The illusion of shattered stars vanished.
In its place came countless ice spears covered in thorns.
They shot toward “Saga” from behind in a dense barrage, sweeping over him like a storm and blasting him into the air.
“Gah…”
“Saga” coughed up a mouthful of blood as he flew through the air.
Crimson droplets scattered down like rain before he crashed to the ground and lay motionless.
Who was it?
Who had saved them?
Someone had defeated such a powerful enemy with a single attack while radiating an astonishing Cosmo.
Seiya, Marin, and Shaina froze in shock.
Then, as one, they turned toward the source of the Cosmo.
At the foot of the hill, a Saint was walking toward them.
His Cloth gleamed with silvery-white light, sparkling like diamonds.
His handsome, resolute face was grave as he stared toward the fallen enemy.
“Ryosho!”
“A Saint?”
“Ryosho is a Saint too?”
Seiya and Marin were stunned.
The young blacksmith from the workshop, the mild-tempered boy who always smiled off any injustice done to him, was actually such a powerful Saint.
Judging by the extensive armor and the dreamlike, diamond-like luster of his Cloth, it was no ordinary Bronze Cloth.
It was a Silver Cloth.
He was actually a Silver Saint.
Marin watched Ryosho approach, uncertainty flickering in her beautiful eyes.
She was also a Silver Saint.
Yet among all the Silver Saints she knew, she had never heard of such a powerful Saint being hidden within the Sanctuary.
She had never seen this Silver Cloth either.
Of the eighty-eight Cloths, twenty-four were Silver Cloths.
However, fewer than twenty Silver Cloths had appeared in the Sanctuary so far, while several others remained unaccounted for.
Could this be one of those missing Silver Cloths?
Ryosho stepped in front of Seiya and the others, shielding them behind him as he stared gravely at the Gemini Saint lying on the ground.
He did not believe a single attack from him could defeat his opponent.
In fact, before launching that attack, he had never expected it to land on a Gold Saint, one of the strongest among the eighty-eight Saints.
Moreover, his opponent was no ordinary Gold Saint.
He was Gemini Saga, the Gold Saint known as the strongest even among the Gold Saints.
“Ryosho!”
“What is it?”
“Isn’t the enemy defeated yet?” Seiya asked, clenching his fists.
Ryosho shook his head, his gaze fixed on Saga’s motionless body.
It was not that he did not want to finish him off.
He simply knew Saga too well.
There was no chance Saga could be defeated so easily.
If Ryosho acted recklessly, he might only get himself killed.
“Hahaha…”
A sinister laugh came from the fallen Saint.
He slowly rose to his feet, releasing a powerful Cosmo that continued to climb.
Ryosho immediately tensed.
“Impressive!”
“It may have been a sneak attack, but you should be proud that you managed to wound me.”
“Still, for a Saint of Athena, attacking from behind is hardly honorable.”
The man stood and began walking toward Ryosho and the others.
An immense Cosmo poured from his body without end, filling the air with a terrifying pressure.
“What an incredible Cosmo,” Seiya exclaimed.
The enemy’s Cosmo far surpassed his own.
It was almost as though he were facing the incarnation of a god.
Ryosho frowned but did not respond.
He silently raised his Cosmo higher.
“Listen to the sound of the stars shattering.”
“Galaxian Explosion!”
The man crossed his arms above his head, then thrust both hands forward.
The illusion of shattered stars appeared once more.
Countless enormous stars emerged behind him in dense clusters, like celestial bodies being hurled outward by the explosion of an entire galaxy.
Ryosho, Seiya, Marin, and Shaina found themselves surrounded by the speeding stars, as though the countless celestial bodies might crush them at any moment.
“Hundred Roaring Fangs Whirlwind Ice Spear!”
Ryosho released his Cosmo, which had already risen to its limit, and unleashed Crateris’s strongest secret technique, Hundred Roaring Fangs Whirlwind Ice Spear.
He crossed his arms and struck forward.
The moisture in the air rapidly crystallized into ice spears, and countless spinning spears collided head-on with the incoming stars.
The two attacks met directly.
“What incredible power!
I can feel two immense Cosmos colliding in the air and causing a massive explosion!”
Seiya stared in shock at the clash between the two powerful Cosmos.
A battle at this level was far beyond anything he could interfere with.
Marin and Shaina were equally stunned.
They were astonished by Ryosho’s strength, but they had also begun to suspect the identity of the enemy who had attacked them.
Before their suspicion could become certainty, the man’s mocking voice rang out again.
“Your technique reminds me of an old acquaintance.
But compared to that person, your attack is nothing more than a crude imitation.
It is completely worthless.”
The power of the Galaxian Explosion suddenly increased severalfold.
Before Ryosho could react, the stars broke through the defense formed by his attack and slammed into him.
It felt as though his body had been struck by something weighing tens of millions of tons.
“Uwaaaah!”
Ryosho, Seiya, Marin, and Shaina were all sent flying amid their screams.
This time, however, Ryosho bore most of the damage.
Seiya and the others were only struck by the aftershock of the explosion, but even that was enough to leave them badly hurt.
The four of them fell from the air one after another and crashed heavily to the ground, sending shattered stones flying in every direction.
Ryosho’s helmet was flung high into the air before landing nearby.
“Your Galaxian Explosion is not worthy of the person I know either.”
Kneeling on one knee, Ryosho wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and gave a cold laugh as he stared at the figure completely concealed beneath the black cloak.
Only after taking that attack head-on could he finally be certain.
This man was not Saga.
His Cosmo was powerful, but it was nowhere near the level of the Seventh Sense.
His Galaxian Explosion was also far too weak to shatter the Milky Way.
Not that person?
Marin and Shaina exchanged glances.
They had already begun to suspect the attacker’s identity, but Ryosho’s words immediately made them reject that possibility.
If it truly were that person, none of them would still be able to stand.
Ryosho rose and faced his opponent with a grave expression.
Even if the man was not Saga, he was still remarkably powerful.
This was Ryosho’s first real battle, and against such a formidable enemy, he could not afford to let his guard down.
“Hahahaha…”
The man’s laughter grew even more unrestrained.
The late-night sea breeze whipped at his broad cloak, making it flap loudly.
“Since you think I am unworthy, then try surviving this.
Another Dimension!”
Golden lightning danced between his hands.
His Cosmo burned to its peak and erupted in an instant.
The immense power distorted space and time, opening a passage into Another Dimension.
In the next moment, Ryosho was sucked inside.