WARNING: Blood, violence, death, mild gore.
The Scout's Offensive
Afternoon came to the Kido Mansion. In the gardens, Seiya and Shiryu rested on an outdoor bench around the central fountain, which had been minimally damaged in the last battle. The past days had been so quiet that there was little resistance to those brief pauses in the patrols, even though they knew that an enemy could eagerly wait for the briefest of distractions to attack.
"Things have been boring for a while," Shiryu said.
Seiya stretched the arms and finished a yawn before agreeing: "Yeah! Where the hell is that Jabu and the others? Can it take that long to go to Jamir, Shiryu?"
"It can take long, but this is too much."
"Ah, I bet those guys got lost."
"I gave them directions and tips, so I doubt that's the case."
Hyoga walked by them, the one maintaining a lookout in the gardens while Dragon took a small rest. Hearing them, he gave his own take on the case: "If Mu is the Aries Saint, he has been called back to Sanctuary already."
"In that case, who knows what might've happened to them?" Shiryu concluded with a subtle shrug.
"This wait is too much! We should just invade Sanctuary and be done with it," said Seiya.
But Dragon felt that haste would only cause more problems. "I see no point in rushing."
"It feels like we're short on time though."
All of a sudden they noticed a shrinking shadow flying from above, and its owner landed right beside Seiya with a dull thud of boots to grass. Pegasus was startled and yelped, nearly jumping onto Shiryu, yet when he looked, it was just a cross-armed Shaina. "W-woah! Miss Shaina, what the hell? You scared the crap out of me!" Like an old man, he shook a fist at her in frustration, but then looked around to see where she could've been hiding. "Where did you even come from?"
"What are the three of you mumbling here?" she asked.
"A group of our colleagues have traveled to Jamir to get their Cloths fixed, but it has been weeks with no news from them," Hyoga explained.
Shiryu nodded and gave his own testimony of the trip: "I have been to Jamir myself, and it didn't take this long, so we're worried. It's quite a treacherous path to Mu's tower."
"I thought Marin had already told you," Shaina said. "Aries has been summoned to Sanctuary. He probably settled in his temple by now."
"Wait, that means…" Shiryu gasped.
Cygnus shut the eyes and nodded. "Mu is the Aries Saint after all," he said.
"Impressive! That corroborates the power and wisdom he showed me when I visited."
"Whatever happened to your friends in Jamir, you should not depend on them returning any time soon," said Shaina.
Seiya tapped Shiryu's shoulder lightly, saying: "But that complicates things, doesn't it?"
"It does. Patrolling with them here would be much better, and we'll feel safer going into Sanctuary with more Saints by our side," the other Saint told.
Shaina pointed to the mansion. "The so-called Athena girl in there is who decides when we enter Sanctuary," she argued.
"Are you still questioning that she's Lady Athena?"
"Does not matter. She is the one who makes the call, and you will struggle against Silver Saints, let alone Gold Saints. Stop thinking of Sanctuary; focus on your patrol and training instead."
"Hm, good point," Hyoga muttered in agreement, walking off to continue checking the corners of the gardens.
Shiryu got up and did the same, going an opposite direction. "I'll return to my patrol too," he said.
As Shaina wordlessly walked away behind the bench, Seiya rested his head back and sighed. "Train, train, train, train… when will this end?" he whispered. He heard steps return, then felt a cold finger touch his forehead, a sharp nail grazing the skin below it. Upon confusedly looking, he was faced with the upside-down mask of Ophiuchus. "Eh?"
"Did I hear you bemoan your training?" she said with a grave tone.
"Guh! N-n-no, Miss Shaina…" he sat up, so she rested both hands on her waist, standing judgmentally "… you got me all wrong, it's a lot of work, so, y-you know…"
"You are an idiot," the woman said, rising her pitch somewhat. "Truly, you are a moron."
Seiya pouted the lips, complaining: "Oh, come on! Insulting me like that, words can be really hurtful too. Why are you always so hard on me?"
Shaina looked away at the broken top of the fountain, now standing beside the bench. "I am being sincere and no less. You have been raised by a great Saint, but only selectively listened to her words," she said, and when she turned down to look at him, a breeze made her black hair flow, bringing a familiar scent to Pegasus' nostrils "Had you not trained enough, Cassios would have ended you there, and if you do not continue training, Seiya…"
He seemed distracted by that natural perfume, and was caught off-guard by the mention of his name. "Hm?"
Next she threateningly placed the index's long nail like a hook under the young man's chin, and lifted it to get a better view of his features. Seiya gulped, worried that he was about to get a slap for not listening intently. Shaina, however, didn't seem used to beating her apprentices like Marin was. "Be less of an idiot," she ordered. Maybe she didn't need to beat them after all.
The woman stepped aside, brought that claw away safely, and flew off with great velocity. She landed far behind at the edge of the mansion's roof, then disappeared along its extent, presumably reaching the outskirts. Pegasus got up and tried to follow her path with the eyes, to no avail. "Again! Where did she go?"
It seemed that, while the Bronze Saints continued to watch over the insides of the mansion, Shaina had thought it judicious to patrol the surrounding area, being careful about her steps. Certainly she was right, since she saw the location of Misty's last patrol, and to no one's surprise, the latest squad had chosen the neighboring gated community as a center of operations for ongoing scouting.
In its deep forest, Crux Georg sat on a rotten trunk, waiting for news of any of his colleagues. He felt a Cosmos and, by its usage, knew it was Sirius', Saint of the Canis Major constellation. The man approached and reduced the speed upon arriving at the leader's general location, electing to more calmly stroll to him. "Their patrol continues, and no sign of Misty and the others," he said.
"Damn it…" Georg grunted, tightening fingers around a knee "… none of this bodes well."
"I told you something was off."
"Well, I see what you meant. How many Saints did you count this time?"
"Cygnus, Pegasus, a masked and an unmasked girl, and a long-haired man," Sirius said.
"That checks out with my first observations still. I remember hearing there were more than five Saints in the tournament, so I wonder…"
"The squad might've been able to deal with those, then died in the process of dealing with the others."
"Do you think they would've been this rash?" Georg asked. He felt Misty and Shaina would've been the ones to act foolishly, but not Asterion, who had been famed for his caution.
"With Asterion at the helm, not at all, but these kids clearly know what they're doing," Canis Major replied. The magnitude of their enemy was yet a mystery to them, but Georg no longer entertained the notion that they were weaklings.
"We need to get inside the mansion," he said, "as it's not the Sagittarius Cloth that they protect, but something else — no, not something, someone in fact."
"The Sagittarius traitor perhaps?"
"Perhaps. Let's not jump to that conclusion."
"I'll try to get a better view of the inside. I might've missed something."
Canis Major motioned to leave, yet Crux signaled, saying: "Sirius, prepare and tell the others the same. We're likely to strike at night."
The other Saint looked slightly worried, but transitioned to a determined expression at the memory of his duty with Sanctuary and Athena. "I will do so," he assured with a nod and then left.
This squad's failures were in part remedied by the fact that they knew another group had come before them, and that the sight of the traitors' headquarters functioning perfectly was a harbinger of ill news. Nonetheless, their other errors were explored by their foes with ease, as they also had eyes on the situation.
At the same time as this happened, Athena worked on piles of paper on the office's desk, marking some of them and more carefully writing through the fields of others. She was about to tap onto a calculator when a well-folded paper airplane invaded through the open balcony. The uncommon sight didn't seem to unnerve her. The object soared for a while in the room, turning near the wall and spiraling down to the red carpet. Before it landed, she had already followed it and grabbed it in her delicate fingers.
Athena unwrapped the paper, saw that a brief message was written inside with a specific signature, and shut eyes upon taking in its contents. "Of course," she whispered. With its use exhausted, she brought the piece to a shredding machine by a wall, plugging it into a socket and ruining the message through the teeth. She watched it be swallowed and cut into minuscule pieces, speaking in relief: "I knew we could trust you."
Evening came to be as things passed, and the growing tension shared space with a dissonant tranquility. Thin veils of clouds at times enveloped the stars and blocked the moon's shine, yet the garden remained mostly visible. No one was seen in the vicinity of the mansion apart from Hyoga, who walked inside through the door in the back.
He shut it and locked it on the key, and as he went around the wall to the entrance, June was barricading the front door with a spare bar of iron, since the lock had been obliterated by Asterion's attack. The Bronze Saints formed around Athena, who stood in the middle with a lit candle in a ceramic mug, and they scanned the corners of the house suspiciously. They were already expecting something.
"Are you sure about this?" Hyoga asked quietly.
"We are better safe than sorry," Athena said.
June readied her whip, saying: "If she saw something, who are we to debate it?"
A subtle thud came from above. It could've been the wind, but they all shifted their attention to the ceiling for a split second. "In the event that it is true, then soon enough…" Athena was interrupted by a loud sound of static echoing from the kitchen, and the lights in the house went dark. She cupped the lit candle in her hand, keeping it from being the place's only light source, and finished the sentence: "… they shall make themselves evident by their Cosmos, as we are wont to."
Outside, the shadowed outline of Tatsumi was seen near an open breaker box. He looked up to the nightly skies, waiting on a sign. At the moment that violet lines of thunder traveled to the heavens and transitioned into a deep scarlet above the clouds, he set the breakers back in place to turn the lights on.
Instants before this, the situation inside had completely changed. There weren't five Cosmos burning, but ten. The fixtures turned on and Athena whispered: "Now."
With a bang, the candle's fire exploded into a bubble above everyone, and the Bronze Saints lowered themselves in preparation. They already knew the location of their foes by virtue of their energies, however, their foes had been blinded by the sudden brightness and lost precious milliseconds of defense.
Shiryu's fist met that of the largest man in the room, who swatted it like an insect. He was the tallest man he had ever seen, reaching above the two-meter mark, and his Cloth was another something to behold. Its light, bluish hue was trimmed with a mirror-like silver finish, and the cuirass was coated in button-like protuberances that resembled the abdomen of an extremely muscular man. His left arm had a gauntlet covered with flanges in the shapes of feathers, like a mace, and that shoulder was fully protected by a broad pad studded with white agates, as was the gorget covering his neck. His other arm was completely covered by plates with feathery depressions extending all the way to the collarbone.
Under the rounded helmet he had long, braided black hair, and his skin was equally as dark, with brown tight eyes frowning down at the enemy he believed to be a traitor. His thickset body made his size that much more frightening, and that alone was enough for anyone to recognize him as the Saint of the Hercules constellation.
Dragon tried to take advantage of greater speed and followed with a flair of strikes, but they were all swept off by that fighter. In the end a weaker punch did hit him in the stomach, but it was like punching into stone. The Silver Saint pumped his belly forward with a growl and descended with the left fist's knuckles to Shiryu's head.
He therefore defended with only the sturdy shield, yet the force slid him back a couple meters, obligating him to assume a three-point position. It was obvious he'd need more than taking Shaina's teachings at face value in order to defeat such an opponent.
"You're an interesting one," Hercules said. "Tell me your name!"
The Bronze Saint got up and prepared to continue battling, introducing himself: "I am Dragon Shiryu."
"I am Algethi of the Hercules constellation. You're very strong for a Bronze Saint, Shiryu… but not enough for me!" that brute yelled, slammed both gauntlets together, and charged in.
As the two continued their fight, another pair of combatants flew by, that being the shortest Saint in the room getting hunted by the square end of the Andromeda Chain. Despite the weapon's swiftness, this man was able to twist and flip in the air seemingly at will, abusing the Cosmos in ways that appeared unfeasible. Light and nimble, he ran along the walls and bounced off the rails above, rolling sideways for a safe landing.
At one point Shun felt the chain connect, and that soon the Silver Saint slipped from it by pulling the arm off the metal like it was useless. Seeing an opening, he landed beside Andromeda and advanced with a series of limp-wristed swings.
Initially Shun was pushed back with a wrist strike, but when the shorter man spun for the next, the boy skipped back and dodged. The next move was a spinning kick, pushed off by the circle chain. The momentum given by this led the fighter to continue spinning in the air so that he avoided the incoming square end, then, with a calculated blast of energy, he jumped further to escape yet again.
The Silver Saint giggled sarcastically from where he stood. "Fun times to be had tonight, huh?" he said, voice nasal and vowels dragging on. This was the Saint of the Musca constellation, one shorter than even someone like June. With tan skin and brown hair flowing with his unpredictable movements, it was clear that his Cloth was the opposite of Hercules', instead being slim, layered, and with gracious, organic curves. Below brown eyes he had a tapered, long nose sporting a raised bridge, and below the thin lips he had a pointed, forward chin with a noticeable underbite.
"Dio, watch out!" a voice from the other side of the hall screamed to Musca, and he stepped back before three dark chunks of metal shaped after the heads of an enraged dog crashed into the carpet. The heads' collars had long and sharp spikes, and were each connected to black chains of a flail in another Silver Saint's hand.
"D-Dante! Are you out of your mind? I'm right here!" Dio screamed back.
The one he spoke to was the Saint of the Cerberus constellation, the second tallest man after Hercules. Olive-skinned and with a broad, buff body, he wore a large Cloth of dark metal, the trim's material demonstrating a slightly reddish glow; the breastplate was composed of many layers that flared outward around the neck, then curved downward to cover the shoulders. The beefy gauntlets originated from slightly extended knuckles, and also flared outward above the elbow's height. The layered greaves had a single spike each at the knees, as did the side of the heels, which he could use to fatally charge into opponents in desperate situations.
Dante had no time to answer, and gritted teeth at the sight of Hyoga, who evaded the long-chained flail by turning a shoulder aside. When he swung the chains back, Cygnus followed with a train of icy wind from many swings of his fists. Cerberus expertly defended the first blow by freeing one arm, then tapped the enemy's hand off course and jumped to dodge the next. As large as he was, he could still move with relative fluidity.
Once Hyoga approached with two palms to the man's stomach, he proceeded to push it off with the heel of a larger hand, although the defense was partial and his gauntlet became coated in a slippery sheet of ice. "How in hell can a…?" he stuttered, yet before finishing the question, he saw the other step forth for a harder blow.
Noticing that, Dante was able to bounce up and spiral his whole body, and this pulled the flail along to twist around the room in a brief diameter. Cygnus was thus pressured into dodging and producing a snowy gale to push the weight of the spheres far. This worked, so they flew into a wall and crashed a pristine ice coating with the sound of glass.
Hyoga strode back in again, and Dante braced for impact. On the other side, Shiryu was launched against the carpet and had to slide back onto a comfortable position. He stared up and saw Algethi incoming at a speed so dangerous that he chose to flip all the way up to the railing on the upper floor. Hercules, in the other hand, sent his own body through the wall, left arm covering the face, and breached through to the second wall after it, such that he continued out into the gardens.
Shiryu dropped down and saw the giant craters among dust and particles, impressed by the result. "This man…" Since he noted a hint of Algethi stumbling outside from the impacts, he burned Cosmos and went after at a similar speed, taking their fight outside.
On the other side of the hall, June preoccupied herself with fighting Canis Major Sirius, who, even not being as acrobatic as Musca, surpassed him in speed alone. However, unfortunately for him, every time he advanced at the girl, she was beyond his own capabilities and blocked his steps with wild swings of the whip.
The fact that he encountered a Bronze Saint somehow unbearable in swiftness to one of his rank, only proved what he entertained before: those kids weren't mere rookies. To June, in the other hand, it was cathartic to have a power so great in face of a foe that powerful, seeing the plates of that silvery Cloth, once with a glossy shine, covered in smudges and dents from the force she had learned to generate.
Sirius came in with a punch when he thought a window had opened, and so simply Chameleon lashed at his gauntlet, dodging with an aerial. He did come close, yet Athena sent a blast strong enough to push him back safely.
"The Pope is the traitor!" June yelled, whipping down at the carpet to keep a decent distance.
"Huh?" Sirius frowned and burned his Cosmos in response. "You won't win this through words!"
"I'm not lying! He sent you to kill innocent Saints!"
"Words aren't enough," he countered, striding in to fight some more. Athena would've helped, but she had to turn her attention to a more difficult fight near them, that of Seiya and Crux Georg.
Whereas Sirius was fast, he couldn't pack a punch as arduous as Algethi's or Georg's. Nonetheless, the latter also struggled with Seiya's speed, who oft attacked with thunderous, light-filled blows. He came back with his own from time to time, but knew he would not win by overwhelming him with punches, if not overwhelming him with greater strength. So strategically he connected with Pegasus' blocks, hitting so hard that the young man could feel the bones under the flesh tremble and bend.
Athena came to notice that Seiya would eventually be pushed back and possibly get injured or killed in that state, so she extended the free arm forth and summoned a wind to take Crux off balance. Pegasus proceeded by jumping, spinning in the air, and coming with a foot to the foe's head, who guarded it using an arm. The energy applied was enough to explode in sparks between the Cloths.
Crux was a hair away from being subdued by that Bronze Saint, especially when Athena threw another bang in his direction. Pushed back, instead of focusing on Pegasus, he decided to go for the woman. His slowness betrayed him and he was kicked from the side by Seiya. "Hey, don't ignore me!" he said, trying to take Georg's attention off the goddess.
In a bout of fury, the Silver Saint swung multiple times, yet Pegasus dodged by rolling back and readying another pounce. This was premeditated since, when he came back, Georg had peaked his Cosmos and put both arms forward, screaming: "GEISTIG BLITZ!"
A wide tunnel of light grew from his hands and obliterated all before it, launching wallpaper and carpet pieces to the air. A hole was now opened directly to the living room beside, although it didn't go all the way to the kitchen. Howsoever Seiya attempted to writhe away from the attack's effect, nothing would change the fact he was flying in the air and had no time to escape its approach, so he got hit in the left arm, chest, and part of the lower torso.
Pegasus did his best to spiral before the damage was too great, but a reddening quickly appeared in the exposed skin of the arm and above the collarbone, stinging due to the burns. Falling onto one of the obliterated corners of the wall, he felt as soon as he insisted on pushing himself up that his arm wasn't responding as well, no matter how much the Cloth protected it.
In return, Athena sacrificed the cup and candle in a hand and reduced it to pieces with an arc of energy. Its shards went onward with piercing flames and molten wax, cutting through Crux's skin; the blast itself threw him further back than last time, stunning him to give Seiya time.
The two stood up slowly. Having his enemies' power evidenced to him, Georg couldn't help but be mystified. "Who are these people?" he wondered. Bronze Saints too good for their rank, and a civilian with abilities he could barely comprehend — that was the explanation for the last squad's disappearance after all.
He looked to the side and saw that Sirius was no longer fighting June, but toying with her position in order to find a way to attack Athena, who was the source of their greater ill anyhow. Defeating her, he thought, they'd have a chance to not end up like the others. Georg decided he would create that opportunity himself.
With that in mind, he went for Seiya once more, who dared only parry and block with the right arm now. Most of his punches came with it too, however, in the unfortunate need of raising and feeling the impact of the foe's harsh strikes on his left, he screamed and growled each time again. The reinforced Pegasus Cloth took the blows enviably well, yet his body, in that state, not so much.
While this happened, June continued dominating Sirius more by the second, unknowing of his underlying tactic. She whipped at him and somersaulted closer on and on, cutting down on their distance. He deflected, but as her Cosmos grew, the lashing became too aggressive; once the Chameleon Cloth had exposed its iridescent light show, she gave a short bounce off the carpet and sliced through the air four times. "RAZOR WHIP!"
Sirius was able to dodge the first line with difficulty, sacrificing his body to the other three as a result. The Canis Major Cloth gained shallow scratches, the attire beneath was ripped apart in select locations, and the exposed skin that was struck bled profusely. With newfound power, the Razor Whip dug deeper into flesh.
In his diminutive defensive position, the Silver Saint remained collected. Upon exchanging a quick stare with Georg, he got the message and went for Athena. However, June hungered to take the man's life as she had done to others beforehand, so he had to slam his body into hers. She did plant a palm strike heavy enough to rotate him halfway, but Sirius found tenuous equilibrium and jumped at the target.
Georg found the opening when Seiya's sluggish left arm failed, and the pain was enough to stun him. Between a chance to kill the Bronze Saint and the woman, he chose the second, reaching her before his colleague.
Athena only noticed Crux's approach at first. "GEISTIG BLITZ!" Evading that technique came naturally to her, as she could move faster than him and shot his aim off to the ceiling. Part of it collapsed and nearly struck Hyoga and Dante with the falling chandelier behind.
She only came to see Sirius' quick approach when it was too late, as he was excessively fast. With both arms forward like a gnawing dog, fingers curled, he shouted: "GREAT FANG!" Escaping this completely was impossible, and in a lapse of attention, she was hit in the shoulder, chunks of the office shirt being ripped off with skin, and a spray of blood coming with. Surprised, Athena flailed the other arm with ridiculous amounts of Cosmos and generated an explosion so violent that Sirius' cuirass was torn apart, even exposing his insides to open air. His lying body slid onto the carpet to a stop near the cratered wall, and that soon he started squealing in extreme pain.
Georg was also thrown away by the blast, but not being its primary target, he ended up crouching. "S-Sirius…" he whispered as he heard his friend's agony "… that Cosmos, Sirius…" He turned back at Athena while that terrifying sound still echoed like a blur to him, as were the clashes all over the hall. The young woman's gargantuan Cosmos rose, then subsided; then it peaked again, then fell silent… with a hand bloodied from the dripping wound, she grabbed her forehead and dropped to the floor, eyes rising into the skull.
"Protect Lady Athena!" Shun said, giving space to Musca and preparing to defend her with the Andromeda Chain if he had to. June noticed her own mistake and took her place to block the other side.
"He said… Athena," Georg noticed.
Before he could think more about it, a familiar voice interrupted him: "PEGASUS METEOR FIST!" Spheres of energy brutally sent him with Seiya through the hole in the wall, into the living room.
Since that threat would be busy a while, June knelt before Athena and took her view. She convulsed and tensioned every now and then, with hands outstretched from the body. The shaking was so intense that Chameleon decided to hold her head up so that she wouldn't keep knocking it on the carpet. "Something's happening to her!"
Sirius' incessant shrieks ended when a boot descended onto his head, splattering matter everywhere. Its owner walked over to the fallen goddess, and having revealed a new Cosmos, Dante and Dio stopped their battles to look.
"June, take her upstairs," she ordered, and the harsh tone was undoubtedly Shaina's.
"But what…"
"I will fill in for you."
June took the writhing Athena in her arms and sighed. "Fine," she said, going up the stairs and leaving her colleagues behind, Shaina side by side with Shun.
"Are you the only one who turned to their side, or did Misty do so as well?" Dio asked after giggling.
"Nothing has changed. I am on our Lady's side," Shaina replied, "as I have always been."
Dante squeezed the flail and chain tightly, saying: "So you were fooled into believing that girl is Lady Athena. Cygnus I understand, but you...?"
"Yeah, you disappoint us!" Dio said.
"If any of you survive this battle, the Pope will have your head for it," she argued.
"What nonsense! Silver Saints can't be defeated by Bronze Saints."
Ophiuchus threateningly lifted her claw hand. "You are no longer dealing with the rabble from Sanctuary. Give up now, or suffer the same fate of Sirius, Misty, and the others!"
Dio twitched an eyebrow and smiled disgustingly with his yellow teeth, giving a sideways stare to Dante, who was furious. They hesitated to give an answer, but couldn't allow themselves to give up or defect.
"What is it going to be?" she insisted. "This is your one chance to forfeit." As a response, Cerberus lifted the chain and spun the three dog heads above his own, and therewith it was settled. Everyone in the room prepared with Cosmos to continue their terrible battle, announced by Shaina's sentence: "Welcome the day of your deaths."