Chapter 51: Chapter 51 – The Greatest Eclipse

Jayr POV - Underworld, Fifth Prison - 1987

I see that everyone is surprised by Ikki's disappearance, even Rhadamantis and Minos, at the same time, Kanon asks stunned "No way... Where did Ikki go?", but soon Minos realizes what is going on and exclaims "Wait! This lingering Cosmo... Its Lady Pandora! She is the one that teleported Ikki! He is right now in the presence of Lord Hades!!", and soon moves to return to his God's side, but I'm faster and move in front of him blocking his way.

He looks at me and yells "Move! I've got no time to deal with a vermin like you...", and attacks me with a simple but powerful Cosmo blast, which I simply deflect by slapping it away, at the same time, I notice that our clash awakes both Kanon and Rhadamanthis from their stunned state, and both once again restart their fight and both opens with their most destructive moves.

Both Rhadamanthis and Kanon quickly gather their Cosmo to the maximum between their hands, Rhadamanthys yells "Greatest Caution!!", and releases from the palms of his hands a powerful tidal of shockwaves of cosmic energy in the form of countless purple spheres, which ceaselessly move toward his target Kanon as the image of a roaring wyvern appears behind him,

At the same time, Kanon releases the energy in the form of a gigantic shock-wave capable of obliterating anything in its path, as the image of a myriad of galaxies and planets exploding appears, and soon their attacks clash but it is clear that Kanon's move is the stronger one, as it quickly overpowers Rhadamanthys' relentless volley of shockwaves and hit Rhadamanthis with such force that his Surplice cracks and breaks, and as he is blown away, Rhadamanthis yells "I-Impossible!!" then he crashes on the ground and mutters "H... How can I... Lose against him...", then his Cosmo explodes in strength and he yells "Gemini Kanon, prepare to die!!".

Meanwhile, Minos notices the fact that I'm apparently focused on Kanon and Rhadamanthis fight, and takes advantage of this to attack me as he says "Remember distraction on the battlefield is lethal! Cosmic Marionation!!", and uses his Cosmo to create very fine and solid, almost invisible, threads, that wounds around my body clinging to my limbs and neck, and with a simple movement of his hands he lifts me from the ground and says "Now you are under my total control! Be glad that I do not have the time to make you suffer... I'll simply snap your neck and be done with it!".

I let out a smile and say "Really you Specters have an awful memory...", and I ignite my Cosmo and lower the temperature around me, then focus on the Cosmo Strings wound around my body and freeze them once more, then I say "The saying 'the same attack will not work twice on a Saint', isn't just a boast... It's a fact!", I simply move my body and break the now frozen threads, once I land on the ground I explain "You see, once we see or receive a move, we can understand how it works and also how to counter it, we Saint of Athena are always evolving during our fights that is why we are the strongest!!".

Then I explode my Cosmo to the maximum as I hold my hands out over my head, pointing towards Minos with open palms, quickly gathering the Cosmo needed, and yell to the still stunned Minos "Time to end this, Minos! White Ice Spears!!", I throw my hands down, and crosses them, and my energy solidifies into numerous solid spears of ice, that moves at the speed of light and easily pierce through his armor and body all hitting vital spots, that blows and pins him against one of the outer walls of the Labyrinth of the Minotaur, then as his body starts freezing Minos says "I... It doesn't matter... If you kill me... Lo... Lord Hades... Shall... Prevail... As his... Loyal... Servant... I will return...".

As Minos says his last words, his body turns into an ice sculpture, then I will it to shatter into many small pieces, at the same time, I hear Rhadamanthis' furious yell "Minos!!", and I focus back on Rhadamanthis and Kanon's fight, and notice that Rhadamanthys' Surplice is now totally trashed, and he has wounds all over his body, then I hear Kanon say "Damn... You really are sturdy... But this is the end!".

I see that Kanon also has some wounds on his body but he and his Cloth are still fine, meanwhile, Kanon raises his right arm above his head, and begins to draw a golden equilateral triangle with his Cosmo saying "Fall in the gap of time and space! Golden Triangle!!", then the Cosmo is expelled with the same hand with which the triangle was drawn, which rips the fabric of time and space to create an alternate dimension and throws Rhadamanthis in it, but he doesn't stop here.

Kanon once more gathers his Cosmo between his hands and yells "...And be gone with it! Galaxian Explosion!!", and releases a gigantic shock-wave into the still open gap in the space, then an impossibly loud explosion is heard and strong golden light can be seen from with the gap, which is now shaking as cracks appears all over it, so much that they expand even to the space around us before the dimension created by Kanon collapse on itself with the Specter within, or what remains of him.

I move next to Kanon and say "Holy... You created a whole dimension to trap your opponent in it then you release an unconstrained Galaxian Explosion in it to make it collapse...", and sits on the ground exhausted and says "Well, there isn't another way... at our level trapping someone in a different dimension doesn't work as much as I'd like... They always come back one way or another... This way I can attack with my full strength without worrying about destroying our planet, or the entire milky way... Now, go! Do not wait for me!", I nod and move onward to the Sixth Prison.

Ikki POV - Underworld, Judecca - 1987

I try to get my bearing when I hear a female's voice that says "Lord Hades, I've just had Phoenix teleported here from the Fifth Prison, this is the man responsible for that aggressive Cosmo", hearing that, I slowly raise my head and look around, "Unh... Unnh... Where am I?", I'm in what looks like a big hall, right in front of me there is a set of stairs leading to a throne, and sitting on the throne is a really familiar figure "What the... Hey! Shun! Shun!!".

Indeed calmly sitting on the throne is my younger brother Shun, I'm about to move toward him, when the woman raises her trident pointing it at me, and yells "Don't move!!", and releases from the tip of it, a strong lighting bolt, that hit me and makes me fall on my knee, as my body grows numb from all the electricity running through it.

I slowly try to move my body while still keeping my gaze on my brother and try to call him again "Sh... Shun...",  and once again I hear the woman's voice "Do not address him as a familiar, he is no longer your younger brother, he is the God of the Underworld, Lord Hades!", I finally focus my attention to the woman, and see that she is a slightly tall and slender young woman, around my age, with a fair complexion and long purple hair with purple eyes, she wears dark clothes in a very gothic style with a snake-shaped ring on her finger that turns into a bracelet on her wrist, and wears around her neck a necklace made of what appear to be spheres with yellow fang-shaped amulets, she really reminds me of that little girl I meet, Pandora.

I refuse to believe her word and declare it, while at the same time, buying enough time for my body to recover "No... No way... I'll never believe anything so nuts...", but she looks at me like she sees something amusing and says "Heh... Ikki, you may have forgotten... But Lord Hades' Soul should have merged with your brother's body that day, I can't blame you for forgetting, as I placed a geas on you when we parted to dim your memory, I imagine the most you recall is simply that we met".

'So she really is the little girl from long ago! Pandora!', and as I was thinking that, Pandora continues "Very well, I'll restore every detail of that day to your mind", and just as her words fell, I clearly remember everything that happened that day, how I met Pandora and that she was holding the soul of Hades in a bundle, how she told me that Shun was chosen because he had the purest soul, how she tried to pry him away from me, and how I fought to protect him suffering through the same electric shocks I received a few moments ago, in fact, that day was the first time I awakened my Cosmo, but in the end, I was overwhelmed.

But just as Pandora was about to take Shun away, Shun's own Cosmo protected him, and I used that moment to reach for him once more, then how she gave up on taking him away in fear of damaging Hades' future body and gave him that pendant, the one he whore his whole life and that I thought was a gift from our mother, the one he is wearing right at this moment too, I can see it from here still hung on his neck, it is a five-pointed star surrounded by a circle with the inscription "Yours Ever"

(Image Here - Hades Necklace)

And as I remember about the pendant I once more ask Pandora in disbelief "Are you saying the pendant I made Shun wear, thinking it was a keepsake of our dead mother, was really the chain binding Shun to Hades", Pandora smiles and replies "That's right, it's written right on the pendant, 'Yours Ever'... 'I am Forever Yours'... Your brother's body is the property of Hades for all eternity".

Hearing that, I once more move to reach my brother, but Pandora once again attacks me with a lightning bolt from her trident, and I again feel the numbing and burning feeling of the electricity running through my body and fall on the ground, then I hear Pandora say "But it was quite a surprise even to me to see the child who was to become Lord Hades invade the Underworld as one of Athena's Saints... Well I suppose he was drawn to my Lord's soul".

Annoyed by listening to her shit, I get up and yell "As if! Shun came here to defeat Hades! He was born to become a Saint!! Not to become Hades!!", and move my Cosmo through my body to attack, at the same time, Pandora prepares to zap me again yelling "How dare you still insist on such rubbish?", but I use my telekinesis to dislodge the trident out of her hands, and yelling "Take this, Hades!!", I punch with all my strength, releasing a focused shockwave that destroys the pendant on his neck.

Then I yell "Hades! I've just pulverized the fetter that bound Shun to you!! Now get out of my brother's body, or I'll drag you out whether you like it or not!!", and walk toward Hades that still calmly sits on his throne, but as I move up the stairs leading to the throne, Pandora, who picked up her trident, stands in front of me blocking my way and yells "Do not come any closer!! Stand back!!".

I hit her with a backhand slap making her fall on the ground with her back leaning against one of the columns at the side of the stairs, then I grab her trident and pointing it at her I say "I'm an equal opportunity fighter, ma'am, even if my opponent is a woman, if she's evil I'll take her down! So stay out of my way!!", and stab the trident on the ground a few centimeters away from her pelvis area between her legs, and continue to move toward my brother as she remains there stunned.

(AN: This is true, Kazuma may be the more famous one, but the first true declared advocate of gender equality is Ikki, over 33 years before Kazuma, you gotta respect that!).

After dealing with Pandora, I keep moving and stand in front of Shun's body, then without hesitation, I slap him hard on the face, after the first slap, I grab him from his tunic, and with my free hand keep slapping him while yelling "Shun!! Wake up, Shun!!", meanwhile, behind me, Pandora yells "You fool!! How dare you? Stop it, Phoenix! Do you realize what you're doing? You're raising your hand against a God!!".

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I ignore her and yell "Shun! It's me, Ikki!!", but Hades calmly smiles and says "Heh, foolish mortal, you're just bruising your precious brother's skin, nothing you do now can dislodge my soul from this body, nothing except the death of Shun's flesh!! So stand down, Phoenix", at the same time, from his body a powerful force comes out that simply blows me away "Aaaah!", making me fall back at the beginning of the staircase.

Feeling the pain all over my body I think, 'I feel like I was just hit by a meteor... That wasn't even his Cosmo, he just hit me with his will or thought...', in pain I slowly raise my head and find Pandora staining in front of me, pointing the tip of her trident against my throat, as she says "You commit heresies against the Gods themselves, I should shred you to bits and feed your corpse to the dead, die!!", but before she could kill me, Hades says "Halt... I'm not yet finished with him, do not interfere", and Pandora moves back following his command, allowing me to slowly get up.

Then Hades says "Listen closely, Phoenix, it no longer matters how hard you Saints strive to save the Earth, soon your world will be plunged into eternal darkness, the sun will never shine upon it again... By my mighty power, all the planets and moons in the solar system are moving into an alignment known as the Greatest Eclipse, Earth's own moon will block the Sun's rays, the foolish humans will think it's an ordinary solar eclipse, but it will continue for all eternity".

As Hades keeps explaining his plan, I quietly gather all my strength and get ready to strike, meanwhile, Hades continues "Most likely the Earth will enter another great Ice Age, similar to the one a million years ago, all plants will wither, all animals perish, the Earth will be transformed into a world of darkness and ice, not even Athena can stop us now!! The greatest eclipse is just hours away!! So don't waste any more of your blood, phoenix, just sit back and quietly await your death".

I take my fighting stance and say "You are wrong! This is just another reason to not give up!", hearing my declaration, Hades tries to make me desist once more "As I keep assuring you, it's futile, no mere mortal can stop things now, the Greatest Eclipse is this God's will", I steel my will and say "Then, I'll just have to change your mind...", and I let my Cosmo explode with all its strength "...By taking you down!!".

Hades lets out a sigh and says "Fool, you cannot take a God's life, if you attack me, you only harm your brother's flesh, do you really intend to kill Shun?", I ignore his question and releasing my Cosmo I attack "Take this, Hades!! Ho Yoku Ten Sho(Flaming Wings of the Phoenix)!!", I create a vortex of fire in which I and Hades are immersed, and then with a punch I project a Phoenix of fire from my hands that fly high in the sky through the Vortex destroying everything in its path, but just as it is about to reach Hades it is easily dispersed, by the same force that hit me before.

Totally unharmed, Hades says "Quite an attack... Even greater than rumored, but it's not enough to so much as scratch me, let alone kill me", at the same time, Pandora moves to attack me again yelling "You consummate idiot! Die!!", but it is again stopped by Hades "Stand down, Pandora, let Phoenix do as he pleases, he is resolved to die".

Then he turns to me and says "You are truly worthy of being Shun's brother, it shall be my honor to give you the death you carve", and in response, I simply yell "One more time! Ho Yoku Ten Sho!!", I attack Hades again, but this time, Hades doesn't simply disperse my attack, but it also hits me sending my crashing to the floor with such force that for a moment I thought I died, 'Damn it! This time it was even stronger... A few of my bones aren't broken...And he still didn't use an inch of his Cosmo!'.

While I was thinking that, Hades sure of the fact that he killed me says to Pandora "Go bury Phoenix's Corpse where you please", and as Pandore replies, I get up surprising them both, and say "W... Was that really a God's power? Pretty W... weak... You sure you are not holding back, Hades? Or is that all you can bring?", and move to attack Hades again.

But I'm hit again, this time, I slam against the ceiling, before crashing to the floor, but even if I'm in a lot of pain, a part of me rejoices, because my hypothesis is true, 'Those two attacks just now, should have killed me... Hades' intention to kill me is clear, but at the last moment, they weaken enough to allow me to survive... There can be only one reason for this to happen... Shun! He is still there fighting! And as his big brother, I have to do the same!'.

So I slowly crawl back to Hades' position, and get up to fight again ignoring the pain I feel all over my body, at the same time, I hear Pandora mutter "What? Still he rises! But why don't my Lord's attacks destroy him?",  meanwhile, I slowly get up and once again stand in front of the God of the Underworld, Hades, who looks down at me and says clearly annoyed by my defiance "Very well... If that's your wish, I'll face you at full strength, your body will vaporize, leaving not even a trance behind, begone Phoenix!!".

But all of the sudden, his body starts shaking, and he exclaims in surprise "What? What's happening to me? My flesh defies my will and refuses to move", and slowly his right-hand moves towards his own neck, "And now... My hand is moving on its own...", and starts choking him "Ugh!! Unnh... This body completely ignores me! It's trying to attack me!".

From behind Hades, I finally see what I was waiting for, "Yes! I see! Shun!! I can see Shun's soul!!", the phantom image of Shun donning his Andromeda Cloth appears behind Hades and looking at me he says "This is it, Nii-san! Your only chance to defeat Hades!! Forget about me! Just destroy this body and stop him", with a proud smile I look at him and yell "Shun!! I knew you weren't gone!".

At the same time, Pandora yells shocked "Lord Hades!! It cannot be! Shun's flesh is revolting against Lord Hades! What is going on?", and while gathering my Cosmo for my next attack I ask "Shun... You let Hades in on purpose didn't you?", and hearing that Pandora asks in disbelief "What? What do you mean? Don't tell me Shun deliberately gave in to Hades just to bide his time until now!?".

To her question, I reply with a simple "That's right", moved by the length that my little brother can go just to protect everyone else, and Pandora again asks "He would sacrifice his life for one chance to stop Hades?", and full of pride I look at the phantom image of my brother and say "That's who he is... Just like his constellation, like princess Andromeda who offered her life to save her kingdom, Shun the Andromeda Saint, always puts his life on the line in battle, he'll gladly offer himself up so that others can be saved".

I look back at Pandora and say "Well? Get it now? Shun was never born to host Hades! He was born to be the Andromeda Saint!!", at the same time, Shun yells "Nii-san!! Now, hurry and attack us!! Nii-san!!", and under his urging, I prepare to attack, but Pandora yells "No! Stop, Ikki!!" and stabs me in the back with her trident with enough force to break through my Cloth's defenses "Argh!", pulling back the bloodied trident she says "I... I will not allow you to harm Lord Hades, Andromeda is a false identity, Hades is real, now die!!".

And tries to attack me again, "Ah!!", but this time, I feel Shun's Cosmo moving, and under his control, the Nebula Chain, comes to my aid and blocks her attack with the Rolling Defense, making Pandora fall back on the ground, and blowing away her trident, then Shun says "I won't let anyone interfere, Nii-san! Hurry! Soon Hades will have complete control of my body!!".

Right now, I'm really struggling to bring myself to harm my brother, the one I vowed to protect with my own life, but Shun notices this and says "Don't be sad, Nii-san... I'm happy, with my one life, I can save many others... Just attack us... Nii-san...", hearing his plea, I steel my resolve and yell "Well said, Shun, you really are my brother... And a Saint of Athena!! I'll gladly accept your sacrifice on behalf of the earth!!".

Making my Cosmo explode to the maximum possible, I throw a punch with all my strength and Cosmo, aiming directly at Shun's chest, and for an instant our Cosmo clash before I break through his defenses and pierce Shun's chest, and with tears in my eyes I say "Forgive me, Shun... I'm going to drag Hades out of you kicking and screaming!", and grab something from inside his chest near his heart and rip it out yelling "Come out Hades!".

What I pull out is a heart-like tentacled abomination with eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth, looking at the moving thing in my hand, I ask "So this is Hades, eh?", the thing in response screeches, and I say "How dare you invade Shun's body?", and with my hand, I crush it, before throwing on the ground and stepping on it using my Cosmo to turn it into ash and say "We did it! We crushed Hades into nothing!!".

Then move closer to check on Shun, but all of the sudden, the hole in Shun's chest starts to get filled and it seems that something is growing from it, at the same time Shun says "Nii-san... Hurry... Get away from me... Hades is still...", then from Shun's chest and indescribable monster come out, with a wide mouth full of sharp fangs, tentacles all over it, and two long arms with sharp and deadly claws, seeing this monstrosity, I only have the time to say "Is this Hades true form!?", before I'm attacked by it.

But the next moment, the pain coming from my broken and bleeding right fist awakens me, and makes me realize that I was trapped in an illusion, as in front of me stands Shun's unharmed body, while my fist, that hit some kind of invisible and indestructible barrier, was unable to reach him, at the same time, with his eyes closed, Hades asks "Why did you hold back, Phoenix? Heh... You are more naive than I thought, this one man's life means more to you than the billions back on earth, eh?".

At the same time, I notice that Shun's hair starts to turn completely black, while he continues speaking with a mocking smile on his face "Well, You've just wasted the one slim chance you had to stop the Greatest Eclipse... You should've just hit this body with your full strength instead of trying to pull me out... Too bad for you... Now Shun's body is completely mine down to the last strand of his hair!!".

Then I feel his immense divine will moving and as he declares "Shun's soul has ceased to exist!!", I'm hit by it again, this time with much more force than before, so much that my Cloth breaks under such force, and as I crash on the floor yelling "Shun!! Nooo!!" before I stop feeling anything and everything turn black.

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