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.

88. 3A: The Cloth of Destruction

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 betaread by Zebullon_Wallace

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Please Enjoy and Review

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A Month Later,

Early May 1974
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Western Mediterranean

Isle of Gardens,

Crysanthos Village

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After a long journey up the Atlantic and the hot coast of the western Sahara, the Chrysaor sailing vessel was now finally at the Mediterranean sea. Here the waters were calm, unlike the ocean's roaring waves, and the heat of the equator was falling far behind them. Atlae was practicing the Song of Seashells by the bow when Caça announced the sighting of the pillars of Hercules, which alerted the captain from the meditation he did in the privacy of the cargo hold.

They were entering the Mediterranean, the sea of Poseidon. Almost a whole other day of sailing passed going further east, avoiding the mainland coasts, until land was sighted ahead.

"Welcome to the Isle of Gardens." Krishna announced, steering the Chrysaor into the dock. "Home of the Pisces Gold Cloth."

Atlae and Caça awed, taken in by the radiant sight of the beautiful island enclosed by mounds and small mountains, like a natural fortress. Deep into the countryside, beyond the coastal village, they saw fields of many colors cut by a road heading somewhere deep into the island, while a pleasant fragrance of roses blew into the sea from it.

"Wow, what an amazing place!" Atlae gasped, peering out. He sniffed the air. It was sweet and seductive, like they were entering a grand Hesperides garden "It smells so good, like Master Yuzuriha's temple gardens or Lady Seraphina's hedge maze. No, it's even better."

Caça shivered. "I think it smells gross!"

Atlae simply rolled along. "And there's a Gold Cloth in this place, captain?"

Krishna nodded. "Yes, deep inside the island, at a Temple to the constellation Pisces. I've heard the local Maiden of Athena is quite celebrated. Unfortunately, we won't get to see it. Our business is with a Sanctuary Towner who's been working with the village at the coast."

Docking the tusked ship at the tiny village harbor, the three sailors quickly jumped out, welcomed by a crowd of curious villagers. It was a small town, split down the middle by a stream coming in from the island's innards, and it only had a simple fisherman dock to moor the Chrysaor at, to which Caça and Atlae took extra care to make sure it was safely secured.

Atlae looked around, seeing the humble brick houses of orange-tiled roofs, the flower-covered verandas "What a cute little place! It reminds me of Rodario so much. I didn't even know there was an island here."

Krishna came out of the cargo hold with a box. "Hey, Atlae, catch."

The Muvian deftly jumped to catch the large box with weapons inside. He scratched his head, though, realizing it was really small and light compared to the other big crates. It had to be only a small set, likely just a small series of spears and halberds.

"Wait, that's it?" Atlae wondered. Back in Argentina, they offloaded to Saint Noah these giant crates, and now a Training Ground Island only asked for a couple of weapons?

"It will make sense when you meet the client, or rather what he's working on." Krishna promised.

The trio entered the village, crossing into the main road most villagers went through. Immediately, the bizarre triad of two mariners and a Muvian attracted looks and curious villagers began gathering around them peacefully, waving hands and bringing their children in.

Caça cringed unpleasantly, seeing the crowd of peasants gather around him. "Shoo, get away, what are you all staring at?!"

A small child pointed up at him. "Mom, the lizard man is funny-looking!"

"The lizard man bites little brat fingers off, too!" Caça threatened, snapping his teeth and frightening the child away. "Captain, how long do we have to stay here? This place gives me the creeps!"

Krishna looked around but didn't sense anything strange. In fact, all the people wanting to shake his hand seemed quite nice. "We won't be long here, don't worry. I want us in Sanctuary Town in time for the Triumph."

Departing, the trio headed for the town's gateway to the flower fields, further north. A reinforced palisade enclosed the village on that side. Atlae and Caça were surprised to notice how high it was, since it blocked sight and access to the gardens beyond. Since the island was the home to Royal Demon Roses, they supposed the villagers knew best.

At the gateway, they found a man in his forties in black blacksmith coveralls, goggles, and boots fussing with a duo of tall hoplites standing guard with masks on their faces. He was tall, muscled, had short brown hair and was surrounded by improvised tables he had dragged out that held various sculpting tools within reach of his hand. Right then, he carried a hammer and a scalpel and was using them to shave something off the helmet one of the soldiers wore.

Atlae winced watching the sculptor bang on the soldier's face with the tools. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"Is that him, captain?" asked Caça.

Krishna nodded. "Yes, that's Crysanthos, the personal sculptor of the Pope. He's said to have created over fifty massive statues for the Golden Zodiac in his life. Many consider him already to be the most brilliant non-Muvian craftsman in the world."

Atlae took notice of the non-Muvian detail in what was said; people really expected him to be that much smarter than humans just because he had dots on his face, but he often felt dumb as bricks.

"Excuse me? Krishna asked, politely approaching the sculptor and offering a hand. "It's me, Krishna, of the Chrysaor. This is my crew, Caça and Atlae."

The man took and shook it without hesitation. "I remember you, captain. Nice to meet you all. Did you bring what I ordered?"

The captain winced with the strength of the sculptor's shake, rubbing his sore hand. Crysanthos' fingers were coarse and thick, appropriate for someone who had chiseled rock their whole life. "Of course. Atlae?"

At Krishna's signal, Atlae rushed in, gently resting the small crate at the man's feet. Crysanthos took notice of him as well, particularly his Muvian dots. Self-conscious about them, Atlae combed his straw-hair over them with an embarrassed frown.

"You shouldn't do that." Crysanthos taught. "You're a youth of Mu, aren't you? Why are you hiding your dots?"

Atlae frowned. "Sorry. It was just an instinctive reaction. Would you like help with the crate? We have a pretty strong lock on it."

"No, I got it." Taking his short chisel, Crysanthos struck the crate and popped the padded lid open like he had used a strong crowbar, snapping all the screws off and exposing the limited set of refined hoplite equipment covered in sheets.

Atlae awed. That was a pretty smooth trick. Even the sculptors in Sanctuary had cosmos, it seemed.

Crysanthos moved the sheets away and studied the carving. He hummed, pleased. "Perfect. These were made in Shamballa, I can tell."

Caça scoffed. "Well, duh! It's what you ordered! Mariners keep their words!"

Crysanthos cleaned hands on a nearby sink before he touched the metal again, like he feared sullying a masterpiece. "That's precisely why I feared it wouldn't be, because you're Mariners. Creed or not, you guys don't have a history of peaceful dealings with the Muvians. The last of you guys I tried to order Muvian stuff through tried to push Orichalcum on me instead, and that metal is no good for what I'm doing here."

The pale mariner folded arms defensively. "You'd be better off! Why get expensive dotted artwork when we Mariners can sell you our beautiful scale metal? Orichalcum is the stuff we trust our lives to!"

Crysanthos counted the Drachmas in his bag and put it in Krishna's hand. "No offense to your fellow Mariners, captain Krishna, but I get the feeling your first mate doesn't know much about his own people's craft."

Caça scowled. "What?!"

"Caça is more of a specialist crewman than a dedicated Mariner." Krishna candidly confessed.

Even Atlae was dumbfounded, feeling he missed something. "Wait, what's wrong with Orichalcum? I'm not a metallurgist Muvian so I don't, um…" he then quieted down, embarrassed. "I guess I don't know my own people's craft either, like Caça."

Crysanthos laughed. "Don't worry, not every Muvian is destined to be a brilliant alchemist. Also, I could only tell because I spent a period of my life in Shamballa, studying these things." He carried the armor to the two hoplites by the gate. "Orichalcum is a powerful alloy with stardust, indeed, but it's lighter and frailer than the stuff used to make Sanctuary armors. While it's better in air and in the water, it misses the mark on the land, where most cosmos fights are."

Caça rose a brow. "A sculptor, studying alchemy?"

He noticed the two crewmen stared curiously. "Doing what I do involves mixing ores, too. Would you like to know what this order is for? Come meet my two morons." Crysanthos then took a set of weapons and guided them to one of the two hoplites.

"Um, nice to meet you?" Atlae asked, but the soldiers didn't answer. He frowned worriedly. "Are these like Master Yuzuriha's Immortal Guard? They won't take off their masks or say anything."

Crysanthos raised a fist at the guards, looking aggressive. Immediately, the two soldiers assumed a counterpose, hoisting their spears up warningly and keeping their shields high.

Then he grabbed the soldier's spear! The sailing trio stared in fright, wondering if the sculptor was crazy, testing a couple of armed Sanctuary hoplites' patience like this, but Crysanthos just jerked it away like nothing and tossed it out. Atlae looked and realized the 'spear' the soldier had been carrying was just a walking stick with a rock tied to it.

"Chrysaor crew, meet Moron number 1. And moron number 2." Crysanthos listed, giving the first soldier his new gear. He stared at them, studying their new equipment. He then turned to Atlae, saw his black belt and got an idea. "Say, Mr. Muvian, you look like a tough martial artist. Would you like to help my two idiots test these out?"

A jolt of excitement went into Atlae, but he hesitated, glancing at his captain for permission. "Oh, I'd love to, but is that really okay?"

The sculptor waved hand. "It's fine, these two aren't the typical hooligan foot soldiers, just a bit braindead. I want to see how well they move with the new gear."

The trio from the Chrysaor all blinked. Krishna hesitantly nodded and signaled Atlae to step forward. Crysanthos smirked and waved at one of the hoplites, who joined the Muvian off to the side.

Atlae assumed a battle pose, clenching fists, and flexing legs slightly in a guarded stance. Seemingly in sync with him, the hoplite in crested helmet and heavy lamellar armor took pose as well, warning the Muvian with the pointing of his spear and keeping the thick round shield firmly raised.

Atlae had to admire the hoplite's stance. "It's perfect! He has no hesitation or weakness in his movements, even under all that armor. His concentration looks so good I don't even see him breathe." He sweated, though, noticing a frightening detail other than the fierce shine of his eyes behind the mask shadowed gaze. "Just like the Specter back in Argentina, I can't sense his chi at all either. Who is this guy?"

Krishna folded arms tensely, noticing similar things. "This looks like a pretty disciplined fighter for a Sanctuary hoplite. His readiness reminds me more of the Papal Guards than the Third Acropolis' grunts. Maybe this is just the kind of soldier that guards a Gold Cloth training island?"

After half a minute of nothing happening, Crysanthos perked up. "Oh, it just occurred to me, Mr. Muvian. You might want to make the first move." He said, surprising Atlae. Crysanthos shrugged embarrassedly. "It's my bad that I forgot to say; these guys are conditioned to only react to trouble, not cause it."

Atlae gawked confusedly at the strange language to describe their training. "Conditioned? Like a machine?"

The sculptor laughed and waved at the soldier. "Go ahead, throw everything you got at him. Moron 1 can take it, I promise. Just try not to use any crazy Saint technique or something. I don't want to tell Mayor Charis that it's my fault the village blew up."

Hesitantly, Atlae nodded. After 3 whole years of training under Turtle Style, he had a bit of trouble returning to his old aggressive habits, but he gave it a good shot, focusing cosmos into his fists and tensing. With a leap and a martial shout, he attacked, launching a powerful swing kick at the soldier's head. The adversary rose his shield to block it, letting it bam loudly on the metal, and instantly thrust the spear upwards, missing a twirling Atlae only by a breath of hair.

Dropping to the ground, Atlae awed at the adversary's skill and fortitude.

Caça winced, holding head. "He almost skewered Atlae! What kinda hoplite is that?!"

Spinning spear to adjust grip, the soldier aimed down and thrust to attack again. Atlae rolled off to dodge the kill and his foot swept in, forcing the soldier to back off with a leap away from the Muvian. A sudden shield dash from the soldier crashed on Atlae, stunning the Muvian and exposing him to a follow-up strike that Atlae only barely dodged with a bob.

A succession of quick spear thrusts followed. Atlas defended himself in panic, hardening his forearm skin with cosmos to deflect the blows. A deeper thrust from the soldier's weapon was deflected off with a powerful palm blow to the side, breaking the enemy's balance, allowing Atlae to counter attack with a elbow sweep that bashed the soldier's mask, cracking his mask.

A piece of it fell off and the soldier's shiny gaze fixed on Atlae, who staggered. "S-Sorry."

If he was mad, the soldier put it only to action, not words, rushing straight back in with a razor sweep of his shield's side, forcing Atlae to cartwheel over him, swing his body and strike the soldier's chest as hard as he could with his foot. The Shamballa lamellar resisted strongly, absorbing the powerful impact.

Atlae gritted teeth. "It's so tough to read his movements without Chi! I had no idea I was so used to it. I should just try something different, then. Otherwise this will be just like Argentina."

"Nice! The new armor is holding up well." Crysanthos complimented as Atlae landed. "Now go for the kill. Use cosmos, whatever you want."

Caça staggered. "W-What?"

"B-but… he'll die!" Atlae protested, horrified.

The sculptor turned to the soldier. "Hey, are you worried?" and the soldier simply resumed his pose, though he stumbled in weakness from Atlae's last attack. "He seems fine with it, Mr. Muvian. Go ahead."

Atlae staggered. Even if he was fighting a soldier, this didn't seem okay.

Still, he would respect a warrior's wish. "Alright… but please, hoplite, just guard yourself from this!"

And with a martial shout, he rushed in, clenching his fist. Suddenly dropping his spear, the hoplite reached for his sword and tried to get Atlae with a swing as the distance between them disappeared. The Muvian expertly parried the blow with a reinforced arm guard, then delivered a devastating whirlwind kick that tore the atmosphere, striking the hoplite's armor over and over, knocking off the shield, aiming further upwards until-

Atlae felt his foot strike a slightly exposed part of the hoplite's neck, instantly decapitating the man!

Caça almost ripped off the few hairs he still had on his head. "LORD POSEIDON, ATLAE! What did you DO?!"

The Muvian fell back and crawled away in terror, seeing the head still rolling. "Oh GODS, no, I didn't mean to!"

Crysanthos just laughed out loud. "I guess that one went a bit over his head." He walked over and picked up the head, then tossed it back at the soldier. "Here, idiot, don't lose it again."

The duo then screamed even more when the decapitated man caught it with his hands and yanked it back in!

"FUCK! Dear Amphitrite in the abyss!" Caça screamed, hiding behind the passive Krishna. "I KNEW THIS PLACE WAS CREEPY! Captain, let's get out of here!"

"Crysanthos, just tell them already." Krishna begged.

"Alright, fine. Relax, everyone." Crysanthos urged, taking off the soldier's mask. "Here, see? It's all fine."

The trio stared with wild eyes, seeing the exposed, cracked alabaster face beneath the mask. To their amazement, the tear at the neck line slowly shrunk, turning loose bits into mud that then pressed against the body until fused back in.

"They're made of rock?!" Atlae awed.

"Symplegades rocks, to be precise, fished straight from the Bosporus' seabed." Crysanthos laughed at their faces. "Do you like them? I think I did an especially good job on the noses this time."

By contrast to Caça's horror, Atlae swooned "I LOVE them! No wonder I couldn't sense their chi! What are they?!"

While Atlae had stars in his eyes, Caça looked like he just saw Hades himself walking out of his mausoleum, especially as the two 'soldiers' put their masks back on and assumed position once again, freezing perfectly still.

Crysanthos drummed the dummies' metal armor with pride. "They're my creation; golems to protect the town from threats. Sanctuary can't keep soldiers in the Isle of Gardens, because those idiots would shove their empty heads into open flames if beer money was riding on it. The people of this village need something with enough intelligence to combat threats and without lungs to breathe in Royal Demon Rose poison."

Krishna hummed. "I'm glad you've gotten these to work after all. The village will certainly thank you, Crysanthos. It's brilliant work."

Caça carefully poked the golem's face, amazed by the sturdy, yet living construct. "Creepy! It's like a moving mannequin! Who would think of making such a thing?"

"Ah, you try to rely on hoplites to keep these places guarded properly. These are poor village people. Most of Sanctuary expects the currents to keep them safe." Crysanthos argued. "I got the idea from Shamballa, though."

Atlae turned, surprised. "Really?"

Crysanthos nodded at him. "At the gate of their city they have the inscription of a giant. I'm sure you've seen it?"

As everyone's attention turned to Atlae, the blonde Muvian recalled. "Oh, that's right. The giant's myth."

"What's that, Atlae?" Krishna asked.

The martial artist scratched head. "Well, it's a really old story. I don't know much myself because I was so busy training, but supposedly the people of Mu built a huge giant of bronze a long, long time ago to protect an ancient kingdom. I remember seeing the gate engraving for the first time, when my friend Ithaca brought me to Shamballa three years ago."

"Who the hell is Ithaca?" Caça asked.

Atlae beamed. "Oh, he's one of Lord Arthur's retainers. From that knight group he was boss of?"

Caça gawked. "Wait! Ithaca of Delphi, of the Sons of Arion?!"

Atlae snapped fingers. "Yes! That's what the group was called. Ithaca took me to Shamballa and was always super nice to me. He even took me down from that rope trap you set on me at Delphi School, Caça. But it's okay, because I once saved him from a gang of motorcycle-riding salad thieves so I paid him back."

Crysanthos rubbed their chin. "Uh, what a well-connected Muvian."

The pale mariner pulled his orange hair. "How many important people are you on a first name basis with, Atlae?!"

The captain rolled eyes. "Caça, you know very well by now Atlae was raised with the Solos, so it's normal he'd meet some famous mariners." He then rubbed chin. "Still, going back to the Shamballa giant, it's an interesting story. It reminds me of the Greek myth of Talos, the Colossus of Crete. So that inspired you to create your own guardians, Crysanthos? Quite an achievement, a human replicating lost Muvian technology just from a story about it."

Crysanthos began packing the old equipment he no longer had use for. "Frankly, captain, it's not that difficult. It's just a matter of getting into their headspace. People always treat Muvians like warlocks, who do impossible feats of alchemy we could never understand. In reality, most have just not been curious enough to try to see the world like they do."

Atlae smiled. Sculptor Chrysanthos was a bit eccentric, but he sounded like such a smart and cool guy. It was so rare to find this kind of empathy between Muvians and Humans in either direction. He wished more people, even Muvians, thought like he and Lord Arthur did.

"Then what's your secret, then, big shot?" Caça asked, scowling skeptically. "How do you make these dolls walk around?!"

Crysanthos dusted hands from packing and eyed him grimly. He hid his scarred forearms around back. "You know, the usual alchemy; a bit of mercury here, a prayer to Hermes there… and the rest is an artisan's secret."

Caça scoffed and he kicked dirt at the two golems. "Whatever. These things are just imitating life anyway! I've seen dogs smarter than them. Captain, I'm heading back to get the boat ready."

While Krishna sighed exasperatedly, Atlae studied the golems again. "Mister Crysanthos, I think these are really great creations. I mean it; I was really impressed by how they fight."

The sculptor laughed. "I noticed they did give you a scare. That made me quite proud. Turtle School students are famous for their calm."

"Could it be you're not used to fighting someone whose Chi you can't read, Atlae?" Krishna suggested.

The Muvian paused. "I was wondering that, yes." He thought about it again and realized it made a lot of sense, especially with how difficult it was to battle that Specter in Argentina. He frowned. "I guess I have a lot of training yet to do to measure up to the gold-ranks."

"Don't beat yourself up; you've been making progress with Cosmos. However, if you're over relying on your special sense, it could be impeding your growth with the 7th." Krishna complimented. He then smirked. "Tomorrow when we spar let's try turning that sense off for a bit, though. I'd like to see how much quicker you fall off the boat without Chi to cover for you."

Atlae nodded, but spared the golem a last look. He tried to picture it the size of the one he saw on Shamballa's gate. "I wonder if Muvians really did make a giant version of this golem that could move and fight. How would such a thing even move like? And how strong would it be? It's kind of frightening to imagine…"

Crysanthos shrugged. "If life has taught me something about that sort of thing, young man, is that the Cosmos can do anything. Even things you can't imagine."

Saint Noah came to Atlae's mind. "I've been told that recently by someone else, yes. To me it's always been something to break rocks or beat enemies up with, I guess." He looked away embarrassedly. "Maybe that makes be dumb."

Crysanthos shook head. "No, some Gold Saints see it like that, too. Just on a bigger scale. Mastering the cosmos, Atlae, is also about sharing other people's perspectives on it." He patted the golem's back. "Maybe one day I'll make a golem that can challenge even a Gold Saint. It's all a matter to see how deep I can go with the Cosmos. And my tools."

Atlae couldn't help but admire this spirit. More and more, throughout this journey, he was meeting all sorts of amazing, dedicated people who thought nothing of helping others and pursuing their dreams, from Rebecca, to Saint Noah to now Crysanthos. There was no doubt in his mind that they all unlocked the cosmos thanks to their strong spirits and courage, but more importantly their dreams and love for others.

How could there be Specters, then, who thought such a thing was worth tossing down a hell hole forever? Perhaps he'd never know the answer.

One thing was for sure, though; he betted riding a giant Muvian golem around would be pretty awesome!

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Chapter 88

Third Arc

Episode 16

The Cloth of Destruction

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Another month later,

June 1974,

Solo Manor

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Marianne Solo stood in front of the mirror, checking if her Navy uniform was properly fit. Her blue hair was tied by a dolphin pin and her white naval suit was properly medaled, while her lightly padded shoulders gave her quite the official look, while still being elegant.

But the stuff below the belt…

"Oh, you look beautiful, Mari'!" Seraphina swooned. "You're like Artemisia reborn!"

She grumbled and turned. "Mom, I look like Artemisia floozy-ed up." She touched her tiny blue skirt that left her thighs all open past her socks. "Look at this! This isn't what I wear at the Sea Dragon!"

"What do you wear at the Sea Dragon, Mari'?" Adriana asked, sitting nearby and trying not to laugh. "Cause this version looks… interesting."

Marianne gloomed. "I wear something that wouldn't make me look like a Japanese schoolgirl in front of the entire Sanctuary, AG." She looked at the mirror again and awed at how ridiculous her Triumph clothes looked. "If their objective is to make me look like a victorious commander to His Holiness, they failed hard. He's going to think the Mariners all treat their daughters like magazine models."

"Well, would you like them to paint your face red like they did in ancient Rome? Also, this was tailored to you by Sanctuary Town, right?" Adriana suggested. "Maybe the Pope just has this kind of taste."

"Adriana!" Seraphina snapped.

"I'm sorry, ms. Solo, I'm not suggesting the Pope is a creep." the Ghisi heiress assured. She winced. "Still, looking at Mari', you have to wonder, right?"

"It's a traditional Mariner female attire, Arthur's mother has dressed in these. I think my daughter looks wonderful." she said, dusting Mari's shoulder pads. Seeing Marianne in distress, though, Seraphina smiled reassuringly at her daughter. "Don't worry, honey, if it bothers you, I'll go get something more discreet. No one will notice a skirt a few inches longer."

Adriana watched the Bluegradian woman leave the room. She waited till the door was closed. "I wish my mother was like yours, Mari'. Mine would probably tell me to get something sluttier so I could seduce the court mummies better."

Marianne turned with a hesitant frown. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Adriana blinked her almond eyes. "...What's wrong? Are you still terrified of going in front of all those people? We practiced together for a reason."

Marianne shook head and sat with her best friend. "Nothing, it's what you said, about my mom… You're right, I should be thankful."

The Ghisi heiress hummed. "I know you, Marianne. I can tell something happened."

Marianne sat quiet, her hands fussing together.

So Adriana continued. "It's a bit hard for me to imagine what your sweet mom could have done to make you feel this tense about her, but knowing you like I do, I one hundred percent believe it's serious. Still, I wish you'd tell me what it is…"

"I can't!" Marianne stressed to her. She saw AG widen her eyes. "I'm sorry, it's not that I don't trust you, I do! It's just…"

AG got up. "It's just very explosive, right? Don't worry, Marianne, I understand." Her eyes rolled self-consciously. "You know what my life is like. If anyone knows how bad for your health sensitive information can be, I do."

The mariner girl sighed. "All my life I always thought nothing could happen to put me in this position, especially coming from mom." She recalled the night she saw her mother with Ithaca. Her hands shook. "And now our bodyguard is missing and dad is talking about arrangements with the Vancouvers and this triumph is driving me crazy and… and…"

Seeing her friend breaking down, AG took her hands. "Whow, calm down, breathe."

Marianne obeyed, taking deep breaths. "I wish I knew how you handle these nightmares, AG! I can't do this! I'm not this… this…"

"The intrigue type?" Adriana folded arms. "Yeah, you've always been the exact opposite; keeping any kind of secrets makes you inflate like a balloon. I'm frankly shocked you're friends with me, all things considered."

The mariner wiped her teary eyes. "I'm sorry! You're my friend, I don't mean to...to…"

Adriana shrugged. "Eh, I'm used to it. I know what people think I do and I don't inspire a lot of confidence in others. So what happened to your family's guard anyway? He was a 'Son of Arion', right? It's hard to imagine an elite like that just vanishing."

Marianne nodded. "That's what's concerning me, yes. Dad sent him on a job a couple of months ago and… we think he might have been taken by someone really dangerous." She then remembered something. "AG! You know everyone in court. What do you know about Serpens Azrael?"

Adriana stood aback. "That's who you think took him? Oh…"

For the first time they had met, Marianne saw her friend not only take a long bit to think of something to say, but look genuinely frightened.

It made Marianne's heart beat even faster. "W…What are you thinking, AG?"

Adriana bit her thumb. "Mari', I… don't know what to tell you."

This sounded the scariest yet. "What do you mean?!"

"Exactly that; I don't know the man." she revealed, stunning Marianne. "I've met some real monsters through my family's business gatherings and the court sessions, even Cetus of Lalibela and Imperator Menelaus if you can believe it, but never Serpens Azrael. He's the most reclusive figure in all of Sanctuary. He never seems to want anything to do with the outside world. My parents have tried to find something to sell him for years and nothing ever works."

Marianne widened eyes. "Dear Poseidon. What is happening to Ithaca right now, then?"

Seeing this was just driving her friend up a wall even further, Adriana waved it off. "Let's focus on the Triumph, Mari'. This is YOUR big day. Promise me you won't think about any of this stuff today and just enjoy the limelight for now. For crying out loud, you defeated a whole group of Ghost Saint bastards. Did you walk through Néa Delphi this morning? Everyone is talking about the big Mariner super girl that did what the Gold Saints couldn't. You should be thinking about what's going right in your life, not what's going wrong."

"R-Right!" Marianne nodded. She smiled weakly. "You're absolutely correct. Thank you for setting me straight, AG."

"That's what friends are for. And hey; a little bird told me that it's not just the triumph you'll get to look forward to today." She covered cheeks and puckered her lips "Are you excited to see your dear little Muvian crush, again?"

The mariner squinted. "I'm going to kill mom for telling you that."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Adriana headed out. She laughed and dodged a box of makeup utensils tossed at her head. "I have to go now, Mari', but don't worry, I'll be rooting for you to trip over the microphone from the stands. That will set you at ease, right?"

Marianne groaned. "Hate you!"

"Hate you harder. Bye."

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

Tibet, Shamballa

Turtle School

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

The knock on the Master's door was answered with a telekinetic click that opened it from Yuzuriha's desk. "Come in."

The Muvian workshop head, an aged man of brown hair with streaks of grey in his hundred and thirties, came in with a large box of wood and glass. "May I, High Elder?"

"Over there." She pointed at the side table. Yuzuriha joined him as the scientist activated the machine, clicking buttons and rotating dials that made the needle on top shake and scribble lines. "Ah, finally, professor. Mm, it looks good."

The man beamed proudly. "Thank you, high elder! Let me show you how it works." He pointed at the seismographer's paper, which printed every movement of the needle. "As you can see, the lifted needle shakes with the vibrations registered back at Mount Kailash, like a simple seismographer. However, you'll remember that your office isn't quite vibing with it so much, ha-ah."

Yuzuriha didn't register the joke, transfixed in the rhythmic shakes the machine printed. Every sharp movement it repeated looked terribly familiar, like a Muvian heartbeat. Were these the palpitations of Talos' heart she was seeing registered on paper?

The professor rose a finger in lecture. "This is because we are actually using quantum resonances to transmit the information off a second set of seismic readers on-site, which are then calculated in a central quantum device that shifts the movement back into your machine." He excitedly explained, missing the look of horror in Yuzuriha's face. "The reader uses a barrier to gyroscopically nullify local vibrations, ensuring a perfect, faithful reading across any distance, and the excess energy of the uranium road is routed to your toaster, so you can get your morning readings AND your breakfast."

Yuzuriha gawked. "It makes breakfast?! I asked for something simple!"

"Allow me, Elder." Clicking a button on the side, the professor showed how the top side of the seismic reader detached with just a small side monitor. He presented it like he was gifting a watch. "This way, you can carry a pocket-size reader with you at all times. Isn't it cute?"

Yuzuriha braced it around her wrist, locking it in. She hummed, impressed. She even felt the quake watch vibrating slightly on stronger pulses, which should alert her in the event of some kind of catastrophe on Mount Kailash. Clicking the side button, the Elder laughed, seeing the magic watch adjust readings and even showing a log.

"Why didn't you start with this? Send my gratitude to your junior engineers, professor. I'll pay a personal visit there soon."

The professor nodded and headed out. "O-of course, Elder. That would be a great honor!"

Left with the machine, Yuzuriha tinkered further with her new toy, chuckling. Why did men have to complicate everything? This portable version was perfect for her. It was even lightweight since it was being quantum-fed information from the big box on her desk, so it had no internal gadgetry. She touched the dials and saw a screen displaying the seismic information registered on paper in a series of colored, emoted faces. Another unnecessary detail. The violence in the needle movement was more than enough.

A Immortal Guardsman came into her office. "Elder, you've summoned me?"

She turned to the masked man. "Yes, I want a report on the excavation site."

"Certainly; we're maintaining the distanced perimeter around the mountain, keeping only trustworthy men guarding entries and exits. So far, we've had no incidents other than a couple of curious children from nearby colony villages approaching the area. However -"

She nodded. "Yes?"

The head of the guard shifted eyes anxiously. "The patrols themselves have insisted with me to report to you, High Elder, that phenomena coming from the mountain has increased. They've written down… fires, loud sounds, violent quakes, and occasional rock slides. The falconers say their birds won't get near Mount Kailash anymore and we had to discharge a guard last night."

Her brow rose. The Immortal Guards were known for their mental discipline. "Discharge? Over what?"

"He… After a series of altercations, Guardsman Kiki had a violence episode." The guard captain confessed. He fidgeted uncomfortably. "He occupied a perimeter post relatively close to the mountain and had been citing headaches and nightmares. Yesterday, he attacked fellow guardsmen, insisted loudly he wanted to go inside the mountain, exposed his face to others, and rashly tried to infiltrate the perimeter. Guardsman Kiki was subdued, his face covered and his self removed from the excavation site since."

Yuzuriha laced fingers pensively. "Athena and Buddha have mercy on me both; is the thing inside the mountain now trying to drive my men insane? Or is it… calling them?" She clicked her tongue, feeling a sense of powerlessness. She looked at her new watch and saw it pulsing away innocently, for now. Yuzuriha pictured herself waking up in the middle of the night with the thing shaking like a jackhammer and Shamballa on fire. "It's no use; this will just get worse and worse until a solution is found, but I need more information. Most Elders have thought Talos to be nothing but a broken machine for 1000 years, so I'm guessing I won't find anything in Shamballa. No, I need a real center of Muvian knowledge, a place where even the knowledge we lost from the Age of Myth might be preserved."

Seeing the Elder eye him determinedly, the Immortal Guard straightened posture. "Orders, Elder?"

"Get your men ready. We're going to Jamir."

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

Greece,

Sanctuary Town,

Corinth Gulf Pass

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

Gently and carefully sailing up the secret water pass in the Corinth Gulf, the Chrysaor cut the water through the long watery stretch zigzagging northwards into the mountainous terrain. After reaching Greece's waters, Atlae could swear it wouldn't be long until the sight of Sanctuary Town's four acropolises greeted them. Instead, the secret fluvial pass still went on and on, making them turn left and right and left and right against a soft current, all the time flanked by sharp mountains on both sides like steep, natural lines of fortresses.

"I hate to admit it, but it's really no wonder Lord Poseidon hasn't conquered Sanctuary yet." The captain confessed, spotting the occasional hoplite patrol watching their boat from the peaks. "Every time I come through this pass; I feel watched from beginning to end. Any sea force coming through here would be annihilated long before Star Hill came within sight."

They passed a small ship of fishermen going out of Sanctuary.

Atlae waved high from the bow, beaming. "Hello!"

The small quartet of gruff looking men stared weirdly. One of them returned a strange hand greeting which he hadn't seen since his days studying with Caça and Baian at Néa Delphi.

Atlae scratched head. He turned to Krishna and Caça and showed them the gesture. "Captain, what does this mean?"

Caça cackled and Krishna squinted. "Atlae! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Oh, am I doing it wrong?" He rose his middle finger higher. "Is it like this? Do I wave it, too?"

"It's perfect. Ya should show it to Marianne!" Caça suggested.

Krishna put down Atlae's hand. "Ugh, these Sanctuary Town people, unbelievable! Atlae, don't do that gesture anymore, it's offensive."

Atlae irked. He had seen Caça and Baian do it to each other back in the day so much that he thought it was a secret soccer handshake.

"That's just Sanctuary Town for ya.." Caça mocked. "They think they're better than everyone else. You give a couple of people some nice neighborhoods next to a mountain full of Gold Saints, a mission to save the world, then surround them with mountains and all of a sudden they think they live in freakin' Mount Olympus or something."

"You'll feel quite at home, then, Caça." Krishna bit, silencing the pale Mariner. "Atlae, I want you to stick close to us during our stay. The hoplites aren't friendly, not to mention I've heard the most recent generation of Bronze Saints has a dangerous troublemaker in it."

Caça scoffed. "Pah, how bad could a single Bronze Saint be?"

Krishna squinted. "He almost killed his Silver Saint Master on his first day with the Cloth. In front of the Pope, too."

The two crewmates winced, frightened.

"I don't want either of you to run into him on your own. Someone who turns their fist at their teacher in Sanctuary is only a dark paint coat on their armor away from a Black Saint. They will think nothing of hurting you. The city will be in a bustle too, with the Triumph going on, so it could be difficult for even a Gold Ranker like me to cover your butts." Krishna then looked at Atlae specifically. "Am I clear, Atlae? No running off on competitive curiosity."

"Y-Yes, captain!" Atlae saluted. Still, he looked out, amazed. "I guess Sanctuary is full of strong guys like that. I'd love to spar with that Bronze Saint to see how well I'd do, but the captain knows best."

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

After what felt like the thousandth mountainous curve, the water pass finally opened up into a large, round lake in Athena's Valley. All three crewman shielded their eyes and awed, welcomed to Athena's capital by rays of light bathing the rocky horizon, the forests, the town buildings and the expansive lake bay. Houses of white-painted brick and tiles of orange covered the land ahead, creating a vibrant atmosphere, and the four famous fortified mounds poking out the terrain were instantly visible, with their big Acropoli on top. Further beyond, inescapable to the sight, was the massive mountain dotted with the Twelve Temples, the Fire Clock mound, and finally Star Hill poking towards the sky, all three dominating features of the landscape.

A surprising amount of boats were found lined by the lake coast, considering the enclosed, inland environment they entered. Many were moored to each other to compete for the limited docking space in the town. There was also a lighthouse to their right as they entered the lake, likely to prevent boat accidents in the only water passage out during days of dim light. It felt unnecessary, though, as everything in front of Atlae looked like a valley of blessings; there was a pleasant fragrance in the air not unlike that of the Isle of Gardens, the sunlight seemed to eat every mountain scar and rock with a perfect shine, the forest branches danced with a gentle wind, and far off waterfalls in the terrain rises unleashed rainbow-cast sprays of mist.

Atlae awed. Everything felt perfect. It was like the blessings of Athena came to life in the form of a valley. Even the man-made temples and houses looked carved with the smoothness and shine expected of shrines to gods, while the farm fields to east and west were full of vibrant greens and yellows. No wonder its inhabitants were proud people.

Caça pointed out to the air over dock. "Look, captain. It's…!"

Krishna widened eyes. "The Sea Dragon!"

Atlae, too, went to the tip of the boat to get a better look. Amazingly, before them, an enormous ship hovered slightly over the water, rather than swim in it. Its hull was clad with shining orichalcum plates that broke off into a twin set of enormous fish fins made of metal and sails, with a second set of smaller ones further back where the keel rose back up. Its bow protruded in the shape of a sea drake's head with its toothed mouth open, while its rear deck was mounted with what looked like four massive thrusters, rather than a captain's quarters. Three masts with gigantic sails sprouted out of the top deck and their fabric was lined with orichalcum that granted them the ability to absorb the breezes of the sea as power. On each side, two floors of lined gun ports existed, threatening destruction to anything that broadsided the Sea Dragon, but these looked insignificant compared to the gun mounted inside the mouth of the dragonhead.

Atlae sweated, wondering if that thing could open fire or was just for show. "That's… the ship Marianne commands?! It looks fantastic! How many people are on it?!"

Krishna laughed with the look on his face. "How do you like the mariner's greatest warship, Atlae? It's not just Muvians that invent impressive things."

The blonde Muvian gulped. "It's… unbelievable! It looks like a airship, more than a boat! It's hovering over the water, too!"

"That's the power of the Orichalcum engine. The legendary flying metal of Atlantis grants vessels the power of flight." Krishna folded arms, eyeing him challengingly. "So, Atlae, do you still think you could make a crewman in it? I know it's an intimidating sight."

Intimidated was an understatement to how Atlae felt; the Sea Dragon looked like it could bite down on the Chrysaor and have it for breakfast. "How many people are in it?"

"Close to five hundred. A lot of the Mariner population is born and raised to keep the ships staffed, and the Sea Dragon eats a big chunk of our very best men." Krishna explained. "This is why commanding it is an honor given to only our best and most trustworthy Vice-Admirals; for he, or she in this case, who commands that ship also carries the dreams and hopes of every Mariner in their hands. The Scales of Poseidon only awaken during times of war, so without the LPS Sea Dragon, we'd all be at the mercy of Sanctuary."

Atlas rose brow. "LPS?"

"Lord Poseidon's Ship, Atlas." Krishna explained.

Caça scoffed and spat into Sanctuary's Bay waters. "This is why it's gross we put it at Sanctuary's service!"

Krishna shook head. "On the contrary, Caça; serving Sanctuary with our greatest weapon gives us the chance to show Sanctuary it has use for us Mariners… and how deep we can bite their hand if we're betrayed."

As always, Caça scoffed. "Whatever…"

Krishna shook head. Sometimes he wondered how brave Caça would be if an actual Holy War between Mariners and Saints broke out again. "The Triumph for Marianne Solo is an excellent opportunity for us to show the Saints the Mariners have teeth, even if Lord Poseidon isn't with us. The Sea Dragon is part of that, too."

This filled Atlae's chest with anxiety. "The triumph, that's right! Marianne will be at the center of it and everything…" he looked out the bow, all of a sudden dreading when the next mountain turn would show them the capital of Sanctuary. His heart pumped nervously. "I'm finally going to see her again, after all this time. Will things be the same, or…?"

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

Having moored the Chrysaor in the inland marina, the trio took its first steps into Athena's capital, leaving their cargo in the warehouse, getting their delivery payment, and loading the new shipment up.

"Wow, we've emptied the whole ship!" Atlae noted, dragging the last big weapon crate into the warehouse. "I thought we had two more places to stop at after this."

"We do, just not for the weapons and ore." Krishna confirmed, finishing his business with the Sanctuary Towners, who carried off the rest of the Hawaii-forged weapons to their barracks further east. "With the money we got here, we'll cross the Suez and get food shipments in our next stop; Mogadishu. They have a depot from New Lalibela, a food basket for all of Sanctuary's holdings. That will give us the chance to make some extra profit at Andromeda Island and later Port Muhammad, our final stop before being back to Trincomalee."

Atlae made the math of their spots with his fingers. "Awesome, that lands us perfectly back where we started, and going through all the different seas, too! Then its rinse and repeat, like a real circumnavigation."

Caça scoffed. "Don't be so surprised! We are Mariners, Atlae. We know what we're doing."

"I planned to show my students all the seas of our God, too, so it's as complete a training experience as possible for Mariners." Krishna quickly stored the cash in a safe place and hummed, impressed. "This year was a good haul. With Atlae here we were able to get everything done much faster and safely. I no longer regret having helped Saint Noah with that Specter problem, either. It fastened shut a lot of problems we'd otherwise have."

Atlae smiled. "It feels good to have helped anyway, though, doesn't it?"

"What a saint!" Caça mocked. "Hey, captain, speaking of which, did the people here say anything about that? I'd like some kind of compensation from Sanctuary for my heroic efforts doing their job!"

Krishna hadn't even entertained the possibility. "Asking Saints for that is like asking the Pope for a free Gold Cloth. Trust me, the important thing is that you two survived that encounter."

Caça groaned, while Atlae just shrugged.

The captain patted the Chrysaor's hull. "Still, maybe next year things will be even better. If we can get a bigger boat, I can have more students, and maybe carry the ore shipments from Rio Negro myself to the Muvians at Port Muhammad. I can work the Chola family back into prosperity."

"I hope you do it, captain." Atlae wished, smiling.

"Bootlicker!" Caça spat.

Atlae frowned. "I meant it!"

Krishna laughed, getting used to their caustic dynamic. "Thank you, Atlae. Come on, you two. How would you like to see the Sea Dragon up close?"

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

Tibet,

Jamir

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

The narrow mountain passageways to the legendary tower of Jamir were fraught with dangers, like precipices and caverns filled with the spirits of trespassers. The journey, despite quickened by the cosmos, faced obstacle after obstacle, from blocked pathways to snowed-in rises to weakened, humid plank bridges over spikey chasms.

Yet, driven by the importance of her pilgrimage and followed by a regiment of Immortal Guards, Elder Yuzuriha made her way through the perils and eventually came face to face with the tower itself, lying beyond one final, perilous bridge pass. Its stacked, hexagonal floors were packed with snow and its black exterior looked stark in the darkened Himalayas, but it was still a site to behold to the faithful Muvians.

"The tower of Jamir." one masked guard awed.

"The repository to the lost knowledge of our continent." Another added. "And home to the future Aries Gold Saint."

"Take it all in while you can. In all my hundred-seventy years, this is the first I've laid eyes on it." A third, older guard assured. "And remember, when the Elder speaks to the new Aries candidate, be as respectful to him as you would to her."

Yuzuriha ignored the talking and stepped through the bridge. Immediately it began creaking. Her guards hesitated, but the Elder traversed it fearlessly, inspiring them to follow suit. The cold wind blew ever stronger as they progressed, shaking the bridge harder. The guards began fidgeting nervously, wishing they had left their heavier armor sets behind. A younger one looked down and gasped, almost making his mask fall off, at the sight of skeletons impaled on rock spikes deep below.

The group silently crossed the bridge and, eventually, all made through without a hitch. They kept their respectful distance as the Elder approached the ground floor gate and knocked loudly on its door, sending metal echoes deep inside.

"I wish to speak with the Master of Jamir!" she loudly proclaimed, looking up.

"Ugh, go away!"

The guards exchanged outraged looks. The voice was loud and deep. Was the new Aries Gold Saint candidate a great Sanctuary warrior?

Yuzuriha felt her brow twitch. Her nose twitched, detecting the faint scent of frosted strawberry coming from the voice's floor.

She knocked again. "This is urgent! As the High Elder of all Muvians, I beseech thee to open this gate!"

"Are you deaf or something?! I said to go away, I'm BUSY!" the voice repeated. "I'm the great alchemist of Jamir! I don't have time for any business other than science. Can't you tell right now I am conducting an important experiment?!"

The strange sound of hammers and explosions somewhere around the person was heard. The guards exchanged another look. What kind of mysterious project the new alchemist was conducting, that he would even put it above welcoming the Muvian High Elder? Whatever it was, it sounded dangerous.

Yuzuriha put fists on hips, growled and shouted high at the upper floors. "MU, YOU OPEN THESE GATES RIGHT NOW, OR I'M TELLING SHION YOU'RE SPENDING YOUR STUDYING TIME IN JAMIR MAKING ICE CREAM IN YOUR LAB AND WATCHING LOONEY TUNES CARTOONS!"

A moment of silence followed. Then, as if a magic spell had been cast, the gates of Jamir began clicking on the inside, unlocking the millennia-old barring mechanisms like a steel puzzle of thousands of solving steps. A final, louder clunk was heard and the gate was manually slid aside. It creaked loudly, as if the passage to an ancient dungeon was being exposed for the first time in a thousand years.

The guards watched with anticipation, awaiting the appearance of its grand guardian.

The little five-year old lilac-haired boy laughed nervously before them. "A-Ah, ah, hi, Elder Yuzuriha!"

The guards gawked unbelievably. This was the new lord of the tower? A little boy from the lilac-hair clans? Where was the Saint of Aries?

"S-sorry, I didn't expect you at all. I thought you were another Hekate Witness group, going door to door spreading the wonderful joys of being a witch." Teleporting a fair distance away from her kick reach, the Gold Saint candidate smiled sheepishly. "S-So, what brings you here? Can I help you to ice cream? An invention? Or would you like a Cloth repaired? Anything for my Master's precious friend!"

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

Greece,

Sanctuary Town Docks

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

Heading further east along the dock to where the boats too big to enter the Sanctuary Town River docked at, the trio of Atlae, Caça and Krishna stood aback, admiring the huge armed vessel crawling with busy mariner folk of blue hair and sailor uniforms.

Atlae's eyes hadn't fooled him; the keel of the huge ship was really hovering just above the surface of the water. Could it really take off to the air or, like the captain said back in Argentina, underwater as well? If it went underwater, would the three big sailed masts be okay? Or would they collapse inside the lower decks like some kind of awesome transforming machine? Looking around, he realized they weren't the only people whose attention was attracted by the warship; many Sanctuary Towners were bringing in their children to look at the amazing machine, which up-close looked like an object of fantasy even by Sanctuary standards. Some were even offering money to take a tour to the top deck, only to be turned away by the mariners.

"I bet all the Muvians in Shamballa laboratories would love this thing, right, Atlae?" Krishna asked, folding arms with an uncharacteristically smug smirk.

It was so rare to see the captain openly proud of something. Atlae laughed mournfully. "I'm not sure. We didn't hang out much. I wish we had, but the boys in Shamballa always kept to the labs. They wouldn't even come outside to play soccer."

Krishna hummed. "Mm, an outcast wherever you go, uh? Talk about bad luck."

"He's like a weirdo within weirdos." Caça mocked.

Atlae pointed at the big cannon in the dragon mouth. "Can that thing really fire, captain?"

"I don't know if it can, Atlae, but I bet it would be expensive." Krishna said. "Which means that to any Mariner worth their stinginess, it's something to do only if Lord Poseidon himself commands it. And signs a receipt, too."

As he crossed the dock and admired the ship from multiple angles, Atlae looked up and spotted a familiar figure clad in impressive-looking armor. He was a young man around his age and Caça's, with wavy light teak hair down to the neck, gray eyes with a look focused on his clipboard, a height challenging Atlae's, a trained but slender build, and finally a set of light azure and green armor with navy uniform shoulder paddings, suede boots, a badge with a prancing hippocampus and a big show-off cape of blue back and white front, like a Gold Saint's.

Atlae beamed, recognizing him "Hey, look over there, Caça! It's Baian!" He rushed out, waving at the old classmate. Hey, Baian! It's us!"

Caça immediately cringed. "Ugh, just my luck."

Baian blinked, alerted by Atlae's shouting from his clipboard. He stared, stunned in recognition. "You… you're that Muvian boy the Solos adopted. Atlas?"

"Yes, it's Atlae." He happily corrected, paying no mind. "It's been ages! What are you doing here?"

"Yeesh, the little dotted pipsqueak's taller than even me, now." Baian nervously noted, having to look slightly up. He scoffed, resting hand in hip. "What do you mean? I'm a Rear Admiral for the Mariners now. I serve in the Sea Dragon as Vice-Admiral Marianne's right-hand man. Atlae, what in Triton's heck are YOU doing here? I thought you went back to your Muvian people."

"He's been serving under me." Krishna interjected. He shook Baian's hand. "Nice to meet you, Rear Admiral. I am Krishna Chola."

"I've heard of you, yes. You Cholas now have that, um, sailing school, correct?" he derisively asked, chuckling. He took his hand back and wiped it discreetly. "It's nice… initiative for the ones that didn't get past the porch."

Atlae and Krishna exchanged a confused look. What was with the weird tone?

Baian then saw Caça. He snickered. "Oh, look who it is."

A toxic scowl that would make a child cry filled Caça's face. "Hello, Baian."

"I thought I smelled something fishy in the air." The Canadian mariner folded arms, smirking pitifully. "So, this is where you've belonged to all this time, Caça? Swarveing ships for training little children around? Whatever happened to you joining the Sea Dragon?"

The paler mariner gritted teeth. "Maybe you're smelling your cologne, instead! Also, my slot on the ship was taken by the admiral's son. The big, pompous, fruity one, with the Newfie accent he tries to hide!"

Atlae gulped, he had never seen Caça so tense with someone. He looked at Captain and even he seemed hesitant to put himself between these two.

Baian turned face skeptically." Really? I was sure you weren't enrolled because you landed dead last on the test scores. And this after you cheated. Well, don't you worry, the Sea Dragon is in very good hands. Your talents are better off… doing whatever you do on that boar sloop, anyway."

Krishna and Atlae tensed lips at this. There was no need to insult the Chrysaor and its mission.

But Caça took the offense even further. "My talents are greater than yours could ever hope to be! Especially on a combat ship! While you're off combing your hair and pining for Marianne, I'd be taking down more Specters and Ghost Saints than the rest of the ship combined!"

Baian laughed out loud of this. "You'd be an even better comedian, cause I'm dying at what you're saying. Do you even know what this Triumph taking place is for? The Sea Dragon, AND its support vessel Seahorse, have just scored a great victory against the Ghost Saints, who are getting carried in chains as we speak to the Saints." He folded arms cockily."So, I have actual enemies of Poseidon on my list of victories now, Caça. What do you even go up against on that… little ship, Caça? Other than the occasional whale bumping into your boat?"

Atlae gritted teeth. Why did Baian keep looking down on Captain Krishna's ship?! It was so sneaky, too, like he thought he could get away with it if he mixed it in with a bunch of other talking.

This felt like… the way he'd talk to Atlae at school, all those years ago.

Caça roared and tossed himself at him, "YOU COCKY ASSHO-!""

But Krishna held him back. "Whow, Caça, STOP!" He saw Baian's crewman gather around, attracted by the commotion. "Don't start a fight we won't win, damn you!"

The teal-haired Mariner shrugged smugly at this spectacle, shaking head. "Still the same short-fused little goblin you've always been, uh, Caça? You know, if you wanted to join the Sea Dragon, you should have focused on studying harder, instead of just on beating me at soccer. It's not my fault you always thought you could just coast by."

"COAST BY?!" Caça screamed, struggling so angrily he almost broke through Krishna. "Fuck you, Baian! You cheated on the exams too; you just didn't get caught because the teacher had the hots for you! You didn't study any harder than I did!"

Baian only grinned.

"Why don't you meet me at the Coliseum, away from all your buddies, and we put your talents to the test, pretty boy?!" Caça suggested. "I'll give a whole new meaning to your precious Rear Admiral title when I kick your ass!"

Baian's gray eyes narrowed, unimpressed. "I don't fight with cowards. Go home and rethink your life, Caça, before you embarrass the Cabral Household even more."

At this point, Atlae gritted teeth. "Hey, Baian, stop that already!" he shouted. "You don't know what you're talking about! I don't know what battles you've gone through, but Caça isn't a cheater or untalented! He saved my life and Saint Noah's from a Specter, a lightspeed one!"

Baian laughed out loud. "Bah, a Specter?! Atlas, you make a terrible lia-"

"It's TRUE!" Atlae roared. "And it's Atlae!"

Baian squinted. "What, did he run into the Frog Specter? And am I really hearing this from you, Atlae? Do you know who you're defending here? This is the guy who bullied you for over a year."

"Yes, and so did you!"

It was Baian's turn to stagger.

He then gritted teeth in offense. "What?! How dare you? I never said a bad word or laid a hand on you in school!"

Atlae frowned, reminded of the coldness Baian always treated him with. "No, you did worse! You made me feel like there was something wrong with me! I'm not stupid anymore, Baian. Maybe you didn't punch me or call me names, but I remember what you'd do without me even understanding it at the time. Caça was mean to me, but he was never a liar or acted like I was too stupid to understand why we couldn't be friends. You did!"

Krishna let go of Caça, the both of them engrossed in Atlae's sudden confrontation.

Baian looked like he couldn't believe Atlae was picking such a side. "You must be stupid still if you're saying things like that, Atlae. What, now you like Caça better than me because he was honest about not wanting you around?"

But the straw-hair Muvian only nodded in reinforced certainty. "That's right! Marianne always told me to stand up to trickters like you! Caça is just a jerk and to him I'm just an annoying person he disagrees with, but to you I'm someone to treat like I'm inferior! So don't you dare make fun of the Chrysaor or Caça to my face!"

Challenged, Baian scowled and shoved him back harshly. "Or what, Atlae?!"

This time, it was Caça and Krishna who got worried that Atlae would blow a fuse, but the blonde Muvian simply straightened himself up with dignity.

Baian wasn't impressed. "Do you think that just because you trained in the mountains for a couple of years that you can insult me like this? I'm a proud son of the Vancouver Household Mariners, the inheritor of the Sea Horse scale legacy. I lead people into battle!" the young Baian declared, tensing his grey eyes. "And you're just a dotted orphan with a black belt. All the bricks you could break with your head are nothing next to the ground I can rip with my cosmos with a mere thought!" Baian then laughed at his face, sensing the Muvian's cosmos. "I can tell you don't even have the 7th sense, so don't you dare disrespect a Rear Admiral to his face, Atlae. You might find yourself missing a head more than you already clearly do."

Atlae shook with fury, didn't respond. He remembered now all the horrible things he felt in Néa Delphi every time Baian dismissed him or spoke like he did to Caça, but he had nothing to say to the ugliness inside this guy's soul.

Baian saw it in him. "If this is how Muvians respond to Mariner generosity, then Arthur Solo is truly a fool!" he turned away, flipping his cape. "Go back under his fin, Atlae. Or better yet, to your people's mountain caves. Unless you can fix a Cloth, you don't belong in Sanctuary or with the Mariners!"

With this, Baian disappeared into the crowds of his underlings around the Sea Dragon battleship. Atlae saw Mariner sailors, likely from the Sea Horse, gather between them and converse with Baian, likely a veiled attempt to prevent him from continuing the argument. It was unnecessary, though. Atlae had no intention of fighting him. Not unless he insulted the Chrysaor a second time.

Caça joined him. "Atlae, are you INSANE?! You're a Muvian. If he fought and killed you, none of these other pricks around him would bat an eye! You'd be a splatter of blood on the wall and everyone would just be whistling away!" Caça cringed in vexation. "Why the hell did you do that?! He was mine! Who told you to get between us?!"

The Muvian only turned away. His whole body shook and he felt cold, like he just challenged a dragon that could burn him to a crisp.

Krishna held Atlae shoulder to calm him down. When Atlae's pulse seemed calmer, he asked. "You weren't counting on me coming to the rescue again, were you?"

The Muvian sweated. "I'm sorry, Captain, I really wasn't."

Something told Krishna Atlae was ready to defend his ship's honor with his life. "I know you're not the type to count on others to fight your battles, Atlae, but next time, leave the defending of the Chrysaor to its captain. Baian is strong, but he's not someone I can't teach a lesson in respect. Now come on," Krishna dragged his two crewmen out of the dock. "Let's take care of our business in Sanctuary Town so we can go watch the Triumph parade. If we do it right away, we'll find good spots for you two to see your precious Marianne up close."

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

Tibet,

Jamir

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

Inside the tower with Mu, Yuzuriha frowned sadly, discovering her Master Hakurei's tower turned into a chaos of discarded electronics, gadgets, books, and alchemic potions. She had no idea what awaited her in the upper floors, but could see from where she stood that her old classroom was converted into a warehouse for broken machines, the walls were stacked with disorganized pliers, hammers, cutters, lasers, lenses, welders, and many other tools for all sorts of metal working and alchemic jobs she had occasionally seen Shion himself wield.

Her breath exhaled. "Mu, look at this mess! What would your Master say?" That Shion and Mu might call this 'keeping things clean' broke her heart. "What have you been doing all week?! The Jamir tower looks like a hurricane came through here!"

"Yes; the Hurricane Duster 4500 did!" Mu excitedly pulled out an insane-looking vacuum cleaner that looked like some kind of laser gauntlet attached to a bright uranium capsule. "I used it to clean the excess Muvian skin bits that were making all the rooms dirty. It's a bit uncalibrated right now, though." He tossed it out to the trash again. "Then after cleaning I fixed all the Cloths of that month, sorted all the comic books, made popcorn, and watched the funny cowboy movie with Willy Wonka again."

Yuzuriha frowned. "I owe Atlae an apology for all the lectures I've ever given him at the Turtle School. He's clearly a model student."

Mu counted with his fingers the rest of his activities. "Then, um, let's see…I did the disprove-string-theory exercises, I tested the laser canon, I put out the fire in the laboratory, I cleaned the soot, I took a shower, I went to bed, I woke up, I made breakfast, I did my exercises, I found a cool bug, I made friends with it, we saved the butterfly kingdom together, I slayed the evil Porcus, I prac-"

Her hand swept the air. "Alright, Mu, that's enough. I get it."

He blinked. "But… you asked for my week. I'm only at Monday."

She needed to get to the point or they'd be at it all day. "Listen, Mu, between all your activities, have you been studying the tower library as you were told?"

Mu gasped excitedly. "Have I?! I've read every book already 3,467 times! Then I wrote a summary of my favorite bits, added it to the shelves under M and made an essay about that!"

The Elder smiled. This sounded promising. "Okay, good, I need to ask you a few things you have read about that aren't available at Shamballa, but I need it to stay between us, okay? Don't even tell your teacher! If you do, I promise I will keep your little break you just had between the two of us. How does that sound?"

This sounded simple enough. "Sure. What would you like to know, Elder?"

Yuzuriha sucked her breath and dished it out. "What can you tell me about Talos?"

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

Sanctuary Town,

Herculean Road

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

Atlae had never seen so many people in his life. Only Shamballa's Winter Festival came to mind as an apt comparison to the bustle he saw in the streets.

Caça jumped up and down, trying to get a look over the crowd. "UGH, how are we supposed to see anything?! There's like a million gawkers around!"

Krishna sweated. He saw that even the cafes on first floors were packed with people who got in early. "I should have figured they would have reserved the best spots. And we're running late too. Unless we have a pass for the front areas by the Zodiac, I think we might miss the whole thing. Sorry, guys."

Atlae and Caça slumped in unison, distraught.

The Muvian looked around, searching for an alternative. He saw how many of the Mediterranean style houses had people going in to watch from the balconies. "Maybe we can ask someone to let us see through their upper floors?"

Krishna frowned. He saw the looks they got along the road and doubted they'd have much luck through this idea. "I don't think our odd little group inspires a lot of trust in these folks. The streets are filling up quickly, though."

Caça struggled to give room to people passing by. "Ugh, who knew so many people lived in this town! How is Sanctuary still a secret to the world like this?!"

Atlae pointed at the high, walled streets over the mounds. "Then maybe we can see from the acropolis walls? I don't mind if we are far away from the main road. If we split up we might find a free spot fast and tell one another with messages?"

Krishna hesitated. "I told you, Atlae, I don't think splitting up is a good idea here. We should stick together-" Suddenly a throng of people bumped into them, practically shoving them out of the street into an cramped alley.

"Sorry!" they hailed.

Even the patient Krishna was beginning to grit his teeth. "Poseidon save me, this town! Ugh, alright, Atlae, you win, but don't get too far or stay away from us. And don't talk to the Saints or the hoplites, they don't like our type. We meet back here in ten minutes and not a second more, understood?"

Atlae nodded, though he thought the captain was being a bit too cautious. The city wasn't that big anyway, and there were plenty of reference points. It should be easy to find his way up those big streets in the mounds.

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

Atlae gasped, completely lost.

He turned over and over, trying to understand which way he came from.

Distanced from the rest of the group after crossing three or so blocks, somehow, he landed in a series of alleys going in between the houses and he couldn't understand how to get to the big acropolis staircases anymore, even though he could see the walls over the rooftops! It was like he was in a maze of painted brick and people and everyone was too busy to give him directions.

He tried to focus his senses, but all around him was a vast mass of indistinguishable chi from countless people. "It's no use, there's too many people around. I'll just ask someone." And he called the closest person. "Excuse me!"

"Out of the way!" a person carrying trays urged.

The Muvian turned to another. "Please, excuse me, I'm l-"

"What'r'you, a circus gimp? This ain't the Muvian quarter!" another pushed back, rushing past him.

Desperate, Atlae rushed to a soldier he spotted, even though the captain had warned him against it. "Sir, sir, please, could you tell me how to get to the big street up there?"

"Look, man, I'm off-duty!" the hoplite bit back "Can't you see the roads? Just follow them up there!"

Atlae looked at the pavement, but paths seemed to zig-zag into streets that curved further away from where he was trying to go, not to mention several them went through tight passes between the houses that Atlae was pretty sure got him lost to begin with. It wasn't like Shamballa at all, where all the streets were neatly squared and you could see where they took to, from a distance.

Shaking his head, the hoplite pushed past him. "Dumb tourists, I swear…"

Atlae fumed. "Why are people around here so mean?! Maybe I'll climb one of the houses, like I'd do when I was a kid, and see over the rooftops." He turned the street corner, wondering if Caça was right and this was just the way Sanctuary Town was like. "It's not a very nice thing to do, bu-"

*CRASH*

Atlae and the person screamed, both falling back from ringing their heads together.

He rubbed head, wincing. "O-ow! I'm so sorry!"

"G-goddamn it! Watch where you're going!" the Saint roared, holding his bruise.

Atlae looked up and gasped. A young Saint of Athena was the person he crashed into, one carrying none other than the Pegasus Cloth box and possessing the meanest set of red eyes Atlae had ever seen, along with charcoal hair down to his jaw line, tight hand wrappings from training, a red shirt and blue jeans.

Atlae got up and bowed apologetically. "O-Oh. I'm so sorry, Saint Pegasus!"

The youth paused, seeing his dots. "You're… a Muvian?" The charcoal-haired youth gritted teeth angrily, his frightening red glare putting even Caça's scariest scowls to shame. "What the hell are you doing, sneaking around these alleys?! Do you want to get killed?!"

Atlae staggered. Was this the violent Saint in the ranks Captain Krishna had warned them about?

"I-I was just looking for a good place for me and my two friends to watch the Triumph. I thought we could climb over one of the houses."

The Saint looked at him like he grew a second head. "Are you nuts?! During a parade the Pope is going to be at?! What, do you want the entire guard to think you're going to attack the procession?!"

Atlae hadn't even considered this. "Oh, no, never! My friend is at the parade and I just wanted to see her, I swear!" he then frowned, surrendering. "We haven't been together in years. But I'm having no such luck. Everyone packed the streets already. I just thought I might find a work around."

The Bronze Saint stared tensely. For a moment, Atlae backed off, wondering if he did something to insult him, or if the Saint didn't believe it. He gulped, feeling terrified by his red glare. Where had Atlae seen eyes like this before?

He reached into pocket and took something out to Atlae. "Fuck my life. Here, take it."

Atlae blinked and studied it. It was an access pass to the stands close to the Golden Zodiac given to Bronze Saints. "But this is….! Lord Saint, I can't."

"I'm not a goddamn Lord Saint! Just take that stupid thing! It will get you straight to the front rows. They forced it on all the Bronzes to pack the stands and make the Mariners feel all honored by our presence."

Atlae gasped; this was exactly what he needed! "But… what about you?"

"I have no interest in wasting my time watching some stupid parade to some Mariner girl." the Pegasus Saint hissed. He paced over, looking like he could punch a wall. "That blasted Pope! The goddamn Black Sea is crawling with rogue cosmos users turning towns into rubble, and all these Gold Saints do is call it another 'earthquake' to the countries and spend the week throwing accolades unto their bootlickers! Every day I hate this fucking place more and more!"

The Muvian stared, amazed. He sounded a bit harsh and Atlae didn't know if what he said was true, but the Saint looked ready to beam out of town and take on the entire world in a great holy war against injustice. He looked like a strong fighter, too. Atlae instinctively wondered what he was like on the battlefield, but suppressed that curiosity, knowing it wasn't time for that.

Pegasus stopped, looking like he remembered something important. "Do me a favor, okay? At the stands there's a Silver Saint with blue armor and a look on his face like he'd run from a mouse in his office."

Atlae tried to picture it, though he had no idea what that would look like. Maybe it was some kind of elephant saint? "Okay…"

"He's probably going to ask you why you have my pass. If he does, tell him I gave it to you and that I went to do all the missions the other Bronze Saints left unfinished for the week. And that the next time he tries to waste my time and rope me into this kind of thing, I'll shove the pass so far up his ass he'll get promoted to Gold Saint! Understood?!"

Atlae staggered at the words. He nodded firmly, though. "Y-yes, of course! Thank you, Lord Sain-"

The Pegasus stormed away into the streets like an angry apparition vanishing into the wind.

Atlae hummed, standing aback. He supposed the Saint wasn't comfortable with being social, sort of like Captain Krishna. What an encounter, though. It reminded him so much of-

Of Death Queen Island! Atlae gasped, recalling the encounter with the boy under the Black Saint dock! "The boy, Guifi, had eyes just like this! Was that Saint born under the Phoenix too, then?" He tried to find him again, but Pegasus was gone. Atlae held his flute and briefly offered a prayer to Genbu, wishing Pegasus luck. "Poor guy. Thank the Gods he has found protection under the Pegasus Cloth. Lord Genbu, please bless him on his journey against injustice. And may he be free of the Curse forever after."

He then headed back, anxious to show Caça and Captain Krishna what he got.

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

Jamir,

Upper Floors

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

Having followed Mu upstairs, Elder Yuzuriha now watched as the child Muvian ran through the book shelves of the tower library, tapping the spines with his hand to make the tomes fly out into the air and circle around in dances of pages. The boy put on his special goggles, held chin, humming to himself as the books flipped in front of his eyes, searching for what the elder asked. To onlookers, the pages looked completely empty, but they were actually written on with Lemurian Ink, a special gel that could not be read unless you had correctly calibrated reading goggles.

This protected the countless books inside the tower from theft, but also meant that accessing anything forced the guardian of Jamir to search through every book and cover for what he was asked about in a process he called 'Goggling'. Mu had not lied when he said he memorized most of the library already, but he wanted more than to read out loud passages.

Eventually, he found what he wanted, stopping at a big book page "Aha! The Colossus of Crete, Talos!"

Yuzuriha just saw it blank like all the others, "Mu."

"Hold on, hold on." He urged, making all the other books fly back into place and turning on a switch in the central table of the library. This activated a lamp over it. "Muvian Ink is invisible, not to mention the writing itself is super-duper tiny so bad guys won't take the tower's secrets even if they find a way to read it. Normally you need a telescoping goggle like these, but I discovered that under the right radiation, it actually reflects light. Check it out!"

He calibrated it the same as his goggles on a side dial, causing the light hitting the pages to reach a specific intensity and purple color which then reflected onto the wall, casting letters and images in Muvian script. Mu moved a board onto the wall, making the letters more visible, and made the pages flip, showing off how they could read every hidden secret in the book, starting with the title.

He waved hand over it. "Ta-da! Cool, right? This is so much easier now!"

Yuzuriha scoffed, mildly impressed. "Not bad at all. I remember Shion had to use those goggles of yours to read these out to Master Hakurei during translation exams, but you found a way to make the average person be able to read these. You should probably destroy this bulb after we're done."

Mu gawked. "What?!" He hugged the lamp protectively. "But it's my super special awesome science project! It uses a special gem to harvest energy from another dimension to fire Ultra-Rays on the ink! It took me two whole days to make it! I can't destroy this!"

The Elder was inflexible "No buts, young man. Anyone could walk in here and read how to fix a Cloth with this. It's a giant liability. You'll find another project to impress Shion with."

Mu pouted but nodded. If it was for the sake of protecting mankind, then as the future Aries Saint, he could make a sacrifice or two.

They both read the title.

"Tales of the Golden Age"

"I recognize this." Yuzuriha realized, squinting. She saw the old emblems of the lost continent of Mu. "Master Hakurei taught me about it; it's a Late Muvian Empire propaganda piece for children. After the cataclysm, it was adapted into a fairytale book." She squinted. "Mu!"

"I swear, this is the best book on Talos in the whole tower!" Mu guaranteed, panicking. "Let me just show you." With a telekinetic pulse, Mu made the book flip all the way to the chapter he wanted, causing the light projection to paint its story on the wall. "This is one of my favorite stories, too! Can I read it?!"

Yuzuriha wished he would just tell her what she needed, but children would be children, even if they scored 450 on the human IQ tests. "Okay, alright. But be pertinent."

Long ago, during the age of Myth, the people of Earth, Human and Muvian alike, lived in peace with each other.

Muvians had a great continent country, full of tall buildings, green farms, blue rivers and gray mountains. It even had a great inner sea, just like the Mediterranean, where many happy Muvian sailors did their trade.

And Muvians were very smart people. Everyone was very happy living in Mu, including humans brought to the continent, because Muvians had wonderful alchemy that made every problem go away! Muvians liked humans so much, they would bring them in droves, give them flower bracelets on their wrists and give them big storied houses to live in.

And humans liked Muvians so much, they would stay in their continent for as long as they could! Everyone was so happy!

"I love this story!" Mu commented, smiling at the happy images of his people's lost home. "Everything seemed so perfect back then."

What was initially an embarrassed scowl on Yuzuriha's face's at watching a cartoon with her limited time, became a dark frown. She watched the book drawings projected from the book showing humans being brought to the Mu continent during the Late Myth era. It wasn't clear to a child such as Mu, but the places the humans were being brought to were definitely not 'houses'.

"But things are nice today, too, I think." Mu added. "I'm making great friends in Sanctuary, like Aiolos and his little brother, and Saga is such a cool guy. He can open holes into different dimensions! I bet they would have loved to be brought to our continent back in the day, though."

The book then showed a map of the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. The Greek and Turkish coasts, along with the Levant, Egypt and the island of Crete in particular were highlighted.

Just like Muvians long, long ago, humans living on the other side of the world flourished during this era and created many beautiful kingdoms of their own, taken under the wing of many different gods that taught them all sorts of cool tricks.

The first was the great kingdom of Kemet, the land of the black soil, where humans were so good at building, they erected enormous pyramids and cat-boy statues! They even had a Sanctuary of their own where they worshiped their Gods. Muvians of the time were very impressed by these monuments, but were so shocked to find out they were actually tombs for kings, and not giant particle colliders or satellite communicators. How disappointing! Right?

Yuzuriha shook head lamentingly. Sometimes she couldn't blame humans for thinking Muvians were weird or arrogant, considering the way her people talked and wrote about them.

The book projection then highlighted the Greek islands and Crete.

Despite this, humans just kept getting smarter and smarter! One day, humans became so smart, they learned how to smash copper and tin together to make bronze. No, not like we smash atoms, but still VERY impressive for them. And a whole bunch of new kingdoms popped up. Many of these were in a land called Hellas, where Athena's Sanctuary now exists!

The humans in Hellas were super smart, almost as much as the ones in Kemet and Akkad. The most important and sophisticated of these kingdoms was the kingdom of Crete, where happy King Minos ruled.

Yes, THAT Minos, children. Our story takes place before he became a mean ol' Specter with embarrassing puppeteering hobbies.

Well, King Minos back then was also super smart. So smart, all the people of his kingdom loved him for making his island such a nice place to live in. Even Muvian scientists studying him thought he was a prime candidate for being the first Homo Sapiens to reach an IQ over that of a Muvian child, so he was almost as smart as you!

"Incredible! Imagine how smart Judge Minos must have been, Elder Yuzuriha!" Mu gushed.

Recalling Shion and Albafica's battle with Minos in the Lost Canvas War, Yuzuriha hesitated to describe him as smart or kind. In fact, few things matched Minos' violent lust other than his cruelty and arrogant stupidity.

Hopefully Mu would never have to face Minos in battle and regret this observation, should he still be an Aries Gold Saint fifteen years from then.

King Minos was so smart he often consulted with Muvians on how to rule his realm and even asked us a lot to give him some of our great technology. All the humans who talked with Muvians were always super happy to trade things with us and they'd sometimes even ask us to take some of their people. Which we did, of course!

But not every human was so nice!

The book flipped page, showing a picture of a large group of frowning-looking figures with thick eyebrows, exaggerated noses, sloppy postures, and crooked teeth. They seemed to carry fishing spears as weapons and salted cod as shields and even had stink lines all over them.

Mu immediately jeered. "Boo!"

One day, a big mean ol' group of freaky fish guys started attacking everyone in the great inner sea where King Minos' Island was, from Kemetians, to Minoans, to Akkadians, to Hittites. Everyone was super annoyed by these stinky nobodies that came out of the water and took their stuff!

They also worshiped a mean God who caused earthquakes whenever things didn't go his way. He loved to kidnap innocent princesses and would send sea monsters after you whenever you tried to save them. What a mean poopy-pants! Poopy-pants Poseidon, that's what they called him.

Well, The Kemetians and Minoans called these hooligans the 'Seas People'. You nowadays know them as the Mariners.

Mariners did all sorts of weird and evil things. They attacked boats with Muvians on them, they polluted the air by mining Orichalcum, they took Muvian boys to their big ol' island in the Atlantic to do their laundry and made everyone write everything they ever traded on paper, instead of quantum databanks! They even did strange things like having last names after their regular ones, just to keep track of who their parents were!

Cause they were just that dumb.

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

"Elder Yuzuriha, why were Mariners so dumb and mean to everyone anyway?" Mu asked. "Was it really because of Poseidon?"

A hesitant attempt to explain this died half-way out of her throat. What could she possibly say that a child would understand? The Myth Age wars were just absolutely insane, in Yuzuriha's opinion, with entire kingdoms going to war with each other over slight offenses like cuckoldry against the king or who had the right to keep Achilles' Scutum Cloth after his death. However, as always, this particular conflict had far more to do with mortal nature and less with whether or not one worshiped the same God.

At the time, the mariners were a blossoming civilization which rivaled Mu itself in culture and sophistication, but coming after the Muvians in an ocean directly opposite to theirs in the globe, they also represented a unique sort of antithetical threat to her race. Conflict between them, many said, was not just catastrophic, but inevitable.

Mariners also enviously guarded their precious Orichalcum, one of the few minerals Muvians had no idea how to work on and no reserve of it in their wealthy continent, and likewise saw the Muvians as envious predecessor empire trying to stifle their growth. Their position at the center of the North Atlantic gave them a unique edge to project their influence into the Mediterranean, the favorite sea of their God, and this included the human kingdoms the Muvians saw as their pet civilizations. Great suffering was felt by all before the dust of the Myth Age settled and many religions in the modern world were born out of minor events witnessed by humans in that era.

Crete, home of the fallen Mycenaean civilization, was a good example, and Yuzuriha had a feeling the story would talk about it next.

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

Poor King Minos was constantly under attack by these stinky old meanies cause his island was so small compared to ours. They even wished to kidnap his mom!

King Minos, however, was very clever, and he knew who to ask for help and how. "Oh, people of Mu, whose brilliance is unmatched! Fashion me a great guardian, so that my island may be protected by your genius!"

"Hark! A science project?! THAT, we can do! A guardian, you ask? How big, you ask?" we asked.

"As big as your gods, I ask!" King Minos asked. "With feet that can rip the ground apart and fists that can tear the sky in half!"

And such it became, that the people of Mu, as great in their kindness as they are in their genius, went to their great Gods for their blessing, and with copper, tin, stardust, brass, and fire, a great guardian was fashioned in the Continent's forges.

Minos beheld his guardian and was pleased, for he had the fire in its belly of the great Suzaku's furnaces, the hardened bronze skin like the scales of Seiryu, bones as strong as the bells of Genbu, and a strength as great as the muscles of mighty Byako. He also had big wings, but never flew, because Talos was too heavy and thus gravity loved him too much.

"Take it, I shall!" Minos accepted.

"Hark, a colossal engine of destruction we have forged for you, King Minos! But two warnings; first it needs a great Muvian warrior to command it!"

"A great MUVIAN warrior, you say?" Minos questioned, wishing to use it himself. "Why not a great MINOS king?!"

"No, for without a strong Muvian mind, only rampage can come from this guardian. And secondly, attract the wrath of Zeus you may not, for Lord Zeus' thunder is the food which feeds Talos, but it is also his greatest weakness!"

And King Minos raised his hand. "I hereby swear I will never serve another god but Zeus! Never ever, ever."

And thus, three times a day, the giant walked around the shores of Crete and threw great rocks at the boats of Minos' enemies. His thoughts were of nothing else, for neither were of its commander.

That giant's name was Talos, Colossus of Crete, and like all Muvian creations, he worked perfectly and never exploded or caused bad things to happen. All the mariners were sunk, Queen-Mother Europa was kept safe and everyone lived happily ever after.

All thanks to the brilliance of smart Muvians who stayed in school and did their homework.

The end.

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

"Yaaaaay! Mu cheered, clapping.

Yuzuriha squinted. "That was a suspiciously brisk ending for such a long-winded children's story." She then asked. "Mu, this can't be it. What happened afterwards to Talos?"

The child leaped off his seat. "Well, that's Part 2 of the story. We can go get it if you wan-"

"No, no, please, just give me your gist of it." Yuzuriha insisted, not wanting to sit through another long, bad cartoon.

Mu held chin. "Well, that part of the story I don't like so much, because that's the end of the Myth Age, where everyone is super sad. But if you insist…" Mu flipped the pages to show a picture of Zeus thrown lightning bolts down on a sad-looking giant and a fleeing Minos. "What happens afterwards is that Talos keeps ALL the bad guys out, because it's so strong, and eventually Zeus gets real mad, because King Minos starts thinking he doesn't have to listen to the Gods anymore."

"That figures." Yuzuriha concluded. Kings becoming arrogant, Zeus being jealous of someone else showing off and then throwing a big tantrum about it was how most Greek Myths went.

Mu threw arms, imitating the toss of lightning from Olympus. "And Lord Zeus was like, BAM, KABOOM, ZAP, CRACKA-BOOM, I'll teach you who to make giant statues for! But the more lightning bolts he tossed, the stronger and angrier Talos became, like the Incredible Hulk! Because, you know, it's a machine so it eats current."

The Elder grumbled. Zeus making things even worse with his tantrums was also another big myth era theme.

Mu rose his arms to appear bigger. "Eventually, Talos was SO strong from all that thunder he ate, even its pilot couldn't control it! And it started breaking EVERYTHING! Even Queen-Mother Europa was smashed under its foot! Just like its inventors said!"

Yuzuriha widened eyes, picturing the thing he saw inside the excavation site stepping on Muvians. "And what happened then?!"

Mu jumped on top of the table and imitated fighting. "Oh, the Argonauts came by, teamed up with Zeus, and had an epic battle with it! They punched it, whack, shot Cosmos beams at it, boom, even rammed their flying ship into its head, CRASH, and eventually figured out that if they kept hitting Talos with thunderbolts, he might explode! So-""

"Mu!" Yuzuriha cut, picking him up from the table and setting him down. "The short version, please."

"Oh, all of Lord Zeus' bolts ended up killing the host. Cause, you know, gigantic copper machines are probably not that well-insulated. And then Zeus locked Talos inside a mountain no one ever saw it again." Mu's eyes looked away awkwardly. "That's it. The end."

The Elder squinted skeptically. "So this great Muvian weapon of destruction was taken down cause its pilot wasn't properly insulated?!" She looked at the wacky watch she now had to measure the tremors on Mount Kailash. "Actually, that makes a lot of sense for our kind."

"And Zeus had a giant statue built of himself in Greece to celebrate in Olympia. And that's how we got the Olympic games!" Mu pouted angrily. "The stinker! It would be way cooler to have a giant robot walking around, than some stupid sports games every four years."

The High Elder contemplated all this, comparing it with what she knew. Talos had been a lost shadow in Muvian myths ever since the end of the Myth Age, locked inside Mount Kailash as a shameful failed project, and many predicted that the ringing of the Bell of Genbu would awaken it from whatever mountain it slept at. If what Mu said was accurate, it took the collective power of a group of warriors as strong as the twelve Gold Saints to stop it.

"So, what do you think? Did that presentation clear things up for you, Elder?"

She folded arms. "Mu, that was… a nice cartoon, but I had a couple more questions."

The lilac-haired boy looked again, seeing the picture of the soon-to-be-Specter king happily holding hands with the winged giant. "I thought that was pretty clear."

"No, I need to know more. The very nature of Talos needs to be ascertained. I don't buy this story of it being a robot with a pilot. We're not living in a Japanese cartoon like Astroboy." Perhaps, Yuzuriha needed a different tactic. She tried to think the same way the little boy did. "Mu, if your Master asked you a theory on what Talos is for an alchemy class, what would you answer?"

Immediately, he rose hand like in class. "OH, OH! I know that one! It's simple!" he grinned like he had figured it all out ages ago and couldn't wait to share it. "Talos is a Cloth!"

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

Sanctuary Town

Heraclean Road Streets

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

"… and then he said to tell you he gave me his pass and that, if you tried to rope him into this kind of thing again, he would-" Atlae then shifted glance, nervous. "I don't want to say the rest."

Saint Sagitta Nam gawked and palmed his face. "Oh, dear Athena."

His friend, the masked Cassiopeia Saint shook head. "Pegasus again, uh?"

"Pegasus always, Cynthia." Nam specified. He let the trio through. "Okay, alright, go ahead."

"Yay!" Atlae beamed, handing it over.

"Nice work, Atlae!" Krishna patted his back.

Even Caça cheered. "I'm going to see my idol up close!"

The trio made their way to the spot indicated by Saint Pegasus' pass. It was a nice spot, too, close to the front row and by the west flank of the river coming from the Golden Zodiac mountain, where the Herculean Road would take you to the Aries Temple. On their way they realized why Saint Nam seemed okay with them all coming in; a lot of the present Saints seemed to be bringing in family and friends as well, many who carried flowers and rosemary to throw at the incoming procession. They were all finding spots to stand along the road with others choosing to go over the heightened grounds and even the old defense walls to find good places to see over people's heads.

Still, they were in luck. Their pass seemed to take them straight to a spot by the end of the procession route, not too far from the stage.

"From here we can get a good up-close look to see the Pope meeting with Marianne Solo." Krishna noted "Admiral Vancouver should be with her, too."

"Hi, hi, hi! I can't wait! Do you think she'll wink in our direction?" Caça celebrated in glee. For once Atlae seemed to be providing him a good day. "Who knew this dummy could be so useful?"

Atlae grumbled. "Caça, I really want to see her too, but do you actually like Marianne?"

Caça laughed out loud. "Look at the cute dotted boy in wuv. Do I have to like a girl to enjoy her attention? Any guy would love to talk with a girl like that, idiot. That's why your feelings ain't anything special."

Atlae glowered sullenly. At least he didn't call Atlae a dotted freak this time. Maybe he was softening up after the Baian incident. "Maybe he's right. Maybe when we see each other we'll just see each other as friends, like we always have."

"Atlae!" a female voice from above them called.

The trio turned and they all widened eyes. Coming in to see them from a higher ground stand was none other than the Solo couple, Arthur and Seraphina, the man and woman who adopted Atlae and fathered Marianne! They were followed by a small group of strong looking mariners guarding them and they held a baby!

"Atlae, that's you, isn't it?!" Seraphina asked, her Bluegradian blue eyes widening in awe at his height. "Oh my goddess, it is!"

Arthur laughed out loud and pulled Atlae in with his big arms. "Atlae, my boy! It's so good to see you!"

The baffled Muvian hugged them back. "You guys!" He blinked, like he couldn't believe they were reunited. They looked a bit older and their blue hairs more silvered, but it was them. His green eyes welled in emotion. "I missed you two so much!"

"Us too!" Seraphina beamed, handing the baby to Arthur and hugging Atlae tightly. She looked him up and down again. "Oh, Mari' should see you! You're so tall and handsome now!"

The Muvian scratched head embarrassedly. "Oh, it's just the sailing tan. I don't look that different."

"Don't be ridiculous! We barely recognized you. Arthur, tell him."

"It's true. Atlae, is that your graduation belt?" Arthur asked, smiling and pointing at his black turtle buckle. The baby in his arms giggled and reached out, trying to touch Atlae's dots. "I'm so proud of you. I've been waiting to see you since we exchanged the news of it."

"I'm so happy, I missed you all so much!" There was a pressing question, though. "Um… who's this little guy?"

The couple shared an elated look and Arthur showed off the babe that everyone's eyes were on. "Atlae, meet Julian, my new baby boy. He was born back in March."

The Muvian beamed. So many happy news. "Congratulations, you two!"

She offered the babe. "Would you like to hold him?"

Tentatively, Atlae took the child into his muscled arms. He gently rocked the child and laughed. "Oh, he's so light and tiny…I sense such a strong lifeforce in him! It's like an adult!" For a young human baby boy, Julian's Chi felt as bright as the sunlight on sea waves, full of life and vigor. "He really is your child, Lord Arthur."

Seraphina stiffened a bit, looking away. Atlae noticed it and wondered if he said something wrong. What a weird sensation. Lady Seraphina almost looked guilty of something. Maybe she felt bad for not telling Atlae sooner about the birth, since she was such a considerate person.

Arthur also hesitated strangely, but smiled regardless, turning to Atlae's friends. "Is this… Krishna Chola?"

The captain bowed humbly. "Head of Houses, it's an honor. Congratulations on your new child."

Arthur rose a finger at Caça. "I remember you too. You're the fifth son of the Portuguese household. Caça Cabral, correct?"

The pale mariner staggered, stunned. "O-Oh, you know my name, Head of Houses?!"

Arthur laughed. He wasn't going to say it, but this particular son of the Cabrals had an unforgettable appearance. "I do my best to keep all my fellow households in mind, not just the Solos. That's my prerogative as the Head, after all."

Caça almost fainted, feeling like the Pope just blessed him. "The Head of Houses remembers me! I knew I was destined for great things!"

Arthur turned to Krishna, patting Atlae's shoulder. "Captain, I'd like to thank you for watching over Atlae these past six months."

"Atlae hasn't been a burden, has he?" Seraphina asked, as politely as she could. Her eyes shifted to the Muvian, to whom everything she cooked was wonderful and not enough. "We know he… is an avid eater."

Krishna laughed. "I make him fish for every meal that goes over budget, do not worry. It's also thanks to you, Lord Arthur, that I even have the Chrysaor to my name, so it's nothing. Besides, Atlae's learned a lot with us in this journey. He is even practicing our music and trying to unlock the 7th sense."

More and more, the couple widened their eyes at their adopted Muvian boy in amazement and pride. "Really? Atlae, is that true?"

Krishna tapped Atlae encouragingly. "Go ahead, Atlae, tell them what you told me."

"Hum, it is." Returning baby Julian to Seraphina, he thought of how to put it. "I asked the captain if he could prepare me to enlist for the Sea Dragon in the future, so I've been practicing the cosmos and learning music with Caça. I'd like to join the Mariner Navy one day and I don't want the others to feel I'm not part of the group."

Seraphina looked too touched to talk, so Arthur took the lead. "Atlae, I want you to know you honor us both very much with all this. I just hope you're not doing this for us, but because it's what you want."

Atlae nodded firmly. "It is! At least for now. I want to become a great martial artist for Master Yuzuriha, but I also want to show you two I haven't forgotten who raised me." In a way, he felt as determined about it as that Pegasus Saint he met did about his work. "I am a Muvian, trained by one too, but you guys raised me. I will never forget that."

Arthur looked away briefly, scratching eyes as if to disguise emotion. He smiled and patted his shoulder. "Then I'd like to thank you in return. I insist you and your two friends come dine with us and Marianne later tonight at our home. You'll spend your night in Greece with us!"

Krishna and Caça gawked. "Lord Arthur, we cannot!"

"I insist!" Arthur affirmed, narrowing eyes. "Captain Krishna, I hope you don't mind all this. I'd also like Atlae to discuss a few things with us before he continues his journey with you."

"We'll make you your favorite, Atlae." Seraphina added, happy to have him back in her household, if even for just a day. "You can even sleep at the manor, since Arthur's father is, well…"

"- no longer with us." Arthur completed, holding her shoulder comfortingly.

Atlae nodded in understanding. He remembered getting the news from Marianne's letters of her grampa dying. He wanted to say he felt sad, but Lord Julian senior always treated him so poorly, like he hated the sight of Atlae. Even Marianne seemed relieved by it all from the way her letters sounded. Maybe naming their newborn son after him was a way for the family to move on without feeling they disrespected Lord Arthur's father.

He bowed, like a good Turtle School student would. "I would be happy to, Lord Arthur."

The couple beamed. "Wonderful!"

Caça cackled triumphantly. "We're spending a night at the Solo Manor! I can't believe it! Wait until my brothers hear about this!"

Krishna shook head. "Maybe today will teach you to be a bit less mean to Atlae."

Atlae looked around through the Solos' bodyguards. They brought a big group of at least 5 men in suits and sunglasses keeping a stern lookout. He didn't recognize any of them.

"Lord Solo, is Ithaca around, too? I'd like to say hello to him, too." He asked. He saw Seraphina's happy smile transform into a dark scowl, while Lord Arthur looked away. "D… Did I say something wrong?"

Arthur held Seraphina close. "No, Atlae, you did not. Ithaca is… away. We'll explain later, if that's okay."

Hesitantly, Atlae nodded. He wondered why they looked so upset. Did they have bad news about him?

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

Jamir

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

"Mu, slow down a bit. What do you mean, Talos is a Cloth? Like a Cloth of Athena?"

The boy nodded excitedly "Uh, uh! A Bronze Cloth, most likely!"

Yuzuriha held temples, feeling a migraine. "How could you possibly hypothesize that?"

The boy shrugged shoulders. "It's kind of obvious, once you do think about it. Just like the book stories say; it's a metallic construction with incredible powers, possessing the strength to split the sky in two and rip the ground apart. Moreover, it was done by Muvians during the Age of Myth, so around the same time the 88 Cloths were forged. Plus, it has a 'user', which can easily just mean it's worn by a Saint."

While this made enough logic for someone like Yuzuriha to take pause, she squinted skeptically, remembering the size of the heart and how powerfully it drummed inside Mount Kailash.

"But… it would have to be a gigantic Cloth! And there are no stars to it!" Yuzuriha challenged, raising tone accidentally. "Mu, it doesn't make any sense."

Mu quivered at her harsh tone. "H-hum, this isn't to be taken seriously, Elder. It's just my answer to a critical thinking question."

The Elder collected herself. "Right, I can't give him the impression I've seen the real thing." And tried to smile. "I'm sorry. Tell me more about your theory, Mu. How would a Cloth like this work?"

Energetically, Mu rushed to the end of the laboratory and dragged out a long chalkboard, which was filled with calculations done on it.

He pointed at a set of formulas he circled that Yuzuriha could not decipher. "So, High Elder, I thought about all the things you just said before, and my theory is that Talos may have been a type of Cloth untried at the time. Do you know how stardust armors are powered?"

Everyone in Sanctuary knew this. "It depends, but the Cloths of Athena draw their Cosmos from the constellations they give body to."

Mu pointed at the numbers again, particularly a colossal amount at the end of a complicated formula that bewildered the Elder. "Well, to make a Cloth THIS big work, you would need a tremendous amount of power, especially if it's going to patrol a whole island for a king and fight off Gods! So, our ancestors must have figured out a way to power it other than a constellation. Something really super-special-awesome!"

This could be any number of things to Yuzuriha. There was a tremendous amount of technology and science that was lost when the Muvian homeland sunk. When Poseidon raised his waves on their continent, he did so with the intention of destroying their ability to regrow their civilization. It wasn't just the sinking that doomed them, but also the ensuing climate changes. Mu could be referring to anything from some kind of bizarre black hole engine to another quantum piece of tech beyond her understanding.

Perhaps the power source could be the key to shutting down Talos before it was too late! "Mu, what do you think this, um, super-special-awesome power source might be?"

The boy held chin. "Mmmmm, well, if it were me…" He banged fist in palm in eureka. "The user, of course!"

She widened eyes. "The user? You mean the wearer of the Cloth?"

"Uh-uh, everyone has star points on them, Elder, and can generate their own cosmos! But most importantly, some people, like Lord Dohko, say it's possible to tap into your lifeforce, too!" Mu reminded her. "Maybe there's a way Talos can draw power from whoever uses it. When you think about it, anyone who unlocks the 7th sense is a walking-talking power plant! I bet you'd need a really strong Muvian to move this thing around, though."

At this point everything clicked for Yuzuriha "Of course, that must be why Talos is mechanically designed to awaken with the ringing of the Genbu Bell. Only a powerful fighter worthy of the trust of Muvians could operate such a dangerous colossus. Does that mean, then, that all I need to do is deny Talos its power source… and it will go back to sleep?"

Mu laughed. "I bet it would be a lot of fun wearing this Cloth. It would be like moving a big robot around!" He faked a punch and flipped in the air. "Fear Mu and his Cloth of Destruction! Oh-ah!"

This reminded Yuzuriha of something trivial he mentioned earlier. "Mu, thank you, you've helped me more than you realize. Just one more thing, though; you said you thought it might be a Bronze Cloth specifically, correct?"

The boy stopped playing. "Mm, well, yeah, just by process of elimination."

This could be important, so Yuzuriha pressed. "Just out of curiosity, how did you conclude that?"

He drew a sun with 12 symbols on a small space left on his chalkboard. "The higher you go in the ladder of stardust alloys, the stronger they are at base, but the less they can change or grow."

Yuzuriha widened eyes. "I remember this! Shion said it was the reason those three Saints, Shun, Shiryu, and Hyoga, could power up their Bronze Cloths to divine levels so easily!"

"Gold Cloths are gold because they draw their power from our sun obscuring their constellations, and silver stardust alloys are too expensive to make something this elaborate and big. The continent of Mu, however, was rich in copper and tin. There would have been plenty at the time to build such a giant armor piece. Talos would HAVE to be a Bronze Cloth, or akin to one anyway."

She folded arms, impressed by the boy's knowledge. "Shion has been teaching you well."

The child grinned proudly. "I don't just goof around here, you know?"

The Elder took out some drachmas and gave it to him. "Here, Mu, I don't have any candy with me, but next time you come see your parents at Shamballa, get yourself something nice on me. Just don't tell Shion I've asked you all these questions, okay?"

He happily took it all. "Oh boy! Thank you, Elder! Can I spend it on ice cream?"

"Yes, so long as it's sugarless."

Mu pouted. He was gonna get one of the chocolate fudge ones they only let the adults have. "Ow… okay."

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

The guards outside perked up, hiding their cards and tossing away their cigarettes, seeing the Elder say her goodbyes to the tower's young guardian and close the gate. The assumed formation, ready to accompany her out.

The leader bowed head. "Elder?"

Yuzuriha squinted. "Contact the excavation site; I want the security tripled."

The masked man staggered. "But…. with the numbers already there, that will mean the entire division of Immortal Guards, Elder!"

One final safety net was needed, though. She then turned to the remaining men "Brontes! Steropes! Arges!"

Three tall Immortal Guards, each with a different colored hood of green, blue, and yellow, and masks with cyclopean eyes on their forehead between the Muvian dots, came forward, kneeling to the Elder. "Yes, High Elder?"

"You three twins are my three strongest individual Immortal Guards. Through your combined efforts, even a Gold Saint could not proceed. I want you to be part of the security detail around the excavation site." She then showed off her reader. "Should this begin to shake on my wrist and the worst come to pass, you have my full permission to do everything in your power to protect Muvian lives."

The triplets exchanged looks. "Everything, High Elder? Including…?"

"Including exclamatory measures, yes." she affirmed, nodding gravely. "This is now your number one priority, commander. I want no one, not a single soul, stepping inside that cavern! If someone so much as tries, I want them arrested and me to be immediately informed!"

This was an odd level of urgency, but they could do it. "Until when, Elder?"

"At least until the next Winter Festival."

Their captain staggered. "But that's… for the rest of the moon year!"

Brontes, Steropes and Arges, however, bowed without hesitation "Yes, elder, right way. For our people!"

With a surge of cosmos, all three sped off in beams of light matching their hoods in color, heading for Mount Kailash.

The aged, former Crane Saint exhaled. She understood everyone's reservations. The duty of the Immortal Guard was to give Muvian men a place in their security forces, alongside the clanswomen, so it was almost disrespectful to assign them for a whole year to a single location out of the way of everything else.

However, the Immortal Guard was also her most trustworthy force, precisely because of renunciation they went through, and a great terror filled her heart at what might happen if someone entered in contact with Talos recklessly. Hopefully, when this year blessed by the ringing of the Genbu Bell ended, things would quiet down in Mount Kailash and she could relieve these poor men of their duty.

Yuzuriha's lips tensed. She was leaving Shamballa unguarded by all but a few lightspeed users. Was this worth the risk?

"Fear Mu and his Cloth of Destruction!"

The childish words rang in her head. "A 'Cloth of Destruction'… sounds almost like a terrifying parody of Teos, the mythical Cloth of Hope. But I know what I saw. If that… thing inside that mountain was really a heart, then whatever it's attached to is a being capable of catastrophic levels of damage. It is my duty as Elder… no, as a Muvian, to stop that! No matter the cost!"

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

Sanctuary Town,

Herculean Road, Campus Minervae

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

The sun climbed high in the sky, turning the streets hot. At the Fields of Athena, where the upcoming procession would meet the Pope soon enough, the open space where the town ended and the Golden Zodiac began was packed with people shielding themselves from the heat. The people with special passes were headed by Saint Nam into areas flanking the road in the open plaza and Atlae's group was taken straight to the front end, close to where the Pope would be.

Atlae took a seat in a stand with Krishna and Caça, while the Solo couple sat behind them further up. The straw-haired Muvian saw the erected stand with the stairs where the Pope would receive Marianne.

"Wow, we're so close! I bet Marianne will hear us calling her."

"Believe it or not, it will be way too noisy, Atlae." Seraphina assured. She pointed to the crowds "The people of Sanctuary Town love the Gold Saints, especially Capricorn 'Achilles'."

The Muvian followed where she pointed and saw many young girls from town holding signs of admiration for Saint Capricorn. Some even drew pictures of the famous Civil War warrior with bright red hearts.

He's never seen so much admiration for one man. "Wow! He must be incredibly strong!"

Krishna smirked. "He has a very sharp look to him, Atlae, and he doesn't say much, so you could say he makes… a lot of young hearts flutter."

"When the Pope shows up, it will be even more spectacular."

Atlae smiled. "You two must be pretty proud. Mari' will meet the Pope." Atlae saw Seraphina chuckling. "Uh? Did I say something?"

She nudged her husband. "Go on, Arthur, tell him!"

The patrician hesitantly agreed. "This isn't official, and Mari' doesn't know it yet, but I met with the Pope before today's procedures at the Zodiac. As the Head of Houses, it's quite normal. He told me in confidence he had a surprise for her."

Atlae's green eyes widened. "The Pope did?! What could it be?"

"A gift from His Holiness!" Seraphina celebrated in glee. "I'm so proud of my Mari'!"

Arthur laughed. "As you see, Atlae, this is quite the grand day for us two."

Caça held up hand to shield his eyes. "Ugh, I wish this grand day wasn't so hot! I forgot how Greece got around this time of the year."

Indeed, the few remaining clouds seemed to clear the sky, blazing the field with rays as if to welcome the procession. Arthur opened a blue umbrella over Seraphina's head, shielding his wife and child from the rays. Seraphina smiled and nuzzled head on his shoulder closely. Atlae noticed it and smiled. They were still a happy couple after all these years. It was so nice to see.

As everyone finally sat, Atlae awed at the sheer number of armors he saw in the front rows. "Wow, there are Saints from all over the world here." He looked for sets of silver and frowned. "Oh, not Saint Noah, though."

"That one's not the type for this sort of event, Atlae." Krishna reminded him. "Knowing Noah, that Saint's probably getting funds together for helping the kids of Gift of Alone approved for Training Grounds as we speak."

Atlae did see, however, a pair he recognized. He pointed at the duo in purple and green on the opposite stand. "Look, it's Saints Pavo and Lotus! They're here from Shamballa!"

Krishna also recognized them. "You know those two?"

Atlae laughed. He used to talk to them every chance he got just to hear them rhyme. "Yup! They guard the Sun Temple. They were there when I rung the Sun Bell, as well. I like them a lot, they rhyme each other's words together perfectly every time."

Caça scoffed. "That's a lot of coordination for something so stupid!"

"They must be here representing your Master, Atlae." Arthur spoke. "The Pact of Seven was invited to the Triumph, since one of our own was being honored, but the High Elder has not attended."

The Muvian frowned. "Really? Oh… That's too bad, I'd love to see Master again. I wonder what kept her."

"Are there other members of it here?" Krishna asked.

Arthur nodded and his gloved hand pointed at a tall, stark-looking man sitting by another spot close to the road who reminded Atlae of some kind of Nordic folk hero. "That's Commander Falken of the Asgardians there. Unfortunately, he's the only one."

Caça squinted. "No one else?! The disrespect! The daughter of the Head of Houses is being honored! Who do they think they are?!"

Arthur exhaled worriedly. "Unfortunately, the followers of Poseidon don't have a lot of allies, young Mariners. The Saints, the Asgardians and, yes, the Muvians, may be the closest we have. Keep that in mind in the future when you pick your friends in life."

Before long, the people at the turn of the road down south began making noise, announcing the parade was getting closer.

Seraphina beamed. "They're almost here!"

Atlae gulped, anxious. This was it. He was finally going to see the girl who kissed him goodbye three years ago.

First, at the turn of the road, a line of people in chains marched through, flanked by vigilant hoplites from the Stardust Tower on each side. They were all heavily tanned, except in spots that looked like they had been guarded from the hot son by plates of leather armor that had been stripped from them, impressively muscled, scarred, and wearing assortments of sailing clothes ragged by intense combat. Some had tattoos on their arms and chests that Atlae recognized as similar to that of Rasputin's Black Saint gang, but these, rather than following a clan pattern, all had some kind of animal motif of a Bronze or even a Silver Cloth.

Behind them, a wheeled platform was dragged by their march, carrying atop it a large pile of shiny loot, guns, broken blades and even rocket launchers. On top of it, glimmering on top of the pile and evoking the radiance of the stars themselves, was a large Cloth Box of bronze sporting a jumping dolphin symbol in front of it, circling around its chain handle.

What a strange gang. "These are the people Marianne defeated, right?"

Krishna folded arms, eyes tensing in disgust. "Yes, they are the Ghost Saints; unlike Black Saints who are usually people who Sanctuary was never able to tutor in morals with the Cosmos, these are former men of Sanctuary banished by the Pope for their crimes."

"Correct, captain." Arthur added. "Many of these have been great warriors of Sanctuary, Atlae, so unlike Black Saints, they understand the cosmos well and may even have real Cloths of Athena. You should always beware of encounters with them."

Atlas nodded. "Don't worry, Lord Solo, if you tell me to stay put, I'll ask how low!"

Arthur laughed "I'm glad I can count on you."

Caça leaned in to look closer. The guy in the front looked twice the size of a regular man, was scarred all over his arms and had strange hair, being smooth and round on top, while long and curly down the sides.

"Look at that one!" he pointed. "He looks like a man'o'war did his hair."

Krishna squinted in recognition. "That is Jellyfish Wolff, the corsair. He used to fight for the Gold Saints but was excommunicated after murdering a young Amazon girl. He's been making life a nightmare to mariners in the Indic since he renounced Sanctuary." He pointed at the box on the treasure sledge. "He even stole that Cloth from the Saintias."

"From the Saintias?! A-And Marianne Solo defeated that guy?!" Caça gawked.

"Not just him, but also his crew and his fleet of rogues." Arthur made sure to mention, smirking with pride. "A Sanctuary Triumph isn't thrown over nothing, young Caça. The last one was when Akassius Steiner won the Priam War, over half a decade ago."

Seraphina rested her head on his shoulder, smiling nostalgically "I remember that day like it was yesterday. You rode behind Akassius with the Sons of Arion, and Marianne was still teaching Atlae how to say his first Greek words…."

"And Ithaca let me ride on his horse afterwards!" Atlae added. It was such a fun day. It was about the one thing he remembered from visiting Sanctuary Town the first time.

Again, a strange tension went through the couple's faces. Seraphina gave an air-headed smile like she didn't even register what Atlae said and kissed her husband's cheek. "I was so happy you were safe and sound, Arthur…Never leave my side again."

Arthur hesitantly patted her head, while Atlae recoiled. The Muvian noticed this tension in him as well. He stared as discreetly as he could, wondering if there was something bothering Lord Arthur about Lady Seraphina.

His nose perked, sensing a familiar smell. "Is that incense?"

The crowd began to cheer even louder as clouds of incense rolled in. Seraphina pointed out. "Look, it's Mari'!"

The whole group perked up, especially Atlae. Following right behind the captured Ghost Saints and the treasure car was a duo of Maidens of Athena with big candles of incense. Then, the centerpiece; a ornamented chariot pulled by four armored white horses. Each steed was plated with metal pieces over their back and heads with fish fin protrusions, alluding to the Hippocampus, but the chariot was fronted by an engraving of Nikea, goddess of victory, spreading her wings along the car's sides.

Riding on it was indeed Marianne, standing as proudly as she could, dressed in her white, medaled Vice-Admiral outfit, keeping her wavy blue hair tied, her hand over her holstered saber and the other on a ceremonial triumph staff with winged Nikea in the tip. Alongside her was a tall, aged man of grey eyes, wrinkled face, and long marron hair going down to his shoulders and a caped navy outfit.

Seraphina nuzzled her nose on baby Julian. "Oh, your sister looks gorgeous, Juli'! Look!"

Atlae had to agree. The girl that kissed him was taller, more beautiful, and looking more headstrong than ever before. Her uniform made her look like a spectacular mariner warrior and the look of strength in her face in front of all these people inspired admiration across the aisles. Combined with everything happening around her, she almost seemed like a person far beyond his own life. While he was out in the mountains practicing kicks and feeling bad about being the only martial arts boy in Shamballa, Marianne was conquering all this for herself.

What an incredible person. Atlae smiled, diminished but also oddly comforted; maybe thinking he had attraction to her, or that she was ever on his level, was all a silly notion. This spectacle surrounding them certainly left no shadow at where each of them stood in life. All those anxieties he felt were suddenly crushed inside him and now he understood Caça and the captain were right all along; she was just his friend, a dear one, but also someone just way too beyond him to be anything but that. Marianne was a genial, heroic Mariner, now even honored by the Pope of Sanctuary, while Atlae was just an enthusiastic martial artist who rang a silly bell. The different worlds they were in made it all clear now.

Atlae clapped along with the crowd. Krishna saw this, sensed his realization and joined in.

"Vancouver must be playing the Memento Mori role." Arthur assumed. "In Roman times, a public slave would accompany the triumphator to remind him that, despite the grandiosity of the celebration, they were, and always would be, still mortal. We don't have slaves, of course, so a mentor plays the role instead."

Seraphina shook head. "Mari' is not some arrogant general, Arthur. She would never think such a thing!"

"It's just a tradition, darling. Marianne looks up to the Admiral." Arthur said. "She is proud to have him accompany her."

In turn, as the procession approached them, Atlae couldn't help but notice how disgruntled her forced smile was. "Poor Mari', she has the same look on her face as when our school made her give the year commencement speech."

"She was never a crowd person, no." Arthur recognized. He saw the people around them cheering and throwing rosemary branches and rose petals at the chariot. "Frankly, all this should be enough to give Mari' a panic attack. However, a triumph being given to a Mariner will be good news for us all. The more Sanctuary sees us as its friends, the better. Marianne understood it, which is why she accepted the honor."

The Muvian nodded. "Yeah, that's not surprising. Mari' has always been this way; doing what's best for everyone around her, especially her family. I'm happy that hasn't changed about her."

Finally, following the chariot, was a long line of Mariners from the Sea Dragon in lockstep, all dressed their best. Some simply performed strictly practiced marching movements, holstering spears and flags of their households that waved inspiringly in the wind, while others blew instruments in the shape of sea shells, like a particularly elaborate trumpet with many shell spikes. Occasionally one or the other would discreetly wave at a family member in the crowd, or at the children reaching out. All of them, unlike Marianne, wore laurels already.

Among them was Baian, laureled as well, standing not too far behind his father and Marianne. Baian turned head and noticed them as the procession reached the end of the road. He winked with a smug smirk.

Caça could vomit. "That cocky prick! He gets to take part in the Triumph, too?! How has Poseidon blessed so many of the unworthy and so few of the just?!"

"Where is the Pope?" asked Atlae. It didn't even look like anyone was coming down the stairs in the big mountain ahead of them. "It's almost time, righ-"

Then, on cue, a flash of light occurred, stunning the crowds, and, in the big procession platform where previously no one stood none other than Pope Arles III now emerged front and center, flanked by Capricorn 'Achilles' and Aquarius 'Odysseus'. What was already a praising crowd of Sanctuary Towners became an uproarious applause. The Pope waved, inciting a big cheer from the people and causing the procession to halt before him.

Atlas joined in. "WOW, did you guys see that?! He teleported!"

Krishna awed. "He's right, that was no 7th sense movement. That was a psychic warp like some Muvians are capable of doing."

Atlae saw the girls from before hoisting their signs really high for Saint Capricorn to see. "You guys were right. Look at how happy everyone is that Saint Capricorn is here."

"It's bullshit! These Gold Saints don't even take off their masks!" Caça pouted, folding arms. "How can you be in love with someone whose face you don't even know?"

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

Hugging Admiral Vancouver and descending from the chariot, Marianne then crossed the rest of the way on foot, past the prisoners and the treasure, to present herself up the platform's stairs to the Pope. Seraphina cheered in delight at the sight of her daughter bowing in the bask of His Holiness' light and the crowd cheered once more.

With a gentle wave of his hand, his Holiness silenced the stands. He then approached the microphone. "Athena bless you all."

"She's in our hearts." The entire town responded in chorus, or so it felt to Atlae, before returning to silence.

It was eerie. One moment the busy town was a cacophony of noises and scents and now, with the mere presence of the Pope, everything became dead quiet, as if thousands of people did not at all surround them at that moment. It was a contrast to the vibrant Winter festival in Shamballa, which was full of color and joy; the Pope's presence seemed to inspire a deep sense of introspection in an otherwise rambunctious crowd, inviting everyone to sink themselves in the stark absence of noise and feel the Cosmos.

The Pope then addressed the triumphant. "Marianne Solo, first child of the Solo Household, guardians of the North Atlantic; on behalf of Athena, the Eighty-Eight Saints grant this day of victory to you and your crewmen. May you all feel as Gods as if but for a single turn of the sun."

Marianne shook nervously, feeling the eyes of every soul in Sanctuary on her, and kept her head down. Her eyes glanced away from the Pope's shadow in terror. In the stands, she saw Adriana was sitting with her family.

Her friend waved at her. "You're doing great!"

The vote of confidence gave her a bit more courage and she stood. "I-It is the honor of every Mariner, your Holines-"

The girl then tripped on the microphone cable, screamed and almost crashed with the Pope, save for a quick reaction from Arles to telekinetically save her.

The crowd murmured and laughed.

Laughing, Capricorn 'Achilles' glanced at 'Odysseus'. "Hey, Malta, I'm getting a feeling of déjà vu. Isn't she an Aquarius, as well?"

Aquarius 'Odysseus' turned away. "Go to hell. I didn't trip over the Pope during my appointment."

Arles chuckled and helped her up. "Oh, I should have asked my hoplites to be more careful with that. As you were."

Marianne trembled, horrified at her blunder. Still, the Pope's voice calmed her. It wasn't a mocking gesture, but more of a kind grandpa trying to set you at ease. "Thank you. As I was saying, it's the honor of every Mariner to be met by you, Holy Father."

"You've done Sanctuary, and its allies, a great service, and for that you have our gratitude. Saint 'Achilles'?" he called, to which the Capricorn took out a small box and popped it open, freeing a set of celebratory laurels. "One thousand years ago, golden laurels bathed in Athena's divine blood were rested upon Arles I's head, crowning the Athenian Emperor. We no longer make kings out of Popes, lady Marianne, but a humble set of simple laurels may still be put on the heads of those who give victories not to Athena, but to peace in the human world."

Marianne lowered her head and allowed the Pope to rest it on her head. A round of clapping followed throughout the Herculean Road, with many tossing their last rose petals over the procession's mariners.

"I have one more announcement, if the people of Athena would allow me the time." Arles spoke, addressing the crowd. "Will the Saintia representative please join me on the stand."

The crowd watched, curious, as a young teenage girl of black hair, dark blue academy uniform, tie, shoes, and light blue headband that had accompanied a group from the Switzerland school hurried to the stand.

Marianne studied her. She seemed about her own age and also wore a stupidly high skirt, something the academy students were known for. "Well, I don't feel so alone now. But what is this about?"

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

Arthur Solo squinted in recognition. "That's Herakles Aguilon's granddaughter."

"The one he sold his daughter's house to send to the Academy?" Seraphina wondered. "I've heard her family fell into dire straits during the war. Poor thing."

Caça beamed. "Ooh, the Saintias are pretty, too!"

Atlas narrowed eyes. "Caça! I thought you liked Marianne!"

"I can like a lot of different girls, alright?! I'm not a boring monogamist Muvian like you!"

The Pope gently lowered the microphone to the girl's height.

The girl cleared her throat discreetly, took a breath and read out a paper. "For the services given to the Saintias of Athena in recovering the stolen Delphinus Bronze Cloth, we, members of the Academy, approve the lease of the armor back to His Holiness's grace for the next ten years."

Atlae blinked, feeling a headache. "What did all of that mean?"

"There are Cloths of Athena that aren't in direct possession of the Saints, Atlae." Krishna explained. "Some were given to Saintias, Amazons, New Lalibela, and even the old Zodiac Knights to use. The Pope can't do whatever he wants with those."

The Muvian widened eyes. "Really? But he's the Pope, right? How come?"

"Saints operate differently from Mariners. We pass Scales down our family lines, but Saints need to find compatible candidates that can earn the approval of their armors' constellations, like among the children Saint Noah takes care of. Sometimes that can be very difficult, so Sanctuary gets help from these institutions within it to fill up the ranks. The Dragon Cloth hasn't had an owner in over 200 years, for example, not since the great Dragon Saint of the Odysseus Incident."

Atlae recalled Death Queen Island. "Then that guy in a black Dragon Cloth was really a fake? How creepy. I could sense such a genuine energy from him, though, like he really was the Dragon Saint." And then asked. "So the girl is saying they're giving the armor back? For what?"

Marianne also guessed what was coming and stared in bafflement.

"Vice-Admiral Marianne, it is with great pride that I, Arles III, Pope of Sanctuary, extend the offer to entrust the Delphinus Cloth to you, its savior." The Pope announced. "Do you accept?"

Marianne breathed in sharply, paralyzed. Immediately a great murmur filled the procession audience and even the Mariners accompanying the chariot further back had breaks of stoicity, sharing unexpected looks.

"What?! Is he nuts?!" Caça asked. "A Cloth of Athena given to a Mariner?!"

Atlae turned up, just as stunned. "Lord Arthur, did you know this?!" He didn't care if the armor went to a Mariner, he was just very surprised. "This is incredible! Mari' could become a Saint of Athena!"

He nodded. "I did not, only that the the Pope had a gift, as I said earlier." Arthur rubbed his azure beard. "This… is certainly a complicating factor."

"Arthur, my daughter isn't going to wear a mask!" Seraphina asserted.

The Patrician recoiled and tried to explain. "Sera', Marianne was never going to be approved for the Sea Dragon Scales, even IF Lord Poseidon wasn't returning for another 1600 years. My nephew Patrick was ahead of her in line and with Julian born, well…" Arthur held his wife's head close by the shoulder. "Mari' no longer has that destiny on her shoulders even if she desired it. And besides, this is an armor in the care of the Saintias. She will not be an Amazon. We both know Mari' more than qualifies for their standards."

The mother relaxed, sighing in relief. "Thank the Gods… I'd rather she quit the navy than hide her face from her father and brother for the rest of her life."

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

Marianne at the stand had a hesitation of her own. "Y-Your Holiness, I cannot!"

Arles turned off the microphone so the entire Sanctuary wouldn't hear the conversation. "You are free to take your time to decide, Vice-Admiral. For now, the Saintias are merely entrusting the armor to my protection. However, I am of the opinion that it should go to the person who fought to return it to us." Arles assured. "Should you decide to wear it, that would be a great honor to the Academy. They are very thankful for what you've done for them."

Marianne looked at the young girl by the Pope. "Is… Is that the case? You are?"

The black-haired teenager perked up, like she hadn't expected her opinion to be required. "Um, Vice-Admiral, I was just picked by the headmaster to announce it."

The Mariner shook her head. This girl had to be her own age, or pretty close to it, so in a way she was Marianne's generational peer in Sanctuary. "You're a future Saintia, are you not? This armor could have gone to you. Please tell me what you think?"

The girl looked at the Pope and the Gold Saints nervously. Marianne couldn't blame her. However, she wanted to hear the words not of these figures of authority, but of someone who stood to miss out on the armor should they earn the accolades at the Academy. Her friend Adriana and her sisters went to it so Marianne knew many girls dreamed of earning the highest honors that school at to offer, while Marianne herself was a Néa Delphi student who went to the Navy school instead.

"You may speak your mind, Olivia." The Pope granted.

Anxiously, the girl nodded and addressed Marianne. "Miss Solo, you may not know this, but you are one of the most envied figures in my academy. I have classmates who see you as a hero."

The blue-haired girl staggered. "R… Really?!"

"Of course! So, if you accepted to protect this armor or even to wear it, it would be like a dream come true for all of us. Cloths should go to the Saintly, after all." Olivia assured. She was speaking to an Aquarius, so Vice Admiral Marianne was probably unsure of her merit. "So, if that's your desire, please accept the Pope's gift."

The two Gold Saints watching exchanged another look, impressed. Kirin spoke mentally "The new generation looks promising, don't they?"

"It's too late for the two of us to pick a student." Malta reminded him. "Not unless you think Shura and Camus can share the little time we have for them as is."

"Thank you, Olivia." Marianne smiled, turning to the Pope and reactivating the microphone. "Your Holiness, in the name of the Mariners, I accept."

An unsure applause followed. When the noise picked up, the audience grew in confidence at the unorthodox honor and cheered even louder.

Arles gestured at the Cloth in the treasure car. "I could lift the box into here with my amazing powers, if you wish, but I'd like you to have the joy to taking it to your own hands, Vice-Admiral."

Marianne nodded, smiled happily at Olivia, bowed to the Gold Saints and rushed down the stand, going past the prisoners to the treasure car. As rosemary and petals flew around them, she stared at the box with the Dolphin. She would be lying that she hadn't pictured what it looked like when she first recovered it from the Ghost Saints; dolphins had always been her favorite animal and she knew she'd never be a Sea Dragon General, no matter how hard she tried. However, as a proud Mariner, it never even crossed her mind to apply to a Path of the Cloth.

"Congratulations, Vice-Admiral Solo." Admiral Vancouver spoke from the chariot, always stern, but putting fist in chest in recognition.

It was almost too much for Marianne at this point; Admiral Vancouver dispensed compliments about as frequently as he touched land. People used to tell her she would sooner land a hit through his barrier technique than get Admiral Vancouver to praise something you've done.

"Thank you, Admiral. I mean it. You're the reason I've come this far."

"Those are generous words. You should keep them in mind when me and my son visit your father, later."

She paused, tensing. "I… I know."

The admiral looked away. "Go on. Take your Cloth. We don't have to talk about 'that' right now. This is your day to enjoy, Vice-Admiral."

She smiled back. The only thing missing now was having Atlae around to tell all this to. She wondered if he made it. More than everyone else, she wanted to show how far she's come to him, especially after holding it all back for three years in her letters.

A coarse laughter was heard amidst the crowd cheering. "Boy, aren't you happy? You better enjoy it, Mariner cunt. It will end before you can say 'Praise Poseidon'!"

The soldiers and Marianne turned, seeing the chained Wolff staring at her with his mean glare.

She huffed. "Funny, I thought I heard a threat, but it was just a skittering rat."

The Ghost Saint shook head. "You really think you've done a big deal, haven't you, impressing these wastes-of-space?" The man spat at the ground and burst out laughing. "AH, AH, AH. I could die laughing! Look at this town! It hasn't changed at all since I left. It's still full of arrogant Saints and their families, hiding from the world in their valley. I wish Priam had nuked everyone here when he had the chance!"

The insulted hoplites encircled him. "SILENCE, murderer!"

Marianne signaled at them to relax. She looked down on the shackled Ghost Saint. "If you didn't want to come back, you should have thought of that before murdering that Saintia, not to mention the countless other people-"

The Ghost Saint gave her a smug grin. "Funny how the Saintia set you guys off on my trail, but none of the other 'innocent civilians' did. Something tells me that if I hadn't fucked with my former home, the Sea Dragon would never have come knocking its cannons on my door, am I right?"

Marianne's eyes narrowed. "You think you're so smart, don't you? How do you think I found you?"

"AH, AH, AH! It did take you guys a LONG time to get me. Tell, tell! Did you stumble upon me after a prayer to Athena?"

She gritted teeth. "No, it's because you took the armor."

His laughter ceased. "What?!"

"Cloths of Athena are traceable by Aquarius Malta, you dumb pig!" she hissed. "He fed us your location when you decided murdering that girl wasn't enough of a prize for what you did! "

The Ghost Saint growled, glancing at the Aquarius Gold Saint in the stand by the Pope. "Could he really do that?! Wait, that's right! That's how he found Priam and Aeneas in Bluegrad all those years ago!"

Marianne scoffed. "Your greed is what put an end to your terror; not because we only started caring after a Saintia died! Maybe you can think about that when you're rotting in the darkness of the Stardust Tower!"

He gritted teeth and smirked again. "W-well, who cares now?! Since you're taking her armor, I hope you end up like she did; shown a good time and then tossed down a fucking well!"

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

In the stands, Seraphina gasped as her baby began crying. "Julian, what's wrong? Honey, calm down."

Atlae stared transfixed. The people around him confused his 0th sense, but he was definitely getting a strong signal off of Wolff. "That guy! He's gathering chi! Does he have the 0th sense?! But if he does… he's going to snap his stardust chains!"

"Save my sister, son of Mu!" a voice, strong yet soothing like the sea, echoed in his head from nowhere. "Quick!"

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

Marianne only stared in disgust, unwilling to respond to such monstrosities.

Wolff turned to face Marianne as best as his shackles allowed. "Peace in our world… Cloths for the Saintly… what a joke!" the giant Ghost Saint laughed, his mad eyes staring wildly at the two of them. "You and that Pope sure got a lot of things to say about the good of the planet! What the two of you… no, what this entire fucking Sanctuary deserves is to feel the wrath of nature, for protecting the humans raping it every day!"

"QUIET!" the hoplites warned, crossing halberds around his neck. They saw the worried expressions of the crowd. "Everyone, there's nothing to fear! This bastard has stardust shackles on him! He can burn all the cosmos he wants and he'll just make himself pass out!"

Marianne sweated, stepping back. There was a current gathering around that was not natural. "Something's wrong! His cosmos is down but… I'm sensing a power similar to… No, it couldn't be!"

Wolff stood up, the moment he waited for finally arriving! "I am a Ghost Saint, protector of the planet! The spirits of nature embody my cosmos!" His muscles bulged and he roared. "And for the good of the planet, YOU AND THE POPE SHALL DIE!"

Wolff snapped the metal cuffs into pieces, stunning the hoplites around him with a shockwave of cosmos finally free from the absorbing stardust!

Saints Achilles and Odysseus immediately covered the Pope. "YOUR HOLINESS, get behind us!"

Wolff rushed for Marianne, blading his hand with cosmos cursed by the stars of the Jellyfish Nebula. "DIE, MARINER! VENOMOUS STING!"

Marianne shouted, gripping her saber to counter-slice before she could get sli-

The blow rushed in like a stab from darkness with exponential speed, piercing through flesh and spraying blood into Marianne!

…

The Ghost Saint tried to pull the poisoned weapon back, but the Muvian's strong hand held him tight. "Who… the hell are you?!"

Marianne stared, paralyzed, recognizing the straw-hair head. "A-ATLAE?!"

The Muvian shook, feeling the burning poison course through his veins. He eyed the Ghost Saint. A cold shock went through his body and his legs felt weak, but he gripped the Ghost Saint's weapon as strongly as he could. "D-Don't you dare touch her!"

The Ghost Saint panicked, feeling stuck. "G-GET OFF ME, YOU FREAK!" and he smacked Atlae with the back of his fist as hard as he could. The weakened Muvian stumbled, but held strong to the blade in his abdomen. Burning cosmos, he tried again. "I SAID GET OFF, DOTTED FRE-"

Atlae's fist socked him in the head, knocking him off!

Marianne's blue cosmos exploded, casting giant draconic wings of cosmos that paralyzed the Ghost Saint in fear. His eyes bulged, recognizing the technique that destroyed his biggest ship.

Her hand gripped her saber and she dashed in, drawing it out in an upward slash, and the entire power of the move was focused on him and him alone. "TIDAL MAELSTROM!"

A rising, circling shockwave of water cosmos blades took hold of the Ghost Saint and blasted him into a skyward twister of water away from Atlae, spreading out into the skies with two draconic wing spreads that sprayed sapphire pellets of cosmos all over the streets. The screaming Ghost Saint crashed down, immediately falling unconscious.

Atlae collapsed, darkness overcoming his eyes.

Marianne rushed in, catching Atlae before he fell down the platform. "ATLAE! Dear Poseidon, w-what are you doing here?! What have you done?!"

The teenage boy struggled to stay awake. He looked up to see his friend's upside-down distraught face. "H-Hi, Mari'." He looked down and saw his bleeding wound and winced. "I'm s-sorry for ruining your parade. This isn't how I meant to…s-see you again…"

The mariner girl gasped, seeing his eyes close. "SOMEONE! CALL A DOCTOR! MY FRIEND NEEDS HELP!"

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

Chapter End

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

Next Chapter: Chapter 89 – 3rd Arc – Episode 17: Vows of Loyalty

Release Date: October 25th

Description: Atlae recovers at Sanctuary Town's hospital and him and Marianne get a chance to be together after three years apart. A tragic turn in Marianne's future is revealed, though, and suddenly things seem more uncertain for the eldest child of the Solos. Saint Aquarius takes an interest in her, however, and continues to defend her future as the new Dolphin Saint.

Later, a frightening visitor appears at the Solo's mansion to see Arthur Solo, one who claims to know what's become of Ithaca of Delphi.

Author's Comments:

Today, on etymology, we talk about the Ghost Saint, Jellyfish Wolff. Wolff comes from Max Wolf, astronomer who discovered the Jellyfish Nebula. That's pretty much it. There's not a whole lot of lore behind the Cloth since it was just randomly made for the ghost saint filler arc in the classic show.

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 Tumblr or Reddit and generally support this project if you enjoy it. You can find me in both those places under the Thrudgelmir2333 name.

Heads up on old readers; you can no longer find me at the R/SS Discord server. I have decided to move away from the community. If you wish to get in touch with me for any reason, use any of the platforms I upload this chapter on.

See ya \owo