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.

83. 3A: The Hand of Talos

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:

-Betaread by Jenny Devic;

-Mandarin translations by Mahogany;

-Sorry for the slight delay, everyone. I had to do some extra work to trim down the chapter in the finishings phase. Don't worry, though, the next chapter is written and being beta-read already, so we are on schedule, more info on the end notes;

-May 30 Note: Fixed Episode count

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Please enjoy and review ^_^

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Japan, Hokkaido

Daisetsuzan National Park

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The skies flickered from dark to light as lightning raged above the snow-capped mountains. The bolts burst with brutal ferocity, striking each other over and over. Shockwaves ripped trees up from the ground and made boulders slide down the steep cliffs, changing the topography. Even greater scars were inflicted on the terrain when the collisions fissured the ground, and the flames grew taller and broader by the minute.

Firefighters, witnesses, reporters, and even scientists were kept at bay outside the immediate premises by Sanctuary personnel. The hoplites, disguised as Japanese government agents and park staff, tried to keep the vast area enclosed by blocking critical entry points, repeating lines about everything being fine, and to stay away from the area while praying to Athena a goddamn Gold Saint would show up. Even they had to turn their heads at some of the impacts, which made the mountain shake and flashes of cosmos so bright that the night would seem to vanish briefly.

A Silver Saint arrived by them as a white beam of cosmos.

They saw the Saint and recoiled a bit. "Oh, it's you. Welcome to Hokkaido, Saint Noah. We thought Saint Sagitta might come instead?"

The Triangle Saint nodded, ignoring their surprised reaction. Noah was used to it. "I was in the neighborhood." The Silver Saint looked at the storm, their white hair fluttering with the strong winds. "Status report, please?"

They pointed at the chaos in the sky.

Noah squinted at the 'storm,' seeing it blast explosions into the mountainsides that shook the valleys. "It's definitely a Gold Saint battle, which means it must be Priam, but who is battling him?" The Triangle Saint pointed out to the high rises and escape passes. "Get ready to encircle the area. We're going to interfere in this fight before it ends badly for the locals."

They gawked at the idea. "What?! How?! The last guy was electrocuted after attempting to get close!"

Noah smiled confidently. "Don't be afraid; I'll protect you. I have quite the ability set." The Silver Saint then grimaced awkwardly. "Also, no offense, but your hoplite pieces are made with iron, so you might want to toss those out."

There was an embarrassed exchange of looks between the soldiers about this and they began replacing the equipment under their disguises and moving out to take positions.

Noah looked around, squinting suspiciously. "Something is wrong. I feel a familiar presence in the area. Priam can't have been on his own here. What if?"

Hiding nearby from the Saints in the foliage, the wounded Aquila Daese sucked her breath, feeling Noah's eyes glaze past where she was. She recognized the Triangle Saint. They were the one who took Red to Sanctuary! If she keeps burning her cosmos, Noah will detect her. Things were now officially going from terrible to absolutely catastrophic.

Crawling away through the fires, rocks, and mountain foliage, Aquila Daese breathed heavily, feeling the wound in her chest side straining her. Her face was getting paler by the minute, and she was losing sensations. She tried to burn her cosmos to stay awake, but was terrified any amount of burning that could get her on her feet would also rat her out to Sanctuary or, worse, Leon.

Hiding from the civilians and Sanctuary people behind the rocks, her head peeked to see her leader clash with the assassin in the air yet again. The battle between Priam and Leon seemed endless, exchanging hundreds of blows that would crack the walls of even the Golden Zodiac Temples. Worst of all, they were both Sagittarius, so there was a chance their fight wouldn't end without a devastating escalation into a "1000-Year War", the cataclysmic tipping point where the battle would not stop until one of them was turned to dust, along with everything else around them.

What was she going to do?! Everyone else was dead, and Sanctuary was breathing down their necks. Even if Priam won, she couldn't escape, and half the Golden Zodiac was probably on its way to get them!

Her hand grasped her Diamond Cloth Stone. Daese could feel the Aquila Cloth's Cosmos pulsate in it, like a beating heart, urging her to fight. Maybe she should just do it! Maybe she should put it on and punch a way out before Kirin or Azrael showed up to finish the Zodiac Knight off once and for all! Maybe she should toss herself at the hoplites keeping watch and hope Athena hadn't abandoned her yet! It was better than letting everyone's death go to waste by sticking around and bleeding to death.

Her eyes wept, feeling the end finally coming for their group. How pathetic of her. All of them fought so hard for so long, and now things were just going down the blood-soaked gutter. It was like she was still the girl that came crying to Priam and his men over a decade earlier, begging them to save her and Cerah. "Charles, Ray, Eumenes…. I'm sorry! I don't know what to do!"

No, she had to be smart about this, figure out a real escape plan. She wanted to see her sister's face again. Perhaps if she struck hard enough, fast enough, she could get through the enclosure and lightspeed out of Japan into Manchuria before her body failed her.

With a great struggle, she stood up, eyeing the group of hoplites watching the closest park exit pass. Her cosmos burned. "Come forth, A-Aquila CLO-"

A slender body suddenly tackled her down!

Daese screamed, rolling through the dirt. She struggled to get the assailant off her. Still, whoever it was, they suddenly struck her side with their hand, injecting a sedative. "Shadow Stinger!"

Daese felt herself go numb. "N-NO!"

"Shh, there, there." the person hushed, finger in lips.

Daese saw them raise their heads at the battle's light, revealing their face, "Y-you!"

Nasu Erika, the last surviving member of Daemon Lucifer's six False Specter Elites, scoffed. "Well, at least you remember me. It feels like everyone has forgotten about the warriors of Daemon Lucifer."

"L-LET GO OF ME!" Daese tried to punch her, but Nasu easily dodged and caught her sedated wrist, pinning it down. "W-What did you do to me?!"

"It's just a little something to keep you reasonable. I know your type, Zodiac Knight. You froth at the mouth at the sight of a Surplice. You'd sooner cut my head off than listen," She laughed. "Ah, it's funny. I remember using the same toxin on your cute little sister once (*). Maybe that makes you feel better?"

(*) Arrival of the Gods – Part 3

The blonde Knight screamed in rage, powerlessly pushing the Specter with her free hand. "D-Damn you! What do you want?!"

"The page from the Book of the Dead with our names on it!" Erika hissed. If it fell into Pandora's hands, then the remnants of Lucifer's army, including herself, were as good as dead. "Where is it?!"

Daese gritted her teeth. "Where do you think it is?! That bastard assassin that Priam is fighting took it! And now he's stalling until Sanctuary gets here!"

"What?!" Nasu asked. This was just about as bad as Pandora. She turned to the battle in the sky. "Is your boss stupid?! Can't he just warp away with that guy to somewhere else with his Lightning Arrow, like he did with us?!"

"N-no, he can't, because as much as I'd scream at him to do so, he won't leave me behind! Look around! This place is surrounded by hoplites; Priam knows that they'll comb this mountain and find me the second he takes the fight somewhere else! Do you understand now?! Not everyone thinks as egotistically as you!"

Erika then noticed the wound in Daese's body and put two and two together. "I can't believe this! You MORONS! I knew the Prince giving it to Priam would end this way!"

"Then H-HELP HIM!" Daese shouted, desperate. "If he can defeat Leon before Sanctuary comes, you can still take the Page! He'll give it to you! It's not too la-"

Suddenly, two colossal thunderbolts of Cosmos crashed in the air above them all, silencing the entire park, releasing a powerful pulse, echoing ear-ringing sound waves, and driving each other like a pair of twisting snakes of blue and gold electricity until they crashed. An explosion of dirt, sparks, and flying rocks rained down. TV station wagons were crushed and cars were. Sanctuary hoplites shielded the Japanese civilians from waves of dust and many stumbled down from the tremors.

Climbing up to get a better view, Nasu Erika watched the dust subside, revealing the victor. Stomping on the collapsed, bloody Priam's chest, blue sparks coursing through his body, was Leon, covered head to toe with scratches, bleeding wounds, and bruises. His blue eyes shone with unbridled cosmos, and his hands were immersed in fiery concentrations of electrical energy. Priam, by contrast, was a cratered mess; his burned body blasted all over with numerous sinking wounds from thunderous punches.

The Hoplites slowly encircled the enormous crater, equally stunned. Many recognized the figure under Leon's foot and murmured in awe.

Triangle Noah took the lead, their eyes widening at the downed Priam. Noah saw Leon's cosmos and felt its 'identity,' seeing the Goddess Athena burning in his blood. "It can't be!"

Leon's cosmos subsided, and he rose nose triumphantly. "It's over Priam. Your running, your struggling, your war with Sanctuary, your ERA-" He raised his foot over Priam's head and stomped down. "-allendswith me!"

Daese covered her mouth in horror, seeing her last hope snuffed out under Leon's foot!

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Mount Rozan

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The morning sun rose over China, welcoming a new day. Stretching his body, Dohko yawned and let the rays bathe his exposed muscles. It was a good day to start training his new candidates for the Tiger and Dragon schools.

The two girls were already waiting by the waterfall lake, sitting on rocks. What enthusiasm! Dohko couldn't wait to ruin it.

"Good morning, Lord Dohko!" Cerah greeted, bowing.

"Please, Cerah, call me Roshi, or Master Dohko, or if you prefer, Your Amazingness." he invited, making the girl laugh. He was quite serious, though. IF Shion got to walk around calling himself 'your Holiness', why shouldn't he get a cognomen, too?

"Master Dohko, are we starting our lessons yet?" Yushira asked, rocking her leg anxiously. "What kind of training are we going to do? Can we start with lightspeed?"

He gestured her to relax. "Let's bring that energy down a bit. First, we got to get you two ready for your Pretests. You know, make real men out of you two!"

Cerah sweated. "But… we're girls."

"Cerah, don't worry, you'll get used to this." Yushira explained, laying out hand. "You're new to Sanctuary's training, but basically you can't acknowledge you're not a guy, ever. It's against the boy club rules."

"Speaking of rules, give me just a minute." Dohko went to the training shed to get his presents, setting Ma Chao free.

Cerah saw the tiger circle around, stretching its legs and hid behind Yushira. "AAH! It's him again! Don't let it near!"

Yushira laughed and just petted the white tiger's head like a house cat, making it rustle against her hand. "Oh, woman up, Cerah! It's just a big kitty. You got Cosmos, for Artemis' sake! He can't hurt you."

Dohko returned with a set of boxes, laughing. "I wouldn't count on that so much. Ma Chao can bite through a Damascus chocker when he gets angry!"

Cerah let out a high-pitched gasp, cowering behind Yushira.

"Okay, Ma Chao, that's enough. Go over there!" Dohko ordered, making the tiger laze off and relieving Cerah. Libra Dohko dumped a small box in front of each "First things first, I will give you your first training sets. I don't own an official Dojo, but I've prepared uniforms for each of you, including bandanas with ancient Chinese characters expressing your personal fighting spirits!"

Cerah beamed, taking off her white gi with a yellow belt and a bandana with Chinese letters on it. Putting it on, she felt like a real martial arts student now. "These are great, Lord Dohko, thank you!"

Yushira took out her gi, which had an orange belt, and saw the letters on her white cloth bandana. "… Okay, now I understand why Pegasus said his teacher was a big practical-joker."

Cerah blinked "You do?

She groaned and pointed her letters out. "Yeah, look! My Mandarin is a bit rusty, but I'm pretty sure these 'ancient Chinese characters' just say 'Technique Bandit'."

Cerah frowned disconcertedly. "Oh! But that's kind of what you do, though, right?"

Yushira groaned, putting it on resignedly. "Yes, that's TRUE, but it isn't my 'fighting spirit'! I was expecting something graceful and brave, like 'Sweeping Crane' or 'Tiger Flash' or 'Beautiful Champion'."

Dohko scoffed. "You have a long way to go before you earn a 'Beautiful Champion', Saint Yushira. Don't worry, though. Climbing the ladder to earning amazing fighting spirit titles is just part of being a Mount Rozan student. I still make Lance wear his 'Angry Tomato' gi for training to this day."

Cerah started getting worried and held out hers. "Mine has four letters, what does it say, miss Yushira?"

星光公主 = "Starlight Princess"

The Crane Saint didn't want to ruin her friend's day, though. "Um, it says 'Fierce Warrior'. Yeah."

While Cerah looked skeptical, Dohko laughed and made a mental note to give Yushira some comradeship points. "Alright, let's start our training then. I want you two ready for a Pretest as soon as possible. First order of business, you're going to build up some muscle mass. And nothing quite does it like pushing a rock up the mountain."

Yushira scoffed. "That sounds pretty easy. Which one?"

Dohko patted the gigantic boulder he left by the mountain foot, the one they had been standing next to but thought was part of the scenery. "This one."

The two of them gawked, looking up. It reached up to a nearby tree's branches and was as round as one you might find in some kind of archeological ruin's trap.

Dohko rubbed his jaw pensively. "Mm, I'm forgetting something… Oh right! Some assistance!" He whistled sharply and his huge pet tiger popped out of the vegetation, making Cerah shriek and hide behind Yushira. "Ma Chao is gonna back you up on this."

"Oh, can he pull rocks?" Cerah asked, picturing a tiger-pulled chariot where Lord Dohko would ride to destinations.

"No, he's way too lazy for that, but he can bite and snarl." Dohko explained. "You know, to give you motivation. Help you stay focused."

Yushira grumbled, putting hands in hips. "Lord Dohko, I don't get it. What's the purpose of this training? We're both Silver Ranks." She pointed out. Cerah was going to point out that she could move at lightspeed already, but didn't want to make Yushira feel weak. "Can't we learn a move or something?"

Dohko scoffed. "Sure, you can. In fact, you can take your Pretest right away!"

Though she smelled a trap, Yushira decided to take the bait. She was a Silver Saint after all, and Coliseum star. "Okaaaay. Let's to that, then."

Dohko brushed the air with his hand like a claw swipe, causing a circle of dirt burst around Yushira, forming an enclosing circle. He then took another object from the box; a beautiful, old katana sword with a straight edge and the markings of a tiger and a dragon on each site of its handle wrappings.

Dohko tossed it at Yushira's hands. "That's the Yondo no Yaiba, the weapon my teacher used to channel Chi."

The Crane Saint unsheathed it slightly and saw its rugged, but functional edge. "Cool!"

Cerah pouted with ashamed envy. She was the Knight between the two, after all. "Ow. I'd like a sword, as well."

Unleashing the blade with a metallic hiss, Yushira tested it out a bit, using her old Coliseum gladius tricks to swing it in flash ways. "Ayah! Nice! So what do I have to do? Cut a melon without splitting it?"

"No, that's amateur stuff." Dohko pointed up to the top of the waterfall, where on a rock there was a branch with an arrow he left sticked to it. "See that arrow?"

Yushira nodded hesitantly. "Um, yeah?"

"The Tiger Path's initiation is super simple, barely an inconvenience. You just have to cut that arrow in half with that sword without taking your feet off the circle. Do it and you can skip the rock pushing."

…

The Crane Saint looked up and down, gawking at how far up the arrow was and how tiny the circle the Master made. "Wait, what?! But if I slash-wave it with cosmos…. Or I shake the ground..."

Dohko laughed "You'll probably damage it the wrong way, yes. Or ruin my beautiful Training Ground. And no, you can't do the latter either. I worked Lance very hard to get it this nice and pretty."

Watching her friend fume, Cerah herself tried to think of a solution. "Is this really Yushira's Pretest? How would you do this?" She raised her hand. "What about me, Lord Dohko? What do I have to do?"

The Libra scoffed and pointed thumb at the waterfall. "Easy-peasy; you just gotta reverse that waterfall. Nothing that hasn't been done a million times before already."

Both girls stared in utter bewilderment.

Dohko laughed. "I take for your reactions that we're doing rock pushing after all, then. Well, chop-chop! Let's get to it!"

"How does rock pushing help with either of our Pretests?!" Yushira protested.

Dohko climbed over the rock. "Who says it did? I just want to be carried up the mountain." He lied. In truth he wanted to get a good understanding of how they used their Cosmos in straining conditions, to prepare them for Chi training. Dohko clapped his hands, causing Ma Chao to snarl and snap the two girls into action. "Go on, quick! The sooner you take me up to the high lake, the sooner I'll fish us our dinner."

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Ethiopia,

Sanctuary Safehouse

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After a worry-hearted lightspeed journey across Asia and Arabia, Pegasus Lance turned south towards the Ethiopian Highlands. Halting at the Sanctuary farmstead near New Lalibela, Lance rushed up the road to where his best friend was being kept with his students.

He breathed in relief at the sight of Shinta safe and sound, armoring himself while his two students and Saint Cynthia watched in concern. "Oi, Shinta!"

The Andromeda beamed. "You came!"

The Pegasus crossed his arms in a typical Saint greeting. "Sorry, I took so long. Are you okay? They didn't hurt you or anything, right?"

Shinta nodded and laughed. "I'm just a bit rattled." After Reaper Grim's warning, he was relieved to see his best friend okay. "What about you, Lance? Has anything strange happened?"

The Pegasus blinked. "Shinta, I'm fine. Seriously, you should really worry more about yourself. It's not okay that these bastards keep getting into Andromeda Island." The Pegasus looked around but only saw Elda and Albiore by the doorway. "Is Sui' around?"

"Saint Suisho went ahead to the island to check things out. He told me to tell you we can form a follow-up party ourselves." Shinta then smiled. "I've met Olivia, by the way!"

Lance raised a brow, noticing a strange stare. "Okay. Why… are you smiling like that?"

The green-haired Andromeda tilted his head happily. It was so nice that Lance was dating someone. He even looked 'lighter' somehow. "No reason! I'm just glad to see you. I like her a lot, by the way! How did you two meet?"

Lance raised a brow. Did Shinta know? No, there's no way. Olivia wouldn't prattle about it, Suisho doesn't give a damn, and Shinta wouldn't be savvy of this type of subject, of all things. Or would he?

"Um, we just kind of encountered each other during a mission." He saw Shinta and Cynthia's students giggling by the door. He shrugged it off and bumped their fists. "Oh, hey, kids. What's up?"

Albiore smiled. "Not much. We didn't get attacked or anything. It's been a nice break from the desert."

Elda folded her arms and pouted. "I don't get why we can't go to Lalibela like last time, though."

Saint Cassiopeia Cynthia came outside at this. "Saint Kerberos wouldn't have taken you two there, if things weren't so dire, Elda." Cynthia turned to Lance. "It's good to see you, Pegasus."

"Likewise, Saint Cassiopeia."

Cynthia then addressed him mentally. "I heard what happened with Acrisius, by the way. Don't let that taint your image of us Silvers again," she asked. "He and Faras were never prime examples of the Silver Saint Order."

Lance raised a brow. "You sound like you know something about them?"

The blonde Amazon folded her arms. "I do. We can discuss more later, butthe short version is that Perseus and Southern Cross are constellations under Cetus' influence, just like mine and Shinta's."

Lance gawked. "I should have guessed!" How many people are in his pocket anyway?! "Anyways, how are we going to work the island, then? Did Suisho leave a plan?"

She laughed. He didn't leave so much a plan as an entire operation. "You know he has. The island is on lockdown right now, meaning no one gets in or out until Sanctuary makes sure it's purged of any Specter holdouts. Our job is to go in and ensure that any threat is uprooted in preparation for setting up higher defenses around Andromeda Island. Most likely we'll have a Gold Saint stationed there when we are done, just like they've recently done with the Saintia Academy."

Lance thought quietly about this, noticing a very familiar pattern. "Hey, Shinta, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

The Andromeda Saint nodded. "Yeah. It feels like the False Specter's strategy. They're trying to create a climate of fear that will make us move Gold Saints out of the Temples. Is it good to station another Gold Saint away from the front, Saint Cynthia?"

The Amazon sighed. "I understand your concerns, but I'm all ears if you two have an alternative. I can't have Elda stay on the island if it keeps being attacked. I would rather raise her off-site and bring her in only for tests. I'm sure you feel the same about Albiore. Now let's get ready. Suisho left us a mountain of details to work through."

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Later, as everyone got ready for their part in Suisho's plan, Elda anxiously watched Saint Lance pack his things to join Saint Suisho and Miss Olivia. She saw him take out his armor pieces and widened her eyes. "Whow, did you get those upgraded, Saint Lance?"

The Pegasus smirked, tightening his collar guard and letting the black cape flow. "Yup. Pretty impressive, right?"

She shrugged, smirking. The 'knight' aesthetic was alright. "It's not my cup of tea, but anything's better than what it used to look like, I guess. Won't that cape get you caught on something? What if a shutter falls on it, and some bad guy shoots you in the face?"

He folded his arms, annoyed. "It wasn't my choice to wear a horse helmet for three years, you know? Also, you got a dark imagination, don't you? I don't know what's with this cape, but-" He pulled it close to let her touch it. "-here, see for yourself."

The student gripped the fabric, but her fingers felt like touching a piece of dark mist. It even kept slipping, especially when she burned cosmos, like she was holding a hologram. "Wow! This is funky! What kind of tech is this?"

Lance scratched his head. He remembered Lucifer's Daemon Surplice had a cape just like this that seemed to barely get ripped in battle. He hoped drinking a Specter's blood wasn't making the Pegasus Cloth similar to a Surplice. "I'm not sure. It sets my mind at ease, though. No one's gonna grab it while I'm jumping or speeding around in a fight."

Elda pulled him aside. "By the way, Saint Lance! Look!" She showed off the Cancer Gold Pin he gave her way back and smirked sheepishly. "I kept your pin safe with me so far."

Lance sweated. He had completely forgotten about this. "Good job, Elda. About that, though-"

"I've been passing Saint Cynthia's tests with some solid C Minuses! So, when will you take me for a tour of the Cancer Temple?" she asked in an excited whisper.

The bronze Saint folded arms with a sad sigh. "I'm sorry, Elda. I can't promise that anymore."

The girl blinked. "W… What?"

"I'm no longer in the succession line of the 4th House. All my pin is worth anymore is to keep drunk hoplites from wasting my time." Lance confessed. He watched her smile crumble from her face. "I'm sorry."

She backed off, her eyes wetting. "But… but you said that… You promised!" She squinted angrily, tossed the pin, and sniffed. "This SUCKS! It isn't fair!"

He actually didn't promise anything, but Lance knew that to a young child, that didn't matter. Recovering the pin off the floor, he dusted it and gently closed her hand around the badge. "Listen to me, Elda, keep the pin anyway. I may no longer have the position I used to have, but that doesn't mean things won't change again. Besides, wouldn't you love to flash this to Mephisto the next time he messes with you?"

Elda took it back and paced around, frustrated. She seemed for a second like she might toss it to the ground, but she saw Lance's stare, and her angry expression softened. "Okay…. You're making up to me for this, though, right?"

Lance smiled. He had a feeling Elda and Yushira were of a similar type and decided to throw a joke. "Sure. I'll get you a motorbike when you're eighteen and have a license. If you still want one, of course."

She grinned. "AH! You better start saving Drachmas, Saint Pegasus, because I'll always want one!"

Lance gulped. Maybe he should stop joking about promises so much around Elda. She clearly had a strong memory for them. He tried to distract her. "You said you were once approached to become a Saintia, right? Did you get to meet my friend Olivia?"

Elda gave him a sly look. "Your new girlfriend? Of course, I did."

Lance gasped. "What?! Who told you that?!"

Elda shrugged. "She didn't; it was just obvious!"

Lance sighed. "Fuck me…So everyone knows. No wonder Shinta was looking so cocky." But then he remembered Dohko's rather comforting reaction to it. "Mm, maybe Master is right, and I should just loosen up about this. No one seems to be teasing me too much about it after all. Maybe I can just… be happy about all this."

"Yeah, we talked a bit before she left. She's a lot nicer than I thought." Elda confessed. "Last time, I heard she stormed all the way to the Pope to make sure I went with her instead of Andromeda Island. I felt like some kind of harpy was trying to get her hands on me, but she's just a class president or something?"

Lance blinked. This didn't sound like Olivia at all. "Maybe it's just a rumor."

"Yeah, maybe. We played 'Temples and Stairs' with Al' before she took off, and she even let us win. Saint Cynthia was impressed. I think she thought all Saintias were spoiled brats."

Lance recalled that Yushira, another Amazon, started thinking the same about Olivia. "And what did you think? About joining the academy?"

Elda held her chin. "Mm…. Maybe. Not having to wear a mask is appealing. But, well…" She then grumbled. "Saint Cynthia says that if I wanna get in, I have to study way harder to get a Papal scholarship or get some kind of sponsor. There are not many Sanctuary-rich bags in freaking Hawaii to be interested in promoting me. Maybe if I win a Coliseum tournament or something."

Lance thought of Adriana, who made it her life quest to do this for impoverished people, even if for bad reasons. She even got Cerah into that school. "Mm, we'll see, Elda. Don't give up. Like I said before, you never know when things will turn for the better."

Cynthia approached the two of them. "Saint Lance, are you ready to go?"

He nodded.

She first staggered, seeing his upgraded Cloth. "Did one of the Gold Saints give blood for this? Maybe I should have applied for the Zodiac like Guardnia did." Then got back on track. "Nam has been telling me good things about your missions with Suisho and his sister. You've even befriended Yushira, from what I've heard?"

Lance sighed. "Yeah, I have." He cringed hesitantly to call her a friend. "I can see why she frustrates people."

Cynthia hummed anxiously. "Really? I was told you two were getting along, though? Not many people take her side when she spats with Suisho."

"We have," Lance assured. He grumbled. Lance still couldn't quite forgive Yushira for sneaking around Rozan, regardless if Dohko took her in. "But she did something really shitty recently, and I still don't know how to feel about it. I mean, what is THAT bullshit behavior of hers about? Why is she so self-destructive?"

"Who knows? Why were you?" she challenged.

He staggered, caught off guard. "That's different! I never snuck around people's training grounds."

"Is that what she did? It doesn't sound so bad compared to some stories I could tell you." Cynthia could see on his skeptic face that Lance wasn't buying it. "I know it's not your job to be her friend or anything, Pegasus, but Yushira, she can't help herself. Her sarcasm, her snooping around, her screw-ups, her constantly acting like she's not paying attention or respecting what you say… It's all just her way of protecting herself. Life as a Saint is isolating, dangerous, and full of pressures and paranoias." Cynthia pointed at her own mask. "Imagine when, on top of all that, they make you wear THIS."

This was a reasonably good point, but Lance still resisted it. "Alright, Cynthia. I'll think about it."

Cynthia chuckled. "I appreciate that. Don't worry. All that stupid girl takes is a bit of patience. It's like getting a cat to like you. I know Kastiel made you hate dogs."

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Andromeda Island

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Traveling through the northern regions of Andromeda Island, Suisho and Olivia were a fair distance from the two volcanoes that dominated the southern horizon. The nice layer of clouds covering the air provided an unplanned shade. Despite this, the heat was immense, driving past 50 degrees Celsius.

An unarmored Suisho leading the pair turned, seeing Olivia falling behind. "Are you doing okay, Miss Iraklidis?"

The armored Saintia dried up the last bit of water in her bottle before storing it carefully in one of Saint Shinta's bins around the island.

"Y-yeah, I am." She cleaned the sweat off her forehead with her arm. Fortunately, the slender style of a Saintia armor and short silk skirt helped deal with the heat. "I just didn't think it was going to be this bad. Even in the shade, it's so hot."

Suisho got down and ran his fingers through the ground. "The volcanoes certainly don't help, but the deserted environment is helping to trap the heat against the clouds." He then scoffed discretely. "Leave it to a Saint to complain about this little heat. She should see what it feels like next to the 4th Prison cauldrons. Knowing Minos' sense of irony, maybe someday she will."

Heading towards the central desert, Olivia tried to keep a watchful eye for the Reaper Specter.

Suisho stopped where the cliffs flanking the two of them opened up into a vast sand expense.

He checked his map. "This is the central crossroad. From here, we can take paths to the island's many tests and grounds."

Olivia saw it over his arm. The island had an interesting shape, with Andromeda Princess' silhouette. It made the two volcanoes look rather suspiciously placed, though. "Where do you think we might find Specters?"

Suisho sighed, seeing all the hiding spots, from the test areas to designated hideouts to even caverns created by volcanic runaways. "Let's see, if I were a murderous Specter, where would I hide?"

Olivia chuckled. "Is that a real method to getting into their headspace, Saint Crateris?"

"No, it's just what you ignorant Saints expect me to act like." Suisho thought to himself. He should first rid himself of this girl so he could investigate what Rhadamanthys was doing in peace.

"Well, they wear really dark armor, right?" Olivia questioned. "I can't imagine they're enjoying this heat, then. Maybe they're keeping to the shades."

Suisho was about to call this ridiculous, but then paused. "Uh. This would be what Zelos would do, for sure. She might have a point." He pointed at the northern cliffy areas, which had a topography shaping Princess Andromeda's hair. "Let's split up; you can search the northern valleys for hideouts. It should be cooler up there. This is your first job, right? I will be nearby in the desert areas just below checking the Meditation Dias test area, so we can stay within reinforcing range."

Olivia had to confess she felt a bit babied, but respected the Silver Saint's advice. "Alright, I'll do it."

"Do not engage with anyone, even if they look easy to defeat. We don't know what ambushes they could be preparing."

She nodded firmly. "Right! What if I really do run into the Reaper Specter? Those clouds look like the ones in Switzerland, don't you think so?"

"I don't think they are; I KNOW it. That 'Seraphim' is trying to eliminate long-range communication. He wants a confrontation to happen under Rhadamanthys' terms." He stored his map inside his Cloth box. "We'll stay under short-range ping distance. That should nullify his advantage."

She then noticed something. "Wait, Saint Suisho. Won't you put on your armor?"

"Mine's a bit shinier than yours, Olivia. I want to know I'll spot them before they spot me." Suisho half-lied, smirking. "Good luck, and keep to the shadows."

Olivia felt silly she didn't think of this reason and smiled in agreement before splitting away. Olivia took a road up the northeastern cliffs, and Suisho stayed along the lower slopes at the desert's northern edge.

It wasn't long before she lost sight of him behind the cliffs' walls. Feeling alone in the rising pass through the cliffs, she surveyed the terrain anxiously. Her confidence in her self-defense skills was solid, but who knew how good they'd be against bloodthirsty Specters.

As she kept to the shadow, her ears perked, detecting a soft sound. At first, Olivia thought it was the chilly northern breeze, but the sound persisted even as the wind slowed. Then she realized it had notes.

"Is that… music?" She followed the sound, expecting some kind of trap. "Saint Suisho, there's something suspicious to the northeast in my route, near the Cetus Peaks. Someone is playing music. I'm heading to investigate."

"Music? That could be the Sphinx Specter; suppress your hearing sense with cosmos as much as you can and remember to keep your distance, Equuleus. Do not engage." Saint Crateris responded. "I'm heading your way."

With a flash of blue light, the Saintia activated her Sapphire Cloth Stone, putting on her Equuleus Cloth. She pressed her winged ear covers, making it burn cosmos to filter soundwaves. Rushing ahead from hiding spot to hiding spot in her pale blue protection set, she kept her cosmos low but ready to explode.

Her eyes widened and she quickly hid behind a rock. Her eyes peeked out. This wasn't the Reaper Grim. It wasn't even Sphinx. In fact, it wasn't a Specter at all.

It was a blonde male Muvian, just sitting there playing a flute! "Saint Suisho, come quick!" Was it a messenger from the Colonies? "What is a Muvian doing here? He can't be a Specter, right? The people of Mu detest Hades, from what I've learned."

The blonde youth stopped playing and turned in her direction. "You! You're from Sanctuary, correct?"

Olivia staggered! "What?! How did he detect me?! I was keeping my cosmos hidden!"

He stood up and turned in her direction. "I know you're there, miss. You're hiding your cosmos, but I can sense your inner Chi."

She staggered. "My… My Chi?"

The man held chest in presenting manner. "Let me introduce myself; my name is Atlae. I am a student of Elder Yuzuriha's school of martial arts. You might have heard of the Turtle School? What is yours?"

"Elder Yuzuriha? Isn't that the leader of the Muvians?" Hesitantly, she stepped out, ready to fight if she had to. "I am… Olivia of Equuleus."

He beamed happily. "Nice to meet you! You're a Saintia, correct?"

"I'm sorry, but you shouldn't be here! This island is currently locked down by Sanctuary." Olivia stated "Even if you're here for the High Elder colonies, I WILL have to escort you out!"

Atlae staggered a bit, looking even disappointed that things were tense again. "I see. That's okay, though. I'm not here for Master's sake."

She widened eyes, confused. "You're not? But then…?"

"I'm here for Lord Rhadamanthys, of the Specters." The Muvian revealed. "He's sent me to defeat the Teos Saint, Lance of Pegasus."

The Equuleus Saintia froze, her eyes widening in terror and her senses going to full alert mode. She felt even greater terror when her silver-ranked cosmos sense began detecting an enormous power burgeoning in this Muvian, way beyond anything she had ever felt in someone without armor. The strange manner it burned through his body, evenly spread out rather than focused on fists and feet, made her realize why she had missed it.

Saint Suisho finally arrived on the scene. "Olivia? What did you find-" his foot screeched on the sand, seeing Atlae.

The two shared a look of recognition. Suisho, or as he was known in the Underworld as Aiacos, widened his eyes.

Atlae frowned. "He's the one Lord Rhadamanthys warned me to keep away."

Olivia tried to move to his side. "SAINT SUISHO, PUT YOUR CLOTH ON! HE'S-"

There was a sucking spiral of forces in the area and a darkening of the air. With a powerful burst of a dash jump, Atlae practically flew past her head, his lightspeed making it all seem instantaneous, and swung his foot clad in a thick caking of black cosmos. "ROZAN, BLACK SHELL KICK!"

Atlae's flying kick exploded on Suisho with a loud metallic clunk, like a swing anvil hitting the Judge's face, sending the screaming Silver Saint flying back, shooting him through the boulders and hills of Andromeda Island's terrain until he disappeared in an erupting cloud of sand in the far-off desert. Olivia screamed, seeing the gold-ranked companion instantly eliminated!

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

Chapter 83

3rd Arc

Episode 11

The Hand of Talos

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

Andromeda Island,

Central Desert

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

Having arrived on the island from the mainland, Lance and Shinta screeched to a halt, as someone in the distance was flung at full force across the island terrain, rolling through dunes and rocks from one end of the island to the other!

They both recognized the cosmos. "That was Suisho!"

"He must have run into the Specters! Shit, OLIVIA!" Lance realized, rushing off to where the Silver Saint shot from.

"Wait Lance!" Shinta called, catching him with a chain. "What about your team leader?! He could be hurt!"

Lance paused, looked left and right between destinations. "Damn it, we have no choice but to split! But if the Specters are back… this could be a trap for Shinta!"

Shinta had parallel fears. "This could be the trap for Lance, what that Reaper Specter warned me about! What if they want us to split? But Saint Suisho is hurt and could fall into the lava runoffs."

Despite their private concerns, the inevitable decision was quick to be made. "I'll go to Olivia, you get Sui' back on his feet, then! You know the terrain better anyway. Meet us at the battlefield afterwards!"

While nervous about this, Shinta nodded anyway. "Please be careful!"

With a flare of white and pink Cosmos each, they both beamed off in opposite directions.

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

Northern Cliff Pass

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

Atlae landed without a care in the world. The swirling cosmos in his foot of Earth and Darkness vanished away, ceasing the rumble Olivia felt on the ground.

"I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to startle you." Atlae assured. "I just can't allow that guy to get in the way of what I've come to do. Lord Rhadamanthys told me he can't be trusted."

The Saintia stepped away, her thoughts panicking. "He just…completely defeated Saint Suisho! I n-need to do something!"

He politely approached her. "You said your name is Olivia, right? Please show me where Pegasus Lance is. I can already tell you know him personally."

"STAY BACK!" she screamed, burning blue cosmos, clenching her left fist and raising her right hand in a battle pose. "Or I'll… I'll attack!"

He frowned in confusion. Didn't she see what he just did to that Judge? "I don't think that's a very good idea, Miss, and I don't think you do either." He gently reached out. "Please tell me where Pegasus is-"

Her instincts firing, the Saintia's wind cosmos blew. She caught his reaching wrist and spun him over shoulder, "K-KORNEPHOROS!" she cried, smashing Atlae on the rocky wasteland plate with a cosmic toss. The Saintia ran away immediately afterward, burning her speed at Mach 5. She needed to contact someone, anyone. "SAINT SHINTA, we found a dangerous intruder in the northern hills! Saint Suisho is down! We need back-up IMMEDIATELY!"

Atlae coughed and rubbed head, dizzy. "Ow, she's really strong. That really surprised me." He saw her getting away and gasped. "Wait, MISS!"

The messages simply bounced off the clouds in the air back at her in complete static.

Olivia panicked, feeling trapped "No, no, no! Can anyone hear me?!" She felt a force blitz in front of her and screamed, seeing Atlae blocking her off.

He held up hands. "I'm sorry, Miss, I can't let you go! I need to know where my challenge is!"

"Challenge?!" she sneered, bewildered. "I said; stay back!"

He panicked and took a step away. "I w-will, okay? Don't toss me over again, please! That Kornephoros really hurt."

She gawked at his appeasement. He just kicked Saint Suisho in the face and now he was acting defensive? What was this guy thinking?

Atlae scratched head nervously. "We got off on the wrong foot, as humans say? Why, um, why don't we talk for a minute? Did you le-"

"TALK?! You kicked my superior into the air! And you're with the Specters! And you-" Olivia then stopped herself from mentioning he wanted to kill her date. She burned her cosmos, terrified. "As a Saintia of Athena, I can't forgive you for that! Whatever you have to say, say it through battle!"

Atlae rubbed his temple, wincing. "Ugh, oh no, I did it again, didn't I? Doesn't she know her friend is a Specter, though?"

"EQUULEUS!" Olivia then thrusted her fist. "SHOOTING STAR FIST!"

A blinding shower of light in the form of a barrage of meteors ensued. Atlae awed before he crossed arms and activated his automatic armoring. "TALOS: IRON SKIN!" His cosmos burned along with his Chi, allowing him to reinforce all the correct parts of himself with defensive cosmos that hardened into thickened, black layers akin to metal.

The blows battered him top to bottom from unexpected angles, forcing him back. Olivia persisted, feeling like she was punching a tank but knowing she could die if she dared to stop.

Atlae gasped, seeing one head for his stern, where his necklace laid! "NO!" His hand caught her fist.

Olivia panicked, feeling trapped. More frighteningly, Atlae seemed upset for the first time.

"Please don't do that! Master Yuzuriha gave this flute to me." he asked, turning his necklace around to keep the shell flute on his back, away from blows. "Miss, I'm going to ask one last time. Where is Pegasus Lance? There are other Specters on this island that won't ask so nicely. If you don't answer, I'll be forced to knock you o-"

The images of the bruises on Cerah's neck haunted her and Olivia angrily swung her free fist on his cheek as hard as she could, punching him across the face. She sneered. "D-Do you really think I'd ever do that?! That I'd ever betray him after what I've seen your Specter friends do to Cerah?! NEVER!"

The Muvian touched his bruised cheek, impressed by her strength. "I'm sorry about your friend, but this isn't your problem. Do you understand who sent me? Messing with these affairs could get you hurt. Why are you taking such a silly risk?"

"Because I've seen what the Specters want to do to the people I love!" Olivia confronted. "You attacked my school, my friends, put my friend in a coma and even threatened to kidnap me for no reason! All in a week! I've never done anything to Hades and yet you've hounded me to the point of tears! You even thought I was Athena!"

Atlae sweated. He didn't realize the Specters messed up as much as he did. "That is unfortunate, yes, but…" His eyes narrowed in self-steeling. "But unfortunately, I have even more people to protect than you do."

A restrained, but focused blow hit her stomach, sending her first star point into disarray. Olivia doubled over, feeling her energy levels drop precipitously. Balancing herself, she tried to make a stand and counterattack, but the Muvian easily dodged and hit her again in the nape with a softened elbow blow.

Olivia coughed, feeling completely out of her depth. Burning her cosmos to stay in the fight, she felt her aura ignite irregularly. While hitting her star points was a perfect neutralizing tactic, she also knew that if he wanted, Atlae could turn her into meat paste in a nano-second with a well-placed punch. Why was the Specter holding back so much?

Atlae saw her resisting and sighed. "I'm sorry, miss Olivia. You seem very kind and honorable, but all you're doing is forcing me to stun you." He confessed, bracing himself for the final blow to punch her star points out. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you won't wake up in Heinstein Castle."

Atlae swung his fist down and Olivia screamed, closing her eyes. The impact was powerful, sounding throughout the island and knocking her over. The Saintia shook her head and looked up, her heart lifting in happiness.

Atlae struggled, feeling his punch's wrist gripped by the red-eyed Saint in white armor and black, shadowy cape. "U-ugh! You're quite strong! Ah, ah, you must be my challenge, Pegasus Lance!"

Growling, Lance gradually pushed him off, his aura burning into flames of white. "That's right! And who the fuck are you?! And what do you think you're doing to Olivia?!"

Atlae smiled, strained. He felt the dragon's strength in this Saint and his heart jumped in excitement. "Ah, you're so strong! Just like the Specters said!" he elated. "I'm Genbu Atlae. Hades calls me his Terrestrial Brute Star. And I'm here to beat you up."

Olivia got up, shaking. She was never so happy to see him, but this was all a trap still. "Saint Pegasus, watch out, he's more dangerous than he looks. We have to RETR-"

Atlae let out a martial shout and swung his leg up at Lance!

But Lance dodged the swing with a bob down before countering. "PEGASUS! CHARGE FIST!" The image of a knight riding a winged horse striking a turtle monster's shell with a spear was projected and Atlae screamed, blasted in the chest and shot off, rolling through crashing rocks. Lance's fire aura ignited, manifesting his rage into swirls of inferno that flew around him like waves and condensed around his fist. "FLAME ATTACK!"

Atlae rose from the rubble and widened his eyes, seeing it come at him. He crossed arms. "C-Come forth, TALOS! IRON SKIN!"

The beam of fire that coursed through the battlefield like dragon breath, blasted the downed Atlae and exploded the wasteland terrain. Rocks flew everywhere, the ground quaked and a heat wave flared out, incinerating sand into glass.

The Saintia stared, stunned, completely forgetting the warning she was going to give him. "W… w-wow!" she turned, feeling her heart beat slower in relief.

Despite the spectacle, though, Lance turned in alarm. "OLIVIA, RUN! GET SHINTA AND THE GOLD SAINTS NOW! He's still alive!"

"Wait! I have to warn you!" Olivia insisted. "He has some kind of strange ability. He said he was able to sense my Chi!"

Lance's eyes widened. Her Chi? He gritted his teeth, feeling a strange energy rise in the area even though the enemy's Cosmos was down. An energy he felt familiar with. It couldn't be! It seemed just like Seiryu's lifeforce. "Does this Specter have… the 0th sense?! But it can't be! Master Dohko said it's antithetical to everything they represent! Who is he?!"

The inferno in front of them opened up and the Muvian walked out, looking rattled.

Lance and Olivia widened eyes, bewildered not by his return, but by what he had on him. In the spots Lance had struck him with Charge Fist and the blunt of Flame Attack's beam, Genbu Atlae's supposedly unarmored body was now, indeed, clad over his chest and the right surface of his arm and face in hardened sheets of actual black metal plates just showed up out of nowhere.

"I-Incredible! That could have really hurt me…" Atlae winced, rubbing his neck. He ran his fingers by the cladding on his face, taking deep, calming breaths. "Just a second, please."

Then they watched, stunned, as these protective hardenings over his chest and the right side of his body, including his face, dematerialized like folding hexagons until nothing was left.

Lance stepped back. "What in God's name…?!" He messaged the star reader Saintia, who had been fighting Atlae so far. "(Olivia, what did he just do?!)"

She shook head alarmedly. "(I'm not sure! Those plates weren't Damascus like his glove and even Lightcraft needs a Cloth Stone! They looked instead like…some kind of hide!"

Atlae shrugged embarrassedly. "I'm sorry, my 'Cloth', if you can call it that, always frightens the humans out a bit when they first see it. I try to keep it under wraps, but Saint Pegasus came at me so strongly, I panicked."

"Touch Olivia again and I'll make that combo look like a pat on the head, asshole!" Lance warned, standing protectively between the two.

The Muvian staggered, sensing a strong emotional reaction from the human. "Oh, you two are…!" He then shook head in lament. "I'm so sorry, Pegasus! Please forgive me. I'm here to defeat you, of course, but I would never, ever touch someone you have strong feelings for. That would be cheating. It's not my way."

The Saint rose a brow, sharing a baffled look with Olivia. Was this guy serious? "How gentlemanly of you!"

Atlae beamed. Pegasus finally understood! "Thank you! By the way, you looked quite cool when you dashed in to save her! I was very impressed! I was worried you'd be a pushover, Pegasus. But no. You're a proper challenge, not to mention a student of a rival Rozan school. I'll be able to earn Lord Hades' favor and enjoy a fun fight with the School of Dragon at the same time. I couldn't be happier!"

"A… rival school?!" Lance wondered. Was he encountering some kind of reverse-Shinta with a boyish happiness about fighting? "(OLIVIA, RUN NOW! Go to Shinta! He went to where this guy sent Suisho flying!)"

She nodded. "R-Right! Just try and hold him off until I get him! Saint Lance?"

"Y-yeah?"

She gulped nervously. "Thank you for saving me again. Please be careful!"

The Bronze Saint pressed a clenched fist on chest in vow. "I promise, Olivia. Please go."

The Saintia turned with heavy heart and fled. She winced as she escaped, holding the spot the Specter struck her on and slowing her down. "D-damn it, my Cosmos is still burning slowly!"

The Muvian saw her turn the corner and huffed. "I wish you hadn't done that, Pegasus."

Lance struck a battle pose. "Ah, now you have a problem with her leaving the fight?"

"I do, because she could have just sat in the sidelines, maybe even cheered for you. That would have made this fight even more exciting, wouldn't you say?" Atlae argued. He then frowned. "This is the first time I face off against a student of another Rozan school. I wanted to take my time. But now you've forced a ticking clock on me to beat you."

Charging his bonfire cosmos and striking a dragon school pose, Lance gritted teeth, wondering what was with this guy. Well, if he wanted a fight with the School of Seiryu, he was going to get it!

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

Southern Area,

Volcanic Passes

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

Rushing through the volcanic-ashes dunes, Shinta searched for the spot Saint Suisho collided against as quickly as he could. He knew the terrain well, but the lava runoff canyons were trickier, since they had fewer constant landmarks and tended to disorient the senses with their windy passes.

Eventually, he found the Silver Saint, who tethered semi-unconsciously on a pointy rock over the molten lava. "SAINT SUISHO!"

The Crateris Saint squirmed at his name being called. The boulder beneath him began cracking, damaged by the initial impact of the Saint crashing into it. His eyes opened and he tried to raise himself, but it made the rock beneath him creak.

Gasping at the sight of the Silver Saint about to fall into running lava, Shinta reached. "NEBULA CHAIN!"

The rock collapsed. Suisho screamed as he fell, feeling the fiery heat below him. But a flying chain quickly sped around his wrist and tightened, catching him. His weight pulled Shinta down to the ground and his feet dangled over the boiling lava. The Judge looked down and felt the popping bubbles splash burning liquid onto his boots, sizzling them.

He looked up. "S-Saint Shinta?! What happened?!"

Shinta pulled as hard as he could, but his chest pressed against the edge made it tough to lever force up. "I g-got you! JUST HOLD ON!"

Suisho tried to grab onto the wall, but couldn't reach it. He looked down again and paled as the lava roared and swelled every time the island quaked from the battle between Lance and Rhadamanthys' Muvian. Looking up at the Andromeda Saint, Suisho focused on climbing up the chain while Shinta did his best to raise himself.

Seeing a foot hold off to the right, Shinta devised a plan. "I'll swing you to that platform! Get ready! One, two, THREE!" And with an arm push, he swung Suisho into the small crevice, giving him a place in the lava river fissure to stand on safely for a bit.

Suisho breathed out, keeping his stomach against the wall so his Cloth box wouldn't take up standing space. "Thank the Emperor! Fantastic, now I'm in debt to another Bronze Saint! I'm going to KILL Rhadamanthys for this!" He looked up and played his part. "Saint Shinta, you saved my life. Thank you!"

Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Shinta smiled. "O-Of course! Don't mention it. Now… let's get you up from there, next."

Suisho looked around and saw that the remaining height wasn't so bad. "If I freeze these grounds to strengthen them, I think I can power a jump with cosmos that will get me out of here without breaking this foothold. But it won't be easy with all this heat. I'll need to concentrate a lot of cosmos." He looked back up. "You should just go to Peg-"

As the Bronze Saint raised himself, though, his Silver Star pendant slipped out his shirt and armor collar right over Aiacos' face.

The Judge held breath, seeing 'Yours Ever' stamped on it. "WHAT?! N-no! It can't be! Why do you have that?!"

Putting it back in place, Shinta felt embarrassed and asked. "I'm sorry, Saint Suisho, what were you going to say? Do you have a plan?"

Before the Crateris could find words, though, suddenly, right next to Shinta, the Levantine Door emerged and Reaper Grim popped out.

The tall Specter immediately kneeled. He didn't see Aiacos down in the lava canyon. "Prince Michael! Thank the Underworld I've found you!"

Shinta was alarmed. "Y-You?!"

Suisho, who was not seen by Grim, recognized the voice and widened eyes. "That's the Seraphim, the Terrestrial Insidious Star? What did he call Andromeda? Michael?! Wasn't that the Dark Angel Specter?!" He stayed concealed and listened in.

Rather than attacking Shinta, the Terrestrial Insidious Star pointed north. "You must go, Prince! Rhadamanthys has enacted his plan and Pegasus Lance is in danger! You can't let him do that!"

"I'm not that person!" Shinta protested, hoping Saint Suisho didn't hear him. "Just tell me what's going on with Lance!"

"Lord Rhadamanthys believes your friend is a threat to Hades. He's seen him battle Prince Lucifer and sent the Muvian, Atlae of Genbu, to defeat him!"

Shinta staggered. "The Underworld knows?! Do they know he also wore the Teos Cloth?!"

"Genbu Atlae is a powerful Rozan fighter and he has Pegasus completely outmatched! He was picked for his abilities and because he isn't a Specter, so a war wouldn't happen right away. You must go help your friend!" Grim warned. He needed to get the Andromeda up there in time to watch Pegasus about to get killed. He opened up his Levantine Door again, showing the battle. Shinta gasped panickily, seeing Lance get blasted over and over again.

But Shinta stepped back, hesitant at such aid. "I don't understand, why are you warning me?!"

The tall Specter lowered head to seem subservient. "Because I am loyal to you, merciful Prince, not that brute Rhadamanthys! The Judges want to murder Pegasus to earn the Emperor's favor, so he'll forget about giving you the leadership of the armies. If Rhadamanthys succeeds, he'll leave the Specters in a second age of ignoble leadership!"

In his hiding, Aiacos sneered in realization. "Grim, you filthy treacherous rat! So that's what you're doing, conspiring against us Judges! Rhadamanthys is such a fool!" He thought about the pendant on Shinta's neck. "Saint Andromeda must be a sleeping Prince!If his attachment to Pegasus is strong, Rhadamanthys assassinating him could trigger Andromeda's awakening. Grim is making it so that instead of killing a powerful enemy asset, Rhadamanthys is going to saddle us all with another Prince!"

"Prince, regardless of how you feel about me, please go to that battle! You must not let the Judges have their way!" Grim appealed to Shinta, feigning kindness and smirking inside his boney mask. "Save your friend before it's too late! If you wish, I can take you there with my Levant-"

Shinta shook head fiercely. "No, I will go myself! You STAY AWAY from my friends!" and Shinta ran northwards. Shinta, however, suddenly braked. He turned hesitantly, his consciousness weighing. "I don't trust you yet, Reaper Grim… but thank you."

Watching the Andromeda disappear into a beam of light, Grim laughed. "This is going even better than I thought!" He channeled his thoughts to his comrade Specter. "(Yeti, the Prince is heading to where the Muvian and Pegasus are fighting! Now he just needs to witness his dear Saint friend about to die. Are you ready to make sure of that?)"

"(Yes, I am. I've been hiding by the big toxic cesspool on the island they call the Cetus Crater.)" His comrade, Yeti Zemu confirmed. His glacial abilities were probably protecting him from the hazardous environment that kept most Saints away. "(Though if you ask me, Rhadamanthys' Muvian is doing a pretty good job of defeating Pegasus. I think I'll be able to chill up here in the end after all.)"

"(Do not take any chances! Rhadamanthys merely seeks to capture him, but he must DIE! We are the Seraphim, servants of Prince Michael, not unprofessional Terrestrial Stars like Zelos! I don't know what other Saints could be around here. Worst of all, Aiacos could be around.) Grim asserted. "(If Pegasus tries to run, KILL HIM! Preferably in front of the Prince! I'll join you in a moment.)"

"(Got it. Gonna keep a cool head until then.)"

"Levantine Door!" Reaper Grim casted, creating a passage for him into the Yomotsu to travel undetected back to the Cetus Peaks. He looked around suspiciously before entering. "Mm, what was the Prince doing here anyway, I wonder?"

Still hiding, Aiacos gritted teeth. He had half a mind to just pop out and send this traitor flying to the stars with his Garuda Flap. Discovering that Prince Michael was one of the Saints, though, was still an intel he wanted to figure out what to do with.

Eventually, Reaper Grim decided he was wasting too much time and entered the portal, zipping it shut behind him.

Aiacos came out and tried to decide what to do. He had a number of options available to him, but they would all force him to pick a side between three parties, namely the Saints he owed a life debt to, the Reaper Specter conspiring against Rhadamanthys and Rhadamanthys himself who conspired against Suisho, all options which he detested.

In any case, he had to confess; Aiacos didn't expect the Andromeda Saint to be such an unending well of surprises.

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

Northern Cliffs

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

The cliff valley shook with the battle's impacts. Lance's elbow collided with Atlae's unleashing a shockwave that cratered the ground and blasted away rocks. A multitude of smaller blows were then traded back and forth, with Atlae confidently warding off Lance's aggressive assault of punches and flying kicks with a series of dancing arm parries automatically armored by his strange coating ability.

Pegasus Lance launched an array of punches and kicks to prod the adversary's defenses. Atlae calmly moved back and aside, dodging his strikes with almost casual ease. Lance felt his movements studied by Atlae, who smiled, detecting all sorts of curiosities in the Pegasus. The Muvian reacted to his assault with skill and solid defense, expertly parrying all of Lance's attacks while barely ceding an inch.

Lance himself tried to understand his adversary's movements, unnerved by the lack of concern in the Muvian to be fighting an armored fighter without a Cloth of his own. Was he just going to use that trick from before if struck?

This back and forth continued with their auras burning higher and hotter, putting more force into the impacts and creating bigger shockwaves, but nothing seemed to work in the slightest for Lance. He jumped and swung a powerful cosmic kick, but Atlae's arm clad itself in its strange hardening layer and blocked it like a raised buckler, absorbing an impact that made the rest of the wasteland shake. The clashes escalated, creating a cascade of two bodies of cosmos impacting blows on each other across the battlefield, smashing through the rocky environment.

Pushing the Muvian back with a blow to his guard, Lance struck again with a leap kick immersed in flames, but Atlae absorbed the powerful impact easily with a crossarm.

Still, Atlae looked impressed. "Oh! That's a nice power output!"

"You've seen nothing yet!" Lance then twisted body to swing a powerful fire punch at the Muvian's chest from below his guarding arms, hitting him squarely but failing to do much damage.

Atlae studied its heat. "990…. 1000 degrees Celsius! The optimal temperature height for a gold rank user." He laughed excitedly, realizing he was up against a very well-trained Saint. "Not bad! But you're going to need more than that to pierce my Iron Skin, Pegasus!"

Lance tried again, unleashing a battery of frontal blows that meteored Atlae, but the Muvian absorbed them like a thick punching bag, manifesting those armor plates wherever Lance hit. Colliding a heavier swing with Atlae's arm, Lance exposed himself to a powerful side kick that blasted his ribs and sent the Pegasus rolling through the ground.

Atlae smirked confidently and his hand gestured Lance to come back into the fight.

The Pegasus Saint kept his pose up and panted, confused. What was going on?!

Charging back in, the Pegasus swung fist, but Atlae parried with a hand push and struck Lance's armored stomach with a dark-clad punch, forcing his lung air out, caught the Bronze's Saint leg and threw him over to the sand. After rolling, the Pegasus shot back in, missing Atlae's bobbing head by a hair. A series of lightspeed strikes were executed by Lance, bombarding Atlae's crossing guard from multiple angles like a shower of thousands of golden light droplets with the force of punches, but again the Muvian was barely challenged by this, dancing his forearms and palms to meet every single blow. Frustrated, Lance swept a blow in at full force! It just landed on Atlae's crossguard, pushing the muscled enemy back but failing to hurt him, before the Muvian dashed back in, dodged Lance's follow-up kick and then delivered a spectacular handstand kick that blasted Lance's chest, sending him flying off.

Landing, a rattled Lance stepped back, bewildered. He felt like he was fighting Acrisius and his shield while blindfolded all over again! The guy wasn't even using telekinesis or anything.

The Muvian sensed this fear in him. "Come on, Pegasus! Try a little harder, please. You're a Dragon School student, right? I can tell you got a lot left to show me."

Ticked, Lance ignited his aura, creating a bonfire with cosmos. He felt his muscles reenergize and tensing. He needed to fight smartly. First things first, he was going to figure out just how much of a 7th sense advantage this guy had. "Let's see how you handle Tenma's tricks!"

Focusing cosmos on his legs, he blitzed forward. The Muvian raised his guard, but just when he thought the Pegasus would rush him again, the Pegasus vanished, speeding off to the flanks in multiple direction turns! A series of speeding afterimages of Lance then began circling around him, feinting assaults on the Muvian's defenses. Atlae went into the defensive, taken by surprise, backing away until he was sure he felt the Pegasus' correct position before unleashing his counterpunch.

His fist went through 'Lance', which vanished into nothing! Atlae irked before a powerful kick struck him in his chest, blasting him back. He stepped back, sweating. All he felt in his 7th sense was the Pegasus zipping around so fast that it felt like a big blurry light ring encircled him, the Saint executing multiple feints at him, eliminating his ability to distinguish visual information from the Saint's factual attacks. He relaxed and closed his eyes.

Seeing the Muvian's guard overwhelmed, Lance made his move as Tenma would, detecting an unprotected angle and striking in "CHARGE FIST!"

Time slowed down in the lightspeed movement and Atlae swept aside, "Rozan! Black Shell KICK!" and he struck Lance's armored stomach with a wrecking ball of a kick, shooting him into the rocks.

Smashing through them, the staggered Saint gawked, both in pain and bewilderment. "W-what?! How did he detect me?!" He remembered Olivia's warning. "Did he… sense my lifeforce?"

A look of curiosity was also stamped on the Muvian. "Interesting. You fight like a Dragon, but all your emotions are aggressive, like the Phoenix. That lack of sync is making you unable to draw the full potential of the Dragon Schools teachings. Perhaps you picked the wrong school? That was a nice try too, for someone without the Chi Sense."

Rising, the Pegasus stared in horror. He was right, then! This Specter had the sense Master Dohko said they couldn't have! "How do you have it?! The Sense of Chi?!"

"Ah, are you surprised?" Atlae asked, sounding like they were just misunderstanding a game, rather than a fight to the death. "The world is filled with great fighters, Saint Lance. Not all of them serve Athena. This must be an odd situation for you, as a Rozan student, I mean. Let me show you, then…"

Laying his fists aside and spreading feet slightly, Atlae narrowed eyes and charged his energies, igniting his green aura and fluttering his hair. The ground beneath them vibrated, his muscles tensed and loose pebbles took to the air, circling the Muvian's cosmos aura in circling patterns, all signs of the Earth element.

Yet, Lance widened his eyes, sensing the strangest darkness underneath Atlae's cosmos. Rather than a shadow, which was what he commonly felt in Specters' cosmos, it seemed more like Atlae was just a shell to this strange force which was likely responsible for his mysterious cladding.

"I'm feeling two burning auras of Cosmos in him!" The Pegasus Cloth warned him. "He may look like he doesn't have a Cloth, but this Muvian warrior isn't alone, Lance!"

The Saint gritted teeth. "I can tell that! But this is nothing like how Surplices feel! He just has that one glove on, but whenever I attack, entire plates of armor pop up on his body! What the fuck is going on with this guy?! Did he 'eat' a Cloth or something?!"

"I'm not sure. In fact, it's possible one might have eaten him, instead."

The answer stunned Lance. "What?!"

For the first time in the fight, Atlae took the initiative, dashing in, striking him with his elbow, again clad in his strange armor of cosmos! Dodging a counter attack from Lance, Atlae uppercut Lance to punish him again, this time cracking his armor! In desperation, Lance succeeded to block a third blow and tried to tackle the Muvian off, but yet again the bastard breezed past him like he could see even his wildest strategies coming.

Rolling back up, Lance crossed his guard to block a sudden dash kick from Atlae that pushed him off painfully. Thrown off by Lance's guard, Atlae recovered a bit too slowly, finally giving Lance a shot to strike his chest with a fiery punch that landed on his popping armor plate. The Muvian screamed, smashed on the ground. He countered by heel kicking Lance off to the side, cracking his armor further, but the two this time backed off in a stalemate.

Lance coughed, holding his chest. "I got him this time! His damn armor is still in the way, but I got him!"

Atlae waited for Lance to get back up. "N-Nice shot, Pegasus! Did you pay attention? That is me with just cosmos, Saint Lance." The Muvian repeated the energy charging pose from before. "But this is me with Chi added on." His green aura erupted raging wildly all over his body instead of the usual light brim most Saints manifested. The ground vibrated inwards to the Muvian, like the very essence of the earth was gravitating to him. Atlae's green aura began darkening, intensifying and setting Atlae's body alight with strength.

One important detail stood out to Lance; he couldn't feel any particular stars being formed "He's not focusing his cosmos at all anymore! Is he insane?!"

"No, this is how he's beating you!" the Pegasus Cloth warned.

He wasn't about to sit there and let him charge his powers! Lance took aim and dashed. "PEGASUS CHARGE FIST!"

However, the Muvian still dodged the blow with a swerve, letting Lance spear the air aimlessly.

Roaring, Lance continued the combo, this time using a close-range technique with little cosmos. "BLADE!"

But Atlae dodged the swing and the next one after that, making it slice random rocks in the battlefield instead. Driving Lance to frustration, Atlae saw the Pegasus thrust the chop hand forward and clasped his hands tightly around his, catching it as a martial artist would a real sword.

The Pegasus Saint staggered, unable to free himself. "It…. It can't be! How did he…?!"

"You have great tactical thinking, Pegasus. You know the weaknesses of the 7th sense well." Atlae praised as he struggled Lance's hand to the side. He recognized this as a trait of the Dragon School of Rozan, which specialized in studying maneuvers and counterattacking. "At that range, it would have been impossible for me to sense your attack's angles. With the 0th sense aiding me, though, my Cosmos is used in a completely new way. With Chi's help I can use Cosmos to be stronger,-"

Lance felt a punch explode on his stomach, making his world go white!

"-faster,-"

In a wild counter, Lance shot a cosmos blast but Atlae parried it off with a hardened backhand, right before smashing an elbow blow on the Pegasus. Lance coughed out blood and felt his body losing strength.

"- and more flexible than you are…-"

Falling to the ground, Lance tried to take advantage to roll-kick Atlae, but the Specter back flipped, blocked a dash strike from Lance despite the short reaction time between movements and then blasted the Pegasus' with his foot before Lance could refocus his energy into defense, sending him flying back screaming.

The Muvian relaxed stance, watching Lance crash on rocks helplessly. "-… all with the same amount of Cosmos.1"

Lance crawled out of the rubble, bleeding, coughing and feeling his upgraded armor caved in. He saw red droplets fall on the sand in his hands. He heard his own armor screaming in his ears to get back up and fight or he would die. Yet, his mind was trapped in the bewildering reality he was subjected to, that some stranger he just met was beating him not by being overwhelmingly stronger with the Cosmos, like Lucifer was, but by utilizing it in a way completely beyond anything he ever imagined or was taught about it.

This Muvian, Atlae, was violating one of the most fundamental practices of Cosmos, spreading it out to his body instead of focusing it on his attack and defense points, like his fist or his feet. At any moment, from any angle, his body was ready to act with the strength of a Gold Saint, making traditional tactics and miracle works Saints relied on to become pointless.

The insane waste of stamina alone made it unthinkable. And yet, for Atlae, a wielder of the 0th sense, it was making him a better fighter with Cosmos than Lance ever was.

"I don't understand!" he hissed, between pants. "A-Anyone else would combust themselves alive with their own Cosmos if they did this! Or collapse into a coma like Cerah, at BEST!"

"That's right." Atlae laid out his right hand, showing it brim fully with bright energy that would make a Gold Saint pass out in seconds to maintain. "But with the strength Chi gives my body, Pegasus… I can take it."

It was then that it hit Lance; he wasn't fighting merely a strange opponent with stronger capabilities and a strange organic armor spawn, but also someone with a radically new way to employ the Cosmos in combat!

Atlae shook his head calmly. "I think it's clear by now how this fight is going to end, Saint Pegasus. If miss Olivia hadn't left, I'd enjoy holding back and fight you some more, perhaps even see if you could catch up with me. But if she's getting the Gold Saints, I can't afford to stick around. So please, yield. You're a fellow Rozan student, after all. I don't want to have to break both of your legs to get this done."

The Pegasus Saint wasn't sure if he should be stunned or insulted by this. He struck another Charge Fist pose and readied Cosmos. "O-oh, youre' worried about holding back?! You don't mind being here to drag me back to the Specters, though! So what do you even care?!"

Atlae folded arms, not expecting him to understand what was at stake. "Because, if I don't, this will just end badly for both of us. Push me hard enough, Pegasus, and I might even end up destroying this entire island."

The Saint gawked. "Destroy the island? Does he just not realize how he sounds?!" Burning his cosmos to full force, he decided to clear Atlae of doubts. Even if it was a terrible idea, he needed a better understanding of what he was up against. "Let me put you at ease, then, Specter; I don't give a flying fuck how powerful you think you are! You can drop all your restrains, or limiters, or whatever other fucking surprise you think you have for me, cause I sure as hell am not going to hold back on you!"

Atlae then saw Pegasus' aura transform, noticing his bonfire began crackling with sparks. He widened eyes. "Wait, what?! Does Pegasus have that element, too?!"

Lance's eyes narrowed. "PEGASUS! LIGHTNING CHARGE FIST!"

Atlae gasped in fear, seeing the bolt of electricity shoot at him! Putting all of his intent into dodging, the Muvian rolled aside as far as he could to evade the path of the thunderous spear charge.

But this turned out to be a feint! Lance jumped high at the last few meters and swerved his punch down, striking the Earth instead at the last second, cracking it widely with a powerful electric pulse and a fissuring tremor. Atlae lost his balance and felt his body stunned by the pulse, striking fear into his heart. Not noticing the Muvian's strange reaction, Lance simply struck his chest with a powerful kick, shooting a screaming Atlae back with unexpected success.

A brief nano-second of not feeling the armor from before alerted Lance. "W-what? That worked?! How?!"

Breathing deeply, Atlae relaxed, realizing he had channeled out enough of Talos' strength so he wouldn't activate completely. "I didn't realize you had Electricity at hand, Pegasus… That was very frightening."

Lance scoffed, ready to do it again. "What, is the Lightning Element your weakness or something?! Maybe I'll turn up the voltage, then!"

But the Muvian narrowed eyes as the rest of his plating evaporated away. "No, Pegasus. In this fight, it's yours."

The Saint staggered, not expecting this response.

"I realize you can barely raise your Fire element to 1000 degrees, which isn't enough to crack my 'Cloth'," the Muvian then Atlae cracked his neck, stretched harms and jumped up and down, as if he was testing a body he briefly lost use of after an injury. "But please stick to it in our battle or we'll both regret it."

More and more, the Pegasus Saint was flabbergasted. What was this bastard blabbering about?! And why did he keep treating this deathmatch like some sort of martial arts competition? Regardless, using electricity was the only thing that seemed to upset him, so Lance was going to double down on it.

Waving his hands and channeling the Pegasus constellation, Lance readied his second move. "PEGASUS!"

Seeing Lance's aura still crackled, Atlae squinted. "Damn it, I warned you!" A bubble of Earth cosmos which quacked like a tectonic movement formed around Atlae's fist, before Darkness encased it in a shell, trapping the force. "Fine, I'll use my own element as well!"

"I only managed to hit him with Lightning Charge's pulse, but with the Lightning Storm fist, he won't escape!" Lance strategized, rising his cosmos. He focused his cosmos to ensure an effective burst of darts, dancing his hands to shape his stars.

Atlae noticed this. "I see even after all this, you're still fighting like a Saint."

Lance backed off cautiously, unsure what this bastard was going to show him next. "Has worked fine to me so far!"

"I'm sure it does, when your objective is to break a piece of metal in a peak instant of what Saints call their 'miracles'." Atlae raised his fist, showing it clad with flowing light, and his green eyes glowed with lifeforce. "But with Chi, I can break my physical limits. And I can make my cosmos vibrate out of every cell of my body for minutes on end! One-time miracles won't do anything to stop me."

The Pegasus Saint's 7th sense then felt, just like Atlae said, that microscopic point of concentration of energy in the Muvian's fist transformed into a burning brick layer over his whole hand, then spread even through the rest of his body. He gasped, realizing that this kind of cosmos burning should be impossible!

He couldn't let himself be intimidated, though! Olivia and Shinta's lives were at stake! Lance swung fist. "LIGHTNING STORM FI-"

Atlae closed in the distance with a dash leap!

Lance staggered, caught completely off-guard by his speed closing in!

Atlae's dark meteor of a fist swung up "ROZAN; DOUBLE IMPACT PUNCH!" and crashed on his chest. The Saint's stomach was smashed in, making him scream. All in the same instant, the grinding knuckles cracked the attack's dark shell, popping out the inner tectonic force, striking the target a second time simultaneously. A searing shockwave sound was let out and a screaming Lance was caught pointblank by the power of crashing planetary plates, shooting him to the distance.

Crashing into a large Andromeda Island cliff, the force cracked the whole side of it with enormous fissures, shaking the island itself. Lance fell off it with a barely conscious scream, his strength disappearing.

Atlae combed his blonde hair and sighed. "I'm sorry, Pegasus… but I can't play around anymore. It's time to end this!"

Coughing and holding his chest, Lance crawled away through the rocky chaos he fell into. He tried to focus on his fear for his life. He tried to think of Olivia's face. "C-Come on! Awaken my Chi, goddamn it! What m-more am I missing?! If I don't do it, I'm DEAD!"

Yet, his strength did nothing but decrease. The explosive, double impact of Atlae's attack not only cracked his armor further, but rattled his body. Pressurized Earth cosmos released after the cracking of the outer Darkness shell against Lance's hardened chestplate was a combination that hit him with a force far beyond the limits of any normal punch.

Atlae reached him, landing with a jump on a nearby rock. Massaging his hand, he felt Talos' wrath subside and breathed a sigh of relief before addressing his adversary. "You're done, Pegasus. Come with me or I'll be forced to use my Double Impact Punch again."

Even though he felt like one more blow like that would end him, Lance stood back up.

Atlae hummed, impressed. "Incredible. My technique can ignore an armor's defense by transmitting my power through crushing tectonic vibration. Most Saints would not get back up from it." So he impressed he was, he had to take time to praise it. "Not bad, Pe-

"S-SHUT UP!" As a survivor of Lucifer's Dark Revenge Blast, Lance felt a bit underestimated. "Do you think this is a game?! My friends' island isn't your fucking playground! You act like you're being polite, but you sound no different than the sadistic fuck that attacked Olivia and Cerah last time, taking his time beating the shit out of an innocent woman! So take your stupid martial arts' honor and shove it up your ass!"

The Muvian frowned, irritated. He didn't realise he was coming across poorly, but the Pegasus didn't have to compare him to Queen. "I just wished to compliment you. I respect someone who can get back up from a blow like that. But if that's how you want it, Pegasus…-"

Jumping high into the air, Atlae descended on Lance with an ax kick. The Saint rolled aside and the blow cracked the earth, quaking it. With a spin, Atlae dodged Lance's counter punch and struck his cracked chestplate with his elbow. Blocking an uppercut with an arm cross, Atlae twisted Lance's arms in to pull him into an overhead kick that blasted the Saint to the ground, screaming. Charging an orb of green cosmos, Atlae fired it at close range to blast the Saint into submission.

Lance swept his arm up "B-BARRIER!" and shielded himself with his ring layers, deflecting the blast aside to a cliff, before firing his own fire blast.

Atlae screamed, obscured by a flare of bright fire cosmos that masked Saint lance's cosmos position. His 0th sense, though, detected Saint Lance launching an overhead punch and he raised his hand to catch it! The blow collided on Atlae's palm forcefully, sinking the Muvian's feet in. Their auras raged, fueling a push between them, and their other palms met, initiating a power struggle.

Gripping the Muvian's hands tightly, Lance charged his cosmos higher and higher. He could feel Atlae slowly push him back. He was simply physically stronger, plus he had Chi, making this struggle a losing contest, but it was either keeping the bastard in place until reinforcements showed up or letting him have the mobility advantage.

Atlae sweated anxiously. He charged his powers and put immense pressure on the Pegasus, trying to subdue him. Their auras became a bonfire fight between two enlarging flames of orange and green, crackling and warming the ground and making the sand wave away with emanating force. Their two focus points in the warriors' hands were shaking capsules of fire and earth cosmos shining like blinding stars, projecting their Pegasus constellation and Terrestrial Brute Stars in the air.

He realized Lance's stratagem and chuckled. "I see! He's forcing me to meet him in a match of focused cosmos! That's brilliant!" Accepting the challenge, Atlae began concentrating the cosmos into his hands. "Let's see who breaks first, then!"

The brim in Atlae's body began focusing entirely on his hands, arms, and back muscles, pushing his organic engine further. Feeling his heels losing ground, Lance decided to just keep burning cosmos, even if it was all wasted away! He tried to concentrate on Atlae's strength, how the Chi seemed to push his force to higher levels. If only he could do the same! Maybe if he kept this up and tapped out the limits of what his Cosmos could do, then something inside Lance would click into place, and his 0th sense would awaken too!

But it didn't happen.

Lance screamed, feeling his body pushed back and pressed down, causing his feet to dig into the rocks. Even as he hit the limits of his burning, Atlae was gradually overpowering him! The cosmos was infinite, but raising it any higher than this would put Lance on an exponential curve of burning, exhausting him instantly!

"Fuck it! I'm losing this fight anyway!" Focusing everything he had on burning even higher temperatures, he cried out. "BURN, MY COSMOS!"

Raging his aura past his sustainable limits, Lance winced, feeling his stamina beginning to drop dramatically with only a slight bump in resistance. Panic began swelling in him as he barely felt a difference, wondering if he had just found a way to screw himself over even faster.

Yet, something about it alarmed Atlae, whose eyes widened at Lance's armor. "The Pegasus Cloth!" His green eyes saw it darkening. "It's…. changing color?!"

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

"Beware his armor," Lord Grim had warned him. "Based on its new shape, it's very likely that Prince Lucifer has given the Saint his own blood to repair it. We don't know what kind of effects a Specter's blood, much less such a powerful and high-ranking one, will have on one of Athena's filthy constellation suits."

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

Unaware of what was happening in the bright burning orange of his fire cosmos, Lance felt his strength rising and found himself pushing back Atlae. Stepping out of the rubble, he pressed forward, feeling himself not only strangely stronger but the Muvian's confidence in disarray. He wasn't sure why, but he seized this chance with everything he had!

Suddenly pulling Atlae's grips in, Lance caught him by surprise and slammed his knee as hard as he could on the Muvian's stomach. Atlae screamed and stumbled back.

Exploding his cosmos, Lance swung his fist. "PEGASUS! LIGHTNING STORM FIST!"

A shower of golden thunder blasts with a strangely darkened tint shot out and blasted Atlae's body over and over, electrifying him and battering him back. The injured Muvian collapsed, sparks coursing through his body.

Lance panted. His Pegasus Cloth lost its darkened color as his cosmos cooled down, returning to a pristine white, but he didn't notice anything.

"It… it worked?!" Snapping into focus, Lance charged in, aiming at Atlae as he got up. "LIGHTNING CHARGE FIST!"

Roaring, Atlae caught his thunderbolt punch with his hand, absorbing its impact with barely a drag of his heels. Lance gasped, seeing the electricity flow through his adversary with barely a wince.

"I t-told you… not to do that! BLACK SHELL KICK!" A furious Atlae swung a mass of darkness into Lance's side, hitting him with a wrecking force easily three times higher than the last time he used this attack.

As Lance was sent flying into the rocks, he screamed and rolled, feeling his body strength vanish, the side of his armor shatters, and his ribs breaking. His consciousness faded in and out, and he held his side, gasping for air.

Atlae held his chest, breathing deeply. The shining green in his eyes was now a slitted blue. He felt his heartbeat still high, drumming even, causing his Chi to fluctuate wildly upwards to super-Muvian levels. He thought of the mountains, the faces of the people who raised him, and music. He didn't know of any destruction he could cause if he lost control of Talos to avoid panic. He didn't think of the monster he'd turn into if he got hit with a third thunder charge. No matter what, he had to keep calm!

Meanwhile, a struggling Lance just stared wildly, not understanding a thing. "He… he's terrified of my Lightning attacks, but whenever I hit him with them, they make him even stronger! What's going on here?! What kind of Specter am I fighting?!"

…

Emerging out of nowhere, Guilty paced around him, laughing. "He, he, he, he… look at that. I think you did at least three spins in the air. He's really kicking your ass, isn't he?!"

Breathing heavily, Lance winced. Not him! Not now. "Goddamn, it! G-Go AWAY, you fucking ghost!"

"Why don't you make me, like all those other times?" The Phoenix Saint apparition lowered down, staring at Lance's face. "Or can't you call your dragon friend anymore?"

Roaring, the Pegasus Saint lifted himself back up and burned his cosmos.

The Phoenix Saint saw him about to keel over and cackled. "I bet you really wish right now you had kept your contract with Seiryu, don't you? In fact, judging from how black-eyed you are, I bet you're regretting a LOT of things, Lance. I'll tell you this much… you wouldn't be having this much trouble with that Muvian piece of turtle shit if you had taken my place like you should have!"

"S-Shut up!" Lance sneered, focusing on Atlae. "You're not here! Go the FUCK a-away!"

Guilty began stepping back out of Lance's sight, granting his wish. "Don't worry, I will. I'll see you in hell soon, Lance. Or Death Queen Island, whichever the devil prefers for you."

…

Lance blinked, feeling himself back in reality. The air wasn't so red anymore and Guilty's echo was gone. He shook his head and focused on Atlae, trying to think of a strategy, but he wasn't sure what to do anymore.

His armor, by contrast, seemed to perceive more and more about their adversary. "Lance, forget this fight; you must run while you still can! Get out of here now!"

"What?!" he protested. He was getting to the point of exhaustion where he didn't even remember to keep these words mental. "P-Pegasus, he's with the Specters! He's here to kill people! To kill ME! What if he holds Shinta or Suisho hostage?! Look at all of his dangerous abilities! If a Chi user is working for Hades, I can't just cut him loo-"

"His Chi is just the beginning! He's far more dangerous than just that!" Pegasus screamed. Memories from Lucifer's blood burned in its metal, giving it faint, misty memories that did not belong to the winged horse. Memories of a Muvian just like this. "I can feel it… in my donor's past. This Muvian is not a Specter, Lance! He's a monster! JUST RUN!"

Having never seen Pegasus this alarmed, Lance swallowed his pride and listened. "Alright, fine! We're getting the Gold Saints, the-"

Speeding in, Atlae's knee crashed into him, knocking a screaming Lance over before he could turn away. Struggling to get back up, Lance raised his eyes to see a fist clad in cosmos flying at him just in time before it meteored his face, stunning him. Gasping for breath, the Pegasus Saint felt his metal collar gripped and lifted to let Atlae pummel his fist into him again. Then again. Then again! Then harder and angrier! Then the Muvian's forehead smashed into Lance's, and his foot struck the Pegasus' chest, breaking him through boulders.

Roaring madly, the Muvian charged giant spheres of cosmos into both hands and fired them into the smoking rubble, blasting Lance over and over again. A final charge preceded a joining of hands into one large Cosmos beam blast, which fired upon the downed Bronze Saint, sending him screaming down the broken slopes.

Atlae breathed hard, feeling his anger dissipate. He squinted at the coughing Pegasus and calmly gave chase. He kicked the Saint's injured side hard, rolling him over, and held him up by the collar again to face him.

"I'm SORRY! This… isn't personal!" Genbu Atlae vowed, slowly relaxing. "I don't bear any ill will against you, Athena, or her Saints, Pegasus Lance."

Lance coughed in his grip, bleeding from his mouth corners and resisting the Muvian's hands. "D-Doesn't fucking look like it from my end!"

Atlae gulped. "These are just unfortunate circumstances. This isn't my anger alone! I swear to you, if Athena could help me,…be safe to everyone around me, I would have turned to Sanctuary instead."

"What?! F-Fuck you! Who do you think you're fooling with that, asshole?!" Lance confronted. Cerah's words describing Hades' malevolent intent came to him. "Is that why you're here, 'cause that bastard god promised you something?! Helping you doesn't benefit him in the slightest! I don't know what the fuck your problem is or what hole you came out from, but you're making the same goddamn mistake the False Specters did! Don't you see that?!"

Atlae nodded in agreement. "I do. My Master taught me all about it. I met some of Prince Lucifer's men, too. He's the one who first captured me, after all. Some of those were good people in life."

"T-Then,… do you think you're special because you're a real Star? All Hades will do is chew you up and spit you out after you're done! Why the fuck are you still on his side when you've seen he detests all life?!"

Atlae breathed deeply. "Because, Pegasus, this is my way in. I've been a Muvian raised by Mariners and a Mariner-raised boy in an all-Muvian school. I'm used to working with those that detest me to get what I dream of. I will serve Lord Rhadamanthys for now. And when the time is right… I will get my School's rightful property back from Hades. And then defeat him myself."

Lance widened his eyes in shock. This was the last thing he expected. "Y-you…Rightful property?! Defeat Hades?!"

Atlae's response was to toss Lance to the ground and raise his gloved hand as if it was evidence of Hades' honesty. "Do you see this, Pegasus? This is the glove of the Genbu Surplice. Hades has it because Genbu, my Rozan god, used to be allied with Hades, just like Seiryu is with Athena."

Coughing and getting on his hands, Lance observed it. "I-Is that what you're after then?! Some prize to your fucking Rozan God?!"

Suddenly it clicked in Lance's head. The comparison between Atlae's deity and the dragon of Rozan, combined with his strange armor power, his Chi, and finally Lance's own sensation of feeling like he was fighting another Guilty, all drove the Pegasus into a terrifying conclusion.

"Is this guy under some kind of seal like I was with Seiryu?!" Then a more terrifying thought came to him. "If so… a seal over what?!"

Atlae grabbed him by the collar. "DOUBLE IMPACT PUNCH!" and smashed the capsuled tremor punch on Lance's stomach, compressing his armor plate and impacting his rib cage through it, cracking Lance's ribs.

Lance collapsed on the ground, spitting blood and feeling his body vibrate and his strength escape him. He crawled away, trying to get back up. He heard Atlae leaping high into the air, looked up, and saw him aim his knee down at him.

The Muvian crashed down on Lance's leg, breaking it. Lance screamed!

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

Escaping through the desert to the north, Olivia braked, feeling the ground shake by another impact. Her heart beat fast when she heard another far-off scream. The Equuleus Saintia shook in fear. The jamming made it challenging to understand what was happening, but everything pointed to Saint Lance losing his battle.

She wanted to help, but what could she do?! Her speed barely reached Mach 5, and the Muvian demonstrated that she was no match in that fight. "But…. He's screaming! I know that was him! What should I do?!" At this point she spotted a pink beam of cosmos speeding through the sand. "S-Saint Shinta!"

The Andromeda stopped by her. "Miss Olivia! What's going on?! The island won't stop shaking. Who attacked Saint Suisho?!"

She pointed in the battlefield's direction. "I think it is some kind of hired fighter. You have to save Saint Lance! I… I think he's losing the fight!"

A haunting look stamped upon Shinta's face, unable to picture such a thing. The green-haired Saint shook his head. "Listen, miss Olivia, you must leave! Go to the Living Area and take the pass to the docks. Saint Suisho will be there soon as well! I'll save Lance!"

She didn't want to disagree with the Bronze Saint, but a great anxiety filled her heart. "What if there are more Specters?"

Shinta hesitated at this. He didn't want Lance's girlfriend to get hurt, but he couldn't be in two places simultaneously. Also, as a man, he couldn't allow a woman to be put in danger because of him.

There was another quake, drawing both of their attention. Olivia saw Shinta undecided to the point of panic.

Thinking of how the Andromeda thought, she formulated a plan. However, it was going to involve a little bit of lying. "Saint Shinta, go! I'll handle myself."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded firmly and stepped away to make him think she would leave. "Yes, go save Saint Pegasus!"

Shinta nodded; just glad a dilemma had been resolved. "Very well. Please, stay safe!"

Olivia allowed Shinta to speed off to the battlefield. Her eyes surveyed the area, and she counted to five.

Then she ran right after Saint Shinta, keeping to the shadows.

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

Northern Cliffs

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

Crawling away from Atlae, Lance held his broken leg, feeling his muscles shake and burn in pain. He sweated profusely and ignited cosmos to try to mitigate the damage. He had to get back in the fight, but the rest of his body failed to harness strength, still suffering the effects of the second Double Impact Punch.

"Your leg is broken! It's time to stop, Pegasus." Atlae warned him, his energy still cooling down. He focused his thoughts. "Lord Grim, I have defeated Saint Lance. You can come collect him for Lord Rhadamanthys."

"Excellent work, Atlae; I'm on my way."

Between pained breaths, Lance saw the Muvian touching his temples in concentration. "C-Calling your friends… so soon?!"

"Yes. Continuing this is pointless; you're not playing nice, after all."

The hypocrisy outraged Lance. "P-Playing nice?! Fuck you! Kill me or not, you're doing nothing but contribute to genocide by working for the Specters! Why the hell should I not do everything in my power to stop you?! If you were anything like my Master, a student of Rozan, you'd be fighting Hades, not helping him!"

But Atlae wasn't impressed by this and even lost some of his patience. "And if you thought our teachings were that important, you wouldn't judge me so harshly for picking this path, Pegasus! Neither of us benefits from either Hades and Athena winning! They have equally absolutist attitudes to this world!"

To Lance, who had just communed with Seiryu and entrusted with a mission to defend all life, this sounded horrifying. "What are you on about?! Absolutist attitudes?!"

Atlae took a breath and recited. "'Humanity shall break from the shackles my family has put on them. The cruelty of death and misery will one day end, and we shall live in a world flooded with light.' This is what Athena says, is it not?"

While Lance wasn't particularly devout, he recognized this line as a stated philosophy of Athena. The expression 'world flooded with light' was particularly important and symbolized a post-tyranny world that she envisioned for Lance's species.

"Hades may seek to end life, and I don't agree with that!" Atlae ensured, furious "But you could also say Athena seeks to control it, to chain human nature down to rules of subjective morality that don't apply to Mother Earth. You and I are not on the same page simply because our Schools have picked different lesser evils to this war. I understand your path, Pegasus, so why don't you understand mine?"

The idea that the two perspectives were even remotely comparable was grotesque to Lance. "Because I don't understand how the hell are you making the world better by helping filling it with death!"

Atlae simply stared as if he thought Lance simply had a completely predictable outlook with no particularly high stake to it. "I see."

It just made Lance feel even sicker. "You see?! Oh, so just fuck humanity, then?! We're not getting eaten by lions anymore, so Sanctuary is just as evil as Hades, and we can just tether closer to the Apocalypse cliff just fine?! What kind of fucked up conclusion is that?!"

Atlae shook his head lamentingly. "It's not a conclusion! It's… a mediation."

The Pegasus Saint stared in horror. "Y-you… Mediation of what?! Do you think a God that has been waging Holy War on the planet endlessly for millennia is someone open to conversation?!"

Atlae turned away. "I can handle the risk. I am strong…" he closed eyes and sighed. "And besides, I don't have a choice. The Genbu Surplice is the only thing that can help me."

Lance slumped his shoulders, realizing there was no arguing with this guy. "What a comfortable point of view, Genbu Atlae! Just sit around and don't pick a side, so you can get what you want! Like a real coward!"

Atlae winced, sick of the attacks. "Well, you say that, Pegasus, but have you picked a side?"

"YES! I HAVE!" He roared, swearing he could stand on a broken leg on this alone. "I have taken the side that I'm going to personally go down that fucking castle's staircase and end these wars myself, whether Sanctuary backs me or not!"

The Muvian seemed to stagger at this, detecting truth in Lance's eyes. "You… you're serious?!"

"You fucking b-bet! I've had enough of you fucking Specters and your cruelty!" Lance growled. "So don't give me these 'Sanctuary is passive-bad' speeches, Genbu Atlae, because I'm the last guy they're gonna work on! I fully intend to give actions to my words and destroy that fucking Underworld once and for all, even if takes another 250 goddamn years for Athena to show up!"

Atlae paused. He really wanted to admire this in him, if things weren't so tense right now. "You're not the first who thought of breaking into the Underworld and beat up Hades, Pegasus. I have as well.

Lance staggered, disarmed. "Y-You attacked the Underworld?"

Atlae laughed like it was a regretful Highschool mistake he was ashamed of. "Well, how do you think I landed in this position? I wasn't always the Terrestrial Brute Star. So I ask; how are you going to succeed where I failed, Pegasus, when you can't even beat me?"

Lance charged cosmos, preparing to launch himself off the ground. "Just because you fucked up… it doesn't mean I will!"

The corner of Atlae's lip curved up in excitement, seeing the fire in this adversary's eyes reignite. "Then prove me wrong, Pegasus Lance. I can't wait for it."

Exploding his cosmos, Lance launched on his one good leg at Atlae. "CHARGE FI-"

"ROZAN!" Encasing his fists in bricks of thick Earth cosmos, Atlae countered with incredible speed, blasting Lance's whole body with a barrage of swinging dark punches, each with a tectonic-shattering force that painfully echoed through Lance's body. "METEOR SHELL SHOWER!"

Brutally pummeled, Pegasus Lance collapsed, his armor cratered by numerous indentations of large fists.

Atlae raised his hand, charging his cosmos. "I'm already a danger to everyone's hopes, Pegasus. Whether I want to or not. The best I can do for this world is to seek balance with my power!" Lance was then lifted by the collar so Atlae could deliver the final blow. Earth and Darkness coalesced around the Muvian's fist. "Rozan! Double Imp-"

"NEBULA CHAIN!" Shinta called, entering the battlefield with a lashing of his Triangle End.

Atlae felt his arm wrapped up and pulled away. "What?!"

Pulling his adversary into himself, Shinta jumped and delivered a powerful two-foot dive kick to the Muvian's chest, sending Atlae flying and screaming away from his best friend into the rocks, crashing them. With a release of his Triangle End, he then called his follow-up. "LINK CASCADE!"

Thousands of sharp chain blows then rained down on the downed Atlae from both of Shinta's lashing chains, caving the Muvian further into the ground.

Shinta turned to Lance and gasped, seeing his state. "Are you okay?!"

"A-agh, you arrived just in the nick of time. We need to get out of here and get the Gold Saints!" Lance tried to stand on his legs, but his broken right leg pained, sending him screaming back down. "D-damn it! I can't walk like this."

The Andromeda Saint tried to help Lance back up, but the Pegasus could barely lean over a rock. Even burning cosmos, Lance seemed unable to alleviate his injuries.

Shinta began panicking. "C-Come on, you need to leave! Who is that guy?! What does he want?!"

"He's some kind of assassin. Shinta, you were never the target; they used you as bait for me." Lance explained. "They must somehow know I used the Teos Cloth against Daemon."

Grim Reaper's warnings began echoing in Shinta's mind. "So that Specter was telling me the truth? No, why didn't I listen?! I should have never allowed Lance back here!"

Nearby on an overlooking hill, Reaper Grim exited the Yomotsu Hirasaka and took position over the battle. He surveyed it and realized with much chagrin that Pegasus Lance was injured but far from death.

"Blast! What in damnation are you doing, Atlae?! You were supposed to beat him into an inch of his life!" He grinned when he saw the Andromeda Saint panicked and stressed. "But the Prince doesn't seem to think so! What a kind soul. Maybe he just needs a bit more pushing!"

Below, detecting Atlae's energies rise, Lance shouted. "W-Watch out!"

Shinta turned and saw the rubble exploding with the force of Atlae jumping out at lightspeed. He unleashed his chains. "I'll handle this!"

Atlae focused on the new adversary and swung his wrecking ball technique. "BLACK SHELL KICK!"

"GREAT CAPTURE! SPIRAL DUCT!" With a downward twist, Shinta's defensive chain wrapped around Atlae's flying body. Then, with a powerful pull, the Andromeda Saint tossed him over the battlefield, smashing the Genbu against a rock wall.

Gasping, Atlae burned his cosmos again. "U-ugh, not bad!" and charged back in, sliding through the floor to avoid Shinta's Nebula Chain lash. He then rose back up to attack. "Double Impact PUNC-"

"CIRCLE DEFENSE!" Shinta's slender body dodged with bobs. His chains dropped to the ground, forming the reactive circle that detected Atlae's presence and erupted into a frenzy of chain strikes, slashing, grazing, and cutting Atlae before lassoing the fighter and smashing him again through the cliff terrain.

Lance saw, stunned, as Atlae helplessly rolled through the ground. He knew Shinta was stronger than himself, but this?!

He then realized it. "O-Of course, his style doesn't work against you!"

Shinta, who was just fighting normally, perked. "What do you mean?"

"It's tough to explain, but that guy fights by keeping cosmos burning in his entire body, not by focusing it. He also uses some kind of automatic armoring." Lance resumed. Predictably, it made Shinta cringe strangely at this. "I know, it's weird, but he was kicking my ass so far because I can't tell the timing of his attacks, and he just deflects my Charge Fists. But your chains can detect his movements, and your attacks just restrain his movements and knock him around so his armoring don't work against you. Shinta, you can beat him!"

The Andromeda beamed, energized by Lance's encouragement and focused on the fight. "Alright, I'll do it! Can you escape somehow? Saint Suisho is on his way here!"

Lance gritted his teeth and focused all his cosmos in his leg to relieve the pain. "He is? W-Well, he's taking his sweet time! I can try l-limping away, but you need to keep him occupied."

"Alright then! Count on me!" Shinta swore.

Atlae rose back up, shaking their head. He saw Pegasus stumble away and confront Shinta. "D-Damn it, out of my way, Saint Andromeda! This doesn't concern you!"

Shinta gritted his teeth and charged his cosmos. "You attacked my best friend and invaded my island! This absolutely concerns me! Surrender now, or I'll be forced to keep attacking!"

Atlae, who seemed to be bleeding for the first time in the battle, laughed, welcoming the challenge. "I'd love to see you try! ROZAN!" Blitzing in zigzags towards Shinta to confuse his chain targeting, Atlae charged another attack.

But Shinta held out his hand and exploded his cosmos. "NEBULA STREAM!"

A powerful hurricane of cosmos kicked up, covering the entire battlefield and striking the zigzagging Atlae, who found himself thrown around and paralyzed. He was awed, feeling the cosmic torrents of the Andromeda galaxy coursing around him.

Atlae tried to shield himself and resist, but even his powerful body couldn't move with these strong winds. He laughed excitedly "Incredible! This pink guy is super strong! Why wasn't I told about him?!"

He noticed Atlae struggling against the currents. "I told you, stop now!"

"A-A wind element arresting technique? You have quite the gentle heart, Andromeda, gentler than Saint Lance's anyway." Atlae acknowledged. Crossing his arms to ball himself and standing his ground, Atlae summoned all his strength and, with a roar, tried to fight through the currents. "But I cannot afford… to let your friend ESCAPE!"

The Andromeda Saint felt his winds beginning to fail to contain the Muvian, even if just a little. "Incredible! He's so strong! Even Lucifer didn't break free from Nebula Stream. Now I understand how Lance could lose! Will I be forced to use that one attack?!"

With his Chi-empowered cosmos burning to the max, as if he was a giant green flame, Atlae roared, finally overpowering the force of the winds. He focused on Shinta and began swirling Earth's cosmos around his foot.

Seeing this, Shinta stopped hesitating and tossed his circle end chain in a pattern like Rolling Defense. "ROLLING CHARGE!"

The circling movement of the defensive chain, rather than forming a barrier, altered the pattern of the Nebula Stream currents, making them circle up towards the sky. Much to Atlae's surprise, this weakened the paralyzing but created a strange effect where static electricity in the wind began drafting upwards in a spiral towards the dark clouds.

"Last warning!" Shinta shouted. "Stop this fighting now, or I WILL defeat you!"

The dark clouds rumbled in the sky. Atlae, the spying Grim, and even the crawling Lance turned up and saw the jamming clouds darkening and darkening.

Sensing the electricity gathering, Atlae paled and powered down his cosmos. "Wait, Andromeda, STOP! Don't fire that attack! You don't understand what it will do to me!"

"Then get on the ground and surrender!" Shinta demanded. "NOW!"

Atlae gritted teeth, conflicted. He saw Pegasus Lance standing there and wondered what to do! "Do I risk it?! But what if that bolt hits me and Talos awakens?!"

Seeing this, Reaper Grim held his temple. "Zemu, get here NOW! Rhadamanthys' Muvian is about to let Pegasus to run away!"

Lance, who knew Shinta so well, felt amazed at the growing mass of cosmos forming. He shook his head. "D-damn it, what am I doing?! I should just get the hell away from here!" he turned to crawl away, but he braked and gasped, finding a huge figure standing before him. "W-what the?!"

Standing as tall as Herakles Aguilon, the gigantic man cracked his knuckles. "Leaving so soon, Pegasus?" A massive draft of cold air focused around his arm, freezing solid into a mass of ice. The new Specter tensed his arm and activated his cosmos, engulfing it in thickening layers of frost until a solid shape of ice formed around it. "GLACIAL HAMMER!"

Smacked full force by the gigantic ice punch, Lance screamed, smashed back into the battlefield. He crashed on the ground by Shinta, covered with expanding frost pieces.

Shinta screamed. "L-LANCE!" He turned and was awed at the strangely new arrival. "D-Damn it, who are you?!"

The gigantic, muscled, crystal-armored man of brown skin presented himself to the Andromeda Saint with an overly dramatic turn. His Surplice was dark purple, composed of a series of segmented plates, many lined with white fur. Pieces of diamond-like frost covering layered over some of these, acting as reinforcements over his fists, forearms, shoulders, chest, and leggings. A white-furred hoodie rested over a green cape, and his helmet, shaped like a great ape's skull, had a visor similar to the Phoenix Cloth's covering his eyes.

A cold air mist circled around his body, increasing in size as his Glacial Hammer sublimated. "My name is Yeti Zemu, the Terrestrial Yin Star, Prince Michael. I am one of your 'Seraphim.'"

Shinta stepped back from the new threat. "S… Seraphim?!"

Writhing on the ground, Lance lifted his head, recognizing the name the guy called. "M… Michael? Shinta?! W-What's going on now?!" He tried to get back up but realized his body was broken even more as pain flashed through his entire rib cage. "A-Agh! I can't get up! Where the hell is Suisho?!"

"I'm afraid you're wintering here, Pegasus, until we're done with you," Zemu said. His voice was thick, commanding, and stern, like an echo of a mountaineer through a valley. His large arm began reforming its ice encasement. "Make one move and I'll smash you into paste with my Glacial Hammer!"

Shinta panicked, not knowing who to turn his attack's attention to anymore. "S-STAY AWAY FROM HIM! You're not touching my best friend!"

Atlae also protested, "Lord Zemu, stop it! I'm the one sent to do this! I promised Judge Rhadamanthys!"

The Yeti scoffed as he stomped on Lance, pinning the screaming Saint. "You're taking way too long, Atlae, for something that should be a breeze to you." Spikes of ice formed in his massive frost gauntlet so he could deliver the finishing blow. "If you want to honor Judge Rhadamanthys and earn your audience with the Emperor, do your job and ice this Pegasus Saint!"

Shinta turned his head back and forth, unsure what threat to focus on first. "W-What do I do?!"

Reaper Grim laughed, seeing Shinta's terror rise and rise. He was almost there. Grim just needed to show a way out for him, which he happily did with a mental message. "Prince, you can still save your friend! Unleash your latent Specter powers! Do it now before it's too late!"

Shinta shook his head. "Stop it! I will NOT!"

The Muvian panted. "I'm sorry, Saint A-Andromeda! I have to take your friend!"

He tried to focus on Atlae and ignore the Specter's words. "You, Genbu Atlae! Surrender now, or I will be forced to defeat you!"

He felt the force of the winds gathering and knew some kind of tremendous attack was forming, but the thought of Marianne steeled his determination. "I can't back down either! ROZAN!" and he jumped to attack. "BLACK SHELL KICK!"

With Nebula Storm hitting its peak, Shinta cast down his technique, launching his Triangle End high towards the sky at the spot the dark clouds and the winds were gathering and rumbling. "Nebula Stream: THUNDER FLASH!"

The clouds sheared apart with a fissure of light, and the Triangle End, encased in a colossal thunderbolt, came crashing down on Atlae, blasting the Muvian in mid-air and nuking him to the ground, which exploded upwards with an island-quaking force. Shockwaves and lifted sandstorms battered the two Bronze Saints, pushing them back, and Atlae's cosmos signature disappeared. Even Grim and Yeti were knocked back by force, and the skies cleared of clouds, while Lance got tossed by the shockwave.

The terrain ceded with the force of Shinta's attack. Rock slides cascaded down the Cetus peaks, burying the blast zone, and the dust took time to settle.

Lance coughed, getting up on a leg to see the area obliterated by the blow.

What was once the battlefield was now a scalding crater of burnt rock and glassy sand before Andromeda Shinta. A blow so powerful had struck that nothing could have survived it. Surely the Muvian was pulverized, especially not wearing a Cloth like he was.

"H-Holy shit, Shinta!" he wheezed

Shinta turned to Lance. "Are you okay?"

The rattled Pegasus blinked. "Y-yeah, I am. Shinta, what was that attack?! I've never seen anything like it!"

The Bronze Saint held up his chains. "I developed it to fight Lucifer, in case he ever got out. I gather the electrical build-up of Nebula Storm above me and then launch all that power down on my opponent with my Triangle End in a single blow. It's too dangerous, though. I tried to warn that person to stop."

"C-Christ, I kinda wish you had warned me as well." Lance had to confess. He was still seeing terrain cave in around them to the impact zone, such was the force. "I think you knocked that ice bastard off too. Quick, let's take this chance to esca-"

Suddenly, the caved-in crater exploded, unleashing a shower of green cosmos everywhere, startling the Bronze Saints. The emerald bonfire raged fiercely, rising and rising in strength.

"It can't be!" Shinta thought. "I hit him with a blow strong enough to kill a Gold Saint!"

"Why is that guy's strength increasing instead of decreasing?!" Lance thought in horror, feeling Atlae's cosmos not just re-emerge but reach wild new levels.

Reaper and Yeti both raised and saw what was happening. This third unexpected lightning blow had struck the Muvian unprecedentedly, triggering the unthinkable. The Specters felt as much horror as the Saints, for they knew the truth of Atlae's other self.

The mechanism in Atlae's heart had been activated, energized to full force by the electricity. The Hand of Talos inside the Genbu glove would now consume Atlae into its horrible full form, reviving the terrible colossus at the source of the Muvian's plight. They saw the shadowy silhouette of Atlae climb back up inside the green bonfire, his eyes shining blue. He looked panicked, holding his chest like a bomb in his heart had been activated. A great instinctive dread filled all four of them.

A man had been struck by Shinta's thunder. A monster would now come out, awakened by it. And its power surpassed anything any of them had ever seen.

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

Chapter End

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

Next Chapter: Chapter 83 – 3rd Arc – Episode 12: Meet Atlae

Release Date: May 25th

Description: The hands of the clock turn back eleven years to 1966. At the twilight of the Third Civil War, Arthur Solo, commander of the 'Sons of Arion' cavalry battalion, is ordered by Gemini Akassius to rescue Lemurian villages caught in the middle of the war's violence. There he encounters a survivor of strange personality, even for a Muvian, and even stranger abilities.

Author's Comments:

Ok, first things first, a quick note on the small delay; this chapter was very complex to work through, because I wanted to demonstrate for the first-time what kind of character Atlae is, what Chi looks like and how it works with Cosmos in the context of Saint Seiya. This led to a lot of rework being necessary to iron out the details, more than I expected, but I want to assure all my readers that chapter 84, the next one, is already written and being beta-read, so we are actually ahead of schedule. Funny how that works, uh? :v

As you can see from the description of the next chapter, we are going to take a bit of a flashback detour into who Atlae is and what the heck is going on. I was originally going to make it a Side Story, but frankly I don't feel like it, because I'm not sure yet if it's justified. I got like one chapter done about it and another planned, and I don't know if creating a whole detachment from the story of only two chapters is worth it. We'll see.

Today on etymology we discuss Yeti Zemu, the second 'Seraphim' being introduced in the story. Initially I was going to postpone his introduction since I felt this chapter was already getting bloated with mystery, but so much stuff got cut out that it ended up working him in. Anyway, his name is based on the Zemu Glacier in the Himalayas, where in 1925 a Greek photographer named N.A. Tombazi, a member of the Royal Geographic Society, claimed to have sighted a Yeti. In my mind, though? Zemu looks likes Destiny Hero Diamond Dude, from Yugioh GX. Idk, I always liked his design.

On a fandom note, since conversation about the new SS movie is dominating the spaces of the fandom I hang out at, and since this chapter is being released on the same day as widespread theater releases, I thought I'd give my two cents; I don't really care about it. Have fun. I hope everyone enjoys it. It's not gonna affect this fic in any way though.

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