Fighting the Specters Part 4

Jayr POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

I focus back on what is happening, while at the same time, I stop my urge to wipe the hint of a tear that appeared on the corner of my left eye while thinking, 'I'm truly moved... Now, I can fully admit, that I'm an anime/manga character! I also had my flashback moment! A steeple for animators and artists to drag out the story as much as possible until it gets cursed to the ground...'.

My silly thoughts are interrupted by Saga's voice coming behind me that says "Everyone, focus! They are about to arrive and they must not pass through the Libra Temple... They are the only remaining Specters in the Sanctuary, after dealing with them, we can finally start our counterattack... one last thing, don't die this is an order!", and at that, everyone yells "Yes, Pope!", and soon after, the six Specters finally appear in front of us, not bothering to hide their appearance anymore.

Seeing them, Saga stands in front of us and says "Welcome to the Libra Temple, Specters of the God of the Underworld! I'm the Sanctuary's Pope, Gemini Saga! And this will be the place where all of you will die!", in response to this, a muscular woman with long dark purple hair and reddish eyes, and a really bulky Surplice, I recognize her as Violate, a Specter that appeared in a spin-off manga, she moves forward and says "Good, it seems that all the remaining Gold Saints are here... This will make it easier to take Athena's head once we take care of you...".

But a tall man with a muscular build, long reddish brown hair tied with a ribbon, and fair skin, his Surplice reminds me of a female-shaped plant, moves next to her and says "My, my, how rude can you be Lady Violate, before killing them all, we should at least let them know the names of their killers...", I don't recognize him, but through a vision of the Crateris Cloth, I noticed that his attacks are plant-based like Aphrodite, this is why we planned to make him fight with this man.

The man then says "Nice to meet you all Saints of Athena, I'm Celestial Rise Star, Dryad Luco, and this lovely lady next to me is the Celestial Solitude Star, Behemoth Violate...", but then another young man with blue-black hair and dark eyes, wearing a dark Surplice with very large wings, I immediately recognize him as the Celestial Violent Star, Bannu Kagaho, he moves next to the other two and yells "Who care about these formalities! Let's just deal with them and finish our mission!".

I feel him igniting his Cosmo, as he quickly flies up in the air, then he generates a huge fireball behind him and yells "Take this! Corona Blast!!", and shoots it toward us, but soon after, Camus also makes his move, he gathers the cold air on top of his hand, condensing the surrounding moisture into pure ice ball, and calmly says "I'll take care of this... Diamond Dust!!", he then shatters the condensed ice that change into the form of countless sharp and cutting snow crystals that are hurled at the fireball with a powerful cold wind.

The two attacks cancel each other and at the same time, generate a thick mist that covers the whole temple, but this isn't a problem for any of the people present here, as we don't rely only on our sight, and indeed, I can already feel that all the Specters divided themselves and moved to various zones of this Temple to fight us one-on-one, at the same time I hear Saga's voice "Saints! You already know who is your target! Let's go! For Athena and the world!!", and so we also divide ourselves to chase after our targets yelling "For Athena and the world!!".

Milo POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

The clash between the winged Specter and Camus' attack, signed the start of this last battle in the Libra Temple.

So after separating from my fellow Gold Saints, I quickly chase after my target, the Libra Temple is pentagonal in shape.

It has 6 big halls, the one I just got out from is the central one, while my target is moving toward one of the halls situated on the five corners.

After a few seconds, I reach the hall and see my target waiting for me here, with an arrogant expression on his face, he is a young adult with an age that appears to be in his late 20s to early 30s, is around 185 cm tall, and has an athletic body, his hair is black in color, which is quite long and reaches a little below shoulder length, and he styles it in such a way that his fringe covers his eyes but through them, I can see that the eye is covered by a black patch while his other one is grey, and is wearing a dark purple Surplice that protects most of his body, and the most peculiar characteristics are the root like shoulder pieces, and the face engraved on the left side of the chest protector.

The Specter looks at me with a grin and says "You're a very unfortunate Saint of Athena... Your opponent is me, the Celestial Pain Star, Mandrake Fyodor, and I can assure you that your death will truly be a painful one because, unlike the others, I like playing with my food and enjoy their pains very much!".

(Image Here - Mandrake Fyodor)

I'm calm about his declaration, as Jayr gave me a lot of information about him, and I know that he is the torturer of the Underworld, he enjoys bringing pain to every unfortunate soul that falls into his hands no matter if it is an innocent one, or a wicked one, this is also why I choose to be his opponent, It's time to make him feel the pain he brought to his victims, so I take my stance and says "I don't know who among us is the truly unfortunate one... I'm Athena's Gold Saint, Scorpio Milo, and there is one thing that I have to remind you... The scorpion's sting is the most painful one!".

Hearing that, Fyodor smiles and says "We'll see about that... From the ears to the brain... Split Apart!", at the same time, I notice that under his command, the face on his chest piece opened its mouth, at the same time, I ignite my Cosmo to counterattack, I concentrate my Cosmo on my right fingertip, creating a bright red and sharp nail on it, then I quickly run toward my opponent and pierce his body with it 4 times, and yell "Scarlet Needle!!", but as I hit him he also releases his technique, "Strangle Shrill!!", and the face on his Surplice releases a powerful sound wave, accompanied by a very high-pitched screech, which shatters everything in its path until it violently collides with my body.

The impact of the sound wave on me causes a slight paralysis effect that reduces my combat capabilities, and at the same time, it is accompanied by intense pain in my inner ear and brain, clearly affected by it, "Argh!!", but even with my ears still ringing, I can clearly hear Fyodor's screams of pain as the Scarlet Needle ravages his body, and so as I focus on contrasting the effects of Fyodor's technique.

After I was able to fend it off, I look at Fyodor writhing on the floor and explain "The Scarlet Needle is a technique that directly attacks the enemy's central nervous system by means of a shockwave and causes a pain so intense that it also causes total paralysis in its victim... And the pain grows stronger with each hit, and the maximum number of hits is the same number as those of the stars in the Scorpio constellation... 15... and the last one is fatal to anyone!".

Trembling, Fyodor stands up and checks the 4 small holes on his Surplice and body still leaking blood and says "Bullshit! This kind of pain is nothing!! This is only a physical reaction, I inflict true pain on my victims not only physically but also emotionally... So much that in the end, they beg me to kill them... That is the best moment!!".

I let out a sigh and say "Usually I take advantage of the feature of the Scarlet Needle to make my opponent surrender... But in your case, I'll make an exception...", hearing that Fyodor replies "We'll see who will be for mercy...", and the face on his Surplice opens its mouth once again, but this time I don't give him any more time, I ignite my Cosmo and make it explode, once again concentrating all the energy on my fingertip, I move at the speed of the light and yelling "Scarlet Needle!!", I quickly move around his body and pierce him 10 more times, and at the same time, I return to my position with my back facing him.

And with a total of 14 bloody holes on his body, Fyodor remains rooted in place, unable to move or even utter a word because the pain he is feeling is too much now, I turn around and say "And this is the last one... My Athena have pity of your soul and let you reincarnate free from Hades' rule... Scarlet Needle: Antares!!", and as my Cosmo reach the maximum, I shoot a bright red sphere from my fingertip with which I pierce his body by striking the point at the center of the Scorpio constellation and the center of Fyodor's torso, and thus completing the Scarlet Needle with the fifteenth and final strike of the technique.

And as soon as he is hit, the Surplice scatters into many fine pieces, his eye loses light, and he falls on the ground like a puppet with his string cut, while still leaking blood from all the 15 wounds, dyeing the floor of the Libra Temple red with his blood, looking at his body I say " And with this only 5 remains... No... 4, it seems that Shura already took care of his opponent".

Shura POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987(Time the Gold separated)

I followed my target to one of the corners halls of the Libra Temple, and I finally find him standing there waiting for his opponent almost too sure of himself for my liking, an extremely tall man, he looks like a giant, like Cassios and his still imprisoned brother Docrates, he has a robust and muscular body, this makes him look like a very strong person physically, the headpiece of his Surplice covers the front of his head, so it is not possible to see the fringe of his hair, although at the back of his head I can see that his hair is blond and combed upwards.

His face is rather coarse with well-defined features, a thin but sharp nose, and a large mouth, and his eyes are light blue, he is wearing a Surplice that is clearly defense-oriented, it seems especially suited for spinning attacks with the necessary curvatures, it also carries a large number of accentuated edges on its back, its headpiece is a helmet that leaves the jaw unprotected, its shoulders pieces are spiked, its chest piece is well protected and also has hexagonal protection, its arm pieces are not very complex in design and are just a few plates, and the legs piece are quite basic except the knee protectors that are equipped with spikes like on his shoulders.

(Image Here - Genbu Gregor)

He looks at me and says "I've heard of you... A Saint who trained himself to the highest possible degree, a Saint whose sharpness rivals that of the legendary Excalibur! But it won't beat me, the Celestial Retreat Star, Genbu Gregor! My Surplice is as strong as a diamond, just try and cut it! Take this!!", and he curls himself into a ball and rolls toward me with great speed and force.

Looking at him I only say "What a fool... Excalibur!!", I raise my right arm, and as I ignite my Cosmo, I swing my arm down and release a very sharp arc, composed of extreme Cosmo concentration, that leaves behind a bright golden track of gold light, that seems to sever the world in half, but of course, I controlled my attack in such a way that only my opponent was truly cut by it, and as the two separate halves pass by, I hear his voice says "I-is... This... the holy blade Excalibur... Grah!!", then he is further cut into many finer pieces, so fine, that he in fact becomes dust, and I say "There is nothing that my blade can't cut... This is the power granted to me to destroy the enemies of my Goddess Athena!".

Camus POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

I'm already in one of the corner halls of the Libra Temple but even if I can feel that my target is here, his presence is spread all around the hall and I can't see him anywhere, at least until I hear a distorted voice yell "Ugly Eruption!!", and see a purple cloud of clearly poisonous gas coming toward me.

But before it could reach me, I raise my right arm, make my Cosmo explode, and yell "Freezing Coffin!!", releasing a freezing wave that encases the gas into a giant block of ice, then I say "These paltry tricks won't work on me! Come on, show yourself!", and in answer to that my opponent says "Ho, ho! Look carefully! I've been right in front of you the whole time", and following the voice, I finally see him, and can't help exclaim "What the...!".

In front of me, there is a disgusting and grotesque thing, a kind of dark slimy mass surrounded by various boils, if it wasn't for Jayr's warnings, I'd have underestimated my opponent in his current state, but I'm still surprised by his current form, anyway I am ready for his next move, at the same time, my opponent introduces himself, "Prepare to die! I promised my comrades to take care of you! I'm the Terrestrial Bewitching Star, Papillon Myu!".

(Image Here - Papillon Myu 1st Form)

After he finished speaking, from the slimy mass, a creepy worm with dark colors and large green eyes jumps out of it, opens its jaws, and yells "Silky Thread!!", projects a large number of fine and very strong silk threads that warps around my body enclosing me in a cocoon hoping to suffocate me and as the threads wrap around my body, he says "Give it up, it's futile! My threads are unbreakable! You'll soon be enveloped in my cocoon".

(Image Here - Papillon Myu 2nd Form)

And once warped inside the cocoon, I can feel that Myu is now doing the same to his own body, he sticks to the ceiling of the Temple and warps himself in a thick cocoon, and once complete, I feel his Cosmo growing stronger each passing moment.

(Image Here - Papillon Myu 3rd Form)

While this is happening, I urge my Cosmo and release a freezing aura from my body that freezes the threads around my body to their core rending them very brittle, and with a simple push of my Cosmo they break into an icy powder making me free to move, then I once again hear Myu's voice coming from the cocoon stuck on the ceiling "Do you managed to free yourself eh, Camus? But I never expected to kill you with just the Silky Thread... that was only to buy some time so that I can evolve into my most invincible form!", at the same time his Cosmo reaches a new peak and he yells "Now see the true form of the Terrestrial Bewitching Star, Papillon Myu! The invincible shape of my final metamorphosis!!".

From the cocoon two beautiful and colorful butterfly wings break out, then with an explosion, Myu finally shows his true form, a man of medium height, slender build, and handsome appearance, he has long, bristly, dark pink hair and special, insect-like eyes, wearing what is the most colorful Surplice of all that I have seen until now, it is orange, with some violet parts, with green insect eyes and butterfly wings.

(Image Here - Papillon Myu)

Myu smiles now sure of his victory and says "Ho, ho, ho! Now that I've undergone my final metamorphosis one thing is certain... Your death, Camus!", but I calmly look at him and reply "Well, Papillon? Let's fight! Or do you want to bore me to death with your talk...", Myu raises his right arm and says "Let me test the water", and as he says this, I feel him burning his Cosmo and the next moment, I feel a strong telekinetic force trying to bound my body, 'He really started with this... What a fool, in these last months I regularly sparred with Mu the Gold Saint with the strongest telekinetic powers... Compared with his, Myu's are a child's play!'.

And so I ignite my Cosmo and counterattack with my own telekinetic powers overpowering his own and say "That's not enough power to take me down...", I take hold of his body and with a push, I start to slam him around the walls of the hall and on the ground generating many craters, but all of the sudden his Cosmo spikes and he breaks free from my hold, and as he lifts off from the crater, and he yells "Now, it's enough! I'll truly get serious! Prepare to die! Fairy Thronging!!", and as a ghastly aura surrounds him, a large group and transparent butterflies appears around him, and he explains "These are known as the Hades's butterflies, they'll transport you to the Underworld body and soul, farewell Camus!", and they quickly fly toward me.

While they are getting closer, I raise my arms in a jug position pointing upwards, igniting and gathering my Cosmo to the maximum, and say "Yes, let's end this...", behind me appears the phantom image of the Aquarius, I lower my arms and my Cosmo explodes in its full might and I yell "Aurora Execution!!", discharging all the Cosmo in the form of a glacial stream that envelopes and freezes the butterflies and Myu behind them so fast that he doesn't even have the time to utter a word, leaving behind only their frozen figures, that I then shatter with a burst of Cosmo.

Jayr POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

I chase after Bennu Kagaho, who, different from the other Specters, chose to take advantage of that minuscule moment of chaos to move out of the Libra Temple, and once outside, I see him take flight using the wings on his Surplice, but before he could escape, I ignite my Cosmo and quickly fly above him then grab his head and say "Where do you think you are going?", Kagaho looks at me and says "Let me go!", then his body is enveloped by a dark purple flame, as he continues "These Black Flames will burn even you, if you don't want every last finger to be charred charcoal, you'd best let go".

And indeed I start to feel the heat on my hand, and can already feel the start of a 2nd-degree burn even with the protection of my Cosmo and Cloth, but even with this I smile and say "You think these little flames could scare me...", then I increase the grip on his head and with a flap of the Sagittarius Cloth's wings, I push us toward the ground and slam his head into the ground with such force that creates a huge crater on the reinforced grounds outside the Libra Temple, snuffing off the flames on Kagaho's body.

At the same time, I use my Cosmo to fix all the damage I received during the brief contact with the Black Flames, 'Knowledge of Asclepius for the win! As strong as I'm now as long as my body isn't totally obliterated or my soul is destroyed, I can always fix myself... While I'm not immortal, I'm the next closest thing to it!', while I was thinking this, Kagaho unleash a burst of black flames to free himself from my grip and create some distance between us, and yells "You are annoying! Just die!".

Kagaho's body is once again enveloped in Black Flames, then he generates a huge fireball behind him and yells "Take this! Corona Blast!!", and shoots it toward me like a small falling star, but I gather my Cosmo into my fist, who is then surrounded by clear blue water like aura, and with a punch, I shoot it toward Kagaho's attack "Pugno Onda Anomala (Tidal Wave Punch)!!", the attacks clash against one other, and it seems like Kagaho is the one at advantage, but as I whisper "Boom...", from the small water-like ball that is slowly being pushed back, hundreds of delayed impact, come one after another, each one stronger than the previous, and my attack quickly starts pushing back Kagaho small star.

Seeing this Kagaho yells "It's not over! Corona Blast!!", and shoots 3 more star-like fireballs that join with his other one, but even so he can't overpower my attack as the number of delayed impacts keeps increasing, becoming more powerful and louder until the very space around us starts shaking, breaking apart Kagaho's attack and at the same time sending him crashing against the mountain's wall creating a crater in it, then I hear him mutter "I-impossible, you were able to break 4 of my Corona Blast with only one move!".

But then he gets up, lits his fist on flames, and says "These flames aren't the only thing I can do... What you don't know is that among all the Specters... I'm the fastest!", he then disappears for a moment, and reappears in front of me and starts to throw a series of punches, but I dodge them and say "The fastest? Really? I usually spar with Aldebaran and Milo and their attacks are a lot faster than yours...", and at the same time, I parry his last punch and push his arm to the side, creating an opening, then I knee him in the stomach and as he doubles over in pain I hit him on the head with an axe kick, making him crash on the ground and bounce.

Seeing him like that, I have a quick flashback of my days playing Tekken, and on instinct, I start to jungle him to create a combo, I throw an uppercut that hit him on the jaw and make him spit blood as he spins in mid-air, followed by a jumping knee strike on his back, that raises his body even more, and using the momentum of my previous move, to hit him with my other knee, then I grab him from the leg and slam him into the ground making him spit even more blood and at the same time, various cracks appear all over his Surplice, and as he bounces once again, I land next to him and hit him again with a low powered uppercut to place him perpendicular to the ground, and I hit him with a spartan kick to the stomach that sends him crashing into the mountain wall.

And to Finish him off, I hold my hands out over my head, pointing towards Kagaho with open palms, quickly gathering the Cosmo needed, and yell "White Ice Spears!!" and throw my hands down, crossing them, and my Cosmo solidify into numerous solid spears of ice, that moves at the speed of light and easily pierce through his armor and body pinning him to the wall, and watch as my spears, that have reached the absolute zero, quickly freeze his body into an ice sculpture that I make sure to shatter before letting out a sigh and say mimicking the familiar tone "Perfect...".

Soon after I dealt with Kagaho, I feel the whole Sanctuary shake, and then I hear the familiar loud explosion coming from the Libra Temple, and says "It looks like Saga is finally fighting against Violate, really their destructive power is crazy, she generates earthquakes with a simple stomp, and he generates an explosion that can literally destroy a galaxy but he controls it in such a way that it damages only his opponent... Really remembering receiving that technique almost makes me have a Vietnam flashback... still ranks in the top 3 most painful things that happened to me... And only Poseidon surpassed him, and he is a literal God... Glad he is on my side... and I kind of pity his opponent".

Saga POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

After the others went after their targets, I remain here in the central hall of the Libra Temple, fighting with Behemoth Violate, the area around us is now wrecked with rumbles and broken columns all around us, 'She is one of the physically strongest foes I have ever fought until now we only tested each other, and I can confirm that all that Jayr said about her is true, she is strong for sure, in fact far stronger than Aldebaran, but unlike him, she is also slower, and the martial arts are her specialty, not only that but that Brutal Reality of hers was able to match a weak Galaxian Explosion... And she still didn't use her most annoying skill! But it doesn't matter, I can win this!'.

As I was thinking this, I hear my foe laugh and say "Ha, ha, ha! Yes! This is the fight I was waiting for! Until now all my opponents were too weak and frail! This is exciting!!", then she rushes at me yelling "I'll enjoy hearing the sound of your bones breaking under the might of my blows!!", and throws a powerful punch, but I focus my Cosmo on the tip of my finger and with it, I stop her punch and seeing the shock on her face I explain "You see, brute strength isn't the only way to fight... I have concentrated the same amount of Cosmo in your attack on the tip of my finger..."

I grab her arm and say "...And with it, I can surpass you for an instant!", and throw her in the air and gather my Cosmo to unleash my Galaxian Explosion on her defenseless body, but as I'm about to make a move, I notice that I'm unable to do so, and as she lands, she smiles and says "You really thought that I only rely on brute strength?", I look down and see that her shadow is connected to mine, while she continues "This shadow has sealed away your movement so now you are helpless... Prepare to die!".