WARNING: Violence, blood, death, war, torture, execution.
Sagitta's Deliverance
The center district of Sanctuary had fallen back into calm, despite the still limited transit of civilians and high military presence. Set up with many extra lanterns, the area was brighter than usual, and this was desirable to those who patrolled the tops of buildings, alleyways, and dark ends, to ensure that no enemy spy sneaked amid them.
No one had come from beyond the gates in the past days, but it was deemed a sensitive position by Marin, who expected Athena and her cohort to arrive at any moment. While less serious clashes raged on and the rebels continued to slowly expand their advantage over the Pope's troops, only few areas of the city and its outskirts were left to be raided, the most important being the district ahead of Mu's temple, where Sagitta had assigned a decent number of troops.
It was in a particular day when a sentry, set on a wooden barricade that blocked a street of the central grounds, noticed unusual movement in the gate pavilion's curtains. At first he thought it would be wind escaping Earth, a typical occurrence, but once he saw that the movement was too regular, his curiosity was piqued. "Eh, is that…?" He focused and leaned onto the barrier to get a better look, and what he saw were blue eyes peeking out. "Someone is coming out of the gate!" the soldier yelled, ran to a bell hanging from a post, and struck it to warn the guards.
Men and women positioned themselves above and below, bows and lances at the ready, and finally someone exited. This Clothed Saint was Hyoga, who scanned the surroundings, observed the armed people, and searched for evidence of their identity. A large red flag perched on the edge of a building made him assume those were the rebels, although he could not be entirely certain.
He reached back into the curtain and invited people out. First it was Ikki, then Shiryu and Seiya. Seeing that the numbers grew, a sentry whistled from a high spot. "Hey!" his voice echoed, but the Bronze Saints did not look to him apart from Hyoga. The remainder were instructed to be aware of the surroundings at every moment. "Friend or foe?"
"We have come to speak to Eagle Marin," Hyoga replied.
So the soldier looked at the men stacking up on the barrier, who were in the barracks' direction, and signaled to them. "They're looking for Marin, he says!"
"Alright, on it!" another replied, so he skipped over the barrier and assumed the function of a courier.
The message was sent with haste, and so Marin regressed accompanied by the Bronze Saints who assisted in the uprising. In the meantime, impatient, the newcomers allowed more people to cross out. The area around the portal had become crowded anyhow, and with every new person added to the cohort, the more apprehensive the rebels became.
They had not come with a measly number of fighters, but with a convoy composed by recruits from Paximadia and Andromeda Island, the latter carrying chains of multiple lengths and ends. No face there was familiar to those in Sanctuary apart from Seiya and Shaina, who was yet visibly injured despite wearing the Ophiuchus Cloth. Athena, however, stayed hidden for her own protection.
When Marin and the others jumped over the barricade and saw the dozens of people concentrated around the pavilion, they couldn't help but feel relieved. Eagle calmed her steps and walked proudly towards Shaina, who had come forward. "You've come with a convoy, surprisingly," she said.
Seiya smiled; when he thought of walking in to give Marin another hug, Shaina kept him back by the chest. "Have you already set up a place with proper defenses?" Ophiuchus asked.
"As safe as we could make it, yes, in the barracks, but we plan on using the Cult's headquarters eventually," Marin answered.
"Then it's not secure yet."
"What did you expect, a fortress?"
"It doesn't matter. As it stands, I won't allow Lady Athena to go anywhere without our protection."
Marin sighed and rested both hands on her waist. "Always making things difficult, aren't you?"
The other ignored that and turned to the convoy, rotating an index in the air. "Get in formation," she ordered, so June nodded and waved for the amazons to scatter about their allies. With the movement, more masked women were revealed to be behind the curtains. The Bronze Saints stayed within the circle they formed, exceptions being Shiryu and Hyoga, who stood in front with Shaina. Shun, and Reda, whose trainees outlined the area with the Paximadian amazons as an extra buffer.
It was Seiya and Ikki who spread the curtains and helped Athena to finally reveal herself to her own Sanctuary. The soldiers watched in awe that she wore a simple, long white dress and nothing but short-heeled shoes; apart from her luscious features and long hair, there was little in her appearance to distinguish her from a teenager too spoiled.
Jabu, Nachi, and the others were shocked by the notion still, that they were now greeting the one they were raised with as a goddess rather than a simple friend or acquaintance. "So it is her…" Geki murmured.
"Is that Lady Athena?" Whispers and doubts were raised by the soldiers, and as Shaina demanded everyone to move forward, more of them had a sight of the one they were meant to fight and protect.
As curiously as the soldiers stared at her, Athena stared back with amusement, a gentle grin on her lips. She knew that no war proceedings had the chance to be employed, not only with her absence but also with the Cult's inability to act, and she imagined there would be no manner with which to bless each and every soldier ere they fought. Thereon she decided to bless them as best as she could, lowering the head and bringing both hands together at the height of her chest.
The goddess eased Cosmos high during the march. The barricade's wooden gates were opened, and once they had passed by it, the energy she generated was a sight to behold, shining as if Sanctuary had a sun — somehow they understood her as such, that without Athena, Sanctuary lived in the perpetual darkness of night.
Although the other Bronze Saints stayed at the convoy's pace, they felt the deafening pressure that she projected, a power both terrifying and beautiful, like the roaring culmination of an orchestra. The sentries, guards, soldiers, and civilians who watched from the windows had few to no doubts while experiencing the intensity up close.
Those were majestic degrees of power, the kind that flowed through the whole of Sanctuary. It denoted to skirmishing soldiers that something had fundamentally changed, warned Sagitta that his moment of action was close, and reminded the Pope that his actions could bring dreadful consequences to himself. To those who saw her in flesh, it was the proof they needed to justify their fight.
"Our Lady has come home!" a man shouted. Clamor grew among the rebels, and Jabu wiped tears pooled in his eyes.
"She has returned!" "It' her!" Our Lady lives!" "Glory to Athena!"
At her arrival in the barracks, the many Saints that had joined the rebellion— most of a Bronze rank — formed an arc about her in the dining hall. She finished blessing them by splitting the skin on her thumb and touching their palms with the blood, applying an ever so small amount of Cosmos into the essence.
Each Saint came before her and knelt upon receiving the offering, and when she had gone through all of them, they left to their posts. She was left with Marin and the convoy, and they discussed military matters with aid of the map. Not much had changed since the first day, apart from additional advances and reinforcements around controlled areas, or the fact that forces defending both fronts connected to the Temple of Aries obstructed the path up.
"Beforehand, our priority was only to get in contact with Aries and the High Priestess. I'm sure we can spread out our priorities since we have more people," said Marin.
"Have you not been able to come in contact with Aries?" Athena asked.
"Not since the war begun. He is aware that the sentinel met you in China, but the rebellion probably came as news to him."
"We must get to that at once. Ideally, no one apart from the Pope should be targeted in this battle."
"I agree, but that is unachievable."
"Of course," Athena said and turned to the other Saints, recruits, and amazons. "I would prefer to deal with that first. Ikki." Phoenix had his back to one of the dining tables, sitting on a bench, legs crossed. He casually raised the head towards her, who stopped a meter away. "You have led a similar operation before. I want way for an efficient and swift attack on the forces around the Temple of Aries, the sort to rout them out rather than cause much bloodshed."
Ikki inaudibly chuckled. "I have had my fair share of leading useless men, so I'll only agree to it if I get a good team," he said.
"You are free to choose whomever you deem best."
After briefly exchanging a stare with Hyoga, he got up and cracked the knuckles of a fist. "Consider it done, Lady Athena."
With valuable resources and people at his disposal, Ikki had no qualms signaling and picking the fighters available, from Shiryu to June. Seiya, however, took advantage of the talks to approach Marin, who seemed intent on further studying tactics on the board.
"Hey," he called, sliding beside her. "I really need to talk to you."
Eagle interrupted her thoughts and shook the young man by a shoulder. "Right, I'm glad you've made it out alive. When I got news that Aiolia left Sanctuary for a while, I feared the worst," she said.
"That's not it, though. When were you going to teach me that whole Comet Fist thing?"
Marin seemed inquisitive, but it dawned on her when she saw Shaina on an opposing side of the dining hall. "She told you about it," Eagle assumed.
"She had to, you ripped that guy to shreds. When we buried him, we had to hold his body together, it was gruesome!"
Marin came closer to him and lowered her voice with certain severity to explain: "And that is exactly why you were not taught the technique, it's no toy. Misty was a weird type, but he was still our friend. I only used it because it had to be used."
"I might need to use it soon enough too, so…"
"Seiya!" Ikki's voice reverberated from the end of the hall. "Finish your greetings, you're coming with me and Shiryu!"
Pegasus nodded before finishing the conversation with Marin. "We'll probably fight Gold Saints, so I'd like to learn it before that."
"Don't worry. When there's spare time, I will teach you," she said and tapped his shoulder some more to send him off to the operation.
Ikki was made aware during briefing that the stairway's vicinity was effectively occluded from two locations. First was their target, the streets right ahead of the stairs, where a few guards had been placed for nothing but safety; seeing that Mu blocked their passage, they saw no use in setting great defenses. In the streets down from there, however, were troops stationed in a major theater, itself closed and temporarily converted into a barracks. It was from there that they supplied their front, located after barriers and palisades set some blocks further.
Unfortunately for those troops, they were not independently supplied, depending on Sagitta's units stationed on the other end. This particular place the Bronze Saints did not plan on targeting, despite it being of interest. Between both positions was an arterial road used by military caravans to resupply them, as only Sagitta's side had access to long-term resources. Oft times information and orders were also sent through this path, but they had another manner to do so, through a parallel line of alleyways also guarded by palisades and impromptu wooden walls.
This system formed a strip quite difficult to penetrate for the rebels. Due to the city's planning and the defenses raised, it was unfeasible to attack from the sides; with the continuous resistance on both the theater's and Sagitta's front, their advance decelerated. Phoenix tasked himself and allies with inducing the enemy to fail.
It was from that impenetrable side that the operation begun. A silent yet swift invader came from the rebellious side, hunting those who watched over the supply road. That evening's caravan — composed by two lightly armored men — noticed straightaway that something had changed from their last trip. One of them brought a noisy handcart with wooden boxes and full baskets on the side, everything covered in thick sheets; the other had a sack of linen hanging off the shoulder, and it too was padded with goods.
Halfway to their destination, they noticed that the watch posts on the sides and atop the buildings were not only dark, but lacked any sign of life. If anything, the strip had become deserted, and with said limited visibility, eventually they were only able to see in a radius about their own lantern.
"Seems no one is scouting today," one commented. "The lanterns are off too… strange."
"This section should be clean off rebels, so I don't blame them for leaving it unattended. The situation must be much worse on their front," said the other. "They probably need more outposts there than here."
"Yeah, these rebels keep harassing us to stress us out."
"Or to find a weakness." His colleague nodded in response and they continued walking several steps. Far ahead they saw a set of three shadows move in confrontation, and as a shape fell, they heard metal harshly strike the ground. A cruel, feminine giggle echoed, and cutting extra distance, the men saw that whoever had fallen received a kick close to the face.
"Are you seeing that?" a man asked.
"It might be a robbery," his partner suggested, and they expected themselves to be able to respond to such a thing.
Rather than walking faster, however, they went more carefully, as they carried a lot with themselves and had little notion of the road's safety without the watch. The sound of the cart made them obvious to the assailants, and with proximity, the light revealed two fully-armored amazons abusing a weakened man. Seeing that he also wore armor, they believed him to be one of the sentries.
"I told you to run to the theater, but you think you're some kind of hero, yeah?" said an amazon. The victim babbled to speak up, but she did not spare him the instant and stomped his shoulder down. After he fell, the man tried to crawl to an escape, but the other tormentor caught him by the leg and pulled on it.
"Don't go yet, man meat. You have to join your friends on the hanging post," she said, and when the men of the caravan heard those words, they wondered what perversion spread over that part of town.
"What do you think you're doing?" one of the soldiers yelled forth.
The three stared at the incoming caravan; the amazons weren't surprised, and the blank eyes of their masks gave no hint of those sick thoughts washing over them upon meeting new prey. "Just getting acquainted with each other. Got a problem with that?" a girl said as a challenge.
"Y-you have to help us!" the fallen sentry begged, but his short hair was pulled by the closer girl, who crouched and shushed him with a finger to his lips.
"Sssh, piggy-piggy. Don't make a scene."
"You'd better leave him alone," a soldier spoke. "This area is under lockdown, and only the military is allowed!"
"What did you just say?" the standing amazon asked, more as a sinister reply than anything else.
"We are using this road to resupply the troops ahead. You must leave now!" he insisted.
When the girl came subtly closer next, she tilted the head and nearly hissed the same question: "What did you just say to me?"
The men were prepared to fight, but they let go of their supplies regardless, as a loud sound finally resounded nearby. Everyone turned to the balcony of a neighboring empty store, whence fell another sentry, and he would've fallen to his death on the sidewalk were it not for the rope tightly knit to an ankle. It was through it that he was pulled, screaming for his life, and the ones who appeared holding from above were an even larger group of masked women who cackled at the sight. June and Ethel happened to be among them, and so it was obvious that the bloodthirsty youths had come from Paximadia.
"June!" an amazon sought her attention. "Those clowns over here are telling us to leave!"
The one who held the dangling man let him go, so he fell from halfway straight to the ground, the pain enough to send him twisting and stretching on the path. The girls began dropping from that far up, and when Chameleon lastly landed, she lashed at the caravan with the whip, marking a line that she expected them not to cross.
She walked a path around them and stayed in the forefront, part of her weapon stretched menacingly. "Is what she said true?" she asked the soldiers.
"Are you… are you with the rebels?" was all he could muster.
"I don't like being ignored."
"You are brutalizing our sentries!" he accused her. "This is an act of aggression, and if you continue, you will be treated as part of the rebellion!"
The amazons curtly laughed in unison, except for June, who kept her quiet. There was cynicism in their tones, to imagine that the ones who first committed an act of aggression against them would dare accuse them of such. "Do you see a red banner around here? Because I don't see one," she said.
"I'll ask one last time. Are you against Sanctuary or not?"
Chameleon raised her voice to say: "There is no Sanctuary right now, this is a battleground."
"Yeah!" one of the girls screamed from the back.
"You keep giving us orders to leave or to stop, but it's people like you who entered Paximadia and killed our sisters. We won't take orders from your type any longer. Really, you're lucky I haven't cut your face yet."
"Then you're just bandits! Banditry during a war, how despicable you must be — and you're a Saint too! How low can you go?" said the man, and he saw that one of the amazons pulled a fallen by the rope, apparently to keep him from wandering too far with how he slithered.
"Bandits hurt kind people for personal gain or pleasure. What we do here is justice, it's different. I'll even allow you to pass, but I want something from you," Chameleon said.
The soldier stared in silence for a few instants, and his friend turned to him as a way to tell him to take the terms so that they could leave. "What is it?" he gave in.
June pointed the whip at the handcart behind him. "Let me check what you have there. I'll grab what I want, then you can go through."
"You're robbing us after all!"
"It's a toll to help us keep the road safe. We're getting hungry out here."
The men of the caravan never entertained the possibility of handing supplies to those amazons, rather thinking of returning to Sagitta and explaining what took place on the strip. Nonetheless, they saw themselves in a conundrum, whether it was right to allow those captured to continue suffering, or to at least attempt an immediate release.
It was when they thought of negotiating that the tied sentry pleaded to pressure them into action: "I think they're going to kill us!"
"I told you to shut your damn mouth!" growled the one who pulled him by the ankle, but this once she lunged and hammered his head with a fist, and she would've beaten him more if her colleague had not put an arm between them. The victim was dizzied by the strike, then fell limp, albeit alive.
"Stop it!" the soldier cried. It was obvious to them that there would be no middle terms with those girls, and that they were better off going back to their posts and planning a way to expel them from that road.
"Don't lose focus," June reminded him of their deal. "You heard what I said."
"This is criminal and you won't get away with it. We'll return, but once we follow this direction again, it will be to end your sick games."
June hummed and watched them take the goods, turn back, and walk away. Occasionally they made sure that none of those women were following him, and this paranoia inspired her to tease them some more. "Glue eyes to the back of your heads, boys! I can't tell what our other sisters might do if they find you!" she warned, and her colleagues laughed in confirmation. This naturally rendered the two soldiers more alert than before.
Past the amazons, into the position now targeted by the Bronze Saints, the temporarily unused theater was repurposed by loyalist soldiers and officers. Matters inside were much more chaotic than the barracks, as the space was limited; the building was formed by a long corridor in three of its four sides, windows protected by wooden lattice, whereas the front was composed of an outer stage whose doors were blockaded by the military. Once inside, multiple staircases led to a lower floor of many seats and an inner stage, used for more prestigious plays.
It was in this area that the men lounged and sparred, their depleting supplies placed within boxes stacked by a corner. The captain of a retinue was surrounded by subordinates who seemed entertained by a game of tarot on an edge of the stage. The man huffed a moment and rubbed his own arms. "It's chilly here today, isn't it?" he said.
"Better chilly than that miasma in the barracks," a soldier remarked.
The men chuckled and someone continued to comment: "It must be the architecture or something."
"Maybe."
"They should hire these architects to rebuild next, I'll be all for it."
"You say that, but you're the biggest stinker here." They cackled some more despite their friend disapproving of the joke.
The talks ended at the sound of a recruit's boots knocking down the nearby stairs. When they turned to see him, his expression was of worry, and he soon exclaimed for the captain once he came in view: "Captain! A scout just said we have a big problem!"
"What is it?"
So as to not alarm the whole of the theater, he relayed the information closer to the superior. "The reason Sagitta hasn't sent word is because the road got blocked by a band of rogue amazons," the young man told him.
"What?" The captain stood off the stage with a shocked frown. "And the sentries…?"
"No signs of them, but it's hard to tell. The amazons put out the lights and we can't see much."
"Did he see how many of them were there?"
"He said a lot, but they're no army."
The captain moved closer to the center of the theater and clapped loudly so that everyone heard him, although his own retinue already went for their equipment. "I want at least twenty men up in a few minutes! Get ready for a fight!" he yelled and signaled for the recruit to come. "Follow me, kid. I'll tell our eyes on the front that we'll be busy for a while."
When the boy approached, so did some of the fighters who had already put breastplates on. They went upstairs with the captain aiming for one of the side entrances, but when they reached the next floor, their breath condensed with how much colder it was, and a chill ran through every bit of exposed skin.
"It's even colder up here… huh?" Having noticed something curious, the captain stopped by a window and stared closely. The men continued walking ahead before they felt his absence.
"Captain?"
He came much nearer and saw frozen precipitate grow sluggishly to cover gaps in the lattice, which puzzled him. "This isn't normal," he said. "Come look at this." The soldiers observed the same, and at that point it seemed that the ice grew abnormally, not only faster, but in alien directions, and because none of them had experienced such a phenomenon in Sanctuary, they were aghast. The frost crept until it was close to leaving no open space, and a collection of cracking noises prompted them to walk backwards. "What the hell is…"
It was not only that window, but the lattice of every other on that side of the corridor that violently exploded inwards, allowing a terrible gale inside. In the floor below, preparing fighters heard the haunting whistle of harsh wind and the bodies of their allies being thrown wall to wall, alongside a struggle. They were about to go upstairs, but the recruit rolled down in wild abandon whence came icy crystals.
After helping him up, his new superficial wounds became exposed, and the hair on his head and eyebrows was afflicted by particles of snow, much like he was freezing to the touch. "What's going on?" one asked.
"D-don't… don't bother! Just go around through the other side!" he babbled to them.
"Ready up!" They hastily grabbed as much equipment as possible and marched to a flight of stairs in the opposite end, where the corridor was not yet as cold as the last attack's location. Their hurry was apparent by how they busted through a double door to meet the outside. What they learned was that guards and sentries were stationed there no longer, and the place had become as deserted as the lane to Sagitta.
Those who led the pack motioned for people to separate in groups; a larger one went around a side of the theater, and a smaller towards another, hoping to trap the attacker. As they came out and tried to pass a corner, they were faced with a street much darker than its usual. With closer inspection, they saw it was blocked by a labyrinthine mesh of thousands of chains, those tied around pillars, walls, and other architectural elements the rebels found use for.
Since the way was effectively covered, they turned and attempted to go down the opposite with their colleagues, who had already met an obstacle beyond the entry to the occupied strip. Rather, the site of the attack that victimized the captain was blocked by a Saint. A magenta aura ominously glowed from the distance, but worst, when they heard scraping beneath them, they became aware of a pool of chains intricately hunting their feet.
"What is this?" When some folk dared step hither to the chains, the rings flipped up, ripping loud thunder in the air and forcing the soldiers back.
"A… Andromeda!"
"Come on, she can't defeat us all!" a man shouted, but most were shaken by the earsplitting lightning and the giant spread of the Andromeda Chain, so they initially moved backwards, then took advantage of the open route to run through the strip.
The recruit tried to stop them, but they could not hear under the growing sound of electricity. "Hey, don't go!" he screamed. "The road is blocked!"
"You cowards!"
More and more men joined the rout, a successful display of Ikki's frightening plan. All semblance of formation was broken, thus the braver of warriors had to find an exit of their own. Although they first thought of reentering the theater, chants and running boots hinted at a rebel invasion, and this meant no effort would yield a defensive victory anymore. This forced them to make a run for Sagitta too. "This is pathetic!" a soldier said as he fled.
Unlike what the recruit had said, the amazons of Paximadia had strategically left the strip after playing their wicked games with those who oversaw it. That notwithstanding, he was indeed fed the correct information that no more sentry remained, at least not alive, and that every length of the road was dark as unbridled night. When they realized no one stood between them and Sagitta's position, the men ran faster and reached the next defenses without trouble.
"We have to retreat," a voice said. A conversation underwent in Sagitta's position not much later. Two officers sat side by side with him, and it was clear they were in a much tighter place, having an improvised mess in a tent of wooden framing. While both had a debate, Ptolemy only looked down at a small map with markings referring to targeted locations; many of the scribbles were rash and confusing, as if done out of frustration.
"Retreat where? Listen, if we stand our ground, we can wait until the Gold Saints are allowed to come down. We should certainly win then," the other officer responded.
"We might not be alive by then, so it would've all been useless!"
"Trust me, with how things are set here, we can hold it together for long."
"Then how was the theater lost in a matter of hours? Barely any fighting!"
"They had been fighting on the front for the past days! And regardless, we all knew the theater was a rocky position to be in, it was a miracle we held it for so long in this state. That's why Sagitta moved most of the men here, isn't it?"
They looked to him for advice, but he persisted in intensely and silently gazing at the map, thoughts speeding by his mind. "Sir, are you alright?"
"Yes, yes. I'm thinking," he finally replied, so he was allowed a pensive moment. With an index he traced that location back to the theater, then down to the central district, past Marin's headquarters. "We will rush the theater, then the barracks, all the way to the gate…" he explained and traced relationally eastward to mountains in the outskirts "… then, if the academy has not fallen, we should be en route to them and the Cult's headquarters."
The officers were confused. "But… what's the point?" one asked. "We are in smaller numbers, and their positions are superior. Not only that, we would be abandoning the Temples, our primary concern!"
"Aries told me they would be ready for this, so the time has come to entrust the Gold Saints and move out quickly. Reassign forces holding our front, send them to rush the barracks with us; cut through with infantry, so my men and I will cover from a distance. Our goal is to transfer as many soldiers as we can into the academy. It will be easier to defend from there."
"Sagitta, even if that works, it's going to thin out our forces. A counterattack could be devastating!"
"You are right, but then again, we are sitting ducks like this. What we deal with now is a foe for the likes of the Gold Saints, and we are worthless against it."
"It can't be that there is a Gold Saint among them," an officer doubted.
"Not a Gold Saint, but a thing above that. Have you not felt a Cosmos greater than any other a while ago?"
He nodded in response, confirming: "I do remember feeling it, but not exactly when."
"It was just prior to the enemy overwhelming the theater, and it came from the gate's direction. Calling it great would be an understatement; it was absurd, impossible to ignore," said Sagitta, and in his reasoning this could only be evidence of how truthful the Pope's words were. "You know well what this means. Someone has arrived who is sure to tip the scale much further against us, and I am afraid I know who this might be. If so, may our Lady protect us."
The officers lowered the heads in fearful faith, one murmuring: "Athena, strengthen us."
Ikki's arrival in the barracks with the other Bronze Saints, in the other hand, came with a way less somber tone. Despite not being festive outright festive, the meeting occurred under a sense of pride for the recent success. Among them were most of those who participated in the plan, yet Athena stayed away, as the Saints preferred to leave her in an office where she would not be constantly bothered with matters of war.
"I can ascertain you that there are no guards by the stairway. Those were the first we rid of, and as long as your troops have the theater cleared, we can take her straight to Aries unscathed," Ikki explained, again lazing on one of the benches.
Marin nodded and looked down at the map, wherein large swaths of area had been opened since the last meeting. "It sounds good, but I'm not sure," she said and turned to Shaina. "What do you think?"
"Do as we did before," said Ophiuchus, "we escort her to Aries, and if necessary, escort her all the way to the Pope. As long as we are nearby, I am safe with moving her."
"I'll go talk to her and see if there are objections," Eagle concluded and pushed herself away from the table to walk down the dining hall. Before she was able to enter an adjacent room, distant screams came from outside the barracks. The Saints, soldiers, and amazons who chatted quieted each other and listened in silence, as did Marin, who had immediately stopped.
When bells and horns resounded in tandem, it was clear that the loyalists attempted to barge in their direction, at a much earlier moment than they deemed appropriate. Marin pointed at Shaina and said: "Go check on Lady Athena! I'll be back soon."
Seiya, Jabu and the others also got off the seats to hurry outside. The screams were much louder there, but still distant, and when they went over to an intersection, there was still no sign of fighting. If anything, the scouts on the tops tried to observe a reason for the blowing of horns in the first place.
It was June who, ogling at the colorful streaks of Sanctuary's alien sky, noticed the outlines of a hail descending onto them. "ARROWS!" she shouted. Those incapable of defending themselves yet fortunate enough jumped to cover, but others were not so lucky.
Chameleon herself spun the whip as she had done in her fight against Hyoga, generating speeds even higher to protect those around her; Shun used the Rolling Defense with a great perimeter of the Andromeda Chain to do the same; Ikki was more forthwith, flying forward with a hefty blast of fire to fragment projectiles before they reached anything; Hyoga summoned a solid obstacle of ice that crumbled only once that deadly rain came to a halt.
The sound of arrows hitting barricades, and of bodies falling from tall ground to the marble below filled the streets. It was clear to them, however, that they were only at the edge of this assault, and that the situation was surely graver in the frontlines, especially when they heard what sounded like structure imploding in the theater's direction.
To lose the path to Mu would've been catastrophic, and so Ikki prompted the other Saints to protect their hard-fought gains. "We're pushing forward!" he said. With that he jumped far into the air using a peak of Cosmos, and everyone else did similarly, aiming to join the fight.
The battle around the theater grew more and more severe by the second. On the way to the front, many rebels had been killed by Sagitta's ranged attacks, and although they still outnumbered the enemy — especially with how thinned out the latter were — their disorganization was explored by loyalist forces in a forceful push.
The theater's front had been debased with the destruction of a pillar which brought down part of the overhang, falling over a few of those who fought. Hundreds of individual clashes occurred in a swarm of men and women, spilling blood over the Pope's lies, yet any semblance of balance was about to be thrown out the window with the Saints' arrival.
Led by Phoenix and the others, reinforcements from the barracks appeared at the extremities of the advance. They descended from high above towards an arterial road and crashed like a sea of death. The force with which they came was that of a tsunami in fact, entirely braking the enemy's progress in that branch.
No arrows fell at that distance, seeing that Sagitta wished not to hit his own men and worsen already limited chances of success, therefore the battle continued mostly on the ground. With the Saints' abilities, an abundance of fire, ice, and blood coated the roads, and the Pope's forces began to suffer true annihilation.
Another branch of their push broke through a wooden barricade to invade a set of streets they expected to be empty. The rebels had expected this, so Cassiopeia Reda formed a line of chain-armed trainees to halt them.
With Cosmos, he launched the Cassiopeia Chain to surround them, and his new apprentices ran in a circle to hold the soldiers back with their own. Their use of the Cosmos was limited, but made it possible for them to send the weapons far and squeeze the enemy together until they could barely move.
This did not come without resistance, of course. "PUSH! PUSH!" the opposing side chanted in unison, using a rhythm to try and tumble over those who ensnared them. With that impetus put into finding release, the formation would not hold for much longer, but the rebels had something else in mind.
From behind his friend, Shun reappeared and quickly entwined both ends of the Andromeda Chain with the enemies' legs. Further entangled, the men had even less leeway to move, and as soon as they saw the lensing pink aura, those familiar with it became anxious. "Stay away from the chains, they're electrified!" a soldier who had beforehand occupied the theater remembered.
Some attempted to jump out of the trap; some succeeded in fleeing, but in an instance a soldier was pulled back to ground by a trainee's chain. Reda seemed to be impatient. "Shun, do it," he said, "you have to do it." He saw that his friend breathed in, reluctant to go on. "Do it, Shun!"
"I will! THUNDER WAVE!"
When that shout exploded in the vicinity, the trainees released every soldier at once, jumping back after. Those in contact with the Andromeda Chain uncontrollably croaked as they felt current invade flesh and fry organs. Thankfully for them, Shun made sure that the shock was only long enough to hurt every one of them, but not so much that they would all fall lifeless.
Instead they fell either dazzled or passed out, apart from a few who died regardless. Andromeda did not look, preferring to shut both eyes and turn with the face to the ground. Reda tapped him on the shoulder pad and reassured him: "I understand it's difficult for you, but this is a war. Terrible things must be done."
Shun did look back up at him with tears threatening to roll off the cheeks. "Must they?" he said, but Reda saw no point in debating.
"We need to help the others now," he said, and everyone was urged to come with.
Athena demanded that Shaina and Marin take her out to watch over the situation, and so she was taken to the terrace of a nearby commercial hall, whereon merchants had built many monuments in her favor. As the rooftop was quite high, and the building was of several stories, some of the violence in the streets could be witnessed, in particular that the enemy forces suffered immense losses.
Marin stepped on a raised edge and took in the view. "Victory handed on a platter," she said.
"They advanced so fast that their men are spread sparse — suicidal. I wonder what they planned with this," said Shaina.
"Maybe to slip past us before we reacted properly."
Watching such savage aggression, that being between her closest of people, and even among some of her Saints, Athena could not help but tear up. A tightness cursed her heart, so she bemoaned: "This must not continue, not in this manner."
"Don't worry. When we get to the Pope, his punishment should fulfill the loss of each life," Marin assured her.
"And what will be of that?" Shaina asked. "Whom will we send up?"
"The fight is likely to continue in the grounds, so we should send those best fit to fight Gold Saints, in the unfortunate case that they don't join our side."
"Seiya and the others are better prepared, and I think I can go up when I am healed."
"It's a shame Libra didn't come, or I'd feel much safer. At least we still have Lady Athena." When Marin mentioned her name, she turned to where the goddess last stood, yet she was no longer there. She scanned back and saw no sign anywhere on the terrace, and wondered how it could be that someone would disappear so elusively. "Lady Athena?"
Shaina, too, sought the woman, calling: "Lady Athena!"
But Athena cared not for her own safety at that instant, and she somehow moved onto a rooftop, the kind which one should not stand upon by virtue of its architecture; not only that, she stood at its edge and so close to the theater's clashes that she was at risk of being attacked. No matter, she looked on, and tears now streamed freely down her face, such was the absurdity of the bloodbath below.
"No… no, I cannot allow it," she mumbled, "no more!" Slowly her Cosmos escalated until it dwarfed all, to the utmost of amplitudes, and it was with this that Eagle and Ophiuchus found her.
"Lady Athena, stay back!" Marin exclaimed and reached for her, but it was too late.
Athena's tears no longer streamed down, but rather lifted upwards, as did her hair; her skin glistened like diamonds, and her pupils shone a yellow light. A fervid aura exploded like blessed tempest, and therewith she raised both arms sideways. Once her fingers were spread, a sphere of light expanded to engulf the vast majority of Sanctuary in comforting warmth, and every combatant stopped as if confronted with certain death. "STOP!" she shouted, but that voice was unnaturally loud — especially for one so placid — and it boomed through every street, final evidence to all the loyalists that they were not faced with mere revolutionaries.
Soldiers looked up, some fallen, some at death's door, and they took in that blinding vision. In between it they saw her mien, either the fury or the sorrow of one who stood among the divine. Not one — Saint, amazon, or soldier — dared throw the next punch or shoot the next arrow.
"Settle those hands!" she demanded. "Rebel or not, it is sinful to continue fighting. For over a decade, you were led astray by the one meant to set you onto righteousness. The Pope, for his own interests, claimed that I rest in my quarters. Attest all of you, here I stand! The Pope is the one traitor we must hunt down!"
As she continued her speech, Shaina and Marin stood close to her, and soon the others jumped up too, from Seiya, to Jabu, Shun, Ikki, June, Ban, their friends and colleagues. Their job, after all, was to protect her above everything else.
Loyalists started to realize what took place. "A-Athena!" "It's Athena!" "It has to be her."
"Those who are yet loyal to the false Pope, I implore that you accompany us even with doubtful hearts. Allow us to travel to my temple, and the truth shall be revealed beyond the throne. I give you my word, sworn by my tears, my very blood! Spill it if you learn that I speak deceit, but spill that of your fellows no more!" the goddess spoke with fastness.
Sagitta and his ranged unit was a kilometer away, onto a raised barricade, but even from there the light assaulted their view, while both the magnitude and sake of her Cosmos made it difficult to deny the identity. His own reason struggled with an unwavering sense of duty, the one instilled in him by the Pope, and so his hand reached for Thanatos' arrow.
"S-sir… what should we do?" a crossbowman asked.
"Await my signal before shooting the next waves. We are tasked with taking down the false idol before she reaches the temples," he commanded.
"Sagitta, are you sure? We cannot shoot her without hitting our own men!"
He repeated harshly: "Await my signal!" From there he jumped off to higher ground, finding a watch tower and not only climbing it, but its very rounded top as well, such that he was in the tallest position feasible. With that forsaken arrow in hand, he stared and saw that Athena continued to convince the soldiers.
The last thing he looked at was the arrow itself, its esoteric sight, imagining what terrors it contained. It felt haply befitting that a false idol would suffer its hellish tip, therefore he was decided. Placing fingers between the tongue, he whistled, and so the archers readied the next shots.
Athena went on: "I am willing to offer my throat as sacrifice if I am found not to be whom I claim, and none of the rebels shall protect me. They are no traitors! They fight solely for their belief in my identity; many a time have they attempted to convince those who took the Pope's word as true, and oft did they fail. Even so, the ones who tasted my Cosmos knew it to be confirmation of who I am, not only the Saints standing by me, but the sentinel and Leo himself!" At that instant she heard another whistle, even louder than before, and stared up. It was clear that another hail of arrows was set to land, now disregarding even the lives of loyalist soldiers.
"SHIELDS UP!" an officer screamed. Athena blew up her Cosmos and generated an arc of energy that easily incinerated each and every arrow it met. The ones caught outside the blast, however, hit the soldiers below.
Infuriated, rebels reignited the fight. "You fools!" one shouted, throwing his hand at a weakened man. The enemy was caught by surprise, and those who could not find a chance of escape begged for mercy, but the rage of Eagle's troops grew to the extent that they slew them mercilessly.
When she saw that the bloodbath had not ended, Athena sobbed. "Please, do not fight! Stop at once!" she yelled, but not only did they ignore her, another billow of arrows and bolts was in preparation.
This once, however, Sagitta meditated and packed energy into his core, pulling the arrow and preparing to shoot it, bow tightly bound. "A single chance…" he whispered "… let it bring an end to this war!" When his unit fired, he waited a split second and fired with absolute aim.
Athena and the Saints did their best to protect themselves and every fighter below, but while she was distracted, that shadow arrow came ripping the very air, shedding pale plasma in its course. The Saints sacrificed their own lives by throwing themselves in front of her, and this meant they were instead struck by the other projectiles; Geki was hit in the shoulder, Jabu in the heel, and the others were either lucky or protected by their Cloths.
It was Ban who suffered the most, as he came the closest to protecting her, and Sagitta's shot spiraled him outwards to be hit three instances, one bolt particularly piercing his heart. It was through that effort above all that Athena was not struck in the heart, for he had sent her off the shot's line, although Thanatos' arrow crashed through her barrier and hit her in the bosom, closely missing its intended target.
Seiya and the others were appalled as they watched the woman fall. Her eyes widened, and in that very instant her Cosmos went from a grand arc to a dense sphere around the site of entry, while an alien energy came from the Temple of Athena, one in no way as strong as hers.
Nonetheless it seemed to inflict massive pain in the goddess. She writhed, convulsed, and groaned out of pain. Watching those brief moments was enough to make the Saints feel the same that the soldiers below felt, if not worse. Pegasus inhumanly traced that arrow's source and blasted off into the distance, followed by colleagues who had not been injured — they did not believe in diplomacy anymore, nor did they long for peace. It was revenge that they were after.
Sagitta scaled down from the tower all the way to his men, but before he could halt the next hail of arrows, the Bronze Saints found their location. Based on the man's position, Seiya recognized immediately that Ptolemy was the one who struck Athena, and so he was the one to be killed.
What ensued was a massacre of the highest degree. The Saints slaughtered every single archer with ease, wrecking the barricade and splattering blood without care, the truest act of cruelty. Shun was the only who avoided this, but being surrounded by mindless killing left him without action. After what those Saints witnessed, they saw themselves in the deepest of tantrums, no reason left in their souls, so a man on his knees pleading for mercy was treated as an enemy like any other.
It was only Sagitta who could put up some semblance of a fight, but Seiya gave him no quarter. Faced with the initial stride, Ptolemy prepared a shot, but Pegasus punched through it and he was forced to let go of the bow entirely. Next came a series of punches which the Silver Saint made the mistake of parrying, and it was clear that he fought not a lesser warrior, but one more powerful than him.
When he attempted to move back, Seiya kicked the man's back and he rolled on the ground, yet when he got up, he felt that something was not right with his spine. Fighting for his life, Sagitta tried to exchange blows, that until Pegasus exceeded any velocity he could reach and struck the enemy's face multiple times. His jaw dislocated with the weight of a strike, and he was fully dazed when he took an ability head on. "PEGASUS METEOR FIST!"
Sagitta was sent skidding off the barricade and onto the street ahead, so Seiya jumped close and loomed over him with a fearsome gaze. It was a demon that Ptolemy met, whereas the Bronze Saint had the view of a bloodied fool, jaw limp, eyes blackened, and skin covered in scratches. Desperate, he clawed back; attempts to breathe came with difficulty under those scarlet-padded nostrils.
"You've made a mistake," Seiya said. "You've struck the true Athena, and I won't forgive you for it."
"W-what?" Ptolemy babbled, experiencing trouble to speak consonants. "It cannot be… the Pope told me that…"
"It's always the same when we try to convince you. Think!" he screamed in return. "If we had nothing to lose, we wouldn't fight! We would've given up on Sainthood months ago!"
The Silver Saint released hopeless sobs, that weight in his spirit being too much to handle. "What… have I done? Lady Athena, my goddess… what have I done? How could I have been so grossly mistaken?" he said.
"You knew the Cosmos you felt, didn't you? We all did! But you were too blinded to recognize the truth."
Not a single man shot any more arrows; they had all fallen, either slain or close to it. The Bronze Saints encircled Sagitta, and he felt judged by each stare. He had failed not only Athena, but his peers, and the entirety of Sanctuary. "I… I was given that arrow by Thanatos, under the Pope's orders. It is tied to his blood, i-it… he told me its powers respond to his own!" he revealed, exchanged more looks and nodded. "The Pope must be defeated, and then perhaps she will have a chance."
"I understand," Seiya said and turned to his allies, some of which began to leave to pass the information to Marin, who had stayed behind. "Then we know well what to do."
"Wait, before you go…" Sagitta called and Pegasus turned before leaving "… I humbly ask that you end my life first, Bronze Saint."
There was seriousness in the young man's expression as he crouched beside that former enemy. "Are you sure?"
"It is a lot to ask, but please…"
"What's your name?"
"Sagitta Ptolemy."
Seiya prepared a knife-handed strike, wherein he put all the Cosmos he could muster. Looking to the floor rather than the target, he concluded: "I hope you find rest, Sagitta Ptolemy." With the fingers, he pierced the man's flesh and finished him off, staining more of the marble with fresh blood. He had no more words, let alone life left in him to express gratitude.
"No!" Shun complained, and his older brother gently held him as he stepped forward. "But it wasn't his fault, he had been fooled!"
"Seiya did him a favor," said Ikki.
Hyoga seemed to put it well into words: "He saw the gravity of his error, so he would've killed himself regardless. It is a greater honor to be killed by another's hand than one's own." These words inspired depressing thoughts, so they observed the body to pay respects before they went back to their friends. Piles of bodies lied behind them, and it dawned on them that, in their savagery, they killed while pinning them with a blame solely the Pope's, and this was an error capable of staining the soul of a person most righteous.
When they returned to the roof, the battle in the streets was done, and the loyalist forces had been entirely annihilated. The toll suffered by the rebels had been significant, but their victory came without doubts. Apart from the soldiers who narrowly ran away or hid in homes, layers of enemy bodies covered the ground, and they were only thankful that Athena was incapable of seeing the results.
Seiya went for Marin, who took care of the goddess' unconscious body. "Marin! We have to go up the Twelve Temples right now!" he said.
"They told me already," she replied. Pegasus came closer and saw how Athena struggled despite her raging Cosmos; her eyes were tightened, skin draped in sweat. "She has been like this for a while now."
Jabu, who sat steps from them with an arrow lodged in the lower leg, spoke up: "Since you'll have to go up there, we should take Lady Athena and Ban to Mu. He took care of Ban before, so he's our best bet."
"Athena's case is nothing like Ban's, unfortunately," Seiya commented.
"Huh?"
Shun came forth to explain: "That arrow seems to be connected to the Pope. We have to defeat him before it's too late."
"Come on, let's lift her up!" Marin ordered, so other Saints put their hands below her to bring her up. "Carefully!"
Ban was lifted too, but he spoke with a muffled, failing voice. "Wait, no…" he said, huffing with difficulty "… don't take me… to Mu."
"Ban, that arrow is deep in your chest! We have to let him take care of you again," argued Jabu, who had gotten up with the aid of Nachi's shoulder.
"No… he should… he should focus on her."
"Ban…"
"Lady Athena's life… is millions… of times more valuable. Just take me… to the medics," he insisted. Jabu and Nachi exchanged stares with Marin, and so she approached those who lifted him before they left.
"You listen to me!" she sternly said. "If you die, I'm going to hunt down your soul in the Underworld! I'll torment you and make you regret ever failing us, do you understand me well?" Ban could not respond with words, as he breathed heavier by the second, and the effort to speak felt as if it sucked all oxygen from the lungs. "Do not die, Ban! I'll make you regret it!" He did the best he could with a nod, and so he was taken off, Jabu, Nachi, Geki, and Ichi following suit.
Seiya and June ran ahead of those who carried Athena, so they rushed into the Temple of Aries with the intent of preparing him for her arrival. They jogged in and looked around the hall, yet saw no sign of anyone. When Pegasus attempted to cross half of it, however, he went face first into the Crystal Wall, almost dropping back afterwards. "Ow!"
"Are you alright?" Chameleon checked on him, and with the tip of the fingers she sensed how solid the wall was. In further inspection, they saw how it subtly scattered the lights of lanterns and stars.
"It's… an invisible wall?" Seiya wondered as he slid a palm over it.
"It must be one of Aries' tricks."
From his quarters, Mu finally came out upon hearing the newcomer's voices, whereas Kiki peeked from behind a corner. "Who goes there?" he questioned.
"We're bringing Athena over, she needs help!" Seiya informed him. "You have to put down this invisible wall!"
"Again, not a person shall pass my temple unscathed. Go back whence you came."
Pegasus snarled and slammed a fist into the Crystal Wall, and somehow he was able to feel it wobble when great force was applied, although it never wavered. "If you don't open up, Athena is going to die!" In his anger, he noticed Kiki's bright, copper hair behind a corner, and recognized him at once. "Kiki, it's you! You remember us, don't you?"
The boy nodded, but kept quiet otherwise. "Do you know these two, Kiki?" his master prompted him.
"Y-yeah! They were the Saints that I met at the mansion," he answered.
"Regardless, this does not change a thing. None shall pass."
"Are you kidding me? I just told you Athena is going to die if you don't open up!" Seiya yelled even louder, but it was obvious that Mu would not allow them, and he seemed to grow more impatient with the disrespect.
A commotion arose behind them when the group carried Athena into the temple. "Steady, come on! Almost there…" a man said, and when they were finished coming upstairs, they rested her onto the marble floor.
"Aries is not letting us pass!" Chameleon told them.
"Yeah, he's blocking us for no reason!" said Seiya.
June turned and lashed out with the whip against the obstacle, although there were no signs of it falling apart. "Let us through right now!"
"Leave and don't come back!" Mu brusquely responded.
"You idiot, you have no idea what's going on!"
It was Shiryu who softened their exaltation: "Calm down. I will speak to him." When he approached the Crystal Wall, Mu smiled at the sight, glad to see him alive after everything he certainly had gone through.
"Shiryu!"
"It's great to finally meet you as the Aries Saint, Mu," he said with a bow.
Aries attempted to explain his perspective: "You are one to understand — it is my duty to protect the passage to the Temple of Athena."
"Of course, but I urge you to reason deeper. Why is it that Gold Saints block the stairway to the Temple?"
"To keep our Lady out of danger," he answered without thought.
It was then that Shiryu stepped back and allowed Mu to put his sights on Athena's body. "You must've felt an immense Cosmos, heard an imposing voice… you can feel the owner of both continuing to fight in that state, right there. The one you see fiercely confronting the gates of death like I did in Jamir is Lady Athena herself!" Shiryu said that with the authority that he gave to his own master, and this seemed to greatly affect Mu. "There is no reason for you to keep us from the Temple if that's not where she resides."
Mu wanted to give in, but still seemed resistant. Kiki, however, had come closer and recognized the girl's appearance, saying: "Miss Saori!"
"Hm?"
"That's the girl I talked about, the one I met at the mansion!"
"So that's her?" Mu squinted, seeing that she was dressed like a typical youth of that social class.
"Yes, it surely is! How can she be a goddess? She just seemed like some rich girl," the boy argued.
Shiryu breathed out in anticipation for a difficult story, and thus he told: "It was Sagittarius Aiolos who protected her from certain death in Sanctuary. She was found with his Cloth and raised in ignorance, until awakened to her true identity. Today is the day she returns to her rightful place. Mu! You know me well enough, you are acquainted with my loyalty, and have witnessed my sacrifice. You also know my master, the sentinel in Rozan — the Libra Saint!" Mu seemed shaken by each and every confirmation he got, but that final one visibly surprised him the most. "For the mutual trust and admiration we have harbored, I compel you to put down this wall!" Dragon said those final words with the harshest tone his friends had ever heard him use.
Silent, Aries lowered the head and raised both palms up. With soft waves, the Crystal Wall dissipated before them, and they were paralyzed as his golden boots stepped over to the place where he crouched: beside the goddess he now recognized with heart and reason. "That Cosmos makes sense now. Here lies our Lady in the flesh," he whispered.
"Do you think you can save her?" Marin asked him.
Mu examined and evaluated the situation; the fact that no blood exited the wound was likely a good sign, but it could be seen that purple tree-like markings appeared beneath Athena's fair skin, extending as far as the neck. For now faint, he imagined that those would worsen, but it made him wonder the nature of the tool used for the deed.
He was close to graze a finger on the arrow's extent when its wicked energy revealed itself, so he was startled and stared in the direction of the Temple of Athena. There was a tether unseen to the living eye, something in the discrete slice that separated consciousness from soul, the well from which emerged Cosmos.
"What's the matter?"
"This arrow…" he muttered and traced back to the artifact "… were you told anything about it?"
Seiya told him: "The guy who shot it said it was connected to the Pope in some way."
"I sense a Cosmos from the throne, yet a horror much worse resides in the curse it feeds," said Aries as he hovered a hand over it. "Here we have a tool most vile, and no medicine may cure it, not until its source is cut off. The tip scantily missed the heart, all the while she fights the corruption with her power, thus there is hope. The proximity, however, rouses my fear that we have little time."
"How much would you say we have?" asked Marin.
"Less than a day."
Pegasus pumped a fist and nearly walked towards the next stairway. "Then we shouldn't waste it here," he said, but his master interrupted him.
"Not so fast. If we don't have trustworthy commanders down here, we might have a bigger problem in our hands. Someone has to stay."
"But who?"
"I'll have Shaina leading the troops to the academy, while I lead troops to the Cult," she said before turning to Phoenix. "I would also prefer that Phoenix stayed in charge of the troops by the temples. Lady Athena seemed to trust your leadership, and you helped us clear the theater very quickly."
Ikki briefly breathed out and crossed the arms. "Let me make one thing clear," he started and nodded towards the fallen goddess, "I owe unconditional loyalty to that woman and no one else. I may stay down here for the time being, but as soon as I feel like going up, I will."
"I plan on going up as soon as I get the chance too," said Marin, "so provided that you make things function before you leave, I don't mind."
Seiya positioned himself ahead and gathered his allies. "It's settled then! Shiryu, June, Hyoga, Shun! We're going up the temples together. Everyone in agreement?"
"Yes!"
"Perfect, so say your goodbyes. Later today, we'll be teaching that traitor a lesson!"