Chapter 24: Silver Saints Arc... Or Not!
Seiya POV - Japan, Miho Beach - 1986
As I hear the calming sound of the ocean's waves as they crash on the sand, I look around and quickly notice the presence of Ikki, standing near Shun, who is laying on the sand still unconscious, and near me there are Shiryu, and Hyoga, they too, are laying on the sand still knocked out by Ikki's move, then I turn to Ikki and ask the question that is swirling in my head since I noticed his instantaneous change as soon as I defeated him, "Ikki, what is really going on here?".
But before he could answer, I hear the voice of an unknown young man "Allow me to explain, young Saint..." and turning in the direction of the voice, I see the young boy to which I entrusted Shiryu's bell, and a tall young man with green eyes, no eyebrows and has two tilak dots on his forehead like the young boy, long straight and tied faint lilac hair, and his face has noble features, seeing him I raise my guard and ask "Who are you?".
And snapping his finger, the young man makes my Cloth appear next to him out of nowhere and says "I'm the one who revived this and Shiryu's Cloth, and also the one who teleported all of you out of the collapsing cave, I'm Mu the Cloth Repairer", hearing that I slightly lower my guard and ask "So, you know what is going on?", Mu nods and replies "Yes, all this from the Galaxian Wars to the fight with the Black Saints, was planned and orchestrated by Jayr to train the new generation of Saints for the coming Holy War... In fact, Ikki here never succumbed to his hate, but choose to take this evil role to train you all...".
'I knew that the Galaxian Wars was in reality a rouse orchestrated by Saori-ojousan, who is the reincarnation of Athena, to train and bring out the evil hidden in the Sanctuary as Nee-san told me before, but to think that even Ikki's revolt is, in reality, all an act... What the hell is going on here!!?' but my chaotic thoughts are interrupted by the boy next to Mu who yells "Huh? Those fierce Cosmos! They're coming! What incredible speed! They have caught up with us!!".
And the next instant I see a young man with feminine features, long blond hair, and blue eyes, wearing a Cloth, made of a headpiece, which surrounds the entire head, and is more massive on the forehead and temples, breastplate, and shoulder pads, with a rounded shape and is relatively small, covering only the upper half of the chest and back, at the front it is essentially a thick metal plate that mimics the contours of the pectoral muscles, bracelets are practically cylindrical, and protect the hand, wrist and forearm, past the fingers to the elbow, shin guards cover the entire leg, from the toes to the knee, front to front and back and the last piece is a rather simple belt.
(Image Here - Lizard Misty)
The newcomer then says "Just as I thought, not many could have pulled off a trick like that... The legendary Mu of Jamir, you should have stuck to Cloth repair... Why did you save those Bronze Saints? Never mind, just hand them over", but Mu isn't intimidated and calmly asks "And if I won't?".
The unknown Saint, doesn't answer and quickly points his finger at Mu, and before I could realize what happened, a big crater appears on the ground in front of Mu, and at the same time, I notice that Mu's position is now a few steps back and think 'They moved so fast!! I couldn't even follow them!', then the Silver Saint unfazed says "Heh, next I'll make a hole in you!", but right at this moment, I hear a familiar voice that says "Wait, Mitsy! You weren't ordered to kill Mu".
Seeing who spoke, I can only yell "Marin-san!!", she is indeed Marin, my master, wearing her Cloth, composed of 8 pieces, two knee pads, which cover the kneecap, a single armband for the left forearm, which goes from the fingers to the elbows; a kind of biceps protector, always for the left arm, a double shoulder pad, a breastplate, which covers the breasts and a minimal part of the back, a kind of necklace and a crown-headband, and the primary color is cobalt, with white and yellow decorations.
(Image Here - Aquila Marin)
I quickly run toward her, but the unknown Saint blocks my way so I ask "Who are you?" but the Saint dismiss my question and says "You have two choices, you can kill yourself or I'll kill you, don't bother to beg for your life!", stunned, I turn to Marin-san and ask "What are you talking about? Marin-san, who is this guy?", and she calmly answers "He is the Lizard Silver Saint Misty, and if you remember my lessons, a Silver Saint is far more powerful than a bronze".
'So he is a Silver Saint...', "What does he wan...' but I'm interrupted by a strong impact on my back that makes me fall head first into the sand, then I feel his foot on my head as he tries to push my head further into the sand "I told you, I've come to kill all of you Bronze Saints! You should already be lying dead under Mount Fuji if Mu hadn't interfered and rescued you... Now choose, kill yourself or I'll keep hitting you until your skull splits open... On second thought, I'll decide for you".
And he raises his foot from my head to give the final blow, but I act at that moment and grab his foot stooping him and say "I'll pass on both choices... I'll fight you!!" and throw an uppercut, but he easily evades my strike by jumping back and asks "Fight? You think you can fight me?", then he starts laughing loudly and says "A Bronze wants to fight a Silver... You don't understand, boy, Do you really think this is a battle? A battle between equal forces!? You're a baby next to me, and you are not even wearing your Cloth! Do you think you can fight me without protection? Ha ha ha!".
Hearing that, I quickly equip my Cloth, and Misty doesn't do anything to stop me but looks at me with an amused expression on his face, then once I finished equipping my Cloth he asks "And what do you plan to do now?" and burning my Cosmo is yell "This! Pegasus Ryusei Ken (Pegasus Meteor Punch)!!" and with a quick series of punches, I create hundreds of light energy punches which looks like small meteors, but Misty doesn't even bother to defend and easily dodges all my blows, shocking me to my core "He dodged them all! They didn't faze him...".
Misty looks at me and says "Is that it boy!?" then prepare to attack, but he stops and says "It seems that the others are coming too..." then he looks in the sea direction, and I follow his gaze and I notice a giant column of water bursting out, then the water parting and see a figure coming from the depths of the sea with Black Dragon's body on the shoulder and I hear Misty says "Whale Silver Saint Moses!".
'Another Silver Saint!?', and warily looking at him, I see he is a fairly tall young man, with a robust but quite athletic build with a muscular body, has a dark complexion, his only eye is blue, his hair is long to just below the neck, is dark green and is tousled, his body is full of scar and the most notable one is on his left eye, he is wearing a Cloth made of the headpiece with three points, shoulder pads with 2 layers, the chest piece covers almost all of his chest, the right arm the design is simple while of the left one has a shield, the waist protector has in the sides it has 2 layers and in the center, it has an ornament in form of Sun, and the knee pads are pointed.
(Image Here - Whale Moses)
He moves next to Misty throwing, Black Dragon's body into the ground and says "Ha! You are not all you claim to be, Misty, you said you would take care of all of them by yourself, but they nearly got away from you! Thankfully Marin warned us in time, but you made us nervous!" then from the distance another confident voice came, who says "Morris is right, it's a good thing we took care of it for you, Misty" and I see another figure with Black Andromeda's body on his shoulder approaching us quickly, but at the same time it looks like he is walking.
He throws Black Andromed's body on the sand and says "The Hound Silver Saint Asterion bagged the Black Saint!", and studying him, I notice he is a young man of athletic build, with fair skin, and tortoise hair and eyes, his Cloth is also made up of 8 pieces, the head protector, which surrounds the entire head, and ends with two horns, 2 layers shoulders protectors, chest protector that covering only the upper part of the chest, the arm protector covers the hand, wrist, and forearm, past the fingers to the elbow, the leg protector covers the entire leg, from the toes to the knee, and a belt with covers that protect the sides.
(Image Here - Hound Asterion)
Then from the sky fell Black Swan's body and next a will-o-wisp appeared that conflagrated in a flash of fire, and the next instant, a young man with a square face, spiky red hair, and dark eyes appeared saying "Centaurus Silver Saint, Babel killed the Black Swan... even if he was already almost dead when I found him".
His Cloth, like the rest, is made of 8 pieces, headpiece represents the Centaur and has some parts that go to the sides, the shoulder pads are shaped like a shell and have a pointed part, in the part of the chest does not cover much, in the belt has layers to the sides and in the center has an ornament, the parts of the arms and knees are simple, and it is mainly of violet color with red ornaments.
(Image Here - Centauros Babel)
Then I feel Marin-san quickly moving behind me a putting her hand on my shoulder she whispers "See, you are way out of your league... Luckily you don't have to fight them all, now..." noticing something strange, Asterion asks "What do you mean Marin? Our order come from the Pope himself, we have to kill these Bronze Saints who have defiled the Saints' sacred duty! Are you betraying Athena and siding with these traitors!!?".
Marin-san looks at Asterion and says "I forgot about your Cloth's ability to allow you to read your target surface thoughts... a useful and dangerous ability indeed...", and Asterion, burning his Cosmo, yells "Be careful, Marin was working together with the enemy from the start!! I'll take her down with my Million Ghost Attack" then he starts his preemptive move, he rises into the air with a great leap, then floating in the air, he seems to multiply hundreds of times.
But at the same time, I felt Marin-san move, and I notice that she leaps soon after Asterion, appearing right behind him, then she uses her move the Eagle Toe Flash, with her left leg forward and her foot extended, she plummets toward him with a powerful aerial kick to his belly generating a devastating effect, shattering his Cloth, making him spit a mouthful of blood, all this happened so fast that I could barely follow their moves.
Under the stunned eyes of the other Silver Saints, Asterion then crashes into the sand, then Marin-san lands near him and says "Asterion, I left your vital intact, you'll make it..." and Asterion slowly lifting his head says "Ma... Marin... You must be mad... You're really declaring war on the Sanctuary... Don't you know what this means...".
But instead of Marin-san, another familiar male voice replies in her place "Yes, we know what it means, it means that Athena is ready to take back the control of the Sanctuary from the evil forces that are secretly controlling it...", and as I turn around I see the figure of Jayr-sensei, calmly looking at us, standing near Mu with a smile on his face.
Jayr POV - Japan, Miho Beach - 1986
After speaking those words, I look around to check Seiya and the others' situation 'All of them are more or less wounded, and their Cloths are in bad shape... But the result speaks for itself, after the fight with the Black Saints, all of them took a step into the Silver Saint level, and only need to consolidate their gains to fully step in... But first I have to take care of this situation...' then I look at Misty, Babel, Moses, and the downed Asterion, 'And they are the Silver Saints sent by Saga to kill Seiya and the others, this means that Shaina is about to make her move too...'.
I'm roused from my thoughts by Asterion, that tried to use his Cloth to read my thoughts, but I easily blocked such crude use of his Cosmo, and now that he is left with no other choice, and a little scared of the fact the he is unable to read my mind, he can only ask "W... Who are you!? A... And what do you mean... with 'Athena is ready to take back the control of the Sanctuary from the evil forces that are secretly controlling it'!?" and at the same time, Misty, Babel, and Moses raise their guards and starts igniting their Cosmo, ready to release their attacks at any moment.
I summon my Pandora Box from my Soulbound Territory and resting my hand on it, and with a smirk, I say "My name is Jayr Pucci. I'm 14 years old. My house is in the northeast section of Sanctuary, where all the Temples of the Gold Zodiac can be seen, and I am not married. I work as a healer for Athena's Sanctuary, and I get home every day by 8 PM at the latest. I don't smoke, but I occasionally drink. I'm in bed by 11 PM, and make sure I get six hours of sleep, no matter what. After having a glass of warm milk and doing about twenty minutes of intense exercise before going to bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I can tell you there were no issues at my last check-up. I'm trying to explain that I'm a person who wishes to live a very quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness. Although, if I were to fight I wouldn't lose to anyone".
And once again, an awkward silence is the response to my awesome introduction, followed by Kiki's loud laugh, while Mu let out an exasperated sigh and says "Why do you keep using this foolish introduction...?" and I simply reply "It's a classic..." but I'm interrupted by the Silver Saints that thought that this was a good opportunity to attack.
The first to move is Misty, who yells "Mavrou Trypa(Black Hole)!", extends his arm, and uses two fingers to gather air currents, generating a powerful whirlwind, the air is then projected as a shockwave, that quickly moves in my direction at speed surpassing Mach 2, but by simply gathering my Cosmo into my arms, burning it, and punching, I generate a strong shockwave that dismisses Misty's attack.
At the same time, Babel propels himself with his legs and soars through the skies with a great vertical jump, then he concentrates on his Cosmo which manifests as a great barrier of fire that completely surrounds his body, when he has concentrated his Cosmo enough, a tornado of fire materializes in front of him and begins to rotate violently, finally, Babel extends the index finger of his right hand and yelling "Photia Rouphithra (Swirl of Fire)!" sends this tornado against me.
And to defend myself and the others, I use my Telekinesis to take control of a great volume of seawater nearby and throw it against Babel's technique, blocking it, and generating a thick fog, and at this moment, I feel Moses moving, and soon he closes in and tries to grab me, but I move faster, grab his wrist and decide to use good old Pankration for a change, I knee him in the exposed stomach making his spit some blood, then as he doubles over in pain, I strongly kick him in the face, making him flip over and land face first into the sand, then I quickly poke him into his acupoints making him unable to move.
After that, I turn to the stunned Silver Saints and continue speaking like nothing happened "Anyway, to answer your question, I'm the Crateris Silver Saint Jayr, and I'm helping Athena to reclaim her control over the Sanctuary that, for the last 13 years is under the control of some evil forces that are doing everything possible to weaken Athena and her Saints for the coming Holy War... And If you can calm down a little, I'll let you meet with the current reincarnation of Athena, so that you can confirm the truth yourself...".
Then spreading my arm in I theatrical manner I say "After all, as you have seen, I can easily deal with you without even using my Cloth, so why should I go through all of this to peacefully stop you, if there isn't a good reason behind this... And another little info for you..." and pointing at Mu I continue, while Asterion, Babel, Misty, and Moses thoughtfully look at me, "Mu, the person that Misty wanted to attack, isn't only the famous repairer of Cloth... What many don't know is that he is also the Aries Gold Saint..." and I notice that as soon as Misty and the others understood the gravity of my info their body started trembling and their face pailing as if all the blood left their faces, while Ikki and Seiya's mouth are opened so wide that their jaw almost hits the floor, and Kiki looks at everyone with a smug face, then they quickly accept to cease all the hostilities and listen to my suggestion of peacefully following us to confirm the truth.
But before going I quickly give first aid to Seiya, Shiryu, Ikki, Hyoga, Shun, Asterion, and Moses, the Bronze Saints, woke up confused soon after, especially after seeing Ikki, calmly standing next to me, and so we lost a few more minutes waiting for Seiya to explain them the truth of what happened, and while some were annoyed by my, Saori and Ikki's actions, and surprised by Saori's true identity, they did understand the meaning behind them.
But then Saiya talked about the elephant in the room the fact that every one of them is the son of Mitsumasa Kido, and thus brothers, shocking them to their core, well not all of them, as Ikki and Hyoga already knew the truth, then Hyoga confirmed the story and also talked about the order he received from the Sanctuary to kill them for engaging in a personal battle, but he wavered when he saw them again and in the end, he was targeted too.
But then I explain that the fact that Hyoga would be chosen to attack them was already part of the plan, as I and his master decided to let nature take its course as it would have helped them all grow stronger and more united, and at this moment, Asterion couldn't help but ask "Just how can you plan so much and know the moves that other are gonna take? It almost seems like you know everything that it is going to happen in the future!" and to that question, I simply reply "Because I know what is going to happen in the future... Well more or less, I have a general idea... Now let's go to the Graad Coliseum, I think that the other team sent by the Pope should be there now".
Shaina POV - Japan, Graad Coliseum - 1986
It's almost night, and we are about to reach one of our objectives, the Graad Coliseum, the place that the Pope ordered us to raze to the ground and after that, he ordered us to kidnap the "haughty heiress" Saori Kido so that she can be "judged" by him for organizing that tournament and for the theft of the Sagittarius Gold Cloth.
And a sneer appears under my mask thinking about it, 'A foolish endeavor, like someone under my brother's protection can be kidnapped by a few Silver Saints... He was already stronger than me two years ago... And this year I found out that he reached the level of power of a Gold Saint by awaking and mastering his 7th sense, and from what I know the gulf between a Silver Saint and a Gold Saint is insurmountable... Moreover, the 'haughty heiress', is nonother than the reincarnation of our Goddess Athena that we swore to protect...'.
Then I look at the members of my team, Crow Jamian, a man with an ungraceful appearance, he has a sharp beak-like nose and no eyebrows and long, tousled and coarse purple hair, wearing the Crow Cloth, the headpiece is a helmet with three sharp horn, the chest piece covers only the upper part of his chest, with basic pointed shoulders, arms and legs pieces, and a belt, all silver in color with red ornament, and of course always an annoying crow on his shoulder.
(Image Here - Crow Jamian)
Auriga Capella, a young man with an athletic build, ginger hair, and blue eyes, wearing the Auriga Cloth, the Cloth that represents a chariot and its driver, its headpiece is an open helmet with a bladed crest, the chest, shoulder, arm, and leg pieces are rather simple in design and rounder in shape, while the belt has two sharp discs attached to its sides.
(Image Here - Auriga Capella)
Cerberus Dante is a tall man with light brown hair and green eyes, with the Cerberus Cloth, one of the thickest Silver Cloths, the headpiece is an open mask with two sharp points to the sides, a chest piece that covers almost all the chest, triple layered rounded shoulder piece, arm piece that covers the whole forearm, hand and part of the fingers with a sharp claw on the elbow, waist piece in the form of skirt that protects the pelvis and groin area, and leg piece that cover until a little over the knees, with another sharp claw on the talons, and a chain with two spiked balls.
(Image Here - Cerberus Dante)
Next is one of the most dangerous, Silver Saints, Perseus Agol, a tall man with green hair and dark green eyes, with his Perseus Cloth, with a headpiece that covers the forehead and temples leaving the rest of the head uncovered, it is basically a thin metal band, which ends in a large silver plate on each side, something like wings and in the center has a small diamond-shaped plate, the shoulder pads are totally asymmetrical and reminds a bit of a gladiator protections, the right one seems suitable for defense, and the left one has 3 spikes that could be used offensively.
The chest protection is relatively simple and it covers only the upper part of the chest, the arm pieces are practically cylindrical and protect the hand, wrist, elbow, and forearm, and the waist piece is a sort of skirt that covers the entire pelvis and groin, and the leg piece is similar to Dante's but without the claw, as a complement to the armor, he wears the mythical Medusa's Shield, which he can wear on his back or on his left arm.
(Image Here - Perseus Agol)
And the last member of this team is Cepheus Diadalos, my only real ally right now, as he too knows the truth about the Pope, and decided to work together with my brother to stop this plot, he is wearing his Cepheus Cloth, the headpiece covers a part of the face and end with five sharp points, the shoulder pieces are large and has the shape of a shell, in the part of the neck has a part of the armor that protects the neck this part is next to the chest, the chest piece protects all the respective area and has some ornate details, the part of the arm and the knees are simple, and the waist piece is similar to Agol but covers more, and of course, he is armed with a pair of chains.
When we finally stand in front of the Graad Coliseum, I look at Diadalos and quickly gave him the signal, and Diadalos makes his move, he fires up his Cosmo, and quickly warps his chains around, Agol and Dante, and use his technique, Mysterious Nebula, a rather nasty move that enable Diadalos to drain the target Cosmo through his chains rending them powerless, and the unsuspecting due wasn't able to react in time and fell on the ground powerlessly unable now to break free as they aren't able to burn enough Cosmo for it.
At the same time, I use my technique, the Thunder Claw, I raise my arm akin to a cobra raising her head, and set my Cosmo on fire with my outstretched hand and fingers which produce real lightning with electric charges of 10,000 volts, generated by my Cosmo, then I attack both Capella and Jamian with a quick claw strike which pierces their body unprotected parts, and send the electricity into their bodies paralyzing them and to be further sure that nothing wrong happens, after incapacitating them I slam their head into the ground and send an electric shock into their brain to knock them out for good.
Seeing their bodies still twitching from time to time Diadalos let out a sigh, shakes his head, and says "That is a little too brutal, don't you think? They could suffer permanent damage from this you know...?" but I shrug my shoulder and reply without a single worry "It's not my problem... And if something wrong truly happens as long as they are alive Jayr can fix them, after all until now I have never seen him failing to treat a patient".