This newly born Sanctuary really was the Sanctuary from the Omega storyline. From the intelligence extracted from the captured group, their Sanctuary appeared in this world because their leader, Mars, made some kind of agreement with an unknown existence.
As for what that "existence" was—someone who could pull characters from a plotline more than ten years in the future into the present, and who could freely traverse space.
That pretty much leaves only that bastard Yoma.
Yoma probably isn't simply "sealed" anymore. No idea how he managed it, but he has most likely broken free of the seal.
With the power of the time god Kairos—little brother of the true Creator God of the Saint Seiya world—even if Zeus himself came, he likely still wouldn't be a match.
What Yoma doesn't know is that just by dragging Mars and the others out, Meruem has already concluded he broke the seal. If Yoma knew, he probably wouldn't have done it. Unfortunately, there's no way he could know—Meruem is a transmigrator who knows the plot.
"Interesting." Meruem let out a cold laugh. Only a you who has broken the seal is worthy of being my opponent.
So let's see—in this chessboard game, who will be the final winner?
You may have broken the seal, but as long as the gods of this world don't know you exist, you can only hide in the shadows forever.
Mars, Apsu… is Saturn next? Meruem unconsciously tapped the arm of his chair.
If Saturn was next, that would indeed be troublesome. The god of time, an eternal and indestructible being, a primordial deity of the Roman mythos and the father of Jupiter, king of the Roman gods.
In raw power he was above Apsu—no, he could crush Apsu with ease.
He might rank among the strongest gods in the Saint Seiya world.
But this was the Saint Seiya world. Up in the heavens, Apollo still existed.
In Saint Seiya's lore, aside from the most ancient god Kronos and his brother Yoma, the only gods hailed as the strongest are Zeus—currently missing—and the omniscient, omnipotent Apollo in the heavens, said to be the strongest in the universe.
In the Heaven Chapter prologue, Apollo's performance absolutely eclipsed every other god who appeared. In the setting, Athena's Cosmo before Apollo was like an ant.
If Yoma's strength utterly surpassed Apollo's, why would he bother with these petty schemes from the shadows? That suggests Apollo's strength in the heavens…
Since the Heaven Chapter and Omega are two separate works, Meruem can't judge from plot alone which is stronger, Apollo or Saturn.
In any case, Apollo, Saturn, and even the missing Zeus could all be used by Yoma as enemies against Meruem.
As the home-field master, Yoma would exploit every resource without hesitation.
But staying this passive isn't my style. With that thought, Meruem rose from his chair and left the great hall. Beneath the star-filled sky, he seemed to be thinking about something. This hall stood where the former Sun God's palace once was. After Abel was defeated, Saori had the Sun Palace torn down and built a new temple specifically for Meruem.
It was almost funny. Didn't Meruem always claim to the outside world that he was Athena's guardian? So Saori deliberately named this temple the "Guardian Temple."
Her feelings needed no explanation.
As if thinking of something, a meaningful cold smile returned to Meruem's lips.
"The gods of heaven have plenty of enemies too—most are just sealed away."
"We'll need a few allies out in the open. When the time comes, some interesting things are bound to happen."
Ever since Meruem defeated Abel, he had devoured everything Abel had. He still hadn't reached the Ninth Sense, nor gained Abel's memories. But the name "Abel" made Meruem think of a certain figure in the Saint Seiya world.
"Even if he covets the earth, his ultimate enemies are the ones up there."
In the days that followed, because three Gold Saints from the Little Sanctuary had been captured—two of those fake Gold Saints were publicly executed to intimidate the minor powers around the world.
This stabilized the situation, while the Little Sanctuary fell into silence for a time. They did not immediately go to war with the Greek Sanctuary despite losing three Gold Saints.
Instead, they steadily expanded their influence, wiping out smaller factions nearby.
This included two minor god-temple factions, along with the minor gods themselves.
Mars, leader of the Little Sanctuary, did not break with Medea over her sending his biological daughter to die, but their relationship fell into an icy stalemate.
Meanwhile, Mars and Medea's son—Eden of Orion—tried several times to lead troops in a raid on the Sanctuary to rescue his sister, but he was stopped each time.
Eden had a cold temperament, but he still cared deeply for his half-sister. She was his real older sister, after all. And his combat teacher Mycenae had been executed too—how could Eden not be furious?
In the end, Mars had no choice but to place Eden under house arrest. Eden was strong, having reached the Seventh Sense; ordinary people couldn't stop him, so Mars's move was also out of necessity. The Greek Sanctuary's strength was unclear to him. Even though Eden was a god's son and a Seventh Sense warrior, that didn't mean he could retreat unscathed. Mars had already lost a daughter—he didn't want to lose his only son as well.
And the only person Eden could see each day was Aria, the one revered as Athena within the Little Sanctuary. Mars planned to lift Eden's confinement only after the Greek Sanctuary had been dealt with.
In the days that followed, the Little Sanctuary and the Greek Sanctuary clashed frequently. After all, the Little Sanctuary didn't only have those Gold Saints; it also had plenty of Bronze and Silver Saints under it—
Though they wore those skin-tight "plastic" Cloths too.
Of course, the frictions almost always ended in decisive victory for the Greek Sanctuary. The Little Sanctuary simply couldn't match the deeply established base the Greek Sanctuary had built over the years at the middle and lower ranks.
Both sides' leaders—Meruem and Saori, and Mars's side—rarely but tacitly allowed these lower-level skirmishes.
But as time passed, the atmosphere grew more and more tense. Finally, not long ago, when Mars dispatched a large force to attack Asgard, the Greek Sanctuary and Babylon's Little Sanctuary formally declared war.
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