I don't know!" Lance gritted his teeth anxiously, genuinely concerned about what Olivia might truly be thinking of him.

Yushira hummed. "Ah, I see. It's complicated? I get it." She glanced at his box and bumped his arm. "Buuuut…. you bought her a 35000 Drachmae book, so it sounds like you'd like it to be less complicated."

The Pegasus Saint grumbled. He just wanted to get a nice present for his date. Knowing Olivia was a star-reader, he imagined she'd like a rare Muvian item about the topic, but he didn't expect such shocking prices. Worst come to shove, he supposed the damn book could be given to Mu or Camus instead. Still, a strange feeling of hopeful anticipation he had never experienced before filled his stomach; he'd like if Olivia liked the present.

Lance sighed resignedly. "… Yes, I would like… less complication."

Yushira put on her relationship adviser face behind her mask. "Well, how bad is it? Has she winked at you or something, or is it as subtle as a 'it's so nice to see you, Saint Pegasus'?"

The Saint gave the only answer he had. "Well…She's kissed me…. Twice."

Crane Yushira stopped her march at this, gawking. "She KISSED you?! Twice?!"

"And we're going on a date after this, too." Lance added. "Hence the gift."

Crane held her mask up in utter bafflement. "What's complicated about that?!"

While this felt a bit patronising, Lance stayed patient. Compared to the Pegasus, Yushira was clearly far more socially confident, so she wouldn't understand why he wouldn't take such a thing for granted.

"It just is. Now hurry up!"

"Geez, man, poor her!" The Amazon thought, following him, wondering how much harder the girl would have to signal this guy that she liked him. "And I thought having my face covered in metal made it tough to get a boyfriend."

They made their way to the higher area of the village, where the bigger granite house of the local elder was located. Lance didn't know much about the remnant of Muvian civilization or their politics, but he did understand they were organized around that old Elder Yuzuriha he met at Rozan. He wondered if the person living in it was a big shot or just a tiny unit in their society, given how many villages there were on the map he was given.

Yushira's mask turned left and right at the few people in the street. "Something is wrong around here, isn't it?"

Even though she fucked up the legitimacy of her guiding skills in a massive way, Lance turned in attention. "Yeah?"

The Crane Amazon saw the depressed faces of adult Muvians going by with their day and detected a distinct lack of impishness. "Where are all the children? It's past school time here on this side of the planet. By now I should be shooing away telekinetic brats asking me where I got you from."

A grim frown came over Lance. Suisho had said this was a kidnapping case, after all.

As if conjured by Lance's thoughts, before them, by the big house door, stood Crateris Suisho himself, looking displeased and glancing at his watch. "Finally! What took you two so long?"

Yushira felt her brother's harsh eyes land on her. "Eep!"

"Armor maintenance. My Pegasus Cloth was still a bit cracked from our mission in Switzerland." Lance defended, as promised, making Yushira sigh in relief.

The Crateris Saint looked between them. He knew his sister. She'd be gloating about Pegasus' tardiness if this were the case, not hiding behind him like a frightened cat. "Right, of course. Good morning, Yushira."

"It's… the afternoon, bro." she answered.

"Where's the fourth guy?" Lance asked, looking around.

"Acrisius is inside with the Elder and the local Sanctuary noble, buttering them up." Suisho revealed. He tensed worriedly. "I should actually warn you two about this; Lord Demetrius is the count assigned to this area and he's the one that called for this mission, so we have to listen to him. He'll be the one with the golden ring, naturally."

"Is he the one that called specifically for our squad?" Lance thought to ask.

Suisho nodded. "That's correct. I'm glad you've been paying attention, Pegasus."

Yushira puffed. "Wait, if he's in charge of this area that means it's the same guy who was in charge of the Muvian place the Specters attacked back in December (*), right? What business does he have ordering us around?! He left those people to their luck!"

(*) "The Lamb, the Twins and the Watchdog"

Suisho didn't like it, but they had to work with what they had. "I'm going to ask you to keep that under wraps, Yushira. If you pull what you usually do and call the guy financing the mission out to his face just because you don't like him, I'm never bringing you on a job again, understood?"

She let out an almost cattish hiss "Harsh! Alright, I get it, lips sealed." she accepted, gesturing a zip through her mask's mouth. "So what the heck happened anyway? What are we going to be doing?"

"The children of Malachite have been taken." Her brother answered, making her gasp. "Let's go inside, they'll tell you the rest."

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

The three Saints of Athena were welcomed by a furnished hall with a long, wooden table for gatherings with the Elder of the village. Statuettes, jars and other works of Muvian craft lined up the walls and stands, including objects of worship to Athena. Another trio of figures was already sitting and talking at the table, but they all rose to welcome Suisho and his squad.

The first was an aged Muvian of whitened hair, pointy beard, red coat and brown mountain sandals. His skin was pale and wrinkled, a chain with a malachite gemstone rested around his neck and his hand rested on a cane as he got up. He had a depressingly concerned look on his face, sunken bags like he hadn't slept in days, but his posture had dignity and seriousness worthy of a lord of a rational culture like his.

"Saint Suisho! Your friends have arrived, I see. Thank Athena."

Suisho nodded in acknowledgement. "Elder Kang." He then turned to the man sitting beside him. "Lord Demetrius, these are the other pair of Saints on this mission."

Lance and Yushira observed the second man, who reached to shake their hands with a smile. He was a surprisingly young man in his early thirties of bowl-cut blonde hair, thick blue coat for the cold mountain terrain that exposed an expensive wool shirt of silver-engraved buttons, a scarf with a texture alike the fur of a winter fox, gold-locked shoes and, of course, the always present golden ring in his right hand that the heads of Sanctuary aristocracy always had.

"Welcome, welcome! Take a seat!" he offered, waving next to the third person, Saint Perseus Acrisius.

The two did and they studied the third man, who smirked at them confidently. He had dark green strands of hair behind his flappy Cloth crown, Mediterranean skin and a lack of training scars that made Lance and Yushira both rather suspicious of his combat experience. "Well, met, comrades. Saint Perseus, at your disposal!"

"Saint Pegasus and Saint Crane both have excellent records, Elder Kang." Suisho assured. "I handpicked them myself for this job."

"Sure, because I forced you to." Yushira grumbled to herself.

"Excellent, that eases my heart." The Elder sighed.

"How can we help you?" Lance asked.

The centenarian Muvian nodded. "I will be brief, Saint Pegasus, for time is of the essence. Have you seen the large forest that our village is raised next to?"

Lance nodded. It extended deeper, darker and greener than he imagined any woods in the Himalayas had any right to. "I did. It's impressive for this part of the world. I imagine there's a special reason for it?"

Count Demetrius chuckled proudly, seeing a chance to tour his assigned domain. "You have a good eye, Pegasus; the Forest of Malachite raises itself on deposits of stardust and gemstones. It is the reason for this village's survival."

Lance squinted faintly at the man, studying him quietly as he spoke. Demetrius looked to be in his thirties, and if anything that Adriana told him about her people is true, he likely had Cosmos. There was no reason a guy like this should have closed off his gates to Muvians fleeing from False Specters. He could have understood it if he was some kind of fat cat stereotype of a count, but he looked perfectly able to do his duties.

"The trees of that forest are more resilient than most. So much that their resin secretes stardust which the locals believe keeps away evil." Demetrius continued. The way he said it made Elder Kang glance in an upset way, like the Count was describing their science as shamanic. "Imagine our shock when, all of a sudden, a group of Black Saints takes residence in it!"

Yushira groaned, frustrated with her career progression. "Damn it, it's Black Saints again?! When will I get to fight another Specter?!"

"Good, no Specters. I'm fucking sick of those." Lance thought, relieved he didn't have to worry about immortal killers. He then asked the question he already imagined the answer to. "What do they want?"

"The village of Malachite… is being blackmailed." Elder Kang revealed, taking breaths between these painful circumstances. "They have taken our children like ghosts in the night, Saint Pegasus! They are asking for a ransom of fifty million Sanctuary Drachmae!(*) The families of Malachite have been pawning their heirlooms, but we can't possibly raise this amount."

(*) 8 million € in 2023

Lance frowned self-consciously. "Shit, was that where the book came from?"

"Why not just call us Saints right away? I would have been here in a finger snap." Crane Yushira assured.

The Elder's eye bags looked to sink even further at the prospect of asking Saints. "We didn't know how long Sanctuary would take… I needed to assure Malachite's families they would see their children no matter what." Kang looked at Demetrius. "I asked the Immortal Guard to step in first. Then, with heavy heart, I turned to Lord Demetrius for help raising the sum-"

"AHEM, yes, as the Sanctuary appointee to this region, -" Demetrius interrupted the Elder, looking anxious "- I naturally prepared myself to raise the amount, but it's obvious we should not accept any demands from Black Saints who kidnap children, as a matter of principle!"

Lance scowled as discretely as he could, noticing the luxury of the man's clothes. Money was definitely not a problem for him. He also noticed how quick the man was to explain himself to the Elder's testimony.

"Right…" Yushira agreed, trying not to laugh at the aristocrat's excuse. "How did no one stop a bunch of rogues with Cosmos, though?"

"We have tried, but we are dealing with an exceptionally powerful group." Elder Kang explained, distraught. "They should never had managed to penetrate the forest, yet they have. A group of Immortal Guards went into the forest a night ago and we haven't heard from them or felt their Cosmos since! You have to help us!"

The Saints widened their eyes. The Immortal Guard were the masked, male Muvian elite warriors that Muvian Elders often kept as bodyguards and escorts. The reason was that Muvian society preferred female fighters from their fighting clans, which used to be more numerous and admired for their athletic fitness and ease with the Cosmos. Elder Yuzuriha was a famous example of this from the Lost Canvas War. In sharp mirroring of Sanctuary's army, it was the men who had to renounce their gender if they wished to join the elite components of what was left of Muvian armed forces.

Lance met the division already because a small group had guided him, Saint Iaso and Mu to Twin Peaks Mountain during the False Holy War (*). He knew them to be competent, respectful, dedicated and serious, not to mention Bronze-Rank cosmos users, just like any Sanctuary Hoplite. They wouldn't fall to a bunch of pissant racketeers with cosmos.

(*) "The Waters of Life"

"Boy, this is serious, isn't it?" Yushira mentally asked her comrades.

"A bit 'too' serious, sis." Suisho frowned grimly. "I almost fear to ask, Elder, but what do you think is the true purpose of these kidnappings?"

Kang widened eyes. "What do you mean, Saint Crateris?"

Suisho pointed out the obvious. "I don't mean to offend you, but like you implied, Malachite is a… small village; there's no way it could raise the funds by itself. Me and my sister grew up around your people and we know your survival depends on collaboration with other colonies and Lady Yuzuriha's generosity, yet they targeted you specifically."

The Elder nodded. "I see what you are saying… perhaps the Black Saints believe that with enough pressure they can extort Lady Yuzuriha's council for the sum, or even stardust weaponry."

"It could only be so, those villains!" Acrisius of Perseus suddenly pronounced himself. "They get their equipment by stealing and pillaging Sanctuary's people, as everyone knows!"

This made perfect sense for the Saints, especially Lance, who had fought rogue Black Saints all his life and always wondered how they got their hands on weaponry that made them confident enough to evade Sanctuary's authority.

The Elder messaged the Saints, minus Acrisius, his tired eyes growing darker. "… I did not wish to say this outloud in front of the Count, but I fear they may want to pressure Lord Demetrius into paying the sum. I do not think… he would accept. I would also prefer not to wonder what other reason they could have to steal Lemurian children, so as to not make daylight feel any dimmer…"

The Saints exchanged looks of worry and felt cold inside, especially Yushira, who had as an Undercover Saint witnessed some rather dark things. Dimmer daylight, indeed.

The Lemurian Elder smiled at the green-haired warrior sitting on the Perseus Cloth box next to Demetrius. "Fortunately, Saint Perseus Acrisius has assured us he will catch the culprits. Isn't that right?"

The young man nodded. "That's correct. When I was told what was happening, I offered to join Saint Suisho's squad right away! As a Silver Saint, I'll prove more than a match for the Black Saints! You'll barely need anyone else but me!"

Suisho, though, could only sigh at this.

Yushira turned to her teammates in incredulity. "Is this guy an idiot, Sui'? The Black Saints are holed up in a dense forest, they already probably killed an entire IG squad, and his only edge on them is a couple of Mach speed levels and a petrifying shield, both that are only worth crap if there isn't a bunch of trees in your way! Never mind that these ones have stardust resin!"

Suisho shrugged. As a Judge of Hades, it wouldn't surprise him that Sanctuary's ranks were full of reckless fools. "Why do you think I'm keeping him under watch, Yush'? Acrisius was called into this so that Demetrius can make his friends happy at the same time he gives the impression he cares."

The Amazon gasped. "That's the reason?! This is gonna be a stealth mission, not a cavalry charge! We can't afford to have unnecessary people raising the chances we'll be caught."

Suisho nodded with a pained look. "I know. He's the reason why I need you and Pegasus to focus on your end of the mission, because I'm pretty sure he'll weigh me down to the point of uselessness."

Perseus continued. "I was disgusted when I heard of what happened. Black Saints taking the children of Sanctuary… even of our Lemurian friends? It's unacceptable." He turned to Saint Suisho. "I know it's rather outside the MMC's approval, but I insist in taking front row of this attack, Saint Suisho. I will follow your lead if you accept."

Suisho sighed resignedly, wishing he could toss this guy down the Yomotsu Hirasaka. "…Very well."

Demetrius laughed excitedly. "Excellent! With this amount of firepower involved, those cursed Black Saints will regret having ever antagonized the people of the Colonies under the watch of Count Demetrius!" he turned to Kang. "We'll have the children returned to the village by nightfall, I'm sure! Just like I've promised, Elder."

The Lemurian Elder smiled in an appeasing way, looking unsure, and so did Suisho. Crane Yushira just wished she could puke at their reckless optimism.

Lance, who had stayed mostly quiet so far, squinted at this. "Is that what you think? Your confidence is impressive."

The room turned to what had been a silent participant so far. Count Demetrius spoke "Yes? Well, I think I can't help but be confident. Do you… disagree with my prediction, Saint Pegasus?"

The Bronze Saint shook head. "No, not at all. We're going to get those kids for sure. I do have a couple of questions, though. What if something unexpected happens? Is their safety guaranteed?"

The count and the elder exchanged strange looks. "W… What do you mean?"

Lance folded arms. The hesitation in the noble was firing off all kinds of alarms in his head. But he tried to stay polite, for Suisho's sake.

"Based off on what you've been telling us, it just sounds like we don't know exactly what we're dealing with. I've met the Immortal Guard. They're not useless. If they're missing, there's the possibility something might go wrong and all four of us end up dead. If that happens, are you ready to foot the bill for the village?"

Demetrius gagged, feeling the Saint's cursed red eyes grill him. "I… uh… Excuse me, y-you're here not to let that happen, aren't you?"

The room went tense. Lance just stayed quiet at this, expecting Demetrius to answer him with something other than another evasive question, but it clearly wasn't happening. Suisho rubbed his eyes with a migraine and Yushira chuckled to herself, finally interested in the conversation.

Demetrius looked to the others briefly like he wasn't sure if this was really happening. "S-Saint Pegasus, I assure you that… No, I don't have to answer that! We do not negotiate with Black Saints, even in these circumstances!"

There was nothing the Count could have answered worse to the Pegasus. These were the people who were calling Aiolos and his friends 'useless' because an overwhelmingly powerful and well-prepared Specter got past some of them. Now this one was arguing he didn't have to protect people paying him tax from the damage mere Black Saints caused. Sometimes Lance wished Lucifer had knocked on these guys' doors first before attacking the Zodiac. That would have gotten their pants soiled in a second.

Yet, he kept his calm. Lance rose from his chair. "Very well. I will make sure to mention this in my report to Sanctuary."

The count suddenly panicked at this, to Suisho and Yushira's surprise. "Your report?!" he rushed around the table to confront the Saint before he left. "STOP! Where do you think you're going?! What report?!"

The Bronze Saint turned with a strange look. "After I rescue those kids, I need to explain to Sanctuary why things got this bad. It's part of my job. Or did you think Suisho would come here and have us wipe the slate clean of your negligence for you?"

The noble began paling, regretting he ever answered a word of this Saint's questions. "N… Negligence?!"

Yushira leaned in. "(Oh Athena, yes!)"

Suisho sank face into palms. "(Oh Hades, no…)"

"How dare you accuse me?!" Demetrius sneered. "I would never… Negligence?! The gall! I care about this community! I have for years!"

Lance tried to stay calm at this, but it wasn't easy. "Please, just stop that bullshit. It's painful to listen to it. I know for a fact that this is the second time you didn't protect these people, Lord Demetrius, even though you should have. And when they asked for help, you didn't ready the ransom, even though you clearly can afford it. On top of it all, you had us saddled with a underqualified Silver Saint we don't need from one of your friends' families, without asking the MMC's opinion. And now, you don't even have a response to what might happen if things go further south!"

Acrisius felt singled out by this, and looked around nervously. "Um, Saint Pegasus, I'm sure Lord Demetrius just meant-"

"What are you saying, Bronze Saint?!" Demetrius interrupted, recovering from the shock.

The impassive Pegasus met him right in the eye. All he could think about was when Shaka was held ransom at the Virgo Temple during the False Holy War, after Lucifer defeated him. "I'm saying that you fucked up. And then you fucked up some more. And when you had people outside your house throwing rocks, you panicked, and finally called for real help. You're just a giant waste of space in everyone's lives! This isn't a mission meeting! This is a performance for your friends and the Pope!"

The count's face twisted into an ugly scowl, looking like he'd throw himself at the Saint then and there. "How…. How dare you?!"

The Lemurian Elder put a hand on him to calm Demetrius. "Lord Count, please-"

Demetrius shoved it off his shoulder "Don't touch me!" and stood up to face Pegasus. "You better thank your prior work with the Gold Saints, Pegasus, because were it not for that, I'd have you dragged through every court in Sanctuary Town for these attacks you've just levied at me! I have watched this community for years! While you were still training to get your Cloth, I was already the guardian of these plateaus!"

Yushira, by contrast, was more and more amazed, watching the count get redder and redder. "Holy shit, Pegasus is gonna make this guy's head explode."

The Count pointed his golden-ringed finger at him. "So I'm warning you, Pegasus… question my guardianship again…"

Seeing things getting truly serious, Suisho rose from his chair and messaged his squad member. "PEGASUS! Do not answer that! That's an order!"

But even though he was boiling on the inside, Lance obeyed his friend. "Don't worry, Suisho. I won't." He turned to the old Lemurian looked stunned at the whole thing. "Elder Kang, I will get your village's children back. Now. I promise."

Seeing a strangely determined look in the Saint, the Lemurian sighed in relief and nodded. "Thank you, Saint Pegasus."

Lance turned to his comrades. "Suisho, Yushira, Saint Acrisius, I'll be heading out."

The Pegasus brushed past Demetrius and the Count recoiled his hand at this, holding the ring he had exposed protectively, as if he feared the Bronze Saint might cut it off unexpectedly.

The entire room then watched the Saint nod respectfully at the Lemurian Elder and walk out the door. All that was missing was a big slam of it.

Crane Yushira practically stumbled out of her chair and rushed after him. "H-hey, wait up, Pegasus! I'm coming too!"

This left poor Suisho behind to face the looks of the irate Demetrius, the stunned Saint Perseus and the bewildered Lemurian Elder. "I… um… I deeply apologize for that, Count Demetrius."

"Y-YOUR… YOUR PARTY HAS NOT SEEN THE END OF THIS, SAINT CRATERIS!" the count roared. "SAINT NAM WILL GET A FULL LETTER DETAILING YOUR COLLEAGUE'S DISGRACEFUL BEHAVIOUR!"

"Y-yes, of course." Suisho acquiesced, standing up. "Saint Perseus, I'll be seeing you on the field."

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

Chapter End

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

Next Chapter: Chapter 80 – 3rd Arc – Episode 8: The Perils of Sainthood

Release Date: February 25th

Description: Pegasus Lance and Crane Yushira search for the kidnapped children, not realizing they're falling for a bigger trap than they could imagine. Meanwhile, in Sanctuary Town, Olivia watches over Cerah and sees her being visited by who she believes to be Eurydice.

Author's Comments:

This is it; we are finally at the storyline where Lance's Role Version 2 dropped off from! Once the next chapter is released, we will be officially in uncharted territory. Finally! It's only been…

…Fuck! Ten years?

Moving on. (Don't think about it, don't think about it).

Old readers will notice the release date for the next chapter isn't February 13th, the fic's birthday of the first chapter posting of its second edition, which I've been loyal to for over a decade. The chapter is finished and being beta-read, I just decided against publishing it on that day because, with the steady monthly release and high wordcount of the 3rd Arc's chapters, I don't want to risk putting myself in a situation of high rush unnecessarily. Last year I tried to do it with the Death Queen Island Side Story after the awful crunch that was wrapping up the False Holy War and it put me in a really stressful spot.

If I manage to get to a place where I have two or more chapters ahead of time, I will consider having bonus posts two weeks after a monthly one.

If you're wondering what the joke about all the Muvian village's names is about, then yes, it's a Houseki no Kuni joke. I'm a pretty big fan of the manga. Phosphophyllite is the main character and the series has a running fandom gag that his/her name is hard to pronounce, shortening it to Phos'.

Now for character etymology; the chapter already explains pretty well where Yushira's name is based off from, so let's talk Acrisius; the Perseus Saint is named after the mythical king of Argos, grandfather of the hero Perseus. I needed the character to have a name that was evocative of both the constellation myth and his social status as a noble.

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