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"You summoned us, Your Holiness?" Milo—the Gold Saint of Scorpio, and Aiolia—the Gold Saint of Leo, arrived at the Pope's chamber.
Saga waved his hand dismissively. "There's an urgent mission I need you two to handle."
"An urgent mission? For both of us?" Milo and Aiolia, kneeling before him, exchanged glances. A mission requiring two Gold Saints must be incredibly important.
"What is the mission, Your Holiness?" Milo asked.
"An Evil God has appeared in the East," Saga declared gravely.
"An Evil God?" Their expressions turned serious.
They wouldn't underestimate such a threat. In their world, Athena was the protector of Earth, and Sanctuary—its heart. Therefore, besides Hades and his army, their eternal enemies in the Holy Wars, their other primary adversaries were the various Evil Gods who sought to harm humanity or the Earth itself.
Battling these Gods was, in a sense, their most common task. After all, the Holy Wars against Hades occurred only once every two hundred years, while Evil Gods could appear at any time.
The Gold Saints' Godlike power had been honed through generations of battles against these Divine beings.
"That's right," Saga, still disguised as the Pope, explained. "Initially, it was just a few Bronze Saints causing trouble in the East, claiming to act on Athena's behalf. I sent Ikki, one of our strongest Bronze Saints, to deal with them."
"However, not only did he fail to defeat them, but he joined them, turning against Sanctuary."
"I then dispatched several Silver Saints, but they were all killed."
"Fortunately, as Silver Saints, their will was stronger than that of Bronze Saints, so they weren't…corrupted."
"I hadn't intended to involve Gold Saints in such a—minor affair. After all, sending Gold Saints after Bronze Saints is excessive."
Milo and Aiolia nodded in agreement.
Such a task was beneath them, an insult to their status as Gold Saints. However, an Evil God was a different matter entirely.
"But a recent incident in the mountains of the East has forced me to reconsider." Saga flicked his wrist, and a photograph appeared before them.
"Is that—a Light-Speed punch?" They both recognized the telltale signs of such an attack: the devastation, the massive crater.
Clearly—their enemy possessed Seventh Sense level Cosmo.
"Indeed. A Light-Speed punch. Furthermore, according to my informants, someone sensed a Cosmo far surpassing that of a Silver Saint emanating from that woman, Saori Kido. It seems this Evil God is impersonating Athena, corrupting those impressionable Bronze Saints, attempting to divide Sanctuary from within. We can't allow this to continue."
"I understand, Your Holiness. I will go to the East and eliminate this threat," Milo declared, his voice filled with killing intent.
"Indeed. No matter how strong they are, we will destroy them," Aiolia added, his gaze firm. He was determined to clear his brother, Aiolos's, name.
"Excellent. I'll leave this to you, then," Saga said with a smile.
He was certain that Milo and Aiolia, righteous Saints devoted to Athena, would eliminate his enemies without hesitation.
"By the way, Aiolia," he added as they were about to leave, "According to my intel—the Sagittarius Gold Cloth, stolen by your traitorous brother, is currently in Saori Kido's possession. Retrieve it. Don't let such a sacred Cloth—a symbol of love and peace, remain in the hands of evil. Reclaim it—and cleanse the stain on your family's honor."
"Yes, Your Holiness!" Aiolia clenched his fists, his voice tight with emotion. The opportunity to redeem his brother's name—he wouldn't let it slip away.
——
In the East, at the Graad Foundation's guest house, Mika was enjoying a rare moment of peace, chatting with Saori in the garden, accompanied by Gabriel and Alfia.
They had both mastered Cosmo during their training and now had the leisure to join them. Saori enjoyed these peaceful moments.
Suddenly, Mika's brow furrowed, and he vanished.
"What's wrong?" Saori asked, startled by his sudden departure.
"Two Gold Saints are approaching—rapidly," Mika's voice echoed in her mind through their telepathic link. Unlike Jamian's earlier attack, which he could afford to observe, two Seventh Sense Saints were a significant threat.
Mika couldn't afford to be careless. Gold Saints—capable of moving at the Speed of Light, could circle the earth seven and a half times per second.
If he had stayed even a moment longer, they would have been upon them. And a battle within the confines of the guest house would endanger everyone.
He had to intercept them.
"They're here." He sensed their approach, his eyes narrowing. He had been anticipating this ever since his attack on Jamian.
Out on the open sea, The three figures, now blurs of Light, locked onto each other. Mika changed direction, ascending into the sky, Milo and Aiolia following close behind.
They stopped high above the Earth, in the vast emptiness of space.
"Greetings, Milo of Scorpio, and Aiolia of Leo. I am Mika," he said, a subtle smile playing on his lips.
——
"Mika…?" Milo's gaze was fixed on him, his eyes narrowed in suspicion, Aiolia mirroring his wariness.
Even during their brief pursuit, they had sensed it:
Mika's Cosmo was stronger than theirs.
This was unsettling, though not enough to make them afraid.
Mika also observed them.
"Both of you together? It seems the False Pope is more cautious than I anticipated." While he hadn't expected them to come as a pair, he wasn't intimidated.
Even outnumbered, he was confident he could hold his own. After all, even among Gold Saints, there were differences in strength.
In Mika's assessment, both Milo and Aiolia, at this point in time, were among the weaker Gold Saints.
However, a Saint's power grew through battle.
After the Sanctuary arc, with Athena's return, the Saints would face numerous battles against Hades, Poseidon, and various other Gods. While the Gold Saints' roles in the anime were often limited to crucial interventions, rarely seen fighting alongside the Bronze Saints, this was reality—And After Saga's death, the remaining Gold Saints—Mu, Aldebaran, Aiolia, Shaka, and Milo—would undoubtedly participate in countless battles, their strength increasing significantly.
——
Mika—After completing the integration of his powers, His Cosmo was comparable to Mu's. He merely lacked their refined techniques. But after Mu's training, and his experience with the Sagittarius Gold Cloth—he had surpassed Mu in both skill and Cosmo.
After all, his Cosmo was constantly growing, and his experience in other worlds far exceeded that of the Gold Saints. His knowledge base was also far more extensive. Therefore, even facing two Gold Saints, he felt no fear.
"The 'False Pope'? Such insolence from a—heretic!" Milo's anger flared at Mika's casual dismissal of Saga's authority.
To a Saint, insulting the Pope was akin to insulting the Goddess herself.
"Scarlet Needle!" He unleashed his attack, a crimson beam of Light shooting towards Mika's vital points.
This was the Scorpio Gold Saint's Signature technique: Scarlet Needle.
It wasn't a single attack but a series of fifteen strikes, each targeting a specific pressure point on the opponent's body, corresponding to the fifteen brightest stars in the Scorpio constellation.
In European astrology—Scorpio was associated with judgment and death, the most powerful constellation. Once the fifteenth needle, Antares, struck, death was inevitable.
The victim would suffer massive blood loss, their five senses fading, their body and mind paralyzed, their Cosmo extinguished. Of course, this was the effect against opponents of equal or greater strength.
Weaker opponents would likely be killed by the first strike.
However, Mika wasn't a normal opponent. He raised his hand.
"Crystal Wall!" An invisible barrier appeared before him, deflecting the Scarlet Needle back towards its source, striking Milo and sending him flying.
Crystal Wall—a defensive technique of the Aries Gold Saints, created a barrier of invisible crystals, deflecting or absorbing any attack, even spatial distortions. It was also completely transparent, allowing the user to launch surprise attacks.
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