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.

97. 3A: Return to the Present

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, Pact of Seven members; Seraphim Specters;

Notable Original Concepts: Mount Olympus Training Ground, Sanctuary Court, Teos & Talos Cloths, 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 beta read by Jenny DeVic. If you like this story and its characters, check out her writings on both platforms I publish this chapter at;

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The dust clouds receded, and the ground caved in towards the impact zone. Talos Atlae's dug-in fist raised itself, letting the ground cave inwards into the defeated Pegasus Saint, and the tailed, winged half-monster stepped backward, admiring its triumph.

"I have won!" it thought. Its giant, clawed fists raised to the dark skies, and it roared, giving a guttural, triumphant shout. "I have DESTROYED YOU!"

Raising himself off a layer of sand over them, Reaper Grim coughed. "B-By Giudecca! THAT was the Talos Cloth's power?! He almost took down all of us with that Titanic Devastation!"

Rising as well, Yeti Zemu dusted the icy, diamond-like layers decorating his Surplice. He adjusted his goggles to behold the devastation. He had only seen this kind of destruction from the hands of the Judges and Princes of the Underworld. "Lord Hades has lent us a mighty ally indeed… I'm sure even a Gold Saint would have been killed by that blow."

Grim climbed over the rocks, excited to look for their Prince. "Which means we are seconds away from it: Lord Michael's revival!" he found the Andromeda Saint awakening from the shockwaves of Atlae's attack and grinned, seeing him find the results of Brute Star's work. "Yes! Now, awaken to us, Celestial Absolute Star!"

Shinta stared in horror, seeing the dust give way to reveal the sight of Pegasus Lance in the rubble. The crater was easily the size of a football field, its ground having been forcibly pushed back by the explosion of Titanic Devastation into forming highly compressed layers of new rock. Layers of crumbled rock slid down from every direction and bright cracks on the floor shined with magma underneath, having almost punctured the island's volcanic tunnels. At the center of it all laid Pegasus Lance, half-buried, covered in blood with his eyes closed. His cape of shadows spread out around him, and his intricately carved metal plates were cracked, bent, or punched in towards the center of his chest, where he had taken the brunt of Talos Atlae's blow.

Shinta's heart was racing as he was unable to detect any cosmos! "L… LANCE!" He rushed to the crater and jumped in, sliding down to reach his friend. Even in the shadow of the triumphant, howling Atlae, he dared to touch Lance and gently shake him. "L-Lance, please wake up! W-WAKE UP!" he gasped, seeing the blood gushing out from the chest crack and feeling practically no cosmos burning from his friend. "Oh no! Oh no, no, no, NO! W-WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO HIM?!"

Ceasing his roars of triumph, Talos Atlae breathed heavily, his large body's chi gradually relaxing. As the force of Titanic Devastation dissipated from his right hand, he felt his inner voice slowly returning. Suddenly, memories of a blue-haired girl staring in horror at the consequences of his actions assaulted him, and Atlae visibly relented at the sight of the distraught Andromeda weeping over his friend.

Shinta hugged the fallen Lance. "Please, please wake up!" His pink cosmos burned brightly, but even the heat of its blaze failed to resuscitate anything in Lance. The Bronze Saint felt Lance's breathing get weaker and weaker, and he panicked. "N-NO, don't die, please!"

Talos Atlae stumbled back, holding his armored head, his fangs clenching. "I… know this situation. I've done this before! I hurt someone!" As adrenaline rushed down his veins, his human thoughts began wrestling with his heart. The glove of the Genbu Surplice in his left hand began burning with cosmos, suppressing Talos' wrath even further, leaving behind only the horror of what Atlae had caused- "I… I didn't want to do this. I was only supposed to capture him! W-Why did I do this?!"

Shinta's teary eyes failed to notice how pieces of Atlae's armor began falling off him, and his body started shrinking. "I… I can't forgive you for this! I will NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"

The words assaulted Atlae's thoughts, and he winced, slowly shrinking more and more. Their slightly feminine pitch only awakened more memories of past failures and shames, evoking the very reason he first went to the Underworld to seek salvation. Had Atlae failed yet again?

With a jump of his Levantine Door, Reaper Grim emerged next to him. "Dear Prince, I am so sorry… I tried to warn you. The cruelty of the Judges has today reached new depths."

Shinta shook his head, not caring anymore if it was a Specter tempting him. "P-Please….save my friend! I'll do anything!"

"I do not have that power, Prince. I am just a lowly Terrestrial Star." Yet, he clenched his roused, bone-armored fists, "But if you believe in your cosmos, Prince, if you awaken yourself, you can still save him! And better yet, defeat this monstrous Brute Star!"

Inebriated with pain, Shinta paused. Could he do it? Could he save Lance's life? He searched deep within, trying to find that strength, but all he felt was black hopelessness, the kind he first felt when battling Lucifer and surrounded by the shadows of the Daemon Specter's Eternal Darkness technique. Yet, he burned his cosmos, searching for a key. Without noticing it, the silver star pendant around his neck warmed, resonating…

Grim grinned, seeing the tears in Shinta's face darkening. "I just need one more push! And those will turn into blood!" Seeing Atlae's armor slowly fall apart, he gripped his scythe. "Atlae looks like he's receding his Talos Cloth. I'll finish Pegasus off myself, then! The shock will surely push the Prince over the edge! Once he revives, he'll have all his memories back and surely understand I did this for his glory! Yes!"

Shinta shook, holding Lance close to his chest. "M-Mother! What do I do?! I don't know what to do, please tell me!" He gripped the pendant she left with him, praying into it with every bit of faith he had. He did not see the shadow of Grim's scythe rising over him and Lance. "P-Please save my-"

"SHOOTING STAR FIST!" a female voice shouted, unleashing a shower of dancing white star punches over Shinta's head.

Grim Reaper screamed, struck head to toe by the multitude of curving, swerving, and borderline perpendicular shots of cosmos battering his Surplice and knocking his scythe away. His blasted body was sent flying far away from the startled Shinta, bruised and bled.

Equuleus Olivia landed her feet between the Specter and the two Bronze Saints, breathing heavily as her neck-length black hair waved. "S-SAINT SHINTA, RUN! That guy is going to kill you two!"

Andromeda could barely understand what just happened. "M-Miss Olivia?! But I thought you… that I told you to escape!"

"I'm extremely sorry, but I disobeyed!" she admitted, narrowing her eyes at Grim. "I had a terrible feeling something was afoot. You may report me to Sanctuary later."

Grim launched himself off the ground, catching his fallen scythe with a telekinetic pull. His Surplice was cracked and his body bruised by her blows and his sunken eyes looked furious. "Y-You sneaking bitch! H-How… how did you hit me?!" Turning half his body into black smoke, he flew straight at her, his scythe shining with purple light. "HOW DARE YOU STAND IN THE WAY OF THE PRINCE'S RETURN?! BUBONIC SWEEP!"

The scythe cut the air with a purple light that looked capable of infecting the land itself with death and misery. The girl stepped back, creating space between herself and the shredding dance of purple light slashes the Specter unleashed on her. The slashes continued, though, like a relentless collection of the damned by death itself.

With nothing but bravery to fall back on, the Saintia leaned into it in counterattack. Her hands immersed themselves in blue light to clasp around the Specter's arm and chest, stunning her adversary. Before he could react, Olivia swerved her body, burned her wind cosmos and launched the Specter over her shoulder in a motion covered in hurricane-like winds; "KORNEPHOROS!"

Her throwdown smashed Reaper Grim into the ground, cracking the floor. The Specter screamed and rolled, utterly stunned that yet another attack successfully landed on him. She took the chance to grab Shinta and pull him and Lance away from the crater.

Landing, Shinta awed. "M-Miss Olivia, you did it!"

"We'll celebrate later!" Horror struck her heart, at the sight of her boyfriend in his arms. "S-Saint Andromeda, what happened to Lance?! Is he…?!"

Shinta shook his head. "He's alive, but… but I think he's going to die!"

The sight of the fallen Bronze Saint made her lose color on her face. Olivia harnessed all of her coolness to make a call. "W-We have to escape! Quick, give him to me." She took Lance into her chest. The girl huffed, startled by the Bronze Saint's dense weight. She had caught him passing out before, on their first date, but with his upgraded armor on, the muscled Bronze Saint was quite heavy. "You can use lightspeed, right? I'll hold him, and you use your cosmos to protect us and jump all of us out of here-"

Suddenly, Yeti Zemu came crashing down from a jump next to them, cutting off their only path out of the mountainous terrain of northern Andromeda Island. "You're not going anywhere! Prepare to have your bones turned to frost!" His right hand thrust out, launching darts of sapphire covered in Cosmos from his palm. "COCYTUS STORM!"

A hail of ice daggers flew at the Bronze Saints, dodging the dance of Shinta's chains through the caps and stabbing into their flesh. Olivia turned aside, shielding Lance's body from the missiles, and screamed, feeling the soul-piercing could chill her to her bone. She collapsed into her legs, losing sensation in many parts of her body.

The Yeti Specter approached her, covering himself in further sheets of ice. "That was brave of you, but foolish. I don't know how you figured out Grim's powers, but I am far more powerful than he is. You should hand that Pegasus Saint to me and flee while you can, little girl."

Her blue eyes glared with the ferocity of a cornered mare. "D-Don't you dare touch him!" she held the Saint's head close to her chest in protection. "After everything he's done for me, do you think I will step away?! As Athena and Artemis are my w-witnesses, and in my honor as a Saintia, I will take all of you Specters with me to hell before I let you lay a FINGER on my boyfriend!"

The large, visor-wearing Specter let out a hearty laugh. "OH, is that what it is like? I guess Saintias really are different from those other women with the masks! Fine, then…" He gathered his water and wind cosmos, sharply causing humidity to freeze around his fingers to a temperature comparable to the Cocytus river. "I will refrain from touching him… and instead smash you both to pieces with my Ice Hammer and send you both in a coffin straight to Lord Hades!"

The two Bronze Saints stepped back in fear, seeing the massive Terrestrial Yin Star Specter blocking them off. Shinta grabbed his chains protectively. "M-Miss Olivia, RUN! ROLLING DEFENSE!"

"Forgive me, Prince!" A mist cloud surrounded Zemu, coalescing around his fist and rising around his arm up to his shoulder. Immersing his arm into a giant block of ice, he aimed the Bronze Saint in Equuleus' arms. "ICE HAMMER!"

Shinta stood between her and Atlae, summoning his damaged chains.

The gigantic limb of ice crashed against the hard wall of metal that suddenly stood before it. Light exploded out of the point of contact, making Yeti Zemu scream as the ice around his hand and forearm cracked, boiled and finally burst to pieces, blasting him back. The resulting flash of light blinded them all, obscuring the cause.

Shinta blinked. At first he thought his Rolling Defense had somehow caused a miracle, but then he saw the blue, fluttering cape, the golden armor, the dirt-blonde mane and the tall height of the man that had arrived on the battlefield. He beamed, realizing a miracle had, indeed, happened. "A… Gold Saint!"

Grim panicked at the sight of the golden armored Saint. "N-no! Not NOW!"

Golden flames erupted from the ground at the man's feet, cladding his body and armor in the silhouette of a lion as he stared down the three enemy Specters. "Forces of the Underworld… you have taken a step beyond your miserable station! Now you will face the wrath of the guardian of the Hall of Herakles; the Gold Saint of Leo!"

Olivia's eyes shook, recognizing the arriving figure. "G… Galan?!"

The young man turned slightly at her. "Olivia, are you alright? I came when I realized Andromeda Island was suddenly impossible to sense."

She breathed easier. Her eyes teared, thanking the heavens for her old friend. "I am, thank you so much." She turned downwards. "B-But Saint Pegasus is…!"

Galan saw how close she held the unconscious, bleeding Pegasus and felt a tug in his throat. "I see, that's how it is…" Still, the injuries in her made his blood race faster, and his mouth growled at the enemies. The Leo Gold Saint's cape fluttered in the hot wind, and the dirty-blonde youth glared down on the Specter trio. "Your perversion will come to an end now, Specters of Hades! Leave this island and return to your Emperor, or face the wrath of Athena's greatest warriors!"

Zemu winced as he held his broken arm. "G-Grim, we have lost control of the situation! We must fall back!"

However, the tall, thin Specter gritted teeth in hesitation, staring at the broken Pegasus. "No, we are too close to do that now! Reviving Lord Michael is just within our grasp!" He brandished his scythe menacingly, planning to glide past the Leo Gold Saint once a distraction was completed. "It's just ONE Gold Saint! With Atlae's power on our side, we can win this! ATLAE, DESTROY HIM!"

The Brute Star, struggling with his thoughts, suddenly zeroed in his senses on Galan.

The Leo Saint braced himself, rattled by his reptilian appearance and the height of a two-storied house, which stood out even next to the other two freakishly tall Specters. "What in Hades are you supposed to be?!"

"A challenge!" Talos Atlae celebrated, his fanged mouth salivating at the cosmos he felt. His overwhelming power concentrated once more, forming the attack that annihilated Pegasus Lance, and his black-armored fist swung at the Gold Saint. "TITANIC DEVASTATION!"

Galan spread his arms, exposing his chest, its plates shining like the sun. "NEMEAN GARB!" The tectonic blow smashed against a wall of metal glint and light that suddenly appeared before it. For a brief moment, Talos Atlae's blow raged against it with forces capable of sinking Andromeda Island to the bottom of the sea altogether. To those who could sense cosmos, it felt like a planetary collision, as if a great, incomprehensibly heavy mass suddenly collided with a stationary object as large as the Earth itself.

Still, with a great rebounding shockwave, the pale white energy of Talos Atlae's attack completely backfired off the splendid surface of curved chest plates and abdominals, blasting his large body backward with a pained howl. Talos Atlae dropped to his knee, feeling the bones of his right hand crushed inward even withing the mighty body he inhabited.

"Foul Specter! Your unrefined attack cannot penetrate the skin of the Nemean Lion!" Galan boasted to Atlae, already charging cosmos for a follow-up attack.

Grim and Zemu gawked. "It can't be!" they both exclaimed.

"Now behold, monster! The empyrean lightning of Zeus himself!" Galan's closed fist raised to the skies in a proclamation, cladding itself with a bolt from the black clouds. The warrior shouted, casting out the image of a roaring lion with a mane brightened by a rayed solar symbol with his cosmos and swinging his fist at Atlae. LIGHTNING BOLT: ARGEAD STAR!"

The punch came as a massive golden thunderbolt Sarissa swung at the transformed Atlae's armored face, striking it with multiple rays of light coalescing into a single, tiny point. It was more than just a Lightning Bolt technique; it was as if the power of all the storms from Mount Olympus hit at once, overcoming every possible defense in an instant. The impact briefly blinded the area, both visually and to the 7th sense, and blasted the transformed Atlae so powerfully that the winged, tailed half-creature was sent flying, shattering the ground beneath their feet.

The mass of dark-metaled muscle that was Atlae crashed right into Yeti Zemu, smashing them both against the dunes and rocks of Andromeda Island. Everyone gawked at the sight of Talos Atlae falling over the Yin Specter.

"Do you see it now? Every bit of harm you commit further in Athena's surface will now be returned a million-fold!" Galan proudly declared, recharging his cosmos into another Lightning Bolt, creating a bonfire of cosmos that turned him into a blazing human star. "Lest my name be Leo Galarian Steiner, you will all be annihilated for the suffering you inflicted on Athena's Bronze Saints!"

"Steiner?!" Zemu stuttered, pushing the massive Atlae off of him. Everyone knew this surname. "No way! Then he must be the son of…"

"It doesn't matter! If we can just revive the Prince, victory will be ours!" Grim urged, gripping his scythe. "We don't have to beat this profligate, Zemu! We just have to kill Pegas-"

Before the Terrestrial Insidious Star could even finish his sentence, a rain of golden beams came down on the battlefield, flashing their eyes and cratering the ground further with the force of their power release. The light receded, and the two Specters paled as a battalion of Gold Saints were lined up between them and the Bronze Saints.

Taurus Aldebaran folded his arms, his square nose snorting menacingly. "Blasted Specters! How dare you attack my beloved training mate's island?! I will stomp all of you to a red pulp with my Great Horn!"

Scorpio Milo hummed, his Scarlet Needle sharpening menacingly in his index finger. "Not if I riddle them with Scarlet Needle's poison first. They even dared to harm the beautiful Miss Olivia, who owes my apprentice Milo a date. I simply cannot forgive them."

Finally, Gemini Saga put on his helmet and charged his cosmos, finalizing the barrier of gold and blue capes standing in the Specter's way. "And to attempt to murder Saint Pegasus, to whom we all owe a great deal. We will send the lot of you straight to the deepest circle of hell, where your God can punish you forever for your delusions!"

Grim gawked, blood leaving his black-marked face, while Shinta and Olivia, in particular, stood in awe. Never before had the Equuleus seen so many Gold Saints stand in battle together, creating a resplendent aura of bright, burning cosmos that shone so powerfully that the dark, cosmos-jamming clouds in the island began breaking apart.

Zemu was now practically hoisting Atlae over his large, ice-clad shoulder and shouting at his comrade. "Grim!"

The Reaper Specter clenched the scythe, desperately looking for an angle to swerve past the mural of gold and glares in front of him. "D-damn it… DAMN IT! We were SO CLOSE!"

The Yin Specter shook him. "NOW IS NOT THE TIME! COOL YOUR HEAD AND GET US OUT OF HERE!"

The long-haired, tall Specter roared and thrust a hand out. "LEVANTINE DOOR!" his cosmos manifested, creating his swirling portal to the Yomotsu Hirasaka. "This isn't over yet, Saints of Athena! We will revive our master yet! And the Specters will usher in a new golden era in this coming Holy War!"

Saga waved his hands to shut his passage. "If you think you can escape, you're mistaken-" But even as he commanded time and space themselves to bend down on the Specters, Reaper Grim's portal swallowed him, Talos Atlae and Yeti Zemu whole, closing into nothingness. "What?! My Another Dimension didn't work."

"Wow, that freaky-looking guy can even escape Saga's powers?" Milo marveled. Maybe they should have brought in Deathmask, but the lucky bastard was stuck guarding the Saintia school. "Saint Lance's reports from Switzerland were right; we're dealing with a strange cadre of bad guys this time."

Aldebaran turned head at this. "Since when do you read battle reports?"

Milo shrugged. "Hey, I am very interested in Sanctuary's security, for your information. Especially if it concerns the academy full of hot girls in mini-skirts. Imagine what kind of perverts could go snoop up in there."

Saga noticed the presence of the panicked Miss Olivia and hummed, realizing the role she played in the battle. "Fortunately, it seems not all Saintias stayed in school."

Shinta rushed to them, tearing up. "A-Aldebaran, Saint Saga, Saint Scorpio!"

The Taurus Gold Saint smiled and hugged his friend. "Heya, buddy. Sorry, we took so long." He turned to the other three people. "It looks to me, though, that we could do better next time…" He approached Miss Olivia and knelt to look at the bloody mess of a Pegasus Saint she held in her arms. "Dear Athena, what happened to Lance?"

The Saintia shook, protecting her boyfriend against her chest, but even her situation couldn't numb her to the shock on the Gold Saint's face. "S-Saint Gemini, please… Punish me for seeing your face if you must, but help Saint Pegasus!" she begged. Her eyes shut to try to contain tears. "I owe him my life twice over by now. If he dies here…!"

The group coalesced around Olivia, who held her boyfriend protectively, shaking. She looked terrified and overwhelmed, a natural reaction to everything that had happened and to the state Lance was in her arms. Shinta, in particular, felt his heart shatter, gulping and looking away in shame. The sight of the blood-soaked Lance, with his armor half crushed, in the crying girl's arms was almost too much to bear when he knew this all happened because of him. These two people sacrificed themselves to protect him from the Specters instead of the other way around, as it should be for an Andromeda Saint.

Galan knelt before her, holding her shoulder. "Olivia, I'm so sorry for being late. Are you alright?"

She nodded. "Y-Yes, Galan, but please! Save Lance. I beg of you!"

The Leo Gold Saint exhaled, focused his senses, and held a hand over Lance. Burning his cosmos high, his body manifested a golden, warm aura over the Pegasus Saint's body, applying a balsam healing effect. The group watched for about half a minute as Lance's bleeding slowly receded, his breathing cleared up, and his broken tibia relaxed, mended on the inside.

"This is all I can do for now, Olivia." Galan then gently took the body off her hands and lifted him into his arms. "But he needs serious medical attention. All the Golden Touch will do is keep him stable for a few hours."

"Yeah, I'm no medic, but he looks, in medical terms, completely fucked-up." Milo noticed, attracting a series of glares. "What? Seriously, he looks even worse than he did when we beat Daemo-" Aldebaran's large hand slammed over his head. "O-OW!"

The island then began shaking and rumbling softly, alerting them.

The Saints gasped, holding on to each other. "W-What is happening?!"

Dunes began toppling, creating clouds, while far-off lava rivers squirted fire upwards. The cracks of the craters that Titanic Devastation left in its wake began widening and lengthening, forcing the Saints to disperse away from their paths. Even as Reaper Grim's dark clouds of jamming weakened, powerful lightning cracked down on the island, and its waters and waves by the coast grew larger and larger.

Shinta heard his Cloth's voice screaming. "A-aaagh! Shinta, it hurts! M-My home!"

Saga lost balance and held on to the ground. "This whole place is breaking apart! I think those powerful attacks from that thick-armored Specter destabilized the island!"

Shinta staggered. "What?! But that means Andromeda Island is…!"

The shaking got even worse, and the Saints of Athena all gasped, seeing the twin volcanos belch out fire and large cracks begin to form in the highland grounds to the north! Shinta felt his Bronze Cloth's screams increase in pitch and intensity in the cosmos, as if her soul were tied to the island's integrity.

"We must leave before this whole place sinks to the ocean with us! We can't save this place anymore!" Leo Galan shouted, urging them to gather around for a lightspeed jump. "Olivia, I will take Saint Pegasus to the hospital. You go with the other Gold Saints. Let us meet Saint Suisho back in Ethiopia and then get you all to safety."

The Equuleus Saintia nodded. "Right, of course." She gulped, rattled by everything that had happened, her eyes moving briefly towards the crumbling island. "And Galan? Thank you for helping us."

The blonde Leo paused at this but shook his head. "We'll talk later. First, let's get Pegasus to safety." Charging his cosmos, the Leo then beamed out of there at the speed of light towards Sanctuary. "Don't worry, Olivia. I will show you I am still the same Galan as always. I swear it."

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Southern Germany

Fort Peloponnesia Forests

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The warriors of Athena galloped away through the sparse forest, evading the poisonous shots of crossbow bolts from their pursuers. Heading the wedge was Kirin, the warrior formerly known as Capricorn Achilles, now Duke of Thrace by Papal mandate, clad in iron armor instead of gold on a brown horse. The retired Saint's arm swept left and right, casting flashes of slicing light that tore the terrain ahead of them apart, creating paths for them to escape through without slowing down.

A giant beam of Excalibur created two mounds where there used to be only one, and Kirin led her horse into the new rock-carven path. "Hurry, through here!"

Two masses of darkness from behind flanked them on both sides, composed of countless men clad in bone-shaped armor, carrying enormous scythes and spears that they tried to strike at the hoplites' horses. Their cosmos burned unimpeded by the barrier, letting them keep up with the hoplite's horses despite being on foot. It was a frightening sight, as the Saints felt them speed through the terrain around them like deathly buzzards, wielding weapons the hoplites could not fight off and possessing bodies they could not kill. The men of Athena tried to fight them off with their shields bravely, but exhaustion and dwindling cosmos afflicted them, even as they left the more intense areas of the barrier, making their attempts to ward off the darkness more impossible by the second.

"They're getting tired! KILL THEM!" The Skeletons screamed, full of glee.

One swung a scythe straight at a hoplite that was falling further behind. "Cut them to pieces! Slash their horses' hooves clean off!"

The hoplite rider panicked, seeing the large blade's shine slash down on him!

However, a beam of golden light from Duke Kirin struck the Skeleton, slicing the fiend apart and saving him.

"What are you doing?!" Kirin shouted from their lead. "You can't lose focus here! Burn your cosmos higher and keep your mount strong! Do you want to end up with ice up to your neck?!"

"N-No, sir!" The hoplite shook his head, pushing for his small cosmos levels to energize his horse and catch up with his unit.

Kirin gritted his teeth, trying to find a way out. The warrior only saw more trees and foliage ahead, with no sign yet of the path she was supposed to reach. She would lightspeed them all out of there, but Hades' barrier still affected them. "Damn it, when does this blasted barrier end?! It wasn't reaching this far out yesterday!"

The two masses of Skeleton Soldiers giving chase amassed together, led by Troll Ivan, the Celestial Star of Defeat, who charged ahead with renewed bloodlust. "Gya-ha-ha-ha, where do you think you're going, little boys of Athena?! Come back to us! The fun was just about to start!"

Kirin's eyes glanced back, spotting the brown-armored leader.

Troll Ivan lifted a giant axe from a cloud of shadows he cast in the air, bigger than a man's torso. Its cracked edge was blood-marked from a thousand limbs he sliced off the undead just that morning. "None of you will escape! We will drag you all to Lord Minos, without your legs, so he can decide how to punish you for infiltrating the Emperor's domain! Lord Hades' judgment is all-reach-"

With another sweep of a hand, Kirin sliced a gigantic tree to their side off its roots, sending it flying over them with the force of the cut. Seeing its shadow swallow him whole, Ivan lost words before the gigantic trunk smashed him and several of his men to the ground in a cacophony of crashing timber. The Skeletons gawked, seeing their leader silenced.

The victory, however, was short-lived, and the mass of Skeletons kept the chase up. "SLAUGHTER THEM! FOR LORD IVAN!"

"I think I made them mad! Good!" Kirin thought to herself. Her sharp green eyes looked ahead, finally finding the path past the forest edges she was supposed to lead them into. "Just one more push, men! Burn your cosmos! For Athena!"

"FOR ATHENA!" they all cried, even as black swords and scythes coalesced on them.

The trees finally gave way to a clearing into which the Skeletons happily gave chase to the Saints, ready to cut them to pieces. Still, their greave-armored feet screeched to a halt, and they panicked, confronted by an entire battalion of Saints and hoplites giving way for Kirin and her men. They were gathered in a semi-circle formation, surrounding the Skeletons, who saw spears as long as ancient Sarissas, shining shields with emblems of constellations, and palms of hands shining with cosmos, all pointed straight at them, from east to north to west. Saints on horseback led men around them, closing the gap behind the Skeletons, who panicked and gawked.

They were now surrounded by the enemy, and more importantly, they were finally out of reach of the barrier from Pandora's castle. "A trap?!"

Akassius Steiner led the ambush, standing with the warriors on top of a rock, and burned his cosmos, pointing his hand at the Skeletons. "Saints of Athena, burn your cosmos! FIRE!"

Igniting their many cosmos together into a common bonfire, the many warriors fired the beams out of their hands, thrust their spears, launched their javelins, and swung down their swords unto the coalesced pack of Skeleton soldiers. wiping out the bone-armored men in a matter of seconds!

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The group returned to Fort Peloponnesia, welcomed by applause and cheers from the garrison as Akassius and Kirin's men dragged the few Skeletons in chains.

Fort Commander Ionia bowed at Akassius and Kirin. "Another successful mission, my lords! I will make sure those filthy Skeletons you've captured are taken into the bailey to help our men practice fighting them, Duke Kirin."

The female, retired Capricorn cringed, touching the golden ring in her hand. "Right, I'm a 'Duke' now… I still can't get used to being treated like those people."

Akassius saw Kirin looked upset. He tried to speak to Ionia for her. "Thank you, commander."

Ionia and his soldiers took the chain gang of Skeletons by the tip of their swords. "Come with me, you evil degenerates! I will make you wish you had never traded your souls for immortality!"

Kirin watched as the disarmed Skeletons were pushed into the training fields, where many soldiers awaited their turn to spar against them. The word was 'against' and not 'with,' as the Skeletons would be unharmed and used to teach the greener troops how to target these bastards in common. Ionia chained one Skeleton, a young man of black hair and blue eyes who hissed at them all, to a wooden pool and addressed a crowd of recruits.

"Listen up, hoplites! THIS you see here is a man who sold his soul so he could kill! A murderer, torturer, and affronter to humanity! Someone who thinks you are all beneath him for being able to do something as human as dying! The only way to rid yourself of them is to immobilize them! Knock them out with your fists, stab their hearts, slice their nerves, anything that will shut their bodies down! If you must, TRAMPLE THEM TO A PULP with the marching of your company phalanx! Leave absolutely nothing to chance, not unless you want them to get back up and stab you in the back!"

Though a bit taken aback, the recruits nodded along and started forming teams to practice on the captured Skeletons. They took up spears, swords, and knuckle braces and began training to land blows on the dummies before moving on to the prisoners to test what they were doing.

Ionia then raised his hand high to salute the former Gold Saints. "I will deal with the rest, my lords! Athena be with you."

Kirin let out a snort of disgust. "Come on, Akassius. I can't stand to watch this."

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

When the tent was left to them, Kirin groaned. "That Ionia guy…Doesn't he know what that gesture means these days?! I hate that he's seen as the typical example of what my Zodiac should strive for."

Something in Akassius told him that Ionia did realize what kind of salute he was making, but just didn't mind. "He can be overbearing, but Commander Ionia is loyal and dedicated. The men under him speak of his organizational skills and fervor as inspiring."

"Akassius, he doesn't inspire them; he terrifies them!" Kirin countered. "I've seen the mood of the troops around Ionia. You'd swear Thanatos himself was in the room. I've also read reports of soldiers who keep asking to be stationed further away from him, often citing disciplinary abuse. I've gotten so many that it's a wonder he still has units left!"

While this was a natural opinion for a principled Capricorn to have, Akassius, who was a practical Gemini, knew their options were limited. "Unfortunately, he is one of the few commanders willing to be stationed here. The Civil War drained us of good, experienced officers to station in the front right now, not to mention those who went to work for Cetus, Menelaus, Thorkell and Bluegrad. That battleship the Specters are using is also forcing us to keep a spread-out vigilance of where it might strike next. And then, there's Project Caesar."

The warrioress tensed at the mere mention of the last item. "Alright, I get it. I know that you know what you're doing, Akassius. I just wish you'd get a different commander for this fort. Ionia's the one who insisted on keeping the siege into Heinstein past the capture of the Daemon Specter in the first place, remember? Malta landed in the hospital because of him."

The general folded his arms, smirking. "Ah, there it is. You could have just said you were worried about Malta."

She turned red. "It's not just that! Have you seen the way Ionia treats that assistant hoplite of his? It's like he wants tokill her!"

Akassius held his jaw. He had spotted a poor red-haired soul running behind Ionia everywhere he went, carrying a spear and shield that both looked too heavy for her. She constantly looked anxious, like Ionia would scream at her or send her to some dangerous assignment at any minute.

"Alexis Brandstatter; Peloponnesia first division." He recited from heart. He was mildly familiar with her story since his antecessor, Saga, was involved in rescuing her from a False Specter raid a year back. "Yes, I've seen her around. A dedicated hoplite, but otherwise unremarkable. It's impressive she's survived under Ionia this long."

"Every day, I hear of that poor baby having to do the job of three hoplites so that he won't ship her to the penal colonies. Yesterday, she scrubbed his breakfast plate with a toothbrush and was sent to marathon through the trenches by the barrier border all afternoon. Under enemy fire!" Kirin detailed, squinting. She folded arms tightly like she was suppressing the urge to choke the guy. "He was just watching as Specters blasted everything around her to pieces! I swear, if I had been training under this guy back when we joined, I might have shoved Excalibur up his ass and gone back to the junkyards."

"I blame the severity of the training on the Specters." Akassius countered. "I wish we could go easier on the men, Kirin, but they will be fighting immortal opponents. More than ever, discipline, cooperation, resilience and fighting with your brain will be critical in battle. They cannot afford to make mistakes or have uneven cosmos sharing. And speaking of which, your incursion into the Heinstein plains? How was it?"

"You mean the one you just saved our butts from? A nightmare," Kirin exclaimed, tossing her helmet out as they entered Akassius' tent. "We blew up their depots, but that raid was by a hair on our heads. One more second, and the Skeletons would have slaughtered us."

"Mm, I take full responsibility," Akassius admitted, frowning gravely. "I shouldn't have ordered you to ride so deeply into their territory. When we noticed the barrier had grown faster than before, we barely had time to change the ambush location further back. We needed to test, though, if the barrier affects our mounts the same way it affects humans."

"If only our horses could fight for us, too, right?" Kirin joked, half-hearted. "Speaking of that blasted barrier, how fast is it expanding anyway? Today it felt like we'd never get out."

Akassius frowned grimly. "Faster than I would like. By my count, this entire fortress will be swallowed by their barrier's range by early June rather than late. At which point…"

"All hope for this place is lost, right?" Kirin completed, tying her hair and tossing her sword to the corner. She growled. "And then the road to the Balkans will be open for them! Blasted Specters! What good is all our strategy and training for when they just resort to the magic of their damn death god to win the war?!"

"Strategy and training are the only things giving our men hope right now, Kirin," Akassius reminded her. "When they encounter the Specters near that barrier, they look to us and our great strength so they won't fall into despair.

"Yeah, but even we can't defend this fortress against a Specter horde with only 10% of our power, Akassius. Look what happened to Malta at Heinstein!" Kirin reminded him of the first contact with Wyvern Rhadamanthys in January when the Terrestrial Brute Star was first spotted (*). "Every estimate says that the armies gathering under the Wyvern Judge already outnumber our own, and we're talking about the ones we can see on the surface already. Imagine how bad it will get when our fighting strength is cut to a tenth and the rest of their hordes come flooding out of the Underworld. This, not to mention that damn airship of theirs! How can we hold their forces here in Germany if they fly over us, Akassius?!"

(*) Chapter 73

The retired Gemini eyed her with exasperation. "Calm down. We have a lot against us right now, but we have our weapons, too. Just because Athena isn't with us yet, it doesn't mean all hope is lost."

She relented her anger. "I'm sorry; I know you're doing your best. I'm just pissed off because it feels like we're back in the war with Priam." Kirin shrugged, remembering how Priam would zip in and out of battlefields with Lightning Arrow, preventing them from ever bringing their entire force to bear upon his men. "You know, fighting cheaters."

"Then, unfortunately, I have terrible news for you," the strait-laced general announced, like the accumulation of catastrophes in itself didn't even upset him anymore. "After you rode out, I was told there's been another attack past these lines. This time, it was on Andromeda Island."

Kirin widened his eyes. Even she had not foreseen this kind of reach. "What? That far past us?! They might as well have gone straight for Greece itself! These Specters are running circles around us!" He composed herself to appear as the stoic swordsman everyone thought she was. "How is this possible, Akassius? Were there any lost souls?"

"It's a bit early to tell, but Galarian was fortunately there," Akassius explained. He smirked, a bit proud of his son's spirit of initiative. "He heard his old friend was in danger there and didn't even wait to go put a stop to the attack. There were some worrying developments uncovered about the enemies' assets, though, including an appearance by Talos Atlae."

Kirin almost dropped off her chair. "Talos ATLAE?!" The Muvian boy she carved out of Talos' heart two years earlier had disappeared from Shamballa shortly after the incident, something that sent the Gold Saints into a frenzy at the time. "Athena, save us! So it's HADES who had him all this time?! He is the Terrestrial Brute Star?!"

Akassius nodded, wishing he hadn't taken such a naïve decision to let him go at the time. "I'm afraid so. And the monster Talos is still with him. Somehow, Atlae has managed to coexist with it. He also almost killed Pegasus Lance with its power."

The former Capricorn Gold Saint's blood drained in her face. Getting up, she took her chair and almost tossed it across the tent. "WHY?! Why is he with the Specters?! That doesn't make any sense! Everything pointed to the fact that he is an enemy of Hades, trained by the High Elder herself!"

The Duke of Kastoria could not respond much to this. It was still incredibly early to make any severe conclusions on the matter.

"He… he's the one who almost got Malta killed, then!" Kirin realized, her teeth growing and her hand burning in cosmos. Even if Rhadamanthys of Wyvern had been the one to battle her lover, Talos Atlae facilitated the whole combat by destroying the siege of Heinstein Castle. "How COULD HE?! That traitor! I should have left him to rot inside Talos' core! If I ever see him out there, I'm going to cut his damn head OFF!"

Sensing a presence outside, Akassius turned his head. "Speaking of which… come in." They saw Malta enter the room, looking concerned. "Hey, look who's late for his meeting."

Kirin widened his eyes, seeing the dazedness on Malta's face. "Honey, what's wrong? You have that look like when Camus was almost killed by your training bear."

The red-haired Aquarius shook his head. "I apologize. I've just been reeling from the news we got from the Golden Zodiac."

"Of the Andromeda Island attack, right?" Akassius confirmed, sighing. "We've been discussing it so far, actually, Mal', but I'd like your input on-"

"Akassius, that's not it at all! It's way bigger than that!" Malta interrupted, stepping towards them.

Kirin blinked. It wasn't like Mal to cut people off, especially their Gemini. She took an apple off the table and bit on it. "What, then, did Aguilon announce retirement? Or was Athena finally reincarnated?"

"No, BIGGER than that! We need to head back to Sanctuary right now, all three of us!" Malta urged, now truly alarming them. He held the Gemini's shoulders. "Akassius, Kirin… the Pope's finally done it. He got him!"

Akassius held his friend's arms. "Slow down. Got who, Malta?"

The Aquarius shook, feeling an eruption of vexing emotions inside. He harnessed his guts to blurt it out. "Kyosuke, Akassius! The Pope has gotten Kyosuke! After all these years!"

"W-WHAT?!" Kirin choked up on her apple piece, coughing it out.

"He got Priam?!" Akassius asked again. This couldn't be right. Shion could have just succeeded by himself after all this time. "Dear Goddess in Elysium, Malta, are you sure?!"

"YES, everyone in the upper circles is talking about it! They're taking him to Stardust Prison as we speak!" Malta shouted, trying to drag him and Kirin out. "Come on, we have to go NOW!"

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

Sanctuary,

Stardust Prison

Lowest Floor Cells

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

His attention was turned when he heard the sound of the big elevator at the end of the hall grinding downwards to his floor. Puzzled, the Specter Prince went to peek through his cell bars. While it gradually became more difficult to tell, he calculated it had to be nighttime outside. Yet, as the elevator gate opened, the Prison hoplites were dragged out by the arms of a chained man with his head inside a black sack.

A new prisoner? One to be put in the same safety level as Daemon Lucifer, the Celestial Star of Pride? The Specter's list of possible people they were dragging in suddenly became very, very short; down to a handful of names, even.

As they moved past his cell and Lucifer's red eyes saw the man's chained hands covered in old burn scars, he widened them in realization. "I see. So, Shion has got you too, now, Priam!"

"Stand back, prisoner!" one of the guards shouted at him, hitting his cell bars with his spear before dragging Priam the rest of the hallway to the cell destined for him.

Dejected, Lucifer watched as they opened it and tossed the man inside. He could feel the man's cosmos was so weak that the Prince swore he was dead. Even if the newcomer wasn't, the cell looked similar to Lucifer's, designed to absorb electrical techniques like Priam's Lightning Arrow. The former Sagittarius wouldn't get to warp away even if he lived through the night.

"Too bad for you, Priam. I suppose Shion has triumphed over the both of us. Now we'll share a trip to hell, courtesy of the Coliseum's lions." The silver-haired Specter mused, going back to his bed. "How pathetic. Is this a fitting end for me, Daemon Lucifer? Instead of ascending to glory as my ancestors have, I will share my funerary barge with the most pathetic Gold Saint I've ever met in my life."

It did raise an interesting question. After all these years, how did Shion suddenly catch Priam? It should be harder than ever to get a pin on him, considering that other than the debacle with Cepheus Gardnia, the Sagittarius was doing an excellent job at keeping low. Did Shion get help? From who? And who can both track down Priam and defeat him when even Akassius Steiner failed in a scenario of open war? Whoever they were could represent even more problems for Shion's enemies, like Lucifer himself.

An uncontrollable curiosity filled Specter, who turned their head and scanned the unconscious Priam across cells with his 7th sense, searching for signs of any bit of cosmos his capturer may have left behind.

A painful flash echoed in his mind as he tried to find traces.

Lucian, I've met your kin!

The Pride Star winced to himself and went back to trying to sleep. What hassling thoughts! Damn, Shion! And damn, Priam! How did Sagittarius acquire such an enormous talent for making everything fall apart for everyone he involved himself with?! At least Lucian had his trump card left to spite Hades one final time.

He snorted, though. "Who am I kidding? The only way this can get any worse is if Pegasus gets himself killed, too."

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

Chapter 97

Third Arc

Episode 23

Awakening to the Present

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

(?)

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

It was dark for a long while.

Then, the lights went on and off around him as consciousness faded in and out. Pegasus Lance felt himself rushed into a gurney somewhere, surrounded by people.

"What the hell happened to him?!" a tall person by his right shouted, pulling him into a room. Their voice sounded like Iaso, the Ophiuchus Silver Saint. "Apollo's bow, he looks like he got stomped on by a Taurus Saint!"

Multiple people rushed back and forth, pulling in machines, holding Lance's limbs still, and one reading an IV needle to shove into his exposed arm.

Someone with a familiar cosmos held Lance's chest and pressed, burning warm cosmos in his fingers. Their voice panicked. "Doctor, he's losing consciousness! What do we do?!"

"A-Aiolos…?" Lance wondered, his eyes fluttering up and down.

The taller man shoved his fingers into plastic gloves. "Just keep him stable! Hey, you two, remove that damn armor!"

Nurses pried their fingers into his neck guard and joints, but the white metal plates wouldn't budge. "We can't, doctor; the metal fractures are jammed in!"

"Then call a damn Muvian scientist or something! Page Doctor Tsering!" Iaso roared. "Don't you see his vitals collapsing?! What are you waiting for?! GO!"

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

…

Beep. Beep.

Lance's eyes opened, then winced, seeing a bright light hanging over his head, blinding him.

He looked down and barely saw Iaso and Aiolos flanking him from both sides, covered in surgical gowns. There was blood on their faces and wrists while their fingers worked on something in Lance's chest he couldn't see. The Bronze Saint had no clue what they were doing to him, but from the looks of concentration on their faces, it seemed serious. He finally felt the plastic mask over his mouth and gasped.

"Don't move, kid. We're busy right now trying to save your life." Iaso said. He exhaled in frustration. "That damn anesthetist. I've told him a million times that Gold-rankers need completely different dosages of propofol…"

Aiolos took the initiative and tweaked the tank wheel by their side, causing a light hiss. Aiolos saw the dial was already at the limit. "I think they dosed him correctly, doctor Iaso. This is just a tough patient to keep down."

Iaso scoffed, looking at Lance. "We should have gotten the horse tranquilizers." He reached in with a clean thumb and pinky and closed Lance's eyes. "Alright, you stubborn mule, go back to sleep. Otherwise it will be an even longer night for all three of us…"

Sweet, numbing air finally entered Lance's mask, making his head lighter.

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

Underworld,

3rd Circle,

Palace of Ptolomea

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

"YOU USELESS FREAK!" Rhadamanthys roared, punching Atlae's stomach again. The powerful blow smashed a layer of exploding cosmos into his abdomen, tossing the Muvian across the room and bashing him on the wall hard enough to crack the Damascus-reinforced cement.

The blonde Muvian shook and held his bruised abdomen, feeling his entire body reel from the force of the Judge's blow. The Specter was so ridiculously powerful. Atlae had never taken hits like his, even back at the Turtle School.

The Wyvern Judge grabbed him by his straw hair, practically smoking with fury. "How dare you fail such a critical assignment?! I didn't order you to put the Teos Cloth user in a coma! I ordered you to KILL HIM! Is there some kind of Muvian cultural barrier that prevents you from understanding that?! CAUSE I WILL SHATTER IT WITH GREAT JOY!"

Sitting at the long table in the room, Minos smirked, dancing a cup of wine in the air. "Well, technically, Rhadamanthys, you ordered him to 'send Pegasus to the next world.' You can forgive the Muvian for interpreting you literally and deciding you meant to bring him to you here. They're not very… context-smart."

"You could have also issued him the important detail of not attacking while I was around." Garuda Aiacos mentioned. He kept his wine glass untouched as he'd rather not drink while Rhadamanthys trashed his palace room, lest he be blamed. "Do you know how much suspicion I had to clear around my role in the attack among the Saints?"

Atlae crawled away, feeling blood in his mouth. "F-Forgive me, Lord Rhadamanthys. I know this was important to the Emperor-"

Rhadamanthys kicked his side into the wall again, cracking it harder. The gold of his eyes was practically shining bloodred. "SILENCE! Don't you put the emperor's name in your filthy mouth in my presence! Why shouldn't I terminate your existence and of your friends right now?!"

Atlae panicked at this visibly. "W-wait, please!" He collected himself, trying to appear with dignity as a Specter before the Judges. "Don't hurt them! I did everything I could to fulfill my mission, I swear!"

Rhadamanthys grabbed him by his collar and pinned him to the cracked wall. "You swear?! Then why don't you start by telling me where those two Seraphim rats that accompanied you scurried off to?! Or should I just toss you into the big pile of Muvians we have left over in Ptolomea from when Poseidon rid the planet of your filthy civilization?!"

Atlae gagged, feeling the Judge lock his fingers around his throat. "I-I don't…k-know… I didn't…. realize Lord Grim was… gahh!" he felt the room get darker and his ability to breathe disappear, much less speak.

"YOU DON'T KNOW?!" Rhadamanthys roared, making the palace shake with his ear-splitting wyvern screech. "You were brought back here by his Levantine Door! YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE HE JUST LEFT AFTERWARDS WITH THAT ICE GIANT?!"

Aiacos observed his struggling in silence, musing if he should interfere. He could probably convince Rhadamanthys that Atlae was telling the truth. However, after Atlae had kicked him to the head on Andromeda Island, he decided to sit tight and enjoy the show for now.

Rhadamanthys squeezed the Muvian neck even harder. "Because of the three of you, my army has been embarrassed by those Saints yet again, and now they know how far we can strike behind their lines! AND NOT A SINGLE SAINT WAS KILLED OR CLOTH WAS TAKEN FOR IT! Is all that talk of yours that you value containing Sanctuary just that?! A bunch of hippie nature-loving bullshit?! Why shouldn't I inform the Emperor of your treason?! TELL ME!"

The Muvian tried to speak but could only gasp for air.

Minos laughed. "Careful, Rhadamanthys; I think the dots will pop out of his head if you squeeze harder. And besides, I doubt the Muvian has any part in any sort of plan to revive a Specter Prince." He laced his fingers. "He's far too dumb and stands at nothing to gain for it. Isn't that right, Atlae? Squirm once for no and twice for yes."

Rhadamanthys saw the Muvian's legs flailing frantically in two repetitive motions. Growling, the Wyvern tossed the Muvian over the shoulder, smashing him against a cupboard.

Minos couldn't help but snicker at it. His fellow Judge was so incredibly destructive that it was a wonder the Ptolomea Palace still stood. "In the meantime, let me give you a couple of good motives to keep Atlae here on board with the rest of us, Rhadamanthys. Number one, he is under my responsibility, not yours. You should have never used my toy in such a reckless plan without consulting me to begin with, even IF it is the Teos Cloth user we are talking about eliminating. Number two, if you get rid of Atlae, what trump card will we have on our side should the Pope decide it's time to start using that Teos Cloth for real?"

The mere mention of the super armor the Saints obtained made Rhadamanthys and Aiacos tense up.

The Gryphon Judge's lips curved widely. "I thought as much. Now, Atlae, say 'thank you' for Rhadamanthys' kindness."

Bleeding and breathing for air, Atlae nodded obediently, standing back to bow to them. "T-Thank you, Lord Rhadamanthys. Lord Minos. I will do better next time."

The Gryphon Judge chuckled. "What a good puppy. I believe you did your best, Atlae, just like Aiacos says. Never forget, though-" the white-haired Judge's lips curved up dangerously. "-I know exactly how your Talos Cloth works. So, make sure to serve Lord Hades with every fiber of your heart, or I will be the first to let him and the emperor know you're holding back. Understood?"

The Muvian sweated, feeling the bloodthirsty gaze of the three Judges on him. He could swear he perceived the beast of their Surplices collectively glaring down on him from the shadows around their bodies. "Y-yes, your Honor."

"Out of my Palace, Brute Star! Go feed the prisoners!" Rhadamanthys ordered, tossing a bowl of dog food on the floor.

Aiacos watched the Muvian gratefully nod, pick up the bowl, and leave. He waited until the sounds of Rhadamanthys' palace gate closing were heard to speak. "Well, this has been an embarrassment. We're lucky that the worst of this is that the Saints know we have Brute Star in our employment. Seriously, Rhadamanthys, I think this is the second or even third ambush in a row that you make a blunder out of. Shouldn't we leave the commando operations to a Judge of more… experience at it?"

If he were still in the room, Rhadamanthys would toss Atlae at Aiacos next. "I suppose you speak of yourself?! You've been infiltrated in Sanctuary since before Lucifer's betrayal, and what has that gained us so far?!" He joined them at his table and popped out his flask. "Incompetents and traitors; I'm surrounded by these to the neck!"

"Reaper Grim and Yeti Zemu's actions are worrisome, yes. It seems clear to me they plan to revive the Celestial Absolute Star." Aiacos spoke. They should have guessed as Prince Michael's Seraphim as such, but who on Giudecca would have ever imagined that the Prince had reincarnated as the Andromeda Saint? "It is urgent we enact the Emperor's plans lest we risk him replacing all three of us with Dark Angel Michael."

Rhadamanthys took a swig of alcohol. Yet, memories of serving under Lucifer made his blood boil hotter than the whiskey ever could. "Just what we need… another Prince of the Underworld! Once I get my hands on those fanatics, I will have Valentine hang them from the blood river cliffs!"

"My underlings are searching for them throughout the Underworld as we speak, but something tells me they're not going to be easy to find," Minos mentioned. "Grim has that Levantine Door of his, which lets him move himself in and out of the many corridors between the surface and the Underworld. Meanwhile, that Zemu can cast powerful ice storms around himself to elude his adversaries in Cocytus. As far as we know, they could be in the next room, Tartarus, or the peak of the Himalayas, from one moment to the next."

Rhadamanthys banged his fist on the table. "Search harder, then! We are on the brink of a Holy War with the Saints! We can't have a pair of little saboteurs working to usurp power away from us while mounting a crusade on Sanctuary!"

The Gryphon Judge squinted, unimpressed by his display of impatience. "I know that. Do you think, perchance, I would like having a Prince above me again any more than you do? Trust me, Rhadamanthys. If I could, I'd wring the necks of those two myself, but right now, we have bigger problems to worry about."

Rhadamanthys scoffed. "Like what?! What could be worse than a conspiracy in our ranks?!"

Minos waved at their fellow Judge. "Aiacos? If you would?"

Feeling all eyes on him, Aiacos folded his arms. "If you had stopped beating Atlae for a second, Rhadamanthys, you'd hear from him the same he told me; during his battle with the Pegasus Saint, the Saint's armor turned black."

The Wyvern coughed out whiskey. "Turned black?! As in…?!"

"As in a Surplice, yes." Minos gently completed. "And to complete the pop quiz, Rhadamanthys, what can a Surplice do that no other armor can?"

Rhadamanthys snapped up from his chair. "What is the meaning of this?! How is that possible?! Do we have even more traitors selling our alchemy to Sanctuary?!"

Minos rolled his eyes. "Obviously not. Surplices are not alchemically constructed; rather, they are manifestations of the Evil Stars by the power of Lord Hades."

"There's therefore only one way a Cloth of Athena would be exhibiting Surplice properties: if it was doused in Specter blood." Aiacos pointed out. "I've spent enough time in my current mortal life next to Muvians to know that only willing blood can revive a Cloth, or their armors would be getting stronger every time they shed the blood of their enemies, as they love to do. Added to that, Pegasus' Bronze Cloth, as is, is now boasting defensiveness comparable to a powerful Celestial Star's Surplice."

"We need to face the facts, then; Lucifer's defeat has not ended his betrayals to Lord Hades. He has offered his blood to have a gold-ranking Saint of Athena's Cloth repaired and powered up." Minos concluded. In other circumstances, he might have admired the depth with which Lucifer was stabbing the back of all his fellow Specters. "And with that, likely handed the keys to subvert our domains to the Saints."

Wyvern Rhadamanthys trembled like a mountain about to erupt as he processed this sacrilege. "How… How dare he?! This is the most supreme blasphemy POSSIBLE! Even if he's a traitor, he is a true Specter, one of the chosen of Lord Hades! For one of the 108 Stars to offer their blessed essence to a Cloth of Athena…It is…This is blood treason!"

Minos chuckled into his hand. "Quite literally, in this case."

The Wyvern's cosmos exploded, showering the room in purple-like and destroying the table entirely. "DISGUSTING! ABSOLUTELY GROTESQUE! UTTERLY UNFORGIVEABLE BEYOND ALL CONSIDERATIONS!"

Aiacos' hair waved with the currents raised by Rhadamanthys' uproar. "We should offer plans of what to do about it rather than act outraged."

"WE KILL THIS PEGASUS SAINT!" Rhadamanthys screeched, projecting a dragon's shadow into the walls with his cosmos' blazing. "AND TEAR HIS CLOTH INTO LESS THAN ATOMS! AND THEN MAKE LUCIFER JOIN HIM SO WE CAN TOSS HIM DOWN TO THE DEPTHS OF TARTARUS!"

Minos tried to drink his wine before the currents made it all splash out of the cup. "That sounds like a good idea, Rhadamanthys. Perhaps Aiacos can do it? He is in a prime position to finish the job Atlae started. Are you not close comrades with Pegasus right now?"

The Garuda Judge got up. "Me, comrades with a Saint of Athena? Don't make me puke." He tossed the rest of his drink out for the Skeletons to clean. "He is just a tool to me. A stepping stone to help me fulfill the special mission Lord Hades has assigned to me and me alone."

The Gryphon Judge laughed as Rhadamanthys roared louder with each mention of Aiacos's privilege with the emperor. "I take it, though, that assassinating him is still not your priority right now?"

Aiolos smirked. "Worry not, Pegasus will die and likely by my hand. I just intend… to time it a bit better." He couldn't wait to do it. The look alone on Lance's face would be priceless. However, unlike Rhadamanthys, he had enough discipline to put his selfish passions on hold for the emperor's greater benefit. "But a priority? No. He's nowhere near important enough."

"Didn't he defeat Queen?" Minos asked. "And Rhadamanthys says he was heavily involved in battling Prince Daemon. What is your opinion as our in-between?"

The Garuda rolled his eyes. "My opinion? Pegasus is an average fighter who's been coasting on powerful Cloths and his alliances with the truly important people of Sanctuary. I have yet to see him prevail over an opponent without someone helping. Getting rid of him will be simple enough that I can do it at my convenience. If you ask me, I think the Gold Saints who showed up at Andromeda Island are far more worrying targets. They seem young, yet one of them already boasts enough power to rival Atlae partially transformed." He waved his hand dismissively and departed. "See you, fellow Judges. Please continue to tend to Antenora's domains in my stead. It won't be long until I return for good."

"Of course. What are friends good for, after all?" Minos guaranteed, smiling slyly.

Minos waited until Aiacos was out of sight, transported through the shadows to the surface world.

"The arrogance. Are we supposed to babysit his Circle out of the kindness in our hearts? This trust the Emperor has bestowed him has Aiacos acting above his station. I don't mind that much, though. More power down here for me." He turned to Rhadamanthys. "Well, and what are your thoughts? If you can stop your screaming to share them, that is."

The Wyvern powered down his uproar and winds, letting the smashed furniture finally rest from the air. "What do you think?! I think we should be doing everything in our power to exterminate every threat to Lord Hades' design for the surface!"

"I meant about Aiacos' special mission." Minos specified. He leaned back in his chair, pensive. "What could it be, what could it be? I have a few inklings based on the… constraints it's putting on him, but he can't even share it with us? His fellow Judges? That is concerning, isn't it? He might start thinking he's special in Lord Hades' eyes!"

Rhadamanthys scoffed, sensing his comrade's clear manipulation to rile him up. "Is that what you think?! Aiacos is a lot of things, Minos, but a fool who thinks he can pass me in the emperor's favor, he is not! He just wants that woman in the ice back in his arms and the second it happens, he'll slink back to his place! Pathetic!"

"Yes, you've always been… less romantic with your own motivations, Rhadamanthys." Minos acknowledged, smirking. "Still, a special mission, a flying battleship powered by orichalcum… even Behemoth Violante back in his arms should he succeed? Is such a reward even required to motivate the men and women of Hades? What if she occupies a higher place in his heart than the emperor?"

The Wyvern growled, knowing what Minos meant well. "The thought HAS crossed my mind. Damn Aiacos and his pathetic lust for that frozen, beefed-up cow..." Every time he caught the man sighing about her, Wyvern felt his stomach turning. "It's his reliance on his slavish underlings that makes him weak! Every true Specter warrior should be ready to serve the emperor as if they were His last man standing in the Underworld!"

"I don't remember everything about the last Holy War yet, but I've been told by Acheron Charon she's already been the cause of his downfall once," Minos mentioned. He sighed, resting his chin on laced fingers. "How romantic, isn't it? I can't imagine having my heart tied to just one woman. I would prefer a legion of them for me to play with… You never know when one is going to break, after all."

The Wyvern's nose cringed, unsure which Judge disgusted him more. He knew exactly what went down every night in the Caina palace playrooms. He didn't give a damn about the sinful cunts Minos tortured, but the thought of such high-ranking Specters like him harboring such mundane pleasures in mind was shameful. Did Minos, on some level, still see himself as the Cretan tyrant who once tried to take over the ancient world?

"It would be terrible if we, his comrades, allowed him to be blinded by her beauty once more?" Minos mused, leaning back and dreaming about the horrors he could inflict on Violate to rid Aiacos' mind of her. Perhaps he could cut off her breasts, disfigure her face beyond recognition, or bend her arms and legs into disgusting, unnatural angles? "Such a shame she's surrounded by all that ice…What kind of Specter gets defeated by a Cygnus Saint, anyway?"

After some thought, however, Rhadamanthys scoffed. "Let him do what he wants! Soon, neither his mission nor his battleship will mean a thing in this war!"

"Oh? What admirable faith. And why is that?"

Rhadamanthys grinned and guided Minos towards the curtained balcony of his Palace. Outside, the sounds of rhythmic marching began to be heard. "Because, in the end, it won't compare to my gift to the Emperor! Come see!"

Following his fellow Judge with little enthusiasm to the balcony, Minos widened his eyes between his pale bangs at the sight of an endless column of men armored head to toe in bone-shaped Damascus plating. They marched through the burning, torrid landscapes of the Fifth Prison, sounding horns shaped like gargoyle heads and brandishing tall scythes that could cut spear poles, hoplon shields, and human torsos in half. The fanaticism and dedication to the Emperor shone in their eyes as if they saw the promise of paradise at the end of the grueling, dark tunnel they had to cross as servants of Hades.

And they went on and on, like a black river born out of a thousand fountains crawling out of the depths of the Underworld, stepping and stepping and stepping. Their huffs and puffs were in perfect rhythm, disciplined into them by the punishments of Ptolomea, and the lust in their hearts for the blood of Saints and sinners alike seemed inspired by Rhadamanthys himself, whose grin stretched like a piranha's at such a splendid sight. Occasionally, a Terrestrial Star was seen among the thousands of men, giving directions and setting the pace. They all headed towards the Styx River and the Acheron before crossing that one to Pandora's Earthly Castle.

Minos shielded eyes from the Underworld stars, trying to find the end of the march in the horizon. "My, my, Rhadamanthys… you've exceeded yourself! How many?"

"Not enough for my tastes! But far more than enough to crush Sanctuary's armies in a single swarming tide!" Wyvern boldly declared. "And every single one is as immortal and dedicated to the cause as I am! I've made sure of it!"

Minos estimated that there were easily at least one hundred thousand men, three times the estimated population of Athena's capital, just from what he saw. "As you are? Perhaps, then, we should pay their salary in hard liquor for extra motivation?"

Rhadamanthys ignored his tepid joke, laying out his creation's hands and breadth. "Do you see why none of what Aiacos is doing is worth concerning ourselves about? Because, as Hades is my witness, the sight alone of this army will make the Saints fall into despair! So let them bring their Gold Cloths and rally their allied Gods to their pathetic fortress. None of it will matter when the immortal, endless armies of Wyvern Rhadamanthys come down on them like the dusk of this sinful era!"

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

(?)

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

….

Lance's eyes were dazed and confused. Was someone in the room again? How long had he been sleeping? Hours? Days? Weeks?

Someone sat on his side, flickering a shiny dagger up and down. It was made of Damascus, capable of cutting through a Cloth's plating, and had a skull in its handguard. Lance could tell because he had seen its particular cold shine in the metal of countless Specters he had fought in the past. They were playing with it like one would toss a coin repeatedly to make a decision. The Bronze Saint tried to focus his sight and understand who was in front of him, but darkness and a numbing exhaustion weakened his sight. He could only make out superficial details, like their height, hair, mane, and posture, and even then, his mind felt like it was coming in and out of reality.

The curvy, black-haired youth saw his red irises move and smirked. "Well met, Pegasus. Those are a sight for sore eyes." He waved the knife in the air left and right, letting the lights from the corridor outside reflect on its edge. "Do you see this?"

The Pegasus Saint's orbs followed it, seeing only a dancing glint in the air that made him wince. The stranger smirked, noticing only a lazy, slight tracking in his eyes. He took a handkerchief to clean the edge. Was he preparing to use it to pierce flesh?

"You're a fortunate man, Pegasus Lance. You've survived yet another encounter with the forces of Hades. For now." The man got up and held his face with his rigid fingers, studying Lance's awareness, but Lance likely looked to him like he could barely keep his eyes open. "Mm, you're probably too much between this world and the next to understand me, right? That doesn't surprise me after what Brute Star did to you." He folded his arms and scoffed, shaking head. "I swear, Minos and Rhadamanthys have gotten themselves quite the assistant. When I saw the state you were in, I thought Sanctuary would have to arrange a closed casket ceremony. Their medics do miracles, though, just like their Saints."

The Pegasus Saint struggled to keep his eyes open and focused on the voice. It sounded familiar. Did he know this person? His mind blurred, recognizing the meaning of these words but unable to find any connection that made sense. Lance felt like he was talking with someone in a nightmare, feeling a vague, unseen threat in their words and wholly trapped in place. What should he do?

There was a loud sigh. The man looked outside to check if anyone was listening, then smiled. "You don't mind if I let a few things off my chest, do you? You don't look like you'll remember this conversation, after all."

Lance felt as if a sudden chill, like that of a cold, betraying knife, was slithering its edge along the back of his neck. Was he going to be killed?

"You see, having helped save your life on that island, I was hoping I'd finally feel my debt to you from the debacle Acrisius put us in has been cleared." The man confessed. The room somehow felt like it was darkening more and more as they spoke. "It's about time, too. I can't believe some Silver Saint came so close to ending me, Garuda Aiacos, the Celestial Valiant Star. I was, therefore, thinking about finishing what Grim started and sending you packing to Lord Hades. It would be easy to make it look like it was Brute Star's fault, too, given your… present condition."

Lance's heart beat fast, feeling the visitor's shadow over himself. He didn't understand who this person was yet, but he could vividly sense their presence's threat. It was like the glare of a giant, predator bird hovering above him, cornering him like a mouse against some tree's roots. The man saw the beeps in his monitor going up at this and laughed.

"Unfortunately, a dilemma has instead crossed my path. You see, for someone giving the talk of being such a loner in Sanctuary, you've turned out to have a lot of interesting… allies." The man hissed, his eyes narrowing. "Imagine my shock when half the Golden Zodiac arrives on that island in masse, clad from head to toe in gold, and sends Grim, Zemu, and Atlae packing back to the Underworld! I would have to be Hades himself to face such a force just to rid the surface of this planet of you. You never told me you had such a dedicated circle of protectors, Pegasus. I will have to rethink how to deal with you in the future…"

The threat seemed to recede. Lance took a breath, feeling the darkness of his nightmare diminish.

The stranger's eyes turned to the hall, seeing someone in a shining, lion-shaped passing by. "Even now, they watch you like Athena's owls, worrying, asking questions, screening everyone coming into this hospital's door, giving that Iaso everything he needs to heal you, making sure not a single servant of my Master even whiffs in your direction…Especially that Galarian Steiner. Who would have thought Sanctuary had such a powerful Leo Saint? He even knocked Atlae out, half-transformed! Granted, he was having one of his episodes, but still…"

All the familiar names being spoken stimulated Lance's mind, keeping him awake, but tremendous exhaustion and a good deal of morphine prevented him from fully understanding where he was. His body felt so light. He was probably sedated. Maybe if he dove deeper into that drowsiness, this nightmare would disappear.

"Mm, if only they knew a Judge of the Underworld was sitting in the next room over, whispering sweet nothings to you." The stranger sat back down and leaned over him to whisper. "But the biggest shock of all, worse than all those Gold Saints… is that you're even friends with the Prince of the Underworld! The Right Hand of Hades, Dark Angel Michael himself!"

The image of a smiling friend's face dressed in the Andromeda Bronze Cloth somehow sprung to Lance's mind, keeping him afloat from sleep. A strange, dark-winged silhouette surrounded them in his head, with the person seemingly unaware. Lance felt the urge to warn them, to do something to get them out of danger.

The man leaned back lazily, sighing. "I shouldn't be surprised that he'd be in Sanctuary. After all, I, too, am a Specter revived among the Saints of Athena. I bet you have no idea about it, though. Do you? No, you would have cut off our heads a long time ago, for sure, if you did. But to think that meek-looking Andromeda Saint might be the most powerful Specter who has ever lived! Perhaps that merely reflects Lord Hades' pure, loving nature as the kindest of all Olympian Gods? What do you think?"

Lance's eyes absent-mindedly followed the figure pacing back and forth in front of his hospital bed, wondering what they were thinking.

"Interesting a question as it is, it DOES put me in a terrible conundrum, Pegasus." The dark man lamented. "There's nothing more that I'd love than finishing your existence off, you see. It would bring me great pleasure to rid the world of a Saint and put me a step closer to helping Lord Hades win the war if I killed the man who helped defeat the Celestial Star of Pride. But… unfortunately, the timing is just terrible. Not only will it compromise my mission to Lord Hades, but now it is known that it might bring back that other Prince, isn't it? I disagree with Rhadamanthys on many things, but after Daemon's betrayal, I think the last thing Lord Hades needs is another Prince ordering the Specters around for him."

The Pegasus Saint tried to turn, sensing a great tone of danger returning to his dream. His body refused to move where he wanted, though, like he was suspended in the air, and his cosmos burned only numbly. The more he tried to ignite his powers, the more exhaustion filled him, pulling him to drowsiness.

"So, luck strikes you again, Pegasus. I have decided to conduct my mission a bit differently." Suisho revealed, smiling smugly as if he was doing Lance a big favor. "The thought crosses me, you see, that I can have my cake and eat it too… by shoving this knife into your back only at the best possible moment, right when I will have, after all, the same weapon YOU used to defeat Lucian. And by then, even the Celestial Absolute Star will be just as helpless to stop me then as you are right now in that hospital bed."

The Pegasus Saint breathed and convulsed, seeing the shadow of death surround him again.

Suisho chuckled and walked away. "I'll see you when you're up and running again, partner. Oh, and by the way," he opened the door to leave. Yushira sends her well wishes. Isn't that touching? I'm glad she's made at least one friend in this world before me and my God end it."

The Crateris Silver Saint shut the door behind him, leaving Lance to sink back into the long darkness of his sleep.

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

…

Sanctuary Town was dark. Only a few lights, including the hospital ones, were still on.

Lance sweated and convulsed, overtaken with nightmares in his bed. He dreamed of returning to Andromeda Island, his metaled feet scorching in the hot sand. A cooling shadow then swallowed him. Standing before him was the monster that struck Lance down, high, terrible, and armored with scales from head to toe. Its tail flapped on the ground, and its saliva-covered teeth snarled.

Guilty folded arms, shaking head. "Pathetic… look at you. Cowering and flailing like the failure you are."

Moving in his sleep, Lance crossed his arms guardingly over himself like a flaying child as his mind's eye saw Talos Atlae raise his huge, armored fist into the air, covering it in Titanic Devastation's bubble of power. Descending it down on Lance like a hammer of the Gods, the Saint gasped out loud, almost screaming in his sleep, feeling smashed straight into paper-thin shreds of flesh and metal against the cratering ground. Over and over, the fists rained down on him like colossal meteors, overpowering him every time, burying him deeper and deeper into hell.

"I bet you wish you hadn't turned Seiryu away now, right? Or my dear Goddess, for that matter…" Guilt mocked, resting chin on hands laced over the hospital bed end. His mask's bulging eyes watched in delight as Lance panicked and screamed silently. "Honestly, Lance, how stupid are you? Who do you think allowed you to wear that Teos Cloth to begin with?"

A nurse came into the room and saw the patient thrashing. "Doctor Iaso, come quick!"

"But I get it, you wanted to make a big show of how over your old self you were." Guilty mocked. "You thought you could change without suffering, right? That you could reforge yourself without fire. And that you've finally left me behind. I bet that dragon was so impressed with that, mm, mm, mm!"

Arriving from the hall, the Silver Saint irked and rushed to Lance's side, holding him. "Apollo's staff! Relax, Pegasus, you're safe here! It's only us."

"H-Help!" Lance let out in his sleep. "H-HELP!"

Guilty shook his head and walked over to him. "And now look, this is the result. Let's face it; you're still alive only because Daemon Specter gave his blood to your armor." He gripped Lance's face tightly, squeezing his scarred fingers on his skull. "If only he had crushed your face instead! Then the world would be set just right!"

"Doctor, his bpm is over 180!" the nurse alerted.

Putting his Cloth's glove on, Iaso let the Ophiuchus' claws dress his fingers, shining with a liquid secretion. He focused his senses on his patient to read his energy levels and felt a faint flare growing in Pegasus. "His cosmos is finally re-igniting after all this time. It could be reviving his memories of what happened. I'll apply a quick sedative to calm him down, or he might suffer a spike a blow up half the hospital…" With a skillful touch, Iaso's index finger claw stung Lance's arm veins like a snake bite, applying his Cloth's solution. "Here, Pegasus, this will help you sleep a few more days…"

Releasing his grip, Guilty laughed, completely unseen by the nurse and doctor. "Help you sleep? These two can't fix what's wrong with you; we both know that. You can't mend a broken soul with gauze and morphine." Guilty gave them space, even though he wasn't there. "And by the way, Lance? That Saintia who took pity on you and let you wet your lips on hers for a little while? She won't either. I think both you and I have learned from my dear Nina that all Olivia will do is create another hole in your soul for the rot to spread through."

As Iaso's venom seeped into his system fully, the Pegasus Saint began breathing easier and relaxed into his bed and sheets, his heartbeat going back down.

Iaso wiped the sweat off his forehead, smirking. "Geesh, kid… That was close. Even in a coma, you cause everyone grief."

"The only thing that can save you, Lance, is hatred. Hatred for the one who put you here, to begin with! Hatred for that pathetic turtle warrior!" Guilty began vanishing but clenched his fist in rouse. "Hatred for who dared to touch your loved ones and make a mockery out of you! Burn, little Lance! Burn with the fires of Death Queen Island! Don't you see you are surrounded by enemies?! Let go of that Pegasus Cloth and Seiryu's fake wisdom, and embrace your true path in life! DO IT, and together, we can destroy that Muvian and any other Specter that stands in your way! We'll break all of his bones, boil his blood into soup, and eat his flesh out of it! Don't you want that?! Don't you want to burn your cosmos even HIGHER?!"

DON'T YOU WANT TO WAKE UP AND STOP BEING SO WEAK?!

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

Sanctuary Town,

Ophiuchus Hospital

Late March 1977

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

At first, the sound of birds by the window woke him softly from the long darkness. Pegasus Lance opened his red eyes and blinked, finding that the daylight bothered him. He failed to recognize the walls right away, but their light green paint and the sound of mumbling, beeping, and strutting outside quickly told him he was at a clinic or hospital.

He raised himself to his waist and held his head. "U-ugh… what happened? My head feels like a cement block!"

Someone else in the room scribbling on a clipboard hummed. "Oh, look who's up and running. Good morning, dear prince. How was your sleep-"

The startled Lance practically jumped out of bed at the call, cocking a fist above his head but widening his eyes, seeing only an alarmed doctor. He relaxed, breathing quickly. "Oh, it's you, Iaso."

The brown-haired, green-eyed older adult looked outraged, putting the clipboard aside. "Of course it's me! Who did you think I was, punk, the tooth fairy?! You look like you were about to fight me for a Gold Cloth!"

The charcoal-haired youth shook his head, still dizzy, and felt flushed. "I'm sorry, I think I've been having nightmares." He groaned and rubbed his eyes. "What happened? Where the heck am I?"

The doctor scoffed. "Can't you tell by just looking at me? You, young man, are at the great hospital center dedicated to my Cloth's constellation, where we're getting ready to put up chocolates and bunnies all over this damn place." Iaso reached for his pocket and tossed a chocolate bar at him. "Here, have some. Usually, we keep the tube on coma patients, but you got cosmos, so put it to work."

The Bronze Saint took the candy and widened his eyes. "C… Coma patients?!" He then remembered it was supposed to be long until Easter. "How long was I asleep?!"

"You weren't asleep, Pegasus. Your condition is more correctly described as your brain going on a prolonged vacation, no phone calls accepted." Iaso specified, folding arms and scoffing. "And it is the 27th of March of 1977. You've been in Morpheus' sweet palace of pleasures for about six weeks."

"SIX WEEKS?!" The youth felt this figure rattle in his brain, comparing it to the sensation of escaping a long, long nightmare he couldn't wake up from for what felt like an eternity. He looked at his faint reflection in the mirror and touched his strands, realizing they had almost doubled their length, going past his ears to his neck.

The doctor laughed at it. "Yup, you look even more like a bankrupt rocker now. All the ladies in Sanctuary will love you."

He touched his own chest, realizing he was just in a hospital gown. "Where's my Cloth? Where's Shinta and… and Olivia and Suisho?! What the hell happened?"

"Hey, HEY, take it easy, or I'll chokehold you back into bed! Deep breath." Iaso threatened. His tone was enough for Lance to inhale, at least. The muscled doctor then reached under the hospital bed and dragged a turned-over metal box into sight. "Your Cloth is right here, so relax. This thing had to be repaired after we cut it out of you. Pegasus, you might be suffering from coma amnesia right now, but don't worry; when your cosmos gets going, most of your systems will catch up to speed. In any case, though, you should remember you are VERY LUCKY to be alive, let alone walking!"

Seeing the severity of what happened, Lance held his head again. "I-I'm sorry, you're right….It's just a lot." He begged and then tried to remember. Flashes of being at Shinta's Ethiopia holdout came, and then of himself going into Andromeda Island with Shinta to rescue Olivia and Suisho from a sudden Specter attack, and then…

His eyes widened. Genbu Atlae!

"SHIT!" The Saint tried to get past the doctor again, but the tall, brown-haired, broad-shouldered doctor easily held him back. "Iaso, let me go! I need to get out of here! I have to talk to the Golden Zodiac right now!"

The Silver Saint shoved him back to sitting on the bed. "And I told you to slow down!" He groaned and went to fetch the wheelchair. "What is wrong with you?! Did the X-Rays miss a crack in your skull or something?! Cosmos or not, you just woke up from a damn coma. Most people would need to stay here for weeks after waking up!"

"Y-You don't understand; people are in grave danger! Including Shinta!" the Pegasus shouted out. "Andromeda Island has been attacked by Specters! Crazy, powerful ones! I need to talk to the Gold Saints right n-"

A flash of searing pain came over his chest suddenly, and Lance collapsed over to the floor as Iaso returned with the chair, screaming. The strength disappeared from his limbs, and he held his stern, which he felt quaking like he had just been hit by a running train.

Iaso shook his head and dragged the young man up, sitting him in the wheelchair. "Now do you see how bad a state you're in?! A Zodiac-trained fighter like you should have easily been able to get past me, yet you can barely exert any force without falling apart! Now sit your ass quietly in this chair and relax!"

The Bronze Saint tried to sit still as Iaso walked over, packed Lance's Cloth box around his back, and gently pushed him in his wheelchair out of the room. His breath heaved, however, and his body spiked with anxiety. He wanted to leave that hospital and run to the Aries Temple. He wanted to know if Shinta, Suisho, and especially Olivia were okay. His chest ached at it.

"There's a couple of things you should know, Pegasus. First things first, the Zodiac already knows what happened." Iaso spoke, wheeling him out. "Even if a month hadn't passed and this wasn't the Zodiac we're talking about, they were the ones that brought you guys back to Sanctuary Town. It seems that, for once, they've decided to help the lower ranks out instead of sitting in their golden temple thrones. I can only imagine your training period at the Cancer House made you some pretty important friends."

Lance took an easier breath. If Saga and the others stepped in, the situation would likely be under control. "Oh, I see… that's good."

Still, as they moved through the hall, he widened his eyes, seeing nurses active everywhere in the ICU, responding to beep after beep. One pair went immediately into Lance's old room to clean it up for a new patient with an urgency he had seldom seen in a Sanctuary hospital. Had there been some kind of accident?

"The second thing is…" The doctor was irked. "Ah, well, we won't have to worry about Andromeda Island for a while."

The older man's strange voice alarmed Lance. "What do you mean? Did they reinforce security or something?"

"Not exactly. You got a lot to catch up on, Pegasus, so pace yourself until I get you to your friends. This last month and a half has been bloody insane." Iaso clicked the elevator button and took Lance inside, then indicated to take them to the ground floor. "One of the reasons I am willing to speed up your clearing despite your precarious state is because the military will probably need these beds ASAP."

As the elevator rumbled and descended, Lance turned and looked up. "The military?! What do you mean? What's going on?!"

Iaso looked at him like Lance just asked what toothpaste was. "Have you forgotten this too, Pegasus? We're almost at war with Hades. The fighting at Fort Peloponnesia has only worsened after you got taken here." Iaso clenched teeth, craving a smoke to relax. "Every day, they've been taking soldiers here from there by lightspeed. We're losing good men, even as the Saints gather more at Peloponnesia. There's also talk of some kind of Specter battleship causing many problems for the Gold Saints, who can barely track where the Specters are attacking and when. I think it's only a matter of time before I get called to go there, too."

As if to punctuate what the doctor said, as soon as the elevator door opened, Iaso had to quickly move Lance out of it to make space for a group of nurses rushing a bleeding hoplite surrounded by IVs and breathing masks.

"Q-QUICK, keep him stabilized! He's losing blood fast!" a female nurse urged.

"We got three more guys outside straight from the front waiting their turn, damn it!" a male one responded. He saw the Ophiuchus Silver Saint. "Saint Iaso, we could use your help; this one has multiple projectiles lodged all over his body! He was part of reinforcements being transported to Fort Peloponnesia, and their convoy was attacked by a Terrestrial Star who came down from the sky!"

Iaso irked. "Ugh, Apollo's piss! See what I mean about that battleship, Pegasus?! Nurse, hurry up and get him in the ICU! These Specters…"

Lance gulped, seeing the soldier's state. His face was pale, his eyes rolled up, and his veins were getting blacker. He imagined some sort of toxin or curse was afflicting him. "Go, Iaso. I can walk from here."

"Don't be stupid, Pegasus. You'll pass out before you reach the door. I don't want the Zodiac up my leg about you after the shitstorm they raised over Andromeda Island." He searched the corridor with his eyes and found his assistant carrying supplies. "AIOLOS, get over here!"

Seeing them, the brown-haired youth beamed. "Lance, you're awake! I've come here as soon as the doctor beeped me!" he rushed over and held the patient's shoulders. "How are you feeling, man? Any signs of indigestion? Lightheadedness? Amnesia?"

His friend's happiness gave Lance a little energy to smile back. "I'm good, I think. My head hurts a little, and I feel like I haven't showered in a year." This reminded him that Cerah had been in a coma for a whole year, in fact, and he wondered if her head killed her even more than it was killing him right now when she finally woke up. "But tell me, where-"

"Catch up later, you two! I want my hospital floor cleared!" Iaso roared, shoving Lance's Cloth box into Aiolos' hands and rushing the soldier into the elevator. He clicked the button to the ICU like he wanted it to rocket them out of there. "Goddamn this crumbling place! ICU floor, now!"

The door shut suddenly, silencing Iaso, and they could hear the elevator speeding back upstairs. Aiolos shrugged, "Well, you heard the doctor, Lance. Let's take you out of this place. There's someone at the visitor's room that I brought along who will want to see you."

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

As they entered the brighter room of chairs by the hospital's exit, Lance saw a green head turn and beam at him. "LANCE!"

The Saint braced himself but still winced in pain when Andromeda Shinta almost tackled him in his wheelchair to hug him. "O-ow, ow, ow! Easy there!"

The Andromeda Saint looked him up and down, looking on the edge of tears. "A-Are you okay?! Oh, my goddess, I can't believe you're awake; I was so worried! Thank Athena!"

Holding him gently at bay, Lance tried to get his bearings on his best friend's presence. He seemed perfectly fine, uninjured from the battle at Andromeda Island, but then again, according to Iaso, it had been a whole month and a half. It still felt good, putting Lance at ease over what happened, even if Shinta looked about to tear up at the sight of the awakened Lance. His green-dyed hair was also longer, well, longer than usual, as if he had been neglecting to cut it, and there were faint dark marks under Andromeda's eyes, visible despite his Andromeda Island tan.

He frowned, wondering how much he had worried Shinta to death with all this. "I'm alright now, Shinta. I feel like I just came out of a really long dream. Aiolos says I just have to keep my cosmos burned a bit for the day to keep me strong, and eventually, I'll be completely stable."

"It's still a miracle from Athena, alright." Aiolos agreed, smiling at their happiness. "After you entered the coma, we didn't have a clear picture of or even if you were going to wake up at all. Fortunately, over the past few days, the doctor detected some cosmos activity in you, which showed you were about to return to us. I think there's no telling how long you could be asleep from the blow you took."

It was overwhelming, as everyone was so relieved about him. Lance felt he should be concerned for everyone else after what happened, instead. "You guys keep talking like I got struck by a lightning bolt. What exactly happened?" he scratched his head. "The last thing I remember is fighting that Atlae asshole and his Specter friends. And then… everything turning into green."

"He… he transformed into having some kind of monstrous Cloth, and he tried to strike me, but you launched yourself in the way." Shinta teared up. "Even though one of your legs was broken, you tried to save me!"

Even with Shinta's explanation, Lance's brain couldn't recall what happened next. "Right, that happened…And I… got knocked out right away?"

Aiolos nodded. "Yup. Instantly, according to Saint Suisho's report. He helped the evacuation and collected everyone's testimonies." He looked around to check if anyone was listening. "Between the three of us, I wasn't part of the group sent to Andromeda Island, so I only learned what happened when Galan showed up carrying you."

Lance widened eyes. "Wait, Galan? The new Leo Saint?" This was Olivia's childhood friend, not to mention the guy who beat Aiolos in a duel to get Aiolia's Gold Cloth for himself. Lance got the impression he was a giant piece of shit from how hard he humiliated Aiolos and put his family at risk. "He's the one that…?!"

Aiolos yup-ped, looking baffled himself.

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

It was still the first week, and Aiolos was fulfilling a night shift at the hospital. Carrying a pair of cups of noodles he brought from the cantina, he entered the ICU and found the golden-clad, masked man sitting in the chair by Lance's hospital room door.

"Filling in another night, Saint Leo?" he joked, offering the second cup.

The masked man stared at it in a surprised pause. He took the cup and chopsticks. "Thank you very much. Yes, I am."

Aiolos took his chopsticks and sipped his, savoring the meaty flavor. "I didn't know what you might like, so I brought my favorite."

Galan tried to read the box but only understood something about curry and extra meat flavor. He smirked. His new calico pet that he found in the Coliseum would probably love the taste.

"It's alright. Even if I don't eat everything, I know someone who will lap it all up." He kept the cup by his side for the moment to avoid publicly exposing his face. "I'm surprised by the gesture. I thought you were upset that I've…displaced your brother?"

"I was." Aiolos tensed. "You also punched me pretty hard to do it, too. Aiolia was upset for a while."

There it was. Ever since he joined this Golden Zodiac, Galan could tell no one was happy with his presence in the 5th House. The only ones that didn't seem to mind were the Cancer and Pisces Saints, but those were stationed in Switzerland to protect Olivia's school after the Worm Specter's attack, so the climate at the temples was pretty rough right now.

He took the first few noodle strings into his mouth. "That's fine; I didn't join the Zodiac to make friends with children that shouldn't be there. I'm a Gold Saint because there is a world to protect."

The Sagittarius Saint, who had gone to great lengths to protect his little brother's presence, sat in complete peace next to Galan. "However, the guy you're guarding gave me and my brother a second chance to stay in Sanctuary, so now I think what you've done might have been for the best."

The Leo Saint glanced back, seeing the Pegasus Saint sleeping inside the dark room hooked up to tubes. "Is that so? I didn't figure him for a Sanctuary property owner."

The younger warrior twirled his noodle cup. "He's not. The Pope gave him our current place for his services in the False Holy War. For saving all of our lives."

The Leo Saint widened his eyes. He never heard of Saint Pegasus being such a giving figure. He also wasn't sure how to feel about him handing off a gift from the Pope himself to his friends, even ones in dire need. He'd mention it but didn't want to waste this chance to make peace with Sagittarius Aiolos.

"And since I was given the chance to defend my brother in fighting, we've all come out of it honorably," Aiolos added. He beamed. Now my brother has a home, is safe, and we all get to keep our chins up proudly in Sanctuary, so despite that terrible attack, things have turned out better for Aiolia and me. Why should I be upset?"

Still, Galan felt the need to make a point of something. "You may not like me hearing this, Saint Aiolos, but if I had been considered sooner for the Leo Saint post by the Pope, I could have also helped save lives from the False Specters." He rested his hand on his thigh, showing the thickness of his fist as it crackled with sparks. "At the very least, my Lightning Bolt would have stopped those villains from reaching so deep into Athena's sanctum."

Aiolos was irked, thinking about how worried he was during that time about those damn False Specters catching up with Aiolia. He had also felt firsthand how strong Galan was. "You're probably right about that, Galarian Steiner. On both counts."

The Leo glanced at him, again surprised by his lack of resistance. "Really? I just implied you and your friends were incompetent in that war."

The Sagittarius finished his noodles and tossed the cup into the nearby bin. "Perhaps, but I love my friends, so I'd rather if lives had been, indeed, saved by you. Saint Galan, my priority is and always has been protecting Sanctuary. I don't care about ranks or positions or golden armors… if you pointed me at someone more fit than I to protect the Temples, I'd offer them my wings in a snap."

Galan squinted. It didn't seem like his and Aiolos' priorities were off-sync, but how the Sagittarius went about it concerned him. "Is that so? You wouldn't bat an eye at losing a Cloth of Gold to someone else? What about upholding your vow as a Saint?"

Aiolos smiled. "I can do that in many ways other than looking awesome in a pair of golden wings, can't I? Who's to say the Sagittarius Temple is where I am best placed?" He looked around. "Take this place. Sure, Saint Iaso is… difficult to deal with at times, but don't I save more lives here every day than sitting at the 9th Temple practicing my bow? And take Saint Pegasus; he used to be the Cancer Gold Saint, but I could tell he was happier being active as a Bronze. When you look at it, if your concern is to protect people, being a Gold Saint isn't always the best thing you can be."

Galan shook his head in lament. His best friend Leon, Olivia's older brother, had always said that guys like this, who acted like power wasn't necessary to them, were the most naïve bunch in the world. Finishing his noodles and beef, he drank the water in the cup. "You're still saying that sort of thing. I couldn't disagree more."

Aiolos rose a brow. "You couldn't? Why?"

"It's your passivity to our roles as Saints that prevents you from being the best Gold Saint we can have." Galan pointed out. "You would surrender your Cloth? Really? What if the next person who comes along isn't who you think they'll be? I thought I had made that clear to you in our last conversation, Saint Aiolos, but I believe that as a Gold Saint of Athena, you are always in a better position to fight for mankind than anything else! We must all be the change we want to see in everyone else. If you want good Gold Saints to guard the Earth, the worst thing you can do is believe so little in your own right to own these Cloths that you'd just surrender them to the winds! Who else will take it if you don't fight for power?"

Aiolos gulped, recognizing this way of speaking about the world. "My guess is that you think the weak will?"

The Steiner heir locked eyes with him firmly. "Or worse, outright villains. That is why I fought so hard to reach this far. I knew someone had to make sure every bit of power the Leo Cloth possessed was in the direction of delivering justice in the name of Athena instead of towards complacency and corruption. And if I have to train for years in the mountains of Bulgaria to do it, if I have to trample on the hopes of another good Saint to ensure Sanctuary has every single advantage it can get to win these Holy Wars, or if I have to be on top of every problem Sanctuary has for the rest of my career, even if it doesn't concern the Leo House?... So be it."

Maybe it was the stoic mask or the tone of his voice, but the air with which Leo said this was like the rumbling of thunder. Even Aiolos had to wow at the drive in the Gold Saint's voice. Unfortunately, he had also seen this attitude before; what Galan said matched Daemon Lucifer's speeches to a tee. You just replaced the word 'Gold Saint' with 'ruler of Sanctuary,' and you'd get the silver-haired maniac that attacked Aiolos and his friends instead of the son of the guy who helped put a stop to him.

Still, he smiled, choosing to believe that it didn't necessarily make Galan into the same type of person. "Mm, you're a pretty intense guy, aren't you, Galarian Steiner? I envy that."

The Leo Saint shook his head, clenching his fingers tightly. "No. I am just my father's son." He looked away, glowering at the past. "And besides… it's just the kind of thing Leon would say, too. Except his brand of justice is much harsher than mine."

The Sagittarius hummed, sensing he somehow understood what went on in this guy's head a bit better now than before. "Is that what you're doing here, protecting Lance so diligently? You're dispensing justice for what happened to him?"

The Leo Gold Saint perked up, looking surprised. He glanced at the patient he defended. "No, I just…"

"Yes?" Aiolos urged. "I wouldn't ask you this question, but I don't think the two of you had a nice first encounter. Besides, I don't think the Specters will reach this deep into Sanctuary for the moment. It amazes me to see you here every night."

The Leo Gold Saint seemed to recede into his seat slightly and fold his arms. He thought of Olivia and how she used to smile at him in the past. Worse, he thought of her sad look when they saw each other at the Coliseum after so long, like she didn't even recognize him anymore.

Galarian exhaled. "Someone important to me asked me to do it. For some reason, this guy's safety matters to her. It, therefore, matters to me, as well." He turned away. "That's all I will say about it."

The nurse staggered, looking back and forth between Galan and Lance. "I see. So, it's THAT kind of situation. Who would have thought Pegasus would be in a love triangle one day?" He sweated, knowing he wouldn't like to be in this dilemma. Even if Galan was a tough-looking dude, he seemed hurt by what was happening. "I suppose even the biggest of lions is powerless against the cupids. Poor Galarian. Suddenly, I'm unsure who to root for."

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

"For seven days and nights, he stood guard by your room, screened everyone as they got in, and even helped us with his Golden Touch skills. He's even the one who mended your leg. Galan only allowed Miss Olivia, Saint Shinta, and Saint Suisho to see you." The Sagittarius chuckled and scratched his brown head. "He didn't leave your side that first week, either. Even Shinta took breaks, but he was on you like a paperweight. I have to admit, I didn't expect that out of him. Maybe I was wrong about Galarian…"

The Bronze Saint took this in slowly, remembering the distasteful perception he got from the new Leo Saint after he unceremoniously ruined Aiolos' hopes to keep his little brother safe and sound in the Golden Zodiac. "I see. I guess I owe him a thanks, too. I wonder why he did it, though…"

"The point is, you were in pretty bad shape. Doctor Iaso wasn't sure we could save you for a while." Aiolos smiled, though. "But I had faith in you because I've seen you survive similar things."

With these words, little by little, Lance began recalling pieces of what Genbu Atlae had done to him. He recalled a giant fist heading towards Shinta from an armored fist the size of a beach ball, covered in Earth and Dark cosmos. He remembered his 7th sense, feeling a force in it that his mind only had a comparison to Daemon Lucifer's Dark Revenge Fist or Master Dohko's Rozan Hundred Dragons. It seemed like an impossible blow, this 'Titanic Devastation' that the transformed Specter was calling out. Lance only knew that a sudden terror that would have killed Shinta had struck him, and the rest he had done as he usually would.

It dawned on Lance finally how serious what he got himself into was. He moved his hand through his hair in amazement. "Wow, Aiolos, Shinta, I have… no words. Thank you all so much. I mean it."

"I know you do," Aiolos shrugged. And hey, it's my job to be here, anyway. Shinta, on the other hand…Go ahead, tell Lance what you've been doing."

The Andromeda Saint saw Lance's eyes turn to him and explained. "W-Well, I came here every day, asking for you, but Aiolos always said there was nothing I could do to help, and sometimes Saint Galan wouldn't let me in. I'm so glad you're awake, Lance!" His fists clenched. "Never do that again, understand?! Promise me that! I'm a Bronze Saint of Athena, too, you know?! I didn't go through the trouble of creating the Nebula Thunder Flash so people would put themselves in danger for me again! I never want to see you in that hospital bed because of me or… or I will bolt you next with it!"

An overwhelming sensation that felt like a mix of shame and gratitude overcame Lance. It was their job, sure, but now he did feel like he remembered flashes of them putting everything they had into healing him. Lance touched his chest, wondering if he felt the effects of their work all those weeks to keep him from Hades.

"Alright, Shinta, I promise I'll try." He sunk his head. "I'm sorry for worrying you, everyone. I owe you all a lot."

Aiolos waved his hand. "Do I have to repeat it? You don't owe me a thing, Lance. Because of you, Shinta isn't on that bad and Aiolia still has a roof over his head. I'd do it all over." He then saw more beds with soldiers coming in. "Unfortunately, from the look of things lately, there is a chance I might have to, soon enough…Don't jinx it, though."

Lance took notice once more of all the movement around the hospital that Aiolos likely wanted to help out with. He checked his surroundings for eavesdroppers. "Aiolos, just between you and us,… how bad is it right now with the frontline? Iaso said some worrying things."

The teenager went quiet for a bit, looking away in worry. "As Aiolos, the hospital intern, I can say it looks awful. This has been our busiest month at the hospital since I've been here. As Aiolos, the Gold Saint of Sagittarius," he narrowed his eyes. "It's looking terrible, Pegasus. Saint Aguilon told me in private that the power-hampering barrier that the Specters' castle manifests has been inching closer and closer to Fortress Peloponnesia. The Specters are already operating close to what the old Gold Saints, like Akassius, call their 'red lines'. I hate to say it, but it's become undeniable that we, Sanctuary, are on the brink of Holy War."

The color in Shinta's face went away at this.

"Christ! How can this be?!" Lance thought to himself, clenching fists and sweating. Even when he joined Sanctuary, he was always told that only the next two generations of Saints would have to worry about the Holy War with Hades. And he just lost six weeks in a coma that he could have used to help everyone out. "We just got out of the war with Daemon, and now this?! And what has the Pope been doing all this time?! We should be pulling out the Teos Cloth and using it to stop this from happening! Especially if that Atlae guy is on the enemy side! I should speak to Arles ASAP!"

Shinta saw how worried his friend was and tried to harness his own courage. "We'll be alright, Lance, I'm sure of it! Everyone has been working super hard to keep things peaceful. There might even be the chance we can prevent war with Specters with diplomacy, right?"

Lance recalled the vicious attacks, especially from that Reaper Specter. "Somehow, I doubt it, Shinta." But he didn't have the heart to say it out loud. "I'm going to talk to the Zodiac, then. My pin should get me to see the Pope for an audience, even if he's busy."

"In any case, I'm pretty sure the Pope would like to see you," Aiolos said. "Pegasus, I know you don't think the best of Arles, but he's been asking about you as well. While you're there, hug everyone for me."

Lance took his Cloth Box and put it around back. It felt good to tug its straps in once more. "Right away. Wanna come, Shinta?"

The Andromeda nodded. "Of course. On the way, I can help catch you up to speed on a few things." He looked away nervously. "There's a few things from before the attack on my island I should probably tell you about… before someone else does."

The Pegasus Saint rose a brow. Why did Shinta have that 'dog that pooped the carpet' look on his face?

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

"What?! You might become the new Virgo Gold Saint?!" Lance whispered as they made their way out through the streets.

Shinta guided his best friend, watching how well Lance walked. "Y-yeah. I received the letter a little while before the attack. I never said anything because that Grim Specter showed up immediately after on my island, remember? The Virgo Temple said Saint Shaka recommended me personally. I never told you back at Ethiopia before we ran to help Saint Suisho and Miss Olivia, though."

"Shinta, what are you saying? That is huge news!" Lance awed. He patted his friend's back, beaming and pulling him close. He was so proud of this kid! "Congratulations!"

The Andromeda Saint beamed. He had been a bit nervous about Lance's reaction, especially after losing his Cancer Cloth. "You aren't upset?"

The Bronze Saint scoffed. "Upset? At what, exactly?"

"This means… I will get your old job, sort of." Shinta explained. He recalled how Lance reacted the first time Shinta used Nebula Storm way back in the day (*). "I know you can be pretty proud of being, you know… the tougher guy among us two."

(*) Chapter 10

Lance's red eyes rolled. "Oh, who cares? I'm way past that stage, Shinta. I'm nothing but happy for you. If I didn't have so much shit to catch up on, I'd suggest taking you to celebrate."

The Andromeda Saint widened his eyes. "Really?"

Lance groaned. Why did he keep acting so surprised?! Did Shinta still think of him this way, like an insecure asshole who couldn't even be happy for his friend? "YES!"

The Andromeda Saint shook his head. "Thank you! I'm just so happy!" But secretly, he was awed at his friend's newfound relaxedness. The old Lance would be moping, making Shinta wonder if it was okay to fess up about such things. "Wow. He is so different now. Is this Miss Olivia's true power? I'm so glad he met her!" He clasped hands and tested the waters of Lance's new personality again. "So, so, do you think I should do it?"

Confronted with the question, however, Lance suddenly paused. He remembered that the whole reason he had just got off a month-long coma was that Specter attacks had been steadily climbing, and a lot of them seemed to be targeting Lance and his loved ones wherever they went for some screwed-up reason. This was the fourth time, after all, that Andromeda Island was struck in just a couple of years; first by that False Specter trio led by Basilisk, then the Black Saints that drove Shinta's teacher against Sanctuary, then Daemon Lucifer's goons and now Genbu Atlae's group.

Was Shinta rising above the ranks the best thing for him right now? Indeed, the Virgo Gold Cloth was a much more powerful weapon than Andromeda, and being a Gold Saint would give Shinta more freedom to raise his student Albiore, not to mention keep the Andromeda Island Cloths at. However, understanding the role of a Gold Saint as he did, Lance knew that it would also thrust Shinta to the frontline of the following significant conflict against Specters, at least until a more established candidate claimed the armor. At the same time, the Cloth was a better protection; it was also a guarantee that Shinta would have to fight, something Lance knew Shinta hated having to do.

The pink-armored Bronze Saint frowned, seeing his best friend tense. "I know that look on your face. You're changing your mind, aren't you?"

It was Lance's turn to clam up. "Um, well…"

"You're worried about me getting hurt again, right?" Shinta narrowed his eyes, something that made Lance take heed that a Nebula Thunder Flash might genuinely be coming down on him barely minutes after the warning was given. "Or do you think I can't handle being in those spaces where Gold Saints have to live with making terrible choices and dealing with suspicious people?"

Lance scratched head. It was no use lying. "I am a bit worried, yes. I made no promises about not doing at least that, you know?" He grumbled, wondering how best to put it to his friend. "Look, Shinta, do YOU think you can handle it? Because if you do, you won't hear a peep from me."

But the green-haired Saint shook head. "Me being able to handle it is beside the point. As an Andromeda Saint, I've been taught the value of sacrifice and heard all month about how things at the frontline steadily get worse," Shinta looked away. "I also saw the soldiers coming in daily for help when I visited you. The newspaper says nothing about what's going on in Peloponnesia, but I can tell things are far more severe than the Marathoner makes them look, especially after what Aiolos said."

As they crossed the Sanctuary Town streets, the Pegasus Saint looked around and saw that everyone at the cafes and even business places seemed to have the paper in hand, all lively discussing its contents. He could see that many of the headlines of Sanctuary's one sanctioned news report discussed building up conflict in vague terms. It was all headlines about 'border friction' and 'rise in Specter activity', but nothing that in Lance's opinion painted things for how serious they truly were.

"I also fought side-by-side with you against Daemon and his False Specters, so I know firsthand how bad being a Gold Saint can look, but—" Shinta shook his head.

Unfortunately, even though he now knew Reaper Grim was manipulating him, some of his terrible words came to mind.

"Only you can stop the foolish violence knocking at our doors! Join the Emperor… and end this Holy War before it begins!"

"This might be my chance to do something better for everyone around me. Perhaps, as the Virgo Gold Saint, I can improve things or even… stop the fighting."

"Well, everyone always says Specters are more terrified of the Virgo Gold Saint than any other warrior in Athena's army," Lance confirmed. He narrowed his eyes. "But you saw what happened to Shaka, didn't you? That fame only made him a priority target for Lucifer and his men."

Shinta lifted his chin, narrowing his eyes in determination. "Do you think I can't handle it? Answer me that, Lance."

Lance shook his head. "Not at all. I even think you'd make a much better Gold Saint than I ever was," he admitted, stunning Shinta, "but I just thought I should remind you of what the offer means."

Shinta, however, only focused on the first part. He clenched his hands, and his heart swelled with Lance's confidence. "You think so?!"

The Pegasus shrugged. "Sure, why not? You always handled Sanctuary's ceremonies and demands way better than I ever did, and unlike me, you got the backing of your predecessors. I was just voted in by a bunch of people who had no one else better to fill in the Cancer Cloth's boots." He saw Shinta gasp from this point of view. "Hey, it's harsh, but it's true, Shinta. I'm not going to say I didn't learn important things or make good friends as a Gold Saint, but I still think it was a relief that I got out when I did. That environment of formality and decor wasn't good for me."

The Andromeda Island Master nodded, closing fists. "Then… then I will apply! And do my best to use the position to influence Sanctuary for the better!"

Lance blinked. "Apply? I thought this was confirmed?"

Shinta shook his head. "No, I am just one of two candidates being considered." The pacifist frowned. "That's making me anxious right now because I think they're going to make me fight the other person, like they did with Aiolos and Saint Galarian Steiner."

He tried to imagine who the other person could be, but for Lance's life, he knew no Virgo gold-ranker around who could fill the bill other than a pair of Peacock and Lotus Silver Saints that he had never met. "I don't get it; who is this other guy? You should be a shoe-in."

"Well, I don't know much myself, but when I spoke to the Pope briefly the other day, His Holiness told me to be prepared, that it would be a tough challenge." Shinta recalled, a finger in his jaw, "He even told me the other person was picked by the Pact of Seven!"

Lance let out an exasperated groan. "Fuck, those guys?!" Every experience he's ever had with the coalition of Sanctuary's allies so far had shown that they were nothing but a group of corrupt, dangerous gangsters, like Cetus, who spent their days trying to curtail the Saints under the guise of protecting the same people they oppressed. "Look, don't even bother worrying about it, Shinta. They're just trying to give the Pope a hard time 'cause that's kind of their thing." He gave his best friend a thumbs up. "Seriously, by the time Hades rears his ugly head out of his castle, you'll be wearing Shaka's old Cloth."

The younger Saint smiled, elated with his friends' faith in him before giving a hug. "Thank you, Lance." Shinta's nose twitched. He let go of his friend. "You're going to the Zodiac next, right? To talk with the Pope?"

"Yeah? What of it?"

Shinta glowered. He tried to smile awkwardly. "You should stop by your new house first… to change." He turned red.

The Pegasus Saint flushed, looking at his hospital gown and fuzzy grippy socks. Shit, he still had a diaper on. "...yeah…"

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

Golden Zodiac,

Papal Throne Room

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

Sitting in his golden chair, Arles III laid out hands. "Welcome back to Sanctuary, Saint Triangulum Noah."

The white-haired, green-eyed, silver-armored warrior knelt down, their blue cape resting over back. "Thank you, your Holiness, it is an honor."

"No, it is my honor. I think I am in the rare situation of meeting a servant of Athena of whom I have truly heard nothing but wonderful things about. A Saintly Saint, in the clearest definition of it!" Shion confessed. Even Aiolos' record failed to match this person's in terms of contributions to the downtrodden of Sanctuary. "Your work in our charities, in our orphanages, your cooperations with the other Saints, even your counseling and healing of your brothers-in-arms, not to mention the children that join Athena's kingdom… I was awestruck by what seems to have been a decade of kindness."

Noah kept their eyes down and shook head. "Your Holiness, I am very touched, but it is only my duty. I'm sure others in Sanctuary live up to your expectations, too."

The Pope stood up and walked down to the Silver Saint's level. He would have mentioned the connection Saint Noah apparently had to Pegasus Lance, too, but that would violate the secrecy of his brief tenure as the Cancer Gold Saint. "You must understand my relief, Saint Noah; when the Pact recommended you to me, I expected someone with a… much more suspicious character."

Noah found themselves completely unable to blame the Pope. The mere mention of the Pact was enough to put most people in Sanctuary on high alert. "I see. Of course."

"I am ashamed to say I even had my men research your background, which is how I came to know of so many of your exploits." The Pope confessed, fidgeting embarrassedly.

Noah staggered. Did the Pope really? Now that was a bit disconcerting. "A-Ah, well, your Holiness. I would have gladly answered any questions you'd have myself! My association with the Pact is also very tenuous." The Triangle Saint tried keep smiling, but the Silver Saint couldn't help but feel a bit like their privacy was breached "I believe Elder Yuzuriha is the only one I've had formal contact with, during the Talos Incident."

"Speaking of which, your discretion pretraining those terrible events has also been positively noted." Shion made sure to mention. Protecting the Muvians from outside scrutiny over it was still an ongoing task in Shion's hands that helped keep him away from Sanctuary. "When the Pact decided to contest Shaka's formal recommendation to the Virgo Gold Cloth, I thought they were trying to insert an inside man in the Zodiac, but everything points towards you being the best possible candidate I could expect from them. More recognition should be given to Saints who dedicate their lives to healing, rather than destroying."

Humbly, Noah raised his eyes slightly, still refusing the lift eyes at the Pope's mask. They trembled a bit, overwhelmed by Shion's mere proximity. This was a man Noah had admired for a long time, and now he was flooding the Silver Saint with compliments. "Your words are touching, your Holiness. Can I also say?… Meeting you finally, face-to-face, has been a long-standing desire of mine. I assure you; I have a personal vision of my role as a Gold Saint, and I will fight with everything in my power to honor the Pact's recommendation of me to the Virgo Cloth."

Shion smiled inside his mask. He sensed a frank sincerity in all of Noah's words, unlike the vague toady tone that characterized the voice of most people who'd say these things to him. He believed the Silver Saint spoke from their heart. "Well, I do not know what would warrant such admiration. Just like you, I am a mere servant of the Goddess."

Triangle Noah merely smiled with gentleness, silent. "No, you've always been so much more." A tug to speak was felt, but Noah suppressed it. "If only I could say why…"

"I will fairly warn you, however, that I have great esteem for your rival to this Gold Cloth, as well, and that you should expect quite the contest." The Pope spoke. "They are a gentle soul, just like you, but one that has fought in the False Holy War as one of my most trusted Bronze Saints. I'd suspect the two of you would have a lot in common to discover in each other, should you meet in better circumstances. Be advised, though, that under their kind looks, your adversary boasts a tremendous cosmos and will to fight."

Saint Noah put a fist over their chest and bowed their head, confident. "Then I will show all of Sanctuary that I can match theirs. Thank you, your Holiness."

"Go with the Goddess, Saint Triangle." Shion bid.

"With me, Saint Noah." Captain Maximus called, leading the Silver Saint out. He stared at the Silver Saint's androgynous features. "May Athena save us; this floozy freak might be our next Virgo? Between this and the other candidate, the Zodiac is going to hell."

When the doors closed behind them, Shion exhaled. "Saint Shinta has quite the challenge before him. What do you think?"

The figure hiding behind the room's pillars stepped out. "I do not mind either way, Master. I sense that Silver Saint is far more powerful than they let on. They will not fall behind in the war if they get the Gold Cloth. That's all that matters."

"Power should never be the only requirement to be a Gold Saint, Leon." Shion lectured. "Kindness, bravery, virtue, and honor are just as important. You should know that better than anyone else by now."

The silver-haired young man scoffed. "Kindness? Honor? Is that what you will extend to that Silver Saint, Master, should they win?" Leon Iraklidis's blue eyes squinted, and his muscled arms folded. Or will you make them wear half a mask, so they will be entirely a man of the Goddess when the position of being a Gold Saint forever forbids you from keeping them in the shadows of your Sanctuary?"

A brief, tense silence from the Pope followed. "I will forgive that impudence for now, given the exile to the shadows you've endured yourself, Leon," Shion warned. He returned to sit on his throne. "And remember this; it is only because of Sanctuary's kindness that Goddess has forgiven your sins, and you are returned home at all."

The youth smirked to himself, thinking of rotting Priam in his cell. "Really, Master? I thought it was because I have done what you could not."

"Prove to me you have truly changed your ways, Leon. Continue to serve Sanctuary with honor and kindness; especially now, you're without the weight of your punishment pushing on your shoulders." Pope Arles III dictated. "Do that, and you may come to once more wear a Cloth of Athena yourself."

"And I suppose that while I eternally prove my redemption, you will return to staring at that golden box you've been keeping in your room?" Leon wondered to himself. He exhaled and departed, his body beginning to spark with blue cosmos. "Very well, Master. Your wish is my command. You may keep your Cloths for the moment, though. They wear me down more than they're worth, anyway."

With a blitz of blue lightning, Leon disappeared from the Golden Zodiac, undetected even by Shion's greatest warriors.

Shion's head sank. "That boy… Athena, how could I have lost his faith in me? Like Lucian said, am I no better than Lords Sage and Hakurei?" He thought about how Lance praised and admired Dohko despite the Libra's incessant pranking of his student. He made it look so simple to raise an OK, strong Saint. Shion reached for a portrait of his newer student. "If it weren't for Mu, I'd believe those accusations by now. Tell me, Athena, how can I guide Leon back to the light? And how do I keep Mu safe from the mistakes I made with him?"

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

Aries Temple

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

After passing by his house, saying hi to Aiolia, taking a long shower, and switching to new clothes, Lance headed immediately for the Zodiac. When he finally crossed the final stairstep of the first case to Mu's temple door, Lance shivered, feeling something snap in the back of his head. The Pegasus Saint scratched nape, eyeing his surroundings worriedly. "Did I feel a jolt just now?" Lance knocked on the temple door. "It wasn't a zap. It felt more like when someone used to speed past me with lightspeed when I was still a Bronze ranker."

The massive doors opened, and a tiny lilac head peeked out. The boy beamed. "Lance! You're here!" the boy immediately hugged him. "It's so great to see you back on your feet!"

The Pegasus patted the boy's head. "It's nice to see you, too, Mu." Guided inside by the young boy, the Bronze Saint realized the Temple of Aries was packed to the top with discarded machinery, workbenches, carelessly laid flasks, and several chalkboards scribbled top to bottom in mathematical and alchemical formulas. "Say, are you working on electronics or something?"

The small boy made a strange face. "Not really, why?"

"Never mind, maybe it was just static electricity I touched." He reached for his pocket and took out the chocolate Iaso had given him. "Here, this is for you. I'm probably not going to be able to stay in Sanctuary for long, so I didn't have time to get something better. Don't eat the whole thing at once, though, okay? I know Muvians get hyper with too much sugar!"

The Muvian's eyes bulged like golf balls, and he snapped the candy from his hands. "Oh! Candy? THANK YOU!" He ripped the plastic off immediately and took a big bite. "I love these! What's the occasion?"

Lance folded arms, squinting. "Mu, it's your birthday!"

The boy looked inside at the calendar on his workbench wall and saw the Xs were already reaching the Muvian smiley face. "Oh, it's the 27th already?"

"YES! What have you been doing, treating this temple like your workshop?" Lance asked. He knew the boy tended to lose track of whole weeks when working on a project.

"Don't mind the mess! We've been doing a lot of science here lately, with Jamir burned down and everything!" Mu chirped, taking another bite of chocolate. "Manh, I can't believe I'm eight years old already. Pretty soon, I'll earn my dynamite license."

Lance folded arms. He completely forgot about the tower Mu used to work at. "Oh, so they haven't fixed Jamir yet? It's been months, though."

Mu sighed. "Yeah… they were going to, but Master says it just isn't safe right now to send builders up there, what with the war getting bad and everything. I didn't mind it initially because it meant I'd hang out with Aldebaran and the others for a while." The child grumbled. "But now they say that with what happened to Andromeda Island, it will take even longer for anyone to fix Jamir! I'm gonna have to change my business address."

Lance widened his eyes, remembering Iaso also mentioned something about it. "Wait, what do you mean by that? What happened to the island?"

"Haven't you heard? Andromeda Island sunk, Lance!" Mu cried out, throwing arms up and gesturing a dive "It went kablooie, glub-glub, straight to the bottom of the sea!"

The Pegasus Saint gawked. "WHAT?! It sunk?! How?!" He then glowered, feeling incredibly stupid. "That Atlae guy, of course…"

"You probably don't remember, but that Genbu Specter hit the island pretty badly after he transformed," Mu mentioned. "Master says we were able to save all the Cloths in it, and everyone made out okay, but then the island sort of… split in half and went under. It's why Shinta and Saint Cynthia have been staying in Sanctuary Town with their students recently."

"Wow, I…I had no idea. Shinta was with me and didn't say a thing!" Lance knew Shinta loved that place. Knowing Shinta like he did, Lance assumed maybe he didn't say anything so he wouldn't think about it anymore. "I can't believe that happened. That Genbu guy… Ugh! So what now? Shinta is out of training grounds?! Doesn't that place date back to the Age of Myth or something?"

"It does, but you can't destroy a Muvian forge so easily, Lance!" Mu lectured, grinning that he'd get to talk about his people's tech. "Just like Kanon Island and even Death Queen Island, the volcanic furnaces of Andromeda Island empower the will of that place. My people were smart and knew these places would get fought over by many different factions trying to take control of our gifts, so we prepared them to 'go to sleep.' The island sunk, sure, but it should surface back up in a few months."

Lance widened eyes. "What? That's amazing!" How did you even prepare a whole island to do this? "So it will just pop back up one day?"

"I mean, obviously it won't if it takes too much damage. If you turn the place into a big smoking crater, for example." Mu admitted. "I've heard Death Queen Island is so cursed, though, that it can survive even that."

The Pegasus Saint groaned. This sure explained how Guilty's fucking island was still above water. One day, though, he'd make sure it wouldn't.

"By the way, is it true the dude who sunk Shinta's island is a Muvian?" Mu chided in, insatiably curious. "Milo talked all about it, that you got your butt kicked by one of my people."

Great, so everyone knew Lance got wrecked. He folded his arms. "I did not get my butt kicked, alright? That battle had some… extraordinary circumstances to it. Plus, he had buddies with him."

Mu put a finger to lip pensively. "Oh, so like the Lucifer battle?"

Lance nodded. "That's right!"

"And that fight you had before with the Alraune False Specter?"

Lance grumbled. That one technically was inconclusive. "Yeah…"

Mu scratched head. "And those matches with Shinta that Aldebaran told me about? And that time Saga said you got beaten with one finger by the King of Lalibela?"

The Pegasus Saint started turning red. "YES, those were all extraordinary battles! I didn't even have my best Cloth on for half of those!"

Mu threw his arms up excitedly, finding a pattern. "Oh, ooh, and someone told me that a Saintia beat you in spars, too! And that a Perseus Saint almost turned you into stone, but a new friend saved your butt! And then-"

"I get it, Mu, I'm a freaking loser!" The Pegasus grumbled, horribly embarrassed. "Can we get down to tracks? I didn't come here so you'd make fun of my streak all day."

"Sure! What would you like? A cloth tweak? A workshop goodie?" Mu chirped. "I have to warn you, though, prices have increased 34% since February!"

"Actually, I was just wondering if I could talk to your Master," Lance explained. "I know the Pope is busy, but with everything that's been going on, and considering these dangerous new Specters running around and the situation in Peloponnesia getting worse, I think we have to consider cranking out you-know-what."

Stars practically formed in Mu's eyes, and he breathed like an inflating balloon. "You mean….?!"

The Pegasus Saint folded arms and nodded, his eyes narrowing with determination. "Yes, the time has come to employ the Teos Cloth!"

"YAAY!" Mu screamed, jumping high in the air, his pitch ringing Lance's ears. "I'll call Master right away! Do you have your pin?"

Lance put down his Cloth box and searched inside. "Sure, it's right h-" He paused, finding only his armor pieces and some mission gear. He exhaled and palmed his face "Shit…"

Mu gawked, distraught. "You forgot?"

"No, Cynthia's student has it!" he recalled. Lance gave it to Elda in Ethiopia to make her feel better about him no longer being able to issue her a recommendation for the Cancer Temple. "I can't just take it back, either. Christ, it will take forever for the MMC to mint me a new one now!"

The Muvian boy gulped. "Oh, boy, Master will not see you without it, Lance. Not only is security much tighter around him now, but he wouldn't be happy with you dropping it everywhere, you know? Besides, the person who has it could use it to get to all sorts of places."

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

"Give me all your best Kawasakis to test-run!" Elda demanded at the Sanctuary vehicle dispenser counter. "My partner and I are going on an important mission!"

Albiore faulted face by her side, horribly embarrassed, feeling the entire depot's staff stare at the two kids trying to hustle them.

The attendee, an older bald man with a thick mustache whose counter was surrounded by posters of porn models, rock stars, and motorbike riders, squinted. "What? Get atta he'e, kid! This ain't your dingy neighbo'hood in Roda'io, dis he'e is Sanctuary Town city!" He made clear, aggressively hammering the counter with his finger where a model of one of the bikes was displayed. "An' dese are H1 Mach III Kawasakis, ridden by Steve McQueen in de flesh. Only the bravest, most badass Saints of high statueh' get to ride these beauties! Now go home to ya hoa' motha' befo'e I punt the both of ya kids all the way back to da ston-"

Elda jumped and slammed the Cancer Temple pin on his counter, letting its zodiac shine for all to see. She grinned at his flabbergasted face.

A colleague watching the whole thing shrugged. "I guess we gotta give the bikes to them now, uh?"

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

Mu shook his head in lamentation. "You're usually so responsible, Lance. How could you let this happen?"

"Can't your teacher put the pin thing on hold now?! We are kind of in an emergency here!" Lance asked, annoyed. "At the very least, ask him if I can get permission to talk with Daemon Lucifer down at the Stardust Prison. I'm trying to investigate who this Muvian person is before the Zodiac becomes the next place to get sent underwater!"

"Security is super tight right now! The master says to let NO ONE in without a permit or pin," Mu asserted, standing straight like the great pint-sized guardian he was. He glowered before the Pegasus Saint's glare. "Sorry, Lance… I know you, of all people, deserve our trust, but it's for everyone's safety."

The Bronze Saint tried to be patient. Mu wasn't at fault for Shion's rules. "That's alright. Right now, I do agree things need to be tightly controlled with all this crazy shit going on." Lance admitted. "Do me a favor, though, will you? Will you at least pass on the requests I made?

"Of course. One pass to visit the Stardust Prison is coming right up!" Mu assured, heading for his desk to prepare a message.

"Good. I don't know who this Genbu Atlae is, but he's clearly a powerful enemy asset. He can sneak in undetected by 7th-sense users and cause enough damage to sink a Training Ground and defeat multiple Gold Rankers. Imagine if a guy like that gets used to attacking Fort Peloponnesia?"

"Now that you mention it…" Mu recalled as he finished his parchment. "Camus said his Master reported a Terrestrial Brute Star when he got hurt."

Lance's attention snapped to it. "Yes, that's the Star the guy announced himself as! He must have been the one that helped the Specters kick the Saints out of the Heinstein siege!" So the guy had been causing damage to Sanctuary for a while then. Lance squinted. "It's decided, then! I must investigate and neutralize this guy, or we'll have a massive problem once Holy War erupts! In any case, Mu—" Lance changed subject, lifting the Cloth box back into the back. "Before I leave, I wanted to thank you for the good work on my armor. I had a chance to test it a few times already, and it looks amazing. You did a fantastic job with it."

"He, he, thanks! I knew you'd like the new look." Mu chirped, hands overhead. "The blood did a lot of the work, but I wanted to give my 100% effort on this one. I wasn't sure you would like the extra weight class, though."

Lance scoffed. "Are you kidding? I love the way it is now." He patted his chest as if he were drumming an invisible armor. "Now I have the full-body protection I always wanted. No more worrying about exposed body parts in combat. Or a dumb-looking horse helmet."

Mu glowered. "Aw, I always thought the old helmet looked nice…"

"But what surprised me was the cape! How the hell did you make it?" Lance asked. Every time he touched the thing, it was like holding a shadow in his hand. "I grab it, but it's not even there! Then, it disappears when the cloth is disassembled. It doesn't get caught in things or ripped or anything."

Mu grinned. He was developing a sort of holographic fabric based on studying the Daemon Surplice that Master was keeping under lock. "Artisan's secret! Again, it's only possible because of the Specter blood!" He then got serious, remembering some of his theories on the consequences of this. "But really, have you been noticing any adverse effects? You haven't been hearing the good word of Hades in your sleep or anything, right?"

Lance irked. "Pegasus is a jerk now, but that's about it."

This seemed to intrigue Mu, who peeked at the box. "How so?"

"You keep saying that," the Cloth told Lance, "but I don't recall ever being any different. Perhaps that Muvian banged your head even harder than the doctor thought?"

"See, that, right there! You never used to give me the attitude!" Lance responded, narrowing eyes. "Well, Mu, he used to be all meek and shit, not unlike Shinta. Or like a traumatized warhorse that's been around too much artillery firing! But now… he sounds more like me. Olivia told me it could be a personality change from a recent blood donation, and I did get the blood from the biggest asshole on the planet."

Mu nodded. "That makes perfect sense. Who's Olivia?"

"Someone I should probably send a note to or something." Lance thought to himself, ashamed. "If half the things Shinta said are true, she helped save everyone's lives."

Mu beamed, recalling some rumors Milo was spreading around the Zodiac. "Wait, Aldebaran said you were seeing someone, Lance? Is it her?"

Everyone was finding out about it. At least it was nice to see everyone seem happy about it whenever they did. "Yeah… I might be. I tried to keep it on the low, but I think the problem with our particular circle is that news spreads fast."

"Man, that's great! But I always thought someday you'd be dating Shinta instead." The boy confessed, making Lance heat up visibly. "I guess the world is a crazy-"

"First Elda and now you?!" Lance, who was raised Catholic to boot, felt shocked that an eight-year-old would bring it up so casually. "Why does everyone think that Shinta and I are like that?!"

"He, he, 'cause you two were always together! Everyone knew that." Mu mentioned, sounding like it was the most obvious conclusion in the world. "Milo had a bet tally going on to see when you'd finally hook up! I had it after the Daemon Lucifer invasion, while he said you guys were already dating but just hiding it. Shura said it was all ridiculous, though, 'cause you were an Incath."

"A what?!"

Mu shrugged. "You know, an Introverted Catholic. Like him!"

The Pegasus groaned. He wasn't sure if he should ask why Mu picked that timing for his wager, either. "Well, I hate to ruin your fun, then, but I'm taken by someone else now! You can clear all your dumb bets because none of them are coming true!"

"Oh, the tally isn't over yet." Mu clarified. "The new bet is it if your new relationship is gonna last and if you'll switch back to Shin-"

Lance hoisted the boy up by the nape like a lousy cat. "You little imps! Stop making bets on my love life! Or next time there is an invasion, I'm leaving you all to get eaten by whoever's got the Papillon Surplice now!"

"AH! Alright, I promise!" The Muvian was then dropped on his butt, but he'd rather have that than get eaten by an orange butterfly man. He hummed, vexed. "You know what, Lance? On a side note…You losing your badge may have been a good thing."

"I didn't lose my badge!" Lance corrected, folding arms. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, Master got visits from a few people that seemed very important today. Also, the Zodiac has been buzzing all month because of some guy who was captured in Japan." Mu revealed, making Lance awe. "Don't be surprised that you haven't heard about it. Master called it a top secret! Even Saga doesn't know exactly what's going on, but they have a huge event planned in Sanctuary Town soon because of it, and Master will announce something super big! People in suits and armor have been coming in and out of the Zodiac like never before!"

"Wow, I wonder what's going on?" Lance wondered. "Shion isn't always upfront with us about his actions."

Mu glowered and shook his head. "Master has been acting pretty busy overall, more so than usual. He's even been missing some of his lessons for me. I don't even know yet how to split subatomic armor sheets with the acid pen, and he promised he'd teach me that by now."

Lance took Mu's word for it, given that he was the front gatekeeper, but what could be happening? Only a few people he knew could be causing Shion some personal upset: one was standing right in front of Lance, and the other was back in China, training Cerah and Yushira.

Mu kicked a discarded rocket he had lying on the ground, looking dejected. "I was hoping he'd be happy with the job I did for Lance's cloth, but since the False Holy War, Master has been away more and more. I barely ever see him anymore. Sometimes I wonder if…" the young boy sniffed. "…if he's taking in another student."

"Mu, that's ridiculous. I'm sure he's just busy. He's guarding that Teos Cloth, remember? And why would he ever replace you when you've even survived fighting False Specters?" Lance narrowed his eyes, remembering his last conversation with the Gold Saints during Aiolos' duel with Galan. "Saga said something similar, too, didn't he? That Shion has been in his little world lately…"

Mu hesitantly curved his lips back up. "Yeah…. I mean, I did help fight the Specters, even though it was mostly Saint Iaso back then doing the work,… but yeah, you're right. Thanks."

By contrast, Lance grumbled like a boiling pot, knowing Shion was always hiding something in his sleeves. "No, something is going on! The last time Shion acted this way, he kept all these False Specter and Daemon Lucifer problems under the rug! And now, with a war about to erupt in Germany, there is NO way he isn't involved in overseeing the Saints fighting there. I bet I will only find out more at the front line, though, when it's already too damn late, like always. And then there was that announcement pamphlet me and Yushira found about the Coliseum…"

Mu noticed the bulldog look on his face. "Lance, what is it?"

"Nothing. Back when I first went out with Olivia, Saint Yushira and I saw the Coliseum had some event planned in July," Lance recalled. They played it up like they're going to make a spectacle out of executing the False Specters we captured during the War, but Lance believed Shion might be planning to officially declare Holy War, too.

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

"You're going to investigate Genbu Atlae?!" Shinta searched his mind for ways to convince Lance not to do this. "B-But…" he shook his head. "No, I can't let you do that, not on your own!"

Lance groaned. "Shinta, this isn't the time to-"

"No, you listen to me!" Shinta asserted, grabbing him by his collar, which stunned Lance. You have no idea how worried everyone was while you were asleep! Not just me, but Aiolos, and the kids and… and Miss Olivia, too!"

This put a pause on Lance. He gulped. "Oh, fuck, Olivia! That's right!"

"I know you're used to throwing yourself to the wolves and ignoring everyone else's concerns, Lance, including mine!" Shinta almost shouted. But it's not okay anymore! Not after meeting Miss Olivia and what she's done for you!"

Lance widened eyes. "Done for me? What do you mean?"

Shinta's grip relaxed. He sniffed and cleaned his eyes, recalling his last conversation with the Equuleus Saintia and how she wanted to stay in Greece longer, but her grandfather said it's for the best for her to go, that she will be safe in Switzerland. "Miss Olivia was by your side until she had to return to her Academy! So, you must make sure you never worry her like this again!" Shinta demanded, staggering them both. He grasped his chains "Do you understand, Lance? If you go after that guy alone, without caring about how she feels, I will… I will beat you up!"

The Pegasus Saint gawked. Mu stepped back, seeing the Andromeda Saint brimming and wondering if Shinta would activate Nebula Storm right in his Temple.

Lance gestured a time-out. "Okay, okay, I understand." He waited until Shinta stopped shining with the force of a thousand tornadoes. "Geez, Shinta, it's not like I'd ever screw up such a dangerous thing! You act like you've never seen me at work."

The Andromeda Saint shook his head. "I know you are competent at tracking people down in missions. It's just… I think you should be extra careful this time. There's much at stake, not just because of all the Specter attacks, but also Miss Olivia's feelings."

Pegasus Lance folded his arms, humming. He was shocked at Shinta's handling of the situation. "Mm, alright, then. How about this? I'll only look into that Genbu bastard with Suisho or someone else helping out?" He saw Shinta pause to think about it. Seeing him all undecided, Lance narrowed his eyes. "Shinta, come on, the guy is a trained gold-ranker. He might be more skilled than I am, and he's more cautious and level-headed. He won't want me doing things like knocking at the Underworld's door!"

This sounded like an acceptable compromise to Shinta. The Andromeda Saint nodded. "Thank you, that's all I ask."

Lance groaned, though, bewildered by the energy Shinta put into his demands. "Geez, what the hell, Shinta? Since when do you stand up to my bullshit this hard? I'm thinking you like Olivia even more than I do."

The Andromeda Saint staggered, turning red. He was just pleased Lance found someone and didn't want his friend to lose it all because he was self-sabotaging.

Seeing a chance to tease his friend, Lance pounced on it gleefully. "You know, before we headed for Ethiopia, she told me everyone at the academy used to have crushes on you. Maybe I can ask her if she knows someone cool you can get to know better? There's no harm in that."

Shinta covered his face. "N-no, I'm 100% certain there is! I'm swamped these days with teaching, you know?"

Lance squinted. "That's nonsense, Shinta. Besides, I want to pay you back."

"S-stop it, Lance! You know I'm not…!" Shinta stopped himself, though, unsure how to finish this sentence and gulping. "I'm not comfortable with these topics. Please."

Lance frowned but gave it up. It sounded like Shinta was still shy about that stuff, even while being a Master of his own Training Ground in candidacy for the Virgo Cloth. Either that or people's suspicions about his interest in girls had some fundament to it. "Don't worry, I'm just kidding. Say, how about helping me with something, then?"

Shinta perked up. "Like what?"

"First, we need to go to Aguilon's house. If what I'm looking for is there, I will need your advice on writing something up." Lance looked away. "There's an important note I need to send someone, but with Sanctuary pulling me back and forth today, it's just not going to happen face-to-face."

Shinta blinked at the strange request. What was so special in Saint Aguilon's house, of all places?

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

Much later,

Switzerland,

Saintia Academy

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

Arriving at the class president's room door, the small, opal-haired teenage girl in uniform knocked. "Miss Olivia? It's me, Katya. Can I come in?"

"J-Just a minute!" a voice inside spoke.

The girl waited respectfully. She heard a lot of rushed scuffling inside and deduced the class president was probably changing.

Eventually, the door opened a slit, and the older, black-haired girl, who looked like she just put her uniform back on, greeted the young child with a smile. "H-Hello, Katya." Her blue eyes glanced inside and she combed a few hair strands out of her face. "Sorry for the delay. You caught me at an awkward moment."

"Um, it's quite alright." The Russian girl then saw Olivia glancing at something inside her room and wondered if the class president was hiding something. "Everyone is just wondering if you're joining the meeting for the fundraiser. Professor Severus says that if you're not down there in five minutes, he'll cancel the whole thing."

Olivia panicked, glancing at the clock. "Shoot! I will go right away! Don't let him do that, okay? Call the headmaster if he tries!"

Katya nodded. The class president's eyes looked a bit red, and her hair was a mess. She wondered if Class President Olivia had overslept or something. "Is everything alright, President? You look…tired."

Olivia smiled awkwardly. "I think I am, yes. These third-year alchemy exams…They're just so hard! Don't tell anyone, but I've been studying all night long for the second-semester tests."

Katya giggled. Even Olivia seemed to have tough moments in the academy. "Alright, I'll go tell the others you'll be down in a minute."

Olivia waited until the girl was out of sight and closed the door, sighing in relief. She walked up to her desk, where the Knight-girl costume lay; just her Equuleus Cloth modified to include the owl-eyed visor, a thicker skirt, and forearm fabric to go with the protective plating and ribbon in her chest plate. Miraculously, it seemed more than enough to conceal her identity at night, but when coming in at five am that morning, Olivia was so burned out that she fell asleep in her bed without taking her armor off, only awakening with Katya knocking at the door.

Olivia should really be more careful. Her heart almost jumped out of her throat when she woke up with Katya's knocking and still felt her armor on. Even as class president, she wasn't immune to the strict surprise inspections that Professor Dolores enforced on the girls every now and then. If it had been one instead of sweet young Katya, a disciplinary process for wearing her Cloth in school would have been the least of her worries.

She stared at it, rattled. "Oh goddess, what am I doing? This is insane." She took the visored helmet into her hands, wondering how no one had caught or recognized her yet. "Sooner or later, I'm going to get caught… or killed… or worse! Why am I doing this? Am I really-"

Olivia heard a cooing and flapping of wings. She turned her head to see her large pet owl arriving by the same open window she had crawled through at five am.

"Partita? I thought you stayed with Grampa in Greece." She petted the bird's head, making it push its head on her fingers in happiness, and the bird released the letter in its beak into her hand. "It must be from Grampa. Let me guess, it's about Leon's return-"

Opening the letter, her eyes widened and her heart jumped again, recognizing the handwriting and mannerisms.

"Hi, Olivia,

It's me, the idiot you tried to help out. I'm finally out of bed.

Hopefully you're back at the academy, safe and sound, and none of what happened in Andromeda Island has followed you there. I'm so sorry I took so long to finally wake up and say something. Unfortunately, it seems that things have been changing a lot in Sanctuary since Andromeda Island and I've been called to help put out all sorts of fires as soon as I was out of the hospital. Even now all I can do is send this letter, and thankfully it seems your grandfather was keeping your pet owl with him at your place in Sanctuary Town. He helped me send this to you through her when I told him I wanted to apologize for the danger I put you through. I know a bunch of words are not going to make up for it, but I wanted to try, anyway.

Olivia, could you ever forgive me for everything that happened? If I knew for a single second that something so dangerous was about to go down in Andromeda Island, or if I had gotten Cerah to my teacher faster, I would have called the Gold Saints myself and made sure none of those bastards attacking Shinta's place would touch a single hair on anyone's head, much less yours. He keeps telling me you were okay, that you were way more worried about me than I should be about you, and I hope he's right on that first account. I would never forgive myself if you had gotten hurt by those Specters, especially if what he says is true and you saved all our damn lives. However, I think that worse than that is that, after what happened to Cerah, I put you through this bullshit again.

More important of all, I want you to know I'm deeply, deeply grateful for what you've done. Shinta is one of the few truly important people in my life. He's like a little brother I never had, and you risked your life to protect him even though you had only just met him. And even though that twerp should be protecting you if we're going to be honest.

That is just so incredible of you. I will be forever thankful for that, Olivia. No one I've known for such a little while has ever been so generous to me. I know now I'm incredibly lucky to have met you that day. I hope that, someday, I can repay you for everything you've done.

Signed,

Saint Pegasus Lance

Olivia pulled up a chair and sat, drinking every word. She felt her chest ache in happiness and her eyes tear up as a great wash of relief lifted the weight that had settled in her spirit for over a month and a half. Immediately, she took a pen and a piece of paper and began writing, putting to paper the only thing she wanted from him then and there as payment.

"Dear Saint Lance

There's only one way in the whole Cosmos that I will ever forgive you.

I want you to write to me every chance you can. I want you to say you're sorry, so I can say there is nothing to be sorry about. I want you to come see me right away, so I can let you hold me in your arms and look me in the eyes. And I want you to ask how you can make up for it all, so I can say, 'Kiss me.'

Will you do that? Don't let me wait for an answer.

Yours truly,

Saintia Equuleus Olivia Iraklidis"

Closing it carefully in the same letter and kissing it shut, Olivia smiled happily and gave the owl the letter. She scratched Partita's head, let her climb to her hand, and showed her out the window, letting the owl fly back to Sanctuary.

The Saintia sighed, smiling happily. What a silly guy she's got herself. Olivia was the one who felt lucky. And she also would be the one that made sure he would never have to risk his life for her in such a way again.

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

Sanctuary

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

Suisho walked out of the crowded MMC to find Pegasus Lance sitting on the staircase next to a big owl, reading a letter while the strange bird stared fixedly at him.

Strange as it was, he walked up to them. "There you are. Ready to go see Nam and get back to work?"

Lance closed the letter, fed the bird a treat, and stood up to join him. "Yup."

Suisho folded his arms, seeing his mild grin. "You're in a good mood for someone who was on the verge of death for six weeks."

"Why wouldn't I be?" he responded, setting the bird into the air. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world."

Garuda Aiacos smirked, watching the foolish Saint head inside. "Enjoy it while you can."

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

Chapter End

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

Next Chapter: Chapter 98 – Third Arc – Episode 24 – The Call in the Blood

Release Date: July 25th

Description: Three weeks in the past, Olivia meets Galan guarding Lance at the hospital as she prepares to leave for the Academy. Heartbroken by how hardened her childhood friend's heart has become, the Equuleus Saintia is left by the Leo Gold Saint with parting words about how she is ignoring the heroic legacy of her family.

Back at the Academy, as Cerah assists Olivia and balances her training between Lord Dohko's lessons and the Saintias, the Zodiac Knight remnant discovers that a terrible person she has encountered in the past also attends the school.

Author's Comments:

My beta-reader Jenny called attention to something important in the writing; sometimes you will see Kirin be referred to as 'him', even though it's been revealed by now that Kirin is a woman pretending to be a man so she can stay as a Gold Saint without a mask. Sometimes characters will refer to Kirin as 'him' because the point of view on the writing will be on them when they don't realize that about Kirin, since the number of characters that know that about her is currently very limited. Right now, it's pretty much only the Pope and Kirin's Gold Saint brethren from her generation that know she doesn't have certain chromosomes in her. Not even Shura knows his teacher is a lady. I don't mean to confuse my readers, but in chapters like this, with 27000 words, where a lot of rewriting happens, and sometimes I even take lines from one character to another character, some mistakes are left behind. Ideally, they are cleared in the Beta and Finishing stages of each chapter, so I beg your forgiveness when sometimes some inconsistencies slip through.

Again, nothing new on etymology this chapter, since no new characters were introduced or explored. That's actually going to get a lot tougher for the rest of the arc since I don't really intend to introduce that many OCs, if any, until this Hades affair is dealt with.

The next chapter is going to be a relatively light-hearted one (despite the overall theme in it). I wanted to get on with the build-up to the Holy War and, trust me, the next chapter is going to contribute to that, but I also realised I needed to work a lot of character stuff out, mostly in Olivia, and get back into practice of writing Cerah. The chapter is done and is being beta-read by Elly at the moment.

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