"What?"
"Two Gold Cloths?"
"Gold Saints from a time tunnel?"
Kaiser froze at Yitiya's telepathic message.
"No, Chronos shouldn't have noticed me."
"The Saint Seiya world has countless parallel universes."
"The infinite multiverse is just Chronos' library."
"Each book a universe, but Chronos shouldn't care about such details."
Unease stirred in Kaiser's heart.
This was Chronos, the super god.
The creator deity of the Saint Seiya multiverse.
The god at time's beginning and end.
"But why?"
"My arrival should've changed the future."
"Why are Avernir and Yugo still here, crossing time?"
Kaiser's brow furrowed.
In his and Athena's plan, the Holy War should end in the next cycle.
In their timeline, it should conclude in the LC era.
It shouldn't reach the SS era of the twentieth century.
Avernir and Mu were Saints of the same era.
Just from different timelines.
"Will we not win the next Holy War?"
"Is this Chronos' warning?"
"The future won't change?"
Kaiser's expression shifted.
Countless possibilities flashed through his mind.
Calming himself, Kaiser stood and left the Weapon Sanctuary.
No matter what, he had to meet Avernir and Yugo.
The Sanctuary's remaining Gold Saints gathered in the Pope's Hall.
"Didn't expect you to show."
Seeing Kaiser, the current Gemini, Phoebe, was surprised.
Kaiser had just announced a seclusion.
Yet here he was, so soon.
"Teacher's message said it's important."
Kaiser nodded.
"The Holy War's over, but I felt a strong spatial disturbance."
"Is something unexpected happening?"
Virgo's Lotus frowned.
This Holy War relied on Athena's overwhelming power to preserve so many of the Sanctuary's forces.
If an evil god attacked now, the Sanctuary would struggle.
Fortunately, Athena left many blood-infused weapons and runes.
Enough to handle second-tier gods.
"We'll know when Yitiya and Crestor arrive."
"Guessing now is pointless."
Sagittarius' Estelle stood, eyes closed, resting.
Tempered by the Holy War, the current Gold Saints all reached the Seventh Sense's peak.
Their strength was formidable.
So they weren't overly tense about what was coming.
"Tap… tap… tap…"
Footsteps echoed.
Estelle's Sagittarius Gold Cloth suddenly blazed with light.
Caught off guard.
"What's happening?"
"Cloth resonance?"
Phoebe and Lotus were stunned.
Cloth resonance rarely spiraled so wildly out of control.
When Yitiya and Crestor arrived with Avernir and Yugo,
all the Gold Saints present, except Kaiser, were shocked.
"Two Sagittarius Gold Cloths?"
"What's going on?"
Even Shion was astonished.
"According to these two."
"they come from a Holy War five hundred years from now."
"Their goal is to alter history."
"The history of the Sanctuary's defeat."
Yitiya's eyes darkened as he spoke of the Sanctuary's fall.
They had just glimpsed hope to end the Holy War.
Now, this grim news.
"You're from five hundred years in the future?"
"You lost that Holy War?"
Shion frowned, questioning.
He knew Athena's plan and Kaiser's potential.
Even if they couldn't end the Underworld and Sea Realm in the next Holy War,
it shouldn't exhaust the Sanctuary's reserves.
A snowballing advantage, yet the Holy War after next would be lost?
Shion couldn't believe it.
"Yes, Lord Shion."
"In the twentieth-century Holy War, the Sanctuary fell."
"The Pope and Lady Athena were beheaded by Hades, plunging the earth into endless darkness."
"Yugo and I are the last Gold Saints."
"With our power, time travel should be impossible."
"But somehow."
"I heard a guiding voice from the void."
"It led me to this era."
"To change everything."
"And revealed a critical detail."
"The key to the Sanctuary's defeat."
Avernir's eyes were heavy with exhaustion, holding only a faint glimmer.
"What detail?"
Shion asked urgently.
"We lost because the Pope wasn't Shion."
Avernir revealed his secret.
"Shion?"
"Never heard of him."
"Is he that powerful?"
"Enough to sway a Holy War?"
Yitiya interjected.
He considered himself strong,
but not enough to single-handedly shift a Holy War.
Especially with Athena reclaiming her war powers.
Having witnessed her battle with Hades,
no one could believe such an Athena would lose.
Fully restored, Athena would be a matchless main god, even in the heavens!
Beheaded by Hades' human form?
Everyone doubted Avernir.
Kaiser, however, grew pensive.
A chain reaction.
Clearly, Avernir's world diverged from the SS era's Gold Saints.
Without Saga's betrayal or Aiolos' fall, there was no Mitsumasa Kido adopting Athena.
Thus, no Five Bronze Saints.
Anyone familiar with Saint Seiya knew the Bronze Saints' power.
Without Seiya, the God-Slayer, the Sanctuary lost a trump card.
And their strength might not match the SS era's Gold Saints.
Defeat was plausible.
Moreover, in the LC era, Shion's setting suggested he might be the strongest Pope since the Mythological Age.
Many, after watching LC, thought Shion weak.
But as a Gold Saint, his power was mid-tier.
In LC's setting, Shion had a unique ability: touching a Cloth granted him its previous owners' memories and allowed him to master their techniques.
In the original LC timeline, Gadgard, corrupted by the Underworld, turned the Aries Gold Cloth into a Surplice.
The Zodiac lost one Gold Cloth.
Until Avernir's arrival filled the gap.
After Avernir's death, his friend Yugo safeguarded his legacy.
But Tenma, the Celestial Star, schemed, banishing the entire relic space.
The Aries Gold Cloth was lost for over two hundred years.
Until Shion, heeding the Cloth's call, journeyed with his brother-in-arms, Cancer's Manigoldo, to recover it.
They nearly fell to Tenma.
But Shion outshone Manigoldo in that battle.
Later, Shion entered the Demon Palace, defeating Lunie, the Celestial Star, strongest under the gods.
Before the Wall of Sighs, Shion's Zodiac Radiance forced out Hades' soul.
Aaron, Tenma, and Sasha then sent Hades' soul back to Elysion, ending the LC Holy War.
Afterward, Shion became Pope.
Fourteen years later, he wielded earth-shaking power, single-handedly defeating Kairos, the Time God, Tenma the Celestial Star.
The only Saint with perfect stats across all dimensions.
In the ND timeline, Shion's performance was less stellar.
A Gold Saint risen from Bronze, strong but overwhelmed by Ophiuchus' Odysseus.
In both LC and SS, Shion's setting was formidable.
His combat performance, however, was lackluster.
In the SS era, Saga's ambush killed him, though later retcons couldn't fully redeem it.
"No matter what, their Gold Cloths are genuine."
"I can feel the Sagittarius Gold Cloth they wear."
"It's identical to mine."
Estelle spoke.
"Could the Sanctuary really fall?"
A shadow loomed over the group.
"One question."
"Do you know who I am?"
Kaiser looked at Avernir.
If they knew him, the next Holy War had gone awry.
If not, things got interesting.
"You?"
Avernir frowned at Kaiser's Libra Gold Cloth, puzzled.
"Wait."
"Avernir."
"This doesn't match the history we know."
Yugo, fellow Sagittarius, finally reacted.
Lost in the shock of time travel, he hadn't noticed the surroundings.
Now, scanning the room…
Yugo realized there were five Gold Saints present!
This didn't match their records.
Everyone turned to Yugo.
"In our era's chronicles, this Holy War was supposed to be devastating."
"Because the old Pope, Yitiya, was swayed by the Underworld's Twin Gods and betrayed, the Sanctuary lost all its Gold Saints except Cancer's Shion, Altar's Hakurei, and the previous Aquarius, Crestor."
"In other words, this era's Gold Saints in their Cloths should only be Shion and Crestor."
Yitiya's expression darkened.
He began to believe these two came from the future.
Few knew of his plan to purge the earth.
Among the Gold Saints, only Shion, Kaiser, and Gadgard were aware.
"And this era's Libra Gold Saint was supposed to be vacant."
"The Libra Gold Cloth's control remained with old Pope Yitiya."
"Are you the variable?"
Yugo looked at Kaiser.
He saw him as the anomaly.
"As expected, your chronicles don't mention me."
"We're from different timelines."
"Your future isn't ours."
Kaiser said calmly.
The others were stunned.
No record of Kaiser in their history.
Yitiya realized that without Kaiser, he would have executed his plan.
History might have unfolded as these two described.
"We came for nothing."
Yugo gave Avernir a bitter smile.
This wasn't their timeline.
They had crossed to a parallel world five hundred years back.
And, unsurprisingly, this Holy War had ended.
Far better than their records.
A completely different path.
"A variable?"
"Did Athena sense this?"
"Is that why she valued Kaiser so much?"
Shion had a revelation.
Yitiya and Crestor understood too.
Why Athena favored Kaiser, even granting him divine blood.
"But since you're here, make yourselves at home."
"You can live here safely."
"The history you fear won't happen."
"The cycle of Holy Wars will end in the next one!"
Kaiser's voice brimmed with confidence.
Avernir and Yugo were no weaklings.
Remarkably strong, even.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have survived when both the Pope and Athena fell.
Though not at the cusp of the Eighth Sense, they were peak Seventh Sense warriors.
"End the Holy War?"
Avernir and Yugo looked up, stunned.
They could hardly believe their ears.
Though their records said the next Holy War was won, it was far from ending the cycle.
"I have matters to attend to. Handle these two."
"Though the Underworld's repelled, the earth remains restless."
"They can fill the Sanctuary's gaps."
With that, Kaiser left the Pope's Hall.
No need to hear more.
He had learned what he needed.
"Interesting, Chronos."
"Do you know I exist?"
"Or am I just your pastime amusement?"
Kaiser gazed at the sky.
Chronos, the Saint Seiya world's ultimate creator, never showed himself.
Yet he meddled plenty.
Sending people back in time repeatedly.
In ND, in LC.
By Omega, he even descended in diminished form.
Full of mischief.
But Kaiser was certain.
Chronos bore him no ill will.
That was enough.
"He's that confident?"
Avernir and Yugo exchanged glances, looking at the remaining Gold Saints.
"Let me put it this way."
"He's nineteen."
"Already an Eighth Sense master."
"Blessed with Athena's divine blood."
"He fought the God of Death toe-to-toe."
"One of the Sanctuary's strongest."
Yitiya replied.
"So exceptional."
Both were shocked.
A nineteen-year-old stable Eighth Sense warrior.
Rare in Sanctuary history.
"By the way, I meant to ask, who are you?"
Yugo looked at Yitiya.
The old man felt profoundly enigmatic.
"I'm the betraying Pope you mentioned, Yitiya."
"And this is Crestor."
Yitiya smiled.
The two froze.
But they quickly recovered.
Kaiser's presence was good news.
And his vow to end the cycle in the next Holy War sparked their anticipation.
Meanwhile, back in the Weapon Sanctuary, Kaiser's thoughtform was pulled into the Hall of Heroes.
"Oh? A new mission."
Seeing the twinkling stars in the cosmic river, Kaiser smiled…
***
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