“What?”
“Ryosho is gone?”
Seiya struggled back to his feet and stared at the spot where Ryosho had vanished beneath the enemy’s ultimate technique, his face filled with shock.
“Hahahaha…”
The man approached Seiya with a cold laugh.
“Ryosho…
He just vanished!
What did you do to him?” Seiya forced himself to his feet and faced the sneering enemy, fists clenched in fury.
“I cast him into Another Dimension.”
“Another Dimension?”
“Heh heh heh…” The man stopped in front of Seiya, a cold smile curling across his face.
“To put it simply, he’s been banished to another plane of existence.”
“Banished…
to another dimension?”
“That’s right.
Ryosho will drift forever through a Dimension from which there is no escape, like a spaceship that has strayed from its course and become lost, floating endlessly through the vast cosmos.”
“I had intended to banish all of you there, but in your case, I will only feel truly at ease once you are completely and utterly dead by my hand.”
“So rest in peace.
No one is coming to save you now.”
The man shaped his hand into a blade and brought it down toward Seiya’s neck without hesitation.
“Seiya!”
Marin and Shaina cried out at the same time.
“Wait!”
“White Lotus Ice Spear.”
At that moment, Ryosho’s voice came from behind the man in black.
But the ice spear, formed from moisture crystallized out of the air, reached him before the sound did.
It struck with overwhelming force and blasted the man in black away once again.
“What?”
After crashing to the ground, the man in black raised his head in disbelief.
“N-No…
Impossible!
How could a mere Silver Saint escape from Another Dimension?”
Ryosho walked toward him and looked down coldly.
“I told you.
You are not even worthy of being compared to that man.
Even if you learned his techniques, yours are nothing more than poor imitations.
How could a technique of this caliber possibly cast me into Another Dimension?”
In truth, Ryosho had been guarding against this technique from the moment the battle began.
Once he confirmed that the Galaxian Explosion posed little threat to him, the only danger left was the so-called Another Dimension.
With his current level of Psychokinesis, he had no idea whether he would be able to return after being banished to that other Dimension.
It was not a risk he could afford to take.
His only option was to evade the technique when the man unleashed Another Dimension.
With that plan in mind, Ryosho had remained alert for it throughout the entire battle.
The instant he sensed the man preparing to use Another Dimension, Ryosho acted first, using Psychokinesis to slip out of the way.
He then concealed himself and waited for the exact moment his opponent let down his guard.
Ryosho approached the man in black and reached out toward him.
“Let me see who you really are, and why you came here to assassinate Pegasus.”
“Ahahaha…”
The man in black let out a low, sinister laugh.
Ryosho stopped in his tracks and watched him warily, afraid he might still have another trick prepared.
“Crateris of this generation.”
“That is indeed a valuable piece of information.”
“Rumor has it that the Crateris Cloth not only possesses a healing power unique among the 88 Cloths, but also an equally unique ability to foresee the future.”
“It seems you knew I would come to assassinate Pegasus today through the Crateris Cloth’s foresight.”
“But…”
The man in black struggled to catch his breath.
“But…
Crateris, this is only the beginning.
The attempts on Pegasus and the others will not end here.
I look forward to seeing…
whether you can continue protecting them, or whether you will die before they do.”
“Ahahaha…”
His crazed laughter abruptly ceased.
Still laughing, the man in black breathed his last.
This proved once again that he was neither Saga nor Kanon.
Ryosho walked over, intending to remove the man’s cloak and reveal his true face.
But before his hand could touch the body, it dissolved into a wisp of black smoke and scattered on the wind.
His face, identity, and origins all vanished with it.
Ryosho’s brow furrowed deeply.
He did not seem to have been alive.
Yet judging from the way he had spoken, he appeared to know the previous generation of Crateris.
Could he have been someone brought back from the dead?
Ryosho rose and gazed toward the distant east.
There was one being capable of such a thing.
Hades.
Could it be…
Ryosho’s pupils contracted slightly.
Had Hades, the God of the Underworld, already awakened and begun interfering in the affairs of the Earthly Realm?
But there had been no sign of disturbance from the Evil Tower that sealed the 108 Evil Stars of Hades’ Army.
Otherwise, Dohko, who guarded Athena’s Seal, could not possibly have failed to notice.
It was not Hades.
Then who could it be?
Thud…
At that moment, Seiya collapsed, and the voices of Marin and Shaina rang out beside him.
Ryosho snapped out of his thoughts.
He hurried to Seiya’s side.
The Pegasus Cloth was covered in cracks, while the parts of Seiya’s body left exposed were drenched in blood.
He had suffered severe internal and external injuries.
When the enemy attacked, Seiya had been fighting Shaina.
The moment he sensed the incoming strike, he stepped in front of her to protect her.
Protected by nothing more than a Bronze Cloth, Seiya naturally could not withstand the terrifying power of the Galaxian Explosion.
Even Ryosho had found it difficult to endure despite the protection of the Crateris Silver Cloth.
Seiya had been caught completely off guard in a Bronze Cloth while also shielding Shaina.
In fact, Seiya was not the only one badly wounded.
Marin and Shaina had also suffered serious injuries.
Without hesitation, Ryosho removed the Crateris Cloth from his body.
Once separated from him, the Crateris Cloth automatically reassembled itself in midair, taking the form of a holy grail before slowly descending to the ground.
Ryosho then used his Psychokinesis to rapidly gather moisture from the air inside the grail-shaped Cloth.
After waiting quietly for a moment, he scooped up a handful of water, carried it to Seiya, and helped him drink the Divine Water created by the Crateris Cloth.
The effect was immediate.
Seiya’s wounds began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Still lying on the ground, Marin and Shaina stared at the miraculous sight.
Beneath their masks, their faces filled with astonishment.
“What is that?”
Ryosho scooped up another handful of Divine Water and approached them.
“Just as that man said, the Crateris Cloth possesses a healing power unique among the 88 Cloths.”
“According to legend, during the Age of Myth, this Cloth was modeled after the cup used to quench Athena’s thirst on the battlefield.”
“Even now, when the cup is filled with clean water, the water gains divine power that can heal injuries and restore stamina.”
“So…
that’s how it works.” Shaina gazed at the Divine Water glowing with sacred light in Ryosho’s hands, then looked at the holy grail-shaped Crateris Cloth.
Her beautiful eyes gleamed with fascination.
Marin pushed herself to her feet, her brown hair stirring in the evening breeze.
“I have heard similar rumors about the Crateris Cloth, but I never imagined they were true.”
Ryosho smiled.
“All right, you two should drink some as well.
Your injuries are serious too.”
“Thank you.”
Marin did not hesitate.
She held out both hands and accepted some of the Divine Water from Ryosho.
Shaina thanked him as well and took some for herself.
However, neither of them drank it immediately.
Instead, they looked at Ryosho with visible embarrassment.
“Oh, sorry.
I forgot that female Saints cannot reveal their true faces.”
Realizing his mistake, Ryosho immediately turned around and faced away from them.