Notable OCs: 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

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

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

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

Author Notes:

-Thank you to Rihannon for beta-reading a specific section of this story that was very important. Be sure to check out her works along with Jenny DeVic's on

-Also, a late thanks to Niello for consulting the early Dohko scene.

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Please enjoy and review (^_^

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I've ventured into the Desert Beyond for the first time and it has instantly made me think twice about not keeping a log. If I hadn't been writing down directions, this place's labyrinthic nature would have swallowed me whole. There seems to be many more dangers in my new home than I thought. Perhaps I could catalogue my training, too. Reinforcing self-discipline is important, after all.

Other thoughts could perhaps be deposited in these journals. I found Rhadamanthys the other day torturing Michael in the black arenas and that image isn't going to leave my mind so soon. I still don't understand why he despises the two of us, it's his fault anyway if the Emperor hasn't obtained victory yet. For all their power, the Judges and Pandora are useless.

The dreams of the sound of a winged monster continue. Lord Thanatos called it… the Dark Calling, the voice that calls every Specter to their other half: the Surplice. Will I become a monster when I complete my training? On my 18th birthday, will I grow wings of metal and flesh-tearing claws? Will my power rise to the heights that I've dreamed of for so long?

If that is true… then a monster I will become. The sensation of the truth shakes through my bones even as I write this; the truth of my fate, of what I am meant to become, the heavens I will have a role into bringing down to the Emperor's feet! As the Prince of Hades I will destroy Sanctuary with my bare hands, slaughter the Gold Saints and end the Godslayer once and for all! I will stand tall at the top of the Zodiac and hoist Hades' banner for the entire Earth to see!

It is my destiny! My power tells me so. My 'pride' tells me so.

-Second entry from Lucifer's first journal, dated May of 1503

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Temple of Cancer

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The day after the trial, activity in the Golden Zodiac returned to normal, but the inhabitants of the Cancer Temple were abuzz. The young trainee Mephisto and the apparent Pisces Gold Saint, Aphrodite, rushed ahead to join the Temple's guardian by the main hall, where they saw the red-eyed fighter carefully tuck armor pieces inside the Cancer Cloth box.

Mephisto peeked inside, where from he heard the call of the armor Lance said one day would become his. "Let me get this straight; first you stuck out your neck for these losers, then you ask the Pope if you could leave for China, and now you want to leave your Gold Cloth here?!"

Aphrodite folded arms and looked condescendingly. "Is this brat supposed to take care of your Temple and your armor for you?"

The Cancer Saint patiently answered. "Mephisto won't be on his own; I've asked Papal Guards and servants to help him keep the place in check. I need to complete my training." He locked the box and placed it centered on the floor in the room, as if to bring good luck. "My skills are incomplete; my battle with the Cepheus Saint and my encounter with Cetus prove it. I also can't call myself your Patron Saint if there are doubts to me even being a fully-fledged Gold Saint." Lance then packed the Pegasus Cloth Box on his back and looked down on the crab armor's receptacle with concern. "As for Karkinos... after what happened with the attack on the Pope, it's probably not for the best to take too many armors outside the Zodiac without reason."

The cyan-haired boy was not convinced. "What about me? You said I wouldn't have to leave my gardens and that you'd cover for me," he protested, eyes narrowing menacingly. "If you forget about our deal after all you promised… I will kill you." he threatened, teeth gritting.

The declaration alone chilled the other two. "What the heck is wrong with you, man?" asked Deathmask. "I don't like this either, but-"

Lance covered Mephisto's mouth, knelt by Aphrodite, looked him straight in the eyes and answered. "This isn't fair to you, I know, but I will do my best to be back as soon as possible. This is the best way I can protect you all," he guaranteed. Now that he thought of it, he had never imagined he would be sticking himself so much out for a bunch of kids. "Have you thought about what I asked you?"

There was a grumbling frown from Aphrodite, who looked away. "I did…. I suppose that now it's been decided it's our choice if we want to become Gold Saints or not… it makes sense that I should say yes."

"Traitor!" complained Deathmask.

"Are you sure?" insisted Lance. He above all knew this was not a light decision.

Ignoring the other brat, Aphrodite focused on his mentor. "It's not like I haven't been training for years for it… Elisa tried to kill me, yes, but she still imparted me with the knowledge and the skills to fight," he recalled, his sharp tone growing softer. "The more I think about it, after your poor performance yesterday, the more I understand I'll have to be the one to make sure no one ousts me out from what I love. If taking the mantle I never wanted is what it takes..." he then sighed and thought really hard on his work to force the answer out of his mouth. "...then I will become the Pisces Gold Saint."

Lance stood back up, impressed. "...You're making quite a grown-up decision. I'm glad I trusted in you, Aphrodite. One day you might really not need me to guide you."

The steadfastness with which the warrior ignored the thorns in Aphrodite's personality when saying this sort of thing had always flustered the Pisces boy, whose eyes rolled and scrambled away. He definitely wasn't used to people not being afraid of him.

"Just… don't rub it in my face, okay?" the Swede asked, accompanying him out.

"Oh, but I will!" Deathmask cackled. He raised his hand annoyingly as they got outside. "I have a question; what happens if we're invaded while you're gone doing whatever?!"

Lance's red eyes rolled. "It will be fine, we're not getting invaded. Besides I'm hardly the most dangerous Gold Saint in Sanctuary," he confessed, glancing off-handedly at the Virgo constellation insignia in the Fire Clock. "You're not even among the first three houses. Just make sure the place stays tidy and you'll be okay, Mephisto. Also…" he then hesitated, looking at the temple he was leaving behind.

A purple-brow was raised. "Also, what?"

How was he going to put this? Much to Mephisto's surprise, the Pegasus Saint knelt down and leaned his forehead on his own. "Look, I didn't want to do this, but… I'm going to trust you with Karkinos for the first time." he started, communicating through the cosmos. "When I'm gone, you might hear callings or even voices coming from the armor. If you do, I want you to get away from it and send me mental messages immediately, understand? Or call one of the others. That armor is not trustworthy."

The puzzled look on Mephisto's face said it all. "Um… yeah, sure, but aren't you training me for it anyway? What's the harm-" He then got a stern red look that made his question go full stop. "Okay, okay, I get it. No playing with the nuclear-powered ghost armor."

A bit relieved, the Pegasus patted Mephisto's shoulder approvingly and looked the two of them over. "Don't cause trouble, okay? I'll be back before you know it."

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Making his way out of the 'Trojan Walls' guarding Rodario's outline, Lance heard the guards close the large, wood-padded metal doors behind him with a clank. For the first time, he felt truly outside Sanctuary. On the back of his head, he felt like Shion's eyes followed him from behind the mountains, where Sanctuary hid. Trying to make his way on a slow pace down the dirt trail to find a spot where he could discretely light-speed away to China, he pondered on what his actual plans for the future were.

Looking down on his hand-wrapped fist, he felt old, healed scratches from the fights he's had since he last left Dohko. Learning about light speed, the Dragon-style martial art, Seiryu's move the Shoryuha, the Underworld Waves and just benefitting from Roshi's guidance in building up strength and agility had served him pricelessly. However, it had not been enough to stop him from being poisoned by Elisa, tossed around by Guardnia or absolutely humiliated by Cetus, whose strange strength and power still concerned him. Moreover, none of these people seemed unafraid of any of the Gold Saints that had retired, meaning it was very likely the difference between a beginner Gold Saint like himself and a veteran like Daniel and Kirin wasn't just considerable; it was colossal.

That was more than enough to think about the people that were willing to not just antagonize Sanctuary, but openly attack it and its allies; Specters, Mariners, powerful Black Saints like Priam and Artemis' Satellites. They were historically, legendarily and presently groups that wouldn't think twice of fighting a person as utterly dominating on the battlefield as Herakles Aguilon, whose victory over Lance still made him shudder. He wondered how terrifying would a full-fledged Specter, rather than a weird case like Bennu Yakos, be to fight? The only case of reference Lance had were the three Specters that attacked Andromeda Island, and it was no secret that it wasn't the Pegasus that saved the day back then.

Now he was in a position where he would have to prove the Zodiac was secure and protect the others from being tossed to the street by greedy established families. A massive training breakthrough would have to be made and while Lance had a couple of ideas to explore, he wasn't sure if it was possible without Dohko's guidance.

Just as he concluded this, his red eyes lifted up in surprise to detect a couple of familiar faces down the road. Little Aiolia, of all people, was walking out of a spot with large rocks by the trees, now smeared in small red blood marks like the size of a small fist. His crying face sunk into his older brother Aiolos' chest, who seemed to be calming him down.

What an odd coincidence, was Aiolos training him? The shaken look on the older brother's eyes seemed to indicate that it was more likely that Aiolia was training by himself and Aiolos walked on him. "He's been against making Aiolia a fighter, after all," Lance frowned, realizing what happened when Aiolos seemed to be lecturing the younger kid and shaking his head in disapproval. "Should I say something? Or walk away?"

As if to end his dilemma, the two noticed Lance had walked into them. Aiolia wiped his tears and hid his red face and Aiolos protectively embraced him. "Someone told him he would get kicked out…Aiolia won't say who. So he left school in the middle of the day and came here to… train." Aiolos confirmed to him, mentally, occasionally looking at the blood on the rocks and trembling. "I don't know what to do, Lance… I thought becoming a Gold Saint myself would be enough, but then the Pope and the others started feeling a powerful cosmos in Aiolia, too..."

Not used to being open to anyone but Shinta, the Pegasus Saint still made an effort and patted his shoulder sympathetically. He took out a chocolate bar he wanted to give himself for later and offered it to Aiolia, who shyly grabbed it. "Hey, little guy, what were you doing here?"

The little boy's tanned face was red and drenched. "I… I… I was t-training!" he confessed, stuck between frustration and anger. The outbursts of his cosmos probably alerted Aiolos, the person most familiar with him, all the way back in Sanctuary. "I w-wanted to train to get strong so I could become a Saint!"

Not wanting to force the boy to spill out why again, Lance merely tried to be comforting. "You shouldn't worry about that, you know?"

"I S-SHOULD!" he cried out, but his face then twisted into embarrassment for being rude to a friendly person and he looked away again. "I w-want to be like Aiolos...I have cosmos, so what's the problem..." he half-lied.

"Oh, Aiolia, you shouldn't…You're just five..." Aiolos assured, taking him in again. "I can't stop thinking about what might happen… what if he gets maimed in training, or worse? What if someone wants to challenge him for the Cloth, beat him up or even kill him to not have rivals? The rules wouldn't even let me protect him from that," his eagle-sharp eyes looked back at Rodario. "Sometimes… I really hate Arles. Other times I wonder what he must be going through to be forcing us to make decisions like this."

Lance sighed and ran his fingers through his own black hair, exasperated. "Can I ask you something, Aiolos? After everything that has happened, is it really worth it for you two to stay at the Golden Zodiac? You could have a steady occupation at the hospital, maybe you two wouldn't need to be a part of this mess?" he asked out loud, perhaps motivated by his own insecurities.

But Aiolos suddenly glared at him like he was the most naive person in the world. "No one leaves the army out of a coffin, Lance, it's not just a saying. Even people who retire only do so well after great feats of their own or their use has ran out…"

"I see…" hit by a strike of guilt, Lance asked for honesty. "Do you think I should stay in Sanctuary after everything I said yesterday?"

"That's a ridiculous question, of course not," Aiolos quickly concluded, though it seemed for a second like Aiolia tried to chime in. "You've done so much since coming here, imagine how things will be with your training complete. The right thing to do here is for us to support each other in these trying times, so we can get ourselves into proper shape even faster. Don't worry about Sanctuary, we will look after it."

It was surprising how easy Aiolos disarmed Saga and Lance through words when the greater moral good was at stake. Usually Shinta would try to employ similar lines, but would be so meek and unconvincing at it that Lance would just dismiss the Andromeda Saint's thoughts and let them burrow in his head later. The Sagittarius Saint, however, seemed to have a gift in making the difficult path for pragmatic people like Lance the most obvious to take with the sheer confidence he had in his values alone.

"So you're going to see the Libra Saint… if you don't mind me asking; what's he like?" asked Aiolos, snapping Lance out of his trance. His shoulders shrugged. "I mean, he's never around, but he's one of us, right? I'm just curious."

The Pegasus Saint's mouth 'oh'ed. That's right; he was the only one of the Golds to have been with the Libra, as far as he knew. His chin was grabbed in contemplation, wondering how he would describe his teacher. "What if I told you he looks like an old man hand puppet someone would use in a movie?" he confessed, sweating in embarrassment.

"Oh cool. I wanna meet him, Aiolos. Can we go to China?" asked Aiolia.

"W-what, really?!" the flabbergasted Sagittarius asked. "But I heard so many times he's this great warrior from the mountains who has fathered 100 children, ten of which became great warriors themselves!"

It was Lance's turn to shrug shoulders. "I don't know what to tell you, he has the face of a shriveled prune. If you don't believe me, ask Shinta," he flatly stressed. "But if it makes you feel any better… he's just as insightful as you may have heard, just not always direct and honest with his lessons." He then took off, feeling extra incentive to try his best. "Anyway, I promise I won't worry you guys, too, see you later."

"No problem, friend, bye." waved Aiolos

"Bubye, Lance!" Aiolia quickly mimicked so he could then tug his brother's arm. "Aiolos, can I eat the chocolate?"

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Meanwhile,

The Underworld

Second Prison

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Inside the Pyramid of Gluttony, where halls of hieroglyphs led to labyrinths filled with lost souls, Sphinx Neferti, the black-haired, tan-skinned guardian of the dog Cerberus, watched over the three-headed beast feasting on the damn. The sounds of munching were for once replacing the incessant growling, allowing her enough peace to practice her tunes.

The corner of her black eye saw a familiar figure enter the internal hall of the monument. "Alraune?" she called out, to which from the shadows a red-haired man with plantoid, black armor came out. "Have you come to hear my music… or to die?"

The powerful New Specter walked up to her podium. "Am I not allowed to move through my God's realm?"

She coughed to her hand, suspicious. "You are. But this is not your Prison, and you should not be here without my permission." She got up, making her musical weapon stand out menacingly, and narrowed her eyes, "and neither should your cronies back there."

A pair of extra shadows came out of the halls. A medium stature man with a horn helmet, spiked shoulder plates and dark brown palette to his Surplice, the Troll Specter, and a much larger man with curved-down shoulder plates, flattened helmet with buggy purple eyes and several protruding spikes all over his black Surplice, the Golem Specter, both joined the confident Alraune Lemon in his confrontation with the Sphinx Specter.

They all stared her up. "Neferti, we have come to ensure Lord Lemon won't be harmed by you, heh heh heh." Troll claimed. "You should listen to what he has to say."

Her finger discretely rested on her harp's string. "Pfft, what difference could two bee workers make next to a wasp like him?"

The gigantic golem paced forward, loudly stomping the ground. "We'll show you-" but as soon as his hand raised a single, dull note was heard ringing through the room and the man went into a screaming fit, dropping on all fours like a collapsed titan and grabbing his chest. "A-AGHH! W-what?"

"Do you feel your heart beating?" Neferti asked, threateningly staring him down. "That was a single note. Perhaps I should make it jump out your mouth with the next one." A whiff in the air was suddenly heard and a metal whip came out of nowhere, striking her harp with such force it shattered in half and hit her stomach, bashing Neferti off her podium down to the ground with them.

As if a curse had been interrupted, Golem gasped out for breath in relief and panted desperately, reddened eyes bulging with panic. "T-that was…. Her power!"

"It won't bother us again." assured Alraune, walking up to her. "Will it, Neferti?"

She growled defiantly, standing back up and raising her hands defensively, the force of being hit by the tendril of Lemon's Surplice still caused her body to ache. "D-damn it, my harp! W-what do you want, you snake?!"

"I've come to ask you if you've given my proposition any thought," he laid it out, just as Troll helped Golem back on his feet. The red-haired man smiled confidently, knowing he had the upper hand. "How about it?"

By the dark Gods, this again? The musician woman whiffed in contempt. "You must be out of your mind if I'll join your little conspiracy against those monsters!"

But Alraune Lemon laid out his arms presentingly. "I'm no longer on my own." As he said this, Neferti's face went into shock mode as she began detecting even more bright pairs of eyes in the darkness of the corridors. Dozens of Specters that had entered her Pyramid without either her or Cerberus noticing now surrounded her on all sides. "I've been hard at work, Neferti, and I've gained the trust of our brothers and sisters. The cause of the Specters is no longer in chaos."

She stepped back in fear. "Y-you… you think that matters?!" she confronted.

But only getting giggles from Troll and Golem in answer. "It's better than rolling up and letting these rats abuse us any longer," countered Troll, still feeling the lashes of Sylphid's mocking on his mind. "We're gonna rise up against these entitled 'Stars', Neferti! Join us, you know it's the right thing to do!"

Golem's fist closed, bulging his grey-skinned muscles. "I've worked in the Prisons tirelessly for decades, and now these snot-nosed punks come along and start replacing us one-by-one! I'm not gonna stand idly by and neither should you, Sphinx! The Prisons are ours!"

The situation was dire; it didn't seem like she would be able to get out of this without accepting, but going up against the Gods was suicide. She knew better than most after the zap she almost got from Pandora, a mere liaison. The Specter of Alraune had acted rebellious to the Prince for years; openly mocking and affronting his orders and inciting others to do the same. He had even abandoned the mission to attack Andromeda Island, to where his two old partners, Basilisk Maia and Minotaurus Guen, had been assigned by Daemon.

The break-up of the Underworld's traditional trio at the time, coupled with the deaths of Basilisk, Minotaurus and even Gorgon, made many think then that either Lemon's absence from the fight had led to their deaths or he had simply dodged a bullet in a suicidal attack on Sanctuary's territory. It was not unexpected that Alraune had gained some sway over those that distrusted the authorities of the Underworld amongst the New Specters.

Still, nothing changed the fact that biting Hades' hand was not the answer. "If you think going up against the Emperor won't end with your heads on a platter, you are all fools!" she argued.

Alraune folded his arms and rendered her assumption asunder. "The Emperor? We have no intention of doing that, Neferti, oh no, no, no!... The person we intend to behead, is the Star of Pride himself!"

Her face paled. "W-what…. The Prince?!" as the shock subsided in her, the irrationality of Lemon's men for even entertaining this idea became clear. "You poor souls…. You better have an army, then."

While there were some nervous shuffles amongst the uprisers, Alraune himself stood confident. "There is no man on this Earth so powerful, Neferti, you must know that," Lemon casually countered, making many faces in the shadows nod and grunt approvingly. "Not even the seemingly insurmountable might of Daemon Lucifer can stand against the combined revolt of so many warriors of the cosmos," he then glanced at her shattered harp. "Besides, I am not so weak, if I do say so myself."

There was so much wrong with this plan. "How do you even get off thinking that it will make a difference to us?!" she demanded to know. "Attacking the Prince?... He has defended us the most so far!"

There was a multitude of angry protests. "Defended us?!" a voice in the halls spat.

Shadowy cosmos burned, darkening the insides of the prison. "That slave driver is the worst of them all!"

"The Celestial Star of Pride… Pah! I will laugh when Lemon cuts off his head and we see him bleed just like any other man!" another shouted.

It was then Troll's turn to protest, gritting teeth with hate. "Neferti, You pathetic lapdog… I told the others you'd be like this. Lucifer pretends to protect you from that harpy, Pandora, and now you won't dare to question him?! What about your Specter brothers?!"

Her face filled with sweat, feeling the threat of being lynched by her former comrades becoming very real.

"Daemon Lucifer has done nothing but take advantage of us," Lemon calmly argued. "The distance the Gods shower us with allows him to play that role. Remember, Neferti, that he who yields the most power is the one who converses with the Gods on behalf of the rest. Every day, he speaks to the Emperor and the Emperor speaks through him. With Pride Star gone, the New Specters will rise in strength as one and deal with his Majesty directly, who will see we are not worthless warriors."

"And then what?!" asked Neferti. "You think Thanatos and Hypnos will just sit idly by and let you get away with insurrection?!"

For some reason, this just made Lemon laugh. "AH, AH, AH! Those two?! Insurrection?!" he mocked. "Do you not remember what Thanatos did to Lucifer when he found out his wife was gone?"

Bringing this up seemed to have brought an extra tension to the room, as this was the moment everyone realised no one was safe from the wrath of their deities. While few Specters were present at the scene, Neferti herself having already left the room, word travelled fast in the Underworld about the state Lucifer was in after bringing the Twin Gods to the Emperor, broken and beaten like a weakling Skeleton grunt.

Indeed it seemed that even the lethargic Emperor was far from being the less negligent or cruel of the Gods. To think that Lemon could just walk up to Thanatos and present Lucifer's head without reprisal was not entirely ridiculous, and Alraune must have been feeding this idea to the others for years.

"Neferti, they do not care. Those two sent Urial on a death mission and didn't bat an eye at losing a Judge to a Silver Saint." Alraune reinforced, getting some nods in the background that confirmed her fears. "They exist to watch us suffer and run with our heads cut off. I wouldn't be surprised if they honored us with ousting Lucifer once and for all."

"And when he's gone, Rhadamanthys and the others will be next," Golem swore. "We will put their heads on pikes, and Hades' army will be reborn from the ashes, honoring its true warriors."

The man in plantoid armor approached the Sphinx more closely. "And then, in the end, we will be the ones to receive Paradise from the Emperor, to be welcomed in Elysium, not them. Not those snivelling brats calling themselves Celestial Stars." The mere mention of these titles made the warrior scoff and spit on Cerberus' feeding pool of corpses. "And you… you've seen how Lucifer has become infatuated with that woman who tried to kill you… Pandora. Don't you wish to see her mounted on a spear, too? Don't you think our commander should be punished for the eyes he has reserved for her?!" he appealed, knowing Neferti despised the liaison since that fateful day the twin gods arrived. His gauntleted hand extended. "Join us, Neferti. Let's start our great revolution...and show the Underworld and beyond the might of the Specters!"

The black haired woman stared at his hand, shaking with the many eyes on her threatening to rip her apart. The memories of being punished and toyed with by the inhabitants of Giudecca for so many years despite her best and most loyal efforts flashed through her mind, making her anger boil. Over the years she had watched many comrades sacrificing themselves in this bleak existence, with only the promise of paradise in Elysium and redemption from their flawed humanity pushing them onward. Now it seemed like the newly arrived kids, like Rhadamanthys, Sylphid and Valentine, were going to get that honor instead.

"You're with us, or against us, Sphinx!" pressed Golem, squinting at her hesitation. "Make your damn choice!"

She tried to think of what Behemoth Torak would do, or the fallen Urial. They'd do what's best for the Specters, wouldn't they? It certainly wasn't staying around waiting to get used and tossed away. Picking up the pieces of her broken harp and looking at Lemon's hand again, Sphinx Neferti made her decision.

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Chapter 32

Second Arc

Episode 3

Revelations - Part 1 of 3

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Many Hours Later,

China, Rozan Mountain

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Thanks to the speed of light, travelling to Rozan in the blink of an eye was easy for Lance, but not so easy was to land without cratering a village. The Cancer Gold Saint softly glided down from his speed-blitz by the edge of the lush forests of Rozan Mountain, from where he could enter his teacher's domains more gracefully. Having memorised the usual path by now, he immediately paced into the tropical wilderness, anxious to get home.

Uh, when had he started referring to this place like that?

Searching for the sound of crashing water, it didn't take him long in his trek to find the grove, which welcomed him with the refreshing, peaceful sight of Rozan's waterfall roaring down the mountain into Seiryu's lake with Dohko's house lying in its overlooking spot. As he hiked up the trail to it, he heard strange voices and saw a group of people arguing at the door.

Confronting the small, purple-skinned Master in a green silk shirt, a trio of poorly dressed Chinese men yelled, grumbled and made demands in Mandarin, threatening the elder with hand gestures and impatient foot taps.

"(Where is the martial artist, old man?! We know he lives here!)" one asked, though the Pegasus Saint himself couldn't understand a word.

The old man's mocking laugh was indistinguishable, though. "(Yo-oh-oh-oh! You have all searched my house up and down. I think you'll have to tell the Triad you couldn't find who you were looking for.)"

A second one, by now obviously part of a trio of mobsters that for some reason were after Dohko, wasn't convinced. "(What old geezer living by himself in this shit countryside has a second bedroom for someone twice his size?! The guy we're after came from here for sure! If you don't tell us where he is we'll burn your ugly cottage down!)" he showed off his lighter in one hand and a torch wrapped in oil soaked strips in the other.

Lance's eyes widened at it. "HEY, what the hell is going on?!" he shouted in English, knowing no better way to communicate. "You people better back off."

They all looked at him unimpressively. "(Beat it, Brit!)" they assumed, taking out clubs and showing off pistols in their belts. "(This is none of your business! Go find some whore in the cities to keep you entertained before something else gets shoved up your ass!)"

Hearing a faint growl from the bushes, the Pegasus Saint spotted a familiar golden glint of tiger eyes nearby waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting thugs. If he didn't solve this quickly, Ma Chao would attack and make everything worse.

"What do you want?!" Lance angrily asked, tightening fists, not understanding a word but seeing their intentions clear as day. "This is just a poor, drunk old man who can't even defend himself!"

The three of them got really suspicious all of a sudden. "(He must be the one staying at his house, no?... Hey, are you the one who trashed the Triad's dojo?)" one asked, waving a machete.

A second, more sleazy looked one. "(I don't think he is, the guy with the money said the man had brown hair and was from here….)" He playfully swung his spiked club. "(But maybe he'll be happy if we bring any head anyway.)"

The third one wasn't as talkative and immediately pulled for the makeshift revolver and opened fire at Lance's head, blazing the whole grove with light. The bullet missed the bobbing head from the Pegasus who then stepped forward, caught a lunging machete from the first guy, twisted it till it broke and round-kicked the screaming man's face so hard his body struck the gunner against the porch's fence, shattering it. The large, metal club swung at the seemingly distracted Lance, but somehow the youth's arm bashed it back as if made of steel and his fist struck the man's guts, popping out all the air inside him through his mouth, before a follow up swing bashed his face to the ground, tossing out bloody teeth to the ground.

The gunman screamed in fear, recovering from the collapsed wooden porch, and attempted to search for the gun he dropped when he got hit with his friend. The teenager stepped on his crawling hand. The mobster struggled in desperation.

Dohko massaged his own long whiskers disapprovingly. "You used Cosmos to block the bat. You should work on that later." the Master commented in Greek.

"Ugh, I know, but I wasn't boosting my senses either, so give me a break." Lance complained, then knee-dropping just hard enough on the shouting gunner's head that it would knock him out but not deface him. "You could give me props for feeling it coming without cosmos. What did you do, anyway?"

The old man laughed. "Yo-oh-oh-oh? Me? A simple drunk, 'old' man? That is foolish. They described a much younger person adventuring through their payer's neighborhood in his off hour..." he then pointed his cane at the destroyed porch. "You'll be fixing that later, by the way. Come inside, let's have tea. I want to taste the sake Shion made you bring me."

Pegasus Lance grumbled to himself and followed. From the shadows, a huge white tiger rush ahead of him, startling Lance, to get inside first.

He grumbled. "Oh, hey Ma Chao… missed you too."

He only got an angry, impatient growl in response, though.

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

Sitting by the dining table with Ma Chao the Tiger, Dohko took the sake cup and gently poured the bottle of Akassius' wine before tasting it. He licked his lips savoringly. "Mmm…. You know, Lance, even I appreciate that there's something exquisite about western wines… and I don't think our former Gemini Gold Saint has figured it out yet, yo-oh-oh!" he then let the huge white tiger lick the rest.

The Pegasus Saint exasperatedly took the Master for his word. "Are the Gold Saints just passing around the gift, hoping to get rid of it?" He then tried to spark the discussion he came there for. "I'm sorry I've been away for so long, Roshi. Things… have been happening in Sanctuary."

The small old man gave him an amused wide eyed look like he was told a joke. "The firing of Athena Exclamation seldom goes unnoticed to people with the 7th sense, even in such a out-of-the-way place on the other side of the world like Andromeda Island," commented the Master, letting off that he sensed most of the important events from afar. "Personally, the possibility of Shion being attacked is something I make sure to pay attention to."

How obvious was it that Roshi was acclaimed best friends with the Pope? It was not unreasonable to admit that he was watching over Sanctuary from afar occasionally while guarding whatever he guarded at Rozan. There was a chance even that he knew more about Shion's shenanigans than the Gold Saints actually present in Sanctuary, which kinda made the whole problem with the Pope being so absent recently even more irritating.

Looking over the room, Lance realized little furniture and decoration had been moved or replace in his absence. "Have you been well, Roshi?"

"What a ridiculous question; I'm on my own here for centuries on end, yo-oh-oh. I'm finer than most." he assured, chuckling.

Lance's red eyes squinted. "Is that why you've been turning young without anyone knowing and paying visits to fighting clubs owned by the Chinese mob? What if the Pope found out?"

Petting Ma Chao, Dohko defended himself, smiling way too sheepishly for such an old man. "It was just a walk. Besides, you don't think I keep my skills sharp just by meditating, do you? But enough of that, I'm more concerned about my so-called student. What has it been like to live under Shion's thumb as a Gold Saint of Athena?"

Giving up on pretending he could make sense of the eccentric Master's thrills, the Pegasus Saint decided to then relax and and detail the events in Sanctuary since he left China. Starting from his meeting Milo and Aiolia in town, to getting treatment from Camus, to travelling to Syracuse and the Isle of Gardens to get Mephisto and Aphrodite. He did his best to describe his experiences to a frankly more-than-interested Dohko, whose fascination with the new generation of Gold Saints seemed to surpass in oddity everything else about the hermit.

Roshi asked several questions, often interrupting Lance's accounts of the events to ask him again to describe the kids as if he kept forgetting or derived a strange pleasure from it.

"Did Shura pick up the sword training? Has he made it clear he's the most loyal of all? Yo-oh-oh" Dohko enquired, for example. "What about Milo, has he been hanging around the Aquarius Temple?"

A vein practically popped in Lance's head. "For the hundredth time, yes! I don't know why you wanna know about these tiny things! I haven't been memorising their day-to-day lives for you, you know, what does it matter to what's been happening?!"

Roshi, however, would just chuckle and gesture for him to go on with the most recent scandals in Sanctuary Town. Eventually, the Pegasus managed to get to the part of the Eighty-Eight Knights Festival, where he talked about his first encounter with one of the Allies of Sanctuary, King Cetus of New Lallybelle. Still chilled by the experience, he mentioned his concerns with the fact he ordered an innocent Sanctuary villager and her child killed by his guards in front of everyone and would likely have had his way by force if Saint Cassiopeia had not been there.

"I've talked shit about Sanctuary all my life," stated the red-eyed warrior. "but I never thought it associated itself with people as openly monstrous as this. Who are these 'Allies' and how do they get off acting like bad guys from a Disney movie?"

This was a topic that provoked a change in Dohko's mood, whose gentle wrinkled face frowned sadly. Again, his hand ran through his beard and whiskers.

"Some are old friends, some are new… All in all, Shion has had to associate himself with some questionable groups to keep peace in Sanctuary, especially right after the wars, Holy or otherwise," he contemplated, getting up with his cane and walking up to his shelf, where a porcelain plate was painted with Lemurian dot pattern designs. "Without them, in our darkest moments, the Saints of Athena would have been left alone, a single warrior band fighting armies on all sides. This has had the tragic side effect, however, of those friends growing stronger and stronger… and not listening to Shion so often anymore."

The sheer webbed intrigue of this all baffled the Saint, who felt reminded of Adriana's political talk. The sudden question of why they were kept around came to his mind, but he realised any direct solution would require bloodbaths. The sensation of being in yet another political mess beyond his control intensified.

He tried to find a branch to hang onto in this affair. "Is any of them reliable, at least? I'd be happy just knowing they're not all like Cetus," he pleaded, depressed.

Dohko's large eyes brightened. "Yes, one of them, Yuzuriha, is a very old friend from the Lost Canvas War. You'd do well to trust in her. She also represents the Lemurians. Of all of our allies, they have little interest in our power games."

Lance sweated nervously. "She guided us for a bit in Andromeda Island, but I felt like she was trying to control us, more."

In another sudden tension of expression, the sheer notion seemed to revolt Roshi. "Don't doubt your Master on this, Elder Yuzuriha is the best friend you'll have among those seven," Dohko asserted, coming off a bit personal to his student about it. "But I understand your concern. Truth is, Lance, that just like in any other situation people have their differences in life, you cannot have total power over your destiny… even if you're the Pope." He put down the porcelain and thought the matter over. "I believe in you if you feel Yuzuriha wanted to manipulate you and Saga somehow. Still, I think she knows you're my student. And she wouldn't dare to trick me like that in a million years."

Lance was baffled. "How can you be so sure?"

Dohko casually sipped more of Akassius not-so-exquisite wine. "Pah...She studied with Shion... And their teacher taught them well that you don't want a tiger in a china shop any more than a bull." he affirmed, storing the bottle back in Lance's Pegasus Cloth box with a return to sender note. "I care a lot more about the safety of Seiryu's chosen, and of Rozan itself, than Lemurian concerns about alleged stardust sources in that waterfall outside, hee-hee-hee."

The student stared at the Master, remembering a vague mention in the past about how the Dragon Cloth rested beneath the waterfall and was washed and strengthened by 'minerals' carried in the water.

Reminded of the rising dragon by this, the fight with Cepheus Guardnia came to mind. "Roshi, I also wanted to tell you I've had the occasion to experiment with Rozan Shoryuha, including on the battlefield." Lance got a more vivid attention span from Dohko, who's eyes bulged with interest. "In a battle with the Cepheus Saint, I channeled my cosmos through the tattoo, recreating it. The results… were painful."

A snort of obviousness followed. "Of course they were, as their power is not yours, not in a natural way. You have a conduit on your back as a result of your treaty with Seiryu and you've been using it for purposes not meant for it." Dohko, somber, looked out the window at the rainy clouds approaching. "It is not good to rely excessively on Seiryu's techniques to win your battles. In your next few lessons, we will focus on unlocking your secondary element so as to tap out your natural possibilities with cosmos, maybe then you'll be able to follow a new path of power."

The notion of this excited the warrior, who still remembered the harsh training regimen he was going through when Shinta came to Rozan in tune with the rewards they almost bore fruit. "You really think I can unlock… electricity?"

"Without a doubt, I've already seen you on the brink of manifesting it." the Master assured, but recalling that frightening moment where sparks turned to black fire haunted him. "Though more and more I think your doubts about it have a good reason, my boy…" He then got up and pointed his cane at the dirty dishes. "Alright, clean that up. Then go upstairs and dust the corridor, the rooms and my study. Do it in time to wake up at 5am, too, we're starting training tomorrow early."

Lance felt a familiar grumple in his own lips. "As always, doesn't strike much of a conversation other than training and how Sanctuary has been doing…" he pondered, picking up the wine tray and tea cups. "Maybe he has his reasons. Maybe he's just focused on being a teacher. I can't say he doesn't care, that's for sure, but… shit was I hoping he'd ask about Shinta?" He sighed and grabbed his head, then noticed there was a huge white tiger sitting on top of the tuffons. "Shoo, Ma Chao, I need to clean!"

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

Later on, upstairs, the Pegasus Saint was dragged up to the study where Dohko pointed him towards the duster and the shelves. Already knowing the drill, the youth diligently started cleaning the furniture, the round glass window and the tomes filling up the walls of the Master's working room. There was often a morbid curiosity from Dohko to watch him clean his house, but this time the Master seemed too tired and went to bed, leaving red eyes to his duties. After months of living with him, Lance no longer minded at all, finding the routine more or less relaxing.

Perhaps this was one of Dohko's tricks to get his mind off Sanctuary and the Saints in order to focus on training, or perhaps it was way more simple than this and the guardian of the Specters seal just wanted a free maid. In any case the study was, tragically, one of the least interesting rooms to thoroughly swipe for mites. The endless rows of books, tomes and notes were all in Mandarin, and an old script at that, so most of the knowledge and interest was locked behind a three-inch thick language barrier.

The downpour outside intensified and a thunderbolt was heard. Looking outside, Lance shivered a bit when he thought he saw the faint silhouette of a flying snake in the clouds as if Seiryu was swimming across the darkened sky. He had not received many answers from Dohko about what happened when he used Shoryuha against Guardnia, but maybe over the course of these new sessions something important would be revealed.

This had become quite the norm; he would attempt to decipher Dohko's lessons for a hint of anything useful but afterwards, he would just toss the weights and books aside and ask what the heck was he hiding.

He had been pondering all of this while dusting a particularly old shelf row when his red eyes spotted, among the many titles in weird Chinese characters, something that made his jaw drop: actual Greek text. It was thin, almost like a journal, and most of the title was faded, but there were definitely western letters on it. Hesitating for a second, he touched the back cover where faint 't's could be seen and, looking toward the door as if worried to get caught, his finger pulled out the tome from its resting place.

The title on the front cover was much less decayed. It read "Notes on Tenma." Lance's back rested on the wall, biting his lips puzzlingly and running his hand through his charcoal hair. "This is the name of his first student, right? He's told me about him a bunch of times. Are these writings on his training of him? Why would they be in Greek?" He spent a good minute staring at the title, feeling curiosity rise. The secrets of Dohko's attitude towards him had always been a source of interest, with Lance mostly discarding Roshi's eccentric behaviour as the ramblings and daring actions of an old man who no longer cared about appearances. But this could tell him a bit about who Dohko was behind the senile old man façade.

Still… it was perhaps a personal document. It really looked very, very old. Dohko also seemed nostalgic at times about his first student. Should he dare to peek inside? What if Roshi found out? Maybe he should put it back. "Yeah, I shouldn't do this. I need to respect Roshi's privacy." he concluded.

Just as he was shoving the notebook inside the shelf in its proper place, a loose page inside it slid out below and fell on the ground. Lance cursed and picked it up, now wondering how the heck would he sort it back in its place. However, as his fingers grabbed and lifted it up, he noticed it was not a page full of scribbles, but a sketch drawing. His red eyes widened and his mouth dropped. Signed below by a familiar Pope name, an armor had been drafted and drawn with all its parts and transformation movements.

And it was none other than the Pegasus Cloth.

A third rumble of thunder was heard outside. Memories from conversations with Pegasus on Lance's first night in Dohko's house returned. "I… completely forgot. Pegasus did tell me this…" His eyes closed pensively. "I'll take a peek tonight and return it here as soon as possible, maybe Roshi won't notice."

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

Later that night, Lance sat by his bed with the notebook in his hand, created a ball of cosmos next to him to read it properly. He turned the first pages on it with stern curiosity, wanting to know all about Dohko's first experience as a teacher.

The first annotations were surprisingly confident and told a story about meeting the student in Italy, of all places, back in the 1740s, a date that made Lance's head spin. He knew Dohko was from the previous war but sometimes the idea of it being two centuries ago was stunning. After a rainstorm in an orphanage caused a rockslide that endangered Tenma's friends, it seemed as if Dohko witnessed Tenma awakening his cosmos and blasting the rocks to smithereens, demonstrating his ability at the age of thirteen.

"Thirteen?" Lance thought, musing his own experience in Mount Olympus. "That's around the same time I did, too. Most students have to awaken it so much sooner, though..."

These thoughts must have somehow gotten the attention of the Pegasus Cloth. "You found a book on Tenma?... Won't Dohko be angry?"

The owner detected a slight sliver of anxiety in the horse's voice, perhaps vitalized by the topic of its former owner. "Yeah, I… got curious. I wanted to find out more about him from Roshi's words."

"What does it say?" the armor requested.

And the warrior read on further, absorbing the lines like a sponge. "It seems at the time, Roshi really wanted to teach him, but the Pope said no. Someone called Hakurei took it over." He then flipped the pages when he noticed a break in the notes. "Roshi must have started writing down stuff for it but then stopped, but it resumes some time later."

The Pegasus Cloth shook inside its box. "Hakurei, he…" the memories struggled to form. "Something happened before Tenma got me."

Lance's red eyes widened at the restarting of Dohko's notes in 1750, with a line that revealed the fate of Tenma's teacher. "Roshi says here he went missing?... " There was a pause in which the youth contemplated the coincidences. "The same armor, the same training with Roshi, the same age awakening cosmos and also losing the first teacher… This is… getting creepy."

"It's not uncommon for people protected by some of the same constellations to develop similar fates in their lives," Pegasus assured its owner. "I could tell Hakurei didn't abandon Tenma of his own volition, either...I remember Tenma's feelings on the matter."

This coincidence was perhaps true. So far, the red-eyed Gold Saint had encountered a number of people who spoke of or were examples themselves of a sort of bloodline and heritage culture that drove Sanctuary politics and oftentimes extended through the mystical nature of constellations. Elisa spoke of how kids like Aphrodite and herself were cursed by the Goddess of Love's blood, not to mention Adriana taught him about why Sanctuary passed down possessions, glory, wealth and even Cloth through the family even if merit said otherwise. Perhaps just as people in normal lives believed that being born under the same Zodiac somehow made your personalities similar, then maybe after everything seen by Lance it wasn't insane to wonder if constellations had similar effects on fate itself.

He opened the armor box so as to talk directly to the white horse. "What was Tenma like, Pegasus?" asked Lance, feeling the curiosity grow morbidly. Perhaps something the Cloth knew about the boy could say something about what awaited Lance in his future with the Pegasus Cloth. But the steed shook. "What's wrong?"

Like an orphan, Pegasus voice spoke with great, child-like sadness of its former owner. "He was… vibrant, passionate, hopeful, believed in saving his friends… perhaps too much."

This puzzled Lance. "Too much? How so?"

Painful memories made Pegasus' helmet head lower as if to look away. "I… don't remember… the palace… the Prince..."

Red eyes narrowed confusedly. "The what?" Lance thought about pressing for answers.

But the armor's energy seemed to shrink and shrink.

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

They ran as fast they could, breaths heavy and wounds burning, across the magically twisted corridors of Giudecca in search of the exit. The Underworld shook with Hades' rage and the entire palace seem to echo a scream of agony and anger, chasing them.

The Andromeda Saint's chain suddenly quirked up its triangle edge and pointed at where they had to go. "Quickly, through there!" he appealed.

Tenma looked up ahead and saw the big doors of the hall. "There it is! The exit!" his beaten up face gave Sasha the boyish smile that had always encouraged her. "We're going to be alright, Sasha!"

Aries Shion, however, saw the red, arcane symbols swim across the walls around them, dragging behind a net of pure shroud that engulfed the corridor in Hades' terrible curse. "It's the spell…. 'Eternal Darkness' has caught up to us."

Phoenix rushed ahead and shot out the fire blast "HOYOKU TENSHO!" incinerating a temporary passageway through the mantle before they were drowned. "Then we just have to book it even harder, we can't let Athena be caught in their trap again, come on!"

But the ground shook even harder making Bronze and Gold Saints alike stumble. "W-what was that?!" Cygnus shouted. The air began cooling in a way he wasn't comfortable with. Another shake followed and his face paled. "Oh no…"

The entire group halted in fear and awe, feeling the monstrous cosmos catch up to them. From the ceiling above them, already immersed in Eternal Darkness it dropped, the weight of a person clad in Damascus armor, completely drenched in black goo, loudly clanking on the floor and splattering darkened sludge everywhere. The horrible magic of the spell made it seem all the more terrifying, reflecting upon the eyes of each Saint and even the goddess the faint silhouette of something that made their hearts sink.

"You won't be going any further…" a voice said from it. A pair of red eyes opened up in the mass. "This palace will be your grave!"

Sasha instinctively stood close to Tenma, her hand grasping her staff in preparation for more brutal fighting. They were all utterly exhausted, having fought across the Lost Canvas, then the underworld, all in a row, escaping from Yona's machinations, Alone's deadly paintings and now finally the brutal power of the last vestiges of Hades' army.

Tenma gulped, seeing all of this too. He felt the cosmos of the friends that had aided him so far, putting their selfish needs aside, weak and tired.

The youth then tossed the shouting purple-haired girl into Libra's arms. "Dohko, RUN, take Sasha!"

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

Lance felt sweat run down his forehead, seeing a fearful pulsation in the white-clad armor parts as if the Cloth was reliving a nightmare. "Pegasus, talk to me. What's the matter?"

The horse shook more and more and the back armor plate even fell off to the box's bottom. "We… fought…so hard..."

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

Two wings of metallic white feathers spanned bravely to the sides, white cosmos burned with vanishing intensity around Tenma's body. Before them, a great dark force crackled with blue electricity and screeched at them.

The courageous boy stared at death, Pegasus armor proudly clad on his chest in its strongest form yet. The Saint's thoughts were focused on nothing but the face of his friends. "This is where you stop, Prince! You and Hades have shed enough blood!"

"TENMA, N-NO, I won't leave you!" Sasha shouted, dragged back by Dohko and the Bronze Saints.

But the Libra himself couldn't force himself to move. "Tenma, no!..."

The Dragon Saint pleaded to him. "Roshi, we must…"

Anger burned before the Pegasus Saint. "You will pay!" the figure roared. "You, your filthy goddess, you blasted Bronze Saints, YOU WILL ALL PAY for what you DID!" A pair of hands crept out of the dark mass, clad in monstrous metal claws drowned in thunderous energy.

Shion blasted the doors of Giudecca Palace out, letting the light of the 108 stars blind the room. "Let's go!"

The mass of darkness burst into an eruption of blue and purple light, letting out a massive, blackened creature wrapped in blue sparks whose landing on the basalt ground of the palace shook the entire structure, sending shockwaves of sparks everywhere. It stood up, eyes sunk with madness, and two wings of terrifying despair flapped high into the air, spreading specks of penumbra everywhere.

The blue light lit up the faces of the Saints, sending them into fearful gasps. What stood before them was no longer a man, but a monster, a demon of the age of myth conjured by Hades in modern times.

Tenma stared up at it, teeth clenched in rage. Making his cosmos burst out in white light, he manifested his mother's gift once more into splendorous power. "I am a saint of Athena! You do not frighten me, Prince!"

The pair of red irises maddened with the events of the Holy War stared into Tenma's very soul. "Your cosmos will not save you, Godslayer, not from me! For centuries I've prepared for this moment and now I've had to watch you shatter my dreams, my efforts, into nothing! You will die and so will your wretched friends!"

"T-TENMA!" Sasha screamed in tears, seeing him clench his fists, but she was dragged out by Dohko and Andromeda.

Tenma's hands waved, charging what could be the last attack of his life. "Pegasus, burn my cosmos!"

The monstrous creature in armor roared out a battle cry and a pole of a lightning bolt manifested in his hand. "Die, Godslayer!"

And the Pegasus Cloth pulsated with Tenma's bravery, feeling more alive and as one with its owner. "METEOR FIST!" His lunging fist shot out the barrage of meteors just as the clutches of darkness swallowed him up.

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

"Pegasus what's wrong?" Lance asked again, not knowing the thoughts that the armor was being plagued with.

Eventually, a warmth previously present in the room began to disappear and Pegasus' cosmos all but disappeared to Lance's 7th sensitivity, as if something dark had consumed the armor's spirit. "I'm sorry… I can't remember… anything but the darkness."

Seeing the state of distress he was putting his armor through, Lance patted its head. "It's fine, I don't really care," he lied, before he thought of how to change the subject. "Geez, did this armor get traumatised or something by the last war? It acts like it was on the frontline all the time and got shell shocked… What the heck was so terrifying that it reduced the Cloth into this state?"

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

Meanwhile, Andromeda Island

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

The day was finally coming down on the Indian Ocean and temperatures on Andromeda Island rapidly began to cool down. Chained up together by one wrist and one ankle each, two kids dashed down the practice mounds after a day full of marathoning and jumping across the dunes of Andromeda Island's wastelands.

Elda felt the harsh tug as Albiore dropped to his knee, exhausted. "Al, c-come on!" she pleaded, her own face reddened and drenched in sweat and sand. Their wrists and ankles were eaten by the metal underneath the shackles. "Don't stop now, we're gonna freeze to death if we don't get to the huts."

The young blonde boy wheezed. "I… I can't!" A hand wrapped in pink metal grabbed his chest before he fell to the floor again and pressed a cup of water against his dried lips, which Albiore happily drank on.

Seeing the boy coughing, Andromeda's hand rubbed his back. "Take it easy with the water," Shinta demanded. "We're almost back to the Living Area, just hold on a little while longer." He saw the morale was low in the two, though. He wanted to be kind, but Shinta himself had to go through this when he was young and the reality was that after a long and harsh day of training for the Elysium Leaps pretest, the harsh temperature drop could kill them on the spot or at the very least give them pneumonia. He led the way. "We'll get some food for you two if you just make it through this last bit, okay?"

Elda licked her lips, famished. Saint Shinta was a surprisingly good cook, having apparently learned a few tricks from fire-wielding Saints from assault teams. She made sure that Albiore could walk again, knowing that with the shackles on them she would have to rely on Albiore's success too.

Such was the reality of Andromeda's Island Elysium Leap pretest; no matter what class you were in or Cloth you were aiming for, you'd have to be chained together with your same-year trainees for a full month, like a bunch of prisoners working on a road. There was nothing pretty about this; there was barely any privacy, the shackles were unrelenting vice grips on the flesh, not to mention the pretest cared little whether you were a boy or girl or even friend or foe. This was without mentioning the 15 feet high cliffs they would have to leap across at the end. Together. With no safety net. Over the dry bloody splatter marks in the sand of everyone else who had failed.

Elda had to admit this was a bit much.

"Saint Shinta?" she asked. "Will I be able to finally start training under Saint Cynthia after the pretest?"

He nodded his green-haired head. "Yes, Elda, don't worry… I know you're anxious, but for now you have to stick with me, okay?"

Albiore grumbled. "Why is that?" he questioned. Unlike Elda, who would get to move on to a Silver Saint's protection, he would have to train under this Bronze Saint for the entire length of his tutelage.

Shinta climbed up a cliff and offered them his hand; which Elda took first. "Well, it's complicated," he started, lifting them up,"but you two technically aren't students yet. I know you've signed a blood oath to Athena on your first day, but the survival rate of the training on this island is so low that we, Masters, don't accept you as official students until after you show you can survive the Pretest. Some of the Cloths also demand the Elysium Leap as one of their prerequisites, too."

Following behind the Saint, Albiore wasn't convinced, looking frustratedly at the ground. "I think the others started exercising cosmos in their first week. This isn't fair…"

Elba's elbow poked his side. "Hey, don't ruin this for me again, you've been giving Saint Shinta trouble all week." she whispered angrily. "What is wrong with you, lately?"

Albiore lifted up his hand to show off his shackled wrist. "Have you looked at us? We look like prisoners! This is ridiculous, I wanted some real training to learn cosmos, not jump over lines in the sand all day. How is this helping us break through rocks?!" he pointed out, leaving her young blue eyes defenselessly stunned for a second.

Despite leading ahead, Shinta could sense some anxious bickering in the kids, but he tried to stay focused. Master Guardnia wouldn't interfere in such bickering unless it got in the way of learning and everyone was tired and probably pretty frustrated. Besides, the sleeping huts were within sight, resting around the camp fireplace and Chameleon Rock. They'd get a good meal and a good night of sleep soon.

"We have no privacy, we have to take turns using the bathroom, we can't even pick up forks and pencils without pulling each other's arm and I'm pretty sure these things are gonna infect our arms," the blonde Argentinian boy pointed out. "I've never heard of any Training Ground doing this. He doesn't know what he's doing at this point."

Her lips grumbled nonsensical swears beneath her breath. "Look, just suck it up, okay? I want to get my Silver Cloth and go after Rebecca as soon as possible and training under Miss Cynthia is my best shot at it!"

Albiore looked away angrily. "Oh, good for you, you got a good reason to put up with this guy…"

At this point Shinta couldn't help but look over his shoulder, but the two kids quickly covered their mouths, pretending they hadn't said a word to the other.

Reaching the training ground, he silently sighed and opened the door for the mess room for them. "I'll get dinner for you two ready soon, I'll be right back."

Elda beamed her best smile at him. "Thank you, Saint Shinta!" she bumped Albiore again. "Say thanks, you dork!"

Yelping an ouch, Albiore acquitted. "Thank you, Saint Shinta…" he then gave the tomboy girl a venomous look. "Sometimes I really hate you."

She dragged him inside by the shackle. "What's your problem with him, anyway? The guy even goes out of his way to get veggies for you cause you can't stand grilled meat smells, not that you bother to explain why."

"I just don't trust him, he acts way too nice," he confessed, helping Elda sit down in a way their chains wouldn't get tangled. "We heard every story in the world about how harsh the training ground teachers are! They put you through traps and belittle you, and the first thing this one does when we get to the second worst Training Ground is give us a big smile and ask us what our dreams are. I bet this is part of some sick trap. What a load of bull-"

Shinta barely had time to see Elda tap Albiore with her elbow a third time before he moved out. He didn't really have to do anything, but he wanted three minutes alone with his own thoughts after another nerve-wracking day with his first two students. While Elda would soon be taken from his hands by Miss Cynthia, he would be responsible for Albiore, a prospect that still terrified him, especially since he didn't seem to trust him.

It wasn't like they weren't nice kids. Quite the contrary, but it was a lot of responsibility to suddenly take on for someone like him who always stood by the sidelines in missions and been very passionate about how a good teacher could make a difference.

The last words of Master Guardnia still weighing on his mind didn't help, either. The late Cepheus Saint had suggested something awful to him; that Sanctuary was under some sort of sick disease and that Shinta could do something about it. Almost five months had passed since then and this notion still bothered the Japanese Saint. He wanted to trust his Master's word, but… Sanctuary was his home. He had so many friends and loved ones in it. Everything that happened that day was bizarre and tragic and difficult to think about, but in his heart, Shinta did not believe Sanctuary to be a bad place.

Still, the intensity with which Guardnia had entrusted this secret to him haunted his dreams. It was a lot of weight on him all at once. What was he even supposed to do, conduct an investigation and find out what happens behind the curtains of the Golden Zodiac? That would be ridiculous.

I know you don't believe in a warrior's motivations, but maybe you'll believe in yours, that of a pacifist.

Sitting by Chameleon Rock, chains dangling by his feet, Shinta felt his throat swell up and eyes water. From losing his dear teacher to finally getting into a bad fight with his best friend and finally, receiving the enormous responsibility of Elda and Albiore's future, it all felt like a bit too much. He wished Lance would at least respond to his letter, but nothing so far. Chances are he didn't even bother to read it or has been too busy to do so. Word had reached him from Saint Cynthia that some important trial had happened in Sanctuary Town.

Trying to believe all he could do was his best and hearing the banging of forks and knives on a wooden table by impatient, starving kids, Shinta managed to pull a smile and headed back. "I'm going, don't worry, ah ah."

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

The next day,

Rozan Mountain

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

Leaving the house at five am, the Pegasus Saint locked the door and followed the dwarvish master down the dirt road. He covered his eyes from the rising sun. In Rozan, it was common to wake up at this hour to train, but it was still a stunning sight to see the early rays penetrate the bamboo and trees to hit the waterfall, splattering mist and rainbows everywhere. It reminded him of why he always ached to come back here when he was in Greece.

Ma Chao passed ahead of him. "You're coming too, Ma?" Lance asked.

The purple-skinned man waved his cane impatiently, joined by the big cat. "Come on, I have a special surprise for your training today, yo-oh-oh." He rubbed his long whiskers playfully, "and I want to see how you handle this one, hee hee hee."

Packing the Pegasus Cloth box, the red-eyed, charcoal-haired youth caught up with him. His discoveries from last night still jumped inside his head back and forth. Even though he had returned the notes to their proper place without being caught, he felt the urge to bring the topic up. "Maybe it can wait till another day, it's not important," he concluded. "Where are you taking me, Master?"

"We are going to the same place you practiced the Underworld Arts, the valley of lost souls that is permanently caught in mist," Dohko explained, eagerly leading the way in spite of his frail form and feeding a fish on a stick to the huge white tiger; happily watching it feast on the snack.

This made Lance's brow raised. He had not been there since the fateful training session with Karkinos that revealed to him the secrets of Presepe. "What for?"

"We will continue your training to unlock the element of lightning. When your element potential is tapped out with it, your cosmos will mature, reach its final form and help you on your path to grow fully in line with the speed of light…. Only then may you call yourself a Gold Saint...for now, you'll just be a Gold warrior."

This sounded reasonable enough, or so he thought as they entered the tropical jungle path that would lead to Rozan's deeper valleys. "I can't wait, Roshi," he assured, though something plagued his mind. "Though I wish you'd take me more seriously when I say I think electricity really won't be my second element."

Dohko looked over his shoulder to him. "Ah, nonsense, what makes you say that?"

Memories from his battles in Death Queen Island, an event he had not gotten into detail with the Master yet, sprang to mind. "My experience with elements just suggest otherwise… I will try, Roshi, but I really think it will be darkness."

In a rare occasion, Lance's words seemed to make the usually over-the-top wise Master hesitate to answer. This was because Dohko's thoughts were more in line with Lance's assumption than he wanted to confess. "How did you first unlock fire?" he asked.

Lance oh'ed, realising he had never shared this story. As they made their way through the trees and bushes, he recalled the events on Arcadia. "It was right after getting hit with a fire blast actually… all I remember is this intense feeling of anger and frustration. The Bennu Specter had killed these two people I was trying to save, or so I thought… then I dreamed of 'him'."

For some reason, Ma Chao the tiger growled angrily in response. "Your best friend, Guilty?" he guessed, to which he got a nod from the Greek. He resumed his walk, shaking his head sympathetically, already guessing what must have happened inside Lance's cosmos. "Feelings of anger, desires to destroy…. They have been known to help trigger the unlocking of the 'fire'. It may explain your awakening of it as your first element. However, darkness only arises out of intense feelings of fear, trauma, melancholy and sadness. It's partly why Specters are so prone to develop it."

"How did you unlock your element, Roshi?" Lance curiously asked, trying to with a strained smile to change subject.

The old master rubbed beard pensively. "Through intense meditation and training with Seiryu, mostly. Water is a tricky element." he declared, voice steeling like a tense bamboo at the memories of his preparation to unlock a fluid cosmos. "Intense martial arts training have been known to help trigger wind and water elements in the cosmos, as they make your cosmos flow in a particularly flexible way, but the most important factor to develop was your mind itself, knowing how to adapt and flow into situations, not resigning to a unique style of thinking," he then slyly glanced at his student. "In a way, I had to be shapeless, adaptive…. I had to be water."

Lance folded arms. "And you think I can be 'lightning'?" he skeptically asked.

Dohko shrugged his shoulders mockingly. "You do have a habit of suddenly crashing down on people's plans, yo-oh-oh!"

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

Just like last time, it took a considerable walk to reach Rozan's mysterious deep reaches that were permanently shrouded in mist amongst the trees and rocks. Ma Chao, more often than not, took the lead ahead of Dohko, making Lance wonder if the animal was guiding the teacher through the valley's treacherous paths. Last time Lance had managed to make his way back alone, but maybe it was easier to leave the place than going into it somehow. How would a simple tiger know better than Roshi, though?

They reached a spot where the mist partially deposited into a shallow pond. "Here we are," announced the master. "This is where you'll begin to practice to unlock your second element."

"This is it?" Lance had been brought to suspicious looking training grounds before, but this took the cake. "You want me to get electrocuted to unlock my element?"

"Yo-oh-oh-oh, perhaps, but I haven't brought a lightning rod to strap you to." Roshi teased. "This is a special place, though. As you've seen before, the last time you were here, many spirits of the dead wandered the valley. They're usually not much use, their only good for frightening bandits with." He then looked up at the misty sky. "However, it occurred to me that a magical dragon god lives in the neighborhood."

As always, Dohko seemed to prefer to make jokes about the absurdity of the supernatural elements residing in Mount Rozan than giving him a straight answer. Lance put down the Pegasus Cloth Box and began putting it on, piece-by-piece. "Okay, so what's this one gonna be about?"

The tiger began fretting around and growling angrily, sensing Seiryu's magical downpouring in the valley and instinctively desiring to hunt the dragon. This gave Dohko the indication he needed that he was ready to begin. "In order to unlock the element of lightning, we must enhance the striking ability of your attacks, as well as your fighting speed and impact. In a way, we must slowly forge you into a lightning bolt."

This seemed consistent enough with Dohko's earlier talk. "Okay, how the heck are we gonna do that?"

Roshi walked up a ledge overlooking it and pointed his cane at the water. "Go on."

A bit suspicious, Lance stepped on the pond, letting the vibrations ring across it. His red eyes darted left and right. "Are you just gonna leave me here like last time?"

Dohko widened his eyes offendedly. "No, of course not," he confessed. "I want to see this, yo-oh-oh."

"Can you just tell me what the hell am I even doing standing here in the water?!"

There was a sudden rumbling in the skies that silenced the Saint. Three pairs of eyes looked up and saw, amidst the mist, the far off sky being engulfed by rain clouds, darkening the valley further.

"Seiryu has come," concluded Dohko, sensing a shape moving through the clouds with the grace of an emperor. "In this place, only the forgotten dead dwell, but perhaps with Seiryu's help, we can take memories of past battles, as well as the cosmos of Seiryu, and shape the spirits into a proper opponent for you."

It was then that Lance noticed a faint mark of chalk drawn all around the pond's edges. "Did you… lure me inside into some sort of weird incantation circle you drew here while I was asleep?!"

Dohko chuckled. "Yo-oh-oh, don't be ridiculous… I drew this right after you left for Greece," he then ignored Lance's look of exasperation and pointed his cane at the mist ahead, where the floating will-o-wisps seemed to be slowly gathering behind the humidity. "I would focus on the task ahead if I were you, though. In this fight, I will have you battle someone who will force you to adapt your style of attack and defense and you'll need to be in your fullest form to complete the task."

Enlightened, Lance put the horse-shaped helmet on and pumped his gauntlets together. "Oh, I see, so I am going to relive a battle of the past?" he asked, though Dohko did not clarify. He went through in his mind all of his opponents, mainly Black Saints, but also dangerous people like Elisa, the Specters he encountered on Andromeda Island or even King Cetus. "This sounds interesting. I guess it could be fun to find out how much better I am."

"Who do you think it will be?" asked the Pegasus armor.

"I don't know." confessed Lance. "Maybe it will be Aguilon? I've grown a bit as a fighter since my loss with him and I'm kind of wondering if things would be different now. He's so tough I'd probably need some sort of lightning strike to hurt him, and maybe that's what Roshi's planning."

"That makes sense, I'm curious too, since you fought him with Kentaurus and not me," agreed the winged horse, whose cosmos then flared in conjunction with Lance's to form a white, flowing balsam aura around them. "Whatever Dohko will throw at us, I'm sure we can take it on."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll see…" Lance rolled his eyes. The armor was sometimes naively optimistic like Shinta; like it hope to inspire its owner to be some sort of superhero. His red eyes darted forward, left foot forward, right fist clench to his side, readying his fighting pose. He saw the far off will-o-wisps gather into one obscured fire which suddenly blazed upwards like they were immersed with a new energy. The tattoo on Lance's back singed painfully, reacting to Seiryu's magic. "I think its about to appear."

Indeed, a sudden weight touched the water, like some new person had stepped inside the pond, sending new ripples across it towards Lance's feet. The sound of someone stepping forward was heard, but the mist still concealed its features. Lance's breath halted, anxious, and his body became tense, wondering what awaited him. Before long, the person walked past the veils of mist, revealing themselves.

Lance's red eyes widened and his mouth went agape. This wasn't Aguilon, nor Cetus, nor anyone he recognised, but….

The Pegasus Cloth gasped in his mind "W-what?!... It can't be!"

The Gold Saint's teeth gritted, analysing his opponent. "Roshi, this person-..!"

"YO-OH-OH!" Dohko laughed in mock. "I never said I was gonna make use of your memories!"

The young, approaching warrior stood off against Dohko's student, sporting a boyish smile that froze Lance still. It was not the identity of the youth that shocked Lance, as he was unable to recognise the brown-haired, vaguely asian teenager with brown eyes, spikey hair bangs tilted to his right, mid stature.

What shocked Lance was the armor itself. "He's… wearing my cloth! He's wearing the Pegasus Cloth!"

"My name is Tenma, I'm glad to meet you!" the excited fighter declared, closing his fists and making his body burst out a frightening aura of white light that briefly blinded Lance. "I wish I could stay and get to know you, but I have to go to Athena's side."

"Now this is an interesting situation," Dohko announced, smiling ear to ear beneath his chinese hat and long whiskers. "Pegasus versus Pegasus, knucklehead versus knucklehead, who will prevail? One word of advice, Lance,... try not to use the same move twice. YO-OH-OH-OH!"

"Okay, Roshi, this isn't funny, who the fuck is this kid?!" Lance demanded to know.

"It's… it's Tenma! He's my… last owner!" Pegasus quivered.

"Yes, I can see that, thank you!" Lance berated, charging his own cosmos and preparing the Charge Fist. However, he was stunned a second time when he saw Tenma wave his hands around, smiling confidently, forming a pattern that was all too familiar with him. "Wait, no… you gotta be kidding!"

"Lance, be careful, don't underestimate him!" cried the flying horse. "Don't just stand there, he's about to strike!"

"I can't wait to see how strong you are… but I must finish you off quickly, there's too much at stake!" Tenma declared, finishing the hand wave with a sudden tightening of his right fist which then was engulfed by a blazing orb of white light. "NOW GO, PEGASUS!" it then launched forward and shot out a huge barrage of white meteors of light! "METEOR FIST!"

Lance's jaw dropped face was illuminated by the incoming attack. "That's… That's Aguilon's MOVE!" His arms raised and crossed, his teeth gritted and he stood his ground against the assault of blows. "SHIT!"

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

Meanwhile,

The Underworld

Second Prison

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

Back in Hades' realm, just outside the pyramid of greed, a shadow dropped from the skies and landed on the monolith's entrance, beholding the giant pharaonic statues. Daemon Lucifer's red eyes scanned the area, hearing from deep inside the halls the angry cries of Cerberus, Hades' watchdog. The Prince was not in a good mood; the new Specters had been off their mark all day long, half the Prisons were behind schedule and now even the three-headed beast inside the pyramid was running loose, spreading ruin inside one of the most important buildings in the Emperor's domains.

"Someone's head will roll for this, I swear to Hades," he swore, dashing inside the Prison like a fiend. He followed the sound of the incessant barking and trashing, which would hopefully lead him straight to the main tomb room were the dead that had sinned in life with gluttony were punished. "The Emperor can't rest with this constant noise. As soon as I shut this mutt up I'll give Neferti a good lesson in shock therapy for letting him loose."

The Celestial Star of Pride reached and stepped inside the 2nd prison's main hall, surprised to find it empty and silent. He started looking for the familiar sound of the Cerberus devouring the souls of the dead, but, as he walked up to the mounds of piled corpses for the mongrel to eat, he widened his eyes and braced himself upon being suddenly shadowed by three hydra-like heads behind him! He leaped over and dodged a hungry bite and rolled over against the wall, suddenly cornered by the gigantic, three-head canine.

He faced off the beast, whose snarls dripped acidic acid to the dried-mud-clay floor. "Alright, who set you loose?! Where was Neferti taken to?!" he asked out loud, not really expecting an answer from the dumb dog.

Suddenly, the sound of ropes being sliced was heard in separate corners of the room, accompanied by a stone that blocked the main entrance to the hall. Lucifer's red eyes turned to the other two corridor exits only to see them fall to the same fate and sealing him off inside the Second Prison with Hades's monster cur.

"A trap? I see," concluded Lucifer as he started to burn his cosmos to prepare to face the snarling beast.

A heavy deafening growl came out and the three-headed dog, seeing a fresh meal and a possible threat, left behind the mangled corpses of the dead and charged towards Lucifer. Daemon, grunting and vowing to make people suffer for this, dodged the jaw, causing the animal to crash into the floor, damaging a whole section of the hall. Two more heads launched themselves towards him and Lucifer grunted. He had to finish this before things started to get really ugly!

Leaping high into the air and focusing his dark cosmos in his crossed hands, a purple aura emanated from him, before focusing between the fingers into a crackling ball of gravity-twisting dark energy and casting shadows of Lucifer's Surplice all over the walls. "Dark Revenge Blast!" Lucifer yelled, shooting the attack straight at the dog.

Upon this, the ball swelled into a gigantic purple blast of blazing cosmos that collided with the chest of the gigantic animal, pushing it against the opposite wall and exploding with smoke and light. Lucifer covered himself with his black cape to block the debris and sparks and after a few seconds, removed his cover to find Cerberus downed on the floor, it's long necks lying motionless on the ground and tongues rolled out, paralysed.

He smiled with accomplishment only for then to narrow his eyes. "Who would dare to trap me like this?" he thought, looking around him.

Suddenly, from the pillars spread throughout the room, shadows started flying around and hiding again. Lucifer took a step back and assumed a fighting pose, until someone emerged from behind the fallen Cerberus and stepped on one of his massive heads. He was a Specter with four dark petals sprouting from his back and with a helmet completely covering his hair.

"Hm,hm,hm,hm. It seems your reputation is deserved, Daemon Lucifer!" he said "Not even I, Alraune Lemon, imagined you would defeat a rampaging Cerberus so easily!"

Lucifer stood up straight, seeing no reason to hold a battle stance against someone he wasn't afraid of. "So it was you?" he asked, not surprised. "What a pathetic ambush, Alraune. Did you really think that you'd be able to defy me all by yourself? I'm going to enjoy crushing your empty head beneath my foot. Tell me what you did to the Specters guarding the Pyramid and maybe I'll have mercy."

But the confident red-haired Specter spread his arms out to the sides. "That's where you're mistaken, Prince! I'm certainly not on my own," he then gave a nod, signaling his men.

Looking to the sides, Lucifer saw countless previously undetected Specters emerge from behind the pillars, surrounding the Prince from nearly all sides against the wall, mobbing beneath Alraune Lemon. Amongst them, Lucifer saw Sphinx Neferti, whose gaze she attempted to avoid.

"As you can see, Daemon Lucifer, Celestial Star of Pride..." mocked Lemon as the Specters grinned with anticipation "...you are not as popular in the army as you might think! There are quite a few former friends here who took very little convincing to organise this little chat and they are quite anxious to «talk» with you."

Lucifer only grinned. "It seems things just got more interesting!" he thought.

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

Chapter End

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

Next Chapter: Second Arc – Revelations - Part 2 of 3

Description: Alraune Lemon's trap on Daemon Lucifer has been sprung, and it seems like the Prince is overwhelmed by the revolt of the Specters against him. However, little do they know Lucifer has always had the upper hand.

Meanwhile, in China, Lance battles his predecessor and discovers just how much he still has to grow as a warrior.

Author's Note: This episode, or series of parted chapters, 'Revelations', was one of the most important of Version 2, so I've been understandably concerned with planning it out and pulling it off correctly. It's a chapter I cannot afford to write incorrectly since it will be the bedrock for the rest of the Arc. You will see what I mean in the next two chapters, as more fundamental information is revealed, but I guess this is the first point in the story where something actually critical to 'what the hell is going on' will be revealed.

In recent Saint Seiya news, the Netflix series trailer has come out and, boy oh boy, is it being poorly received by the old fandom. I feel like it's mostly over the controversy regarding Shun's character and, personally, I don't want to get to much into it cause in all honestly I'm kinda looking forward to this adaptation, as I'm happy with Saint Seiya getting experimental. Anyone who's read this fanfic knows I'm a good fan of Andromeda Island, and I wouldn't take a supportive stance if I didn't mean to.

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.

Also I've finally started a twitter account under the same name as my profile where I will be posting links to posted chapters, so if you wish to support Lance's Role, you may follow me on Twitter from now on. I'm still very new at it and working out its kinks, but hopefully it will draw in readers and let me be more in contact with potential fans and feedback.