Chapter 154: The Third Day of Genesis

The Genesis finally began.

Across every corner of the world, massive catastrophes erupted. Tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and plagues—countless disasters all manifested within a mere three days.

The entire world plunged into profound panic, and rumors that the gods were about to launch a new Genesis spread rapidly among human society.

Instantly, human society collapsed, and this rate of deterioration exceeded everyone's imagination.

Yet, a group of people still stood firm to guard the Sanctuary, resisting this power capable of destroying heaven and earth. These individuals were the Saints of the Goddess Athena.

Athena prepared to lead the Saints in a counterattack against the celestial realm, but before that, the invading 47th Celestial Legion had to be eliminated.

The Silver Saints remaining in the Sanctuary were the first to encounter the Celestial Warriors.

Shaina, Marin, and the five Bronze underdogs guarded the outer perimeter of the Sanctuary, only to be charged by a few Celestial Warriors and lose their lives instantly.

Throughout the entire process, Goddess Athena Saori did not even raise an eyelid, as if these people were destined to be nothing more than cannon fodder.

The commander of these Celestial Warriors was the Eleventh Apostle, the War God Spadas.

At that moment, he uttered with disdain, "A mob of rabble."

A nearby Celestial Warrior chimed in, stating that there was no need for the commander to deign himself; the three of them—the Three Knights—would alone annihilate the Saints.

Perhaps things had gone too smoothly, as Spadas actually agreed.

Meanwhile, Spadas himself was going to deal with another Saint.

As the Celestial Warriors departed, Spadas called out, "The Saint hiding in the shadows, come forth."

At that moment, Gemini Kanon manifested.

Seeing the newcomer, Spadas remarked, "It is truly that deceiver of the Sea God!"

Kanon had not expected that his notorious reputation had already reached the heavenly realm.

Therefore, he stated, "I have long since turned over a new leaf, and I am now a Saint of Athena."

Spadas then declared, "Originally, both Gemini brothers possessed a heart inclined toward goodness and could have become Celestial Warriors. However, this ran contrary to the true laws of all things, so the gods planted the bud of sin within the hearts of the Gemini brothers."

Kanon finally understood that he and his older brother were merely experimental subjects of the gods.

"Which god toyed with us brothers?"

Yet Spadas only offered a demonic, alluring smile and did not reply.

Instead, he raised his arm high and unleashed his ultimate technique:

The Holy Cross!!

Instantly, a formidable force fixed Kanon within the cruciform radiance.

Following the annihilation of the light, Kanon's physical body vanished without a trace.

Spadas witnessed Kanon being sent into a dimensional space by the holy cross, a contemptuous smile unconsciously forming at the corner of his lips.

Yet a split second later, he sensed something was amiss.

When he recovered his senses, he was abruptly astonished to find that he had been dragged into a different-dimensional space.

"Who?!"

From within the different-dimensional space, another Saint clad in the Gemini Cloth emerged once more.

Spadas could not clearly discern who the newcomer was, but he could feel that the opponent's Cosmo was incomparably powerful, possessing a strength surpassing the Ninth Sense without a doubt.

"An illusion?"

Inside the Gemini Cloth standing before him, there was fundamentally no person at all; it was merely a puppet controlled remotely via meditation.

Saga had used this technique, and Kanon had used it as well.

However, Kanon's physical body had already been destroyed by Spadas, so who was this person before him?

"No matter who you are, a mere illusion attempting to defeat a god is nothing short of sheer delusion!"

Just as he prepared to smash and destroy this Gemini Cloth, he suddenly saw that a Cosmo was burning fiercely from within the Gemini Cloth.

"This Cosmo—it does not belong to just a single person?"

From within the Gemini Cloth before him, the residual Cosmos of successive generations of Gemini Saints surged forth.

Among them were Saga, Kanon, and numerous other Gemini Saints throughout the ages...

Galactic Explosion!!

The Gemini Cloth threw a punch, and instantly, that power capable of destroying heaven and earth exploded directly within the different-dimensional space, causing the very dimensional space to distort until it collapsed.

Even a god could never hope to escape from a collapsing space.

"You actually possess the capability to destroy the world?! No!"

Amidst the collapse, Spadas, commander of the 47th Celestial Legion, had his physical body directly obliterated, and not even his soul managed to escape.

As for that Gemini Cloth, it flew straight back to the Gemini Palace at that moment, remaining entombed there permanently.

...

"You did this for Saga, didn't you?"

Saori gazed at Feng Zhe. With Athena's abilities, she naturally knew that the person who had just controlled the Gemini Cloth was precisely the Pope of the Sanctuary standing before her.

Feng Zhe gave a soft murmur of assent, and Saori continued, "You had the ability to save Kanon, didn't you?"

Feng Zhe nodded once again, and Saori, clearly understanding the reason, let out a sigh.

"During the Holy War against Hades, Saga had no choice but to perish together with the God of Death in order to save Kanon. It was indeed a rather tragic affair."

In Saori's timeline, Feng Zhe had not participated in the Holy War against Hades.

Although he did not participate, Saga had journeyed personally to the Underworld and achieved quite a few feats; logically speaking, he should have been able to survive.

Yet in the end, Saga still died before Hades, and his death was inextricably linked to Kanon. Feng Zhe, having learned the truth, was naturally extremely dissatisfied.

It was almost as if to punish Saga, the pseudo-Pope, that the Celestial Emperor Abel was willing to resurrect Kanon while refusing to resurrect Saga.

Even Saga's residual imprint vanished without a trace.

It was as if this person had never even been there.

Only with the arrival of Feng Zhe did the other Gold Saints come to know that Saga was the mentor of Pope Arles.

Objectively speaking, Feng Zhe's actions, though leaving Saori displeased, were an unavoidable matter at the time.

This was something Feng Zhe understood, and Saori understood even better.

At the very least, before the final Holy War, Saori was not going to fall out with him over such a trivial matter.

This was the source of his confidence.

After all, Feng Zhe was no longer that puppet Pope whom the gods could casually manipulate at will.

...

On the other side,

The 47th Celestial Legion spearheaded the attack on the Aries Palace.

Aries Mu concentrated his mind, continuously pushing the limits of his Cosmo, and finally broke through to the Ninth Sense at the very last moment.

Then, the Ninth Sense Cosmo erupted, and his ultimate technique, Starlight Extinction, roared outward. The legion of 47 Celestial Warriors wailed in unison.

After the dust settled, a vast expanse of scattered Celestial Warrior corpses littered the ground, which showed just how terrifying Mu of the Ninth Sense was, rivaling even Shion.

Feng Zhe looked at all this in astonishment, turned his head toward Saori, and murmured, "Is this the power you borrowed?"

Saori naturally knew that Feng Zhe was referring to the power borrowed from the Celestial Emperor Abel.

She was currently capable of forcibly elevating the Gold Saints to the level of the Ninth Sense.

"With their comprehension abilities, wanting to comprehend the Ninth Sense entirely through their own efforts is simply too difficult."

"Even though they will permanently lose the path to becoming gods by doing this, given their aptitude, this is already enough, isn't it?!"

Saori's smile remained as beautiful as ever.

Feng Zhe also understood that the price of forcibly elevating their Cosmo was the permanent inability to comprehend divinity, and their best ending would be becoming servant-gods who possessed nothing more than an empty Ninth Sense.

However, with the great war approaching, there was no other way; after all, the strength of the Sanctuary was indeed a bit too weak.

And large-scale attacks were not limited to the Aries Palace. On the other side, in front of the Leo Palace, a large number of Celestial Warriors had similarly appeared.

Leo Aiolia, who had already comprehended the Ninth Sense, acted like a furious great lion as he unleashed his ultimate technique directly: Lightning Plasma.

Instantly, it was another scene of utter devastation, with a massive number of Celestial Warrior corpses left behind in the Leo Palace.