WARNING: Mild violence.
Bullfighting
The Bronze Saints left the Temple of Aries behind, and those who stayed back prepared for the continuation of the war below. The stairway to Taurus, from its usual peace, was assaulted by the sight of Seiya and his friends racing past the sound barrier. Their power had achieved an unprecedented refinement, such that it took them less than a minute to reach the entrance of their destination. Whether this ability would be adequate to face Sanctuary's ultimate elite, however, yet stood to be tested.
It was Pegasus who first reached the temple, initially taking the view of the bull's sign above, then observing that its interior looked somewhat darker than Mu's. When the others arrived thereafter, he nodded at it. "It looks empty, but there should be someone in there, right?" he asked.
"It's dark enough that Taurus might be hiding," said Shun.
They agreed to walk inside and took note of how empty the hall was, from where they could see the two other passages on the sides, one presumably to the quarters and another to a bathroom. The way forward, however — where they expected to meet an exit — was fully shadowed; the one structure within was a central marble stand, and atop it was a pot that carried a poor flower.
Since the Saints felt unsafe and looked at all sides as they advanced, Seiya did not notice he approached and bumped the stand, and soon it was obvious that it was not attached to the floor, despite being quite heavy. The flower pot would've tumbled over, if not for him saving it in time. "Careful," Hyoga warned him, so he giggled awkwardly, gulped, and continued on.
He went forward and decided to plunge himself into the darkness, towards the path to the next stairway, and thus he bumped against something else. This thing was much taller, so he went face first into metal and bounced back to the floor like a toy. When Seiya's eyes looked up, a towering outline made him feel so threatened that he crawled back before getting up.
"Th-that's…"
The Gold Saint who walked into the light was Aldebaran himself, the guardian of the Temple of Taurus, donning the Cloth of its namesake. The man was crossarmed and cursed with the grumpiest of expressions, unlike the lighthearted friend he was to his fellows. "You're not Mu," he mumbled.
"Ah, y-you must be Taurus. Mu sent us up, you know, he's helping Athena right now, but he needs us to go speak to the Pope. It's a long…"
Seiya's voice was overpowered by Aldebaran's, who spoke: "None of you are allowed past me."
Pegasus raised an eyebrow, and the others were visibly frustrated, wondering if this would be a common trend going forward. "Wait, you don't understand! It's a matter of life and death for Athena!"
"My words still stand."
Shiryu stepped forth in the hopes that he would have the same success as before. "What Seiya says is true," he confirmed, "Lady Athena was struck by a cursed arrow, and the Pope has the key to save her."
"I won't repeat myself," Aldebaran reiterated.
"Whatever!" Seiya exclaimed. "We knew we were going to have to fight anyway! I didn't think it would be this early, but I don't care. I'll get you out of our way, Taurus!"
To that the Gold Saint laughed out loud, something the Bronze Saints did not expect. "Pretty full of yourself for a Bronze Saint, kid!" he said, and for that moment his grumpy surface broke, perhaps because Seiya's attitude aroused some competitiveness in him.
"You called me what?"
"You heard me right, but don't worry, I at least admire the courage. You want through, I'll let you through, as long as you pass my test."
Pegasus sighed and nodded in accordance. "Alright, what's it about?"
Momentarily uncrossing the arms, Aldebaran pointed to one of the horns on his helmet. "Take one of my helmet's horns, and the passage is all yours," he proposed.
Not believing the simplicity of the challenge, Seiya squinted and looked around in disbelief. "Eh, for real? That easy?"
"I wouldn't count on it being easy," Taurus said, "so why don't you give it a try?"
Pegasus outstretched both arms to signal his allies to scatter. "I'll do it, give me some space," he asked.
"We can't waste time, Seiya. Every hour here is an hour closer to Lady Athena's death!" Shun warned him, but his friend grinned and shook a hand in their direction.
"Calm down. I'll keep him busy, then you guys can run right past him, no big deal," he told them, and although the Bronze Saints thought it a great idea, Aldebaran smiled at their naivety.
So Pegasus stared at the opponent and flared up with Cosmos, which his friends — now spread out through the hall — followed suit. "Go ahead," Taurus said.
A burst of energy exploded from Seiya's boots, so he flew with a knife-handed strike towards the helmet. From every direction, the other Bronze Saints strode at random to explore any potential gap towards the exit, with June daring jump over that lofty man. Aldebaran, however, exploded with a sudden concentration of a bright Cosmos, and his whole body flashed white.
With that, not only did Seiya somehow miss the objective by a long shot, but he felt his body be knocked back slightly with the fastest of touches. The others saw themselves blocked by Taurus in a diversity of manners, struck back to the ground each time. June, in fact, was launched up somehow, which forced her to step off the ceiling and land safely near the center.
She helped some of her fallen friends, and Seiya, who had gotten up by himself, took note of how Aldebaran didn't seem to move from that starting position. "He… he didn't even move his arms!" he observed.
"I think it all happened at the speed of light," Hyoga said.
"That was a dreadful attempt, everyone, truly disappointing stuff. It seems you won't reach the Pope alive if I give way," said Aldebaran, his tone somewhat more serious despite the sarcastic jabs.
Seiya grunted. "That was just a single try, big guy. I have a bunch of tricks up my sleeve," he told.
"Well, I'm eager to see them," the other responded with a smile, "so bring it on!"
Brows furled, Pegasus burned Cosmos in an instant this time, using everything that he had learned with the training under Shaina. To an ordinary eye, what came next was a true disappearance of the Bronze Saint; nonetheless, Aldebaran followed him and knew that he had skipped to the side of the temple.
The others were late, but they weaved in multiple directions in attempts of distraction or sensory overload. Seiya jumped off a wall, then off another opposing side to fly in Taurus' direction, yet when he came close enough, he was nonchalantly swatted off with a single hand.
In order to stop the others, Aldebaran bumped June away with a shoulder, then swatted Hyoga with the other arm, then pushed Shiryu off with both palms. Shun, who noticed no way out, landed safely and did not bother spending any more energy.
Each fall was more painful this time, seeing that the added effort meant a more active attempt in keeping them out. The harshness was so great that Seiya wiped drool off the corner of the mouth on the way up to his feet.
"Was that one of your tricks? I saw no difference," Aldebaran teased him specifically.
"Is that so?" Despite their failure, Seiya didn't seem any more angered, and instead pointed towards the man's chest. "Then how do you explain that?"
"Hm?" He looked down and saw nothing different about his golden cuirass. "What?"
"You had your arms crossed the first time, but now you've finally moved them," he said, so Taurus did confirm his arms now hanged loose beside him, for he had to exert a greater endeavor to push them back the second instance.
Therewith he looked at his own hands and laughed in earnest. "Of course, of course!" he agreed. "I'll admit it required more effort this time around, but you won't win by doing that."
"I don't care, I won't give up no matter what!"
While they talked, the others walked about the hall to find more diffused positions, and in that moment, Shun also touched the central stand and brushed an elbow against the flower pot. He turned and fixed it in place, and once he looked back to Taurus, he saw a hint of annoyance, momentarily pointed at him.
Before a plan could be devised in Andromeda's head, that headlong Seiya initiated the next attempt. All of the Bronze Saints meandered intricately around the room in a complex dance, and once more someone brushed over the pot, an act now getting on Aldebaran's nerves.
However, when they approached, he swatted them off one by one with extraordinary ease. Pegasus felt as if he came close to slipping an index onto the right horn, but Aldebaran so cautiously raised an elbow as to send him backwards, straight to the floor.
"Ugh… damn it," the young Saint complained. "It looked like I was so close!"
"It's impossible. He's too powerful, just like Aiolia," Shun commented.
When Seiya had finished standing, he countered Shun with determination. "Athena and the whole of Sanctuary need us to succeed, so if it's impossible, we'll have to make a miracle!"
With eyes closed and a more wicked smile, Aldebaran shook the head to each side. "No, no. You have spirit, boy, but that's not enough. You lack one thing," he claimed.
"I think I know what you're talking about."
"Do you?"
"It's the Seventh Sense, isn't it?"
"Hm, more knowledgeable than I'd imagine."
Shiryu spoke next: "We were taught how to achieve it, but did not have enough days to get the kinks sorted out."
"Tough luck," the Gold Saint lamented and pointed to the helmet once more. "Without the Seventh Sense, I doubt you'll be able to get a hold of one of these horns."
Seiya tightened a fist and gritted his teeth in frustration. "If it's the Seventh Sense I need, I'll learn it now just to have that horn!" he said.
At that moment it became clear to Taurus that Seiya was not one to give up, but best of all, he could quite easily be riled up when belittled. This was on the one hand amusing to him, and on the other potentially useful. "Give up and go back," the Gold Saint demanded.
"I won't!"
"You're not good enough, kid. You'd die on your way up."
"I'll never give up on protecting Athena!"
Aldebaran forced a repulsed pout. "Hm, a weak one such as you would only be an obstacle. You can't grab one of my horns, but you dream of somehow reaching the Pope, past other Saints that would never be as charitable as me or Mu. Just give up and go home," he said.
"You… you…" Seiya angrily growled and rose his Cosmos to its maximum, but even that was clearly not enough. Seeing how infuriated he had become, his allies prepared for another surprise advance, but he still had words to speak. "You called me a what?"
"A weak one. Courage without power is just foolishness. You're probably an obstacle even to yourself, by the looks of it."
Fury had slowly begun to envenom Pegasus' intentions, so he sought to mediate them and shut the eyes into brief meditation. Those insults echoed in him more as truths that he wished to overcome. "An obstacle to myself," he thought. "If I'm an obstacle to myself, how can I get over it?" The deeper he thought about the merit in Aldebaran's words, the more he felt as if his body floated.
He imagined himself swept by a sea of stars and galaxies, and when he thought to open the eyes, he saw the back of a youth. He, too, seemed to wear the Pegasus Cloth, and apart from what he believed to be slightly longer hair, everything else seemed to fit the one he always saw in the mirror, though seen from a side previously unseen.
"Huh? I think that's me," he murmured, squinting from the bizarre estrangement that view gave him. It was at that moment that Shun's words on the Seventh Sense returned to him: "A new perspective, this is it! A new perspective! I'm an obstacle because I'm limited to the same perspective of always. It all makes sense now. If I can see beyond myself — no, if I can look back into myself, I can do much more!" He came back to reality as if resurfacing from that luscious space, and with the gaze aimed at the horn, he had a sure smile. "I can do this."
"Doubt it," Aldebaran teased him some more, so Seiya frowned and kept his Cosmos peaking at its dwarfed maximum. The Gold Saint was seemingly unafraid, but somehow he felt that Pegasus posed a newfound threat.
Promptly, the Bronze Saints initiated their swerving and bouncing movements, diligently followed by Aldebaran's eyes. Seiya was tracked at every moment, that being until Hyoga and June flew ahead of him and blocked his image; from that point onward, Taurus could no longer tell the boy's location. "Hm?"
A blinding line of light crossed him, so he attempted a desperate response. A slight pressure on his helmet ensued, something he could no longer control. Although this occurred, the other Bronze Saints were slow and well within reach, so he tapped them off to the floor.
The blurred shines disappeared, and finally Seiya came back to view, having landed right ahead. The sound of hard metal rolling on marble echoed in the following silence, and he feared that the boy had finally done it. While Aldebaran was stumped, the fallen Saints were inquisitive of the sound; when the first looked down to the source of the noise, he noticed a piece of a golden horn swinging back and forth.
Seiya turned back and dove in to take a hold of it, so that his success wouldn't be stolen by any technicality. "I… I did it!" he yelled. "I did it! I got the horn!"
"What happened?" June asked in utter confusion.
No one had any words apart from Seiya, who jumped up and flaunted the horn to the temple's guardian. "Take that, big guy! And you said I was weak! How does it feel, huh? A Bronze Saint beat you! I win, you lose!" he went on and on amid giggles.
Aldebaran further confirmed his defeat by feeling the lack of the tip on the helmet, then opened a satisfying grin. "Good job. I was wrong after all, you're quite strong, maybe strong enough to be a Gold Saint," he admitted.
Seiya laughed and pointed, but once he noticed that the man became nice about the challenge, he stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Oh… you're okay with it?"
"Yeah, you proved me wrong. It's wise to admit when you've learned a lesson."
The Bronze Saint looked down at that horn piece and thought hard about what had taken place. "You're right…" he said and scratched the back of his head awkwardly "… and I guess I learned a lesson today as well. Thanks, Taurus! You're actually cool!"
Aldebaran patted the other's shoulder quite heavily, which made him tremble with the force. "Ah, don't mention it! You can call me Aldebaran! Now go on, kid, the path to Gemini is yours for the taking," he said and stepped away from the passage.
"Great!" The eager Pegasus left the horn in Taurus' palm and walked out without issue. Behind him, Chameleon awkwardly shrugged and decided to go on too.
"Thank you, Mister Aldebaran!" she said, but once close enough, she was blocked by his large arm and turned to him in a dazzle.
"Oh-oh-oh, no, ma'am." The Gold Saint pushed her slightly back and retook the position in front of the passage.
"Eh? But we got your horn like you told us!"
"No, you didn't; he did. The rules of the game are that you get to pass if you get a horn, so the rest of you are still stuck in here with me."
"I can't believe it!"
Seiya had turned back upon noticing the passage had been blocked once more, so he asked: "What do we do?"
"Seiya, just go on without us," Shun said. "It's not necessary that we all reach the Pope, just one of us is enough. The quicker we are, the better."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Don't worry about us, we will do our best to catch up."
Seiya breathed deeply and accepted the terms. "I'll see you guys later then," he wistfully said.
"See you, Seiya." With that he blasted into great speeds to the Temple of Gemini, and the remainder was left behind to struggle with Aldebaran's challenge some more, who had taken back to the crossed arms and grumpy maw.
"Seems it's your turn," the Gold Saint commented.
But June couldn't shrug off something in the back of her head; with a negative nod, she questioned him: "Wait, this is total nonsense, though! How are we all supposed to pass if you only have one horn left?"
To that Aldebaran shut the eyes and lifted a hand to scratch the squary jaw. He had a few silent seconds, which the Bronze Saints impatiently awaited. "Good point," he mumbled as if enlightened, "I hadn't thought of that."
They all slumped and groaned at the response, as they expected a Gold Saint to be more thoughtful of his proposals. "The elite of Sanctuary, huh?" Shun whispered.
"But I suppose it's fine to bend the rules of the game!" said Taurus. "Any of you get the horn, the four of you pass through. It'll be plenty difficult without that boy."
"I don't know why you hold us back this way, but it's better than an actual fight," Andromeda mentioned while they all spread into position.
"And you have to admit it's kind of fun!" Aldebaran said. June only tilted her head in response, and the others gave little else. Readied, they raised energies and focused on their goal, that being the horn; it was only Shun who took position nearer the entrance, instead eyeing the flower pot in the center. "Go on."
It was as soon as those words came that Hyoga advanced with wonderful velocity. With it, the other Saints returned to their confusing yarns about the temple, all of which could be perceived by Taurus.
Shun sent both ends of the Andromeda Chain, the square curving in the air with no aim, while the circle formed a parabola on the floor and concluded by flipping up and tipping over the pot. Aldebaran's eyes widened and his body flashed in place, thereafter appearing to grab the falling flower, something Shiryu took advantage of by striding from behind and striking his back with the shield.
Taurus was off-center but in control of his balance, however, Hyoga came from the side and sent a barrage of ice his way. "DIAMOND DUST!" Forceful crashes of snowy wind encased the Gold Saint's armored legs, but this wasn't all that they brought to the table.
Shun still used the square end of the chain from the opposite side, revealing its aimlessness as a ruse, and thus it returned in the hardest of angles to cut the remaining horn with Cosmos and thunder. In that split second of Aldebaran's slowdown, the lightning was capable of not only reaching the piece, but splitting it off and sending it into a seemingly random direction.
June had noticed the separation, and so at the same time that the Gold Saint sped back to block the exit — movement that reduced Cygnus' frost to smithereens — she flipped above and grabbed it in the free hand.
The end result was messy; Hyoga landed on his side, Shiryu was nipped on the shoulder by Aldebaran's return and spun down, June rolled as she landed but kept the goal secure. It was only Shun who remained standing at the entrance, both surprised that his plan functioned and fearful of that huge man's reaction.
Both he and Aldebaran had mouths parted agape. "What made you think of that?" the Gold Saint asked after tense seconds.
"Uhm… I thought… I thought I had seen your expression shift when I bumped the flower last round," the boy answered.
"Observant too…" he muttered and checked down on the flower, which he now carried in his arms.
"Is it alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, it looks intact."
"I'm sorry, I just had to try it. We can't afford being held back any longer."
"Don't feel guilty about it, boy! It's my fault for placing it in the middle of the temple," Aldebaran said.
June had stood and showed him the horn between two fingers, saying: "So you'll let us through now, right?"
"I have to, it's what we agreed upon, but I didn't expect it to go down this way," he answered, so the Bronze Saints sighed in relief. "Before you go, though, I should leave you with words of caution. Without the Seventh Sense, you're incredibly unlikely to survive the path to the Pope, and do not take this as an insult! I say it because I'm on your side."
"On our side?" Hyoga asked.
"Mu explained to me the strange things that have been going on. He let you pass, didn't he?"
"Yes. He's taking care of Lady Athena at the moment."
"That explains that huge Cosmos from before. He said that if he allowed you to see me, I should give way, but I didn't plan on giving you passage unless you showed me the Seventh Sense. I found that would be too irresponsible on my part."
"So that means Seiya has…" Shun wondered for a second, and his friends seemed in disbelief.
"N-no way!" June babbled. "You really think he used the Seventh Sense just then?"
Aldebaran nodded in confirmation. "There's no other way to explain it. Something about that boy tells me he's special, but what matters is that none of you are ready for what you're about to face, only he is."
Shun tightened the chains in hand and spoke with absolution: "We will go up anyway! Lady Athena needs us to succeed, and we will do our best."
"No disagreement there, you should go to at least take my warning to Seiya, as you are sure to meet him along the way."
"Only if the next Gold Saint holds him back too," Shiryu assumed, but Aldebaran seemed to disagree.
"The one you would face is Gemini Saga, the oldest and most powerful Saint that I know of. I say would, because he's not actually in his temple. Saga has vanished," he explained.
"Vanished? How could that be?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, but I do know his Cloth still guards the path, and his illusions are as alive as ever. Even I wasn't allowed passage and got attacked, so something tells me you'll be denied too. Seiya should be caught in Saga's mind traps at this very moment."
"Then we have to go help him!"
Taurus finally moved away from the exit, telling them: "You're free to go. Don't take any longer."
"Thank you, Aldebaran!"
"Good luck. I'll make sure to keep things safe down here, and if I'm allowed, I'll go after you to help." Each and every Bronze Saint passed, lastly June, who was once more interrupted by the Gold Saint. This time, instead of pushing her back, he spread a palm towards her. "Ma'am, may I have my horn back?"
June blithered and laughed awkwardly in response. "Oh, wow, I thought I could just keep it! You know, as a souvenir!" she said, and indeed she thought of keeping it as a trophy to brag about to her colleagues.
"Not at all. I'll ask Mu to repair it later," said Aldebaran.
"Sure, here you go," she handed him the piece with a bright tone and demeanor, although after she muttered a half goodbye, she slouched in defeat.
Seiya had indeed already reached the Temple of Gemini, and already tread through its chilling, dark entrails. It was the dimness that estranged him the most, apart from the bizarre structure, a single corridor cut only by a row of pillars.
He strained his eyes and attempted to find an exit at the end of the long hallway, to no avail. From where he stood, only pitch black was visible. "I want to speed through, but maybe I shouldn't," he said to himself. "Who knows where this Gemini guy might be hiding…"
The shapes and markings on the corners of the walls took his attention, that being where the torches and lanterns allowed him to see. Passing by a particular location, the same sense of déjà vu that once took hold of Aldebaran now did him, so he raised the brow in surprise, as it would've been impossible for him to have been there in the past. He stopped and scanned around some more, but continued forth after a while.
Eventually he saw that the single row of pillars instead split into two, and having passed between the first parallel pair of pillars, he looked at the edge of the new hallways, which formed a forty five-degree angle. "Oh, I got to pick a path. Aaah, if only I had looked at the temples some more back then, I could've planned for this!" he complained. He studied left and right, always attempting to tell what lied in the distance of the forking directions, and for each he saw the light of stars and galaxies cast over marble flooring. "Hm? But… both paths seem to lead outside…"