WARNING: Violence, blood, death.
The Black Death Fist
Pegasus and Dark Pegasus continued their strident battle, and the latter once again got kicked drifting over the rocks. He rolled to his feet and got back into a fighting stance, feeling his physical limit overpowered.
"As I guessed, you're nothing but a copycat," Seiya said, fist aimed at him.
The other one smiled evilly and collected Cosmos for an attack his own, seemingly unaffected by the Saint's superiority. "Yeah? I'll show you my secret technique then." Regardless of how languid he was, Dark Pegasus seemed to have a trick up the sleeve.
"I was just about to show you mine too."
"After this, we will find out who is the true Pegasus!"
Both had raised their energies to the highest they could in such a situation, and as soon as Dark Pegasus twitched a muscle, Seiya moved in, yelling: "PEGASUS METEOR FIST!"
"BLACK DEATH FIST!" shouted the foe.
The clash of powers was almost unfair; the few bolts of dark energy that struck Pegasus caused him no pain, whereas every meteor crushed Dark Pegasus fully in the torso, sinking his chest. Seiya ended up atop the enemy, both holding a hand to the other's chest. In clear defeat, it was unexpected to see that grin return to a dying man's face, although that was exactly what happened, apart from a subsequent chuckle.
Seiya raised an eyebrow and concluded with a harsh jab, drawing a faint whimper from his throat. He checked the Dark Saint's pulse and breathing, confirming the death and rendering his final moments a mystery. "Laughing after losing like that... what's up with these weirdos? If Ikki is as weak as them, he won't last very long against us. They're in it to lose," Pegasus said, fixing a gauntlet and then going over to grab each piece of the Gold Cloth he acquired.
In a distant chamber of the caverns, from behind veils of darkness and occasional dust clouds, the outlines of bird-like crests slowly became visible. Two pairs of boots approached and halted once it was clear that their proximity could become a liability. Perhaps by some irony of circumstance, Hyoga had just encountered Dark Cygnus again, and they established what was about to occur by dropping their own pieces. No obstacle lied before them but each other, unlike in the mansion.
"You're lucky we were called off last time. We would've killed you and Andromeda on the spot," the Dark Saint claimed. The reply he got was the usual: Hyoga assumed the swan's pose and mustered loads of power, showing will to fight and little else. Having noticed he wasn't one to speak, Dark Cygnus did the exact same, reenacting each sway of the arms like a shadow. The most subtle of suspense struck Cygnus, watching another one of those enemies act like a true Saint, yet he strode in with an icy punch nonetheless.
Their combat was so particular to their style that, with the cold winds they threw about, many a rock got glazed by growing coatings of frost, turning the chamber akin to a natural refrigerator. After being bumped from the side, Hyoga rotated and used the momentum for a low palm strike, straight to the foe's hip. Dark Cygnus flinched and pushed the arm off, but when he tried to step forward, he noticed one of his knees had its movement limited by a long streak of ice, as occurred on their last fight.
It was too late when he looked up. The incoming swing wasn't a normal one. "DIAMOND DUST!"
Since he had enough Cosmos in him, he did the same, to Hyoga's surprise. "DIAMOND DUST!" the opponent shouted.
Each warrior was launched in a different direction by the debating storms, which had summed to a clamorous clash. When they stood, the glass-like speckles of ice stuck to their Cloths cracked, including the one which briefly kept Dark Cygnus' knee stuck.
"Surprised?" he asked after a groan, wondering whether he had finally taken that man aback.
Even someone as stoic as Hyoga had to give in at some point. "Where did you learn that?" he asked as an admission.
"Cygnus is not the only constellation associated with cold waters, as you might know. Aquarius, Piscis Austrinus, Cetus… there are many others around the world who know this technique, and I knew I'd need to learn it for when I took the Cygnus Cloth for myself. I've mastered it well," Dark Cygnus explained. "Next you'll see I'm destined to have the Cloth you wear!"
Hyoga scowled and sped at him with another punch, which missed very clearly. Dark Cygnus was somewhat pushed into the defensive regardless, recuperating with a distant kick that only gave the chance for Cygnus to elbow his knee back. Instead of taking time to regain balance, the Dark Saint used all force to press forward and pepper him with freezing winds, and a moment came when Hyoga fell back to the rocks as if overwhelmed.
Once Dark Cygnus came for a final attack, the ruse was revealed. The other coiled his ankles back and almost inhumanly launched his foot up against his chin, throwing him to the air. With the foe dazed, there was no defense against what Hyoga did after. He shouted: "ЛЕДЯНОЙ СМЕРЧ!" [ICE TORNADO!]
He raised both arms to the ceiling, fingers spread, producing what could only be described as a violent polar low which trapped Dark Cygnus in its pressure, then covered him in thick, bluish frosting. With the exception of some extremities and a small part of the face, he was entombed, falling down stiffly.
Hyoga crouched near the man, whose lip edge shifted with discomfort. "Your first mistake was believing the Diamond Dust would make you as strong as me. Your last mistake was believing in destiny," he said. Dark Cygnus croaked, and another punch descended upon his head, breaking through layers of ice to smash his features and cut all suffering short.
In a different section of the Ten Wind Caves, Seiya continued the search for a new opponent, this time crossing a narrow path to the side of a deep and wide crevice, below a darkened upper story of other formations. Differently from before, he seemed much less apt, entirely soaked in sweat. His gait became drunk, sluggish, and his expression appeared uncomfortable. "It's… it's really hot in here," he muttered, pulling on his Cloth. "I haven't seen anyone in a while, so I should be fine taking my Cloth off for a second. This is just too much."
He put all the gold pieces to the side and proceeded to remove the Pegasus Cloth part by part, at first calmly, and eventually in desperation. Seiya felt searing pain travel across his skin all of a sudden. "Ugh… what's going on?" Itching through the t-shirt, he decided to take it off as well and see what exactly was wrong. The easy victory over Dark Pegasus came with a great toll on his body, a series of large black spots plastering him, grotesquely proliferating in pulses through each cell. "Th-the Black Death Fist…" he immediately understood "... so this is what it does. Damn it! That man was more fearsome than he seemed."
His body felt like it needed a rest, being drained of any remaining physical energy. He stumbled to the side and found balance for a split second, until he noticed he was tilting over towards the crevice, prompting him to lean back and fall to the ground. "I'm too limp to move now. It's getting worse faster," he spoke between groans, grabbing on one of the darker spots. "Aagh!"
The Black Death Fist excruciated Pegasus further for several minutes, and he ended up passed out on the spot. Soon black boots appeared behind him, pushed his body off the crevice, and left one more piece near the pile to disappear afterwards.
It didn't take long for another Saint to pass by, that being none other than Shun, who took note of the mess left behind. "What is all this?" he asked himself. Four golden pieces were visible: two shoulders, one gauntlet, and one elbow. Scattered all over in its vicinity were parts of what was unmistakably the Pegasus Cloth, although its owner was nowhere to be seen. "Seiya…? He would not fight unequipped, not after he got it repaired." Under closer inspection, the crevice was an obvious suspect for his whereabouts, yet it was only when a slight breeze reached those depths that a jingling sound cemented the facts. "A bell... Seiya!"
There was no response to his call, so Shun tried to look more closely into the crevice; therein he met a breathing shape, most likely the body of his comrade. "Hang on, Seiya!" he yelled and thus left the two golden greaves beside, proceeding to have the Andromeda Chain cling off a particularly thick stalactite. From there he lowered down to the shadows, seeking to rescue him. "I will get you back to safety, do not worry."
He used the other end of the chain to grab onto Seiya's wrist as soon as his faint image became clearer, that way he wouldn't fall much lower than that. The operation was doing splendid, but a strange object struck the rock above, which cracked near its base and almost broke off. Shun dangled dangerously and swayed without stability of any sort.
When he turned up, it wasn't that the stalactite suffered too high a strain from the weight, but that another chain had appeared and weakened it, and it now slithered into a circle to break it off completely. Its owner revealed himself at the edge, that being Dark Andromeda, whom he first met at the mansion. "Good to see you again, Andromeda! And how delightful, you're in a bad situation like before," he spoke.
Recomposed, Shun said: "You again! Of course you would attack a Saint while he is busy saving his comrade. A man without compassion..."
"Ah, please, you should be thankful I didn't just grab the pieces and left." Andromeda continued to lower himself despite it all, which led Dark Andromeda to raise his eyebrows. "You're still trying to rescue him? I'll have to do worse."
The dark chain closed the circumference and cut into the rock, making it fall all the way down. At the same time Shun protected his body with the Cloth's shoulders, he sent the Andromeda Chain to find another anchor, this one attached to the ground and near the edge, somewhat sideways from his position. He fell down enough to be beside Seiya, who whispered in a frail voice: "Just leave me behind."
"No! I will not leave this place without my friends," Shun countered.
Dark Andromeda shook the head in disapproval. "Don't be so pathetic," he said. "Well, you insist on rescuing your dying friend instead of fighting me, so I'll have you join him at the bottom of that hole."
He didn't get the opportunity to send the chains to defeat Shun, because another person soon entered the scene. "UNICORN GALLOP!" A shock wave and the sound of hundreds of kicks being hurled at Dark Andromeda filled the place, and so he was sent sliding away.
Jabu stood in defiance of the other man's plans, howsoever dangerous it would be to fight in the state of his Cloth. "Oh, it's you," Dark Andromeda spoke with a decadent grin, crawling to a stand, "back to lose to another Andromeda, I see. Maybe you'll learn your lesson this time."
"Shun, get Seiya back up here!" Jabu warned him, in complete ignorance of his opponent's rambles. He went back to a fighting stance. "I'll keep this guy occupied."
"Alright!" Shun went back to focusing on saving his friend, which would've been an easy task before, were it not for the interruption.
Dark Andromeda sent both ends of his chain to give Unicorn a lesson. Seeing that the dark chains were slower and less vivid than Shun's, Jabu had no trouble grabbing them and rolling them around his gauntlets. He tensioned the metal and pulled on it to limit the foe's range of movement.
"Haven't you learned a thing from your match with Andromeda?" the Dark Saint asked.
"I have learned enough to notice that your chain is nothing like the Andromeda Chain, and your power is nowhere close to Shun's," his opponent answered.
"In that you're correct. My power far surpasses that boy's!" He had been working on his Cosmos for the past seconds and released some of the tension on the chains, yelling: "BLACK FANG CHAIN!"
The metal twisted deeper around Jabu's arms, sliding closer and closer to the shoulders, then metamorphosing into serpents that gnawed at the skin. "Grrr!" In what he knew would be an extremely hurtful move, Unicorn decided to play with his greatest strength and used a load of Cosmos to pull Dark Andromeda in by the chains, then kick him in the torso harshly. The result was the serpent chains ripping the skin of his arm open down to the forearm before being ticked off by the gauntlets to a full release.
Bleeding and in pain, he persisted by blocking the way to Shun and Seiya. Dark Andromeda was visibly displeased as he got back up. "Get out of the way, insect!" He forgot about the chains and charged at Jabu, who pounced him back at a greater velocity, enough to drift him back once more. "You're too insistent! That's it, I'll finish you off!"
This time only the square end of the Dark Andromeda Chain hunted after Unicorn, and he was able to dodge enough to stay alive, but not enough to stay intact. Doing sharp angles in the air close to defying physics, the weapon pierced superficially through flesh, from the bleeding arms, to the waist, legs, and even the jaw. Without as much as kicking the chain away, Jabu tumbled and fell, trembling too hard to quickly stand. "Just a little longer…" he moaned.
Dark Andromeda's eyes turned hungry with killing intent, a sentiment soured by the sight of Shun laying Seiya's inflicted body safely far from the crevice. "Well, well… seems like you got him, and it was a waste of your time, congratulations! I can see that your friend will die in a few hours," he told.
Shun walked past Jabu and blocked the way to him, even though he had nearly come to his feet. "Why do you say that?" the boy questioned.
"I recognize those dark spots. They're inflicted by my colleague's Black Death Fist. As they spread through his body, he comes closer and closer to death," the other explained, yet Shun remained determined to save Seiya one way or another. "Is this really what you risk your life for, a dead man?"
"I will save him no matter what."
"You hopeless child. Based on that dreamy look on your face, you won't stand meeting your brother again. Let me be the one to put you out of your misery. BLACK FANG CHAIN!"
The Andromeda Chain lifted much more quickly than Dark Andromeda's, yet it still failed to intersect it fully. The ends of the dark chains coiled against its tide, looking more serpentine the further they went. If no drastic action was taken, Shun would suffer similarly to Jabu, so he made a decision: "THUNDER WAVE!"
There was a grandiose tremor between the clashing metals, such that they vibrated at a high amplitude, forming quick bouncing waves in the air. Suddenly they separated with a loud sound, that of sparks breaking through the air. In the corner of his eyes, Dark Andromeda saw that Unicorn stood once more behind Shun, and that he'd be taking the chance of dealing with two adversaries if he allowed it. "Go back down," he said, sending the chains after the other one.
Andromeda wouldn't let that happen. The two ends of each chain impacted in a manner not dissimilar from the last, and once again the dark metal coiled around the true Andromeda Chain. "This is no good," Shun muttered, "if I allow this to go on, both Jabu and Seiya might die. I might have to…" he closed his eyes "… THUNDER WAVE!"
The same tremendous burst brought the rings and squares apart, and therefore Shun opened his eyes and swung arms forward. The two ends sped at the Dark Saint, who desperately tried to trap the Andromeda Chain like before, a useless endeavor. "NO!" he shouted, noticing what was about to befall him. The black metal fractured into shards with the force, paired with Shun's Cosmos. His breastplate had a similar fate, pierced by the square so that it penetrated his chest and heart in sequence.
"I apologize for this," the boy whispered to himself. Dark Andromeda looked with surprise at the wound, and when the chain coiled back out, he fell forward to the ground. Shun had tears pooled up in his eyes. "I had to do it. It was either you or my friends."
"Hey," Jabu grabbed Shun's arm to catch his attention, nodding at him. "Don't feel bad, you did the right thing."
Andromeda nodded back, turning his attention back to the fallen Seiya. "True. We have a bigger problem to deal with than our enemy's death, I guess."
Jabu crouched beside Pegasus and slid an index around the growing markings. "He called the technique that caused this 'Black Death Fist'. This looks like one of the symptoms of the bubonic plague, hence the name. Hmmm…"
"Do you think there's a way to heal him?"
"There should be, but…" he paused in deep thought. With the way that thing advanced, time was of the essence and any potential remedy was a good bet, provided that it sounded plausible. He lifted his right arm, collected Cosmos into it, then struck the buboes with a spear hand, the tip becoming so sharp with the energy that the skin ruptured and released a tar-like fluid.
"Jabu, what are you doing? You're going to hurt him!" Shun cried in protest.
Seiya indeed groaned out of pain, although Unicorn did not quit until all of the spots were bled. "If we ooze out the toxin, he should feel better eventually. He will lose some blood, but it's the best idea I had."
"Oh, that does make sense," he whispered after further thought. "This is how they treated the plague during the Black Death, was it not? I hope this works out." The two worked by pressing on the punctures, and for each second passed, the spots became lighter and less menacing. Eventually Seiya's groans subsided, as did the profuse sweating. "I know it hurts, Seiya, but you should feel better soon."
Sneaky steps approached, a stealth more natural than otherwise, as the shadow didn't wish to hide. This person was revealed by one's own doing, dropping the heaviest part of the Sagittarius Cloth beside Dark Andromeda's corpse, that being the sculpturally winged breastplate. When they looked at who it was, the image of a cross-armed Dark Dragon became clear, seemingly unaffected by the death of his peer. "Good job, boy. You've killed Dark Andromeda without getting a single scratch. Ikki will be proud," he spoke out.
Shun got up again and blocked the way to his two allies, saying: "I wish I never had to kill him, but he gave me no choice. He was an opportunistic and bloodthirsty man."
"Why run away from a kill so much? After all, killing is a warrior's one perduring reality."
"You are right, but that does not change the fact that problems could be solved without violence or death, if only people let go of their selfishness." Shun's pacifism ripped incredulous cackling out of Dark Dragon.
"Is that so? I don't suppose you plan on solving our dispute with diplomacy."
"Would that be possible?"
The man was peeved at that point and sighed. "What an idiotic question. We want the Gold Cloth, and you don't allow us to have it, so there's no other way out if not fighting."
"But, look, Seiya seems to have defeated Dark Pegasus, Jabu and I defeated Dark Andromeda, and we have defeated many of your comrades before. Do you not wish for an end to this bloodshed? You are at the verge of losing this war," Shun argued.
"They perished in battle because they were too weak to withstand the enemy. Good riddance."
Andromeda frowned and held the chain tightly, exclaiming: "How can you say that about your friends?"
"Friends! I don't trust anyone enough to call them a friend," the other replied, "for a pure warrior, there are allies and enemies, nothing more."
"You cannot call yourselves Saints while being this heartless. It goes against everything Sainthood stands for!"
Dark Dragon continued: "We are what Saints should've been in the first place. Friendship doesn't win wars, power does!"
It was impossible to ignore at that point, the sound of another pair of boots venturing in. An imposing voice soon spoke over the man, collected yet determined, to overwrite his calculistic discourse with righteousness. "And in power, you might be fit to be a Saint…" this one said, so Shun and Jabu turned in amazement "… but in spirit, you shall never be like one!"
It was Shiryu who challenged Dark Dragon from the opposite end of the chamber, wearing a repaired Dragon Cloth. "Shiryu, you're alive!" Shun commemorated, but it was undeniable that another bloody battle was about to kick off, and that more death lied ahead.
"Ah, Dragon, you come to me with your Cloth repaired," Dark Dragon said while opening his arms and then positioning them for an eventual strike, "that makes it easier to take it from you!"
"Shun, Jabu, keep Seiya safe!" Shiryu slid a foot forward and flexed the muscles of his shield arm at the enemy. "You're wearing a disgraced copy of a Cloth, staining the name of those who are supposed to protect humanity and Lady Athena. It's about time I show a farce like you the true power of the Dragon. Prepare to face justice at the hands of a true Bronze Saint!"