Whoosh…
A shooting star streaked across the night sky, trailing a long tail of light behind it.
Ryosho, who had been lying in bed with his eyes closed and pretending to sleep, suddenly opened them.
His gaze was bright and alert.
He listened carefully.
Once he was certain that Manos and Cynthia were fast asleep in the next room, he immediately sat up.
He hurried to the window, pulled away the burlap covering the Cloth Box, and deftly hoisted it onto his back.
Then he quietly slipped out of his room and left Manos’s workshop.
The weather was exceptionally clear that night.
Countless stars glittered across the heavens, while a broad white band stretched from one end of the sky to the other, making it seem as though he were standing amid a sea of stars.
Ryosho glanced up at the Milky Way and was just about to leave when a childish voice called softly from behind him.
“Brother Ryosho, are you going out this late?”
Ryosho sighed helplessly and turned around.
Cynthia stood behind him, wide awake and showing no trace of drowsiness.
Good grief.
The little girl had probably been watching his every move all along.
“Brother Ryosho, is that your Sacred Cloth?” Cynthia blinked as she stared at the Cloth Box on his back.
Her clear eyes seemed to hold an entire starry sky, shining with excitement.
“Just as I thought…
Brother Ryosho is already a Saint of Athena.”
“Can you keep this a secret for me, Cynthia?” Ryosho asked gently, raising a hand to pat her head without showing the slightest annoyance.
“Of course.”
“And Grandpa?”
“Don’t worry.
As long as Cynthia is here, you can rest easy, Brother Ryosho.
I won’t tell Grandpa.
But…”
The little girl seemed a little embarrassed.
She clasped her hands behind her back and balanced on one foot.
“When you come back, can I see your Cloth?”
“Just see it?”
“It would be even better if I could touch it!”
“No problem.”
Ryosho agreed without hesitation.
“Then be careful, Brother Ryosho.
Cynthia will wait for you to come back.”
Cynthia ran back to the entrance of the workshop, then turned around and waved her small hand at Ryosho with a smile.
Ryosho waved back.
Cynthia gently closed the door, but she did not return to her room to sleep.
Instead, she leaned against the door.
The light in her once-bright eyes faded, replaced by deep concern.
She murmured to herself.
“You have to come back, Brother Ryosho.”
“Cynthia will keep waiting for you.”
…
With the Cloth Box on his back, Ryosho moved like a streak of lightning, leaping and weaving through the rugged rocks.
Following his memories, he searched the area near the ruins of the Parthenon for any sign of Marin and Seiya.
“I remember it being somewhere around here!” Ryosho stood before a fissure and frowned at the split earth below.
“Have they not arrived yet?”
Whoosh…
Another shooting star swept across the starry sky.
Ryosho could not help looking up.
A faint sense of foreboding settled over him.
Could he already be too late?
Ryosho’s expression darkened.
He leaped across the fissure and sprinted toward Athens.
Suddenly, countless visions filled his sight, making him feel as though he had been thrown into the vast depths of outer space.
One enormous star after another appeared ahead of him in dense clusters, hurtling straight toward him at terrifying speed as explosions thundered around them.
“What is this?”
Ryosho’s expression changed sharply.
With no time to think, he hurriedly dodged the oncoming stars.
Despite his quick reflexes, one of them still struck him.
He was sent flying backward, smashing through a pillar before crashing heavily to the ground.
“Galaxian Explosion!”
Ryosho pushed himself up and coughed out a mouthful of blood.
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he stared ahead with a grave expression.
Was it really Saga?
Fortunately, the attack had not been aimed at him.
He had merely been caught in the aftershock of the Galaxian Explosion.
Otherwise, without his Cloth, he would not have escaped with only minor injuries.
He would already be dead.
He immediately rose, opened the Cloth Box, and released the chalice-shaped Crateris Saint Cloth.
It separated into its individual pieces and swiftly assembled itself over his body.
Suppressing the fluctuations of his Cosmo, he quietly advanced.
Seiya and Shaina lay in pools of blood.
Judging from their injuries and the positions in which they had fallen, Seiya had stepped in front of Shaina at the crucial moment and taken most of the Galaxian Explosion’s force.
Otherwise, Shaina, who was not wearing her Cloth, would have died in the attack.
As for Marin, she had been standing farther away, just like Ryosho, and had suffered only minor injuries from the aftershock.
“Who…
who are you?”
“That was despicable.
Attacking us from behind like some coward…
Cough, cough…”
Seiya struggled to his feet and glared in the direction the attack had come from, his voice weak but filled with anger.
His Pegasus Cloth was already cracked from the Galaxian Explosion, and scorch marks covered his body.
He looked utterly battered.
His injuries were severe.
The only thing keeping him on his feet was the anger burning inside him.
Just what you’d expect from one of the five legendary Bronze Saints.
He had taken a Galaxian Explosion head-on and still survived.
The tension in Ryosho’s chest finally eased.
Fortunately, he had barely made it in time.
At least no one was dead yet.
But the next moment, his heart rose into his throat once more.
The Galaxian Explosion was undoubtedly Gemini’s most powerful ultimate technique.
True to its name, it possessed enough destructive force to shatter even the stars.
Even among the Twelve Gold Saints, its overwhelming power was nearly unmatched.
It was Gemini’s strongest physical attack.
The technique worked by pushing the user’s Cosmo to its absolute limit, creating the vision of countless stars being shattered before concentrating all that energy upon the target.
Its power rivaled a massive explosion capable of destroying the entire Milky Way.
Only Gemini Saga and his younger brother Kanon could use it.
And here in the Sanctuary, it could only be Saga.
Rescuing anyone from Saga’s hands would be nearly impossible.
What Ryosho could not understand was why the evil Saga had personally come here just to kill a Bronze Saint who had only recently obtained his Cloth.
It was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
Complete overkill.
“Oh?
You can still stand after taking my Galaxian Explosion?
Pegasus, now you can die without regrets!”
A towering figure approached, radiating an astonishing Cosmo.
His body was wrapped in a broad black cloak, and his entire face was hidden in the darkness beneath its hood, making his features impossible to see.
“Who are you?
Why…
why did you attack us?”
Seiya’s voice trembled, and his body swayed unsteadily.
He stared at the figure nearby, his right fist clenched tightly.
“Pegasus, you have no need to know.
Go quietly to hell.
Galaxian Explosion!”
Without the slightest hesitation, the cloaked figure crossed his arms and raised them high above his head.
The vision of countless stars appeared once again.
Enormous stars surged out from behind him in dense waves, hurtling toward Seiya.
“Se…
Seiya…”
Shaina struggled to lift her head from the ground, staring at Seiya with a complicated expression.
She had never imagined that Seiya would step in front of her and shield her with his own body.
“Seiya, get out of the way!”
Marin cried out in terror.
Ignoring her own safety, she rushed forward, intending to place herself in front of Seiya and take the terrifying attack in his place.
Instead, she also entered the Galaxian Explosion’s range.
“Marin, stay back!”
Anxiety spread across Seiya’s face when he saw Marin running toward him.
Only he truly understood how powerful their enemy was.
Without the protection of the Pegasus Cloth, he would already have died several times over.
Neither Shaina nor Marin was wearing a Cloth.
If they were struck by power capable of shattering stars, they would undoubtedly die.
With no other choice, Seiya raised his fist to meet the attack.
“Pegasus Meteor Fist!”
But against the power to shatter stars, his Pegasus Meteor Fist was as futile as an egg striking a rock.
The terrifying force tore through his punches and surged toward Seiya, Shaina, and Marin.
“Aaaah!”
Seiya’s body trembled under the crushing pressure.
It felt as though his entire body were burning, and he could not stop himself from crying out in pain.
Just as the three of them were about to die beneath Saga’s Galaxian Explosion, a powerful voice suddenly rang out.
“White Lotus Ice Spear!”