WARNING: Violence, blood, minor gore.

The Pegasus Cloth

"Is my sister coming with me?" a little boy asked the suited men who led him out a children's home. Beyond the perimeter of grass, over the street, an empty black sedan awaited him, no sign of anyone but them. "Where is she?"

"I've already said she's coming," one of the men answered, leading him to the car's door with a soft touch to the shoulder. Although he was not outright rude, he spoke with as much of a hurry as he displayed in their exit. "Come. You'll see her soon."

The kid turned up to them with his brown eyes, walking still uncertain. As thoughts raced through his head, confusion overwhelming him, he began to grow panicked and turned back to the orphanage's entrance, the one where he and his older sister had been raised since he was a baby. "No, I want to see her before I go!" he said.

Noticing that deceit would be useless now, the four suited men grabbed him tightly by the arms. At first they simply pressured him, though soon more force was required. "Hey, she's coming too, just later!"

"Seika! Seika!" the boy continued, louder now, tears streaming down his olive skin.

"Quit the whining, kid. I'm not going to repeat myself!" One of the men lifted him against the body while another continued to hold his small wrists so that he couldn't resist. "We're going!"

With that they shoved him into the backseat of the car, blocking any escape. One of the goons sat at the driver's seat, another in the passenger, and the other two in the back, each by the child's side so that he would not have a way out. "Seika! They're taking me, Seika!"

They turned on the car and drove off, and finally the image of the boy's older sister popped at the entrance, too late for anything but despair. "Seika!" he shouted from the backseat. To his sister, his voice must've sounded muffled. Would that be her last memory of his voice, his last expression to her?

The copper-haired girl, a spitting feminine image of the young boy, hopelessly skipped after the car. "Seiya!" Her tears flowed so immediately, as if she had been surprised by sadness. "Stop! Where are you taking him? Seiya!"

The further distant he was, the smaller Seika became to him, and the smaller the orphanage and the church beside it seemed; the playground, the old tree, the grass, the sidewalk… until Seika was a mere dot, and until his former world was reduced to a long lost dream.

"Seiya. Seiya!" that sound reflected in his skull, at first going quiet, then louder. "SEIYA!"

"AH!" Seiya sat up on the bed at once. Once he looked to the side, there was the image of a woman, copper hair with intricate curls that fell down to the shoulders, and face hidden by a light mask shaped after the features of a Hellenic statue. She wore a single pale pad on her left shoulder, and a breastplate atop a black knitted bodysuit. "Ah, Marin, how many times have I told you not to yell at me to wake me up?"

"If you don't want me to yell, then stop sleeping so profoundly. Do you plan on winning the Pegasus Cloth by snoozing the eve of your last fight away?" Marin's tone was collected, sharp, and to the point.

"That's the way to do it, isn't it? I have to be well-rested if I want to defeat Cassios tomorrow." There was no hope debating someone like her, but he was the kind of fool to try anyway.

So she stood and walked over to the door of the cramped stone home they were in. Seiya could only see her thanks to the lamp lit on top of the room. "Get up if you want a chance at winning. This will be your last day of training, so don't waste it. I will wait outside." Marin threw the door ajar and left. The moonless starry sky revealed their location: they were in the outskirts of Sanctuary.

Seiya sighed and slid both legs off the bed and sheets. "I had that flashback again. It's already been a decade, Seika…"

Once he got up, there was not much for him to put on if not his leather shoes and a shoulder pad held by a strap over the buttoned linen shirt. He put on wrist guards of hardened leather as he walked outside, Marin expecting him with her back to the wall. "Finally. Follow me, we'll have endurance today," she spoke.

As she walked off again, Seiya slumped and complained: "Aw, man… more endurance training?"

Marin's endurance training was often some variation on what he interpreted as torture. When he wasn't forced to work his body out into exhaustion, he endured sparring that seemed to do little but remind him of how much weaker he was than a Saint like her. This day was no exception.

The sparring involved a lot of running from the young man's part, since whenever he overpowered what Marin threw at him, she presented him a greater challenge than before. Training on rocky hills in the outskirts of Sanctuary, Seiya did his best to manage the barrage of punches and kicks that the woman sent his way. Surprisingly, he dodged perfectly for a while, until he saw himself forced to block a punch with the forearm. His following punishment was a tackle from her exposed shoulder, so quick that it broke the sound barrier and sent him far.

Seiya skid his back against the rocks, dust rising and settling slowly. He sat up and stared intently as Marin's menacing shadow moved through the cloud. "She's not even giving me time to recompose!" he said to himself, hurrying to stand on his feet.

"When are you going to strike me?" her voice resounded from that distance.

Seiya trembled. "I can't strike if you give me no…"

"METEOR FIST!" A white flash overpowered the blanket of dust that hadn't cleared up, and hundreds of beams crossed through the boy's body, shoving him back to the ground. As violent as it was, somehow that move was still merciful, as he didn't bleed and remained conscious after.

With a hand to the stomach which took most of the weight of Marin's technique, Seiya groaned and twisted in place. "Ugh… damn it! How do you expect me to fight back?" he groaned.

"Do you think Cassios will play fair with you?" Marin came beside her pupil, helping him up this time. "He is not a merciful foe, you know it. He chopped the head of every opponent he had the chance to, and no one will keep him from doing the same to you if you lose."

"Marin, come on, there's no need to scare me!" he yelled, flustered at the reminder of Cassio's past foes. The cruelty of some aspirants was perhaps unbecoming of Saints in his eyes, though this was only a shallow opinion — just warriors could also be relentless in the battlefield. "I've been winning all of my fights to get here too!"

"But Cassios thinks you are much weaker than him, that you got this far through sheer luck rather than actual power. He will want to play with you before he takes that head on your shoulders as a trophy, and what will you do?"

"How is this helping?"

"You don't understand." Marin turned around, walked a couple steps away, then turned to Seiya again. "It is time to end the training. Show me your Cosmos!"

"Alright… I'll show you what I'm capable of." He stood with legs somewhat apart, pumping his fists as he concentrated. Seiya felt energy flow through his innards, expanding outwards and emanating an aura akin to the outline of a star. As he focused harder, he also began to tighten muscles, veins jumping up from under the skin. Some stones around him floated, crumbling into smaller pieces on their way up, then only falling back down as they reached the peak of Seiya's height.

Marin could sense from where she was the energy the man burned from within. Despite what would've seemed to ignorant eyes like a failed training session, curiously there was no doubt left in her mind. "You are ready," she said, leaving after.

The amphitheater in which Sanctuary conducted its fights was located in a plain grass field, surrounded by other buildings in the same Doric architecture that permeated the region. The many torches and pyres illuminated what the stars and galaxies in the sky could not, revealing many soldiers that sat at the open seating or adjourned to the arcades.

In the center of a group of warriors was Cassios, an olive-skinned man standing much taller than those near him. His undressed broad chest gave way for huge, muscular arms, apart from hands equally large. He wore nothing but linen pants and boots, a strategy to expose his physical strength and make opponents feel unsuitable for the role of a Saint in comparison. With small eyes and black hair cut into a chub on top of his head, he didn't do much to cover how conventionally unattractive he was, the least of his worries.

People marveled at Cassios' physique, but Seiya was mocked. "Another head for the pile!" a trainee called as he passed by. Seiya shrugged it off, as Marin told him to.

Marin, in fact, wasn't even near her apprentice. She sat alone at the lowest bleacher, not showing a sign of tension. Another woman neared, dressed not much unlike Marin, with two darker studded shoulder pads instead of one. Her raven black hair fell down with waves to half her back, sideways bangs falling onto her mask when she stopped walking. The mask was noticeably darker than Marin's, albeit sporting a self-made decoration: black paint smeared over both eyes, forming a straight band from a side of the face to the other.

"Call off the battle. You know very well how this will end for Seiya," she said, and her voice was as fierce as her look.

"Where is this coming from, Shaina?" Marin chuckled as she muttered. "If I call the match off, Seiya will never forgive me."

"I have trained Cassios for a shorter time than you have trained Seiya, yet Cassios has always been a superior fighter in every way. There was not a day when I thought anyone but a Saint like us could overpower him. He cannot be beaten today."

The other Saint shrugged. "Your ignorant assumptions are just that: ignorant assumptions."

"Marin! Cassios is a bloodthirsty, cruel man! Do you really think Seiya's pride is worth more than his life? Avoid unnecessary bloodshed!" Shaina replied with a much angrier tone.

"Focus on coaching your pupils and leave mine to myself. The battle will go on as planned."

"When this is over, remember that I tried to stop it. This is not worth Seiya's head." With the debate over, Shaina went back to Cassios' side to prepare him before the fight was initiated. Whether he was a powerful man or not, there was no doubt his opponent would prove some level of a challenge.

A group of Saints in Cloths opened way for a robed figure. Not unlike every amazon and female Saint, this tall man had on a black mask that hid his identity, its eyes shining with red gems. It was the mask and the golden helmet covering his head that indicated his high rank, the crest of a dragon on top. Said man was the Pope, scouted by armored Silver Saints entrusted as his guards in the grounds of Sanctuary.

The Pope served as a right hand to Athena, and consequently as a buffer between the goddess and most of her followers. At the onset of war, while Athena could not watch over Sanctuary herself, the Pope assumed in command in her absence; as a result, he was often thought of as the wisest and most virtuous of all Saints. In such a crucial and potentially volatile position, his identity was kept secret so as to avoid attempts on his life when he wore plain clothes, and very few at a time knew the face under the shell.

Accompanied by his temporary guard, the Pope sat in a marble chair under a towering platform, a Cloth box placed on top of it. His deep and imposing tone quieted the whole amphitheater down: "The final battle for the Pegasus Cloth will take place here today. Let only the two remaining candidates take the arena. Cassios! Seiya!"

Everyone else evacuated the center and allowed the two combatants alone in it, wose gazes met and refused to divert afterwards.

"As with every battle before this, the rules are unchanged. The victor will be declared once the opponent is either incapacitated or dead." The mockery and disdain most had for Seiya continued, but he kept his determination in face of the enemy, raising fists and preparing. "You may fight now."

Cassios opened a disturbing smile, thinking of the suffering he'd be able to inflict on an enemy he deemed to be so far below him. "Little man, did you hear that right? I can decapitate you like I did every enemy before you!" he sang, his tone gravely and menacing.

Seiya smirked. "Is that so?" he asked. "I doubt you'll still be thinking about taking my head when I'm beating you into a pulp and getting the Cloth for myself."

Already fuming for blood, Cassios slammed a fist against the palm of the other hand, then advanced at Seiya without scruples. "You have a big mouth. I'll shut you up, little man!" Compared to Marin's speed, Cassios was so slow it was pathetic, and he was played with by Seiya from the start. Maybe her sparring had its uses.

Cassios launched his slow strikes, and Seiya dodged every single one, following them with lighter kicks and punches that didn't affect his enemy much, but certainly tired him out and infuriated him further.

With a fast tackle, finally the smaller man was taken to the ground and held down by the throat. Marin crossed her arms at that sight, noticing how Seiya neglected the distance that Cassios could shave down between the two. Grabbed by a warrior much physically stronger than him, he could only attempt to slip away or plan something else.

As the one in his hand writhed and fought to push his thick arm off him, that bloodthirsty grin stamped Cassios' face once more. Seiya looked up, somehow fearless. "You know, you talk so much that you never have the time to listen. Maybe I should chop your ears off. I'd be making you a favor, little man!" Cassios said in between giggles, a hand slowly lifted above the head. "Yeah, yeah, I'll take your ears first, and your head next!"

He raised that hand further up in preparation for a swing, at that point no more struggle shown under him. It seemed to most that Seiya had given in to fate, although Marin did not react whatsoever, sitting in the same position as before. Once the swing came, there was in fact a brief struggle, but soon blood squirted across the floor of the amphitheater in copious amounts.

All of those present, with the exception of the Saints, gasped at the display. Seiya was the one standing, and Cassios curled in the ground in pain, a red stream dripping down the side of his head. "MY EAR! HE TOOK MY EAR!" he screamed.

Seiya, now walking beside the desperate adversary, flaunted a cleanly cut ear between the fingers, then tossed it near where he lied. "Here you go! They might be able to stitch it back up later," he jeered.

"THIS BASTARD! HE TOOK MY EAR!" Cassios hysteria continued, and they could not believe that the man who inflicted such terrible pain onto other aspiring Pegasus Saints became such a fearful rat in face of pain.

"You imbecile! Stop treating the enemy like a toy and fight him for real!" yelled Shaina. It was frowned upon for masters to coach their apprentices in the middle of such a serious battle, but she saw no option, seeing the level of humiliation he underwent. Regardless, a Silver Saint whistled at her as a warning; she had to let the man be responsible for himself.

That was enough to tip Cassios over the edge. Being debased by one he saw as a pesky insect, in front of many of his colleagues and admirers, then being berated by one of the few people he looked up to, the man plunged into a frenzy, charging in with no thought or strategy.

Seiya would not allow the battle to go on for much longer, for, unlike his opponent, he was not as fond of showing off. He focused the mind and remembered certain words Marin offered him many years prior.

"Pay attention," Marin said and waved her hand at the sky in Sanctuary, while a much younger Seiya stargazed in wonder. "All there is is the result of a single creative force. The Big Bang is what released all matter into the forms and positions we observe today. Present in everything and everyone there is a parcel of that potential, which can be tapped into, amplified, and controlled by those well acquainted with it. That is the Cosmos." She looked back down at her pupil. "You must tap into your Cosmos, Seiya. You must learn to make the power of the Big Bang explode inside of you if you wish to become a Saint."

And that is what Seiya did, letting his Cosmos burn high, arguably higher than the last time he did in training. The same shine from before outlined his skin and clothes, light bending slightly around him. That would not be all.

"You don't raise your Cosmos for the sake of it." Marin now taught a teenage Seiya, directing him to strike at a boulder ahead of him. "Much like you put force into the right joints to hit the enemy harder, you have to channel your Cosmos through and out of your body to realize its potential into energy. Without direction, the Cosmos is unrealized potential."

So that's what Seiya did, channeling that Cosmos to the arms and hands, in preparation for a move great enough to mark his certain victory. He had the left fist extended in front of him, and the right arm held to the side.

"Once you're ready, release all of it at once. Do it as I taught, and you will have this fearsome technique in your arsenal. That is the secret behind the…"

"PEGASUS METEOR FIST!" shouted Seiya. A shock wave exploded from his body once he flung himself at Cassios, punches turning into a blur, blow after blow planted on the man's chest and head.

When that much larger man fell covered in bruises and bleeding more from a battered face, Seiya's prediction that he would beat him into a pulp became reality. The audience's awe left them speechless. Some of them even questioned if Cassios, the one who so far seemed invincible, was still alive.

"No way…" Shaina muttered, taking a step back at the sight of the boy's true ability. He had not shown a fraction of that throughout the competition.

Finally, Marin unfolded the arms and sighed, walking up to Seiya. "There was no need to show off with the ear thing," she whispered between the teeth.

He laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his hair, saying: "Sorry, I got carried away for a bit. That guy is such a pain, you know? And with how many people he killed..."

Before the occasional chatter grew too loud, and seeing that Cassios was no longer getting up, the Pope announced the obvious victor: "Having won the final battle, Seiya, we award you the Pegasus Cloth as proof of your Sainthood! Congratulations!"

Three of the Silver Saints accompanying the Pope grabbed the box off its pedestal and placed it in front of their new colleague, who couldn't help but smile joyously. "That's awesome! Thank you so much!"

"Pegasus, before you leave…" the Pope continued ere the boy ran home with the prize, as he was wont to do "… beware what you do with this Cloth, which was forged to guard the life of the one under its constellation. Saints are protectors of our Lady Athena, and also fight for love and justice in her name. Our personal desires are always secondary to these duties. As such, you are forbidden from wearing the Cloth for your own gain!"

Seiya nodded and agreed. "I swear I'll remain loyal to my duties as a Saint!"

Once the guidance and ceremony came to an end, Seiya took the Pegasus Cloth to the stone hut he inhabited with his master. He was quite excited at the prospect of seeing the Cloth in action, and couldn't stop fawning over the adornments on the box, admiring the Pegasus sign in the middle of each face and the swirls raised off the metal. He oft tried to sneak fingers in between the metal, prying to take a gander inside without pulling the handle that held the box closed.

"Don't even think about it," Marin interrupted him with that sternness of hers. She was reading a book while lying down in one of the beds of the house, resting during the quiet afternoon of Sanctuary. Her pupil flinched and turned to her with a guilty smile. "You heard the Pope: we only use our Cloths with good reason."

"Ah, sorry, Marin… I'm just really excited. I can hardly believe I'm finally a Saint!"

"I am glad for you, however, being a Saint is a serious and dangerous ordeal. Never forget that. Not all of your fights will be a breeze like the one with Cassios," Marin said.

"You're so cold! I'm allowed to be happy about this. I've been training with you for years, and it wasn't easy, let me tell you!"

Marin got off the bed and made her way to the door. "You're right," she said, opening it and halting a second before leaving, "congratulations, Pegasus." Seiya smiled even more brightly at those words. He would have to get used to the treatment, it seemed.

The unfortunate truth is that the young man who became the Pegasus Saint was a stubborn one, and a curious one at that too. His ignorance of the importance of that new role was also a factor in the upcoming stupid decision, yet he thought it would've been worth sneaking far to pry the box open without Marin's permission. It couldn't be that bad of a sin if no one got hurt, he believed.

Convinced of his own wisdom, Seiya strapped the box around the back and walked out into the artificial mountains of Sanctuary, where it would take a while for the master to find him. She was a fast one, but he would've had enough time to check out the Cloth before she got to him. Placing the box down on the ground, he wondered if activating it was as simple as pulling on the handle that kept the box shut. Before he was able to test the theory, a familiar voice came from behind him, and he turned startled, back forced against the box.

"So, Seiya." Shaina had one foot over a taller rock, a few centimeters above him.

"Sh… Shaina!" he babbled. That was the master of Cassios, the one he had just beaten for the Cloth behind him. He did not expect kind words from one such as her, especially after chopping the man's ear clean off the head.

"Perhaps Cassios is not fit to be a Saint, but I am skeptical of you as well. You are as much of a bumbling moron as he is," she didn't hold back in the harsh words.

"Hey, I won the Cloth fair and square, and the Pope said it's proof that I'm a Saint! Whether you want to admit it or not, that changes nothing."

Shaina cackled at his words. "Really?" She jumped off the rock to now be level with the young man, who feared her intentions. "This year I have seen such excuses for warriors becoming Bronze Saints... sure, you won the competition, but I doubt the Cloth will accept you if you put it on."

"That's an interesting theory, Miss Shaina. Can I leave now?"

"Idiot, treat me with respect!" The female Saint pointed aggressively at the box with the long, pointy fingernails of her right hand. "Prove to me you are qualified to be the Pegasus Saint. Wear your Cloth now!"

Looking left and right, Seiya was at a loss. The situation he was in felt scary, yet he didn't want to give in. Sighing out a chuckle and scratching the back of the head in exasperated thought, this was all he could come up with: "To be honest with you, I have no idea how to put the Cloth on. Sorry about that! Maybe later?"

"What?" She stomped a boot against the ground in disbelief. "Do you think this is a joke? Put the Cloth on, Seiya!"

"Ah, come on! You know, if I could put on the Cloth, I would've tried by now!" He waved down at the box. "It's useless anyway. Marin told me that I should only put it on if I had a good reason. I won't try the Pegasus Cloth out just for fun."

Slowly but surely, Shaina brought her right hand towards Seiya, nails pointed downwards like claws. She hadn't bought his excuse, and for some reason he realized he was in real danger now, not merely in an uncomfortable conversation. This wouldn't be like being hit by Marin; this was not a Saint who would hold back for his sake. "Then I'll give you a good reason," the woman spoke.

"No, wait!"

"THUNDER CLAW!" A strong blast of wind hit Seiya from the side, due to something moving too fast for him to properly perceive. The terrifying noise of sparks exploded and just as quickly subsided, followed by the sound of metal striking metal.

When his eyes were done blinking, he noticed Shaina was steps further away from him, and the image of Marin occupied her former place, red hair wildly flowing. He saw that the two pushed each other away while he yet comprehended what had taken place. "Have you fallen so low so as to attack a rookie, Shaina?" Marin asked.

"There is no such thing as a rookie Saint. Either you are one or you are not," she said.

"And what will you get from doing this?"

"If your beloved student is to be a Saint, then he has to put on his Cloth to prove he is truly qualified. Being accepted by a Cloth is the greatest evidence of Sainthood, is it not? Having his life threatened is a great reason to wear it." Having said that, Shaina was relieved when Marin lowered arms and stepped to the side slowly.

"You have a point," Marin surprisingly replied. "You may attack him as long as he has a chance to defend himself. No more surprise attacks."

Seiya frowned and called out, finding this absurd: "Marin, are you crazy? She's definitely going to kill me! She's a psycho!"

His master continued walking until she was behind Seiya, taking a seat on a higher rock to watch whatever would ensue. "Eh… you're strong enough to survive a little bit of a fight with her."

"I can't fight with her!"

The other Saint mocked him: "Something the matter? Is the supposed Pegasus Saint afraid of his first real fight?"

Seiya turned to Shaina, fists raised forward in revolt rather than as a display of his will to battle. "It's nothing like that! I can't hit a woman, that's not right!" he said.

Marin instantly rested the forehead on a hand, while Shaina took a few instants to process what she heard and laugh aloud. "How many excuses can this idiot come up with?" the woman spoke between breaths.

"It's not an excuse, I'm serious! Women are not meant to fight. I can't allow myself to hit you, Miss Shaina."

She stopped her laughter and raised the claws yet again. "Now that is just insulting. Fine, I will give you no choice," she said and, almost immediately after, lunged at him at a speed much beyond that of sound.

That was a formidable foe for Seiya, a trained Silver Saint with attacks fierce enough to maim him were he not careful. When he tried to dodge, she outsped him and blocked his passage without fail. She would give him left jabs to push him away, right scratches to tear his skin, then severe punts to the body, one of which threw him sliding across the ground.

With the opening and knowing that Marin would not interfere, she went for it: "THUNDER CLAW!" Strings of lightning broke through air all the way from her nails to his exposed skin. It was enough to tear through some of his clothing, ultimately ripping out some blood across the chest and wrists. He was launched with the force, back against the Cloth and struggling to find strength. From there Shaina walked over to him and stared at his sorry state, shaking her head in disappointment. "I could end you here, at this very moment, and you did not bother raising your fist at me like you did to Cassios. If women cannot fight, then how can a woman be so strong as to end you this quickly?"

"You are not that wicked, striking another Saint while he's down," Marin interjected.

"Saint? Saint where?" Shaina countered. "It seems the Cosmos he showed us in the arena was nothing but a fluke. From where I stand, he looks like a normal man. How pitiful." Once more she raised her right hand at the fallen one, although now he insisted on trying to stand. "An ordinary man will do nothing but suffer living as a false Saint. As much as this pains me, he is better off taking my claw in his last instants."

Dragging himself somewhat further, Seiya extended an arm and reached to grab the handle in the box, albeit hesitating a moment. Faced with those terrifying claws, he didn't think again. It was either taking such an opportunity, or accepting certain death.

"THUNDER CLAW!" Before lightning speared through his body once more, a blinding light filled the mountain, followed by a flash that covered the proximity in veils of debris.

Shaina had been pushed back, and once visibility was regained, the image of Seiya in the Cloth became clear, arms defensively crossed in front of his face. It was the light-shaded wrist guards of Pegasus that took the brunt of her attack. As he lowered both hands, the ornate breastplate extending around the shoulders, and the winged circlet on his head were also revealed, pristine like the newest of polished metals.

No doubt remained with how the Cloth responded. "You are… the Pegasus Saint!" Shaina exclaimed and stood in excitement. "This is finally getting interesting. Pegasus, do to me as you did to my apprentice! Give me a taste of your strongest move!"

"I already told you that I won't hit a woman!"

"Still with this ideology?" Once more she launched herself at Pegasus, this time with a high kick he defended well with the arms. It was undeniable, however, that Shaina far surpassed his abilities, and he had trouble holding his balance. "Unless you do as I tell you, this place will be your grave!"

She landed a couple more hits, most of which were well defended, the damage absorbed by the Cloth wherever possible. Nonetheless, there was only so much the Cloth could do to protect its wearer, and as Seiya was thrown about, the pain continued to needle into his system whenever her claws, fists, and boots struck him directly in the flesh.

"Why?" Every time he fell to the ground, he dared still stand, and each time again Shaina gave him a beating. "Why, Shaina? Why all of this?" he lamented.

"There is no why! You hit me or I will not quit!" With that she swung claws back, preparing for a move that could surely put that man in a dying state. Suddenly, she sensed a Cosmos rise, clearly Seiya's, and so she stopped and chuckled under the mask. "Oh, did you change your mind, or should I deliver the final blow?"

"If this is what I must do… I'm sorry," he said, methodically anticipating a strike of his own. The way which he pulled a fist back mimicked the technique he was taught by Marin, the one he used to put his previous foe down. "I'll do as you say, Miss Shaina. PEGASUS METEOR FIST!"

Hundreds of beams marched at Shaina like stars. She could see their every position, then dodge with little movements in the blink of an eye. The drag of the attack was such that Pegasus passed over behind the female Saint, and she turned to him with a snark. Satisfied yet unimpressed, she preemptively commented: "Is that really what took Cassios…"

She paused. The sound of metal falling onto the ground hinted at something impressive that she had not taken into account, so she turned the head and noticed pieces of her left shoulder pad crumbling to dust. Had that not been enough, on the same side, her mask lost pieces of its own, enough to lose its grip and drop it, which briefly unveiled her sacred face.

When Seiya turned to find if he had succeeded, he took a glimpse of Shaina's features: a youthful woman with a skin so light, shapely small lips, a slim nose with a straight bridge, and large round eyes, hazel irises reflecting the stars so hypnotically. Buried in his memories was something in connection to that face; he knew her, but he wasn't sure from where. Disregarding how nostalgic she appeared, one could not ignore the sinful sensation of admiring the beauty of a female Saint's face, bare as it should not be; his cheeks burned at her sight, and he kept looking through curiosity alone, since his guts told him to stare away.

She turned her face, that neither Pegasus nor Marin could see it, crouching to grab the damaged mask. "We are done here," was all she had to say. The amazon left towards no direction in particular, and as soon as Marin went over to Seiya, she harshly slapped him across the face without warning.

"Ow! Marin, what was that for?" he shouted in frustration. "Hitting me like that when you're the one who made me fight Miss Shaina!"

"Never look directly at the bare face of a female Saint again. Do you hear me right? Never!" It was rare to hear Marin so furious, so Seiya did nothing but nod obediently.

"Okay, okay…"

"Let's go, it's getting late."

Pegasus stored the Cloth once again and strapped it to his back, wounds feeling more uncomfortable now that they were less fresh. He and Marin began making their way to the hut, and he couldn't help but remember Shaina's face, as sinful as it yet sounded. It was not only her soft beauty, more the familiarity that attracted his thoughts.

"You are still imagining a female Saint's face," Marin assumed, reading him as she did her books.

"N-no, it's just… I expected Shaina to look more like an ugly witch under that mask, but she really is just a girl. She even seems my age."

"As young as she might be, it is wrong to try and look at a female Saint's face. I advise you to erase that image off your head."

Seiya mumbled: "It will be sort of hard."

"What did you say?"

"Huh? Uh, nothing! Uhm… I was thinking, yeah! I have to make a trip back to Japan soon!"

"I remember that. That is why they brought you all the way here, if I remember correctly."

"Yeah."

"I don't get it. Why would they have you take the Cloth all the way to Japan anyway?"

Seiya was lost in thought as he looked up at the stars in Sanctuary. It had been a long time since he last saw the moon, the sun, the clouds... Earth almost felt like a distant world at that point, from how estranged he had become from it. The idea of returning felt strange; even his skin, he thought, would be at odds with the daylight. Still, it seemed he had no choice, and another obligation besides Sainthood required him. "I have a duty with someone, and it's finally time to settle it."