Lance's Role

by Thrudgelmir2333

A 'shonen' fic that sequels Next Dimension and Lost Canvas. In 1960, the Pope of Athena receives three prophecies from an old enemy that irremediably set the course of his reign over Sanctuary's tragic history and almost two decades later a Saint of Pegasus finds himself put through the unfolding of a new age of violence caused by the Pope's actions. Please enjoy and review.

95. 3A: March of Destruction - Part 3

Notable OCs: Pegasus Lance's Saint Generation, Civil War Saint Generation, WWII Saint Generation, Hades' Dark Princes, the False Specters, Maidens of Athena, Priam's Black Saints, Cyrulian Refugees, Genbu Atlae, Patrician Mariners, Shamballa Muvians

Notable Original Concepts: Mount Olympus Training Ground, Sanctuary Court, Teos Cloth, Athenian Empire mythology, Isle of Gardens, Stardust Prison, Hades' Dark Princes; Desert Beyond, Sanctuary Town Layout & Buildings, Kido Mount; Pact of Seven; DQI Geography, Shamballa

Recurring/Cameo OCs of Jenny DeVic: Mrs. Schafurwatt, Cyrus

Recurring/Cameo Concepts of Jenny DeVic: Great Bodyguard Legend, Golden Line Heritage, Sanctuary Orphanages, Andromeda Island's Geography & Tests, Sanctuary Nobility, 88 Knights Festival

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Author Notes:

-This chapter has been betaread by Jenny Devic. Check out her stories on this site, too;

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Please enjoy and review!

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1962

Aries Temple

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It had been a night of horrors.

Aries Azrael, or Antenor as he was codenamed in his generation, slumped on his chair, feeling crushed and defeated. The Gold Cloth in his body suddenly weighed on him like a harness of lead as his cosmos depressed, sinking deeper and deeper into murk. The sight at the Virgo Temple would not leave his mind. Or anyone else's in the Zodiac for that matter.

"We've confirmed what happened." Akassius spoke, standing there in his golden armor with his helmet by his waist. "Patroclus killed her. Right after slaughtering everyone in his Temple."

Azrael's head rung. His eyes stared hard at the floor, reeling.

Helen was dead? Helen was dead. She was dead. Gone from the world.

"We cannot find either of their bodies." The Gemini Saint carefully worded. He saw what these words were doing to Ace and tried to be as gentle as possible. "But by tracing the cosmos and using Kai's testimony, we can piece a few things together. After leaving the Cancer Temple, Patroclus climbed past Leo to Virgo and confronted Helen, whereupon they… did battle."

"Battle?! Them?! Why?" Azrael hissed. The more he thought about it, the less true it all seemed. "Why would Patroclus ever attack her?!"

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"I see why you feel this way about her." Patroclus lamented, eyeing the outside through the window like he wished he could jump out. "Sometimes I think Helen is the only one who understands what I'm going through with Karkinos."

"You just need to concentrate more, Patroclus, to remember what we are all here for!" The Aries Gold Saint urged. "Even Priam is on the cusp of doing it, so why not you? Don't you see you're the only one holding yourself back on this? Mastering the Cancer Cloth would be a breath away if you just-"

"Ace, I'm not like you!" Patroclus cut, clenching his fingers exasperatedly. The Cancer Gold Saint took a deep breath. "I'm not strong like you guys. Not that sheer willpower would matter here."

Ace grunted. "In my opinion, you're just being your usual mopey self!" He sat down with his friend and tried to be patient. "Tell me, then, what's so horrible about it? From everyone else, I can tell the Gold Cloth Paths are challenging, but if Akassius could do what he did, then…"

Patroclus tensed and paled at the mention of their Gemini. "I sometimes see his brother, Ace. In fact, I see everyone we've lost along the way here. Not just in the dark, but everywhere I go, I feel like I see everyone's shadow from Presepe."

How melodramatic. It sounded like Cancer was just playing tricks on Patroclus. "Do you see mine, then?"

Patroclus stared wide-eyed at him like he saw a ghoul over Azrael's shoulder. "Gunter Schroder."

The Aries Gold Saint widened eyes. He recognized the name. It was a teenager who attacked him during his most recent exorcism of Skeletons near Salzburg. Hades' darkness was overcoming him, even forming a Surplice. Azrael was forced to cut him down before he hurt his family.

"That… means nothing. You could have seen that guy's name in the Sanctuary paper!"

"Anne Albrecht?" Patroclus repeated.

A shiver went up Azrael. This one was from way back, someone Patroclus couldn't possibly know about. Anne was a girl Azrael failed to save when he was still a mere Bronze Saint. She was running away from a Black Saint party in the Tyrol mountains, near the Austrian border with Italy. Panicked, she fell off the cliffs while a strong Black Saint was wrestling Azrael to the ground.

His silence only made Patroclus glower more. "How about Franz Beaufort?"

A Zodiac Knight, this time. A young one that had accompanied Azrael's squadron to exorcisms. He died the previous week, shot down by poisonous Skeleton crossbows.

Patroclus soured visibly from the look of terrified recognition in Azrael's eyes. "They're all real people in your life, right? People who have died because of you or that you think was because of you. Everywhere I go, I see everyone's terrible mistakes laid bare. And Karkinos tells me to harness it… To use the sorrow of those poor people as fuel for my powers."

"Use the dead?!" Azrael asked, feeling a knot of revolt in his stomach. As someone who fought for the end of death, in a manner of speaking, how could he not?

Patroclus rubbed his eyes, feeling them teary. "I want to become a good Gold Saint, Ace; I swear it to Athena! I know those court ghouls want nothing more than an excuse to expel our entire group from the Zodiac, but…" He sunk his face into his hands, shaking like he stood naked in the Arctic. "I… can't escape the nightmares anymore. Every time I go to sleep, I feel myself falling down that Underworld Well into darkness! I think my Cloth is trying to turn me into a monster!"

The Aries Gold Saint reeled. He knew everyone was going through hell to master their Gold Cloths. Akassius in particular had to commit the ultimate sacrifice, one Azrael wasn't sure he could personally stomach.

But what Patroclus was describing sounded like an assault on your very soul. As someone who was deeply melancholic even from their old junkyard days, being forced to see everyone's failures led bare, all the innocent they have failed, how ugly the world was, and be followed into your dreams by it every day, must have been the ultimate test of resilience. In a twisted sense, it kind of seemed logical it would be the type of hardship a Gold Cloth would make you endure for its powers.

Even the ruthless and judgmental Azrael sat quietly at this.

Patroclus took another deep breath, nodding to himself. "Thank Athena, however, because Helen has been helping me so much. She's guided me with her Cloth's teachings to be at peace with my Path. I think that, without her, my soul would have been long gone…"

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"Patroclus loved Helen!" Azrael protested. "He depended on her! NEEDED her! It doesn't make sense that he would EVER lay a finger on her!"

Akassius shook his head. "I know it doesn't." His dark eyes glazed sadly. "After speaking with Malta, we think it may have been Cloth Sickness."

"Cloth Sickness?" Azrael asked, widening eyes. "You mean… like your brother had?"

"Patroclus has been struggling with the Path of the Cancer Cloth for years." Akassius reminded him. "His failure to master the Cloth's darker arts, the pressure of the aristocrats, not to mention the environment at the Cancer Temple, all put his fragile spirit to the test. What is also undeniable is that the Cancer Cloth owners have a history of unstable personalities… and tragically, Patroclus wasn't exempt."

The Aries stumbled. "Unstable personalities?! He… he killed Helen! He killed Helen!" His eyes shook, wanting to weep. He was never going to hear her voice or see her smile again. "N-Noo! No, NO, NO!"

The Gemini shut his eyes in sorrow.

The Aries took his sword and slammed it on the wall. "NO! W-what in Athena's name was Kai DOING?!" Azrael screamed. "His temple sits between theirs! Patroclus MUST have had to get past him to reach Helen! WHY DIDN'T KAI STOP HIM?!"

"I don't know yet, but it speaks to the deliberateness of Patroclus' actions." Akassius surmised. "This suggests that-"

He grabbed the Gemini's metal collar. "Akassius, how could you TALK ABOUT IT LIKE THAT?!" Azrael roared. "LIKE ITS JUST A CRIME SCENE THAT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER TO YOU?!"

The Gemini Saint sterned, holding his hands back. "Ace… Don't you even dare! You know this loss pains me as much as anyone else!"

The Aries Saint gawked at him. "Then why don't you look like it?!"

But the dark-haired youth's eyes reddened. "You have no idea… what it felt like when I saw what happened! I thought my damn brother had come back from hell to ruin our lives even more, but no, it was Patroclus and Helen and no one else! That's reality! And with all my power, I can't do a damn thing about it! All I want to do right now is SCREAM!" Akassius shook his head and took a deep breath. "But I cannot falter or lose objectivity, not now. I must show everyone that Helen and Patroclus' deaths will not destroy us! Otherwise, the rest of us will truly follow."

The Zodiac Knight turned away. "W-What does it matter anymore? With them gone, our dream is dead!"

The Gemini stepped up to him, alarmed. "Ace! That is not true!"

The Knight's fists clenched, having guessed Akassius would not admit his sense of defeat. "It's like you said, isn't it?! It's too late?! Or are you going to resurrect them?! Bring them back from whatever Buddhist hell Helen was dragged with Patroclus to?! Even you can't turn back the clock! Our dream to helm Sanctuary together is gone-"

The Gemini grabbed him and slammed Azrael on the wall. "STOP IT! Do you hear me?! NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR DESPAIR! Their deaths may be our reality right now, but the future is still up to the rest of us to decide! No one else!"

The Knight gasped, ever surprised by the Gemini's power.

Akassius widened eyes, seemed surprised at himself, and released him. "I'm sorry…But Ace, you can't let that side of you that lacks hope prevail. It's what drove Patroclus into this. The last thing we all want… is for you to join him."

Azrael nodded. "B-but…"

"Now more than ever, we need to stand together and shine as the Gold Saints we want to become. Otherwise, we will have come so far for nothing!" The Gemini Saint clenched fingers tightly on his shoulder. He manifested his Fire element with his other hand, creating a cosmos ball. "We must protect the light that we can still create ourselves, Aries Antenor."

Azrael stared at it fixedly. "The light we can create…"

"Many will depend on us to protect the world in the future." Akassius reminded him. "For the two of them and the future in Sanctuary, we all dreamed together. And one day, Goddess willing, we will flood the light of Athena unto the world and see the two of them again."

The trembling knight collected himself. He patted Gemini's hand to reassure him that Azrael listened. Akassius was right, as always. Yet, a deep dread filled the Aries Gold Saint. Where was he going to put all this blackness he felt inside? Who was going to listen to him, that could understand?

Seeing it in him, Akassius made a final appeal. "Are you still writing that journal of yours?"

Ace nodded. "It's a Zodiac Knight practice… a way to reflect on our sins and expel our faults."

"Keep doing so," Akassius urged, " even if you must blame all of us for what happened. Don't let your thoughts consume you, Ace. And remember, just because Helen is gone, you are not alone. You have the Zodiac Knights. And you have us."

"Not alone…" he repeated to himself, drying the few tears he let out. Yes, this made sense. "Right. I am not alone…."

Not alone.

Not-alone.

Notalone.

Notalone,Notalone

Notalone,Notalone,Notalone

Notalone,Notalone,Notalone,Notalone

NOTALONE!

….

….

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The Present

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Aries Azrael opened his eyes under the rocks that Diamond Beak Slash buried him into.

He was not alone.

Another Zodiac Knight had just attacked him. Another Zodiac Knight. Other than him. Lived.

Azrael's cosmos burned, glowing a golden yellow.

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She turned to him as the light died down. "My name isn't Daisy, Atlae. It's Aquila Daese Heloise," she revealed to him. "And I am the last of the Zodiac Knights."

The battered Atlae gawked. Standing before him, having just blasted the insane Serpens Saint off of Atlae with a series of slash waves, was none other than the maiden of Athena, who had traveled with their group from Somalia to Shamballa, clad in the most shining and beautiful set of blue plates and white outlines on armor he had ever seen.

Standing up, his mind reeled, trying to understand everything. "M-Miss Daisy, you… h-how?!" He then gasped and rushed to the fallen blue-haired girl nearby. "MARI'!"

Daese saw the poor Muvian boy holding the girl in her arms and gently shaking her, trying to awaken the Mariner. Azrael's Colchian Disaster had almost destroyed her armor, and blood smears and wounds were all over her as Atlae barely reacted.

"Mari', n-no!" Atlae wailed, joining foreheads with hers. This was all his fault. He was just sitting there in front of Talos and forced her to come to protect him. "P-Please be okay! Please!"

The Aquila's heart broke at the sight of the distraught boy. "She's still alive, Atlae. I can feel her Cosmos burning."

He widened his teary eyes. Now that he had focused a bit, he sensed chi in Marianne. "Miss D-Daisy, please help us!"

"You are still in time to save her and her friend." Daese urged. "But you need to take her to Shamballa now befor-"

"I KNEW IT!"

The two of them almost jumped in startle, thinking Azrael had already recovered from the Aquila Saint's attack, but it was merely Caça emerging from behind some rock and rushing at them screaming.

"Caça?! Where were you?!" Atlae demanded to know.

He looked at Atlae like he just asked if it was breakfast time. "Are you kidding me?! While you were just sitting there drooling in Marianne's arms, I was taking cover. DUH!" He pointed his finger straight at Daese. "BUT YOU! I knewthere was something wrong with you! AHA! You were lying to us the whole time!"

The knight grumbled embarrassedly and nodded. "I'm sorry to you all. It wasn't my intention to deceive you. I was never here to build a church for Athena, no. Rather, my mission always was to investigate Serpens Azrael's activities."

"T-That guy who just attacked us?" Atlae's brain tried to make sense of it. "But… if you were working for Sanctuary…"

Caça crossed his arms and scowled like a dishonored maiden. "WELL, you can forget about MY forgiveness, uh! You could have saved us all along, couldn't you?! But instead, you just watched all this shit happen! The death of all those Mariners is on you, lady!"

"Caça!" Atlae shouted, horrified.

Her eyes were saddened. "Forgive me, I was following the ship thinking you were all back in Shamballa. I wanted to see what was going on. However, I couldn't use lightspeed because someone might have detected me." Daese explained. Her eyes then turned to the monstrous sight of the downed Talos, whose breath seemed to be slowly re-emerging. "But then I saw that massive explosion when the ship and the monster attacked each other. I never thought, however, that this was what was going on…"

The pale mariner snorted rudely. "Well, I won't forgive you anyway! You can rot in Hades for all I-"

Atlae picked up Marianne with his arms and stood up. "Thank you for saving us, Miss Daisy."

Caça gawked. "ATLAE, SHE LIED TO US! SHE COULD HAVE KILLED US IN OUR SLEEP, AND NONE WOULD BE THE WISER. AND HER NAME ISN'T EVEN DAISY-"

His head shook. "Caça. That's ridiculous! We'd be all dead without her!" Then turned to the Knight. "I don't know why you're keeping everything a secret from us, Miss Daisy, but… none of it is important right now. Thank you for saving my life. I promise we won't say anything."

The young blonde woman exhaled in relief. Somehow, she knew Atlae would say this.

She turned when she heard the smoking rubble shift, bits of pebbles rolling around from within. "He's coming back! You need to go!"

"Right! Caça, get Sorrento!" He gave Miss Daisy one last look, wishing he could help. "Miss Daisy, will you be alright?"

The Paladin nodded and spoke urgently. "I will. I am tougher than I look. Just, please, go, and don't tell your Master about this. Or your captain."

The Muvian boy needed no explanation from someone who had just saved his and Marianne's life for such secrecy, but he still worried. "I will come back later to help, I swea-"

"Don't even think of it, Atlae! This guy is way out of your league!" The Aquila gripped her sword, which beamed with light and eyed the approaching Azrael. Her eyes narrowed. "And besides, this is personal!"

With much effort, the pale Mariner burned cosmos and lifted the unconscious, cyan-haired officer over himself. "A-AGH, why is he so heavy?! And why am I lifting him and not you?! You're the strong one! I should bring Mari-"

There was a second, louder noise, and the rubble around Azrael was blasted from within into the air, then dropped all around them!

Caça saw a shadow emerge from the smoke and panicked. "YES, LET'S LEAVE RIGHT AWAY! COME ON, ATLAE!" and rushed off, carrying Sorrento.

The Muvian was awed at the sight of Caça putting everything he had into taking Sorrento to safety as fast as possible, disappearing towards the forested rises.

Seeing a sudden fury in her eyes that could make one's blood leave their face, Atlae gulped. He had no idea such a nice person like Miss Daisy could hold such a furious side. He took off at super speed.

Offering a prayer to Athena for him, Daese stood guard for the sound of the two reaching supersonic speed and vanishing out of the burning valley. Then, she focused on her adversary. There he was, Serpens Azrael, marching out of the smoke. The man who ruined her life. The man who murdered her parents and people and who made her and Cerah be alone in the world.

He was clad in a horrible parody of the Gold Cloth with more spikes, segmented, while having a small version of the ram horns on the shattered helmet instead of the shoulders.

But despite the decade that had transpired since the Purge, and the cracks she made with her Diamond Beak sword slashes, the man himself still looked the same. Daese felt she could identify his emerald hair, green-slitted eyes, pointy nose, tall posture, and dented skin everywhere. If anything, the crazed look in his emerald eyes was sharper, the tiny scars on him more numerous, and the destruction she witnessed him cause had only reached greater levels.

A million thoughts rushed through her head, inflaming her blood with a twister of anger, disgust, and even a bit of confusion at the circumstances of their encounter. Daese had no intention of breaking her promise to Priam; directly confronting Azrael then and there while investigating the chaos of Talos' rampage had only been done because she was about to witness him snuffing out yet another innocent life. However, now that she stood there, forced to battle him, how could she not think of seizing this chance to avenge her family and make the world safer for Cerah to return to?

He stopped before her and reached for his face, feeling his skin instead of ugly metal. His exposed face glared at her "You broke my helmet…"

Daese assumed pose, holding sword defensively. "Oh, did I? Next time, I'll ram this beam sword into your chest, then!"

Azrael scowled, looking bored, and snapped his fingers. Immediately, pieces of metal in the ground broken from the Cloth turned into rays of light that then coalesced around his head closing roundly to form a small goat-head. There a a green stone birthed in the forehead and grew a V of fins. Then, the same ram horns from before tightened their circle and formed sharper thorns along their curves.

"Doesn't matter. I was looking for a change in style," he mocked, carving sword into the ground and adjusting his gauntlets. All the while, his eyes squinted at her, studying her armor top-to-bottom. "Now… who in Athena' name are you supposed to be?"

She flinched slightly. Daese knew his Lightcraft was leagues beyond her own, but this was a faster fix and reshape than even the most laborious Aries Saints could do.

She scoffed at his question. "You recognize this Cloth, don't you? Why don't you put two-and-two together, then? I'm a Zodiac Knight!"

Daese saw him growl at her insolence.

"I can't believe my eyes. The Aquila Cloth…Kai's stupid, undeserving wife wore that thing to my face for years in the name of the Saintias. One of the two Silver Cloths granted by the Pope to the Knights; Aquila and Corvus." He saw the shining diamond cloth stone around her neck. "Now the armor is returned to its rightful stone, and all this time it's been in some thieving girl's hands?"

"I am no thief! I am Paladin Daese Heloise!" She proudly announced, igniting her aura of golden and white cosmos. "And I was entrusted with this armor to exact vengeance for the Knights of Athena YOU KILLED!"

Though unimpressed by her display of Cosmos, his eyes did widen slightly in recognition. "Heloise? I knew that family."

A sudden fear struck her. He did?! Did he know of Cerah, too, then?

He held chin, recollecting the past. "They were a line of oathsworn soldiers, weren't they? From the old Frankish branch and in service to the castles of the west." He shrugged. "Their cosmos wasn't much to look at, but I often heard they were loyal and dutiful people."

Her nose breathed in relief. He was ignorant of her little sister, then. "They were loyal, yes…" Flashes of Azrael cutting through scores of her people went through her mind, making her cosmos blaze higher. "…and you betrayed them!"

His lips smirked at the anger he saw in her aura's burning, guessing the rest of her story. "So, I am dealing with some kind of avenging angel?"

"You were everything my people aspired to be, the Castellan all of us admired the MOST!" Daese recounted. Even as a young girl, she remembered the hope in everyone's eyes when speaking of Serpens Azrael, Corvus Azrael and then Aries Azrael. "You were supposed to save us all! To bring victory against the Saints! And you stabbed us in the back instead!"

His hand rested on his hip, and his eyes squinted. "'Stabbed in the back'? Am I really hearing that from some rat hiding a Zodiac Cloth from me?!"

The quickness of his deduction about her stunned her.

"Do you have the slightest clue, little girl, of how sacred an object you are wearing? Or who the people you're swearing vengeance to were?" he challenged. He observed her pose, noticing how she had the wrong foot forward and her back was too lean. "I am guessing not, given how off the cuff that last attack of yours was."

The blonde girl staggered self-consciously. "What?!"

"There was a lot of anger to that Diamond Beak Slash. Barely any concentration, too. A real Knight would have executed those slashes with grace and efficiency, like the soft beams of the dawn cleansing the night away, even if they were face to face with Hades himself. But you?" He laughed derisively. "You attack more like someone preparing lumber for the winter. And this, not to mention how poor yourpose is."

Instinctively, her body stiffened to correct her posture, but her head shook at the ridiculousness of it. "What does that matter?! You killed our people! And mounted their heads on your walls!"

"There's only one person who could have done such a terrible job teaching you our heritage. That idealistic fool, Priam." Azrael pinpointed, stunning her into silence. He pictured how this girl could be standing here, imagining years of hiding in that coward's shadow. Azrael's breath hissed. "He's alive, isn't he? He escaped Akassius' clutches at the Spire like the sinking ship rat he is."

Her eyes widened, but she refused to confirm his suspicions. The secrecy of Priam's survival was still paramount to their objectives.

Yet, Azrael seemed sure of it anyway. "How appropriate… His response to failure has always been to run away and hide, just like back in the junkyard, and just like he did with the Knights." Azrael laughed at her face. "As for you, I can imagine the apple not falling too far from the tree! You probably evaded the Purge by hiding in some corner of Serpent's Rock. Maybe somewhere I wouldn't check right away, like under your parents' corpses, before you slithered away unnoticed? I had more than enough on my mind with the Pope coming in to tell me he was taking away my Gold Cloth. I can imagine missing a soul or two."

Daese shook, reliving in her mind that horrible night when she dragged Cerah by the hand out of her people's last holdout. For nights on end, the two sisters endured rain and darkness in the middle of Russia, escaping east, away from Sanctuary. Away from Serpens Azrael. There was nowhere to go for so long. No ray of hope in any of it. There was only the warmth of the Aquila and Corvus Cloth Stones that had kept them alive, and the song of Saint Roland to keep her going against the harshness of the Siberian wastes.

"Then that coward Priam took you in, probably at Bluegrad, and raised you to be his next sacrificial pawn." Azrael continued with eerie precision. "He filled your head with ideas of pacifism, of how wrong Sanctuary was, of how it was all his fault so many sacrificed themselves for him to achieve nothing?"

Daese steeled her spirit, knowing she shouldn't cede to these provocations. "You must think you see a lot from that high porch of yours!"

His lip corners went up. "Am I wrong, then? And am to fear the wrath of a self-trained Aquila?"

Blazing her aura, she charged in at lightspeed, swinging her sword in an upward slash. "DIAMOND BEAK SLASH!"

Ripping his sword from the ground, Azrael swung it to block her beaming blade, unleashing a shower of sparks and light rays everywhere upon contact and letting his heels drag back through the burned ground with the force of her attack. Completely absorbing the strength of her swing, he then bashed her off, stunning her, and swung his blade with a trail of golden light toward her neck. Daese swerved her body leftwards, but his right foot then slammed straight into her stomach as if he had expected her to do it all along, exploding an orb of cosmos in its tip against her body that blasted her off into the air.

"You stupid thief! I am a Saint of Athena!" he lectured, letting her collapse and roll through the ground without chase. "Did you really think the same technique would work on me twice?!"

Daese gasped and held on to her sword to get up but felt her body flash with pain. Already there was a crack in her stomach plating. He hit her with such force like she was nothing! And the fight had only just begun.

"So, how did you think your little comeback from oblivion would go?" Azrael queried before giving chase with a lightspeed dash. His sword thrust forward. "IS MEETING YOUR HERO EVERYTHING YOU EVER DREAMED?!"

Daese quickly raised her beam saber, letting his sword strike and friction off its shiny edge away from her. She then swung with a diagonal slash. "NOT UNTIL YOUR HEAD COMES OFF YOUR NECK!"

He blocked it with a high guard, a bored look upon his face, allowing her saber to dig into his metal. His foot struck her stomach, bashing her off. Stumbling back, Daese then found herself under assault by a thrust of blinding light edges coming straight at her! Swerving aside with a roll, she swung her blade upwards, unleashing an energy shockwave that tried to blast Azrael square in the face. The Serpens Knight, however, shattered it to pieces with a mere sideways sweep of his blade. A counterblast from his hand then hit her head-on, sending her screaming through the rocks until it exploded her against the floor, stunning her.

"Priam was the weakest member of our generation. And he quit the Zodiac Knights after finishing his Bronze Cloths' Path to become a regular Silver Saint." Azrael mocked. With a superhuman leap into the air, he unleashed his cosmos, projecting the power of his old Corvus silver stars. Then he aimed his sword downwards and let himself dive into his target, turning into a sharp meteor of light. "He's the worst possible mentor to prepare you for a battle against me! OBSIDIAN DIVE!"

Her senses recovered, and she tossed herself out of the way in the nick of time, Daese avoided the devastating sword crash, letting Azrael's blade shatter the ground, crack it, and flood the earth's scars with blinding geysers of cosmos that spread out in the vague shape of a crow's wings, beak and paws. The sheer shockwave still tossed her out further, smashing her through rocks and rubble.

She collected herself, rattled by the intensity of the technique and its origin. "That was a Corvus technique! From the stone I entrusted Cerah with!" Raising herself, she reassumed her pose. "I forgot! All the members of his generation trained themselves in bronze and silver paths as well. Just like Priam with Lionet and Sagitta, Azrael has all the techniques of his Serpens, Corvus, and Aries Cloth pieces of training."

With a sweep of his sword, Azrael cleared all the boulders surrounding him from the dive crash, sending shattered rock flying everywhere and freeing him to confront her.

"So, my head will come off my neck?" He asked as the boulders crashed back on the ground, littering the battlefield. "Mm, mm, mm. An ambitious goal for a young little squire girl like yourself, wouldn't you say?"

Aloud, guttural howl was heard coming from the massive corpse that knelt nearby. Daese turned and saw, with horror, a pair of faint blue lights re-emerge in the fallen giant's bony eye sockets while his body began shaking in movement. The blood previously flooding out of the open hole in its chest was now a small drip of red as the Stardust Cannon's wound closed in its chest, leaving scarred bone armoring.

Azrael stepped back to make sure he was out of Talos' sight as the monster regained consciousness. "The Mariners failed, Cloth thief. Talos lives."

The Paladin jumped away in terror, avoiding a clumsy movement of the beast's long tail as it erected itself on its two giant feet. She saw Talos widen its heavy wings, lift its claws, and raise its long jaw at the night sky as it inflated its chest before unleashing a sky-cleaving cry of wrath.

It held its scarred chest, feeling a deep pain from the shot of the dragon mouth cannon. "I am… awake. I SURVIVED!"

Its eyes shined, seeing the burning wreck of the Sea Dragon. "I have triumphed! DESTROYED my ENEMY!"

Its foot raised and smashed down on the ruins, trampling the burning structure into pieces. Talos kicked the rest, splitting the ship apart and sending rubble and corpses inside flying everywhere. "I am the ultimate warrior! The ultimate GUARDIAN CLOTH!"

It roared out again, declaring its strength to the world with a cry that sounded like a prehistoric beast. "I AM TALOS!"

She saw it then face move through the forests towards the mountain edges of the valley, tearing everything in its path. Suddenly her anger at Azrael vanished as she pictured the massacre this could cause. "Azrael, hold ON! We have to stop that thing!"

But the Serpens Saint just stood there, letting it leave their battlefield. In fact, he smiled in satisfaction as it ripped giant rocks and patches of forest out of its way, determinedly marching to some unknown destination.

Her face paled in realization. "You… you're lettingit to go?!" While she wasn't shocked at the cruelty, the scale of it appalled her. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU'RE A SAINT OF ATHENA!"

"Yes, I am, and the crimes of the Muvians and the Mariners are theirs to pay." He unflinchingly declared. "My only interest is in distributing the justice of Athena. A real Zodiac Knight would know that."

She staggered, horrified.

As Talos clawed into the mountains, climbing them, its senses felt the warmth of Atlae disappearing eastwards at tremendous speed. Its large limbs sped up, destructively making way through rocky mounds, obstacles and forests, its hot body igniting fires everywhere.

The sight of the blind march of destruction was appalling. Even on her way to the battlefield, Daese had seen countless displaced by the monster's movement and could only imagine, in her most terrible nightmares, the death and destruction that giant monstrosity would cause. The trail of burning already in its wake left little to the imagination, as did the ruins of the Sea Dragon.

Her fingers clenched her beam sword handle. She thought he was just targeting Atlae because of a mistake, but this was so much worse. "You cynical,… selfish… cruel monster! YOU did this, not the Mariners! DIDN'T YOU?!"

The Bronze Knight smiled. "Me? Talos is but a Cloth. Am I the one wearing it, perchance?"

"T-Tens of thousands could die!" she screamed at him.

"All the better, then." He unhesitant declared, freezing Daese to her core. "That will be the price tag of Starlight Extinction being unusable in this battle. And perhaps, coupled with me returning the Diamond Cloth Stone to Sanctuary, Arles will finally see he should never have taken Aries away from me."

Her green eyes locked on his, realizing the true depth of the cruelty of the man she abhorred all her life. The Topaz Purge was now going to become just one of Azrael's massacres? And not even the worst one? All those kind, loving people in Shamballa would die, and this man, this Zodiac Knight, this former Gold Saint of Aries, wanted it to happen?!

"You… you murderer!" Her aura strengthened, pulsing more intensely as a revolt against Azrael's callousness filled her heart. Gripping her beam sword, she jumped and descended her sword down on the uncaring Azrael with a war cry. "YOU MURDERER!"

{======================|A3|======================}

Shamballa

{======================|A3|======================}

"Take the next group of people to the Kraken, now!" Yuzuriha ordered her guards as she headed for the city walls.

They nodded and frantically tried to guide the nervous families with them to the Mariner warship in Lake Showan'u. "Please, everyone, come with us!"

As they loaded up another group of people, a mariner with a megaphone waited for one more family to get in before shutting the massive mechanical squid's hatch. "WE ARE LOADED UP! PLEASE STEP AWAY FROM THE PLATFORMS!"

The warship's eerie siren sounded and the surrounding people took frightened steps off the docking bay, allowing it to enter the center of the lake safely and then begin submerging. The massive ship disappeared, leaving a trail of surging bubbles behind.

Yuzuriha breathed out. Evacuations were going well, despite everyone's concerns. She had her men and Josef Gerasimov's ship to thank for that. However, as she looked around, she saw still many panicked Muvians and humans asking the guards what was going on and where they could go. Many spoke of filled-up shelters or asked if they could go inside the locals' houses to escape whatever emergency was being declared.

How were there still so many? Damn the Summer Festival! It made her almost agree with Dohko in cursing out the Phoenix's blasted festivity from her people's calendar.

"But what is taking the Sea Dragon so long?!" she wondered. Marianne Solo's crew set out a good hour earlier. "They should have already made contact with Talos. Has their encounter taken a bad turn?"

"M-MASTER, MASTER!" a familiar voice cried, arriving at the speed of sound.

Yuzuriha gawked, seeing none other than her student and his mariner friend arriving with two unconscious bodies. "Atlae?!" She then gasped, seeing the person in his arms was Marianne Solo. "Dear Genbu, what happened?!"

{======================|A3|======================}

Atlae and Caça filled Yuzuriha in the best they could on what happened to the point the Sea Dragon crashed and Talos collapsed. All the while, with every piece of bad news, the Master looked like she could hurl.

"Gods of Rozan, so many lives lost!" Yuzuriha lamented. This was a tragedy not just for the victims, but for her and Arthur's work to bring their civilizations closer together. "And that maniac Azrael attacked you?!"

"HE CAME OUT OF NOWHERE, SWINGING SWORD AND BLASTING US TO SHIT!" Caça screamed, setting Sorrento down. "He said that we Mariners were responsible for what happened! What the hell is wrong with him?! We didn't do anything! W-What is going on?!

"Why didn't he help us?! Who was he?!" Atlae demanded to know. "Why did he do this to Maria-

"One question at a time!" the Elder demanded, silencing them.

The two crewmen gulped and the elderly Muvian lady tried to gather her thoughts. Rarely in her life, had things gotten so much worse in such a short amount of time. Did Azrael know about Arges' squad suspicion that a Mariner bonded with Talos? Arges said they found a Mariner sword, after all, one that Azrael could very easily have encountered as well, and he was enough of a Zodiac Knight to start blaming every Mariner he saw around Talos for it.

"Serpens Azrael is… a member of the Pact of Seven, just like me. While I represent Mu and Arthur represents the Mariners, Azrael represents the Zodiac Knights," Yuzuriha explained. Her eyes narrowed, remembering the Purge. "Or rather, I should say he IS the Zodiac Knights, currently."

"Zodiac Knights?" Caça gawked. "Like that gir-"

Atlae rested Marianne and covered Caça's mouth. "Master, he said the same. Who are they?"

"They are Saints of Athena. Just like the ones you see in Sanctuary." Yuzuriha explained. "But they chose to live a templar knight's life, in castles located in European mountains, refining their precious use of Light Cosmos to wage a continuous war with Hades' forces in Germany. As you can imagine, Atlae, they aren't too friendly to traditional enemies of Athena, like the Mariners."

"M-Master, he almost killed Marianne!" Atlae cried, holding the nigh-unconscious girl close to the chest. "She's got nothing to do with wars between Sanctuary and Poseidon! If he's a Saint of Athena… shouldn't he be fighting for justice?!"

"I'm afraid, Atlae, that Serpens Azrael has a twisted definition of what justice means." Yuzuriha lamented. Still, despite the fact she was sure these two wouldn't just invent an accurate description of Azrael out of nowhere, something was off. "More so, I am shocked the two of you managed to escape him, with two bodies on your back to boot. That man single-handedly drove his own to extinction, and his Cloth give him extraordinary senses! Atlae… how in Athena's name did you evade Azrael?"

Caça scoffed. "Well, that's easy, that lying bit-"

"That big monster Talos attacked him, and we took the chance to get away!" Atlae interjected, startling Caça. He couldn't believe he was lying, and so rudely too, but protecting Miss Daisy took priority. "But Master, that doesn't matter right now, please help Marianne and Sorrento!"

Yuzuriha figured she should acquiesce before a dead daughter was added to the list of the fallen she'd have to report to Arthur Solo. The Elder was no expert, but she could tell by the girl's vanishing cosmos alone that Arthur's daughter was down for the count at best.

"Jeanna, take her and Officer Sorrento to the infirmary, now." she ordered the soldier by her.

"Y-yes, ma'am!" The pink-haired guard nodded and lifted Marianne up with the help of her fellow guards. "Don't worry, Atlae, we will watch over her. We promise."

The Muvian followed them frantically as they quickly took Marianne to a gurney. He gasped, seeing her eyes open briefly.

"Mari', I'm here!" he held her fingers as Marianne dazedly reached out for him, wishing he could do something, anything.

"A-Atlae!" she mentally cried out as the gurney was raised.

His eyes teared. "Marianne, I'm so sorry! I should have protected you!"

The Delphinus Saint cried as well. She wanted to comfort him so badly, but her body refused to move. And then the worst thing was what she learned from Yuzuriha earlier that her lover may have indirectly caused this horrible catastrophe. What was going to happen to them all?

With some struggle, she held his cheek. "Atlae, no matter what happens, none of this was your fault. Remember that, please!"

He cried out her name, but Jeanna's group took her away and his Master held him not to follow. His fists clenched so hard he felt his fingers dig into his palms. He wanted to go to go back so badly, to teach that bastard Knight a lesson in pain! Was Miss Daisy even prevailing over him?

Yuzuriha held him closer. "Atlae, she is going to be okay. Arthur's daughter is a strong woman. Even stronger than people think."

The rare moment of proximity from the otherwise harsh teacher barely registered through the layer of shame he felt around his heart and throat. He wiped his tears into his arm.

The Elder turned to Caça. "Where is your captain?"

The young Mariner staggered with her glare. "I don't know! Before we left he went to look for that girl we traveled with, but he's wasting his time because she's f-"

"CAÇA!" Atlae cried out, startling the two of them. His green eyes glared at his friend. "N-Not now!"

The mariner crossed arms. "I can't believe you! You're really not going to tell on that liar?!"

Atlae freed himself from his Master's hold and took Caça by the shoulder harshly. "Of course not! She saved our lives, Caça! Don't you see that?!"

Yuzuriha beheld their bizarre behavior. "What's going on?!" She's never seen her student act this way like he was keeping secrets from her. "Is there something I should know, Atlae?!"

The martial artist cleaned his face and braved his teacher. "No, Master. Our captain is just very worried about a friend and asked us not to tell anyone he left us alone."

The Muvian Elder scoffed. "I don't care what Krishna Chola thinks he's doing; he was supposed to be keeping an eye on you two for me! When you find him, you let him know I'm letting Arthur know of his negligence!"

Atlae breathed easier. He hated lying to his teacher, but at least Miss Daisy was safe for now.

When the Elder looked away to instruct her men, Caça elbowed him harshly in the gut, making him wince. "You Muvian piece of shit! You will pay for this later, got it?! Don't think you can push me around like you have and get away with it! The second we get back to the captain, I will let you know all of this is your fault! You'll be lucky he lets you finish the world tour!"

Atlae rubbed his pained stomach. He was just happy Marianne was alive. "I know… Thank you for everything, Caça."

The mariner threw his arms up. "Don't THROW IT AROUND with your usual dumb gratitude! I'm going to get you in trouble, do you understand that?!"

He nodded. "I do. I don't mind."

The mariner gritted his teeth, wishing he could strangle him! "Goddamn it! Why do you always do this?!"

Atlae winced. Did nothing he said ever make him happy? "Do what?! I agree with you! You can punish me if you want, I won't stop y-"

"THAT'S EXACTLY IT! You're always doing the right thing! Don't you realize how horrible that makes ME feel?! Don't act so selfishly, for once in your life!"

The Muvian stared weirdly, utterly confused. The right thing? Selfish? Did he do something bad to Caça or not? Why was it so hard to understand humans sometimes? His head sunk, ashamed. Did his friend really feel this way about what he did all this time? Was it possible that Atlae was actually acting inconsiderate of everyone else by throwing himself into danger so much?

And then there was that terrible moment where he lost consciousness and had that nasty vision. Of hurting Marianne. Which ended up making him unable to see that Azrael guy arrive and attack them.

Again, Josef Gerasimov's warning echoed in his mind. Would Atlae really not be forgiven for what he's done?

His Master returned. "We need to move the two of you out of here, too. Josef Gerasimov should be heading back with the Kraken from taking the latest load of innocents to safety. Then we need to contact the Gold Saints and do something about Talos!"

Atlae stepped up. "Master, before that… I need to ask you something."

She held her head. What was it now? Did a Gold Saint sent by Shion get stomped flat by Talos, too?! "Make it quick, Atlae!"

"When I was next to Talos, something happened." He revealed. Immediately, Master's eyes widened. "I had a vision and… I passed out."

Yuzuriha held his shoulders. This was terrible; had Talos tried to connect with Atlae somehow?! "A vision? What did you see, Atlae? Tell me!"

"It was something I had seen before when we visited Death Queen Island. I think…it was the continent of Mu." Atlae confessed. "And, in both visions, there was this terrible person in them! This… evil woman with no clothes and covered in blood… makes me do things!"

Caça gawked. "What the hell?! You've been having visions of naked ladies?! Atlae, you idiot! That's just puberty!"

The Muvian shook his head. "I'm serious! It has to mean something, I know it!" He raised his hair from his forehead to reveal a vague wound in the skin that had almost vanished. "Saint Noah even said it might be a scar from when I went to Death Queen Island. Master, what do they mean?! Why do they happen?! Marianne almost died because I was just laying there!"

The Master released him, feeling her chest cold. "What else was there? Fire?"

Atlae nodded, feeling the details coming back to him, especially the blood. It all looked completely savage. "Y-yes, and everywhere around me there was… people hurt in terrible ways."

The Master held her head. She knew exactly what was going on, especially if it started in Death Queen Island. She didn't, however, have even a modicum of time to explain any of it to him right now.

She took a breath. "Atlae, some people, meaning our people, think that… we, the descendants of survivors of the sinking of Mu, still carry some of our continent's final days with us."

The blonde boy rubbed his head. He did recognize the lamps he saw from the Summer Festival, but the buildings were so different and everyone was acting nuts. "W… What are you saying, that those people, that woman were…"

"It happens to all of us, Atlae. Even I have had these dreams during stressful times." Yuzuriha assured, looking a bit embarrassed at it, too. "Some think that it's part of the punishment that Poseidon inflicted on us, that we'd carry the Fall of Mu somewhere in our souls until we are all gone from this world."

Atlae trembled, feeling haunted by the vision he had. "But why was everyone acting so insane?! I saw them hurt people, humans, calling them names, dancing on their dead bodies and- Master, were our people… evil?!" Atlae finally cried out, shutting his eyes. "We made that thing Talos, didn't we? Marianne said it's a Cloth and… I recognize it from the drawing in the North Gate. And… and we used to hurt people! Didn't we?!"

Yuzuriha fell quiet.

She felt a horrible ache of head, and spirit, emerge in her. There was no way she could keep hiding it from him, could she? Not if Atlae seemed more and more destined to be the guardian of their people, perhaps the final one if their species' numbers kept dwindling like they were. There was a chance that one day, Atlae would have to be entrusted with the truth, even if he wasn't the right personality to handle it so that the reasons the continent fell wouldn't be lost to oblivion and the sacrifice of so many people be wasted.

"Master, I will believe everything you tell me, I promise." Atlae swore, nodding his head. "Don't hide the truth from me."

It was better if it came from her mouth, then, wasn't it? "Atlae, what you need to understand is-"

A loud, sudden shaking rocked the plateau, startling the entire city! Everyone stumbled and exchanged looks.

"What was that?!" someone asked.

"It was like another quake! A replica?!" another cried

"It must be that mariner octopus ship!" one guessed. "It must be tunneling back already?"

However, a second, grinding shake was then felt, like something carving deep into the plateau's side!

A child screamed. "AAAH! DADDY, WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"

An elderly man pointed northwards, to the road out of the plateau. "Dear GODS! LOOK!"

Atlae, Caça, and Yuzuriha's eyes turned and saw it, the shadow emerging at the edge of Shamballa's plateau. It rose like a slow tide, blocking stars after stars after stars in the night sky, and it possessed five giant appendages sharp like claws. It reached high, fully stretched, and then came slamming down on the ground, carving the appendages deep into the rock and once again making the ground beneath them move!

Screams began emerging all over Shamballa!

"IS… IS THAT A HAND?! AN ARM?!"

"WHAT IS THAT?!"

"RUN!"

Caça screamed, wondering if Poseidon had cursed him. "NO WAY! IT'S HERE?! WHY?!"

The fingers carved in deeper and the muscles of the arm bulged, pulling in! A third, round shadow of a horned helmet then rose from the rocky horizon in follow, possessing two bright stars of blue and a long breath of cerulean flames. A mane of hair peaked out from underneath the helmet's neck edges and spikey, scaled shoulder plates appeared. The two eyes locked on their city and focused, shrinking, like they found a lost prey.

Atlae gasped, feeling them stare right toward him despite the many obstacles in between! Feeling them seeing him!

"He's here! That Chi is here!" Talos told itself, pulling itself up to raise another arm.

"My key to stability! To longevity!" it slammed its other arm down, allowing its powerful body to climb further up. "To continued destruction!"

Its gigantic foot finally reached the edge and landed with a crushing stomp, firming Talos on the plateau's top. It beheld the city crawling with life. "So many Chis. So many Muvians. All in my way!"

Its heavy body slowly rose as its second foot reached the top, while the inside of its lungs turned into infernos. "I must make a path to my awakener! I must not lose him again!"

Its esophagus began heating, carrying the flames of his power up. "I must make all those who hurt me pay!"

{======================|A3|======================}

Chapter 95

Third Arc

Episode 21

The March of Destruction

Part 3 of 3

{======================|A3|======================}

Sea Dragon Ruins

{======================|A3|======================}

Daese raised her sword, as she felt Azrael's follow-up blow strike her defense. She screamed, dragging feet back. Her whole body reeled with the force of his movements and she panted.

"H-How could you do this to all of these innocent people?!"

"No more than the billions that could be enslaved by Hades, should a weak Aries guard the first Temple!" Azrael responded, dashing in with a direct lunge. "Or the lost Cloth Stones to help fight the Holy War. SERAPHIC FLASH!"

Turning into a flurry of sweeps of light, Azrael's technique assaulted her defenses from almost every direction possible. His storm of stabs and swings continued, pushing her back, laughing, as she attempted to stop it from skewering her.

His combo's final swing arrived with a two-handed downward smash that landed on her beam sword, snapping it into a blinding flash! Daese gasped, panicking at being disarmed, and saw him go for the kill with a lunge of his sword straight at her neck!

"BLADED BITE!"

The image of a serpent jumping to sink its fangs on Daese startled her. Gathering every bit of bravery in her, the young woman's hands closed together around the snake! The cosmic illusion broke apart, revealing it to be merely Azrael's sword trapped between her palms.

Azrael's emerald eyes narrowed, looking mildly impressed. "So, you DO have some spirit!"

With great effort, she pushed his blade aside. "A-And I will use every bit of it to crush murderous snakes like YOU!" Her cosmos burned, her foot then struck his chest to send him flying off of her, and then her sword handle shone again, this time forming a long pole of light. "DIAMOND BEAK JAVELIN!"

Tossing the spear of blinding, sizzling white light, Aquila Daese's cosmos manifested the image of an eagle swooping on a serpent and the attack struck Serpens Azrael at full force, exploding the missile of cosmos on him in a smoking blast of light. The Bronze Saint screamed, knocked off, and smashed by the attack. He landed on his foot, knee, and tip of his sword, dragging backwards. She saw him rattled, but still completely capable of fighting. As she reformed her beam sword, Daese saw him scowl furiously and couldn't help but smile a bit at it.

That felt… so good! She hit the son of a bitch fair and square in a sword fight, right as things seemed so one-sided! Maybe she could win!

A sudden force suddenly struck her abdomen, almost crushing her cuirassed stomach in! It revibrated through her bones, blanking her mind with the colossal force of it. The world looked like it spun around and strength abandoned her legs. Daese gasped out and saw her adversary's fist had sunk deeply into her, his body leaving behind a trail of images from its lightspeed dash.

Just as she stumbled off, his second punch came, swinging in from the right. It landed on her side, exploding her armor plate and sending her flying through the air. Crashing through blackened rocks, broken trunks, and burning rubble, the Diamond Paladin only stopped when her body hit a dug-in steel plate of the destroyed battleship.

Her hands pushed herself up. She tried to understand what just happened. She was winning. And then she wasn't? It all happened so fast, in spite of her trained 7th sense! Did she even get hit by something human?

Her instincts fired off, sensing a cosmos shaped like a shower of blades flying at her!

She jumped, evading the ruthless destruction that hit the steel plate that stopped her earlier, tearing it into shreds. Her body rolled and she held her beam sword guardingly, trying to find the threat, and an enemy sword came down on her, dispelling her beam blade yet again! Daese gasped, feeling a piece of her cuirass fly off her chest and blood gush out. She held both arms up to block a follow-up kick from Azrael, but the brutal force of it dug into her like a wrecking ball's swing and she got shot off through the ground, trailing it painfully.

"You hit harder than I initially thought, I'll give you that." Azrael landed from his flying kick, his body brimming with emerald light. "You might even be better with the Cloth you're wearing than Partita was. She was the quick-jab type, unlike her father, Herakles Aguilon. No sync at all with a melee cloth like Aquila."

The young girl held her spinning head, feeling like a semi just hit her. Daese breathed rapidly and tried to assume another stance. Blood flowed down from her head, washing over her left eye. Her bones rang like a bell from the blows she took and she tried to use the bright light of her beam sword to keep her focused.

She dashed in for another attempt, her beam sword swiping fast, barely missing him. She followed-up with a whirlwind kick, bashing him back. She slashed at his neck, but missed when his rolling kick struck her legs, sending her flying over herself into the ground, crashing hard.

"The secret is your acceleration." Azrael concluded as she ate dirt. "You attack hard and fast, hoping to overwhelm your opponent with decisive finishers, just like the swooping of an eagle. However, it forces you to explode your cosmos in select areas, like only your thighs and wrists, and keep a Light Cosmos beam sword instead of a heavy, fully light-crafted blade." He smirked. "In other words, you sacrifice sturdiness… in exchange for speed and offensive power. Am I right?"

Her body felt naked to his analysis. What else was he going to deduce; how she had a weak left knee bone from when she snapped it in training?! Fear invaded her chest as he figured out each nit of her combat pacing, making her feel powerless, but she steeled her body to not give a hint of it to him.

As much as she'd love to, there was no need for Daese to completely defeat the guy. She just needed to stall him! She needed to forget about getting her revenge like Priam said, and JUST stall him! By the time that monster could possibly stumble into a populated area, the Gold Saints would have realized the need to interfere and Atlae's people would be saved!

"Why would you stand in my way, then? Unless you're stupid, of course?" He squinted. "Do you think Talos doesn't know where that boy is going?"

She staggered.

"You do, don't you?" Azrael questioned, his eyes widening. "I'm afraid you've made another critical mistake, thief. That Muvian boy, Atlae you called him? He awoke Talos, to begin with, by ringing the Genbu Bell. Talos won't stop until he has him. He needs Atlae to operate normally. And you just sent that boy right to Shamballa."

The horror in his words made Daese's blood leave her face. "W-What?!"

"I'm afraid your heroic gesture has just doomed tens of thousands of Muvians, as you numbered earlier, to a terrible death." The Knight lamented, shaking his head. "All because you wouldn't let me put him out of his misery. I wonder, Knight, if once he realizes you've allowed him to doom his own people, he'll still be so thankful?"

"SHUT UP!" she cried, revolted. After everything he's done, he still had the galls to try to fool her like this. "If you gave A DAMN about Muvian lives, you'd be helping us destroy that monster, not trying to kill Atlae and his friends!"

"They are only getting what they deserve. As we all do in life." Azrael argued. "The Muvians lied to Sanctuary about having Talos inside that mountain, thinking one day they could use it against their enemies, so now they will have their precious capital crushed by it. And the Mariners thought they could once again use others for their benefit, like the boy Atlae."

Her eyes widened. "Atlae?! What do you mean?"

Azrael scowled. He had seen enough of it happen from Serpent's Rock to piece everything together. "That fool Arthur… he rescued that whelp from the ruins of his village after the Battle of Almaty, where Priam's army's last gasp occurred. He thought he'd raise him to be the bridge between Mariners and Muvians. But did he ever think of the price the boy would pay, stuck between two worlds so his dear adoptive Lord could sign a piece of paper with Shamballa? It was nothing but a Mariner power play fooling itself as an act of 'vision for the future'! When all cards are on the table, Arthur wasn't even able to support the love between his daughter and that boy, not publicly!"

Daese glowered somberly, remembering the anxiety she often saw in the Muvian when speaking of Marianne. "Poor Atlae. That's what you've been struggling with?"

"Mariners don't know any love. Only greed, the supremacy of their own, and the excuses of their genocidal Sea God." Azrael accused, spitting to the ground. "Now they will pay the price for it! Their flagship is destroyed and their precious princess is implicated in their crimes. As for you…"

Barely recovering her strength, Daese guarded herself with her sword.

Azrael charged even more cosmos, making the stars of Serpens shine. "YOU stole a Zodiac Knight Cloth Stone that did not belong to you. YOU trained under a disgraced former member, misusing all of our sacred techniques. And now YOU committed the crime of using that Cloth to conspire against me…" He clenched fingers around his sword handle, cringing the grip. "So, I will use every bit of my power to break you, rip that Cloth straight from your skin, and make sure your skull joins that of your father and mother in the walls of Serpent's Rock!"

{======================|A3|======================}

Shamballa

{======================|A3|======================}

The quakes and roars continued, sending waves of panic across the streets of Shamballa. When the entire mass of Talos' armored body finally climbed unto the plateau's surface and raised itself to its full, terrifying size, the moonlight's shadow came over the capital and total terror broke out, with scores of Muvians and the odd humans heading for any form of shelter.

Screams echoed through the streets.

"IT'S A MONSTER!"

"IT'S THE END! THE SECOND DISASTER HAS FINALLY COME! THE GODS HAVE FORSAKEN US AGAIN!"

"LORD GENBU, LORD SEIRYU, LORD BYAKO, HELP US!"

"TO THE WALLS, TO THE WALLS!"

Yuzuriha stared in horror as Talos appeared in all his horrible glory. He matched everything she had imagined from old descriptions of Mu's ultimate cloth of destruction. Andits giant stomping feet, clawed hands, jagged teeth, and deathly breath were pointed her city's way.

Every old instinct of combat fired up in her! Yuzuriha's aura of silvery white cosmos emerged, making her robe flutter and her gray hair dance like with a current. "ATLAE, take your friend out of here!"

"B-But Master!"

"Are you kiddin' me?! We saw the shelters were packed!" Caça reminded her. "We head there with all this panic and we might even get trampled to death by all these frightened Muvian cows!"

"Then head for the walls east!" she indicated Caça, pointing at the Gate of the Dragon to the city's eastwards districts. "And if it looks like Talos will breach the city-"

Atlae gawked when Talos raised its fist and raised a veil of darkness over them. "WATCH OUT!"

"TITANIC DEVASTATION!" Talos cried out inside its mind, manifesting its incredible power in the form of an orb of circling blue power around its fist before driving it down on the ground, striking it!

A blinding light of an explosion ignited upon impact, making the stars disappear. Suddenly, all their senses reeled with the sensation of the heart of the very planet being struck by a penetrating force. Running Muvians tripped to the ground, others fell off balconies and stairs, the countless lanterns of the Summer Festival shook. While the city was designed to resist earthquakes, the powerful vibrations cracked the plateau's top all around the city's encircling walls, fissuring it into a ring.

Atlae and Caça screamed, falling to the ground, but the dome of darkness Atlae cast managed to absorb the most powerful vibrations.

Even with her great power, Yuzuriha dropped to her knees, wincing. "An attack of pure seismic force?! Is Talos trying to cut off our exits?!"

Atlae released his shielding dome when the shaking stopped. "I-Is everyone alright?"

But the beast wasn't done. Its mouth flamed like an open furnace, creating more and more belches of cerulean burning, while its abdomen swelled inside the armor of its skin. Its eyes shined brighter as if its insides were turning into nothing but a storm of fire. Then, with a great roar, it casts it all out! "COMET RAIN!"

It was a spectacle of hell. A shower of blue flames came out, flooding the night sky seemingly with whatever was boiling inside Talos' belly. Blast after blast of molten metal flew off the stars like gigantic rockets, dazzling the city. Its mouth sizzled and fired again, again to the skies. Then again and again and again, each belching launching another giant missile of rock from its stomach, as if trying to target an unseen enemy in the sky.

Caça covered head, fearing it would all come falling down on him. "W-What the heck is it doing NOW?!"

Eyeing the dark stratosphere, Yuzuriha saw the blasts course through the veils of stardust that existed in the sky. Arcing through the friction, the blasts collected the stardust and then came back down, breaking apart into millions of pieces. A stark spectacle of shooting stars was the result,

To Atlae, though, a sudden buzzing came over the part in his mind that felt the warmth of everyone's cosmos "I… I can't sense anyone out in the world anymore!"

"And neither can they sense you back, Atlae." Yuzuriha deduced, narrowing eyes. Her hopes of Shion's Gold Saints realizing the gravity of what was happening vanished. "Talos has blindfolded the world to us."

{======================|A3|======================}

Sea Dragon Ruins

{======================|A3|======================}

Azrael's sword slammed hard on her beam, sending her trailing in the ground back with the sheer brutal force of it. Bladed Bite lunged at her again, forcing her to block with a raised sword and a metal screech to hurt her ears. Azrael's foot swung, striking her side, and she fell screaming toward a pile of rocks.

Landing from his assault combo, Azrael turned his head in Shamballa's direction, feeling the cosmos in it all vanish at once.

Tired and bleeding, Daese climbed out of the rubble. She felt her body shaking and her sight began to blur, while her hands struggled to use her beam sword to lift herself up.

Her lungs gasped for breath. The fight was going badly. Very badly! Nothing of what she was doing was landing on the bastard anymore! And what the heck was he looking at?

"Do you feel that? They're all gone." Azrael pointed out. "Do you think Talos has wiped those Muvians out?"

Her blood went cold, realizing that, indeed, she could no longer feel the thousands of little cosmos of Shamballa, or even the great ones of Krishna and the High Elder. "N-No, everyone is…!"

The emerald-eyed bastard smirked at the terror in her face. "You considered it, didn't you? Relax. Talos is too clumsy to kill that efficiently. You saw him. He can barely keep track of where his tail is. It's far more likely he found a way to jam cosmos signals around himself."

The disgust in Daese made her face scowl. "How could you be this way?! Be a Knight and talk of that monster like it's a toy?!"

"Monster?" he asked, looking bored by her simple point of view. "Are you a child, perchance? Talos is just a Cloth, no different from the ones you and I are wearing. Evil doesn't come from our armors. It comes from us. It's the wearer who harbors those chaotic sentiments, not to mention the weakness to resist them."

Her cosmos burned in unison with her Aquila Cloth's, creating a bonfire aura of white. "If that's the case, then I shall blame you and you alone for all the deaths you've caused! Like my-"

"Like your family?" he cut, guessing her outrage. He squinted hard. "Did you even know your parents that well? What were their names?"

Daese staggered, not expecting this, "T…They were Henri and Marie Heloise! And you k-"

"That is not what I asked." Azrael stressed. His slitted eyes squinted. "Henri and Marie were their Knight names, just like mine. Or do you think the parents who left me in the junkyard with Priam and the others baptized me after an angel of death?"

Daese found herself unable to respond, half from the audacity of these questions, half from how blank her mind was searching for what the answer should be.

Seeing the paralysis in her, Azrael stepped forward with a smirk. "I know you don't know their names, you ignorant girl, because Knights do not teach them to their children until they swear their oaths as well. You were probably too young when the Purge happened to be given it to make. Let me ask you something else. Do you know why I put your parents' skulls on my wall?"

The very phrase made her blood boil, but Daese forced herself to stay calm. She knew even the tiniest mistake could make her end up like Marianne. "Because you're a sick murderer?!"

He eyed her feet and flexed her nebenhut pose, realizing she was putting more effort than her earlier ochs. It almost made him laugh out loud from the insecurity he saw in it.

"You should be more curious than that, 'Aquila Daese'." He lambasted. "It's a Zodiac Knight's ritual. One of your dear family practiced as well."

Her eyes widened. "What?!"

Azrael put his hand on his hip, resting his sword over his shoulder. "We've done it for thousands of years, since the times of Saint Cyrul. It's our way to bind our souls to the castles and churches of Athena we've sworn to protect. Walk around Europe some time, you'll find secret knight bone chapels from east to west of the continent, all dedicated to protecting the remains of dead Knights from Hades' clutches."

How low could this guy get? "Are you trying to imply you did your victims a favor?!"

"That is partly what I'm saying, yes." He matter-of-factly confirmed. "Without me, your parents would be writhing in Cocytus to this day. You walk in that Cloth, telling others you're the last of the Zodiac Knights, but you don't know the first thing about your own people, because your only frame of reference is Priam, a guy who quit the order when you were probably still begging at your mother for milk. If you had half a brain, you'd spare me the effort of grinding you down and you'd surrender the Aquila Cloth to me. I might spare your life, after all. So how about it?"

She held her chest, feeling it beat with Sir Roland's song of departure. Even on that cold night in the burned valley, it warmed her blood.

"I would rather die!" She declared. "Ritual or not, you're a disgusting murderer who sullied everything my people stood for! Who betrayed the people who joined you in your war? The fact you went through all that work only proves you know as well as everyone else how guilty you are! Even if I don't know a thing about them… I… I still beat my heart with the cries of everyone you hurt!"

This only made Azrael look even more unimpressed. He leaned his foot forward and presented an open side, laying the sword away provocatively. "Then come. Meet your death. I'll let you join those cries in the void!"

Screaming, Daese charged in, immersed in an aura of avian wings. Her beam sword slash was parried, but the strength of her swing bashed Azrael's blade away, creating an opening that allowed her to deliver a spinning slice that grazed the underside of his cuirass.

Azrael stumbled back, impressed. He touched the cut of his armor as a bit of blood dripped out. "Not bad. I was hoping to bait you into a mistake, but you harness your rage well, unlike that Mariner girl."

She pointed the beam sword, keeping him at a distance. "You will pay for what you did to her as well!"

His shoulders shook with laughter and he lunged like a biting snake, forcing her to fend his blade off with an upward slash. "Such vengeance! Why, Aquila Daese? She's just a stupid Poseidon worshipper!"

With a lightspeed step aside, Daese ripped the ground upwards with her sword towards his flank, blasting Azrael with a shower of light that made him scream. "Atlae cares about her! So I care about them!" She followed up with a lightspeed stab, striking towards him like a beam of light. "And it's what a Zodiac Knight should DO! Protect the innocent!"

Suddenly, he pulled his green cape up, luring her attack towards a mess of fabric like a bull charge, and kicked her side to smash her through a pile of rocks. "The innocent? Again, you have no idea what you're talking about, do you?"

Carving her sword into the ground, she halted her fall. Tiredness began to burn her muscles. "I k-know Atlae and his friends! They are kind, loving people! The type any Knight of Athena would be proud to shield!"

He scoffed mockingly. "To shield?! That girl is the heir of the Solos, the most powerful of the Mariners. There is nothing innocent about someone who prays for Noah's Flood to come to wipe out humanity once and for all!" Azrael confronted. "Her people call her a genius, but if she was halfway intelligent, she'd realize she goes to bed every night, praying to a God that would rape her on sight at best and mount her boyfriend on his trident so he could watch it at worst. THAT, before Poseidon murdered everyone else on the planet, of course."

Daese only reassumed her sword pose. She had already surmised the identity of the girl that Captain Krishna's group kept saying Atlae was crazy about. She had nothing to say to Azrael's ugly comparisons.

Jumping, Daese twirled her body to spin her beam sword in a whirlwind of slashes. Azrael parried it all with a high guard, feeling his feet crack into the ground from the superhuman force she struck his defenses with.

His armored elbow slammed her nose painfully, bashing her back to the ground.

"Our mission isn't to protect the innocent, thief!" An upward diagonal swing of him unleashed an all-cutting wave of cosmos that blasted her guard, sending her smashing through rocks. He gave chase with a dashing leap through the air, kicking her stomach into the ground. "It's to exterminate darkness! With every cycle of war that passes, more brave men and women fighting for the Goddess die, while Hades just gets stronger and stronger!" He pressed his hand down on her, charging his cosmos. "So anyone else who isn't with Athena might as well be with Hades himself!"

The whirring and light in his hand erupted, seemingly blasting Daese! The light consumed the entire crater before exploding, sending shattered rock and smoke in every direction!

The light from Azrael's powerful blast faded away, leaving only rising smoke. As that, too, in turn, made its way to sight, he found nothing beneath him in the burnt rubble. He looked up, trying to find where the slithering girl dodged his attack.

But all he saw was a series of collapsed rubble piles around him from all the fighting. "Mm, mm, mm. Priam taught you well in one thing, I see; you're as good at slipping away as he is."

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Shamballa

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High Elder Yuzuriha rushed to the northern gate of her city, climbing the stairs to the top battlement. She was awed in horror and apprehension, faced with the sight of Talos far beyond the walls firing off the last of his Meteor Rain missiles, filling the night sky with shooting stars. He was immense, standing as tall as the Sun Temple's nine great floors with his large armored wings and tail making him appear twice as big as he already was.

Her mind reeled. She knew all along Talos was in Mount Kailash. She had been taken by her guards to see its heart. However, seeing it unleashed with her own eyes elevated the bizarreness of its existence, the scale of its violent purpose, to new levels. This creature was created by her people?!

The Muvian soldiers packing the place all turned their heads at her. "Madam!"

"Please return to the Sun Temple, it's too dangerous here!" one insisted.

She scowled. "I've trained half of you to guard these walls! How dare you give me orders to abandon this place?!"

"We swore our lives to protect you as well!" they all insisted, standing before her.

Yuzuriha took them by the spears they carried and shoved them aside, brimming with silvery cosmos. "Out of my way, or I'll make you all wish you'll actually have to fight that thing!"

Afar, as if sensing the threat of the Elder's presence, Talos roared as it suddenly focused its sight sharply on her. The guards around Yuzuriha shook.

The High Elder, by contrast, only scowled back at Talos' animalistic display. "How dare you come to my city, terrorize my people, and scar our lands?! You're nothing but a war machine!" She held her chest as her aura reached its peak, casting out the stars of Crane. "I may not have my Silver Cloth with me anymore, but I will send you back into that mountain and cave it over you even if it's the last thing I DO!"

"She's strong! A strong Muvian!" Talos realized, igniting its stomach ablaze once again. "I must defeat her!"

With a compression of its chest, it made the powerful burning inside climb up its body to its mouth. "I must DESTROY HER!"

"ELDER!" many around her screamed, seeing Talos lean in to fire its mouth blast again.

Taking aim, Talos once again fired its blue beam out of its long mouth in her direction! Tongues of fire blazing outwards from it incinerated the grounds, Talos' gigantic feet recoiled from the force and the glare made many think daylight had arrived, while the tip of the beam flew at the speed of sound, seeking to destroy Shamballa's gate and everyone on it.

The Elder jumped out of the battlement, her cosmos burned and her robe fluttered away while her body spun to kick the air. "FLASHING DANCE!"

Incited by her single movement, the force of a million telekinetic and cosmic sweeps impacted the beam, making it explode in mid-air on her like it struck a sturdy wall! Blinding light dazzled countless in the city while the force of the technique repelled the blue fire, shielding Shamballa.

Yuzuriha landed in the fields before Talos as blue waves of flames collapsed around her like ripped threads of plasma, igniting the grounds. "By Genbu and Athena, I will not let you touch my city!"

Sensing the power of the Crane constellation manifest itself around this woman, Talos cried out and charged, raising a fist.

Clenching her hands, Yuzuriha unleashed her cosmos and chi. A tattoo on her back underneath her clothes came alight, forming a chimera with a turtle shell and a snake for a tail, the God of the North.

The colossal fist came down on her, encased in its bubble of power. "TITANIC DEVASTATION!"

"ROZAN!" She clapped hands together, igniting them with energy, then thrust them in the incoming attack's direction. "WORLD-ENCOMPASSING SHELL!"

Upon impact, Talos felt his powerful punch attack dug into an unseen force released by Yuzuriha that trapped his fist, like sinking his knuckles deep into sinking sand. It roared in panic, feeling his attack coming to a halt mere inch from the Muvian's face, completely entrapped in a projected manifestation of the turtle god's shells.

Her body frame shook, trying to push the gigantic captured force back. Talos' fist was like a wall of black metal in front of her. She could only imagine the damage a direct impact would cause on her aged body.

The thought of it hitting Shamballa directly, however, roused her, repelling the attack's force! "BEGONE!"

Hit by the recoil, the enormous Talos stumbled back and, upon release, the power in his knuckles set off, exploding inside itself. Talos screamed, struck by an almighty shockwave of its own attack that ripped its armor and flesh, sending out splashes of blood!

A cheer came from the walls. "She did it!"

"The Elder is winning!" they cried, seeing Talos almost fall off the plateau.

Yuzuriha panted, dropping to one knee as pieces of Talos' fingers fell around her in chunks the sizes of large boulders. "I… can't believe… how much that took out of me. How strong Talos is!" she looked up and saw Talos whine and bleed from the enormous tear created, holding its stump. "The techniques of the Genbu path won't work. There's just too much to seal by myself!"

Furious, Talos came back with a furious stomp! Yuzuriha sped away, dodging its foot and allowing it to quake the ground, but as she landed from her dash she widened her eyes, seeing a horizon of armored metal swinging her way! Talos' tail struck her directly, swerving the Muvian through the air and ultimately smashing her against the mountainside! It ground its spike tail in, trying to dig the Elder deep into the rocks, but a telekinetic pulse pushed the huge mass of tail off, freeing a staggered Elder.

Talos saw her fall to the ground. "They keep hurting me! Keep attacking me! Keep standing in my way!" It lamented, holding its bleeding stump on its right arm. "I just want… the one that will let me keep fighting on! The one that will give me time… to find 'her'!"

Yuzuriha coughed, trying to regain her strength as she climbed out of the rubble. She saw Talos hesitating. She needed to divert it further from the city and reignited her cosmos. "W-What, you big fat lizard?! A-Are you scared of an old woman?!"

It sneered, showing off its teeth, and raised its fist to show its wound shining. "You cannot destroy me. My blood will repair me. Heal me!" Its body then began burning with blue flames. "And you will break like a twig! For GOOD!"

Yuzuriha watched as the bleeding stump closed and began grotesquely birthing new bones. "It's fixing itself like a Cloth would! Now I see how it defeated the Sea Dragon and Marianne Solo." Yuzuriha realized, watching the flesh and armoring bulge in the stump grotesquely, like a birthing hand. "Fighting it directly is pointless, then. It's too powerful!"

Roaring, Talos pointed his gigantic metal shoulder and rammed himself down onto her. Yuzuriha jumps away with the cosmos to avoid getting crushed by the rest of the ground. Landing far away, she had to shield herself from the ensuing dust clouds and then immediately dodge again a gigantic swipe of its tail that blasted the floor she was on like a hammer from Olympus, shaking the plateau.

With a charge, Talos followed up with more swipes, punches, stomps, and body slams, trying to hit the moving target as the Elder twirled, leaped, dashed underneath, or blitzed around all of his desperate trashing, always having to cover enormous distances to account for Talos' colossal size.

Yuzuriha landed from another dodge and held her side, feeling it hurt. "D-Damn this body of mine! If only I had my Cloth!"

Eventually, as its rage grew, Talos' body heated enough that after stumbling down it was able to fire another mouth beam, which it dragged across the battlefield. Clouds of sheer fire erupted across the horizon as a result, painting the plateau with walls of orange and red. Yuzuriha gawked at its power and super sped away from Shamballa, baiting the beam's path into a safe direction, but still felt her breath cut short as the blue light hit the horizon and exploded into enormous walls of flames.

Was it just her, or were these beams getting more frequent?

She beheld the creature as it rose back up to its full height. Not only was Yuzuriha certain it was getting bigger, but the scars and linings on its body shined more and more as if some kind of internal furnace was burning hotter and hotter. The step it took towards her seemed more forceful than before, even releasing a pulse of energy, and the roar it unleashed afterward seemed more and more like a desperate cry.

The panting Yuzuriha widened her eyes, wondering a terrible possibility. "Dear Gods… is Talos going to… explode?!"

{======================|A3|======================}

Meanwhile, at the eastern gate, Atlae and Caça watched from the battlements as the fighting occurred. The soldiers were still taking time to move everyone out because the Kraken had still not reemerged at the lake, so they had no choice but to be patient and pray none of Talos' attacks aimed at them.

"Dear Amphitrite, that thing keeps getting bigger and smashing around more!" Caça yelped, watching Talos take another stomping step at the shining star of cosmos that was Atlae's Master. "How does that old Muvian lady keep fighting it?! I'd keel over by now."

Atlae gripped his turtle shell xu flute around his neck, her graduation gift to him, wishing he could help. "She taught me so much… I know she looks mean, but for a long time, Master Yuzuriha was my only friend here."

The Mariner stretched his arms lazily. "Yeah, yeah. If she can buy us enough time for the Gold Saints to get off their lazy asses, I'll buy a subscription to Turtle School Magazine, too!" He then realized Atlae was crying. "U-Uh? Hey, what is it now?"

Atlae covered his face. He felt Master's Chi get weaker and weaker while Talos only got stronger. "I just… I just don't understand why any of this is happening! And now Marianne is hurt, and all those people under her died! And the captain is missing, and everyone in Shamballa is in danger and Miss Daisy is fighting that guy-"

"Her name isn't Daisy, dummy, you heard her!" Caça reminded him "It's freaking Eagle Daeserina or whatever! That bitch lied to us! She pretended to be someone she wasn't to get in good with us! Let that bastard skewer her on a pole for all I care! What we gotta do now is focus on this plan or whatever!"

Atlae mulled it over. "Right. I have to get to those areas by the plateau drop and get Talos' attention by manifesting my Chi and Cosmos." He still didn't quite understand why it would work on Talos, but if Master said so, he'd do it.

The two then jumped off the walls, landing softly with a pillowing of cosmos, and then ran eastwards towards Lake Showan'u, avoiding the crowds of people.

"U-Ugh! This is so stupid, though! What I'd like to know is why I am involved?!" Caça bitched as they took cover in the rocks. They saw Talos turn away, seeking Yuzuriha's dashes and ran further north as fast as they could. "I'm just a freaking Mariner! I've done enough! I even saved Sorrento's life! I oughta get inducted into the Navy just for that!"

"I'm the one who pulled Sorrento out of the ship, though…" Atlae recalled. Still, he should encourage Caça. "Master must see potential in you to help, Caça, I'm sure of it! She would never put you at risk otherwise!"

"Are you kidding me?! She let Marianne take the Sea Dragon to fight that giant, too! Look how that turned out!" he reminded Atlae. They saw another opening to advance when Talos was struck in the back by a diving kick and collapsed to the ground, shaking the entire plateau, and took it, rushing northwards. "I'm not even my family's first heir to the Scales! Why won't you people just leave me be?!"

"Caça, have faith, please!" Atlae begged, rushing for the plateau edge's forests to the east of the battlefield. "I know we can do this! Somehow, we need to stop this monster! For Marianne and everyone who died in that valley!"

{======================|A3|======================}

"KENBU SHOSENKYAKU!" Yuzuriha cried, striking Talos' jaw with a power swerve of her foot that made the tip of its jaw burst inwards.

It stumbled back, pained. Talos groaned loudly, its gigantic body shaking as it tried to raise itself on its arms and legs. "KILL HER,… KILL HER, QUICK!"

Its eyes shined as it spotted Yuzuriha landing on a tall rock ahead of it. "She's so strong… a great Muvian warrior." Something ancestral burned in Talos' blood, the heat of a feud between civilizations going back millennia. "I feel like I have battled this kind of power for eons. For Lord… for my great lord… it must be destroyed!"

And it roared yet again, gathering its strength and rage. The cracks in Talos' body widened, loosening small pieces of broken shell and exposing the fleshy insides of its arms, legs, and abdomen. The massive, heavy wings rose wider, loosening pieces of metal around its joints that previously restricted it, while its tail coiled and trashed like a writhing serpent.

Talos straightened its spine but felt its enormous muscles shake and heat. It felt like it could collapse at any moment. "I can't… waste time! I must find… my awakener!"

Its body shined blue, illuminating the valley. "But why? Why not keep fighting her?!" It held its head and growled, feeling its mind split in two. "I want… to keep fighting! For Lord…Lord…"

It was unable to name the figure in its mind it felt called to obey, instead roaring out in pain to the terror of onlookers. Talos trashed left and right, sweeping the cracked terrain with its thick tail and wings. It slammed heavily on the ground, cracking it, while its body heated more and more to the point its dark green scales brimmed brightly.

Yuzuriha widened her eyes, baffled at the sight of the giant's internal struggle. "It looks…like it's going to explode! What is happening?!" She focused her senses on the cosmos rising inside of it. "Does that mean the wearer of the Cloth is still somewhere inside? Fighting Talos? Then the cosmos rising against it from the inside must be the wearer's too! But why would it be fighting the weapon it unleashed?"

Talos roared and asserted itself over its owner, stomping loudly towards Shamballa where it last sensed its awakener. "NO, we are getting the Muvian boy! FORGET HER! FORGET EVERYTHING!" It took another step but felt as if currents held it in place. "I MUST… DESTROY! THAT IS MY PURPOSE! If you let me… I can set things right! Don't you understand?!"

Yuzuriha gasped, seeing Talos stumble her way! She leaped away as fast as she could, letting it collapse clumsily on the ground she stood on. Landing at a vantage point, she saw it was struggling to get closer to the city.

But she needed to buy Atlae time to position himself and draw Talos away from the city.

"Atlae, are you and your friend ready?!" she asked mentally.

"Yes, Master, we're by the edge of the plateau!"

With a great back leap, she dodged a massive stomp that cracked the earth so deeply that geysers of groundwater erupted. "Listen carefully, it's extremely important you turn all your Chi emanation off once you get its attention! Remember your training of how to calm your pulse and breathe back at the Turtle School!" she begged. "Do you understand, Atlae?! Just give it a hint of where you are, and then run as fast as you can! Leave the rest to your friend!"

There was a pause of hesitation.

Yuzuriha couldn't blame him. These orders were probably so confusing, but if her intuition was right, it was the only way to control Talos' movement without putting her student in danger.

"Yes, Master, right away."

Yuzuriha breathed out. "(Yato…would you forgive me for this? No, you would definitely hate me. You would say something like 'Tenma would never do this to us'.)" Her eyes narrowed, watching as Talos became aflame, preparing another attack that would certainly cut Shamballa in half in a geyser of flames. "(But I am not Tenma. And unless I stop Talos, tens of thousands of Muvian lives will be ended. Something Atlae himself would never forgive me for, either.)"

"Find him! FIND HIM NOW!" Talos cried in its mind, letting the flames focus in its mouth. Its arms and legs tensed as the heat inside its body became unbearable. "Even if I have to tear this entire city apart! BLOW IT INTO A CRATER!"

Yuzuriha gawked, seeing Talos manifest an aura of deep blue as its instability grew. Was she too late? Was the entire valley about to be obliterated in some kind of Cosmos detonation?!

"No, I have to stop him!" Burning her cosmos, Yuzuriha launched herself full force at Talos and swung her foot, diving its tip deep into Talos' knee. "SHOSENKYAKU!"

The giant screamed and dropped to it. Yuzuriha tried to land away, but the ground shook with Talos' collapse, causing her to miss her landing and stumble as well.

She turned to continue the battle. "Good, I just have to keep-"

Her breath cut short, seeing Talos' hand swipe straight at her. Impacting her body like a runaway train at a moment her defensive cosmos was low, the blow launched Yuzuriha straight into rocks, almost knocking her out.

{======================|A3|======================}

Atlae cried out with his eyes shut, letting his Chi manifest itself in a bonfire of green pulses. Trees around him shook and rustled their leaves, the dust waved with unseen currents and the earth itself seemed to beat beneath his feet in response to his heart's own pulsations.

Caça guarded himself. "S-Shit is that what that weird power feels like when he lets it all out?!" He didn't sense it all, but he had to be blind not to see its effect on the environment. It was still nothing compared to a Gold Saint burning their cosmos, but now Caça understood why Atlae was so freakishly strong. "No wonder that Specter back at Patagonia seemed worried about it! I don't have his weird Sense and even I can tell it's bad!"

Atlae, however, then saw Talos fall down and strike his Yuzuriha. "MASTER!"

Caça took hands to head, seeing his Chi drop! "DON'T LOSE FOCUS NOW, YOU IDIOT!" He then saw Atlae rush off, blazing like a meteor of Chi. He followed after. "DAMN IT, ATLAE, NOT AGAIN!"

{======================|A3|======================}

Yuzuriha held head, feeling the world shake. "D-Damn it, why isn't this body of mine as quick as it used to be?! Back in the war… I would have dodged that in a flash!"

Stumbling towards her fallen body, Talos raised its hand. "I have you now!" Activating its powerful technique, it hammered down its fist. "TITANIC DEVASTATION!"

Yuzuriha gawked, unable to move, at the giant orb of white light coming down on her. Was this it?!

Suddenly, however, out of nowhere, a young figure clad in green cosmos came swooping in in front of her and raised hands, catching the blow falling down on them. The air shook furiously with the forces clashing in the contact point and the figure screamed.

Yuzuriha widened eyes, recognizing the voice in the middle of the light. "A-ATLAE, N-NO!"

The colossus's eyes widened and its body stiffened as it recognized the energy suddenly in his way, like a spark of life awakening in front of it. "AWAKENER!"

The hesitation caused in Talos weakened the Titanic Devastation, causing it to lose focus. Atlae was able to entrench his feet and push the giant ball of light slightly off of them, weakening the rousing of windows. "D-Don't… touch… my TEACHER!"

Yuzuriha stood with great effort, seeing an opportune moment. "Atlae, QUICK! Cancel its attack!"

The struggling Muvian turned head, barely able to keep the weight of Talos' fist at bay. "H-How?!"

"Use the technique I showed earlier. Focus your thoughts, and picture the entire world in your head caught inside the shell of the turtle god." Yuzuriha urged. She saw Atlae close his eyes and clench his fingers, beginning the creation of the first telekinetic pulses. "Good, use your 6th sense to encompass Talos' attack in your mind, and then…"

"I-I think I got it!" Atlae declared, feeling his cosmos rouse in the exact shape he saw before from Master when she stopped Talos' first blow. His back heated, forming the shape of the chimera turtle tattoo, and his hands felt like grew gigantically around Talos' blow, even though they stayed the same. "ROZAN… WORLD-ENCOMPASSING SHELL!"

Closing around Talos' fist like a bear trap, two colossal, projected barriers trapped the giant's attack, stopping it from proceeding. Talos reacted instinctively, turning off the force of Titanic Devastation before it exploded its hand again, but all this did was expose its fingers, one of which fell into Atlae's arms with the force of Talos' earlier push.

The Muvian tightened arms around it tightly, feeling its cold metallic surface against cheek, and practically glued his feet to the ground with cosmos. "I g-got you, you monster! This one is for Marianne!"

With a powerful swerve of his body using all of his strength, Atlae bent Talos' index finger, snapping it aside before releasing it. The creature howled, feeling its bone broken, and backed off from the two of them.

Atlae took the chance as Talos to grab Yuzuriha into his arms and carry her out, igniting his chi as high as he could. "C-Come on, Master! We'll lure it to the edge now!"

Yuzuriha stared in amazement. "You did it, Atlae… you were able to stop his attack with a high end Genbu Path technique. You've grown so much."

Talos froze, feeling it shine behind him, to the northeast and forgetting about the pain in its finger. It turned on like a flare to Talos's senses, a warmth in the back of its spirit that pointed in a specific direction, opposite of the city.

Slowly, it turned, finding it fleeing far off, by the forests next to the plateau edge. "There…. THERE!"

In Shamballa, the crowds of Muvians breathed sighs of relief and cheered, seeing it leave. "Look, we're SAVED!"

Atlae saw it begin to chase after them with its slow, giant steps. "It's working, Master! He's coming our way!" Looking ahead, he saw Caça still at the edge of the plateau. "Get ready, Caça!"

The mariner threw arms up as he arrived by his side with the Elder. "YOU MANIAC! I TOLD YOU TO STOP DOING THAT SHIT!"

Atlae gently rested Yuzuriha down. "I have no choice in these situations. How many times do I have to explain that, Caça? Master, are you okay?"

The elderly woman dusted herself. "You went against my orders… I told you to stick to my plan." She saw the blonde Muvian turned head away, squinting. Yuzuriha laughed coarsely. "I will never get you to pay attention, will I, Atlae?"

Caça screamed, seeing the giant fix its eyes on them and looking like the edge of its bony jaw curved slightly up. "It's coming THIS WAY!"

"Are you ready?" Atlae asked him, feeling the earth shake.

"OF COURSE NOT! BUT WHAT CHOICE DO I GET?!" Caça protested, stepping up and shaking like a leaf. How did he end up here?! "I just gotta save the world, right?! NO BIGGIE!"

Talos sped up anxiously, taking longer and longer steps. His body shined, anticipating contact with the Chi it sensed earlier. He looked like he'd cross the plateau's large expanse to them in seconds!

Atlae breathed out, turning off his Chi. He focused on all his old lessons. "Think of nothing,…. Be nothing…" He felt his life force relax, becoming indistinguishable from nature around him.

Talos headed for the two tiny figures he saw on the horizon. "Awakener, I've found you!" Its Chi was vanishing, but Talos practically salivated at its trace.

Sliding into the forest shrubbery, Atlae cried out to Caça. "Okay, do it NOW!"

"NO NEED TO TELL ME!" Caça then burned his cosmos, creating an orange aura, and spread out his arms. "By the great Lymnades! Cast on me the image in the deepest reaches of my enemy's heart!"

Talos roared and lunged its arms, finding a single human figure by the plateau edge. "YOU'RE MINE!"

Caça shut his eyes and prayed not to get crushed flat. "G-GO, SALAMANDER ILLUSION!"

The enormous colossus seemed to stagger, its jaw gawking and its foot braking deep into the ground, almost sending Caça flying. Clouds of dust burst from the force, blinding them briefly, and the massive weight of the creature's movement came to a halt.

Atlae coughed. "D-Did it work?"

Yuzuriha saw the armored giant completely paralyzed, its Chi relaxing. "It must have! Talos's attack has completely frozen! He's hypnotized!"

Atlae beamed and called out to his friend. "CAÇA, YOU DID IT! Your technique worked this time! Talos is completely entranced by you! You're a HERO!"

The mariner, however, looked absolutely stupefied, staring himself down. He seemed to have even forgotten a giant monster the size of the Pena Palace was standing in front of him.

Atlae wondered if the terror of what they asked him to do was too much and his friend's brain broke in two. "C-Caça, are you okay? Do you need help?! What did you turn into?"

The Mariner stuttered. The way his technique worked, Atlae couldn't tell what had him as paralyzed as Talos. Only his victims and himself saw the spell that Salamander Illusion cast, giving the Mariner the looks of someone he recognized very well but that no one else could perceive. He stared at his hands and chest.

He saw thin, pale, delicate fingers with blue-painted nails. He saw bracelets encrusted with sapphires. He saw beautiful curls of pale Bluegradian blue resting on his shoulders flanking a necklace given on an anniversary. He saw a sea-green dress, long legs, crystal heels, and even a pair of bazonkers in his chest the size of handballs. He recognized the body from so many magazine pictures shared in the locker room back at Delphi.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" he screamed, "I LOOK LIKE…. LIKE MARIANNE'S MOM!"

{======================|A3|======================}

Sea Dragon Ruins

{======================|A3|======================}

Stalking the battlefield, Azrael's eyes darted left and right, searching for his prey.

Hiding behind a collapsed boulder, Daese breathed heavily, keeping the light of her beam edge off and her Cosmos down. It was a good thing she had kept cosmos focused on the parts he struck her on, or she would have been too stunned to blitz away. Better yet, Azrael didn't seem aware of where exactly she was right now.

Daese should keep it that way for the moment. Even if she hated to admit it, this fight wasn't going in her favor in the slightest. Daese couldn't believe how deep her foot had stepped in the puddle on this! Not only did she reveal her existence to Azrael, but so far her long-desired battle with him had been almost completely one-sided! And he hasn't even used his clones yet! After almost ten years of training, how could her skill as a Knight be so far below his? Was she fighting a monster worse than Talos itself?

Every move she made, he knew better. Every step she took, he had a way to outflank her. He was faster, stronger, and seemed to guess exactly what her next move was going to be. Sooner or later, Azrael was simply going to overwhelm her and Daese would go from being the last of the Zodiac Knights to Azrael's new head on the wall.

Goddess, Priam was right! She really had no idea, did she?! How could she have been so stupid?!

Daese heard him pace around, wondering behind which bunch of rocks she was, and hiss. "Tell me, thief… does this situation bring back memories?"

Her body reeled, feeling painful images and sensations from the past flood her mind.

"I'm sure it does." he calculated. "You hiding from me under some cover of darkness. Now that I have time to think about it, I must be behind some of your most traumatizing memories, do I not?"

She tucked her sword in, feeling flashes of her people's hero cutting them down without mercy, without remorse, while she hid with Cerah under the corpses.

His booted foot kicked a pile of boulders, shattering them, but finding nothing.

Frustrated, Azrael's eyes slid in search. "The thought of a cowardly girl like you inheriting the Aquila Cloth makes my blood boil. I'm sure you feel the same towards me, do you not? That feeling that someone has perverted what's rightfully yours?"

What was he on about now?! Aquila couldn't believe such a rambling murderer was the man now known in the world as the last of her kind!

"Don't listen to him." Aquila spoke to her. "He's just trying to draw you out before you're ready. Remember that, Daese."

The Paladin breathed out as silently as she could. Yes, her Cloth was right. She needed to blank her mind, not let his words reach her heart.

"You're not the only one who thinks so, you know?" His eyes searched and searched, wondering which provocation would set her off, and from which hiding spot. "They all said it about me; Azrael, the slaughterer of the Knights. The one who mounted their heads on his walls just to switch sides in the war. The one who is twice a traitor."

The sound of his broadsword cleaving a giant rock close by made her heart jump! He was a hair breath from finding her. Her legs tensed, knowing she'd soon have to make some kind of move. Was she going to fight or flee, though?

The killer rested the blade and breathed out to the moon. "But do you think, pray tell, that Roland's song beats only in your heart?" His eyes narrowed. "My generation, from me to Pisces Aeneas, all learned it well… the meaning of sacrifice! Of shedding the blood of your brothers in arms. We had that word cruelly carved deep into our souls. Just ask Priam."

Her soul quieted and the thoughts of fear left her. Under Aquila's guidance, Daese's mind became one with the Cosmos, lightening the load in her heart. Her fear began evaporating.

"But sacrifice is what you do when that that you love the most is at stake. Is it not the same with you?" Azrael questioned. "To me, it's simply that siding with Priam and our brothers-in-arms was no longer in the best interest of those I loved. Of those I wanted to protect. And so, I sacrificed."

His twisted logic rang in her ears, but its echoes hit her heart like waves on a shore. Even the flashes of her friends and family getting slaughtered by his selfish cruelty lessened in intensity. Soon, her whole self would be at peace, and she would stand a chance to survive this battle.

"Maybe you do have the spirit of our people, 'Aquila Daese'." He carefully watched the moonlight's shadows for any hint of which rock she was hiding behind. Then he saw it, shining under the moon, a trail of crimson. He licked his lips like a serpent, his eyes fixing on it. "You have our blood, after all."

Her fingers clenched her beam sword handle, which warmed with renewed strength, and her mind sunk into the depth of the cosmos at last. Her 7th sense flared, readying a strength that, upon ignition, would shine brighter than anything before. It would be her last combo, and she would put everything she had into it!

"But it makes me wonder… what inspires that strength out of you? Mere vengeance could not have carried you this far, especially under Priam's questionable tutelage. It is not a knightly ideal after all. Is it your friends? Perhaps…a beloved?"

Daese's mind was now so at peace, she could heard the drops of sizzling ember from the burning wreck of the Sea Dragon. She also heard his steps approaching her and gripped her weapon.

He laughed and stopped, realizing something. "Wait…You mustn't have been alone, right? Priam must have taken whoever has Corvus, too!"

Daese's heart jumped, shattering her peace. Oh no! She froze, stupefied at how quickly the murderer was piecing it all together, with barely a hint but the intensity with which she's been fighting him.

"So, I am dealing with not one thief, but two! A pair of survivors, carrying on the will of the Zodiac Knights in their deluded little heads. But don't worry…" He followed the trail to a particularly large rock that he recognized that got blasted off by his earlier attack. He smiled, seeing it go around the rock, and held his sword in a lunge. "I'll have both of you join our people in Serpent Rock's walls!"

Cerah sprung to Daese's mind, inflaming her cosmos! Daese shouted a war cry and turned her beam sword back on, emerging out of her hideout to slam Azrael's sword away as hard as she could, startling the Bronze Knight.

Azrael stumbled, taken by surprise, and lunged back in with a direct thrust. "D-DIE!"

Raising her blade back up, she struck his sword's side, forcing it up into the air. Their arms pulled them down in a struggle between edges and their feet pushed, trying to overpower each other. Both their faces became alight with the shine of the contact between their swords and their cosmos burned, allowing their glares to meet. Azrael swerved to try to direct his blade over hers, but the Aquila Saint suddenly kicked his side, stunning him.

He barely had time to parry another slash from her with a raising guard. He held it with all his might but felt her ignited body start to overwhelm his clumsy defense. His eyes glared hatefully and he burned cosmos, turning his emerald aura up.

Daese gasped, feeling the former Gold Saint beginning to push her back again, but held firm! "Just focus! Focus on her!" she told herself. "DON'T LET THIS BASTARD EVER TOUCH HER!"

"GO! He's not invincible!" the Aquila Cloth urged. "Burn your cosmos higher!"

Screaming, her body was suddenly aflame with white light, burning Cosmos so intensely she felt as if the muscles in her body were being consumed by it.

"Y-YOU CAN'T WIN!" Azrael still hissed, resisting her push. He ground his edge against hers, slowly pushing it aside. "I TOLD YOU, YOUR SWORD IS WEA-"

"HAVE IT, THEN!" she shouted, turning her beam off the second his weight was over the arc of her head!

Azrael's sword cut into the shattering specks of light. His slash missed her, instead caving into the ground with earth-shattering force. His body stumbled in, dug into the rocks his attack broke apart. He widened his eyes, realizing he was stuck!

He turned to spot his swordless enemy. All Azrael saw was the large bonfire of white taking on a winged and beak shape and flying straight at him, like a train in a tunnel!

"BY THE EAGLE'S GLIDE; AQUILA CHARGE FIST!" The pinpoint, meteoric force struck his chest, piercing armor, flesh, heart, and back plates! The image of an eagle piercing a serpent with its beak and claws projected into the sky and Azrael screamed.

{======================|A3|======================}

Shamballa Plateau

{======================|A3|======================}

Atlae gawked. "You… look like Marianne's mom? You mean… Lady Seraphina?!"

"YES!" Caça repeated, pointing at himself as if anyone but him and Talos could see the Bluegradian bombshell he now looked like. "I'm telling you; THIS IS WHAT'S IN THAT BASTARD MONSTER'S HEART!"

The Muvian scratched his head, bewildered. He had no idea what to do with this information. He turned to Talos, who just stood there towering over them. Even the shine in its body was receding.

"B-But… but… Then this means whoever is using that terrible Cloth is…" He studied the creature again. He saw Talos' big cerulean hair strands barely poking out of the helmeted head like a colored mane. Atlae's mind rushed with the possibilities. "Someone who loves Miss Seraphina? But that can only be Lord Arthur!?"

Yuzuriha, however, hesitated to conclude this. This couldn't be. She was just in conversation with Arthur about the Pact of Seven's special communication, right before Arges sent her the alarm about Talos.

"It's LORD ARTHUR, then!" Atlae pointed at Talos, his eyes weeping. "Somehow Lord Arthur is inside!"

She paused. "Atlae… that can't be! Your friend has to be wrong, because… I finished talking with him not but a few hours ago. Arthur is in Néa Delphi, I'm sure of it."

"THEN WHY THE HELL DO I LOOK LIKE THIS?!" Caça screamed, shaping the breasts, hair, and butt they couldn't see with his hands.

Meanwhile, Talos reeled, feeling the heat inside its body fluctuates wildly. It stared fixedly at the beautiful blue-haired woman, feeling memories of happiness and pain flooding it in equal measure.

"Sera….phina." it's voice echoed.

The three warriors gawked at the sound that filled the valley.

"D-Did…. Did it just talk?!" Caça stuttered.

Its blue light eyes sharpened. "Sera….phina!"

"It DID!" Atlae pointed.

"It can't be!" Yuzuriha thought, seeing no end to the night's terrible surprises.

Talos grabbed its massive head, shaking. "Why… did you… hurt me?!" Its throat growled and the earth shook, responding to a building energy in Talos. Images of Seraphina's heartbroken face and her slapping him as he announced his intention of breaking things off came to him. He had to do it. Otherwise, Mariane would have revealed it all. "Why… didn't you… understand?!"

The three stumbled, feeling an earthquake forming and seeing Talos beginning to shine again. Caça ran off screaming, but the shaking ground made him stumble and fall.

He crawled away. "Don't you touch me, you big freak! I SWEAR TO POSEIDON, IF YOU DRAG ME UP THE SUN TEMPLE LIKE KING KONG I WILL-"

Talos' mouth cried out an ear-piercing roar, silencing all. Images of Seraphina's belly growing with his child pulsed in its mind, paired with the coldness and detachment in her eyes. The sound of her declaring the child's existence to Lord Arthur echoed again and again, making him feel its colossal heart tear in two. The worried look on Marianne's face as she helped him on that terrible snowy day. Did she realize how close he was back then to ending it all for himself somehow?

Yuzuriha and Caça shut their ears, almost deafened by the continuous cry. Windows back in Shamballa cracked and burst. The Showan'u Lake's surface waved. Even the Sun Tower shook.

Meanwhile, Atlae stared, transfixed, unable to guard himself from the pain he sensed in Talos' shriek, the shaking of its Chi. "You're… in pain? Who ARE you?"

"I will… have revenge!" Talos imposed, taking over Ithaca's psyche. He stepped towards Caça and said, "I will silence this pain forever… and fulfill my duty, my purpose!"

"CAÇA, RUN!" Atlae screamed.

But the Mariner only screamed, paralyzed by the sight of the gigantic hand surrounding him.

"SERAPHINA!" it cried out, tossing itself over Caça.

Rushing in at the speed of sound, Atlae tackled Caça out of Talos' way, letting the giant stumbled towards the edge of the plateau so ferociously that the ground gave in under its strength and weight. The edge cracked as Atlae and Caça landed into rocks, fracturing the ground around Talos. The giant screamed as it ceded entirely, sliding his massive, armored, tailed body down. His long, thick howl was heard going down, down, and down to the lower Himalayan grounds, crashing.

A stunned silence came over the valley. Then, slowly, cries of relief from the city were heard as the giant vanished from their sight.

"A-Are you okay?!" Atlae asked.

Caça blinked. "I'm… I'm alive!" He practically shoved Atlae off to get up and cry in relief, throwing fists up. "I'M ALIVE, I SURVIVED! Y-YEAH! TAKE THAT, YOU BIG, FAT LIZARD BITCH! I, the great Caça, have triumphed over the Muvian monster-"

"DOWN, BOTH OF YOU!" Yuzuriha screamed, tossing them back to the ground telekinetically and casting shields of cosmos over themselves.

Before the two could wonder what was even happening, the silence in the air was replaced by an echoing boom, and the night sky turned pure white. Once more, night turned into day and the earth shook, struck by the horrible explosion of Talos' gigantic body, only more terribly than ever before. Atlae screamed, feeling the ground beneath his chest quake like the Earth itself had just been pierced to its core.

{======================|A3|======================}

Sea Dragon Ruins

{======================|A3|======================}

The burning wreckage of the destroyed Sea Dragon collapsed as more of its steel supports melted. Flames reached their peak size, illuminating the broken battlefield, and Aquila Daese reeled, drawing heavy breaths and seeing her whole right arm caved deeply into her enemy's chest.

Her body shook and her mouth breathed in heavily. She had done it! She had struck the bastard a deadly blow! Her eyes couldn't believe it.

Azrael grabbed her blood-stanched arm weakly, his slitted eyes staring at her. "Y-You… H-how….?!"

"That's for my sister!" she cried out. "A-And for everyone else you've ever murdered!"

"I-I see… a s-sister…" Azrael's head slumped. "O-Only the power of love could have made such a c-crude technique work on me."

Her eyes teared. "The Charge Fist is no crude technique. This was the technique of a boy who once proved to me anything was possible with the cosmos! And your Cloth is still weaker than mine, so punching through its metal is no challenge to it!"

The Serpens Saint grabbed her shoulder and pushed her off, letting the gaping hole in his chest bare freely. He held it with his hand. "U-Uh… T-This is the end for me…?! H-How could this be?!"

"W-Why are you like this?!" she demanded to know, palms wetting in tears. "Y-You were once everything I ever admired in our people! Why did you betray us?! WHY?!"

He fell to his knee, breathing heavily. Only his cosmos could be sustaining him at this point. "Y-You of all people should understand, A-Aquila Daese. Y-You felt the pain of your entire generation being stabbed in the back; their dreams laid waste to by war. And P-Priam… " Azrael spat blood aside and growled. "H-He was growing weak in the end! After battles like Almaty, he ran out of resolve from how many men we were losing… so I knew I had to do something… I had to return to the fold, no matter what, before our generation suffered even more loss."

"A-And for that, you sacrificed everyone?!" How could such a conclusion come to the mind of a Saint of Athena?

The green-haired Saint eyed her, smirking. "Y-You would have, as well. I promise you that."

Daese stressed, face twisting in disgust. "You're just a monster, Azrael! A selfish, cruel killer! Priam is a thousand times stronger than you ever were!"

The dying knight laughed coarsely. "Me, weaker than Priam…?! N-Now there's an insult if I've ever heard one!"

Her chin rose. "Priam is smarter than you! He hid my sister and the Corvus Cloth with someone neither you nor Sanctuary will ever reach! Not until all Holy Wars are over and done with!"

His eyes widened. There was only one possible conclusion. "Y-You mean…"

Daese tensed like a steel bar. She still remembered the day she had to beg Lucifer to take her. The humiliation burned in her blood to that day; a Knight, kneeling to a Specter. "It destroyed me…Not just as a Knight of Athena, but as a sister! But unlike you, the sacrifices I am willing to make are to protect others, not myself!"

Azrael began laughing coarsely, his mouth gushing blood.

Her eyes widened. "What?! Why are you-"

"The U-UNDERWORLD?! He hid her in the Underworld?!" Azrael broke out in open laughter like the skies themselves were worthy of mockery. "O-OF COURSE! How d-did I not see it?! Coupling with a Heinstein like he has, of course, Priam would resort to something like that! So that's where I will find your stupid bitch of a sister! And the Corvus Cloth as well!"

Daese stumbled back, startled. She burned her cosmos and clenched fist, readying herself to finish him off and avenge the Knights once and for all. "You're NOT GOING ANYWHERE! You're-"

But Azrael only laughed harder and started shining like a beacon! The outline of his body began distorting and the signature of his Cosmos began vanishing, while his sword fell to the ground uselessly.

Daese widened eyes. "W-Wait, no! It can't-" But, to her horror, Serpens Azrael laid out arms and allowed himself to collapse into millions of specks of light that littered the floor like a sea of stars. "A… Light craft clone?!"

Then, a bonfire of cosmos revealed itself to the right, sending Daese's senses to full alert!

"SERPENT CHAIN!"

The ground broke apart beneath her feet and showers of light erupted in every direction, manifesting into shining metal that swept around her at the speed of light like a flying serpent! Somewhere in the darkness surrounding the battlefield, an observer's hand clenched, signaling the technique's next step; forming hundreds of thousands of links out of the sacred art of the Zodiac Knights, the beams of light clasped tightly around Daese's body, wrapping her neck to toe!

They constricted her, lifting her off her feet, and Daese screamed, feeling the hot links burning into the bits of her skin uncovered by her armor.

Azrael, the real one, came stepping out of the shadows, completely untouched by the rigors of their battle, with all four chains currently wrapping her coming out of between his left hand's fingers like shining threads. Her eyes reeled in horror at the sight of his knowing smirk.

"You stupid little girl. You didn't really think the Goddess gave you such favor in battle against a Civil War Gold Saint, did you?"

She stared in bewilderment. "It can't be! All this time I was fighting a dummy made of light?! T-That…" She thought about how the dummy perfectly executed all of Azrael's movements, his voice, and his technique. It felt every bit like battling a real Gold Saint. "That C-CAN'T BE!"

"Oh, yes it can!" Azrael delighted in confirming. "You made a crucial mistake, thinking I merely had access to the techniques of my old Cloths. The truth is, as a member of my particular generation, I have trained not only in mastering all my armors' abilities but combining them."

Serpens.

Corvus.

Aries.

"That is the true potential of my Starlight Illusion; With a Zodiac Knight's Lightcraft, I can shape parts of my armor into objects." Azrael recounted. He showed off his Emerald Cloth Stone. "With the Horned Serpent's all-seeing eye, I can have those objects make me see what they see, hear what they hear, touch what they touch. With Corvus' dark abilities, I can completely control numerous amounts of them as well, from great distances, as one would a flock of obedient crows. And finally, with my training in Aries, I can smith them into any shape I desire!"

Then, to drive the point, countless pieces of the Serpent's Cloth flew off and shaped into a silhouette mocking Daese's own, making her blood freeze. Though stiff like a doll, the clone had her eyes, her face, her hair, her armor, and even some of her bruises and bleeding, like staring in a mirror. It was a masterpiece of cosmos manipulation, the kind of miracle someone would expect from a powerful, experienced Gold Saint.

The look on her face told him enough of her thoughts and Azrael dispelled the clone into a wash of light over himself. "That's right, Aquila Daese. You tossed all that bravery against a bunch of Cosmos and Bronze Cloth metal mutated into 'Serpens Azrael'."

The chain links pushed painfully into her skin, drawing blood. Daese screamed, feeling no room to move her wrists, much less fight against the constricting grip of the burning chains.

"And now, to separate you from Aquila…" With a twist of his wrist, Daese came flying straight at him at the speed of light, unwrapping her like a top. The chains shined again, materializing into a second object, a long two-handed battle axe. "Feel the punishing fangs of the Horned Serpent! BLADED BITE!"

The constellation of Serpens shined, projecting the image of a giant snake caving its fangs deep into an eagle's neck, and the battleaxe swung, striking across the Cosmos itself with the burning, cleansing light of a Gold Saint. In a single bash, the Aquila Cloth was cracked, broken, and shattered all over, falling to pieces to the ground while Daese collapsed on the floor, feeling her body struck across the abdomen and her veins contaminated by poison.

Broken off her neck, the Aquila Cloth Stone dropped to the burned ground, clinking like a precious, lost gem.

She clawed towards it. "N-No!"

The poison injected into her then ignited its effect. It burned like a wildfire through her veins, sending her into paralyzed spasms, and robbing her of the ability to move. It felt less like a toxin weakening her body and more like the burning of fire inside her. All the while, the sensation of the Horned Serpent biting deeply where Bladed Bite struck her was felt, as if real fangs from a real serpent were sunk into her flesh and refused to release her wound.

Azrael picked it up. "Finally, the Aquila Cloth Stone. It belongs to Athena again!" He admired its shining white diamond. Diamond had always been the most stunning of the stones, even though Topaz ranked higher. "Now all that is left to retrieve is Corvus. The intel on its location alone should be the final grease needed to convince Arles to do the right thing and reinstate me as the Gold Saint of Aries. I couldn't be happier."

Daese stiffened. "C-Cerah! NO!" Her pained body wanted to attack him, to blow her cosmos up along with him if she had to, but her 7th sense grew weaker and weaker as the Serpent's venom consumed her spirit.

The Serpens scoffed at the pathetic sight of her struggling against his venom. "Let that be a lesson in humility for the dark little future you have left for yourself. I should really thank you! I thought I would have to beat the location of the Corvus Cloth out of you for much longer, but you just couldn't resist basking in the glory of 'beating me', could you?" Azrael laughed and dangled the Aquila Cloth Stone in front of her face. "But don't worry. I'll make sure to let whoever has it know that they have you to thank for my sudden appearance-"

"CHRYSO FOS VELOS!"

A beam of golden light shot out of nowhere, snapping the chain of the Diamond Cloth Stone, cutting Azrael's finger and striking the ground, blasting it! The Serpens Saint screamed, bashed away by the impact.

He braked with his heels on the ground and tightened his grip on his Serpent Chain. "What?! W-WHO'S THERE?!"

Daese gasped, seeing a shaking golden missile on the impacted ground, which then vanished into light specks.

A figure arrived, stepping out of the flames of the burning Sea Dragon, holding a composite bow in hand.

"It's me, Ace." The bandaged man formed another arrow of light, which he nocked warningly at the Serpens. "Now, step away from Daese."

The Serpens Gold Saint reeled, recognizing the man's curls, height, goggles, and blue eyes, even under the bandage and the disguise as a priest. He had already concluded this man was alive, but to be here, too?

"P… Priam?!"

{======================|A3|======================}

Shamballa Outskirts

{======================|A3|======================}

The clouds of smoke rose into the sky, piercing the atmosphere. As it escaped the gravity of the earth, the tons of dust lifted by Talos' detonation ballooned in every direction, culminating in a mushroom shape. Rings of dust and light spread out in all directions, washing over the plateau top and Shamballa's walls, while Atlae and Yuzuriha's 0th senses ringed with equal intensity as their 7th senses had when Arges, Brontes, and Steropes fired the Athena Exclamation earlier; with enough force to feel like the shredding of chalk on board.

Slowly, the darkness of night returned and rocks lifted into the stratosphere began falling down, meteoring the plateau top. Guards stationed in Shamballa burned cosmos, firing beams to destroy debris or shielding the population with barriers, while Yuzuriha kept her thick layer of energy over herself, Atlae, and Caça.

Slowly, she lifted it and looked down, seeing the remaining light receding into where Talos fell. "Thank the goddess… we have escaped destruction."

Caça shook like a leaf. "A-Ahhh! AAAH! WHAT! JUST! HAPPENED?!"

She approached the ruined plateau edge to see Talos better, but in the darkness of the night, she only saw a murk at the bottom of the cliff.

Wincing and rubbing his head, Atlae followed her. "M-Master, that was all Chi, wasn't it?"

"Talos was unstable." Yuzuriha determined. "Whoever was wearing him as a Cloth is not a Muvian, which means their union was bound to collapse. With the enormous power it had, that could only mean a release of an enormous amount of life force."

Atlae gulped. He had never, EVER in his life sensed anything like it. For a second, there was so much of the life force in the air, that it felt like the world was ending. Atlae now had no doubts in his mind that, had Talos' force been directed like a Gold Saint directs their cosmos, such a monstrosity could truly cause the end of the world. No wonder even Marianne and the Sea Dragon stood no chance against it.

"I-Is it over, then? Is Talos dead?"

"Talos can never truly die, Atlae, any more than you could kill a Cloth by merely breaking it into tiny pieces." Yuzuriha explained. She squinted, feeling nothing in Talos down that chasm. "But… it truly does seem that he might have gone to sleep once more."

Caça laughed incredulously, feeling like the nightmare was over. "Y-YES, then I have TRULY slayed the titan! AHA!" he climbed on top of a rock and pumped his chest, giving the chasm the middle finger. "TAKE THAT! How do you like it, big guy?! That is the power of Poseidon's mariners!"

Atlae sweated. He was happy Caça was so content, but it was coming off as a bit rude. "Caça, come on, a lot of people have suffered. Is this really the time for this?"

The mariner glowered. "Oh, don't YOU of all people tell me about being tone-deaf! I should get a MEDAL for everything I've done tonight. Paraded through the streets of Shamballa like the great hero I am!"

"IN FACT-" Pulling up all the saliva in his throat and mouth, Caça walked up to the very edge of the rock and shot down the biggest ball of spit Atlae had ever seen. "AH! Take that! That's for sinking the Sea Dragon and hurting my precious idol Mari-" Yuzuriha and Atlae gasped, seeing the rock giving in and dropping Caça down the chasm. "-AAAAANE, HELP MEEEEeeee….!"

Atlae saw the mariner vanish into the deep darkness and immediately jumped down after. "CAÇA!"

Yuzuriha could only grab her hair "Dear GODS, ATLAE, DON'T GO DOWN THERE!" and followed, rushing down the plateau paths.

Down, down and down he went, sinking deep into the chasm's darkness. Atlae's feet braked into an angled rock, allowing him to slide safely into the ground.

He searched with his eyes and chi sense. "CAÇA! WHERE ARE YOU?!" He then had to cover his mouth when a terrible, abattoir stench invaded his nostrils.

Atlae coughed and gagged, which reminded him of when he was once shown the broken meat locker of a human butcher he was friends with.

Everywhere he looked, however, was dark and dead. The ground was rocky and burnt by the detonation of Talos, while sharp walls of the plateau flanked him on both sides. Atlae realized Talos and Caça had both fallen deeply into an even lower crack on the terrain that existed at the lower grounds of the Himalayan valleys, which probably explained why such a colossal explosion was safely absorbed. However, as a result, Atlae recognized none of the passes and rocks he stood among, especially in the dark of the night.

Burning cosmos in his hand like a torch, he called again. "CAÇA!"

"O-OVER HERE! GET ME OUT!"

Turning, Atlae saw his friend under a long, angled rock. "Hold on!" He rushed to him and gripped the weights, burning cosmos to lift it. "U-Ugh, why is it so heavy?!" With much effort and a roar crying out for the power of the universe, Atlae freed up enough of the rock for Caça to crawl out, then dropped it, letting it cave into the ground heavily.

Caça panted. "A-Ah, dear Amphitrite. What is with today?!"

Atlae narrowed eyes. He turned, about to grab his friend and ask what the heck was wrong with him!

But before he could, Caça grumbled embarrassedly and muttered "T-Thanks, Atlae. That was stupid of me…"

The Muvian held tongue. Caça was thanking him? And regretting his actions

He should just accept it. Atlae looked around. "Where are we? Where's Talos?"

"I d-don't know. There's just all these rocks." Caça pointed at the surrounding terrain full of broken, blackened boulders and rock walls. "I guess when he exploded, he exploded for good. That monster must be all giblets by now. That would explain why it smells like a Black Saint's fridge."

Atlae hummed. He remembered its battle with Marianne. "When Mari' cut its finger off, it just dissolved into sludge. Maybe Talos… disintegrated entirely?"

The mariner shivered. "Ew, gross! No wonder this place stenches. So it blew up AND it's rotting somewhere down here!"

Sliding down a rock wall by them, Yuzuriha arrived on the scene. "ATLAE, YOU DISOBEDIENT, LITTLE…!"

Atlae turned to face his Master, wincing fearfully. "M-Master, I'm sorry, but Caça could have gotten hurt!"

She stepped menacingly towards him. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO FOLLOW TALOS! YOU GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW AND-" She stopped and widened her eyes. Yuzuriha's breath escaped her lungs, seeing the rocks that had been on top of Caça get up lifting from the ground.

Atlae covered and heard in guard submissively. "I'll do whatever punishment you want, Master! This is all my fault, I know it! But Caça was-"

She rushed in to grab Atlae. "ATLAE, STEP AWAY FROM THERE!"

But the hand of giant, black, metallic bones swiped Atlae off the ground, out of their reach! Caça screamed and Yuzuriha gawked as the de-muscled arm raised Atlae high in the air, gripping him so tightly the powerful Muvian couldn't move. Two orbs of light formed further away, on a giant, round rock. That rock dislodged the segment on its side, like a mouth opening, and the entire chasm shook as the gargantuan, black skeleton rose from the ground.

They saw its ribcage freeing itself from the ground, allowing the beaming of the bright, red organ inside to illuminate the chasm. It pulsed weakly, with a dark silhouette inside breathing in and out, but pulsed nonetheless. Talos, the Cloth of Destruction, lived.

Atlae found himself held above it. He saw its toothy mouth, empty nose bones, and exposed shoulder blades. Its barely held jaw moved up and down silently. "Mine… you're MINE!"

Hearing these words in his head, Atlae widened his eyes. "It's… it's speaking to me?!" He saw it approaching him its mouth and screamed. "MASTER, H-HELP!"

"ATLAE!" Yuzuriha launched at them at the speed of light. "ROZAN, SPINNING SHELL KI-!"

Wise to her moves, Talos blocked the elderly Muvian off by swatting her beaming attack like a fly with its other hand, smashing Yuzuriha deep into the chasm walls!

Caça panicked, seeing the Elder knocked out. "HOLY SHIT! A-ATLAE! What do I do?!"

"MAKE ME WHOLE!" Talos demanded, 'screaming' into Atlae's head.

The Muvian screamed and darkness clamped down on him.

{======================|A3|======================}

The Muvian shook, clenched unto himself in terror.

Was he dead?

He opened his eyes. All around him was blue. Yuzuriha, Caça and even Talos was gone. Before him, in a plane of what he could only identify as a fountain of cerulean lifeforce all around him, stood no one.

No one, that is, except for the shadowy silhouette before him, along with the person collapsed pathetically at its feet, completely naked. Atlae gasped, recognizing the fallen person's long blue hair, hardened muscles and face.

"I… Ithaca?!" Rushing to him, Atlae shook the bodyguard. "ITHACA! W-WAKE UP!"

"S… Seraphina! W-Why?!" he only muttered. His shut eyes drew tears, feeling only the hatred of the woman he loved, and the cold barrier between him and their child. Slowly, though, Ithaca's eyes opened. He beheld the person shaking him with great shock. "A… Atlae?"

"I'm so glad you're okay!" The Muvian's eyes teared. He saw how tired the Mariner seemed. The jovial light was gone from his eyes and he had wounds all over his body. In fact, a lot of his hair was gone and his lower abdomen was marked with scars whose nature made Atlae's blood go cold. "W…What happened to you?"

The Mariner stared for a few seconds. It had been years since they've last seen each other. Atlae was so big now. Ithaca couldn't believe how much he had changed. For a brief moment, a shine returned to his dead eyes.

Yet, confusion filled him. "I… don't understand. You shouldn't be here, Atlae!" His head shook. Why are you here?! Where are we?"

"We are in the same place as before, Ithaca of Delphi." The silhouette of shadows by them spoke. "I'm afraid you have run out of strength. And that our march of destruction has come to an end."

Alerted, Atlae dragged Ithaca back from it. "Who are you?!"

Ithaca narrowed eyes. "Talos…What do you mean by that?" his thoughts returned to Azrael. "I was suppose to… to…"

"To destroy that man who hurt you?" Talos guessed. "I'm afraid you have failed. You battled him briefly at Kailash, but you were unable to harness my strength properly. Instead, you fell to what your heart feels to be the true source of your pain… and gave endless chase to Seraphina Solo."

Atlae looked back and forth, not understanding a single thing. "W-What? Lady Seraphina? Ithaca? What is going on?!"

Ithaca shook head and tried to get up. "N-No… NO! You TRICKED me! You made me chase Atlae! I felt it the whole time!" He grabbed head. "I… I NEVER WANTED TO GO HURT THOSE PEOPLE!"

"I warned you, Ithaca of Delphi – " Talos unflinchingly countered "-that you'd merely be given a chance to wear me. And that doing so would be a battle of wills unlike anything you've faced. It is your fault entirely that you were unable to steer us, to sync us. Now it's time to offer that chance to a true an object of stability for me, my real wearer. The ringer of the Genbu Bell." He turned head to the other person in the ether. "You, Atlae."

The Muvian reeled. "M… Me?!"

"With you, Atlae, instead of Ithaca, I would become stable, and I would be able to continue my purpose to spread destruction for far longer, and with much greater purpose. "It is time we discuss a contract, Atlae." The figure demanded. "And that you become the Saint of Talos."

{======================|A3|======================}

Chapter End

{======================|A3|======================}

Next Chapter: Chapter 96 – Third Arc – Episode 22 – For Ithaca

Release Date: May 25th

Description: Talos shows Atlae and Ithaca the direness of their situation; not only must Atlae choose whether to take his idol's place as the vessel of the Cloth of Destruction, but also confront the danger Talos has perceived to be afflicting the world. A choice must be made quickly, before Ithaca is further dragged to infamy and brutality by the armor's tremendous power.

Meanwhile, Priam, the former Gold Saint of Sagittarius, confronts his old partner Azrael and must haggle for Aquila Daese's life. Azrael's hatred for Priam's weakness runs deep, though, and the Zodiac Knight has little intention to show the mercy he feels he was never given by others.

Author's Comments:

This chapter had to go through a couple of rewrites, some of them that unfortunately I had to rush through because of real life work getting in the way of my schedule. Jenny, if you're reading this, I gave it a real shot, but I was not able to implement all of your suggestions. I'll just have to try harder in the future.

That aside, I'm happy to announce that the next chapter should be the wrap-up to Atlae's flashback (finally). It's a pretty big chapter that EpicElly is currently beta-reading, numbering up to 35k words, so she's gonna hate me by the end of it for sure. It IS already written, though, so don't worry about the deadline being met. In fact, I'm halfway done with the chapter after THAT (so number 97), which means I'm slowly building progress momentum. With some luck, maybe I'll release an extra chapter, we'll see.

Again, it's a wrap up chapter, so I don't really have any particular etymology to explain today.

Anyway, be sure to leave a review or share the story if you enjoyed this chapter, or if you want to criticize it even. Like it on Tumblr/Reddit and generally support this project if you enjoy it. You can find me in all those places under the Thrudgelmir2333 name.

See ya \owo