"Athena!"
"Do you really think you can win this Holy War alone?"
Hades' reincarnated form roared.
Athena's current demeanor was insufferably arrogant.
Hades hadn't seen Athena like this in ages.
Her current demeanor filled him with unease.
Had she truly unraveled the secrets hidden within the earth?
The secrets beyond the gods?
"Hades and the Twin Gods are mine."
"The Underworld's army is yours."
"Preserve your lives at all costs."
"Do as I instructed."
"Even at my weakest."
"I can take those three."
A faint smile curved Athena's lips.
Her purple hair danced.
Her fighting spirit blazed, her War Goddess Cosmo surging to unprecedented heights.
"Come!"
"Since the Mythological Age, I haven't fought properly."
"Let's see how much you've grown!"
Athena's gaze was sharp.
As the Goddess of War and Wisdom, anyone mistaking her for a powerless figure was gravely mistaken.
In terms of strength, even Ares, the Olympian God of War, would yield to her!
Golden wings unfurled behind her.
Athena soared skyward.
Her radiant Cosmo illuminated the entire earth.
Hades, Hypnos, and Thanatos, standing before her, felt the pressure intensify.
"Since the Mythological Age ended."
"Athena seemed to abandon her war domain."
"But now, she's reclaiming her power."
"Why?"
Hades didn't understand.
But a brutal battle loomed.
Athena's Nike Staff erupted with sun-like golden light, the Sanctuary's ruins trembling under divine might. Her purple hair flowed without wind, the Aegis Shield hovering beside her, its Medusa relief glowing crimson.
For the first time since sealing the Titans in the Mythological Age, the War Goddess unleashed her full divinity.
"Arrogant!"
"Athena, you're no longer the gods' mightiest!"
The otherworldly flower patterns on Hades' Surplice flared, his Underworld Sword slashing black sword energy that tore the sky.
From the rift poured not blood, but countless wraiths cloaked in black mist, spirits lingering in the Underworld for eons, transforming the surrounding miles into a ghostly realm.
Hypnos gently caressed his Urn of Eternal Sleep, silver-gray sand pouring from its mouth.
The Sanctuary's pillars began to erode, and Saints battling Specters froze mid-motion.
The stagnation caused by the Sand of Eternal Sleep.
"Eternal Slumber."
Hypnos' voice carried layered echoes, a triple galaxy phantom spinning behind him.
Thanatos swung his Chaos Scythe, its blade leaving viscous crimson trails, as if igniting Athena's divine armor.
Athena slammed her Nike Staff into the ground, seven golden pillars piercing the sky.
They locked all space around the four gods.
The Aegis Shield expanded, Medusa's eyes firing petrifying divine light, turning the wraiths into plaster statues.
The olive branch crest on the staff bloomed with emerald light, freeing the frozen Saints, their battle cries resuming.
Athena fully isolated the divine battlefield.
"Wisdom Array: Causal Reversal!"
Hades' pupils contracted, his Underworld Sword unleashing a massive dark purple arc across the sky.
Gemini's Galaxy Explosion, Aquarius' Aurora Execution, and Libra's Final Justice merged into a spiraling light stream under Athena's Cosmo.
The power of the eighty-eight constellations blazed in unison.
This attack, fused with the constellations' might, clashed with Hades' power in the heavens.
The force shook the frozen space.
"Puh!"
Hades' body began to crack.
His flesh couldn't withstand the Cosmo's strain.
"Damn it! If I were my true self!"
Hades glared at Athena, fury in his eyes.
He never dreamed she'd suppress him so thoroughly.
"What are you waiting for!"
Hades roared.
Thanatos' scythe split into countless shadows, each becoming a real blade, slashing at Athena from different temporal dimensions.
Hypnos formed seals, phantoms of the twelve Olympian gods appearing behind him, silver sand streaming from their eyes.
The Sleep of the Gods, which even Zeus once fell to.
Athena sliced her palm, golden divine blood soaking the staff.
The Nike Staff blazed with radiant light.
"In the nameof the Goddess of War and Wisdom!"
She pointed the bloodied staff skyward, the starry sky twisting into a vortex.
The techniques of past Gold Saints rained from the heavens, clashing with the Twin Gods' attacks.
Space-time collapsed.
A micro black hole formed at the gods' battleground. Had Athena not sealed the space, the fight would have sunk the continent.
Such was the power of main gods.
Athena's skirt armor began to shatter, her body's divine blood burning fiercely.
Her War and Wisdom Goddess divinity continued to awaken.
The Aegis Shield disintegrated, three thousand fragments becoming golden meteors, each etched with a fallen Saint's name.
"Hades, Hypnos, Thanatos."
"Have you heard the roar of human souls?"
"Have you felt humanity's wrath?"
"Star Elegy!"
The wraiths Hades summoned became his death knell.
Countless souls poured into the Aegis Shield fragments.
Fueled by heroic spirits and human will, the fragments pierced Hypnos' Urn of Eternal Sleep, shattering his divine artifact.
Thanatos' scythe was caught by Libra's weapon phantoms, and Athena seized the moment, thrusting her staff into the Death God's chest.
Hades' Underworld Sword pierced Athena's back, its tip emerging from her chest, black mist corroding her divine form.
Even her divine armor couldn't stop Hades' blade.
Immense pain surged through Athena.
Yet her face showed no trace of faltering!
"Lady Athena!"
Yitiya and Crestor, seeing this, were beside themselves with rage.
Both charged skyward.
"Bang!"
A sharp sound rang out.
Yitiya and Crestor were hurled back faster than they came.
This was a divine battlefield.
Even with their strength, they had no place here.
Both crashed into the battlefield, gravely injured.
"Damn it!"
Shion's eyes burned red.
In the human battlefield, the Sanctuary held the advantage.
Casualties were minimal.
But in the divine battlefield, Athena was critically wounded.
"Are we just supposed to watch?"
Seeing their goddess' might inspired the Saints but also struck them hard.
Athena alone drew the Underworld's three top powers.
While they could only clear minor foes.
Utterly humiliating.
A massive divine storm swirled in the sky, unapproachable by humans.
Entering that divine battlefield would mean instant death.
Only Kaiser gazed calmly at the heavens.
He and Athena alone knew the plan for the next Holy War.
In this Holy War, Athena chose to sacrifice herself.
To pave the way for Pegasus' birth in the next.
Reclaiming her full divine power required time.
The next Holy War was the perfect opportunity.
"It's over."
Hades' reincarnated form sneered.
Even as his body teetered on collapse.
But he glimpsed the dawn of victory.
Athena suddenly grasped the blade piercing her chest, letting the black mist sear her palm. "I was waiting for you."
Her blood turned radiant gold, flowing up the Underworld Sword.
Hades tried to release the sword, but it was too late. The purifying power in her divine blood seeped into his soul.
"Ah!!"
Tainted by Athena's blood, Hades' soul and body began to separate and disintegrate.
"Lord Hades!"
The Twin Gods, seeing this, opened a divine pathway behind Hades, attempting to return his soul to Elysion.
They rushed forward to stop Athena.
"Buzz!"
Golden Cosmo spread, and phantoms of the twelve Zodiac Saints appeared.
They blocked the Twin Gods' advance.
Libra's Final Justice, Aries' Stardust Revolution, Taurus' Great Horn.
The ultimate techniques of the Gold Saints manifested anew.
The same golden techniques.
When used by Gold Saints, the Twin Gods dismissed them.
But powered by Athena's divine Cosmo,
their might was staggering.
The Twin Gods were blasted back in an instant.
Embedded in space, their movements sealed.
Seizing the fleeting gap, Athena detonated her entire Cosmo.
"Witness the power of a cosmic explosion."
"Hades!"
"This strike will not only destroy your body."
"but cripple your soul!"
"We'll meet again in two hundred forty-three years."
Athena's Cosmo contracted abruptly.
Forming a singularity.
The origin of a cosmic explosion.
"Athena Exclamation."
The furious roars of the three gods were drowned in the genesis-level blast.
In the massive explosion, even the divine pathway warped.
"Damn it!"
Athena's move completely blindsided Hades and the Twin Gods.
Hades' battered soul lost all resistance.
Due to the Athena Exclamation, the divine pathway became unstable.
Hades' soul teetered on the edge of the chaotic flow.
"Lord Hades."
Hypnos and Thanatos, their Surplices shattered, were drenched in blood.
Their faces pale, their Cosmos reduced to mere embers.
They barely shielded Hades' soul in the spatial turbulence.
"Take me to Elysion."
Hades' soul wavered, his voice faint.
The Twin Gods struggled through the chaotic flow.
"It seems I've won."
Athena's face was deathly pale.
She had burned her Cosmo to ashes.
"Now, to deal with the divine pathway."
Her Nike Staff blazed with golden light once more.
With her last divine power, Athena sealed the divine pathway.
"Athena!"
Kaiser, having recovered some strength during the battle, caught the falling Athena.
"Cough… cough…"
Athena looked frail, a far cry from the majestic War Goddess.
"Kaiser, for the next two hundred years, the earth is in your hands."
"I'll meet you in the next cycle."
"I must reclaim my full power."
"The Underworld is Hades' domain."
"To kill him in Elysion."
"I must descend to the human world myself."
Athena's voice was faint.
"I understand."
"For these two hundred years, I won't let the earth falter."
Kaiser nodded.
"Cough… cough…"
"Here, these are fragments of my divinity."
"They're few."
"but far stronger than the faint divinity within you."
"If possible, in these two hundred years, break through to the Ninth Sense."
"Only by bridging the gap between man and god."
"forming your own divinity and divine essence."
"can you unravel the earth's secrets."
"We… will… meet… again…"
Athena's voice faded.
Until it vanished.
Kaiser felt his arms lighten.
Athena's body began to dissolve.
"Athena!"
Shion couldn't accept it.
As her Saints, they were protected by her.
"Die, all of you!"
Spurred by Athena's death, the Saints went berserk.
The Hades army suffered heavy losses.
Gradually overwhelmed by the Sanctuary's forces.
Ultimately eradicated.
Of the twelve Zodiac Gold Saints, five remained!
The highest survival rate since the Mythological Age.
Nearly half.
The gods' power had been swept away by Athena.
Had Yitiya and Crestor not rushed skyward,
the survival rate might have been higher.
"The Holy War… is it over?"
Surviving Saints gazed around, dazed.
Unable to believe the Holy War had ended.
"Yes."
"It's over…"
Athena's body fully vanished in Kaiser's arms.
"In two hundred forty-three years."
"I'll be waiting…"
"Athena."
Kaiser murmured in his heart.
Empowered by Athena's divinity and blood,
with his Eighth Sense Cosmo,
Kaiser was now one step from godhood, needing only the Ninth Sense.
Time could no longer mark him.
"Clear the battlefield."
"Athena is gone."
"But the Sanctuary endures."
"Evil gods still lurk on the earth."
"Stay vigilant."
Shion issued commands at the critical moment.
The surviving Saints began cleaning the battlefield.
The five remaining Gold Saints were Cancer, Gemini, Virgo, Libra, and Sagittarius.
The rest had perished.
Yet the five surviving Gold Saints were among the elite.
Even the weakest had reached the late Seventh Sense.
By the next Holy War in two hundred forty-three years,
they would form a pivotal force.
"Cough… cough…"
"We're getting old…"
Yitiya and Crestor lay amidst the ruins.
Witnessing Athena's death before their eyes,
the shock and helplessness seared into their hearts.
"Rest well, teachers."
"Next time you act so recklessly, I fear you won't survive to the next Holy War."
Kaiser walked between them, sitting down heavily.
Facing Thanatos, he had been utterly outmatched.
Even with all his techniques,
without Athena's divine artifacts, he was powerless.
He hadn't even scratched the god.
This humbled Kaiser, stripping away his pride.
"Two hundred forty-three years. A long time."
Kaiser sighed. He was only nineteen.
But the good news was, in those years, he might reach unimaginable heights.
The Ninth Sense... he was certain he could achieve it.
***
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