3: Chapter 2: Make Me the Pope?
So He Knew Everything!
3: Chapter 2: Make Me the Pope?
So He Knew Everything!
In the world of Saint Seiya, any Gold Saint possessed the raw power to shatter a planet with a single punch.
In ancient times, to prevent the Earth from being pulverized by the shockwaves of their battles, the gods collectively cast the Curse of Mortal Equality.
This divine ward fortified the planet’s durability while drastically restricting the area-of-effect of the Saints’ destructive power.
Take the signature technique of a Gold Saint, for example: the light-speed punch.
Without the suppression of the gods’ curse, their fists truly struck at the speed of light!
For instance, the ultimate technique of Aiolia, the Leo Gold Saint—Lightning Plasma—unleashed one hundred million punches per second at light speed.
To put that into perspective using electrical power, a single punch carried the energy of nearly 100 million kilowatt-hours.
If that’s hard to visualize, think of it this way: every single punch Aiolia threw hit with the explosive force of a 5-megaton nuclear warhead!
If the Saints were ever allowed to go all out, the planet would have been reduced to cosmic dust the very night Saga attacked Shion.
Out of an abundance of caution, Alex didn’t make a choice immediately.
He was still in the Sanctuary, after all.
The massive statue of Athena crowning the peak wasn’t just a stone carving; it was Athena’s Divine Cloth, and it likely harbored her dormant divine spark.
He had to be incredibly careful with his every move here.
Furthermore, the invitation from the Reincarnation Space was remarkably persistent, hovering vividly in his line of sight without fading.
Just to be safe, before going to see Shion, Alex swung by the Aries Temple to see Mu.
“Hey, Mu, beautiful weather today, isn’t it?” Mu paused his Cloth-repairing work.
He looked up, utterly bewildered, at the pitch-black night sky, and then back at Alex’s handsome face.
Eventually, he just played along.
“Uh…
yeah, I suppose it is.” Confirming that even someone as spiritually attuned as Mu—who shared a direct lineage with Shion—couldn’t see the prompt, Alex finally let out a sigh of relief and continued his trek toward the Pope’s chambers.
As he passed through the Twelve Temples, aside from the notoriously good-natured Mu, the other Gold Saints greeted him with dark scowls and cold scoffs.
Alex hadn’t earned the title of the era’s strongest Gold Saint for nothing; it was a reputation built over the years through his own two fists.
Aside from Virgo Shaka, who possessed enough power to rival him, Alex had “educated” every other Gold Saint more than once under the guise of “sparring.” The general consensus among the Gold Saints was unanimous: Alex of Aquarius is ridiculously strong, but I refuse to submit to him.
Even if I can’t beat him, I won’t bow.
Arriving at the Aquarius Temple, Alex stripped off his Gold Cloth.
The moment the armor left his body, its components automatically assembled into the golden figure of a man bearing a water jar, flying seamlessly into its Pandora Box.
A Gold Cloth provided a monumental boost to both a Saint’s offensive output and defensive resilience.
The gap in combat power between a Saint wearing a Cloth and one without was staggering.
Ever since Saga’s assassination attempt, a new mandate had been enforced: Gold Saints were required to remove their Cloths before entering the Pope’s presence to prevent any further coups.
Alex’s Aquarius Temple was only one house away from the Pope’s chambers—the intervening space being the Pisces Temple, guarded by Aphrodite.
As Alex stepped into the darkened hall of Pisces, he found Aphrodite standing dead center, fully clad in his Gold Cloth.
Seeing Alex enter, Aphrodite suddenly ignited his golden Cosmo, illuminating the entire temple!
Alex stopped in his tracks, raised an eyebrow, and asked with a hint of amusement, “What’s this, Aphrodite?
Looking for a late-night sparring session?” Aphrodite clenched his fists, then slowly shook his head.
Among the current generation of Gold Saints, Pisces and Cancer were widely considered the weakest.
Having only recently awakened their Seventh Sense, they were mockingly dubbed the “Weakest Duo” by their peers.
Even without his Cloth, it would only take Alex a few minutes to mop the floor with him.
As Alex’s footsteps echoed toward the exit, preparing to leave the Pisces Temple, Aphrodite suddenly called out a warning.
“Careful, Alex.
I sense something…
off about the Pope lately.” The temples guarded by the Gold Saints were their absolute private domains, shielded from the perception of any god—even Athena herself.
For Aphrodite to choose this specific spot to warn him meant he had noticed something genuinely alarming.