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*****
"Understood, Great Pope!"
The Golden Saints rose in unison, bowing deeply toward Saga.
Most of them felt the Pope's reasoning was sound. A few still harbored lingering doubts, but under the circumstances, there was little left to say. On the surface, at least, they could find no fault in the Pope's command.
"There is no time to lose. Depart at once," Saga said, his finger pointing toward the man with flowing blonde hair. "Shaka shall lead the team."
Among the six, Shaka was undeniably the strongest. More importantly, Saga understood his temperament—Shaka was rational, calm, and bordering on cold. Once he committed to a path, no amount of pleading or explanation would sway him. If any of the six Golden Saints were tempted to switch sides, Shaka would not hesitate to eliminate them to preserve the dignity and safety of the Sanctuary.
He certainly possessed the power to do so.
The six Saints nodded once more, performing a final salute before exiting the Pope's Hall and heading toward the outskirts of the Sanctuary. Flight was forbidden within the holy grounds; they would have to cross the perimeter before they could take to the skies.
The moment they departed, Saga turned his gaze toward Deathmask. "Follow them. Monitor the situation and report back to me the moment anything changes."
While Golden Saints could move at the speed of light, they rarely did so unless absolutely necessary. Such movement consumed massive amounts of Cosmo and generated a disturbance so violent it risked alerting both enemies and civilians alike. Deathmask, with his mastery over spatial techniques and teleportation, was the perfect choice for surveillance.
If Shaka's team managed to eliminate Dohko and Mu and bring back Saori Kido, all the better. If they failed, Deathmask could immediately transport Saga to the scene to clean up the mess and settle matters once and for all.
"As you wish, Great Pope."
George, controlling Deathmask's body, nodded obediently and made a show of walking toward the exit. Of course, he had no intention of actually spying on the group in Tokyo. After leaving the hall, he feigned a teleportation toward Japan but instead remained hidden in the shadows, using his Magic Mirror to relay the intelligence to Saori Kido's camp.
"Saga is truly insidious, framing Miss Saori as Pandora of the Underworld!"
Seiya and the others were livid upon hearing George's analysis of Saga's scheme. However, Saori Kido, whose consciousness as Athena had begun to stir, remained remarkably composed.
"Since they have dispatched six Golden Saints, we should head to the Sanctuary now to subdue Saga."
This was their original contingency: if the Sanctuary sent more than three Golden Saints away, they would launch a direct assault on the Sanctuary and corner Saga alongside George. With six of them gone, Saga should have been left virtually unguarded.
"No. Saga's strength is immense. Even if we strike together, taking him down quickly would be difficult," a voice interrupted.
Dohko and Mu appeared, casting a cold shadow over the group's optimism. "If the battle drags on and Shaka's group senses something is wrong, they will abandon all restraint and return at light speed. We would have no chance of victory then."
They had known the truth for a long time, but they had hesitated to act, fearing a civil war would deplete the Sanctuary's strength and leave them defenseless against the upcoming Holy War. As one of only two survivors from the previous Holy War, Dohko understood its brutality better than anyone. If they lost, the world would be shrouded in death—a true apocalypse.
They had intended to wait until Athena's consciousness fully awakened and they had trained more promising Saints before slowly dealing with Saga and the traitors. They hadn't expected things to escalate so rapidly.
To ensure Athena's safety, they could no longer remain bystanders. While Dohko was surprised by George's strength and his acquisition of the Ophiuchus Gold Cloth, he didn't agree with the current battle plan. For a Golden Saint, the distance to the Sanctuary was negligible; there was no "window of time" to exploit.
"How can this be..." Seiya's expression darkened. But soon, he gritted his teeth. "Then we fight them head-on! For Athena and for justice, we'll defeat them even if they are Golden Saints!"
"There is still a chance," George interjected. "We just need to adjust the plan."
He looked at the group. "Of the six sent, only Shaka and Shura are truly committed. The other four are wavering. You must stall them for as long as possible. Avoid a direct confrontation if you can, but if you must fight, focus on defense and delay. They must not realize anything is happening at the Sanctuary. I will handle Saga myself. Once he is dealt with, the rest will fall into place."
"It is our only option for now," Dohko and Mu exchanged a glance, agreeing to the new strategy. They took a moment to brief George on Saga's specific techniques and abilities.
With George at a Golden Saint's level and his control over Aphrodite and Deathmask, a three-on-one fight against the false Pope gave them a decent margin for victory.
Back in the Pope's Hall, after Deathmask had "departed," only George and the controlled Aphrodite remained. Saga began outlining his fallback plan. It was exactly as George suspected: they were to wait here, and Saga would personally lead them to the battlefield to execute any Golden Saint who dared defy his orders.
An hour later, George received a message from Saori's group: Targets have arrived. Stalling in progress.
The six Golden Saints had reached Tokyo.
"Time for me to move, then," George said, standing up abruptly.
Saga, who had been resting his eyes while waiting for news from Deathmask, snapped them open. "Is something the matter, Ola?"
"Great Pope, I have a suggestion." George offered a faint, apologetic smile.
"Speak," Saga replied flatly. He assumed George had thought of some new strategy against Athena to prove his worth.
"I suggest you confess your crimes and pass the title of Pope to me."
Saga bolted upright in his throne. "Ola, do you have any idea what you are saying?"
"I know exactly what I'm saying, Saga of Gemini," George said, sitting back down with a grin. "The true traitor of the Sanctuary... you didn't actually think my loyalty belonged to you, did you?"
Saga's eyes narrowed into slits. He turned toward the Pisces Saint. "Aphrodite, kill him!"
In Saga's eyes, George revealing himself now was pure idiocy. If George were smart, he would have waited for Aphrodite to be away and launched a lethal sneak attack. Even then, a newly promoted Saint was no match for him. He figured George was simply panicked by the situation in Tokyo and was acting out of desperation.
"Bloody Rose!"
At Saga's command, Aphrodite erupted with his maximum Cosmo, unleashing his ultimate technique. However, the target wasn't George. The crimson rose streaked directly toward Saga.
"You've betrayed me too?!" Saga's face shifted. He raised a hand, distorting the air. "Another Dimension!"
The powerful spatial rift swallowed the Bloody Rose and Aphrodite himself instantly. When Aphrodite was spat back out of the rift moments later, he was already a lifeless husk.
"He didn't betray you; I simply controlled him. Just like you did to the Crystal Saint," George explained casually. "I'm afraid I lied to you. Every piece of intelligence I gave you was fake. You thought you were the fisherman waiting for the catch, but we were just drawing the snake out of its hole."
It was a classic villain trope to talk too much, but George had to admit—when you have absolute control over the situation, taunting the opponent was quite satisfying.
"That means Deathmask..."
Saga's face paled further as a familiar Cosmo flared behind him.
"Sekishiki Meikai Ha!"
Deathmask had appeared behind the throne, launching his signature soul-stripping attack.
"Galaxian Explosion!"
With a roar, Saga spun and unleashed his most devastating technique. A terrifying force capable of shattering stars concentrated into countless fists, colliding with the waves of the Underworld. The soul-targeting energy was instantly dispersed, and Deathmask was sent flying, his bones shattered and his body hitting the ground like a heap of broken clay.
Another one-shot kill. Even against fellow Golden Saints, Aphrodite and Deathmask couldn't withstand a single serious move from Saga.
"Humph. Even if you control them, what does it matter? In the face of absolute strength, schemes are nothing but a joke." Saga raised his hand, aiming a finger at George. "Demon Emperor Fist!"
He intended to take control of George's mind to find out exactly what Saori Kido was planning in Tokyo. George didn't dodge or defend; the strike landed perfectly.
However, there was no vacant stare, no submission. George remained perfectly conscious.
"Truly one of the strongest Golden Saints," George remarked, standing up and walking toward Saga. "Compressing space with Cosmo to exile enemies to a rift trillions of light-years away... an ultimate physical strike comparable to a galactic supernova... and a forbidden technique to dominate the nervous system. Impressive. Unfortunately, you've met me."
George clapped his hands. "Wow, that sounded a bit chuunibyou, didn't it? But it's true."
"Clown!" Saga spat, his Cosmo burning to its limit.
Though he didn't know how George had resisted the Demon Emperor Fist, he could sense that George's Cosmo wasn't as vast as his own—it was only slightly stronger than Aphrodite's. In a head-on clash, George should have been crushed.
"Galaxian Explosion!"
He struck again, intending to cripple George first and then force a mental takeover.
"Ultra Instinct!"
Finally, George, clad in the Sagittarius Gold Cloth, made his move. He never expected Aphrodite or Deathmask to win; the gap was too wide. To defeat a man ranked in the top three of the Golden Saints, he had to do it himself.
His Seventh Sense Cosmo was still inferior to Saga's due to his short training time, but he hadn't been idle. He had figured out how to channel the power of Cosmo through the principles of Ultra Instinct.
Ultra Instinct was a technique of the gods—a state where the body moved without thought, amplifying one's effective combat power ten-thousand-fold. As George entered the state, his hair stood on end, shimmering with a silver-white hue. His Cosmo remained at the Seventh Sense level, but the power he exerted transcended it entirely.
"Bluffing!" Saga sensed something was off, but seeing that George's raw energy hadn't spiked, he pushed forward. The star-crushing force that had annihilated Deathmask surged toward George.
George simply raised a hand and threw a standard move known to all Golden Saints:
"Light Speed Pulse!"
A common light-speed punch, but under the influence of Ultra Instinct, it became anything but common. Every strike precisely intercepted Saga's destructive energy, neutralizing it with ease while the remaining force continued toward Saga.
Saga tried to dodge, but his body couldn't keep up. It was as if every move he made had been predicted; George was always one step ahead.
"AAAAAUGH!"
Screams erupted from Saga as his Pope's mask shattered, and his robes were reduced to ash, revealing the Gemini Gold Cloth beneath.
"Impossible... How can your light-speed punches... be this strong?!"
Saga crashed to the floor, coughing up blood. He was heavily wounded. The strongest light-speed punch he had ever seen was Aiolos's Atomic Thunderbolt, a move even he feared to take head-on. But George's strikes weren't a named technique—they were basic punches delivered with a terrifying, unreachable level of perfection.
"It's over."
George walked over to the fallen Saga. With a flick of his hand, he cast a Sleep Charm to knock him unconscious, then used his power to restore the shattered Pope's regalia.
(End of Chapter)