Chapter 22: Battle for the Gold Cloth Part 2
Saori POV - Japan, Kido Mansion - 1986
I'm in my grandfather's study in the Kido Mansion together with Jayr, and we both are watching over my Saints' fight in the caves under Mount Fuji using our Cosmos, I saw Seiya easily defeating his opponent, then falling because he understimate him and he is now suffering a painful slow death, but at the same, his Cosmo is growing stronger to keep him alive long enough to be rescued, then there is Hyoga's fight how he esisly overwhelmed Black Swan, but then suffered a crushing deafeat against Ikki and is now fighting for his life too, 'It pains me seeing my Saints suffering like this but this is necesary for them to grow strong enough to survive what's to come...'.
Right at that moment, Jayr says "Oh, come one! Is this some kind of physics law!? How is possible that Seiya always falls headfirst... This is the second time in a row... Is he some kind of reverse cat that instead of landing always on his feets, he land always on his head?", and indeed Seiya who is struggling against Black Pegasus's technique, and is slowly climbing that steep slope, once again lost his grip and feel crashing his head into the ground, but he is going to be rescued soon, as Shun is quickly moving in his direction.
Then Jayr frowned and says looking somewhere in the distance "Saori, call Tatsumi and tell him to gather the other Bronze Saints and to get ready for the battle... Docrates is coming here with his soldiers, for sure he is going to attack... At the same time I'll call Dr. Asamori and tell him to send Sho, Daichi, and Ushio, it's time for the Steel Saints test drive...".
And now that he said, I too notice the malicious Cosmo nearing the mansion, so I quickly follow Jayr's advice and call Tastumi telling him to prepare the Bronze Saints for the fight and to evecuate the personel of the mansion, at the same time I study further this Docrates, 'He is strong, His Cosmo is at the peak of the Bronze Saint level, but he is no Saint... And for a good reason, he enjoy hurting and killing others too much, there is no justice in his heart, only a sadistic joy in bringing pain to the others... How could a man like him become the leader of the soldier of the Sanctuary?'.
After a few minutes I move to the hall, where Tatsumi and the others Saints already gathered, and are wearing their Cloths, and Tatsumi moves forward and says "Ojou-sama everyone is ready...", he too is also wearing his Bogu(Kendo Armor) and Shinai with a solid steel rod hidden inside, at the smae time Jabu asks "Saori-ojousama, what is going on?", and I notice that the confousion on the face of Jabu and the other young Bronze Saints.
(Image Here - Tatsumi Bogu)
So I explain them the situation "The Sanctuary sent his soldiers and at any moment they are going to attack us..." this shocked everyone but Tatsumi, and Wolf Nachi asks "Why would the Sanctuary do this?", and under everyone gaze I say "That because, right at this moment, the Sanctuary is under the control of an imposter who killed the previous Pope and took his place... not only that, but 13 years ago, this impostor, also tried to kill the newly reincarnated Athena, and it is only thanks to the Sagittarius Gold Saint, who sacrified himself to save her, that she is still alive..." and at this point the smarter among them started connecting the dots and shock and amazement can clearly be seen on their faces, while others are still clueless "... And now, the fake Pope is trying to finish his job!"
And as I said this, I let my Divine Cosmo out for everyone here to feel, and the next moment all on them gets on their knee and say at the same time "Athena-sama!", I nod and restrain my Cosmo once again and say "Stand my Saints! It's time to get ready and fight the darkness that is encroaching our world once again!" and with renewed vigor they stand up and say "Yes!" before going outside the mansion to get ready to fight with the coming enemy.
I turn to Tatsumi and say "Tatsumi, why are you in this attire?" and Tatsumi with a light bow says "My job is and will always be protecting and taking care of you Ojou-sama, just like I did for Mitsumasa-sama before you... I'm ready to fight and lose my life to protect you!" but right at this moment Jayr appears and says in a confident tone with a calm and reassuring smile on his face "There is no need for you to sacrifice your life... As long as I'm here only something at the level of a peak Gold Saint can be a threat... And trust me those people are rare...".
Jayr POV - Japan, Kido Mansion - 1986
As I'm reassuring Saori and Tatsumi, I turn my head looking through the window in the distance and I say "They're here..." and Saori moves next to me and she too looks at the swarm of soldiers coming with a huge 4,35 meters tall man with violet hair and a fierce face behind them wearing an armor that reminds me of the Hydra of Lerna, Docrates.
Looking at his soldier, all have light complexion and medium body build wearing black armor similar his, the armor of his subordinates have a similar head protection but with a simpler design, lacking the horns that are present on Docrates' one, the chest protection is almost identical, the shoulder pads are of a basic design with a shape similar to that of a spike, the chest protection extends to join the waist protector, which presents a design almost identical to that of Docrates' armor, lacking the fangs above the pelvis. The arm protectors are identical to those of the armor of Docrates, above the kneepad extends a small protection that is unified to that of the feet by contact with the protection of the knees, the foot protectors is of a basic design, but in contrast to Docrates, their aremors are in a mostly blue color.
(Image Here - Docrates' Soldiers)
But what surprise me is their number, they are more then I remember, almost 20 of them 'This could be a little tough for Jabu and the others alone... They are all elite soldiers with a basic mastery over Cosmo, luckily I called for reinforcement... But Docrates will still be hard to put down... As much as I don't like him, I have to admit that he is strong!'.
Docrates finally arrives and yells loud enough for everyone in the mansion to hear "Hand over Saori Kido or everyone here will die! You rats have no chance of winning against me! So give up and face your punishment!" but Jabu says "We will protect Ojou-sama at the cost of our life!" and so Docrates gives his order "Then die! Attack".
And so the fight between Docrates' Soldiers and the B team of Bronze Saints starts, as the soldiers rush at them and soon the fight becomes chaotic and soon the Bronze Saints start using their moves to quickly dispose of their opponents and try to gain an advantage.
Orsa Major Geki uses his Hanging Bear ramming into his opponent, Geki then extends his arms concentrates all his Cosmos into his strong hands and tightly strangles his opponent's neck breaking it, Lionet Ban uses his Lionet Bomber concentrating his Cosmos in his right fist and launching himself with great violence against his opponent's body delivering a powerful fist strike leaving behind a trail of smoke like an explosion and knocking out his target.
Hydra Ichi is using his Mellow Poison making sharp poisoned fangs sprout from the gauntlets of his fists to stab his opponent by surprise, and after quickly hitting him 3 times with this attack, he dies immediately from the poison and quickly moves to his next target, Wolf Nachi uses his Dead Howling concentrating his Cosmos in his fists to distort the air around him and projects against his enemies a large amount of cutting air blades at the speed of sound , as if they were real wolf fangs, these air blades tears apart two other soldier.
While Jabu uses his Unicorn Gallop, gathering his Cosmo into his legs, he leaps toward his enemies and delivers a series chained kicks from the air at the speed of sound, hitting several soldiers at the same time, reducing their number to only 10, but right at this moment Docrates yell "You useless trash!! Do I have to do everything myself!?", and seeing that he is preparing to attack the remaining soldiers quickly moves out of his way, as Docrates crosses, then flexes his arms, concentrating his Cosmo in his fists and causing the winds around of him to change due to the pressure,"Iraklís Epíthesi Grothiá (Heracles Onslaught Fist)!!" next he attacks with both fists, projecting two powerful blasts that transform into tornadoes that sweep away everything in their path, Bronze Saints included, and leave a crater in the ground.
Luckily even if wounded, everyone survived his powerful attack, thanks to their Cloths, but now they are all defenseless on the ground around the crater created by Docrates' attack, seeing this he smirks evilly and says "Once more!" and he once again does his cheography to gathers his Cosmo into his fists, once again causing the winds around of him to change due to the pressure, and yells "Iraklís Epíthesi Grothiá!!" as he attack with both fists, projecting two powerful blasts that transform into tornadoes.
But just as the tornadoes are about the reach the Bronze Saints that are still recovering from the previous blow, three figures appears in front of them, all three of them wear a colorful armor, and the one in the middle with a red armor that vaguely resembles a bird, raises his has left arm and with the four turbines on it, absorb the Cosmo of Docrates' attack and store it making his tornadoes become harmless breez, seeing this, Docates yells "Who the hell are you guy!?" and the three say at the same time "We are the Steel Saint!"
Those three are the Steel Saints, on the left is the Land Steel Saint Daichi, a short young man that it seems almost a kid, with short green hair and blue eyes, wearing the Land Cloth, an armor with a head protector that reminds me of a fox head, with shoulder, arms and legs protector of basic design and the chest has a coarse protection that extends from the bottom of the neck to almost unify with the waist, that is in fact a simple belt.
(Image Here - Land Daichi)
On the right is the Marine Steel Saint Ushio, a young man of slim build, pale skin, brown hair and black eyes, the feature that stands out most about Ushio is the scar on his left cheek, wearing the Marina Cloth, an armor with a helmet similar to the head of a fish, the arms have a basic structure that spans from just before the knuckles to the elbows, with turbines located on the left arm, on both arms, the protection of the feet extend throughout the bottom of the foot, the shoulder pads have a scarcer protection than the other Steel Cloths, the waist is a sort of skirt that covers the entire pelvis and groin, the chest has a vast protection that extends from the bottom of the neck to unify with the waist.
(Image Here - Marine Ushio)
And in the middle there is the Sky Steel Saint Sho, who is the tallest of the Steel Saints and the best looking, with an attractive appearance, Sho has short blue hair, with a fringe of bangs covering one eye, preventing it from being seen, he has a fair complexion and dark eyes, and is wearing the Sky Cloth, an armor with a helmet similar to the head of a bird, perhaps a Toucan, the arms have a basic structure that ends from just before the knuckles to the elbows, with turbines located on the left arm, the protection of the feet extend throughout the bottom of the foot, the shoulder pads have a design almost identical to those of the Lionet Cloth, the waist has a design similar to that of the Marine Cloth, although all this protection is unified with the chest protector that has a vast protection that extends from the bottom of the neck to unify with the waist through an extension that crosses the central part of the chest.
(Image Here - Sky Sho)
Sho then he project the attack of Docrates that he absorbed before, back as a powerful blast against the enemy aiming at Docrates and his remaining soldiers, causing a strong explosion that blows away Docrates' Soldiers and knocks them out, but Docrates himself remains unharmed, and enraged he yells "You bastard!" before rushing at them, but once he is close enough, Daichi move in front of the others and claps his hand, and from it a deafing sound and a strong light, temporarily disableing his sight and hearing.
Then the three start to coordinate to attack Docrates with kicks and punches all over his body, but they are still unable to deal any lasting damage, and are only able to enrage him further, and even if he still didn't recovered, Docrates starts his counterattack and with a sweeping kick he hit all three of them at the same time sending them crashing into the mansion.
So I decide to quickly act, without anyone noticing, I send a wave of Cosmo into his body and use the only move I was able to learn from the Asklepios Imerológio (Diary of Asclepius), Ferite del Passato (Past Injuries), making Docrates suffer the pain of any injury that he have sustained in the past as though it just happened, and just a a little punishment, I made sure to make him revive every injury that he sustained in all his life, it is proved supereffective, as Docrates didn't even have the time to scream in pain, as his eyes rolled on his back, and he fell on the ground uncoscious like a puppet that had his strings cut in an instant.
While everyone else was confused by what it happened, Saori, the only one who understood it, looks at me and says "I think you killed him..." but I shake my head and say "I'm a medic, I know it best, you can't die from too much pain... Sure an excess of pain can cause you to go into shock and that can be the cause of death, but Docrates has too much life force to die from that... At most I damage a little his mind... But trust me when I say this... He can only get better!".
She nods then she turns to Tatsumi and says "Tatsumi go and organize the clean up and the fix the damages, also send the Saints to the hospital to check them over, and put the soldiers still alive in the confinament we prepared for them... As for Docrates..." and she looks at me, and I say "Don't worry, I will make them temporarily unable to move by pressing their acupoints... and strip Docrates of his 6th sense, so that he can't use his Cosmo, they won't be able to do anything".
She nods, and as Tatsumi move to follow her orders, I say to her "It seems that the Steel Saints are only good as a support... They aren't strong enough to deal with a Saint level threat, it is a failure..." but she has a different opinion and says with a confident smile "That's not true, they were able to fight and survive against an opponent almost at the Peak Bronze level, without the use of Cosmo using only their peak human physical fitness and technology... Think of what a Saint trainee could do with it, or even the guards and soldiers, moreover the technology can still improve... This is a success!" and I realize that she is telling the truth.
After that we both move back to her study to check on the situation of the fight against the Black Saints back in the caves under the Mount Fuji, and at the same time we have an afternoon snack.
Kiki POV - Japan, Wind Caves - 1986
How boring, I'm here stitting on a rock at the entrance of the Wind Caves looking at the bell that guy named Seiya left me, I let out a sigh and say "He wants me to give this bell to Shiryu, only Shiryu's never coming! He gave his life to repair the Cloths, a dead man won't show up...Huh?" then I notice something falling from the sky right in front of me.
Shocked for a moment, It takes me a while to notice what it is "Huh!? A coffin... Where did it come from!?" the coffin opens on its own and looking inside I see Shiryu "Shiryu!!?" and once again shocked by what it is in front of me, I fall back as I notice something "Whoa... Wah... Aaaah... Sh... Shiryu is... Shiryu is... ALIVE!!"
Then from behind me I hear my Master's voice "He's back from the gates of the underworld... He wasn't completely dead, and it's not his first time, he almost died in a fight with Seiya too... Shiryu has been in the realm between life and death for seven days..." and as Shiry stood up and walks out of the coffin, Lord Mu says "The Dragon has come back from the abyss of death twince!!".
Then Shiryu says to Master "Thank you, Mu, for resurrecting the Cloths" and Master say "No need to thank me, but should you fight in your condition?" to which Shiryu replies "I have to, my friends are fighting for their lives in there..."
Then Master teleports Shiryu's Pandora Box here and says "Very well, Here is your Cloth as promised, but be careful, you are still weakned by your ordeal" then Master warn Shiryu about the fact that he should be careful and not lose anymore blood as he still didn't recover and he doesn't have much left in his body, Shiryu thanks Master once again, then I give him the bell, and the next moment he walk inside the cave .
Shun POV - Japan, Wind Caves - 1986
I'm walking through these winding caves for a few minutes now, and I still didn't see any enemy around, but all of the sudden I hear something "That sounded like a bell jingling... Maybe it was Seiya or Hyoga..." then I notice something shining down below near the steep cliff "Pieces of the Gold Cloth!! How did they get here?".
Soon I start looking around searching for a clue, and the next moment, further down the cliff, I see a figure that looks like Seiya that is slowly trying to climb it, "Oh?! Is that you, Seiya?! Hang in there!! Seiya!", I notice that he isn't responding "Uhh, It's no use! He must be badly injured, I've got to get him out of there somehow...", so I quickly control my chain and wound it around his wrist and say "Hold on, Seiya, I'll haul you out!" and looking at how deep the cliff truly is I think 'It could have been a lot worse for him if he hadn't gotten snagged on that rock, he'd have ended up in this abyss for eternity'.
But just as I'm slowly pulling Seiya up, a black chain warps around my right arm, and I instantly know who is my opponent "Black Andromeda!", a young man with dark green hair and black eyes, wearing a black version of my Cloth, who says "Ha! Don't waste your strength pulling him up, he fell to the Black Meteor Punch, also known as the Black Death Punch!! Black bruises appears where the fists strike, and they grow bigger and bigger until they cover the whole body! And when the entire body is covered the victim dies!! Seiya's already 90% black, he'll be dead in a few minutes... Don't waste your strength rescuing that corpse, you'll need all you've got for your battle with me!".
(Image Here - Black Andromeda)
Then he yells "Time to see who the best Andromeda really is!" and he pulls his chain trying to make me let go of Seiya, and instead making me injure my hand as I keep my hold on the chain that is holding on Seiya, and the next moment he asks "Why won't you let Seiya fall, you fool?" to which I reply still in pain, as I'm being pulled from both my sides "I... I won't let him die...".
Annoyed, Black Andromed says "Idiot! He's pratically dead already... All right! We'll see how long your phony charity lasts!!" and he starts attacking me with his other chain, who quickly multiply and hits me in various points making me scream in pain, but for some sadistic reason, he is only attacking the place covered by my Cloth, cracking it in the process, and at the same time prolongling my sufferings, at the same time, the Chain holding Seiya slips from my hands for a moment, and reinforcing my grip I injure my hand further.
Next, Black Andromeda yells mocking me "Don't let go! If you do, he'll fall head first to the bottom!" but then I hear another deeper voice that says "That's enough, Black Andromeda" and I hear Black Andromeda yell "Black Dragon!", and I see another young man, that slightly reminds me of Shiryu.
(Image Here - Black Dragon)
Then Black Dragon says "That lad is still Lord Ikki's younger brother, don't torture him needlessly, finish him with one stroke!", convinced, Black Andromeda decides to finish me and yells "Have a taste of my special move!! Black Fang Nebula!!" and I see him once again attacking me with his chain, that once again multiply and this time transforms into black snakes that binds my body, and bite me, and soon I feel them painfully draining my blood.
Suffering from Black Andromeda's attack, I'm still trying to find a way to fight back and save Seiya at the same, but not finding any, I'm undecided on what to do, and right at that moment, I hear Seiya speaking to me through his Cosmo 'Sh... Shun...' and so I focus my own Cosmo and reply 'S... Seiya you're still conscious? Thank god...' then he says 'Shun let, me fall, Don't get killed for my sake' but I reply that I won't let him fall.
Seiya hearing my telephatic message replies 'Then we'll both be dead in a moment, but that Black Saint wouldn't stand a chance against you in a fair fight! Let me go! And take him down...', still struggling in the black snakes' vice, I say 'I... I can't do that, this battle is all my brother's doing, I'm responsible', but Seiya made his decision and say 'Don't you see? Even if you pull me up, I'm a dead man, your duty now is to defeat the Black Saints, Shun... Goodbye!!' and next he breaks my chain and fall doown into the abyss and I can only scream "Seiyaa!!!".
In my grief, I burn my Cosmo to the max and free myself from Black Andromeda's Black Chains by breaking them then I say "Now, I'll show you the power of the Nebula Chains... It's time for payback!", and Black Andromeda screams "Fight the inevitable, you stubborn fool, you don't know the power of the Black Chains!" and once again he attacks, but this time I use my Cosmo to manipulate my chains to counterattack "Nebula Chain!", my chain multiply by hundreds to increase the number of hits, and slice through Black Andromeda's chains and hits him breaking his Cloth into many pieces and sending him crashing against the wall unknow if alive or dead.
But before I can celebrate, Black Dragon talks about the fact that now in this place there are 5 pieces of the Gold Cloth gathered here, and that the winner takes all, but also says that I don't have enough strength left to win, but my attention is now caught by my chain movement, as its warning me of some danger, then I hear a familiar voice that says "Wait, here's one more for the pot! The right gauntlet!!".
Seeing his figure I can only scream in joy "Shiryu!! You are alive!" then he says that he is gonna fight and I give him a quick summary of the situation, and I tell him that I'm going to save Seiya, then I once again see my chains movement and this time I understand their warnings, they shifting back and forth warning me that there is a second enemy.
So I turn once again to Shiryu and say "Shiryu, I have to hurry, I'll leave the fighting to you... One thing, beware of the shadow dragon!" then I warp my chain around a stalactite and quickly lower myself into the abyss, not before repeating "Beware of the Shadow Dragon Shiryu!".