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:
-Big thanks you to Sternhimmel, SaintSeiyaFan and Mark33 for the named reviews. I will address any questions on author comments at the end, if I feel I can answer them. In fact, a special thank you to all who review just for the fact that this February was probably the most review-rich month in years;
-The story has now passed the 600,000 word milestone. It's getting very close to where LR version 2 left off before the reboot in wordcount and is currently the second longest English SS fanfic;
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Please enjoy and review (^_^
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"Michael asked me about the judgement day today again, maybe because I've finally reached adulthood. It's been decided our battle would be on his birthday, though, since he reaches his 18th birthday a month after mine. I don't understand his cowardly insistence to discuss mutual survival at all. Trying to find the third way out is the work of weak people; definitely not what Hades seeks in someone vying to be the Celestial 'Absolute' Star.
I am different, though. My will is iron and bent on becoming the Prince. Every day, the difference between us grows and my victory becomes more assured. I can feel it. The Dark Angel Surplice will be mine.
And what of then? What will be my first great feat? The Holy War will start soon and I somewhat fear I won't become a Specter until after the Judges fail the Emperor for the hundredth time. I've been reading up on the knowledge available in the Underworld, training my mind as intensely as my body, to seek for a perfect path for myself as the Prince, and the lore of Hades' realm is so enrapturing that I wouldn't know which facet of it to improve first.
Should I steel the army unto an unstoppable force before or after I bridge the rivers for good? Will I have to wait 250 years, until the 18th century, for my first chance to destroy Sanctuary? The mere thought of it is maddening, but it could be true. It just means, though, I will have plenty of time to perfect the forces, instill my authority and shape the realm to my wishes so my inevitable conquest of Sanctuary will be that much more glorious.
Somehow, I think I always knew I was destined for this, to be a great conqueror. Maybe it's in my blood and all those old family tales were true. Maybe that's why Hades has picked me. Because he knew the blood of Sanctuary's greatest ruler runs strong in me and the irony of being the one to destroy it with Emperor Hades' forces will be the stuff of history."
-Fourth entry from Lucifer's first journal, dated June of 1503, following Lucifer's 18th birthday
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Sanctuary, Rodario
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Accompanying his medical mentor, Sagittarius Aiolos, dressed as a civilian volunteer from the hospital, was greeted with the refreshing quietness and pine tree hill smell in the air of Sanctuary's closest village. Aiolia's situation had been on his head for so long that sometimes he felt like he barely thought about anything else. The Pope's silence on it didn't set him at ease and unfortunately he had been going to work several times stressed out of his mind.
A loud whistling startled him. "Hey, wake up, newbie! We're at work here!" Iaso snapped. The brown-haired, green-eyed doctor in a white medical coat and a stethoscope stared at him like an angry snake. "You know, I would rather if you spent another night memorizing the name of every nerve in the brain to get you focused again than catch you all distracted like this, but I'm guessing you disagree?!"
Aiolos blinked, startled. "Shoot. N-no, I do not. Sorry, I… was thinking about something."
His worst nightmare then came true. Doctor Iaso smiled at him. "Oh, I see. Aiolos, that's fantastic!"
"Uh-oh..."
Iaso rested fists on hips, happy like a bird. "You see,... I just finished giving a very concise explanation about what we're gonna do here and how you treat a recovering patient of this precise background and collapse cause, so I'm glad you weren't listening!" he concluded, twisting his smile down to a mad glare. "That way, you can make a mess of things and bring the clinic's reputation, and of the volunteer programs' and my patience down another tiny notch." he ranted, squeaking his voice right at the end.
Here they went. Normally Aiolos would be one of the interns with the shortest resume on triggering the good doctor, hence why he was normally picked to accompany him, but every now and then Aiolos would slip and have to listen to the rant like everyone else. It wasn't like the disguised Sagittarius didn't appreciate the importance of paying attention to a medical mentor, but nobody liked getting grilled, especially by the griller-in-chief himself. Aiolos worked hard so he wouldn't have to, in fact.
But another reason he was usually picked to accompany the good doctor was for his gift of patience. "I'm sorry… I'm worried about my brother, I'll take care of the reports for you, Doctor, to make things better." he confessed, scratching his hair, trying to appeal to the healer's good side. "I've been scatterbrained all day."
It didn't seem like it worked, though, if the sarcastic laugh that followed was indication. "Oh, ah, ah, ah, aren't we saintly? Let me give you a piece of news, buster; you're always worried about your brother, Aiolos. In fact it's all I hear you whine about in the cafeteria these days. Get something new to worry about, like your job!" He then grabbed Aiolos' scrub collar and set it straight. "For crying out loud, all day with this. Why do I bother bringing you along?"
Aiolos was staggered. This was going a bit too far. "Dr. Iaso, I apologize, but I really think it's worth saying-"
"I don't care what you think, not until you get an attentive brain in your head and stop making me repeat myself!" the man snapped, leading the way again. "So let's see if you aren't a complete waste of my time; what are the main causes of visual impairment?"
"Ouch, he's especially harsh today. That was some exaggeration, too. Maybe getting the gang to convince him to quit smoking wasn't such a good idea." Aiolos noticed, struggling to stay composed himself. Dealing with Iaso was a work of patience, and Aiolos was patient if anything, but an Iaso on rehab was a sight to behold. "Cataracts are the leading cause, statistically, followed by glaucoma, muscular degeneration and corneal opacification."
The hardened man had to scoff in vexation. "Uh, alright, so you don't have the distractibility of a kindergartener, but what are the main poisons associated with the same condition?"
This made Aiolos raise a brow. He ran his memory through his notes. "Methanol and ethanol are usually pointed at, contributing to the fame of moonshines causing blindness, but spirits are not common here…I'm guessing we're meeting someone with visual impairment?"
Iaso then guided him to a small, relatively new looking house by the edge of Rodario. It lacked the intricate tiles of classicist scenes that the Sanctuary dwellers liked to display in their homes, but it had a simple front garden, where a grey-haired village woman carefully tended the grass and flowers.
"Hello, Ms. Aglaia." Iaso greeted, flashing a rare honest smirk. "How is a pretty lady like you-"
"Ah, shove it up, Doctor Iaso," she interrupted, not getting her eyes off the task. "Unless you're here to rid me of my years!"
Iaso fumed and walked over to the door "Not an ounce of gratitude for treating your stupid-"
Maybe the teenager could get more out of the lady "Excuse me, do you live here?"
"Boy, are you daft?!" she asked, insulted. "This isn't where I live, it's a sick house Doctor Iaso made out of my sweet mothers' home, rest her soul! I just take care of the sickies and the crazies."
"Aiolos, quit flirting and come here!" Iaso knocked on the door. "Eurydice? It's me, I got the news. Open up."
The covert Sagittarius Saint followed the doctor with a tested pout, but he had to widen his eyes in amazement when, as the wooden, iron-bolted door was unlocked and shyly opened, what was probably one of the most stunningly beautiful woman he had ever seen carefully came out, holding her hands on the walls and moving her head in the direction of sounds like she couldn't see. Her attire of sandals, a cotton shirt and skirt akin to the other young women of Sanctuary, Eurydice greeted the doctor with a warm smile on a delicate-pale face.
But what added to Aiolos' surprise was the deeply blackened set of eyes on her, likely the cause of Iaso's earlier questioning.
"Doctor Iaso, is that you? Come in, come in." Her incredibly soft voice asked, contrasting with the old lady's in both sweetness to the medic and sweetness of pitch. She recognized the cigarette-rasped sound of the doctor's words and searched for the man's arms with her hands, which he presented to reassure her. Her face suddenly turned to Aiolos like an alerted rabbit. "Oh, who's this?"
Iaso reassured her. "It's just Aiolos, a dumb intern from the hospital back in Sanctuary Town. It's alright, you can trust him," he complimented.
Neither Iaso's compliment nor the quickness with which she detected him escaped Aiolos. He had not been with many blind patients, if any, but it amazed the Sagittarius how accurately the woman detected his presence and position when he had been quiet and still. "Doctor, she-"
Iaso practically dragged him inside by the arm. "I know, but we'll discuss it later."
Closing the door behind them, the blind woman, with surprising ease, guided them to her dining room. Aiolos noticed the home was austere even by Sanctuary's standards, especially considering it supposedly used to belong to Ms. Aglaia's mother. It was probably a byproduct of being inhabited by someone with no ability to tell what it looked like. There was very little furniture, practically no family pictures around and simple cemented rock walls typical of people who lived near Sanctuary.
Her small kitchen was a bit more sophisticated, possessing a simple stove, a dining table with two chairs and a place to wash the dishes. "Would you like some tea, coffee?" she offered.
Iaso denied with his hand. "It's alright; we can get right to business. How is she doing?"
Whatever Iaso was talking about, it made Eurydice beam with happiness. "She's… fine. A bit confused, tired and doesn't remember much, but has been talking, asking a ton of questions." She then confessed, "Though… not without a cost… I think she's having a hard time getting up from bed."
Iaso took out his small flashlight and gave Eurydice the usual checkup, beaming it right into her eye. "That is great news, Eurydice… though I wish I could say the same for your sight." he gestured Aiolos to come by and take a look at the pupillary response, and the Sagittarius saw a completely black orb not even flinching beneath the intense, focused light. "What do you think, newbie?"
He eyed the woman nervously. "It resembles Mydriasis, but I've never seen such an extreme example… The iris is completely covered." he commented, noticing the recoil from Eurydice. "If you don't mind me asking…"
She shook her head. "I don't mind saying it; Specters did this to me," she half-lied. "Doctor Iaso unfortunately hasn't found a way to reverse it,... but I've grown accustomed." Though he didn't say anything, Aiolos' 7th sense detected a cosmos behind a nearby door to one of the inner rooms, peeking on them. Yet again, Eurydice seemed mysteriously perceptive enough of her surroundings to notice his flustering. "Oh, Cerah, please come out, it's the medic I told you about."
The door went ajar and the person came in, with much more homely looks, curly dark blonde hair that had been distressingly kept short to her shoulders by her caretakers. She wore casual attire similar to Eurydice, resulting of their poor means and the girl's green eyes looked the two visitors over with a tired, suspicious tremble. "H… hello."
Iaso carefully walked over to her. "Hi, Cerah. You don't know me, but I'm doctor Iaso, the Sanctuary medic that has overseen your treatment under your coma." He gently took her arm and walked her to the chair, where, with great effort and a few stumbles, she managed to sit. "I couldn't put words to the pleasure to finally get to speak with you. You must be exhausted, but, well, it's the first chance I get to meet the person we've been taking care of for almost two years under."
"Two years in a coma? It's not record breaking time, but… Wow… it's still a real miracle." Aiolos confessed to Iaso, noticing how frail the girl seemed, her body thinned and her skin noticeably pale. He helped Eurydice take a seat too. "Here you go, miss."
"Thank you." The blind woman could barely contain her tears, though. "It w-was just another day, ah ah... I was walked home from the pier by Ms. Aglaia and when I closed the door I heard her voice calling for me from her room. I thought I was dreaming until I felt her grab my hand. I'm… just so happy she's awake."
The shaken sounds on her otherwise impeccable voice visibly bothered the younger girl, who looked away like she would cry with the suffering she caused.
Everything made Aiolos' hunting senses tingle. "So, doctor…"
And Iaso finally answered Aiolos. "You don't know the half of it, kiddo." He returned back to his patients. "You're going to take a period of rest, Miss Cerah, doctor's orders. You probably have a lot to digest, having just woken up and living so close to the capital now after everything that happened. Your ability to respond is impaired right now and you'll likely suffer from dysarthria for a while, but don't panic, you'll make a full recovery."
The younger girl seemed out of it, though. She kept tucking a pendant hidden beneath her shirt with her hand and eyeing them almost paranoically, as if she was afraid they would hurt one of them. "Y...y-yes, doctor." she blurted out.
"If you don't mind…" Iaso requested, touching her arm. Though she hesitated at first, Cerah relaxed and the man suddenly pressed her arm harshly.
"O-ouch!" she yelped, closing it in reaction.
He nodded as if he had predicted this. "Less than optimal reflexes, sluggish movements… it's dysarthria, for sure, but your muscles aren't as softened as I thought they would be by now. Tell me, Cerah, did you use to exercise?"
This made the girl suddenly glance at Eurydice. "I, umm…" she eventually nodded. "Y-yes, I did."
The retired Saint then subjected her to a tense stare, something that made all three of them gulp and sweat for very different reasons. "Sub-nutrition alone would kill any exercised muscles a regular villager would develop." Aiolos commented to him.
"True, you only see this kind of conservation in people used to instinctively burning their cosmos." confirmed Iaso, unaware that Cerah was a well-trained Cerulean with the Crow Cloth. His fingers reached for a cigarette box, something he'd usually do when suspicious of his patients, who more often than not lied about what got them sick in the first place, but grumbled remembering he was going cold turkey.
The disguised Gold Saint was also at a loss. "What should we do?"
Eurydice felt uncomfortable under the tension in the room. "Doctor Iaso?"
This snapped the man out of it. "I'm not gonna bother you all with an extensive consultation, but I do have a series of instructions for you both to better handle Miss Helóise's recovery," assured Iaso, taking out a piece of paper and very quickly noting down several steps to guide the girl out of her stunt as best as possible, handing it to the patient herself. "It's all very simple stuff. Eurydice, can you ask Miss Agalia to read it to her if you two have doubts before Cerah regains full motor skills? Take your time, follow the diet to a T and keep me posted on developments, alright? You know how to contact me."
They both thanked the doctor. Aiolos was really stunned at the difference in treatment Iaso gave sick people who 'wasted his time' and cooperative patients who seemed genuinely in peril and in need of help, like these two. When Lance showed up suffering from poisoning at the hospital after the Arcadia incident, incidentally the first time Aiolos met the Pegasus and Andromeda Saints, Iaso had treated the Pegasus pretty condescendingly, considering him at fault for not going to the hospital to get antivenom right away. In this case with the two women, Iaso was nothing but the kindest person on the planet, patiently instructing the two poor souls and assuring them he was doing his best to cure them despite the suspicion they both felt about them.
Hopefully it wasn't solely because of how fantastically attractive Eurydice looked, either. For someone with blindness, making her life in a place as dusty and uncared for as Rodario, she had the face of a magazine model and the soft, seductive voice of a siren. Iaso was a good doctor but he did have his failings.
Unaware of these thoughts of his personal intern, Iaso proceeded with a quick consultation, running the both of them through a series of simple procedure questions that they both uneventfully answer, focusing mostly on the comatose girl, before finally asking Cerah to let him perform a quick physical examination. This was when Aiolos politely stepped outside the kitchen to give them privacy for a moment.
He took this opportunity to think about why Iaso brought him here to meet these two. Did he want to share his suspicions, whichever they were, about the two with him?
After about five minutes, Iaso came out of the kitchen with the two blonde girls. "It seems like you won't fall to pieces any time soon, so don't give me a reason to come back. In any case, congratulations on your recovery, Miss Héloise," he conceded, limiting himself to a short nod in place of a smile. "I wish you Hermes' luck adapting to being so close to sanctuary, hopefully it will be easier for you than it was for Miss Eurydice."
"T-thank you,... doctor." the green-eyed girl managed to say. "It was…. great to meet you. I won't forget everything… you've done."
His gauntleted hand shook in denial. "Think nothing of it. Alright, come on, Aiolos, let's get out of here." Iaso ordered, grabbing the intern by the shoulder and practically dragging him outside.
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With one last goodbye to Ms. Aglaia, promptly answered with a half-hearted nod from the gardener, the two medics made their way back through the dusty streets of Rodario. They kept quiet for a while, letting the streets and townsfolk pass by them until they reached the edge of the village, where the mountain pass road to Sanctuary Town began. Neither one wanted to be the first to start the conversation while discretion was warranted.
When they were a good distance into the pass away from the town was covered, the veteran took the initiative. "Pretty damn hot, the older one, right?" he casually remarked.
Aiolos stared at him in bewilderment, "I suppose… it made me rethink my assumptions about hygiene in lesser villages…. Doctor Iaso, if I may remark, while I've never seen such an extreme case of Mydriasis, by itself it wouldn't cause visual impairment, would it?"
Iaso scoffed. "Excessive pupil dilation by itself is uncommon, let alone to the point of blinding you, especially considering her medical record." He then smirked. "You know, she's got a pretty nice cupboard but by Zeus almighty, that skin! Not even a blemish! It's so..."
"Doctor Iaso, please be serious, she's a patient!" Things were reaching a point Aiolos was not comfortable at all with.
He raised an eyebrow, green eyes glaring. "You think I forgot? I've watched these two for a while now," confessed Iaso, who then pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "And what I'm getting at, if you were smart enough to understand I'm a little more serious than you give me credit for, is that the woman, Eurydice, has the most impeccable immune system I've ever seen. So impeccable, in fact, that about a week after I first diagnosed her blindness I found her riddled with chicken pox when I visited her tent at Peloponnesia for her first consultation."
Aiolos was stunned. Chicken pox? "What are the odds of that for a Sanctuary adult?"
So low, that it was borderline laughable for the experienced doctor, who regularly campaigned for health causes in Sanctuary's possessions. "Pretty slim. Our people are traditional, but not stupid. We have contamination gatherings with them pretty early on. Let's just say catechism class is more than just learning about Athena."
The Sagittarius' then realised something else of importance, namely the point of the doctor's dirty comment. "And perfect skin... no post-recovery scars… for an adult, it's…"
"Fucked up, I know. It's like she came straight out of a vivarium." concluded Iaso. Itching for a cigarette, he instead scratched his chin over and over and patted his thigh. "I've dealt with a lot of lying patients in my day. They got all sorts of reasons to do it. None of them defied every statistical assumption in the field, though."
Aiolos' expression sank, and he rethought the whole encounter with the two women, especially the interactions with Eurydice. "So why did you bring me with you? This sounds like serious business."
This made Iaso discreetly stare at the twelve-year old volunteer. If there was one person at the hospital that was suspicious and critical of the Golden Zodiac, it was Ophiuchus Iaso. Aiolos was not only a tremendously fit pre-teenager who was supposedly 'adopted by the Sagittarius Saint', but he was far too apt at the Golden Touch, or the art of using one's cosmos to heal wounds. Iaso wasn't sure what Aiolos' position was at the Zodiac, if he was just someone in the succession line or the Saint himself. He wasn't sure why he offered himself to work at the hospital in particular, either, but he brought him here as a good opportunity to test him on his reactions to Eurydice and her comatose friend. This way, he could check if the Pope knew something about any of this.
That being said, Iaso didn't conclude much. He was a proud human lie detector like few people in Sanctuary, but the healer had seen nothing but genuine surprise in response to everything he showed Aiolos.
He therefore diverted the reasoning. "Well, for one, her friend just woke up. All we had on her was info provided by her friend and a testimony from a young Peloponnesian recruit validating their citizenship in Sanctuary, so for all we knew she could be uncooperative or even violent. I figured it wouldn't hurt to bring an intern I trusted to help out." Iaso said, this being also sort of true. "Not that her mental atrophia would let her cause much trouble, but I wanted to be on the safe side."
But the teenager insisted. "It doesn't really answer why you're letting me on the mystery."
"Maybe so you can do a good, informed job, isn't that enough?!" Iaso suddenly snapped. He took a deep breath, though, and changed his mood. "What I mean is..., Saint Aguilon is also interested in the case. You heard about that Judge he took out a couple of years back, that everyone wanted to give the man a parade about?" he waited for Aiolos to nod. "Well, these two are the ones he rescued that day."
This detail made Aiolos widen his eyes yet again. So the two girls were connected to the area of Arcadia and Ismara, near the border with Hades, where Saga had once put an end to an attack by a vicious Bennu Specter and his lackeys? What a wild coincidence. His blue eyes narrowed and he looked away in preoccupation.
"As strange as Eurydice is, her friend, Miss Sleeping Beauty, is not off the record…" detailed Iaso. He had run extensive tests on Cerah as soon as he got the results back from Eurydice's shockingly low white blood cell resistance levels. "Extremely injured when first brought to me, but had all the normal stats of a healthy, young, athletic girl… who's received a fitting regimen comparable to that of a Saintia."
"So perhaps too athletic," Aiolos added, feeling the plot thickening. "I can't think of many armies other than our own that extensively train any sort of female regiment other than Artemis and Eris. If this girl is either a Satellite or a Dryad, it could be trouble, but if she had an alien armor with her, it would have been found by now, right?"
Iaso put hands in pockets resignedly. "Saint Aguilon took over the case and hasn't exactly been open with me other than the strictly necessity of helping to treat them. Says they only had a couple of trinkets and the clothes on their skin, not much different from any floosie you'd probably find in Rodario here or Arcadia up there, near Hades, whose village had gotten burned down," detailed Iaso, completely ignorant of the obsidian pendant the Cerulean carried which housed the Corvus Cloth. He shrugged his shoulders. "It's not our jobs as doctors to find out the secrets of our patients, unless it could be impeding a diagnosis, and the two have obviously been through a LOT. The last thing I want to happen is for the two to be put in a position where they might be ruthlessly interrogated by those gorillas in the Stardust Prison. But sometimes I get such strange cases that I wonder…"
"Couldn't possibly also be because you love conspiracy theories, right?" the Sagittarius Saint thought. What a bizarre case Iaso presented him with. On one hand something was definitely going on beneath the surface, but on the other the two seemed perfectly cooperative, with no intention of going anywhere and had all the basic indications of really being Sanctuary dwellers; who the two medics had sworn an oath to both Hippocrates and Apollo to protect. To add on, Eurydice's case of blindness was borderline a frightening curiosity, changing her eyes into something he had never seen in any patient no matter how bad their visual disorder had gotten. And the other girls' physical conservation, although something to celebrate, especially with her awakening, seemed to indicate she was heavily trained in cosmos, but had no record indicating so.
If that wasn't enough, there was the way Eurydice seemed to just find Aiolos wherever he moved around their house. He only knew one way to have such quick precision without vision, the 7th sense. "Hopefully this doesn't come back to bite us. Doctor Iaso is probably unaware, but with what happened at the Festival, the Zodiac and Saga in particular are going crazy trying to figure out if there was a mole. I should probably tell him about this as soon as possible, but then again, how could a pair of sick girls leak information about the most guarded place on the planet from a patient's shelter in Rodario?"
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Closing the shutters and dressings of the window after thanking the gardener for the day's work, Cerah joined Eurydice in the kitchen, sitting her weakened body by her and serving the blind woman a cup of tea to help them relax. "Are you still nervous?"
The nymph drank it down. "A bit… I thought he'd ask more questions now that you woke up. It turned out alright, though." She then heard the clinkering of the teapot as Cerah served herself. "I think you're probably less calm than me…"
The Cerulean shook her head and eyed the clock on the wall as if their time was short. "No, it's just… Has he always been… so perceptive? It concerned me for a second."
"Iaso?" wondered Eurydice "Well, I suppose he-"
"I meant... the one with him, actually." confessed Cerah, getting serious. "... something about him looked… dangerous, like that feeling you get when people aim at you."
"That young boy?" but Eurydice shook her head with a chuckle. "Don't be silly… though it's the first I've met him," she then sensed a whimper from her friend. "Hey, what's wrong?"
She tucked her arms like she had a chill. "I'm fine… just a bit hard to think… and talk." she also kept making her eyes look all around the room like a newly arrived pet. "Maybe I'm still getting used to being in Sanctuary… and suddenly being sixteen now."
The blind woman let out a laugh, making her friend squint. "Ah, ah, I'm sorry, you're absolutely right. I just can't help but be glad you're getting to experience that at all, much less instead of eight or twenty years from now." Her mood then shifted to a more serious tone. "But… I need to ask, Cerah… are you sure about what you said… about what made you wake up? What is the last thing you even remember?"
The fighter girl collected her thoughts, but a chill ran through her spine as she tried to remember her dreams. "Not a lot. I can barely tell how I fell asleep. It's all so fuzzy…" The images and sensations of running around, fighting and being surrounded by Skeletons and Specters haunted her, making her sweat. At the very last moment, something had struck her from behind, a burning, biting sensation spread from it through her body and the rest was fog.
Eurydice could sense the stress in her voice and reached out for her hand, patting it gently upon finding it. "We can talk later about it, you probably have a lot to process."
She shook her head. "N-no, no it's fine, I -" she then quivered embarrassedly, forgetting that Eurydice could no longer see her body language. She had just lost her sight when Cerah embroiled herself in battle with the Specters after all.
The implications of this were overwhelming, though.
With a face growing full red, a body shaking uncontrollably all of a sudden and quickening breath, Cerah suddenly dropped her cup on the table, startling the nymph next to her. The Cerulean's eyes shook and bulged as the calculations of everything that must have happened after she lost the fight reached a conclusion.
W-why did you choose me?!
I trust you.
An attempt at a scream suddenly made her mouth instead let out a panicked gasp. The crushing weight of Lucifer's words made her heart sink. She had failed! She had fallen in battle and the Specters had gone after Eurydice! Lucifer trusted her life to Cerah, how could she have failed?! No, no, NO, this was awful!
The Nymph sweated nervously, suddenly sensing an enormous distress in the young Cosmos next to her. "Cerah, calm down! What's the matter?"
The girl covered her mouth, horrified, her eyes glassening and letting out tears. Thoughts of that brutal Cyclops Specter, whom she had defeated but she couldn't recall it, chasing after the Nymph over her own fallen corpse burned in her mind. What could have happened if Eurydice hadn't been miraculously rescued?! What horrible, terrible punishments would the Gods of Sleep and Death enact if they were caught and dragged back through the dirt to Pandora's castle?!
The poor young girl was about to explode, to cry out in despair, when the Nymph's hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder. Her gentle touch, without a word, seemed to soothe her instantly. Perhaps because Eurydice wasn't human, or perhaps simply because she transmitted with a black-eyed look how accepting of Cerah's errors she was, the enormous panic inside the younger girl seemed to stop growing, and her heart resumed its normal beat.
The Cerulean's green eyes were drenched in tears that soaked down her cheeks, but she was finally able to speak. "I-I c-can't believe you took care of me a-all this time… It's a-all my fault."
The blind, older woman sighed, got up, walked up next to the girl as best as she could and hugged her neck for a few seconds. "Hey, stop it, you did your best. You don't realize it, but it was already a long time ago. And it's not your fault either; I'm alive because of you, Cerah. "
Sadly, all the Cerulean could think about were Lucifer's words and the trust he put into her to escort one of the most important person in his life. It brought back all the painful aches she had about her sister, Daese, leaving her behind, puncturing a hole in the little confidence she had built from all the hard work she put into unlocking the Cosmos and earning the Prince's trust.
She wiped a tear from her eye, knowing deep inside her that Eurydice wouldn't want to sense her crying, even if she couldn't see her reddened face and tears, and tried to stay objective. "For a long time… I think I only had dreams about old stuff." she recalled. "I don't remember much, but I keep thinking I saw my sister Daese over and over."
The Nymph nodded and insisted on this, trying to distract Cerah from her misplaced feelings of failure. Her older sibling obviously seemed to be a big factor in Cerah's fears. "Oh, you did? Was that it?"
"...M-Maybe? It feels like I was asleep for years," the Cerulean confessed, staring at the teapot. All of this seemed to set her mind back into place. "But then, right at the end… it started changing. Daese went away and all I saw was the peaks of the Underworld again."
The blind woman's eyes narrowed. "And this… is when you started hearing Lucifer?"
With a sudden darkening in the room, Cerah Héloise nodded her wavy-haired head. "Yeah, he would speak to me, try to say something." She then winced, trying to get right to the important part. "He… seemed to stand on one of the peaks… with people, in armor kneeling..."
The nymph thought about it. "Mm, that isn't exactly strange… Lucifer has been Hades' top commander for half a millennium, the Specters owe him allegiance. You've always seen him in a position of command," Eurydice reminded, grabbing her chin. "Unless…"
"Yeah. It can't be a coincidence…" concluded Cerah, thinking about how much time has passed. "By now, most of the Specters must have returned, so Lucifer's window of opportunity has likely arrived. Eurydice -" she then eyed the woman tensely, as if to announce a disaster. "I think he… tried to tell me he's getting ready for war."
With a deeper gasp of concern, the Nymph's head shook, suddenly feeling under threat. "War… with Sanctuary? So soon?" she doubted, but this wasn't the first time she has seen people under deep sleep being awakened by strong transmissions through the Cosmos, not with people like Hypnos sharing a home with her. It wasn't hard for her to believe something alarming must have really punched through Cerah's sleep.
"I don't know the details…" confessed Cerah. "... but he's been conspiring for a while, it was obvious to me. He told me the truth about the Specters and said it would one day be the downfall of you-know-who… If I suddenly got such intense dreams…"
"But how, and why you and not me?" wondered Eurydice.
It was then that Cerah pulled out the object she had been given by the Daemon Specter, the small, metallic feather-shaped black Surplice piece from the so-called Dark Angel Surplice. "When I woke up… this was burning my hand."
Eurydice was given it to her hand, allowing her to recognise it, but felt the feather completely cool. "I was keeping it next to you to pray for you. Perhaps he doesn't know where we are, but he can transmit through the feather…"
"Eurydice, what is the meaning behind it? He seemed so intense when he first told me to take it. Just cause it belonged to his friend?"
A slight frown of sadness filled Eurydice's face. "This was from the Dark Angel Surplice…the Celestial Absolute Star, that Lucifer originally dreamed to obtain. It went to Michael, instead, but in a way it must have never left his heart." she recalled. "Perhaps, without anyone realizing it, the Celestial Pride Star that burns for Lucifer has a stronger bond with it than I thought, even after all these years."
"What do we do?" Cerah asked, feeling lost without her mentor. Her mission was now done, after all.
The nymph frowned nervously. "Let's live our lives for now, Cerah, you need to recover after all. As for my dear Daemon… I don't think we can do much but wait and see what happens, but whatever it might be, I fear for the kind Saints that saved our lives," she worded, knowing full well how terrifying the Pride Star was.
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Chapter 34
Second Arc
Episode 3
Revelations - Part 3 of 3
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The Underworld
Eight Prison
Giudecca Palace
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In a much grander place, at the palace of Giudecca, two Skeleton Soldiers opened the large doors to the large dining room of Hades' abode, letting Prince Lucifer and Judge Rhadamanthys in, a pair no one would stand in the way of. Awaiting inside, sitting on the fancy, wooden chairs of red cushioning and with impatiently folded arms, Garuda Aiacos and Gryphon Minos met their arrival with a respectful nod to Prince Lucifer and Judge Rhadamanthys.
"Two pairs of wings, and yet you arrive with the speed of snail. Where were you two?" Pandora demanded to know, way at the end of the table, startling them. In the faintly lit room, they didn't notice her and, most importantly, the veiled, hooded figure of red hair sitting at the biggest chair. "My brother has been waiting with pious patience for you. You should be ashamed."
"I was very surprised when I was first called, by the Emperor no less," confessed Aiacos, glancing in awe at the person sitting by Pandora. "Usually Lord Hades does not wish exposure to us. This is a great honor."
"And his desires have yet to change. This is a puppet he is channeling his thoughts through." Pandora revealed, enlightening them and looking at them like they weren't worth the air her brother was breathing. "Lord Hades is safely resting back in his throne, but that does not mean he does not value punctuality among his most trusted."
Lucifer walked over to the middle of the table while Rhadamanthys took his seat. "Uh… very sneaky, Pandora." he thought to himself, nodding respectfully at the human-sized doll. This was a good way to make use of the fact that Hades really was confined to a puppet and hide its existence right in front of the Judges. "Forgive me for my tardiness. I was disciplining the troops, preparing them for what we're about to discuss here."
"You called for us?" concluded Minos, sharp as ever but genuinely surprised the Prince had enough pull to get Hades to summon everyone himself and be present.
"Of course, I'm the Left Hand. The Emperor trusts my word like he would his own." assured the Celestial Pride Star, smirking to himself. "But you'll have your chances to earn his favor in the future, if you follow my orders.."
"Pending your efforts, obviously," the doll suddenly spoke, confirming to the Judges the same voice they would hear through the curtains at the throne room. It then smiled softly like a leader that loved its men as children. "I consider communing with my Judges in an appropriate occasion very important, and you've seldom disappointed me, Lucifer, but it strains me to be here, so do not waste my time."
Minos frowned apprehensively. Much like Rhadamanthys, he wasn't a big fan of how far ahead the Prince was of the Judges in terms of having Lord Hades' ear. Unlike Wyvern, though, the Norwegian Judge was respectful enough of the chain of command to acknowledge why. His power was undeniable and, reportedly, he had been active without interruption for at least five hundred years, something not even Acheron Charon could brag about.
"I'm afraid I had no choice, Emperor. Our situation on the surface, after all, has grown unacceptable," claimed the Prince. "Our continued weakness for lack of means and resources has allowed our enemies to make gain after gain during peacetime, but with this new generation of Specters, the time has come to fix this."
This, however, Minos could not be less interested in. "The surface? Unacceptable? What could possibly be wrong with our defenses, especially at such an early stage?"
Lucifer snapped his fingers, making a pile of scrolls he had stored in the room beforehand suddenly lift up into the air, levitating, and gracefully move to drop on the table, rolling off to reveal a large cartographical representation.
Pandora's mouth ohed as she recognised the topography. "Those are… the surroundings of my old home."
Lucifer pointed his hand at the parchment. "Allow me to make it more visible to all of us." The hand then move up like lifting something, his red eyes shined and his aura burned with swirls of darkness. Lines of purple energy then began shining on the map, adopting the contours of the topography and suddenly lifting up to the air between them, assuming the represented height.
The Judges widened their eyes, interested in the trick; through the power of simple illusion casting, the Prince was projecting all the information on the map into something far more appealing, a three dimensional hologram of the dark valley housing Pandora's former home. The slopes of the mountains reached scaled up angles and altitude, the chasm of the green flames depressed correctly into the wooden table, the drawbridge was drawn in the accurate position and angle and, finally, the multi-towered castle was architected in the landscape down to the last window, a work of art in itself.
"Hades' Earthly Castle, as we know it." announced Lucifer, who then made a cardinal rose appear above the structure. "Not perfect, but…"
Hades' sister shook her head. "Oh-oh, no it's fine, I adore it." Pandora gasped, marveling at the hologram. She moved her eyes all over the place, finding all the little details. "I had no idea you could do this with the Cosmos."
"It's not a complex trick; I can have someone show you how later, Pandora, after all…" assured the Prince, who folded arms worryingly. "... right now, I am here to discuss with you all the beginning of my campaign against Sanctuary."
The room went tense. "A military campaign? So soon?" questioned Aiacos, concerned. "Prince, Holy War is still far away. We don't have half of our forces yet."
But for once, Wyvern Rhadamanthys mind was in line with his mentor. "Not soon enough if you ask me."
"Well, I am of different mind." retorted Garuda, not sharing Wyvern's rash inclinations. "And I'm sure the Emperor shares my concerns that we cannot conduct an attack-"
"If you all be quiet, I will explain my strategy and the reasoning for it, hopefully saving the Emperor's time!" interrupted Lucifer, looking over the Judges for any signs of continued bickering. "In case you've been all too busy pushing your subordinates around and tormenting the dead that Charon brings over to your Prisons, we've been suffering setbacks in the surface repeatedly. It's time we do something about this."
While Garuda and Wyvern immediately quieted down, Minos raised his brow. "Isn't that your responsibility, Prince? You are the high military command." he provoked.
Lucifer eyed him like he had stepped on the Emperor's foot. "That's right, I am, and I am now correcting the situation. So shut up and pay attention, cause I doubt any of you three have any serious plans to do something about this." the red-eyed man snapped, making Gryphon stagger.
The doll gasped, slightly moving its delicate mouth to speak. "Is this true? Have the Saints been harassing my domain? Oh, dear, no… this can't be allowed."
The hurt tone was heartbreaking for Pandora, who lovingly caressed its elbow. "Don't worry, brother, if it is, I'll make sure your Specters correct this." Her daltonic eyes then eyed the prince harshly. "What's been happening, Lucifer? How bad is the situation?"
Eyeing the doll for a brief second, Lucifer couldn't help but be amazed at the act that Hades was putting on. He'd be damned to Tartarus if the doll sitting there was as non-threatening as that 'oh, poor me' tone of his made it seem.
Wasting no time, though, the Celestial Star of Pride touched the projection on the castle, causing its many windows to brighten up like a Christmas tree. "This castle, Pandora's home, is our primary home base on the surface. Not only is it a strong fortification, with its hell chasms and stardust brick walls, but Lord Hades' barrier projects from it, covering everything within a significant diameter, making us unassailable."
"Yes, it's the foundation of our foothold." concurred Aiacos, nodding along. "Any approaching army would be weakened to a tenth of their power, rendering even powerful Gold Saints vulnerable to lesser Celestial Star attacks… which is why I'm curious as to what's so concerning."
Lucifer then dragged his finger around a certain distance to the southwest, leaving behind an arrow-shaped trail of light. "And this is the primary route to Sanctuary territory, through were we send most of our forces during raids and eventually, in Holy War, will march our whole army." It then led up to a square shaped object. "It ends at Peloponnesia, Sanctuary's legacy fortress in the region."
"Sure, what of it?" asked Minos, impatient to hear what this campaign was about.
Showing off yet another useful trick, Lucifer's fingers snapped and several white dots popped up along the road. Lucifer touched one. "This is where we caught and eliminated a Sanctuary recon, five years ago." He then touched one further up, by the main road. "This is where four years ago the late Urial wiped out a whole group of Sanctuary foot soldiers that thought it was a good idea to take a walk near our territory," finally, he moved his finger further up, this time to a forested depression almost half-way between the closest Sanctuary outpost and the Earthly Castle itself. This time the Cyclops and Gryphon Surplices were drawn with a skull. "And this is where we lost both Urial and Servo two years ago to the Herakles Saint. Ever since then, they've been getting bolder, with more frequent incursions and closer to the Castle."
Aiacos rubbed his chin. Usually guarding the 3rd and 4th Prison, he was unaware of most of these events, but seeing them all graphically represented like this really painted a picture. "Alright, this is concerning…"
"It looks to me like the fault of the weakness of those that stood by before us." commented Rhadamanthys, sure of himself. "I would never allow this to happen!"
"You already have, Rhadamanthys," stressed the Daemon Specter, silencing him. "Most of these attacks have been occurring after the return of most of the current generation. With me occupied making sure there is no friction between the divisions for your arrival and tending to Pandora's needs in the Underworld, I have not been able to implement direct action, but it ends now."
Pandora narrowed her eyes offendedly. Was this about what happened at the Desert Beyond? "What? Are you insinuating I am implicated in your lack of ability to solve this?!"
The Prince measured his words very carefully, eyeing the sister of Hades with respect and raising his hand to discreetly show off the Dark Knight ring he was bestowed with. "Yes, my lady, to be blunt… I would not affirm that protecting you from the Underworld's pests is all of it, but it's certainly part of it," he confessed before turning to the God puppet. "But like I just assured, this situation ends now. I have a plan for a great, punitive campaign against Sanctuary, one that will make them regret injuring the Emperor's land."
Every mortal in the room eyed each other apprehensively. Most of them were still recovering their memories from previous wars, so they did not recall how determined a war strategist Lucifer was, but even if they did, talking about striking Athena's forces at least fifteen years before Lord Hades could help them reach their apex was bold, frightening even, to everyone but Rhadamanthys.
But the doll stared at him unimpressively. "Lucifer… would you explain to me how do you intend to stage an attack on my most hated enemy with barely half the army ready?" he queried. "And before you answer, keep in mind… I've lost too many war reserves to rash attacks of this kind."
"It's simple, my Emperor," Lucifer then pointed at a spot on the map where the valley road was tighter, experienced enough in dealing with the God to not tremble before his warnings when he had a plan to show him. "I want to take a portion of the army and station it here, where we will build an outpost. As you can see it's at a strategic distance where it will have eyes on both our Earthly Castle and the main road to the Peloponnesia fortress, where I believe the Saints are staging their raids from, while still benefiting from the reach of Lord Hades' cursed barrier, which weakens our enemies."
They all stared at the spot with curiosity. "Eyes on both?... what for?" asked Aiacos.
"Perhaps you weren't here to remember it, Aiacos, but shortly before the arrival of the Twin Gods, the Bennu and Shaman Specters staged a revolt and broke out with a large group of our soldiers," remembered the Prince, narrowing his eyes at the memory. "A strong, fortified presence of loyal warriors in this position will allow us to intercept exoduses of the kind in the future, if not deter them altogether. At the same time, it will force the Saints to target it first before they can ever set eyes on Pandora's old home." Lucifer's red eyes then moved back to the Emperor. "This is the set up for my plan, Lord Hades; a fortified springboard for which to stage our own attacks from. Not since the Lost Canvas that we've been able to do it, but with the return of our main forces… the era for a new Holy War is arriving."
The five listeners took this all in and had their separate reactions. Struggling with strategic concepts like these, Pandora could do little but tug her trident and stare at the map, while the Judges laid back in their chairs studying it while the God kept staring at Lucifer with interest.
But then Wyvern Rhadamanthys had to intervene. "I disagree! This is exactly the source of the problem, in my opinion," he interjected, getting everyone's attention. "Establishing a defensive outpost is a waste of time, it won't destroy our enemies. What we should be doing is mounting an attack!"
Everyone perked up at the Judge. Needless to say that Lucifer was not pleased by this.
Hades, however, gave him word. "What is your idea, Rhadamanthys?"
Being addressed by the Emperor elated Wyvern, who stood up and pointed at the southern edge of the map, where the beginning of a mountainous slope could be seen. "My Emperor, I propose we take an aggressive stance and maneuver a significant force down south, through the Alps!" He explained and, with his own cosmos, he made Lucifer's illusion zoom out further, revealing the Austrian cliffs that Pandora's castle stood north of. "Peloponnesia, the fortress of those blasted Saints, blocks the road to the eastern edge of the Alps. If we cross the mountains like Hannibal, however, to the area of Venice, we will be outflanking them, perhaps even cut off their fortress from their supply line."
Pandora and the other two Judges were intrigued by this. "A fine proposal!" she confessed.
The Prince was not so impressed, though. "And how do you propose to march the men through the peaks with celerity and discretion?"
The English Judge, however, was prepared, and he pointed at a pass in the forest preceding the slopes relatively to Pandora's castle. "Simple, Prince! There is an easy road we can capture through this point, my personal scouts have confirmed it to me recently. We will dash through here, capture a position southeast of Peloponnesia and finally surround the fort itself!"
While no fan of brutish fighting, letting the Skeletons prove their superiority over the hoplites appealed to Pandora a bit. She turned to the puppet. "Brother, perhaps this could reverse all the setbacks all at once, rather than waste resources on an outpost."
The murmur in the room increased, with the two Judges and the two siblings commenting the idea to one another, respectively. The grin on Wyvern's face at this point went ear to ear and occasional looks were made at the Prince to see what he thought of this.
But the Prince merely stared at the spot Wyvern pointed at, lost in thoughts.
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It was a half of a millennium earlier, shortly after the confrontation between Hypnos and Thanatos at the Golden Zodiac, where Athena, Sage and Hakurei repelled the attack, ending the 16th Century Holy War.. Just outside the Earthly Castle, an enormous edge of burning, black fire swept the air, cutting down the trees and slicing apart the rocks with incendiated tears, clearing a short path through the wilderness. The loud collapse of the trunks and the spread of dust clouds was preceded by the marching of many black armoured men by his side..
Turning off his technique, Dark Angel Michael, The Right Hand of Hades, also known as the Celestial Absolute Star, allowed his men to rush forward into the road his men had discovered, a potential path to outflank the ancient fort of Peloponnesia. His Surplice, sporting large, black-feathered wings and a color palette of grey carvings and black plates, was only rivalled in beauty by Lucifer's Daemon Surplice.
His red eyes, a mark of the two Dark Princes, gazed over the wilderness with apprehension. "Are you sure about this?"
"Absolutely, I refuse to accept we'll be left out of the fighting and forced to wait 250 years for our first shot at Sanctuary!" confirmed Lucifer, joining him as well. "Peloponnesia lies to the southeast. We'll have this path taken and ready to course our troops through it to surround the Saints."
Michael held chin. "They say the scouts didn't return. I sent Lycaon Phlegyas in a while ago, too… He's a good hunter and he assured me he'd map the path."
"Excellent, then we'll crush whatever blocks this path. Winning the war before it begins is more important." enforced Lucifer, showing off his closed, gauntleted fist.
"Prince Michael! Prince Lucifer!" a Skeleton screamed, rushing back. "You have to come with us, we… we f-found them!"
The silver-haired Prince folded arms. "Calm down, you fool, who did you find?!"
The Skeleton, however, shook like a leaf. "T-the… the vanguard! Lord Phlegyas!... and the scouts!"
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Guided to the entrance of the deeper parts of the forest, where the terrain already began to slope up to form the eastern Alps, the two Princes found themselves before a deep, dark concentration of tall pine trees of dark wood like that of an impenetrable swamp. The road that they planned to move through and take seemed to penetrate deep inside it, well beyond what initial reports suggested, insinuating this section of the path was hidden from super senses like those that Cosmos allowed you to boost into.
But although this discovered part of the path was of note, the Princes widened their crimson eyes at something far more concerning.
Strung up like marionettes on the trees by their own intestines and harnessed as ropes, scores and scores of freshly killed, armored men decorated the trees just a few meters deeper into the entrance. The Skeletons stood back in terror, but the Princes approached the scene, deeply concerned by the finding. As high ranking figures in the Underworld, they had seen dead people in much worse condition, so it was not exactly the gore involved that shocked them, but rather the implied warning to those that entered this place.
"What in Hades' name…" Lucifer growled, doing a quick count and approaching one of the bodies. He recognised what was left of their armament, seeing not only the Damascus cuirasses of Skeletons, but also the mix of stardust and iron used by their enemies' foot soldiers. "These really are our men… but also Sanctuary hoplites… Who did this?!"
Joining him, Michael looked at the shape of the cuts done to open up their stomachs. "Doesn't look like the work of Sanctuary's swords, not that they would do this to their own men," he tapped one of the hanged corpses and a bright, familiar powder puffed and fell to the ground. He took a bit of it to his hand. "Stardust...It wasn't normal people."
The Daemon Specter swept his arm at his live men. "Split into two groups and search the area! I want one covering the boundaries of the forest and another ready to march up the road!" He saw the Skeletons look at each other in fear. "DO IT OR I'LL DO SOMETHING FAR WORSE THAN STRING YOU BY YOUR GUTS!"
More terrified of the Daemon Prince than whatever haunted this forest, the many Skeletons scurried around and instantly organized themselves using Lord Michael's system, grouping together by weapon and force marked on their armors. The silver-haired devil scoffed at the sight of their fear, wondering where they got such worthless soldiers.
All of a sudden, his sharp senses detecting a scurrying noise from within the forest, like a bush flurrying, and he snapped his head in the trees' direction, where he could swear he saw a shadow. Everything went quiet though.
He walked up to the trees again, searching for the source. "What was that?..." he thought. The quickness with which that faint sign of life vanished, especially considering they had the 7th sense to detect Cosmos with, finally made Lucifer concerned, but he shook his head. "Must have been my imagination…"
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The Skeleton soldier politely walked inside the war tent, where he saluted the two Princes sitting down and declared his report. "W-we received word from the boundary party back, Lord Michael… they discovered more… demonstrations all around the forest's outline, all within ten to fifteen meters of its edges. We've marked them on a map," he offered the parchment, which was marked with many red crosses.
"What of the group heading up the road?" Michael asked.
"They… haven't returned, Lord Michael and they're not sending mental messages."
Michael and Lucifer shared a worrying look. "Since when do we have enemies right at our doorstep?!" asked the Dark Angel Prince, "and what happened to Lycaon?!"
The silver haired Prince folded arms. "Something tells me we'll run into him back 'home'. This is why we can't afford to dally. We should bring-"
"Stop it, Lucifer! This is a waste of men!" Michael suddenly interrupted him. "We don't even know what's inside that forest, much less if Lord Hades will be able to revive Phlegyas."
"Lord Michael, if I may -" The skeleton soldier requested, taking out something from his bag and handing it to his master. "The boundary party found this by one of the warning sites."
The Dark Angel took and eyed the object. It was a simple triangular rock, of a type that was common in the peaks of the Alps, but it had a symbol not only carved into it, but painted with a layer of dry blood, forming a rune. "... By Cerberus' teeth… Lucifer, this is bad."
The far more impatient Daemon, at least at this point of his life, took the object "Give me that!" but his red eyes widened when he recognised the rune, which was in the shape of a circle with an arrow emerging from it. "This is…"
Michael nodded, sweating. "Ares worshippers."
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His thoughts transported back to the present, Lucifer found himself in the midst of the questioning of Wyvern's plan. It seemed that the other Judges had their own reservations about it.
"I find it hard to believe such an obvious path was left uncaptured for no reason, Rhadamanthys." Minos pointed out. "Though I do prefer it to Prince Lucifer's idea."
Rhadamanthys had no hesitation in pointing out the reason. "It's uncaptured only because we endlessly hesitate." He then turned to the Emperor. "Lord Hades, know that if you approve of my plan, I will immediately destroy the fortress of Peloponnesia, opening up our direct path to Greece!"
Minos was about as unimpressed as the doll looked. "You fool, haven't you been listening? We don't even have a clear road to Peloponnesia, and you want to wreck the place all by yourself!"
"I also advise against it." Lucifer interrupted, getting their attention. "You might not know this, Rhadamanthys, but there is an enclosed force in this area. Intruders into this part of the Alps do not return."
Wyvern scoffed. "Then my men will be the first!" he affirmed. "I will send a group of Skeletons I have personally drilled and take this path for Lord Hades."
Lucifer's fingers intertwined on the table, carefully held in front of his smile to hide it, as his brain turning cogs on a course of action. "Hesitation… or sensibility? I used to think that was Michael's flaw…The lack of it will be your undoing, Rhadamanthys." He contained a chuckle and then waved his hand as if ceding the point. "It seems the Judges disagree with me, Pandora. While I don't have to abide by their foolish decisions, not having my men's heart could prove a greater problem."
"Do you disagree with his plan, Lucifer? I think it sounds promising." Pandora commented, displeased at Lucifer's seeming lack of offensive sense towards bringing glory to Hades. "Certainly better than excuses you've given about lack of means."
"Of course I disagree, and more than that, I think it's foolish." Lucifer reinforced, sending Rhadamanthys into a contained fit. "But we'll see if young Wyvern's plan will prevail, won't we? My Emperor, if you will, perhaps we can adjourn this meeting till tomorrow, when I'm sure Rhadamanthys' incursion will already yield clear results."
The doll, with a tired nod, conceded. "Very well, my dear Specters. We will meet tomorrow." he turned to Rhadamanthys for a second. "Good luck, Wyvern, your dedication is moving and I'm sure you'll accomplish great deeds for me."
A swelling of pride overtook Rhadamanthys, who banged his gauntlet on his chestplate. "Of course, my Emperor! I will send out my men right away."
And as the most important figures of the Underworld respectfully shared their farewells and vowed to wait with anxiety for Rhadamanthys' triumphant maneuver, Lucifer couldn't help but spread his grin cheek to cheek as soon as he left the room. Poor Wyvern, so furiously loyal that he couldn't help but roll right over reason if it meant to earn Hades' approval. Now he would pay the price for stepping on the Prince's toes.
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Making their way out of the meeting room while Pandora was busy 'putting the doll away', the three Judges exchanged impressions on what had been discussed in it. "What do you think of his plan?" asked Aiacos.
The Norwegian Gryphon smirked. "It's cute enough. Perhaps setting up a vanguard post really is what we need to put the Saints on edge. I doubt it will accomplish much, though."
Aiacos sweated. "I think I'm more concerned with if the Prince has some ulterior motives. He's putting an awful lot of forces out of our vigilance."
Minos looked at him skeptically. "As long as it works, does it matter?" he confronted. "We're Judges, not Mariner Generals. Our obligation is to kill Saints and decide the fate of those in the Underworld. The sooner, the better."
This was a point where Aiacos could not help but often clash with Minos. The Specter in front of him was awfully unconcerned with his subordinates while the Garuda Judge himself couldn't help but feel a need to be more hands-on with his affairs.
Maybe this was something they inherited through their iterations of service to the Emperor across the ages? "I really don't understand you, Minos, aren't you concerned? I'd be working non-stop to take part in these missions, if they further the Emperor's cause and not allow our own men to be whisked away from our command!" Aiacos protested.
For the first time, Minos frowned. "Oh, aren't you the bleeding heart? Who cares about them? We are the three Judges! If Lucifer wants to waste time with a bunch of underlings, so be it as long as I can string up a few Gold Saints."
At about this moment, the Prince made his way out of the Palace and spotted the three Judges and their conversation, in particular the argument Aiacos seemed to be having with Minos. An old frustration sprung to the Prince's mind. If there was anything he and Michael had always disliked about their direct underlings, the Judges, was the paradox created at the crossroad of their bloodlust and desire to be on the frontline with their complete lack of care for proper decision-making.
And Minos in particular, in Lucifer's more than worthy opinion, had been of spectacularly bad service during the Lost Canvas War.
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"What?! Minos has fallen?!" shouted Lucifer, closing fists in madness and heard across the long hall.
"Be quiet, the Emperor is painting." shushed the golden-haired Dark Angel Michael, as he pointed his thumb at the large door next to him. "He took a group of Specters, including Deep Niobe, to strike Rodario. He thought the Emperor's ability to revive him would guarantee an easy victory, but he was stopped by Pisces Albafica, who paid for his victory with his life."
"How could that have happened?!" Lucifer questioned, refusing to believe a single Gold Saint could put a stop to a immortalized Judge's rampage.
"Kagaho has reported to me directly, he watched the battle from afar." Michael explained, not gesturing towards the wing-armored young man casually leaning against the wall. "He says the Aries Saint intervened, but that an Andromeda Saint has also been present in the battle. Apparently his wind powers helped Pisces counteract Minos' Gigantic Feather Flap."
Lucifer was stunned. He had always looked down on the Judges, but he never imagined they would be capable of this kind of failure. And a Bronze Saint powerful enough to match the force of a Judge's attack? What a humiliating set back!
Nearby, standing up from his lean, a second winged Specter of high rank scoffed in contempt. "Good riddance." commented Kagaho, the Celestial Violence Star, also known as the Bennu Specter. "We don't need Judges that can fall to a single Gold Saint."
While he shared a similar feeling, the weight of the responsibility to guarantee victory for Hades weighed on Lucifer's mind. "And now we're down one of three major fighters! This is unforgivable! How could he be so incompetent with such a massive advantage?!" protested Lucifer, red eyes burning with rage. "I gave him explicit orders not to make a rash attack!"
But Michael shrugged his shoulders. "And you really thought he would listen? These are the Judges we're talking about, they're not used to taking orders from us. It was the same during the last Holy War. Aiacos is the only one of the three who barely follows command." He then saw Lucifer heading off with a fit. "Stop, where are you going?!"
Lucifer eyed the two of them with unbridled fury. "I'm not so blinded by my power as Minos, but my pride demands I make things right for the Specters! Kagaho, follow me, and bring your Terrestrials! We're going to pay a visit to Sanctuary!"
While the Violence Star seemed more than eager to follow Pride, if his elated smirk was anything to go by, the Absolute Star didn't find this amusing at all. "What do you hope to accomplish?!"
"Minos has smeared the Emperor's honor before the real fighting could even begin! Now the Gold Saints laugh at us from their fortress, thinking they've crippled our triumvirate!" Lucifer reminded him. His arms tensed menacingly. " But I will not be so clumsy. Instead, I will show the Saints that there will be no celebration at any period of this war for them and that for every Judge that falls, one hundred of Athena's pathetic slaves will follow!"
Michael sweated, knowing there was no stop to Lucifer once he got something like this in his mind, but if there was anyone in the Emperor's army who could actually pull off something as reckless as what Minos did, it was the Daemon Specter.
But this familiar desire from Lucifer to shower the enemy in fear brought a hesitant smirk to Michael's face. "The Archdevil of Despair, as always, huh? Just make sure not to make the same mistake Minos did!" warned Michael. He then turned to Kagaho. "If you were smart, you'd stay behind again."
The black-haired youth that usually served under Rhadamanthys, however, scoffed. "This has always been your problem, Prince Michael. You think too much before you act," he dared to criticise. "Prince Lucifer has the natural instinct of a true war leader, though. Just like Judge Rhadamanthys, he won't hesitate to let me unleash the fires of hell on the Saints."
Michael eyed him down menacingly. "What impetuousness. Maybe I won't think twice about holding you down and cut off your tongue if you believe so, Celestial." He pointed at Lucifer. "Now go, and make sure he doesn't show the Emperor's true hand too soon, tell him to put on a lowly Surplice if he has to. We Princes will remain in the shadows until the true time to come out and devastate what's left of Sanctuary comes."
Unimpressed, Kagaho squinted. "And what, pray tell, will you be doing, Prince?"
Michael then walked off himself. "I'll be going to make sure Aiacos and Rhadamanthys have something to keep them busy so they won't follow Minos' example."
{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}
As a result of his actions at the time following this exchange, a series of battles with Taurus Rasgado had occurred. During the first skirmish, Bennu Kagaho partially blinded the huge man, and on the second battle, the Prince himself made his debut in the war and successfully murdered the Gold Saint, to the horror of his Bronze Saint friends. It had not wiped the setback and embarrassment that Minos' colossal failure in the conflict, but it also showed the Saints at the time that Hades' army was not to be trifled with. The morale of Athena's lesser fighters would not recover from this ripping loss for the rest of the great conflict, honoring his battle fame as a great bringer of despair.
Now, even if it benefited Lucifer's machinations, they stood on the eve of a new war and already Minos was showing signs of both complete complacence and the same potential to fuck it all up.
Aiacos gritted teeth. "Being loyal doesn't mean being unquestioning about it! Also, what's your problem?!"
But the Gryphon was unimpressed. "My problem is you wanting to drag me into this campaign affair which, to be blunt, is none of our business. I prefer Rhadamanthys' option, especially because he seems so eager to take it onto himself. So long as he doesn't appropriate Rune while he's taking care of the sentencing of the dead, Wyvern can do, quite frankly, whatever he wishes by me."
"Pah, no wonder the Prince considers you lazy." Aiacos bit, reminded of some harsh comments made by Daemon since he's arrived. "The Specters looked up to your replacement, Minos, but what do they think of you? You allow Lucifer to take our men, yet you still want to go against his wishes by siding with Radamanthys. I may not be enamoured by the Prince, but at least my men can see I can choose a plan and stick with it rather than just do what I feel like and risk their lives. "
Minos stared at him like he was stupid. "That whole presentation was just for show. He wants the Emperor to see that he's keeping us involved, and I'm quite content with it," Minos dryly explained. A sly smile then returned to him. "But what's with this enthusiasm from you to be so constructively critical about orders? Perhaps are you trying to compensate something you've seen in the records about your… previous service? Mh, mh."
Aiacos staggered, shocked that Minos would bring this up. "How dare you?!" he flustered, feeling the descriptions of a flying ship guarding the Lost Canvas crashing into another one led by an injured Sagittarius Saint flash through his mind. He turned to the Wyvern, who sat there the entire time without a word or say.
Wyvern squinted. "Frankly, I don't give a damn about either of you two; I have an attack to plan out." And then he walked off unceremoniously, wondering how he was associated to a pair of such pathetic bickerers. As he did, he spotted Lucifer observing the scene, and gave him the smuggest smirk he's ever been able to form. "It seems the Emperor has favored me this time, Prince."
His red eyes merely stared like steel at the teenager. "You keep ignoring me, Rhadamanthys. Once again I warn you against acting above your station, and your thirst for approval drives you past the red line." He turned over, making his black cape flutter, and departed with poison in his words. "But this time you'll learn true humiliation."
With an unbreakable good mood, for his standards at least, the English Judge just scoffed. "We'll see, you relic." He then turned to the Skeleton Soldiers patrolling around the area. "YOU, get the regiments in order, call them to the Earthly Castle. We are sallying out in force!"
{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}
Meanwhile
Surface, Rozan Mountain
{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}
Night had fallen again, and the second fight had gone on for hours, but Tenma's fist still shined like a bright star as he let out his battle cry. "PEGASUS! RYU SEI KEN!" he shouted, launching the carronade of meteors again with a fist lunge.
Speeding up into lasers, they struck as running trucks when Lance crossed his guards, resiliently taking the hits like a fortress, dragging his heels back with gritted teeth and irking eyes, his body dripping sweat and blood beneath his battered armor. The last blow shattered his guard like a cannon, causing him to stumble back with a gasp. Tenma was on him like a lion, continuing his combo with a series of punches and kicks that compensated their relative lack of skill with Light-boosted speed and puncturing power to Lance's exposed body.
The modern Pegasus attempted to fend him off by raising his guard, blocking a blow, stagger him back with a a punishing slog to the chest and then deliver a high knee strike that detonated on Tenma's face and bashed him off with a pained yelp. But the insanely fast Tenma once again shrugged it off in a split second and countered-struck on Lance's rib, stunning him, and a sudden cosmos boosted elbow charge blow that busted straight through Lance's guard, detonated with a charge of Light cosmos on impact, sent the red-eyed off into the air, and left him exposed to another round of laser-sharp Meteor Fists that peppered the air and the falling Greek's body
The modern Pegasus screamed in pain, pushed back by the force of blows numbing his thighs, sides and shoulders. A shadow leaped above him, making water drops fill the air, to suddenly strike him back down with a finishing elbow bash, bashing him to the floor and pushing him through the dirt almost to the energy fence.
Bracing his strength, though, he managed to land his feet just before hitting it and used the dragging friction to stop himself and relaunch his assault with a feint "CHARGE FIST!" he shot out like a speeding bullet from his spot, grazing the dodging Tenma's armor side with a blow that blasted off a chunk of the simulated warrior's armor. He twisted his body with the momentum to deliver a backhand blow to force Tenma on the defensive, preventing a counter attack, and engaged the opponent in a fierce exchange of close-range skirmish, attempting to use his superior practice and skill with refined hand-to-hand to stop Tenma from getting the upper hand.
Like always, Tenma barely resisted the pressure and dodged a wider attack to swoop around Lance with his superior speed for an angular blow, but all of a sudden a huge splash of the pond was kicked at his face, blinding him. A sudden, straight blow exploded right on his chestplate, punching him back and a large charged shot of cosmos suddenly blasted Tenma, shooting him off against the barrier wall, forcing a scream out of the shorter Saint.
The taller Pegasus burned his cosmos and resumed the melee, striking Tenma's guard with a flying kick before unleashing a combo of light speed punches that put the boy on the defensive once more.
The young Japanese Saint seemed to have more difficulty at continuing the skirmish, losing his excited grimace for a nervous frown and yelps whenever he barely dodged or blocked a swipe, kick or straight punch from Dohko's new student, completely reverting the flow of the fight. His perceptiveness allowed him to see his opportunity and he suddenly stepped back, causing Lance's punch to flail past its range, and harshly blocked it with a sudden elbow armor blow that painfully shattered Lance's knuckle guard, stunning the Greek's whole arm. An underside punch followed, striking Lance's gut while a light speed knee blow to the chin snapped his whole head back, exposing it, and an overhead punch then descended from the sky, intending to finish him off!
But in a feat of recovery and speed rivalling those of Tenma, the seemingly stunned Greek suddenly rolled over his body to let Tenma swing down past him, landing on the floor with a cratering, water-erupting blow. The younger-looking fighter staggered and tried to swing around with a kick to catch Lance, but was parried by the arm before the other, all of a sudden, delivered a stunning gut punch fired at the speed of light and a quickly-missed blur of sparks, and a massive knee blow on Tenma's face, sending him flying back.
Dohko's eyes widened, noticing the small detail in the strike with huge excitement, but the Pegasus Saint didn't even notice it, focused on the threat of the battle, and in fact panted and wheezed to himself, having suddenly somehow spent a great deal of energy.
Landing and dragging his feet on the mud, Tenma coughed out and bled from his mouth. "D-damn it, I must not lose!" His cosmos burned and prepared another salvo "PEGASUS! RYU SEI-"
"SHUT UP!" Lance screamed, charging an energy blast in his blast and firing it as a straight large blue laser at Tenma, blasting him off his combo's start. Both his hands then glew into orbs of blue, pale light; charging the Cosmos. Once again Dohko could swear he saw a single surge of electricity in it. "Let's see how you like getting bombarded back for once!" Lance then launched his arms forward, unleashing a continuous rapid fire twin barrage of small energy blasts.
"W-Whow! Tenma yelped, raising arms in guard and getting blasted all over his body with forceful shots that smoke-screened him entirely. He irked in pain, feeling the painful burns of the lasers hitting exposed spots of his body.
Lance kept firing the blasts, letting out the frustration of hours of scuffle in the form of a punishing stream of basic energy shots which, albeit lacking the projected impact that gave the Meteor Fist its deadly damage output, still felt like catharsis against the shooting-star-spamming simulation. Even so, he clearly felt the lack of damage he delivered. "T-this isn't gonna work! It keeps him busy for a bit but he'll overcome!" he then saw his suspicions confirmed when Tenma, with a shot and arms spreading to the sides, unleashed an aura burst that deflected the weak rapid fire. "D-damn it… what's the secret?!"
Both fighters pant and wheezed, staring at each other like deadly enemies. It clearly felt like Lance had improved his fighting against Tenma, but perhaps it was just the element of surprise no longer being on the simulated fighter's side, not to mention for some reason his energy reserves were taking occasional dips.
Suddenly Tenma dashed at him with another Lightspeed peak and a punch swing, but Lance slipped his left arm over Tenma's lunge and dragged him down to the ground, flooring the two Saints. Tenma wasn't sure how, but like an anaconda had suddenly captured him, he felt suddenly rolled over with his back to the ground and another arm swept around his neck and tightened up, choking him.
The younger Saint gasped for air, grabbing Lance's arm and trying to raise his body with his feet.
"I g-got you!" Lance growled, a feeling of triumph coming over him to compensate the blood now rushing down his hit nose. He had observed Tenma enough, however, to know what's gonna happen next. His 7th sense detected that annoying light cosmos beginning to swell in the surface of his opponent's armor, preparing to explode. He suddenly let go of Tenma with a powerful knee blow to the back, sending him rolling off to the other side of the field.
Lance collected himself, stepping back for distance. The fight had degenerated into an ugly slug, with the older saint resorting strategies like that hold that didn't really lead anywhere. He could definitely feel Dohko's disapproving eyes on him for such pointless trickery, as Saints culturally preferred more direct methods of fighting that honored the explosive nature of Cosmos as an energy source to overcome their foes, but it was the best Lance could do to prolong the fight against someone like Tenma and gather enough experience and info to be worth the trouble of setting it up in the first place.
Sitting near the duel pond, Dohko felt he could shake his head and laugh at the same time. While he wasn't a fan of the methods Lance was resorting to, he couldn't really blame him considering this was Tenma they were talking about. The boy resorted to cute tricks to solve fights he couldn't win, like when Tenma got Deathtoll trapped in his own coffin during the Suikyo incident. Heck, Dohko remembered doing the same thing centuries earlier, whenever the incredibly talented Japanese Pegasus got cheeky with the Master during training.
Tenma threateningly circled over Lance, looking for the ideal angle to attack. A ghostly fabrication like him couldn't feel genuine curiosity, but the personality Seiryu was mimicking through him compelled the simulation to ask questions anyway. "Can't you understand that I have no time to lose? If I don't hurry back to Athena-"
"Oh, knock with the 'I gotta hurry' bullshit!" Lance criticized, not interested in entertaining this kid's nonsense as opposed to trying out what he practiced after their last fight. "Seiryu must really think very lowly of people, if these are all the lines he gave you."
Rain suddenly started dripping down on them. Lance knew he couldn't win this fight. He could already feel his lungs force in greater amounts of air than normal. Just like in the first duel, he was expending more energy than the damage he dished out, while Tenma seemed immune to exhaustion. Whether this was due to the boy's original fighting virtue or Seiryu powering him, there was no way to tell. The best he could do was try to stimulate his cosmos to reach the Lightning element, but something impeded him.
What was it? When he struck Tenma with his punches, he tried to focus on the snapping intensity he felt in the exploding cosmos, the superhuman power running through his muscles, but it seemed to distract Lance more than anything. The fact that it was hard to get Tenma into a position where he could be hit aggravated the task even further. And Lance's particular fighting didn't help at all, being used to focus on ensuring damage upon hitting, instead of hitting in itself. It seemed clearer and clearer that he had to get out of his comfort zone, and perhaps this is what Dohko intended from the start.
However, the idea of taking lessons from this kid, Tenma, felt distasteful. He was just a simulation. More than their styles of fighting, or element, the two seemed to contrast in priorities, with Tenma going on and on about Athena while Lance could care less. It was hard to believe two people who wore the same Cloth could be so different, considering the same winged horse whispered in their ear and the same Gold Saint taught them.
In the meantime, Dohko, observing the fight, kept an anxious eye on Lance's aura. It's emanator didn't realise it, but every now and then, when he was pushed by Tenma's blows and charged a bigger amount of power for a counter, slight sudden sparks of electricity were detected by Libra on Cancer's burning cosmos, evidence that he was indeed tapping into a hidden energy.
Tenma seemed to find his angle, suddenly smiled and raised his hand to prepare the salvo. "Alright, let's get back into it! Pegasus! RYU-"
But Lance relaxed his own stance. "Alright, Roshi, let's stop. I've had enough."
Suddenly the transparent fence around the pond collapsed, melting like water into the ground, and Tenma disintegrated in the middle of his attack into puffs of white smoke that cleared away. The young red-eyed warrior left the field and took off his horse head helmet and tossed it in his box, letting out his sweat-soaked hair and a tired sigh.
Dohko joined him, tapping his cane to the rhythm of the walk. "Not feeling for a beating, uh? Is something the matter?"
He shook his head. "No, I just need to think about things, decide on a better tactic and I'd rather not wait till waking up from a knockout to do so." He then winced, feeling the pain from the blows he took catching up.
"I'm still counting it as a loss, heh heh heh." Dohko warned, chuckling.
"Can't I just be tired?" asked the student, fed up.
"You could be in a coma for all I care, I'll still make fun of you." promised the Master. He wasn't totally heartless, though, and accompanied Lance out of the valley, once he got his armor packed up. "Let's get out of the rain. So what did you conclude?"
Lance's chin lifted up at the clouded skies, reflecting on things. "... Well, for once, I'm nowhere near close to where I need to be to beat this kid," he confessed. "I don't lack the strength, nor the power… but I just don't have the right tools."
Dohko scoffed. "Pfft, bull-honkey, you got all the tools you need."
"I'm serious, Roshi, I-"
The cane swiped Lance's foot painfully. "Quit it, Mr. Woe-Is-Me. You keep thinking of cosmos as your enemy to conquer, you need to stop that." The teacher suddenly confronted, already guessing what lame self-doubt lies Lance was telling himself. "I swear, it's like Morpheus himself put those ideas in your crazy head. Lightning isn't out of your reach, it's already within yourself. I saw it. You just need to manifest it."
There was another sigh, not because Lance didn't believe in Dohko, but because the Master had been proven right about this kind of thing more than once already. Chances were that Lance's biggest enemy in this really was himself and the whole idea to simulate fights with Tenma was some weird psychoanalytic way the teacher came up with to force Lance to get out of his own way.
"Did you teach Tenma his element? Light, I mean?" asked Lance. "It seems hard to achieve."
Dohko seemed to grumble a bit. "No, Tenma taught himself most things, or he'd end up with Wind, like I wanted him to. Light is rare, and the few people who get it tend to overuse it, like burning themselves out in fights." Roshi described. "But it's also the element that works best against Damascus armor, so perhaps it kept him safer than my teachings ever did."
Lance's thoughts turned to the book, which specified that Tenma had a teacher before Dohko who went missing, a person named Suikyo. Did 'self-taught' mean 'taught by someone I'd rather not mention'? Roshi didn't seem like an overly proud person, constantly laughing at himself and others' hubris, especially Lance's. He had a hard time imagining Dohko has having issues with Suikyo. He distinctly remembered the book mentioning Dohko's thoughts about how he wanted to be Tenma's official teacher but at the same time, was it really in him to be bitter about it? Or was there something to Tenma's up-bringer he really wasn't allowed to discuss?
Eyeing the teacher carefully for body language and taking care not to let on that knew about the journal, Lance kept the topic to the Light element. "I guess that's why most of the army doesn't train in it, despite the fact Hades is our main enemy."
"Main enemy, but not the only one," commented the Master, picking up an apple on the way and munching on it. This seemed to remind him of someone. "Mm, like Eris and her Dryads. Light isn't much use against them. Your element, Fire, on the other hand…"
Lance sweatdropped. "What, are their armors made of wood or something?" he joked, but Dohko actually chuckled at it like a particularly amusing inside joke, making him squint in disbelief. "You cannot be serious."
"Yo, oh oh, Shion often writes to me that Olivia, their young new head, complains the army doesn't take the Saintias seriously, but when the enemy assigned to them has this kind of fame, you can't blame the hoplites for joking that a good lumberman could do their job. I'm sure Dryads are just as dangerous as Specters and that their armor is made of, well, metal-" Dohko commented, taking another bite off the apple "-but until they stop calling it a Leaf to our faces and spreading fame of using tree branches to attack our girls, I'll enjoy having a good laugh at both of their expense."
The Pegasus Saint dropped his jaw, bewildered. Were Dryads really as ridiculous as Roshi made them sound? He had met many Maidens of Athena, like Elisa, who oversaw the orphanages and temples like nuns, but never met a Saintia, the so-called personal servants of the Goddess, who opted for a more combat-oriented servitude just informal enough that they were not obligated to wear a mask. However, if Saintias were anything like the masked Amazons such as Cassiopeia Cynthia, who was a fierce fighter along with one of the few more reasonable people he had met in all of Sanctuary, Pegasus would rather take Dohko's words with a grain of salt and not underestimate them on account of their traditional foes being so comically described.
"It's still no excuse to slack off on your training with lightning." warned Dohko. "Come on, we'll go back and work on some of your techniques while you recover from this round."
{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}
The following day,
Giudecca Palace
{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}
All the great figures of the Underworld reunited with Pandora and the God, Hades. The mood of the room, however, was completely different this time, with everyone seeing the images in the air caused by Aiacos' cosmos, which showed, in graphic detail, the fate of the men gathered by Wyvern Rhadamanthys and sent deep into the forest he planned to transverse.
This was because, out of the two Judges that happened to have been on the scene, Aiacos was the only one not currently shaking in horror and shame in his chair, skin paled even more than usual, at having failed the Emperor directly.
Garuda Aiacos made the images flutter, showing the gory details of the Skeleton Soldiers torn apart, stripped of their armors and pinned to the trees in such a way that their dismembered corpses and limbs spelled out a message to Hades, namely three Ms displayed in a smile row. To the Specters, these three letters together meant a very specific sentence which was often used as a war cry by some of their enemies.
'Mortuorum Mortuorum Maneat'
'The dead stay dead'
The puppet sitting by Pandora was not amused.
"This is where we found the captain," Aiacos explained, pointing at the bigger torso forming the leftmost leg of the third M. "They hanged the right at the entrance of the pass, no weapons found, but the bodies had sprinkles of stardust and burns typical of being struck with the cosmos."
All the Judges in the room were disturbed and appalled, but not nearly as much as Pandora, whose delicate daltonic eyes shook in terror at the level of affront to Hades' chosen displayed in the projected illusion. The lack of ability to distinguish colors did not erase the visible atrocity thrown at her brother's face. This went beyond a simple warning to stay away from the area that Rhadamanthys attacked. To display the Skeletons in such a fashion meant a direct warning to Hades from someone who knew very well what he and his army were sensitive to, namely the purity of the bodies and the topic of revival.
Lucifer had to cover his smile with the fist he rested his chin on at the table. "What a waste of good men."
"Enough! Rid me of the sight of that debacle!" Pandora screamed, to which Aiacos promptly made the illusions cast away into nothing. She then eyed Rhadamanthys like an angry raven. "And a debacle this surely is, isn't it Rhadamanthys?!"
The Wyvern shook with a mix of anger and shame, closing his fist like he wanted to bang the table but feeling the weight of the Emperor's stare forbidding him from raising his head from the wooden surface.
The attack did not even get a chance to begin. He had sent the vanguard in to secure the pass, completely certain that any issues and obstacles would be detected by the scouts and light troops before anything concerted could be carried out. Quite simply, as Rhadamanthys continued to argue with Aiacos back at the tent about how many men to send in, the vanguard had just… stopped sending notice. Their cosmos had vanished in a matter of seconds and some kind of brutal slaughter had occurred deep inside the woods, resulting in the vicious insult to the Emperor displayed at its entrance.
"A whole vanguard of warriors faithful to my brother, GONE!" Pandora lambasted, uncaring of how the Wyvern looked like a powder keg about to blow up. "Do you have any idea of the grief this has caused your God?! You vowed to him to crush the Saints at Peloponnesia!"
Being stepped further down by the hateful woman broke the camel's back. The teenager's fist shot to the side and struck down a vase, instantly shattering it into a million tiny pieces. His furious glare with gritted fangs, snorting nostrils and razor sharp golden eyes looked directly in her eyes, threatening to smash her face into the wall.
But the Sister of Hades was not one to relent, even in such a terrifying sight.
In fact, she further shook her head at his failing. "Do you think of striking me, Judge?!... Lash out all you want, Rhadamanthys… but you still failed my brother and that will be a mark on your honor forever," she pressed on, a spirit of dignity steeled by her resolution to be the great liaison of their God.
Minos chuckled in his chair. "How embarrassing…"
Aiacos merely sweated, knowing Rhadamanthys fury would be unleashed on the army eventually. "I knew this was a risky plan… but to turn out so badly..."
"SILENCE, you useless clots! What service do you have in your names?! I sought to expand the Emperor's borders beyond your comfortable thrones at the Prisons!" Wyvern snapped, turning to the two Judges and Pandora in his rant.
"And now we've lost the men that we could have used in far more important and valuable operations." Lucifer then bit in, also unafraid of the Wyvern.
This particular comment made a conclusion click alight inside Wyvern's head. "You… you used me!" Rhadamanthys accused, feeling it all fall into place.
Lucifer smirked. "I warned you. Once in front of the Emperor and the rest of the present parties, and once right after yesterday's meeting." Wyvern took a threatening step towards him. "Start a fight in front of the Emperor, you welp, and I will drag you to Cocytos and smash your face in the ice along with the rest of the Saints."
While the threat made Wyvern want to smash the Prince's face right then and there, being reminded of the Emperor's presence silenced him. He slowly sat back down in the chair, his face going from pale to red, and the eyes of the puppet felt burned on his very cranium. "T-this… can't be happening!"
Pandora scoffed indignantly. "To think you'd cause such a scene… especially with such flagrant evidence of your failure!" She then eyed the Prince. "Lucifer, who slaughtered Rhadamanthys' men? You did warn us, and I apologise for disregarding you, but this surely means you know more."
But to everyone's disbelief, except perhaps for Hades', the Prince shrugged his shoulders. "I told you, Pandora, I don't know."
She was wide-eyed in disbelief. "How could you not?!"
The Prince looked away in a sign of admission of fault. "We've had problems in the area before. It could be renegade Saints, it could be someone else. Personally, I tend for the latter possibility," he argued. This was technically true, as Lucifer never lied, as even after all this time, no Specter that walked inside the Alps left to tell what was inside it. "What mattered as to making a call on what to do, though, was that we don't control the surface, or even our own backyard, which is why I proposed the construction of a frontier outpost."
The group let this sink in their heads. The sudden feeling of Hades' authority not spreading beyond a stone throw away of Pandora's castle was now very real on all of them and the idea of a fortified resting spot at the edge of their control zone started turning some cogs in their heads.
"I seem to remember my Specters mentioning this in the past…" commented the god puppet, pronouncing himself for the first time, and barely able to lift a plastic arm to cover his face in sorrow. Every time Hades spoke, it was like the attention of the whole room got sucked into him. "Oh, I wish I had remembered… I've been confined in my Palace for so long, unable to even see my realm."
Lucifer's eyes narrowed. He may have manipulated Rhadamanthys to teach him a lesson, but this was direct deceit. "You liar… Michael and the Judges told you about this many times."
"Brother, it's not your fault… the last war left you so weakened!" assured Pandora, gasping. Thinking things over, though, she had to acknowledge the right thing to do. "Lucifer… it seems I should have listened to you all along…"
All the pieces now fell right on Lucifer's hands. "You don't have to apologize, Pandora, but hopefully this is the last time I am questioned by the Judges."
Aiacos squinted. "Pardon me?"
Lucifer then eyed the three of them venomously, especially Wyvern. "Rhadamanthys might have been the one to have failed the Emperor this time, ... but let it be a lesson to you all; that ignoring my orders will bear the same results for the two of you and cost more loyal men's lives."
While Aiacos was baffled and Rhadamanthys had sunk in shame in his seat, Gryphon Minos couldn't help but chuckle, half-stunned and half-awed, at how all of a sudden the power in the room was entirely in Lucifer's hands when, just the day before, he let Rhadamanthys roll by with that childish plan of his. If the Norwegian Judge wasn't so fond of manipulation himself, he would probably be feeling a chill up his spine as cold as the one going through Aiacos'.
The Prince didn't wait for their answer. "Let's not waste more time, I will delineate exactly what I need for this operation now." Seeing their hesitations melt, Lucifer struck again with his original point. "Above all, however, I want you all to be assured. This plan of mine is merely a first step towards preparing for a direct war with Sanctuary. In other words, I fully intend to do the same as Rhadamanthys did, the difference being I'll do it right." he pointed out.
This made the contained Wyvern visibly boil with hate.
The raven haired girl calmed her breath. "I didn't realise our enemies were so numerous… but it will be fine, Lucifer has a plan… right?" she thought to herself, looking him over to try to figure out. "How confident are you on this, Lucifer?"
This made the Prince hesitate, not used to seeing this new Pandora show signs of lack of personal confidence. "Full." But he then thought to himself. "If you're starting to feel the weight of the responsibility on your shoulders, I'm afraid this is only the beginning, you poor girl."
Her throat gulped nervously, deciding on a course of action. "If he's betting himself directly in this, then I'm sure my brother's interests will be served. There's no one else that can make calls like this in the army right now, after all," she admitted to herself.
Lucifer recalled the illusion of the three-dimensional map he projected the day earlier and drew everyone's attention to a spot on the main, direct road to Peloponnesia where there was a slight slope upwards between a set of forested areas faraway from the one Rhadamanthys intended to take. "This is where I intend to set up shop. It has the ideal terrain."
The whole table quieted down to let the Emperor absorb this and make his conclusions.
"So from there you intend to launch a major offensive, my dear Prince?" asked Hades, to which he got a slow nod. The God smiled warmly. "Having a post there will indeed help keep my Specters safe on their way out, until they're in a position for a more serious attack. Excellent, I knew you had something up your sleeve, Daemon. I'm glad you're showing, yet again, that I can count on you."
Lucifer lowered his head, honored. "Lying again and again…" he thought to himself. "You just like how the idea will get the weaklings out of your sight… but I'll get into that."
The Gryphon Specter made a quick head calculation. "How do you intend to supply the construction for this?" asked Minos.
Lucifer scoffed. "A minor concern; something we don't lack is rock, Damascus and incentivized workers. We've performed this kind of operation many times in previous wars and have lots of practice. Any other questions?"
Aiacos raised his hand. "How many men do you want to station there?"
"No less than ten replacements, preferably of bronze to silver rank, perhaps one gold, plus all their entrusted Skeletons," the Prince counted. "I also wish to mount the ballistae, if possible."
It was back to Gryphon Minos, who chuckled. "Ten? Do you wish, perhaps, to empty one of our Circles?"
The curiosity in this noticed by Lucifer made him curve his lip edges upwards, but he contained himself. "They've finished most, if not all, repairs from the last war long ago, and they're growing dull and untrained. The lack of action and too much time is making them sloppy and get in the way of work in the interior. Taking them to the surface will put them to practical use. Besides -" he pointed out. "We've lost a Judge among them to Herakles Aguilon, a Silver Saint that has been of note for the last thirty years. Ten is barely enough to secure the position against the kind of powerhouse that Sanctuary is willing to send against us. I would ask for more if I dared to offend the Emperor's sensitivities."
Rhadamanthys was beset with doubt, gritting his teeth, but not because he disagreed with the suggestion. The way Lucifer was putting it actually appealed to him a whole lot. "... I think I might agree with this. If it will put those needless weaklings out of my sight, all the better." he found himself confessing, though it only drove in the suspicion that Lucifer deliberately withheld all of this to make him overstep his own plan.
"This might put their lives on the line, being outside the Earthly Castle's walls, which is why I summoned this meeting to have your approval… but it will project our power to where it should reach, Lord Hades," argued Lucifer, whose hand then raised tensely and tightened into a fist. "And from that point, I will be able to organise a GRANDER offensive, perhaps even destroy Peloponnesia itself, humiliating the Saints and curbing their influence before the real war even begins! What do you say, my Lord?"
The whole room turned to the doll, who seemed to have no difficulty giving its answer. "The homework has certainly been done, and you've even gotten Rhadamanthys to vote in," noted Hades, widening his eyes. "How can I say no to this? In fact, I think Thanatos will be very happy with it since it will save him a lot of work."
Pandora blinked. "How so, brother?"
Lucifer squinted, knowing the truth. "The Emperor merely means that Lord Thanatos has been concerned with what to do with the new Specters." he put it.
Garuda and Gryphon eyed one another, sensing something strange about the plan but unable to put their finger on it. Rhadamanthys, on the other hand, could practically feel himself being used like a pawn in a chess table.
"You have my permission to begin work and establish the frontier outpost, Lucifer," granted Hades, smiling with assuredness. "May the darkness be with you. I can tell this will be the first step to a grand battle plan with which you'll bring me victory with."
Once again, Lucifer bowed. "Thank you, Emperor. I will gather the forces and detail the plan to them immediately." he bajulated, smiling to himself. "And, with this, I got the setting and excuse I need to finally confront those fools you've been stringing along."
{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}
Standing right outside the door, the diminutive, hunchback Specter Frog Zelos pressed his ear against the wall. "Heh, heh heh, this is just delicious to listen to! Oh, Rhadamanthys, serves you right for making me cart the dead!" he then noticed the occupants were stepping towards the exit. "Shoot, I should take my leave!" and he fled off like a cockroach into the darkness of the halls, taking cover in the corridor wall tapestries and curtains.
Leaving the dining room, the high-rankers of the Underworld once again made their way through the halls. Upon reaching the grand doors of the Palace, Lucifer handed out his orders to the Judges. "Minos, have Rune go through the Book of the Dead to see about the lost men. Whoever did this might have slipped up on treating the corpses and give us a shot at reviving them, though chances are laughable."
The Judge nodded. "Yes, my Prince."
"Aiacos, get our Star peers busy, I will be addressing the others for this outpost task. No need to risk the wrong kind of blood here," the silver-haired man then commanded.
The Garuda Judge took the meaning to it. "As you command, my Prince."
"Make it quick, too, it's about time we get things going in the Underworld," the Prince spiked. The two Judges took off, leaving the Prince to his thoughts. "Everything is set. Time to go to Torak and the others and address the fools."
But then Rhadamanthys, of all people, approached him. "A word, Prince?" and upon receiving a nod from Lucifer, he said something that, even though it revolted Rhadamanthys to his very stomach, the Pride Star never thought he would hear from his lips. "The circumstances of my failure do not satisfy me, but I'm not… above admitting I might have been wrong."
An awkward beat of silence filled the hall. This was one thing the Prince really didn't count on.
But the Daemon kept his dignant glare. "There's nothing to be said about that anymore, so long as you never doubt your Prince again." He warned. "You may not like it, Rhadamanthys, but I am superior to you. Not just in rank, mind you, but also in strength, power, speed, experience and service to the Emperor."
He did not, but for now, Wyvern would employ a different tactic and play Lucifer's game, offering him a more respectful tone. "Then I hope you don't mind if I ask you something to clarify myself with," he requested, getting a hesitant nod from the Prince. "I want to know what kind of problem we've had in the past."
Hesitation beset Lucifer, who stoically stared at the Wyvern, considering all his options. "Ah, why should I answer that, wyrm?"
This time, the English teenager, maybe due to the humiliation he just suffered or maybe due to a genuine new appraisal of the Prince, passed the test and didn't let the provocation affect him. "I wished to know why is it that, when we met, I felt immediate repulsion welling up inside me towards someone I had never even met before," he explained. "I've run my head through it, and it can only be from something in my previous lives. The other two Judges irritate me, cause they seem interested in frivolous things, so I can't imagine myself being biased against someone furthering the interests of the Emperor, like me."
"Ugh, what frivolous arrogance. When will you learn real pride in what you are instead of who you serve?" Picking his words very carefully, the Prince eventually conceded. "Dragons don't share territory, Rhadamanthys, even in the name of God."
The Wyvern halted pace, considering these words. "Are you not a Daemon?"
This was actually a reference to the shape that the Daemon Surplice took in its rest pose, but looking this over as unimportant detail, Lucifer reapproached him. "If you want a close approximation of why we've never gotten along, this is the best reason I can point to. Others have surged in the meantime, of course..."
And this made the blonde narrow his unibrow in fury. "I'm not interested in entertaining nonsense, especially insinuations about myself and that gorgon, Pandora."
Lucifer walked past him, harshly shoving his arm against Wyvern's. "Watch your mouth, plebeian." He then walked off himself, heading for the main road of the Underworld with one final warning to Rhadamanthys. "And don't forget what I asked you, either forget your stupid obsession, or be forever a failure, like you were today. The clock is ticking."
"So is yours!" retorted the Judge, tightening gauntlet. "Cause one day, there will be no difference between your power and mine!"
The silver-haired Prince smirked. "I'd quit dreaming about that, if I were you. You're no champion of Hades yet, and you'll never be while I'm around." he thought to himself, burning his cosmos in preparation to depart at lightspeed for the other Prisons. "By this time tomorrow, the Judges won't have the faith of the armies, either. I appreciate the strange kind words, Rhadamanthys, but you're five hundred years too late. I'll reinstate the reason the Princes are dominant in the army, something you Judges never bothered to make a habit of, and this time, nothing will stop me from being the one to crush Sanctuary under a Specter's boot, especially not Tenma and his pesky Bronze Saint friends!"
{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}
Underworld
Borderlands to the 'Desert Beyond'
{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}
Just short before the pass to the mountains that Pandora was escorted through by Valentine, there was a side spot where the cliffs of the Underworld eased in raggedness into more even terrain, like a previously inhabited area. It was off the Hades Road, which went through all the Prisons, but still within the protective bath of the light of the 108 Stars, while also being a spot that most of the Specters and Skeletons currently moving through it could swear they've never noticed before.
Everyone was present, even Alraune Lemon, who reluctantly brought his own Skeleton soldiers to the fray in a humiliating show of defeat to the elites who betrayed him and, worst of all, the Prince himself, but all in all, almost thirty Specters and nearly one hundred Skeletons were now moving up the path, pretty much everyone who wasn't a part of the newly arriving generation of Specters that included the likes of Rune, Aiacos and Sylphid.
"Are we in the right way?" asked the Dullahan Specter. "I've never been here."
"We're following Torak's instructions to the letter, sir." reminded one of his underling Skeletons.
"It will be fine if we don't go into the mountains, right?" Lycaon Coronis asked out loud, his green, sickly eyes looking up at the dark peaks in the horizon. "I heard Pandora recently got into some sort of mess there the other day."
Then, as if to answer their pleas, a familiar flap of wings and twinkly spread of dust in the air was heard, and Papillon Ainsel flew above them. "Oh, so many friends, so many old faces. Come, come, through here, you're in the right way." he incited, waving in the direction they had been going through. "Don't make the Prince wait, mm, mm, mm."
The Specters looked at each other almost en masse. "What a freak." Golem commented.
Still, the great group moved on like a procession, somberly making their way up the slope unto the large plateau. They found themselves at an acropolis-like space, from where they could see a great distance back into many of the Prisons, like the far off white mist of Cocytus, the golden peak of the Pyramid of Gluttony and barely making out the black river Styx that flowed between the Fifth and Fourth Prisons.
Beyond, towards the center of the plateau, the large group moved into what looked like the ruins of an amphitheater of some kind, where the many seats of stone remained under the tempest of the dusty wind and a central stand was left broken and in pieces of boulder, where the Elites awaited.
Behemoth Torak was on one and casually pointed to the front of the stand. "Gather around."
Papillon Ainsel flew around them as they picked their spots and organised into an audience. "So many… I think all of them came."
"Of course they did," mocked Nasu Erika, perched on a high pillar behind the speaking stand, chin on hand. "What else could they do to ease their sad state?"
Her toxic words made many of the Specters quivered or grumbled. It was true; after what happened at the Pyramid of Gluttony, many of the Specters wondered if there was any point to going on as servants of Hades, feeling the weight of the guillotine of oblivion close in on them. Choosing to heed Lucifer's invitation came naturally to most of them, even Alraune Lemon who had been thoroughly reduced in a matter of minutes from being the leader of a potential takeover to just another face in the depressed crowd, powerful as he was.
Sphinx counted heads and turned to the shadows by the stand's edge. "Everyone is here, my Prince, you may begin."
While there were some slight murmurs in the crowd, they all disappeared when, from said shadows, a heavy armored, caped figure slivered out like a nightmare, sliding over to the center of the stage and rising up into a human form, swirling away into Daemon Lucifer. His red eyes surveyed the crowd, seeing many Skeletons and Specters that had served the Underworld for some time, but were not reaching the point of obsoletion.
"It's the Prince…" one noted.
"What the heck is this place?" asked the Bat Specter.
Worm Samuel looked around with his eyes and his tentacles. "I've…. Never been here before, and I've tunneled all around the Underworld."
The answers to all this came from the Pride Star. "This... was a debate theater. In pilgrimage, the dead would come here to plead their case to be brought back to life." Lucifer began, getting their full attention. He saw the surprise and disbelief in the faces of the men at the notion of their God entertaining any kind of negotiation with the dead. He didn't blame them. "You do not believe me?"
Many of them now knew well to never call Lucifer a liar, but this was a bit of a stretch. "Lord Hades… entertaining the dead like that…" argued the Elf Specter, a man in basic blue-colored Surplice with fanged paws as shoulder plates and a mouth-masked helmet with a single horn protruding above. "... hard to imagine, Dark Prince."
There was a lot these fools did not understand about their God, and this was the first revelation he would give the Specters. "The Emperor is not the God he used to be. His once warm mercy has run cold. The successive failures to defeat Athena and her Saints' abuse of reincarnation have embittered him and made him lose appreciation for the living." His hands then waved at the theater they stood on. "So has his appreciation for this place, where the dead would once move him with their melancholia. Now, he barely ever looks this way, making it the ideal spot to have this… conversation."
Many of them tried to picture the aloof God granting any sort of deal to leave the Underworld. Many remained skeptic.
The wolf-armored one was the first to voice his doubts. "That's ridiculous… we fight for the cleansing of the Earth, there is nothing worthwhile in life in the surface, that much we've all always agreed with as Specters." Lycaon Coronis argued, gritting his fanged teeth. "Why would Emperor Hades, in mercy to boot, send anyone back up?! It is here in the Underworld that sins are cleansed and we can walk a path to be welcomed back to Eden!"
"Mm, mm, you'll soon realise much of what you've been told is false." Papilon Ainsel mocked, hand in cheek, flapping his colorful wings above them. "But nothing of which has been told to you by the Prince. You're still as worthless as the dirt below his feet."
The Dullahan Specter scoffed in disgust, making his yellow-eyed full-head mask shake. "Okay, enough with the holier-than-thou act, we get it! We've come here in complete surrender!" he pleaded. "Just give us some dignity for once and tell us straight in the eye what we're doing here!"
"You're here to understand the nature of the armies in this great war that has been fought for so many eras… and hence your particular nature," reminded Lucifer, locking them all in place with his stern tone and unique cursed red eyes.
He raised his hand and burned his cosmos, making images and sounds project all around them as sophisticated illusions to the senses, much like the ones he used to represent his strategy plan to Pandora and Hades. This time, the mob of Specters gasped and banded together in alarm when they saw and heard images of metal clashing and fighting in the hands of armored men all around them so real they thought themselves in the midst of a great battle. They took a second to relax and understood they were simply being shown images of the past, of foregone wars.
"This… is the history of our little shadow world," explained the Daemon Specter, making time turn and shift in the images faster and faster, moving from one battle to the next. He made sure to stand out armors they would recognise, mostly Surplices and a few Cloths, in these. "Whole ages of warring with the Gods themselves, for the sake of cleaning the surface of its sins. For every Specter fallen, he would take one hundred with him to the Underworld… perhaps this is what you all imagined when granted your Damascus armors, a lifetime of glory and absolution in the service of a God promising Elysium."
The Specters were visibly entranced by these images. Many of them shook with the sight of themselves, or at least people wearing their particular Surplices, slaying Saints and soldiers alike with all the triumph they always pictured to themselves, scythes glistening in the light of the sun as brightly as they would under the Underworld's stars. Their frustrations, their sadness and their anger at the injustices in the Earth, especially the filthiness the Saints insisted on protecting, taken out in the form of a great cleansing right in front of their eyes. It was like watching their peers win a great victory for their homeland, or for their God, or even for the families they left behind to become Specters and Skeletons.
And as the enemy armies fell and the dead were dragged down to the Underworld, Lucifer's projection changed from images of battling to something completely different, something that was catered to each and every one of them from what they were promised the aftermath of all their suffering would be.
The Bat Specter's green-gauntleted hand reach out at one imagine being projected before him, of him gliding with wings his armor did not really have over a sea of purified dead souls seeking to embrace him, eyes locked and tearful at the sight of redemption.
Golem saw himself walking on the flower-filled prairies of Elysium, where the Symplegade boulders collapsed into pebbles, their punishing purpose served, and his arms shook in emotion.
Even Alraune Lemon was granted a sight, of himself towering in the skies over an abandoned Earth, as the purified souls danced in between like a layer of clear curtain.
"Sadly, none of this will come to pass," Lucifer suddenly cut, making all the flying, circulating images whiff away into nothing simply by retracting his cosmos.
Many of the Specters gasped and reached out, as if trying to grab the fleeting dreams. They awed, gawked and choked in distraught, their dreams taken away once more. "N-no!"
Alraune Lemon gritted his teeth and dared to make his first statement. "D-damn you! Do you enjoy making our dreams dance in our face like this?!" he accused, perhaps hoping to regain the favor of his men.
Nasu Erika laughed from her perch. "Ah, your dreams! That's hilarious! Hm, hm, hm, hm." She eyed the Specters. "Get used to one thing, darlings… nothing that you've ever dreamed about being a Specter has been real."
"Enough with the mocking!" Lemon screamed. He then turned to Lucifer and asked the question that had been plaguing him since his defeat. "Daemon...What did you mean yesterday with 'replacements'? Tell us right now!"
The word rang across the minds of every Specter in the debate theater. They had heard it being thrown at them or implied about them many times from many mouths, all belonging to the Specters that acted high above them, like Lucifer and Minos, but also Pandora herself. But what did it mean?
Lucifer chuckled like a devil, chilling them to the bone. "Ha, ha, ha…. That is the correct question, indeed."
Alraune narrowed his eyes with the strange emphasis with which Lucifer pronounced his title. "Just stop dallying!"
"Very well." Lucifer declared "But perhaps it is better if I make you all realise for yourself what I mean with it. Tell me, you lot...What do you think that happened to Bennu Yakos and Shaman Kairos?"
The Specters murmured and looked at each other. "W-what? They died after betraying us! They left Hades's castle without permission and g-got themselves all killed!" reminded Cyclops Balgo, still sporting the scars, the pale face, the armor cracks and most importantly the trauma from his pathetic attempt to beat the Prince to a pulp.
"For no reason, perhaps?" teased Erika.
Bat scratched his head, trying to recall the day Yakos snapped. "He and Kairos… they were yelling about the way you treated us… but also…"
"They kept screaming about being made a mockery of, of having no purpose…" Lycaon added, having had many conversations with Bennu. "I thought the hardships of being a Specter was getting to them."
Landing by Erika, Ainsel added to this. "Perhaps something dawned on them, dear friends?"
It was the rhino-armored youth's turn. "And what of Basilisk Maia, Minotaurus Guen and Gorgon Pell, who swore loyalty to Lord Lucifer? Not to mention the old Gryphon Specter, Urial?" Behemoth Torak asked the mob. "Do not tell me my mentor was weak and vulnerable to pressure."
And no one wished to question the gigantic, blue-armored youth. "Urial was…" Bat gawked, struggling not to blurt out that he died like a fool. "He just went off and did his own things, I don't know!"
"They were traitors, that's why!" Golem shouted. "Hades himself called to us, in our mortal lives, in our dreams and brought us to this path! They turned their back on the Emperor!"
But Sphinx Neferti questioned their logic. "And why was that? Why would Specters even betray Hades? The fear of death at the hands of Thanatos, followed by an eternity of suffering, should be more than enough to keep them loyal, right?" she pointed out, silencing them.
The Prince himself smirked. "Betraying Hades for such pitiful motives is, quite simply, unheard of."
"And what the hell do you mean by that?" Alraune threatened.
Lucifer turned dead serious. "I mean that, unlike you, those five realized how pathetic and meaningless their very existence as servants of Hades was!"
The Specters widened their eyes, whispering to each other in shock and stagger.
"Prince Lucifer… d-do you know what you just said?!" questioned Cyclops.
"Tell me, Lemon…" continued Lucifer, ignoring Balgo. "Why is it that I'm allowed to call myself Celestial Star of Pride while you all, without exception, aren't even allowed the Terrestrial Star title?"
"What?!" asked Lemon, sweating nervously.
"This was a big contention point for you, was it not?" questioned Lucifer.
The plantoid-armored men tightened his fist. "YES, but that's...that's because those titles are reserved for the highest authorities, right?!"
And Lucifer burst into laughter, filling the air with a chilling cackle, causing the entire Specter mob to suddenly feel haunted by both it's cavernous confidence in mocking them as well as the rarity with which any of them actually saw the Celestial Star of Pride laugh like this. An uncomfortable sensation filled the air, like the Specter mob had strings on their arms and their attempts to protest only made their puppeteer more amused, not threatened.
And he was not alone; Nasu Erika also couldn't contain laughter. "Hm, hm, hm, do you all seriously not yet understand what is happening?"
Ainsel shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think it can be helped; they've been fooling themselves for too long." He turned to Lucifer. "My Prince, please just tell them right away, or we might be here all day."
"Y-YES, JUST TELL US!" screamed Bat, unable to take the mocking a second longer.
But the cackle of the Prince hit a new height. "HA, HA, HA, HA! What FOOLS!" the Prince called. "What you don't know is that Terrestrial and Celestial Stars are the names of the stars that protect the members of the TRUE generation of Specters!"
There was little that the mob could react with other than a series of mutters and head gestures, unsure what the Prince meant.
Lycaon Coronis was the first to question it. "T-t-TRUE?! What do you mean?! Explain yourself!"
"How direct must I be? You aren't TRUE Specters!" Lucifer shouted to the men, stepping forward. "You are just ignorant plebeians that were lead to believe that anyone could join the ranks of Hades! Well, I'm afraid to say you are depressingly mistaken, because the Specters of Hades, with each Holy war, unlike with the other divine armies, are always the same people!"
There was a stunned silence from the Specters, whose faces twisted into jaw dropped, sweat-filled gawks. "W-w-WHAT?!"
{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}
Sanctuary,
Golden Zodiac, Aries Temple
{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}
Using his telekinesis to move the last tools into his backpack, Mu whistled a craftsman tune as he finished preparing himself to depart. He turned to Aldebaran, who had come down to his Temple to say goodbye. "I'll be off soon, Al, good luck watching the entrance."
But the tall Brazilian boy called him over. "Hey, wait a minute, Mu, let me ask you something," he then showed the object in his hand. "I was walking through your workshop and I found this picture by your desk.. This dude is wearing your armor, is he the Pope?"
The Aries Saint looked at the colored object beneath the protective glass, which showed a tall youth wearing the Aries Gold Cloth smiling. "Oh, this is a drawing, Al. You should put it down, it's more than two hundred years old," he revealed, stunning the Taurus. "Humans had not developed photography at the time, but, you see, Master tells me there was this really, really good artist around at the time. He was so good they gave one of our orphanages his name! See, his name is signed right here."
"Wow!" awed Aldebaran, seeing the name 'Alone' scribbled down and admiring the realistic detail of the picture. "But it looks so real."
"And it's Master, alright. See the dots?" Mu pointed at the two purple marks above the young, green-haired man's head.
"I wonder if he still looks the same beneath the mask." the taller boy wondered, scratching chin.
"Nope, he looks really wrinkly AND he has a big mole," Mu commented, showing his tongue. "Lemurians live a really long time, though, so it's fine."
Aldebaran scratched his chin. "Mm… I wonder if there are any pictures of my predecessor of his time. Maybe he was as awesome as Master Daniel..." He then flexed his arms. "I bet he had huge muscles like these … but it would be cool if he had stored a drawing like this one of your teacher."
This made Mu snap his fingers in realisation. "You know, Aldebaran, you might just need a mirror." he joked. "Some people in Sanctuary, especially you-know-who at the Virgo Temple, believe a lot in reincarnation, and that powerful Saints used to serve Athena in previous lives."
"Previous lives?... like being brought to life?" Taurus asked. "Dang, Shaka is crazy. Why does he say such weird things?"
Mu shook his head. "No, those are Specters, it's a whole different system, according to Shaka." The Aries Saint tried to explain it to him carefully. "See, according to him, Specters get revived, they're the same people across the many wars, and their souls are tied to the 108 Stars. You could almost say that their very soul, the Surplice and the Star are entirely the same thing, much like Cloths are a just metal with a soul that is a constellation."
The Taurus Saint didn't believe it for a second. "That sounds unlikely. I mean, what would happen if they became unavailable, like how when we kick their butt all the time? The Underworld would have no one to replace them!"
The five-year old Lemurian shrugged his shoulders. "Shaka says he's got proof… but he only smiled really smugly at me, said he couldn't show it and asked me if I could fix his beads string again of all things. Can you believe him?!" He puffed his cheeks, really insulted. "I'm an alchemist, not a weaver! Unless it involves beakers and sulphuric acid, I'm not interested!"
{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}
Underworld
{======================/Ξ\.◊./Ξ\\======================}
The dusty winds of the Underworld's borderlands blew loud in the plateau, accompanied by the shifting cries, gasps and murmurs of the Specters that came to heed Lucifer's call.
"A-always the same?" muttered Bat.
"W-what are you talking about?! That's nonsense!" accused Deep, sweating bullets.
"You mean by reincarnation, right?" asked Cyclops Balgo, desperate. "Y-you must mean we're the next iteration!"
"Reincarnation?" asked Lucifer, scoffing. "What reincarnation? Are you so naive? That's for the other armies! Hades' Specters aren't reincarnated! They are REVIVED! And it's only a matter of time for them for the seal of Athena to break and for the true souls and memories within them to awaken! In fact… it's been happening already."
And the murmurs rose to a collective worried gasp and shifting of armored bodies. The Specters shook their heads and bugged out their eyes in denial, looking at Torak, Erika, Ainsel and Neferti for any sign that they might have misunderstood, but the uncaring gaze of the four elites seemed to confirm the cold words the Prince was throwing at them.
"No, NO, Lord Hades came to me! He promised me Elysium!" the Cait Sith Specter screamed, holding up his claws at the air in horror.
"D-does… does that mean…The stars..." Alraune stuttered, looking at the ground and feeling the horrible realisation creep up on him. "Rhadamanthys… Minos… Sylphid and the others calling themselves Celestial Stars…"
Lucifer raised his chin as the mob's mood dipped into despair. "Those don't protect several people, unlike the Constellations, but the same, one person, each one of them, throughout all time. Rhadamanthys, Aiacos and Minos aren't kids who were just recruited; these three have been fighting Athena since the time of Myth and, curiously, always with the same name, Surplice, titles and with memories from past Holy Wars. These three...along with another 105!" the Prince finalised, waving his hand to cast an illusion in the sky that made the hundred and eight stars shine above them like signs of doom.
"N-no!" lamented the Deep Specter, nervous, blinded by the shine of the stars looking down on him. "That can't be the truth! Why wouldn't they come back as adults in their former bodies?!"
"Because of Athena's seal, you fools, or I would have immediately raised my army all over again from the dead!" The Prince drove in, merciless. "And you...You are just filling in for the true generation! You are here to protect the Underworld and repair the prisons until the 108 Specters are all revived! In other words, you're 'replacements'... imported labour. That is your role!"
The one 'elite' among them, Alraune, looked up at the Prince with a horrified realisation in his eyes. "But… but then… what is supposed to happen to us?!"
Lucifer smiled so widely it seemed to match the monstrous grin painted in his chestplate. "Once the corresponding Specter arrives, his respective 'replacement' is executed by Thanatos."
This last detail was what broke the camel's back. The Specters widened their eyes in horror, screamed, gasped, cried out and pointed fingers in despair at the revelation of their fate.
"NO! THAT'S NOT TRUE! yelled Lycaon from the floor, his fingers scratching the ground as he rolled over to his side. "You're lying!"
But Behemoth Torak suddenly blasted him with a dark energy shot, sending him scoldering through the ground to the crumbles of the theater.
"It IS true, face the facts!" he shouted, his deep voice rivalling that of Lucifer in presence. "From the moment we first donned these surplices we were doomed to die! That's what Maia realized when Sylphid, the TRUE Celestial Star of Victory, arrived! It was the fate that awaited my teacher, Urial, if he had lived to have seen the awakening of Minos, the Celestial Star of Nobility!"
And the crowd gasped, screamed, breathed out cries of sorrow and otherwise fell to their knees in multiple signs of distraught and defeat. Everything they had ever fought for, everything they thought had been slipping their fingers for the latest months, turned out to have never been theirs to begin with? It was all a lie!
The weaker Specters and Skeletons couldn't take it, shaking heads in denial at reality but adding up the math in their brain about how everything seemed to fit with the spite the Celestial Stars showed them. Even Hades had barely allowed them to see him after the vision each received during their lives at the surface, visions that made them throw everything away to be in service of the living God that presented himself to them, adding his neglect as further evidence of what the Prince was telling them.
Even the mighty Alraune fell on his knees, overwhelmed with the truth and closing eyes with how crushed he felt.
Seeing this, Lucifer preyed on their despair. "When Bennu, Urial and the others also realized this, they had two choices… swear undying loyalty to me, the only one in the Underworld who has truly guided you all in any way, or become rogue!" continued Lucifer, who then gestured towards the elites that surrounded him. "Many rallied under my command, but the weak ones, Yakos and Kairos, took the cowardly way out. They and their men couldn't take the truth and broke out, seeking revenge on the Saints they were being used as pawns against."
"I… I don't understand…" Lycaon muttered, horrified. "W-why would Hades do this to us?!"
The blue-haired moth clicked his tongue. "Isn't it obvious, my dear tin-packed friends? He needed worker bees, and wasps to rid him of the rambling dead you found freely roaming the Prisons when you first came here."
The fly-armored woman followed. "Lord Lucifer has taken care of the Underworld since the Lost Canvas War, but even he is only one person to watch over such a vast domain." Nasu Erika added, licking her lips with the feeling of loss in the air. "Have you forgotten the work, the sweat and the blood you've all gladly poured into repairing this place? That is why Hades picked us all. We're nothing but False Specters, replacements and stand ins he picked up to get the work done ahead of the revival of Aiacos and the others ."
Torak's fist tightened in rage, his teeth gritting. "He didn't even revive Lord Urial… he served for so long, reaching such a high status and Minos hadn't arrived yet." He then pointed at Cyclops Balgo, who quivered under the powerful Behemoth's gaze. "You, Balgo, should know Hades did not even bring back Servo, even though each Specter is promised the protection of the Underworld, whether at war or not!"
False Specters, the words seemed to sink inside their heads like a heavy lead weight, fit to describe their pitiful situation. Many of them couldn't help but feel all the years, all the hard work they put into serving Hades rebranded by this title, like a cattle marker. Deadly Beetle, a gigantic Specter, visibly broke down into tears. Necromancer, still couldn't digest the information, occasionally covering his mouth like he was going to puke.
And seeing all of this, the Behemoth drove the nail into the coffin. "Why do you think Yakos attacked Sanctuary without permission? He, who put so much faith into the reparations of Cocytus?" Torak pointed out, raising his already elevated chin. "They already had nothing left on this world! So they stormed out, threatened to kill True Specters like Charon and Lord Lucifer, kill some Saints and take their revenge on the whole world! Sure they got themselves killed-" he admitted, then taking a slight pause of respect and sympathy for their outcry. "- but it was still better than a slowly ending life in this hellhole!"
"W-why would we believe you?!" muttered Bat, before frustration and tears caused him to straight out yell "YOU LIE! We are loyal to Lord Hades! We've seen him in his throne and he spoke to us through Lady Pandora, promising us Paradise!"
But Lucifer tolerated no accusations of lying. "You saw a puppet created by Hades hiding behind a curtain, whispering half-truths to your ears through his biggest slave, whose name is PANDORA!" yelled Lucifer, destroying their hope by citing the only person he seemed to care about in the Underworld as a victim. "Hades is not going to hand over Paradise to False Specters, he despises humans! The suffering he puts Pandora through, every war, is proof of it! We'll be lucky if, at the end of the Holy Wars he offers a glimpse of it to the True Specters like me!"
If there was any lingering strength in the spirit of the False Specters, it was crushed under an anvil by this final revelation. Not even the promise of salvation beyond all the sacrifices was real. To some of them, it became too much, and made-men shook and cried, the sudden hollowness inside their stomach welling up and overwhelming their hearts. Everything they had ever known, everything they had ever worked towards was a lie.
Yet...everything seemed to fit into place.
"I thought… I was a Specter… a warrior of the Gods…" lamented Golem, his huge, round-armored body visibly trembling amongst them all.
This made Lucifer take pause. He was not insensitive to the illusion of being a sword of the Olympians, for he had fought under this pretense himself for a very long time. He had no sympathy for cowards, liars and weaklings, but he did for warriors with genuine pride in what they did, and even the Prince couldn't say that these replacements lacked it in being what they thought was proven by the Surplices on their shoulders; a part of something greater than themselves.
But perhaps even more devastating than the truth behind the False Specters was the truth behind the real ones. Lucifer scoffed, a true Celestial Star himself, and revealed to the pathetic whelps before him what lied in his core about the wars they fought.
"Do not look upon the real Specters with undeserved respect," he consoled, making their heads snap up. "While you should acknowledge the futility of your existences, and the mockery you've been put through in our name, we are perhaps an even greater failure for that very reason."
"What do you mean…?" asked Cyclops, looking up.
Lucifer grinned. Finally, after two centuries, his plan could be set into motion!
He took a deep breath and gestured towards the horizon, where the Prisons could be seen. "The values of the Specters have grown distorted," he began, addressing them all. "Ages of war have passed by, with victories few and far between, and there is increasingly less honor, and less pride, in what we do. Because of endless centuries of being painted as the villain, has attracted other villains to him… such as me."
"You're hardly a villain compared to Hades, Lord Lucifer," assured Torak, by his side, shaking head.
But Lucifer glared at him. "If you thought I'd take that as a compliment, you're wrong, Behemoth," he hissed, startling the much taller youth. The Prince then readdressed the rest of the False Specters. "For all their clamor about their above-and-beyond stature, each of the Gods is just as a result of the sum of their parts; those being their armies, as we are of their banners, their ideas for the Earth. In the Lost Canvas Holy War, Hades' willpower was so weak, so vulnerable to the mortals closest to him, that he allowed a simple boy, a painter, to control and contain him for the vast majority of the conflict. What we achieve for them, those we kill, who we fight and the lies we tell ourselves about why we fight for them, in the long run, has undoubtedly morphed the Olympians."
The False Specters all slowly lifted up their heads at him, following his speech. It was true that, though Hades had taught them they were the bringers of salvation to mankind, that they had also learned everyone else looked at his army as the antagonists, the seekers of death. The False Specters all simply understood this as, well, a misunderstanding, as Hades' vision to cleanse the Earth made perfect sense to them, so far.
But what kind of God would promise this, with no intention of delivering it in mind?
"How have the Gods… changed?" asked the Deep Specter, remembered Lucifer claimed to be an ancient human.
Reading the crowd, the Prince could tell their hearts were slowly landing in his hand. "From bad to worse, one after the other, and soon, the worst of mankind's behavior will be reflected on them."
"S… soon?" quivered Bat. "And reflect what? What will happen?!"
Thoughts dark even to someone like Lucifer filled the silver-haired man's head, but the Prince ignored this and moved on, detailing the deities he saw failures in.
"Eris' banshees and Dryads have made her bitter and jealous, just as they are of Saintias." he began. "Hades' ruthless Specters, myself included, have made him increasingly detached, less and less concerned with consequences and proper mediation, radicalising his intents to euthanize life on Earth and torture the sinful. I'm sure you've witness Minos and Rune's sadistic rulings over the dead." he reminded.
Many heads nodded at one another with this. While the False Specters themselves were no saints, Minos' particular cruelty as he entertained himself with his string powers, something the deceased Urial made a special point of not doing, had shocked many of them.
But Pride Star had more on the list. "Artemis' Satellites have turned her against Athena and made her more isolationist, hiding in the dark side of the moon waiting for a chance to take a spot in the sun, and Ares' Berserkers have virtually wiped away any possibility of harmonious existence between him and Athena, seeking nothing but perpetual conflict. The Mariners, well.. Ah, ah.." he chuckled. "If there is one reason that Poseidon doesn't show up more frequently other than the embarrassment of fighters he has for Generals, it must be the lethargy and superficiality they inspired on him and his vessels, concerned with nothing more than cocktail parties, mermaid stories and convenience marriages."
"And… what of Athena?" Golem asked, having always heard horrors of her but now wondering if lies lied behind her portrayal, too.
While the last war had taught Lucifer a few important lessons about not underestimating Saints, he still held nothing but contempt for the Goddess and her knights, especially the Golden Zodiac. "The same extends to her and her self-righteous warriors. This is where the narrative we feed ourselves as Specters reaches a hint of truth: religion, a feeling of invincibility and biased politics have overtaken Sanctuary, weakening its meritocracy and, by extension, crippling its inner justice. Without these, no empire lives for long."
"Empire?" Alraune asked, narrowing his eyes. "What do you mean?"
But Lucifer did not entertain this question. "All you need to know is that there is no real authority coming out of Arles' Hall, not one that deserves to continue to exist, anyway, so it is only natural that I destroy it. I can only imagine what the Angels have done to Zeus."
"W-why… are you telling us this?" asked Cyclops, confused.
"To make you all, you poor replacements, understand how truly vulnerable and decadent these Gods and their fortresses are." Lucifer hissed, narrowing his red eyes, which seemed to pierce their souls. "To make you understand the mockery of an Emperor you've vowed loyalty to, and how he does not deserve your tears, if there's any hint of pride left in any of you. The only thing lying between you and fulfilling my destiny, is a fortress in Greece inhabited by twelve weaklings in gold."
Alraune stood up, narrowed eyes in seriousness and sweating in nervousness, confronting Lucifer's eyes of terror. "...What is it that you are planning?" he asked.
With this, the Prince then began to explain his intentions.
Lemon sweated nervously as he realized the magnitude and implications of Lucifer's plot. The others weren't happy either, as what Lucifer was suggesting was insane! Yet, it made sense in it's devious simplicity and it explained the strange attack to Andromeda Island. What really scared the False Specters was not any possible risk they would have to accept, but the consequences and how far Lucifer was willing to go. The Daemon Specter had obviously been planning this for a while, playing each his cards in the right moment and in the right way and patiently awaiting for the day Lemon would fall right into his plans by revolting.
This was also something that scared Alraune. The way Lucifer expected and used his revolt and that of his comrades was absolutely frightening. He had heard from Charon that Lucifer wasn't in the position he was for nothing, but this...It was like Lemon was never in control of his own actions! Like the Prince understood the very nature of humans would drive all the False Specters to this point, where they would have their spirits crushed and no one to turn to but him!
Lucifer finally stopped talking, to the Specters' relief, and seemed to await an answer.
"You..." started Lycaon, greeting teeth "You are INSANE! You're completely insane!"
"Great objectives often require drastic and apparently insane measures..." Lucifer commented. "It is more insane to stay here knowing that you will die!" but he then chuckled and looked away as if recalling something embarrassing. "Well...I won't die, of course, being a True Specter."
Behemoth Torak continued the Prince's point. "But we, False Specters, should consider very carefully everything the Prince told us."
"Also, I simply cannot just let you go after what you heard from my words." casually warned Lucifer, like he could do without them. "If you say 'no', I'll perhaps have to execute a few of you and torture the rest to make sure that you don't open your mouths. If anyone notices something strange, I'll just say that you attacked me and that I had to discipline you a little."
"This...this is going to far! What you're planning..." squirmed the Elf Specter.
"Do you find any flaws in his strategy?" Papillon Ainsel casually asked.
"Other than the fact it might get us all KILLED?!" Alraune barked, revolted with Lucifer's apathetic answer. "Other than the fact that there is no guarantee of truth behind half of your predictions?"
"Ha, ha, ha! I don't see how that is my concern at all!" Lucifer mocked before he started walking away "But...if you want to stay and rot in Thanatos's death row corridor of pointless loyalty, I'll understand...I don't need cowards! I need men who are willing to die!"
Scared whispers among the dark-armored crowd behind Alraune were heard, and Lemon knew he had to do something before Lucifer abandoned them to their luck!
"Wait!" he cried, causing Lucifer to stop and turn. "I...WE need proof!"
Lucifer narrowed his eyes. "Proof?" he asked, serious and almost indignant.
"The Prince doesn't need to prove to you lot anything!" scolded Neferti, eyeing them like petulant children. "If you cannot bring yourselves to even accept your fates and place in this world after everything you've seen, then worms like you should all just die!"
"What you are asking of us...it is no light matter!" Alraune defended, convicted of his need. "We will be throwing our titles away forever! We will be deemed traitors not worthy of the most scarce pity, but of the most intensely cold spot of Cocytus! We need proof that you are right and that this won't be for naught!"
The Elites looked at one another, wondering whenever they had the luxury of getting this from the Prince themselves. Torak had half a mind of stomping half of them flat for the affront.
But the Prince was of different mind. "...Fine." Lucifer said, almost sighing. "
The Dark Prince made his hand reach for inside his own collar. He retrieved a silver-star pendant which, apparently, had been hanging around his neck the whole time. The words "Yours Ever" were inscribed on it and the Specters eyes widened in shock as they recognized the object. Now more than ever before, murmurs and whispers
"A...a «Yours Ever» pendant?!" Worm stuttered.
"The star of Hades!" Cyclops gasped.
"Why does he have it?!" Alraune gawked, only now truly understanding the immensity of the person he has tried to challenge it.
As the crowd kept on gasping and stuttering words of awe, Lucifer hid the pendant once again within his cloth, perhaps not wishing to sully it with their gaze. The False Specters and Skeletons alike were blown away.
"Another reason is that each and every one of us True Specters were born worthy to don the Surplice for all eternity for one reason or the other. No Specter has been born with a greater destiny on his shoulders, a greater honor to make him worthy in Hades' eyes, than me, or else I would not be Prince today, but a lowly Terrestrial."
The mob eyed each other apprehensively until one of them dared to ask. "Then… why has he chosen you, Lucifer, to be Pride Star?"
His red eyes surveyed the crowd. "Simple, I have more than a Specter title giving me the right to be called Prince…" he hinted, referring to his long-gone Earth family's bloodline. "I am human, like you all, and once I've lived like a normal one in the surface, but I was still never of the same 'world' as you."
Erika and Neferti saw the shoulders of their False Specter peers drop in amazement, overwhelmed by the revelations. "It seems they're convinced." Nasu pointed out.
"I am the only one who can give you worthless replacements meaning again! I am the only one who could lead you to victory despite your weakness!" Lucifer assured, eyeing them one by one. "Since you can no longer find pride in yourselves, bow to me, and raise the Pride Star to new heights, and maybe then you'll feel part of something important again. And if you still hesitate…" he added, suddenly chuckling. "... just remember, even though I'm the Devil, ...God has turned out to be the real liar to you all."
This line seemed to have been enough, and many of the Specters before him slowly began to nod, begin to lower themselves or otherwise whisper words of agreement. The hollowness in their hearts suddenly filled with the shadows cast by the Celestial Pride Star, which brilliance shoned above Giudecca Palace with a purple tint at this declaration of authority.
"So...it's true!" Worm squirmed, walking ahead of the crowd and kneeling in reverence. "You are no ordinary Specter... you might be able to to lead us… to the light!"
Alraune gulped. An eternity of background whispers followed, which Lucifer patiently awaited to pass. Finally, Necromancer and the gigantic Deadly Beetle both nodded at Alraune and the False Specter made up his mind. All twenty seven remaining False Specters, not to mention all the Skeleton Soldiers that also came, took a step forward and suddenly kneeled before the surprised Lucifer, right forearm on top of left knee and left hand on the ground.
"Lord Lucifer..." Alraune muttered, sided by his former men. "You are our last hope! Please save us!"
And with a satisfying sensation of all domino pieces finally falling into place, Lucifer smiled. He didn't expect such a submissive move from a mob which, a day before, was ready to kill him and fry his insides to give to the dead. Nevertheless, it was still a more than satisfying conclusion. Soon his plan would start and, though he did not realize it yet exactly how, the long term consequences would shake the very foundations of Sanctuary.
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Chapter End
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Next Chapter: Second Arc – Steeds of a Feather
Description: With the truth revealed to the False Specters, Lucifer begins setting his plan into motion and untie himself from the chains binding him to the Underworld. In the surface, Pegasus Lance fights on to overcome his 18th century homologue.
Author's Note: First off, it seems like I've been getting ahead of myself with these chapter descriptions, as I often describe stuff in them that I end up putting off, cutting off or rethink completely. Sorry about that, but I will make an effort to be more accurate with them.
This chapter is the first I made following a new production technique where I focus on writing scenes as I feel energised to do, instead of what I chronologically need to get through, after which I simply transplant the complete product from a workshop file and put it in an official 'chapter file', ready to beta-read. It has an interesting potential and it has allowed me to keep notes for the future close by, instead of spread across separate files, which sort of helps productivity and consistency.
To address one of the reviewers who did not log in, no, it is not necessary to read Jenny's story to understand mine. I've catalogued all the minor references to her story in each chapter so you won't be confused and every other source of inspiration is entirely contained in Lance's Role plot, not Love You Kill Me's.
Another unsigned reviewer asked about what I think of the situation of children in Sanctuary, but this is kind of a complicated topic, in my opinion, and I can't really discuss it in the length of this Author's Note segment, so I'll just say it's a subject of heavy interest for this story and will often be addressed or referenced. You will have to sign up on the site and review the story so I can find you and answer your questions properly.
As for Sternhimmel's comment on Seiryu, I found it an interesting perception of his part, but I actually cannot talk more directly about it. This arc, however, will likely dwelve on it soon, perhaps even in Chapter 35.
Anyway, thank you all so much for the reviews and attention, please share the story and recommend it to friends as much as you can if you wish to support it, as LR thrives on feedback and reviews.
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.
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