In the misty illusion, the mandrake flowers bloomed eerily, their purplish-black petals layered, cradling golden-red stamens, as if solidifying the blood and darkness of the Underworld.
Pandora stood in the center of the flowerbed. She tilted her head slightly, a smile playing on her lips, her eyes, full of temptation, completely unfazed by Li Yu's indifference.
"Li Yu, I've seen everything you've done these past years."
Her voice was as soft as intertwining vines, yet carried an undeniable admiration.
"Your strength and intellect have reached the pinnacle of human capability. I truly appreciate you."
She raised a hand to brush a stray lock of hair from her temple, revealing her alluring profile. The mandrake flowers simultaneously burst open, releasing a pale purple powder that diffused a strange fragrance into the air.
Li Yu's brow furrowed slightly. Before she could speak further, a circle of white light subtly emanated from beneath his feet.
Icy blue coldness, accompanied by silver serpent-like lightning, spread out like ripples!
Crack!
The surrounding mandrake flowers instantly froze. Their petal veins were clearly outlined by ice crystals, and their fragile stems emitted faint cracking sounds in the Absolute Zero, as if they would completely shatter at any moment.
Even trapped in an illusion, Li Yu felt no fear.
So-called illusions merely transmit false information to the brain through the five human senses, thereby achieving the goal of manipulating those senses.
Li Yu's Absolute Zero Domain, once activated, can freeze his sympathetic nerves, blocking the body's influence on the brain, making it the bane of all illusions in the world.
All tricks that induce senses to create illusions are useless against him.
"If you speak another word, our conversation ends here!"
Li Yu's expression clearly showed he had reached the limit of his patience.
Pandora's face subtly changed, her fingers beneath her black dress instinctively curled. She quickly said,
"Please wait. If you help me end the life of Athena's reincarnation, I can represent Hades and grant you the divine office of King of the Underworld. During Hades's slumber, the Underworld will be under your command."
Upon hearing this, Li Yu chuckled and shook his head, his laughter carrying undisguised mockery and disdain.
"I don't even want to be the Pope, so why would I want to be the King of the Underworld?"
The sunlight, wind, snow, and human warmth of Human Realm held far more allure for him than the eternal stillness of the Underworld.
"It seems you have nothing more to say, Pandora. I know you're near the Sanctuary, and I've memorized your Cosmo. You'd better pray I don't catch you!"
Pandora's pretty face twisted slightly, her expression somewhat out of control.
"Wait, wait a moment, Li Yu. Do you think it was just a coincidence that you replaced Camus and became the Aquarius Saint?"
Li Yu's pupils contracted slightly. Did his replacement of Camus and his acquisition of the Aquarius Gold Saint qualification have anything to do with Hades?
Pandora covered her purple lips, giggling, a hint of triumph in her laughter.
"Do you think only Athena plays with the fragile emotions of humans? How about it, are you interested in having a good chat with me now?"
"Not interested!"
Li Yu's gaze instantly sharpened. He forcibly suppressed that brief moment of doubt.
Even if there was an issue with his reincarnation, so what? He owed Hades nothing... The white halo beneath Li Yu's feet suddenly expanded. Extreme cold, imbued with a hint of golden light, swept out in all directions, centered on his body!
The world within the illusion instantly congealed into thick frost!
The mandrake flowers in the ice crystals made crisp cracking sounds, continuously splitting, and finally, like fragile glass, completely disintegrated into nothingness before Li Yu.
Bang!
The moment the illusion shattered, countless dream fragments danced in the air, refracting strange halos, then vanished without a trace.
Li Yu suddenly came to his senses. Before him was the familiar night view of the Sanctuary. Stars twinkled in the ink-blue sky, and the distant Twelve Palaces were shrouded in night, with only Aries Palace emitting a warm yellow glow.
A rhomboid ice crystal sparkled on his brow, a manifestation of him applying his freezing power to himself.
After freezing his sympathetic nerves, no matter how exquisite the opponent's illusion, it could not affect him.
In the northwest direction of the Sanctuary, Pandora's Cosmo flickered and then extinguished, but he couldn't leave for now... Li Yu turned to look at Saori Kido in the ice coffin, shook his head, and dismissed the idea of personally pursuing Pandora.
The Sanctuary was not safe, and Saori Kido, left unguarded, could very well die an untimely death in the next second!
Li Yu frowned slightly. He had thought that by wounding Saori Kido, he had brought the Saint Seiya World's progression to a timeline he was familiar with.
But Pandora's appearance made him realize that with his arrival, this world could no longer be the one he knew.
Not far away, from Aries Palace, came rhythmic metallic tapping sounds, regular and crisp..
Li Yu knew it must be Mu helping the five Bronze Saintss repair their Cloths.
The Bronze Five, having just survived a life-and-death battle with the Silver Saints, had bronze cloths full of cracks that would completely shatter with a casual blow from a Gold Saint.
Fighting a Gold Saint while wearing bronze cloth in such a state would only lead to certain death.
Mu choosing to help the Bronze Five repair their Cloths indicated that he had already realized something... In a farmer's house in the northwest of the Sanctuary, Pandora suddenly sat up from the stone bed.
Her tight clothing was soaked with cold sweat, clinging to her body and outlining her curves.
She panted heavily, her chest rising and falling violently, her purple eyes filled with lingering fear.
"How is this possible... Hypnos's meticulously constructed Evernight Garden was actually broken by him?"
The illusion Pandora had just used was actually the Evernight Garden, specially crafted by Hypnos, God of Sleep, for Hades.
During Hades's slumber, he would relax here.
But under the pressure of Li Yu's Cosmo, even the illusion constructed by the God of Sleep had shattered.
"Aquarius Li Yu, is he really human!"
Pandora stumbled out of the simple stone house. She had been discovered by Li Yu. The moment the dream shattered, a cold and immense Cosmo descended upon the place... That Cosmo even faintly carried a divine pressure!
The sky was covered with dark clouds, and countless ice cones formed in mid-air, aimed at Pandora.
Pandora knew that if Li Yu hadn't been temporarily occupied and she hadn't hidden in a densely populated area, she would already be a corpse!
"I must leave Human Realm as soon as possible. Persuading Li Yu failed, so I can only let that person make a move!"
Pandora's figure slowly disappeared, as if erased from this world by an eraser.
Before completely vanishing, Pandora bit her purple lips and declared fiercely,
"Li Yu, don't be so arrogant now. Soon you'll be crying too late!"
Li Yu stopped his long-range attack. Pandora was very cunning, hiding in a densely populated area, which prevented him from launching a large-scale area attack.
Otherwise, Pandora would definitely not escape; after all, she was not a god.
Soon, Pandora's voice echoed across the lands of the Underworld.
"Odysseus, I give you freedom! As long as you can kill Athena and Li Yu!"
A man, completely bound by black chains, raised his head, revealing a beast-like smile.
"Heh, Pandora, you've finally come to beg me..."
The chains snapped link by link, and the man's figure transformed into a streak of light, vanishing from the Eighth Prison of the Underworld.
The Saint Mountain trembled slightly. Between the Sagittarius and Scorpio Palaces of the Sanctuary, an ancient-style palace slowly rose from the ground. This structure was ethereal and eerie, distorting light, as if it didn't exist in this space-time.
At the same time, in Aries Palace, Mu finished repairing four Cloths and handed them to the four Bronze Saintss who had been waiting anxiously.
As for why Mu didn't help Ikki repair his Cloth, it was mainly because Ikki's Phoenix Cloth, also known as the Immortal Bird Cloth, had the ability to regenerate itself within its Cloth Box even if completely destroyed.
Mu wiped his sweat. Repairing four Cloths within an hour, even with Kiki's assistance, was no small burden for him.
Mu clapped his hands.
"Finally repaired. With these Cloths, you should be able to last a bit longer!"
Seeing the first torch about to extinguish, Seiya and the others dared not delay. After hastily thanking Mu, they rushed towards the Second Palace, Taurus!
Li Yu's gaze shifted slightly. Who would Aldebaran choose to teach this time?
Suddenly, a faint plea echoed in his mind.
"God of Thunder and Frost, please save humanity!"
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