Hey, can we reconcile?
Compared to the labyrinth-breaking Seiya who had just arrived, Alexander was the one scrutinizing the Saint before him with extreme vigilance.
Everything had unfolded just as he had planned: using the Heaven's Reverse Scale to open the floating island's seal; using the Last King's Sword of Salvation to restrain the Divine Ancestor Guinevere, forcing her to try and seize the weapon despite the threat; and using the Great Labyrinth to isolate Lancelot. He had even used another floating island created by the Heaven's Reverse Scale, along with a fake Holy Grail, to summon a Heretic King Arthur to tie down the Saint, Seiya.
Everything was just as he had predicted; he was even prepared for how to deal with Seiya after he broke free. That was to wield this Sword of Salvation, a weapon of the Last King capable of cleaving stars and destroying worlds, which could be considered the ultimate specialized weapon against a Godslayer.
But the one thing he hadn't anticipated was that Seiya would arrive before him so quickly.
In his current state, he had no desire to fight Seiya. Almost every magician knew that he, Alexander Gascoigne, never fought battles without value.
"After I learned she was the Divine Ancestor Guinevere, killed by the Sword of Salvation, I actually felt a bit of pity. Her entire life was bound by this mission, forced to be loyal to the Last King who killed her. Reviving him was the very meaning of her existence..." He sighed softly.
"Sometimes I also wonder, back in Fairyland, was that time we shared real family affection, or was I just a pawn he wanted to use to resurrect the Last King? For a Divine Ancestor stripped even of her dignity as an Earth Mother God, she is already a shadow of a former age. For you, her fated enemy, I suppose that's hard to understand, isn't it?"
Alexander was already preparing to retreat, but he knew the Saint possessed the Soaring Golden Light that surpassed Divine Speed. The question was how to withdraw. Should he repair the Great Labyrinth and trap him again, or try to command the Sword of Salvation, or perhaps cross worlds in a flash of lightning?
Hey, can we reconcile?
"Seiya, we are both Godslayers, esteemed Rakshasa Lords, Magic Kings. In this human world threatened by Heretic Gods, why must we fight to the death over a Divine Ancestor?" Alexander flashed a standard eight-toothed smile, but electric arcs still flickered around his body, vigilant yet showing goodwill.
"In this world, only the seven of us are true compatriots, true brothers. Don't be fooled by Guinevere's false affection. She's just using you, brother!"
"Using me? Heh heh... I've actually thought about it. If it really came to that unspeakable point, I would kill her with my own hands." Seiya finally looked at the noble youth of Divine Speed before him.
Those perfectly aligned white teeth looked so savage and vicious at this moment. The boy's roar filled the entire sky.
"But that is something only I have the right to do, not some clueless mutt like you!" Seiya's voice roared like thunder. His God Robe was wreathed in stardust, and a violent torrent of light swept across the entire labyrinth battlefield.
The light was unleashed, the Cosmo within his body accelerating into a flash. The launched Pegasus Meteor Fist engulfed the floating island and the sky along with it.
Within the floating island that instantly boiled and evaporated, every single molecule of Alexander was completely exposed to the searing impact. An unprecedented sense of crisis forced every one of his cells to transmit signals of fear and battle to his brain...
...Can I still dodge this?
Of course! He was a master of the element of time! But in the next instant, Seiya's furious face was already before his eyes.
Even if his mind could react, his body couldn't. A hand covered in starlight, carrying an irresistible power, instantly seized Alexander's head. Like a chicken with its throat grasped, he struggled in vain, his limbs twitching, but he couldn't budge it in the slightest.
The Saint's palm was slowly and steadily tightening.
Agony! An indescribable agony emanated from his skull! Blood streamed from Alexander's seven orifices like a creek, and his own skull emitted a teeth-grinding whine. The scene was as tragic as a farm animal being hoisted up for slaughter, waiting for its end in a desperate convulsion.
With a click like the ticking of a clock, as if time was turning back, the shattered labyrinth and floating island before him, and the dying Alexander in his hand, all returned to their original state in that instant.
Time Reversal—the Authority Alexander Gascoigne usurped from the past goddess, Lachesis.
Its effect was literal. Even incurable wounds or the necessary cooldown of an Authority could be reset through this time reversal. Alexander, now free again, quickly pulled away and, without hesitation, entered his full Divine Speed state of lightning manifestation.
"To think you'd develop such a precious Authority for an effect like this, Alexander Gascoigne... First life!" Seiya held up his index finger.
Alexander's expression was extremely grim. The Time Reversal Authority had always been his hidden trump card, capable of being used only three times, yet the Saint before him had seen right through it. He hadn't even had room to react before his skull was crushed.
However, his Godslayer talent surged to a point where his very soul shone brilliantly. The stronger the enemy, the more it stimulated the Godslayer's talent for finding hope in desperate situations.
"Even if you are hailed as an incarnation of light, Saint..." Alexander roared while moving at high speed, trying to regain a psychological advantage, "you do not possess an Authority of Divine Speed!" As an expert who had developed Divine Speed to its pinnacle, he was certain of this. Seiya's speed was a pure burst of power; it was fast, but it wasn't the Divine Speed that involved the laws of time.
The Pegasus Meteor Fist blanketed the entire battlefield, but Alexander's figure was like something out of a low-resolution old film. His form constantly flickered in the gaps between the light, moving further and further away from the terrifying Saint.
Including Godslayers, those who do not possess Divine Speed share a misunderstanding: although Divine Speed has 'speed' in its name, it is not an acceleration Authority.
The so-called Divine Speed is not 'the ability to move from point A to point B at high velocity,' but rather 'the ability to shorten the travel time from point A to point B.' Therefore, all forms of Divine Speed are, in fact, time-based Authorities.
Thus, one who possesses a Divine Speed Authority can perform movements that are physically impossible. When an ordinary person runs, their movement is two-dimensional. When using Divine Speed, the body becomes abnormally light, allowing for three-dimensional actions. But he, Alexander, could perform four-dimensional movements; his Authority could even master the element of time!
Even against the light of a Saint, he could dodge it when his Godslayer talent was pushed to its limit! His eyes, filled with fighting spirit, met the Saint's. At that moment, he heard a clear voice.
"—Weapons are wholly unnecessary. A true hero kills with his eyes!"
It's over. In that moment his thoughts ceased, and in the next instant, countless rays of scorching light pierced his body. Even in his elementalized lightning form, this one strike was enough to ensure he died without a trace.
The Death Gaze of the Death God Thanatos. It ignores distance, ignores conditions. As long as Seiya can witness the opponent's form, he can deliver the punishment of death, even across the distance of worlds!
But the unfinished divine light continued to extend infinitely, completely destroying the battlefield before him. Amidst this arduous pain, Alexander raised a finger. In that moment, the scene before Seiya's eyes rewound and restored itself like a film in reverse.
It was time reversal again.
The already shattered floating island, the torn Great Labyrinth, and even his incinerated body were all restored at this moment. But the only things not restored were the broken Sword of Salvation and the White Dragon whose divinity had been shattered.
Alexander closed his eyes. "My blood will not be shed in vain. The condition has now been met. My pain, my blood, will all become the cause of your defeat!"
Against the Saint Seiya, he would no longer choose to flee. He had his own pride.
Time reversal gave him a chance to start over, and the blood and pain from before were what allowed him to summon his Furies, ignoring all conditions.
"Hear me, eternal daughters of the Night, daughters of Earth and Shadow! Repay evil with evil, atone for sin with sin, offer blood for blood, a tooth for a tooth, and let this be the beginning of vengeance. The blood of a mother slain by her enemy, her most tragic death reported with no path for revenge! O Megaera, vengeful Tisiphone, unending Alecto, return the curse, and execute vengeance! Now is the time for revenge!"
—The Furies, an Authority Alexander Gascoigne usurped from the three goddesses of vengeance in Greek mythology.
This was one of the few nearly perfect Authorities. The goddesses could manifest by copying an opponent and were immune to most attacks. Simultaneously, summoning the three sisters of vengeance formed a domain of retribution, where the three goddesses would return any ongoing attacks and curses to the attacker according to Alexander's command.
But such a perfect Authority also had equally harsh activation conditions. A ritual had to be prepared in advance, but if one's own blood and pain were used as a sacrifice, they could be summoned by force, ignoring the conditions.
Layer upon layer of the vengeance domain covered the battlefield. The figures of Megaera, Tisiphone, and Alecto appeared before Seiya. They were all clad in Cloths, their bodies surging with a simulated Cosmo created by divine power.
Under Alexander's wary gaze, the Seiya before him made no move, allowing him to complete his setup. Was he that arrogant? Amidst his extreme anger, he felt a flicker of joy. If so, he might just be able to grasp a sliver of hope.
"O Wind, sing your illusions; O Night, conceal the light; all travelers, with heavy sorrow, walk the helpless path of thorns, and abandon hope!" Alexander declared the final words of power.
Authority—Great Labyrinth.
Authority—Demonic Sphere of Desire.
A dual combination of Authorities. Using the spatial power of the Great Labyrinth, he instantly teleported the Demonic Sphere of Desire in front of Seiya.
Ninety-eight layers of space simultaneously collapsed and annihilated in one ten-thousandth of a second! A true, unrestrained miniature black hole was born!
Terrifying gravity erupted in an instant! Like a cosmic behemoth opening its all-devouring maw! The remaining fragments of the floating island, the distorted air, the lingering dust, and even the energy dissipating at the edge of the battlefield were all pulled and torn apart by this irresistible force in a flash! Matter was compressed and abraded, glowing a dark red in the vacuum as the air was sucked away, like countless burning embers hurtling toward the core of destruction!
The black hole suddenly contracted inward, its gravity increasing severalfold! At its core, not even light could escape, yet that figure, shrouded in the brilliance of the stars, still stood firm. Seiya's body swayed slightly in the gravitational field capable of tearing stars apart. His God Robe emitted a light that resisted the distortion, forcing the space beneath his feet to solidify, stubbornly withstanding the destructive pull.
This strongest move of Alexander's still couldn't shake the figure before him. Seiya's gaze pierced through space, looking at the figure constantly flickering within it. That Alexander spoke words of vengeance, yet at this moment, he was attempting to use his Flash of Lightning Authority to escape to another world.
But this was the only hope his Godslayer talent could grasp!
And at this very moment, the Prometheus Tablet in Seiya's hand burst with light. A small golden figure radiating infinite light and heat landed between Seiya's eyebrows. The Authority of the Victorious Fighting Buddha was temporarily his to command!
The wisdom of the Buddha allowed him to touch a realm that resembled the cosmic Dao.
"Namo." Seiya chanted in Sanskrit.
He formed the Dharmachakra Mudra. The index fingers and thumbs of both hands touched, while the other three fingers were slightly curved, held before his chest.
A spiritual light, completely different from the Surya's Corona, bloomed from behind Seiya. With him at its center, this spiritual light smoothed everything in the surrounding space. The all-devouring black hole ceased, and the collapsing space returned to tranquility before this power that was like the will of the universe itself.
And what of that figure crossing through space?
It began to dissipate from the fingertips, eventually turning to dust and smoke, leaving only a soul that vanished into the Six Paths of Rebirth.
Only then did Seiya turn his gaze back to the White Dragon he had been protecting with the power of Nikko Daigongen. This seemingly back-and-forth battle had lasted just over a minute. He walked up to the White Dragon, and in this situation, he actually managed a smile.
"You look terrible, Marin-san."
"Terrible? I suppose so... Everyone is constantly fighting just to know the right way to live." Guinevere's voice carried a tone of helplessness.
"'What do I fight for?' 'How should I live?' No one will give you the answers. All we have is confusion. We just run aimlessly toward the depths of the gutter. Like a wild dog covered in mud."
Seiya sighed and took out the Golden Cauldron.
"This is just Alexander's... fake Holy Grail..."
Guinevere was still conscious, but barely. As she hovered on the brink of death, the thing that had bound her seemed to partially release. A golden light, far purer and more brilliant than the fake, shone from her chest. The light coalesced, forming a golden cup of ancient design, yet radiating infinite life force and a sacred aura—this was the true Magical Holy Grail, forged from the core of the Divine Ancestor's divinity!
"This is the true Holy Grail, the Magical Holy Grail forged with my divinity as the offering. I have nothing else I can give you... In the end, a flower that blooms in darkness can only find peace in darkness."
Seiya did not take the Holy Grail before him, but instead took her hand. The power of the Covenant of Decay and Revival acted upon Guinevere's body, but it was forcefully halting the process of death.
"It's no use. My death is already foreordained," Guinevere said.
For life forms like Divine Ancestors, Earth Deities, Godslayers, and Heretic Gods, physical death is not the end; they have many ways to make a comeback. But now, with even her divinity shattered, there was no room for recovery.
Although Seiya could grant life, Guinevere was not an inanimate object. And while the Covenant of Decay and Revival was the Authority with the most varied effects, he had not yet developed the ability of resurrection. Perhaps it was due to the gentle protection of Athena that he had never truly faced death, not even against Hades Alone.
"Actually, there is one way," a familiar voice said nearby.
The ancient Amazonian war god, under the alias Lancelot, came to their side.
"And that is to use this Magical Holy Grail, forged from her divinity, as a sacrifice to make Guinevere whole again. It might be possible for her to return to her former divine state."
"Then do it," Seiya said, but then he noticed Lancelot looking at him strangely.
"But the power accumulated inside has already been completely consumed. To refill it would require the life force of an Earth Mother God, or... the essence of a great number of witches..."
Under Seiya's probing gaze, Lancelot nodded slightly.
That's right. Just as Seiya suspected, what was needed... was that kind of essence.
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