WARNING: Blood, violence.
The Knights of Darkness
The mansion's garden was a well of memories for the orphans who were trained therein, the place where they experienced many of the key moments in their lives. It was no different to Shun, him being drawn to a particular corner after seeing his big brother. He crossed past the fountain, the flowers, and then into a deep range of trees before a large natural fence. In there, a particular tree was his target, its trunk considerably thicker than the ones around it. Slightly above head height, interesting deformations on the bark were immediately clear, as if something had hammered against it for days on end to permanently scar it.
Coming out of a sudden meditation, Shun sighed and caressed the depressions in the bark until he noticed someone approaching. To his surprise, it was Hyoga who closed in. "Hello, Hyoga." he said to him. "I did not expect to see you out here so early."
"Good morning. What's the matter?"
"Oh, nothing. I was reminded of this place and decided to visit it." Shun's glance returned to his previous point of interest.
Hyoga stared at the marks and unraveled memories his own, assuming what brought the boy there in the first place. "Ikki used to come here all the time, if I remember correctly," he remarked.
"He would spend hours punching this tree until his knuckles were calloused. When I asked why, he said that getting used to the pain was the only way to become stronger."
Cygnus grunted in response and crossed the arms, analyzing the markings a few steps away. He wondered if perhaps a young Ikki was right in that, that those who are without pain cannot grow as strong as those who suffered.
Shun turned to his colleague and let go of the trunk. "Hyoga, we worried about you."
"Hm?"
"We worried about what you did, what was going through your head… Ban is the only Saint that has not returned from the hospital. Why did you hurt him like that?" Hyoga's eyes strayed, but he persisted in silence, not even breathing in to give a reply. He felt unsure if that was a good moment to speak. "Will you not answer me?"
Instead, the other stared back and came up with a seemingly disconnected question: "Do you believe Saori's grandfather knew something we don't?"
With a confused frown, Shun lifted both hands lightly. "Why will you not answer my question?" he continued.
"Shun…" Hyoga shut both eyes for an instant "… all I ask of you is to wait."
This only confirmed Shun's suspicion that something had indeed happened in Siberia, however, to learn about it, it seemed time was required. So as to not insist with a man as inflexible as he was aloof, he acquiesced. "Right. In regards to your question, I believe Mitsumasa Kido knew something. There is no other explanation for him acquiring the Sagittarius Cloth, since, other than being rich, he was an ordinary man," Shun said.
"That does mean he was fallible then."
"True."
"So, come to think of it, maybe this was all a waste of our time, being ripped from our orphanages and imprisoned here, being sent to become Saints…" The youth looked back at the bark, a good visual representation of their naive struggle, haply no less childish than it was in earlier years "... it could be that he had no idea about anything, and we're chasing the wrong goals."
"Do not be that way," Shun tilted the head and chased his comrade's dashing eyes, who eventually settled on his as well, "it may be that our lives feel like a sick joke thus far, but, think about it… what if this is what fate had in store for us?"
Hyoga chuckled dismissively. "Fate?"
"Do you not believe in fate, Hyoga?"
"I believe no one and nothing is destined to anything. It's up to circumstance and action where we end up."
"Sure, then our circumstances and Kido's actions brought us here, but this is all we have now. Are we going to abandon it all — our allies, our responsibilities — just because of the suffering we underwent?"
"That's not what I meant," Hyoga mumbled.
"Then what…"
Both forthwith turned their heads towards somewhere in the center of the garden. They stayed in silence for seconds, listening to the breeze alone. "You sensed a Cosmos too," Shun eventually mentioned.
"I do. It's quite close."
"No, it's not just close. It's approaching!"
A dark chain turned from a distant trunk and flew in their direction. The two jumped afield from it, so that it simply hit the deformed bark behind. They were faced with what seemed like the square end of the Andromeda Chain, although its metal appeared darker than the original's. "The Andromeda Chain?" Hyoga noted.
"But it is dark as night," Shun said and turned to the direction it had come from. "A Dark Andromeda Saint…"
A strange laugh was heard whence came the chain, and it unfolded itself off the turn it had made. The Dark Andromeda appeared from the hiding spot, a young man with short, light brown hair, and features more masculine than the true Andromeda, wearing dark pieces not unlike his. "Did we catch you by surprise?" the enemy spoke and began slowly pulling that chain back.
Not only him, but another Dark Saint appeared, dropping off a branch. As he had not heightened his Cosmos, his presence wasn't made clear to them beforehand. This one wore a Cloth like that of Cygnus, and was a light-skinned man with hazel eyes and pale blond hair, much shorter than Hyoga's. "Tell us where you've hidden the pieces of the Gold Cloth!" he ordered.
"Over our dead bodies," Hyoga replied.
"Then your dead bodies will do." Dark Cygnus grinned and charged at a moment's notice, as did the square end of Dark Andromeda's chain.
Hyoga was missed by the weapon, but received a stomp to the leg from his Dark counterpart, which he followed with an icy punch. Dark Cygnus spun, then used the momentum for a high kick, although his opponent leaned away easily. With a second attempt at striking Hyoga, he saw his arm be tapped off line, and then his hip get hit by a low palm strike, hard enough to push him back. Once Dark Cygnus went for another blow, he felt a piercing pain and realized there was a sheet of frost around his leg.
It was at that moment that Shun got caught by the chain despite his attempts at escaping, being quickly entangled in it. The end was pointing dangerously at his throat when Hyoga grabbed onto the metal and cooled it to a freeze, to the point little energy could be passed through the material. The Dark Andromeda Chain lost all grip and fell soft on the grass.
"What? He froze my chain!"
Hyoga and Shun stood back and assumed defensive positions, but the other two stood their ground steps away from them. Dark Cygnus scoffed and asked: "Are you the one who killed both Dark Unicorn and Dark Wolf?"
"What's it to you?"
"I expected no less from you."
Dark Andromeda manually pulled the chain back. "But this will be your last battle," he said, "without your Cloth, you won't survive our attacks for long, and without the chain, that boy is useless!"
Hyoga scowled, but it was Shun who replied to that: "Even if you defeat us two, then what? The mansion is brimming with Saints who have noticed something is wrong."
"We will kill them too!" Dark Cygnus said, and he charged again as soon as he had melted the ice off his hip, aiming for Hyoga's head. The blare of breaking glass filled the area, and suddenly, in the blink of an eye, another Saint appeared, shock waves clashing in the air.
It was Nachi donning the Wolf Cloth, decently damaged after his fight with June. Fast as he was, he intercepted Dark Cygnus' attack and deflected it with a punch, puckering his upper lip with the pressure he had to put into upkeeping the block.
"Nachi!"
What had broken was a large window in the kitchen, parallel to where the battle happened. From there, Jabu and June also came out, the first one with his Cloth even more cracked than Wolf's. "You two, go inside and put on your Cloths!" Unicorn told them. "There might be more of them coming."
Dark Andromeda looked back and flirted with an exit. "He wasn't lying," he whispered.
Dark Cygnus insisted: "I said I will kill them as well!" Nachi braced for combat, but they were interrupted once more.
"Don't do anything stupid," the voice of another man came from above. Two other Dark Saints revealed themselves from the foliage. The first one had black, straight medium hair and brown eyes, wearing black armor forged after the Dragon Cloth; the second one was a freckled, olive-skinned woman with green eyes and wavy black hair down to her shoulders. She wore armor not unlike June's, however, she did not wear a mask like amazons and female Saints ought to. "You know you two are not supposed to be here this early."
"How many of you wannabes are there?" Jabu asked.
Dark Chameleon retorted: "Keep your insults to yourself, slave."
"I'm a slave?"
"All Saints are Athena's slaves," she explained, "you live and die for anything but your goals, truly a pitiful existence."
June seemed fretful upon hearing more of that voice and seeing more of that face. She tensioned her whip tightly and took one step closer. "Wait… you!" she paused upon realizing what was in front of her. Dark Chameleon took note of that and smirked, seeing her in the corner of her eyes, but choosing to pay attention to the continuing tensions.
Dark Cygnus stepped away from Nachi and turned to his comrades: "Why did you follow us? We said we'd bring the remaining pieces ourselves."
"Phoenix has called you back. He has a better idea that should bring the pieces to us in the end," said the Dark Dragon.
"But we can do this now!"
The other two Dark Saints turned around and started making their leave. "If you want to die, be our guest. We'll follow Ikki's orders," Dark Chameleon said. The two broke the sound barrier as they went outside the limits of the Kido Mansion.
No longer counting on a certain victory, Dark Andromeda went after them, leaving his partner no choice but to escape through the open side. A Dark Saint couldn't take that many Bronze Saints at once, or so it seemed.
"Hey, are we going to let those guys escape?" June asked, dumbfounded at what transpired, but the others did not seem as eager to give chase.
"We have to stay here and protect our pieces, otherwise, some of them might come back and steal it," said Shun. Chameleon's whip hand trembled subtly in frustration, yet she soon recollected herself.
Jabu walked towards the back door and motioned for all to follow. "Let's go check on the others." The group entered from the backyard and into the hall, where they found Seiya, Ichi, and Geki returning from a corridor. "Anything?"
"We saw no signs of anyone else," Seiya told him.
"Alright, we're clear. They seemed to be planning something else, so stay on high alert."
"Understood!"
As everyone dispersed, Shun spied June and followed, grabbing her shoulder. "June! Did you know that girl?" he asked.
"Huh?" June turned to him and nodded left and right, shrugging it off. "N-no… don't worry about it. I just got the wrong impression back there," the girl told. As she left, Andromeda couldn't help but furl the brow in surmise.
The oncoming escalation of their conflict with the Dark Saints left them tense. Seeing that Seiya still lacked a Cloth, and in Shiryu's absence, they could only wait for his safe return from Jamir. That was no longer ascertained, as per Mu, who brought a wide marble bowl over to a sitting, shirtless Dragon Saint. In it lied a sharp triangular dagger.
"This is your last chance to walk away from this," said Mu.
"As you said, there's no other way." Shiryu took the dagger and held it tightly, looking at its dire edge. "I refuse to abandon my allies, no matter the consequences."
"I admire your loyalty." Mu motioned to his apprentice. "Kiki! Leave orichalcum ingots, gammanium ingots, and a sack of stardust by the forge."
Kiki promptly complied. "On it!"
The alchemist looked back to Shiryu. "As a reward for your loyalty, I will make sure the Pegasus Cloth arrives safely at the location you gave us. Your sacrifice shall not come in vain, no matter your fate."
Shiryu nodded and took a deep breath, positioning the blade below a wrist. His thoughts went to Shunrei and Old Master, how sudden his death could've been to them. As much as that denounced his life's value, further thoughts also arrived on Seiya and the Bronze Saints, and the potential doom if the enemy took possession of the Gold Cloth. This would be their best chance at victory. Without further delay, he opened the eyes and cut a wound, draping veils of blood over the container so that none would be wasted.
The process had thus initiated. Mu returned from the tower with a smaller stone bowl which he used to scoop a portion of the liquid, bringing it to the forge and the anvil. He folded the materials into each other, letting Shiryu's essence flow inside and spread through the compound, an act sure to enchant it with life force. Then Mu hammered the mixture with the heated parts of the cracked Cloths, giving the damaged metal a fair share of this, then filling the cracks to prepare them for reinforcement and polishing.
This went on through the span of half an hour, until Kiki, who took over the duty of bringing in blood from the bowl, noticed how pale and lightheaded Shiryu became. He had cut the same arm many a time, and then used the blood of the other arm, until much was lost. "Master Mu," Kiki called him. "I think he's about to pass out!"
"It is a wonder he has lasted this long," the alchemist said, abandoning the post and bringing some strips of linen with him to Dragon. The man had already fallen unconscious atop the rocks, smearing precious essence on the grounds of Jamir. "He is already out." Mu tied linen around each arm with the intent of stopping the blood loss, but more strangely applied some heat borne by his hand to cauterize the dozens of cuts. For all intents and purposes, he was as powerful with the Cosmos as he was with his innate telekinesis.
Mu lied Shiryu on his side with a leg bent and an arm serving as pillow, then grabbed the bowl — within was a pool of blood deep enough to reflect his contemplative expression. "He gave me enough essence to repair both Cloths, which means he is unlikely to survive," he murmured, "a resolute Saint as he is, I must not let his life go to waste." He went back inside and passed by Kiki, who ogled from afar.
With his master back to work, the boy asked: "Is there nothing we can do to help him?"
"Not this time, no. There is nothing we may do besides stop the bleeding. Hereon, only Shiryu can help himself," Mu explained. Understanding this truth, both of them only watched Shiryu's unconscious body occasionally, rather focusing on repairing the Cloths as soon as possible. Since his life was likely to end, the responsibility of his quest now weighed heavily on their heads and shoulders. The Pegasus Cloth had to be delivered to Japan without fail.
Back in the Kido Mansion, few days passed since their latest confrontation with the Dark Saints. Eventually a commotion happened in the house, so Tatsumi led Seiya and Jabu to Saori's office, where she presented them with a letter they had just opened: a black envelope set aside on the desk. "This here was posted at the gate by the Dark Saints," she said. "They pose us a challenge."
"Hm, what is it then?" Seiya asked.
Saori read part of the letter aloud to both: "Next Saturday morning, at the foot of Mt. Fuji, come to the Ten Wind Caves with five of your strongest fighters. Bring all your pieces and we will bring ours." She left the hand at the opposite end of the desk so that they could read the letter themselves if they so desired.
Jabu arched his eyebrows. "That's what Ikki meant by having the pieces go to them," he assumed, "and I don't think we have a better option. Still, it's difficult in the situation we're in; Seiya is without a Cloth, while four of us are with damaged Cloths. Only three Saints are fully fit to fight, against at least five of theirs. If they attack us here all at once, not only would it be devastating, Miss Saori would be in danger."
"The whole thing could be a trap," Seiya said. "After all, they could've attacked us here, as you just mentioned."
"In all fairness, it probably is a trap. They wouldn't set something up like this without being sure they'd have an upper edge in some way. In the other hand, we can have Saints standing guard in Aokigahara to react in such a case."
Pegasus wasn't fully convinced of Jabu's plan. "This is risky, Jabu."
"Do you have another idea, genius?"
The two exchanged glares and Seiya lifted a fist in frustration. "What's that about? We're in this together, even if we hate each other!"
Saori interrupted their petty debate with a severe tone. "Are you two starting again?" she sternly spoke. The two Saints looked at her and grew instantly ashamed. "I brought the two of you here because I believe you will serve as good leaders to your friends. Our success relies on you, so it would be nice to put the bad blood behind."
The rivals sighed and looked at each other after a while. "About that so-called bad blood, let me say that I don't actually hate you, Seiya. Just not a fan," Jabu said.
The other confirmed his own position: "Copy that, but you know, since we're working together, I'll do my best to at least respect you. I expect the same."
"That's okay. Sorry about that, it was childish."
With an awkward smile, Seiya stammered. It hurt his pride to have to apologize to Jabu, although it was right to admit one's errors. "Uhm… y-yeah, I'm sorry as well."
Jabu continued the planning. "Is there any word from Shiryu with your Cloth?"
"None yet. I'm getting impatient, and all I can do is wait."
"Well, if he doesn't arrive in time, Nachi and I will fight in your stead."
"I guess that's the way to go, yeah. It's settled." Everyone nodded.
"Alright. Speak to the others later today and keep them updated," Saori ordered. Both men agreed to that and were escorted out of the office by Tatsumi.
No news were required for the other Saints to start preparing. They had intensified their training ever since the theft of the Gold Cloth, aiming for a war against the Dark Saints in the near future. Nachi and Ichi sparred in the gardens, whereas Shun served as a training partner to June near the natural fence. The boy held an iron shield with heat resistant gloves, whereas June used her whip to strike it each time.
With every one or two cracks of the whip to the shield, Shun would skip quickly to a different position, shorter or longer than the prior, and since they were Saints, their pace was unparalleled. The sound of the whip hitting metal was the noisiest thing in the mansion's limits at the time.
The reason for the heat gloves was not only the sun in the sky, but what became a reality after: their training was so fast and intense that the shield warmed up till the material softened, bending at the bottom and deforming with an extra hit. "Oh… woah! There we go. This one is a goner," Shun exclaimed and laughed after, watching the object bend around his forearm.
June got off her fighting position and stretched her legs as she said: "That took longer than I thought."
"Yeah, but you did not miss a single hit. Good job! Uh…" Shun kept trying to hold the shield, yet it folded a bit more, so he started walking back inside to put it in place.
"I'll rest for a few hours, so you can go do something else."
"Okay! I will check if Hyoga would like to spar."
June sat with her back to a tree and grabbed an acrylic bottle from the grass, topped with a wavy blue straw. She lifted the lower part of her mask and took a sip of water for a moment, watching the leaves shake with a refreshing wind. "That was her," she whispered to herself. An image flashed in her head; a bloodied fist, a fallen mask, and a blurry body on stony ground. In the span of a handful of seconds reliving trauma, she resurfaced. "Of all amazons to meet again, it had to be you, Filia."