Jayr POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1986

  We are finally standing in front of our stop, the Leo Temple, the fifth temple of the Gold Zodiad the abode of the powerful Leo Gold Saint Aiolia, a noble-hearted warrior, with the strength and ferocity of a lion guarding his den, the temple is posed of a huge Grean style building with three wings, the tral wing has a frieze where the insignia of the steltion is marked, and in front of the entrance are two lions statues resting, which look to the horizon weling those brave enough to veo the temple.

  Walking inside, I see that the interior is full of torches that provide light to the dark temple, and soon we reach the tral room that is supported by pilrs and some internal walls, and in the middle of it is Aiolia, surrounded by the bodies of many Sanctuary's soldiers, I notice that all of them are still alive, but won't wake up for at least another 5 hours, and seeing this Seiya asks "Aiolia! What happened here?".

  But he looks at Seiya with a cold expression and says in a voice devoid of aion "I'll kill anyone who tries to pass through the Leo Temple!", and fused, Seiya yells "What's going on? Didn't you swear allegiao Athena when you were in Japan!?", at the same time I notice what is going on 'I hought that Aiolia would be such a prankster... Well we have time so I will help him', and so I try my best to pull off an Oscar-worthy act, and in a worried tone I warn the Bronzes "Not Good! Guys, be careful, Aiolia fell victim of Saga's Demon Illusion Punch! Right now he is being mind trolled!!".

  At the same time, Aiolia tinues his ad in the same emotionless voice, he says "I am Leo Aiolia, my duty is to guard the Leo Temple", theacks roup with his teique, Lightning Psma, where he delivers one hundred million blows per sed, leaving behind only a tless number of luminous threads, hitting Seiya and the others with enough force to blow them away, and causing all of the to spit some blood from their mouths.

  At the same time, I move like I'm dodging his attack, but in fact Aiolia made sure that any of his blows is far away from us, or more precisely from Saori, something that she quickly notice, and in fact she is looking at me with a questioning gaze, to which I reply with a simple wink, thehen uand what is truly going on and decides to let it happen.

  Aiolia move closer to the Bronze Saints on the ground and says "Now, I'll end your pain!", and the first to stand among them is Seiya who raising his o yells "I don't know how to free you Aiolia, but I won't hold back! I'm going to fight you with all my strength!", but before he could act, Aiolia once again moves first, this time he uses his Lightning Bolt, a punch at the speed of light that projects a bst of o in the shape of a ball of lightning, that hits Seiya right iomad sends him flying once again, and crash headfirst into the ground, making him bleed from his head.

  Seeing this I nod and whisper "Not a cra his skull, my treatment worked...", soon Seiya and the others stand up once again, and their o grew in iy and strength, in fact, they all briefly broke through the threshold of the 7th sense, and when Aiolia once again used his Lighting Psma, they were all able to dodge his blows, and Ikki was even able to ter-attad kick Aiolia on the head sending him crashing on the ground.

  But before they could rejoice, Aiolia once again stands up, a out an intense bloodlust that momentarily paralyzes all of them excluded Ikki who seems to realize what is truly going on, 'It seems that Ikki tried to do the same thing I did to Guilty to free him from Saga's trol... At least one of them is using his head in the right way for once, instead of using it to break a fall or crash trough a wall...'.

  But then as if what happened was an illusion, the bloodlust disappears and with a smile on his face he says "Good job, everyone! You've learo make your o bze far more powerful than before, and even if only for an instant, you surpassed the Silver Saints and raised your o to the level of Gold Saints, You are all true Saints!" turning to Ikki he says "It was a good idea to send your o into my brain to free me from a possible trol, and you executed perfectly...".

  Then his teurns serious and he adds "But heed this warning, the Gold Saints are still many times more powerful than you are! Especially the one, Shaka, who guards the Virgo Temple! He is almost a God! Just remember this, do not provoke Shaka to open his eyes! Because when Shaka opens them, no enemy survive his onsught!!" then he kneels in front of Saori and says "Goddess Athena! I'll now resume my duty of guarding the Leo Temple in case of enemy invasion", hearing that Saori nods and says "Good, but take care of sending these soldiers to the Asclepieion (Hospital) ying here 't be good for their health".

  Later, while we were climbing the set of stairs leading to the Virgo Temple, Shiryu let out a sigh and says "In the end, he truly tested us before letting us pass through...", and after a moment of silence Shun asks "Jayr-san, is this Shaka really so powerful? And what did Aiolia-san mean by not letting him open his eyes?".

  Notig everyone foe, I reply "Well, I'll first answer your sed question... Basically, Shaka is stantly training and refining his o by cutting off his sense of sight, I do the same too and train in a simir way, but different from me he does it stantly and at the same time he represses his o, so when he opens his eyes, all that repressed o burst out being many times more powerful...".

  Seeing that they uood, I tinue "...About your first question, yes Shaka is really powerful, maybe he is the stro of the current Gold Saints, not even Saga is at his level, some say that he is the reination of a Buddha himself, in fact, I won't be surprised if he already khe truth about Saga, and iy, he will only test us to see if we are ready to face what is to e... But for all his powers, he is alsant and not very merciful, if push es to shove, he would kill you in a heartbeat...".

  As I was expining that, we reach our destination and stand in front of the Virgo Temple, the temple is a ixture between a Greek temple for the most part and a Buddhist temple, because the entrance portico is fnked by two ns and majestic Buddha statues, the Buddha on the right of the temple entrance adopts the position of the Samapada, the attitude of rest, while the one on the left opts for an attitude called Dhamarcakra mudra or Dhamarcakra pravartana mudra (seal of the Wheel of the Law ), it is a gesture of appeasement, of prote against all fear, of setting the Wheel in motion.

  Seeing the temple, Seiya and the others rush inside, and soon after, I with Saori in my arms, follow after them, calmly walking through the main corridor, at the end of which there is some kind of meditation room, in this room, there are small steps leading up to a kind of altar where there is a lotus flower-shaped seat on which usually the Virgo Saiates and waits patiently for those who try to cross his temple, but right now the said Saint is standing over the prone figure of Seiya while surrounded by the others, 'For the love of Athena! We just got here and Seiya is already knocked out!!'.

  Shaka, wearing his Gold Cloth, with his eyes closed, calmly says "You're all an ill-mannered lot! You barge into the Virgo Temple and attack me like a ravenous hungry ghost of Preta, springing at a corpse...", but the Bronzes do not stop, and Shiryu burs his o, and with an uppercut tries to release the Rozan Shoryuha (Supremacy of the Rozan Asding Dragon) a fist strike so powerful that gee a shockwave in the shape of a dragon, but in the middle of the blow, Shaka moves in front of Shiryu and putting his hand in front of Shiryu's fist, he stops his attack with a wall of o.

  Shaka then uses his o to restrain the shockwave geed by Shiryu into the form of a ball, and says "Your puny punch that has caused to reverse the flow of Lushan's Great Waterfall isn't all that impressive, you know! Behold! Soon this ball of shockwaves, will pee your Cloth and rip the flesh from your fist! And After that, it will attack your bohey will be pulverized and you'll be left with a stump!", but after threatening him, Shaka makes the ball of shockwaves explode, sending Shiryu crashing into the ground.

  At the same time, I notice that Ikki is still, looking at Shaka with eyes wide open, with his whole body shaking, 'Ikki afraid of someohat's impossible, he is one of the bravest men I know... What is going on here? Did Shaka do something to him?', meanwhile, Shun, decides to attack with his s, but Shaka uses his powerful o to take trol of Shun's and make them tightly bind and strangle him instead.

  And with a ugh, Shaka asks "Ha ha ha! How does it feel to be strangled by your own s? Now, with a word, I could behead you... Would you like to go quickly, in an instant?", but soon the s let go of the vice, making Shun falls on his knees, while Shiryu and Seiya who recovered from his blows, moved to che him 'Ok, Shaka is clearly going easy on them, and he is ign our presence... This could mean that I was right, he khe truth about Saga the whole time...'.

  I feel Shaka's o spike, and notice him gathering a huge amount of o between his hands being a light ball of densed o and at the same time an illusion of the unfurling of a radiant lotus floears behind him, then he says "Young Bronze Saint, I shall now say a requiem for you!! Be Bao the Preta Realm!! Tenma Kofuku (Demonic Surrender)!!!", and he discharges the gathered o with a rge explosion of light that blows away Seiya, Shiryu, and Shun like a ragdoll.

  Surrounded by the knocked-out Bronze Saints, Shaka says "I'm amazed that Saints of your feeble abilities made it this far! I only clude that the Gold Saints before me went easy on you..." theices Shun's body twitg and moving closer to him, he says "This one refuses to die... I am called the Gold Saint closest to God, but there is ohing the Gods possess which I do not, the Gods have mercy toward the weak! Still, to end the suffering of a wounded beast is akin to mercy, I suppose...", and moves to give Shun the finishing blow.

  But right at that moment, Ikki's o explodes, enveloping his body like a fierce fme, and walking toward Shaka he says "Shaka... Because you beat up my brothers so badly, I was awoken from that memory... And now it's payback time!!", Shaka faces Ikki and says "Heh... So it seems you matured a little sihe st time we meet!", surprising me about the fact that Shaka and Ikki met before, and making me uand why Ikki was se when we came, 'Probably Shaka, suppressed the memories of their enter... This is the only expnation possible... If not, Ikki should have remembered someone like Shaka'.

  Ikki POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1986

  When I finally remember my first meeting with this man, all the feelings of helpless, and resignation, I felt that day impacted me once again, so much that I only watch as Shaka easily deals with Shun and the others, but when he moves to deal the finishing blow to Shun, something in me snaps, and my o starts burning once again more fiercely than ever before.

  I slowly move toward him and says as my o burns even more and say "Shaka... Because you beat up my brothers so badly, I was awoken from that memory... And now it's payback time!!", Shaka looks at me and says "Heh... So it seems you matured a little sihe st time we meet!" then as his o grows stronger, he adds, "I spare your life once, I won't do it again! Ikki choose one of the six realms of existence I am about to show you, the real you choose shall be your eternal home!!".

  Shaka trates all of his os and stands with his left arm exteoward the ground and his right arm raised upward, and both palms fag forward, yelling "Rikudo Rinne (Six Paths of Reination)", then he projects a light that strikes me directly ay body, and as soon as I felt the impact, I find myself falling, in a new and strange pce, it seems some kind of hellish realm, with fire and pain everywhere, then I hear Shaka's voiaraka-Gati (Hell Realm), the realm of the damned! A sea of fire, mountains of needles, and eerror, those who go here shall fall for all eternity, writhing in agony!!".

  I keep falling and the ses around me ge, now I find myself falling through a desote nd deprived of every kind of sustenance, 'What is going on!? Is this some kind of illusion?', then Shaka's voice says "Preta-Gati (Ghost Realm), the realm of the hungry ghosts! Your body shall wither to skin and bones, and your bally shall bee bloated and distended, your hunger will lead you to feed on carrion, forever".

  Once again my surroundings ge, and this time, it is a nd full of all kinds of beasts, killing aing each other, and Shaka's voice again expins "Tiryagyoni-Gati (Beast Realm), the realm of beasts! A world in which the strohe weak, if you want to kill your oppo, you kill him, if you want to devour him, you devour him, a bestial world".

  As soon as he finished speaking, the se ged again, and all I see is an infitlefield, where people tinuously fight and kill each other, and once again Shaka expins "Asura-Gati (Asura Realm), the realm of the demigods! Blood and age! You will be forced to fight without rest for eternity!".

  Reag this point I finally realize what is going on 'I'm not in an illusion!! His teique, sent my soul out of my body with the iion of transferring it into one of these worlds to reinate, while my physical body remains in the pce of the battle! This isn't good, I have to find a way to return!!', at the same time, Shaka shows me another realm, this one seems almost a copy of our own but something about it feels off, "Manusya-Gati (Human Realm), the realm of men! An unstable world whose inhabitants are sves to emotion, uo devote themselves to either good or evil".

  Once again, the se around me ges, and this realm appears to be a true paradise, but I won't let myself fall for this, "Deva-Gati (Deva Realm), The realm of gods! It is called paradise, but at any moment you slip and fall into any of the others realms, this is the most perilous of the realms!", and at this moment I burned my o as much as possible letting explode and searg for my e with my Phoenix Cloth, using it t my soul bay body, trusting in the Cloth ability to resurrect itself and its wearer.

  Soon I feel my body once again, and the moment, I find myself ying prone on the ground, then I hear Shaka's voice "Where did you fall to, Ikki? I suspect that you desded to either Naraka-Gati or Asura-Gati...", I take advantage of this moment where he lowered his guard sure that his teique worked to hit him with a Hoo Genmaken (Phoenix Phantom Fist), sending a thin line of o into his brain.

  Then I say "Unfortunately for you, both the demons of hell and the warring demigods sider me too difficult to hahey've rejected me! Now, it's your turn! With the blow I just threw, you've been snared by my Hoo Genmaken, choose the realm of death you prefer, Shaka!" sure of the fact that he will now be afflicted by the illusioroying or at least weakening his psyche.

  But soon Shaka speaks again totally ued by my blow "Sorry, Ikki, the six paths of reinatioo a pce where foolish humans fall, for a near-God such as myself, those pces are irrelevant, but never mind that, I'm sure you are still weakened by the after-effects of the Rikudo Rinne ...", and a soon as he said that, the se around us ged, and now all around me is a desote rocky field, so I ask "Where are we!?" and Shaka replies "This is the dry riverbed of Styx, the river that ruween the world of the living and the underworld, there lost children wander forever, g for their parents and pile up stones in grief... Isn't that you that I see approag in the distance?".

  And indeed, in the distance, I see the figure of my younger self carrying an infant Shun in his arms, but then I notice what is going on and break free from the illusion, and Shaka with a smile on his face asks "How does it feel to enter yourself as a child?", but all I say is "Incredible! I threw the Hoo Genmaken, but I'm the one caught in the illusion!".

  Shaka raises his hand and says "Do you see now, Ikki? No matter how hard you fight, the only thing you're headed for is defeat! A Cloth is no longer necessary for you! I shall turn it to ashes!" and under my shocked eyes, Shaka sends a wave of o from his hand at me that doesn't hurt my body but it shatters my Cloth into many pieces.

  But I don't give up and explode my o, I call for my Cloth, which with a burst of fmes appears on my body once again as good as new, and say "The Phoenix Cloth has risen from its ashes!! Oh Queen Isnd, my master told me that the Phoenix Cloth is supreme! Even if dies, it es back to life and flies again! Do you uand, Shaka? Even if you knock me down a million times, the Phoenix will always rise again...".

  Saying that, I don't give Shaka the time to make another move and use my most powerful move "Ho Yoku Ten Sho(Fming Wings of the Phoenix)", I create a vortex of fire in which I and Shaka are immersed and then project a Phoenix of fire from my hands that fly high in the sky through the Vortex until impag with him, but Shaka is easily able to withstand my move and says "You should know from our enter oh Queen Isnd that your Ho Yoku Ten Sho is but a gentle breeze to me!".

  But I don't give up and use the Ho Yoku Ten Sho once more, but the result doesn't ge 'He still doesn't budge!! Is there no way to take this man down!?', then all of the sudden, I feel Shaka's o spike and he says "Ikki, It was a mistake to drop a man like you into the Six Path of Reination alive and whole, first I will break your body and mind, then you won't be able to e back to life", and all of the sudden, all around me I only see some kind of Buddhist images, then Shaka says "Now you shall see my ultimate teique!! Tenbu Horireasure of Heaven)!! Now, Ikki, the Tenbu Horin shall sever your senses!!", and after saying this, Shaka opens his eyes.

  Jayr POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1986

  I'm enjoying in first person the fight between Ikki and Shaka especially since Shaka is about to unleash his stro move, when Saori says "Jayr, why do I feel that they are ign our prese is almost like they fot that we are here...", and hearing her say that, I expin to her what is going on "Simple, they did fet of our presenore specifically Shaka made them fet, he also seelepathic message tellio not interfere, so this is probably his ow, and seeing that he simply knocked out Seiya and the others, this test is only for Ikki...".

  Then our surroundings ge, like we are in a different dimension, and all around us are some kind of Buddhist images, that I reize as the Vairoa is showing his gesture inside a Manda pattern, that repeats itself endlessly, then I hear Shaka's voice "Tenbu Horin!! Now, Ikki, the Tenbu Horin shall sever your senses!!", then Shaka opens his eyes, and all his o burst out, illuminating his body in divine light.

  Pointing his palm in Ikki's dire, Shaka says "Dai Ikkan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 1st)!!" and produces from it a wave of o that once again shatter Ikki's Cloth, Ikki's body stops moving and starts twitg every now and then, signs that make me almost have a Vietnam fshback when I first removed my sense of touch, and indeed Shaka expins to the fused Ikki "You 't feel your, your sense of touch is gone! your sense of smell! Dai Nikan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 2nd)!!", and another wave of o takes away Ikki, sense of smell.

  After removing Ikki's sense of smell, Shaka says "Now, you 't detect your enemy by his st! What shall I destroy ?" then Ikki says "W-wait! Shaka you possess such power... Why didn't you stop Saga? A man of such godlike power should be able to see the truth... So why did you let the evil prosper? Did you side with the evil too?"

  Shaka ignores his question and says "Now, I know! Now, I'll take your sense of taste! Dai Sankan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 3rd)!!" and another wave takes away another sense, while Shaka tihe only sense you have left are sight and hearing, which would you like me to destroy ?... Those eyes, eh? The fire of battle bzes in them... Dai Yokan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 4th)!".

  After removing Ikki's sight, Shaka says "Now, while your ears still hear, let me tell you o thing, I'm still a Gold Saint of Athena, I fight only for justiever for evil! But all things in this universe flow into each other, her absolute evil nor absolute good exists... Now, Ikki, only one of your senses remains, I shall now destroy your hearing! Dai Gokan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 5th)!!" and with this st wave, he removed Ikki's st sense, but at the same time I feel his o growing stronger each passing sed, quickly approag a level strong enough to fully awaken his 7th sense, he needs only o push.

  But just as Shaka is about to move once again, he is interrupted by Shun who recovered and moved to rescue his brother, but then Ikki stops him with a telepathic message, and the fight quickly resumes with Shaka using once again his Rikudo Rinne, but this time with his improved o, Ikki is able to form a barrier that was able to block Shaka's teique.

  And Shaka who realizes that Ikki's mind is still unbroken, once again gathers his o and says "Very well, then I shall destroy the st oo you, your 6th sense!! Dai Rokukan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 6th)!!" and with this st wave of o, Shaka destroyed Ikki's 6th sense, and he falls on the ground like a puppet that got his string cut, then Shaka says to a worried Shun "With his 6th sense gone, your brother has no awareness left, to stop his heat and cast him into the Six Paths of Reination is the greatest mercy I show him, only his heart still beats, he brought this upon himself".

  But the Ikki's o finally breaks through and tio expand and grow stronger, as he has fully reached the 7th sense, right now he moves his body through his o, with a fsh of fire he appears standing behind Shaka and grabs, and bzing his o to the max possible he decides to eject both himself and Shaka to another dimension ected to ours, to remove Shaka from his brothers' path, and in a fsh of fire they both disappears leaving behind only the Virgo Cloth, who took its steltion Form taking the shape of a maiden, a girl praying on her knees, but with wings like an angel.

  (Image Here - Virgo Cloth)

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Before Shun start with his drama over the loss of his brother, I moved o him, shog him with our presence, and expin to him that both Ikki and Shaka are alive and that they are only trapped in another unknown dimension, and that Shaka was only testing and helping Ikki in reag his 7th sehen I remind him that even his he dies as long as his soul is intact, Ikki, with the help of his Cloth, easily revive himself, then I wake up Shiryu and Seiya, from their sleep, and together we move toward our destination, the Libra Temple.

  Odyin