Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Saint Seiya Fan Fiction ❯ The Intense Clash of the Gods ❯ Tale 67 ( Chapter 67 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Isaac sat on the side of the arena, staring across at the visage of Algol. He had yet to know how to counter the attack... Fenrir's headpiece was in Shaina's possession at the moment and in many cases, he wasn't sure he could trust a Freezing Coffin to filter the attack out. So what could he work with?

Isaac clenched his fists in frustration... he was running out of time. Then again, all of the team was. Minos was still gone, Charybdis was injured, Algol had petrified Fenrir, and Cecil no doubt was fighting for his life against Shaina. He had a good feeling this was going to be only a taste of Sanctuary.
_
"THUNDER CLAW!"

"SHADOW VIKING TIGER CLAW!"

Gold Saint and Shadow God Warrior shot by each other, each one of them drawing blood from their respective slashing attacks before springing away. This fight was quickly becoming, much to Shaina's fury, one that she could not control. Bodu continually managed to predict exactly where she would teleport, and all attempts at surprise maneuvers were useless. True, she still had the advantage in terms of strength and speed, but Cecil's ironclad determination enabled him to match her move for move.

Cecil landed on the ground, trying to catch his breath as Shaina did the same. The Alcor Zeta God Warrior turned around again, raising his defenses as Shaina punched at him before channeling his improved and superior Black Tempest to push her away. An Ankoku Moko Reppu Shiden Ken punished Shaina as she smashed into another large pillar. Rising up to her feet, Shaina wiped the blood from her mouth.

"I cannot, will not be defeat by some pathetic boy that isn't even a real God Warrior!" she growled before lunging at Cecil, who stared straight at her without moving a muscle. "Thunder-"

"Your peers don't think you're a real Gold Saint, do they?" Cecil said passively, Shaina's attack stopping inches from his face. "Believing you to be lower in rank, having to hide, oftentimes forgotten by astrologers, no?"

Shaina looked straight at him... "You... you wouldn't understand..." her hand formed a fist as she backed away slightly. "Gold Saints are super-"

A fist to the gut caused Shaina to crumple forward as Cecil walked behind her. "Where's your dignity?!? My new God Robe may lack an Odin Sapphire and represent a star that isn't even part of Ursa Major, but to go to these extremes to prove yourself to your fellow Gold Saints!"

"I... like you could know what Death Queen Island can do to people..." Shaina said as she turned around to face him. "PEOPLE LOSE THEMSELVES THERE!"

Another Thunder Claw slashed through Cecil's backside but he turned during the process and backhanded the Ophiuchus Saint. "I didn't."

He moved for one final Shadow Viking Tiger Claw, but his body suddenly locked up, and he screamed in pain as Shaina smiled. "Finally... same way Charybdis lost... and with two members of the Pentrine defeated, I will be finally freed from my sins! THUNDER-"

Cecil stared at her coming straight at him... he could barely move... but he prayed that this last ploy would work. Otherwise, he'd be dead.

"CLAW!" Shaina charged again, but just as she reached Cecil, he forced himself to say one thing as his hand slowly moved forward less than an inch.

"Ever heard of a 'One-Inch Punch'?"

What?!?

WHAM!

The pure force of Cecil's last-ditch measure, to channel all his power into a short-range strike rang true, Shaina being knocked away and hitting the ground unbelievably painfully.
_
Suddenly they reappeared, in the arena, Cecil standing there and Shaina on the ground, unconscious. Algol's jaw dropped open in shock as the ref and the audience couldn't believe their eyes.

"Win-winner... uh... Cecil Bodu..."

The silence that followed was not surprising. Isaac jumped up to help Cecil off the arena floor... and then picked up the die.

"Ready?" Algol asked with a smile after her got Shaina off the floor and picked up his team's die.

"You already know the results... so are we going to waste time with it or what?"

Algol laughed. "You idiot... Bodu is in no condition to fight... if you go down, this battle still goes to Shaina's team!" He sprang up onto the arena, and Isaac suddenly realized something...

Grinning, he walked up to fight Algol, hoping his guess would be right. If not, his team would lose, and Chary would never forgive him for not learning from Fenrir's mistake.

Algol quickly readied his shield, and Isaac grinned as he stared right into it. Algol was surprised by the action, but not enough to stop turning Isaac to stone. All of Sanctuary went up in a roar, shocked but relieved by this anticlimactic ending.

Algol turned to his supporters and fans, laughing at the ease of it before-

"AURORA BOREALIS!"

WHAT!?!

He turned in time to see the icy blast coat the lower half of his body, including his lowered arms and his shield. "Checkmate," Isaac said with a grin before blinking in shock.

His left eye... he could see out of it... how... he then snapped his fingers in realization as Algol struggled in vain to escape his icy prison.

"You made a single mistake with your shield," Isaac said, more joyous than before. "Aegis turns people to stone if they gaze into it... but..." he pointed to his left eye, seeing the world for the first time in years. "By being blinded in my left eye, I only received half the petrifaction... merely a light entrapment of stone on my body and easy enough to break free from."

Algol was sweating desperately... he hadn't even thought of anything like this was possible!

"And it turns out..." Isaac finished as he pulled back for another Aurora Borealis, "Since my body was turned to stone, or at least enough of it, my left eye was repaired... I believe its a feat gargoyles were known for... undoing all damage done to themselves by turning to stone and then reverting back."

Algol screamed in desperation, hopelessly frozen and about to lose.

"AURORA BOREALIS!" The blast of ice blew through Algol as he screamed in defeat.

"A Silver Cloth freezes and shatters at -200 Degrees Celsius! That's easy enough for me!" Isaac continued the attack before hearing the audible cracks of Algol's entire cloth and the entirety of the armor was reduced to ruins. Algol was blue in the face, and one kick to he head sent him down for the count.

"Winner..." the referee grunted, pointing to Isaac, "Isaac Krylov..."
_
As he leaned back in his palace, Aiolos smiled. The Pentrine had thought victory was theirs... foolish.
_
"Winner of this round of the tournament... Team Pentrine!" the announcer shouted as a sick grin appeared on his face. "Next match... Team Pentrine vs. Team Elements!"

"WHAT?!?" Isaac and the exhausted Cecil shouted in confusion. The man flipped a switch as the brackets were shown... the Mariner and the God Warrior looking in fear. The lineup clearly showed, unfortunately, that due to the layout of the matches, a certain team, called "Primary Gold" was only to have one match before the finals.

The layout for the eight teams was, in short, not "4 quarterfinal matches, 2 semifinal matches, and one final match". And Team Pentrine, unfortunately was slated for one more "quarterfinal" match... against "Team Elements".

"Now..." the ref began as a tall, blue-haired figure came into view, walking towards them, "We obviously are not going to be unfair... Sepal Aphrodite, our Pisces Gold Saint and an excellent judge of physical condition."

Aphrodite certainly lived up to his name... with long, flowing, light-blue hair, a beauty mark under his left eye, and the slight hint of lipstick as well. A red rose was in his hands as he walked up to Cecil and Isaac, looking over them for a moment before pointing at Isaac.

"You're in no condition. Bodu, you will unfortunately have to fight the entirety of the team on your own."

"WHAT?!? That's crazy!" Isaac shouted, jumping down and looking at Aphrodite in the face. "I'm perfectly fine... and you're saying it's Cecil who has to carry the torch and-"

Aphrodite slapped him across the face, the Mariner glaring at the Gold Saint.

"Don't fool with me, boy. If you object to this, your team is going to be disqualified no matter what."

"Just... do it," Cecil groaned as he managed to jump onto the arena. He saw a quartet of figures approaching... four Silver Saints... not too bad...

"But..." Isaac started to say before walking away with Aphrodite, his fists clenched.
_
"Wait a second! You can't go out there!"

"WHY THE HELL NOT?!? I'm back to normal, aren't I?"

"But-"

"This is serious! If I don't do something, Cecil could die!"
_
Despite having a base strength far greater than his opponent, the blistering flames torturing Cecil seemed to much more painful to him as he fell to his knees... between the abuse Shaina had given him and now this...

His opponent, the Centaurus Silver Saint, Babel Ziggurat, had quickly turned the fight to his advantage, Cecil barely dodging some of Babel's strikes but so many more of them burning him severely. "I..." Cecil groaned as he rose back up to his feet, tears in his eyes... "I can't lose like this!"

Babel, a dark-haired man, simply laughed. "You have nothing... nothing that I can't handle, at the very least." He pointed at Cecil, grinning in pleasure. "Well... what are you going to try?"

Cecil charged at him, jumping out of the way of another blast of fire, but was punched in the gut. His God Robe was a wreck... and as he doubled over, Babel's fist punched into his head. "BURN, BABY!"

Cecil screamed as he was smashed into the audience seating, a burned and bruised body without the strength to move a muscle.

The audience went up in a roar... the invaders were, at long last... defeated!

"Winner of the match, Babel Ziggurat! And the overall winners, Team Elements... meaning that the losers are Team Pentri-"

"NORTHERN GUNROKEN!"

Babel turned to the voice just in time to see a man with a burning hatred in his heart smash his fist into him as a horde of wolves tackled him, ruining his armor in less than ten seconds. The audience... those that had thought victory had been theirs seconds ago, now realized the figure standing there, blood on his hands from the single blow he had given Babel, would rather die than let his team lose.

"I'm here. Team Pentrine is still in the game, goddammit. Decide among yourselves the order in which you want me to humiliate you." Fenrir Volsung said as his yellow eyes stared at the three other Silver Saints.
 
A/N: Like I'd ever let the group every lose…