Shaka POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

  I calmly perceive the various attacks, ing toward me full of malevolent aggressiveness and killing i, at the same time, I quietly gather my own o, then just as the attacks are about to hit me, I make the gathered o explode, and yell "KAN!!", and create a powerful barrier that encircles my body, and clearly feel the Specters' o, powerlessly crash against the barrier and disperse without doing any damage.

  Through my senses, I clearly feel the weaker Specters' shod horror about what they have just withen I hear them yell "What is this? There is a barrier defleg all our attacks!", at the same time, I choose to reduce the number of the enemy Specters as much as possible, and raising the Mada in my right hand, I make my o explode and t "Evil spirits Begohe heavens shall quer evil! Tenkū Haja Chimimōryō (Heaven Suprema Evil Spirits of Rivers and Mountains)!!" and summon tless minor evil spirits under my and, that starts floating around the temple, and slowly encircle the Specters.

  Clearly feeling their fears, I say "Why do you fear these evil spirits? They should be your kin!", and one of the specters replies "Unh... They 't be real... This is an illusion!", but I want to make them feel more helpless, so to weaken their will and make it easier for the evil spirits to e them, and say "Let me show you this...", and show them my Mada and expin "There are 108 beads on this Mada, just as there are 108 of you Specters, it's said that for each bead that does darken, one worldly sin shall be extinguished, the previous Virgo Saint created it to deal with you, evil warriors! Look! Already 15 of the beads have darkehat's how many specters have been killed, soon you bead will darken too".

  Feeling their willpower weaken even more I finally gave the and to evil spirits to attack "Die now, evil souls!", the evil spirits move and start to feast on the Specters' souls, dev them and at the same time growing stronger from it, but just as 6 Specters died in this gruesome way, I hear a deep male voice yell "Maten Muhorin (Void Treasures of the Evil Heaven)!!", ahat all the evil spirits are now being devoured themselves, and so I raise my guard and think 'He finally made his move, but to think that he would do something like this...'.

  Once he is done, I use my o to study him, he is a thin, bald man, with a dark brown plexion, and his Surplice has a very plex design, it covers his entire body, first is the chest piece, which is attached to the part of the arms and legs pieces, and on the back of the Surplice I otice that it has several arms, 20 in total, emuting the Buddhist mythological character, Atavaka, at the same time I ask "It was you who stopped my attack?", and the ma reply and in his deep voice he says "Thank for the meal... Yht me a little closer to my goal... I'm simply known as Atavaka".

  (Image Here - Atavaka)

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Then the man who introduces himself as Atavaka says "You guys move, I clearly feel that you are no match for him, even if the rest of you join forces, you will still end up dead... Go! I'll take care of him!", I hear some of the Specters click their tongue before they start to run, but I yell "I won't let you keep defiling the stones of these Temples with your un feet!! Begone rabble!!", and gather my o between my hands and make it explode one more time to unleash my attack "Tenma Kofuku (Demon Suppressor)!!", and expands my o in a huge bst of golden light.

  But again Atavaka interfere, I feel his o explode as he yells "Jaaku na Koi (Evil Deeds)!!", and his o expands in an analogous way only I feel a very dark and evil essehin it, and the two o Bst cels each other making the remaining 6 Specters safely pass through my Temple and move on their evil quest, but I don't care about them anymore, trusting irengths of my fellow Gold Saints, and focus all my attention on my oppo, Atavaka, 'Something about him feels off and wrong, but at the same time, it is also familiar... This fuses me!'.

  Then it finally es to me why this man feels so familiar to me, and yell in shock "You're also an enlightened being!?", and I feel him smile and then he says "That's right... In my previous life, I reached the Arayashiki state just before death, the thing that you Saints call the 8th sense, and with it, I was able to escape the fate of being a prisoner in the Underworld, and choose to reinate in a body with the capacity of being a Specter, and ohena's seal weakened, I ate the specter soul that was about to devour my soul and take back the trol over my body, but also gained possession of his Surplice, so that I ehe Underworld alive and finally start my pn...".

  And with aed voice, he tinues "...Devours all the souls there, so that I expand my powers even more until I reach the power of the Gods, and even surpass them, then I'll subject them to the universal truth I received during my enlighte!! A utopia where only my souls and I exist! The will of our 'I' will not only rule over the dead but the ods too! In that way, I'll finally bee the ultimate truth of the universe! But I felt that the souls of the Underworld were too weak and the progress too slow, so I choose to join in this atta the Sanctuary in search of stronger souls... And I finally found you! The perfect prey!!".

  In horror about what he has done and what he pns to do, I think, 'This man is crazy! I have to stop him no matter what, if left alone he could unleash untold horror!', I steel my resolve and say "I see, a man like you should never be allowed to reach such state, the evil in your heart is too much to be left alone, my heart is set now...", and I open my eyes, unleashing the full might of my o and yell "I'll put my life on the lio strike you down!".

  Taking advantage of being in my most powerful state, I ignite my o to unleash my greatest attack "Tenbu Horireasure of Heaven)!!", making my o explode, I trap Atavaka ihis dimension under my trol, and our surroundings ge and all around us are the Buddhist images of Vairoa showing his gesture inside Manda pattern, that repeat itself endlessly, and say "This is both an offensive and defeeique! Now that you are trapped in it, you either attaor escape!!".

  I raise my hand and start to destroy his senses, oer the other, "Dai Ikkan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 1st)!!", and produce a wave of o, Atavaka's body stops moving and starts twitg every now and then I say "You 't feel your body, your sense of touch is gone! your sense of smell! Dai Nikan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 2nd)!!", and another wave of o takes away his sense of smell.

  After removing those two senses, I say "Now, you 't detect your enemy by his st! Now, I'll take your sense of taste! Dai Sankan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 3rd)!!", and another wave takes away another sense, and I tihe only sense you have left are sight and hearing, let's move on, Dai Yokan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 4th)! Dai Gokan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 5th)!!", and with this quick series of waves, I remove his remaining senses.

  But I don't stop here, 'With this kind of enemy I have to go oep further "I shall destroy the st oo you, your 6th sense!! Dai Rokukan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 6th)!!" and with this wave of o, I destroyed Atavaka's 6th sense, but he is still able to calmly stay standing, but I don't stop here and with o wave, I yell "As you are the being closest to God in the Underworld, I'll go eveep further and snatch the sense superior to all...! The 7th sense! Disappears demon! Dai Nanakan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 7th)! Absolute revocation of the senses!!" and his body is enveloped in a golden light leaving nothing behind.

  Seeing that I say "Has his body reduced to ashes?", but soon I hear Atavaka's still calm voice that says "You really think so... You're really too seal Virgo! And to think that I assumed that you had the same emptihat I have...", as he talks, his o grows stronger and stronger and the images in my dimension start to ge, they are being overridden by the manda of the dead, at the same time, Atavaka's body reappears and he tinues "Your heart only harbors impure ahly desires... Those praised as beings close to the Gods must have ainess ihem... Now, it's my tur me show you the true reality of the Universe! Maten Muhorin!!".

  And a hole opens in the sky, from which tless souls, es out and ihis dimension, at the same time, I start to quickly lose my sense, and soon I lost all the feeling of my body but I still retain my 6th and 7th senses, and with it, I still feel my surrounding, but I also feel the pain that these souls are feeling, 'Their pain... Flows toward me...!', then I hear Atavaka says through his o "You're an immature being, Virgo... What is it that deceives you? Why would you feel empathy for a dead person's pain?".

  I ignore his question and foy surroundings and soon, I notice that some souls are ag strange, 'What? Some of the souls behind him are disappearing... As if their senses were being removed... So that means... That it was not Atavaka who received my Tenbu Horin!!', and as I realize this, Atavaka says "It seems you have noticed... It's true! While I'm in this dimension surrounded by these mandas, your teique won't have an effee it will only destroy the senses of these souls that I have swallowed! Maybe you make me useless if you destroy these... But you won't do something as cruel as destroying these souls, isn't it? It's because you still have passions and feelings in your heart... But in my heart... There is nothing! I'm in a state of absolute disi, the dead implore and weep for their salvation and my heart won't be affected at all... A heart that only seeks the truth, if you e... Then you should be part of my universe!".

  My attention is caught by the enormous pain that I'm feeling ing from the other souls, and ask in shock "This pain... It 't be... Are you draining all these souls to power your teique!?', but he ignores my question and at the same time, he decres "The time to debate has ended, Virgo, return to nothingness! Destru of all senses!".

  As I'm about to be hit and so close to death, I once again remember the words that Jayr told me after the events of the Sanctuary, because he felt I was growing too distant from the ones I should proted how it fused me, 'You must not think that you are ay being... Observe yourself as a sensitive human being, with sadness and anger inside you, even if you are a being close to the Gods, but you are not one of them... And there is nothing wrong with that...', and my o, once more explodes as Atavaka's one, and at the same time, the souls bathed by my o start singing the Shakyamuni Mantra.

  Seeing this, Atavaka looks around fused "What is going on...? All the dead began to sing in unison the Shakyamuni Mantra...", and it begins to clearly anger him as he yells "Stop! Stop!! STOP!!! All of you are oh me already! YOU!! DAMN!! Stop going against my will!! I AM YOUR UNIVERSE!", and at this point, I say through my o "Yeah, sure... Nobody here agrees with that!", and that is true because I feel every soul here supp me.

  So I sit ius position, and at the same time I hear Atavaka asks "The lotus position? What the hell!? What do you think you do to me with that?", and rec my senses, I speak once again "To give a sermon, naturally... for all the souls gathered here!", hearing that Atavaka yells in denial "It's not possible! Now they are all part of me! All of you are an insignifit trash! No sermon of yours will save them now!".

  I ignore him, elevate my o even more and say "I am not able to save anyone, finding salvation or enlighte must be the result of one's search, so many wonders lie within us, either joy or sadness... But when yhe universe inside you you will bee oh it... It is not something you cim for yourself, Atavaka! Your cruel Universe must be destroyed".

  And at this moment, I feel the o of all the souls devoured by Atavaka join mine, and with it, I unleash my stro attack yet, "Dance, Celestial wheel! Free these trapped souls!", at the same time with urgency Atavaka tries to attack me "Maten Muho...", but it is too te now, "Tenbu Horin!! Dai Hachikan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 8th)!!!".

  I gee a strong blinding wave of golden o, that shatters Atavaka's Surplice, and disie his body, leaving behind only his soul, but the effey attack doesn't end here, because, with the help of the trapped souls, the Wheel of Samsara opens up in the sky and starts sug all the souls, to purify them ahem ba the cycle of reination.

  Looking at this spectacle, I 't help but realize, 'This is why I chose to serve Athena... At first, I was fused and had my doubts... Is this world so full of sadhat is it really worth fighting for it? Is it worth the Goddess who protects this world? At first, I didn't uand why she choose to reinate every time as a human and suffer like them... But then I met her, and she said that she appreciates the suffering she experiences because it makes the joys even more meaningful... Now I uand that this world she protects is an immense forest of austerity and a paradise, where our senses are refined by joys and sorrows, and thus we learn to live loving each other...'.

  I look at the closing Wheel of Samsara, while still feeling the joys and relief of the souls in the air, and say "This is why we fight! And ill defeat once agaiormentor of tless souls, the Lord of the Underworld, Hades!".

  Jayr POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

  I just felt the burst of ing from the Virgo Temple, and 't help but say "Damn... Shaka is a beast, I feel pity for the one who made him get so serious... That burst of o is almost reag the levels of Athena and Poseidon!", then I hear Milo's voice that says "He isn't called the closest to God without reason...", and Camus then adds "Among us Gold Saints, he is for sure is one of the stro...".

  Then Aphrodite says "I'm gd he is on our side...", and Shura finish with "Yeah... But his oppo was really strong too, almost to...", right now, all of us are waiting in the Libra Temple for the remaining Specters to e, we decided to stop them here, as we 't let them e any closer to Saori, 'Better be safe, than sorry... And as backup, there is also Saga that is ready to act at a moment's notice...'.

  While waiting for the Specter to e, I think back at what I felt from Shaka and his oppo's o, 'The two of them clearly mastered the 8th seo a high level... And what is even crazier is that Shaka was able to strip his oppo of the 7th and even 8th sense! But this familiar aura around the Virgo Temple, also tells me that Shaka normally isn't able to pull this off, what he did was a Miracle... The only power we humans have that defeat the Gods!', then I remember the training I did in these st weeks.

  Jayr POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987(Fshback)

  Right now, I'm ying on my bed, I'm really nervous as what I'm about to do is really dangerous, but it is something that must be done if I want to have a ce to survive what is to e, and so I take a deep breath and say "e on, Jayr! You do this! You know how to do this! And you prepared for the worst case possible...", what I'm about to do is all to master the 8th se the same time I again think about what I know about the senses and o 'The ordinary 5 sense are the one we use to perceive the world around us, the 6th sense is the intuition, the sehat we Saints use to feel the o and trol it at the start, then there is the 7th sehe sense of o, with it we Saints gain full awareness of our o and of what it truly do... Then there is the 8th sehe sense of Rule, with it we feel the hidden rules of the Universe and use them to enhance our attacks ht the Rules imposed by the Gods...'.

  Before starting, I once agaihat everything is in pce, right o me there are both the Crateris Cloth and the Sagittarius Cloth, ready to pull me ba case it gets too dangerous, so I y eyes and foy o, and at the same time, I also feel Saori's o brushing against mine, also ready to act at any moment, and also feel Seika's preseside the door also ready to act, clearly feeling her worry for me, with a smile on my face I think 'Yeah... No way, I do something like this and don't tell them about it... They have every right to know... and also the capability to help so why should I hide it from them... I promised them that I'll always tell them everything without hiding anything!'.

  After a final check, I carefully press my acupoints and soon feel all my vital activities slow down, it starts from my heart which beats slower and slower each passing sed, I feel my blood slowing down, my lungs taking fewer breaths, my temperature lowers, in fewer words, my body is slowly dying, or at least, getting as close to death as possible.

  As for why I'm doing all this, using such a dangerous procedure, it is all for mastering the 8th sehe only way I still survive while being in the Underworld, the realm of Hades, that only the dead access, in fact, there are two ways of traveling the Underworld while still being alive, one you are a sve of Hades in possession of a Surplice, the other is to awakeh sense, also called "Arayashiki", and this sense is only awoken at death.

  Right now, I'm in total darkness, I lost feeling of everything, all my senses are gone oer another, and even my 6th and 7th senses are growing weaker and weaker by the sed, in fact, I'm finding more and more difficult to feel my own o, as it is being increasingly weaker, I have never felt this close to death before, and this with the fact that I died once before, but that time was so sudden that I didn't even have the time to uand what was going on, one moment I was driving, the other I was a glowing ball in some kind of school auditorium.

  But this time, I clearly feel my life force slowly slipping away, and I'm truly starting to get scared, so I decide to stop for now, but after trying many times to ignite my o, I e to a dreadful realization, 'Shit! Shit! Shit! I 't feel my o enough to ig aivate the funs of my body! Something is blog me! I pushed myself too far and now I'm truly dying!!', I start to panid try in every way to ect with the Cloths o me, or with Saori's o to ask for their help.

  But I don't feel them anymore, in fact, right now I almost 't even feel my own o anymore, 'e on, Jayr! Think! Don't give up! I 't give up! There are still many things I want to do! I refuse to die now!!', but no matter of much I try, I 't ignite my o, and at this moment, I feel that only a slight ember of it remains, so small that it disappear at any moment now, and in the end, it disappears, and everything bees still, my heartbeat, my breath, my thoughts, even the very cept of time disappears, all I feel is a dreadful nothingness.

  But in this straate of nothingness, all of the sudden, I hear a familiar female g voice, Seika that says "e on... Sniff... e on...Sniff... Jayr... Sniff... e bae!", and another one soon after, this time it is Saori "Jayr... Jayr... Don't give up! When the forces of evil threaten the band peace of the world, the Saints of Athena appear! By their ce and will, they are capable of overing the most insurmountable obstacles! And you among all of them have acquired my trust and love! I know that no matter what happens you will help me, not as yoddess Athena, but as the woman you love Saori! So once again fight!".

  And it doesn't end here, I also hear the voiy sisters talking to each other, worried about me, my parents enjoying their daily lives, grandpa training a batch of trainees, Aiolia and Milo sparring, Aldebaran talking with Mu, Seiya and the others, and also everyone else too, all the people I know, all the people I have helped, all the patients that I have saved, in fact, I also hear the whisper of the Crateris and Sagittarius Cloth, and in the end all their voices blends together.

  Then a brand new awareness about everything es to me, and from the ash that my o left behind, sparks appear once more, which quickly transforms into a fire, then in a raging inferno, and the moment, I hear and feel a deafening explosion, and my o expands to my previous limits, and easily breaks through them, growing s and huge, that I feel it enpasses the whole Universe, in fact, right now with my senses, I also feel the slow expansion of the universe, and I feel that if I push myself I even feel beyond its limits.

  And at the same time, with a simple thought, my vital fun activates once more, I open my eyes and sit up from the bed, but I'm quickly tackled by two missiles in the shape of Saori and Seika, and hugging them I softly say "Sorry for w you... But now, I'm fine, and our ces of kig a godly ass are higher...", but the two don't let me go, and so I decide to spend the rest of the day cuddling with them, of course after promising them to never do anything so dangerous ever again.

  At the same time, with a cold sweat running down my back, I think, 'Not that I want to... This time, truly was a close one... I truly e close to dying this time, even with all my preparations, I uimated the other side... Hades almost got me, as soon as I came close to his domain, he felt my alig with Athena and cut off all the e to the living world and isote my soul... It was thanks to awakening my 8th sehat I was able to fight off his influend restore the e between my body and soul, and use my o to restore my vital activities aurn to life!'.

  Then with a smirk, I think, 'In the end, it almost looks like, Hades helped me, it is probable that with all the backup I prepared, I would have ruly felt death, and thus I wouldn't have awakehe 8th sense... This only be the result of two things... Or I have plot armor and am the protagonist of some kind of story... Or Saori's Nike pyed a hand in it, I 't fet that even if that scepter seems useless most of the time, it has the bullshit power to the events and fates in some subtle way to always lead Athena and her allies to victory, its literally grant Athena victory, eve seems impossible... Or both...'.

  Odyin