Deathmask POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

  Hanuman Tokusa looks at me and starts to ugh "Ha, ha, ha! You, judge me? I clearly feel all the i blood on your hands... Hell, even in this Temple the echo of all the terrible things you have doill resounds loud and clear! It isn't clear who will judge who...", then I feel him ignite his o, he rises his right hand pointing at the ceiling, and summons a great number of departed souls, all taking the shape ht light balls, that start revolving around him.

  With a smirk, Tokusa says "Let's see what they think about you...", and he points at me with his index finger yelling "Seki Shiki Nyoi Reirin (Spiritual Departed Soul Summoning)!!", he maniputes the souls and turns them into a rain e energy bolts, all aiming at me, too fast for me to terattack, so I'm forced to dodge, but they are too many, and soon I'm hit by tless energy bolts, that sends me crashing into the wall.

  Luckily, my Gold Cloth protected me from most of the damage, and as I slowly get up, still a little stunned by the blow I just received, I think 'Urgh... The number of attacks is overwhelming, but the power behind them is not so much, in fact, I say it is weak...', at the same time, I hear Tokusa's voice "Whoa... I never summoned so many souls... It seems that many of them have something to settle with you... You really are a piece of shit!".

  I recover and reply, easily admitting my mistakes I say "Yeah, sounds abht... For some time I got lost in the feeling of power, lost sight of myself and my duty, and made many mistakes that caused the deaths of tless i lives, in the end even my own Cloth abandoned me... But I've ged, when I met Helen and the kids and saw their struggles and love for each other, I realized the mistakes I made... And swore to fight to protect every i life no matter how small or weak", and as I decred this, I once more feel the cer Cloth resoh me and my o starts to grow even stroo levels that I was never able to reach before.

  Tokusa raises his right hand, and once more, summons the departed souls as he says "It doesn't matter... You will still die here and your soul will be tormented for all eternity...", he points at me with his index finger, and yells "Seki Shiki Nyoi Reirin (Spiritual Departed Soul Summoning)!!", maniputing the souls and turning them into a rain e energy bolts, but this time, I'm ready for it, and with a smirk, I say "You are the disciple of a cer Gold Saint, you should know, that we are the most knowledgeable among the Saints in matters reted to the soul".

  I extend my right arm forward, and opening my hand wide, I burn my o and yell "Spiritual Destroying Waves (Seki Shiki Meisai Ha)!!", I release a huge white ring of energy, that slowly moves forward to meet with Tosuka's energy bolts, and the moments, all the energy bolts that pass through the ring, starts to burn in gloomy blue fmes, leaving nothing behind and rending Tokusa's attack useless.

  Seeing this, Tokusa yells in shock "Impossible! You just burhe departed souls!! Do you have any idea of what you have done!?", and with a sneer, I reply "Of course, I purified them ahem ba the cycle of reination... at the least the ones of is, while the departed souls of the wicked were simply erased... But that isn't important... Now it is your turn to face your own sins...", I make my o explode, and as the phantom image of the crab appears behind me, I point my index fi Tokusa and focus my o in it, I yell "Spiritual Wave Coffin (Seki Shiki Mekyu Ha)!!".

  From my finger, a lightspeed white energy spiral ray hit my enemy, and as it s around his body, a dark vortex appears below him, from which tless departed souls e out and start to restrid immobilize his body, at the same time I say "You know... I realized that even a guy like me has the heart to care and protect the others... but I don't think there is hope for someone like you who is even able to kill his own family for power...", and I press my fist causing these souls to tighten their hold and cause great damage to Tokusa that yells in pain, so much that his Surplice is destroyed.

  And now that he is defenseless and with a broken body, I gather my o once again oip of my index finger and as a white aura gushes forth I say "And since you are Hades' sve, I thih isn't good enough for you it's better that you suffer between life ah for eternity... You are not worth living or dying...Spiritual Infernal Waves ( Seki Shiki Mekai Ha)!!", then send out a spiral energy ray that expands, and coils around his body to separate the soul from it and suck it into the realm between life ah, the Yomotsu Hirasaka, where his soul will wander for eternity, leaving behind the broken husk that is now his soulless body.

  Dohko POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

  While I and Shioill silently looking at each other, I feel Deathmask's o spike, and soon after I felt the o of another Specter disappear, 'Good, everything is going well for now... I just have to find the right opportunity to deal with that annoying spy and I finally truly speak with Shion... but for now, I have to still py my part...', at the same time, I notice the look of impatiend worry on his face as he says in a low tone "Another is gone... If this goes on all of this will have been for naught...", and turns around to move toward the Gold Zodiac.

  Seeing this, I ask "Where do you think yoing? As long as I'm here, you ot leave this pce", Shion looks at me and says "Then, Dohko, I have no choice but to kill you, I'd hoped to postpo, old friend, but this moment had to e... Here I e, Dohko!", he once again face me, and throws a o bst, which I deflect with the help of my e, and says "It's my turn now, Shion".

  I ignite my o and focus it between my hands before shooting it at Shion, who does the same, and the two bsts met in the middle and crash against each other with such force, that the area around us starts shaking, at the start it seems that our power are equals, but then Shion smiles and says "Heh... This match is decided... I thought that if we ever fought, we'd wind up in a Thousand Day War after all our powers were totally equal, we were always deadlocked, but those 243 years have takeoll on you, Dohko", hearing that I casually ask while raising my left eyebrow "You think so?".

  Shio reply, but he puts even more power into his bst, and slowly pushes me back, at the same time he says "Dohko! You've bee a doting old man, fussing over Athena's seal! Your strength has withered away! But thanks to Lord Hades, I'm in the prime of my youth with the invincible body and power I had when I was 18! In your feeble state you ot win", and with a final push, he makes our bst explode sending me crashing into the ground.

  I slowly get up and say "My dear Shion... Does your false life... and youth... really please you so much? We each have just one life... one only that's why it's so precious, so brilliantly glittering...", and Shion yells seemingly offended "Bah! Why should I listen to a senile geriatric with one foot in the grave? Take this final blow!!", seeing him like that, I let out a sigh and think, 'Even if I know his reasons, seeing him in this state pains me, Shion, you and I are the only survivor of the previous Holy War, and know better than anyone else how cruel and brutal it is, but you don't know that this time is different from the other... Now we know!'.

  I ignite my o and say "I'm deeply saddened, Shion, that such a great man as you... could fall so much...Die once again and bee the Shion of old!! Rozan Hyaku Ryuha (Hundred Dragons of Lushan)!!", theending both my arms forward, I make my o explode, and the resulting bst transforms in the form of one hundred blue dragons that quickly moves toward Shion.

  But Shion is ready for it and quickly urges his o and Telekiic power and yells "Crystal Wall!!", to create a transparent, gss-like barrier in front of him, but I'm way too familiar with this teique, so I yell "It's useless! Not even the Crystal Wall blunt the fangs of the 1ons!!", my dragons break through the barrier and impa Shion's body, but it seems that I held bauch, as I wasn't even able to knock him over.

  Shion thinks the same as he says "Heh... This firms your senility, ba the day, that one blow would've been enough to take me down, but you've lost all the power you had when you were young...", then he ignites his o te all the fn o inside his body, and at the same time he prepares to release his stro move.

  Shion raises his right arm and makes his o spin around it, then he lowers his arm, and yells "Die, Dohko! Stardust Revolution!!", and making his o explodes, he throws an atta the form of tless small stars that move at the speed of the light, and impay body sending me flying high in the sky.

  As I crash on the ground I think, 'Goddammit, Shion! You are holding bauch! Right now, I'm a "frail" old man, receiving your move without a Cloth should have reduced my body into a broken mess at the very least... Now, I have to reveal my true form to make it believable!', at the same time, Shion slowly moves toward me and says "Dohko, this is the end...", but I slowly get up and say "Shion, you 't strike me down...".

  Seeianding, Shion yells "Give me a break! Your head's barely attached to your body! Take this! Stardust Revolution!!", and he once again releases his teique, but this time, I block it by summoning my Libra Cloth in front of me, and he says "Saved by your own Cloth, eh, Dohko? But on your current body, that Cloth is just a useless pile of scrap! A decrepit old man like you 't don the Cloth! I'd just throw you around! Now it really is time for you to die! Nothing else e between you and your fate!".

  But just as he was about to attack, I really ignite my o, and says "Shion, why do you think I sat in front of Lushan's Great Waterfall for 243 years? It wasn't just to watch over Hades' Army, you know...", and I finally discard this disguise and turn in my true form, at the same time, I enjoy the sho Shion face as he yells in surprise "What the... Dohko's skin is splitting and fking off! It's like a snake shedding its skin! I don't believe it! All his old skin has peeled off, and the body underh... is the Dohko of 243 years ago!!".

  Shion looks at me in shod says "No... It's no mistake... You're the Gold Saint I knew 243 years ago... Libra Dohko!! You said you weren't just watg Hades' army, did you mean that...", and with a smile, I say in my now vigorous voice "That's right, Shion, Athena granted unto me the Divine Power of Misopethamenos!!", hearing that Shion excims "MISOPETHAMENOS!! The anti-aging process of the Gods!".

  Enjoying his shock as he truly didn't know about it, I expin "That's right! 243 years ago, the previous Holy War finally ended, we were the only survivors, but before that, we received new orders from Athena in anticipation of the one, you, Shioo bee the Pope and defend and rebuild the Sanctuary, while I was charged with watg the tower in which Hades' 108 Stars of Darkness had been sealed, but the same day, Atheowed that power upon me, and with it, sihen my heart has only beaten 100.000 times a year".

  Shion finally realizes what happened and says "That's as many times as the huma beats in a single day! But that means...", and with a smirk, I say " Correct, over the st 243 years, I've only aged 243 days!" then under my and, the Libra Cloth finally equips on my body once more, and I 't help but think, 'Ah... Donning the Libra Cloth for the first time in 243 years! How I missed this!!'.

  I look at my old friend and say "Now we're even, Shion", and he replies "Very well, this will make it easier for me to kill you without remorse... Let's find out if your strength is truly a matine again! Take this, Dohko!", and he once again shoots a simple o bst to test me, and I do the same and once again our os csh against oher, but this time, we are truly evenly matched and cause a strong explosioween us, and I say "Well, Shion? Do you think you shove me over now?".

  With a grim face he replies "Ugh... Your strength truly has returned! But now we have a new problem, either we'll be eternally deadlocked in a Thousand Day War, or we'll destroy each other!!", at the same time, he raises his o to the maximum and yells "I have to defeat you before that happens!".

  Seeing this I think, 'Yes, this is the right moment to act!', I also rise my o to the max, and yells "Fool! Do you seek your owh?", and the momeh unleash our stro moves, "Stardust Revolution!!", "Rozan Hyaku Ryuha (Hundred Dragons of Lushan)!!", and so my hundred dragons csh against Shion's stars, resulting in a blinding explosion s that it could have destroyed the whole of Greece if we didn't force most of the power upward creating a gigantic pilr of light.

  But at the same time, I made sure to direct my atta such a way that the resulting explosion kills a certain hidden spy that is quietly watg over everything that is happening at the Sanctuary, and after the chaos of the explosions dies down, I look at Shion who was about to attace more and says "Shion, you stop now, the one who was cheg on you is gone... We finally freely talk... We know about your pn...".

  Shion stops in pd looks at me in shod says "B-but that is impossible! How could you...", and before he could finish I only say "Crateris Cloth", Shion's eyes open wide and he asks "Someone finally took his pce? And he was even able to see so much?", I nod, and at the same time, a sad smile appears on his face, and he says "Well, now that I'm free from my straints, I finally say that I'm happy to see you again in good health my old friend...".

  Aiolia POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

  I'm standing in front of the entrance of Leo Temple, waiting for the Specters to e, and die between my fangs, 'For sure there are three of them that are equal to Gold Saints, but I also feel that a strohreat is hidden among them waiting for the right time to strike, how devious...'.

  Soon the Specters appear in front of me, they are led by three clearly strong ones, and their mere presence is s that even I feel the dahat they represent, the one on the right is a tall man with a muscur build, long reddish brown hair tied with a ribbon and fair skin, the one on the left is a young man with blue-bck hair and dark eyes, with a pale skin tone, and the one in the middle, it feels the most dangerous among them, at first gnce, she could be mistaken for a man because of her unfeminine appearance, but she is a beautiful woman, but very strong and muscur, she has long dark purple hair and reddish eyes.

  The man on the right stands forward and says "Good evening, I'm the Celestial Rise Star, Dryad Luco, are you perhaps, the guardian of the Leo Temple, the Leo Gold Saint?", and even if a little put off by his polite tone, I reply "Yes, I'm Leo Aiolia, and I won't let any enemy pass, no matter who is it in front of me", then under his signal, five Specters of this group quickly moves to attack me.

  I quickly ignite my o, and raising my hand I yell "Lightning Psma!!" and deliver one hundred million blows per sed, leaving behind only a tless number of luminous threads that hits them, destroy their Surplice, and kill them in an instant, shog the weaker Specter behind them in stopping in pce, as one among them gulps and says "What the... What was that fsh of light? It sliced up five of us in an instant!".

  Seeing this I remind them "Again, I let no enemy pass! If you attempt it, prepare to die!!", but just as they were starting to cower, even more, I hear a voice that says "Hee, hee... You're pathetic, quivering before a single Saint", and I see a Specter moving forward, he is a man of small stature, with quite particur facial features, he has a twisted and deformed face.

  His Surplice is quite peculiar, the headpiece is a helm in the shape of an i head, it seems a worm, the eyes are on one side and the wearer's faes out of the creature's maw, the worm's also protects the wearer's , the shoulder pieces are four overpping ptes with bded ends, the arms pieces protect from the elbows to the wrists, the chest piece, protects from the o the abdomen, it is practically a der with horizontal stripes ending in points that protect part of the hips, the waist and thighs are uncovered, but what caught most of my attentiohe eight tentacles, they are divided into small ses and ends in three points with something in the ter that seems like an eye, and finally the legs pieces protect below the knees, but the feet end in the same cws with which the tentacles end.

  (Image Here - Worm Raimi)

  Spoiler

  [colpse]He now stands in front of me and says "I'm the Terrestrial Hidden Star, Worm Raimi, hee, hee, hee... No matter how strong you are, I'll make you weak as a kitten... I'll take care of Aiolia, the rest of you go ahead, got that?", and after saying this, he quickly jumps, and burrow his body into the ground, and at the same time, the Specters start to run toward the Temple totally ign my presence.

  I 't help but yell "How dare you? I'll strike all of you down!", but just as I was about to move, the Worm Specter's tentacle es out of the ground and wound around my body stopping my movement and in surprise, I yell "Shit!", and at the same time I think 'Even knowing about his abilities, the hidden presence among these ecters unnerved me so much, that I fot about Raimi!'.

  Taking advantage of the fact that I'm bound the other Specters pass through me, and move further ihe Leo Temple, leaving me aloh Raimi, at the same time the force behind the tentacle increase, even more, it is s that I feel like my limbs are about to be torn off, I try to ignite my o to break free, and at the same time, aentacle e out of the ground and from it, I hear Raimi's voice "Hee, hee, hee... It's useless, not even a lion break free from the Worm's Bind, I could squeeze you slowly to death... Butt they told me to kill you quickly so... I'll pierce the ter of your head!".

  After saying this, the tentacle quickly moves toward my head, but at the st moment, I was able to move my head and dodge it, and look in surprise as the tentacle pierce right through the n behind me and say "ower! He stabbed right through the n with one blow! If he hit me, he really would put a hole in me!", then I hear Raimi's voice again "Hee, hee... Don't struggle, I'm putting you out of your misery...".

  I ignore him and foy o as I say "I won't let you kill me... You think a mere worm take me down? I'll show you Leo's strength! Graah!", and again Raimi says "Hee, hee, hee! It's futile! Useless! No matter how much brute strength you've got, you 't esca...", but he stops talking as I make my o explode and break free from these annoyiacles, breaking them at the same, and say "A mere worm 't take a lion down!".

  Enraged by my simple taunt Raimi yells "How dare you? This time, I'll rip through your body!", and attacks me with aentacle, but it is too slow, and I quickly grab it, then I pull with all my strength, and pull out his body hidden into the ground with such force that he crashes against the ceiling, and with another pull, I make him crash into the floor in front of me, a I stomp on his back saying "Worms belong in the dirt".

  But he takes advantage of this to escape into the ground and appears a few meters behi the same time, I notice that the tentacles I had destroyed, already regeed, and panting hard he says "H... How dare you... Don't think you have wo... My worms regee... This time, I'll kill you for sure! Die, Aiolia! Worm's Bind!!".

  And he again tries to bih his tentacle, but he made a lethal mistake, he is in the open now, so I raise my right arm, and burning my o to the maximum, I yell "Lightning Psma!!" and deliver one hundred million blows per sed, leaving behind only a tless number of luminous threads that hit Raimi, making him bound all over the pce, obliterating his Surplice, and killing him on the spot, seeing his corpse on the ground I 't help but say "In the end, I was only able to kill 6 of them, now 13 of them remain, and among them, I only felt some real threat from 4 of them... And among these 4, three are in the open, but it is the hiddehat scares me the most, I only felt something simir oher time...".

  Shaka POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

  I'm sitting on the ground iation pose with my eyes closed, waiting for the Specters to e, 'I clearly feel it... This fight will be a hard one, one presence among them especially stands out, no matter how much he tries to hide it, I clearly feel it...', at the same time, with my o I check the Mada with the 108 prayer beads and notice that 15 of them are already bck, this means that 15 Specters have already lost their lives and their souls are now uo resurrect thanks to this Mada created by the former Virgo Saint to stop the tinuous resurre of the Specters during the Holy War.

  I feel the presence of the Specters ehe Temple, and ohey are in front of me, I say "Wele, Specters, to the Virgo Temple! My face will be your st sight before you return to the underworld!", and as always the weaker ones are always those that bark the loudest as one of the Specters yells "What are you talking about? Impudent fool you think you take down all of us alone? You're the one headed for the underworld! Die, Shaka!!", and all the remaining ecters attack me at the same time.

  Odyin