WARNING: Violence, death.
Holy War
The Temple of Athena was always a place peaceful in appearance and activity. Even the amount of light was regulated by its carers, dimmed or filtered in an attempt to cater for its calm ambiance, and to ensure their goddess inhabited a proper environment to ponder and rule, no matter that she found this unnecessary herself.
In Athena's absence, obviously, the place fell even quieter. The priestesses dusted off the floor in the quarters, cleaned the statues, and changed the sheets in their redundant efforts to keep all perfectly organized. In their anxiety, they expected their Lady to return, if not in a few hours, hopefully in the coming days.
Their careful peace was broken that day. An uncommon presence entered the quarters, albeit not without a figure of authority; Aleka had walked the Ecliptic all the way to the top, having learned of Atlantis' failure to meet Heaven's stipulations. Since war was inevitable, she devised a much needed plan and arrived alongwith Kiki.
Other priestesses were intrigued by his entrance, although he, too, didn't look enlightened on the reason behind it. "Lady Aleka?" one of the women spoke out. "Whom do you bring to the Temple so suddenly?"
"Be at ease," said the High Priestess, and thus she signaled for Kiki to enter. "This young man integrates our Lady's intelligence, and she requires him now more than ever."
"What do you mean?"
"Come," she spoke, this time to everyone in the quarters. From the initial short hall ahead of a statue, they turned to what was a vast lounge, lit by crystal light throughout. Veils filtered the shine so that it would not glare against Athena's eyes, and around there they met the living room wherein Shiryu last met the goddess, as beauteous as prior.
The youthful Zamira was there, lighting crystals with her fledgling Cosmos, and she was also inquisitive of the High Priestess' coming. Followed by more curious women, Aleka and Kiki walked around the gold-braided couch whereon Athena once reclined, and the women grabbed onto a patterned, opaque veil in the back, pulling it to reveal a wooden door trimmed in white gold.
Zamira was the next one to question: "Is this prudent?"
"Is it prudent to leave her without a chance of protection?" Aleka cynically asked; by then, her patience for the assistant seemed to have run out, so the girl merely endured the attitude.
The High Priestess had come with a large key utilized to unlock the door. Once opened, it exposed a small, dark space on the other side, one so tightly sealed it barely accumulated dust. When she used the faintest degree of energy to light a crystal hanging from a metal coil above, a Cloth box could be seen.
Oh how stunning it was — the metal was white gold like the entrance's trims, molded so minutiously as to flaunt details a Gold Cloth would envy; from the surface were raised many shapes, variously depicting warrior-maidens with helmets and spears, large shields, serpents, and owls. From the very center facing the onlookers, the outline of a Corinthian helmet stared on, etched large and bold.
Priestesses instantly entered and somehow found the tiniest speckles of dust, which they cleaned with the rags carried in hand. The formerly neat surface so soon became spotless, buffed to a more chrome-like reflection. Kiki's eyes widened at the sight; he had seen many a Cloth box in his lifetime, even more being Aries' apprentice, and so he wondered what that one contained, stored so deep at the end of the Ecliptic.
Aleka turned to him and explained his mission: "You are to carry this to the battlefield. It is of no importance how such comes to be, though this must reach Lady Athena's hands. Do you understand?"
"But what…" Kiki babbled and stared some more, walking closer to the artifact "… what is in here?"
"There is no doubt about it, or is there?" The older woman's hand rested on the edge of the box. "This is our Lady's own Cloth. With it, her vessel may easily withstand a clash against her every enemy, whereas without it…"
Mouth agape, the boy nodded before she finished that phrase. "I get it. I get it now."
"The risk you might experience in Atlantis is nowhere close to the risk of battling Poseidon lacking our Lady's aid. Regardless of what takes place, you must succeed."
Once more, Kiki nodded, this instance with determination in his eyes. "I will do it," he assured. "I am taking this to her, wherever she may be!"
And this Athena would definitely necessitate in the coming hours. Deep into Atlantis, in the midst of the towering pillars protected by Marina-Generals, and under the looming shadow of Poseidon's Mainstay, the Earth's patroness awakened in a strange bedroom.
The aches of battle no longer afflicted her body, although this was earlier than the entry of the Bronze Saints into the realm. She still wore her formal attire from the summit, a sign that her uncle did not dare violate the sanctity of her body; despite this, her high heels had been removed, left beside the platform whereon she lied. One of them, she recalled, had broken under the weight of her power during combat, rendering it useless.
She sat to her side and noticed the soft sensation of a mattress carrying her weight, covered in many thin, white sheets, similarly comforting in caress. After letting the legs hang off the side and observing the room's features, Athena realized what had taken place.
"It happened again…" she murmured and stood, feeling the cold marble beneath. "The Saints! Are they well?" Whatever succeeded her seizure, she supposed, could've meant the death of one or more by the hands of her uncle. After all, she assumed they couldn't stand a chance against a god, let alone one backed by such powerful warriors.
Upon further inspection, the bedroom's architecture proved similar to the style across most of Atlantis, but she knew to not have been there in her past lives. There was a sofa turned to her, white stuffing atop dark wood, with furniture of polished marble put in front of it like a coffee table. Behind the seat was a counter of the same material, and a slender vase contained strange plants the likes of those found in Atlantis' bizarre biome.
There were multiple windows on only one wall, blocked by lattice and behind thin curtains. Not having to come too close to it, Athena took note of what moved afar by view and sound. Troops clearly marched towards the portals, blocking the path to the Oceanic Pillars.
"To be readying defenses, it must be that they expect Sanctuary to attack soon," she told herself. Once she was close enough to the lattice, she focused on a strange reflection by the corner of the sill. Staring enough at it, she saw an object oblong, its feather-like shape familiar, as was its iridescent shine. She wondered how it had been forced through the tight lattice, for it was rather wide in comparison.
Hearing footsteps outside the double door to the room, the woman took the small object into a hand and hid it well, then turned towards the entree. Unsurprisingly, the figure of her uncle was that which opened the door and stood before her, now equipped in a full suit of armor rather than his formal wear.
The plates were elaborately shaped, surpassing even the excruciating detail of the Generals' Scales. They flowed into one another with the slightest hint of a wave-like continuum, subtly ribbed like the texture of sea seen from a distance, likely due to the small metal scales which composed it; the shoulder pads aimed straight sideways, blooming outwards like growing tunnels; below them were beautifully crafted arm pads, elbows, gauntlets… they were large and covered in curvaceous ornaments, similar to the greaves and skirt. The chest saw many of those plates layered from each side, draining onto the larger breastplate, which bore an etching in darker gold than the yellowish of the remaining metal; it depicted water below and a muscular, half-nude man above, readying the thrust of a trident overhead; from the sea emerged an horrendous creature, the likes of which only heroes like Hercules would've once slain, and it seemed to submit to the god's will. The crown-like helmet covering that luscious brown hair was analogous to the shape of the shoulders; first it outlined the man's face, then it rose like a narrow set of fluttered layers, and then it widened out like an imposing tower. Made of yellowish gold like the remainder of the Scale, the head was inlaid with blue, cloudy sapphires, each bigger in diameter till the largest one, slender and affixed to the center.
Wherever he walked, a long white cape accompanied him, its inside a marine blue to remind one of the ocean's depths. Meeting him equipped so stately, Athena expected none other than her uncle to confront her, yet when the man was a handful of steps away, his expression was surprisingly meek. Under that threatening crown, Poseidon stared caringly rather than furiously — soon it dawned on her that this was not the one he thought, but another she knew just as well.
"Saori, my love, you have finally awakened," Julian said, so her lips parted to hear his voice yet again.
"Julian!" she uttered in surprise, and although she thought of approaching in ignorance, he shut the eyes and deviated the semblance from view. That avoidance made her curious. "Are you able to turn away from my uncle's influence? You mustn't let him end up the victor. Your will is not his!"
"It feels natural to me that I share my being with this new soul, although we are not one," he explained. "His thoughts and emotions slowly infect my own, or so it seems."
"You must combat the temptation to give in, Julian. It is possible, I promise."
His face returned, eyes encountering hers like before. "Much similarly, my thoughts and emotions infect his own, my dear. This is a mutual ordeal," said the man.
Saori reiterated: "This means you vie for dominance."
"For the time being. I feel his hatred, and he, my compassion. I feel his wrath, and he, my peace. I wish to punish as he would, and he, to spare as I would."
"Right now you are so lucid," the woman remarked, subtly shaking her head at how nightmarish it was to think that he, of all people, would've been the vessel to a man so wicked. "You are the same man I met the night we spoke of marriage."
"I am that same man, Saori," he told, so he took one step hither and revealed a gold band in the palm of his right gauntlet. Saori's arm instinctively pulled back.
"It cannot be…" she muttered.
"My love, this might be our last opportunity." As he had promised, he knelt before her and laid out his heart. "Will you be mine while our souls inhabit these bodies?"
Her eyes filled with tears, though her expression was of fright, not joy. She feared that she would leave her duties behind to pursue her love for that man; in that state, the union between goddess and woman nigh split in twain, and had that taken place, Saori would've vied for dominance against Athena, no different from how Julian did against Poseidon.
"Not just now, I would be yours beyond flesh and form. I would be yours while you suffer the Underworld, while you wander space in search of reincarnation. Even then, I would be yours," she affirmed. Her delicate fingers reached forth, albeit to touch his wrist rather than the ring. Still, Julian saw purpose in her expression now, no more fear or even romance; then, as quickly as he took it in, Athena lowered her eyes. "Though now I recall where I belong, and it is not by your side. It is atop Sanctuary, serving as Earth's guardian. This role I am to fulfill in maidenhood, my hand never banded." She shook her head in denial. "I love you, Julian, but I can do so only at heart."
The man returned his stance and breathed out in frustration. Despite respecting her decision, he insisted: "I refuse to give up on our love. I have not lusted for anything else the way I lust to live by your side, Saori. I have lusted for no other woman, no riches, no fame, no sea!" His hand clenched around the ring. "Tomorrow I am to ask your hand in marriage yet again, my dear."
"Then tomorrow I am to, once more, deny it to you," replied Athena.
"No matter, I will persist the next day, and the day after! Each day of my life is worth the effort to have you."
This time it was her who appeared taken by annoyance. "Julian, do you not sense it somewhere deep in your core?" she questioned, brow furled. "Passionate man, soiled by fervor! My uncle's ambition to take Sanctuary and Earth is surely his own, and your ambition to have me is surely your own; but ambition itself — the feeling, isolated from its object — is not. It is ambition that ties you to Poseidon's perverse spirit! If you cannot forgive your desire to possess me, it will serve as a window for him to possess you instead!"
It was her beloved's eyes now that twisted in concern, her heart sinking at the sight. He took two stuttering steps back as if to protect her from a force he could not chain. When the man's voice returned, it slowly deepened, and the first name by which he hight her revealed the source of his dismay: "Athena, what is a man…" he paused and clenched the ring more harshly in the gauntlet; his tone was now grave and dark, the tone of Poseidon himself "… but his ambition? What is a man if not the object of his greatest desire? A man without that which he madly pursues is a hunter without game, a denial of one's function."
"Julian needs not be a man who meets his worth solely in ambition! His value transcends a goal so shallow," she spoke in his defense.
Julian continued to step back while Poseidon regained full control. "While he covets you, he is caged, weak!" he told. "But so am I… my desire shall unchain us! As me, Julian may achieve greatness ruling Atlantis, Sanctuary, and a new Earth!"
"Julian, break out of this spell!" she vainly appealed to the man, now long gone. "Only then can you be free!" To reel the other soul's emotions away, Poseidon left the room so he could recompose himself, for he had war to focus on. The door was shut, and Athena was left alone once more.
As she emptied her lungs in despair, it felt as if that weight could not exit her chest. Death surely prepared its cold embrace along the Atlantean plains, thus her thoughts went to her beloved, to her Saints, and to those who would suffer her uncle's irrational spree. Then her mind returned to the small metal plate hidden in her other palm, which she stared at a while longer. If that meant what she assumed, there was yet hope. Many innocent lives could yet be salvaged.
Since this had taken place ere Seiya and his friends entered Poseidon's realm, it was only quite later that the invasion started, and Sanctuary's troops had free entrance to organize themselves in safety. As they exited slowly through the portals and then out the temple, they were ordered by officers to take down the walls built by enemy units, which left the ways ahead and around fully open.
Shun, Mu, Aldebaran, and Aphrodite oversaw the movement of squads, ensuring they were at the ready to both occupy the city down from where they were, and to go up the hill whence they'd initiate the assault. Standing over the temple, the four Saints conversed regarding organization, and eventually they looked back at the towering structures in the panorama.
"So once those are taken down, Poseidon has no more edge over us," Aries commented to Shun, who nodded.
"But you can see the situation here is far from ideal," said the boy. "They are in a better position, have set up defenses, and if all the enemy ranks are not kept busy, we will have trouble dealing with the Generals. Not just that, some men ran towards the city."
They turned their attention now to the huge settlement far ahead of the temple, opposite the direction of the pillars. Even in the distance they couldn't see foes, though they understood them to hide somehow.
"How many do you wager to have escaped?" Mu asked.
"Most who stood outside the temple joined the troops shielding the pillars. The ones inside, however, ran down the corridor and past the town. I would say no more than a hundred men."
Aldebaran said: "That's few, but the problem is if they advance on us from behind."
"We must not allow such a thing," Mu agreed. "Instead, let us have Ophiuchus march into the city first."
Shun spoke up immediately upon hearing that constellation: "Are you certain? Miss Shaina would do better at the front," he countered. "She fought well in the rebellion, and dealing with civilians — that is not her expertise, to put it simply."
"She is iron-handed and efficient, that is all that matters here."
"If that is an issue, I may do well to take a smaller army into the city," Aphrodite commented.
"We want as many of us on the front as possible, Aphrodite. When the path is open, we should move in and help the others with the pillars, and therefore with our Lady's rescue."
"The Atlantean soldiers are wavering!" Shun argued. He could not believe that Aries of all people was among the Gold Saints convinced that Shaina's efficiency, with all its cruelty, was a circumspect option. "They do not believe they can win. All we need is for you to keep them busy so we can deal with the Generals, and when the time is right, the enemy should retreat. The way would be clear then." He thus motioned a hand back to the front. "If Miss Shaina is pushing with you, she will be able to take care of the remaining Marina insisting on a fight, while you are free to go into the temples after us."
Mu stared seriously at Andromeda a moment. "Let us suppose that at any point our front seems weakened, I would call Aphrodite to the front either way, and Shaina would be sent to the city instead."
"I agree with that," Shun said, "but this is the safest option anyhow. Blood will be spilled, it is too late to bemoan that, though there is no need to make matters worse for the civilians."
"Indeed." Followed by his friends, Aries walked closer to the edge and revealed the sight of the troops below, Poseidon's banners starkly visible. He saw flashes and beams striding across the enemy's line, keeping them ever back; those were presumably Seiya and the others regulating the distance between enemy soldiers and those far above. As such, Sanctuary had plenty of time to organize a deadly assault. "Ready yourselves. We are going down, Aphrodite will march into the city, and their squad will push for the pillars."
The situation at the bleeding edge of the Atlantean front was unsustainable. Standing there, they now had no scenario where leaping back over the hillcrest wasn't disadvantageous. Dense lines of troops were placed as a buffer between the long rows of barriers erected with stone, wet dirt, and wood. There the officers placed archers and crossbowmen to premeditate the arrival of the Saints, though the distance was so great that not as much as a warning shot was entertained.
Awaiting the first assault, men carrying lengthy ranseurs were the only in direct contact with the Bronze Saints harassing them. Each time they were struck by the greatness of the Seventh Sense, they fell terrified, and occasionally sprinted back to somewhere they deemed safer.
There was a mix of cruelty and mercy in what those Saints did then; Seiya was leaping amazing distances at unimaginable speeds, from rock to ground, skipping mounds and drops. Whenever he descended against a collection of forward soldiers, it was as if the very light assaulted from above, launching dirt so violently against them that their skin was split.
The force, too, sent many of those fighters back, and there was no manner through which they could fight back. Even before they found Pegasus' shadow beneath the cloud momentarily formed, they were already returning to better positions. This was the squad's tactic: to ensure as much space until the assault initiated.
Shiryu, Hyoga, and June engaged in similar activity, inflicting varying terror, but terror nonetheless. Dragon could launch the poor men with such turbulence that some broke bones and had to be aided by their comrades; Cygnus could congeal half a unit and leave them in chaos, with no option but a careful retreat; Chameleon was more physical, and the injuries she caused through their armor was enough to put some out of commission. No one expected many — if any — deaths to come of this. That was not their goal at that point, and thus it was clear everything remained under control.
It was while they enacted this strategy that they heard the haunting drone of bronze trumpets. The warriors looked back and up to see red flags lifted so high as to be visible even so far down. Troops marched to the edge of the large drop and, with strides of Cosmos, raced towards Poseidon's servants.
Seeing Sanctuary's rapid advance, ranged units scrambled to shoot, though this came in no particular beat. Arrows and bolts flew wildly in confusing arcs, and many were shot so lazily that they did not make the distance in time.
"Arrows," June whispered to herself. She stared to the side and saw Hyoga explode into the air with winds that blew most of the projectiles away, although, with how messy their releases were, she knew some could yet hit advancing troops.
She was almost surprised by soldiers whom she quickly dealt with, slamming past them at the speed of light, and then blowing them aside when she jumped with amazing force. Chameleon more carefully disposed of stray arrows with the whip, all while pushing their line forward deep into the trenches.
Other Bronze and Silver Saints had joined the fray, surrounded by hundreds of soldiers and amazons. Occupying the flanks, golden shines announced the entry of Mu and Aldebaran, who were also accompanied by massive armies their own. It didn't take long till the battlefield was swarmed by sweat and blood.
The man in the frontlines stood no chance; they were rid of and slaughtered in seconds by Sanctuary, who pushed deeper into the denser units therein. Only when that resistance was met that the assault slowed down, and thus Marina and Saints began to clash alongside their inferiors.
Seiya and the others had no issue cutting through even the strongest of Marina in the field, since none came close to the power of the Generals. In that brief span they understood that the ranks of the Atlanteans had been similarly organized to their own. Two large armies were layered along the flanks, whereas another larger one was layered in the middle. Deeper into it, however, the authority of the Mariner in charge of these combatants spread along a thick curtain of infantry blocking the barricades.
These men were plenty, and they were led in multiple small squads headed by low-ranking Marina. The one giving the highest orders, however, was the most powerful among them, outpaced only by the Generals. When Pegasus landed in her dominion, he soon realized who this was.
Dodging and responding to the attacks of lowly soldiers was child's play to him; his strikes were enough to send half a dozen of them skidding along the ground each instance. The Marina, who fought more valiantly, were also nowhere near his strength. He disposed of them with more powerful punches and palm strikes, and they were equally defeated.
His relentless advance came to a near halt when a fast kick slammed against his gauntlets. Although he read this move with ease, it took him nearly out of rhythm, and having pushed the leg away, the youth met none other than Mermaid Thetis. She, who was Poseidon's favored assistant, had been charged with leading the defenses that close to the pillars' border. This woman and her troops were the only thing between Sanctuary and the Generals.
"Damn it. Just stay out of the way!" Seiya shouted as he pushed against her with a shoulder. Thetis fell back and rolled, but before he could go on, she forthwith dug her fingers in the Atlantean soil.
"DEATHTRAP CORAL!" she shouted, and somehow her Cosmos traveled underground in amazing speeds she could not reach with her own body.
Foreign formations sprawled up, first stopping Seiya's advance, and then entwining his lower limbs. It felt no different from being tightly imprisoned in stone, were it not for the colorful appearance of the reef-like trappings. The pointy tentacles of some polyps pricked and irritated the youth's exposed skin, so he grunted at the sensation.
Of course, thanks to his power, such a trapping wouldn't last more than a second or two, although it seemed enough to attract the attention of other nearby Marina. Before he crashed through the stony coral with a bang of energy, Seiya saw a wave of soldiers washed in spectacular fashion from faraway.
Thereon they violently fell onto the Marina, including the fallen Thetis; with this they crashed against the barriers ahead, and even destroyed the remains of the Deathtrap Coral. Promptly standing, Seiya noted these men had been shoved by many twists of chains, and he understood this to be Shun based on mean and power.
"Alright, I'd better go," he said, but once more he was thwarted by Thetis, who flipped over him and blocked that direction. "What the hell is wrong with you? Do you want to die or something?"
"Sanctuary is not allowed past this line!" she said in defiance.
Pegasus growled, and while he thought of a way to run through and not deal with Thetis' time waste, he observed that the woman's expression seemed alert. She leaned to roll off, and thus arcs of spinning chains strongly struck the soldiers about them once more.
Seiya watched as a complex dance was performed by the Andromeda Chain; it overtook his immediate circumference without ever daring to harm him, albeit unabashed when it came to whipping at any enemy who insisted on a fight. He saw the one controlling it was indeed Shun, not too far behind, and the amount of Cosmos he used was such that the light past him was bent in the outline.
"Move forward, Seiya! I will go after you!" the boy yelled.
Understanding his message, Seiya nodded and turned back to the pillars and the temples which contained them. With a slight jog in preparation for the great leap to come, his eyes pointed straight at the Mainstay — that was the greater pillar in the center of them all. "Maybe I can…" he spoke to himself and, making a hasty decision, hurled his own body towards the Temple of Poseidon. One way or the other, he would make up for the shame he endured back in Athens.
It was Shun who was left behind with Thetis and her subordinates, although he seemed even less intent on fighting. As per usual, whenever Mermaid attempted to invade the area occupied by the chains, she was almost struck and obligated to dodge. The efforts spent on vainly pushing for Andromeda were precious, since Shaina's units were making quick work of the weaker soldiers in the background.
"Stop hiding behind your chain and fight, coward!" a Mariner shouted frustrated insults, merely ignored by Shun. With calm, he pressed on managing the chain's formidable defenses.
"Instead of complaining, find a way to trick this thing so I can trap him," Thetis told her allies, but the Nebula Chain was impregnable to the likes of them.
Far above, they could all witness the distinct brilliance of the three remaining Bronze Saints crossing the boundary. First June with a blinding glare, then Hyoga leaving behind crystal-like snow, and then the loud whirr of Shiryu, who reduced part of the barricade once he launched. If it was her job to push Sanctuary back, Mermaid had miserably failed.
Desperate, the Marina bounced left and right, being cut by the chain or swiftly electrocuted when they had any opportunity to approach. In the right flank, bright light shone, and they saw debris and dust fly outward, far enough that some pieces of brick and wood reached them. Eventually the loud noise of the explosion shook the ground, high-pitched and long, the kind of supernatural reverberance natural to the power of Gold Saints and their peers.
Knowing the moment had come to advance, Shun accumulated even more Cosmos and sent himself up, swerving his body to the pillars. The chain below followed him, spiraling at the same pace that the body spun, and sparks stayed to keep any weaker Marina from giving chase.
Thetis did not wish to allow this; while her subordinates were amazed by the distant explosion, she buried her hand into the soil once more and sprawled towers of coral to take a hold of Shun. Nonetheless, his velocity could not be beaten even by that fascinating technique, and he joined his friends in their push for the Oceanic Pillars.
"You are worthless! The Saints move past us like we're not even here!" she shouted, and in that situation she thought of leaving her post behind to hunt after Andromeda and Pegasus, as much as that would mean her demise. It was when the barrage of Silver Saints, Bronze Saints, soldiers, and amazons led by Shaina clashed with the bulk of the infantry that she understood — she had other issues to address.
Athena's elite scattered as they cleared their own way to the pillars. The arrows and bolts shot to stop them, of course, were less of a nuisance than would be a fly. The pillars were displaced in such way that they mirrored the location of the Earthly oceans, meanwhile surrounding the Mainstay in their center.
From their perspective, they could access the most immediate temples, that of the North and South Pacific, the latter of which June and Shun targeted. Between them and a little far behind was the Indian Pillar, and because there was no barrier blocking the way to it, Shiryu went after it. The pillars in the extremities were the Arctic and Antarctic, and although they were more difficult to reach, Hyoga targeted the first; from where he leapt near the flanks, this felt natural, especially since he expected Seiya to reach the North Pacific first. The pillars of the North and South Atlantic, in the other hand, could not be met so casually.
This did not take place initially. Surely Seiya passed near the North Pacific Pillar in his mighty jump, though he flew straight past it, then even further beyond the Indian, and instead aimed for the side of the Temple of Poseidon. He planned on skipping the Generals and liberating Athena to ensure her safety, something the Marina did not allow.
Mid flight, he felt a strange burst of Cosmos spark from the confines of the North Pacific Temple, whence accosted a charging foe. At the intense speed they both were in, Pegasus could do nothing but brace for impact, and with this he was intercepted by the enemy with a kick to the side.
He skid along a rocky slope, since the Temple of Poseidon had been founded atop a high plateau. Before the enemy struck him once more, he rolled to the side and skipped the golden-armored General's crushing stomp. Nearly exceeding his speed, the man came forth with a series of kicks which Seiya could do naught but avoid, and once done, he stunned the man with a sloppy elbow to the throat, protected by one of the scaled plates.
Since his first plan failed, the young Saint assumed that the pillar was thus undefended and, while his allies took advantage of the unprotected temple to advance towards the Arctic and the Indian, he leapt all the way back to try and take the North Pacific down. The Mariner-General, of course, followed suit.
From up-close, the pillars were an even more imposing sight. Their chaste architecture came close to the immaculate, and whereas at its heights there were signs of a curse drained towards the Earth above, by the bottom everything appeared static. Nonetheless, as he approached, Seiya felt the Cosmos of someone within, seemingly stuck at the bottom of the structure. This he presumed to a cultist of Poseidon.
He landed within the temple's courtyard, built out of many marble tiles that extended either towards gaps of flora, or towards the corridors on the sides, separated by pillars. There was much more structure beyond that, since the Generals could inhabit their temple as a Gold Saint would inhabit their own.
Due to the weight of the drop and the accumulated speed, Pegasus' boot bore a large crater into the platform, cracks extending as far as the pillar beside him, for he aimed to land next to it. He was about to strike the thing when he saw its guardian's inevitable arrival, forcing him to dodge.
The Mariner landed with the same force, only rendering the hole wider and deeper. Seiya looked on to the cracks that split ever closer to the obelisk, and he found that, although the marble beneath easily cracked under their power, not a single hair of failure was found in the pillar's solid construction. At first sight, it could be deemed impenetrable.
Not giving him any leeway to breathe, the General attacked again; he jumped closer and threw a sequence of well-aimed strikes, which Seiya had to carefully avert by either stepping away or, in the cases when he was side-stepped, by leaning the head off course. In the end, the Bronze Saint slammed the other's arm, a clash hard enough to release sparks and a single shock wave.
Allowing his body to spin, the Mariner utilized the momentum to kick Seiya's incoming punch, and safely found his flooring to counter with a leap his own. Therewith the two alternated between bumping each other's body back to induce a stumble, and distributing punches so quick they would be no different from blurs of light to an ordinary bystander.
Seiya growled when he saw his speed barely surpass the enemy's, then advanced with a fist straight to his chest, exposed for a split second. The Scale briefly sunk and left the General out of breath, opening way for Pegasus to twist with a kick to the man's head, which sent him flipping onto the courtyard's floor.
That was not enough to defeat him, of course; to invest further in this success, Seiya bounced and readied a fist, something the General parried by means of a preemptive kick, then followed by hopping back to safety. The path to the pillar got blocked once more.
In that calm state, Seiya could absorb the details of the opponent's Scale more carefully. The gold with which the armor was forged had an orange, almost reddish tinge to it apart from the shoulders and skirt, which were yellowish. Intricately etched with spirals, sharp fins protruded backwards from the greaves and forearms, but also from the back. The breastplate was ribbed to the utmost detail, apart from the central plates that exposed the images of two hippocampi facing opposite one another. The shoulder pads were long and layered, with each plate pointing ever downwards, although the section right below the shoulder wasn't completely covered; from a given angle, one would be able to see the man's exposed, muscular, fair-skinned arms. The helmet was rather similar to that of the Pegasus Cloth, if not for the more ornate form; it resembled a furious horse with metallic fins for a mane, two sapphire eyes, and even more spiral etchings.
Seeing that the helmet enclosed the General's face as would a barbute, it was difficult to make out his masculine facial features. Mostly his chin and lips were visible, whereas his eyes and ears remained out of view.
"You thought we would let you straight into the Mainstay?" the man whom he fought asked, audibly impressed at the other's audacity.
"I'll go there one way or the other, as soon as I'm done with you," said Seiya.
"It will take more than bravado to pass by me, Saint."
Never minding his past error, the General attacked another time, fist to Pegasus' gauntlet. While their great Cosmoi announced their conflict to the entirety of Atlantis, it was clear that other fearsome battles took place elsewhere, whether in the front or by the pillars. Had it not been made obvious before, no one could deny then: a Holy War was in progress.