One Move Short

"You're saying Cepheus, Libra, and Aries have all betrayed us?!"

Inside the Pope's Hall, Saga listened to the reports from Pisces and Cancer, then crushed the armrest of his chair in his grip.

In truth, he had long expected the three of them to betray him.

Cepheus had ignored his orders for years, refusing to attend meetings at the Sanctuary or obey his commands.

Libra relied on his seniority, using his duty of watching over the seal on Hades' one hundred and eight Specters as an excuse to ignore him completely.

Thirteen years ago, Aries had been exiled by him for attempting to protect Aiolos. He had lived in seclusion in Pamir ever since, ignoring every summons.

So Saga had originally planned to send people to eliminate them one by one after capturing Athena's human vessel and reclaiming the Sagittarius Cloth.

He had never expected those three to learn that Saori Kido was Athena and go protect her in advance.

"Yes. Perseus and the other Silver Saints had held an absolute advantage against the Crystal Saint and several Bronze Saints.

They were just about to capture them all.

Then Cepheus arrived with the Saints from Andromeda Island.

Cepheus possessed strength no less than ours. Those Silvers were no match for him, so we stepped in.

Who would have thought that Mu of Aries and that old fossil Dohko of Libra would appear as well?

We were no match for them in the fierce battle.

Fortunately, Euler awakened the Seventh Sense during the fight and helped us hold off Cepheus.

That gave us the chance to seize the Sagittarius Gold Cloth and retreat."

Under George's control, Aphrodite and Deathmask took turns recounting the story George had prepared in advance.

"We were incompetent. Please punish us, Lord Pope!"

After finishing their explanation,