WARNING: Violence, death, descriptions triggering to people traumatized by structural failure (e.g. building collapses, bridge disasters).

The Storming of the Pillars

At the very core of the war in Atlantis, that strife between the armies of Athena and Poseidon soon turned brutal. Ultimately led by Thetis, the latter's soldiers and Marina put a great display in defense after Seiya and the others crossed through. In their valiant efforts, even the men and women led by Shaina, who soon reached the front, could not penetrate the enemy's barriers.

As it was yet early in their clash, the fighters were at the peak of their energies, and the blood spilled was greater than at the onset of Sanctuary's civil war. Accompanying that line were many powerful Silver and Bronze Saints, including the likes of Jabu, Nachi, Geki, Ichi, Alicia, and Anka.

They faced powerful Marina, despite them not being of a rank as high as Mermaid, let alone the Generals. Where common soldiers would easily tremble under their might, a Mariner often stood strong and equal, and so Sanctuary's advances were halted there. On the distant sides, even though Gold Saints led the attacks, it would take a while before the buffers were entirely crushed and the way to the pillars was open for total invasion.

From below, Ophiuchus watched as a line of Marina descended from their barriers; betwixt them being Thetis, who, seemingly aware that the amazon led the offense, targeted her. Defending came naturally, the enemy's leg to her gauntlet, but what came after was chaos. Saints crossed paths, launching themselves against seemingly random targets, and so the two women tumbled aside, vainly swinging and dodging each other's attacks.

With greater speed but lesser grace, Shaina used her clawed hand to push her opponent back. The way with which Thetis swerved was beauteous in its own self, like a dance as consonant as was her singing, moving the head off course or stepping into ballet-like twists that at points confounded the Silver Saint.

Taken by surprise as two fighters sped between them, Ophiuchus premeditated an offense and stepped back instead. Mermaid was relentless in response, coming with a precise kick from below, the tip of the boot aimed straight to the breastplate. Blocking that came as near impossible in those circumstances, and when the Mariner spun a back-handed strike to Shaina's face, she was engaged by a series of blinding strikes.

The more she experienced Thetis' force, the more she knew she would be unable to resist for long. With an explosion of Cosmos, Ophiuchus exploded in sparks and thunder, which the Mariner was fast to avoid with a huge leap back. This jump was so massive that she rejoined the troops near the barricades, on somewhat higher ground, a grin stamped to her lips.

More notably, her Cosmos also raged, and her mouth opened subtly to emit a rising, wobbling tone. The longer it went, the louder it became, till it echoed through much of the front.

"Dei possenti!" her voice suddenly exploded in intensity. "O Dei possenti!" [Mighty Gods! Oh mighty Gods!] Poseidon's troops forced their voices for a chorus of scourge with graces to Atlantis, their strength ever invigorated. "Che rumore spaventoso!" [What dreadful clamor!] The blood of Athena's army splattered across their land, over rubble of barrier or armor. Like javelins, tridents arched in the sky to down nearby enemies, and their push seemed close to routing the troops of Ophiuchus. "Grazia! Grazia! Dei possenti! O sventura!" [Grace! Mighty Gods! Oh calamity!] Her tone lifted itself higher and higher, yet her vocal cords never faltered, and as harsh as became her song, so became her movements. Even amid perfect singing, Mermaid returned to lead Poseidon's warriors into war. "Ah, giorno terribile! Di sangue e… di orrore! Giorno di vendetta!" [Ah, terrible day! Of blood and of horror! Day of vengeance!]

"HOLD!" Shaina screamed and defended herself from a barrage of rallied Marina. Soldiers and amazons felt the ground quake, and the sound of bangs from the fronts of Mu and Aldebaran served as dissonant harmony to Mermaid's melody. A mist of terror painted Atlantis' surreal sky, and so it dawned on them they were once more oppressed by the shadows of violence; every step brought with it a salient risk of death.

In the temple surrounding the North Pacific Pillar, the clash between Seiya and its guardian pressed on. No different from prior, their speed seemed equal, a trait they both were acquainted with abusing to defeat an opponent. No less than that, their force was monumental, and each time one dodged the other, where they landed to find stability, the courtyard's floored platform suffered constant damage.

Planning something, the Mariner stepped off one of Pegasus' strikes, bumped him off side and skipped away. He turned back immediately and launched his body into the enemy's, such that both lost balance; as he fell slightly atop the young man, he swung punches at him, alternating arms and targets. A right fist to the chest, improperly defended; a left fist to the side of the stomach, hitting square; then the right to the head, surely blocked, albeit not without sacrificing rhythm.

Thus the General pushed forth with the left elbow ahead, swinging his other arm back. His Cosmos exploded and, as if reaching for the skies, he yelled: "RISING BILLOWS!"

That man summoned a violent watery mist dressed in cosmic potential. Reflecting impossible galaxies, humid gales pushed Seiya upwards, an ability that reminded him of the Rozan Rising Dragon. Not much different from it, his skin was split, although this time by knife-like droplets that cut him superficially. As he descended, some of the blood of his new injuries joined this turbulent spawn.

"PEGASUS METEOR FIST!" the Bronze Saint screamed. The General did not dare take that head on; while his move was great, it was nowhere as strong as Dragon's when it came to damaging an opponent. Instead, he took advantage of his Scale's hardened metals and sent himself into Seiya's attack, thus both were similarly harmed.

This allowed him to dodge most of the meteors that blasted the ground to pieces, but sent him flailing away, whereas Pegasus fell straight to the ground, onto his side. Dazed, the Mariner poised mid air and twisted, landing with a lazy leg a couple meters away.

Despite his weakness, he strode at the speed of light to catch Seiya before he inevitably stood. The Saint, in the other hand, slammed the punch aside, and did unto him as he had done before, distributing punches much faster than he could gather. Leg yet in pain, the General missed a step and was struck in the head many an instance; once Pegasus finished with a brutal hook, he flipped back violently, rolling and letting the helmet slip off his head.

He knew he had to collect himself, so he rolled once more and skipped even further back, so that if Pegasus struck another time, he would have the upper hand. In response, the youth merely stared, knuckles aimed at the now unmasked foe.

Hanging close to his neck's height, the man's brown hair curled around his fair, rosy skin. The tone was so pale that bruises were already visible due to the recent beating he received. Even if advanced in age, the warrior was rather handsome, although he was no mere stranger; this was Baian, one of Kanon's cruel colleagues.

"Impressive that a Bronze Saint is this powerful," he spoke aloud so that he could be heard.

Seiya squinted at this. "And you know anything about how Saints are ranked?" he asked.

"Of course I do," said the man. "I would've once been a Saint like you."

"You?" Seiya's head tilted in doubt, wondering if the man played mind games with him. "So you were on our side once?"

"I have lived in Sanctuary. In fact, I have seen that Cloth you wear, the Pegasus Cloth, but I was no contender for it. Rather, I would've become the Equuleus Saint, a Bronze Saint like you," he told. "Seeing the power I achieved since, it would be a waste to have me as anything but a Gold Saint. Alas, look at you… nearly as powerful as I am, and they insist on treating you like a lowly wretch, only above an army officer." There was mockery in Baian's tone, although not to Seiya, for whom he seemed to harbor some respect now — rather, he mocked what he understood as Sanctuary's bureaucracy. "Their insanity has no bounds."

"Insanity is what you're doing now!" Pegasus clenched a fist in anger. "How can you defend a man who wants to kill innocents? No wonder you never became a Saint!"

"Have you not heard?" Baian's lips twisted into a tranquil smile, nowhere as demented as his colleagues would display. He strolled closer to the pillar, followed by Seiya's sight, so that he would stand in its way and fulfill his purpose. "I am the General-Mariner guarding the North Pacific Pillar, Sea Horse Baian! You might've heard my name before."

To that the Saint scowled. "You were one of the guys who tried to take over Sanctuary a long time ago. I heard it from Shun," he remembered.

"I am among those who attempted to awaken Sanctuary from its mindless torpor. Kanon was in his right mind; Sanctuary's power is limited by its traditionalism, and humanity is allowed too much freedom. It's about time someone did something to curtail it."

"I'm glad to hear that," Seiya spoke, so Baian raised an eyebrow. "Here I was thinking I should hold back because you were an honorable man like Krishna — he should die with honor. But you? A psycho like you might as well be slaughtered like a pig!"

With that they reignited their battle, and once more — for both had healed their aches — they were almost equal in speed and strength. They met halfway through one another's advance, gauntlets meeting with sparks; the heat of their energy filled the area around, and they each swung a punch that pushed the other a different direction.

Since Seiya had almost been rotated fully to the side, Baian attempted to tackle him, but the youth kept himself up, walking back with the force. He wrestled the Mariner to the ground, trying to stay on top of him, but their arms entangled and he lost the leverage. Impatient, the Saint flexed the shoulders, shouted, and exploded with Cosmos to crash Sea Horse against the marble floor.

This was a thunderous attack that cracked a few tiles, and in desperation — ere he was immobilized — Baian concentrated all the Cosmos in an arm and forced a palm into Seiya's chest, allowing the energy to then produce a blast. Pegasus was lifted into the air and sent away awkwardly, but not without the opportunity to return.

When they met again, the General had already swirled a kick to try and parry the other's punch, which came as a close failure. Once more a desperation move came, and he raised fingers to the sky, screaming: "RISING BILLOWS!"

Seiya nearly backflipped away from its force, but was nonetheless pushed by the drag; in this meantime Baian traveled towards him and heavily punted him towards that massive pillar. Initially helpless, Pegasus struck the edge and made a full spin, and not a crack formed on its structure. With Sea Horse arriving for another strike, the Saint took advantage of his own momentum and padded a rotating kick with Cosmos, entirely cutting the older fighter's push.

It was now Baian who spun aimlessly in the air, but as both landed, they let their legs rest and menacingly walked along the courtyard. No one was sure of when to strike first, knowing that, while Baian possessed greater tactical knowledge, Seiya was no less likely to defeat him if he slipped.

"Your Sainthood ends today, Pegasus!" the man yelled and, surprisingly, risked himself when it appeared too suicidal to do so. He stepped off the ground and flew to meet the Saint with a blindingly fast punch, one Seiya read without issue.

The Bronze Saint had no fear flying in the opponent's direction this once, and met that swing with an elbow pushing forth, right against the inside of his forearm; Baian's arm bent with the antagonistic forces, and once more he glanced past Seiya, spiraling aground.

Seiya rolled as he reached the floor and assumed another defensive stance, seeing that Sea Horse grunted and held the afflicted arm behind. "What the hell were you thinking?" he asked, so absurd had that move been.

"Quiet! While you fight safe, you are unable to defeat me," Baian argued and returned not unlike before, now no longer utilizing the dominant arm. Seiya more carefully parried that by tapping it off with the side of the gauntlet, then shoved a shoulder to the man's stomach and sped past him, bringing him to a near tumble.

"Are you nuts?" the Saint questioned while he assumed the same stance. "You're just making it easier for me."

The General stared on with anger upon hearing that. "A young, fledgling Saint such as you does not yet understand what wins a fight."

"Eh?" Seiya furled his brows and nearly smiled, finding those words hard to believe. "If this is how things will go... then at least let me know what made you betray Sanctuary."

But Baian would not relent; he attacked once, twice, always attempting to catch Seiya by surprise, always defended, pushed off, or completely avoided. Knowing that the Mariner's strength was enough to break his Cloth with a proper strike, Pegasus did his best to avoid the harshest of swings.

With all the movement that came at a faster pace and rate than ever, Sea Horse became overexerted. His lungs hurt with every breath, and therefore he had to stop and recollect, something Seiya obliged. "Think," he paused to take a deeper breath, and finally offered a reply. "Had you the chance to attain power unlike most men have ever had, would you not take it? To be powerful… to do as you will… to be respected and feared…" He breathed shallow once more and swallowed, since his voice began to fail. "There is no value to the weak! Great power is synonymous with significance."

"You risked your honor for some corrupt power?" Seiya inquired with a negative nod.

"Greatness begets great risks, even the risk of tainting one's honor. If you are without the worst of risks, you are fated to eternal mediocrity, or worse, total submission."

Pegasus could not comprehend the man's feelings; there was nothing in him that resonated with those words, and he found himself questioning whether he could even interpret what had been spoken. "I'll be honest, you speak like you're smart, but sound like the biggest tool I've ever heard," he said. "I'd better stick to beating you up instead of listening to your crap."

"Ignorant child…" Baian grunted, preparing another advance. "I'll finish you off now!"

They viciously went for each other, once more with Sea Horse attempting to get the best of Pegasus, to no avail. He peppered him with fast, technical palm strikes and punches, seeking to disturb his senses by spreading his targets at random. With a sneaky kick of the leg, he reached to sweep Seiya's feet off, but the Saint dodged by sliding back momentarily.

Thus the young man packed a fistful of Cosmos and screamed: "PEGASUS METEOR FIST!" Even a few steps away, he struck Baian directly to the body, skidding with him over the ground. Blood splattered against him from the exposed portions of the enemy's head.

Forcing him down with his weight, Seiya continued to descend the knuckles mercilessly, since he yet resisted, nearly always striking him bare. Cartilage and bone sunk with the colossal force, and oft the skin was torn, spitting more blood onto marble. Baian was able to reach with his palm grasping the foe's face, then forced him aside with the bit of energy he could muster.

This did not work at first, so, exasperated, he slammed Pegasus more forcibly and turned his own body down, so that he could crawl away. Seiya stood and casually walked to the General, watching him gasp for air amid the fluids that flooded his airways and throat. With a knee to the back, he held onto Baian's curled hair and slammed his face down.

What he did next was a brutal series of strikes that went on until the man would no longer move, and then more. There was such a wide scarlet pool under the enemy that, once he got up and saw, he felt a hint of shock at the cruelty he himself was capable of.

The young man snarled and came closer to the enemy's face, that had rested limp to the side. There were no signs of life — he had certainly won, and it had been as unceremonious as always.

"Whatever…" he said to himself "… the guy was a maniac anyway." His attention was deviated to the North Pacific Pillar, and therefore the wicked Cosmos that flowed through it. "Now to take this thing down."

Seiya encroached the structure and studied its material more calmly. From afar, it looked like mere marble, although bricks had been used to somehow seal the bottom of one side, where he assumed Poseidon's priest had gone through. He knew that, whatever this was built of, it sustained all of their attacks thus far. Nonetheless, he wondered if this was no feat of luck.

He felt its texture under the fingers, sliding them along it. It was rough, grainy, but smoother than most rocks, a sign that it had been processed in some way. Knowing that armor could be built of amazingly tough materials, Pegasus assumed the same had been done for said pillars, and that taking it down would be no mundane task.

Still, he tested its might by swinging with a well-focused strike. The punch resounded loudly for many to hear, as far as Thetis' song. As a testament of its rigidity, not a crack afflicted the stone.

"It's this hard…" he muttered. Inspiring air, Seiya swung another time, then with more power, then more, and he felt his Cloth vibrate through the arm till the nerves beneath ached, so he pulled back. "Damn it!" Once he took sight of his gauntlet, he noticed it bent at the tip, and that he was harming himself more than that obelisk in front of him. "How the hell are we going to take these down?"

Not long before this, it was in the temple parallel to this one, that of the South Pacific Pillar, that combat also took place. Instead of a one-on-one battle, June and Shun were grouped together against another General. While combat against this man seemed much easier as a duo, this did not come without risk. Whoever their enemy was, he was quite capable of bewildering, seemingly nonsensical moves.

To not be caught by the fast whipping of Chameleon, the Mariner changed course mid leap, as if he could fly like the most agile of birds. To stop Andromeda from setting up his enviable defenses, he took advantage of the movement to prey upon him, sliding along the ground and confounding the chains in the process.

A threat this fast and as low to the ground as was the chain seemed to be an unexpected weakness, and so Shun attempted to brake the force by lifting it into many lines, which did good work of it, but was thus only used by the man to spring his own body back and strike June beyond the speed of light.

The girl was struck in the arm, and spun once, landing with the boots quickly finding balance. She ran to Shun's other side and threw the whip another time, attempting to stun the Mariner who, at that point, had flowed fluidly about the pillar's perimeter.

Andromeda sent a barrage of both chain ends, promptly swarming the enemy as quickly as he could. They watched as the man's impetus was canceled, and thus the metal began to rotate ever faster. Preempting a counterattack, June stepped closer in her ally's direction, and soon the chain was launched outwards at great speeds, some chasing after the General, who escaped up in great velocity.

Drawing a parabola in the air, the enemy exploded with Cosmos and raced in Shun's direction, apparently unstoppable. "EAGLE CLUTCH!" he yelled, and they noted that his arms and legs were outstretched as he fell.

"Watch out!" Chameleon warned and, rivaling that speed, bounced in the attack's path. The Mariner's hands, that now glowed a menacing magenta, curled and struck against her body, penetrating right through part of a shoulder pad and the breastplate. The girl screamed in pain and, heavily bleeding, dropped to the ground with the enemy yet attached to her.

"June! NEBULA CHAIN!" Shun shouted and the chains cursorily embraced the enemy once more to pry him off the amazon's body.

Even then, the girl did not quit fighting; she tried to push him off, strike against his head with the whip's knot, or to pull that hand out of the wound. She heard a sickly laugh muffled by her own flesh as they were finally separated, but the pain of his hand pulling on her injured torso made her groan another time.

Finally she was able to kick him with full force to the temple, and as he was more intensely pulled by the Andromeda Chain, he slid, rolled, and slowly stood afar, having lost the helmet in the romp. The fighter's laughter escalated, and his quite long, fair hair was completely revealed, as was the remainder of his face.

Despite the Mariner being an older man, several elements of his Scale bore feminine curves, such as the slight bump on the cuirass and the wider hips of the greaves. The many layered plates were gracious in shape, albeit chitin like, from the pointy boots up to the bat wing-like shoulder pads. Each arm sprawled a pair of twisted horns, like draconic claws, and while the left arm was built bulkier with its blunt ends, the right one was sharpened and thinner, lighter.

Behind it, reptilian wings had been carefully crafted, the layers scaled as was the remainder of the armor. On the largest plates of the bust were etchings in white-gold depicting nymphs with bizarre twists. Whereas their naked bosoms and delicate faces were human, their other body parts were borrowed from a variety of animals and diverse creatures; harpy wings for arms on one; jackal heads skirting the hip on another; long reptilian tails for legs on one; the scaled tail of a shark on yet another.

It was clear by his appearance, especially jovial for the age, that this was another of Kanon's lieutenants, this one being the youngest, Io, famed for a gratuitous sadism. He watched with glee as the bleeding Chameleon readied her weapon for more fighting.

"June, are you alright?" a worried Shun asked her.

"Yeah, yeah, he just hurt me a little bit. It will get better soon," she said. "But you should go ahead without me."

"No! He is giving us trouble as is."

June spun the whip's handle in her hand and struck the ground ahead, measuring the distance between them. "We don't have time to waste! We need to take down all of those pillars as quickly as possible, and then free Lady Athena!" the girl argued. "I'm fast enough to keep him away from you, so go!"

Understanding the difficult position they were in, Shun entertained her idea, but wasn't sure of it. Even as the enemy attacked next, June easily blocked his path and kicked him in an unintended direction, which gave the boy time to escape. He gritted the teeth and listened to his friend's decision, leaping out of the temple's courtyard with a single, powerful leap. From there he would cut to a nearby pillar yet in tranquility, that of the Antarctic.

Meanwhile, Seiya continued to question the logistics of how to take down the North Pacific Pillar. After ensuring that the material was too strong to so easily break, he tapped the section that had been sealed off, feeling that, although the substance used as glue was easier to crack through, the space between bricks was too thin, and so it would present a similar resistance to the rest of the giant column.

The Saint took several steps back and admired the thing's dimension some more. He saw that the pillar extended beyond that direction, into a structure that went outwards, as if it held onto Atlantis' impossible sky. He then studied its relative position to nearby pillars, namely the South Pacific, Arctic, and Indian, which were in a sense adjacent. There was a narrow arc that pointed to no building — on that side and beyond the temple's walls, there stood naught but hills, vegetation, and rocky drops.

He did not know how far this extended, and did not know what lied past it. "I'll have to use the Comet Fist with as much power as possible," he whispered to himself, thus electing to walk about the courtyard in search of a good position to cast the ability. "Just got to make sure I don't hurt anyone, and it should be fine."

Positioned near an edge, he found what was the most promising angle at that point. There was no sign that he would harm a person or down another building, although the remainder of the temple would surely be reduced to shards. After fine-tuning where he stood, he aimed a fist to the pillar's base and started to burn Cosmos.

Since he had spare time, Pegasus did this steadily, shining brighter every second. Soon he distorted all light which surrounded his outline, and his arm emitted a beauteous golden aura. Once he started to manipulate this energy he unearthed, his hair raised as if caressed by warm winds, and his open wounds oozed floating blood that separated into thin red sheets.

Certain not to miss the target, Seiya remembered the last time he used such technique, the way which he concentrated that immense power in a single point. He swung an arm back then forth, as he would for the Meteor Fist, if not for its greater precision. Thereon he released that pent-up energy all at once, through the right arm and in the pillar's path, shouting: "PEGASUS COMET FIST!"

That same technique that once reduced part of the Temple of Athena to shreds, that even obliterated part of the Gemini Cloth, that defeated one of the most powerful and experienced of Gold Saints, now razed destruction to the North Pacific Pillar and the courtyard in its environs. As he watched the structure's bottom be engulfed, he noticed that the parts above only slowly moved, so magnificent was its size.

From there a good chunk of the temple's side was demolished with greater ease, and the massive orb of light spawned by the Saint continued on, whistling ever higher as it lost energy far in the distance. The tremendous destructiveness of that ability had grown with Seiya's training and improved insight into the Seventh Sense, apart from the fact he had the chance to use it more carefully this once.

Shun, who was yet moving towards the Antarctic, stopped along a flight of marble stairs. He heard first that haunting tone of the Comet Fist, followed by its bubbling light, then the pillar suffering its potency. Therewith the pillar's extent, going so far above, began to tardily crumble by its absence of foundation. As the obelisk imploded, overwhelming Atlantis with deafening noise, a massive wave of dust ascended and began to spread, covering all in its wake.

In the front, Thetis, Shaina, and the others who engaged in combat turned as soon as war cries were defeated by the sound of an Oceanic Pillar falling. They could see the uppermost structures that extended well into the distance capitulate as well; the boom of such a disaster reverberated and forced them all to hold their heads and ears, as it pierced their eardrums and vibrated their skulls in a manner that could damage a brain.

The resulting cloud of dust traveled on and on until every side of the battlefield became invisible. Men and women were pushed around, their fight interrupted by the catastrophe. Through the thick veils, they could not see awhile, and their damaged hearing was muted, afflicted by ringing sounds.

Dizzy, Shaina got up fast, lest she be slain by a foe, and she could only make out that the battle was rekindling by means of sensing Cosmoi, or by seeing thunder, bang, and aura cast rays through the dust. Her hearing slowly returned, although the tone cursing it remained; this was enough that she heard a call: "Miss Shaina, look out!"

Spikes of ice ran ahead of her, going sideways, and she dodged by flipping back. These had been thrown by Anka, who defended her from an opportunistic Mariner. The dust was settling; the screams of dying soldiers and amazons could be heard once more. The cacophony of war crawled back to activity.

Shaina crashed through the ice and bumped straight into the dazed enemy; she spiraled in place and sent the claws right through his neck, widening flesh to expose an artery. Her main target was a singular one: Mermaid Thetis. She had to find her amid this mess before she raised her troops' morale once more.

Indeed, the leading Mariner, Thetis, recomposed herself. On her high post, she pushed debris out of the eyes and stared at the panorama behind the defenders. Seven — only seven pillars stood rather than the former eight. She stared at an alien scenery, like a childhood home taken by flames. That was not the place she grew up in. It was not Atlantis. It could not be.

Her terrified sight, parted lips, and pale skin were a testament to her confusion. She did not know whether to manifest this oblivion in mourning, fury, melancholy… the woman turned back and saw the stark view of Ophiuchus below, ready to continue battle.

"What curse have you cast upon Atlantis, devils? What terror..." Mermaid hissed, for in hatred, she chose fury. By means of her reddened eyes, one could witness hatred consume her being. "You have made a grave mistake setting foot into our home!"