The Crow Silver Saint looked completely confused, his brain feeling like mush. Looking at Saori Kido floating in mid-air, he didn't know what to do.
He wanted to continue fulfilling the Pope's orders, but putting aside the fact that the person in front of him was very likely Goddess Athena, looking at his current state, there was no way he could defeat his opponent anyway.
Just go back empty-handed? Without the Silver Cloth and with the mission a complete failure, not to mention the Pope, the group of accomplices who came with him would look down on him!
Most importantly, there was the Silver Cloth! As a Saint, he valued the cloth to his very core. Not to mention anything else, just looking at the series of events that occurred after Seiya obtained the Pegasus bronze cloth, one could see the status of the cloth in the hearts of the Saint.
The Crow Silver Saint was originally at the bottom of the Silver Saints. To put it bluntly, his strength could only be considered upper-middle among the Bronze Saints. It was only by relying on his unique skill of manipulating Crows and his compatibility with the Crow Silver Cloth that he was able to successfully become a Silver Saint.
Once the Silver Cloth was gone, would he still be considered a Silver Saint? He feared he wouldn't even be as good as a Bronze Saint.
The guy rolled his eyes twice, then gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and finally made up his mind!
—He immediately knelt before Saori Kido.
"Goddess, I have realized my mistake! Let me follow you!"
Shin narrowed his eyes slightly. To say this Crow had absolutely no intention of being loyal to Athena wasn't entirely true; after all, he had practiced his Cosmo for so many years. Having stayed in the Sanctuary for so long, he still had a little bit of loyalty toward Athena, but it was just a little bit; he was likely doing it more for the Silver Cloth.
If he were under Shin, for a slacker like this, Shin would definitely install a bio-chip in his brain or serve him with the lasso of truth.
However, the naive Saori Kido was clearly not as cold as him. With a smile on her face, she slowly descended from the air. The Cosmo, which had previously carried a hint of harshness, now transformed into a warm and vast sensation.
The Silver Saint, who originally only had a slight sense of repentance and was mostly motivated by opportunism, immediately burst into tears upon sensing that vast Cosmo. His sense of repentance rapidly expanded, and the look in his eyes as he gazed at Saori Kido changed drastically, quickly turning into a gaze mixed with piety and fanaticism.
"Hmm, let me note this down. Cosmo seems to have a certain brainwashing function... but it seems it needs to be paired with some sense of piety? Can it only amplify emotions rather than create them out of thin air?" Shin thought to himself while watching.
Needless to say, this must also be a contingency plan Athena placed within the Cosmo. Think about the original work: any Saint who had trained in the Sanctuary, no matter how arrogant they were at first, would eventually bow down before Athena. As for the other Mariners and Specters, this problem never occurred; even using one's toes to think, the reason was clear.
"It seems Athena truly lives up to her name as the Goddess of War and Wisdom, though it's a pity her human vessel, Saori Kido, is a bit lackluster." Shin thought secretly, but also felt that this was just right.
Regardless, dealing with Saori Kido was much easier than dealing with Goddess Athena! If it were a truly evenly matched battle, Shin would hope his comrade was a god-tier teammate like Athena. But now, with Shin's strength allowing him to crush everything, when he wanted to fish for benefits from places like the Sanctuary, he preferred a naive person like Saori.
Influenced by the call of Athena's Cosmo, the Crow Silver Saint not only bowed down, but also immediately sold out the Pope and the other Silver Saints. How many people came, what their combat power was, and so on—he confessed everything clearly.
"Cerberus, Ophiuchus, Perseus, and Auriga—besides the Crow, there are these four other Silver Saints?" Shin mused inwardly.
As for Cerberus or Auriga, Shin didn't remember them very clearly anymore. The only ones he still had some impression of were naturally the constellations of Perseus and Ophiuchus.
Needless to say, Perseus's Medusa shield was indeed a bug; seeing it meant being turned to stone. It was perverted to the extreme, and in a sense, it was definitely a sharp tool for clearing out mobs.
Just think about it: when two armies were facing off, if this guy raised his shield, all the random mobs on the opposite side who hadn't reached the Seventh Sense would instantly turn into stone statues.
As for stronger opponents, it was unlikely they would be affected. If a Saint who had awakened the Seventh Sense could be turned to stone by such a shield, then Perseus would be too perverted; he wouldn't even count as a Silver Saint—not even many Gold Saints were that buggy.
Unless it was the genuine divine artifact shield of Athena from mythology. Unfortunately, it was just an ordinary silver shield, even quite brittle, and was shattered by a single punch from Shiryu.
As for Ophiuchus, Shin hadn't read Masami Kurumada's sequel, so his impression of Ophiuchus was just that of a little beauty who wasn't very bright. Anyway, just because Seiya saw her face, that girl eventually fell in love with Seiya.
It was said that this rule was set by Athena... Shin looked at Saori Kido with a playful gaze. This was creating a romantic rival for herself!
Whether Seiya liked Saori Kido was not explicitly shown in the original manga. Although this guy was hot-blooded and spent every day either saving Athena or on his way to save Athena, he didn't do anything too excessive, at most a princess carry. Plus, this hot-blooded 'little cockroach' was always quite dull regarding emotions, so it was hard to tell if he liked her or just respected her.
However, in the original work, it was certain that Saori Kido had feelings for Seiya. Back when the two were under the cliff, Saori Kido had almost stolen a kiss from the unconscious Seiya.
Unfortunately, it was likely that there wasn't much affection between Saori Kido and Seiya now. After all, the current Saori Kido could directly pin Seiya to the ground and rub him into the dirt; it was unlikely the 'little cockroaches' would have a chance to rescue anyone.
Saori Kido was currently feeling excited about having recruited her first subordinate and didn't pay much attention to Shin's gaze. As for the other Silver Saints? The current Saori Kido wasn't afraid of them at all.
If all the Silver Saints were like the Crow, Saori Kido felt she could sweep them all away by herself, not to mention having a powerful bodyguard like Shin by her side.
In reality, it was about the same. Among these few Silver Saints, there were no truly strong individuals. The only slightly tricky one, Perseus, and his Medusa shield, would absolutely not be able to affect Saori Kido. If they really fought, they certainly wouldn't be a match for Saori Kido, who had already reached the quasi-Seventh Sense level.
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Now available - Chapter 698: Finale (ENDING)