Chapter 95: The Evil Saga Appears Again

The fallen angel moved at last. In a mere flash, Feng Zhe caught only a streak of light before Athena’s Shield was blasted away and slammed to the ground.

That same light pierced straight through Feng Zhe’s body. His holy armor shattered at once, and he was hurled away, crashing to the earth.

“Aries!”

Sasha cried out in shock, but the fallen angel vanished in an instant and seized her, then disappeared from that very spot.

Far from the Sanctuary, upon a mountain peak, a magnificent stone palace suddenly emerged from within the rock. Its crest, marked with the symbol of the Demon King, Satan, was enough to inspire terror at a single glance.

This palace was the Dark Palace, the Demon-Suppressing Hall.

And the Demon King Lucifer stood within it, gazing down at the Lady Sasha, Athena, whom he had just captured.

Feng Zhe stopped Seiya and the others from rushing forward. In a situation this severe, the prudent course was to think carefully and act only after long consideration.

...

In the medical chamber, Seiya and the other two were receiving the most advanced treatment. Shiryu, who had returned from Five Old Peaks, came back at once and found Feng Zhe sitting in silence.

“High Priest, what should we do now?”

Shiryu’s question was also the question in Seiya’s heart, and in Hyoga’s, and in Shun’s.

Yet Feng Zhe’s thoughts were fixed on Lucifer’s cosmos. That instant exchange had shown him plainly that there was no escaping, no evading, that power.

It was precisely because of that strange cosmos that so many Gold Saints had fallen in battle.

It must be the cosmos of the three evil gods behind him. That was why Lucifer was able to be so overwhelming.

And when he remembered Lucifer’s desire to make Sasha a sacrificial offering, Feng Zhe realized that the direction of those thorns must point to the source of those three cosmoses. Their purpose was to revive them.

“To defeat Lucifer, we must go to the Demon-Suppressing Hall and seal the source of his cosmos!”

After speaking, Feng Zhe looked to Seiya and the others and issued the order for the rescue of Sasha.

...

Demon-Suppressing Hall

Sasha, holding high the staff of the Goddess of Victory, had barely stepped onto the stairs when an evil cosmos struck her down. She looked so frail then that one could not help but want to protect her.

Yet Lady Sasha did not retreat. Instead, she pressed forward, deeper into the Demon-Suppressing Hall.

Then thorned brambles rose from the ground, blocking her way.

Her gaze remained steady. With every step she took, the thorns tore her skin. Before long, the cuts and wounds covering her body were too many to count.

Seeing Athena endure such unspeakable agony filled the fallen angel with delight. A sense of revenge fulfilled coursed through his mind.

Soon Lady Sasha’s blood had stained the entire bramble thicket, and then something strange happened: the thorns seemed to be absorbing Athena’s blood, growing thicker and thicker, as though they had come alive.

At that moment, another evil cosmos appeared within the Demon-Suppressing Hall, and its target was none other than the battered Lady Athena Sasha.

“What kind of fool is meddling here?”

Two beams of divine light collided in the air with a thunderous impact. Lucifer had moved to shield Sasha.

Lucifer stared at the newly appeared evil cosmos and seemed utterly unfamiliar with it.

At this critical moment of sacrifice, he would not permit even the slightest error.

By contrast, Sasha, who had escaped death, found the evil cosmos all too familiar, and called out, “Saga!”

Then evil Saga appeared before the Demon-Suppressing Hall, clad in divine armor.

Compared with before, Saga was even stronger now. In faint outline, he had already reached the summit of the Eighth Sense, only one step away from divinity.

Sasha was shocked. Even Lucifer’s expression grew more solemn, before he smiled lightly and said, “I never expected the humans of this world to seek godhood.”

Saga faced Lucifer directly and said, “You and I are of the same kind. Only, I intend to shatter the boundary of the gods, while you seek to become an existence above them.”

“You have ambition. But one with ambition is enough, is it not?”

Lucifer regarded all humans as ants. To him, Saga was merely an ant with greater strength.

“Since words are useless, then I’ll take the blood of the gods by my own power!”

With that, Saga roared.

Galactic Explosion!

As he unleashed this strongest of techniques again, its power was no longer comparable to before. Like a rain of descending stars, it struck with such force that even the galaxy seemed to tremble.

Sasha’s expression changed at once. If she were struck by that blow, then even as a god she would surely perish.

Yet Lucifer before him would never grant that wish. In an instant, he sent forth power bright enough to rival the stars.

Saga heard hymns ringing in his ears, and before his eyes appeared countless little angels. That song seemed like the most beautiful thing in all the world.

And yet Saga was not deceived. Instead, he burned his cosmos madly and met Lucifer in a direct clash of force. Astonishingly, the two were evenly matched.

This made Lucifer truly furious. A human no different from an ant had somehow obtained the power of a god. It was unforgivable.

The two fought within the Demon-Suppressing Hall, and Feng Zhe, leading the five bronze heroes, arrived as well.

“In this hall there are three bramble roots to the southeast, southwest, and west. They will certainly be guarded by holy demon angels. Shiryu, Hyoga, and Shun, go to those three places separately.”

“Seiya, you guard Lady Sasha. Buy as much time as you can until I return!”

As for Ikki, with Shun as the summoner, Feng Zhe refused to believe he would not appear.

The four nodded at once and sped toward the three directions.

Feng Zhe then looked toward Sasha’s direction and thought to himself, That evil Saga is really helping me a great deal!

At that moment, the four bronze heroes faced the holy demon angels simultaneously, both at the front and at the three directions.

When Hyoga rushed over, he encountered the principal Seraph, Sron.

Sron was known as the Soul Hunter. He could conjure the person his opponent missed most, then, beneath that illusion, kill him with light-speed fists. He was, in truth, the coldest of men.

Hyoga was utterly overwhelmed in their battle.

The reason was simple: his longing for his mother.

A Saint who had awakened the Seventh Sense naturally possessed an immensely strong heart, one that ordinary illusions could not shake.

But Sron clearly drew upon divine power, allowing him to create the most convincing illusion possible.

“Hyoga, if you cannot overcome your longing for your mother, then your faith and the glory of being Athena’s Saint will all turn to nothing. Athena herself will also lose her light in the face of such longing!”

Feng Zhe’s telepathic power reached Hyoga’s ears. Hyoga murmured, “Lady Sasha...”

Suddenly, a vast cosmos ignited throughout Hyoga’s body. It was even gold in color, and even the Cygnus armor turned golden-yellow.

Aurora Execution!

Bearing his longing for his mother, Hyoga unleashed his greatest technique, the same greatest technique of his master, Camus of Aquarius: Aurora Execution.

At once, the image of the Goddess of Dawn appeared behind Hyoga.

“No!”

With a wail, Sron was transformed into an ice statue, and the instant he was touched, he shattered into frost and vanished on the wind.

And before Feng Zhe appeared the enormous root system of the bramble field.

When Feng Zhe reached that place, he was startled to discover that the cosmos within this root belonged to an old acquaintance: the evil god Eris.