The Silver Saints hiding in the shadows all shot Meruem deeply resentful looks once they recovered.
Give us back our noble, cool, gentle, kind, merciful Athena.
"Ahem." Meruem laughed awkwardly. Thankfully no Gold Saints had seen that—or so he thought.
In truth, several Golds far away on the holy mountain, in the Twelve Temples, were staring at the scene with black lines on their faces.
For instance, Mu of the First Temple and Shaka of the Sixth.
"Oh… hehe, sorry everyone. Did I scare you?" Once Saori came back to herself, she slipped out of her tomboy persona and back into the proper young-lady facade, covering her mouth and laughing lightly.
But a shattered image isn't so easily repaired.
"No, no," everyone said, shaking their heads. Yet they all replayed the earlier ferocious scene in their minds.
Joking aside, outside that sudden burst of bravado, in Cosmo and everything else she was unmistakably Athena.
This was the boss of bosses—who dared say no?
"Hmph. Since the Pope won't show himself, we'll go to him. Light the flames of the Twelve Temples." With a flick of the scepter in Saori's small hand, twelve blue flames bloomed atop the giant clock beside the holy mountain.
It signaled that someone intended to storm the Twelve Temples.
But Saori wasn't planning to go through them herself.
Instead, she chose to follow Meruem's suggestion and use the Twelve Temples battle to temper her five guardians.
"You five have twelve hours. Clear all twelve Temples from bottom to top. If you fail…" Saori clenched her soft pink fist, smiling at the Bronze Five. Even thickheaded Seiya could hear the threat in it.
She'd already chosen to lean into it.
"Yes!" ×5
"You go on ahead. The rest of us will follow."
Several Gold Saints had already more or less confirmed Saori's identity, but they couldn't just switch sides openly.
Otherwise, they'd be admitting that this Pope had been fooling them for over a decade and making themselves look like idiots.
Sending the Bronze Five through the Temples both trained them and gave the Golds a way to save face.
So aside from a few, many Gold Saints took it very easy.
For example, Mu of the First Temple.
He fixed up their slightly damaged Cloths, told them the secret of the Seventh Sense—
Then let them pass. The whole thing took under half an hour.
Next, however, Taurus Aldebaran of the Second Temple gave them a hard time.
In frontal combat, Aldebaran was fearless. Not even Ikki, strongest of the five, could break through him head-on.
Of course, if he used the Phoenix Illusion Demon Fist to strike from behind, things might change. Bulls throughout history had high physical attack and defense—and almost no defense against special attacks.
Still, Aldebaran didn't intend to kill them. After giving them a serious scare, he let them go.
The Gemini Temple after that was empty. The boys passed smoothly. For some reason, Saga in the Pope's Hall didn't bother remotely manipulating its labyrinth.
"tsk, tsk… Little Saori, the Temples really need renovating," Meruem said as his main group strolled toward the summit as if on a walk.
All the way he pointed at the half-collapsed, heavily damaged structures.
Back in the last Holy War, the Twelve Temples were pristine; trees and flowers lined the path.
Majestic architecture, beautiful scenery—no worse than tourist spots.
And now? Except for the main halls and the rose garden behind Pisces, the rest looked like ruined relics.
Come on, people actually lived here. Not just the resident Golds—if war broke out, Silvers and Bronzes would join them in holding the Temples.
Now it looked like a refugee camp… People would complain. It's not like the Sanctuary is broke. Well… it kind of is.
No matter. If nothing else, Akatsuki had money. Renovate the lot.
"Aries Gold Saint Mu, welcoming the goddess." As Meruem's group entered the First Temple, Mu immediately dropped to one knee before Saori.
"Rise, Mu. Come with us," Saori said with a gentle smile, warm as spring wind.
Forget that she'd once crushed a golden arrow of the same material as a Gold Cloth—her amiability would score even higher.
Following Meruem's party up through the Temples, their ranks swelled as Silvers and Bronzes came out of hiding to pledge themselves to Saori.
No one needed to think twice now. If this girl wasn't Athena's reincarnation, they'd livestream eating… well, something disgusting.
Nearly every Saint at her side thought the same.
"Forward!" Saori cried, waving her small hand, radiating charisma.
And more black lines appeared on everyone's foreheads.
"As expected, for the Saori of today, white dresses don't suit her at all. Once this is over, I'll tell her where Athena's Cloth is. Only armor can bring out her Valkyrie side," Meruem mused, chin in hand.
Meanwhile, the boys had reached the Fourth Temple, Cancer.
Cancer Deathmask guarded this Temple. Unlike the previous guards, Deathmask actually knew Saga's identity.
He preached brute strength as justice, yet was widely known as the weakest of the Twelve.
Ironic.
Even so, the "weakest" Gold was still beyond what the boys could handle now.
In the original, he only lost to Shiryu after the Cancer Cloth rejected him.
That Cloth had clearly been tampered with. This time, with no rush and no such tricks ready, Saori wouldn't pull that card.
Even if Ikki, strongest of the five, had reached early Seventh Sense, his foe was a mid-Seventh Gold.
Facing five at once, Deathmask shone.
"Hahaha! Let your granddaddy Deathmask show you—power is justice!" A deep purple wave of light gathered at Deathmask's fingertips.
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