This sudden black line completely severed the connection between the Daytime Realm and Kagaho. Surging power receded from his body like a tide, while Seiya's power surged endlessly.
Seiya casually lowered his gaze and waved, performing the Erasure of Death. This was merely the most basic application of the concept of death, utterly devoid of technique, like a child idly breaking a roadside weed with a stick.
Yet, Kagaho's Surplice split open at the chest, all its fragments being erased – pure destruction, the fundamental Authority. At this moment, Kagaho was no different from a roadside weed.
In Seiya's eyes, his originally brownish-black irises gradually transformed into distinct black and white.
"More words are useless," Seiya's voice was calm and unwavering. "Bid farewell to destiny, Specter!"
From his palm, tens of thousands of Atomic Thunder Bolts descended like Golden Meteors upon the charging Specters. In Hell, the entire world shattered, shaking heaven and earth!
——Atomic Thunder Bolt Swarm!
From his palm burst forth an unblockable light—Golden Meteor Swarm!
Tens of thousands of Golden Meteors, imbued with the will of destruction and a momentum to tear everything apart, suddenly smashed into the charging Specter army. All of Hell shattered amidst wails. The sky overturned, the earth cracked!
The golden torrent, with an unstoppable demeanor, crushed the air, ripped through the atmosphere, and even warped space itself. The long river of lava encircling Hell was forcibly rerouted; mountains towering into the clouds instantly exploded into dust, transforming into a sky-filling rain of fire.
Amidst this destructive frenzy, a pair of arms defiantly pierced through the raging energy storm, firmly gripping Seiya's swinging arm! Immediately after, a fist burning with indomitable will, wrapped in a final burst of madness, fiercely struck Seiya's face!
A flicker of astonishment crossed Seiya's eyes; his body's instinctive reaction was faster than thought. He suddenly exerted force in his wrist, a crisp sound of bone cracking rang out, and simultaneously, he kicked the assailant away like a cannonball.
It was Kagaho of the Sky Violence Star; this Specter, who Seiya believed should have been defeated, had surprisingly risen again.
"Burning his soul a second time, huh?" Seiya looked at Kagaho of the Sky Violence Star, who had an even grander aura than in his previous four-winged form. "Whether it's Saints or Specters, they're all an unreasonable bunch."
His Golden Domain continued to expand, ionizing all objects within its range, his grand will covering this space. Kagaho's corona also blazed, but no longer with the twilight hues of before; it was closer to death, a pitch-black Underworld Sun born behind him.
"No matter what you take, no matter what you hide, this is the fortitude of a soul from the Underworld. The moment of 'burning oneself to nothing' has arrived!"
The closer he came to death, the more Kagaho felt a tremor from the depths of his consciousness. Even if this body could never again enter Rebirth, that obsession still made him raise his arm.
Facing Seiya at such close range, Kagaho's fighting spirit blazed like the fires of Purgatory, and the impassive Seiya also silently ignited his Cosmo. A faint scent of burning mingled in the air, but whether it originated from their flames or from the friction and collision of their powerful Cosmos was unknown.
All in all, for Seiya, only one thing was clear.
Kagaho of the Sky Violence Star also possessed a fighting will that surpassed his own limits.
If the protagonists of the Sanctuary storyline were Tenma and Sasha, then the protagonists of the Underworld were Hades Alone and Kagaho of the Sky Violence Star, who continually overcame hardships through failure.
"Tenma, behold my power!"
He spread his arms, and black lines arced over his head; light and heat were released from this darkness. It looked like the sun during a total eclipse, devouring the sun's flames, with only its light seeping out from the darkness—this was the sun belonging solely to the Underworld.
——Dark Corona!
It was too late to escape. Both Seiya and Kagaho himself, and even the Specters who couldn't get away in time, would be swallowed by this pitch-black Dark Corona.
Battles from the First to the Sixth Prisons gradually drew to a close. Aside from a few casualties, each layer was a complete victory for the Saints. But when they arrived at this Seventh Prison of Hell, what they witnessed was this world-destroying Dark Corona.
The flowing flames and expanding corona nearly destroyed this layer of Hell. From the First Moat where they stood, all the way to the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Moats, everything was reduced to ruins by this corona, like a doomsday sunset.
Perhaps a few surviving Specters remained in the regions beyond, but it no longer mattered.
Now no one could stop the Saints from advancing into Hades' Temple. Sasha desired not merely this victory, but to definitively end the Holy War against the Underworld for the next several millennia.
But everyone still had one question: what about Tenma?
"He is still alive," said Hasgard of Taurus, the Gold Saint.
Although the forms of both parties no longer existed within the Dark Corona, Seiya's Cosmo still lingered in this world; at the very least, his will remained.
Underworld, Wheel of Rebirth. This was the path where all beings in the world were reincarnated. Due to their karma from previous lives, they were reborn onto various planets through the Wheel of Rebirth, with their species after reincarnation determined by the extent of the blessings received by their karmic body.
And at the border of Rebirth, Kagaho unbelievably gazed at the form of his own soul.
Could he, who should have completely burned away without a trace of his soul, actually still be qualified to enter Rebirth?
But he soon realized through the power consciousness flowing within his soul that it was his opponent before him who had granted him life.
"He... saved me..." Kagaho's soul body let out a bitter sigh, his voice ethereal in the void of Rebirth.
"Tenma, you... are a true warrior."
From Tenma's fingertips, the radiance of the Authority, The Covenant of Decay and Revival, enveloped Kagaho's soul body.
After devouring Thanatos, the God of Death, Seiya obtained two different manifestations of death and life through the Authority, The Covenant of Decay and Revival.
The application of death had already been demonstrated in the previous battle. The Authority to bestow life upon all things was the Twin Gods' most core conceptualization made manifest. Its effect was to warp reality, manifesting imagination, and even bestowing life upon inanimate objects.
Even if he pointed at a Tohsaka Rin or Misaka Mikoto figurine, he could turn it into a living being. To him, rekindling the light of a soul from Kagaho's utterly burnt-out will was also within the scope of his Authority.
Sanctuary and the Underworld stood in absolute opposition; there was no forgiveness, nor any false pleasantries. They simply wished to fight with all their might, allowing their respective beliefs to be proven true or false in the clash of fists.
Yet, this did not prevent a certain understanding from forming deep within their souls. For Seiya, he always respected warriors who held firm to their beliefs and fought until the very last moment, even if those beliefs ran contrary to his own.
However, just before stepping into the eternally flowing Wheel of Rebirth, Kagaho made his final and only plea to the Pegasus before him:
"Tenma! Since you can grant salvation even to someone like me... then please! Save the soul of Lord Alone!"
____
Get rewarded for helping with our community goals!
🎯 Reward for all: +1 bonus chapter at 100 Powerstones.
🚀 Tier Reward: Help us reach 55 members for +5 chapters on all stories!
🎉 And as a welcome, your first month costs significantly less!
👻 Join the crew by searching Walnutchan on (P). You know the spot! 😉