Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Saint Seiya Fan Fiction ❯ The Intense Clash of the Gods ❯ Chapter 13

Minos slowly walked down into the arena, thinking about the respective fighting styles of the four fighters.

Fenrir and Cecil fought similarly, a nice mix of punches and techniques, while Isaac used ice-oriented abilities and Charybdis used the power of One World for offensive and defensive purposes.

Of course, Zelos, Valentine, Nike, and Gordon didn't really use much strategy in fighting... and their powers weren't any threat to him whatsoever. Those four would have to work together to stand a chance against him...

But I can't give an inch, Minos thought as he walked down the stairs to face them. Laimi'd never forgive me if I did.
_
"You okay?" Isaac asked Chary as she caught her breath. She slowly nodded, getting back to her feet after a moment.

"In a world of pain right now," she answered, "But I'm far from running on fumes."

"Good to know," Cecil announced as Minos came into view, the Specter of the Celestial Noble Star seeming rather intimidating in his Surplice. While the other fighters had seemed powerful, Minos simply radiated strength... pure, unadulterated, intimidating power. "But we got company."

"It's one on four, though," Fenrir said as he stood to face him. "If we actually work as a team, we'll be fine..."

"That's a pretty big 'if'," Isaac said, "After all-"

"That's enough, Isaac," Chary said as she stood with Fenrir and Cecil. "We resolve this and hate them all we want later."

Isaac wordlessly agreed, and the four stood against the single Specter and then charged.

"Amateurs," Minos quietly said as he assumed a fighting stance, silver threat suddenly appearing from his fingertips. He flicked his hands forward, four threads aimed straight at each one of them.

Isaac quickly summoned up a wall of ice in front of them, and they immediately sprang away... which was good because the string pierced the ice effortlessly.

"What the hell?!?" Chary said as the thread suddenly vanished. She looked at Minos, who simply tapped his helmet once.

"My motif involves, as I call it, my 'Labyrinth String.' No matter the strength or the distance of my enemy, the Labyrinth String will always adapt and overcome."

"Overcome this!" Isaac said as he sent off an Aurora Borealis stream, the Specter seeming unfazed as the wire suddenly began forming a large, spiral net in front of him. The attack hit dead, on, the net being bent backwards... but then it snapped forward, the icy attack hitting Isaac dead-on and encasing him in a block of his own ice. He broke free after a moment, but was out of breath as Minos turned to face his other two attackers.

"Buster Wolf!"

"Moko Reppu Shiden Ken!"

Cecil and Fenrir flung themselves at Minos from behind, their deadly punches surging forward, but suddenly a spider-web suddenly came into view, the two God Warriors flying right into it. Minos turned to both of them and delivered swift punches to the gut that sent them flying away and landing on the ground in crumpled heaps.

Impossible... Cecil thought, He feels stronger than all the God Warriors put together!

"Jokes on you, however," Fenrir snickered as Minos turned to see one of Chary's Reppu Kairyunagis flying at him. He generated another "Spiral Duct", as he called the reflective move, but from a different angle Isaac struck, freezing the string cold. It broke, although it stopped Chary's attack, but the Sea Dragon herself was charging straight at Minos along with Isaac.

The Specter casually dodged and blocked their punches and kicks, and when Isaac tried a Kholodnyi Smerch uppercut, Minos just bent out of the way and moved to attack him, catching Chary's leg in his hand and throwing her away.

But as he moved to hit Isaac, two tough bodies slammed into him from behind, Cecil pounding Minos's back while Fenrir landed a perfect kick into the Judge's head. His helmet went flying, landing on the ground as the silver hair flowed free and the upper half of Minos's face was finally visible.

"Shocked?" he asked as he looked at each one of them, not surprised by the looks on their faces.

That was where he had seemed familiar... and why he hadn't said his name...

"So..." Chary said, the first one to recompose herself, "You're the great Griffon of the Celestial Noble Star... Minos Sylphid. The very person that helped up train here..."

He nodded as the four re-grouped and stood together for the next exchange of blows. "Naturally. And in all honesty, I want you to beat me, but I can't go easy. But you have a chance at setting things right, and all you have to do to go back is together defeat someone stronger than all four of you. And all you have to do for that... is to keep hope alive."

The black, Griffon wings on the back of his Surplice opened wide and he flew straight at them like a rocket... no more handholding. It was time to get serious.

Before any of them knew what was happening, Minos was attacking. Four punches later, they were flying backwards, slammed into walls and leaving gigantic craters as the audience went wild.

"Keep hope alive," Minos repeated, "It's the only way you're going to be able to beat me."

"Sounds simplistic..." Fenrir grunted as he got back to his feet, Cecil and Isaac a few moments behind him and Chary only needed a few seconds after that. He charged, only to see Minos standing there and staring straight at him. And then he raised his hand up, pointing straight at him.

"Fenrir!" Cecil shouted, "Dodg-"

"Griffon Mind Shot!" It was too late... a silvery thread firing from Minos's finger aimed straight at Fenrir's head, glinting as if it was the sharpest thing in all of the Underworld.

And in reality, it was.

Fenrir was petrified, it was on him almost instantly... but then a sudden ripple in the space-time continuum bent it out of the way, Chary standing next to him having just performed another Reppu Kairyunagi. The cord went inches to his left, penetrating the coliseum wall as if it was nothing.

"Shake it off," Charybdis commanded as she lunged at Minos, punching through the threads as Isaac froze them solid. Then Cecil joined them, skirting around Minos and trying to attack from behind...

"Child's play," Minos commented as he caught the kicking Bodu's leg, bend out of the way of Chary's punch, and shot another Mind Shot at Isaac, who immediately ducked out of the way, although his arm was cut. Blood seeped out, but he quickly froze the wound and jumped back in the fight.

Minos ducked his strike, countering and blocking all of their attempts at hitting him, but then Fenrir threw his lot in as well. As Minos attempted to kick Cecil away, Fenrir rammed into the leg, spinning the Judge and knocking him off balance.

It was their opening... and Cecil, Fenrir, Charybdis, and Isaac knew it instantly.

"BUSTER WOLF!"

"IMPULSE!"

"REPPU KAIRYUNAGI!"

"AURORA BOREALIS!"

Fist, blast of wind, spatial shockwave, and stream of ice shot straight at Minos, who immediately threw up another Spiral Duct and reflected all the attacks right back, Fenrir taking the brunt of all the attacks as well.

The four were sent to the ground again, Minos relatively unhurt, but he was overjoyed to see them all get back up again.

"Aggressively attacking won't get us anywhere..." Charybdis muttered as she looked over at Isaac and the two God Warriors. "Bodu... Volsung... think you can strike when I give you both the opening?"

"How so?" Fenrir asked, but it was too late.

Another Kairyunagi wave blasted at Minos, who threw up another reflector...

... Only for it to collapse on itself, crumpled by Isaac's Kholiso attack. Minos's face took on a truthful look of shock as the attack hit dead-on, knocking him back several feet. And then Fenrir and Cecil were on him. They both struck down with thundering fists, the Specter flying away just in the nick of time, although the smoke and dust knocked up hid the four from view.

They're staying in the game no matter what... Minos thought as he looked around in vain.

And then Fenrir shot up to him, the image of a wolf emerging from his hands, the Dead Howling slamming into Minos sideways. Then Isaac's hand shot up from the smoke, dragging him back down into it.

"KHOLODNYI SMERCH!" The freezing uppercut landed a direct hit to Minos's unprotected chin, sending him upwards into the air and into range of Cecil's own attacks.

"Moko Reppu Shiden Ken!" Minos tried to block in time, he knew that Cecil was coming from somewhere, but he had no clue. In the end, Cecil struck from behind, his fist pounding into Minos's back and sending the Judge sliding across the ground...

Right in front of Charybdis, who already had a Kairyunagi waiting for him. As it hit, Fenrir, Cecil, Isaac, and Charybdis were overjoyed to hear Minos actually shout out in pain, and when they at last could see him, they knew they were doing decent.

Minos's Surplice showed not a single crack, but his mouth was a tad bloody and there was a bruise on the side of his face.

He looked at all four of them before standing back and letting out a short laugh. "Impressive," he said. "You're holding your own against the most powerful Specter in all of the Underworld... that alone will put you down in the history books."

"No way..." Isaac said in disbelief, "We just hammered that guy with moves that killed other Specters and he's treating it like some stupid romp in the hillside or something?"

"Far from it," Cecil answered. "When you live on your own for your entire life in the wilderness... you learn to never let your enemies see you bleed, metaphorically speaking. He's standing strong, but I doubt it's more than an appearance."

Minos smiled as he looked Cecil dead in the eye. "You think it's all an act? Then why don't we finish this then?"

"Gladly!" Fenrir shouted, the first to charge yet again.

Minos readied himself as Charybdis, Fenrir, Cecil, and Isaac all charged, each ready to strike at the perfect moment.

But then he smiled. "Got you," Minos chuckled as more string came into view around them, suddenly looping around and wrapping all of them up. "You fell into the 'Greatest Capture'."

He snapped his fingers, the string tightening as the four screamed out in pain, every muscle in their body trying to break free. Blood trickled from their arms and legs as they tried to escape, but it was seemingly no use. The cables showed no sign of weakening, and even Isaac had no focus to freeze the strings.

Minos then pointed straight at them. "Last chance... Griffon Mind Shot."

Fenrir, who by now was seeing the attack come straight at him, Cecil behind him and Isaac and Chary to his sides, suddenly realized something. His feet were on the ground... and he tried to throw the entire group to the side...

The silvery cable shot at them... but Minos smiled again as Fenrir actually managed to move the group far enough to the left that the only thing struck was their own bindings.

Breaking free, Isaac struck first, Aurora Borealis shooting out at Minos. He raised his arms up to defend, but Isaac fired again, this time aiming at Minos's feet. Minos shouted in pain as his legs were frozen in a block of ice.

Charybdis was above him, flipping behind him and sending out another Kairyunagi which slammed into Minos's back. He flew straight forward, right into range of a woozy but still standing Cecil and Fenrir, their fists being pulled back.

"BUSTER WOLF!"

"MOKO REPPU SHIDEN KEN!"

Their fists collided straight into Minos's chest and face, being slammed into a wall of the coliseum before Minos collapsed.

"Well..." Fenrir said cheerfully as his legs grew shaky, "We won..."

He collapsed, the others following not soon afterwards...

Only for the four to discover them all back in the ruins of Atlantis... without their armor, but alive.
_
"You think they'll be okay?" Hades asked as he and his Judges walked down a hall.

Aiacos shrugged. "They're tough enough to beat Minos... that says a lot..."

"But it took all of them together," Radamanthys answered. "That doesn't look good if they have to be divided in battle."

Hades then turned to Minos and cocked an eyebrow. "Well? What do you say, Minos?"

Minos smirked before wincing from the pain of his injuries. "Give me a few hours... and I'll get back to you on that..."

Blue dream... drifting in your mind...
Wondering how this came be...
Blue dream... lingering in thoughts,
Thinking how to continue,

You take fresh breath and get up again,
Clawing for more, never just deciding to quit...
Fight on in memory of those you know.

Fight for justice and truth, heroes of Pentrine...