102 — THE CURSED AMETHYSTS
The battle in Asgard carried on. The palace guards announced a curfew in the Lower and Upper City, as the foreign invaders had already victimized three God Warriors: Fenrir in the forests, Hagen in the caves and Míme in the ruins. The news that the sensible violinist had been the victim of Athena's violence was the last blow to the peaceful hope of the people of Asgard, who began to shout slogans in the central squares, causing this intervention by the palace guards for the very good of the villagers of the land.
Fenrir watched the movement from a distance beside her wolves, confused about the commotion in the city of men. Hagen was still delirious tormented by the Phantom Phoenix Strike, being closely watched over by Princess Freia, but also by June. Míme the violinist had indeed played the last chords of a wonderful requiem and now lay dead in the ruins of Fossegrim, his body already being little by little covered by snow as Shun and Geist went on to Valhalla Palace.
Alberich, in the Forbidden Forest, however, had already victimized two Athena Saints: Shaina and her beloved rival Seiya who, even without his cloth, ventured into battle. For all this news was reported by the guards to Sid, the keeper of the entrance hall of the Valhalla Palace.
"Míme really was defeated." surprised Siegfried still hoping that Hilda's spy crows could perhaps be wrong, but then there was no doubt that the violinist now lay defeated and the Athena Saints were heading towards that Palace.
"Alberich seems to have had success with the Athena Saints."
"I can't understand. An incredible warrior like Míme defeated and a useless one like Alberich managed to defeat two of them. None of this makes sense."
"I don't understand either, Siegfried." Sid agreed." Alberich wasn't even called to the Council, he lived outside Asgard and it wasn't rare for Hilda to better guide him because of his dubious activities. He never really seemed to care about Asgard or the honor of being a God Warrior."
"He's a snake, Sid." Siegfried argued." But as a serpent, he is also very cunning. Alberich is very intelligent, that cannot be denied. No wonder he became one of Hilda's Counselors in this moment of crisis, but unlike us, he earned his post not because of honor and pride, but because his words put him there."
"Maybe it's good we have someone like him on our side."
"I'm not entirely sure whose side he's on."
"At least he's not on Athena's side."
"Isn't him?" asked Siegfried." He befriended a Sanctuary Saint and embraced a prisoner in his own home, putting his name before his quest."
"It's terrible to have to agree with Alberich, but he was right. We needed more warriors at this time of battle."
"Hell." his friend grumbled.
"Why, Siegfried." Sid ventured into dangerous territory." If only you could forgive Sigmund."
"Hilda will not forgive Sigmund!" he shouted to his friend.
"Your brother has Odin at heart." Sid tried again.
"That's enough, Sid. We're only talking about it because Hilda isn't with us. But like her, I want nothing to do with my brother. He betrayed Odin. And will be trapped until his days are done."
The conversation ended abruptly and Siegfried turned his back on the God Warrior Sid, leaving him with the entrance hall of Valhalla, while he returned to Hilda's huge chambers.
The Forbidden Forest was alive, yet everything else in Asgard slowly died; its trees really seemed eternal, and for all the darkness of their trunks, the feeling was that there were eyes everywhere. In that clearing where the sky and the ground shone white with snow, Megrez Alberich found himself surprised by the stormy voice of Hyoga, the Phecda God Warrior. Who continued to speak passionately.
"You knew everything from the start, didn't you, Alberich? This damn gemstone took over my mind and made me a God Warrior without any ability to distinguish between right and wrong. You knew this would happen, didn't you?"
Hyoga no longer had the helmet of his God Robe and his gaze seemed a little glassy, as if some kind of spell was still operating within him that clouded his mind.
"Asgard needed a warrior. You needed an Armor." he just replied.
"You lie!" yelled Hyoga, moving forward. "Tell me, Alberich, what's in this Sapphire? What was this spell you put on to control my mind?"
"There is no spell, Hyoga." replied the boy calmly. "That is the true power of the Odin Warriors."
Alberich always hid his right eye under a red lock, so that only the cold and penetrating gaze of his clear left eye stared at Hyoga while the boy was filled with doubts.
"True power?"
"Of course." he spoke calmly and then walked slowly around Hyoga while telling an ancient story, using that Forbidden Forest itself as proof of a remote past. "It is said that, in times of yore, the greatest warriors who served the Raven-God fought with immense strength and ferocity. His enemies trembled and it was said that it looked as if they were seized with a deep and violent madness that made them lash out wildly. They were called berserkir."
Alberich approached Hyoga and touched his own Sapphire, which he still had in the waist of the God Robe.
"But as mighty and mad as these warriors were, they were soon all easy prey for Loki to trick them into his plot and lock away their souls, their strength, and even the wild madness in their eyes in seven gems. Seven Sapphires."
Hyoga looked at the stone he had in his hands and understood the age-old feeling it conveyed to him, as well as the low but curious resonate he had with that place.
"Mischievous as a demon, Loki scattered the Sapphires in Asgard and the most different people were taken by this madness, causing immense confusion and destruction among the people. Until the destruction was finally stopped by the Superior Being who took the Sapphires from these poor people and placed them inside the God Robes that the ancient dwarves forged for the war against the Jotun. And that's where they've been ever since."
Alberich's voice carried all his wisdom and the way he told the story sounded to Hyoga as someone who seemed to have lived it in that time, such was the voice, the intonation and the looks that the boy sprinkled during his speech. It was really mesmerizing to listen to Alberich, but Hyoga felt betrayed.
"I don't believe your stories, Alberich. Even though I was out of my mind I remember every second of what I lived and what I did. I was the only one of the God Warriors who was under that spell. Don't fool me with your old tales!" but Alberich let out a chuckle.
"You are not the only God Warrior under a spell, Hyoga. You are the only God Warrior from afar. The only foreign God Warrior. Just that. The effect the Sapphire had on you is due solely to the fact that you were not born nor raised under this accursed sky. The cold, the misery, the sadness and the few fruits and vegetables we took from our land disgraced by Yggdrasil made us all immune to the madness of Loki's scheming, and Odin gave us only the strength of ancient berserkir warriors. As for you, your veins don't run the same as ours, so the Sapphire really took over your mind and turned you into an ancient berserk."
Hyoga finally fell silent, confused, as he faced Alberich resolutely in front of him.
"So you really knew this Sapphire would take over my mind."
"That's not true, Hyoga, listen to what you're saying! You are still under Sapphire's hallucinogenic effects." Alberich disagreed." There is no record of a foreigner ever wearing a God Robe in the history of Asgard, I never imagined that this could happen."
"Why then did you allow me to continue wearing this damned God Robe?!" snarled Hyoga.
A silence crossed Alberich's face, making him very serious.
"It is like I said. Asgard needed a Warrior. You needed protection."
"I don't believe you!" shouted the boy.
"And what will you do then, Hyoga? Look at you, take a look at you! You are wearing one of Asgard's greatest gifts, a protection blessed by Odin-Our-Father, a God Robe!"
"I am an Athena Saint!"
"Here and now you are a defender of Asgard. Maybe it was better that the Sapphire controlled you, because you would never defend the sacred land against the Athena Saints."
"Of course not!"
"Well, there it is. If you're wearing a God Robe, it is your duty to defend Asgard!" and the boy stepped forward in front of Hyoga. "It's what Camus would have done."
That name silenced Hyoga, who found himself cornered; he remembered the many letters from Camus to that man, the fatal debt he had to pay and how, in a certain sense, Hyoga hoped to settle it in the name of his beloved master. He looked down at his hands and saw the two Sapphires he wore in the crimson sheath of his wrist. But then he remembered a body on the ground that brought him a lot of pain.
"I almost killed a friend, Alberich!"
And he threw the two Sapphires he had at his feet.
The God Warrior looked at those precious stones next to his feet, as nothing seemed to dim the shine of those Sapphires. He slowly knelt down and carefully picked up the stones from the forest floor before the two were swallowed up by the snow.
"And yet here you are."he just said, already with the Sapphires in his hands.
"There was no war. Asgard was never about to be invaded."
"For three God Warriors have already been killed by your former friends, Hyoga. What do you have to say about them? If before I imagined that the invasion that would sweep Asgard would come from the Seas, the corpses that pile up in Asgard are all victims of Athena!"
"What!?"
"Fenrir, Hagen, and Míme dye the soil of Asgard blood red and their hearts no longer beat."
"No, that can't be true. We, the Athena Saints, have come in peace to seal Poseidon away, this must be a mistake!"
"There's no mistake. There are three corpses in this war, Hyoga." Alberich said. "And here I can see that you were carrying not only the Sapphire given to you by Odin, but also another one that I had never seen before."
Hyoga backed away as he faced again the two Sapphires of Odin in Alberich's hand: one was the one he had used in front of Lieutenant Marina and that had taken over his mind until he was hit by his friend Shiryu's fist, taking it away from his God Robe, such was the violence of the Dragon. The second was the one Ikki had brought with her when he'd caught her at the exit of a cave, still clouded in his wits and acting furiously like a God Warrior.
"Where did you find this Sapphire, Hyoga?"
Hyoga hesitated.
"Did you by any chance take from the body of one of the God Warriors yourself?"
"No, no. I…" he stuttered, trying to remember. "I attacked Phoenix… No, I attacked Ikki at the entrance of a cave and saw that she had an Odin Sapphire and then…"
"A cave?"
"I took the Sapphire she carried to prevent whatever had taken over my mind from taking hold of her as well."
"Well, what you have in your hands, Hyoga, is proof of Hagen's death. Merak Hagen, of the Beta Star. A God Warrior who since childhood trained in the southern caves. Here is the proof of war. It was in your own hands!"
The Phecda God Warrior staggered back and remembered the phoenix feathers in the snow.
"Ikki..."
The Phoenix Saint wasn't someone who negotiated with her enemies and simply obliterated their mind or body. She was a fierce Saint and didn't leave behind any kind of doubts in a battle between life and death. If she had an Odin Sapphire, then without a doubt she had left behind a corpse inside that cave.
The boy looked up and met Alberich's stern face; his mind had as many doubts as anguish, but the Sapphire had actually clouded his mind, so that now that everything was gradually clearing up, he felt pains throughout his body as if he were gradually expelling what had previously controlled him. Including his enormous strength as a God Warrior, capable of taking down even Shiryu with his Dragon Shield or the ferocious Phoenix Saint.
"The truth is that the Sanctuary of Athena carried forward Hilda's suspicion. Invaded Asgard to prevent the Kingdom of the North from seeing the sun."
"No, I can't believe this. This must be a mistake!"
"What there are are corpses in the snow, Hyoga!" shouted Alberich back.
"I will speak to everyone and this war will end. There has to be an explanation!"
"No!" Alberich interrupted Hyoga's march, placing himself in front of him.
"What are you doing, Alberich? Every minute that goes one, this useless battle carries on."
Alberich then for the first time seemed unarmed in front of Hyoga; As usual, the boy found his single pale green eye staring at him disconcerting, but then Alberich brushed aside the fringe that covered not only his other eye but his right ear and showed a very pretty flower earring in his ear. Hyoga understood that Alberich wanted him to notice the delicate earring; an earring that had nothing to do with Alberich or his stature as a Councilor.
"The fatality caused by your Master Camus in Asgard killed a little girl named Sinmara." began Alberich." She wore this earring the night she was buried. It was her favorite earring.
"Alberich…"
"Sinmara was my younger sister."
That was the debt.
Hyoga finally understood the size of his Master Camus's sin towards Asgard and, even more, towards Alberich. The boy looked down at his fists, at the God Robe he was wearing, and for a second he wondered if he did any justice to that promise. Alberich seemed unarmed, as well as Hyoga. For he knew very well how painful the loss of a loved one could be.
Alberich let out a very long sigh, as if he was really tired of it all. He walked over to a tree and let his wobbly voice speak to the boy.
"None of that matters, Hyoga." he began, leaning against the tree. "Whether Athena is invading us or not, whether Poseidon really is going to rise from the Seas, none of that matters anymore."
Hyoga was confused when he saw that Alberich looked at him again.
"It won't take long now." The God Warrior was now resolute in his voice. "By the memory of Camus, fight by my side, Hyoga."
Hyoga didn't know what to think anymore and his confusion was terrible, making him feel extremely vulnerable. It had been days, or perhaps weeks and even months, that he had been in that White Land where the night grew shorter and the hours meant nothing to an eternally frozen sky.
The beautiful lines of his master's handwriting and the feeling that he was following, for the first time, in depth a mission destined for him by Camus had taken him to that point, but it was already too painful to put himself away from his Saint's oath wearing an Odin's God Robe. But he thought carrying forward his Master's oath was the best way to honor him. But even if he had to face his own friends?
No. Never that.
"I cannot fight them, Alberich."
Alberich showed him to Sapphire.
"You can, Hyoga."
"I will not do."
"Then fight by my side." offered Alberich.
Hyoga looked at him confused and felt that Alberich, for the first time, seemed hesitant to tell him something; before, all of his words and punctuations seemed premeditated, and now the Megrez's God Warrior didn't seem so sure of himself anymore.
"Listen to me very well, Hyoga." began Alberich, approaching and clearly noticing that Hyoga was invaded by doubts and anguish. "The truth is tha Valhalla did not accepted your request. I tried, but the truth is that Hilda only understands the language of War. A war on invaders. And here the Athena Saints are these invaders who, in fact, are overthrowing the God Warriors giving reason to her fury. There would never be peace between Asgard and the Sanctuary." and then he added, somewhat ominously. "Not as long as Hilda is ruler of this Land."
"What do you mean by that, Alberich?" asked Hyoga, a little twisted with doubt.
"Help me, Hyoga." said the boy sincerely, approaching Hyoga and showing the four Odin Sapphires that Alberich now had, three in the palm of his hand and one still housed in his God Robe. "If we gather the Seven Odin Sapphires, I can awaken Balmung, one of the treasures of this land, and with it I can end Hilda's life and the power of the Golden Ring."
"Kill Hilda?" Hyoga was startled, taking a step back.
"And then I will rule this land." concluded Alberich with his eyes burning with ambition, approaching Hyoga. "And together we will seal Poseidon's Relic of the Seas, shutting the Ocean God within its depths."
Hyoga took another step back, surprised that the always solicitous, delicate and sincere boy had become so hungry from one moment to the next; the silent confidant, but apparently kind and helpful to his beloved Master Camus, had a fire in his eyes that until then Hyoga had not noticed.
"Míme was defeated at the Ruins of Grim, which means your friends have a fifth Odin Sapphire. Only Hilda's main advisers, Sid and Siegfried, would be left. If they don't come to their senses, our force may rob them of their precious stones and the Balmung Sword may be awakened."
"A sword?"
"Able to appease any evil. Including Hilda's."
"Do you want to betray your own people, Alberich?" Hyoga was astonished. "A few moments ago you wanted to talk me into attacking my friends, and now you're trying to talk me into killing yours?"
"My people hide in the houses of this war engineered by Hilda and her Counselors in Valhalla. A vicious circle from which I am not welcome. Led by a woman who can't even hear her own sister's yearnings. The only thing she understands is the language of War, so we will bring War to her, Hyoga."
The plan was ambitious and treacherous and Hyoga felt as if his spine had been blown from hell.
"The people of Asgard are definitely not in a pair of sycophantic advisors of a cruel woman who never came down from her palace to see what goes on in the taverns of the lower city, where men and women hide from the terrible fate that she inflicts on us. Fight for Asgard, Hyoga. As Camus would have done. Fighting for Asgard means taking down Hilda."
Alberich's eyes burned and, as his fury manifested itself in words, little by little he approached Hyoga, who remained silent.
"That's why you gave me the Sapphire, isn't it, Alberich? Giving me the Sapphire was ensuring there were at least two under your control. Was that what I was to you? A pawn?"
"Never, Hyoga. You are Camus' disciple. You are Camus. I gave the Sapphire to you, as you needed protection to fight by my side. To fight for Asgard."
"Against what, Alberich?" Hyoga retorted angrily. "There was no war. Where are Poseidon's soldiers? Where are the Marinas who would attack in the final moment?"
"Hilda would find an enemy to fight!" said Alberich. "War was inevitable in the snow of Asgard. Understand once and for all, Hyoga! Hilda is the enemy. She is the one we must overthrow. And then… Then nothing else will matter. We will seal the Relic of the Seas together, and I will personally escort your friends away from here. But as long as Hilda is in Valhalla, the War will continue in Asgard."
Hyoga retreated in silence and Alberich advanced hungry in the Forbidden Forest, which blew an icy wind through the two.
"Fight by my side, Hyoga!" he asked.
But over Alberich's shoulders, Hyoga noticed something terrible.
"You lie, Alberich." he said calmly.
And he walked towards the God Warrior, who was again surprised, but before he could choose the words Hyoga passed him to the biggest trunk of that forest where Alberich noticed, with astonishment, that the wind had knocked down the wall of leaves and roots that hid the Amethyst's caskets.
And there the Phecda God Warrior stared with fear in his heart at Shaina's body, clad in half her Silver Cloth, with eyes that were once haunted and vivid, now half-closed as the vitality drained from her body; and on the other one there were Seiya, a dear friend wearing an overcoat torn on the shoulder, without one of its sleeves, no sign of his wonderful Pegasus Cloth and the expression also of someone who slowly falls asleep eternally.
Hyoga was invaded by doubts. After all, if Shaina was there, that meant the Sanctuary had sent its own Master-at-Arms, a far cry from the peace of mind that letter made one believe. More than that, Seiya's presence in that coffin with his overcoat so torn was a sign that the Athena's Galleon had ported in Asgard a long time ago, a fact that Alberich had certainly hidden from him. And he knew that from a detail that didn't escape his eyes and made him even look at his own wrist.
"You lie to me." repeated Hyoga, resigned.
Seiya had obvious marks on his wrist that were identical to Hyoga's and he understood immediately that, like him, the boy had also been trapped for a long time with those damn amethyst handcuffs.
"Was it all a big lie then?" said Hyoga, finally turning to Alberich. "The voice of the foreign legion. A profound connoisseur of the lands outside. A spy. You know more about us than we do about Asgard. You must have created that pendant, manufactured those letters, and been fooling me this whole time."
The God Warrior did not answered him.
"The marks on Seiya's fist clearly show that he was imprisoned for a long time. What do you have to say, Alberich?!" shouted Hyoga.
Alberich again seemed to choose his words well.
"If what you say is true and this boy came across the Sea, then I can only conclude that we were both deceived by Valhalla. You know very well that I am not welcome in the Palace and I am not surprised that the visit of the Galleon of Athena has been taken prisoner."
"Liar!" shouted Hyoga. "The amethyst's handcuffs, only you can control them."
"They are creations of very old generations of my family, that is true. But those idiots don't need me to arrest or release anyone from it." said Alberich.
"Answer me one thing, Alberich." Hyoga began." What would have happened if Shiryu hadn't hit me and ripped the Sapphire out of my belly at the entrance to Asgard?"
Hyoga surrounded him while Alberich always seemed to be choosing his words. And he finally spoke.
"You would have been spared the pain of seeing your friends fall in battle." said Alberich decisively.
"What do you mean by that?"
"The greatest of the God Warriors among us is called Siegfried. And Siegfried is an immortal. Before which all of your friends would be killed."
"If that were really true, your plan would never work either. Stop lying!"
"I can handle Siegfried. I know his weak spot. And I would beat him after the terrible battles that I'm sure the Athena Saints would rage against him. Even though Siegfried is an immortal, he is still a man. As wild as that sounds. Still alive, he would be exhausted from the battles against the valiant Athena Saints. Het would be no match for me."
"What about me, Alberich!?"
"I would have taken your Sapphire when the time came."
"And let me live the rest of my life with the weight of my friends' deaths on my shoulders? What kind of bastard are you that you dare to play with people's lives like that?"
"I am Alberich!" shouted the God Warrior for the first time, finally raising his voice and advancing towards Hyoga with his eyes quivering with rage, as if he had silenced for many years the strength of a name that he believed was left on the margins of what really meant to him." I will rule the Land of Asgard. As is my family's right and destiny. And about you, Hyoga. You would have paid the debt your Master Camus left behind."
"I don't believe you, Alberich. I don't believe in those letters, or that debt, I don't even believe you had a sister in the first place!"
Hyoga had eyes wounded by betrayal while on the other side Alberich had the burning eyes of someone who seems close to something he's wanted for years.
"For your plot ends here, Alberich." said Hyoga, finally. "I will not forgive you for using my Master to convince me to fight my own friends for your own ambition!"
Alberich wouldn't have any chance against Hyoga; and was effectively hit by the boy's icy fists, which threw him against logs and branches. The Megrez God Warrior still tried to fight, but Hyoga was more agile and dodged his blows and hit him in the stomach.
"I feel sorry for you, Alberich. Everything around you are lies."
And looking at Alberich's aching body that suffered immensely in the snow, Hyoga took part by part of that orange God Robe from his body, returning to having only the simple clothes that Alberich himself had lent him in his mansion, now very dirty and torn at some points.
Hyoga was no longer a God Warrior.
He was a boy devastated at having been made a pawn in an ambitious scheme. His feelings, his master's words, the stories, the sins of an oath. But above all he felt, there were Seiya and Shaina's bodies slowly being sucked into Alberich's terrible Amethysts.
"Do something worthy once in your life, Alberich. Free Seiya and Shaina from your Amethyst!"
The suffering God Warrior in the ground let out laugh.
"I will not accept you saying that it is not possible to get them out of there, because all that comes out of your mouth are lies. I know there is a way. Come on, say it!"
"You know damn well I'll never tell you, Hyoga."
"Damn it, Alberich. What do you think you'll get out of it?" Hyoga asked. "You will not rule Asgard and will die alone in this Forest."
"If I die, Shaina and Seiya die with me."
Alberich suffered in the snow while bragging that he still had an advantage over the ravaged boy inside. It was only then that he had an idea; an idea that Alberich himself had lent him. He ran into the snow and collected the three Odin Sapphires that had flown away when Alberich was hit by his cosmos.
"For if that Balmung Sword is able to appease any evil, I'm sure it will be able to free Seiya and Shaina from their Amethyst prison."
And he placed himself in front of the body of Alberich, who was trying to get up.
"Give me your Sapphire at once, Alberich!"
The God Warrior pulled his God Robe inside and threw the arrowhead pendant at Hyoga's feet.
"Step on the pendant, Hyoga. That's what you're doing with your old Master's memory. You already killed him once by taking his life, and now you're trampling on his own promise, tarnishing his presence among Valhalla's valiant ones."
"This is a lie!" Hyoga reacted. "Hand over your Sapphire at last!"
The Cygnus Saint was furious. The fact that Alberich had used the affection he had for his beloved Master Camus, for whom he mortified himself every day for being responsible for the death, to manipulate him into that ambitious plot for the power of Asgard had torn the boy apart for a long time. The rage he felt perhaps rivaled even that of ancient berserkirs, even if he was far from the Sapphire's influence. His irascible and passionate voice silenced the voice of the God Warrior, who saw an irreducible boy before him.
Alberich's nobility was gone now that he was lying flat on the ground; his God Robe was still shiny and wonderful, but Hyoga recognized in Alberich's look the lost path of someone who sees no way out of a battle. Had he been a warrior, he would have known where to find the strength to move forward and even die for his mission, but Alberich wasn't really a warrior. And there he finally gave up.
His shoulders slumped and his eyes closed in commiseration. He took his hand to his waist and effectively took the Odin Sapphire that protected his God Robe, and held it out for Hyoga to take it. The boy reached out to take the fourth Odin Sapphire that was in that Forbidden Forest, but when Hyoga did, Alberich conjured his cursed Amethyst sword, which had intrigued Seiya in his defeat; from very close, Hyoga realized too late the trap of the cornered serpent.
He leapt into the air and dodged the fatal blow that was sure to pierce his stomach, but the Amethyst's sword that furiously sprouted from Alberich's hand pierced his right thigh, taking him to the ground staining the snow with blood.
"Damn you, Alberich." Hyoga complained with an amethyst stake through her thigh.
Alberich finally got up and walked to the arrowhead pendant that he had thrown to Hyoga; the boy saw that the God Warrior took the pendant, cleaned it of the snow and replaced it around his neck. Finally he looked at Hyoga and said those words.
"I'm sorry it ended like this, Hyoga." his seidr rose cold as its energy sucked the purple particles from that Forbidden Forest. "But nothing will stand in my way."
"Damn it, Alberich…"
"Ask your Master for forgiveness when you find him."
Megrez's God Robe was all lit up in a purple light; the God Warrior opened his arms and his hair ruffled wildly, revealing the flower earring he wore in his ear. His voice had never been so strong.
"Amethyst Shield!"
The Hyoga boy saw how the lighting of the Forbidden Forest seemed to dim, as if Alberich's cold had sucked him to use his purple and deadly technique, but before the amethyst blizzard locked him in a coffin like those that were slowly sucking the life out of his friends, a figure appeared in front of him and protected him with a golden glow.
When the light returned to normal, Hyoga saw in front of him that Shiryu had her Dragon Shield protecting the two; a thin layer of amethyst covered the entire emerald shield the girl carried on her left arm. The girl's entire body lit up and the amethyst fell like splinters to the ground, releasing her powerful Shield, steady as a diamond.
"Shiryu!" Hyoga was surprised behind her.
"Hyoga." she returned, not even looking at her friend suffering on the floor.
"Shiryu." he began, stammering." Shiryu, please forgive me..."
"There's no need to apologize, my friend." she said, still on guard in front of Alberich, who had a certain astonishment on his face.
Hyoga looked from the girl to Alberich in front of her, looking right at that Saint with a pink blindfold over her eyes, as if he was slowly gathering the information he certainly had about her as well.
"In that case, Shiryu, you need to listen to me. The one who stands before you is Megrez Alberich, a God Warrior who was able to imprison Shaina and Seiya in Amethyst coffins. I'm sure you can still feel their cosmos slowly slipping away. For only he can free them from this prison. But you shouldn't trust his words either."
Shiryu listened attentively to her friend, while Alberich was surprised to see that his technique had no effect against that Bronze Shield on the Athena Saint's arm. And he was well aware of that mosaic that was inscribed drawn on the Bronze Cloth and he couldn't help but find it poetic that, centuries later, it would again appear in the history of Alberich's lineage.
"That Shield is the Dragon Shield, is it not?" he said, attracting Shiryu's attention.
"I see you already know it." she commented, and Alberich let out a smile.
"Things do seem to have been written by the Gods." said Alberich, taking a deep breath. "First, a disciple of an old friend appears in my prison. And so, the Dragon Shield is before Alberich again."
"What do you mean by that?"
"It is in my family records that the greatest warrior in our history faced this Shield in the east. I still remember the name of that great warrior. His name was Dohko."
The name made Shiryu change her expression, surprised to hear the name of her biggest childhood rival.
"I see you know him." said Alberich, noticing his surprise.
"Not really." she denied. "It is true that I know someone by that name, but he could never have faced your ancestor, because the one I speak of trained alongside me."
"Well, Athena Saint." Alberich smiled. "If I bear the name of an ancestor from centuries ago, you must imagine that this friend of yours was also honored by that other great warrior of the East."
"And what was the result of that battle, God Warrior?"
"The deepest balance. A tie." said Alberich and Shiryu doubted a lot, but he didn't let his thoughts be vocalized.
"I'm afraid that won't be the case these days."
"Are you sure you're going to beat me?" Alberich asked.
"Absolutely."
Hyoga looked at the girl in front of him and felt a chill when he saw her so determined; his wound was still oozing blood and he couldn't be of any help to her, but an unbelievable thought crossed Hyoga: Shiryu didn't need him. Heavens, Shiryu didn't need anyone. Hyoga was absolutely sure that Alberich would really be defeated. With just one strike. Shiryu's Cosmo was different.
Ahead of Shiryu, Hyoga saw that Alberich conjured another Amethyst sword to wield in his hands; the boy shouted for his friend to avoid contact with those crystals, but Alberich jumped up in great turmoil to hit Shiryu up and down with that cutting crystal. Again, Alberich was not a great warrior, so Hyoga knew that an open and obvious blow like that would be easily deflected or even bounced by the incredible Dragon Shield. But Shiryu did something illogical.
"Shiryu!" shouted Hyoga, unable to get up.
For Shiryu did not move or dodge, nor did she raise the Shield to ward off that terrible cut; no, Shiryu quickly raised her right arm and held the Amethyst's blade with just one hand, stopping the edge of that crystal in her fingers. A terrible mistake, Hyoga knew well. He tried to get up to warn her, but the amethyst stake in his thigh sent him crashing to the ground again; when he looked up, he saw the Forest lighten with an almost imperceptible golden glow.
Alberich jumped back with a smile on his face as if he knew he had tricked his victim again. But something unbelievable happened when Hyoga realized, observing more clearly, that the Dragon Fist that protected Shiryu's arm was shining in gold.
The God Warrior raised his sword and smiled ready for another attack, but was interrupted by Hyoga.
"It's over, Alberich." he said, still looking at Shiryu's back.
"For all of you, Hyoga!"
"Stop, Alberich. Look at yourself." asked Hyoga.
Alberich felt his heart skip a beat, his chest heave for a second, a terrible chill run down his spine and a hot line run across his forehead. A trickle of blood that he wiped away, amazed, with his hand.
"What happened?"
"You're already beaten." Hyoga announced to him.
The amethyst sword he had in his hands shattered into a thousand pieces, leaving him gaping and his hands bare. The purple stake that still hurt Hyoga's thigh through it also disappeared, letting his blood flow through the snow. Something even more astounding happened to Alberich's protection, as his God Robe, piece by piece, simply sliced into many spots and fell completely destroyed to the ground. He fell to his knees in disbelief.
"Your Amethyst crystals are all extensions of not only just your aura, but also the Armor you wear." said Shiryu to him.
"How is this possible?" the always determined Alberich was surprised. "You are different from all of them."
"The answer lies in the Seventh Sense." replied Shiryu and both Alberich and Hyoga looked at her.
"The Seventh Sense?" asked Alberich, surprised for the first time, because it was his job to know everything about his opponents, but that ancient knowledge of the Athena Saints was one of those secrets that a spy could never know. Shiryu explained to him:
"The Seventh Sense is the deepest understanding of the cosmos. It's feeling part of everything. You must have noticed that I cannot see, and that makes my understanding of my senses even deeper than a Saint who can see the colors of the world. I could feel that your Amethyst crystals are also part of you, part of your protection that you call the God Robe. I deeply feel how you draw strength from this Forest, as if your aura is rooted in these trees and in this soil that must hide an uncountable source of this precious stone, is it not true? In this case, if your God Robe resonated so closely with the crystals around us, I suspected the answer lay in destroying it."
"Shiryu!" Hyoga exclaimed, interrupting his friend. "Shaina and Seiya's bodies are free! You were right!"
Alberich looked over his shoulder and saw that his amethyst coffins had been obliterated, as he knew perfectly well would happen if his God Robe was damaged. He looked ahead and saw Hyoga kneeling with his thigh bleeding and that Dragon Saint standing there, haughty and untouched. The boy tried to get up as best he could, but Shiryu called out to her friend.
"Hyoga, I need you to get the Odin Sapphire from Alberich." asked Shiryu.
"What?" Hyoga was confused. "The Sapphire?"
"Yes. Take the one that was with Seiya and your own Sapphire, Hyoga."
"What do you mean by that, Shiryu?"
Finally, Hyoga was made aware of his friends' mission.
"Our mission, Hyoga." she said. "It is to seal the Relic of the Seas guarded by Hilda, but she is possessed by a ring called the Ring of Nibelungs. And with that Ring we can never reach the Relic. So we need to use the Balmung Sword to break the spell that operates on Hilda today. Free her from evil and clear the way for us to seal the Relic."
Hyoga immediately looked at Alberich, as it was absolutely disconcerting that he actually seemed to be telling the truth. The same plan that ambitious man had for himself already seemed to be under way by the hands of the Athena Saints. Hyoga noticed a slight smile on Alberich's face, even though he was dragging himself through the snow, and understood that maybe it was really his plan from the beginning. If he failed, the Athena Saints would not fail. Either way, the Balmung Sword would emerge in that battle.
"I'll take care of Shaina and Seiya, Hyoga." said Shiryu, running towards the two who were slowly waking up.
It remained for the boy to attend to the task of collecting the Sapphires that were scattered around Alberich. He took them all, but he realized that the last one was in the palm of that ambitious man and now completely deprived of all the glory that once made him shine around where people were suffering and miserable. Well, now Alberich was finally one of them.
Hyoga took the Sapphire from his hand and, limping, went towards Shiryu and his friends, but Alberich spoke to him one last time with a faltering voice.
"I didn't lie, Hyoga…" he stammered. "The letters were real."
ABOUT THE CHAPTER: Pure soap opera. I wanted almost endless accusatory dialogues between Hyoga and Alberich, at the same time to expose Hyoga's revolt at being used and also to show how Alberich always had everything on the tip of his tongue, such preparation and intelligence of the character. Sometimes I feel that my dialogues are too short between characters, so in this chapter I wanted it to be a scene with a lot of accusation between them. And it was a difficult dialogue, because at the same time that I wanted Hyoga to understand some things about Alberich's schemes, certain points were still dubious: is it true or not? After all, where did Alberich and where did Alberich tell the truth? Here the inspiration of Surtr (Soul of Gold) is much more evident, as I brought the same theme and relationship with Camus.
NEXT CHAPTER: VALHALLA'S BLACK TIGER
Shun and Geist arrive at the Valhalla Palace and there they find an excellent Ice God Warrior.