In the United Kingdom, autumn had already arrived, yet the weather remained tirelessly hot.
For ordinary residents, they felt no change at all, only knowing that the largest local business, the Royal Factory, had closed down, and the British Library had decided to close indefinitely. A local Chinese restaurant had also ceased operations, but these events had little impact on the majority of common people.
The weather was still scorching, and tourists were still plentiful. Perhaps only the Chinese international students would care about the announcement of a Chinese restaurant's closure.
For the magicians of the hidden world, they were contemplating whether to pledge allegiance to the King of Swords, so as to not fall into the hands of that old Wolf King again.
But what no one could have expected was that the Seventh Godslayer, the Saint Seiya who had killed Alexander, was still walking the streets of London, clad in a black trench coat and carrying a walking stick.
He gazed at the River Cam before him, took some bread crumbs from a woman in a knitted cardigan, and scattered them in batches into the river, watching the perch eagerly snatch them up. He casually bestowed a blessing upon the woman's child, then clapped his hands, and his figure vanished from the mortal plane.
The Netherworld, the Night of Antiquity. Seiya returned to this space that he had missed for some time.
And at the very core of this Night of Antiquity, there was an Immortal Stone.
The stone was thirty-six feet and five inches high, and twenty-four feet in circumference. The height corresponded to the 365 degrees of the celestial cycle; the circumference to the twenty-four solar terms of the calendar. It had nine orifices and eight holes, corresponding to the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams, and it was gestating his other half—the Heretic Pegasus. In truth, he had initially only wanted to come here to have a look, as simple as that.
The Pegasus of this moment was vastly different from before. It contained the residual flames of Chairman Zeus from the world of the Valkyries, the divinity and authority of the death god Thanatos from the world of the Saints, and as its core, the Authority and the Pegasus Cloth, all externally manifested as the Intelligent Stone Fetus.
Yes, there was also a Pegasus Cloth.
Last year, the God Robe Seiya had obtained after slaying Perseus was this very Pegasus Cloth. However, it, along with the Pegasus Authority, had been stolen by Athena. Now, they had become the core of the divine fetus before him, which had already evolved into the Pegasus God Cloth.
"It's quite miraculous, isn't it? So many disparate powers, yet all so harmoniously integrated." Athena, holding her golden scepter, appeared beside him at some unknown point. Together, they gazed at the Intelligent Stone Fetus before them, watching the gestating holy spirit inhale and exhale vital energy, its every breath resonating with the entire world.
It was as if this very universe was nurturing the divine fetus.
This was the effect of the Intelligent Stone Fetus. Ever since the dawn of creation, it has borne the weight of all living things, looking up to the highest benevolence. Receiving the purity of heaven and the essence of earth, the sun's spirit and the moon's splendor, it eventually attained spiritual awareness through long absorption.
"It's probably through its status and the Cloth," Seiya said. Though phrased as a question, his tone was one of certainty.
The destiny the Triune Athena had outlined for the Pegasus was that of the Fourth-Generation God King. With the status of a God King, it was naturally able to unify everything. This was the God King Pegasus, whose future was locked in even before its birth. And that Pegasus God Cloth was breathing in unison with the vast universe; Seiya could sense a great and powerful will awakening.
It was the Will of the Gods—Big Will—the greatest point of divergence between gods and humans. The universe was born from the Big Bang, and the "Will of the Gods" released by it collided with the fragments of the universe, creating the shining stars in the sky and thus forming a cosmic world habitable for life.
If the manifestation of a Saint's Cosmo relies on the Seventh Sense, then the Will of the Gods could be described as a super-sense that far surpasses it. Even the weakest of gods possesses a Cosmo of terrifying scale, far beyond normal, and this is the reason why.
And powerful gods even possess the power to create universes. Seiya felt that this impending God Pegasus of his would possess just such might.
The reason being that, within his senses, besides the Will of the Gods, there was an even more transcendent state of awareness being born along with the future God King.
Not in the present, but in the future.
But this transcendent awareness, existing downstream on the timeline, was something even Seiya, as its original self, could not describe. He didn't even know if it was the Great Universe Will, the Ultimate Power of a Primordial Creator God, or something else entirely. It might even be nothing at all.
But everything was still gestating within the Intelligent Stone Fetus. Seiya could sense that three divine powers, symbolizing the Intelligent Stone Fetus, had already taken shape.
"Of all that has been born and is yet to be born—"
"All things return to the one, and then are born again from the womb of the Intelligent Stone Fetus."
Athena softly recited a hymn of Proclus.
"The Pegasus hides the root of all things within its belly, adding the strength and energy of Sun Wukong to its limbs."
"Therefore, all things are born in the Pegasus and from the Pegasus."
"The brilliant and boundless firmament, the near sky, the inviolate vast sea, the distant great earth, the oceans and the depths below, the rivers and all the immortal gods, both male and female, all that has been and will be, are mixed and entwined like flowing water within the belly of the Pegasus."
Seeing the Heretic God King Pegasus about to be born, Athena could hardly conceal her excitement. Although this was slightly different from the future she had envisioned, the two were inextricably linked.
"In the future I originally envisioned, you were also supposed to hold the Authority of the Last King, and I would have become the God of the End to destroy the old world... But this is fine too. It's ten times more powerful than I anticipated."
But following the usual tropes of Greek mythology, the birth of the God King Pegasus would require a fitting stage and the right moment.
And as for when this fitting stage and moment would be, not even Seiya, its original self, could know. Athena, on the other hand, after Seiya bid her farewell, sensed a winged, blue figure crossing worlds to arrive here.
She soared through the clouds, in a blood-red gown and an iron mask. The tracing of causality allowed her to sense Stella's tracks in this world.
And under this dark night sky, a whisper, almost like a dream, reached her ears. "Is this moment... what you'd call fate?"
She scanned her surroundings with extreme vigilance. In the sky, bathed in moonlight, not even a bird could be seen. But the dreamlike voice still lingered by her ear, and the clouds before her had already turned to raindrops under the effect of lightning, returning to the earth, as if the incredibly real whisper from a moment ago was just a temporary condensation of mist.
The rain grew heavier. At first, it was scattered drops, but soon it became a sheet of rain, even a wall of it. The winged goddess with the iron mask transformed into an intangible shadow, likewise vanishing from this sky.
Tokyo, at the end of a long summer. The post-rain night washed away the city's sweltering heat. Stella sat cross-legged in the next room wearing hot pants, playing Xing Lei He. Seiya was also nestled in his air-conditioned room. Just at that moment, he suddenly felt that he didn't actually hate the goddess Stella as much as he thought.
Although she was petty and sharp-tongued, possessing extraordinary ambition yet being utterly clueless, after spending so much time with her, he had more or less grown accustomed to her bad habits. The reason he still always wanted to tease her was probably just a habit he'd formed. Perhaps, subconsciously, he had already come to see this bratty goddess as family.
It was just that sometimes, he still felt a little lonely.
If only Athena were here.
It didn't matter if it was the Heretic Athena, the Valkyrie's Athena, or Saori and Sasha... He just wanted to chat.
The moon reached its zenith. Even Stella had turned off her game and gone to sleep. But a gentle breeze pushed open the door to Seiya's room. Perhaps because there was no hostility whatsoever, even his Cosmo accepted her presence.
Along with a chill, she slipped into the raised part of the bedding, snuggling up close to the man who made her feel at ease, and lightly fell asleep.
Until the middle of the night, Seiya felt like he had grabbed something.
He snapped his eyes open. Then, amidst a sense of wrongness, he simultaneously felt a warm and soft touch. What on earth was it? An object of moderate softness, and warm to the touch, was right there.
Seiya fought against his drowsiness, forcing his eyes open, and then looked beside him.
...For a moment, his mind went blank.
Just as mushrooms grow on wood, just as a ten-pull yields a gold character, right now, in his own bed, a young girl had appeared.
In human terms, she looked even younger than Stella, the very picture of a young female form.
Her short hair was a silver like the moon's glow, her pupils a jet-black that seemed to condense the darkness. Her delicate beauty, though young, possessed a sense of divinity and was filled with a queen-like majesty.
But the problem at this moment was how she had appeared in his bed, and why she was sleeping so soundly pressed against him, stark naked.
"A problem has definitely occurred. I knew staying in this island nation for too long would lead to picking up unsavory habits." Seiya placed a hand on his forehead, trying his best to calm down.
While suppressing his panic, Seiya stared intently at the girl who had suddenly appeared.
Looking at her like this, she was a beautiful girl, like an angel. Although she had a peaceful sleeping face, it couldn't hide her world-class beauty that made one's heart race. The curve from her waist to her hips was also perfect.
She possessed an artistic beauty. If you had certain preferences, you could appreciate the peculiar charm that only an immature girl possesses.
At this moment, the girl was nestled in his arms, and she was unconsciously pressing herself even more tightly against Seiya. Seiya raised his head, both his big head and his little head, feeling once again that he had been corrupted by this island nation.
As Seiya, his initial preferences were very much like a Saint's—he was fond of tall women with long legs. The women around him were all beauties with explosive figures like Erica and Ena Seishuin. And in his dreams, he saw goddesses with rule-breaking figures like Saori and Sasha. But after years in Japan, he had begun to appreciate the beauty of younger girls.
Although he wanted to continue admiring her, his senses had already identified her.
Though her appearance had changed drastically, her aura told Seiya that the girl in his arms was none other than the one revered by all witches, the Divine Ancestor Guinevere.
"Wake up, Guinevere, wake up!" Seiya's gaze swept around the room before he could only place his hand on her shoulder and shake her gently.
"Don't move, let me sleep... If you want to do something, just go ahead and do it..." The younger Guinevere mumbled in her sleep.
Do whatever I want, you say? Your words are very dangerous. Does this mean I can stand atop Tokyo Tower and unleash a Getsuga Tenshou, bathing all of Tokyo in the glory of a Saint?
Seiya forcefully suppressed his burning comedic soul. After scanning the room once more, he firmly smacked her rosy, tender bottom. This crisp, yet not painless, strike finally woke the drowsy Guinevere.
And at the same time, it woke the goddess living next door.
"Baka Seiya, what are you doing... Hmm?" Stella, standing at the door, looked at the scene before her and pursed her lips. The sight of the frail-looking young girl and their positions made her reveal a knowing smile. "Excuse me, my apologies for the intrusion."
As the goddess of love and beauty, and a deity from both Greek and Roman mythology, Stella's tolerance for all sorts of things was very high. She probably wouldn't even be too surprised to see Seiya and Athena together one day.
Unless the bright-eyed Athena turned into a white-haired Zeus the next second. But given Stella's level of acceptance, she probably wouldn't be surprised even then.
With humans, with non-humans, with women, with men, with married men, with married women, with older sisters, with lolis, with family, with lovers, with enemies, with strangers, with horses, with cows, with swans, with wooden posts, with clay pots, with the sky, with the earth, with the ocean—the love of a god is just that broad.
Stella appeared and then vanished again. Seiya didn't force her back to explain, because Guinevere before him had already regained her clarity, although from the way her eyelids were drooping, she might fall asleep again any second.
"You seem to know me, but I'm sorry. In my current reborn state, I have temporarily lost my past memories. I just feel that you are a very important person," Guinevere answered truthfully.
"I'm Seiya. Would you like some water?" Seiya was a little worried about her condition.
"Because you are my other half... oh, I am made of you... zzz..."
Although the words coming from Guinevere's mouth were strange, like sleep-talking, Seiya surprisingly understood. The Guinevere before him had indeed been resurrected using the life essence he had plundered from the witches.
And Guinevere's entire body was now imprinted with his mark. Her relationship with him was now close to his relationship with Stella; to a certain extent, Seiya could even interfere with Guinevere's actions and thoughts.
"Because only by your side can I find true peace... From you, I can accelerate my completion..."
After saying this, Guinevere fell back into Seiya's arms, but the meaning this time was completely different from before. Just as their two fervent hearts began to beat as one, an arrow transcending sound and light, in a manner of cause following effect, sped forth and annihilated the small courtyard.
The attacker who launched this strike floated cautiously in the sky eight hundred kilometers away.
Faint electrical arcs danced in the air, the shockwave contained within an extremely small space. A confused mutter was heard from the air, as the winged goddess carrying a golden quiver was astonished that her attack had caused no damage whatsoever.
But in the next instant, a strong sense of dread forced her into a state of Divine Speed, her instincts for karmic retribution kicking in.
"—Gods these days have less and less manners. Pegasus Meteor Fist!"
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