The current Pope was still Shion—the former Aries Gold Saint and a survivor of the Holy War 243 years ago.
On the night Saga had conspired to assassinate Shion, it was Alex who appeared in the Pope’s chambers to thwart the scheme.
The ensuing clash between the two Gold Saints unleashed a supernova of Cosmo that shook the entire Sanctuary awake.
From that day forward, Alex was hailed as the strongest Gold Saint of the era.
He became Shion’s most trusted confidant, a shadow power influencing the very trajectory of the world.
Now, the Galaxian Wars hosted by the Kido Foundation were about to begin, marking the gathering of the five Bronze Saints.
Soon after, the 243-year cycle of the Holy War would commence once more.
But Alex wanted no part in it.
As a transmigrator who knew the plot, Alex was well aware of his “intended” fate.
According to the original story, his purpose was to train Hyoga, allow the boy to master Aurora Execution, and then die by his student’s hand.
Later, he would reappear as a soul during the war against Hades, burning away the last of his life force to shatter the Wailing Wall.
A life of selfless sacrifice.
A pawn’s ending.
Every generation of Gold Saints met a similar end, but to Alex, the prospect was repulsive.
Why should he incinerate his very soul for a goddess he had never met and felt no connection to?
He wasn’t even from this world.
He had fought tooth and nail since arriving here.
As a rare “Aquarius Twin,” he had seized the Aquarius inheritance from Camus himself, but he had done so only to survive and thrive in this perilous universe.
If possible, he wanted to ignite his own divine fire, ascend to godhood, and find a way back to Earth to see his parents one last time.
However, since becoming a Gold Saint, Alex had realized that their lives were meticulously choreographed.
Even though he had saved Shion’s life, destiny seemed to correct itself; the infant Saori was still spirited away by Aiolos, and his close friend Aiolos had still perished from his wounds after being ambushed by three other Gold Saints.
Alex realized then that the “destiny” of the Gold Saints was to be fuel for Athena—tools to be used until their souls were spent, only to be recycled for the next Holy War centuries later.
He had tried to break the cycle.
He had even considered traveling to Japan to kill the unawakened Athena in the Kido household.
But whenever the thought took shape, a mysterious, invisible force would stifle his intent, rendering him unable to act.
As Alex’s training progressed and he began to graze the threshold of the Eighth Sense, he caught glimpses of it: the shimmering, unbreakable threads of fate bound to his soul.
It confirmed his worst fear.
The Twelve Gold Saints were little more than marionettes in golden shells, their strings pulled by the gods.
Alex rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Were his struggles merely the pathetic thrashing of an insect in the eyes of the Olympians?
The helicopter touched down at the Sanctuary.
As Alex stepped onto the tarmac, he looked up at the towering statue of Athena perched atop the mountain.
Suddenly, a strange light flickered before his eyes.
A line of golden text manifested in his vision: [Do you want to understand the meaning of life?
Do you want to…
truly live?] [YES] or [NO] Alex’s breath hitched, despite being a warrior at the peak of the Seventh Sense.
The Reincarnation Space?
He felt a surge of grim irony.
He was already a Gold Saint; once he left this god-suppressed universe, a single punch from him could shatter a planet.
If he entered a “multiverse” trial system now, wouldn’t he be an absolute juggernaut?