Chapter 45: Chapter 45 – Fighting the Specters Part 3

Shaka POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

I calmly perceive the various attacks, coming toward me full of malevolent aggressiveness and killing intent, at the same time, I quietly gather my own Cosmo, then just as the attacks are about to hit me, I make the gathered Cosmo explode, and yell "KAN!!", and create a powerful barrier that encircles my body, and clearly feel the Specters' Cosmo, powerlessly crash against the barrier and disperse without doing any damage.

Through my senses, I can clearly feel the weaker Specters' shock and horror about what they have just witnessed, then I hear them yell "What is this? There is a barrier deflecting all our attacks!", at the same time, I choose to reduce the number of the enemy Specters as much as possible, and raising the Mada in my right hand, I make my Cosmo explode and chant "Evil spirits Begone! The heavens shall conquer evil! Tenkū Haja Chimimōryō (Heaven Supremacy on Evil Spirits of Rivers and Mountains)!!" and summon countless minor evil spirits under my command, that starts floating around the temple, and slowly encircle the Specters.

Clearly feeling their fears, I say "Why do you fear these evil spirits? They should be your kin!", and one of the specters replies "Unh... They can't be real... This is an illusion!", but I want to make them feel more helpless, so to weaken their will and make it easier for the evil spirits to consume them, and say "Let me show you this...", and show them my Mada and explain "There are 108 beads on this Mada, just as there are 108 of you Specters, it's said that for each bead that does darken, one worldly sin shall be extinguished, the previous Virgo Saint created it to deal with you, evil warriors! Look! Already 15 of the beads have darkened, that's how many specters have been killed, soon you bead will darken too".

Feeling their willpower weaken even more I finally gave the command to evil spirits to attack "Die now, evil souls!", the evil spirits move and start to feast on the Specters' souls, devouring them and at the same time growing stronger from it, but just as 6 Specters died in this gruesome way, I hear a deep male voice yell "Maten Muhorin (Void Treasures of the Evil Heaven)!!", and feel that all the evil spirits are now being devoured themselves, and so I raise my guard and think 'He finally made his move, but to think that he would do something like this...'.

Once he is done, I use my Cosmo to study him, he is a thin, bald man, with a dark brown complexion, and his Surplice has a very complex design, it covers his entire body, first is the chest piece, which is attached to the part of the arms and legs pieces, and on the back of the Surplice I can notice that it has several arms, 20 in total, emulating the Buddhist mythological character, Atavaka, at the same time I ask "It was you who stopped my attack?", and the man doesn't reply and in his deep voice he says "Thank for the meal... You brought me a little closer to my goal... I'm simply known as Atavaka".

(Image Here - Atavaka)

Then the man who introduces himself as Atavaka says "You guys move, I can clearly feel that you are no match for him, even if the rest of you join forces, you will still end up dead... Go! I'll take care of him!", I hear some of the Specters click their tongue before they start to run, but I yell "I won't let you keep defiling the stones of these Temples with your unclean feet!! Begone rabble!!", and gather my Cosmo between my hands and make it explode one more time to unleash my attack "Tenma Kofuku (Demon Suppressor)!!", and expands my Cosmo in a huge blast of golden light.

But again Atavaka interfere, I feel his Cosmo explode as he yells "Jaaku na Koi (Evil Deeds)!!", and his Cosmo expands in an analogous way only I feel a very dark and evil essence within it, and the two Cosmo Blast cancels each other making the remaining 6 Specters safely pass through my Temple and move on their evil quest, but I don't care about them anymore, trusting in the strengths of my fellow Gold Saints, and focus all my attention on my opponent, Atavaka, 'Something about him feels off and wrong, but at the same time, it is also familiar... This confuses me!'.

Then it finally comes to me why this man feels so familiar to me, and yell in shock "You're also an enlightened being!?", and I feel him smile and then he says "That's right... In my previous life, I reached the Arayashiki state just before death, the thing that you Saints call the 8th sense, and with it, I was able to escape the fate of becoming a prisoner in the Underworld, and choose to reincarnate in a body with the capacity of becoming a Specter, and once Athena's seal weakened, I ate the specter soul that was about to devour my soul and take back the control over my body, but also gained possession of his Surplice, so that I can enter the Underworld alive and finally start my plan...".

And with an excited voice, he continues "...Devours all the souls there, so that I can expand my powers even more until I reach the power of the Gods, and even surpass them, then I'll subject them to the universal truth I received during my enlightenment!! A utopia where only my souls and I exist! The will of our 'I' will not only rule over the dead but the other gods too! In that way, I'll finally become the ultimate truth of the universe! But I felt that the souls of the Underworld were too weak and the progress too slow, so I choose to join in this attack on the Sanctuary in search of stronger souls... And I finally found you! The perfect prey!!".

In horror about what he has done and what he plans to do, I think, 'This man is crazy! I have to stop him no matter what, if left alone he could unleash untold horror!', I steel my resolve and say "I see, a man like you should never be allowed to reach such state, the evil in your heart is too much to be left alone, my heart is set now...", and I open my eyes, unleashing the full might of my Cosmo and yell "I'll put my life on the line to strike you down!".

Taking advantage of being in my most powerful state, I ignite my Cosmo to unleash my greatest attack "Tenbu Horin(The Treasure of Heaven)!!", making my Cosmo explode, I trap Atavaka inside this dimension under my control, and our surroundings change and all around us are the Buddhist images of Vairocana showing his gesture inside Mandala pattern, that repeat itself endlessly, and say "This is both an offensive and defensive technique! Now that you are trapped in it, you can neither attack nor escape!!".

I raise my hand and start to destroy his senses, one after the other, "Dai Ikkan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 1st)!!", and produce a wave of Cosmo, Atavaka's body stops moving and starts twitching every now and then I say "You can't feel your body, your sense of touch is gone! Next your sense of smell! Dai Nikan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 2nd)!!", and another wave of Cosmo takes away his sense of smell.

After removing those two senses, I say "Now, you can't detect your enemy by his scent! Now, I'll take your sense of taste! Dai Sankan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 3rd)!!", and another wave takes away another sense, and I continue "The only sense you have left are sight and hearing, let's move on, Dai Yokan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 4th)! Dai Gokan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 5th)!!", and with this quick series of waves, I remove his remaining senses.

But I don't stop here, 'With this kind of enemy I have to go one step further "I shall destroy the last weapons left to you, your 6th sense!! Dai Rokukan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 6th)!!" and with this wave of Cosmo, I destroyed Atavaka's 6th sense, but he is still able to calmly stay standing, but I don't stop here and with one last wave, I yell  "As you are the being closest to God in the Underworld, I'll go even one step further and snatch the sense superior to all...! The 7th sense! Disappears demon! Dai Nanakan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 7th)! Absolute revocation of the senses!!" and his body is enveloped in a golden light leaving nothing behind.

Seeing that I say "Has his body reduced to ashes?", but soon I hear Atavaka's still calm voice that says "You really think so... You're really too sentimental Virgo! And to think that I assumed that you had the same emptiness that I have...", as he talks, his Cosmo grows stronger and stronger and the images in my dimension start to change, they are being overridden by the mandala of the dead, at the same time, Atavaka's body reappears and he continues "Your heart only harbors impure and earthly desires... Those praised as beings close to the Gods must have an emptiness inside them... Now, it's my turn, let me show you the true reality of the Universe! Maten Muhorin!!".

And a hole opens in the sky, from which countless souls, comes out and invade this dimension, at the same time, I start to quickly lose my sense, and soon I lost all the feeling of my body but I still retain my 6th and 7th senses, and with it, I can still feel my surrounding, but I also feel the pain that these souls are feeling, 'Their pain... Flows toward me...!', then I hear Atavaka says through his Cosmo "You're an immature being, Virgo... What is it that deceives you? Why would you feel empathy for a dead person's pain?".

I ignore his question and focus on my surroundings and soon, I notice that some souls are acting strange, 'What? Some of the souls behind him are disappearing... As if their senses were being removed... So that means... That it was not Atavaka who received my Tenbu Horin!!', and as I realize this, Atavaka says "It seems you have noticed... It's true! While I'm in this dimension surrounded by these mandalas, your technique won't have an effect on me it will only destroy the senses of these souls that I have swallowed! Maybe you can make me useless if you destroy these... But you won't do something as cruel as destroying these souls, isn't it? It's because you still have passions and feelings in your heart... But in my heart... There is nothing! I'm in a state of absolute disinterest, the dead can implore and weep for their salvation and my heart won't be affected at all... A heart that only seeks the truth, if you lack one... Then you should be part of my universe!".

My attention is caught by the enormous pain that I'm feeling coming from the other souls, and ask in shock "This pain... It can't be... Are you draining all these souls to power your technique!?', but he ignores my question and at the same time, he declares "The time to debate has ended, Virgo, return to nothingness! Destruction of all senses!".

As I'm about to be hit and so close to death, I once again remember the words that Jayr told me after the events of the Sanctuary, because he felt I was growing too distant from the ones I should protect and how it confused me, 'You must not think that you are an empty being... Observe yourself as a sensitive human being, with sadness and anger inside you, even if you are a being close to the Gods, but you are not one of them... And there is nothing wrong with that...', and my Cosmo, once more explodes and rejects Atavaka's one, and at the same time, the souls bathed by my Cosmo start singing the Shakyamuni Mantra.

Seeing this, Atavaka looks around confused "What is going on...? All the dead began to sing in unison the  Shakyamuni Mantra...", and it begins to clearly anger him as he yells "Stop! Stop!! STOP!!! All of you are one with me already! YOU!! DAMN!! Stop going against my will!! I AM YOUR UNIVERSE!", and at this point, I say through my Cosmo "Yeah, sure... Nobody here agrees with that!", and that is true because I feel every soul here supporting me.

So I sit in the lotus position, and at the same time I hear Atavaka asks "The lotus position? What the hell!? What do you think you can do to me with that?", and recovering my senses, I speak once again "To give a sermon, naturally... for all the souls gathered here!", hearing that Atavaka yells in denial "It's not possible! Now they are all part of me! All of you are an insignificant trash! No sermon of yours will save them now!".

I ignore him, elevate my Cosmo even more and say "I am not able to save anyone, finding salvation or enlightenment must be the result of one's search, so many wonders lie within us, either joy or sadness... But when you recognize the universe inside you you will become one with it... It is not something you can claim for yourself, Atavaka! Your cruel Universe must be destroyed".

And at this moment, I feel the Cosmo of all the souls devoured by Atavaka join mine, and with it, I unleash my strongest attack yet, "Dance, Celestial wheel! Free these trapped souls!", at the same time with urgency Atavaka tries to attack me "Maten Muho...", but it is too late now, "Tenbu Horin!! Dai Hachikan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 8th)!!!".

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I generate a strong blinding wave of golden Cosmo, that shatters Atavaka's Surplice, and disintegrate his body, leaving behind only his soul, but the effect of my attack doesn't end here, because, with the help of the trapped souls, the Wheel of Samsara opens up in the sky and starts sucking all the souls, to purify them and send them back in the cycle of reincarnation.

Looking at this spectacle, I can't help but realize, 'This is why I chose to serve Athena... At first, I was confused and had my doubts... Is this world so full of sadness that is it really worth fighting for it? Is it worth the Goddess who protects this world? At first, I didn't understand why she choose to reincarnate every time as a human and suffer like them... But then I met her, and she said that she appreciates the suffering she experiences because it makes the joys even more meaningful... Now I understand that this world she protects is an immense forest of austerity and a paradise, where our senses are refined by joys and sorrows, and thus we learn to live loving each other...'.

I look at the closing Wheel of Samsara, while still feeling the joys and relief of the souls in the air, and say "This is why we fight! And why we will defeat once again the tormentor of countless souls, the Lord of the Underworld, Hades!".

Jayr POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987

I just felt the burst of Cosmo coming from the Virgo Temple, and can't help but say "Damn... Shaka is a beast, I feel pity for the one who made him get so serious... That burst of Cosmo is almost reaching the levels of Athena and Poseidon!", then I hear Milo's voice that says "He isn't called the closest to God without reason...", and Camus then adds "Among us Gold Saints, he is for sure is one of the strongest...".

Then Aphrodite says "I'm glad he is on our side...", and Shura finish with "Yeah... But his opponent was really strong too, almost too strong...", right now, all of us are waiting in the Libra Temple for the remaining Specters to come, we decided to stop them here, as we can't let them come any closer to Saori, 'Better be safe, than sorry... And as backup, there is also Saga that is ready to act at a moment's notice...'.

While waiting for the Specter to come, I think back at what I felt from Shaka and his opponent's Cosmo, 'The two of them clearly mastered the 8th sense to a high level... And what is even crazier is that Shaka was able to strip his opponent of the 7th and even 8th sense! But this familiar aura around the Virgo Temple, also tells me that Shaka normally isn't able to pull this off, what he did was a Miracle... The only power we humans have that can defeat the Gods!', then I remember the training I did in these last weeks.

Jayr POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1987(Flashback)

Right now, I'm laying on my bed, I'm really nervous as what I'm about to do is really dangerous, but it is something that must be done if I want to have a chance to survive what is to come, and so I take a deep breath and say "Come on, Jayr! You can do this! You know how to do this! And you prepared for the worst case possible...", what I'm about to do is all to master the 8th sense, at the same time I again think about what I know about the senses and Cosmo 'The ordinary 5 sense are the one we use to perceive the world around us, the 6th sense is the intuition, the sense that we Saints use to feel the Cosmo and control it at the start, then there is the 7th sense, the sense of Cosmo, with it we Saints gain full awareness of our Cosmo and of what it can truly do... Then there is the 8th sense, the sense of Rule, with it we can feel the hidden rules of the Universe and use them to enhance our attacks or fight the Rules imposed by the Gods...'.

Before starting, I once again check that everything is in place, right next to me there are both the Crateris Cloth and the Sagittarius Cloth, ready to pull me back in case it gets too dangerous, so I close my eyes and focus on my Cosmo, and at the same time, I also feel Saori's Cosmo brushing against mine, also ready to act at any moment, and also feel Seika's presence outside the door also ready to act, clearly feeling her worry for me, with a smile on my face I think 'Yeah... No way, I do something like this and don't tell them about it... They have every right to know... and also the capability to help so why should I hide it from them... I promised them that I'll always tell them everything without hiding anything!'.

After a final check, I carefully press my acupoints and soon feel all my vital activities slow down, it starts from my heart which beats slower and slower each passing second,  I feel my blood slowing down, my lungs taking fewer breaths, my temperature lowers, in fewer words, my body is slowly dying, or at least, getting as close to death as possible.

As for why I'm doing all this, using such a dangerous procedure, it is all for mastering the 8th sense, the only way I can still survive while being in the Underworld, the realm of Hades, that only the dead can access, in fact, there are two ways of traveling the Underworld while still being alive, one you are a slave of Hades in possession of a Surplice, the other is to awaken the 8th sense,  also called "Arayashiki", and this sense is only awoken at death.

Right now, I'm in total darkness, I lost feeling of everything, all my senses are gone one after another, and even my 6th and 7th senses are growing weaker and weaker by the second, in fact, I'm finding more and more difficult to feel my own Cosmo, as it is becoming increasingly weaker, I have never felt this close to death before, and this with the fact that I died once before, but that time was so sudden that I didn't even have the time to understand what was going on, one moment I was driving, the other I was a glowing ball in some kind of school auditorium.

But this time, I can clearly feel my life force slowly slipping away, and I'm truly starting to get scared, so I decide to stop for now, but after trying many times to ignite my Cosmo, I come to a dreadful realization, 'Shit! Shit! Shit! I can't feel my Cosmo enough to ignite it and reactivate the functions of my body! Something is blocking me! I pushed myself too far and now I'm truly dying!!', I start to panic and try in every way to connect with the Cloths next to me, or with Saori's Cosmo to ask for their help.

But I don't feel them anymore, in fact, right now I almost can't even feel my own Cosmo anymore, 'Come on, Jayr! Think! Don't give up! I can't give up! There are still many things I want to do! I refuse to die now!!', but no matter of much I try, I can't ignite my Cosmo, and at this moment, I can feel that only a slight ember of it remains, so small that it can disappear at any moment now, and in the end, it disappears, and everything becomes still, my heartbeat, my breath, my thoughts, even the very concept of time disappears, all I feel is a dreadful nothingness.

But in this strange state of nothingness, all of the sudden, I hear a familiar female crying voice, Seika that says "Come on... Sniff... Come on...Sniff... Jayr... Sniff... Come back to me!", and another one soon after, this time it is Saori "Jayr... Jayr... Don't give up! When the forces of evil threaten the balance and peace of the world, the Saints of Athena appear! By their courage and will, they are capable of overcoming the most insurmountable obstacles! And you among all of them have acquired my trust and love! I know that no matter what happens you will help me, not as your Goddess Athena, but as the woman you love Saori! So once again fight!".

And it doesn't end here, I also hear the voices of my sisters talking to each other, worried about me, my parents enjoying their daily lives, grandpa training a batch of trainees, Aiolia and Milo sparring, Aldebaran talking with Mu, Seiya and the others, and also everyone else too, all the people I know, all the people I have helped, all the patients that I have saved, in fact, I can also hear the whisper of the Crateris and Sagittarius Cloth, and in the end all their voices blends together.

Then a brand new awareness about everything comes to me, and from the ash that my Cosmo left behind, sparks appear once more, which quickly transforms into a fire, then in a raging inferno, and the next moment, I hear and feel a deafening explosion, and my Cosmo expands to my previous limits, and easily breaks through them, growing so strong and huge, that I can feel it encompasses the whole Universe, in fact, right now with my senses, I can also feel the slow expansion of the universe, and I feel that if I push myself I can even feel beyond its limits.

And at the same time, with a simple thought, my vital function activates once more, I open my eyes and sit up from the bed, but I'm quickly tackled by two missiles in the shape of Saori and Seika, and hugging them I softly say "Sorry for worrying you... But now, I'm fine, and our chances of kicking a godly ass are higher...", but the two don't let me go, and so I decide to spend the rest of the day cuddling with them, of course after promising them to never do anything so dangerous ever again.

At the same time, with a cold sweat running down my back, I think, 'Not that I want to... This time, truly was a close one... I truly come close to dying this time, even with all my preparations, I underestimated the other side... Hades almost got me, as soon as I came close to his domain, he felt my alignment with Athena and cut off all the connection to the living world and isolate my soul... It was thanks to awakening my 8th sense, that I was able to fight off his influence and restore the connection between my body and soul, and use my Cosmo to restore my vital activities and return to life!'.

Then with a smirk, I think, 'In the end, it almost looks like, Hades helped me, it is probable that with all the backup I prepared, I would have never truly felt death, and thus I wouldn't have awakened the 8th sense... This can only be the result of two things... Or I have plot armor and am the protagonist of some kind of story... Or Saori's Nike played a hand in it, I can't forget that even if that scepter seems useless most of the time, it has the bullshit power to warp the events and fates in some subtle way to always lead Athena and her allies to victory, its literally grant Athena victory, even when it seems impossible... Or both...'.

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