章 31: Sanctuary Battle Part 5

Jayr POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1986

I look at Shura who is now on his knee, greeting Saori as he finally recognizes her as the Goddess Athena, and soon she started explaining everything to him, at the same time he recalled the memories of Saga's use of his technique on him when he found out the truth, so he quickly asks for forgiveness, and once again swears his loyalty to Athena.

Meanwhile, I'm giving first aid to Shiryu, who is now unconscious, as without all the tension of his fight with Shura, he relaxed and let exhaustion take over his body 'Let's see, a few broken bones, mostly ribs, and a few cracked here and there... it can wait... The deep cut on the thigh severed the major femoral artery... This is the first thing I have to fix if not he will risk bleeding to death once again... the cut on the arms are relative shallows... low priority, just stop the bleeding, and take care of the rest after... The injuries on the head are just a concussion, that with a bit of Cosmo and some rest and it will quickly pass, and a shallow cut on the forehead... Plus the various torn and exhausted muscles... Overall he is "fine", and that means in no mortal danger...'.

As I'm fixing Shiryu, I notice the Cosmo coming from the next temple 'It seems that Camus and Hyoga are about to fight once again... It is better that I hurry to patch up Shiryu and leave him under Shura's care and move to the Aquarius Temple, I'm sure that Camus is ready to give his life to make Hyoga stronger... or Freeze him until the end of the Holy War if he can't break through the wall that is in front of him... For sure some Saints take some things to the extreme...'.

Hyoga POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1986

After we left behind, Shiryu, Jayr-san, and Saori-sama, we quickly climb up the stairs that lead us to the temple guarded by my master, the Aquarius Temple, and after some time, the temple is finally in sight, the temple is smaller than the rest and without particular embellishments, but is distinguished from the others by a particular architecture in cylindrical form, which brings it very close to the upper part of the Pantheon in Paris, curiously, at the top of the roof, there is a sculpture of an amphora as a symbol of the zodiacal sign, a detail that must have gone unnoticed by many, as it is barely noticeable if one doesn't specifically look for it.

And standing in front of the temple is my master, Aquarius Camus, clearly waiting for us, or more precisely for me, it seems that my brothers noticed him too, as Shun says "Camus, guardian of the Aquarius Temple", and Seiya follow with "He's Hyoga's master, the one who imprisoned him in the Freezing Coffin back at the Libra Temple!", and hearing that makes me remembers once again the terrifying freezing cold of master technique and his last words before he used it on me.

Steeling my resolve I say "Seiya, Shun, go on ahead! Leave my master to me!! I want no interference from anyone, not even you!!", then I move closer to my master and say "Master Camus, thank you! For teaching me to be a Saint in the wastes of eastern Siberia, words of thanks are not enough... So I'll express my gratitude in the language of Saints, through action! I will combine everything you've taught me, and take you down, Master Camus!".

My master looks at me with a small smile on his face and says "Very well, in that case, I'll also bring everything into play against you, and this time if you can't reach the level of power needed to save your mother and protect her and your brothers from what is to come I will bury you forever!", at the same time, Seiya and Shun quickly move forward with the Pisces Temple as their destination, and master let them pass, but as they pass each other, I hear Master say "Be careful of Aphrodite, he is by far one of the most feared Gold Saint of this era, and for a good reason...".

Once they are gone, Master leads me inside the temple and once inside the main hall, he looks at me and raising his Cosmo he yells "Come, Hyoga!!", I respond to my master's encouragement, by exploding my Cosmo, and gathering the cold air around my fist, and instantly condensing the surrounding moisture into pure ice which I then shatter and manifests itself in the form of countless sharp and cutting snow crystals that are hurled at master with a powerful cold wind through my fist "Diamond Dust!!".

But master easily catches my technique with his right hand, and says "As I told you at the Libra Temple, the Diamond Dust is a move that I taught you! You'll never defeat me with it! I'll show you the true frozen wind!" and he reflects my technique back at me so fast that I cannot dodge, "Argh!" but as soon as it hits me, I notice the difference, now the Diamond Dust is much colder than before, it's comparable to the time I was frozen in my master's Freezing Coffin.

But my train of thought is interrupted by the impact on my back, as I blank out for a moment as I crash against a column of the temple, then once I fall to the ground, I recover and I'm shocked to find out that my leg is actually frozen, I hear my master moving closer, and as I'm looking at him, he asks "What is absolute zero? Answer, Hyoga!", trying to remember his teaching I reply "Unh...A-absolute zero... Is the temperature at which all things freeze, -459 degrees Fahrenheit or -273.15°C! Put in another way, it is the temperature at which all movement ceases!".

"Aaah!", then I'm once again hit by master's Diamond Dust and painfully thrown against the wall, and as I try to get up once again, I notice that my other leg is also frozen "Ugh... N-now my right leg is frozen too... This is bad, I'm practically helpless", then Master Camus says "As you know, Hyoga, absolute zero is the ultimate cold that a Saint can unleash! But to produce such extreme cold lies beyond even my ability! The one who wins in a battle between Saints that use ice is the one who can get his ice the closest to absolute zero!".

Understanding what he is trying to say, I add "And that is determined by the strength of his Cosmo...", and Master takes a rather familiar stance, with his arms in a jug position pointing upwards, at the same time his Cosmo explodes and expands, he says "Yes, Hyoga, no matter how much you flail about, you'll never elevate your ice to my level if your Cosmo doesn't match it! You can't possibly get closer to absolute zero than I, and that is what separates victory from defeat!!".

The phantom image of the Aquarius appears behind him, he lowers his arms, and yelling "Aurora Execution!", discharges all the Cosmo in the form of a glacial stream, and with my legs frozen, I'm unable to move, so I grit my teeth and burning my Cosmo to the max to create a barrier of cold air around me, I take the full blast of this dreadful technique, that send me once again crashing into the ground, but thanks to the impromptu barrier, I was able to diffuse some of the force of this move.

At the same time, something inside me clicks, and I feel my Cosmo growing stronger and colder, so I get up once again, surprising my master that asks "Hyoga, you just suffered the Aurora Execution! And yet you can stand again?", and as I feel my Cosmo now better than ever, I say "Master, you taught me that a move that a Saint has seen once will never work on him again! And Even if I can't get all the way to absolute zero,I swear I will elevate my ice to your level! And I will take you down!!".

And with renewed effort, I unleash my strongest technique, freezing the environment by expanding the cold air under my control, I move closer to Master and hit him with an upward hook "Kholodnyu Smerch (Cold Tornado)!!", the punch releases a large tornado of air into the sky, in the center of which is Aquarius Camus, but he once again proves to be better as he takes control of the tornado and sends it back to me, making me crash against the ceiling, and as I fall I can't help but say "Even my ultimate move had no effect... Camus... You are indeed my master... I can't hope to approach your power...", and crash into the ground, defeated.

I feel my master moving closer and hear him say "So you finally see that your attacks are useless against me, eh, Hyoga? Still, I give you credit for blocking the Aurora Execution! I've no stomach for needlessly prolonging your suffering, I'll provide you with a place of eternal rest like your mother! The Freezing Coffin!!".

I feel an incredible cold surrounding my body, and feel all my body's functions ceasing one after another, losing my senses one after another, and my consciousness starts to fade, but there is one thing that my master said that made me desperately cling to my will, the word "mother", and I remember once again why I'm fighting, I'm seeking the strength to not only save but also protect, "Unh... Ugh... Mama (mom in Russian)...".

I feel my Cosmo responding to my will and producing a cold as strong as the one entrapping me, and with a final push the ice I'm able to release becomes even colder, and I break free from my Master's technique, and I hear his surprised voice "He shattered the Freezing Coffin!! That means that his ice is colder than that of the Freezing Coffin...It would have to be very close to the absolute zero!! Could Hyoga have finally...".

With my eyes still closed, I slowly get up but I feel like I'm about to pass out at any moment, meanwhile, like a broken dam, my Cosmo continues producing cold air all around me, and on instinct, I push it toward master, and I feel him doing the same, and I feel the blast of icy air swirling between myself and master, reaching a state of stall, but then everything blanks out.

"Hyoga!! Wake Up, Hyoga!! The frozen air swirling between us will blast you to pieces! Hyoga!", It seems, I'm hearing Master's voice warning me about something, then I feel other familiar Cosmos call out to me 'Seiya... Shiryu... Shun... Isaak... Jayr-san... Saori-sama... Mama!', then I hear Master's voice again, this time it is clear "Hyoga! Wake up and dodge it! The frozen air is about to strike you!! Open your eyes, Hyoga!! Hyogaa!!".

And listening to him I open my eyes, but it is too late to dodge, so, in a desperate effort, I explode my Cosmo to the maximum and even beyond, and grab the frozen air between my hands, but it is so stong and cold that my Cloth freezes and shatter into many pieces "Agh! Raah!!", then with my everything, I feel a brand new awareness and infusing my Cosmo into the frozen air, I push it back to my master, hitting him and sending him flying.

Then I notice that the shoulder piece where I hit him is now frozen, and Master notices it too as he yells "My Gold Cloth is frozen!! In order to freeze a Gold Cloth, one has to reach the absolute zero!! Hyoga you did it! Now show me you have truly mastered everything I had to teach you!!", and I see him taking the stance of his ultimate technique once again, and in response to that I do the same, I raise my arms in a jug position pointing upwards, at the same time my Cosmo explodes and expands once again, behind masters appears once again the phantom image of the Aquarius, while behind me appears the Cygnus one.

We both lower our arms at the same time and yell ""Aurora Execution!!"", discharging all the Cosmo in the form of a glacial stream, that clash against each other resulting in a devastating explosion of frozen air and ice, that freezes everything in the temple, and I feel about to lose it once again, I used everything I had in that move, and now my vision starts to blurry, and I hear my master's strangely weak voice "Heh... Well done, Hyoga, in this battle, while enduring the Aurora Execution, you managed to make it your own, you have learned all I have to teach, and even teetering between life and freezing death... With your sense completely gone, you still mastered absolute zero... You have awakened the very essence of your Cosmo, the 7th sense!!", then I see him fall to the ground, and soon totally exhausted I do the same while saying "Thank... You... Master...".

Jayr POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1986

Quickly running up the stairs leading to the Aquarius Temple with Saori in my arms, I notice that the air became a lot colder, and in fact, snowflakes started to fall from the sky, at the same time, I feel that Camus' Cosmo is slowly fading, 'That idiot!! In end, he pushed himself too far to make Hyoga grow! I need to hurry, god what a pain, Athena blessed the Gold Zodiac in such a manner that prevents lesser evils to invade, as well as any sort of teleportation between two temples, so the only way is to fucking climb these stairs!', worried I whisper to Saori "Hold tight! I'm going to speed up... that Andouille de Camus almost got himself killed!", so I increase my speed to the max while using my Cosmo to protect Saori from the aftermath of such a speed, and at lightspeed, I rush inside the Aquarius Temple, that now almost seems like a frozen cave, and find Hyoga and Camus laying on the ground.

Letting down Saori, I rush to Camus' side, and quickly start fixing him 'Damn, this idiot to save Hyoga pushed all the excess frozen air and shockwaves generated by the Aurora Executions into his body, right now while on the outside he seems fine, the inside is a jumbled mess, with organs ruptured, frozen, or simply failing... I have to be careful with my Cosmo... The frozen ones are the last I have to worry about, as a Saint that practically lives in ice, he can deal with that himself, I just have to make him regain consciousness, and fix the ruptured organs, once he is out of danger and awake, Camus himself will be able to use his Cosmo to slowly fix everything else'.

At the same time, I feel Saori using her Cosmo to sustain Hyoga and Camus' Cosmos 'And when the Goddess herself made a move it is impossible to die, you need the intervention of another God to be killed...' and at the same time I give a quick check on Hyoga, 'Hyoga is only exhausted, most of his injuries aren't even lethal, and are quite easy to heal... Really Camus held himself back a lot, he made Hyoga feel close to death many times, but he truly never was in danger...'.

Focusing back to Camus, I quickly mend his ruptured kidney, liver, and spleen, then slowly melt his frozen heart, and make it pump again, 'I'm tempted to bitch slap him to wake him up...' then looking in the direction of the Pisces Temple I murmur "Only Aphrodite and Saga remains...".

Shun POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1986

While climbing up the stairs leading to the final temple of the Gold Zodiac, the Pisces Temple, I and Seiya stop, as we feel Hyoga's Cosmo waning, and at the same time, a few snowflakes start falling from the sky, then I hear, Seiya that says "Don't look back, Shun... Trust in Jayr, after all the same happened to Shiryu and soon after, we felt his Cosmo recover...Moreover the final temple is just ahead, we can't lower our guard now!".

So we both restart running up the stairs, and while running, we indeed feel Hyoga's Cosmo slowly recovering, then, I finally made my decision " Seiya, when we enter the temple, head straight for the Pope's Chamber in the Great Temple, no matter what... The sooner the free Saga-san the sooner this useless fight will end", then I look at the temple in the distance, it has a single wing, the pillars of the entrance are placed homogeneously and the structure that supports the temple is composed of 2 strata, it has 2 sculptures of fish, symbols of the zodiacal sign, placed at the ends at the top, one on each side.

While admiring the temple, I notice 2 objects coming fast toward us, so I yell "Look out!!", we stop and the objects pierce the ground in front of us, and I finally recognize them they are beautiful red roses, while Seiya asks "Crimson roses? Who threw them?" then we notice the figure standing in front of the temple, and Seiya says "It must've been him...".

I then remind him "Seiya, leave him to me, my master talked about him before, he is the Saint who guards the last of the 12 temples, the Saint whose beauty is said to be the greatest of the 88 Saints, together with his cruelty, one of the most feared Gold Saints... Pisces Aphrodite!!", a young man with light blue hair and azure eyes, his skin is apricot-colored and his lips are soft pink between which he has a red rose, and under his left eye, he has a mole, which can be considered a beauty mark.

He is obviously donning his Pisces Gold Cloth, its headpiece is helmet-shaped with a set of fins on the sides, and on the upper part there is a crest-like fin, the chest and waist pieces are a whole, and is a fairly tight-fitting piece composed of plates that mimic the muscles of the wearer's chest, the shoulders pieces are concave, horizontal, and composed of two interlocking layers, the arms and legs pieces are similar to the other Gold Cloths, the only difference is the fins on the elbows and the thigh.

(Image Here - Pisces Aphrodite)

Hearing my introduction, Seiya looks at Aphrodite and says "So that is Pisces Aphrodite, is he really a man?", feeling a little upset for this comment, as often I'm subject to the same kind of comments, I say "I don't like those kind comments... moreover man or not a Gold Saint isn't an opponent we can belittle... Now, Seiya, run ahead to the Pope's Chamber! I'll follow you as soon as I can".

Seiya nods and starts running toward Aphrodite while yelling "I'll go, but I may be done with Saga by the time you get there!" then once close to him he says "Sorry, but I'm just passing through!" and jumps over the Pisces Saint, who in response to this spits the red rose between his lips at Seiya, who easily destroy it with a punch and as he lands and gets away, I use my chain to grab Aphrodite's arm to hold him and say "You are not going anywhere until Seiya is safely out of the temple!".

But Aphrodite is still calm and replies "Ha... He may get through here, but he'll never reach the Pope's Chamber, Pegasus will die along the way, seen off by a funeral procession of roses!!", and hearing that I remember what he is talking about 'He is talking about the Path of Royal Demon Roses which is located between the House of Pisces and the Patriarch's Chamber... But Jayr already warned us about it, It should be a problem for Seiya to pass through them!'.

And indeed, he starts explaining about the path and the roses, saying that the Royal Demon Roses are a kind of deadly poisonous plant, capable of shutting down the senses, and eventually kill with only their aroma, he probably did this to make me lose my calm and concentration, but I won't fall for this especially since I know that Seiya already knows about the danger of the roses, so I take advantage of the time to quickly check the battleground.

The interior of the Pisces Temple is like the lower temples, divided into rooms and surrounded by numerous columns, some of which are decorated with statues of women, I also notice some roses scattered here and there on the ground, then as he finishes talking, I decide to quickly bind him with my Nebula Chain, but Aphrodite laughs and says "Ha! You silly fool! You actually thought these paltry things would work against me?" and with a blast of Cosmo, he frees himself and blows me away, sending my crashing on the floor.

Then he says "Now you will succumb to the perfume of the Royal Demon Roses, just like Seiya! Royal Demon Rose!!", and uses red roses as a projectile, enhancing them whit his Cosmo, and they move so fast that I'm unable to dodge them, I'm thrown up in the air by them and once again crash into the ground, and while the impact wasn't too strong, and I'm not really hurt by them, I quickly realize that I'm slowly starting to lose my senses.

Aphrodite then says "As I said before, one whiff or a scratch with its thorns, and your senses will start to dim, but you won't suffer, you'll die pleasantly intoxicated, just close your eyes like a good boy and you can avoid the terror of death, why bother to rise, Andromeda?", but I ignore what he said, and getting up, I say "I'm no coward, giving myself over to a pleasant death! Before we parted ways, I made a promise to my brother... That I would fight to the bitter end like a man!! I will show you my true strength, Aphrodite!!".

And to counter his roses, I use my Rolling Defense twirling the chains around myself to create a barrier, that not only will protect me from further attacks, but will also blow away the roses' aroma, then taunting him to attack I say "As long as I'm encircled by these chains, no attack of yours can hurt me", but still calm Aphrodite says "I told you, your chains wouldn't work against me...", and I reply with a simple "We'll see about that".

And he fell for it, as he yells "Well, then, be bathed in petals once again!! Royal Demon Roses!!" and throws his roses once again, but this time I'm ready and yell "Protect me, my chains! Rolling Defense!!", I repel them back to him sending him crashing on the floor as he yells surprised "Impossible! He repelled the Royal Demon Roses!!", then I take advantage of the opening to attack him with my Nebula Chain.

But he quickly recovers, and disappears in a mist of roses, as my chain passes through his afterimage, and now I'm looking around to search for him, but I'm unable to find a trace of his presence or Cosmo as the roses are hiding him "H-he disappeared... Vanished in a mist of flower... But that won't save you, Aphrodite, this chain in my right hand, the triangle chain, will find you wherever you hide...".

I make my Cosmo explode and throwing my chain I yell "... It will find and defeat any enemy, no matter how many lightyears away he is!! Go! Thunder Wave!!", and the tip of the chain zig-zags like a wave-shaped lightning bolt that releases lightning and generates a powerful piercing attack, it simulates the movement and visual form of lightning, the tip then open a crack in the space where it disappears, then in the distance I hear the sound of impact, and Aphrodite's figure reappears.

'It seems that I was only able to blow off his headpiece, Aphrodite is still fine...', and while thinking that, I hear him say "Incredible... that the might of the nebula chain could be so great... I looked down on him as a mere Bronze Saint, but this boy's Cosmo is closer to that of a Gold Saint than that of a Bronze...", but I take advantage of his distraction to attack him once again with a Thunder Wave.

But the next moment, I'm surprised to find my chain easily blocked by what appears to be a simple black rose, and yell "The triangle chain stopped! What's that black rose?", then I feel Aphrodite Cosmo rising as he says "I never thought a Saint with the face of a girl could fight so fiercely, you've been struck by the Royal Demon Roses and are soon to die... But it seems you refuse to wait quietly for death... Very well, then, I'll deal out instantaneous death, and wrest your chains of hope from you while I'm at it! Face the terror of the black roses!! Piranha Rose!!".

Aphrodite throws countless tough-as-metal black roses, and to my immense surprise, my chain was quickly destroyed by it, broken into many small pieces almost like torn apart, "No... My triangle chain... those black roses broke my Nebula Chain... What are those flowers!?", and with a black rose in his hand Aphrodite calmly explain "The red rose will cause a slow death, but the black roses will kill quickly, the thorns of the black roses act in the same way as that of sharp piranha teeth, completely destroying everything in their path... Now, you too will be pulverized by their thorns! Piranha Roses!!".

And he throws another volley of those frightening tough-as-metal black roses, and I once again use my Rolling Defense to protect myself, but once again my chain is destroyed by the black roses, "No! My circle chain!!", then Aphrodite says "Heh, now you can neither attack nor defend yourself, without your chains, my dear Andromeda, you're as helpless as a baby, you're a thing to be pitied, but I'll end your misery quickly!! Piranha Roses!!".

And with this last volley unable to defend myself with my chains, my Cloth too is destroyed, and my skin is torn apart, and I fall powerlessly on the ground feeling immense pain all over my body, at the same time, my senses dim even more and a sense of weakness takes over me, then I hear my opponent's voice "Now, the last of the five Bronze Saints who stormed the Gold Zodiac has fallen, only the Silver Saint remains... The Pope will be pleased".

As I lay on the ground, bleeding, losing my senses one after another, and feeling closer to death than ever, I think 'No! I can't stop here!! It seems that I have to do the thing I hate the most... No matter how much I hate to hurt my opponents, especially the ones that are not evil... For Athena and my brothers who gave their all until now, I have to do it! I'll stop holding back!! I'll unleash my true power!' and as soon as, I make my resolve, I let go of my restraints, and let my Cosmo fully explode and expand.