104 — THE SHADOW TIGER
At the distance, the waves of the Mediterranean Sea crashed on the rocks, far from that window on the second floor of a shack so simple. All that could be seen of the immensity of the ocean was the bluish horizon of a small strip of water that appeared after an abrupt fall from the mountain, a few good leagues away from where that one was looking from. The boy's bored and lost eyes glimpsed the paths of the sea in the distance. It was a fine day in the sky, but it was in the ocean that his little heart melted.
His attention was broken by the voice of thunder that spoke from behind him:
"Well, is it really that boring to take care of a giant?"
The boy glanced back, leapt from the couch he was perched on to look out the window, and hurried toward the convalescent, sprawled between at least three beds to make up for his enormous frame.
"Uncle Aldebaran! Are you feeling better?"
The sly bull smiled with the bands all around his head and confirmed yes. The boy took a ceramic pitcher with water in it and the huge man drank it like a mug, quenching his enormous thirst.
"Thank you so much, Kiki." he handed back the pitcher the boy had placed on the table beside him. The huge man wiped his mouth and pointed at the window with a hard chin. "What makes you so sad, little Kiki?"
The boy then jumped on the bed to lie down in Aldebaran's enormous arm, and thus, nestling like a little bird and with his face a little twisted with sadness, he lied to the giant that nothing was afflicting him.
"Nothing much." he trailed off, then continued as if he'd found something to share. "I'm concerned about the Seven Seas mission. About Seiya and the others."
"Well, if there's anyone you don't need to worry about, it's that pest of a boy, Seiya. But I see it in your face, little one, he's not the one you're worried about, right?"
Kiki twisted his mouth, a little annoyed, and looked at Aldebaran's calm smile. Then he finally confessed.
"It's Lunara." began the boy. "It's been a long time since they left for the Seven Seas, and we've hardly heard from them."
"Are you worried about her?"
"You can't tell her about this, Uncle Aldebaran!" the boy scolded him, finding a smile in return. "But I am. Why, she's just a little girl. What's a little girl has to do on a ship across the seven seas? She barely knows how to put her clothes on properly."
"I heard she's a great engineer."
"She thinks she knows everything. And I also don't understand how they could have called her. She's just a child, Uncle Aldebaran."
"Well, but it is in the history of the Saints of Athena that it was precisely the young ones who saved her in the first Holy War."
"But she has no training at all." he complained.
"Trust Captain Meko." said Aldebaran. "After all, he's a giant just like me. I'm sure he'll take good care of Lunara and the others."
The huge Aldebaran then crushed the boy Kiki under his arm much to the mischievous boy's protests. The door that closed that second floor opened and Master Mu caught the attention of her apprentice:
"Kiki, let the poor Aldebaran rest."
"Oh come on, Mu. You keep saying these things to annoy me, I'm sure of it."
Kiki, however, jumped out of bed and grabbed the ceramic pitcher to top up the water.
"He's a good boy." said Aldebaran, looking at his friend. "He's super worried about the little one who's gone across the seas."
Mu also looked out the window as if trying to guess the fate of those who left across the oceans; just like Kiki, she also took Lunara into Jamiel to care for. Always in her own way, but behind those reading glasses she had, there was an enormous affection for both of them. She looked away and sought to tend to her friend's injuries, however.
"It's cruel how much these young ones are put to the test." observed Aldebaran.
"You talk like you haven't had a terrible youth yourself."
"We have never known any other world, Master Mu."
"That is still cruel, my friend."
Aldebaran let out a smile; but as soon as Mu untied one of the bandages on his arm, Aldebaran withdrew it in pain, to Mu's surprise.
"Still aching?" she asked.
"Yes." Aldebaran nodded.
"How curious."
"You know, Mu..." began Aldebaran. "In my nightmares and dreams, I feel that every day I wake up, a piece of the puzzle that was that night is completed a little more."
"It's normal for your memory to come back piece by piece."
"For now I'm sure that the shadow that defeated me, in fact, was the one who started the battle."
"Tell me more about this, Aldebaran." Mu approached, curious.
"I was at peace in the House of Aries in my normal wake, when I felt a terribly cold breeze rushing in from the entrance. And now I am clear that when I went to the stairs, I felt as if a breath had passed through my body."
Mu was looking at him, transfixed.
"It was the Shadow." said Aldebaran gravely. "It was at that moment that he entered the House of Aries."
"Through the ice. Like Phoenix, who travels through fire."
"Yes. Seeing nothing at the entrance, I went back to the center of the House of Aries, under the Crystal dome, and there I was attacked for the first time. Razor-sharp claws struck me and put me on guard. Nowhere could I see the invader. But now I see it in my mind as if I was there once again. There was a mist lurking in the corners."
"The shadow."
"Without a doubt. I was still attacked two or three times in the darkness until finally I saw the enemy."
"The shadow?"
"No." denied Aldebaran, gravely. "I thought it was, but now I know better. The Warrior who appeared at the entrance to the House of Aries was not the one who was attacking me until then."
"And you attacked him thinking he was the Shadow."
"Exactly." agreed Aldebaran seriously. "A God Warrior of Asgard, and I attacked the first moment I saw him. He, not understanding where that fury was coming from, attacked me back and then I was sure that he was the one hiding in the corners like a coward. And I was wrong. Still, his strike was like the sharp claws that had attacked me earlier."
"Just like the Shadow attack. Both used the same technique."
"I didn't have that clarity at the time. Both are expert warriors and their ability to move through the ice mist is baffling, Mu."
"The marks remain in the House of Aries."
"His cosmos is also different and that's why I was so deceived. The Warriors of Asgard are isolated in their land and I was surprised by that odd feeling. The fight dragged on with the God Warrior, who looked as confused as I was; he introduced himself as an envoy from Asgard, a God Warrior called Mizar Syd. But by then it was too late. I was quite certain that he was an invader of the Sanctuary of Athena and he was defending himself against what he certainly thought was a gratuitous attack on my part."
"Both deceived by the Shadow."
"And at the height of the battle..." Aldebaran took a deep breath.
"You were attacked from behind."
"And I woke up in this hovel."
The friends looked at each other.
"Syd probably has no idea about this Shadow. But the Shadow had full knowledge of Syd and engineered this battle between us to cause this confusion between Sanctuary and Asgard."
Mu listened to her friend in silence and her eyes were lost in the window, far away, where the waves were breaking. The door opened again and the boy Kiki appeared with a full pitcher of water.
The icy entrance hall of Valhalla was extremely eerie lit by broad torches of fire that spread far apart in colossal columns. Syd's glowing white ice mist had been sucked out of the hall by Andromeda's cosmos, so that the only really determining source of light in that darkness was the illuminated silhouette that appeared ahead of Shun and Geist, very injured.
"The Alcor God Warrior." said Geist, guessing the apparition. "Syd's Shadow."
She then stood up, the Silver Cloth she was wearing already cracked in several places, but she still had the hard expression on her face.
"I am very amazed that you survived, Silver Saint." said the mysterious and deep voice of the God Warrior.
Something that greatly surprised Geist, because although the voice was serious, she was now sure that it was not a God Warrior.
But a Goddess Warrior.
"I already imagined some ruse lurking in the Shadows." she replied. "Something Taurus Aldebaran certainly could not have guessed."
The woman did not respond to that provocation immediately and just presented herself more calmly.
"Miss Hilda is the only person in the world who knows of my existence. None of the other God Warriors suspected, and not even Syd himself had any knowledge." and then she walked briefly towards Geist. "How did you know? How could you know that I, Alcor Bud, was the one who defeated the Taurus Saint, and not Mizar Syd?"
Geist closed her eyes and remembered Shaina's account.
"Taurus Aldebaran survived, Goddess Warrior. If you think that the enormous Gold Saint would be defeated by a ruse from the shadows, you are very wrong. He survived and told the Master-at-Arms of Sanctuary that his battle against the God Warrior Mizar Syd had not been entirely fair. And that there was something else in the darkness." Alcor listened in silence to Geist's report, which continued. "And in the snowy valleys of Asgard, I had the pleasure of standing before Princess Freia, who also told us about the constellation that watches over this land. The Seven Stars of Ursa Major, or Karvalgn as they are known here. And about Mizar, who is always accompanied by a shadow: Alcor."
Bud's eyes glittered for a brief moment.
"I deduced then that Mizar Syd had something that helped him from the shadows in battle. For now it is clear that the something was a someone. And that someone is you, Alcor Bud."
Bud closed her eyes as if absorbing Geist's heartfelt account and then walked past Syd's sprawled body without paying any attention to him. Her voice was calm.
"Syd and the Taurus Saint had the same strength. Asgard's wish needed to be fulfilled."
"And then you attacked him from behind?" asked Geist seriously. "I wouldn't have thought that the God Warriors of Asgard were such a cowards."
"God Warrior?" she asked, followed by a laugh. "I am not a Goddess Warrior. I am but a mere Shadow."
And like a ghost wrapped in a white cloak, Bud turned slowly toward the body now sprawled behind her; next to the body were the Sapphires that Shun dropped when he was hit by her fist. She held out her hand, and for a moment, as Geist saw it, she hesitated to pick up the Sapphires from the ground; she finally caught the two gems and one of them slipped into the gap in her God Robe. Exactly in the chest. Like Syd's Robe.
Stepping into the light as she did, both Geist and Shun realized that she was wearing an identical replica of the God Robe that Syd was wearing, but instead of the Black Tiger that covered the body of Valhalla's valiant advisor, Bud had an entirely white God Robe, like a snow tiger. But that wasn't the resemblance that most caught Geist's attention.
"And now you are a Goddess Warrior." finished Geist for her. "Alcor Bud."
"No." Bud corrected. "That stone is the Sapphire protected by the star Zeta, therefore I am no longer a shadow, but the true Goddess Warrior of Zeta. And it will now be my guardian stone and star."
Where the wind was blowing hard on the mezzanine floor outside Valhalla Palace, Siegfried was very confused as Hilda watched the Colossus of Odin. The wind was noisy and made the Great God representative's Valkyrie dress chafe against the dark marble floor; Siegfried's hair was also flying on that counter.
"Alcor Bud? Syd's Shadow?" he asked Hilda, who had finally revealed the secret of Valhalla to him. "I didn't know about the existence of this Goddess Warrior."
"When you want to deceive the enemies of Valhalla, sometimes you have to deceive even your most faithful allies." she said looking at Siegfried, kneeling in front of her.
"But dear Hilda, since the beginning of this battle, Valhalla has been short of warriors. If Bud is so capable to the point of being as powerful as Syd, perhaps she could have been more useful in place of the Athena Saint or even Alberich."
"Siegfried, you will have to understand that Bud wouldn't wear any other God Robe."
"Wouldn't it?..." Siegfried asked himself, confused.
Hilda remained with her eyes glued to the Colossus of Odin, while doubts populated Siegfried's heart, who now felt terribly alone. Hagen had been beaten. Now Syd was stretched out in the halls of Valhalla. Thor perished from the sheer cold of that land. And his brother was sunk in disgrace in a dungeon. Asgard's hope resided only in him and in a shadow. And this he could not accept.
"I myself will go to the Valhalla Palace Hall to finish off these invaders, I cannot trust a Shadow." he announced, getting to his feet.
"Wait, Siegfried." ordered Hilda, turning to him; she held a wildflower between her fingers and her eyes were menacing. "It's like Alberich said, we can't choose the methods we're going to use to achieve victory. Sometimes, perhaps, it is even necessary to set our souls aside."
"But Hilda..."
Hilda's eyes became bright as topaz and she turned, full and menacing, before Siegfried. Her seidr was like the deepest cold he could ever experience, and in that instant, the warrior understood what it meant to be close to Odin. And he had never been so scared in his entire life.
"Siegfried." she began, her voice cold and high. "Am I to understand that you are not able to listen to me?"
The huge advisor was trembling. It wasn't from the cold, but from fear. The flower Hilda held between her fingers froze and shattered into a thousand pieces with the force of her magic.
"The important thing is to defeat the Saints." she remembered with a smile on her face when she saw that Siegfried was pacified and on his knees before her.
Inside the Valhalla Palace, in the inner areas of the central nave lit by dim torches, Shun and Geist still faced the icy apparition of that Shadow between them. The Andromeda Saint did not even consider speaking to her with reason, as it was already clear from the context that there was no chance of convincing her. So both he and Geist were on their guard to start another battle, because after all they needed those Odin Sapphires to finish Asgard's mission.
"Then we will have to fight." Geist concluded.
Bud spread her arms wide, as if inviting them to battle.
Geist burned her silver Cosmo and jumped to test Bud's strength, now that she fought in the light and no longer in the shadows; the woman easily dodged her fist and counterattacked Geist, throwing her against a nearby pillar. Agile as a serpent, however, she righted herself in the air and, instead of crashing into the pillar, she gained momentum and again attacked Bud, making her finally open her guard to defend herself from the electrical blasts of her fist.
The Argo Saint, who at that time was wearing half of Shaina's Silver Cloth, placed herself in front of Bud again, and she saw how the woman lit up in white, creating the icy mist that Shun knew so well from his battle with Syd. The boy immediately cleared the mist with his air cosmo, but while he was doing it, Bud took the opportunity to move through the ice he threw away to transport herself across the hall, confusing both Geist and Shun.
"Stop it, Shun!" asked Geist, guessing the ruse.
Too late. Alcor Bud reappeared from a blind spot of both of them and her feminine voice, although very low, echoed in the ancient halls of Valhalla his most powerful technique.
"Shadow Viking Tiger Claw!"
Both were hit at the same time. And both fell to the ground terribly wounded, finally feeling the attack that was able to break the Golden Helm of Aldebaran and take the huge Saint to the ground. And on the ground now lay also Geist, still very wounded from her fight against Míme, and Shun, who had suffered at the hands of the beautiful violinist, as well as the Black Tiger Syd.
Both at the mercy of the Shadow Tigress.
No longer hiding, Bud walked in footsteps that echoed across the marble to the two injured bodies on the floor. She analyzed the weakness of both of them, not understanding how so many other God Warriors could be defeated by that kind; for the invasion was over and she raised her right arm revealing fangs in her hands to finish them off.
"I would think twice before doing what you're thinking of." said another voice, entering the hall.
Bud looked ahead and realized there was one more among them.
"And who are you?"
"I'm Ikki, the Phoenix."
Sepulchral silence in Valhalla Palace.
"Phoenix?" Bud asked.
On the other hand, Ikki measured that woman from head to toe and then spoke to the bodies stretched out in front of her.
"Are you all right?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the Goddess Warrior.
"Yes, Sister." replied Shun when he saw that Geist was also moving with difficulties on the ground.
Bud's gaze was icy and her voice also lacked any empathy.
"Phecda didn't kill you, then." Bud concluded. "He never could, of course. That Athena Saint should never have been accepted among the God Warriors."
"So it's as I suspected." replied Ikki. "You lot plotted to capture Hyoga's mind and set him against his friends. That's ridiculous. Anyway, it doesn't matter at all, because you're right. Hyoga really could never kill me, because we are brothers in battle. I'm sure he'll find a way to break free from Asgard's dastardly spells."
Bud responded with a short sneer.
"And this one is your blood brother." she pointed to Shun's dying body. "One brother was taken by Odin's Sapphire and the other dies at my feet. How does it feel to lose your siblings one by one, Phoenix Ikki?"
Then it was Ikki's turn to close her eyes in mockery.
"I already lost my brother once. But he brought me from Hell." said Iki. "Do not doubt the ability of these brothers of mine to come back to life. If today I'm here in front of you to defeat you, it's because they insisted on bringing me back."
Bud laughed heartily.
"How touching, all this love." she said, with awkward irony.
And her body glowed covered in its icy white mist where the God Warriors seemed to draw strength from.
"You should have stayed at the mouth of that cave, because by placing yourself here before me you will meet the same end as your brother. It will be one more body stretched out on the marble."
The icy mist rushed in and a breeze blew between the two fighters, ruffling Bud's cape and Ikki's feathers. The Goddess Warrior disappeared and advanced through the mist, but Ikki also disappeared, appearing far above the fire torch of a column where she took momentum and went towards the image of Bud who reappeared where the Bronze Saint had been. Bud withstood Ikki's attack with both arms and the two broke away.
Without tricks, they both jumped to hit each other in the air, each falling on one side: Ikki went to the ground with a trickle of blood coming out of her mouth, while Bud gracefully landed on the other side. Right next to her it fell, with a great crash to the ground, her white helmet, for Bud had not passed that shock unscathed. The Tiger's head, which had previously shielded and hid Bud's features, was now on the ground.
Ikki was getting up with difficulty, when that woman's deep voice spoke again.
"What happened to your arrogance just now?" Ikki was already suffering from pain, as she had also had a terrible battle against Hagen and had been hit by Hyoga. Bud continued talking with a sneer in her voice. "Let me tell you the truth. In this world we live in, human beings are always alone and the strongest are the ones who survive. Even brothers are sometimes divided into winners and losers. Compassion is useless."
Ikki finally got to her feet to face Bud's cold face that had now been revealed by the fall of her helmet. For what Ikki saw brought a chill down her spine; she noted, with astonishment, what had previously sent a chill through Geist. Bud and Syd were identical.
"Bud, don't tell me you're..."
"Yes, Phoenix Ikki." she interrupted. "Just like Andromeda and you. Syd and I are blood brothers. Mizar Syd is my brother."
There was a surprise stamped on Ikki's face, who looked from one to the other as if comparing, looking for some difference between the two, but they were absolutely identical. The only difference was gender.
"So Zeta's twin stars are real sisters." Geist pointed beside Shun, sitting next to a pillar, catching her breath.
"But if you're Syd's Shadow, you could certainly have saved him from my Nebula Storm, like you did against Taurus Aldebaran. Why did you let him die?"
Bud let out a smile when she heard Shun's voice, but without looking away from Ikki.
"It is true that I could have killed Andromeda in this hall while the two of them fought each other. But if I had done so, that would be another great feat of Syd's that no one would ever know the truth about." and at that point, Bud took on a low, menacing tone. "But if Syd died in battle and I got his Odin Sapphire, then I would be Zeta's rightful Goddess Warrior."
Ikki in front of her twisted her mouth with hatred when witnessing such selfishness.
"Are you saying you saw your brother lose and didn't try to help him?"
"It was his fault for being defeated by a Bronze Saint." she said, eyes closed. "As for me, although he is my blood brother, I just see him as another corpse. One of a loser. Only that."
The words were harsh on Ikki, mostly because she found echoes in her past of that same dismissive look. So that she didn't even put her feelings into words, she just burned her hatred in Fire Cosmo to attack Bud with her Phoenix Flaps. But her flaming fist pierced through the air and didn't find her opponent at all.
"I know your technique, Phoenix. I saw you fight Hagen in the Southern Caverns."
Bud smiled and counterattacked Ikki, who at first dodged here and there, but finally saw how the Goddess Warrior disappeared into the ice mist and only her voice echoed in the palace's marble.
"Shadow Viking Tiger Claw!"
And from the shadows Ikki was shot by Bud's sharp claws, hitting the ground again, to the dismay of Shun and Geist.
"How does it feel to die in front of your brother?" Bud asked.
And before Ikki could even consider getting up, she stomped on his head, sinking it into the stone. Once, twice, three times, and then she picked her up by the collar of the Phoenix Cloth to pummel her with her fist of light and throw her against the walls. Shun called for his sister, he wanted to help her endure that suffering, and all he managed was to get on his knees, struggling to try to get back on his feet.
Bud faced him behind her and extended just one finger where a beam of light caused Shun to be crossed and again to fall to the ground beside Geist. She turned her attention to Ikki, who was also trying to get up, and grabbed her by the neck, pulling her closer.
"All this wonderful story of sibling bonds won't help you any now! In reality, having the same blood was never guarantee of anything. On the contrary: there are occasions when being brothers only helps to increase more and more the hatred we feel."
She said while beating Ikki.
"Hatred?" Ikki babbled back, before being stomped in the face.
A word she knew so well.
"That's right." Bud replied. "Let me tell you a story. A story about two twin brothers. A story that happened a long, long time ago that I think is important for you to know before you die."
Bud's voice began, while her right foot was on Ikki's neck, lying in front of her. Her voice was quiet and ironic. Everyone in that room could hear Bud's voice.
"The story is about a couple from one of the most distinguished families in Asgard, if not the most illustrious of all. Between them was born a male child, whom they eagerly awaited in order to follow the family lineage." here she paused and took a deep breath. "And if they had only had that child, there would be no tragic whatsoever, but with the male child another child was also born in the same birth. Now, you see, the people of Asgard believe that twins bring bad luck and destroy the family's future. And for them there was nothing more important than the family. According to custom, it was necessary to choose one of them."
The story was heard by everyone there in that hall.
"And because of that, while one of the babies, the chosen one, was in the warm arms of the mother, the other baby was abandoned wrapped in a trousseau in the middle of a snowstorm in Asgard with only a golden dagger, where his name was written by fire. Without having known the affection of the parents, that baby was found by a night wanderer who was looking for food in the ditches."
"Bud..." stammered Ikki.
"That baby was me." concluded the woman.
She lifted Ikki by the hair and punched her in the back.
"If I hadn't found my brother, I would have lived peacefully as that villager's daughter without knowing my misfortune." she said, looking at Syd's face motionless on the floor. "But that's not how fate wanted it."
Her voice now sounded through her teeth and she let go of Ikki's body to fall to the ground.
"Famine is the disease that has swept Asgard since that time. I was the daughter of a very poor villager from Lower-Asgard and I was once doing what no one should do. Hunting in the Forbidden Forest, where only those who lived in High-Asgard were allowed to ride, but no one was allowed to hunt. But hunger drove me there after a hare, who could save us from starving that night. I ran and ran until I cornered her against the wall of a huge boulder invaded by snow. The hare was injured, but before I could take it a boy the same age as me appeared with his horse. A prince. He asked me to stop and not do anything to the poor hare, the protector of animals with a table full of food during the night. He put himself between me and her. He was a clean boy, with well-cut hair, good clothes, elegant speech. I glared at him and would have stoned them both to eat something that night. But he bargained with me: he said he would give me something in exchange for the hare's life, something I could trade in town for food. He gave me a golden dagger."
Shun and Geist's pricked ears almost already guessed.
"And when I saw the golden dagger that boy had thrown me, my heart sank. Immediately, I took out the dagger that I had myself, the one that had been left next to my body as a baby. They were identical. Mine was already very dirty and used, but the inscription was still legible. It had my name written on it: Bud. And the one the boy had thrown at me was as good as new. Engraved with another name, Syd, but the same tiger crest on the hilt. I was very young and it crossed my mind at that moment: how could it be possible that he had the same dagger as me? I couldn't understand. He already had the hare in his lap and was playing with him, having paid for his life with that golden dagger."
"Damn it, Bud…" Shun lamented when he heard that tragedy.
"I was sure of it when I heard other horses approaching. Adults worried about that young man. And he ran towards them shouting 'father, mother'. An old man with a big hat on his head, warm clothes for the cold and a beautiful woman with blond hair like the sun we never see, a blue dress like the clear sky we can never see either. It was that boy's father and mother. They called him by the name on the dagger: Syd. The boy asked if he could take the hare with them and his parents allowed him. My parents."
Bud squinted and raged at the Valhalla Palace, just as she felt as a child when she saw that happy family she wasn't a part of.
"And there it was. Though born under the same star as brothers, the difference between Syd, who had it all, and me was like the difference between heaven and hell. I cursed my own fate and though God Odin had abandoned me and chosen him I swore that one day I would be bigger than Syd. And I trained for all these years until I had the great joy of being chosen as one of the Seven God Warriors. Only to realize, too late, that once again I was just Syd's Shadow."
"A ruse by Hilda." babbled Geist.
"No!" Bud corrected, looking at the two of them on the wall. "Hilda told me what I already knew. That I was Syd's Shadow in Valhalla for the same reason I was abandoned by my parents. That so was determined by Odin. And I would never dare to oppose Odin.
"How can you…" Ikki tried to speak, but Bud grabbed her by the neck again before she dared to say any nonsense against Odin.
"And that's when she told me that if Syd were to die I would no longer be a Shadow. And I would be Zeta's true Goddess Warrior. For from now on, Hilda will have to admit me as a Star Zeta Goddess Warrior in place of Syd, who was defeated. I will go down in history as one of Asgard's greatest warriors. The one who defeated the Saints of Athena!"
She threw Ikki into the air and hit her with violence, causing her body to shatter and open a crater in the dark marble. The Phoenix Saint moaned in pain in the middle of the crater, but among the sounds of pain, she provoked Bud once more.
"I feel sorry for you." spoke the trembling voice of Ikki while her Cosmo of fire was ignited again. "Even if you leave your name in Asgard's history, what sense would that make if you hate your own brother?"
"Shut up, Phoenix. I can't bear to hear your cheap sentimentality."
"Ikki, my sister…" said Shun when he saw the Phoenix Bird again getting up with difficulty.
"You know, Bud," Ikki began. "Shun and I weren't born under a good star either. My little brother never knew the faces of our parents and I myself don't even remember any trace of them. We were forcibly separated and once fought each other to the death like enemies. I've already come to curse Shun and our destinies. But now we can fight together. Together and alongside our friends for a single goal. For Athena. We both believe that the time will come when even we who were born under unfortunate stars can live in peace. That's why we joined our forces to fight. If you gain victory by hating your own brother, what good is that victory? It's useless!"
Bud was surprised by Ikki. Not because of her words, which, in truth, did little to move her aged heart with hatred, but because of the strength she still had after being beaten so much and with the brightness of her Cosmo, which now lit up the entire hall, as if Phoenix were a huge beacon of hope.
"I already told you that while my Cosmo shines, I will get up as many times as needed. I am the Phoenix Bird that rises from the ashes of Hell!"
"And I will kill you!"
The Shadow Tiger's Claws flew across the hall, but Ikki used her cosmo and the tigress's sharp blasts were all converged into a single point by the Phoenix Cosmos. And she held all that fury in both hands; Reinvigorated and courageous, Ikki returned the blow towards Bud, who dodged her own technique.
But even though Ikki was touching the Seventh Sense at that moment, thanks to her understanding of her brother's love and how that deep feeling was also burning in Bud, the Goddess Warrior was indeed a terrible opponent. And the exchange of forces between the two culminated again with Ikki on the ground. The possibility of defeating her was almost unbelievable.
"Stop it, Bud." asked Shun again, placing himself in front of her, since Ikki really seemed to be about to be defeated. "You're just being used by Hilda, Bud."
"You too?"
"She's taking advantage of your hatred for Syd and using it to turn you into a powerful war machine."
"Quiet, Andromeda!" she said again, knocking him out with something as simple as a beam of light.
Shun remained where he was, even though Bud could see him trying to gather his strength again.
"Do you see that, Phoenix?" she said to Ikki, who was trying to get up from the ground as well. "Your brother will die. Won't you do anything to stop it?"
"No, I won't." said Ikki only, to Bud's surprise.
"Well, well, it is true that on the brink of death people reveal themselves. You no longer have a problem with me killing your brother as long as you live a little longer. In the end, brothers, friends, none of that will matter. In fact everyone loves only themselves."
"You're wrong." Shun spoke shaking, with his arms outstretched as he lifted his body. "My sister trusts me. It's like she said. As long as there is a small flame of cosmos, we can overcome any obstacle we face. That's how the Saints of Athena are. I will stand as many times as necessary."
"Nonsense, Andromeda."
"That's right." said Iki. "We will not allow people like you to extinguish the fire in our lives."
And the two brothers burned their Cosmos together with their lives; among them was Bud. Shun used his winds to paralyze Bud, if only for an instant, and Ikki's Cosmo pierced the Goddess Warrior's mind with his Phantom Strike. Bud, however, laughed at that attempt when he saw Shun and Ikki side by side in front of him.
"I am not as foolish as Hagen, Phoenix. I already said that I saw your battle with him, I know all your tricks. If you think you're going to leave me in a catatonic state with that blow, you're sorely mistaken. Unlike Hagen, who had a peaceful life alongside the princesses of Asgard, I lived hell with the miserable. I've seen horrible things all my life. You cannot haunt me."
"Have you really seen it all, Bud?"
The hall of the Valhalla Palace melted and gave way to a night hill; the Saints of Athena all disappeared and gave way to a single silhouette beyond her. Her brother Syd's. Both wearing the God Robe given by Hilda. Light and dark opposing each other. Bud swearing his brother to death and brother Syd doubting her strength; a terrible fight between them dragged on over the snowy hill as if two tigers really faced each other. The battle culminated with Syd's body stretched out and at Bud's mercy.
Bud rose before him and set her claws to end her brother's life.
But she hesitated.
At the moment of taking that life in front of her, she hesitated.
And she lingered there, looking at Syd's bleeding face, unable to continue with her intention.
It lingered there for minutes, hours, days perhaps.
"Very touching, Phoenix." she spoke back to reality. "But I know that all this was an illusion created by you."
"Really?" asked Ikki. "Would you really be able to kill your brother?"
Bud had a smile plastered on her face as they stared at each other in the dark room.
"She would not."
Who answered was the voice of Geist in the distance. Everyone looked at her, including Bud.
"She could not." she repeated, pointing at Andromeda. "In the final moment when Shun was about to kill Syd with his technique, you tried to save him at the last moment. And if I hadn't returned to the hall, Shun would have been vanquished and Syd saved."
Bud fell silent without taking her eyes off Ikki.
"If you really wanted to defeat Syd and take his place, why didn't you abandoned him?" Geist asked.
"That was part of my duty as a Shadow Goddess Warrior." replied Bud, confessing that she had launched an attack that almost killed Geist at the height of the battle between Shun and Syd.
"It wasn't just because of that!" Ikki accused. "You wanted to save Syd."
"That's not true!" she snapped.
"What you saw in my Phantom Strike was not an illusion, but your true heart. People afflicted by my technique often experience the worst of their nightmares, fears, and thus succumb to terror. But it's different with you, because your biggest fear, in fact, is finding out that, deep down, you still love your brother."
"This is not true!" she accused. "You don't understand, Phoenix."
"Surely you hate them immensely. Your parents. For your parents who abandoned you to comply with the customs of this land. But Syd was never at fault."
Bud looked back at his brother Syd's body.
"And you know that perfectly well." concluded Ikki, burning her Cosmo in flames.
"Shut up, I'm alone in this world!" Bud roared, lighting the ice on her seidr.
"I'm in your heart, Bud." said Iki. "Feel the Seventh Sense!"
Phoenix Flaming Wings. Shadow Viking Tiger Claw.
Their voices echoed in the Valhalla Palace Hall one last time. Only this time, Bud felt the fury and strength of Ikki's Seventh Sense like never before. If she knew Ikki's techniques, what she had never experienced was the different universe that becomes the Cosmos of Athena's Saints when they reach the Seventh Sense. Her God Robe was shredded so that her entire left side was reduced to ashes, leaving her arm and shoulder unprotected.
But she still fell to the ground alive; Ikki had spared her. Her voice shook with pain.
"So that's the power of the Athena Saints." Bud mused, getting to her knees. "A power capable of taking down the God Warriors. Now I understand."
She was shaking in pain. Her arm unprotected, blood seeping from her shoulder as well as her right hand.
"It's over." she stammered. "You can end my miserable life now, Phoenix."
"Watch out, Ikki!" called Shun, in the background, when he noticed a shadow on his brother's back.
Bud rose to death.
"What are you waiting for? Have no mercy and kill me at once."
There was a silence in which a broken voice was heard.
"Bud. Quickly…"
Bud turned and noticed something surprising. Ikki was on her feet, but behind her was someone who couldn't possibly be alive. It was Syd, holding Ikki in his arms so she couldn't get away.
"Hurry, destroy the Phoenix."
"Syd… is that you?" Bud was surprised to see that shadow.
"Come on, my sister, you must destroy the Phoenix."
"But, but… that would be destroying you too, Syd." she mused, worried.
"It doesn't matter. Anyway, my body is already cursed and my death is a matter of time." Syd swallowed hard before continuing to speak. "Now you are the true Star Zeta Goddess Warrior. It's your duty!"
Ikki was absolutely calm, even though she was at the mercy of the Black Tiger.
"Syd, you knew about Bud, your sister who was abandoned when you were kids, didn't you? Why didn't you say anything?"
Bud's face was livid.
It took him a while to be able to speak, as he was really injured after being hit by the nebula Storm. Bud froze, remembering the moment she first saw him with that hare.
"You mean you also knew I wanted to take your place?" she asked.
"I understand your hatred." Syd began, with difficulty. "But I want… I want you to know that my mother and father and I never forgot you. It is a terrible fate that we have forced ourselves to live in this cursed land. And despite all this, you still helped me more than once. And each time you helped me, Bud... Each time it was like the golden dagger was sinking deeper and deeper into my chest. I could never compare my heartache to all the pain you've had to endure your entire life. And your help is so much more than I could have ever wanted. Or deserved. But that was our fate. And I will give my place as a God Warrior to you, sister of mine."
Bud also seemed to feel the golden dagger rip through her chest.
"Now come on, Bud, don't waste any more time!"
He suffered, his body ravaged by Shun's winds.
"You can destroy the Phoenix. We will win! Destroy her at once! You don't have to worry about me, my sister." he eased his grip on Phoenix, as his strength was fading. "Come on, Bud, destroy her, finish her off!"
Bud prepared his strike and his seidr rose around her. She was shaking, perhaps with fear or anger.
There was a terrible moment of tension between everyone.
"Bud, you can go ahead and kill me if you want to. I won't try to stop it." said Ikki, very calmly.
"Damn it…" Bud growled through clenched teeth, finally remembering the illusion she'd had to endure.
She was incapable.
"What happened, Bud?" asked Ikki.
There were so many years of hate inside her. And there was only one moment that Syd had been even remotely likable. Two gold daggers. The same coat of arms. An injured hare he had taken to tend, leaving a grieving sister behind.
Syd was looking at Bud and Bud was looking at Syd.
Even though the Athena Saints were there, it seemed that time had stopped for both of them to look at each other. Until Bud averted his eyes and dropped her guard. Finally out of strength, Syd fell on Ikki's back, finalizing the impasse.
"My sister..." were his last words.
"Syd, why…?"
The fight was over.
The Valhalla Palace Hall was all destroyed by the battle between the lone Tigers of Asgard and the Saints of Athena. Lots of collapsed columns, caved in ceiling sections, craters in the marble floor, and an immense silence in which Bud's tears began to fall. Shun felt a terrible pain in his chest and he also cried looking for Ikki's gaze, who remained firm when she saw that Bud had knelt beside Syd.
By the entrance of Valhalla, Geist noticed that the rest of the Saints had finally arrived there: Shiryu and Seiya helped Hyoga to walk, with his thigh torn apart, while Shaina was behind them.
The scene was one of deep sadness and the arrival of the friends didn't make Ikki take the teary eyes away from the two brothers on their deathbed.
"I hated him, but I couldn't kill him. Was it because of the blood that runs through our veins? Because we are brothers, is that why I couldn't attack him?"
Ikki spoke to her seriously.
"There will always be differences between parents, children and siblings. But in the beginning of everything, it is not like that. There are no fights, because children love their parents at the start of all; they trust their siblings and each other. But suddenly fortune comes to them, bad choices divide destinies and sometimes the land they live in destroys the family. And then everyone starts hating each other and killing each other and seeking revenge. But they will never forget the time when it all began. What they felt. And the time when they trusted each other. Life can fill the days with sadness, but these memories will always be in our hearts."
Shun was crying. Bud too.
And crying Bud took Syd's body in her arms and turned to face the Athena Saints. Everyone saw her face, icy with frozen tears, the furrowed brow, the blood streaming from her temple, the charred right arm; her gaze, however, was fixed on Phoenix, her rival. She nodded as if allowing Bud to leave, as it no longer mattered any of her sins.
Also with just a look, Geist asked Shaina and the newcomers not to get in the way of the Goddess Warrior.
And they all saw Bud's slow, sad march with her dead brother Syd in her arms. She, in turn, saw the Athena Saints one by one, terribly wounded, but all looking at her with a certain tenderness; unable to know what had happened, but trusting each other that it was right to let her go.
And before leaving, Bud stopped one last time, her back to everyone.
"Phoenix. You said you believe in a world where brothers torned apart can live happily and that you will fight for it. And I felt like… I felt like I wanted to to believe your words."
Ikki looked in front of her and noticed that, on the floor, where Syd's body was, Bud had left the two Odin Sapphires behind. Bud finally took her leave.
"I am no longer a Goddess Warrior. Now I am what I really always wanted to be. I'm Syd's sister."
And so Bud left Valhalla for good.
ABOUT THE CHAPTER: Bud is amazing. The story of the two is too tragic and beautiful at the same time, little has changed in this battle. Only the gender, which was a way to surprise the reader and also bring Syd and Bud even closer to this version of Shun and Ikki. I loved crafting Bud's last line so that his story ended beautifully.
NEXT CHAPTER: THE VALHALLA PALACE
After the tragic battle with Bud, the Athena Saints decide to split up inside Valhalla Palace so they can reach their final destination: the Relic of the Seas.