Preparing For The Future

Chapter 15 - Preparing For The Future

Saori POV - Japan - 1985

Today, I received some worrying news, It seems that a Saint is coming to Japan, and is going to land in Tokyo in a few hours, so I quickly order my most trusted retainer Tatsumi to meet with him in disguise and gather some info, while at the same time thinking 'It's too soon... We still aren't ready to fight... All of my grandfather's children are still training to become Saints... Moreover, most of them still resent me and my grandfather for what we have done to them, and how I treated them in my youth... How could I be so childish and selfish back then, treating them so bad just because I was wealthy when they are sacrificing so much to protect the world with me... I'm so ashamed only remembering it'.

Then looking at the painting of the man that took care of me becoming my grandfather Mitsumasa Kido, 'I still remember the day that everything came crashing down, it was soon after grandfather send his kids away to the various Saint Training Grounds around the world, his heart couldn't stand it anymore, and before he died he told me everything, that he wasn't my real grandfather, that I was the reincarnation of the Goddess Athena, how he found about me and the evil inside the Sanctuary and my duty to the world, and what he did to help me protect it...'

'And that also explained many strange things about me that I didn't understand before, like this immense energy I feel inside me at every moment, how this energy seems to somewhat guide my actions and decision, like an instinct that tells me what to do at certain moments, and how sometimes I feel this energy move on its own acting somewhere around the world, as it touches, guide and protects certain individuals'.

Soon after revealing that Grandfather died and I decided that it was time to stop being a spoiled little girl, and finally act like the Goddess I should be, and once I took that decision, the energy inside me, gave me even more insight on what to do, so I took control of the company grandfather founded, and made it the biggest and most powerful corporation in the world in only four years, while at the same time planning for the eventual confrontation with the Sanctuary.

After waiting a few hours, one of my servants came and told me that Tatsumi brought some guests here, that want to meet me, and so I prepare to greet my guest 'If Tatsumi brought them here, it means that there isn't a threat to my life, if not given his character, he would rather die trying to protect me than put me in danger'.

I move to the hall, and once the servants outside open the door, I finally see my guests, there are two of them, and they are quite young, one is a woman with a slim build, her face has a slender demeanor and pale tone, the style of her hair is short reaching above the shoulders and semi wavy, whose color is light brown and has dark brown eyes, the other is a man with an athletic muscular build, with messy dark blue hair and lively green eyes, what immediately catches my attention is the Silver Pandora Box on his back, that tells me that the one in front of me is a powerful Silver Saint.

I see him looking at me with appreciation, and a hint of lust but he quickly suppressed it, and it is soon replaced with shame and also a little anger over this momentary and natural loss of control, not like the many others that I have met before that seem to ignore my young age and shamelessly lust over me even when they are my grandfather age, I gather my thoughts and say "Welcome to my home, I'm Saori Kido, CEO and owner of the Graad Foundation, to what I own the pleasure of having a Saint coming here?", and shocking me and Tatsumi, the young Saint kneels and does the knightly salute as he says "I, Crateris Jayr, greet the current incarnation of Athena, Saori Kido, I'm here to inform you of the current and future threat that we are about to face!".

'He knows!? Is just him or there are others? Are we in danger!?' I think in panic, but quickly the energy helps me calm down, and after telling him to rise, I ask him how did he know about my real identity, and he explains to me that is thanks to the power of his Cloth that allows him to see instances of the future, that is how he found out about me and the evil hidden in the Sanctuary whose name appears to be Saga.

Then I ask about the woman, from who I feel a certain amount of hostility and she presents herself as Seika, Seiya's sister, then she starts lashing out at me, for what happened to her brother and the other kids, and once again I'm reminded of my behavior back then, and as Tatsumi yells at her, she yells back and tells us about the fact that she saw how much the various children suffered to become a Saint and that they didn't even understand why they did, and that hit me the hardest, the fact that many are suffering because I wasn't strong enough to protect them, and instead need their help and protection, and many tears fall down my face.

But all of the sudden, Jayr came and calmly stops her, defend me, and explains my grandfather's situation and motive, showing incredible insight, but while Seika seems to understand my situation as I clearly see it in the way she looks at me, it seems that Jayr taking my side in this conflict made her insecure about her relationship with him, and on the spur of the moment choose to end it, then she asks for a place to rest her weary mind, and I order Tatsumi to lead her.

As I look at her receding back and at the stunned Jayr I think 'She is clearly still in love with him, I can feel it... And he too deeply cares for her and feels bad for this situation, and through this energy, I feel his pain very clearly...' then I apologize for what happened as I think it is in part my fault that this happened, but he shakes his head and says that it's not my fault, but his that he didn't notice the distress in Seika, then he adds that it's better that he is hurt than the loss of life that will happen if he didn't act.

Touched by his spirit, I feel his energy briefly touch mine, and in that instant, I felt everything about him, his passions, his desires, his flaws, his love, his sense of justice unconsciously inside me I thought, 'This is it... The beauty of humanity that I fell in love with and chose to protect...' then I recover from that strange state, and remind him of the information that he has, and told him to follow me as I lead him to the most secure location of the mansion, the Planetarium.

After a few minutes, we reach the planetarium that my grandfather built for me because he thought that gazing at the stars would guide me and give me strength, and since he died, I use it when I need a place to think about in solitude, and once inside, I activate the dome and soon the starlit sky is projected on the dome.

Then I turn to Jayr and ask "So what is this important information that you have to tell me...", Jayr closes his eyes for a moment and lets out a sigh then opening his eyes, he locks his gaze on me, puts down his Pandora Box, and say "What I'm going to tell you, is all I know about the coming threats, but just the fact that I saw it, and what I did, for sure changed some things, and I'm afraid not all of them are for the better, but the fundamental truth about what is to come shouldn't change much...".

With that introduction, he starts talking about, the current Pope of the Sanctuary, Saga, who got corrupted by an evil spirit, that is slowly taking control and leaching on his darkest desires but who is deep down still loyal to Athena, about my plan for the Galaxian Wars, the tournament I'll be hosting to gather my Saints and pull out of the shadows my enemies, Ikki betrayal and redemption, but he also added that he changed that freeing Ikki's master from the Pope's control, and turning this event in a farce to train and unite the new Bronze Saint.

About my fight for the Sanctuary control, that ends with Saga freed from the evil influence, but still choosing to suicide to atone for his sins, in this event we'll also lose a lot of Gold Saint, about Kanon that was the spark that triggered the evil influence within his brother and that later instigated the war with Poseidon, but that he also later regret his action and retake his place as the Gemini Gold Saint, the possibility of Asgard, then he talked about my main enemy, Hades, who already choose its host and bind to him since he was young, moreover, the host turns out to be Shun, the one who is destined to become the Andromeda Saint, he also tells me the results of the war, and that while we won, for Jayr the cost was too great, that is why he chooses to act, he also told me what he did until now to change that outcome.

After he finished telling his story, Jayr wait for me to digest everything 'After hearing his story, I'm sure that he is telling the truth, sure not the whole truth, he obviously didn't tell some details, but this energy, that now I know is called Cosmo, tells me that I can trust him, moreover, the way he described my actions and choices, coincides with what I'd have done in those situations with what I knew at the moment... And I have to admit that I'm impressed by what he did until this moment... And now that I know what to expect, I won't let my Saints die in vain, I'll stop Poisedon and Hades and protect this world!'.

Jayr POV - Japan - 1985

I'm standing in silence, inside the Planetarium, waiting for Saori to digest everything I told her, I told her a lot, even about Shun, I do not know how will she act now that she knows, but at least this way she won't be taken by surprise.

She is now in deep thought looking at the various constellation in the sky. I see her gaze move from Gemini to Sagittarius, to Andromeda, Pegasus, Dragon, Phoenix, Cygnus, and stop on Crateris for a few moments.

She lowers her gaze and looks at me with her clear greenish blue eyes, and she says "Thanks, Jayr for telling me all this... Until now, I thought that my main opponent was the Pope of the Sanctuary, instead, he is one of my greatest allies that is now going through the most hellish trial, to think that my enemies will make a move so early, and their plan would have succeeded if it wasn't for you warning me about this...".

Then I ask "So what are we gonna do now, Saori-san?" and with a serious expression on her face, she says "Now, we must be careful of our moves... Time and Fate are really powerful forces, and you played a dangerous game with them... Now, we have to prepare for the right time to act... And when the time comes I want you to come with me to meet with Poisedon's host maybe we can stop the fight before its starts, in the meantime you can stay at the mansion".

I nod and say "No problem, but I don't like to freeload... So let's do it like this, in exchange for letting me live in your mansion, you will hire me as a doctor for the Graad Hospital... Feel free to use me to gain more advantages from ill business partners... Only be ruthless with them if they are a piece of shit, while I'll heal them as it is my duty as a doctor, it doesn't mean that they don't have to suffer a bit for it".

Hearing that, Saori chuckles and says "No problem, in fact, there are already a few people on my list... In fact they are on my blacklist, so don't worry about it, they will be healthy but they'll regret and pay for their actions..." and with a mischievous grin I say "Deal!" after that we both got out of the Planetary and went back to the mansion, where Tatsumi lead my to my guest room, once inside the smile on my face fades, and I once again start to think on how to fix the situation with Seika.

Laying on the bed, I look at the ceiling and curse out loud "Shit what to do now!? I was never good in this kind of situation! My last breakup was in my previous life, and I didn't do anything to fix it... because she was right to break up with me... It's my fault that I got drunk and did it with her sister... And I felt like shit for it so I quickly confessed everything and took the blame for it, and for the next months after the events, I focused only on my work... But now, I'm clueless about how to act... I also don't want to impose my presence on her... Should I leave her some space to sort it out? Or ask her to talk about it? Or should I give up on her as my Blessing's influence could make me hurt her even more...".

In the end, I chose to sleep, and leave this problem for tomorrow, but when I woke up the next day, Tatsumi gave me a letter from Seika in which she says that she still likes me, but she needs some time away from me to think about our relationship as she says that we moved too far and too fast, that she will be at the Star Children Academy, helping her friend take care of the children but asked me to not follow her, as she will contact me herself when she feels ready, and in the end, I chose to follow her wishes, but I also sent a letter, telling her to not hesitate to call me if she needs help, even if she decides to definitely break up with me.

Jayr POV - Japan - 1985

Right now, I'm in the operation room of the Graad Foundation Hospital, in front of me there is an obese old man laying on the operation table, and he just finished receiving the anesthesia and is now in deep sleep, so after following the necessaries procedures, I finally start my operation, a septal myectomy, an open-heart surgery to treat hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, in understandable human words a thickened heart muscle, that makes it more difficult for your heart to circulate blood through your body, ending with a bad case of death in the worst situations.

I quickly take the scalpel from the operating room nurse and make a large incision down the middle of his chest and separates his breastbone to reach his heart telling the physician assistant to hold it open, while at the same time explaining the procedure to the residents, then I carefully connect him to a heart-lung machine that takes over the work of his heart and lungs during surgery, and wait for the heart to stop.

Next is the hardest part, I remove the thickened portion of his septum, quickly disconnect him from the machine, put his breastbone back together, and close the incision with absorbable sutures, finishing the operation in a record time of 50min, when it usually takes from the 3 to 4 hours, at the same time I stealthily use my Cosmo to remove any chances of further problems, as he is on of the really rare good businessman, I checked, he doesn't cheat money, take care of his family, is good on his employees, and makes many charity donations, really are men like this that do not make me lose my faith in humanity, and so as an extra, I made it so that if he isn't killed, the only way he can die is that his natural lifespan ends.

Done with the surgery, I answer the residents' questions, while the P.A., the anesthesiologist, and the nurse, check over the patients' vitals while they send him to the intensive care unit, then I wash up and put on normal clothes as my job for today is done, get out of the hospital, and look at the starry sky and the full moon high in the sky, and as I walk back to the Kido Mansion, I let out a sigh and think.

'A year passed since I came here, and it's almost time for the chaos to start, only a few months of peace are left, and ll have to deal with two Gods, Poseidon and Hades, one of the three strongest deities of the Greek Phanteons, meanwhile, nothing changed on the Seika front, we still keep in contact, but she says that she doesn't feel ready to restart our relationship yet... And soon I won't even have the time to piss let alone a relationship, maybe it's for the best'.

As I reach a park near the hospital, a black limousine, a Toyota Century, stops near me, and from it, Tatsumi comes out and lightly bowing he says "Jayr-sama, it seems that we are returning at the same time, please come inside..." shugging my shoulder I say "Ok, Tatsumi-san, but I told you that you can simply call me Jayr..." but Tatsumi, opens the back door and says "That, won't do Jayr-sama... Please...".

I enter the car and see Saori sitting on the other side, so I greet her "Good evening Saori, how was your day?", and with a small smile she replies "It was good, today we finally completed the Colosseum, we now only have to wait for the right time, and the Galaxian Wars can finally start, and so we can finally save Saga from that evil influence, from my sources, the Sanctuary's actions are getting more and more drastic... I really can't imagine how hard it must be for Saga" she finishes in a sad tone.

And I try to cheer her up "Don't worry we will save him, and he will have the chance to redeem himself by saving countless lives fighting for hope, peace, and justice like he is meant to be!" at the same time I look outside the window, I admire the sight of the fast-moving scenery of the city, while thinking about my time here 'In this one year, living in her mansion and spending time with her, me and Saori became friends, maybe it's because while I respect her status as a Goddess, I don't revere her but treat her as normally as possible, simply because I know that there are many beings even more powerful than her outside of this Universe, hell I'm the Champion of one of the Concepts that made this Omniverse, I'm a Man of Culture!'.

I'm broken by my thoughts by the sound of Saori, who acknowledged what I just said with "Umu" and I robotically turn my head and look at her that act like nothing happened 'Dafaq!! Did Culture do something just for lol because I thought about him!!?', and after thinking this, I'm sure I heard the sound of loud laughter in my head, then I once again look outside, try to ignore what just happened, and think 'I must be too tired...' that day I rested without doing my usual nighttime training.

Ikki POV - Death Queen Island - 1986

I'm now standing tall in front of the figure of Master Guilty laying on the ground with many wounds on his body, since Jayr-san came, he become a totally different person, he still almost beat me to death every day during our training, but after he becomes a sort of father-like figure for me and Esmeralda who he brought for her owner and adopted, the difference in his attitude is almost disconcerting, during this year, he didn't only teach me how to use hate to burn, and enhance my Cosmo, but also my other emotions.

After a few moments, Master Guilty slowly moves and sat on the ground saying "Good job, Ikki! You are finally ready to take control of the Phoenix Cloth... To do so you have to defeat the Black Saints hidden on this island, and take the Cloth from their leader Jango... It shouldn't be a problem at your level to deal with them, after all, most Black Saints are trainees who failed to become Bronze Saints or Saints that committed grave crimes and lost Athena's favor, and their Cloths are mere imitations, while they are made of the same materials, those Cloths do not have Athena's Blessing, making them very frail if compared to a Bronze Cloth".

Then he stands up and says "Now go! And remember the plan, make sure that your Cosmo is full of hatred, convince yourself, and do not contact us until you have fixed your brothers' attitude!" then his strict attitude changes all of the sudden and he says "...Oh and talk to Esmeralda before you go, cheeky kid, she won't forgive me if I forgot to remind you of this...".

And so after talking with Esmeralda and spending some time with her, I slowly move toward the active volcano at the center of the island, the Fire Mountain, the place where the Black Sants hide and the cause of the fire rains that happens on this island all year around.

As I'm walking, I focus to bring all the hate I felt into my Cosmo, to change my demeanor and aura to one needed to play my role, and after a few minutes, I find myself surrounded by hundreds of Black Saints, and one among them yells "Hold on boy! Where are you going!? This part of the Death Queen Island is the territory of Jango, leader of the Black Saints! Any who enter will be killed!!".

Hearing that I say "I've come to take Jango's head!" and the Black Saints say "What?", "Boy, do you know who we are?", and with a confident smile I reply "I do you're the loser who failed to become Bronze Saint, you Black Saints are a bunch of trash who couldn't keep up with training!".

Enraged and successfully provoked, the Black Saints around me all jump toward me ready to attack, and at that moment I attack "Ho Yoku Ten Sho(Flaming Wings of the Phoenix)", I create a vortex of fire in which I and all the Black Saints are immersed and then project a Phoenix of fire from my hands that flies high in the sky through the Vortex until impacting with the victims making them receive the damage from the Phoenix and the vortex, and soon all of them fall on the ground with their Cloths broken, unknown if alive or dead.

I look at all the bodies around me and say "Fools! A hundred of you couldn't take me! One Ho Yoku Ten Sho is enough to finish you!" then I hear a voice behind me that says "Heh... Not bad, Ikki", and turning around I see a young man with long dark hair down to his shoulders, with two bangs of hair coming out of the sides of the headband of his Black Cloth, he has a stocky face and an average physique.

He like the others is already donning his Cloth, the headpiece has in its center protection formed by the neck and the head of the swan, on its sides it has two wings, and the chest piece has simple protection that extends almost to the waist, which also has a simple design, the right arm is simple while the left arm is formed by a shield, has two simple knee pads as well as the feet which have two wing-shaped ornaments at the ankles and the shoulder pieces have a semicircular design, of course, the color is all black.

(Image Here - Black Swan)

Looking at him in an arrogant tone I say "Hmm... You seem to have a little more Cosmo of those small fries", and he introduces himself "I'm Black Swan of the Black Four!! Why are you after lord Jango's head!?" and I calmly reply "He has my Phoenix Cloth, Jango of the Black saints has no right to it, I'm the one who met the requirements and earned that Constellation!", hearing that Black Swan replies "Hmm... So you say you became a Bronze Saint and came for your Cloth... Very well, I'll tell you where Lord Jango is... Provided that... You manage to survive this attack!".