Support me and be 30 chapters ahead of webnovel:
patreon.com/Draco_
For every 5 Patreon memberships I receive, I'll release 15 chapters all at once. Your support means a lot to me.
*****
"If we can truly end the Holy War once and for all, that would be wonderful!"
Saori Kido offered a gentle smile and sighed. If George could help her end the cycle of conflict, then his secrets didn't matter—as long as he didn't intend to destroy the world.
"Saga, go speak with Kanon later. I see he has a heart for repentance, and he hasn't caused too much damage yet. If possible, convince him to return to the Sanctuary. To end this war, we need unity. We must gather all our strength for a single, lethal strike!"
Seeing Saori's stance, George turned to Saga. Saga nodded, his face filled with guilt. "Yes, Pope. This all started because of me. I will do my best to persuade him."
Immediately after regaining his sanity, Saga had gone to the water prison to find Kanon, but he had already vanished.
"Good. For now, we proceed as planned. Mu, you will be responsible for the follow-up coordination with Asgard and Atlantis."
George added a few more instructions and adjourned the meeting. Now, he simply had to wait for the King of the Underworld and his Specters to arrive.
Hades cherished the body given to him by his parents above all else, so he never used his true form to descend for the Holy War. Instead, he would possess the purest youth in the world. If he failed, his soul would return to his true body in Elysium. In this generation, the chosen vessel was Shun.
However, Hades' soul wasn't currently hiding in Shun's body. George had checked; there was only a special mark left behind. Hades could manifest through that mark and seize the body whenever he wished. This meant George couldn't simply seal him like he had Poseidon—at least not yet.
George also had no intention of charging into the Underworld. That realm was Hades' creation; fighting him there was like playing a game on someone else's server where your stats are halved. He had a more efficient plan, and more importantly, he was waiting for his *Cuttlefish-sub-clone* (Mysterious/Lord of Mysteries clone) to arrive.
Until then, he had to ensure no accidents happened to his current small avatar. If Saturn or Chronos discovered he was an outsider and moved the entire Saint Seiya universe, his trip would be for nothing.
***
A month later, at night, George sat cross-legged on his bed and opened his eyes. A smirk played on his lips. "Finally, you've arrived."
His clone from the Lord of Mysteries world, possessing the peak strength of a Multiverse-level entity, was now stationed just outside the boundaries of the Saint Seiya world. To avoid detection, it remained hidden in the distance.
The small avatar could enter because it had sacrificed all its power, sneaking in a tiny fragment of its true spirit using the authority of *'Error'*. But the main clone couldn't just discard its peak Multiverse power. If it entered directly, even with the 'Error' authority, such a massive energy signature would alert Saturn and Chronos, who controlled the various space-times of this world.
The plan was to wait for the right moment—ideally to flip a local deity to his side and help them grow, thereby consuming portions of Saturn and Chronos' authority.
As for which deity to choose? As the Pope of the Sanctuary, the choice was obvious: *Athena*. The Goddess of War and Wisdom possessed both courage and intellect. Most importantly, unlike other gods who viewed humans as ants, Athena loved humanity enough to reincarnate and fight for them repeatedly. This was a leverage point George could use.
"What a coincidence," George muttered. "The Specters are here too!"
Just as he felt his clone's arrival, he sensed the aura of 'Death' Cosmos at the foot of Sanctuary's mountain. The Specters' Cosmos always carried a signature of darkness and death. Other Saints might miss it, but George—a Creator who understood the laws of Death better than Hades himself—spotted them instantly.
***
At the first temple of the Twelve Houses, Aries Mu frowned as a figure draped in a black cloak appeared at the gates. Though the face was hidden, the person felt strangely familiar.
"Stop there. One more step and your life is forfeit," Mu warned.
"Mu... you cannot attack me," the figure said, stepping forward and revealing its face. "Have you forgotten my countenance?"
"What!" Mu gasped. The man before him was his master, the former Pope who had been dead for thirteen years: *Shion of Aries*.
"No, this is impossible. You already..."
"How dare you be so insolent in my presence? Kneel!" Shion commanded. Mu, acting on instinct and ingrained respect, dropped to one knee.
"Indeed, you cannot disobey my orders," Shion sighed, his tone turning cold. "Mu, I order you to bring me Athena's head within twelve hours. I trust you can do it."
"What!" Mu looked up in disbelief. "Even if it is you, Master, I cannot do such a thing."
Setting aside his loyalty to Athena, with Pope George sitting at the top of the mountain, Mu knew he wouldn't stand a chance anyway. He felt his master had a serious misunderstanding of the current power balance in the Sanctuary.
"Do you know the price of disobeying this lord?" roses began to fall from the air as *Aphrodite of Pisces stepped out, clad in a black Surplice. Beside him stood Deathmask of Cancer*, also in a Surplice.
"We have sworn fealty to Hades! We are now his loyal Specters!"
"Oh? Have you really?" a familiar voice rang out behind them. They spun around to see George in his papal robes.
"You!" Their faces paled. They had both died by George's hand once before.
"Lord Shion, we'll hold him back! Go and take Athena's head!" They knew George's strength; if he stalled them, Shion's plan would fail.
*"Sekishiki Meikai Ha! (Corpse Underworld Wave)"*
*"Bloody Rose!"*
Facing the attacks of the "Fishery Duo," George took a deep breath and blew. A gust of air reinforced by his powerful Cosmos scattered their techniques and sent them crashing into the nearby pillars.
He didn't kill them. He knew that Shion, Deathmask, and Aphrodite hadn't truly turned traitor. They had accepted Hades' temporary gift of life solely to reach Athena and reveal the secret of the *Athena Cloth*. Only the Pope knew its location and how to awaken it, and Shion had been murdered by Saga before he could pass that knowledge down. Without that Cloth, Saori couldn't exert her full power.
Because Hades could revoke their lives at any moment and had other Specters monitoring them, they had to maintain the charade of being villains.
*"Stardust Revolution!"* Shion called out, accelerating star fragments to the speed of light to strike George.
"Stardust Revolution," George smiled, mimicking the move. He had learned and improved it from Mu. His version easily overwhelmed Shion's, sending the former Pope flying.
"This is impossible!" Shion stood up, looking frustrated. He had been dead for years; his intel on the current Sanctuary came from Pisces and Cancer. He knew George was strong, but he assumed he was on par with Mu. He hadn't even cleared the first temple and he was already stuck.
But he couldn't give up. The secret of the Cloth was the only hope for the Holy War.
"Aphrodite, Deathmask, come here!" Shion called his comrades. The three of them struck a specific pose. "Forgive us... we must see Athena."
"Not good! It's the *Athena Exclamation*! Pope, get back!" Mu shouted. The forbidden technique required three Gold Saints and focused the power of the Big Bang into a small point.
"Good. I've wanted to see this," George said, cupping his hands in a familiar stance as he gathered his Cosmos.
*"BOOM!"*
The collision of George's energy wave and the Athena Exclamation created a shockwave that made Mu feel like the entire Sanctuary might be leveled.
"Interesting," George noted. Seeing he had gathered enough data, he surged his power, wrapping the golden energy of the Athena Exclamation in his own and neutralizing it completely.
"How can he be this strong?" Shion muttered. He felt a fleeting illusion that they might not even need the Athena Cloth to win this war. But he shook it off—George was strong, perhaps on par with Thanatos or Hypnos, but Hades was another matter. Athena needed her Cloth.
But they couldn't get past him. Was the mission a failure?
"You don't need to tell Athena. Just tell me," George's voice rang in their ears. "If you're worried about spies, don't be."
With a wave of his hand, several corpses of Specters in Surplices appeared before them. Before showing himself, George had already silently eliminated all the Specters Hades had sent to monitor Shion's group.
"It's them!" Shion gasped with relief. Without the spies, they didn't need to pretend.
"Listen, the Athena Cloth is actually the giant statue of Athena in the temple. To awaken it, you need..."
Mu finally realized the truth: his master had never betrayed them.
"The death of these Specters will soon alert Hades," Shion said as he finished the explanation. "Protect Athena. Win the Holy War!"
As the words left his lips, the trio felt the temporary life granted by Hades beginning to fade. Their bodies began to turn to dust.
"Master!" Mu cried out, tears blurring his vision.
But suddenly, a *Serpent Staff (Ophiuchus Staff)* appeared in George's hand. He tapped the three of them lightly.
*"Resurrect!"*
A mysterious power surged into their bodies. The crumbling process stopped instantly, and their physical forms restored to perfect health. Their black Surplices vanished, replaced by their original vitality.
"There," George smiled, putting the staff away. "Let's thank Hades for sending us three Gold Saints."
(End of Chapter)