Chapter 20 – The Phoenix’s Attack
Jayr POV - Tokyo, Graad Coliseum - 1986
It's a new day, and I'm once again near Saori, as the third match of the tournament is about to start, and it will also be the last one, as today Ikki will begin his attack as planned, meanwhile, Seiya is still at the Graad Hospital, with his childhood friend Miyo and Seika together with the kids taking care of him and keeping him company, 'Seiya should fully recover in about two or three hours I healed most of his wounds only the head and the left arm need some more time, while Shiryu is already fine, as good as new, like he just didn't have his heart stopped for about 5 minutes'.
Saori sitting on her throne say "It's finally the day... After today, my fight for the Sanctuary will truly start..." and noticing the worry in her tone, I comfort her "Don't worry, we are ready for it... Most of the Gold Saints are on your side and know the truth, they are only waiting for you to return" and she gives me a smile, then the commentator once again starts with the introductions "Day 5 of the Galaxian Wars!! Up against Andromeda Shun is Unicorn Jabu!! What will those two great warriors show us!?".
And as soon as they are introduced, Jabu and Shun, enter the ring wearing their Cloth, Shun's Cloth is that of Andromeda, and is once again the anime version, that in some way breaks the usual rule of the lower is the tier of the Cloth, the less body it protects, the degree of area protected that Shun's Cloth offer is almost equal to that of a Silver Cloth, with an integral helmet as a headpiece, the chest piece that covers almost all his upper body, the shoulder pieces reminds me of his improved Cloth, while the arms pieces are almost the same as the others Bronze Cloths, with the only difference are the Nebula Chains attached to them, and the leg pieces that cover almost all the legs leaving only the area around the waist unprotected, of course, all the Cloth is of a colorful pink.
(Image Here - Andromeda Shun)
Another thing that I notice is that Shun is very popular with the female audience, as they all are yelling his name and cheering for him, but soon the match starts, and Shun makes the first moves, he lets go of his Nebula Chains, and they extend and spread around all over the ring like a spiderweb, almost taking the shape of the Andromeda Nebula with Shun at its center.
'The Nebula Chains of the Andromeda Cloth, they not only react to danger on their own, but they can also extend to an infinite amount capable of reaching their target even if it is in another dimension and they are also able to discharge a strong current of electricity of 10.000 volts, like Pikachu... One thing is sure, they are dangerous!', and Shun is telling the same thing to Jabu and is urging him to give up.
But Jabu doesn't listen and charges at Shun, who quickly attack him with his chains, which move like they were alive cracking Jabu's chest protector, and sending him flying and crashing into the ground 'Shit another Cloth for me to fix! Luckily the Dragon and Pegasus Cloths will be taken care of by Mu...'.
As stubborn as ever, Jabu gets up and once again attacks Shun, but the result is the same, and now his right shoulder piece is destroyed, and he finds himself laying on the ground once again, bleeding from the wounds inflicted, but Jabu not ready to give up, stands up and tries to attack Shun from above, thinking that it is safe from the chains, and he couldn't be more wrong, because as soon as he jumped the chains once again chase him and attacks, this time breaking his Cloth in many pieces and making Jabu spit a lot of blood, while the commentator yells "Unicorn is helpless against the Nebula Chains!! Will he be able to make a comeback!? Or is this the end for him!?".
But just as everything seems fine, Shun's chains start moving on their own and quickly form the word "AXIA" on the ground, at the same time, I think 'Axia, translated from greek means value, and the only thing of value here is the "Gold Cloth"... Really those chains are smarter than some anime characters... their ability to sense danger surpasses even Spiderman's Spider-Sense...', and as Shun is focusing on his chains trying to understand what they are warning him about, Jabu takes advantage of the situation to grab the Nebula Chains, so that Shun can't attack him with it.
'And that's a Bad Choice(TM)...', soon after he grabbed them, the Nebula Chains release their 10.000 volts on Jabu shocking and forcing him to let go of the chains, that once more relentlessly move and slowly point in the direction of the Gold Cloth, while at the same time, the match stops, and all the others Saints come to the ring to check on what is going on, and after a few seconds, even Shiryu and Seiya, who run here from the Graad Hospital, joins them.
Suddenly, all the lights turn off, and darkness engulfs the colosseum, then as the crowds start to panic, all of the sudden, some lightning appears around the podium of the Pandora Boxes, and soon after the lid of the Sagittarius Pandora Box opens, and from it, Ikki comes out emanating a wrathful Cosmo full of hate and aggression, as the lights turn on once again, 'An 8 for theatric, but later I have to ask him how the hell did he hide inside the box together with the Fake Cloth!? There isn't enough space! Not even a Yoga Master could fit in it!!... At least that is what I thought when I saw the anime the first time, now I know that Ikki already took off the Cloth from it and waited inside the box for the right moment to act'.
Ikki POV - Tokyo, Graad Coliseum - 1986
As I'm looking at my little brother Shun and my other half-brothers down below inside the ring, I hear the commentator's annoying voice "It's Phoenix!! The last Saint has finally shown up!!", and as the crown cheers I think 'Hmph... All this farce only to gather us back together... And inform the Sanctuary of her presence... But with my coming and the Black Saints' help, this will also be an opportunity for the others to grow stronger... After all, as they are now, they are pathetically weak...'.
I keep imbuing all my hate and malice in my Cosmo, making Shun's chains go crazy until he can't control them anymore and they attack me on their own and warp around my left hand, then I notice Shun's expressions starting to soften and tears coming out of his eyes, happy of the fact that I survived.
And at that moment I decide to act, flaring my Cosmo, I throw a strong punch aiming at Shun's shoulder, and from my fist I generate a strong shockwave, that quickly hits my target that was at least 100 meters away, shattering his left shoulder protector, shocked Shun ask if I'm really his brother, while Seiya yells "Keep your guard up, Shun!!" and Shiryu adds "That's not the Ikki you once knew!!", while still crying on the floor Shuns says "Nii-san...".
Seeing that, I steel my will and says "Wimp! Tears, as always... Your tear-streaked face sickens me! I'll warm up with you, Shun, and make you my first victim!!" then I leap toward him, and hit him with a flying kick to the face making him spit blood, then bleeding from his head, Shun asks "What... What happened to you? Please tell me nii-san...".
And moving to punch him I say "I have nothing to tell to a worm like you", but Jabu grabs my arm and yells "Hold up you bastard! I was fighting Shun! You can't just waltz in here and start swinging! Wait your turn!" but I easily free my hand and throw a punch at Jabu, once again generating a shockwave from my fist, he tries to dodge, and once he moves to the other side, he takes his fighting pose and says "Okay, you don't care who you fight... Fine, I'll be your first opponent... Wha...!?".
But soon he spits a lot of blood from his mout and as he falls he says "What? N... No way... I... I dodged it..." and crash head first into the ground, then I look at the platform where Saori-san is sitting, 'I can clearly see her and that bastard Tatsumi, but no sign of Jayr-san, but still I'm sure that he is somewhere here', then point my finger at the platform, I yell "Saori-ojousan, you and Mitsumasa Kido will pay for what you have done!".
And finally, another one attacks me, and deflecting his blow, I see the attacker, he is my half-brother Nachi, a young man with brown skin and tousled hair, one of his most distinctive features is that Nachi has no eyebrows, wearing a green color and light blue details Cloth and is limited to protect some vital points of the his body, pretty simple in details with no distinctive feature, that is the Wolf Cloth.
(Image Here - Wolf Nachi)
Nachi, noticing me looking, says "Heh, you seem a little confused, Ikki, you're not supposed to fight Shun or Jabu... The tournament board says you're supposed to fight me... Wolf Nachi! Maybe you think you're the only one who's been to hell and back, but all of us have had a taste of it... Hell on earth that is", and with an evil smirk, I say "You only think you've seen some kind of Hell... Very well Wolf, I'll show you the real thing!! Genmaken(Phoenix Phantom Fist)!".
And with a quick punch aiming at his head, I send a thin line of Comso into his brain, forcibly showing him abominable illusions or hallucinations created directly in his own brain, this time I decide to show him the image of his body blowing up piece to piece, starting from the limbs, then moving to the body, until only his head reamains.
The illusion is too much for Nachi and he quickly loses his senses and falls on the ground unmoving with his eyes still wide open, then I turn to the others and say "Who's next? Seiya? Shiryu? Or you, Hyoga...!? I'll fight all four of you together if you like, I'll be burying all of you eventually anyway", but right at that moment, the voices of the Black Phoenix is heard from the distance that says "Heh heh heh... No need for you to get your hand dirty, Lord Ikki".
Jayr POV - Tokyo, Graad Coliseum - 1986
The five Black Phoenix finally made their appearance, all of them surrounding Ikki, Shun, Seiya, Shiryu, and Hyoga, but as quickly as they appear, so quickly they disappear together with Ikki, and after a few seconds that they are gone, the Sagittarius Pandora Box falls from the pedestal and it opens showing that it is empty, making everyone realize that Ikki and the Black Saints stole it.
Saori quickly put on an act and says "Go after those Black Saints!! You must recover the Gold Cloth!", and soon Seiya, Shiryu, Shun, and Hyoga chase after them to recover the "Gold Cloth", then she once again sits on her throne as Tatsumi orders his subordinates to lead the audience out of the colosseum, then turning to me Saori says in a worried tone "And with this their first trial truly start... And this is also the only one that we have any control over it... Soon the Sanctuary will receive the news and Saga will put all the pieces together and truly start his attack...".
I nod and say "Yes, but we are ready for this... While I can't promise you that no one will be hurt, I'll do all the possible to make sure to save as many lives as possible..." and changing the subject I look at Saori and say "...They all will recover a piece of the Cloth each and will be back more or less tomorrow morning as my sense tell me that right now they are still chasing after the Black Phoenixes, it's better that you prepare to meet them back at the mansion..."
Saori nods and after pondering a little she says "Yes, and then I'll tell Tatsumi to make a scene and I'll stop him and I'll tell them to recover all the pieces or die trying still giving them the wrong impression about me... Then as planned Shiryu will return to Lushan to ask his master how to repair his and Seiya's Cloth while we wait for Ikki's letter of challege..." and letting out a sigh I say "Yeah, they are too much damaged to make it seem like they were repaired by the Pandora Box, like I did for the others, in fact, their Cloths are almost dead... So he must go to Jamir and meet with Mu... I'll go now and hide my presence, I will only act when the Silver Saints make their appearance".
And so from a hidden place, and at the same time, I expand my senses to follow Seiya and the others' situation 'Hyoga reached one of the Black Phoenix and killed him with a Diamond Dust, and recovered the left gauntlet, at the same time Seiya too found his target and is fighting with it, and he as an obvious advantage, so the right boot will soon be recovered too, Shun too cornered the other Black Phoenix and killed him with his chain and recovered the left boot, and the last to act Shiryu is following his target until they reach the port, then he will ambush him and recovered the right gauntlet'.
And from all the pursuing, fighting and recovering the night pass and a new day comes, the news of the theft of the Gold Cloth spread all over the world, and soon Saga will know about this too, meanwhile, using my Cosmo to conceal my presence from everyone, I look at the scene of Tatsumi yelling at Seiya and the other for recovering only 4 pieces of the fake Gold Cloth, then Saori stop him and order them to go and recover the Cloth, and once they get out of the mansion, Shiryu takes Seiya's Cloth and rushes to the airport to ask his master instructions, while Seiya goes back to his and Seika's apartment prepared by Saori, and Shun goes into the woods near the mansion to visit the place where he and Ikki spent a lot of time playing together in their youth.
But once there he is attacked by Black Swan, and soon rescued by Hyoga, and the two Cygnus Saints start fighting, but as soon as Hyoga was about to win the other Black Saints, Dragon, Andromeda, and Pegasus come and stop the fight saying that Ikki is summoning them, and so they all leave to meet with Ikki, 'It's incredible, the more they fight and the stronger they get each time... Seiya, Shiryu, Hyoga, and Shun all are slowly but surely reaching the Silver Saint level...'
Then I let out a sigh of relief 'Right now, everything is going as planned... After this, the next few days will be calm, as Ikki will issue his challenge, and the fight will take place a week from then at the foot of Mount Fuji, southwest of Aokigara in a place called the wind cave... So I will go back to Dr. Asamori's Lab and train, waiting for the right time to act'.
Ikki POV - Japan - 1986
I'm looking at the sunset, calming my mind, and reflecting on the pain I inflicted on my brother and my other half-brothers, 'This is harder than I thought, using only hate to ignite my Cosmo really alters my action, while my Cosmo becomes fiercer and more aggressive, my action becomes more ruthless and unrestrained... and sometimes I lose sight of my true objective...But thanks to my love for my dears, I'm able to control and restrain enough to not truly go mad and kill them...'
Then I feel the Black Four come and kneel behind me as they say "Lord Ikki, the Black Four have arrived!!" and using my telekinesis, I raise the pieces of the fake Gold Cloth and throw it at them and say "Protect the Cold Cloth! Guard it with your lives, but your mission is not only to protect your assigned piece..." and Black Swan says "He, he, We know, Lord Ikki..." with Black Pegasus end his sentence "... We'll return these pieces to you along with their recaptured brothers..." and at the same time they all say "And we swear to destroy the four Bronze Saints as well...!!".
Shiryu POV - China, Lushan - 1986
Before going to Jamir, I went back to Lushan to check on Master's situation, but once there, I'm baffled by what I'm seeing, the Old Master is still in the same place I left him and he is healthy, so realizing what is going on I quickly yell "Master! I was worried! Shunrei said that you were sick! That was a cruel joke! I was so worried that Seiya...".
But he interrupt me and says "If you lost, blame the weakness in your heart, not me heh... In the midst of battle, there is no room for wordly cares, it was a simple test, I'm afraid you still have much to learn, my dear Shiryu, you are a mere novice, heh heh" still relieved I say " Perhaps... Anyway, I am glad that you are well".
After that, I was about to enquire him about how to repair the Cloths and about Jamir, but before I could do so, he told me to not go to Jamir as I'm not strong enough yet, and I didn't even ask how he knew about it, but I replied that I must go and he gave me instructions on how to pass the Cloth Graveyard trial, and so after thanking master for his instructions, I move toward Jamir and after three days of travel, I finally reach my destination, and meet with the ghost of the Cloth Graveyard, who tries to stop me.
But I breakthrough them using the Rozan Ryū Hi Sho (Lushan Dragon Flight) throwing myself against the opponents using the strength of my body as a weapon to strike with strong momentum, and once I pass them all the illusion break, and I find the big tower the person who can repair Cloths Mu in front of me, 'Just like Jayr-san said this is the place where he learned how to take care of his Cloth and where he repaired his... I'm sure that he will be able to repair mine and Seiya's Cloths too'.
But as I call for Mu, I'm attacked by a boy of short stature, possessing tousled, reddish-colored hair that he keeps down to just past the nape of his neck, who uses telekinesis to attack me with a volley of boulders, but I quickly break them and yell "That not the way to treat a guest..." 'I didn't think that Mu is a child... But, for all I know, this could only be an illusion and another test', and as he raise another boulder to throw at me, I point at it with my finger and use my own telekinesis to make it crumble and say "I've come to request the repair of two Cloths, please come down here".
But the child stick out his tongue and says "Hmph... Why don't you come up here? But if you make it up here, I'll gladly grant your wish, he he he! The tower of Mu has neither entrance nor stairs" and starting to lose my patience, I start to burn my Cosmo and say "I don't have time for games, sorry but I'm going to have to be a little rough!" and using a weak Rozan Shoryuha (Supremacy of the Rozan Ascending Dragon) that only generates a strong shockwave, I knock off the bottom floor from the tower making the tower tilt, and at the same time make the boy fall on the ground, near my position.
Then I put down the two Pandora Boxes in front of me and say "I'm here to get these two Cloths repaired! I don't have much time, so be quick!!" but the child raises his arm to tell me to stop and says "N...No, I'm not Lord Mu" and shoked that I attacked a real child I ask "What? Well where is he?" but all of the sudden, I feel a presence next to me that calmly walk toward the boy and say "What is this ruckus!? Kiki, have you been playing your pranks again?" and the boy named Kiki yells "Lord Mu!!".
Hearing that I focus on the young man that came out of nowhere, he has green eyes, no eyebrows, and has two tilak dots on his forehead like Kiki, long straight and tied faint lilac hair, at the same time, I ask " So you are Mu...", and he replies with a calm tone "Yes, what business do you have with me?".
Opening the Pandora Boxes I reply "Only one thing would bring a Saint all the way here! I humbly ask that you repair these two Cloths as soon as possible!", I see Mu looking at the Cloths then he turns around and says "I'm sorry, but I can't repair them, those Cloths are already dead...", then he points his finger at the tilted tower, and that quickly raises in the air, at the same time, the bottom floor that I have knocked away come back, and like magic in the next second, the tower returned in its previous state, without any damage on it, shocked the only thing in my mind is 'He returned the tower upright and fixed the damage like it was nothing... I wasn't even able to feel his Cosmo! His mastery of it is beyond my comprension!!'.
Mu looks at me once again, and say "Every Saint's Cloth has a life within it, but once a Cloth dies, it is impossible, even for my skills, to restore it..." then I tell him about our coming fight with the Black Saints, and ask is there is really no way to revive our Cloths, hearing my request, he looks at me for a few seconds, then he says "I will be straight with you, there is one way the Cloths can be revived, but you will be risking your life... I'm fact it is very probable that you will die, there is no other way, it's your decision...".
'If we don't have our Cloths, Seiya and I will die anyway... But if the Cloths can be resurrected by my death alone, then at least Seiya has a chance... Besides I own the life, I'm living to Seiya...' steeling my resolve, I look at Mu and say "I will do it, Mu!", Mu nods and explains "As I said these Cloths are dead, and to resurrect them it require a great quantity of Saint's blood... It would take at least half the blood in your body... A normal man cannot even lose a third of his blood and survive, and a Saint is still fundamentally a mortal human, do you still wish to proceed?", and without hesitation, I move closer to the Cloth and focus my Cosmo on my finger I slash my wrist and let my blood flow on the Cloths.
Mu POV - Jamir - 1986
I look at the young saint, Shiryu, Master Dohko's dispicle, one of the main players of the Holy War against Hades, as Jayr said, as he without hesitation slashes his wrist with is finger and let his blood fall on the Cloths, 'He is still rough around the edges but I can feel it... His spirit is that of a true Saint! I'm sure he will survive this ordeal and come back once again stronger than ever...'.
After a while, Kiki says "Aaaah! L...Lord Mu Shiryu has already lost almost half of his blood! Shiryu is gonna die!" and a Shiryu falls over, and I quickly move behind him, and with my Cosmo, I close his wounds stopping his bleeding and say to young disciple "He would sacrifice his life to repair his friend's Cloth... This is a man who believes in friendship, his death would be a tragedy... Kiki prepare the tools and the Orichalcum, Gammanium, and Stardust Sand... The Dragon Cloth can be repaired with only minor modifications it only has some small cracks and the shield and wrist protector busted, But the Pegasus Cloth must be drastically altered as it had too much damage piled on it... it seem that from the last 246 years it was never properly taken care of!"
After having all the necessary, I move to the Pegasus Cloth and start working on it and say "Shiryu stands at the gates of Hades... Whether he passes through or returns to the world of the living depends on his Cosmo... But I shall resurrect the Cloths, either way, to honor his loyalty to his friends!".