"This guy is faking unconsciousness..." Shin and the other Gold Saint all saw it, but not a single one spoke up.
Saori Kido lacked a bit of experience, and the Bronze Saints and Silver Saints did not have high enough levels of Cosmo, so they all thought Shaka had actually been knocked unconscious. Saori Kido turned her head to look at Shin, meaning to ask if they should continue fighting.
After all, this Shaka hadn't personally said he would allow them to pass! Saori Kido wasn't quite sure if he had been beaten into submission.
Shin was still deep in thought while looking at Shaka's gold cloth, when Mu hurriedly shook his head at Saori Kido—have some mercy! He's already faking unconsciousness and you still won't let him go, wanting to drag him up and beat him again. Is this really the Athena who symbolizes love and peace?
Seeing Mu's reaction, Saori Kido nodded, waved her hand, and the group swarmed out of the Virgo Temple.
Only after the group had left did Shaka slowly crawl up from the ground, sigh, and then sit cross-legged to meditate. As for the matters between the Pope and Athena, let them decide for themselves; he had done his best.
The Libra Temple was empty, save for the Libra gold cloth. Shin took the opportunity to absorb the insights from the cloth before putting the Libra gold cloth back.
Of course, if it were up to Shin, he would definitely distribute these weapons to the Gold Saint. Unfortunately, the others still had their pride, so Shin could only reluctantly place the gold sword back onto the Libra cloth.
His own cloth seemed to be missing a weapon...
Next was the eighth temple, the Scorpio Temple. The Scorpio Gold Saint, Milo, was a rather simple-minded young man who was also quite concerned about saving face.
Therefore, when facing Saori Kido, he was initially hesitant because of her status as a girl and the possibility that she was Goddess Athena. After being instantly knocked down once, he felt he had lost face and wanted to try getting up again. Finally, after getting up for the third time, he was lightly tapped by the somewhat impatient Saori Kido with the staff of victory, which directly shattered seven or eight of Milo's bones and half of his gold cloth.
Shin looked at the unlucky Milo, his eyes revealing joy—this guy's gold cloth would definitely need repairs!
After the Libra Temple came the Sagittarius Temple. There was nothing much to say about this temple, except for the sentence Aiolos left on the wall: "Young men who have arrived here, I entrust Athena to you."
Watching Aiolia crying like a tearful mess, Shin finally managed to forcibly hold back the urge to roast him.
What was the deal with Aiolos? If he left this from the very beginning, did he know he wouldn't survive before he had even left the Sagittarius Temple?
And this message had been in the Sagittarius Temple for so long, yet no one had ever seen it? Don't you Gold Saint walk through the Sagittarius Temple every day?
Why 'young men'? How did Aiolos know all this? Did he have the ability to foresee the future?
Regardless of whether this Sagittarius Gold Saint could foresee the future, he certainly hadn't anticipated the current situation. A few of the Bronze Saints could still be called young men, but the rest were already in their twenties or thirties.
Most importantly, it was clear that Athena didn't need to be entrusted to any Saint; it should be said that these Saint needed to work hard to cling to Athena's thighs.
After the Sagittarius Temple was Shura's Capricorn Temple, which naturally needs no further mention. Then they arrived at Camus's Aquarius Temple.
This was also a man who performed bizarre operations. First, he eagerly dug up the grave of his disciple Hyoga's mother, and even left the characters for'Sanctuary' on the ice, making his disciple come to the Sanctuary to seek the truth.
Then, when Hyoga actually arrived at the Sanctuary, he turned around and froze his disciple, saying he didn't want his disciple to participate in this battle, and finally had an ultimate showdown with Hyoga, basically ending in mutual destruction.
It really makes one wonder, what on earth was this guy trying to accomplish with all this maneuvering?
If you say he knew the truth, his actions of ending up in mutual destruction with his disciple don't look like someone who knew the truth. If you say he didn't know, then why did he make his disciple come to the Sanctuary?
In the manga, that could be considered a genuine bug, but translated into reality, it just makes no sense.
"Master!" Hyoga saw Camus standing at the entrance of the Aquarius Temple and hurriedly went up to meet him, wanting to persuade his master to turn back—otherwise, being beaten like a dead dog would be too unsightly.
After experiencing so many battles, these Silver Saints and Bronze Saints had finally figured it out: the Gold Saint were very strong, but Saori Kido was only stronger. She was worthy of being the reincarnation of Athena; beating this bunch of Gold Saint was like beating seven or eight-year-old children.
Hyoga knew his master always had high self-esteem, so he hurriedly went up to persuade him, meaning that he should just go through the motions; did he really want to learn from that Milo and end up beaten into a state of paralysis?
Of course, Camus didn't want to fight so many people either, especially since the Pope hadn't given them any orders—logically speaking, with the enemy coming in droves, why were they still guarding the 12 Temples one by one? Why not gather everyone together for a team fight?
Of course, the current Fake Pope was extremely guilty and definitely wouldn't issue such an order, which resulted in these Gold Saint looking up and seeing five or six other Gold Saint standing on the opposite side. Not surrendering immediately was already a testament to their strong psychological resilience.
"No, as the guardian of the Aquarius Temple, unless you defeat me, I will absolutely not let you pass!"
Camus stood opposite the group with a chilling aura, without the slightest intention of yielding. This guy had a cold personality, typical of the 'cool' male second-lead archetype in Japanese manga and novels; even if he had many thoughts in his heart, he would not waver on the surface.
Saori Kido was too lazy to persuade him now, or rather, after so many battles, Saori Kido had gradually acquired the habit of letting her fists do the talking.
Fine, since you want to be beaten down, this Goddess will grant your wish!
...Three minutes later, Hyoga decided to stay behind to take care of his master, and the others smoothly passed through the Aquarius Temple.
The Pisces Temple after the Aquarius Temple naturally needs no mention; those Royal Demon Roses were also swept into the sky by a punch from Aphrodite beforehand.
Finally, the group had gone through great hardships... er, or perhaps it should be said that they had simply and easily arrived in front of the Pope's Temple.
Standing in front of the Pope's Temple was the Fake Pope, Saga, who was still wearing his helmet and mask, with a head of black hair.
Seeing the Pope before him, Aiolia finally could not hold back, rushed forward, and asked: "Pope! What is the truth about what happened back then?!"
"You have always said that Goddess Athena is in the Goddess Temple! Then, what is the deal with Miss Saori Kido? Are you still not going to let Goddess Athena come out to see us now?"
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Now available - Chapter 698: Finale (ENDING)