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.

37. 2A: The Exodus - Part 1 of 3

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Thrudgelmir2333's Original Characters: Pegasus Lance's Saint Generation, Civil War Saint Generation, World War Saint Generation, Daemon Lucifer's Specters, Maiden Elisa, Priam's Black Saints; Cyrulian Refugees;

Thrudgelmir2333's Original Concepts: Mount Olympus Training Ground, Sanctuary Court, Teos Cloth, Athenian Empire mythology, Isle of Gardens; Stardust Prison; Hades' Dark Princes; Desert Beyond; Sanctuary Town Layout & Buildings;

Jenny DeVic's Original Characters: Mrs. Schafurwatt, Cyrus;

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

Author Notes:

-I remind reviewers that if they want a response to their questions, they have to sign in with an account on , as the review page does not work like a commentary page. Answers to unsigned reviews can be found in the author comments at the end of each new chapter;

-Once again, a special shout-out to Niello for helping redesign the Underworld layout;

-Important Note to Reviewers: Since my warnings about unsigned reviews have fallen on deaf ears, I will start responding to reviews from users without an account on Twitter. My account there has the same name as here.

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Please enjoy and review (^_^

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Much like I thought, this century's Holy War ends without our participation. Those weaklings we share the Specter title with have fallen by the dozens trying to storm the Golden Zodiac, forcing my teacher, Thanatos, and his brother to conduct a direct assault on Sanctuary. Even this has failed to defeat them, though; that whore Athena stopped them short of destroying the place and injured them gravely, forcing them to retreat.

This means our attempts to cut a path through the Alps were futile, not only because of whatever is guarding those mountains but because the Underworld refuses to act in pace with the Emperor's wishes. Pandora and the Judges were impatient and rushed out to seek Saint blood as soon as the war started, causing a catastrophic defeat and forcing our teachers' hands. No wonder the Emperor has created the Dark Princes; Michael and I are the only ones who can put this place in order.

Still, not all is a total loss. Master Thanatos tells me that many Saints perished during his attack, crippling Sanctuary. Good, not only this is proper vengeance, but it will protect the Underworld for the next cycle of peace when the Emperor will need to rest. In the meantime, he says he has something special reserved for Michael and me; something he says he salvaged in his assault that will help prepare Michael and me for the next war.

I asked him about what we'll do to keep things going in the Underworld, considering half of the army was destroyed.

Then he revealed it to me; the tome that keeps the names of all the wearers of the Surplices, the physical manifestation of his power. It was the same book that Minos registers the entrance of the dead in and contains the spells for the rules of the Underworld, as dictated by the Emperor. There, Thanatos showed me the names of all the Gold Saints who perished this war.

The page became alight with the Spell he casted, and before I knew it, the perished Gold Saints walked again before me, wearing Surplices like the Cloths of Gold.

-Seventh entry from Lucifer's first journal, dated 15th of July of 1503, making his first reference to the 'Book of the Dead.'

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Mount Rozan

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In a rain-pouring afternoon in Mount Rozan, Dohko put on his straw hat and guided his student up to the great waterfall side cliff paths. The winter was soon to come to Rozan, which brought pluviosity much like most of the rest of the year in Seiryu's den, the only real difference being it was even colder than usual. It had been a month since training with the Pegasus Saint had restarted and the matches with Tenma had been put on hold. The Master wanted to focus on some good old fashioned exercises in harsh conditions with Lance for a while, who dragged up large weights behind him with steel cords tied to his wrists beneath the tempest.

Dohko paused for a second. "Uh-uh, today it looks like I'm getting up there first. It seems a mere paperweight pulling reduces you to a pace slower than a rickety old man, Lance, hye, hye, hye."

The off-duty Gold Saint tried to ignore him and focused on pulling up the large, dense lead weights up the dirt road. They were tied to his wrists, which meant he had to face up the path and use arm swinging movements to pull the weights as he attempted to keep up. Couldn't he just get equally heavy wrist braces? At least he was allowed to wear his Bronze Cloth's arm guards to protect the joints. He had to stay concentrated, though, cause if he went off balance too much, he'd put too much leverage on one arm and could slip in the muddy cliff ground, dragging him all the way down to the Master's house.

This wouldn't be a problem, except he hadn't had a workout without cosmos in a while and wanted to see how far he could go since there would be instances where he couldn't use it.

The dwarfish old man reached the top, where the natural-born Dragon Bridge stretched in front of the waterfall like a graceful arc, going from one side of the hill slope to the other. Sitting on the wet ground with his hat soaked by rain, he looked back to see his student struggling to overcome the last steep turn.

This was way too boring. "Hurry up, will ya?"

The red-eyed Saint growled, burned his cosmos, and incandiated himself with a blazing aura of orange which made his arm muscles suddenly tighten with strength. Grasping the ropes tied to his wrists and with a strong pull, he then launched the two big lead objects over his head, landing them right on the floor next to Dohko with a twin burst of mud and pebble.

He walked up to the teacher with the cords still attached but a lot looser now. "I'm here."

The Master raised a brow. "Don't you think that was a bit crude?"

Lance squinted disgruntledly. "You told me to hurry. I obeyed my teacher." he then snapped over his body and punched the air, impacting it like a sonic boom and projecting a blow straight across the raindrops on both weights, cratering the lead and making it jump in the air a bit.

Dohko scoffed and chuckled at the snark. "That, you did." he walked over and touched the pressed mark on one of the weights, frowning. "Mm, not too shabby, but your force projection is still a bit unfocused."

"I've been practicing," Lance commented, a bit full of himself. Ever since his last fight with Tenma, he's been taking every chance he had to perfect his new spear fist trick and the lightning element since they were both critical elements to the Multiple Charge Fist.

"Oh yeah? Have you practiced giving a new name for that rapid fire move, at least?"

Lance irked. "You really think I've had time to give it any thought? Projecting is not exactly an easy trick, so I can't be expected to prioritize Multiple Charge's rena-"

Dohko's eyes suddenly flashed with a beam of cosmos, and a series of impacts struck the lead weight without him seemingly moving, forming sequences of perfect craters on the dense metal with circular patterns, like those UFO maize circles.

The lead weight shook under the rain like a bell, forcing Lance to pull it by the cord to not fall off the bridge, prompting the Master's laughter. "Yo-oh-oh, seems pretty easy to me."

Lance held the weights firmly on the bridge's center so the Libra Saint wouldn't pull this prank again. "Roshi, it's raining like crazy, can you tell me why you made me come up here?"

"Hye, hye, relax, I just brought here to show you a couple of things. I figured it was time." He then burned his cosmos, causing flowing, watery energy to engulf him, a sign that he was about to perform his most famous move. Holding a hand up at the crashing waterfall and humming, Dohko's white hair and beard even lifted up with the force he was summoning. "Sho Ryu HA!" he called out, almost like a command spell, and without even touching his target, the move caused the waterfall to suddenly be hit by a perfect, extensive, ascending force, causing all the water to burst out before the drops reversed course and defied gravity.

This time, however, the reversal was so flawless that the cliff wall that bedded the falling river was exposed as the water complete went up in an arc like a dragon taking off to the skies, revealing a tall, rough expanse.

Lance widened his eyes. Sitting there, pressed firmly against the mount's heart, was a gigantic, smooth tablet with dozens upon dozens of ancient Greek letters carved on it.

With a flick of the finger, the old Master's cosmos made the river go above them, like a held curtain, letting them contemplate the object. "Recognize any names?"

The Pegasus Saint approached the engravings on the smooth surface as much as the platform allowed him to.

His eyes narrowed anxiously. "Yeah, these are Specters." he muttered, reading the many names of Surplices like Wyvern, Acheron, Golem and more on it. Some of them were worn down by the centuries of running water, making some characters indistinguishable, but he could definitely make out some of the more iconic Surplice names.

"Deep in the heart of Mount Rozan, cradled by Seiryu, is the sealed collective of the dark souls of the warriors of Hades, the specters." Dohko poetized. "The stark beauty of Surplices ideally should never see the light of day again, but even Athena hasn't found a way to rid us of those nuisances."

Lance searched for the ones he battled in the past and almost felt like reaching out when he found Bennu and Minotaur, feeling flashbacks of the Corona Blast and the Grand Axe hitting him like yesterday. It frankly gave him the creeps. "Why are you showing me this?"

Dohko shrugged his shoulders casually in the rain. "This is the engraving of the seal of the 108 beads. This is what I'm here to watch over. I've been thinking about letting you have a look since you beat Tenma, just for the sake of it." Dohko presented, also somberly contemplating the object. "One day the stars will shoot through the sky, announcing the full return of their powers, and the new Holy War will commence."

Lance turned to him. "But the Specters already walk the Earth, Roshi. I've battled them before."

The Master nodded. "Mhm, interesting, isn't it?" he commented, walking away and letting the waterfall resume its natural course, concealing the object once again. "Maybe it's because we are so close to the seal's breaking point...maybe because of some other mystery. The guy who made the beads died a long time ago, so I can't call for customer support, yo-oh-oh. I suppose we must thank Athena for the weakness of Specters."

Pulling the damaged weights once more, Lance followed him down. He felt no need to thank Athena for anything. Seiryu, the Dragon God that had tried to smash him like a bug back in February, had done more for Lance that year alone than the Greek Goddess had in a lifetime. "It was Shinta who saved me from Specters, not some absent floosy Goddess."

"And yet you're ungrateful to him sometimes, too, aren't 'cha?" the old man provoked. "So what should I teach you this week? Mmm…."

Carefully carting down the dragged weights, the student set them aside, all fed up. "Well, maybe how to not get a cold while exercising in downpours outdoors." he frustratingly bit. He kinda loved being in Rozan, that was true, but he wasn't used to its tropical weather to the degree Roshi was, who just casually walked out during heavy rain like it was just a bit of drizzle. Lance had this much in common with Ma Chao, at least.

Roshi just laughed, though. "The secret is to do it without your shirt and armor. Let the elements temper your body!" he bragged.

"With all due respect, Roshi, that's just stupid!" Lance lambasted. He risked letting that stupid pendant Shinta got him at that thrift store in Greece fly off his neck if he started jumping around at lightspeed without upper body clothes like Dohko did. God knew he had a hard time remembering he carried it as it was.

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Underworld,

Third Circle, Ptolomea

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Ruling over the 5th and 6th Prisons, the Palace of Ptolomea was Wyvern Rhadamanthys' current residence and doubled as a sort of Prison on its own for the souls of the dead who betrayed their guests. With white stone walls, dome roofs, corner towers and a staircase sided by statues of winged snakes, it stood watch on the ice filing of a segment of the Cocytus River that passed by the 5th and 6th Prisons before reaching its ultimate destination, the 8th Prison named after it, like a beautiful piece of marble in a dark desert of cries and fear.

Skeleton Soldiers and False Specter servants usually worked inside, but the palace had finished repairs a little after Rhadamanthys' revival, allowing him to inhabit it. They tried to stay off the core rooms that the young Judge occupied, fearing his temper as well as the day he would discover the massive storage of whiskey in the basement, which would surely make him an even more terrible sight to behold. Screams could be heard from deep inside the halls of Ptolomea even that day.

"A mobilization?! How dare he?! After he HUMILIATED me the way he did?!" Rhadamanthys roared, creating crashing sounds with what was likely furniture being thrown around.

Cleaning the corridor, the False Skeleton Soldier sweated bullets. "What's with him this time?"

The Elf False Specter, Rossalier, shook his blue-helmeted head in lament. "The Minotaur Specter, Gordon, the Celestial Prison Star or whatever… He came here telling him that Prince Lucifer has finally called for a campaign against Sanctuary."

The grunt widened his eyes. "You mean… involving us?"

"Yes, Ainsel's little butterflies spread the news everywhere." Elf confirmed. "But because Rhadamanthys has been spending his weeks here at Ptolomea whining about how we haven't taken Athena's head yet, he didn't get them right away. Gordon thought he could play the suck-up and give him the news." The replacement then laughed at the True Star's misfortunate. "The only problem with his plan is that Rhadamanthys is an asshole to everyone, not just the little guy," he spoke as the two of them continued to listen.

"L-Lord Rhadamanthys, I thought you'd be thrilled," Gordon confessed. For such a huge guy, he sounded really nervous, primarily as more sounds of wood and glass snapping and shattering were heard. "This is what you begged the Emperor for years, and it's a chance to rid us of the repla-"

"THIS WAS TO BE MY CAMPAIGN!" the Fury Star threw at him, giving justice to his title. "I was born to bring destruction to the Emperor's enemies, and now I must stand aside and watch someone else do it! I don't care if they're the Prince, Pandora, or one of the Terrestrials, no one humiliates me in front of my liege and robs me of my triumph! I will be a nightmare to whoever tries it!"

The people standing out in the corridor, however, knew full well who the Judge was going to face, especially after their little failed coup under Alraune. "Does he realize what he's up against?" Elf Rossalier asked out loud. "This is the Prince!"

"Do we know?" the Dullahan Hedron interjected, arriving on the scene after being attracted by all the noise in the palace. "I'm pretty sure none of us really know for sure what Pride Star is capable of, yet."

"Lord Dullahan?..." the Skeleton Soldier greeted, quizzically, holding scythe close to his chest as he nodded. "What do you mean?"

The fully-helmeted Specter shrugged his shoulders. "It's pretty straightforward, isn't it? We tried our little rebellion against the Prince, and not only does he flip the whole thing on us with a snap of his fingers, but he traumatizes Balgo, who still won't say what the heck that 'Eternal Darkness' thing Lucifer did to him was all about." he pointed out. Bat told him that at working at the outpost right now meant dealing with a neurotic giant. "It's like he barely lifted a finger that day, even though he had half the army ready to tear his guts… Right now, I'm a lot more afraid of Lord Lucifer than of Lord Rhadamanth-"

On cue, the hall's doors opened, letting Rhadamanthys and Minotaur out, and the three of them immediately scurried into disciplined postures, silently allowing the two to pass.

It still didn't prevent a growl from the Judge. "What are you worms doing standing here? Get back to work! And if you finished things here at Ptolomea, go find something useful to do in the Prisons before we throw you worthless lot at Sanctuary's spears!"

The hoof-greaved, horn-helmeted teenager following him also spared them looks of disdain. "You heard the Judge! Scram!" he roared, stomping the ground and sending them running to another room. The both of them then stormed off Ptolomea, probably to make someone else miserable for a change.

The three grunts joined up by the gate, cursing their names. "Even after getting chewed like that, Minotaur still looks down on us just because he's got a Star to him. I hope Gordon goes chew on some rotten meat. Guen was a brute to the dead, but he treated us with respect," recalled Dullahan. Undoubtedly this was because of the late Urial's good example.

"I really don't see why would that bastard Rhadamanthys be given the Judge role." complained the Elf Specter. "He looks the least balanced of the three, to me. Aiacos is harsh, but every now and then he shows he cares about us doing our jobs, and while Minos is a psychopath, at least he's a stable psychopath!"

"What's he even doing administering Ptolomea anyway?" questioned Dullahan Hedron. He tried to scratch his head but forgot he had his helmet on. "I thought the Spells of the 'Book of the Dead' said that Wyvern ruled Caina, the First Circle, not us here at Ptolomea!"

Raising his finger at him like it was a good question, Elf gave him the answer. "Yeah, they even gave us that map so we could fix the Underworld faster. It definitely showed Caina with those little wyvern statues."

"Then what's the deal?! Why is he here at the 3rd Circle making our already shitty lives miserable?!"

The Elf Specter gestured him to calm down. "Patience, I'm getting to that. I once asked Lord Lucifer about why the map was wrong...you know, back when he didn't have Pandora keeping him busy like a dog." He then chuckled. "Know what Pride Star told me? It's none of your business, you minnows, but while the Celestial Fury Star really did rule Caina for a while, the Emperor decided that Wyvern was too short-tempered for the First Prison.' Apparently Minos went and died early on against the Pisces Saint in the last war, and Rhadamanthys was put in charge of Caina, forcing that creep Thanatos to rewrite the Spell."

The Skeleton Soldier scratched his chin. "Minnows?... Lord Lucifer speaks strangely sometimes."

Dullahan Hedron laughed, interpreting this. "He's from the 16th century! The guy was born back when Martin Luther was still Catholic!" he then switched gears to Elf's story. "So basically you're telling us Hades decided Rhadamanthys was too impetuous to sentence the dead, so he put the psycho Minos in charge of Caina…. Which is why we had to move those stupid entrance statues and why the Spell had to be rewritten back."

Elf folded his arms. "Crazy, huh? No wonder the guy is obsessed about pleasing Hades. It turns out that other than drilling us, he really doesn't do his job well."

"So he focuses on the only thing he does right, coming up with plans to attack Sanctuary and botched it in the woods," concluded Dullahan.

"Serves him right," Elf shook his head, sighing. "Sometimes I wonder how we got ourselves wrapped up in this crazy Underworld."

The Skeleton Soldier bashed his fist on the wall. "Blasted True Specters! Alraune was right about one thing; these Stars really don't give a shit about us," the shadowed-face Skeleton lamented. "We fixed the Underworld from the ground up. Do they realize how bad things looked here when we started off? Chasms were going into separate dimensions. We had to patch them up by pulling whole Prisons back together with chains like a bunch of slaves building pyramids!"

Elf Rossalier nodded. "Not to mention the dead roaming around weren't exactly happy." A shine was then detected in his concealed eyes. "But now things will change… Lucifer has finally called us into action."

Dullahan turned to him. "You think this mobilization call…?"

"Yes, what else could it be?! Pride Star has decided today will be the day." Elf claimed. "It's not just the butterflies going around telling us to gather at Giudecca. Our higher ups were called to that auditorium that Lucifer told us to go over the details of what to do, and Beetle says they have that squeak, Zelos, locked in a cage by the Desert Beyond for the rest of the day."

The Skeleton Soldier gawked. "Which means…"

Dullahan finished his sentence. "I see… Tonight is the night we say goodbye to the Underworld."

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Chapter 37

Second Arc

Episode 6

The Exodus - Part 1 of 2

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4th Circle, Giudecca Palace

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At the throne room of Hades, just before the Wailing Wall itself, Daemon Lucifer, Celestial Star of Pride, bowed down to the god in puppet form, eyes to the ground, joined by Garuda Aiacos, who has shadowed the Prince since their conversation about the False Specters. Even after all this time, Hades refused to let anyone to lift the curtain but Pandora. Having spent the entire interwar period with the god, Lucifer had no ignorance of his bodily predicament, but still didn't dare to presume the god would tolerate him violating his space now that the Specters were returning, especially with Aiacos present.

This was partly why Lucifer now understood that being a True Specter was not much of an improvement from being a False one; the lie being told to you simply had an extra layer of sophistication. He patiently waited for the Olympian to get up from his seat and acknowledge him.

"You wanted an audience, Lucifer?" it asked. It then turned its head to Aiacos, who immediately sank his head so deep that his huge helmet almost fell forward. "And you brought a Judge… how rare it is to see you cooperating with them."

"Yes, my Emperor," the Pride Star confirmed. Judging the calmness in the god's voice, Hades seemed in good enough of a mood. "I want to proceed with our decision to battle Sanctuary with the replacements."

"Mm, you mean that idea of yours…" it mused. "Hopefully it won't end with anymore of my men needlessly butchered, like Wyvern's plan."

Lucifer patiently endured the insinuation that he would plan things out as foolishly as Rhadamanthys. "I've been making the final preparations. The only True Specter involved in all of it will be me."

Garuda added to this. "I volunteered to help the Prince lead the troops, Lord Hades, but he insists on not risking us at the front," he claimed. "After hearing his words, I had to agree. Perhaps the replacements will have a more peaceful end if they're never forced to confront the recognition of us, the revived Specters."

Somehow, though, the Judge's intervention only made the atmosphere grow tenser; the light of the candles on the walls flickered. The shadows seemed to move regardless of it as if Hades' very suspicion towards Lucifer's actions was wordlessly communicated. Aiacos sweated, not used to having to report to the Emperor directly. They were both knowingly hiding from Hades himself that the replacements were disloyal, something that probably was detectable to the righteous God. Was this one of Lucifer's responsibilities as Prince, as the commander of the Specters; an obligation to brave the fearsome God who wished nothing but to bring salvation to the surface through the punishments of the Underworld, in their place?

Showing five centuries of experience dealing with this great force of nature, the Prince followed up regardless of the weight that seemed invisibly pressed on them. "Do you have doubts about us, my Lord?"

"Though it shatters my heart, yes, I have so many," the puppet confessed, making Aiacos distraught. "I was initially enthusiastic about your plan, Lucifer. You even followed up on your promise to build an outpost and reestablish my authority at my border so excellently… but the more I dwelled on this, the more I foresaw tragedy."

Aiacos stuttered. "L-Lord Hades-"

But the Prince's arm immediately snapped at the Judge, gesturing him to be quiet. He stood up, resolute, and respectfully eyed the puppet's shadow. "Tell me your doubts, my Emperor, so I may clear them."

The Judge was shocked. "Prince, you shouldn't speak to the Emperor so-"

Red eyes suddenly locked on to him, before turning attention back to the puppet. "I am the commander of the Specters, it is my Second Function, and I will remind everyone as often as needed of it, through words and action. If my liege, my Emperor, has any doubts about my plan, I will render them asunder for him."

The Asian Specter meekly lowered his head back down, reminded of the harsh words the Judges had also been handed out at the strategy meeting. No one in the Underworld, even Pandora, dared to be so forward in front of the Emperor except Lucifer. Garuda in the least didn't imagine himself having the courage to face the Olympian like this, which greatly humbled him. Maybe this is what it meant to be an 'Arm of Hades', one of the two Princes. What would things be like if Prince Michael, too, was with them?

The puppet gently exhaled as if finding a familiar comfort away from the chaos. "I wish to hear something concrete, though, Prince. I feel like my Left Arm has not confided to me its secrets recently, leaving me restless," it confessed. "You reminded me, for example, at the meeting that the Gryphon replacement was ended by a Silver Saint. This has made me worried for many weeks that an all-out attack will expose my hand to overpowered Saints too soon for little gain. I have lost too many Holy Wars after catching the Saints off guard; what good will warning them of my strength accomplish?"

Lucifer contained an amused snort. "You've been oiling your gears a bit, haven't you? About time." he thought, quickly reassuming a new narrative. "Perhaps I was not clear in my objective, Emperor; I don't mean to merely wound Sanctuary with a suicide attack, I'm aiming for a decisive victory."

"And what does that entail?" the puppet questioned, squinting.

Aiacos, too, perked his ears. This was a delicate issue to him, as well, since it would define how dangerous this declaration of war would be to both Sanctuary and the Underworld.

But the Prince's response came as quickly as it was resolute. "I intend to cripple it as a whole, and conquer it," he revealed, genuinely shocking both listeners. "I intend to plunder its secrets, traumatize its people, and sink the place into my darkness. If not for the Specters, then for myself and what they've done to me!"

Hades blinked. "With… the replacements?" it then chuckled. "I appreciate a bleak sense of humor, Prince, but not foolishness or undeliverable promises. Remember that the last time you sought blind vengeance on the Saints, you caused me more harm than good." It then sternly eyed the Specter through the curtain. "And you took two centuries to make up for that error. I will not have such patience a second time."

This referred to Lucifer's mad rampage through the collapsing Underworld in chase of the Saints, which culminated in his battle with Dohko and Shion and left some hidden scars in Lucifer himself.

The powerful Specter Prince, however, responded once more with certainty. "This is no foolishness! I may have suffered setbacks, but have never failed you, my Lord, have I? Not since the 'Day of Judgement,'" the Prince claimed, referring to the event five centuries earlier when he and Michael fought for the right to be the Dark Angel Specter, which Lucifer lost. "When I promised I would become a worthy Prince and fulfill my Functions, I delivered. When I vowed that I would teach Sanctuary a lesson for destroying Minos, I delivered. When you asked me to commit the ultimate sacrifice and end Michael's insanity, no matter the pain or the cost, I delivered. Even when I vowed to repair the Prisons, rebuild the army and not leave your side until Pandora and the Gods were back..." his arms then laid to the sides, as if asking the God to look at the Underworld. "... that was no exaggeration, was it, my Emperor? I do not lie, not here, not ever. Everything I have ever promised my God, I have fulfilled, because I am the Celestial Star of Pride, and my pride is what lets me accomplish the impossible with my cosmos!"

The room entered into a stunned silence. Aiacos, in particular, was dumbfounded, not just by the implications of Lucifer's intentions for the False Specters, but how ardently and convincingly he argued that he would see them through. Once again, his heart sank. Indeed, as a Judge, he was far from being as useful in the Holy War to Hades as a Prince. He would never in a million years stand in front of the Emperor and vow he would potentially lead fake scoundrels like the replacements to such grandiose ends, and Aiacos doubted Wyvern or Gryphon would, either, no matter how fanatic they were. Their blind faith in their Stars and the destiny these reserved for them would forbid them for contemplating such a thing.

This brought his thoughts to the reference the Prince made to his cosmos in addition to his star, putting extra weight behind his words. Worshipping the cosmos was a trait more in tune with Saint culture, not Specters, even if it was a fundamental part of the power of both. The warriors of the Underworld had their power inherited directly from the Surplices which have accompanied them since the earliest wars with Athena. Only a few of them, like Rhadamanthys, ever really trained, which basically meant that calling out for the cosmos in battle was viewed as a sign of weakness among Specters. False Specters, in a way, mainly operated on power borrowed from their True counterparts, which partially justified the need to eliminate them, as Lucifer had reminded Aiacos. The Specters, therefore, preferred to clamor in a battle that they had the protection of their stars, but Lucifer here referenced both, letting him make use of the passionate style Saints preferred in arguing to convince the Emperor.

If the puppet's hesitation was any indication, it worked. "So if I asked you to bring me Pope Arles' head in a Gold Saint cuirass… with nothing but the weak servants I've replaced my beloved Specters with, would you do it?" asked the puppet, to which Lucifer nodded. It shook its shoulders in amusement. "Hm, hm, hm… I am… moved. Suddenly I miss having both my Princes to serve me."

Lucifer squinted ever so imperceptibly, the memory of having to execute Michael brought back to his mind. "Sure, you do. It's simply what's expected of me, Emperor, or does not your law say 'My Specters are my own, my ones and onlies, irreplaceable and of one incarnation throughout time, and forever they shall be loyal to me as I am to them, and let them bask in the glory of Elysium I shall, for their dedication shall be equally absolute'?" He recited a Spell of the Book of the Dead. "I am no exception."

Aiacos recognized the passage. "The Fifth Spell of the Book of the Dead…" It was stunning that there was someone in the Underworld that could recite them by heart.

The Daemon Specter held back a scoff. "Though the valuable part got tossed out the window, hasn't it, Hades? So has the Elysium one..."

The silhouette behind the curtain dropped shoulders resignedly. "So your attack plan is more committed than I presumed…. Very well, Lucifer, I see my sudden fears were unfounded. What did you intend with this audience, then?"

"A humble request, my Emperor," assured Lucifer. "I wish you to show yourself to the men tonight."

There was another flickering of the candles, and the curtain even seems to suddenly wave away from the puppet. Even Aiacos could somehow tell through the sudden darkening of the room that their God was taken aback. This was no light request. Rhadamanthys himself spent years waiting for a chance to gaze upon the Emperor before the strategy meeting where Hades decided to be present at.

"... Show myself? Why should I do that?" the puppet simply questioned. "Do you wish perhaps to worry my poor sister? Pandora goes even paler than she already is with the amount of love she puts into protecting me, and you wish me to put it on the line by exposing myself to the elements?"

Aiacos had to concur. He, too, did not wish the god to overexert himself. "Prince, perhaps the Emperor is right?"

Lucifer squinted discreetly at the silhouette. "Stop lying to me! You don't care about Pandora, you just hate the thought of leaving this Palace and show your meager self to those False Specter fools! But tonight you're gonna be there, even if I have to pull every trick in the book to convince you!" he fumed to himself. "This will likely be the last they will be of service to you, Emperor. It would greatly moralize them to finally meet you in person, not to mention, give their True counterparts reason to hope for the same honor in the future, should they sacrifice themselves as devotedly. If you do not wish to approach them, it would be proper. My request was for you to make yourself visible at a distance."

The puppet was silent as both Specters observed him. "This is not a light request, Prince!" he surlily reminded.

"For some reason, Garuda Aiacos then felt that, from behind the veil, Hades' eyes turned to him, perhaps because of how his very soul felt like it suddenly froze in place. "I would be greatly honored, Lord Hades, even if I won't take part. If you were present in this triumph with the False Specters, well… it would be quite inspiring," he confessed out loud.

The two then awaited the god's response. One of the reasons Lucifer was glad his efforts to get a Judge on his side paid off so wonderfully was because he knew better than anyone that Hades was not the naive, bloodshed-hating soul he pretended to be and was actually quite capable of foreseeing his enemies' intentions and punishing them for it. Eurydice's injuries, which he still wasn't sure, to that day, what they entailed, confirmed this. At first, Lucifer thought that operating outside the Circles, in the Desert Beyond, would be enough to escape his scrutiny, but Hades finding out about Eurydice and Cerah proved him wrong. Getting one of the blindingly loyal three Judges, however, would reduce suspicions from Hades that Lucifer had something up his sleeve with all this, which was critical to get Hades to go with what he wanted.

The God of the Underworld eventually came to a decision. "I dislike this, Prince… but if it will drive the sword deeper into Sanctuary's heart, I will be present at the departure." he conceded, delighting the two of them.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The two Specters left the throne room and walked through Giudecca's halls. "Excellent intervention, Aiacos." complimented the Prince. "Sometimes the Emperor can be difficult to sway, even by me, and having one of the Judges backing me can help convince him to do things he would be very hesitant to do."

The Judge nodded, honored. "Thank you, but why does Hades seem so reluctant to trust your judgment?" questioned the Judge. So far, he had seen nothing but proof that the silver-haired man really did have the skills and experience to accomplish what they could not. "I can see why the Emperor would hesitate to honor impure beings like the replacements, but all we ask is to stand within sight of them."

The Prince sighed as they entered the main hall. "Unfortunately, over the Holy Wars, we've all given him countless reasons to doubt us, lest Athena already be dealt with by now. Because of this, Hades did not wish to show himself to any of us so soon, much less honor a parade like this. I'm still surprised he was there to be present at our strategy meeting," Lucifer confessed, genuine in this explanation. He was still a bit nervous, though. "That was a bit too easy, though… Hades is no fool. He must suspect something, or he wouldn't have questioned me at first like he did just now."

The Skeleton Soldiers opened the door outside for them, and the two high-rankers stood before the entrance's staircase, from where the could gaze upon the Underworld and the False Specter troops already rallying around and getting organized. "That False Specter, Papillon Ainsel, must have already informed everyone," observed Aiacos. "It's still hard to believe these ungrateful scoundrels will earn us a preemptive victory."

If there was something Lucifer had learned from Saints, it was not to underestimate weaklings pushed to the edge. "I know Sanctuary, and how best to harm it. They've been leaving a lot of openings lately."

This prompted out some concerns Aiacos has had. "Prince Lucifer, about that… You said inside that you intend to conquer Sanctuary. I have to admit I was as surprised as the Emperor." He pointed out, narrowing his eyes. If there was anything he had learned about the red-eyed man commanding him, it was that Lucifer was opportunistic. "This isn't just a retaliation campaign to satisfy lust for Saint blood and conquer n, is it? What is going on in Sanctuary? Why such a daring objective?"

The Prince exhaled concernedly. Aiacos had always been observant. "It's the Pope, that fool of a Lemurian Shion, who they have as a steward." Lucifer revealed. For years as of then, the Prince had worked very hard to keep information about Sanctuary streaming directly to him, either through agents like Nasu Erika or contacts like Priam, not that Aiacos need to know about this, though.

The Garuda Judge was intrigued. "Their Holy Father?..." What kind of blood had Lucifer smelled?

"Recently the Civil War Generation, as it was called, has retired." Lucifer detailed. "They were a mighty set of Gold Saints, the strongest I've seen in a good long while. A small group of them would likely destroy the Underworld if the barrier hadn't been present and I weren't waiting in the back row, in secrecy."

Aiacos irked, refusing to believe this. "Lord Lucifer, I would never let that happe-"

"Yes, you would. We're not playing games here." The Prince interrupted, squinting and tightening his gauntleted fist. "These were not typical Gold Saints; they were tempered by the bloodiest Civil War in Sanctuary's recent history. The leader Akassius was likely on par with me." he admitted, stunning Aiacos. "Fortunately for us… the Civil War Generation is no more." Lucifer added, pacing about in reflection. "They paid the price for their experience and temperament with the blood of their brothers in arms, reducing them to a small number, and now they've departed, leaving children in place. The Golden Zodiac is currently occupied by but an handful of eight year olds just fresh off their Gold Cloth debuts. Shion has filled the ranks with warriors under the assumption Holy War would only come in 1990, and expects them to be adults by then."

The Celestial Valiance Star held his chin. "But it will instead come by the end of this year, 1976." All of a sudden, the ambition of Lucifer's plan fit like a glove in Aiacos' mind. He shook his head, conflicted by all this. "Of course… it's almost too cruel. I loathe the idea of fighting children, but if the False Specters could really be put to use against them and gain victory…by the Gods! Sanctuary could truly fall."

Lucifer saw the Judge once again at a crossroad of thoughts, his Suikyo side struggling to protest the dishonorable idea of waging war with kids. "Pragmatism is the idea over which the two Princes were created by the Emperor. Obviously I'm not fond of the notion either, being the Celestial Star of Pride, but a reversed Children's Crusade, if you will, could have us triumph over Athena before she is ever even reborn." he pressed, watching the Judge quiver even more in doubt.

"I don't know… it doesn't seem correct." Aiacos argued, rubbing his eyes. "If anyone in the surface is without sin, it is children…"

Lucifer just folded arms. "If you want to blame anyone, blame Shion. He created this hole in his defenses; we'd be fools not to charge right through." He defended, then clicking his tongue. "I've always detested that Aries Saint… a coward of an alchemist, right to the end, afraid of the shadow of the Cloths he repaired, and then he even picked the Papal name 'Arles III' for himself, the audacity!"

This distracted Aiacos out of his indecision. "…Is something wrong about it, Prince?"

Surprisingly, the Prince seemed to grit his teeth at the far off skies, as if wishing he could punch the Pope. "It's the name the Athenian Emperor took for himself, Arles I, almost 1000 years ago! The thought of that spineless Lemurian using it makes my blood boil!"

Why would the Prince have such a problem? "I didn't realize you were… such an avid historian, Pride Star."

"That's not the problem!" Lucifer snapped. Realizing he was a bit off the rails, the Prince recollected himself. "I find it distasteful and appropriative, is all. The sooner I make Shion pay for his arrogance, the better."

While he still stared at the Prince in curiosity, the Judge eventually nodded and pondered his task with renewed respect for its importance. "Well, Prince, I'll go retrieve the 'Book of the Dead' for you, even if I have to drag Minos and Rune here by the hoofs. Just be sure to show as much determination in shedding Saint blood later," the heavily-armored youth vowed, smirking. He was about to go on about it when he suddenly remembered something important. "Speaking of which, Lord Lucifer… is it okay with Lord Thanatos to use the grimoire like this? It's his prerogative, after all."

The Celestial Star of Pride frowned unpleasantly, folded arms and looked away. "I prefer not to involve my teacher in these things… he lacks a bit of restraint against sinners, like a shark to blood. Lord Hades knows well the God of Death does not react positively to perceived traitors, and I want an army left out of this screening, not a crater."

Rubbing his chin, Aiacos recalled the stories Wyvern told him about the day the two Twin Gods returned to the Underworld and caused a big mess in Giudecca over a runaway Nymph. "Yes… perhaps it's for the best. What we're doing is truly tricky, after all." he then bowed respectfully and departed. "Godspeed, Prince Lucifer."

Watching the Judge unfurl his metal wings and take off with a sonic boom, Lucifer shook his head in reprehension. "All it really takes to get people on your side and trust you is to make them feel involved, isn't it Aiacos? You used to lecture Michael and me about it, centuries ago." he mocked to himself. Out of the three Judges, Aiacos had been the most tolerable to the two candidates during their training in the 16th century, as he felt the least threatened by their presence, but this was like picking a favorite out of three rabid dogs. "There's no reason to let Thanatos know I'm borrowing his prized little diary; Hades will be enough of an issue to deal with when the time comes. Then I will have the entire world to take on ahead of me."

Feeling the familiar dark breeze of the 4th Circle, Lucifer then allowed himself to contemplate the bleak majesty of the Underworld's landscape for a while, monitoring the many troops and roaming dead around the Palace. This could be the last time he would be in the Underworld, his home for half a millennium, for countless reasons. He would be sure to greatly honor Hades before his departure with the False Specters to a glorious victory. In fact, he had been anxious for decades.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Elysium

Palace of the Twin Gods

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Sitting with his brother at his favorite table, on his graceful meadow and listening to a background of the most beautiful Nymphs casually singing the most fantastic of songs while collecting flowers, Hypnos, the God of Sleep, thought deeply about his next move. Seeing a sound strategy where he would take out a piece and prevent the most possible countermoves at least six moves ahead, he took his white bishop and knocked over the black knight, taking out a significant offensive piece and opening a path for his rooks to move towards the enemy king. He then laid back and waited with a grin on his face for his brother's next move.

Thanatos just stared off to the side with boredom.

Hypnos narrowed his eyes.

Thanatos stayed distracted. He eyed the table momentarily and noticed his knight piece off but simply took a rook and blocked Hypnos' bishop, a frankly terrible move.

"I have to say, brother, even by your standards, that tactic was ill-thought." the God of Sleep confessed, patiently enduring the snooze of a reaction he got from Thanatos. "Do you wish to start the turnover? Perhaps a bit of nectar will perk you up?"

"I'm not hungry." the silver-haired god assured.

Golden eyes rolled. "By Zeus and Hades, are you honestly going through another rut?" Hypnos lambasted, already guessing what this sloth of emotion was about. "Brother, it's been almost two years. Make an effort to get past Eurydice's departure once and for all!"

Thanatos' hand merely reached out in the air, grasping a purple ember of cosmos he made dance like a female figure. "I miss her… she was my favorite."

"You have plenty more!"

He rested cheek on fist, letting out a deathly sigh. "Not like her…"

"Exactly like her!" Hypnos bit. "They all grow flowers, sing songs and please you! Eurydice was literally fabricated out of the elegant waves of the cosmos. You wouldn't find such perfect creatures biologically."

But the Death God was unmoved. "It was different between us. It was something else." Thanatos lamented. He sank his face in his hands. "It's my fault; I stayed away for too long and made her resent me… Those blasted Cancer Saints!..."

Hypnos struggled really hard to not remind his brother that Eurydice left for very different reasons. "This obsession of yours with that Nymph is exactly what got you in trouble with the Emperor; I frankly can't fathom that you'd allow yourself to still fawn… to commit such negligence in her name! Where is your dignity?!"

But the Death God just stared at his rooks like he imagined himself strangling them for robbing his bride.

This ticked the usually level-headed Sleep God. "The time to eliminate the replacements is soon to come. You'd do best to snap out of this and focus on it, lest you reap the wrong ones." he reminded Thanatos. "I know how you think, brother, doesn't the prospect of it exhilarate you?"

A faint smirk showed on Thanatos lips. "Perhaps, yes…" but then disappeared, before his grey eyes looked down on his chess pieces. "But I've discovered that even wiping out those rats will be but a momentary distraction… like this game."

Seeing his brother wouldn't make a move, Hypnos snapped his fingers, making the chess table vanish into speckles, before Hypnos's divine weapon, his deck of tarot cards imbued with his greatest curses, flipped onto it like an expert poker player move. "We will play something else to distract you."

"I don't want to play," Thanatos affirmed, getting up and staring off at the Elysian distance. "I want her back."

Tired of this act, Hypnos was no longer sure if his brother was lovesick or merely feeling emasculated and possessive about a woman who chose to dump him and run. It was uncommon to get betrayed by creatures made solely to adore you, after all, especially for a God. How would he react if he knew the Emperor afflicted her with a curse on her way out?

Putting his deck back in its pocket dimension, Hypnos decided not to bother his brother anymore. "Alright, Thanatos, but just remember; every moment you spend here lamenting her absence is a moment you stay unfocused on your task and displease the Emperor. For all we know, her name has passed your book's pages already, and you haven't even paid enough attention to notice," he argued.

Thanatos clicked tongue dismissively. "Pfft… I am death… and Eurydice will be denied it for as long as I will it."

Hypnos was not pleased. Not a bit. "Here I am working to get Michael back on our forces and the Emperor happy, and my brother refuses to leave his cycles of depression. It's about time I put a stop to this!"

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Mount Rozan

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The red-eyed teenager got up with a gasp on his floor bed, sweating cold beads and nearly getting wrapped up on his humble blanket. Feeling his silver pendant tangled around his neck, he unfurled it and tucked it back before driving his back against his' room's wall to help him feel firmer and calm his breathing. Another stupid nightmare.

The Pegasus Cloth Box was stored by his side. "Another one?" the armor wondered. "You went so long without nightmares, and now you have them again?"

Lance rubbed his eyes. "Yeah. I'm fine though… I'll be fine so long as Guilty stays the hell out of them." He tried to doze off but, even though his body was sore from training, his anxious heartbeat didn't let him keep his eyes closed. "Damn it…" he mumbled, getting up.

"What was it about?"

"The usual nonsense… falling down a pit, feeling chased, thinking I'm back in Athens…" the Cancer Gold Saint mumbled. He got up and paced around the room. "Also that I was fighting off some Specter? It kinda looked like that Bennu one. I'll be fine. I guess that weird talk Roshi had with me put ideas in my head about the war."

"I did not realize we were so close to the holding place of the Specters," Pegasus confessed. "Perhaps this is why Seiryu comes down to sleep by the waterfall."

"Isn't it because he lives here?" Lance asked. "I guess it could be a combination of the two."

"I'm not sure; the Dragon Cloth is made of Bronze, but I'm not at his level." the winged horse confessed.

Lance raised a brow. There were ranks between the armor beyond their metal? "I didn't realize there was a pyramid amongst Bronze Cloths."

"There isn't; some Cloths, like Dragon, Perseus, Herakles, and Phoenix, are just special. They just come from better entities," explained Pegasus, brightening up at the topic. "Not only their identity is much stronger, but they carry enormous potential. Shinta's armor, for example, has incredible powers; Andromeda's chains are rumored to have once taken even Gemini Saints by surprise. Other Cloths, like Cygnus, are just incredibly well developed by many generations of Saints building upon their legacy."

Lance took notice of Pegasus' lengthy explanation; ever since he beat Tenma. The Cancer Gold Saint had been conversing a lot more with his old Bronze Cloth, sharing many more thoughts and getting to know the winged steed and its tales a bit better. He wasn't sure why he was suddenly connecting with it better and making up for so much lost time, but maybe it had something to do with that epiphany he felt that they never got to know one another that well in spite of experiencing so much together.

The Cancer Gold Saint had no difficulty believing the vicious pink armor belonging to his best friend had special abilities, having witnessed some of them over the course of the missions he took with Shinta, but Lance had never seen the Dragon Bronze Cloth, having only caught glimpses of a metal cubic box beneath the lake underneath the waterfall's crashing spot, nestled right where Seiryu would usually coil himself around. He was convinced, though, that the Greek myth taught in the 'Heart of Sasha' orphanage about it talked of the Greek Dragon Ladon, not Seiryu.

This, in turn, reminded him of the myth and bloodline talk that had joined the background in his life since he became a Gold Saint.

"Legacy, uh? That sounds like something Karkinos would gloat about." he confessed, picturing the crab's creepy voice mocking him for thinking he could deny his path as a necromancer of some kind. "You know, this kinda explains why the Pope thinks it is okay to put kids like Aphrodite and Mephisto in the Houses… he probably has been dealing with that kind of nonsense for generations."

"Don't forget Aiolia, either." The Cloth pointed out.

It was true, Aiolos was always panicking about how his little brother was getting pushed into the Leo House. It frankly bothered Lance, who couldn't picture someone half the age he himself started in Mount Olympus being expected to punch at the speed of light. On the other hand, there were other weird cases like Shaka, who not only met such insane expectations, but surpassed them, even.

"I wonder how all those guys are doing?... Saga is probably stressed out as hell by now." Lance's senses then picked up a distinctive lack of snoring in the background. "Did Roshi leave the house?"

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Walking out the Master's house door in the middle of the night, Lance yawned and scratched his head, feeling bits of memory from a nightmare that woke him up left in his brain. Looking up, he found his teacher standing by the waterfall, lost in thought.

He looked around and saw it was still drizzling, not to mention the bamboo plants were accumulating frost. "Oh, great! " He grumbled, making sure to pack on an extra coat to avoid any sort of cold. Climbing up to Dragon Bridge, Lance carefully approached the dwarf. "Roshi, what are you doing here late at night?"

"Mm? Oh,... I came out to meditate for a bit," the plump old man confirmed.

Lance eyed him quizzically. "It's like 3am," he pointed out, but the wise teacher just ignored this, focusing on the horizon. "And it's cold as fuck! Let's go inside!"

"Hye-hye, day or night, any time is a good time to meditate," Roshi mocked, though he did tuck his green shirt tighter. "Also I'm very old…I can't go all night without having to use the bathroom."

The incognito Gold Saint practically lifted up the small old man by the delicate mat he sat on and brought him back down inside the house. "Roshi, quite frankly, you can take a piss inside the house where it won't freeze!"

Gently put down in his dining room by his student, the dwarf patted his clothes. "Well, this was certainly an unconventional travel method." He then faced his student, who was taking off the ridiculous amount of cloaks he brought outside. "Hye-he-he, you look like an Eskimo!"

"DON'T LAUGH, I just really hate catching col- I MEAN catching a cold!" his face went red and he covered it embarrassedly. "Damn it, Roshi, can't you be a little on the serious side on this?! You said it yourself, you're so old! You could get pneumonia."

"Pfft, it was just a night drizzle." The bearded man dismissed. "In my youth I'd go around butt-naked during snowstorms!"

The image of it made Lance want to sink his face in the ground. "God, just no!" he took a deep breath and tried to change the subject. "At least I have a good reason to be up; had a bizarre dream about Specters. I think you showing me that rock put thoughts into my head, Roshi," he confessed, earning a brow raise from the Master.

"Tsk, you always worry too much," Roshi criticized. "I show you one little rock, and you start panicking about wars that won't come for another decade and a half. Your two protegés would be more concerned about it."

Sitting on the floor, Lance couldn't help but keep worrying. "Preoccupation is necessary. I have responsibilities now..." Speaking of which, imagining that it was still early dusk in Sanctuary, Lance took the chance to ping one of his 'students'. "Aphrodite, is everything okay there?"

The response came a bit surprised. "Well, other than that freak Shaka sticking his pointy nose in my temple, yes."

The red-eyed Pegasus irked. This was the second or third complaint he got from Mephisto and Aphrodite about the 6th Gold Saint. "What was it this time?"

"Nothing really, he just acted all superior when that Elder lady came back down through Pisces." the Swedish boy explained. "Why don't he and the Pope mind their own businesses? They both have a serious attitude problem."

The irony of the often suspicious and remorseless gardener being the one saying this was not lost on the Cancer Gold Saint. "You're not one to talk. I'm sure he means well.-"

Aphrodite then interrupted him with such a sharp mental message it gave the drowsy Gold Saint a headache. "Don't give me that! I can detect weirdoes coming a mile away. No one is interested in other people's gardening quirks like this! Just because I sent all the servants off the House cause they can't keep a bouquet clean doesn't mean I have 'social issues'."

Lance sweated. This generation of Gold Saints really had some serious cohesion problems. He felt wonderment that the Pope thought they'd really make such good buddies one day. It was never a good idea to keep so many kids in the same pen with such huge weights on their shoulders. "I'll try to come to visit in a week or so, so be on your best behavior, alright?"

"I'm not the one being pushy here. My side of the bargain is kept!" Aphrodite bit right back. Lance couldn't blame him for feeling frustrated. "Don't you think you have me make enough concessions? I said I'd behave, that I'd stick around, that I'd listen to you and even that I'd try keeping the stupid Cloth. You don't get to wave keys in my face like with Mephisto."

Sometimes Aphrodite being so smart really bit Lance in the ass. Maybe a different strategy ought to be tried. "What if I talk with Arles?"

Hopefully, the pause that followed was an indication that the cyan-haired boy had his bitterness diluted by this. "... Okay, maybe…"

"I'll throw in a trip to the Isle of Gardens too if you want. Maybe getting out of the Pisces Temple would be good for you."

Once again, the kid seemed disarmed by the counter-offer. "...Well, bribing me doesn't really solve it, does it?... I don't know, maybe that sounds like a half-decent idea."

"Just don't… 'kill' anyone, okay?" Lance practically begged, to which he got a mute ping in response.

"Sure, I won't… Listen, Lance-" Aphrodite then asked, showing a rare instance of addressing his guardian by name instead of a complaint. "I haven't been exactly hanging out with that dumb golden box, but lately it feels like it tries to talk to me more and more. Voices keep appearing in my head, but only in this temple. Is this normal?"

There was nothing ordinary about saying any of this, but it was Sanctuary and the Gold Cloths, so things tended to get weird. "If it's anything like Karkinos, yeah," he flatly responded. He had no idea what the Pisces Gold Cloth was like but, considering he was born in a different month than Aphrodite and didn't have powers like Shion, it was unlikely he would ever know. "All I can tell you about that is to try to use your discernment since it will speak to you and you alone. You know my rules so it should be simple to tell what parts of what Pisces tells you are wrong-"

"It's not asking me anything like that! It's just… saying weird things." Aphrodite complained. "For some reason, it thinks Valentine's Day is really significant… and it gives me cosmetic tips. What's wrong with this thing?! I thought these armors were weapons of war!"

Lance widened his eyes. What in the name of God...? Please don't tell him the Pisces armor was frisky. "Umm...that's not what I expected. Maybe keep me posted on that, okay?"

Then, after a positive ping response, the conversation was ended. His face went red. Would the freaking Pisces Gold Cloth force him to have a serious discussion with Aphrodite about birds and bees way earlier than he thought? This was a total nightmare. And if he felt so awkward having to deal with just these two kids, how did Shion handle having eight or nine running around without developing issues, especially with Saga so busy?

"I guess this is the difference that having Aiolos help out makes… all those Temple aids probably give a hand too."

Sensing his student's flustering after that braggy responsibilities line of his, Dohko chuckled. "Not so easy to take care of brats, is it?"

"Maybe instead of making fun of me, you could hand me some sage advice." Lance pointed out. "Or at least tell me how to get your pet tiger to stop hating me so much!"

But the old dwarf scoffed. "Do I look like a fortune cookie perchance?" He did look like a prune, though. "Your training is progressing well, that's all you should be focused on."

Lance sighed and fidgeted with a rock on the ground. "Sometimes I'd like advice on other matters."

This made Roshi shake his head in disappointment. "Advice, advice… you always want me to tell you what to do. I should charge for my wisdom, you know?"

But the skeptic teenager put a hand on hip. "Sure, like you never had anyone older to ask teachings from, right?" There was then a hesitation from Dohko which made Lance raise his brow. "Hey, Roshi, are you listening? Don't leave me talking to myself again, I cook you your dinners!"

As much as Lance called, though, something about what he asked made the mind of the Master travel back in time again, reliving memories of the past war.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

It was the eighteenth century.

The first battle with Alone had just occurred in Italy. Yato, Dragon, and Yuzuriha had just departed to Tibet to meet Hakurei and rescue Tenma, while Albafica had just fallen in battle against Gryphon Minos, battling alongside the Andromeda Saint.

Blitzing through the rocky hills around the stretches of Sanctuary's great lake, Libra Dohko stopped short of its opposite end from Sanctuary's core, where the mountains seem to rise in an enclosure of the great valley of Athena's land. "Hyoga, don't dally," he called, to which the Cygnus Saint caught up to him, wearing his white-colored armor. "We are at our destination."

The blonde Bronze Saint coldly analyzed his surroundings. He had a hard time calling it a 'destination,' to be frank. "I've never been here… It seems like just a desolate part of Sanctuary to me."

Dohko couldn't agree more. "Yes, but here we will find what I am looking for." His golden cosmos then burned, evoking the image of a tiger.

"A ship that can sail even up the Underworld rivers?" the skeptic Bronze Saint questioned. "We don't have the luxury of time, Lord Dohko. Athena is currently wasting her strength away, preventing the resurrection of Specters, and Regulus says the other Bronze Saints uncovered one which can potentially fly us to the enemy, so why search for this one?"

Dohko's eyes closed somberly. "Because… I'm the one who should be fighting for Tenma's life, not Yato and Shiryu." he lamented, the image of Alone crossing Tenma's painting with blood stuck in his mind. He had never felt so powerless, even when Suikyo and Odysseus stormed the Zodiac. "As much as it pains me, I cannot do anything for Sasha right now, but if Hakurei's plan fails, then the 'Argo' and I will be Tenma's only hope."

This part still bewildered the Bronze Saint, especially considering that back' home', he had never encountered references to this other than from classical history. "The legendary 'Argo'? It seems hard to believe," confessed Cygnus, folding arms.

Dohko chuckled. "We saw our share of impossible things when Odysseus resurrected. Also, you and Shiryu once claimed to me that you've once defeated the Zodiac with just five Bronze Saints and a bit of luck… I don't mean to toot my own horn but, considering I guard the place, I think that's frankly a bit harder to buy than the Argo being here."

The Cygnus chuckled back. Beneath his jovialness, this man was indeed Dragon's beloved wise teacher. "Touché." he then squinted at his surroundings. "But if this particular ship cannot fly… how did it sail here?"

This Dohko did not blame him for his ignorance. "Once upon a time, Sanctuary had access to the sea through a water path in this lake. A river current that flowed down to the Gulf of Corinth, but an earthquake closed it many Holy Wars ago. Even back then, the Argo was the only surface-bound ship which could sail against the magical currents of the Ancient World. Which means..." Then, with a martial shout, Dohko struck the air above the water, letting out a shockwave of his great cosmos that erupted the lake's surface like a geyser, splitting it down the middle as if reversing the waterfall he trained by.

The shockwave continued, trailing across the water like a colossal fissure and eventually splitting the ground itself as well with great thunderous sounds, shaking all of Sanctuary and demonstrating the force of a Gold Saint. The mountains themselves then shook, as if a giant was spreading them apart.

The Cygnus Bronze guarded himself, stepping away from the lake. When he looked again, though, he noted, with stunned eyes, the water surface turned into walls held at bay by currents of cosmos all the way to the damp lake bed, a near biblical image, all revealing a series of caverns existing at the bottom.

Dohko looked up and saw the split earth, the waters of the lake that were not held back now coursing down through it like the birth of a new river. "Once more, Sanctuary can touch the sea."

Cygnus just stood in awe and a particular fear; more and more, it seemed challenging to prevent the 'present' from being changed. Hopefully, the war he fought against Poseidon wouldn't be made harder by this.

The two Saints jumped down and faced the many caverns. Confronted by the many possible paths to take, they still had a difficult choice to make. "Even if the Argo is here, how will we find it? It could literally have sunk into any of these if it wasn't outright destroyed."

Once more, Dohko closed eyes, this time to sense the calling he's been feeling since the start of the war. A great, familiar voice coursing through the Cosmos and picked up by his 7th Sense which had been reaching out to him in his dreams and now urged him to search for the tools the Saints would need to overcome this war. Concentrating greatly, he tried to isolate the direct and figure out if it was coming from one of these caverns.

Eventually, he opened eyes and locked his attention on a particular, damp entrance into the underground. "There."

The Cygnus Saint stepped forward. "This one?" he observed, noticing it was one of the damper, darker, more dangerous-looking ones. "Of course. I'm sure it won't be as dangerous as the Sagittarius Temple's basement."

Dohko led the way, guiding the Bronze Saint inside. First, he made his cosmos burn into a sudden burst, illuminating the passage with the shine of his armor, but was then faced with a submerged section of the cavern which his cosmos had not been able to flood out. "Darn!... I'm sure it's through here!"

Cygnus then volunteered. "Allow me." with a gentle hum and dance of hands, the Bronze Saint then summoned the cold winds of Siberia to his knuckles, evoking the image and squeaks of a swan. Targeting the obstacle, he clasped his hands high in the air. "AURORA THUNDER-" he then brought them down like a hammer, shooting out a massive torrent of cold winds. "ATTACK!"

The water left inside the tunnel froze solid, filling out the cavern even more due to the expansion of the idea, but the force of Cygnus' powerful attack and the contraction of the tunnel caused the ice vein to burst to pieces, opening a path of air through it.

Dohko laughed in happiness and moved straight through. "Yes, excellent, Hyoga! Let's hurry." Running straight through the darkness with only the light of Dohko's armor, the two Saints explored the depths of the cavern, though Cygnus secretly feared the Libra Saint had lost his mind from seeing Tenma be murdered by Alone and was leading him down a tragedy instead.

Eventually, though, Cygnus was proved wrong as the tunnel rose up and then expanded into a vast, underground air chamber, probably several hundreds of meters below Sanctuary's ground and, standing before them, stranded on the floor like it had washed up there like them, was a large, ancient vessel, a war galley of Ancient Greece, complete with the eyes in the bow, the three masts and the broken oars lying aside.

Hyoga recognized the architecture. "A trireme…!" he then carefully approached it and saw a name scratched on the side of the oar holes. "It really is the Argo. This is incredible."

"With this ship, we could sail up the Acheron, perhaps even the Styx, with a group of Saints!" claimed Dohko, excited. He rushed ahead to claim it. "We could rescue Tenma and strike Alone at the heart of his territory! Come on, Hyoga, we have to carry it out of-" A sudden burst of white cosmos then shockwaves from the ship, blasting the Gold Saint away against the chamber walls, screaming.

"SAINT DOHKO!" Cygnus shouted, raising his Cloth buckler defensively as he was also battered by a great wind burst. Squinting and feeling his heels drag on the wet rock floor, the Bronze Saint saw the ship shaking, and its ruined sails wave as if also a victim of this new threat. "WHO'S THERE?! WHO ARE YOU?!"

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Libra Dohko blinked, feeling the shadow of the person who fired the attack burned in his mind, locking it in time. Eventually, he found the presence of spirit to snap out of it and face his new Pegasus student. "I've had someone to advise me, yeah."

Lance folded his arms. "Well, good, then maybe you can draw from their example."

But this made Roshi burst out laughing. "Yo-oh-oh, I better not, or I might freeze you too!" he mocked, bewildering the youth. This time, the old Master held back laughter when Lance eyed him so seriously that he thought someone had died. "… Oh, right, I guess it's a bit insensitive to make fun of your fear if you can't help it.

Finally the Master seemed to get it. "You think so, Roshi? I mean, we can go hang someone with vertigo by a skyscraper too, if you feel like it."

The Chinese old man waved hand apologetically. "Sorry, so sorry. Cryophobia is just an odd fear to run into ."

Not wanting to engage Roshi in this line of thought, the Pegasus then noticed his Master had not actually explained why he was up there at this hour. "So why meditate at three in the morning? You could have just slept instead."

"Yo-oh-oh, perhaps I had a foreboding dream myself." Dohko mocked, staring at the waterfall. "Perhaps I've had it for a while, or perhaps Seiryu grumbles too loudly in his lake for my sensitivities."

Lance sat down by his side. "Well, I guess I better do some thinking, too. If I don't make any serious progress right now, I should start thinking about returning to Greece."

Supporting himself on his cherry cane, Dohko got up. "Pish-posh, you've unlocked your element, you've learned the Underworld Wave, and you have an acceptable mastery basis on light speed, so you have all the starting fighting aspects a Gold Saint of Cancer could require. The question is, though, do you have the strength of character for it?"

"Strength of character?"

This was often the most challenging thing to teach a Gold Saint and could have disastrous consequences if not done correctly. "Well, yes, being a Saint comes with a set of principles, so being a Gold Saint would too," reminded Dohko. "Bravery, discipline, duty, and, most importantly, a sense of sacrifice are essential."

Lance pouted skeptically. "I don't think Karkinos ever put much emphasis on those on me." In fact, the golden crab seemed more interested in corrupting him, if anything.

But the dwarf tapped his cane more resolutely. "That is irrelevant! If anything, it makes it more important! You are being given tremendous power by the Cosmos, the power to do amazing things, but also terribly terrifying ones." Roshi pointed out, burning his own energy to manifest, illustrating illusions of knights battling rogues. "Throughout your life, you will be tempted, if not by your selfishness, then by your weakness."

Somehow, though, Lance doubted the Cosmos was so generous. "I doubt solving my problems is as easy as selling my soul, Roshi." But the Master whacked him with the cane. "OW, what the shit-"

"You are made of flesh, so you are weak and can be hurt!" Roshi bit. "Therefore, you can be threatened, tempted, and tested."

"I wouldn't if I didn't let my guard around you and that stupid cane of yours!" Lance bickered, rubbing his head.

"Yo-oh-oh, your guard? You think a Judge of the Underworld will mind how on guard you are when he offers you to revive your friends and family? When he threatens to torture them, or you?" asked Dohko, turning off the illusions. "A philosophical understanding of what we are here to do in Sanctuary, not just as Saints of Athena but as champions, as knights if you will, of humanity, goes beyond just memorizing a few silly honor code lines and is just as vital as understanding the fighting basics of being a Gold Saint."

His red eyes wandered off angrily. "I've heard this kind of talk since I got to Sanctuary. I've only ever found that Athena and the other Saints-" Another whack to the head. "OW! Goddamn it, Roshi, stop that!"

"This has nothing to do with Athena or anyone else!" he then tapped Lance's chest with his cane right on the covered metal pendant. "It has to do with you. Forget about the others, Gold Saints or not, they don't concern you. If you want to become a fully-fledged Gold Saint, you need to understand the spirit of sacrifice."

This reminded Lance too much of Shinta's lofty-softy attitude. "Sacrifice?"

"Yes." he sternly reaffirmed. "We are nothing on this Earth but passing beings, even me who has lived so long. More important than ourselves is what we are becoming so strong to fight over. You should realise that as you think back on the reasons you were able to unlock your cosmos, the 7th sense and each of your elements; a hope to defeat the horrors of Mount Olympus, the determination to not be beaten back down to the curb, the bravery to put yourself between the enemy and the innocents of Arcadia and, finally, the understanding that, in battle, nothing stands between your foe and defeat than yourself and your failings, your short-sights," the wise old man then rested cane. "Or is that not accurate?"

Scratching his black hair, Lance couldn't help but nod. "Yeah, it is…"

Dohko walked off. "The adrenaline of the moment will merely push you to the real cause of the cosmos coming through to you and exploding into the power of a billion stars; the bedrock of values that you wouldn't even think twice of putting your life on the line to protect. This, above all, is why so few awaken Cosmos, much less unlock the 7th sense."

Lance stood up. "But how do you train that?!" he called out.

Dohko looked over his shoulder at him. "You don't train character. You just grow up. Sometimes throughout your whole life. The next is up to the stars." The old man kept going. "And if you're fortunate, you'll never get to test it. Now go rest, tomorrow I'm doubling your exercise quota."

The student just stood there, dumbfounded. Or he was vastly misinterpreting Dohko's words, or Lance was just told that, if he were lucky, he'd never get to prove himself a complete Gold Saint.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Underworld,

Caina Circle, First Prison, Hall of Judgement

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Manifesting himself into the building's interior, Hypnos rematerialized from the godly teleportation with a dark static pulse and beheld his surroundings, confirming his own arrival. In this place, he would find what he needed to make his brother forget the idiotic Nymph he lost. "I'll have Minos slip a forgery of her name into his book. Thinking she's a rotting skeleton in Cocytos will make you forget about her," he planned, already heading to the main hall with the walking grace of a phantom. By the time Thanatos 'realized' his bride was in a prison, he would have no authority to remove her. But as he entered Minos' great room, he came across an argument between him and Garuda Aiacos.

"He wants the Book?" Minos questioned, making Balrog Rune, who held the great tome of Thanatos by his side, tuck the object protectively. Countless phantasmagoric scribes all around them worked in floating desks, sentencing the dead and making the closed pages flicker briefly with new entries to them every millisecond. "For what, may I ask?"

"For an important task for tonight." claimed Aiacos. "The replacements will soon-"

"I know what tonight is about," Minos interrupted.

Unseen by the Specters, Hypnos raised a brow and concealed his presence, masking his body with his dark cosmos. What was this quarrel among Judges?

Aiacos extended a hand, demanding the book. "Then why are you wasting our time? Your scribes are working, are they not? The book can leave the Hall for an hour or two."

"I will be the judge of that if you pardon the joke." Minos snapped. "The Judge of Caina is personally entrusted with the Book of the Dead by Lord Thanatos. It is not at the bid and request of even Pandora herself, much less the Prince. There are consequences to infringing on this."

Aiacos irked. He knew this would not have been easy, but he had to solve this amicably so Lord Thanatos wouldn't be bothered. Much worse than offending the God of Death with borrowing his tome was to offend Hades himself by sallying out with potential traitors. "If you have such reserves, Minos, you can ask the Prince yourself about them."

Minos chuckled something that unnerved even his servant Rune. "Hm, hm, and since when are you the Prince's lapdog, Aiacos?" he mocked. "Did he order you to come here yourself, leaving your duties in Antenora behind?"

A provocation like this was likely to start a fight between the Judges, so Balrog Rune tried to mediate. "Lord Aiacos, all Master Minos means is that it is odd for you to personally request this in the Prince's name. Please explain to us the situation."

The Celestial Wise Star's diplomacy was not needed to calm the Celestial Valiance Star, whose character exceeded such low provocations. Something told him that telling someone like Minos that False Specters were likely rebelling again would only serve to undermine Pride Star's authority.

Besides, he had good reason to be there. "What we will be doing is nothing but enforce the book's purpose; to determine more easily the sin and sentence to a Prison those who seek to malign the Emperor and soil the Underworld, but the Prince knew you would put up pointless objections, so he sent me ahead to get them done with while he works. A mere series of precautions. So, like I said, Minos -" Aiacos then took a bold, confrontational step forward. "You can bring the book by your own hand if you worry so, but ignore the Prince's command, and you risk facing the consequences of displeasing the Emperor."

Then, as the shadows of the room seemed to mysteriously increase in size, Rune practically shook from being between the two almighty Judges, whose Cosmos silently collided through the undertones of their conflict. The God of Sleep chuckled with fascination from his hiding spot, and the Celestial Wise Star took a fearful step back, suddenly wishing to put down the enormous book. Even the tome seemed to shake in Rune's arms as if two pairs of invisible, terrible hands fought over it.

Minos clicked tongue, causing the tension to subside. "Alright, I shall ask the Prince myself." with a flick of his fingers, his steel-like strings then pulled the Book of the Dead out of Balrog's cradle and held it in the air, suspending it. "If he speaks the truth, then I suppose watching ungrateful replacements fry will be worth the trouble. Rune, administer the Hall while I'm out."

Balrog humbly nodded, simply relieved the Judges wouldn't destroy the Prison with their terrible power. "Yes, Lord Minos."

The shadowed deity then watched both Judges depart with the grimoire and leave Balrog to his work. He mixed himself further with the shadows with the intention to delay his little trick on his brother for later. "Lucifer wants the book? What is this unorthodoxy about? Perhaps I should speak with the Emperor about this... You're lucky, Eurydice, I had half a mind to inflict your death for real, but it seems our Prince has saved you a second time, unwittingly." He then completely vanished from the Hall of Judgement, coursing through the Underworld like a dark nebula.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Underworld

Desert Beyond,

The Lost Amphitheater

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

At the abandoned amphitheater of pleading, by the edge of the mountain pass to the Desert Beyond, five powerful False Specters arrived from separate directions. They were Lycaon Coronis, who rafted the Styx, Deep Amphion, who wandered the dark swamp, Troll Grendel, who guarded the Third Prison, Cait Sith Palug, who served Erika in the Woods of Suicide, and finally Deadly Beetle Gauromydas, who personally guarded the gate of the Walls of Dis. Answering a call made to them by Papillon Ansel's butterflies, they gathered together secretly to discuss the plan for the parade.

With his keen senses, Palug saw the shadowy miasma of the concealed Hypnos suddenly coursing high in the air, heading to Giudecca, completely oblivious of them. "Brrr, what was that thing? It gave me a chill in my soul."

Lycaon Coronis shrugged his claw-padded shoulders. "This place is so insane I've stopped questioning its horrors years ago."

With a pointy-padded armor and boisterous attitude, Troll Grendel demanded their attention. "Hey, listen up, you lots! Gauromydas and I are gonna review the plan for you, and you're gonna have to relay everything to everyone else as we carry it out, so don't you dare get distracted!"

Deadly Beetle just cracked his enormous knuckles to reinforce the threat, putting them all in line.

But the three of them were a bit skeptic. "Why do we have to go through this again? Why have a back-up at all?" questioned Deep Amphion. "If everything goes as planned, then we're just gonna get sentenced to-"

"A lot can go wrong with any plan, which is why Lucifer is our current boss, instead of Lemon!" reminded Grendel, glaring at them. "So it's important you all be very clear on what you have to do and what the layout of the finished Underworld is like now, which is why we brought this."

Gauromydas then pulled and unfurled a vast papyrus map on a small raised circular dais in the ruins, showing the many circles of the Underworld. "With the repairs from the war complete, the Underworld is a changed place, my little friends, and the old maps are now obsolete."

The five of them analyzed the parchment. The traditional maps of the Underworld showed a road twisted inward like a lightning bolt, comprised of the many Prisons, with the Palaces the Judges resided in at the far end, away from the Prisons they were supposed to guard over, and the Acheron, Styx, and Cocytos crossing through perpendicularly. The malebulges, or the dark ditches used to simply toss the dead in, used to spread out chaotically in the mid-stretch into the outskirts bordering the Desert Beyond, and the rest of the Prisons had many awkward intercrossings, a product of successive twists in the architecture of the Underworld caused by repetitive war losses.

The enormous chaos of the final stretch of the Lost Canvas War was the straw that broke the camel's back, and Lord Lucifer was made responsible for rebuilding the Underworld for the Emperor. Now the layout of their realm was returned to a more sensible, rational and comprehensive design, more closely in tune with the tales of Dante Alighieri.

"First of all, the Circles were reestablished over the Prisons." Troll explained, pointing at the Palace of Caina, a magnificent marble building with statues of griffins at its doorstep, now placed in a hill overseeing the Hall of Judgement and the Pyramid of Gluttony. "Lucifer wanted the Judges residing more closely to their assigned areas, so he moved them away from the 4th Circle into their proper ones."

Cait Sith Palug irked. "Yeah, I remember slaving over moving Ptolomea for that bastard Rhadamanthys." The memories of having to transport the large marble blocks and delicate gargoyles of wyverns with his frail, feline body still scarred him. "What was the big idea of having them clustered at the end like that before, anyway?"

Lycaon rubbed chin. "Perhaps as a final defensive line before Hades' Palace?... It clearly didn't work in the last war, though, so I guess it was genius to move them back."

"It doesn't matter, you idiots! What matters is that they're now spread out through the Circles!" Troll shouted. "The second thing is that we had the Walls of Dis rebuilt, which has allowed the Styx to flow around them normally, like a quay, refilling the 4th Prison's swamp! Dis got damaged in a past war, which broke the river flow and isolated the swamp, and it was left that way for many eras so Specters could travel along more easily, but not anymore. Now it's impossible to move through between the 2nd and 3rd Circles without Lycaon's raft unless you got a pair of wings on ya."

The Specters looked at one another. This sounded… counterproductive. "So we have to ask Coronis here for passage?" asked the Deep Specter, Amphion.

"That's right." Lycaon Coronis confirmed. "But that's kind of the idea…as you'll see."

Troll then ran his finger along the length of the Underworld, pointing out its linearity. "The final thing is that the path of the Underworld is no longer bolt-shaped. The damage of the last war was so bad it was causing rifts, which allowed our most unfortunate members the opportunity to work on straightening out the main path when reattaching the Prisons back together."

"This effectively eliminated the shortcut that existed between the Third and 7th Prison due to the road's turning being straightened." Deadly Beetle detailed, folding arms. "No more Prison skipping."

They then let the three Specters memorize and think these things over. They looked clearly perplexed, which was expected to Troll and Beetle.

"... These all sound like bad things for moving around!" Cait Sith complained, rubbing his brown, uncouth hair. "If we had to get out in a hurry, we'd get trapped so easily and with no safe shortcuts! What happens if something goes wrong?!"

Troll just tensely looked away, refusing to answer, while Beetle silently chuckled.

Lycaon saw other critical problems. "And my raft would be a bottleneck, not to mention Charon's boat would as well-" suddenly his eyes glinted with a sudden realization. "Wait a minute..."

Just as Lycaon's epiphany landed, a shiny, golden butterfly flapped its way to them and landed on the map. "Hello, friends. Is everyone caught up?"

"Ainsel!" gasped the Deep Specter. "The Underworld… we turned it into a total trap! This plan is gonna be a disaster!"

"Mm, mm, mm, I'm glad everyone's excited. I've also received word that Treble and the others have finished setting up the 'switches.'"

Troll and Beetle chuckled. "Gyeh, eh, eh! Excellent, everything is proceeding as Lucifer planned!" Grenel cackled.

"No, it isn't! Everything looks terrible!" Cait Sith panicked.

"Lay out the precious info when the moment comes to your inferiors." Ainsel requested. "Lucifer will soon obtain the means to open up a path to us through the Underworld. The time of the Exodus is soon at hand," it then flapped away.

"Hey, wait a minute, Ansel!" Deep screamed. "You can't do this to us! The Exodus will be a death trap! And what switches are these?!"

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Several Hours later,

Sanctuary, Colossus

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Standing by the statue of Athena as the day reached its end, Pope Arles attempted to sense the future through the stars like he usually would in Star Hill, but it just wasn't quite a good enough spot. The idea of doing it on the tallest place in Sanctuary, though, sometimes gave him a creepy, foreboding feeling, as it had been there Hecate had approached him and started this whole chain of events. Sometimes Shion wondered if things had been the same if he had not been there that day to lend a dying witch his ears. Sometimes he wondered how things would have been if they had just been left well enough alone.

He sensed the Virgo Saint approaching. "Shaka, has Thorkell's emissary left safely?"

"Of course your Holiness." the young boy confirmed. The Pope was referring to the group of brutish men that had just come to visit him from Asgard. "Though he quite rudely dismissed my offer to escort them as well."

"Try not to overthink it. It might be hard for them to understand your position," advised the Pope. "Over the following few weeks, I'm going to have a lot of meetings with each of our Allies, so it's important that we both receive them properly and you get to know them."

The boy snorted indignantly. "I tend not to spare much thought over the unenlightened."

Shion felt like shaking his head. Shaka had some immature differences with his long lost friend Asmita, more so in a sense, he seemed a bit intolerant of others that had not achieved a level of cosmos like him. It was hard to have a convincing conversation with a child genius, however, and he, as the Lemurian, knew this exceptionally well. "You will eventually learn to accept their differences, Shaka, and engage them. Wisdom is but conceit if unshared."

The golden-armored boy paced around. "As the Saint of Virgo, I now have much more important duties than educating the masses, your Holiness, or I would immediately cast the Six Paths upon every soul I see, would I not?" he tried to argue, his upfront nature about casting people to vicious afterlifes only convincing Shion he would have to be really patient with Shaka. The boy then, with a flick of his wrist, made an impressive necklace of beats flow out of his armor and wrap around his hand, waving in the air and burning with many Buddhist symbols. "The seal of the Specters, for example, which I inherited from my predecessors...as you can see it has shaken almost all by itself for the past few years."

Pope Arles, unfortunately, could already guess why. "I'm not surprised… over the past few years, the Specters have been progressively getting bolder. When Aguilon defeated a Judge, I could hardly believe that he would just casually encounter such a figure outside the Gates of Hades." He looked at the stars once more. "The attack on Andromeda Island is still a mystery."

"I believe there's more to it, your Holiness," affirmed Shaka, who then ran his finger through the praying beads until a particular one stood out. "The bead of the Celestial Spatial Star has resonated with particularly intense fervor… almost like the Specter walks among us."

"Spatial Star?" Arles questioned, mouth dropped. "But that's… Acheron? The boatman?"

Virgo Shaka put the beads aside. "For a while, I've also sensed the dark smear of a Star in a soul walking among Sanctuary dwellers, so close I could almost sense its stench… but for the life of me, I cannot understand where it is. To make things worse, I lost track of it a month ago..."

Shion's shoulders dropped, head shaking. "But Charon, he… he was defeated at the time, every single Specter was!" he then presented an alternative. "Maybe you are just sensing the ones at the outpost Aguilon says they have built!"

But the sixth Gold Saint trusted his abilities more. "Are you sure, your Holiness?"

The Pope stood still, suddenly stunned by how unsure he was. Was the boatman ever really taken out? Surely he was? The beads were all active, after all, including his! His mind ran through his memories of the Lost Canvas War, which sometimes felt so far away in the past, like the memory of his first alchemic experiments. "We confronted the boatman on the way to Alone's sky fortress… but Athena paid for passage…" he grabbed his head, unsure. "The Bronze Saints rescued us with the 'Argo' at the Acheron, so surely they must have dealt with him?"

Shaka then drew upon his studies of the Specters. "Perhaps I have upset you too much. To be frank, your Holiness, even if he were active, I doubt he'd be doing anything but administering his river, as is his role in Hades' realm," he reassured, setting the Pope at ease. "Maybe his revival has occurred very recently, causing the bead to behave like this."

Arles sighed, seeing some sense in this. The fact that the young, short child in front of him was the one appealing to reason made him feel genuinely pathetic. "Of course, I should have known, ah ah. I shouldn't get so worked up over those things."

"They're an interesting object. I've spent whole afternoons observing them," confessed Shaka, putting the beads aside. "Only a great sacrifice could have been enough to craft them."

The Pope nodded. "A great sacrifice, indeed."

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

It was the eighteenth century.

He was at the entrance of Rodario, where Albafica had lost his life. An exhausted Yuzuriha put the bead necklace in his hand. "Shion, we've made it…"

Aries Shion and the Andromeda Bronze Saint gawked at the three Saints, shocked at the spectacle for various reasons. Crane and Yato looked like a mess, the Unicorn Cloth was not only heavily upgraded, but incredibly damaged too, and, most important of all, Tenma was alive, albeit unconscious on Yato's back.

"Yuzuriha, what in the Goddess' name happened?! I was about to go to Jamir cause of all the fighting I'm sensing there and the three of you… Where is Dragon?"

"Where is Shiryu?!" the green-haired Andromeda Saint pleaded. "Is he back in Jamir fighting?! Please tell us!"

Yato put Tenma down. "It's a long story, but yeah, there's a big fight happening at Jamir. These Specter bastards have been hounding us the whole trip back and jamming messages, so you should go help them right away!"

Aries Shion felt the beads grow warmer in his hand, slowly activating. "Asmita's cosmos in these are increasing…" and then his head turned eastwards,"...while his decreases by the minute."

Are they about to lose their second Gold Saint?

Andromeda grabbed his arm. "Po-, I mean, Saint Shion, we gotta help them! If Shiryu is fighting alongside the Virgo Saint isn't enough to shake the enemy off…"

The lamb squinted his Lemurian brows. "Then the opponent must be truly monstrous. Damn it! Dohko and Hyoga have yet to return! We can't be splitting our forces again and again like this, but..." the Gold Saint then looked at the unconscious Bronze Saint. "If Pegasus is back from the dead, then maybe Hades' powers truly are limited, and there is great hope yet to unravel."

Yuzuriha looked at the distant mountains, in the direction of the pass to Sanctuary. "Athena is still holding up the barrier, but it wasn't working back at Jamir. Shion, I think Shiryu and Asmita might really die unless-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, Aries' golden cosmos exploded into a fizzling geyser around his body, showing off the great power of one of the twelve Gold Saints. His eyes closed, Shion's mind transversed space towards Jamir, where he sensed the incredible violence occurring. Irking, he opened them again with a grit of teeth. He gave Yuzuriha the beads back. "The enemy came prepared with a barrier… this is no ordinary jamming! Yuzuriha, Yato, take Tenma and the sealing beads to Rasgado now!"

The two nodded in obedience. "Good luck, Shion." she wished before they blitzed at Mach 5 towards the mountain pass.

Shion then took Andromeda's hand and prepared for lightspeed. "Come on, Shun, we have to reinforce our friends! Soon, Asmita's seal will come active, and the Specters will be forced to retreat.

The Bronze Saint nodded determinedly. "Of course!"

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The Bronze Saint jumped towards the enemy. "R-ROZAN... HYAKU RYU HA!" the exhausted Dragon shouted once more, thrusting his hands to the skies and shooting out the powerful waves of Cosmos.

But gliding between the flurry of dancing dragons of cosmos, Dark Angel Michael descended like a meteor of black fire on the green-armored youth, kicking his raised shield with such a ferocious impact that Dragon was shot right back down from his leap to Jamir's bridge ground, dragging through it.

"No more dragons, Bronze Saint!" the Specter's chop hand then ignited the Flaming Sword, a long blade of seething black flames that he came down on the Bronze Saint with to slice him in half with a diagonal swing. Dragon barely had time to gasp before he saw the long edge about to skewer him!

But Asmita's wave of karmic power once again struck Michael, paralyzing him through his sins. "TENMA KOFUKO!" Seemingly transported into a realm of endlessly open expanse, Michael's wings flapped back around like a frightened crow, spreading embers everywhere, as many golden, spectral-like phantoms then struck him from many directions, bombarding him just enough to throw him off his course, barely battering his Surplice but holding him back.

He irked from the blasts. "ENOUGH OF THAT!" and letting out the force of the heat of the Underworld's inferno through a battle roar and a spread of arms, Dark Angel shattered the illusion, transporting him back to the real world, and focused red eyes on his objective, cutting down the Bronze Saint.

But Shiryu was offered just enough time by Asmita to gather his cosmos. He raised his right hand in a chop and counter. "GO, EXCALIBUR!" and the image of two blades of contrasting architecture, one like a pure Chinese straight sword and the other like a black longsword immersed in flames crossed in the air, singing the battlefield with sparks of great, colliding Cosmos. The shockwave of the two blows was immense, slicing apart far off objects like the chasm spike Cait Sith balanced himself on, tiles of the Jamir spire and tips of the surrounding mountains, and threatening to tear a hole through the Cosmos itself right there and then. "Incredible, an attack that can parry Capricorn's holy sword?!"

The bladed hands slid off each other like real edges, but Michael's foot struck Dragon's leg, tripping him down, and an ember-spreading whirlwind slash almost cut his head off as Dragon backflipped in reflex. Detecting a thrust from the enemy, Dragon parried once more with an ascending hand swing, making even Asmita hesitate to strike with the unleashing of all-cutting shockwaves everywhere.

But the exhausted dragon dragged his heels back from the contest of blades. In a display of swordsmanship he slid his bladed hand down the length of his enemy's edge, shifting the balance of weight just before rising the hand back up, causing Michael to stumble past him and break the struggle before a green-powered kick struck the Specter's back at lightspeed, shooting him off towards the chasm.

Although relieved his more vulnerable friends were gone, Dragon couldn't help but sweat. "I took out Minotaur, Basilisk, and Alraune with Excalibur and the 100 Dragons back in the present, but this guy… How many have I landed on him?!" Dragon panted as Asmita joined him and Michael stopped his fall with his fingers dragging on the ground. The Bronze Saint had been fighting for an eternity, and it seemed like little progress has been made. "Darn it, it's like he has a trick for every one of our moves!"

Michael allowed himself a small smirk as he got up. "Are you afraid, Dragon? Did you perhaps think I'd be as easy to brush off as Edward?" he chuckled. "A couple of blind Saints thinking they could stop a Prince! I could laugh all the way back to Giudecca right now."

Asmita, sensing the vicious Specter, created his fiery bow once more and contemplated his words. "A Prince?... It's likely we underestimated our opponent, Dragon, and perhaps Hades' schemes as a whole.."

The blonde Specter chuckled as he crafted out of his flames a new missile with an arrowhead as menacing as a lance. "Hm, hm, hm… Alone was right in one thing, you Gold Saints and Godslayers really are too dangerous to be left alone, except he didn't foresee how incredibly naive you all seem to be as well. Luckily, I was born for the purpose of destroying you both." He then aimed at the spire. "But, first, just as dangerous as you are, so is that poor excuse for a Cloth repair shop."

Sweating and raising a bloody shield, Dragon prepared to defend the tower once more.

"Shiryu, you must hold on!" a familiar voice spoke to him. "I can see your struggle through the cosmos now, I will be there soon!"

Shiryu's eyes widened. "This voice in my head… the great master, Saint Shion?!"

"Yes, Shun and I are arriving. You must protect Asm-" Suddenly, Michael shifted his aim at the pass behind him and shot the arrow at the speed of light, striking the cliffs with a dark, blazing explosion which consumed the ground and toppled gigantic, incinerated boulders unto the pass. "What was that?!"

Asmita and Shiryu gasped, sensing without sight the infernal flames blocking the only ground exit.

"It won't be that easy to get help, little Dragon." mocked Michael, delighting in pushing the warrior to the edge.

Dragon felt like he was the victim of a cosmic prank. "I don't understand...I can't recall seeing anyone like this during our war with Hades. It didn't seem like Kanon, and the others would be able to rid themselves of someone like this without us knowing," he ranted to himself, confusing enemy and friend alike. "What is going on?! Was there more to Hades' army than we knew? Is this Chronos' doing?!"

Michael turned to the Gold Saint. "It seems your God Slayers are already unable to handle reality, Virgo. What about you? Will you cry in hopelessness like him?" the right arm of Hades then engulfed himself in a black bonfire, charging his energy. "Or do I have to push you over the edge, too?"

The Virgo Saint's eyes were blind, but he still deduced what had happened. "You planned to let the others go from the start… You wanted them to bait more Gold Saints out of Sanctuary and over to here!"

But the Specter shook his head. "It was a contingency actually… I was ordered to be the one to destroy Pegasus, but Lucifer will be waiting for him at Sanctuary along with Kagaho, rendering all your sacrifices absolutely worthless," he then devoted his deadly attention to Dragon.

Sweat drenched Shiryu's head. "Damn it, so we were all played! All this time, you weren't even giving me the decency of a serious fight!"

As if responding, Michael's cosmos then blazed to new heights, manifesting the image of an angel of shadowed face descending from the skies, wings of black fire, dark armor and tears of blood, intimidating them. "Don't worry, I will happily shift gears now."

The blind Bronze Saint felt his foot step back in fear. If only he could tap into his God Cloth.

But Asmita stepped forward in contrast, his cosmos shining. "Don't relent, Shiryu, not here, nor ever," he warned, getting his attention. "Right now, we must do whatever it takes to neutralize this threat, even if it costs our lives."

"But, Asmita.."

"I hate to interrupt your conversation, but I'm not the kind of Specter that sits back and lets you plan things," Michael assured, then raised his hand in a chop, which made it once again be immersed in a long, sharp blade edge of burning black fire. "You will be immediately sliced in half, and the black fires will eat the two of you that will be left in a nanosecond. DARK ANGEL… FLAMING-" But a whirring sound was then heard in the background, and Michael felt his arm wrapped and pulled back by chains, throwing him off balance. "WHAT?! A chain?!"

"NEBULA STORM!" The fire-immersed boulders blocking the battlefield's entrance were then blown away in the Prince's direction, striking and burying him in the middle of the bridge, nearly destroying the platform. Andromeda and Shion rushed through into the battlefield. "SHIRYU, we've come to help!"

Aries Shion contemplated the destruction. "My goddess…. Master's spire!" Everything was holed, burning, or crumbling. His eyes narrowed angrily at the figure in grey armor pushing off the rubble from off top him. "Damn you, Specter! Who are you?!"

Micheal eyed them odiously, freezing Andromeda in place with how similar his gaze was to his brother from back when he was evil. "I told you, Saints… I am Dark Angel Michael, the Celestial Absolute Star." Making his wings then rise up like a bird about to battle, his fists were immersed in a black fire the circled like small dark suns. "And if you Saints think this little reunion will make a difference-"

"It will!" vowed Dragon, inspired by Andromeda's arrival to fight again. "And we will prev-GAHH!" A golden flash from behind engulfed him, transporting him in and out of the six afterlives so the Bronze Saint would land next to Shion and Andromeda. Grabbed by his friends, Dragon's green eyes stared shakingly at the Virgo as he approached the Specter. "ASMITA, N-NO!"

Cait Sith Cheshire, watching the fight from the cliff sides, pointed at them. "Lord Michael, they're getting away!" But rather than chase them, a whiff of Michael's hand cut off Jamir's bridge, isolating the battlefield. "Wait, no, that's the opposite of what you want!"

But the Prince merely laughed and faced off Asmita. "AH, AH, YES! A duel! I will be able to once more smash the power of a Gold Saint driven to the edge of their life!" he glanced at Cait Sith. "Cheshire, tell Pandora the stars of Virgo are about to vanish from the night sky. The bead seals will be as good as destroyed after this!"

Cait Sith grabbed his hair. Pandora would not be happy about this at all!

"Shion, take them out of here!" shouted Virgo.

Andromeda cried. "NO, we don't want to leave you to die like Albafica!"

Asmita took a second to confront Andromeda. "I see… you are the one Shijima's lingering cosmos in my armor tells me about… a third Godslayer, incredible." He then consoled them. "The seal will be complete within minutes, taking my life. Trying to avert my death was futile."

Shion grabbed the Bronze Saints, tears in eyes, prepared to teleport them away with himself. He felt the Virgo's cosmos flowering like an enormous lotus, countering the infernal Specter. "Asmita… you truly are realizing the apex of your Cosmos in death… I hope to see you again someday."

The feathers on Michael's wings sharpened like burning blades. "Do you really think I don't know your tricks, Virgo?!" he taunted, lifting up from the ground to prepare his' Infernal Cascade' move, which would burn right through the infinite distance of Buddha's palm should 'kha' be invoked. "I will delight in destroying you, ridding humans of the pathetic excuse your faith gives them to be sinners!"

"No, Dark Angel, you have much to learn yet about the brilliance of a Saint's faith," claimed Asmita. As the lotus bloomed fully, Asmita raised his palm, his very life burning into cosmos that would activate the seal and power one last attack. "RIKUDO RINNE! Transmigration of the six paths!" he shouted, emanating a strange, all-engulfing light accompanied by the sound of a bell ringing once. "BEGONE, SPECTER, and repent in the realm of SHURA-KAI!"

The last thing Shion and the Bronze Saints saw before teleporting away was the Specter getting dragged with a scream into a world of endless battlefield, for those that live a life of violence.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

At the time, Shion had sensed that, had he stayed with the Bronzes, defeating the mysterious new Specter would likely have cost more lives than just Asmita's. Efforts to destroy the adversary could have delayed the creation of the beads only for him to be resurrected by Hades anyway, so letting Asmita pay the price for their creation was the preferred option, even if it broke the Gold Saints hearts.

He approached the small boy. "You will be very important for the coming years, Shaka, but not just because of the beads," he assured, taking them to his own hand.

The Indian boy smiled. "Of course, my powers are rather unique among the Gold Saints, after all."

The Pope shook his head. "Maybe so, but I was not referring to that. I have a strong belief that cohesion among the Gold Saints will be critical in the coming years, at least until the Black Saints are thoroughly dealt with. It has come to my attention that there is some friction between you and the others."

The Virgo Saint wasn't convinced. Quite frankly he didn't think his relationship with the rest of the generation he was a part of was that vital to his duties, especially since they required a degree of neutrality akin to Libra's. Every mortal was subject to suffering and sin, and Gold Saints like himself were no exception.

He tried to infer the Pope's motivations, but just like with Elder Yuzuriha, Pope Arles' spirit was challenging to read. "I don't see the benefit in it, personally."

Arles thought about what to say. It was difficult to convince a Virgo Saint to be more open to others. "Just keep in mind you're not infallible. Your powers are great, but not insurmountable. Understanding the motivations of those around you may also help you in your path to Nirvana."

But Shaka disagreed even more vehemently with this. "Not if Nirvana is already in my grasp, your Holiness."

Arles chuckled. "How, if you don't even understand how you let Priam slip inside Sanctuary the first time?" Shion then showed his empty hands. "Or where I put the beads?"

The blonde boy gawked. "Uh, hey! How did you…" he then composed himself. "This doesn't mean anything."

With a snap of fingers, Shion returned him his beads, which had been teleported to a rock near them while slipping through Shaka's senses, and joined hands behind his back. "Even you can be taken by surprise, Shaka, remember that."

"The only thing that takes me by surprise is their rudeness." bit the Virgo.

Shion couldn't help but drop a sweat. It wasn't always easy getting children to get along, but he believed that it was at least easier than adults. "Shaka. I can't force you to like them, but I wouldn't dismiss the need to at least try to understand them a bit more so you can get them to do the same in return." argued the Pope. "Besides, you never know when you might need a helping hand. Holy War is just around the corner and all of our limits will be tested."

The young Virgo boy frowned and pouted. This seemed like a bit of an exaggeration. There was word that a Specter outpost had been built near the border, but it wasn't like Hades was already massing his forces with his seal still having so much lingering strength. Shaka was better off meditating on how to improve his transmigration techniques.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Hours Later,

Underworld,

4th Circle, Giudecca Palace

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

The outskirts of Giudecca flourished with activity as the presence of hundreds of False Skeleton Soldiers and dozens of False Specters, pretty much the entire replacement force, moved into and stood before the enormous Palace that Hades resided in, fully equipped and hoisting banners on scythes and spears of various Circles and Prisons they worked on. Daemon Lucifer, the Celestial Star of Pride, patiently awaited from the steep steps for them all to assume the position, wondering why it was taking Aiacos so long to get him the Book of the Dead from Gryphon.

This was it, the moment of truth.

Standing by one of Giudecca's gargoyles, the Minotaur and Basilisk Specters gazed over the gathered regiments. "Ever seen so many worms gathered in one spot?" asked Gordon, the Celestial Prison Star.

"Not outside an apple, but it's about time." answered Sylphid, the Celestial Victory Star." By the end of this campaign, we'll have all the Surplices free for our real brothers to assume them."

Gorgon looked around. "Speaking of which, has anyone seen Zelos?" he asked. "He should be here, not to mention I need him to cart off the dead at the Labyrinth. They are starting to stink up the place."

The white-haired boy, once more, shook his head. "Not me, but I don't mind. Not every one of our brothers is going to be present. Valentine got called by Pandora to the Earthly Castle, probably to serve her tea or something, and I bet the Judges aren't very interested in saying goodbye to these fools either."

Gordon held hand above brows when he saw a pair of heavily armored winged figures climbing up the steps towards Lucifer. "Well, Aiacos and Minos think otherwise."

Sylphid's jaw dropped at the sight of the object that Minos' strings held up in the air. "Is that… the Book of the Dead?"

Climbing up the staircase to the Left Arm of Hades, both Judges obediently nodded their helmeted heads. "I hope you're satisfied, Prince Lucifer, your ridiculous bid has made me needlessly honor these phantasms with my presence." started Minos, lowering the large grimoire into his own arms protectively.

The Prince's red eyes narrowed tensely. So the Judge of Caina has decided to act inconveniently? At least Aiacos did his part in getting him to come and bring the grimoire without a fight. Lucifer approached Minos. "Since you took such trouble, then you can hand me the Book," he ordered.

Minos smiled. "Of course, as soon as you state the purpose of wanting Lord Thanatos' treasured weapon?"

The atmosphere between the three immediately got tense, and Aiacos felt a bead of sweat in his head form. This fool Minos was going to affront the Prince again?

Pride Star's hand extended, expecting the object. "I wouldn't expect you to understand, but it will all be in the service of the campaign."

"Then you may order me your intentions, Prince," assured Minos, faking obedience and tensely meeting the Prince's gaze. He was not about to trust this man's suspicious request. "I will happily use the Book for it, not that I can imagine how useful it would b-."

A huge swing flew past Aiacos and Daemon's fist exploded on Minos' cheek at the speed of light, right in front of the entire False Specter army, just when Garuda thought an argument would start then and there, knocking out the Gryphon Judge and making him drop both his dented helmet and the book to the ground. Judge Aiacos gasped and the other Specters, False and otherwise, shook with the sight.

Even the big Minotaur irked. "That must have hurt."

Lucifer's shadow swallowed the Gryphon as he got back his bearings. "Stop being a nuisance!" The fact that Minos was there in place of Urial irritated him all the more. "This is the last time I'll remind you Judges; I'm your Prince! Don't ever question me again, or the next punch will smash you right down through the Cocytos." he hissed, before taking the book off the ground, ignoring Minos' shocked stare of outrage. "Sometimes, simpler solutions are the best."

When Daemon lifted it up, he felt as if he had an object far heavier than even a tome as large as his chest should have, as if the lines of ink of the words inside each carried the weight of a person's life. Bringing it and resting it over a makeshift podium shaped like a winged gargoyle, Lucifer opened it up and contemplated its pages.

Aiacos helped Minos up. "You might as well drop it, this was your own fault. Let's just watch the ceremony. Lucifer has a surprise for us." he promised, referring to Lord Hades' attendance. The Emperor would surely set Minos at ease and make him realize how foolish he was!"

Down by the ranks, the five False Specter elites: Behemoth Torak, Sphinx Neferti, Alraune Lemon, Nasu Erika, and Papillon Ainsel, stood in a league, separated from the rest. They inspected the men, ordered the almost thirty False Specters to stand as their own group in front while the close to three hundred False Skeletons assumed columns in the rear in a disciplined fashion, holstering their banners high.

Many of them shook nervously at the sight of the angry Judge by Lucifer's side. Behemoth folded his arms and growled a single command. "Attention! The Prince will now speak!"

At the podium, Lucifer's fingers touched the grimoire's cover reluctantly. Thanatos' weapon was immense, half the size of an average man, forcing most users to carry it telepathically or with strings like Minos' to avoid looking like idiots in armor with oversized school manuals. It possessed terrifying, arcane hieroglyphs speaking of death itself, a hint to the cult it once inspired in ancient civilizations forming a circle in the cover surrounding an eye with a left wing, an allusion to the owner. The black surface was slightly rough, bound in wood and leather with brass plaques like a medieval tome, and touching it made even a Specter's very soul go cold, like approaching something that went against all your paranoid instincts, perhaps death itself. A faint outline of purple cosmos was perceptible if your 7th sense was developed enough and creepy whispers were suddenly heard peripherally the more Lucifer gazed on the object.

Touching a special bookmark on the side, he lifted it up, feeling the incredible weight of trillions of magically compressed pages flipping before him in his hand, images of countless deaths flashing through his eyes while so, before landing on a special page with a long, rundown index with very familiar names on it rowed up with Surplices and Skeleton armor numbers, the False Specters themselves.

His finger ran down all the Surplice titles. Just out of curiosity, he first searched the True Specters for Pandora and the Princes and found them straight at the bottom, in a special appendix. His attention was caught by a particular one.

Celestial Absolute Star | Dark Angel | Michael | Executed by Daemon Lucifer with Hades' Sword | Sentenced to Cocytos for Treason against the Gods

The Daemon Specter stared at it for a second, his finger touching the letters. For some reason they were faded, something odd to see in a page of the 'Book of the Dead'.

Minos observed his behavior. "The Specters?... Why would he want that Spell?"

"Haven't you figured it out. It's to reveal all those with the sin of Treachery," Aiacos revealed to him. "Lucifer wants to personally take care of all those who would betray our Emperor."

Lucifer's red eyes ran through the names, making sure the index showed the False Specters and them alone, and indeed his own name and that of his True Specter brethren did not appear, perhaps resting in another page. "This is it, the Spell page with which Hades curses these fools." He then eyed the masses in front of him, as if comparing them to the index' one last time, before the Left Arm of Hades began his speech. "Specters of the Underworld… it is the hour of twilight. Though the real Holy War still lies years beyond, the moment has arrived to gather our fasces in damascus bound and steel yourselves into a scythe that can reap Minerva herself."

The False Specter masses stood quiet, completely attentive to his words magnified into their senses by the cosmos. They all understood there was no going back from this moment. The Judges and the true Specters also stood quiet, wanting to see if the Prince was as good with his words as he was with his fists.

Feeling that he's captured the audience's attention, the Pride Star continued. "For close to half a century, this current generation of Specters, the NewSpecters as we've called you, guarded, operated and rebuilt the Prisons of the Underworld, throughout which many cruelties were thrust upon you, cruelties we would not have spared the sinners themselves. One of you even rose to the rank of Judge before his tragic death."

Behemoth Torak couldn't help but glance at the Prince over the mention of the death of Griffon Urial. Several of the False Specters also fidgeted uncomfortably, as the fallen False Specter had been an idol among many of them.

Lucifer's speech continued. "For the Emperor, each and every one of you took a vow. For the Emperor, each and every one of you left their families and friends on the surface, facing the prospects to have to one day kick them down the Prisons yourselves. For the Emperor, you all chose to fight, bleed and die for, risking salvation and Elysium for yourselves in the process, risking becoming no better than the sinners you punish. It is a bastard's life, the Specter's life, one that has turned its back to life itself which bore us into the world, with only the knowledge that purity on Earth could redeem our worthless species being the only sustenance of spirit, the only source of bravery and willingness to sacrifice."

The Specters all nodded casually. This was a truth that queried no repetition. Where would this flattery go into, though?

"Every day… they fall into our hands by the droves, the dead." the Prince added, eyes turning to the starry skies. "How many in total, you may ask? Too many, up to one hundred thousand per day, this century, each one with their particular disgusting sin. Every decade it gets worse, and it almost seems too much for just one hundred Specters, for just one thousand Skeletons,... doesn't it?" He then gave the audience a brief moment to absorb this, even letting them have a physical reaction or two within the constraints of their salutes. "Yet, the Prisons run. Yet, the Underworld thrives! This isn't the work of just the powers of our God, but of the union of the Evil Stars, which stands before me today, because the deeper the greed, lust, laziness, and decadence of Man runs, the greater is our passion for making him repent for it!"

This time there was a collection of disparate nods and affirmative grunts from the audience.

Even Gordon found himself concurring. "Uh, he speaks the truth."

"It doesn't really apply to them," assured Sylphid, proud of being True. "Lucifer is just giving the pig a carrot before the slaughter. We're the ones that deserve all this praise, and he knows it."

Gordon folded his arms. "They say the Prince never lies, though…and the Underworld really has been handling more dead than ever in history," he commented. "So maybe he really means it. I wonder if the other one, Mike or whatever, was the same big flatterer."

Lucifer then closed eyes, as if regretting something. "Yet, an Olympian has caused you great harm." he worded, seemingly about Athena. "Yet, an Olympian stands before you all and your deserved reward. You've been lied to, my NewSpecters. You were told that your sacrifices across the decades would yield results, but you have a great obstacle down the road, which only you can remove."

Many of the False Specters fidgeted once more, this time with resentment. Minos irked at the sight of this. "Well, at least if he's taking the time to pay lip service to these rats, we'll have a motivated fighting force against Athena."

"For as long as your enemy lives, you will have no Elysium!" Lucifer made clear, observing each of the men and ensuring they understood this. "For as long as their fortress stands, you will have no peace of mind, no salvation for yourselves, and the hands of the dead will rise up and claw at your bodies no differently than if you were Saints! But you must not see this as a source of frustration, but rather as the culmination of your hard work, the chance to prove to your detractors, nay, the world, that you all are just as much of warriors as you are workers, lashers, and slaves to the mission to save humanity from itself!" His hand then reach out in contemplation. "Each and every one of your scythes, swords, crossbows, banners, and Surplices has bathed in more mortal blood than any other army of any Olympian! You have proven yourselves more than capable of slaying men, but tell me, New Specters, could you slay a God?!"

A wave of nervousness aware of the implications of this question reverberated through the crowd in the form of multiple mutual glances and faint murmurs. Even the Elite False Specters could barely stay calm at this, though Ainsel and Erika had the faintest smirks on them, delighting in how Lucifer was playing the Specters right to their faces.

Running his fingers down the page of the Book, Lucifer contemplated the weight of what he was about to do, and he shook a bit. "That is what is expected of you, Specters, your final test, the slaughter of a divine pig, a deity which has never truly been beaten."

The Gryphon Judge didn't like one bit how Lucifer was dancing around the subject. "He's… talking about Athena, right?"

Aiacos stared at him. "Of course he is, what do you think?" They then saw Lucifer project an illusion to the audience in the sky above them of the Twelve Temples. "See? It's Sanctuary."

"This is your target, Specters, in this campaign… the Twelve Temples of the Gold Saints of Athena!" Lucifer announced, making the image of the Zodiac dance around and cut between angles to show multiple perspectives, like a well-edited video. "In this vast death trap, more Specters, Mariners, Satellites, and even Angels have lost their wars than any of the Olympians dare to admit! What I ask of you is exceedingly simple; to succeed where they have all failed!"

The True Specters looked at each other while the False ones once again murmured worryingly. They all knew this campaign was a daring move, but something had eluded them in this.

"Wait, I thought this was about taking Peloponnesia," questioned Minos, already forgetting how the man just socked him.

Aiacos stared tremblingly, genuinely wondering if he would have the courage or ambition for such a thing with such poor troops. "Me too, but Lucifer elevated the plan when the Emperor questioned him." he confessed.

"For such an enormous task, only the utmost loyalty and discipline can prevail, for we have lost too many of our wars thanks to the arrogance of Specters which have fallen out of line. Before we take a single step out of the Underworld into glory, the great treason we suffered must be addressed. I'm sure you will all agree." he worded, briefly glancing between Minos and Alraune Lemon. Burning cosmos in the tip of his finger, Lucifer then dragged it down the index of the False Specters and Skeletons in the Book of the Dead, causing all their names to alight as if selected on a Lemurian abacus. "This is it, I have their names…"

"Now all he has to do is cast Rune's Reincarnation through the book," Aiacos explained to Minos. "And we will know which of the False Specters and Skeletons have the sin of Treachery to them."

The Gryphon eyed Lucifer expectantly. Something about this didn't feel right.

"I just need to make sure of one last thing… that Hades' puppet is dealt with." Lucifer thought. "I have reserved a great honor to you all, New Specters, something you could only have earned thanks to the magnitude of the task I have signed you up all for." he then waved his hand at the Palace. "Emperor, I beseech thee! Show yourself before us!"

There was indeed a great murmur now, even among the True Specters. "What?!" Sylphid gasped.

"The Emperor?! Hades will show himself?!" Minotaur gawked.

Down by the ranks, Alraune Lemon sweated. "This is it! We're really gonna see Hades!" he admitted. "Damn you, Lucifer, how do you have so much influence?!"

"Hades… he's gonna show up?!" one of the False Specters asked out loud.

"I've never thought I'd see him…"

"Does this mean…"

"I wonder what he really looks like?"

"Calm down, you lot!" Troll Grendel shouted, silencing them, though he too sweated in anticipation. "This better work or we're all doomed."

Up in the staircase, Aiacos couldn't help but fold his arms and smile at Minos' shocked face. "Are you convinced now? Your fears were completely unfounded."

The Judge of Caina composed himself. "I… I will be when he does show up."

Lucifer called out to the Palace once more. "EMPEROR HADES! It is I, your Prince, your Left Arm, your Celestial Star of Pride! In the name of the Specters, of the whole Underworld, I beg of you! Show yourself to us and inspire us to godslaying deeds!"

And then, with a thunderous burst of black light exploding before the Prince, a great cosmic force manifested, letting out faint whispers of the Underworld's Spells, promising an afterlife of purification to all. The army of Specters stared in awe at the darkness converging into a whirlwind pillar, their 7th senses burning with the immense, incomprehensible power forming and slowly teleporting a physical shape inside and, with a great thunderous clap, the currents of darkness suddenly spread out, revealing its occupant.

The Specters gasped and awed.

Minos and Aiacos immediately dropped to their knees, humbled by the presence.

Lucifer's red eyes widened, and his face went completely pale."Oh, no…n-no, no, no!" He gulped, suddenly terrified. This couldn't be happening!

Before him stood Hades, in his red-haired, pale-face, elegantly armored puppet.

But behind him, was the dark outline of the worst possible person to come; the more calculating and manipulative of the Twin Gods who served the Emperor, Hypnos, the right-winged God of Sleep.

The Prince barely found enough presence of spirit to react. "Lord… Hypnos? Why… what are you doing here?!"

The golden-haired God smirked, feet suspending slightly above the ground like a grim reaper. "You were giving a speech, were you not? By all means, Lucifer, continue. It was absolutely delightful. I especially liked the part about slaying gods." he then glanced at the book in the podium. "And then, after you're done, perhaps you can explain why you took my brother's book!"

The Pride Star couldn't help but step away from them. "Y-you… you bastards! Only Hades was supposed to come! WHY IS HYPNOS HERE?!"

The puppet frowned, much less amused. The sudden quietness alerted all the Specters and the air seemed to get denser, as if surrounding Lucifer like a prey. Hades felt no need for words; if Hypnos was right, he would annihilate Lucifer right then and there.

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Chapter End

{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}

Next Chapter: Chapter 38 - Second Arc – Episode 6 - Exodus - Part 2 of 2

Description: In Andromeda Island, Shinta questions Cynthia about Sanctuary's dark side. In the Underworld, pushed against the wall, Lucifer must decide on how to act with Hypnos on to his plan.

Author's Note: This chapter was produced taking into account the production of the next chapter, creating the need for more time for planning and brainstorming. It was, however, considerably sped up by my new routine based on a writing tracker, which is a positive turn of events.

The episode of "The Exodus" in Version 2 of LR was very much brushed over, but just like Deathmask and Aphrodite's origin, I took the chance of writing LRV3 to expand upon it, especially considering how important an event it was. To give you an idea, in the manuscript of V1, the Exodus did not ocurr at all, much less the emergence of the False Specters, and Lucifer conspires against his enemies entirely on his own, a lot like Vegeta from Dragon Ball.

To address the unsigned guest review question; unfortunately Shion has no clue what you're talking about XD He's entirely concerned solely with what Hecate has told him and regards Pegasus as a normal Bronze Cloth which coincidentally served Tenma, the Godslayer, during the Next Dimension to Lost Canvas continuum that LR is based on.

As for Mark33's question, Shinta's name actually came from Rurouni Kenshin (I know, right?) and is Kenshin Himura's birthname. His teacher comments that it was too sweet of a name for a child who went through such terrible things, so Seijuro Hiko renamed Shinta as Kenshin Himura.

Finally, make sure to check out Hitagi Gahara's SKD scanlations of Next Dimension, Saintia Sho and others. The writer of this fanfic is proofreader of Saint Seiya Next Dimension's English releases, and they're your current top source for high-quality scanlations in English. Also, if you're interested, contact me through PM and get an invitation to the new SKD Discord server, where you can get updates on Sho and ND directly, not to mention chat with me and many other English-speaking SS fans.