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.

87. 3A: Dark Nostalgia

Notable OCs: Pegasus Lance's Saint Generation, Civil War Saint Generation, WWII Saint Generation, Hades' Dark Princes, the False Specters, Maidens of Athena, Priam's Black Saints; Cyrulian Refugees; Genbu Atlae; Patrician Mariners, Shamballa Muvians;

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; Pact of Seven; DQI Geography; Shamballa;

Recurring/Cameo OCs of Jenny DeVic: Mrs. Schafurwatt, Cyrus

Recurring/Cameo Concepts of Jenny DeVic: Great Bodyguard Legend, Golden Line Heritage, Sanctuary Orphanages, Andromeda Island's Geography & Tests, Sanctuary Nobility, 88 Knights Festival

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Author Notes:

-This chapter has been beta-read by EpicElly;

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Please enjoy and review ^_^

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Meanwhile

Greece, Néa Delphi

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The doors to the house opened and Marianne pushed her mother's wheelchair inside, gently resting Seraphina in the hall while Marianne's father carried her things inside.

She looked around the entry, feeling alien in her own home. It had been a while since she'd been there. The comfort of the Solo Manor's pretty cushioned furniture, its soft blue curtains and the pristine kitchen almost felt wrong after Marianne's last few months of sharing a battleship's limited space with five hundred other Mariner sons. The blue-haired girl felt a sigh come out of her nose, wishing she could stay much longer than she would.

Marianne gently pushed her mother further into the living room, leaving her resting by the fireplace and the TV. "Here you go, mom. Are you feeling well?"

Seraphina laughed. "Yes, I am, thank you, honey." She tucked the baby in her arms close, who laughed happily. "How could I not? Your brother is so beautiful! Isn't he?"

The daughter stared at the newborn sadly. When Seraphina's eyes turned to her, Marianna staggered and feigned a smile. "Y-yes, mom, he is."

Her father came in after carrying mother's bags up and hugged Seraphina, kissing her and smiling at the baby. "Julian looks beautiful indeed, Seraphina. He has your eyes."

She wrapped her arm over his neck, scratching his cerulean mane. "Yes, but I bet he's going to have your hair."

He laughed heartedly. "I have every mariner boy's hair; Poseidon blue!" He turned and saw their daughter look pale. "Marianne, what's wrong? You look like you're about to pass out? Are you tired from service?"

The daughter's eyes shifted between him and her mother. How could she say what was racing through her mind so innocently? The sin beneath all this happiness weighed on her mind like a curse.

She pretended it was all alright, tilting her head and smiling. "N-nothing, dad. I'm just exhausted. I came to see you guys directly from the Sea Dragon, after all. Just last week I was spending entire nights awake patrolling the Aegean."

"Stay with us for a while and rest, Mari', please. At least until your mother is fully rested." Her father begged. "It will give you a chance to bond with your little brother. I'll write a letter to Admiral Vancouver. His son, Baian, can take care of things for a while."

She wanted to step away, avoid her father's oblivious gaze that riddled her with guilt "I, um…" she sighed resignedly. "I'm sorry, dad, I really can't. But I'll try to stop by later more frequently."

"Wonderful!" Arthur celebrated, hugging her. "I'm so happy. If only your grandfather was here to see this moment. And Atlae, I'm sure he would love this, too."

She gently released herself. "Y-yes, dad, um, can we talk?" she glanced at her mom, who was completely absorbed into Julian, and whispered. "In private?"

Arthur blinked, finding this attitude strange. Marianne had never kept secrets from her mother with him. Did something happen at the Sea Dragon that she needed his help with?

"Yes, of course. Let me just take your mother upstairs and then we can go to my study. I'm sure you'd like a chance to see your old room in the meantime, too."

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Argentina, Patagonian Hinterland

Sanctuary Copper Mine

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"My name is Papillon Ainsel, one of Prince Daemon Lucian's Four Elites." The arriving enemy recited, descending on them with his powerful flapping wings. "And don't worry, once my babies are finished devouring my old comrades, I'll have you three found by your friends. Nothing like a bunch of dead bodies to make our enemies kill each other, after all."

Caça crawled away in terror, hiding beyond an outcropping of rocks. "A-a-a-a-a Specter?!"

Atlae guarded himself by blocking his arms from the picked-up currents, which swept away the silk filth around them. His green eyes studied the orange-armored menace before them.

"One of the hundred and eight warriors of Hades! What is one doing here?!"

He reeled at the bright cosmos he felt, akin to a yellow star of terror pulsing (sounds grosser, and fits the music bit better?) in the dark to the tune of ancient flute music. Most stunningly of all, he realized that was all he felt off the Specter.

There was no chi to Ainsel's presence. The energy of his breath and of the tensing of his muscles and even his heartbeat were all under a miasma of death his 0th sense could not penetrate, like a corpse was being strung along by the Surplice. "Incredible, I've never sensed anything like this!"

"If you don't mind me asking, what is such an odd party doing around these parts?" Ainsel laughed. "A Saint, a Muvian AND a mariner. Is there some kind of profligate convention-"

"What have you done to these people?!" Saint Noah cried out, stepping protectively between Atlae, Caça and the Specter.

Ainsel's mouth halted, his eyes squinting in annoyance. "The same I often do to people who like interrupting others. Maybe I should start with you, Silver Saint."

The Triangle Saint's blue eyes stared at the cocooned horror around them. Many of their half-dissolved faces were still locked in their death expressions. "These were just workers that Sanctuary contracts. They have nothing to do with our Holy Wars! They've never heard of Saints or Specters in their whole lives!"

Atlae realized the extra gravity of this. "He's right! How could you?! They aren't even cosmos fighters!" He gritted his teeth. "This was just murder!"

The floating Specter paused, as if confused. "Just murder? What kind of accusation is that? Is this a joke?"

The way the Specter said it sounded so casual, it made Atlae's blood freeze. "A joke? Who in their right mind…?!"

Ainsel landed, uncaringly stomping on the cocoon remains Caça accidentally tossed. "Have I stepped into a separate reality where nothing makes sense anymore? You don't know much about what the Specter mission is, do you, Muvian? I've done them a favor."

Again, Atlae recoiled in horror. "Specter mission? A favor?!"

"Atlae, don't listen to him!" Saint Noah warned, frightened that the Specter would influence the boy's mind. "This is just what they say to justify their cruelty!"

Ainsel went for it anyway. "Of course, a favor. Why allow these people to keep on living, when I can cut their sinning short? Had they kept on walking this earth, their list of sins in the Book of the Dead would have just grown." Ainsel's cosmos began to climb, darkening the skies and thickening the jamming static cutting the three of them off from outside communication. ". This way, though, they get to present themselves before the First Prison and earn a much less punitive afterlife! The harshness of their deaths might even lessen their Prison sentence. What is a life on this earth cut short compared to an eternity of less pain?"

Even Caça gawked at this. "Agh, what a sick freak! Only a Specter would think of it that way!"

The orange Specter squinted, looking betrayed. "And who is a Mariner to criticize for killing? You talk as if your Gods' mission doesn't align with my own."

The pale sailor scrapped the goop off his foot. "Yeah, well,… we don't turn people into bug cocoons! So there!"

Ainsel rolled his eyes, unimpressed. "Ugh, what a pathetic conversation." He rose back into the air. The Papillon's body brimmed with yellow cosmos, which began coursing like silk threads down unto his right arm. "I'll just show you all the starry light of the Underworld and let it open your eyes to your sins!"

"Get behind me!" Noah ordered. Atlae and Caça needed no encouragement and quickly took cover behind the Silver Saint, who threw their arms aside shieldingly and glared. "Specter of Hades, you have not only murdered innocent people, but you've defiled their bodies and ruined their loved ones' lives! The pain you've caused is unforgiveable! By my vow as a Saint and the holy law of Athena, you shall be obliterated!"

Atlae clenched his fists, roused; what a badass speech! "Yeah!"

"Ah, tough words from a Silver Saint! But by all means, line up to die!" Ainsel mocked, his body now shining like a yellow star. The light in his arm began to instead irradiate like a rainbow, and his hand formed a cutting chop. "I will show you the power of a lightspeed attack!"

Noah's blue aura erupted and the Silver Saint's hand thrust forward, the palm burning with the stars of Triangle. "TRIANGULATION!"

"FAIRY THRONGING!"

With a tall sweep of the Specter's hand, curtains of rainbow light fired off, slicing the air with twin shockwaves of cosmos converging on the trio at the speed of light. The blasts collided together, exploding into a cloud of smoke that cracked the ground and swept the air, blasting away the silk debris in the area.

Knocked back into Caça, Atlae looked up in fear. "SAINT NOAH!"

Papillon laughed. "That was too easy!" But, as the smoke cleared, his antennae twitched, detecting the presence inside. "W… what?!"

The smoke cleared completely, revealing the trio completely unharmed. Caça cowered in the ground and Atlae shielded himself, but none of them were actually struck.

Noah narrowed their eyes. "You'll have to try much harder, Specter!"

Ainsel gaped. Floating in the air above Noah's burning hand was a blobbing mass of rainbow-colored energy, the very same lightspeed cosmos he just fired at the Triangle Saint, undetonated. While an explosion had occurred, it seemed it was because of the force with which his Fairy Thronging got caught in whatever the Triangle Saint had done, while the attack itself was captured in a vortex of light controlled by Noah that spiraled softy in the air.

"Blasted Saint! What have you done?!"

"It's my technique, Triangulation!" Noah declared, showing off the three stars burning in their palm. "With the power of my constellation, I have captured the three space axes with which your cosmos travels through in the universe, stopping your technique entirely! Your attack cannot escape my grasp now!"

"Y…You can do that?! Caça gawked.

Atlae laughed, amazed. "That's incredible! It's like Saint Noah said; anything is possible with the cosmos!"

Ainsel, on the other hand, recognized what it was, and his dark heart filled with sudden terror. "But that's just like…the Double Dimension technique of Gemini Akassius!"

"Wrong, because I can do more than him!" Noah clenched their burning fist, causing the captured energy to rouse. "Unlike Akassius, who removes one of their dimensions to stop his enemies' offensives, my technique allowed me to capture your Fairy Thronging with all three of its mathematical movements intact! That means I can not only release your Fairy Thronging, but I can switch its three original dimensions into negative values."

Ainsel staggered, guessing the implications. "But that means-"

"BURN, OH COSMOS!" Noah cried out, invoking the Triangle constellation in their background, switching the stars unto his other hand and pointing it out at the Specter. "PARABOLIC CANNON: FAIRY THRONGING!"

A lens in the very cosmos was shifted, reversing the forces Ainsel casted into his technique into their negatives, and the strange vortex capturing the attack began spiraling in the opposite direction! A flash of light occurred, shattering the dimensional lock, and Ainsel's attack fired full force like a thick beam of rainbow light right back at its original owner.

Struck in the air with the full force of his own attack, Ainsel screamed, shot out of the sky with an exploding burst of cosmos that sent him down to the floor, even cracking his Surplice.

"He did it! He sent the Specter's attack back at him!" Caça awed, laughing. "We might survive after all."

Coughing and rattled, Ainsel rose up, eyeing Noah venomously. "Y-You'll pay for that, profligate!"

Noah had to recoil slightly, though. "That was a good start, but he's still a Gold-ranker. I'm at a massive disadvantage. I need to think of something fast or the two boys under Captain Krishna will die under my watch! We have to survive until he realizes we aren't giving him more pings! But how long will that take?"

The Specter spread his wings, burning cosmos with such force that they exuded geysers of dark energy. His eyes shone evilly and targeted Noah, picking the next victim for his larva.

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San Antonio Harbor

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Sitting by the cabin of his boat, Krishna cleaned the edge of his lance, which he had been using for fishing these past few days. There were smudges of fish blood that could stain the metal and brittle the weapon. It wasn't exactly the Chrysaor Lance his family's Scale was known for, this was just something simple he fashioned for combat and sailing and could easily break without care.

Alone with his thoughts, like he so enjoyed, he pondered if he should take the chance to meditate and align his chakras, now that there was no one around whose senses he could accidentally cripple, but the peace and quiet of the Argentinean dock instead made his thoughts turn to something else that had been digging at his mind since they left Hawaii.

"Atlae was asking me something strange about Rebecca, wasn't he? I got the feeling he liked her, but he was asking 'me' what I thought of her. Why? I wonder if…"

But he tensed, shaking his head. What if Atlae meant she was interested in Krishna?

He shook head. "No, Rebecca is a fine woman, but if she saw me that way, she wouldn't use an intermediate, would she? And besides, she might not be a Saintia yet, but she's a Sanctuary woman in spirit. I'm a Mariner, and we find love only with the sea and amongst ourselves." He tensed, remembering the way Atlae spoke of Marianne. Was it okay for him to be encouraging the boy to impress her when he told himself such things? He stared at his reflection in the lance, cleaning its edge with undue tension. "Right… only amongst ourselve-"

Krishna suddenly hissed, feeling a flash of pain as he cut through the cleaning rag and sliced the side of his finger. He kissed the wound, groaning, and went to rub alcohol in it.

After he was done, he sat in his cabin and opened his new book on Sinhalese poetry he got when they left Trincomalee. He had been so busy teaching Atlae the ropes and keeping him and Caça from fighting that he had started to fall behind on his reading.

"Excuse me, is someone there?"

He perked up. Looking out, he saw a coated, blonde young woman of green eyes and Maiden clothing knocking on the Chrysaor's hull.

"Yes?"

She smiled awkwardly. "My name is, umm, Maiden Heloise! I'm sorry for bothering you, but this is a Sanctuary ship, isn't it?" She asked. Seeing him widen his eyes, she presented a badge identifying her affiliation with the Saints. "Here, I'm a Maiden of Athena. I'm just looking for a few friends."

After checking her ID, he returned it to her. She certainly looked the type, with the shy demeanor. "We're actually a Mariner ship, so I don't know if I can help, lady Maiden."

"Mariner?" she asked, alarmed, storing her badge. Her green eyes looked over and she stiffened, noticing the boar tusks on his ship. "Actually, that's better. My friends are in trouble and I don't want the local Saint to find out. They'd be very upset. We are with the people who were going to bring the Chile shipment here."

"Ugh, you're with those guys? They caused us a lot of trouble too. It's the whole reason I'm running behind schedule!"

She bowed, looking distraught. "We're terribly sorry!"

Krishna pointed west with his thumb. "Saint Noah went with my crew to see what happened. They should travel back before long."

Surprisingly, this seemed to put a look of fear in the woman.

"If you stick around you can apologize to Saint Noah yourself." But Krishna saw her step away and leave the dock. "Hey!"

The woman paused. "I-I'm sorry, I need to go. Thank you very much, Mariner, may Poseidon bless you!" And then she rushed out of port.

The captain stood there, agape. He then irked. "Damn it, I should have asked her full name! That was suspicious behavior. Wait, I wonder if…" He rushed inside and flipped his sonar on. After a couple of pings, he realized nothing was coming up and switched it off. "Mm, no readings on the Nautili. I must be paranoid. She had a Sanctuary ID, after all."

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Rushing around the corner of an alley, Daese Heloise made sure she wasn't followed. She then touched her temple and concentrated. "Priam?Do not approach port with the Nautilus!" She looked around, spotting the Chrysaor in the marina. "There is a Mariner in the docks, they might detect you with a sonar."

"Thank you. We stopped the engines anyway already. I had a feeling, given the trade season for them. And what about our guys? Their communication officer, Ainsel, won't respond anymore."

"I don't know, Priam, but those guys have a LOT to answer for." Daese swore, narrowing eyes. "They never got orders to come here, much less attack Sanctuary. What are they thinking?!"

"Can you check on them, please?"

"Alright, Priam. Be careful, though. I'll call you later."

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Chapter 87

Third Arc

Episode 15

Dark Nostalgia

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Patagonia

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Cowering behind the rocks, Caça saw the Specter's aura charge more and more. "He looks VERY angry! We should leave!"

Though the winds picked up ferociously with the force of the Specter's power-up, Atlae held firm. "Leave where, Caça? He has lightspeed. Don't worry, we can stop him! We just need to work together with Saint Noah and-"

"OF COURSE, YOU'D SAY THAT! Atlae, learn once and for all that not everyone is a fighting freak like you!" Caça whined, trying to hold on to not get blown away. "We're also not Saints, we're mariners! I'm not gonna die here in freaking Patagonia over a Holy War I'm not even a part of!"

The complaining was starting to get on Atlae's nerves. How could Caça say this with a Saint putting their life on the line over the two of them?! "Fine! THEN LEAVE! But I'm staying!"

The pale teenager staggered; a bit startled that Atlae was finally reacting to him like a normal person. "Y… You're crazy!" Caça called, seeing the Specter's aura swell into a miasma from the abyss that would surely blast everything around it at the speed of light. "This is why no one liked you, Atlae! You have no sense of logic! What kind of Muvian are you?!"

The Muvian gritted his teeth, seeing the expectant smirk on Ainsel's face as he finished charging his cosmos. To him, what he was doing was the only logical choice. "You say that, Caça, but if we abandon Saint Noah, this Specter guy is just going to hunt us down one by one before we ever escape his jamming field!" He swept his arm towards the hills. "I guess I'm a bad one! So just go!"

Seeing his former classmate wasn't budging, Caça scoffed and just ran. "FINE, you two can stay and die!"

Finishing his charge, Ainsel saw the mariner run and laughed. "Mariners are such cowards, aren't they, Saint Noah? No wonder they don't measure up as a threat to the Saints as we Specters do. Tell me, do you think the reason they don't join us is because they know they're not the real saviors of the Earth's purity?"

The Triangle Saint focused, aiming their hands with burning stars in them. "I'm not sure what he's going to do, but I need to be ready to anticipate the start of his attack. It's the only way I can counter his lightspeed."

Ainsel smiled evilly. "Not going to entertain me? Or do you think you're too good for my words? Fine, then let's see if you can capture this attack!"

Sensing the Specter's cosmos triggering, Noah cast their move, exploding the blue cosmos. "TRIANGULATION!"

The Specter followed suit, tightening his fiber wings like blades and laying his arms aside. "BUTTERFLY KNIFE FLIGHT!"

Two shines of contrasting blue and black light exploded and Atlae guarded his sight, blinded. An explosive force took off like a jet missile and Saint Noah's Triangulation tried to capture it in a cage of shining blue triangles, but the absolutely brutal force struck right through, shattering the Saint's technique, blasting over Noah's side, sweeping the battlefield and slicing through the rocks Caça fled through!

Time seemed slow as Caça screamed and Atlae saw a gasping Noah knocked aside, shedding blood.

The flow of battle resumed with a kicking of the ground's dust that nearly blew the Muvian away and Noah fell, screaming, their prosthetic right leg shattering over the ground into pieces of plastic inside the Triangle Cloth boot. The dark missile Ainsel converted himself into went on to wreck the horizon in a drifting curve, returning to the battlefield like a circling jet fighter.

Circling back, the Specter stopped mid-air, blaring the battlefield with the force of his movement and laughing hysterically.

"Look at the sight of you! Did you really think that would work again?! Pathetic freak!" The Specter called, charging his cosmos again and pointed his finger. "I'm not such a fool that I would gamble on your sense of timing again, Silver Saint. No technique over dimensions can match the power of a Gemini Saint's, so I knew yours had to have a weakness. It works best on non-physical attacks, doesn't it?! Anything with a body too big for you to hold in your triangulation will be unaffected."

Downed, the Triangle Saint winced, holding the injured side of their body. Not only was Noah's fake leg completely blasted off, but the grazing dark light of Ainsel's charge ripped and burned through their side, caving the armor in and biting into the flesh.

Noah saw Atlae shaking, trying to think of a way to help. The Silver Saint shook their head. "No, Atlae. He'll rip you to shreds! Just protect your friend the best you can!"

"B-but!" the Muvian saw the pool of blood soaking the silk webbing under Noah. He shook, not knowing how to help. "You're hurt!"

"His attack isn't just at the speed of light, he's coating himself in a sharp armor of cosmos made of his silk, like a barbed spear." Noah compared. The Silver Saint felt it first hand when it moved by him. "If you try to strike him, you'll just hurt yourself! Take your friend and escape!"

Landing, Papillon Ainsel positioned himself for a second take-off. "With my Butterfly Knife Flight attack, I can use the power of my Papillon's Surplice to its full ferocity. The hardened steel-like silk of my babies combined with my graceful movements will tear you to pieces! The first one was a test of my theory about your technique, but this time I will slice you in half!"

The sweating Silver Saint turned to face the Specter the best they could on the floor, unable to stand anymore. Noah tried to think about what to do. This was very bad. They were cut off from reinforcements and their adversary just saw through the only one of Noah's techniques that could be used to strike back. Still, Noah's Cosmos burned shieldingly, knowing two lives other than his own were at stake.

"I have to at least divert his attack off-target!" Noah strategized. Throwing their hand, the Silver Saint created a cage of triangular shields. "TRIANGULUM BARRIER!"

Three stars in the air burned, shooting connecting lines between them, and successive, transparent shields formed out of the union between them concentered in front of Noah.

The Specter studied it skeptically. It didn't look nearly strong enough to resist his charge.

And Noah knew it. "Once he hits this special technique, it will transport the force of his attack away from me, rather than absorb it. It won't stop him, but it might save my life and not cause a shockwave that will stop those two from escaping." Noah glanced at the two kids. "You two get ready to run!"

Atlae gasped. "N-no!"

Caça gave him a thumbs up. "You BET!"

"AH, hide all you want inside that, I'll STILL skewer you!" Ainsel cast his move again, igniting images of a nightmarish moth exposing its hypnotic wings. "I'll now send you to join the thousands of your brothers already in Cocytus, Saint." His cosmos exploded and he blasted off. "BUTTERFLY KNIFE FLI-"

Forming his large vortex kick, Atlae swung it at the Specter's missile body. "BLACK SHELL KICK!"

The two masses of darkness violently collided in mid-air, shockwaving the battlefield! To Caça and Noah's shock, Ainsel's body was sent flying back, crashing through cocoons and rubble.

Atlae landed, turning off the spiraling mass of shadows in his foot. "S-Stay away from my friends!"

With pieces of his armor cracking and dropping, the Specter turned a bewildered gaze at the Muvian. "What?! How did you…?!"

Burning his cosmos, the Muvian clenched his fist, ready to do it again. "The Black Shell Kick is the technique that rung the Bell of Genbu! It's dense mass is strong enough to teach you a lesson through any coat of cosmos!"

Noah widened their eyes. "Incredible! A move of such density of cosmos that it protects the owner from adverse contact effects! Atlae could kick through a wall of lava and be completely unharmed!"

Caça covered his head, panicked. "AAGH, YOU IDIOT! Now the Specter's coming after us, too!"

Atlae charged his cosmos, eyeing the recovering Specter nervously. "Caça won't fight and Saint Noah is injured. It's up to me to defeat this guy or he'll kill us all!" He saw, surprised, how much damage he landed on Ainsel's armor. "I think him ramming himself full force against my attack helped me out a bit, but I doubt he'll make the same mistake twice, so I need to get him NOW!" Jumping high into the air, his foot sprouted another large vortex of shadows, his body cartwheeled and his heel descended on the Specter. "ROZAN! BLACK SHELL KICK!"

With a mere lightspeed bob, Papillon Ainsel deftly dodged it, letting Atlae's powerful kick destroy the battleground beneath them. The winged Specter laughed and lightly struck the Muvian with a kick, painfully blasting him down into the rubble he created.

Bleeding, Atlae rose back up, determined to protect his comrades.

Ainsel laughed at his sorry figure, cleaning his own light wound with his hand. "That's how you throw a real kick, Muvian. Want to try it again? Or should I demonstrate it on your friends?"

"I… w-won't let you touch them!" Launching at the Specter, he tried again. "R-ROZ-"

Ainsel simply lifted a finger at him. "MY OWN SELF!"

Noah saw Atlae suddenly freeze in place, as if struck. The Specter laughed and toyed with the paralyzed Muvian, guiding his body into a kneel with a playful twirl of the finger.

The Triangle Saint rose. "W-What did you do to him?!"

"Nothing special. I just sent your Muvian friend on a trip down nostalgia lane!"

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Greece, Néa Delphi

Solo Manor

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Sitting in a chair in the hall by her father's study, Marianne listened to the grandfather clock tick away as she waited for her dad to come, her gloved fingers over her lap. She was patient about it. Not only did she dread what she had to talk with him about, but she wanted to let him have his moment of happiness with mom before Marianne potentially destroyed it all, depending on how the conversation went. All these past months at the Sea Dragon, Marianne thought just knowing about this was torture enough, but nothing compared to the anticipation of this moment of truth, the moment she had set for herself to confront her father with what's been going on.

Marianne could guess some of the anger at this went through her sword into some pirate or rogue Saint's chest during her campaign, tense as she's been. That had been her only consolation over this difficult period; that she could focus all of her energies into commanding the Sea Dragon and its mariners into success.

She let out her breath through her nose, thumping her head against the wall. Her eyes transfixed on the ceiling and her limbs dangled. She couldn't relax. Even in this place she called home.

"You look like you're about to burst."

Marianne turned, seeing the gigantic spider the size of a hand on her shoulder. She screamed, jolting up!

"AGH, A.G.! What the hell!" Covering mouth in embarrassment, Marianne squinted, seeing her best friend's familiar scurrying under a small wall table. "Triton save me; you almost gave me a heart attack!"

From the shadow of the furniture, the familiar's eyes rose a leg in wave. "You were never scared by my familiar. I couldn't stop by so I just wanted to say hello."

The young vice-admiral calmed her breath. "I'm sorry, you're right. It's nice to hear your voice again." She sat back down and let the spider climb next to her in the seat. "This past year I feel like I've been just surrounded by Mariners either pining or gunning for me."

"Is that what it feels like to be on the most prestigious ship in Sanctuary's navy?" the familiar questioned. "Honestly it doesn't sound much different from me being the Ghisi's silver ring."

Marianne squinted in annoyance. "It's not even remotely comparable. Now I know how Atlae felt when he wrote to me how terrible it was to sleep in the same room as dozens of people of the opposite gender. I thought he was having the time of his life and just wanted to sound gentlemanly, but it really IS horrible."

"But look at you, Marianne! You've made me best friends with the first female vice-admiral among the mariners in forever! I'm so proud of you!" The spider tucked its legs in, as if to indicate barely contained happiness. "And now you're even going to have a Triumph for you. That has got to feel exciting, no?"

The mariner rolled eyes. "Exciting for you, of course, miss networker. To me, it's awful."

"What do you mean?"

She thought about all the eyes that would be on her. "I'm not like you, Adriana, I don't… like people paying attention to me, or pretending to be nice to others I know I won't ever really see as friends."

"Mari', that is nonsense." The spider challenged. It didn't turn whenever it spoke, probably because its many eyes could see her face from where it rested. "Ever since I've known you, you've always been an overachiever. You have to have known recovering the Dolphin Cloth from the Ghost Saints would have put you in the limelight. Face it, Mari', you and I are friends for a reason; we both like to prove ourselves to others."

Marianne shook her head. "I don't do these things to get parades thrown at me. Those Ghost Saint guys were making life miserable to countless people in those waters. Some fishermen were afraid of going out to see to make a living, because of them. Even Saints were murdered." She sighed. "Can I tell you something, AG? I even tried to write a letter to the Pope to turn the Triumph down."

If the familiar could, it would have gasped. "Marianne!"

The blue-haired girl saw the family seal in the corridor wall; a heraldry of the Sea Dragon scale paired, for some reason, with the Gemini Zodiac. "The only reason I didn't go through with it was because of how happy my parents seemed. I didn't want to disappoint them…"

"I wish I had the love for my parents that you do." Adriana fessed. "Speaking of which, are you going to tell your dad whatever you've had stuck in your throat since last year?"

Marianne stiffened. She took her friend's familiar into her cupped hands. "I'm going to try."

"There's not much you don't share with me or with your little boyfriend. I've been dying to know what it might be." The spider confessed. "Would you tell me, just this once?"

In the ensuing silence, the moment returned to Marianne.

The spider waved. "Hello?"

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

It was a year earlier.

Marianne was back from her first navy tour and was studying late at night in her room, illuminated only by her candlelight. After her first few months at the Sea Dragon, Marianne had impressed Admiral Vancouver enough that he gave her an unprecedented shot at earning the vice-admiralty, something that made her dad weep in joy, under the condition she endured a new battery of tests usually given to Master students.

First, there was an important test she had to pass tomorrow. She would ace it, no matter what.

Her parents had insisted she rested instead of spending countless hours studying. Her first campaign on the Sea Dragon had been brutal and Marianne was almost overworked to death keeping up with the rest of the crew, much less saving Cape Sounion from Nile Cultist raids. Marianne, however, felt the fervor to ensure nothing would be left to chance tomorrow and had pretended only to go to sleep to put her parents at ease, especially mom.

She had even asked Adrianna not to send her spider familiar tonight so she could focus extra hard. Chatting with her best friend would have to come some other day. Marianne's future was on the line. As the sole child of the Solo Household, she was going to be everything everyone expected of her family's heir and more.

Perhaps because she was so stressed, because it was so unusually late or because her training with the cosmos had developed so well, Marianne noticed something she usually wouldn't that late at night; a faint sound in the corridor.

Instinctively she grabbed her saber and headed for the door! Was someone sneaking inside the manor?! Did the Gerasimov or the Cabral send an assassin?!

But Marianne stopped, collecting herself; Marianne was no longer on the Sea Dragon battleship and Ithaca was guarding the premise. She put down her weapon. Her mother was probably heading downstairs to take her sleeping pill.

Marianne sat back down and tried to focus. Where was she? Right, the ocean science chapter on energy dissipation. She needed to understand how forces interacted with water mathematically so she could calculate the answer to question 154….

…

Marianne turned to the window, spotting a faint light going out their front door. If that was her mom, why would she be heading outside?

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

Her eyes watered, staring at the chandelier. She cleaned them.

"Sorry, Adriana, but this time, I can't say." She went over to the window, opened it, and gently rested her friend's familiar outside. "It's private Solo family business."

The spider departed. "Alright, alright. Don't forget to come visit me before you leave, okay? I still want to catch up. Oh, and good luck, Mari'."

Marianne smirked and closed the window. Despite her schemes, AG could be a really good friend.

Returning to the side of her father's study door, she spotted a series of framed pictures on the small corridor table. She took one of them, spotting her favorite Muvian in it. It was the one they took after Marianne's birthday, when he gave her that card calling her his 'best girl friend' and mom had them pose together with the gift he got her of the dolphin headband. The picture still made her smile.

"I guess dad feels more comfortable having these inside after grampa died." she concluded. Marianne set it down. "Oh, Atlae, I wish you were here. I wish I was as big a dummy as you are. I would have no problem telling dad what happened. You wouldn't hesitate a single second, would you? You never did wait to do the right thing. Even when you were scared. Meanwhile I just talk big about how I do things for the right reason. That's why I l-…"

She froze her thoughts at that. Why what? She knew what she was about to say, but it could mean a number of different things, from how naturally it was about to form in her head. Marianne's hand recoiled into her chest in shame at herself. It beat fast.

How could she criticize mom, when she was feeling this way?

The door to the study opened and her father invited her in. "Marianne."

Making sure she had no tear marks on her face, she bowed and walked inside, joining him at his desk. "Father."

He sat her down. "I'm sorry I took so long. I wanted to spend a moment with your mother and Julian after all those long weeks at the hospital. I have a lot to thank Doctor Tsering for, but even with his help, every day in that place I still feared the worst could happen."

She shook head. "It's okay, dad. I was the same."

It just irked her father more, though. "Then why didn't you join us after that first day? I know you must be tired from service, but…"

Marianne froze at this. She couldn't do that. Beholding her parents together in such a joyous moment would have just made everything so much more terrible to endure. She might even run out of the house and not come back.

Seeing his daughter stiff as a rock, Arthur worried, but changed the subject. He admired her uniform, seeing the adorned chest and tried to use it to break this strange ice. "Is that your new medal?"

Marianne snapped out of it and looked down, seeing the Sea Dragon emblem in orichalcum. She beamed nervously. "Y-yes! Admiral presented it to me after we left Madagascar. He said the Pope immediately authorized it. I was so shocked!"

"Why were you so surprised? Mari', have you forgotten? You've earned a Triumph in Sanctuary for all this! You should see how much your name is in the mouth of everyone in Sanctuary." Her father elated. He laughed happily and smiled. "Honestly, these past few months have just been… wonderful."

Marianne shook. Dad looked so light-hearted. "They… they have, uh?"

Arthur Solo nodded with an elated laughter. "I think Poseidon has blessed this household, Mari'. Our project to end the rift between Mariners and Muvians has been flourishing, I have a firstborn son, my eldest daughter is a vice-admiral about to be blessed by the Pope of the Saints and, most importantly, Seraphina is alive and well!" He shook head, thinking of his father. "Of all the times your grandfather thought I would ruin this household…I think even he would be happy now."

The daughter did not respond. Grandfather Julian could rot in Hades for all she cared. He had always treated Atlae like an animal.

Her father was a different story, though. She tried to smile. "That's great, dad!"

"Have you heard what's been going on with Atlae, by the way? There's another reason for me to walk out the door with my chest held up high. Bless the day I found that boy!"

She blinked. The last she'd heard of him, he had rung some kind of bell and earned his blackbelt. "No, what did he do?"

Father reached down and fetched a picture he got in from the Hawaii office. "He's joined the Chrysaor's circumnavigational class. Atlae has been learning to sail under Chola's nephew, Krishna. Here, I was forwarded this from Sanctuary's Hawaii outpost."

She studied the photo and laughed in surprise, seeing the blonde Muvian in Hawaii sided by his captain, but he looked twice a big as she las saw him.

"He's so tall now!" There was also a girl from Sanctuary and a ghoulish face she could recognize anywhere. "Is that Caça with him?! What is he doing with Atlae?! Caça treated him miserably back at Delphi School! Is Atlae alright?!"

"He's doing wonderfully, according to his captain." Arthur challenged. "Atlae told me he wanted to learn our people's arts, Marianne, and sail around the world before meeting with us in Greece. Have you ever heard of a Muvian wanting to honor the Mariners? He should be here in time for your Triumph, too. He told me in his letter that he couldn't wait to see you again."

She clutched the photo, touched. And she laughed, realizing that even in a moment difficult as this, that idiot could make her smile. "I really thought you were going to say he flipped someone else's yacht. You didn't tell him what I've been doing, right? I don't want him to feel bad."

Arthur shook his head. "Of course not, but Mari', if you ask me, Atlae isn't the type to be envious of his peers, much less you. You should just tell him and see for yourself; He'd be nothing but happy for you."

The girl hesitated. Every guy she knew was too terrified of approaching her once they learned how high up the ladder she was. While Atlae may be a Muvian, not a Mariner, he was a competitive one and they hadn't seen each other in three years. The last thing Marianne wanted when they reunited was for him to fear her or see her as an enemy, like all the other men did.

She tried to explain as politely as possible. "Dad, it's complicated. I don't mean to disrespect you, but… you wouldn't understand."

Arthur hummed, confused, but decided to respect his daughter's wish and not push it.

"So, tell me, what did you want to talk about?"

However, instead of making Marianne relax, his daughter's eyes started tearing uncontrollably.

He gasped. "Marianne, what's wrong? Why are you crying?!"

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

Patagonia

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

"LET HIM GO!" Noah's half-pitched voice demanded.

"I don't think so. The fun is just starting." Ainsel hissed, hungry for memories. The Specter felt Atlae trying to resist, instinctively feeling something was wrong, but his fist swung powerlessly at Ainsel, who easily stopped it with a palm. "Relax, martial artist. Soon, you won't even remember how to connect with your cosmos. Now… let's turn back the clock on you for a bit."

Atlae gagged at Ainsel's feet, his eyes widened and locked into a look of terror. He felt his mind transported away from the context of the battle, detached from everything in his life that led him to that point. His understanding of the cosmos disappeared from his mind, his memories of Master Yuzuriha and her teachings evaporated, and his thoughts regressed into an infantile state, back to the steppes of Central Asia.

"W… what is he gonna do to him?!" Caça asked.

"My Own Self returns your mind to a nostalgic state! A time of innocence in your life, prior to unlocking your cosmos!" Ainsel bragged, burning cosmos in his hand that made Atlae's eyes roll up unconsciously. "Like the spell of the fairy enchanting children out of their homes, I can make mentally weak opponents like this one as powerless as a child!"

Sensitive to this kind of attack, Noah had to widen their eyes in a mix of fascination and alarm. "A mental technique that returns your mind to your infantile self?!" The Triangle Saint burned their cosmos, prepared to risk lowering his barrier. "I'll seal it up! If I don't, Atlae might lose his sense of identity permanently!"

As soon as the triangular barrier lowered just a bit, however, the Specter immediately turned his attention with lightspeed reflexes and blasted Noah with an invisible force, burying the Saint deep into rubble. Noah screamed and erected the Triangle defenses again in alarm.

"Stay in your shell, Triangle! You'll have your turn!" Ainsel warned. He took his time playing with Atlae's deluded senses, making his moths fly around the Muvian and observing his fascinated gaze, like a child staring at lights. "Yes, look at the pretty moths, Muvian. Don't they remind you of home? Of happy times playing with fireflies? Or maybe looking at the stars when you unlocked your cosmos? Tell me, what do you see?"

Atlae trembled. The lights around him reminded him of something, yes, but it was a terrible moment. A memory of similar lights in the air he one day saw when walking with his parents in his village, long ago, before he knew Lord Arthur. They had all sensed a tremor and left their houses, fearing a quake, but then they saw the sky towards the west burning. A battle was taking place, the village elder had said, between Saints and their enemies, off to a great distance. Everyone was to stay away from the buildings should they collapse.

Then, in that horizon, an impact, like a grand explosion! Two great fronts of fire had collided against each other with the force of a thousand Saint blows all lined up together, sending enormous flares of cosmos flying everywhere like colossal sparks. The earth shook and the sky rained fire, right on top of them.

A tree by Atlae was struck ferociously, cracking it and sending it down towards him. Atlae was so strong. He was also standing a fair distance away from the falling tree. Only the top branches would have hit him. He would have been hurt, but would have survived with minor scratches.

But parents don't think like that, even among Muvians. They just act with protective instinct. In this case, both his mother and father did, and tried to push him out of the way of the heavy tree. Atlae screamed and saw the green leaves fill his sight.

Everything was darkness after that. By the time he woke up, he was in Lord Arthur's arms.

Atlae breathed out panickily, holding his throat and crying. Cosmos slipped more and more out of reach of him.

Ainsel laughed triumphantly "Thank you for that delicious memory, Muvian. That was more than I expected. You've had quite an interesting childhood." He pointed at an enormous rock off to the side, tearing it off the ground with telekinesis and hovering it over Atlae. "Let me end your life with the Saints as it started, then, with something heavy falling on you. Judge Urial will appreciate it, when he reads your entry in the Book of the Dead. He's a fan of poetic en-"

Out of nowhere, a pair of feet clad with cosmos struck Ainsel's head from above, loudly sending him flying right off of Atlae to the rocks. The spell on Atlae broke and the Muvian collapsed. Caça landed, seeing the Specter crash through a multitude of rocks lined up perfectly ahead.

He saw clouds of dust rise into the air with each successive ramming through the rocks. "Holy shit, that actually worked! Thank Poseidon!"

Triangle Noah took the chance to crawl to Atlae, holding him protectively and tapping his dazed face "ATLAE, w-wake up!"

"RIGHT, no need to thank me!" Caça sneered unpleasantly. "Just pick him up! We have to run and get the captain!"

"The Specter did something to him! Atlae needs help NOW!" Noah urged.

Caça blinked. "Damn it, what's wrong with him, then?"

The Muvian reached out blindingly, like trying to crawl out of a dark well. "M-mom… d-dad!"

Holding him carefully, Noah concentrated and rested their hand over the Muvian's forehead. The Saint's blue eyes closed and Noah read the state of Atlae's mind. A worried gasp was released as Noah sensed a scar, which had been ripped open by Ainsel's mental assault.

"This is bad… he had a previous mental injury. Did anything strange happen to Atlae recently?" Noah asked. "Has he been acting bizarre or erratic after a dangerous encounter, for example?"

Caça gagged. "Um, I don't know. Everything was fine! Do you have any idea how weird he usually is anyway?! How could any-"

"Think hard!" Noah urged. "It's important."

The pale mariner scratched his red head. "I don't know! The guy has zero filter, he would have told us if someone traumatized him or something!" He then palmed head. "Wait, Death Queen Island! We stopped there and he had some kind of episode. He even had a fight with m-"

Noah paled. Their teeth gritted. "Death Queen Island?! Why didn't you say so?!"

Caça staggered, finding the Silver Saint surprisingly frightening all of a sudden with their papa bear mode activated. Or was it mama bear? "I…I'm sorry! He seemed fine after a while! And it's been like two months!"

Noah sweated. "If someone struck him with the Phoenix Genma Ken back then, a follow-up assault like this could render him catatonic. These sorts of things don't just heal on their own, so it doesn't matter if it's been two months or two decades!" The Triangle Saint irked anxiously and burned cosmos. "I have no choice. I need to seal his memories."

Caça rose his brow, feeling oddly threatened. "Wait. You… you can do that?!"

Noah held their hand over Atlae's forehead and burned their cosmos. "It's kind of my job." The white-haired adult closed their eyes and made their palm form a triangle of light. "I can patch it for now, but we need to get him out of here."

Atlae felt the warmth on his forehead being applied and opened his eyes. "S…Saint Noah?"

"It's okay, Atlae, just relax." Noah turned to the mariner, seeing the Specter get back up. "I need time. Caça, I hate to ask, but…"

"OH NO! I AM NOT DISTRACTING THAT GUY!" Caça shouted. He gestured a slit through his neck. "He'll kill me in two seconds! I've done more than enough!"

Ainsel climbed out of the rubble, taking to the air. "You insignificant sea slug! How dare you kick me?!"

Noah saw the Specter charge cosmos and take aim at Caça. "Unless you're strong enough to get all three of us out of here, we don't have a choice! But if I can get Atlae back on his feet, we can work together to survive."

Caça grabbed at his hairs in disbelief. "AGH, why did I agree to come?! Atlae, this is all your fault! AGAIN!" He saw Ainsel menacingly float towards him, charging his cosmos. He tried to step away from Noah and Atlae. "Okay, I know you're upset, b-but…"

Papillon brimmed with shadowy cosmos, his eyes turned into yellow fire.

The Mariner panicked and tried to think of what to do. "I can't escape, I can't fight, so I have no choice. I need to use my household's ultimate stratagem; the power of bullshit!" He jumped onto a high rock and threw up his arms, trying to seem menacing and burning orange cracks of electrical cosmos. "Foolish SPECTER! Do you think you can actually stop me?! I am not like the other two! I, Caça, am the descendant of a long line of Lymnades Mariner Generals!"

The furious Ainsel paused cautiously. "He's right! That's what Priam's idiots said, that he matched descriptions of that family's heir."

Caça noticed it and gawked. "He's buying it?!" He went for broke, assuming the fabled battle pose of his lineage. "With my incredible powers, I can manifest your heart's most intimate darkness, Specter! Ah, ah, why yes, even the contract you've made with Hades itself will be turned against you and will annihilate you in the blink of an eye!"

Ainsel gritted teeth, sweating fearfully. "Damn it, is that true?!" If this mariner's powers were anything like Sphinx Neferti, then it could very well be.

Noah couldn't believe it, and used every second to forge the seal he needed on Atlae. "It's working! I hope he can keep it up!" But the more Noah perused Atlae's mind, the more he realized the scar in the Muvian's psyche was nastier and deeper than Noah assumed. "This is the damage a Phoenix Genma Ken can cause? Come on, Atlae. Pull through!"

"Now, fear my household's sacred technique! SALAMANDER ILLUSION!" Caça casted, throwing out his hands at Ainsel.

…

Ainsel squinted, annoyed.

The pale mariner gulped and tried again, tossing out his hands. "S-SALAMANDER ILLUSION!"

Noah blinked as well. Was something supposed to have happened?

Caça stepped back in fear. "W-What? Why can't I read his heart?! It's like this guy's got no pulse! Does the secret technique of the Lymnades Generals not work on Surplice wearers?!"

Ainsel stepped towards him, burning his cosmos. "I was expecting something quite spectacular, but you're just an annoying bragger, aren't you?"

Seeing the illusion was failing, Noah focused harder than ever, sewing all of Atlae's mental wound back up. Little by little, consciousness seemed to return to the Muvian as the effects of Ainsel's technique were dug out of the invisible wound. "Come on… just a couple more seconds!"

"FAIRY THRONGING!" Ainsel casted, launching his slicing shockwaves.

Caça screamed and jumped around, barely dodging the curtains of light that tore the ground apart.

"How dare you waste my time, Mariner?! For that, I will turn you into an unrecognizable splatter of goo to be fed straight to my moths!" Ainsel hissed. He couldn't believe he took this disgusting guy's threats seriously for even a single minute. "FAIRY THRONGING!"

Screaming, the mariner launched himself aside, only barely anticipating the timing and direction of the Specter's attack. Praying to every nymph Poseidon had ever wedded, Caça trembled like a leaf, taking cover behind a rock. "I'm so s-sorry, I won't do it again!"

Noah gasped, seeing Atlae's eyes open.

Altae reached up to hold his head, groaning. "W-What happened?"

"Quick, Atlae, back on your feet! Caça is barely holding on!" Noah urged.

The idea of Caça committing an act of bravery seem to jolt the barely conscious Atlae up. "H-He is?!"

Meanwhile, the sailor panicked and jumped back from Ainsel, trying to create one final distraction. "AHH! Y-You fool! I'm nowhere near done yet!" Caça then burned his cosmos, erupting an aura of orange light crackling with sparks. "I am the great Caça, of the Cabral Household, and we're fighting close to my family's ocean, the peerless South Atlantic. In here, my extraordinary powers reach even greater heights!"

Ainsel squinted at the pale imp taking aim at him, sick of the lies. "This is your final warning."

"Shove it, butter-freak!" Caça hissed, jumping high and dropping down on the enemy with a great axe kick clouded in thunder. "Feel my oceanic wrath! SALAMANDER SLAM DUNK!"

The blow descended like the hammer of Thor, taking the shape of a great lightning drop kick of white light that blinded everyone. With a single great uppercut, Papillon Ainsel struck the young Mariner's chest, sending him flying right back into the air.

"C-CAÇA!" Atlae gasped, seeing Caça scream, twirl, and disappearing into the trees. "This is terrible. This guy defeated even Caça's super-powered attack! What do we do?!"

The Specter focused on him, smirking. "Oh, you're back up again? Your turn, then, Muvian. No memory games this time. I'm going to make you join your friend in the sky."

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

Néa Delphi

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

Arthur Solo held his crying daughter's shoulders. "Are you feeling better?"

Marianne sniffed. "Yes, dad. I'm sorry."

The patrician gave her space. He had hardly ever seen Marianne like this, except in tense periods of exams. There was definitely something she was trying to confess, and the dedicated, dignant nature the Solos trained into her, along with a good deal of fear of failing her parents Arthur regretted inspiring in Marianne, were making it hard to confess.

When she seemed more collected, he gave it a shot at helping her let it out. "You're trying to tell me something, aren't you, Mari'? I promise, no matter what, I won't be angry. Just tell me what happened?"

The blue haired teenager covered her face in shame. This was torture! Dad was so happy, with the newborn son he always dreamed to have, pride in his daughter like he never would again and with everything he ever worked so hard for finally flourishing after years of sacrifice.

How could she tell him?! But she had to!

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

Silently, Marianne chased the faint light heading out the front door into the manor gardens. Someone had come inside the house, now she knew it! Mother wouldn't just go outside this late at night, even if she couldn't sleep! With senses keened by cosmos and so many months of training preparing her for whatever assassin the rival households could have sent this time, she kept to the shadows and searched.

Closing the manor door behind her, she saw the light head into the hedge maze mother had planted. How haunting. It was like a ghost heading into the darkness.

She paused in the shadow of the hedges, suddenly realizing her stupidity. If there was really someone out to hurt her father or his family, a good way to do it would be to lure Arthur Solo's only heir out in the open when she's studying late at night.

Rushing back, Marianne confidently entered the maze, boiling with rage! A thousand times she had played with Atlae and Ithaca in this place, so she knew it back and forth. The intruder likely took out the bodyguard and dragged him into the gardening shed kept in its deepest corner.

Marianne's blue eyes took to the small statues of tritons and mermaids to guide her, indicating her path. Further up ahead, she found the shed.

Then she remembered. "Ithaca! I should tell him!" Pacing back, she thought of going to the gatehouse where her father's most trusted bodyguard would spend the night. "He should still be around, unless-"

A sharp gasp was heard from the shed

This was Ithaca's voice!

What? Why was he in the hedge maze shed?

. Tip toeing towards the door, she tried to find an angle with which to attack. Perhaps breaking through the window with cosmos would startle the enemy and she could-

"There, yes…AH!"

Marianne froze, recognizing the second voice. Her eyes peered through the ajar door and her blood chilled.

Resting against the soft mattress, her mother lied, naked but for the cloak she brought with her from her bedroom, with none other than Ithaca mounted over her body, grasping her bare breasts, kissing her neck and gently moving himself into her, over and over again. Marianne stepped back in horror, seeing her mother writhe, roll her eyes and cover her mouth when the bodyguard motioned deeper, moving his hands down her thighs to push himself in.

"I-Ithaca…" she begged. She felt him slow down. "Don't stop, please."

He ran his fingers up his lady's beautiful contours, admiring her impossible beauty. "I won't… ever."

Marianna covered her mouth, wishing to wake up from this nightmare. He saw the man her father trusted the most move again, and her mother's ensuing shouts filled her head like a painful song of love. His kisses filled her body and his fingers, sending Seraphina into a boiling ecstasy.

"Ah! Ithaca! ITHACA! N-Now!"

He silently obliged, giving his lady everything she desired and more, rocking the furniture in the shed with the force of his rhythmic movements.

This was too much. It couldn't be true. It couldn't. Her mother couldn't be doing this. Not with him!

In her distress, Marianne's heels hit a rock in the garden and she tripped, dropping her saber. The clanking noise startled Ithaca, who looked up and saw Marianne.

The two petrified in each other's eyes, turning what could have just been a dream into a terrible reality for both.

Seraphina touched his face, seeing him pale. "Ithaca… what's wrong? Don't stop now. I'm almost…"

Marianne's eyes wept and her teeth gritted in rage. She got up and thought to herself to just storm inside and drag the both of them before her father. Instead, fear overcame her. She couldn't do it. She couldn't face her mother in such a position.

Instead, she ran away.

The bodyguard gulped. It was over. They were caught. Even if Marianne didn't scream, she would surely tell her father, his Lord.

Seraphina stared worriedly. "Ithaca, what's wrong? Was someone outside?"

He turned back to her and his terror washed away with her loveliness. Yes, he didn't have to destroy this moment. If this was going to be the last night with his Lady before fate gave him what he deserved, Ithaca would make her as happy as he could.

He kissed her chest. "Nothing, my lady." Then her stomach, setting her at ease. "There was no one outside." Then he kissed further down, letting the one he loved go into paradise again.

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

Patagonia

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

Atlae tugged his shirt, sweating, and burned cosmos, triggering an aura of dark green that made debris around him vibrate.

Ainsel laughed. "You look upset. Said that I hurt your Mariner friend? Perhaps I should have given him a trip through memory lane to, to fix his attitude."

"Q-Quiet!" Atlae threatened. "I don't want to hear your poison anymore. You're going to pay for hurting my friend!"

"ATLAE, WAIT!" Noah desperately screamed from inside their barrier. "We need a plan of action! He's wise to your Black Shell Kick now."

The Muvian stood his ground, but hesitated. "Saint Noah is right. Black Shell Kick won't do it against this guy's moves." He saw the cracks on Ainsel's Surplice. "I need a way to strike faster, but still with power! But with his lightspeed, how can I possibly time an attack?!" He clenched his hands, trying to think of something, causing cosmos to focus on them. "I need to… adapt!"

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

"A-Adapt?" an injured Atlae blinked. He had just been knocked off from the sparring ring by Mia for the twelfth time that day.

Master Yuzuriha nodded. "Of course, Atlae. You're very strong, so decisive attacks favor you, but that won't work against every adversary. Mia here is much faster and nimbler than you, so she can easily take advantage of the wide arcs of your kicks and the exaggerated motions of your body. If you want to win, you need a different strategy."

Mia scoffed, standing triumphant from their spar. "It's no use, Master, he won't get it. All Atlae knows how to do is bang his head against his problems, like human boys do. Telling him to loosen up his fighting is like getting him to chew his food."

The blonde Muvian puffed his cheeks and stood back up, assuming the Turtle School pose of holding closed fists up with relaxed, half-bent arms.

His adversary held her hand on her hip, challenging him with a bored stare. "What are ya gonna do, Atlae? Come running at me with a bunch of light taps? I'll just block it all, then."

Atlae clenched his teeth, irritated. "Man, she's even cockier than people say I am!"

With a shout, Atlae practically leaped at Mia and unleashed a flurry of punches, but the older girl easily dodged or blocked everything with mere light taps of the back of her hands, before tossing him over shoulder to the mattress again.

"AH! I win!" Mia celebrated. "Again!"

Yuzuriha shook her head. "Atlae, that's not how you're going to beat her. Think! Don't try to beat Mia where she's strongest at without some kind of plan." Master spoke. "Instead, balance out the playing field. How can you use her speed against her? Or better yet, reduce its importance in the fight?"

The blonde Muvian rubbed his hot head. "Ugh, this is so hard!"

"Wow, I can smell your neurons cooking from here." Mia mocked, triggering laughter through the class. It got even funnier when she saw the boy's eyes get red. "Atlae, it's so easy! Use your extra senses for once! I'm giving off so many non-visual tells that a first-grader could beat me."

"Mia!" Master warned tensely. When the girl looked off in silence, Master Yuzuriha spoke to him. "Atlae, try again, and this time use something in Mia as a trigger for your own movements. Remember, balance and counterbalance is one of the four principles of the Turtle School. You wanted to learn how to fight? Well, this is it."

Atlae nodded and rose. "Balance… and counter balance."

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

A tornado of light formed around Ainsel and the Specter took flight above their heads, laughing. "So, Muvian, what will you do now? Will you scream? Will you invent a contraption to stop me? I'm VERY curious!"

"If I'm going to do this… I need every bit of strength I can summon!" Atlae charged his cosmos, let out a martial shout…

…and ripped off his shirt, shredding it in every direction in a single sweep!

Noah and Ainsel staggered.

The young Muvian breathed out and focused, closing his eyes, letting the wind hit his naked torso. His green brim of Cosmos swelled and darkened, combining his Darkness and Earth cosmos. He pictured a rain of unstoppable attacks in his mind, something strong enough to overwhelm Ainsel's protections, but fast enough to catch him in a counterstrike.

Behind him, Noah widened their blue eyes, seeing the tattoo of a turtle manifest on Atlae's back. Its shell was encrusted with gems and its long-necked head glared over its shoulder, challenging the viewer to attack its shell.

The flying Specter scoffed. "Playing Dragon Saint, are we? Fine, I'll splatter your whole body over the Andes' rocks!" The Specter surrounded himself with his moths, held out his hands in chops, crossing them and burning yellow cosmos, forming an X of shining Underworld light. He then lifted up and then took off around the battlefield like a jet fighter, before finding an angle to dash down at Atlae at full speed. "BUTTERFLY KNIFE FLIGHT!"

Noah saw the Specter turn into a speeding rocket of yellow light and held out their hand at the exposed Muvian.

"ATLAE! TRIANGULUM BARRIER!" Ainsel suddenly steered off, dodging the cloud of cosmos and striking Noah's round barrier, blasting the shielded Saint off with the blunt impact force away from Atlae. "NO, my timing!"

Ainsel rocketed towards Atlae, ready to skewer him.

With his mind rushing at a million miles per hour, Atlae tried to find something, anything in the air he could use to trigger a perfect timing for a counterattack. In the darkness, he felt the air shaking, but it was too weak. He sensed the cosmos burning, but soon Ainsel's speed would be too much for him to react to properly through it. He even sensed Ainsel's Chi, hidden inside the death suit called a Surplice that he wore, but by the time he would get in range Atlae could use, Ainsel would skewer him.

Then what?

Then he felt it, at his feet. As Ainsel angled up towards him as he approached the ground, a force carried into the sand and pebbles permeated in the cosmos.

"The earth's vibrations!" he realized, tensing his naked torso. The information carried into his body permeated his nerves and made him instinctively concentrate all his Darkness and Earth into his fists, forming meteors of blackness for hands. "Lord Genbu's element, the one I'm in tune with the most! It's telling me what I need to know."

Ainsel crossed his arms and readied himself to ram Atlae into a blood splatter. "BUTTERFLY KNIFE FLIGHT!"

"ROZAN!" Atlae shouted, causing his turtle tattoo to shine into full visibility and swinging fists. "METEOR SHELL SHOWER!"

Noah emerged from the rubble and gasped, seeing the Muvian explode into a counter-attack of hundreds of huge, dark meteors blasting the flying Specter. Packed with the power of Chi, these blows struck Ainsel's Surplice like burning anvils, not only hammering his flight into a halt but blasting him back over and over and over again. Screaming, the Specter was tossed back, bombarded again and again with these enormous, magnified punches of dark lifeforce.

Slowly, Papillon Ainsel rose back up again, coughing and holding his chest. He looked down and saw his beautiful Surplice cratered top to bottom in large, round fist indentations. It was cracking and dropping large orange fragments to the ground.

"M-My Surplice! What did you do?!" he wailed, feeling Atlae's Chi burn at his shadowy armor's cracks. He glared up at the half-naked Atlae. "You will pay for this, dotted freak!"

Atlae winced, alarmed. All those blows to the Specter, and he was STILL standing back up. "Dear Genbu, he's so strong! I hit him with everything I had and still only broke his Surplice. Is this the difference the 7th sense makes?!"

Supporting a hand on a rock, Noah lifted themself up on their good leg. "That was a fantastic counterattack; Atlae used the Earth element to tie the triggering of his movement to the vibrations caused by the Specter's technique, eliminating the speed disadvantage. He has reason to be proud of this breakthrough. Did he base it off my techniques?" Noah saw the Specter powering up. "But even with his Chi power corroding the Specter's Surplice, the body inside it is just too strong for any of us…"

Ainsel took to the air again, readying Fairy Thronging. "There's no way I'm getting close to you again, Muvian! I'm wiping you out from a distance! Prepare to be torn to ribbons!"

Atlae staggered. "U-Uh-oh! What now?!" He gritted his teeth and reassumed his stance, charging darkness into his foot. "D-Damn it, no choice! I'll just have to go out fighting! ROZAN!"

"AH AH AH AH! Toss your little black hole technique all you want!" Ainsel mocked, brimming like a star and raising a chop hand. "Your Darkness is still nowhere near strong enough to pull my movements in! I can easily evade it! And then it's over!"

Noah gritted their teeth. "He's right! The Specter is going to kill us unless we get reinforcements, but with all this message jamming his psychic powers are generating, we are completely cut off!" The Triangle Saint saw Atlae charge his technique and widened eyes. "Unless…"

Humming and gesturing a round semblance of a turtle shell, Atlae struck a pose. "I'm still gonna try, you jerk! BLACK SHELL KICK!" and he kicked the vortex forming in his foot up like a launching soccer ball.

Ainsel laughed, ready to speed around it.

Noah cast out his hand. "TRIANGULATION!"

To everyone's surprise, Atlae's flying vortex stopped mid-air, captured by the cage of light beams.

"S-Saint Noah, no!" Atlae shouted.

"Ah, AH, AH! Have you gone mad, Silver Saint?!" Ainsel mocked, folding arms.

Noah squinted. "No, I'm creating a path to victory! Or have you forgotten, Specter?" And the Silver Saint tossed hand again, triggering his technique's second stage. "Atlae's Black Shell Kick vortex can too be reversed! PARABOLIC CANNON; WHITE SHELL KICK!"

And to the awe of Atlae, the spiraling direction of his amassed Darkness cosmos began furiously shifting in the opposite direction. In an instant, the pulling force everyone felt towards it disappeared, then was replaced by a massive blow out of wind as the sinking darkness transformed into exploding light. Ainsel, Noah and Atlae all screamed, startled and blinded by the vicious force of the artificial White Hole star. The terrain caved in, Ainsel guarded himself and the other combatants were blasted down, all damaged by the force and deafened by the snapping sonic boom released.

To far away onlookers, it seemed as if the flash of an atomic explosion had briefly consumed the entire area, but to the warriors battling on-site, while they got pushed down, the force merely battered their bodies like a strong, sudden breeze.

The light then slowly faded, leaving behind a mostly unaltered battlefield.

Ainsel lowered his guard, confused. "W… what? That didn't do a thing!" He looked around, his eyes still hurting. For a second, he thought the Saints were trying to blind him to escape, but the two of them were still there.

The Muvian in particular looked just as bamboozled as Ainsel felt. "S-Saint Noah, what did you do to my attack? All the force of my blow was dispersed to no use!"

With effort, Noah tested their theory, mentally pinging the area. They smirked, triumphant. "Trust me, Atlae. We've won."

Ainsel gritted his teeth. "W-Whatever, I'll just finish what I started! FAI-"

"FLASHING LANCER!"

A bright yellow flash blinded all four of them and Ainsel screamed, struck by the spinning spear slice across his chest. Spraying blood into the ground, the damaged Specter fell to the ground.

Atlae awed. Saint Noah just smiled.

Krishna landed between them and the Specter from his attack, aiming his lance. "I'm so sorry, everyone! I only just now realized what was going on!"

Ainsel gawked, holding his wound. "A reinforcement?! But my jamming-" His helmet antennae then twitched to search for it and he widened eyes. "It's GONE?!"

"That's right!" Noah confirmed, pointing their finger in the air. "When I reversed Atlae's black hole attack, I turned it into an all-clearing white hole of cosmos, which blew away every Darkness Cosmos force in the air around us! Including your Surplice's psychic jamming!"

The Specter panicked, backing away. Was such a thing possible to do?!

Atlae cheered, laughing. "That's genius! I never would have thought of that!"

"So that's what happened!" Krishna realized. He was just sitting on his boat, starting to wonder when the next update would be coming in, when suddenly his 7th sense finally felt all four of their cosmos battling. "To think such a terrible trap was sprung. You will pay for this, Specter."

Ainsel gritted his teeth hatefully, readying his cosmos. "T-That's what you think!"

Taking aim with his spear, Krishna prepared himself to finish him off. "FLASHING LAN-"

The Specter shouted and his cosmos exploded, capturing his body in a cocoon of light that then teleported away.

Krishna staggered. "He's gone!" His 7th sense scoped out the Patagonian drylands. "I can't sense him anymore. It's like he vanished from the surface."

"H-How did he do that?! You have the 7th sense!" Atlae awed, amazed. He squinted. "Did he teleport? That's cheating!"

"Atlae, just be glad you're alive!" The captain said. He then looked him over and rose a brow. "Why are you half naked? What happened to your shirt?!"

"Oh, umm!" Atlae looked around, embarrassed. He saw the ripped pieces flowing in the wind.

Krishna shook his head and helped Noah up on their foot. "Saint Noah, I don't know what to say."

The white-haired Silver Saint shook their head. "W-We pulled through, that's all that matters."

"I guess you're right." Atlae nodded. He perked up, noticing something. Running to the spot where the Specter teleported away from, he found pieces of shiny orange metal on the ground. "Hey, look! It's pieces from his Surplice."

As soon as Atlae tried to grab them, however, the pieces crumbled into black mist, which vanished under the sunlight. He gawked, dusting his hands in search of metallic matter.

It was all gone! "Hey, what just happened?"

"It's the nature of Surplices, Atlae." Saint Noah explained. The Silver took another cracked piece on a rock and showed it vanishing into shadows. "Surplices are stored in the Specter's shadow, similar to Zodiac Knights Cloth Stones. It's a process called Dark Craft, the reverse of the Zodiac Knights' technique."

Atlae awed. "Whow, so they can just pull it out on you whenever they want?"

"Atlae." Krishna warned.

The Muvian irked. What did he say this time?

Krishna scoffed. "Atlae, the Mariner method is much better. Our Scales are summoned from the waves themselves." Krishna looked around. "Wait a minute, speaking of us mariners, where's Caça?"

"H-Hey, hello?!" Caça screamed. All three of them turned, seeing him upside-down, stuck in a tree. "Will someone get me down from here?! I want to go back to the ship!"

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

Solo Manor,

Néa Delphi

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

It was the morning after Marianne's terrible discovery. Her parents left the house to attend the Steiner's charity.

Going to Ithaca at the garden, her gloved fist struck the Mariner's face, knocking the taller, muscled Ithaca straight down.

Ithaca winced and rubbed his jaw. She might have been a teenage girl, but thanks to the Cosmos, she punched as hard as an adult. "M-Marianne, please stop! Just listen to me!"

"LISTEN TO YOU?!" the heiress roared, kicking him down. "I heard everything I needed to, loud and clear, at 1AM in the morning last night! I'm surprised the entire neighborhood hasn't! I… I can't…" She held her stomach, disgusted. Her eyes shook in anger. "Ithaca, how COULD YOU! YOU TRAITOR! PIG!"

The blue-haired bodyguard sunk head in silence, ashamed.

Her fingers clenched the air, wishing she could strangle him. "After everything my father has done! After everything he's GIVEN YOU! He took you in when no other Mariner would! He made you a Son of Arion! He rode to WAR with you! He TRUSTED YOU, not just with his life, but my mother's and mine and even Atlae's! He's given you a home and a new life and people who loved you! How could you stab him in the back like this?!"

The former rider nodded, rising and cleaning his blood. The things she listed were actually an understatement; Lord Arthur had given him so much more than these things. However, if he let her say more, he might take his own life then and there out of sheer shame.

His silence just made her teeth grind harder. "Even forgetting about my poor father's feelings, how much it would KILL HIM to find out about what you've been doing; do you have the FAINTEST CLUE the amount of danger you just put my parents in?!" she confronted, punching his chest and pushing him against the wall. "Mariner families live and die on these twisted power games! If people find out my mother has been-"

Marianne then stopped herself, in too much pain to give voice to what she discovered her progenitor has been doing.

She stepped away, breathing deeply, and tried to speak calmly. "Everything my father has ever worked for, including taking in Atlae and the bridges we've been building with the Muvians, hinges on him being respected as everyone's leader. If this… AFFAIR is discovered, our entire family could be destroyed. Do you understand that?! He will be a pariah! No one among the Mariners will ever listen to him again! Even to stop wars! They might even kill him!"

Ithaca recoiled in shock at the idea of his lord murdered in the street, but had to nod in agreement. As always, Marianne seemed to understand the political situation beyond her age.

"I know I put everyone in danger." Ithaca confessed, his eyes softening. There was no self-righteousness to his tone, only acknowledgement. "Including Atlae."

"THEN WHY?!" Marianne roared all the louder, clenching her fingers. "You say you understand, that you know, then what would have stopped you, then?! Should my father have recruited a eunuch instead?! Should he have let the Saints hang you for your crimes all those years ago?! WHY DID YOU DO THIS?!"

"Because I love her." Ithaca cried out, like the words had been stuck in his throat for years. "I… love your mother, Marianne! That's the truth."

Marianne froze at this defense, horrified.

The guardian breathed out. "I've always loved Seraphina, from the day I met her. From the day I saw the sun shower her face,… her visage has been wedged into my heart like a sapphire thorn. And then, one day, we locked eyes in that garden and realized the other felt the same. We… couldn't stop ourselves after that."

"Couldn't stop yourselves?!" Marianne screamed, punching his body again. "SHE IS YOUR LADY! MY MOTHER! WIFE OF THE HEAD OF ALL MARINERS!" Marianne screamed, wanting to toss her gloves out and rip his face off. In a peak of rage, her dolphin-engraved saber was unsheathed and she pressed its tip against the side of his neck. "SHE IS SOMEONE YOU SWORE A VOW OF RESPECT TO! SOMEONE YOU VOWED TO DIE BEFORE EVER SULLYING HER HONOR! SOMEONE WHOSE FAMILY… YOU SWORE TO PROTECT!"

He stood with dignity, narrowing eyes, despite the blood drawn from his neck by her edge. This was the part where Marianne's youth showed. "I know all of that. But of all people you should know what it's like to suffer for someone on the other side of a wall this long, Mari'."

Her eyes wept, thinking of the boy her father brought into her life from the east. Her blade grip shook. "What do you think you're suggesting, Ithaca?!"

Yet, the Mariner stared firmly. "I think you know, Marianne. You have a gap to cross of your own. I just got sick of simply staring at mine."

The heiress widened her eyes. "Y-You…Atlae and I are NOT like you and mom! We are friends, we trust eachother, we-"

"Think of each other first when in need of help? Or comfort? Or of who to spend a life with?" Ithaca challenged, making her stiffen. He pushed the saber aside and folded his arms. "Marianne, when he first came here, you used to beg me to help you meet with him without your grandfather knowing. You had me teach him how to climb a tree in the hopes he'd decide to use it to knock at your window without your grandfather knowing. You would ask me what you could get for his birthday that a boy would like and if I used to have crushes at your age and on wh-"

"IT'S NOT THE SAME!" Marianne cut, refusing to let him shift the tide. She tossed her weapon out in anger. "I cared about him and I wasn't allowed to spend time with him! It's obvious I wanted you to help me do so! But even if it were true,… he and me can't…." She shook head, her body freezing in panic, and faced him again. "It DOESN'T MATTER! It's nothing compared to what you and mother have been doing! How dare you use him to defend yourself with?!"

"You're right." He gently picked up her discarded weapon. "Your mother and I really are different. But we had the pain of not only being so close to each other every day, yet being unable to reach out anyway. And we also loved who stood between us so damn much for so long."

She paled at the implication. "You say you two love my father?! W-What kind of MAN claims to love the one he betrayed?!"

"Someone who was willing to die over it, so he could love your mother even more." And he handed her the saber back. "I don't regret what I have done, Mari', so don't regret yourself to do what's right, whatever you feel that might be."

She took it, stunned by the firmness in his voice. A part of her wanted to use it, to test his words with metal. She wasn't cruel or cold to the point of harming someone who had been her family's friend for so long, but Marianne had never imagined in a million years her mother and that friend could be doing such a thing around her father's back, either. Gripping the blade tightly and holding it up again, she pondered if she should just close her eyes and do it. Her father's fragile heart and her family's safety was on the line!

Seeing her hesitate, Ithaca pushed his chest against the blade. "I'm just a bodyguard. No one will miss me. You can tell them someone tried to break in and hurt you, Mari', that they even took your sword and stabbed me before escaping. I'll leave a confession even your mother would believe. If they return while I still draw breath, I'll use the last of it to back you up. I promise."

Her heart pumped, tempted. She should just do it! It was in Poseidon's creed. He had betrayed their trust and undermined her father, so this would be nothing short of paying all that pain back! Everyone's safety was at risk over their affair and he made it clear he regretted none of it, that he might not even stop if he kept living!

He clearly wanted to die over it, right?! So, she should just carve his heart out! She saw Ithaca took a deep breath and close his eyes, ready for his final moment.

Marianne screamed and slashed forward, striking her dolphin saber deep into the brick wall by him, startling the Mariner. The curved blade shattered and blood gashed from her hand from the violence of the blow.

Ithaca widened his blue eyes. "Mari', what did you do?!" He reached out to help her. "You hurt yours-"

"DON'T TOUCH ME, YOU TRAITOR!" she screamed, tucking her bleeding hand. Her eyes narrowed in hatred. "I will regret this until the day I die… but I won't kill a man who just wants to flee from his guilt under Hades' skirt. I am not your lord, Ithaca, but you say you love my father? I believe you, … so suffer for the rest of your life in guilt for this!"

Ithaca genuinely gasped at this.

She picked up her broken blade piece. Her arm cleaned her tears. "No one would believe your stupid story, anyway…A Mariner would rather die than let someone take their weapon from them."

The bodyguard felt a shiver. What a cruel punishment. She was truly the daughter of the Head of Houses. It was exactly what he deserved. "Mari', what will you do, then?"

She sniffed. "I want you two to end it. Not tomorrow. Not next week. You will tell my mother it's over tonight, when you go do WHATEVER you do when my father goes to sleep." She looked away, tearing. "You may… tell her it's not because you don't love her anymore, though. I don't want my mother to suffer."

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

Ithaca had kept his word, Marianne had to admit that much. She remembered staying up that night and hearing her mother cry across the hall after their get together. Marianne spent the whole night comforting her mother, listening to her lie about how 'she had received news of a relative's death'.

It was so sad. Marianne had never seen her mother like this. Seraphina was a strong woman who made Arthur Solo, heir to the Mariner's leaders, fall in love with her, and now Marianne saw her weep like Amphitrite's amphoras. The pain of losing Ithaca's love was very real, that was clear. For a moment, Marianne felt like a monster and wondered if she had let her honor blind her to her mother's feelings. But what about her father's?

Little did she know, though, it didn't matter. Seraphina was already with baby Julian's first cells multiplying in her womb.

She hadn't found out right away. While in service in the Sea Dragon, she received her letter from her father, happily declaring to the world that Seraphina Solo was two months pregnant, with a boy no less. Everything just piled on after that. Elder Yuzuriha sent Doctor Tsering as a gesture of friendship to ensure her mother's health throughout the pregnancy.

During this time, the conflict inside her was so strong that she thought of telling Atlae about all this in her letters. He was the only person she could think of that could alleviate her dilemma. It made her realize that maybe Ithaca was right; maybe she didn't see Atlae as just a friend. Marianne's hand always stayed from this, though; she didn't want to perturb his training.

Often, when visiting her parents and watching her mother's belly get bigger and bigger, Marianne looked at Ithaca to see what he was doing. She realized he was keeping a distance from the couple whenever they were out together, but still glanced at Marianne's mother with a longing pain, especially when father touched Seraphina's belly.

She once asked him why he didn't just quit. Ithaca said Lord Arthur refused to let him without the truth. Mariner codes of honor prevented him from disrespecting that demand, so Ithaca just stayed. He was trapped in a prison of guilt with the Solos, just like Marianne wished for.

She didn't anymore, though.

Over the months, Marianne realized Ithaca was transforming, hardening the old jovialness he had as a jokester former bandit and Atlae's antic accomplice into becoming a fierce and powerful agent of her father's will. Everything Arthur wished for, Ithaca abided by with increasing zealousness, showing up at Arthur's doorstep with enemy secrets, captured assassins and escorted guests. It seemed that the horrible experience of spiritually losing his child with the woman he loved to his oblivious lord had mechanized him, somewhat, into some kind of angel of death at the Solo's disposal.

Perhaps Ithaca sought to expiate his betrayal through this, since Marianne refused giving him death, like he wished for. Or perhaps Ithaca believe that the best service he could give his child as a father was to protect the family he was inserted into.

One day, returning home from a tour during the winter, Marianne found him carrying a heavy set of logs inside the house, stumbling over with the effort, and rushed to him. "ITHACA!"

He was caught by her, but the logs were dropped. "Marianne?! You're back again." He began to pick them up. "S-Sorry. Let me just take care of this."

She noticed how pale he looked. "Ithaca, you look completely drained! Have you been piling all these yourself?!"

Ithaca put it all inside the lumber shed and dusted his hands. "Yeah, I've, uh… been helping your father keep the house stocked. This has been such a snowy winter, especially for Greece." He wiped his brow and laughed. "I keep forgetting to just use cosmos… Stupid!"

Marianne widened her eyes, alarmed. She recognized the signs of depression from studies, and it had an especially strong impact on one's abilities to burn the cosmos. Many people seemed to forget to use it, even in fights, as if the superpower was tied to the will to smile, somehow.

"Here, let me help you." She offered. After finishing, she went inside.

Mother, on the other hand, seemed entranced by her pregnancy. The memory of Ithaca didn't even seem to upset her anymore. She just sat at the window, adoringly rubbing her stomach over and over, like the vessel of Poseidon grew in her uterus.

"It's such a beautiful winter afternoon." Seraphina swooned, seeing the snow outside. "It reminds me of Bluegrad, my home. Greece is always too sunny."

"Father is out. Perhaps I can ask Ithaca to go with you for a walk, mom?" Marianne found herself suggesting. She wasn't sure why.

Her mother blinked. "Who?"

Marianne irked, puzzled. "Ithaca. Your… bodyguard for the past six years? He rode us to town today. Maybe he could join you for a stroll?"

A sour frown then came over Seraphina. "Oh,… him." The poison in her voice was only matched by the glare in her eyes. "No, I think I'd rather stay. I'll just…wait for your father to come back. I love him so much. I just want to hold his arm and put my head on his shoulder and fall asleep…forever."

Marianne would find this touching, if only it didn't seem so disturbing after her affair. "But, Mom, Ith-"

"Mari'?"

Marianne stiffened. It wasn't often her mother interrupted her so briskly. "Y-Yes?"

She caressed her stomach, entranced. "Don't ever mention that disgusting name in front of me again, okay, honey?" Seraphina then smiled, surprised. "Oh! Do you want to feel your brother kicking again?"

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

And so, Marianne let it all out, telling her father of the terrible night she discovered mother's affair, and the confrontation with Ithaca. Arthur Solo stood there in alarm at it all, his eyes shaking as he revised in his head the past year of his life.

"I wanted to tell you so badly for so long." Marianne vowed, her hands clenching on her lap, furious at herself. "Every time I tried, though, I would see mom in these strange moods, hating Ithaca and wanting to be with you again. A part of me even hoped that… her baby might be really yours."

Arthur's hand clenched on his desk tightly at this.

Her head shook, remembering how happy her parents were in those first months. "I couldn't destroy that. I didn't want anything to happen to her and Julian. He might… not be your son, but… he's still the son of my mother."

The Head of Houses' eyes graved. He paced around his study, trembling slightly and casting Marianne concerned looks.

It was a strange reaction for something so painful. "D-dad, you believe me, don't you?"

He turned to her, tense. "I'm sorry, Marianne. You've had to carry this weight for a while, haven't you?" he asked, sighing. "If I had any idea, I would have eased your suffering sooner. Don't worry. I don't just believe you, Marianne; I knew about this whole thing already."

Marianne still sat there, trying to understand what her father just told her.

"You… did? H…How?!" she asked. "Dad, how did you know mother was…. With Ithaca?!"

A look of pain flashed through Arthur's face as he recalled the reason. "One day, your mother just seemed… lighter. Happier. Like I hadn't seen her in over a decade. And then Ithaca began asking me if he could leave. Your father is not a fool, Marianne."

This didn't fit inside the daughter's head at all. Not only was it absolutely bizarre the banality with which father seemed to be saying this, but she knew so many stories of Mariners going insane and murdering their wives when adultery was discovered. Masculine pride was extremely valued in their groups. Marianne knew her father was a better man than most, enlightened even, but the idea that he was aware of mother's affair and just silently endured it this whole time, especially with the risk of discovery and disgrace among the households, was a bit too much to swallow.

Seeing his daughter stunned, Arthur handed her his handkerchief to clean her face with and explained. "Your mother doesn't originally come from the Mariners. You know that, don't you?"

Wiping her tears, Marianne nodded. "Y-yes. She is from Bluegrad, the land of the Blue Saints."

"And of the Gerasimov Household as well. You hated your grandfather, Marianne, for good reason, but for his time he was more open-minded than most. Initially, he was pressuring to marry me to the Gerasimov's daughters." Arthur revealed. He then shivered. "But I despised those ghouls. They were very cold-hearted people. They still are. Today, that beautiful city is in the hands of that greedy hog, Baron, in part because of them."

Marianne perked at this. She had heard awful stories about Siberian natives being enslaved to work in mines in Bluegrad, but never confirmed those rumors. Everyone always said it was just rumors spread by terrorist groups in the area.

"I met your mother when your grandfather took me to visit the city to meet my betrothal. Seraphina was a lowborn, the daughter of a priest of their church, but we fell in love immediately. Your grandfather, Julian, broke off my marriage to the Gerasimov, and an alliance with the Artic Ocean mariners died that very year. He just wanted me to be happy." Arthur spoke. He looked his daughter in the eye. "I want you to understand how important this was, coming from your grandfather; in the year you were born, things weren't easy for Mariners. Before the Priam War, the Pact of Seven wasn't as influential and some, like the Zodiac Knights, still saw Mariners as enemies of Athena. Our survival depended on unity against the Saints. I put all of that at risk for your mother, and your grandfather… accepted it."

Again, Marianne had to reel. In her mind, grandfather Julian was anything but the picture of a person who valued his family's wishes over his political aspirations. She had spent half her childhood seeing him abuse Atlae, ostracizing him from the house and talking about how much Lord Poseidon would one day punish them for harboring a 'dotted freak'. The idea that Grampa Julian sacrificed an important political alliance so that his only son could be happy with a Bluegrad lowborn, even one as beautiful as mom, was a shocker.

"You know much of the rest, Marianne. You were born and everyone hoped a boy would come next, someone who could don the Sea Dragon Scale."

She didn't need being reminded of this, no. "All my life, that stupid Scale hung over my head like proof I wasn't good enough." She recalled, glancing at the reflective surface of her father's glassed shelves. "It didn't seem to matter how much cosmos I unlocked or how high I scored in exams, everyone seemed to just wait for dad to have a son, someone Lord Poseidon could bless with Sea Dragon should war come. Everyone except… for Atlae."

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

Atlae stared at the portrait in the collection stand of Marianne's ancestor dressed in the shiny orange-gold armor. "Oh, that's your family's scale? Cool! It looks like a dragon suit! Why won't they give to you when you graduate, then?"

Her cheeks puffed. "Cause I'm not a boy like you, Atlae!" She paced around the corridor, fuming. "They all say it's because Lord Poseidon hasn't reawakened yet, but it's a lie! AG told me Baian got to try out Seahorse in his house. Even Caça's older brother was taken under the waves to see Lymnades, and there's a picture of dad posing with it for his Delphi graduation in one of the albums, even though aunt Vasiliki wasn't a Saint yet. Mom just hides it from me so I won't ask about this anymore."

Atlae scratched head, confused. "I don't get it, then, you have better scores than everyone at, like… everything. That's so stupid."

"Because they're unfair to me!" Marianne almost shouted. She covered her mouth and looked around, fearful she'd attract Grampa Julian, who was sleeping in the living room. Atlae wasn't supposed to be inside the house. "But who cares. anyway? I'm not studying to get the stupid armor..."

Atlae hummed, unsure how you could pass on such a cool power suit. "What for, then?"

She shrugged. "I like to feel proud of what I do, Atlae. Why should I do anything than my absolute best? Besides, I want to join the navy someday, so I need a way to wedge myself in against whatever they put in my way." Her face saddened. "I think dad is sad he never had a boy, but he seems to forget about it when I come home with good grades. That just makes me feel better. Why do you think musical class drives me insane? It's the only thing I'm terrible at."

Atlae laughed. "But I like you even when you score bad grades, Mari'. I don't think anyone really cares."

She smiled, feeling her chest warm. "You liar. Thanks, Atlae."

He shook his head. "I'm not lying, I swear. I hope you get to try the armor out one day, Mari', but even if you don't, I don't really care. You're still the coolest girl I know." He studied the Scale in the portrait again and tried to pose like her ancestor, folding his arms all cool. "

She sighed, looking at his Muvian dots. "I hate to admit it, but they might let me do it sooner than you." She saw him amuse himself, acting as pompous as her ancestor looked. "At least I know you're honest."

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

Atlae was right, it was all so stupid. So much weighed on her dad's shoulders simply because she wasn't a boy.

"However, as much as I would want a son as well, your mother had… a difficult birth when she had you. She almost died." Arthur recalled. The very memory of it seemed to make him wince in terror. "After that, a great fear struck me I might lose her if we tried to have a child again. It afflicted me without end, to the point I neglected your mother. I kept my distance from her, even, fearing in a moment of endearment we might… try again. But it was taxing. We started arguing."

"I… I remember that!" Marianne stood up even, jolted by it. She was four and she remembered not understanding where it all came from. Now it made sense. "I could hear you screaming at night. I could hear her crying about wanting to leave with me."

Arthur nodded. "It was my fault. I didn't treat her correctly those years."

"Dad, no!" she urged.

"Seraphina hated being here, Marianne. As a woman of Bluegrad, Greece was everything she wasn't at home with. You have to understand that people of that city are of a unique fiber. For her, the Greek sun was too hot, the mountains too small, the distances too short, the river water too gentle and the rain too infrequent." Arthur listed. "Seraphina's soul craved the snow storms that would freeze so many, as if her heart expected the ferocity of that land every minute of every day. I think, in a way, nothing proves your mother loved me back as much as her staying here all these years. But hate has a way to eat at love overtime…"

This made more sense to Marianne than everything else. Her mother would tell stories of how beautiful Bluegrad was after the snow. Her voice was always filled with nostalgia at it, like she desperately wished to see it again.

Arthur's teeth gritted. "Many times I wished to take her back to see her land, but the Gerasimov hated her for destroying our would-be alliance. I feared that if I brought Seraphina to her home, someone would do… something to her." His thick fist slammed the hard side of the study wall and he growled to himself, his wrinkles tensing. "Fear, fear and more fear! I was building a cage around your mother and I didn't even see it!"

Piece by piece, everything started to make sense to Marianne. She recalled the difficult times when the war broke out with Sagittarius Priam. As members of the Pact of Seven, the Mariners were called to help, which made a military conflict fall on top of dad's shoulders at a time he and mom were fighting to stay together.

Several years later, when it ended, dad came home with Atlae.

A frightening possibility sprung to her head at this. "Dad, I need to ask you something. When you brought Atlae here... Was it just to make Mom happy?"

Arthur shook head. "No. In a lot of ways, the Creed is similar to Muvian beliefs in the karma; what you give out to the world is what you'll eventually get back. All that changes is the details the culture likes. I saw in Atlae the chance to break a cycle of idiotic hatred between two cultures at war with each other for five millennia after their last war and expiate the Mariners sin of participating in the Priam war at the same time."

Marianne sensed the tension behind his careful words, though. "But you were hoping mom would love you again, too?"

Arthur sat back down, interlaced his fingers and pondered nostalgically. "Seraphina once said she fell in love with me because of a snow rabbit I saved from a poacher's bow. I always thought she merely joked…but men have the habit of taking what women say too seriously at times."

Her hands shook. Dad was clearly trying so hard. How could something so terrible happen to their family? "I'm sorry, father. I had no idea of any of this until, -" her throat dried up, remembering the copulating sight of Ithaca on top of her mother. She saw Arthur slump his head into the laced fingers, looking defeated. "It's not your fault, dad!"

Seeing the anger beginning to boil in his daughter, the wise man fixed eyes on her. "Marianne, no matter what, I want you to not harbor any ill feelings towards your mother over this."

Marianne just wanted to hate her with all her heart after this. It wasn't just dad, too, but even Ithaca seemed to be suffering. "B-but…after what she's done, I…"

"That's an order. We all have moments of weakness. We all fall in love with people we shouldn't." Her father taught. He looked away. "Seraphina has sacrificed much for me... I can forgive one mere betrayal."

The way mother's feelings for Ithaca evolved, however, equally worried her. "Dad, I don't think Mom is acting normal. I sense something strange in her! The way she talks of Ithaca nowadays is so cruel! It's…. wrong."

Arthur observed her curiously. "You pity him? After what he's done?"

The teenage girl shook, vexed. A year earlier she was ready to cut Ithaca's throat out, or so she thought. Now she felt she shared some kind of curse with him that she could not give words to.

"Mom seems… possessed!" Marianne tried to word. It was frightening to speak of her own mother this way. "She doesn't look or speak to Ithaca anymore and last time I saw him, I thought you two were starving him to death. I can't believe I'm saying this, but… yes, I pity him."

Arthur tensed, looking out the window to the gardens his bodyguard usually patrolled. "Perhaps it makes me a weak man to pity the one who laid with my wife, but I do as well. Every day, I feel Ithaca's spirit wane, like he has fallen into the sea's abyss. Once I even wondered if there was more to our God's Creed than guidelines to be fair and true, and if perhaps Lord Poseidon has cursed Ithaca for his treason."

Marianne held her tongue at this. Irrational as it was, the same thought had crossed her mind, but it was almost unspeakable to contemplate. It was as if giving body to a shadow over their culture's head, the acknowledgement of a divine will enforcing their destiny as Mariners, whether they wished it or not.

The patrician continued. "The same way I noticed his pain, I've also sensed he seeks my forgiveness. In darker moments, I even feared he might harm himself. I've been keeping him close to me and away from Seraphina, so I can help him."

At this, Marianne also was quiet. She was in no position to judge dad over his choice regarding Ithaca. She had, after all, made a similar choice the day her sword pressed against his neck.

Still, her father came across as nothing but a Saint in all this. "Dad, I hate to be the one asking this, but how can you look the other way? They… betrayed your trust, Mom and Ithaca both. Mom hasn't even told you what happened herself. How can you sleep by her side knowing all this?"

There was only a grave beat of silence. Father stared tensely, likely trying to find the correct words. It couldn't be easy for him, explaining such a strange decision to his own daughter. Maybe he had pondered the question himself many times.

Marianne's eyes teared, picturing herself in this situation. Except her belly would likely be the one inflated. "If a man did this to me, I would…I think I would lose my mind."

"We don't pick the winds the Gods blow into our sails, Marianne, but we can adjust our sail." Arthur advised. "I was faced with two equally unpleasant options; I could either confront your mother, listen to a painful confession or an even more painful lie, be forced to throw her and her child out of my house and force all the Mariners to know something has happened, or… we can take this chance to reconnect, pretend nothing has ever happened between her and Ithaca and raise the first-born son Lord Poseidon has willed to grant us."

"D-DAD, he's not-" Marianne stopped herself and reworded. "Julian is not your first-born."

Arthur knew she meant something else, but played along. "I know, he's Ithaca's. You are my first born, Mari'. And I always be proud of you, no matter what our stupid traditions say." He walked over and hugged her tightly, letting her sniff into his shoulder and gently patting her back. He gave a soft prayer to Poseidon, thanking him for the children he gave him. "Thank you for having the courage to tell me the truth, even though I already knew. And I will always love you and your mother no matter what. Our Julian is not off that arrangement, just like Atlae wasn't."

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

Argentina,

San Antonio, Sanctuary Clinic

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

After returning to San Antonio, Saint Noah was quick to get to work on alerting Sanctuary, which immediately sent out a squad under a Gold Saint to investigate the area. Things got quite complicated from there, to the point Atlae wasn't even able to see which Gold Saint was sent, with captain Krishna insisting that he and Caça kept to medical care for the rest of the day.

Fortunately, because none of them had critical injuries, no one had to do any major surgery or healing. The only one that seemed to get special care was Saint Noah, who had to get their wound from the Butterfly Knight Flight checked and their leg replaced. Fortunately, Sanctuary seemed to have someone on site in San Antonio to do all that stuff without them having to answer questions about how they got hurt and the like.

"So, how are you doing?"

Sitting in the waiting room after getting care, Atlae perked up from his trance, seeing Saint Noah coming out of the halls.

He smiled, happy to see the Saint okay. "I feel great! A bit bruised, though."

Noah laughed and touched their own forehead. "I mean the seal I made, Atlae."

Atlae's face reddened. He still felt his head warm. "Oh. I don't really know. I can't tell how it feels, which I guess it's the point?"

Noah sat as well, looking exhausted. "Before you know it, you won't even remember you have it, which is a cute bonus, if you ask me."

Atlae laughed. He noticed how tired the Silver looked. "How's your new leg, Saint Noah?"

The Saint lifted their right legging, revealing a new prosthetic of nicely jointed white parts. "Luckily this spare was recently made, so it fits in nicely. I have to keep adjusting them, so it was no big deal."

Atlae frowned. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you and Caça…if I knew the 7th sense or hadn't passed out like an idiot…"

Noah shook head. "It's silly to think you're a failure just because you don't have the same power a Gold Saint does, Atlae. Besides, I should be thanking you. It was an interesting experience, working on a Genma Ken wound. This could help me heal someone else in the future."

"How much did you take away, anyway?" Atlae asked, rubbing the fainting mark between his Muvian dots.

Noah shrugged. "I can't read minds, Atlae, so only you would really be able to tell. Memory sealing is a complicated topic, but to give you an idea, these treatments work a bit like the Golden Touch. All I'm really doing is mending the trauma-" The Saint saw Atlae looking confused. "Mm, think of it this way; it's like you got kicked in the head and a scar reopened, so I just sewed it back up even harder."

The Muvian sailor laughed embarrassedly. He felt so stupid. "Oh, I get it now."

"There's something that worries me about that Specter, though." Noah confessed, looking concerned. "For some reason, I couldn't see his Star."

Atlae blinked. "His star? Like his constellation?"

Noah shook their head. "Close. Specters are governed by the 108 Evil Stars of the Underworld. These power their Surplices just as constellations power our Cloths, Atlae, but more than that, they also govern the fate of their souls. When a Specter dies, their Star prevents their soul from being lost to the Afterlife, rendering them immortal… but also unable to reincarnate."

Recalling his lessons in Shamballa about these things, which Atlae didn't pay much attention to but got the gist of, the Muvian scratched head, noticing an oddity. "Wait, but if they don't reincarnate, what happens when Saints defeat them in a Holy War?"

"It depends, Atlae." Noah rose a finger. "If the Specters are 'killed', Hades will just have them be reborn in a new era, when Athena's seal starts weakening. In a way, the Specters you face in a Holy War are the same as the ones our ancestors fought in the previous one."

Atlae folded arms, intrigued. "Ah, okay… and what if they aren't?"

Noah chuckled. "What do you think? They stay in the Underworld."

The Muvian staggered. "What? For all those two hundred and something years?!"

Noah nodded, chuckling. "Yup."

Atlae pictured what it would be like to stay two centuries in hell with nothing to do but watch dead people walk in. "Isn't that, um, boring?"

Noah chuckled with a rather dark frown. "Well, I can't pity them much for it. That aside, this is why it isn't in Sanctuary's best interest to exterminate every single Specter in a given Holy War unless we can get rid of Hades too, because we don't know what will happen if the Underworld becomes unstable."

The Muvian paused at this, resting jaw in fist pensively. "So… I guess they have an important job, too?"

Noah hesitated a bit to answer this. "Well, Atlae, um, I'm a Saint, so Specters are my enemy. I'm not going to tell you I agree with what they do. However, if we don't have the power to fully defeat Hades yet, then the Underworld will just continue to exist. Who will run that terrible place without them? We don't really benefit from creating that kind of chaos in the Cosmos. At least not yet."

This made sense to him, though it made his head hurt a bit. "So, for now, even Specters contribute something? I guess it's like Master Yuzuriha taught me; balance dictates everything. I wonder if that's got something to do with why the Genbu Hide was given to them?" He grimaced, though. "I just wish they weren't so evil like that Papillon guy. Couldn't they just lay off the malice a little bit?"

Maybe someday, something could be done to achieve a better world, one that wouldn't need Specters. Atlae supposed the Mariners believed in something like that, only that it would require a vast reduction of the human population.

"I guess it's awful all those people get sent to Prisons, but what if they all collapsed and the dead walked the Earth?" This scenario, however, made stars pop in Atlae's eyes. He pictured himself fighting history's greatest martial artists. "Wait, that would be so cool, though!"

Noah wasn't sure how Atlae got to this scenario, but just laughed along.

"That sounds disgusting!" Caça interrupted, walking by, full of bandages and tree scratches. "A horde of walking corpses roaming the earth? Only you could find that fun, Atlae. Don't we have enough people polluting it already? Let them stay down there and get the punishment they deserve."

Atlae squinted. "Caça, don't say that! You might end up there someday too!"

"No, I won't! I'm a Mariner!" Caça gloated, scoffing. He walked away to finish his duties. "When I die, Lord Poseidon will turn my body into reef coral and my soul will join his Oceanic Pillars. Only the unfaithful drop down to Hades. You're a dotted freak, so you'll land in Hades before I do, Atlae."

The Muvian stood quiet and let him leave, not wishing to start another argument.

Noah frowned empathetically. The Silver knew what it was to be in the receiving end of callous comments. "I'm sorry, Atlae. Trust me, he just doesn't understand what he's saying."

"I know." Atlae assured. His fist rested on the crate he was pretending to work on with an upset force, denting it slightly. Saint Noah sounded a lot like Marianne just now, but the number of times he'd been called names was starting to pile up. Between 'dotted freak' and 'straw-hair pervert', everyone, from Mariners to Muvians, seemed to have a problem with him, "I thought things might be different by now though. I just… wish he'd stop. I wish everyone would."

Noah felt their heart break, seeing the Muvian hold back tears and slump against the ship's rail, looking defeated.

Atlae nodded, filling himself with strength with a heavy breath. "Saint Noah, you said earlier you couldn't see the Specter's star, but… what does that mean? Is that a 7th sense ability?"

Noah smiled coyly and gestured a hush. "It's a secret of mine. I have a special talent."

Atlae perked up, curious. "Uh? What is it?"

The Triangle Saint shook their head. "It's a secret, Atlae, but let's just say for now I can perceive people's true selves." Noah thought back to the previous battle. "With that Specter, though, even though I saw the shadow of his Surplice, something about it wasn't correct. It wasn't just the lack of a Star. That Surplice didn't seem to…fit him. Like he was wearing someone else's clothes."

Atlae widened his eyes. "You could tell all of that?! That's amazing!" He pointed at himself. "What do you see in me? What's my true self, Saint Noah?"

The Silver Saint laughed embarrassedly. Even without this ability, Atlae was such a straightforward young man everyone could tell what he was like from a surface look. "Atlae, you're just yourself. You look normal to me."

The Muvian frowned, disappointed. "Aw, okay. I thought I might have a secret self, but I guess that's alright. It does feel good when I'm treated normal."

The white-haired Triangle cheered. "That's the right attitude!"

"Still, Saint Noah-" Atlae smiled, admiring them. "Between that and those attack-capturing abilities you used on that Specter, you got quite the skill set. I think you're someone I wouldn't want to spar with, for once."

Noah shook their head humbly. "You flatter me, but it's not that strange, Atlae. Your captain is still at least a hundred thousand times faster than me. I've just dedicated my whole life to studying the Cosmos, so I know its ins and outs. It's part of my job description to figure out if young children have talent with the Cosmos, after all."

Atlae grimaced. "All I can do is kick people super hard. I didn't even know you could study Cosmos!"

Noah laughed. "That Specter will remember the force of your foot more than my Parabolic Cannon, Atlae. Besides-" Noah looked out the horizon, looking transfixed in Sanctuary's direction. "-if I want to achieve my goals, I have to study the cosmos. One day, I'd like to apply to become the Virgo Gold Saint, when I have the 7th sense for real."

Atlae noticed the intersex Silver's Virgo Pin. "You have a connection to that place, don't you? Were you born a Virgo?"

The Triangle Saint laced fingers reflectively. "The Hall of Innocence is very important to me, for many reasons. I've heard a new Gold Saint from India will take it over soon, but someone very close to me once lived there, long ago."

Atlae paused, noticing Noah's sad tone. "What… happened to them? Did they quit?"

The Silver's eyes softened nostalgically, dancing fingers on the ships rail. Noah sighed. "No. She died. Along with someone else I also loved very much. My life was never the same again."

Atlae frowned sympathetically. He wondered if Saint Noah was speaking of their parents. These thoughts made Atlae's seal burn a bit, suppressing the memories Noah sealed in him. Atlae scratched it annoyingly, wondering what was wrong.

"They're both in a better place now, though." Noah then noticed his scratching. "Don't worry, Atlae, the itch will go away. Sorry, I didn't mean to remind you of sad things."

"It's amazing, whatever it was that Specter showed me, I don't even feel sad." Though his lips did curve down. "I think I do want to talk with Lord Solo about what happened though. I don't blame him for anything, it wasn't his fault. I would just like a man-to-man conversation about… who I used to be."

The Silver Saint stared intently. "Remember, Atlae; some people choose to forget their past."

After everything that happened, Atlae was sure Noah knew what they were saying. "Yeah, but this is about my future, too.

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

Not far from the city, dragging the wounded Ainsel into the corner of a hideout, Aquila Daese shouted "WHAT WERE YOU ALL THINKING?! WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO ATTACK A SANCTUARY HOLDOUT?!"

Ainsel winced. After what happened yesterday with those bastard Saints, the last thing he wanted was to give this Cyrulian bitch explanations. "I'm sorry, m-miss Daese, but commander made a mistake."

"Why didn't you keep in touch with us?! We could have pulled you out!" Daese interjected, skeptical. "Instead, you were radio silent the whole way through and now you tell me your entire group was wiped out by the Saints? Isn't that convenient?!"

The undercover Specter gritted teeth. All his charisma and he couldn't get anything past this Zodiac Knight. It was like trying to fool Cerberus himself. If only Aries Azrael had killed this one, too.

Still, he tried with a yellow smile. "W-we were overwhelmed in the moment. We have no excuse. I'm sorry, miss Daese."

The Zodiac Knight fumed. Something about this wasn't right. She should keep an eye on this radio officer from now on. "Priam, I got the survivor with me."

"Thank goodness." The Black Saint at the submarine responded.

She hesitated. They were running so much risk already. "Priam, are you sure I should take him back? The circumstances here are very suspicious! I don't think this Ainsel is telling us the truth!"

"We don't have time to investigate just yet, but I promise I will. In the meantime, we have to do what's right for our own." He argued, more of a paladin than she could be. "Come join us in Andromeda Island."

"Priam, about that. Guardnia, he… didn't receive you well the last time you visited him.(*)" She recalled. "Should you really show yourself to him again?"

(*) Chapter 23

"Daese, it's the Andromeda Cloth Guardnia is awarding." Priam reminded her. "It's a unique achievement for a Master. All I want to do is tell him how happy I am. Even if he hates me."

Daese sighed. "Very well, Priam."

Meanwhile, Ainsel gritted teeth, incensed. The Mariner lance attack he took still stung deeply. "I must warn Prince Lucian of this. Alliances between Mariners and Muvians are unheard of. The False Specters cannot underestimate any of their enemies." He then glared at Daese. "As for you, miss Paladin, one day you will feel our wrath as well. But for now I will wait and fulfill my mission. For the Prince."

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

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

Greece, Néa Delphi

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

Resting in her living room, Seraphina Solo gently rocked Julian, admiring how beautiful her new child was. To think of all the terror and pain she went through to have him; Seraphina felt she owed Dr. Tsering and the Muvians something more precious than even her own life.

"I love you so much." She sang to him, making the baby laugh. Turning, Seraphina saw Marianne come down the stairs with her father. "Mari', are you leaving already?"

Approaching her, Marianne avoided her gaze, but tried to smile. "Y-Yes, mom. Admiral Vancouver wants me back and I still want to stop by Adriana's place for a hug." She frowned, disappointed in herself. "Despite everything, I still can't look at her."

Seraphina frowned, missing the contact of her daughter's eyes. Marianne was so strange lately. Seraphina just wished her daughter would tell her what was wrong. Even at the hospital a few months before, when she came to visit, as soon as Marianne's fears for her health subsided, she seemed to get gloom in her mother's presence.

Glancing at her husband, she saw Arthur nodding in encouragement.

"I-I see… give my regards to the Ghisi, then." Seraphina held out Julian. "Would you like to hold your brother? Just once before you go?"

Marianne stiffened at this, terrified. She saw the laughing baby's little hands reach for its older sister. This was Ithaca's son with her mother.

Hesitantly, her gloved hands reached out and took him. Marianne tried to think of what to do, but only held Julian in complete paralysis, like he was an alien creature instead of her brother. A comforting pat on her shoulder from her father encouraged her to focus and try to rock him a little.

She heard Julian laugh and swoon and Marianne sighed, her fears subsiding a little. "This… isn't so bad."

Seraphina held her own chest in reassurance. Maybe Mari' was just worried Julian would make a mess on her uniform. "You two look lovely!"

Arthur gently pulled all four of them, such that they could see themselves in the nearby mirror. It was almost like a portrait of a celebrated family. "See? Everything worked out. We're all safe and together, even for just this moment."

Seraphina kissed his lips lightly. "It's all thanks to you. I love you, Arthur."

He smiled gently. "And I love all three of you so much. I promise I will never let anything bad happen to any of you."

Marianne held Julian closer and closer, feeling more and more at ease. She saw how everything looked so perfect for her parents on the mirror and her heart calmed, forgetting the truth behind Julian. Maybe dad was right. Maybe the wise thing to do was forget that mother's affair with Ithaca ever happened.

Maybe they could all just be happy.

She looked down on her brother and smiled at him without fear for the first time. She hugged Julian close, to the point she could almost swear she felt the baby's burgeoning cosmos already. Yes, for her family's sake, everything could just be fine. "Isn't that right, Jul-"

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

Marianne blinked.

Her parents were gone, and so was Julian.

She was now standing at the pristinely scrubbed deck of the Sea Dragon ship, which silently moved ahead through a fog in an unknown sea. There was no one around.

She panicked. "Mom?! DAD?! Where are you?! Where am I?!" She was about to search when, ahead at the bow of the ship, she spotted a shadow in the midst.

It immediately froze her with its stature and height. Its head was crowned, its shoulders were padded by large armor pieces and the rest of its silhouette was flattened by the contours of a cape. Yet, in its hand, a large trident was held, as long as its owner was tall.

"You've impressed me." It spoke, with a masculine voice as gentle as a wave. "Not many would have chosen a path of such painful loyalty. Continue to protect my vessel, Marianne Solo, and I will bless your house, compensate your dishonor, and bring you all great fortune until you all become one with the sea. Including to your father."

Marianne shook, sensing the impossible truth. "J… Julian?!"

The figure turned. Its fierce eyes shined through the mist with bright, cyan blue light.

She paced forward tentatively, fearing offending this person could be her last gesture on this earth. "It's… you, aren't you, Julian?! Your cosmos is the same I was sensing in you just now! I KNOW it's you! You're my half-brother!"

The figure tapped its trident on the deck floor as if it were a commanding staff, triggering the release of a powerful force that arrested her like a rushing tornado.

"Go now and serve me well. The day I return to answer the Mariners' prayers will be sooner than they think."

She resisted, crossing her arms against the wind and shaking her head. "N-NO! Tell me the TRUTH!" The powerful force picked up, lifting Marianne straight into the air, spiraling towards the misted horizon. "AGH, NO! JULIAN!"

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

"JULIAN!" Marianne gasped awake.

The two parents staggered, startled.

Seraphina took the baby. "Julian, don't drool on your sister's uniform!"

Arthur took his handkerchief and cleaned Marianne's shoulder, which had a smudge of stinky saliva on it. "I'm sorry, honey."

Marianne blinked, rattled. What just happened? Did she space out? She touched her humid shoulder and realized she had no idea where her thoughts had been in the last moment.

She shook head. "It's okay, dad. It's just a uniform. I can clean it." And spared her half-brother one last look. Mom looked so happy with him. "Julian, no matter what, you're my brother, and the household heir now. Don't worry. I won't betray you or mom. No matter what, the happiness of the Solos will be my number one mission."

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

Arthur walked his daughter outside. "Are you looking forward to seeing Atlae at your Triumph?"

She laughed; her heart lifted up. "I a-am. I miss him a lot. Ah, ah, he's probably going to find a way to crash into the procession. I can't wait, though."

"Sanctuary triumphs are a great honor, but they can be quite dull, yes." Arthur admitted. "I just hope the part he spoils isn't the one where the Pope medals you. Me and your mother still want to see you enjoy that bit."

"You talk as if I'm graduating in two months, dad. At best I'm getting another medal, and it's still not going to get me the kind of respect the Sons of Arion do." She then widened her eyes. "Wait, dad, shoot, I just realized."

"What?"

"I need to talk with Ithaca." She asked. After hearing father's words, the terrible pressure of keeping all these secrets in was lifted, leaving only her pity for that poor man. "I'm… not ready to forgive him yet, but I want to let him know I don't hate him."

Her father tensed. "Right, Ithaca…"

She stepped up, anxious to do the right thing. "Where is he? He didn't come home with us from the hospital. In fact… I feel like I haven't seen him in a while?"

"Marianne… Ithaca is missing."

….

Her eyes widened all the way. "Missing?! What do you mean?!"

Arthur gulped. "Perhaps I should say, rather, he's unresponsive. After you visited your mother the first time, I had to send him on another important job. Ithaca is habituated to difficult and dangerous tasks and after what happened with your mother, he's been working even harder in service of our household, but he hasn't given me the updates he would usually hand by now."

Marianne thought back. "But… I came visiting almost back at the start of March! It's almost May! When did he stop updating you?!"

A fearful, guilty tension flashed through Arthur's eyes. "A week back. He was about to infiltrate his target. This isn't the first time this has happened, however. It likely just means he's in a situation where he has to avoid sending out messages. This one enemy is especially difficult to investigate, too."

Thinking about the list of enemies the Mariners had, Marianne's heart immediately jumped faster. "Dad, who did you send him to spy on?!"

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

New Lalibela,

Ivory Crown Palace

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

"Damn you, Azrael!" Gigas seethed at the flame call on Cetus' dais. "Do you not realize how valuable that man is?! He's our leverage against Arthur Solo now! Send him our way immediately!"

"He is a traitor's envoy, a filthy blue worm that tried to burrow its way inside a Zodiac Knight castle." The horn-helmeted Pact Member hissed. "And he will suffer the punishment worms get. The only reason I've let you two know, is so the rest of the Pact won't make the same mistake Arthur just did!"

A gushing sound was heard and the blue flame flared up violently, startling Gigas into falling before extinguishing itself.

"Blasted Azrael!" Gigas cursed, dusting himself.

Cetus chuckled at his pathetic groveling, twirling a glass of wine in his hand while laying in his lavish triclinium. "Do not upset yourself. You look like a balloon about to explode. Your little body can't take all the blood pressure."

"How can I be anything but upset, your Majesty?!" the councilor whined "Who does that failed Gold Saint think he is, talking about loyalty?! Does he forget that it was only by betraying Priam that he is where he is now?! If it were up to me, he would have joined the rest of the Knights at the gallows. And here he talks of another Pact Member's loyalty! Pah, they're all useless!"

Cetus' rapine golden eyes fixed on him, paralyzing him.

Gigas sweated. "I-I did not mean to include you, sire!" He laughed derisively. "Just that pathetic relic of a Knight. He's no better than a damn Gold Saint turned mercenary, just like Paris!"

The King chuckled maliciously. "A mercenary Gold Saint… now there's an intriguing thought. I would buy them by the dozen if I could." The King drank the rest and set the glass down. "But you're making an even graver mistake than insulting me by confusing Azrael's words with hypocrisy. Personally, I happen to find him the most effective member of our little Pact."

The dwarf gawked. "Effective?! Your Majesty, we've been trying to make sure the Mariners toe the same line Julian did, and now Azrael is going to throw the first asset we've had on Arthur into the furnace! How are-"

"Do you think everyone operates on the same level you do, councilor Gigas?" The King waved his glass at a servant to get him more wine. "Through low-handed schemes and favor trading? Some actors prefer a heavier hand."

"A heavier… hand?" He then saw a young dark boy approaching from the drapes with an amphora. With trepidation, the nude youth lowered it on his king's glass to fill it back up, stopping exactly where Cetus desired without a word. " WHAT?! What is this boy doing here?! Was he listening in our conversation the whole time?!"

Cetus twirled the wine, watching the dark red dance. "Don't worry, he won't tell a soul what we've said. Will you, darling?"

The boy shivered, shook head and answered with an impaired hiss. "N-Nyo, yohr mashesthee."

Gigas gulped. The boy was missing his teeth. All of them.

Cetus' rapine eyes detected his reaction. "Do you like him? I can send him to your guest room tonight?"

The Greek dwarf his tugged toga in disgust. "N-No, thank you, your majesty."

The King's blonde brow rose. "His sister, then?"

Gigas froze, and could swear he saw the boy stiffen, too. "I'm… a married man."

The King quirked lips down disappointedly. "Very well. Back to business, then. Right now, the Pact has a problem; two of its members are working together instead of minding our collective balance. Disgusting, I know; before we know it, Arthur will be wedding off that daughter of his to a Muvian, just to cement his little alliance with Yuzuriha."

"Then we should stop it!" Gigas demanded. "The security of Sanctuary depends on none of the seven hoarding too much power!"

The King rolled his eyes tediously. "I agree, but you are a fool, Gigas, if you think this will be solved by sloppily bribing an agent to spy on Arthur. Especially one who's been using you to investigate us. We are lucky your pathetic little scheme three years ago wasn't uncovered."

The dwarf reddened. He waited for the slave to leave and spoke. "But to rely on Azrael-"

"Azrael, on the other hand, has capacities you do not, and understands better than most the effectiveness of killing two birds with one stone… and the stubborn lingering of bad blood. Besides, he has a personal investment into making those Muvians suffer as much as possible." Cetus laughed. "I mean, who wouldn't? They took his Gold Cloth, after all."

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

Russia, Ural Mountains,

Serpens Rock Castle

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

Orange light illuminated the catacomb as the floor opened, revealing a deep pit down to a stream of fire. Serpens Azrael pulled the wall lever, causing mechanisms inside the walls to crank and gears spun as Azrael's gloved hand pulled the lever down, lowering the caged, masked Ithaca down on the pool of metal heated to a boiling point, stopping it just above its surface.

Ithaca gasped for air, asphyxiated by the mask and the intense heat. All he saw through his emerald lenses was the boiling light. His heart beat fast.

"Beautiful, isn't it, Mariner?!" shouted Azrael from above. "In this pit, the defenders of this castle would drown their weapons, blessing them with flames! But now they're all gone, and my swords need no sharpening from mere fire, so the only use I have for it is as my personal recreation of Hades' 4th Prison!"

"D-Do you think this will kill me?!" Ithaca challenged, bravely facing his fate. "I have the cosmos, so I have n-nothing to fear!"

Azrael's cruel eyes shone green. "Yes, but for how long can you burn it?" and he cranked the lever down, diving Ithaca deep into the flames.

He watched, counting the seconds and measuring Ithaca's reserves of cosmos with his 7th sense.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Suddenly, screams could be heard throughout the entire castle, as loud as they were. The uncaring Zodiac Knight watched the mariner's silhouette spasm inside the hardened steel frame, the limits of his defensive cosmos pushed to the limit as Ithaca tried to resist the hot flames for longer and longer. Before long, the peak of his capabilities would be passed and the flames would touch his flesh directly.

In just three, two, one….

With a reverse gesture of the lever, Azrael lifted the naked Mariner out of the flames, all the way to his own eye level. He cackled through his goat skull mask, seeing Ithaca still writhe from the burning pain.

Ithaca coughed, his nose bleeding and his vision blurring. For an excruciating eternity, all he saw was blinding light of being inside a bonfire, his body burning cosmos more and more to keep the heat away. At the last second, he really thought Azrael would let him stay till his shielding broke.

Ithaca collapsed, shaking and holding himself. "I w-won't talk! No matter what you do to me! T-TRY YOUR DAMN WORST!"

Azrael's eyes squinted. "I don't want information, pagan."

Ithaca widened eyes. "T-Then…"

"I already know everything I need about your pathetic master, the so-called Head of Houses Arthur Solo." Azrael mocked. He touched the walls of the catacomb adoringly. "You are simply being punished for your affront, sneaking inside this castle. My brothers and sisters may be gone, but I live on. For as long as that is, these castles are still sacred to Athena. And pagans like you will prostate before her light or turn to cinders from it."

The Mariner tried to stand as best as he could in the small cage, but he could barely turn his body up. "Y-You mean the brothers and sisters you killed?!"

Azrael only lightly cackled in response, as if the frightening depth of his own hypocrisy amused him.

Ithaca gawked in the face of his candidness. "You think that's funny?! That you're the most disgusting traitor all of Sanctuary has known of since the Holy Wars?! Even to a small child your name has become synonymous with reasonless betrayal and dishonor! I would rather DIE than-"

"There are plenty of good reasons for betrayal, Mariner." Azrael interrupted, not in the mood for a virtuous speech. "Hate, love, money, superiority… and more. All the members of the Pact have their sins. You just don't know mine."

Ithaca scoffed, though he would spit at the bastard's foot through his mask if he could. "I know enough, I read your little d-diary, Knight!"

Azrael's hand cranked the lever down again, diving Ithaca's cage down into the fires below. This time the screams came sooner, as the flames grew ever hotter and the mariner's strength faded. Still, the same time he was kept down there before the Serpens Saint pulled it up once more.

He cackled, seeing Ithaca writhe inside the steel frame. "I almost forgot about that. Thank you for reminding me."

Ithaca tried to breathe slowly, recovering from the experience. This time, his shielding grew so thin the Mariner swore he felt the hot tongues of the flames directly on his skin for just an instant before he was taken out. The Mariner knew he was going to die. It was just a matter of how pathetically.

Azrael's shoulders shook in laughter. "And besides, I'm surprised you have the gall to talk of treason, Mariner. Have you forgotten where you are?"

Ithaca widened eyes. "W-What do you mean?!"

Azrael pointed up. "We are in Serpent's Rock, the castle that watches all! And the tower you were infiltrating up there is from where I can watch all the enemies that I protect Athena from." His finger then pointed down on him "This includes your pathetic Mariner holdings in Néa Delphi. Sadly, I cannot hear through such magical distances… so tell me, Ithaca of Delphi, did that whore Arthur Solo is married to scream your name in passion when you honored your lord?!"

Ithaca petrified.

The armored man folded arms and shook his head. "Who do you think suffered more for your honor, Ithaca of Delphi? Little Marianne Solo, who caught you in the act, or your Master Arthur when he found out? And yes, he does know!"

The former Son of Arion gasped. Lord Arthur did? Ithaca gritted teeth, thinking back to how kind Lord Arthur had been over the past few months to him. "This bastard is lying! He HAS to! If lord Arthur really knew… why would he ever forgive me?!" He faced the Knight "Why would you be watching us at that moment?!"

Azrael scoffed, like the answer was obvious. "I watch all of Athena's enemies." He walked over to the table and tipped his fingers through the various blacksmith utensils "And I know more about your master's schemes than you think. The alliances with that mummy, Yuzuriha, for example. Mariners conniving with Muvians? It's unnatural."

"Unnatural?!" We're no longer enemies, we're all members of the Pact!" Ithaca growled. "None of us want the world to be plunged into darkness, just like the Saints don't! Lord Arthur just envisions a new world for us! Why should we keep hating the Muvians after all this time?!"

"There are no such thing as new worlds, Mariner. Human nature, or Muvian for that matter, doesn't change! We all but stave off the darkness Hades sees in us. Even Lady Athena knows that." Azrael insisted, focused on his selection. "I've seen the brittleness of the human spirit myself. All those weaklings, like Priam…Which means the only reason your two tribes could be in talks, is conspiracy against a common foe."

Ithaca's eyes widened inside the mask, realizing the depths of the insanity in front of him. "W-What?! Why would we want to hurt Sanctuary?! We of all the members depend the most on them to survive!"

"Who knows? But why risk it?" Azrael's hand landed on the pliers. He snapped them in test and smiled at the metallic sound. "Perfect!"

Ithaca recoiled in his cage, watching him approach him with it.

The Zodiac Knight cackled, reading his thoughts on his gestures. "Don't worry, Ithaca of Delphi. I will remove the object of your temptation and guilt." He promised, snapping the pliers again. "Then you can be as loyal as you want to your lord, even when you see your stupid whore's pretty face... if you survive the rest of what I'll do to you, anyway."

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

The Next day,

San Antonio Harbor

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

"I've made a decision, Captain. I'm… going to apply for the Sea Dragon."

Krishna paused the loading of the ship, turning to his crewman.

"The Sea Dragon, Atlae? Do you know what you're saying?"

The Muvian gulped. "Y-yes. My mind is set. I'm going to do it once we return to Sri Lanka."

The captain exchanged a look with Caça, who just snorted. Krishna folded his arms. "Where is this coming from, suddenly? Atlae, you're not feeling bad after yesterday's events, are you?"

The Muvian looked away, ashamed. "I couldn't do anything at all against that Specter. Saint Noah did all the work and they didn't even have the 7th sense. There was no excuse for me."

Finishing loading his end of the cargo, Caça joined them. "Pah, so what? What are you saying, Atlae, that I didn't do enough either cause I got knocked into a tree?"

The Muvian gulped. This was hardly the case. In fact, Caça had a few impressive brave moments.

"No, but it's different for me, Caça. I left Shamballa with the goal of becoming a great fighter. That Specter made clear to me, though, that I can have all the Chi I want, but without the 7th sense's cosmos, it won't matter in a real encounter." Atlae his clenched fists. "What I need is… to be pushed to a higher level. The only way I can do that is if I repeat the hardships I went through at the Turtle School."

The Sri Lankan squinted his eyes, testing his courage with his look. "Atlae, the LPS Sea Dragon, that ship isn't for beginners; it's the only true battleship in the Mariner fleet right now, equipped with guns, ammunition that can blast holes into a Sanctuary Temple's gate, an Orichalcum Engine and crewed by almost five hundred of our own. It can even fly. The Chrysaor is a far, far cry from it in sailing difficulty, Atlae."

Atlae sweated. This all sounded quite impressive. And Marianne commanded the whole thing?

But he shook his head. "I don't mind. In fact, that's why I want the Sea Dragon. I'm strong, I can take the work. Besides, I can b-"

"Be closer to Marianne?" Krishna guessed, raising a eyebrow. He didn't seem pleased. "Do you think that's a good reason? Or that she'd be impressed by you doing that?"

Atlae shook his head, horrified. "No, I don't. I would do this even if she didn't command it. What I really want to do is….is to know that ringing the Genbu Bell wasn't just a fluke!"

Krishna rested his nerves, folding arms. The thought occurred to him that Atlae could be lying, but having known him for nearly half a year by now, Krishna couldn't imagine Atlae knew the meaning of it.

"Whether I like it or not, I'm halfway between the Mariners and my own people." Atlae elaborated. It made him feel singled out, but it was the truth about him. "Everyone always said in Shamballa I only wanted to ring the bell to prove I was better than everyone else, but I just want to become a great martial artist for the sake of Master Yuzuriha. It has nothing to do with anyone else! But after sailing here, and fighting that Specter…"

Caça laughed derisively. "Look at that, the poor baby is having doubts in himself now that he's had a serious fight. Welcome to the real world, meathead."

Krishna his rubbed chin. "Vice-Admiral Marianne does seem to have a knack for finding battles for that ship to fight…It's true that sailing on the Sea Dragon would be a good way to push someone to reach lightspeed." He narrowed eyes. "But Atlae, if that's the case, you'll need to do more than spend your time here practicing the flute. You'll need to be ready to apply for the Sea Dragon admission tests, just as Marianne and her crew did."

"Oh gods, studies?!" Atlae panicked. But he straightened himself. "I'll…I'll do it, captain."

"Bah, is he insane? Atlae will never join!" Caça spat, entering the conversation again. "Why don't you stop chasing your girlfriend around and look for a job more down your skillset, Atlae? Like lifting these crates for me? If I didn't pass into the Sea Dragon, why should a dummy like you?!"

This just riled up Atlae even more. "I said I'll do it!" He turned to Krishna. "Captain, I won't stop until I'm able to swoop in like you did in that battle to save us! I swear to Genbu! I will train, study and practice day and night. If I do, can you teach me the 7th sense?"

Krishna held his chin, reflecting.

Caça gawked. "Captain, you can't be serious! We are Mariners! We don't teach Muvians our training secrets!"

"They can't be all that effective if you haven't reached the 7th yourself yet, Caça." Krishna argued, silencing the pale sailor. "And besides, Atlae isn't a mere Muvian. He's one of us, dots or not."

The admission made Atlae tear up a bit. He cleaned his eyes.

Krishna looked out to sea and did a quick calculation. "We should reach the Isle of Gardens by May and be in Greece by June. That gives us two months until we attend Marianne Solo's Triumph at Sanctuary. I don't think it's possible to have you reach lightspeed in that time, not with a ship to run, but we can give it a shot."

Atlae beamed. "Thank you, Captain!"

Caça spat out at the waters. "The decadence! Next thing we'll be extending our hands to Specters, too! Bah!" and he walked out, fuming.

Krishna shook his head. "Some of us will never really change out of our ways, I suppose." And turned back to Atlae. "I'm a Leo, not a Taurus, so I can't give you specialized training, Atlae, but teaching you lightspeed is certainly within any dedicated cosmos user's reach. However, don't think it will be easy. Some people say unlocking the true form of the cosmos is like discovering it in the first place all over again."

The difficulty, however, failed to daunt Atlae in the slightest. "I'm so excited! This is gonna be amazing! When do we start?!"

Krishna threw him the spatula. "After you scrub the ship of bugs."

The excitement instantly died. Atlae peeked over and saw the Chrysaor's hull full of Pacific barnacles, along with other encrusted sea parasites. Each one looked like they were gonna take forever to remove.

"And no cosmos. I want the barnacles off, not whole planks of the ship." Krishna then laughed. "That should give you a good start on the physical training."

Atlae's lips soured down. He supposed he should get started.

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

Chapter End

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

Next Chapter: Chapter 88 – 3rd Arc – Episode 16: Reunited at Greece

Release Date: September 25th

Description: The LPS Chrysaor arrives in Greece after a quick stop in the Isle of Gardens, just in time for a massive triumph being taken place in honor of the Mariner's victory over the Ghost Saints.

While anxious to see his Mariner family, Atlae encounters many other people in Sanctuary Town, some of who make him question his past.

Author's Comments:

It took longer to wrap up the plot threads from last chapter than I thought, which was unfortunate. It made this chapter unnecessarily long and has delayed some of my plans for the flashback storyline as a whole. My betareader Elly called attention to some fluctuating tone issues from splicing the Marianne scenes with the Patagonia battle ones and I did my best to fix them. Hopefully, it didn't feel to you all that I shoved things into a corner too much.

This was also my first foray into Noah's abilities and I think I did a good job at it. Initially, I was going to hold back a little on Noah because I didn't want to reveal too much about them at this point, but I found the angle with which I went with in their techniques pretty fun and even gave me a halfway reasonable finisher to what's clearly a hopeless fight with a very powerful False Specter. Speaking of which, I was going to include a Lucifer cameo with Ainsel at the end, but I decided having Daese coming in and explain the context a bit more of what Ainsel is doing was better, since at this point he was still working undercover for Lucian under Priam.

Today, on etymology, I want to talk about Marianne herself, who was featured pretty heavily in this chapter and hopefully I can develop more in the future. Her name was picked after the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Oceans. I would have wanted to pick something closer to the North Atlantic, which is the Ocean of the Sea Dragon Scale, but I warmed up to the name and I realized I didn't have a whole lot of characters yet with M as their letter.

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