"Hyoga of Cygnus from Siberia vs. Seiya of Pegasus from Greece."
"Hyoga! So you finally decided to show yourself?" Seiya said. "Let me knock some sense into you! I'll beat you awake!"
Seiya stood at the center of the ring, staring hard at Hyoga, who kept silent to the side.
"Hyoga, why… why did you be—no, why didn't you come back back then?" Seiya shouted at him.
"And now why did you come back? For that Gold Cloth? Do you like powerful Cloths that much? Enough to… enough to be our enemy?"
Hyoga didn't answer Seiya. He just looked at him quietly.
"Sorry," he finally squeezed out, as if it took all his strength.
"Stubborn fool! Like I said, I, Seiya, will knock you awake! Pegasus Ryuseiken!" Countless blue fists flew toward Hyoga, forming dense layers of a net that enveloped him.
Hyoga didn't resist, letting the blows land. Then he was lifted off his feet.
"Are you feeling guilty? Get up, fight back, fight! Are you looking down on me?" Seiya was angry, but more than that, he felt let down.
"Sorry, Seiya… sorry, everyone. But I have to win this match!" Hyoga pushed himself up from the ground, trembling, and stood with difficulty.
"For my master, Camus," Hyoga said to himself.
"Hyoga… next time, I won't hold back!" Seiya said.
"Good. Come at me. Show me what you gained training in Greece!"
"Pegasus Ryuseiken!"
"I've seen through your Meteor Fist." Hyoga dodged the tight net of blue fists with an eerie posture.
Then he began a strange dance toward Seiya.
"That stance…" Babel stared, surprised, at Hyoga on the platform. He had once had the fortune to glimpse the Aquarius Gold Saint Camus, the ice and snow prince of the Sanctuary.
The feeling Camus gave him back then was exactly the same as this Bronze onstage.
"Diamond Dust!" A surge of intense cold sealed the entire ring in ice, and even the crowd outside the arena barrier felt the air around them drop by more than ten degrees.
Cold—bitter cold.
"Didn't expect Hyoga to reach this level," Meruem said, standing beside little Saori as he watched that blast of cold.
Compared to the original story, the Bronze Five were now far stronger. Back then they were merely top-tier Bronzes; now there weren't many Silvers who could beat them.
Especially Ikki now—he could already stand on his own.
"Hey, little Saori, want to guess who'll win—Seiya or Hyoga?" Meruem suggested.
"Seiya," Saori said without even thinking.
"Ah, that was my pick too. But why not Hyoga? Seiya's sealed in a solid block of ice right now," Meruem said.
"Because Seiya's stronger. He's been holding back since the start," Saori said.
"Saori, looks like your feel for the subtleties of Cosmo is getting sharper. You even caught that," Meruem said, pleased, resting his hand on her head.
Short-haired Athena really is the cutest!
"Quit it, (ノω<.)ノ))☆.. You're messing up my hair." Though Saori said that, she didn't dodge and let Meruem have his way.
"Seiya, you can't beat me. Sorry, but please retire inside this ice," Hyoga said apologetically to the Seiya encased in ice.
"What incredible Cosmo, what terrifying cold. Even for me, a frontal clash with him might end badly," Babel said, impressed.
Hyoga's astounding power shocked everyone present.
Both the crowd outside and the contestants in their seats.
"If only this kid would join my church. What a shame—such a powerful force," Doluba said, eyes gleaming as he stared at Hyoga in the center.
As leader of the Ice Warriors, he naturally hoped to see a powerful Ice Warrior join his ranks.
"Ref, you can call it now," Hyoga said, ignoring the others and turning his head to the referee.
"Wait—Hyoga, it's not over yet!!!" Just then, a Cosmo as strong as Hyoga's own flared up behind him.
Countless cracks spread across the frozen ring.
With a light crackle, the ice burst into flying shards.
A red-and-white figure stood out brilliantly on the platform.
"I am Seiya of Pegasus!" Seiya said with a light laugh, appearing before Hyoga.
"Let's move on to round two, Hyoga!" Whatever your reason, I'll forgive you. Because we're friends. So you never betrayed us after all.
"Hmph. Just what I had in mind." As expected of Seiya—no matter how many times he falls, he gets up. Truly the unfelled Seiya.
"Pegasus Ryuseiken!" "Diamond Dust!"
A white and a red figure flashed around the ring. Since they were fighting at supersonic speeds, the average spectator couldn't see their movements at all.
But while the naked eye failed, the machines did not. The arena's screens slowed the footage dozens of times. Even then the two were fast, but the audience could now make out their moves.
Even so, the crowd was thrilled. Compared to earlier bouts that ended inexplicably in a blink, or were decided in a couple of blows—
This kind of evenly matched fight was exactly what they wanted.
"Seiya, you really have grown stronger. Next, I'll use a move stronger than Diamond Dust—one that can freeze even the ocean!"
"Heads up! Freezing Tornado (Vajra Flame Whirlwind Fist)!" An even greater, colder blast poured from Hyoga's hands toward Seiya.
"Hyoga, don't think you're the only one with a finisher. I was saving this for Ikki—but now's fine too. Pegasus Comet Fist!"
The two Cosmos collided, and for a moment, the outcome was unclear.
"Hyoga! Witness my full strength!" Even while holding the line, Seiya's Cosmo flared anew.
"A comet… As expected of you, Seiya."
In the end, the massive comet formed by Seiya's fist broke through the layers of cold Hyoga conjured and engulfed him.
If Hyoga had learned Camus's ultimate technique, Aurora Execution (Forgiveness of the Dawn Goddess), he might have matched the Comet Fist.
"The winner: Seiya of Pegasus!" A roar of cheers rose from the stands, celebrating the spectacular fight.
When the dust settled, Seiya still stood at center ring. Hyoga lay on the platform, chest rising and falling—alive, but down.
"Pegasus and Cygnus… terrifying power. Even among Silver Saints, few could do that," Babel said, serious now, his earlier scorn gone.
"Impossible. Mere Bronzes with Cosmos that strong?" Even Moses, who had always looked down on Bronzes, took them seriously.
"Heh… Truly, the world is vast. Even in a little place like this, so many powerful warriors. Loki, Lunge, Ullr—let's go," Doluba said, rising after his sigh at the Saints' strength.
"Go? My lord… the Gold Cloth?" Loki asked in confusion.
"The Gold Cloth? After seeing so many strong ones, do you still think we can get it? Come. We need to train. We're not there yet. Let's return to the North," Doluba said, meaningful and without looking back.
"Yes." ×3
"What… mere Bronzes with such power. If we send only Silver Saints, I'm afraid… The Sagittarius Gold Cloth? Maybe…"
"Someone, summon Aiolia to me." In the Pope's Hall, Saga spoke after reading the Silvers' report.
"Yes—leave it to me, Your Holiness," said Gigas, chief of the Sanctuary staff, bowing.
"My brother's Cloth? I'll depart for District 11 at once," Aiolia said, heading out the moment he heard.
"Wait, Aiolia. His Holiness worries you may not accomplish the task alone, so he's assigned several Saints to assist you. You three, come out," Gigas said, with a double meaning.
"You… don't look like formal Saints," Aiolia said, frowning at the men before him.
The Flame Saint Cassie, the oddly clad Serpent Saint Douglas, and the Sanctuary's other strategist, Burton.
Though Saga sent Aiolia to do the job, he didn't actually trust him. In truth, almost no one in the Sanctuary did.
Because his brother, Aiolos, was the Sanctuary's traitor.
Thus, even though Aiolia was a Gold Saint, many powerful Silvers still wouldn't give him the time of day.
He bore the shameful label of "Sanctuary traitor's kin."
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