"Loki finally couldn't hold back and made his move, huh? Judging by normal logic, after the Sea Realm War, the Sanctuary had barely recovered at all. Then Ares resurrected, the Berserkers invaded every branch of the Sanctuary and left it gravely weakened, and Athena was forced into battle. No one expected Abel and his Corona Saints to strike the Sanctuary right after that. Athena is facing an unprecedented crisis and has no time to care about any other place on earth."
"This danger is even greater than facing Hades alone. If Loki still doesn't act now, he'll lose his chance to ever claim dominion over the earth. So the appearance of the World Tree was only a matter of time."
Speaking honestly, Meruem himself had no interest in personally going after Loki, that so‑called evil god with "trash-tier" battle power. Even with the title of Evil God, when he possessed a human body he not only got injured by a Gold Saint whose strength was suppressed, Aiolos, but even his last trump card, the World Tree, ended up being broken by another Gold Saint, Aphrodite. And most importantly, the Saint Seiya world is built primarily around the Greek pantheon with Olympus at the core. That is to say, within this setting, the gods of Olympus utterly outclass all the other myth systems.
Even Loki's father Odin and the God Warriors under him were, in the earliest official settings, treated merely as an extension of the Sea Realm. Odin, the Norse king of the gods, was originally written as a subordinate of someone else.
All in all, even with the true form Loki showed in Soul of Gold, and even after he obtained that so‑called strongest artifact, Gungnir the Eternal Spear, the power he displayed was only around the level of the Twin Gods of Sleep and Death.
Nothing to really worry about, and honestly less dangerous than Ares. On a side note, it is still unclear what goes through these gods' heads. One after another, they clearly don't have the strength to back it up, yet strut around like they own the place.
It is always either "I will rule the world" or "I will destroy the world." Where does all that confidence even come from?
Meruem was, however, interested in Loki's Eternal Spear. Without the twelve Gold Saints to fuel the World Tree this time, he wondered how Loki planned to produce that divine weapon.
In the end, Meruem chose to send a group of Gold Saints to the north: Saga, the incarnation of a god; Shaka, the man closest to the gods; Aiolos, the "commissar"; Aiolia, the original main character of Soul of Gold; and Aphrodite, who could counter the World Tree. Five Gold Saints in total—because no matter how weak Loki was, he was still a god. Sending weaker Gold Saints risked getting them killed. For example, Meruem never considered sending Camus; that guy would only drag the team down.
He still owed that God Warrior Surtr's little sister a life.
Of course, before they left, Meruem gave them several life‑saving items. Say what you will, Loki was a god, and in Norse myth he was the evil god who triggered Ragnarök.
After sealing three of the Twelve Olympians in a row and taking down a former major god, Abel, Meruem had acquired quite a pile of nice toys. Even though a certain poverty‑stricken god in Sparta had been broke enough to jingle, Meruem had at least stripped a complete God Cloth off him.
Namely, Ares's God Cloth, along with his War God Shield and spear. Every piece was a 24‑karat, purebred divine artifact. Not to mention the Sea Realm's very wealthy Sea Emperor. In the past, Meruem had only dared to take some godly metal for fear of being discovered, but now that Poseidon was sealed and a prisoner, Meruem had no qualms about accepting the Sea Realm's riches. And he even had a nice-sounding label for it: war spoils.
After dispatching the Gold Saints to Asgard, Meruem turned back to the plan he had put on hold—time to take Hades for a ride.
Since Hades had dared to reincarnate his soul into a Saint, and not just any Saint but one of Athena's five personal guards, then he had to accept the risk of being exposed and taken out early.
Did he really think Athena wouldn't dare to kill him? Again, the same old question: where do these gods get their sense of superiority and confidence?
Cocytus, the Frozen Hell—there, the souls of Saints who had defied Hades throughout history were imprisoned.
Saori indeed had no way to demand those souls from Hades, but that did not mean Meruem could not. They were heroes who had died fighting for Saori; leaving them locked in hell felt more than a little wrong.
On top of that, it was a prime opportunity to win hearts. A very cost‑effective deal, and it would also solve the problem of Shun. Hades's soul lodged in a Saint's body was an issue no matter how you looked at it, a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.
"Saori… have you decided?" Meruem glanced at the girl still hesitating in her chair and sighed. "Saori, you must understand—the gods of heaven no longer see you as one of them. Not since you chose to stand with humanity."
"Is there truly… no other choice?" Saori clearly still held some hope. Forcing her to choose between humans and gods really did put her in a bind. She was one of the gods as well. "Can't we coexist peacefully?"
"Only if you're willing to abandon humanity. Even then, I'll still finish this on your behalf. I won't blame you if you choose to return to heaven; after all, that is where you belong. But in the end, I will still lead the Saints into that place." Meruem turned his back to her as he spoke. It wasn't that he wanted to pressure her. "You've been in the mortal world this long. Do you still not see their true faces?"
Even if Meruem were willing to compromise with the gods, it would be impossible. Those so‑called gods would never tolerate the existence of anyone—or anything—capable of threatening them. With their kind of narrow minds, the best he could expect was ostracism; more likely, the gods would gather and try to destroy him.
No matter which way things went, Meruem's answer would only be to fight. And beyond the heavenly host, he also had to reckon with Yoma, that lurking threat he had always planned to one day eliminate.
"You know I could never abandon humanity." A pair of slender, strong arms, filled with ambition and resolve, slipped around Meruem from behind and hugged him tightly. He could feel Saori resting her head against his back. "And I could never abandon you."
"Don't worry, I won't abandon you either. I'll stay by your side, just like before." Gently taking those hands—calloused from long training—into his own, Meruem spoke with quiet seriousness.
This Saori, who dared to love and hate, drew him in deeply. He liked her straightforwardness, liked every little gesture she made, liked the resolve she had held onto for countless years.
After everything was settled, if possible, they could just live together peacefully—Pitou, Neferpitou, Saori, all of them. And be happy.
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