After the great battle, the Sanctuary entered a state of rebuilding.
Despite the war,
the Sanctuary's strength hadn't suffered greatly.
Several Eighth Sense Saints remained,
including Kaiser, who survived his clash with the God of Death.
Kaiser sat in the plaza before the Aries Temple.
With Cosmo and his unique abilities, reconstruction progressed swiftly.
The scars of battle were nearly gone.
"Tap… tap… tap…"
Shion approached, sitting beside Kaiser.
Among the surviving Gold Saints, they, trained under the same master, were closest.
"What's wrong, Pope?"
Kaiser sensed Shion's unease. Without turning, he asked softly.
"Kaiser, we defeated Hades."
"Will the earth truly know two hundred years of peace?"
"I've been reviewing records in the Sanctuary's Observatory Tower."
"Even with Hades defeated."
"evil gods will keep descending."
"The earth holds something the gods crave."
"Can we really end this endless cycle of Holy Wars?"
Shion gazed down at the Sanctuary.
A breeze stirred,
but it couldn't dispel the confusion on his face.
Athena's earlier words had thrilled and shocked him.
Ending the Holy War... was it truly possible?
Since the Mythological Age, the wars had cycled endlessly.
Countless battles, never ceasing.
"It will, if we live to see it."
"Athena once told me the gods fear humans."
"Human potential terrifies them."
"Why did the gods fear humanity in the Golden Age?"
"You need to understand one thing, Shion."
"Gods can be killed. They die."
Kaiser turned to Shion.
His golden eyes reflected shimmering stars,
as if piercing the world's truths.
"Your realm is beyond me."
"Hahaha!"
Shion laughed heartily.
"The next Holy War is our chance."
"Athena and I aren't certain, but we'll try."
"Even if we can't end the cycle next time."
"there's the Holy War after that, and the one after."
"There's always a chance."
Kaiser's tone was light.
Perhaps knowing history made it seem simple.
But living through it revealed the despair of unseen hope.
"Do you have a chance to become a god?"
Shion asked suddenly.
"Why ask?"
Kaiser was surprised.
"I sensed Athena's favor toward you."
"Your strength doesn't match Yitiya or Crestor's."
"Yet Athena clearly values you more."
"She even gave you her divine blood."
"During that battle, she entrusted you with something, didn't she?"
"Besides your potential, I can't think of another reason."
"Since you were brought to the Sanctuary by our teacher."
"you've shown unmatched maturity."
"Your strength stands at our generation's peak."
"After much thought, I concluded one thing."
"You could become a god."
"Athena sees in you the key to ending the Holy War."
Shion shared his thoughts.
"You're the right choice for Pope."
"Your wisdom suits leading the Sanctuary."
Kaiser smiled, sidestepping the point.
But Shion caught the implication.
No direct denial, only praise for his wisdom.
An indirect admission of Shion's theory.
"I never thought I'd witness a human become a god."
Shion murmured, deeply shaken.
"Gods aren't untouchable."
"The Sanctuary is yours."
"Unless it's urgent, don't come to the Weapon Sanctuary."
Kaiser patted Shion's shoulder and stood.
He walked toward the Libra Temple.
"Become a god, huh?"
"Keep going…"
Shion remained seated, watching the Sanctuary's rekindled lights.
As if seeing humanity's hope ignite.
Back in the Weapon Sanctuary, Kaiser entered a meditative state.
The faint divinity extracted from Poros had been consumed by Athena's.
Her divinity was pure, free of any will.
Athena had left no traps in her divinity or blood.
But extracting divinity was agonizing beyond imagination.
Like Poros, it only emerged after death.
"So you chose to die?"
"With your power, you could have won."
"Hades was played, and he's still counting your coins."
Kaiser let out a soft chuckle.
A gentle warmth flickered in his eyes.
This was a heavy gift.
With the strength of this era's Athena, defeat was impossible.
Even in the original story, clad in her divine armor, Athena effortlessly crushed that era's Hades' body.
She pursued the Twin Gods and Hades' soul into the divine pathway, vanishing thereafter.
But in the original, Kaiser didn't exist.
Athena's choice to enter the divine pathway, beyond sealing the Twin Gods and Hades' soul, was likely to guide Pegasus.
In the LC era, Hades, Pegasus, and Sasha grew up together in an orphanage.
Clearly, Hades also sought to claim Pegasus.
Why? Likely tied to Tenma.
As Pegasus' father, he knew things.
Like… the God-Slaying Power.
Before his diminishment, Tenma was Kairos, the Time God, brother to Chronos.
In status, he surpassed even primordial gods.
A super god.
Now, Athena chose to die.
Beyond Pegasus, it likely involved Kaiser.
Extracting one's will from divinity required immense power.
Clearly, Hades, Hypnos, and Thanatos were pawns in Athena's game.
Otherwise, with this Athena's awakening, death was unthinkable!
As the Goddess of War and Wisdom, clad in divine armor,
she could single-handedly dominate a Holy War!
The Gold Saints were barely needed.
"But revealing her reclamation of war powers like this... does it matter?"
Kaiser mused silently, then cleared his thoughts.
Athena's understanding of the heavens and gods far exceeded his.
If she acted thus, she had her reasons.
He needn't overthink.
Sinking into meditation, Kaiser probed the divinity, seeking the conditions for forming a divine essence.
Divinity was ethereal.
The greatest divide between man and god.
"Buzz…"
As his consciousness delved into the divinity, Kaiser glimpsed the world's essence.
Rules flowed; all law lines were crystal clear.
"Is this a god's vision?"
"My divine sight has grown stronger."
Kaiser marveled inwardly.
But as he probed deeper,
instinct warned him.
Further exploration could kill him.
"Too weak?"
Kaiser frowned, opening his eyes.
The attempt wasn't fruitless.
He learned some conditions for forming a divine essence.
The Eighth Sense Cosmo couldn't achieve it.
The power was insufficient; the Ninth Sense was the minimum.
Innate gods needed only the Eighth Sense.
But for mortals to ascend, the Ninth Sense was essential.
Second-tier gods were at this level.
First-tier main gods, like Athena or Zeus, reached the Tenth Sense.
The endpoint for most gods in the Saint Seiya world.
Yet four forces surpassed the Tenth Sense:
The will of all beings, Omega.
The ultimate power of primordial gods.
The collective will of gods born from the cosmic explosion.
And the final, ultimate super god power.
Those were far from Kaiser's reach.
His immediate goal was the Ninth Sense.
The human limit.
Without divinity, the Tenth Sense was unattainable.
Only special powers like God-Slaying or Omega could breach that barrier.
With Athena's divinity and blood,
if Kaiser reached the Ninth Sense, he could form his divine essence.
"The divine essence manifests power."
"But I'm far from ready."
Kaiser frowned.
His Cosmo, mental strength, and physique were all lacking.
Forming a divine essence seemed distant.
"But it's not without gain."
"At least time is on my side."
Kaiser had the Heroic Spirit Summoning System.
Thoughtforms could cultivate.
For others, a Holy War came every two hundred forty-three years.
For Kaiser, it could be five hundred, even a thousand years.
With his cheat, could he fail to form a divine essence in a millennium?
He'd rather end it all.
The great Seiya, from Bronze to god-killer, took mere years.
Without new summoning tasks, Kaiser meditated in the Libra Temple's Weapon Sanctuary.
Honing his Cosmo.
His battle with Thanatos yielded great insights.
He was close to the mid-Eighth Sense.
His domain array grew stronger,
meeting all his envisioned requirements.
…
"That kid Kaiser."
"He'll catch up to us in a few years."
Crestor and Yitiya stood at the Sanctuary's highest point.
Drinking together.
Surviving this Holy War,
their mood was less heavy than the last.
The previous Holy War, though a Sanctuary victory,
left Yitiya and Crestor gazing at a ravaged Sanctuary and earth,
filled with helplessness.
Especially knowing another war loomed in two hundred forty-three years.
The thought was suffocating.
But this Holy War was different.
Athena had clearly stated:
The cycle of Holy Wars was nearing its end.
She even began reclaiming her war powers.
In the last Holy War, Athena led them,
but neither Yitiya nor Crestor saw her fight.
This time, Athena defeated Hades and two gods in one battle.
A staggering shock.
Gods could be that powerful.
"Athena must see hope in Kaiser."
"Just like us."
"Bringing him to the Sanctuary"
"was likely my life's best choice."
Yitiya reflected.
Without Kaiser, he might have started his plan to purge the earth.
Swayed by the Underworld, devastating the Sanctuary.
Draining its foundation,
setting up disaster for the next Holy War.
But Kaiser's presence turned the tide.
They exchanged smiles.
Their eyes brimmed with relief.
The relief of glimpsing hope.
"Hm?"
The tranquil sky suddenly churned with storm clouds.
Massive temporal-spatial fluctuations drew many eyes.
"What's that?"
"A time tunnel?"
"Someone's invading the Sanctuary now?"
The Holy War had just ended, and the Saints' taut nerves hadn't yet relaxed.
Seeing the sudden time tunnel, they braced for battle.
Two figures stumbled from the tunnel.
"Those are…?"
"The Aries Gold Cloth and the Sagittarius Gold Cloth?"
Yitiya and Crestor were the first to see the newcomers.
They wore the Aries and Sagittarius Gold Cloths.
"But how?"
"The Aries Gold Cloth is still in the Aries Temple."
"And the current Sagittarius hasn't fallen."
Yitiya glanced at the Aries and Sagittarius Temples in shock.
The Gold Cloths were indeed there.
So what were these Cloths the newcomers wore?
"Boom…"
Avernir and Yugo crashed into the earth,
carving two deep craters.
"Did we make it?"
Avernir propped himself up, slowly standing.
He scanned his surroundings.
Familiar sights.
Familiar air.
"I really… went back in time?"
"I still have a chance to change everything?"
Tears welled in Avernir's eyes, unable to believe the scene before him.
Yugo, beside him, stared at the Sanctuary's lights in disbelief.
Though slightly different, this was undeniably the Sanctuary.
They had truly returned to the past.
"Who are you?"
Yitiya and Crestor reached Avernir and Yugo first.
As the Sanctuary's top warriors,
they responded immediately to the intrusion.
The other Gold Saints were still recovering from their wounds.
"Aries Gold Saint, Avernir."
"Sagittarius Gold Saint, Yugo."
Answering the question, Avernir and Yugo declared their identities.
In the Sanctuary, unknowns risked swift death.
"Aries and Sagittarius Gold Saints?"
"You're not from our timeline?"
Crestor frowned.
Their Cosmos, though strong, were only at the Seventh Sense.
How could such a Cosmo cross time?
Had future Gold Saints developed time-travel abilities?
But the Seventh Sense seemed unlikely.
"We're from the Sanctuary five hundred years from now."
Avernir lowered his gaze.
"Five hundred years from now?"
"Impossible!"
Yitiya and Crestor frowned, sensing hidden truths.
"This isn't the place to talk."
"Take them to the Pope's Hall."
Yitiya said.
"Come with us."
Crestor led them toward the Pope's Hall.
The aura of life and the Cloths couldn't be faked.
Their resonance confirmed they were Zodiac Cloths…
***
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