Gemini Gold Saint Saga, one of the strongest Gold Saints in the Sanctuary, stood with a golden dagger in hand, a complicated look on his face as he stared at the baby girl in the plain cradle.
This was no ordinary day. It was the day the goddess Athena, the deity said to guard humankind, descended to the earth—and also the day the Gemini Gold Saint, counted among Athena's twelve most loyal Gold Saints, rebelled against Pope Shion and assassinated him.
After killing Shion, Saga donned the resplendent cloak and the Pope's tiara, took the Pope's place, and ascended the papal throne.
(Non-original TV version note: Saga claimed to be the Pope's younger brother "Arles," temporarily filling in for the Pope. But in the Hades arc it's clear this "Pope's younger brother Arles" almost certainly doesn't exist. Shion was over two hundred years old—how old would his "younger brother" be? And why didn't he show up for centuries? As for the self-justifying "Holy Sword Myth," let's set that aside.)
After usurping the papacy from Shion, the first thing Saga intended to do was eliminate Athena, who had just reincarnated into the human world that day. If the girl grew up, she would surely learn of his treachery and show him no mercy.
More importantly, Saga was supremely confident in his own power. He truly believed he had the strength to take Athena's place in the hearts of the Saints.
Saga didn't get the title "incarnation of a god" for nothing. He indeed had the capital to dominate the entire Sanctuary.
But when he raised the god-slaying golden dagger, he hesitated. He couldn't bring himself to strike—or rather, another force within him stayed his hand. Two spirits lived in Saga's body. To outsiders, one seemed cold and cruel, the other kind yet cold.
Only Saga knew both were himself. The source was the Gemini curse—or, more precisely, a curse inherent to humanity.
Everyone has two sides. The Gemini sign simply gives that duality a three-dimensional manifestation.
Just as Saga lifted the god-slaying dagger high, the space around him began to ripple.
If he weren't adept with spatial power, he might not have noticed, for that disturbance had no outward effect.
As Saga silently grew alert, a human figure gradually appeared within his field of view.
"Where is this?" Having just arrived in the Saint Seiya world, Meruem's senses were still a bit fuzzy. He'd felt some vertigo before, but this time it was particularly strong, and though he was countless times stronger now than before entering the Dragon Ball world, he was still muddled. "Huh? This mask style looks familiar… and this scene too. I've seen this somewhere." Half-asleep, Meruem stared blankly at the Pope's tiara Saga had set aside, and at Saga himself—momentarily stunned by Meruem's sudden appearance, still frozen with his golden dagger raised.
"…"
"Galaxian Explosion!" After one second of silence, Saga, without another word, decisively unleashed the Gemini Gold Saint's strongest technique at Meruem.
No matter who it was, whoever saw this today had to die!
"Holy crap! Saga's staging a coup!" Blasted bodily into the air by Saga's ultimate move, Meruem finally realized mid-flight where and when he was.
"System—screw you."
"Pope! What happened?" The deafening blast and Saga's surging Cosmo alarmed the entire Sanctuary.
The Gold Saint nearest the Goddess's Temple, Aiolos, rushed toward the temple.
Given the urgency, Aiolos didn't knock—he barged right in.
"Pope! What are you—wait, you're Saga, how—" Aiolos happened to witness the scene.
"Galaxian Explosion!" Hitting one or two—either way, it had to be done. Since he'd already moved, Saga didn't care to hold back. The priority now was to settle this quickly.
"As expected of the most powerful Gold Saint and the fiercest fists—he even made a guy who toppled the cosmic emperor feel a twinge." Climbing out of an unknown building reduced to ruins by his crash, Meruem patted his backside and stroked his chin, a little self-satisfied.
Even after taking Saga's full-power Galaxian Explosion, he was unharmed, which made his current level hard to imagine.
"But… the timing of my arrival in the Saint Seiya world really is a pain. Dropped right into the scene of Saga's revolt. A powerful energy surge from over there—that's got to be Aiolos, right? Damn, this'll be a show. Can't miss it." Meruem stood, dusted himself off, then triggered Zetsu to wrap himself and suppress his aura to the minimum, slipping into the surrounding rows of buildings.
New to the Saints' world, Meruem hadn't grasped the mysterious power of Cosmo. But Nen, ki, and chakra were every bit as wondrous. Maybe they didn't erupt as violently as Cosmo, but for hiding? Heh.
As he moved through the Sanctuary in search of Aiolos, Meruem recalled a post he'd seen online in his previous life: a Bronze Saint in the Naruto world could solo the Nine-Tails.
Exaggerated, perhaps, but judging from Saga's earlier burst, it might just be true.
Strictly speaking, the Nine-Tails and Cerberus of the Underworld were in a similar class—if anything, the Nine-Tails might be lower. In the Hades arc, Bronze Saint Seiya toyed with Cerberus in the Second Temple.
Seiya's a Bronze Saint—stronger than average, sure. If Cerberus and the Nine-Tails are comparable and Seiya trounced him, you could argue a Bronze Saint could stomp the Nine-Tails.
And Bronze Saints' baseline is bodies and fists beyond the speed of sound—several, even dozens of times the speed of sound, like it's nothing.
That kind of combat power would rank in the Naruto world. "Fists that tear the sky, feet that crack the earth" isn't just talk.
"Aiolos has betrayed the Sanctuary, colluded with an unknown outsider, and attempted to swap an ordinary human infant for the goddess Athena's reincarnated body. He is an extreme danger to the Sanctuary! Upon discovery, report immediately. Do not engage lightly!" An emergency order rang out across the Sanctuary from Saga's mouth. He dispatched Shura of Capricorn—said to be the most loyal to Athena among the twelve Gold Saints—to capture Aiolos.
"Found him." Though Meruem couldn't use Cosmo yet to sense an opponent's whereabouts, that didn't mean he couldn't find someone.
Aiolos didn't have chakra, so sensory techniques were useless. But Meruem could locate him via sensing ki and with the Nen technique En.
In Dragon Ball, Son Goku explained that ki is the energy everyone carries within. When people move, they produce subtle flows of air—those currents are ki.
Meruem didn't know exactly which ki was Aiolos's, but he'd seen Saga—and Aiolos's strength at the time was on par. Find a similar aura and odds were it was Aiolos.
He could also use En for a precise lock, but En made a splash and was easy to sense—especially to Saints whose five senses far exceeded normal. To them, using En was like switching on a light bulb in the dark.
Meruem wasn't afraid—but it was a hassle.
"Aiolos, I never expected you to betray the Sanctuary!" Clad in the Capricorn Gold Cloth, Shura blocked the path of Aiolos, who was carrying a baby. He placed his right hand across his chest—preparing to use his signature technique, the Holy Sword Excalibur.
Legend has it that as one's Cosmo rises, its power can continuously elevate, a move of exceptional potential—said to cut even the creations of gods.
"Shura…" Facing a former friend turned foe, Aiolos truly didn't know what to say.
Purely in terms of strength, in a fair fight Aiolos would win. But reality isn't fair. Before he'd donned his Cloth, Aiolos had been ambushed by Saga's Galaxian Explosion and gravely injured.
Now, even in a Gold Cloth, he might not match Shura at full power—and he couldn't afford the time. The infant in his arms was Athena's reincarnation.
He had no time to waste in a clash with Shura. Once two evenly matched Gold Saints went all out, it could trigger a Thousand Days' War.
Wounded Aiolos and the Shura before him were nearly evenly matched.
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